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The number of immigrants who were arrested after illegally crossing the southern border fell to 156,000 in January, the third-lowest total since President Joe Biden took office. This number remains higher than in any month during President Donald Trump 's tenure and is 80,000 arrests higher than Trump's last month in office.

But while illegal border crossings always fall in January, the decline from the record-high December numbers was helped by Biden's increased use of Title 42 to deny illegal immigrants entry on health grounds.

BIDENFLATION IS NOT GOING AWAY

In December, when a record-high 251,000 illegal immigrants were arrested after crossing the border, Biden denied entry to just 1 in 5 of them by invoking Title 42 authority. Most of the rest were granted access to the United States.

In January, however, Biden upped his use of Title 42 to deny entry to more than 2 out of every 5 of those arrested. Unsurprisingly to everyone but libertarians and open-border activists, the January border numbers prove that enforcement works. The more you deny illegal immigrants entry, the fewer who will attempt to do so. It's pretty simple.

Unfortunately, Biden is not planning to ramp up deterrence, but to do the opposite. The administration's lawyers informed the Supreme Court that they intend to end the use of Title 42 when Biden ends the COVID-19 pandemic emergency in May.

What Biden plans to do to deter immigrants from illegal crossings is unclear. In the same legal brief to the Supreme Court, the DOJ also said immigrants who "fail to seek protection in a country through which they traveled on their way to the U.S." could be placed in expedited removal proceedings.

There are two problems with this. First, Biden already has the authority to place illegal border-crossers in expedited removal proceedings. He does not need to issue a new regulation to give the Department of Homeland Security that power.

More importantly, expedited removal proceedings do nothing to prevent illegal immigrants from making meritless claims that they fear persecution, which is their ticket to gain release into the country. Immigrants will continue to be free to cross the border, get arrested, assert asylum as a defense against deportation, and then be released into the U.S. to go wherever they want.

Biden doesn't need Title 42 or new regulations to prevent the release of illegal immigrants into the U.S. Section 212(f) of Title 8 gives him the authority to "suspend the entry of all aliens" if he decides it would be "detrimental to the interests of the United States."

All Biden needs is the political will to use this tool, and he can end the border crisis he created tomorrow.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

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Deterrence up, illegal immigration down at southern border

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The number of immigrants who were arrested after illegally crossing the southern border fell to 156,000 in January, the third-lowest total since President Joe Biden took office. This number remains higher than in any month during President Donald Trump's tenure and is 80,000 arrests higher than...

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VnExpress International - Latest news, business, travel and analysis from Vietnam

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By Luu Quy &nbspFebruary 13, 2023 | 04:30 pm PT

After promises by telecom firms that Vietnam's international Internet speed would be restored last Friday, online data flows still slow at peak hours.

Bich Phuong, from Hanoi's Cau Giay District, said she still felt the reduced connection quality over the weekend as four out of five undersea cables connecting Vietnam with the rest of the world are still encountering issues.

"The Wi-Fi now connects faster, but the mobile 4G has gotten considerably slower. This is the opposite of what happened in the previous weeks, when I had to turn off the Wi-Fi to use 4G," she said.

When she tried to use the Facebook app, Phuong said she frequently encountered images that had not loaded completely, and she would have to wait several seconds before she could open Facebook links. On the other hand, she said she can use her Wi-Fi as usual now.

At a meeting with the Ministry of Information and Communications last Friday, telecom firms promised to share data among one another to resolve Vietnam's slow international Internet speed. Military-run Viettel has since shared 100 Gbps with VNPT, for example.

However, while users have reported faster connections than before, they say that connections remain unstable.

Nguyen Hong Thang, head of the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority, said that following the application of certain technical methods and the inclusion of data delivered on land, connections have become "less stagnated" than before.

"However, Internet speed can still slow down during peak hours," he said.

During normal periods, Vietnam's undersea cables have a total amount of data flow of 18.7 Tbps. Sixty percent of it is used for normal operations, while the rest is put in reserve. However, as four out of five undersea cables are having issues now, 75% of this data flow has been lost. Telecom firms had to purchase another 3 Tbps worth of data flow to be transported over land to keep connections stable.

A representative of the information ministry said that providers need to make sure that "customers' actual data usage during peak hours must never exceed 90% of the international data amount that service providers can afford." This means that the amount of available data must always be at least 10% higher than users' demands.

However, over the weekend, the amount of data that certain telecom firms used already exceeded the 90% threshold.

According to a report by the information ministry, by the end of Sunday, the amount of data usage seen by VNPT was at 95% of the amount of international data flow the firm can support. The figure seen by Viettel during peak hours was at 96%. Meanwhile, FPT's fixed connections and MobiFone's mobile connections saw data flows below 80% of what they can afford.

VNPT has negotiated with its partners to purchase more data using land cables, and the data is expected to be used over the next 1-2 weeks. Viettel said it would buy more data to ensure that its data reserve would be at least 10%.

Several telecom firms in Vietnam said they have managed to compensate for around 50% of the international data flow lost.

But even with enough data, connections can still be slow as the data has to make longer trips using the available cables left, including land cables, according to experts.

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vietnam struggles at peak hours - vnexpress international

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Despite promises of faster Internet, Vietnam struggles at peak hours - VnExpress International

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By Luu Quy &nbspFebruary 13, 2023 | 04:30 pm PT After promises by telecom firms that Vietnam's international Internet speed would be restored last Friday, online data flows still slow at peak hours.

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Panera Bread tests artificial intelligence technology in drive-thru lanes

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Two Panera Bread locations in upstate New York are testing artificial intelligence technology that takes drive-thru orders.

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VnExpress International - Latest news, business, travel and analysis from Vietnam

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2023 is shaping up as a challenging year to be a woman or minority working in the tech sector, or even a person with one too many years under their belt.

Surging firings by technology companies last year are disproportionately affecting women and mid-career talent which may make it more difficult to improve diversity in one of the most sought-after industries, according to data from a research firm.

In recent years, U.S. tech majors have stepped up hiring and made diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) a priority. But as the industry grapples with over-hiring since mid-2020, rising interest rates and changes in business and consumer behavior, tech companies have announced deep cuts, risking their diversity efforts.

Amazon.com Inc's layoffs will now include more than 18,000 roles as part of a workforce reduction it previously disclosed, its CEO said on Wednesday. That comes to about 6% of its corporate workforce. Salesforce Inc said on Wednesday it planned to eliminate about 10% of its staff.

The rare shakeup in big tech companies risks further disrupting diversity pledges that have already grown stagnant as companies de-emphasize DEI efforts.

Companies including Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com, Twitter Inc and Snap Inc have together cut over 97,000 jobs in 2022 to deal with the slowing economy and shareholder pressures, according to a report from employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. That is up 649% from 2021.

Women and Latino workers represent 46.64% and 11.49%, respectively, of the tech layoffs from September to December 2022, while those segments make up 39.09% and 9.96%, respectively, of the entire industry, according to data from Revelio Labs Inc, a startup that analyzed data from tech layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi and talent database Parachute List by Rocket.

Mid-career talent is also overrepresented in layoffs, said Reyhan Ayas, Revelio Labs senior economist.

Meta, for instance, committed in 2019 to doubling the number of Black and Hispanic employees in its U.S. workforce as well as doubling the number of women in its global workforce by 2024.

Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, sociology professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who studied U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity data for 2008-2016, found that about 7% of tech firms are actively trying to diversify their workforce.

Tomaskovic-Devey said if the same pattern holds, the current round of layoffs will lead to fewer women and non-Asian minorities in tech firms and further entrench the dominance of white and Asian males in the industry.

Twitter was hit with a lawsuit that claimed the social media company disproportionately targeted female employees in layoffs.

Snap and Twitter did not respond to requests for comment. Meta declined to comment.
Disrupt diversity
Black and Asian talent has been less affected by the job cuts but the unexpected layoffs in tech may make it more difficult to attract diverse early-career talent to "the cool kid on the block" or well-known tech companies, said Morgan DeBaun, CEO of Blavity Inc, which hosts the largest annual Black tech conference, AfroTech.

This will disrupt diversity efforts even further, said Benjamin Juarez, a recruiting consultant and co-founder of Latinos in Tech. Underrepresented talent will face increased competition for entry-level roles as experienced workers settle for those jobs, he added.

Entry-level jobs often present the best option for diverse candidates to get a foothold in the tech industry.

"Someone looking to break in to tech for the first time should anticipate that it could be a long road," said Amanda Daering, co-founder of HR consulting firm Newance which builds finance and tech teams at startups.

Companies have made cuts to budgets allocated to make workplaces more diverse, said Nadiyah Johnson, CEO of Milky Way Tech Hub, which helps corporations source diverse candidates.

"There's been patterns of pushing back projects that at one point in time were a priority, especially the first year or two since the George Floyd murder," she said.

Still, some are hopeful.

Latinos in Tech's Juarez said he is hopeful that massive layoffs will give rise to minority led-startups, his preferred solution to the stagnant DEI efforts.

"We want to increase the amount of Latinos in the tech space but we're starting to see that some of these DEI efforts just don't work and we just need to essentially build our own path."

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big tech layoffs may further disrupt equity and diversity efforts - vnexpress international

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Big tech layoffs may further disrupt equity and diversity efforts - VnExpress International

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2023 is shaping up as a challenging year to be a woman or minority working in the tech sector, or even a person with one too many years under their belt. Surging firings by technology companies last year are disproportionately affecting women and mid-career talent which may make it more difficult to improve diversity in one of the most sought-after industries, according to data from a research firm.

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Acrobatic Vietnamese brothers set new world record - VnExpress International

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Circus artists Giang Quoc Co and Giang Quoc Nghiep set a new head-to-head balancing walk record in their final international performance on Friday.

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VnExpress International - Latest news, business, travel and analysis from Vietnam

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By VNA &nbspFebruary 2, 2023 | 11:48 pm PT

Last year, the total revenue from retail sales of goods and services rose 21%, exceeding the target of 8%.

A survey by Vietnam Report showed that over 53.8% of total retail firms enjoyed similar and higher business results compared to the pre-pandemic level.

Experts held that growth of retail sales is being supported by rise in income and the strong recovery of the tourism sector as well as relevant sectors such as transport and accommodations, as well as the effectiveness of inflation control measures.

There are signs of vibrant retail activities as many foreign investors have announced their plans to return after Covid-19.

Recently, Thailand's Central Retail said that it will pump an additional VND20 trillion (US$852.87 million) into the Vietnamese market in the next five years, pushing its investments in Vietnam in the 2022-2026 period to VND65 trillion. With this plan, Central Retail will raise their coverage from 40 localities currently to 55.

Meanwhile, Japanese giant retailer Aeon Group plans to build another megamall in Hanoi, raising its total trade centres in Vietnam to 20.

In 2023, four trade centres are scheduled to be launched - Central Premium Plaza, Vincom Megamall Grand Park, Sunrise City Central and Emart 2 with a total area of over 116,000 sq.m.

Many experts predicted that this year, retailers will expand their selling channels, bringing their products to different trading platforms to optimise online retail channels.

Vietnam's total retail sales of goods and services in January was estimated at VND544.8 trillion, up 5.2% from the previous month and 20% as compared with the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The office explained that the hike was attributed to the growing consumption demand as Tet (Lunar New Year), the biggest and longest festival in the Southeast Asian nation, fell in the month.

Of the total, the retail sales of goods were VND435.4 trillion, a year-on-year rise of 18.1%, with the biggest increase seen in garments (27%).

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retail sales forecast to reach $350b by 2025 - vnexpress international

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Retail sales forecast to reach $350B by 2025 - VnExpress International

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By VNA &nbspFebruary 2, 2023 | 11:48 pm PT Last year, the total revenue from retail sales of goods and services rose 21%, exceeding the target of 8%. A survey by Vietnam Report showed that over 53.8% of total retail firms enjoyed similar and higher business results compared to the pre-pandemic level.

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VnExpress International - Latest news, business, travel and analysis from Vietnam

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By Thu Hang &nbspFebruary 4, 2023 | 05:28 pm PT

In a draft decree that is being reviewed by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Vietnam's largest city listed two new property taxing options.

In the first option, it wants to impose a tax on owners who do not directly use their land and building.

The tax amount and duration will be determined by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly.

In the second option, it wants to impose higher taxes and fees on the second property of each owner, such as registration fees (when purchasing a property), a tax on non-agriculture land, and a personal income tax when selling a property.

The increase amounts will be determined by the city.

Registration fees will be increased from the current 0.5% of a property value to 2%, and the maximum collection will be raised from VND500 million to VND1 billion.

Non-agriculture land fees will not be raised more than five times the current level, and personal income tax will not be raised more than double the current level.

The city will collect the new taxes and will not need to share this revenue with the central government.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment will comment on the proposal before forwarding it to the government for submission to the National Assembly.

The surge in property prices in recent years, mostly due to speculation, has encouraged authorities to find solutions to contain prices to ensure that there is enough affordable housing to meet increasing demand.

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hcmc seeks to tax second property - vnexpress international

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HCMC seeks to tax second property - VnExpress International

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By Thu Hang &nbspFebruary 4, 2023 | 05:28 pm PT In a draft decree that is being reviewed by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Vietnam's largest city listed two new property taxing options. In the first option, it wants to impose a tax on owners who do not directly use their land and building.

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Google is to make its chatbot technology available to the public in "the coming weeks and months" as it responds to the success of ChatGPT, a Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence chatbot that has become a global phenomenon after it was made available free of charge.

Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google's owner, Alphabet, said the use of AI had reached an "inflection point" and the company was "extremely well positioned" in the field.

Pichai referred to two so-called large language models developed by the company, LaMDA and PaLM, with the former set to be released soon. This week CNBC reported that Google had begun testing an AI chatbot similar to ChatGPT called Apprentice Bard, which uses LaMDA technology.

LaMDA shot to prominence last year when Google suspended and then dismissed an engineer after he went public with claims that LaMDA was "sentient". Google said Blake Lemoine's claims about LaMDA - an acronym for language model for dialogue applications - were "wholly unfounded".

Pichai said in a conference call with Alphabet investors on Thursday: "In the coming weeks and months, we'll make these language models available, starting with LaMDA so that people can engage directly with them."

Large language models such as LaMDA and the one behind ChatGPT are types of neural network - which mimic the underlying architecture of the brain in computer form - that are fed vast amounts of text in order to be taught how to generate plausible sentences. ChatGPT has become a sensation after being used to create all sorts of content from school essays to job applications.

Pichai indicated that chatbot technology would be integrated into Google as part of the rollout. "Very soon, people will be able to interact directly with our newest, most powerful language models as a companion to search in experimental and innovative ways," he said. Last year Google released a set of LaMDA demos, available to small groups, as part of an "AI Test Kitchen".

He also flagged the achievements of Alphabet's UK-based AI unit DeepMind, saying its database of "all 200m proteins known to science have been used by 1 million biologists around the world".

Analysts estimate that ChatGPT, developed by the San Francisco-based company OpenAI, has reached 100 million users since its launch on 30 November. Describing the growth as unprecedented, analysts at the investment bank UBS wrote: "In 20 years following the internet space, we cannot recall a faster ramp in a consumer internet app."

Microsoft, one of OpenAI's financial backers, is integrating ChatGPT into its products and has already launched a premium version of its Teams communications product, offering AI-powered extras such as automatically generated meeting notes. Microsoft is also expected to deploy OpenAI's artificial intelligence models in its Bing search engine.

ChatGPT is an example of generative AI, or technology trained on vast amounts of text and images that can create content from a simple text prompt. OpenAI has also developed Dall-E, an AI-powered image generator.

Michael Wooldridge, a professor of computer science at the University of Oxford, said OpenAI had "put a firework" under big tech companies with the release of ChatGPT.

"They achieved that with a fraction of the number of employees of big tech companies, which must have caused consternation in Silicon Valley boardrooms," he said. "My guess is we'll see a massive pivot in other big tech companies towards large language models and generative AI - and a frantic rush to get products to market and secure a user base."

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Google poised to release chatbot technology after ChatGPT success

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Google is to make its chatbot technology available to the public in "the coming weeks and months" as it responds to the success of ChatGPT, a Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence chatbot that has become a global phenomenon after it was made available free of charge.

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1. pirated /ˈpaɪ.rə.tɪd/

(of music, films, computer programs, etc.) illegally copied and sold

2. surreptitiously /ˌsɝː.əpˈtɪʃ.əs.li/

secretly, without anyone seeing or knowing

3. excerpt /ˈek.sɝːpt/
a short part taken from a speech, book, film, etc

4. entity /ˈen.t̬ə.t̬i/

an organization or a business that has its own separate legal and financial existence

tổ chức

5. box office /ˈbɑːks ˌɑː.fɪs/

the place in a cinema or theatre where tickets are sold

money from ticket sales, used as a way of measuring the success of a performer, film, or public event

6. piracy /ˈpaɪr.ə.si/

the act of illegally copying a computer program, music, a film, etc. and selling it

vi phạm bản quyền

7. blockbuster  /ˈblɑːkˌbʌs.tɚ/

a book or film that is very successful

phim bom tấn

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Tet movies pirated, uploaded on TikTok - VnExpress International

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Excerpts from Tet releases “Nha Ba Nu” (Nu’s Family) and “Chi Chi Em Em 2” (Sister Sister 2) have been surreptitiously videoed in cinemas and uploaded on TikTok.

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VnExpress International - Latest news, business, travel and analysis from Vietnam

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Businesses that resumed operations after Tet at major industrial hubs across Vietnam reported around 95% of their employees have returned to work.

Instead of resuming operations on the sixth day of the lunar year on Friday as usual, many companies in the north this year opted to reopen on Monday to give their workers, especially those living in the northern highlands provinces, more time with their families.

All 1,190 businesses in Bac Ninh's industrial parks, home to many foreign enterprises, have resumed operations with more than 99.6% of workers returning to work, according to a report by the province Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The rest are returning late because they could not book train or coach tickets due to the rush or switched jobs, it said.

Companies outside industrial zones reported 99.5% of their employees have returned.

Bac Giang Province, also a major industrial hub in the north, has no labor shortage now unlike at the beginning of 2022 when the country started to reopen its economy post-pandemic.

Tran Van Ha, deputy director of the province's labor department, said many companies, especially in the electronics sector, plan to expand production and so need to recruit 17,000 workers this quarter.

Thai Nguyen Province has more than 8,700 businesses with more than 230,000 employees.

Nearly 95% of them have returned to work after Tet.

In Hanoi, more than 83% of enterprises have resumed work and 95% of their workers have returned.

In the southern province of Dong Nai, major garment and textile businesses that employ tens of thousands of workers resumed operation on Monday and saw a high rate of returning workers.

Nike and Adidas suppliers Taekwang Vina, Pouchen and Changshin reported 93-99% of their workers have come back to work after Tet, according to the province's Labor Confederation.

Binh Duong Province's labor department also reported "stable" return of workers after the holiday, with around 86% of workers coming back by Monday, while a number of businesses have plans to delay reopening until the first two weeks of February.

Earlier on Friday, hundreds of companies that resumed operations in Ho Chi Minh City after the Tet holiday reported that 95% of their laborers have returned to work.

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs has said labor-intensive industries such as textile and garment, leather and footwear, wood processing, and supporting industries would continue to lose orders and face difficulties until the end of the first quarter.

Hundreds of companies with 637,000 workers have been affected so far.

The labor ministry estimated nearly 272,000 workers would have their working hours reduced after Tet while 15,800 would lose their jobs altogether.

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95% of workers return to work after tet - vnexpress international

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95% of workers return to work after Tet - VnExpress International

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Businesses that resumed operations after Tet at major industrial hubs across Vietnam reported around 95% of their employees have returned to work. Instead of resuming operations on the sixth day of the lunar year on Friday as usual, many companies in the north this year opted to reopen on Monday to give their workers, especially those living in the northern highlands provinces, more time with their families.

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Urgent action needed to curb rise in prison deaths linked to spice, say UK researchers

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Synthetic cannabinoids involved in nearly half of male prisoner deaths analysed in England and Wales