Bill Gates: It’s ‘tragic’ if microchip conspiracy theories prevent people from getting the COVID vaccine

Associated Press
Stock market today: Asian benchmarks mostly climb despite worries about US economy
Asian shares mostly rose Friday despite worries about the economic outlook and inflation in the U.S. and the rest of the world. The Bank of Japan ended a policy meeting with no major changes, keeping its benchmark interest rate in a range of 0 to 0.1%. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.8% to 37,934.76, while the U.S. dollar edged up to 156.22 Japanese yen from 155.58 yen.
27m ago
AFP
China's EV execs bullish on Western pressure at Beijing car show
Electric vehicle executives at a top car show in China were bullish on prospects for growth, despite a gruelling price war and mounting Western pressure on the industry.And even as firms face down a cut-throat price war at home and mounting regulatory pressure overseas, executives and attendees were upbeat.
35m ago
Reuters
Smaller towns in South Korea bear brunt of doctors’ shortage
Seoul, the capital, boasts top-level hospitals, but smaller cities are starved of doctors in a trend experts say will only get worse as the population ages at one of the world's fastest rates, while birthrates are the lowest in the world. "Our artificial kidney room was closed for almost two years because we didn't have a doctor and we couldn't find one … but this is a national phenomenon," said Cho Seung-yeon, director of the Incheon Medical Center in the port city. The shortage is at the heart of government plans to add thousands of medical school students from next year that face stiff opposition from trainee doctors and some medical groups who doubt it will improve poor working conditions.
40m ago
AFP
Miner Anglo American rejects BHP's $38.8 billion takeover bid
British mining giant Anglo American on Friday rejected a blockbuster $38.8-billion takeover bid from Australian rival BHP, slamming it as "highly unattractive" and "opportunistic"."The proposed structure is also highly unattractive, creating substantial uncertainty and execution risk borne almost entirely by Anglo American, its shareholders and its other stakeholders."
43m ago
Associated Press
Muslim groups claim double standards in police handling of two high-profile stabbings in Sydney
Muslim groups in Australia on Friday criticized the disparity in the police response to two stabbing attacks in Sydney this month, saying it had created a perception of a double standard and further alienated the country's minority Muslim community. The Australian National Imams Council said an attack at a Bondi Junction shopping center was “quickly deemed a mental health issue” while the stabbing of a Christian bishop at a Sydney church two days later was “classified as a terrorist act almost immediately.”
59m ago
CNN
Choose between stability and ‘downward spiral’ China’s foreign minister tells Blinken during Beijing trip
China and the US face a choice between stability and a “downward spiral,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told counterpart Antony Blinken on Friday in Beijing, as the American diplomat kicked off a day of meetings with top Chinese officials.
2h ago
Associated Press
Paramedic sentencing in Elijah McClain's death caps trials that led to 3 convictions
Almost five years after Elijah McClain died following a police stop in which he was put in a neck hold and injected with the powerful sedative ketamine, three of the five Denver-area responders prosecuted in the Black man's death have been convicted. Experts say the convictions would have been unheard of before 2020, when George Floyd's murder sparked a nationwide reckoning over racist policing and deaths in police custody. Previously, she has said the two acquitted Aurora police officers, as well as other firefighters and police on the scene, were complicit in her 23-year-old son’s murder and that they escaped justice.
2h ago
AFP
Philippine settlement submerged by dam reappears due to drought
A centuries-old settlement submerged by the construction of a dam in the northern Philippines in the 1970s has reappeared as water levels drop due to a drought affecting swathes of the country.Hundreds of residents of the submerged villages and farms where the dam is located were moved by the government to higher ground.
2h ago
Associated Press
Repatriated South African apartheid-era artworks on display to celebrate 30 years of democracy
A selection of South African artworks produced during the country’s apartheid era which ended up in foreign art collections is on display in Johannesburg to mark 30 years since the country's transition to democracy in 1994. Most of the artworks were taken out of the country by foreign tourists and diplomats who had viewed them at the Australian Embassy in the capital, Pretoria. The embassy had opened its doors to Black artists from the townships to be recognized and have their artworks on full display to the public.
2h ago
AFP
Russian women face violence from Ukraine veterans
Olga drew her index finger abruptly across her neck as she recounted the threats her husband levelled at her after he returned to Russia, wounded from fighting in Ukraine.Even before her husband went off to fight in Ukraine, he was a violent alcoholic, Olga -- not her real name -- told AFP. When he returned home seven months later, he was even worse.
2h ago
AFP
Indian election resumes as heatwave hits voters
India's six-week election juggernaut resumed Friday with millions of people lining up outside polling stations in parts of the country hit by a scorching heatwave.More than 968 million people are eligible to take part in India's election, with the final round of voting on June 1 and results expected three days later. sai-abh/gle/cwl
2h ago
Associated Press
South Africa will mark 30 years of freedom amid inequality, poverty and a tense election ahead
As 72-year-old Nonki Kunene walks through the corridors of Thabisang Primary School in Soweto, South Africa, she recalls the joy she and many others felt 30 years ago when they voted for the first time. It was at this school on April 27, 1994, that Kunene joined millions of South Africans to brave long queues and take part in the country's first democratic elections after decades of white minority rule which denied Black people the right to vote. The country is gearing up for celebrations Saturday to mark 30 years of freedom and democracy.
2h ago
Associated Press
Utah Republicans to select nominee for Mitt Romney's open US Senate seat
A dozen Utah Republicans vying to replace Mitt Romney in the U.S. Senate are set to square off Saturday for the party nomination in a race expected to reveal the brand of political conservatism that most appeals to modern voters in the state. Romney has long been the face of the party's more moderate wing, but his retirement from the Senate opens a door for Utah's farther-right faction. Observers are closely watching whether voters select a successor whose politics align more with Romney's or with Utah’s other U.S. senator, conservative Mike Lee, who supports former President Donald Trump.
3h ago
AFP
Yen falls further as Bank of Japan stands pat on rates
The Bank of Japan kept its ultra-low interest rates unchanged Friday and stopped short of signalling another hike, pushing the yen to a fresh 34-year low against the dollar.The BoJ has been a global outlier in sticking to an ultra-loose policy while other central banks pushed rates up as they fought against surging inflation -- causing a wide differential that saw investors push into other currencies.
3h ago
NBC News
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee plans to sign bill that would let teachers carry guns in schools
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Thursday that he planned to sign a bill state legislators sent to his desk this week that would allow school staff members to carry concealed handguns on school grounds.
3h ago
Associated Press
As some universities negotiate with pro-Palestinian protesters, others quickly call the police
The students at an encampment at Columbia University who inspired a wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country dug in for their 10th day Friday, as administrators and police at college campuses from California to Connecticut wrestle with how to address protests that have seen scuffles with police and hundreds of arrests. Officials at Columbia and some other schools have been negotiating with student protesters who have rebuffed police and doubled down. After a tent encampment popped up Thursday at Indiana University Bloomington, police with shields and batons shoved into protesters and arrested 33.
3h ago
TODAY
Amy Duggar King says she hopes cousin Josh Duggar experiences ‘absolute torture’ in prison
Amy Duggar King says her cousin Josh Duggar, who is serving federal prison time for child sex abuse images charges, deserves his fate.
4h ago
Reuters
Analysis-Tesla's plan for affordable cars takes page from Detroit rivals
Elon Musk's new plan to use current product lines as the basis for new affordable vehicles — rather than springing for all-new models — follows the playbook of Tesla's old-school Detroit rivals, as some Tesla investors and analysts see it. The shift toward incremental improvement, mirroring a common strategy of Ford and General Motors, suggests the future of car-making that Musk has promised to disrupt may still look a lot like the past. Musk's new strategy followed an exclusive Reuters report that Tesla had shelved plans to release a long-awaited, new model expected to cost $25,000 in late 2025.
4h ago
Associated Press
Rooting for Trump to fail has made his stock shorters millions
Rooting for Donald Trump to fail has rarely been this profitable. Just ask a hardy band of mostly amateur Wall Street investors who have collectively made tens of millions of dollars over the past month by betting that the stock price of his social media business — Truth Social — will keep dropping despite massive buying by Trump loyalists and wild swings that often mirror the candidate’s latest polls, court trials and outbursts on Trump Social itself.
4h ago
Associated Press
Trading Trump: Truth Social's first month of trading has sent investors on a ride
Now, as Trump Media & Technology Group approaches its first month as a publicly traded company, it’s clear that — like the man it’s named after — there’s nothing typical about the stock. “If I woke up tomorrow and shares were zero dollars, or $100, I would not be surprised,” said Matthew Tuttle, a professional investor who bought $800 in Trump Media stock last week when it was at an all-time low. With Trump facing dozens of federal felony charges and hundreds of millions in legal expenses, Trump Media went public on March 26 on the Nasdaq exchange.
4h ago

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