SYDNEY: Hundreds of mysterious black tar-like balls have washed up on a popular Sydney beach, prompting lifeguards to close the strand to swimmers.
“Mysterious, black, ball-shaped debris” began appearing on Coogee Beach on Tuesday afternoon the local mayor said, leaving flummoxed authorities scrambling to find out what they might be, and where they may have come from.
“Coogee Beach is closed until further notice,” Mayor Dylan Parker said in a social media post.
Hundreds of golf-to-cricket-ball-sized spheres could be seen littering the length of sand, which is usually thronged with Sydneysiders and tourists.
Instead, a few seagulls wandered among the spheres, pecking and examining.
“At this stage, it is unknown what the material is, however, they may be ‘tar balls’ which are formed when oil comes in to contact with debris and water, typically the result of oil spills or seepage,” Parker said.
The beach remained closed Wednesday morning despite an overnight cleanup effort.
Other nearby beaches were being monitored but remain open.
“Beachgoers are advised to avoid Coogee Beach until further notice and not touch the material, while the clean-up and investigations continue,” Dylan Parker said.
‘Mysterious black balls’ close Sydney beach
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‘Mysterious black balls’ close Sydney beach
Portrait by humanoid robot to sell at auction in art world first
- The ultra-realistic robot is designed to resemble a human female with a face, large eyes and a brown wig
LONDON: The robot artist Ai-Da, a humanoid powered by artificial intelligence, will be the first of its kind to have a painting sold at a major auction house, organizers said Wednesday.
The work, due to go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London next month, is described as a “haunting” portrait of the English mathematician Alan Turing, considered one of the fathers of modern computing.
Entitled “AI God,” the 2.2 meter (7.5 ft) high portrait is expected to fetch between £100,000 and £150,000 ($130,000 and $196,000).
The online sale, featuring a range of digital art forms, would explore the intersection between art and technology, according to Sotheby’s.
The ultra-realistic robot is designed to resemble a human female with a face, large eyes and a brown wig and is one of the most advanced in the world.
It works by using AI algorithms and has cameras in its eyes and bionic hands.
Aidan Meller, gallery owner and founder of Ai-Da Robot studio, led the team that created it with artificial intelligence specialists at the universities of Oxford and Birmingham in England.
Meller said Turing, who made his name as a World War II codebreaker, mathematician and early computer scientist, had raised concerns about the use of AI in the 1950s.
The artwork’s “muted tones and broken facial planes” seemingly suggested “the struggles Turing warned we will face when it comes to managing AI,” he said.
Ai-Da’s works were “ethereal and haunting” and “continue to question where the power of AI will take us, and the global race to harness its power,” he added.
In 2022, Ai-Da painted portraits of the acts headlining Glastonbury Festival including Billie Eilish, Diana Ross, Kendrick Lamar and Paul McCartney.
Sotheby’s Digital Art Sale runs from October 31 to November 7.
Egypt’s long-delayed mega-museum will open some of its main galleries, a trial run for full opening
- Limited tours have been allowed in parts of the site since late 2022 to test visitors’ experience and the museum’s operational preparedness
CAIRO: The Grand Egyptian Museum will partially open its main galleries on Wednesday, including 12 halls that exhibit aspects of ancient Egypt, as part of a trial run, officials said Tuesday.
The museum, a mega-project near the famed Giza Pyramids which has cost well over $1 billion so far, will open the halls for 4,000 visitors as a trial run until the official opening date, which is yet to be announced, according to Al-Tayeb Abbas, assistant to the minister of antiquities.
The opening of the museum, which has been under construction for more than a decade, has been repeatedly delayed for various reasons, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 100,000 artifacts of Egypt’s ancient treasures will be displayed in the world’s largest archaeological museum, according to the Egyptian state information website.
Abbas told the AP that the trial run starting Wednesday would help prepare for the full opening by providing a deeper understanding of issues related to operations such as identifying overcrowded areas across the museum.
The displays across the 12 halls tap into issues related to society, religion, and doctrine in ancient Egypt, he added. All open-style halls have been classified by dynasty and historical order, and each will showcase at least 15,000 artifacts.
Eras that will be exhibited in the main galleries include the Third Intermediate Period (about 1070-664 B.C.), Late Period (664-332 B.C.), Graeco-Roman Period (332 B.C.-395 A.D.), New Kingdom (1550-1070 B.C.), Middle Kingdom (2030-1650 B.C.), and Old Kingdom (2649-2130 B.C.). One of the halls displays statues of “Elite of the King,” members of the royal family and high-ranking officials who worked in the army, priesthood, and the government.
Parts of the site have already been open for limited tours since late 2022 to test visitors’ experience and the museum’s operational preparedness.
Aude Porcedde, a Canadian tourist who visited several sections, told the AP she was amazed by the museum, adding that Egyptian civilization is important for her and for the world to know more about.
“There is a lot of history and a lot of things we are not aware of, especially coming from the other side of the world, and seeing everything here and learning from the locals has been great,” said Costa Rican tourist Jorge Licano.
The grand staircase, six stories high and with a view of the pyramids, and the commercial area are open to the public, showcasing monuments and artifacts that include sarcophagi and statues. Other parts of the museum, including the King Tutankhamun treasure collection, are set to open at later dates.
All halls are equipped with advanced technology and feature multimedia presentations to explain the lives of the ancient Egyptians, including its kings, according to Eissa Zidan, Director-General of the Preliminary Restoration and Antiquities Transfer at the museum.
One of the halls will use virtual reality to explain the history of burial and its development throughout ancient Egypt.
“The museum is not only a place to display antiquities, but it also aims to attract children to learn about ancient Egyptian history ... The museum is a gift to all the world,” Zidan said.
Sri Lanka carrier grounds captain after mid-air argument
- Captain clashes with the female copilot over her stepping out without arranging another crew member to accompany him in the cockpit
- Cabin crew had to persuade the captain to let the first officer back into her seat on the Airbus A330
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s national airline grounded a captain after he locked out his female copilot when she took a toilet break during a flight from Sydney to Colombo, officials said.
Sri Lanka’s aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), had initiated an investigation.
“The airline is fully cooperating with the relevant authorities, and the captain has been grounded pending the outcome of the investigation,” SriLankan Airlines said in a statement.
The captain clashed with the female copilot over her stepping out without arranging another crew member to accompany him in the cockpit, in line with standard operating procedures, an airline source said.
Cabin crew had to persuade the captain to let the first officer back into her seat on the Airbus A330.
The two-pilot aircraft landed without incident.
The cash-strapped carrier has been plagued with chronic delays and shortages of technical crew after it ran out of money to pay for refurbished engines for some of its grounded aircraft.
Successive governments have tried to sell off the debt-laden carrier.
The International Monetary Fund demanded the restructuring of loss-making state enterprises, including SriLankan airlines, when it granted Colombo a $2.9 billion bailout last year.
The bailout came after the South Asian island defaulted on its $46 billion external debt in April 2022 as it faced an unprecedented shortage of foreign exchange needed for essential imports.
With nearly 6,000 staff, SriLankan Airlines is the biggest and most expensive of the cash-haemorrhaging companies that are draining the budget.
However, analysts had warned that finding a company willing to pour money into the carrier would be immensely challenging given its history of interference, mismanagement and turbulent partnerships.
A Hong Kong zoo seeks answers after 9 monkeys die in 2 days
HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s oldest zoo is seeking answers in a monkey medical mystery after nine animals died in two days, including three members of a critically endangered species.
Part of the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens has been sealed off and disinfected, and experts have been called in to conduct necropsies and toxicological tests, Hong Kong leader John Lee said in his weekly press briefing Tuesday.
Eight monkeys were found dead on Sunday, and another died Monday after unusual behavior. The deceased animals included a De Brazza’s monkey, a common squirrel monkey, four white-faced sakis and three cotton-top tamarins — a species listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
“Whenever we have any news, if there’s a new development, an announcement should be made as soon as possible, so that everyone can know about the facts,” Lee said.
On Monday, the government held an urgent interdepartmental meeting about the deaths. It said in a statement that another De Brazza’s monkey’s behavior and appetite were found to be unusual, requiring further observation.
But all 80 other animals in the gardens were in normal condition, it added.
Jason Baker, senior vice president of animal rights group PETA Asia, said the deaths raised concerns about a possible outbreak of a zoonotic disease such as monkeypox, which can jump from animals to humans.
“Monkeys in captivity are often exposed to pathogens that cause diseases that can be transmitted to humans, including tuberculosis, Chagas disease, cholera and MRSA,” he said in a statement.
He said the only way to ensure the well-being of animals and prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases is to stop confining them in unnatural environments.
The Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens — the oldest park in the former British colony — fully opened to the public in 1871. It is a rare urban oasis in the downtown Central district of the financial hub which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Boeing will lay off 10% of its employees as a strike by factory workers cripples airplane production
Boeing will lay off 10% of its employees as a strike by factory workers cripples airplane production
- Boeing has lost more than $25 billion since the start of 2019.
Boeing plans to lay off about 10% of its workers in the coming months as it continues to lose money and tries to deal with a strike that is crippling production of the company’s best-selling airline planes.
New CEO Kelly Ortberg told staff in a memo Friday that the job cuts, which could total about 17,000 positions, will include executives, managers and employees.
The company has about 170,000 employees worldwide, many of them working in manufacturing facilities in the states of Washington and South Carolina.
Boeing had already imposed rolling temporary furloughs, but Ortberg said those will be suspended because of the impending layoffs.
The company will delay the rollout of a new plane, the 777X, to 2026 instead of 2025. It will also stop building the cargo version of its 767 jet in 2027 after finishing current orders.
Boeing has lost more than $25 billion since the start of 2019.
About 33,000 union machinists have been on strike since Sept. 14. Two days of talks this week failed to produce a deal, and Boeing filed an unfair-labor-practices charge against the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
As it announced layoffs, Boeing also gave a preliminary report on its third-quarter financial results — and the news is not good for the company.
Boeing said it burned through $1.3 billion in cash during the quarter and lost $9.97 per share. Industry analysts had been expecting the company to lose $1.61 per share in the quarter, according to a FactSet survey, but analysts were likely unaware of some large write-downs that Boeing announced Friday.
The company based in Arlington, Virginia, said it had $10.5 billion in cash and marketable securities on Sept. 30.
The strike has a direct bearing on cash burn because Boeing gets half or more of the price of planes when it delivers them to airline customers. The strike has shut down production of the 737 Max, Boeing's best-selling plane, and 777x and 767s. The company is still making 787s at a nonunion plant in South Carolina.
“Our business is in a difficult position, and it is hard to overstate the challenges we face together,” Ortberg told staff. He said the situation “requires tough decisions and we will have to make structural changes to ensure we can stay competitive and deliver for our customers over the long term.”
