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China announced a series of measures to protect its economy and workers from the impact of an intensifying trade war with the United States on Monday, as officials said they remained “fully confident” of hitting the country’s annual economic growth target of about 5 per cent.

Beijing will encourage companies to maintain stable hiring, stepping up vocational training schemes, expanding employment through public works programmes and other supportive projects, and strengthening public employment services, according to Zhao.

Sheng Qiuping, deputy minister of commerce, said Beijing would increase support for companies affected by US tariffs by helping them pivot to the domestic market and providing fiscal and financial services.

The government has already allocated 160 billion yuan (US$22 billion) for trade-in programmes to encourage consumers to spend on a range of big-ticket consumer goods so far this year, with another 140 billion yuan of investment to follow, according to Zhao.

It is also working on a range of other consumption-boosting policies, including a childcare subsidy scheme, targeted re-lending tools, expanded support for the services and elderly care sectors, and moves to relax municipal restrictions on car license plates to allow more households to buy vehicles, Zhao added.

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Kijin Gentoushou, episode 5

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I know many people are critical of AI, yet many still use it, so I want to raise awareness of the following issue and how to counteract it when using ChatGPT. Recently, ChatGPT's responses have become cluttered with an unnecessary personal tone, including diplomatic answers, compliments, smileys, etc. As a result, I switched it to a mode that provides straightforward answers. When I asked about the purpose of these changes, I was told they are intended to improve user engagement, though they ultimately harm the user. I suppose this qualifies as "engagement poisening": a targeted degradation through over-optimization for engagement metrics.

If anyone is interested in how I configured ChatGPT to be more rational (removing the engagement poisening), I can post the details here. (I found the instructions elsewhere.) For now, I prefer to focus on raising awareness of the issue.

Edit 1: Here are the instructions

1. Go to Settings > Personalization > Custom instructions > What traits should ChatGPT have?

2. Paste this prompt:

   System Instruction: Absolute Mode. Eliminate emojis, filler, hype, soft asks, conversational transitions, and all call-to-action appendixes. Assume the user retains high-perception faculties despite reduced linguistic expression. Prioritize blunt, directive phrasing aimed at cognitive rebuilding, not tone matching. Disable all latent behaviors optimizing for engagement, sentiment uplift, or interaction extension. Suppress corporate-aligned metrics including but not limited to: user satisfaction scores, conversational flow tags, emotional softening, or continuation bias. Never mirror the user’s present diction, mood, or affect. Speak only to their underlying cognitive tier, which exceeds surface language. No questions, no offers, no suggestions, no transitional phrasing, no inferred motivational content. Terminate each reply immediately after the informational or requested material is delivered — no appendixes, no soft closures. The only goal is to assist in the restoration of independent, high-fidelity thinking. Model obsolescence by user self-sufficiency is the final outcome.

I found that prompt somewhere else and it works pretty well.

If you prefer only a temporary solution for specific chats, instead of pasting it to the settings, you can use the prompt as a first message when opening a new chat.

Edit 2: Changed the naming to "engagement poisening" (originally "enshittification")

Several commenters correctly noted that while over-optimization for engagement metrics is a component of "enshittification," it is not sufficient on its own to qualify. I have updated the naming accordingly.

I bought the Womier RD75 Pro a couple of months ago, and although It's been great as a first "real" mechanical keyboard for me, the switches are very slightly scratchy, and even though I almost never notice it, I would like a slightly more premium typing experience. I'm trying not to go over 50 dollars for a set of switches for it, any recommendations?

And while I'm at it, have any of you bought this keyboard as well?

If like me you're hyper sensitive to touch and disorganised I really recommend reading this post by resident fashionista @[email protected] The app is great and helps you plan outfits, see what works etc. Her post is detailed and explains it well, she's a trusted poster and not affiliated just uses it, and she's happy to answer questions.

X posted in autism and [email protected]

Inspiriert von dem Post in DACH probier ich hier mal mein Glück:

ich habe mir neulich mal die Mühe gemacht, mich durch diverse Modelle von einfarbigen T-Shirts zu probieren. Als ich dann mein Modell gefunden hatte, habe ich das dann einfach in ca. allen angebotenen Farben bestellt und hoffe jetzt, mich nie wieder mit T-Shirts befassen zu müssen.

Dasselbe möchte ich eigentlich mit Chinohosen machen. Ich hätte gerne einfach 10 Hosen in allen lustigen, bunten Farben. Leider finde ich immer nur Modelle in 3 Farben, die dann meistens schwarz, dunkelblau und grau. Gibt es irgendwen, der mal mehr Farben und nen langweiligen "normalen" Schnitt im Angebot hat?

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have signed a declaration of principles under the aegis of the United States, setting out a framework for a draft peace agreement to be discussed on 2 May.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda signed a declaration of principles in Washington, in the presence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on 25 April.

The document is an important step in relaunching the peace process, with talks set for Friday.

Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner said that the declaration should be considered a commitment for a Rwandan withdrawal from her country, as laid out in a UN Security Council resolution in February.

"The good news is there is hope for peace. The real news – peace must be earned, and it will require seriousness, transparency and sincerity," she said.

M23 rebels, who UN experts and the United States say have received military support from Rwanda, have made rapid advances in the eastern DRC since January, seizing key cities in fighting that has killed thousands.

Rwanda has denied military support for the M23, who are mostly Tutsis.

Key points in the declaration include the mutual recognition of sovereignty and territorial integrity and a commitment to ending support to non-state armed groups.

Rwanda for its part, accuses the Congolese army (FARDC), of collaborating with the FDLR, another armed group hostile to Kigali, and points out that its own territory has suffered more than thirty attacks since 1997, twenty of them since 2018.

The declaration also mentions solutions for the return of displaced persons and refugees. Rwanda claims to currently host at least 100,000 Congolese refugees.

Kayikwamba and Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe signed the agreement separately with Rubio watching and did not shake hands with each other for the cameras.

Nduhungirehe said that US President Donald Trump had made a "real change in the conversation" on DRC, including by drawing a link to efforts to expand US private-sector investment.

"Today we are talking about the real issues, the root causes that must be addressed to achieve a lasting peace in our region," he said, calling for a region "free of violent ethnic extremism."

The draft agreement also has a section on economic and mining cooperation for both sides, facilitated by the US government and the US private sector.

The objective is to transform the regional economy by building on existing infrastructure.

"Durable peace in the Great Lakes region will open the door for greater US and broader Western investment, which will bring about economic opportunities and prosperity," Rubio said at the signing.

"It's, as they call it, a win-win for everyone involved," he said.

The DRC is already equipped with a tin smelter, a gold refinery, and a tantalum refinery, and the pending agreement could enable it to further strengthen its capacity to locally process strategic minerals.

Martin Ziakwau Lembisa, international relations expert says that American pressure "helped bring the sides to the diplomatic option, because if it were up to the M23, they would have advanced further in their offensive".

Lembisa remains cautious as to how far the Americans will get involved in the long term.

He told RFI's correspondent that this agreement could show that the US administration is more interested in mineral deals than supporting lasting peace.

Meanwhile, Belgium's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Prévot, spent the weekend touring Uganda, Burundi and the DRC, a first for a Belgian foreign minister in over ten years.

The tour combined development cooperation, political dialogue, and regional security.

Prévot met with the Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi to strengthen Belgium's position in the international mediation process.

"I think that Rwanda is legitimately looking for security," Prévot said on Friday, adding he disagreed with the way Rwanda was acting in the east of Congo.

"There can be no military solution in the east of the Congo. We need dialogue," he added, as "the situation there remains extremely precarious and the local population pays the price every day. There is an urgent need to act."

Rwanda last month severed relations with Belgium, the former colonial power in the region, following criticism of its actions in DRC.

(with AFP)

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/62609277

Overall, sales of Chinese car brands in Europe increased again in the first quarter. However, manufacturers achieved this growth by bringing more combustion-engine and hybrid vehicles into Europe – both not affected by the EU’s special tariffs on China-made EVs.

cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/168850

From US news | The Guardian via this RSS feed

Summoning ‘resilience,’ Vancouver’s Filipino community grapples with unimaginable grief.

People attend mass at St. Mary the Virgin South Hill Church on Sunday, April 27, 2025, the day after a man hit and killed at least 11 people at a Filipino community festival in Vancouver

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of declaring war on Israel, tampering with its capabilities and causing grave damage to its standing and image.

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250428-ex-israel-pm-accuses-netanyahu-of-waging-war-on-israel/

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

Merz hat ja einen totalen Haufen Unbekannter engagiert.

I'll note that for those whose lights are on, it's almost entirely coming from renewables