Sydney, Australia —The Universe is experiencing a slow death, like a person resting on the sofa awaiting eternal sleep, according to astronomers from a project which measured the energy generated by 200,000 galaxies.

The international team carried out the most precise measurements of energy generation in a large portion of space ever completed and found that it is only half of what it was two billion years ago and fading.

"The Universe is fated to decline from here on in, like an old age that lasts forever," said Simon Driver from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Western Australia. 

"The Universe has basically plonked itself down on the sofa, pulled up a blanket and is about to nod off for an eternal doze."

Researchers used seven of the world's most powerful telescopes to observe galaxies at 21 different wavelengths, from ultraviolet to the far infrared, as part of the Galaxy and Mass Assembly Survey (GAMA).

Observations collected over eight years from the Anglo-Australian Telescope in rural New South Wales state were used in conjunction with those from orbiting space telescopes operated by NASA and the European Space Agency.

"We used as many space and ground-based telescopes we could get our hands on, to measure the energy output of over 200,000 galaxies across as broad a wavelength range as possible," said Driver, who is presenting the findings to the International Astronomical Union in Hawaii on Monday.

- Galactic slowdown - 

Driver said while most of the energy sloshing around in the Universe was created in the aftermath of the Big Bang, additional amounts were constantly being released by stars as they fused elements such as hydrogen and helium together. 

"This newly released energy is either absorbed by dust as it travels through the host galaxy, or escapes into intergalactic space and travels until it hits something such as another star, planet, or very occasionally a telescope mirror," he said.

Andrew Hopkins, from the Australian Astronomical Observatory, said while it had been known for some time that the rate at which the Universe was forming stars was declining, the new data showed that the rate of energy production was reducing the same way across all different wavelengths.

"It doesn't matter which wavelength you look at the Universe in, it is slowing down in its energy production in the same way," Hopkins told AFP via telephone from Hawaii.

"As the Universe expands and as the rate of expansion accelerates we know that the rate at which galaxies can continue to evolve is going to slow down and this is reflected in the rate that we have been able to measure of how fast they are forming their stars."

It is hoped that the survey data will help scientists better understand how different types of galaxies form.

Researchers also want to expand their work to map energy production over the entire history of the Universe using new facilities, including the world's largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array, which is set to be built in Australia and South Africa over the next decade.  

San Francisco, United States—His name may not ring a bell, but chances are you know some of the products Google's new CEO, Sundar Pichai, has worked on, including the Chrome browser and Android mobile operating system.

Pichai, 43, was named chief executive officer of the Internet titan Monday, as Google unveiled a new corporate structure creating an umbrella company dubbed Alphabet.

Pichai will oversee the biggest company under that umbrella, which will still be called Google and will continue to include some of Google's best-known products, including its search engine, ads, maps, apps, YouTube and Android system.

Alphabet will be run by Google chief Larry Page, who showered praise upon Pichai, the current senior vice president of products.

"I feel very fortunate to have someone as talented as he is to run the slightly slimmed down Google and this frees up time for me to continue to scale our aspirations," Page said in a blog post. 

He said he was impressed with Pichai's "progress and dedication to the company" and promised to continue to groom him, who has been at Google since 2004.

"I have been spending quite a bit of time with Sundar, helping him and the company in any way I can, and I will of course continue to do that."

In his current role, Pichai oversees product management, engineering and research for Google's products and platforms, according to Google's filing at the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Before that, he was SVP of Google Android, Chrome and Apps, working on consumer products "used by millions of people," the filing said.

Pichai was part of the team that launched the Chrome browser in 2008 and, prior to that, worked on various search products, including Google Toolbar, Desktop Search, Gadgets, and Google Gears and Gadgets, according to Business Insider magazine.

Before joining Google, Pichai worked as an engineer at manufacturer Applied Materials, followed by a stint in management consulting at McKinsey & Company, according to Business Insider.

US media described him as soft-spoken, little-known, and a long-time right-hand man to mentor Page.

Originally from Tamil Nadu province in southeast India, Pichai received a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.

He also has a Master of Science from Stanford University and a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Page said Pichai is the man to steer the Google ship in the coming years, as it continues to innovate and expand its product base.

"Google itself is also making all sorts of new products, and I know Sundar will always be focused on innovation—continuing to stretch boundaries," he said.  

"I know he deeply cares that we can continue to make big strides on our core mission to organize the world's information."

Ulan Bator, Mongolia —The slapping sound of colliding flesh reverberates through a basement in Mongolia's capital, as Tsogt-Erdeniin Mendsaikhan hones fighting skills in pursuit of his dream -- sumo wrestling in Japan.

The teenager is inspired by Hakuho, a Mongolian grand champion, or "yokozuna", who in January broke a more than four decade-old record when he won his 33rd Emperor's Cup, awarded to the champion of the bi-monthly top tournament.

The feat was "absolutely amazing", said Mendsaikhan, clad in a black loincloth, or mawashi, at a practice session at Ulan Bator's sole amateur sumo wrestling club.

"A Mongolian reached the peak of Japanese sumo and raises it higher and higher."

Kublai Khan's attempts to subdue Japan more than 700 years ago failed when  "divine winds" -- or "kamikaze" -- are said to have scattered his ships, but over the past quarter century a new invasion has seen Mongolian wrestlers take over the country's proud national sport.

No Japanese has won a top division tournament for nine years, and all three rikishi, or wrestlers, currently ranked as yokozuna are Mongolian. The last Japanese to hold the coveted title, Takanohana, retired in 2003. 

Yokozuna must not only be adept at slamming opponents out of the dohyo, the mound of clay and sand that serves as a ring.

Sumo is heavily imbued with the values of Japan's indigenous Shinto religion and yokozuna perform rituals in the ring and out, including one for the New Year at Tokyo's Meiji Shrine, donning a sacred white rope, clapping their hands and slapping their bare feet onto the ground.

When foreigners first approached the sport's pinnacle in the 1990s, conservative voices asked whether they had sufficient understanding of the country's culture and manners -- often described as "hinkaku", or dignity -- to fulfil that traditional role.

Such sentiments are heard less frequently now, although Hakuho found himself at the centre of controversy earlier this year for taking issue with a judge's decision -- a sumo no-no.  

Still, Japanese schoolteacher Yuko Asakawa said the Mongolians have helped to revive sumo's popularity.

"Hakuho is performing with quite a lot of dignity, very similar to Japanese," she added. 

"Of course, as Japan's national sport it's better if there are a lot of Japanese," she said outside the sport's premier venue in Tokyo, where the latest tournament in May was again won by a Mongolian.

- 'Hungry spirit' - 

Mongolians are not the only foreigners active in sumo, with current rikishi from as far afield as Bulgaria and Brazil, but except for two -- from Hawaii and American Samoa -- who became the first foreigners to reach yokozuna in the 1990s, none have had the success of the hulking heroes of the Mongolian steppe.

Sumo is said to date back some two millennia in Japan, while there are variants of traditional wrestling across Asia -- a similar activity is depicted in bas relief at Angkor in Cambodia, and in tomb art of the ancient Koguryo kingdom in what is now the Korean peninsula and northeast China.

In Mongolia, the country’s traditional form of  wrestling -- or "bokh" -- is a revered national sport, known as one of the "three manly skills" along with archery and horsemanship. It also carries a spiritual side, with grapplers performing a pre- and post-match "eagle" dance, flapping their arms in symbolic flight.

But the Mongolians' dominance in Japan has prompted soul-searching akin to English self-doubt around their team's perennial failure to win football's World Cup.

Retired Japanese rikishi Shuhei Mainoumi published a book last month titled "Why Can't Japanese Become Yokozuna?" 

He says the youth of his country have grown soft in one of the world's richest societies and lost the drive that Mongolians retain.

Sumo winnings may be modest compared with other professional sports, but can go far in Mongolia's smaller and still developing economy, he adds.

"Unlike Japanese, they have a hungry spirit," he wrote. 

- 'Japan dream' - 

Some wrestlers have returned to Mongolia, leveraging their Japan experience into prominent careers outside the sport.   

Davaagiin Batbayar, who competed as Kyokushuzan until 2006, went into politics, serving in parliament before becoming a special adviser on Japan to Prime Minister Chimediin Saikhanbileg.

He reckons there are currently about 25 Mongolian wrestlers, including Hakuho, that he has sent to Japan. Still, he cautions that for many post-sumo life can be tough.

"They are so respected in Japan and then come back to being regular people in Mongolia," he told AFP.

"People will just say, 'ah, so-and-so was a sumo wrestler,'" he added, stressing they must work hard and develop themselves beyond the sport.

Mongolia's first yokozuna Dolgorsurengiin Dagvadorj, who wrestled as Asashoryu, won 25 championships and now concentrates on business interests, including banking.  

His tumultuous career was cut short after outside-the-ring scandals, though he stresses his time in Japan left a lasting impression.

Wrestlers are exposed to values such as trust, honesty, punctuality and diligence there, he told AFP. "There are many things Mongolia can learn from Japan."

He also stressed that sumo carries aspirations for Mongolians as baseball does for Japanese pitchers and sluggers pursuing their "American Dream" in the US Major Leagues.

"The 'Japan Dream' for Mongolian boys is sumo. It's the same."

kgo/slb/erf

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

Kohama, Japan —They joke about knocking on heaven's door, but a Japanese 'girl band' with an average age of 84 have struck a blow for grannies everywhere by becoming pop idols.

Hailing from the remote, coral-fringed island of Kohama in Okinawa, KBG84 -- a play on the name of saccharine teeny boppers AKB48 -- admit to being slightly bemused by their success after cutting their first disc and completing a sellout Japan tour.

"When I first heard someone call us 'idols' I thought an idol meant someone who had lived a long life and was at the gates of heaven," pint-sized diva Tomi Menaka, 92, told AFP in a herb garden overlooking Kohama's turquoise sea. 

"But in Tokyo they told me it was an entertainer -- which was a relief because I thought it meant I was on my way to heaven," she added, picking up steam as her fellow group members collapsed in fits of giggles. "I hadn't even been to Tokyo or Osaka. I wanted to go there before I went to heaven."

The 33-strong troupe of singers and dancers has released a single called "Come on and Dance, Kohama Island", with a heart-warming video shot on the tiny honeymoon isle, which has a population of just 600 and lies a mere 150 miles (240 kilometres) off Taiwan.

Normally hunched over a walking stick, Menaka tosses her cane aside like a bona fide rock star when she's on stage, dancing with joyous abandon to the pling-plang of traditional Okinawan string music given a Tokyo-style pop makeover.

"I've never been as happy as I am when we perform," she said, wearing a stripy kimono and flame-red headscarf, her gold teeth glistening in the midday sun. 

"Going to Tokyo for the first time, I thought I was so lucky to be born. I got to meet my grandchildren. I'll never forget it. I was moved to tears."

Okinawan islanders have one of the highest life expectancies in the world, their diet containing more vegetables and less sugar than that of mainland Japanese, the staple food the purple-fleshed local sweet potato rather than rice. 

Menaka, a queen bee of the group, which has a minimum age requirement of 80, stays fit by doing housework. But she is not particularly fussy about her diet.

- 'Young at heart' - 

"I like meat and sweet things," she cackled, flanked by the group's eldest member, 97-year-old Haru Yamashiro, who shook her head disapprovingly. 

"I look after my health by cleaning my home, wiping the floors, steaming rice. I stay in the shade when it's too hot. I don't want to tan. I have to take care of my skin -- I'm still young at heart!"

While they tweak the nose of old age with their indefatigable girl power, backstage at a KBG84 gig is a far cry from Glastonbury -- walking frames block entrances, and blood pressure monitors and defibrillators are close at hand. 

The brainchild of Kyushu-born musician Kikuo Tsuchida, who has lived on Kohama for over 20 years, the rambunctious seniors recently signed a record deal and have been followed by Japanese documentary crews as they play to audiences, generally from middle-age upwards.

"We felt like stars in Tokyo," said 86-year-old Hideko Kedamori. "Everyone in the audience had a big smile, which gave us the energy to sing our hearts out. We're blessed to have been born in Kohama. Our lyrics are about the island and nature -- whales in the sea spouting or dolphins doing somersaults."  

Life in paradise has barely changed for the geriatric pop queens, who still enjoy long chats over a cup of tea and compare themselves to musketeers.

"We still sit around gossiping about life," said Kedamori. "If we fight, we quickly make up again, just like when we were kids. We are all together with the same heart. All for one and one for all."

The diminutive Menaka, as usual, has the final word.

"I want to go back to Tokyo with the grannies and see my grandchildren before I go to heaven," she said with a toothy grin.

As her colleagues rolled their eyes and warned it would be impossible to stop her once in full flow, Menaka smiled and stared wistfully out to sea, before adding: "That would be just grand."

New York, United States—Lollapalooza, one of the defining US festivals for alternative rock, announced Wednesday an expansion to Colombia as organizers pointed to the country's vibrant cultural life.

The Bogota edition, which will debut in October 2016, marks the fourth Latin American Lollapalooza with festivals already taking place annually in Argentina, Brazil and Chile.

"We have had the ambition to bring Lollapalooza to Colombia for some time now, and have found partners who are true professionals and share our passion for the music," said Lollapalooza's founder, Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell.

"Fans in Colombia have a true love of alternative music and we are excited for the rest of the world to find out what we already know about this wonderful country."

The Lollapalooza statement pointed to Bogota's rapid transformation since the start of Colombia's peace process, describing the capital as a "modern and multicultural metropolis."

Jane's Addiction launched Lollapalooza in 1991 as it tapped into a surging interest in the United States for non-mainstream acts.

The festival originally traveled across the United States, but after several years lost its cool factor as critics charged that it commercialized what was at root a counterculture.

Lollapalooza returned in 2005 as an annual festival in Chicago. The latest edition opens Friday with headliners to include Paul McCartney, Metallica and Sam Smith.

The festival has held local versions in Santiago, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo on successive weekends in March or April, giving a chance for major international acts to hit all three cities.

This year's lineup for the Latin American Lollapaloozas included Robert Plant, Calvin Harris, Pharrell Williams and Smashing Pumpkins.

With plans to be held in October, the Colombian Lollapalooza would be expected to be significantly different than the other versions in Latin America, and organizers said they hoped that non-Colombians would come for the event.

Lollapalooza is also expanding this year to Europe with a first version in Berlin taking place in September.

The growth comes as music festivals boom around the world and particularly in the United States, where artists increasingly see such events as a vital streams of revenue.

Seoul, South Korea—Psy, Paris Hilton and Queen Elizabeth II all made it, but South Korean President Park Geun-Hye turned down her chance of immortality in the first Asian outpost of France's famous waxwork museum, Musee Grevin, that opened in Seoul Thursday.

The new museum's focus is firmly on the world of entertainment and, in particular, stars of the "Hallyu" or "Korean Wave" of pop songs and TV melodramas that have become the country's most potent cultural export.

As a result, waxworks of global icons like Michael Jackson and Madonna rub shoulders with the likes of actress Choi Ji-Woo -- star of one of the original Hallyu dramas "Winter Sonata" who enjoys a major fan following in Japan.

The overseas popularity of Korean celebrities like Choi and "Gangnam Style" singer Psy was a major factor in the choice of Seoul for Grevin's first Asian museum.

"South Korea has become a major regional trend-setter and Seoul is increasingly a flagship Asian destination," said Dominique Marcel, CEO of Grevin's parent company, Compagnie des Alpes.

"Being here, we can attract not only Koreans, but also Chinese, Japanese and Taiwanese visitors," Marcel said.

And there is the added bonus that Grevin's main competitor, Madam Tussauds, which has wax museums in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo, is not present in South Korea.

The timing of the Seoul opening is slightly unfortunate given the dramatic plunge in tourist arrivals to South Korea because of a recent outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) that claimed 36 lives.

But there is a promotional silver lining with Seoul tourism officials desperate to push any new project or venue that might help bring the foreign visitors back.

The Seoul museum is being run with a South Korean partner, Mast Entertainment, which was largely responsible for choosing which celebrities and historical figures to include in the initial waxwork lineup.

"Our real goal was to get those people who represent the Korean popular culture that is so dominant in Asia," said Mast CEO Kim Yong-Kwan.

According to Kim, some of the chosen Korean celebrities -- backed by their agents -- took a "very pro-active" role in how their wax likenesses were presented.

"One actress brought about four or five dresses and wanted to change them over and over and over again," he said.

While the US and Chinese presidents, Barack Obama and Xi Jinping, are both represented, there is a noticeable absence of any South Korean political figures -- with the exception of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

"That was quite a tricky issue," Kim acknowledged.

"We wanted to stay away from local politics, because it's sensitive and we wanted personalities everybody would be happy with," he added.

Nevertheless, President Park's office was approached about the possibility of a spot for the country's first female head of state.

"We never got a response," Kim said.

Washington, United States —Pop funk icon Prince tempted eager fans by releasing a single, "Stare," ahead of a new album expected later this year. 

The ultra-funky track, in keeping with Prince's characteristic sound, was released exclusively on the online streaming service Spotify. 

The 3:44-minute tune offers fans just what they would expect from Prince: guitar, brass, choir and some high-pitched "wows" from the Minneapolis-born singer.  

The song also features an impossible-to-miss reference to his 1986 smash hit "Kiss."

"Stare. Can I get a kiss," he chimes, to an unmistakeable guitar riff from one of his best-known tracks. 

This is the second single from his upcoming "The Hit and Run Album," which features the all-female trio 3rdEyeGirl. 

The threesome released details of the album last week, calling it "super-experimental."

The first single, "Hardrocklover," packs the same punch of funk as "Stare."

"The Hit and Run Album" was written by Prince with Joshua Welton, who is married to 3rdEyeGirl member Welton and co-produced Prince's 2014 solo album, "Art Official Age."

Prince released the single exclusively on Spotify, a surprise move after the singer pulled all his music from the streaming service earlier this month. 

He moved his music to Tidal, the streaming site run by rap mogul Jay Z. 

Buenos Aires, Argentina—Leonardo DiCaprio has been spotted in Argentina's Tierra del Fuego to film scenes of "The Revenant," a new film by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

DiCaprio jetted into Ushuaia, the capital of the province of Tierra del Fuego, on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the local tourism office confirmed.

TN television showed the actor, in jeans, sneakers and a ballcap, surrounded by security personnel after his arrival in a private jet.

"With the actor's arrival, everything is ready for filming," said Ana Montiel, the spokeswoman for the tourism office.

"The Revenant" tells the real-life story of a 19th century frontiersman Hugh Glass, who is attacked by a bear and sets out to gain revenge for having been left for dead by his companions.

Filming began in Canada, but more snow scenes were needed so the production shifted to Argentina to take advantage of winter in the southern hemisphere.

New York, United States—Oscar-winning Hollywood actress Lupita Nyong'o will make her New York stage debut later this year, starring in a play set amid the horrors of the Liberian civil war.

The Public Theater in Manhattan said the production of "Eclipsed" would run from September 29 to November 8.

Nyong'o, 32, will play "The Girl" in what the theater called "a powerful story of survival and resilience" about women finding and testing their own strength in a hostile world.

The award-winning play sees captive wives of a rebel officer band together to form a fragile community, until their lives are upset by the arrival of a new girl.

It is written by Zimbabwean-American actress Danai Gurira, best known for her role on hit television series "The Walking Dead."

Public Theater's artistic director, Oskar Eustis, said it was a "brilliant play, ripped from the headlines, that looks at the terrible conflicts in post-colonial Africa."

Nyong'o was born in Mexico, brought up in Kenya and educated at the Yale School of Drama. She shot to international fame by winning an Oscar in 2014 for her role in "Twelve Years a Slave."

Liberia, Africa's oldest republic and formed by freed American slaves, was devastated by two civil wars which killed around 25,000 people between 1989 and 2003.

Paris, France—Being healthier may be found in something as simple as standing more and sitting less at work, said a study Friday.

Replacing sitting time with standing time appeared to improve sugar, fat and cholesterol levels in the blood, researchers wrote in the European Heart Journal.

The findings suggest that making small changes to a sedentary lifestyle can have a big impact on health -- and that you don't need to go as far as taking up marathon running.

A study of nearly 800 men and women in Australia revealed a clear association between less sitting and better health markers.

"An extra two hours per day spent standing rather than sitting was associated with approximately two percent lower average fasting blood sugar levels and 11 percent lower average triglycerides (fats in the blood)," said a press statement.

It was also associated with higher levels of "good" cholesterol, HDL.

Replacing two hours of sitting time with actual activity in the form of "stepping" was even better -- with lower blood fat and sugar scores as well as an 11 percent lower average Body Mass Index (BMI -- a ratio of height to weight) and a 7.5-centimetre (three-inch) smaller average waist circumference.

"These findings provide important preliminary evidence on the potential benefits of standing for cardio-metabolic risk biomarkers," said the study.

"This has important public health implications given that standing is a common behaviour."

The team point to the potential benefits of more standing at the workplace, including through such measures as "standing desks".

Adults in today's world are highly sedentary, with average self-reported sitting time ranging from 3.2 to 6.8 hours per day in Europe, said the study.

About 55 to 69 percent of adult waking hours are sedentary.

But there has been little research into the potential benefits of standing, as opposed to moving, to replace sitting.

The study took blood, height and weight measurements from the participants, gave them an activity monitor for a week, and then compared the health data to how much each person moved... or not.

In an editorial published with the study, Francisco Lopez-Jimenez of the Mayo College of Medicine in Minnesota, said it showed that "the fight against sedentary behaviour cannot be won based only on the promotion of regular exercise."

"A person walking while at work for two hours, standing for another four hours, and performing some daily chores at home for another hour will burn more calories than jogging or running for 60 minutes."