Life

Nestle denies ‘double standard’ on baby food in poorer countries

ZURICH (AFP) – Nestle denied Thursday that it was applying any “double standard” after an NGO accused the Swiss food giant of selling baby food with high levels of added sugar in low-income countries but not in wealthier nations. “There is no double standard,” the company said in a statement. “We apply the same nutrition, health and wellness principles everywhere.” In a report published last week, Swiss NGO Public Eye said that “two of the […]

Poland trumpets its Van Gogh, once peddled for a beer

By Anna Maria Jakubek WARSAW (AFP) – Poland opened an art show Friday to celebrate its only Van Gogh painting, a rare early landscape worth millions that was once hawked by a pedlar for the price of a beer. “Country Huts Among Trees” dates from 1883 when the impoverished Dutch artist was still learning to paint in the countryside around The Hague. The small oil painting — also known as “Farmhouses Among Trees” — is […]

Cicada-palooza! Billions of bugs to blanket America

By Issam AHMED WASHINGTON, April 27, 2024 (AFP) – They’re loud. They’re sexually aroused. And for one special, cacophonous month up to a trillion of them will engulf suburbs and woodlands across America. Two cicada “broods” are set for a rare double emergence that last occurred in 1803, when Thomas Jefferson was president and the United States purchased Louisiana from France. The prospect of another natural wonder just weeks after a total solar eclipse across […]

Louvre says Mona Lisa could get a room of her own

PARIS, April 27, 2024 (AFP) – The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, the world’s most famous portrait, could get a room of its own in the Louvre, the museum’s president said on Saturday. Such a move would give visitors, many of whom visit the Louvre for the iconic painting alone, a better experience, Laurence des Cars told the France Inter broadcaster. “It’s always frustrating when you don’t give visitors the best possible reception, and […]

Kenyan rugby player turned TikTok star cooks to fight depression

By Simon VALMARY NAIROBI, April 26, 2024 (AFP) – “Done!” — the catchphrase punctuating former rugby player Dennis Ombachi’s cooking videos is as famous as the balcony of the Nairobi apartment where he films himself in action. A former Rugby Sevens international, Ombachi reinvented himself to become a social media star with a global fanbase in just a few years> He has 2.3 million followers on TikTok and 1.4 million on Instagram. Known as “The […]

China’s Shenzhou-18 mission docks with space station: Xinhua

By Michael ZHANG A spaceship carrying three astronauts from China’s Shenzhou-18 mission safely docked at Tiangong space station Friday, state-run media reported, the latest step in Beijing’s space programme that aims to send astronauts to the Moon by 2030. The crew took off in a capsule atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China’s northwest at 8:59 pm local time !1259 GMT) Thursday. By early Friday the spacecraft had “successfully […]

Japan anime studio draws on talent of autistic artists

By Harumi OZAWA KYOTO, Japan, April 26, 2024 (AFP) – Diagnosed with autism, Shoko Sakuma says she struggled working in accounting but now she is putting her childhood love of drawing to work in a special Japanese animation studio. The groundbreaking initiative aims to provide job training and confidence to people with autism who can find it hard to cope in Japan’s often high-stress and long-hours work environment. “I was really bad at numbers, which […]

DR Congo accuses Apple of using ‘blood minerals’ from war-torn east

By Lucie PEYTERMANN The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo is accusing Apple of using “illegally exploited” minerals extracted from the country’s embattled east in its products, lawyers representing the African country said Thursday. The DRC’s lawyers have sent Apple a formal notice seen by AFP, effectively warning the tech giant that it could face legal action if the alleged practice continues. The Paris-based lawyers accused Apple of purchasing minerals smuggled from the DRC […]

US astronauts prep for first crewed flight on Boeing’s Starliner

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, United States, April 25, 2024 (AFP) – Two US astronauts arrived Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ahead of their launch aboard the Boeing Starliner’s first crewed mission next month. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will blast off on the years-delayed flight on May 6 for a weeklong stay on the International Space Station (ISS). “We’re about to launch on Boeing Starliner and broaden the capability to and from Space […]

Microsoft, Google earnings shine as AI drives revenue

By Glenn CHAPMAN Microsoft and Google on Thursday drubbed quarterly earnings expectations as the tech titans continued investing heavily in artificial intelligence promising to shake up the way people live. The results were cheered by Wall Street investors who pushed up Alphabet’s share price more than 11 percent and Microsoft shares up nearly 4 percent in after-market trades. Google parent Alphabet reported profit of $23.7 billion on revenue of $80.5 billion, crediting growth in cloud […]

155 killed in Tanzania as heavy rains lash East Africa

DAR ES SALAAM, April 25, 2024 (AFP) – At least 155 people have died in Tanzania as torrential rains linked to El Nino triggered flooding and landslides, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said Thursday. Tanzania and other countries in East Africa — a region highly vulnerable to climate change — have been pounded by heavier than usual rainfall during the current rainy season, with dozens of deaths also reported in Kenya. Majaliwa said more than 51,000 […]

Pakistan horror zoo is reborn as rehab centre

By Shrouq TARIQ ISLAMABAD, April 25, 2024 (AFP) – Before it was forced to close over its “intolerable” treatment of animals, the Islamabad Zoo was home to neglected elephants and underfed lions pacing back and forth behind the bars of their enclosures. Now, four years later, it is a rehabilitation centre for Pakistani wildlife, providing a refuge for motherless leopard cubs, tigers seized from owners who kept them as status symbols, and bears forced to […]