Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla landed Wednesday in The Gambia for the first leg of a week-long African tour aimed at strengthening ties with Commonwealth nations. The Prince of Wales, heir to the throne, took over as head of the 53-member Commonwealth of …
Read More »Barclays profit surges in third quarter
London, United Kingdom | AFP | British bank Barclays on Wednesday reported a 72-percent surge in quarterly net profits as strong performances by its retail and credit card divisions offset weakness at its investment unit. Profit after tax jumped to £1.0 billion ($1.3 billion, 1.1 billion euros) in the three …
Read More »Prince Harry goes solo on royal tour as pregnant Meghan rests
Fraser Island, Australia | AFP | Prince Harry greeted an Aboriginal community on the stunning World Heritage-listed Fraser Island Monday as his pregnant wife Meghan took a break from official duties during the royal couple’s Australian tour. The pair have already travelled to Sydney, Melbourne and the regional town of …
Read More »Facebook hires British ex-deputy PM Clegg as global affairs head
London, United Kingdom | AFP | British former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, a leading anti-Brexit advocate, said on Friday he would be starting a job at Facebook, as the US giant faces up to regulatory pressures. “I am delighted to be joining Facebook. After almost 20 years in European …
Read More »Royals Harry and Meghan go barefoot on Bondi
Sydney, Australia | AFP | British royals Harry and Meghan kicked off their shoes and donned tropical garlands Friday as they hit Sydney’s famed Bondi beach for the latest stop on their Australian tour. Expectant Meghan put on a summer dress and set aside her high heels, while Harry ditched …
Read More »Harry and pregnant Meghan get baby gifts, meet koalas Down Under
Sydney, Australia | AFP | British royals Harry and Meghan received baby gifts, met a koala couple and posed in front of Sydney’s dazzling Opera House Tuesday, on their first public outing since announcing they are to become parents. The happy prince and his US-born wife laughed as they were …
Read More »‘Genius’ behind ‘Teletubbies’ in new go-to-sleep kids show
Cannes, France | AFP | “Teletubbies” creator Andrew Davenport has come up with a new show “guaranteed to stop children climbing the walls”, BBC bosses claimed Sunday. Davenport, an actor and puppeteer known as the “J.K. Rowling of the under-fives”, also wrote and made the worldwide hit “In the Night …
Read More »Children drowning in ‘digital diet of pizza and sweets’
Cannes, France | AFP | Children are being swamping by the visual equivalent of “pizza and sweets” in “a digital Wild Wild West”, some of the world’s top kids television programme makers have warned. With YouTube replacing Disney as the most-loved brand among young children in the US, and streaming giants …
Read More »You look familiar: humans recognise 5,000 faces, study says
Paris, France | AFP | From family and friends to strangers on the subway and public figures on 24-hour news cycles, humans recognise an astonishing 5,000 faces, scientists said Wednesday in the first study of its kind. Through most of history humans lived in small groups of a hundred or …
Read More »YouTube driving global consumption of music
London, United Kingdom | AFP | If you are listening to music, chances are you’re on YouTube. A music consumer report by the industry’s global body IFPI published on Tuesday found that 86 percent of us listen to music through on-demand streaming. And nearly half that time, 47 percent is …
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