Will the Caspian Sea deal hold? AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 13, 2018, 11:30 pm)

Five countries have agreed to share resources of the oil-rich, but landlocked, Caspian Sea.
Mali: Soumaila Cisse rejects results as ballot counting under way AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 13, 2018, 11:30 pm)

Mali opposition candidate Soumaila Cisse charges fraud in Mali elections marked by low turnout due to security fears.
Tunisia's president vows to give women equal inheritance rights AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 13, 2018, 11:30 pm)

Beji Caid Essebsi says the measure was a long time coming but some are sceptical about the proposal's motivations.
Las turbas: Who are Nicaragua's pro-government armed groups? AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 13, 2018, 11:30 pm)

Ortega denies controlling the pro-government armed groups that rights groups accuse of working with the police.
Ethiopia: Paramilitaries 'kill at least 40' in Oromia region AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 13, 2018, 11:30 pm)

Officials say paramilitary forces from the Somali region carried out cross-border attacks in Oromia's East Hararghe.
Internet Engineering Task Force Releases the Final Version of TLS 1.3; Newest Chrome Slashdotby msmash on firefox at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at August 13, 2018, 11:04 pm)

The encryption that protects your browser's connection to websites is getting a notch faster and a notch safer to use. From a report: That's because the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) on Friday finished a years-long process of modernizing the technology used to secure website communications. You may never have heard of Transport Layer Security -- TLS for short -- but version 1.3 is now complete and headed to websites, browsers and other parts of the internet that rely on its security. "Publishing TLS 1.3 is a huge accomplishment. It is one the best recent examples of how it is possible to take 20 years of deployed legacy code and change it on the fly, resulting in a better internet for everyone," said Nick Sullivan, head of cryptography for Cloudflare, which helps customers distribute their websites and other content around the world, in a blog post. TLS 1.3 brings some significant improvements over TLS 1.2, which was finished 10 years ago. Perhaps first on the list is that it'll mean websites load faster. Setting up an encrypted connection on the web historically has caused delays since your browser and the website server must send information back and forth in a process called a handshake. The slower your broadband or the more congested your mobile network is, the more you'll notice these delays. Firefox and Chrome already support a draft version of TLS 1.3.

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Apple Asked Developers To Adopt Subscriptions and Hike App Prices, Report Says Slashdotby msmash on business at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at August 13, 2018, 10:34 pm)

Apple invited a group of app developers to a secret April 2017 meeting in New York's Tribeca district, asking them to move from selling apps at low prices to renting app access through subscriptions, Business Insider reports. From a story: This change is intended to keep users paying for apps "on a regular basis, putting money into developer coffers on a regular schedule," the report claims.

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'This is a revolution': Who are Nicaragua's student protesters? AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 13, 2018, 10:30 pm)

In Nicaragua, students at the heart of the anti-government protests say they want another revolution.
Migrant boat on standby as Italy asks the UK to take it in AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 13, 2018, 10:30 pm)

The Aquarius picked up the people in two separate operations and is now in international waters between Italy and Malta.
IBM Promised Its AI Platform Watson Would Be a Big Step Forward in Treating Cancer. Slashdotby msmash on ibm at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at August 13, 2018, 10:04 pm)

Can Watson cure cancer? That's what IBM asked soon after its AI system beat humans at the quiz show "Jeopardy!" in 2011. Watson could read documents quickly and find patterns in data. Could it match patient information with the latest in medical studies to deliver personalized treatment recommendations? "Watson represents a technology breakthrough that can help physicians improve patient outcomes," said Herbert Chase, a professor of biomedical informatics at Columbia University, in a 2012 IBM press release. Six years and billions of dollars later, the diagnosis for Watson is gloomy [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source]. WSJ: More than a dozen IBM partners and clients have halted or shrunk Watson's oncology-related projects. Watson cancer applications have had limited impact on patients, according to dozens of interviews with medical centers, companies and doctors who have used it, as well as documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. In many cases, the tools didn't add much value. In some cases, Watson wasn't accurate. Watson can be tripped up by a lack of data in rare or recurring cancers, and treatments are evolving faster than Watson's human trainers can update the system. Dr. Chase of Columbia said he withdrew as an adviser after he grew disappointed in IBM's direction for marketing the technology. No published research shows Watson improving patient outcomes. IBM said Watson has important cancer-care benefits, like helping doctors keep up with medical knowledge.

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Iraqi PM walks back on commitment to US sanctions on Iran AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 13, 2018, 10:00 pm)

Baghdad to honour dollar ban but not all US sanctions on Iran, says Haider al-Abadi, stepping back from earlier remarks.
Saada attack: Mourners vented anger against Saudi, UAE AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 13, 2018, 10:00 pm)

Funerals of victims of the Saada bus attack gathered angry mourners who shouted slogans against Saudi Arabia and what they say is its biggest ally and arms supplier the United States.
UK rolls out strategy to end rough sleeping by 2027 AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 13, 2018, 10:00 pm)

Charities welcome move but call on government to do more to tackle the causes of homelessness.
VS Naipaul: Colonialism in fact, fiction, and the flesh AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 13, 2018, 9:30 pm)

Naipaul personified what European colonialism, racist to the very core of its logic, had done to his and to our world.
Zimbabwe's Heroes day: Mnangagwa calls for peace, unity AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 13, 2018, 9:30 pm)

Zimbabwe's president-elect is urging the country to unite and move on from last month's disputed election.