CHINA
China fights ‘fake news’
Beijing has issued new rules banning online video and audio providers from using artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) technologies to produce “fake news.” The regulation published on Friday by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said that providers and users of online video news and audio services are “not allowed” to use new technologies to create, distribute and broadcast “fake news.” “Fake news” has been generalized to mean anything from a mistake to a parody, or a deliberate misinterpretation of facts. The rules come into effect on Jan. 1. Failure to follow them could be considered a criminal offense, the administration said, without offering details on punishments. The regulations particularly stressed the dangers of “deepfakes,” or technology that manipulates videos to appear genuine, but which depict events or speech that never happened. Deepfake technologies could “disrupt social order and violate people’s interests, creating political risks and bringing a negative impact to national security and social stability,” the administration said.
MALTA
PM under pressure to quit
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on Friday came under increasing pressure to resign, as protesters cried foul over the latest twist in the case of slain investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital, Valletta, after Muscat refused to give immunity to the main suspect in the 2017 murder, tycoon Yorgen Fenech, to disclose what he knows about the case. Fenech has identified Muscat’s former chief of staff, Keith Schembri, as the mastermind behind Caruana Galizia’s 2017 car bomb killing, according to sources. Schembri was arrested on Tuesday, but his release on Thursday sparked accusations of a cover-up. Muscat, who has vowed to resign if links were found between himself and the murder, said that he would remain in power.
SINGAPORE
Facebook issues correction
Facebook yesterday issued its first correction notice on a user’s post at the request of the government, according to the notice seen by reporters. The government said on Friday that it ordered Facebook to publish a correction on a user’s social media post under a new “fake news” law, raising fresh questions about how the company would adhere to government requests to regulate content. “Facebook is legally required to tell you that the Singapore government says this post has false information,” the notice said. The correction notice was embedded at the bottom of the original post without any alterations to the text.
UNITED kINGDOM
Journalist sentenced
A journalist with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV was on Friday convicted of slapping an activist with the Conservative Party during a debate about Hong Kong. Kong Linlin (孔琳琳), 49, was given a suspended sentence for assaulting Enoch Lieu at a fringe meeting at the Conservatives’ annual conference. She shouted at human rights activists on the panel that they were “trying to separate China” and when Lieu asked her to leave, she slapped him, the city’s magistrates court heard. He gave Kong a 12-month conditional discharge, meaning she would not be jailed unless a further offense is committed within that period. He also ordered her to pay costs, a victim surcharge and compensation.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of