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Las Vegas, United States | Fully autonomous cars are on a slow path to mass deployment, but a range of other vehicle technology is speeding ahead.
London, United Kingdom |
Bangkok, Thailand | An ancient world of swords, warriors and folklore roars to life on the darkened street, offering a momentary escape from the modern-day bustle of Bangkok's unstoppable development.
McLean, United States | When a person's immune system is impaired by a genetic disease, a bone-marrow transplant can be a powerful therapeutic tool, but with a major downside: during the first few months the recipient's defenses against viruses are severely weakened. The slightest infection can lead to a hospital trip.
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan |Kyrgyzstan hoped for a fillip for its tourism after the distinctive headgear traditionally worn by its men, the ak-kalpak, won UNESCO intangible heritage status.
Inclusion on the prestigious global list "has some very positive aspects for us -- including for tourism, to attract tourism to our country," said deputy culture and tourism minister, Maksat Uulu Damir.
"This gives the international community a chance to get to know our mountainous country."
UNESCO annually announces a list of cultural artifacts that encapsulate the spirit and heritage of their countries. Those added this month included traditional Thai massage.
The embroidered high hat is already so revered in its Central Asian homeland that it has its own national day.
Usually made from felt, the four-panelled hat symbolises "the peaks of the magnificent Kyrgyz mountains, forever snow-capped," former presidential advisor and regular ak-kalpak wearer Topchubek Turgunaliyev told AFP.
A locally made ak-kalpak costs from $20, although cheaper synthetic versions made in China are also sold at bazaars.
Ak-kalpak day has been celebrated on March 5 since 2016 when crowds carried a 3-metre-high ak-kalpak hat around the centre of the capital Bishkek.
The hat is also set to be protected by domestic law.
A parliamentary committee has approved a bill raising the status of the ak-kalpak, putting it on a par with the national anthem and flag.
During a parliamentary debate, one lawmaker proposed punishing any act of disrespect to the hat with a fine of 1,000 soms, or around $15.
The bill, which lawmakers are expected to approve, followed a scandal in 2017 when a dog taking part in a show was photographed wearing the hat.
In April, a Kyrgyz-born mixed martial arts fighter Valentina "The Bullet" Shevchenko also offended some when she briefly put on the hat, traditionally only worn by men, during a visit to the country.
There have also been calls in the parliament to bestow the same status on the elechek, a women's turban made from a long piece of white cloth that wraps underneath the chin.
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© Agence France-Presse
Bastogne, Belgium |
Seventy-five years after the snow bound hills of the Ardennes saw the bloody turning point of World War II, surviving veterans gathered for perhaps the last time.
On Monday, they were honoured by a king, a grand duke, two presidents, two prime ministers and a US defence chief at solemn ceremonies in both Belgium and Luxembourg.
The Battle of the Bulge was the last German offensive of the war, and the Siege of Bastogne was the scene of a heroic and now famous defence by American paratroopers.
"Outnumbered nearly five-to-one, lacking cold-weather gear, and short on food, ammunition, and medical supplies, the American paratroopers refused to give up," US defence secretary Mark Esper said.
"Many of these men perished amid the thundering forests of the Ardennes," said Esper, himself a more recent combat veteran of the 101st Airborne, which in 1944 held the line bravely.
"And since the battlefield fell silent long ago, most of the veterans of that era have passed. However, we are blessed to have with us today a group of heroes who still walk among us."
Today, Belgium, the United States and Germany are allies, and Germany's President Frank-Walter Steinmeier took part at a memorial at Mardasson in chill fog and driving rain.
"It is with sadness that I bow my head to all these dead ... victims of the hate and fury that was born in my country," said Steinmeier, accepting German responsibility for unleashing the war.
Veterans, historians and military enthusiasts marked the now legendary close-quarters battle of Bastogne with a spectacular series of weekend re-enactments ahead of Monday's ceremonies.
Bastogne's rescue in late December 1944 by General George "Old Blood and Guts" Patton helped seal his reputation as an American military giant.
But the out-gunned paratroopers of the 101st Airborne -- who held the pocket for a week against advancing German armour -- also claim a share of the glory.
Esper was an officer of these "Screaming Eagles" in the 1991 Gulf War, but on Monday he paid tribute to his comrades from an era that is passing from memory into history.
- 'Nuts!' -
The Belgian town of Bastogne, close to the Luxembourg border in the Ardennes hills, is the focus of the commemoration, as it was of the fighting.
On December 16, 1944, German forces -- which had been falling back before the Allied advance from France since June's D-Day landings -- counter-attacked.
Their goal was to seize the port of Antwerp to deny it to Allied resupply ships, and five of their roads north converged on the small Belgian town.
By December 20, the battle-hardened but lightly armed US paratroopers were surrounded and a German Panzer general demanded their surrender.
"Nuts!" was the one-word reply from the US commander, and the ensuing week-long siege lasted until Patton's Third Army came to the rescue.
On Monday, Philippe, King of the Belgians, and Belgium's prime minister Sophie Wilmes were joined at the Mardasson Memorial by Esper and Steinmeier, and senior envoys from Britain, Canada and France.
The king praised the courage and "determination of our liberators" and recalled the need to always oppose the racist ideology embodied by Nazism.
In the afternoon, the convoy crossed the border to the Luxembourg Military Cemetery and Memorial in Hamm, Patton's last resting place, received by the duchy's Grand Duke Henri and Prime Minister Xavier Bettel.
General Patton died in a road accident during the 1945 occupation of a defeated Germany, but was buried in the Ardennes with comrades from his famous victory.
His granddaughter Helen Patton has spent the days leading up to the memorial greeting veterans on battlefield visits.
The then 59-year-old Patton reached the summit of his glory when he relieved Bastogne and the survivors of the 18,000 encircled men.
- Artillery barrage -
The overall Battle of the Bulge would rage across the Ardennes for six weeks -- drawing in 600,000 American and 25,000 British troops against 400,000 Germans -- until the Allies prevailed in January 1945.
Between 15,000 and 20,000 German troops died, against between 10,000 and 19,000 Americans.
And 3,000 Belgian civilians perished under artillery bombardments or in massacres carried out by the Waffen-SS in villages like Houffalize.
The Bastogne fighting has been recounted by veterans interviewed for the book and television series "Band of Brothers" and entered US military folklore.
But 75 years on, the number of former combatants and witnesses who can attend ceremonies is declining, and Belgium's War Heritage Institute has invited as many as they still can.
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© Agence France-Presse
Los Angeles, United States |Superman's very first movie cape was sold for nearly $200,000 Monday alongside a collection of rare Hollywood memorabilia, the auction house said.
The prop from Christopher Reeve's "Superman", which went for $193,750, headlined Monday's sale of about 400 cinephile items at Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles.
Only six capes in total were used while shooting the film, which came out in 1978.
Multiple costumes from "Star Trek" also found buyers. These included the uniform worn by Patrick Stewart for his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, which sold for $28,800.
Leonard Nimoy's Romulan costume from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" sold for $20,000.
Dan Akroyd's jumpsuit from "Ghostbusters II" also went up for auction and was sold for $32,000, according to Julien's Auctions, which specializes in Hollywood collections and memorabilia.
Although it was originally announced as an auction headline item, the pipe of Bilbo Baggins, played by Ian Holm in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, was not sold at the auction.
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© Agence France-Presse
Berlin, Germany |A few notes scribbled in his notebook are all that German composer Ludwig van Beethoven left of his Tenth Symphony before his death in 1827.
Now, a team of musicologists and programmers is racing to complete a version of the piece using artificial intelligence, ahead of the 250th anniversary of his birth next year.
"The progress has been impressive, even if the computer still has a lot to learn," said Christine Siegert, head of archives at Beethoven House in the composer's hometown of Bonn.
Siegert said she was "convinced" that Beethoven would have approved since he too was an innovator at the time, citing his compositions for the panharmonicon -- a type of organ that reproduces the sounds of wind and percussion instruments.
And she insisted the work would not affect his legacy because it would never be regarded as part of his oeuvre.
The final result of the project will be performed by a full orchestra on April 28 next year in Bonn, a centrepiece of celebrations for a composer who defined the romantic era of classical music.
"It's completely new territory," said Dirk Kaftan, conductor of the Beethoven Orchestra, which will perform the piece.
"We musicians are in two minds about it."
Beethoven, Germany's most famous musical figure, is loved in his homeland and critics of the project are concerned about protecting Beethoven's legacy.
The "national duty" to prepare for the anniversary was even written into a right-left coalition agreement to form a govenment six years ago.
The year of celebrations officially begins on December 16 -- believed to be his 249th birthday.
But a press preview on Friday at the Beethoven House Museum in his native Bonn following a renovation offered insights into his genius, including the notebooks he used to communicate after going deaf in 1801 -- 26 years before his death.
- 'Scope for improvement' -
Beethoven began working on the Tenth Symphony alongside his Ninth, which includes the world-famous "Ode To Joy".
But he quickly gave up on the Tenth, leaving only a few notes and drafts by the time he died aged 57.
In the project, machine-learning software has been fed all of Beethoven's work and is now composing possible continuations of the symphony in the composer's style.
Deutsche Telekom, which is sponsoring the project, hopes to use the findings to develop technology such as voice recognition.
The team said the first results a few months ago were seen as too mechanical and repetitive but the latest AI compositions have been more promising.
Barry Cooper, a British composer and musicologist who himself wrote a hypothetical first movement for the Tenth Symphony in 1988, was more doubtful.
"I listened to a short excerpt that has been created. It did not sound remotely like a convincing reconstruction of what Beethoven intended," said Cooper, a professor at the University of Manchester and the author of several works on Beethoven.
"There is, however, scope for improvement with further work."
Cooper warned that "in any performance of Beethoven's music, there is a risk of distorting his intentions" but this was particularly the case for the Tenth Symphony as the German composer had left only fragmentary material.
Similar AI experiments based on works by Bach, Mahler and Schubert have been less than impressive.
A project earlier this year to complete Schubert's Eighth Symphony was seen by some reviewers as being closer to an American film soundtrack than the Austrian composer's work.
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© Agence France-Presse
