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Both companies are blocked in mainland China. But they're plowing money into an 8,000-mile ultrafast link between Los Angeles and Hong Kong, a special Chinese territory where their services can be viewed and that serves as a key network hub for Asia.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said Chicago-based Geofeedia had allowed police to "sneak in through a side door" to monitor protests.

Geofeedia said it was committed to the principles of personal privacy.

It comes amid growing concern about government access to social media.

It is a big increase on the £4,327 paid in 2014, which prompted an outcry from campaigners who argued it had paid too little.

However, critics may also be riled by the fact that the company will receive a tax credit of £11m, which can be used to offset tax bills at a later date.

The firm said it was "proud" to have grown its business in the UK.

The new mode ensures only the two people involved in a chat can see the text.

In fact, even the government or Facebook (FB, Tech30) itself won't have access to conversations in secret mode, according to the social network.

For three weeks, about half a dozen defenders of the Corsican language worked together to translate some of the most common English terms used on Facebook: "friend," "like," "invite" and, of course, "poke."

The word they settled on for poke, "stuzzicà," roughly means to alert or tease someone. It's like saying "yoo-hoo or cuckoo," according to Vannina Bernard-Leoni, who helped spearhead the translation effort.

 AI creations can write captions for images, create trailers for movies, diagnose cancer, etc. There has been a lot of development in this field.

Amazon, Google's DeepMind, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft will work together on issues such as privacy, safety and the collaboration between people and AI.

Dubbed the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, it will include external experts.

One said he hoped the group would address "legitimate concerns".

"We've seen a very fast development in AI over a very short period of time," said Prof Yoshua Bengio, from the University of Montreal.

The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information said that the social network had not obtained effective approval from WhatsApp's 35 million German users.

Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19bn (£14.6bn) in 2014 as a way to reach out to a younger audience.

It is to appeal against the order.

"We will work with the Hamburg DPA in an effort to address their questions and resolve any concerns," it said in a statement.

The data watchdog said that Facebook and WhatsApp were independent companies and should process their users' data as such.

'Uncle David' has a regular spot peddling soft toys

For the last 15 years, a man known affectionately as "Uncle David" has frequented a corner of the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. He sells trinkets and soft toys daily to make ends meet.

On most days, you will find him outside a bank in the centre of the city.

He was diagnosed with cancer last year, and has now recovered, he says, but kept on plying his trade.

One customer placed a huge order

While Facebook has been working to integrate bots with Messenger, Google went ahead and built a messaging app around the most useful bot there is: Google (GOOGL, Tech30) search.

Allo, which was announced in May but is now available for download, marries Google search with many of the fun features people have grown accustomed to using in other apps.