Milan, Italy | AFP | Dutch designer Anouk Wipprecht has a vision for a world in which people stop telling themselves little lies about their emotions — and she believes high-tech fashion is the key. Her creations, which combine digital technology with haute couture, play with social norms and aim to …
Read More »Kremlin says not involved in Russia-linked Facebook ads
Moscow, Russia | AFP | The Kremlin on Friday distanced itself from the controversy over Russia-linked Facebook ads which may have influenced last year’s US election, saying Moscow had nothing to do with them. “We don’t know who places ads on Facebook and how,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told …
Read More »Mercedes pumps 1 bln euros into US e-car plant
Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP | German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz said Thursday it would invest $1 billion in an Alabama factory as it prepares for electric vehicle production in the United States. “We are significantly growing our manufacturing footprint here in Alabama… We will be able to quickly ramp up …
Read More »Google likely to buy stake in Taiwan smartphone maker HTC: report
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Google is set to announce it is buying part of Taiwan-based smartphone maker HTC, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The deal for HTC’s smartphone design unit would give the US tech giant more control of its mobile handset hardware as it seeks to …
Read More »TECH: VW Polo Vivo
The car made in Kigali? Since Volkswagen announced in 2016 that it plans to set up a manufacturing plant in Rwanda, there has been anticipation regarding what the cars from the plant will be like. Of course, they will be a version of the German car maker’s famous Polo models. …
Read More »Madagascar health minister separates siamese twins
Antananarivo, Madagascar | AFP | In most countries health ministers are seen as bureaucrats more interested in paperwork than medical miracles. Not in Madagascar, where Mamy Lalatiana Andriamanarivo recently picked up a scalpel and separated conjoined siamese twins in a medical first for the Indian Ocean island nation. “Surgery was performed …
Read More »EU antitrust chief defends probe of Google, US tech giants
Washington, United States | AFP | Europe’s top antitrust regulator Magrethe Vestager on Monday defended her agency’s investigations of Google and other US tech giants, arguing that dominant companies have a “special responsibility” to avoid abusing their market power. “If you have products that people like and they keep coming, you …
Read More »‘Car nation’ Germany distrustful of driverless vehicles
Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP | German carmakers are showing off their self-driving cars at the IAA international auto show in Frankfurt, but most people in the car-mad country have yet to be convinced by the technology. Curious visitors to the biennial trade fair, which lasts until September 24, can …
Read More »US flies bombers over Korean peninsula
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | The US flew four stealth fighter jets and two bombers over the Korean peninsula on Monday in a show of force after North Korea’s latest nuclear and missile tests, South Korea’s defence ministry said. Four F-35B stealth fighters and two B-1B bombers flew over …
Read More »“Audit shows no hacking of Kenya vote system”
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | An audit of the electronic system used to tally votes in Kenya’s cancelled presidential poll showed no manipulation of data, the French biometrics firm that supplied the system told AFP Friday. Opposition leader Raila Odinga has accused the company, OT-Morpho, of being complicit in alleged rigging …
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