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World’s largest cruise ship to set sail as industry rebounds

With cruise bookings seeing a resurgence after the Covid pandemic caused luxury liners to mothball, a Finnish shipyard is putting the final touches on what will be the world’s largest cruise ship. Royal Caribbean’s luxurious new vessel Icon of the Seas is nearing completion in the Turku shipyard on Finland’s southwestern coast, its maiden voyage scheduled for January 2024. “This ship is as of today, as far as we are aware of, the biggest cruise […]

The temperature the human body cannot survive

By Daniel Lawler Scientists have identified the maximum mix of heat and humidity a human body can survive. Even a healthy young person will die after enduring six hours of 35-degree Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) warmth when coupled with 100 percent humidity, but new research shows that threshold could be significantly lower. At this point sweat — the body’s main tool for bringing down its core temperature — no longer evaporates off the skin, eventually leading […]

NASA may delay crewed lunar landing beyond Artemis 3 mission

NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, set to return humans to the Moon in 2025, might not involve a crewed landing after all, an official said Tuesday. Jim Free, the space agency’s associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, told reporters in a briefing that certain key elements would have to be in place — notably the landing system that is being developed by SpaceX. Should that not be ready on time, “We may end […]

Pianist dedicates music to Indigenous people who inspired him

By Daniel Rook RETOSACHI, Mexico, Aug 9, 2023 (AFP) – Romayne Wheeler sits at his grand piano overlooking Mexico’s Copper Canyon and plays music inspired by the mountains and remote Indigenous communities that he now dedicates his life to helping. The 81-year-old California-born composer no longer lives in the cave where he slept with his solar-powered portable piano after arriving several decades ago in the Sierra Tarahumara in northwestern Mexico. But he feels as close […]

Tory Lanez sentenced to 10 years for shooting Megan Thee Stallion

Canadian rapper Tory Lanez, convicted of shooting US artist Megan Thee Stallion in the feet during a drunken argument after a Hollywood party, was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison. A Los Angeles judge handed down the sentence after hearing how Lanez had ordered the hip-hop star to “Dance, bitch” as he shot at her several times while she stood on the road. The sentencing follows Lanez’s conviction in December for assault with a […]

Amazon nations launch alliance to fight deforestation at summit

By Eugenia LOGIURATTO Eight South American countries agreed Tuesday to launch an alliance to fight deforestation in the Amazon, vowing at a summit in Brazil to stop the world’s biggest rainforest from reaching “a point of no return.” The closely watched summit of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) adopted what host country Brazil called a “new and ambitious shared agenda” to save the rainforest, a crucial buffer against climate change that experts warn is […]

Third BTS member to enlist in South Korean military service

A third member of K-pop megastars BTS has begun the process of enlisting in South Korea’s mandatory military service, the band’s agency said Monday. All able-bodied men in South Korea must serve at least 18 months in the military and, after a years-long debate about whether BTS deserved an exemption, Jin, the oldest member of the group, enlisted last year, followed by his bandmate J-Hope in April. “We would like to inform our fans that […]

After heatwave, typhoon forces S. Korea to evacuate scout jamboree

Organisers of the World Scout Jamboree asked host South Korea Monday to “urgently” evacuate tens of thousands of children from their campsite ahead of a typhoon, just days after a heatwave caused mass scout illnesses. Typhoon Khanun, which killed at least two people in Japan, is due to make landfall in South Korea on Thursday, near where some 43,000 scouts have been camping in North Jeolla province for their problem-plagued jamboree. Korean media have called […]

Five injured in Paris building blast

PARIS, Aug 5, 2023 (AFP) – Five people were injured on Saturday in an explosion at a residential building in the north of Paris, police and emergency services said. The blast recalled another in the French capital in June, when three people died in an explosion that caused a building to burst into flames and collapse in an area near the centre of the city popular with tourists. Saturday’s blast in the 18th Arrondissement was […]

DEVELOPING STORY: Wagner chief says he is inside Rostov army HQ, controls city’s military sites

MOSCOW, June 24, 2023 (AFP) – The head of Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin announced Saturday that he was inside the army HQ in southern Russia’s Rostov-on-Don and that his fighters control the city’s military sites, including an aerodrome, after vowing to bring down Moscow’s top brass. “We are inside the (army) headquarters, it is 7:30 am (0430 GMT),” Prigozhin said in a video on Telegram. “Military sites in Rostov, including an aerodrome, are under […]

Musk talks ‘new energy vehicles’ with industry minister during China visit

BEIJING, May 31, 2023 (AFP) — Elon Musk and China’s industry minister discussed ways to develop new energy vehicles Wednesday, a day after the Tesla CEO flew into Beijing and declared he wanted to expand his business in the world’s second largest economy. The mercurial billionaire, one of the world’s richest men, is on his first trip to China in more than three years. On Wednesday he met Jin Zhuanglong in Beijing to discuss “the […]

Broader national security law takes effect in Macau

HONG KONG, May 30, 2023 (AFP) – Macau’s new national security law took effect on Tuesday, imposing wider restrictions on political opposition and civil society in the Chinese city. The gambling hub has a separate legal system from the Chinese mainland, largely based on Portuguese law, and national security legislation was first enacted in 2009. Macau’s government said the amendments were designed to catch up with similar legislation in China and Hong Kong, with an […]