Now Russia is fighting to gain territory in the east of Ukraine | Can Egypt be persuaded to accept Gazan refugees? | Scientists Investigating Alzheimer’s Drug Faulted in Leaked Report | 'To go from your debut to being told you would have been dead within the next year was surreal'

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Now Russia is fighting to gain territory in the east of Ukraine - The Economist

AFTER MONTHS of soaking up punishment from Ukraine’s dogged but slow-moving counter-offensive, since October 9th Russian forces have been carrying out a sustained attack of their own. This is centred on the eastern frontline town of Avdiivka, a heavily fortified Ukrainian-held area close to the Russian-held capital of Donetsk province. It sits in a strategic pocket surrounded on three sides by enemy positions.

It amounts to one of Russia’s biggest pushes since last spring and its aim appears both to be an attempt to create a “cauldron” around the Ukrainian defenders and to change the narrative of the war to one in which the initiative shifts back towards Russia. Oleksandr Shtupun, a military spokesman for Ukrainian forces in the south, said: “The enemy sees Avdiivka as an opportunity to gain a significant victory and turn the tide of hostilities.”

Whether it becomes the main thrust of a fresh Russian offensive is too soon to determine. It is not in doubt that Russia has committed substantial resources to its latest push. Ukrainian officials claim that up to three battalions have been thrown at Avdiivka. They are supported by tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and aircraft launching from distance highly accurate guided “glide bombs”. Andriy Yermak, who heads the Ukrainian president’s office, tweeted: “The Russians threw a lot of forces in this direction. They are betting on quantity.”

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Can Egypt be persuaded to accept Gazan refugees? - The Economist

A dusty, scuffed slab of concrete is the last hope that many Gazans have of escaping the nightmare which will accompany Israel’s coming ground assault. Cut off from electricity, food imports and water, and under constant bombardment, more than 2,000 people have already been killed and nearly half the population displaced. Gaza’s inhabitants are flooding roads to the south after an Israeli warning to clear the north. Yet the Rafah gate, which punctures the 11km-long wall separating southern Gaza from Egypt, and is the only non-Israeli route out of the territory, has been closed since October 7th, when Hamas launched its brutal attack on Israel.

America is reportedly trying to get its own citizens out through the gate; many in the region hope that, to avoid a humanitarian disaster, Mr Sisi might change his mind and allow refugees to flee Gaza. On October 15th Antony Blinken will arrive in Cairo on a last-minute addition to the American secretary of state’s tour of the Middle East. Could a potential rescue for Egypt’s crisis-stricken economy offer foreign diplomats a means of influence?

Egypt has done such a deal before. In 1991, three months after the Gulf war, America and other Western countries let Egypt off the hook for $10bn of borrowing, which represented a quarter of its external debt at the time. This was also a reward for a geopolitical favour. As other Arab countries amassed troops and watched from Saudi Arabia, Hosni Mubarak, then Egypt’s president, was one of the first leaders to send his armed forces in to join America’s fight against Iraq.

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Scientists Investigating Alzheimer’s Drug Faulted in Leaked Report - The New York Times -

A neuroscientist whose studies undergird an experimental Alzheimer’s drug was “reckless” in his failure to keep or provide original data, an offense that “amounts to significant research misconduct,” an investigation by his university has concluded.

A committee was convened by the City University of New York, of which the college is a part, to investigate the work, and it concluded in a report that Dr. Burns was responsible for errors in some of the papers. But the investigators reserved their sharpest criticism for Dr. Wang, reproaching him for “long-standing and egregious misconduct in data management and record keeping.”

The report was obtained and made public by the journal Science on Thursday. Dee Dee Mozeleski, a spokeswoman for City College, declined to comment on the document but said that the school would formally release the report later this month.

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'To go from your debut to being told you would have been dead within the next year was surreal' - The Athletic

The way Mark O’Brien saw it, he had two things to save when he went under the knife for open heart surgery as a 16-year-old.

First was his burgeoning football career at Derby County and second was his life, which is why he opted for his two heart operations to rectify a leaking aortic valve in the order he did. Pig-skin valve first, then metallic valve 11 years later — two hearts to bookend his career in football.

Few gave him a chance of being able to play professional football after the first operation and the more generous consultants said he would manage five years at most. He is thankful he managed more than double that and so too are Newport County fans, who were spared relegation to the National League in 2016-17 in part because of one of his five career goals before he retired aged 27.

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