Ukraine said Thursday its forces were fighting to retain control of Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region but cautioned it was coming up against "difficult" resistance from Russian troops. . - 'Brutal fighting' - Russia wants to gain control of the entire eastern Donetsk region which it claimed to have annexed last year, despite not having complete military control over it.
The head of the United Arab Emirates' national oil company was named Thursday as president of this year's COP28 climate talks, prompting fierce criticism from environmental activists.. Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, who heads up the UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), will be the first CEO to take the role at the UN summit, said a statement carried by the official WAM news agency.
The sea has already swallowed the village graveyard in Togoru, Fiji, and long-time resident Lavenia McGoon is dreading the day it claims her house.. About 200 people were once buried in the Togoru graveyard, but McGoon says most of the remains have since been moved inland.
Jeff Beck, the influential guitarist who rose to rock and roll stardom with 1960s supergroup the Yardbirds and later enjoyed a prolific solo career, has died, his official website said Wednesday.. Beck found solo success in 1975 with "Blow by Blow," a sleeper hit produced by George Martin of Beatles fame, who Beck later credited with saving his career.
Jeff Beck, the influential guitarist who rose to rock and roll stardom with 1960s supergroup the Yardbirds and later had a prolific solo career, has died, his official website said Wednesday.. Beck had already done pioneering rock recordings by the time he was hired by the Yardbirds in 1965 immediately after the departure of one of the band's star guitarists, Eric Clapton.
Former world number one Naomi Osaka announced on Wednesday that she is pregnant and will be taking a break from tennis until 2024.. Osaka's recent absence from the tour had promoted speculation over her future in the game, but on Wednesday she said her break has given her a new perspective on the sport.
The WHO reiterated Wednesday the need for China to share more data on its explosive Covid outbreak, while praising Washington's "radical transparency" in its efforts to battle a new sub-variant.. "There's been radical transparency on behalf of the United States in terms of engaging with the WHO regarding the data and the impact of that data," he said.
A Madrid court ordered two Spanish women who married Islamic State (IS) fighters remanded in custody Wednesday on terror-related charges after they were flown back from Syrian detention camps with 13 children, legal documents showed.. After hearing their statements, the judge ordered they be held in pre-trial detention without bail on charges of "joining a terror organisation" -- namely Daesh, which is the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State (IS) group.
UK culture minister Michelle Donelan on Wednesday said she did not support the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece, following a report that a "cultural exchange" is close to being agreed with Athens.. Taken by Elgin when he was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Greece maintains the marbles were stolen and has long campaigned for their return while the UK maintains they were legally obtained.
Dodging the kind of meteorite strike that forced Russia to plan a space station rescue mission is nearly impossible, yet the greater threat to spacecraft is actually the man-made debris in orbit, experts say.. - While meteorites might sound scary, the biggest threat to spacecraft is believed to be from orbital debris -- disused satellites and other human-made objects spinning around Earth known as "space junk".
