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By the numbers: an increasing mortality rate.The disease is caused by infection with a bacterium called Neisseria meningitidis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 422 cases of invasive meningococcal disease were reported in the United States last year, the highest number since 2014.But as of Monday, 143 cases have been reported to the CDC this year, 62 more than the number of cases reported last year during the same period.The disease is extremely dangerous. Even with adequate treatment, 10 to 15 percent of patients who develop meningococcal disease will die. Many recent cases have been caused by an unusual strain of N. meningitidis called ST-1466. This strain caused 17 deaths among 94 patients whose outcomes are known, for a mortality rate of 18%.Survivors of...

Thirteen years ago, a poor fisherman in a small Turkish village was retrieving his net from a lake when he heard a noise behind him and turned to find a majestic being standing on the bow of his rowboat.Glittering white feathers covered its head, neck and chest, giving way to black feathers on its wings. He stood on thin orange legs that almost matched the color of his long, pointed beak.The fisherman, Adem Yilmaz, recognized it as one of the white storks that had spent the summer in the village for a long time, but he had never seen one so close up, much less hosted on his boat.Wondering if he was hungry, he tossed him a fish, which the bird devoured. He threw another. And another.Thus began an unlikely tale of man and bird that has captivated Turkey over the years - and a clever socia...

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.astead herndonSo there’s this show hosted by Steve Bannon, the former Trump strategist. It’s called War Room. And while it’s controversial enough that YouTube and Spotify won’t publish it, in the conservative world it’s a big deal.archived recording (steve bannon)OK, we’re live at CPAC. The War Room posse is —astead herndonA couple of months ago Bannon hosted a live recording at CPAC, basically the most important gathering of influential grassroots conservatives, and he brought out a guest.archived recording (steve bannon)Glenn Story is ...

But Tan's passion, as it is for a growing number of tech leaders, is San Francisco politics. He's part of a love-it-or-hate-them group of tech executives and investors with lots of opinions about the city and endless piles of cash to, as they say in the tech industry, move fast and break things. (Their critics would say it's more like they're trying to buy City Hall.)For some in San Francisco's political establishment, Mr. Tan, 43, has become the most annoying in a parade of wealthy tech executives. He has created a bombastic online persona by spending around $400,000 in local politics in recent years – with potentially much more to come. And on social media site X, where he has 425,000 followers, Mr Tan not only rubs some people the wrong way, he infuriates them.Sh...

Airstrikes killed a number of soldiers near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Friday morning, Syrian state media and an independent organization said, in what appeared to be one of the heaviest Israeli attacks in the country in years .The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that tracks Syria's civil war, said the victims included 36 Syrian soldiers, seven Hezbollah fighters and one Syrian from pro-Iranian militias. The group said the attack appeared to hit multiple targets, including a weapons depot belonging to Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese militia with a presence in Syria. The airstrikes fueled fears that have troubled Western officials for months: that Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza could degenerate into a broader conflict against Syria, Iran...

A troubled heart pump that has now been linked to 49 deaths and dozens of injuries worldwide will be allowed to remain in use, despite the Food and Drug Administration's decision to issue a warning about the risk that it could perforate a wall of the heart.Tiny Impella pumps, about the size of a candy cane, are threaded into blood vessels to take control of the heart's work in patients undergoing complex procedures or life-threatening conditions.The FDA said the device's manufacturer, Abiomed, should have alerted the agency more than two years ago, when the company first posted an update on its website about the perforation risk. Such a notice, the FDA added, would have led to a much broader official warning to hospitals and doctors.The warning is the latest in concerns raised...

Days after Hamas launched its attacks on Israel on October 7, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was one of the first Western leaders to arrive in Tel Aviv. Standing next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he declared that Germany has “only one place – and that is next to Israel.”That position now looks increasingly awkward for Germany, Israel's second-largest arms supplier, and a nation whose leadership calls support for the country a “Staatsraison,” a national reason for existence, as a way to atone for the Holocaust.Last week, as Israel's deadly offensive continued in Gaza, the chancellor again stood alongside Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, striking a different tone. “No matter how important the goal,” he asked, “can it justify such terribly high costs?”With international ...

archived recording 1It is election day in Georgia and the stakes are high.archived recording 2Tonight, Georgia remains at the center of the American political universe. Why?archived recordingThis is a huge victory for the Democrats, a state they’ve long eyed, like a 10-year-long project to flip this red state blue.archived recordingShe released a playbook laying out the path to Democratic victory here and across the country.Abrams says the keys are spending money, tens of millions, and convincing voters to show up.archived recording (trevor noah)Every time I see you, I feel like you are doing more and more things.archived recording (ellen degeneres)Well, they said you’d written a bunch of romance novels under a different name?archived recording (stacy abrams)Yes, I’ve written a romance nov...

Listen and follow 'Hard Fork'Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YoutubeThis week we will look at the corporate chaos in the field of artificial intelligence. Stability AI has announced that its founder and CEO, Emad Mostaque, will be leaving the company. Meanwhile, Microsoft hired two of Inflection's cofounders and much of Inflection's staff, without actually acquiring the company itself. Both moves surprised tech insiders. Then we spoke to listeners who had something to say about our interview with Jonathan Haidt about smartphones, social media and young people. Finally, let's examine the real reasons behind “Shrimp Jesus” and other extremely popular images on social media generated with artificial intelligence.Today's guests:Jordan Lucero, a high school studentMay...

Israeli troops and Hamas fighters waged deadly battles in and around two of the Gaza Strip's main hospitals on Thursday, as the Israeli government came under growing pressure at home and abroad to moderate its approach to the war that has the enclave was devastated.Fighting has raged for an 11th day at Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital, in an area first seized by Israeli forces in November. The clashes highlighted the difficulty the Israelis are having in maintaining control of places they had already captured as Palestinian militants disperse and then return.In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, increasingly unpopular and criticized on multiple fronts, met for the first time with the families of the soldiers kidnapped and detained in Gaza, who had accused him before the meeti...