Facebook will no longer allow graphic images of self-harm on its platform as it tightens its policies on suicide content amid growing criticism of how social media companies moderate violent and potentially dangerous content. The social network also said Tuesday that self-injury related content will now become harder to search on Instagram, and it will ensure that it does not appear as recommended in the Explore section on the photo-sharing app. Facebook’s statement comes on World Suicide Prevention Day, and follows Twitter’s remarks that content related to self-harm will no longer be reported as abusive in an effort to reduce the stigma around suicide. About 8 million people die due to suicide every year, or one person every 40 seconds, according to a report by the World Health Organization. Facebook has a team of moderators who watch for content such as live broadcasting of violent acts as well as suicides. The company works with at least five outsourcing vendors in at least eight countries on content review, a Reuters tally showed in February. Governments globally are wrestling over how to better control content on social media platforms, often blamed for encouraging abuse, spreading online pornography and influencing or manipulating voters. …

The Nigerian military has detained thousands of children in harsh and degrading conditions for suspected involvement with the armed Islamist group Boko Haram, FILE – Woman and children detained by the Nigeria army who have no links to Boko Haram sit under a canopy before their release at the Giwa military barracks in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Feb. 12, 2016. The children who spoke to the group said they were picked up by authorities and detained in the state’s main military detention center, Giwa barracks. A FILE – Children between the ages of seven and 18, cleared of ties with Boko Haram, get in a car being escorted by military personnel in Maiduguri, July 9, 2018. Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu said the Armed Forces of Nigeria do arrest children who are coerced into helping Boko Haram, either by setting off explosives or spying for the terrorist group. But, he said, the armed forces treat the children “as victims of war and not as suspects.” He said that “apprehended children are kept in secured places, where they are adequately fed, profiled and de-radicalized before their release.” He added that children are not subject to arbitrary arrests nor are they tortured in any facility. Alleged …

The recent surge of deadly xenophobic attacks in South Africa is triggering concern in several African countries.  In Nigeria, the deaths have sparked reprisal attacks and calls for an end to the operation of South African businesses in the country. But as Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja, tens of thousands of Nigerian jobs could be at stake …

This story originated from FILE – A view of the pre-trial detention center Lefortovo, where former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan is reportedly held in custody, in Moscow, Jan. 3, 2019. A frequent visitor to Russia, Whelan was detained in central Moscow’s Metropol Hotel on Dec. 28 and accused of carrying Russian state secrets on a flash drive given to him by an unnamed person. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow and Whelan’s family have long objected to his detention, insisting that the charges against him are false and that he has been repeatedly denied requests for medical care and communication with family. Moscow officials have denied for months that Whelan had any medical conditions, but on Aug. 23, an ambulance was called to a Moscow courtroom after Whelan said he had been injured by a prison guard who forced him to move heavy personal belongings to a new cell. The judge immediately halted courtroom proceedings for a medical evaluation by paramedics before ruling that his pretrial detention should be extended until Oct. 29. According to Whelan’s attorney, Vladimir Zherebenkov, the 49-year-old Michigan native was examined by doctors at Moscow’s Hospital #20 on Sept. 6, who confirmed he was suffering from a …

Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma, who helped launch China’s online retailing boom, stepped down as chairman of the world’s biggest e-commerce company Tuesday at a time when its fast-changing industry faces uncertainty amid a U.S.-Chinese tariff war. Ma, one of China’s wealthiest and best-known entrepreneurs, gave up his post on his 55th birthday as part of a succession announced a year ago. He will stay on as a member of the Alibaba Partnership, a 36-member group with the right to nominate a majority of the company’s board of directors. Ma, a former English teacher, founded Alibaba in 1999 to connect Chinese exporters to American retailers. The company has shifted focus to serving China’s growing consumer market and expanded into online banking, entertainment and cloud computing. Domestic businesses accounted for 66% of its $16.7 billion in revenue in the quarter ending in June. Chinese retailing faces uncertainty amid a tariff war that has raised the cost of U.S. imports. Growth in online sales decelerated to 17.8% in the first half of 2019 amid slowing Chinese economic growth, down from 2018’s full-year rate of 23.9%. Alibaba says its revenue rose 42% over a year earlier in the quarter ending in June to …

The prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia Saturday has prompted hopes that Moscow and Kyiv are ready for serious talks to end a more than five-year war in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine — a Moscow-fomented conflict that’s claimed more than 13,000 lives. As the exchange unfolded, which included the release by Russia of 24 sailors captured in a naval clash last November, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted, “Russia and Ukraine just swapped large numbers of prisoners. Very good news, perhaps a first giant step to peace. Congratulations to both countries!” That view was shared by the man who engineered the swap, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who hailed the exchange as “the first step to end the war.” And various other Western leaders, including Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Emmanuel Macron, joined the chorus lauding the exchange of 70 prisoners in all as a positive move. For the families of those exchanged, there was relief. Russia had threatened to incarcerate the sailors for up to six years, saying their patrol boats had trespassed into Russian territory by crossing its borders to enter the Sea of Azov, just off Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. Ukraine and …

A lawyer for Michael Flynn accused federal prosecutors of misconduct on Tuesday as a judge set a December sentencing hearing for President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser.   The arguments from Flynn attorney Sidney Powell were the latest in a series of aggressive attacks on the foundations of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. They represented yet another step in Flynn’s evolution from a model cooperator he was the first and only White House official to cut a deal with prosecutors to a defendant whose newly combative and unremorseful stance may cost him a chance at the probation sentence prosecutors had previously recommended.      Even as U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan set a Dec. 18 sentencing date for Flynn, Powell made clear that she considered the case far from resolved. Though she said she was not seeking to have Flynn’s guilty plea thrown out, she contended the “entire prosecution should be dismissed because of egregious government misconduct.” “There is far more at stake here than sentencing,” Powell said. She later accused the government of “being too busy working on what they wanted to accomplish in convicting Mr. Flynn” to seek truth or justice. Prosecutor Brandon Van Grack, a …

Sao Paulo police say they are indicting Brazilian model Najila Trindade and her former partner over her rape allegation against soccer star Neymar. Police said Tuesday they indicted the model for procedural fraud, slanderous denunciation and extortion.   Her former partner Estivens Alves is accused of disclosing erotic content, which was then published online.   Trindade went to Sao Paulo police to accuse Neymar of raping her at a Paris hotel in May. Neymar denied the accusation and said their relations were consensual.   Prosecutors officially closed the investigation against Neymar earlier this month, citing a lack of evidence against him.   The Associated Press doesn’t name alleged sexual assault victims unless they make their identities public, which Trindade did in several interviews.   …

When researchers at the University of Kentucky compare brains donated from people who died with dementia, very rarely do they find one that bears only Alzheimer’s trademark plaques and tangles — no other damage. If they do, “we call it a unicorn,” said Donna Wilcock, an Alzheimer’s specialist at the university’s aging center. Contrary to popular perception, “there are a lot of changes that happen in the aging brain that lead to dementia in addition to plaques and tangles.”   That hard-won lesson helps explain how scientists are rethinking Alzheimer’s.   For years researchers have been guided by one leading theory — that getting rid of a buildup of a sticky protein called amyloid would ease the mind-robbing disease. Yet drug after drug has failed. They might clear out the gunk, but they’re not stopping Alzheimer’s inevitable worsening. Today’s treatments only temporarily ease symptoms.   The new mantra: diversify.   With more money — the government had a record $2.4 billion to spend on Alzheimer’s research this year — the focus has shifted to exploring multiple novel ways of attacking a disease now considered too complex for a one-size-fits-all solution. On the list, researchers are targeting the brain’s specialized immune system, fighting inflammation, even …

Planned Parenthood will close two Cincinnati health centers that together serve more than 6,000 patients a year. The planned closure of the Springdale Health Center and Western Hills Health Center comes after the organization refused to follow new rules for receiving federal money for birth control and other reproductive health services. Neither of the centers performs abortions. The organization blames the federal and state policy changes for the centers having to close the health centers on Sept. 20. The Trump administration began enforcing a “gag rule” in August, preventing entities receiving Title X dollars from recommending or advocating abortion. Planned Parenthood decided not to comply with the federal rule and stopped accepting funding through the federal program that provides family planning help to low-income women and families.   …

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is going to sign a bill to bar oil and gas drilling from the state’s coastal waters. Sununu, a Republican, has opposed a Trump administration proposal to expand offshore drilling in the area.   The administration has proposed expanding oil and gas development nationwide to make the U.S. energy independent.   Governors and lawmakers from both Republican- and Democratic-led states have fought the plan.  A federal judge ruled earlier this year that President Donald Trump had exceeded his authority when he ordered that the Arctic and parts of the Atlantic be opened to oil and gas development.   Sununu is signing the bill Tuesday in Rye.     …

The Senate’s top Democrat intends to force a vote to block President Donald Trump from using special emergency powers to transfer money from military base construction projects like new schools to pay for new fences along the U.S.-Mexico border. That’s according to prepared remarks Tuesday by Sen. Chuck Schumer, who says the vote would give lawmakers a chance to block Trump “from stealing military funding from their states to foot the bill for an expensive and ineffective wall.” A similar measure passed this spring with 12 Senate Republican votes but was vetoed by Trump. The rules allow Schumer to retry every few months. The Pentagon has identified $3.6 billion worth of military construction projects it’s willing to kill to build 282 kilometers (175 miles) of border wall. Trump says a wall would stop immigrants from entering the country illegally.   …

Former Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni was nominated Tuesday to take the key role of European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, where he will oversee public spending in member states, most notably in Italy. The choice of Gentiloni was a surprise move by Ursula von der Leyen, the incoming head of the European Commission, who named her new team of top officials from a list of nominees proposed by all EU member states apart from Britain. Gentiloni will take over from Pierre Moscovici, a former French finance minister who spent most his five-years as commissioner in battle with Italy over its colossal debt and chronic overspending. The EU has strict rules on public spending, with countries expected to deliver national budgets with deficits that do not exceed three percent of GDP with debt not over 60 percent. Italy’s public debt currently stands at a daunting 132 percent of GDP and the new government in Rome will struggle to meet belt-tightening commitments already made to Brussels, potentially leaving Gentiloni in the delicate role of enforcing rules against his own country. Rome’s new government, which brings together the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-left Democratic Party, has indicated that it wants …

Malawians have crowned a Mr. and Ms. Albinism during the country’s first ever beauty pageant for albinos, held in the capital Lilongwe. The Association of People with Albinism organized the event as part of efforts to destroy myths which have led to attacks on albinos in Malawi and other African countries. There were cheers and ululations when beauty contestants with albinism strutted their stuff at a first-ever competition in Malawi. In a country where they face stigma and the threat of attack because of how they look, some 20 contestants demonstrated that albinism can be beautiful. Patience Phiri was among them. “I am here because I have ever experienced the threat. Even my real friends I chat with, they have even said I am money. This has really affected my family because they are there, just to protect me,” Phiri said. People with albinism in Malawi have been attacked because of false beliefs that their body parts, if used in magical potions, can bring good luck and wealth. More than two dozen have been killed since 2014 and more than 100 are missing. Twenty-three-year-old Chikondi Kadzanja won the Ms. Albinism Malawi title. She told VOA that she will use her …

Hundreds of Australians have fled their homes in the eastern states as 140 fires ravaged parts of Queensland and New South Wales (NSW), officials said on Tuesday. Strong winds have fanned bushfires in the two Australian states since Monday, with flames out of control in some areas, ravaging thousands of hectares of land. At least eight of those fires are suspicious and will be investigated, Queensland Police Commissioner Katrina Carroll told reporters. “Some of the fires have involved children playing and obviously the consequences are dire as a result of that and … some of them have been purposeful and malicious,” she said. “The consequences of some of these fires are dire. People can die. Buildings and residences are being destroyed.” In the northeastern state of Queensland alone, low humidity levels, high winds and dried out vegetation have fueled 85 fires that have destroyed or damaged 84 houses across the state, fire service officials said. There were more than 400 people in evacuation centers, acting Queensland premier Jackie Trad told reporters. She added that there are none dead or missing. “Apart from Sunshine Coast, we are still seeing fires right throughout the state,” she said. In neighboring New South Wales, …

India’s space agency says it has located the lunar probe that was feared lost as it was making its final approach towards the surface last weekend. The Vikram lander was just two kilometers above the moon’s South Pole Saturday when ground controllers lost contact with the spacecraft. The Indian Space Research Organization said Tuesday the Chandrayaan-2 probe has discovered the lander on the surface, but had not yet established communications with Vikram, named after Vikram Sarabhai, the scientist regarded as the “father” of India’s space program. If the probe landed intact, India will join the United States, Russia and China as the only nations to achieve a soft landing of a spacecraft on the moon. It will also become the first nation to attempt a controlled landing on the moon’s South Pole. The $141 million Chandrayaan-2 mothership entered lunar orbit nearly a month after it was launched aboard India’s powerful Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark Three rocket.  The Vikram lander was designed to release a small rover that will roam the moon’s surface in search for signs of water, and to assess its topography and geology.  Chandrayaan-2 was a huge step up from India’s previous space explorations, such as its …

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency had a source with high-level access to the Kremlin who played a key role in the assessment that President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign aimed at the 2016 U.S. election, The New York Times and CNN reported Monday. Neither U.S. news organization identified the source by name, but several Russian outlets did so. At a Tuesday news briefing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the person named in the Russian reports did work for the Russian presiden’t office, but not in a high-ranking position and did not have direct contact with Putin. Both news organizations said the source was extracted from Russia in 2017 after declining an earlier offer to leave the country. CNN said the decision to pull the source out of such a valuable position was made in part because of concerns of mishandling classified information by President Donald Trump and members of his administration. The CIA rejected that statement, telling CNN it only makes decisions based on “objective analysis and sound collection.” The Times linked the extraction to media coverage of the revelations about the Russian election interference campaign and questions about a source in the Kremlin.  It said the source’s life …

As Zimbabwe prepares for a state funeral for Robert Mugabe, who died last week in Singapore, opinions of the former leader are mixed in the country he ruled with an iron hand for 37 years.  Reporter Columbus Mavhunga went to Mugabe’s rural home in Zvimba to find out what people there think about his rule and his legacy. …

President Donald Trump dismissed three Republican challengers to his 2020 re-election as “the Three Stooges” on Monday and expressed doubt about ever agreeing to meet them on a debate stage. “They’re a joke. They’re a laughing stock,” Trump told reporters when asked whether he would agree to debate them during the 2020 nominating contest. Three Republicans – former U.S. Representative Mark Sanford of South Carolina, former Massachusetts Governor William Weld and former U.S. Representative Joe Walsh of Illinois – are mounting long-shot campaigns to deny Trump the 2020 Republican presidential nomination. They face a formidable re-election effort mounted by Trump, who has consolidated his grip on the party’s national and state machinery. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Aug. 19 and 20 showed 87% of Republicans approved of his performance in office. Sanford, who announced his candidacy on Sunday, said he did not believe Trump’s popularity would last. “I sincerely believe Trump is misguided on a whole host of issues. He’s out of sync with voters in South Carolina. I think he has lost touch with the very voters that sent him to office,” he told MSNBC on Monday. Walsh has called Trump a bully and a coward who is unfit for …

Hundreds of Guatemalan soldiers were deployed on Monday to an area near the border with Honduras and Mexico, home to long-standing social conflicts, in a bid to improve security after three soldiers were gunned down by suspected drug runners. Defense Minister Luis Miguel Ralda told reporters that 2,000 soldiers had been sent as part of the mission following a declaration of emergency powers granted by the Congress two days ago. “We expect them to bring calm, security and peace to the people of this region,” he said, acknowledging that the area was marked by lawlessness due to extortion and other drug-related crime. The area has played host over decades to a range of conflicts among locals and land owners, miners and palm oil plantations, including indigenous communities. Guatemala’s army said last week a group of suspected drug traffickers ambushed a patrol of nine soldiers in Izabal province who were sent to detain an aircraft allegedly transporting drugs. Three of the soldiers were killed. While some community members dispute parts of the army’s account, officials say they identified nearly 50 illegal runways that they say are used to transport drugs. A soldier patrols during a temporary state of siege, approved by …

Coast Guard rescuers pulled four trapped men alive from a capsized cargo ship Monday, drilling into the hull’s steel plates to extract the crew members more than a day after their vessel overturned while leaving a Georgia port. All four were described as alert and in relatively good condition and were taken to a hospital for further evaluation. “Best day of my 16-year career,” Lt. Lloyd Heflin, who was coordinating the effort, wrote in a text message to The Associated Press. A video posted online by the Coast Guard showed responders clapping and cheering as the final man, wearing only shorts, climbed out of a hole in the hull and stood up. Three of the South Korean crew members came out in the mid-afternoon. The fourth man, who was trapped in a separate compartment, emerged three hours later. The rescues followed nearly 36 hours of work after the Golden Ray, a giant ship that carries automobiles, rolled onto its side early Sunday as it was leaving Brunswick, bound for Baltimore. A United States Coast Guard vessel heads back to base with several members of the rescue team aboard after the last crew member was reportedly removed safely from the capsizes …

It’s a warm night in Indonesia and the air is filled with excitement as villagers watch a puppet show accompanied by traditional music. To the rhythmic beat of cymbals, drums and a bamboo harmonica, the hand-held puppets wearing brightly colored batik headdresses and sarongs fight, and one gets flung off the stage. This vivid performance is the brainchild of Drajat Iskandar, who has been lending a hand to revive the near-extinct art of “wayang bambu,” or bamboo puppetry. Once enjoyed by generations of Sundanese, Indonesia’s second most-populous ethnic group who originate from the central island of Java, the delicate art has almost disappeared from modern stages. Iskandar, 47, has updated his bamboo puppets by making them three-dimensional, unlike conventional two-dimensional ones. Pupil of Iskandar and Puppeteer, Jamaluddin Syam makes a puppet, Bogor, West Java Province, Indonesia, Aug. 25, 2019 This is done by weaving bamboo strips together to form an intricate head and torso fixed over two perpendicular bamboo sticks. The puppet is then dressed in a headdress and sarong. The narratives Iskandar’s puppet troupe perform are also updated to reflect modern society, instead of the usual stories from Hindu epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata. “I try to …

As a big-budget original movie made largely with practical effects, “Ford v Ferrari” isn’t so much pointed against headwinds in Hollywood as it is speeding 200 miles-per-hour right into them. The film, directed by James Mangold, premiered Monday at the Toronto International Film Festival, unveiling a big, swaggering throwback movie, a studio-made crowd-pleaser led by a pair of in-form movie stars in Christian Bale and Matt Damon. “As the real stars of more and more movies become the IP — the source material, the costume, the uniform — the magic of the actors walking into something completely unknown to you is an exciting thing that we haven’t seen in a long time,” Mangold said in an interview in advance of the film’s premiere. “To make an intelligent action movie was the goal.” “Ford v Ferrari” is just getting into gear. It won’t hit theaters until Nov. 15, but it’s already drawn strong reviews and been drafted into this fall’s awards season after first debuting at the Telluride Film Festival last week. For Damon, such talk is too early, especially for a movie made with the intention of reaching a mass audience. “I read the script and I thought it was …

Facebook and Instagram on Monday blocked the social media accounts of two Italian neo-fascist groups and some of their activists because they had violated the platforms’ policies against spreading hate, Facebook said. Casapound and Forza Nuova, which espouse extreme right-wing ideologies, have boosted their profile in Italy by leading anti-migrant campaigns on their social media sites. “People and organizations that spread hatred or attack others based on who they are, have no place on Facebook and Instagram,” Facebook, which owns Instagram, said in a statement. Casapound leader Simone Di Stefano denounced the decision. “This is an abuse by a private multinational in contempt of Italian law. A spit in the face of democracy,” he wrote in a tweet. Casapound had 250,000 followers on Facebook. Di Stefano said his personal profile, which had 140,000 followers, had been shuttered along with those of a number of city councilors around Italy who belong to the group. FILE – A tattoo is seen on a hand of a supporter of Italy’s far-right Forza Nuova party during a demonstration in Rome, Italy, Nov. 4, 2017. Forza Nuova leader Roberto Fiore confirmed his movement’s profiles had also gone dark, and said his group would respond with …