Antoine Griezmann ends Huawei contract over alleged surveillance of Uighurs
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Barcelona's World Cup-winning footballer Antoine Griezmann said Thursday he was ending a commercial deal with Huawei over reports the Chinese telecoms giant was involved in the surveillance of Uighur Muslims. Frenchman Griezmann said on Instagram that following "strong suspicions that Huawei has contributed to the development of a 'Uighurs alert' through the use of facial recognition software, I am immediately ending my partnership with the company." He called on Huawei to "not just deny these accusations but to take concrete action as quickly as possible to condemn this mass repression... and to use its influence to contribute to the respect of human rights".
US-based surveillance research firm IPVM said in a report Tuesday that Huawei had been involved in testing facial recognition software in China that could send alerts to police when it recognised Uighur minorities' faces.
Human Rights Watch says Uighurs in Xinjiang are being arrested after being reported by software which identifies suspicious behaviour.
Surveillance spending in Xinjiang has risen sharply in recent years, with facial recognition, iris scanners, DNA collection and artificial intelligence deployed across the province in the name of preventing terrorism.
China has come under intense international criticism over its policies in Xinjiang, where rights groups say as many as one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities have been held in internment camps.
China defends the camps as vocational training centres aimed at stamping out terrorism and improving employment opportunities.
Making voices heard
Griezmann, a 29-year-old forward who was a key part of the France team that reached the final of Euro 2016 and then won the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
He been a Huawei brand ambassador since 2017 and has featured prominently in a giant advertising campaign for the company in France.
AFP has contacted Huawei France for comment.
Huawei earlier this year became the world's top mobile phone seller.
Griezmann made his name with Real Sociedad in Spain before moving to Atletico Madrid in 2014.
He joined Barcelona in a 120-million-euro ($145.5 million) deal in 2019 and is expected to be part of the French squad for next year's European championships.
His decision to end his Huawei contract comes at a time when French sports figures, especially high-profile footballers, are increasingly making their voice heard on social and political issues.
In posts on his social media accounts last month, Griezmann expressed his concern at a video showing French policemen beating a music producer. The video was one of the factors that led President Emmanuel Macron to declare that there is an "urgent need" to reform the police.
Griezmann previously suggested teams should walk off the field when faced with homophobic abuse from the stands, saying that "homophobia is a crime, not an opinion" in a May 2019 interview with French LGBT magazine Tetu.
On Wednesday, the Paris Saint-Germain team containing Griezmann's World Cup teammate Kylian Mbappe walked off the pitch with their opponents from Istanbul Basaksehir in protest at allegedly racist language used by a match official in a Champions League game.
Courtesy: ndtv.com
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Vice President Radhakrishnan unveils drone to tranquilise elephants
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): A drone designed to tranquilise violent elephants without close human contact, recently unveiled by Vice President C P Radhakrishnan, marks a significant milestone in the use of indigenous UAV technology for human-wildlife conflict mitigation, the manufacturing company said.
The unveiling of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) took place on Sunday in the presence of Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar and Union Minister of State for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Tourism Suresh Gopi, underscoring the national importance of integrating advanced aerial systems into wildlife protection efforts, the company said in a release.
"The customised drone is engineered to support safe and precise elephant darting operations by enabling aerial-assisted tranquilisation with enhanced accuracy.
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"The system significantly reduces on-ground risk to forest personnel, minimises disturbance to wildlife, and improves operational efficiency during critical interventions involving distressed or conflict-prone elephants," it said.
It further said that nearly a decade ago, the platform marked the first drone designed by Garuda Aerospace for the Tamil Nadu Forest Department.
"The latest customised solution represents the culmination of years of field learning, technological upgrades, and mission-focused research and development," it said.
It also said that in the past, Garuda Aerospace has supplied multiple drones to leading conservation bodies, including the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), along with several forest departments across India.
"These deployments have supported wildlife monitoring, anti-poaching operations, habitat mapping, and rapid-response missions in ecologically sensitive regions," the release said.
Speaking on the occasion, Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and Director of Garuda Aerospace, said that witnessing the Vice President unveil an evolved, customised solution for drone-aided elephant darting was "deeply fulfilling".
"Our journey has been built on incremental innovation—continuously enhancing our technology to responsibly serve wildlife conservation. We remain committed to creating indigenous solutions that protect both animals and communities," he was quoted as saying.
As India continues to address the growing challenges of human-elephant conflict, drone-assisted darting offers a safer, more efficient, and humane alternative to traditional ground-based approaches, Garuda Aerospace, a drone tech start-up, has said.
