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.
Google officials say the company wants to
apply technologies used in AlphaGo in other
areas, such as smartphone assistants, and
ultimately to help scientists solve real-world
problems.
Continued on page 3
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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