Nearsightedness has now reached epidemic proportions here with the National Eye Institute putting the number of American suffering from myopia at about 42 percent, up from 25 percent in 1971.
According to World Health Organization, the condition of those who can't see objects at a distance, is increasing at an alarming rate.
Myopia typically appears among school-going children and can be associated with long-term eye health problems such as glaucoma and macular degeneration.
No conclusive studies link the rise of myopia in children to their increased use of technology, but enough research and anecdotal evidence exists to support these theories.
The National Eye Institute at the National Institutes of Health states that about 42 percent of Americans are myopic, up from 25 percent in 1971.
Responding to the rising number of children with blurry vision caused by myopia, the University of Houston (UH) Eye Institute is offering a Myopia Management Service to correct and manage ...

Myopia reaches 'alarming proportion' among Americans: Nt'l Eye Inst

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A collision between a Tunisian boat and a Cypriot container ship that sent hundreds of tonnes of fuel spilling into the Mediterranean in October was due to an extraordinary series of human errors, investigators said Monday.
The watch officer on board the Tunisian vessel Ulysse was chatting on his phone, while his counterpart on the Cypriot container ship Virginia did not attend to radar alarms, Tunisian, French and Cypriot investigators said in a report presented in Tunis.
The Tunisian vessel rammed into the Cyprus-based boat -- anchored some 30 kilometres (18 miles) off Corsica -- at full speed on the morning of October 7.
The Virginia had thrown anchor in the middle of a sea lane, the report said.
It took several days of maritime manoeuvres to disentangle the boats and pump some 520 cubic metres of propulsion fuel, which had escaped tanks.
"This accident is due to human error shared between the Tunisian boat's team and that of the Cypriot boat," said Youssef Ben Romdhane, director ..

Phone call one of errors in ship collision off Corsica: Probe

Three skiers and two snowshoe hikers have died as heavy snow and avalanches hit Austria, isolating several areas of the mountainous country, authorities said Monday.
Two German skiers lost their lives in avalanches in the western region of Vorarlberg on Sunday, and a Slovenian died in the region of Salzburg, rescue services said.
The bodies of two missing snowshoe hikers were discovered Monday as snow caused chaos in parts of the country, blocking roads and shuttering schools.
Two other hikers are still missing in the country's northeast.
Up to 1.5 metres (five feet) of snow has fallen in central and north Austria since the middle of last week, with up to three metres accumulating in the mountains around Salzburg, Austria's meteorological service said.
Some 2,000 people, including tourists, were left stranded in villages in the Soelktal valley in the southeast.
Army helicopters used in avalanche control were grounded due to the bad weather.
In the Hochkar mountain range in Lower ...

Five dead, two missing in snow-struck Austria

Three Spanish mountaineers died with their Peruvian guide while climbing a snow-capped peak in the Andes, Peruvian authorities reported Monday.
The five-member party was attempting to scale the 5,150 meter (16,892-foot) Nevado Mateo mountain in the Andean Cordillera Blanca range when they were swept away on Sunday, authorities in the Ancash region said.
The alarm was raised by another Spanish climber, the only member of the party to survive.
"Apparently it was due to weather effects, probably an ice-fall," Marcos Espinal, a prosecutor in the local town of Carhauz, told RPP radio.
A mountain rescue team had been dispatched to recover the bodies of the four climbers, Espinal said.
The lower reaches of the mountain give way to a glacier on the climb, which usually takes around five hours.
"It is a rugged area, and risky because of the weather conditions," like fog and rain, he said.
A German climber died on the mountain in 2016.

Three Spanish climbers, guide, perish on Peru mountain

The most senior French Catholic cleric to stand trial over one of the paedophilia scandals that have rocked the church denied in court Monday  covering up for a priest who abused boy scouts in the 1980s and 90s.
Cardinal Philippe Barbarin,  archbishop of Lyon, southeastern France, is accused along with five others from his diocese of failing to report a priest under his responsibility to the authorities.
The 68-year-old bishop, a conservative who has made headlines with his blunt comments in the past, denied the allegations which are the most damaging yet against the church in France.
"I never sought to hide, much less cover up these horrible acts," Barbarin told the court in Lyon, reading from a written statement.
He faces up to three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros (USD 54,000) if convicted of failing to report priest Bernard Preynat  or remove him from positions involving care of children. Barbarin denies the allegations.
His former chief of staff Pierre Durieux, who is .

French cardinal denies covering up for paedophile priest

French police on Monday arrested a former professional boxer seen punching officers during a "yellow vest" demonstration in Paris, as the government prepared to announce a new tough line on violent protests.
In shocking images filmed on Saturday, a heavily built man in a black duffel coat can be seen squaring up to several police officers before knocking them down in a hail of punches and then kicking them on the ground.
One of the officers is then beaten by other protesters wearing yellow vests before being rescued by fellow riot police in protective equipment and helmets.
The ex-boxer, identified by French media as 37-year-old Christophe Dettinger, is a former heavyweight fighter who reportedly works for the local government in the Essonne area south of Paris.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said Dettinger, known in the ring as "The Gypsy From Massy", a town south of Paris, had handed himself into police in the capital on Monday morning.
"He was immediately arrested and will ..

'Yellow vest' boxer arrested after assaulting French police

Kevin Spacey pleaded not guilty Monday to indecently assaulting a teenager who alleged that the Oscar-winning US actor groped him in a bar in Massachusetts in 2016.
The "House of Cards" star, who faces five years in prison if convicted, is accused of repeatedly reaching down into the pants of a man identified as William Little, who was 18 at the time of the alleged attack at a Nantucket restaurant.
Spacey, dressed in a gray coat over a dark blazer and tie, was not asked for his plea during the brief arraignment in a crowded Nantucket courtroom, but his lawyer entered the denial on Spacey's behalf.
A follow-on hearing was scheduled for March 4, but Spacey is not required to attend.
The 59-year-old actor stood quietly with his hands clasped as the clerk read out the charge "that in the town of Nantucket on July 18, 2016 (the defendant) did commit indecent assault and battery on someone 14 and over."
The case marks the first time Spacey has faced sexual misconduct charges, although there 

Kevin Spacey denies indecent assault in groping case

The crew of an Israeli air force F-15 warplane fought freezing temperatures and buffeting winds to bring their aircraft down after its cockpit canopy flew off at 30,000 feet, the military said on Monday.
In a dramatic cockpit voice recording of the January 2 incident airmen can be heard shouting to one another over the roaring wind and engine noise, in what a military statement said were temperatures of -45 degrees Celsius (-49 Fahrenheit).
"Are you all right," the navigator asks the pilot, identified in the statement as "captain Y".
"Yes I'm fine," he replies.
"We are without a canopy, proceeding for landing at the nearest base," the pilot says over the radio in a calm voice.
He then notifies controllers he is heading to Nevatim air base in southern Israel.
The landing went without further incident, the statement said, adding that the air force chief of staff ordered an immediate halt to training flights in F-15s pending an investigation.
Haaretz newspaper said the air force has had .

Israeli F-15 lands safely after losing canopy at 30,000 feet

Gabon said it foiled an attempted coup on Monday after a group of soldiers called for a popular uprising while the country's ailing president was abroad.
The soldiers burst into state radio offices at dawn and urged the public to "rise up," in a broadcast made as President Ali Bongo remained in Morocco after suffering a stroke last year.
Three soldiers wearing the green beret of the elite Republican Guard, two of them carrying assault rifles, were visible on a video of the speech released on social media.
But security forces stormed the building, capturing the rebel chief, killing two of his team and freeing journalists and technicians who had been held hostage and forced to help the mutineers make their broadcast, the presidency said.
"The situation is under control," it said in a statement.
Shots were heard earlier around the RTG state broadcasting headquarters in Libreville, capital of the oil-rich West African nation, at about the same time as the message was read at 6:30 am (0530 

Gabon says coup bid thwarted, as president abroad

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday condemned an attempted coup in Gabon, his spokesman said, recalling that the UN chief opposes unconstitutional changes of power by force.
Gabon's presidency said in a statement that soldiers burst into a state radio station at dawn on Monday and called for an uprising against President Ali Bongo, who was recovering in Morocco from a stroke.
Security forces stormed the building, arrested the coup leader and killed two of his soldiers, according to the presidency.
"The secretary-General has always stood against unconstitutional changes of power, especially by force, and in that light, he condemns the attempted coup that took place this morning in Gabon," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
Guterres added that calm appears to have returned in Libreville and calls "on all actors to follow constitutional means", added Dujarric.
The UN envoy for Central Africa, Francois Lounceny Fall, who is based in Libreville was closely monitoring the ...

UN chief condemns attempted coup in Gabon

A special North Korean train entered China late Monday, Yonhap news agency reported, raising speculation that leader Kim Jong Un could be on his way to Beijing.
The train crossed the border around 10:15 pm local time (1315 GMT) and was expected in the Chinese capital Tuesday morning, the Southern news agency reported, citing an informed source.
China is the isolated, nuclear-armed North's key diplomatic ally and main source of trade and aid, and Kim visited three times last year to pay his respects to leader Xi Jinping.
Until his first trip in March, Kim had not meet Xi for more than six years after inheriting power from his father, as relations between the neighbours once described as close as "lips and teeth" deteriorated.
But a whirlwind of diplomacy enveloped the Korean peninsula last year, with Kim also meeting the South's President Moon Jae-in three times, and culminating in his high-profile Singapore summit with US counterpart Donald Trump in June.
None of Kim's 2018 trips to ..

Special North Korean train enters China: Yonhap

A French jihadist appeared in court on Monday as a jury was chosen for his trial for shooting dead four people at a Jewish museum in Brussels in 2014.
Mehdi Nemmouche, the first jihadist to return from Syria's battlefields to allegedly launch an attack on European soil, faces a life sentence if convicted of the killings in the Belgian capital on May 24, 2014.
Both Nemmouche, 33, and Nacer Bendrer, a fellow Frenchman aged 30 who allegedly supplied the weapons, deny charges of "terrorist murder".
Nemmouche, wearing a blue sweater, spoke only to confirm his identity as the hearing began at 10:30 am (0930 GMT).
"Nemmouche, Mehdi, 33 years old, unemployed," he told the criminal court in Brussels before it selected a jury of eight men and four women for the trial, which opens on Thursday.
More than 100 witnesses are due to testify at the trial, which will be attended by the victims' families and Jewish community leaders, who have denounced the anti-Semitic nature of the attack.
And more ...

French jihadist in court over deadly Brussels Jewish museum attack

Seven men have been killed in a shooting attack at a bar in Mexico's Caribbean coast resort city of Playa del Carmen, authorities said Monday.
State and local police said the attack occurred late Sunday at the "Las Virginias" bar in a low-income section relatively far from the beach side tourist zone. Six men were found shot to death in the bar, and another died at a local hospital.
One man was wounded but survived the attack. He told police he was drinking beer with friends when gunshots broke out. The attackers have not yet been identified.
Playa del Carmen is located on the coast facing the island of Cozumel, Mexico's leading cruise ship destination. Once a quiet fishing and ferry town, Playa del Carmen has grown exponentially in the last two decades, with lower-income neighborhoods springing up on the inland side of the coastal highway.
The resort is midway between Cancun, to the north, and Tulum, to the south, in the coastal state of Quintana Roo, which has seen homicides more ...

7 dead in shooting in Mexican resort of Playa del Carmen

More than 800 protesters have been arrested in anti-government demonstrations held across Sudan since last month, a minister said Monday, as hundreds gathered at a rally backing President Omar al-Bashir.
Deadly protests have rocked Sudan since December 19, when unrest first broke out over a government decision to raise the price of bread.
Authorities say at least 19 people including two security personnel have been killed in clashes during the demonstrations, but rights group Amnesty International has put the death toll at 37.
Interior Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman on Monday gave details to parliament of arrests made during the protests and violence that marked several rallies.
"The total number of protesters arrested until now is 816," Osman said.
The figure was the first given by officials for those detained since the rallies erupted initially in towns and villages and later spread to the capital Khartoum.
Osman told lawmakers there had been a total of 381 protests reported since ...

Pro-Bashir rally as Sudan says 800 protesters arrested

US President Donald Trump on Monday launched a fresh attack on news media, saying it consists of many "crazed lunatics" and "is truly the enemy of the people".
Alleging that The New York Times has published an "inaccurate story" on withdrawal of US troops from Syria, Trump said the mainstream media is not giving adequate coverage to the achievements of his administration.
"The Fake News Media in our Country is the real Opposition Party. It is truly the Enemy of the People! We must bring honesty back to journalism and reporting!" he tweeted.
Trump often describes major American news outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN as part of the fake news media.
"The Fake News will knowingly lie and demean in order make the tremendous success of the Trump Administration, and me, look as bad as possible. They use non-existent sources & write stories that are total fiction. Our Country is doing so well, yet this is a sad day in America!" he said.
"With all of the success ...

Trump launches fresh attack on media, says 'enemy of people' consists of many 'crazed lunatics'

The two leaders of Italy's ruling populist coalition on Monday threw their support behind the "yellow vest" protesters roiling neighbouring France.
"Yellow vests, do not weaken!" Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio, who heads the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), wrote on his party's blog.
He denounced the French government for protecting the elite and the privileged.
Matteo Salvini, his counterpart from the far-right, the anti-immigrant League, also backed the "yellow vest" protesters.
"I support honest citizens protesting against a president who governs against his people," Salvini said in a statement, while "firmly" condemning recent protest violence.
On Monday, Di Maio offered French protesters the use of their so-called Rousseau platform to improve organisation and "draw up an electoral programme".
"This system (Rousseau) is made for a horizontal and spontaneous movement such as yours and we would be happy if you want to use it," Di Maio wrote.
M5S has vaunted direct ..

Italy populist leaders back France 'yellow vest' protests

An Islamic State group suicide bomber attacked a centre for Kurdish forces in the northern Syrian city of Raqa on Monday, killing four civilians and an anti-jihadist fighter, a monitor said.
The attacker blew himself up after entering the centre run by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"A suicide attacker wearing an explosives belt blew himself up inside a YPG centre after opening fire on a security checkpoint at its entrance," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
At least four civilians and a YPG fighter were killed in the attack, he added.
The YPG forms the backbone an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) battling to expel IS from its last redoubt in eastern Syria.
IS claimed responsibility for the attack they said targeted a "recruitment centre" for Kurdish forces.
"The attacker aimed at them with a machine gun then blew up his explosives vest in the middle of ...

IS suicide bomber kills 5 in Syria's Raqa: Monitor

President Donald Trump on Monday sought to end fears of an abrupt US pullout from Syria, saying the fight against the Islamic State group was not over and that withdrawal would be done in a "prudent" manner.
"We will be leaving at a proper pace while at the same time continuing to fight ISIS and doing all else that is prudent and necessary!" Trump tweeted.
The president has come under withering pressure both at home and in allied capitals after previous statements indicating that he considered the IS group vanquished and that he wanted US troops out of Syria imminently.
Trump's new statement follows a trip by his national security adviser John Bolton to Israel in which he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday that withdrawal would not happen before "ISIS is defeated and not able to revive itself."
The reassurances followed a diplomatic storm caused by Trump's surprise announcement in December that appeared to signal a rapid withdrawal from Syria, where US special forces ...

US pullout from Syria to be done in 'prudent' way: Trump

Dozens of trucks took part in a government exercise Monday for coping with possible Channel gridlock caused by a no-deal Brexit, assembling on an abandoned airport runway that could be turned into a giant lorry park.
But haulage groups labelled the exercise "too little too late", while a local MP said it was "too complex" and would create "enormous confusion" for lorry drivers.
Nearly 100 lorries descended on Manston airfield in southeast England, which has been identified as a possible holding facility under contingency plans for leaving the European Union without a divorce agreement on March 29.
As part of the test, the vehicles then made two trips in convoy to and from the port of Dover -- a 20-mile (32-kilometre) journey -- along a route far less used by trucks than the main highway from London.
"Today's trial cannot possibly duplicate the reality of 4,000 trucks being held at Manston airport in the event of a no-deal Brexit," said Richard Burnett, head of the Road Haulage ...

Truck tests for UK no-deal Brexit preparedness branded 'window dressing'

The EU's top trade negotiator Cecilia Malmstrom was headed to Washington on Monday to meet United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in an effort to breathe life into an attempt to strike a trade deal.
Lighthizer is also Trump's point man for just-launched trade talks with China, and the meeting with Malmstrom will include discussions on how the European Union and the US as well as Japan can better cooperate to face Beijing.
The mooted trade deal with the EU came after US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker agreed in July to hold off on any new tariffs while negotiations are under way.
Officials in Brussels hope the talks will cajole Trump away from slapping 25 percent tariffs on European auto imports, that would mostly affect Germany and possibly spark a trade war.
A component of the truce between the EU and US was to boost European imports of soya from the US, a sensitive sector that has been decimated by Trump's trade war with ...

EU trade negotiator heads to Washington for talks

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday she was seeking further EU Brexit assurances in a bid to persuade MPs to back her unpopular deal in a crucial vote next week, while the bloc repeated it would not renegotiate.
Parliament returned from its Christmas break ready to resume debating the withdrawal deal struck in November, before a vote in the House of Commons next week, possibly on January 15.
May postponed the vote last month because of intense opposition to the agreement from MPs, but there is little sign yet of the clarifications she promised to secure from EU leaders.
The stakes could hardly be higher as the clock ticks down to Brexit on March 29, when Britain, the world's fifth-biggest economy, splits from its main trading partner.
"We are continuing to work on further assurances, on further undertakings from the European Union," May said after talks with the Dutch, French, German, Spanish and EU leaders over the holidays.
A government source said these assurances may ...

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