- Deadly heatwave across Europe sparks wildfires and shuts nuclear plant Euronews.com
- Heatwave across Europe leaves 8 dead as early summer temperatures hit records Dawn
- Scorching European heatwave turns deadly in Spain, Italy and France BBC
- Extreme heat grips Europe World Meteorological Organization WMO
- Living through heatwaves: everyday strategies in Europe Xinhua
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Deadly heatwave across Europe sparks wildfires and shuts nuclear plant – Euronews.com
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DVIDS – News – Coalition Targets Militant Commanders in Two Afghan Provinces
Maintenance window scheduled to begin at February 14th 2200 est. until 0400 est. February 15thCoalition forces killed more than 10 militants and detained two others while targeting Taliban and Haqqani terrorist networks in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, military officials reported.
In the Tag Ab district of Kapisa province, coalition forces targeted a Taliban subcommander believed to have planned and coordinated roadside-bomb attacks. He also is wanted for facilitating the movement of foreign fighters into Afghanistan.
Coalition forces were engaged with small-arms fire from multiple groups of armed militants as they entered a compound. The force returned fire, killing the militants.
An operation in Khowst province netted a Haqqani militant wanted for coordinating attacks on Afghan, NATO and coalition forces in the Nader Shah Kot district. The militant also is suspected of providing intelligence to and coordinating with senior Haqqani commanders. A second suspected militant was detained during the operation as well.
(From a Combined Joint Task Force 101 news release.)
Story by American Forces Press Service
Date Taken: 09.11.2008
Date Posted: 07.03.2025 19:40
Story ID: 521267
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Dietary intake and five types of mental disorders: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study | BMC Psychiatry
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Machine Learning is Surprisingly Good at Simulating the Universe
At the RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS) in Japan, the showdown between artificial intelligence and supercomputers has begun. It was here that Riken researchers, along with an international team of colleagues, used machine learning to enhance a simulation of galaxy evolution. The results were compared to direct numerical simulations, like those typically run on supercomputers, and AI won this round! In addition, this approach could shed light on the origins of the Milky Way and the elements essential to life as we know it.
The research was led by Keiya Hirashima, a Postdoctoral Researcher at iTHEMS and the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics. He was joined by colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), the Research Center for the Early Universe at the University of Tokyo, the Center for Planetary Science (CPS) at Kobe University, New York University, Princeton University, the Tohoku University of Community Service and Science, and the Japanese machine learning company Preferred Networks, Inc. (PFN).
The simulation tackled a key issue when it comes to galaxy formation, which is the role played by supernovae. Since opportunities to study these events are few and far between, scientists must rely on numerical simulations based on data gathered by telescopes and other observation methods. These simulations are remarkably complex since they must account for cosmological forces and possess high temporal resolution so major events are not missed. This includes supernovae, which evolve from core collapse to remnant in a few months to a few thousand years, orders of magnitude smaller than what typical simulations can achieve.
In ordinary numerical simulations, supernovae occur on timescales about 1000 times smaller than what supercomputers can achieve. Moreover, simulations capable of this level of temporal resolution take 1-2 years to complete and are restricted to relatively small galaxies. To overcome this bottleneck, the team incorporated AI into a simulation based on ASURA code, which combines N-body and Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) methods to simulate galaxy formation. They also included the Framework for Developing Particle Simulator (FBPS) code to simulate chemical processes, and a machine learning (ML) model developed by Preferred Networks Inc.
This yielded what the team describes as the ASURA-FBPS-ML model, which allowed them to match the output of a previously modeled dwarf galaxy but got the result much more quickly. As Hirashima said in a RIKEN press release:
When we use our AI model, the simulation is about four times faster than a standard numerical simulation,” says Hirashima. “This corresponds to a reduction of several months to half a year’s worth of computation time. Critically, our AI-assisted simulation was able to reproduce the dynamics important for capturing galaxy evolution and matter cycles, including star formation and galaxy outflows.
To train their AI, the researchers fed it data from 300 simulations of an isolated supernova in a molecular cloud one million times the mass of our Sun. This produced a model capable of predicting the density, temperature, and 3D velocities of gas particles during the initial phase of supernova shell expansion, which typically lasts for 100,000 years after core collapse occurs. Compared to the kinds of direct numerical simulations performed by supercomputers, the new model yielded similar galactic structures and a star formation history within one quarter of the computing time.
This research illustrates the potential of incorporating AI into cosmological simulations, including models of how the entire Universe evolved since the Big Bang (ca. 14 billion years ago). “[O]ur AI-assisted framework will allow high-resolution star-by-star simulations of heavy galaxies, such as the Milky Way, with the goal of predicting the origin of the Solar System and the elements essential for the birth of life,” said Hirashima. Currently, the lab is using the ASURA-FBPS-ML model to run simulations of galaxies as large as the Milky Way, which could also lead to new theories about the origins of life in our galaxy.
The paper describing their findings appeared in The Astrophysical Journal.
Further Reading: RIKEN
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Forum on AI applications held during Global Digital Economy Conference in Beijing-Xinhua
Zhang Di, vice president of Kuaishou Technology and technical head of KLING AI, speaks at Forum on the Development of Integrated Applications of Artificial Intelligence during the Global Digital Economy Conference 2025 in Beijing, capital of China, July 3, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)
Zhang Di, vice president of Kuaishou Technology and technical head of KLING AI, speaks at Forum on the Development of Integrated Applications of Artificial Intelligence during the Global Digital Economy Conference 2025 in Beijing, capital of China, July 3, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)
Guests attend the Forum on the Development of Integrated Applications of Artificial Intelligence during the Global Digital Economy Conference 2025 in Beijing, capital of China, July 3, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)
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Fossil Records Reveal Forest Demise Fueled Ancient Climate Crisis
How did ancient extinction events contribute to global climate change? This is what a recent study published in Nature Communications hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated a connection between the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction (aka PTME or “Great Dying”) and increased global climate change, specifically increased greenhouse conditions for five million years after the event. This study has the potential to help researchers better understand the Earth’s climate history and how this has contributed to life on our planet.
For the study, the researchers used a combination of fossil record examination and computer models to simulate the amount of loss to plant life that occurred during the PTME. In the end, the researchers found that the amount of tree loss greatly contributed to increased levels of carbon dioxide due to a lack of carbon storage, resulting in increased levels of carbon dioxide for millions of years beyond the PTME. They note their results indicate that plant life loss are significant contributors to increased climate change.
“There is a warning here about the importance of Earth’s present day tropical forests,” said Dr. Benjamin Mills, who is a professor of Earth system evolution at the University of Leeds and a co-author on the study. “If rapid warming causes them to collapse in a similar manner, then we should not expect our climate to cool to preindustrial levels even if we stop emitting CO2. Indeed, warming could continue to accelerate in this case even if we reach zero human emissions. We will have fundamentally changed the carbon cycle in a way that can take geological timescales to recover, which has happened in Earth’s past.”
This study demonstrates how massive climate swings do not need an extinction-level event to trigger them, potentially giving humanity a warning about the future of Earth’s climate and what we can do to mitigate the threat.
What new connections between extinction events and climate change will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Nature Communications, EurekAlert!
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Russia becomes first nation to recognize Taliban government of Afghanistan
CNN
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Russia has become the first nation to recognize the Taliban government of Afghanistan since it took power in 2021, announcing on Thursday it has accepted an ambassador from the Islamist group.
“We believe that the act of official recognition of the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will give impetus to the development of productive bilateral cooperation between our countries in various fields,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
“We see significant prospects for cooperation in the trade and economic area with an emphasis on projects in the fields of energy, transport, agriculture, and infrastructure,” the statement continues. “We will continue to assist Kabul in strengthening regional security and combating the threats of terrorism and drug-related crime.”
The statement by the Russian ministry was accompanied by a photo of the new Afghan ambassador to Russia, Gul Hassan Hassan, handing his credentials to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko.
In a post on X, alongside pictures of Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi meeting with Russian Ambassador to Kabul Dmitry Zhirnov, the Taliban’s foreign ministry hailed the decision as positive and important.
Russia’s recognition is historically significant. The former Soviet Union fought a 9-year war in Afghanistan that ended with Moscow withdrawing its troops in 1989 following their defeat by the Afghan mujahideen, some of whom later founded the modern Taliban.
In the aftermath of the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia was one of a few nations to maintain a diplomatic presence in the country. Russia removed its designation of the Taliban as a terrorist group in April 2025.
While the Taliban has exchanged ambassadors with China and the United Arab Emirates, and has a long-standing political office in Qatar, those countries do not recognize it as the government of Afghanistan.
The lack of recognition has not prevented Afghanistan’s new rulers from doing business with the outside world. In 2023, a Chinese oil company signed an oil extraction deal with the Taliban.
Moreover, the Taliban has angled for the recognition of another former adversary: the United States. Efforts have reportedly ramped up since US President Donald Trump began his second term earlier this year. March 2025 saw the release of two Americans from Afghanistan, along with the US removing millions of dollars of bounties from three Taliban officials.
People familiar with American conversations with the Islamist group told CNN in April that the Taliban has proposed numerous steps toward US recognition, including the creation of an embassy-like office within the US to handle Afghan issues.
“You need to be forthcoming and take a risk,” US officials told the Taliban during a March meeting to secure an American prisoner’s release, according to the person familiar with the proceedings. “Do this, it will likely open up the door for a better relationship.”
It wasn’t the first time the US had diplomatically engaged with the Taliban. In the last year of his first term, Trump reached an agreement with the group for a full US withdrawal by 2021. The deal achieved a chaotic fulfillment as the Taliban swept to power during former US President Joe Biden’s first summer in the White House.
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Indian Aircraft Manufacturing Company Raphe mPhibr Revolutionizes Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Innovation with Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Platform
VELIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France — July 4, 2025 — Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: FR0014003TT8, DSY.PA) today announced that Raphe mPhibr, India’s most innovative aircraft manufacturing company specializing in unmanned aerial vehicles, has adopted its 3DEXPERIENCE platform to transform how aircraft systems are conceived, validated and built, substantially reducing the design cycle.
Unmanned aircraft systems are emerging in light of growing applications in defense, homeland security, agriculture, logistics and infrastructure monitoring, and are expected to reach an estimated 6.5 million units in 2030. To contribute to India’s goal of becoming self-reliant in aerospace and defense, Raphe mPhibr needed a new approach to integrate technology and advanced scientific principles into its design process for the engineering of next-generation UAVs with superior strength-to-weight performance and increased payload capacity.
From metals to composites and electronics, Raphe mPhibr designs and builds everything under one roof. Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform significantly reduced its product development cycle while integrating physics and design for manufacturing within the design phase. One of the most compelling use cases for the 3DEXPERIENCE platform at Raphe mPhibr was during the development of its engine. Traditionally a multi-year effort, the engine development process was shortened to just three months. The platform empowered the team to redesign parts optimized for 3D manufacturing.
Raphe mPhibr successfully created complex composite parts through an integrated design and simulation workflow. It reduced the weight of its 4kW 2-stroke engine, which outperforms systems seven times its weight, by 700 grams (1.54 pounds), and made a strategic shift toward 3D-centric design thinking that led to more intuitive and efficient part development. The platform also enabled the team to push the boundaries of engineering by designing high-performance aerodynamic surfaces.
“Designing and manufacturing a drone is nothing less than designing and manufacturing a whole aircraft. The kind of drones we are manufacturing have 20,000 to 30,000 parts,” said Vikash Mishra, Chairman, Raphe mPhibr. “The 3DEXPERIENCE platform allows us to think in 3D – not in straight lines, circles or squares. Biological systems that have evolved in nature – such as plants, anatomical structures and geological formations – are not made up of geometrical shapes. So, using this platform, we can design more organically and without limitations. It’s the best software to create our vision.”
“Raphe mPhibr’s adoption of our 3DEXPERIENCE platform shows how innovators are building tomorrow’s advanced air mobility solutions with virtual twin experiences. Its focus on in-house design sets a new benchmark for engineering excellence,” said David Ziegler, Vice President, Aerospace and Defense Industry, Dassault Systèmes. “The 3DEXPERIENCE platform combines all aspects of design, simulation and collaboration in a single environment for innovation and operational efficiency.”
Raphe mPhibr recently announced it closed $100 million in funding in a round led by General Catalyst – the largest private funding round for an Indian aircraft manufacturer to date. Raphe mPhibr has a team of over 500 people and more than 100 unique intellectual property assets. Its products have logged over one million kilometers (621,371 miles) with the security forces of India. Raphe mPhibr’s future roadmap includes growing its workforce, expanding its research, development and manufacturing facility, and using virtual twin experiences for lifecycle management.
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Oasis ‘sounding huge’ as comeback tour launches
Mark SavageMusic Correspondent
Getty ImagesOasis’s second album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? has sold over 22 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most successful records of all time It’s the gig that fans have been waiting 5,795 days for, as Oasis kick off their reunion tour at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Friday night.
The venue has been hosting soundchecks and rehearsals all week, with passersby treated to snatches of songs such as Cigarettes & Alcohol, Wonderwall and Champagne Supernnova.
“It’s sounding huge,” Noel Gallagher told talkSPORT radio. “This is it, there’s no going back now.”
The Oasis Live ’25 tour was the biggest concert launch ever seen in the UK and Ireland, with more than 10 million fans from 158 countries queuing to buy tickets last summer.
Around 900,000 tickets were sold, but many fans complained when standard standing tickets advertised at £135 plus fees were re-labelled “in demand” and changed on Ticketmaster to £355 plus fees.
The sale prompted an investigation from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which said Ticketmaster may have breached consumer protection law by selling “platinum” tickets for almost 2.5 times the standard price, without explaining they came with no additional benefits.
The CMA ordered Ticketmaster to change the way it labels tickets and reveals prices to fans in the future. Ticketmaster said it “welcomed” the advice.
Still, the debacle has done nothing to dampen the excitement in Cardiff, where fans have arrived from Spain, Peru, Japan, America and elsewhere for the opening night.
“For me, Oasis represents an overwhelming optimism about being young and loving music,” says Jeff Gachini, a fan from Kenya who’s making his first visit to the UK for the show.
“To write simple music that relays the simple truth of life is very difficult. For me, they do that better than anyone.”
Kenyan fan Jeff Gachini is among the lucky 74,000 fans who got tickets for the opening night 
PA MediaA mural of Liam and Noel, made entirely of bucket hats, has been unveiled in Cardiff’s city centre Brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher will be joined on stage by Gem Archer, Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs and Andy Bell, all former members of Oasis, alongside drummer Joey Waronker, who has previously recorded with Beck and REM; and toured with Liam.
The band will also be augmented by a brass section, and backing singer Jess Greenfield, who is part of Noel’s side project the High Flying Birds.
Meanwhile, rumours about the setlist have been swirling all week, as Oasis songs echoed around the Principality Stadium.
One purported running order that was leaked to Reddit suggested the band would open with Hello and finish with Champagne Supernova, with other highlights including Acquiesece, Roll With It, Live Forever and Supersonic.
Noel is also expected to take lead vocals twice during the show, on short sets including songs such as Half The World Away and The Masterplan.
Britain’s biggest band
Oasis were the biggest band in Britain from 1994 to 1997, selling tens of millions of copies of their first three albums Definitely Maybe, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory and Be Here Now.
Liam’s sneering vocals and Noel’s distorted guitars brought a rock and roll swagger back to the charts, revitalising British guitar music after an influx of self-serious Seattle grunge.
Born and raised in Manchester, they formed the band to escape the dead-end mundanity of their working class backgrounds.
“In Manchester you either became a musician, a footballer, a drugs dealer or work in a factory. And there aren’t a lot of factories left, you know?” Noel Gallagher once said.
“We didn’t start in university or anything like this. We’re not a collection of friends that kind of come together and discuss things musically.
“We started the group… because we were all on the dole and we were unemployed and we rehearsed and we thought we were pretty good.”
ReutersThe 2025 line-up includes Gem Archer (far left) and Andy Bell (third from left), who originally joined the band in 1999 after founder members Guigsy and Bonehead left Oasis was originally Liam’s band, performing under the name The Rain. But after watching them live, Noel offered to join – on the condition that he became chief songwriter and de facto leader.
That fait accompli brought them worldwide fame, culminating in two open-air gigs at Knebworth House in summer 1996.
Nearly five per cent of the UK population applied for tickets, with a then-record 125,000 people watching the band top a line-up that also included The Prodigy, Manic Street Preachers, Ocean Colour Scene, The Chemical Brothers, The Charlatans and a Beatles tribute.
But festering tension between the Gallagher brothers often spilled over into verbal and physical violence.
Backstage at a gig in Barcelona in 2000, for example, Noel attacked Liam after he questioned the legitimacy of his eldest daughter. The guitarist walked out for the rest of the European tour, leaving the band to continue with a stand-in.
Although they repaired the relationship, the insults and in-fighting continued until 28 August, 2009, when Oasis split up minutes before they took the stage at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris.
“People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer,” Noel wrote in a statement at the time.
He would later recount a backstage argument in which his younger brother grabbed his guitar and started “wielding it like an axe”, adding, “he nearly took my face off with it”.
PA MediaThe band’s biggest hits include Wonderwall, Don’t Look Back In Anger and Live Forever Since then, they’ve pursued successful solo careers, while constantly fielding questions about an Oasis reunion.
Liam called the idea “inevitable” in 2020, and said the band should reform to support NHS workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, he said his brother had spurned the idea, despite a lucrative offer from promoters.
“There was a lot of money knocking about,” he told ITV’s Jonathan Ross Show. “It was £100 million to do a tour.
“But [Noel] isn’t into it. He’s after a knighthood, isn’t he?”
The reconciliation took another five years and, with neither of the Gallaghers consenting to an interview, it’s hard to know what informed their decision to get back together.
Tabloid newspapers suggested that Noel’s divorce from Sara McDonald in 2022 led to a thaw in relations. Others have suggested the brothers simply wanted the Oasis story to have a more satisfactory conclusion than a dressing room bust-up.
“I’ve heard everything is honky dory and they’re getting on great,” says Tim Abbott, former managing director of Oasis’s record label, Creation.
“I’ve worked with bands in the past that had separate limos, separate walkways onto the stage. I don’t think they’ll get to that. They’re grown men.”
Getty ImagesAccording to analysis by Birmingham City University, the Oasis tour could bring in £400 million in tickets sales and merchandise. Whatever sparked the reunion, the sold-out tour will see the band play 41 shows between July and November, spanning the UK & Ireland, North America, Oceania and South America.
“Probably the biggest and most pleasing surprise of the reunion announcement is how huge it was internationally,” said Oasis’s co-manager Alec McKinlay in an interview with Music Week.
“Honestly, we knew it would be big here, and that doesn’t take much intuition. But looking outside the UK, we knew they had a strong fanbase, we did all the stats.
“We were quite cautious about what that would mean when it came to people actually buying tickets but we were just bowled over by how huge it was.”
McKinlay added that the band had no plans for new music, and described the tour as their “last time around”.
They take to the stage for the first time in 16 years at 20:15 UK time on Friday night.
Shunning the usual rock and roll trappings, Noel Gallagher was spotted arriving for the show by train.
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Debreczeni and O’Donnell to leave Brumbies after Lions clash
Safeguard Global ACT Brumbies fly half Jack Debreczeni and wing Ben O’Donnell will depart the club after next Wednesday’s game against the British & Irish Lions.
The pair are available for selection for the Lions and will receive a farewell in front of a packed house at GIO Stadium.
Head coach Stephen Larkham thanked the players for their efforts at the club during their stint in the nation’s capital.
“Everyone at the Brumbies wishes Ben and Jack the best for the future,” Larkham said.
“They’ve both made a massive contribution to the club on and off the field during their time here. I’m sure they’ll be looking forward to the chance of playing in front of our fans at GIO Stadium one last time next week, against a world-class team in the British & Irish Lions.”
Debreczeni and O’Donnell arrived at the club on the same day in 2023, from Canterbury Rugby Club and Connacht respectively.
Debreczeni, 32, joined the Brumbies after also having spells at Melbourne Rebels, Honda Heat and Hino Red Dolphins in Japan and the Chiefs.
He has gone on to receive 28 caps for the Brumbies, showcasing plenty of standout performances as a playmaker, including guiding us to a crucial 29-21 win against the Waratahs in torrential rain at Allianz Stadium in Sydney during Round 12 last year. The 32-year-old is currently considering whether he will continue his playing career.
O’Donnell, 29, also joined the club in 2023 after playing for Australia Sevens and Connacht, winning the prestigious Shawn Mackay award for Australia’s Sevens’ Player of the Year in 2018.
His time in Canberra has been impacted due to injury, playing nine times for the club in total, after being ruled out for this year’s Super Rugby Pacific campaign with a hamstring operation in February. O’Donnell is set to join French side Aurillac on a two-year deal.
If you would like to see Debreczeni and O’Donnell feature for the Brumbies for the final time next Wednesday against the British & Irish Lions at GIO Stadium, buy tickets here.
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