American fighter jets sent to combat Russian bombers.

An American F-22 Raptor [top] alongside a Russian bomber from 2011. (Image courtesy of CNN)

American fighter jets were dispatched to the coast of Alaska to intercept Russian bomber planes. They flew beside the bombers until the Russian aircrafts turned back towards their base. Since 2007, Russian aircrafts have been intercepted about 60 times, with the last incident occurring in 2015. Similar events have occurred in Europe, where Russians places flew near European airspace. Adam Kinzinger, a House member, stated that it was a provocative action taken by the Russians to reinforce their power. Prior to the incident, President Trump had claimed that their relations with the Russians were not going well.

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Mudslide in Colombia causes seventeen deaths.

Police officers view a mud-filled street in Manizales. (Image courtesy of the Globe and Mail)

A mudslide in Manizales, Colombia caused over forty casualties, with seventeen killed and twenty-four injured. It followed another flood in Mocoa two weeks ago, which caused over three hundred deaths. The mudslide resulted in avalanches of rock and mud which caused intense damage to homes and infrastructure. Rescuers had to dig into mud to search for people who had been reported as missing. Although the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, attempted to reach Manizales, he was unable to due to bad weather. He went on to state that the region was still at risk, but national agencies had been sent to aid in the recovery process.

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China preparing for potential situation in Korea, claim US officials.

Chinese J-10 aircraft preparing to take off. (Image courtesy of the Independent)

United States officials claimed that Chinese bombers were put on high-alert in China to prepare for a potential situation in North Korea. Lu Kang, the spokesman for the nation’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made no comments on the assertions. Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, had stated that if there was a strike, it could severely damage the United States and South Korea. Although China is not in support of the United States involvement in Korea, it has been trying hard to solve the situation due to its close ties with North Korea. Regardless, Lu praised the American’s approach, stating the Korean missile activity was concerning.

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Users beware: phishing URLs can be hidden with Unicode trick.

Users can protect themselves by typing in the URL manually or navigating to websites through search engines. (Image courtesy of pcmag.com)

For many years, website domain names could only be written with Latin characters without diacritics, such as accents. Since 1998, domain names can be written in other alphabets, which allows domain names in Chinese, Arabic, German, and other scripts to be registered. However, this convenience allows hackers to create phishing URLs by finding characters that look similar from different alphabets. Apple’s Safari and Microsoft’s Edge are able to detect some fraudulent domains, but Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox users are vulnerable. Setting strong passwords or changing passwords frequently are ineffective against this type of attack. Instead, users should be vigilant and pay close attention to website URLs when entering sensitive information.

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Cassini probe set to make final voyage into Saturn’s clouds.

The close up flyby will allow the probe to discern many new details about Saturn’s rotation and its rings. (Image courtesy of NASA)

NASA is ending the space probe Cassini’s twelve years of exploration by using Saturn’s moon Titan to slingshot the probe into an orbit between the planet’s rings and atmosphere. This manoeuvre sets the probe to be destroyed by plunging into the gas giant. Cassini’s propellant tanks are virtually empty, and controllers do not want to risk having the probe crash into Saturn’s potentially life-supporting moons, Titan and Enceladus. Cassini has spent many years studying the Saturn system, with each of its many different orbits adjusted by using Titan’s strong gravitational field. The flyby, to take place on 22 April, will give scientists an opportunity to determine the length of a day on Saturn as well as the age of the gas giant’s rings.

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Activists protest Lebanon rape law by hanging wedding dresses by Beirut sea front.

The dresses swaying in the wind elicit a sense of extinguished life and hope. (Image courtesy of AFP/Getty)

Over thirty white wedding dresses were hung by nooses between palm trees as a protest against a Lebanese law that allows a rapist to be exonerated if he marries his victim. In February 2016, a proposal to scrap Article 522, which deals with rape, assault, kidnapping, and forced marriage, was introduced and approved by parliament. It is hoped the article will be abolished during a vote that will take place 15 May. The display was designed in Paris by Lebanese artist Mireille Honein, who said Article 522 left women “without an identity.”

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