By Kosta Gak, Svitlana Vlasova, Lauren Kent, CNN

Kyiv, Ukraine (CNN) — A huge wave of Russian strikes overnight targeted Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, killing at least eight people and injuring at least 44 more, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia fired more than 1,560 drones on Ukraine since the start of Wednesday – making it the largest aerial attack on Ukraine in a two-day period since the war began. A further 56 missiles were launched overnight, Zelensky said Thursday.

Air raid alarms sounded for roughly 11 hours throughout Wednesday and overnight, according to CNN’s team on the ground.

At least seven people were killed in an attack on a nine-story residential building in Kyiv, according to emergency services. Authorities have pulled several bodies from the rubble in the hours since the attack, including that of a 12-year-old girl.

There may still be residents trapped under the debris of the collapsed building, as the State Emergency Service said more than a dozen people have been reported missing.

“I heard a loud explosion. I ran out to the kitchen and saw people running around the yard, calling for help. Then I rushed out of the building and saw that the front entrance was gone,” building resident Olena Suntovska, 38, told CNN. “I was scared – it’s so stressful for me because I was worried about the kids,” the mother of three added.

Another resident, 76-year-old Polina, said she woke up to find that the window to her balcony had been blown out.

“I never imagined the damage would be this bad; when I went out into the yard, I couldn’t believe my eyes,” said Polina, who asked to be identified by her first name only. “We don’t have a proper bomb shelter here. There’s only one in a nearby building not in ours, so we don’t go down (underground) anywhere.”

Another man in Kyiv died in hospital from injuries sustained in an attack on a gas station, police said.

The mayor of Kyiv described it as “the enemy’s largest-scale attack on the capital” and declared a day of mourning tomorrow. Zelensky said the two-day aerial barrage came after Russia “stockpiled drones and missiles over a period of time and deliberately timed the strike to ensure its scale was significant and the challenges for our air defense were as great as possible.” He added that Ukraine is preparing a response.

Meanwhile, attacks on the city of Kharkiv on Thursday morning injured at least 28 people, according to Zelensky. Two people were also injured in the Odesa region.

The large-scale wave of Russian attacks also targeted other regions, including Poltava and Zaporizhzhia, and damaged some energy and railway infrastructure.

A power substation and a high-voltage power line were damaged in Kyiv following a missile and drone strike, energy company DTEK said in a statement. A train locomotive was hit in the Kharkiv region, according to Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian railways), but the locomotive crew was able to evacuate in time.

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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -While cacao is traditionally grown in tropical regions near the equator, one Santa Barbara chocolatier is proving it may also have a future in California.

Michael Orlando, founder of Twenty-Four Blackbirds, says what started as a personal experiment 15 years ago has evolved into a small cacao farm in Santa Barbara County.

“This is essentially the cacao farming project that I started. I started it kind of just to see if I can grow cacao in Santa Barbara about 15 years ago, and through trial and error… it’s turned into this actual farm,” Orlando said.

The farm currently has 53 cacao trees, with another 200 seedlings waiting to be planted.

“Cacao is a fully tropical plant… only grows plus or minus 20 degrees at the equator. And within California, this is the only cacao farming project that I know of,” Orlando said.

Research into growing cacao outside its natural climate is also happening at University of California, Davis, where specialized greenhouses are being used to study cacao disease resistance, climate adaptability, and production methods.

Graduate students Nyah Mallak and Ivan Martinez are examining how cacao behaves in controlled environments while also comparing smallholder and large-scale farming practices.

The researchers have also traveled to Colombia to study cacao cultivation in one of the crop’s native regions.

“In Colombia, you kind of just throw seeds in the backyard and forget about it until it’s giving you pods. But here, you have to build the whole structure and control everything,” Martinez said.

Researchers say California-grown cacao could develop a flavor profile unlike anywhere else in the world.

"One cool thing about growing cacao outside its native environment is you get a totally unique flavor profile because the beans are absorbing different nutrients and minerals,” Mallak said.

Back in Santa Barbara, Orlando says years of experimenting with winter protection and greenhouse conditions are finally paying off.

Because natural cacao pollinators are not common in California, Orlando says he hand-pollinates the flowers himself by transferring pollen between blossoms using small tools and brushes to help the trees produce fruit.

"Once all of the trees are flowering, we’ll ideally be pollinating all of them and getting hundreds of fruits,” Orlando said.

His long-term goal is to create a chocolate bar made entirely from Santa Barbara-grown cacao.

“Eventually we will be fermenting the beans and making a Santa Barbara-origin chocolate bar,” Orlando said.

Orlando is also branching into another tropical crop rarely grown in California.

"We’re also starting the first ever vanilla farm in Santa Barbara, outside of Hawaii,” Orlando said.

He says growing cacao and vanilla locally could reduce shipping impacts while allowing for more controlled and sustainable production.

The project is also seeking volunteers interested in learning the full chocolate-making process from tree to bar.

“We’re looking for volunteers… people who want to learn the cacao growing process and chocolate making from tree to bar,” Orlando said.

For now, Orlando says the project is still growing, planting the seeds for what could become California-made chocolate.

For more information on the cacao project and to visit his in house greenhouse, you can visit their official website.

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By Chris Isidore, CNN

(CNN) — The auto industry’s massive pullback from its electric vehicle plans has claimed another victim: Honda, which posted its first annual loss since 1955.

Honda and other global automakers downshifted their EV ambitions after the Trump administration changed US emissions rules and ended a $7,500 tax credit for American buyers. EV sales fell sharply after the tax credit went away in September, and the recent spike in gasoline prices has not sparked a significant increase in EV demand by US buyers.

Car companies had expected much stricter American emissions rules, leading them to invest billions of dollars to move towards an all-electric vehicle lineup sometime in the next decade. But the Trump administration scrapped the tougher emissions rules put in place by the Biden administration and eliminated massive financial penalties automakers faced if they violated emissions rules.

Those changes led automakers to return their focus on selling large gasoline powered trucks and SUVs, on which they made the most profit. But the shift has been costly to automakers, who have been forced to write down the value of their large-scale EV investments.

For its fiscal year ending in March, Honda reported it took a 1.6 trillion yen, or nearly $10 billion, hit to its earnings, wiping out what would have otherwise been a potential $7.4 billion profit for the year. Instead, it posted a net loss of 403.3 billion yen, or $2.6 billion.

Honda also indicated it expected an additional writedown on its previous EV investment in the current fiscal year, although not enough to cause another loss.

Honda’s results follow General Motors, which reported a $7.2 billion charge in 2025 for its pullback in EV efforts, while rival Ford announced a charge of $17.4 billion for the year and Stellatis, which makes cars in North America under the Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler brands, reported a charge of 25.4 billion euros, or $29.7 billion.

GM was still able to report a profit for the year, even with its charge. But the cost of pulling back on EVs also caused Ford and Stellantis to report net losses for 2025. Ford also expects additional charges this year.

Still, automakers haven’t dropped EV plans completely. There are still tougher emissions rules coming in Europe and Asia and perhaps in a number of US states, led by California, which has a regulation on the books that would ban the sale of new gasoline powered cars by 2035, although Congress has moved to block that ban from taking effect.

Automakers are also concerned about the rising competition from Chinese automakers, which are primarily selling EVs. Chinese automakers have relatively little presence in the American market as of yet.

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By Meteorologist Chris Dolce, CNN

(CNN) — El Niño is emerging even faster than expected in the Pacific Ocean and odds are increasing that it could become historically strong — a rare “Super” El Niño — by fall or winter.

This is according to a just-released update from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center that says there is a 2 in 3 chance that El Niño’s peak strength will be strong or very strong.

El Niño is a natural climate cycle that happens when the tropical Pacific Ocean warms enough to trigger shifts in wind patterns throughout the atmosphere, which has a ripple effect on weather conditions worldwide.

Droughts and heat waves can flourish in some regions, fueling wildfire danger and water supply concerns, while others are swamped by flooding rainfall. El Niño’s far-reaching effects can also stymie the Atlantic hurricane season. On a larger scale, it causes already rising global temperatures from human-caused climate change to spike even higher. Stronger El Niños make all these impacts more likely.

Super El Niño odds increase

El Niño occurs about every two to seven years and lasts nine to 12 months. Its strength is measured by how far water temperatures rise above average in a patch of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, and it usually peaks in the Northern Hemisphere’s winter.

Weak El Niño conditions develop once the temperature rises over 0.5 degrees Celsius above average for an extended period of time. Water temperatures must be more than 2 degrees above average for it to be considered a very strong or Super El Niño.

The average water temperature is just below the 0.5-degree threshold right now, but it’s now expected to climb above it by next month, according to Thursday’s monthly update from the Climate Prediction Center. That’s a notable change from last month’s update, which favored neutral conditions — neither El Niño or its cooler counterpart La Niña — through June.

El Niño is then likely to strengthen through the summer and fall. The chances of it lasting through winter have also increased to 96%, a near lock that it does so.

The boost in confidence is due to the vast pool of warm water that’s built up in the depths of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific in recent weeks. This water will eventually rise to the surface, kickstart El Niño and keep strengthening it from there.

But while forecasters are more confident in it forming, “there is still substantial uncertainty in the peak strength of El Niño,” the Climate Prediction Center said.

Still, the odds of a Super El Niño between November and January have increased from a 1 in 4 chance last month to about a 1 in 3 chance in the latest strength probabilities from the CPC.

A stronger El Niño is more likely if changes in the atmosphere continue to sync with changes in the tropical Pacific Ocean this summer, like seeing winds near the equator weaken at the same time ocean temperatures rise, said Michelle L’Heureux, a scientist who leads El Niño and La Niña forecasting at the CPC.

Some typically reliable computer models show this year’s potential Super El Niño could even be the strongest on record. It would be the first Super El Niño since 2015-2016, which was the strongest in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records dating to 1950. Others include 1997-1998, 1982-1983 and 1972-1973.

Even if this El Niño falls short of “super” status, it’s still likely to be a strong one. Stronger El Niños usu