October, 2016

• 26 October

  Russia criticises US troop plans in Norway

  Oslo / AFP Russia criticised plans to deploy more than 300 American troops in Norway, saying it would do nothing to make northern Europe safer. Norway announced on Monday that 330 US Marines, to be stationed on rotation around 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the Russian border, will be engaged in training and manoeuvres from January 2017. The announcement comes ...

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• 26 October

  Street challenges power in Venezuela crisis

  

    Caracas /AFP Venezuela’s political rivals faced a test of strength on Wednesday, with the opposition vowing mass street protests as President Nicolas Maduro resists efforts to drive him from power. The socialist president and center-right-dominated opposition accuse each other of mounting a “coup” in a volatile country rich in oil but short of food. The crisis prompted Pope Francis ...

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• 26 October

  Freed Ukrainian pilot back in Russia for jailed compatriots

    Moscow/ AFP A Ukrainian pilot released from a Russian prison in May was in Moscow on Wednesday to throw her support behind two compatriots jailed in Russia, her lawyer said. This is the first time Nadiya Savchenko, who was elected to the Ukrainian parliament in absentia during her detention, has visited since her release in a prisoner swap. Savchenko ...

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• 26 October

  iPhone 7 demand gives Apple sales a push

  

    Bloomberg Apple Inc.’s fourth-quarter results were bolstered by robust early demand for the iPhone 7, analysts predicted, helping slow the pace of a sales slump for the world’s most valuable company. After releasing a new version of its bestselling device in September, Apple likely sold 45 million units of all types of iPhones in the most-recent fiscal quarter ending ...

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• 26 October

  Google adds digital whiteboard to expanding device lineup

  

    SAN FRANCISCO / AP Google has designed a giant touch-screen canvas for companies trying to make it easier for their employees to brainstorm as they work on team projects and other assignments. The product is called “Jamboard,” an allusion to its goal of replacing the physical whiteboards that companies have been setting up in meeting rooms for decades. It ...

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• 26 October

  Google puts expansion of fiber optic network on hold

  

    SAN FRANCISCO / AFP Alphabet, the parent of internet giant Google, on Tuesday announced it was halting the rollout of its Google Fiber — 1 Gbps fiber optic wireless service, in some markets. In cities where service started or is being developed, work will press ahead, said Craig Barratt, head of the Access division that covers the Google Fiber ...

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• 26 October

  Smartwatch sales nosedive worldwide

    Relaxnews Global smartwatch sales reportedly stand at 2.7 million units for Q3 2016, down from 5.6 million in Q3 2015 (-51.6%), according to the latest figures from IDC. Could this be a passing dip or a genuine lack of enthusiasm for the product itself? Consumers seem to be snubbing smartwatches of all makes and models. Although Apple hasn’t released ...

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• 26 October

  Apple to develop car operating system in Canada

  

    Bloomberg Apple Inc. has dozens of software engineers in Canada building a car operating system, a rare move for a company that often houses research and development projects close to its Cupertino, California headquarters, according to people familiar with the matter. Many of the engineers working in Canada were hired over the past year and about two dozen came ...

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• 26 October

  Driverless cabs to kick mass transit to the curb

  

    Bloomberg Mass transit, the lifeblood of cities worldwide, is under threat from the biggest innovation in automotive technology since Henry Ford’s assembly line first flooded streets with cars. The self-driving vehicles being pioneered by Tesla Motors Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and others are poised to dramatically lower the cost of taxis, potentially making them cheaper than buses or subways, ...

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• 26 October

  Africa clad in ‘secondhand’ boom

  

    Nairobi / DPA Sewing machines clatter and fumes from charcoal-burning irons fill the narrow aisles hung about with lengths of fabric in the Gikomba Market in Nairobi, one of the largest second-hand clothing markets in Africa. It is 7 am, and traders are already heaving large wooden carts fully laden with second-hand clothes pressed into plastic-covered packs weighing some ...

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