WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (WAM/APP): Scientists claim to have found a way to restore vision in people with a common developmental eye disorder by “rebooting” the retina to its early state, enabling it to grow and cure itself.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US found that temporarily anesthetising the retina could reverse the vision system to an early state, curing a condition known as amblyopia or “lazy eye”.

In people with amblyopia, vision in one or both eyes does not develop properly during childhood as the brain learns to ignore one of the eyes.

Current treatments are only effective during infancy when nerve connections are still being formed.

The MIT researchers found that anesthetising the retina of the amblyopic eye in mice for a couple of days restored the brain’s visual response to that eye even in adulthood, according to a study published in the journal Cell Reports.

In future studies, they hope to show the treatment also works in other animal species and ultimately humans.

“If it does, it is a pretty substantial step forward because it would be reassuring to know vision in the good eye would not have to be interrupted by treatment,” study author Mark Bears argued. “The amblyopic eye, which is not doing much, could be inactivated and ‘brought back to life’ instead.”

The researchers focused on a network of brain nerves, called the lateral geniculate nucleus, which relays information from the eyes to the visual cortex where vision is processed.

In 2008, researchers had found blocking signals from the retina of an eye to nerves in the network caused those neurons to fire synchronous “bursts” of electrical signals to nerves in the visual cortex.

The latest study tested whether those bursts of signals played a role in potential amblyopia treatments.

They injected anaesthesia into the eyes of amblyopic mice and compared them with a control group. They found the injection took the retina offline for two days.

The researchers then measured activity in the neurons of the visual cortex to find the ratio of signals from each eye.

The signal ratio was much higher in mice that received the treatment compared to those left untreated, hinting that the injection could “reboot” the eye.

This suggested that after the amblyopic eye was anesthetised, its input in the brain rose to parity with input from the normal eye.

“We are cautiously optimistic that these findings may lead to a new treatment approach for human amblyopia, particularly given the discovery that silencing the amblyopic eye is effective,” the researchers said in the study.

JAKARTA, Nov 24 (WAM/APP): An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale struck Indonesia’s East Java province on Monday.

The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency reported that the earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 km.

Earthquakes frequently affect various parts of Indonesia, which lies along the Pacific Ocean’s Ring of Fire, where multiple tectonic plates meet, causing recurrent volcanic and seismic activity.

SEOUL, Nov 24 (YONHAP/APP): South Korea’s presidential artificial intelligence (AI) committee said Monday it will launch a task force to advance AI cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The task force will be headed jointly by the presidential secretary for AI policy and future planning, and vice chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), serving as a follow-up to bilateral agreements signed on the sidelines of a summit between South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan last week, according to the committee.

The task force will be tasked with establishing a joint public-private implementation system to drive outcomes of the partnership with the UAE and present substantive investment projects within the year.

The team will consist of five working groups, each overseen by relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy.

During the Seoul-Abu Dhabi summit, the two leaders shared an understanding on the need for joint investment, development and marketing in the AI sector, and discussed ways to identify major cooperation projects that integrate the AI, energy and defense industries.

The two countries signed seven memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to expand bilateral cooperation in these sectors.

Under a framework agreement on strategic AI collaboration, South Korea will join the UAE’s Stargate project to jointly develop AI and energy infrastructure.

The UAE’s Stargate project aims to build a cluster of AI data centers in Abu Dhabi, beginning with a 200-megawatt facility set to come online next year as part of a planned 5-gigawatt AI campus.

ANKARA, Nov 24 (YONHAP/APP): President Lee Jae Myung arrived in Ankara on Monday for summit talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with discussions expected to focus on economic cooperation in the defense and nuclear energy industries.

Lee flew to Turkey from South Africa after wrapping up his visit to Johannesburg for the Group of 20 (G20) summit, marking the final stop of his four-nation Middle East and Africa tour.

On the first day of his visit, Lee is scheduled to hold summit talks with Erdogan to discuss ways to expand economic cooperation, particularly in the defense and nuclear energy industries.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 (XINHUA/APP): Flooding displaced over 10,000 people in Malaysia on Monday, with the northern state of Kelantan hit hardest, according to authorities.

Kelantan, which has seen continuous heavy rains over several days, recorded 8,248 flood evacuees, who were relocated to 33 flood relief centers.

The meteorological department has issued warnings of continuous heavy rains and strong winds.

HANOI, Nov 24 (XINHUA/APP): Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has called for accelerated efforts to repair and rebuild houses for residents affected by recent flooding in south-central localities, local daily Nhan Dan reported Monday.

He ordered that the repair of damaged houses be completed before Nov. 30, 2025.

The prime minister also instructed authorities to build new houses and provide resettlement for households whose homes collapsed, were swept away or suffered severe damage, with the work to be completed before Jan. 31, 2026.

The death toll from the recent floods in Vietnam has risen to 91, with 11 people still unaccounted for, Vietnam News Agency reported Monday, citing the Vietnam Disaster and Dyke Management Authority.

Economic losses were estimated at more than 13 trillion Vietnamese dong (about 493 million U.S. dollars), according to the report.