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New Hubble images reveal stunning seasonal transformations on Uranus, Jupiter

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:22:50 GMT

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured some stunning new images revealing the changing seasonal conditions on two of our solar system’s largest planets – Uranus and Jupiter.The icy gas giant Uranus is particularly intriguing, as it follows an unusual 84-year orbit around the sun while also rolling on its side. This means that for 42 years at a time, parts of one hemisphere are without sunlight, creating extreme seasonal changes on the planet’s surface.Thanks to the Hubble telescope’s powerful imaging capabilities, scientists can now observe these seasonal transformations in greater detail than ever before. Images captured just seven years apart show the planet’s orientation shifting significantly as it moves along its orbit.But it’s not just Uranus that’s caught the attention of astronomers. Hubble has also been tracking the changing weather patterns on Jupiter, another gas giant in our solar system. The telescope’s observati...

Jeremy Renner shows off strides in recovery on treadmill

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:22:50 GMT

(CNN) — Jeremy Renner is continuing on his road of recovery and taking his followers along with him.The “Mayor of Kingstown” star posted on the Instastories portion of his verified Instagram account over the weekend and shared a video in which he was doing physical therapy on an anti-gravity treadmill.Renner can be heard saying that the machine allows him to only feel “40% of my weight” while walking.According to the Running Physio site, such treadmills “feature a bubble that inflates with air, then surrounds the user’s lower body. This gently lifts them off the treadmill which reduces pressure on the lower body.”The actor was crushed by a snow plow he had been operating on New Year’s Day near his Nevada home.Since then, Renner has been sharing posts about his miraculous recovery.“Now is the time for my body to rest and recover from my will,” Renner captioned his weekend video.

2 tigers recaptured after escaping Georgia safari park during tornado warning

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:22:50 GMT

(CNN) — Two tigers have been recaptured after escaping a Georgia safari park during a tornado warning Sunday morning, according to the park.In a Facebook post, the Wild Animal Safari park in Pine Mountain wrote that it sustained “extensive tornado damage.”No staff or animals were injured but “several animal enclosures” were breached and “two tigers briefly escaped,” said the park.Since then, both big cats have been “found, tranquilized, and safely returned to a safe enclosure.”Wild Animal Safari, a drive-through park, is home to over 75 species of animals housed on 250 acres of land, its website says. Tigers are included in the park’s “walkabout” section, where guests can observe animals in a more zoo-like environment, the website says.In a Sunday morning Facebook post, the Troup County Sheriff’s Office said it received a report of a tiger “unaccounted” for inside the park in Pine Mountain, Geo...

Humza Yousaf narrowly elected new Scottish National Party leader

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:22:50 GMT

LONDON — Humza Yousaf has replaced Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party in a narrow victory over main rival Kate Forbes, the party announced Monday.Currently the Scottish government’s health secretary, Yousaf will become Scotland’s next first minister this week. After second preference votes were taken into account, he won 52.1 percent of the vote to 47.9 percent for rival Forbes.It represents a slim margin of victory over Forbes, an SNP rising star who ran as a change candidate with occasional attacks on Yousaf and the SNP’s record in government. Yousaf is close to Sturgeon and ran promising continuity — but the result highlights the mammoth task he’ll face in reuniting a party rocked by a divisive contest.Speaking at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield stadium, where the results were announced, Yousaf vowed to “lead the SNP in the interests of all party members, not just those who voted for me” and “lead Scot...

GM Pick Eng Pledges ‘New Way Of Doing Business’ At MBTA

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:22:50 GMT

Phillip Eng, the former president of the Long Island Rail Road, will become the next top leader at the MBTA as Gov. Maura Healey’s administration sets out to put the ailing transit agency on firmer footing. Healey’s office announced Monday morning that it settled on Eng, who retired from the LIRR in February 2022 after four years at its helm in which the commuter rail system reported its best-ever on-time performance, as the next top leader at the T. His appointment brings to a close a months-long search process that began before Healey took the oath of office. “Phil Eng is the proven leader the MBTA needs to improve safety and reliability across the system and restore the public’s trust,” Healey said in a statement. “He understands that a functioning transportation system is essential to a functioning economy, and he has a track record of taking the reins of struggling public transit systems and dramatically improving service. He also takes ...

MBTA: Shuttle buses to replace Orange Line trains between North Station and Wellington

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:22:50 GMT

The MBTA says shuttle buses will replace all Orange Line trains between North Station and Wellington starting Monday.The shuttle buses will start running after 8:45 a.m. and continue until the end of service.The T says this change will be in place through Thursday.The MBTA says shuttle service is part of the systemwide effort to improve safety and remove speed restrictions.https://twitter.com/MBTA/status/1640337878843551747?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5EtweetOther lines are getting new service options as well. Starting Monday, Commuter Rail service will be available for Green Line riders and ferry service for Blue Line riders. The Haverhill line of the Commuter Rail will also be available for Orange Line riders. https://twitter.com/MBTA/status/1639999463547600896

Death toll climbs to 7 in Pennsylvania candy factory explosion as all missing individuals are accounted for, officials say

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:22:50 GMT

(CNN) — Two additional bodies have been found by search and rescue teams working to locate missing individuals after the explosion of an eastern Pennsylvania candy factory last week, raising the incident’s death toll to seven people, officials said Sunday.“We do believe them to be the remaining presumptive missing individuals,” Wayne Holben, Chief of the West Reading Police Department, said at a news conference.Now that all missing individuals have been accounted for, the focus will shift to an investigation of the explosion, West Reading Mayor Samantha Kaag said.The explosion erupted shortly before 5 p.m. Friday, leveling the R.M. Palmer Co. facility and stunning West Reading — a community of about 4,500 people that has been home to the chocolatier’s operation for more than six decades.Three buildings surrounding the factory will be condemned as a precaution, Kaag said. She explained that the buildings need to be assessed by structural ...

Healey appoints Phillip Eng to lead embattled MBTA

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:22:50 GMT

Gov. Maura Healey has named a new GM for the MBTA, appointing Phillip Eng, a former top executive at New York’s transit authority, to lead the embattled agency.“Phil Eng is the proven leader the MBTA needs to improve safety and reliability across the system and restore the public’s trust,” said Healey in the Monday morning announcement. “He understands that a functioning transportation system is essential to a functioning economy, and he has a track record of taking the reins of struggling public transit systems and dramatically improving service. He also takes a collaborative approach to his work and maintains open lines of communication with customers, workers, businesses, local officials and communities.”For his part, Eng acknowledged it’s time for a change at the T.“It’s time for a new way of doing business at the MBTA. As an engineer, a transportation professional for 40 years, and a commuter myself, I’m laser focused on finding innovative solutions to complex probl...

New Maryland provider opening in post-Roe ‘abortion desert’

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:22:50 GMT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A new abortion provider is opening this year in Democratic-controlled Maryland — just across from deeply conservative West Virginia, where state lawmakers recently passed a near-total abortion ban.The Women’s Health Center of Maryland in Cumberland, roughly 5 miles (8 kilometers) from West Virginia, will open its doors in June — a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections — to provide abortions to patients across central Appalachia, a region clinic operators say is an “abortion desert.” “Hours in any direction, there are no other abortion providers here — it’s smack dab in the middle of an absolute abortion desert, and that’s by design,” said Katie Quiñonez, executive director of the Charleston-based Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, the state’s lone abortion clinic until it was forced to stop the procedures after legislators in September passed a ban with narrow exemptions.The Cumberland clinic will be...

Zelenskyy meets with UN atomic agency chief in Ukraine

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:22:50 GMT

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with U.N. atomic energy chief Rafael Mariano Grossi in southern Ukraine on Monday.The two discussed the precarious situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which has lost several of its power transmission cables during the conflict and on multiple occasions has had to switch to emergency diesel generators.Grossi, who is director-general of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, plans to visit the plant, which is held by Russian forces, this week.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Two people were killed and 29 wounded Monday when Russian forces shelled the Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, in the partially occupied eastern Donetsk region, local officials said.Video footage of the aftermath showed damaged residential buildings, debris in the streets and vehicles on fire.Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “terrorism....