Month: May 2023

Mushroom Coffin a Last Best Wish for Some

For those seeking to live in the most sustainable way, there now is an afterlife too. A Dutch intrepid inventor is now “growing” coffins by putting mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms, together with hemp fiber in a special mold that, in a week, turns into what could basically be compared to the looks of an unpainted Egyptian sarcophagus. And while traditional wooden coffins come from trees that can take decades to grow and years to break down in the soil, the mushroom versions biodegrades and delivers the remains to nature in barely a month and a half. In our …

READ MORE

Ukraine’s Kostyuk Booed at French Open, Refused Handshake With Belarus Player

Unable to sleep the night before her first-round match at the French Open against Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, the Grand Slam tournament’s No. 2 seed, Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine checked her phone at 5 a.m. Sunday and saw disturbing news back home in Kyiv. At least one person was killed when the capital of Kostyuk’s country was subjected to the largest drone attack by Russia since the start of its war, launched with an invasion assisted by Belarus in February 2022. “It’s something I cannot describe, probably. I try to put my emotions aside any time I go out on …

READ MORE

Belarus Official: West Left Us No Choice but to Deploy Nuclear Arms

Western countries left Belarus no choice but to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons and had better take heed not to “cross red lines” on key strategic issues, a senior Belarusian official was quoted as saying on Sunday.  Alexander Volfovich, state secretary of Belarus’ Security Council, said it was logical that the weapons were withdrawn after the 1991 Soviet collapse as the United States had provided security guarantees and imposed no sanctions.  “Today, everything has been torn down. All the promises made are gone forever,” the Belta news agency quoted Volfovich as telling an interviewer on state television.  Belarus, led by …

READ MORE

NATO Chief Urges Kosovo to Ease Tensions With Serbia

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg called on Kosovo to tone down tensions with Serbia on Sunday, two days after clashes between Kosovan police and protesters who are opposed to Albanian mayors taking office in ethnic Serbian areas. Stoltenberg, the transatlantic military alliance’s Norwegian secretary-general, said he had spoken to European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell about Kosovo and that Pristina and Belgrade must engage in the EU-led dialog. “Pristina must de-escalate & not take unilateral, destabilizing steps,” Stoltenberg said in a tweet. Serbs, who form the majority of the population in Kosovo’s northern region, do not accept its 2008 declaration …

READ MORE

New Greek Parliament Convenes, May Be Dissolved on Monday

Newly elected Greek lawmakers were sworn in Sunday but the Parliament in which they sit may be dissolved as early as Monday, ahead of fresh elections on June 25. No party achieved an overall majority in the May 21 election, which was held under simple proportional representation. The ruling New Democracy, with 40.79% of the vote, won 146 seats, five short of an overall majority in the 300-member chamber. The main opposition Syriza, with 20.07% – almost 11.5 points lower than in the previous election – won 71. The socialist PASOK was third. There was no attempt to form a …

READ MORE

У ЗСУ розповіли, чи можуть F-16 підвищити ефективність використання ракет HARM

На думку начальника авіації Командування Повітряних сил ЗСУ, російським військовим «не слід розслаблятися, спроможності і потужності авіації Повітряних сил України з кожним днем нарощуються і будуть рости» …

READ MORE

Venice Police Investigate Bright Green Liquid in Grand Canal

Police in Venice are investigating the source of a phosphorescent green liquid patch that appeared Sunday in the city’s famed Grand Canal.  The governor of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia, posted a photo of the green liquid that spread through the water near the arched Rialto Bridge. The patch was reported by residents.  Images on social media show a bright patch of green in the canal along an embankment lined with restaurants.  Zaia said that officials had requested that the police investigate to determine who was responsible. Environmental authorities were also testing the water. …

READ MORE

Italy PM: Good Ties With China Possible Without Belt and Road 

Good relations with China are possible even without being part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) deal, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in an interview published Sunday, as her government weighs abandoning the project. Italy is the only major Western country to have joined China’s BRI scheme, which envisions rebuilding the old Silk Road to connect China with Asia, Europe and beyond with large infrastructure spending. In an interview with Il Messaggero daily, Meloni said it was too early to anticipate the outcome of Italy’s decision on whether to remain part of the project, which it signed up …

READ MORE

Spain Holds Regional Elections Ahead of Year-End National Vote

Spanish voters head to the polls on Sunday in regional and municipal elections, the results of which will serve as a barometer for an end-of-year general election. Voting is taking place in 12 regions and 8,000 towns and cities, most currently run by the governing Socialist Party (PSOE). Polls are predicting gains for the conservative People’s Party (PP), which if replicated later in the year could unseat the current left-wing coalition. Voting opened at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) and will close at 8 p.m. Over 35 million people are eligible to vote. Campaigning has been marked by several controversies, from …

READ MORE

Russia Launches Largest Drone Attack on Ukraine’s Capital

Russia hit Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, overnight with the largest drone attack on the city since the start of the war. The attack came as Kyiv prepared to celebrate the anniversary of its founding on Sunday. Mayor Vitali Klitscho said one person was killed.   Ukraine’s air force said it downed more than 50 drones, but it was not immediately clear whether all the drones were over Kyiv or around the country.    “The history of Ukraine is a long-standing irritant for the insecure Russians,” Andriy Yermak, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, said.  “Today is another sanction day,” Zelenskyy said on …

READ MORE

Turkey Votes for a President in Second Runoff

Voters in Turkey are going to the polls Sunday to decide who will be the country’s president. Sunday’s vote is the second runoff vote for the presidency. Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has led Turkey for 20 years, fell just a few points short of winning the election in a first runoff poll earlier this month. The president’s challenger is 74-year-old Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the candidate of a six-party alliance and leader of Turkey’s center-left main opposition party. Kilicdaroglu is facing a formidable candidate in the 69-year-old Erdogan, who was able to survive the presidential election for the runoff despite …

READ MORE