DPA International

Study: Epidurals cut risk of severe childbirth complications by 35%

Women who have an epidural during labour face a lower risk of severe complications during childbirth, according to a study.

Making epidurals more widely available and providing more information to those who would benefit from one is important, researchers said.

The study by the University of Glasgow and the University of Bristol involved 567,216 women who were in labor in Scottish hospitals run by the UK's National Health Service (NHS) from 2007 and 2019, and went on to give birth vaginally or by an unplanned caesarean section.

Washington criticizes announced recognition of Palestine

The U.S. government is skeptical about the announced recognition of Palestine as an independent state by several European countries.

"We believe the only way that you are going to achieve a two state solution that delivers for both Israelis and Palestinians is through direct negotiations between the parties," President Joe Biden's National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in Washington on Wednesday.

The Biden administration has been working on this for a long time, he added.

Slovakian Prime Minister Fico is out of danger, minister says

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico is out of danger following an attempt on his life on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kaliňák and the deputy head of the hospital where Fico is being treated told the news agency TASR on Sunday.

"Based on the adviser to the medical consultation this morning, we can state that the patient is currently not in a life-threatening condition," the deputy head of the university hospital in Banská Bystrica, Milan Urbáni, told journalists. "However, his condition is still very serious and he will need a long time and rest to recover."

Second operation for Slovakia's Prime Minister Fico

Doctors operated on Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico again on Friday, two days after the attempt on his life, government and hospital officials said.

The procedure was a "standard step," according to Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak and the head of the hospital in the regional capital Banská Bystrica, Miriam Lapunikova.

Their comments were reported by the TASR news agency.

The two did not go into detail.

Fico, 59, remains in intensive care and it is unclear if he will make a full recovery. Fico was hit by four shots and underwent five hours of surgery in the Banská Bystrica hospital.

Brazil to host 2027 women's World Cup

Brazil will host the 2027 women's World Cup, FIFA announced on Friday in Bangkok.

For the first time in FIFA women’s World Cup history, the host was decided via a vote between member associations at the FIFA Congress, rather than the FIFA Council.

Brazil won the vote ahead of the only rival, a joint bid between Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Only 78 of the 207 voting members backed having the tournament in Europe, while Brazil received 119 votes.

Deepfakes: Google 'cautiously optimistic' about protecting elections

Google boss Sundar Pichai has said he believes the tech giant, and wider industry, is well placed to combat AI-generated misinformation around elections. Concerns have been raised about the potential for AI-generated audio and visual content to be used by bad actors to interfere with elections around the world – in a year where billions of people in many of the world’s major democracies are due to go to the polls. Speaking during the technology giant’s annual developer conference, Google I/O, Pichai said he was “cautiously optimistic” about his own company’s ability to handle this threat, as w...

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico conscious again after being shot

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was critically injured in an assassination attempt on Wednesday, has regained consciousness after an operation lasting several hours, local media reported.

However, neither the television station TA3 nor the newspaper Dennik provided any further information on Fico's state of health late on Wednesday night.

Earlier on Wednesday evening, according to official information, the 59-year-old's life had been in danger.

There has been no new statement or explanation from the government since then.

Your fingers tingle? It could be carpal tunnel syndrome

It can happen while you're cycling, driving a car, speaking on the phone or working at a computer. It can also wake you up at night: Your fingers tingle or go numb, and they, your hand or wrist may ache. While it's normal for your hand to "fall asleep" on occasion, frequent such occurrences can be a sign of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Here are three questions and their answers regarding this common nerve disorder: What's carpal tunnel syndrome? The carpal tunnel is a narrow passageway on the palm side of the wrist, bound by the carpal bones and traversed by nine flexor tendons and the median...

Slovakia's prime minister shot and wounded, taken to hospital

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has been injured in a shooting and taken to hospital, news agency TASR reported.

The shooting took place after a Cabinet meeting in the town of Handlová, the agency reported, citing the deputy leader of Fico's left-wing nationalist Smer party, Ľuboš Blaha.

"Utterly shocked by today's brutal and reckless attack on Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico, which I condemn in strongest possible terms," wrote President Zuzana Čaputová on X. "I wish him lot of strength in this critical moment and early recovery."

Eyewitnesses: Israeli troops entering deeper into Rafah

Israeli troops have advanced deeper into Rafah, eyewitnesses in Gaza's overcrowded southernmost city said on Tuesday.

Israeli tanks were said to have moved from the east of the city into neighborhoods further west including the al-Janina district.

The Israeli army did not initially comment on the reports.

Israel's allies, including its main backer the United States, have been warning Israel for weeks against a ground offensive into Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had been sheltering from fighting elsewhere in the coastal strip.

Streaming app ads linked to increased junk food consumption by teens

Young users of live-streaming gaming platforms appear to be eating more unhealthy snacks after being "bombarded" with promotional content while logged on.

"Food and drink advertisements on videogame livestreaming platforms (VGLSPs) like Twitch are associated with more positive attitudes towards, and purchases and intake of, unhealthy foods that are high in fat, salt and/or sugar," according to survey-based research presented in Venice at the European Congress on Obesity.

Poker face: AI shows ability to trick humans in order to beat them

Card players have to "know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em," as singer Kenny Rogers put it in his signature version of "The Gambler". But that might not be enough if you are across a virtual table from an artificial intelligence (AI) poker shark, as some bots "have already learned how to deceive humans," according to research published in the science journal Patterns Some AI systems "demonstrated the ability to bluff in a game of Texas hold ‘em poker against professional human players," the team found. But the poker-faced chatbots were not even the canniest encountered by the researche...

Death toll climbs over 140 in Brazilian floods with no end in sight

The death toll has risen to 143 following the devastating floods in southern Brazil.

A further 125 were missing and 806 people injured, the Rio Grande do Sul State Civil Defence Department said on Sunday.

As it also rained this weekend, the number of people who had to leave their homes has risen to over 618,000.

In total, over 2 million people have been affected by the floods.

According to the regional government, the largest warship in Latin America arrived in the harbour of the city of Rio Grande on Saturday for humanitarian aid operations.