By Ivana Kottasová, CNN

(CNN) — Ukrainian civilians endured the deadliest year since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of their country in 2022, with more than 2,500 people killed in 2025, the United Nations said in a new report Monday.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said it verified that 2,514 civilians were killed and 12,142 injured in conflict-related violence in Ukraine in 2025, nearly all of them in Russian attacks against Ukrainian-held areas.

The UN report shows clearly that nowhere in Ukraine is safe: More than a third of the civilians who were killed or injured were located in areas far from the front lines when Russia attacked them.

Russia has massively intensified its campaign of aerial attacks against Ukrainian cities in 2025, regularly terrorizing civilian populations with large-scale drone and missile assaults.

In one such attack last week, Moscow launched 242 drones, 14 ballistic missiles and 22 cruise missiles against multiple cities in a single night, targeting civilian energy infrastructure and leaving hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians without power and heating.

The UN said the number of documented civilian casualties in Ukraine last year was 31% higher than in 2024 and 70% higher than in 2023.

“This rise was driven not only by intensified hostilities along the frontline, but also by the expanded use of long-range weapons, which exposed civilians across the country to heightened risk,” said Danielle Bell, who heads the UN monitoring mission in Ukraine.

According to the UN, the deadliest of these attacks happened in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil on November 19. At least 38 civilians, including eight children were killed in the strike, and 99, including 17 children, were injured. According to the UN, 10 families lost two or more members each.

More than 14,900 civilians have been killed since Russia launched the full-scale war in February 2022, according to UN data based on deaths it was able to confirm.

The United Nations has said in the past that the “actual figures are likely higher” for civilian casualties in Ukraine, since many reports are “still pending corroboration” and it has no access to occupied territory and limited access to areas near front lines.

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SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - Warming has arrived for the week as Santa Ana winds will continue in Ventura County through Wednesday.

Wind advisories continue until 2pm Wednesday with 40 mph gusts possible.

We will warm into the high 70s and 80s through Saturday, cooling Sunday into next week.

Clouds and more average seasonal weather will return for next week.

The post Warmer Tuesday, Santa Ana winds continue appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

Por Oscar Holland

La alfombra roja de los premios Globo de Oro de este año estuvo repleta de vestidos negros y el glamour del viejo Hollywood, y Selena Gomez trajo ambos.

La cantante y actriz fue un ícono de elegancia al llegar al hotel Beverly Hilton con un vestido de Chanel que le llevó a la marca francesa más de 320 horas de confección.

Adornado con unos 200 elementos bordados, el vestido bustier personalizado floreció con plumas, gasa de seda y organza de seda. El diseño sin tirantes, mientras tanto, terminaba en forma de V en la espalda, revelando el tatuaje de una rosa de Gomez.

Completó el look con joyería de Chanel —incluyendo enormes pendientes incrustados de diamantes y varios anillos— y un par de zapatos slingback negros, visibles solo cuando levantó el vestido hasta el suelo para caminar por la alfombra roja.

Nominada (por cuarto año consecutivo) por su papel en “Only Murders in the Building,” Gomez también lució un peinado bob glamoroso, esmalte de uñas negro y clásico labial rojo.

Su esposo, el productor musical Benny Blanco, la acompañó en la alfombra quien llevaba un traje negro con la camisa desabotonada y un broche llamativo. Él también brillaba con diamantes y un par de mocasines decorados con joyas.

Gomez ha recurrido a menudo a Chanel por su sastrería femenina, incluyendo la falda de tweed que llevó al Academy Women’s Luncheon en 2024 y el conjunto azul marino de dos piezas que lució en el Festival de Cannes en 2019. Puedes ver aquí los mejores looks en la alfombra roja de los premios Globo de Oro 2026.

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Back in 2010, you could buy bitcoin for just a few cents. Fast forward 15 years, and the cryptocurrency’s price has skyrocketed to roughly $93,000 per coin as of early January 2026.

It’s easy to get FOMO when you see what your returns could have been had you invested alongside the early crypto devotees. The number of bitcoin millionaires worldwide grew 70% between July 2024 and July 2025, Henley & Partners reported in its recent Crypto Wealth Report. But have you actually missed the boat to invest in bitcoin and reap the benefits of its popularity?

Current had financial experts weigh in and outline the risks of putting your money toward such a volatile asset.

Bitcoin’s volatile price movements

If you’ve ever felt the stomach-churning drops and euphoric climbs of riding a rollercoaster, you may have a little bit of insight into what it feels like to own bitcoin. Just take last year: Bitcoin started around $93,000 before dropping to $75,000 in April, soaring as high as $125,000 in October and winding up back around where it started 2025 in December.

“Bitcoin has always been a highly volatile asset,” says Ben Loughery, a certified financial planner and founder of Lock Wealth Management in Atlanta. “We have seen it go through multiple boom and bust cycles and each peak has historically been followed by new all-time highs years later.” 

But those ups and downs are also what gives bitcoin its potential for high returns. If you buy in during a sell-off, you benefit if a price surge follows. So while you may have missed bitcoin’s early and massive gains, the price could very well take off again.

Should you invest in bitcoin?

Just because bitcoin comes with the potential for high returns doesn’t mean you should necessarily invest in it. The important question to ask is whether bitcoin fits into your overall investment plan, risk tolerance and time horizon — not whether you perfectly timed an entry into the market, Loughery says.

“It is better to understand its long-term role in your portfolio versus worrying about missing a short-term dip or spike,” he adds.

That’s because it’s hard enough for Wall Street professionals to time the stock market. So you probably don’t want to bet on your own ability to guess where bitcoin’s price is headed next. Instead, do your own research. Bitcoin has entered the mainstream investing world, with federal regulators allowing for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track its price and an influx of money from institutional investors. But crypto skeptics say that the asset has no intrinsic value.

“Whether it goes up or down in the next year, or five or 10 years, I don’t know. But the one thing I’m pretty sure of is that it doesn’t produce anything,” billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who often warns investors of crypto’s risks, Read more

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A QR Code scan is like a raised hand in a crowded room. It’s voluntary, visible, and tells you exactly who’s interested. Compare that to website cookies, which are more like secretly following someone around a store.

As privacy laws crack down on digital surveillance, savvy marketers are realizing something obvious: permission beats stalking every time. The data you earn will always outperform the data you take.

That deliberate scan gives you context and not just contact information. You know exactly where they were, what caught their attention, and that they chose to engage. It’s intent wrapped in action.

This move from surveillance to permission marketing isn’t just about compliance. It’s about building relationships instead of collecting profiles. Every scan represents a micro-moment of trust, and for marketers who understand this, QR Codes have become an important call to action, Uniqode reports.

Why the focus on first-party data now?

Marketing is undergoing a reset. Third-party tracking is losing credibility, privacy laws are tightening, and consumers are asking for transparency and control.

With the old tools of silent surveillance fading out, the question has shifted from how much data a brand can gather to how responsibly it can do so. Clean, contextual, and consent-based data has become the new competitive edge.

Uniqode

That’s where QR Codes come in. Each scan is a choice, making QR Code data not only compliant but also more reliable and meaningful than any third-party cookie.

Why scans speak louder than clicks

Clicks are cheap. Scans aren’t.

A click can come from anywhere: a wrong screen tap, a bot, or an algorithmic push. A scan, on the other hand, takes effort. Someone has to notice a QR Code, lift their phone, point their camera, wait for recognition, and tap to follow through.

Unlike clicks, scans carry context. Where did it happen? On packaging, in-store signage, or an ad? Each scan connects digital behavior to a real-world moment, helping brands understand what drives action, not just where traffic comes from.

And this behavior has become mainstream. According to the 2025 State of QR Codes Report, 59% of customers scan QR Codes daily, and 9 in 10 users do so weekly.

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