DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — As the war between Israel and Iran hits the one-week mark, Iranians have spent nearly half of the conflict in a near-communication blackout, unable to connect not only with the outside world but also with their neighbors and loved ones across the country. Civilians are left unaware of when and…
LONDON — British lawmakers are set to vote Friday on whether to back a bill to help terminally ill adults end their lives in England and Wales, in what could be one of the most consequential social policy decisions they will ever make. Members of Parliament supported legalizing assisted dying when they first debated the…
Peak sunshine has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere — the summer solstice. Friday is the longest day of the year north of the equator, where the solstice marks the start of astronomical summer. It’s the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is the shortest day of the year and winter will start. The word…
LONDON — LONDON (AP) — “Have you seen the cats?” That’s a common refrain in my household because our two felines, Maple and Juniper, can venture outside through a flap in the backdoor. Like many other London house cats, they’re free to come and go, roaming the surrounding backyards and beyond, equipped with microchips to…
LE BOURGET, France — About once a month, French drone manufacturer Henri Seydoux makes what has become a necessary pilgrimage for many in his business — he goes to Ukraine. Because for drone technology, there is no harder place to survive than the frontlines of the war against Russia’s invasion, where both sides are using…
BOSTON — Attorneys argued over whether a Harvard researcher accused of smuggling frog embryos brought “biological materials” into the U.S. in a court hearing Wednesday. Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist conducting cancer research for Harvard Medical School, appeared in Massachusetts federal court Wednesday for a probable cause hearing, where government and defense attorneys argued over…
A SpaceX rocket being tested in Texas exploded Wednesday night, sending a dramatic fireball high into the sky. The company said the Starship “experienced a major anomaly” at about 11 p.m. while on the test stand preparing for the tenth flight test at Starbase, SpaceX’s launch site at the southern tip of Texas. “A safety…
NEW YORK — An Australian moth follows the stars during its yearly migration, using the night sky as a guiding compass, according to a new study. When temperatures heat up, nocturnal Bogong moths fly about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) to cool down in caves by the Australian Alps. They later return home to breed and…
HAYWARD, Calif. — Amazon is gearing up to make as many as 10,000 robotaxis annually at a sprawling plant near Silicon Valley as it prepares to challenge self-driving cab leader Waymo. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also vying to join the autonomous race. The 220,000-square-foot (20,440-square-meters) robotaxi factory announced Wednesday heralds a new phase in…
WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — Humans are the only animal that lives in virtually every possible environment, from rainforests to deserts to tundra. This adaptability is a skill that long predates the modern age. According to a new study published Wednesday in Nature, ancient Homo sapiens developed the flexibility to survive by finding food and…
