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☆ France produced 2 of the world's oldest people: Here's what the French do differently to stay healthy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Most people are lucky to live to 100, but two women lived far beyond that, joining the ranks of the world's oldest people — and they're both from France. Jeanne Calment is believed to be the world's oldest person on record, gracing the Earth for 122 years. And recently, a French nun named Sister André was the oldest person in the world until Jan. 17, when she passed at the age of 118. It's hard to pinpoint what exactly helps people live beyond age 100, considering the varying behaviors of supercentenarians, says Jean-Marie Robine, an expert demographer who studies the relationship between health and longevity. Here are some reasons why people from The Hexagon tend to have some bonus years.

☆ Pandemic-era stigma cost Asian restaurants $7.4B in lost revenue, new study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Angela Yang | Angela Yang Is An Intern For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Stigma against Chinese cuisine in the first year of the pandemic cost Asian restaurants in the United States an estimated $7.4 billion in lost revenue in 2020, a recent study found. In a year in which tens of thousands of restaurants closed and many barely scraped by, the study — published online last week in the journal Nature Human Behaviour — reported that Asian restaurants across the country lost 18.4% more in foot traffic than other restaurants in 2020. Prominent reports of anti-Asian racism, from harassment to direct violence, flooded the country in the years after the pandemic’s outbreak. What was particularly surprising to Krupenkin, however, was that Asian restaurants that were not Chinese suffered an even greater decrease in traffic than Chinese restaurants. After investigating this spillover of consumer discrimination, her team found that many people simply couldn’t tell different Asian cuisines apart.

☆ I Outsourced My Memory: How to Remember Everything You Have Read Online
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Shubham Agarwal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

No matter what or how much I read online, my mind can't help but forget it shortly after. Because of this, multiple studies found that participants who read offline performed better in comprehension, concentration, and recall than participants who read online. In the three weeks I spent with the app, I found it was effective at helping me remember things, but it comes with a catch: Using a memory tool like this has the potential to make your biological memory worse over time. While Heyday's browser tool behaved like a memory assistant, its website felt like a snapshot of my online memory. But given the mounting volume of text we read online, perhaps we have already passed the point of no return.

☆ Russia's new top general in Ukraine is fixated on getting soldiers to shave more often, sparking derision among its military, UK intel says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia's new Ukraine general is fixated on soldiers' shaving habits, the UK defense ministry said. Valery Gerasimov's focus is drawing the ire of other military factions, it added. The UK defense ministry said that Gerasimov's focus on grooming is drawing the ire of officials in Russia-occupied areas, who see it as a pointless distraction. The UK defense ministry said that Gerasimov's focus on aspects like shaving means he's yet to prove his critics wrong where it counts: on the battlefield. Washington-based think-tank the Institute for the Study of War, meanwhile, said this month that the new Russian focus on personal habits may have a purpose, Insider's Jake Epstein reported.

☆ Piovi penalty gives Racing 2-1 win over Boca in Argentine Super Cup
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

AL AIN, United Arab Emirates, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Racing Club's Gonzalo Piovi scored a 98th-minute penalty as they beat Boca Juniors 2-1 to lift the Argentine Super Cup after coming from behind at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates on Friday. Facundo Roncaglia gave Argentine league champions Boca the lead in the 17th minute but Racing's Johan Carbonero equalised within three minutes and it was level deep into stoppage time. "We had prepared the play for the goal during the week with coach Gago because they leave space," Carbonero said. It ended there, we lost the match, a complicated, difficult match, which was open for both sides". Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City, Editing by Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ I have visual-snow syndrome. This is what it's like living with static-like vision 24/7.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Sierra Domb is the CEO and founder of the Visual Snow Initiative and has visual-snow syndrome. I immediately contacted the doctor who wrote the article, and he subsequently diagnosed me with visual-snow syndrome. When I first experienced the onset of visual-snow syndrome, I wasn't even aware there were other people out there who had it too. This graphic showcases the vision of someone without visual-snow syndrome, on the left, and the vision of someone with visual snow, on the right. Visual Snow InitiativePeople might link their visual snow to a specific incident.

☆ A debt ceiling standoff may trigger 'serious' fallout for Americans, warns economist. Here's what it means for you
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesThe U.S. may be about to hit its debt ceiling. Here's what the debt ceiling is, and what makes it so important for consumers. What is the debt ceiling? The debt ceiling is the amount of money the U.S. Treasury is authorized to borrow to pay its bills. Congress can raise or temporarily suspend the debt ceiling in the interim to avert a debt-ceiling crisis — something lawmakers have done many times in the past.

☆ Instant View: China's economy slows sharply in Q4, 2022 growth one of the worst on record
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

As a result, the Chinese economic growth rate will be below the Chinese government's target of 5% plus." This could weigh on their potential economic growth in the mid-and long-term, and we really need to be paying attention to that." MARCO SUN, CHIEF FINANCIAL MARKET ANALYST, MUFG BANK (CHINA), SHANGHAI"China's Q4 and full-year 2022 GDP growth rates came in higher than expected. Economic growth will have to depend more on productivity growth, which is driven by government policies." IRIS PANG, GREATER CHINA ECONOMIST, ING, HONG KONG"The biggest surprise is the retail sales number, which is really a big beat...

☆ Tackling the threat of mudslides in soaked California
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Matt Udkow / Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP fileWhy is California prone to mudslides? Since New Year’s Eve, the California Department of Conservation’s landslide mapping team has documented more than 300 landslides. Lancaster said California has dramatically increased its efforts to identify hotspots since the Montecito mudslides. After the 2018 mudslides hit Montecito, the Los Angeles Times reported that debris basins above the community were undersized and hadn’t been sufficiently emptied. The organization hired an engineering company to map the canyons and installed debris nets.

☆ Russia has screwed up over and over in its war in Ukraine, and Western militaries need to learn from its mistakes, former US Army general says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The West needs to learn from Russia's screw-ups in its war with Ukraine, a former US Army general said. "Russia has shown us what kinds of problems a large army can have if it hasn't done its homework," he said. The US and the West, Ryan emphasized in discussions with Insider, should be learning from Russia's mistakes. "We should be preparing our own militaries for a possible war with Russia and or China," the former general said. Looking at the future of the war in Ukraine and Western involvement, Ryan said "the West will probably increase its reactions to Russia's actions as they unfold."

☆ China records first population decline in 60 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN —China’s population shrank in 2022 for the first time in more than 60 years, a new milestone in the country’s deepening demographic crisis with significant implications for its slowing economy. The population declined in 2022 to 1.411 billion, down some 850,000 people from the previous year, China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced during a Tuesday briefing on annual data. The birth rate also fell to a record low of 6.77 births per 1,000, down from 7.52 a year earlier and the lowest level since the founding of Communist China in 1949. To arrest the falling birth rate, the Chinese government announced in 2015 that it would allow married couples to have two children. But after a brief uptick in 2016, the national birth rate has continued to fall.

☆ Deadly HIMARS strikes show how Ukrainian forces are turning cell phones into 'force multipliers'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Ukraine has launched deadly long-range strikes against Russian troops in eastern Ukraine. Some of those strikes and other attacks have reportedly been enabled by Russian cell phone use. Those cases illustrate the growing use of cell phones as sensors on the battlefield. In addition, Ukrainians have used their cell phones to report on Russian military movements. Cell phones have also provided accountability, allowing observers to tally losses and to shed light on misdeeds.

☆ SpaceX's most powerful rocket returns to flight
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

With each launch, the Falcon Heavy rocket puts on a dramatic show back on Earth. It’s a signature move for SpaceX, which routinely recovers and reuses its rocket boosters to drive down the cost of launches. All about this rocketFor years, the Falcon Heavy was the world’s most powerful operational rocket. If successful, SpaceX’s Starship would dethrone the SLS as the most powerful rocket flying today. Both the SLS rocket and SpaceX’s Starship are integral to NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the moon’s surface for the first time in half a century.

☆ A string of Russian failures got scores of troops killed in a Ukrainian strike, and Moscow's reaction only made things worse
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Scores of Russian troops were killed over the New Year holiday in a Ukrainian HIMARS strike. A string of Russian command failures allowed the deadly attack to happen. If they did, it is unclear if Russian troops were explicitly told not to use their phones and did anyways, or if these rules were actually enforced. It backfired though, as Russian milbloggers expressed anger with Russian military leadership after it came out that Russia's claims were made up. The Ukrainian strike on Makiivka is not the only time where Kyiv has been able to take advantage of Russian command failures during the nearly 11-month-long war, either.

☆ 8 best gluten-free meal delivery services in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Mili Godio | Mili Godio Is An Associate Reporter For Select On Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +13 min

Fortunately, many meal kits and pre-made meal delivery services offer several gluten-free menu items for any type of meal that can be tasty, creative and easy to prepare when you’re in a rush. To determine the best meal delivery services with gluten-free options or entirely gluten-free menus, we spoke to nutritionists and dieticians about the best services to try out and highlighted each individual service’s pricing, delivery frequency and meal options. 8 best gluten-free meal delivery services to tryWe spoke to experts about their favorite meal delivery services that either provide gluten-free options or have an entirely gluten-free menu. One of Sunbasket’s 10 available meal plans is the Gluten-Free plan, which features five to eight gluten-free options each week. BistroMD offers a specialized gluten-free program that lets you choose from over 100 gluten-free meals each week, according to the service.

☆ Aging, outdated technology leaves air travel at risk of meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

As early as 2012, the FAA decided it wanted to replace aging legacy voice switches used in air traffic control communications with new, internet-based communications technology. Trying to integrate old systems with newer ones — always in real time, because the global aviation industry never sleeps — can also create its own opportunities for catastrophic mistakes. Many more things can go wrong than you might expect — highlighting the sheer complexity of the aviation industry, and underscoring how there isn’t a quick easy fix for IT-related travel disruptions. But it has had lasting effects on FAA technology. That bureaucratic myopia is its own cause of today’s technological malaise in the aviation industry.

The software that failed and forced the Federal Aviation Administration to ground thousands of flights on Wednesday is 30 years old and not scheduled to be updated for another six years, according to a senior government official. This system was installed in 1993 and runs the Notice to Air Missions system, or NOTAM, which sends pilots vital information they need to fly, the official said. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., was busy Wednesday after an FAA outage canceled and delayed flights. ET “to allow the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information” as it worked to restore the NOTAM system. The FAA lifted the ground stop around 8:50 a.m., and normal air traffic operations began resuming gradually.

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - U.S. airline operations returned to normal on Thursday even as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continues to investigate pinpoint the cause of a computer outage that grounded flights nationally and to prevent it from happening again. "FAA operations are back to normal, and we are seeing no unusual delays or cancellations this morning," the FAA said in a tweet. More than 11,300 flights were delayed or canceled on Wednesday in the first national grounding of domestic traffic in about two decades. As of noon Thursday, 1,400 U.S. flights were delayed and 117 were canceled, according to FlightAware, a typical aviation day given current weather issues. Major carriers Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), United Airlines (UAL.O), American Airlines Group Inc (AAL.O) and Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) all were reporting normal operations on Thursday.

[1/2] Passengers wait for the resumption of flights at O’Hare International Airport after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures due to a system outage, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., January 11, 2023. REUTERS/Jim VondruskaWASHINGTON/CHICAGO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - U.S. airlines said they expect operations to return to normal on Thursday as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) scrambles to pinpoint the cause of a computer outage that grounded flights nationally and to prevent it from happening again. More than 11,300 U.S. flights were delayed or cancelled on Wednesday, according to FlightAware, in the first national grounding of domestic traffic in about two decades. Major carriers such as Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), United Airlines (UAL.O) and Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) said they expected normal operations on Thursday. "The health of that agency and its ability to deliver on its mission really is important," he said in an interview.

☆ FAA is years away from upgrading the system that grounded all US flights
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Pete Muntean | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The Notices to Air Missions (NOTAM) database failure triggered the FAA to implement the first nationwide stop of air traffic in more than 20 years. “The core operating system for the database has been around since the 1990s,” the source said. “Regardless of the improvements made to the system in recent years, it still has the heart of an 89-year-old man.”CNN has reached out to the FAA for comment on updates to the NOTAM system to date and its modernization timeline. Late Wednesday, the FAA continued to downplay the possibility of a cyberattack as the root cause of the system failure. “The FAA needs more funding,” Kirby said in an on-stage interview before aviation leaders.

☆ Flight disruptions ease after FAA outage, as officials vow to investigate system failure
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Travelers as flights are cancelled at Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023. Air travel disruptions eased on Thursday, a day after a severe pilot safety-alert system failure sparked the delay of close to half of U.S. flights. The FAA said a preliminary review traced the outage to a "damaged database file." Unable to fix the problem, the FAA rebooted the system, and ordered the ground stop, which it lifted around 9 a.m. on Wednesday. "When there's a problem with a government system, we're going to own it, we're going to find it, and we're going to fix it," he told reporters Wednesday.

☆ Intense fighting in eastern Ukraine showed the benefits — and limitations — of HIMARS, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

HIMARS destroyed Russian positions and depots, allowing Ukraine to retake a huge swath of territory. But Russian forces adapted and were able to limit HIMARS' effectiveness in fighting around Kherson. It was initially devastating, but Russian forces eventually learned how to cope with it, according to two US defense experts. GPS-guided rockets fired from the truck-mounted mobile launcher destroyed Russian headquarters and especially ammunition dumps, which helped curtail Russian artillery fire. Ukraine had access to US intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance "that played an important role, but due to political parameters was untouchable by Russia," Kofman said.

FAA officials said a preliminary review traced the outage to a damaged database file, but added there was no evidence of a cyberattack and the investigation was continuing. FAA officials said they were working to "further pinpoint the causes" so the problem can be avoided in the future. One issue airlines are facing is trying to get planes in and out of crowded gates, which is causing further delays. He described confusion as airline employees and many passengers were initially unaware of the FAA's moves and flight delays. The U.S. Travel Association, which represents the travel industry including airlines, called the FAA system failure "catastrophic."

David Slotnick/Business InsiderAmerican Express Membership Rewards points are among the most valuable card rewards you can earn. You'll usually get the most value from Amex points by transferring them to airline and hotel partners. In fact, the Amex Membership Rewards program debuted way back in 1991 with just seven US airline partners. More Information Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $6,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. What to know about transferring Amex points to partnersAmerican Express Membership Rewards points are among the most valuable and versatile travel rewards out there.

LONDON/WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - A Russian hacking team known as Cold River targeted three nuclear research laboratories in the United States this past summer, according to internet records reviewed by Reuters and five cyber security experts. Cold River has escalated its hacking campaign against Kyiv's allies since the invasion of Ukraine, according to cybersecurity researchers and western government officials. 'INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION'In May, Cold River broke into and leaked emails belonging to the former head of Britain's MI6 spy service. Reuters was unable independently to confirm why Cold River targeted the NGOs. "Google has tied this individual to the Russian hacking group Cold River and their early operations," he said.

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