Global News
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China says it will allow couples to have 3 children, up from 2
The country's total fertility rate—an estimate of the number of children born over a woman's lifetime—now stands at 1.3, well below the replacement rate of 2.1, raising the possibility of a shrinking population over time
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In a world let loose, video game-makers are 'doubling down'
Video game companies are among the pandemic winners that are declaring they still plan to go full steam ahead, even as the coronavirus lockdowns that powered their businesses over the past 15 months have largely been lifted
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How 'Friends' helps people around the world learn English
Seventeen years after the final "Friends" episode, students and educators say that the show, still seen widely in syndication around the world, works well as a learning resource
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Activists crashed Exxon's board, but forcing change will be hard
Getting Exxon, a behemoth company with $265 billion in revenue in 2019 and oil and gas fields around the world, to switch to cleaner energy will be a yearslong and difficult process
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Why Apple and Google's virus alert apps had limited success
Unlike virus-tracing apps that continuously track users' whereabouts, the Apple and Google software relies on Bluetooth signals, which can estimate the distance between smartphones without needing to know people's locations
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A temporary US-China trade truce starts to look durable
The prospects for a far-reaching new deal this year are slim, with the Biden administration drafting a comprehensive strategy toward China, a complex interagency procedure that could last into early next year
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US is said to have unexamined intel to pore over on virus's origin
In addition to marshalling scientific resources, Biden's push is intended to prod American allies and intelligence agencies to mine existing information as well as hunt for new intelligence to determine whether the Chinese government covered up an accidental leak
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Biden orders intelligence inquiry into origins of virus
Even before Biden's order, US intelligence agencies had intensified their work on the origins of the pandemic, driven at least in part by the growing openness of some scientists to the theory that the coronavirus might have accidentally leaked out of the research lab
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Immunity to the coronavirus may persist for years, scientists find
Studies suggest that most people who have recovered from Covid-19 and were later immunised will not need boosters while vaccinated people who were never infected most likely will need the shots
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WhatsApp sues India's government to stop new Internet rules
Suing India's government is a highly unusual step by WhatsApp, which has rarely engaged with national governments in court
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Apple's 'Fortnite' trial ends with pointed questions and a toast to Popeyes
For the past three weeks, Apple has defended itself in a federal courtroom in Oakland, California, against claims that it abused its power over the iPhone App Store, in one of the biggest antitrust trials in Silicon Valley's history