Latest news with #SouthernRegion
BBC News
15 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Reading 'still a huge women's club', says new manager
While England enjoy a golden age on the international stage, newly appointed Reading Women manager Ed Jackson-Norris is preparing his side - a top-flight team just two years ago - for their second season in the fifth the money dried up under previous Reading owner Dai Yongge, the team were withdrawn from the Championship following relegation, and entered into the Premier Division of the Southern Region Women's Football joined the club this month after the departure of Pedro Bruno at the end of Yongge sold the club to American businessman Rob Couhig in May in what many fans hope may be a turning point in fortunes for Reading Women's side. "Behind the scenes, it's just been about making sure that the infrastructure is there to achieve what we want to achieve," said Jackson-Norris. "Three years ago we were preparing for a season in the WSL. Now, three years later, we're preparing for a season at tier five which is an almighty drop off."We've gone from being a full-time professional club to now being in a division that doesn't allow players to be contracted. With that comes all sorts of challenges." 'Think forward' The women's side currently play their games 20 miles outside of Reading, at Slough Town's Arbour Park."We're still a huge women's club, so we've got a very loyal supporters' base who remain interested in the women's team. "We're fortunate in that sense, but we're playing games outside of Reading which makes it difficult to continue to grow."Certainly the air at the women's and girl's section of the club at the minute is a case of, well, what's happened is outside of our control, we have no influence over it, all we can do is think forward, we don't want to look behind us anymore."Jackson-Norris says he hopes new owner Rob Couhig will be able to help get the women's team back to the top tier. "The priority in the short term for him has been to stabilise the men's first team and to make sure the men's side of the club, and on a lesser scale the academy, are operating at a financially sustainable and sensible way whilst trying to be competitive. "That side of the club is what brings in the majority of the money so that's totally understandable."He's also said that women's side is part of his thinking, they want to be able to help our set-up as much as possible and we are in the medium-to-long-term thinking of the football club and that's great."After an exodus of players following the drop down the divisions, Reading finished eighth of 10 teams in their were defeated 3-2 in their first pre-season game away at Leatherhead FC on Sunday. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Reuters
6 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Russian overnight attack hit Odesa region sea ports, damaged logistics sites, Ukrainian official says
KYIV, July 24 (Reuters) - Russian overnight attack on the southern region of Odesa hit sea ports and transport connections, Ukrainian deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on the Telegram messenger on Thursday. "Last night, Russia struck civilian infrastructure in the Odesa region – seaports, transport hubs, and residential areas," he said.
Al Jazeera
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Syria clears fighters from Druze city of Suwayda, declares halt to clashes
Syria's government says it has cleared Bedouin fighters from the predominantly Druze city of Suwayda and declared a halt to the deadly clashes there, hours after deploying security forces to the restive southern region. The announcement on Saturday came after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa ordered a new ceasefire between Bedouin and Druze groups, following a separate United States-brokered deal to avert further Israeli military intervention in the clashes. Shortly before the government's claim, there were reports of machinegun fire in the city of Suwayda as well as mortar shelling in nearby villages. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Nour al-Din Baba, a spokesman for the Syrian Ministry of Interior, said in a statement carried by the official Sana news agency that the fighting ended 'following intensive efforts' to implement the ceasefire agreement and the deployment of government forces in the northern and western areas of Suwayda province. He said the city of Suwayda, located in the province's west, has now been 'cleared of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city's neighbourhoods have been brought to a halt'. Israeli intervention The fighting broke out last week when the abduction of a Druze truck driver on a public highway set off a series of revenge attacks and resulted in tribal fighters from all over the country streaming into Suwayda in support of the Bedouin community there. The clashes drew in Syrian government troops, too. Israel intervened in the conflict on Wednesday, carrying out heavy air attacks on Suwayda and Syria's capital, Damascus, claiming it was to protect the Druze community after leaders of the minority group accused government forces of abuses against them. Syrian government troops withdrew from Suwayda on Thursday. At least 260 people have been killed in the fighting, and 1,700 others have been wounded, according to the Syrian Ministry of Health. Other groups, however, put the figure at more than 900 killed. More than 87,000 people have also been displaced. The fighting is the latest challenge to al-Sharaa's government, which took over after toppling President Bashar al-Assad in December. Al-Sharaa, in a televised statement on Saturday, called on all parties to lay down arms and help the government restore peace. 'While we thank the [Bedouin] clans for their heroic stance, we call on them to adhere to the ceasefire and follow the orders of the state,' he said. 'All should understand this moment requires unity and full cooperation, so we can overcome these challenges and preserve our country from foreign interference and internal sedition.' He condemned Israel's intervention in the unrest, saying it 'pushed the country into a dangerous phase that threatened its stability'. After the president's announcement, the Syrian government began deploying troops to Suwayda and Bedouin groups said they would withdraw from the city of Suwayda. 'Following consultations with all members of Suwayda's clans and tribes, we have decided to adhere to the ceasefire, prioritise reason and restraint, and allow the state's authorised institutions the space to carry out their responsibilities in restoring security and stability,' the Bedouin factions said in a statement. 'Therefore, we declare that all our fighters have been withdrawn from the city of Suwayda,' they added. Al Jazeera's Mohamed Vall, reporting from Damascus, said the Druze, too, seemed to have accepted the truce. 'Hikmat Al Hajri, a prominent spiritual leader, has called for all Bedouin fighters to be escorted safely out of Suwayda,' he said. 'Security forces from the interior ministry have been deployed to help separate rival groups, and oversee the implementation of the ceasefire. But there are still reports of ongoing fighting in the city, with some Druze leaders voicing strong opposition to the cessation of hostilities,' he said. 'So while there is hope, there is also doubt that this conflict is over,' Vall added. World welcomes truce Jordan, meanwhile, hosted talks with Syria and the US on efforts to consolidate the ceasefire in Suwayda. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shibani and the US special envoy for Syria, Thomas Barak, 'discussed the situation in Syria and efforts to consolidate the ceasefire reached around Suwayda Governorate to prevent bloodshed and preserve the safety of civilians', according to a readout by the Jordanian government. The three officials agreed on 'practical steps' to support the ceasefire, including the release of detainees held by all parties, Syrian security force deployments and community reconciliation efforts. Safadi also welcomed the Syrian government's 'commitment to holding accountable all those responsible for violations against Syrian citizens' in the Suwayda area, the statement said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also commented on the developments in Syria in a post on X, urging Syrian government troops to prevent fighters from entering Suwayda and 'carrying out massacres'. 'They must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks,' he said. 'Furthermore the fighting between Druze and Bedouin groups inside the perimeter must also stop immediately.' Countries around the world also called for the truce to be upheld. The United Kingdom's foreign secretary, David Lammy, said in a post on X that he was horrified by the violence in southern Syria and that 'a sustainable ceasefire is vital'. France's Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs stressed the need for 'Syrian authorities to ensure the safety and rights of all segments of the Syrian people', and called for investigations into abuses against civilians in Suwayda. Japan also expressed concern over the violence, including the Israeli strikes, and called for the ceasefire to be implemented swiftly. It added that it 'strongly urges all parties concerned to exercise maximum restraint, preserve Syria's territorial integrity and national unity, and respect its independence and sovereignty'.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
If aliens existed on Mars 3.7 billion years ago, they would have needed umbrellas
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Mars was a rainier, wetter place than planetary scientists previously thought, according to a new study of ancient, inverted river channels that span more than 9,000 miles (14,484 kilometers) in the Red Planet's southern Noachis Terra region. "Our work is a new piece of evidence that suggests that Mars was once a much more complex and active planet than it is now, which is such an exciting thing to be involved in," study leader Adam Losekoot of the U.K.'s Open University said in a statement. We've known Mars was once a wet planet ever since the Mariner 9 orbiter mission from the '70s photographed a surface covered in dried-up river channels. These channels were dated back to over 3.5 billion years ago. However, channels cut into the ground are not the only evidence for running water on Mars. When that water ran-off, or evaporated, it left sedimentary deposits. Sometimes we see these in craters that were once lakes filled with water: NASA's Curiosity rover is exploring Gale Crater, which has a central three-mile-tall (five-kilometer-tall) peak covered in sediment. Other times, these sediments were laid down on river beds. Over the eons, the sediments would have hardened, while the river channels and the land around them would have weathered and eroded away. That left the sediments, which are more resistant to erosion, sticking out as tall ridges. Geologists today call them fluvial sinuous ridges, or, more plainly, inverted channels. Now, Losekoot, who is a Ph.D. student, has led the discovery of a vast network of these channels in Noachis Terra based on images and data taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera and the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) on the defunct Mars Global Surveyor mission. Previously, Noachis Terra had not been given due attention because it lacked the more classical river channels that form more obvious evidence of water. However, by mapping the network of inverted channels, Losekoot realized there was lots of evidence there had once been plentiful water in the region. "Studying Mars, particularly an under-explored region like Noachis Terra, is really exciting because it's an environment which has been largely unchanged for billions of years," said Losekoot. "It's a time capsule that records fundamental geological processes in a way that just isn't possible here on Earth." Some of the inverted channels appear as isolated segments that have survived the elements for billions of years. Others are more intact, forming systems that run for hundreds of miles and stand tens of yards tall. Such a widespread network of inverted channels does not suggest these channels were caused by flash floods, argues Losekoot. Rather, they seem to have formed in stable climatic conditions over a geologically significant period of time during the Noachian–Hesperian transition, which was the shift from one geological era into the next around 3.7 billion years ago. What's particularly intriguing is the most likely source of water to have formed these inverted channels is precipitation — be it rain, hail or snow. Indeed, given the size of the inverted channel network in Noachis Terra, this region of Mars may have experienced lots of rainy days in a warm and wet climate. RELATED STORIES — Carbon dioxide rivers? Ancient Mars liquid may not all have been water — Good news for life: Mars rivers flowed for long stretches long ago — Mars Had Big Rivers for Billions of Years It's more evidence that Mars was once more like Earth than the cold and barren desert it is today. Losekoot presented his findings at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting held at the University of Durham in the U.K., which ran between July 7 and July 11. Solve the daily Crossword
LBCI
15-07-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Syrian government forces enter Druze city after clashes
Syrian government forces began entering the majority Druze city of Sweida on Tuesday, the defense ministry said, after two days of deadly clashes in the southern region. The ministry urged people to "stay home and report any movements of outlaw groups" following the violence between the Druze and Bedouin tribes that killed nearly 100 people.
