Other News

facebook fact checking

Facebook alters fact-checking controls for US users

By Anuj CHOPRA WASHINGTON, July 7, 2023 (AFP) – Meta-owned Facebook has handed US users the controls over fact-checked content, in a potentially significant move that the platform says will give them more power over its algorithm but some analysts insist could benefit purveyors of misinformation. For years, Facebook’s algorithm automatically moved posts lower in the feed if they were flagged by one of the platform’s third-party fact-checking partners, including AFP, reducing the visibility of […]

Continue Reading →

Musk threatens lawsuit as Twitter rival Threads takes off

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2023 (AFP) – Twitter threatened to sue Meta just hours after the Instagram parent company launched Threads, an app it hopes will beat out the struggling site owned by Elon Musk. In a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, published by online news outlet Semafor on Thursday, Musk lawyer Alex Spiro accused the company of “unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.” The letter accused Meta of hiring dozens […]

Continue Reading →

US makes new Alzheimer’s drug more widely accessible

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US drug regulator gave full approval to a new Alzheimer’s medicine on Thursday, a move that makes it more widely available to the public through government-run health insurance for the elderly. Leqembi, developed jointly by Japan’s Eisai and Biogen of the United States, was shown in a clinical trial to modestly reduce cognitive decline among patients in the early stages of the disease. But the study also raised concerns […]

Continue Reading →

Amazon deforestation down sharply under Brazil’s Lula: govt

BRASÍLIA, Brazil (AFP) — Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon fell by one-third in the first six months of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration compared to the same period of last year, the government said Thursday. The 33.6 percent drop is based on satellite images captured by the National Institute of Space Research, which said that from January through June a total of 2,649 square kilometers (1,020 square miles) of rainforest were felled. That’s […]

Continue Reading →

Climate change, El Nino drive hottest June on record

By Benjamin LEGENDRE Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The world saw its hottest June on record last month, the EU’s climate monitoring service said Thursday, as climate change and the El Niño weather pattern looked likely to drive another scorching northern summer. The EU monitor Copernicus also said preliminary data showed Tuesday was the hottest day ever recorded — beating the record set only the day before. It’s the latest in a series of […]

Continue Reading →

Escalation ‘not the answer,’ UN chief tells Israel

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The United Nations chief on Thursday accused Israel of using disproportionate force against Palestinian groups in a recent raid and warned against escalating the violence. A large-scale military operation by Israel in the occupied West Bank earlier this week killed 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier. “There was an excessive force used by Israeli forces,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters in New York. Israel has “legitimate concerns over its […]

Continue Reading →

4.1-magnitude earthquake strikes off Sarangani

(Eagle News) — A 4.1-magnitude earthquake struck off Sarangani on Thursday, July 6. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the quake hit at 11:27 a.m. The epicenter was 25 kilometers southwest of Kiamba. The depth of focus was 20 kilometers. The following intensities and instrumental intensities were reported: Reported Intensities: Intensity V – Kiamba, Sarangani Intensity IV – Lake Sebu, South Cotabato Intensity III – T’boli, South Cotabato; Maitum, Sarangani Intensity II – […]

Continue Reading →

Musk predicts Tesla self-driving cars ‘later this year’

SHANGHAI, July 6, 2023 (AFP) – Electric car giant Tesla is set to realise fully autonomous vehicles “later this year”, CEO Elon Musk said Thursday, in the billionaire’s latest forecast for the long-anticipated milestone. “In terms of where Tesla is at this stage, I think we are very close to achieving full self-driving without human supervision,” Musk said via video link at the opening ceremony of an artificial intelligence conference in Shanghai. “This is only […]

Continue Reading →

Mayon update: 243 rockfall events monitored in last 24 hours

(Eagle News)–Over 200 rockfall events were monitored in Mayon in the last 24 hours. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said apart from the 243 rockfall events, also monitored were seven dome-collapse pyroclastic density current events and two lava front collapse pyroclastic density current events. Lava flow reaching 2.8 kilometers and 1.3 kilometers long was also detected along Mi-si and Bonga gullies. Lava collapse on both gullies within 3.3 kilometers and four kilometers along […]

Continue Reading →

Final Ariane 5 blasts off amid Europe rocket crisis

By Juliette Collen PARIS, July 6, 2023 (AFP) – Europe’s workhorse Ariane 5 rocket blasted off for a final time on Wednesday, with its farewell flight after 27 years of launches coming at a difficult time for European space efforts. Faced with soaring global competition, the continent has unexpectedly found itself without a way to independently launch heavy missions into space due to delays to the next-generation Ariane 6 and Russia withdrawing its rockets. The […]

Continue Reading →

Meta launches Twitter rival Threads — but not in Europe

By Alex PIGMAN with Thomas URBAIN in New York WASHINGTON, July 6, 2023 (AFP) – Facebook behemoth Meta officially launched Threads, its text-based rival to Twitter, on Wednesday, with more than five million sign-ups in the first few hours — but its release in Europe has been delayed over data privacy concerns. Threads is the biggest challenger yet to Elon Musk-owned Twitter, which has seen a series of potential competitors emerge but not yet replace […]

Continue Reading →

Violins in the sun: Stradivari’s home workshop reopens in Italy

By Brigitte HAGEMANN Agence France-Presse CREMONA, Italy (AFP) — For over three centuries, music lovers the world over have been trying to unlock the secrets of Antonio Stradivari’s prized string instruments. Budding luthiers and young musicians can now get a step closer to the master by honing their skills in his original house and workshop, which have been transformed into a center of learning and a musical pilgrimage site in northern Italy. “The Stradivarius myth […]

Continue Reading →
1 … 436 437 438 439 440 … 7,408