News Headlines - 24 December 2020

▽Channel 4 under fire for deepfake Queen's Christmas message | The Guardian

Channel 4 has sparked controversy and debate with a deepfake video of the Queen as an alternative to her traditional festive broadcast, to be aired on Christmas Day.
The broadcaster will show a five-minute video in which a digitally altered version of the Queen shares her reflections on the year... The deepfake Queen, voiced by the actor Debra Stephenson, can also be seen performing a dance routine from social media platform TikTok.
Channel 4 said the broadcast was intended to give a “stark warning” about the threat of fake news in the digital era, with its director of programmes, Ian Katz, describing the video as a “a powerful reminder that we can no longer trust our own eyes”.

▽Paws for thought: Macron's dog in video plea for sensible pet adoption - France 24

French President Emmanuel Macron's dog has starred in a video urging people to adopt pets sensibly over the holidays.
Nemo, a black Labrador-Griffin mix, was a rescue dog who Macron and his wife Brigitte reportedly adopted in 2017... France's parliament will debate a pet adoption bill to combat animal cruelty in January, the text adds, envisaging roughly 20 million euros ($24 million) to improve animal rescue centres.

▽Cho Kuk’s wife sentenced to 4 years in prison for forgery and illegal investment

Chung Kyung-sim, the wife of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, was sentenced to four years in prison for forging documents to help her daughter gain admission at a medical school and for making illegal investments in a private equity fund.
The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday immediately put Chung under detention and slapped her with a fine of 500 million won ($451,000), alongside the forfeiture of 140 million won.

▽Hong Kong court rules mask ban constitutional for all public meetings | Reuters

Hong Kong’s highest court on Monday ruled the city’s government had the right to invoke colonial-era emergency powers last year to ban the wearing of masks at all public processions and meetings during the height of 2019’s protests.

▽Comedian Hikari Ota wins defamation case against weekly magazine - Japan Today

Hikari Ota, 55, from the Japanese comedy duo Bakusho Mondai, has won a defamation suit against the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho.
The tabloid magazine published a story claiming that Ota bribed his way into the Department of Fine Arts at Nihon University.