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By Alessandro Parodi AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -The Dutch data regulator on Tuesday warned voters against using AI chatbots ahead of the national election, saying the platforms give unreliable advice and push them towards two major parties on opposite ends of the political spectrum. While 15 different parties hold seats in the 150-member Dutch parliament at present, chatbots told voters in 56% of cases to choose between the far-right Freedom Party or the Labour-Green Left coalition. The parties are on track to take 20% and 16% of the vote on October 29, respectively, according to opinion polls. "Chatbots may seem like clever tools, but as a voting aid, they consistently fail," the Dutch data protection watchdog's vice-chair Monique Verdier said in a statement, describing their operation as "unclear and difficult to verify". The agency said it had tested four major chatbots, without disclosing which ones, and found that even when fed the campaign platform of a smaller party, the chatbots still advised voting for one of the two major parties in some of the cases. The election is taking place months after the Freedom Party's exit triggered the collapse of the right-wing coalition, which did not include the Labour or Green parties, and is seen as a contest between either a new all-conservative government or a more centrist or centre-right coalition.  The EU member is led by a minority caretaker government. The watchdog did not say how many Dutch voters it thinks are using chatbots for voting advice but said there was a "growing number". Over 13 million people are eligible to vote in the election. (Reporting by Alessandro Parodi and Toby Sterling; Editing by Muvija M)

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Berlin (dpa) – Newborn babies should be given a genomic sequencing check to assess their vulnerability for hundreds of diseases, according to a team of Australian scientists and doctors. "Adding genomic sequencing to newborn blood screening would detect hundreds of additional childhood conditions, providing much earlier diagnosis and treatment," the researchers say.  Babies in Australia are sometimes given a heel-prick blood test to check for up to 32 conditions, but the genomic sequencing, which could be done as part of the blood screening, not only "reveals a person’s entire genetic make-up" but could throw up "results for hundreds of treatable conditions" within about two weeks of birth. From the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and Victorian Clinical Genetics Services (VCGS), the team point out that because the genome is "for life," it can be re-examined later in life to check for any "health issue." The team's research took in 1,000 newborns in Victoria, who were checked for "variants in 605 genes associated with early-onset, severe, treatable conditions." "Newborn screening for rare conditions is one of the most effective public health interventions," says Zornitza Stark of the MCRI and VCGS. Widespread deployment of the screening, which can be done in tandem with the current blood sampling system, could prove to be lifesaving as more babies are rapidly diagnosed and treated, the team says in the paper published in journal Nature Medicine.  "Our study demonstrates the feasibility of clinically accredited genomic newborn screening, using a scalable model that is highly acceptable to parents," the team says in the paper. The following information is not intended for publication dpa spr arw

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(Reuters) -Crypto heavyweight Coinbase said on Tuesday it has bought investment platform Echo in a nearly $375 million cash-and-stock deal, aiming to bring fundraising tools to its platform. Dealmaking within the digital assets industry has picked up pace this year as a crypto-friendly Trump administration encourages companies to expand their business in the U.S. Last week, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken unveiled a $100 million deal for futures exchange Small Exchange, paving the way to launch a fully U.S.-based derivatives suite. Echo's platform makes raising capital and investing more accessible to the crypto community through private and public token sales. "We want to create more accessible, efficient, and transparent capital markets," Coinbase said in a blog post. While Coinbase will start with crypto token sales via Echo's Sonar platform, the company later plans on expanding support to tokenized securities and real-world assets. Echo was founded by crypto trader Jordan Fish, widely known by his "Cobie" pseudonym. The platform has helped crypto projects raise more than $200 million since its launch two years ago. In May, Coinbase had struck a $2.9 billion deal for crypto options provider Deribit, plugging a gap in its derivatives portfolio and strengthening its international presence. (Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

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Nicolas Will, logistics specialist at a scientific publisher, likes athletics and cooking when he isn't at work. And he stutters. But he tries to see this holistically and finds exercises help. Stuttgart (dpa) – "My name is Nnnnnicolas Will, I am 32 years old, I was born here in Wwwwwwweinheim and also gggggrew up here," Nicolas Will introduces himself. He's sitting in his kitchen of his apartment in Weinheim, a small town in southern Germany. Will has stuttered since he was a child. He has worked with speech therapists for years and practises daily to speak more fluently. "I try not to perceive my speech as a deficit, but as part of who I am," he says. Around 1% of people stutter, just under 840,000 people in Germany says the German Stuttering and Self-Help Association. The proportion is significantly higher in childhood: around 5% of girls and boys stutter, but 70% to 80% of them grow out of it. Stuttering is a speech disorder that is mainly genetic in origin, say medics. Will's stuttering began when he was a toddler – when he started speaking two or three sentences in a row, he says. He would get stuck on words and repeat syllables. The paediatrician tested his speech and referred him to a speech therapist. He practised regularly with the speech therapist over a long period of time – but without much success, says Will. "It didn't work for me as well as it should have." At the age of 16, he underwent two weeks of intensive therapy in the larger city of Kassel. "Right after that, my speech was great." But in the stress of everyday life, the strategies he had practised were lost again – and his speech deteriorated once more. Will says that it was sometimes difficult at school. He knew the answer to the teacher's question, but didn't dare to speak in front of the class. "That can be very frustrating, and of course my oral grade suffered as a result." He graduated from secondary school with average grades. Will says he got on well with his classmates. He started playing sport at an early age. "I've played football all my life. You don't have to talk so much when you're playing," says Will and laughs. Of course, his classmates imitated him from time to time. "But on the whole, my immediate circle was very tolerant." He finds he has fewer problems with stuttering when he is with family and friends – when he is relaxed and feels comfortable. "When I'm a little nervous or around strangers, or around a lot of people, it's a bit worse," he says. However, he found a training position as a freight forwarding clerk fairly easily after leaving school. The HR manager told him at the time "that she thought it was great that I wanted to learn a commercial profession where you naturally have to make phone calls and talk a bit more." He made a conscious decision to pursue this career, as he has always enjoyed working on computers and is an organized person, says Will. He also completed a distance learning course to become a certified specialist in logistics management. He has now been working as a logistics specialist at a scientific publishing house for eight years. The job involves monitoring the flow of goods and it puts him in contact with printing companies. ‘I've known Mr Will since his job interview, when he was still very nervous and his stutter was much more pronounced,’ says his boss Tanja Keller. But over the years, he has made significant progress. "In calm, appreciative working environments, his stutter is hardly noticeable and no longer limits him in his daily work." Will is now preparing for a management role with further training. Every morning, Will does 20 minutes of relaxation and speech exercises, repeating words and practising sentences that are difficult for him. "It gives you a little more confidence and self-assurance for the day," says Will, who also sees a speech therapist regularly. He used the federal association to get in contact with other people who stutter. "It's good to be able to talk to other people who are affected," he says. Alongside professional success and improving his speech, Will also wants to find a partner. When he started to get interested in girls when he was younger, his stutter was not helpful, he says. "Of course, there are always people who react better and others who react worse to it." Today, he is very open about his stutter and mentions it early on in exchanges on dating apps. "So far, no partner has ever actively said, 'It bothers me.'" The following information is not intended for publication dpa jak waw xxde arw

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(Reuters) -Crypto heavyweight Coinbase said on Tuesday it has bought investment platform Echo in a nearly $375 million cash-and-stock deal, aiming to bring fundraising tools to its platform. Dealmaking within the digital assets industry has picked up pace this year as a crypto-friendly Trump administration encourages companies to expand their business in the U.S. Last week, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken unveiled a $100 million deal for futures exchange Small Exchange, paving the way to launch a fully U.S.-based derivatives suite. Echo's platform makes raising capital and investing more accessible to the crypto community through private and public token sales. "We want to create more accessible, efficient, and transparent capital markets," Coinbase said in a blog post. While Coinbase will start with crypto token sales via Echo's Sonar platform, the company later plans on expanding support to tokenized securities and real-world assets. Echo was founded by crypto trader Jordan Fish, widely known by his "Cobie" pseudonym. The platform has helped crypto projects raise more than $200 million since its launch two years ago. In May, Coinbase had struck a $2.9 billion deal for crypto options provider Deribit, plugging a gap in its derivatives portfolio and strengthening its international presence. (Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

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By Harshita Mary Varghese and Kritika Lamba (Reuters) -Netflix's $120 billion stock market rally this year faces a crucial test on Tuesday: proving that its costly investments into advertising and video gaming can support the growth that made the streaming pioneer a Wall Street darling. A strong content slate including "KPop Demon Hunters", Netflix's most successful movie ever, and the second season of "Wednesday" are expected to power the company's fastest revenue increase in more than four years when it reports third-quarter results on Tuesday.  The last three months of 2025 will also feature strong programming, including the last season of "Stranger Things."  But some investors and analysts fear that the streamer's years of runaway growth could fade. They noted that the company decided to stop sharing subscriber numbers earlier this year, urging Wall Street to focus more on financial metrics such as revenue and profit. That has pushed the company to focus on newer ventures such as video games, which, analysts said, have struggled amid shifts in leadership and strategy. According to the Wall Street Journal, Netflix is estimated to have invested around $1 billion buying gaming studios and building the business, which now offers more than 120 mobile games, including Rockstar Games' "GTA: San Andreas" alongside games based on its own hit shows such as "Squid Game: Unleashed." Netflix said this month it would offer family party games such as "Boogle Party" and "Pictionary: Game Night" on TV. A BET THAT HASN'T PAID OFF  Netflix's video games have boosted user time spent – a key engagement measure – by less than 0.5%, after more than four years in operation, an analysis from technology research firm Omdia showed in June showed. Co-CEO Greg Peters – seen as the architect of Netflix's gaming strategy – recently likened the expansion into video games to the streaming service's entry into Japan, when only 2% of consumers knew the brand. "We just did the 10th Anniversary in Japan … but it took us a long time. The gaming situation is not dissimilar to that," he said at the Bloomberg Screentime conference earlier this month. That problem is not unique to Netflix. Major media and entertainment companies other than Warner Bros Discovery have struggled to turn hit films into profitable game ventures.  Netflix's main challenge in gaming is its limited roster of iconic intellectual property unlike Warner Bros Discovery, which owns iconic intellectual property such as DC Comics, said Michael Pachter, managing director, strategic planning at Wedbush Securities. Sensor Tower data showed that "GTA: San Andreas" remains Netflix's most downloaded game, outperforming its originals – a sign that the company's own IP lacks the merchandising pull of established entertainment franchises. Omdia analyst Rob Gallagher said video games stand out awakardly within Netflix's lineup because most subscribers come for a passive, lean-back viewing experience – a habit that even light party games struggle to change. AD TIER  Focus will also on the ad-supported tier, widely expected to become a major driver of Netflix's growth from next year. The plan has been attracting more than half of the company's new subscribers and had around 94 million users as of May, but its contribution to Netflix's topline remains small.  The streamer does not break out the revenue figure for the tier but analysts expect it to bring in $662.3 million in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, according to data from three analysts polled by LSEG.  Overall, the company is expected to report a revenue jump of 17.2% to $11.51 billion, while net profit likely surged 27% to $3.01 billion.  "We understand why they're taking these measures to have diverse streams of revenue but in the short term, they are not profitable segments," said Brian Mulberry, senior portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management, which offers Netflix-linked ETFs. "But we will certainly want to see that develop over the next couple of quarters." (Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese and Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni and Anil D'Silva)

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Zurich (dpa) – Sighing can ease lung function, with deep breathing playing a crucial role in restoring the lung's pliability, say scientists in an international study, in findings that could point to new ways of treating lung problems in future. Our lungs expand when we inhale and contract when we exhale. During this process, the tissue and surface of the organ provide resistance. The fluid on the surface of the lungs reduces this resistance, especially after deep breaths, says the study led by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH). "The fluid wets the entire surface, making the lung more deformable or to use a technical term, more compliant," says study leader Jan Vermant in an ETH statement about the research. That makes breathing easier, as the more compliant the organ is, the less resistance there is when it contracts and expands. The team examined how lung fluid behaves under different scenarios, simulating the movements of normal and particularly deep breaths. They measured the surface tension of the fluid in a series of laboratory experiments. "This tension influences how compliant the lung is," says Vermant, of the study published in Science Advances. The measurements showed that the surface tension significantly decreases after deep breaths, which could explain the liberating feeling you get in your chest after a deep sigh, say the researchers. The fluid on the surface of the lung, which ensures that the organ can expand and contract well during inhalation and exhalation, is multilayered, the scientists suggest. Ideally, the top layer should be stiffer while the layers beneath should be softer and more delicate, says lead author Maria Novaes-Silva. When you take only shallow breaths, and the fluid moves only slightly, the layering of the fluid decreases over time. But by occasionally taking deep breaths, you can restore the ideal layering, she says. This aligns with clinical observations that suggest breathing becomes increasingly difficult with consistently shallow breathing, the group says. The following information is not intended for publication dpa oe xxde arw

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By Faith Hung and Emily Chan TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan's export orders rose more than expected in September, increasing for an eighth consecutive month, as the island's growth as an essential hub for the artificial intelligence (AI) industry offset worries about U.S. tariffs. Export orders in September rose 30.5% from a year earlier to $70.22 billion, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Tuesday, far surpassing analysts' expectations for a 17.8% increase. Orders for goods from Taiwan, home of the world's largest contract chipmaker TSMC and other tech companies, are considered a bellwether of global technology demand. A general tariff rate of 20% has been imposed on Taiwan's exports by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration. Taiwan's government has said the 20% tariff is "temporary" as it continues to negotiate with the U.S. for more favourable rates. Uncertainties such as global trade policy and geopolitical risks continue to weigh on global trade momentum, the ministry said in a statement. But the momentum for orders will be supported as new applications such as AI and high-performance computing continue to expand, while the fourth-quarter is typically the high season ahead of the year-end holidays in western markets, it said. The total value for full-year orders would likely hit a record, the ministry said. For October, the ministry said it expected export orders to rise between 23.7% and 27.3% from a year ago. Taiwan's orders in September for telecoms products were up 33.1% from a year earlier, while those for electronic products jumped 45.9%. Overall orders from China were up 11.6%, versus a 0.7% dip in August. Orders from the United States climbed 40.2%, compared with a rise of 33.6% the month before. Orders from Europe were up 16.9%, and those from Japan rose 22.8%. (Reporting by Faith Hung and Emily Chan; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

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By Leo Marchandon (Reuters) -Europe's largest cloud provider OVHcloud reported annual revenue growth of nearly 10% on Tuesday, crossing the threshold of 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) for the first time, but a weaker than expected guidance for 2026 sent its shares falling. OVHcloud's shares fell around 18% by 0842 GMT, on track for their biggest single-day drop ever if the losses hold. The company targets organic revenue growth of 5% to 7% for fiscal 2026 that started on September 1, below the 9.3% seen in 2025. The market was expecting a higher growth forecast of roughly 10%, analysts from Stifel and J.P. Morgan said. OVHcloud also targets a higher adjusted core profit (EBITDA) margin, while capital expenditures are projected to be between 30% and 32% of revenue, as it aims to strengthen its Webcloud segment. It reported revenue of 1.08 billion euros for fiscal 2025, with an EBITDA margin of 40.4%. The company also said that its French-Polish founder, Octave Klaba, had returned as CEO with immediate effect, after the board decided to merge the chairman and CEO roles. Klaba, whose family owns an over 80% stake in OVHcloud, had led it from its founding in 1999 until 2018 before becoming chairman. He replaces Benjamin Revcolevschi, who had been CEO since 2024, and will oversee operations as OVHcloud addresses rising demand for AI services and growing emphasis on cloud independence amid geopolitical shifts. The company remains committed to global expansion, citing client demand in other countries such as Canada, Singapore and India. Revenue distribution showed that Private Cloud sales grew 8.5% and contributed 62% of the group total. Public Cloud revenue rose 17.5%, accounting for 20% of sales, while Webcloud revenue increased 3.7% to make up the remaining 18%. OVHcloud serves nearly 1,200 clients and competes with U.S. heavyweights Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. While declining to comment on discussions with the European Commission, the company acknowledged a 180-million-euro tender  for cloud infrastructure the bloc had launched on October 10. "It takes time, but we're happy to see the market is moving in the right direction," Klaba said. ($1 = 0.8575 euros) (Reporting by Leo Marchandon and Mateusz Rabiega in Gdansk; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Milla Nissi-Prussak)

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Berlin (dpa) – Gastric ulcers are not only painful, they can lead to more serious conditions such as sepsis and mean that a patient is more vulnerable than others to developing stomach cancer. Usually treated with antibiotics – which germs are increasingly becoming resistant to – such ulcers can also be caused by taking too much steroid-based medications such as ibuprofen, which can irritate or damage the lining of the stomach. But prevention is better than cure, as the saying goes – and with that in mind a team of scientists in the Philippines are making progress with developing a world-first vaccine that targets widespread germ Helicobacter pylori, also known as H. pylori, which is found in around 60% of people and which is the cause of many stomach ulcers. Based at Ateneo de Manila University School of Science and Engineering’s Department of Biology, the researchers have identified proteins produced by the bacteria that make it so tough it can survive in stomach acid, which is capable of dissolving some metals. Not only does the ulcer-causing germ thrive in gastric acid, it can stick to the stomach's lining while dodging the sentinels and assassins dispatched by the human immune system.  But the Manila-based team said that it has figured out which of the proteins concerned are most likely to be safe and able to activate protective immune cells. The team says their research, which was based on computer modelling, sketches out "promising candidates for future H. pylori vaccine design." "Despite the availability of antibiotics, challenges such as patient reluctance, high treatment costs, and antibiotic resistance limit their effectiveness, making vaccination a promising alternative," the researchers say, adding that more in vitro tests are needed to follow up on and validate their findings. The following information is not intended for publication dpa spr arw

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