Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny dead, says prison service

Summary

1. Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny is dead, the prison service of the region where he had been serving his sentence says
2. Navalny, an outspoken critic of President Putin, has been in Russian jail since 2021 on charges widely viewed as politically motivated
3. Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, has said she doesn’t know whether the “horrible news” is true
4. Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s spokesperson, said his team had yet to receive confirmation of the death but his lawyer was travelling to Siberia
5. Putin’s spokesman said Russian’s penitentiary service was looking into Navalny’s death but provided no further information
6. In August, Navalny was found guilty of founding and funding an extremist organisation, which he denies, and was given an extra 19 years in jail
7. He had already been sentenced to nine years for parole violations, fraud and contempt of court

UNRWA says 84 percent of health facilities impacted by attacks

• The Israeli army enters Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis with heavy tank and machine gun fire, forcing everyone inside to evacuate and flee for their lives.
• Rafah exodus begins as Israel’s military steps up air raids and artillery fire before a feared ground operation on the southern city once designated a “safe zone”.

South African soldiers killed in DR Congo attack

Two South African soldiers were killed and three were wounded during a mortar strike in DR Congo, the South African military said, adding that the details were “still sketchy.”

South Africa‘s mission to help bring peace and security to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has gotten off to a deadly start.

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) on Thursday said that two of its soldiers had been killed in a mortar strike near the eastern city of Goma.

The SANDF said that three more soldiers were injured in the attack, which took place on Wednesday.

“A mortar landed inside one of the South African contingent military bases inflicting casualties and injuries to the SANDF soldiers,” the South African military said in a statement.

Gaza: The charity attempting to feed Rafah’s displaced

As food supplies run low and with what little there is unaffordable for many, charities in Gaza’s Rafah are doing what they can to feed the hungry. The Al-Tikkey charity says it makes around 35 large pots of food every day to serve some of the roughly one million displaced people who have fled to Rafah to escape fighting further north. But with levels of hunger growing and supplies dwindling, it is struggling to keep up with the growing demand.

Poor students at disadvantage in new system for admissions

By JUNYA YOSHIDA/ Staff Writer

February 15, 2024 at 15:37 JST

More universities are moving toward interviews and recommendations in admitting students in place of traditional written exams.

This new system, according to Tenma Fusegawa, a student at the University of Tokyo, puts applicants from poorer families at a distinct disadvantage.

With the university entrance exam season now in full swing, Fusegawa explained his own experience in getting into the prestigious institution and what he encountered while interacting with other students after admission.

X accused of taking payments from terrorists

By Faarea Masud & Natalie Sherman

Business reporters

Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, granted subscription perks to designated terrorist groups and others barred from operating in the US, according to campaigners.

The Tech Transparency Project (TTP) found X had granted blue check marks to accounts tied to Hezbollah members, among others.

For $8 (£6.40) a month, a tick allows longer posts and better promotion.

X removed some ticks after the report, saying its security was “robust”.

Mr Musk’s decision to charge for check marks was one of the most controversial changes he made after he bought Twitter in 2022, with critics saying the move would make issues of disinformation worse, opening the platform to impersonators.

The badge was previously free, meant to indicate that the social media platform had verified the identity behind the account.

Many of the recipients were journalists, as well as world leaders and celebrities.

Israeli forces kill Gaza political analyst, frequent Al Jazeeera guest

Indonesia elections: Prabowo Subianto claims victory

Independent pollsters show the current defense minister leading in the presidential election, with most of sample votes counted. Official results are not expected for several weeks.

Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday claimed victory in the presidential election as unofficial tallies indicated that he and his running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, were poised to win in a single round.

“All counts, all pollsters… showed figures that Prabowo-Gibran won in one round. This victory should be a victory for all Indonesians,” he told a crowd at an arena in central Jakarta.

“We believe Indonesian democracy is running well. The people have determined, the people have decided,” he told supporters, while stressing that “we must still wait for KPU’s official result,” referring to the election commission.

Iran-backed hackers interrupt UAE, UK and Canadian programming with fake AI news broadcast

A group of hackers linked to Iran have interrupted BBC and a host of other European TV streaming services in Britain, the United Arab Emirates and Canada, Microsoft stated in a report earlier this month, noting a marked acceleration of Iranian cyber attacks since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. The programming was interrupted with a fake news report on Gaza featuring graphic images and what appeared to be an AI-generated anchor – the first time Iran has used AI in this way in its influence operations.

According to the American IT giant, the hacker attack took place in early December and underscored “the fast and significant expansion in the scope of Iranian operations since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict”.

The fake news broadcast focused on Israel’s operations in Gaza and was accompanied by a banner that read: “We have no choice but to hack to deliver this message to you.”

The AI news anchor then went on to present graphic – and unverified images – of Palestinians, including women and children, allegedly killed or injured by Israeli forces in Gaza.

EDITORIAL: Transparency a must in search for nuclear waste disposal sites

February 14, 2024 at 14:50 JST

The government must face up to the fact that there is no easy solution to the disposal of nuclear waste that will continue to be generated from nuclear power plants.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (NUMO) on Feb. 13 released the results of a survey of research data concerning two Hokkaido municipalities–the town of Suttsu and the village of Kamoenai.

Both entities have been earmarked as possible sites where high-level nuclear  waste will be buried underground at a depth greater than 300 meters.

The Amazon has survived changes in the climate for 65 million years. Now it’s heading for collapse, a study says

The Amazon rainforest is on course to reach a crucial tipping point as soon as 2050, with devastating consequences for the region and the world’s ability to tackle climate change, according to a study published Wednesday.

The Amazon has proven resilient to natural changes in the climate for 65 million years, but deforestation and the human-caused climate crisis have brought new levels of stress and could cause a large-scale collapse of the forest system within the next three decades, the study said.

The researchers predict that 10% to 47% of the Amazon will be exposed to stresses that could push the ecosystem to its tipping point, a critical threshold that once crossed will lead to a downward spiral of impacts.

Journalists wounded in air strike

• An Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent and a photojournalist working with him have been wounded in an Israeli air strike near Rafah, in southern Gaza.
• CIA chief William Burns is in Cairo for the latest round of discussions on a truce that would temporarily halt fighting in exchange for the release of captives and Palestinian prisoners.

More on the wounded journalists

Turkey arrests suspected IS member working at nuclear plant

It is the latest arrest in a major crackdown following a deadly IS attack on a Catholic church in Istanbul last month. The suspect has been detained and is awaiting trial.

Counter-terrorism police in Turkey have arrested a suspected member of the so-called “Islamic State” group who was working at a nuclear plant, authorities said on Tuesday.

Local media reported that the suspect was a Russian national who had been working at the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant under false identity papers.

The suspect was brought before a court and jailed pending trial.

Turkish authorities crack down on IS suspects

The Akkuyu nuclear facility is a $20 billion (€18.5 billion) project being built by Russian state-owned energy giant Rosatom in Mersin province on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.

Senegal bans protest over delayed vote, suspends internet access

Senegalese authorities on Tuesday suspended mobile internet and banned a march against the delay of this month’s presidential poll as the UN voiced concern about tensions in the country.

Three people have been killed during violent protests after President Macky Sall’s decision to push back the February 25 vote plunged traditionally stable Senegal into one of its worst crises in decades.

“We are deeply concerned about the tense situation in Senegal,” Liz Throssell, spokeswoman for the UN’s human rights office, told reporters in Geneva.

“Following reports of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force against protesters and restrictions on civic space, we call on the authorities to ensure that they uphold Senegal’s long-held tradition of democracy and respect for human rights,” she added.

Frightening video shows Japan’s stop-and-listen-for-trains driving rule maybe isn’t so silly after all

By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24

If you read our series of articles about the process of getting a driver’s license in Japan without going to driving school, you might have noticed that there are some less-than-intuitive things they check for on the test. For example, even at controlled train crossings with a gate that comes down if a train is going to be going by, you’re required by law to come to a full stop, even if the gate is open. What’s more, the test administrators will mark you down if you don’t look both ways before proceeding, and if you don’t put your window down and listen for the sound of an approaching train while you’re doing this.

That might sound overly cautious, and even some Japanese people think it’s overkill. However, a recent incident that occurred in Osaka, seen in the video below, has reminded many people that all that “overkill” is better than being killed.

He was running the biggest soccer club in Ukraine. After war broke out, his life changed forever

The noise of fighter jets zipping overhead is a sound that Serhii Palkin finds difficult to forget – even two years on.

Like every Ukrainian, the 49-year-old lived through the “nightmare” that unfolded as Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

While he scrambled to keep his young family safe amid the near constant bombardment, Palkin also had the responsibility of looking after Ukraine’s most successful soccer club, Shakhtar Donetsk.

 Rafah bombarded as Israel plans ground assault

Migration, Russia challenge global security

A survey for the 2024 Munich Security Conference shows people fearing climate-change-driven migration ahead of the threat from Russia. However, they are also worried about cyberattacks and the impact of AI.

The world in 2024 will be characterized by a “downward trend in world politics, marked by an increase in geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty,” Christoph Heusgen, chairman of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), wrote in the conference’s 2024 security report, released on Monday ahead of this week’s high-profile gathering in Bavaria.

From February 16 to 18, military personnel, security experts and high-ranking politicians from all over the world will once again meet in Munich, southern Germany, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also expected to attend.

In a Munich Security Index survey published ahead of last year’s conference, Russia’s war on Ukraine was rated as the biggest threat to security, particularly in the G7 countries, which includes seven of the world’s advanced economies.

Thousands of Khan supporters block highways to protest Pakistan’s election results

Thousands of supporters of Pakistan’s imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan and members of other political parties blocked key highways and started a daylong strike in the volatile southwest Monday to protest alleged rigging of last week’s elections.

Candidates backed by Khan won more seats than the political parties who ousted him from power nearly two years ago, according to the final tally published Sunday. However, no party won a majority, so the parties will have to hold talks on forming a coalition government. The new parliament chooses the country’s next prime minister.

Thursday’s vote to choose a new parliament was overshadowed by the vote-rigging allegations, an unprecedented mobile phone shutdown, and the exclusion of Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, from the vote.

While election winners were celebrating victory, PTI and other parties refused to accept their defeat in dozens of constituencies. Dozens of Khan’s supporters were briefly detained in the eastern city of Lahore over the weekend while protesting alleged vote-rigging.

Japan maglev train project being derailed by Shizuoka stalemate

The start date of the new high-speed maglev train that will run from Tokyo to Nagoya has become increasingly uncertain, as long-running environmental disputes with the Shizuoka prefectural government leave the project at a stalemate.

Central Japan Railway Co’s Linear Chuo Shinkansen project is planned to link Tokyo and Osaka with trains traveling up to 500 kilometers per hour. But a small area on the section between the capital and Nagoya has proved a stumbling block for the major project, due mostly to opposition by Shizuoka Gov Heita Kawakatsu.

The Nagoya to Osaka section is penciled in for completion in 2037, while the Tokyo to Nagoya portion was initially targeted for 2027 but is now officially “2027 or later” following the prolonged schism between the train operator and the local government.

Kenyan marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum dies in road accident’

By Celestine Karoney

BBC Sport Africa, Nairobi

The men’s marathon world record holder, Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum, 24, has died in a road accident in his home country.

He was killed alongside his coach, Rwanda’s Gervais Hakizimana, in a car on a road in western Kenya on Sunday.

Kiptum made a breakthrough in 2023 as a rival to compatriot Eliud Kipchoge – one of the greatest marathon runners.

Kiptum bettered Kipchoge’s record, clocking the 26.2 miles (42km) in two hours and 35 seconds in Chicago last October.

Hamas says Rafah assault would end captive talks

• Any Israeli ground offensive on Rafah will “blow up” the captive exchange negotiations, Al-Aqsa television channel quoted a senior Hamas leader as saying on Sunday.
• The United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Arab nations are warning Israel not to go ahead with the planned offensive, saying it would cause a humanitarian catastrophe.

HRW: ‘We are deeply alarmed’ about Rafah invasion

Gaza death toll passes 28,000

• Gaza’s health ministry says 117 Palestinians have been killed and 152 wound during the past 24 hours.
• As Israel intensifies its attacks on Rafah, people are now escaping to the central part of the Gaza Strip about 20km (eight miles) away.
• Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who went missing after the family’s car came under Israeli fire, was found dead along with the two medics dispatched to look for her.
• UN chief Antonio Guterres says half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population “is now crammed into Rafah with nowhere to go”, warning the displaced “have no homes” and “no hope”.
• At least 28,064 people have been killed and 67,611 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.

El Salvador: Bukele confirmed as president after final count

Nayib Bukele’s controversial decision to jail 77,000 criminal gang members is widely credited with helping him secure a second term. The election result was delayed for days after a recount was demanded.

El Salvador‘s Nayib Bukele was formally reelected as president on Saturday after the Central American country’s election body completed a final tally of the poll results.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal had demanded a recount due to technical issues during last Sunday’s vote.

On Saturday, the Tribunal announced that Bukele had won 82.66% of support — receiving some 2.7 million votes out of the 3.2 million cast.

His support rose by more than a million votes compared to the last election in 2019.

Manuel Flores of the far-left Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) came a distant second with 6.25%, while Joel Sanchez, of the right-wing Arena party, obtained 5.44%.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg joins protest against new French motorway

Climate activist Greta Thunberg on Saturday joined a banned anti-motorway protest in southern France where police fired tear gas and made arrests a day earlier.

A global figure in the fight against climate change, Thunberg has been fined by one Swedish court for her direct action protests there. But she saw another case against her thrown out by an English court last week.

Wearing a Palestinian scarf and an anorak, Thunberg joined other protesters under heavy rain at the site in Saix where a new motorway — the A69 linking the southwestern city of Toulouse to the town of Castres — is planned, AFP journalists saw.

They held up banners saying “Stop A69”. Critics of the project say it is harmful for the environment and does not take into account the current climate crisis.

The protest organisers had gone ahead with the rally despite authorities banning the gathering because of “risks of serious harm to public order”.

Data rigging scandals threaten to undermine Toyota’s growth

By Yuki Yamaguchi

Critical Atlantic Ocean current system is showing early signs of collapse, prompting warning from scientists

A crucial system of ocean currents may already be on course to collapse, according to a new report, with alarming implications for sea level rise and global weather — leading temperatures to plunge dramatically in some regions and rise in others.

Using exceptionally complex and expensive computing systems, scientists found a new way to detect an early warning signal for the collapse of these currents, according to the study published Friday in the journal Science Advances. And as the planet warms, there are already indications it is heading in this direction.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (the AMOC) — of which the Gulf Stream is part — works like a giant global conveyor belt, taking warm water from the tropics toward the far North Atlantic, where the water cools, becomes saltier and sinks deep into the ocean, before spreading southward.

Netanyahu asks military to submit Rafah plan

• The Israeli prime minister says he has ordered the military to develop a plan to both evacuate civilians from Rafah and defeat the remaining Hamas battalions.
• Israeli snipers in Khan Younis kill at least 21 people outside Nasser Hospital with medical staff among those targeted. Within 24 hours, 107 Palestinians have been killed and 142 injured.

Gaza rights group says ‘time is running out’ to stop Rafah incursion

Russians enter North Korea as first post-COVID tourists

Scores of Russians have flown to North Korea for a private tour — the first foreign tour group to visit the reclusive state since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Almost 100 Russian tourists arrived at Pyongyang International Airport in North Korea on Friday to enjoy a private skiing and sightseeing tour.

The visitors are the first tourists to be allowed into North Korea since it closed its doors during the coronavirus pandemic.

What we know about the tour

Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency said 97 Russians had left Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok for North Korea on a group tour. The group was said to include teenage ski athletes.

A North Korean-operated Air Koryo flight carried the visitors to Pyongyang, the Russian Embassy in North Korea said in a Facebook post on Friday.

As donors suspend critical funding to UNRWA, allegations against staff remain murky

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) announced on January 26 that it had terminated the contracts of several employees pending an investigation into Israeli allegations that they had been involved in Hamas’s October 7 attacks in Israel. The move prompted several nations to suspend vital funding to UNRWA while the inquiry proceeds, deepening Gaza’s already acute humanitarian crisis. But Israel refuses to share either its evidence or the intelligence dossier – a summary of which was seen by FRANCE 24 – with UNRWA, posing a challenge for the UN agency as it tries to complete its inquiry.

A senior Israeli diplomat surprised UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini during a routine in-person meeting in Tel Aviv on January 18, informing him that Israel had evidence UNRWA staff members were involved in the October 7 massacre in southern Israel that left more than 1,100 dead.

“We were shocked, we took this seriously because these were very serious allegations,” UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma told FRANCE 24.

Lazzarini travelled to New York four days later to brief UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and then to the US State Department in Washington to warn UNRWA’s top donor, the United States, Touma said.

New documents show warlord Hideyoshi craved recognition

By TAKAE KUMAGAI/ Staff Writer

February 9, 2024 at 19:09 JST

Newly discovered historical documents suggest that feudal warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598), who unified Japan, might have desired and actively sought recognition for his accomplishments.

About half are letters to Hideyoshi by close aides of his lord Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582). They are responses to reports of war achievements from Hideyoshi.

The Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History in Himeji and the University of Tokyo’s Historiographical Institute said on Feb. 8 that their contents and number indicate that Hideyoshi was intensely promoting his own achievements.

According to the museum, copies of 35 documents were found.

Meta removes Facebook and Instagram accounts of Iran’s Supreme Leader

Meta has removed the Facebook and Instagram accounts of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei’s Facebook and Instagram accounts are no longer available. According to Meta, the accounts have been disabled, which means they are permanently removed.

“We have removed these accounts for repeatedly violating our Dangerous Organizations & Individuals policy,” a Meta spokesperson told CNN.

 300k at risk of famine in north Gaza – UN

• UNRWA chief says 300,000 at risk of famine in north Gaza as Israel has blocked “half” of aid missions there since beginning of year.
• In the past 24 hours, Israeli forces have killed 130 people and wounded 170, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
• Air strikes on southern Rafah city kill 14 civilians, including five children, and wound dozens of others.
• Israel’s leader Netanyahu orders attack on Rafah – a city sheltering more than 1.2 million people – after shunning Hamas’s requirements for a truce agreement.
• At least 27,840 people have been killed and 67,317 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.

Boris Nadezhdin: Russia bans antiwar candidate from election

 Russia’s Central Election Commission has rejected the presidential candidacy of liberal opposition figure and anti-war activist Boris Nadezhdin.

The 60-year-old Nadezhdin had been seen as the best hope for the opposition.

Why was Nadezhdin banned?

The commission justified its decision on Thursday, citing a large number of incorrect signatures from supporters.

Nadezhdin obtained significantly more signatures than the required 100,000, submitting his bid at the end of January.

However, from a random sample of 60,000 signatures, the commission said 9,147 were declared invalid.

Polls close in Pakistan after millions vote in election marred by violence

Millions of Pakistanis voted Thursday in an election marred by rigging allegations, with authorities suspending mobile phone services throughout the day and the country’s most popular politician in jail.

At least seven officers were killed in two separate attacks targeting election security details, and officials reported a string of minor blasts in southwestern Balochistan province that wounded two people.

Pollsters predicted a low turnout from the country’s 128 million eligible voters following a lacklustre campaign overshadowed by the jailing of former prime minister Imran Khan, and the hobbling of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party by the military-led establishment.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is expected to win the most seats in Thursday’s vote, with analysts saying its 74-year-old founder Nawaz Sharif has won the blessing of the generals.

Wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant leaked radioactive water, TEPCO says

By MARI YAMAGUCHI

Highly radioactive water leaked from a treatment machine at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, but no one was injured and radiation monitoring shows no impact to the outside environment, the utility operator said Thursday.

A plant worker found the leak Wednesday morning during valve checks at a SARRY treatment machine designed to mainly remove cesium and strontium from the contaminated water, the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said. The machine has been idled for maintenance work.

An estimated 6 tons of radioactive water — enough to fill two ordinary backyard swimming pools — leaked out through an air vent, leaving a pool of water on an iron plate outside and seeping into the soil around it, TEPCO said, but no radioactive water escaped the compound.

Nuclear fusion: new record brings dream of clean energy closer

By Esme Stallard

Climate and science reporter, BBC News

Nuclear fusion has produced more energy than ever before in an experiment, bringing the world a step closer to the dream of limitless, clean power.

The new world record has been set at the UK-based JET laboratory.

Nuclear fusion is the process that powers stars. Scientists believe it could produce vast amounts of energy without heating up our atmosphere.

European scientists working at the site said “we have achieved things we’ve never done before”.

The result came from the lab’s final experiment after more than 40 years of fusion research.

Andrew Bowie, UK Minister for Nuclear, called it a “fitting swansong”.

Israel-Gaza war: Hamas responds to ceasefire offer with 135-day truce plan

By Ido Vock & Lyse Doucet BBC News

Hamas has laid out a series of demands, including exchanging hostages for Palestinian prisoners and rebuilding Gaza, in response to an Israel-backed ceasefire proposal.

The armed group wants a full withdrawal of Israeli forces and an end to the war after three 45-day truce periods.

The offer is likely to be unacceptable to Israel’s prime minister, who has called for “total victory” in Gaza.

The question is whether a middle ground can be reached to move the process on.

Hamas’s response is a counteroffer to a ceasefire proposal backed by Israel and the US and mediated by Qatar and Egypt – details of which have not been made public.

A draft of the Hamas document seen by the Reuters news agency suggests:

Senegal internet restored after election postponement unrest

Authorities cut access as the country grapples with the fallout of postponing the presidential election to December. The delay sparked protests.

Senegal’s internet service was restored Wednesday, days after the government suspended it following the postponement of this month’s presidential election.

“It remains unclear as to whether the restoration will be sustained,” internet monitor Netblocks said.

Unrest erupted in Dakar after President Macky Sall postponed Senegal’s presidential election originally scheduled for February 25.

Access to mobile data had been blocked since early Monday when lawmakers backed Sall’s decision to hold the election in December. They took the decision only after security forces stormed the chamber and removed some opposition deputies, who were unable to cast their votes.

Ahead of Pakistan’s elections, parties hope to woo young voters

Pakistan is gearing up for parliamentary elections on February 8. With 60 percent of the population under the age of 30, the youth vote will be decisive. Historically, voter turnout in Pakistan has been particularly low among young voters. Moreover, Pakistan’s two-year political and economic crisis has profoundly damaged their confidence in the electoral process. In a bid to connect with the youth, political parties are turning to social media. Our correspondents Shahzaib Wahlah and Sonia Ghezali report, with the collaboration of Talha Saeed.

Japan exception to U.S. military’s handling of PFAS contamination

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

February 7, 2024 at 14:03 JST

Japan appears to be an exceptional case where the U.S. military has done almost nothing about cancer-causing organic fluorine compounds detected near U.S. military bases.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) repel water and oil and have been used in various products, such as firefighting foam.

The Okinawa prefectural government has detected levels of PFAS exceeding the temporary standards set by the Environment Ministry in tests conducted near U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, in the prefecture.

Ukraine’s Zaluzhny touts drones as path to victory; Russia suffers strikes

In the past week of war, Ukraine strikes a missile corvette, an airfield and an oil refinery with missiles and drones.

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief has outlined a plan to massively scale up the use of unmanned systems to overcome Russia’s advantages in manpower and materiel and break the deadlock in this war.

The effectiveness of such systems was proved again last week as they sank a Russian missile corvette, grounded three planes and set an oil refinery on fire.

Russia, too, continued to attack Ukraine with drones and missiles, but it failed to capture new territory despite its superior resources and constant assaults on the eastern city of Avdiivka and Ukraine’s stronghold at Krynky on the left bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region.