Category: Foreign

FEW days after rebranding itself, Facebook announced plans to delete a trove of the most worrisome data that the world’s biggest social network collected on more than a billion individuals.

In a blog post yesterday, Facebook’s newly named parent company, Meta, explained that it would close shop on its facial recognition systems and delete a massive collection of more than a billion facial recognition templates used to pair faces with photos and videos.

Facebook will no longer do that pairing moving forward for users who previously opted in.

It introduced facial recognition in 2010 to automatically tag photos with names. The feature was automatically enabled at launch, and Facebook only made the system explicitly opt-in in 2019, a choice that explains how it managed to compile more than a billion facial recognition profiles.

“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,” Facebook VP of artificial intelligence Jerome Pesenti wrote in a blog post. “… But the many specific instances where facial recognition can be helpful need to be weighed against growing concerns about the use of this technology as a whole.”

Pesenti noted the uncertain environment for facial recognition technology in the decision to limit Meta’s facial recognition work to a narrower set of applications.

At this point, Facebook’s face recognition system was probably more trouble than it was worth. Many proposals to regulate online privacy in the U.S. remain hypothetical, particularly at the federal level, but existing laws can complicate the use of facial recognition technology. Among them is an Illinois privacy law known as the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which has ensnared some of tech’s biggest companies.

ETHIOPIA has declared a state of emergency after forces from the northern region of Tigray said they were gaining territory and considering marching on the capital, Addis Ababa.

The declaration came as Joe Biden accused the government of “gross violations of internationally recognised human rights” and said he was removing Ethiopia from a key U.S. trade programme.

He said the move will clear the way for further economic sanctions over its failure to end the nearly year-long conflict.

Jeffrey Feltman, the U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa, warned that the U.S. would take further measures against the Abiy government within days rather than weeks if it does not end the conflict.

He said: “We can proceed down one path that inevitably leads to sanctions and other measures or we can go down another path where we can revitalise the partnership that started when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office. The U.S. wants the latter.”

“Prolonging the war, dodging genuine negotiations to lead to de-escalation and a ceasefire, and refusing unhindered humanitarian access to avert catastrophe are actions that are taking Ethiopia [in] a dangerous direction,” he said.

The announcement of the state of emergency came two days after the prime minister urged citizens to take up arms to defend themselves from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

Earlier yesterday, authorities in Addis Ababa told residents to register their arms and prepare to defend their neighbourhoods.

The state of emergency was imposed after the TPLF claimed to have captured several towns in recent days and said it was considering marching on Addis Ababa, about 380km (235 miles) to the south of

The city administration said people should register their weapons and gather in their neighbourhoods.

“Residents can gather in their locality and safeguard their surroundings,” it said. “Those who have weapons but can’t take part in safeguarding their surroundings are advised to hand over the weapon to the government or their close relatives or friends.”

The governments of four of the country’s 10 regions also called upon Ethiopians to mobilise to fight against the Tigrayan forces, state-affiliated Fana TV said.

More than 100 world leaders will sign up to a landmark agreement to protect and restore earth’s forests, the UK Government has said.

On the second day of the COP26 Climate Change Summit in Glasgow on Tuesday, leaders covering 85 per cent of the world’s forests would commit to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030.

Downing Street said the pledges were backed by 8.75 billion pounds of public funding with further 5.3 billion pounds in private investment.

The commitment, to be formally announced at an event convened by Boris Johnson, has been welcomed by campaigners and experts, particularly in recognition of the role of indigenous peoples in protecting forests.
However, there are charges that commitments need to be delivered on, while standing forests must be protected.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson backed the move, saying it would support the COP26 goal of restricting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius through absorption of carbon emissions by forests.

“These great teeming ecosystems, these cathedrals of nature are the lungs of our planet.

“Forests support communities, livelihoods and food supply, and absorb the carbon we pump into the atmosphere. They are essential to our very survival.

“With today’s unprecedented pledges, we will have a chance to end humanity’s long history as nature’s conqueror, and instead become its custodian.’’

The land covered by the agreement spans the northern forests of Canada and Russia to the tropical rain forests of Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – an area more than 13 million square miles.

The UK was committing 1.5 billion pounds over five years to support the forests pledge, including 350 million pounds for tropical forests in Indonesia and 200 million pounds for the Leaf Coalition.

READ ALSO: Buhari off to Glasgow for COP26

Britain is also contributing 200 million pounds to a new 1.1 billion-pound international fund to protect the Congo Basin.

Simon Lewis, a Professor of Global Change Science at University College, London, said tackling deforestation was an essential component of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“It is good news to have a political commitment to end deforestation from so many countries, and significant funding to move forward on that journey,’’ he said.

He added that it was particularly welcome that indigenous peoples were being acknowledged as key protectors of forests.

“However, the real challenge is not in making the announcements but in delivering synergistic and interlocking policies and actions that really do drive down deforestation globally.

“Careful monitoring of the delivery of each initiative is essential for success,’’ he said.

Roberto Waack, Brazilian business leader, biologist and Visiting Fellow at International Affairs Think Tank, Chatham House, said: “The deal is a significant milestone on the road to protecting our precious forests and tackling climate crisis.

“The deal combines action to stop deforestation with support for indigenous peoples who are the forest’s staunchest defenders.

“Today we celebrate tomorrow, we will start pressing for the deal to be delivered,’’ Waack added. (dpa/NAN)

The United States must be suffering from “Alzheimer’s disease’’ because it seems to have forgotten who is to blame for the current stalemate about Iran’s nuclear programme.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry this said on Monday.

“It is not Iran that pulled out of the Vienna agreement, but the U.S. The Americans seem to have forgotten this and are apparently suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in this regard,’’ ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

Instead of threatening Tehran, he said, the U.S should first return to the nuclear deal itself and lift its crippling economic sanctions.

At the G20 summit in Rome over the weekend, the U.S. along with France, Britain and Germany tried to increase pressure on Tehran.

The four leaders said the only way to avert a dangerous escalation for Iran to return to the negotiating table.

READ ALSO: Iran not planning to meet U.S. during nuclear negotiations

Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian told local media on Monday that there was no need for so much talk, demanding U.S. President Joe Biden simply issue an executive order that returns Washington to the original deal.

The Vienna deal from 2015 was designed to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb in exchange for sanctions relief.

The accord was left in tatters when former U.S. president Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out in 2018 and reimposed sanctions.

Tehran has been steadily breaching its terms since.

Negotiations to revive the deal started in April, but stalled after hard-line cleric Ebrahim Raisi became Iran’s new president.

Iran has said a new round of talks could begin this month.(dpa/NAN)

Iran says it is not planning direct meetings with the United States (U.S.) during a new round of nuclear negotiations in Vienna.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, Ali Bagheri told Iranian media on Thursday.

“Our negotiations next month will continue to be held only with (the remaining parties of) the 4+1 group for the time being.

“The 4+1 group consists of the contracting parties China, France, Britain, Russia plus Germany.”

The Vienna nuclear deal from 2015 was designed to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb in exchange for sanctions relief.

However, the accord was left in tatters when former U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions.

READ ALSO: Diri urges nuclear agency to explore space potential

Since the U.S. has not officially returned to the 2015 Vienna nuclear agreement, there is no reason to include the country in the negotiations yet, Bagheri said.

On Wednesday, Bagheri said Iran would resume negotiations in Vienna next month but a specific date has not been announced.

Iran wants the lifting of U.S. sanctions which have plunged the country into a severe economic crisis since 2018.

“We don’t want a coffee meeting in Vienna but serious and result-oriented talks.”(dpa/NAN)

A federal jury awarded 17 million dollars for damages on Wednesday to the family of a mentally disabled man who was fatally shot by an off-duty Los Angeles police officer inside a Costco in Corona.

The jury’s verdict came a day after U.S. District Judge Jesus G. Bernal found that Officer Salvador Sanchez used excessive and unreasonable force in June 2019 when he shot and killed 32-year-old Kenneth French.

The shooting followed a brief confrontation between the two men while in a line to sample sausages.

Sanchez was awaiting trial on manslaughter and assault charges filed by the California attorney general’s office after a Riverside County grand jury declined to indict Sanchez a few months after the killing.

He was fired by the LAPD last year after the L.A. Police Commission’s finding that he violated department policy in the shooting of French and his parents, who were gravely wounded.

After four hours of deliberations at the federal courthouse in Riverside, the jury of six women and two men found that Sanchez acted within the scope of his LAPD employment.

READ ALSO: Police inspector shot dead, two injured in Ebonyi attack

When he fired 10 shots at the French family while they were shopping at Costco.

The suit was filed by French’s parents, Russell and Paola French, against Sanchez and the city, but Los Angeles is liable for most, if not all, of the damages, according to Dale K. Galipo their attorney.

The damage award was unusually high for a police shooting case, said Galipo, who frequently represents victims of police shootings and their families.

“They’re hoping that now that they’ve received some justice on behalf of Kenneth, they can start the healing and closure process,’’ he said.

Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for City Attorney Mike Feuer, said.

“We will review all our options including appeal.’’

Sanchez was not in the courtroom Wednesday for closing statements or the verdict in the civil case.

His attorney, Andrew C. Hubert, declined to comment. (dpa/NAN)

Australians are among the biggest users of methylamphetamine in the world, a report has found.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) on Thursday published the 14th report from the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Programme, which measures drug use by analysing sewage.

It found that consumption of methylamphetamine also known as ice in Australia ranked second among 24 Sewage Core Group Europe (SCORE) countries.

Australia ranked seventh for cannabis and MDMA (Ecstacy/Molly) use and 16th for cocaine consumption, which fell significantly amid Coronavirus restrictions.

Use of heroin continued to decline and consumption of prescription opioids fentanyl and oxycodone decreased to the lowest level on record.

READ ALSO: NDLEA to establish six rehab centres for drug addicts

Mr Michael Phelan, the Chief Executive of ACIC, said wastewater monitoring provided key insights on areas of high drug use.

“The results confirm the strong preference in world terms by Australian illicit drug users for illicit stimulants (in particular methylamphetamine, MDMA and cocaine) and the domination of our domestic stimulant market by methylamphetamine.

“Much of the harm that Australians suffer at the hands of organised crime is due to illicit drugs.

“Serious and organised crime groups profit from the importation, manufacture, trafficking and sale of drugs that cause harm to the community,’’ Phelan said.

Wastewater samples were collected in April 2021 from areas that covered 56 per cent of Australia’s population. (Xinhua/NAN)

The Community Court of Justice of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has dismissed a suit filed by a group – Registered Trustees of Committee for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) – challenging the application and the proposal to admit the Kingdom of Morocco into the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

In its judgment read by Justice Gberi-Be Ouattara, the court declared the case inadmissible after finding that the CDHR was incompetent to bring the matter before the court in line with Article 10 (b) on access to the court.

The court, according to a statement issued yesterday, identified three essential conditions for admitting cases, which are: that an applicant justifies being a victim of the alleged violation; that the application must not be anonymous, and, that the matter is not before another international court.

The court noted that CDHR met two of the conditions, but did not give proof of being a victim of the alleged human rights violation attributable to the two respondents – ECOWAS Community and ECOWAS Commission – but instead, based its submissions on allegations of incompetence of the respondents to admit Morocco as a member state of the 15-member ECOWAS.

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In determining CDHR’s legal capacity to approach the court for an assessment of the legality of an action in relation to the legal texts of the ECOWAS Community, the court noted this is within the purview of Article 10 (b) which provides that only “member states, the Council of Ministers and the Executive Secretary (ECOWAS Commission) in proceeding for the determination of the legality of an action in relation to any community texts.”

The court held that it has the jurisdictional competence to hear the matter considering that the applicant claimed the violation of its human rights, which is one of its mandate areas, but declared the case is inadmissible on the grounds that the group lacked the legal capacity and interest to file such matter bordering on the legality of an action in relation to the legal texts of the ECOWAS Community in line with Article 10 (b) of the 2005 Protocol relating to the Court.

The court then proceeded to dismiss CDHR’s application on the grounds that it lacked the legal capacity and interest to file such matter since it was neither part of a member state, Council of Ministers nor ECOWAS Commission.