SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — A shareholder lawsuit filed late Monday accuses board members of Instagram and Facebook parent Meta of shirking their duties by ignoring human and sex trafficking on the tech giant’s social platforms. The suit filed in the Court of Chancery in the US state of Delaware calls for Mark Zuckerberg, along with other executives and board members, to be ordered to institute reforms and pay damages. Meta board members and […]
Tag: US
Joking Biden teases 2024 run at arts awards ceremony
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Joe Biden used an arts awards ceremony Tuesday — where one honoree was an actress who famously played a fictional president — to drop perhaps his heaviest hint yet that he’s seeking a second White House term in 2024. Presenting a National Humanities Medal to “Underground Railroad” author Colson Whitehead, Biden noted that the writer also had the rare distinction of winning two Pulitzer prizes in a row. The […]
Ghost lake set to reappear as California hit again by rain
by Patrick T. FALLON Agence France-Presse CORCORAN, United States (AFP) — A lake that dried up 80 years ago looked set on Tuesday to reappear, as monster rainfall accumulated over California’s wet winter season overwhelms the state’s rivers. Even as spring appeared in the northern hemisphere, there was no let-up for America’s most populous state, with forecasters predicting another 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain and up to 4 feet (120 centimeters) of snow over […]
Video shows US police piling on man who died at mental hospital
Disturbing video footage released Tuesday shows the death of a 28-year-old Black man as he was being admitted to a US mental hospital, where he was forcibly restrained by as many as 10 police officers and hospital security guards. Irvo Otieno’s March 6 death in Virginia has already drawn murder charges against the officers and guards involved, thrusting the spotlight back on US law enforcement brutality and the treatment of mental health patients in particular. […]
Saudi releases US citizen imprisoned for critical tweets: son
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — A US citizen sentenced to 19 years in a Saudi prison for social media posts criticising the kingdom’s rulers has been released, his son told AFP on Tuesday. Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old of Saudi origin, was arrested in 2021 for what his son, Ibrahim, described as “mild” Twitter posts on topics including the war in Yemen and the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Last October, a court […]
Trump to be arrested? US girds for drama
by Peter HUTCHISON Agence France-Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — New York police tightened security Monday ahead of a possible historic indictment of Donald Trump over hush money paid to a porn actress, with the ex-president calling for mass demonstrations if he is charged. Only a couple of dozen Trump supporters attended a protest in America’s financial capital on Monday evening though, as a grand jury weighs an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin […]
Indian state extends internet ban in hunt for Sikh separatist
AMRITSAR, India (AFP) — Indian authorities extended a mobile internet blackout across a state of about 30 million people on Monday as police hunted a radical Sikh preacher. The blackout extension came after supporters of Amritpal Singh were filmed vandalizing India’s consulate in San Francisco. A similar disturbance also took place in London. Authorities in the northern state of Punjab launched a major search on Saturday for Singh, who has risen to prominence in recent […]
Biden signs law declassifying US intel on Covid origin
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden on Monday signed into law a bill requiring the release of intelligence materials on potential links between the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan. “We need to get to the bottom of Covid-19’s origins…, including potential links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Biden said in a statement. “In implementing this legislation, my administration will declassify and share […]
20 years after US invasion, war-scarred Iraq faces uncertain future
by Ammar Karim Agence France-Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Iraq on Monday marks 20 years since the start of the US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, but no official celebrations are planned. The oil-rich country remains traumatized from the years of war, occupation and bloody sectarian turmoil that followed the operation launched on March 20, 2003. A semblance of normalcy has returned, but Iraq still battles a range of entrenched challenges, from political instability […]
Trump says expecting ‘arrest’ on Tuesday, calls for protests
New York, United States | AFP | Saturday 3/18/2023 by Nicolas REVISE Former US President Donald Trump said he expects to be “arrested” on Tuesday over hush money allegedly paid to a porn star before the 2016 election, calling on his supporters to protest. Citing a “leak” from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday morning: “Leading Republican candidate & former President of the United States of […]
TikTok confirms US urged parting ways with ByteDance to dodge ban
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — TikTok confirmed Wednesday that US officials have recommended the popular video-sharing app part ways with its Chinese parent ByteDance to avoid a national ban. Western powers, including the European Union and the United States, have been taking an increasingly tough approach to the app, citing fears that user data could be used or abused by Chinese officials. “If protecting national security is the objective, calls for a ban or […]
Russia calls on US to halt ‘hostile’ flights after collision
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s ambassador to the United States on Wednesday called on Washington to stop “hostile” flights near his country’s border, after an American drone was intercepted by Russian fighters over the Black Sea. “We assume that the United States will refrain from further speculation in the media and stop flights near Russian borders,” ambassador Anatoly Antonov wrote on Telegram. “We consider any action with the use of US weaponry as openly hostile.” […]





