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.
Choosing a full-fledged confrontation with the US due to the loss of a megacontract for submarines for Australia, France is making a risky bet and other nations are not rushing to its defense. After Australia renounced its deal for conventional submarines in favor of US nuclear-powered ones, France took the extraordinary step of pulling its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra for consultations. Bertrand Badie, an international relations professor at the Sciences Po institute in Paris, said France had put itself in a position where it can only appear to be backing down or losing face once its ambassador returns to the US,
Could delivering COVID-19 immunity directly to the nose — the area of the body via which it is mostly transmitted — help conquer the pandemic? The WHO says clinical trials are under way to evaluate eight nasal spray vaccines that target COVID-19. The most advanced effort so far by China’s Xiamen University, the University of Hong Kong and Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy has completed phase 2 trials. “When the virus infects someone, it usually gets in through the nose,” said researcher Nathalie Mielcarek, who is working with the Lille Pasteur Institute to develop a nasal spray vaccine against whooping cough. “The
FREE-FOR-ALL CONTEST: Taro Kono’s popular support means that he ‘probably has the edge, but if he has a lead, it’s a very vulnerable one,’ an Asia expert said The campaign to become Japan’s next prime minister began yesterday, with four candidates vying for leadership of the ruling party in an unusually close race. In televised speeches, the candidates set out their priorities, from boosting Japan’s digital prowess to addressing the falling birthrate. Among them are two women hoping to lead a nation that has never had a female prime minister, although both are considered long shots. The race follows Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s shock announcement that he would not run for head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Whoever the party picks in a Sept. 29 vote is to contest
PLANNING TO REOPEN: Amid 1,607 new COVID-19 cases, the country is making a shift away from lockdowns, acknowledging that outbreaks will happen Australia reported 1,607 new coronavirus cases yesterday as states and territories gradually shift from trying to eliminate outbreaks to living with the virus. Victoria, home to about a quarter of Australia’s 25 million people, recorded 507 cases as Premier Daniel Andrews said a weeks-long lockdown will end once 70 percent of those 16 and older are fully vaccinated, whether or not there are new cases. Andrews said the state might reach that vaccination threshold around Oct. 26. About 43 percent of Victorians have been fully vaccinated, 46 percent nationwide. “We will do so cautiously, but make no mistake, we are opening this place
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