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☆ Berlusconi Seizes Italy’s Attention Even in Death
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Elisabetta Povoledo | Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Not even death could keep Silvio Berlusconi from center stage. And Mr. Berlusconi, who loomed over Italian politics as prime minister and power broker for decades, still dominated the country a day after his death on Monday at 86. Mourners brought flowers to his palatial villa. His critics debated whether he had transformed Italy for good or ill. His most ardent admirers declared that he was foremost in their thoughts and prayers. “I think this was his greatest charisma.”

Persons: Silvio Berlusconi, —, Berlusconi, Deborah Bergamini, “ Organizations: Forza Italia, Mr, RAI Locations: Italy

☆ Singapore university unveils Asia’s largest timber building
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Oscar Holland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Sprawling across 43,500 square meters (468,000 square feet), it is now Asia’s largest timber building, by floor area. Some countries now even allow for high-rises (or “plyscrapers”), like Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s 25-story Ascent, which at 284 feet, is the world’s tallest mass timber structure. Advocates for mass timber point to the relatively slow and predictable rate at which the material burns. Many of the purported benefits of mass timber are, however, environmental. If a tree is then turned into mass timber, this embodied carbon is sequestered, or “locked in,” rather than being returned to the atmosphere.

Persons: Lee Kuan Yew, sunlit, Gaia, Toyo Ito, “, ”, ” Ito, Ito, Ho Teck Hua, ’ Organizations: Singapore CNN —, Nanyang Technological University’s, Singapore, CNN, RSP, Nanyang Technological, NTU, Construction Authority, NTU Singapore Locations: Singapore, Singapore CNN — Singapore, ”, Nanyang, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Europe, NTU Singapore, Milwaukee, Asia

☆ In Flood-Stricken Area of Italy, Residents Fear This Won’t Be the Last of It
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | Elisabetta Povoledo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When the floods hit in the northern Italian town of Lugo this past week, overflowing a local watercourse and sending water gushing into streets and the surrounding fields, Irinel Lungu, 45, retreated with his wife and toddler to the second floor of their home. As rescue workers navigated submerged streets in dinghies to deliver baby formula and rescue older people from their homes, the couple watched in the cold as the water rose higher and higher. Swelled rivers and canals have submerged vast swaths of the countryside. Hundreds of dangerous landslides have paralyzed much of the area. And some landlocked towns in the mountains are completely isolated, essentially reachable only by helicopter.

☆ The Martian Chronicles
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Alec Nevala-Lee | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Instead of astronauts, exploration has been left to robots, which attract passionate fans of their own. As Shindell observes, a trip to Mars “always seems to be two or three decades in the future,” allowing policies in the present to be justified or forgiven indefinitely. To his credit, Shindell persuasively argues that Mars is most instructive when it sheds light on how we see ourselves. Proposals for Martian colonies are often tangled up with the language of capitalism and privilege, treating the planet as an escape hatch that minimizes the need to solve problems on Earth. It fills the same imaginative role today that America once did for Europe, which underlines the danger of exporting old assumptions to an undiscovered country.

☆ After Earthquakes and Drought, Floods Devastate Northern Italy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Elisabetta Povoledo | Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Eleven years ago this month, back-to-back earthquakes struck the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, which this week was devastated by another disaster: Widespread flooding that has caused at least 14 deaths and left thousands more homeless. On Friday, rescue workers continued to clear streets of mud, while towns in the Ravenna area remained submerged. Hundreds of roads were blocked by landslides making travel in the region difficult — with some towns cut off completely — and power was still out in some places. Officials said the full extent of the damage was still not clear in the region, which had recently been plagued by drought and where few have forgotten the devastating 2012 earthquake. “We couldn’t have imagined that we would commemorate the 11th anniversary of the earthquake — moreover with the satisfaction of having rebuilt practically everything or almost everything — with a new earthquake to deal with, because that’s what it is,” Stefano Bonaccini, the president of the Emilia-Romagna region, said in reference to the flooding at a news conference on Friday evening.

☆ Russia-Ukraine War News: Pope Francis Discusses Peace Efforts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

A photo provided by the Vatican shows Pope Francis, center left, with the prime minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, center right, during a private audience in the Vatican on Thursday. Pope Francis discussed peace efforts in Ukraine with the country’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, during a private audience at the Vatican on Thursday, their first known meeting since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. The relationship between Ukraine and Francis, who has long called for peace and decried what he called barbaric acts of war, was troubled in the early months of the conflict. Mr. Shmyhal also asked the pope for help in “returning home Ukrainian children” who have been deported to Russia. Early in the war Ukrainian officials criticized the pope’s decision not to name Russia or its president, Vladimir V. Putin, as the aggressor in the conflict.

☆ What Is the Synod of Bishops?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Synod of Bishops is a religious assembly of bishops from all over the world who gather in Rome to discuss issues vital to the Roman Catholic Church and act as an advisory body to the pope. The word synod means “coming together.” It stems from ancient Greek, and is a combination of the word “together” and “road” or “way.”Pope Francis announced on Wednesday that for the first time at an upcoming synod, women and laypeople will be able to vote. As a result, half of the 70 non-bishop voting members will be women, and five nuns will also have voting rights. Preparation for such events requires years, as church leaders hold consultations and listen to their local communities before the selected bishops travel to the Vatican to gather around the pope, who ultimately decides possible changes to the church’s discipline or administration. The Vatican has described synods as opportunities for bishops “to interact with each other and to share information and experiences, in the common pursuit of pastoral solutions which have a universal validity and application.”

☆ Italy’s Senate Signs Off on Meloni’s Migrant Crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Italy’s Senate on Thursday passed the first comprehensive immigration package by the hard-right government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which would curb integration efforts, create new government-controlled migrant centers to house those waiting on asylum applications and more detention facilities, as well as establish harsher punishment for people smugglers. Under the new policies, migrants will have to stay in the centers until their asylum applications are processed, which can take up to two years in Italy. While they wait, they will not be able to seek independent lodging and will have a hard time beginning any organic form of integration into communities. Italy is also planning information campaigns in the migrants’ countries of origin to dissuade them from leaving, in exchange for extra visa quotas. Ms. Meloni leads a coalition whose main parties have strong anti-immigrant agendas.

CNN —A female bear that was sentenced to death for the fatal mauling of jogger in Italy has been given a stay of execution until May 11, officials in Trento have said. Andrea Papi, 26, was attacked and killed last week while jogging in a public nature reserve in the Trentino–Alto Adige region of northern Italy. In the last 15 years, several bear attacks have been reported, including the nearly fatal attack of a mushroom farmer in 2014 and the 2020 attack of a father and his son while they were hiking. This time, after the fatal attack on Papi the World Wildlife Fund, which had previously petitioned to keep JJ4 alive told CNN they agree that the bear should be put down. There are now four bears, including JJ4, with judicial orders to be culled.

HONG KONG, March 8 (Reuters) - China has announced plans for a national data bureau, describing it as part of an effort to coordinate data resources in the country and to achieve a vision of "digital China" conceived by President Xi Jinping. Xi's vision for a "digital China" aims to see the country populated by smart, internet-connected cities and data treated alongside labour and capital as a key factor to drive the economy and help China compete more effectively globally. In December, China's top leadership published an outline of how China should develop basic data systems and utilize the country's data resources. Last week, they unveiled a new plan that aims for the country to lead digital development globally by 2035. Areas to watch include big data infrastructure, data processing, the digitization of government data as well as data encryption, they added.

☆ The Hottest Accessory at New York Fashion Week? A Point-and-Shoot Camera
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Chavie Lieber | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Just as the lights went down and a haze machine turned on at a party on the first night of New York Fashion Week, the flash of a point-and-shoot digital camera nearly blinded the crowd of influencers in attendance. “These cameras take bad photos, but in a good kind of way,” said Jamie Pearl, a 24-year-old photographer who was snapping pictures with a Sony RX100 VII at the party, held by the brand Cult Gaia to mark the opening of a new store. “The pictures are grungy. They feel a little bit gross. There is nothing refined about them.”

☆ Final farewell: From Sidney Poitier to Pope Emeritus Benedict a look back at the influential figures who died in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +55 min

Other world leaders who died in 2022 include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died in August. The final days of 2022 saw the loss of some exceptionally notable figures, including Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2022 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___Dan Reeves, 77. A Cuban-born artist whose radiant color palette and geometric paintings were overlooked for decades before the art world took notice. A prolific character actor best known for playing villains and tough guys in “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Ocean’s Eleven” and other films.

Fashion rental apps offer users a way to make passive income from the clothes in their closets. Londoner Camille B. has earned over £18,000, or about $22,000, by renting out her designer items on the apps. It was a pleasure to wear, cost $349.25 AUD, or $233, and I've rented it multiple times already, including to someone who wanted the dress for her wedding. Fashion rental apps have changed the way I buy clothesIt's definitely changed the way that I buy. I have a yellow Jacquemus dress which was rented 30 times, for a total of £1,651.71, or about $2,000.

Since the early days of the invasion, Mr. Putin has conceded, privately, that the war has not gone as planned. “I think he is sincerely willing” to compromise with Russia, Mr. Putin said of Mr. Zelensky in 2019. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. “I think this war is Putin’s grave.” Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, a Russian prisoner of war held by Ukraine, in October.

☆ Y Combinator-backed e-learning startup Female Invest acquires trading platform Gaia as it plots investing offering
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Danish startup Female Invest has acquired trading platform Gaia as part of a push into investing. Female Invest claims to have 26,000 paying users for its platform in 89 countries. Female Invest, a Danish startup that provides educational content around investing for women, has acquired trading company Gaia. Now, the company is expanding its platform to include trading after it acquired fellow Danish startup Gaia, which focused on sustainable investments. The Y Combinator-backed startup considered building the product itself but instead opted to acquire Gaia, a company Female Invest had been tracking for a while, Hartvigsen said.

☆ A wave-powered prototype device is aiming to produce drinking water from the ocean
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Anmar Frangoul | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Ocean Oasis' Gaia system has been designed to use wave power to desalinate water. In a statement Monday, Oslo-headquartered Ocean Oasis said its wave-powered prototype device, which it described as being an "offshore floating desalination plant," was called Gaia. The main investor in Ocean Oasis is Grieg Maritime Group, which is headquartered in Bergen, Norway. According to the Canary Islands Institute of Technology, the islands have been "a pioneer in the production of desalinated water at affordable cost." Describing the Canary Islands' "water singularities," it refers to a "structural water deficit due to low rainfall, high soil permeability and aquifer overexploitation."

☆ This biotech startup helps scientists design proteins using AI. Check out the 16-slide deck Cradle used to raise $5.4 million in seed funding.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Biotech startup Cradle just raised $5.4 million from Index Ventures and Kindred Capital. Check out the 16-slide deck Cradle used to raise the fresh funds. Inside that factory are proteins, which behave like machines," said cofounder Stef van Grieken. Amid a shaky economic downturn, van Grieken found that having a strong founding team — including Uber's first employee and a host of experienced biologists — helped with the fundraise. Investor appetite for generative AI and biotech has also remained stable, which was a boon, van Grieken added.

☆ Yoga-Streaming Company Gaia to Settle SEC Probe
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Mengqi Sun | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

Gaia, a member-supported media network with videos on yoga and alternative healing, among other topics, disclosed the settlement with the securities regulator in its latest SEC quarterly report filed this week. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | Risk and Compliance Journal Our Morning Risk Report features insights and news on governance, risk and compliance. Gaia said it first received a request to voluntarily produce documents in relation to an SEC investigation in June 2020. The company said it was later subpoenaed by the SEC and it has responded to the agency’s requests. Gaia said there is no guarantee that the settlement, which was reached in principle in September, will be finalized and approved by both sides.

☆ Meet Donald Trump's children with Ivana Trump, Marla Maples, and Melania Trump
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Business Insider | Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Donald Trump has five children between two of his former wives and his current wife Melania Trump. Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump are children with his first wife, Ivana Trump, who died on July 14. Getty Images/Joe CorriganNow a father of five, Donald Trump Jr. was 12 when Ivana Trump and Donald Trump Sr. divorced. In 2001, a year after he graduated from college, Donald Trump Jr. went to work for his dad for the second time. He told New York magazine that Donald Trump Jr. is like his mentor and Ivanka Trump is like his second mother.

☆ Why poorer countries want rich countries to foot their climate change bill
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Tom Chitty | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

As the world's leaders gather in Egypt's coastal resort Sharm El Sheikh for COP, the United Nations' annual climate change conference, the subject of climate finance is top of the agenda. The term refers to money that is given or loaned, usually to a developing country, to help reduce the worst effects of climate change and to help them adapt to long-term shifts in the world's climate system. It really leads these countries to be more at the whim of the weather," said Gaia Larsen, a director of climate finance, access and deployment for the research organization World Resources Institute. The topic is set to dominate discussions at COP27 after developed countries failed to reach the $100 billion annual pledge in 2020 to support developing nations in reducing emissions and adapting to climate change. Reparations have become a hugely contentious issue, with developed countries concerned that providing funding could be construed as an admission of legal liability and trigger claims on a major scale.

☆ 34 of the most promising women's health startups of 2022, according to VCs
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

We asked top venture capitalists to name the most promising women's health startups so far in 2022. The result is a list of 34 companies covering everything from menopause to cardiovascular health. Last year, funding for women's health startups exploded to an impressive $2.5 billion, about a threefold increase from the previous year, according to data from McKinsey and Rock Health. Some think the colloquial label "femtech" for women's health startups prevents investors from seeing the potential of the space. Insider asked top investors to nominate the most promising women's health startups they'd come across, both within and outside their portfolios.

☆ William Shatner describes space travel in new book "Boldly Go"
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN interviewed him in June about the book, his trip to space with the Jeff Bezos-backed space tourism company Blue Origin, and what’s next for the 91-year-old. William Shatner: Fifty-five or 60 years ago I read a book called “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson. Shatner: The whole idea here is to get people accustomed to going to space, as if it’s like going to the Riviera. The song “So Fragile, So Blue,” is very much about my experience in space. And then I have my book, called “Boldly Go,” coming out in the fall.

☆ Calea Lactee îşi pierde din viteza de rotaţie
▼ + stars: | 2021-06-19 | by ( ) www.jurnal.md time to read: +3 min

Materia întunecată nu emite şi nici nu absoarbe lumina sau radiaţiile electromagnetice sau de altă natură, şi implicit nu poate fi observată direct cu telescoapele. Astrofizicienii estimează că materia întunecată constituie 73% din materia din Univers şi 23% din masa-energia sa. Calea Lactee este o galaxie spiralată cu o concentraţie mare de stele în zona sa centrală şi uriaşe braţe pivotante care se extind în cosmos. Cercetătorii au descoperit dovezi ale acestei migraţii cosmice spre exteriorul Căii Lactee a stelelor din Hercules Stream, atunci când au analizat compoziţia chimică a acestor stele. "Contragreutatea care a încetinit viteza de rotaţie trebuie să fie materia întunecată.

Persons: Ralph Schoenrich, Deocamdată, Schoenrich Organizations: University College London, Agerpres, Hercules, Stream, Astronomical Society Locations: Lactee

☆ В центре нашей Галактики обнаружено скопление таинственного вещества
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-17 | by ( Mld Media Srl | ) noi.md time to read: +1 min

В центре Млечного Пути находится скопление темной материи, чье влияние приводит к замедлению вращения центральной области Галактики, состоящей из миллиардов звезд. Астрофизики доказали существование невидимого вещества, опираясь на данные, полученные от телескопа Gaia. В частности, ученые проанализировали показатели металличности звезд (обогащенности металлами, то есть элементами тяжелее водорода и гелия) в центре Галактики. Согласно гипотезе, существование темной материи должно оказывать влияние на вращение перемычки - зоны звезд и газа, от которой расходятся ветви Галактики. Что и было доказано: с момента формирования центр Млечного Пути замедлил свое вращение на четверть.

Organizations: Royal Astronomical Society, Университетский колледж, Оксфордский университет Locations: Млечное Пути, Галактика, Лондон

☆ Итальянцы напечатали, с помощью 3D-принтера, малобюджетный экодом стоимостью всего $1000
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-13 | by ( Mld Media Srl | ) noi.md time to read: 1 min

Итальянские инженеры разработали доступную технологию «строительство жилья из грунта» в совокупности с 3D-печатью для строительства малобюджетного экологичного жилья. Одним из создателей технологии стала компания WASP, создавшая 3D-принтеры, способные печатать дома из грунта. В итоге получился Gaia - недорогой домик, созданный с помощью модульной системы печати Crane Wasp. Рабочий диаметр принтера составляет 6,6 м, а высота – 3 м. Он быстро монтируется и разбирается, для этого понадобится всего два человека и два часа. Читать далее: ecology.md

Persons: Crane, ecology.md

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