GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) – by Nina LARSON Efforts to end the global AIDS pandemic by 2030 are lagging, the UN warned Tuesday, decrying rising numbers of new HIV infections among adults in many regions, with Russia especially hard-hit. In a new report, UNAIDS cautioned that while new HIV infections had fallen dramatically in the past two decades, especially among children, the trend among adults has stalled and even risen in a number of places over the […]
Life
Disney theme park in Shanghai nears a million visitors
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Disney chief executive Robert Iger on Monday said that nearly a million people have visited the entertainment giant’s theme park opened less than a month ago in mainland China. “It would be safe to assume almost a million people have experienced the park,” Iger said during an on-stage chat at a Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colorado. Visitors to the park are staying longer than expected each day […]
Mexico to plant 18 million trees against pollution
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Authorities will plant 18 million trees in Mexico City and its surrounding suburbs as part of efforts to combat air pollution, the government said Monday. Environment Minister Rafael Pacchiano dubbed it a “historic reforestation” to reinforce the “green belt in the megalopolis.” The greater Mexico City area was hit by the worst air pollution in more than a decade in March, prompting authorities to restrict traffic for the 5.4 million […]
Pokemon Go mania drives players into wild outdoors
by Glenn CHAPMAN SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Pokemon Go mania has quickly swept the US as players armed with smartphones hunt streets, parks, rivers and elsewhere to capture monsters and gather supplies in the hit game. The free application based on a Nintendo title that debuted 20 years ago has been adapted to the mobile internet age by Niantic Labs, a company spun out of Google last year after breaking ground with Ingress, […]
Japanese tech-firm Dena showcased its first self-driving bus in downtown Tokyo
TOKYO, Japan — The EZ10 robot shuttle runs entirely on electricity and can be ridden by up to 12 people. Equipped with a lift, the robot shuttle provides improved access to senior citizens and those with disabilities. With no driver, it runs on a pre-determined route set by its Global Positioning System (GPS) and external cameras. The bus weighs 1,700 kg (3.748 lb) and has a maximum speed limit of 40 km/h (25 mph). The […]
New Zealand’s crowdfunded beach becomes public park
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — A New Zealand man whose ambitious crowdfunding campaign raised millions of dollars to buy a pristine South Island beach and make it public parkland said Monday it was “surreal” to see his dream realized. Duane Major’s push earlier this year to take Awaroa beach out of private hands and make it a national park quickly went viral, attracting 40,000 donations to raise a total of NZ$2.3 million (US$1.7 million). Major, […]
Australian mangrove die-off blamed on climate change
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Thousands of hectares of mangroves in Australia’s remote north have died, scientists said Monday, with climate change the likely cause. Some 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres), or nine percent of the mangroves in the Gulf of Carpentaria, perished in just one month according to researchers from Australia’s James Cook University, the first time such an event has been recorded. The so-called dieback — where mangroves are either dead or defoliated — was […]
Global push to make Mediterranean diet sexy again
by Céline CORNU MILAN, Italy (AFP) — It may be on the UNESCO heritage list, but global experts warn the Mediterranean diet, prized for its health benefits, is losing so much ground to the fast food culture that the decline may be irreversible. Rich in vegetables, fruits, cereals and extra virgin olive oil, the Mediterranean diet is based on a moderate consumption of fish, dairy products, eggs, red wine, and a small amount of meat. […]
All-Weather Urban Corridors for Clark and Angeles City
Ever worried about your car stalling in knee-deep floods? Or missing your flight due to impassable roads? A new study for Angeles City and the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga aims to ensure that the flow of goods, services and people remain undisrupted by assessing the vulnerability of roads to temperature increases and floods and identifying ‘All-Weather Urban Corridors.’ An All-Weather Urban Corridor is a network of roads with the ability to withstand the effects of extreme weather conditions, […]
How one man spread a killer virus in hospital
PARIS, France (AFP) — A single patient infected 82 people with the deadly MERS virus in an overcrowded South Korean emergency room in 2015, according to a scientific investigation released Saturday. The study, published in the medical journal The Lancet, maps a lethal outbreak of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in South Korea that caused 186 known infections in all, including nearly 40 fatalities. The case is the most prolific transmission of MERS virus from one […]
Climate change health impacts loom large
by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — The world should brace for potentially devastating impacts on human health due to climate change, top policy makers and officials from around the globe meeting in Paris said Thursday. Some of these consequences may be avoided if humanity radically curbs its use of fossil fuels in coming decades, but many are already being felt, they said at the opening of a two-day conference run by the World Health […]
Fendi models walk on water in Rome’s Trevi fountain
by Ella IDE ROME, Italy (AFP) — Shimmering models wearing the latest creations by Fendi appeared to walk on water Thursday at a fairytale show in Rome’s Trevi fountain to mark the luxury fashion house’s 90th anniversary. Above the sparkling waters of the Baroque fountain, models wearing hand-painted dresses in pale pink, blue and cream, adorned with hand-stitched flowers or starlit scenes, glided across a transparent catwalk in the basin. The soft, luxurious collection of […]
