Sep242018 by DmediaNo Comments

AP Explains: The US Push to Boost ‘Quantum Computing’

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A race by U.S. tech companies to build a new generation of powerful "quantum computers" could get a $1.3 billion boost from Congress, fueled in part by lawmakers' fear of growing competition from China. Legislation passed earlier in September by the U.S. House of Representatives would create a 10-year federal program to accelerate research and development of the esoteric technology. As the bill moves to the Senate, where it also has bipartisan support, the White House showed its enthusiasm for the effort by holding a quantum summit Monday. Scientists hope government backing will help attract a broader group of engineers and entrepreneurs to their nascent field. The goal is to be less like the cloistered Manhattan Project physicists who developed the first atomic bombs and more like the wave of…


Sep242018 by DmediaNo Comments

Facebook Hires New India Head in Midst of Fake News Controversy

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Facebook has hired Ajit Mohan of the Indian streaming service Hotstar to run its India division, in the midst of accusations from the Indian government that the company’s WhatsApp messaging service has helped trigger mob violence. Mohan has been CEO of Hotstar since 2016, according to his LinkedIn. Mohan’s appointment comes during a period of intense criticism from the Indian government towards the social media giant. False messages about child kidnappers circulated anonymously on WhatsApp have triggered violent mobs that beat and killed bystanders suspected of being involved in crimes several times during the past year. The Indian government has warned Facebook it will treat the company as a legal abettor to violence if it does not develop tools to better combat the spread of false information. Facebook has expanded…


Sep242018 by DmediaNo Comments

Why the ‘Gig’ Economy May Not be the Workforce of the Future

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The “gig” economy might not be the new frontier for America’s workforce after all. From Uber to TaskRabbit to YourMechanic, so-called gig work has been widely seen as ideal for people who want the flexibility and independence that traditional jobs don’t offer. Yet the evidence is growing that over time, they don’t deliver the financial returns many expect. And they don’t appear to be reshaping the workforce. Over the past two years, for example, pay for gig workers has dropped, and they are earning a growing share of their income elsewhere, a new study finds. Most Americans who earn income through online platforms do so for only a few months each year, according to the study by the JPMorgan Chase Institute being released Monday. One reason is that some people…


Sep232018 by DmediaNo Comments

Malawi Moves to Improve its Struggling Tourism Industry

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Malawi continues to struggle to develop its tourism industry, despite having several attractions, including national parks, game reserves and mountains. But the government has developed a Tourism Strategic Plan that seeks to address challenges to attracting more tourists. Lameck Masina reports on Malawi's efforts to develop the industry, after attending a recent tourism street carnival in the country's commercial capital, Blantyre. ...


Sep232018 by DmediaNo Comments

Pompeo: US Would Win Trade War with China

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vows the United States will be victorious in any trade war with China, a day before the Trump administration's latest tariffs on Chinese imports go into effect. Pompeo told Fox News on Sunday. "We are going to get an outcome which forces China to behave in a way that if you want to be a power, a global power... you do not steal intellectual property." The Trump administration has argued tariffs on Chinese goods would force China to trade on more favorable terms with the United States. It has demanded that China better protect American intellectual property, including ending the practice of cyber theft. The Trump administration has also called on China to allow U.S. companies greater access to Chinese markets and to cut its…


Sep222018 by DmediaNo Comments

Comcast Outbids Fox With $40B Offer for Sky

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Comcast beat Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox in the battle for Sky after offering 30.6 billion pounds ($40 billion) for the British broadcaster, in a dramatic auction to decide the fate of the pay-television group. U.S. cable giant Comcast bid 17.28 pounds a share for control of London-listed Sky, bettering a 15.67 offer by Fox, the Takeover Panel said in a  statement shortly after final bids were made Saturday. Comcast's final offer was significantly higher than its bid going into the auction of 14.75 pounds, and compares with Sky's closing share price of 15.85 pounds on Friday. Brian Roberts, chairman and chief executive of Comcast, coveted Sky to expand its international presence as growth slows in its core U.S. market. Owning Sky will make Comcast the world's largest pay-TV operator with around 52 million customers. "This is a great day…


Sep222018 by DmediaNo Comments

UK PM’s Team Make Plans for Snap Election

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British Prime Minister Theresa May's aides have begun contingency planning for a snap election in November to save both Brexit and her job, the Sunday Times reported. The newspaper said that two senior members of May's Downing Street political team began "war-gaming" an autumn vote to win public backing for a new plan, after her Brexit proposals were criticized at a summit in Salzburg last week. Downing Street was not immediately available to comment on the report. Meanwhile, opposition Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn said Saturday that his party would challenge May on any Brexit deal she could strike with Brussels, and he said there should be a national election if the deal fell short. The British government said Saturday that it would not "capitulate" to European Union demands in Brexit talks and again urged the bloc to engage with its…


Sep222018 by DmediaNo Comments

US-China Tensions Rise as Beijing Summons US Ambassador

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Tensions between China and the United States escalated Saturday as China's Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad to issue a harsh protest against U.S. sanctions set for the purchase of Russian fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles. The move came hours after China canceled trade talks with the U.S. following Washington's imposition of new tariffs on Chinese goods. The statement on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website called the imposition of sanctions "a serious violation of the basic principles of international law" and a "hegemonic act." The ministry also wrote, "Sino-Russian military cooperation is the normal cooperation of the two sovereign states, and the U.S. has no right to interfere." The U.S. actions, it said, "have seriously damaged the relations" with China.  China had earlier called on the U.S. to…


Sep212018 by DmediaNo Comments

Rising Oil Prices Haven’t Hurt US Economy

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America's rediscovered prowess in oil production is shaking up old notions about the impact of higher crude prices on the U.S. economy. It has long been conventional wisdom that rising oil prices hurt the economy by forcing consumers to spend more on gasoline and heating their homes, leaving less for other things. Presumably that kind of run-up would slow the U.S. economy. Instead, the economy grew at its fastest rate in nearly four years during the April-through-June quarter. President Donald Trump appears plainly worried about rising oil prices just a few weeks before mid-term elections that will decide which party controls the House and Senate. "We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for…


Sep212018 by DmediaNo Comments

China Cancels Trade Talks with US After New Tariffs

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China has canceled trade talks with the United States following Washington’s imposition of new tariffs on Chinese goods. The Wall Street Journal reports that China had planned to send Vice Premier Liu He to Washington next week for the talks, but has now canceled his trip along with that of a midlevel delegation that was to precede him. US was optimistic Earlier Friday, a senior White House official said the U.S. was optimistic about finding a way forward in trade talks with China. The official told reporters at the White House that China “must come to the table in a meaningful way” for there to be progress on the trade dispute. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said while there was no confirmed meeting between the United States and…


Sep212018 by DmediaNo Comments

Technology Enhances Food Delivery Experiences

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Self-driving technology is making online shopping a more convenient, more cost-effective experience. One new startup in San Jose, California, is launching a fully driverless delivery service, which many predict is something customers will be seeing a lot more of in the future. Faiza Elmasry takes a look at how these driverless cars are making people's lives easier, in this report narrated by Faith Lapidus. ...


Sep212018 by DmediaNo Comments

Facebook to Drop On-site Support for Political Campaigns

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Facebook Inc. said Thursday that it would no longer dispatch employees to the offices of political campaigns to offer support ahead of elections, as it did with U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2016 race. The company and other major online ad sellers, including Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Twitter Inc., have long offered free dedicated assistance to strengthen relationships with top advertisers such as presidential campaigns. Brad Parscale, who was Trump's online ads chief in 2016, last year called on-site "embeds" from Facebook crucial to the candidate's victory. Facebook has said that Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton was offered identical help, but she accepted a different level than Trump. Google and Twitter did not immediately respond to requests to comment on whether they also would pull back support. Facebook said it could offer assistance to more candidates globally by focusing on offering support through an…


Sep202018 by DmediaNo Comments

NAFTA Deal Not Yet in Sight, Canada Stands Firm on Auto Tariffs

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Canada and the United States showed scant sign on Thursday of closing a deal to revamp NAFTA, and Canadian officials made clear Washington needed to withdraw a threat of possible autos tariffs, sources said. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump wants to be able to agree on a text of the three-nation North American Free Trade Agreement by the end of September, but major differences remain. "We discussed some tough issues today," Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters after meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Freeland, who has visited Washington four weeks in a row to discuss NAFTA, gave no further details. Market fears over the future of the 1994 pact, which underscores $1.2 trillion in trade, have been regularly hitting stocks in all three nations, whose…


Sep202018 by DmediaNo Comments

Analysts: Poor Economy, Unemployment Lure Tunisians to Extremism

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Seven years after the Arab Spring, little has been done to address youth unemployment in Tunisia, a key factor in extremist groups' ability to recruit marginalized youth, rights groups and experts warn. "Someone who is marginalized with nothing to lose, no stability in life, no vision of the future, no hope for change, can become a very easy target for terrorist groups," Amna Guellali, director of Human Rights Watch's Tunisia office, told VOA. The Arab Spring was ignited in Tunisia, in part because of deteriorating economic conditions. A frustrated street vendor set himself on fire outside a local municipal office in Sidi Bouzid to protest repeated harassment from authorities, who often confiscated his goods or fined him for selling without a permit.  Although economic conditions that force people to eke out a…


Sep202018 by DmediaNo Comments

EU Getting ‘Impatient’ with Facebook Over Consumer Data Use

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The European Union's consumer protection chief said Thursday she's growing impatient with Facebook's efforts to improve transparency with users about their data, warning it could face sanctions for not complying. EU Consumer Commissioner Vera Jourova turned up the pressure on the social media giant, saying she wants the company to update its terms of service and expects to see its proposed changes by mid-October so they can take effect in December.   "I will not hide that I am becoming rather impatient because we have been in dialogue with Facebook almost two years and I really want to see, not the progress — it's not enough for me — but I want to see the results,'' Jourova said.   The EU wants Facebook to give users more information about how their data…


Sep202018 by DmediaNo Comments

Scrounge for Workers Sees US Jobless Claims Hit 48-Year Low

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New U.S. claims for jobless benefits fell for the third week in a row, hitting their lowest level in nearly 49 years for the third straight week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The new figures suggest the U.S. economy's vigorous job creation continued unabated this month as the data were collected during the survey week for the department's more closely watched monthly jobs report, due out next week. Amid a widely reported labor shortage, employers are reluctant to lay off workers who are difficult to replace. For the week ended September 12, new claims for unemployment insurance fell to 201,000, down 3,000 from the prior week. Economists had instead been expecting a result of 209,000. The result was the lowest level since November of 1969, whereas the prior week's level…


Sep202018 by DmediaNo Comments

For My Birthday, Please Give: Facebook Feature Raises Cash for Causes

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When Behnoush Babzani turned 35, she threw a party. She also used her birthday to ask friends to donate to a cause she cares about deeply: helping people who need bone marrow transplants. She herself received a bone marrow transplant from her brother. “It’s not that my body was making cancerous cells, it was that my body was making no cells,” she said. “So think about the boy in the bubble. I had to be isolated. I didn’t have an immune system to protect me.” Using a new feature on Facebook, Babzani in a few clicks posted a photo of herself in a hospital gown when she was receiving treatment and she asked her friends to help raise $350.   WATCH: Facebook's Birthday Fundraiser Feature Brings Smiles to Charitable Causes…


Sep202018 by DmediaNo Comments

Facebook’s Birthday Fundraiser Feature Brings Smiles to Charitable Causes

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Facebook has always been a convenient way to send birthday wishes to friends. But many users have started taking advantage of a new feature introduced a year ago by the popular social networking site to turn birthday wishes into donations to help a favorite cause. And it's turned into a huge success for charities. In its first year, Facebook's birthday fundraiser feature raised more than $300 million for charities around the world. Michelle Quinn has more. ...


Sep202018 by DmediaNo Comments

Report: Extreme Poverty Declining Worldwide 

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The world is making progress in its efforts to lift people out of extreme poverty, but the global aspiration of eliminating such poverty by 2030 is unattainable, a new report found. A World Bank report released Wednesday says the number of people living on less than $1.90 per day fell to a record low of 736 million, or 10 percent of the world’s population, in 2015, the latest year for which data is available. The figure was less than the 11 percent recorded in 2013, showing slow but steady progress. “Over the last 25 years, more than a billion people have lifted themselves out of extreme poverty, and the global poverty rate is now lower than it has ever been in recorded history. This is one of the greatest human…


Sep192018 by DmediaNo Comments

China’s Alibaba Scraps Plan to Create 1M US Jobs

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Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma said Wednesday that the Chinese e-commerce giant had canceled plans to create 1 million jobs in the U.S., blaming the ongoing trade war for the decision, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua. "This commitment is based on friendly China-U.S. cooperation and the rational and objective premise of bilateral trade," Ma told Xinhua. "The current situation has already destroyed the original premise. There is no way to deliver the promise." Ma originally pledged to spur job growth by letting American small businesses and farmers sell their goods on Alibaba, which is one of the world's largest online retailers, when he visited then-President-elect Donald Trump early 2017. Trump imposed 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports on Monday, threatening to place taxes on an additional…


Sep192018 by DmediaNo Comments

Chinese Entrepreneur Rescinds Offer to Create 1 Million US Jobs

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Chinese technology billionaire Jack Ma has rescinded his offer to create 1 million new jobs in the United States, saying it is no longer possible with the escalation of trade disputes between the world's two biggest economies. The Alibaba chief made the U.S. jobs pledge to then-President-elect Donald Trump in January 2017 at Trump Tower in New York, just before Trump assumed power. The prospective U.S. leader declared, "Jack and I are going to do some great things." But in an interview published late Wednesday by Xinhua, China's official news agency, Ma said tit-for-tat tariffs imposed by Washington and Beijing, including new levies this week on billions of dollars of trade between China and the U.S., have scuttled his investment plans in the U.S.. "This promise was on the basis…


Sep192018 by DmediaNo Comments

Canada Wants to See Flexibility in NAFTA Talks With US

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Canada said on Wednesday that it would need to see movement from the United States if the two sides are to reach a deal on renewing NAFTA, which Washington insists must be finished by the end of the month. Although the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump and its allies are increasing pressure on Canada to make the concessions they say are needed for the North American Free Trade Agreement, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made clear he also wanted to see flexibility. "We're interested in what could be a good deal for Canada but we're going to need to see a certain amount of movement in order to get there and that's certainly what we're hoping for," he told reporters in Ottawa. Shortly afterwards, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland…


Sep192018 by DmediaNo Comments

Kenya’s Finance Minister Cuts Spending, Money Transfer Taxes to Rise

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Kenya's Finance Minister Henry Rotich has cut the government's spending budget by 55.1 billion shillings ($546.90 million), or 1.8 percent, for the fiscal year from July this year, a Treasury document showed on Wednesday. The government is facing a tough balancing act after a public outcry over a new 16 percent value added tax on all petroleum products forced President Uhuru Kenyatta to suggest to parliament to keep the VAT and cut if by half. In the document detailing the new spending estimates, Rotich said the budget had to be adjusted because of the amendments to tax measures brought by lawmakers when they first debated it and passed it last month. The proposed halving of the VAT rate on fuel has left the government with a funding shortfall, hence the…


Sep192018 by DmediaNo Comments

Amazon’s Use of Merchant Data Under EU Microscope

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EU regulators are quizzing merchants and others on U.S. online retailer Amazon's use of their data to discover whether there is a need for action, Europe's antitrust chief said on Wednesday. The comments by European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager came as the world's largest online retailer faces calls for more regulatory intervention and even its potential break-up because of its sheer size. Vestager said the issue was about a company hosting merchants on its site and at the same time competing with these same retailers by using their data for its own sales. "We are gathering information on the issue and we have sent quite a number of questionnaires to market participants in order to understand this issue in full," Vestager told a news conference. "These are very early days…


Sep192018 by DmediaNo Comments

Critics Skewer Venezuelan President Over Feast as Country Starves

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Videos of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro feasting on steaks at an upscale restaurant have sparked worldwide outrage on behalf of the poverty-stricken people of his country. One video show celebrity chef Nusret Gokce, also known as "Salt Bae," carving meat for the president and his wife, Cilia Flores, at the Nusr-Et restaurant in Istanbul, where each cut of meat can cost hundreds of dollars. Florida Senator Marco Rubio slammed the chef who was filmed with the "dictator," who was shown eating "a five-star gourmet meal, smoking fine cigars while the people of Venezuela are literally starving." "It’s an outrage, disgusting ... this is a man starving human beings and [Salt Bae] is celebrating him as some sort of hero – I got pissed,” Rubio told the Miami Herald on Tuesday.…