October 5, 2022

*) US boosts arms aid as Ukraine expands battle gains The United States has announced more weapons for Ukraine's army, which claims sweeping gains along two major battlefronts this week. The US will ship four more Himars precision rocket launchers, 32 artillery pieces, 75,000 artillery rounds and 200,000 rounds of small arms ammunition to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his forces have retaken "dozens" of villages in the east and south. The Russian military, too, concedes that it has incurred losses. *) Musk offers to close Twitter buyout deal at original price Elon Musk has offered to push through with his buyout of Twitter at the original agreed price, as a trial over his efforts to withdraw from the deal looms. The world's richest man has said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that he sent Twitter a letter vowing to honour the contract. The latest twist in the long-running saga comes ahead of the high-stakes court battle launched by Twitter in an attempt to hold the Tesla chief to the deal he signed in April. *) Lebanon sends US its remarks on Israel maritime border dispute Lebanon has sent Washington remarks to a US proposal on resolving a long-running maritime border dispute with Israel over gas-rich waters of the countries' Mediterranean coasts. A draft agreement floated by the US aims to settle competing claims over offshore gas fields and was delivered to Lebanese and Israeli officials at the weekend. Washington's offer has not been made public, but it has raised prospects for a deal that could help Lebanon explore potential gas wealth that the debt-ridden country desperately needs. *) French-US-Austrian trio win physics Nobel for quantum mechanics work A trio of physicists have won the Nobel Prize for discoveries in the field of quantum mechanics that have paved the way for quantum computers, networks and secure encrypted communication. Alain Aspect of France, John Clauser of the United States and Austria's Anton Zeilinger have been honoured for "