Depot hit in city of Ekaterinburg and hundreds evacuated in latest attack on Russian online retail giant. What we know on day 1,625
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Straw-necked Ibis
Scientific Name: Threskiornis spinicollis
Description: The Straw-necked Ibis is a large waterbird with a naked black head, long downcurved black bill and yellow throat plumes. It has a glossy blue-black back, with metallic purple, green and bronze sheen, a white nape and sides of neck and white underparts. Its preference for grassland insects such as grasshoppers and locusts have earnt it the name of Farmer's Friend.
Similar species: The strawlike neck feathers distinguish the Straw-necked Ibis from other ibises. When flying, it has a white body and black wings, while the Australian White Ibishas a black head with white body and wings.
Distribution: The Straw-necked Ibis is found across mainland Australia. It is vagrant to Tasmania and is also found in Indonesia, New Guinea, Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island.
Habitat: The Straw-necked Ibis prefers wet and dry grasslands, pastures, croplands and swamp or lagoon margins. It is rarely found on coastal shores, mudflats or mangroves and is generally less adaptable than the Australian White Ibis.
Seasonal movements: Highly nomadic, moving in search of suitable habitat.
Feeding: The Straw-necked Ibis feeds mainly on terrestrial invertebrates, especially grasshoppers and locusts. It will also take frogs, small reptiles and mammals. It forages by probing or takes prey from the surface of water bodies. It is rarely an opportunistic scavenger, unlike the Australian White Ibis. The Straw-necked Ibis has been called the Farmer's Friend, because it eats crop pests such as grasshoppers and locusts.
Breeding: The Straw-necked Ibis forms large breeding colonies, often with Australian White Ibises. The low nests are large trampled platforms of reeds, rushes and sticks over water, often blending together to form one continuous platform, and are re-used over many years. Both sexes build nests, incubate eggs and feed the young.
Calls: Silent away from nest; grunts or croaks at nest and hoarse rolling calls in flight: 'u-u-uh'.
Minimum Size: 59cm
Maximum Size: 76cm
Average size: 68cm
Breeding season: August to January in south; February to May in north
Clutch Size: Two to five, usually two to three.
Incubation: 25 days
Nestling Period: 35 days
(Source: www.birdsinbackyards.net)
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DEN HAAG (ANP) - Een persoon is in de nacht van vrijdag op zaterdag om het leven gekomen bij een schietincident in een woning aan de New Yorksingel in Den Haag. Dat meldt de politie op X.
Er is nog geen verdachte aangehouden. De politie onderzoekt de zaak.
KYIV (ANP) - Bij Russische aanvallen op de Oekraïense hoofdstad Kyiv zijn in de nacht van vrijdag op zaterdag zeker drie doden gevallen. Dat meldt de militaire gouverneur van de stad, Tymoer Tkatsjenko. Onder de drie doden in voorstad Brovary zou een kind zijn. Drie mensen raakten gewond.
In verschillende delen van Kyiv klonken in de nacht explosies en in twee districten brak brand uit na de aanvallen. Verschillende woongebouwen liepen daarbij schade op.
Bij aanvallen op Kyiv en andere Oekraïense steden zouden ballistische raketten, drones en zweefbommen zijn ingezet. Nu Oekraïne te weinig munitie heeft voor raketafweer, heeft Rusland aanvallen met ballistische raketten op Kyiv en andere steden opgevoerd.
AMMAN (ANP) - De speciale gezant van de Verenigde Naties voor Jemen, Hans Grundberg, heeft vrijdag gewaarschuwd voor escalerend geweld in Jemen. "Jemen loopt vandaag een groter risico op een hernieuwd grootschalig conflict dan op enig moment sinds het door de VN bemiddelde staakt-het-vuren van april 2022", schreef hij op X.
Bij recente aanvallen door Houthi-rebellen in Marib en Hadramaut zijn tientallen mensen omgekomen. Grundberg sprak ook zijn zorgen uit over aanvallen op civiele infrastructuur, waaronder luchthavens, en de toegenomen regionale spanningen.
Grundberg schreef dat hij intensief in gesprek is geweest met de Jemenitische partijen, regionale betrokkenen en internationale partners over concrete opties voor de-escalatie. "Ik blijf ervan overtuigd dat een diplomatiek pad nog steeds openstaat. Dit vereist politieke wil, moeilijke keuzes en oprechte inzet van de partijen."
De door Iran gesteunde Houthi-rebellen voeren al jaren strijd tegen de internationaal erkende Jemenitische regering, die militair gesteund wordt door Saudi-Arabië.
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New monkey species with orange lips discovered after years of searching.
The monkey — colobus congoensis — is only the fifth new species of African monkey to be discovered in the past 75 years.
Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares an opinion piece from the Washington Post, written by Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger: NextEra Energy, a Florida-based utility company, has filed paperwork to buy Dominion Energy for about $67 billion, creating the largest regulated electric utility in the world. Virginia's State Corporation Commission is the regulatory body tasked with reviewing the application, and the SCC's commissioners will ultimately decide whether to approve, deny or impose new conditions on any potential merger.
As a Virginian, I am deeply skeptical about whether selling our primary state-regulated utility to an out-of-state company is good for the commonwealth. I have serious questions about what this deal would mean for us. And as governor, I intend to get answers and be a voice for Virginians in the process. That is why I will be taking the legal step of "intervening" in this proposed merger, which means that as governor, I will formally request to be a party to the case.
I know this action is unprecedented by a Virginia governor -- but so, too, is the size of this proposed merger and its potential impact on the commonwealth. Virginians deserve to know that their leaders are laser-focused on ensuring that their needs are part of the SCC review. "If two large corporations stand to benefit financially from this merger, so, too, should the Virginians who pay the bills," said Spanberger. "That is why any potential deal must deliver a more affordable energy bill with sustained, long-term energy cost savings."
By formally intervening in the merger review, Spanberger's administration would gain legal standing to participate directly in the case, request detailed information, raise concerns, and advocate for conditions that benefit people in the state. She says the goal is to push for lower long-term energy costs, protect utility jobs, and ensure any new owner continues investing in reliable, affordable and cleaner power.
As a Virginian, I am deeply skeptical about whether selling our primary state-regulated utility to an out-of-state company is good for the commonwealth. I have serious questions about what this deal would mean for us. And as governor, I intend to get answers and be a voice for Virginians in the process. That is why I will be taking the legal step of "intervening" in this proposed merger, which means that as governor, I will formally request to be a party to the case.
I know this action is unprecedented by a Virginia governor -- but so, too, is the size of this proposed merger and its potential impact on the commonwealth. Virginians deserve to know that their leaders are laser-focused on ensuring that their needs are part of the SCC review. "If two large corporations stand to benefit financially from this merger, so, too, should the Virginians who pay the bills," said Spanberger. "That is why any potential deal must deliver a more affordable energy bill with sustained, long-term energy cost savings."
By formally intervening in the merger review, Spanberger's administration would gain legal standing to participate directly in the case, request detailed information, raise concerns, and advocate for conditions that benefit people in the state. She says the goal is to push for lower long-term energy costs, protect utility jobs, and ensure any new owner continues investing in reliable, affordable and cleaner power.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.