Author: ALJAZEERA

A US judge said that for three years, Google must allow users to download competing third-party Android app platforms or stores.A United States judge has ordered Alphabet’s Google to overhaul its mobile app business to give Android users more options to download apps and pay for transactions within them, following a jury verdict last year for Fortnite maker Epic Games. The injunction on Monday by US District Judge James Donato in San Francisco outlined the changes Google must undertake to open up its lucrative app store Play to greater competition, including making Android apps available from rival sources. Donato’s order…

Ilorin and Abuja, Nigeria – For the second time in two months, angry protesters in several cities across Nigeria are trooping out to denounce biting economic hardship in the West African country and to call for change. In the capital Abuja on Tuesday, police fired tear gas canisters into crowds of demonstrators as they marched and screamed chants of “no more hunger” and “end bad governance”. In the first wave of protests in August, several people were shot dead and hundreds more were arrested. Yet this time, despite fears of another crackdown as police deployed heavily to potential protest locations…

US President Joe Biden welcomes agreement to end three-day strike, saying dockworkers ‘deserve a strong contract’.US dockworkers and port operators have reached a tentative agreement that will end a three-day strike that shut down shipping on the east and Gulf coasts of the United States – and had threatened to incur billions of dollars in losses. In a joint statement on Thursday evening, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the US Maritime Alliance, said they had “reached a tentative agreement on wages”, without providing any details on what was agreed upon. The two sides also agreed to extend their master…

Gloria Solis moved to the United States from Mexico in 1998. To put food on the table for her four children, she works in the agricultural sector in Washington state. She’s one of the estimated 31 million foreign-born workers in the US — documented or otherwise — who are helping to drive the US economy. She’s worried that if Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump gets elected, the life she has built for her and her family could be in jeopardy. Trump has made immigration, a hot-button issue this election, one of the pillars of his campaign. The role of immigrants…

Politics watchers in the United States have long spoken about the “October surprise” that has the potential to upend the presidential race in the final stretch. With 45,000 dock workers going on strike at dozens of ports across the US, such a moment may have arrived. The decision by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) union to walk off the job on Tuesday threatens to unleash economic chaos just weeks out from the November 5 vote. Operations have come to a halt at 36 ports on the East and Gulf coasts, stretching from Texas to Maine, which together handle more than…

Tens of thousands of dockworkers have gone on strike across the US East Coast, shutting down key ocean shipping routes – and raising concerns about shortages and inflation – in the build-up to November’s presidential election. The shutdown by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) stopped traffic at 36 ports from Maine to Texas starting at midnight on Tuesday. It is the first port strike of its magnitude in five decades, threatening to inflict billions in losses to the US economy and hamper the flow of goods, such as food and clothing. The US port workers launched the strike due to…

Israeli army bombs Kola, moving beyond the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs for the first time in its offensive.

Manila, the Philippines – Veronica Bebero recalls the despair she felt being interrogated by police inside a locked room at the United States Embassy in Manila. National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) investigators wanted to know why she had used fake marriage annulment documents for her US visa application. Tears streaming down her face, the Manila-based acupuncturist remembers saying: “This has to be a nightmare, right?” Bebero had turned to a woman who claimed to be a judicial official to secure an annulment after the COVID-19 pandemic derailed her efforts to go through the usual court process. After she and her…

How tipping beyond the service industry is becoming the norm. Everywhere you go in the US there are services asking for tips that you wouldn’t normally see. Are consumers subsidising people’s salaries?As the US presidential candidates fight for votes, the American culture of tipping has become an election issue. But will the proposals favour service workers, as intended, or create loopholes for dodging taxes?

Kolkata, India: Tapas Pal has been making clay idols of various gods and goddesses for the past two decades at Kumartuli, a traditional potters’ hub in Kolkata in eastern India’s state of West Bengal. The 42-year-old, who makes six-metre (20ft) high idols from unfired clay, told Al Jazeera that he would not normally have any spare time in the two months leading up to Durga Puja, the biggest festival of the state, as he would be on deadline to deliver the idols to the festival organisers. But the situation this year is completely different, he says, with fewer orders and…