Source: The Economic Times
Security & Justice
Southern Lebanon Endures Massive Damage: 40,000 Homes Leveled Across 37 Towns
Israeli forces have systematically destroyed entire neighborhoods in southern Lebanon, leveling more than 37 towns and wiping out over 40,000 residential units, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Gaps in Coastal Radar Enabled Israeli Raid in Batroun, Army Commander Says
Lebanon’s army chief, General Joseph Aoun, detailed to Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati how Israeli forces likely exploited gaps in the country's coastal radar system during the recent raid carried out in Batroun. The briefing comes as Lebanese officials seek answers on how Israel’s elite Shayetet 13 unit carried out the landing undetected.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Opinion
The Emptying of Baalbek Is a Moment to Take Stock
“Large numbers of people continue to flee their homes every day, as Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have been going on unabated.” These disturbing words could be from almost any news report about Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbour over the past month. However, they can be found in a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre issued on July 27, 2006.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
A Future Without Hezbollah
At the end of September, when Israel’s campaign to destroy Hezbollah was reaching its height, I met one of the group’s supporters in a seaside café in western Beirut. He was a middle-aged man with a thin white beard and the spent look of someone who had not slept for days. He was an academic of sorts, not a fighter, but his ties to Hezbollah were deep and long-standing.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Sports
Tottenham Forward Son Heung-min Crowned Asia’s International Player of the Year
Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was crowned as Asia’s International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Real Madrid Launch Investigation into Racist Insults After El Clasico Defeat
Real Madrid has launched an investigation into racist insults directed at players during Saturday’s 4-0 home loss to Barcelona in LaLiga, it said on Sunday.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Friday 27 January 2023 14:56:05
Phew! Truck-Sized Asteroid Misses Earth
A truck-sized asteroid that suddenly loomed out of the darkness a few days ago -- with the Earth in its sights -- sailed harmlessly past us on Thursday, space scientists said.
Despite what we've seen in movies like "Armageddon," no global mission to blow it up or knock it off course with nuclear weapons was required.
Instead, Asteroid 2023 BU whizzed past without incident and back out into the blacknes of space.
Instead, Asteroid 2023 BU whizzed past without incident and back out into the blacknes of space.
The rock, which was spotted for the first time on Saturday by an amateur stargazer in Crimea, came closest to the southern tip of South America at around 0029 GMT Friday, according to scientists who were tracking it.
At its nearest point, the asteroid was just 2,200 miles (3,600 kilometers) from Earth's surface -- just a quarter of the height of many of the geostationary satellites that make our telephones and car navigation systems work.
Amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, who had already spotted an interstellar comet in 2019, raised the alarm over the weekend, alerting fellow space-watchers to the previously unknown celestial body.
Scientists around the world raced to calculate where it was headed -- and whether we needed to start making last-minute evacuation plans.
Scientists around the world raced to calculate where it was headed -- and whether we needed to start making last-minute evacuation plans.
But experts using NASA's Scout impact hazard assessment system rapidly determined the alien visitor was coming in peace.
"Scout quickly ruled out 2023 BU as an impactor, but despite the very few observations, it was nonetheless able to predict that the asteroid would make an extraordinarily close approach with Earth," said NASA's Davide Farnocchia, who helped develop Scout.
"Scout quickly ruled out 2023 BU as an impactor, but despite the very few observations, it was nonetheless able to predict that the asteroid would make an extraordinarily close approach with Earth," said NASA's Davide Farnocchia, who helped develop Scout.
"In fact, this is one of the closest approaches by a known near-Earth object ever recorded."
If the math had been off, however, humanity would still probably have been alright, scientists say.
If the math had been off, however, humanity would still probably have been alright, scientists say.
At between just 3.5 to 8.5 meters (11 to 28 feet) across, Asteroid 2023 BU is a bit small to cause too much damage, and would have largely burned up as it hurtled through the atmosphere.
The few meteorites that did make it to the ground would have been small, not the city-destroying, tsunami-generating monsters of "Deep Impact."
The close call will leave a more lasting impact on the asteroid itself, NASA's number-crunchers said.
Earth's gravity will affect the object's orbit, lengthening the amount of time it takes for 2023 BU to go around the Sun, from 359 days to a more leisurely 425 days.
The few meteorites that did make it to the ground would have been small, not the city-destroying, tsunami-generating monsters of "Deep Impact."
The close call will leave a more lasting impact on the asteroid itself, NASA's number-crunchers said.
Earth's gravity will affect the object's orbit, lengthening the amount of time it takes for 2023 BU to go around the Sun, from 359 days to a more leisurely 425 days.
