International Affairs

Instagram on Tuesday added more weapons to battle cyber-bullying, using artificial intelligence to scan photos for abusive content at the Facebook-owned service. The move comes after Facebook also increased anti-harassment measures, following a survey which said young victims of online abuse feel social media firms aren’t doing enough to fight …

Inflatable sculpture takes over rusting warehouse in U.S. A giant sea monster has taken over a building at Philadelphia’s Navy Yard, but only temporarily. The inflatable sculpture titled “Sea Monsters HERE” is at a rusting warehouse called Building 611. It features huge purple tentacles bursting out of windows and reaching …

Musician Nathan Meltzer plays instrument owned by Roman Totenberg The Stradivarius stolen from the late violinist Roman Totenberg and miraculously found more than three decades later has a new life under the chin of a budding 18-year-old virtuoso. On Tuesday in New York, his three daughters presented the multimillion-dollar instrument …

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wants Pope Francis to visit the officially atheist country, South Korea said on Tuesday. South Korea’s presidential office said in a statement that Mr. Kim told President Moon Jae-in during their summit last month that the Pope would be “enthusiastically” welcomed in North Korea. Mr. …

Says Beijing did not initiate the trade war but was acting in self defence China has stepped up its war of words with the U.S., following a frosty back-and-forth between its Foreign Minister Wang Yi and visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday. In response to a question …

Washington’s newly named point man tasked with finding a peaceful end to Afghanistan’s 17-year war is in Pakistan to seek help from the new government in Islamabad in bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table, the U.S. Embassy said on Tuesday. A former U.S. Ambassador in Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad arrived …

Journalists say it curbs media freedom Bangladesh’s President on Monday signed a digital security act into law despite protests by journalists and rights groups that it will severely curb media freedom. “The digital security Bill has been signed by the President today,” President Abdul Hamid’s spokesman Joynal Abedin said. Top …

Brazil barrels towards uncertain presidential run-off A deeply polarised Brazil stood at political crossroads on Monday as the bruising first round of the presidential election left voters with a stark choice in the run-off between far-right firebrand Jair Bolsonaro and leftist Fernando Haddad. Mr. Bolsonaro, an ultraconservative former paratrooper, easily …

Economics Nobel winner Nordhaus says they are lagging way behind what needs to be done U.S. economists William Nordhaus and Paul Romer on Monday shared the 2018 Nobel Economics Prize for constructing “green growth” models that show how innovation and climate policies can be integrated with economic growth. Working independently, …

Foreign Minister tells Pompeo that the two countries should pursue cooperation U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo faced a testy exchange with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on Monday, days after a blistering U.S. denunciation of the Asian power’s global and domestic policies. Mr. Pompeo and Foreign Minister Wang Yi …