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by Natsuko FUKUE HIDAKA, Japan (AFP) — Once an indispensable part of daily life in Japan, ultra-thin washi paper was used for everything from writing and painting to lampshades, umbrellas, and sliding doors, but demand has plunged as lifestyles have become more westernized. Despite its 1,300-year history and UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status, washi paper is struggling to attract consumers and the market value has dropped by more than 50 percent in the past two […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Greenland’s ice sheet may have completely melted within the next millennium if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current rate, according to a new study with implications for sea-level rise around the world. The Greenland ice sheet holds the equivalent of seven meters (yards) of sea level. “If we continue, as usual, Greenland will melt,” said lead author Andy Aschwanden, a research associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ […]
LUXEMBOURG (AFP) — German sportswear giant Adidas on Wednesday lost a legal battle to trademark its “three stripe” motif in the EU, as a court ruled the design was not distinctive enough to deserve protection. The three parallel stripes seen adorning everything from running shoes to sports bags and the sleeves of t-shirts are “an ordinary figurative mark”, the General Court of the European Union ruled. The court, the EU’s second highest tribunal, upheld […]
by Issam AHMED Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — People in Europe have the lowest levels of trust in vaccines, according to a global survey of public attitudes toward health and science published Wednesday. The study found that people living in high-income countries have the lowest confidence in vaccines, a result that ties in to the rise of the anti-vaccination movement, in which people refuse to believe in the benefits of vaccinations […]
(Eagle News) — The Philippines is celebrating the 158th birth anniversary of its national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, on Wednesday, June 19. Well, Google is celebrating it, too.
by Glenn Chapman Agence France Presse SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook is leaping into the world of cryptocurrency with its own digital money, designed to let people save, send or spend money as easily as firing off text messages. “Libra” — described as “a new global currency” — was unveiled Tuesday in a new initiative in payments for the world’s biggest social network with the potential to bring crypto-money out of the shadows […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi said Tuesday it is partnering with Google to use artificial intelligence and deep analytics tools to sift through its data to find better treatments. The titan in online search “will apply technology and analytics on Sanofi’s large real world database to better understand what treatments work for patients,” the pharmaceutical firm said in a statement. The use of Google’s tools for deep analytics — organizing large amounts […]
SHENZHEN, China (AFP) — Huawei’s founder said Monday the Chinese telecom giant’s overseas smartphone sales have tumbled since the US last month threatened to blacklist the company, and he warned the embattled firm would slash production to weather the US drive to isolate it. The announcements by Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei marked the first clear indication from the company of the impact of the US pressure, which is being applied over concerns […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Tens of thousands of Indian doctors went on strike Monday calling for more protection against violence by patients and their families, as parliament met for the first time since national elections. The nationwide strike, which will last until Tuesday morning, is in solidarity with doctors in the eastern state of West Bengal after three were viciously attacked by the relatives of a man who died. The Indian Medical Association (IMA), […]
by Natsuko FUKUE Agence France Presse Kamikatsu, Japan (AFP) — Plastic, paper, metal? In Japan’s Kamikatsu, sorting rubbish isn’t that simple. Residents face a mind-boggling 45 separate categories for their garbage as the town aims to be “zero-waste” by 2020. And that’s not all: there isn’t even trash collection. The 1,500 residents of the town in western Japan have to transport their waste themselves to a local facility. “Yes, it’s complicated,” said Naoko Yokoyama, a […]
By Ben Simon Agence France-Presse GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — (AFP) The World Health Organization said Friday that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo does not qualify as an international threat, despite the spread of the virus to neighbouring Uganda carried by an infected family. The closely-watched decision followed advice from WHO’s emergency committee, which only meets to review the world’s most severe outbreaks. The head of the UN health agency Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is in […]
PATNA, India (AFP) — At least 31 children have died in northern India in the last 10 days from a deadly brain disease believed linked to a toxic substance found in lychee fruit, health officials said Wednesday. The deaths were reported from two hospitals in Bihar state’s Muzaffarpur district, famed for it lush lychee orchards, officials said. The children all showed symptoms of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), senior health official Ashok Kumar Singh told AFP, […]
