WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Twitter came under fresh pressure Thursday as the social network reported sluggish revenue and user growth, and widening losses in the past quarter.Pre-market trades showed Twitter shares slumping 10.8 percent as hopes faded for a rekindling of growth at the messaging platform, which has lagged its rivals in the fast-moving social media segment.Twitter reported a net loss in the fourth quarter of $167 million, after a $90 million deficit in the same period a year ago.Revenue

CAEN, France (AFP) -- An explosion at a nuclear power plant on France's northwest coast on Thursday caused minor injuries, but the authorities said there was no risk of radiation.The blast took place in the engine room at the Flamanville plant, which lies 25 kilometres west of the port of Cherbourg and just across from the Channel Islands."It is a technical incident. It is not a nuclear accident," senior local official Jacques Witkowski told AFP.He said a ventilator had exploded outside the nucl

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump's extended criticism of the judiciary prompted a rebuke from his nominee for the Supreme Court, who told a senator the president's comments were "demoralizing and disheartening."Judge Neil Gorsuch, who was nominated by Trump to the nation's high court last week, made the comments Wednesday after Trump accused an appellate court considering his immigration and refugee executive order of being "so political." Over the weekend, the president labeled a judge

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Police detained four Islamic State suspects who were allegedly planning to carry out a sensational attack in Turkey and seized 24 suicide attack belts, officials said Thursday.The latest detentions came as CIA chief Mike Pompeo arrived in Turkey to discuss the fight against the extremist group in Syria and Iraq, making his first overseas trip since taking office. The suspects were put under custody in an anti-terror operation in Gaziantep, near the border with Syria, accor

TOKYO (AFP) -- Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe headed to Washington on Thursday with a massive investment package for Donald Trump, possibly designed to inoculate his country against presidential criticism. Abe will dangle proposals linked to the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the US, ranging from high-speed rail projects to private cash from Japanese companies.Their White House summit on Friday will be followed by a game of golf at Trump's palatial vacation estate in Florida, as

BEIJING (AP) -- China praised U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday for expressing a desire for a "constructive relationship" in a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, even though the leaders have not spoken directly since Trump's inauguration.Trump sent belated well-wishes for the Lunar New Year in a letter from the White House on Wednesday. He had been the only U.S. president in recent years not to have issued greetings to the world's most populous nation on its most important holiday, wh

GANGNEUNG (Yonhap) -- South Korean speed skater Kim Bo-reum said Thursday she surprised herself by breaking her own national record in the women's 3,000m.Kim finished sixth in the event with a time of 4:03.85 at the International Skating Union (ISU) World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships at Gangneung Oval in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, some 230 kilometers east of Seoul.The previous mark had been 4:04.62.The 24-year-old wasn't considered a serious title contender in the 3,000m, where

BEIJING (AFP) -- Hugo Barra, who caused a sensation in 2013 by leaving Google to become a vice president of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, announced Monday he was returning to the United States for health reasons.Barra, under whom Xiaomi was for a time China's best-selling brand, described his experience as a "spectacular" journey but said it was time to return home for a "new adventure". He did not elaborate."But what I've realized is that the last few years of living in such a singular envir

FARINDOLA, Italy (AP) -- Questions intensified Monday into whether Italian authorities underestimated the risks facing a snowbound mountain hotel hours before an avalanche hit, as rescue crews weighed using heavy equipment to try to reach 23 people in the hotel who are still buried under the snow.Five days after up to 60,000 tons of snow, rocks and uprooted trees plowed into the Hotel Rigopiano in central Italy, rescue crews were still digging by hand and with shovels and chainsaws to try to fin

TOKYO (AFP) -- Japan could pass a one-off bill allowing its retirement-ready emperor to step down, a government panel said Monday, in what would be the first abdication in over two centuries.The option was one of several presented by the group of experts charged with sorting out the thorny issue. They are expected to make a final recommendation in March.Last summer, Emperor Akihito, 83, expressed a desire to abdicate after nearly three decades on the Chrysanthemum Throne, one of the world's olde

President Donald Trump showed in his first days in office that his combative, self-aggrandizing campaign persona isn’t going away, a sign that he hasn’t yet made the transition from running for office to governing as he embarks on a high-stakes first week.In the earliest hours of his presidency, with the full weight of military and economic decision-making in his grasp, he fixated on his TV ratings and the crowds at his inauguration. He even issued a tweet disparaging participants in the women’s

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Dozens of people were evacuated Monday after a World War II bomb was discovered at a construction site in Hong Kong, near a university campus and staff quarters.67 residents at three blocks of a university hall were moved after the 500-pound (227 kilograms) US-made aerial bomb was unearthed on Pok Fu Lam Road, police confirmed.The bomb was to be detonated on site Monday evening and treated with an "abrasive water-cutting system", a bomb disposal expert told reporters. The whol

BEIJING (AFP) -- A Chinese court Monday sentenced a former top official to life in prison for corruption involving millions of dollars, the latest high-profile conviction in President Xi Jinping's crackdown on graft. Su Rong, 66, was a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a discussion body that is part of the Communist Party-controlled government structure.He was found guilty of bribery, abuse of power and possessing "huge amounts" of assets whose origins he c

ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AFP) -- Syrian rebels began peace talks with the war-torn country's government Monday in Kazakhstan's capital Astana, but refused to negotiate face-to-face in the first session.The talks had been billed as the first time armed rebel groups were due to negotiate with President Bashar al-Assad's regime since the conflict erupted in2011 and come a month after Syrian forces delivered the rebels a crushing blow by retaking full control of Aleppo. But rebel spokesman Yehya al-Aridi