BRUSSELS (AP) ? More than 10,000 students skipped school again in Belgium to join a march demanding better protections of the globe's fragile climate.

Ending epidemics of infectious diseases such as malaria, polio, HIV and malaria is proving tough, they said, but dramatic progress made by global aid mechanisms recent decades means the world's people are now healthier and more productive. "The data has been really striking," Melinda Gates told reporters on a teleconference. "A child born today is half as likely to die before the age of five, compared to if she was born in 2000," Melinda Gates said.

TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) - Japan's Hitachi Ltd <6501.T> decided on Thursday to freeze a 3 trillion yen ($28 billion) nuclear power project in Wales as Britain scrabbles for a way to exit the European Union, dealing a blow to UK plans for the replacement of aging plants. The suspension comes as Hitachi's Horizon Nuclear Power failed to find private investors for its plans to build a plant in Anglesey, which was expected to provide about 6 percent of Britain's electricity.

An array of crises will keep several world leaders away from the annual World Economic Forum in Davos next week, which takes place against a backdrop of deepening gloom over the global economic and political outlook. Anxiety over trade disputes, fractious international relations, Brexit and a growth slowdown that some fear could tip the world economy into recession are set to dominate the Jan. 22-25 Alpine meeting and the mood will be somber. The WEF's own Global Risks Report set the tone this week with a stark warning of looming economic headwinds, in part due to geopolitical tensions among major powers.

Scientists have unveiled what they say is an ideal diet for the health of the planet and its people - including a doubling of consumption of nuts, fruits, vegetables and legumes, and a halving of meat and sugar intake. If the world followed the "Planetary Health" diet, the researchers said, more than 11 million premature deaths could be prevented each year, while greenhouse gas emissions would be cut and more land, water and biodiversity would be preserved. "The food we eat and how we produce it determines the health of people and the planet, and we are currently getting this seriously wrong," said Tim Lang, a professor at Britain's University of London who co-led the research.

Sometimes blindness is an act of will -- and a revelation of character. So it