AFP -- Elon Musk on Friday filed claims against Twitter as he fights back against the tech firm's lawsuit demanding he be held to his $44 billion buyout deal. Musk's counter-suit was submitted along with a legal defense against Twitter's claim that the billionaire is contractually bound to complete the deal he inked in April to buy Twitter, the Chancery Court in the state of Delaware said in a n...

Around 65 countries in which monkeypox is not endemic have reported outbreaks of the viral disease as confirmed cases cross 15,600. The rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak represents a global health emergency, the World Health Organization‘s highest level of alert, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on July 22. The illness, which spreads through close contact and was first...

World food prices fell for a third consecutive month in June, but remained close to record-high levels set in March, the United Nations’ food agency said. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s food price index, which tracks the most globally traded five major food commodities - cereal, meat, dairy products, vegetable oils and sugar - averaged 154.2 points last month versus a revised 157.9 fo...

Advanced nations continued to assess China’s national image negatively, according to Pew Research Center. Northern powers of US, Canada and Germany saw China unfavorably as 82 percent of Americans and 74 percent of both Canadians and Germans had negative views of China as shown in the center’s surveys conducted from January to June. The numbers turned out worse for China’s Pacific neighbors....

The United Nations estimated that the world’s population will reach 8 billion on Nov. 15 and that India will replace China as the world’s most populous nation next year. In a report released on World Population Day, the UN also said global population growth fell below 1 percent in 2020 for the first time since 1950. According to the latest UN projections, the world’s population could grow to...

Korea’s Electric Vehicle Battery industry showed slow sales growth as its global market share in the first five months dropped by 9.5 percentage points from last year, according to the battery industry tracker SNE Research’s June report. LG Energy Solution, the country’s top battery maker, took 14.4 percent of the market. The figure shrank by 9.2 percentage points from last year’s 23.6. Samsun...

South Korea ranked first in the COVID Resilience Ranking surveyed by Bloomberg in June. This was the last result of the monthly survey which assessed 53 countries’ 11 indexes under the categories of reopening progress, COVID-19 status and quality of life. Korea jumped up by five notches from the previous month, dropping Norway, the May champion, to fourth place. United Arab Emirates, Ireland, ...

Seoul was selected as the 10th best city for startups in an annual report released by research firm Startup Genome, city officials said. The Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2022 by the firm, dedicated to improving the startup ecosystem of each city, surveyed 280 cities across some 100 nations for the latest results announced in London, the officials said. The report ranked Seoul as 10th stro...

Tesla founder Elon Musk joined the ranks of celebrities who have more than 100 million Twitter followers, in early July, according to a US media tracker. Musk had 100.6 million followers on July 8, placing 6th after former US President Barack Obama, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Rihanna and Cristiano Ronaldo, according to Social Blade. The business magnate’s topping of 100 million came 13 years a...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Elon Musk on Friday pulled the plug on his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, accusing the social media giant of "misleading" statements about the number of fake accounts, a regulatory filing showed. Musk's effort to terminate the deal that he inked in April sets the stage for an epic court battle over a billion-dollar breakup fee and more. "Mr. Musk hereby exercises (the) right ...

Apple reclaimed its title as the world’s most valuable brand, according to a survey from Kantar BrandZ, knocking rival Amazon off the top spot for the first time in three years. The iPhone maker’s brand value reached $947 billion this year, while Amazon slipped to third, according to Kantar’s survey published June 15. Apple was last ranked the most valuable brand in 2015. Louis Vuitton becam...

The Austrian capital Vienna has made a comeback as the world’s most livable city, according to an annual report from the Economist. Vienna snatched the top spot from Auckland, New Zealand, which tumbled down to 34th place due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions, according to the report by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Europe boasted six out of the top 10 cities. The Austrian capital was ...

Seoul National University ranked 29th overall in the 2023 QS World University Rankings 2023, scoring its highest placement so far. SNU received particularly good reviews in academic reputation (98.6 points) and graduate reputation (97.8 points). Massachusetts Institute of Technology remained at the top place for the 11th consecutive year, followed by the University of Cambridge, Stanford Uni...

Fifty-three migrants died after being abandoned in a tractor-trailer in the sweltering Texas heat on June 27, one of the worst tragedies to claim the lives of migrants smuggled across the border from Mexico to the US. The deaths were the latest in what has become a global series of mass deaths occurring during human trafficking attempts.

Hong Kong is the world’s most expensive city to live in as an expat for the second year in a row, according to a new study. New York and Geneva took second and third place in the rankings. Higher prices and a stronger currency over the past year kept the Asian city at the top of the tree, according to ECA International, which carried out its research in March this year. London and Tokyo round ...