Bloomberg Facebook Inc. said it removed 2.2 billion fake accounts in the first quarter, a record that shows how the company is battling an avalanche of bad actors trying to undermine the authenticity of the world’s largest social network. In the final quarter of 2018, Facebook disabled just more than 1 billion fake accounts and 583 million in the first ...
Read More »Iran starts regional shuttle diplomacy amid US tensions
Bloomberg Iran’s top diplomats are touring neighboring countries, including three Arab Gulf monarchies, to try to shore up support after the US announced plans to increase troop deployments in the region and sell weapons to some of the Islamic Republic’s top rivals. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, for meetings about the frictions, the semi-official ...
Read More »Haftar says Tripoli offensive to go on until militias disarmed
Bloomberg Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar said his offensive on Tripoli won’t stop and political discussions can’t resume until the country’s militias have been disarmed. In a rare press interview, Haftar told France’s Journal du Dimanche that he marched his military forces on Libya’s capital after six rounds of negotiations with the internationally recognised government in Tripoli failed. Haftar said Prime ...
Read More »Royal aide accused of Thai coup’s plot dies
Bloomberg Prem Tinsulanonda, one of Thailand’s most powerful figures over the past four decades who was accused of masterminding a 2006 coup against former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, has died, the Bangkok Post reported. He was 98. The former premier died of heart failure in a hospital in Bangkok on Sunday, the paper said, citing media reports. Prem served as army ...
Read More »Race to succeed UK’s May heats up
Bloomberg The rush is on to replace UK Prime Minister Theresa May, who resigned after failing to deliver on Brexit. Things got more crowded with cabinet ministers Michael Gove and Matt Hancock and former House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom signalling their intent to run. Gove, the environment secretary and a staunch Brexiteer, is telling colleagues he’s the best person ...
Read More »Kosovo’s president Thaci seeks to remove border with Albania
Bloomberg Balkan neighbours Albania and Kosovo need to work on greater unity, a goal that will be easier to achieve than Kosovo’s struggle for independence from Serbia, President Hashim Thaci said during a visit to Albania, the Koha Ditore newspaper reported. “We will live in the near future in a joint Kosovo-Albania state,†Thaci said on his visit to Albania, ...
Read More »Trump downplays Kim’s missile test, revels in Biden insult
Bloomberg President Donald Trump downplayed a recent missile test by North Korea, a day after his national security adviser called the actions a violation of United Nations resolutions, and took a fresh swing at Democrat Joe Biden, the top 2020 Democratic contender. On Twitter Trump said Pyongyang’s firing of “some small weapons†this month “disturbed some of my people, and ...
Read More »Trump confronts China’s technology threat head on
Huawei’s name is often translated in English as “Chinese excellence.†The Trump administration embarked on a campaign to rebrand the tech giant, in effect, as a “Chinese threat†and check its expansion in the West. The Huawei assault may be the Trump administration’s most important long-term strategic decision, because it confronts China’s technological challenge to America head on. The goal ...
Read More »Treat Facebook like big tobacco
People are mad at Facebook — for being too big, too powerful, too omniscient. Last week a co-founder of the company joined the calls from politicians like Senator Elizabeth Warren for the government to break up the social media giant. Facebook has repeatedly asked for regulation, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg appealing to the government in a Washington Post op-ed this ...
Read More »Japan Inc is doing better than people realise
Investors should get used to more big surprises from Japan. The country’s economy grew an annualised 2.1% in the first quarter, defying economists’ expectations for a contraction. The government wasn’t expecting good news: Earlier this month, it moved its provisional assessment of the economy to “worsening†from “weakening†for the first time in six years after an index of economic ...
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