Snowcap on Japan’s Mt Fuji this year is latest spotted in 130 years
KOFU, Japan (Reuters) — Japan’s revered Mount Fuji finally regained an iconic snowcap on Thursday, setting a record for the slowest snowfall in 130 years, the meteorological agency said.
The mountain reached the annual milestone on Oct. 5 last year, making this year’s snowcap the latest to form since 1894, when the phenomenon was first recorded.
Staff of the Kofu observatory office, which declares the news every year, saw some snow near the 3,776-m (12,388-ft) summit of the country’s tallest volcano on Thursday morning, the office said.
The “first snowfall” on Fuji is defined as the point when all or part of the mountain is covered with snow or “white-looking solid precipitation”, the office added, and can be viewed from its observatory for the first time after summer.
Mt. Fuji’s first snowfall has been delayed in recent years, although the reasons are still unclear, said Mamoru Matsumoto of the Kofu observatory office.
California governor calls special legislative session, girding for fights with Trump
(Reuters) — California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday that he will convene a special session of the legislature in response to Donald Trump winning the U.S. presidential election, which Newsom said threatened his state’s values.
In a proclamation, Newsom, a Democrat, said he expected Trump, a Republican, to pursue “unconstitutional and unlawful federal policies” that would harm Californians or conflict with state law in such areas as reproductive health and climate change.
Newsom said the California Legislature must meet on Dec. 2 to consider increasing funding to the state’s Department of Justice so it can challenge such policies in court.
Trump has frequently used intimidating rhetoric against those he perceives as his political enemies. California has long been a reliably Democratic state, and its voters went with Trump’s rival, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, in Tuesday’s election.
In his victory speech early on Wednesday morning, Trump promised unity: “Every citizen, I will fight for you, for your family and your future,” he said. But many Democrats do not believe him.
Newsom said that in Trump’s previous term from 2017 to 2021, California filed more than 120 lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s policies.
US expands bird flu testing after finding symptom-free infections in people
(Reuters) — Farm workers who have been exposed to animals with bird flu should be tested for the virus even if they do not have symptoms, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.
The change to the agency’s testing recommendation comes as the U.S. Department of Agriculture is also expanding its testing of milk for bird flu, signaling concern by both agencies about the ongoing spread of the virus on dairy and poultry farms.
Bird flu has infected nearly 450 dairy farms in 15 states since March, according to USDA data.
The CDC is not seeing mutations in the virus that would lead to easier transmission or evidence of person-to-person spread, agency officials said on a press call.
Several feet of snow is forecast in New Mexico and Colorado
(NYT) — Several feet of snow was expected to fall in parts of New Mexico and Colorado over the next three days in what meteorologists said could be the worst blizzard to hit the region in decades, as authorities warned of dangerous road conditions and power outages.
A winter storm warning was active for more than 2.5 million people across the two states early Thursday as snow began accumulating. The alert warned residents to delay travel plans as it would soon become “difficult or impossible” to move around, according to the National Weather Service.
In several New Mexico counties, blizzard warnings would remain active through Friday night. The weather service warned that more than 100 vehicles were stranded on New Mexico highways as of Thursday afternoon, adding that multiple car accidents had been reported in the east slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
The snow had already caused road closures and could stall snowplows’ cleanup operations, New Mexico authorities said. Snow could also affect major highways including Interstate 40, which runs through Albuquerque, and Interstate 25, which links New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming, forecasters said.
Israeli strike destroys Ottoman-era building near Baalbek ruins
BAALBEK, Lebanon (Reuters) — An Israeli airstrike has destroyed an Ottoman-era building just a stone’s throw from the UNESCO-listed temples of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, the closest Israel has come yet to striking one of Lebanon’s most treasured archaeological sites.
Heaps of grey masonry and twisted metal lay on Thursday next to a burnt-out bus just a few dozen metres (yards) from the World Heritage Site, a day after the attack which was part of a wave of strikes that killed 40 people in and around the city.
The Israeli military has told residents of the entire city to leave Baalbek, in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, which houses one of the biggest and best preserved complexes of Greco-Roman and Phoenician temples in the Levant.
The surrounding city has come under repeated attack from Israel which says leaders of the Iran-backed Shi’ite movement Hezbollah shelter there.
Governor Bachir Khodr told Reuters the destroyed building in the historic Manshiyeh neighbourhood just outside the ancient temple site was valuable in itself, dating to the Ottoman era.
Argentina’s Milei to meet with Trump, Musk next week in the US
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) — Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei will meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and tycoon Elon Musk next week in the United States, a government spokesperson said on Thursday.
The meeting with Trump will take place at Mar-a-Lago, the incoming U.S. leader’s private south Florida club, according to the spokesperson.
Since his election late last year, Milei has sought close ties with the United States and, since Tuesday’s U.S. election, has stressed his support for Trump with a fireworks display as well as posts on social media.
The same government source said Milei will also meet with billionaire Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO and owner of social media platform X, who is also a major Trump supporter.
FDA proposes removing ineffective nasal decongestant from stores
(NYT) — The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday proposed removing a common ingredient in over-the-counter cold medicines that was found to have no effect on nasal congestion, despite its widespread use for decades.
The proposal stems from a recommendation issued just over a year ago by a panel of experts who agreed unanimously that the ingredient, called phenylephrine, did not work when taken in liquid or pill form. It is still considered to be effective in nasal sprays.
The ingredient has been used alone and in combination with other painkillers, cough suppressants and other agents meant to ease cold and flu symptoms in medications like Tylenol, Mucinex and Benadryl.
The agency emphasized that the ingredient was not considered unsafe.