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Straits Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Gaza documentary shown on BBC breached accuracy guideline, review finds
FILE PHOTO: The BBC logo is displayed above the entrance to the BBC headquarters in London, Britain, July 10, 2023. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo LONDON - A BBC documentary about children's lives in Gaza narrated by the 13-year-old son of a deputy agriculture minister in the Hamas-run government breached the British public broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy, an internal review said on Monday. The BBC's investigation, however, found there were no other breaches of its editorial guidelines, including on impartiality, and no evidence that outside interests "inappropriately impacted on the programme". The BBC removed "Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone" from its online platform in February, five days after it was broadcast, saying it had "serious flaws". The documentary was made by independent production company HOYO Films. A review found the programme breached a guideline on accuracy that deals with misleading audiences. The background on the narrator's father was "critical information" that was not shared with the BBC before broadcast, the review found. Britain's media regulator Ofcom launched its own probe after examining the BBC's findings, stating on X that it would investigate under a rule requiring factual programmes to not "materially mislead the audience". Gaza's health ministry says more than 58,000 people have been killed since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore HSA intensifies crackdown on vapes; young suspected Kpod peddlers nabbed in Bishan, Yishun Singapore Man charged over distributing nearly 3 tonnes of vapes in one day in Bishan, Ubi Avenue 3 Singapore Public healthcare institutions to record all Kpod cases, confiscate vapes: MOH, HSA Singapore Man allegedly attacks woman with knife at Kallang Wave Mall, to be charged with attempted murder Singapore Singapore boosts support for Timor-Leste as it prepares to join Asean Singapore UN aviation and maritime agencies pledge to collaborate to boost safety, tackle challenges Singapore High Court dismisses appeal of drink driver who killed one after treating Tampines road like racetrack Singapore 18 years' jail for woman who hacked adoptive father to death after tussle over Sengkang flat The BBC's coverage of the war has been closely scrutinised throughout the conflict, with both supporters of Israel and its critics saying the broadcaster had failed to strike the right balance. "Regardless of how the significance or otherwise of the Narrator's father's position was judged, the audience should have been informed about this," said the report by Peter Johnston, BBC Director of Editorial Complaints and Reviews. BBC Director-General Tim Davie said the report had identified a significant failing in relation to accuracy. "We will now take action on two fronts – fair, clear and appropriate actions to ensure proper accountability and the immediate implementation of steps to prevent such errors being repeated," Davie said in a statement. REUTERS
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
BBC's Gaza documentary breached accuracy guideline, review finds
FILE PHOTO: The BBC logo is displayed above the entrance to the BBC headquarters in London, Britain, July 10, 2023. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo LONDON - A BBC documentary about children's lives in Gaza narrated by the 13-year-old son of a Hamas official breached its editorial guidelines on accuracy, an internal review by the British public broadcaster said on Monday. The investigation, however, found there were no other breaches of the BBC's editorial guidelines, including on impartiality, and no evidence that outside interests "inappropriately impacted on the programme". The BBC removed "Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone" from its online platform in February, five days after it was broadcast, saying it had "serious flaws". The documentary was made by independent production company HOYO Films. A review found the programme breached a guideline on accuracy that deals with misleading audiences. The background on the narrator's father — a minister in the Hamas-run government in Gaza — was "critical information", which was not shared with the BBC before broadcast, the review found. Gaza's health ministry says more than 58,000 people have been killed since the start of the war on Oct. 7 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza. The BBC's coverage of the war has been heavily scrutinised throughout the conflict, with both supporters of Israel and its critics saying the broadcaster had failed to strike the right balance. "Regardless of how the significance or otherwise of the Narrator's father's position was judged, the audience should have been informed about this," said the report by Peter Johnston, BBC Director of Editorial Complaints and Reviews. BBC Director-General Tim Davie said the report identified a significant failing in relation to accuracy. "We will now take action on two fronts – fair, clear and appropriate actions to ensure proper accountability and the immediate implementation of steps to prevent such errors being repeated," Davie said in a statement. REUTERS
The Star
15-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
BT CEO eyes deeper job cuts as AI becomes more powerful, FT reports
A view of BT Group logo displayed on BT tower, in London, Britain, July 21, 2023. REUTERS/Hollie Adams (Reuters) -BT Group Chief Executive Allison Kirkby said advances in artificial intelligence could deepen significant job cuts under way at the British telecoms company, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Kirkby told the newspaper that BT's plans to cull more than 40,000 jobs and strip out 3 billion pounds ($4 billion) of costs by the end of the decade "did not reflect the full potential of AI". "Depending on what we learn from AI . . . there may be an opportunity for BT to be even smaller by the end of the decade," the FT quoted her as saying. Britain's biggest broadband and mobile provider had said in 2023 it would cut as many as 55,000 jobs, including contractors, by 2030, with then-CEO Philip Jansen saying the company would rely on a much smaller workforce and significantly reduced cost base by the end of the 2020s. Kirkby, who took over from Jansen a year ago, has also opened the door to a possible future spin-off of Openreach, the company's network infrastructure business, the FT said. She said she did not feel the value of Openreach was reflected in the company's share price and if that persisted, BT "would absolutely have to look at options". BT said last month that strong demand for fibre broadband and more than 900 million pounds of cost savings had helped shore up its full-year earnings and boost cash flow. Resilience at Openreach offset declines in revenue and profits in its business and consumer units, where legacy voice services continued to wane and handset sales fell. ($1 = 0.7372 pounds) (Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and William Mallard)
The Star
10-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
IBM aims for quantum computer in 2029, lays out road map for larger systems
A view shows the IBM Australia building in Melbourne, Australia, March 24, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -International Business Machines on Tuesday said it plans to have a practical quantum computer by 2029, and it laid out the detailed steps the company will take to get there. Quantum computers tap into quantum mechanics to solve problems that would take classical computers thousands of years or more. But existing quantum computers must dedicate so much of their computing power to fixing errors that they are not, on net, faster than classical computers. IBM, which also said it aims to have a much larger system by 2033, plans to build the "Starling" quantum computer at a data center under construction in Poughkeepsie, New York, and said it will have about 200 logical qubits. Qubits are the fundamental unit of quantum computing, and 200 qubits would be enough to start showing advantages over classical computers. IBM is chasing quantum computing alongside other tech giants such as Microsoft, Alphabet's Google and as well as a range of startups that have raised hundreds of millions of dollars in capital. All of them are tackling the same basic problem: Qubits are fast but produce a lot of errors. Scientists can use some of a machine's qubits to correct those errors, but need to have enough left over for doing useful work. IBM changed its approach to that problem in 2019 and says it believes it has landed on a new algorithm that will drastically reduce the number of qubits needed in error correction. In an interview, Jay Gambetta, the vice president in charge of IBM's quantum initiative, said the company's researchers took a different tack than they had historically, when they would work out the scientific theory of an error-correction method and then try to build a chip to match that theory. Instead, IBM's quantum team looked at which chips were practical to build and then came up with an error-correction approach based on those chips. That has given IBM confidence to build a series of systems in between this year and 2027 that will eventually result in larger systems. "We've answered those science questions. You don't need a miracle now," Gambetta said. "Now you need a grand challenge in engineering. There's no reinvention of tools or anything like that." (Reporting by Stephen Nellis; Editing by Leslie Adler)
The Star
09-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
BoE risks repeat of Brexit pessimism as growth signals diverge
Pedestrians pass the Bank of England (BOE) in the City of London, UK, on Thursday, May 11, 2023. The Bank of England raised its benchmark lending rate to the highest level since 2008, saying further increases may be needed if inflationary pressures persist. Photographer Hollie Adams/Bloomberg LONDON: Bank of England (BoE) rate setters risk underestimating the strength of the UK economy by placing too much faith in downbeat business surveys over official growth data. Governor Andrew Bailey revealed last week he is putting more emphasis on indicators such as S&P Global's purchasing managers' index (PMI), warning that 'we've had more volatile, short-run gross domestic product (GDP) numbers of late.' However, BoE watchers caution against repeating the error made after the 2016 Brexit referendum, when officials eased policy in response to a sharp downturn registered in surveys. The conflicting signals threaten to muddy the waters at a time when the BoE is deciding how much more it can cut rates, as it weighs a fresh uptick in inflation against concerns over the economy and US President Donald Trump's trade war. Official figures show GDP growth picking up strongly in the first quarter to 0.7%, the strongest performance in a year. Yet the growth signal from the PMIs, when an average is taken over the quarter, shows a more stable but stagnant picture – a view that the BoE believes is more indicative of the economy's underlying state. The index showed virtually zero growth in the first quarter. It then dropped into contractionary territory in April as businesses baulked at Trump's tariffs before rebounding to a flat reading in May. 'The challenge we have at the moment is that the forward looking evidence on activity in the economy, so the survey says, are nothing like as strong as that,' Bailey told Parliament's Treasury Committee. He called the gap a 'disjoint' and said that BoE staff believe the private sector surveys are a better predictor of the economy's future than the previous GDP figure. 'Bailey is at risk of repeating the same error made after the Brexit referendum, of taking a weak PMI as strong evidence of actual growth, when it proved to be very misleading,' said Robert Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. 'There is strong evidence that the PMI is far too pessimistic about growth when uncertainty rises because the qualitative nature of the survey means that it captures sentiment rather than actual growth. 'The same will very likely apply to Mr Bailey's visits to firms,' he said. The economy grew by 1.9% in 2016, in line with the average of the previous six years – despite the political upheaval caused by Britain's vote to leave the European Union. While the official data for the first quarter of 2025 was likely boosted by temporary factors as manufacturers rushed to get ahead of US tariffs, there were also signs of strength in services, the largest part of the UK economy. Government data have been under suspicion amid a series of statistical flaws primarily affecting the labour market data, but also covering estimates of GDP. One concern is whether they are correctly adjusting for seasonal shifts in economic output. 'There's also some evidence to suggest the GDP data, especially the like-for-like services PMI equivalent component, has been exhibiting some strong seasonality since the pandemic, which is not evident in the PMI,' said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. — Bloomberg
