Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov stopped giving interviews to Western outlets a year ago because they distorted his words every time, he revealed on Wednesday.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Bosnian Serb outlet ATV, Peskov was asked why major Western outlets such as AP only had archive photos or video of him. He explained that he cut them off because “they would not tell the truth.”
“We gave several interviews, but they distorted everything, changed the meaning of things,” the presidential spokesman explained. “Perhaps some journalists want to tell the truth, but their editors will not allow it.” So the Kremlin agreed that further contacts with Western media were pointless.
“I made a decision: until I see the Western media showing at least some interest in the truth, we will not communicate with them,” Peskov told ATV. “As for my photo, one is enough – why would they need more?”
“I made a decision: until I see the Western media showing at least some interest in the truth, we will not communicate with them,” Peskov told ATV. “As for my photo, one is enough – why would they need more?”
Putin’s spokesman also touched on the fact that the West has censored Russian media outlets and even individual journalists, in total betrayal of its own principle of press freedom.
“The collective West long enjoyed a media monopoly,” Peskov told ATV, pointing to the English-language media having the biggest footprint in the world, from newspapers and TV to news agencies.
“To suddenly break that monopoly is impossible,” he explained. “But when we tried to compete with them a little, they immediately became hysterical. They tore off all masks right away and showed there is no freedom of the press over there. The moment any outlets became ‘uncomfortable’ to them, the moment they started presenting viewpoints different from their mainstream, they were banned.”
Last March, the EU banned all Russian ‘state media,’ from RT and Sputnik to public broadcaster VGTRK, and got YouTube to enforce that ban globally. Canada has banned RT, while Germany and France froze RT accounts in their countries, forcing the outlets to close.
“They sanction journalists. That seemed unthinkable 10 years ago,” Peskov told ATV. “There is no freedom of speech there. If you don’t think like them, you get sanctioned.”
Tim pelari estafet 4X100M putra Indonesia (dari kiri) Bayu Kertanegara, Wahyu Setiawan, Sudirman Hadi dan Lalu Muhammad Zohri berpose dengan membawa bendera Merah Putih usai final nomor lari estafet SEA Games 2023 di Stadion Morodok Techo National Stadium, Phnom Penh, Kamboja, Rabu (10/5/2023). ANTARA FOTO/Muhammad Adimaja/aww. (ANTARA FOTO/MUHAMMAD ADIMAJA)
Cabang olahraga atletik melampaui target medali emas pada SEA Games XXXII/2023 Kamboja setelah tambahan dua keping pada perlombaan yang berlangsung di Morodok Techo National Stadium, Phnom Penh, pada hari Rabu, 10/05/2023.
Tambahan tersebut membuat atletik Indonesia sejauh ini mengoleksi enam emas atau melampaui target yang dicanangkan yakni lima.
Manajer Tim Atletik Indonesia Mustara Musa mengatakan perlombaan untuk cabang atletik masih akan berlanjut dalam dua hari ke depan. Untuk itu, dia berharap atlet yang akan bersaing bisa menambah pundi-pundi medali untuk Kontingen Merah Putih.
"Keberhasilan ini adalah bagian dari proses persiapan, kerja sama, saling menutupi dalam kompetisi besar. Jadi ini adalah satu dampak dari proses. Bersyukur yang ditargetkan kontingen 5 emas, kami sudah dapat enam. Secara keseluruhan target itu ada 5 emas, 9 perak, dan 9 perunggu," kata Mustara.
Pada hari ini, skuad Merah Putih menambah dua emas, masing-masing disumbangkan Maria Natalia Londa dari nomor lompat jauh putri yang mencatat lompatan terjauh 6,28 meter pada percobaan kelima.
Maria mengalahkan dua wakil Vietnam Thi Thu Thoa Bui di posisi kedua dengan 6,13 meter dan Thi Loan Bui yang meraih perunggu dengan 6,02 meter.
Tak lama setelah itu, giliran Lalu Muhammad Zohri, Wahyu Setiawan, Bayu Kertanegara, dan Sudirman Hadi yang meraih medali emas pada nomor estafet 4x100 meter putra.
Mereka mengalahkan wakil dari Thailand dengan komposisi Chayut Khongprasit, Kobsit Sittichai, Muhamah Salaeh, dan Piayawat Aendu yang meraih perak usai membukukan 39,13 detik. Adapun perunggu menjadi milik tim Malaysia yang berangotakan Jonathan Nyepa, Khairul Hafiz Jantan, Mohamad Eizlan Dahalan, dan Muhamamd Arsyad Md Saat dengan 39,36 detik.
Cabang atletik juga menambah dua perunggu pada hari ini melalui Dina Aulia yang turun pada nomor 100 meter lari gawang putri dan 3.000 lari halang rintang putra melalui Pandu Sukarya.
Secara keseluruhan, Zohri dan kawan-kawan telah mengemas 6 emas, 2 perak dan 8 perunggu.
Medali emas Indonesia sebelumnya diraih oleh Agus Prayogo (maraton putra), Odekta Elvina Naibaho (maraton putri), Hendro Yap (20km jalan cepat putra), dan Abdul Hafiz (lempar lembing putra).
Dua perak masing-masing melalui Maria Natalia Londa (lompat jangkit putri) dan Violine Intan Puspita (20km jalan cepat putri).
Selain Dina dan Pandu, perunggu sisanya melalui Lalu Muhammad Zohri (200 meter putra), Wahyudi Putra (1.500 meter putra), Robi Syianturi (5.000 meter putra), Sapwaturrahman (lompat jauh putra), Agustinus Abadi Ndiken (lempar lembing putra), Odekta Elvina Naibaho (5.000 meter putri).
Sejumlah atlet Indonesia masih akan melakoni perlombaan. Pada Kamis (11/8), Sapwaturrahman akan berlaga di nomor lompat jangkit putra, Halomoan E. Binsar turun pada nomor 400 meter lari gawang putra, Eki Febri Ekawati turun pada nomor tolak peluru putri, Agus Prayogo dan Riki M. Simbolon bersaing di nomor 10.000 meter putra.
Satu hari setelahnya giliran Lalu Muhammad Zohri yang bersaing pada nomor andalannya 100 meter putra bersama dengan Wahyu Setiawan. Lalu ada juga Odekta Elvina Naibaho yang bersaing pada nomor 10.000 putri.
"Kami berharap dua ke depan, atlet-atlet Indonesia bisa kembali meraih hasil terbaik. Potensi tentu saja masih ada di beberapa nomor berikutnya yang masuk target kami," pungkas Mustara.
Klasemen Medali SEA Games 2023 hingga hari Sabtu malam, 10-Mei-2002 hingga pukul 22.30 WIB
Google logo and AI Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken, May 4, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
The financial report you read, the apparel marketing you see and the chat assistant you engage may soon reflect a common origin: artificial intelligence from Google.
The cloud division inside Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) is lining up customers to put its newest technology to the test, so-called generative AI that produces human-like prose or other content from past data.
Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE), Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) and a unit of Victoria's Secret & Co (VSCO.N) are among the companies giving Google's tools a try, the company told Reuters for its I/O conference on Wednesday in Mountain View, California.
Customers are applying Google's technology in ways both expected, such as a customer-service chatbot for Uber, and unusual, including AI to handle drive-thru orders at a Wendy's Co (WEN.O) fast-food restaurant in Ohio.
Their interest comes at a critical moment for Google. Its cloud division posted its first-ever operating profit last quarter, and the AI technology that Google pioneered may help it narrow the gap with bigger players Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O).
Alphabet announced still more updates on Wednesday to draw business customers, such as a computer programming assistant called Duet AI for Google Cloud, with a model it named Codey.
At the same time, clients are previewing its AI services on a free basis, Google said. Its rivals are marketing competing products, too, to companies reluctant to leave them. And Google is contending with a nascent challenge to its search business from Microsoft and partner OpenAI, which built the ChatGPT phenom.
In an interview with Reuters, Google Cloud's CEO. Thomas Kurian, said Alphabet's AI models were drawing interest from customers new and old, among them clients of its competitors.
"They want our access to our models," he said. Then "they start a relationship."
One of the companies deepening its work with Google while still relying on Microsoft for productivity tools is Deutsche Bank. Bernd Leukert, its chief technology, data and innovation officer, said the bank is targeting a range of tasks to automate with the help of Google's engineers and its so-called large language models.
Deutsche Bank wants this AI to lower costs in call centers where it needed temporary personnel for peak periods and workers to handle menial tasks, he said in an interview. And it is exploring if Google's AI can craft research drawing from economic data, market reports and other content, to give the bank's customers and staff, said Leukert.
"The faster you can consume this huge amount of external information, condense it and draw the conclusion out of it, the better it is," he said. Asked about errors by AI, Leukert said research analysts would have to validate and edit material pre-publication, as the bank would take "a very conservative approach."
Deutsche Bank will decide by October which of these projects are mature enough to move forward, he said.
Other companies using the technology include Adore Me, the Victoria's Secret unit drafting ad copy with AI in Google Docs, Kurian said. The Wendy's pilot beginning in June has helped Google stress-test its systems as well.
"You've heard about these generative models hallucinating, right?" he said, referring to how they can spout inaccurate information. At Wendy's, "you don't want the model to recommend a product that may not exist."
Pesilat putri Indonesia Puspa Arum Sari mengibarkan bendera Merah Putih
Tim nasional Pencak Silat Indonesia keluar sebagai juara umum pada cabang olahraga bela diri pencak silat yang dipertandingkan di SEA Games 2023 Kamboja, Rabu, 10/05/2023.
“Dengan ini target juara umum di pencak silat bisa tercapai. Ini semua berkat doa masyarakat Indonesia, berkat izin Yang Di Atas, pencak silat Indonesia menjadi juara umum,” kata manajer timnas pencak silat Indonesia Wahyo Yuniartoto saat ditemui di Chroy Changvar Convention Center Phnom Penh, Rabu.
Tito Hendra Septa Kurnia memastikan emas pamungkas untuk Indonesia usai memenangkan laga di nomor tanding putra kelas E melawan wakil dari Thailand dengan skor telak 67-37.
Kemenangan Tito disambut oleh rekan-rekannya yang telah bertanding dan meraih medali di nomor-nomor pertandingan lainnya dengan sorak-sorai yang tiada habisnya. Tito juga berteriak usai selebrasi dengan membawa bendera Merah-Putih.,
Sementara itu, pesilat-pesilat Indonesia Iqbal Candra Pratama (tanding putra kelas F), Jeni Elvis Kause (tanding putri kelas C), Khoirudin Mustakim (tanding putra kelas A), Atifa Fismawati (tanding putri kelas D), Muhammad Zaki Zikrillah Prasong (tanding putra kelas B), dan Safira Dwi Meilani (Tanding Putri Kelas B) menyumbangkan medali emas untuk Kontingen Merah-Putih.
Lebih lanjut, medali perak didapatkan Suci Wulandari (tanding putri U45) Muhamad Yachser Arafa (tanding putra kelas C), Nia Larasati (tanding putri kelas E), Kadek Andrey Nova Prayada (tanding putra kelas D), Bayu Lesmana (tanding putra kelas U45, dan Ririn Rinasih/Riska Hermawan (ganda putri artistik).
Ada pula Ronaldo Neno yang meraih medali perunggu untuk nomor tanding putra kelas I.
Secara total, pencak silat mempersembahkan setidaknya sembilan emas, enam perak, dan satu perunggu untuk Indonesia di pesta olahraga terbesar Asia Tenggara edisi 32 ini.
Indonesia pada saat ini sukses mengoleksi total 36 emas, 31 perak, dan 55 perunggu. Pencak silat menjadi cabor yang paling produktif dengan mempersembahkan tujuh di antaranya.
Kesuksesan kontingen Merah Putih memanen 11 medali emas pada Rabu membuat Indonesia mendapatkan kembali peringkat yang sebelumnya diambil Filipina.
Cabang olahraga pencak silat berkontribusi besar dalam perolehan medali hari ini. Iqbal Candra Pratama dan kawan-kawan berhasil memborong tujuh emas, enam perak, dan satu perunggu.
Atletik memberikan dua emas melalui nomor estafet putra 400 m dan lompat jauh. Sedangkan masing-masing satu emas dipersembahkan oleh tim putri kriket dan tunggal putri soft tennis.
Kejutan justru datang dari Singapura. Dengan tujuh medali emas yang didapat pada Rabu, tim Negeri Singa mampu menyalip Filipina untuk menjadi penutup lima besar.
Sementara itu, persaingan ketat untuk merebut puncak klasemen perolehan medali pada hari kelima penyelenggaraan SEA Games 2023, Rabu, dimenangi oleh Vietnam yang menambah 11 emas. Tim Negeri Paman Ho, yang pada hari sebelumnya berada di peringkat kedua, kini menjadi yang teratas.
Sebagai gantinya, Thailand, yang pada Selasa malam berada di puncak klasemen, harus turun ke posisi ketiga setelah Kamboja menyamai jumlah total medali emas yang diperoleh kontingen Negeri Gajah Putih itu.
Kamboja mengumpulkan total 139 medali hingga Rabu malam, selisih tiga medali dari Thailand, membuat sang tuan rumah berada di peringkat kedua klasemen.
Sebanyak 11 negara Asia Tenggara mengikuti SEA Games 2023 dan ada 37 cabang olahraga yang diselenggarakan dalam edisi kali ini, seperti renang, atletik, bulu tangkis, basket, tinju, catur, esport, sepak bola, dan karate.
Menariknya, sejarah SEA Games mencatat bahwa tuan rumah selalu jadi unggulan juara. Jadi, Kamboja akan lebih diunggulkan di SEA Games 2023 kali ini, Indonesia harus bekerja keras.
Di puncak, Vietnam kini berkuasa dengan raihan 42 emas. 41 perak, dan 52 perunggu. Di peringkat kedua, Thailand menyusul dengan koleksi 41 emas, selagi tuan rumah Kamboja di peringkat ketiga dengan torehan 40 emas.
Perolehan medali sampai hari Rabu,10/05/2023, pukul 22.30 WIB, Indonesia naik satu peringkat di posisi ke empat.
Klasemen Medali SEA Games 2023 hingga hari Sabtu malam, 10-Mei-2002 hingga pukul 22.30 WIB
The Kinzhal is capable of flying at least five times the speed of sound, which helps it to remain invulnerable to enemy air missile defense systems.
It is impossible to shoot down the Russian hypersonic Kinzhal ballistic missile with the US-made surface-to-air missile (SAM) Patriot MIM-104 system, Moscow-based military expert Alexey Leonkov told Sputnik, debunking Kiev's recent claims.
He explained that the SAM’s radar cannot track the Kinzhal due to a speed limit for the intercepted target of up to Mach 3.
"When they [Ukraine] use a head-on Patriot missile, they cannot give target designation to anything that flies faster [than Mach 3]. In case of a Patriot missile flying in pursuit of the Kinzhal, the interceptor should fly at least 1.5 times faster than the Russian hypersonic missile,” the expert pointed out.
He suggested that a recent media report about a Patriot system allegedly downing a Kinzhal had emerged due to a lack of results from work of the Patriots, which were earlier supplied to Kiev as part of Washington’s military assistance.
Leonkov’s remarks came after the Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yury Ignat admitted that his country’s combat arsenal was not enough to counter the Kinzhal missiles.
“There are few weapons in the Ukrainian arsenal capable of shooting down the Kh-47 Kinzhal missile. The Patriot has never worked with such a type of target as the Kh-47, which is why it’s too early to rejoice,” he said in a nod to reports about the alleged downing of the Russian hypersonic missile by the US-made SAM.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov did not think twice about commenting on the reports as he tweeted: “Thanks to the US Patriot air defense system, a Russian Kinzhal missile had been shot down”. He went even further by claiming that "with the support of our friends, the impossible becomes possible," an apparent reference to the US’ military assistance to Ukraine.
What is Kinzhal Missile?
The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal (NATO reporting name "Killjoy") is a Russian nuclear-capable hypersonic ballistic missile that has a range of more than 2,000 km (1,200 miles).
The Kh-47 is capable of traveling at least five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5, which is the definition of hypersonic.
The missile can reach a top speed of Mach 10 (12,250 km/h or 7,612 mph) while also performing evasive maneuvers, which helps the Kinzhal to be virtually invulnerable to enemy air missile defense systems.
With the weapon’s advanced maneuvering capabilities, high precision and hypersonic speed, some sources refer to the Kinzhal as a "carrier killer" due to its purported ability to disable or possibly even sink a hypothetical 100,000-ton aircraft carrier with a single strike.
Russian Military Deploys Kinzhals in Massive Strikes in Ukraine in Retaliation to Bryansk Terror
Two civilians were killed and a ten-year-old boy injured last week after a group of saboteurs penetrated the Russian-Ukrainian border in Russia's Bryansk region and opened fire on civilian vehicles and infrastructure. NATO-provided weapons were found at the crime scenes. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the incident a "terrorist attack."
Russia carried out massed missile strike on targets inside Ukraine in retaliation to last week's terrorism in Bryansk region, the Russian Ministry of Defense has announced.
"In response to the terrorism organized by the Kiev regime on March 2 in Bryansk region, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation delivered a massive retaliatory strike. High-precision long-range air, sea and land-based precision weapons, including the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system, hit key elements of Ukraine's military infrastructure, enterprises of the military-industrial complex, as well as energy facilities providing them with power," MoD spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a briefing Thursday.
All of the designated targets were hit, the officer said, with the strikes said to have destroyed sites hosting Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, knocked out railway infrastructure involved in the transfer of foreign weapons, and disabled facilities involved in the production of ammunition and the repair of military equipment.
Two people were killed and a 10-year-old boy injured last week after saboteurs infiltrated the Russian-Ukrainian border and seemingly randomly opened fire on residents, vehicles and local infrastructure using small arms, drones, and other weapons. Russia's Federal Security Service announced Monday that the March 2 attacks were organized by militants from the 'Russian Volunteer Corps', a neo-Nazi militia fighting for Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry warned last week that the use of NATO-provided weapons in the Bryansk attacks raised questions about the West's culpability for the acts of terrorism. Russian and American military and international affairs experts told Sputnik that the Bryansk attacks may have been designed to provoke Russia into launching a premature new offensive in Ukraine amid growing frustration about the situation on the front, and as a pretext for Kiev to demand more weapons from the West.
The Kinzhal (lit. 'Dagger') is a new Russian air-launched, nuclear-capable hypersonic missile with a range of over 2,000 km, designed to overcome any existing or prospective air defenses, and to launch attacks on foreign warships, including carriers. The missile has been used in Ukraine repeatedly over the past year. President Biden, Kiev's main sponsor in NATO's proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, characterized the Kinzhal as a "consequential weapon" that's "almost impossible to stop."
Drone Attack on Military Object Repelled in Russia's Voronezh Region
Enemy unmanned aerial vehicles tried to attack a military facility in Russia's Voronezh region, following response measures, one deviated from the course and fell and the second one was destroyed, Governor Alexander Gusev said on Wednesday.
"Early this morning, an attack attempt by two enemy UAVs was thwarted at a Voronezh military facility. As a result of measures, one of them deviated from the course and fell, the second was destroyed by fire," Gusev wrote on Telegram.
US Will Not Send Long-Range Missiles to Kiev as UK Planning Deliveries - Reports
The United States has no plans to send long-range missiles to Ukraine, hoping that the United Kingdom's intention to transfer such weapons would help Washington to avoid criticism amid calls for boosting arms deliveries to Kiev, including the MGM-140 ATACMS surface-to-surface missiles, media reported.
The US is expected to continue providing the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile systems, ammunition and armored vehicles, the report said.
On Tuesday, American news outlet reported that London was planning to send missiles with a range of 300 kilometers (200 miles) to Kiev on the condition that they would be used only for hitting targets on the territory of Ukraine. The report was based on an International Fund for Ukraine procurement notice.
Western countries have been supplying Kiev with different types of weapon systems, including air defense missiles, multiple launch rocket systems, tanks, self-propelled artillery and anti-aircraft guns, since Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine over a year ago. The Kremlin has repeatedly warned against further arms deliveries to Kiev.
