A Facebook spokesperson has issued an apology to users of the Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp for an outage that happened earlier today. The spokesperson said in a press release sent to Ahram Online via PR representatives in the Middle East that, "We are aware that users experienced difficulty in accessing our group of apps and have taken immediate measures and were able to fix the problem."

Using an ultrasensitive scanning technique, researchers can detect signs of Alzheimer s disease in the tiny blood vessels at the back of the eye, according to a new report. Duke University researchers found that these small retinal blood vessels were altered in patients with Alzheimer s disease, but in not in those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or those with no signs of mental decline.

Is the dream of one global internet still alive? Increasingly, moves by governments to filter and restrict content are threatening to fragment the system created with the promise of connecting the world with a largely unified body of content. China for years has walled off some western services, and the fragmentation may be accelerating with regulations being imposed elsewhere, say analysts.

Compared with dogs, the human sense of smell is pathetic: The animals smell 10,000 to 100,000 times better than we do. They can sniff out not only drugs and explosives, but also cancer. However, in previous studies, the accuracy of the animals left something to be desired. There s a new US study out that claims an amazingly high hit rate. Three beagles are said to have identified 96.7 percent of lung cancer in blood samples. The dogs detected the healthy control in 97.5 percent of the cases. Only a fourth dog in the group, Snuggles, had no desire at all for the job.

For a long time it has been assumed that it is only a woman s age that matters when it comes to having children, as her fertility begins to decline in her 30s and 40s and she then reaches menopause in her 40s or 50s. However, research over the past few years has illuminated that a father s age matters, too, when it comes to both fertility and a child s development. A recent study in the journal Biological Psychiatryreaffirms the link between advanced paternal age and schizophrenia and reveals that specifically the risk of early-onset schizophrenia increases in the offspring of older fathers. This severe form of schizophrenia occurs before the age of 18 and is associated with more genetic abnormalities.

The British government said on Monday it will explore making social media executives personally liable for harmful content published on their platforms, in a raft of new online safety proposals. The plans unveiled in a policy paper, which also include creating an independent regulator, aim to tackle all kinds of harmful content from encouraging violence and suicide to spreading disinformation and cyber bullying.

On a recent Saturday, more than 20 young Ghanaians gathered in a room in the capital Accra. They were there to to learn how to use an online tool called Content Translator to translate and edit English Wikipedia articles into the local Akan language. Akan, also known as Twi, is spoken as a first language by around 11 million Ghanaians, or some 40 percent of the population. Another 40 percent use Twi as their second language. Akan is also spoken by around eight million people in parts of neighboring Ivory Coast.

Minister of Environment Yasmin Fouad announced the installation of 100 air quality monitoring stations nationwide, under the National Network for Industrial Emission Monitoring (NNIEM). The aim is to control emissions coming from different sources of pollution, especially major industrial installations.

Facebook is working on a “news tab” that could be used to financially support “high quality and trustworthy” journalism, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Monday. Zuckerberg made the comments in a video conversation about the future of technology and society with Mathias Doepfner, chairman of German-based media giant Axel Springer.

Facebook is lifting the lid on the algorithm that decides which posts appear in its news feed, as part of a drive to be more transparent and offer greater control to users. The feature "Why am I seeing this post?", being rolled out from Monday, offers some insight into the tens of thousands of inputs used by the social network to rank stories, photos and video in the news feed, the foundation of the platform.

Facebook on Friday said it is tightening live video streaming rules in response to the service being used to broadcast deadly attacks on mosques in New Zealand. The Christchurch attacks — carried out by a self-avowed white supremacist who opened fire on worshippers at two mosques — claimed 50 lives. Many people have “rightly questioned how online platforms such as Facebook were used to circulate horrific videos of the attack,” chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said in an online post.

A much hyped "all-female" spacewalk by two American astronauts Christina Koch and Anne McClain has been cancelled because they don t have the right-sized suits. How could NASA afford to be so careless in their planning? Astronaut Mike Hopkins on a spacewalk at the International Space Station in 2013 (Reuters/NASA) It was billed as "historic" — a world exclusive: the first ever "all-female" spacewalk at the International Space Station. And the two lucky gals were American astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch. But they fell, as so many others before them, because of an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction. It wasn t their fault, but it was still almost as revealing as a red-carpet fail. Koch has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Physics, and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering.

Vice President Mike Pence announced Tuesday that the United States intends to send astronauts back to the Moon within five years, with a woman first in line to set foot on the lunar surface. “It is the stated policy of this administration and the United States of America to return American astronauts to the Moon, within the next five years,” Pence said in a speech in Huntsville, Alabama.

There has been a lot of alarm in the past few years about the decline of bees and other insects, with the New York Times even going so far as to call it "Insect Armageddon." Although the German Entomological Conference in Halle, central Germany, is buzzing with activity, some of the entomologists themselves are markedly pessimistic. "We are ourselves an endangered species," said Jürgen Gross, President of the German Entomological Society. "We have a lot of dark clouds in the future. The specialists who have knowledge about different species are mainly old men."

contribute to a higher cancer risk — no surprise there. But now researchers from the Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran have confirmed another. Their large-scale study showed that people who regularly drink beverages hotter than 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) have a significantly higher risk of getting esophageal cancer.

Apple is expected to take on streaming rivals like Netflix and Amazon as Hollywood giants Disney and WarnerMedia also move into the space. Here is a rundown of the key players in the market. Netflix Netflix is the undisputed leader in streaming television with some 140 million paying subscribers in 190 countries and territories and hit shows like “The Crown,” “House of Cards” and “Stranger Things.” Netflix gained popularity with “catalog” shows and movies from Hollywood and television studios but has been investing heavily in its own content in recent years. It may be vulnerable, according to analysts, if it loses access to these shows since it does not have other revenue from services or products to subsidize its streaming.

The debate around 5G — an embryonic technology that s seemingly poised to replace 4G and meet our ever greater "demands" for mobile data for streaming films, navigating self-driving cars, or getting rich on blockchain — is as much a war about patents as it is about business, security, and, well… thinking that everything that the Chinese do has just got to be bad. China s a dictatorship, right? So, they re going to want to snoop and surveil, and probably snatch your first born, too. "Democracies," on the other hand, like the USA, Germany and UK, are as pure as Columbian snow. …We ve never heard of the NSA or GCHQ, either.

The EU’s powerful anti-trust regulator slapped tech giant Google with a new fine on Wednesday over unfair competition, in Europe’s latest salvo against Silicon Valley. In its third major decision against the search engine behemoth, Brussels sanctioned Google’s once popular AdSense advertising service, saying it illegally restricted client websites from displaying ads from ad service rivals.

The Chamber of Information Technology and Telecommunications (CIT) held a session to discuss the executive draft law to combat cybercrimes. The session was held in the presence of members of the data and information security workgroup at the chamber, and a group of software and smart applications developers, in addition to members of the board of directors of the chamber, and representatives of the Central Bank of Egypt, the ministry of electricity, and the Egyptian Computer Emergency Readiness Team (EG-CERT). “The bylaw with all its details came as very encouraging to the sector of investment. It keeps up with the developments in technology in a way that ensures the rights of both companies and users are preserved,” said Mohamed Hegazy, head of the legislations and laws committee and the ministry of information technology and telecommunications during the presentation for the draft laws.

A semi-annual report submitted by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly s Cabinet has listed achievements in the quality of Egypt s scientific research and technological systems. On top of these achievements was Egypt advancing on the Global Innovation Index (GDI) by 10 ranks in the fiscal year 2018/2019, compared to last year, ranking 95th.

Samsung Electronics celebrated a decade of Galaxy S series innovations by presenting the latest premium smartphone: Galaxy S10, according to a press statement on Wednesday. Precisely engineered to deliver next generation experiences across display, camera and performance categories, the Galaxy S10 range is designed for consumers who seek a premium smartphone that takes the mobile experience toward an all-new level.