Will the world finally find out who the elusive street artist Banksy is? Is the mystery artist's identity set to be revealed? 
@mollygambhir tells you more!

Elusive street artist Banksy's identity to be revealed? 

Scientists have found an "unusually large" scaly animal similar to an alligator in the treetops of southern Mexico. It turned out to be a new species which has avoided detection by hiding in the foliage.

Scientists have found an "unusually large" scaly animal similar to an alligator in the treetops of southern Mexico. It turned out to be a new species which has avoided detection by hiding in the foliage. According to a study published in PLOS One journal, researchers searched for the elusive lizard-like creature on five expeditions between 2015 and 2022 after "intriguing photographs" of the animal emerged in 2014. The study noted that the search was "extraordinarily difficult." Researchers spent over 350 hours searching the ground and climbing about 20 trees to look at their limbs and canopy, the Miami Herald reported. Eventually, they found what they were looking for. They discovered it was a new species and named it Abronia cunemica or the Coapilla arboreal alligator lizard. About Coapilla Arboreal Alligator Lizards Coapilla arboreal alligator lizards can grow about 9.8 inches long and have a yellow-brown scaly body covered in darker brown blotches. They have pale yellow eyes with dark flecks, the research said. They live in the forest canopy, between 11 feet and 64 feet, and mostly come out in the morning or afternoon. ALSO READ | Scientists reveal how newborn galaxies went bananas at dawn of time but it’s not all about shape The researchers also found two female lizards who were pregnant. They also located two lizards "in a courtship bite-hold on the forest floor, after they presumably fell" from a nearby tree. When they captured the male, he stopped biting the female. However, it "re-initiated a more persistent bite hold on her head and neck" later in the day. Moreover, they encountered a female twice on their expedition within a roughly 30-foot area, but 97 days apart. According to the study, Coapilla arboreal alligator lizards might become inactive for some part of the year. Researchers have named the newly-discovered species "cunemica" after Cuñemo, the indigenous Zoque language name for Coapilla. The common name refers to their native area. The research team has found the Coapilla arboreal alligator lizards only in Coapilla, a town in the southern state of Chiapas, about 700 kilometres southeast of Mexico City. They have not revealed the exact location of the new species to protect them. Scientists found another group of alligator lizards exclusive to Central America, inhabiting "humid highland forests." These "mysterious" lizards have gone unnoticed for so long due to their "cryptic behaviour" and limited distribution area. (With inputs from agencies)

Unusually large, alligator-like new species found in Mexico

In a rare chance, astronaut Andreas Mogensen captured the unique and elusive "red sprite" from the International Space Station (ISS).&nbsp;

The ISS has been orbiting Earth at a height of nearly 250 miles which means that the space station takes around 16 trips around Earth every single day.&nbsp;

As the rare lightning phenomenon, called a red sprite, made a sudden appearance, the astronaut from the European Space Agency snapped an incredible photo and a timelapse video. &nbsp;

The space station's Davis camera was used by Andreas Mogensen as he spotted a thunderstorm brewing over Earth.&nbsp;

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/iss-discovers-tomato-which-remained-lost-in-space-for-eight-months-667098">A tomato lost for 8 months on space station has finally been found, and it is a big deal</a>

"Beyond the clouds is a fascinating world," he wrote in the caption, as he posted the photos of the phenomena on X (formerly Twitter).

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Beyond the clouds is a fascinating world. 
 
What you see here is a picture of a red sprite over a thunder cloud that I took as part of the Thor-Davis experiment from <a href="https://twitter.com/DTUSpace?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DTUSpace</a> ⚡Red sprites are part of the rare phenomena known as Transient Luminous Events, often shortened TLEs,… <a href="https://t.co/AA4h8anUIf">pic.twitter.com/AA4h8anUIf</a>
— Andreas Mogensen (@Astro_Andreas) <a href="https://twitter.com/Astro_Andreas/status/1728093596430012775?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Since August, Mogensen has been staying on the ISS and has been clicking photos of Earth from the space station's Cupola every Saturday. &nbsp;

<h2>Davis camera captures magic of 'red sprite'</h2>

The astronaut last week managed to capture footage of a red sprite over a thundercloud.&nbsp;

"Red sprites are part of the rare phenomena known as Transient Luminous Events, often shortened TLEs, that can appear over thunder clouds," wrote Mogensen on X.

"The red sprites form around 40 to 80 km [24 to 48 miles] above ground and as you can see in the video from the Davis camera, the red sprites appear after the thunder has struck and much higher up," he added.

Watch:&nbsp;Gaganyaan: India's first mission to send astronauts to space

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gaganyaan-indias-first-mission-to-send-astronauts-to-space-648224/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Red sprites are one kind of electrical bursts of light which generally appear above highly active thunderstorms.

The Davis camera of ISS is an event camera which functions like&nbsp;the human eye and senses change in contrast.&nbsp;

"These images taken by Andreas are fantastic," said Olivier Chanrion, who is a lead scientist for this experiment and DTU Space senior researcher.&nbsp;

"The Davis camera works well and gives us the high temporal resolution necessary to capture the quick processes in the lightning," he added.

(With inputs from agencies) &nbsp;

In a rare chance, astronaut Andreas Mogensen captured the unique and elusive "red sprite" from the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS has been orbiting Earth at a height of nearly 250 miles which means that the space station takes around 16 trips around Earth every single day.

In a rare chance, astronaut Andreas Mogensen captured the unique and elusive "red sprite" from the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS has been orbiting Earth at a height of nearly 250 miles which means that the space station takes around 16 trips around Earth every single day. As the rare lightning phenomenon, called a red sprite, made a sudden appearance, the astronaut from the European Space Agency snapped an incredible photo and a timelapse video. The space station's Davis camera was used by Andreas Mogensen as he spotted a thunderstorm brewing over Earth. Also read: A tomato lost for 8 months on space station has finally been found, and it is a big deal "Beyond the clouds is a fascinating world," he wrote in the caption, as he posted the photos of the phenomena on X (formerly Twitter). Beyond the clouds is a fascinating world. What you see here is a picture of a red sprite over a thunder cloud that I took as part of the Thor-Davis experiment from @DTUSpace ⚡Red sprites are part of the rare phenomena known as Transient Luminous Events, often shortened TLEs,… pic.twitter.com/AA4h8anUIf — Andreas Mogensen (@Astro_Andreas) November 24, 2023 × Since August, Mogensen has been staying on the ISS and has been clicking photos of Earth from the space station's Cupola every Saturday. Davis camera captures magic of 'red sprite' The astronaut last week managed to capture footage of a red sprite over a thundercloud. "Red sprites are part of the rare phenomena known as Transient Luminous Events, often shortened TLEs, that can appear over thunder clouds," wrote Mogensen on X. "The red sprites form around 40 to 80 km [24 to 48 miles] above ground and as you can see in the video from the Davis camera, the red sprites appear after the thunder has struck and much higher up," he added. Watch: Gaganyaan: India's first mission to send astronauts to space Red sprites are one kind of electrical bursts of light which generally appear above highly active thunderstorms. The Davis camera of ISS is an event camera which functions like the human eye and senses change in contrast. "These images taken by Andreas are fantastic," said Olivier Chanrion, who is a lead scientist for this experiment and DTU Space senior researcher. "The Davis camera works well and gives us the high temporal resolution necessary to capture the quick processes in the lightning," he added. (With inputs from agencies)

Watch | Rare, elusive 'red sprite' snapped: Astronaut captures unique view from ISS

Reprising the rigged-election belief that has become a mantra among their supporters, Republican politicians in at least three states are proposing to establish police forces to hunt exclusively for voter fraud and other election crimes, a category of offenses that experts say is tiny at best.

The plans are part of a new wave of initiatives that Republicans say are directed at voter fraud. They are being condemned by voting rights advocates and even some local election supervisors, who call them costly and unnecessary appeasement of the Republican base that will select primary-election winners for this November’s midterms and the 2024 presidential race.

The next round of voting clashes comes after the apparent demise of Democratic voting rights legislation in Washington on Thursday. It is a reminder that although the Democratic agenda in Washington seems dead, Republican state-level efforts to make voting harder show no sign of slowing down.

Supporters say the added enforcement will root out instances of fraud and assure the public that everything possible is being done to make sure that American elections are accurate and legitimate. Critics say the efforts can easily be abused and used as political cudgels or efforts to intimidate people from registering and voting. And Democrats say the main reason Republican voters have lost faith in the electoral system is because of the incessant Republican focus on almost entirely imagined fraud.

The most concrete proposal is in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis asked the state Legislature last week for $5.7 million to create a 52-person “election crimes and security” force in the secretary of state’s office. The plan, which DeSantis has been touting since fall, would include 20 sworn police officers and field offices statewide.

That was followed Thursday by a pledge by David Perdue, the former Georgia senator who is a Republican candidate for governor, to create his own force of election police “to make Georgia elections the safest and securest in the country.” Perdue, who lost his Senate seat in 2020, claimed that Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican seeking reelection, weakened election standards and refused to investigate claims of fraud after President Joe Biden’s narrow win in the state.

In Arizona, state Sen. Wendy Rogers, a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump’s lies about a stolen election, has filed legislation to establish a $5 million “bureau of elections” in the governor’s office with the power to subpoena witnesses and impound election equipment.

Rogers' bill probably faces an uphill road in the Legislature, where Republicans are only narrowly in control and have been battered for their support of a widely ridiculed multimillion-dollar inquiry into 2020 election results. Prospects for the Florida and Georgia proposals are less clear.

The proposals are the latest twist in a decadeslong crusade by Republicans against election fraud that has grown rapidly since Trump’s election loss in 2020 and his false claim that victory was stolen from him.

DeSantis took a tough line in November when he unveiled his proposal, saying the new unit would chase crimes that local election officials shrug at. “There’ll be people, if you see someone ballot harvesting, you know, what do you do? If you call into the election office, a lot of times they don’t do anything,” he said at an appearance in West Palm Beach.

“I guarantee you this,” he added. “The first person that gets caught, no one is going to want to do it again after that.”

None of the three states — and for that matter, none of the other 47 and the District of Columbia — reported any more than a minuscule number of election fraud cases after the 2020 races. DeSantis said after the 2020 vote that his was “the state that did it right and that other states should emulate.” The only notable hint of irregularity in Florida was the recent arrest on fraud charges of four men in a retirement complex north of Orlando. At least two of them appeared to be winter Floridians accused of casting ballots both there and in more frigid states to the north.

But DeSantis and Perdue say their strike forces are still needed to root out other election irregularities and to bolster their constituents’ sagging faith in the honesty of the vote. The same rationale has powered so-called audits of election results and clampdowns on election rules by Republican-run legislatures across the country.

Sweeping election-law revisions enacted by Florida and Georgia legislators last spring sharply limit the use of popular drop boxes for submitting absentee ballots, require identification to obtain mail-in ballots, make it harder to conduct voter-registration drives, and restrict or ban interactions — such as handing out snacks or water — with voters waiting in line to cast ballots.

Trump comfortably won Florida by about 370,000 votes in 2020, and his narrow losses in Arizona and Georgia were confirmed by expert audits, recounts and even the notorious Cyber Ninjas inquiry into the vote in Maricopa County.

“We don’t need further investigations into elections that are freely and fairly conducted,” said Alex Gulotta, Arizona director of the advocacy group All Voting Is Local. “We’ve established that again and again and again. This is more pablum to the people who believe in fraud and conspiracy theories and lies that the last election was stolen.”

Neither the new laws nor election autopsies appear to have shaken the conviction of many Trump supporters that the election system is suspect. Some scholars say they see the police forces as the latest bid by politicians to scratch that itch.

Bids to curb so-called fraud are becoming standard for Republican candidates who want to win over voters, Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in an interview. “Whoever is the nominee in 2024, whether it’s Trump or anyone else, it will likely be part of their platform,” Burden said.

The idea of an election police force is not new, even in the states where they are being proposed. In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger already oversees 23 investigators whose purview includes election irregularities, and an assistant state attorney general exclusively prosecutes crimes in elections, the judiciary and local governments. The Arizona attorney general manages a relatively new “election integrity” investigative unit, and Florida election violations are prosecuted by both state and local authorities, as is true in most states.

Reprising the rigged-election belief that has become a mantra among their supporters, Republican politicians in at least three states are proposing to establish police forces to hunt exclusively for voter fraud and other election crimes, a category of offenses that experts say is tiny at best.

Reprising the rigged-election belief that has become a mantra among their supporters, Republican politicians in at least three states are proposing to establish police forces to hunt exclusively for voter fraud and other election crimes, a category of offenses that experts say is tiny at best. The plans are part of a new wave of initiatives that Republicans say are directed at voter fraud. They are being condemned by voting rights advocates and even some local election supervisors, who call them costly and unnecessary appeasement of the Republican base that will select primary-election winners for this November’s midterms and the 2024 presidential race. The next round of voting clashes comes after the apparent demise of Democratic voting rights legislation in Washington on Thursday. It is a reminder that although the Democratic agenda in Washington seems dead, Republican state-level efforts to make voting harder show no sign of slowing down. Supporters say the added enforcement will root out instances of fraud and assure the public that everything possible is being done to make sure that American elections are accurate and legitimate. Critics say the efforts can easily be abused and used as political cudgels or efforts to intimidate people from registering and voting. And Democrats say the main reason Republican voters have lost faith in the electoral system is because of the incessant Republican focus on almost entirely imagined fraud. The most concrete proposal is in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis asked the state Legislature last week for $5.7 million to create a 52-person “election crimes and security” force in the secretary of state’s office. The plan, which DeSantis has been touting since fall, would include 20 sworn police officers and field offices statewide. That was followed Thursday by a pledge by David Perdue, the former Georgia senator who is a Republican candidate for governor, to create his own force of election police “to make Georgia elections the safest and securest in the country.” Perdue, who lost his Senate seat in 2020, claimed that Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican seeking reelection, weakened election standards and refused to investigate claims of fraud after President Joe Biden’s narrow win in the state. In Arizona, state Sen. Wendy Rogers, a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump’s lies about a stolen election, has filed legislation to establish a $5 million “bureau of elections” in the governor’s office with the power to subpoena witnesses and impound election equipment. Rogers' bill probably faces an uphill road in the Legislature, where Republicans are only narrowly in control and have been battered for their support of a widely ridiculed multimillion-dollar inquiry into 2020 election results. Prospects for the Florida and Georgia proposals are less clear. The proposals are the latest twist in a decadeslong crusade by Republicans against election fraud that has grown rapidly since Trump’s election loss in 2020 and his false claim that victory was stolen from him. DeSantis took a tough line in November when he unveiled his proposal, saying the new unit would chase crimes that local election officials shrug at. “There’ll be people, if you see someone ballot harvesting, you know, what do you do? If you call into the election office, a lot of times they don’t do anything,” he said at an appearance in West Palm Beach. “I guarantee you this,” he added. “The first person that gets caught, no one is going to want to do it again after that.” None of the three states — and for that matter, none of the other 47 and the District of Columbia — reported any more than a minuscule number of election fraud cases after the 2020 races. DeSantis said after the 2020 vote that his was “the state that did it right and that other states should emulate.” The only notable hint of irregularity in Florida was the recent arrest on fraud charges of four men in a retirement complex north of Orlando. At least two of them appeared to be winter Floridians accused of casting ballots both there and in more frigid states to the north. But DeSantis and Perdue say their strike forces are still needed to root out other election irregularities and to bolster their constituents’ sagging faith in the honesty of the vote. The same rationale has powered so-called audits of election results and clampdowns on election rules by Republican-run legislatures across the country. Sweeping election-law revisions enacted by Florida and Georgia legislators last spring sharply limit the use of popular drop boxes for submitting absentee ballots, require identification to obtain mail-in ballots, make it harder to conduct voter-registration drives, and restrict or ban interactions — such as handing out snacks or water — with voters waiting in line to cast ballots. Trump comfortably won Florida by about 370,000 votes in 2020, and his narrow losses in Arizona and Georgia were confirmed by expert audits, recounts and even the notorious Cyber Ninjas inquiry into the vote in Maricopa County. “We don’t need further investigations into elections that are freely and fairly conducted,” said Alex Gulotta, Arizona director of the advocacy group All Voting Is Local. “We’ve established that again and again and again. This is more pablum to the people who believe in fraud and conspiracy theories and lies that the last election was stolen.” Neither the new laws nor election autopsies appear to have shaken the conviction of many Trump supporters that the election system is suspect. Some scholars say they see the police forces as the latest bid by politicians to scratch that itch. Bids to curb so-called fraud are becoming standard for Republican candidates who want to win over voters, Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in an interview. “Whoever is the nominee in 2024, whether it’s Trump or anyone else, it will likely be part of their platform,” Burden said. The idea of an election police force is not new, even in the states where they are being proposed. In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger already oversees 23 investigators whose purview includes election irregularities, and an assistant state attorney general exclusively prosecutes crimes in elections, the judiciary and local governments. The Arizona attorney general manages a relatively new “election integrity” investigative unit, and Florida election violations are prosecuted by both state and local authorities, as is true in most states.

Republicans want new tool in elusive search for voter fraud: Election police

Boko Haram&#39;s elusive leader Abubakar Shekau said in an audio message Thursday he is still around despite his reported ouster as head of the Nigeria-based jihadist group by the Islamic State (IS). 
 
&quot;People should know we are still around. We will never cause any discord among the people, we will live by the Koran,&quot; Shekau said in a 10-minute audio message. 
 
&quot;This is our stand and we remain in our capacity as Jama&#39;atu Ahlissunnah Lidda&#39;awati Wal Jihad,&quot; he said using the Islamic name for the hardline jihadist group. 
 
His voice was recognised by an AFP journalist familiar with previous messages he has posted on social media. 
 
It was also confirmed as Shekau&#39;s voice by Berlin-based expert Yan St-Pierre of the Modern Security Consulting Group (Mosecon). 
&quot;The person who posted on the internet is a very reliable source,&quot; he said.&nbsp; 
 
Shekau&#39;s audio message was released in response to reports that he had been purportedly replaced by Sheikh Abu Musab al-Barnawi, a former IS spokesman. 
 
In the latest edition of IS&#39;s online weekly magazine Al-Naba, which was published on Tuesday, there was an interview with Barnawi in which he was introduced as Boko Haram&#39;s new leader. 
 
In March 2015, Boko Haram pledged allegiance to IS. 
 
But Shekau dismissed Barnawi as an infidel who condoned living in an un-Islamic society without waging jihad. 
 
The shadowy leader&#39;s absence in recent months has sparked speculation about his fate and whether or not he had been deposed as leader.&nbsp; 
 
He became Boko Haram leader after Nigerian security forces killed the group&#39;s founding chief Mohammed Yusuf in 2009, sparking an insurgency that has left 20,000 people dead and forced 2.6 million people to flee their homes. 
 
Boko Haram has been pegged back by an aggressive fightback from the Nigerian military since January 2014, losing territory and its capacity to mount conventional attacks. 
 
(AFP) 
&nbsp;

Shekau's audio message was released in response to reports that he had been replaced by IS spokesperson Abu Musab al-Barnawi

Boko Haram's elusive leader Abubakar Shekau said in an audio message Thursday he is still around despite his reported ouster as head of the Nigeria-based jihadist group by the Islamic State (IS). "People should know we are still around. We will never cause any discord among the people, we will live by the Koran," Shekau said in a 10-minute audio message. "This is our stand and we remain in our capacity as Jama'atu Ahlissunnah Lidda'awati Wal Jihad," he said using the Islamic name for the hardline jihadist group. His voice was recognised by an AFP journalist familiar with previous messages he has posted on social media. It was also confirmed as Shekau's voice by Berlin-based expert Yan St-Pierre of the Modern Security Consulting Group (Mosecon). "The person who posted on the internet is a very reliable source," he said. Shekau's audio message was released in response to reports that he had been purportedly replaced by Sheikh Abu Musab al-Barnawi, a former IS spokesman. In the latest edition of IS's online weekly magazine Al-Naba, which was published on Tuesday, there was an interview with Barnawi in which he was introduced as Boko Haram's new leader. In March 2015, Boko Haram pledged allegiance to IS. But Shekau dismissed Barnawi as an infidel who condoned living in an un-Islamic society without waging jihad. The shadowy leader's absence in recent months has sparked speculation about his fate and whether or not he had been deposed as leader. He became Boko Haram leader after Nigerian security forces killed the group's founding chief Mohammed Yusuf in 2009, sparking an insurgency that has left 20,000 people dead and forced 2.6 million people to flee their homes. Boko Haram has been pegged back by an aggressive fightback from the Nigerian military since January 2014, losing territory and its capacity to mount conventional attacks. (AFP)

Boko Haram elusive chief Shekau sends audio message, says 'still around'

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