Astronomers have spotted the most massive known stellar black hole in the Milky Way galaxy after detecting an unusual wobble in space. The so-called “sleeping giant,” named Gaia BH3, has a mass that is nearly 33 times that of our sun, and it’s located 1,926 light-years away in the Aquila constellation, making it the second-closest known black hole to Earth. ...

A lack of air defenses meant Ukraine was powerless to prevent a Russian airstrike last week that destroyed the biggest power plant in Kyiv region, President Volodomyr Zelensky said. Russia fired 11 missiles towards the Trypilska power plant, Zelensky said. Ukrainian air defenses downed the first seven missiles, but the next four completely destroyed the plant. “Why? Because we had ...

A record quantity of bribes, including cash, booze, drugs and precious metals, has been seized by Indian election authorities in the run-up to mammoth nationwide polls that begin on Friday. The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday revealed it had recovered inducements worth just over $550 million since March — the largest amount in the country’s 75-year electoral history. ...

A piece of garbage jettisoned from the International Space Station unexpectedly survived a fiery reentry from orbit last month and pierced the roof of a home in Florida, according to NASA. When the federal agency disposed of a slab of spaceborne refuse weighing about 5,800 pounds (2,630 kilograms), it expected the trash to disintegrate as it plunged into Earth’s atmosphere on March ...

Violent clashes erupted between protesters and police in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, on Tuesday as the country’s parliament continued debating a controversial “foreign agents” bill, criticized by Western and domestic opponents as authoritarian and Russian-inspired. The bill, dubbed “the Russian law” by critics due to parallels with legislation used by the Kremlin to crack down on dissent, has been reintroduced for ...

Israel, aided by its allies, dodged a bullet Sunday. To be more precise, 60 tons of explosives aboard more than 350 Iranian projectiles, some bigger than a family car, failed to dodge Israel’s defenses. Yet Israel, in defiance of US President Joe Biden’s warnings to “take the win” and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s threat of a “severe, extensive and painful” ...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed into law a key piece of legislation overhauling the country’s mobilization rules. The legislation places a new requirement on all men between 18 and 60 to register with Ukraine’s military and to carry their registration documents on them at all times. The aim is to make recruitment processes more efficient and more transparent, the ...

Israel has yet to agree how to respond to the Iranian attack over the weekend that saw more than 300 projectiles fired at its territory in the first direct military confrontation between the Islamic Republic and the Jewish state. Israel must balance international pressure to show restraint on the one hand, while searching for an appropriate response to an unprecedented ...

At least 17 people have died in flash floods triggered by heavy rain across Oman since Sunday, the country’s National Committee for Emergency Management (NCEM) reports. On Tuesday, the government suspended the work of employees and workers in the public and private sectors in five governorates, including Musandam, Al Buraimi, Al Dhahirah, and Al Dakhiliyah, due to the weather conditions. The ...

Georgian lawmakers came to blows in parliament on Monday as ruling party legislators looked set to advance a controversial bill on “foreign agents” that has been criticized by Western countries and sparked protests at home. Footage broadcast on Georgian television showed Mamuka Mdinaradze, leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party’s parliamentary faction and a driving force behind the bill, being ...