World News: 21 February 2023

Putin delivers a nuclear warning to the West over Ukraine
Russia and the United States still have vast arsenals of nuclear weapons left over from the Cold War. They are by far the biggest nuclear powers, holding between them 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads.
The New START Treaty limited both sides to 1,550 warheads on deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine ballistic missiles and heavy bombers. Both sides met the central limits by 2018.

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ChatGPT launches boom in AI-written e-books on Amazon
The emergence of software has already rattled some of the biggest tech firms, with Alphabet Inc ( GOOGL.O ) and Microsoft Corp ( MSFT.O ) respectively Google and prompted Bing to hastily debut new AI-infused features.
ChatGPT’s rapid consumer adoption has fueled a frenzy of activity in tech circles, as investors pour money into AI startups and take new aim at tech firms amid the gloom of mass layoffs. Microsoft first got a lot of coverage on its otherwise dead Bing search engine after it showed off an integration with ChatGPT this month.

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Panic as Turkey, Syria rocked again by 6.3M earthquake
Two Reuters reporters said the tremors were strong and lasting, damaging buildings and leaving dust in the night air in central Antakya city, where it was centred. It was also felt in Egypt and Lebanon, Reuters reporters said.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said the tremor struck at a shallow depth of 2 km (1.2 miles).

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South Korean court grants legal status for same-sex couple in landmark ruling
The Seoul High Court's ruling is the court's "first recognition of the legal status of a same-sex couple," lawyer Park Han-hee, who represented the plaintiff, said, according to Yonhap.
South Korea does not legally recognize same-sex marriage.
The plaintiff, So Sung-wook, filed a suit against the National Health Insurance Service in 2021 after the state health insurer denied his rights to receive spousal coverage despite granting such rights to other common law couples.

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‘Unspeakable botch’: Spain spends €258 million on trains that are too big for its tunnels
Built in the 19th century, the region’s rail network crosses a mountainous landscape. It has varying tunnel sizes that do not adhere to standardised modern dimensions.

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Botswana loses a third of its rhinos in five years
Botswana’s Tourism minister Philda Kereng Monday addressed parliament where she told lawmakers that over 138 rhinos were slaughtered between 2018 and 2022, a surged statistic in comparison to the reports of two rhinos poached in the preceding five years from 2012-2017.
Kereng’s parliamentary address showed that rhino killings rose to seven in 2018, before spiking to 30 the following year. In 2020 the killings rose again to 62 but halved to 33 in 2021 before dropping to six last year.

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