London, United Kingdom | AFP | Britain’s Labour opposition pulled the plug Friday on six weeks of Brexit compromise talks with Prime Minister Theresa May, blaming her evaporating authority as her premiership nears its death throes. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said the gaps between them could not be bridged — …
Read More »Video game rivals Microsoft and Sony team up in cloud
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Longtime video game console rivals Microsoft and Sony on Thursday announced an alliance to improve their platforms for streaming entertainment from the internet cloud. Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform will be used by the two rivals to support game and digital content streaming services, …
Read More »Huawei: Rags to riches story, or Chinese Trojan horse?
Shanghai, China | AFP | Chinese army technician Ren Zhengfei founded Huawei with just $5,000 in seed money, according to company lore, but 32 years later it is at the centre of a titanic tug-of-war between the United States and China for world technological supremacy. Here are answers to key questions …
Read More »New laws of robotics needed to tackle AI: expert
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Decades after Isaac Asimov first wrote his laws for robots, their ever-expanding role in our lives requires a radical new set of rules, legal and AI expert Frank Pasquale warned on Thursday. The world has changed since sci-fi author Asimov in 1942 wrote …
Read More »Political parties draft proposal to restrict Independents
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Political parties through Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) have drafted a proposal which calls for individuals seeking to contest as independents to resign from political parties 12 months before elections. Candidates who contest and lose in political parties will thus be blocked from …
Read More »Kadaga, commissioners disagree on payment of OTT for MPs
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has disagreed with the decision of the Parliamentary Commission to pay the Over the Top-OTT tax. According to bid documents seen by URN, parliament will pay the month Shillings 6000 OTT alias social media tax and provide 5GB …
Read More »Museveni tasks police managers to improve public image
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President, Yoweri Museveni has tasked the police management to improve the public image of the force by fighting the high crime levels and corruption, which have created bad a perception about their services. In a message delivered by the Internal Affairs Minister, General, Jeje …
Read More »$575-mn Qatar World Cup stadium opens to fanfare
Al Wakrah, Qatar | AFP | Qatar inaugurated its first purpose-built stadium for the 2022 World Cup on Thursday, staging a prestigious domestic cup final in the $575 million, 40,000-capacity Al-Wakrah venue. The ground, designed by late British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid and located in a coastal town south of Doha, erupted …
Read More »Huawei becomes flashpoint in China-US economic showdown
Washington, United States | AFP | The US crackdown on Huawei has made the Chinese telecommunications giant the flashpoint in a monumental economic and technological showdown between the two superpowers that is testing allies of both. One day after the US moved to block Huawei from the US market and banned …
Read More »Mak Appointments Board Revises Kamunyu’s Suspension
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Makerere University Appointments Board has revised its ruling against the Academic Staff Association (MUASA) leader, Dr Deus Kamunyu Muhwezi. While the Board’s initial ruling on Monday was to suspend Kamunyu for six months without pay, the revised ruling considers half pay for the staff …
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