Life

Weinstein to ‘surrender’ to NY authorities Friday: US media

  NEW YORK, United States (AFP)  — Disgraced former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is expected to surrender to authorities in New York on Friday following a months-long investigation into allegations that he sexually assaulted women, US media reported. The New York Times said Weinstein was expected to surrender on Friday morning, citing unnamed law enforcement officials. Weinstein’s defense attorney, contacted by AFP, declined to comment Thursday. The reports surfaced with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and […]

Everest’s Hillary Step now a ‘slope’: climbers

by Annabel Symington Agence France Presse KATHMANDU, Nepal (AFP) — Mount Everest’s Hillary Step — a rocky outcrop just below the summit — is now a slope, say climbers who recently returned from the mountain. The condition of the rock face named after Everest’s first summiteer Edmund Hillary has been the subject of intense speculation since climbers last year declared it had gone. Others disagreed saying fresh snowfall had caused the confusion. Mountaineers returning from […]

Global warming may have ‘devastating’ effects on rice: study

by Kerry Sheridan Agence France Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) — As carbon dioxide rises due to the burning of fossil fuels, rice will lose some of its protein and vitamin content, putting millions of people at risk of malnutrition, scientists warned on Wednesday. The change could be particularly dire in southeast Asia where rice is a major part of the daily diet, said the report in the journal Science Advances. “We are showing that […]

Watch: Newlyweds Harry and Meghan make first appearance at 70th bday of Prince Charles

  by Dario Thuburn Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Newlyweds Prince Harry and Meghan attended their first engagement as a married couple on Tuesday after their spectacular, tradition-defying wedding in Windsor Castle, which was watched around the world. The two, now officially the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after receiving the title from Queen Elizabeth II, attended a party at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the 70th birthday of Harry’s father, Prince Charles. […]

Dozens feared killed in Karachi heatwave: charity

KARACHI, Pakistan (AFP) — Dozens of people are feared to have died in a heatwave gripping Pakistan’s largest city Karachi this week, a charity in the sprawling metropolis said Tuesday, as temperatures hit 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit). The non-profit Edhi Foundation said scores may have been killed by the sweltering weather, with double the usual number of bodies sent to the city’s morgues in recent days. “We have received 180 dead bodies in […]

Two sportscar-sized satellites in orbit to measure Earth’s water

by Ivan Couronne Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A SpaceX rocket Tuesday blasted off a duo of sports car-sized satellites built by the US and Germany to reveal changes in sea level rise, ice melt and drought on Earth. “Three, two, one, liftoff!” said a SpaceX commentator as the Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 12:47 pm Pacific time (1947 GMT). The $521 million payloads, called […]

World faces ‘staggering’ obesity challenge: study

  PARIS, France (AFP) — In 27 years from now, almost a quarter of the global population will be obese, researchers said Wednesday, warning of the mounting medical bill. If current trends continue, 22 percent of people in the world will be obese by 2045, up from 14 percent last year, according to research presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Vienna. One in eight people, up from one in 11, will have type […]

Watch: Meghan’s wedding dress designer says Duchess of Sussex was “so genuine, warm” on dress collaboration

https://youtu.be/49C9pNaaWHg   The designer of the elegant wedding dress of Meghan Markle, British designer for Givenchy Claire Waight Keller, said that the Duchess of Sussex was “genuine and warm” and “an absolute joy” to work with. In an interview with Agence France Presse, Clare Waight Keller, a British designer who last year became the first female artistic designer of Givenchy, also observed that Meghan was a strong woman who knew what she wanted. “She is […]

Animal and plant species vanishing fast, as conservationists try to save them from extinction

  by Marlowe Hood Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Animal and plant species are vanishing at an accelerating pace around the world — sometimes even before we know that they exist — but conservationists are pushing back against the juggernaut of mass extinction. From captive breeding to satellite tracking; restoring habitats to removing predators; shaming multinationals to nursing baby pandas and orangutans — in all these ways, scientists and others have given a […]

An egg a day may keep the doctor away, study claims; lower risk of heart disease noted

  PARIS, France (AFP) — For decades, experts warned that eating eggs raises levels of unhealthy cholesterol. But a study Tuesday said an egg a day may actually reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. While outside experts cautioned against reading too much into the study, its authors claimed that Chinese adults who ate an egg every day had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Studying half-a-million healthy adults aged 30-79 over almost […]

Jury still out in Apple-Samsung iPhone patent trial

SAN  JOSE, United States (AFP) — Jurors return to a Silicon Valley courtroom Tuesday to deliberate for a second day about whether Samsung should pay Apple a billion dollars for copying iPhone design features. Apple is seeking slightly more than a billion dollars in damages in the seven-year-old legal battle, while Samsung wants a figure closer to $28 million. The jury has been asked to determine whether design features at issue in the case are […]