Author: admin@primenews

The man’s fist looked unrecognisable. Like a split and bruised peach. “Or like a rock,” said the Ukrainian army surgeon, tapping the frozen fingers. It was the second case of frostbite he’d treated that morning, standing beside a makeshift operating table, hidden inside an anonymous-looking cottage near the besieged ruins of the Ukrainian front-line town of Avdiivka. “He’ll probably lose both hands,” said the surgeon with a frown. As Russia’s invasion edges towards the end of its second year, the mood among Ukraine’s defenders is darkening, as exhaustion, frustration at a shortage of weapons, and the knowledge that there will…

India’s top court has struck down a scheme that allowed people to make anonymous donations to political parties, calling it unconstitutional. Electoral bonds were launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in 2018 to make political funding more transparent. But critics say it’s done the opposite and made the process more opaque. Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has received most of the funds through the bonds. The scheme was challenged in the Supreme Court as a “distortion of democracy”. On Thursday, a five-judge constitution bench ruled that electoral bonds violate citizens’ right to access information held by the government.…

Last month, battery recycling company Redwood Materials broke ground on a $3.5 billion battery plant in South Carolina that is expected to create 1,500 new jobs. The plant aims to eventually make enough battery components to power more than a million electric vehicles a year. Redwood Materials specifically cited the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, America’s biggest-ever climate investment, as a reason why it decided to build the facility. This is just one example of a Republican state benefiting from the private investment boom set off by the IRA, a signature legislative achievement for President Joe Biden that every Republican in Congress voted against. It’s…

Japan’s economy has contracted unexpectedly because of weak domestic consumption, pushing the country into recession and causing it to lose its position as the world’s third largest economy to Germany. Gross domestic product shrank at an annualized pace of 0.4% in the last three months of 2023, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday, after having contracted in the previous quarter. A recession is typically defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction. The data confirms that Japan’s economy was the world’s fourth largest behind Germany in US dollar terms last year. Private consumption — which accounts for half of the economy…

Ten glass gems have been put on display for the first time since they were stolen from the British Museum. In August, the museum announced up to 2,000 objects from its storerooms were missing, stolen or damaged. Interim director Sir Mark Jones told the BBC the process to recover them was “lengthy” and “complicated”. So far, 356 items have been retrieved from six different sources, he revealed. Ten of them now feature in an exhibition called Rediscovering Gems. Among the tiny items are an ancient gem of green, white and blue banded glass showing the Roman god of wine and…

After four tumultuous decades in the spotlight, Denise Welch is known as many things – a well-travelled television personality, a (reformed) party animal, an outspoken Loose Woman, a rock-star mum, a survivor. But speaking before rehearsals, in a dressing room above the intimate Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester, the 65-year-old is focused on nailing her return to the persona with which she began her career – a theatre actress. In the premiere of The Gap, by writer Jim Cartwright – known for the soulful and scruffy poetry of plays such as The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Road -…

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has taken a personal swipe at rival company Apple’s new headset. The Vision Pro grabbed headlines as celebrities including Diplo and T-Pain wore it in public, with the “passthrough” feature allowing them to see their surroundings while using it. But in a video shot using the Meta Quest 3’s own passthrough, Zuckerberg insisted his company’s headset is “the best product, period”. Apple has been approached for comment. Passthrough is a feature used by the most recent mixed reality headsets, which allows people to see beyond the screen strapped to their head. By utilising cameras on the…

Tech giant Google is backing a satellite project due to launch in March which will collect data about methane levels around the world. The new satellite will orbit 300 miles about the Earth, 15 times per day. Methane gas is believed by scientists to be a major contributor to global warming, because it traps in heat. A lot of methane is produced by farming and waste disposal, but the Google project will focus on methane emissions at oil and gas plants. Firms extracting oil and gas regularly burn or vent methane. The new project is a collaboration between Google and…

Scientists have created a new type of hybrid food – a “meaty” rice that they say could offer an affordable and eco-friendly source of protein. The porous grains are packed with beef muscle and fat cells, grown in the lab. The rice was first coated in fish gelatine to help the beef cells latch on, and the grains were left in a petri dish to culture for up to 11 days. The researchers say the food may serve as “relief for famine, military ration, or even space food” in the future. It remains to be seen whether consumers would take…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted his troops will advance on the Gazan city of Rafah, defying outside pleas to reconsider. French President Emmanuel Macron was among those warning Mr Netanyahu off, telling him the human cost of Israel’s operation in Gaza was “intolerable”. But Mr Netanyahu has ordered his army to prepare for a ground assault. Some 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah, which has already come under bombardment. Mr Netanyahu vowed to press on with a “powerful” assault, declaring that Hamas, the group which controls Gaza, must be eliminated from the southern city. “We will fight…