Ship-mounted module filters ocean plastic pollution
New hybrid turbo-machinery system is designed to consume small plastics which are polluting the oceans. Matthew Stock reports.
New hybrid turbo-machinery system is designed to consume small plastics which are polluting the oceans. Matthew Stock reports.
The pensioner who allegedly sent letter bombs to Spain's prime minister and the Ukrainian embassy was placed in pre-trial detention on Friday on grounds he could flee to "Russian territory". The home-made devices were sent in late November and early December to Spain's prime minister and defence minister, the Ukrainian and US embassies, the European Union Satellite Centre near Madrid and to a Spanish arms manufacturer in the northeastern city of Zaragoza.
Two of the biggest hitters in women's tennis go toe-to-toe when Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina clash in Saturday's Australian Open final in Melbourne.Rybakina, 23, has coolly moved through the draw, unfazed by the snub of her opening match being shunted out to the wilderness of Melbourne Park's Court 13.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -A security assessment by Indian police in the Himalayan region of Ladakh says there could be more clashes between Indian and Chinese troops along their contested frontier there as Beijing ramps up military infrastructure in the region. At least 24 soldiers were killed when the armies of the Asian giants clashed in Ladakh, in the western Himalayas, in 2020 but tensions eased after military and diplomatic talks. The assessment is part of a new, confidential research paper by the Ladakh Police that was submitted at a conference of top police officers held from January 20 to 22 and has been reviewed by Reuters.
Indian trailblazer Sania Mirza bowed out of Grand Slam tennis Friday with defeat in the Australian Open mixed-doubles final playing alongside Rohan Bopanna -- her first playing partner 22 years ago."Rohan was my first-ever mixed-doubles partner at (aged) 14 and we won the nationals," said Mirza, a six-time Grand Slam champion, three in doubles and three in mixed.
The FA Cup arrived in Singapore as part of its Asia-Pacific Trophy Tour, and former Chelsea star Joe Cole spoke about its enduring appeal.
US trade flows are realigning on the back of pandemic shocks and tensions with China, but efforts to reduce interdependence between the superpowers have not brought a swift decoupling."The recent (Inflation Reduction Act) and Chips Act, and related sanctions are clear indicators of the Biden administration's efforts to decouple from China" in these areas, said Koopman.
Polling stations opened Friday for the Czech presidential election run-off in which retired NATO general Petr Pavel is expected to beat billionaire former prime minister Andrej Babis.Pavel won the endorsement of several parties in the governing centre-right coalition of Prime Minister Petr Fiala, while Babis secured backing from long-time ally Zeman, whose last term expires in March.
A gunman stormed Azerbaijan's embassy in Tehran on Friday, killing the mission's head of security in an attack Iran said was motivated by personal reasons but Baku labelled an act of "terrorism".Following the attack, Azerbaijan's foreign ministry said the diplomatic mission's head of security was killed and that two guards were wounded but in a "satisfactory" condition, adding that an investigation had been launched.
Some direct invites were given to pro players, which included those that are part of a VALORANT franchise team or are contracted with a tier-one organisation.
Hindu fundamentalist Ashok Sharma has devoted his life to championing the deeds of an Indian "patriot": not revered independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, but the man who shot him dead."It is because of Gandhi and his ideology that India was divided and Hindus had to bow before Muslims and outsiders," said Abhishek Agarwal, like Sharma a member of the century-old radical Hindu Mahasabha group.
Ukrainian troops were locked in a "fierce" confrontation with Russian fighters Friday for control of the town of Vugledar southwest of Donetsk as the two sides battle along the southern front.Both sides claimed success in the small administrative center of apartment towers surround by flat fields, a short distance from the strategic prize of the village of Pavlivka."The encirclement and subsequent liberation of this city solves many problems," said Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-appointed leader of the Donetsk region."Soon, Vugledar may become a new, very important success for us," he was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.But Kyiv said the town, which had a pre-invasion population of around 15,000 people, remained contested. "There is fierce combat there," Ukrainian military spokesman Sergiy Cherevaty told local media."For many months, the military of the Russian Federation... has been trying to achieve significant success there," he said.Moscow's push for Vugledar is part of its effort to seize control of the entire Donetsk region, which it has already declared a part of Russia.The town also lies along a southern front that some think could be the focus of a possible Ukraine offensive seeking to cut through Russian-occupied territory to the Azov Sea.Russian attacks in the Vugledar area could be "part of a series of spoiling attacks aimed at constraining possible future Ukrainian counteroffensive operations," said the US-based Institute for the Study of War.- Barbs on Holocaust Remembrance Day -Russian President Vladimir Putin used International Holocaust Remembrance Day Friday to lash out at Ukraine, calling those in the country "neo-Nazis" to justify the 11-month-old invasion."Forgetting the lessons of history leads to the repetition of terrible tragedies," Putin said."It is against that evil that our soldiers are bravely fighting," he said.But in Poland, where some three million Jews were slaughtered during World War II, officials pointed their fingers at Russia as perpetuating Nazi thinking. "On the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, let us remember that to the east Putin is building new camps," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Facebook."Solidarity and consistent support for Ukraine are effective ways to ensure that history does not come full circle," he added.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky marked Holocaust Remembrance Day by urging the world to unite against "indifference" and "hatred"."Today, as always, Ukraine honours the memory of millions of victims of the Holocaust. We know and remember that indifference kills along with hatred," he said.- More Polish tanks -Morawiecki meanwhile said Poland would deliver an additional 60 tanks to Kyiv to help it fend off Russia's aggression."Right now, we are ready to send 60 of our modernised tanks, 30 of them PT-91. And on top of those tanks, 14 tanks, Leopard 2 tanks, from our possession," he said.The tanks that have already been sent by Poland are mainly T-72 Soviet models, of which the PT-91 are a modernised version. Ukraine has also been promised battle tanks from Germany and the United States, announced earlier this week. And Belgium announced a new 93.8 million euro ($100 million) package of military aid for Ukraine that includes cash, missiles, machine guns and armoured vehicles.- Olympics controversy -Meanwhile controversy boiled over the International Olympic Committee's efforts to find a "pathway" for Russians to take part in the 2024 Paris Games despite the invasion of Ukraine.Russia and its ally Belarus have been sidelined from most Olympic sports since the invasion of Ukraine last February.But the IOC said "no athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport".Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said Thursday that she supported the concept of Russian athletes competing under a neutral banner at the 2024 Olympics.Zelensky on Friday invited IOC President Thomas Bach to visit the frontline city of Bakhmut, where some of the heaviest fighting has taken place in recent months."I am inviting Mr Bach to Bakhmut so that he can see for himself that neutrality does not exist," Zelensky said. "It is obvious that any neutral banner of Russian athletes is stained with blood."Ukraine's sports minister warned his country could boycott the games if Russian and Belarusian athletes take part.bur/pmh/bfm
Opener Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell hit quickfire fifties to set up a convincing 21-run victory for New Zealand in the first T20 international against India on Friday.Conway raised his fifty in 31 balls and found another attacking partner in Mitchell, who hit five sixes in his 30-ball blitz, as they added 36 for the fourth wicket.Â
First Valentyna's gas was cut when Russia's invasion came to Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk region.They are just two among some 8,000 Bakhmut residents whose precarious existence in the city has been thrown into even greater uncertainty since water supplies were fully cut in October.
Rwandan authorities on Saturday said they had arrested six people for allegedly hurling insults at a woman who made history as one of the first female referees chosen for the men's World Cup.The 34-year-old made history last year by becoming the first woman to referee at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Rebels from the M23 group in Democratic Republic of Congo seized a town from the army as they continued to advance in the country's troubled east, the military said Friday.After three days of fighting, the rebels entered Kitshanga, about 90 kilometres (55 miles) from Goma, despite the presence of loyalist forces and armed groups claiming to be "patriots" resisting the M23 advance. Â
With anti-France feelings running high in many of its former colonies in West Africa, Paris is being forced to retreat ever further from the increasingly unstable region and re-think its presence, experts say.After the ruling junta in Mali forced French troops out last year, the army officers running neighbouring Burkina Faso followed suit this week, asking Paris to empty its garrison in the next month.
Wall Street stocks finished off a positive week on an upbeat note Friday after data showed further ebbing of US inflation, while European equities wobbled before ending the session with meager gains.A benchmark of US inflation closely-watched by the Federal Reserve showed further moderation in December, according to official data.
In a hospital in Brazil's Amazon, half a dozen Yanomami children are dozing in blue hammocks. Most of the Yanomami children, who are generally eight years old or younger, are about half the normal weight for their age -- and sometimes even less, Patricio explains.Â
Tunisians are to vote again on Sunday in elections for a parliament stripped of its powers, the final pillar of President Kais Saied's remake of politics in the birthplace of the Arab Spring.The second-round vote comes as the North African country grapples with a grave economic crisis and deep political divisions over Saied's July 2021 power grab.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz begins a Latin American tour on Saturday, during which he will become the first Western leader to meet Brazilian President Lula since the latter's inauguration.Scholz will meet Argentine President Alberto Fernandez when he arrives in Buenos Aires on Saturday.