Africa
Larry Ellison overtakes Elon Musk as world's richest person
Larry Ellison, the chair and chief technology officer of Oracle, is a supporter of Donald Trump and has regularly appeared at the White House. Larry Ellison, the chair and chief technology officer of Oracle, is a supporter of Donald Trump and has regularly appeared at the White House. Oracle co-founder's shares rose by 40% in early trading, valuing his fortune at $393bn, just ahead of Musk's $384bn US tech billionaire Larry Ellison is neck-and-neck with Elon Musk in the contest to be the world's richest person after briefly overtaking the Tesla chief executive on Wednesday Ellison's wealth surged after Oracle, the business software company in which he owns a stake of 41%, reported better than expected financial results. Oracle shares rose by more than 40% in early trading, at one point valuing the business software company at approximately $960bn (£707bn) and Ellison's stake at $393bn, just ahead of Musk's fortune of $384bn, according to Bloomberg's billionaires index. However, Ellison's lead was short-lived as the stock closed at $328, a rise of 36% valuing Ellison's shareholding at $378bn and putting Musk back ahead.
Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza reports second drone attack
Why did Israel strike Doha? Can the UN stand up to Trump on Palestine? World reacts to Israel's strike on Hamas Activists of the Global Sumud Flotilla say one of their Gaza-bound vessels was hit by a drone attack off Tunisia's coast on Tuesday, a day after another explosion damaged its main boat. Organisers say the mission, involving dozens of boats carrying aid to besieged Gaza, will continue despite the attacks. Israel strikes Yemen's Sanaa a day after hitting Qatar
Scientists are finally learning what's inside mysterious 'halo' barrels submerged off US coast
The suspect in Charlie Kirk's assassination has been captured, FBI director Kash Patel announced MSNBC sparks outrage for'disgusting' Charlie Kirk comments following Utah shooting Tragedy as Charlie Kirk's wife left behind with two young children after conservative activist is fatally shot A DEI mayor, an inconvenient crime and video they never wanted you to see: MAUREEN CALLAHAN knows why the Left has sympathy for that killer... but none for his victim Sweater weather starts here - the cozy, chic pieces from Soft Surroundings you'll actually wear all season We only had one symptom we dismissed... but then we were diagnosed with the rarest form of melanoma Soft-touch prosecutor let felon walk free... before crook'slit Auburn professor's throat in random attack' I tried the 30 cent'miracle chill pill' before a big event.. now I'm taking it for everything Donald Trump and House Republicans lead prayers for Charlie Kirk's family after conservative star is fatally shot Prince Harry says his father King Charles is'great' following their first meeting in 19 months... which was over a cup of tea and just 55 minutes long Liberal media defends thug who killed Ukrainian woman in cold blood: 'This man was hurting' Knifeman accused of stabbing Ukrainian refugee to death gives chilling reason for the attack... as he speaks for the first time from jail on the murder that shocked America Fox News reveals new lineup and elevates star White House reporter who's sparred with Trump Horrific new details of passenger injuries after they were'thrown' around Delta flight during'severe turbulence' Scientists are finally learning what's inside mysterious'halo' barrels submerged off US coast Scientists are just beginning to learn what is inside thousands of mysterious'halo' barrels submerged off the US coast. The barrels were discovered in the deep waters of the San Pedro Basin, near Los Angeles, in 2021. Scientists were initially worried that the barrels could contain DDT, a toxic pesticide that was banned in 1972 due to its serious environmental and health impact. However, a new study now shows that the barrels contain an unknown caustic alkali waste, which is creating eerie halos as it leaches into the sea floor. Using the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) SuBastian, the researchers carefully collected samples at a set distance from barrels with halos.
Poland shoots down Russian drones: Will NATO enter war in Ukraine?
How is Russia replenishing its military? What is a'coalition of the willing'? How China forgot promises and'debts' to Ukraine How are Europe, the US pulling apart on Ukraine? Poland shoots down Russian drones: Will NATO enter war in Ukraine? Polish and NATO forces scrambled to intercept Russian drones which entered Poland's airspace early on Tuesday night and early on Wednesday, marking their first direct military engagement with Moscow since the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,294
How is Russia replenishing its military? What is a'coalition of the willing'? How China forgot promises and'debts' to Ukraine How are Europe, the US pulling apart on Ukraine? A Russian air strike killed 24 elderly Ukrainians who were collecting pensions in eastern Ukraine's Yarova village, about 24km (15 miles) from the city of Sloviansk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Kyiv's allies to quickly boost supplies of air defence weapons to Ukraine and emphasised that Moscow interpreted a lack of stronger international sanctions on Russia as permission to continue its war.
Australia to spend 1.1bn on underwater 'Ghost Shark' attack drones
Australia to spend $1.1bn on underwater'Ghost Shark' attack drones Australia will spend 1.7 billion Australian dollars ($1.1bn) on a fleet of extra-large underwater "Ghost Shark" attack drones, in a move that officials said would supplement the country's plans to acquire sophisticated nuclear-powered submarines. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said on Wednesday that the Ghost Shark autonomous underwater vehicles will complement Australia's naval surface fleet and submarines to provide "a more capable and more lethal navy". "We have consistently articulated that Australia faces the most complex, in some ways, the most threatening, strategic landscape that we have had since the end of the second world war," Marles said. The government said it signed the $1.1bn, five-year contract with Anduril Australia to build, maintain and develop the uncrewed undersea vehicles in Australia. "This is the highest tech capability in the world," Marles said, adding that the drones would have a "very long range" as well as stealth capabilities.
Flotilla headed to Gaza reports second drone attack at Tunisian port
Supporters of Global Sumud Flotilla gather to show support in Sidi Bou Said port, Tunisia, on Wednesday. SIDI BOU SAID, Tunisia - The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), an international aid initiative to deliver vital supplies to the Gaza Strip, said Wednesday that one of its boats was attacked by a drone at a Tunisian port in the second such strike in two days. The GSF, which is seeking to break Israel's naval blockade and deliver humanitarian aid to war-torn Gaza using civilian boats, said in a statement that all passengers and crew were unharmed. The GSF reported the first attack on Tuesday, saying one of its vessels had been struck by a drone in Tunisian waters at the Sidi Bou Said port. Tunisian authorities said the reports were false. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
Poland downs drones during airspace intrusion as Russia attacks Ukraine
How is Russia replenishing its military? What is a'coalition of the willing'? How China forgot promises and'debts' to Ukraine How are Europe, the US pulling apart on Ukraine? Polish and NATO forces have shot down drones violating the country's airspace during a Russian aerial attack on neighbouring Ukraine. Fighter jets were scrambled early on Wednesday as more than a dozen drones entered Polish airspace, the Polish military said.
Alzheimer's blood test could 'revolutionise' diagnosis
More than 1,000 people across the UK with suspected dementia are to be offered a blood test for Alzheimer's disease which it is hoped could revolutionise diagnosis of the disease. The blood test can detect biomarkers for rogue proteins which accumulate in the brains of patients with the condition and will be used in addition to pen and paper cognitive tests, which often misdiagnose it in its early stages. Scientists leading the trial at University College London believe the blood test will improve the accuracy of diagnosis from 70% to more than 90% and want to see how that helps patients and clinicians. Patients will be recruited at 20 memory clinics as part of the study, which aims to see how well the test works within the NHS. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and is associated with the build-up in the brain of two rogue proteins - amyloid and tau - which can accumulate for up to 20 years before symptoms emerge.
AlphaEarth Foundations: An embedding field model for accurate and efficient global mapping from sparse label data
Brown, Christopher F., Kazmierski, Michal R., Pasquarella, Valerie J., Rucklidge, William J., Samsikova, Masha, Zhang, Chenhui, Shelhamer, Evan, Lahera, Estefania, Wiles, Olivia, Ilyushchenko, Simon, Gorelick, Noel, Zhang, Lihui Lydia, Alj, Sophia, Schechter, Emily, Askay, Sean, Guinan, Oliver, Moore, Rebecca, Boukouvalas, Alexis, Kohli, Pushmeet
Unprecedented volumes of Earth observation data are continually collected around the world, but high-quality labels remain scarce given the effort required to make physical measurements and observations. This has led to considerable investment in bespoke modeling efforts translating sparse labels into maps. Here we introduce AlphaEarth Foundations, an embedding field model yielding a highly general, geospatial representation that assimilates spatial, temporal, and measurement contexts across multiple sources, enabling accurate and efficient production of maps and monitoring systems from local to global scales. The embeddings generated by AlphaEarth Foundations are the only to consistently outperform a suite of other well-known/widely accepted featurization approaches tested on a diverse set of mapping evaluations without re-training. We have released a dataset of global, annual, analysis-ready embedding field layers from 2017 through 2024.