Author: AFP
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday called for a strong relationship between Kyiv and Washington, amid rising tensions with US President Donald Trump. “Strong Ukraine-US relations benefit the entire world,” Zelensky said after holding what he called a “productive meeting” with US envoy Keith Kellogg on the “battlefield situation, how to return our prisoners of war, and effective security guarantees”.
Apple on Wednesday introduced a new iPhone 16e model with a lower price tag as the company seeks to revive sales of its iconic device. Apple touted the iPhone 16e as having many features found in more expensive models, including Apple-tailored artificial intelligence features and integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. “iPhone 16e packs in the features our users love about the iPhone 16 lineup, including breakthrough battery life, fast performance powered by the latest-generation A18 chip, an innovative 2-in-1 camera system, and Apple Intelligence,” Apple Vice President of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing Kaiann Drance said in a release. The iPhone 16e…
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that US President Donald Trump’s decision to label Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator was “wrong and dangerous”. “It is simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelensky democratic legitimacy,” Scholz told news outlet Der Spiegel, adding that Zelensky is the elected head of state. “That proper elections cannot be held in the middle of a war is in accordance with the requirements of the Ukrainian constitution and electoral laws.”
Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta has said it will lay an undersea cable stretching across five continents to carry data, including for developing artificial intelligence. The cable will run for more than 50,000 kilometres (31,000 miles) between the US, South Africa, India, Brazil and “other regions”, Meta wrote in a blog on Friday. Global digital communication relies on a vast network of undersea conduits, with roughly 1.2 million kilometres of cable already installed, according to a 2024 report by the US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The links can be short hops between countries or globe-spanning systems…
Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta has said it will lay an undersea cable stretching across five continents to carry data, including for developing artificial intelligence. The cable will run for more than 50,000 kilometres (31,000 miles) between the US, South Africa, India, Brazil and “other regions”, Meta wrote in a blog on Friday. Global digital communication relies on a vast network of undersea conduits, with roughly 1.2 million kilometres of cable already installed, according to a 2024 report by the US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The links can be short hops between countries or globe-spanning systems…
Freedom in Russia and the end of President Vladimir Putin’s rule depends on Ukraine winning the war, Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov said Tuesday as Moscow and Washington held talks. As US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks in Saudi Arabia, former chess world champion Kasparov said any outcome that Putin could present as a victory would only extend his grip on power. “There is no freedom of Russia, no end of the Putin regime, without Ukrainian victory,” the chess grandmaster told a press conference after addressing the annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights…
An asteroid that could level a city now has a 3.1 percent chance of striking Earth in 2032, according to NASA data released Tuesday — making it the most threatening space rock ever recorded by modern forecasting. Despite the rising odds, experts say there’s no need for alarm. The global astronomical community is closely monitoring the situation and the James Webb Space Telescope is set to fix its gaze on the object, known as 2024 YR4, next month. “I’m not panicking,” Bruce Betts, chief scientist for the nonprofit Planetary Society told AFP. “Naturally when you see the percentages go up,…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday criticised US-Russia talks for excluding Kyiv, saying efforts to end the war must be “fair” and involve European countries including Türkiye. His remarks came after Washington and Moscow said they would name teams to negotiate a path to ending the war in Ukraine, during their first high-level official talks since Russia invaded nearly three years ago. The Ukrainian leader spoke after a nearly three-hour meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the Turkish capital Ankara. “Ukraine, Europe in a broad sense — and this includes the European Union, Türkiye, and the UK –…
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov endorsed “future cooperation” between their two countries, at odds over the Ukraine war, in their Riyadh meeting Tuesday, the State Department said. Rubio and Lavrov agreed to “lay the groundwork for future cooperation on matters of mutual geopolitical interest and historic economic and investment opportunities which will emerge from a successful end to the conflict in Ukraine”, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
A Russian court sentenced a man to 13 years in jail on treason charges for reaching out to a recruiter for the Ukrainian army, the FSB security service said Tuesday. Moscow has jailed dozens of Russians for allegedly collaborating with or supporting Kyiv’s military since Russia launched its full-scale military offensive in February 2022. The FSB said a man named Artem Konstantinov, born in 2000, contacted the Ukrainian army on the Telegram messaging app “and expressed his willingness to participate in combat actions on the territory of Ukraine against the Russian armed forces”. A court in the Arctic region of…