Russia: At a seven-year high, the ruble

 The Russian ruble is constantly strengthening against the dollar despite sanctions on the Russian economy.

Despite the economic sanctions of the West due to the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian national currency is constantly strengthening.

On Tuesday, the ruble went on sale in international money markets for less than $ 55, which is the first time since June 2015, according to the Russian news agency.

The ruble is also strengthening against the euro since the relative correspondence reaches 57.9 rubles.

At the same time, international oil prices are rising.

Iraq: Summer - hell, the temperature reaches 50 degrees

 It has turned into a continuing torture in the summer in Iraq as the thermometer has been stuck for days close to 50 degrees.

An unusual heatwave is hitting Iraq this June, with temperatures hovering above normal. In Baghdad, the thermometer showed 50 degrees in the shade at the beginning of the month, according to the state television network.

According to the APE-MPE, due to lack of maintenance and resources, the electricity network is collapsing, resulting in Iraqis having electricity only a few hours a day. And not everyone can afford private companies, as the cost is about 100 euros per month for a family of four.

"National priority"

Iraq is facing a summer out of hell, following a spring marked by sandstorms and dust, which were also caused by climate change and desertification, according to meteorologists.

"As heat waves and sandstorms are expected to increase, we expect to have more patients with climate-related health problems," said Saif al-Badr, a spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Health.

Climate is changing, temperatures are rising and Iraq is at the forefront of the effects of climate change, President Barham Saleh has warned. He called for the treatment of its effects to be reduced to a "national priority because it poses an existential threat to future generations".

In the province the crops are expected to be catastrophic. "Desertification is affecting 39% of Iraq, and water scarcity is a problem in all of our provinces," Saleh said.

At the moment, the climate is in the background on the political agenda.

Eight months after the parliamentary elections, the Shiite parties, which have a majority in parliament, have failed to agree on who will be the country's prime minister. Incumbent Prime Minister Mustafa Kazimi is dealing with current affairs.

For Natak al-Hafaji, a resident of Nasiriyah, this means "living without electricity". Today the temperature reaches 44 degrees Celsius. "I can still stand it, but for children and the elderly it is very difficult."

"The heat kills us"

Although Iraq is a country rich in hydrocarbons, it is facing energy shortages. That's why he had to turn to Iran, which supplies him with a third of the gas it needs to generate electricity.

But Baghdad owed $ 1.6 billion to Tehran, which cut off gas supplies for a few weeks in the spring. Iraq finally settled its debt in mid-June.

However, the numerous, daily power outages did not stop.

At the same time, the level of the rivers is constantly decreasing due to the reduced rainfall and the dams created by Iran and Turkey.

And that's just the beginning. The World Bank estimates that if Iraq does not adopt appropriate policies, the country's available water reserves could be reduced by 20% by 2050.

For the 70% of Turks, summer vacations are a forbidden fruit

 Due to high inflation and the continued devaluation of the pound, most Turks will not be vacationing this summer.

With inflation at levels above 70% (according to official measurements) summer vacations for Turks will remain a summer night dream for the majority of Turkish citizens.

According to a poll conducted in Turkey, seven out of ten Turks do not even think about taking a vacation this summer as they are unable to finance them.

With inflation at levels above 70% (according to official measurements) summer vacations for Turks will remain a summer night dream for the majority of Turkish citizens.

According to a poll conducted in Turkey, seven out of ten Turks do not even think about taking a vacation this summer as they are unable to finance them.

People on the edge but in 2021 $ 6.5 billion more was spent on nuclear

 New pages of the anti-nuclear movement are being written in Vienna and elsewhere these days.

All of us who deal with the issue of nuclear weapons and the efforts to eliminate them, have from today and for 6 days, our minds, eyes and hearts, focused on Vienna. There, we were led 1,000,000 steps, and more, by men, women and children, around the world. There, where the pulse of the international anti-nuclear movement beats, from 18 to 23 June, at the first high-level meeting of the 63 member states of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Nothing came by chance. From the very first use of nuclear weapons by the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the first steps to eliminate them were taken by natural scientists and doctors, while the first resolution in the newly established UN, explicitly states "the elimination of national weapons of atomic weapons and all other important weapons that can be used for mass destruction ". However, the Cold War period brought a dizzying increase in nuclear weapons and their testing, by air, land and sea. Thousands of people and their descendants continue to suffer from health problems associated with these trials in various parts of the world.

The struggles of the anti-nuclear movement continued with intensity all these decades, from the legendary march of 1 million protesters in New York in 1982, to the huge anti-nuclear movement in Europe and the Peace March in Greece with the arrogant strength of Grigoris Lambrakis and Ososes who followed in his footsteps. And if the START treaties brought reductions in the number of nuclear warheads of the two superpowers, the US and the USSR (and later, Russia), the 21st century begins with grandiose plans to modernize the nuclear arsenal of the nine nations that hold this power.

No one has slept more peacefully all these years. And no one has forgotten what a nuclear weapons conflict would mean anywhere in the world. No one forgot the victims, the environmental disaster, the financial bleeding. The fight continued, with ICAN's international initiative to eliminate nuclear weapons. And in 2017, 10 years after its creation, it managed to vote in the UN, the text of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), an event that gave it the Nobel Peace Prize the same year.

In simple words, SAPO: "Prohibits nations from developing, testing, producing, manufacturing, transporting, possessing, storing, using or threatening to use nuclear weapons or to allow nuclear weapons to be placed on the ground their. It also prohibits them from assisting, encouraging or motivating anyone to engage in any of these activities. "

Today, 63 countries have already ratified SAPO and are full members. Today, an additional 84 countries have signed it and it remains to be ratified by national parliaments. Today, the region of Central America is the first of which all countries are full members of the Treaty. Today, hundreds of capitals and cities around the world are calling on their governments to ratify the SAPO. Today, already 10% of Greek municipalities call on the Greek Government to sign and ratify the SAPO. (campaign #sosetinpolis)

At the same time, according to ICAN's annual report on nuclear weapons expenditure in 2021:

- $ 82.4 billion was spent by the nine nuclear-armed countries in 2021. $ 6.5 billion more than in 2020.

- 20 nuclear weapons companies received at least $ 19.2 billion in remuneration for nuclear weapons work in 2021 and received $ 30.2 billion in new contracts

- $ 117 million spent by nuclear weapons companies to put pressure on governments.

Nevertheless, due to the entry into force of SAPO, in 2020, 101 capital management companies amounting to 14 trillion. said they were no longer funding programs related to the development, maintenance and modernization of nuclear weapons.

So we are here. In Vienna and around the world. They brought us 1,000,000 and more steps here. And we will not stop until the nuclear weapons and the threat they represent are eliminated. There is no time and space for other discussions. The action against nuclear weapons is intensifying daily and all of us, we can declare present and present in this battle over time. There is no doctrine of preventing the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. There is no political ideology that supports the use of nuclear weapons. There is only one immoral political ideology that supports their existence, just as they are immoral. Now, it is also illegal. New pages of the anti-nuclear movement are being written in Vienna and elsewhere these days, and from person to person, we invite you to take the next steps. Take your own step, one of humanity's next 1,000,000 to a world free of nuclear weapons.

* Nikos Stergiou is the President of the Greek branch of the organization "World Without War and Violence". The article was originally posted on the Pressenza portal.

France: Elizabeth Bourne's "bomb" resignation - Not accepted by Macron

 The Prime Minister of France submitted her resignation to the President after the latter's inability to secure an absolute majority in the French National Assembly.

The Prime Minister of France, Elizabeth Bourne, submitted her resignation to President Emanuel Macron, who did not accept it, "so that the government can remain in office" in the coming days, the Palais des Champs-Elysees announced.

Following Sunday's election, Emmanuel Macron does not have an absolute majority in the French National Assembly.

"Given this situation, the head of state will hold" the necessary political consultations to identify the expected constructive solutions in the service of the French, "the Elysee Palace said in a statement, ahead of a series of meetings with leaders. of parties in the afternoon the President of France at the Presidential Palace.

"Since there is no parliamentary majority, the question arises how the necessary decisions for the country will be taken and implemented. "This is the meaning of this meeting with the political forces," said circles close to the presidency.

Republican President: "Macron is arrogant, he depends on him"

The leader of the French Conservative Party, Les Republicains (LR), the fourth force in the French National Assembly, told France Inter radio today that it was up to Emanuel Macron to change course and take his party's political proposals into account. if he wants to continue ruling after the loss of an absolute majority.

"He was arrogant and now he is calling for help," said Christian Jacob.

Although he stated that "our position is very clear, we are in opposition and we will remain," said the head of the LR, whose economic platform moves in the same direction as the economic policy positions of the French president, adding: "It depends by Emanuel Macron to change course and take into account our political proposals. We will submit proposals every time ".

The President of France begins consultations with the leaders this afternoon

France: Five things we keep from the French elections

Two months after the re-election of Emanuel Macron, the French president's party emerges virtually defeated in the second round of parliamentary elections held on Sunday: it will be deprived of the absolute majority in the National Assembly and will face a "tsunami" during the Marin Lepen, the unprecedented advance of the far right.

The following are five elements that, according to APE-MPE, are worth keeping in mind for the election process of the 577 members of the lower Parliament of France.

"Slap" for Emanuel Macron

The center-liberal presidential faction Ensemble ("Together") is limited to a relative majority in the National Assembly.

According to polling institutes, it will lack at least forty seats to reach the 289 it needed to govern alone. Unprecedented negative performance: this is the smallest relative majority in the 5th Republic, ie since 1958.

If these results are confirmed, the question arises above all whether and to what extent Mr Macron will be able to govern and advance the reforms he has promised, especially in pensions.

The left official opposition

The leader of the radical left, Jean-Luc Melanson, did not win the bet to impose cohabitation on Emanuel Macron, in other words, to force him to name him the new prime minister.

But he managed to turn the left into the official opposition, as he is expected to secure around 150 seats. The NUPES alliance, which brings together socialists, environmentalists, communists and the radical left, has crushed several figures in Mr Macron's faction and prevented the president from securing an absolute majority.

"We achieved the political goal we set less than a month ago," which was to defeat Mr Macron, Mr Melanson said, accusing the head of state of "arrogance".

The far right comes out

His goal was to reach at least 15 deputies to form a parliamentary group in the French National Assembly. According to forecasts, however, the National Alarm may occupy six times as many seats.

Marin Le Pen, who was re-elected in Pas de Calais (north), may have 80 to 95 deputies - ten to fifteen times more than today. The unlucky candidate in the second round of the presidential election promised to exercise "strict" and "responsible" opposition.

The defeated ministers and executives

Many significant figures of the presidential faction suffered painful defeats: the president of the outgoing National Assembly Richard Ferran, the leader of the parliamentary group of Christoph Castaner ...

Three ministers, Amelie de Monsallen (Ecological Transition), Brigitte Bourguignon (Health) and Justin Benin (Maritime and Shipping), had the same fate and are expected to leave the government's denominations, according to France. .

High abstention

As in the first round, more than half of the voters did not go to the polls in the second. The abstention increased even more, it is estimated that it ranged between 53.5 and 54%. It may not have broken the 2017 record (57.36%), but it is estimated that it will be the second highest recorded.

Elon Musk: His 18-year-old daughter changes gender and name - "I do not want any relationship with him"

 Elon Musk's daughter, formerly known as Xavier Alexander Musk, chose to change her gender and name at the age of 18. She wants to break off all ties with her father.

Elon Musk's daughter from his first marriage petitioned to change her name, saying she did not want to be related to her biological father "in any way, shape or form" and that she wanted her new gender identity to be reflected in her documents.

The daughter of Musk and his first wife, Justin Wilson, was formerly named Xavier Alexander Musk. The couple divorced in 2008.

Musk's daughter, who recently turned 18, identifies herself as a trans woman and has applied to change her name according to her new gender identity in the Los Angeles County Superior Court in Santa Monica in April.

"I no longer live or want to have a relationship with my biological father in any way, shape or form," the statement said, according to Reuters.

Her new name now appears in an online document, as the agency points out. However, according to a TMZ article, she wants to change her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson, in order to go along with both her gender identity and her mother's first name.

The hearing for the name change application will start on Friday, according to the publication.

The exact reasons why the rift between Musk and his daughter has occurred are not yet clear.

Musk avoids answering relevant questions either through his lawyer or through Tesla's liaison office.

Musk's political stance on trans people

One month after the change was filed in court, the head of Tesla and SpaceX, which is trying to acquire the $ 44 billion Twitter social media platform, said he supported the Republican Party, which has Adopts a number of laws that seek to restrict trans community rights in many US states.

Mr. Musk has also, in the past, christened the idea of ​​preferring the pronouns "aesthetic nightmare".

"I fully support trans people, but all these pronouns are an aesthetic nightmare," Musk wrote on Twitter in 2020.

That same year, Mr. Musk wrote in another tweet that "pronouns suck."

Musk and Wilson were married in 2000 and lived together for eight years. They also have a son named Griffin.

Ukraine: Russian army causes "utter disaster" in Lisichansk

 The last 24 hours have been difficult for the Ukrainian forces in Lisichansk, where, according to its governor, the Russians are wreaking havoc.

The Russian military is causing "utter disaster" in Lisichansk, the neighboring city of Sheverodonetsk in Donbass in eastern Ukraine, said Luhansk regional governor Sergei Haidai.

"Fighting is taking place in the Sheverodonetsk industrial zone and it is causing utter destruction in Lysitshansk," Haidai told the Telegram, stressing that "the last 24 hours have been difficult" for Ukrainian forces.

According to him, "the blows continue on the (three) already damaged bridges that connect Sheverodonetsk with Lysitshansk", cutting off the first, a city of about 100,000 inhabitants, from the remaining territories under the control of Kiev.

"The Russians want to conquer the Luhansk region as a whole," which they already control almost completely, "before (Sunday) June 26," he said.

"But they will not succeed in five days", the APE-MPE characteristically states.

Sergei Haidai also referred to last night, saying it was like "calm before the storm", waiting for new blows of the Russian artillery during the day.

The governor finally noted that "a corpse and a wounded man" were found this morning, without elaborating further.

UN bans travel to two Taliban officials over oppression of women

 The UN has decided to ban travel to two Taliban ministers in charge of education due to the suffocating restriction of women's rights.

The United Nations today banned the travel of two Taliban ministers to Afghanistan in charge of education in retaliation for the dramatic reduction in the rights of women and girls by their regime, diplomatic sources said.

The UN has decided to extend for at least two months the travel ban, which is renewed every three months to allow the Taliban to meet with officials from other countries abroad. Its validity expired on Monday and has so far affected 15 Taliban officials.

However, the UN has excluded from the list of beneficiaries of the exemption Saeed Ahmad Seidhel, interim Deputy Minister of Education, and Abdul Baki Bashir Awal Shah, also known as Abdul Baki Hakani, interim Minister of Higher Education. named.

The two ministers are no longer allowed to travel abroad, in a first retaliatory measure by the United Nations against measures imposed by their regime in Afghanistan since it came to power in August, mainly restricting women and girls' access to work and education.

"This decision is superficial and unfair. The only thing that makes such decisions is to make the situation more critical," said Lutfullah Hirqua, the Taliban's deputy minister of higher education.

The decision was taken by the UN Sanctions Committee in charge of Afghanistan, which represents the 15 members of the Security Council.

After tough negotiations between them, a compromise was reached to extend the exemption for 13 Taliban officials for "60 + 30 days", diplomats clarified.

Due to the situation in Afghanistan, some countries were in favor of suspending the exemption for all Taliban officials. However, some others did not approve of the hard line, according to diplomats.

Under the terms of the agreement, the exemption will be automatically extended for the 13th in the third month "unless a Member State of the Council objects", a diplomatic source also said.

Peshkov: Death sentence not ruled out for two Americans captured in Ukraine

 We do not know where the two American citizens are now, said the representative of the Russian president, since, according to their families, they have not returned from a mission in the Kharkiv region.

U.S. citizens captured while fighting in eastern Ukraine are subject to court rulings, the Kremlin said today, noting that it did not rule out that they could face the death penalty.

"We can not rule out anything, because these are court decisions. We never comment on them and we have no right to interfere in court decisions," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov, when asked if Americans could be tried. on the territory of pro-Russian separatists and sentenced to death.

"We are talking about mercenaries who threatened the lives of our military personnel. And not only ours, but also the military personnel of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics."

The Kremlin does not know where the two American citizens are now, Peshkov added, as their families said they had not returned from a mission in the Kharkiv region.

Yesterday, Monday, the Kremlin announced that they are mercenaries and are not covered by the Geneva Convention as they do not belong to regular troops and will face the consequences of their actions.

Earlier in the day, Russia's Interfax news agency reported, citing an unnamed source, that the two Americans were now in the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine.

If this information is confirmed and 27-year-old Andy Huen and 39-year-old Alexander Drouki - both from Alabama - are indeed in Donetsk, there will be fears that they may be charged in the territory of pro-Russian separatists.

Britain's Sean Piner and Eden Ashlin and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun were sentenced to death by a Russian-backed Donetsk separatist earlier this month after being captured while fighting in the Ukrainian army.

Reuters was unable to confirm this Interfax information regarding the whereabouts of the two Americans. A spokeswoman for the pro-Russian Democratic Party of Donetsk declined to comment.

Although Russia does not carry out death sentences, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, whose independence has only been recognized by Moscow, include the death penalty in their legislation.

Relatives of the two American citizens said they were not mercenaries and that they traveled to Ukraine in April as volunteers to help repel Russian forces.

The two men told relatives on June 8 that they were going on a mission and that they could not have contact with them for one or two days. Family members also said they later learned they were in the Kharkiv region, which borders Donetsk.

Alexander Drewki, Alexander's mother, also said: "Alex did not go in the military. He went as a military man with military training."

EU: Turkey to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States

 Turkish provocation seems to be a major issue at the upcoming Madrid Summit. "To clarify its position," Emanuel Macron asked Turkey.

The European Council expresses its concern over Turkey's provocative stance and statements through its draft conclusions ahead of the Summit.

"The European Council has expressed its deep concern over the repeated recent actions and statements by Turkey. Turkey must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all EU Member States.

Recalling its previous conclusions and its declaration of 25 March 2021, the European Council expects Turkey to fully respect international law, to de-escalate tensions in the interests of regional stability in the Eastern Mediterranean and to promote good neighborly relations. way ", he states, as APE-MPE writes.

At the same time, regarding the accession process of the Western Balkans, the draft states that "the European Union expresses its full and unequivocal commitment to the prospect of the Western Balkans joining the EU and calls for the acceleration of the accession process" and states that the European The Commission, the High Representative and the Council to further promote the gradual integration between the European Union and the region already during the enlargement process itself in a reversible and meritocratic way.

With regard to Ukraine, it is stressed that the adoption of the sixth package of EU sanctions further intensifies the pressure on Russia to end its war against Ukraine, but also that in terms of sanctions work will continue, with a view to strengthening their implementation and avoiding encroachment.

All countries are also called upon to comply with EU sanctions, especially the candidate countries.

Finally, the draft conclusions of the Summit state that Russia, Belarus and all those responsible for war crimes and other more serious crimes will be held accountable for their actions, in accordance with international law.

Macron: "Turkey to clarify its position"

The President of France Emanuel Macron, who, in view of the summit in Madrid, met today in Paris with the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg, discussed with him the issue of the European defense strategy in the framework of the Atlantic Alliance, Relevant statement from the Presidency of the French Republic that Turkey should clarify its position on the issue.

President Macron reiterated his country's support for Finland and Sweden's demands for membership in the Atlantic Alliance, stressing that these are countries with significant defense capabilities that will help strengthen the stability and security of the Euro-Atlantic area.

He also reiterated France 's readiness to guarantee the security of the two countries until their accession to the Alliance. During the meeting, the Ukrainian issue was also discussed, where the need was noted for the continuation of close cooperation between the NATO allies.

Zelensky invitation to Orban to visit Ukraine

 Volodymyr Zelensky and Viktor Orban had a telephone conversation. Ukraine's EU membership, energy and refugees are at the center of the conversation.

The invitation to the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, to visit Ukraine was addressed by Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday (06/21), at the end of a telephone conversation.

"We had a fruitful conversation with the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban," the Ukrainian president wrote on Twitter, adding, "Thank you for your support of Ukrainian sovereignty and for sheltering Ukrainians during the war."

He went on to say that the two countries agreed to develop co-operation in the energy sector, while thanking Orban for his support of Ukraine's bid to join the EU, and inviting the Hungarian Prime Minister to visit Ukraine.

According to a statement issued by Viktor Orban's press secretary to the Hungarian MTI, the two leaders focused on Ukraine's bid to join the European Union, the reception of war refugees from Hungary and other areas of Hungarian-Ukrainian cooperation.

During the meeting, the Hungarian Prime Minister underlined Hungary's support for Ukraine's EU bid and the removal of bureaucratic obstacles to Ukraine's accession to the EU. At the same time, Orban pledged to communicate Hungary's position at the EU summit this week in Brussels.

According to the same information, the Hungarian Prime Minister noted that the country has now received almost 800,000 Ukrainian refugees and is ready to cooperate in further energy projects as well as in the rail transport of Ukrainian grain. Hungary will also host an even larger number of Ukrainian students, he told his counterpart.

Spain: Flaming space rocket debris illuminates Iberian sky

 The flaming debris of the space rocket became visible in the Iberian sky. They talk about the most impressive phenomenon that has been observed.

Remains of a Chinese space rocket glowing as they entered the atmosphere illuminated Spain's night sky in the early hours of Tuesday morning, leaving many spectators stunned and puzzled.

"I think it was the most spectacular phenomenon I have ever observed in the sky," said Miguel Kruth, who videotaped images provided by Reuters. In the relevant video, the pieces of the rocket are immortalized crossing the ethers, creating a "bright path" over Granada, as they ignited and separated.

Kruth had read about the wreckage of a Chinese CZ-2F rocket and was ready to capture images from a balcony. "I did not have high hopes, but I was lucky tonight," he said.

Similar videos from different locations in Spain and Portugal have been published by internet users. This was followed by a storm of comments on social media - speculating about meteorites and even ... aliens - which subsided when it became known that it was the wreckage of a space rocket.

An eyewitness described in a Twitter post that "cars stopped on a highway" and people were watching the spectacle in the sky.

The rocket was launched on June 5 and transported three astronauts to the Chinese space station.

Russia: Fighter plane crashes near border with Ukraine

 A Russian Su-25 fighter jet crashed in the Rostov region, near the border with Ukraine, Russian media reported.

A Russian fighter jet has crashed in the Rostov region near the border with Ukraine, killing its pilot, the region's military has said.

"On June 21, a Su-25 aircraft crashed in the Rostov region during a scheduled training flight. "The pilot was killed," the source was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

According to the first information, the crash of the Sukhoi car is attributed to mechanical damage.

On June 17, another aircraft of the same type crashed in the Belgorod region - which also borders Ukraine - during a training flight, with Russian authorities attributing the crash to mechanical damage.

Moscow has repeatedly accused Kyiv of launching attacks in Russian border areas.

10 Interesting Facts About Mars
From its impressive two moons to the super intense dust storms we countdown the Top 10 Interesting Facts about Mars.
10. The basics Mars
The fourth planet from the Sun, is commonly known as the 'red planet' because of its reddish appearance. Like many other celestial bodies in the universe, Mars is named after a Roman god of war and agricultural guardian. The features of terrestrial planet are very similar to the Moon and Earth. Mars also has impact craters reminiscent of the Moon as well as deserts, volcanoes, valleys, and polar caps comparable to Earth and was first recorded by Egyptian astronomer in 2nd millennium BC.

9. Aurora and mysterious dust clouds
In 1994, astronomers discovered ultraviolet glow in the southern hemisphere of Mars. A decade later in late 2014, NASA's MAVEN spacecraft noticed a blanket of auroras in the northern hemisphere as well. The particles descended deep into the atmosphere of Mars, and created auroras approximately 100 km above the Martian surface. In 2015, NASA detected mysterious high-altitude dust clouds in Mars. It is speculated that the dust is coming from the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, but it is still unexplained how it got there.

8. Mars has two moons
Talking of moons, Mars has two small natural satellites - Phobos and Deimos. The moons were discovered by Asaph Hall in 1877. Their names are inspired by twins in Greek  mythology and their meanings are quite interesting; Phobos means fear and Deimos means terror. The origin of moons is uncertain.

7. Highest mountain in the Solar System
Mars is home to Olympus Mons, the second highest known mountain and the largest volcano in the Solar System. It was formed approximately 3.3 billion years ago during the start of Amazonian period. The shield volcano is now extinct and lies in the higher land of Tharsis. Mars is also home to one of the largest gorges in the Solar System called Valles Marineris.

6. Future of Mars
Scientists have predicted a plethora of interesting events for Mars. From 20 to 70 million years from now, Mars' moon, Phobos, will be ripped apart by powerful tidal forces because of its close proximity to the Martian surface. Mars will then have a cool ring around it! In 7.5 billion years, Earth and Mars will be tidally locked with the expanding Sun. The Sun will reach the 'red giant' stage and will end up destroying Earth, Venus, Mercury and Mars.

5. Dust storms
Remember how a massive dust storm left Matt Damon stranded on Mars in The Martian? Well, you can't grow potatoes on Mars, but they got that part right. Mars is subjected to the largest and extremely strong dust storms in the solar system. They go on for months and months, and envelope the entire planet. Moreover, the seasons are way more intense than other planets in the Solar System because Mars orbits around the Sun in an oval shaped path. Oh, it also has all the four seasons the Earth has.

4. Water on Mars
Water on Mars create a lot of hype every other week. Water does exist on Mars but as ice and minuscule vapors in the atmosphere. Liquid water can only occur under certain condition because Mars has a very low atmospheric pressure. NASA has discovered evidence of rivers, freshwater lakes and streams that existed once upon a time. If those lakes existed today, Mars would have been habitable.

3. Life on Mars
The origin of Mars is very similar to Earth. People have been looking for evidence of life on Mars for centuries. Major searches only began in the 19th century and continues till today. Many experiments have been conducted for Martian habitability and life. Earth lichens successfully survived in a simulated Martian environment. Curiosity Rover discovered an ancient lake that could have supported life on Mars if it existed today. Currently, a team of scientists are trying to grow potatoes under Martian conditions. Around 68 missions have been launched to Mars since 1960!

2. Pieces of Mars on Earth
Several Martian meteorites have been found on Earth that must have blasted off from the planet due to a comet’s strong impact. These meteorites are invaluable for research.

1. Mars will turn you into bubbles
Water can't exist on Mars because it has a low atmospheric pressure. For the very same reason, if humans went to Mars without proper space suit and gear, they will immediately die because all the oxygen in their body will explode into tiny bubbles. It won’t be a pretty sight.

10 Interesting Facts About the Sun
From the astronomical size of the sun, to its deadly and destructive solar flares we countdown the Top 10 most Interesting Facts about the Sun.

10. The basics
The sun is over 4.7 billion years old and is responsible for the Earth’s climate and weather. With a surface temperature of 5500 degrees Celsius, the almost perfect sphere holds incredibly destructive capabilities.

9. Gravity
The gravity on the sun is 28 times more than on earth. So, someone weighing 150 pounds would weigh 4,200 on the sun.

8. Size
Earth is huge, but the sun is bigger. Around 11,990 times bigger. Yep, scientists have discovered that around 960,000 earths would fit inside the suns interior. That’s pretty difficult to comprehend. But here’s something else. In the far away future, anywhere in-between 130 million years to 5 billion, the sun would have burned all the hydrogen and helium, at which point in would grow to consume Earth, Venus and Mercury. After this “red giant” phase it will then begin the process of collapsing on itself, retaining its enormous volume but being reduced to the size of our once beautiful earth. This is to be called ‘white dwarf’.

7. Solar Eclipse
The natural event that is the solar eclipse occurs when the moon comes in between the Earth the sun. Due to the location of the moon this only occurs five times a year, and if it was a little closer it would actually occur once a month.

6. Idolised
We have come to realise the importance of the sun on the Earth. However, through human history it has been seen that many cultures worshipped the sun as a God. The ancient Aztecs, Egyptians and much more all have a solar deity. Although they did realise the importance of the sun, as the sunlight gave their crops the ability to grow for example, they didn’t fully understand it. Nowadays we understand the sun is just another part of the galaxy, and although instrumental to our survival, is not a god or higher power.

5. Speed
The sun travels about 220 kilometres per second, and after 225-250 million years it completes a full orbit around the centre of the Milky Way.

4. One of 100 Billion
The sun is actually a star. The reason why it’s so prevalent in our solar system is because it’s the closest. Every single one of those tiny dots in the sky are like our sun, they can be smaller or even larger. Actually, our sun is only classed as a ‘medium’ sized star so you can imagine the billions of stars that trump over ours.

3. Orbits
The sun is orbited by nine main planets, all of which I will talk more about in future episodes. These are Venus, Earth, Mercury, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Pluto which isn’t a planet now but still.

2. Solar Flares
Every 11 years it has been estimated that sun spots, or solar flares, occur. What causes this is mainly electrons colliding with other particles within the sun. A sudden flash of brightness can be observed from earth, where the equivalent of 160 billion megatons of TNT is expelled into space, carryings clouds of electrons, atoms and ions. These usually reach earth in the matter of a day or two, and can cause major interruptions with technology and implement a geomagnetic storm which affects the magnetosphere and can knock out satellites.

1. Distance
The sun is 150 million kilometres away from Earth. So, with the light travelling 300,000 kilometres per second, that means by the time the light reaches earth it has actually taken 8 minutes. Hey guys its Fuzzy TV, thanks for watching my video on the Top 10 Interesting Facts about the Sun.

10 Junk Food That's Actually Good for You
Junk food we know what it consists of and while most of us can't totally get off it, we understand that cutting back can be a good thing. Interestingly enough, some of the most well-known junk foods we've come to know over the years have actually turned out to be more beneficial than we first realized.

1. M&M'S

M&M'S are delicious but how on earth can this candy be considered healthy? After all, it's just sugar and food coloring. Turns out, the food coloring is actually what gives these tasty little guys a healthy side effect. Specifically, the dye use in blue M&M'S has been linked to a reduction in damage caused in spinal injuries. When researchers injected the dye into rats with spinal injuries, the rodents showed improved recovery and the ability to walk. This doesn't make M&M'S healthy for the majority of us, but now we don't have to feel so bad when filling our mouths with this delicious candy.

2. Beef Jerky

Often sold in convenience stores, this snack food doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to health. After all, it's dried meat in a bag. Actually, beef jerky is high in protein and is a snack that won't throw off your sugar and insulin levels. Even better, there are low-sodium varieties which can make this misunderstood snack appropriate for athletes and even those of you looking to keep the weight down while enjoying a tasty treat.

3. Pork Rinds

Deep fried pig skin - how on earth is this junk food healthy? Okay, so pork rinds aren't going to replace your daily serving and vegetables but this snack food isn't as junky as you once thought. A 1 ounce serving contains 17 grams of protein and 9 grams of fat. That's more protein and less fat than is found in a serving of most potato chips. Additionally, pork rinds contain a healthy dose of oleic and stearic acids which are actually healthy fats that don't raise your cholesterol levels.

4. Popcorn

Popcorn is often considered a healthy alternative to chips but empty calories as well. Throw on some buttery topping or other seasoning and you've likely got a full-out junk food on your hands. It doesn't have to be that way, however. Popcorn is loaded with fiber and has the benefit of containing a healthy dose of antioxidants which can help prevent heart disease and certain cancers. In fact research has shown that in the world of snack food, popcorn has the most poly phenol antioxidant levels of any other snack.

5. Chocolate Bars

Most people love chocolate but we often associate this treat with high levels of fat and sugar. Chocolate also contains flavonoids, thanks to the cocoa used. Flavonoids have been shown to be good for your heart and circulatory system. The darker the chocolate, the more flavonoids are present. As an added bonus, most of the fat in this case is made up of oleic and stearic acids, both considered to be good fats. Of course, this doesn't make it a health food and moderation is still key.

6. Ketchup

Loaded with sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup which dangerously spikes our blood sugar levels, we have often been told that there is little redeeming quality when it comes to using ketchup. This may not totally be the case. In fact, fine brands that don't have added high fructose corn syrup and this junk food sauce can actually have some real benefits. Ketchup is loaded with a very powerful antioxidant lycopene. Researchers have linked lycopene as a successful treatment for cardiovascular disease, stroke, osteoporosis, diabetes and male infertility.

7. Sour cream

Light ketchup, for  years people thought there was little redeeming quality to the sour cream they dumped on their foods. After all, much of the calories come from fat which is saturated. It actually isn't as bad as we once thought. A two tablespoon serving has half the calories of a single tablespoon of mayonnaise and there's less saturated fat than you'd find in a 12 oz. Glass of a 2% milk. Plus, it has a little calcium and your potato just wouldn't taste the same without it.

8. Hot Sauce

It's hard to imagine eating some of your favorite foods without a healthy dose of hot sauce. Often seen as having no nutritional value and being a likely source of heart burn, hot sauce was often clustered into the junk food category because it offered no real benefits. Not anymore.  Hot sauce contains something called capsaicin. This compound has been shown to curb your appetite levels by controlling the levels of hormones that tell us if we are full or hungry.

9. Pizza

When we learned about nutrition in school, many of us were told that pizza was one of those 'iffy' foods. That is, it had some nutritional value but often had a lot of salt and fat included. In fact, pizza can be loaded with calcium, fiber, vitamins and antioxidants if it's made right. This means staying away from frozen pizza and that local pizza chain that uses a lot of cheese and processed meats. Instead, add vegetables like onions and peppers and cut back on cheese to take your pizza from the dark side over to a healthy choice.

10. Cheese Whiz

Ya, right! if one thing is for certain, cheese whiz has personality but absolutely no nutritional value. After all, it's a man-made synthetic cheese product, right? Think again. Sure, it's loaded with emulsifiers and stabilizing agents but this processed cheese is also a very high source of something called conjugated linoleic acid. According to researchers, this natural trans fat is one of the most powerful cancer fighters around and cheese whiz has a most of it in comparison to any other cheese.

10 Science Facts News
10 SCIENCE FACTS NEWS
Big-brained mammals are more likely to go extinct
For millions of years, mammals with large brains have had the upper hand when it comes to surviving extinction, but a new study has found the opposite is now true. By examining the relationship between brain size and endangerment status in 160 species, researchers found that mammals with larger brains relative to their body mass were more likely to be at risk.

A flower has grown in space
After successfully growing lettuce onboard the International Space Station last year, Commander Scott Kelly and his crew have shown off the first flower to be grown in space. The zinnia plant was grown using the station’s Veggie system, specifically designed for growing crops in microgravity.

We have said farewell to Philae lander
The little spacecraft that successfully landed on Comet 67P in November 2014 has now gone into eternal hibernation. The lander has remained silent since July 2015, and is now facing conditions from which it is unlikely to recover, so ground control has given up sending commands.

History could last forever in 5D glass
Scientists at the University of Southampton have developed a new way to store digital data that will preserve it for billions of years, even at high temperatures. Using an ultrafast laser, they etched tiny nanostructures inside discs of glass, encoding information in five dimensions – their position in 3D space as well as their size and orientation – altering the way light reflects off them. The change in
reflected light can then be analysed to determine the information they hold.

Bananas are helping to diagnose skin cancer
The black spots that appear on bananas as they age are caused by the enzyme tyrosinase, which also causes the tell-tale spots of the skin cancer melanoma. This information has helped researchers in
Switzerland develop a new imaging technique for measuring tyrosinase levels, which they were able to test on the fruit before trying it on humans.

Horses can read human emotions
By showing horses photographs of positive and negative human facial expressions, researchers at the
University of Sussex have proved these animals can distinguish between happy and angry emotions. When shown an angry face, the horses looked more with their left eye – a behaviour associated with
processing threatening stimuli – and experienced a rapid increase in heart rate, associated with stress.

Climate change will make transatlantic flights longer
You’ll get through more movies than usual on future flights from Europe to North America, as climate change slows down some journeys across the Atlantic. Scientists at the University of Reading have calculated that the jet stream – high-altitude winds blowing from west to east across the ocean – is speeding up, creating stronger headwinds for westbound flights. The good news though, is that eastbound flights will speed up, as stronger tailwinds help push aircraft towards Europe.

Spiderman’s feet are not big enough
Ever wondered why you can’t scale walls like your favourite superhero? Researchers at the University of Cambridge have revealed that in order to climb a smooth vertical surface, humans would need impossibly big feet as they would require adhesive pads covering 40 per cent of their body, or roughly 80 per cent of their front. They concluded that the maximum size an animal could be in order to climb walls is that of a gecko.

Brain folds are the result of crumpling
In the womb, our brains are initially smooth structures, only developing folds when the foetus is about 20 weeks old. To work out how these folds form, scientists created a gel model of a foetal
brain, and immersed it in a solution to make it expand. This revealed that as the outer part of the brain grows faster than the rest, it crumples to form folds.

Hair follicles gradually turn into skin
As we age, our hair follicles slowly stop growing new hair, and now scientists in Tokyo know why. Age-related damage to our DNA triggers the destruction of the protein Collagen 17A1, causing stem cells inside the hair follicles to transform into skin, shrinking the follicles until they disappear.

10 Science Facts You Didn't Learn in School
We all had to take basic science classes in school, and we all took what was said verbatim. Surely there had to be more interesting things to talk about? Well, guess what? There was, and we were deprived of learning about the cooler stuff! Here are 10 science facts you didn't learn in school! Were you a wiz kid in school? Then stay tuned for our upcoming quiz! The best answer will win the coveted award of being pinned at the top, so be sure to upvote your favorite answer!

1. Flying Balls

If you played any kind of sport like tennis or soccer, then you might be familiar with the Magnus effect. For example, a group of guys dropped a basketball from the top of a 415 foot High Dam. When they just dropped the ball, it landed below under where it was droppped. On the next basketball, they added a spin before dropping, and the result was that the ball ended up flying through the air. The Magnus effect has been used to describe how balls fly in the air in tennis and soccer, and it has been used in lieu of sailboats and wings for an airplane. It's all about the direction of the spinning and flow of the air!

2. Grenade Survival

Grenades and explosives are no joke, and if we encounter one in person, we think we're generally doomed. If you encounter a grenade underwater, you're actually less likely to survive that if you encounter a grenade by land. Why? the blast from a grenade on land is less lethal because air is compressible. But underwater, the blast wave will crush your lungs because you can't fight back with a wave of equal force. So if you see a grenade underwater, get out of the water ASAP!

3. No glasses No problem

If you wear glasses, and you know that if you don't have them, you're pretty much screwed. But not all hope is lost! whether your glasses broke, or your contacts fell out, there is another way! All you need to do is make a pinhole with your hands and look through it. It's works! But what is this witchcraft?  Vision is connected with light, and how much of it is coming through your retinas. By making a pinhole, you are controlling and focusing the light that's coming into your retinas, and will help you see clearer without your glasses. Obviously, don't try this while driving. You hear us, mr. Magoo?

4. Exploding Whales

Dead whales pop up on beaches often, and that is literal! If you see a dead whale on the beach, you might be tempted to get a closer look. But in reality, you need to stay as far away as possible. As the dead whale decomposes, it fills up with methane and other gases. Because humans love to poke around at dead whales, this causes the body to explode when provoked. That is not only a massive mess, but it is a mess that smells awful!

5.Raining Diamonds

As that famous song goes, "Diamonds are a girl's best friend!" and if it was possible to inhabit Saturn and Jupiter, we imagine women everywhere would want to live on the planet. Scientists strongly believe that diamonds rain from the skies of Saturn and Jupiter. It all has to do with methane, and the planets' lightning storms turning into soot. Then, the soot hardens into chunks of graphite and diamond as it falls to the ground. Are there any science experiments you wish you did in school? Stay tuned to find out more cool science facts and see if your answer changes!

6. Swallowing a Star

Stars and black holes have been studied for hundreds of years. In science class, we learned that stars can get swallowed up by black holes. But what actually happens? And what does it look like? When a black hole swallows the star, the star is ripped apart by the black hole's gravitational force. Some of the stars remains go into the black hole, while the rest is "burped out", causing a huge jet of plasma to shoot out. So next time you get in trouble for burping at the table, just say you're emulating a black hole!

7. Fungus for Relatives

When Charles Darwin first introduced the theory of evolution, religious people went nuts because it went against their belief in creationism. There are still creationist that take offense to the fact that we may have evolved from monkeys. But we might have another relative, and that is mushrooms. This is because mushrooms are fungi and they share a common ancestor with animals, which is algae. Also, fungus plays a major role in the decomposition process of living things, including humans. Want some stuffed human meat...erm...we mean mushrooms?

8. Burping in Space

f you are dreaming about becoming an astronaut, and you hope to one day be able to burp in space, then call us"dream dashres." You actually can't burp in space. It all depends on gravity. Gravity helps keep the solid and wet stuff down so that all that comes out is gas. But when there is no gravity, after you try to burp, you'll end up vomiting instead. The same goes for farting...taking starting to a whole new cosmic level!

9. Frozen Boil

We have learned that if water gets to 32 degrees fahrenheit, then it freezes. If water reaches 212 degrees Fahrenheit, it boils. With this in mind, it should be impossible for water to freeze and boil at the same time, right? Wrong! It's called, "the triple point" and it happens when conditions are just right for all three phases of water (solid, liquid, and gas) to coexist in thermodynamic equilibrium. It's not an experiment you can do at home safely, but it can happen!

10. Wide Open Spaces

Atoms are like many solar systems, and matter is generally empty. In other words, atoms have a lot of space between each other. If you were to remove that space, you can fit the entire human race into the volume of a sugar cube. Atoms are 99.99% empty space! Only four percent of the mass of the universe is the atoms that make up the planets, stars, and humans, the rest is empty space. Remember that question we asked earlier based on these new facts, what experiments the you wish you did in school?

10 Weird Discoveries That Science Can't Explain
Just because scientists can see, observe, and study something doesn't mean they're able to fully explain it. In this Archive, we're going to explore ten things that exist - though we can't figure out how or why they do. Before we get started, go ahead and give us a subscribe and click the bell for notifications for future videos. If you liked this video, be sure to give it a like and don't forget to leave a comment, 'cause we're always looking forward to hearing from  you!

10. Why Do We Dream?
Have you ever woken up from a horrific dream and wondered why your brain did that to you? Well, nobody has an answer, really. We know that we do dream, but scientists aren't sure why we do. Theories are thrown around involving forms of memory processing that consolidates short-term to long-term memories, an extension of waking consciousness, the brain's response to biochemical and electrical changes that occur during sleep, and the brain's means of preparing for threatening events and dangers. Have fun pondering over those concepts the next time you're lying awake, waiting for sleep to take you.

9. The Mars Hole
We know that the surface of Mars is a cratered mess, but there's a feature that was discovered in 2017 near the planet's South Pole that has left NASA scientists perplexed. Amidst the expected planet-wide pockmarks is a pit that's quite a bit deeper than expected. Though it's known that meteorite impacts have altered Mars' terrain, there's no indication of what caused the deep pit. Imaging of the odd feature has shown that ice does form at its base, but that doesn't help determine what caused the near 1,000-foot hole. For now, it remains one of the many mysteries of space.

8. The Tully Fish
Look at this ugly thing. It looks like something you'd create in Spore. Nobody? Eh, moving on. The Tully Fish was an ancient sea creature that created a series of debates among scientists, one that was thought to have ended in 2017 when it was classified as a vertebrate. Unhappy with that answer, however, another group of researchers have stepped in to say the aquatic creature could not have been a fish. And so, we're back at square one. There is only one species of Tully Fish, the T. gregarium, and the only fossils to be discovered were in the Mazon Creek fossil beds of Illinois. While scientists are still going back and forth, I'm sticking with Spore. Okay, fine. Nobody plays that anymore.

7. Humpback Super-Groups
The first important question to answer is "what is a humpback supergroup." In short, it's a large group of humpbacks, as many as 200, observed together in one location. Fairly simple answer, but that doesn't answer the pressing question that remains - why are they grouping together in regions they otherwise wouldn't? According to a paper published in the journal Plos One, why the supergroups are forming "remains speculative," but one of the more popular answers deals with a changing ecosystem that's dwindling the presence of humpback prey. A far less exciting reason is that this isn't really new behavior - we just haven't observed it yet.

6. The Great Pyramid of Giza Cavities
In 2016, the ScanPyramids project, which scanned the interiors of the Old Kingdom pyramids of Egypt using various technologies, uncovered two unknown cavities in the Great Pyramid of Giza. The team of researchers from Cairo University's Faculty of Engineering and a Paris-based non-profit known as Heritage Innovation and Preservation, discovered one cavity 345-feet from the ground on the northeastern edge of the pyramid and a second "void" located on the northern side by the upper part of the entrance gate. Further research provided them a 3D scan of the cavities for further study, but there is still no answers as to what they were used for.

5. Earthquake Booms
We've covered them in prior Archives, the unmistakable boom that sometimes happens before an earthquake hits. They're nothing new and there are plenty of videos online about them, but why do they occur? According to the United States Geological Survey, these naturally occurring booms are a mystery, but scientists predict they may be connected to shallow earthquakes that aren't recorded by seismographs. Whatever their cause, they are haunting noises that sound more like a signal of the apocalypse.

4. Blood Types
Why we have different blood types is a question that probably hasn't crossed your mind yet. We just kind of accept it. In 1900, Karl Landsteiner first discovered blood types and, since then, it's been a battle to uncover everything about them. As University of California biologist Ajit Varki puts it, "We still don't know exactly what they're for." One proposed reason for their existence relates to diseases, specifically the prevalence of Type O blood in regions with high cases of malaria. Based on this research, it's believed that blood type was an evolutionary advantage intended to ward off diseases as malaria has a hard time infected Type O blood cells. It's not a definitive answer, however, and the question remains.

3. The Space Roar
In 2009, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center sent the Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission (ARCADE) into space in search of radiation from the universe's earliest stars. What it wound up picking up, however, was a large amount of radio noise that's become known as the "space roar." At six times louder than what scientists expected, the "space roar" is an anomaly, with several theories in place to try and explain it. Some scientists think it's a remnant from the earliest stars while others believe it's coming from gases in large galaxy clusters. Unfortunately, nobody thinks that it's aliens.

2. Star Jelly
On multiple occasions around the globe, gelatinous blobs have been reported falling from the sky. In Texas, Scotland, the United Kingdom - it's a worldwide occurrence that nobody can quite get a grasp on. Though scientists have studied samples of the jelly, they're unable to determine its precise origin. In the 18th century, Thomas Pennant believed it to be a material "vomited up by birds or animals," such as frog spawn that amphibian-eating avian are gobbling up and regurgitating. Problem is, the jelly is quite large for frog spawn. The National Geographic Society even commissioned scientists to perform tests, but no traces of DNA were found.

1. The Light of KIC 8462852
Also known as Tabby's Star or Boyajian's Star, the F-type main-sequence star in the Cygnus constellation, more than 1,470 light-years away from Earth, has an unusual trait that researchers can't quite pin down. At certain points in time, light from the star fluctuates, sometimes up to 22% dimmer, and nobody really knows why. There are several theories, including a circumstellar dust ring, a planetary debris field, a nearby planet with oscillating rings, and the star's consumption of a planet; but our favorite is the hypothesis of an artificial megastructure. Maybe it's not the most popular theory - but it's definitely the most fun.

Horror in Cyprus: He raped his partner's 9-year-old daughter

 A man in Cyprus has been found guilty of sexually abusing his partner's 9-year-old daughter. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

The Permanent Criminal Court of Paphos, in a process of closed doors, imposed joint prison sentences of up to 11 years on a man who was found guilty of charges of child sexual abuse and domestic violence, with the victim being the minor daughter of his partner.

More specifically, as broadcast by KYPE, according to an announcement by the Criminal Court, the minor was about 9 years old during the period of committing the crimes between 2017 and May 2019.

As mentioned, during the imposition of the sentence, the need for deterrence was emphasized due to the escalation of the phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors, whose abuse involves the deconstruction of sacred minority in early years, with the abuse affecting all aspects of their lives.

War in Ukraine: At least 15 civilians killed in Russian attacks in Kharkov

 Fifteen people were killed and sixteen others were injured in the Kharkiv region by Russian fire on Tuesday.

At least 15 civilians were killed and 16 others wounded by Russian artillery fire today in the greater Kharkiv region, according to regional governor Olekh Sinegubov.

"Fifteen people are dead and sixteen others are injured. "These are the terrible consequences of the Russian bombing at noon in the Kharkiv region," Sinegubov wrote in a Telegram post.

As he explained, six people were killed in the city of Kharkiv and its environs, another six in Chuhuif (southeast) and three in Zolotsif (northwest).

After several weeks, Russian bombardment has intensified in recent days in the region.

Deadly 6.1 magnitude earthquake shakes Afghanistan - At least 40 dead

 The quake had a focal depth of 10 kilometers and its epicenter is located near the border with Pakistan

An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale struck early Wednesday in southeastern Afghanistan, according to the German Geosciences Research Center (GFZ).

The quake had a focal depth of 10 km and its epicenter was located 36 km southwest of Khōst near the border with Pakistan, according to GFZ.

According to initial estimates, 40 people have been killed.

The focal depth of the seismic vibration is estimated at 6 km.

US: Mexican scientist convicted of Russian espionage

 A prominent Mexican scientist sat on the bench of a US court on Tuesday. Imprisonment for espionage.

A prominent Mexican scientist was sentenced by a US court on Tuesday to four years in prison for espionage on behalf of Russia.

Hector Cabrera Fuentes, 37, pleaded guilty in February. He was accused of acting on behalf of a foreign government without notifying US authorities.

"I have deep regrets and regrets for what I did and I apologize to the United States," he said at the time.

"Everyone makes mistakes in their lives and that was my big mistake," added the well-known biochemist.

Hector Cabrera Fuentes, who lived in Singapore, was arrested in 2020 in Miami for spying on behalf of Moscow, "a source of the American government," according to a statement released by the US Department of Justice at the time.

A Russian official recruited the Mexican scientist in 2019, according to briefs.

He was serving a sentence of up to ten years in prison.

Simple Facts About Russia

Hall of Russia is in Europe and halfs in Asia. Russia is by far the largest country in the world.

Climate of Russia
Because Russia is so large, the cimate varies greatiy, There are deserts, frozen coasts, marshes and plains.

Plants & Animals of Russia
Russia S home to many rare animals Such as polar bears snow leopards and but tis est know for e siberien tiger.

Sports& Recreation of Russia
Russians enjov playing soccer and hockey. Individual Olympic Sports are a'so very mportant especially gymnastics, skiing and skating.

Culture of Russia
Chess is important part of the Russian culture. Chidren begin learning in Kindergarten and begin competing by age ten. Russíans ove ballet and are known for elaborate choreography and stages.

Arts & Crafts of Russia Russia is famous for its nesting dols which are paint wooden figures that fit one inside the other.

Outstanding Facts About Russia

2022: February 24
At dawn, Russian President Vladimir Putin announces a "special military operation" in Donbas. In this way, and after months of tension in the area, Russia attacks military targets in Ukraine. (less than a year ago)

2004: March 14
In Russia, Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer and president of the country since 1999 after the resignation of Boris Yeltsin, is overwhelmingly re-elected for a second term as president. He will rule authoritatively. (17 years ago)

1996: November 23
In Russia, Aslán Maskhadov, a Chechen general, signs in Moscow, together with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, an agreement to initiate détente in Chechnya, which will lead Russian President Boris Yeltsin to order the withdrawal of federal troops remaining in Chechnya , after a war that began on December 11, 1994 and has already caused between 80,000 and 100,000 deaths. With Maskhadov achieving this victory over the Soviets, he will be the first democratic leader of his republic. In 1999 and after some Chechen attacks in Russia to extend the war, the second Russian invasion will take place, eager to make up for the defeat of 1996. On March 8, 2005, in the town of Tosltoi-Yurt, on the outskirts of Grozny, (25 years ago)

1994: December 11
Without a previous declaration of war, Russian troops invade Chechnya with two columns of tanks, starting the Chechen War, in what at first appears as a military parade for the Russians. The war will not go according to plan and will last until Russia, subjected to internal pressure due to the casualties of its troops, and external pressure due to the brutality of the means used, signs on August 25, 1996 in Khasavyurt (Dagestan), a truce agreement between General Aleksandr Lébed, Russian President Boris Yeltsin's envoy, and the person in charge of the Chechen negotiations, Aslán Masjádov. On May 12, 1997, the Russian Federation and Chechnya will sign a final peace agreement. (27 years ago)

1993: January 3
The Russian and North American presidents, Boris Yeltsin and George HW Bush, sign the START II Treaty initiating nuclear disarmament. (29 years ago)

1991: November 7
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) is banned in Russia. In 1993, 500,000 militants will found the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which will have to be legalized. Following the dismemberment of the USSR, other influential communist parties will form in various former Soviet republics. (30 years ago)

1991: June 12
After the disappearance of the USSR, Boris Yeltsin is elected as the first president of Russia, being the first directly elected by the people in the history of his country. His mandate will be marked by corruption, economic collapse and the war in Chechnya. (30 years ago)

1922: December 30
In Moscow, Russia, the Congress of Soviets meets and unanimously approves the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a federal socialist state made up of fifteen republics. After sixty-nine years of existence, it will finally be dissolved on December 31, 1991. (99 years ago)

1918: February 14
The Soviet Government establishes in Russia the Gregorian calendar instead of the Julian. (104 years ago)

1917: November 7
In Russia, a coup against the tsarist regime puts Lenin in power. The catastrophic military failure in World War I has left Russia in unfortunate economic conditions, which has served as a breeding ground for the revolution to have had an easy birth. Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate on March 15, and a totally incompetent provisional government was established in his place. Lenin will govern the Soviet Union until his death in 1924. He will be succeeded by the dictator, megalomaniac and genocidal Joseph Stalin. (104 years ago)

1917: April 16
With the country plunged into chaos due to World War I and the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin arrives in Petrograd (Russia) from his exile in Switzerland to take control of the revolution. Although first exiled in Siberia and later fled to Europe due to his political and revolutionary activities, Lenin managed to strengthen the Bolshevik Party through his writings and his fluent oratory. Seven months after his return, and under the leadership of Lenin, the Bolsheviks seize power. Lenin would oversee the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and lead the country until his death in January 1924, after being treated for syphilis the previous year. (104 years ago)

1917: March 15
In Russia, during the first phase of the revolution, Czar Nicholas II is forced to abdicate, thus ending the Romanov dynasty and the monarchy. A few days later, Nicholas II and his family will be taken prisoner. The following year, on July 17, they will be shot along with some servants, the family doctor and the child's dog. (104 years ago)

1916: October 5
Although the main route of the Trans-Siberian railway was inaugurated on July 21, 1904, today the bridge over the Amur River opens, finally linking Moscow with Vladivostok through 9,288 km of railway line, the longest in the world. This solves the serious isolation of Siberia. It crosses eight time zones in a trip that lasts about 7 days. Other branches to China and North Korea will be added later. (105 years ago)

1914: August 1
Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia, transforming the conflict between Austro-Hungarians and Serbs into a military confrontation on a European scale, starting the devastating First World War. (107 years ago)

1908: June 30
Near the Podkamennaya Tunguska river in central Siberia, a huge airburst occurs, presumably caused by a comet fragment formed by ice, which, when bursting in the Earth's atmosphere, destroys about 2,000 km 2 of pine forests. (113 years ago)

1905: October 26
Elections to the Soviet of Workers' Deputies are held in all factories and industrial enterprises of St. Petersburg. In the evening, the first session of the soviet takes place. Soon after, the Moscow Soviet of Workers' Deputies will be organized. (116 years ago)

1905: September 5
In the USA, the "Treaty of Portsmouth" is signed, ending the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, ending with the defeat of Moscow, through which Japan is granted the southern half of the island of Sakhalin and leased the Liaodong peninsula and the Russian railway system in southern Manchuria, expanding its area of influence in Asia. (116 years ago)

1905: June 15
In the Black Sea, in front of the city of Odessa (Russia), which is in a state of emergency, the battleship Potemkim flies the red flag, the seed of the revolution that will bear fruit 12 years later. (116 years ago)

1905: January 22
In St. Petersburg (Russia) the so-called "Bloody Sunday" takes place when hundreds of workers and their families die in a peaceful march to deliver to the Tsar a request for labor improvements, which does not respond to any political slogan. The march is savagely suppressed by foot soldiers and Cossack troops. The Tsar has previously left the city fearing for his safety. The bloody repression will cause a wave of protests throughout Russia: the definitive divorce between the Tsar and the mass of peasants and workers will have been consummated. (117 years ago)

1894: May 26
Nicholas II, who will be the last Tsar, is crowned in Russia. Nicholas, who does not want to be Tsar nor has he been prepared for it, will not turn out to be a good regent. He will dedicate himself to maintaining an ironclad autocracy in a time of change. After a series of fiascoes in the Russo-Japanese War and during World War I, he will finally be dismissed and arrested in 1917. During the Russian Revolution, on the night of July 16, 1918, an order will be issued for the execution of Nicholas, his wife, children and several servants, as the Bolsheviks thought that the counterrevolutionary forces might try to rescue them. (127 years ago)

1875: May 7
In exchange for 18 of the Kuril Islands, Japan cedes the island of southern Sakhalin to Russia. (146 years ago)

1869: March 6
In St. Petersburg (Russia), the chemist Dmitri Mendeleev presents a first version of his periodic table of elements to the Russian Chemical Society. It is the first consistent table of the similarities of the chemical elements, according to their atomic masses. It lists the 63 elements known at that time in increasing order of atomic weight. (152 years ago)

1867: March 30
Russia, tired of the problems caused by the unproductive territory of Alaska, impossible to colonize due to its inclement weather, decides to sell it to the United States for the modest amount of 7,200,000 dollars in gold. In this way, she avoids justifying military spending in defending the sovereignty of a land that the majority of the Russian population sees as wasteland, and that, probably, they would have had to defend when the Canadians became independent from the English. (154 years ago)

1861: March 3
In Russia Alexander II abolishes serfdom, something that affects more than 40 million peasants; but the "mir" system (rural community that owns the land it works, but is collectively responsible for taxes) will endure. (160 years ago)

1860: May 31
In Russia, the Imperial Russian Bank is founded, which, at the end of the 19th century, will become the Central Bank of Russia. (161 years ago)

1858: July 2
In Russia, Tsar Alexander II, who after his failure in the Crimea is planning great reforms, grants emancipation to the serfs of the empire. (163 years ago)

1854: September 20
During the Crimean War, the British and French forces, determined to close off the Russians from passing through the straits that leave the route to India open, defeat the Russians in the Battle of Alma (Russia, along the river of the same name which empties into the Black Sea), a strategic victory that leaves the Russian naval base in Sevastopol vulnerable and puts any Russian position in jeopardy. In it, 240,000 combatants of both sides die. Sevastopol will fall a year later. (167 years ago)

1854: March 27
France and the United Kingdom, as allies of Turkey for the maintenance of the integrity of the Ottoman Empire and fearful of tsarist expansionism, declare war on Russia, which gives rise to the Crimean War. The war will end with the signing of the Peace of Paris on March 30, 1856, which will mean the isolation of Austria, the hegemony of France and the end of the strongly conservative policy of Tsar Nicholas I. (167 years ago)

1833: May 2
In Russia, Tsar Nicholas I prohibited the sale of slaves in public markets. (188 years ago)

1826: August 3
The coronation of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia takes place in Moscow. (195 years ago)

1812: September 14
The Napoleonic troops arrive at the gates of Moscow (Russia) after three months of march in which they have taken several cities and fought several battles; but the Muscovites have taken refuge in the nearby forests and set fire to the city so that, without food and enduring extremely low temperatures, the French army will be forced to withdraw without having achieved its objective of subduing Tsar Alexander I. Only 58,000 troops of the Napoleonic army, little more than 20% of the total, will survive the Russian campaign. (209 years ago)

1812: September 7
In Russia, the battle of Borodino takes place, about 120 km from Moscow, in which, after nine hours of intense fighting between the French and Russian armies, some 100,000 deaths are produced on both sides and the withdrawal of Russian troops that will lead to the occupation of Moscow, where they will arrive on the 14th, finding the capital literally razed to the ground. This tactical victory of Napoleon and his French troops will not finish off the Russian forces under the command of Prince Mikhail Kutuzov. (209 years ago)

1812: June 24
Napoleon begins his campaign in Russia, without a previous declaration of war, when he crosses the Niemen River with his army. (209 years ago)

1807: February 7
In Eylau, present-day Russia, the bloody battle of the same name takes place, which will conclude the following day, between Napoleon's troops against the Russian-Prussian army, with an uncertain outcome: after 14 hours of continuous battle, no other conclusion can be drawn than the huge loss of life for both sides. Casualties between dead and wounded are estimated at 40,000. (215 years ago)

1805: December 2In the Battle of Austerlitz (present-day Czech Republic), also called the Battle of the Three Emperors, Napoleon defeats the armies of the Third Anti-French Coalition (Great Britain, Austria, and Russia), wiping out the remnants of the Holy Roman Empire. This victory will make France the head of a great empire. (216 years ago)

1801: March 24
In Russia, a conspiracy of a group of nobles, soldiers and merchants, with the connivance of the future Tsar Alexander I, achieves that Tsar Paul I is assassinated by officers of his guard. The erratic policy and absent of any sign of sanity of this tsar is what has led him to this tragic destiny. (220 years ago)

1795: October 24
When concluding Prussia, Russia and Austria the third division of Poland, this ceases to exist. Poland will regain its independence in 1918 in the form of a republic, at the end of the First World War. (226 years ago)

1787: August 13
Turkey declares war on Russia, after Catherine II's rejection of the ultimatum given by Turkey to abandon its "protectorate" of Crimea. (234 years ago)

1772: August 5
In the agreements of Saint Petersburg, Russia, Prussia and Austria share a third of the Polish territory, thus avoiding a European war. (249 years ago)

1762: July 9
In Russia, Catherine II assumes the position of empress as the successor of her husband Pedro III, assassinated in a plot. Catalina will attempt a Europeanization of the country, and will grant the nobility a relevant position that she has not had until that moment. She will fail in her attempt to create a code with the ideas of Montesquieu, and in 1773 she will have to face a dispute with the peasants, due to the disastrous social situation in which the rural population will be plunged. She will be considered an intelligent, cultured, shrewd, highly skilled, passionate woman with a somewhat peculiar private life. She will cultivate a great friendship and communication with the great French Enlightenment such as Diderot, Montesquieu or Voltaire. (She 259 years ago)

1762: June 28
The German princess Sofia Federica Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst, married since 1745 with Emperor Pedro III, ascends the Russian imperial throne, with the name of Catherine II. During her reign, Russia will begin one of the brightest times in its history with a great growth of the economy due to liberalizing measures. (259 years ago)

1755: April 26
The first Russian University, with three faculties, is opened in Moscow. The project has been approved by Empress Isabel on January 12 of this year. (266 years ago)

1727: May 17
Peter II, the 11-year-old minor grandson of Peter I the Great, is appointed Tsar of Russia after the death of Tsarina Catherine I. He will die in Moscow in 1730, at just 14 years of age, a victim of smallpox. . He will be the last Romanov through the male line. (He 294 years ago)

1723: September 12
In Russia, the Treaty of Saint Petersburg is signed, ending the Russo-Persian War. Taking advantage of the revolts that had broken out in Persia, Tsar Peter I the Great occupied the coast that said country had on the Caspian Sea. (298 years ago)

1721: September 10
Russians and Swedes sign in Nystadt (Russia) a peace treaty that ends the Great Northern War, thus beginning a century of balance of forces in the Baltic. Russia annexes Livonia, Estonia, Ingria and Karelia. (300 years ago)

1720: January 21
Sweden, in its capital Stockholm, signs peace with Prussia, ending hostilities in the so-called Northern War, in which Denmark and Russia are also involved. On July 14 she will sign peace with Denmark and on September 10 of the following year, finally with Russia. (302 years ago)

1700: February 12
As a result of great historical disagreements between Sweden and its neighbors Russia, Denmark-Norway and the Republic of the Two Nations (Poland and Lithuania), today Saxon troops attack the Swedish city of Riga and its surrounding fortifications in Livonia, giving beginning of the Great Northern War, which lasted until 1721, for supremacy in the Baltic Sea. (322 years ago)

1700: January 1
In Russia, with the modernizing reforms promoted by Tsar Peter I the Great, the Julian calendar came into force, instead of the Byzantine one. (322 years ago)

1689: September 12
Peter I the Great, Tsar of Russia, imprisons the current regent, his half-sister Sofia, in a convent in Moscow and assumes power. (332 years ago)

1682: May 7
In Moscow (Russia) there are serious clashes over the imperial succession, since when Tsar Feodor III died on April 27, the National Assembly elected his 10-year-old brother Peter I as the new Tsar. The Court, however, considers this designation illegal, but he will reign until his death in 1725, making Russia a power. (339 years ago)

1667: January 30
The Peace of Andrusovo is signed, ending the Thirteen Years' War between Russia and Poland. Russian sovereignty of Left Bank Ukraine is agreed, while Right Bank Ukraine and Belarus will remain under Polish control. (355 years ago)

1656: May 17
Russia declares war on Sweden. The next day he will begin hostilities by penetrating through Livonia into Swedish territory. (365 years ago)

1648: June 1As a result of unpopular tax measures that have caused great discontent in the population, Morozov's government is overthrown by a popular uprising in the city of Moscow (Russia). Many officials are lynched and Morozov has to flee. (373 years ago)

1613: March 3
In Russia, an assembly of nobles elects the young Michael I as Tsar. With him the Romanov dynasty begins. The boyars, very committed to the previous Polish government, withdraw completely. (408 years ago)

1613: February 21
The Russian National Assembly unanimously elects the 16-year-old Michael Romanov, as Michael I, as Tsar. reigned for 700 years. During these intervening years, three impostors appeared claiming to be Prince Dimitri, the son of Ivan the Terrible who had his throat slit in 1591 as a child. Taking advantage of the prevailing chaos, the Poles invaded Moscow. Later, in an atmosphere of extreme patriotism, the capital managed to be liberated during a popular revolt and Miguel was chosen as Tsar. With his election, which will culminate in his coronation on July 22, the Romanov dynasty begins, which will rule the country until the February Revolution of 1917, in which Tsar Nicholas II will be forced to abdicate. (409 years ago)

1613: February 7
In Russia, Michael Feodorovich Romanov, Michael III, is elected as the new Tsar, ending the so-called "time of disturbances", which began in 1598 when Tsar Fedor I, who was mentally deficient, died in the city of Moscow, extinguishing the dynasty. Russian of the Ruríkidas in its masculine line. (409 years ago)

1598: January 7
In Russia, when Fyodor I Ivanovich died, Boris Godunov became Tsar. He will force the banishment of the Romanovs. He will fight against the privileges of the nobility and strengthen trade. In 1604 he will defeat the usurper Demetrius who will try to overthrow him and will finally die in 1605. (424 years ago)

1571: May 24
In the morning, Crimean Tatars set fire to wooden houses around Moscow, Russia, in response to Ivan IV's annexationist attempts. A strong wind blows, fanning the fire, and soon the entire city is on fire. Behind them, the Tartars loot the houses and persecute their inhabitants. In a few hours the city turns into a heap of smoldering ashes, only the Kremlin is saved, protected by its high stone walls. (450 years ago)

1547: January 16
In Moscow (Russia) Ivan IV, later known as Ivan the Terrible because of the brutal cruelty and heavy hand with which he ruled the destinies of his country, had himself crowned the first Tsar of all the Russias. (475 years ago)

1533: December 4
In Moscow (Russia), at the age of three, the one who will become known as Ivan the Terrible is proclaimed Grand Prince of Moscow, on the occasion of the death of his father, Grand Prince Vasily III. His mother will reign in his name until she dies poisoned in 1538 by boyar clans who will compete for power. (488 years ago)

1380: September 8
The Battle of Kulikovo takes place, near the Don River (Russia), in which the Russians, commanded by the Muscovite Prince Donskoi, suffer 70,000 casualties, but emerge victorious after facing the Mongol Tatars, who lose 130,000 men. After this battle the Russians will remain united marking the beginning of the end of Mongol rule over Russia. (641 years ago)

1242: April 5
In the icy waters of Lake Peipus, Russia, Alexander Nevsky, thanks to the courage of his soldiers and his own cunning, manages to annihilate the Teutonic Knights when they end up drowning after the ice of the lake breaks due to the weight of their armor. Alexander becomes the great savior of Russia, demonstrating that the unity of the people can destroy any invader and he becomes a national hero. Because of his victories, but also because he knew how to be realistic, the Orthodox Church will make him a saint. (779 years ago)

Featured births in Russia
1934: March 9
Yuri Gagarin was born in Klúshino, present-day Russia. On April 12, 1961, he would become the first human being to cross space aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft. He would die on March 27, 1968, when the MiG-15 aircraft that will pilot during a routine flight crashes near Moscow. (87 years ago)

1906: December 19
Born in Dnieprodzerzhinsk (Russia) Leonid Brezhnev who, during his tenure as Soviet leader from 1964 to 1982, would elaborate a doctrine that would affirm the right of Soviet intervention in other countries of the socialist area, and would order the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. (115 years ago years)

1898: January 22
Sergei Eisenstein was born in Riga, capital of present-day Latvia but then a city of the Russian Empire, an avant-garde film director who, despite his scant filmography, which did not even make 20 films, some of them unfinished, managed to make his work continue reviewing assiduously for his contributions and influences in filming, set design, and montage in European and American cinema, especially for breaking with the hitherto inhabitable techniques in montage and starting his particular vision to link the scenes of a headband. His film "The Battleship Potemkin" of 1925, will be considered a masterpiece of the history of the seventh art. (124 years ago)

1894: April 17
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was born in Kalinovka (Russia) and would be the top leader of the Soviet Union between 1953 and 1964, who would purge Stalin's excesses and bring positions closer to the capitalist West. (127 years ago)

1872: March 31
Born in the Chudovsky District, Russia, Sergei Diaghilev, a Russian businessman and promoter who founded the legendary Ballets Russes, a company from which many famous dancers and choreographers will emerge. In Paris in 1910, during the premiere of Schérézade , he will exchange the dancers' tutus for daring trousers designed by León Bask and the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky will wear gold paint on his body and jewels on his clothing. (149 years ago)

1870: April 22
Born in Simbirsk (Russia) Vladimir Ilich Ulianov, who will be known as Lenin, Russian revolutionary leader and Bolshevik leader. He will be the first chairman of the Government of the Soviet Union (the Council of People's Commissars). (151 years ago)

1868: March 28
Maxim Gorky was born in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, pseudonym of Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov, a Russian playwright and politician identified with the Soviet revolutionary movement. A master of realism, he will be considered one of the most relevant personalities in the culture and literature of his country. Over time, his work will acquire a markedly political character. Among his writings, it is worth mentioning "The mother" and "The underworld". (153 years ago)

1866: December 16
Born in Moscow (Russia), Wassily Kandinsky artist who in his works will paint his inner feelings in a search for the spiritual by interpreting what he feels when seeing the world. He will be, somehow, despised and highly criticized for this new way of painting. For this reason he will be considered the inventor of abstract painting. (155 years ago)

1857: September 17
Konstantin Tsiolkovski, a Soviet physicist who will be considered the father of cosmonautics for his studies on space travel, was born in Izhevskoye, Russia. (164 years ago)

1846: May 30
Peter Carl Fabergé, a famous jeweler who manufactured beautiful pieces in the shape of gold and enamel Easter eggs, miniature animals, chalices, and chocolate boxes, was born in the city of Saint Petersburg, Russia. (He 175 years ago)

1845: March 10
Alexander III Romanov was born in Saint Petersburg, present-day Russia, and ascended to the throne in 1881, after the assassination of his father Alexander II in the same city. He will be an authoritarian and energetic sovereign, who will keep intact the autocratic and absolutist system of the Russian monarchy. He will reign in this way until his death on November 1, 1894. Nevertheless, his reign will be considered quite prosperous. (176 years ago)

1844: March 18
In Tijvin, Russia, the famous composer and conductor Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and one of the great figures of the Russian nationalist school was born. Among his best-known orchestral works are "Capricho español" , the "Overture of the great Russian Easter" and the symphonic suite "Scheherazade". (177 years ago)

1842: December 9
Piotr Alekséyevich Kropotkin was born into an aristocratic family in Moscow (Russia), who would be a geographer, naturalist and political thinker. He is considered one of the main theoreticians of the anarchist movement. (179 years ago)

1840: May 7
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer, was born in Votkins (Russia). With a nervous personality, it will be the loss of his mother when he is only 14 years old, his passion and idolatry for Mozart and his platonic relationship with women, the elements that will mark and influence his beautiful works, such as the romantic "Overture 1812 ". (He 181 years ago)

1834: February 8
Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Dmitri Ivánovich Mendeléyev, Russian chemist, creator in 1869 of a new and definitive Periodic Table of the elements. It will classify and rearrange several chemical elements taking into account the increasing value of their atomic masses, grouping them in rows and columns so that all the elements in the same column will present a similar behavior while reserving blank spaces to add elements not yet discovered and predicting the properties of those elements yet to be discovered. With this new version of Mendeleev, the way will be opened to the great advances experienced by chemistry during the 20th century. (188 years ago)

1828: September 9
In Yásnaya Poliana (Russia), the prolific Russian writer Liev Nikolaevich Count of Tolstoy, known as Leo Tolstoy, author of "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" among other works in which he admirably described Russian life and customs, was born. He was an ideologue of active nonviolence. (193 years ago) 1821: November 11Fyodor Milkhailovich Dostoevsky, a great figure of Russian literature of the 19th century and of all time, was born in Moscow (Russia). His works of great realism will enjoy a deep psychological content. (200 years ago)

1818: April 29
Born in Moscow, Russia, Alexander II, Tsar reformer and supporter of peace, who paradoxically will have to face numerous discontents and the nationalism of his subjects. He will implement the most difficult reforms undertaken in Russia. (He 203 years ago)

1818: April 17
In the city of Moscow, Russia, Alexander Nikolaevich Romanov, eldest son of Tsar Nicholas I, great-grandson of Catherine the Great, was born. He will occupy the throne on the death of his father in 1855. In 1856 the Crimean War will end with a significant loss of territorial influence for Russia. He will sign alliances with France and England against Turkey. He will also undertake reforms such as the abolition of the serfdom of the glebe, that is, the freedom of the Russian peasants. He will create courts with free magistrates and juries. He will suffer several attacks until in 1881 one of them ends his life. Then his son Alexander will succeed him. (203 years ago)

1814: May 31
In Priomukhino (Russia), the Russian revolutionary and writer Mijail Alexandrovich Bakunin was born, who would elaborate the theory of anarchism, as a way to achieve the abolition of any form of governmental authority. (207 years ago)

1776: January 24
In Königsberg (Prussia, now Russia), the German writer and composer ETA Hoffmann was born, who would exert a great influence on the romantic movement of German literature. (246 years ago)

1724: April 22
Born in Köenisburg (now Russia), Imanuel Kant, a German philosopher whose key work will be "Critique of Pure Reason" , in which he will try to base human knowledge and its limits. (He 297 years ago)

1715: October 23
In St. Petersburg, Russia, Peter II was born, who would be Tsar of Russia from 1727 until his premature death, a victim of measles, in 1730, at the age of 14. (306 years ago)

1709: December 29
Elizabeth I of Russia, daughter of Peter I and Catherine I, was born in Kolomenskoe (Russia), residence of the tsars, and reigned as empress from 1741, after organizing a palace revolt to depose Tsar Ivan VI, until her death in 1762. (312 years ago)

1672: June 9
Tsar Peter I the Great, son of Tsar Alexis and Natalia Narishkina, was born in Moscow (Russia). In 1689 he will lead a coup d'état that will remove from power his half-sister Sofía, who occupies the regency, and his half-brother Iván IV. (349 years ago)

1530: August 25
Ivan IV Vasilyevich, also called Ivan the Terrible, was born in Kolomenskoe (Russia), Tsar of Russia from 1547 to 1584, considered one of the creators of the Russian state. (491 years ago)

1440: January 22
Ivan III the Great, "Great Prince of Vladimir and Moscow" and "Sovereign of all the Russias", was born in Moscow, present-day Russia. He will carry out a skillful policy of alliances and confrontations with the Tartar chiefs, which will quadruple his territory. He will marry the niece of the last Byzantine emperor making Moscow the third Orthodox Rome. (582 years ago)

1220: May 30
In Vladimir, present-day Russia, Alexander Nevsky was born, a Russian leader who would fight against the Swedes in 1240, defeating them on the Neva River, near St. Petersburg. Later, in April 1242, he will confront the Teutonic Knights in Novgorod and defeat them at the Battle of Lake Peipus, expelling them. When the Mongols invade Russia from the East, he will mediate between his people and the Mongols, and in 1246 he will be appointed Grand Prince of Kiev by the Mongols themselves. In 1251 they will raise him as Prince of Vladimir, removing his brother Andrew. He will be canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church, whose feast day is celebrated on September 12. (801 years ago)

Reported deaths in Russia
2007: April 23
Boris Yeltsin, who was president of Russia between 1990 and 1999 and the first to be democratically elected, dies in Moscow (Russia). In that decade, he led his country through a political and economic transition. (14 years ago)

1921: February 8
Piotr Kropotkin, geographer, Russian thinker and father of anarchism along with Bakunin, dies in Moscow (now Russia). (101 years ago) 1918: July 16In Siberia (Russia), former Tsar Nicholas II and his family are taken to the basement of the country house of merchant Nikolai Ipatiev, where they are lined up and shot by 11 Bolshevik soldiers. Not all die instantly and several daughters of the Tsar, who hide jewels sewn into their clothes against which the bullets collide, have to be finished off with rifle butts and bayonets. (103 years ago)

1916: December 29
Rasputin, an illiterate monk of peasant origin and mystic with great influence over the Romanovs, is assassinated by people close to the Tsar. His body is thrown into the icy waters of the Neva River. (He 105 years ago)

1908: June 21
In Saint Petersburg, Russia, the famous composer and conductor Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov dies after years of suffering from angina pectoris. He has been one of the great figures of the Russian nationalist school, consistent in the use of popular folk songs and their harmonic, melodic and exotic elements, seeking distance from the classical Western way of composing, although not rejecting it. Among his best-known orchestral works, "Capricho español", the "Overture of the great Russian Easter" and the symphonic suite "Scheherazade" should be highlighted . (113 years ago)

1907: February 2
Dmitri Ivánovich Mendeléyev, Russian chemist, creator in 1869 of a new and definitive Periodic Table of the elements, dies in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He classified and rearranged several chemical elements taking into account the increasing value of their atomic masses, grouping them in rows and columns so that all the elements in the same column would present a similar behavior while reserving blank spaces to add elements not yet discovered and predicted the properties of those elements yet to be discovered. With this new version of Mendeleev, the way was opened for the great advances experienced by chemistry in the 20th century. (115 years ago)

1893: November 6
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer, dies in Saint Petersburg (Russia). With a nervous personality, it was the loss of his mother when he was only 14 years old, his passion and idolatry for Mozart and his platonic relationship with women, the elements that marked and influenced his brilliant works. (He 128 years ago)

1881: March 13
Alexander II, Tsar Regent of Russia since 1855, is assassinated in a bomb that explodes in the streets of Saint Petersburg. The perpetrator is the group "The Will of the People", founded two years earlier, which does not hesitate to use terror and assassination in its attempt to wipe out tsarism from Russia. The assassins of Alexander II will be arrested and hanged and the members of the group will be persecuted until their total elimination. (140 years ago)

1881: February 9
Fyodor Mijailovich Dostoevsky, Russian writer, dies in Saint Petersburg (Russia). Among his best-known works, the unforgettable "Crime and Punishment", "The Gambler", "The Idiot" and "The Brothers Karamazov" stand out . (141 years ago)

1881: January 28
Fyodor Milkhailovich Dostoevsky, a great figure of Russian literature of the 19th century and of all time, dies in Saint Petersburg (Russia). His works of great realism have a deep psychological content. (He 141 years ago)

1855: March 2
Czar Nicholas I dies in Saint Petersburg (Russia). His son Alexander II succeeds him. (166 years ago)

1804: February 12
Imanuel Kant, a German philosopher whose key work is "Critique of Pure Reason" , dies in Köenisburg (present-day Russia). (He 218 years ago)

1796: November 17
In Saint Petersburg (Russia), Tsarina Catherine II the Great dies at the age of 67. During her 33-year absolute reign, she achieved the unification and expansion of the Russian empire and the Russian economy grew considerably and cities such as Sevastopol and Kherson were founded. The reforms of it were of an aristocratic nature favoring the immobility of the traditional structures of society, erected in the servitude of the peasantry. (225 years ago)

1783: September 18
The Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler dies in Saint Petersburg (Russia), who with his work on differential calculus achieved a great advance in infinitesimal calculus. (238 years ago)

1671: June 16
In the Red Square of Moscow (Russia) Stenka Razin, head of the Don Cossack rebellion against the nobility and the tsar's bureaucracy in southern Russia, is quartered. (350 years ago)

1605: April 13
Boris Gudonov, Tsar of Russia, dies. Not being a member of the upper bourgeoisie, he was exposed to intrigues, especially from the later Romanov family of tsars. (416 years ago)

1585: August 16
In Siberia, the head of the Cossacks Timofeievich drowns in the Irtysh River while fleeing from the Tatars. With his campaign launched in 1581 he paved the way for the conquest and annexation of Siberia to Russia. (436 years ago)

1584: March 18
Tsar Ivan IV, nicknamed the Terrible, dies in Moscow at the age of 53, under whose reign a regime of terror was established against the upper classes and he assumed for the first time an expansive policy in Russia. (437 years ago)

Outstanding Facts About Ukraine

2022: February 24
At dawn, Russian President Vladimir Putin announces a "special military operation" in Donbas. In this way, and after months of tension in the area, Russia attacks military targets in Ukraine. (less than a year ago)

2014: February 22
In Ukraine, President Viktor Yanukovych leaves Kiev in a hurry and Parliament dismisses him by 328 votes in favor and 6 abstentions through a motion of censure before an absent president, amid hugs and applause from deputies. In addition, presidential elections are called for May 25 and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is released from her prison sentence by order of Parliament after yesterday eliminating the article of the Penal Code for which she had been convicted. In the streets, demonstrators jubilantly celebrate the new developments. (8 years ago)

2014: February 18
The political crisis that Ukraine has been experiencing for 3 months has ended in its capital, Kiev, with 22 dead and hundreds injured in clashes between opponents of President Victor Yanukovych, who are calling for changes in the country from Independence Square to pressure in favor of the promised constitutional change, and the security forces, who respond with rubber bullets, tear gas and smoke bombs. Two days later, on the 20th, Yanukovych will intensify the repression using snipers stationed on the roofs to shoot down the demonstrators, causing about 80 deaths. The next day, the 21st, Yanukovych and the opposition will sign a pact that removes powers from the president, sets early elections and returns to the 2004 Constitution. (8 years ago)

2014: January 28
In Ukraine, after two months of riots, the Government falls in full, before the firm protest of the opponents, at the same time that the Parliament annuls the laws that toughened the penalties for unauthorized demonstrations and prohibited setting up tents in the city. Despite this change in attitude, people continue on the streets calling for the resignation of President Yanukovych, the origin of the protest for having sold the country in exchange for Russian President Putin's support for the presidential elections. The riots have cost several dead. (8 years ago)

1918: March 3
Bolshevik Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the central powers, abandoning the enormous attrition of World War I and providing independence for Poland and the Baltic territories of Ukraine and Finland. (103 years ago)

1854: August 21
Today, British nurse Florence Nightingale, nicknamed "the angel of the wounded" and considered the mother of modern nursing, is sent to serve in the Crimean War (present-day Ukraine). Once there, more specifically in Sukari, Nightingale and her co-workers will reform and thoroughly clean the hospital, despite the adverse reaction of doctors and officials, with which they will be able to reduce the mortality rate from 40% to two%. She will triumphantly return to England on August 7, 1857, and will devote the rest of her life to furthering her profession by founding a nursing school to bear her name. She will save many lives. She (she 167 years ago)

1768: February 29
In Bar, present-day Ukraine, a group of Polish nobles establish the Bar Confederation, which defends the privileges of the Roman Catholic Church and the peasant nobility, opposing Russian intervention in Poland. (253 years ago)

1709: July 8
Tsar Peter I the Great definitively put a stop to the expansionist desires of the Swedes, by defeating Charles XII of Sweden, the conquering king, in front of the city of Poltava (Ukraine). The Swedish king is seriously wounded in the course of the battle and will take refuge in the Ottoman court in Istanbul for years. (312 years ago)

1709: June 27
The Battle of Poltava takes place, in present-day Ukraine, in which Tsar Peter the Great defeats the troops of Charles XII of Sweden, depleted by the harsh winter they have had to endure when attempting to invade Russia. With this Russian victory, the end of the kingdom of Sweden as a European superpower begins. (312 years ago)

1648: May 5
Polish Cossacks, led by their leader Bogdan Khmelnistki, defeat an army of Polish nobles at the Battle of the Blue Waters, near Siniuja, Ukraine. Cossacks and Ukrainian peasants oppose the repressive policy of the Polish King Ladislaus IV. (373 years ago)

Featured births in Ukraine
1908: December 31
In Buczacz, Austria-Hungary, which today is part of the Ukraine, the "Nazi hunter" Simon Wiesenthal was born, who would found the Jewish Documentation Center and would have a decisive role in the persecution and arrest of more than a thousand Nazis, including Eichmann, kidnapped in 1960 in Argentina. (113 years ago)

1896: May 3
In the Russian city of Kiev, now belonging to Ukraine, the future Israeli politician and Prime Minister Golda Meir was born. She will be the prime minister of Israel between 1969 and 1974, the year in which she will resign due to a scandal over the lack of military preparation of the Israeli troops during the Yom Kippur war of 1973. She (she 125 years ago)

1879: November 7
In Yanovka, Ukraine, Lev Davídovich Bronstein was born, who would be known as Leon Trotsky, a Soviet revolutionary politician and theoretician, and one of the protagonists of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917. He would create the Red Army that would win during the Russian Civil War. the foreign armies and the so-called White Armies, opposed to the revolution. (142 years ago)

1857: December 3Born in Berdyczów (present-day Ukraine) Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski de Nalecz, nationalized English Polish novelist better known by his pseudonym Joseph Conrad, author of novels such as "Heart of Darkness" , "Lord Jim" , and "The Secret Agent" among others. (He 164 years ago)