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Three years ago in Detroit, Robert Williams arrived home from work to find the police waiting at his front door, ready to arrest him for a crime he hadn’t committed.

Facial recognition technology used by officers had mistaken Williams for a suspect who had stolen thousands of dollars worth of watches.

The system linked a blurry CCTV image of the suspect with Williams in what is considered to be the first known case of wrongful arrest owing to the use of the AI-based technology.

The experience was “infuriating”, Mr Williams said.

“Imagine knowing you didn’t do anything wrong… And they show up to your home and arrest you in your driveway before you can really even get out the car and hug and kiss your wife or see your kids.”

Mr Williams, 45, was released after 30 hours in custody, and has filed a lawsuit, which is ongoing, against Detroit’s police department asking for compensation and a ban on the use of facial recognition software to identify suspects.

There are six known instances of wrongful arrest in the US, and the victims in all cases were black people.

Artificial intelligence reflects racial bias in society, because it is trained on real-world data.

A US government study published in 2019 found that facial recognition technology was between 10 and 100 times more likely to misidentify black people than white people.

This is because the technology is trained on predominantly white datasets. This is because it doesn’t have as much information on what people of other races look like, so it’s more likely to make mistakes.

There are growing calls for that bias to be addressed if companies and policymakers want to use it for future decision-making.

One approach to solving the problem is to use synthetic data, which is generated by a computer to be more diverse than real-world datasets.

Chris Longstaff, vice president for product management at Mindtech, a Sheffield-based start-up, said that real-world datasets are inherently biased because of where the data is drawn from.

“Today, most of the AI solutions out there are using data scraped from the internet, whether that is from YouTube, Tik Tok, Facebook, one of the typical social media sites,” he said.

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As a solution, Mr Longstaff’s team have created “digital humans” based on computer graphics.

These can vary in ethnicity, skin tone, physical attributes and age. The lab then combines some of this data with real-world data to create a more representative dataset to train AI models.

One of Mindtech’s clients is a construction company that wants to improve the safety of its equipment.

The lab uses the diverse data it has generated to train the company’s autonomous vehicles to recognise different types of people on the construction site so it can stop moving if someone is in their way.

Toju Duke, a responsible AI advisor and former programme manager at Google, said that using computer-generated, or “synthetic,” data to train AI models has its downsides.

“For someone like me, I haven’t travelled across the whole world, I haven’t met anyone from every single culture and ethnicity and country,” he said.

“So there’s no way I can develop something that would represent everyone in the world and that could lead to further offences.

“So we could actually have synthetic people or avatars that could have a mannerism that could be offensive to someone else from a different culture.”

The problem of racial bias is not unique to facial recognition technology, it has been recorded across different types of AI models.

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The vast majority of AI-generated images of “fast food workers” showed people with darker skin tones, even though US labour market figures show that the majority of fast food workers in the country are white, according to a Bloomberg experiment using Stability AI’s image generator earlier this year.

The company said it is working to diversify its training data.

A spokesperson for the Detroit police department said it has strict rules for using facial recognition technology and considers any match only as an “investigative lead” and not proof that a suspect has committed a crime.

“There are a number of checks and balances in place to ensure ethical use of facial recognition, including: use on live or recorded video is prohibited; supervisor oversight; and weekly and annual reporting to the Board of Police Commissioners on the use of the software,” they said.

Australia has committed to offering refuge to residents of Tuvalu who are displaced by climate disaster – in what has been hailed as a landmark agreement.

Tuvalu – a tiny group of low-lying islands in the remote Pacific Ocean, located midway between Australia and Hawaii – is one of the most at-risk nations in the world from climate change.

The Australian government announced on Friday that it would provide assistance in response to a major natural disaster, health pandemic or military aggression.

Residents of the islands will be allowed to live, work and study in Australia.

Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, signed a bilateral agreement with Tuvalu covering climate change, security and mobility, which he said makes Australia Tuvalu’s “partner of choice”.

The union will be regarded as a “significant day in which Australia acknowledged that we are part of the Pacific family,” Mr Albanese told a news conference in the Cook Islands, where he has been attending a meeting of Pacific leaders.

He shared a picture of himself and Tuvalu prime minister, Kausea Natano, holding the signed agreements, on X, formerly known as Twitter, adding the caption: “Australia and Tuvalu are family. And today we are elevating our relationship to a more integrated and comprehensive partnership.”

The treaty – which will safeguard Tuvalu’s future while respecting its sovereignty – will be known as the ‘Falepili Union’, Mr Albanese said.

He explained Falepili is a Tuvaluan word for the “traditional values of good neighbourliness, care and mutual respect”, adding: “Put simply, it means being a good neighbour”.

Another post, showing a picture of the two men shaking hands, added: “This new partnership recognises climate change as the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the peoples of Tuvalu.

“We will be working together on climate adaptation, work arrangements and security.”

Initially, Australia will create a special visa for up to 280 Tuvaluans each year – equating to 2.5% of its population of just over 11,000.

Funds will also be earmarked for land reclamation in Tuvalu, in order to expand land in the capital, Funafuti, by around 6%.

The full text of the agreement has not yet been released – but the Sydney Morning Herald reported that all 11,200 residents would be offered refuge if climate change made the islands uninhabitable.

Tuvalu’s former foreign minister, Simon Kofe, told the COP27 climate summit last year that it plans to build a digital version of itself – replicating islands and landmarks to preserve its history and culture – as fears grow about the impact of climate disaster.

By 2050, it is estimated that half the land area of the capital, Funafuti, will be flooded by tidal waters daily.

Agreement to limit China’s influence in Pacific

The pact will require the parties to consult each other before signing security or defence agreements with third parties.

Under the deal, Australia will be given an effective veto over the establishment of any security pact or defence partnership between Tuvalu and China, in a major win for the government’s efforts to limit Beijing’s military influence in the Pacific.

Tuvalu is one of just 13 nations to maintain an official diplomatic relationship with Taiwan.

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There are already several independent Pacific states that have associations or “compacts” with larger outside countries.

Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Marshall Islands all have a Compact of Free Association with the United States, giving Washington authority over their defence issues in return for US government services and the right to live in the US.

Similarly, New Zealand has arrangements with Niue and Cook Islands, which gives Wellington responsibility for their defence.

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Israeli leader says ‘civilian government’ should rule enclave after Hamas is defeated.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country does not intend to occupy or govern Gaza after the end of its war with Hamas, but the enclave must be “demilitarised, deradicalised and rebuilt”.

In an interview with Fox News aired on Thursday, Netanyahu said that Israel would need to find a “civilian government” to govern the enclave, which has been run by Hamas since 2006, without specifying who would form such a body.

“We don’t seek to govern Gaza, we don’t seek to occupy it. But we seek to give it and us a better future… and that requires defeating Hamas,” he said. “I’ve set goals, I didn’t set a timetable because it can take more time.”

Netanyahu said that a “credible force” would be needed to enter Gaza as necessary to “kill the killers” and “prevent the re-emergence of a Hamas-like entity.”

Netanyahu’s comments come days after he said Israel would take responsibility for Gaza’s security for an “indefinite period” after the end of its war with Hamas, prompting pushback from the United States.

On Tuesday, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said that President Joe Biden did not believe that reoccupying Gaza would be the “right thing to do”.

Israel withdrew its soldiers and Israeli settlers from Gaza in 2005, but continues to maintain a blockade that controls almost all access to the Hamas-governed enclave by land, air and sea.

US officials have previously suggested that the Palestinian Authority should govern Gaza after the war, which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said would only be possible under a political solution that returns territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Netanyahu on Thursday reiterated his opposition to a ceasefire with Hamas, as the Biden administration announced that its ally had agreed to daily four-hour pauses in fighting to allow civilians to flee hostilities.

“A ceasefire with Hamas means a surrender to Hamas, surrender to terror,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel’s military was performing “exceptionally well” and would continue its campaign “however long it takes.”

Israel has promised to eliminate Hamas in response to the armed group’s October 7 attacks on the country, which Israeli officials say killed 1,405 people, mostly civilians.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed at least 10,569 Palestinians, including 4,324 children, according to the health ministry in the enclave.

Up to 25,000 garment workers clashed with police in Bangladesh on Thursday, officials said, as protests rejecting a government-offered pay rise forced the closure of at least 100 factories outside Dhaka.

A government-appointed panel raised wages on Tuesday by 56.25 percent for the South Asian nation’s four million garment factory workers, who are seeking a near-tripling of their monthly wage.

Bangladesh’s 3,500 garment factories account for about 85 percent of its $55bn in annual exports, supplying many of the world’s top brands including Levi’s, Zara and H&M.

But conditions are dire for many of the workers, the vast majority of whom are women whose monthly pay starts at 8,300 taka ($75).

Police said violence broke out in the industrial towns of Gazipur and Ashulia on the outskirts of Dhaka after more than 10,000 workers staged protests in factories and along highways to reject the panel’s offer.

“There were 10,000 [protesting] workers at several spots. They threw bricks and stones at our officers and factories, which were open,” Mahmud Naser, Ashulia’s deputy industrial police chief, said.

“One of our officers was injured. We fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the workers,” Naser said, adding that more than 100 factories were shut down in Ashulia and surrounding areas.

Thousands of workers also clashed with the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and police at Konabari and Naujore in Gazipur, with police using batons and tear gas to drive them into alleys.

“About 15,000 workers blocked the road at Konabari, and vandalised vehicles and other properties. We had to disperse them to maintain law and order,” Gazipur municipality administrator Sayed Murad Ali said.

At least two injured workers were taken to hospital, police said.

Gaza Strip – When Israeli bombs began pummelling the once-bustling streets of Gaza City, Diana Tarazi and her family fled to the Holy Family Church, the only Roman Catholic place of worship in the Gaza Strip.

The 38-year-old Palestinian Christian, her husband and three children huddled alongside fellow churchgoers and Muslim neighbours and friends, lulling their children to an exhausted sleep amid the sounds of bombing, muttering soft words of encouragement to each other.

“Together, we try to get through the war until it ends – and we survive it,” Tarazi told Al Jazeera.

Their sense of safety was shattered on October 19, when Israel bombed the nearby Church of Saint Porphyrius, Gaza’s oldest, killing at least 18 people. The Israeli army said in a statement that the church was not the target of the attack.

“The missile fell directly on it,” Tarazi said of the Greek Orthodox site. “We cannot believe that the church was not their aim.”

Two days earlier, an explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital – an Anglican institution located a few blocks away – killed and injured hundreds, according to Palestinian health authorities. Hamas blamed the blast on an Israeli air raid, while Tel Aviv claimed it was caused by a malfunctioning rocket fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an armed group based in Gaza.

Despite Gaza City and adjacent refugee camps being surrounded by Israeli ground forces, and air raids pounding the area, Tarazi is refusing to leave. “We do not accept displacement from our country, our land and our churches,” she said.

“I will not leave the church except to the grave.”

‘Threat of extinction’

At least 10,569 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7.

Only 800 to 1,000 Christians are believed to still live in Gaza, constituting the oldest Christian community in the world, dating back to the first century.

Mitri Raheb, an Evangelical Lutheran pastor and founder of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem, said it was conceivable that the current conflict would spell the end of its long history in this strip of land.

“This community is under threat of extinction,” Raheb told Al Jazeera. “I’m not sure if they will survive the Israeli bombing, and even if they survive, I think many of them will want to emigrate.”

“We know that within this generation, Christianity will cease to exist in Gaza,” he added.

The broader region of historic Palestine is the birthplace of Christianity, as well as the setting for many of the events in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

In the fourth century, Gaza, located along a major trade route with access to a vibrant port and a cosmopolitan city, became a major Christian mission hub. After 1948, when the state of Israel was established and 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes in what became known as the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, more Palestinian Christians joined the community on the coastal enclave.

Estimates have indicated that the number of Christians in Gaza dropped in recent years from the 3,000 registered in 2007, when Hamas assumed complete control of the strip, triggering Israel’s blockade and accelerating the departure of Christians from the poverty-stricken enclave.

Attacks in West Bank ‘quadrupled’

In the West Bank, Christians are on a stronger footing with more than 47,000 people living there, according to a 2017 census.

But violence and persecution have unsettled the community there too. “Attacks on clergy and churches had quadrupled this year compared to last year,” Raheb, whose academic institution documents such events, said.

On January 1, days after Israel swore in the most far-right government in the country’s history, two unidentified men broke into Jerusalem’s Protestant Mount Zion Cemetery and desecrated more than 30 graves, pushing over cross-shaped tombstones and smashing them with rocks.

On January 26, a mob of Israeli settlers attacked an Armenian bar in the Christian quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, shouting “Death to Arabs … Death to Christians.”

A couple of days later, Armenians leaving a memorial service in the Armenian Quarter were attacked by Israeli settlers carrying sticks. An Armenian was pepper-sprayed as settlers scaled the walls of the Armenian convent, trying to take down its flag, which had a cross on it.

The attacks have continued to escalate, in tandem with Israeli attempts to “silence any voices coming from Palestinians inside Israel”, Raheb said.

“They are Jewish terrorist settlers, but the international community doesn’t recognise them as such because it is part of the same colonial [mindset],” he said, adding that he worried the constant threat of violence would eventually drive out Christianity from the Holy Land.

‘My children were disfigured, dead’

Back in Gaza, Ramez al-Souri is trying to wrap his head around the deaths of his three children, Suhail, Majd and Julie, in the Church of Saint Porphyrius bombing.

“The building contained civilians who did not belong to them,” he said, referring to the Palestinian group Hamas, which launched the surprise attack in southern Israel on October 7 that led to Israel’s bombing.

Al-Souri had hoped his loved ones would be safe in a holy site, but not even the sanctity of its premises could shield his family from Israeli bombardment. The Israeli army is known to have also targeted UN schools sheltering displaced women and children, as well as hospitals, ambulances and aid supplies.

“My three children came out disfigured from the effects of the missile and shrapnel,” he said, still visibly in shock days later.

“I cannot believe that I will not talk and play with them again in my life.”