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  • Press Briefing Transcript: Asia and Pacific Department Regional Economic Outlook – International Monetary Fund (IMF)

    1. Press Briefing Transcript: Asia and Pacific Department Regional Economic Outlook  International Monetary Fund (IMF)
    2. IMF urges Asia to cut trade barriers to beat US tariffs  Reuters
    3. Reducing Non-Tariff Barriers Can Boost ASEAN GDP By 4.3 Pct Over Long Run – IMF  Bernama
    4. APEC in Numbers: Asia-Pacific remains vital to global economic growth  news.cgtn.com
    5. Reversal of weak dollar may test Asia’s resilience to tariffs, IMF says  Yahoo Finance

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  • Israel strikes Gaza after accusing Hamas of ceasefire violations

    Israel strikes Gaza after accusing Hamas of ceasefire violations

    David Gritten,Jerusalem and

    Rushdi Abualouf,Gaza correspondent, in Istanbul

    Anadolu via Getty Images Injured Palestinians are carried to an ambulance following an Israeli strike on a house in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City, northern Gaza (28 October 2025)Anadolu via Getty Images

    Four people were reportedly killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood

    Israel has carried out air strikes in Gaza, in response…

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  • Canada is likely to lose its measles elimination status. The U.S. could be next.

    Canada is likely to lose its measles elimination status. The U.S. could be next.

    Canada is on track to lose its measles elimination status as an outbreak that began a year ago continues to spread.

    The United States could follow in the coming months.

    The Canadian outbreak began in October 2024 in New Brunswick, a province on…

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  • OMRON Healthcare Wins Best in Class in the 2025 Digital Health Awards at HLTH

    OMRON Healthcare Wins Best in Class in the 2025 Digital Health Awards at HLTH

    Expert judges determining the best of the best in healthcare innovation recognized OMRON Healthcare for its blood pressure monitors with AI-powered AFib detection

    HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Oct. 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Judges in the prestigious Digital Health Hub Foundation 2025 Digital Health Awards recognized OMRON Healthcare as the Best in Class Winner in the Home Health Diagnostics & Monitoring category for its breakthrough blood pressure monitors with AI-powered AFib detection.

    The Digital Health Awards, which honor the best of the best in healthcare innovation, heralded OMRON’s evolution of the blood pressure monitoring experience. In a medical device first, OMRON blood pressure monitors featuring IntelliSense™ AFib detection automatically screen for atrial fibrillation during every blood pressure measurement and can provide early detection of elevated risk for a high stroke1, heart failure2, and dementia risk3.

    “Our OMRON Healthcare team is thrilled to accept this Best in Class Digital Health Award,” said Alice Koehler, Managing Director of OMRON Healthcare North America. “The digital health category is rapidly maturing and there was a record-setting number of entrants in the competition this year. Thank you to the judges for recognizing our achievement in innovation that empowers people to take charge of their health.” 

    “OMRON applied more than 50 years of collaboration with doctors and service to consumers to develop this breakthrough technology,” said Koehler. “The latest AHA and ACC blood pressure guidelines urge regular blood pressure monitoring at home and earlier intervention on hypertension, especially for those over age 40 and for expectant moms throughout pregnancy.”

    “Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is widely undiagnosed. The health risks of AFib increase for those with high blood pressure and women in menopause. With OMRON IntelliSense™ AFib detection, we are helping people act on this condition earlier than ever before,” added Koehler.

    OMRON blood pressure monitors with IntelliSense™ AFib detection include the OMRON Platinum BP5465, OMRON 10 Series® BP7465, , OMRON Gold BP5360, and OMRON 7 Series® BP7360. These clinically validated blood pressure monitors are listed on the U.S. Blood Pressure Validated Device Listing (VDL), and sync with the OMRON connect app which tracks user readings, analyzes trends and habits, presents insights to explain data, and provides daily reminders and progress reports.

    OMRON’s IntelliSense™ AFib detection incorporates over 300 mathematical indices into a machine-learning algorithm that analyzes the pressure pulse wave generated as the blood pressure monitor cuff inflates. A study published in the October 2024 Heart Rhythm Journal4 found that OMRON blood pressure monitors with the Intellisense™ AFib algorithm can detect disturbances specific to AFib with remarkable accuracy.

    The FDA granted OMRON medical device authorization for Intellisense™ AFib via the agency’s De Novo classification5, a regulatory pathway for first-of-their-kind innovations.6

    The Digital Health Hub Foundation Awards spotlight the most innovative healthtech companies transforming healthcare through technology and recognizing the companies making the biggest impact. Each year, the competition attracts groundbreaking companies from around the world, with the most impactful advancing to the final stage.

    The 7th Annual Digital Health Awards announced the Best in Class and Rising Star winners across all categories during the Grand Finale at HLTH USA in Las Vegas on October 20, 2025. The awards were presented across multiple live stages and celebrated before an audience of global healthcare leaders, investors and innovators.

    “This year’s winners represent the best of what digital health has to offer, innovation that is not only transformative, but practical, scalable, and ready to make an impact today. We are proud to celebrate these companies for their vision and commitment to improving healthcare,” said Mark H. Goldstein, Chairman of the Digital Health Hub Foundation.

    About the Digital Health Hub Foundation
    The Digital Health Hub Foundation’s mission is to support the world’s most innovative healthcare companies in scaling and growing. Since 2017, the organization’s 30,000-member community has been dedicated to fostering innovation, including early-to-late-stage healthcare companies, industry providers, payors, mentors, and investors. Through their annual awards, the Digital Health Hub Foundation brings together the healthcare industry to celebrate and validate the best of the best in health technology.

    About OMRON Healthcare, Inc.
    OMRON Healthcare, Inc., is the world’s leading manufacturer and distributor of personal heart health products and an innovator in technologies supporting respiratory and pain management care. With over 50 years of medical device category leadership, OMRON is passionate about empowering people to take charge of their health at home through precise technology. Its market-leading products include a full range of home blood pressure monitors, nebulizers and TENS devices. The company’s mission is Going for Zero, the elimination of heart attacks and strokes. With more than 400 million devices sold globally, OMRON provides the world’s most recommended blood pressure monitors by healthcare professionals. OMRON Healthcare strives to improve lives and contribute to a better society by developing innovations that help people prevent, treat, and manage their medical conditions. The company provides products and services in over 130 countries. For more information, visit OmronHealthcare.com.

    1 CDC AFib and Stroke https://www.cdc.gov/heart-disease/about/atrial-fibrillation.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/atrial_fibrillation.htm
    2
    AFib and Heart Failure https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/atrial-fibrillation/afib-complications
    3 PubMed: AFib and dementia https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10568548/
    4
    Heart Rhythm Journal, October 2024 https://www.heartrhythmjournal.com/article/S1547-5271(24)02520-7/fulltext
    5 FDA De Novo https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/premarket-submissions-selecting-and-preparing-correct-submission/de-novo-classification-request
    6
    FDA De Novo AI First https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-authorizes-marketing-first-device-uses-artificial-intelligence-help-detect-potential-signs-colon

    SOURCE OMRON Healthcare

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  • Study links race, inequality to higher risk of drug-resistant infections

    Study links race, inequality to higher risk of drug-resistant infections

    CDC / Sarah Bailey Cutchin

    Louisiana officials waited 2 months after the state’s first pertussis (whooping cough)-related deaths in years—which occurred by late January—to encourage vaccination and more than 3 months to issue a statewide…

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  • Kaspersky links spyware attack to Hacking Team successor – SC Media

    1. Kaspersky links spyware attack to Hacking Team successor  SC Media
    2. Mem3nt0 mori – The Hacking Team is back!  Securelist
    3. Chrome 0-Day Vulnerability Actively Exploited in Attacks by Notorious Hacker Group  CybersecurityNews
    4. Indian Govt Issues…

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  • Over 20 Health NGOs Call for Stronger EU Action Against Alcohol during Breast Cancer Awareness Month

    Over 20 Health NGOs Call for Stronger EU Action Against Alcohol during Breast Cancer Awareness Month

    To mark the final week of Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2025, a group of 21 leading public health organisations is calling on the European Union to take decisive action against the ongoing threat of alcohol consumption as a cause…

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  • Elon Musk launched Grokipedia. Here’s how it compares to Wikipedia

    Elon Musk launched Grokipedia. Here’s how it compares to Wikipedia

    Elon Musk has launched Grokipedia, a crowdsourced online encyclopedia that the billionaire seeks to position as a rival to Wikipedia.

    Writing on social media, Musk said that Grokipedia.com is “now live” and its goal is the “truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

    Musk has previously criticized Wikipedia for being filled with “propaganda” and called for people to stop donating to the site, which is run by a nonprofit. In September he announced that his artificial intelligence company xAI was working on Grokipedia.

    READ MORE: Why does the AI-powered chatbot Grok post false, offensive things on X?

    The Grokipedia site has a minimalist appearance with little beyond a search bar where users can type in queries. It states that it has 885,279 articles. Wikipedia, meanwhile, says it has more than 7 million articles in English.

    Like Wikipedia, users can search for articles on various topics such as Taylor Swift, the baseball World Series, or Buckingham Palace.

    While Wikipedia is written and edited by volunteers, it’s unclear how exactly Grokipedia articles are put together. Reports suggest the site is powered by the same xAI model that underpins Musk’s Grok chatbot, but some articles are seemingly adapted from Wikipedia.

    As a huge trove of well-constructed sentences with little restriction on how it’s used, Wikipedia has been a key source used to train AI chatbots, including Grok’s rivals ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. That’s one reason Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Congress said they launched an investigation in August of alleged “manipulation efforts” in Wikipedia’s editing process that could inject bias and undermine neutral points of view on its platform and the AI systems that rely on it.

    READ MORE: Citing ‘disruptive’ edits, Wikipedia bars anonymous entries from Congress-linked computers

    Wikipedia encourages its volunteer editors to cite nearly every sentence or paragraph with a primary source, and sentences not verified can be challenged and removed. Some of Grokipedia’s entries are thinly sourced, such as an entry on the Chola Dynasty of southern India that has three linked sources, compared to Wikipedia’s that has 113 linked sources plus dozens of referenced books.

    Grokipedia’s entry on Wikipedia accuses the site of having “systemic ideological biases — particularly a left-leaning slant in coverage of political figures and topics.”

    The San Francisco-based Wikimedia Foundation didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

    A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy.

    Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue.


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  • A pair of MultiVersus directors are launching a new game studio

    A pair of MultiVersus directors are launching a new game studio

    Two directors from MultiVersus are striking out on their own, forming a new, independent game studio. The platform brawler’s production director, Justin Fischer, and technical director, Brock Feldman, have joined forces to launch a new endeavor…

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  • Ablation procedures cure thyroid disorders in older patients

    Ablation procedures cure thyroid disorders in older patients

    Microwave and radiofrequency ablation are safe and effective alternatives to surgery in older participants with hyperparathyroidism, according to a study published October 28 in Radiology

    The finding is from a trial of the procedures in 153…

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