A rare tornado believed to be the most devastating twister in the Czech Republic’s modern history has torn through country’s southeast, killing at least five people and injured hundreds, rescue services and police said on Friday.The tornado touched down late on Thursday as strong thunderstorms hit the entire country. Seven towns and villages sustained heavy damage that included buildings turned to rubble and overturned cars. The storms were accompanied by hail which in some cases was as big as…

Israeli researchers said they had found bones belonging to a “new type of early human” previously unknown to science, shedding new light on the course of human evolution.Archaeological digs near the city of Ramla by a team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem uncovered prehistoric remains that could not be matched to any known species from the Homo genus, which includes Homo sapiens – modern humans.In a study published in the journal Science, University of Tel Aviv anthropologists and…

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to build a £200 million (US$278 million) flagship has come under fire for being an expensive vanity project that even Queen Elizabeth appears not to be totally on board with.Downing Street announced last month plans to start building what would be the first national flagship since the Royal Yacht Britannia was decommissioned in 1997.Johnson said it would be “the first vessel of its kind in the world”, would kick-start the UK’s diminishing shipbuilding…

European Union leaders rejected an appeal from Germany and France to hold formal talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, handing Angela Merkel a rare public defeat at what could be her final EU summit as chancellor.The proposal was dropped from the final communique following talks that stretched into the wee hours of Friday, Merkel said as she left the summit venue in Brussels. EU diplomats had earlier said that some countries in Eastern Europe were prepared to veto the plan, such was the…

Hundreds of Palestinians showed their anger on the streets of Ramallah in the West Bank after a prominent critic of the Palestinian Authority (PA) died while being arrested.Nizar Banat's health apparently deteriorated during the operation by Palestinian security forces at his residence in Dura, and he was subsequently pronounced dead at a hospital in Hebron, said the city's governor, Jibrin al-Bakri.Demonstrators in Ramallah on Thursday held up banners of Banat's face, and some demanded the…

Roughly 650 US troops were expected to remain in Afghanistan to provide security for diplomats after the main American military force completes its withdrawal, which is set to be largely done in the next two weeks, US officials said.In addition, several hundred additional American forces will remain at the Kabul airport, potentially until September, to assist Turkish troops providing security, as a temporary move until a more formal Turkey-led security operation is in place, the officials said…

Misinformation is a complex social issue that predates the advent of the internet and social media. However, with the rising prevalence of sharing information online, misinformation poses a new set of challenges for all involved.Amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the abundance of pandemic-related information online can make determining the most accurate and credible information sources even more challenging.While there are many approaches to addressing misinformation, including collaborating…