GHANA
Twitter to set up Africa HQ
Twitter announced on Monday it was recruiting 11 people in the nation, its first hires on the African continent, and plans to open an office there later. The social media giant joins Facebook and other tech companies moving into Africa, where founder Jack Dorsey spent a month in 2019. “Africa will define the future,” Dorsey said at the time, after visiting Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia and South Africa. The jobs advertised in Ghana include positions for engineering, marketing and communications specialists. “The choice of Ghana as HQ for Twitter’s Africa operations is EXCELLENT news,” President Nana Akufo-Addo said on Twitter on Monday. “This is the start of a beautiful partnership between Twitter and Ghana, which is critical for the development of Ghana’s hugely important tech sector.” Facebook has several offices in Africa, including in Nigeria.
UNITED STATES
Wests agree on joint custody
Kanye West agrees with Kim Kardashian West that they should have joint custody of their four children and neither of them need spousal support, new divorce documents showed. His attorneys filed his response on Friday in the Los Angeles Superior Court to Kardashian West’s divorce filing seven weeks earlier, which began the process of ending their six-and-a-half-year marriage. His filing was virtually identical to Kardashian West’s original petition, agreeing that the marriage should end over irreconcilable differences, and that the two should share custody of their children: North, 7; Saint, 5; Chicago, 3; and Psalm, who turns two next month.
UNITED STATES
‘The Rock’ eyes presidency
Fast & Furious star Dwayne Johnson on Monday said that he would run for president if he felt he had enough support from Americans. Johnson, 48, one of the highest-paid and most popular actors in the nation, has been flirting with a possible White House bid for several years. “I do have that goal to unite our country and I also feel that if this is what the people want, then I will do that,” said, when asked about his presidential ambitions in an interview broadcast on the Today show on Monday. The former professional wrestler, known as “The Rock,” did not say which party he would represent or when he might launch any bid for the White House. His remarks follow an online public opinion poll released last week by consumer trends company Piplsay that found about 46 percent of Americans would consider voting for him. “I don’t think our Founding Fathers EVER envisioned a six-four, bald, tattooed, half-Black, half-Samoan, tequila drinking, pick-up truck driving, fanny-pack wearing guy joining their club — but if it ever happens it’d be my honor to serve you, the people,” Johnson said in an Instagram posting.
UNITED STATES
Biden’s dog trained, again
President Joe Biden’s rambunctious young dog Major is leaving the White House again, this time for extra schooling in how to behave more like a presidential canine. Major would “undergo some additional training to help him adjust to life in the White House,” said Michael LaRosa, a spokesman for first lady Jill Biden. “The off-site, private training will take place in the Washington, DC area, and it is expected to last a few weeks.” The transition to the White House has been tricky for the German shepherd, a former rescue pup. Last month, Major was briefly sent back to the Biden family home in Delaware after at least one biting incident. Major’s fellow German shepherd companion, Champ, is staying with his masters.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in