Toastmasters District 126 Launches Jubilance 2025 Conference in Hyderabad
The Toastmasters District 126 Annual Conference, 'Jubilance 2025,' kicked off at ESCI, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, bringing together members from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Nagpur. Distinguished Toastmaster Sujit Sukumaran graced the event as chief guest, while Manoj Vasudevan, 2017 World Champion of Public Speaking, delivered a captivating keynote.
The two-day conference featured speech contests in multiple categories, empowering participants to hone communication and leadership skills. Sainadh Gupta emphasised the role of Toastmasters clubs in supporting youth from diverse backgrounds. With thousands of members across college, corporate, and community clubs, Jubilance 2025 fosters personal and professional growth across the region.
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BBC News
4 minutes ago
- BBC News
Lee Jae-myung: South Korea's new president has a Trump-shaped crisis to avert
South Korea's new president, Lee Jae-myung, has secured a storming victory, but his honeymoon will barely last the former opposition leader is not getting to enjoy the two-month transition period usually afforded to new leaders, so they can build their team and nail down their vision for the country. Instead he is entering office immediately, to fill the hole left by the impeachment of the former president, Yoon Suk Yeol, who last December tried and failed to bring the country under martial electing Lee, with almost 50% of the vote , South Koreans have vehemently rejected the military dictatorship that was almost forced upon them. Lee campaigned on the promise that he would strengthen South Korea's democracy and unite the country, after a divisive and tumultuous six that will have to wait. First, he has a Donald Trump shaped crisis to avert. In the coming months, Trump has the power to destabilise South Korea's economy, its security, and its volatile relationship with North Koreans were dismayed when Trump slapped 25% tariffs on all Korean imports in April, after already hitting the country with aggressive tariffs on its core industries – steel and cars. They had assumed that being longstanding military allies from the days of the Korean War, and having a free-trade agreement with the US, would spare these tariffs take effect "they could trigger an economic crisis", a seasoned advisor to Lee's Democratic Party, Moon Chung-in, said. Before Trump's announcements, South Korea's economy was already slowing down. The martial law chaos constricted it further. Then, in the first quarter of this year, it contracted. Fixing this has been voters' number one demand, even above fixing their beleaguered democracy. But without a president, talks with Trump have been on hold. They cannot be put off any there is much more than South Korea's economy at stake in these US currently guarantees South Korea's security, by promising to come to its defence with both conventional and nuclear weapons, were it to be attacked by its nuclear-armed neighbour, North Korea. As part of this deal there are 28,500 US troops stationed in the Trump has made clear he does not plan to differentiate between trade and security when negotiating with South Korea, signalling that Seoul is not pulling its weight in either a post on his Truth Social platform in April, Trump said that during initial tariff talks with South Korea he had "discussed payment for the big time military protection we provide", calling it "beautiful and efficient one-stop shopping".This approach makes Seoul uniquely vulnerable. Evans Revere, a former senior US diplomat based in Seoul, fears a crisis is coming. "For the first time in our lifetime we have a US president who does not feel a moral and strategic obligation towards Korea".In his first term as president, Trump questioned the value of having US forces stationed in Korea and threatened to withdraw them unless Seoul paid more to have them. It seems likely he will demand more money this time may not want to pay more, but it can afford to. A bigger problem is that Trump's calculations, and that of his defence department, seem to have changed. This is no longer just about the money. Washington's top priority now in Asia is not just stopping North Korea attacking the South, it is also to contain China's military ambitions in the region and against Taiwan. Last year, a now senior US defence official, Elbridge Colby, said that South Korea was going to have to take "overwhelming responsibility for its own self-defence against North Korea", so the US could be ready to fight option is that the troops stationed here would switch their focus to constraining China. Another, touted by a couple of US defence officials last month, is that thousands of soldiers would be removed from the peninsula altogether and redeployed, and that Seoul's military would also have to play a role in deterring only could this put South Korea in a dangerous military predicament, but it would also create a diplomatically difficult Lee, who historically has been sceptical of Korea's alliance with the US, wants to use his presidency to improve relations with China, South Korea's powerful neighbour and trading partner. He has stated several times that South Korea should stay out of a conflict between China and Taiwan."We must keep our distance from a China-Taiwan contingency. We can get along with both", he said during a televised debate last month. The political advisor Mr Moon, who once served as national security advisor, reiterated Lee's concerns. "We are worried about America abandoning us, but at the same time we are worried about being entrapped in American strategy to contain and encircle China", he said. "If the US threatens us, we can let [the forces] go", he Mr Revere, the former US diplomat, this combination of Lee, Trump and China threatens to create "the perfect storm". "The two leaders may find themselves on very different pages and that could be a recipe for a problematic relationship. If this plays out, it would undermine peace and stability in North East Asia".In Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un will no doubt be watching closely, keen to exploit the shifting ground. His nuclear weapons programme is more dangerous than ever, and nothing or no-one has been able to convince him to wind it down - including Donald Trump who, during his first term, was the first US president to ever meet a North Korean returning to office Trump has indicated he would like to resume talks with Kim, which ended without agreement in 2019. In Seoul, there is real concern that this time the pair could strike a deal that is very bad for South fear is that Trump would take an "America first" approach, and ask Kim to stop producing his intercontinental ballistic missiles that threaten the US mainland, without addressing the multiple short-range nuclear weapons pointed at Seoul. And in return, Kim could demand a high price. Kim has far more leverage than he did in 2019. He has more nuclear warheads, his weapons are more advanced, and the sanctions that were supposed to put pressure on his regime have all but collapsed, thanks largely to Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader is providing Kim with economic and military support in return for North Korea's help fighting the war in therefore gives Kim the cover to make more audacious requests of the US. He could ask Trump to accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state, and agree to a deal that would reduce Pyongyang's weapons count rather than get rid of them altogether. Another of his requests could likely be for the US to remove some the security it provides South Korea, including the troops."North Korea is in the driver's seat now. The only curveball is how much risk President Trump will take", said Sydney Seiler, who was involved in the 2019 negotiations on the US side. "The idea there might be some sort of troop withdrawal [included in a deal] is really not that far-fetched".Mr Seiler stressed that the US would "not leave South Korea in the dust," but advised South Korea's new president to "establish a relationship with Trump early on", and be clear they expect to be part of any process, if talks new president must move quickly on all fronts, added Mr Revere, arguing that Lee's first homework assignment should be to come up with a list of 10 reasons why South Korea is an indispensable partner and why American dollars are being well spent; reasons that can convince a sceptical and transactional Trump. One Ace card South Korea is hoping to play is its shipbuilding prowess. It builds more vessels than any other country bar China, which is now the world's dominant ship builder and home to the largest naval fleet. This is a frightening prospect for the US whose own industry and navy are in month I visited South Korea's flagship shipyard in Ulsan on the south coast - the largest in the world – where Hyundai Heavy Industries builds 40-50 new ships a year, including naval destroyers. Sturdy cranes slotted together sheets of metal, creating vessels the size of small is hoping it can use this expertise to build, repair and maintain warships for the US, and in the process convince Washington it is a valuable partner."US shipbuilding difficulties are affecting their national security", said Jeong Woo Maan, head of strategy for Hyundai's naval and ship unit. "This is one of the strongest cards we have to negotiate with".In his campaign for president, Lee Jae-myung declared he did not want to rush into any agreements with Trump. Now in office, he could quickly find himself without this luxury.
Euronews
5 minutes ago
- Euronews
France leads crackdown on #SkinnyTok while Brussels plays catch-up
Under pressure from the French government, TikTok has banned the hashtag #SkinnyTok, a controversial trend linked to the glorification of extreme thinness and unhealthy weight-loss advice. The move comes amid mounting concerns across Europe over the platform's influence on young users and its role in promoting body image disorders. The French Ministry for Digital Affairs celebrated the removal as a significant step toward protecting minors online. 'This is a first collective victory,' Digital Minister Clara Chappaz wrote on X on Sunday, adding that she wants to ban social media platforms for minors under 15 years of age. The now-banned hashtag had amassed more than half a million posts, many glamorising extreme thinness, sharing guilt-inducing messages like "you aren't ugly, you are just fat." The content overwhelmingly featured young women, often filtered to appear thinner, reinforcing toxic body standards for millions of viewers across the world. However, despite the removal of the hashtag, concerns persist. Typing 'SkinnyTok' into the app now redirects users to wellness advice, but similar harmful content still thrives under altered or misspelled hashtags. For Charlyne Buiges, a nurse specialising in eating disorders who started the petition that helped push the issue into public view, the ban is a moment of validation: 'It's a great victory, I was very happy,' she said. 'I immediately reinstalled the TikTok application and went to see if it was really real. Once I saw the hashtag was banned, I told myself I didn't do all this for nothing," she told Euronews. Ella Marouani, a 22-year-old nursing student who has battled an eating disorder that she says was fueled by social media told Euronews she felt frustrated by the lack of action from the platform: 'I made several reports to TikTok about videos that were problematic and each time I was told that the rules of the community had not been violated' she said. Ella's experience paints a sobering picture of how early - and how easily - such content can shape a young person's self-image. 'I came across a few #SkinnyTok videos in my algorithm and they made me deeply angry,' she said. 'A few years ago, I would have probably believed in these videos so I am deeply angry for the young people who come across this content," she said. Health professionals have also been sounding the alarm. Lea Tourain, a Paris-based nutritionist, sees firsthand how distorted body ideals impact teenagers. 'I think it's really dangerous, and it scares me because it's becoming more and more fashionable,' she said. 'In my consultations, I have young girls who come with an image of themselves, with a filter, or simply with someone they follow on social media, who advocates extreme thinness and they ask me how to achieve the same body. It's very worrying," she explained in an interview with Euronews. Despite TikTok's claims that it enforces 'strict rules against body shaming and dangerous behaviour related to weight loss,' many say enforcement is either too weak or too slow. That's one of the key concerns for French Socialist MP Arthur Delaporte, who leads a parliamentary commission investigating social media's role in spreading harmful content. Delaporte is calling for a coordinated European response and tougher penalties for platforms that fail to act. 'We need to stop the digital giants from setting up dangerous and flawed algorithms that ultimately aggravate mental disorders,' he said. 'We do need to impose sanctions at European level, sanctions at an international level, fines if need be… at some point we need to bang our fists on the table and consider even banning the platform.' The European Commission, which launched a formal investigation into TikTok under the Digital Services Act (DSA) in February 2024, remained largely on the sidelines during this latest move. The absence of the Commission in this decision raised doubts about the EU's role in enforcing its own tech rules. Meanwhile, a growing number of European countries, including Belgium and Switzerland, also took their steps against the platform, just as France had done, circumventing Brussels. Belgium's Digital Minister Vanessa Matz had filed a formal complaint against TikTok and referred the issue to the Commission. In Switzerland, lawmakers are exploring ways to regulate the platform, possibly through age restrictions. Spain has cancelled a deal to purchase anti-tank missile systems that were to be manufactured in Madrid by a subsidiary of an Israeli company in a bid to move away from Israeli military technology, the Defence Ministry said on Tuesday. The decision will affect the license for 168 SPIKE LR2 anti-tank missile systems with an estimated value of €285 million. The systems would have been developed in Spain by Pap Tecnos, a Madrid-based subsidiary of Israel's Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, local media said. "The goal is clear...a total disconnection from Israeli technology," government spokesperson Pilar Alegría told reporters, adding the government is studying "the effects of the cancellation." Israel's Defence Ministry referred questions on the decision back to Rafael, which declined to comment. Pap Tecnos has not issued a comment either. Spain approved the deal on 3 October 2023 four days before the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. That attack left around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, dead. Hamas took 251 people as hostages, and is currently still holding 58 in Gaza, of whom fewer than 24 are believed to still be alive. Spain's leftist government says it stopped exporting arms to Israel as of 2 October that year, but there where reports some shipments slipped through. Authorities argued at the time that the systems used by the Spanish forces were obsolete and should be replaced for up-to-date versions like those used by allied armies. Spain formally recognised a Palestinian state in May 2024 in a coordinated effort with Norway and Ireland. A month later, Spain became the first European country to ask the top United Nations court, the International Court of Justice, permission to join a case mounted by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza. Israel strongly denies the charge. There has been growing concern in the west about the Israeli military offensive in Gaza which has to date killed 54,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry whose figures do not distinguish between fighters and civilians. Last week, Israel's Foreign Ministry accused French President Emmanuel Macron of being on a "crusade against the Jewish state," after he urged the international community to harden its stance towards Israel if the humanitarian situation in Gaza doesn't improve. "There is no humanitarian blockade. This is a blatant lie," the ministry said, defending its control over the flow of aid into the enclave. "But instead of putting pressure on jihadist terrorists, Macron wants to reward them with a Palestinian state. No doubt his national holiday will be October 7," the statement said, referring to the 7 October 2023 militant attack on Israel. During a three-hour televised interview earlier in May, Macron said Europe should consider sanctioning Israel over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands are thought to be now facing starvation. And last month, the UK government said it was suspending free trade negotiations with Israel and had introduced new sanctions on settlements in the West Bank as Westminster ramped up its criticism of the ongoing military operation in Gaza. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the UK's existing trade agreement with Israel remains in effect but the government couldn't continue discussions with an administration pursuing what he called "egregious" policies in the two territories. Those remarks followed a joint condemnation he issued on 19 May with Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that marked one of the most significant criticisms by close allies of Israel's handling of the war in Gaza and its actions in the West Bank.
Finextra
6 minutes ago
- Finextra
BCP launches British pound stablecoin
BCP Technologies has launched the first British pound-backed stablecoin from an FCA-registered crypto issuer. 0 BCP's tokenised GBP (tGBP) is backed 1:1 by reserves held in a segregated account at a UK-regulated financial institution and is fully redeemable for sterling at any time. BCP says the stablecoin is now live after more than a year-long review process, including a month in the FCA's regulatory sandbox. As the stablecoin market heats up, the firm is hoping to take advantage of the fact that GBP options have so far been limited, typically issued by offshore entities with low liquidity. It says that tGBP uses the reliability of UK financial infrastructure for the minting and redeeming process and has the flexibility and speed of blockchain technology. Benoit Marzouk, CEO, BCP Technologies, says: "tGBP supports a broad range of use cases: GBP self-custody for retail and corporates to bring an alternative from banks (and their inherent fractional reserve risk), cross-border payments, institutional collateral management, a GBP option for DeFi lending protocols and a GBP on-chain access for bitcoin-backed loans. "It might also be used in the future as the main GBP rail for settling tokenised assets like bonds, securities, or real estate."
