Lee Ardis

A Russian fighter jet fired a missile while shadowing a Royal Air Force recon plane on patrol over the Black Sea, UK says

A Russian fighter jet recently released a missile “in the vicinity” of a Royal Air Force reconnaissance plane conducting a patrol mission in Eastern Europe, UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace said Thursday.

The unarmed RC-135W Rivet Joint was in the middle of a routine patrol over the Black Sea on September 29 when two armed Russian Su-27 fighter jets “interacted” with the surveillance aircraft, Wallace told lawmakers in London while delivering an update on the war in Ukraine.

“It is not unusual for aircraft to be shadowed, and this day was no different. During that interaction, however, it transpired that one of the Su-27 aircraft released a missile in the vicinity of the RAF Rivet Joint beyond visual range,” Wallace said, adding that the interaction lasted about 90 minutes.

The RAF Rivet Joint returned to its base once the patrol finished, Wallace said, and he’s since communicated his concerns with his Russian counterpart, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, “in light of this potentially dangerous engagement.”

Boston University researchers claim to have developed new, more lethal COVID strain in lab

Researchers at Boston University added a spike protein from the Omicron variant with the original Wuhan strain, which has an 80% kill rate.

Researchers at Boston University say they have developed a new COVID strain that has an 80% kill rate following a series of similar experiments first thought to have started the global pandemic that began in China.

The variant, a combination of omicron and the original virus in Wuhan, killed 80% of the mice infected with it, the university said. When mice were only exposed to omicron, they experienced mild symptoms.

The research was conducted by a team of scientists from Florida and Boston at the school’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories.

Damage from weather, climate disasters could exceed $100B in 2022, NOAA says

Just 15 events have killed more than 340 people in 2022.

Damage from weather and climate disasters in 2022 could exceed $100 billion in the U.S. by the end of the year, according to estimations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

So far this year, 15 events — including the recent Hurricanes Fiona and Ian — have incurred damages of more than $1 billion, NOAA announced on Tuesday. It is the 8th consecutive year in which the U.S. has endured 10 or more billion-dollar disaster events.