Tag: US

Lewd comments cause YouTube to pull videos of children

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — YouTube pulled 150,000 videos of children after lewd comments about them were posted by viewers, as the Google-owned platform sought to reassure advertisers their messages would be kept out of compromising situations. The online video-sharing behemoth confirmed on Thursday that it deleted several hundred accounts along with the thousands of videos that were problematic. The move came after a British newspaper reported that ads for big-name brands were displayed alongside videos […]

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Russia rejects US call to cut North Korea ties: Lavrov

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia on Thursday rejected a US call to cut ties with North Korea in response to Pyongyang’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. “We see this negatively,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists in the Belarusian capital Minsk, Russian news agencies reported. “We have repeatedly stated that the pressure of sanctions has been exhausted.” He accused the United States of seeking to provoke Kim Jong-Un’s regime and demanded to know whether Washington […]

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In US, 57 percent of kids on track for obesity by 35: study

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — More than 57 percent of children in the United States will be obese by age 35 if current trends in weight gain and poor eating habits continue, researchers warned Wednesday. The risk of obesity is high even among children whose present weight is normal, said the report in the New England Journal of Medicine. “Only those children with a current healthy weight have less than a 50 percent chance of becoming obese […]

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Trump says he turned down Time’s ‘Person of the Year’

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump on Friday said he turned down being named Time’s “Person of the Year” after the magazine asked him for an interview and photo shoot but did not confirm he would be chosen. He tweeted: “Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named ‘Man (Person) of the Year,’ like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo […]

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Russia says US terror listing of North Korea could lead to ‘catastrophe’

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia said Thursday that the US decision to add North Korea to its terror blacklist was a “PR move” that could allow the situation on the peninsula to escalate into a global “catastrophe.” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called US President Donald Trump’s move to place North Korea on the list of state sponsors of terrorism “another scaremongering act and PR move” that would not reduce tensions on the ground. “The […]

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American former North Korea detainee found burned to death

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Detectives in San Diego are investigating the mystery death of a man who hit the headlines in 2010 when former President Jimmy Carter helped negotiate his release from North Korea. An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer found the body of Aijalon Mahli Gomes, 38, ablaze Friday in the city’s Mission Bay Park, police said, adding that he was pronounced dead at the scene. “The preliminary investigation indicates the death is not […]

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Cuba expresses N. Korea support; calls for US ‘dialogue’

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Cuba, one of North Korea’s few allies, called on Wednesday for “peace and stability” in the Korean peninsula and stressed the need for dialogue to reduce tensions between Pyongyang and Washington. Upon receiving his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-Ho in Havana, foreign affairs minister Bruno Rodriguez said Cuba is “in favor of peace and stability,” adding that “only after dialogue and negotiations can a lasting political solution be achieved,” according to Cuban media. […]

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Disney animation chief on leave over ‘unwanted hugs’

  by Frankie Taggart Agence France Presse LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Disney animation chief John Lasseter said Tuesday he is taking a six-month leave of absence after acknowledging in an internal memo that he had made staff feel “disrespected or uncomfortable” with unwanted hugs. The 60-year-old Lasseter, best known for transforming Pixar from a small graphics department at Lucasfilm into the most successful animation studio in the world, was the pioneering director of […]

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China urges talks after US brands N.Korea a terror sponsor

    By Andrew Beatty / Julien Girault with Dave Clark in Washington Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — China called Tuesday for extra efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis through talks after US President Donald Trump re-branded Pyongyang as a state sponsor of terrorism. Beijing has repeatedly pushed for negotiations to end the standoff. Some analysts warned that the terror designation could further inflame tensions. “We still hope all relevant parties […]

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Cigar-shaped asteroid came from another solar system: study

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A rocky cigar-shaped object detected in space last month came from another solar system, astronomers said Monday as they confirmed an unprecedented observation. The discovery may provide clues as to how other solar systems formed, said the researchers, who published their study in the British journal Nature. The asteroid, named Oumuamua by its discoverers, is one-quarter mile (400 meters) long and highly elongated –perhaps 10 times as long as it is wide. That […]

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Canada, Mexico share ‘common interests’ in NAFTA talks with US

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (Reuters) — Negotiations in Mexico to update NAFTA have not made much progress on tough U.S. demands that could sink the 1994 trade pact, but the current round of talks is progressing, participants close to the fifth round of talks told media on Monday (November 20). One sticking point that has emerged in the talks is rules of origin. With the details of the US proposal and Mexican and Canadian counter-proposals to […]

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Renewed US-Russia rift threatens slim Syria peace hope

by Francesco Fontemaggi/ and Dave Clark © Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The latest US and Russian bid to find enough common ground on which to build some hope for Syria is in trouble, just days ahead of talks that could make or break the peace process. A United Nations mediator has called on Bashar al-Assad’s regime and a beleaguered opposition coalition to send envoys to Geneva on November 28 to resolve the seven-year-old civil […]

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