Life

Two World Cup games axed as super typhoon bears down on Japan

  by Richard CARTER Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Rugby World Cup organisers took the unprecedented step Thursday of cancelling two games — England v France and New Zealand v Italy — as Japan braces for Super Typhoon Hagibis, likely the biggest storm to hit the country this year. Both games were in the projected path of the large and powerful typhoon, which currently has a “violent” rating — the highest category by […]

US state upholds e-cigarette ban amid vaping deaths

  NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — The US state of Massachusetts upheld a ban on e-cigarettes Friday amid a spate of deaths and injuries linked to vaping across the country. Eighteen deaths in 15 states had now been positively linked to vaping since March, from a total of 1,080 illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials in Connecticut also announced a further death in that state on Friday. Massachusetts became […]

US measles cases exceed 1,200 but elimination status maintained

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — More than 1,200 people have been sickened with measles this year, the highest number since 1992, US health authorities said Friday, though the infectious childhood disease officially remains “eliminated” after the worst-hit region contained its outbreak. New York health officials Thursday declared the end of the state’s nearly year-long epidemic, which accounted for 75 percent of cases nationwide, and occurred mostly among unvaccinated children in Orthodox Jewish communities. Before the […]

Watch: Russian student from Moscow State University speaks Tagalog, expresses admiration for PHL

(Eagle News) — In this video taken by Eagle News Service correspondent in Russia, Emy Coloma, Russian student Maria Plume who is studying the Filipino language at the Moscow State University expresses her admiration for the Philippines and how she is glad that the Philippines and Russia are strengthening bilateral relations. Plume was interviewed by Eagle News Service in Russia at the Four Seasons Hotel in Moscow after the Philippine Cultural Gala Performance attended by […]

Vaping-linked lung injury kills 18, sickens 1,080 in US outbreak

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Eighteen people have died from illnesses associated with e-cigarette use since March, US health authorities said Thursday, while more than a thousand others have suffered probable lung injuries linked to vaping. Officials have yet to identify the cause for the outbreak, which dates back to late March, and are pursuing multiple lines of investigation. A report by clinicians in North Carolina last month pointed to the inhalation of fatty […]

Paralyzed man walks again with brain-controlled exoskeleton

  by Amélie BAUBEAU / Patrick GALEY Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — A French man paralyzed in a night club accident can walk again thanks to a brain-controlled exoskeleton in what scientists say is a breakthrough providing hope to tetraplegics seeking to regain movement. The patient trained for months, harnessing his brain signals to control a computer-simulated avatar to perform basic movements before using the robot device to walk. Doctors who conducted the […]

2 NET Kids’ shows and 2 EBC Kids’ entries, win at Sinebata awards 2019; to represent PHL in SE Asia videofest

https://youtu.be/rUgG8EJcSzE   (Eagle News) – Two shows of Eagle Broadcasting Corporation’s NET 25 Kids — “Word Hub” and “Kid Kwento” — won at the Sinebata Video Festival 2019 awards on Wednesday, October 2, in Manila. The “Word Hub: Surprise” episode bagged the award for the “Professional Fiction 8 – 12 years old” category, while “Kid Kwento: Love for Family” episode won in the “Professional Non-Fiction Under 7 years old” category. These two winning episodes of […]

Malaysia threatens ride-hailing firm Grab with $21 million fine

  KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia’s competition watchdog on Thursday threatened to hit Grab with a $21 million fine for practices that allegedly reduce competition, the latest problem for the ride-hailing giant. Grab is the biggest ride-hailing firm in Southeast Asia, and has strengthened its hold on the market since buying US rival Uber’s operations in the region last year. But the Singapore-headquartered firm has come under scrutiny from regulators in several countries due […]

Killer Japanese fungus found in Australia

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — One of the world’s deadliest fungi has been discovered in Australia’s far north for the first time — thousands of miles from its native habitat in the mountains of Japan and Korea. The Poison Fire Coral fungus was discovered in a suburb of Cairns by a local photographer and subsequently identified by scientists, James Cook University announced Thursday. Several people have died in Japan and Korea after mistaking the bright red […]

Bacteria-infected Brazilian mosquitoes pack a punch in dengue fight

by Allison JACKSON RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Dengue-resistant mosquitoes breed in a Rio de Janeiro laboratory, producing offspring infected with bacteria packing a punch in the fight against the deadly virus, which is exploding across Brazil this year. Scientists are using Wolbachia, a bacteria common among insects except for the dengue-transmitting Aedes aegypti mosquito, to dent the spread of the debilitating virus and other illnesses including Zika and chikungunya. Since 2015, the Fiocruz […]

Twin-screen Duo puts Microsoft back in smartphone game

by Glenn CHAPMAN SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled new Surface devices with twin-screens that open like books, including a notepad-sized version that will put it back in the smartphone game next year. Surface Duo was touted as the first device in the lineup to fit into a pants pocket, with two “paper-thin” 5.6-inch screens that unfold and work in harmony with a specially tailored Android operating system. Described as a […]

US sizzles in rare autumn heat wave

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A freakish heatwave is making early autumn feel like the dog days of summer in much of the southern and eastern United States, with forecasters predicting that temperatures Wednesday could get close to triple digits. Washington hit 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36 Celsius) late in the afternoon, according to the National Weather Service (NWS), surpassing the city’s previous monthly record of 96 degrees on October 5, 1941. The mercury rose into […]