Life

UNESCO marks Colombian national park for conservation

MANAMA, Bahrain (AFP) – Colombia’s massive Chiribiquete National Park has made UNESCO’s World Heritage List, the United Nations body announced Sunday. “Congratulations,” the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization announced on Twitter. With an area of ​​2.7 million hectares (6.7 million acres) covering five Amazonian municipalities in the southern Guaviare and Caqueta regions, Colombia’s largest natural park has rich biodiversity and is a sacred place for indigenous people. This is the ninth world heritage listing […]

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War on plastic leaves manufacturers clutching at straws

  by Pierre Donadieu and Marie Heuclin © Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP)–For decades, plastic straws have been essential props for cocktail makers, smoothie lovers and fast food addicts. But that may be starting to change, thanks largely to vigorous environmental campaigning. Under pressure from activists, the European Union, Britain, India and even fast food giants like McDonald’s have all made some headway towards bringing the use of plastic straws to an end. And with […]

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Air pollution plays significant role in diabetes: study

PARIS, France (AFP)–Air pollution caused one in seven new cases of diabetes in 2016, according to a US study, which found even low levels raised the chances of developing the chronic disease. Diabetes has primarily been associated with lifestyle factors like diet and a sedentary lifestyle, but research by the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis said pollution also plays a major role. The study estimated that pollution contributed to 3.2 million new […]

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Turkey’s ancient temple site gets UNESCO heritage status

ANKARA, Turkey (AFP)–A Turkish ancient temple site in southeastern Anatolia was given UNESCO World Heritage status on Sunday, the UN agency announced at a meeting in the Bahraini capital Manama. Named Gobekli Tepe (Potbelly Hill), the site is the world’s oldest known megalithic structure located in Upper Mesopotamia and is some 11,000 years old. The site, considered to be the world’s oldest temple, is in the present-day southeastern province of Sanliurfa and reopened to tourists […]

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Mobile app on traffic, flood reports in Metro Manila to be developed soon; target launch this December, says MMDA

By Phoebe Salvador Eagle News Service   (Eagle News) — A mobile application on traffic reports, flood alerts, and disaster and emergency preparedness tips will soon be developed and be made available to the public by year-end, according to  the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA). MMDA Chairman Danilo D. Lim signed on Thursday, June 28, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Atty. Ray C. Espinosa, President and Chief Executive Officer of MediaQuest Holdings, Inc. to develop the said […]

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After 131 years, Rizal “returns” to Prague with official unveiling of bust sculpture

  (Eagle News) — After 131 years, Philippine National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal, returns to Prague, with the unveiling of his bust created by Filipino sculptor Jose Giroy, apprentice of National Artist Napoleon V. Abueva. Philippine and Czech officials attended the unveiling of the celebrated bust at the foyer of the Czech National Bank headquarters on Tuesday, June 26, to commemorate Rizal’s visit to Prague in 1887. In special attendance during the official unveiling of […]

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Japan quake battered most powerful microscopes

  TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Two of the world’s most powerful microscopes suffered severe damage from a deadly earthquake that hit the western Japanese city of Osaka, causing delays in cutting-edge cell and atomic-level research, a scientist said Friday. The two damaged units, both with price tags of 2.3 billion yen ($20 million), at Osaka University may not come back online until next year. One 12-metre-high (40-feet) unit, captures 1,600 images of atomic-level substances per […]

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Human lifespan may not have peaked after all: study

by Kerry SHERIDAN Agence France-Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) — Has the maximum lifespan for a human already been reached? Maybe not, said a study of Italian centenarians published Thursday that found that human longevity is slowly increasing. Scientists have long debated whether or not the ultimate lifespan in people has been attained. A 2016 study in the journal Nature argued that it has, in 1997, when Frenchwoman Jeanne Calmant died at the record-breaking age […]

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California, home of Silicon Valley, ramps up online privacy law

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP)–California on Thursday passed a strict new law aimed at protecting people’s privacy online, a move that promised to shift the terrain on which internet firms operate in the wake of recent scandals. The bill signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown followed in the spirit of a major General Data Protection Regulation that recently took effect in Europe. The legislation cut off an initiative that is heading for the ballot […]

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US trial over Roundup cancer link set to open

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP)– First of its kind trial over whether Monsanto herbicide Roundup caused a groundskeeper’s lethal cancer is scheduled to begin here on July 9 with opening remarks by attorneys. The stakes are high for Monsanto, which could face massive losses should it have to pay out damages over the product, whose main ingredient is glyphosate, a substance which some say is dangerously carcinogenic. Dewayne Johnson, a 46-year-old father of two, says […]

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‘Flying brain’ designed to follow German astronaut launches Friday

  by Kerry Sheridan Agence France-Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) – A floating, ball-shaped, artificial intelligence robot, specially trained to follow around a German astronaut at the International Space Station, is scheduled to blast off Friday on its ground-breaking mission. The basketball-sized device called CIMON — shortened from Crew Interactive MObile CompanioN — was described as a “flying brain” by Manfred Jaumann, head of microgravity payloads at Airbus. It launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Friday […]

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Climate change sinking Arctic archeological treasures

by Michel Comte Agence France Presse A mad rush is needed to preserve or catalogue thousands of Arctic archeological sites before they are washed away by warming hastening the thaw of permafrost and coastal erosion, a study said Thursday. For millennia, the cold has conserved ivory artifacts, driftwood houses and human remains in often near-perfect conditions. But with faster and more severe climate change in the poles than the rest of the world, the situation […]

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