(FILES) This file photo taken on October 4, 2022 shows customers walking out of a 7-Eleven convenience store in Tokyo. Shares in the Japanese operator of 7-Eleven, Seven&i Holdings, soared on August 19, 2024 after the firm confirmed receiving a takeover bid from Canadian retail giant Alimentation Couche-Tard. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)
TOKYO (AFP) – Shares in the Japanese owner of 7-Eleven jumped Monday after media reports said it was seeking to strengthen its hand in a takeover battle, including selling a stake in its banking unit.
Seven & i – Japan’s biggest retailer – last month rejected an initial buyout offer from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT), saying the USD40 billion proposal undervalued its business and could face regulatory hurdles.
But ACT, which owns the rival Circle K brand, has vowed to pursue the buyout, which would be the biggest ever foreign takeover of a Japanese firm.
Shares in Seven & i ended the morning 2.55 per cent higher at 2,250.5 yen in Tokyo, having surged more than three percent at one point.
The Financial Times said Monday that Seven & i “is hunting for ways to boost its share price and bolster its defences” ahead of an expected second bid from ACT.
That followed reports in Japanese media last week that the group was accelerating a plan to sell its supermarket operations, including the national “Ito-Yokado” chain.
Such a move would allow it to focus on 7-Eleven – the world’s biggest convenience store chain, which operates more than 85,000 outlets with around a quarter of those in Japan — the Nikkei business daily said Friday.
Public broadcaster NHK also reported last week that Seven & i was considering selling a stake in its banking unit in order to increase the group’s value.
While 7-Eleven began in the United States, the franchise has been wholly owned by Seven & i since 2005.
The group will announce its quarterly earnings on Thursday, with the CEO scheduled to address the media.
A company spokesman declined to comment on the reports when contacted by AFP.
The Japanese finance ministry last month designated Seven & i a “core” industry, a move that could make the takeover more complicated.
Meanwhile, Quebec’s public pension manager said “Couche-Tard knows that we will always accompany them in these endeavours if necessary” in an interview with Bloomberg News.
ACT operates more than 16,700 outlets in 31 countries and territories.
Nantes' fans burn flares during the French League One soccer match between Lyon and FC Nantes at the Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
Nantes’ fans burn flares during the French League One match between Lyon and FC Nantes. PHOTO: AP
LYON (AP) – Lyon has condemned fan violence at its home game against Nantes in the French league on Sunday.
Amid reports that clashes broke out at Groupama Stadium between two groups of Lyon supporters, the club said the incidents were “unworthy” of the seven-time French champion.
According to local media, one supporter was stabbed in the thigh during the match.
“Violence of any kind has no place at OL. We strongly condemn the clashes and attacks that took place in the stadium this afternoon,” Lyon director general Laurent Prud’homme said. “Olympique Lyonnais must remain united and indivisible.”
Violence has marred soccer in France in recent seasons, with Lyon supporters often involved.
PETALING JAYA, 7 Okt -- Pelakon filem Gol & Gincu Fazura atau nama sebenarnya Nur Fazura Sharifuddin, 41, ketika ditemui pemberita selepas sah bercerai talak satu dengan suaminya Fattah Amin di Mahkamah Rendah Syariah Petaling, Subang Bestari hari ini.
Fattah, yang nama sebenarnya Abdul Fattah Mohd Amin, 34, melafazkan cerai talak satu terhadap Fazura di hadapan Hakim Syarie Abdul Malik Soleh.
Fazura memfailkan permohonan cerai terhadap Fattah pada 13 Sept lepas atas alasan mereka tidak ada persefahaman.
Pasangan itu mendirikan rumah tangga pada 27 Nov 2017 dan dikurniakan seorang cahaya mata perempuan, Nur Fatima yang kini berusia empat tahun.
--fotoBERNAMA (2024) HAK CIPTA TERPELIHARA
PETALING JAYA (Bernama) – After seven years of marriage, Pendekar Awang actor Fattah Amin and his wife, fellow artiste Fazura were divorced at the Petaling Lower Syariah Court, Subang Bestari, on Monday.
Fattah, whose full name is Abdul Fattah Mohd Amin, 34, pronounced the divorce with one talak against Fazura, whose full name is Nur Fazura Sharifuddin, 41, before Syarie Judge Abdul Malik Soleh.
Malaysian actor Abdul Fattah Mohd Amin, 34, arrives in court. PHOTO: BERNAMA
Fazura filed for divorce against Fattah last Sept 13 on the grounds of irreconcilable differences.
The Gol & Gincu actress and Fattah were married on Nov 27, 2017, and the couple is blessed with a four-year-old daughter, Nur Fatima.
After the proceeding, Fazura was seen crying when leaving the court and then went to shake hands with her former mother and father-in-law.
Malaysian actress Nur Fazura Sharifuddin, 41, speaking to the media following the proceedings. PHOTO: BERNAMA
Meanwhile, syariah lawyer Fakhrul Azman Abu Hassan, representing Fazura said Fattah pronounced the divorce with one talak against Fazura after she agreed to the proposed settlement for the divorce from Fattah.
“The divorce was pronounced by the defendant at 9.45 am and the terms of the agreement were recorded regarding the’ nafkah iddah’ and child support, as well as other related matters under the jurisdiction of the Syariah Lower Court,” he told a press conference after the court proceeding. (Nafkah Iddah is maintenance which a husband must provide for his wife for three consecutive months after divorcing her).
Regarding child custody, the lawyer said it would be recorded in the Syariah High Court.
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Joaquin Phoenix, foreground center, and Brendan Gleeson, background center, in a scene from "Joker: Folie à Deux." (Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
A scene from “Joker: Folie à Deux.” PHOTO: AP
AP – Joker: Folie à Deux is the number one movie at the box office, but it might not be destined for a happy ending.
In a turn of events that only Arthur Fleck would find funny, the follow-up to Todd Phillips’ 2019 origin story about the Batman villain opened in theatres nationwide this weekend to a muted USD40 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, less than half that of its predecessor.
The collapse was swift and has many in the industry wondering: How did the highly anticipated sequel to an Oscar-winning, billion-dollar film with the same creative team go wrong?
Just three weeks ago, tracking services pegged the movie for a USD70 million debut, which would still have been down a fair amount from “Joker’s” record-breaking USD96.2 million launch in October 2019.
Reviews were mixed out of the Venice Film Festival, where it premiered in competition like the first movie and even got a 12-minute standing ovation.
But the homecoming glow was short-lived, and the fragile foundation would crumble in the coming weeks with its Rotten Tomatoes score dropping from 63 per cent at Venice to 33 per cent by its first weekend in theatres. Perhaps even more surprising were the audience reviews: Ticket buyers polled on opening night gave the film a deadly D CinemaScore.
Exit polls from PostTrak weren’t any better. It got a meager half star out of five possible.
“That’s a double whammy that’s very difficult to recover from,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “The biggest issue of all is the reported budget. A USD40 or USD50 million opening for a less expensive movie would be a solid debut.”
Joker: Folie à Deux cost at least twice as much as the first film to produce, though reported figures vary at exactly how pricey it was to make. Phillips told Variety that it was less than the reported USD200 million; Others have it pegged at USD190 million. Warner Bros. released the film in 4,102 locations in North America. About 12.5 per cent of its domestic total came from 415 IMAX screens.
A scene from “Joker: Folie à Deux.” PHOTO: AP
Internationally, it’s earned USD81.1 million from 25,788 screens, bringing its total global earnings estimate to USD121.1 million. In the next two weeks, Joker 2 will also open in Japan and China.
Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot, which added USD18.7 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to nearly USD64 million.
Globally, it’s made over USD100 million. Warner Bros.’ Beetlejuice Beetlejuice took third place in weekend five, Paramount’s Transformers One landed in fourth and Universal and Blumhouse’s Speak No Evil rounded out the top five.
The other big new release of the weekend, Lionsgate’s White Bird, flopped with just USD1.5 million from just over 1,000 locations, despite an A+ CinemaScore.
Overall, the weekend is up from the same frame last year, but “Joker’s” start is an unwelcome twist for theatre owners hoping to narrow the box office deficit.
Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix have said they aspired to make something as “audacious” as the first film. The sequel added Lady Gaga into the fold, as a Joker superfan, and delved further into the mind of Arthur Fleck, imprisoned at Arkham and awaiting trial for the murders he committed in the first. It’s also a musical, with elaborately imagined song and dance numbers to old standards. Gaga even released a companion album called Harlequin, alongside the film.
In his review for The Associated Press, Jake Coyle wrote that “Phillips has followed his very antihero take on the Joker with a very anti-sequel. It combines prison drama, courthouse thriller and musical, and yet turns out remarkably inert given how combustible the original was.”
The sequel has already been the subject of many think pieces, some who posit that the sequel was deliberately alienating fans of the first movie.
But fans often ignore the advice of critics, especially when it comes to opening their wallets to see revered comic book characters on the big screen.
“They took a swing for the fences,” Dergarabedian said. “But except for a couple of outliers, audiences in 2024 seem to want to know what they’re getting when they’re going to the theater. They want the tried and true, the familiar.”
It has some high-profile defenders too: Francis Ford Coppola, who last week got his own D+ CinemaScore for his pricey, ambitious and divisive film Megalopolis, entered the Joker chat with an Instagram post.
“@ToddPhillips films always amaze me and I enjoy them thoroughly,” Coppola wrote. “Ever since the wonderful The Hangover he’s always one step ahead of the audience never doing what they expect.”
Megalopolis, meanwhile, dropped a terminal 74 per cent in its second weekend with just over USD1 million, bringing its total just shy of USD6.5 million against a USD120 million budget.
Deadline editor Anthony D’Alessandro thinks the problem started with the idea to make the Joker sequel a musical. “No fan of the original movie wanted to see a musical sequel,” he wrote on Saturday.
The first film was also divisive and the subject of much discourse, then about whether it might send the wrong message to the wrong type of person. And yet people still flocked to see what the fuss was about. Joker went on to pick up 11 Oscar nominations, including best picture and best director, and three wins. It also made over USD1 billion and was the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, until this summer when Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine took the crown.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theatres, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
TOPSHOT - Nice's Brazilian defender #04 Dante (R) controls the ball during the French L1 football match between Nice (OGCN) and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) at the Allianz Riviera stadium in Nice, on October 6, 2024. (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP)
Nice’s Brazilian defender Dante controls the ball during the French L1 match between Nice and Paris Saint-Germain at the Allianz Riviera stadium in Nice. PHOTO: AFP
NICE (AFP) – Paris Saint-Germain missed the chance to retake top spot in Ligue 1 after they were held to a 1-1 draw away at Nice on Sunday, leaving Monaco clear at the top going into the October international break.
Nice had led at half-time on the Cote d’Azur thanks to a deflected strike late in the first half from their Tunisian international full-back Ali Abdi.
However, PSG were much improved in the second half following coach Luis Enrique’s decision to replace Randal Kolo Muani at the interval and bring on Lee Kang-in up front.
Their equaliser came from Nuno Mendes in the 52nd minute, with Ousmane Dembele setting up the Portuguese defender for a shot from outside the box on his weaker right foot which lacked power but found the bottom corner of the net.
Dembele’s return was notable after the France winger was surprisingly dropped for the midweek Champions League defeat away to Arsenal.
Nice’s Polish goalkeeper jumps to catch the ball. PHOTO: AFP
He tested Nice goalkeeper Marcin Bulka on several occasions and PSG had chances to take all three points, including a Marquinhos header which came back off the post.
Luis Enrique’s side have won just one of their last four games in all competitions and go into the international hiatus in second place in Ligue 1, two points behind Monaco.
A win for PSG in Nice would have seen them begin the weekend where they started it, above Monaco on goal difference.
“I am especially proud of my team for the way they played in the second half,” said Luis Enrique, who expressed his satisfaction with PSG’s start to the season.
“I think it has been a promising start. I like what I am seeing. I think it is much better than our start to last season, but the important thing is to win the league and compete in all competitions,” said the Spaniard, who chose not to criticise Kolo Muani despite taking off the France striker early on.
“I could have changed five players at half-time. In this case that was the change I decided to make.”
Monaco won 2-1 away at Rennes on Saturday with goals by Thilo Kehrer and United States striker Folarin Balogun.
Lyon’s Maxence Caqueret fights for the ball with Nantes’ Nicolas Pallois. PHOTO: AFP
Lyon continue upward surge
Marseille, who were held 1-1 at home by bottom club Angers on Friday, are five points behind the leaders in third place.
Reims are fourth, behind Marseille only on goal difference, as they continued their good start to the campaign by beating struggling Montpellier 4-2.
Zimbabwe’s Marshall Munetsi, Japanese international Keito Nakamura and Ivory Coast striker Oumar Diakite all scored for Reims before Teddy Teuma sealed their victory with a late penalty.
Arnaud Nordin netted twice for Montpellier, who are in the relegation zone.
Also on Sunday, Brest followed their 4-0 win away to Red Bull Salzburg in the Champions League in midweek by beating Le Havre 2-0 in Brittany.
Ludovic Ajorque and Ibrahim Salah scored for Brest in a game both sides ended with 10 men.
Liam Rosenior’s Strasbourg came from behind twice to draw 2-2 at home to Will Still’s unbeaten Lens in Alsace.
M’Bala Nzola and Andy Diouf were on target for Lens either side of an Abakar Sylla counter for Strasbourg, who secured a point thanks to Habib Diarra’s penalty on the hour.
Lyon continued their revival in form by claiming a fourth consecutive win in all competitions with a 2-0 defeat of Nantes.
Argentinian World Cup winner Nicolas Tagliafico put Lyon ahead midway through the first half at the Groupama Stadium when he converted from a Said Benrahma assist.
Lyon then doubled their lead early in the second half as Nantes defender Nicolas Pallois turned a low Corentin Tolisso centre into his own net.
The victory for Lyon comes on the back of a 4-1 win away to Rangers in the Europa League on Thursday and is their second on the bounce in Ligue 1.
Having started the season with just one win in five, Pierre Sage’s team are up to eighth, above Nantes.
TOPSHOT - Demonstrators walk on a banner with a portrait of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a pro-Palestinian rally on the eve of the first anniversary of the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Jakarta on October 6, 2024. (Photo by Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP)
PARIS (AFP) – Tens of thousands of protesters marched in cities around the world over the weekend calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon as the war in the Palestinian territory neared the one-year mark.
In Washington, a man set himself on fire as more than 1,000 people demonstrated outside the White House demanding an end to US military aid to Israel, AFP journalists said.
In Morocco Sunday, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in the capital, Rabat, waving Palestinian flags and calling to break off diplomatic ties with Israel, which the kingdom normalised in 2020.
“Resistance does not die” and “The people want an end to normalisation”, they chanted outside parliament.
“We consider Palestine to be a national cause,” Khadija Mokhtari, a 56-year-old retiree taking part in the protest, told AFP.
She attended to protest the “flagrant injustice, Israeli killings and the genocide” against Palestinians, she added.
Thousands also marched in support of Gaza and Lebanon in cities across Turkey, including Isanbul and Ankara.
In Ramallah, in the West Bank Sunday, protesters carried a banner showing photos of Palestinian journalists slain while covering the conflict.
In Saturday’s Washington protest, a man set his left arm ablaze before bystanders and police extinguished the flames.
Thousands also marched through New York’s Times Square Saturday, some carrying pictures of people killed in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
A protestor waves a Free Palestine flag as people demonstrate to mark one year of the war between Hamas and Israel in Los Angeles, on October 5, 2024. PHOTO: AFP
Scuffles in Rome
Clashes broke out at a pro-Palestinian protest in Rome that drew thousands Saturday. Dozens of young demonstrators threw bottles and firecrackers at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon.
At least one policeman was injured and two protesters detained, AFP journalists said.
In Berlin, just over 1,000 protesters joined a pro-Palestinian demonstration Saturday, many wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional scarf symbolising the Palestinian struggle against Israel.
Demonstrators march during a rally under the slogan ‘Palestine resists’ near Kottbusser Tor square in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district on October 6, 2024. PHOTO: AFP
Demonstrators chanted “Gaza, you are not alone” and carried signs that read “Nothing justifies genocide” and “Free Gaza”.
At Saturday’s “National March for Palestine” in London, chants of “stop bombing civilians” were joined by shouts of “hands off Lebanon”.
Pro-Palestinian activists and supporters wave flags and hold placards as they pass through central London, during a March for Palestine on October 5, 2024. PHOTO: AFP
The march was largely peaceful, but least 15 people were arrested.
In Dublin, several hundred people took to the streets, waving Palestinian flags and chanting: “Ceasefire now!”.
In France, thousands of people marched in Paris, Lyon, Toulouse and other cities in solidarity with Palestinians.
A pro-Palestinian demonstration in the Swiss city of Basel drew several thousand people, the Keystone-ATS news agency reported.
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators also marched on the Israeli embassy in Athens, which was heavily guarded by riot police.
In Cape Town in South Africa, hundreds walked to parliament, chanting: “Israel is a racist state” and “We are all Palestinian.”
In Caracas, hundreds of supporters of President Nicolas Maduro’s government held a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the UN’s offices in Venezuela, carrying a giant Palestinian flag.
In Indonesia, more than 1,000 people protested outside the US embassy in Jakarta, calling on their government to refuse to normalise relations with Israel.
Demonstrators walk on a banner with a portrait of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a pro-Palestinian rally on the eve of the first anniversary of the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Jakarta on October 6, 2024. PHOTO: AFP
In Australia, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters thronged the streets of Sydney and other major cities Sunday, holding placards that read “stop arming Israel”.
Other pro-Palestinian protests were being held in cities including Buenos Aires, Madrid, Manila, and Karachi.
Israel’s military offensive since October 7 has killed at least 41,870 people in the Gaza Strip, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the territory’s health ministry and described as reliable by the United Nations.
With Israel now mounting a ground operation in Lebanon and vowing to respond to a barrage of missiles fired by Iran this week, there are fears the conflict could spiral into a wider war.
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz performing the Eid Al Fitr prayer at the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca on April 10, 2024.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) – Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has a lung infection and was set to undergo medical tests on Sunday night, the Royal Court said in the latest update on the ageing monarch’s health.
King Salman “will undergo some medical tests this evening, …based on the recommendations of the royal clinics, due to a lung infection,” said the statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
The 88-year-old king has been on the throne since 2015, though his son, Mohammed bin Salman, 39, was named crown prince in 2017 and acts as day-to-day ruler.
The monarch’s well-being is rarely discussed, but the Royal Court disclosed in May that he was undergoing a treatment programme involving antibiotics after he was admitted to hospital for tests. Soon after it announced he had recovered.
The previous month he was admitted for “routine examinations” and left later the same day.
Prior to that, he was hospitalised in May 2022, when he went in for a colonoscopy and stayed for just over a week for other tests and “some time to rest”, the official Saudi Press Agency reported at the time.
He was also admitted to hospital in March 2022 to undergo what state media described as “successful medical tests” and to change the battery of his pacemaker.
And in 2020 he underwent surgery to remove his gall bladder.
King Salman served as Riyadh governor for decades and also as defence minister.
His reign as king has been marked by ambitious social and economic reforms largely managed by his son, who is trying to position Saudi Arabia for an eventual post-oil future.
The Ministry of Health, following its accreditation as an American Heart Association (AHA) International Training Centre (ITC), hopes to train over 2,000 people in various lifesaving courses annually.
The ministry in a statement said that its ITC targets annual training for at least 480 people in First Aid, CPR, and AED through the Heartsaver course, about 1,600 healthcare staff in Basic Life Support (BLS), and around 360 in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS).
Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohammad Isham bin Haji Jaafar receives the certification from AHA Regional
Director for Asia Pacific and China Alina Zhuang. PHOTO: JAMES KON
According to the ministry, it received AHA accrediation early in February. On Monday, the ministry was inaugurated as an AHA ITC.
“This milestone enables the Ministry of Health, in partnership with AHA Regional Training Faculty, to launch its first Train-the-Trainers (ToT) Program, focusing on enhancing local resuscitation training capacity for healthcare professionals. The program includes essential courses, such as the Training Centre Faculty (TCF) Course and BLS & ACLS Provider and Instructor Essentials,” said the ministry.
Following Monday’s ceremony, 11 senior clinicians from various specialties will undergo TCF training to become the Ministry of Health ITC’s BLS and ACLS Faculty members.
This builds on their existing expertise by equipping them with advanced instructional methodologies tailored for AHA programs, enabling them to effectively conduct AHA BLS and ACLS Instructor Essentials courses and thereby expanding local instructor capacity, said the ministry.
Meanwhile, 17 healthcare professionals – mainly nurses and paramedics who currently serve as in-house instructors – will participate in BLS and ACLS Instructor Courses.
This aims to expand the team of AHA-certified Heartsaver, BLS, and ACLS instructors by training more professionals from the ministry’s healthcare staff, adding to the current 29 certified instructors.
The training will be held at the recently renovated National Resuscitation Centre, designed to support high-quality resuscitation education. Following the (ToT) programme, the Ministry of Health ITC will launch its first AHA-certified BLS and ACLS Provider Courses later this year, further certifying healthcare professionals as BLS and ACLS Providers, said the ministry.
Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohammad Isham bin Haji Jaafar was the guest of honour for Monday’s ceremony.
The minister with a training prop. PHOTO: JAMES KON
BEIJING (ANN/KOREA HERALD) – As advancements in chip technology, algorithms, and large language models accelerate, artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly significant role in numerous industries. Below is a breakdown of the key areas where AI is making a transformative impact:
Customer Service
AI is revolutionising the customer service industry by offering efficient and consistent support. AI-powered chatbots, capable of handling large volumes of inquiries simultaneously, provide quick responses using natural language processing to mimic human interaction. These systems enhance the customer experience by personalising recommendations and offers, while also managing routine tasks like scheduling appointments and processing transactions.
For illusration purposes only. PHOTO: FREEPIK
AI systems continuously learn from interactions to improve performance, but some users feel that AI lacks empathy and struggles with complex or unusual queries, requiring human intervention.
Healthcare
AI plays a crucial role in hospitals, aiding diagnostics by analysing medical images such as X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans. AI can detect subtle anomalies that may be missed by the human eye, facilitating early and accurate diagnoses. It also helps monitor patient data in real-time, predicting health issues and allowing for preemptive interventions that improve patient outcomes and reduce strain on hospital staff. Beyond clinical applications, AI optimizes administrative tasks like appointment scheduling, inventory management, and billing. Additionally, AI-powered telemedicine expands access to healthcare, especially in remote areas.
Travel
AI enhances travel experiences by simplifying the booking process for flights, hotels, and rentals through personalised algorithms. Travelers receive tailored suggestions for activities, dining, and attractions based on their preferences. AI also assists with real-time updates on traffic, weather, and flight statuses, ensuring a smooth journey. At destinations, AI-powered translation and navigation tools help travelers navigate unfamiliar environments, further enhancing convenience.
Smart Home Appliances
AI has revolutionised household appliances, making them smarter and more energy-efficient. AI-powered refrigerators can track food expiry dates and suggest recipes based on available ingredients, while AI-driven washing machines and dishwashers adjust their cleaning cycles to save water and energy. Smart thermostats learn user habits to efficiently manage heating and cooling systems, optimising energy use. These advancements not only improve appliance performance but also promote sustainability by reducing energy consumption.
Smartphones and Tablets
AI integration has significantly enhanced the capabilities of smartphones and tablets. AI-driven voice assistants like Siri and Google Assistant enable users to perform tasks through voice commands, while AI-powered cameras offer features such as autofocus, image stabilisation, and facial recognition for improved photos and videos. Additionally, AI optimizes device performance by managing apps and memory usage, extending battery life, and providing personalised content recommendations.
Driving
AI is revolutionising transportation with autonomous vehicles and advanced driver-assistance systems. These technologies rely on AI to process vast amounts of data from sensors, cameras, and GPS, enabling vehicles to make real-time decisions. AI-driven features like adaptive cruise control and emergency braking improve road safety, while connected vehicle technology enhances traffic management and route planning. In the future, fully autonomous vehicles could eliminate human error and transform mobility.
Security
AI is bolstering security in both cyber and physical domains. In cybersecurity, AI systems detect and respond to threats faster and more accurately than traditional systems. AI can learn from new attack patterns, adapt to evolving threats, and automate tasks such as vulnerability assessments. In physical security, AI-powered surveillance systems identify suspicious behavior and enhance biometric authentication systems. AI’s ability to monitor environmental factors in IoT devices also provides early warnings for security breaches or safety risks, enabling proactive risk management.
(FILES) A photo taken on September 25, 2024 shows portraits of individual laureates and the logos of prize-winning institutions and organisations on a wall of the committee meeting room at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway. Next week's Nobel prize announcements will crown achievements that made the world a better place, a glimmer of optimism as the world witnesses a spiralling Middle East conflict, protracted war in Ukraine, famine in Sudan and a collapsing climate. The prizes will be announced from October 7-14, 2024. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP)
Portraits of individual laureates and the logos of prize-winning institutions and organisations on a wall of the committee meeting room at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway. PHOTO: AFP
STOCKHOLM (AFP) – Cancer research or drugs treating cardiovascular illnesses could win a Nobel Prize on Monday when a week of laureate announcements kicks off, bringing a ray of optimism to a world beset by crises.
Awarded since 1901, the Nobel Prizes honour those who have, in the words of prize creator and scientist Alfred Nobel, “conferred the greatest benefit on humankind”, highlighting encouraging advances at a time when the world is witnessing devastating wars in the Middle East and Ukraine and a climate on the brink of collapse.
The Nobel Prize in Medicine is first out, announced on Monday around 11:30 am (0930 GMT) in Stockholm.
Among those seen as possible laureates is Kevan Shokat, an American biologist who figured out how to block the KRAS cancer gene behind a third of cancers, including challenging-to-treat lung, colon and pancreatic tumours.
“These are now being tested for new treatments thanks to his discovery,” said Annika Ostman, science reporter at Swedish public radio SR.
Research into how to treat cardiovascular illnesses could also get the nod, with the work of geneticists Jonathan Cohen and Helen Hobbs mentioned.
They identified genes that regulate the metabolism of essential lipids such as cholesterol, which has led to a new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs, David Pendlebury, head of the Clarivate analytics group that identifies Nobel-worthy research, told AFP.
Hobbs won the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in 2016, sharing the honour with Swedish geneticist Svante Paabo, who went on to win the Nobel in 2022.
Pendlebury also spotlighted a trio of neuroscientists who have researched the basal ganglia, a region in the brain important for motivation and reward, and how it regulates our behaviour.
The three are US neuroscientist Ann Graybiel, Okihide Hikosaka of Japan and German-born Wolfram Schultz.
Other potential winners are Davor Solter and Azim Surani for their study of epigenetics, which examines how cells control the activities of genes without changing the DNA.
Last year, the medicine prize went to researchers Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman for their work on messenger RNA technology that paved the way for groundbreaking Covid-19 vaccines.
Atomic scale microscope
For the Nobel Prize in Physics, announced on Tuesday, SR’s science experts suggested the honour could go to Swiss physicist Christoph Gerber, a pioneer in the development of the atomic force microscope.
“This is a microscope that gives 3D images on such an incredibly small scale that they sometimes are even atomic resolution,” said SR science reporter Camilla Widebeck.
The tool has become indispensable in nanotechnology and nano research, she added.
Clarivate also mentioned Gerber as a possible winner, as well as David Deutsch and Peter Shor for their work on quantum algorithms and quantum computing.
Lars Brostrom at SR meanwhile said he hoped to see American-Jordanian Omar Yaghi win Wednesday’s chemistry prize.
Yaghi developed a type of customised porous material known as MOF (Metal-organic framework), now used in commercial products that can, among other things, absorb and decontaminate toxins, act as a catalyst or even absorb water from desert air.
Karl Deisseroth, a US psychiatrist and neurologist, has also been mentioned for the past decade as a possible laureate for developing the field of optogenetics, using light to control cells.
Speculation is also rife for the literature prize, to be announced on Thursday and perhaps the most highly anticipated Nobel after the peace prize.
Several pundits believe Chinese author Can Xue will be the Swedish Academy’s choice this year – and she has the lowest odds on several betting sites.
An avant-garde fiction writer often likened to Kafka, her experimental style flips between utopia and dystopia and transforms the mundane into the surreal.
“I think it will be a woman from a language zone outside Europe,” Bjorn Wiman, culture editor at Sweden’s newspaper of record, Dagens Nyheter, told AFP.
Others suggest it could go to Australian novelist Gerald Murnane, Britain’s Salman Rushdie or Kenya’s Ngugi wa Thiong’o.
Who deserves the Peace Prize?
The climax of the week comes Friday when the Peace Prize laureate is announced, but experts say predictions are harder than ever this year due to the growing number of crises in the world.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, the International Court of Justice and Afghan women’s rights activist Mahbouba Seraj have been mentioned as possibilities.
Given the existential risks to humanity posed by weapons systems that can operate autonomously without human control, several Nobel-watchers have also cited the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots as a potential laureate.
The economics prize wraps up the 2024 Nobel season on October 14.
It could go to research on the economics of child development, the integration of nature in the economy, or the effects of corruption on economic growth.
