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Will 2026 be a year of great shaking for the United States? Coming into 2025, I thought that seismic activity would be a major global theme, and that has certainly turned out to be the case. This has been an extremely unusual year for earthquakes along the Pacific Ring of Fire, and volcanoes that have been dormant for ages are suddenly roaring to life all over the world. Here in the United States, we have been experiencing lots and lots of little earthquakes, but thankfully we have not been hit by a really bad one yet. Will our luck run...

Geneva (AFP) – UN chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for a fightback against climate disinformation ahead of next month's COP30 summit after US President Donald Trump branded climate change the "greatest con job ever". Guterres issued a robust defence of "clear-eyed" climate science and data, without which, he said, the world would never have understood the emergence of the "dangerous and existential threat of climate change". "We must fight mis- and disinformation, online harassment, and greenwashing," Guterres said at the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) weather and climate agency. "Scientists and researchers should never fear telling the truth." The...

Could a vagabond giant from the outermost regions of interstellar space be poised on the cusp of sweeping by our cosmic doorstep? Astronomers say yes and they have the data to support it. Using the Pan-STARRS survey telescope on Hawaii and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, researchers have found a giant rogue planet, possibly as massive as Jupiter, speeding toward the solar system. It is a transient discovery made possible by the combination of wide-sky monitoring and the capability of high-resolution spectroscopy. Pan-STARRS first notified astronomers to the object with weak, creeping light signals near...

A Missouri resident has died from a brain-eating amoeba infection after contracting the deadly parasite during recreational water activities, highlighting serious gaps in public health warnings about these lethal waterborne threats. Story Snapshot * Adult Missouri patient dies from rare Naegleria fowleri brain infection after Lake of the Ozarks waterskiing * Brain-eating amoeba has 97% fatality rate with only four survivors nationally since 1962 * Patient died within six days of hospitalization despite intensive care treatment * Health officials refuse to close recreational water sites despite deadly risk to families Deadly Parasite Claims Missouri Life An adult Missouri resident died...

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday told U.S. President Donald Trump to remember that Moscow possessed Soviet-era nuclear strike capabilities of last resort after Trump told Medvedev to "watch his words". -snip- "If some words from the former president of Russia trigger such a nervous reaction from the high-and-mighty president of the United States, then Russia is doing everything right and will continue to proceed along its own path," Medvedev said in a post on Telegram. Trump should remember, he said, "how dangerous the fabled 'Dead Hand' can be," a reference to a secretive semi-automated Russian command system designed...

There are many weird and wonderful humanoid robots out there, but one of the most eye-catching machines launched this year can change its own battery pack — making it capable of running autonomously for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Walker S2 robot, made by the Chinese company UBTECH, is 5 foot 3 inches (162 centimeters) tall and weighs 95 pounds (43 kilograms) — making it the size and weight of a small adult. Using a 48-volt lithium battery in a dual-battery system, the robot can walk for two hours or stand for four hours before its...

<p>For residents of developed countries, the campaign to demonize genetically modified food simply means higher prices at the supermarket. In the Third World, however, the scaremongering has a much more dire effect. Nothing demonstrates that more graphically than Angola's decision this week to ban GM grain, even though this will disrupt the food aid that keeps 1.9 million Angolans alive.</p>

Ukraine joining NATO would be viewed by Russia as an existential threat, likely triggering a severe and multifaceted military escalation that could lead to a broader European war. The Kremlin has consistently framed NATO’s eastward expansion as the primary justification for its aggression, meaning Kyiv’s accession would be a direct challenge to Russia’s perceived sphere of influence.

They saw what happened (or didn't happen) when antifa made American cities unliveable. Now it's their turn. Election time is on, so what better than for Europe's eco fanatics, the toddler-like people who have been blocking highways and throwing their food on Europe's art masterpieces, to take their show on the road to the states come summer? According to the Daily Mail: Europe's top climate activists are planning a 'large-scale civil disobedience campaign' of highway blockages, hunger strikes and disruption at 'federal properties' in the US in August, DailyMail.com can reveal. Leaders from Extinction Rebellion (XR) and other European groups...

A computer science professor from Oklahoma State University is warning that artificial intelligence could trigger a massive population collapse, leaving Earth with just 100 million people by the year 2300. And it wouldn’t happen through nuclear war or robot uprisings, he says. Just pure, relentless obsolescence. “It’s going to be devastating for society,” said Subhash Kak, author of The Age of Artificial Intelligence, in an interview with The Sun. “I think people really don’t have a clue.” Kak believes that while robots will never become conscious, they will replace most human jobs, including those in law, education, and even relationships....

“They were never, ever effective… and they were never, ever safe.” Those words aren’t coming from some fringe blogger. They’re from Dr. Angus Dalgleish — a veteran oncologist and professor of oncology at a major UK institution. “These were not vaccines,” Dalgleish says. “These were horrible gene therapies that could actually integrate into your genome.”

Experts have issued a warning about a potential “mega tsunami” that could sweep away entire communities with its massive waves. Alaska, Hawaii and the West Coast of the mainland US face an ongoing threat due to how close they are to disaster zones — and the West Coast just received a renewed warning. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed that an earthquake could erupt along the Cascadia subduction zone, a fault that stretches from Northern Vancouver Island to Cape Mendocino, California. Researchers from Virginia Tech found that a potential powerful earthquake combined...

Leading health experts have warned that the US is staring down the barrel of another pandemic as bird flu spirals out of control on US farms. So far, the H5N1 outbreak has affected nearly 1,000 dairy cow herds and resulted in more than 70 human cases, including the first confirmed death. The US poultry industry is at significant risk, say experts from the Global Virus Network (GVN), particularly in areas with high-density farming and where personal protective practices may be lacking. Since 2022, more than 168 million poultry in the US has been lost or culled due to the bird...

So far, American consumers have been shielded from much of the impact. But as the world of international shipping adjusts to his policies, the president is facing a potential reckoning. With the US-China trade war starting to gum up container traffic between the world’s two biggest economies, freight companies are warning of plunging bookings and a surge in “blank sailings” – where ports are skipped or voyages are called off altogether. Earlier this week, America’s most powerful retail executives trooped into the White House to deliver a blunt prognosis: tariffs on Chinese goods risked causing “empty shelves” in two weeks...

China just raised the stakes in its standoff with Washington. Despite President Trump's recent attempts to dial down the rhetoric and hint at possible tariff relief, Beijing isn't budging. A spokesperson from China's Commerce Ministry flatly rejected any notion of progress, calling U.S. claims of renewed dialogue groundless. The message: if the U.S. wants to talk, it needs to first undo the damagestarting with a full rollback of unilateral tariffs, now as high as 145%. China also made it clear that future talks hinge on more than just kind words; Washington needs to get serious about core issues like sanctions...

ETFs tracking the U.S. dollar are gaining investor attention as the greenback faces increased pressure amid increasing global trade tensions and indications of a weakening U.S. economy. As sentiment turns bearish at a record pace, ETFs such as Invesco DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund UUP -0.90% are becoming crucial tools for investors trying to deal with the volatility. The most popular dollar ETF is UUP, which provides exposure to the greenback versus a basket of currencies including the euro, yen, and pound. It’s constructed to profit when the dollar rises — but has underperformed in recent days as bearishness...

President Donald Trump knows his hike in tariffs for China's goods to 145 percent will up the ante in a trade war, but Beijing also holds a strong hand with its control of the materials critical for the United States defense industry. China first responded on April 3 to Trump's initial salvo of 54 percent levies on its exports by placing export restrictions on rare earth elements, which are key for the fighter aircraft that will form the backbone of the U.S. Air Force's next-generation fleet. Following a deal with Boeing, Trump has touted the F-47 as the successor to...

The SSA introduces a stricter identity verification policy to combat fraud—millions could risk losing benefits if they don’t comply ... Starting April 14, 2025, millions of Social Security beneficiaries in the United States will need to meet a new requirement to continue receiving their monthly payments. ... This new measure is part of a broader initiative led by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump administration.

Last October, in the home stretch of the US presidential campaign, Donald Trump told supporters at a rally in Atlanta that he was “not a Nazi”. He was reacting to comments by his former chief of staff, John Kelly, who said in an interview that during his first term in office, Trump more than once suggested that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler “did some good things”. Kelly said that after consulting a dictionary he concluded that Trump “certainly” met the definition of a fascist. Since the start of Trump’s second term as US president, comparisons between his administration and the Nazi...

Social Security has never missed a benefit payment since the program first began sending individuals monthly benefits more than eight decades ago. But the recent actions at the U.S. Social Security Administration by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency are putting monthly benefit checks for more than 72.5 million Americans at risk, former commissioner and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley told CNBC.com. “Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits,” O’Malley said. “I believe you will see that within the next 30 to 90 days.” Ahead of any interruption in benefits, “people should start...