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[Misc] (HL-20200823~20200829) Weekly Headlines Review
최고관리자  |  20-08-22 08:07
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!!! A state-by-state breakdown of US coronavirus cases !!!
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(Mon) Australia plans free vaccines if trial succeeds
호주, 코로나 무료 백신 공급 계획

Australia says it plans to roll out a coronavirus vaccine for free to its citizens if trials are a success. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his country has struck a deal with British drugmaker AstraZeneca to make and distribute enough doses of a potential vaccine for its 25 million people. "There are around 160 different vaccine projects around the world today, some of those are well advanced like the AstraZeneca proposal and they are teaming up with the University of Oxford. And should we be in a position for the trials to be successful, we would hope that this would be made available early next year, if it can be done sooner than that, great. But we are very much in the hands of people wearing white coats and there's plenty around here today and they have been doing tremendous work not just here but all around the world." All Australians will be offered doses of the vaccine but a medical panel will determine the priority list of who receives it first. AstraZeneca last month said good data was coming in so far on its vaccine. It's already in large-scale human trials and widely seen as the front-runner in the race for a shot against the novel coronavirus. Meanwhile Australia's Victoria state, home to the city of Melbourne, has seen a slowdown in new cases in recent days. A flare-up there two weeks ago forced authorities to impose a nightly curfew and shut large parts of the state's economy.

(Tue) Oracle may bid for TikTok's U.S. operations
오라클, 틱톡 미국 사업부 인수전에 가세

The race for TikTok's U.S operations could have a new contender : Oracle. According to Britain's Financial Times newspaper, the tech company has held preliminary talks with the app's Chinese owner, ByteDance. Oracle is reportedly considering buying TikTok's operations in the U.S, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The FT said on Monday that Oracle was working with some U.S. investors that already have a stake in ByteDance. There was no immediate comment from ByteDance, TikTok or Oracle on the FT report. Reuters reported earlier this month that Twitter had approached ByteDance to express its interest. While Microsoft was still the favorite to clinch a deal. The FT also said that Microsoft has considered a bid to take over TikTok operations beyond the nations it outlined earlier in August. Europe and India are reportedly of particular interest, even though the app was recently banned by the Indian government after border tensions with China. But ByteDance is opposed to the idea of selling any additional assets. Donald Trump last week ordered the firm to divest U.S. operations of the video app within 90 days. He's cranking up the pressure on the Chinese company over concerns about the safety of the personal data it handles.

(Wed) Germany probes Amazon over price controls
아마존, 독일에서 가격 규제 혐의 조사 받다

Amazon may face a new probe in Germany - its second-biggest market. The country's anti-trust watchdog has reportedly launched an investigation of the online giant. That’s according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. It quotes the boss of the Federal Cartel Office as saying he’s looking at Amazon’s relationship with third-party merchants. In the first months of the global health crisis, the office reportedly fielded complaints from sellers, who claimed they had been blocked from charging what Amazon said were overly high prices. While that might sound good to consumers, cartel investigators say Amazon has no business controlling prices. German officials haven’t commented on the reports. An Amazon spokeswoman said the company’s policies were designed to make sure sellers set competitive prices. She added that the firm had systems to take action against so-called “price gouging” - that’s when prices are sharply raised to take advantage of high demand. Until 2013 Amazon prevented traders from offering their products via other sites at a lower price - a policy the anti-trust watchdog forced it to abandon. Last year it reached a deal with German authorities over its treatment of third-party merchants, ending a previous seven-month investigation. It seems the truce hasn’t lasted very long.

(Thu) U.S. company offers at-home hologram machines
미국, 가정용 홀로그램 머신 등장

Are you tired of Zoom calls? A Los Angeles-area company has created phone booth-sized machines that can beam AI-powered holograms straight into your living room. “What if you could stand opposite your loved ones and look at them in their eyes in their real human-sized form?" The device made by PORTL lets users talk in real time with a life-sized hologram of another person. Here’s how it works. Each PORTL device is seven feet tall, five feet wide, and two feet deep. It can be plugged into a standard wall outlet. Anyone with a camera and a white background can send a hologram to the machine in what CEO David Nussbaum calls "holoportation." "So just to the left and to the right of my head are my head-level left and right stereo speakers, so that when I'm talking, the sound looks like or sounds like it's coming right out of my face. Directly above my head is a camera that sees the audience that I'm being beamed in front of. In real time, I can beam anywhere and this would give me the ability to hear, see and interact with the audience that I'm being beamed in front of." The machines are also equipped with technology that can enable interaction with recorded holograms of historical figures, like Ronald Reagan, or relatives who have passed away. Prices for the machine start at $60,000, a cost that Nussbaum expects will drop over the next three to five years. The devices can also be equipped with AI technology from Los Angeles-based company StoryFile to produce hologram recordings that can be archived. Adding that to the current device brings the cost to at least $85,000.

(Fri) Star Wars inspires new smart skin
스타워즈에서 영감을 얻은 최신 스마트 스킨

Inspired by the original "Star Wars" trilogy, this AI device can feel and identify objects and textures. "So I was heavily inspired by 'Star Wars.’ There was a scene where Luke Skywalker lost his hand, and towards the end, a robot surgeon repaired his hand, complete with full sensation. And I really wanted to recreate this science fiction scene into scientific reality." Assistant professor Benjamin Tee from Singapore University says this ‘smart skin’ could help develop prosthetic limbs that can feel and sense temperatures and even pain. The device, officially dubbed ACES (Asynchronous Coded Electronic Skin), is composed of 100 different small sensors and is about one square centimeter in size. Researchers at Singapore University say it can process information faster than the human brain, recognize 20-30 different types of textures and read braille letters, all with over 90% accuracy. "So if it's a squishy object like a soft tomato, is it overly ripe? These are things that we can train the machine algorithms to detect. In our case, we use our brain to interpret, but in this case, we use AI to understand these sensors." In some ways, ‘smart skin’ might be even better than human skin, according to Tee. "So humans need to slide to feel texture. But in this case, the skin, with just a single touch, is able to detect textures of different roughness, and so in some sense, it's quite difficult to cheat this skin, especially when it's combined with AI algorithms that can learn very quickly." The project has been in development for the past two years. Tee says the technology is still in the experimental stage and has yet to hit the private market. But he says there has been "tremendous interest," especially from the medical community.

** Other Latest Headlines **

* SK's plan to expand EV battery business in US hits snag

SK Innovation's ambitious plan to expand its electric vehicle (EV) battery business has hit a snag after a U.S. lawmaker called for an investigation into the firm's U.S. affiliate SK Battery America for illegally employing Korean workers at its factory construction site in Georgia. On Aug. 20, Georgia Congressman Doug Collins said he had sent a letter to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to investigate whether there was an attempt to illegally employee foreign nationals to build the battery factory. Collins cited information that CBP officers caught 33 Korean nationals at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport attempting to enter the U.S. without proper work authorizations in May and said this was not a one-time incident. "It is my understanding that the CBP determined that this was not an isolated incident, and that these Korean nationals were part of a larger scheme to illegally bring foreign workers into the United States," he said. Collins said he "was contacted by a constituent who has already observed additional Korean nationals illegally working at the facility in Georgia."

* Loughlin, Giannulli get prison time in college bribery plot

Apologizing publicly for the first time for crimes their lawyers insisted for months they didn’t commit, “Full House” star Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, were sentenced to prison Friday for using their wealth and privilege to cheat their daughters’ way into the college of their choice. The two-month prison sentence for Loughlin and five-month term for Giannulli bring to a close the legal saga for the highest-profile parents ensnared in the college admissions bribery scheme — a scandal that rocked the U.S. educational system and laid bare the lengths some wealthy parents will go to get their kids into elite universities. Fighting back tears, Loughlin told the judge her actions “helped exacerbate existing inequalities in society” and pledged to do everything in her power to use her experience as a “catalyst to do good.” Her lawyer said she began volunteering with special needs students at an elementary school.

* As more colleges stay online, students demand tuition cuts

As more universities abandon plans to reopen and decide instead to keep classes online this fall, it’s leading to conflict between students who say they deserve tuition discounts and college leaders who insist remote learning is worth the full cost. Disputes are flaring both at colleges that announced weeks ago they would stick with virtual instruction and at those that only recently lost hope of reopening their campuses. Among the latest schools facing pressure to lower tuition are Michigan State University and Ithaca College, which scrapped plans to reopen after seeing other colleges struggle to contain coronavirus outbreaks. The scourge has killed more than 175,000 people in the United States. Worldwide, the confirmed death toll crossed 800,000 on Saturday, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University, and cases passed 23 million. In petitions started at dozens of universities, students arguing for reduced tuition say online classes fail to deliver the same experience they get on campus. Video lectures are stilted and awkward, they say, and there’s little personal connection with professors or classmates.

* Typhoon Bavi barreling toward S. Korea, expected to make landfall next week

Typhoon Bavi, formed off the east coast of Taiwan, is expected to hit the Korean Peninsula on Thursday, the national weather agency said Saturday. The Korea Meteorological Administration said the season's 8th tropical storm is moving northwest towards the peninsula at a speed of 28 kilometers per hour and forecast to make landfall on Thursday after passing through the southern island of Jeju. The typhoon is likely to become stronger while moving over warm waters off Jeju island, the agency said, forecasting that the country is expected to come under its direct influence from Wednesday. Although the typhoon's course and size can change, it will come with strong winds and heavy rains, the agency said, advising safety measures be put in place before it arrives. 

* Couples in dilemma again over wedding ceremony amid virus resurgence

Couples wanting to get married are again facing a dilemma over wedding ceremonies after the government reintroduced strict social distancing measure amid a recent resurgence of COVID-19 infections. With the heightened guidelines imposed in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province last week ― which will continue to next week ― large gatherings such as local festivals, trade fares and wedding ceremonies, with estimated attendees of more than 50 people indoors and 100 outdoors have either been banned or postponed. Although in placed for only two weeks, the stricter social distancing guidelines for the Seoul metropolitan area will be extended for another two weeks unless there are signs of a fall in the number of infections. In response to the complaints from many consumers, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said Friday that the Korea Wedding Business Association (WBA) has accepted a request to minimize the damage suffered by soon-to-be married couples ahead of the ceremony. The FTC earlier requested the association to allow couples to postpone weddings without paying cancelation charges or reducing the number of guaranteed guests, or lose their non-refundable deposit, because fewer people are expected to attend the ceremony than initially predicted. The WBA accepted the request of the FTC. If a customer requests a postponement of their ceremony date, the date can be rescheduled without cancellation charges for up to six months from the original one. Also, if the wedding ceremony proceeds as scheduled, the minimum number of guaranteed guests will be reduced and adjusted according to the circumstances of the individual wedding venue.

* Scientists say Hong Kong man got coronavirus a second time

University of Hong Kong scientists claim to have the first evidence of someone being reinfected with the virus that causes COVID-19. Genetic tests revealed that a 33-year-old man returning to Hong Kong from a trip to Spain in mid-August had a different strain of the coronavirus than the one he’d previously been infected with in March, said Dr. Kelvin Kai-Wang To, the microbiologist who led the work. The man had mild symptoms the first time and none the second time; his more recent infection was detected through screening and testing at the Hong Kong airport. “It shows that some people do not have lifelong immunity” to the virus if they’ve already had it, To said. “We don’t know how many people can get reinfected. There are probably more out there.”

* Garbage alert: 11 Seoul districts expected to exceed dumping cap

Despite the central government's efforts to reduce the ever-increasing amount of garbage from Seoul and surrounding regions, the reality betrays the goal, with 11 Seoul districts expected to spew out more garbage than legally allowed. Thirty-seven local jurisdictions from Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province are expected to produce more garbage this year than the caps assigned to them. The evaluation released Tuesday was jointly examined by the Ministry of Environment, the governments of the three regions and Sudokwon Landfill Site Management Corp. The landfill in Incheon's western Seo-gu District is where garbage from the regions is buried. The caps, which vary for the jurisdictions, were introduced in January. They came after a sharp rise in the amount of rubbish produced ― from 460,000 tons in 2015 to 780,000 tons in 2019. The mounting problem is alarming because the landfill is due to end operation in 2025. It was established in 1992 and previously planned to close in 2016. But because there was no replacement site, its use was extended for 10 years, with a third burial ground prepared inside the landfill. The cap regulation was passed in July 2019 by a special committee comprising the Sudokwon landfill president, representatives from the ministry and the three governments, experts and civilians. The regulation set a maximum of 275,000 tons for Seoul, or 90 percent of its total in 2018, for direct dumping at the Sudokwon landfill. Incheon was assigned 96,000 tons and Gyeonggi 262,000 tons.