Life

Boxing: Mayweather, McGregor trade verbal jabs as countdown begins

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor traded verbal jabs on Tuesday as the circus-like countdown to their money-spinning super fight cranked into overdrive on the Las Vegas Strip. Thousands of fans including a sizable contingent of Irish supporters thronged the heart of the Nevada boxing capital to greet Mayweather and McGregor at their separate formal grand arrival ceremonies. Mayweather, the 40-year-old undefeated former welterweight boxing champion, has been lured out of retirement to […]

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College students, officials hold “Great Eclipse” party in Georgia

  By Colleen Knight (EBC Florida Bureau) Eagle News Service BRUNSWICK, Georgia (Eagle News) – “Cloudy” and “rainy” are not the words usually used to describe ideal eclipse viewing conditions, but those were the conditions at the College of Coastal Georgia viewing party in Brunswick, Georgia, in the United States. Despite the gloomy weather, as 2 p.m. on Monday (August 21) approached, excited students, faculty and staff began to gather. A palpable tension was in […]

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Watch: Awe-inspiring photos show eclipse sweeping across America

MADRAS, OREGON, United States (Reuters) — Millions of Americans armed with protective glasses caught a glimpse of a historic eclipse along a slender ribbon of land cutting diagonally across the United States on Monday (August 21). It marks the first total solar eclipse to unfold from coast to coast in nearly a century. After weeks of anticipation, the sight of the moon’s shadow passed directly in front of the sun, blotting out all but the […]

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Cubans view eclipse with homemade instruments

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) — Dozens of Cubans gathered in the main plaza of Old Havana on Monday (August 21) to watch a rare partial solar eclipse cross the country. Many observers brought their own homemade instruments to view the eclipse’ progress. Abel Rodriguez built a box based on a YouTube tutorial that followed the projection of the eclipse. He said that special glasses to protect the eyes were hard to come by, forcing him to […]

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Time-lapse video captures sky over Illinois during eclipse

CARBONDALE, Illinois (Reuters) — A time-lapse video captured the sky over Carbondale, Illinois, during a solar eclipse on Monday, August 21. The video shows what was visible to the naked eye during the eclipse, as clouds passed through the skies over the Southern Illinois University football stadium. Some 12 million people live in the 70-mile-wide (113-km-wide), 2,500-mile-long (4,000-km-long) zone where the total eclipse appeared. Millions of others traveled to spots along the route to bask […]

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New tech makes any electric wheelchair autonomous

TORONTO, Canada (Reuters) — Autonomous wheelchair technology that could be retrofitted to any existing electric wheelchair for less than $1,000 USD has been developed by Canadian firm Cyberworks Robotics, Inc and researchers at the University of Toronto (U of T). The technology combines inexpensive off-the-shelf sensors and artificial intelligence. Electric wheelchairs have been around for more than 60 years but their fundamental technology has changed little. “Conventional electric powered wheelchairs use joysticks for their control […]

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Black hole in a ‘bathtub’ makes waves for UK scientists

NOTTINGHAM, England (Reuters) — Scientists are unlocking the mysteries of black holes… in a giant bath tub at the University of Nottingham. A team from the Quantum Gravity Laboratory says they have successfully simulated the conditions around black holes and published the first statistical evidence of an effect known as super-radiance, whereby a wave hitting a rotating black hole can extract energy from it. They built a specially designed 3 metre by 1.5-meter tub with […]

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Facebook makes it simple to see if friends are safe

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook on Monday made it simpler to see whether friends have checked in as “safe” on the online platform during disasters or other dangerous events. A Safety Check feature was given its own dedicated tab along with friends, groups, events and other main categories at the leading social network’s mobile application and desktop pages, according to the California-based company. “Safety Check helps our community let loved ones know they […]

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Big Ben: A British icon in facts and figures

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — A cherished British icon, Big Ben, is falling silent from Monday for repairs expected to last four years. Here are some facts and figures for Big Ben and the other bells of the Houses of Parliament in the world’s most photographed clock tower. Name Many simply refer to the entire tower as Big Ben. But its proper name is the Elizabeth Tower, the clock is the Great Clock and Big […]

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Mars weather: ‘Cloudy, chance of nighttime snowstorm’

PARIS, France (AFP) — Mars is buffeted by turbulent snowstorms that occur only at night, according to a study released Monday that revises our understanding of Red Planet weather. Up to now, it was thought that snow falling from low-lying Martian clouds settled slowly and sparsely to the ground in a environment bereft of violent winds. The new findings, reported in the journal Nature Geoscience, suggest that ice-water particles swirling in a storm hit the […]

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Total solar eclipse begins on US West Coast

by Sébastien VUAGNAT / with Kerry SHERIDAN in Charleston Agence France-Presse MADRAS, United States – Emotional sky-gazers on the US West Coast cheered and applauded Monday as the Sun briefly vanished behind the Moon — a rare total solar eclipse that will stretch across North America for the first time in nearly a century. Eclipse chasers and amateur star watchers alike converged in cities along the path of totality, a 70-mile (113-kilometer) wide path running through 14 […]

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Wreckage of lost ship USS Indianapolis found after seven decades

by Maggy Donaldson Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Researchers announced Saturday they discovered wreckage of the lost warship the USS Indianapolis, 72 years after the World War II cruiser was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The wreckage was found in the Philippine Sea 5.5 kilometers (3.4 miles) below the surface, according to philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who headed the civilian research crew that located the ship. The ship was hit in […]

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