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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2016)
Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER ASIA / PACIFIC March 21, 2016 DNA test shows Vietnam twins had different fathers HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A university professor and state media say Vietnam has identified extremely rare bi-paternal twins, or twins with different fathers. Professor Le Dinh Luong, president of the Genetic Association of Vietnam, says DNA testing at his Hanoi lab confirmed the twins have different fathers, the first such case that he knows of in Vietnam and one of only seven such cases reported in the world as of 2011. Online newspaper Dan Tri reported that a 34-year-old man from northern Hoa Binh province had DNA testing after being pressured by his family because the twins did not look alike. One has thick wavy hair while the other has thin and straight hair. The twins, who are now two years old, were born on the same day and are the same sex. China to reform university programs to emphasize skills BEIJING (AP) — China’s education minister says some of the country’s universities should gradually reform their curricula to produce graduates with technical skills that better match the needs of the labor market. Yuan Guiren said at a news conference on the sidelines of an annual national congress that most of the more than 2,500 Chinese universities and colleges focus on theory and scholarship while few teach applied skills. A record 7.65 million students will graduate from college this year, putting pressure on the government to find them proper employment or risk turning them into a source of social instability. Yuan says Beijing will encourage graduates to be enterprising while actively helping them find jobs. Honda rolls out fuel cell in Japan, to lease 200 first year TOKYO (AP) — Honda has rolled out a new fuel-cell vehicle, the first of its kind to be a five-seater. The zero-emissions Clarity may not sell in big numbers, however, given its price tag of 7.66 million yen ($67,000). Honda Motor Co. said its Japan sales target for the first year is just 200 vehicles, all of them through leasing to government organizations or businesses. Honda says the Clarity will go on sale in California later this year for about $60,000, and will lease for less than $500 a month. All of the world’s major automakers are working on fuel cells. They are super-clean, running on the energy created when hydrogen stored as fuel combines with oxygen in the air so it emits only water. Total eclipse of the sun unfolds over Indonesia PALEMBANG, Indonesia (AP) — People gazed at the sky in wonder and cheered while others knelt in prayer as a total eclipse of the sun unfolded over Indonesia. The rare astronomical event was witnessed along a narrow path stretching across 12 provinces, encompassing three times zones and about 40 million people. In other parts of the Indonesian archipelago and Asia, a partial eclipse was visible. Nurjanah Hassan, a mother of three in Ternate in eastern Indonesia, one of the last places to see the eclipse, said she was “so happy” to see “this rare phenomenon in my life.” Thousands of eclipse-chasers travelled from abroad. Bangladesh loses $100 million, allegedly to hackers NEW DELHI (AP) — The Bangladesh central bank says it is working to recover some $100 million allegedly stolen by Chinese hackers from an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Authorities have given few details about how the money disappeared, but finance minister A.M.A. Muhith says authorities are considering suing the U.S. bank over the money’s apparent transfer to accounts in the Philippines. Muhith said the U.S. bank has “no way to avoid their responsibility.” The New York Fed put out a brief statement through its Twitter account that said “Regarding hacking reports, there is no evidence of attempts to penetrate Federal Reserve systems & no evidence Fed systems were compromised.” The Bangladesh Bank said it managed to recover some of the funds, but gave no details. It has also tracked down those still missing and is working with the anti-money laundering agency in the Philippines, which has been ordered by a court in the country to freeze the accounts while the issue is investigated. Bangladesh also is working with World Bank cyber and forensic experts, the bank said in a statement. The country’s leading Bengali-language Prothom Alo newspaper reported that at least 30 transfer requests were made February 5 using the Bangladesh Bank’s SWIFT code, out of which five succeeded in effecting transfers. Economist Mamun Rashid, who previously headed Citibank NA in Bangladesh, said he was sure the country would be able to recover the full amount. China says nearly 300,000 punished for corruption in 2015 BEIJING (AP) — China’s ruling Communist Party says it punished nearly 300,000 officials for corruption last year. The party’s official watchdog body said 200,000 of those were given light punishments and 82,000 handed severe penalties, including demotions within the bureaucracy. The body known as the Central Committee for Discipline Inspection rarely explains its methodology or what evidence it considers, and no other details were given in the brief statement posted on its website. President Xi Jinping has pressed a massive nationwide probe of corruption among officials of all ranks, including those in the party, government, military, and state-run industries. Hundreds of thousands of officials were interviewed in the campaign, but only a small number were identified. An independent database lists 1,567 as having been investigated, expelled from the party, or sentenced. Among the highest-level targets of the campaign was Zhou Yongkang, the head of a rival power network and former member of the party’s inner sanctum, the Politburo Standing Committee, who was sentenced last year to life in prison for corruption. GO SMACKDOWN. South Korean professional Go player Lee Sedol speaks during a press conference ahead of the Google DeepMind Challenge Match in Seoul, South Korea. Lee and Google’s artificial-intelligence program, AlphaGo, played five Go matches this month. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) Human Go champ says machine not superior despite 1:4 defeat By Youkyung Lee The Associated Press S EOUL, South Korea — Game not over? Human Go champion Lee Sedol says Google’s Go-playing program AlphaGo is not yet superior to humans, despite its 4:1 victory. The weeklong showdown between the South Korean Go grandmaster and Google DeepMind’s artificial-intelligence program showed the computer software has mastered a major challenge for artificial intelligence. “I don’t necessarily think AlphaGo is superior to me. I believe that there is still more a human being could do to play against artificial intelligence,” Lee said after the nearly five-hour-long final game. AlphaGo had the upper hand in terms of its lack of vulnerability to emotion and fatigue, two crucial aspects in the intense brain game. “When it comes to psychological factors and strong concentration power, humans cannot be a match,” Lee said. But he added, “I don’t think my defeat this time is a loss for humanity. It clearly shows my weaknesses, but not the weakness of all humanity.” He expressed deep regret for the loss and thanked his fans for their support, saying he enjoyed all five matches. Lee, 33, has made his living playing Go since he was 12 years old and is famous in South Korea even among people who do not play the game. The entire country was rooting for him to win. The series was one of the most intensely watched events across Asia. The human- versus-machine battle hogged headlines, eclipsing reports of North Korean threats of a pre-emptive strike on the South. The final game was too close to call until the very end. Experts said it was the best of the five games in that Lee was in top form and AlphaGo made few mistakes. Lee resigned about five hours into the game. The final match was broadcast live on three major television networks in South Korea and on big television screens in downtown Seoul. Google estimated 60 million people in China, where Go is a popular pastime, watched the first match. Before AlphaGo’s victory, the ancient Chinese board game was seen as too complex for computers to master. Go fans across Asia were astonished when Lee, one of the world’s best Go players, lost the first three matches. Lee’s win over AlphaGo in the fourth match, showed the machine was not infallible: Afterward, Lee said AlphaGo’s handling of surprise moves was weak. The program also played less well with a black stone, which plays first and has to claim a larger territory than its opponent to win. Choosing not to exploit that weakness, Lee opted for a black stone in the fifth match. Go players take turns placing the black and white stones on 361 grid intersections on a nearly square board. Stones can be captured when they are surrounded by those of their opponent. To take control of territory, players surround vacant areas with their stones. The game continues until both sides agree there are no more places to put stones, or until one side decides to quit. 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Bangladesh Taka· · Cambodian Riel · · China Renminbi · · Fijian Dollar · · · · Hong Kong Dollar · Indian Rupee · · · · Indonesian Rupiah · Iranian Rial · · · · Japanese Yen · · · Laos New Kip · · · Malaysian Ringgit · Nepal Rupee · · · · Pakistani Rupee · · Papua N.G. Kina · · Philippine Peso· · · Russian Ruble · · · Saudi Riyal· · · · · Singapore Dollar · · South Korean Won · Sri Lankan Rupee · Taiwan Dollar · · · Thai Baht · · · · · Vietnam Dong · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 78.375 3999.0 6.4755 2.0704 7.7553 66.506 13116 30191 111.53 8115.8 4.0533 106.48 104.59 3.0628 46.33 67.372 3.7506 1.3536 1162.4 145.1 32.362 34.83 22290