World War II bombings weakened upper atmosphere at edge of space

Enlarge / Bombing of a factory at Marienburg, Germany, on October 9, 1943. (credit: US Air Force/Public domain) The Earth’s electrified upper atmosphere (the ionosphere) experiences a lot of natural variation, changing with the days and from season to season. The ionosphere can also be affected by certain big events, including solar flares, volcanic eruptions, […]

Trump slams a weakened Germany as ‘controlled by Russia’ in blistering open to NATO summit

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images President Donald Trump followed up on a week of bashing NATO allies on Twitter with an in-person tirade against Germany. He said Russia basically controls Germany because of German energy dependence on Moscow. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has backed a massive pipeline that would allow increased consumption of Russian energy. Russia’s main […]

Mexican leaders are not optimistic about Jared Kushner’s diplomatic visit: ‘He is very weakened and he is going to get weaker’

REUTERS/Lucas Jackson Senior White House advisor Jared Kushner began a visit to Mexico on Wednesday to try to fix rifts over trade, drugs and immigration. Mexican diplomats and opposition leaders said that although Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, is seen in Mexico as dovish, tensions are running high. Kushner is also perceived in Mexico as having lost power in the […]

Katia has weakened to a tropical storm over Mexico

National Hurricane Center JUCHITAN, Mexico (AP) — The Latest on Hurricane Katia and a major earthquake in Mexico (all times local): 1:20 a.m. The National Hurricane Center says Katia has weakened into a tropical storm as it moves further into Mexico, with wind speeds of up to 45 mph (72.4 kph). Katia made landfall north […]

Pound to euro exchange rate: Sterling fails to impress despite hint of weakened Eurozone

June’s deficit was revised higher from -£6.28 billion to -£5.67 billion, helping to produce a surplus above the £0.2 billion that had been forecast. Excluding banking groups, the public sector recorded a surplus of £0.184 billion against forecasts of a -£1 billion deficit. The last time a surplus was recorded was in July 2002. Disappointing […]

Brexit negotiations begin in earnest as weakened Theresa May wrestles with DUP deal

Formal Brexit negotiations began on Monday morning, but Prime Minister Theresa May still finds herself scrambling to shore up support in the House of Commons. The PM would love to have commanded a strong Tory majority to pursue her hard-Brexit ambitions. Instead, after a disastrous General Election showing, she finds herself chasing a damaging deal […]