People across the United States will be looking to the sky on Monday to witness a total solar eclipse. Others will be listening to it.

And to Harvard University astronomers working to transform the rare sight into sound, the eclipse should create a symphony.

“We mapped the bright light of the sun to a flute sound,” said Allyson Bieryla, an astronomer at Harvard. “Then it goes to a midrange, which is a clarinet, and then during totality, it kind of goes down to a low clicking sound, and that clicking even slows down during totality.”

The scientists designed a boxy device — a bit larger than a cell phone — that converts light into audible tones in a process called sonification. The sounds change based on the intensity of the light, allowing people with blindness or low vision to follow the progress of the eclipse.

The device is called a LightSound, and hundreds of them will be at eclipse-viewing events on Monday.

“That image of totality is breathtaking and so it is visual, but that doesn’t mean that’s the only way you can interpret things or experience them,” said Bieryla, who runs the LightSound Project. “And for someone without sight, they need a different sense to experience it.”

Converting light into sound

The idea for LightSound was born during the last total eclipse in the United States in 2017. Bieryla started the project with astronomer Wanda Díaz-Merced, who experiences blindness and relies on similar technology to do her research. They created three prototypes — one in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and two in Kentucky.

The current version of LightSound is the result of some tweaks and fine-tuning since those prototypes, but sonification has always been at the heart of it. The device uses a light sensor to take in data — in the case of an eclipse the data is light intensity, Bieryla said. Those numbers, the light intensity values, are then assigned an instrument sound using a MIDI synthesizer board in the device, she said. This allows the tones to change as the moon blocks the sun and Earth gets dark, so people with blindness can interact with the eclipse in ways they couldn’t previously.

Fast-forward to 2024, and the project has grown. Changes after the 2019 and 2020 total solar eclipses in South America, such as primarily using a printed circuit board instead of wires, made the device easier to build. With the help of local communities, the project was quickly able to scale up production, Bieryla said. The LightSound team hosts workshops in which anyone can learn to assemble a device.

“Instead of producing 20 in a day, we were producing 200 in a day, so it was a huge, huge improvement,” Bieryla said, emphasizing that the community element is “what made this project successful.”

She said they built and distributed about 900 devices for the 2024 eclipse, which went to sites in Mexico, the United States and Canada.

Of those hundreds scattered across the United States, 29 devices were sent to Ohio state parks and wildlife areas that are in the path of totality. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources partnered with Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, or OOD, to provide LightSound to dozens of eclipse-watch parties.

Bernadetta King, program manager at the OOD’s Bureau of Services for the Visually Impaired, said people are excited to be fully included at eclipse events — not in a separate place but immersed with everyone else as event organizers will plug the device into speakers.   

“Sometimes when you make something better for people with disabilities, you inadvertently make it better for everybody, so why don’t we just think that way to begin with?” King said. “Even the people that would be viewing the eclipse through glasses are hearing about this and say, ‘Oh, this is cool.’”

King, who also experiences blindness, said she feels people with vision-related disabilities are not often top of mind. Devices such as the LightSound could also be an opportunity to keep pushing sonification technology in other ways, she said.

“This is kind of a foot in the door to open an area that has traditionally not been considered when you think about people who have blindness and vision impairment,” King said, mentioning previous applications of sonification in weather, space and other science fields.

Other inclusive eclipse efforts

If you are not near an eclipse event that has a LightSound, the American Council of the Blind is hosting a virtual stream of the sound of various devices along the path of totality.

The Eclipse Soundscapes app is another resource for those who are visually impaired. The project, part of NASA’s Citizen Science initiative, will collect multisensory observations and recordings from people around the country.

In the app, there is a tool that uses vibrations and audio tones to convey each stage of the eclipse in addition to narrated descriptions. The project said the tool is “designed for you to hear and feel astronomical phenomena.”

Additionally, NASA partnered with the National Park Service and Earth to Sky on activities, including a webinar series to prepare interpreters for the event. National parks involved in the partnership will have elements for “the blind and low vision, neurodivergent children, the physically impaired, and those with hearing impairments” at watch parties across the country, the space agency said.

As for Bieryla and her team, there’s always another eclipse somewhere. Once this one is over, they will ship LightSounds to the next location. Because her small team can’t build devices for the whole world, the next goal is to teach people across the globe how to hold workshops. She said she hopes initiatives such as LightSound inspire young scientists.

“I’m hoping that there is a blind child that maybe experiences this device and says, ‘I want to do astronomy,’” Bieryla said, “and we need to have those resources in place for that student to be successful.”

Don’t miss out on upcoming eclipse and space stories! Follow the Astronomy topic to see the latest stories in your personalized feed with your free account.

When an Australian judge made the unusual decision to reopen a blockbuster defamation trial brought by an alleged rapist against a media company, he declared, “Let sunlight be the best disinfectant.”

That’s how claims later described by Justice Michael Lee as “sordid” found their way into the public sphere, giving a startling insight into the way producers from a major television network allegedly secured an interview with the former government staffer with illicit drugs, sex workers, a golf trip and expensive meals.

The defamation case enthralled the Australian public when the main parties took the stand last year, and anticipation was high for a ruling on Thursday. But the arrival of a new witness saw thousands tune in to watch the reopened case as it was broadcast live on YouTube.

The origins of the story date back to 2019, when government staffer Brittany Higgins alleged she was raped by a colleague in Parliament House after a night of drinking in Canberra. The man she accused of the crime, Bruce Lehrmann, vehemently denied any sexual activity took place, and in court he pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent.

But the trial was abandoned in 2022 due to juror misconduct. Rather than requesting a retrial, prosecutors dropped the charges, saying more court action would pose an “unacceptable risk” to Higgins’ health.

That left Lehrmann with no means to disprove the allegations, so he took defamation action against media companies for their initial reporting of the case.

Two outlets settled the claim by paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs. But Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson chose to fight it using a truth defense – essentially tasking their lawyers to prove on the balance of probabilities that Lehrmann did rape Higgins.

The alleged rape

Two years after the night in question, Higgins went public in 2021 with the allegation that she’d been raped in Parliament House.

In an exclusive interview with Ten’s Lisa Wilkinson for “The Project,” Higgins recalled having drinks with co-workers in March 2019, and catching an Uber with a man to Parliament House, where he allegedly raped her on a minister’s couch.

The story sent tremors through Australian politics and prompted an apology from then Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who promised to investigate the culture within the legislature.

“The Project” story didn’t name Lehrmann. But he claimed it included enough information to identify him as the alleged rapist. Lehrmann couldn’t pursue the defamation charge while his criminal trial was underway, so he sought permission from the court to extend the period to bring a claim, which is why it took so long to reach court.

Evidence in the defamation trial was presented in late 2023, grabbing headlines as Lehrmann and Higgins accused each other in court of lying about what had happened.

It was the first time Lehrmann had given court testimony – during his criminal trial, he exercised his right not to take the stand.

However, the first time the Australian public heard his side of the story – in his own words, on camera – was a few months before on Seven’s “Spotlight” program.

“Let’s light some fires,” Lehrmann said, in an episode that aired in June, 2023.

That interview – and the months that led up to it – was the focus of the new evidence in court this week, as former “Spotlight” producer Taylor Auerbach revealed stunning claims about how the production team negotiated the interview with Lehrmann.

Network Ten’s barrister Matthew Collins KC had argued that Auerbach’s testimony was important as it spoke to Lehrmann’s credibility, which could impact the size of any payout, should he win the defamation case.

The producer’s allegations

Sitting in a dark suit and tie, Auerbach took frequent sips of water as he sat in court to answer questions about his role in setting up the Lehrmann interview.

He said he’d been assigned to be Lehrmann’s “babysitter,” which he took to mean establishing a rapport with him to convince him to give them the sought-after exclusive.

After one dinner in January 2023, Auerbach said he and Lehrmann went to a hotel room, allegedly paid for by Seven, where he said Lehrmann produced a bag of cocaine.

“He pulled that out and started to put it on a plate and then started talking to me about a prospective ‘Spotlight’ story and his desire to order prostitutes to the Meriton that night and began Googling a series of websites to try and make that happen,” Auerbach told the court.

The new material submitted to court included a long text message Auerbach said he sent to a senior “Spotlight” producer after meeting with Lehrmann’s media advisor.

In the message, Auerbach said a potential payment of around 200,000 Australian dollars ($132,000) had been suggested for the interview. The advisor had told him that Lehrmann was also planning to do interviews with Tucker Carlson and Piers Morgan, after the Australian exclusive, Auerbach said in the text.

The former television producer made other allegations in his affidavits, including that he put 10,000 Australian dollars ($6,500) on a company credit card for Thai massages for himself and Lehrmann. He said he submitted his resignation the next day, out of guilt, but instead of being reprimanded he received a promotion and a pay raise the following week.

In a statement, the Seven Network said it didn’t offer Auerbach a promotion or a higher salary, nor reimburse Lehrmann for “expenditure that has allegedly been used to pay for illegal drugs or prostitutes.”

“Seven has acted appropriately at all times,” it said.

Before they were aired in court, the claims about money spent on massages made headlines in Australian media, prompting Lehrmann to issue a statement saying the story was “untrue and rather bizarre.”

Auerbach countered his denials with threats of defamation action. And during the pursuit of that case, he came into contact with Wilkinson’s lawyers.

Cross-examination

In his testimony, Auerbach also alleged that Lehrmann gave the Seven Network evidence from his rape trial, including extensive records of text messages and taped audio calls.

Under an important legal convention, documents provided to a party for the purposes of specific proceedings cannot be used for any other purpose.

Previously Lehrmann’s lawyers denied that their client was the source of the material, raising the potential issue of contempt of court.

However, Lehrmann’s barrister, Matthew Richardson SC, played down the value of the material, saying most of the information was in the public domain anyway, and it wasn’t used for any purpose.

During questioning, Richardson suggested Auerbach was a disgruntled former employee who was angry about losing his job at Seven and his subsequent role with Sky News.

“I want to suggest to you, Mr. Auerbach that you are here today to do as much damage to your former employer and former colleagues, as you possibly can?” Richardson said Thursday.

“Strongly disagree,” Auerbach replied.

“And you’re prepared to lie in that endeavor,” said Richardson.

“No, sir.”

To support his line of questioning, Richardson played a three-minute video to the court that showed Auerbach snapping the golf clubs of a former friend and Seven co-worker.

It was posted with the words, “Merry Christmas, sue me,” the court heard.

Auerbach conceded he hated his former colleague and held him partly to blame for Seven’s refusal to extend his contract.

In his affidavit, Auerbach said he had come across evidence that he believed was relevant to the case and submitted his statement to the trial at the request of Network Ten.

Questions for the media industry

The defamation trial is between Network Ten and Lehrmann, but the evidence heard in the last two days is being scrutinized for what it says about the state of Australia’s media industry.

“Here Network Ten is the defendant but this week it’s felt like Seven is on trial for its journalistic practices,” said Sacha Molitorisz, senior lecturer in law at the Center for Media Transition at the University of Technology Sydney.

Molitorisz, a former journalist, said checkbook journalism has its place, but the allegations aired go far beyond that and show the need for a coherent code of ethics that all Australian journalists follow.

“But you don’t need a code of ethics to know that what the Seven journalists did crossed the line,” he added.

Margaret Simons, Honorary Principal Fellow at the Center for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne, said reviews of the industry had repeatedly called for more regulation and repercussions for reporters who trample on journalistic ethics.

“The whole saga you know, I think has been devastating for journalism in many ways,” Simons said.

“In the era of fake news, if we want people to trust journalism, we need to behave a hell of a lot better than it seems Channel Seven have done.”

In its statement, Seven said it was “appalled by the allegations made in recent days. We do not condone the behaviors described in these allegations. They do not reflect the culture of Seven.”

During the trial, Justice Lee noted that none of the producers involved in the “Spotlight” program were members of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), Australia’s main union for journalists.

The MEAA has a 12-point code of ethics that only applies to members. After a discussion about the code and its interpretation, Justice Lee said, “I don’t think reporting honestly is that complicated…. is it? It’s a bit like it’s not complicated not shoplifting from Woolworths.”

Justice Lee retired Friday to consider the evidence, with a date still to be set for his findings.

Two Russian strikes have killed at least seven people in Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, officials said, as Kyiv continues to urge allies for more air defenses.

At least one person died and three were injured in a strike on Kharkiv on Saturday afternoon, according to Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration.

Among the injured were a 66-year-old man and a 12-year-old girl, he said. An educational facility and residential infrastructure in the city were damaged.

Six people were killed and 11 were injured when Russian forces launched a series of S-300 missile strikes overnight on Kharkiv city, Syniehubov said in an earlier post.

Kharkiv is close to the Russian border and has seen a spate of deadly attacks in recent months. President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak identified Kharkiv as the likely target for a Russian spring offensive in an interview with Politico this month.

Zelensky sent his “deepest condolences” to the families and loved ones of those killed in Kharkiv.

“We must put an end to this terror. It’s crucial to strengthen the air defense for the Kharkiv region. And our partners can help us with this,” Zelensky stressed.

Elsewhere, at least one person was killed Saturday afternoon when a ballistic missile hit the southern port city of Odesa, Ukraine’s Southern Defense Forces said in a Telegram post.

Russian forces also launched missile attacks on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday, targeting industrial enterprises, said Ivan Fedorov, the head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration.

There were no casualties from Saturday’s attack in Zaporizhzhia but an attack on Friday night left four people dead and 31 injured, he said.

“For the last two days, the enemy has been terrorizing residents of Zaporizhzhia with missile attacks,” Fedorov said. Five missile strikes were launched on the city on Saturday and five on Friday, he said.

NATO allies have agreed to search their arsenals for air defense systems that can be sent to Ukraine following Kyiv’s pleas, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced this week.

“We see what is happening in Ukraine realizing that you need this air defense now,” she said.

Mexico is breaking diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police raided its embassy in Quito to arrest former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas.

Ecuadorian police stormed the Mexican embassy in Ecuador’s capital Quito on Friday night to arrest the former vice president, who is seeking asylum there, an escalation of tensions that Mexico decried as “an outrage against international law.”

Video from the scene showed police officers massing around the embassy, some armed. Embassies are generally considered as protect spaces under diplomatic norms.

A rift between the two Latin American countries had been growing since Mexico’s decision to grant political asylum to Glas, vice president under leftist ex-President Rafael Correa between 2013 and 2017.

Convicted twice on corruption charges, Glas says he is the subject of political persecution and had been sheltering inside the embassy.

But on Friday, Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on his official X account, said he had been informed that “police from Ecuador forcibly entered” the Mexican embassy and took Glas – who “was a refugee and processing asylum because of the persecution and harassment he faces.”

A statement released by Ecuador’s government on X also confirmed the arrest.

Glas was “sentenced to imprisonment by the Ecuadorian justice system,” the statement from Ecuador’s government read, and was “arrested tonight and placed under the orders of the competent authorities.” He had been granted diplomatic asylum “contrary to the conventional legal framework,” the government said.

“It is barbarism,” Canseco added. “It is impossible for them to violate the diplomatic premises as they have done.”

Mexico plans to lodge a complaint with the International Court of Justice to denounce the Ecuadorian police’s actions, the spokesperson for Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs added.

Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Alicia Bárcena, said there had been no prior contact with Ecuador’s foreign ministry about the arrest and that Canseco was physically attacked during the arrest.

Adding to current tensions was Lopez Obrador’s apparent criticism of Ecuador’s recent elections, saying the 2023 run-off vote took place in a “very strange” manner and suggesting that presidential candidates had used the media, presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio’s assassination and overall violence in their favor while campaigning.

The rift resulted in a series of diplomatic provocations this week, that also included Ecuador rejecting Mexico’s ambassador to the country, who was declared “persona non grata.”

A doctor at a field hospital for detained Palestinians at Israel’s Sde Teiman army base has described “deplorable conditions” and “routine” amputations due to handcuff injuries, according to an exclusive report from the newspaper Haaretz.

In a letter to Israel’s attorney general and defense and health ministers, obtained by Haaretz, the doctor said the conditions at Sde Teiman field hospital compromise inmates’ health and violate medical ethics.

“Just this week, two prisoners had their legs amputated due to handcuff injuries, which unfortunately is a routine event,” the doctor said in the letter, according to the Haaretz report on Thursday. He wrote that inappropriate care at the detention facility has led to “complications and sometimes even in the patient’s death,” adding that “this makes all of us – the medical teams and you, those in charge of us in the health and defense ministries, complicit in the violation of Israeli law.”

Haaretz reported that the doctor said “inmates are fed through straws, defecate in diapers and are held [in] constant restraints, which violate medical ethics and the law.” It is not clear when the doctor penned the letter.

The IDF statement continued, “The handcuffing of the detainees is carried out in accordance with the procedures, their health condition and the level of danger posed by them, in order to ensure the safety of the forces and the medical staff.”

“According to the IDF’s instructions, violence against detainees is absolutely prohibited. The IDF protects the rights of the detainees held in the detention facilities, and regularly briefs the forces regarding the required conduct towards detainees, including the prohibition of resorting to violence,” the IDF statement said..

“Any allegation of violence or humiliation for which concrete details will be provided will be examined and dealt with individually,” the IDF said

A spokesperson for Israel’s health ministry said they had nothing further to add.

The source said the detainees were blindfolded and that at least three patients they saw were wearing diapers.

The medical source highlighted the systematic “dehumanizing” of detainees at the field hospital, which they described as a large “tent” that is “not insulated” from the elements.

‘Ethical failures’ at Sde Teiman

The Sde Teiman field hospital and detention facility, located on an army base in southern Israel near the city of Beer Sheva, was established by the Israeli military shortly after Hamas’ October 7 attacks.

The field hospital was created after Israeli civilian hospitals declined to admit Gazan detainees or terror suspects, according to a report from the non-profit organization Physicians for Human Rights-Israel.

The Physicians for Human Rights-Israel report on Sde Teiman, which documents ‘ethical failures’ at the field hospital, also highlighted that “security forces at the field hospital require all detained persons to remain handcuffed and blindfolded at all times, including during medical treatment.”

“Media reports indicate that Gaza residents held at this military facility endure harsh conditions, being restrained with their hands behind their backs and occasionally bound to a fence for prolonged periods, spanning entire and consecutive days. These circumstances lead to substantial physical and psychological harm,” the Physicians for Human Rights-Israel report added.

According to the Haaretz report, the doctor said in his letter to the Israeli health and defense ministries that the field hospital “is staffed most of the day by a single doctor, accompanied by a nursing team, some with no more than medic training,” and in some cases the doctor on shift is an orthopedist or gynecologist. “This ends in complications and sometimes even in the patient’s death,” the doctor wrote, Haaretz reported.

It generated little attention: another Russian assault in eastern Ukraine, across barren, pock-marked fields, met by determined, nimble resistance.

In an attack that defied logic, a Russian armored column lumbered across open countryside near the village of Tonenke in Donetsk and was picked off by drones and anti-tank weapons. Geolocated videos indicate that the Russians lost about a dozen tanks as well as other armored vehicles.

Once more, Ukrainian units repelled a poorly-planned assault and held their positions. But these frequent mechanized ground attacks by the Russians are like sand-blasting – eroding Ukrainian defenses in multiple spots along the frontlines.

Kateryna Stepanenko at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington says Russia’s likely goal is to test Ukrainian defenses for weak spots and strain Ukrainian defensive capabilities ahead of reported upcoming summer offensive operations.

Ukraine’s frontline brigades are clinging on – awaiting munitions and air defenses from allies, fresh recruits from a new mobilization law that expanded the eligible age range, and hoping Russian commanders will continue to make mistakes.

They are using scarce artillery shells (the ratio is at least 5:1 against), and thousands of small drones that pick off individual vehicles.

The Ukrainians assert that morale is poor in enemy ranks. “They are ready to pay bribes, which is happening on a massive scale, injure themselves or simply run away to avoid the frontline, as the chances of survival there and the number of losses…remain sky-high for Russians,” according to Andriy Yusov, Ukrainian Defense Intelligence representative.

But according to the UK’s Defense Ministry, Russia is able to replenish its front-line forces by 30,000 troops a month. Its military industries are working 24/7 to churn out everything from tanks to drones to guided bombs.

US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said this week that despite immense losses, Russia had “almost completely reconstituted militarily” – possibly allowing it to intensify ongoing offensive operations.

Matthew Schmidt, Associate Professor in the National Security Department at New Haven University says that “Russia is pushing ill-manned, ill-equipped local offensives anywhere it can. But ill-manned with enough bodies might be good enough.”

By contrast, Ukraine’s manpower shortage is chronic. The call-up age has been lowered from 27 to 25 but other parts of a mobilization bill are still struggling to pass through the Ukrainian parliament. The new commander-in-chief, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, has suggested that an original target of 500,000 more recruits can be “significantly reduced”; others are skeptical.

In Stepanenko’s view, Ukraine “will likely need to cede some tactical territory and retreat to more defensible positions in some battlefield scenarios… Russia’s ability to retain the initiative on the battlefield is forcing Ukrainian troops to expend already scarce materiel.”

Overwhelming force – 1.5-tonne guided bombs from the air, intense artillery barrages, heavy flame-throwers and tank-fire – takes its daily toll.

“They are dropping heavy ammunition on us without even flying near the contact line or entering our air defense zone,” he said.

Exactly the same tactic applies to the Avdiivka area, Volosyn says. “When their aircraft are working, it is impossible for our defenders to work, they only need to hide in cover.”

Ukrainian officials speak of fatigue and frustration but take heart from the ineptitude of some Russian commanders. After Tonenke battle last week, one soldier described amazement at the sheer number of Russian soldiers dying “in bundles due to the ambitions of one small man,” reflected one soldier, referring to Russia’s President Putin.

And yet the Russians are not doomed to repeat their mistakes. They have shown an ability to adapt, especially in building multi-layered defenses that scotched the Ukrainian offensive last summer, in deploying glide bombs beyond the range of Ukrainian defenses and in developing their own array of attack drones.

Most recently, according to Ukrainian officials, they have begun equipping cruise missiles with cluster munitions.

Ukraine has responded with a rapid expansion of its own arms industry, in many ways more innovative than the Russians’, especially in developing long-range drones at sea and in the air.

Ukraine is waging a ‘near war’ of close-quarter battles and a “far war” aimed at Russian infrastructure and logistics: oil refineries, airfields and factories.

In the last week alone, its home-made drones hit a plant making UAVs 1,300 kilometers inside Russia. Another wave of drones crippled a dozen Russian planes at an airfield in Rostov.

Ukraine’s Third War

There is also a third war that goes on in hushed corridors either side of the Atlantic: how to sustain the Ukrainians in a more consistent way.

This week NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said it was time “to discuss a long-term financial pledge commitment from NATO allies.”

That may include a long-term funding arrangement under NATO’s auspices that would mitigate any decisions by a potential Trump administration next year to end support for Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials never tire of telling their backers what’s needed now: Patriot and other air defenses, longer-range missiles, artillery shells by the million, more air power.

Attending a NATO gathering this week, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that it’s “impossible to understand why the allies cannot find additional batteries to deliver them to a place where ballistic missiles are fired daily. In March alone, 94 ballistic missiles were fired at Ukraine.”

Kuleba has been saying this every week for many months. The US and 17 other nations, among them several NATO members, have dozens of Patriot systems. Ukraine has received less than a handful.

Paralysis in the US Congress means that Ukraine’s broader military needs are going unanswered. A bill that would release $61 billion in military aid has not advanced in four months.

And time is running out. An official in Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Lieutenant Andriі Kovalenko, said that Ukraine’s allies “must understand that if Western aid does not arrive on time, the enemy will have more chances to capture more territory here or there.”

At least some perceive the urgency. Czech President Petr Pavel has put together a ‘shell coalition’ that is trying to fund the purchase of nearly a million shells held in non-Western countries. The European Union has promised to expedite the shipment of shells after failing by some distance to meet its pledge in the past year.

Europe is not ready or able to assume the leadership role currently occupied by the US in providing the volume of weapons needed nor the real-time intelligence shared with Ukraine.

Kyiv faces the same problem it has since the onset of the Russian invasion: for all the ingenuity and courage its troops show in the face of Russia’s brute force, the reticence of its backers mean they frequently have one hand tied behind their back.

Nor is Ukraine equipped to take advantage of those mistakes. Stepanenko at the Institute for the Study of War says Ukraine can’t exploit the high levels of attrition that Russian units suffer.

Ukraine has no choice but “to dig in and try to anticipate to the best of its ability where, when, and at what intensity Russian forces will attack next,” Stepanenko said.

If you’re planning to see the epic total solar eclipse that will dance across the skies of North America on Monday, you should aim to travel as close to the center of the celestial spectacle’s path as possible.

New map calculations have raised some concerns that the path of totality — where it’s possible to see the moon completely block out the sun — is slightly narrower than NASA calculated. That means some cities on the edge of the route that were expecting to experience a second or two of total darkness might be left out.

NASA has not changed its predictions, but the space agency advises that there is some uncertainty involved in mapping the eclipse’s path.

“Calculations that use a slightly larger radius for the size of the Sun yield an eclipse path that is slightly narrower,” said NASA spokesperson Karen Fox in an emailed statement. “This difference would only affect cities on the very edge of the path of totality, where blanket predictions are difficult regardless — a few city blocks one way or the other could mean 20, 10, or 0 seconds of totality.”

And for viewing purposes, NASA scientists and other experts recommend that spectators head for the middle, rather than the perimeter, of the path anyway.

“I would never, never be near the edge of where that totality is because it’s a difference between night and day,” said Dr. Edward Guinan, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Villanova University.

Mapping the moment

Recent questions around a potentially shifting path have focused on a new map calculated by Guildford, England-based software developer John Irwin and published to a webpage called Besselian Elements.

The research hasn’t been thoroughly reviewed by scientists, Guinan said. And even if the NASA map is wrong, Irwin’s calculations indicate it’s only off by a couple thousand feet on the edges.

Irwin did not immediately respond to an email request for comment Friday.

But few things in science are ever certain. And NASA also acknowledges that exact measurements of the eclipse path are difficult to pin down.

“(P)recise eclipse prediction has brought new attention to a tiny but real uncertainty about the size of the Sun,” NASA’s statement reads. “Uncertainty in the Earth’s rotation can also affect eclipse predictions on this level.”

Guinan explained that it’s extremely difficult to determine an exact measurement of the sun’s size because “it’s a fuzzy surface.”

He noted that the sun could be slightly enlarged right now because the our star is currently going through a period of maximum magnetic activity, which “could cause the sun to swell out a bit.”

But the uncertainty accounts for only a few hundred feet, while the moon is millions of miles across.

Still, even slight adjustments in the sun’s size could gently alter the edges of the moon’s shadow on Monday.

Edge effects

The Besselian Elements website advertises that people should consult Irwin’s alternative eclipse map if they’re hoping to travel to the edge of the path — where the length of total darkness may be extremely brief but onlookers could catch a prolonged glimpse of various other eclipse-related phenomenon.

Guinan notes that eclipses do offer “edge effects.”

“You wouldn’t see the total eclipse, but you would see this diamond ring effect — flashes of the sun going in and out behind mountains and coming through valleys on the moon,” he said. “That would be kind of cool to do if you have seen a lot of eclipses.”

“But I don’t recommend people do this,” he said.

NASA also said in its statement, “Traveling towards the center of the path of totality — even a mile or two — will quickly increase the length of totality that people can see.”

And totality is the real show, Guinan emphasized.

This phase of the eclipse will plunge the area into darkness. The temperature will drop. Animals will behave as if it’s nightfall. The sun’s corona — or its blazing hot, outer atmosphere — will be visible. Bright stars and planets will shine in the surrounding sky.

“When you see the total eclipse, you can’t go back,” Guinan said. “It’s spectacular.”

Don’t miss out on upcoming eclipse and space stories! Follow the Astronomy topic to see the latest stories in your personalized feed with your free account.

The war in Gaza has been raging for six months and the patience of Israel’s allies is running out. As the death toll in the enclave continues to climb, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Israel has no viable plan for how to end the war or what comes next.

The determination to continue pursuing Hamas in Gaza despite the horrific humanitarian consequences is leaving Israel increasingly isolated on the global stage, with its government facing pressure from all sides.

Multiple international organizations have warned Israel may be committing genocide and even the country’s closest allies are now openly criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Calls to halt arms shipments to Israel are growing in the United States and the United Kingdom.

At the same time, Netanyahu and his government are under mounting pressure at home, with protesters back on the streets in large numbers calling for his resignation.

Israel launched the war immediately after the deadly October 7 terror attacks by Hamas. At that time, the Israeli government said the operation had two goals: eliminating Hamas and bringing back the hostages taken by the militants to Gaza.

Six months into the conflict, neither goal has been reached.

While the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has killed thousands of Hamas fighters, most of the group’s top leadership in Gaza, including Yayha Sinwar, continues to evade it, and Hamas’ political leaders are out of reach abroad. More than 100 hostages have been freed, exchanged for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons as part of a truce deal with Hamas in late November. But some 130 hostages, including 99 who are believed still to be alive, remain in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the toll of the war on Palestinians has been horrendous: more than 33,000 people, including thousands of children, have been killed since October 7, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. On top of that, some 75,000 have been injured and more than a million are on the brink of starvation, facing what international organizations say is “imminent” famine.

“I think (the war) has already far exceeded anybody’s expectations in terms of (its) duration and intensity and scale and deadliness, and there’s no end in sight,” said Khaled Elgindy, senior fellow and director of the Program on Palestine and Israeli-Palestinian Affairs at the Middle East Institute.

Yet Netanyahu is refusing to change tack. While he promised to allow more aid into Gaza following an ultimatum this week from US President Joe Biden, he has rejected calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and for a rethink of his plan to invade Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than one million people are currently sheltering.

No exit strategy

Hamas has dominated Gaza ever since it seized power in 2007, controlling all government and security bodies, as well as the healthcare, education and social systems.

“Israel cannot achieve its stated goal of eliminating Hamas, because Hamas is an integral part of the Palestinian society in the West Bank and Gaza. Its popularity has increased in the last several months,” said Nathan Thrall, a Jerusalem-based expert on the Arab-Israeli conflict and author of “A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy.”

This means that Israel’s leaders don’t have a viable way out of the conflict, Thrall explained.

“The realistic options in front of them are to continue to occupy Gaza indefinitely, which most Israelis do not want to do, or, alternatively to leave Gaza and have Hamas be the strongest power on the ground whether or not it’s the official face of the government in Gaza,” he said.

Elgindy also said the goal of destroying Hamas was never realistic. “I think even American officials realize, belatedly, that it’s complete madness, that people are allowing this horror to continue as though the goal of destroying Hamas was more important than anything else in the world, including Israel’s own future security,” he said.

“It’s divorced from reality because even if you destroy Hamas, you’re creating something that will be much worse than the future. Because now you have 30,000 people who are dead, 17,000 orphans … what is their view of Israel and the United States going to be when they grow up?”

Israel was a politically divided country before the October 7 attacks, paralyzed by months of large-scale protests against Netanyahu and his government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history, and particularly the prime minister’s proposed judicial overhaul.

But while these political divisions remain, the vast majority of Israelis support the war in Gaza, despite the international outcry over the devastating impact on Palestinian civilians.

“The Israeli public is still traumatized from October 7, they are still in the revenge mode, some don’t want even food to enter. Even if we don’t accept that it’s right, we can understand what their state of mind is,” Elgindy said, adding that while understandable given the horrors of the October 7 terror attacks, this mindset should not influence international policy.

“We can’t allow that state of mind to dictate the policies of the US and the UK and the European Union. You need to have grownups saying ‘this is not acceptable; you cannot use starvation as a weapon’. In other words, it doesn’t matter that the Israeli public isn’t in the mood for stopping this war. It needs to be forced on them,” he said.

The number of Israeli soldiers killed in combat in Gaza since the start of the war has now surpassed 250. While dwarfed by the Palestinian death toll, the losses are nevertheless significant. Hamas killed more than 1,200 people on October 7.

No plan for the future

“Our friends – America first and foremost, Britain, Germany, France – do not trust the government, that they know what they’re doing, that they have a strategic plan for the day after; they don’t trust us to do the right thing,” he said.

Netanyahu unveiled his plan for Gaza’s post-Hamas future in late February, calling for “complete demilitarization” of the enclave and closing off the territory’s southern border with Egypt, as well as the overhaul of Gaza’s civil administration and education systems. He also rejected any pressure from the international community to recognize a Palestinian state.

Many of the proposals were directly opposed by key players at the negotiating table, including the US, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

“The plan was one and a half pages, speaking generally about the day after, using all sorts of code words that can be interpreted in all sorts of ways … people were not happy with this, our allies were not happy with this,” Chorev said.

“There are lots of credible plans, but none of them are workable, frankly, because of one stumbling block. And that’s the Israelis. The Israelis have made it very clear that they intend to have full security control for the entirety of the territory, which of course throws an unworkable wrench in the workings of any plan that seeks to devolve authority to any other entity,” he said.

Netanyahu has previously also rejected the suggestion that the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank, could take control of Gaza, although the plan outlined in February did not mention this.

Instead, the plan envisions “local entities” running the civil service.

“Again, this was left purposefully vague and it can be interpreted in various ways. It can be local clans, as some interpreted it, and it can be interpreted as a revitalized Palestinian Authority,” Chorev said.

“Most likely, what will happen is, you will have an indefinite Israeli military presence on the ground,” Elgindy said. “You will have something like a breakdown in law and order and more and more chaos. So we’ll see warlords, gangs, clans … Gaza has become a place that is not really livable. If there is someone out there who believes that this is a situation that is going to bring security and safety to Israelis, it’s a completely delusional concept.”

Proposals to establish temporary international security control over Gaza are not feasible given Israel’s stance, experts say.

“If Israel were to admit that it’s an occupying power that needs to withdraw, just as the near entirety of the international community insists, and not to claim the rights of security control over the territory in violation of international law, then you could have something that’s similar to KFOR in Kosovo, an international force as a transition to Palestinians taking over responsibility for the territory,” Hellyer said, referring to the NATO-led peacekeeping force operating in Kosovo.

Thrall also said that most attempts to find alternative plans are not realistic because of Israel’s position.

“They would require placing tremendous pressure on Israel and that is not anywhere in evidence today,” he said, adding that this problem is unlikely to go away even if Netanyahu were to resign.

Thrall said that anyone potentially replacing Netanyahu as prime minister would likely put forward similar plans.

Benny Gantz, who this week called for early elections and is widely considered a likely successor to Netanyahu as and when Israelis vote, is a member of Netanyahu’s war government.

“He does not have a significantly different set of ideas for Gaza or for the future of Israel, Palestine or for Palestinian sovereignty. And if you look at the plan by (fellow war cabinet minister) Gadi Eisenkot, his plan for Gaza, which was supposed to be a rebuttal against Netanyahu’s wholly unrealistic plan, was very similar to it,” Thrall said.

“Whether it’s Netanyahu or somebody else is not the central issue with respect to the Palestinians.”

Israel’s military said its troops made a series of “grave” mistakes and violated protocol in their strikes that killed seven aid workers in Gaza this week.

An Israeli inquiry published Friday found troops mistakenly thought they were attacking Hamas gunmen when drone strikes targeted three vehicles of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) late Monday night.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fired two of its officers and reprimanded others for their involvement in the strikes, but WCK has said Israel cannot be trusted to investigate its own errors in Gaza, and the incident has sparked fury from many of Israel’s staunchest allies.

Here’s what we know.

What the IDF says happened

The IDF has been trying to track down and kill Hamas militants in Gaza for nearly six months, and has long accused Hamas of embedding itself in civilian areas like hospitals, schools – and with aid groups.

In its report, the IDF said its troops identified a Hamas gunman in an aid truck in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah on Monday, and then identified a second gunman.

“After the vehicles left the warehouse where the aid had been unloaded, one of the commanders mistakenly assumed the gunmen were located inside the accompanying vehicles and that these were Hamas terrorists,” the IDF said.

In fact, the vehicles were being driven by workers with the WCK – a charity founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres that has been helping to distribute food in Gaza as the enclave has tipped further towards famine.

But the Israeli drone operators had not been told by their higher-ups about the humanitarian convoy, according to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari. In a video statement on Friday, Hagari that “critical information regarding the humanitarian operation” did not “go properly down through the chain of command.

The drone operators proceeded to target the three vehicles with a series of strikes, killing seven workers – three Britons, a Palestinian, a US-Canadian dual citizen, an Australian and a Pole.

Because the strikes happened at night, the surveillance drones could not see the WCK logo on the vehicles, the spokesperson said. The IDF is considering distributing thermal stickers for aid vehicles to prevent this happening again in the future, he added.

After the first vehicle was struck, some of the surviving aid workers fled to the other vehicles in the convoy – which were also struck, the spokesperson said.

Who did the IDF dismiss and punish?

The IDF said the strikes were “a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and an attack contrary to the Standard Operating Procedures.”

In response, the Chief of the General Staff dismissed two officers: The brigade fire support commander (an officer with the rank of major), and the brigade chief of staff (an officer with the rank of colonel in reserve).

The IDF also reprimanded others: the brigade commander and 162nd Division commander.

The Chief of Staff also formally reprimanded the commander of the Southern Command for his overall responsibility in the incident.

Israel’s swift public explanation and admission of guilt is rare, as is for such senior officers to be punished.

What the WCK says

The WCK said earlier in the week that all three vehicles were clearly marked and that their movements were “in full compliance with Israeli authorities, who were aware of their itinerary, route and humanitarian mission.”

Andres accused Israel of “systematically” targeting the aid workers. In a Reuters interview, he said this was not a “bad luck situation where, ‘oops,’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place.”

Responding to the Israeli report Friday, WCK said Israel had taken “important steps forward” in taking disciplinary action against those responsible, but warned that “without systemic change, there will be more military failures, more apologies and more grieving families.”

WCK said the incident would not have occurred if Israel had not allowed Gaza to run short of food, and called for an independent inquiry into the incident.

“We demand the creation of an independent commission to investigate the killings of our WCK colleagues. The IDF cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza.”

At least 196 humanitarian workers have been killed in the West Bank and Gaza since October, according to the United Nations.

What have the consequences been?

The killing of the seven aid workers sparked condemnation from some of Israel’s most prominent supporters and may mark a turning point in how Israel perpetrates its war in Gaza.

In a phone call on Thursday, US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was unacceptable and warned Israel to address the crisis or face consequences.

The 30-minute conversation was the two leaders’ first phone call since the strike on the WCK convoy.

Biden also said Israel needed to “announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers.”

The UK has also responded sharply to the strikes, which killed three British nationals. Alicia Kearns, a Conservative Member of Parliament and Chair of the UK’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee, told the BBC on Friday that she believes “we have no choice but to suspend arms sales” to Israel.

Kearns said Biden’s phone call felt like a “tipping point” in the conflict, but said it is “devastating that it’s taken six months for us to get to a point where it appears that the international community is able to influence Israel’s perpetration of this war.”

Amid strong rebukes from its allies, the strikes may also have played a role in Israel’s security cabinet approving the reopening of the Erez crossing into Gaza, which has been closed since the October 7 Hamas attacks.

But distributing that aid may be difficult, after at least three aid providers said they are suspending operations in the Gaza in the wake of the deadly strikes on the WCK.

In a sign of the delicate balance in Netanyahu’s coalition government, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir criticised the firing of the army officers, calling it an “abandonment of the soldiers in the middle of a war and a grave mistake that conveys weakness. “

A rift between Mexico and Ecuador is growing, with a series of diplomatic provocations this week that culminated in Ecuador rejecting Mexico’s ambassador to the country, and Mexico announcing that it would offer asylum to a wanted Ecuadorean politician.

Mexican Ambassador Raquel Serur Smeke was declared “persona non grata” in Ecuador on Thursday after Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador appeared to criticize Ecuador’s recent elections.

Ecuador’s 2023 run-off vote took place in a “very strange” manner, Lopez Obrador said, suggesting that presidential candidates used the media, candidate Fernando Villavicencio’s assassination, and overall violence in their favor while campaigning.

In a statement posted on X, Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry called Lopez Obrador’s comments “unfortunate” and said the country is still mourning Villavicencio’s assassination. It also reiterated its focus on ensuring “respect for the dignity and sovereignty of the Ecuadorian State” and “non-intervention in the internal affairs of other States.”

Diplomatic relations are expected to remain open between the two countries. However, a press release by the Mexican Foreign Ministry on Friday lamented the Ecuadorean decision as “disproportionate” and announced that Mexico had decided to grant political asylum to Ecuador’s former Vice President Jorge David Glas Espinel – a move that Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfield quickly slammed as “interference in internal affairs.”

Glas served under leftist ex-President Rafael Correa between 2013 and 2017. Convicted twice on corruption charges, Glas says that he is the subject of political persecution, and has been sheltering inside the Mexican Embassy in Quito, according to Reuters.