Facebook Shuts Down Facial Recognition Technology

• 11, 02, 2021
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Facebook says it is shutting down its facial recognition system.

Citing “growing societal concerns” about the technology that can automatically identify people in photos and videos, the company says it will continue to work on the technology to try to address issues. 

“Regulators are still in the process of providing a clear set of rules governing its use,” Jerome Pesenti, vice president of artificial intelligence at Facebook, said in a blog post. “Amid this ongoing uncertainty, we believe that limiting the use of facial recognition to a narrow set of use cases is appropriate.” 

The move will delete the “facial recognition templates” of more than 1 billion people, Reuters reported. Facebook said that one-third of its daily active users opted into the technology. 

The deletions should be done by December, the company said.

The company also said that a tool that creates audible descriptions of photos for the visually impaired will function normally, but will no longer include the names of people in photos. 

Facebook, which rebranded itself as Meta last week, doesn’t appear to be shutting the door permanently on facial recognition. 

“Looking ahead, we still see facial recognition technology as a powerful tool, for example, for people needing to verify their identity or to prevent fraud and impersonation,” the company wrote, adding it will “continue working on these technologies and engaging outside experts.” 

Some information in this report came from Reuters.
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Russia Grappling With Soaring COVID Cases Amid Vaccine Hesitancy

• 11, 02, 2021
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Wealthy Russians didn’t delay their escape. 

Ahead of the imposition this week of new nationwide pandemic restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus, they headed to Turkey, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Or to Black Sea resorts, such as Sochi, which was anticipating an influx this week of 100,000 tourists from northern Russia.

Travel agencies reported bookings soaring for tour packages. 

The Kremlin hopes the new restrictions, which will see Russians required to take paid leave from October 30 to November 7, will slow record infections and deaths. Russian officials have sought to discourage travel but to little avail.

Last week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow, “Epidemiologists have raised concerns that many people are planning to go on trips and travel.”

Whether the weeklong involuntary public holiday will slow the pace of infections remains to be seen, say health experts. The latest wave of the pandemic — the country’s fourth and most deadly — has been fueled by widespread vaccine hesitancy. 

Only 32% percent of Russia’s population is fully vaccinated, and according to a survey published this week by the Levada Center, a Moscow-based pollster, half of the respondents said they are unafraid of contracting the coronavirus. And three out of four unvaccinated Russians aren’t planning to get inoculated, according to an opinion poll conducted last month by international pollster Gallup.

Former Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev publicly warned Monday of the urgency of persuading more Russians to get vaccinated.

“If we do not find ways to convince people of their irresponsibility, even, to put it bluntly, their antisocial behavior, we will face even more difficult times,” he said. Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is widely available. 

In the last few weeks, the number of recorded COVID-19 cases has risen inexorably, with records broken day after day. By ordering most state organizations and private businesses to stop work, except for those involved in maintaining critical infrastructure, the Kremlin hopes the trend can be reversed. 

Five regions — Kursk, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, Samara and Voronezh — started the non-work period earlier than others and are likely to see their off-work period extended beyond November 7. The governor of Novgorod, Andrey Nikitin, has already announced he is prolonging the non-work period in his region by an additional week. 

“We’re extending the period of non-working days by one week, with the preservation of wages,” Nikitin announced Monday.

Rosstat, the Russian government’s statistics department, reported Friday that 201,945 people died from all causes during the month of September — a 45% jump from the same month in 2019. Excess deaths — a measure comparing fatalities from all causes to pre-pandemic levels — is seen by some experts as a more robust indicator of pandemic deaths, because the official coronavirus tallies leave out many people who died without being tested.

The Kremlin has been accused of playing down the COVID-19 death toll since the start of the pandemic. According to the official pandemic tally, 235,000 Russian deaths are COVID-related, the fourth-highest in the world. But excess deaths since the arrival of the coronavirus have reached almost 750,000.

Officially, more than 8.5 million infections have been recorded in the country since the pandemic struck. On Monday, Russia health officials reported more than 40,000 fresh coronavirus cases. 

The pressure on the country’s health service is mounting, which the Kremlin is now acknowledging. Some regions have reported oxygen shortages because of surging cases.

“Of course, the situation is not straightforward. Beds are filled to a large extent, and these days, the situation is not becoming easier,” Peskov told reporters in the Russian capital. “This is an excessive and extraordinary burden on our doctors, who are demonstrating heroism with what is happening.”

Shortly before he spoke, the state-run Tass news agency reported the Kremlin is planning to introduce a nationwide digital pass system similar to the European Union’s which will allow Russians to show proof of vaccination or recent recovery from the coronavirus. Entry to public buildings and events is likely to be restricted to those armed with a digital pass. Many regions have already implemented a pass system and have mandated vaccinations for their public workers.

Officials hope the digital pass system will undermine a roaring trade in counterfeit health certificates. The 47News outlet, which is based in St. Petersburg, reported this week on the sophisticated operations of counterfeiters who offer falsified COVID-19 test certificates. It said clients are charged 2,550 rubles ($36) to receive a fake negative test result within three hours; forged documents contain a QR code that links to a fake laboratory website. 
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Russia Holds Black Sea Navy Drills With Eye on US Ships 

• 11, 02, 2021
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Russia’s Black Sea naval forces practiced destroying enemy targets on Tuesday as Moscow bristled at the presence of two U.S. warships in the area. 

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russian forces could observe the USS Mount Whitney navy command ship “through binoculars or in the crosshairs of its … defense systems” and complained about NATO activity near Russia’s borders. 

On Tuesday, the Black Sea fleet said its ships had rehearsed destroying enemy targets and that their air defense systems had been put on alert at its bases in Novorossiysk and on annexed Crimea, the Interfax news agency reported. 

“They … destroyed airborne targets of a mock enemy with anti-aircraft missile weapons and artillery,” it said in a statement. 

Russia has previously warned Western countries against sending warships to the Black Sea and approaching the coast of Crimea, the peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Russia considers Crimea part of its territory, but the peninsula is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. 

The U.S. Navy said on Monday that the USS Mount Whitney had arrived in Istanbul and that it would soon join forces with other ships in the Black Sea. 

“Following this port visit, Mount Whitney will join USS Porter (DDG 78) in the Black Sea to further enhance collaboration between U.S. and NATO forces at sea,” the U.S. Navy said in a statement. 

The Kremlin on Tuesday rejected as a “low-quality fake” a U.S. media report about a Russian military buildup near Ukraine, although it said it was up to Moscow where it moved troops around on its territory. 

The Politico news outlet reported that commercial satellite photos taken on Monday confirmed recent reports that Russia is once again massing troops and military equipment on the border with Ukraine after a major buildup this spring. 

Ukraine said on Monday it had not observed any increase in Russian troops or equipment near the border. 

A NATO official said: “NATO is vigilant and routinely monitors Russian force movements. It’s important to ensure transparency and avoid any miscalculation.” 

Russia has repeatedly accused NATO of carrying out provocative activities close to its borders. The alliance says it is determined to reinforce the security of member states close to Russia following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and its backing for pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
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Taiwan Chip Giant to Expand to Japan

• 11, 02, 2021
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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), one of the world’s largest chipmakers, has announced plans to build a new plant in Japan, a move experts say may help revive Japan’s declining chipmaking sector and bolster its economic security.

The new plant is slated to begin operation in 2024, said CEO C.C. Wei,

who announced the expansion. The operation will expand TSMC’s worldwide production while fostering Taiwan’s economic ties to Japan, according to Yukan Fuji, a Japanese newspaper.

The move comes as Japanese manufacturers and others eye Beijing’s intentions toward Taiwan, where most TSMC plants are located. Any disruption in Taiwan affecting TSMC production could strain the global supply chain to the snapping point.

“We have received strong commitment to supporting this project from our customers and the Japanese government,” said Wei.

The Japanese government intends to subsidize about half of TSMC’s roughly $8.81 billion project, according to TechTaiwan. 

Kazuto Suzuki, a University of Tokyo professor who focuses on public policy, told VOA Mandarin that it is “very important” that “Sony and Toyota’s parts manufacturer Denso is also invested in the joint construction. … Furthermore, TSMC’s products are tailored to demand. With Sony’s vast customer base, TSMC can establish a model of close communication with customers and create products with higher customer satisfaction.” 

TSMC’s plans to build a new plant in Japan are part of its global expansion.  

The chipmaker is already building a $12 billion facility in the U.S. state of Arizona, where production is expected to begin in 2024. The plant is slated to produce 5-nanometer chips, the latest in semiconductor technology.

Decreasing reliance on China

Expanding into Japan will bolster that country’s chipmaking. “We expect our country’s semiconductor industry to become more indispensable and self-reliant, making a major contribution to our economic security,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters on October 14, after TSMC’s announcement.

“The increasingly tense relationship between Taiwan and China has increased geopolitical pressure on the supply chain, so the world is rebuilding the supply chain to break away from dependence on China,” Ruay-Shiung Chang, chancellor of Taipei University of Commerce, told VOA Mandarin. 

“From the perspective of risk management, Western countries and China will inevitably be polarized in the future, and many industry standards may become interchangeable,” he added.

Suzuki believes that TSMC’s plan will make the company an “economic and trade friendship ambassador” to Japan as the economic link between Tokyo and Beijing deteriorates. 

“Since the Trump administration, exports of semiconductors to China have been restricted. For example, Japan no longer cooperates with Huawei,” he said, referring to the Chinese tech multinational targeted by the U.S. for its close ties to Beijing. “So regardless of whether TSMC enters Japan or not, the semiconductor industry ties between Japan and China are a big problem, and there is currently no solution.” 

Impact on other chipmaking countries

Nikkei Asia reported that if TSMC accepted financing from the Japanese government, South Korea and other countries could file complaints with the World Trade Organization (WTO), citing the loss of semiconductor exports to subsidized plants in Japan. 

“How about South Korea’s subsidies for its own domestic [chipmakers]?” Chang said. The South Korean government said in May that it plans to offer tax incentives and state subsidies worth a combined $453 billion to chipmakers to meet the government’s goal of becoming a global leader in chip production, according to Yonhap, the South Korean news agency.

Chang pointed out that because TSMC is establishing a factory in Arizona, the U.S. would likely not support South Korea’s filing against Japan at the WTO.

However, a country seeking to file a complaint with the WTO often encounters difficulty proving the connection between its projected losses and the subsidies provided by the possible defendant countries, Chang added. Without that direct link, an action cannot proceed.

“The U.S. and EU (European Union) regarded China’s massive subsidies to support the semiconductor industry as a major issue, but they still failed to lodge a complaint with the WTO due to difficulties in producing evidence, ” said Chang.

“From a global perspective, TSMC’s establishment of a factory in Japan is of great help in increasing semiconductor supply capacity,” Suzuki said.  

Companies manufacturing chips solely for use in their own products is a model that market forces will eliminate, he added, and this will give TSMC, which makes chips usable by many manufacturers, a long-term advantage.

“However, the factory will not be fully operational until 2024, and there will be no immediate impact in the short term. The important thing is that Japan is not very dependent on Samsung’s [chips] because they are designed and manufactured for Samsung’s own products. Sony, Mitsubishi, Hitachi and other products rely on TSMC … more than Samsung, so the impact is very limited, ” Suzuki said.
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Yahoo Halts Services in Mainland China

• 11, 02, 2021
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Yahoo said it stopped providing services in mainland China because of what it described as a difficult operating environment.

The U.S. web services provider said in a statement on its website the move took effect on November 1 “in recognition of the increasingly challenging business and legal environment.”

November 1 is the date on which China’s Personal Information Protection Law took effect. The law limits what information companies can compile and standardizes how it must be archived. Other content restrictions on internet companies also were recently imposed.

China previously blocked Facebook, Google and most other global social media sites and search engines. Users in China can still access these services by using a virtual private network (VPN). 

In October, Microsoft stopped providing its Linkedin business and employment service in China, citing a “more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Hope Eroding as COP26 Climate Pledges Fall Short

• 11, 02, 2021
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Hopes are already fading that the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow will result in any new deal for a significant cut in global greenhouse gas emissions, after China and Russia declined to attend the conference and India’s pledges fell short of expectations. 

The summit got under way Monday as dozens of world leaders addressed the delegates, defending their performances on climate action and in some cases presenting new emissions targets.

Over 25,000 delegates are attending the two-week conference, including heads of state, government ministers, nongovernmental organizations, official observers and media.

Hundreds of protesters and members of the public are also gathering outside the secure “Blue Zone” on the banks of Glasgow’s River Clyde. The area has become official United Nations territory for the duration of the summit. 

Scientists have warned that a failure to agree to much deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions will result in catastrophic and irreversible climate change. 

Global warning

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres set a grim tone in his address to world leaders. 

“Our addiction to fossil fuels is pushing humanity to the brink. We face a stark choice: Either we stop it, or it stops us. And it’s time to say ‘enough.’ Enough of brutalizing biodiversity. Enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves,” Guterres said. 

“The science is clear. We know what to do. First, we must keep the global goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius alive,” he added, referring to the goal of limiting the average global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. 

Will that warning be heeded?

India is the world’s third-biggest polluter. Hopes were high ahead of the summit that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would seek to grab the limelight in presenting ambitious new plans to cut emissions.

“Between now and 2030, India will reduce its total projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes (metric tons). … By 2070, India will achieve the target of net-zero emissions,” Modi told delegates, describing the policies as “an unprecedented contribution by India towards climate action.” 

However, the target date of 2070 is 20 years later than the U.N. target of 2050. 

In his address Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden said “we only have a brief window” to fight climate change. Earlier this year, he had pledged that by the end of the decade, the U.S. would cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% or more below 2005 levels. 

While Biden was speaking in Glasgow, however, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a fellow Democrat, said he did not yet fully support the $1.75 trillion bill in Congress that included more than $550 billion in climate spending. 

The White House also released on Monday its plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

No-shows 

Arguably, the biggest story of the summit is not what’s being said on stage but rather is who hasn’t shown up at all. President Xi Jinping of China, which is by far the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is not attending the summit. Xi offered a written statement calling on richer nations to do more to support developing countries in dealing with climate change, but he made no new significant pledges to cut emissions. 

Xi’s absence is a major setback, said China analyst Martin Thorley of the University of Exeter. “Xi Jinping’s no-show at COP26 is an important reality check for those who expect enlightened climate policy from the Chinese Communist Party.” 

Thorley continued, “Whilst it is argued that authoritarian rule gives the leadership more scope to implement ambitious climate policy, it also gives the leaders greater capacity to block out civil society pressure that in other parts of the world is driving change. … Though there is genuine concern about the climate in some quarters within the Party, the threat to the CCP’s supremacy by power shortages mean that continued reliance on coal will be tolerated,” he wrote in an email to VOA. 

“That Xi Jinping addressed COP26 in writing only will be a massive disappointment to organizers and campaigners alike. Until very recently, China was considered a genuine leader on climate change,” Thorley added.

Others argue that COP26 can make significant progress without Xi.

“(Xi’s absence) could be probably because they don’t have too much else to offer,” said Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, head of climate and energy at the World Wildlife Fund and the former president of the 2014 COP20 climate summit in Lima, Peru. 

“And probably they would prefer to avoid the pressure of being in a COP (climate summit); that could be the reality. But let’s recognize that Minister Xie (Xie Zhenhua, China’s special climate envoy), it’s probably his tenth COP. He’s a top-level officer of the Chinese government — I think that is a good signal. But for sure, we are missing President Xi,” he added. 

President Vladimir Putin of Russia, which is the world’s fourth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is also absent. 

Among climate campaigners at COP26, the disappointment is already palpable. 

Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist who has inspired youth protests around the world, told a rally outside the summit, “This COP26 is so far just like the previous COPs. Add that has led us nowhere. They have led us nowhere. 

“Inside COP, there are just politicians and people in power pretending to take our futures seriously. Pretending to take the present seriously of the people who are being affected already today by the climate crisis. Change is not going to come from inside there,” she said. 

COP26 shouldn’t be written off so early, however, said Pulgar-Vidal. “To have finally a collective vision for the world that nobody’s doubting or questioning, I think it is a good thing. But now we need to have more clear actions, not only targets but more clear actions.”

Positives 

Not all hope was lost, however. According to The Associated Press, a coalition moved Monday to put $1.7 billion toward protecting Indigenous peoples and tropical forests in the coming four years. Involved are the governments of the U.S., United Kingdom, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands as well as 17 private investors including The Ford Foundation, the Bezos Earth Fund and Bloomberg Philanthropies. 

Amid the bleak warnings from the speakers at the summit, Max Blain, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said “we are seeing some positive signs so far” that leaders are understanding the seriousness of the situation, according to AP. 

“We expect to see countries to come forward with some more commitments” during the summit, Blain said. “We continue to encourage that those are ambitious, measurable targets that can be delivered particularly in the next decade.” 

The president of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, also vowed to increase his country’s climate finance by half by 2023 as part of a global effort by wealthy countries to help developing nations combat and adapt to the changing climate, the AP reported. 

World leaders will address the summit again Tuesday, before most head back to their home countries, while the negotiations continue at ministerial level. COP26 is due to finish November 12, but it could run longer if it looks as though the talks will succeed in reaching a new climate deal. 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press. 
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Australia Rejects French Claims of AUKUS Deal Deception

• 11, 02, 2021
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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison rejected accusations French President Emmanuel Macron made about a scrapped $37 billion submarine deal. Macron has recently said Morrison lied when abandoning the submarine deal before Australia joined a new security pact with the United Kingdom and the United States known by its acronym AUKUS. 

The AUKUS alliance and Australia’s cancelation of a lucrative defense contract in favor of U.S.-built nuclear submarines caught Paris off guard. France felt betrayed. In protest, France temporarily recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra. Tensions remain. 

French President Emanuel Macron told reporters at the meeting of the G-20 grouping of industrialized nations that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had been deceitful despite the two countries enjoying a close relationship. 

“When we have respect, you have to behave in line and consistently with this value,” Macron said to reporters.

Morrison quickly denied he had lied. He insisted he had explained to Macron in June that the submarines to be supplied by French company Naval Group were not going to meet Australia’s military requirements. 

“I was very clear that what was going to be provided to us was not going to meet our strategic interest,” Morrison said.

News reports in Australia have described the dispute between Australia and France as a diplomatic disaster for Canberra and that the “damage looks uncontrollable.” 

Australian Opposition Senator Penny Wong, the shadow foreign affairs minister, believes Australia has been embarrassed by the French president’s allegations. 

“We have got a reputation as a nation for being straight-shooters. That is Australia’s reputation internationally. We do what we say. Mr. Morrison’s failure to be upfront, his failure to, as President Macron says, tell the truth is damaging our interests,” Wong said.

Mark Kenny is a professor at the Australian Studies Institute at the Australian National University. He says rarely are world leaders so openly criticized by their peers. 

“This was really quite a rare level of candor that we see and a very abrupt denunciation of the integrity of a fellow world leader by Emanuel Macron and I thought that was extraordinary,” Kenny said.

U.S. President Joe Biden also conceded that the United States was “clumsy” in its negotiations for a new alliance with Britain and Australia, which cost France billions of dollars. 

The AUKUS pact will allow Australia to become only the seventh country to have nuclear-powered submarines. The new fleet is not expected to be in service for decades, forcing Australia to potentially lease or buy vessels from the United States or Britain in the meantime. 
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