Facebook went down Friday in what appears to be a huge outage. The problems took down FacebookMessenger as well as the main app and website. Other Meta services such as Instagram and WhatsApp appeared to stay largely online, despite using shared systems behind the scenes, though some products such as Instagram’s website also suffered from issues. Users were automatically logged out and found themselves unable to log back in. Instead, they were shown an error message indicating that “an unexpected error occurred”. The main Facebook website also showed a similar error. Visitors were told that “something went wrong” and that…
Author: Oki Bin Oki
The normal display of African unity in the early stages of a football World Cup was notably absent from social media as many fans from across the continent backed Mexico in the tournament’s opening match against South Africa. The memes were light-hearted – including sombreros, mariachi bands and tacos – but they pointed to a dark underbelly. The banter reflected anger over the reports of xenophobic violence in South Africa. A poor South African performance on the pitch led to a 2-0 defeat against the World Cup co-hosts. As the final whistle blew, social media lit up with a flood…
Taylor Swift made an emotional 21-minute speech in which she tearfully thanked her family as she made history by becoming the youngest woman to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Her family uprooted from Pennsylvania to Nashville when she was 14 “so that I could hone my craft in the songwriting capital of the world”, she said at the New York ceremony. “It couldn’t have been easy for my parents and my brother to just pick up and move our entire family,” she said. “Even though words are supposed to kind of be my thing, I will never…
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki Friday expressed the government’s unwavering commitment to elevate the marginalized communities and groups to critical contributors of national development and advancement. Prof. Kindiki said the government is keen to bring everyone on board without focusing on their identity nor gender, highlighting every Kenyan’s constitutional right to equal treatment. “The government is committed to creating an inclusive and just society where somebody’s gender or identity is not seen as a source of exclusion but a source of national strength. A society’s strength is measured on how it handles the marginalized, weak and vulnerable,” DP noted. The Deputy…
SpaceX has raised $75bn (£56bn) from financial firms ahead of it becoming a publicly traded company on Friday, in what is expected to be the highest-value stock listing in history. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the space exploration and artificial intelligence (AI) company said it had sold $75bn in shares priced at $135 each. The share price matches the estimate SpaceX gave last week, leaving the firm’s expected initial stock market value to be nearly $1.8tn. At that value, chief executive Elon Musk – already the richest man in the world – is set to…
A South Korean court has sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in jail for sending drones into North Korea. Prosecutors argued that Yoon ordered the operation in October 2024 to provoke Pyongyang and create a pretext for his failed martial law bid later that year. When Yoon declared martial law on 3 December, he had claimed he was protecting the country from “anti-state” forces that sympathised with North Korea. But it soon became clear he was driven by domestic troubles and he rolled back the order in the face of mass protests. Yoon was impeached and is…
China’s foreign ministry has confirmed the arrest of a US scholar, accusing him of spying and endangering Chinese national security. U Min Zin, a director at a think tank focused on Myanmar, was arrested in early June, sources had earlier told the New York Times. He allegedly disappeared while in the Chinese city of Kunming, which borders Myanmar, said the report. Further details about the arrest – which is unusual, as it is uncommon for China to arrest US citizens on national security charges – are not known. The detention comes just weeks after US President Donald Trump’s visit to…
Buying TikTok likes can make a video appear more active, credible, and appealing, especially during the early stage after posting. Even a strong TikTok video can struggle if the first viewers pass by without liking, commenting, or engaging with it. Paid likes are not a replacement for creative content, smart ideas, or regular posting, but they can help improve how a video looks when someone finds it for the first time or checks the creator’s profile. The real challenge is choosing a service that feels trustworthy. Some platforms make the process simple with clear packages, easy checkout, and steady delivery.…
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer suffered a fresh blow on Thursday after Secretary of Defense John Healey resigned over a budget dispute, saying the government is not willing to give the British Armed Forces the “resources they need.” Starmer, whose government’s popularity has collapsed just two years after a landslide general election victory, has been under pressure recently from within his own party. In a letter addressed to the prime minister and shared on the social media platform X, Healey said the amount of money allocated to defense “falls well short of what is required for defence and the country…
Several floors in the Pentagon building have been placed on lockdown following the detection of an “air quality issue”, prompting hazardous material (hazmat) response teams to the scene. The building’s systems detected an “air quality issue necessitating precautionary measures until we determine its significance,” said Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell in a statement. “The Department is executing standard protection protocols, including a shelter-in-place order for the affected area,” Parnell said. The Pentagon is being assisted by Arlington Fire & EMS, who posted on social media that they are responding to a hazardous materials incident. Police in the building are wearing gas…
The Judiciary was allocated Sh30.38 billion in the 2026/27 financial year budget, marking an increase from the Sh27.8 billion it received in the previous fiscal year, as the government moves to strengthen the administration of justice amid growing case backlogs and operational demands. Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi announced the allocation on Thursday while presenting the national government’s proposed Sh4.82 trillion spending plan before Parliament. The Judiciary’s allocation represents an increase of Sh2.58 billion from last year’s budget and reflects continued government investment in the justice sector. However, the funding falls significantly short of the institution’s stated needs, leaving a…
The long-awaited opening of a new bridge connecting the US and Canada has been delayed yet again, according to the Canadian organisation in charge of construction. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was scheduled for Friday to honour the new Gordie Howe International Bridge, named for the Canadian hockey legend who played for the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL. “Canada and the United States have agreed to delay the opening of the bridge, taking the necessary time to resolve any outstanding issues,” said Chuck Andary of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA). Canadian Prime Minster Mark Carney said earlier this week that the…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “certainly gotten some things wrong”, US Vice-President JD Vance has said, as ties between the two partners in the war against Iran appear to have become strained in recent weeks. While Vance would not provide examples, he told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that Netanyahu “aggressively asserts the interests of his country” but that they were not always aligned with those of the US. His comments mark a further public admission that relations between the two allies have come under pressure of late. Recently, US President Donald Trump reportedly clashed with the Israeli…
Bakary Jaiju was 19 when he climbed into a wooden boat in the Gambia and set out for Europe. He would be at sea for seven frightening days as his supplies of food and water gradually ran out. “You can’t even sleep in case you fall in,” he recalled, now in Tenerife after finally reaching the Canary Islands late last year in search of a “better life”. “I decided to go, whether I survive or I die, because I want my family to be in a good condition,” said Jaiju, explaining why he left his wife and baby behind and…
NBA legend Charles Barkley branded the San Antonio Spurs “the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilisation” after the New York Knicks pulled off the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history. The Spurs led by 29 points as they aimed to level the best-of-seven series in New York before hosting game five, but the Knicks fought back to win 107-106. London-born OG Anunoby claimed a tip-in basket with 1.2 seconds left to clinch victory, much to the delight of a star-studded crowd at Madison Square Garden, which included Taylor Swift and Timothee Chalamet. It gave the Knicks a 3-1…