📌 Trump Meets Starmer, Scam Workers Stuck, More

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets President Donald Trump today to address the conflict in Ukraine and bilateral trade.

“When I meet President Trump, I will be clear: I want this relationship to go from strength to strength,“ Starmer said, underscoring what he calls his country’s “most important bilateral alliance,“ with the US.

Ahead of the meeting, Starmer announced an unexpected increase in the UK defense budget to 2.5% of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027, then to 2.6% the following year. Trump wants NATO members to boost defense spending to 5% of their GDP.

He acknowledged that the decision to ramp up defense spending was “accelerated“ as Trump moves to negotiate with Moscow without the involvement of Ukraine or Europeans and made clear he is reducing US support for Europe’s security.

Starmer said he aims to further increase defense spending to 3% in the next Parliament, which will begin in 2029 at the latest after the next general election. In 2023, the US spent 3.4% of its GDP on defense, according to US government data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Insititute.

Starmer is keen to secure favorable trade terms amid potential US tariffs that could impact British exports as the US hits European countries with 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum. Trump is threatening more, saying the EU has been “very unfair“ to America.

Thousands released from Myanmar scam centers are stranded in makeshift camps because of slow administration.

Overcrowded compounds controlled by armed militia groups are taking their toll on the health of the scam workers. Thailand insists it is moving as fast as it can to process the workers and get them home.

The workers are believed to have been lured to work in the scam operations along the Thai-Myanmar border, most of them run by Chinese fraud and gambling operatives who have taken advantage of the lawlessness in this part of Myanmar.

The release of the workers started over two weeks ago after Thailand, largely under pressure from China, cut power and telecommunications links to the compounds on the border. It limited banking access to the scam bosses and issued arrest warrants for militia leaders protecting the businesses.

A group of 260 freed workers were brought over the Moei River on a raft earlier this month. And around 621 Chinese nationals were flown straight back to China with a police escort on chartered planes. Otherwise, the movement of freed workers to Thailand seems to have stalled.

Thailand seems ready to bring over one group of 94 Indonesians, as their embassy has been pushing for their release for several days and has booked flights to Indonesia for them. But that still leaves more than 7,000 inside Myanmar, unsure what will now happen to them.

Generative AI-powered Alexa Plus is one of the biggest updates in the history of voice assistants and will roll out next month.

Alexa Plus can generate responses instead of simply repeating pre-programmed phrases. It can also book Uber rides, tickets to shows, and offers help with cuisine. Alexa Plus costs $19.99 per month but will be free for all Amazon Prime members.

It comes with four Echo products with a screen: the 8, 10, 15 and 21. While support for other Echo devices is expected, there’s no confirmation on specific models or availability timelines. It will be released in the US first and “subsequently in waves to other regions over the coming months.“

Alexa Plus will also be available on web browsers, the Alexa app, compatible Fire TVs, and Fire tablets. However, Amazon states, “This experience is not currently supported on Alexa Built-in devices and Amazon Astro, however, we look forward to expanding Alexa+ to additional devices in the future.“

Consumers are preparing for a 24-hour economic blackout on Friday as a boycott asks consumers to not spend any money.

The organizer of the boycott goes by TheOneCalledJai on Instagram, but his real name is John Schwarz. He said he started the “bold“ idea because the time was right and people are frustrated with what he calls corporate greed and other frustrations.

The People's Union, founded by Schwarz, has expanded the boycott to include specific companies like Amazon, Nestle, and Walmart during different periods, with another one-day blackout on April 18.

Friday's boycott is one of several. A national boycott of Target started Feb. 1 to coincide with Black History Month. It was launched by civil rights activists in Minneapolis upset that Target has rolled back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.

The Latino community has also been active on social media using the hashtag #LatinoFreeze, encouraging supporters to “hold your money'' amid freezes on DEI initiatives, reduced funding for the National Institutes of Health and actions on immigration.

Experts say that boycotts can be successful in shaming a company into reversing decisions or taking action, but they don't always work. There needs to be clear actions outlined, they say. But consumers do like being able to take action against something they feel strongly about.

A more efficient and environmentally friendly refrigeration based on thermogalvanic cells may be on the way.

“Thermogalvanic technology is on its way to our lives, either in the form of clean electricity or low-power cooling, and both research and commercial communities should be paying attention,“ says Jiangjiang Duan of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China.

Previous studies have shown that thermogalvanic cells have a limited potential to produce cooling power, but Duan's team was able to dramatically increase this potential by optimizing the chemicals used in the technology.

The system was able to cool the surrounding electrolyte by 1.42 degrees C, which is a big improvement compared with the 0.1 degrees C cooling capacity reported by previous thermogalvanic systems. Duan said they are seeking collaboration with companies to promote the commercialization of the technology.

Japan is facing a population crisis — so Tokyo, its largest city, will try to solve the problem with a four-day workweek.

Starting in April, the Tokyo Metropolitan government, one of the country’s largest employers, is set to allow its employees to work only four days a week. It is also adding a “childcare partial leave“ policy, which will allow some employees to work two fewer hours per day.

The goal is to help employees who are parents balance childcare and work, said Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike. “We will continue to review work styles flexibly to ensure that women do not have to sacrifice their careers due to life events such as childbirth or child-rearing,“ Koike said.

The new policies come as the birth rate in Japan hit a record low in 2024. From January to June, the country recorded 350,074 births, down 5.7% from the same period in 2023, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare.

Japan's total fertility rate, which represents the children a woman has in her lifetime, stood at 1.2 in 2023, and in Tokyo, the birth rate was lower at 0.99. To maintain a broadly stable population, a birth rate of 2.1 is required, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The gap between men and women when it comes to housework is one of the largest among OECD countries, with women in Japan engaging in five times more unpaid work, such as childcare and elder care, than men, according to the International Monetary Fund.

A mountain resembling the head of a puppy has become a tourist destination along an ancient Chinese river.

The mountain, dubbed “Puppy Mountain,“ sits in the city of Yichang in central China's Hubei province. While it has been there for some time, its popularity has skyrocketed in recent weeks thanks to a social media post.

Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine's Day, after noticing the mountain resembled a dog's head resting on the ground next to the Yangtze River, with its snout perched in the water.

Qingshan's post received 120,000 likes in 10 days on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, and the hashtag #xiaogoushan —Chinese for Puppy Mountain — drew millions of views.

Many have since been traveling to the location to take their own photos, many bringing their dogs with them, and some have posted photos of their dogs to show off a resemblance between them and the mountain.