TECH NEWS

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, …

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 …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Sydney, Australia | AFP |  Apple’s iPhone 7 launch generated trademark queues and brisk sales Friday that defied gloomy expectations, with some enthusiasts left empty-handed after lining up for hours as the company announced certain models had sold out. The new phone comes with an improved camera, no headphone jack, …

Rome, Italy | AFP |  The suicide of a woman who battled for months to have a video of her having sex removed from the internet is fuelling debate in Italy on the “right to be forgotten” online. The 31-year-old, identified as Tiziana, was found hanged at her aunt’s home …

Frankfurt, Germany | AFP |  It has been a year since Volkswagen admitted to fitting millions of cars with cheating software to dupe emissions tests, plunging the German auto giant into one of the biggest scandals ever to hit the industry. Billions of dollars in compensation later and mired in …