Other News

Virtual reality may reduce paranoia in psychotics: study

PARIS, France (AFP) — Virtual reality-based therapy combined with standard treatment reduced paranoia and anxiety in people with psychotic disorders, scientists reported Friday. In clinical trials involving 116 patients in the Netherlands, virtual reality exercises led to less fraught social interactions, a team wrote in The Lancet Psychiatry. More research is needed to confirm the long-term benefits of such technology, which gave the impression of being in an alternate reality populated by life-like avatars. Up […]

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Ballot recount on VP electoral protest moved to March 19; Marcos camp dismayed

(Eagle News) — The Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, has set March 19 as the start of the ballot recount in the electoral protest case of former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., against Vice-President Leni Robredo, moving the recount date for over a month allegedly because of the need for psychological tests for the revisors of the recount. This came about as Robredo’s camp filed a motion to consider as “withdrawn” any pending […]

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Russia slams ‘criminal’ US-led strikes in Syria

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Russia’s UN ambassador on Thursday slammed as “criminal” the US-led coalition strikes against pro-regime forces in Syria that left more than 100 dead. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters that he protested the assault in Syria’s eastern province of Deir Ezzor during a closed-door Security Council meeting. “It was inadmissible for whatever reasons it was justified,” Nebenzia told reporters, adding that he told the United States “to remember that they […]

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US-led strikes on Syria’s Deir Ezzor ‘self-defense’: Pentagon

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Deadly air strikes by a US-led coalition on pro-regime forces in eastern Syria were purely an act of self-defense, Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said Thursday, in an apparent effort to tamp down controversy over the incident. “It was self-defense,” Mattis told reporters. “We are not getting engaged in the Syrian civil war.” More than 100 forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were killed in the attack by the US-backed […]

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Canadian sub makes first trip to Asia-Pacific in 50 years

OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — A Canadian submarine is patrolling the western Pacific for the first time in nearly 50 years, the navy said Thursday, amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Although HMCS Chicoutimi’s mission was scheduled a year ago, it comes after the United States and its allies agreed at crisis talks in Vancouver last month to tougher measures to halt North Korean sanctions violations, including naval security operations to prevent maritime […]

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US stocks fall 4% as sell-off deepens

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Wall Street tumbled back into sell-off mode Thursday, with the Dow plunging more than 1,000 points as worries over interest rate hikes continued to drag the market down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 4.2 percent to 23,860.46. The broad-based S&P 500 sank 3.8 percent to 2,581.00, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index plunged 3.9 percent to 6,777.16. With Thursday’s losses, the Dow and S&P 500 have now fallen […]

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Stereo vision: Mantises see 3-D differently, study says

by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Praying mantises sporting tiny 3-D glasses that were held in place with beeswax have revealed a new kind of “stereo” vision that may help improve robot sight, researchers said Thursday. With two teardrop-shaped, light-filtering lenses perched on their heads, the insects lashed out in lab experiments at images of tempting prey in a special 3-D film, a team of scientists said. Scientists then observed […]

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Hours from deadline, US Congress to vote to avert shutdown

by Michael Mathes Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Top US lawmakers scrambled Thursday to rally support for a deal to keep the federal government open past a midnight deadline, as rebellion simmered among Republicans and Democrats over the bipartisan budget agreement struck to end the logjam. Senators were expected to take up and pass the breakthrough bill later Thursday, and then send it to the House of Representatives — which will barely […]

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NBA: Thomas heading to Lakers after Cavs trade

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Isaiah Thomas joined the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday in a deadline trade which could pave the way for a possible bid to lure LeBron James to California. The Lakers confirmed Thomas and Cavs forward Channing Frye were joining from Cleveland in exchange for guard Jordan Clarkson and forward Larry Nance Jr. The Lakers will also get the Cavaliers’ protected first-round draft pick in 2018 […]

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