Oscar nominations balloting might be finished but Hollywood’s “Me Too” moment has kept right on going. When Academy Awards nominations are announced Tuesday morning, it might be a brief, celebratory reprieve for an industry enflamed by sexual harassment scandals and gender equality protests. Or it might just add more fuel …
your ad hereFacebook to Prioritize ‘Trustworthy’ News
Social media giant Facebook said Friday that it would begin to prioritize “trustworthy” news outlets on its site in order to counteract “misinformation.” The company said it would ask its more than 2 billion users to rank the news organizations they trusted in order to prioritize “high-quality news” over less trusted …
your ad hereSoccer Great Pele Cancels Appearance in England Because of Fatigue
Brazilian soccer great Pele has canceled a trip to England where he was to receive an award from the English Football Writers’ Association. A spokesman for Pele said the former soccer (football) player was resting at his home in Guaruja, Brazil, and that reports that he had been taken to …
your ad hereFormer IBM Developer Sentenced for Espionage, Theft of Trade Secrets
A former software engineer for IBM in China has been sentenced to five years in prison for stealing the source code for highly valuable software developed by the tech company, the U.S. Justice Department announced Friday. Xu Jiaqiang, 31, was sentenced Thursday by a federal judge in White Plains, New York, …
your ad here‘Game of Thrones’ Ice Hotel Opens in Finland
A “Game of Thrones”-themed ice hotel complete with a bar and a chapel for weddings has opened in northern Finland in a joint effort by a local hotel chain and the U.S. producers of the hit TV series. Lapland Hotels said Friday they chose “Game of Thrones” to be the …
your ad hereIOC: More Initiatives Coming to Promote Korean Unity
Olympics organizers on Friday welcomed an agreement between North and South Korea to unite athletes at the upcoming Winter Games in Pyeongchang, and promised that “much more exciting initiatives” promoting Korean unity will emerge this weekend. “Watch this space,” International Olympic Committee presidential spokesman Mark Adams told the Associated Press …
your ad hereChrista McAuliffe’s Lost Lessons Finally Taught in Space
Christa McAuliffe’s lost lessons are finally getting taught in space. Thirty-two years after the Challenger disaster, a pair of teachers-turned-astronauts will pay tribute to McAuliffe by carrying out her science classes on the International Space Station. As NASA’s first designated teacher in space, McAuliffe was going to experiment with fluids …
your ad hereAnti-smoking Plan May Kill Cigarettes — and Save Big Tobacco
Imagine if cigarettes were no longer addictive and smoking itself became almost obsolete; only a tiny segment of Americans still lit up. That’s the goal of an unprecedented anti-smoking plan being carefully fashioned by U.S. health officials. But the proposal from the Food and Drug Administration could have another unexpected …
your ad hereNorth Korea Cancels Visit to South by Arts Delegation
North Korea on Friday abruptly canceled plans to send a delegation led by the head of a hugely popular girl band to South Korea over the weekend to check preparations for a trip by a North Korean art troupe she also leads during next month’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. South Korea’s …
your ad hereTime After Time: Luxury Watchmaker to Sell Pre-owned Pieces
Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet said it would launch a second-hand business this year, becoming the first big brand to announce plans to tap into a fast-growing market for pre-owned premium watches. The company told Reuters it would launch the business at its outlets in Switzerland this year. If this proved successful, it …
your ad hereForeign Investors Will Take Heart in Vietnam’s Anti-Graft Crackdown
Foreign investors in Vietnam will welcome a fairer, more predictable set of business practices as the government pursues the heads of local firms over corruption, analysts believe. Some foreign companies might review their own books to ensure clean accounting, as prosecutors investigate executives in Vietnamese firms over suspected graft. Most …
your ad hereHighlights From Volvo Ocean Race as Teams Approach Hong Kong
It has been called the longest and toughest professional sporting event on earth. The eight-month Volvo Ocean Race is a 24-hour-a-day open-water marathon pitting sailing teams against one another as well as a mutual competitor: nature. Arash Arabasadi has the story. …
your ad hereTracking Shoes Help Keep Kids Safe
The worst nightmare for parents is probably a child wandering off and getting lost. And for parents who want to keep their kids within their reach and still give them a chance to play freely and be adventurous, a New York company is offering a solution. Faiza Elmasry has the …
your ad hereSocial Media Companies Accelerate Removals of Online Hate Speech
Social media companies Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube have greatly accelerated their removals of online hate speech, reviewing over two thirds of complaints within 24 hours, new EU figures show. The European Union has piled pressure on social media firms to increase their efforts to fight the proliferation of extremist …
your ad hereBrigitte Bardot: ‘MeToo’ Actresses Are ‘Hypocritical’
Former French actress and sex symbol Brigitte Bardot said in an interview published Thursday that she thinks most actresses protesting sexual harassment in the film industry are “hypocritical” and “ridiculous” because many play “the teases” with producers to land parts. The star of And God Created Woman also said in …
your ad hereDown to Business: Drought-hit Kenyan Women Trade Their Way Out of Poverty
Widow Ahatho Turuga lost 20 of her goats to drought early last year, but the shopkeeper is planning to reinvest in her herd once she has saved enough money. “I think I will start with four goats and see how it goes,” she said, rearranging soap on the upper shelf …
your ad hereProsecutors Want to Call 19 Other Accusers at Cosby Retrial
Prosecutors preparing for Bill Cosby’s retrial on sexual assault charges want to call 19 other accusers to try to show a pattern of “prior bad acts” over five decades. The comedian’s first trial ended with a hung jury in June. In that proceeding, prosecutors asked to call 13 other accusers, …
your ad hereTurkey Business Lobby Calls for End to Emergency Rule
Turkey’s main business lobby on Thursday called on the government to end the state of emergency as parliament extended it for a sixth time since it was imposed after an attempted coup in 2016. Emergency rule allows President Tayyip Erdogan and the government to bypass parliament in passing new laws …
your ad hereEven Without El Nino Last Year, Earth Keeps on Warming
Earth last year wasn’t quite as hot as 2016’s record-shattering mark, but it ranked second or third, depending on who was counting. Either way, scientists say it showed a clear signal of man-made global warming because it was the hottest year they’ve seen without an El Nino boosting temperatures naturally. …
your ad here‘Married Men’ Movie Premiere Draws Miami’s Haitian A-Listers
With nearly nine films to his credit, not to mention music videos and commercials, Haitian-born Robenson Lauvince is confident his latest bold and ambitious work will boost the Haitian film industry and the community as a whole. Saturday’s Miami premiere of his highly anticipated film “Married Men” came in the …
your ad hereResearchers: Hacking Campaign Linked to Lebanese Spy Agency
A major hacking operation tied to Lebanon’s main intelligence agency has been exposed after careless spies left hundreds of gigabytes of intercepted data exposed to the open internet, according to a report published Thursday. Mobile security firm Lookout, Inc. and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, said the …
your ad hereHas #MeToo Gone Too Far? Ansari Story Sparks Debate
The #MeToo movement has been embraced by legions of women as a vital step toward countering widespread sexual abuse and misconduct. This week, more so than at any point in the movement’s brief history, there’s visceral discussion about its potential for causing harm. The catalyst was the publication by Babe.net …
your ad hereNigeria Moves Closer to Turning Long-awaited Oil Bill Into Law
Nigeria moved closer to turning the first part of a long-awaited oil industry bill into law after the lower house passed the same version of the legislation approved by the Senate last year, a lawmaker in the House of Representatives said on Thursday. It is the first time both houses …
your ad hereTap and Donate: Paris Church to Take Contactless Cards
The Catholic church is going digital in Paris. The city’s diocese will introduce a system allowing contactless card payments during Sunday’s mass at Saint Francois de Molitor, a church located in an upscale and conservative Paris neighborhood. The diocese explained Thursday that five connected collection baskets with a …
your ad hereZambia Says New Cases Dropping in Deadly Cholera Outbreak
Zambia says it has made progress in containing a cholera outbreak that has killed about 70 people in the southern African nation since October. Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya this week said there had been a “drastic reduction” in the number of new cases in the outbreak, which has mostly affected …
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