London, United Kingdom | AFP | British Prime Minister Theresa May vowed Tuesday to give lawmakers a vote on holding a second Brexit referendum as part of her final effort to salvage her hated EU divorce deal. The embattled British leader dangled a package of sweeteners that she hopes can resolve …
Read More »‘Plan B’: Huawei’s operating system headache after Android ban
Hong Kong, China | AFP | Google’s decision to partially cut off Huawei devices from its Android operating system has presented the Chinese tech titan with one of its most dramatic challenges yet: how to keep up with the competition if it cannot use the platform that powers nearly every other …
Read More »US tech firms to take hit from Huawei sanctions
Washington, United States | AFP | The tough sanctions imposed on Huawei by President Donald Trump could deal a blow to the many US firms that make up the Chinese tech giant’s supply chain. American firms last year sold an estimated $11 billion worth of components to Huawei, which was put …
Read More »Tehran says Trump’s ‘genocidal taunts won’t end Iran’
Tehran, Iran | AFP | Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday the “genocidal taunts” of US President Donald Trump will not “end Iran”, as tensions spike between the two countries. “Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. Economic terrorism and genocidal taunts won’t ‘end Iran’,” …
Read More »First-ever set of sextuplets born in Poland
Warsaw, Poland | AFP | A woman has given birth to Poland’s first sextuplets with each newborn weighing about one kilogram (2.2 pounds), physicians at the University Hospital in the city of Krakow announced on Monday. “This is the first birth of sextuplets in Poland and one of the few …
Read More »Brexit compromise talks collapse after six weeks
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 »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 »US slaps sanctions over Russia rights despite revived ties
Washington, United States | AFP | The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on five Russians over abuses including the killing of a prominent opposition leader, days after top-level talks seemed to ease tensions between the powers. The State Department highlighted the actions against the five people, plus one …
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 …
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