DANY BLOG

By Joyce Lee and Kyu-seok Shim

SEOUL, April 15 (Reuters) - North Korea has made "very serious" advances in its abilities to turn out nuclear weapons, with the probable addition of a new uranium enrichment facility, as it stepped up activity at ‌a key complex, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday.

Enriching uranium can provide an alternative, and experts say, a more ‌effective, path to acquiring weapons-grade material in addition to reprocessing spent plutonium extracted from a nuclear reactor.

Speaking in Seoul, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed ​a rapid rise in activity at the 5-megawatt reactor, the reprocessing unit, a light water reactor and other facilities at the North's Yongbyon nuclear complex.

NORTH'S NUCLEAR PROGRAMME ESTIMATED AT FEW DOZEN WARHEADS

North Korea's nuclear programme was estimated at a few dozen warheads, he told a news conference, citing signs of activity such as the operation of a light water reactor and activation of other facilities besides Yongbyon.

"All of them point to a very ‌serious increase in the capabilities of the DPRK ⁠in the area of nuclear weapons production," Grossi said, using the initials of the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The watchdog had observed construction of a new facility similar to Yongbyon's uranium enrichment ⁠halls, he said, adding that analysis of external features showed a significant expansion of enrichment capacity.

Grossi told a meeting of the agency's governors this month that it was monitoring a new building at Yongbyon with similarities to an enrichment facility at Kangson, another key nuclear site near the capital Pyongyang.

SATELLITE ​IMAGERY ​SUPPORTS IAEA ASSESSMENT

Satellite imagery from April supported the IAEA's assessment, the U.S.-based Center ​for Strategic and International Studies said on Monday.

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It indicated ‌completion of a suspected uranium enrichment plant capable of producing weapons‑grade material, the centre said in a report.

On Wednesday, Grossi said the agency had not seen any evidence of Russian technology being used in North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

References in a cooperation pact both countries signed last year appeared to be limited to civilian nuclear projects, though it was too early to draw firm conclusions, he added.

"Moving towards nuclear weapons would never give any country increased security," Grossi said, but could instead trigger proliferation.

SOUTH KOREA'S NUCLEAR SUBMARINE PLAN

Turning to South Korea's programme to ‌build nuclear-powered submarines, Grossi said he invited Seoul to work closely with the ​agency to avert proliferation risks, with formal talks to begin on the matter.

Naval ​reactors pose special challenges as nuclear fuel on submarines can ​go uninspected for long periods during missions.

"It is essential that this activity is not conducive to proliferation of ‌nuclear weapons," Grossi said, adding that the IAEA would seek ​an "ironclad guarantee" against any diversion of ​the material.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun reaffirmed in a meeting with Grossi that the country will work with the IAEA with transparency on the nuclear submarine project as a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty that has taken the highest degree of ​safeguard measures, the ministry said in a statement.

South ‌Korea's submarine ambitions advanced after President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump finalised joint steps on trade ​and security last November, in which Washington approved its ally's plan to build the nuclear-powered vehicles.

(Reporting by Kyu-seok Shim ​and Joyce Lee; Editing by Ed Davies, Clarence Fernandez and Hugh Lawson)

If you're among those tempted to take hurricane season a little more lightly this year because early seasonal outlooks call forfewer-than-average storms, weather and disaster experts would like a word.

They fear theseattention-grabbing forecastsfor hurricane season may lead to a false sense of comfort and a lack of preparation.

"It doesn't matter what the seasonal outlook says, it takes only one storm," said Brad Reinhart, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center. Reinhart is among the center's specialists, urging people to pay no attention to social media pundits commenting on the seasonal outlooks who emphasize the potentialdimming effect El Niñocan have on would-be storms.

Hurricane outlooks for 2026 do show conditions trending toward a normal or below-normal season, thanks to a potential El Niño in the Pacific Ocean, but that's not the whole story, forecasters said. The number of storms may be unremarkable, but strong storms can still rapidly appear and intensify, as they have done in the past.

Even in years with El Niño, "you can still have very impactful Atlantic hurricanes," Michael Brennan, hurricane center director, told USA TODAY. "The risk is there every year for hurricane impacts regardless of what any seasonal forecast looks like."

Storms of the 2025 hurricane season

Especially given the lack of landfalling hurricanes in 2025, the center's forecasters and others worry about complacency and a failure to preparedisaster kits, evacuation plans, and otherkey potential lifesaving stepsthat should be taken in advance.

Rob Young, a professor at Western Carolina University and director of the program for the study of developed shorelines, finds the whole concept of hurricane season outlooks "problematic."

The outlooks "are like the highest profile information release related to natural hazards that I can think of, yet it's information that we should not use to change in any way how we’re going to approach the tropical storm season," Young said.

"When we have a prediction that comes out that says we may see fewer than average storms in the Atlantic this year, what are people supposed to do with that information?" Young asked. In his view, "they're supposed to ignore it."

"You prepare for a Hurricane Andrew or a Katrina every year because it only takes one," he added.

El Niño and hurricane season

It's well documented that El Niño can havea marked influence on hurricane damage or activity in the Atlantic,dating as far back as studies in the late 1990s. Hurricane formation can be inhibited by strong wind shear over the Atlantic, stirred by the pattern of warmer-than-normal waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

Butstudies show that doesn't negate the riskof a landfalling hurricane in the United States. The information about trending patterns is useful to those who manage risk based on probabilities, but is of less importance to the rest of us.

Hurricane Andrew, which formed during a transition between Pacific patterns, made two landfalls in the Bahamas and two in South Florida,reaching the state’s southeast coast at Category 5 intensity. It eventually made a fifth landfall with winds of more than 100 mph near Morgan City, Louisiana.

Andrew is blamed for 65 deaths, with damage in excess of $25 billion, including the destruction of more than 25,000 homes in southern Miami-Dade County and damage to more than 110,000 homes.

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The longest-running seasonal outlook, by a team at Colorado State University, led by senior research scientist Phil Klotzbach, always includes a list of years with conditions similar to those expected across the oceans during the current season. One season the early April outlook pointed to was 2023, which turned out to be a very active year, with 20 named storms, seven hurricanes, and three major hurricanes. That was the year Hurricane Idalia hit Florida, just south of the Big Bend, as a major hurricane.

For this season, the Colorado State forecast listed the probability of landfall for a major hurricane, with sustained winds of 111 mph or greater along the U.S. coast at 32%.

'Bar-fight rules'

Among the factors that could influence the seasonal outcome are the speed of transition to El Niño, ocean temperatures in the Pacific and the Atlantic, and rain over the Sahel region of Africa. For example, studies have shown conditions in the Pacific during the previous winter can sometimes have lingering effects on the Atlantic hurricane season during times of transition between the changing patterns known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation.

Warmer-than-average waters can help storms that do form rapidly intensify and become more dangerous, the meteorologists said. That's one reason Young and others worry about those who live along or inland from the Gulf of America, formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf – where some of the most destructive storms in history have formed – is like a wild card in any given season, according to Young and former Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate.

In a LinkedIn post on April 12,Fugate wrote: "The Gulf plays by bar-fight rules."

"Warm water. Short fuse. Bad attitude," Fugate wrote. "A storm gets in there and suddenly your nice 'below average' season is climbing the wall like a cat in a thunderstorm. That’s why from an emergency management standpoint, we don’t change a thing."

The Colorado State team addressed concerns about complacency in its outlook and in presentations.

"We are forecasting a below-average probability for major hurricane landfalls along the continental United States coastline and in the Caribbean," the early April forecast states.

There is "much curiosity as to how global ocean and atmosphere features are presently arranged with respect to the probability of an active or inactive hurricane season for the coming year," the team stated. The seasonal outlooks are a way "to satisfy the curiosity of the public and to bring attention to the hurricane problem."

But then comes the additional information that hurricane specialists wish people wouldn't gloss over.

It added: "As with all hurricane seasons, coastal residents are reminded that it only takes one hurricane making landfall to make it an active season. Thorough preparations should be made every season, regardless of predicted activity."

Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for USA TODAY, writes about violent weather, climate change and other news. Reach her at dpulver@usatoday.com or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Early hurricane season 2026 forecasts include ominous warning

Anaviation safety billseeking to address lessons learned from last year's midair collision of a jet with an Army helicopter near the nation's capital is up for a vote Tuesday evening in the House, but key senators and the families of the 67 victims think the bill needs to be strengthened.

Washington Midair Collision

The House bill, called the Alert Act, has the backing of key industry groups. The National Transportation Safety Board said recently that the legislation, since amended, nowaddresses its recommendationto require all aircraft flying around busy airports to havekey locator systemsthat let pilots know more precisely where other aircraft are flying around them.

The NTSB has been recommending the new technology systems since 2008, and Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy has said such a system would have prevented the collision of the American Airlines jet and Army Black Hawk helicopter that plunged into the icy Potomac River on Jan. 29, 2025.

Two key House committees unanimously advanced the bill last month. The bill is now being brought up for a full House vote under rules that won't allow any amendments. But victims’ families said they want to make sure the bill has strict timelines to guarantee the reforms will be completed.

Sponsored by Republican Sam Graves and Democrat Rick Larens, the legislation needs to secure two thirds of House support to advance to the Senate. Separate legislation called the ROTOR Act that the Senate crafted came upone vote shortin the House. Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell have also said the Alert Act still needs to be improved.

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Earlier this year, the NTSB's Homendysharply criticizedthe original version of the bill as a “watered down” measure that wouldn’t do enough to prevent future tragedies. But the board said the revised version would now address the shortcomings their investigation identified and require the Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation Department and the military to take needed actions.

National Transportation Safety Board members at a hearing in late January were deeply troubled over years of ignored warnings about helicopter traffic dangers and other problems, long before the collision.

Everyone aboard the American Airlines jet, flying from Wichita, Kansas, and the helicopter died when the two aircraft collided. It was thedeadliest plane crashon U.S. soil since 2001, and the victims included28 members of the figure skating community.

A helicopter route in the approach path of a Reagan National Airport runway didn't ensure enough separation between helicopters and planes landing on the airport's secondary runway, and the route wasn't reviewed regularly, the board said. The poor design of that route wasa key factorin the crash along with air traffic controllers relying too much on pilots seeing and avoiding other aircraft.

The bill now requires planes to have Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast In systems that can receive data about the locations of other aircraft. Proponents of the use of such systems said they would have alerted the pilots of an American Airlines jet sooner about the impending collision with the Black Hawk helicopter. Most planes already have the complementary ADS-B Out systems that broadcast their locations.

The NTSB citedsystemic weaknessesand years of ignored warnings as the main causes of the crash, but Homendy has said that if both the plane and the Black Hawk had been equipped with ADS-B In and the systems had been turned on, the collision would have been prevented. The Army’s policy at the time of the crash mandated that its helicopters fly without that system on to conceal their locations, although the helicopter involved in this crash was on a training flight, not a sensitive mission.

On Monday, Pope Leo XIV’s is setting off on a long Africa trip, the first of his papacy to bear a clear personal stamp.

Between April 13-23, the pope will travel to four countries, crisscrossing a continent pivotal to the 21st-century church he leads. Christian-Muslim relations will be high on his agenda.

It’s a trip that comes as the first American pope is increasinglyspeaking outagainst the current conflict in the Middle East, saying God can’t be used to justify war, while Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, frames the US war effort as divinely supported. Leo’s decision to visit Algeria, a Muslim-majority nation, and tackle inter-faith relations also points to him becoming a diplomatic counterweight to the Trump administration and its military intervention in Iran.

Trumpcriticized the popein a post on Truth Social overnight ahead of Leo’s trip, describing the pontiff as “terrible for Foreign Policy” and saying that “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.” Leo later responded aboard his plane Monday, saying, “The things I say are not meant as attacks on anyone,” but added, “I have no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel.”

Africa is a continent where the Catholic Church is growing, and where the church frequently plays an influential role in civil society through education and healthcare and helping to mediate in conflicts. According to Vatican statistics, Catholics on the continent now make up around 20% of believers worldwide.

Leo XIV, who spent years as a missionary in the global south, knows Africa well. And as pope, he has appointed priests from Nigeria to senior positions in the Vatican.

His itinerary includes Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea and will see him take 18 flights, including two by helicopter, and cover 11,185 miles, or around 18,000 kilometers. That schedule is likely to be tough even for a pope who, at 70, is relatively young and known to take regular exercise.

While the countries he is visiting are diverse, the itinerary and his plans while there point to a consistent theme of Leo as bridge builder and reconciler.

“Pope Leo’s visit to Africa will offer him the unique opportunity to listen to African Catholics and learn first-hand about the realities of their daily life,” said the Reverend Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, a Jesuit priest from Nigeria who led his religious order’s community across Africa between 2017-2023 and is now based at Santa Clara University in Berkeley, California.

Algeria welcoming ‘one of its own sons’

Leo will begin his marathon Africa visit in Algeria, becoming the first pope to set foot in the country. Mistrust of western culture and Christianity is still high in Algeria, much of it associated with the past French colonial presence, and the country is home to only a tiny Catholic population of around 8,000. Christians there frequently face difficulties.

The pope’s presence should offer a boost to the Algerian Catholic Church, known for working closely with its Muslim counterparts in the country, while highlighting Algeria’s ancient Christian roots.

“(In Algeria) Christianity still carries memories of an oppressive past,” the Reverend Martin McGee, a Benedictine monk and expert on Christian-Muslim relations in Algeria, told CNN.

“Pope Leo will also be seeking to strengthen Christian-Muslim relationships. Since the independence of the country from France in 1962, the tiny remnant of the Catholic Church in Algeria has consistently worked at breaking down barriers between Christian and Muslim believers,” he added.

Bishop Diego Sarrió Cucarella, who leads the diocese of Laghouat in Algeria, told CNN the church in the country is not one of “numbers or visibility” but a “church of presence – unarmed and disarming.”

“In a world often marked by fear or misunderstanding between religions and cultures, our experience here suggests that another path is possible,” he said. “Algerian society has a strong sense of hospitality, and many will recognize in him (the pope) not a foreign leader, but a man of peace – a brother seeking peace with the brethren.”

Leo will also make a very poignant pilgrimage in Algeria by taking a day trip to the city of Annaba, where Saint Augustine of Hippo served as a bishop in the late fourth and early fifth centuries. St Augustine, one of Christianity’s most influential figures, is the inspiration for the religious order of the Augustinians, of which Leo is a member and former leader.

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Michel Guillaud, the Bishop of Constantine and Hippo, said Leo had visited Algeria twice before his election as pope, and that the Augustine link provides “a sense of kinship between this pope and the Algerian people” in a country that is “a bridge” between the African continent, the Arab-Muslim world and the “other shores of the Mediterranean world.”

“It is as if Algeria were welcoming one of its own sons, since he is ‘a son of Augustine,’” he told CNN.

A growing, youthful church

The other African countries Leo will visit have large and growing Catholic populations. During his trip, he will see the vibrant church up close, celebrating open-air Masses and visiting nursing homes, a prison, university campuses and a psychiatric hospital. A Vatican spokesman said “600,000 faithful” are expected to take part in a Mass presided by Leo in a carpark adjacent to the Japoma Stadium in Douala, Cameroon.

While in Cameroon, Leo will focus on a message of reconciliation in a country where an English-speaking minority has protested against perceived discrimination by the Francophone government. The pope will go to Bamenda, the largest Anglophone city in the country, to take part in a peace meeting. The meeting will be attended by an internally displaced family, the traditional leader of the Mankon people, which is a prominent ethnic group in the region, a Catholic nun, an Imam and other church leaders.

Bamenda has been at the center of a long-running conflict between government forces and Anglophone separatists, which has killed thousands since 2017, including civilians.

“Much of the world pays little or no attention to the conflict and violence that have crippled socioeconomic life and caused intolerable human casualties in the northwestern and southwestern anglophone parts of Cameroon. His visit to Bamenda is particularly poignant,” said Orobator at Santa Clara University.

“Leo is perhaps the only religious leader with the soft power to convene the belligerent and opposing forces to come to the table of dialogue and seek just peace. It will be a unique occasion for him to remind Cameroonians that there are alternatives pathways to conflict and violence.”

Foreign visits offer the pope a chance to address the country’s leadership and shine a spotlight on certain issues. While in Angola, Leo will fly to the city of Saurimo, the heart of the country’s controversial diamond industry, where he’ll celebrate an open-air Mass.

While the diamond industry is a major contributor to the economy, concerns have been raised about its effect on the environment and the treatment of miners. During his pontificate Leo has talked about the importance of protecting the planet, so environmental stewardship could be a topic he addresses while in Angola and elsewhere in Africa.

“By modeling peace as a ‘humble and disarming’ force, the pope not only draws global attention to the region’s suffering but also positions the African Church as a trusted mediator for reconciliation,” said Jaisy A. Joseph, a theologian at Villanova University, Pope Leo’s alma mater.

Missionary pope

Leo’s Africa trip will see him outside of the Vatican for the longest time since his election, and the constant travel in the country has echoes of his time as a missionary and bishop in Latin America.

It is fitting that he’ll mark the first anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Pope Francis, on April 21 in Equatorial Guinea, a small country with a mainly Catholic population and where around 70% live in poverty. Leo’s visit to the country – the first papal trip since 1982 – will see him put into action Francis’ vision of a church that goes out to the margins, serving the poorest.

The pope’s jam-packed schedule in Equatorial Guinea includes a visit to a prison and an oceanfront memorial for the victims of a series of explosions in 2021 at a military barracks. President Teodoro Obiang and his government said the blasts were the result of “negligence” and a fire begun by farmers nearby, but human rights groups have called for an independent inquiry into the explosions.

From the moment of his election, Leo has sought to offer a leadership that breaks down divisions. His whirlwind visit to Africa will seek to put that vision into action on the continent.

This report has been updated with additional developments.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Sara Mearns was missing her cues.

Be Well-Hearing Aids

She couldn't hear what her dance partner was saying from across the studio. She was late for her entrances because the music sounded too soft.

Without telling anyone, she finally made an appointment toget her hearing checked.

Mearns learned that she hadhearing loss. After years of isolation,she got the toolsto make sense of a world that had gotten muffled.

Now, she's one of the first dancers with the New York City Ballet to wear hearing aids during performances.

“I feel like it's a whole new chapter of my life,” Mearns, 40, said in an interview with the AP.

While hearing loss is common in older adults, it can happen at any age and can be caused by things like nerve damage, infection or head trauma. For Mearns, it may have been a blend of factors including genetics, medical conditions and exposure to loud noise.

Signs and symptoms of hearing loss

According to the National Institutes of Health, less than a fifth of American adults aged 20 to 69 who could benefit from wearing hearing aids have ever used them. That's due to lack of access, shame or embarrassment and just not knowing the symptoms.

“Hearing loss is often not detected by the person because what they can't hear, they don't know,” said Dr. Anil Lalwani, a hearing expert with Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Still, “there are a lot of symptoms of hearing loss that are not hearing less,” said Dr. Maura Cosetti with Mount Sinai’s New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.

One thing to look out for is saying “what” more often, and not being able to hear friends and family in noisy settings like restaurants. Other symptoms include ringing, a sensation like something is stuck in the ears or conversations sounding muffled.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mearns couldn't hear conversations when people were wearing masks.

“I realized that I was reading everybody’s lips to understand what they were saying,” she said.

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If experiencing hearing loss, you have options

Experts say to let a doctor know if you think you may be experiencing symptoms of hearing loss. They can help you connect with an audiologist or an ear, nose and throat specialist to get a hearing test.

Cosetti with Mount Sinai saidthe Mimi Hearing Test appcan be useful resource to get a sense of your hearing. Seeing a professional is the best way to figure out what's actually going on — like whether your ears are just plugged up with wax or fluid.

Hearing aids fine-tune the sound signal that enters the brain, enhancing speech while lowering background noise. They can be expensive, but many are nowavailable over the counter. SomeApple AirPodsalso can be used as hearing aids.

For more severe forms of hearing loss, doctors may recommend a device called a cochlear implant, which converts sounds into electrical signals that are sent to the brain. These include a surgically inserted component and can take months to get used to.

Hearing aids are an adjustment, but can be worth it

Mearns initially felt embarrassed to step into the booth for her hearing test, knowing she wouldn't be able to hear all the words. Her audiologist, Marta Gielarowiec, helped her understand what she was missing and guided her to appropriate hearing aids.

“It's definitely not a one size fits all. There is a lot of adjustment, tuning and calibration involved,” said Gielarowiec, who runs a practice in New York. “Overall, the goal is to maximize the hearing that’s left.”

Addressing hearing loss can help boost mental health,improve communicationandslow cognitive declinefor people at high risk of dementia.

When Mearns walked out of her audiologist's office wearing her aids for the first time, she felt overwhelmed. She could hear the pattering of shoes on the ground, the chirping of birds across the street and the billowing of a flag a block behind her. Returning to her dressing room, she cried.

She can now hear the full might of the orchestra when she performs — and take phone calls in her ears.

The life she was living before, she said, was exhausting. At the end of every day she was spent from the strain of asking people to repeat themselves and missing out on conversations and the punch lines of jokes.

“I don’t want people to feel what I felt, where I was embarrassed and I was quiet about it,” she said. “Because now that I’m on the other side, I’m so happy.”

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.