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Volcanic activity is difficult to predict, even when it is closely monitored. But researchers now believe a crater's age might offer clues, with older volcanoes producing less frequent but larger and more dangerous eruptions. They gave the example of Mount St. Helens in the US, which became active 40,000 years ago but its last eruption in 2008 was small and not deadly. On the contrary, the ancient Mount Toba in Indonesia began erupting about 1.2 million years ago and its last eruption 74,000 years ago was cataclysmic.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Apple Daily, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy tabloid targeted by a national security police raid last week, will shut down online at midnight Wednesday and will print its final edition on Thursday. The paper and its activist founder, Jimmy Lai, had become symbols of the pro-democracy movement, and a thorn in the side of Hong Kong’s government and police.

Source: theguardian.com

Five years ago Wednesday, Britons voted in a referendum that was meant to bring certainty to the U.K.’s unsettled relationship with its European neighbors. Voters’ decision on June 23, 2016 was narrow but clear: By 52% to 48%, they chose to leave the European Union. It took over four years to actually make the break and the former partners are still bickering, like many divorced couples, over money and trust.

Source: apnews.com

Fighting between Yemeni loyalists and Huthi rebels seeking to take the strategic northern city of Marib has killed 90 fighters in two days, pro-government military sources said Tuesday. The Iran-allied insurgents escalated their efforts to seize Marib, the government's last stronghold in northern Yemen, in February, and the fighting has killed hundreds on both sides.

Source: france24.com

Suspected Taliban fighters fired a rocket into a hospital in Afghanistan on Wednesday, sparking a blaze that caused extensive damage and destroyed COVID-19 vaccines though there were no reports of casualties, government officials said.

Source: reuters.com

Ancient Egypt met modern medical technology when a mummy underwent a CT scan at an Italian hospital as part of a research project to discover its secrets. The mummy of Ankhekhonsu, an ancient Egyptian priest, was transferred from Bergamo's Civic Archaeological Museum to Milan's Policlinico hospital, where experts will shed light on his life and the burial customs of almost 3,000 years ago.

Source: reuters.com

Scientists have found evidence parts of Venus's surface move around like pieces of continent on Earth. And while this activity is probably not driven by plate tectonics, as on Earth, it could be a "cousin" of that process. The findings fit an emerging picture of a planet very much alive, in contrast to the traditional view of Venus. Europe is launching a spacecraft, EnVision, to radar-map and gather spectroscopic measurements of the planet's surface and atmosphere. And Nasa is sending two craft, Veritas and DaVinci+, to Venus, towards the end of this decade.

Source: bbc.com

The Taliban captured Afghanistan's main border crossing with Tajikistan, officials said Tuesday, with security forces abandoning their posts and some fleeing across the frontier. The seizure of Shir Khan Bandar, in the far north of Afghanistan, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Kunduz city, is the most significant gain for the Taliban since the US began the final stage of its troop withdrawal in May.

Source: france24.com

A massive 74% of people surveyed think Apple’s next iPhone should be called something other than “iPhone 13.” And triskaidekaphobia — aka fear of the number 13 — could stop one in five Apple users from buying the next-gen smartphone if it bears that name. SellCell surveyed 3,000 Apple users in the United States this month, asking what name they would rather Apple uses. While “iPhone 13” scored 26% of the vote, the winning entry is the clean, simple-sounding “iPhone.”

Source: cultofmac.com

Kim Jong-un’s influential sister appears to have dismissed hopes for a breakthrough on nuclear talks with the US, warning Washington that it faced “disappointment” if it believed engagement with North Korea was a possibility. Kim Yo-jong, a senior figure in the ruling party who is considered one of the North Korean leader’s closest confidantes, said any US expectations for a resumption of talks were “wrong”, according to the state-run KCNA news agency.

Source: theguardian.com

A plague of mice in the Australian state of New South Wales has forced a prison to evacuate at least 420 inmates and 200 staff, according to local authorities. The mouse infestation at the Wellington Correctional Centre broke down parts of the prison building's infrastructure, damaging internal wiring and ceiling panels.

Source: cnn.com

Prosecutors have charged four executives at two French companies accused of aiding Libya's former strongman Muammar Gaddafi and Egyptian authorities to spy on opposition figures who were later detained and tortured, a rights group said Tuesday. The former chief of Amesys, Philippe Vannier, was charged in Paris last week with "complicity in acts of torture," according to the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), which was confirmed by judicial sources. Olivier Bohbot, head of Nexa Technologies, and two other executives were charged with "complicity in acts of torture and forced disappearances."

Source: france24.com

Ashgabat in Turkmenistan is the most expensive city in the world for overseas workers, according to this year's Mercer Cost of Living Survey. The annual report ranks 209 cities based on the comparative cost of expenses including housing, transportation, food and entertainment, with New York City used as a baseline comparison. The Turkmenistan capital, which was number two on last year's list, is something of an outlier in the top 10, which mostly features business hubs like Hong Kong, Tokyo, Zurich and Singapore.

Source: cnn.com

China’s ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai, has announced he will leave Washington after eight years, saying US-China relations are at a “crossroads” as the US recalibrates its engagement policies. Cui, whose departure has been the subject of speculation for months, wrote a farewell statement calling on Chinese people in the US to defend their right to be there, and to “shoulder a great responsibility and mission” in furthering the bilateral relationship.

Source: theguardian.com

A project to preserve endangered Tasmanian devils on a small island has backfired after the predators killed seabirds in large numbers, a conservation group says. A small number of devils were shipped to Maria Island east of Tasmania, Australia, in 2012. The move aimed to protect the mammals from a deadly facial cancer that had driven them towards extinction. The devils have recovered since, but the island project has come at a cost. Citing a government survey, BirdLife Tasmania said a population of little penguins that numbered 3,000 breeding pairs in 2012 had disappeared from the island.

Source: bbc.com

More than 8,500 children were used as soldiers last year in various conflicts across the world and nearly 2,700 others were killed, the United Nations said on Monday. U.N. chief Antonio Guterres' annual report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict covers the killing, maiming and sexual abuse of children, abduction or recruitment, denial of aid access and targeting of schools and hospitals. The report verified that violations had been committed against 19,379 children in 21 conflicts. The most violations in 2020 were committed in Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen.

Source: reuters.com

There was relief Monday, though, as authorities reported that it appeared no one had died. Less than a dozen people were hurt in the tornado that touched down after 11 p.m. Sunday, and all were expected to recover. At least eight people were hospitalized in Naperville, where 22 homes were left “uninhabitable” and more than 130 homes were damaged in the suburb of 147,500 people that’s about 40 kilometers west of Chicago.

Source: apnews.com

Actors George Clooney, Kerry Washington and Don Cheadle are joining forces with Los Angeles education officials to open a school to train teens in skills like cinematography, lighting, visual effects and other Hollywood jobs. The school, due to launch in 2022, is aimed at diversifying the entertainment industry by providing a path to well-paid jobs that have few formal entry ways.

Source: reuters.com