Author: News Desk

Milan : Italy’s data protection authority said on Friday it has asked Facebook (FB.O) to provide clarifications over the social media giant’s newly launched smart glasses to assess whether the product is compliant with privacy laws. Facebook smart glasses, which were created in partnership with Ray-Ban maker Essilor Luxottica (ESLX.PA), allow wearers to listen to music, take calls or capture photos and short videos and share them across Facebook’s services using a companion app. The Italian watchdog, Garante, said it has called on the Irish data protection commissioner, which leads oversight of Facebook because the social-media company’s European headquarters are…

Tlalnepantla : A section of mountain on the outskirts of Mexico City gave way Friday, plunging rocks the size of small homes onto a densely populated neighborhood and leaving at least one person dead and 10 others missing. Firefighters scaled a three-story pile of rocks that appeared to be resting on houses in Tlalnepantla, which is part of Mexico state. The state surrounds the capital on three sides, The Associated Press (AP) reported. As rescuers climbed the immense pile of debris, they occasionally raised their fists in the air, the familiar signal for silence to listen for people trapped below.…

Russia : The Russian energy company Gazprom says it has completed construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. Running under the Baltic Sea, it will double Moscow’s gas exports to Germany and circumvent Ukraine, which relies on existing pipelines for income. It still needs to be certified by Germany’s regulator, a process that could take up to four months. The US fears the pipeline will increase Europe’s energy dependence on Russia. The loss of transit fees would hit Ukraine’s economy hard. The Ukrainian presidency opposed Nord Stream 2, which Volodymyr Zelensky described as a…

China : Chinese President Xi Jinping has spoken with his US counterpart Joe Biden for the first time in seven months. A White House Statement said both leaders had “discussed the responsibility of both nations to ensure competition does not veer into conflict”. This is only the second call between them since President Biden took office. US- China relations have been tense, with clashes over issues like trade, espionage and the pandemic. “The two leaders had a broad, strategic discussion in which they discussed areas where our interests converge, and areas where our interests, values, and perspectives diverge,” the White House…

Hong Kong : Vietnam and Taiwan are bracing for twin cyclones which are expected to make landfall over the weekend. Tropical Storm Conson is forecast to bring flooding rains to Vietnam this weekend while Super Typhoon Chanthu is expected to bring damaging winds and extremely heavy rainfall to Taiwan this weekend. Super Typhoon Chanthu to make landfall across Taiwan this weekend Taiwan issued a sea and land warning for Pingtung and Taitung Country on Friday ahead of Super Typhoon Chanthu. Chanthu is a very strong and destructive storm with sustained winds of 260 kph (160 mph) as of Friday evening. This makes…

Kabul  : Commander Supranullah was busy as we were ushered out of the monsoon rain for shelter on his front porch. The porch doubles as office and bedroom, which is convenient because since becoming the Taliban’s point person sorting problems and authorizing visiting journalists at the border with Pakistan, Supranullah — who like many rural Afghans uses just one name — has been slammed. He has a three-mile back up of heavily laden trucks waiting to leave Afghanistan at the Torkham border crossing. When we entered into his world, he was scribbling details relayed by an armed underling into a notebook. Clad in…

Mainz : The German company BioNTech is to apply for approval of its coronavirus vaccine, jointly developed with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, for use in children aged between 5 and 11 years, chief executive Ozlem Tureci said. “Over the weeks ahead we will submit the results of our study on 5-to-11-year-olds to the authorities worldwide and apply for approval for this vaccine for these age groups, here in Europe as well,” Tureci told Der Spiegel news magazine in remarks published on Friday. She said the company, based in Mainz in western Germany, had begun preparing production of the vaccine for…

Beirut : The Secretary-General of the Lebanese Cabinet, Mahmoud Makkieh, today announced the issuance of a decree, forming a new cabinet, led by Najib Mikati, and including 24 ministers. The decree was issued after a meeting between President Michel Aoun, parliament speaker Nabih Berri, and Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Lebanon has been without a fully empowered government since the resignation of Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s government in the aftermath of the Beirut port blast in August 2020.

Lisbon : Jorge Sampaio, a former two-term president of Portugal and one of the most prominent political figures of his generation, has died. He was 81. The current Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, announced Sampaio’s death on Friday. He did not give a cause of death, though Sampaio had been in delicate health for several years and had been in hospital for the past two weeks, The Associated Press (AP) reported. Sampaio “prepared himself to be a fighter, and the banners of his fight were freedom and equality,” Rebelo de Sousa said in a televised statement.

Copenhagen: After 548 days with restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19, Denmark’s high vaccination rate has enabled the Scandinavian country to become one of the first European Union nations to lift all domestic restrictions. The return to normality has been gradual, but as of Friday, the digital pass — a proof of having been vaccinated — is no longer required when entering nightclubs, making it the last virus safeguard to fall. More than 80% of people above the age of 12 have had the two shots, reports AP today. “I wouldn’t say it is too early. We have opened the…