Ukrainian energy workers are struggling to repair the damage from intensifying airstrikes aimed at pulverizing Ukraine's energy grid. They worry they will lose the race to prepare for winter unless allies come up with air-defense systems to stop Russian missiles from reaching their targets. At one plant that was damaged last week, manager Oleh says there is one thing they need most: Patriot missiles. The Associated Press on Thursday visited an energy plant days after it was damaged in a cruise-missile attack. Owner DTEK says it has lost 80% of its electricity-generating capacity in almost 180 aerial attacks. It says repairing the damaged plants would take between six months and two years, even if there are no more strikes.
Crews have opened a second temporary channel allowing limited marine traffic to bypass the wreckage of Baltimore's collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, which is blocking the vital port's main shipping channel. Authorities said Tuesday that work is also continuing to open a third channel that will allow larger vessels to pass through the bottleneck since the bridge collapse one week ago. The channels are primarily for vessels helping with the cleanup effort. Meanwhile, Gov. Wes Moore said at a news conference that rough weather conditions in recent days have made it unsafe for divers who are trying to recover the bodies of the four construction workers believed trapped underwater in the wreckage.
For the first time in history, world timekeepers may have to consider subtracting a second from our clocks in a few years because the planet is rotating a tad faster. Wednesday's study in a scientific journal says that clocks may have to skip in a second — called a "negative leap second" — around 2029. Ice melting at both of Earth's poles has been counteracting the planet's burst of speed and is likely to have delayed the global second of reckoning by about three years. It's a complicated situation that involves, physics, global power politics, climate change, technology and two types of time.
Investigators are collecting evidence from the cargo ship that plowed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge and caused its collapse. Meanwhile in the waters below, divers searched Wednesday through twisted metal for six construction workers who plunged into the harbor and were feared dead. The investigation picked up speed as the Baltimore region reeled from the sudden loss of a major transportation link that's part of the highway loop around the city. The disaster also closed the port that is vital to the city's shipping industry. Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board boarded the ship and planned to recover information from its electronics and paperwork.
