Chicago, United States | AFP | A Tennessee man convicted of a double murder was put to death Thursday in the electric chair, after insisting on the rarely used method rather than lethal injection. Edmund Zagorski, 63, was the first US convict in five years to be put to death …
Read More »UN rejects US bid to criticize Cuba and calls for end to embargo
United Nations, United States | AFP | The UN General Assembly on Thursday called for an end to the decades-old US embargo on Cuba, adopting a resolution by an overwhelming majority and rejecting US moves to criticize Havana’s human rights record. It was the 27th time that the 193-nation assembly …
Read More »Spotify earnings hit sour note on Wall Street
New York, United States | AFP | Spotify shares took a hit Thursday after a disappointing growth outlook offset the first-ever quarterly profit posted by the streaming music sector leader. Shares in the Swedish-based music group slid 5.7 percent to close at $141.16 after the company’s third quarter earnings report. …
Read More »Google workers walk out in global protest over harassment
New York, United States | AFP | Thousands of Google employees joined a coordinated worldwide walkout Thursday to protest the US tech giant’s handling of sexual harassment, staging protests from Singapore to London to New York to the company’s California campus. The “Google Walkout For Real Change” account that sprang …
Read More »Sweeping Iran sanctions target oil, banks
Washington, United States | AFP | All of Iran’s oil exports and financial transactions will be targeted under US sanctions that take force Monday, six months after President Donald Trump bolted from a nuclear deal. The sanctions bring back the punitive measures that were imposed and then lifted by former …
Read More »NASA’s Dawn asteroid mission ends as fuel runs out
Washington, United States | AFP | Dawn, a NASA spacecraft that launched 11 years ago and studied two of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, has ended its mission after running out of fuel, officials said Thursday. Scientists have known for about a month that Dawn was essentially out …
Read More »Typical tweet shorter since character length doubled
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Twitter on Tuesday confirmed that a year after doubling the character limit for tweets, the average length of messages fired off in English actually got a smidge shorter. The news promised to allay concerns that raising the character limit from 140 to 280 …
Read More »Facebook shares roller coaster as it rides change
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook announced plans Tuesday to adapt to users sharing more privately as the leading social network pours money into an ongoing battle with “bad actors” out to misuse its service. Silicon Valley-based Facebook reported that its quarterly profit climbed in the recently ended …
Read More »Kanye West says his eyes are now open, no more politics
New York, United States | AFP | Rapper Kanye West, who has been outspoken in his support for President Donald Trump, now says he’s going to focus on his music and fashion after being “used” in the world of politics. In a series of tweets, the 41-year-old West lashed out …
Read More »Trump says he plans to scrap birthright citizenship
Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump plans to abolish the right to citizenship for anyone born in the United States — guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution — with an executive order, he said in an interview excerpt released Tuesday. While Trump asserts that …
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