Author: admin@primenews

The British Museum will put 10 items stolen from its collection on show later this month. The Roman gems, to be featured in an exhibition Rediscovering Gems, include a cameo with a bust of Cupid from the 1st or 2nd Century AD. In August, the museum announced up to 2,000 objects from its storerooms were missing, stolen or damaged. It has recovered about 350 items to date. The exhibition will explore the significance of classical gems through history. George Osborne, who chairs the museum’s Board of Trustees, said the new display was an example of openness and “culture change” at…

When it comes to chimpanzee toddlers, girls rule. Skippy climbs with her hands and feet into the forest canopy, swinging through the spindly vines. The boys: they prefer to cuddle with their human carer. They are all orphans, rescued from across Sierra Leone and raised at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. “I want them to get used to the forest. So, when they join a new group, they will be ready,” says Mamma Posseh, who everyone calls Mamma P. She is the surrogate mother to the baby chimps. The three chimps at forest school are some of the newer arrivals to the sanctuary, an oasis…

China has executed a couple who fatally threw two children out of the window of an apartment building. Zhang Bo – the father of the children – and Ye Chengchen were previously found guilty of killing the two-year-old girl and one-year-old boy in 2020. Zhang had began an affair with Ye and later divorced his wife and began conspiring to kill his children. China’s Supreme Court had called the couples’ motives “extremely malicious”, highlighting their “cruel methods”. The couple were executed in the south-western city of Chongqing on Wednesday. It is not clear how the execution was carried out, though…

Pakistan’s former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif only returned from exile last year but is now the clear front-runner to win the 8 February election. Few could have predicted his return to the top, despite his dominance in Pakistani politics these past three decades. His last term ended in him being convicted of corruption, and the time before that, he was toppled in a military coup. Still, he appears on the brink of making another successful comeback, a dramatic turnaround for someone who had long been viewed as an opponent to Pakistan’s powerful military. “He’s a top candidate to be…

Decades before football fans were discussing how much Taylor Swift is too much, there was another singing superstar some viewers saw more of than they wanted. On February 1, 2004, the now-infamous “Nipplegate” incident occurred at the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show as Janet Jackson performed with Justin Timberlake, crescendoing to a costume malfunction/reveal that begot the aforementioned name. Since then, Timberlake has bore the brunt of anger from many who blame him for not supporting Jackson in the aftermath, which included her reportedly being cut from the Grammys that year along with other professional opportunities. Writer and culture critic Gerrick Kennedy understands the anger, but believes…

Holiday shoppers powered strong revenue growth for Amazon last quarter, the company said Thursday, the same day it launched a new AI shopping assistant. The e-commerce leader on Thursday reported revenue of $170 billion for its quarter ending in December, beating Wall Street’s estimates and growing 14% compared to the same period last year. And the company is now looking to give customers a new way to shop, while signaling to investors that it is doubling down on artificial intelligence. Ahead of the earnings report on Thursday, Amazon announced it was adding an AI-powered shopping assistant dubbed “Rufus” to its e-commerce…

Apple has finally ended its losing streak. The company reported its first sales growth in a year on Thursday, boosted in particular by record revenue from its App Store and other services. But it’s still encountering difficulty in China. The earnings report comes one day before the company launches its biggest new product in years, the Vision Pro headset, which the company hopes to make the next must-have piece of home electronics. Overall, Apple posted its first increase in revenue in a year, but China was a weak spot: Revenue in the region slid 13% from last year. In contrast,…

A toxic mix of oil, chemicals and bits of tyre from roads is polluting English waterways and no-one is regularly monitoring it, the BBC has found. Heavy rain forces run-off into streams and rivers. Campaigners say it causes ‘absolutely horrific’ damage in places, including just downstream of where The Great British Bake Off is filmed. England’s major road network has more than 18,000 outflows or drains. National Highways runs the network and says it’s working to improve them. Responsibility for monitoring water pollution in England rests with the Environment Agency. In response to a BBC News freedom of information request,…

TikTok has removed music by stars including Taylor Swift, The Weeknd and Olivia Rodrigo from videos after a row with their record label, Universal Music Group (UMG). A licensing agreement between TikTok and the label expired on Wednesday, and a new deal could not be reached. UMG said TikTok wanted to pay a “fraction” of the rate other social media sites do for access to its songs. TikTok accused UMG of presenting a “false narrative and rhetoric”. All videos which have UMG music on them will be muted and new videos will not be able to be made with those tracks.…

The US State Department has approved the potential sale of 31 armed drones, missiles and other equipment to India for nearly $4bn (£3.14bn). The MQ-9B Predator drones deal had been announced during PM Narendra Modi’s visit to US in June 2023. In December, it was put on hold by a Senate committee pending investigation into an alleged Indian assassination plot on US soil. The deal will now be confirmed after approval from the US Congress. It includes the sale of 31 armed MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones, 170 AGM-114R Hellfire missiles and 310 laser small diameter bombs, communications and surveillance equipment and…