Category: News

washington — U.S. President Joe Biden's is a "healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency," his physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, said in a statement released by the White House on Wednesday, following Biden's annual physical examination.  "The president feels well, and this year's physical identified no new concerns. He continues to be fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations," O'Connor said following Biden's visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, earlier Wednesday.   The checkup included consultations with optometry, dentistry, orthopedics, physical therapy, neurology, sleep medicine, cardiology, radiology and dermatology specialists, O'Connor said.   It's Biden's third physical since taking office, amid concerns about his age as he seeks a…

new york — Older U.S. adults should roll up their sleeves for another COVID-19 shot, even if they got a booster in the fall, U.S. health officials said Wednesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Americans 65 and older should get another dose of the updated vaccine that became available in September — if at least four months has passed since their last shot. In making the recommendation, the agency endorsed guidance proposed by an expert advisory panel earlier in the day. "Most COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations last year were among people 65 years and older. An additional vaccine dose can provide added protection ... for those at highest risk," CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said in a statement. The advisory panel's decision came after a lengthy discussion about…

Sudden death syndrome among children, a rare and devastating occurrence, affects nearly 400 families in the U.S. annually. In a breakthrough study at New York University, there's newfound hope of uncovering the cause of some of these tragic losses. Aron Ranen reports. ...

NEW YORK — Leap year. It's a delight for the calendar and math nerds among us. So how did it all begin and why? Have a look at some of the numbers, history and lore behind the (not quite) every four-year phenom that adds a 29th day to February. By the numbers The math is mind-boggling in a layperson sort of way and down to fractions of days and minutes. There's even a leap second occasionally, but there's no hullabaloo when that happens. The thing to know is that leap year exists, in large part, to keep the months in sync with annual events, including equinoxes and solstices, according to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. It's a correction to counter the fact that Earth's orbit isn't…

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The U.N. Environment Assembly, known as UNEA-6, is meeting in Nairobi this week to chart solutions to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Juma Majanga reports from the U.N. Environment headquarters in Nairobi. ...

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's government gave striking young doctors four days to report back to work, saying Monday that they won't be punished if they return by the deadline but will face indictments and suspensions of medical licenses if they don't. About 9,000 medical interns and residents have stayed off the job since early last week to protest a government plan to increase medical school admissions by about 65%. The walkouts have severely hurt the operations of their hospitals, with numerous cancellations of surgeries and other treatments. Government officials say adding more doctors is necessary to deal with South Korea’s rapidly aging population. The country's current doctor-to-patient ratio is among the lowest in the developed world.  The strikers say universities can’t handle so many new students and argue the…

Ōshū, Japan — Steam rose as hundreds of naked men tussled over a bag of wooden talismans, performing a dramatic end to a thousand-year-old ritual in Japan that took place for the last time.  Their passionate chants of "Jasso, joyasa" (meaning "Evil, be gone") echoed through a cedar forest in northern Japan's Iwate region, where the secluded Kokuseki Temple has decided to end the popular annual rite.  Organizing the event, which draws hundreds of participants and thousands of tourists every year, has become a heavy burden for the aging local faithful, who find it hard to keep up with the rigors of the ritual.   The "Sominsai" festival, regarded as one of the strangest festivals in Japan, is the latest tradition impacted by the country's aging population crisis that has hit…

POMPANO BEACH, Florida — Retired Army Colonel Farrell Patrick taught computer science at West Point during the 1970s and then at two private universities through the 1990s, so he isn't surprised by the progress technology has made over the decades.  But when the 91-year-old got his first virtual reality experience recently, he was stunned. Sitting in a conference room at John Knox Village, a suburban Fort Lauderdale, Florida, retirement community, Patrick sat up straight as his eyes and ears experienced what it would be like to be in a Navy fighter jet flying off the Florida coast.  "Oh, my God, that's beautiful," he blurted before the VR program brought the jet in for a landing on an aircraft carrier.  John Knox Village was one of 17 senior communities around the country…

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pentagon — U.S. Army Colonel Frank Rubio, who holds the record for the longest U.S. spaceflight, recounted the "awesome" experience of re-entering Earth's atmosphere on Thursday during a Pentagon ceremony honoring his achievement. "Colonel Rubio is a stellar example of someone who has made the absolute most of every opportunity," Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said as she presented him with an honor known as the Army Astronaut Device. "It's truly a privilege to have him representing the Army and the United States." The Army awards the astronaut device to soldiers who complete at least one mission in space. Rubio joins Colonel Anne McClain and Colonel Andrew Morgan as the only active-duty soldiers authorized to wear it. Rubio returned to Earth late last year on a Russian spacecraft after 371 days in…

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