The following video illustrates how good deep fakes are becoming. If you didn’t know this was fake, a casual viewer could be forgiven for believing this real footage. And in a short time this will be regarded crude.
Read More: Futurism
5G and AI Everywhere by 2030: A Brave New World?
Democrats in California Push Radical Left Agenda
Alphabet CEO Larry Page to Step Down
Larry Page CEO of Alphabet the parent company of google has announced he is to step down. Current google CEO Sundar Pichai will take on the role of Alphabet CEO as well as his current responsibilities at Google. Co-Founder and President of Alphabet Sergey Brin will also step down, and the role of President eliminated.
Google’s shares increased at the news.
“With Alphabet now well-established, and Google and the Other Bets operating effectively as independent companies, it’s the natural time to simplify our management structure,” Page and Brin wrote in a blog post announcing the change. “We’ve never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there’s a better way to run the company. And Alphabet and Google no longer need two CEOs and a President.”
Read More: CNBC
Millennials vs. Past Generations
NYC pushed out of top 10 world destinations
It’s official: New York City and America are no longer the center of the world by any measure beyond swagger. In fact, the continents of North and South America have fallen off the must-see map altogether according to Euromonitor’s Top 100 City report, which tracks visitor arrivals. This year’s 1.5 billion trips predominantly headed to:
- Hong Kong, 26.7 million
- Bangkok, 25.8 million
- Macau, 20.6 million
- Singapore, 10.8 million
- London, 10.6 million
- Paris, 19.1 million
- Dubai, 16.3 million
- Delhi, 15.2 million
- Istanbul, 14.7 million
- Kuala Lumpur, 14.1 million
New York City remains America’s top destination, ranking 11th internationally. Miami ranks 29th, and Los Angeles 33rd, and Las Vegas 38th. Only 13 of the top 100 cities are in the Americas; 43 are in Asia, firmly shifting the tourism industry East.
Report author Rabia Yasmeen writes that while Asia’s tourism markets expanded rapidly, America’s travel numbers were actually a feat, considering circumstances. “Despite high concern for safety and security among visitors, stringent policies and a travel ban under the Trump administration, most U.S. destinations performed well during 2018.” The report suggests that to remain competitive, American cities need to become safe places that people can easily access, which is accomplished by improving visa policies, mitigating crime and safety concerns, and boosting sustainable tourism.
John Kerry Launches Group to Tackle Climate Change
Former Secretary of State John Kerry has launched a group to tackle climate change. The cross-party, celebrity studded group have pledged to tackle the cause with “war like” zeal.
The initiative’s launch has coincided with the an international Climate Summit COP25 in Madrid on Monday. President Trump will send a low level delegation to the summit.
However Kerry believes Climate Change poses a global security threat. His new group called World War Zero, includes admirals, generals and celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Sting.
Read More: France 24
London Bridge Terror Attacker Had Terrorism Conviction
It has been confirmed that the recent terror attack on London Bridge was by a convicted terrorist. Usman Khan, 28, was convicted in 2012 for terror offences. However he was released on license a year ago. Part of his parole conditions were he had to wear a tag, and part part on the government’s desistance and disengagement programme.
The attack started at an event run by Cambridge University on prisoner rehabilitation. Two people were stabbed in the incident, both worked for the university in the field of prisoner rehabilitation.
Police shot Khan after members of the public tried to disarm him.
Read More: BBC
Muslim Nations Silent Over Chinese Treatment of Uighurs
The muslim minority group in western China, the Uighurs have found little support form other muslim nations.
“Sorry, but I do not wish you a good Ramadan,” wrote the head of the Uighur Institute of Europe in Paris, in a cri de coeur railing against Muslim countries’ indifference to the plight of Uighurs in China’s far-western Xinjiang region, published by French weekly L’Obs in May.
In the UN there has been a divide between those condemning China and those who have not. Western nations like the US and UK have condemned the treatment of Uighurs. However many Muslim nations have remained silent.
When contrasted by the unilateral condemnation of Myanmar for its military crackdown of Rohingyas Muslims many might wonder why.
However, many Muslim nations like Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have highly valuable trade agreements with Beijing.
“There is less solidarity than there is for the Palestinian or Rohingya causes,” noted Sophie Richardson, director for China at Human Rights Watch. “China has managed to win these countries’ support because they need Chinese investment.”
Read More: France 24
Leaked Documents Show How China “Brainwashes” Prison Camp Detainees
Newly leaked documents show how the Chinese government is systematically brainwashing thousands of inmates in their detention camps. The camps, which the Chinese government has long denied exist, are in Xinjiang region. They have thousands of inmates mostly from the Muslim Uighur community.
The document includes rules and guidelines for the camp:
- “Never allow escapes”
- “Increase discipline and punishment of behavioural violations”
- “Promote repentance and confession”
- “Make remedial Mandarin studies the top priority”
- “Encourage students to truly transform”
- “[Ensure] full video surveillance coverage of dormitories and classrooms free of blind spots”
The documents reveal how every aspect of a detainee’s life is monitored and controlled: “The students should have a fixed bed position, fixed queue position, fixed classroom seat, and fixed station during skills work, and it is strictly forbidden for this to be changed.
“Implement behavioural norms and discipline requirements for getting up, roll call, washing, going to the toilet, organising and housekeeping, eating, studying, sleeping, closing the door and so forth.”
Inmates will only be released after it can be proven they have transformed their behaviour and ways of thinking. The Chinese government had said the camps were voluntary education programs.
However the documents also show details like in 2017 15 000 people were detained in the camps in one week alone.
Read More: BBC
Suicide Rates Increasing in US and Europe
California Supreme Court Rejects Law to Force Presidential Candidates to Publish Tax Returns
California’s Supreme Court has rejected a law that would have forced any candidate to publish their 5 year tax returns in order to appear on the primary ballot.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, Democrat, had signed the bill in July. However the state Republican Party and Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson challenged the bill.
The court has now ruled the bill unconstitutional.
Read More: Fox News
Ex-Cop Sues Police Over “Hate Speech”
Ex Policeman and business owner, Harry Millar, has been recorded in a UK data base for committing a hate crime. Harry Millar received a phone call from a police man PC Mansoor Gull to inform him they had received a complaint from a member of the public claiming that Mr Millar’s business would be an unsafe place for him to work.
PC Gull then read out a number of tweets Mr Millar and made relating to trans people, one a poem he had retweeted. When Mr Millar challenged PC Gull as to what crime he had committed the policeman said none, but his name would be recorded as committing hate-speech. Mr Millar is unable to have his name removed from the records. As no crime has been committed, so there is no court case to prove or disprove innocence or guilt.
In the UK the definition of hate crime is:
“A hate incident is any non-crime perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s race or perceived race / religion or perceived religion / sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation / disability or perceived disability / transgender or perceived to be transgender.”
In the UK a hate crime is commented according to what a person perceives, not under any legal framework. PC Gull told Mr Miller “I have to check your thinking”. Prompting the question: is the UK police force the thought police now? Mr Millar has chosen to sue the police over their hate speech agenda.
Read More: Christian Concern
Justice Department End Movie Distribution Rules from 1940s
The Justice Department have terminated rules dating back to the early days of Hollywood relating to anti-trust movie distribution.
“We cannot pretend that the business of film distribution and exhibition remains the same,” Makan Delrahim, the antitrust chief at the Justice Department, said at an American Bar Association conference in Washington. “Changes over the course of more than half a century also have made it unlikely that the remaining defendants can reinstate their cartel.”
The rules stated that the the studios could not also own movie theatres, thus controlling the entire industry. It also stated that studios could not limit the number of theatres in a geographic region. It also banned “block booking” the practise where studios forced theatres to play their bad movies alongside the good or not at all.
The ending of the rules will unlikely harm the big companies who control the majority of multiplexes across the country, but there are fears in the industry the new rules will harm small independent theatres.
“If distributors can engage in block booking, exhibitors may be forced to pack their screens with global tentpoles at the expense of targeted programming,” the National Association of Theater Owners aid in its submitted comments to the Justice Department, referring to blockbuster films that now dominate the box office. “Consumers will face increasingly limited choices at the box office, and, without the possibility of a theatrical run, many films will no longer be made, limiting the availability of choices through home entertainment platforms as well.”
Read More: New York Times