by Martin Abbugao SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — On the rooftop of a Singapore shopping mall, a sprawling patch of eggplants, rosemary, bananas and papayas stand in colourful contrast to the grey skyscrapers of the city-state’s business district. The 10,000 square-foot (930 square-meter) site is among a growing number of rooftop farms in the space-starved country, part of a drive to produce more food locally and reduce heavy reliance on imports. The government has championed the […]
Life
300 million delta dwellers vulnerable to cyclones, flooding
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — More than 300 million people in low-lying river deltas, mostly in poorer nations, are exposed to flooding from tropical storms made more deadly and destructive by global warming, researchers said Tuesday. One in ten live on floodplains hit by once-a-century cyclones that can generate 350-kilometre (200-mile) per hour winds and up to a metre (40 inches) of rain per day, they reported in Nature Communications. Warmer […]
Heavy rains trigger collapse at Yemen’s newly restored museum
TAEZ, Yemen (AFP) — Heavy rains have triggered the collapse of parts of the newly restored National Museum in Yemen’s third city Taez, in the latest loss to the country’s cultural heritage after years of war. Established as an Ottoman palace, then a residence for one of Yemen’s last kings, the building became a museum in 1967 but has since been bombed and its collections pilfered. It was partially restored in 2019, but a recent […]
Flying doctors: UK air ambulance tests paramedic jet suit
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Emergency responders and engineers in Britain said on Tuesday they have successfully tested “the world’s first jet suit paramedic”, which could transform how life-savers reach isolated casualty sites. The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS), which provides emergency air response across swathes of northern England, said it had helped flight-test the 1,050 bhp (brake horsepower) jet suit in the Lake District National Park. The trial saw Richard Browning, the founder […]
5G networks: are there health risks?
by Paul RICARD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Do 5G mobile telephones and networks pose health risks? Worries about the effect the technology has on humans and the environment have persisted as it has been deployed in various countries. What do scientists have to say about it? – What is 5G? – 5G networks are touted as promising an exponential leap in the amount and speed of wireless data, enabling advances in […]
Chinese company targets global sales with quick Covid-19 tests
by Ludovic EHRET Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — A Chinese company is entering the global race to help defeat the coronavirus, promising its testing machine will return results faster than a lab and more reliably than at-home screening kits. The Flash 20 “is currently the fastest machine in the world for PCR tests for the new coronavirus”, says Sabrina Li, founder of the company Coyote. PCR tests are the industry standard and […]
New start date for virus-delayed Olympic torch relay
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The Tokyo 2020 torch relay, which was put on hold when the Olympics were delayed over the coronavirus, will start next March from Japan’s Fukushima region, organizers said Monday. The Olympic flame had already arrived in Japan from Greece and the relay was days from beginning earlier this year when organizers and Olympic officials took the historic decision to postpone the Games by 12 months. The flame is currently on […]
Global coronavirus death toll passes one million
by Simon MALFATTO Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The global death toll from the new coronavirus, which emerged less than a year ago in China and has swept across the world, passed one million on Sunday. The pandemic has ravaged the global economy, inflamed geopolitical tensions and upended lives, from Indian slums and Brazil’s jungles to America’s biggest city New York. World sports, live entertainment and international travel ground to a halt […]
EBC-NET 25 launches first-ever musical sitcom, “Kesayasaya!” as tribute to OFWs, Filipino families
(Eagle News) – Just when you thought the COVID-19 pandemic has stagnated TV programming, Eagle Broadcasting Corporation’s NET 25 comes up with yet again a new offering, the musical sitcom, “Kesayasaya!” which pays tribute to Filipino families and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), and which promises to complete your Sunday evening viewing habit. This weekly musical sitcom which will have its pilot episode on Sunday, Sept. 27, at 6:30 p.m., features the return of the Robin […]
ISS moves to avoid space debris
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Astronauts on the International Space Station carried out an “avoidance maneuver” Tuesday to ensure they would not be hit by a piece of debris, said US space agency NASA, urging better management of objects in Earth’s orbit. Russian and US flight controllers worked together during a two-and-a-half-minute operation to adjust the station’s orbit and move further away, avoiding collision. The debris passed within about 1.4 kilometers (nearly one mile) […]
Avigan maker to seek virus treatment approval after trials
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The maker of anti-influenza drug Avigan said Wednesday it will apply for the medication to be approved for treating coronavirus patients after trials showed it can shorten recovery time. In a statement, manufacturer Fujifilm Toyama Chemical said its phase III trial in Japan, which began in March, was now complete. Of 156 individuals described as “analysis targets”, the median recovery time was 11.9 days in those receiving Avigan compared with 14.7 […]
Hundreds of whales stranded in southern Australia
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — At least twenty-five whales have died and scientists are trying to rescue 250 more that are stranded in a remote bay on the Australian island of Tasmania, officials said Monday. Tasmania’s environment department said the whales had become stuck on a sandbar in Macquarie Harbour, on the island’s rugged and sparsely populated west coast. Nic Deka, who is managing the incident response, said two large pods were stranded on sandbars a […]





