🔭♊Astronomers have observed the brightest flash of light ever seen from an event that occurred 2.4 billion light-years from Earth and was likely triggered by the formation of a black hole. The burst of gamma rays -- the most intense form of electromagnetic radiation -- was first detected by orbiting telescopes on October 9, and its afterglow is still being watched by scientists worldwide.

Astrophysicist Brendan O'Connor told AFP that gamma-ray bursts that last hundreds of seconds, as occurred on Sunday, are thought to be caused by dying massive stars, greater than 30 times bigger than our Sun.

"It's really breaking records, both in the amount of photons, and the energy of the photons that are reaching us," said O'Connor, who used infrared instruments on the Gemini South telescope in Chile to take fresh observations early Friday.

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👩‍🚀Four astronauts returned to Earth in a SpaceX capsule Friday, ending their nearly six-month space station mission with a splashdown in the Atlantic off Florida. Wet and windy weather across Florida delayed their homecoming. SpaceX and NASA finally gave the all-clear on Friday, and the three Americans and one Italian departed the International Space Station, their residence since April.

The capsule parachuted into the ocean, just off Jacksonville, Florida, about five hours later. It carried NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, and Jessica Watkins, the first Black woman to complete a long-term spaceflight, and the European Space Agency’s Samantha Cristoforetti. SpaceX delivered their replacements last week.

Before checking out, the astronauts said they couldn’t wait to have a cold drink with ice, eat some pizza and ice cream, take a shower, revel in nature, and, of course, reunite with their families.

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⚡️ Air raid alert declared in Kiev, local administration says

⚡️Warnings also issued in regions of Volyn, Rovno, Ternopol, Odessa, Nikolaev, Poltava, Sumy

❗️Air defense activated in Novaya Kakhovka, sounds of two blasts heard — regional administration

🛡New Russia's gas pipeline to Turkey will be safe and protected from foreign interference, according to Boris Martsinkevich, the chief editor of Geoenergetica Info analytic magazine.

"Basically, it is safe. There are two territorial zones of Russia and Turkey, exclusive economic zones of both countries... The underwater route has already been prepared for the construction of the TurkStream [pipeline], all the studies have been conducted, it has been checked for the presence of munitions of the [Second World] War," Martsinkevich told Sputnik.

🧐Since Turkey is a NATO member state, a conflict within the alliance would be inevitable if the pipeline is attacked, the expert added.

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❗️There was a missile strike in Kiev on Saturday, the head of the regional military administration Oleksiy Kuleba said.

"Kiev region! There was a missile strike on one of the communities of the region. All services are working, rescuers are on the site. Preliminary, there are no victims," Kuleba said on Telegram.

🐋😞Since September 24, 30 dead whales have been discovered in different areas of Argentine's Nuevo Gulf, with researchers still guessing what killed the animals.

After 18 dead whales were discovered in the region in late September, the Southern Right Whale Health Monitoring Program has announced that 12 new cases have been added to the gloomy number.

🔺According to the scientists, the so-called "red tide" of harmful algal blooms could be behind the whale mortality in the region. However, the investigation into the matter is still underway, with the official cause to be determined.

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🇬🇧 Britain's PM Liz Truss might be heading into a new market turmoil after sacking Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday, Bloomberg reports.

By announcing yet another U-turn on her plan to freeze corporation tax and leaving her other tax cuts in place, Truss actually “laid the ground” for more market tumult on Monday, the outlet estimated.

Meanwhile, Tories appear to be increasingly discontent with her performance in office. One unnamed Tory MP was quoted as saying that Truss “has days left in the job”, while another suggested she will resign before Christmas.

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⚡️Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan following the deadly incident in a coal mine in northern Turkey.

So far, the Turkish Health Ministry has confirmed at least 28 deaths caused by the mine explosion.

❗️Death toll from coal mine explosion in Turkey rises to 40, the country's Interior Ministry says

🥣💷UK consumers have embarked on a new strategy of buying frozen food in a bid to save cash amid ever-increasing energy and grocery price tags, according to Bloomberg.

The developments come after Britain was hit by the highest grocery price inflation in four decades, according to estimates by the international company Kantar Worldpanel.

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Previously undetected by experts, the Prestige virus attacked Ukraine and Poland's transport companies, Microsoft reported the cyberattack.

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❗️Kiev authorities have announced an air alert.

⚡️China does not rule out the use of force in resolving the Taiwan issue, but only against supporters of independence and outside interference – Communist Party of China representative

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❗️Exclusive: Russia must be in the forefront in Africa because relying on the West is tantamount to recolonization, Zolani Mkiva, manager of the Mkiva Foundation and delegate to the South African National Council of Provinces, tells Sputnik

💬"Russia, being a major player in BRICS, but also in the international arena, must come in Africa. It must be in the forefront. We can't rely on the West because the West represents those who once colonized us. They want to maintain that trajectory of colonization so that we only remain consumers and not the players...We don't want to go to the IMF and the World Bank to borrow money because that will be tantamount to recolonization. We will forever be doomed in that way. We will never find ourselves raising our head again."

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❗️Russia’s MoD briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️Russian forces eliminated up to 50 Ukrainian service personnel, as well as destroyed two tanks, five armored combat vehicles, three motor vehicles and a field munitions depot in the Kharkov region;

▪️Russian forces eliminated more than 30 Ukrainian service personnel, four armored vehicles and two pickups near Dvurechnoye;

▪️Russian forces eliminated up to 60 Ukrainian service personnel, as well as destroyed two armored vehicles and seven pickup trucks in the LPR and in the DPR;

▪️Russian forces eliminated more than 50 Ukrainian service personnel, as well as destroyed five fast boats, two barges, five tanks and four infantry combat vehicles in the Kherson region;

▪️Russian forces performed high-precision attacks on the provisional base of the Ukrainian Second Battalion from the 65th Mechanized Brigade in the Zaporozhye region, eliminating more than 160 Ukrainian service personnel;

▪️Russian forces eliminated about 120 Ukrainian service personnel, 17 armored combat vehicles and eight motor vehicle, as well as five Ukrainian ferries near Dudchany;

▪️Russian forces destroyed five Ukrainian missile, artillery armament and munitions depots in the DPR, Kharkov and Kherson regions;

▪️Russian forces shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 aircraft in the Nikolayev region;

▪️Russian air defense destroyed ten Ukrainian UAVs, as well as intercepted 18 HIMARS and Olkha rockets.

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❗️The Pakistani government will summon US Ambassador Donald Blom for an official demarche regarding President Joe Biden's remarks on Pakistan's nuclear weapons, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said.

▪️At a press conference broadcast by Geo TV, Zadari said that he was "surprised by President Biden's remarks", he also noted that Pakistan's nuclear assets "comply with all international IAEA safety standards without exception."

▪️Previously, at a Democratic congressional campaign committee reception on Thursday, US President Joe Biden said that Pakistan is "one of the most dangerous countries in the world" because the country possesses "nuclear weapons without any cohesion."

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📹WATCH: Russian Lancet attack UAV destroys Ukrainian S-300 air defense system in the Zaporozhye region

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❗️Russia outraged by zero reaction from German authorities to attacks on Russian diplomatic missions in Berlin and Frankfurt

The Russian embassy in Berlin has handed the German foreign ministry a note of protest over hostile actions against the diplomatic compounds.

⚡️After arriving at the scene, Turkish President Erdogan announces 41st death in coal mine blast