Artificial intelligence fuels Big Tech partnerships with nuclear energy producers
The team battled a notoriously strong current and used the stars as their guide to reach an island in an unstable vessel made of Japanese cedar
Dr Yousuke Kaifu was working at an archaeological site on the Japanese islands of Okinawa when a question started to bubble in his mind. The pieces unearthed in the excavation, laid out before him, revealed evidence of humans living there 30,000 years ago, arriving from the north and the south. But how did they get there?
“There are stone tools and archaeological remains at the site but they don’t answer those questions,” Kaifu, an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of Tokyo, says.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Yousuke Kaifu/The University of Tokyo
© Photograph: Yousuke Kaifu/The University of Tokyo
Costa Rica-based inter-American court of human rights says states have obligation to respond to climate change
There is a human right to a stable climate and states have a duty to protect it, a top court has ruled.
Announcing the publication of a crucial advisory opinion on climate change on Thursday, Nancy Hernández López, president of the inter-American court of human rights (IACHR), said climate change carries “extraordinary risks” that are felt particularly keenly by people who are already vulnerable.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Agencia Press South/Getty Images
© Photograph: Agencia Press South/Getty Images
The Reservoir Dogs and Donnie Brasco actor had a rare, sometimes scary power, as well as a winning self-awareness and levity
Until 1992, when people heard Stuck in the Middle With You by Stealers Wheel on the radio, they might smile and nod and sing along to its catchy soft-rock tune and goofy Dylan-esque lyrics. But after 1992, with the release of Quentin Tarantino’s sensationally tense and violent crime movie Reservoir Dogs, the feelgood mood around that song forever darkened. That was down to an unforgettably scary performance by Michael Madsen, who has died at the age of 67.
Stuck in the Middle, with its lyrics about being “so scared in case I fall off my chair”, was to be always associated with the image of Madsen, whom Tarantino made an icon of indie American movies, with his boxy black suit, sinister, ruined handsomeness and powerful physique running to fat, playing tough guy Vic Vega, AKA Mr Blonde. He grooved back and forth across the room, in front of a terrified undercover cop tied to a chair, dancing to that Stealers Wheel number, holding his straight razor, which he had removed from his boot – smirkingly preparing to torture the cop (that is, torture him further) by cutting off his ear.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Myung Jung Kim/PA
© Photograph: Myung Jung Kim/PA
Court halts ruling that allowed migrants to challenge removal to countries where they could be in danger
The supreme court has allowed the Trump administration to deport the eight men who have been held for weeks at an American military base in Djibouti to war-torn South Sudan, a country where almost none of them have ties.
Most of the men are from countries including Vietnam, South Korea, Mexico, Laos, Cuba and Myanmar. Just one is from South Sudan.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Kevin Mohatt/Reuters
© Photograph: Kevin Mohatt/Reuters
An initial £45m bid was rejected by Forest last week
Newcastle look to bolster squad for Champions League
Newcastle United are optimistic of striking a deal to sign the Nottingham Forest forward Anthony Elanga after submitting an improved offer worth about £55m. Last week Newcastle had a £45m bid rejected but have returned with an increased offer.
Newcastle and Eddie Howe are long-term admirers of Elanga, who featured for Forest in every Premier League match last season, scoring six goals and providing 11 assists as Nuno Espírito Santo’s side qualified for the Europa Conference League, returning to European competition for the first time since 1995-96. Newcastle qualified for the Champions League after finishing fifth.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images
© Photograph: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images
Early-morning negotiations proved enough to persuade hardline House conservatives to back bill in 218-214 vote
The US House of Representatives passed Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill on Thursday, handing the president the first major legislative victory of his second term and sending to his desk wide-ranging legislation expected to supercharge immigration enforcement and slash federal safety net programs.
The 218-214 vote came after weeks of wrangling over the measure that Trump demanded be ready for his signature by Friday, the Independence Day holiday. Written by his Republican allies in Congress and unanimously rejected by Democrats, the bill traveled an uncertain road to passage that saw multiple all-night votes in the House and Senate and negotiations that lasted until the final hours before passage. Ultimately, Republicans who had objected to its cost and contents folded, and the bill passed with just two GOP defections: Thomas Massie, a rightwing Kentucky lawmaker, and Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents a Pennsylvania district that voted for Kamala Harris in last year’s election.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Graeme Sloan/EPA
© Photograph: Graeme Sloan/EPA
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