The legal and legislative war over access to abortions continues to rage in the United States. In the most recent blow to pro-choice advocates, North Carolina has passed strict restrictions on the procedure. Per the Associated Press,
Legislation banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy will become law in North Carolina after the state’s Republican-controlled General Assembly successfully overrode the Democratic governor’s veto late Tuesday. The House completed the second and final part of the override vote after a similar three-fifths majority — the fraction necessary — voted for the override earlier Tuesday in the Senate. The party-line outcomes represent a major victory for Republican legislative leaders who needed every GOP member on board to enact the law over Gov. Roy Cooper’s opposition. Cooper vetoed the measure over the weekend after spending last week traveling around the state to persuade at least one Republican to side with him on the override, which would be enough to uphold his veto. But in the end, the four Republicans targeted by Cooper — including one who recently switched from the Democratic Party — voted to override.
Republicans pitched the measure as a middle-ground change to state law, which currently bans nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, without exceptions for rape or incest. https://bit.ly/3oatUqs
A deluge of rain has turned deadly in Italy. Per Reuters,
At least eight people died and thousands were evacuated from their homes as torrential rain battered Italy's northern Emilia-Romagna region, triggering widespread floods, officials said on Wednesday. Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci said some areas had received half their average annual rainfall in just 36 hours, causing rivers to burst their banks, sending water cascading through towns and submerging thousands of acres of farmland. Eight bodies had been retrieved from various locations, the vice president of Emilia-Romagna, Irene Priolo, told reporters, adding that the rains were easing but that river levels were still rising.
This weekend’s Formula One race in Imola was called off after the government said the emergency services had to concentrate on the rescue operation. https://bit.ly/3Oom87f
A group of scientists in Russia have been accused of treason by the Kremlin. Per Reuters,
Three Russian academics who have worked on hypersonic missile technology face "very serious accusations", the Kremlin said on Wednesday, in a treason investigation that has spread alarm through Russia's scientific community. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was aware of an open letter from Siberian scientists in defence of the men, but that the case was a matter for the security services. In the letter, published on Monday, colleagues of Anatoly Maslov, Alexander Shiplyuk and Valery Zvegintsev protested their innocence and said the prosecutions threatened to inflict grave damage on Russian science. In 2012, Maslov and Shiplyuk presented the results of an experiment on hypersonic missile design at a seminar in Tours, France. In 2016, all three were among the authors of a book chapter entitled "Hypersonic Short-Duration Facilities for Aerodynamic Research at ITAM, Russia".” The open letter from their colleagues at ITAM - the Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Novosibirsk - said the materials the scientists had presented in international forums had been checked repeatedly to ensure they did not include restricted information.
Critics say that actions such as this one in Russia are weakening Science in the country. https://reut.rs/3pEVCfi
Move over Jupiter, there’s a new sheriff in tow – at least when it comes to quantity of moons. Per the Smithsonian,
In the race for the title of the planet with the most moons, Saturn may have overtaken Jupiter for the final time. Earlier this year, Jupiter had 12 new moons added to its total, which is now 95, making it our solar system’s frontrunner—Saturn only had 83 confirmed moons at the time. But over the last couple of weeks, astronomers have announced the discoveries of 62 additional moons of Saturn, raising its number to 145, according to a statement from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada. Now, researchers think Jupiter has no chance to catch up. “Saturn will win by miles,” Mike Alexandersen, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, who contributed to the findings, tells the New York Times’ Jonathan O’Callaghan. “I don’t think it’s a contest anymore.”
According to Brett Gladman, one of the researchers involved in the discovery and an astronomer at UBC, Saturn not only has nearly doubled its number of moons, it now has more moons than all the rest of the planets in the solar system combined. https://bit.ly/45bm800
Thanks for reading. Let’s be careful out there.
