Washington, United States | AFP | Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday that the military is talking with Kurdish partners and others in Syria to resolve questions over US support once the United States eventually withdraws from the war-torn country. President Donald Trump last week said he wants the US presence …
Read More »Facebook to verify identities, require labels for political ads
Washington, United States | AFP | Facebook announced Friday it will require political ads on its platform to state who is paying for the message and would verify the identity of the payer, in a bid to curb outside election interference. The social network, which is under fire for enabling manipulation …
Read More »Russia promises ‘tough response’ to US sanctions
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Moscow on Friday promised a “tough response” to new US sanctions imposed on seven of Russia’s most influential oligarchs following the diplomatic crisis sparked by the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal. “We will not let the current attack, or any new anti-Russian attack, go without …
Read More »New brain cells in the old? Study stokes debate
Tampa, United States | AFP | People as old as 79 may still generate new brain cells, US researchers said Thursday, stoking fresh debate among scientists over what happens to our brains when we age. The report by scientists at Columbia University in New York, published in the journal Cell …
Read More »Up to 2.7 million Europeans affected by Facebook data scandal: EU
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | Facebook has admitted it may have “improperly shared” the personal data of up to 2.7 million people in the European Union, the bloc announced Friday, saying it would demand further answers from the social media giant. The EU wrote to Facebook last week to ask …
Read More »‘Threats, disrespect’ unjustified, Mexican president tells Trump
Mexico City, Mexico | AFP | Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto lashed out at his US counterpart Donald Trump on Thursday amid growing tensions over migration and border security, saying “threatening or disrespectful attitudes” were unjustified. Speaking after Trump ordered National Guard troops to secure the US-Mexican border, Pena Nieto …
Read More »Ghana will not offer military base to US: president
Accra, Ghana | AFP | Ghana will not sign an agreement with Washington to set up a military base, President Nana Akufo-Addo said on Thursday. The president confirmed in a television address that the two countries would ink a defence cooperation agreement, but was emphatic that “Ghana has not offered …
Read More »US to update Saudi Arabia artillery for record $1.31 billion
Washington, United States | AFP | The United States on Thursday approved a contract to sell Saudi Arabia 180 self-propelled artillery systems for $1.31 billion, in the latest stage of perhaps the world’s biggest arms deal. When US President Donald Trump visited Riyadh last year he boasted that the desert …
Read More »America remembers Martin Luther King Jr, 50 years on
Memphis, United States | AFP | Americans on Wednesday marked 50 years since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, a day seared into the national consciousness that transformed the civil rights leader into a symbol of the fight for racial equality. In a country still torn over issues of race …
Read More »YouTube shooting shows how fake news spirals on social media
Paris, France | AFP | Within minutes of the shooting at YouTube offices in California, social media was awash with conspiracy theories and images of the supposed “shooter” wearing a Muslim headscarf. Some Facebook videos were quick to claim that it was a “false flag” attack, carried out to discredit the …
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