December 19, 2019

For Canadian Researcher, It’s A Microscopic Christmas

December 19, 2019 5:31 pm

There was Tiny Tim, and then the Little Drummer Boy — but they had nothing on the microscopic gingerbread house believed to be the smallest in the world and unveiled Wednesday by a Canadian researcher.

About half the size of one made in France last year, it was cut and etched from silicon, complete with sharply defined bricks and trim, and a Canadian flag for a welcome mat.

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McMaster University researcher Travis Casagrande said he used a beam of charged gallium ions that acted like a sandblaster.…

Domestic

S.Africa Still Hobbled By Abusive Legacy Of Domestic Work

December 19, 2019 5:30 pm

For three years, Siyamthanda Dube lived in a shed outside the house where she cleaned, cooked and babysat for a South African family.

Her employers asked her to move to “be with the kids” after their mum started a new job in 2014.

Dube complied, bringing her two daughters and reluctant husband from their home in a Johannesburg township.

“We put the bed up on top of buckets so that we could put the kids’ mattresses underneath,” she said.

“The house was under trees and all the jojos (bugs) would come inside.”

Domestic workers in South Africa often live …

Olympic Games Manifesto Sells For Record Of $8.8 million

December 19, 2019 5:24 pm

A new auction world record for an item of sports memorabilia was set Wednesday when the original Olympic Games manifesto sold for $8.8 million at Sotheby’s, the auction house said.

The 14-page manuscript was written in 1892 by Pierre de Coubertin, a French aristocrat and athletics enthusiast known as the “father” of the modern Olympics.

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It achieved nearly nine times its pre-sale estimate of $1 million following 12 minutes of intense bidding at a sale in New York, Sotheby’s said in a statement.

“Today’s record result stands as …

Eight-Yr-Old Is Highest Paid YouTuber, Earns $26M In A Year

December 19, 2019 5:23 pm

Eight-year-old Ryan Kaji earned $26 million in 2019 on his YouTube channel, making him the highest-paid creator on the platform, according to a list published Wednesday by Forbes magazine.

Kaji, whose real name is Ryan Guan, was already the video platform’s highest earner in 2018, with $22 million, according to Forbes.

His channel “Ryan’s World,” launched in 2015 by Ryan’s parents, is only three years old but already has 22.9 million subscribers.

Initially called “Ryan ToysReview,” the channel mostly consisted of “unboxing” videos — videos of the young star opening boxes of toys and playing with them.

Several of …

‘Turning Point’ As Number Of Male Smokers Drops: WHO

December 19, 2019 5:23 pm

The number of male tobacco users is falling for the first time, the World Health Organization said Thursday, hailing a “major shift” in efforts to kick the world’s deadly tobacco addiction.

The number of women and girls who use tobacco products has been steadily declining for years. But tobacco use among males — who account for the overwhelming majority of smokers — has until now been expanding.

In a new report, the UN health agency hailed the beginning decline as a powerful indication that anti-smoking campaigns around the globe had begun to pay off.

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FC Cologne Scraps China Football Academy

December 19, 2019 5:22 pm

German Bundesliga club FC Cologne has pulled out of a football academy in China, with one senior official saying “human rights are massively disrespected” in the country.

Cologne had been slated to run the school for young footballers in Shenyang, northeast China, for 1.8 million euros ($2.0 million).

Club president Werner Wolf said in a statement Wednesday “we have decided not to continue the project… due to the current sporting situation,” saying a reevaluation of “resources and priorities” were behind the move.

“Other forms of possible co-operation, for example sponsoring from Chinese companies, hasn’t been ruled out,” he added.

But …

Students Defiant As Uni Charter Cuts Freedom Of Thought

December 19, 2019 5:22 pm

A top Chinese university has removed references to “freedom of thought” from its charter, triggering a rare act of student defiance, while two other institutions added language stressing fealty to President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party.

A video circulating this week showed students at Shanghai’s Fudan University singing the school song — which extols “academic independence and freedom of thought” — in an apparent protest.

Fudan’s charter change was announced by the Ministry of Education on its website late Tuesday and criticism quickly trended on social media before China’s ever-vigilant online censors acted to delete posts and block …

Trump Seeks Rapid Exoneration In Senate After Impeachment

December 19, 2019 5:21 pm

US President Donald Trump pressed his Republican allies Thursday to exert rigid control of his Senate trial and ensure a swift exoneration, a day after he was impeached in a historic rebuke by the House of Representatives.

A bitter fight looms over the coming hearings, expected to begin as early as the second week of January, with Senate leaders already drawing battle lines over the evidence that will be allowed.

Trump is charged with abuse of office and obstruction of Congress but Democrats, who led the three-month House investigation, are threatening to delay sending the articles of impeachment to …

FSB Agent Killed, Attacker ‘Neutralised’ In Moscow Shootout

December 19, 2019 5:21 pm

An officer in Russia’s FSB security service was killed and five people were wounded Thursday when a gunman opened fire near its central Moscow headquarters.

The FSB, a successor to the KGB, said the lone attacker was “neutralised” after the attack outside its notorious headquarters on Lubyanka Square close to a busy shopping area in the heart of the Russian capital.

Footage shot by passers-by showed people running in panic while armed officers made their way towards the scene after the late evening incident, taking cover behind parked cars.

“An unknown individual opened fire near building… there are casualties. …

2 Dead After Police Open Fire Amid Raging India Protests

December 19, 2019 5:21 pm

At least two people are dead after police opened fire at a demonstration, an official said Thursday, as fresh protests erupted across India against a contentious citizenship law that critics say is anti-Muslim.

The men — Abdul Jalil, 49, and Samshir Kudroli, 23 — “died in police firing during the protests”, Qadir Shah, a spokesman for the deputy commissioner of the southern city of Mangalore, told AFP, adding that a curfew had been imposed in the city with schools, restaurants and bars shut.

Another man taken to the King George’s Medical University Trauma Centre in Lucknow in the northern …

Ganduje’s New Emirs Shun Emir Sanusi At State Function

December 19, 2019 1:58 pm

The lingering crisis in Kano State emirate council has deepened as four new emirs, recently appointed by governor, Abdullahi Ganduje on Thursday shunned emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi ll at a Passing out Parade Ceremony of Regular Course Cadets, holding now in the Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil.

The governor, recently signed into law, the bill for the creation of four additional Emirates with first-class emirs in Bichi, Gaya, Karaye and Rano after a high court nullified the first law in November.

However, the four emirs, who arrived at the venue of the ceremony earlier than Mr Sanusi, did not pay …

NDDC: Revelations Emerge As Buhari Sacks Board

December 19, 2019 1:57 pm

Centre for Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade (CHURAC) has commended the decision by President Muhammadu Buhari to dissolve the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

CHURAC president, Cleric E. Alaowei, in a statement sent to NAN on Thursday, said the sack was a victory for public interest litigators.

The statement revealed that NDCC was in a mess and alleged massive corruption in the agency.

He recalled that the body and other well-meaning Nigerians had challenged the legality of the President to appoint Chairman of the Board from Edo State without following the rotational circle as provided by the …

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