Russian forces have made two cross-border assaults inside northern Ukraine, according to information from Ukrainian sources and officials, in what President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling a “new wave of counteroffensive actions” by Russia.

In the first development, Russian soldiers penetrated at least one kilometer towards the town of Vovchansk, a Ukrainian military source told CNN. The aim, the source said, “was to get 10 km deep and create a buffer zone at the border to secure Russian territory from feeling the war.”

In an official statement, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Russian soldiers supported by armored vehicles had moved across the border at about 5:00am Friday, following a day of stepped-up attacks on the border area with guided aerial bombs and artillery.

The statement added that Ukrainian reserve units had been deployed to strengthen defenses in the area.

Here's the tweet, https://nitter.poast.org/SteamDB/status/1788981898108182681

Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan’s search for the truth during the early days of the pandemic was seen as a threat by the authorities

A Chinese citizen journalist who has been in prison for four years after reporting on the early days of the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan is due to be released on Monday.

Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer, travelled to Wuhan in February 2020 to document the Chinese government’s response to what became the start of a global pandemic. She shared her reports on X (then known as Twitter), YouTube and WeChat. She was one of the few independent Chinese reporters on the ground as Wuhan and the rest of China went into lockdown.

In one video, recorded in February 2020, Zhang said: “I can’t find anything to say except that the city is paralysed because everything is under cover. That’s what this country is facing now … They imprison us in the name of pandemic prevention and restrict our freedom. We must not talk to strangers, it’s dangerous. So without the truth, everything is meaningless. If we cannot get to the truth, if we cannot break the monopoly of the truth, the world means nothing to us.”

In another video, she showed a hospital that was overflowing with patients on trolleys in the hallway.

I hope more follows

Aurora borealis sightings further south than usual from Ireland and Britain to Czech Republic and Germany as solar storm hits Earth’s atmosphere

The US announced on Friday a new $400 million military aid package to Ukraine.

The package includes weapons Ukraine has been asking for, including Patriot missile system munitions, High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMAR) systems and ammunition, Stinger anti-air missiles, 155mm artillery rounds, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs), among other equipment.

“As President Biden has made clear, the United States and the international coalition we have assembled will continue to stand with Ukraine in its defense of its freedom,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

The announcement marks the second Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) package since President Joe Biden signed a long-delayed national security supplemental securing $60 billion in funding for Ukraine.

More than half a million UniSuper fund members went a week with no access to their superannuation accounts after a “one-of-a-kind” Google Cloud “misconfiguration” led to the financial services provider’s private cloud account being deleted, Google and UniSuper have revealed.

Then she got an exam and her smile went away. She doesn't like the vet touching her. It makes her nervous.

She also has allergies and was put on allergy meds. She's thrilled because she gets pill pockets every day now. I'm not thrilled because her medicine is $130/month

Israel called on Saturday for Palestinians in more areas of Gaza's southern city of Rafah to evacuate and head to what it calls an expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, in a further indication that the military is pressing ahead with its plans for a ground attack on Rafah.

In a post on social media site X, a military spokesperson also called on residents and displaced people in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, and 11 other neighbourhoods in the enclave to go immediately to the shelters west of Gaza City.

According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, 24 Palestinians were killed overnight after Israeli jets targeted several areas in central Gaza.

Israel's military said that so far, about 300,000 Gazans have moved towards Al-Mawasi.

Here's the tweet, https://nitter.poast.org/SteamDB/status/1788981898108182681

Melody Feliciano Johnson, initially charged in Arizona with attempted murder, receives probation after striking plea deal

An Arizona woman who was charged with trying to kill her husband by poisoning his coffee daily for months has reportedly avoided jail time and has been ordered to spend three years on probation.

Melody Feliciano Johnson received her punishment this week after striking a plea deal with prosecutors that allowed her to plead guilty in April to two counts of adding a poison or harmful substance to food or drink, according to the Arizona news website azfamily.com.

She had initially been charged with attempted murder, a more serious felony. The reduced charges left her facing up to two years in prison on each count. But state court judge Javier Chon-Lopez instead opted for probation, ordering her to undergo a mental health evaluation, and requiring her to abstain from contacting her estranged husband unless it is in a legal context, such as their pending divorce, as azfamily.com noted.

Chon-Lopez took note of how the husband, Roby Johnson, did not want Feliciano Johnson to be imprisoned, CNN reported. The network said the couple are living together with their child while waiting for their divorce to be finalized.

For Mike Johnson it was effectively a Day 1 priority.

It’s well past time, the newly elected House speaker said in October, to establish a bipartisan commission to tackle the federal government’s growing $34.6 trillion in debt. “The consequences if we don’t act now are unbearable,” he said, echoing warnings from his predecessor and other House Republicans.

More than six months later, the proposal appears all but dead, extinguished by vocal opposition from both the right and the left.

The collapse underscores an unyielding dynamic in Washington, with lawmakers in both parties loath to consider the unpopular tradeoffs that would be necessary to stem the nation’s swelling tide of red ink — particularly in an election year. Facing the reality that any fiscal commission would almost certainly suggest that Americans pay more or get less from their government, lawmakers have time and again done what they do so well: punt the problem to the next Congress. And they seem poised to do so again.