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RIO DE JANEIRO, March 18, 2024 (AFP) – A heat wave stifling Brazil set new records on Sunday, with Rio de Janeiro’s heat index hitting 62.3 degrees Celsius, the highest in a decade, weather authorities said. The heat index measures what a temperature feels like, taking into account humidity. The actual maximum temperature in the city was 42 ºC on Monday, the Alerta Rio weather system said. The 62.3C record was notched in western Rio […]
By Issam AHMED WASHINGTON, March 18, 2024 (AFP) – Their stories are divided into before and after. First, those long years of pain which flooded every moment — school, relationships, work. And then — after agonizing treatments — what felt like the miracle of life after sickle cell disease (SCD). Two Americans whose lives were turned around by newly approved treatments tell AFP they want others to benefit too. But the eye-watering cost — up […]
REYKJAVIK, March 17, 2024 (AFP) – Icelandic police declared a state of emergency Saturday as lava spewed from a new volcanic fissure on the Reykjanes peninsula, the fourth eruption to hit the area since December. A “volcanic eruption has started between stora Skogfell and Hagafell on the Reykjanes Peninsula,” said a statement from the Icelandic Met Office (IMO). Live video images showed glowing lava and billowing smoke. Iceland’s Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management […]
THE HAGUE, March 15, 2024 (AFP) – Europe’s largest art fair closed its doors on Friday with organisers saying that sales, including a rare Van Gogh and works by Picasso and Kees van Dongen, fetched “record prices”. Although a total figure of sale for some of the world’s most sought-after artworks could not be given, organisers of The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) said that sales ran up to “tens-of-millions of euros”. “It’s impossible […]
Conditions affecting the nervous system — such as strokes, migraines and dementia — have surged past heart disease to become the leading cause of ill health worldwide, a major new analysis said on Friday. More than 3.4 billion people — 43 percent of the global population — experienced a neurological condition in 2021, far more than had previously been thought, the analysis found. The study was carried out by hundreds of researchers led by […]
Devastating storms pounded three central US states Thursday night, spawning massive tornadoes including one that hit a trailer park in Indiana and killed three people, US media reported. More than 13 million people in the central United States were under tornado watches, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. A “very dangerous half-mile-wide tornado” touched down in Ohio state, NWS said. One struck the rural town of Indian Lakes in western Ohio. “It’s pure devastation. I […]
By Gerard MARTINEZ JUPITER, United States, March 15, 2024 (AFP) – As the northern hemisphere edges toward spring and millions flock to the beach, headlines have dubbed the southeastern US state of Florida the world’s most likely place to be bitten by a shark. They’re right, but, at the same time, shark bites are exceedingly rare overall — a fact scientists wish more people knew, especially amid declining shark populations desperately in need of conservation. […]
The killing of a stray cat in Istanbul has triggered petitions, protests and death threats, pushing the president to intervene and the courts to retry the culprit. On January 1, Ibrahim K. was caught on a security camera in the lobby of the building where he lived kicking to death a stray cat named Eros that his neighbours regularly fed. He was sentenced in early February to 18 months in jail but was then released […]
By Julie JAMMOT AUSTIN, March 15, 2024 (AFP) – Artificial intelligence aficionados are betting that the technology will help solve humanity’s biggest problems, from wars to global warming, but in practice, these may be unrealistic ambitions for now. “It’s not about asking AI ‘Hey, this is a sticky problem. What would you do?’ and AI is like, ‘well, you need to completely restructure this part of the economy’,” said Michael Littman, a Brown University professor […]
By Juan RESTREPO, Juan BARRETO ON BOARD THE ARC SIMON BOLIVAR , Antarctica, March 15, 2024 (AFP) – In Antarctica, a scientist waits patiently for two frolicking humpback whales to poke their tails out of the icy waters so she can take a photographic “fingerprint” of the unique colors and patterns that allow researchers to identify individuals of the species. Andrea Bonilla, a Colombian scientist at Cornell University in the United States, has been working […]
By Chandan Khanna with Issam Ahmed in Washington BOCA CHICA, United States, March 14, 2024 (AFP) – Starship, the world’s most powerful rocket, flew further and faster than ever before during its third test flight Thursday, although it was eventually lost as it re-entered the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, SpaceX said. Lift-off from the company’s Starbase in southeast Texas came around 8:25 am local time (1325 GMT) and was carried live on a webcast […]
A polio survivor known as the “man in the iron lung” has died aged 78, according to his family and a fundraising website. Paul Alexander of Dallas, Texas contracted polio at the age of six, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down and reliant on a mechanical respirator to breathe for much of the time. Though often confined to his submarine-like cylinder, he excelled in his studies, earned a law degree, worked in the legal […]
