A senior official in Paraguay, Arnaldo Chamorro, has lost his job after announcing he'd signed a deal with the fictional United States of Kailasa, dreamed up by a Hindu cult leader who fled India's legal system. The chief of staff at Paraguay's Agriculture Ministry, Arnaldo Chamorro, was replaced this week after admitting he'd been conned into talks and signing a memorandum of understanding with representatives of a non-existent country.  Chamorro told reporters on Thursday that purported officials from the "United States of Kailasa" had told him the country was a South American island.  "They came and expressed a wish to help Paraguay," he said. "They presented several projects, we listened to them and that was that."  He had been replaced on Wednesday, he said.  He said the fake officials also met Agriculture Minister Carlos Gimenez and that their motives for duping him were not clear.  MoU pledged to seek diplomatic relations and UN membership Chamorro and Paraguay's Agriculture Ministry are not the first officials to fall for tricks by representatives of the "United States of Kailasa," whose purported "pontiff" and leader is a Hindu cult leader who goes by the name "Nithyananda."  The memorandum signed by the two parties had envisaged the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two "countries." In the document, complete with the ministry's letterhead and official seal, Chamorro salutes "the honorable Nithyananda Paramashivam, sovereign of the United States of Kailasa" and praises his "contributions to Hinduism, humanity and the Republic of Paraguay." The memorandum also called for Paraguay to push for Kailasa's acceptance into "various international organizations, including the United Nations." The agriculture ministry in a statement lamented "procedural errors" committed and said the memorandum "cannot be considered official" nor could it confer any obligations on the state of Paraguay. Hindu cult leader, fugitive and 'pontiff'  Nithyananda, a self-styled guru, fled India in 2019, wanted on various criminal charges, including sex offenses. His whereabouts remains unknown.  People purporting to represent the United States of Kailasa attended two UN events in Geneva earlier this year. UN officials later said their comments would be disregarded.  The City of Newark in the US also had to issue an apology for a "regrettable incident" after Mayor Ras Baraka entertained a delegation from the United States of Kailasa for five days and signed a sister city partnership deal.  The fictional state has an active social media presence, often either celebrating supposed government initiatives or sharing similar agreements purportedly made with prominent people or organizations.  On Kailasa's website, the fictional country is described as the "revival of the ancient enlightened Hindu civilizational nation which is being revived by displaced Hindus from around the world."

Sam Altman, the highly popular face of OpenAI, the parent company behind AI chatbot ChatGPT, has been fired after a "deliberate review process" by the board of directors. Altman said "he loved his time" at the company. Sam Altman, the founder and CEO of OpenAI, has departed the company, its board of directors said Friday. OpenAI is behind the pioneering AI chatbot ChatGPT. OpenAI's board wrote in a statement that Altman will step down as CEO and will be replaced temporarily by Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati. The search for a permanent CEO continues, the statement read. Altman's departure follows 'deliberate review process' "Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board," the company said, "which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities." Altman acknowledged he was leaving OpenAI in a post on X, formerly Twitter, but did not say anything about his interaction with the board. "i loved my time at openai. it was transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit. most of all i loved working with such talented people. will have more to say about what’s next later," he wrote. The board also said that OpenAI President Greg Brockman will be stepping down as chairman of the board but "will remain in his role at the company, reporting to the CEO." The company said its board consists of OpenAI's chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, and three non-employees: Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo, tech entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, and Helen Toner of the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology. Altman: a well-known face of AI Altman helped start OpenAI as a nonprofit research laboratory in 2015 and his profile grew as the popularity of ChatGPT grew over the last few years. He became a well-known face in the halls of government in debates over AI regulation and on a world tour earlier this year, he was mobbed by a crowd of adoring fans at an event in London. OpenAI’s key business partner, Microsoft, which has invested billions of dollars into the startup and helped provide the computing power to run its AI systems, said the transition won’t affect its relationship. 

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has been ousted from power after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership. The vote was held past midnight after opposition parties brought a motion against him, following days of drama. The motion was first brought against Mr Khan last week, but he blocked it by dissolving parliament. Sunday's vote took place after the country's Supreme Court ruled in favour of opposition parties and said that Mr Khan had acted unconstitutionally. Mr Khan is now the first Pakistani prime minister to be ousted by a no-confidence vote. Pakistan's parliament will meet to vote for the country's new leader on Monday. That person will be able to hold power until October 2023, when the next election is due to be held. Ayaz Sadiq, who is in charge of the national assembly while there are no ruling party members or designated speakers, said nomination papers for candidates should be filed by 11:00 local time (06:00 GMT) on Sunday. Opposition parties were able to secure 174 votes in the 342-member house in support of the no-confidence motion, the house speaker said, making it a majority vote. In a tweet, opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan and its parliament were "finally freed from a serious crisis". Mr Sharif added: "Congratulations to the Pakistani nation on a new dawn." ‘International Conspiracy’’ Mr Khan had said he would not recognise an opposition government, claiming - without evidence - that there was a US-led conspiracy to remove him because of his refusal to stand with Washington on issues against Russia and China. . He has repeatedly said that Pakistan's opposition parties are working with foreign powers. The US has said there is "no truth" in these allegations, and Mr Khan has never provided any evidence. He visited Moscow to meet President Vladimir Putin as Russia was launching the invasion of Ukraine and has previously criticised what the Bush administration called the war on terror. Minutes before the vote started, the speaker of Pakistan's lower house of parliament - an ally of Mr Khan - announced his resignation. Members of Mr Khan's party (PTI) left the building, insisting he was the victim of an international conspiracy. Fall from favour The former captain of Pakistan's national cricket team was elected prime minister in 2018, and promised to fight corruption and fix the economy. But those pledges have gone unmet with the country gripped by a financial crisis. In late March a series of defections deprived him of his majority and left him fighting for his political career. The BBC's Secunder Kermani says Mr Khan is widely regarded as having come to power with the help of Pakistan's army, but now observers say they have fallen out. PTI senator Faisal Javed Khan said Mr Khan walked out of his prime ministerial residence "gracefully and he didn't bow down". The senator went on to say that the former prime minister had "lifted the entire nation". What happened last weekend? The vote was due to take place in parliament, but deputy speaker Qasim Suri - a member of Mr Khan's political party - swiftly blocked the motion, saying it showed "foreign interference". Mr Suri also said that it went against the constitution, which calls for loyalty to the state. Mr Khan's government went on to dissolve parliament and called for a snap election to be held. This angered several opposition members, with some accusing the prime minister of treason for blocking the vote. Opposition figures submitted a petition to the Supreme Court to assess the situation. On Thursday, Pakistan's top court ruled that Mr Khan's decision to stop the vote from going ahead was unconstitutional. It ordered that the no-confidence vote should go ahead again. However an impasse over the vote continued well into Saturday evening, prompting the speaker of the lower house of parliament - Asad Qaiser, an ally of Mr Khan - to resign. Source: BBC AH

Sri Lanka’s president on Sunday reappointed as prime minister the same man he sacked from the job nearly two months ago, ending a power struggle that paralyzed the island nation. Ranil Wickremesinghe, whose shock dismissal in late October threw Sri Lanka into an unprecedented constitutional crisis, was sworn in at a closed-door ceremony in the president’s office in Colombo. Reports AFP. The 69-year-old had refused to step aside since being dumped and replaced by controversial strongman Mahinda Rajapakse — leaving the country with two men claiming the premiership and no functioning government. The ousted premier had long asserted his dismissal was illegal, a view supported by Sri Lanka’s parliament which six times voted against Rajapakse’s claim to rule during tumultuous sessions that erupted into brawls. President Maithripala Sirisena had refused to bow to pressure as the country drifted, declaring he would never reappoint Wickremesinghe and deriding his once-ally in public speeches as their alliance imploded. The acrimony between the two was underscored Sunday when Sirisena berated Wickremesinghe and his supporters at length following the swearing-in, one legislator present told AFP. After the frosty reception, which Sirisena closed to the press, the reinstated prime minister thanked parliament and “all those who campaigned to restore democracy”. “The first priority is to restore normality,” he said in a brief address to the nation. “The work we initiated had been brought to a standstill.” There was no immediate reaction from Sirisena or Rajapakse, who stood down Saturday. But Namal Rajapakse, his son and also a legislator, publicly extended his congratulations to Wickremesinghe. India, which like the United States and others in the global community urged the warring factions to resolve their differences, welcomed an end to hostilities. “This is a reflection of the maturity demonstrated by all political forces, and also of the resilience of Sri Lankan democracy and its institutions,” India’s foreign ministry spokesman said Sunday. Wickremesinghe said he will form a cabinet in the coming days. Officials said priority will be given to the 2019 budget — without which Sri Lanka risks government shutdown and defaulting on its sizeable foreign debt. – Bitter end – Sirisena’s resistance became untenable after the country’s highest court last week ruled that he acted outside the constitution when he dissolved parliament on November 9 and called early elections. Some factions within Sri Lanka’s parliament have pushed for Sirisena to be investigated — and possibly impeached — for orchestrating what they say was a coup. Rajapakse, who Sirisena appointed in a sudden, late-night oath-taking ceremony, pressed ahead forming a purported government and naming a cabinet even as parliament cut off state funds to his office. The Supreme Court confirmed Rajapakse could not exercise the powers of a prime minister until he proved his legitimacy — which without enough support in parliament was impossible. On Saturday Rajapakse — who presided over the bloody end to Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009 — backed down, signaling the standoff had come to a bitter close. However, the strongman, whose past administrations were accused of gross rights abuses and whose family still holds considerable sway in Sri Lanka, promised to make a comeback at local elections next year. “There is no doubt at all that the people who stood by us since 2015 (when he lost the presidential election) will continue to support us in the future as well,” he said addressing his close associates. “We will bring the forces opposed to the country down to their knees by organizing the people.” The country has been heading for a government shutdown as parliament failed to approve spending for 2019, and credit rating agencies downgraded its debt amid fears of a sovereign default. There were doubts about the country’s ability to repay $1.5 billion due to bond holders by January 10 without a legitimate administration in power. AH

The accountability court on Friday announced the verdict in the Avenfield corruption reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of Pakistan, handing ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif 10 years as jail time for owning assets beyond income and 1 year for not cooperating with NAB. The sentences will run concurrently which means the former prime minister will serve 10 years in jail. His daughter Maryam Nawaz was handed 7 years for abetment in the purchase of the high-end properties in London, and 1 year for non-cooperation with the bureau — also to run concurrently; she will serve 7 years in total. Son-in-law Captain Safdar has been given 1 year jail time — also for not cooperating with NAB. Nawaz has been handed a fine of 8 million pounds, while Maryam has been fined 2million pounds. The money will go into the state treasury. According to AFP, prosecution lawyer Sardar Muzaffar Abbas also said that the court had ordered the properties, in London's exclusive Mayfair, be confiscated by the federal government. NAB had filed the reference, along with two others, on the Supreme Court's directives in the landmark Panamagate verdict last year which deseated Nawaz as the prime minister. Four members of the Sharif family ─ Nawaz, Maryam, Hassan and Hussain ─ are in London, while Captain Safdar is in Pakistan, but was not present in court. Soon after the verdict, Maryam took to Twitter to share this message: "This is a very small punishment for firmly standing in front of unseen forces. The morale to fight against oppression has increased today." NAB will now wait for a certain time period for all three convicts to surrender. If they fail to do so, NAB will initiate the procedure to bring Maryam and Nawaz back, and arrest Safdar. Source: Dawn. AH