Washington, United States | AFP | Twitter on Thursday revealed that nearly 2,000 ads were placed on the messaging service in 2016 by a Russian media group suspected of trying to interfere with the US presidential election. A Twitter statement said the social media company shared data with congressional investigators about …
Read More »White House probing use of private email: report
Washington, United States | AFP | The White House has launched an internal probe of the use of private email for official business by senior aides to President Donald Trump, news outlet Politico reported Thursday. The administration is scouring the White House server for emails to and from private email accounts …
Read More »Hand over Gulen for jailed pastor, Erdogan tells US
Ankara, Turkey | AFP | Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the United States Thursday that Turkey could release a jailed American pastor if Washington handed over exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen who Ankara blames for last year’s failed coup. The US pastor, Andrew Brunson, has been held by Turkish authorities …
Read More »Dutch website offers US ‘antidote’ to daily news grind
Amsterdam, Netherlands | AFP | A Dutch ad-free news website, which actively seeks contributors’ help in its reporting and foregoes breaking news in favour of deeper analysis, is about to expand across the Atlantic. Amid the blaring headlines, the breathless drama of 24-hour TV news, the lure of clickbait and …
Read More »With Hefner gone, Playboy’s impact on women still has people talking
Washington, United States | AFP | Playboy degraded women, it empowered women. It liberated them, and objectified them. The legacy of the iconic magazine founded six decades ago by Hugh Hefner, who died Wednesday at 91, remains a topic of heated debate, especially its impact on women. Playboy brought nudity into …
Read More »Russian group spent $274,000 on Twitter ads during US election
Washington, United States | AFP | A Russian media group with links to the Moscow government spent $274,000 in 2016 on Twitter ads which may have been used to try to influence the US election, the social media firm said Thursday. Twitter said it shared data with congressional investigators about ads …
Read More »Zika virus mutated around 2013, leading to birth defects: study
Miami, United States | AFP | Zika has been around for decades but only recently began to cause birth defects due to a single mutation the mosquito-borne virus likely acquired in 2013, researchers said Thursday. The report in the US journal Science explains for the first time how this once relatively …
Read More »Toddler shoots playmates at Michigan daycare
Chicago, United States | AFP | Two toddlers were hospitalized in serious condition after a playmate accidentally shot them with a loaded gun at a daycare in the US state of Michigan. Both of the children’s conditions were upgraded from critical a day earlier, police said Thursday, as they wrapped up …
Read More »Bashir says US sanctions caused immense hardship in Sudan
Khartoum, SUDAN | AFP | President Omar al-Bashir said on Thursday that Washington’s “unjust” trade embargo on Sudan had weakened the African country and caused immense hardship for its people. His comments came just two weeks before US President Donald Trump is to decide whether to permanently lift the embargo that …
Read More »Google, Facebook, Twitter asked to testify in Russia probe
Washington, United States | AFP | The Senate Intelligence Committee has asked top tech companies Google, Facebook and Twitter to testify about Russian interference in US politics, a Senate aide confirmed Wednesday. The three internet and online social media giants are expected to appear on November 1 in an open hearing …
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