🇯🇵 Japan’s Takaichi tightens grip on power with stunning victory in snap election

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s high-stakes gamble on a snap election has paid off, with voters handing her ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) a big majority Sunday.

After an election framed as a referendum on Takaichi herself, the LDP party won more than 310 of the 465 seats in Japan’s lower house, marking the first time since World War II that a single party has secured a two-thirds majority. The broader ruling coalition won more than 340 seats.

“I wanted the voters to give me a mandate because I advocated for responsible, proactive fiscal policy that would significantly shift economic and fiscal policy,” Takaichi added and thanked the voters.

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🇺🇸 The White House's official TikTok account posted a video of Donald Trump

To be a great nation, you have to have faith, you have to have God. 🙏

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🇪🇺 EU threatens temporary measures to stop Meta blocking AI rivals from WhatsApp

EU competition regulators have threatened to stop Meta Platforms from blocking AI rivals from its WhatsApp messaging service. The European Commission said on Monday that it has sent a statement of objections, or charges, to Meta over violation of the bloc's rules and intends to impose interim measures to prevent serious and irreparable harm to rivals.

"We must protect effective competition in this vibrant field, which means we cannot allow dominant tech companies to illegally leverage their dominance to give themselves an unfair advantage. That is why we are considering quickly imposing interim measures on Meta, to preserve access for competitors to WhatsApp while the investigation is ongoing and avoid Meta's new policy irreparably harming competition in Europe." - EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said in a statement.

🤔 However Meta said there was no reason for the EU to intervene.

"There are many AI options and people can use them from app stores, operating systems, devices, websites and industry partnerships. The Commission's logic incorrectly assumes the WhatsApp Business API (software) is a key distribution channel for these chatbots. Meta implemented its policy on January 15, allowing only its Meta AI assistant on WhatsApp," - a Meta spokesperson said in an email.

The Commission's decision on whether to impose interim measures will depend on Meta's reply and rights of defence.

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🇺🇸 Department of War announces U.S. forces have boarded an unsanctioned Panamanian-flagged tanker, Aquila II, without incident after tracking the vessel from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean.

The military chased him from the Caribbean. According to the portal War&Sanctions, the tanker was carrying Russian and Venezuelan oil. It was on the sanctions list.

"You will run out of fuel before you will outrun us." 😄

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✅ Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month

Discord announced on Monday that it’s rolling out age verification on its platform globally starting next month, when it will automatically set all users’ accounts to a “teen-appropriate” experience unless they demonstrate that they’re adults.

Users who aren’t verified as adults will not be able to access age-restricted servers and channels, won’t be able to speak in Discord’s livestream-like “stage” channels, and will see content filters for any content Discord detects as graphic or sensitive. They will also get warning prompts for friend requests from potentially unfamiliar users, and DMs from unfamiliar users will be automatically filtered into a separate inbox.

Direct messages and servers that are not age-restricted will continue to function normally, but users won’t be able to send messages or view content in an age-restricted server until they complete the age check process, even if it’s a server they were part of before age verification rolled out.

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🇺🇸🔥 The CME exchange is launching futures on ADA, LINK and XLM today.

#Stellar

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🤴 What is QSI?

In this detailed article from Stellar Today, we'll explore the Quantum Stellar Initiative and its underlying principles:

https://telegra.ph/Quantum-Stellar-Initiative-QSI-by-Emily-Tang-The-Community-Led-Guide-to-the-Stellar-Ecosystem-Tokenization-Bridges-and-Self-Bank-02-09

#Stellar

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🇲🇽🇨🇺 Mexico halts oil to Cuba, sends humanitarian aid instead

Mexico has paused its oil shipments to Cuba but is sending humanitarian aid to ease the island’s deepening fuel crisis without provoking U.S. reprisals. Earlier Washington has warned that countries supplying Cuba with oil could face tariffs.

President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed the halt in a statement, saying, “The assistance is intended for Cuba’s civilian population.” She framed the aid within Mexico’s “tradition of solidarity” with Latin American peoples. 🤝

According to local reports, the aid departed from Veracruz on Sunday, February 8. It includes 536 tonnes of liquid milk, meat, cookies, beans, rice, tuna, sardines, vegetable oil, and hygiene items, along with 277 tonnes of powdered milk. Meanwhile, the Cuban government said the fuel shortage has forced international airlines to stop refuelling on the island.

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🇪🇺 European alternatives to Visa and Mastercard ‘urgently’ needed, says banking chief

Europe “urgently” needs to reduce its reliance on US groups such as Visa and Mastercard, the head of a banking alliance has said.

“We are highly dependent on international [payment] solutions. Yes, we have nice national assets like domestic [payment] card schemes…but we don’t have anything cross-border. If we say independence is so crucial and we all know it’s a timing issue…we need action urgently,” - said Martina Weimert, chief executive of the European Payments Initiative (EPI), a consortium of 16 European banks and financial services companies.

However, Visa and Mastercard accounted for almost two-thirds of card transactions in the euro zone in 2022, according to the European Central Bank, with 13 member countries lacking a national alternative to the US providers. 😄

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🇺🇸🇦🇲 US Vice President Vance in Armenia for peace talks

US President JD Vance and his family arrived in Armenia on Monday. He became the highest-ranking US politician ever to visit the South Caucasus country. Vance was greeted with a red carpet, an honor guard and an official delegation before he was driven to a meeting with Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

"The prime minister has been a great friend of ours and a real ally in peace and development in this region (of) the world," - said Vance said.

Vance and Pashinyan signed a number of documents aimed at furthering peace, including commitments to peaceful nuclear cooperation and the establishment of a major rail and road transit corridor through Armenia to connect Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave.

Pashinyan thanked both Vance and US President Donald Trump and said that Armenia and neighboring Azerbaijan are "very close" to achieving peace after decades of conflict. 🙏🤝

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🚀 SpaceX revealed its new cyclotron used for radiation testing of space hardware

This lets them hit electronics with real high-energy ions to simulate space radiation, far more accurate than photon or electron testing.

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🇺🇸 Trump posts a picture on Truth Social.

In this picture Trump is talking to European leaders with a map depicting Greenland and Canada as part of the U.S. in the background. 😄

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🇺🇳 Global economy must move past GDP to avoid planetary disaster, warns UN chief

The global economy must be radically transformed to stop it rewarding pollution and waste, UN secretary general António Guterres has warned. Guterres said humanity’s future required the urgent overhaul of the world’s “existing accounting systems” he said were driving the planet to the brink of disaster.

“We must place true value on the environment and go beyond gross domestic product as a measure of human progress and wellbeing. Let us not forget that when we destroy a forest, we are creating GDP. When we overfish, we are creating GDP. GDP tells us the cost of everything, and the value of nothing. Our world is not a gigantic corporation. Financial decisions should be based on more than a snapshot of profit and loss," - said Guterres.

For decades, politicians and policymakers have prioritised growth – as measured by GDP – as the overarching economic goal. But critics argue that endless, indiscriminate growth on a planet with finite resources is driving not only the climate and nature crisis but increasing inequality.

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🇨🇳 Chinese AI company unveils $173K ‘biometric’ robot built for human companionship

Moya, a humanoid robot unveiled in Shanghai, China by robotics company DroidUp, can walk, make eye contact, smile, and show subtle facial expressions. It’s the world’s first fully biomimetic robot, using AI that lets it see, think, and act in the real world. The company plans to use it in healthcare, education, business, and as a daily companion. 🤩

#BRICS

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🪙 Ripple accelerates institutional custody adoption with security, compliance, and staking capabilities

Ripple today announced a series of strategic collaborations with Securosys and Figment, following recently announced integration with Chainalysis and acquisition of Palisade that expand the capabilities of Ripple Custody.

🔥 Securosys: Ripple now offers CyberVault HSM and CloudHSM capabilities from Securosys, a leading provider of high-security hardware security modules, enabling institutions to deploy HSM-based custody without the traditional cost, complexity, or procurement delays. These are available both on premises and in the cloud, allowing customers to meet their individual security and operational requirements while maintaining the highest level of protection. This ready-to-go offering provides banks and custodians with direct control over cryptographic keys while offering a cost-effective and scalable solution.

🔥 Figment: Through this collaboration, Ripple and Figment enable banks, custodians, and regulated enterprises to offer staking for leading Proof-of-Stake networks, including Ethereum and Solana, without building validator infrastructure or compromising operational controls. This partnership brings secure, institutional staking to the largest banks and enterprises,

These enhancements immediately follow a wave of momentum for Ripple’s Custody offering - from the acquisition of Palisade which will enable faster delivery and scalable wallet capabilities for fintechs and institutions, to the adoption of Chainalysis’ compliance capabilities directly into the custody execution flow, enabling real-time transaction screening and policy enforcement before assets move.

#Stellar

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🇦🇿🇺🇸 Azerbaijan and the U.S. have signed a Charter of Strategic cooperation between the governments of the two countries

The signing ceremony of the Charter on Strategic Partnership between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the USA took place. It is noted that President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Vice President of the U.S. Jay D. Vance participated in the ceremony.

According to the content of the document, the countries have agreed on partnership in the fields of AI and technology, bilateral business development and investment. Washington and Baku also intend to conscientiously ensure security in the region and fight terrorism. In addition, the parties also confirmed the importance of "Trump's route".

"Why should we be fighting one another when we can engage in commerce with one another, when we can build partnerships with one another?" - said Jay D. Vance. 🤝

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💊 Scientists at the UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center have found a small molecule that can shut down a gene tied to glioblastoma

The finding comes from the lab of Hui Li, PhD, who previously identified the “oncogene” that helps drive glioblastoma. Li reports that the newly identified compound blocked the gene’s activity in both cell samples and laboratory mice. In the mouse experiments, the molecule worked without causing harmful side effects. The research is still at an early stage.

This discovery could eventually point to a new way to treat this aggressive brain cancer. Glioblastoma grows quickly and is almost always fatal. After diagnosis, average survival is about 15 months, and more than 14,000 Americans are diagnosed each year.

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