WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US drug regulator gave full approval to a new Alzheimer’s medicine on Thursday, a move that makes it more widely available to the public through government-run health insurance for the elderly. Leqembi, developed jointly by Japan’s Eisai and Biogen of the United States, was shown in a clinical trial to modestly reduce cognitive decline among patients in the early stages of the disease. But the study also raised concerns […]
Life
Climate change, El Nino drive hottest June on record
By Benjamin LEGENDRE Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The world saw its hottest June on record last month, the EU’s climate monitoring service said Thursday, as climate change and the El Niño weather pattern looked likely to drive another scorching northern summer. The EU monitor Copernicus also said preliminary data showed Tuesday was the hottest day ever recorded — beating the record set only the day before. It’s the latest in a series of […]
Musk predicts Tesla self-driving cars ‘later this year’
SHANGHAI, July 6, 2023 (AFP) – Electric car giant Tesla is set to realise fully autonomous vehicles “later this year”, CEO Elon Musk said Thursday, in the billionaire’s latest forecast for the long-anticipated milestone. “In terms of where Tesla is at this stage, I think we are very close to achieving full self-driving without human supervision,” Musk said via video link at the opening ceremony of an artificial intelligence conference in Shanghai. “This is only […]
Final Ariane 5 blasts off amid Europe rocket crisis
By Juliette Collen PARIS, July 6, 2023 (AFP) – Europe’s workhorse Ariane 5 rocket blasted off for a final time on Wednesday, with its farewell flight after 27 years of launches coming at a difficult time for European space efforts. Faced with soaring global competition, the continent has unexpectedly found itself without a way to independently launch heavy missions into space due to delays to the next-generation Ariane 6 and Russia withdrawing its rockets. The […]
Meta launches Twitter rival Threads — but not in Europe
By Alex PIGMAN with Thomas URBAIN in New York WASHINGTON, July 6, 2023 (AFP) – Facebook behemoth Meta officially launched Threads, its text-based rival to Twitter, on Wednesday, with more than five million sign-ups in the first few hours — but its release in Europe has been delayed over data privacy concerns. Threads is the biggest challenger yet to Elon Musk-owned Twitter, which has seen a series of potential competitors emerge but not yet replace […]
Violins in the sun: Stradivari’s home workshop reopens in Italy
By Brigitte HAGEMANN Agence France-Presse CREMONA, Italy (AFP) — For over three centuries, music lovers the world over have been trying to unlock the secrets of Antonio Stradivari’s prized string instruments. Budding luthiers and young musicians can now get a step closer to the master by honing their skills in his original house and workshop, which have been transformed into a center of learning and a musical pilgrimage site in northern Italy. “The Stradivarius myth […]
WHO announces 18 mn malaria jab doses for 12 African nations
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Around 18 million doses of the first malaria vaccine will be delivered to 12 African countries by 2025, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the Vaccine Alliance said Wednesday. “Malaria remains one of Africa’s deadliest diseases, killing nearly half a million children under the age of five every year,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing. In 2021, 96 percent of the world’s malaria deaths occurred in Africa. The Mosquirix […]
Study highlights limitations of BMI in predicting death
By Issam AHMED Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — People classified as overweight though not obese are not at a higher risk of death, according to a new study Wednesday that underscores the limitations of the body mass index (BMI), long a standard medical metric. The findings, published in the journal PLOS ONE, come as populations in both rich and poor countries are becoming heavier. In the United States, more than 70 percent of […]
Final Ariane 5 blasts off amid Europe rocket crisis
By Juliette Collen Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Europe’s workhorse Ariane 5 rocket blasted off for a final time on Wednesday, with its farewell flight after 27 years of launches coming at a difficult time for European space efforts. Faced with soaring global competition, the continent has unexpectedly found itself without a way to independently launch heavy missions into space due to delays to the next-generation Ariane 6 and Russia withdrawing its rockets. The […]
Monday world’s hottest day on record, initial measurements show
PARIS, France (AFP) — Monday was the world’s hottest day on record, exceeding an average of 17 degrees Celsius (62.6 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time, according to initial measurements taken on Tuesday by US meteorologists. The average daily air temperature on the planet’s surface on July 3 was logged at 17.01C by an organisation attached to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This measurement surpasses the previous daily record (16.92C) set on […]
Britain’s public health service at 75: on life support?
By Jitendra JOSHI LONDON, July 4, 2023 (AFP) – Deeply loved but wracked by crisis, Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) on Wednesday marks 75 years since it was founded as the Western world’s first universal, free healthcare system. In a secular age, the NHS is the closest thing Britain has to a national religion — devoutly cherished, with levels of public support higher than the royal family or any other British institution. It was founded […]
Orchestra-conducting robot wows audience in S. Korean capital
SEOUL(AFP) – A South Korean-made robot made its debut as an orchestra conductor before a sell-out crowd in Seoul on Friday, wowing the audience with a flawless performance in place of a human maestro. Named “EveR 6”, the five-foot-ten-inch-tall (1.8m) robot guided more than 60 musicians of the National Orchestra of Korea who were playing traditional Korean instruments. The robot successfully guided the compositions, both independently and in collaboration with a human maestro who was […]
