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http://time.com/5586352/singapore-fake-news-law/
2019-05-09 06:47:38Z
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Kamis, 09 Mei 2019
Singapore Passes Controversial 'Fake News' Bill - TIME
http://time.com/5586352/singapore-fake-news-law/
2019-05-09 06:47:38Z
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Google says Singapore's fake news law may hurt innovation - Reuters
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Google said on Thursday an anti-fake news law passed by Singapore’s parliament could stunt innovation, a quality that the city-state wants to nurture under plans to expand its tech industry.
FILE PHOTO: The Google name is displayed outside the company's office in London, Britain November 1, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Singapore’s parliament on Wednesday passed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, a law criticized by rights groups, journalists and tech firms over fears it could be used to clamp down on freedom of speech.
The passage of the law comes at a time when Singapore, a financial and transport hub, has been making efforts to position itself as regional center for digital innovation.
Google said the law could hamper those efforts.
“We remain concerned that this law will hurt innovation and the growth of the digital information ecosystem,” the company said in response to a query from Reuters.
“How the law is implemented matters, and we are committed to working with policymakers on this process.”
The law will require online media platforms to carry corrections or remove content the government considers to be false, with penalties for perpetrators running as high as prison terms of up to 10 years or fines up to S$1 million ($735,000).
The law minister has said the bill will not affect free speech. Singapore says it is vulnerable to fake news because of its position as a global financial hub, its mixed ethnic and religious population and widespread internet access.
“We remain concerned with aspects of the new law which grant broad powers to the Singapore executive branch to compel us to remove content they deem to be false and to push a government notification to users,” Simon Milner, Facebook’s Asia-Pacific vice-president of public policy, said.
Milner said Facebook hoped that the ministry’s reassuring statements led to a “proportionate and measured approach in practice”.
Facebook and Singapore clashed late last year when the company refused to remove a post of an online article about the city-state’s banks and Malaysia’s scandal-linked 1MDB state fund, that the government said was “false and malicious.”
A running feud between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his brother and sister over the will of their late father, Singapore’s first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, has also played out over Facebook since it first erupted in public in 2017.
The prime minister’s siblings have used the social media platform to give their side of a row that disturbed the normally calm politics of a country that has been led by the same party since its independence in 1965.
Activists are concerned that the law could give the government power to decide if material posted online is true or false.
“Singapore’s leaders have crafted a law that will have a chilling affect on internet freedom throughout Southeast Asia,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
FILE PHOTO: Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong speaks at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Singapore, November 12, 2018. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
“(The law will) likely start a new set of information wars as they try to impose their narrow version of ‘truth’ on the wider world.”
Asia Internet Coalition, having previously criticized the bill for the new law, said that its members are committed to work with the Singapore government on the law’s implementation.
“The Asia Internet Coalition reaffirms our members’ commitment to continue engaging with the Singapore government and to collaborate with all stakeholders to address the issue of deliberate online misinformation,” managing director Jeff Paine said.
Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by Joe Brock & Simon Cameron-Moore
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-politics-google/google-says-singapores-fake-news-law-may-hurt-innovation-idUSKCN1SF08X
2019-05-09 04:03:00Z
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Rabu, 08 Mei 2019
China warns of ‘countermeasures’ against U.S. products if Trump increases tariffs - The Washington Post
BEIJING — China has warned of retaliation if President Trump goes through with his threat to raise tariffs on Chinese goods on Friday, setting up a potential escalation in a protracted trade war that was thought to be coming to an end.
The warning late Wednesday — issued as China’s vice premier and chief trade negotiator headed to Washington for trade talks — signaled that Beijing was prepared to raise tariffs on American products in response to Trump’s threats.
“An escalation in trade frictions is not in line with the American or Chinese interests or the interests of the world, and would thus be much to China’s regret,” a spokesman for the Commerce Ministry said in a statement on its website. “But if the U.S. goes ahead with its tariff measures against China, China will have to resort to necessary countermeasures.”
The two sides have at times seemed closed to sealing a deal, with Trump saying last month they were forging a “monumental” and “epic” pact.
The Trump administration has been pushing China not just to narrow its trade gap with the United States but also to institute major reforms on matters such as support for state-backed companies and intellectual property rights.
But Trump tweeted Sunday that China had attempted to renegotiate the almost-completed deal. He threatened to increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent on Friday and to levy a new 25 percent fee on the remaining $325 billion of “untaxed” Chinese imports “shortly” if there is no progress toward a trade deal.
This sudden shift sent markets tumbling Monday. They continued to fall Wednesday as investors bet on whether Trump would follow through with his threat and the year-long trade war would rumble on.
[ Trump tries to get tough with China, but tariffs may imperil his leverage ]
China has responded with reciprocal measures during earlier iterations of the trade war, slapping duty on American soybeans, cars and other products.
There is not much time to salvage a deal. Liu He, the lead Chinese negotiator, is set to meet with his American counterparts, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer, for talks Thursday and Friday.
Still, Chinese authorities were trying to reassure markets and clearly still wanted to reach an agreement with the Trump administration.
China’s state media, which didn’t report Trump’s tweets for a full day, has now swung into action.
It appeared to be both defiant and preparing for the tariffs to take effect, even acknowledging that there are “thorny structural differences between China and the United States that are difficult to resolve at the moment.”
But the main message was one of strength and resilience.
“Tried and tested by the trade war for more than a year, entrepreneurs and ordinary people in China have learned to handle everything with grace and greater ease now,” state news agency Xinhua wrote in a commentary published Wednesday. “Chinese society has weathered storms and is now able to endure great stress. We have also learned that the world doesn’t end, as long as we keep our own house in order.”
China is capable of resolving multiple risks because of its “huge market” and “vigorous consumption,” the overseas edition of the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China, said in a commentary on Wednesday.
“The current Chinese economy is like a vibrant, vast forest with a solid foundation, strong resilience, high quality and great potential, which can withstand the wind and rain from the outside environment as well as soaking up the bright sunshine of win-win cooperation,” the paper said.
Other state papers lauded China’s surprisingly strong growth figures for the first quarter, which showed a better-than-expected 6.4 percent expansion between January and March compared with a year ago. “Market confidence is picking up and positive factors are setting in,” the Guangming Daily declared on its front page Wednesday. “The Chinese economy has great resilience and huge potential.”
[Trump says he will increase tariffs on Chinese goods as he complains about pace of trade talks]
But the defiance in the state media notwithstanding, the statistics show a different story. Trade data released Wednesday showed that Chinese export growth was disappointing last month. The value of Chinese exports fell 2.7 percent in April compared with the previous year, against market expectations of 3 percent growth.
While the slump in domestic demand and exploding debt levels are the main reason for China’s slowing economy, the trade tensions are weighing heavily on it.
“If Trump follows through on his latest tariff threats, we think this would drag down export growth by two to three percentage points,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics. “And even if a last-minute deal is struck this week to avoid further tariffs, the downbeat prospects for global growth will probably mean that export growth remains subdued,” he wrote in a note to clients.
China’s trade surplus narrowed sharply to $13.84 billion in April, according to data from the General Administration of Customs. This was far below the $32.65 billion recorded in March and against economists’ expectations that the surplus would grow.
There are other signs of trade-related stress in the world’s second-largest economy.
Buyer numbers and export orders were down during the three-week Canton Fair, organizers said when it wrapped up Sunday. The trade fair, China’s largest, is held in the manufacturing powerhouse in the south and is often viewed as a barometer for the health of the Chinese economy and foreign trade conditions.
Chinese media outlets reported Wednesday that the U.S. software company Oracle has laid off 900 of its 1,600 employees in China and planned to close its research and development center in the country. Oracle’s China office declined to comment.
But on social media, videos showed Oracle workers protesting outside its offices, demonstrating against redundancies while the company was profitable.
[After tariff threats, many Chinese see Trump as a Marvel villain out to destroy them]
Still, the reaction in the state media shows that Chinese authorities are trying not to let Trump’s threats derail the talks, said Kent Kedl, a China expert at Control Risks, a consultancy.
“I think there is a certain amount of resilience that the Chinese are building up to Trump’s tweets, and they realize that he uses them to release frustration and market to his base,” he said.
But the Chinese authorities understand that they have to have a deal, he said, although they may have an incentive to drag it out. “I think they feel that the closer they get to the election, the more Trump will be willing to accept a deal that is less harmful for the Chinese,” Kedl said, referring to the 2020 U.S. election.
The stakes are high for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has a vision to make China a global superpower to rival the United States and who has asserted strong control over the ruling Communist Party, including by eliminating limits on his presidency.
“On some issues, Xi won’t budge, most obviously on the right for China to pursue policies to make its technological base competitive with the U.S. Any concessions here could be dangerous for him domestically,” said Richard McGregor, author of a book about the Communist Party and a China expert at the Lowy Institute in Sydney.
“But in other areas, it’s always been true that some of Xi’s advisers would like to use the trade talks as an excuse to push through reforms. The question is whether Xi goes along with them,” he said, referring to the structural reforms that the United States would also like to see, such as eliminating the special treatment for state-owned enterprises.
Read more
Trump’s washing machine tariffs cost U.S. consumers $815,000 for every job
Worst justification for Trump’s battle with China? The ‘clash of civilizations’
Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/china-warns-of-countermeasures-on-us-products-if-trump-boosts-tariffs/2019/05/08/f45c6cb6-718e-11e9-9331-30bc5836f48e_story.html
2019-05-08 17:50:13Z
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Royal baby: Duke and Duchess of Sussex share first glimpse of son - BBC News
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have named their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
Introducing him to the cameras earlier in the day, Meghan said: "He has the sweetest temperament, he's really calm. He's been the dream."
As they laughed, Prince Harry said: "I don't know who he gets that from."
The announcement came after the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh met their eighth and newest great-grandchild for the first time at Windsor Castle.
There was no mention of a potential royal title for Archie.
Talking about their first few days as parents, Meghan said: "It's magic, it's pretty amazing. I have the two best guys in the world so I'm really happy."
The duke added: "It's great. Parenting is amazing.
"It's only been two and a half days, three days, but we're just so thrilled to have our own little bundle of joy."
On which parent the baby resembled more, Harry said: "Everyone says that babies change so much over two weeks.
"We're basically monitoring how the changing process happens over this next month really. But his looks are changing every single day, so who knows."
Later, asked to show more of their son's face to the cameras, Meghan laughed as Harry joked: "He's already got a little bit of facial hair as well, wonderful."
Meghan added: "Thank you everybody for all the well-wishes and kindness, it just means so much."
Pictures of the new family's first photocall were then shared on the SussexRoyal Instagram account.
"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are delighted to share their first public moment as a family," the post said.
The images shared on social media were taken by Chris Allerton, who was the couple's private wedding party photographer, and took the picture of the newlyweds watching fireworks in the grounds of Frogmore House at their evening reception.
The infant, who is seventh in line to the throne, was delivered at 05:26 BST on Monday, with Harry saying after the birth that he and Meghan were "absolutely thrilled".
The Duke of Cambridge has welcomed his brother to "the sleep deprivation society that is parenting".
Prince William - a father-of-three - said he looked forward to seeing the new parents "when things have quietened down".
The Prince of Wales has also expressed his joy at the birth.
During an official visit to Germany with the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Charles said: "We couldn't be more delighted at the news and we're looking forward to meeting the baby when we return."
A statement added that Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, was "overjoyed at the arrival of her first grandchild" and was with her daughter at Frogmore Cottage - the new parents' home on the Windsor Estate.
'Sleeping soundly'
Analysis by BBC News correspondent Helena Wilkinson
As settings for first family photographs go this was rather more grand than most, to say the least - St. George's Hall in Windsor Castle is a room used for state banquets.
But for Meghan and Harry it is a special room already filled with memories - it was where they held their wedding reception last year. Today they created new ones.
Wrapped in a white shawl and hat, baby Sussex was oblivious to it all, sleeping soundly in his father's arms.
As soon as the pictures of the newborn emerged news crews outside the castle beamed them live across the world.
This two-day baby may only be seventh in line to the throne but interest in him is huge.
Something his parents, who guard their privacy closely, will be very aware of.
Buckingham Palace said Harry was present for the birth, which is understood to have taken place in hospital as opposed to at home.
The baby will not automatically become a prince - although he could get that title if the Queen steps in.
Harry and Meghan might otherwise want him to inherit one of Harry's titles, such as Earl of Dumbarton, or they could reject any royal title at all.
Media playback is unsupported on your device
The baby weighed 7lbs 3oz (3.2kg), making him lighter than each of his cousins.
Prince George was 8lb 6oz (3.8kg) when he was born in July 2013. His sister Princess Charlotte was 8lbs 3oz (3.7kg) when she arrived in May 2015, while their younger brother Prince Louis weighed 8lb 7oz (3.8kg) when he was born in April last year.
The average weight of a baby in the UK is about 7lb 7oz (3.4kg).
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48201625
2019-05-08 15:51:40Z
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Royalty: Harry and Meghan Baby Reveal - KTVQ Billings News
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed their new boy baby for the first time to the world on Wednesday, appearing for a photocall at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, UK.
Harry and Meghan introduced the baby, but did not yet reveal his name. They are set to introduce the baby to Queen Elizabeth II as well in the same day.
Baby Sussex was born Monday at 5:26 a.m.
https://ktvq.com/news/trending/2019/05/08/royalty-harry-and-meghan-baby-reveal/
2019-05-08 11:59:06Z
52780286176909
The Latest: Iran steps away from parts of nuclear deal - ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/latest-iran-steps-parts-nuclear-deal-62895765
2019-05-08 14:49:00Z
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In South Africa Election, Ramaphosa Faces Verdict From Disillusioned Voters - The New York Times
JOHANNESBURG — Millions of South Africans cast ballots on Wednesday, voting for the first time since President Cyril Ramaphosa assumed power early last year with promises to renew both his corruption-ridden party and the beleaguered nation.
A quarter-century after the end of apartheid captured imaginations worldwide, Mr. Ramaphosa and his party, the African National Congress, faced an electorate increasingly disillusioned with the state of South Africa’s democracy. The vote is partly a referendum on Mr. Ramaphosa, whose personal popularity has consistently polled higher than his party’s.
Many of the A.N.C.’s traditional supporters approve of him, polls show. But they question whether he can outflank powerful party rivals and root out the endemic corruption that has come to define the A.N.C., Nelson Mandela’s once celebrated liberation movement.
“I got trust in Cyril Ramaphosa — he’s done a lot already against corruption,” Reckson Chauke, a 57-year-old steelworker, said after he voted for the A.N.C. in Alexandra, a black township in Johannesburg.
About 50 miles to the south in Sharpeville, the site of a 1960 massacre that was a turning point in the fight against apartheid, Johanna Sothoane, 72, said she had cast a ballot against the A.N.C. for the first since she began voting in 1994.
“People are getting tired of the A.N.C. The corruption which is there, I don’t know. It’s terrible,” Ms. Sothoane said as she left the polling station. “Ramaphosa? He didn’t convince me.”
She would not say which party she had supported.
Mr. Ramaphosa made the battle against corruption a pillar of his campaign. At his party’s last rally before Election Day, he addressed widespread criticism that no party official has been held accountable for corruption since he forced Jacob Zuma, his scandal-tainted predecessor, out of office more than a year ago.
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“We are going to fight against corruption despite stern opposition from those who benefited,” Mr. Ramaphosa said in an unmistakable reference to members of his party.
But even the last days of the campaign offered constant, and sometimes unusual, reminders of the challenges he faces. A top A.N.C. leader accused the government of spying on him. And a long-running government inquiry on public corruption turned to the issue of rampant looting of the state-owned transport company.
Nationally, the party, which has governed continuously since 1994, is all but certain to win enough votes to ensure that Mr. Ramaphosa secures the five-year presidential term.
Election officials said they hoped to announce final tallies on Saturday, though the results are expected to be evident by Friday.
But the outcome of two other issues — the A.N.C.’s margin of victory and its hold on the provinces, especially the nation’s richest, Gauteng — could have far-reaching repercussions. In the last general election, in 2014, the A.N.C. won 62 percent of the vote nationwide. It also won all nine provinces, except the Western Cape, the nation’s second-richest, which for the past decade has been in the hands of the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition.
A significant win nationwide could hand Mr. Ramaphosa a popular mandate in his anti-corruption drive. But a dip below the symbolically important threshold of 60 percent — which the A.N.C. has never dropped beneath — could embolden his rivals within his party, many of whom have close ties to Mr. Zuma.
The results in Gauteng — home to Johannesburg and Pretoria, the commercial and political capitals — could speed up the realignment of the nation’s politics. Polls show that the province is a key battleground in the election, with the A.N.C. at risk of being forced into a coalition.
To try to keep the province, the A.N.C. fought hard in townships like Alexandra, where Mr. Ramaphosa campaigned personally. Though it has been a party stronghold, many township residents were looking to alternatives.
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“The A.N.C. has always been in charge in Gauteng, but what have they accomplished?” said Bonang Kgwadi, 18, who was voting with her sister, Emily, 21.
Both first-time voters, they said they supported the Democratic Alliance because they had been impressed by its stewardship over the Western Cape.
Support for the party has been falling in Gauteng in the past five years, especially among black middle-class voters angered by corruption. In local elections in 2016, many turned against the party, which ended up losing both Johannesburg and Pretoria. The cities are now led by fragile coalitions between the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters, a splinter group led by former A.N.C. leaders.
Mr. Ramaphosa — an A.N.C. veteran who made a fortune in business before returning to politics in 2012 — campaigned hard to win back alienated black professionals in the cities. He is particularly popular among these voters as well as white South Africans.
But politicians and voters on the left, especially the young, say that Mr. Ramaphosa is a symptom of a larger problem: a small, A.N.C.-connected black elite that has grown rich while the vast majority of black voters remain impoverished in an economy still largely controlled by white South Africans.
Across the nation, the A.N.C.’s strongest support lies in poor rural and urban communities where many residents remain dependent on the party for jobs, business, housing and other benefits. Mr. Zuma and his allies appealed to them, promising a “radical economic transformation.”
In Orange Farm, a rural area south of Johannesburg, Loraine Menoe, 51, said she had voted for the A.N.C. just as she has in every election since 1994. The party, she said, had brought tangible change to the lives of people like her: public housing, electricity, schools for all black children, electricity and monthly cash grants. She said her family received about $200 a month and had gotten government housing two months ago.
“I waited 20 years, but at last I got it,” said Ms. Menoe, who is unemployed. “Even God says that everyone must wait for his turn.”
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Though a moderate, Mr. Ramaphosa has been forced to adopt some of his rivals’ positions, including a potentially explosive one that would allow the expropriation of land for black South Africans without compensation for the current owners.
That issue has been championed most aggressively by the Economic Freedom Fighters, whose leaders, usually clad in red overalls, have tapped a growing frustration among poor and young voters. Polling data show that support for the party, which was founded in 2013, is expected to climb in this vote.
In Alexandra, Thembi Tshabalala, 54, said she was voting for the Economic Freedom Fighters.
“I’ve always voted for the A.N.C., but I’m still unemployed and I’m still living in a shack,” Ms. Tshabalala said, adding that she shared her home with a brother and two grandchildren. “When it rains, it gets wet inside.”
Mr. Ramaphosa, who served as Mr. Zuma’s deputy for nearly four years, narrowly became the A.N.C. leader in a party vote in December 2017. Two months later, he forced Mr. Zuma to step down as the country’s president, about a year before the end of his term.
The excitement over Mr. Ramaphosa’s presidency — called “Ramaphoria” — fizzled out in the following months. Little came of his promise to jump-start the economy as South African businesses and foreign investors took a wait-and-see attitude.
Mr. Ramaphosa moved quickly to gain control over state enterprises that had become a main source of graft during the Zuma years, and appointed respected individuals to the nation’s law-enforcement and tax agencies. But the slowness in introducing reforms became evident when trouble at Eskom, the state utility, led to the worst rolling blackouts in years.
Mr. Ramaphosa has faced fierce resistance to cleaning up the A.N.C. Many senior party leaders — identified in a government inquiry into corruption as having been involved in illicit activities — remain in power at the highest levels of the party and government.
The party’s own integrity commission recommended the removal of top figures from the A.N.C.’s list of candidates in the national vote. But party leaders decided to look into the matter only after the election.
Ace Magashule, the party’s secretary general and the former leader of a province where corruption flourished under his watch, accused the government of tapping his phone. Mr. Ramaphosa dismissed the accusation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/08/world/africa/south-africa-election.html
2019-05-08 11:47:39Z
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