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  • Ageing arteries, lingering risks: Covid’s quiet impact on heart health

    What if a single COVID-19 infection could make your arteries behave as though they were 5 to 10 years older? That unsettling possibility emerges from the CARTESIAN study, the largest multinational investigation yet into the pandemic’s hidden impact on the cardiovascular system. Recently published in the European Heart Journal, it tracked nearly 2,400 participants across 18 countries and found that survivors of COVID-19 had stiffer arteries — a recognised marker of “vascular ageing” — compared to those never infected. The effect was most pronounced in women, whose arteries showed changes equivalent to an extra decade of age.

    “The pulse wave velocity in women after COVID corresponded to that of women five to ten years older,” said Rosa Maria Bruno, lead author and cardiologist at Inserm, France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research, in Paris.

    Why it matters

    As arteries stiffen, the heart pumps harder, blood pressure rises, and the risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, and dementia increases. Unlike wrinkles, these vascular changes are invisible until serious events occur. That is what makes CARTESIAN worrying. The WHO estimates nearly 700 million people worldwide have survived COVID. If even a fraction experience accelerated vascular ageing, the long-term healthcare burden could be significant. Notably, stiffening appeared even in survivors of mild infections.

    What the study did

    CARTESIAN — short for COVID-19 effects on ARTErial StIffness and vascular AgeiNg — asked whether COVID leaves a vascular imprint. Researchers from 38 centres across 18 countries recruited 2,390 adults, average age 50, about half of them women. Groups included uninfected controls and three survivor categories: non-hospitalised, hospitalised, and intensive care. Tests were performed around six months after infection, with follow-ups at twelve months.

    The team measured carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV), a gold-standard indicator of arterial stiffness. PWV tracks how fast blood pressure waves travel: the stiffer the artery, the faster the wave. Comparing COVID-positive groups with controls revealed whether infection accelerated ageing.

    What they found

    Results were clear. Every COVID-positive group had stiffer arteries than controls. After adjusting for age, sex, blood pressure, diabetes and smoking, survivors still showed PWV about 0.4 metres per second faster — equivalent to arteries five years older. The effect, however, was striking only in women. They showed higher stiffness regardless of illness severity, and ICU patients had the equivalent of an extra decade of ageing.

    Persistent symptoms mattered. Women with fatigue, breathlessness or muscle aches months later — often labelled “long COVID” — had even stiffer arteries. “Women mount a stronger immune response, which protects them during infection, but if that response lingers, it can damage blood vessels,” Dr. Bruno explained.

    Vaccination and recovery

    One hopeful signal was that stiffening did not worsen indefinitely. In a subgroup followed for about a year, survivors’ stiffness stabilised or slightly improved, while controls showed the gradual increase expected with normal ageing. Still, the damage did not vanish. “No return to baseline has been observed,” Dr. Bruno cautioned. “An improvement has been observed mostly in very severe cases, whereas PWV is mostly stable in most individuals.”

    Vaccination blunted the impact, particularly in women. Those with at least one dose had lower stiffness than unvaccinated peers.

    The debate

    Not all cardiologists are convinced though. Balbir Singh, group chairman of cardiac sciences at Max Healthcare, Delhi, urges caution. “I don’t think we can make very firm conclusions based on the Cartesian study, ” he said, citing the absence of pre-COVID baseline data as a major limitation. “These findings suggest arterial stiffness could be accelerated in patients who had COVID, but do not conclusively prove it.” From his own practice, Dr. Singh adds, he has not observed a marked shift. “Are we seeing higher hypertensive patients than before? I’m not seeing that. Am I seeing those who went into the ICU during COVID now coming back with heart problems? I’m not seeing that.”

    Elsewhere, clinicians have been drawing different lessons from what they encounter. At the Cleveland Clinic, a nonprofit academic medical centre based in Ohio, U.S., Stanley Hazen has argued that a history of COVID-19 should inform preventive care, based on his research connecting the virus to heart problems, stroke, and death. “As clinicians, we should consider a patient’s history of prior COVID-19 when formulating cardiovascular prevention plans — these effects [his findings] are not a small subgroup finding but a global signal that will translate into more cardiovascular disease,” he said

    Observations from other centres echo this. Dara Lee Lewis—writing from Brigham and Women’s, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, U.S.—described cases of myocarditis and persistent palpitations in previously healthy individuals. Meanwhile, Bruce Levy, of the same hospital, points to autonomic dysfunction such as POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) — where the heart races upon standing — as an example of how COVID can disrupt vascular regulation in practice. At Mount Sinai in New York, physicians using advanced imaging have detected signs of inflammation in the hearts and large vessels of patients who had only mild infections.

    Dr. Bruno acknowledged that longer follow-up is indeed required, but stresses that the sex-specific pattern is robust across countries. “COVID-19 is associated with early vascular ageing in the long term, especially in women,” she said. Dr. Singh however remains cautious. “This study doesn’t change my practice in any way.” Others are already moving in another direction. Commenting on the CARTESIAN study, Syed Bukhari of the department of cardiovascular medicine, Johns Hopkins University, U.S., said “for clinicians, routine cardiovascular risk stratification in patients with post-acute COVID-19 syndrome — especially females — should be emphasised.”

    India’s picture

    CARTESIAN, like most large European studies, was not representative of South Asia. “A small proportion identified as Asian, and while their arteries appeared less stiff than Western participants in the uninfected group, this difference disappeared after COVID — suggesting the virus erased any ethnic advantage,” Dr. Bruno noted.

    According to Dr. Singh, stiffness testing, though an easy test, is not routine in the clinical setting as it is not a definitive tool. For India, that gap leaves open an urgent question. If COVID might accelerate vascular ageing elsewhere, what does it mean for a population already carrying one of the heaviest burdens of cardiovascular disease worldwide? Without rigorous homegrown data — the kind that is now guiding international researchers and physicians — the risk remains largely invisible.

    Published – September 19, 2025 06:00 am IST

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  • Lasers just made atoms dance, unlocking the future of electronics

    Lasers just made atoms dance, unlocking the future of electronics

    Researchers at Michigan State University have figured out how to use a fast laser to wiggle atoms in a way that temporarily changes the behavior of their host material. Their novel approach could lead to smaller, and more efficient electronics — like smartphones — in the future.

    Tyler Cocker, an associate professor in the College of Natural Science, and Jose L. Mendoza-Cortes, an assistant professor in the colleges of Engineering and Natural Science, have combined the experimental and theoretical sides of quantum mechanics — the study of the strange ways atoms behave at a very small scale — to push the boundaries of what materials can do to improve electronic technologies we use every day.

    “This experience has been a reminder of what science is really like because we found materials that are working in ways that we didn’t expect,” said Cocker. “Now, we want to look at something that is going to be technologically interesting for people in the future.”

    Using a material called tungsten ditelluride, or WTe2,which is made up of a layer of tungsten, or W atoms, sandwiched between two layers of tellurium, or Te atoms, Cocker’s team conducted a series of experiments where they placed this material under a specialized microscope they built. While microscopes are typically used to look at things that are hard for the human eye to see, like individual cells, Cocker’s scanning tunneling microscope can show individual atoms on the surface of a material. It does this by moving an extremely sharp metal tip over the surface, “feeling” atoms through an electrical signal, like reading braille. While looking at the atoms on the surface of WTe2, Cocker and his team used a super-fast laser to create terahertz pulses of light that were moving at speeds of hundreds of trillions of times per second. These terahertz pulses were focused onto the tip. At the tip, the strength of the pulses was increased enormously, allowing the researchers to wiggle the top layer of atoms directly beneath the tip and gently nudge that layer out of alignment from the remaining layers underneath it. Think of it like a stack of papers with the top sheet slightly crooked.

    While the laser pulses illuminated the tip and WTe2,the top layer of the material behaved differently, exhibiting new electronic properties not observed when the laser was turned off. Cocker and his team realized the terahertz pulses together with the tip could be used like a nanoscale switch to temporarily change the electrical properties of WTe2 to upscale the next generation of devices. Cocker’s microscope could even see the atoms moving during this process and photograph the unique “on” and “off” states of the switch they had created.

    When Cocker and Mendoza-Cortes realized that they were working on similar projects from different perspectives, Cocker’s experimental side joined with Mendoza’s theoretical side of quantum mechanics. Mendoza-Cortes’ research focuses on creating computer simulations. By comparing the results of Mendoza’s quantum calculations to Cocker’s experiments, both labs yielded the same results — independently and by using different tools.

    “Our research is complementary; it’s the same observations but through different lenses,” said Mendoza-Cortes. “When our model matched the same answers and conclusions they found in their experiments, we have a better picture of what is going on.”

    The Mendoza lab computationally found that the layers of WTe2 shift by 7 picometers while they are wiggling, which is hard to observe by the specialized microscope alone. Also, they were able to confirm that the frequencies at which the atoms wiggle match between the experiment and theory, but the quantum calculations can tell which way they wiggle and by how much.

    “The movement only occurs on the topmost layer, so it is very localized,” said Daniel Maldonado-Lopez, a fourth-year graduate student in Mendoza’s lab. “This can potentially be applied in building faster and smaller electronics.”

    Cocker and Mendoza-Cortes hope this research will lead to the use of new materials, lower costs, faster speeds and greater energy efficiency for future phones and computer technology.

    “When you think about your smartphone or your laptop, all of the components that are in there are made out of a material,” said Stefanie Adams, a fourth-year graduate student in Cocker’s lab. “At some point, someone decided that’s the material we’re going use.”

    The research appeared in Nature Photonics and was supported in part through computational resources and services provided by the Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research at Michigan State University.

    Why this matters:

    • Wiggling atoms in new quantum materials could lead to more efficient electronics that are smaller and faster.
    • These new materials have surprising properties and could be key elements for next-generation quantum computers.

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  • Walcott tops a major podium after 13 years with javelin gold at the worlds

    Walcott tops a major podium after 13 years with javelin gold at the worlds

    TOKYO — Keshorn Walcott was the Olympic gold medalist in the javelin 13 years ago in London, and a bronze medalist four years later in the Rio de Janeiro Games.

    But it’s been been a struggle ever since for him to shine again on the big stage — until Thursday.

    Walcott, from Trinidad and Tobago, won the world championship in Tokyo with a throw of 88.16 meters, his best of the season.

    Anderson Peters of Grenada — a two-time world champion — took silver (87.38) and Curtis Peterson of the United States the bronze (86.67).

    Walcott laughed when asked about his absence from major podiums.

    “Where have I been? I’ve been trying. That’s where I’ve been,” he said. “I’ve been trying to attain this medal for 13 years. I’ve been here man. It’s been a long 13 years. And tonight is finally my night once again.”

    He said the medal completed his collection alongside the Olympic gold.

    “I’ve been so persistent and finally I’ve come back and now attained that medal that I’ve been missing for all these years.”

    The final was expected to be a showdown between 2021 Tokyo Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra of India and Paris Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan.

    Chopra finished eighth and Nadeem was 10th.

    “I don’t know what happened,” Chopra said. “I had a back issue two weeks ago and I didn’t tell anybody. I was thinking I could still throw far — but no.”

    Walcott, who was seventh in last year’s Paris Games, hired a new coach late last year — German Klaus Bartonietz. Bartonietz coached Chopra previously, and Walcott said he might be the difference.

    “That’s maybe the reason I’m here today,” he said.

    Walcott ran through a list of injuries. He tore an Achilles warming up in the worlds two years ago — five minutes before the final. He added various ankle injuries.

    “It’s javelin. You’re always going to have something,” he said. “You’re not going to be on the top every day. It’s been a long journey with world championships. Tonight was the night that everything came together and it happened.”

    ___

    AP Sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports

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  • CATL’s Stock Touted as Cheap Even After a $110 Billion Rally

    CATL’s Stock Touted as Cheap Even After a $110 Billion Rally

    Cheap isn’t an adjective one would typically associate with a stock that’s nearly doubled in a matter of months. But that’s exactly how some investors are describing Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd.

    The Shenzhen-listed stock of the world’s biggest battery maker has surged nearly 75% since this year’s low in early April, adding $110 billion to its market value. That’s owing to optimism that its dominant position in the rapidly expanding energy storage battery system, or ESS space — both in terms of market share and technology — will boost future profits.

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  • Reko Diq project cost raised to $7.7b

    Reko Diq project cost raised to $7.7b


    ISLAMABAD:

    Pakistan on Thursday revised upward the cost of the first phase of the Reko Diq copper and gold mines project for the second time in six months. The cost has now jumped 79% to $7.7 billion from the initial estimate due to higher cost of loans being taken for the project and to offset any future price shocks.

    The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet approved the second revision in the total cost of the first phase of the project. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb chaired the meeting. The ECC also cleared signing of implementation agreements to formally launch the strategically important project.

    In addition, the ECC approved sovereign guarantees to support a $390 million loan to be taken by the Reko Diq Mining Company to finance Pakistan Railways for construction of an 880-kilometer rail track. This line will transport minerals to Karachi seaport.

    The ECC raised the total project cost for Phase-I to $7.72 billion. This includes $5.8 billion in capital expenditure.

    This is the second revision in six months. In March this year, the ECC had approved raising the cost to $6.8 billion.

    A finance ministry handout said the ECC considered a summary by the Petroleum Division. The summary related to approvals for definitive agreements and financial commitments for the Reko Diq project.

    “The ECC approved the proposed final terms of the agreements,” the statement said. It added that if legal and financial advisers, along with the Reko Diq Mining Company, identified any material deviations, these would be sent back to ECC for approval.

    The finance minister observed that inclusion of contingency costs showed the company’s concerns about risks in the implementation of the project. He urged authorities to take all steps to finish the project on time.

    Two and a half years ago, the project had been estimated at $4.3 billion. It is now up 79% or $3.4 billion before production even begins.

    Phase II is due in 2034 at an additional cost of $3.3 billion. This will raise capacity to 90 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa), states the report. With this, the total project cost will touch nearly $10 billion.

    The ECC also approved raising the debt component from $3 billion to $3.5 billion. The extra $500 million borrowing adds another $180 million in interest cost.

    Officials informed the ECC that the increase was due to around $2 billion in project financing needs. Inflation during construction, operating costs during the construction period, and pre-2025 expenses also pushed up the figure, according to finance ministry officials.

    Due to the higher debt, the shareholders’ contribution has also risen by $458 million. However, Reko Diq Mining Company is still trying to keep the cost under $7 billion. If successful, shareholder commitments would drop to $3.5 billion.

    The first revision had been based on a new feasibility and technical report prepared by Barrick Gold, which holds 50% of the project.

    The project is of global interest, attracting both the US and China. Its net cash flow over 37 years is projected at $70 billion. That is almost 10 times Pakistan’s current foreign exchange reserves.

    The technical report says production will begin by end-2028. The mine will initially yield 200,000 tonnes of copper a year in Phase-I at a cost of $5.7 billion. Completion of this first phase is expected in 2029.

    Pakistan’s shareholding is split between three federal companies – the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), Pakistan Petroleum Limited and Government Holdings (Private) Limited. Each holds 8.33%, making a combined 25% stake. Another 25% is held by the Balochistan government, while Barrick Gold owns 50% and is the operator.

    The ECC was also briefed on the draft long-form term sheet. This sheet outlines common terms for lenders and will form the basis of definitive agreements.

    These agreements include a Government Direct Agreement with lenders, a federal Guarantee Agreement, a Balochistan Completion Agreement, SOEs Completion Agreement, and a Transfer Restrictions Agreement.

    The ECC allowed the SOEs to repatriate funds from January 2023 over seven years or longer. This will meet their $2.2 billion funding share.

    It also allowed OGDCL and PPL to arrange foreign exchange from their own resources. If they face shortfalls, the federal government will provide foreign exchange.

    The ECC also authorised the petroleum and finance secretaries to finaliae execution forms of the agreements.

    Rail project

    The ECC also reviewed a railway ministry summary. It related to a rail development agreement and a bridge financing agreement with Reko Diq Mining Company. The company will extend $390 million in bridge financing to lay a 1,350 km track from Balochistan to Karachi, said the finance ministry.

    The ECC approved the proposal. It directed the railway ministry to share the documents with the Finance Division for appraisal. It also asked both ministries to submit an implementation update by March next year.

    Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik stressed monitoring of the project so that Pakistan Railways can return the $390 million with interest in three years.

    The finance minister said ECC’s approvals signalled the government’s commitment to Reko Diq. He said the project could transform Balochistan’s economy and benefit the whole country.

    He added that Reko Diq would unlock one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits. It would create jobs, improve infrastructure, and support long-term socio-economic growth.

    The rail link is essential for the project’s commercial success. It will allow shipment of copper concentrate for processing and sale abroad. The mining company has favoured a rail link via Port Qasim, connecting ML-III and ML-I.

    The $390 million financing, approved by the prime minister last month, will carry a three-year tenor at about 7% interest. The existing ML-III track from Nokundi to Rohri needs urgent upgradation. Without it, the line cannot handle the projected heavy freight traffic from Reko Diq to Karachi Port.

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  • Regressive laws blamed for Yamaha’s exit

    Regressive laws blamed for Yamaha’s exit


    LAHORE:

    “Yamaha’s exit from a country with the 5th largest population in the world, where motorcycles are the preferred mode of transport for more than 80% of the people, is a sorry state of affairs.” This was stated by Abdul Waheed Khan, Director General, Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA).

    According to media reports, Yamaha Motorcycles Pakistan Limited, in a letter addressed to its dealers, informed them of its decision to discontinue operations in Pakistan, 10 years after its return in 2015.

    “Yamaha had made significant strides in indigenisation, job creation, technology transfer, and skills development. In the two-wheeler industry, after Honda, only Yamaha was able to localise engine production in Pakistan. This is no small feat by any means,” he added. Established with an investment of around $100 million, Yamaha’s presence was considered a milestone in the local automotive landscape. The company followed global best practices and was regarded as a principled business organisation. “It is a shame, but it had to exit due to the regressive policies of the government,” Waheed observed.

    Explaining the possible reasons behind Yamaha’s decision, he said the automotive industry is subject to mandatory export requirements. Any company unable to achieve its targets becomes ineligible to import raw materials and components for manufacturing. “This regressive law, enacted against ground realities, is proving to be the last nail in the coffin of an already struggling auto industry,” Waheed remarked.

    To make matters worse, the recently promulgated “Motor Vehicle Development Act 2025” has further alarmed industry players. The act places routine and petty business matters under criminal law that were historically dealt with under civil law. As a result, prominent business leaders can be arrested and handed prolonged sentences for minor issues. “This is catastrophic for foreign investors and not acceptable at all,” Waheed stressed.

    The DG PAMA noted that the automotive sector is already grappling with economic uncertainty, regulatory short-sightedness, rupee devaluation, heavy taxation, high costs of doing business, and a shortage of foreign exchange. “Foreign direct investment is negligible, and many globally recognised organisations have already left Pakistan,” Waheed added.

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  • First quantum squeezing achieved with nanoscale particle motion

    First quantum squeezing achieved with nanoscale particle motion

    Researchers at the University of Tokyo have pulled off a breakthrough that pushes the boundaries of quantum physics into new territory.

    The team successfully demonstrated quantum squeezing of the motion of a nanoscale particle, a motion whose uncertainty is smaller than the quantum mechanical fluctuations usually considered the ultimate limit.

    The achievement could open doors not only for probing fundamental physics but also for creating ultra-precise sensors.

    These sensors may one day enable technologies such as GPS-free navigation and autonomous driving that operate with pinpoint accuracy.

    At the heart of the discovery lies one of quantum mechanics’ strangest features — uncertainty. In the microscopic world, the position and velocity of a particle cannot be measured with absolute precision because they are always subject to fluctuations.

    Even in the lowest possible energy state, a particle still experiences “zero-point fluctuations.”

    Quantum squeezing reduces this uncertainty, creating a state narrower than nature’s usual quantum limit.

    By extending this concept to a nanoscale particle, the Tokyo team has created a new platform to explore how quantum laws apply at scales larger than atoms but still far smaller than everyday objects.

    A particle trapped between two worlds

    Principal investigator Kiyotaka Aikawa explains the challenge: “Although quantum mechanics has been successful with microscopic particles, such as photons and atoms, it has not been explored to what extent quantum mechanics is correct at macroscopic scales.”

    The team needed an object large enough to bridge the gap to test this. They turned to a glass particle at the nanoscale, levitating it in a vacuum where it was cooled to near its lowest possible energy level.

    A single nanoparticle confined in a focused laser beam. Credit – University of Tokyo

    By carefully adjusting the conditions of its trap and then releasing it briefly, the researchers could measure its velocity distribution.

    The key moment came when they found that, under the right timing, the velocity distribution was narrower than the uncertainty expected at the particle’s ground state. This narrowing was the unmistakable sign of quantum squeezing.

    Engineering the leap to quantum devices

    The journey was anything but easy. Levitating particles are notoriously unstable, and the environment added further noise and fluctuations. The researchers spent years overcoming these issues before finding a condition that worked consistently.

    “When we found a condition that could be reliably reproduced,” says Aikawa, “we were surprised how sensitive the levitated nanoscale particle was to the fluctuations of its environment.”

    This delicate balance is precisely what makes the platform so powerful.

    A levitated nanoscale particle in vacuum represents an isolated system where researchers can study the transition between classical and quantum mechanics. It also offers a testbed for building new quantum devices.

    Beyond pure science, the implications are practical. Ultra-sensitive quantum sensors developed from this principle could revolutionize navigation by providing accuracy independent of satellite signals.

    They might also enhance measurements in fields as diverse as medicine, geology, and communications.

    For now, the Tokyo team is celebrating its success. But their work marks only the beginning of a larger journey, one where quantum mechanics edges ever closer to the macroscopic world we inhabit.

    The findings of the study have been recently published in the journal Science.

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  • Jon Stewart to host special edition of ‘The Daily Show’ one day after Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension

    Jon Stewart to host special edition of ‘The Daily Show’ one day after Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension

    Jon Stewart plans to host Thursday’s episode of “The Daily Show,” one day after ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show indefinitely following comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

    Stewart’s featured guest will be Maria Ressa, the journalist and author of “How to Stand Up to a Dictator.” Ressa also shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for freedom of expression in her home country of the Philippines.

    Stewart normally hosts only on Mondays. The Emmy winner helmed “The Daily Show” from 1999 through 2015, delivering sharp, satirical takes on politics and current events and interviews with newsmakers. He returned to host once a week during the run-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

    Kimmel made several remarks about the reaction to the Kirk’s killing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Monday and Tuesday nights, including that “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.”

    ABC suspended Kimmel’s show after a group of ABC-affiliated stations said it would not air the show, and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said his agency had a strong case for holding Kimmel, ABC and network parent Walt Disney Co. accountable for spreading misinformation.

    Kimmel has not commented on the suspension. His supporters say Carr misread what the comic said and that nowhere did he specifically suggest that Tyler Robinson — the man Utah authorities allege fatally shot Kirk — was conservative.

    In July, CBS said it would cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” next May. The network said it shut down the decades-old TV institution for financial reasons. But the announcement came three days after Colbert criticized the settlement between President Donald Trump and Paramount Global, parent company of CBS, over a “60 Minutes” story.

    David Letterman, Colbert’s predecessor on “The Late Show,” lamented the cancellations.

    “I feel bad about this, because we all see where see this is going, correct? It’s managed media,” Letterman said during an appearance Thursday at The Atlantic Festival 2025 in New York. “It’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous.”

    He added that people shouldn’t be fired just because they don’t “suck up” to what Letterman called “an authoritarian” president.

    Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh. CEOs and global leaders will gather for a dynamic, invitation-only event shaping the future of business. Apply for an invitation.

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  • Japanese Stocks Set to Rise Following US Markets Rally, BOJ Eyed

    Japanese Stocks Set to Rise Following US Markets Rally, BOJ Eyed

    Japanese stocks advanced on Friday lifted by gains in the technology sector after Nvidia agreed to invest $5 billion in Intel lifting sentiment for chipmakers. Investors will also be on the watch for the Bank of Japan rate decision later in the day.

    The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.6% to 45,579.94 while the broader Topix index climbed 0.5% to 3,175.36 as of 9:54 a.m. Tokyo time. In the US, four key equity benchmarks soared to all-time highs as risk-on sentiment permeated Wall Street.

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  • Apple’s iPhone 17, Air Go on Sale to Years of Demand for New Look

    Apple’s iPhone 17, Air Go on Sale to Years of Demand for New Look

    For the past four years, some Apple Inc. customers have been waiting for a fresh design before buying a new iPhone. The time has come for those consumers, with the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone Air going on sale Friday.

    In a first since 2020, Apple is rolling out several new iPhone designs. It’s also releasing into stores a new Apple Watch SE, Watch Series 11, Watch Ultra 3 and AirPods Pro 3.

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