Sue Dowling

Small but mighty. Am a doctor. Have worked in Antarctica.

[Sue Dowling @guanochick]

Really good article about the Ukrainian Antarctic programme.

@BAS_News @nasc_ua #Faraday #VernadskyStation #VernadskyBase #Antarctica #Антарктика #Антарктика_ua #NAFOfellas

https://t.co/mp8m7i7fli

[Otwituarist @Azjackson]

An #Otwituary for scriptwriter, actor and naturalist #BillOddie

By night vision I saw something
under my old trandem; a creature,
mostly hair, gnawing at a black
pudding, a mating call something
between wonder and melancholy,
and I’m sorry, I looked at it again.

[Otwituarist @Azjackson]

An #Otwituary for cricketer #GarfieldSobers

Six for the straight drive.
Six for one that turns late.
Six for one that just clears the rope.
Six for one clean over the gasometer.
Six for the one hit all the way to Swansea.
Six for the grass that blooms where you passed.

[Otwituarist @Azjackson]

An #Otwituary for actor #SamNeill

Range is the rarest craft,
to know doctor and devil,
father, husband, monster,
and be everything of each,
to take us to places where
we won’t need eyes to see.

[Otwituarist @Azjackson]

An #Otwituary for pilot and astronaut #WallyFunk @NASA

I have been a disciple of the sky,
set out my own flight plan, seen
my own shadow over the earth,
slipped the surly bonds of men
and shown the face of a woman

[National Antarctic Scientific Center 🇺🇦 @nasc_ua]

🐧🇺🇦 From Antarctica to the front line.

Meet Ihor Artemenko — a meteorologist of the 25th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition and now a radio officer in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

A Kyiv-born scientist, Ihor dedicated his career to satellite data, remote sensing, and aerospace research, earning a PhD in technical sciences. An avid mountaineer, he joined the expedition to Ukraine's 🇺🇦 Antarctic station, where he helped continue one of the world's longest climate observation records at Vernadsky base.

In March 2023, he joined the military to defend Ukraine. Today, he serves on the front line, establishing connection, strengthening electronic warfare capabilities, and carrying out missions in some of the war's hottest sectors.

"I am in the army because Ukraine was attacked and it must be defended. It is about protecting our home, our way of life, traditions, and values."

In 2024, Ihor saved the wounded battalion commander and chief medical officer under enemy fire, evacuating them to safety. For this, he received the Commander-in-Chief's medal "For Saved Life". He was also awarded the medal "For the Defense of Kharkiv Region."

Antarctica remains for Ihor "something bright and good — something that existed before the war."

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, more than 32 Ukrainian polar researchers have joined Ukraine's Defense Forces.

Science and service. Exploration and courage. One extraordinary "military penguin." 🐧💙💛

[WHO Ukraine @WHOUkraine]

Tonight, Kyiv came under one of largest attacks since the RF invasion in Feb 2022. Debris from one of many strikes reached our building - home to many UN agencies in the capital - damaging windows on the 3rd floor of WHO Ukraine. Our office reopens Monday. Our work continues.

[Maia Sandu @sandumaiamd]

Last night’s large wave of Russian missile and drone strikes on Kyiv is a war crime. Killing civilians is a war crime.

The response of the free world must be more support for Ukraine, more pressure on Russia. Moldova stands with Ukraine and its brave people.

[Howitzer “Triple 7” Marv @HowitzerApprec1]

#ragedonate, fellas.

Calling #Article5 (which means boost and share, not ‘please follow me’)

[Isabelle UK @AC_Isabelle]

Did you know that there's an event in England where folk roll a wheel of cheese down a hill and chase after it? Why didn't anyone tell me?! Anyway, Nook's Cranny is selling that famous cheese for a limited time. The chase is on!

[National Antarctic Scientific Center 🇺🇦 @nasc_ua]

🌎 On International Climate Day, we’re sharing alarming climate records from Vernadsky base.

The Antarctic Peninsula — where the station is located — is one of the fastest-warming regions on Earth ♨️ Over nearly 80 years of observations, the average annual temperature here has risen by more than 3°C.

The coldest temperature recorded last century was −43.3°C (1958). In this century, the minimum has already climbed to −29°C (2013). Meanwhile, summer heat records have also increased: from 11.8°C in 1985 to 12.7°C in 2022 🌡

These changes are transforming Antarctica before polar explorers' eyes: less sea ice, melting glaciers, and shifting ecosystems. Some penguin species (gentoo) 🐧 are expanding their colonies near the station as ice-free waters make feeding easier, while ice-dependent seals 🦭 are struggling to reproduce because of shrinking sea ice.

Ukrainian scientists continue to monitor and document these changes to help the fragile polar world better adapt to the climate crisis.

[Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus @DrTedros]

Dear people of Tenerife,

Greetings from Geneva. It is Tedros again.

Our work in Tenerife is done. And it was done with grace.

Last Monday, I stood at the port of Granadilla de Abona and watched the last of the passengers from the MV Hondius board the vehicles that would carry them home. I watched health workers in protective equipment move with calm professionalism. I watched Spanish officials coordinate with quiet precision. And I watched and felt your support and solidarity.

And I thought of the letter I wrote to you just days ago, and how everything that your Spanish Government and the @WHO promised came to pass, exactly as described.

More than 120 people from 23 countries have safely disembarked and are now being cared for and monitored by public health professionals while in transit or upon arrival in their home countries. They arrived in fear and uncertainty. They left carrying something they could not have expected to find in Tenerife: the dignity of being cared for by strangers from your community, and people around the world, who chose to help. The risk assessment held. The protocols worked. The corridor held. Science and solidarity operated in coordination, as they must, as they can, when we trust each other.

But I do not want this moment to be remembered only as a logistical success. What happened here in Tenerife was something rarer than competence. It was moral courage, the willingness of an entire island, an entire nation, to say: these are human beings, and we will not turn away from them.

The government of Prime Minister @sanchezcastejon honoured its obligations under international law and then went beyond them, with warmth, speed and care. Ministers @Monica_Garcia_G, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and @avtorresp led with great commitment. The port authorities of Granadilla executed a complex operation flawlessly. The health teams who boarded that ship, who stood at the port gates, who rode in those vehicles: they did their jobs not because it was easy, but because it was right.

To Captain Jan Dobrogowski and his 26-member crew still onboard of the MV Hondius and sailing now to the Netherlands: you held your passengers together through weeks of grief and confinement. History will not forget that.

To you, the people of Tenerife, who opened your island not with applause or fanfare but with quiet, steady acceptance: I want you to know what that means to the world. You may never meet the passengers and crew who transited your port. But those 150 people and their families know that somewhere in the Atlantic, there was an island community that said “yes.” That community was you.

We live in a time when it is easy to close doors, to turn inward, to let fear harden into hostility. Tenerife chose differently. You have written something into the record of how humanity responds to crisis, and the WHO will carry that record forward.

Three people died aboard the Hondius. Their families are grieving. The conclusion of this operation does not erase that grief, and I do not want it to. Behind every public health response there are real lives, real losses and real families who will carry this forever.

We also learned of the loss of a member of the @guardiacivil of Tenerife, who died of a heart attack while serving during this operation. He was here because of duty and commitment to his community. I extend my deepest condolences to his family, his colleagues, and to the entire Guardia Civil. His service will not be forgotten.

The best immunity we have is solidarity. Tenerife has proven this, not as a slogan, but as a way to work, and to live.

I will confess something personal. Last Monday, before the last group of passengers departed, I walked through part of your city, alone. The island was going about its day, and I found Tenerife to be genuinely beautiful: the place, yes, but above all the people. The warmth I encountered from some people who recognised me, even in the briefest exchanges, stayed with me.

I wish I had come under different circumstances, on a WHO conference perhaps, or better still, simply with my family to rest. That is a wish I intend to honour. I look forward to returning to Tenerife as a visitor, not as a crisis responder, to see it the way it deserves to be seen, slowly and without urgency, with my family beside me.

On behalf of the World Health Organization, on behalf of the passengers now home, and on behalf of those families around the world who watched this island with hope: thank you. From the depth of my heart, thank you.

I also want to thank my colleagues from WHO headquarters and from our Regional Office @WHO_Europe in Copenhagen, who stood with me in Tenerife, and those who supported us tirelessly from afar. This was a team effort in every sense of the word.

But for us, the job is not yet done, until every passenger and crew is out of quarantine and reunited with their loved ones.

With profound respect, admiration and gratitude,
Tedros

[Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus @DrTedros]

Querido pueblo de Tenerife:
Os saludo desde Ginebra. Os habla nuevamente Tedros.

Nuestro trabajo en Tenerife ha concluido. Y se llevó a cabo con gran honor.

El pasado lunes, estuve en el puerto de Granadilla de Abona y observé cómo los últimos pasajeros del MV Hondius subían a los vehículos que los llevarían a sus hogares. Vi al personal sanitario, equipado con la protección necesaria, actuar con serenidad y profesionalidad. Vi a las autoridades españolas coordinarse con una precisión impecable. Y vi y sentí vuestro apoyo y vuestra solidaridad.

Pensé entonces en la carta que os escribí hace apenas unos días, y en cómo todo lo que el Gobierno de España y la Organización Mundial de la Salud prometieron se cumplió, exactamente como se había planeado.

Más de 120 personas de 23 países desembarcaron de forma segura y ahora están siendo atendidas y supervisadas por profesionales de salud pública durante su traslado o ya en sus países de origen. Llegaron con miedo e incertidumbre y se marcharon llevando consigo algo que no esperaban encontrar en Tenerife: la dignidad de haber sido atendidos por personas desconocidas de vuestra comunidad y de todo el mundo que decidieron ayudar. La evaluación del riesgo se mantuvo. Los protocolos funcionaron. El corredor sanitario resistió. La ciencia y la solidaridad actuaron de forma coordinada, como deben hacerlo, como pueden hacerlo cuando confiamos unos en otros.

Pero no quiero que este momento sea recordado únicamente como un éxito logístico. Lo que ocurrió aquí, en Tenerife, fue algo más excepcional que la mera competencia profesional: fue coraje moral, la voluntad de toda una isla, de toda una nación, para decir: estos son seres humanos, y no vamos a darles la espalda.

El gobierno del presidente @sanchezcastejon honró sus obligaciones conforme al derecho internacional y fue más allá, con cercanía, rapidez y esmero. La ministra @Monica_Garcia_G, y los ministros Fernando Grande-Marlaska y @avtorresp lideraron con un gran sentido de compromiso. Las autoridades portuarias de Granadilla ejecutaron una operación compleja de manera impecable. Los equipos sanitarios que subieron a ese barco, los que estuvieron en los accesos del puerto, los que viajaron en esos vehículos: hicieron su trabajo no porque fuera fácil, sino porque era lo correcto.

Al capitán Jan Dobrogowski y a su tripulación de 26 miembros, aún a bordo del MV Hondius y navegando ahora hacia Países Bajos: mantuvisteis unidos a vuestros pasajeros durante semanas de duelo y confinamiento. La historia no lo olvidará.

A vosotros, el pueblo de Tenerife, que abristeis vuestra isla no con aplausos ni alardes, sino con una acogida tranquila y constante: quiero que sepáis lo que eso significa para el mundo. Puede que nunca lleguéis a conocer a los pasajeros y la tripulación que transitaron por vuestro puerto. Pero esas 150 personas y sus familias saben que, en algún lugar del Atlántico, hubo una comunidad isleña que dijo “sí”. Esa comunidad sois vosotros.

Vivimos en una época en la que es fácil cerrar puertas, replegarse hacia dentro, dejar que el miedo se convierta en hostilidad. Tenerife eligió un camino distinto. Habéis dejado una huella en la forma en que la humanidad responde a las crisis, y la OMS llevará ese ejemplo hacia el futuro.

Tres personas fallecieron a bordo del Hondius. Sus familias están de luto. El cierre de esta operación no borra ese dolor, ni quiero que lo haga. Detrás de cada respuesta de salud pública hay vidas reales, pérdidas reales y familias reales que cargarán con ello para siempre.

También supimos del fallecimiento de un miembro de la @guardiacivil de Tenerife, que falleció a causa de un infarto mientras prestaba servicio durante esta operación. Estaba aquí por deber y por compromiso con su comunidad. Quiero expresar mis más sentidas condolencias a su familia, a sus compañeros y a toda la Guardia Civil. Su entrega y vocación de servicio no serán olvidadas.

La mejor inmunidad que tenemos es la solidaridad. Tenerife lo ha demostrado, no como un eslogan, sino como una forma de trabajar y de vivir.

Permítanme compartir algo personal. El pasado lunes, antes de que partiera el último grupo de pasajeros, paseé solo por una parte de vuestra ciudad. La isla seguía su ritmo cotidiano, y descubrí en Tenerife una belleza auténtica: no solo en sus paisajes, sino, sobre todo, en su gente. La cercanía que sentí en algunas personas que me reconocieron, incluso en los encuentros más breves, me dejó huella.

Me hubiera gustado haber venido en otras circunstancias, quizá para una conferencia de la OMS, o mejor aún, simplemente con mi familia para descansar. Ese es un deseo que tengo la intención de cumplir. Espero volver a Tenerife como visitante, no para responder a una crisis, sino para descubrir la isla como se merece, con calma, sin prisa y acompañado de mi familia.

En nombre de la Organización Mundial de la Salud, en nombre de los pasajeros que ya están en sus hogares y en nombre de las familias de todo el mundo que miraron a esta isla con esperanza: gracias. Desde lo más profundo de mi corazón, gracias.

También quiero agradecer a mis colegas de la sede de la OMS en Ginebra y de nuestra Oficina Regional para Europa en Copenhague, que estuvieron conmigo en Tenerife, así como a quienes nos apoyaron incansablemente desde la distancia. Este ha sido un esfuerzo de equipo en todos los sentidos de la palabra.

Pero para nosotros, la labor aún no ha terminado hasta que todos los pasajeros y la tripulación salgan de la cuarentena y se reúnan con sus seres queridos.

Con profundo respeto, admiración y gratitud,
Tedros

[Sheffield Wednesday @swfc]

AN INCREDIBLE MOMENT AT HILLSBOROUGH 🙌

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

I thank His Majesty King Charles III @RoyalFamily, the United Kingdom, and all valiant American hearts for this clarion call for unity in support of Ukraine across the Atlantic. This is exactly what is needed to bring dignified and lasting peace to Ukraine and all of Europe. The people of Ukraine deeply appreciate all the support provided by the United Kingdom and the United States. Thank you.

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Wow. Several years ago, it would be hard to imagine a story like this. Now, it's not routine, but not anyhing out of the ordinary.

A ground robot evacuated a 77 year old Ukrainian lady from Lyman. Her home of 53 years was destroyed by Russians.

She was walking along a shelled road when pilots of the 60th Separate Mechanized Brigade spotted her.

They sent a ground robot to her rescue, covered with a blanket saying "Grandma, get in!"

Three other civilians who were also walking were escorted by drones to the evacuation point where an armored vehicle took them to safety.

The operation lasted four hours.

📹 Third Army Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

[MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 @MFA_Ukraine]

“Chornobyl” is the only correct spelling Ukraine asks the world to use.

Using Ukrainian transliterations respects Ukraine’s language and culture and moves away from Russian forms that were imposed by Russia during the Soviet era. It is also part of a wider effort to decolonise language and correct long-standing imbalances in global usage.

Using the correct transliteration for a place in Ukraine affirms recognition of Ukraine as a sovereign state – a fact Russia tries to deny.

We welcome the decision of states and international organisations to adopt the Ukrainian spelling of Chornobyl, including in the UN resolution of December 10, 2025.

Like Kyiv, Chornobyl reflects Ukrainian pronunciation and thus aligns with the global practice of updating place names for linguistic correctness. The successful shift from the Russian spelling “Kiev” to the Ukrainian “Kyiv” is a clear example of this trend.

All Ukrainian cities deserve to have their names rendered correctly.

#ChornobylNotChernobyl #Chornobyl40

[archivetvmusings @archivetvmus71]

The tension levels rise as Apollo 13 begins its re-entry.

[archivetvmusings @archivetvmus71]

On this day in 1970, Apollo 13 was scheduled to splash down. As the minutes ticked down, James Burke was on hand to summarise the mission to date.

[Gabriel Sutton @GabSutton]

Points deduction for Sheffield Wednesday next season completely unfair for me.

David Storch is already inheriting a huge mess, and a massive rebuild, from Dejphon Chansiri, and seems to be doing all the right things.

I don’t see which relevant parties this punishes, nor which it benefits (other than Wednesday’s division rivals).

The rules and regulations have to take contextual nuance into account on things like this, otherwise you create situations that don’t reflect the true spirit of the game.

Would implore the EFL to review this.

#FairDealForWednesday

[Sheffield Wednesday Supporters' Trust @SWFCTrust]

Sheffield Wednesday must be given a fair hearing.

We are calling for independent scrutiny before any 15-point deduction is imposed. The current process lacks transparency and a clear route to appeal.

Read the full statement on our website. https://t.co/A21nrAeU4w

#FairDealForWednesday #swfc