Deep in Earth's past, an icy landscape became a seascape as the ice melted and the oceans rose off what is now the northeastern United States. Nearly 50 years ago, a U.S. government ship searching for minerals and hydrocarbons in the area drilled into the seafloor to see what it could find.

It found, of all things, drops to drink under the briny deeps — fresh water.

The year's second total lunar eclipse is coming up fast, and this time Asia will have the best seats in the cosmos.

Earth's shadow will obscure this weekend's full moon as the home planet lines up perfectly between the moon and the sun. Totality will last a lengthy one hour and 22 minutes. The entire show — starting with the first dusky bite of the moon — will span more than five hours.

Thousands of newborn stars sparkle and dazzle in the latest snapshot by NASA's Webb Space Telescope.

Released this week, the picture provides a breathtaking view of a nearby star-birthing center, 5,500 light-years away. A single light-year is 5.8 trillion miles.

Israel struck a high-rise building in Gaza City on Friday after an evacuation warning, as the military stepped up operations aimed at seizing control of the famine-stricken city of some 1 million Palestinians. Strikes elsewhere in Gaza City killed at least 27 people, health officials said.

The military accused Hamas militants of using high-rises in the city for surveillance and planned ambushes, and said it would carry out "precise, targeted strikes" on militant infrastructure in the coming days.

Cabinet on Friday welcomed the Lebanese Army's weapons monopolization plan and decided to keep its details confidential while asking the army to submit monthly reports on its implementation, Information Minister Paul Morcos said after a key session that witnessed a walkout by all five Shiite ministers.

“The army will begin implementing the plan according to its available and limited capabilities,” Morcos added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that any foreign troops deployed to Ukraine before a peace agreement has been signed would be considered "legitimate targets" by Moscow's forces.

Putin's comments came hours after European leaders repledged their commitment to a potential peacekeeping force.

Pope Leo XIV and his top diplomats thave old Israel's president that a two-state solution was the "only way out of the war," as the Vatican called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages and entry of humanitarian aid to famine-stricken Palestinians there.

The Vatican issued Thursday an unusually detailed statement following Leo's meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who also met with the Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin and foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher. Herzog, for his part, said he had asked Leo to meet with families of the hostages, and called for intensified international efforts to secure their release.

The worst drought in decades is gripping much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, drying out rivers and lakes, shriveling crops and leading to dayslong tap water cutoffs in major cities.

The situation is particularly dire in Syria, where experts say rainfall has been declining for decades and where the fledgling government is trying to stitch the country back together following a 14-year civil war that left millions impoverished and reliant on foreign aid.

Russia fired more than 500 drones and two dozen missiles at Ukraine overnight, authorities said Wednesday, as Ukraine's president and European leaders persevered with talks aimed at strengthening Ukrainian defenses and adding momentum to so far unsuccessful U.S.-led peace efforts.

The main Russian nighttime targets were civilian infrastructure, especially energy facilities, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as another winter approaches three years after Russia's all-out invasion of its neighbor. The attacks targeted mainly western and central Ukraine and wounded at least five people, the Ukrainian air force said.

The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday warned that any Israeli move to annex the occupied West Bank would be a "red line," without specifying its possible impact on the landmark normalization accord between the two countries,

The warning came as Israel pressed ahead with the initial stages of its latest major offensive in famine-stricken Gaza City. Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Wednesday killed at least 31 people, according to local hospitals.