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Russia to launch lunar mission Friday, first in nearly 50 years

Russia said Monday it plans to launch a lunar lander this week after multiple delays, hoping to return to the Moon for the first time in nearly fifty years.

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Deadly flooding hit several countries in different parts of the world

Extreme rainfall accompanied by deadly flooding hit the United States and several other countries over the weekend and last week.

There were several dozen fatalities in central and southern regions of South Korea, including the Chongju region where an underpass flooded and drowned motorists who became trapped in their submerged vehicles.

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Viral disease killing felines on 'cat island' Cyprus

A sickly ginger kitten named Bebe is pulled out of a cat carrier at a veterinary clinic in the Cypriot capital, Nicosia.

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'Orange like the sun': visitors flock to Iceland volcano

Despite warnings to stay away from Iceland's latest volcanic eruption near Reykjavik, a group of curious visitors told AFP they couldn't resist the lure of lava that is "orange like the sun."

While volcanologists say the eruption remains "low intensity" for now, initial estimates indicate that its flow is significantly more powerful than the two previous eruptions in 2021 and 2022 on the Reykjanes peninsula.

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Private space mission with Saudi astronauts splashes down

A SpaceX capsule carrying two Saudi astronauts has splashed down off the coast of Florida, completing the second private mission to the International Space Station.

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UAE announces mission to asteroid belt, seeking clues to life's origins

The United Arab Emirates unveiled plans Monday to send a spaceship to explore the solar system's main asteroid belt, the latest space project by the oil-rich nation after it launched the successful Hope spacecraft to Mars in 2020.

Dubbed the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt, the project aims to develop a spacecraft in the coming years and then launch it in 2028 to study various asteroids.

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China to land astronauts on moon before 2030

China's burgeoning space program plans to place astronauts on the moon before 2030 and expand the country's orbiting space station, officials said Monday.

Monday's announcement comes amid against the background of a rivalry with the U.S. for reaching new milestones in outer space, reflecting their competition for influence on global events.

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Volcano rumbles near Mexico City, coating towns with ash, disrupting flights

Towering a couple of hours from one of the world's largest cities, the Popocatepetl volcano has been coating nearby towns with ash and disrupting flights at Mexico City's airport, the busiest in Latin America.

Hundreds of explosions have spit lava from the snow-tipped peak of the 17,797-foot Popocatepetl (puh-puh-ka-TEH-pet-tl). Approximately 25 million people live within 60 miles of the mountain. Volcanologists say that, while a massive eruption doesn't appear imminent, eruptions are likely to continue, as they have for three decades.

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What makes a storm a typhoon? What's a super typhoon?

Typhoon Mawar was a Category 4 super typhoon with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 kph) or greater when it crossed the northern tip of Guam on Wednesday night. It was the strongest typhoon to hit the U.S. Pacific territory since 2002.

A few commonly used weather terms and their definitions, which rely on material from the National Weather Service:

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Red Sea corals threatened by mass sea urchin die-off

Sea urchins in Israel's Gulf of Eilat have been dying off at an alarming rate, researchers announced Wednesday — a development that threatens the Red Sea's prized coral reef ecosystems.

According to Tel Aviv University scientists, an unknown pathogen is killing off the black sea urchin, Diadema setosum. The massive die-off first began in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, from where it has spread to the neighboring Red Sea, the scientists said.

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