Stories for September 2017

Thursday, September 28th 2017 - 23:51 UTC
Twitter doubles character limit to 280, except for Chinese, Japanese and Korean

Twitter on Tuesday announced that it is doubling its character limit to 280 for all languages except Japanese, Chinese and Korean. At its inception, a tweet, modeled after an SMS message, was restricted to 140 characters. Over the years, Twitter found ways to sneak in a few more characters, first by excluding any form of media and later the @reply from the character count.
Thursday, September 28th 2017 - 23:43 UTC
Saudi Arabia women hail decision allowing them to drive: great victory

Campaigners in Saudi Arabia have hailed King Salman's decree allowing women to drive for the first time. One female activist called it a “great victory”, while another said things would “never be the same again”, and the country's US ambassador has described the move as “the right decision at the right time”.
Thursday, September 28th 2017 - 21:58 UTC
UK supports Bombardier and warns Boeing dispute could jeopardize defense contracts

Boeing's trade dispute with Bombardier “could jeopardize” its defense contracts with the UK government, the UK's defense secretary has warned. Sir Michael Fallon made the comments after the US opted to impose a tax on the C-Series jet made by Bombardier.
Thursday, September 28th 2017 - 21:54 UTC
Argentine economy picked up speed in July expanding 4.9% from a year earlier

Argentina's economic recovery picked up speed in July, expanding 4.9% from a year earlier as President Mauricio Macri's pro-growth policies appeared gain traction. July's year-over-year expansion is the highest posted by Argentina in more than two years and it moves the country closer to hitting its target of 3% growth this year.
Thursday, September 28th 2017 - 07:48 UTC
British Embassy present at the main Uruguayan agri-business exhibition for the fourth consecutive year.

From 6-17 September, Montevideo was home to Uruguay’s biggest agricultural industrial fair, Expo-Prado, and the British Embassy was present with a pavilion focused on tourism, business, education, gastronomy and culture.
Thursday, September 28th 2017 - 07:30 UTC
“Labour on the threshold of power”, and “Tories hanging on their fingertips”, Corbyn tells the conference

Jeremy Corbyn was given a rapturous reception from Labour delegates in Brighton as he told them that the party was now the “government-in-waiting”. The Labour leader had to wait several minutes before delivering his keynote speech as the familiar chant of “Oh Jeremy Corbyn” rang round the conference hall.
Thursday, September 28th 2017 - 07:22 UTC
Trump announces a “once in a generation” sweeping tax reform

United States President Donald Trump has unveiled sweeping tax reforms which if passed by the Congress would bring down the business tax rate to 15%, introduce territorial tax system that would offer level playing field to American companies.
Thursday, September 28th 2017 - 07:16 UTC
OAS hosts seminar on “Connectivity and Freedom of Expression in the Americas”

Experts, academics and authorities on connectivity and freedom of expression in the Americas will meet Thursday at the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, DC to discuss and share experiences about optimal regulatory policies to create a universal telecommunication connectivity environment that helps strengthen the exercise of freedom of expression and of the press in the region.
Thursday, September 28th 2017 - 07:07 UTC
Macri's Senate candidate leads poll in Buenos Aires province

With less than a month to Argentina's midterm elections, the government's Senate candidate in the province of Buenos Aires, Esteban Bullrich has a 39.6% vote intention, three percentage points ahead of ex president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, according to the latest M&R and Query public opinion poll.
Thursday, September 28th 2017 - 06:51 UTC
Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner died at age 91 in Los Angeles

Playboy founder Hugh M. Hefner, the pipe-smoking hedonist who revved up the sexual revolution in the 1950s and built a multimedia empire of clubs, mansions, movies and television, symbolized by bow-tied women in bunny costumes, has died at age 91. He died of natural causes at his home surrounded by family Wednesday night, Playboy said in a statement.