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by Issam AHMED Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A panel of leading US medical experts advising the government voted in favor of authorizing boosters of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for everyone aged 65 and up, as well as people at high risk of developing severe Covid. The same committee however rejected an initial proposal, submitted by Pfizer and backed by President Joe Biden’s administration, to fully approve boosters to everyone aged 16 […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A message in a bottle released 37 years ago by Japanese high school students has been found — around 6,000 kilometres (3,700 miles) away in Hawaii. Members of a natural science club at Choshi High School in Chiba, east of Tokyo, released 750 bottles into the sea between 1984 and 1985 to investigate ocean currents. The bottles — which contained messages in English, Japanese and Portuguese asking the finder to contact […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Clive Sinclair, the British inventor who pioneered the pocket calculator and affordable home computers, reportedly died on Thursday at the age of 81. He passed away at his home in London after fighting cancer for more than a decade, UK media said, prompting tributes from many who fondly recalled their first experience of computing in the early 1980s. He was still working on inventions last week “because that was what […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth Friday after completing the country’s longest-ever crewed mission, the latest landmark in Beijing’s drive to become a major space power. The capsule carrying the trio deployed its parachute and landed in the Gobi desert at 1:34 pm local time (0534 GMT). “It feels very good to be back!,” Tang Hongbo told state broadcaster CCTV after the 90-day mission, a record for China. “I want to […]
by RIJASOLO Agence France-Presse Nothing to eat, nothing to plant. The last rain in Ifotaka fell in May, for two hours. Across Madagascar’s vast southern tip, drought has transformed fields into dust bowls. More than one million people face famine. Across tens of thousands of acres, the countryside is desolate. Harvest season begins in October, leaving long, lean weeks before the meagre crops come in. Some villages are abandoned. In others, people should be working […]
ATHENS, Greece (AFP) – Greece is hosting a summit of southern EU leaders on Friday that will focus on climate change and “security challenges” including migration and the Afghan crisis. Greek government spokesman Yiannis Economou said the one-day meeting, with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen in attendance, will address issues “jeopardising safety and stability in the Mediterranean”. The agenda includes migration and the situation in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover but Economou said Athens was placing […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The world’s biggest trees were being wrapped in fire-proof blankets Thursday in an effort to protect them from huge blazes tearing through the drought-stricken western United States. A grove of ancient sequoias, including the 275-foot (83-meter) General Sherman Tree — the largest in the world — were getting aluminum cladding to fend off the flames. Firefighters were also clearing brush and pre-positioning engines among the 2,000 ancient trees in […]
BREMEN, Germany (AFP) – Climate activists on Thursday heckled Armin Laschet, the conservative candidate seeking to replace Chancellor Angela Merkel, disrupting a rally just over a week before general elections. Holding posters reading “the climate crisis kills” and “our lives in your hands”, the militants booed Laschet as he sought to address the gathering in the northern city of Bremen. “We came from all over Germany. We intend to carry out this kind of action at […]
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) – The Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory of Denmark, said Thursday it would take another look at the practice of dolphin-hunting after the slaughter of more than 1,400 of the mammals earlier this week sparked an outcry. “The government has decided to start an evaluation of the regulations on the catching of Atlantic white-sided dolphins,” the northern archipelago’s prime minister, Bardur a Steig Nielsen, said in a statement. “Although these hunts are considered […]
by Natalie HANDEL PARIS, France (AFP) — A Mozart sonata that can calm epileptic brain activity may get its theraputic power thanks to melodies that create a sense of surprise, according to a study published Thursday. The research on 16 patients hospitalized with epilepsy that did not respond to medication has bolstered hopes that music could be used for new non-invasive treatments. “Our ultimate dream is to define an ‘anti-epileptic’ music genre and use music […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — SpaceX’s all-civilian Inspiration4 crew are “healthy, happy and resting comfortably,” the company said Thursday in its first update since the pioneering mission blasted off from Cape Canaveral the night before. The four American space tourists “traveled 5.5 times around Earth, completed their first round of scientific research, and enjoyed a couple of meals” before going to bed, Elon Musk’s company said. Musk tweeted that he had personally spoken with the […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will host a closed-door meeting of world leaders Monday on the sidelines of the General Assembly in New York to boost climate commitments. The roundtable comes less than six weeks before a major United Nations climate meeting, COP26, in Glasgow, aimed at ensuring the world meets its goal of holding century-end warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. “UNGA is the […]
