In a startling natural phenomenon, millions of locusts have invaded southern Russia. These swarming insects have taken over roads, blotted out the sky, and ravaged precious farmland.

The swift-moving swarm has particularly impacted the Kizlyar district in the Republic of Dagestan, causing a significant drop in visibility. This has led to perilous conditions for drivers as they attempt to traverse the insect-filled streets.

Video footage from the area reveals the overwhelming presence of locusts in the air, engulfing vehicles and making navigation a challenge for those behind the wheel.

Onlookers, taken aback by this dramatic scene, liken it to the ten biblical plagues, recalling the tale of Exodus where similar devastations were described.

“Looks like one of the 10 plagues,” remarked a user on X, echoing the sentiments of many witnessing this extraordinary event.

‘It’s all gone Biblical, maaannn…’ another declared, while one person simply warned: ‘Biblical.’

Another invoked Moses’ warning to the Egyptian pharaoh before the plagues descended, writing: ‘Let my people go.’

The ravenous insects are also sweeping across agricultural land, threatening crops as authorities race to contain the escalating emergency. 

The Bible recounts that God sent ten plagues upon Egypt to persuade Pharaoh to free the Israelites from slavery.

The first plague turned the Nile to blood, killing fish and poisoning the water, said to have occurred when Moses struck the Nile with his staff.

Following the first plague, Egypt was struck by swarms of frogs, lice or gnats, and flies, along with deadly livestock disease and painful boils.

A severe hailstorm, locust swarms, three days of thick darkness, and finally the death of every firstborn son forced Pharaoh to release the Israelites.

Locusts are usually solitary insects, but their behavior can change dramatically when favorable breeding conditions cause their numbers to surge.

As the insects become increasingly crowded, they enter what scientists call a gregarious phase, transforming from individuals into a single, highly mobile swarm.

Their appearance, physiology and habits can also change during the process, giving them a greater ability to travel long distances and invade new territory.

Hatching, mating and egg-laying can become synchronized, allowing vast numbers of the insects to emerge and move together.

The result can be an enormous airborne mass capable of rapidly stripping vegetation and overwhelming efforts to contain it.

According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, swarming locusts can feed on leaves, flowers, fruit, seeds, stems and bark, placing crops and grazing land at risk.

The insects do not attack humans or animals and are not known to carry diseases harmful to people, but their sheer numbers can create dangerous conditions when they descend on roads and populated areas.

Dense swarms can also travel with the wind during daylight hours, making their movement difficult to predict and allowing an infestation to spread beyond the area where it first emerged.

Locusts are common and periodically cause major agricultural crises in southern regions of Russia, where hot, dry climates and vast farmland create ideal breeding conditions for massive swarms. 

Officials have deployed aircraft and ground-based sprayers in a desperate attempt to halt the swarm and limit the destruction.

However, efforts to stop the invasion have been complicated by the protected nature reserves where the locusts originate.

Chemical treatments are prohibited inside those areas, allowing the insects to move freely beyond the reach of agricultural authorities.

Officials can only begin spraying after the swarms leave the reserves and descend on farmland, by which point crops are already directly in their path.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Dagestan said both aerial and ground operations were being used against the invasion.

However, authorities acknowledged that fields would remain vulnerable for as long as the swarms continued emerging from protected land where pesticides cannot be deployed.

Warning signs of the impending invasion were detected months earlier.

During inspections in May, officials discovered the first locusts hatching across northern Dagestan.

Sharip Sharipov, the republic’s first deputy minister of agriculture and food, subsequently urged landowners and agricultural managers to take every available measure within their territories to contain the insects’ spread.

Despite those early warnings, the swarm has now exploded across the district, leaving officials battling the invasion from the air and ground as it advances over roads and farmland.

More patients may soon have access to a new and unapproved option in the realm of weight loss drugs.

Meet retatrutide, affectionately dubbed “reta,” which has been making waves with its potential to outshine even well-known weight management medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro in terms of effectiveness.

Retatrutide stands out from the crowd by harnessing the power of three crucial hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism—GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon. This unique triple-action approach has earned it the nickname “Triple G.” In comparison, most existing weight loss drugs replicate the function of only one or two of these hormones.

Back in May, groundbreaking findings were unveiled: individuals taking retatrutide experienced a staggering reduction of up to 28% in body weight over 80 weeks, approximately equivalent to a year and a half.

The drug’s potency was so pronounced that some participants opted out of the clinical trial due to rapid weight loss that exceeded their expectations.

For comparison, semaglutide — sold under the brand names Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus) — mimics only GLP-1 and has been shown to produce roughly 15% weight loss. Tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro and Zepbound, mimics both GLP-1 and GIP and can help patients lose around 20% of their body weight.

Retatrutide’s latest trial also found that it lowered A1C levels by up to 1.6%.

The drug’s maker, Eli Lilly, says a major aim of retatrutide is to help people with type 2 diabetes both improve blood sugar and lose weight.

“It is a struggle to achieve both … since obesity has historically been harder to treat for those with T2D,” said Dr. Kenneth Custer, Lilly’s executive vice president and cardiometabolic health president.

The company plans to submit the retatrutide for FDA approval in early 2027. If approved, the FDA’s review process could take up to a year before the drug hits the market.

Lilly guards its jewel

In the meantime, Lilly is expanding access after reports that a single 79-year-old patient obtained the retatrutide through the FDA’s “compassionate use” program, which allows some people with serious or immediately life-threatening conditions to receive investigational drugs outside of clinical trials.

After STAT reported on that case, doctors flooded in to say they had been trying to obtain the drug for their own patients but hadn’t heard a peep from Lily about who qualifies.

Now, the company is providing a bit more information. A Lilly spokesperson told Reuters that eligible patients must:

• be aged 18 or older

However, doctors say those criteria remain frustratingly vague, especially compared with other compassionate use programs that typically provide more detailed eligibility guidelines.

One study defines refractory obesity as a severe form of obesity in which a patient is unable to lose — and maintain — more than 5% of their body weight despite treatment, including the highest approved dose of weight loss medications such as semaglutide.

It’s also unclear what Lily considers a “life-threatening obesity-related complication.” Conditions such as obstructive sleep apnea, advanced liver disease, and heart failure might qualify, but the company has not specified.

To be considered, a doctor must determine that a patient meets the criteria and submit a request to Lilly. A company spokesperson said Lily is “actively reviewing requests from health ​care providers.”

Why classification matters

Lilly is also locked in an active dispute with the FDA over how retatrutide should be classified.

The company argues the drug is a biologic, which would grant it 12 years of market exclusivity. The FDA, however, considers it a peptide, which would provide just five years of protection.

Beyond delaying generic competition, a biologic designation would also make it more difficult for compounding pharmacies to produce alternatives — a key issue given that 1.5 million people obtain GLP-1 medications through compounded versions.

The debate comes as gray-market peptide companies are already selling their own versions of retatrutide online.

Companies typically label these products “not for human consumption” and “for research purposes only,” as their contents, potency and purity cannot be verified.

According to Public Citizen, at least 14 people have hospitalized after taking gray market versions of retatrutide.

As August rolls in with its relentless heatwaves, I’m sure I won’t be alone in hoping for a much-needed rain. However, my eagerness for rain isn’t motivated by the usual desire for relief from sweltering temperatures.

Instead, I anticipate the rain with enthusiasm because it signals a reprieve from the fiery red hives that have plagued my face under the sun for nearly half a century.

For years, I mistakenly assumed these flare-ups were a classic case of rosacea. But after numerous consultations with my GP, an array of blood tests, and several dermatologist sessions, a clearer picture emerged: I was diagnosed with the autoimmune disorder known as lupus.

The revelation came in August 2023, while vacationing in Paris. During the trip, my doctor informed me over the phone that my latest blood test results showed concerning inflammation levels, necessitating an urgent referral to a rheumatologist.

At the time, I was in peak physical condition—slender, active, and in good health—which made the news all the more bewildering.

The more I read online, the more I began to worry. Lupus kept coming up in my searches and I found myself slipping down a rabbit hole of worst-case scenarios.

‘Inflammation from lupus can cause severe damage to the heart, lungs, brain or kidneys, which can be life-threatening,’ read the NHS website.

I tried to put the issue to the back of my mind until we got home, but then I fell ill on our next stop in Milan.

In the 40C heat, my face came out in angry red lumps and I was hit by a throbbing three-day migraine.

That’s when my panic Googling stopped feeling like an overreaction and so many ailments I had overlooked for years began to make sense.

Lupus is an incurable, lifelong condition that causes your immune system to attack your own skin, creating a distinctive red rash. Crucially, the rash is triggered by sunlight and is a sign your body is having a ‘lupus flare-up’ – essentially making me allergic to the sun.

After nearly a dozen visits to the hospital and GP, over a year later – in September 2024 – I was finally told I had cutaneous lupus, a form of lupus that mainly affects the skin.

I was grateful I didn’t have the more severe form known as systemic lupus, which is linked to joint pain, exhaustion and – thank you, Google – damage to the lungs, heart, kidneys and brain.

My diagnosis was the missing piece in a puzzle I’d spent my life trying to figure out after years of discomfort and social embarrassment.

Lupus is known as the ‘disease of a thousand faces’ as it has such varied symptoms (which explains why it often takes so long to get a diagnosis, as the symptoms overlap with so many other conditions). I have always had regular mouth ulcers, and I’m also allergic to bee stings, mosquito bites and nits.

Around 50,000 people in the UK are estimated to have the disease, and about 90 per cent of those are women, typically aged between 15 and 55. Interestingly, it can develop during menopause due to changes in hormonal activity, but mine first presented in childhood.

When I was four, my mum took me on a five-week tour of Australia. My usually perfect skin broke out in nasty red hives that lasted the entire trip. My mother kept anxiously slathering me in Factor 50, then back in the UK I was prescribed a steroid cream for my face by the GP. We were told to only use it sparingly for a short time, as it can thin the skin. Eventually, back in the cooler weather, the rash disappeared.

Later, while most teenagers battle with acne, I found myself still struggling with a crop of raised, itchy lumps on my cheeks and often on my nose, hairline and upper back whenever I went out in the sun. It would then take six weeks for them to disappear. As I got older, I became increasingly self-conscious – most of the time, I was able to hide the lumps with concealer, but I remember being on a beach when I was 16 with one of my few friends who had seen me without make-up, and she told me my skin was my worst feature. I knew it was true, but it was hard to hear.

Mum booked me a Clinique consultation, buying a batch of expensive products, but still the lumps kept coming. Soon after, we saw another GP, who referred me to a dermatologist. She misdiagnosed me with the skin condition rosacea and I spent the next 30 years thinking that was the cause. I’m annoyed with myself for not getting the rash checked out again much sooner, thinking of all those summers I wasted with itchy red lumps.

I treat them with two topical steroid creams, which don’t prevent the rashes, but treat them once they’ve reared their ugly head. My consultant warned me the best prevention is to stay out of the sun for life.

I was heartbroken at first, as I love outdoor swimming, but I still swim in the evenings and wear shades and a cap to cover my face.

During the recent heatwaves, even the 20-minute school run with my three daughters has been a struggle. I’ve resorted to carrying a sun parasol, which has attracted a few stares. My nine-year-old told me she ‘hates the embarrassing umbrella’ and was mortified when I had to bring it to school sports day. I wear Factor 50 all-year round and a special Factor 100 lotion called Eucerin Sun Actinic Control, designed for people at high risk of sun damage, when the UV is very high.

There’s no cure for lupus, but there are several different drug treatments available to control the symptoms of systemic lupus, which I have up to a 20 per cent chance of developing. The more I expose myself to the sun, the higher my risk.

For now though, I won’t let it hold me back from travelling the world, I just go away during cooler times of year – in February I went to Thailand and I’m off to Greece for October half-term. In a way it’s liberating that holidays are no longer about working on my tan. Instead, that’s exactly what I want to avoid. 

* lupusuk.org.uk/

DETROIT — Abdul El-Sayed has clinched the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, narrowly surpassing U.S. Representative Haley Stevens. This win marks a significant victory for the progressive faction within the party in this crucial battleground state.

The real challenge for El-Sayed and his progressive supporters now looms in November, where he will face off against Mike Rogers in the general election. Rogers, a former congressman, secured the Republican nomination without opposition. This Senate seat is critical for Democrats aiming to gain control in the Senate, and El-Sayed will need to rally a divided Democratic base following a fiercely contested primary.

The race remained neck-and-neck through Tuesday night, leaving the outcome undecided until Wednesday morning. Addressing supporters at his primary night gathering, El-Sayed expressed a commitment to unity, declaring, “tomorrow we begin to mend fences.”

On Wednesday, Stevens called El-Sayed to formally concede and issued a statement pledging her support for his campaign moving forward.

“I am proud to offer my support as he takes on Mike Rogers in the general election,” she affirmed, signaling her readiness to unite behind El-Sayed.

Stevens added, “This was a thorough and rigorous campaign that brought out the full span of views within the Democratic Party – and that is why we have primaries.”

Progressives have been gaining strength this year

El-Sayed’s win represents a significant shift for the Democratic Party; in 2018 he lost the gubernatorial primary to now-Gov. Gretchen Whitmer by 21 percentage points.

El-Sayed, a former health official, campaigned on “Medicare for All,” halting military aid to Israel and campaign finance reform. He had support from progressive leaders including Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who framed the race as a grassroots-focused movement and a broader fight against the establishment and big-money spending.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, another progressive leader who endorsed El-Sayed, said the race “should be a wake-up call to the Washington Democratic establishment.”

“He was running against a lot of Washington insiders as well as parts of the Michigan Democratic establishment. And he won,” said Van Hollen. “That’s an incredible story.”

“Congratulations to him,” said Sen. Gary Peters, the Michigan Democrat whose retirement spurred the contentious primary to replace him. Peters had endorsed Stevens.

Now comes the more difficult challenge for Democrats: uniting the party to defeat Rogers, for whom Republicans have already reserved large sums of money ahead of the general election. Democrats consider the seat a must-win if they are to flip control of the Senate this year.

El-Sayed called for unity to defeat Rogers

Early Tuesday evening, El-Sayed’s supporters in Detroit’s Majestic Theatre cheered at the first batches of votes, before mellowing. Hours later Stevens’ previously subdued partygoers roared as she narrowed the margin.

“Whatever happens tonight,” El-Sayed told a thinned but still energetic crowd, “we have a responsibility to ensure that we unite, unite to make sure that Mike Rogers never sees the inside of the U.S. Senate.”

El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, campaigned on “Medicare for All,” campaign finance reform and ending military aid to Israel.

Stevens, a four-term congresswoman, focused on manufacturing and the economy. She stressed her past victories in tough races, saying she would be best positioned to beat Rogers.

Stevens benefited from tens of millions of dollars in outside spending, including the largest investment in a race ever from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which supports pro-Israel candidates.

Michigan is a must-win Senate race for Democrats

The race will help decide which party controls the chamber in the last two years of President Donald Trump’s term. Those stakes have added heat to the rivalry, with moderates arguing that El-Sayed would have a harder time than Stevens against a Republican in the general election.

Stevens won election to Congress in 2018 after serving as chief of staff to President Barack Obama’s auto task force, which helped oversee the federal rescue of General Motors and Chrysler. Her campaign and allied groups have repeatedly highlighted that experience.

El-Sayed cast himself as the anti-establishment candidate and argued that Democrats need to reject corporate influence and embrace a more progressive agenda.

While the candidate has said he is not a democratic socialist, he found support from some of the group’s members. That included Melat Kiros, who recently beat a longtime incumbent in a Democratic primary for a Denver-based House seat and was at El-Sayed’s watch party. Also there was Hasan Piker, a progressive and controversial influencer online.

The candidates’ differences were clear to some voters.

Kenneth Woodside, 87, of West Bloomfield, said he voted for El-Sayed over Stevens because “the nation is ready for someone who wants to take some more action rather than on the road we are now, which is on the road to an oligarchy and authoritarianism.”

Nessa Fuller, 51, of Birmingham, said she voted for Stevens because she will “fight to get the right things done, and she’ll work with other people, which is really important to me.”

Outside influences spent millions on the Senate race

National groups poured unprecedented sums into the race, making it one of the country’s biggest tests of outside spending.

Groups backing Stevens spent more than $50 million, led by more than $30 million from AIPAC and its affiliates.

The spending thrust Israel policy into the center of the race even though the ads never mentioned it. While El-Sayed called for ending military aid to Israel, Stevens maintained strong support for the relationship.

Israel became a contentious issue within the Democratic Party amid a war in Gaza that killed more than 73,000 Palestinians in its retaliatory offensive after about 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages were taken in attacks by the militant group Hamas.

McKinney wins Detroit US House primary

In a heavily Democratic district representing Detroit, the 13th, state Rep. Donavan McKinney defeated Rep. Shri Thanedar. McKinney argued that the city should once again have a Black representative in Congress.

After Thanedar won election in 2022, Detroit had no Black representation in Congress for the first time since the early 1950s.