Russian Scientists Develop Robotic Masseur For Cosmonauts

Researchers from the Bauman Moscow State Technical University have been working on a robot that would be attached to the body of a cosmonaut and perform massages without distracting them from their work. The developers will present their ideas at the Korolev Readings in Moscow from 24 to 27 January.

The Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IMASH) of the Russian Academy of Sciences has made and tested its full-scale kinematic model to determine how such a masseur could work.

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🦧 “Unbreakable bond”

📹 Young orangutans at a rehab center are taught to be cautious in the presence of snakes with the aid of a toy cobra.

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⚡️Nine people killed in mass shooting in city east of Los Angeles that was celebrating Lunar New Year, police say

🇸🇾 A five-story residential building collapsed in the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, killing at least 10 people, including a child, and injuring three others, media reported.

The incident occurred in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, Syrian broadcaster reported. According to preliminary data, as many as 30 people may remain under the rubble.

Firefighters and civil defense forces are reportedly working on the scene. The cause of the building collapse is yet to be established, according to the broadcaster

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🇹🇷 Protest in front of Swedish embassy in Ankara over burning of Quran in Stockholm

Participants chanted slogans including ''NATO is now only a dream for you'', ''Sweden - you are the disgusting face of two-faced West'', “The Quran is the inextinguishable Sun”, ''He who came to kill us will find his death here'' and others.

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🇸🇪🇹🇷 Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Sunday condemned the burning of the Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm as a "disrespectful" act, though admitted that it did not violate the law.

💬 "Freedom of expression is a fundamental part of democracy. But what is legal is not necessarily appropriate. Burning books that are holy to many is a deeply disrespectful act. I want to express my sympathy for all Muslims who are offended by what has happened in Stockholm today," Kristersson wrote on Twitter.

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❗️Russian MoD briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️Russian forces assumed more advantageous lines and positions in the Zaporozhye direction;

▪️The Russian Army eliminated over 50 Ukrainian servicemen, a car and a pickup truck in the Kupyansk direction;

▪️Russian troops eliminated over 80 Ukrainian servicemen, an infantry fighting vehicle, five armored fighting vehicles and a pickup truck in the Knasny Liman direction;

▪️The Russian army destroyed a Ukrainian artillery ammunition warehouse in the Donetsk direction;

▪️Russian forces destroyed US-made AN/TPQ-48 and AN/TPQ-37 counter-battery radars in the DPR and in the LPR;

▪️The Russian Army eliminated over 80 Ukrainian servicemen, three armored combat vehicles, two cars, and a D-30 howitzer in the Donetsk direction;

▪️Russia troops destroyed a Ukrainian artillery ammunition warehouse in the Donetsk direction;

▪️Russian forces eliminated up to 85 Ukrainian servicemen, an infantry fighting vehicle, two armored fighting vehicles, a pickup truck, two D-20 howitzers and a D-30 howitzer in the Zaporozhye direction;

▪️The Russian Army destroyed a US-made AN/TPQ-36 counter-battery radar in the Kherson direction;
Russian air defenses destroyed a Ukrainian Su-25 and 9 UAVs.

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RT France was the only TV channel in France that gave objective coverage of the yellow vests protests and demonstrations against vaccine passes during the COVID-19 pandemic, Florian Philippot, leader of the French Patriots movement, said.

RT France on Saturday announced that it was shutting down after its accounts in France had been blocked. The channel's management reported that the General Directorate of the Treasury - part of France's Ministry of Finance - decided to freeze the RT France bank accounts using the excuse of the ninth package of sanctions against Russia, which does not mention the channel, only the shareholder in the parent company

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👹 Nancy Pelosi's daughter told US media that her mother called priests to perform an exorcism of the house after Canadian-born homeless man David DePape attacked the former House speaker's husband with a hammer

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📊 Elon Musk rejects claim 80% Twitter staff have gone, says nose count shows 2,300 active workers.

Earlier reports, based on internal records, claimed that Twitter's full-time workforce had dwindled to no more than about 1,300 employees, including less than 550 full-time engineers, since the US entrepreneur's multibillion-dollar acquisition of the microblogging site.

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Move to Hold Off on Tanks for Kiev Sparks Row Between Senior Members of Germany’s Coalition Gov’t

The ongoing spat between Germany and its NATO allies over the possible delivery of Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine has sparked a very public exchange of acrimony between members of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's traffic light coalition.

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❗️Ryanair Boeing 738 with about 190 passengers on board en route from Poland successfully landed at Athens International Airport after a bomb threat was reported midair. Two F-16 fighter jets escorted the plane.

🇧🇷🇦🇷 Brazil and Argentina will announce the launch of preparatory work on the creation of a common currency this week to boost regional trade and reduce their reliance on the US dollar, British financial newspaper reported on Sunday, citing officials.

The initiative is expected to be announced during Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's visit to Argentina that kicks off on Sunday night. The countries plan to invite other Latin American states to join the common currency union, the media outlet reported.

According to the newspaper, this move could finally create the world's second-largest currency bloc with roughly 5% of global GDP, if the initiative is successfully implemented across all of Latin America. The common currency is likely to be called the "sur" (south), as suggested by Brasilia.

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🇯🇵 Japanese government spokesman Seiji Kihara, who attracted ire online for having had his hands in his pockets while Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was speaking to reporters in Washington, revealed that he was scolded by his mother for doing so.

Kihara said that his mother had seen comments about his behavior being a "disgrace" to his parents, and that she told him "I'm ashamed. Sew up your pockets."

The video of the “disgraceful” act was filmed near the White House on January 13, when Kihara accompanied Kishida on his five-country trip to Europe and North America.

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❗️Turkey will hold the presidential election on May 14, a month earlier than planned, said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

🇮🇷 Speaker of the Iranian parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has urged the European Union to "think carefully" before putting Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on its terrorist list and called for preventing the severance of diplomatic relations, media reported on Sunday.

Ghalibaf warned the EU that the Iranian parliament would take "retaliatory, swift and decisive action" against the bloc's plan to list the IRGC as a terrorist group. In particular, Tehran will designate the armed forces of the EU member states as terrorist organizations if the move takes place, the Iranian lawmaker was cited as saying by the news outlet.

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🇹🇿🇧🇪 These African rats have been working with scientists at the APOPO project, a Belgian non-profit organization in Tanzania, helping to sniff out tuberculosis thanks to their impressive sense of smell. The animals are now working in 21 medical centers in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam.

🐀Rats detect pathogens faster than standard testing methods, and APOPO scientists hope the World Health Organization will soon approve their method of testing for tuberculosis.

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🇮🇱 Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Interior and Health Minister Aryeh Deri on Sunday after Israel's Supreme Court ruled to prevent the official from serving in ministerial roles, local media reported. The Israeli interior and health minister will legally step down on January 24, the newspaper added.

On Wednesday, the supreme court decided to bar Netanyahu's ally and leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party from serving as a minister after he was convicted of tax fraud and received a one-year suspended sentence in 2022.

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UK Gov't Demands 'Rogue' Energy Firms Stop 'Jumping the Gun' by Forced Fitting of Prepayment Meters

The UK government was forced to intervene and demand greater transparency around the issue after mounting evidence of applications for warrants to forcibly install such meters from energy suppliers being approved in a matter of minutes.

The UK Business Secretary said that together with energy regulator Ofgem and the Secretary of State for Justice "to ensure that the process by which suppliers bring these cases to court is fair."

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Borrell Claims EU Has Rid Itself of Reliance on Russian Gas

Whether it's demanding a “military solution” to the NATO-Russia proxy conflict in Ukraine or calling the world outside Europe a “jungle,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell is no stranger to controversial claims.

Now, he's done it again, suggesting that European economies have successfully "abolished" their dependence on Russian energy. And the unprecedented jump in prices, supply shortages and rampant inflation? Turns out these are just a product of market fluctuations, and are unrelated to Ukraine, according to Borrell.

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🇿🇦🇷🇺🇨🇳 Three-sided naval exercises involving China, Russia and South Africa, which will take place on February 17-24 near the coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, have "all chances" to take place again in 2024 and become an annual event, says Mzuvukile Maqetuka, South African ambassador to Moscow in an interview with Sputnik

▪️According to him, South Africa perceives US criticism of Pretoria's cooperation with Russia "as part of the democratic process," with South Africa’s own goals being the country’s priority.

▪️Maqetuka also says that South Africa will invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the 2023 BRICS summit.

▪️In his turn, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has accepted the invitation to the 2023 Russia-Africa Summit, the ambassador says, calling for expansion of cooperation between the two countries

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