Russian GRU general shot in Moscow assassination attempt
Deputy chief of Russia's military intelligence service, GRU, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseïev sustained multiple gunshot wounds outside a Moscow residential building Friday, the Russian Investigative Committee reported. Emergency services rushed the general to hospital while the shooter fled the scene. State media placed the......
COVID lockdowns triggered record methane surge
Pandemic measures that emptied city streets and grounded airplanes inadvertently weakened the atmosphere's ability to clear methane, sparking the largest recorded jump in this potent greenhouse gas, according to a new study in Science. A team of 41 scientists led by Peking University researchers found that reduced hydroxyl radicals from......
US ambassador cuts ties with Polish parliament leader over Trump criticism
The US ambassador to Poland has severed all contact with the Polish parliament president, accusing him of insulting President Donald Trump after he criticized the president's policies and refused to back his Nobel Peace Prize nomination. Ambassador Tom Rose announced on X that there would be "no further contact, relationship, or......
Disconnecting to reconnect with reality
A recent reflection shared by Moroccan media figure Adil Belhajjam has reignited debate around mental fatigue, digital overload, and the cost of constant connectivity. Posted alongside images from the Maldives, his message moves beyond travel aesthetics to address a growing psychological concern tied to modern media consumption. At the core......
Martian meteorite hides ancient water reservoir
A new study uncovers previously hidden hydrated minerals inside one of Earth's most famous Martian meteorites, providing direct evidence that liquid water once permeated the Red Planet billions of years ago. Led by Estrid Buhl Naver from the Technical University of Denmark, researchers employed advanced non-destructive scanning techniques......
Global stocks plunge on tech rout and Korean trading halt
World markets tumbled Thursday as a brutal U.S. tech selloff extended into a third day, pushing the S&P 500 into negative territory for 2026 and dragging Bitcoin to levels unseen in over a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 593 points or 1.2%, while the S&P 500 also dropped 1.2%. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.6%, its worst two-day......
China unveils world's first mass-produced sodium-ion EV
Chinese battery giant CATL and automaker Changan Automobile jointly revealed the Changan Nevo A06 on Thursday in Yakeshi, Inner Mongolia, launching the world's first mass-produced passenger vehicle with sodium-ion batteries. The companies plan commercial sales by mid-2026. The sedan features CATL's 45 kWh Naxtra sodium-ion battery,......
Deutsche Bank sees Bitcoin selloff as fading conviction
Deutsche Bank analysts attribute Bitcoin's sharp decline this year not to a single macroeconomic shock but to a gradual erosion of institutional and regulatory confidence. In a note released Wednesday, they highlighted three key drivers: sustained outflows from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, a breakdown in the cryptocurrency's......
Ukrainian civilian plane with minigun downs nearly 150 Russian drones
French television channel TF1 recently aired striking footage of a modified Soviet-era Antonov An-28 turboprop plane operated by Ukrainian civilian volunteers. This repurposed passenger aircraft has become one of Ukraine's most effective platforms for intercepting Russian Shahed drones, with its crew claiming to have shot down nearly 150......
Finland urges US to avoid calling Ukraine commitments 'like Article 5'
Finland has quietly pressed the United States not to describe potential future security commitments to Ukraine as similar to NATO's Article 5, warning such language risks undermining the alliance's core collective defense principle, according to a State Department cable obtained by Politico. Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen......
US and China accelerate 'stormy divorce' in strategic sectors
The United States and China are methodically untangling economic ties in strategic sectors like semiconductors, food, and energy, in what the Wall Street Journal calls a "stormy divorce" between the world's two largest economies. China has committed about $1 trillion since early 2024 toward economic self-reliance, funneling......
German chancellor Merz tours Gulf to diversify from US LNG dependence
Europe's reliance on liquefied natural gas from the United States and Russia surged to nearly 80 percent in January 2026, per Kpler analytics data, alarming European officials over the bloc's failure to diversify suppliers despite years of post-Ukraine invasion efforts. The United States accounted for 60 percent of EU LNG imports......
Volkswagen and Stellantis CEOs seek EU protections for European-made EVs
CEOs of Europe's two largest carmakers are urging the European Union to shield the domestic auto industry from intensifying competition by Chinese manufacturers across the continent. Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume and Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa published a joint op-ed Wednesday evening in three major European business dailies: Les Echos,......
European stocks steady ahead of ECB and Bank of England rate decisions
European stock markets held steady Thursday as investors digested mixed corporate earnings and braced for policy decisions from two major central banks later in the day. The pan-European STOXX 600 hovered around 618 points early in the session, near the record from the previous close. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 saw minimal......
EU Russian LNG imports rise 8% in January despite looming ban
European imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia's flagship Yamal terminal jumped 8 percent year-over-year in January 2026, reaching nearly 1.7 million metric tons, according to data released this week by German environmental watchdog Urgewald. The increase comes less than a year before the EU's planned ban on Russian LNG takes......