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San Francisco – YouTube has evolved from a dinner party lark 20 years ago into a modern lifestyle staple poised to overtake U.S. cable television in paid viewership. PayPal colleagues Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim conceived YouTube in 2005, reportedly during a dinner party. The domain YouTube.com launched on Valentine’s Day that year. Video uploading capabilities were added on April 23, when Karim posted the first video, titled “Me at the Zoo.” The 19-second clip showing Karim at the San Diego Zoo’s elephant exhibit has garnered 348 million views. Source link

FATENG TSE NTSHO, South Africa – The township of Fateng Tse Ntsho houses some 7,000 Black South Africans, its huddle of corrugated metal roofs surrounded on all sides by vast tracts of mostly empty grassland owned by prosperous white farmers. The contrast illustrates the gaping land inequalities that persist more than three decades after the end of white minority rule — and which an expropriation act South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed last month partly seeks to redress. That law, which allows the government to expropriate land — in rare cases without compensation — has reignited racial tensions that have dogged Africa’s southernmost tip ever since European settlers began arriving nearly four centuries ago. Source link

Talks between the ruling coalition and opposition parties on some key policies are poised to reach a critical juncture as the governing pair aims to enact the state budget for the fiscal year starting in April within the current fiscal 2024, which ends March 31. For its enactment by the end of March, the fiscal 2025 budget bill, now being debated at the House of Representatives, needs to clear the Lower House on March 2, at the latest. The Lower House passage will be followed by discussions at the House of Councilors. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Komeito, are working to strike agreements by mid-February with Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Democratic Party for the People on policy demands from the opposition side. Source link

Manila – In her bid to convince lawmakers to legalize divorce, Filipina fruit vendor Avelina Anuran has publicly testified about the abuse she said she regularly endured at the hands of her husband. She also keeps a copy of the medical certificate from the bloody injuries she says he inflicted, hoping it might one day serve as evidence in court. But the mother of two-turned-activist has gotten no closer to ending her marriage. Source link

BEIRUT – When a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip last month, Palestinian activist Ahmad Kilani hoped the pause in fighting would also bring a return to peace in his hometown of Yabad in the occupied West Bank. But his joy turned to fear when, just two days later on Jan. 21, large columns of Israeli army vehicles backed by helicopters and drones stormed the nearby Jenin refugee camp at the start of a major crackdown in the West Bank. Israel has since blown up some 20 buildings in the camp, sending plumes of heavy smoke over the densely populated area, and carried out air strikes. Source link

Manila – Japan is in talks with the Philippines about delivering more military aid packages, additional defense transfers and capacity-building assistance to support Manila’s military modernization plans, Tokyo’s envoy to Manila has said, as the partners explore new ways to deepen security ties. As the Philippines’ Defense Department embarks on a modernization program, “Japan is very much willing to make contributions in areas such as radars and so on, so we’re now in the process of discussing various ways to do so,” Ambassador Kazuya Endo told The Japan Times in a recent interview in Manila. “The relationship between Japan and the Philippines is in a golden age, and we are committed to further strengthening cooperation across a wide range of areas,” he added. Source link

Seoul – South Korea’s suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol blamed the “malicious” opposition for his decision to declare martial law, telling a court on Tuesday that their refusal to applaud him or shake his hand exposed their plans to “destroy” his government. The former prosecutor plunged democratic South Korea into political turmoil when he declared martial law on Dec. 3, suspending civilian rule and sending soldiers to parliament. The attempt lasted only six hours as the opposition-led parliament defied troops to vote the declaration down, later impeaching him over the move. Source link

LONDON – Thousands of victims of modern slavery are being denied support because of Britain’s crackdown on illegal migration, according to more than a dozen sources, a decade after the approval of legislation that put the country at the forefront of the global fight against human trafficking. Britain’s Modern Slavery Act of 2015 forced large businesses to tackle slavery in their supply chains and strengthened existing protections for victims. But those protections have been eroded by rules introduced in 2023 to curb illegal migration, as the political priority switched to dealing with the tens of thousands of migrants arriving in Britain each year aboard small boats. Source link

U.S. investment fund Bain Capital may not launch a tender offer for Japanese system developer Fuji Soft, sources said. In a statement released Monday, Bain said that it is “carefully considering” its future policy, including “the option of withdrawing” its tender offer plan. Rival U.S. fund KKR is also seeking to acquire Fuji Soft, having already launched a tender offer for the company, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s top-tier Prime section. Bain had announced a plan to commence its tender offer for Fuji Soft shares by early February at ¥9,600 apiece, higher than KKR’s previous offered price of ¥9,451. According to the statement, Bain was preparing to start its tender offer on Wednesday last week. After KKR said the preceding day that it would raise its bid price to ¥9,850, Bain decided not to launch its tender offer on the planned date. Bain’s tender offer is “not expected to be completed successfully” without a hike in its share acquisition price, the statement explained. Bain said it is considering the best proposal for Fuji Soft and its shareholders. Source link

After U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration froze donations in January to Cambodia’s largest demining organization, which works to clear the countryside of deadly remnants of Washington’s past wars in Southeast Asia, the group announced new funding — from China. Beijing has doubled its contributions over the past three years to the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), which helps clear millions of unexploded munitions, said Heng Ratana, who leads the group. On Feb. 5, CMAC said it had received a pledge from Beijing to contribute $4.4 million — surpassing the $2 million donated by the U.S. last year. Ratana said China understands that such support helps “build up people-to-people networks” and generates economic returns. Source link