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Facebook Tweet Email Link Lightning is a familiar sight in stormy skies, but a new report has revealed just how far some bolts can travel — in one case, more than 500 miles. That astonishing bolt sparked to life in eastern Texas and stretched all the way to Kansas City, Missouri, traveling 515 miles in seconds. It struck during a thunderstorm in October 2017, but the bolt’s exact distance was finally verified in the study, published Thursday in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. “We call it megaflash lightning and we’re just now figuring out the mechanics of how…

Facebook Tweet Email Link Kyiv, Ukraine  —  The death toll from Russia’s heavy bombardment of Ukraine’s capital this week has risen to 31 people, marking the deadliest single attack on Kyiv in a year, Ukrainian officials said on Friday. The vast majority were killed in a single strike on an apartment block. Rescue workers have now recovered the bodies of at least 28 people from the destroyed apartment block, including five children, the State Emergency Service (SES) told CNN. At least 159 people were also wounded in the blast. “This is the highest number of injured children in one night…

Facebook Tweet Email Link Former Vice President Kamala Harris said she would not run for public office because the system is “broken,” as she reflected on her decision not to pursue a gubernatorial run in California and spoke about what she views as “capitulation” by those tasked with guarding democracy during Donald Trump’s second administration. In the former 2024 presidential candidate’s first interview since losing the election, Harris spoke about her career as a public servant, noting that when she was young she thought that people who want to improve or change a system should not just do so from…

Facebook Tweet Email Link Tokyo  —  The record-breaking sale of Hermès’ original Birkin bag was among the most remarkable auctions of modern times. Last month’s nine-way bidding battle opened with an offer of 1 million euros that instantly made it the most expensive handbag of all time. When bids reached 6 million euros, spontaneous applause erupted across Sotheby’s typically restrained Paris saleroom. After the auctioneer’s gavel fell at 7 million euros — meaning that, after fees, a then-anonymous telephone buyer would pay the equivalent of $10.1 million for the bag — cheers broke out. On the other end of the…

Facebook Tweet Email Link An 88-year-old Russian man, who gained local fame for building his own aircraft, has died after attempting to take off in a homemade helicopter. The man, a resident of the Omutninsky district of western Russia’s Kirov Region, attempted the flight in the self-built aircraft on Thursday, the Volga Region Transport Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release Friday. However, the helicopter self-destructed during take-off, it added. The aircraft failed to lift off and, instead, “during engine startup, while still on the ground and as the engine power was building, the main rotor blades detached. This caused…

Facebook Tweet Email Link Sydney Reuters  —  In a remote rainforest in Australia, home to deadly snakes, spiders and creepy-crawlies, scientists have discovered a new species of stick insect they believe is the heaviest ever found in the country. The new species weighs 44 grams (1.55 oz), about the same as a golf ball, and is 40 cm (15.75 inches) long. James Cook University’s Angus Emmott, who helped identify the new Acrophylla alta species, said the creature’s large size could be an evolutionary response to its cool, wet habitat. “Their body mass likely helps them survive the colder conditions, and…

The Middle East Race & ethnicity Student life Israel-Hamas war See all topics Facebook Tweet Email Link The French government will deport a Gaza student accused of reposting alleged antisemitic content on her social media and halt all evacuations from the territory, the country’s foreign minister said Friday as outrage grows over her reposts. “She must leave the country. She does not have a place in France,” Jean-Noël Barrot said in an interview with radio station France Info, without saying if authorities would return the student back to Gaza. The foreign minister did not name the woman, who has also…

Facebook Tweet Email Link China’s Yu Zidi has already burst onto the swimming scene, but the 12-year-old made more history at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships on Thursday. Yu became the youngest ever medalist at the competition after being part of China’s bronze medal winning team in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay in Singapore. Although she did not compete in Thursday’s final, Yu was eligible for a medal as she swam in the preliminary race to qualify her country for the final. Australia’s team of Lani Pallister, Jamie Perkins, Brittany Castelluzzo and Mollie O’Callaghan won gold in a time of 7:39.35,…

Facebook Tweet Email Link SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s jailed ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol again refused to attend questioning by investigators Friday, using a new method to resist: He took off his prison uniform and lay down on the floor at his detention room. Yoon, removed from office in April over his ill-fated imposition of martial law, was sent back to prison last month as he stands a high-stakes trial over rebellion and other charges. Yoon, a conservative, faces investigations into other criminal allegations that are not related to his Dec. 3 martial law decree but target him,…

Facebook Tweet Email Link The humble modern-day potato, first domesticated about 10,000 years ago, got its start in the Andes mountains before becoming a key crop the world depends on. But because plants don’t preserve well in the fossil record, its lineage has remained largely a mystery. Now, a team of evolutionary biologists and genomic scientists has traced the origins of this starchy staple to a chance encounter millions of years ago involving an unlikely plant relative: the tomato. The researchers analyzed 450 genomes from cultivated and wild potato species, and the genes revealed that an ancient wild tomato plant…