AFP
14023 articles published since 08 Mar 2022
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Pharma firm urged to share new 'game-changer' HIV drug
More than 300 politicians, health experts and celebrities called Thursday for US pharmaceutical giant Gilead to allow generic versions of a promising new HIV drug to be produced so it can reach people in developing countries most affected by the deadly disease.
Meta says generative AI deception held in check -- for now
Social media giant Meta says its bid to thwart coordinated disinformation campaigns created through ever-improving generative AI is working, despite widespread concerns. Meta said it had seen "threat actors" put AI to work to create bogus photos, videos, and text, but no realistic imagery of politicians, according to the report.
US Democrats call for criminal probe into Big Oil price-fixing
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and nearly two dozen Democrats called on the Justice Department Thursday to investigate the oil and gas industry over allegations of price-fixing. The letter came with Democrats escalating a confrontation with so-called "Big Oil" over high prices and greenhouse gas emissions as the presidential election looms in November.
Africa economic growth not enough to tackle poverty: AfDB
Africa's economy has shown resilience overall despite global conditions but growth needs to be in double digits to truly tackle poverty on the continent, the African Development Bank (AfDB) said on Thursday. "We believe that African economies ought to be growing at double digits for probably the next decade or so to be able to have the kind of transformation that we need as a continent."
EU states agree 'prohibitive' tariffs on Russia grain imports
EU states agreed on Thursday to impose "prohibitive" duties on grain imports from Russia in a bid to cut off revenues to Moscow for its war on Ukraine. From July 1, the EU will increase "duties on cereals, oilseeds and derived products from Russia and Belarus to a point that will in practice halt imports of these products," the council representing the EU's 27 member states said.
Four arrested in major international anti-malware sweep
Authorities arrested four people and took down or disrupted more than 100 servers in the "largest ever" operation against botnets that deploy ransomware, Europol said Thursday. "This is the largest ever operation against botnets, which play a major role in the deployment of ransomware," the agency based in The Hague said.
Why has Russian wheat been entering the EU duty-free?
Since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia's grain exports have not only been spared by European Union sanctions, but even stayed free of tariffs -- a seeming anomaly the bloc has now agreed to rectify. Following Russia's invasion, the EU eliminated tariffs on Ukrainian products.
UK parties face-off on TikTok battleground
On the face of it, the villain from "Shrek", British singer turned TV presenter Cilla Black, and national service have nothing in common. One Labour TikTok post uses a clip from the movie "Shrek" showing the diminutive villain Lord Farquaad saying "some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make".
Taliban govt harbours big dreams for Afghan rail
On the edge of the Afghan border with Uzbekistan, where the railway abruptly stops, throngs of young men transfer sacks of wheat or flour from freight trains to trucks. Every day, 3,500 tons of flour and 1,500 tons of wheat are unloaded by hand at the border town of Hairatan in northern Afghanistan to trucks that brave mountain passes and war-damaged roads to ferry goods around the country.
AFP
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