New Delhi, India | AFP | India signed a deal Friday to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets for 7.9 billion euros ($8.8 billion), France’s biggest ever such sale, as it seeks to bolster its military against an increasingly assertive China. Defence experts say the aircraft, manufactured by France’s Dassault, will …
Read More »US lawmakers: Russian hackers aim to disrupt election
Washington, United States | AFP | Two US lawmakers who are members of their respective intelligence committees said Thursday that a spate of recent cyber attacks suggests Russia is trying to disrupt the November election. “Based on briefings we have received, we have concluded that the Russian intelligence agencies are …
Read More »Yahoo hack hit 500 million users
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Yahoo said Thursday a massive attack on its network in 2014 allowed hackers to steal data from half a billion users and may have been “state sponsored.” Yahoo, which confirmed details of the breach months after reports of a major hack, said …
Read More »Ericsson to end manufacturing in Sweden, cut 3,000 jobs
Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | Telecoms equipment maker Ericsson plans to end manufacturing in Sweden with the loss of around 3,000 jobs, Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported late Wednesday. The daily said it had obtained “confidential documents” outlining a three billion kronor (313-million-euro, $350-million) cost-cutting programme. According to Svenska Dagbladet, …
Read More »Zuckerberg fund pledges $3 bn to banish disease
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Mark Zuckerberg and his wife on Wednesday pledged $3 billion over the next decade to efforts to prevent, cure or manage disease, aiming to use the Facebook founder’s fortune for innovative research. “This is a big goal,” Zuckerberg said at a San Francisco …
Read More »August shatters global heat records for 16th month in a row
Miami, United States | AFP | Last month was the hottest August in modern times and marked the 16th month in a row when global records for heat were shattered planet-wide, US authorities said Tuesday. The string of unusual heat across land and sea surfaces is “the longest such streak …
Read More »140+: Twitter enables longer tweets as part of growth push
Washington, United States | AFP | Twitter announced Monday it was easing its 140-character limit on tweets, in the latest effort to broaden the appeal and boost the user base of the social network. The new policy announced in May and now in effect no longer factors in certain add-ons, …
Read More »Self-driving cars coming sooner than you think
Washington, United States | AFP | The move to self-driving cars is coming faster than most people think, says the head of ridesharing giant Lyft. Within five years, autonomous vehicles will account for the majority of Lyft rides, says co-founder and chief executive John Zimmer. Lyft, which has a partnership …
Read More »Twitter kicks off US football game streams
San Francisco, United States | AFP | More than two million people tuned into Twitter’s first broadcast of a US football game, as the messaging platform strives to ramp up use with live video streaming of events. Overall, Twitter’s stream of The New York Jets facing The Buffalo Bills on …
Read More »Gabon under internet blackout as it awaits key poll ruling
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | An internet curfew and social media blackout has sparked outrage and wreaked havoc on businesses in oil-rich Gabon, as citizens keenly await a pivotal ruling challenging President Ali Bongo’s contested re-election. “We are losing a lot of money,” fumed Steeve Ndong, who oversees the website …
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