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Disney to Add New Ship in Tokyo to Expanding Cruise Business

Disney Dream, a Disney Cruise Lines' ship, sails to the Bahamas on the first Disney cruise for paying customers since they were stopped during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, from Port Canaveral in Florida, US, August 9, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
Disney Dream, a Disney Cruise Lines' ship, sails to the Bahamas on the first Disney cruise for paying customers since they were stopped during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, from Port Canaveral in Florida, US, August 9, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
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Disney to Add New Ship in Tokyo to Expanding Cruise Business

Disney Dream, a Disney Cruise Lines' ship, sails to the Bahamas on the first Disney cruise for paying customers since they were stopped during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, from Port Canaveral in Florida, US, August 9, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
Disney Dream, a Disney Cruise Lines' ship, sails to the Bahamas on the first Disney cruise for paying customers since they were stopped during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, from Port Canaveral in Florida, US, August 9, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo

Walt Disney unveiled plans on Tuesday to launch a new cruise ship that will set sail from Tokyo starting in fiscal 2028, adding a ninth vessel to the brand's growing fleet.
The new ship, to be modeled after the Wish that is the largest vessel in the group, is a partnership with Oriental Land Company (OLC), the operator of Tokyo Disneyland. It is part of a 10-year, $60 billion expansion of Disney's theme parks and cruise business, said Reuters.
Disney currently has five cruise ships in operation. In addition to the Tokyo-based vessel, it has plans for three others, including one that will set sail from Singapore in 2025.
The ship, whose name was not revealed, will have a maximum capacity of 4,000 passengers and is expected to bring in about 100 billion yen ($621.77 million) in annual sales within several years of launch, OLC said.
"To set sail from Japan will make Disney vacations at sea more accessible to Japanese guests, who we know are some of our biggest fans," Thomas Mazloum, president of Disney Signature Experiences, told reporters.
The cruise line expansion comes as the industry is enjoying a rebound from a global shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Cruise Lines International Association expects the number of passengers to reach 34.7 million this year, up 17% from 2019.
Josh D'Amaro, chairman of Disney Experiences, told Reuters in a recent interview that the ships provide the opportunity to bring themed entertainment to places that are not close to the company's theme parks, such as Melbourne or Vancouver.
Disney also reaches a segment of the cruise market that had gone unaddressed - families.
"Forty percent of the people on those ships today will say, 'The only reason I'm on a cruise ship today is because Disney's here,' which means we're creating a market," D'Amaro said.
"When we are in Singapore, with this unbelievable ship that we're building, the same thing is going to happen," he added. "We know there's an insatiable demand for everything Disney."
Disney's experiences business, which includes its domestic and international parks and cruise line, accounted for more than one-third of the company's revenue in the March quarter, and nearly 60% of its operating income.
The company's stock tumbled in May after Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston warned about a "global moderation" in travel in the fiscal third quarter and other impacts, including higher wages and pre-opening expenses related to two of the new cruise ships and the new vacation island, Lookout Cay.
The rising tide for Disney's cruise lines could help offset any softness in the company's domestic theme park business, UBS analyst John Hodulik said. The company said its second quarter booking occupancy is at 97% for all five ships.
The rapid expansion of Disney's cruise capacity "helps de-risk the medium-term outlook" for the parks business, Hodulik said.
Disney's other recent investments include three new areas at the Tokyo DisneySea theme park, recreating the worlds of "Frozen," "Tangled," and "Peter Pan," the opening of a "Frozen" themed land at Hong Kong Disneyland, and a "Zootopia" experience in Shanghai.
The company is expected to announce plans for new attractions at Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in central Florida in August, at its D23 fan convention.

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Varieties

Freezing Rain Paralyses Transport in Central Europe

Smoke from chimneys billows over snow-covered rooftops during sunrise as freezing temperatures have hit the country, in Prague, Czech Republic, January 11, 2026. (Reuters)
Smoke from chimneys billows over snow-covered rooftops during sunrise as freezing temperatures have hit the country, in Prague, Czech Republic, January 11, 2026. (Reuters)
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Freezing Rain Paralyses Transport in Central Europe

Smoke from chimneys billows over snow-covered rooftops during sunrise as freezing temperatures have hit the country, in Prague, Czech Republic, January 11, 2026. (Reuters)
Smoke from chimneys billows over snow-covered rooftops during sunrise as freezing temperatures have hit the country, in Prague, Czech Republic, January 11, 2026. (Reuters)

Freezing rain led to flights being suspended at Vienna airport on Tuesday, while neighboring Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary also experienced travel disruptions.

Snow and freezing temperatures buffeted Europe last week, with gale-force winds and storms claiming some 15 lives, causing travel mayhem, shutting schools, and cutting power to hundreds of thousands.

A thick layer of ice on the Vienna airport runways led to arriving flights being diverted to other airports, while all departing flights were put on hold early Tuesday.

Austria's state railway company OeBB also asked travelers to postpone non-urgent journeys, with numerous train connections facing interruptions and cancellations.

In neighboring Slovakia, the Bratislava airport was also closed early Tuesday due to bad weather.

Slovak police on Facebook urged people to avoid travel because of "extreme" ice and snow in the west of the country.

In the Czech Republic, ice was also hampering road and rail traffic.

Prague airport came to a virtual standstill, with firefighters having to de-ice the runways.

Around 50 people were treated for injuries because of the icy conditions, according to Prague's emergency services, cited by the CTK agency.

In Hungary, meteorological services also issued alerts for freezing rain and snowfall as severe winter conditions affect a large part of the country.

Trains and flights were experiencing delays, while authorities reported drift ice on the Danube and the Tisza rivers, where icebreakers have been put on alert.

Lake Balaton in the west of the country is currently frozen -- a relatively rare phenomenon seen about once every ten to fifteen years.

However, authorities warned that the ice is still too thin for skating, urging the public to be cautious.

Varieties

AI Helps Fuel New Era of Medical Self-testing

Neurable research scientist Alicia Howell-Munson demonstrates the company's headset, which it says can detect early signs of Alzheimer's disease. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP
Neurable research scientist Alicia Howell-Munson demonstrates the company's headset, which it says can detect early signs of Alzheimer's disease. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP
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AI Helps Fuel New Era of Medical Self-testing

Neurable research scientist Alicia Howell-Munson demonstrates the company's headset, which it says can detect early signs of Alzheimer's disease. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP
Neurable research scientist Alicia Howell-Munson demonstrates the company's headset, which it says can detect early signs of Alzheimer's disease. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP

Beyond smart watches and rings, artificial intelligence is being used to make self-testing for major diseases more readily available -- from headsets that detect early signs of Alzheimer's to an iris-scanning app that helps spot cancer.

"The reason preventive medicine doesn't work right now is because you don't want to go to the doctor all the time to get things tested," says Ramses Alcaide, co-founder and CEO of startup Neurable.

"But what about if you knew when you needed to go to the doctor?"

Connected rings, bracelets and watches -- which were everywhere at last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas -- can already monitor heart rate, blood pressure and glucose levels, with varying degrees of accuracy.

These gadgets are in high demand from consumers. A recent study published by OpenAI showed that more than 200 million internet users check ChatGPT every week for information on health topics.

On Wednesday, OpenAI even launched a chatbot that can draw on a user's medical records and other data collected by wearable devices, with their consent, to inform its responses.

Using electroencephalogram (EEG) technology, Neurable has developed a headset that records and deciphers brain activity.

The linked app compares data with the user's medical history to check for any deviation, a possible sign of a problem, said Alcaide.

"Apple Watch can pick up Parkinson's, but it can only pick it up once you have a tremor," Alcaide said. "Your brain has been fighting that Parkinson's for over 10 years."

With EEG technology, "you can pick these things up before you actually see physical symptoms of them. And this is just one example."

Detection before symptoms

Some people have reservations about the capabilities of such devices.

"I don't think that wearable EEG devices are reliable enough," said Anna Wexler, a University of Pennsylvania professor who studies consumer detection products, although she acknowledges that "AI has expanded the possibilities of these devices."

While Neurable's product cannot provide an actual diagnosis, it does offer a warning. It can also detect signs of depression and early development of Alzheimer's disease.

Neurable is working with the Ukrainian military to evaluate the mental health of soldiers on the front lines of the war with Russia, as well as former prisoners of war, in order to detect post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

French startup NAOX meanwhile has developed EEG earbuds linked to a small box that can help patients with epilepsy.

Rather than detect seizures, which are "very rare," the device recognizes "spikes" -- quick, abnormal electrical shocks in the brain that are "much more difficult to see," said NAOX's chief of innovation Marc Vaillaud, a doctor by training.

NAOX's device -- which has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration -- is designed to be worn at night, to track several hours of data at a time.

The company is working with the Rothschild and Lariboisiere hospitals in Paris to try to better understand the links between these brain "spikes" and Alzheimer's disease, which have been raised in scientific papers.

Advances in AI and technology in general have paved the way for the miniaturization of cheaper detection devices -- a far cry from the heavy machinery once seen in medical offices and hospitals.

IriHealth is preparing to launch, for only about $50, a small smartphone extension that would scan a user's iris.

The gadget relies on iridology, a technique by which iris colors and markings are believed to reveal information about a person's health, but which is generally considered scientifically unreliable.

But the founders of IriHealth -- a spin-off of biometrics specialist IriTech -- are convinced that their device can be effective in detecting anomalies in the colon, and potentially the lungs or the liver.

Company spokesman Tommy Phan said IriHealth had found its device to be 81 percent accurate among patients who already have been diagnosed with colon cancer.

Varieties

Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano Puts on Spectacular Lava Display

Kilauea has been regularly throwing out thousands of tonnes of molten rock and gases since it burst to life in December 2024. UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY/AFP
Kilauea has been regularly throwing out thousands of tonnes of molten rock and gases since it burst to life in December 2024. UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY/AFP
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Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano Puts on Spectacular Lava Display

Kilauea has been regularly throwing out thousands of tonnes of molten rock and gases since it burst to life in December 2024. UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY/AFP
Kilauea has been regularly throwing out thousands of tonnes of molten rock and gases since it burst to life in December 2024. UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY/AFP

Hawaii's Kilauea was spraying a spectacular fountain of lava on Monday, keeping up its reputation as one of the world's most active volcanoes.

For over a year now, Kilauea has been regularly throwing out thousands of tons of molten rock and gases since it burst to life in December 2024, reported AFP.

Volcanologists with the US Geological Survey said the incandescent lava was being hurled more than 1,500 feet (460 meters) into the air, with plumes of smoke and gases rising as high as 20,000 feet (six kilometers).

Eruptions such as this one tend to last around one day, the USGS said, but can still vent up to 100,000 tons of sulfur dioxide.

This gas reacts in the atmosphere to create a visible haze known as vog -- volcanic smog -- which can cause respiratory and other problems.

Tiny slivers of volcanic glass, known as "Pele's hair," are also being thrown into the air.

Named after Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes, the strands can be very sharp and can cause irritation to the skin and eyes.

The eruption poses no immediate danger to any human settlement, with the caldera having been closed to the public for almost two decades.

Kilauea has been very active since 1983 and erupts relatively regularly.

It is one of six active volcanoes located in the Hawaiian Islands, which also include Mauna Loa, the largest volcano in the world.

Kilauea is much smaller than neighboring Mauna Loa, but it is far more active and regularly wows helicopter-riding tourists who come to see its red-hot shows.