London, United Kingdom | AFP | The Facebook-owned mobile messaging service WhatsApp is vulnerable to interception, the Guardian newspaper reported on Friday, sparking concern over an app advertised as putting an emphasis on privacy. The report said that WhatsApp messages could be read without its billion-plus users knowing due to …
Read More »Obamas’ dog, perhaps not taking transition well, bites visitor
Washington, United States | AFP | Blood was spilled Monday at the White House, but the culprit’s politics were not to blame: the Obamas’ dog Sunny bit a teenaged guest of the family, leaving a gash above her cheekbone, TMZ reported on Thursday. The 18-year-old girl, whose name has not …
Read More »Baboons make vowel-like sounds, similar to humans
Paris, France | AFP | Baboons make sounds that are similar to the vowels a,e,i,o and u, researchers said Wednesday, suggesting that some monkeys have had the physical capacity for language for millions of years. The findings in the journal PLOS ONE add a new dimension to the long-running debate …
Read More »Trump insists US will build a wall and Mexico will reimburse it
New York, United States | AFP | Donald Trump vowed Wednesday to forge ahead with plans for a wall on the southern US border after taking office, and said Mexico would reimburse the United States for the cost. “I could wait about a year and a half until we finish …
Read More »Crisis of market fundamentalism
COMMENT: By Anatole Kaletsky Factors powering next phase of capitalism must be paired with government redistribution of gains The biggest political surprise of 2016 was that everyone was so surprised. I certainly had no excuse to be caught unawares: soon after the 2008 crisis, I wrote a book suggesting that …
Read More »COMMENT: Keynes theories reborn
COMMENT: By Koichi Hamada These old fiscal theories are like old wine in a new bottle, it often rewards those who are willing to taste it In the fourth century, Japan’s emperor looked out from a small mountain near his palace and noticed that something was missing: smoke rising from …
Read More »Trump son-in-law: a calming power in the new presidency
New York, United States | AFP | Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s baby-faced son-in-law and incoming special advisor, is poised to become one of the most powerful men in the country, a calming and respected influence on the president. Celebrating his 36th birthday on Tuesday, the clean-cut, impeccably polite and discreet …
Read More »Obama says goodbye in last presidential speech
Washington, UNITED STATES | AFP | Barack Obama closes the book on his presidency Tuesday, with a farewell speech in Chicago that will try to lift supporters felled by Donald Trump’s shock victory. Obama’s last trip on Air Force One will be a pilgrimage to his adoptive hometown, where he …
Read More »Trump names son-in-law senior White House advisor
New York, United States | AFP | Donald Trump on Monday named son-in-law Jared Kushner as senior White House advisor, rewarding the man widely credited as the brains behind his election but courting serious legal and ethical concerns. The baby-faced real estate developer and magazine publisher who turns 36 on …
Read More »Police arrest 17 over Kardashian Paris robbery
Paris, France | AFP | French police on Monday arrested 17 people, most of them with records for organised crime, over the robbery of US reality TV star Kim Kardashian in Paris last October, police sources said. Police swooped in the Paris region and the south of France after DNA …
Read More »