A source said Tori Spelling had a house manager, housekeeper, and chef at her disposal and left a mansion she was offered

MEXICO CITY Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Wednesday he would meet later in the day with

The floor of Crawford Lake in Ontario acts like a storybook, preserving Earth’s recent history in chronological order. Crawford Lake reveals the activities of local Iroquoian communities from the late 13th to 15th centuries, all the way through to the present day. This is because Crawford Lake is a meromictic lake, meaning that the dense bottom layer of water does not mix with the less dense upper layers. “The isolated bottom layer of water remains under disturbed, enabling the accumulation of clearly laminated valves which record precise information about the time during which they were deposited,” according to the Anthropocene Working Group. Experts have nominated Crawford Lake as representation for the start of the Anthropocene epoch, a proposed new geological era characterised by significant changes to the planet’s surface as a result of human behaviour. The Anthropocene is yet to be officially accepted as a unit of geologic time, but in 2016 a working group under the guidance of an International Commission on Stratigraphy subcommittee agreed that human behaviour has left scars so deep that they will remain evident even into the distant future. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter One of the most notable markers of the Anthropocene is the appearance of plutonium, a radioactive material that appeared in the mid-20th century as a result of hydrogen bomb tests. “The presence of plutonium gives us a stark indicator of when humanity became such a dominant force that it could leave a unique global ‘fingerprint’ on our planet,” explained Professor Andrew Cundy, Chair in Environmental Radiochemistry at the University of Southampton and member of the Anthropocene Working Group. “In nature, plutonium is only present in trace amounts. But in the early-1950s, when the first hydrogen bomb tests took place, we see an unprecedented increase and then spike in the levels of plutonium in core samples from around the world. We then see a decline in plutonium from the mid-1960s onwards when the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty came into effect.” Agreeing on a simple measure that defines the boundary between chapters in Earth’s history is just the first step. This measure requires agreement among scientists on a single location to define the boundaries. Known as the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point, or a golden spike, plays a crucial role in standardising these borders between epochs. The Anthropocene Working Group has been evaluating potential golden spike sites, from Oued Akrech, Morocco, to Alano di Piave, Italy. After spending three years assessing the qualities of a dozen potential golden spikes for the Anthropocene, finally the AGW has landed on Crawford Lake. “Crawford Lake is so special because it allows us to see at annual resolution the changes in Earth history throughout two separate periods of human impact on this small lake,” micropalaeontologist Francine McCarthy of Brock University in Canada, a voting member of the AGW, said at a press briefing. The lake’s unique properties, such as its small size, depth, and lack of water mixing create sediments that precisely record environmental changes over the past millennia. To officially establish the Anthropocene in the International Chronostratigraphic Chart, the golden spike at Crawford Lake must undergo a series of voting by various commissions and unions. If successful, it will mark the moment when human activities permanently altered the planet. 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.

The second of the two men who escaped from a Philadelphia jail last week was captured Wednesday, and at least three people have now been charged with their escape, according to authorities.

SpaceX will not be cleared to launch its 400-foot-tall (121 metre) Starship rocket until a “mishap investigation” is completed, regulators have said. A statement from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned of a launch delay for the biggest rocket ever built, just hours after SpaceX boss Elon Musk said the craft was “ready to launch” on Wednesday. SpaceX made its first and only attempt at an orbital Starship launch in April, with the rocket exploding over the Gulf of Mexico just three minutes into the 90 minute flight. The crewless rocket broke up into pieces over an empty stretch of water, however the debris blast created by Starship’s huge engines at its launchpad drew heavy scrutiny from regulators. Concrete dust drifted more than 10 kilometres from the launch site, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, while concrete chunks and metal shards were discovered within a 700-acre zone surrounding the pad. SpaceX claimed the mission was a success, as Starship and its Super Heavy booster were able to lift off on its maiden test flight, however the FAA launched an investigation soon afterwards. Following Mr Musk’s latest comments that the latest version of the rocket is ready to launch pending regulatory approval, the FAA warned SpaceX that it would need to wait for the investigation to conclude. “The SpaceX Starship mishap investigation remains open,” the FAA said in a statement. “The FAA will not authorise another Starship launch until SpaceX implements the corrective actions identified during the mishap investigation and demonstrates compliance with all the regulatory requirements of the licence modification process.” SpaceX has made numerous alterations and improvements to Starship and its launch pad, including remedial measures aimed at preventing launch debris and a new method for separating the upper stage from its booster rocket. Nasa has already awarded SpaceX a multi-billion dollar contract to develop Starship for its Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the surface of the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Mr Musk also plans to use the rockets for more ambitious longer term goals, including establishing a permanent human colony on Mars before 2050. “As the most powerful launch system ever developed, Starship will be able to carry up to 100 people on long-duration, interplanetary flights,” SpaceX notes on its website. “Starship will also help enable transport of many satellites, large space telescopes, and significant amounts of cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.” Read More ‘It’s becoming like an airport’: How SpaceX normalised rocket launches SpaceX abandons YouTube for live streams of launches in favour of X/Twitter Starship ‘ready to launch’, Elon Musk says SpaceX crew streak across sky before splashing down off Florida coast SpaceX smashes rocket launch record as Musk eyes historic Starship mission

Matthew Perry was mourned on social media by friends, co-stars and some very famous fans, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his “Friends” mom and Adele

Days after Texas’ largest school district began its first school year under a state takeover, a teachers union has sued over changes in how educators will be evaluated

The Biden administration quietly announced plans on Thursday to add to the border wall with Mexico -- extending construction of the barrier that was a...

An anti-racism group has called on soccer’s top referee to distance himself from a far-right politician in Poland

Search crews have found the body of a Colorado man who went missing while hiking Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana, according to National Park Service officials.

President Joe Biden went after his old 2020 rival on Wednesday as Donald Trump attempted to make his case for a third presidential bid at a CNNtown hall. Mr Biden joined with others commenting on the ex-president’s combative performance, and asked whether Americans were really ready for another four years with a brash mudslinger in the White House. His remark came as Mr Trump mocked his CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins as a “nasty” person while spreading his usual lies about the 2020 election and his efforts to overturn the results. “It’s simple, folks. Do you want four more years of that?” Mr Biden asked. Mr Biden announced his own reelection campaign last month; if elected to serve another four years in office, he would be 86 by the time his term ended thus making him the oldest president to ever serve. Polls of the president’s approval rating have shown his base of supporters shrinking over the past several months and in some Mr Biden trails his potential 2024 GOP challengers Donald Trump or Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by several percentage points. Still, the president remains adamant that he is the best choice for his party’s nominee in 2024 even as wide swaths of the Democratic Party, according to polling, would prefer that he step aside. Mr Biden has pointed to his party’s successful defence of the Senate in last year’s midterm elections as evidence of his own political strength, though the actual dynamics of the congressional and statewide contests are thought to have been affected more by the constant claims of election fraud by Trump-backed candidates and the recent overturn of Roe vs Wade by the Supreme Court. Mr Trump spent the bulk of his time at the CNN town hall on Wednesday repeating those same lies and refusing to take accountability for the attack on the US Capitol, even falsely claiming to have offered thousands of troops when in fact no order to deploy was issued. Read More Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

Celebrities, accustomed to the glare of the spotlight, have been known to fall head over heels for the unsung heroes of the culinary world