Ukrainian refugee, 12, signed by Dundee United FC’s academy

Stanislav Drabych worried that his footballing dreams were over after Russia invaded Ukraine

(Image credit: Sally Anscombe/Getty Images)

last updated 10 November 2022

A 12-year-old boy who arrived in Scotland as a refugee from the war in Ukraine has been signed by Dundee United FC’s academy. Stanislav Drabych was enrolled in a school that offered specialist training at home in Lviv. Following the Russian invasion, he worried that his footballing dreams were over. But in March, he and his family were taken in by an aunt in Angus, where his talent was quickly spotted by his new school, and he was put forward for a trial. “It’s like Christmas Day, I can play again,” he told the BBC. “If we stay in Scotland I’ll play for Dundee United – because they helped me, I’ll help them to win the Scottish league.”

Largest known seagrass forest discovered

Researchers have found the largest known seagrass forest in the world, by strapping cameras onto tiger sharks. Mapping seagrass is difficult, as even large meadows in deep or cloudy water are hard to spot from above, and smaller patches are often mixed in with other marine plants. But images captured by the sharks revealed a forest that extends up to 35,000 square miles in the Caribbean, increasing the total known area of seagrass on the ocean’s floors by up to 40%.

Museum vault sketch identified as a Rembrandt

An oil sketch that had been stored in the vault of a museum in The Hague has been identified as a Rembrandt. The discovery was made by curator Jeroen Giltaij, while he was researching his book on the Dutch master. The sketch, The Raising of the Cross, had for years been assumed to be a copy of a Rembrandt; but Giltaij noticed that, in 1935, it had been listed as the real thing. Hi-tech scans of the brushwork showed that it had been worked on, not simply copied, a view confirmed by experts from Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum.