Now, FB Messenger lets you send money with Transferwise

  Bloomberg International money transfer service TransferWise Ltd. has announced an integration with Facebook Inc.’s Messenger that will let people set up foreign exchange transactions over the chat service. London-based TransferWise launched the technology as a bot — a piece of automation software that understands natural language — baked within Messenger. The bot, which is free to use and doesn’t ...

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Investors still skeptical on Snap user growth

  Bloomberg Snap Inc. so far hasn’t been able to tamp down investor concern about user growth. When asked about a slowdown in new users on its Snapchat photo-sharing mobile app in the fourth quarter, the company blamed a product issue with its Android version, according to investors who attended the company’s initial public offering roadshow presentation in New York. ...

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Can internet-beaming balloons outmaneuver shifting winds?

  MOUNTAIN VIEW / AP For its next trick, an internet-beaming balloon factory spun out of Google believes it can outmaneuver the wind. In doing so, the 4-year-old “Project Loon” says it will be able to bring remote parts of the world online more quickly with a smaller fleet of the balloons than it previously thought. Engineers involved in the ...

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DP World wins Djibouti dispute case

  DUBAI / WAM A tribunal of distinguished arbitrators, acting under the rules of the London Court of International Arbitration, has exonerated DP World from all charges of misconduct in connection with the award of a 50-year concession to operate the Doraleh Container Terminal (DCT) in Djibouti. The international tribunal was composed of distinguished arbitrators Lord Leonard Hoffmann, Sir Richard ...

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Mugabe praises Trump’s ‘America First’ policy

  HARARE / AP US President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy has an admirer in Zimbabwe’s controversial president, who says the policy resonates with his own thinking. President Robert Mugabe, who turned 93 on Tuesday and is the world’s oldest head of state, spoke in a birthday interview with state-run media. “When it comes to Donald Trump, on the one ...

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Kremlin stays mum on new US national security adviser

  MOSCOW / AP The Kremlin refrained from comment Tuesday on the appointment of the new U.S. national security adviser, but one lawmaker said he was likely to take a hawkish stance toward Russia. Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster was named to the job Monday by President Donald Trump to replace retired Gen. Michael Flynn. Trump fired Flynn last week ...

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Suicide bombers kill 6 outside court in Pakistan

  PESHAWAR / AP A group of suicide bombers with grenades and assault rifles struck outside a courthouse in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing six people in an attack claimed by a Taliban splinter group. The attack was the latest in a wave of militant assaults across the troubled country that has killed over 100 people since last week. The ...

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UN guided by Syrian ‘political transition’ as new talks loom

  BEIRUT / AP A top adviser to the United Nations envoy for Syria said on Tuesday that their “main guidance” for the first intra-Syrian peace talks in 10 months will be a Security Council resolution that calls for political transition. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura is putting the “finishing touches on arrangements” for Thursday’s start of talks in Geneva ...

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Bahrain lawmakers approve military trials for civilians

  DUBAI / AP Bahraini lawmakers voted Tuesday to change the constitution to allow civilians to be tried in military courts, further empowering its security forces amid a crackdown on dissent at level unseen since its 2011 Arab Spring protests. The decision by the 40-seat Council of Representatives, the elected lower house of the tiny Gulf nation’s National Assembly, comes ...

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Family: Vietnamese suspect in Kim’s death was duped

  NGHIA BINH / AP The family of a Vietnamese woman arrested in the death of the half brother of North Korea’s ruler in Malaysia has confirmed she is their relative, but believes she didn’t knowingly participate in the killing. Kim Jong Nam died last week after apparently being poisoned in Kuala Lumpur’s airport. Speaking at their home in a ...

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