Life

Top Italian chef to open community kitchen in Paris

PARIS, France (AFP) — Top Italian chef Massimo Bottura, whose Osteria Francescana was named the world’s best restaurant last year, is in talks to open a community kitchen in Paris that would serve the homeless and other people in need. “Discussions are underway to set up a canteen in the basement of the Madeleine Church,” Jean-Francois Rial, chief executive of the group Voyageurs du Monde, told AFP Thursday. “It is still just a project, nothing […]

Epson, Apple face French legal pressure over planned obsolescence

by Anne LEC’HVIEN and Adam PLOWRIGHT Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — French prosecutors have launched a probe into Japanese printer maker Epson for alleged planned obsolescence in its products, using landmark consumer legislation that campaigners hope to turn against Apple as well. The investigation, confirmed to AFP by a legal source on Thursday, was opened in November and is being led by anti-trust and consumer protection specialists in the French economy ministry under the […]

Apple CEO must fly private aircraft for ‘security, efficiency’

SAN FRANCISCO, California, United States (AFP) — Apple’s board has instructed chief executive Tim Cook to use only private aircraft “in the interests of security and efficiency” at the world’s most valuable company, regulatory documents show. A filing with securities regulators this week said the board determined that its CEO must use private aircraft for “all business and personal travel.” The policy was implemented in 2017 “in the interests of security and efficiency based on […]

UPDATE: Russia loses contact with Angolan satellite

by Olga Rotenberg and Anna Smolchenko Agence France-Presse moscow, Russia (AFP) — Russia has lost contact with Angola’s first national telecoms satellite launched from the Baikonur space pad, its maker said Wednesday — a fresh embarrassment for Moscow’s once proud space industry. The incident involving the Russian-made Angosat-1 followed a similar one in November when Russia lost contact with a weather satellite launched from a new cosmodrome in the country’s far east. Energia, Russia’s top […]

Nintendo eyes 20 mn Switch sales

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Nintendo is expecting to sell more than 20 million of its new “Switch” consoles in the next fiscal year, the firm’s president said, with sales outpacing its smash-hit Wii console in some places. Tatsumi Kimishima told Thursday’s Kyoto Shimbun newspaper that the momentum for Switch is stronger in some markets than that of the Wii, a smash-hit household console that sold more than 100 million units worldwide. Kimishima said he expected […]

Self-healing glass: a cracking discovery from Japan

by Hiroshi Hiyama Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese researcher has developed — by accident– a new type of glass that can be repaired simply by pressing it back together after it cracks. The discovery opens the way for super-durable glass that could triple the lifespan of everyday products like car windows, construction materials, fish tanks and even toilet seats. Yu Yanagisawa, a chemistry researcher at the University of Tokyo, made the breakthrough […]

US Library of Congress backtracks on complete Twitter archive

by Rob Lever Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States  — The US Library of Congress has scaled back plans to archive every message ever sent on Twitter, sparking debate on the importance of social media in historical records. The library, which is believed to be the largest in the world with a mission of preserving important national and global cultural records, announced this week it would stop collecting the entire Twittersphere’s tweets from January 2018. “Effective […]

Turning e-waste into art at Ghana’s toxic dump

by Stacey Knott Agence France-Presse ACCRA, Ghana (AFP) — Joseph Awuah-Darko sits on a stool at one of the world’s largest electronic waste dumps, watching polystyrene and insulation cables burn on the blackened ground. “It’s survival and dystopia,” says the 21-year-old British-born Ghanaian, surveying the stretch of wasteland around him as dense plumes of acrid smoke rise into the air. Awuah-Darko and his university friends have ambitious plans for the sprawling Agbogbloshie dumping ground in […]

France to probe Lactalis baby milk salmonella scare

by Mehdi Cherifia Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — French prosecutors have opened a probe into salmonella contamination and a major international recall of baby milk produced by dairy giant Lactalis, a legal source told AFP on Tuesday. The investigation will focus on possible charges of causing involuntary injuries and endangering the lives of others but also possible cheating and failures in carrying out a product recall, the source said. Reports of some 20 […]

Russia launches telecoms satellite for Angola

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia on Tuesday launched a rocket carrying Angosat-1, the first national telecoms satellite for Angola, from its Baikonur space pad, with rare use of a rocket from Ukraine despite collapsed ties between the two nations. Live footage aired by Roscosmos space corporation showed the spacecraft take off into the night from the freezing launch pad in Kazakhstan. It reached initial orbit shortly after. The Zenit-2SB rocket carrying Angosat to orbit was […]

Feeding a metropolis: Mexico City’s Central Market

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — With hotels, car rental agencies, restaurants and even banks, Mexico City’s main fruit and vegetable market, the “Central de Abasto,” is more than just a place to get your groceries — it is a mini city within a city. The mega-market supplies a vast capital city and its surroundings with produce from its labyrinthine hallways, with almost half a million people shopping there daily for avocados, tomatoes and a variety […]

An order from the Chinese emperor: find immortality

BEIJING, China (AFP) — New archaeological research has shed fresh light on China’s first emperor — creator of the world-famous terracotta army — and his quest for eternal life, state media reported. A set of wooden slips found in the central province of Hunan contain an executive order from Emperor Qin Shihuang for a nationwide search for the elixir of life, along with replies from local governments, according to Xinhua news agency on Sunday. It […]