Paris, France | AFP | France will push ahead with its own tax on large internet and technology companies by introducing a bill that would be retroactive to January 1, its finance minister said Sunday. The move comes as the European Union tries to finalise an EU-wide levy. “We are …
Read More »Pope touts ‘Click to Pray’ app ahead of World Youth Day
Accompany Pope Francis in his Click To Pray profile. Download the app ? pic.twitter.com/m3Wt6jWwoK — Click To Pray (@clicktoprayapp) January 20, 2019 Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Sunday recommended a praying app called “Click to Pray” ahead of a World Youth Day festival in Panama …
Read More »Mnangagwa’s Zimbabwe blocks internet as crackdown intensifies
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe on Friday imposed a “total shutdown” of the internet as international criticism mounted over a ruthless security crackdown after anti-government protests. Police and soldiers have been accused of indiscriminately dragging people from their homes and beating them. Hundreds of people have been arrested …
Read More »Facebook to invest $300 million in local journalism
New York, United States | AFP | Facebook announced Tuesday that it will invest $300 million over three years in various projects related to journalism, especially to promote local news, which has been hit hard in the digital age. The move comes with online platforms under pressure for dominating the internet advertising ecosystem, making it …
Read More »Vietnam accuses Facebook of breaching new cyber law
Hanoi, Vietnam | AFP | Vietnam has accused Facebook of violating a new cybersecurity law by refusing to scrub anti-government content from its site, the first reprimand since the controversial bill came into effect days ago. The law, which went live January 1 and has drawn criticism from the US, …
Read More »DRC cuts internet to avoid ‘uprising’ after vote
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The DR Congo government said Tuesday it had cut the country’s internet services to avert a “popular uprising” as tensions rise pending the results of fractious presidential elections. The opposition accused authorities of cutting the internet on Monday to thwart activism, while leading Western …
Read More »Western powers urge DR Congo to restore Internet
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Leading western powers on Tuesday called on the Democratic Republic of Congo to restore internet access, which operators say was cut on government orders a day earlier following presidential elections. They also backed a request by the main Congolese election monitoring organisations to have …
Read More »Egypt court jails activist over ‘spreading false news’
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | An Egyptian appeals court on Sunday sent a rights activist to prison for two years over charges including “spreading false news”, her lawyer and a court official said. The court also fined Amal Fathi, who was released three days previously in another case, 10,000 Egyptian …
Read More »Pennsylvania lets Uber self-driving cars back on roads
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Authorities in the US state of Pennsylvania have given Uber the green light to resume testing self-driving cars, the ride-sharing giant said Tuesday, after a fatal crash in Arizona prompted a pause. Uber said it had received authorization to put autonomous cars back …
Read More »Facebook kicks Myanmar military-linked pages off platform
Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Facebook has removed hundreds of pages and accounts in Myanmar with hidden links to the military, the platform said Wednesday, as the company scrambles to respond to criticism over failures to control hate speech and misinformation. The social media giant — Myanmar’s most popular and …
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