MicroWave

The effects include higher rates of high blood pressure, diabetes and dementia.

Living near an airport increases the chances of developing diseases such as diabetes, dementia or high blood pressure, a new study finds.

The paper, released Tuesday by green NGO Transport & Environment, blames fine particles and elements in jet fuel for the health impacts.

“A total of 280,000 cases of high blood pressure, 330,000 cases of diabetes, and 18,000 cases of dementia may be linked to UFP [ultrafine particle] emissions among the 51.5 million people living around the 32 busiest airports in Europe,” estimate the researchers from the CE Delft consultancy, which authored the study.

The court overturned an injunction that would have limited contacts between government officials and social media companies on a wide range of issues.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday threw out claims that the Biden administration unlawfully coerced social media companies into removing contentious content.

In reaching its conclusion, the court overturned an injunction that would have limited contacts between government officials and social media companies on a wide range of issues if allowed to go into effect. The Supreme Court had previously put the injunction on hold.

The court on a 6-3 vote found that plaintiffs did not have standing to sue.

The head of the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that Norfolk Southern repeatedly tried to interfere with the agency’s investigation into the East Palestine derailment and shape its conclusions about the flawed decision to blow open five tank cars and burn the vinyl chloride inside. 

The NTSB also confirmed at Tuesday’s hearing that the February 2023 derailment was caused by a wheel bearing that video showed was on fire for more than 20 miles (32.19 kilometers) beforehand but wasn’t caught in time by inaccurate trackside detectors. The board also approved more than two dozen recommendations to prevent similar disasters, including establishing federal rules for those detectors and the way railroads respond to them along with reviewing how officials decide whether to ever conduct a vent and burn again.

More than three dozen freight cars derailed Feb. 3, 2023, on the outskirts of East Palestine near the Pennsylvania border, including 11 carrying hazardous materials. Some residents were evacuated that night, but days later more had to leave their homes amid fears of an imminent explosion. Despite potential health effects, officials intentionally released and burned toxic vinyl chloride three days after the crash, sending flames and smoke into the air.

At the end of the meeting, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy accused Norfolk Southern of interfering with the investigation and abusing its status as a party to the probe to help gather information.

“Norfolk Southern’s abuse of the party process was unprecedented and reprehensible,” she said.

Higher PFAS exposure could cause lactation to slow or stop altogether within six months, new research finds

Women exposed to toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” prior to pregnancy face an elevated risk of being unable to breastfeed early, new research finds.

The study tracked lactation durations for over 800 new moms in New Hampshire and found higher PFAS exposure could cause lactation to slow or stop altogether within six months.

The findings are “cause for concern” said Megan Romano, an epidemiologist at Dartmouth University and lead author.

“For all women who are exposed, there’s a little bit of a decrease in the amount of time they breastfeed beyond delivery,” Romano said.

Joe Biden has moved to correct a “great injustice” by pardoning thousands of US veterans convicted over six decades under a military law that banned gay sex.

The presidential proclamation, which comes during Pride month and an election year, allows LGBTQ+ service members convicted of crimes based solely on their sexual orientation to apply for a certificate of pardon that will help them receive withheld benefits.

…

It grants clemency to service members convicted under Uniform Code of Military Justice article 125 – which criminalised sodomy, including between consenting adults – between 1951 and 2013, when it was rewritten by Congress.

That includes victims of the 1950s “lavender scare”, a witch-hunt in which many LGBTQ+ people employed by the federal government were viewed as security risks amid fears their sexual orientation made them vulnerable to blackmail. Thousands were investigated and fired or denied employment.

A new strain of the mpox virus spreading quickly along the eastern border of Democratic Republic of Congo is "incredibly worrying", say health officials monitoring its spread.

The virus, which can cause lesions across the whole body, is making some people very ill and can be deadly.

The current outbreak has been driven by sexual transmission but there is evidence this strain can also be passed on through close skin-to-skin contact.

Global health experts say the new variant risks cross-border and international spread of the virus, with one calling it the "most dangerous strain yet".

Germany's government has agreed on a draft law making it easier to deport people who promote "terrorist crimes." The legislation lowers the bar at which foreigners can be returned to their country of origin.

German government ministers on Wednesday agreed on draft legislation to simplify the deportation process for individuals who express support for terrorism, Germany's Interior Ministry said.

The move comes in reaction to online hate posts that celebrated the Hamas attack on Israel and other terrorist incidents.

The draft law would allow deportation if someone is considered to have approved of a single terrorist offense. No criminal conviction would be necessary for an individual to be deported.

Expressions of approval could include not only posting of hateful content on social media but also marking a hate post with a "like" or other positive reaction on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok.

Growing grievances over a rural-urban divide help Marine Le Pen’s National Rally make inroads.

Sylvie Casenave-Péré has been in politics for exactly 10 days and she is already in the thick of France’s election race against a high-profile adversary. 

The 65-year-old packaging executive is running for a seat in parliament with President Emmanuel Macron’s liberals. That pits her directly against Marie-Caroline Le Pen, the sister of far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose far-right National Rally party is on the ascendant. 

On a quiet Monday morning in the small town of Sablé-sur-Sarthe, some 250 kilometers west of Paris, Casenave-Péré is handing out leaflets and greeting shoppers with gusto: “Send me to the National Assembly, I’m super motivated!”

This new recruit is part of a desperate push from Macron’s centrist coalition to hold back the tide of the far right in the region of Sarthe in the two-round snap election on June 30 and July 7.

Nearly 1.8 billion adults are at risk of cancer, stroke, dementia and diabetes due to insufficient exercise, according to a new report released on Wednesday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said physical inactivity has increased globally by five percentage points from 2010 to 2022, yet around 31% of adults still don't meet exercise guidelines.

The study, published in The Lancet Global Health journal, pointed out that 34% of women and 29% of men are inactive.

If current trends continue, 35% of people will be inactive by 2030, the report said.

"Physical inactivity is a silent threat to global health, contributing significantly to the burden of chronic diseases," said Ruediger Krech, director of the WHO's health promotion department.

South Korea spotted another 350 North Korean balloons “presumed” to be carrying waste on Monday, reigniting a tit-for-tat exchange as tensions on the Korean Peninsula continue to heighten.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said a suspected balloon was seen flying in northern Gyeonggi Province, which borders Seoul, around 9 p.m. local time (8 p.m. ET).

About 100 of the balloons fell inside South Korean regions, most of which were found in north of Gyeonggi Province and capital Seoul with “no hazardous substances” found so far, it said.

Seoul’s Metropolitan government later sent out a push notification alerting the city that a North Korean balloon had entered the sky over Seoul, adding that citizens should refrain from touching downed balloons and report any sightings to authorities.

The Norwegian government on Tuesday signed a deal to start stockpiling grain, saying the COVID-19 pandemic, a war in Europe and climate change have made it necessary.

The deal to store 30,000 tons of grain in 2024 and 2025 was signed by agriculture and food minister Geir Pollestad, finance minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum and four private companies. The wheat, which will belong to the Norwegian government, will be stored in already existing facilities by the companies in facilities across the country. Three of the companies will store at least 15,000 tons this year. 

Companies “are free to invest in new facilities and decide for themselves where they want to store the emergency grain, but they must make the grain available to the state if needed,” the government said.

Norway’s ministry for agriculture and food said, “the building up of a contingency stock of food grains is about being prepared for the unthinkable.”

Japanese scientists have found a way to attach living skin to robot faces, for more realistic smiles and other facial expressions. 

The breakthrough came from copying tissue structures in people, according to the team at Tokyo University. 

The prototype may appear more Haribo than human-like.

But the researchers say it paves the way to making convincingly realistic, moving humanoids with self-healing skin that will not easily rip or tear.