FWIW:

Kyiv Post March 3, 2023

The head of Chechnya and Putin's main ally might be terminally ill with severe kidney problems, Kazakh journalist Azamat Maytanov reported citing his own sources. Ramzan Kadyrov has been a despotic, pro-Kremlin leader of the Chechen Republic since 2007 and an outspoken foe of Ukraine.

"There is information that the chief nephrologist of the UAE, Dr. Yasin Ibrahim El-Shahat, a well-known doctor with 30 years of experience, has arrived in Grozny," Maytanov wrote on his Telegram.

"His area of expertise lies in nephrology, dialysis, transplantation, glomerulonephritis, and acute renal failure. Kadyrov is allegedly very bad and has serious kidney problems."

...

According to other sources cited by Maytanov, Kadyrov was poisoned. Therefore, he does not trust Moscow doctors. Due to illness, according to the journalist, Kadyrov was not at Putin's annual address in the Kremlin.

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/13766

NBC News
March 2, 2023, 6:33 AM EST
By Aina J. Khan

A once-hidden corridor has been identified inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, after a yearslong project using modern technology to reveal the secrets inside the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that is still standing.

An international research team used an imaging method based on cosmic rays to analyze a cavity behind the pyramid's north face that was first discovered in 2016. Their findings were announced at a news conference with Egyptian officials held outside the 456 feet tall pyramid on Thursday.

The passage-like space measures about 2 meters wide and 9 meters in length, officials said, adding that the corridor was likely designed to help relieve the weight of the vast structure, which was built as royal burial chambers around 2560 BC.

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The latest discovery is part of the international “ScanPyramids” project launched in Oct. 2015 by Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities, which seeks to peer inside the massive structures without using invasive drilling methods.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/great-pyramid-giza-corridor-identified-egypt-scientists-cosmic-rays-rcna73025

Source: CNN

Toyota Motor, the world’s biggest automaker, said on Wednesday it would accept a union demand for the biggest base salary increase in 20 years and a rise in bonus payments, as Japan steps up calls for businesses to hike pay.

As one of Japan’s biggest employers, Toyota (TM) has long served as a bellwether of the spring labor talks, which are in full swing at major companies. Many are expected to conclude swiftly as the government seeks inflation-beating wage hikes to ease burdens on consumers.

The automaker’s incoming president Koji Sato said the decision to accept the union’s demands in full at the first round of talks was meant not just for Toyota but “also for the industry as a whole, and in the hope that it will lead to frank discussions between labor and management at each company.”

Within hours of Toyota’s announcement, rival Honda (HMC) Motor said it had agreed to union demands for a 5% pay increase. The average monthly base salary rise of 12,500 yen ($92.70) at Honda (HMC) is the biggest jump since at least 1990.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/23/cars/toyota-wage-hike-hnk-intl/index.html

Source: NBC News

More than a dozen people were injured, at least one critically, in an industrial plant explosion outside Cleveland on Monday, NBC affiliate WKYC of Cleveland reported.

The late-morning blast at the I Schumann & Co. metal alloy manufacturer in Oakwood Village southeast of Cleveland was described by a captain with the Oakwood Fire Department as a "large explosion."

The official said at least one person was flown by helicopter to a hospital. The subsequent fire was under control Monday afternoon, but crews were still working on hot spots, the captain said.

The blast sent debris across the street, produced a crater in a building, and created a smoke plume that could be seen for miles, according to social media video reviewed by NBC News and as seen in affiliate footage from the scene.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dozen-injured-industrial-blast-cleveland-rcna71518

Guardian

Scientists have pinpointed pieces of DNA which, they say, act like Bond villains in the way they help cancers spread. These microscopic agents have also been shown to be responsible for helping tumours gain resistance to anti-cancer drugs.

The discovery of these bits of genetic material – known as extrachromosomal DNA or ecDNA – could revolutionise the treatments of some of the most aggressive tumours that affect people today, add the researchers.

“The discovery of how these bits of DNA behave inside our bodies is a gamechanger,” said Professor Paul Mischel of California’s Stanford university, one of the leaders of the programme. “We believe they are responsible for a large number of the more advanced, most serious cancers affecting people today. If we can block their activities, we can block the spread of these cancers.”

Made up of tiny loops of DNA, these genetic villains survive outside the chromosomes which are our cells’ main repositories of genetic material and which direct the growth of our bodies and determine our individual characteristics. The existence of these smaller units was revealed years ago but their importance in cancer has only now been uncovered.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/feb/18/bond-villain-dna-could-transform-cancer-treatment-scientists-say

Discovery of ‘superhighways’ suggests early Mayan civilization was more advanced than previously thought

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN

With the thick vegetation of the northern Guatemala rainforests hiding its 2,000-year-old remnants, the full extent of the early Mayan way of life was once impossible to see. But laser technology has helped researchers discover a previously unknown 650-square-mile (1,683-square-kilometer) Maya site that offers startling new insights about ancient Mesoamericans and their civilization.

The researchers detected the vast site within the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin of northern Guatemala by using LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology, a laser mapping system that allows for structures to be detected below the thick tree canopies. The resulting map showed an area composed of 964 settlements broken down into 417 interconnected Mayan cities, towns and villages.

A 110-mile (177-kilometer) network of raised stone trails, or causeways, that linked the communities reveals that the early civilization was home to an even more complex society than previously thought, according to a recent analysis on the architecture groupings, published in the journal Ancient Mesoamerica.

“They’re the world’s first superhighway system that we have,” said lead study author Richard Hansen, a professor of anthropology at Idaho State University. “What’s amazing about (the causeways) is that they unite all these cities together like a spiderweb … which forms one of the earliest and first state societies in the Western Hemisphere.”

More:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/world/maya-civilization-causeways-lidar-discovery-scn