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HUAILAI, China (AFP) — China on Thursday completed a test of its Mars exploration lander ahead of Beijing’s first mission to the red planet slated for 2020. Beijing is pouring billions into its military-run space program, with hopes of having a crewed space station by 2022. Thursday’s hovering and obstacle-avoidance test, which took place in northern Hebei province, was conducted in a facility that simulated conditions on Mars. A red platform with steel cables attached […]
by Glenn CHAPMAN SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook on Wednesday said it has taken down some 5.4 billion fake accounts this year in a sign of the persistent battle on social media against manipulation and misinformation. Amid growing efforts to create fraudulent accounts, Facebook said it has stepped up its defenses and often removes the accounts within minutes of being created. “We have improved our ability to detect and block attempts to create […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s Hayabusa-2 probe will leave orbit around a distant asteroid and head for Earth on Wednesday after an unprecedented mission, carrying samples that could shed light on the origins of the Solar System. Science and Education Minister Koichi Hagiuda told reporters on Tuesday that the long voyage home would begin soon, with the probe expected to drop off its precious samples sometime in late 2020. The mission took the fridge-sized probe […]
by Rob Lever Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The allegations of spying by former Twitter employees for Saudi Arabia underscore the risks for Silicon Valley firms holding sensitive data which make the platforms ripe for espionage. The two Saudis and one US citizen allegedly worked together to unmask the ownership details behind dissident Twitter accounts on behalf of the Riyadh government and royal family, according to a federal indictment. Analysts say the […]
by Sara HUSSEIN Agence France Presse Tokyo, Japan (AFP) — Hideo Kojima, creator of the hugely anticipated Death Stranding game released this week, turned a family obsession with film into a talent for making highly cinematic video games. Best known for his acclaimed Metal Gear series, Kojima spent nearly 30 years at Konami, a major firm that he has said he joined because they were the only games company listed on the stock market at […]
by Jitendra JOSHI Agence France Presse London, United Kingdom (AFP) — In a world fractured by political populism and divisive voices on social media, can a video game build bridges to harmony? The Japanese auteur behind “Death Stranding” hopes so. The much-hyped title comes out for Sony’s PlayStation 4 on Friday and is the first creation of Hideo Kojima, the acclaimed designer of the Konami studio’s mega-selling “Metal Gear” series, since he went independent in […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule successfully performed an emergency abort test Monday, meeting a key requirement before it can take US astronauts to the International Space Station as early as next year. The test took place in the New Mexico desert at the White Sands Missile Range and lasted around 95 seconds. The Starliner was set on a small launch pad with four engines to simulate an emergency in which the […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A young woman in Texas who remained awake for her brain surgery was able to speak to doctors during the procedure — and viewers form around the world looked on, as part of the operation was livestreamed on Facebook. By Wednesday, nearly 100,000 people had watched doctors removed a mass from Jenna Schardt’s brain during a 40-minute video of the operation that was livestreamed Tuesday morning. In the video, […]
by Glenda KWEK Agence France Presse HYDERABAD, India (AFP) — Scientists said Tuesday they are closing in on a new game-changing vaccine for tuberculosis, the world’s deadliest infectious disease that claimed some 1.5 million lives last year. A chronic lung disease that is curable, TB was one of the top 10 killers worldwide last year, particularly in developing countries. The existing Bacille-Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine — licensed for humans in 1921 — is only proven […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Pentagon said Friday it was awarding a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft, following a highly scrutinized bidding process which Amazon had been favored to win. The 10-year contract for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure program, better known as JEDI, ultimately will see all military branches sharing information in one system that can be scoured in real time with the help of artificial intelligence. The Pentagon earlier […]
by Frédéric POUCHOT Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — French media firms said Thursday that they would drag Google before the country’s competition regulator over its refusal to compensate them for displaying their content in defiance of a strict new EU copyright law. The APIG press alliance, which groups dozens of national and regional newspapers, said it would also press the French government to take action against the US internet giant. “We are outraged,” […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — As it looks to return to the Moon, NASA is open to the idea of international participation, which could mean a non-American setting foot on Earth’s natural satellite for the first time in history, global space chiefs said Monday. “I think there’s lots of room on the Moon, and we need all our international partners to go with us to the Moon,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine told reporters at the […]
