Singaporean dies in 30m fall off New York state park cliff

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SINGAPORE: A Singaporean woman died last Friday (Dec 22) after she lost her footing and fell 30 metres from a cliff in Minnewaska State Park Preserve in the US state of New York.

In a Facebook post on Dec 23, Mr Abdul Rauf Mohd Said said that medical staff tried to resuscitate his wife Nur Aisyah, also known as Ais Sarah, for nearly three hours but they were unsuccessful. 

“She fell roughly 100 feet and did not survive. My heart is broken into pieces and I don’t know how to piece them back together,” he added. I’ve been crying non-stop for the last 12 hours and been really distraught by myself now.

“I’m sorry I didn’t manage to get to you in time sayang (dear in Malay).”

In response to queries, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) told CNA on Monday that MFA is rendering consular assistance, through the Singapore Consulate in New York, to the family of Ms Aisyah. 

“MFA extends its deepest condolences to the bereaved family.”

According to their LinkedIn profiles, Mr Abdul Rauf and Ms Aisyah are the co-founders of Noble Sky International, a real estate investment company with a focus on the US market. 

Mr Abdul Rauf wrote on Facebook on Monday that the autopsy had been completed and he was “fervently hoping for an early return of Ais’ body”.

He appealed for help, adding that “stringent regulations” require us to request an exception from Singapore Airlines to fly his wife’s remains back home on Tuesday morning’s flight, even without the completed paperwork. 

In an earlier post, Mr Abdul Rauf also thanked three sisters who were at Minnewaska State Park and after hearing his cries, made their way down the cliff to reach his wife.

“Thank you once again to Julia and her sisters for being by my wife’s side during her final living moments.”

US media previously reported two deaths in Minnewaska State Park after hikers fell from height, with incidents in 2021 and 2015.

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Why are there so many deepfakes of Bollywood actresses?

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Actress Rashmika MandannaGetty Images
By Noor Nanji & Shruti Menon
BBC News

One Bollywood star is making obscene gestures to the camera, another is posing while scantily clad.

Except neither of those things actually happened.

They are the latest in a string of deepfake videos which have gone viral in recent weeks.

Rashmika Mandanna, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Alia Bhatt are among the stars who have been targeted by such videos, in which their faces or voices were replaced with someone else’s.

Pictures are often taken from social media profiles and used without consent.

So what is behind the rise in Bollywood deepfakes?

Deepfakes have been around, and have targeted celebrities, for a long time.

“Hollywood has born the brunt of it so far,” AI expert Aarti Samani told the BBC, with actresses such as Natalie Portman and Emma Watson among the high-profile victims.

But she said recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) have made it even easier to create fake audio and video of people.

“The tools have become so much more sophisticated over the past six months to a year, which explains why we are seeing more of this content in other countries,” Ms Samani said.

“Many tools are available now, which allow you to create realistic synthetic images at little or no cost, making it very accessible.”

Ms Samani said India also has some unique factors, including a large young population, heavy use of social media, and “fascination with Bollywood and obsession with celebrity culture”.

“This results in videos spreading quickly, magnifying the problem,” she added, saying that the motivating factor for creating such videos was twofold.

“Bollywood celebrity content makes an attractive clickbait, generating large ad revenue. There is also the possibility of selling data of people who engage with the content, unknown to them.”

‘Extremely scary’

Often, fake images are used for pornographic videos, but fake videos can be made of almost anything.

Recently, actress Mandanna, 27, had her face morphed on to an Instagram video, featuring another woman in a black bodysuit.

It went viral on social media, but a journalist at fact-checking platform Alt News reported that the video was a deepfake.

Mandanna called the incident “extremely scary” and urged people not to share such material.

A video of megastar Chopra Jonas also recently went viral. In this case, instead of changing her face, it was her voice that was substituted in a clip which promoted a brand, while also giving investment ideas.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas

Getty Images

Actress Bhatt was also affected with a video showing a woman, whose face looks like her, making various obscene gestures to the camera.

Other stars, including actress Katrina Kaif, have also been targeted. In her case, a picture from her film Tiger 3, showing her wearing a towel, was replaced with a different outfit, exposing more of her body.

It is not just Bollywood actresses who are affected – others have been targeted recently, including the Indian industrialist Ratan Tata, who had a deepfake video made of him, giving investment advice.

But the trend does seem to be affecting women in particular.

Research firm Sensity AI estimates that between 90% and 95% of all deepfakes are non-consensual porn. The vast majority of those target women.

“I find it terrifying,” said Ivana Bartoletti, global chief privacy officer at the Indian technology services and consulting company Wipro.

“For women, it’s particularly problematic as this media can be used to produce porn and violence images, and, as we all know, there is a market for this,” she added.

“This has always been an issue, it’s the speed and availability of these tools which is staggering now.”

Ms Samani agrees, saying the problem of deepfakes “is definitely worse for women”.

“Women’s worth is often equated with beauty standards, and female bodies are objectified,” she said.

“Deepfakes take this further. The non-consensual nature of deepfakes denies women the dignity and autonomy over the depiction of their bodies. It takes away the agency, and puts power in the hands of the perpetrators.”

Calls for action

As deepfake videos spread, there have been lots of calls for governments and tech companies to get a grip on such content.

India’s government, for its part, has been cracking down on deepfakes as it heads into a general election year.

After the video of Mandanna went viral, the country’s IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar spoke out against deepfakes, saying they were the “latest and even more dangerous and damaging form of misinformation and need to be dealt with by platforms”.

Under India’s IT rules, social media platforms have to ensure that “no misinformation is posted by any user”.

Platforms that do not comply could be taken to court under Indian law.

But Ms Bartoletti said the problem is much wider than just India, with countries around the world focused on tackling this issue.

“It’s not just Bollywood actors. Deepfakes are also targeting politicians, business people and others,” she said. “Many governments around the world have started to worry about the impact deepfakes can have on other things like democratic viability in elections.”

She said social media platforms needed to be held accountable, and should be proactively identifying and taking down deepfakes.

Ms Samani said male allyship also plays “a very important role” in tackling the problem.

“Victims are rightly raising concerns and calling for action, but fewer men are speaking against the issue,” she said.

“There needs to be more support from men.”

For more on the rise of deepfakes, tune in to BBC World Service’s What in the World on BBC Sounds.

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China will stress test Asia as rarely before in 2024

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Today’s extreme focus on the Bank of Japan is pivoting to how the People’s Bank of China plays the economic minefield that lies ahead in 2024.

Over the next 12 months, China will stress test Asian economies as rarely before. Beijing’s dueling priorities of stabilizing growth and reducing the frequency of boom/bust cycles will center on the actions of Governor Pan Gongsheng at PBOC headquarters.

Since taking the PBOC’s reins in July, Pan has been a study in monetary restraint. Even as the all-important property sector stumbles, Pan’s team has avoided channeling giant waves of liquidity into the market. Targeted blasts, yes. But Team Pan is foregoing the powerful easing moves that traders came to expect from previous PBOC leaders.

One reason is that the yuan is under growing pressure in global markets. Nothing would get China closer to this year’s 5% growth target faster than a lower exchange rate. Pan, though, is prioritizing yuan stability over stimulus in ways that continue to confound hedge funds betting on a weaker currency.

This patience is partly about China’s default-plagued property developers. Each drop in the yuan makes paying off offshore debt more expensive and challenging. It’s also about the PBOC’s determination not to reward bad behavior through moral hazard-encouraging bailouts.

Yet this balancing act may become more precarious as China’s domestic economy underperforms at the same time the external sector disappoints.

People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng is speaking forthrightly about the Chinese economy. Image: Twitter Screengrab

This isn’t the only way China will stress test Asia’s economies. Writing in the latest Global Polarity Monitor newsletter, Asia Times’ David Goldman argues that China will engage in “limited, stylized probes of Asian governments’ pain threshold” in naval and military matters.

Questions about the region’s economic pain threshold vis-a-vis China’s slowdown loom large as 2024 approaches.

Though the US has beaten the odds and avoided a recession, this luck might be running out. The cumulative effects of 11 US Federal Reserve rate hikes in 18 months – and the highest Treasury debt yields in 17 years – are generating intensifying headwinds. Europe is facing a treacherous 2024 as the German economy contracts.

“The fiscal woes of the last month have clearly left their mark on the German economy, with the country’s most prominent leading indicator showing just how difficult it will be for the economy to bounce back,” says ING Bank economist Carsten Brzeski.

Japan, meanwhile, may already be in recession. Data since the economy’s 2.9% contraction in the July-September period offers little hope Japan isn’t ending 2024 in the red. The sense of fragility was buttressed by the Bank of Japan’s decision on Tuesday (December 19) to leave quantitative easing in place.

Following the no-action on rates announcement, BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said it would be “inappropriate to think that we will rush to change our policy because the Fed is likely to move within the next three to six months.” That, he added, means the BOJ will “observe the situation for a little longer.”

To economist Krishna Guha at Evercore ISI, this means the BOJ will “methodically” prepare the ground for a first hike to exit negative rates rather than shock markets with a surprise exit, perhaps by April.

Yet that might depend more on how China fares in the months ahead than any other variable. As China’s economy loses altitude, “the case for early [BOJ] normalization is in jeopardy,” says Carlos Casanova, senior economist at Union Bancaire Privée.

As of now, the “conditions for [a] BOJ to pivot” away from QE “have not yet been met,” Casanova says. The first condition, he adds, is for 10-year Japanese government bond (JGB) yields to be at or slightly above the “new upper bound” of 1.0%. The second is for inflation to remain above the BOJ’s 2.0% target for an extended period. Both conditions remain uncertain.

Here, the BOJ isn’t operating in a vacuum. Economist Louis Gave at Gavekal Dragonomics notes that “assuming that the Fed is sounding dovish more for political reasons than any genuine concerns, the next few months should see a weaker US dollar.”

If, at the same time, Gave says, the “Bank of Japan eventually abandons its negative interest rate policies and China’s stimulus attempts start to gain a modicum of traction – and the People’s Bank of China has ramped up liquidity injections of late – we could end up with a setup that is bearish for long-dated bonds across OECD countries. Most, but especially, in the US.”

Among these central banking powers, the PBOC is a real wildcard in 2024. Odds are the BOJ will be forced to “taper” a bit in the months ahead, says Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst at OANDA. “It seems that mounting pressure from the public and private sectors has arisen.”

The Bank of Japan has a close eye on China’s economy. Photo: Asia Times Files / AFP / Xie Zhengyi / Imaginechina

Wong notes that prominent Japan business lobby Keidanren head Masakazu Tokura is urging the BOJ to “normalize monetary policy as early as possible.” Intriguingly, Economy Minister Shindo attended the BOJ’s December 19 meeting as a representative from the Cabinet Office.

“It’s rare,” Wong says, “for a Cabinet minister to attend BOJ monetary policy meetings as such ‘attendee roles’ are usually assigned to deputy ministers. In the past meetings that cabinet ministers attended had resulted in major monetary policy changes such as the launch of the mega quantitative asset-buying program in April 2013.”

Headwinds from China are among the forces complicating BOJ rate decisions.

The same goes for Bank of Korea officials in Seoul. Sputtering mainland demand has caused an about-face in South Korean exports. In recent months, the BOK cited weak global demand, led by China’s slowdown, as depressing demand for tech goods, undermining the country’s outbound shipments.

Taking a longer-term perspective, economists are mulling what China’s downshift means for the region.

“The Chinese economy has grown at an unprecedented pace since the 1980s, gaining importance globally, particularly after the country joined the World Trade Organization in 2001,” notes economist Sewon Hur at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

However, Hur notes, “the pace of growth is likely to slow as China’s economy matures because of its demographic structure and its increasing proximity to economic and technological frontiers.”

Additionally, Hur argues, “China may face more significant headwinds than would be typically expected. Notably, the country’s growth in total factor productivity — the efficiency of production — the largest contributor to China’s growth, has steadily declined since 2000. This trend is projected to continue over the next decade and beyond.”

As Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang get a handle on the economy’s troubles, Southeast Asia might come into its own as a regional growth engine, argues Eunice Tan, a credit analyst at S&P Global Ratings.

“This shift could constrain the medium-term upside for China’s issuers while improving those of issuers in India, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia,” Tan says.

S&P projects that China’s gross domestic product will slow to 4.6% by 2026 after growing at a 4.8% pace in 2025. By comparison, S&P sees India growing 7.0% by 2026, while Vietnam grows 6.8%, the Philippines expands 6.4% and Indonesia accelerates at a roughly 5% pace.

“Despite stimulus,” Tan says, “China’s property sector remains stressed. Constrained access to credit support and high corporate debt leverage are denting liquidity profiles, particularly of property developers and heavily indebted local government financing vehicles.”

At the same time, Tan adds, “we expect regional interest rates to likely stay high, given the US Federal Reserve will maintain a tight monetary policy to bring inflation within target. Our base case sees the US and Europe avoiding a recession in 2024, but the risk of a hard landing remains, which could affect Asia-Pacific’s exports to these regions.”

A porter walks on a bridge in Chongqing, China with new residential buildings in the background.
Photo: CNBC Screengrab / Zhang Peng / LightRocket / Getty Images

Making matters worse, China’s stumble could generate any number of downside surprises in the year ahead. The problem is that the government still hasn’t “addressed the most important issue: credit risk related to developers,” analysts at Macquarie Bank write in a report.

“Without a lender of last resort, a self-fulfilled confidence crisis could easily happen as falling sales and rising default risks reinforce each other,” Macquarie argues. “Indeed, some large developers have recently seen their credit risks rising rapidly.”

Economists at Nomura add that “China’s property sector has yet to bottom out. Markets appear to have been a bit too optimistic about the property stimulus policies over the past two months.”

If there’s any good news in the short run, write economists at Citigroup, Beijing’s “continued emphasis on supporting real estate financing and local government financing vehicle (LGFV) debt resolution will continue [to help] prevent risks [from] escalating.”

Citi analysts note that “as fragile growth continues to call for an accommodative monetary environment” by the PBOC, “more supports are still needed to boost private sentiment.”

Last month, Moody’s threatened to cut China’s credit rating, highlighting concerns over the slow pace and cost of bailing out highly indebted local governments and state firms slammed by the property crisis.

The specter of an actual downgrade of the second-biggest economy only adds to the ways China will stress test Asia in the year ahead.

Follow William Pesek on X, formerly Twitter, at @WilliamPesek

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Moody’s warns US, China it’s time to change their ways

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Moody’s Investors Service is actively and innocently prodding the two largest bears in the world economy.

Experts at the agency threatened to remove Washington’s final AAA credit score next month. The increase in US 10 time bond yields to 17-year peaks was exacerbated by that volley.

Beijing was the next city to speak Moody growl this week. As Asia’s largest economy struggles with an economic slowdown and a worsening real estate crisis, Moody’S changed its outlook on the Chinese government of debt from” stable” to “negative” on Tuesday ( December 5 ).

A day later, Moody’s went even further by telegraphing potential rating steps against state-owned bank tycoons, numerous Foreign government-backed organizations funding system assignments, and even Hong Kong and Macau.

Threatening downgrades for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd., China Development Bank, and another behemoths will undoubtedly work if Moody’s is attempting to capture the attention of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. It will also affect international investors who are concerned that Beijing is n’t moving quickly enough to contain contagion risks.

In general, the urge is to respond violently to these instructions. The group of US President Joe Biden carried out that action.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen responded to Moody’s risk to drop by saying,” This is a choice I disagree with. Treasury securities continue to be the world’s top safe and liquid asset, and the American market is ultimately strong.

China is also pushing up. Issues of Moody about the aspirations of China’s economic development and fiscal sustainability are unnecessary, the Ministry of Finance of Xi stated on Tuesday, expressing its “dissatisfaction.”

Beijing added that the fallout from financial and property issues is” stable” and that it is working to “deepen measures to tackle risks and challenges.” However, it’s important to take into account the potential benefits of rating agencies like Moody making a timely call for stronger action against the two economical powers.

Janet Yellen, the US Treasury Secretary, disagrees that the country merits a upgrade. Asia Times files / AFP picture

The rules of economic gravity however apply, as Moody’s served as a helpful warning to Biden, Yellen, and Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, in the case of America.

Faith in the money is rapidly eroding as the US federal loan surpasses$ 33 trillion, Biden’s White House raises spending, and the Fed tightens its restrictions with the most vehemence in years.

The price increases in gold and cryptocurrencies are merely the most recent example of how traditional Bretton-Woods economic realities are clashing with contemporary disregard for the ways in which markets you influence perhaps the largest economies.

China, as well. The 24 members of the Communist Party’s Politburo will soon meet to discuss policy priorities and determine rise objectives for the upcoming year. Following that, a course may be charted by the annual Central Economic Work Conference, which will bring up municipal and central government leaders.

A development goal of around 5 % is anticipated for 2024, according to economists at JPMorgan, Standard Chartered, and other major investment bankers.

An optimistic growth target, according to Goldman Sachs economist Maggie Wei,” may help lessen the risk of China falling into a self-fulfilling cycle of melancholy expectations, more depressing growth, and reinforcing negative expectations.”

However, Moody’s is reminding group leaders that economic gravity is more difficult than that.

According to Moody’s, the government and larger public sector may help financially strapped regional and local governments and state-owned enterprises in China, according to its reasoning.

When Moody’s warns of “increased dangers related to functionally and consistently lower medium-term economic growth and the continued reduction of the property sector,” it also speaks for many.

However, it is implied in bold font between the lines that many international investors are n’t buying Xi’s promises to carry out audacious structural reforms. And how new stimulus increases are then “posing wide downside risks to China’s macroeconomic, economic, and institutional strength,” according to Moody.

Chinese President Xi Jinping claims that he now favors more expansion driven by the private sector. Online Screengrab image

China’s finance minister responded by saying that mainland growth is improving in the October–December quarter and that the Chinese economy will account for more than 30 % of global GDP in 2023. That would be consistent with predictions made by the International Monetary Fund ( IMF).

However, there is no timeline for taking action to grow&nbsp, better, rather than just faster, in China’s new rhetoric. According to scholar Lee Lu at Nomura Holdings, more stimulus may become necessary in the short term. We also think it’s too early to say the bottom, he says, “despite the numerous trigger actions announced recently.”

The good news is that Premier Li Qiang is thought to have received Xi’s approval to speed up efforts to reinvigorate the private sector. Li’s team unveiled a 25-point plan package next month to level playing fields and increase funding for private companies.

Eight economic officials and firm tanks are involved in the program, including the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, the People’s Bank of China, National Administration of Financial Regulation, China Securities Regulatory Commission, &nbsp, and National Development and Reform Commission.

The goal is to significantly raise the loan to private enterprise ratio in order to increase innovation and productivity and support more powerful supply chains. According to Li’s group, the goal is to guarantee” ongoing revenue solutions” for private businesses that refrain from “blindly stopping, suppressing, withdrawing or cutting off money.”

The NDRC stated this week that China “is comfortable and more capable of achieving long-term robust growth, and constantly bringing new impetus and options to the earth through China’s accelerated advancement.”

According to scholar Diana Choyleva of Enodo Economics,” Beijing is serious about getting funds flowing to the healthier components of the home field, whether it be personal or state-owned.” &nbsp, They are not satisfied with entrusting the choice to the businesses, which have discriminated against the private market for a number of factors.

Jumpstarting the creation of a high-yield bond market to expand China’s money markets universe is an essential component of the business. Theoretically, a lively and varied range of debt offerings would boost options for private sector financing and boost China’s appeal to investors.

These, Xi’s efforts to make the yuan more popular on international businesses are advantageous. As concerns about the US dollar rise, the battle is gaining momentum. Nothing could hasten that progress more quickly than swiftly and openly putting in place significant reforms.

Here is where Xi and his team needed to win back the confidence of international investors. It is important to note that The Moody’s news did n’t destroy Chinese assets.

The most significant lesson from the Moody’s statement, according to economists at advisory organization China Beige Book, is that their team takes years longer than the majority of China viewers to reach an obvious conclusion. Little brand-new around. Continue.

However, analysts at Citigroup Global Markets predict that in 2024, China’s investment-grade payment issues will be more alluring than those of US counterparts. Following the Moody’s information, Citi experts wrote,” The market has now priced this in to some extent, and China investment-grade has some price.”

In Chongqing, China, a butler is seen strolling along dingy bridges with brand-new residential properties in the distance. Photo: Zhang Peng, LightRocket, CNBC Screengrab, and Getty Images

As Beijing works to regulate real estate markets, Citi experts also cited China’s” stronger, but still fragile micro story.” Chinese money bonds with an investment class are currently up about 5.4 % in 2023.

According to Citi researchers,” China risks are primarily in the price.” The Chinese offshore credit market, which is regarded as an asset and money diversifier for regional investors, tends to do well in times of inland equity-market volatility.

Analysts ‘ concern that China’s time of raising GDP rates solely through stimulus and funding is over, however, is where Moody makes a point.

For starters, “remaining plan room may be limited, as we believe central authorities needs to balance moral liability problems when supporting local governments with substantial debt burdens,” according to scientist Samuel Kwok at Fitch Ratings.

Another is that the quality of mainland growth can only be improved by strong financial retooling that unlocks China’s longer-term growth potential. This trend toward trigger over reform explains why S&amp, P Global Ratings predicts that China will grow below 5 % into 2026.

According to S&amp and P record analyst Eunice Tan, China’s real estate market is still under stress despite stimulus. The cash patterns of property developers and heavily indebted regional government borrowing vehicles are being dented by limited access to credit assistance and higher corporate debt utilize.

As a result, S&amp, P’s Tan claims that the rise website for the Asia-Pacific is moving from China to South and Southeast Asia. Tan notes that this change may limit China’s lenders ‘ medium-term face while enhancing those of India, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

China’s imports decreased by 0.6 %, despite data released on Thursday showing a 0.5 % increase in exports in November year over year. More policy supports are required to promote demand, according to a word from UBS analysts, and the data more dashed hopes of regaining China’s consumption-led economy.

According to OANDA researcher Kelvin Wong, “domestic need has remained weak in China despite continued revival efforts by policymakers via intended monetary and fiscal stimulus steps.”

Therefore, according to Wong,” It seems that the previous one-month treatment of transfer growth recorded in October is probably a “blip” and November’s bad year-on-year growth rate suggests the rolling twelve months of bad growth trend in imports remains intact.”

At the Horgos Port in the autonomous region of north China’s Xinjiang Uighur, business containers can be seen. Image: Xinhua

Global traders are anxiously anticipating the Politburo’s next chamber event as difficulties mount. This once-every-five-year program typically takes place in early December.

The fact that it has n’t been scheduled yet has led to rumors that Xi wants to address a number of pressing issues, such as rising local government debt, deflationary pressures, and real estate to record youth unemployment.

As a madly polarizing 2024 presidential election draws near, the US even faces significant obstacles. The US government’s estimated annualized loan interest payments have increased to the$ 1&nbsp, trillion level, among other things.

Shareholders are free to disregard the financial paths in Washington and Beijing that Moody’s, S&amp, P, and Fitch have to say. However, as payment prospects deteriorate, it is important to keep in mind that some observers, analysts, and investors are n’t buying the party line, despite Biden and Xi’s insistence that they are on top of their individual debt problems.

Following William Pesek on X, previously Twitter, at @WilliamPess

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Meta takes down China-based network of thousands of fake accounts

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A Facebook logoGetty Images
By Mike Wendling
BBC News

Meta says it recently removed a network of thousands of fake and misleading accounts based in China.

The users posed as Americans and sought to spread polarising content about US politics and US-China relations.

Among the topics the network posted about were abortion, culture war issues and aid to Ukraine.

Meta did not link the profiles to Beijing officials, but it has seen an increase in such networks based in China ahead of the 2024 US elections.

China is now the third-biggest geographical source of such networks, the company said, behind Russia and Iran.

The recent takedowns were outlined in a quarterly threat report released on Thursday by the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

The China-based network included more than 4,700 accounts and used profile pictures and names copied from other users around the world.

The accounts shared and liked each other’s posts, and some of the content appeared to be taken directly from X, formerly Twitter.

In some cases the accounts copied and pasted verbatim posts from US politicians – both Republicans and Democrats – including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Reps Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan, and others.

The network displayed no ideological consistency.

In examples released by Meta, an account in the China-based network reposted the words contained in a tweet earlier this year by Democrat Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia. She criticised Texas’s abortion laws and wrote: “Let’s remember – abortion is healthcare.”

But another account in the network copied-and-pasted a tweet from Republican Representative Ronny Jackson, who wrote: “Taxpayer dollars should NEVER fund travel for abortions.”

Meta’s report stated: “It’s unclear whether this approach was designed to amplify partisan tensions, build audiences among these politicians’ supporters, or to make fake accounts sharing authentic content appear more genuine.”

The company’s moderation rules forbid what Meta calls “co-ordinated inauthentic behaviour” – posts by groups of accounts that work together and use false identities to mislead other users.

Often the content shared by such networks is not false and references accurate news stories from major media outlets. But instead of being used for legitimate comment or debate, the posts are meant to manipulate public opinion, push division and make particular viewpoints seem more popular than they really are.

Meta said the large Chinese network was stopped before it took off among real users.

Ben Nimmo, who leads investigations into inauthentic behaviour on the company’s platforms, said such networks “still struggle to build audiences, but they’re a warning”.

“Foreign threat actors are attempting to reach people across the internet ahead of next year’s elections, and we need to remain alert.”

The company said it also discovered two smaller networks, one based in China and focusing on India and Tibet, and one based in Russia which posted primarily in English about the invasion of Ukraine and promoted Telegram channels.

Russian networks, which prompted the company to focus on inauthentic campaigns following the 2016 election, have increasingly focused on the war in Ukraine and have attempted to undermine international support for Kyiv, the report said.

Meta also noted that the US government stopped sharing information about foreign influence networks with the company in July, after a federal ruling as part of a legal case over the First Amendment that is now under consideration by the Supreme Court.

The case is part of a larger debate about over whether the US government works with tech companies to unduly restrict the free speech of social media users.

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Four arrested over romance-investment scams

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PUBLISHED : 30 Nov 2023 at 04:00

Police have arrested two Chinese and two Thais for alleged involvement in romance-investment scams and impounded assets worth about 300 million baht.

Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, chief of the Central Investigation Bureau, said yesterday the arrests and seizures were made at five raided premises in Bangkok and Samut Prakan on Tuesday.

He identified the Chinese suspects as Hongling Ruan, 44, and Zhao Yue, 59. The arrested Thais are both women, identified as Lawan Thawee-apiradeepoon and Sawiktree Angkabut.

They were charged with public fraud, computer crime, participation in a transnational crime organisation and money laundering.

Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop linked the suspects to nine other Thai and Chinese suspects arrested earlier.

They allegedly used false Facebook profiles of attractive women to approach victims they lured into romance and cryptocurrency investment scams.

One of the new suspects, the Chinese man Ruang, is the husband of a 28-year-old Thai model Jakkreena Chookhaowsri, alias Kiki Maxim, one of the nine suspects previously arrested with assets worth about one billion baht.

Pol Maj Gen Athip Pongsiwapai, commander of the Technology Crime Suppression Division, said the gang laundered their ill-gotten gains by buying luxury houses and vehicles and investing in lounges and restaurants.

Police have now impounded assets worth 1.3 billion baht, including 19 luxury houses, 14 luxury vehicles and 6 million baht in cash.

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Chinese, Thais arrested in dual scam investigation

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PUBLISHED : 29 Nov 2023 at 14:20

Chinese, Thais arrested in dual scam investigation
Central Investigation Bureau police search one of the premises raided for evidence, on Tuesday. (Photo police)

Police have arrested two Chinese, one a Thai model’s husband, and two Thais for alleged involvement in romance-investment scams, and impounded assets worth about 300 million baht for examination.

Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, chief of the Central Investigation Bureau, said the arrests and seizures were made at five raided premises in Bangkok and Samut Prakan on Tuesday.

He identified the Chinese suspects as Hongling Ruan, 44, and Zhao Yue, 59. The arrested Thais are both women, identified as Lawan Thawee-apiradeepoon and Sawiktree Angkabut.

They were all charged with public fraud, computer crime, participation in a transnational crime organisation and money laundering.

Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop linked the suspects to nine other Thai and Chinese suspects arrested earlier.

They allegedly used false Facebook profiles of beautiful women to approach victims they lured into romance and cryptocurrency investment scams.

One of the new suspects, the Chinese man Ruang, is the husband of 28-year-old Thai model Jakkreena Chookhaowsri, alias Kiki Maxim, who was one of the nine suspects previously arrested with assets worth about one billion baht.

Pol Maj Gen Athip Pongsiwapai, commander of the Technology Crime Suppression Division, said the gang had laundered their ill-gotten gains by buying luxury houses and vehicles and investing in lounges and restaurants.

In total, case police have now impounded assets worth 1.3 billion baht, including 19 luxury houses, 14 luxury vehicles and 6 million baht in cash, the commander said. All suspects denied all charges.

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Disfigured Chinese also begged in Malaysia, Singapore

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In: South-East Asia

PUBLISHED : 27 Nov 2023 at 15:49

Disfigured Chinese also begged in Malaysia, Singapore
An immigration officer with profiles of the six disfigured Chinese beggars arrested in Bangkok recently, at the Immigration Bureau on Monday. (Screenshot)

Chinese beggars with facial and body disfigurations recently arrested in Bangkok were not working for a Thai boss and had previously solicited money in Malaysia and Singapore, according to the Immigration Bureau.

Pol Maj Gen Panthana Nutchanart, deputy commissioner, said on Monday that some of the six beggars knew each other. They denied they were trafficked by a gang, and told police they worked for themselves and used public transport while in Thailand.

He said they were aged 28-41 years could earn more than 10,000 baht a day in tourist-crowded areas in Bangkok. They had Thai interpreters but there was no evidence Thais gained any other benefits from their activities.

The Immigration Bureau had learned some of them had also begged in Malaysia and Singapore.

They were arrested between Nov 11 and 20, and all had already been deported, he said.

The six, four women and two men, all said the scars on their faces and bodies were from burns incurred as children in China. Immigration security camera footage confirmed they were already disfigured when they arrived arrived in the country.

They usually begged at footbridges and near shopping centres – especially in the Asok, Lumpini and Silom areas. They exchanged their takings for yuan and deposited the money in their accounts, registered in China.

Some of them had begged in their homeland and decided to try their luck in Thailand after friends told them they could earned substantially more here.

Others said they had arrived for a tour but ran out of money. One said he begged while waiting for a new Chinese passport to replace the one he reported lost.

Pol Maj Gen Panthana said the bureau had recently also arrested seven Jordanian adults and 16 minors at hotels on Nana Road, after complaints they had been pestering tourists for money, accosting them while they were shopping or withdrawing cash from ATMs.

All of them had arrived as tourists. They were detained pending deportation.

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Emerging digital technology, alternative data and financial inclusion in Cambodia – Southeast Asia Globe

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In: Finance, South-East Asia

Securing a loan can be a life-changing event, allowing people to access the capital necessary to start a business, buy a home, and invest in their future. But for Cambodia’s large underbanked and unbanked population, difficulty in accessing financial services, and an absence of the financial data used to assess creditworthiness, can make getting a loan challenging. According to the National Bank of Cambodia, only 59 percent of the adult population have access to formal financial services, leaving 41 percent either accessing informal financial services or no financial services at all.

However, developments in Cambodia’s lending landscape offer cause for optimism. The explosion in Cambodia’s fintech ecosystem, paired with the growing potential of alternative-data credit frameworks, could provide a path towards financial inclusion for those previously left out of the conversation.

Acccording to Ms. Phal-Chalm Theany, Secretary General of the Association of Banks in Cambodia, “Alternative data has tremendous potential for contributing to financial inclusion by complementing traditional financial data that banks have. They range from information on mobile wallet transactions to information on user behavior on digital platforms that can be utilized for risk assessment of individuals and MSMEs.” 

Most financial institutions use debt repayment history and bank and credit files to determine the creditworthiness of potential borrowers. Driven by digitalisation and developments in technologies such as data analytics and machine learning, alternative credit scoring is based on any form of non-traditional information that can provide insights into the ability and propensity of borrowers to pay back loans. Telecom and utility payment histories, as well as digital footprints and mobile data, can all be utilised to assess creditworthiness within these frameworks.

Banks in Cambodia are increasingly looking to tap alternative data for serving the unbanked and underbanked.

“Data in Cambodia is still very much fragmented and held across multiple organizations and institutions,” said Mr. Mach Chan, CEO of Phillip Bank in Cambodia. “Many people do not have formal loans from financial institutions. This makes it challenging to predict their repayment capacities. If Phillip Bank can easily assess aggregated alternative data, we can better assess a borrower’s creditworthiness based on their social and behavioral indicators, and spending patterns and habits. This allows us to form a more complete picture of the borrower’s risk profile, with opportunities to offer cheaper loans to less risky customers, regardless of whether they are banked. Additionally, many SMEs are not formally registered making lending a challenge. If banks can access the payments data of these MSMEs, the financial Industry will be more confident to support the needs of these businesses.”

Across Southeast Asia, governments, banks and key stakeholders are becoming increasingly interested in the potential of alternative data as a tool to expand the scope and accessibility of financial services.

A Southeast Asia-focused report published by the World Bank Group in 2021 highlights four new data types that have emerged as part of the evolving digital ecosystem, and which can aid credit decision-making: mobile operator and app-based data, digital payments, e-commerce data and enterprise-tech (business-performance) data. Such alternative data has also been highlighted by the Asian Development Bank as one of the key areas for driving financial inclusion in Southeast Asia. 

Across the region, governments, banks and key stakeholders are becoming increasingly interested in the potential of alternative data as a tool to expand the scope and accessibility of financial services.

In December 2022, the National Credit Bureau of Thailand announced the plan to launch a non-credit data centre by consolidating such data into NCB’s existing credit database with initial application of utility payment data from Electricity and Water Utilities.

In Indonesia, Experian collaborated with a telecom company to uplift financial inclusion by using data from telco to provide advanced credit assessment to empower unbanked and underbanked.

In the Philippines, Credit Information Centre (CIC) is working on an open policy to enable accessing entities to utilize credit bureau data with alternative data to come up with a complete picture of a borrower’s credit profile.

In the context of Cambodia, utility bill payment and telco payment data can serve as important sources of alternative credit data. Moreover, with rapid digitalization along with adoption of digital payments, there should be enormous potential to tap a wide array of alternative data on payments and digital footprints. Around the world, such data have served as key drivers for digital financial inclusion. 

With a rise in digital financial service providers, digital payment catalysts and e-commerce in Cambodia, massive amounts of alternative data are already generated at present. Given this scenario, it is important to have an organized ecosystem to collect, process and utilize such alternative credit data.

On the regulatory front, the National Bank of Cambodia revised the prakas on credit reporting in 2020, enabling Credit Bureau Cambodia (CBC) to collect alternative data along with traditional credit data to support financial institutions to strengthen credit risk assessment capabilities.  

CBC was established in 2012 with the support of the National Bank of Cambodia, the Association of Banks   in Cambodia and other key stakeholders in the sector to manage a fair and transparent credit market in support of the nation’s economic development. Since then, CBC has become the leading body providing financial information in the country. Although currently CBC only manages traditional data reported by member banks and financial institutions, it is preparing an ambitious roadmap to collaborate with multiple sectors in the country. Its plan is to establish a comprehensive alternative credit data ecosystem that can work together with the traditional credit data ecosystem for social and economic benefits to Cambodians.

“I would say Cambodia stands a decade ahead of other emerging market economies because of the Credit Bureau and the lending environment,” explained Gordon Peters, co-founder and CEO of fintech firm Boost, which harnesses popular social media platform such as Facebook and Telegram to enable access to finance. “CBC has done a great job of collecting, collating and sharing data on the financial lives of customers,” he said. “I think that is a huge unlock.”

For Peters and company, CBC establishes a level of legitimacy and security that has benefited Cambodia’s financial sector and allowed his firm to fill a gap in the ecosystem. Banks and financial institutions have a high degree of confidence and trust in the role of CBC as a key financial data infrastructure in the country. For a company that already manages credit history data of more than 7 million individuals and businesses, expanding the capabilities to manage alternative data reporting system looks plausible.

Ms. Phal-Chalm Theany, Secretary General of the Association of Banks in Cambodia

Ms. Theany elaborated: “CBC is a data centre for the financial sector that collects data from banks and financial institutions, stores and analyses them for the purposes of credit scoring for those financial institutions. Where each bank and financial institution may have its own data, CBC has the financial information for the whole sector.

“With strong capabilities in data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, CBC is uniquely positioned to harness alternative data from diverse data sources to enable banks and financial institutions to conduct better assessment of the profile of the unbanked (mainly women and farmers) and informal small businesses, estimate income with more precision. This shall enable financial institutions to offer more appropriate credits or other financial services in the absence of a financial footprint, credit histories or property guarantees.”

Mr. Chan added: “CBC could spearhead the aggregation of payments, telco and utilities data. These datasets are then fed into a prospective customer’s credit score. Over the past few years, with NBC’s Bakong as a key enabler, we’ve seen a rapid digitization of payments. We believe that when assessing customer creditworthiness, payments data is just as important as borrowing and repayment data, and should be prioritized. At the same time, CBC would need to seek the cooperation of their member financial institutions to provide these datasets. For SMEs, we also see data from GDT as an important asset. If CBC could connect and obtain data with GDT, it will allow the banks to form better assessments for clean loans, spurring economic activity.”

Currently, CBC provides K-Score, an algorithmic credit score (ACS). ACS uses machine-learning algorithms to analyse massive data sets to produce credit scores without traditional financial information. This is the only industry level credit score available in Cambodia. First launched in 2015, CBC did a major revamp of the algorithms in 2020 to keep up with the evolving changes in the market landscape. Today, K-Score is available to all member financial institutions of CBC and (via CBC’s mobile app) to all individuals as well.

Example of a K-Score from CBC

A 2023 report in the Asian Journal of Law and Science states: “ACS is the tip of the spear of the global campaign for financial inclusion, which aims at including unbanked and underbanked citizens in financial markets and delivering them financial services, including credit, at fair and affordable prices.” The study outlines the wide ranging benefits of ACS and alternative data as tools to benefit individuals across Southeast Asia who lack access to financial services.

In the Cambodian context, Credit Bureau of Cambodia is well positioned to lead the way in leveraging these tools. To make sense of the massive datasets now available thanks to digitalisation, CBC utilises a host of ACS tools. Machine-learning algorithms and other artificial intelligence mechanisms allow for the analysis of data at a scale that was previously impossible. Risk analysis profiles and loan portfolios that are regularly updated and refined are just a couple of the ways these technologies can be leveraged using alternative data. While the power of these tools is certainly important, CBC’s experience in the sector — and its standing as the leading institution managing, analysing and providing financial data — are the most compelling reasons for the adoption of alternative data schemes in Cambodia.

“As we are entering our second decade of credit reporting in Cambodia, CBC is committed to being a trusted (element in the) national financial infrastructure for providing alternative credit data, to strengthen credit risk assessment for our 190-plus member financial institutions, and to expand access to credit for the new-to-credit consumer segments. We are very open to collaborate with alternative data providers such as telcos, utilities and payment service providers to harness information not found in traditional credit reports, to help more Cambodians obtain access to mainstream financial services,” explained CBC CEO, Oeur Sothearoath.

As CBC leverages its established presence in the financial sector, a growing pool of innovators is working with the agency to develop and facilitate the alternative data ecosystem.

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IN FOCUS: Underage and on dating apps – what is being done to protect minors, and is it enough?

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The Grindr spokesperson also said the app is classed in the 17+ category on both Apple and Google Play App stores, which means parental control settings in both operating systems can be used to prevent the app from being downloaded.

She added that Grindr is “always willing” to work with Apple and Google to develop better age gating technology that respects users’ privacy while improving safety.

As for why Grindr does not require users to upload a profile photo or picture ID, the spokesperson said that user concerns are a key reason for this. Users can privately share photos using private albums.

She added: “Since the founding of Grindr, many of our users have had very real needs to maintain privacy and discretion on the app, ranging from highly personal circumstances to government persecution in more than 60 countries around the world where it is tragically still illegal to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community.”

Nevertheless, she said Grindr “works constantly to eliminate illicit activity from the app”, including using AI and machine learning “in a variety of ways to promote safety, including monitoring chats to detect potential underage users”.

On top of that, Grindr has an external moderation team of more than 150 experts to monitor chats and identify issues such as underage users and those who may try to target them. It also reports activity involving minors to organisations committed to protecting children, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the US.

CNA also asked OkCupid, Tinder and Grindr about whether they were open to partnerships like the one that dating app Bumble recently formed with the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), a gender equality advocacy group in Singapore.

The partnership, announced in September, allows AWARE to report harmful or dangerous people to Bumble’s dedicated member safety team.

Through this new tip line, these people can receive a warning or even have their profiles removed from the platform.

In a press release, Bumble said this is aimed at reducing the burden on victim-survivors of sexual violence and technology-facilitated abuse to report these harms, while ensuring that dangerous individuals are proactively removed from Bumble.

OkCupid, Tinder and Grindr did not directly respond to queries about this.

“THERE’S REALLY NO VERIFICATION”

Notwithstanding dating apps’ various measures to keep the underaged from using them, some users told CNA how easy it was to sign up when they were below the age of 18.

Ms Li, 23, is no stranger to such apps. She first started using them as a 17-year-old.

“There’s really no verification, so I just put my age as 18. I had almost everything actually, I had Bumble, OkCupid, Hinge, Tinder.”

Feeling guilty for lying about her age, Ms Li wrote in her profile that she was 17, going on 18. Despite doing so, the apps did not detect that an underage user was on their platform. 

In fact, Ms Li said her profile became more popular after she updated her bio. “Once I put that, then I actually got more matches.”

She added that she was far from the only underaged teen on dating apps.

“Pretty much every girl I knew that was in upper-secondary school would have been on the more common apps, like OkCupid.” They would send profiles to each other to see who their friends matched with, she said.

Some of the men who matched with her on the apps were 10 years her senior, but it did not raise any alarm bells back then. She said she felt lucky about it, thinking that these older men were taking a chance on her.

It was especially gratifying given that some boys in her age group still shunned girls. “A man likes me – he isn’t immature like the boys,” she said.

“At that age, it was very, very easy for girls to be looking for that attention and validation.”

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