NASA’s unmanned New Horizons spacecraft is closing in on its historic New Year’s flyby target, the most distant world ever studied, a frozen relic of the solar system some 4 billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) away. The cosmic object, known as Ultima Thule, is about the size of the U.S. …
your ad here50th-Anniversary Woodstock Event Set for 2019
Fifty years after the Woodstock music festival became one of the watersheds of hippie counterculture, an anniversary event will take place in August 2019 on the same field north of New York City. The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts announced a three-day festival of “music, culture and community” that …
your ad hereUS Army Looks for a Few Good Robots, Sparks Industry Battle
The U.S. Army is looking for a few good robots. Not to fight — not yet, at least — but to help the men and women who do. These robots aren’t taking up arms, but the companies making them have waged a different kind of battle. At stake is a …
your ad hereCybersecurity Law: Vietnam Will Censor Internet, Not Close Websites
Expect to get caught if you post anti-government material on the internet in Vietnam or take a phishing trip. From 2019 authorities can build evidence against you from material provided by email services and social media networks including Facebook. Yet the country, mindful of its role in the emerging digital …
your ad hereUS Fossil Fuel Exports Spur Growth, Climate Worries
In South Korea’s largest shipyard, thousands of workers in yellow hard hats move ceaselessly between towering cranes lifting hulks of steel. They look like a hive of bees scurrying over a massive circuit board as they weld together the latest additions to the rapidly growing fleet of tankers carrying super-chilled …
your ad hereDow Finishes Up 1.1 Percent as US Stocks Rebound
Wall Street stocks finished solidly higher Thursday following a late-afternoon surge as worries over slowing economic growth gave way to bargain-hunting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 23,138.82, an increase of 1.1 percent and up some 870 points from the low point of the session. The broad-based S&P 500 …
your ad hereInstagram ‘Back to Normal’ After Bug Triggers Temporary Change to Feed
Facebook Inc’s photo-sharing social network Instagram said on Thursday it has fixed a bug that led to a temporary change in the appearance of its feed for a large number of users. The bug led to a small test being distributed widely, the company said. As part of the test, …
your ad herePluto Explorer Ushering in New Year at More Distant World
The spacecraft team that brought us close-ups of Pluto will ring in the new year by exploring an even more distant and mysterious world. NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft will zip past the scrawny, icy object nicknamed Ultima Thule soon after the stroke of midnight. One billion miles beyond …
your ad hereTourism Group Gives Funds to Reopen Liberty Bell for 3 Days
Tourists in Philadelphia for the holidays will be able to see the Liberty Bell this weekend despite a partial federal government shutdown that closed many national parks throughout the country. Most of the buildings in the Independence National Historic Park including Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell Center have been …
your ad hereRace Plays Huge Role in Cleft Lip/Palate Deformities
A cleft lip or cleft palate is one of the most common birth defects worldwide. Before birth, babies can have a split, or cleft, in their lip and the roof of the mouth. This split normally closes between the 6th to 11th week of pregnancy. If this doesn’t happen, and …
your ad hereRUSADA’s Chief Appeals to Putin Over Doping Data
The head of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency has asked for President Vladimir Putin’s help in getting Russian officials to hand over key doping data to World Anti-Doping Agency inspectors. WADA reinstated the suspended RUSADA in September on the condition Russian authorities hand over lab data, which could help confirm a …
your ad hereTimes Square New Year’s Eve Ball Gets Some New Sparkle
Preparations for New Year’s Eve in Times Square are taking shape, and some of those shapes are 192 new crystal triangles on the famous ball. The new Waterford crystal triangles will join about 2,500 others Thursday on the big, sparkling sphere. Some new crystals are swapped in every year. This …
your ad hereSource: Foxconn to Begin Assembling Top-End Apple iPhones in India in 2019
Apple Inc will begin assembling its top-end iPhones in India through the local unit of Foxconn as early as 2019, the first time the Taiwanese contract manufacturer will have made the product in the country, according to a source familiar with the matter. Importantly, Foxconn will be assembling the most …
your ad hereTesla Sets up Shanghai Financial Leasing Unit as China Plans Accelerate
Tesla Inc has registered a financial leasing company in China, a local business registration filing shows, in the latest sign the U.S. electric car maker is attempting to speed up its push into China. The California-based carmaker, led by billionaire Chief Executive Elon Musk, has opened a wholly-owned financial leasing …
your ad hereAid Group: 10 Worst Climate-Linked Disasters of 2018 Caused $85B in Damage
From floods to extreme heat, 10 of the worst climate-linked disasters in 2018 caused at least $84.8 billion worth of damage, said a study released by the charity Christian Aid on Thursday. Extreme weather driven by climate change hit every populated continent this year, the British relief organization said, warning …
your ad hereUS Legal Marijuana Industry Had Banner Year in 2018
The last year was a 12-month champagne toast for the legal marijuana industry as the global market exploded and cannabis pushed its way further into the financial and cultural mainstream. Liberal California became the largest legal U.S. marketplace, while conservative Utah and Oklahoma embraced medical marijuana. Canada ushered in broad …
your ad hereJapan to Leave International Whaling Commission; Resume Commercial Whaling
Japan will withdraw from the International Whaling Commission and resume commercial whaling in July. Wednesday’s announcement was met with opposition from animal rights groups, who say that Tokyo is violating international law. Japan says whaling will only be in its own waters and exclusive economic zone. Arash Arabasadi reports. …
your ad hereMale Campaigner Seeks to End FGM in Kenya’s Maasai Community
Female circumcision — a practice that opponents call female genital mutilation — has been a coming-of-age ritual among the Maasai tribe of Kenya for generations. But it is becoming less common, in part because of one man who is trying to persuade tribe members to abandon the practice. Douglas Meritei …
your ad hereReport: US Retail Holiday Sales Best in 6 Years
Retail sales in the U.S. for the 2018 holiday season were up more than 5 percent to more than $850 billion, according to data Mastercard released Wednesday, making 2018 the best holiday retail season in the last six years. The Mastercard SpendingPulse report tracks retail spending across all payment types, …
your ad hereReport: US Trade Team to Travel to China for Talks
A U.S. trade delegation will go to China the week of Jan. 7, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter. It will be the first time the two sides will meet face to face since U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping agreed to de-escalate a trade …
your ad hereWall Street Notches Best Day in 10 Years in Holiday Rebound
Wall Street notched its best day in 10 years as stocks rallied back Wednesday, giving some post-Christmas hope to a market that has otherwise been battered this December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped more than 1,000 points — its biggest point-gain ever — rising nearly 5 percent as investors …
your ad hereStudy: Work in Space Does Not Seem to Shorten Astronauts’ Lives
Although space travel exposes astronauts to forms of radiation that are uncommon on Earth, and that are linked to cancers and heart problems, a U.S. study suggests this doesn’t significantly shorten their lives. Researchers compared nearly 60 years of data on U.S. male astronauts and a group of men who are similarly extra-fit, affluent and …
your ad hereSerena Voted AP Female Athlete of the Year for 5th Time
She showed up in Paris wearing a black catsuit, a reminder that nobody can command the Grand Slam stage quite like Serena Williams. She reached the finals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, proving again how well she can play no matter how little she practices. Williams didn’t win those …
your ad hereIndian Casinos Across US Wary of Betting on Sports Books
Two dozen large-screen TVs showing football and other sports line the walls. There’s beer on tap, bar top seating and leather chairs. Chicken wings are on the menu. And at this American Indian casino in the heart of college-football mad Mississippi, you can legally bet on the games. The sports …
your ad here‘Tech Addicts’ Seek Solace in 12 Steps and Rehab
We like to say we’re addicted to our phones or an app or some new show on a streaming video service. But for some people, tech gets in the way of daily functioning and self-care. We’re talking flunk-your-classes, can’t-find-a-job, live-in-a-dark-hole kinds of problems, with depression, anxiety and sometimes suicidal thoughts …
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