Live updates: Russia’s war in Ukraine

Russia is gearing up for a “maximum escalation” of the war in Ukraine, potentially as soon as the next few weeks, according to a top Ukrainian national security official. “These will be defining months in the war,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told Sky News in an…

Andrew Tate loses appeal against detention in Romania | CNN

CNN  —  Andrew Tate, the controversial former kickboxer turned social media influencer, and his brother Tristan have lost their appeal and will remain in detention in Romania on allegations of human trafficking and rape, CNN affiliate Antena 3 reported Wednesday. The brothers will remain in the custody of Bucharest Police…

Australia’s new $5 note won’t feature King Charles | CNN Business

Brisbane CNN  —  Australia’s new $5 banknote will not feature Britain’s King Charles III, but rather a new design that honors “the culture and history of the First Australians,” its central bank announced Thursday. The design will replace the portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Reserve Bank of…

Brazilian Navy says it will sink ‘ghost’ aircraft carrier at high sea | CNN

Brasilia Reuters  —  A decommissioned aircraft carrier from the 1960s that has been floating offshore for three months since Turkey refused it entry to be scrapped there will be sunk in the Atlantic Ocean in waters under Brazil’s jurisdiction, the Brazilian Navy said on Wednesday. The 32,000-ton Sao Paulo carrier…

Wildfires are increasingly burning California’s snowy landscapes and colliding with winter droughts to shrink California’s snowpack: A new study shows that midwinter dry spells lead to dramatic losses of winter snowpack in burned areas

The early pandemic years overlapped with some of California’s worst wildfires on record, creating haunting, orange-tinted skies and wide swathes of burned landscape. Some of the impacts of these fires are well known, including drastic declines in air quality, and now a new study shows how these wildfires combined with…

Antidepressants used for chronic pain on the rise, but are they effective? Some anti-depressants can’t be deemed effective in treating chronic pain conditions

New research has found some antidepressants may be effective in treating certain chronic pain conditions, but others lack convincing evidence on their effectiveness. Many people are unaware that some antidepressants (medications used to treat people living with depression) are also being prescribed to treat certain chronic pain conditions. Chronic pain…

Does lifetime exposure to estrogen affect risk of stroke?

People with a higher cumulative estrogen exposure throughout their life may have a lower risk of stroke, according to a new study published in the February 1, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The lower risk was found for both ischemic stroke…

Far from Bakhmut, an intense fight in trenches and minefields | CNN

Krasnohorivka, Ukraine CNN  —  In the town of Krasnohorivka, grim Soviet-era apartment buildings stand nearly but not quite empty, with only a few residents remaining. Blocks on the southern edges of town are burned shells, windows shattered and awnings dangling in the winter breeze. Houses are largely shuttered; their tenants…

Iranian couple handed prison sentence for dancing in the streets | CNN

CNN  —  An Iranian couple, both social media influencers, have been given lengthy prison sentences after a video emerged of them dancing in a main square in the capital Tehran. In a video shared widely on social media, Astiyazh Haghighi, 21, is seen dancing without a headscarf with her fiancé…

Live updates: Tyre Nichols’ funeral service and livestream in Memphis

In this still from video released by the City of Memphis, officers attempt to detain Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop. (City of Memphis) Editor’s note: This post contains graphic descriptions of violence. The newly released videos of Tyre Nichols’ police beating captured the brutality that his family and authorities foreshadowed: He…