PARIS, May 10, 2023 (AFP) – The Pompidou Centre in Paris, one of the world’s top modern art museums, will shut down for refurbishment for five years from 2025, France’s culture minister said Wednesday. The Pompidou houses work by artists from Pablo Picasso to Wassily Kandinsky and welcomed more than three million visitors last year. But its ground-breaking “inside out” structure by architects Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, that displays pipework on the outside, has […]
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iPhone maker Foxconn buys huge site in India tech hub
Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn has bought a huge tract of land on the outskirts of Indian tech hub Bengaluru, the key Apple supplier said in a filing Tuesday as it looks to diversify production away from China. Also known by its official name, Hon Hai Precision Industry, Foxconn is the world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer and a principal assembler of Apple iPhones. Both companies are seeking to diversify away from China, where much of their […]
AI could replace 80% of jobs ‘in next few years’: expert
By Eugenia LOGIURATTO Agence France-Presse RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Artificial intelligence could replace 80 percent of human jobs in the coming years — but that’s a good thing, says US-Brazilian researcher Ben Goertzel, a leading AI guru. Mathematician, cognitive scientist and famed robot-creator Goertzel, 56, is founder and chief executive of SingularityNET, a research group he launched to create “Artificial General Intelligence,” or AGI — artificial intelligence with human cognitive abilities. With his […]
NASA launches two small satellites to track hurricanes
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — NASA launched two small satellites designed to track tropical cyclones hour by hour from a base in New Zealand on Monday, in a project that could improve weather predictions on devastating storms. The new storm trackers, sent into orbit on a rocket built by US company Rocket Lab, can fly over hurricanes (or typhoons in the Pacific) every hour, compared to every six hours with current satellites. Researchers will be […]
Western Canada wildfires force more evacuations
MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Western Canada’s spreading wildfires prompted fresh evacuation orders on Sunday as authorities registered over 100 active blazes. Around 30,000 people have been told to leave their homes in Alberta, where more than two dozen fires have not yet been brought under control. Calling the situation “unprecedented,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith declared a state of emergency on Saturday. The province — one of the world’s largest oil-producing regions — “has been experiencing […]
Vietnam posts record high temperature: officials
HANOI, May 7, 2023 (AFP) – Vietnam reported a record high temperature late Saturday with a north-central weather station measuring 44.1 degrees Celsius (111.38 degrees Fahrenheit), officials said, breaking a previous high set in 2019. South Asia has been sweltering under a heatwave for much of April, with neighbouring countries also registering record temperatures. Vietnam’s weather varies from north to south, but the entire country is now entering its hottest summer months. The record temperature […]
Journey to the center of the world (Hint: it’s in California)
By Paula RAMON Agence France-Presse FELICITY, United States (AFP) — Every morning, Jacques-Andre Istel has breakfast in bed at the center of the world. Istel is founder, mayor and postmaster general of Felicity, a stretch of California’s Sonora Desert where for nearly four decades he has been building a museum of, y’know… the whole of human history. “This doesn’t exist anywhere else on this planet,” the 94-year-old told AFP. What started in 1986 with two […]
Covid returns to strike peloton ahead of Giro
By Jacques KLOPP Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Two days before the start of the Giro d’Italia, Covid-19 has returned to haunt the peloton, causing several riders to withdraw after testing positive, including three from the Jumbo-Visma team of Primoz Roglic. On Thursday, Jumbo-Visma announced a third positive case with Jos van Emden being forced to step down. The Dutchman was one of the two riders, along with Rohan Dennis, who had been called […]
US becomes first country to approve RSV vaccine
WASHINGTON, May 3, 2023 (AFP) – The United States on Wednesday approved the world’s first vaccine for the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), the culmination of a decades-long hunt to protect vulnerable people from the common illness. Drugmaker GSK’s Arexvy was green-lighted for adults aged 60 and older, with similar shots from other makers including Pfizer and Moderna expected to follow soon. “Today’s approval of the first RSV vaccine is an important public health achievement to […]
Rwanda counts cost after floods, landslides kill 130
RUBAVU, Rwanda, May 4, 2023 (AFP) – Rwandans grieved Thursday for lost loved ones and destroyed homes after powerful floods and landslides tore through the country killing at least 130 people and leaving many thousands homeless. The government was still counting the cost as families prepared to bury their dead in the aftermath of a natural disaster caused by torrential rains in the steep and hilly country. Rivers of mud swept away homes and other […]
Record sea surface heat sparks fears of warming surge
PARIS, May 4, 2023 (AFP) – With sea surface temperatures swelling to new highs in recent weeks, scientists warn that humanity’s carbon pollution has the potential to turn oceans into a global warming “time bomb”. Oceans absorb most of the heat caused by planet-warming gases, causing heatwaves that harm aquatic life, altering weather patterns and disrupting crucial planet-regulating systems. While sea surface temperatures normally recede relatively quickly from annual peaks, this year they stayed high, […]
Microsoft expands AI access to public
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Microsoft on Thursday expanded public access to its generative artificial intelligence programs, despite fears that tech firms are rushing ahead too quickly with potentially dangerous technology. The AI-enhanced features of the company’s Bing search engine and Edge internet browser are now open for anyone to use, Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president, said in a blog post. “This means that it will now be easier than ever for everyone to […]