Author: quannd

Over the past 24 hours, the Russian forces launched 144 strikes on 11 settlements in Zaporizhzhia region. This was reported by Chief of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, Ivan Fedorov, via Telegram, as relayed by Ukrinform. “The Russian forces carried out three airstrikes on Temyrivka; 33 UAVs of various modifications attacked Lobkove, Huliaipole, Shcherbaky, Novoandriivka, Novodanylivka, Mala Tokmachka, Bilohiria, and Novodarivka; 14 strikes from multiple rocket launchers hit Lobkove, Novoandriivka, Novodanylivka, and Novodarivka; 94 artillery strikes targeted the areas of Lobkove, Huliaipole, Orikhiv, Shcherbaky, Novoandriivka, Novodanylivka, Mala Tokmachka, Bilohiria, and Novodarivka,” he noted. Read also: Russian strikes on Kherson region…

Syrian rebel forces were approaching the country’s third largest city of Homs on Friday, a human rights group that monitors the war reported, raising the prospect of the country’s capital city Damascus being cut off from coastal areas that are a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad.The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has relied on a network of sources on the ground to closely monitor the war since it started in 2011, said rebel forces had advanced to only about three miles from the city, and that regime soldiers had withdrawn from a number of nearby towns and villages…

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has commented on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s statement about the use of a medium-range ballistic missile during Russia’s attack on Dnipro, calling his speech another evidence and de facto admission of guilt in the crime of aggression against Ukraine. The relevant commentary was published on the MFA website, Ukrinform reports. “We will ensure that this and other public confessions by Putin are used to bring him and his accomplices to justice. Justice is inevitable,” the statement says. The MFA stressed that it is Putin who is constantly expanding its scale and cruelty, involving…

From superpowered bees to theatrical snakes, these reports from the animal kingdom drove us wild in 2024. Mighty morphin’ beluga blobs You can learn a lot about a beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) by watching its forehead. During social interactions, belugas in captivity mold their melons — fat deposits on the head used for echolocation — into five distinct shapes (SN: 6/1/24, p. 9). Scientists suspect that the squishy shapes are purposeful communications and hope to investigate whether wild belugas manipulate their melons too. Feathered flourishes Persian poems say that domestic parlor roller pigeons (Columba livia) do backflips on the ground because…

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planetGet our free Climate emailGet our free Climate emailAustralia’s decision to expand four coal mines has been slammed by island nations as a “death sentence” and a betrayal of global climate commitments. Anthony Albanese’s government on Thursday approved the Boggabri, Caval Ridge Horse Pit, Lake Vermont Meadowbrook and Vulcan South coal mines to extend or expand their operations.Analysts said these mines could release over 850 million tonnes of CO2 over their lifetimes, double the annual emissions of Australia.“To put it plainly – it’s a death sentence…

Russian occupants have deployed S-300 air defense systems on Cape Fiolent in the temporarily occupied Crimea. According to Ukrinform, this was reported in Telegram by the Atesh guerrilla movement. “Our agent conducted a reconnaissance of the military base on Fiolent. The 25th Coastal Mobile Missile Division is located there, which is responsible for the security of the coast with the help of missile systems,” the message says. It is noted that the facility has deployed S-300 air defense systems that provide air defense and are capable of detecting and tracking threats over long distances. The 26th Naval Radio Engineering Battalion,…

For people with debilitating long COVID, the new year heralds a cruel anniversary: Some are experiencing their fifth year with the agonizing illness. And despite the roughly $1.6 billion that the National Institutes of Health has received for long COVID research, not a single drug has yet been approved for that purpose. Amid this frustrating delay, the Patient-Led Research Collaborative, an organization that has elevated the voice and expertise of those who experience this illness, has been raising funds and directing them to promising research projects — and punching far above its weight.I’ll admit that I was skeptical that such…

The town of Borbón in northern Ecuador is home to several government and religious offices and a regional hospital. Nonetheless, Ecuador classifies Borbón as rural. That designation implies that Borbón’s residents should be relatively safe from dengue, a disease carried by a species of mosquito that, according to the World Health Organization, “lives in urban habitats and breeds mostly in man-made containers.” But dengue is spreading across Borbón, where the density of these Aedes aegypti mosquitos can mirror that of urban areas, researchers report in the October Social Science and Medicine. Terms like urban and rural have more to do…

President Biden on Wednesday denounced Russia’s latest attack on Ukraine, declaring the wave of missiles and drones “outrageous.” “The purpose of this outrageous attack was to cut off the Ukrainian people’s access to heat and electricity during winter and to jeopardize the safety of its grid,” Biden said in a statement.  “Let me be clear: the Ukrainian people deserve to live in peace and safety, and the United States and the international community must continue to stand with Ukraine until it triumphs over Russia’s aggression,” he added. Russia, in the early hours of Wednesday, launched an attack on Ukraine’s energy…

Next time you’re caught in the rain, thank your eyelashes for keeping your vision clear. Experiments with human eyelashes and eyelash-mimicking fibers pinpoint several features that help fling water away from the eyes, researchers from the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences report December 20 in Science Advances.  The exterior of an eyelash, or cuticle, acts like a “micro-ratchet,” the researchers report. Water can flow easily from root to tip but not in the opposite direction, thanks to scales that overlap like shingles on a roof. When the scientists dipped loose eyelashes in water and pulled…