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Meteorite Shower In Central Russia Injures At Least 550 People

RIA Novosti, RT (Russia), BBC (UK)

Worldcrunch

CHELYABINSK A large meteorite shower has injured at least 550 people and wreaked havoc across three Russian regions and Kazakhstan.

"The Russian Urals region has been stricken by a sudden cosmic attack. Unidentified flying objects exploded over several major cities, including Chelyabinsk, where the blast waves blew out windows and disrupted mobile connections," wrote RT. According to the police, 550 people have been treated for minor injuries, and 112 have been hospitalized.

Most of the damage remained superficial, according to the BBC, with the wounded mostly being injured by glass fragments from windows shattering in the city of Chelyabinsk, which suffered a direct meteor impact.

“At first I saw a huge bright fire up in the skies, and then came a loud explosion that not only shattered the windows, but blew out the window frames,” Taisiya Alabuzhina told RT.

“My heart is still beating 200 heartbeats a minute! … I saw this terrible flash, it was red-orange! My eyes are still hurting,” a witness from Chelyabinsk wrote on a local web forum. “I turned off all the lights, sat the kids on a couch and waited… Oh, my God, I thought the war had begun.”

The meteorite explosion sent animals in the Chelyabinsk zoo into a panic. Wolves and horses were reportedly the most agitated, but have now been calmed.

The Russian Academy of Science said the meteorite weighed 10 tons before it entered the earth's atmosphere, reports RT. Russian military have discovered a six-meter crater. According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry, the meteorite exploded nine times before falling to earth.

Watch the video recorded by a dashboard expand=1] cam in the Sverdlovsk region:

A factory was directly hit by the meteorite fragments. A Russian twitter user caught the aftermath:

[rebelmouse-image 27086305 alt="""" original_size="2048x1536" expand=1]

A Yekaterinburg resident recorded expand=1] the impact on his way to work: “It suddenly became as bright as if it was day,” he says.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who was giving a speech at an economic forum in Siberia, said “it is a demonstration that it is not only the economy that is vulnerable, but our planet as well,” reports RIA Novosti.

The meteorite blast may be connected to the 2012DA14 asteroid, which will pass close to Earth tonight, Tatyana Borisevich from Pulkovo Observatory told Itar-Tass, reports RT.

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food / travel

Butter Beware, Olive Oil Is Conquering French Kitchens

Spanish, Italian, Greek, Provençal: in the land of butter and cream, olive oil is all the rage! Buoyed by the wave of the Mediterranean diet, demand has soared in recent years. But production is threatened by drought in Spain, the world's leading producer.

Man holding a clear glass bottle of olive oil.

Someone pouring olive oil in a plate.

Peter Fazekas via Pexels
Laurent Guez

PARIS — It's more than just a fat. Nor even a seasoning or condiment. For its growing number of aficionados, olive oil is an object of desire, if not of worship.

"It's all anyone around me ever talks about," laughs Emmanuelle Dechelette, a former public relations professional turned olive oil sommelier. "My friends, my husband's friends, everyone consults me or asks me if I can find them this or that particular cuvée. Sometimes I feel like a 'drug dealer.'"

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After completing a diploma course in New York, in 2016 Emmanuelle created an international competition, Olio Nuovo Days , which has gradually established itself as one of the benchmarks. Producers flock from all over the world to take part, from France, Spain, Sicily, Greece, Tunisia and Lebanon, as well as Japan, Chile, Brazil and South Africa.

"Right now, without my oil La Couvée, produced in Slovenia and 2023 champion for the Northern Hemisphere, I feel like I couldn't live," says the sommelier, who likes to savor this juice simply, on a toasted baguette, a fine tomato or with fresh goat's cheese. For her, if a dish isn't flavored with olive oil, it's missing something. The elegant Dechellette consumes it without moderation: "When you say olive oil, you mean olive, not oil. It's a fruit, so it's not fatty!”

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