Author: admin@primenews

Instagram owner Meta says it has removed thousands of accounts in Nigeria that were trying to target people in sextortion schemes. Such scammers typically pose as young women online to trick people into sending sexually explicit material before blackmailing them. Victims of sextortion crimes have taken their own lives due to the stress, stigma and shame felt after being scammed. Meta said in a blogpost on Wednesday it had removed about 63,000 accounts that tried to engage with the scams. “Financial sextortion is a horrific crime that can have devastating consequences,” it said. The company said it also took down 5,700 Facebook…

The US Department of Justice on Wednesday for the first time shared details of its finalized plea deal agreement with Boeing, in which the troubled aviation company will plead guilty to a felony charge of defrauding the US government. Boeing agreed to pay a fine of $243.6 million as part of its plea agreement and admitted it defrauded the Federal Aviation Administration when seeking permission for the troubled 737 Max plane to carry passengers. The plea deal is subject to approval of a federal judge. “We will continue to work transparently with our regulators as we take significant actions across…

Antoine Dupont underlined why he is one of the faces of the Paris Olympics with a stunning solo try as France secured a spot in the quarter-finals of the men’s rugby sevens. While the opening ceremony does not take place until Friday, rugby sevens was chosen as one of the curtain-raising events to get the party started in the French capital. A boisterous and celebratory atmosphere greeted the home players in a near-80,000 crowd in the nation’s largest stadium. But France started tentatively with a 12-12 draw against the United States in their opening Pool C match. A joyful mood…

A police officer has been filmed kicking and stamping on the head of a man lying on the ground at Manchester Airport. The uniformed male officer is seen holding a Taser over the man, who is lying face down, before striking him twice while other officers shout at onlookers to stay back in a video shared widely online. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said firearms officers had been attacked while attempting to arrest someone following a fight in the airport’s Terminal 2 on Tuesday. It said it had referred itself to the police watchdog. Anger has grown over the video and…

The Treasury has denied that copper coins are to be phased out after it ordered no new 1p and 2p pieces from the Royal Mint this year. “We are not scrapping 1p or 2p coins,” a Treasury spokesperson told the BBC. They added that the lack of orders was due to there being enough coins already in circulation. The comments came after multiple reports suggested that the coins might be scrapped as the number of purchases involving cash continued to fall. “We are confident there are enough coins in the system without the need to order more this year,” the…

Fifty-five years after it sank, killing 21 men, Australia has found the shipwreck of the MV Noongah. The 71m (233ft) freighter was carrying steel off the coast of New South Wales when it ran into stormy weather in 1969, sparking one of the biggest maritime searches in Australian history. Five of the 26 crewmen were plucked from the water in the hours after the vessel sank, but only one body was ever recovered from those lost at sea. The location of the wreck has now been confirmed by Australia’s science agency, using high resolution seafloor mapping and video footage. Only…

Rescue officials in Taiwan are searching for a cargo ship with nine crew members that has sunk off its southern coast. The Tanzania-flagged freighter had been off the southern port city of Kaohsiung when Taiwan was struck by Typhoon Gaemi. The storm, which made landfall on Taiwan’s east coast, has killed three people and injured hundreds more, officials said. Before hitting Taiwan, Gaemi also brought relentless rains to large swathes of the Philippines, where eight people have died. Taiwan’s Coastguard Administration said the freighter had nine Myanmar nationals on board. They added that three other foreign vessels had run aground…

A tanker carrying close to 1.5 million litres of industrial fuel has capsized and sank off the Philippine capital on Thursday, causing an oil spill, officials say. Sixteen crew members of the Philippine-flagged MT Terra Nova have been rescued while one remains missing, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said. Mr Bautista said an oil spill has been detected but strong winds and high waves were hampering the authorities’ response. The incident comes a day after Typhoon Gaemi intensified seasonal monsoon rains, submerging large swathes of Metro Manila and its suburbs in deep floods. Gaemi has made landfall in Taiwan, leaving three people…

In a surprise move Google has abandoned a plan it first announced four years ago to block third-party cookies from its Chrome internet browser. The UK’s data privacy watchdog said it was “disappointed” by the decision. Cookies are small files stored on your computer which allow advertisers to track internet activity and target advertising. Google says it will instead pursue a new approach which will give users an “informed choice that applies across their web browsing” and is discussing next steps with regulators. This suggests the firm is not abandoning its alternative approach to advertising, but will allow a third-party cookie…

Israeli cyber-security firm Wiz has rejected a $23bn (£17.8bn) takeover offer from Google parent company Alphabet, in what would have been its largest-ever acquisition. In an internal memo to staff seen by the BBC, Wiz founder and chief executive Assaf Rappaport said he was “flattered” by the offer. He said the company would instead seek to reach $1bn (£775m) in revenue before selling shares to the public. A source close to the deal told the BBC the offer was “very tempting”, but Wiz believed it was big enough to go it alone and attempt to become the biggest cyber-security company…