SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — US entertainment giant Disney opens its newest theme park in the commercial centre of Shanghai on Thursday, a massive $5.5 billion project aimed squarely at the mainland Chinese audience. The resort is the US entertainment giant’s sixth in the world and third in Asia, including one in China’s semi-autonomous region of Hong Kong. Six ‘lands’ Shanghai Disneyland is divided into six distinct areas — some entirely new to Disney including the […]
Life
Stale Bread? 6 Ways Frugal Italians Get Cooking
By Cesare Zucca – (Zester Daily) “Never throw out leftover bread!” our Milanese mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers used to exclaim. Milanese cuisine has its roots in simpler traditions, and that includes reusing old bread to make exquisite dishes. So if you happen to have bought too much bread, you have two options: Freeze it while still fresh and then remove it a few hours before use, or listen to my granny and try one of […]
Can coffee cause cancer? Only if it’s very hot, says WHO agency
(REUTERS) There is no conclusive evidence that drinking coffee causes cancer, the World Health Organization’s cancer agency said on Wednesday in a reverse of its previous warning, but it also said all “very hot” drinks are probably carcinogenic. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) had previously rated coffee as “possibly carcinogenic” but has changed its mind. It now says its latest review found “no conclusive evidence for a carcinogenic effect” of coffee […]
E3 video game show comes with rise of celebrity player
by Glenn CHAPMAN New consoles and blockbuster games always make a big splash at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, but this year the undisputed winners are online stages for video game play and commentary. And with them comes the rise of the celebrity player. The appetite on sites like Twitch and YouTube Gaming for play video, commentary, trailers, and more seems insatiable, industry insiders say. “There are hundreds of millions of users watching gaming content […]
Dolphins to get coastal sanctuary in US
WASHINGTON, United Sates (AFP) — After years of research on dolphin behavior and under pressure from animal rights groups, the National Aquarium in Baltimore has decided to move the marine mammals to a sanctuary, officials said Wednesday. It will be the first sanctuary for dolphins in North America. The transfer from the aquarium in the Atlantic coast port city will not be done before 2020, they said. The venue for the dolphins will be a […]
Very hot drinks ‘probably’ cause cancer: UN body
PARIS, France (AFP) — Drinking very hot beverages “probably” causes cancer of the oesophagus, the UN’s cancer agency said Wednesday, while lifting suspicion from coffee if consumed at “normal serving temperatures”. “These results suggest that drinking very hot beverages is one probable cause of oesophageal cancer and that it is the temperature, rather than the drinks themselves, that appears to be responsible,” said Christopher Wild, director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer […]
May goes down as Earth’s hottest on record: NASA
WASHINGTON, united States (AFP) — May’s temperatures broke global records yet again, as the northern hemisphere finishes its hottest spring on record, statistics released Tuesday by NASA showed. The Arctic in particular experienced abnormal heat, causing Arctic sea ice and the Greenland ice sheet to start melting unusually early, said NASA. Alaska recorded its warmest spring on record by a wide margin, and in Finland the average May temperature was between three and five degrees […]
Australian rodent species first victim of climate change?
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Climate change appears to have driven to extinction an Australian Great Barrier Reef rodent, according to a new study, which suggests the species may be the first mammal lost to the global phenomenon. Extensive searches for the Bramble Cay melomys, a small rat-like animal, have failed to find a single specimen from its only known habitat on a sandy island in far northern Australia. Researchers said the key factor behind the […]
French killer’s Facebook broadcast underscores live video challenges
(REUTERS) After Larossi Abballa killed a French police commander and the commander’s partner on Tuesday, he took to Facebook Live to encourage viewers in a 12-minute video to follow his example: Kill prison staff, police officials, journalists, lawmakers. The incident underscores the immense challenges companies such as Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc and Google’s YouTube face as they push live video streaming to hundreds of millions of people. Facebook in recent months has made its […]
Gold rush still irresistible in Poland
by Damien Simonart ZLOTORYJA, Poland (AFP) — Each spring they come from around the globe to the Kaczawa river in southwest Poland’s gold rush capital, vying for the biggest flash in the pan. Knee deep in water, excited enthusiasts, young and old alike, survey the riverbed in Zlotoryja in search of tiny gleaming flakes, hoping their perseverance will pay off. “Whenever I’m in the river, I find at least a dozen tiny pieces of gold […]
Sanctuary offers hope for endangered Philippine eagle
by Karl MALAKUNAS DAVAO, Philippines (AFP) — Surprisingly loud chirps accompany a clumsy flurry of tiny wings as a wispy-haired chick breaks through its shell, its birth offering rare cause for celebration in the struggle to save the Philippine eagle from extinction. Tropical rainforest destruction and relentless hunting have decimated the population of the majestic bird — one of the world’s biggest and most powerful — with just hundreds believed to be left in the […]
El Salvador confirms first Zika-linked birth defect
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AFP) — El Salvador on Tuesday confirmed its first case of microcephaly in a baby that was linked to a Zika infection in the mother. Microcephaly is a birth defect that causes an abnormally small head and deformed brain. Health Minister Violeta Menjivar said the infant was born in April to a family living in the country’s central La Paz province, and the Zika connection was proved “a short while ago.” […]