Argentina devalued the peso as economic jitters gripped the country on Monday after an anti-establishment candidate advocating harsh austerity measures surged to the...

Ever wondered why people say they can smell rain before it rains? They are not pulling your leg - there is real science behind it. It is all because of petrichor, made up from the Greek words "petra", meaning stone, and '"ichor", which refers to the golden fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in their mythology. It basically means the the "smell of rain" with the phrase coined by Australian scientists Joy Bear and Richard Thomas in 1964. Jeff Weber, a meteorologist with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Unidata Program Center told the Mirror: "Petrichor is caused by oils derived from plants, primarily leaves, that accumulate over dry periods. These oils settle into soils or onto pavement over time and are released into the atmosphere by being disturbed by rainfall." According to the Met Office, the reason people claim to smell rain because it comes is because "when a higher humidity is experienced as a precursor to rain, the pores of rocks and soil become trapped with moisture forcing some of the oils to be released into the air". Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Despite some being released before it actually rains, the strongest smell is released during. This is when raindrops landing on soil "trap tiny air bubbles on the surface which then shoot upward" and "burst out of the drop throwing aerosols of scent into the air where they are then distributed by the wind". The smell is produced by a soil bacteria which releases a chemical called geosmin, which provides an "earthy", musky or fresh aroma. Before it rains, a person might be able to smell the scent of ozone, or O3, which is a naturally present gas in the atmosphere which gets its name from the Greek word 'ozein', or smell. It sometimes indicate that a storm is on the way because pockets of gas are pushed down to ground level by winds. This means that those who are sensitive to the smells will likely be able to pick them up. So now you know. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

A team of Peruvian and Japanese archaeologists has unearthed a pre-Hispanic archaeological site in northern Peru dedicated to ancestor worship, with burial chambers...

By Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA (Reuters) -Ivan Marquez, the well-known leader of a faction of former FARC rebels who returned

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Wagner private military company “simply doesn't exist” as a legal entity, in comments adding to the series of often bizarre twists that have followed the group’s abortive revolt last month — the most serious threat to Putin’s 23-year rule amid the war in Ukraine. “There is no law on private military organizations. It simply doesn’t exist,” Putin told a Russian newspaper late Thursday, referring to the Wagner group. Putin recounted to Kommersant his own version of a Kremlin event attended by 35 Wagner commanders, including the group's chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on June 29. That meeting came just five days after Prigozhin and his troops staged a stunning but short-lived rebellion against Moscow authorities. The meeting was revealed earlier this week by a Kremlin official. Putin said that at the talks, Wagner rejected an offer to keep its troops in Ukraine, where they have played key battlefield roles, under the leadership of their direct commander. “All of them could have gathered in one place and continued to serve,” Putin told the newspaper, “And nothing would have changed for them. They would have been led by the same person who had been their real commander all along.” Putin has previously said that Wagner troops had to choose whether to sign contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry, move to neighboring Belarus or retire from service. According to Putin, although “many nodded” when he made his proposal, Prigozhin rejected the idea, responding that “the boys won’t agree with such a decision.” This, Putin said, was one of “several employment options” put forward at the meeting. During the revolt that lasted less than 24 hours, Prigozhin’s mercenaries quickly swept through the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and captured the military headquarters there without firing a shot, before driving to within about 200 kilometers (125 miles) of Moscow. Prigozhin described the move as a “march of justice” to oust the military leaders, who demanded that Wagner sign contracts with the Defense Ministry by July 1. The fate of Prigozhin and the terms of a deal that ended the armed rebellion by offering amnesty for him and his mercenaries, along with permission, to move to Belarus remain cloudy. Wagner mercenaries are completing the handover of their weapons to the Russian military, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday. Their disarming of Wagner reflects efforts by Russian authorities to defuse the threat they posed and also appears to herald an end to the mercenary group’s operations on the battlefield in Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces are engaged in a counteroffensive. ___ Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Putin says Wagner Group has no legal basis and therefore simply doesn’t exist Tucker Carlson and Mike Pence clash in heated exchange over Ukraine at GOP 2024 forum Russian antiwar activist allowed into Serbia after spending more than a day at the Belgrade airport

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Wednesday's hearing for Hunter Biden was already poised to be a historic event, as the son of a sitting US president appeared in court to plead guilty to federal tax crimes, bringing a controversial investigation to a near close.