Scientists observe ‘negative time’ in quantum experiments

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TORONTO — Scientists have long known that light can sometimes appear to exit a material before entering it — an effect dismissed as an illusion caused by how waves are distorted by matter. Now, researchers at the University of Toronto, through innovative quantum experiments, say they have demonstrated that "negative time" isn't just a theoretical idea, it exists in a tangible, physical sense, deserving closer scrutiny. The findings, yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, have attracted both global attention and skepticism. The researchers emphasize that these perplexing results highlight a peculiar quirk of quantum mechanics rather than a radical shift in our understanding of time. "This is tough stuff, even for us to talk about with other physicists. We get misunderstood all the time," said Aephraim Steinberg, a University…


US flu season is under way, as cases surge in some areas and vaccinations lag

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NEW YORK — The U.S. flu season is under way, with cases surging across much of the country, health officials said Friday.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted sharp increases in several measures, including lab tests and emergency room visits.  “It's been increasing at a pretty steady pace now for the past several weeks. So yeah, we are certainly in flu season now,” said the CDC's Alicia Budd.  Thirteen states reported high or very high levels of flu-like illness last week, about double from the week before. One is Tennessee, where a sickness spike is hitting the Nashville area, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University.  “Flu has been increasing, but just this last week has exploded,” Schaffner said. He noted that in a local…


US slow to react to pervasive Chinese hacking, experts say

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As new potential threats from Chinese hackers were identified this week, the federal government issued one of its strongest warnings to date about the need for Americans — and in particular government officials and other "highly targeted" individuals — to secure their communications against eavesdropping and interception. The warning came as news was breaking about a Commerce Department investigation into the possibility that computer network routers manufactured by the Chinese firm TP-Link may pose a threat to the millions of U.S. businesses, households and government agencies that use them. Also on Wednesday, Congress took long-awaited steps toward funding a program that will purge other Chinese technology from U.S. telecommunications systems. The so-called rip-and-replace program targets gear manufactured by Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE. Too far behind While experts said the…


Music bridges memory gaps for New York Alzheimer’s patients

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The Unforgettable Chorus in New York is using music to help people with memory loss reconnect with family, friends and themselves. Since 2011, the choir has been a beacon of hope, offering a space where those living with dementia can sing, participate and be part of a community. Johny Fernandez reports from New York City. ...


US deaths are down and life expectancy is up, but improvements are slowing

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NEW YORK — U.S. life expectancy jumped last year, and preliminary data suggests there may be another — much smaller — improvement this year. Death rates fell last year for almost all leading causes, notably COVID-19, heart disease and drug overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Thursday. That translated to adding nearly a year the estimated lifespan of Americans. Experts note it's part of a bounce-back from the COVID-19 pandemic. But life expectancy has not yet climbed back to prepandemic levels, and the rebound appears to be losing steam. "What you're seeing is continued improvement, but slowing improvement," said Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, a University Minnesota researcher who studies death trends. "We are sort of converging back to some kind of normal that is worse than it…


Bluesky could become target of foreign disinformation, experts warn

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washington — Experts on cybersecurity and online foreign influence campaigns are urging social media company Bluesky, whose app has exploded in popularity in recent weeks, to step up moderation to counter potential state-sponsored influence efforts. Over the past month, Bluesky, a microblogging platform with its roots in Twitter, has seen one of its biggest increases in new user registrations since it was publicly released in February. Over 25 million are now on the platform, close to half of whom joined after the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Rose Wang, Bluesky’s chief operating officer, said in a recent interview that Bluesky does not intend to push any political ideologies. “We have no political viewpoint that we are trying to promote,” she said in early December. Exploiting users’ political leanings Many who joined Bluesky…


US cyber watchdog seeks switch to encrypted apps following ‘Salt Typhoon’ hacks

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. cybersecurity watchdog CISA is telling senior American government officials and politicians to immediately switch to end-to-end encrypted messaging following intrusions at major American telecoms blamed on Chinese hackers.  In written guidance released on Wednesday, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said "individuals who are in senior government or senior political positions" should "immediately review and apply" a series of best practices around the use of mobile devices.  The first recommendation: "Use only end-to-end encrypted communications."  End-to-end encryption — a data protection technique that aims to make data unreadable by anyone except its sender and its recipient — is baked into various chat apps, including Meta Platforms' WhatsApp, Apple's iMessage, and the privacy-focused app Signal. Corporate offerings, which allow end-to-end encryption, also include Microsoft's Teams and Zoom Communications'…


Bird flu spillover to other species poses global health threat, experts warn

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GENEVA — International human and animal health experts warn the H5N1 avian influenza is evolving quickly and posing a global health threat as the virus is increasingly crossing species barriers and infecting a wide range of domestic and wild mammals. “These developments pose significant challenges to animal, human and environmental health,” Dr. Gregorio Torres, veterinarian and head of the science department at the World Organization for Animal Health, told journalists in Geneva Tuesday. He noted that avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, has been reported in 108 countries and territories over five continents in the last three years. “And as of December 2024, the infection has been detected in over 70 species of domestic and wild mammals. This includes the ongoing detection of H5N1 in dairy cattle in the United…


Top US Senate Republican urges Supreme Court to reject TikTok appeal

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WASHINGTON — Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell on Wednesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a bid by TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance to block a law intended to force the sale of the short-video app by January 19 or face a ban on national security grounds. The court has scheduled arguments on the case for January 10. McConnell in a brief filed with the court called the companies' arguments "meritless and unsound. ... This is a standard litigation play at the end of one administration, with a petitioner hoping that the next administration will provide a stay of execution. This court should no more countenance it coming from foreign adversaries than it does from hardened criminals." McConnell noted Congress set the January 19 date that "very clearly…


Sewage-polluted lake water kills rhinos, other wildlife in Zimbabwe

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HARARE, ZIMBABWE — A Zimbabwean national park is hosting relocated wildlife from a game park just outside the country's capital after an autopsy report on Saturday confirmed that four rhinos and several other animals died after drinking contaminated lake water. Tinashe Farawo, the spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, confirmed to VOA the death of four rhinos after drinking bacteria-polluted water at Lake Chivero Recreational Park, about 20 kilometers west of the capital, Harare. “We are not only losing the rhinos, but [we] also lost some zebras, wildebeest and some birds,” Farawo said. “We have tried to treat some of the rhinos, but unfortunately it seems like we are not managing at the moment. But we have made some temporary collective measures to make sure we do the…


Senators urge US House to pass Kids Online Safety Act

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A bipartisan effort to protect children from the harms of social media is running out of time in this session of the U.S. Congress. If passed, the Kids Online Safety Act would institute safeguards for minors’ personal data online. But free speech advocates and some Republicans are concerned the bill could lead to censorship. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more. Kim Lewis contributed to this story. ...


Congo files criminal complaints against Apple in Europe over conflict minerals

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Paris — The Democratic Republic of Congo has filed criminal complaints against Apple subsidiaries in France and Belgium, accusing the tech firm of using conflict minerals in its supply chain, lawyers for the Congolese government told Reuters.  Congo is a major source of tin, tantalum and tungsten, so-called 3T minerals used in computers and mobile phones. But some artisanal mines are run by armed groups involved in massacres of civilians, mass rapes, looting and other crimes, according to U.N. experts and human rights groups.  Apple does not directly source primary minerals and says it audits suppliers, publishes findings and funds bodies that seek to improve mineral traceability.  Apple last year said it had "no reasonable basis for concluding" its products contain illegally exported minerals from conflict-hit zones. The tech giant has…


EU investigates TikTok over Romanian presidential election

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LONDON — European Union regulators said Tuesday they're investigating whether TikTok breached the bloc's digital rulebook by failing to deal with risks to Romania's presidential election, which has been thrown into turmoil over allegations of electoral violations and Russian meddling. The European Commission is escalating its scrutiny of the popular video-sharing platform after Romania's top court canceled results of the first round of voting that resulted in an unknown far-right candidate becoming the front-runner. The court made its unprecedented decision after authorities in the European Union and NATO member country declassified documents alleging Moscow organized a sprawling social media campaign to promote a long-shot candidate, Calin Georgescu. "Following serious indications that foreign actors interfered in the Romanian presidential elections by using TikTok, we are now thoroughly investigating whether TikTok has violated…


Alabama woman doing well after latest experimental pig kidney transplant

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NEW YORK — An Alabama woman is recovering well after a pig kidney transplant last month that freed her from eight years of dialysis, the latest effort to save human lives with animal organs.  Towana Looney is the fifth American given a gene-edited pig organ — and notably, she isn't as sick as prior recipients who died within two months of receiving a pig kidney or heart.  "It's like a new beginning," Looney, 53, told The Associated Press. Right away, "the energy I had was amazing. To have a working kidney — and to feel it — is unbelievable."  Looney's surgery marks an important step as scientists get ready for formal studies of xenotransplantation expected to begin next year, said Dr. Robert Montgomery of NYU Langone Health, who led the highly…


Japan targets 40-50% power supply from renewable energy by 2040 

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Tokyo — Japan wants renewable energy to account for up to 50% of its electricity mix by fiscal year 2040 with nuclear power taking up another 20%, according to a draft of its revised basic energy policy, as it makes a clean energy push while meeting rising power demand. As the world's second-largest importer of liquefied natural gas and a major consumer of Middle Eastern oil, Japan and its basic energy plans are drawing global attention from oil, gas and coal producers. Thermal power usage, particularly from inefficient coal-fired power plants, is set to decrease to between 30% and 40% by 2040 from 68.6% in 2023, although the draft energy policy does not specify the breakdown of coal, gas and oil. "It is necessary to utilize LNG-fired power as a realistic…


Hackers demand ransom from Rhode Islanders after data breach

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Hundreds of thousands of Rhode Island residents' personal and bank information, including Social Security numbers, were likely hacked by an international cybercriminal group asking for a ransom, state officials said on Saturday.  In what Rhode Island officials described as extortion, the hackers threatened to release the stolen information unless they were paid an undisclosed amount of money.  The breached data affects people who use the state's government assistance programs and includes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and healthcare purchased through the state's HealthSource RI, Governor Dan McKee announced on Friday.  Hackers gained access to RIBridges, the state's online portal for obtaining social services earlier this month, the governor's office said in a statement, but the breach was not confirmed by its vendor, Deloitte,…


Mpox cases in Congo may be stabilizing, but more vaccines needed to stamp out virus 

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Goma, Congo — Some health officials say mpox cases in Congo appear to be “stabilizing” — a possible sign that the main epidemic for which the World Health Organization made a global emergency declaration in August might be on the decline.   In recent weeks, Congo has reported about 200 to 300 lab-confirmed mpox cases every week, according to WHO. That’s down from nearly 400 cases a week in July. The decline is also apparent in Kamituga, the mining city in the eastern part of Congo where the new, more infectious variant of mpox first emerged.   But the U.N. health agency acknowledged Friday that only 40% to 50% of suspected infections in Congo were being tested — and that the virus is continuing to spread in some parts of the…


Lahore air pollution hits historic high, forcing school closures 

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KARACHI — Unprecedented air pollution levels in Pakistan's second-largest city of Lahore prompted authorities to take emergency measures on Sunday, including issuing work-from-home mandates and closing primary schools.   The city held the top spot on a real-time list of the world's most polluted cities on Sunday after recording its highest ever pollution reading of 1900 near the Pakistan-India border on Saturday, based on data released by the provincial government and Swiss group IQAir.   The government has shut primary schools for a week, advising parents to ensure children wear masks, said Senior Minister of Punjab Marriyum Aurangzeb during a press conference, as a thick blanket of smog enveloped the city.   Citizens have been urged to stay indoors, keep doors and windows shut, and avoid unnecessary travel, she said, adding that hospitals had…


Ethiopia bans imports of gas-powered private vehicles, but the switch to electric is a bumpy ride 

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ADDIS ABABA — As the price of fuel soared in Ethiopia earlier this year, Awgachew Seleshi decided to buy an electric car. That aligned with the government's new efforts to phase out gas-powered vehicles. But months later, he's questioning whether it was the right decision.   He faces a range of issues, from the erratic supply of electricity in Addis Ababa, the capital, to the scarcity of spare parts.   “Charging my car has been a challenge," the civil servant said. “Spare parts that are imported from China are expensive, few mechanics are able to fix such cars and the resale value of such cars is poor.”   Seleshi's troubles point to wider challenges for Ethiopia. In January, the East African country became the first in the world to ban the importation of non-electric…


Will people leave Florida after devastating hurricanes? History suggests not

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orlando, florida — The news rippled through Treasure Island, Florida, almost like a third storm: The mayor planned to move off the barrier island a month after Hurricane Helene flooded tens of thousands of homes along the Gulf Coast and two weeks after Hurricane Milton also ravaged the state.  Mayor Tyler Payne's home had been flooded and damaged beyond repair, he explained in a message to Treasure Island residents, and he and his husband can't afford to rebuild. He also was stepping down as mayor.  "While it pains my heart to make this decision in the midst of our recovery from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, this is the best decision for me and my family," Payne, who had held the office for more than three years and was a fourth-generation Treasure…


Nevada lithium mine will crush rare plant habitat US said is critical to its survival, lawsuit says

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RENO, Nevada — Conservationists and a Native American tribe are suing the U.S. to try to block a Nevada lithium mine they say will drive an endangered desert wildflower to extinction, disrupt groundwater flows and threaten cultural resources. The Center for Biological Diversity promised the court battle a week ago when the U.S. Interior Department approved Ioneer Ltd.'s Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron mine at the only place Tiehm's buckwheat is known to exist in the world, near the California line halfway between Reno and Las Vegas. It is the latest in a series of legal fights over projects President Joe Biden's administration is pushing under his clean energy agenda intended to cut reliance on fossil fuels, in part by increasing the production of lithium to make electric vehicle batteries and solar panels.…


Agreement signed at UN summit gives Indigenous groups voice

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CALI, Colombia — After two weeks of negotiations, delegates on Saturday agreed at the United Nations conference on biodiversity to establish a subsidiary body that will include Indigenous peoples in future decisions on nature conservation, a development that builds on a growing movement to recognize the role of the descendants of some regions' original inhabitants in protecting land and combating climate change.  The delegates also agreed to oblige major corporations to share the financial benefits of research when using natural genetic resources.  Indigenous delegations erupted into cheers and tears after the historic decision to create the subsidiary body was announced. It recognizes and protects the traditional knowledge systems of Indigenous peoples and local communities for the benefit of global and national biodiversity management, said Sushil Raj, Executive Director of the Rights…


Time to ‘fall back’ an hour as daylight saving time ends

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The good news: You will get a glorious extra hour of sleep. The bad: It'll be dark by late afternoon for the next few months in the United States. Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. local time Sunday, which means you should set your clock back an hour before you go to bed. Standard time will last until March 9, when we will again "spring forward" with the return of daylight saving time.  "Fall back" should be easier. But it still may take a while to adjust your sleep habits, not to mention the downsides of leaving work in the dark or trying to exercise while there's still enough light. Some people with seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression usually linked to the shorter days and less sunlight…


California attempts to regulate election deepfakes

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The state of California has passed several laws attempting to regulate artificial intelligence, including AI used to create realistic looking but manipulated audio or video — known as a deepfake. In this U.S. election season, the aim is to counter misinformation. But it has raised concerns about free speech. From California, Genia Dulot has our story. ...


Robot retrieves first melted fuel from Fukushima nuclear reactor

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TOKYO — A remote-controlled robot has safely returned with a tiny piece of melted fuel it collected from inside one of three damaged reactors at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant for the first time since the 2011 meltdown. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, which manages the plant, said Saturday that the extendable fishing rod-like robot successfully clipped a gravel as big as 5 millimeters, the size of a tiny granola bit, from the top surface of a mound of molten fuel debris that sits on the bottom of the No. 2 reactor’s primary containment vessel. The Telesco robot, with its frontal tongs still holding the melted fuel bit, returned to the enclosed container for safe storage after workers in full hazmat gear pulled it out of the containment vessel…


Winter depression is real, and there are many ways to fight back

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As winter approaches and daylight hours grow shorter, people prone to seasonal depression can feel it in their bodies and brains. "It's a feeling of panic, fear, anxiety and dread all in one," said Germaine Pataki, 63, of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She's among the millions of people estimated to have seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. Her coping strategies include yoga, walking and an antidepressant medication. She's also part of a Facebook group for people with SAD. "I try to focus on helping others through it," Pataki said. "This gives me purpose." People with SAD typically have episodes of depression that begin in the fall and ease in the spring or summer. Changing the clocks back to standard time, which happens this weekend, can be a trigger for SAD. A milder form,…