Dyson says it plans to build home assistant robots that will be in homes by the end of the decade, and is issuing a call to robotics engineers to join the technology firm.

The UK-founded firm, best known for its hairdryers and vacuum cleaners, announced plans to open a robotics centre at Hullavington Airfield in Wiltshire, where work on new types of home robots will be led by Dyson’s chief engineer, Jake Dyson.

During the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Philadelphia on Wednesday, the company will publish a short film showing “secret robotic prototypes”, including several robotic hands grasping objects around the home, which the firm said offer a hint to its plans to move beyond robotic vacuum cleaners.

The company will confirm plans to hire 250 robotics engineers as part of a wider recruitment it says has already seen 2,000 people join this year globally.

Dyson said it also plans to hire 700 more people in the robotics field over the next five years as part of a £2.75 billion ($3.4 billion) investment plan in new technologies, products and facilities, with £600 million set to be spent this year.

As a result of the recruitment and investment, which will also a see new robotics labs created in London and some new recruits based at the firm’s global headquarters in Singapore, the company says it wants to have new robotic technologies in people’s homes by the end of this decade.

“Dyson employed its first roboticist 20 years ago and this year alone we are seeking 250 more experts for our team,” Dyson said.

“This is a ‘big bet’ on future robotic technology that will drive research across the whole of Dyson, in areas including mechanical engineering, vision systems, machine learning and energy storage. We need the very best people in the world to come and join us now.”

Atlanta (AFP) – Republican voters delivered a stark repudiation Tuesday of Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 US election was stolen, backing Georgia Governor Brian Kemp for re-election by a huge margin over a candidate recruited by the former president.

Trump had banked much of his own political capital hand-picking David Perdue to oust Kemp in the nominating contest to compete for the governor’s mansion in November’s midterm elections.

Perdue made Trump’s bogus claims about 2020 a centerpiece of his campaign, in a direct appeal to his endorser’s supporters who continue wrongly to question the validity of the outcome.

But the former senator was forced to concede, in an embarrassing blow for Trump, as the early count showed him trailing by almost 50 points less than 90 minutes after polls closed.

“Four years of the Kemp administration will mean that you keep all of your hard-earned money,” Kemp said in his victory address.

“Your communities will be safe. Your kids will be in school without fear of partisan agendas in the classroom. Parents will have a voice and we’ll keep working to bring good paying jobs to every corner of our state.”

Kemp, frequently the target of Trump’s wrath for refusing to help overturn the election, was always expected to win, but the margin of defeat represents a stinging rebuke of Trump from a state he lost by the narrowest of margins in 2020.

Five states were holding nominating contests for congressional elections that will decide which party controls the US Senate and House of Representatives for the remainder of President Joe Biden’s first term.

But all eyes are on Georgia, where wounds from the 2020 presidential election are still festering two years after Biden won the state by under 12,000 votes.

Up and down the ballot, the Republican side of the Georgia primary pitted candidates peddling the former president’s election fraud claims against hopefuls who pushed back in defense of the Constitution.

The race to be Georgia’s secretary of state is seen as equally consequential as the contest for governor, as these are the officials who oversee elections in the United States.

Democrats fear that, across the country, Trump will be able to install loyalists who can weaponize specious fraud accusations from 2020 to make it harder for his opponents to vote in 2024.

As the man responsible for certifying Georgia’s 2020 election results, Brad Raffensperger was in lockstep with Kemp in pushing back against Trump, making him another key target for the former president’s vengeance.

He defeated Jody Hice, one of more than a dozen Trump-backed candidates across America bidding to become secretary of state and professing to believe the 2020 election was stolen.

With 98 of precincts reporting, Raffensperger had 52 percent of the vote, clearing the 50 percent threshold that allowed him to avoid going into a head-to-head run-off and enabling him to declare victory outright.

In a grueling night for Trump, another of the election deniers he endorsed, John Gordon, lost his challenge to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr.

Biden was the first Democratic presidential candidate since 1992 to win Georgia, while Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff triumphed in runoff elections in January 2021 that wrested control of the US Senate from Republicans.

Warnock cruised through his primary and will face Trump-backed football star Herschel Walker, who had an easy night too, sailing to the Republican nomination for Senate.

Georgia’s Democrats are doing all they can to cement their 2021 gains, headlined by Democratic star campaigner Stacey Abrams, who is unopposed in her bid for governor.

Abrams courted controversy over the weekend with remarks that Georgia is the “worst state in the country to live,” citing its healthcare and crime statistics, rising incarceration rates and falling wages.

At a news conference Tuesday, she attempted to clean up a comment that Republicans have seized on as a sign of her lack of local pride, faulting herself for an “inelegant delivery” of her message.

In a brief concession speech, Perdue backed Kemp in his bid to see off Abrams’s challenge.

“We’re going to make sure Stacey Abrams is not governor of the state,” he said.

Nominating contests are also being held in Minnesota, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas, where a school shooting that left 19 children dead had cast a grim pall over the state’s primary.

The last remaining public telephone booth on the streets of New York City has been removed and will be put in a museum, authorities have said.

The telephone booth with two coin-operated machines near Times Square is to be exhibited in the New York City Museum in the future, the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation announced.

Over the past years, the city administration has been setting up so-called LinkNYC kiosks across New York, which offer free wi-fi and USB charging ports, to replace coin-operated pay phones.

There are still some privately operated pay phones left in the city, however, for example in several subway stations.

Cannes (France) (AFP) – Cannes is set to be shaken, rattled and rolled on Wednesday as the world premiere of “Elvis” rocks the film festival on the French Riviera, in what is proving a vintage year for music-lovers.

The highly anticipated new film is the latest from Australia’s Baz Luhrmann, the technicolour genius behind “Romeo and Juliet” and “Moulin Rouge!”. 

Rising star Austin Butler, 30, steps into the blue suede shoes of Elvis Presley, and whispers around the Cannes Film Festival suggest it will rocket him into the A-list. 

The film also features Tom Hanks as The King’s infamous manager, Colonel Tom Parker.

It has been warmly welcomed by the family of Presley, who died in 1977 at the age of 42 after a descent into drug addiction.  

His granddaughter Riley Keough, who happened to be at Cannes with her directorial debut “War Pony” last week, said she had watched the film with her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, and grandmother, Priscilla Presley. 

“There’s a lot of family trauma and generational trauma that started around there. It was a very intense experience,” she told reporters.

Luhrmann has become a favourite at Cannes, having wowed critics with his debut “Strictly Ballroom” in 1992, and opening the festival twice, with “Moulin Rouge!” and “Gatsby”.

Kaleidoscopic

Celebrating its 75th edition, the festival has been a feast for music lovers this year. 

There were rave reviews for a new documentary about David Bowie, “Moonage Daydream” — part of a recent wave of innovative films about music legends. 

“It’s not a biography,” its director, Brett Morgen, told AFP. “The film is meant to be sublime, and kaleidoscopic, and kind of wash over you.”

Ethan Coen, one half of the beloved Coen brothers film-making duo, was also in Cannes to present a documentary about another rock’n’roll pioneer, Jerry Lee Lewis. 

Both docs eschew expert talking heads in favour of a more immersive experience. 

“I don’t care what experts say,” Coen told AFP at the festival. “Jerry Lee is a performer so I want to see the performance — not what some expert thinks about it.”

Divided contest

As arguably the world’s leading film festival, Cannes seeks a line-up that balances hard-hitting dramas, arthouse experimentation and blockbuster spectacles. 

This year has seen plenty of Hollywood glamour, with “Elvis” preceded by last week’s launch of “Top Gun: Maverick”, which brought Tom Cruise and a French Air Force display team to the red carpet. 

While they are playing out of the competition, the race for the top prize Palme d’Or has been a very mixed affair so far. 

No clear frontrunner has emerged from the 21 films in competition, with critics deeply divided over almost every entry. 

Perhaps the best reception up to now has been for “Decision to Leave” by Korean director Park Chan-wook, known for his 2003 thriller “Oldboy”. 

But the awards, to be presented on Saturday, are decided by a jury of film professionals — this year including Indian superstar Deepika Padukone, Iran’s two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi and led by French actor Vincent Lindon. 

Paula Abdul is mulling over plans for her upcoming 60th birthday and admitted she’s hoping to “do something big”.

The pop star-turned-TV regular marks the milestone on June 19 and although she hasn’t finalised her party plans, the ‘Opposites Attract’ hitmaker revealed she’s hoping to splash the cash on chartering a yacht or whisking her friends off on an exotic holiday.

She told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “I’m gonna do something big. Maybe charter a yacht or go somewhere exotic (and) take some friends.”

Paula then joked she may end up staying at home and spending the day with her beloved pet dogs.

She laughed: “Knowing me, I’ll stay home, be with my dogs.”

However, she’s still hoping to come up with glamorous plan in time for her big day.

She added: “I wanna do something fun and something spectacular.

“Every day we (should) celebrate ourselves. We are above ground. We are living. We are healthy. You know what? We’re celebrating really important things in life.”

It’s been an up and down 12 months for Paula as last year she underwent breast reduction surgery to make her implants smaller.

The former ‘America Idol’ judge underwent a corrective operation to reverse a previous breast augmentation procedure.

She explained she’d started having back pain and needed the operation to help ease her discomfort – especially when indulging her passion for dancing.

In a video shared on Instagram by medical device firm InMode – which Paula is a brand ambassador for – she said: “With my height, I’m petite, I started with smaller breasts and about 20-plus years ago I had implants put in, and the more I was dancing the harder it was getting on my back. “As the years go by, gravity happens too, and I just always felt like [they were] a little too big for my frame, and I wanted to get the old implants out.”

New York (AFP) – Nike will not renew licensing agreements in Russia, the company said Wednesday, joining a growing list of Western companies pulling back from the country following the invasion of Ukraine.

The move affects licensed retailers as Nike shuttered company-owned stores two months ago soon after Moscow sent troops into the neighboring country.

“Due to operational challenges in Russia, Nike has made the decision not to renew or enter into any new business commitments, including with our franchisee Up&Run,” the company said.

“Our business remains on pause and we are providing pay continuity to our employees.” 

Nike’s statement was in response to an AFP inquiry into the status after Russian newspaper Vedomisti reported that Up & Run’s parent, Inventive Retail Group (IRG), would shutter its retail locations in Russia because of lack of access to merchandise.

IRG’s website shows 37 Nike locations, nine of which are listed as “temporarily closed.”

“As you can see from our stores, deliveries are suspended and the goods are in short supply,” IRG spokeswoman Lyudmila Semushina told AFP. “In the current realities, we cannot continue to support the work of Nike mono-brand stores and will be forced to close them.” 

Nike’s move comes just two days after Starbucks said it was shuttering its 130 cafes in the country, and last week, McDonald’s announced its exit from Russia, where it had 850 restaurants employing 62,000 workers.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into pro-Western Ukraine on February 24, triggering unprecedented sanctions and sparking an exodus of foreign corporations including H&M, Adidas  and Ikea.

By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) – President Joe Biden on Wednesday nominated three women to serve as appellate judges including Florence Pan, who would succeed U.S. Supreme Court-designate Ketanji Brown Jackson on the influential federal appeals court in Washington, D.C.

Pan’s nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit marks the second time Biden has picked her to fill a seat vacated by the incoming Supreme Court justice, after selecting Pan in 2021 to succeed Jackson as a district court judge.

Biden also nominated public interest lawyer Rachel Bloomekatz to serve on the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. Magistrate Judge Doris Pryor to sit on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The White House said the nominees continue fulfilling Biden’s pledge to diversify the federal bench. Nearly three-quarters of his 98 federal judicial nominees have been women. A majority have been people of color.

The D.C. Circuit is considered by many the second most important court after the Supreme Court thanks to a docket filled with cases concerning government decisions and regulations.

Pan would fill a vacancy created by the U.S. Senate’s April confirmation of Jackson to become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court once Justice Stephen Breyer retires at the end of this term.

The Senate in September confirmed Pan on a 68-30 vote to become first Asian American woman judge on the federal district court in Washington, D.C. She was previously a D.C. Superior Court judge.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday will vote on advancing another D.C. Circuit nominee, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs, who Biden considered for the Supreme Court nomination.

Pryor, a former prosecutor and public defender who is Black, would be the first judge of color on 7th Circuit from Indiana.

Bloomekatz launched a public interest law firm in Columbus, Ohio, in 2019 after working at Washington-based appellate firm Gupta Wessler. She served as state counsel for Biden’s 2020 campaign in Ohio.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

Sufficient supplies of the Imvanex vaccine against monkeypox are available to handle the current outbreak, the producer of the shot told dpa on Wednesday.

Bavarian Nordic is the only company in the world whose monkeypox vaccine has regulatory approval. It is currently possible to produce 30 million doses annually, spokesman Rolf Sass Sørensen said.

Cases of monkeypox are spreading. The virus usually causes mild symptoms such as rash, fever and pustules, but can also be severe.

The company is based in Denmark and produces the vaccine there, although it was initially developed in the German branch in Martinsried near Munich.

However, the shot is only approved in the US, where it is called Jynneos, and Canada.

Planning is currently under way for it to be approved in the European Union is being planned, Sørensen said.

In Europe, the vaccine has only been approved for smallpox in humans, which is considered extinct. The vaccine is also being used in Britain but “off label,” without the corresponding approval, Sørensen continued.

He said the company was receiving many enquiries about the shot but did not state which countries had bought the vaccine or how much.

Germany has ordered “up to 40 000 doses” of smallpox vaccine, according to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach.

Bavarian Nordic’s smallpox shot was originally developed based on work with the US government set up after the attack on 2001 World Trade Center attack, when Washington feared a future attack could involve smallpox viruses.

The government planned to vaccinate the entire population, Sørensen said, noting that the older vaccines were associated with significant side effects.

“That’s why they came to us and asked us to make a better and newer generation of smallpox vaccine,” he added. It is a very safe vaccine that has been tested on very solid data, he said.

Keanu Reeves has been hailed one of the world’s nicest men in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2022 issue.

The actor, 57, was gushed over in the special edition by his co-star Carrie-Anne Moss, 54.

She said in an essay for the magazine: “In this often unkind and shallow world, my friend Keanu gives others hope.”

The actress, who played Trinity alongside Reeves in ‘The Matrix’ films, added he was far from other celebrities who proved a let down off-screen.

She added: “The actions of this handsome, talented, successful, and fiercely committed actor have become a reprieve from the constant disappointment we have for those who get put on a pedestal.”

Moss also called Reeves’ fame “unique” and said he is renowned for “his kindness and generosity”.

The pair first worked together on 1999’s ‘The Matrix’ before reprising their roles three times in follow-ups, with the most recent outing in December.

Moss said about their first meeting: “Keanu was just as he always is: kind, generous, and thoughtful… (he is) still the man who checks in on me during an intense training day just as he did then.”

Keanu, worth an estimated £320 million, has given away chunks of his fortune over the years as part of good deeds.

He runs a private foundation that benefits cancer research and children’s hospitals, gifted the stunt crew on ‘The Matrix’ a motorcycle each, and bought his mum a house.

Among the other famous faces listed in the 100 most influential people issue are Kris Jenner, 66, actress Mila Kunis, 38, and comedian Pete Davidson, 28, who has been dating Kris’ daughter Kim, 41, since November 2021.

Each of those listed has a tribute written about them by a peer or colleague.

Zendaya, 25, was one of five celebrities to get her own cover for this issue.

The others went to singer Mary J Blige, 51, actor Simu Liu, 33, Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley, 56, and chief executive officer of Apple Tim Cook, 61.

Bad Bunny refuses to give clothes a gender.

The 28-year-old rap star – whose real name is Benito Ocasio – is unsure what defines “masculine” or “feminine” and cannot discriminate clothing choices based on gender.

He said: “Everybody has to feel comfortable with what they are, and how they feel. Like, what defines a man, what defines being masculine, what defines being feminine? I really can’t give clothes gender. To me, a dress is a dress. If I wear a dress, would it stop being a woman’s dress? Or vice versa? Like, no. It’s a dress, and that’s it. It’s not a man’s, it’s not a woman’s. It’s a dress.”

The Latino singer – who had a job packing groceries at a supermarket in Puerto Rico before shooting to fame and becoming Spotify’s most streamed artist of 2021 with a reported 9.1 billion plays worldwide – went on to claim that becoming a celebrity was never his intention and explained that his native audience would typically “undervalue” Latino musicians who sang in their own language.

In a new cover story for GQ’s June issue, he said:”I was never on a mission to be like, Oh, this is what I’m going to do. It happened organically. Like, I’ve never made a song saying, ‘This is going to go worldwide.’ I never made a song thinking, ‘Man, this is for the world. This is to capture the gringo audience’. Never. On the contrary, I make songs as if only Puerto Ricans were going to listen to them. I still think I’m there making music, and it’s for Puerto Ricans. I forget the entire world listens to me.

“The Latino audience would always undervalue their artist. Sometimes, Latinos would want to record with an American, and because they’re American, they’d think, I have to do it. No, man. He’s not at the level I am, you know? Just because they’re American. But that perspective has changed. You can see it now. People have become aware. They suddenly see, Wow, Bad Bunny has been the most listened to on Spotify for 70 days. It wasn’t the American. It’s this guy, who’s Latino.”

Read the full cover story, ‘Bad Bunny’s Giant Leap’ n GQ’s June issue and on GQ.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden is set to issue an executive order on Wednesday directing federal agencies to revise use-of-force policies as the United States marks the two-year anniversary of the police killing of George Floyd, the Washington Post and other U.S. media reported.

The order, which the Washington Post said Biden would sign on Wednesday, will create a national registry of officers fired for misconduct and use grants to encourage state and local police to tighten restrictions on chokeholds and no-knock warrants, the New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Floyd, a Black man suspected of passing a counterfeit bill, was killed when Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, kneeled on his neck as three other officers looked on. The incident triggered a wave of protests over racial injustice.

Chauvin was sentenced to 22-1/2 years in prison last year after his conviction on murder charges. One of the three officers pleaded guilty last week to aiding and abetting manslaughter in the May 25, 2020, incident.

The White House has scheduled a signing ceremony at 4 p.m. on Wednesday (2000 GMT) at which Biden will be joined by members of Floyd’s family, civil rights advocates and law enforcement officials, the Washington Post reported, citing two people briefed on the announcement.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Rami Ayyub in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)