San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook on Monday said it will hire more than 1,000 people to thwart deceptive ads crafted to knock elections off course. The announcement came as the leading social network turned over to Congress some 3,000 Russia-linked ads that appeared to use hot-button issues to …
Read More »EU breaks cover to urge Catalonia crisis dialogue
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | EU leaders on Monday called for dialogue to solve the crisis over Catalonia’s banned independence referendum and urged an end to violence in a cautious first reaction to a thorny subject for the bloc. Breaking weeks of virtual silence on the subject after scores were …
Read More »Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock: retired accountant, heavy gambler
Las Vegas, United States | AFP | Stephen Craig Paddock, the retired accountant who smuggled an armory’s worth of weapons into a swank Las Vegas hotel and mowed down concert-goers from a 32nd story window, was a high-stakes gambler whose bank-robber father was once on the FBI’s most wanted list. …
Read More »50 killed at Las Vegas concert in deadliest US shooting
Las Vegas, United States | AFP | A gunman killed 50 people and wounded hundreds more when he opened fire on a country music concert in Las Vegas in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. Police said Monday the gunman, a Nevada resident identified as Stephen Paddock, had …
Read More »Trump defends Puerto Rico effort, but his tweets draw new criticism
San Juan, Puerto Rico | AFP | President Donald Trump on Sunday defended US efforts to bring relief to storm-battered Puerto Rico, even as one island official said Trump was trying to gloss over “things that are not going well.” A day after Trump launched a Twitter attack against San …
Read More »Up to 50 feared dead in Las Vegas concert shooting
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | A gunman may have killed up to 50 people and wounded more than 100 others Sunday when he opened fire on thousands of fans at a country music concert on the Las Vegas Strip. The gunman, who police said was a local man, …
Read More »Egyptian officials in Gaza ahead of Palestinian unity talks
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories | AFP | Egyptian delegates arrived in Gaza Sunday on the eve of a fresh attempt at reconciliation between the strip’s Hamas rulers and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement, an official said. West Bank-based Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah is to make his first visit …
Read More »Negotiating with North Korea a waste of time: Trump
Washington, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump said negotiating with North Korea over its nuclear program would be a waste of time Sunday after it emerged that Washington had channels of contact with Pyongyang. Only hours after his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson revealed that US officials were …
Read More »Scores hurt as riot police crack down on banned Catalan vote
Barcelona, Spain | AFP | Spanish riot police used batons and rubber bullets to storm polling stations in Catalonia on Sunday, triggering clashes as thousands turned out to vote in an independence referendum banned by Madrid. At least 92 people were confirmed injured out of a total of 761 who …
Read More »Saudi university to open driving school for women
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP | A university in Saudi Arabia has said it will open a driving school for women, in a first for the ultra-conservative country after a ban on women driving was lifted. “Princess Nourah University is preparing to set up a driving school in cooperation with …
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