Let's catch up on some trending topics for today, March 9.
'The New York Times' reports that on March 5, Russia said it had detained the 31-year-old WNBA star on drug charges. According to the Russian Federal Customs Service, vape cartridges containing hashish oil were found in Griner's luggage.
Ernest Shackleton, Endurance
More than a century after it sank off the coast of Antarctica, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton's ship HMS Endurance has been located, apparently intact and in good condition.
The ship, which sank in 1915, is 3,008 meters (1.9 miles or 9,842 feet) deep in the Weddell Sea, a pocket in the Southern Ocean along the northern coast of Antarctica, south of the Falkland Islands.
The discovery was a collaboration between the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust and History Hit, the content platform co-founded by historian Dan Snow.
Read on:
Chernobyl
In Mariupol, a strategic city of 430,000 people on the Sea of Azov, local authorities hurried to bury the dead from the past two weeks of fighting in a mass grave. City workers dug a trench some 25 meters (yards) long at one of the cityβs old cemeteries and made the sign of the cross as they pushed bodies wrapped in carpets or bags over the edge.
About 1,200 people have died in the nine-day siege of the city, Zelenskyyβs office said.
Nationwide, thousands are thought to have been killed, both civilians and soldiers, since Putinβs forces invaded. The U.N. estimates more than 2 million people have fled the country, the biggest exodus of refugees in Europe since the end of World War II.
The fighting knocked out power to the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant, raising fears about the spent radioactive fuel that is stored at the site and must be kept cool. But the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said it saw βno critical impact on safetyβ from the loss of power.
Read more info here:
Most cars have four wheels ... but they also likely have four doors (or two, depending on the model). So, are there more wheels or doors in the world? TikTok users are on the case.
Wheels vs. doors
TikTok is a place to ponder life's big questions, like: What would a crowdsourced musical based on Pixar's "Ratatouille" sound like? Will a Southern sorority hopeful get a bid to her favorite Greek house? And what will today be like -- bones or no bones?
But few TikTok prompts have inspired the heated debate of its latest fascination: Are there more wheels or doors in the world?
It's a question with an unknowable answer. But users have been quick to choose sides anyway, devising their own equations to inform their arguments and widening traditional definitions of what constitutes a door or a wheel (does a microwave door count? And can a fidget spinner be classified as a wheel?).
Read the arguments here:
The state-owned Russia 24 channel said this photo of Brittney Griner was taken at a police station.
Brittney Griner
Brittney Griner, the star basketball player detained in Russia over alleged drug charges, has become the latest of several Americans who have yet to secure their freedom from a country increasingly isolated from the rest of the world.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine brought forth global condemnation from governments and peoples alike, who have since boycotted Russian goods, frozen Russian access to banking systems and enacted crippling sanctions. And amid the growing economic repercussions, families and supporters of Griner and other detained Americans, like Trevor Reed and Paul Whelan, are working to free their loved ones as diplomatic channels fade.
Russian authorities said Griner, 31, had cannabis oil in her luggage while in a Moscow airport last month and accused her of smuggling significant amounts of a narcotic substance -- an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
What to know:
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Get more trending topics here:
'Obi-Wan Kenobi'
Ryan Coogler
Tony Hawk
Cameron Diaz said she doesn't wash her face
Joe Biden's crypto orders
Pig heart transplant recipient dies
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