Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg didn’t shy away from her company’s ongoing privacy scandal in a Friday commencement speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Instead, she turned it into a lesson about accountability. Sandberg, the company’s chief operating officer, repeatedly warned graduates that even technology created with the best intentions can be twisted to do…
read moreChinese government hackers breached the computer system of a Navy contractor and stole large amounts of sensitive data, The Washington Post reports. The Post said the hacking took place in January and February, according to U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity. It said the stolen information amounted to 614 gigabytes of material, including…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump is defending his preparations for next week’s high-stakes summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, telling reporters on Friday “I’ve been preparing for this all my life.” Before departing Washington for G-7 talks in Quebec, the president said he was taking along “15 boxes of work” he will be reviewing ahead…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he plans to ask National Football League players who have kneeled in protest during the national anthem to recommend people they believe were unfairly punished by the country’s justice system. “I am going to ask all of those people to recommend to me, because that’s what they’re protesting — people…
read moreNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been signaling his desire to open up the reclusive state’s economy, ushering in what some analysts believe could be a “reform and opening up era” similar to what happened in China four decades ago. But how far North Korea is willing to go and what concrete measures it…
read moreThe Trump administration said in a court filing late Thursday that it will no longer defend key parts of the Affordable Care Act, including the requirement that people have health insurance and provisions that guarantee access to health insurance regardless of any medical conditions. The decision, announced in a filing in a federal court in…
read moreChina’s trade surplus with the United States rose to $24.58 billion in May, from $22.15 billion in April, according to Chinese customs data published Friday. China’s export growth in May was 12.6 percent, slightly down from 12.9 percent in April, but well above the 10 percent that economists polled by the Reuters news agency had…
read moreJust less than $6 billion worth of U.S. waste was sent to China last year to be converted into packaging and products, and then shipped back to the United States and other markets. Scrap recyclers had taken advantage of low shipping costs for empty containers returning to China after the ships had unloaded their goods…
read moreNorth Korea’s senior leadership has been exploiting loopholes in international sanctions to obtain the U.S. technology that Pyongyang uses to conduct “destructive cyber operations,” according to a global cyberthreat intelligence company. Recorded Future, based in Massachusetts, found that while export bans and restrictions are somewhat effective in keeping North Korea from acquiring technology for its…
read moreGrowing up on Mount Boutmezguida in southwest Morocco on the edge of the Sahara desert, Khadija Ghouate never imagined that the fog enveloping the nearby peaks would change her life. For hours every day and often before sunrise, Ghouate and other women from nearby villages would walk 5 km (3 miles) to fetch water from…
read moreFacebook said a software bug led some users to post publicly by default regardless of their previous settings. The bug affected as many as 14 million users over several days in May. The problem, which Facebook said it has fixed, is the latest privacy scandal for the world’s largest social media company. It…
read moreA new dining hall for guards at the Guantanamo Bay detention center has a shimmering view of the Caribbean and a lifespan of 20 years. Barracks scheduled to start getting built next year are meant to last five decades. And the Pentagon has asked Congress to approve money for a new super-max prison unit to…
read moreMultinational oil companies bought significant stakes in three Brazilian pre-salt oil fields auctioned Thursday, a show of confidence in the future of the energy sector despite a recent strike by truckers over rising fuel prices that brought Latin America’s largest nation to a halt. The auction, which included several multinationals among the 16 companies bidding,…
read moreA woman whose life sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump thanked him on Thursday for “having mercy” and said reality TV star Kim Kardashian West saved her life. After flexing his clemency powers once again, Trump tweeted: “Good luck to Alice Johnson. Have a wonderful life!” And “BEST NEWS EVER!!!!” was the…
read moreU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinted Thursday that Congress might be given a say in any deal President Donald Trump reached with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Pompeo was responding to a reporter’s question about whether a future president could undo an agreement — the way Trump pulled the United States out of…
read moreMore than 14 percent of $140 billion in annual U.S. farm exports have been or are likely to be hit by retaliatory tariffs in trade disputes with countries such as China and Mexico, a top U.S. trade negotiator said Thursday. Mexico imposed tariffs on American products including steel, pork and bourbon Tuesday, striking back against import duties on steel…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday after White House talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the two leaders were working together to improve trading relations and that Abe promised new Japanese investment in the United States. At a joint news conference, Trump said Abe told him Japan was buying “billions and billions…
read moreAs the internet continues to revolutionize communications, the next world-changing technology may already be here. Blockchain, a way of recording data and automatically storing it on computers around the world, has the potential to change everything from collecting crime scene evidence to creating new digital currencies. VOA’s Jill Craig visited a blockchain hackathon in Memphis,…
read moreMaking her first public appearance in nearly a month, first lady Melania Trump attended a FEMA briefing alongside her husband in Washington on Wednesday. This comes after weeks of public speculation over the first lady’s whereabouts and extended absence, following the first lady’s hospitalization for kidney surgery in May. VOA’s Elizabeth Cherneff has more. …
read morePassenger jets of the future will be safer, lighter, faster, more fuel-efficient and … windowless. So predicts Emirates Airlines chief Tim Clark. The Dubai-based airline has already introduced virtual windows in the first-class suites of its newest planes. Instead of being able to see out a conventional window, the passengers will be able to enjoy…
read moreThe proliferation of nonmilitary drones in the United States poses a growing national security threat, top U.S. security and aviation officials warned Wednesday as they pressed Congress to pass legislation that would allow agents to target and potentially take down suspicious drones. While the recreational and commercial use of drones has skyrocketed in recent years…
read moreEnvironmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt laughed off questions Wednesday about whether he used his office to try to help his wife get a “business opportunity” with Chick-fil-A, while a close aide abruptly resigned amid new ethics allegations against her boss. Pruitt said in a statement that his scheduling director, Millan Hupp, 26, had resigned.…
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