by Julie JAMMOT Agence France-Presse SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — New Twitter head Elon Musk said Tuesday the site will charge $8 per month to verify users’ accounts, arguing the plan would solve the platform’s issues with bots and trolls while creating a new revenue stream for the company. The announcement comes only days after the world’s wealthiest man took sole control of the social media giant in a contentious $44 billion deal. “Power […]
Tag: US
Pacific nuclear legacy overshadows US talks in Marshall Islands
MAJURO, Marshall Islands (AFP) — Marshall Islands officials say they are ready to resume talks with the United States this week on renewing a long-standing economic and security deal, provided Washington addresses grievances stemming from the testing of nuclear weapons on the Pacific archipelago more than 70 years ago. The United States detonated 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands between 1946-58, and the health and environmental impacts are still felt on the islands and […]
New potentially hazardous asteroid discovered
Washington, United States | AFP | An international team of astronomers on Monday announced the discovery of a large asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Earth, creating a small chance far in the future of a catastrophic collision. The 1.5 kilometer- (0.9 mile-) wide asteroid, named 2022 AP7, was discovered in area notoriously difficult to spot objects due to the glare from the Sun. It was found along with two other near-Earth asteroids using […]
Moscow protests Western bid to ‘recruit’ Russian diplomats
By AFP – Agence France Presse Moscow on Monday summoned the Dutch ambassador to “protest strongly” against Western efforts to “recruit” Russian diplomats in the Netherlands, the foreign ministry said. Ambassador Gilles Beschoor Plug was called in to hear Moscow “protest strongly against an attempt to recruit the military attache of Russia’s embassy in The Hague on October 20 by a representative of the British intelligence services,” the ministry said. “Such provocative actions are unacceptable… […]
‘Black Adam’ stays atop N.America box office
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Warner Bros.’ film “Black Adam” remained atop competition for the second weekend running, hauling in a modest estimated $27.7 million in North American box office receipts, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday. A feature that explores the origin story behind 2019’s “Shazam,” the DC Comics superhero, “Black Adam” stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a former slave bestowed with special powers. Coming in second for the Friday-through-Sunday […]
US, China discuss relations, war in Ukraine: State Dept
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed the rivalry between the two superpowers and Russia’s war in Ukraine in a call Sunday, the State Department said. The top diplomats talked about the need to “responsibly manage the competition between our two countries,” Blinken said in a tweet. They also discussed the need for Beijing and Washington to keep open lines of communications as well […]
Intruder hunting US politician Pelosi attacks her husband with hammer
Washington, United States | AFP | by Frankie TAGGART An intruder attacked the husband of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a hammer, fracturing his skull, after breaking into their California home on Friday in search of her. Paul Pelosi was “attacked at home by an assailant who acted with force, and threatened his life while demanding to see the speaker,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said. Paul Pelosi, 82 — who underwent surgery and […]
EU digital chief warns Musk Twitter must abide by ‘rules’
Dear Twitter Advertisers pic.twitter.com/GMwHmInPAS — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022 Brussels, Belgium | AFP | The EU official overseeing internet regulation on Friday warned new Twitter boss Elon Musk the social media giant must play by the bloc’s rules in Europe. “In Europe, the bird will fly by our (EU) rules,” EU internal market commissioner Thierry Breton tweeted, in response to Musk writing that “the bird is freed”. the bird is freed — […]
Meteorite that smashed into Mars shook planet, NASA says
Washington, United States | AFP | by Lucie AUBOURG Scientists who study Mars on Thursday revealed the remarkable gift they received from the planet last year. On December 24, 2021, a meteorite hit Mars’ surface, triggering magnitude 4 tremors, which were detected by NASA’s InSight spacecraft — which landed on the planet four years ago — some 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) away. The true origin of this so-called marsquake was only confirmed when the Mars […]
Israel, Lebanon strike ‘historic’ maritime border deal
Naqura, Lebanon | AFP | by Mahmoud Zayyat Israel and Lebanon struck a US-brokered maritime border agreement Thursday that opens up lucrative offshore gas fields for the neighbours that remain technically at war. US President Joe Biden hailed the “historic” deal, that comes as Western powers clamour to open up new energy production and reduce vulnerability to supply cuts from Russia. The agreement was signed separately by Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun in Beirut and by […]
Elon Musk takes control of Twitter, fires executives: US media
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Elon Musk took control of Twitter and fired its top executives, US media reported late Thursday, in a deal that puts one of the top platforms for global discourse in the hands of the world’s richest man. Musk sacked chief executive Parag Agrawal, as well as the company’s chief financial officer and its head of legal policy, trust and safety, the Washington Post and CNBC reported citing unnamed […]
URGENT: Musk says buying Twitter to enable ‘healthy’ debate of ideas
New York, United States | AFP | Elon Musk said Thursday he is acquiring Twitter to enable “healthy” debate on a wide range of ideas and counter a trend in which social media splinters into partisan “echo chambers.” The billionaire entrepreneur pursued the deal “because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting […]





