Toulouse (France) (AFP) – “We reproduce on the ground the effects on the human body” felt in space, explains Marie-Pierre Bareille, head of the Toulouse space clinic, where volunteers spend two months lying down under supervision, in order to recreate the absence of gravity and thus help improve the living conditions of astronauts during their missions.
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – In the Desnyanskyi district of Kyiv, a team of Ukrainian investigators erect a cordon around the bodies of those killed by a Russian rocket strike overnight in the capital, before calling over the anxious relatives of those still missing to identify the dead. Officials say the attacks killed at least three and injured a dozen more, with a child apiece amongst the dead and wounded.
Copenhagen (AFP) – Around 100 people gather to perform yoga by the Copenhagen harbour – cans of crisp, cold, refreshing beer in hand. The booze-fuelled class has been open for four years, and appears popular with its practitioners.
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – It’s 7am on Copacabana beach as Thiago Costa watches the heavy ocean waves with a special challenge in mind: to catch a barrel wave. Since 2018, Thiago has set himself the challenge to surf 100 days a year in Rio de Janeiro’s waters, trying to catch at least one barrel wave each time. Posting on his social media daily, his project aims to inspire and prove wrong those who thought Rio’s waves weren’t good enough.
Unknown (AFP) – In a video posted on Telegram early Thursday, an unknown soldier from the anti-Kremlin Freedom of Russia Legion says they will soon be crossing into Russian territory. “We are going to liberate all of Russia from Belgorod to Vladivostok, so that the white-blue-white flag of freedom can be raised in Moscow,” he says.
Belgorod region (Russia) (AFP) – “Uninterrupted shelling” hit a town in the Russian region of Belgorod bordering Ukraine and injured eight people, the governor Vyacheslav Gladkov says in a video posted on his Telegram.
Hiror (Iraq) (AFP) – Residents from Hiror village, in a green valley in Iraq’s mountainous far north near the Turkish border, find themselves caught in the crossfire between the Turkish army and pro-independence fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Turkish forces have long maintained military positions inside northern Iraq where they regularly launch operations against the militants.
Oslo (AFP) – Speaking at a ministers meeting in Oslo, Norway, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg reiterates that “NATO’s door is open” to Ukraine, “when the time is right”.
Bulboaca (Moldova) (AFP) – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warns European leaders that any doubts they show in admitting Kyiv into the NATO alliance will embolden Russia to attack more countries.
Montevideo (AFP) – Uruguayan activists and union members bang empty water bottles in downtown Montevideo to protest against the authorities’ handling of drinking water shortages. As the South American country struggles with persistent drought, the Uruguayan state-owned company Obras Sanitarias del Estado (OSE), is mixing brackish water from the Rio de la Plata river with its dwindling supplies of fresh water from the Santa Lucia River basin.
Quintero (Chile) (AFP) – Chile’s state-owned Codelco copper company, the world’s top producer of the metal, closes its Ventanas smelter in an area dubbed “Chile’s Chernobyl” for the grim environmental impact of heavy industry.
Washington (AFP) – The Director of Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution office presents some recently declassified footage, including information on reporting trends and where specifically UAPs have recently been reported during NASA’s first ever public meeting on “unidentified anomalous phenomena” — more commonly called UFOs. One example of a still unexplained phenomenon is a flying metallic orb spotted by an MQ-9 drone at an undisclosed location in the Middle East, says Sean Kirkpatrick, replaying a video first shown to Congress last month.
