On debut day for Olympic boxing, fighters said they were happy to be competing at the first Games since 1980 without protective headgear, welcoming better peripheral vision even if it means more cuts and scrapes. 
 
After decades of debate, and some studies suggesting headgear did not make the sport safer, boxing governing body AIBA eliminated the equipment at events since 2013, including two world championships and one Commonwealth Games. 
 
With a global audience at the Olympics, boxers said they were especially pleased to go - even if no headgear means more scratches and, sometimes, cuts. 
 
&quot;You feel unimpeded,&quot; said Juan Nogueira, a Brazilian heavyweight from S?o Paulo, the biggest city of the host country, whose fans erupted in cheers as he defeated Australian Jason Eric Whateley on Saturday. 
 
&quot;He is a really good opponent, a technical fighter, and I was happy to be able to see more,&quot; he added, echoing comments by other fighters that headgear limits a boxer&#39;s ability to see to the side. 
 
The prospect of cuts, and consequent stopping of matches because of safety concerns about blood, continues to be a sore subject. At the Commonwealth Games in 2014, Australian Daniel Lewis complained that he lost a medal because he was deemed unfit to compete because of a cut. 
 
Still, on Saturday most boxers said they were willing to take the risk. 
 
&quot;Yeah, you can feel the sting a little more, but it&#39;s worth it,&quot; said Misael Uziel Rodriguez, a Mexican middleweight who squares off against Iraq&#39;s Abdulridha Waheed on Tuesday.&nbsp; 
 
(Reuters)

Boxing governing body AIBA removed headgears at events since 2013, including two world championships and one Commonwealth Games

On debut day for Olympic boxing, fighters said they were happy to be competing at the first Games since 1980 without protective headgear, welcoming better peripheral vision even if it means more cuts and scrapes. After decades of debate, and some studies suggesting headgear did not make the sport safer, boxing governing body AIBA eliminated the equipment at events since 2013, including two world championships and one Commonwealth Games. With a global audience at the Olympics, boxers said they were especially pleased to go - even if no headgear means more scratches and, sometimes, cuts. "You feel unimpeded," said Juan Nogueira, a Brazilian heavyweight from S?o Paulo, the biggest city of the host country, whose fans erupted in cheers as he defeated Australian Jason Eric Whateley on Saturday. "He is a really good opponent, a technical fighter, and I was happy to be able to see more," he added, echoing comments by other fighters that headgear limits a boxer's ability to see to the side. The prospect of cuts, and consequent stopping of matches because of safety concerns about blood, continues to be a sore subject. At the Commonwealth Games in 2014, Australian Daniel Lewis complained that he lost a medal because he was deemed unfit to compete because of a cut. Still, on Saturday most boxers said they were willing to take the risk. "Yeah, you can feel the sting a little more, but it's worth it," said Misael Uziel Rodriguez, a Mexican middleweight who squares off against Iraq's Abdulridha Waheed on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Boxers scuffed up but happy sans headgear at Rio

Would you buy a car that might risk your life to save a pedestrian? 
 
That&#39;s the question researchers are mulling in a recent study about driverless cars. 
 
When it comes to autonomous cars, people generally approve of cars programmed to sacrifice their passengers to save others, but these same people are not enthusiastic about riding in such &quot;utilitarian&quot; vehicles themselves, the survey revealed. 
 
This inconsistency, which illustrates an inherent social tension between wanting the good of the individual and that of the public, persisted across a wide range of survey scenarios, revealing just how difficult it will be to make underlying programming decisions for autonomous cars - something that should be done well before these cars become a global commodity, the study`s authors note. 
 
Autonomous vehicles, or AVs, have the potential to benefit the world by eliminating up to 90 per cent of traffic accidents, but not all crashes will be avoided and some crash scenarios will require AVs to make difficult ethical decisions. 
 
To begin to inform a collective discussion about the way AVs should make such decisions, Jean-Fran?ois Bonnefon and colleagues conducted six online surveys of US residents between June and November 2015, asking participants questions about how they would want their AVs to behave. 
 
The scenarios involved in the survey varied in the number of pedestrian and passenger lives that could be saved, among other factors.Overall, participants said that AVs should be programmed to be utilitarian, but the same people also said they would prefer to buy cars that protected them and their passengers, especially if family members were involved.This suggests that if both self-protective and utilitarian AVs were allowed on the market, few people would be willing to ride in the latter, the authors say, even though they would prefer others to do so. 
 
Bonnefon et al. note that regulation may be necessary, but, based on their survey results (which reveal that regulation could substantially delay AV adoption), they say it could also be counterproductive. 
 
In a related Perspective, Joshua D. Greene highlights additional challenges around programming driverless cars, including how manufacturers of utilitarian vehicles will be criticized for their willingness to kill their own passengers, while manufacturers of self-protective cars &quot;will be criticized for devaluing the lives of others.&quot; 
 
Determining just how to build ethical autonomous machines &quot;is one of the thorniest challenges in artificial intelligence today,&quot; Bonnefon and colleagues concluded. However, their data-driven approach highlights the way the field of experimental ethics can provide key insights in this space as more and more autonomous cars hit the road. The study appears in the journal Science. 
 
(ANI)&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

Autonomous vehicles have the potential eliminate up to 90% of traffic accidents, but not all crases will be avoided

Would you buy a car that might risk your life to save a pedestrian? That's the question researchers are mulling in a recent study about driverless cars. When it comes to autonomous cars, people generally approve of cars programmed to sacrifice their passengers to save others, but these same people are not enthusiastic about riding in such "utilitarian" vehicles themselves, the survey revealed. This inconsistency, which illustrates an inherent social tension between wanting the good of the individual and that of the public, persisted across a wide range of survey scenarios, revealing just how difficult it will be to make underlying programming decisions for autonomous cars - something that should be done well before these cars become a global commodity, the study`s authors note. Autonomous vehicles, or AVs, have the potential to benefit the world by eliminating up to 90 per cent of traffic accidents, but not all crashes will be avoided and some crash scenarios will require AVs to make difficult ethical decisions. To begin to inform a collective discussion about the way AVs should make such decisions, Jean-Fran?ois Bonnefon and colleagues conducted six online surveys of US residents between June and November 2015, asking participants questions about how they would want their AVs to behave. The scenarios involved in the survey varied in the number of pedestrian and passenger lives that could be saved, among other factors.Overall, participants said that AVs should be programmed to be utilitarian, but the same people also said they would prefer to buy cars that protected them and their passengers, especially if family members were involved.This suggests that if both self-protective and utilitarian AVs were allowed on the market, few people would be willing to ride in the latter, the authors say, even though they would prefer others to do so. Bonnefon et al. note that regulation may be necessary, but, based on their survey results (which reveal that regulation could substantially delay AV adoption), they say it could also be counterproductive. In a related Perspective, Joshua D. Greene highlights additional challenges around programming driverless cars, including how manufacturers of utilitarian vehicles will be criticized for their willingness to kill their own passengers, while manufacturers of self-protective cars "will be criticized for devaluing the lives of others." Determining just how to build ethical autonomous machines "is one of the thorniest challenges in artificial intelligence today," Bonnefon and colleagues concluded. However, their data-driven approach highlights the way the field of experimental ethics can provide key insights in this space as more and more autonomous cars hit the road. The study appears in the journal Science. (ANI)

Driver-less cars pose 'safety dilemma'

An Australian paralympic sailor and team official were robbed at gunpoint while training in Rio de Janeiro at the weekend, raising fears about the security of athletes and tourists in &nbsp;Olympic Games. 
 
Liesl Tesch and physiotherapist Sarah Ross said that they were taking a bike ride in a park near their hotel at Flamengo Beach early on Sunday when they were confronted by two men, one of whom was carrying a pistol. 
 
Tesch, who won a sailing gold at the London Paralympic Games and has also competed in wheelchair basketball, told Australian television that the armed man pointed the gun at her and then gave her a shove. 
 
&quot;I think he said &#39;dinero&#39; (money),&quot; she told Channel Nine, adding that she lifted up her shirt to showed she had no money with her. 
 
&quot;And then he said something else, but I don&#39;t know what he said, lifted the gun up towards me and then pushed me in the shoulder and I just fell down on the cobblestones.&quot; 
 
The men took the bikes and rode off, she added. 
 
&quot;It was absolutely horrific, I can see it clear as day in my own head. We are both shaken, but physically we&#39;re both OK,&quot; said Tesch, who trained on her boat later that day. 
 
Tesch and Ross reported the incident to local police, said&nbsp;the Australian Paralympic Committee . 
 
Australia&#39;s Paralympic team chef de mission Kate McLoughlin said the sailing team were shaken by the incident and repeated a warning to athletes to exercise a high degree of caution while travelling in Rio. 
 
&ldquo;That advice is particularly important before the Paralympic Games period,&rdquo; said&nbsp;McLoughlin . 
 
&ldquo;We know there will be a hugely elevated level of security in place during the Paralympic Games, but for athletes and teams travelling there before the Games, there is a heightened need to be security conscious.&rdquo; 
 
The Sept. 7-18 Paralympics follow the Olympics, which opens on Aug. 5. 
 
Olympic organizers plan to deploy around 85,000 security personnel for the Games, double the number used in London in 2012. 
 
Security issues are just one of the concerns facing Rio, which on Friday declared a state of financial emergency to help fulfil obligations for public services during the Olympics. 
 
Emergency measures are needed to avoid &quot;a total collapse in public security, health, education, transport and environmental management,&quot; a decree in the state&#39;s Official Gazette said. 
 
The financial pinch resulted in a 30 percent cut in the state&#39;s security budget - just as Rio has seen a jump in homicides and assaults in recent months, raising concerns about safety ahead of the Olympics. 
 
(Reuters)

Liesl Tesch and physiotherapist Sarah Ross were taking a bike ride in a park near their hotel on Flamengo Beach when two men attacked them

An Australian paralympic sailor and team official were robbed at gunpoint while training in Rio de Janeiro at the weekend, raising fears about the security of athletes and tourists in Olympic Games. Liesl Tesch and physiotherapist Sarah Ross said that they were taking a bike ride in a park near their hotel at Flamengo Beach early on Sunday when they were confronted by two men, one of whom was carrying a pistol. Tesch, who won a sailing gold at the London Paralympic Games and has also competed in wheelchair basketball, told Australian television that the armed man pointed the gun at her and then gave her a shove. "I think he said 'dinero' (money)," she told Channel Nine, adding that she lifted up her shirt to showed she had no money with her. "And then he said something else, but I don't know what he said, lifted the gun up towards me and then pushed me in the shoulder and I just fell down on the cobblestones." The men took the bikes and rode off, she added. "It was absolutely horrific, I can see it clear as day in my own head. We are both shaken, but physically we're both OK," said Tesch, who trained on her boat later that day. Tesch and Ross reported the incident to local police, said the Australian Paralympic Committee . Australia's Paralympic team chef de mission Kate McLoughlin said the sailing team were shaken by the incident and repeated a warning to athletes to exercise a high degree of caution while travelling in Rio. “That advice is particularly important before the Paralympic Games period,” said McLoughlin . “We know there will be a hugely elevated level of security in place during the Paralympic Games, but for athletes and teams travelling there before the Games, there is a heightened need to be security conscious.” The Sept. 7-18 Paralympics follow the Olympics, which opens on Aug. 5. Olympic organizers plan to deploy around 85,000 security personnel for the Games, double the number used in London in 2012. Security issues are just one of the concerns facing Rio, which on Friday declared a state of financial emergency to help fulfil obligations for public services during the Olympics. Emergency measures are needed to avoid "a total collapse in public security, health, education, transport and environmental management," a decree in the state's Official Gazette said. The financial pinch resulted in a 30 percent cut in the state's security budget - just as Rio has seen a jump in homicides and assaults in recent months, raising concerns about safety ahead of the Olympics. (Reuters)

Australian paralympic sailor robbed at gunpoint in Rio

The Louvre and Orsay&nbsp;museums&nbsp;in&nbsp;Paris&nbsp;moved&nbsp;art&nbsp;works&nbsp;stored underground to safety on Friday as the swollen river Seine kept rising, the city&#39;s deputy mayor said, following days of torrential rains that have killed two people.

Floodwaters&nbsp;have forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and dozens of schools have closed south of&nbsp;Paris. Earlier this week the army was also called in to rescue stranded motorists on a major highway.

&quot;For the&nbsp;museums, even if fortunately there isn&#39;t any&nbsp;flooding of storerooms as of today, there is an automatic process above 5.50 metres to&nbsp;move&nbsp;works&nbsp;in the deepest storerooms higher,&quot; Bruno Julliard,&nbsp;Paris&#39; deputy mayor, told France Inter radio.

The Louvre and the Musee d&#39;Orsay are both home to world-renowned&nbsp;art&nbsp;collections.

Julliard said the&nbsp;works&nbsp;in the&nbsp;museums, which overlook the Seine, were not at risk as of early Friday. Some low lying roads running along the river are underwater and one underground commuter line has been closed.

Officials forecast the Seine could peak at 6 metres in central&nbsp;Paris&nbsp;on Friday, stressing this is still well below the level where it would threaten residents and businesses.

The river reached a record high of 8.6 metres in 1910, when thousands of&nbsp;Parisians had to flee flooded low-lying areas of the city.

Environment minister Segolene Royal told France 2 television on Friday that the&nbsp;floods may take several weeks to subside.

&quot;What&#39;s going to be even more painful for the families who have lost their homes, the heads of companies who have lost their businesses, the employees who will be unable to go to work, is that the drop in the water level will be very slow,&quot; Royal&nbsp;said.

The retreating&nbsp;waters&nbsp;could reveal further victims, she&nbsp;added.

In Evry-Gregy-sur-Yerre, south of&nbsp;Paris, a man on horseback drowned on Thursday, becoming the second fatality. Le&nbsp;Parisien newspaper said the 74-year-old had been trying to cross a flooded field.

The Louvre and Orsay?museums?in?Paris moved?art?works to safety on Friday as the river Seine kept rising. Thousands of people have evacuated their homes and dozens of schools closed down.

The Louvre and Orsay museums in Paris moved art works stored underground to safety on Friday as the swollen river Seine kept rising, the city's deputy mayor said, following days of torrential rains that have killed two people. Floodwaters have forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and dozens of schools have closed south of Paris. Earlier this week the army was also called in to rescue stranded motorists on a major highway. "For the museums, even if fortunately there isn't any flooding of storerooms as of today, there is an automatic process above 5.50 metres to move works in the deepest storerooms higher," Bruno Julliard, Paris' deputy mayor, told France Inter radio. The Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay are both home to world-renowned art collections. Julliard said the works in the museums, which overlook the Seine, were not at risk as of early Friday. Some low lying roads running along the river are underwater and one underground commuter line has been closed. Officials forecast the Seine could peak at 6 metres in central Paris on Friday, stressing this is still well below the level where it would threaten residents and businesses. The river reached a record high of 8.6 metres in 1910, when thousands of Parisians had to flee flooded low-lying areas of the city. Environment minister Segolene Royal told France 2 television on Friday that the floods may take several weeks to subside. "What's going to be even more painful for the families who have lost their homes, the heads of companies who have lost their businesses, the employees who will be unable to go to work, is that the drop in the water level will be very slow," Royal said. The retreating waters could reveal further victims, she added. In Evry-Gregy-sur-Yerre, south of Paris, a man on horseback drowned on Thursday, becoming the second fatality. Le Parisien newspaper said the 74-year-old had been trying to cross a flooded field.

Paris museums move art works as flood waters rise

Tokyo, May 28 (IANS) Japan`s transport ministry on Saturday announced it will recall another seven million vehicles fitted with defective airbags. 
 
 
This brings the total number of vehicles affected by the faulty airbag inflators manufactured by Japanese company Takata, up to 19.6 million, EFE news reported. 
 
In addition to cars affected in Japan and other countries, the global figure of cars being recalled over the Takata-made airbags could top 100 million, according to Japanese news agency Kyodo. 
 
Faulty Takata airbag inflators have been linked to least 10 deaths in the US and one in Malaysia. 
&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CBSE?src=hash">#CBSE</a> Class 10 results: Here&rsquo;s how to calculate percentage from CGPA (by <a href="https://twitter.com/nileshmathur1">@nileshmathur1</a>) <a href="https://t.co/NdDSGqUpc2">https://t.co/NdDSGqUpc2</a> <a href="https://t.co/63IAkzEXhH">pic.twitter.com/63IAkzEXhH</a>
&mdash; Hindustan Times (@htTweets) <a href="https://twitter.com/htTweets/status/736460856225988609">May 28, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="~/platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script> 
 
The defect in the airbag inflators has caused some bags to rupture during deployment and send metal and plastic flying towards passengers. 
 
The problem is caused by the use of ammonium nitrate as a propellant which degrades over time due to factors including high temperatures and humidity. 
 
The automakers most affected by the defect include Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Ford, Mazda, Honda, BMW, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen and the Chrysler Group.&nbsp; 
 
--IANS

Japan`s transport ministry on Saturday announced it will recall another seven million vehicles fitted with defective airbags. This brings the total number of vehicles affected by the faulty airbag inflators manufactured by Japanese company Takata, up to 19.6 million, EFE news reported.

Tokyo, May 28 (IANS) Japan`s transport ministry on Saturday announced it will recall another seven million vehicles fitted with defective airbags. This brings the total number of vehicles affected by the faulty airbag inflators manufactured by Japanese company Takata, up to 19.6 million, EFE news reported. In addition to cars affected in Japan and other countries, the global figure of cars being recalled over the Takata-made airbags could top 100 million, according to Japanese news agency Kyodo. Faulty Takata airbag inflators have been linked to least 10 deaths in the US and one in Malaysia. #CBSE Class 10 results: Here’s how to calculate percentage from CGPA (by @nileshmathur1) https://t.co/NdDSGqUpc2 pic.twitter.com/63IAkzEXhH — Hindustan Times (@htTweets) May 28, 2016 The defect in the airbag inflators has caused some bags to rupture during deployment and send metal and plastic flying towards passengers. The problem is caused by the use of ammonium nitrate as a propellant which degrades over time due to factors including high temperatures and humidity. The automakers most affected by the defect include Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Ford, Mazda, Honda, BMW, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen and the Chrysler Group. --IANS

Japan to recall another 7 mn vehicles over airbags

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