Life

Heartbreaker? Smoking causing millions of heart attacks, strokes: WHO

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — While the link between smoking and a range of cancers is well known, the World Health Organization warned Thursday there was too little awareness of tobacco’s impact on the human heart. On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day Thursday, the UN health agency hailed that smoking had declined significantly since the year 2000, but warned that there were still far too many people indulging in the dangerous habit. And it […]

1.2 billion children threatened by war, poverty, discrimination: study

  LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — More than half of the world’s children are threatened by conflict, poverty or sexual discrimination, Save the Children said in a report published on Wednesday. Entitled “Many Faces of Exclusion”, the study ranked 175 countries in terms of the threat of child labor, exclusion from education, child marriage, and early pregnancy. It found that 1.2 billion children worldwide were at risk from at least one of the three main […]

Smartphone market to stay cool this year: forecast

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — International Data Corporation forecast Wednesday that global smartphone sales would cool this year before heating up with help from new 5G networks and India’s vibrant market. An IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker expected smartphone sales to slip two-tenths of a percent this year to total 1.462 billion in a second straight year of slight decline. But IDC predicted that the smartphone market would reignite next year, growing about 3 percent […]

Papua New Guinea mulls ‘temporary’ ban on Facebook

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Papua New Guinea said Wednesday it was mulling a temporary shutdown of Facebook to uncover false accounts and block fake news in the Pacific nation, which hosts a major global summit later this year. The proposal, which Communications Minister Sam Basil said could lead to replacing Facebook with a locally developed social networking platform, was ridiculed as ill-timed and unworkable by opponents. Basil floated the idea of a one-month shutdown on […]

Galapagos iguanas transferred due to overpopulation

QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) — Six land iguanas, endemic to the Galapagos Islands, have been relocated within the Pacific archipelago due to food shortages and overpopulation on the islet where they lived, Ecuador’s Galapagos National Park said Tuesday. The reptiles were moved from the islet of Venice to Dragon Hill, on the neighboring island of Santa Cruz. “The shortage of rain, little food and the high number of land iguanas on the islet of Venice” forced […]

Great Barrier Reef on sixth life in 30,000 years: study

(AFP) — Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, under severe stress in a warmer, more acidic ocean, has returned from near-extinction five times in the past 30,000 years, researchers said Monday. And while this suggests the reef may be more resilient than once thought, it has likely never faced an onslaught quite as severe as today, they added. “I have grave concerns about the ability of the reef in its current form to survive the pace of […]

Walk and chew gum, it may keep you thin: study

PARIS, France (AFP) — Still looking for the secret to effortless weight loss? It may be as simple as chewing gum while walking, Japanese researchers suggested on Saturday, May 26. In experiments, they said, the heart rate of 46 people, aged 21 to 69, increased when they were given gum to chew while walking at a natural pace. And while masticating caused a measurable physical difference in participants of both genders and across all age […]

Panda cub makes first public appearance at Malaysia zoo

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — A four-month-old panda cub made her first public appearance Saturday at the Malaysian zoo where she was born, to the delight of visitors. The fluffy little cub was the second born to Liang Liang, who has been on loan to Malaysia since 2014, aong with a male panda, a rare success story for natural reproduction among giant pandas which are notoriously clumsy at mating on the rare occasions they are […]

Weinstein arraigned in New York for rape, criminal sex act

by Jennie Matthew Agence France Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was arraigned in a New York court Friday, charged with rape and a criminal sex act on two women, nearly eight months after his career imploded in a blaze of accusations that triggered the #MeToo movement. The former mogul — once the toast of Hollywood and whose films won scores of Oscars — grinned as he was escorted […]

In Moroccan desert, meteorite hunters seek to strike it rich

https://youtu.be/axUOKaHzOLM   by Hamza Mekouar Agence France Presse ZAGORA, Morocco (AFP) — They roam Morocco’s southern desert, braving the searing heat to scour the undulating sands for bounty fallen from the sky. These celestial treasure hunters are searching for meteorites to sell on a burgeoning international market. Equipped with a “very strong” magnet and magnifying glass, retired physical education teacher Mohamed Bouzgarine says that discoveries “can be more valuable than gold”. The price “depends on […]

Jury tells Samsung to pay big for copying iPhone design

San José, United States (AFP) — A federal court jury on Thursday ordered Samsung to pay Apple $533 million for copying iPhone design features in a patent case dating back seven years. Jurors tacked on an additional $5 million in damages for a pair of patented functions. The award appeared to be a bit of a victory for Apple, which had argued in court that design was essential to the iPhone. The case was keenly watched as […]