Winning the war in Ukraine is about more than just numbers

A common question the media asks is how much money Russia has left to sustain the war against Ukraine. In response, experts discuss the burgeoning budget deficit, high interest rates, anemic investment and the fact that war costs have caused sharp reductions in public sector salaries, pensions, health and education.
Everyone is waiting for a gamechanger that hasn’t arrived yet. The recent increase in the global oil price offers only marginal benefit to Russia, since 20 to 40 percent of its oil export capacity has been rendered at l

The 'annoyance economy' is costing Americans billions — here are the 3 biggest culprits stealing you...

If you’ve ever spent hours waiting on hold to talk to a customer service representative, you might have wondered whether the time it took was even worth it — or if that time spent actually cost you money.
Some experts say that it all adds up, and Americans are potentially losing billions in lost time, and fees, to the so-called annoyance economy.
Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 — and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here'

Could gas prices get even higher in Tampa Bay? Experts say yes.

Gas pricesare high and it could get worse, experts say, which could also create a major drag onFlorida’s economy.
It all depends on what happens in the Strait of Hormuz, economists say, a narrow waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman through which about 20 million barrels of oil are carried each day — representing about a fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes in Iran in late February, the country has blocked transportation through the strait, backing up thousands of vessel

Moscow is profiting from the Iran war for now — but experts say Russia's economy is in the 'death zo...

Russia has found itself in the curious position of benefiting from the turmoil hitting its Middle East partner and ally, Iran.
Tehran’s almost total closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused global oil and gas prices to surge, filling the coffers of major oil and gas producers like Russia.
Sergey Vakulenko, senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told CNBC Tuesday that Russia’s windfall from the Iran war resulting energy price growht ran into the billions of dollars.
“So

Here’s Why Bitcoin May Be a 2026 Rally Candidate

There’s no arguing with the data. Bitcoin and the related ETFs providing spot exposure to the largest cryptocurrency are saddled with year-to-date losses, extending bearishness that started last year.
Said another way, it’s difficult for investors to be positive about bitcoin, other digital currencies, and ETFs such as the CoinShares Bitcoin ETF (BRRR). But there’s another side to the story, and it goes beyond recent upside. Some experts believe there are structural forces at play that could be catalysts for a bitcoin rally in the coming yea

A new report reveals that a third of colon cancer cases now occur in the ****** . Take these steps to protect yourself at any age.

Rectal cancer, a form of colon cancer that often comes with more blood in stool, is on the rise.
Experts suspect something in our environment is triggering this — diet changes may play a role.
At-home stool tests, colonoscopies, and more awareness of key symptoms can all help.
More colon cancer cases are being diagnosed in the ****** s of people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, a clear sign that something in our modern environment is perturbing colon health, and m

If Godzilla attacked, could we survive? We asked the experts

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
Apple TV's "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" continues the earth-shattering story introduced in the MonsterVerse movies. Season 2 dives deeper into the clandestine history of the mysterious Monarch organisation and its connection to the ***** ans – especially the giant radioactive one with the million-dollar smile known as Godzilla.
As demonstrated on the show and the movies, when Godzilla strikes, the world feels the rumble, with

Bitcoin Takes Step Towards Quantum Fix as Experts Diverge on Urgency of Threat -...

$68,742.00
$1,964.53
$1.47
$614.55
$0.999903

https://decrypt.co/358068/...

K-shaped economy looks more like 'jaws of a crocodile,' economist says: What's...

Signs of rising financial stress, particularly among middle-income Americans, are warning flags about the U.S. economy’s health in 2026, experts say.
Spending growth for higher-income Americans remained relatively stable between January 2025 and January 2026, according to internal transaction data from Bank of America Institute released this week. However, spending growth slowed for lower- and middle-income households during that period.
In the so-called K-shaped economy, lower-income households are struggli

Birds could be 60 million years older than thought

Tracks believed to be the work of small, scampering dinosaurs may have been made by birds, pushing back the date of the evolution of flight by 60 million years, scientists believe.
Birds first appear in the fossil record about 150 million years ago, when winged species such as Archaeopteryx evolved from a group of small, carnivorous, bipedal dinosaurs known as theropods.
However, in the past few decades, experts have noticed that ancient footprints, dating from much earlier, look surprisingly similar to bird tracks.
Now an AI model, deve

Experts issue warning about looming threat to global food supply: 'A major challenge'

Rising temperatures are turbocharging crop pest damage worldwide, The Guardian reported.
A study published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment found that if global temperatures rise by 2°C (3.6°F), wheat crops could see pest-related losses increase by roughly 46%.
Maize crop losses could increase by 31%, while rice crop losses could jump by about 19%.
Bugs, including aphids, caterpillars, locusts, and planthoppers, flourish as temperatures climb.
Hotter average temperatures accelerate their life cycl

As NASA preps crewed moon mission, some experts say the **** ecraft isn't ready

When four astronauts begin a historic trip around the moon as soon as February 6, they’ll climb aboard NASA’s 16.5-foot-wide Orion **** ecraft with the understanding that it has a known flaw — one that has some experts urging the **** e agency not to fly the mission with humans on board. But NASA remains confident it has a handle on the problem and the vehicle can bring the crew home safely.
The issue relates to a special coating applied to the bottom part of the **** ecraft, called the heat shield. It’s a cruc

Snow is both fun and disruptive. It's also a provider of several environmental benefits, according to weather experts.
The white stuff helps regulate the Earth’s temperature, replenishes water resources when it melts and supports diverse ecosystems, according to the National Weather Service.
Here's a deeper dive into snow's environmental impacts:
Beneath just a foot of snow, the soil and organisms are protected from changes in the air temperature above the surface, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Snow helps insulate the ground below, holding in heat and preventing moist

Snow is both fun and disruptive. It's also a provider of several environmental benefits, according to weather experts.
The white stuff helps regulate the Earth’s temperature, replenishes water resources when it melts and supports diverse ecosystems, according to the National Weather Service.
Here's a deeper dive into snow's environmental impacts:
Beneath just a foot of snow, the soil and organisms are protected from changes in the air temperature above the surface, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Snow helps insulate the ground below, holding in heat and preventing moist

Experts puzzled after 'incredibly rare' creature washes up on beach: 'Something we clearly hadn't seen before'

Pieces of a seldom-seen creature from the North Sea's twilight zone have been found on a beach near Aberdeenshire, Scotland, according to the BBC.
The discovery spotlights that our understanding of the seas' depths and the creatures in it remains murky.
The sucker-laden remains belong to a blob-like, seven-armed octopus that lives at depths of up to 3,900 feet. Females can be large, weighing 165 pounds, but males are much smaller, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute repo

Bitcoin price is once again showing volatility. On December 26, it spiked 1.63% to more than $89,100, only to hover around $88,500 later.
The latest bounce comes ahead of the $28 billion Friday options expiry. Experts believe that investors should stay vigilant at this point and watch for proper breakout signals before making a fresh entry.
Popular crypto ******* yst Ardi noted that the Bitcoin price move to $89,100 comes amid a major short-covering ahead of the Dec. 26 weekly and monthly options expiry. As per the ******* yst, the first leg of the upside was due to the closing of short posi

Another day, another all-time high for precious metals. Gold, silver, and platinum all reached new record levels today.
Market experts view this surge as a warning signal, pointing to declining trust in financial systems and persistent inflation risks. Meanwhile, the crypto community is ***** sing whether this momentum in precious metals could eventually translate into capital rotation toward Bitcoin in 2026.
According to the latest market data, gold surged past $4,500 for the first time today, setting an ATH at $4,526. At the same time, silver reached a peak of $72.7.
"Silver is up over a

There are plenty of annual recap lists circulating around this time of year, but few of them involve the amount of work put in by California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). Over the past year, researchers guided remotely operated vehicles more than 3,000 feet down to survey the vast biodiversity within some of the oceans’ deepest and darkest regions. The data and footage collected during these trips will help experts fill in the gaps towards understanding the planet’s hardest-to-reach ecosystems.
To celebrate the past 12 months of discoveries, MBARI released a video highli

NEW YORK (PIX11) — A JetBlue flight from Cancun to Newark suddenly dropped mid-air and injured 15 passengers, a frightening episode that forced an unexpected emergency landing in Tampa.
For weeks, investigators believed the Airbus A320’s violent plunge was caused by a software malfunction. But now, some experts are pointing to something far more unusual: the possibility that a cosmic flare disrupted the aircraft’s systems.
More Local News
The scare unfolded back in October.
Passengers had been thrown into overhead panels as the plane abruptly lost control, and the FAA quickly labeled it a

Artificial intelligence companies are quickly expanding without the protections experts say are needed.
According to NBC News, the Winter 2025 AI Safety Index reviewed eight companies across 35 indicators and found that these companies are rolling out increasingly powerful systems while leaving gaps in oversight.
The index evaluated areas such as risk-assessment procedures, information sharing processes, governance structures, and safety-research support and documented inconsistent or absent protocols and protections across the industry. The organizations scoring lowest are racing to match o

The government of Nicolás Maduro claims to have millions of troops, enough military power and an efficient anti-aircraft system to counter a possible armed attack by the United States amid accusations that Venezuela’s political leadership leads a “terrorist” drug trafficking cartel.
But does the Maduro administration have enough money to pay for and endure the consequences of a long-term war with the United States after years of economic crisis? Experts doub it, warning of the outcomes that an armed conflict would have in one of the most troubled economies in the world.
The U.S. State Depart

Take your Social Security at 62.
That’s the buzzy advice blowing up on TikTok and YouTube.
Droves of “finfluencers,” as these social media personalities doling out financial tips are called, have been posting videos and memes to justify starting Social Security retirement benefits at age 62 — the earliest age allowed — and then investing the money each month in stocks.
That argument is in stark contrast to what most financial advisers and retirement experts have been urging people to do for years, which is to delay tapping your benefit until age 70 if you can afford to, thereby reaping a la

President Trump’s approval ratings have fallen in recent weeks as he approaches the end of the first year of his second term.
A Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) polling average of surveys on Trump’s approval rating shows it sitting at 42 percent, while his disapproval rating currently sits at 55 percent. That’s lower than roughly a month ago, when the average had his approval rating at close to 46 percent and his disapproval rating at around 51 percent.
While Trump said in a recent Truth Social post last weekend that he had received “THE HIGHEST POLL NUMBERS OF MY ‘POLITICAL CAREER,’” experts are say

A mild uptick in bitcoin mining in China has prompted calls for Beijing to loosen its restrictions and let the power-hungry industry tap into the country's oversupply of energy, but experts said the likelihood of China ending its mining ban was low.
China's bitcoin mining market share by hash rate rose from 13.75 per cent in the first quarter of 2025 to 14.06 per cent in the current quarter, making it the third largest bitcoin mining country behind the US and Russia, according to Hashrate Index, a data platform operated by US bitcoin mining firm Luxor Technology.
The Hashrate Index did not d

Ukraine's deep-strike drone campaign targeting Russia's oil and gas production facilities has already cost its enemy 10 percent of its refining capacity, according to industry experts -- and Kyiv is committed to stepping things up.
"Ten percent, it's not an astonishing number," says Tatiana Mitrova of Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy. "But it is still something that starts to be felt with the Russian domestic fuel crisis, with reduced oil refined products exports, and general tension inside the Russian oil sector."
Ukraine has invested heavily in new long-distance drone t

Trump's transit chief says dressing better will improve air travel. Experts howl.

Apparently nostalgic for the Champagne, pillbox hats and soft-lit glamour that characterized the skies in the 1950s and ’60s, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy urged airline passengers to dress nicely and mind their manners ahead of the year’s busiest travel week.
“Are you dressing with respect?” he asked in an online video. “Are you saying please and thank you?”
Doing so, Duffy suggested, would help to usher in a new “golden age of travel” — a phrase that harks back to the mid-20th century flight

Key Takeaways
An armed suspect posing as a UPS driver gained entry to a San Francisco home and stole $11 million in Ethereum and Bitcoin.
The victim, identified as Joshua, is a tech investor who lives with venture capitalist Lachy Groom, Sam Altman’s former partner.
Security experts warn of a rising trend in kidnappings and attacks targeting crypto holders.
A tech investor connected to Sam Altman was the victim of an $11 million crypto heist after an armed robber posing as a delivery driver gained access to his home on Saturday, according to The New York Post.

https://www.yahoo.com/news

James Cook University researchers are making a **** e-to-ocean connection with artificial intelligence as the conduit.
That's because the Australia-based experts are using an AI algorithm to "fuse" two types of satellite images for "high-precision" oil spill spotting from above, according to a news release.
"This is a major step forward in oil spill detection, and it will allow us to detect spills more accurately and tell whether the oil is thick or thin," lead researcher and doctoral candidate Quanwei Liu said.
About 706 million gallons of waste oil contaminates our oceans each year. Speci

Lava is flowing from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano. Experts say an eruption is imminent.

Streams of molten lava flowed from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano overnight Saturday into Sunday, ahead of another eruption expected to take shape in the coming days, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Located in Volcanoes National Park, a massive protected area on the Big Island of Hawaii, Kilauea is among the world's most active volcanoes. It has been erupting intermittently for almost a year now, with the next imminent episode set to be its 37th since last December.
Eruption episodes tend to be characterized by

3 major internet outages in a 1-month span: That's not a fluke, it's a bad sign

It’s not just you — internet outages severe enough to disrupt everyday services for many people have become more frequent and wide-ranging, experts say.
When internet services company Cloudflare crashed Tuesday — prompting significant, hourslong disruptions at companies ranging from X to OpenAI to Discord — it was the third major internet outage in the **** e of about a month.
While there’s plenty of finger-pointing to go around, two things are clear: Popular consumer businesses increasingly rely on a handful