HANOI: Facebook and Google are fast becoming “human rights-free zones” in Vietnam, Amnesty International warned today, accusing the tech titans of helping censor peaceful dissent and political expression in the country. Communist Vietnam has long jailed its critics but has come under fire in recent years for targeting users on […]
Year: 2020
WASHINGTON: Hopes for a first wave of vaccinations before the end of 2020 received a boost with US firm Moderna saying it was filing yesterday for emergency authorization of its Covid-19 vaccine in the United States and Europe. After top US scientists warned Americans to brace for a “surge superimposed […]
LONDON: British telecommunications firms must not install new Huawei 5G kit after September 2021, the government said on Monday (Nov 30), as part of a plan to purge the Chinese firm’s equipment from high-speed mobile networks. Britain has already ordered all Huawei equipment to be removed from its 5G network […]
LONDON: A coroner’s inquest starts in London today to determine whether air pollution played a role in the death of a nine-year-old girl who lived near a busy road. The hearing, which is due to last 10 days, could set a new legal precedent if it is found poor air […]
WASHINGTON: America should prepare for a “surge upon a surge” in coronavirus cases as millions of travellers return home after the Thanksgiving holiday, top US scientist Anthony Fauci warned yesterday. The United States is the worst-affected country, with 266,074 Covid-19 deaths, and President Donald Trump’s administration has issued conflicting messages […]
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration is poised to add China’s top chipmaker SMIC and national offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies, according to a document and sources, curbing their access to US investors and escalating tensions with Beijing weeks before President-elect Joe Biden […]
WASHINGTON: President-elect Joe Biden yesterday tapped key campaign staff and advisors to lead his all-woman communications team, naming former Obama State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki as his White House press secretary and campaign spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield as communications director. Senior advisor to the Biden-Harris campaign Symone Sanders will be Vice […]
WASHINGTON: The US state of Pennsylvania’s supreme court dismissed another legal challenge to the election by supporters of President Donald Trump yesterday, further reducing his already near-impossible odds of overturning the results. A Republican lawsuit had sought to invalidate mail-in ballots in the battleground state that President-elect Joe Biden won […]
JAKARTA: Indonesia reported its record daily rise in coronavirus infections today with 6,267 cases, bringing the total to 534,266, data from the country’s Covid-19 task force showed. This was the third record high in a week for the Southeast Asian country. The data showed 169 new coronavirus deaths, taking the […]
Facebook’s human moderators have focused on election and Covid-19 misinformation this year, so the company has leaned more on artificial intelligence algorithms to monitor other areas of the platform. New York-based businesswoman Ruth Harrigan usually sells her honey and beeswax products in souvenir shops. But with Covid-19 pausing tourism, she’s […]