Author: France 24

A NASA spacecraft, recently returned from a mission to asteroid Bennu, has been relaunched to study another asteroid as it approaches Earth’s orbit: Apophis, named after the Egyptian god of Chaos. The space rock is expected to pass within 32,000 kilometres of the Earth’s surface on April 13, 2029. Issued on: 29/12/2023 – 16:41 3 min On December 22, NASA announced it had relaunched its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to study a 370-metre-diameter asteroid approaching Earth’s orbit named Apophis.In Egyptian mythology, Apophis is a serpent-shaped god and an embodiment of darkness and disorder which seeks to eradicate the world. Thankfully, the asteroid…

Issued on: 29/12/2023 – 19:10 Thirteen short months ago, an innocuous tweet from the head of a Silicon Valley nonprofit launched something called ChatGPT. But within five days, more than one million people had taken up Sam Altman’s offer and tried out the new baby of OpenAI. Out were decades of grappling over the theoretical dangers of powerful artificial intelligence systems. In was a race to corner the market, with the parent companies of rivals Google and Facebook scrambling to match Microsoft’s $13 billion investment. High-stakes drama ensued, with the firing and re-hiring of Altman. But at the heart of that Silicon…

Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published…

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket blasted back into space on Thursday night to ferry the US military’s secretive X-37B drone to a research mission.  Issued on: 29/12/2023 – 10:04 2 min After weeks of delays, the rocket launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:07 pm Eastern Time (0107 GMT Friday) in a liftoff livestreamed on SpaceX’s website.It is unclear where exactly the uncrewed and autonomously operating spacecraft is headed on its seventh mission.The Pentagon has released little information about the space drone and its mission, which was initially scheduled for December 7, and SpaceX only cited the Pentagon’s…

South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun, best known for his role in the Oscar-winning film “Parasite”, was found dead Wednesday in an apparent suicide, Yonhap news agency reported. Issued on: 27/12/2023 – 06:19 1 min The actor was discovered inside a vehicle at a park in central Seoul, Yonhap reported, citing police.Lee, 48, had been under police investigation over his alleged use of marijuana and other psychoactive drugs.Once celebrated for his wholesome image, local news outlets reported that the actor was being dropped from television and commercial projects following the scandal.A graduate of South Korea’s prestigious Korea National University of Arts,…

Issued on: 27/12/2023 – 20:56Modified: 27/12/2023 – 21:50 03:23 “Gazan health authorities have revised their death toll upwards to over 21,000”, said FRANCE 24 reporter Luke Shrago, reporting from Tel Aviv, Israel. “No where in Gaza is truly safe”, with 1.9 million people displaced and moving place to place under bombardments, with strikes incoming and continuing, he added. Read more on related topics: Source link

The US government on Wednesday announced what it said was the last remaining package of weapons available for Ukraine under existing authorization, with Congress now needing to decide whether to keep supporting Kyiv’s battle against Russian invasion. Issued on: 27/12/2023 – 22:18Modified: 27/12/2023 – 22:55 1 min “The year’s final package” includes air-defense and artillery munitions, the State Department said in a statement. It added that Congress, where Republicans are split on supporting Ukraine, should “act swiftly” to renew the flow.President Joe Biden has made backing Ukraine a priority and US weapons and financial assistance have been crucial in helping…

Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the largest in the enclave, receives data from every hospital in the strip. Hospital administrators say they keep records of every wounded person occupying a bed and every body arriving at a morgue. The ministry also collects from other sources including the Palestinian Red Crescent.The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”. The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN…

Russia on Monday said its forces now fully controlled the town of Maryinka in eastern Ukraine, which President Vladimir Putin hailed as a “success” that would mean less shelling on the nearby Russian-held city of Donetsk. Issued on: 25/12/2023 – 22:32 1 min “Our assault units have today completely liberated the settlement of Maryinka,” Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin in a meeting shown on state television.Piles of rubble and gutted apartment buildings over a wide area could be seen in drone images shown on Russian television that were said to be of Maryinka.”I want to congratulate you,” Putin told…

A drone attack on Monday targeted a military base in northern Iraq used by US and anti-jihadist coalition forces, US and Iraqi officials said, in the latest such incident. Issued on: 25/12/2023 – 21:43Modified: 25/12/2023 – 21:44 1 min The number of attacks targeting the coalition, which deployed troops to Iraq to fight the Islamic State group, has surged since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7. In Monday’s incident a drone was launched towards a base close to Arbil airport, in Iraqi Kurdistan, Yehia Rasool, the Iraqi prime minister’s spokesman for military affairs, said in a statement.The attack…