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Heavy snow fell in southern California on Friday, as the first blizzard in a generation pounded the Los Angeles area, with heavy rains threatening flooding in other places. Breathless television weather presenters more used to delivering a same-every-day forecast of warm sunshine found themselves knee-deep in the white stuff as the region grappled with its worst winter storm for decades. Major roads were closed as ice and snow made them impassable, including sections of Interstate […]
Facebook and Instagram began a week-long rollout of their first paid verification service on Friday, testing users’ willingness to pay for social media features that until now have been free. Facing a drop in advertising revenues, parent company Meta is piloting a subscription in Australia and New Zealand before it appears in larger markets. The service will cost US$11.99 on the web and US$14.99 on the iOS and Android mobile platforms. From Friday, subscribers […]
Facebook-owner Meta on Friday unveiled its own version of the artificial intelligence behind apps such as ChatGPT, saying it would give access to researchers to find fixes to the technology’s potential dangers. Meta described its own AI, called LLaMA, as a “smaller, more performant” model designed to “help researchers advance their work,” in what could be seen as veiled criticism of Microsoft’s decision to release the technology widely, while keeping the programming code secret. Microsoft-backed […]
Toronto, Canada | AFP | Canada is sending four additional battle tanks to Ukraine — doubling its commitment — and sanctioning an additional 192 Russian individuals and entities, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday. “Canada has stood in solidarity with Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict,” Trudeau said in a news conference on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We will continue to do so,” Trudeau told journalists, speaking in Toronto where he […]
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AFP) — Burkina Faso announced Thursday a recruitment drive for 5,000 soldiers to serve in the army for at least five years to aid the country in its fight against jihadists. The country, one of the world’s poorest, has been battling a deadly insurgency since 2015. “An exceptional recruitment of 5,000 non-commissioned soldiers for the national armed forces, to serve for at least five years, in their military region of recruitment, will […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The Bank of Japan’s long-standing monetary easing policies are “appropriate”, its next governor Kazuo Ueda told parliament on Friday, suggesting no sudden changes to the bank’s stance when he takes the helm in April. Under current boss Karuhiko Kuroda, the bank has unleashed a raft of extraordinary ultra-loose policies — from a negative interest rate to spending vast sums on government bonds — in a bid to boost the sluggish economy. […]
by Nicolas REVISE / Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS Agence France-Presse UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to demand Russia immediately and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine, marking the one-year anniversary of the war with a call for a “just and lasting” peace. Ukraine earned strong backing in a nonbinding vote that saw 141 of the 193 UN members in support, seven opposed and 32, including China and India abstaining. Coming […]
(Eagle News) — A Maguindanao del Sur town mayor was hurt after at least two people shot him while he was traversing Pasay City on board his vehicle on Wednesday, the police said on Friday, Feb. 24. According to the Southern Police District, Datu Montawal Mayor Ohto Caumbo Montawal sustained a gunshot wound on his hip and left arm after the attack on Roxas Boulevard Service Road around 6:30 p.m. The assailants fled towards Buendia. […]
by Thibault MARCHAND with Phil Hazlewood in KRAMATORSK Agence France-Presse KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukrainians will hold ceremonies across their war-ravaged country Friday on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, with President Volodymyr Zelensky to assure them of victory even as they face the threat of new missile strikes. A year ago to the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin stunned the world by sending troops across the border, in a move seen as punishment for […]
by Linnea Pedersen Agence France Presse Paris, France (AFP) — From pandas to sea lions to tigers, hundreds of wildlife species across the globe are contaminated by potentially harmful “forever chemicals”, according to a review of hundreds of peer-reviewed studies. Over 300 wildlife species showed traces of the nearly indestructible synthetic chemicals, according to a report from the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) PFAS Project Lab. The mapping of over 125 peer-reviewed scientific studies is the […]
by Robbie COREY-BOULET Agence France-Presse AL-ULA, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Andy Warhol’s iconic portraits of stars such as Marlon Brando and Dolly Parton are on display in the Saudi desert, at a show intended to reframe the kingdom’s forbidding reputation. The first exhibition in Saudi Arabia for the Pop Art giant is a tribute to the late artist’s obsession with celebrity, and his seeming ability to predict the rise of contemporary influencer culture. At […]
by Claire LEE Agence France-Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea said Friday it had fired cruise missiles and claimed that ramped-up US-South Korean military drills “can be regarded as a declaration of war”. It came after the two allies conducted a tabletop exercise at the Pentagon focused on responses to a nuclear attack by Pyongyang. North Korean forces held a “strategic cruise missile launching drill” in the early hours of Thursday, firing […]
