Reporting world updates to you
Minsk, Belarus CNN — Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin is currently in St. Petersburg, and not Belarus as agreed after an attempted insurrection at the end of June, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday. Prigozhin had reportedly traveled to Belarus as part of a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin following…
The Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is seen on June 15. Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claims that Russia has been using the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as a cover for shelling neighboring cities. The plant, with six reactors, is the largest nuclear power station in Europe. It…
Eastern Ukraine CNN — For three days, shells and mortars were “flying and whistling overhead, exploding around us,” Anton, a Russian soldier positioned south of Bakhmut, tells CNN. “We were jumping like rabbits under mortar rounds and bombs.” When it got quieter, he and fellow soldier Slava fell asleep. The…
CNN — Ukraine’s counteroffensive has been “slowed down” by entrenched Russian defenses, President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN in an exclusive interview broadcast on Wednesday, adding that he wished that Western weapons deliveries had allowed it to begin “much earlier.” Speaking with CNN’s Erin Burnett in Odesa, Zelensky said that in…
CNN — Russian troops have placed “objects resembling explosives” on roofs at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address Tuesday that instantly sparked concerns around the world. “Perhaps to simulate an attack on the plant. Perhaps they have some other scenario,” Zelensky…
London CNN — Scotland is celebrating the recent coronation of British monarch King Charles III with a day of festivities in the nation’s capital, Edinburgh, Wednesday. A service of thanksgiving, which sees the monarch presented with the Scottish crown jewels, is underway in St. Giles’ Cathedral. Known as the “Honours…
Researchers have found that one method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is available, affordable, and capable of being implemented right now. Nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting substance, could be readily abated with existing technology applied to industrial sources. “The urgency of climate change requires that all greenhouse…
A new method for connecting neurons in neuromorphic wetware has been developed by researchers from Osaka University and Hokkaido University. The wetware comprises conductive polymer wires grown in a three-dimensional configuration, done by applying square-wave voltage to electrodes submerged in a precursor solution. The voltage can modify wire conductance, allowing…
Engineers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a new test that can predict the durability of cement in seconds to minutes — rather than the hours it takes using current methods. The test measures the behavior of water droplets on cement surfaces using computer vision on a device…
Reuters — Cell phones, tablets and smartwatches will be largely banned from classrooms in the Netherlands from January 1, 2024, the Dutch government said on Tuesday, in a bid to limit distractions during lessons. Devices will only be allowed if they are specifically needed, for instance during lessons on digital…
Ukrainian forces have “proceeded in a very precise and well-organized way so far” in the war, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday. Speaking at a joint news conference with Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, Scholz said he “never expected that everything would change from one day to the next,” but…
CNN — After a police officer in France shot dead unarmed 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk during a traffic stop in Paris last week, two fundraisers were set up. One, to support the teen’s mother. The other, for the family of the police officer who shot him. By Tuesday afternoon, the fundraiser…
CNN — Elena Milashina, a prominent Russian journalist who uncovered the horrific crackdown on gay men in Chechnya, was severely beaten alongside a lawyer in an attack in the southern Russian republic, according to her employer Novaya Gazeta. Milashina and attorney Alexander Nemov were on the way to attend a…
CNN — Climate activists have targeted 10 golf courses around Spain, plugging up holes to protest the amount of water used to maintain these courses as the country is gripped by a severe drought. Members of Extinction Rebellion (XR) Spain, along with activists from other climate groups, accessed golf courses…
The extensive study assessed the movements of 7,137 individual birds from 77 species of petrel, a group of wide-ranging migratory seabirds including the Northern Fulmar and European Storm-petrel, and the Critically Endangered Newell’s Shearwater. This is the first time that tracking data for so many seabird species has been combined…
A study involving more than 745,000 adolescents from 41 countries across Europe and North America identified an increase in the amount of teenagers who underestimate their body weight. Tracking data from 2002 to 2018, the peer-reviewed findings, published today in Child and Adolescent Obesity, demonstrate a noticeable decrease in those…
The UK risks a growing divide between organisations who have invested in new, artificial intelligence-enabled digital technologies and those who haven’t, new research suggests. Only 36% of UK employers have invested in AI-enabled technologies like industrial robots, chat bots, smart assistants and cloud computing over the past five years, according…
A reduction in the amount of time spent physically active when adults are over sixty years old is linked to lower quality of life, a Cambridge study of almost 1,500 adults has shown. The same was also true for increases in the amount of sedentary time, such as watching TV…
A cochlear signal, the exact role of which has been unclear since its discovery around 70 years ago, probably gives the brain information on whether the ear is functioning normally or not. This is the conclusion of a study from Linköping University, Sweden. Its findings are an important piece of…
Sulphuric acid is the world’s most used chemical. It is an important reagent used in many industries and it is used in the manufacture of everything from paper, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics to batteries, detergents and fertilisers. It is therefore a worldwide challenge that sulphuric acid often contains one of the…
CNN — The minefields in southern Ukraine are so dense, the troops trying to liberate the area can only advance “tree by tree,” one soldier involved in Kyiv’s counteroffensive in the south told CNN. In all his years of service, he said, he’s never seen this many mines. The soldier,…
Ukrainian servicemen ride in a T-80 main battle tank captured earlier from Russian troops, along a road near the front line town of Bakhmut on June 19. Serhii Nuzhnenko/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Reuters The minefields in southern Ukraine are so dense, the troops trying to liberate the area can only advance “tree by…
In an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Michael Mann, professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Arts & Sciences, and colleagues from Clemson University, the University of California Los Angeles, and Columbia University investigate the…
A new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and BC Children’s Hospital shows the sugar sialic acid, which makes up part of the protective intestinal mucus layer, fuels disease-causing bacteria in the gut. The findings, published in PNAS, suggest a potential treatment target for intestinal bacterial…
Rising global temperatures are making it harder for birds to know when it’s spring and time to breed according to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A large collaboration led by scientists at UCLA and Michigan State University has found that birds produce fewer…
When photosynthetic cells absorb light from the sun, packets of energy called photons leap between a series of light-harvesting proteins until they reach the photosynthetic reaction center. There, cells convert the energy into electrons, which eventually power the production of sugar molecules. This transfer of energy through the light-harvesting complex…
Since the mid-1600s, chemists have been fascinated with brightly colored, coral-like structures that form by mixing metal salts in a small bottle. Until now, researchers have been unable to model how these deceptively simple tubular structures — called chemical gardens — work and the patterns and rules that govern their…
A new study from Aarhus University shows that when female athletes lower their energy intake and increase their training, their health and the ability of their muscles to respond to training are negatively impacted. Diet and training go hand in hand if you want to achieve the best results. Most…
Taste receptors for bitter substances are not only found on the tongue but also on cells outside the oral cavity. As a new study by the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich now shows, extraoral bitter taste receptors could also serve as endogenous sensors…
Once a year, a small forest in Zambia becomes the site of one of the world’s greatest natural spectacles. In November, straw-colored fruit bats migrate from across the African continent to a patch of trees in Kasanka National Park. For reasons not yet known, the bats converge for three months…
