- Monday, 2 March 2026
AP
Japan’s population falls for a 15th year with record low births and record high deaths
Japan’s total population declined for the 15th straight year in 2023, dropping by more than a half-million people as the population ages and births remain low. Births in Japan hit a record low of 730,000 last year. The 1.58 million deaths last year were also a record high. Japan’s population was 124.9 million as of Jan. 1.
NASA cancels its moon rover mission, citing cost overruns and launch delays
NASA has said that it’s cancelling its water-seeking moon rover, citing cost overruns and launch delays. The Viper rover was supposed to launch in late 2023 aboard a lander provided by Astrobotic Technology, but extra testing and increased costs kept delaying the mission, threatening other projects, the space agency said.
'How heat kills? It confuses brain, shuts organs and overworks heart'
Heat kills in three main ways, the usual first suspect is heatstroke — critical increases in body temperature that cause organs to fail. But the bigger killer in heat is the strain on the heart, especially for people who have cardiovascular disease. The third main way is dangerous dehydration. As people sweat, they lose liquids to a point that can severely stress kidneys, Ollie Jay, a professor of heat and health at the University of Sydney in Australia said.
Half a million immigrants could eventually get US citizenship under new plan from Biden
President Joe Biden is taking an expansive, election-year step to offer relief to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants without legal status in the U.S. — aiming to balance his own aggressive crackdown on the border earlier this month that enraged advocates and many Democratic lawmakers.
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‘Heat dome’ leads to sweltering temperatures in Mexico, Central America and US South
Extreme heat in Mexico, Central America and parts of the U.S. South has left millions of people in sweltering temperatures, strained energy grids and resulted in iconic Howler monkeys in Mexico dropping dead from trees.
India begins second phase of national elections with Modi’s BJP as front-runner
Millions of Indians began voting Friday in the second round of multi-phase national elections as Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to galvanize voters with his assertive brand of Hindu nationalist politics. People lined up outside polling stations as voting opened at 7 a.m. Turnout was expected to pick up as the day progressed.
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Oldest living conjoined twins, Lori and George Schappell, die at 62
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, according to funeral home officials. They were 62.
‘Oppenheimer,’ Lily Gladstone win at 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards
“Oppenheimer” continued to steamroll through Hollywood’s awards season on Saturday, winning the top prize, for the outstanding cast, along with awards for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr., at the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Private lander makes first US moon landing in more than 50 years
A private lander on Thursday made the first U.S. touchdown on the moon in more than 50 years but managed just a weak signal back until flight controllers scrambled to gain better contact. Despite the spotty communication, Intuitive Machines, the company that built and managed the craft, confirmed that it had landed upright.
Indonesian voters choose a new president in one of the world’s largest elections
Indonesians have voted for a new president Wednesday as the world’s third-largest democracy aspires to become a global economic powerhouse a quarter-century after shaking off a brutal dictatorship.
'Extreme heat, wildfire smoke harm low-income and nonwhite communities the most'
Extreme heat and wildfire smoke are independently harmful to the human body, but together their impact on cardiovascular and respiratory systems is more dangerous and affects some communities more than others.
US hits hard at militias in Iraq and Syria, retaliating for fatal drone attack
The U.S. military launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Friday, in the opening salvo of retaliation for the drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan last weekend.
France downsizes Paris 2024 opening ceremony crowd to around 300,000 spectators
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Wednesday that some 300,000 spectators will be able to attend the opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics, about half the size of what was originally planned.
A snowboarder spent 15 hours trapped in a ski gondola. She rubbed her hands and feet to keep warm
Monica Laso boarded the gondola around 5 p.m. Thursday at Heavenly Ski Resort to ride down the mountain because she was too tired to snowboard. But it stopped just minutes later while she was still in the sky, she told KCRA, which first reported the news.
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Global warming was primary cause of unprecedented Amazon drought, study finds
Human-induced global warming, and not El Niño, was the primary driver of last year’s severe drought in the Amazon that sent rivers to record lows, required deliveries of food and drinking water to hundreds of river communities and killed dozens of endangered dolphins, researchers have said.
