Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump on Monday ordered the US administration to give greater priority to artificial intelligence, a move seen as firing up a battle for leadership with China. The American AI Initiative executive order calls for the administration to “devote the full resources of …
Read More »Can the second Trump-Kim summit end the Korean War?
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | The second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has raised hopes for the longest ceasefire in history to be replaced by a peace treaty. Seoul and Pyongyang remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended with …
Read More »Hawaii considers raising legal smoking age — to 100
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Would-be cigarette smokers in the US state of Hawaii might have to wait a very long time for their first legal drag, after a lawmaker introduced a bill that would bar sales to anyone under the age of 100. The proposed law, introduced …
Read More »S.Africa ‘disappointed’ by West’s corruption charges
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa has rejected reported criticism of its record on corruption by five Western countries, including the US and Britain, who insisted they were only drawing the government’s attention to a serious issue. The Sunday Times reported on its front page that the five countries — the US, Britain, …
Read More »US spies elevate China rivalry to war of ideologies
Washington, United States | AFP | In a move that could harden Washington’s posture toward Beijing for years, the US intelligence community has characterized relations with China as a global ideological showdown that will not be doused by trade deals or commercial theft crackdowns. US spy chiefs abruptly shifted their view …
Read More »Huawei’s founder faces fight for company and family
Beijing, China | AFP | Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei survived food shortages during China’s Cultural Revolution, but now the reclusive billionaire identified as “Individual-1” in a US indictment faces an existential fight for his family and company. Ren, 74, founded Huawei in 1987 with just 21,000 yuan ($5,600) and watched …
Read More »Iran’s Rouhani tells critics: blame ‘oath-breaker’ US
Tehran, Iran | AFP | Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani slammed his critics on Wednesday, defending the political achievements of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal and calling the US an “oath-breaker”. “One should not condemn the government or the great Islamic system instead of America — this is the greatest damage …
Read More »Butterflies, the unlikely victims of Trump’s border wall
Mission, United States | AFP | In Mission, Texas, the construction of part of a long-promised wall on the border with Mexico to stem the tide of undocumented migrants is already in progress. Among the many who will be affected? Butterflies. Mission, located in the lower Rio Grande Valley, is …
Read More »More asteroids strike Earth since age of dinosaurs: study
From @IFLScience: Would @NASA Tell Us If An #Asteroid Was About To Hit The #Earth? https://t.co/gEFeVV9ggN #spacenews #space pic.twitter.com/G56MzTabiV — Perth Observatory (@perthobs) January 18, 2019 Tampa, United States | AFP | Between two and three times as many asteroids have struck the Earth and the Moon since the age …
Read More »Saturn’s rings are younger than the planet itself
How old are #Saturn’s rings? Data from @CassiniSaturn suggest they’re younger than the planet, forming 10–100 million years ago when dinosaurs lived on Earth: https://t.co/RVXU5Lqysh pic.twitter.com/1VjKmbMkvW — NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) January 17, 2019 Washington, United States | AFP | Saturn’s rings are younger than scientists thought and appeared within the …
Read More »