Life

Filipino artists create watercolour paintings with polluted river water

MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) — Polluted river water became fresh inspiration for a team of Filipino artists who have made watercolor paintings using dirty water pigments. As part of a social awareness project by advertising agency TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno, nine artists were commissioned to paint images using pigments taken from six contaminated rivers in the Philippine capital. Sediments were extracted from the river water to produce dark, earthy pigments that were sterilized to avoid bacterial contamination. […]

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Financial crisis may have caused 500,000 cancer deaths worldwide: study

PARIS, France (AFP) — The global financial crisis may have caused an additional 500,000 cancer deaths from 2008-2010, a new study said Thursday, with patients locked out of treatment because of unemployment and healthcare cuts. The figures were extrapolated from an observed rise in cancer deaths for every percentage increase in unemployment, and every drop in public healthcare spending. “From our analysis we estimate that the economic crisis was associated with over 260,000 excess cancer […]

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Microsoft to end smartphone manufacturing: union

HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Microsoft announced Wednesday it would let go up to 1,850 employees and a Finnish union called it the end of the company’s smartphone manufacturing business, bought from Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia. “Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday announced plans to streamline the company’s smartphone hardware business, which will impact up to 1,850 jobs,” it said in a statement, adding 1,350 of those jobs would be eliminated in Finland where its smartphones have been […]

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Google to open Detroit-area autonomous car center

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) 5/25/2016 – Google announced plans Wednesday to open a Detroit-area technology center for its self-driving car program. The new center in Novi, Michigan, will house engineers and others testing vehicles provided by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, a statement by Google parent Alphabet said. “For the past few years, members of our team have been working from the Greater Detroit area,” the statement posted on Google+ said. “Now it’s time to lay […]

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Smart home gadgets need to live together

by Glenn CHAPMAN Smart home technology that has long been knocking at doors will settle into the mainstream after rival gadgets and services become hassle-free guests that get along with one another, industry insiders say. While smart home offerings have been around for years, attention has been heightened by Google, Amazon and Apple maneuvering to be at the heart of managing devices capable of wirelessly taking commands or feeding information. “We need to look at […]

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James Bond star Daniel Craig speaks out against landmines

James Bond star Daniel Craig appeared at the World Humanitarian Summit in Turkey on Monday, May 23 to speak out against landmines. Craig spoke before business leaders, aid groups and donors in Istanbul for the world’s first Humanitarian Summit and called on government to do more to clear landmines. The summit is an attempt to develop a more coherent response to what the U.N. Chief Ban Ki-Moon has called the worst global humanitarian situation since […]

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WHO: “The world is not prepared to cope” with threat of infectious diseases

GENEVA, Switzerland — The head of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, came out swinging at the opening ceremony of the 69th World Health Assembly in Geneva. The meeting of health officials from nearly 200 countries is usually a low-key, bureaucratic affair. Chan, however, opened the assembly by basically saying that the world is facing unprecedented global health challenges right now and is ill-equipped to deal with future threats. She warned against profit-oriented policies that […]

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Indonesian birds face extinction due to pet trade: study

JAKARTA, Indonesia(AFP) — Thirteen species of Indonesian birds, including the country’s symbolic Javan Hawk-eagle, are at serious risk of extinction mainly due to the pet trade, a wildlife watchdog warned Wednesday. The vast Indonesian archipelago is home to a dizzying array of birds and keeping them as pets has long been part of the national culture, with birdcages a common sight outside homes and shops across the country. However increasing demand for some species as […]

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Baby elephant born in Dallas zoo

DALLAS, United States (Reuters) — The Dallas Zoo has added a baby elephant to its family and have released new video on Tuesday (May 24) of the little guy collapsing in a heap of hay. A male African elephant calf was born on May 14 to Mlilo ( ma-LEE-lo), who was one of several elephants rescued from drought plagued Swaziland earlier this year. The baby elephant, who hasn’t been names, measures three feet tall (91 […]

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Facebook apologises for banning ‘undesirable’ plus-sized model

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Facebook has been forced to backtrack after it banned an Australian ad featuring a bikini-clad plus-sized model promoting positive body image, initially saying the photo’s depiction was “undesirable”. The social networking giant blocked the ad for Melbourne’s “Cherchez La Femme: Feminism and Fat” gathering, saying the image violated its advertising guidelines. When organizers questioned the decision, the Facebook Ads Team wrote back saying the ad did not comply with their health […]

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Rare silver dollar may break record for most valuable coin ever sold at auction

Two legendary U.S. coins, one of them more than 200 years old, are expected to bring a total as high as $27 million (USD) when they hit the auction block on Tuesday (May 24) in New York City, according to Sotheby’s. An 1804 Draped Bust Silver Dollar is estimated to sell for $10 million to $15 million and an 1822 Capped Head Left Half Eagle is estimated to sell for $8 million to $12 million. […]

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