Science & Technology

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ending a second day of tense negotiations, U.S. and Mexican officials failed Thursday to reach a deal to avert import tariffs that President Donald Trump is threatening to impose as he tries to strong-arm Mexico into stemming the flow of Central American migrants across America’s southern border.

Vice President Mike Pence, monitoring the talks from his travels in Pennsylvania, said the U.S. was “encouraged” by Mexico’s latest proposals but, so far, tariffs still were set to take effect Monday.

6 June 2019; AFP: Scientists on Thursday unveiled the most detailed simulation of a black hole yet, solving a mystery dating back more than four decades over how the star-devouring monsters consume matter.

Coming fresh on the heels of the first ever photo of one of the giant objects, which are scattered across the Universe, astrophysicists are now several steps closer to understanding how they form and develop.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Amazon said Wednesday that it plans to use self-piloted drones to deliver packages to shoppers’ home in the coming months.

The online shopping giant did not give exact timing or say where the drones will be making deliveries.

Amazon said its new drones use computer vision and machine learning to detect and avoid people or clotheslines in backyards when landing.

“From paragliders to power lines to a corgi in the backyard, the brain of the drone has safety covered,” said Jeff Wilke, who oversees Amazon’s retail business.

SYDNEY, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Artificially intelligent (AI) robots that can speak with people autonomously have a big role to play in the future of mental healthcare, according to a team of Aussie experts on Thursday.

The researchers at the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision and the Queensland University of Technology believe social robots have enormous potential to help people suffering from conditions such as depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and eating disorders.

TAIPEI, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) said Wednesday it would continue supplying products for mainland telecommunications company Huawei despite the U.S. government's ban on the latter.

Mark Liu, chairman of TSMC, told reporters that the company's delivery of products to Huawei in the second half of this year is expected to be better than the same period of last year.

The U.S. government last month announced restrictions on the sale and transfer of U.S. technologies to Huawei over what it claimed were technological threats.

WASHINGTON, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde warned in a blog post Wednesday of "growing concerns" over the impact of current trade tensions on global growth, urging the removal of existing trade barriers and restraint in erecting new ones.

In an article titled "How to Help, Not Hinder Global Growth," Lagarde highlighted the current global trade tensions, which she said "are looming larger."

BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- One of the most frustrating and disappointing parts in the China-U.S. trade war has been the U.S. side's distortion of facts, which most recently came after China issued a white paper on bilateral trade consultations.

After China comprehensively and accurately introduced the consultation process between the two countries in the white paper, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a joint statement, sticking to a prejudiced stance and a twisted version of the story.

MOSCOW, June 5. /TASS/. The Project 12700 latest minesweeper Vladimir Yemelyanov will enter dockside trials in June this year, Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov said at the Navy’s enlarged board meeting on Wednesday.

"The dockside tests of the mine countermeasures vessel Vladimir Yemelyanov will begin in June," the Defense Ministry’s newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda quoted the Navy chief as saying.

QINGDAO, June 5 (Xinhua) -- China successfully launched a rocket from a mobile launch platform in the Yellow Sea off Shandong Province on Wednesday, sending two technology experiment satellites and five commercial satellites into space.

A Long March-11 solid propellant carrier rocket blasted off at 12:06 p.m. from the mobile platform. It is China's first space launch from a sea-based platform and the 306th mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.

Balasore (Odisha), Jun 4 (PTI) Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos on Tuesday was test fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Odisha.

The anti-ship version of the missile was launched around noon from the launch complex-3 of the ITR, Defence Research and Development (DRDO) sources said.