Astronomer on SpaceX rocket failure
'SpaceX has had 18 successful launches with this rocket in a row. So for it to fail, it was a surprise to everybody,' says Ontario Science Centre's Ryan Marciniak
'SpaceX has had 18 successful launches with this rocket in a row. So for it to fail, it was a surprise to everybody,' says Ontario Science Centre's Ryan Marciniak
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has raised with China's Premier Li Qiang an incident at parliament house where Chinese officials tried to obstruct a journalist previously jailed in Beijing, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Tuesday. Li's visit to Australia from June 15-18 was the first by a Chinese premier in seven years and marks a stabilisation in ties between the U.S. ally and the world's second largest economy.
Muslim pilgrims are wrapping up the Hajj, or pilgrimage, in the deadly summer heat on Tuesday with the third day of the symbolic stoning of the devil, and the last circumambulation around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site, in the city of Mecca. The three-day stoning ritual in Mina, a desert site outside Mecca, is among the final rites of the Hajj, and symbolizes the casting away of evil and sin. The final days of the annual Hajj coincide with Muslims around the world celebrating the Eid al-Adha holiday when Muslims with financial means commemorate Prophet Ibrahim’s test of faith, when God ordered him to sacrifice his only son, by slaughtering livestock and animals and distributing the meat to the poor.
It's the earliest solstice since June 20, 1796, when George Washington was president and there were only 16 states in the Union.
During a visit to Australia this week, Chinese Premier Li Qiang made a classic goodwill gesture that boded well for relations between the two countries: he offered to send pandas. The offer comes as ties between Australia and its largest trading partner improve after a diplomatic dispute that lead to China imposing a raft of restrictions on Australian agricultural and mineral exports in 2020. Native to China, pandas have through the years become "envoys of friendship", earning China's outreach to countries it gifts the animals to the name of panda diplomacy.
President Joe Biden is taking an expansive, election-year step to offer relief to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants without legal status in the U.S. — aiming to balance his own aggressive crackdown on the border earlier this month that enraged advocates and many Democratic lawmakers. The White House announced Tuesday that the Biden administration will, in the coming months, allow certain spouses of U.S. citizens without legal status to apply for permanent residency and eventually, citizenship. The move could affect upwards of half a million immigrants, according to senior administration officials.
The millennial Republican's online musings provide insight into his potential role in a Trump administration and vision for the GOP.
Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday killed at least 17 Palestinians in two of the Gaza Strip's historic refugee camps and Israeli tanks pushed deeper into the enclave's southern city of Rafah, residents and medics said. Residents reported heavy bombardments from tanks and planes in several areas of Rafah, where more than a million people had taken refuge before May. Most of the population has fled northwards since then as Israeli forces invaded the city. "Rafah is being bombed without any intervention from the world, the occupation (Israel) is acting freely here," a Rafah resident and father of six told Reuters via a chat app.
The Democratic California governor told POLITICO of his plans hours after Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy argued Congress should compel tech companies to include warning labels similar to cigarettes and alcohol.
The ad hitting Trump followed weeks of polling and focus groups by Biden’s campaign and its allies.
SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — The Paris Olympics are getting into the groove for the historic opening ceremony on the River Seine. Dancers who'll jazz up the July 26 show under the artistic direction of prize-winning French theater director Thomas Jolly are putting finishing touches on a high-octane performance that will combine urban, contemporary, classic, and break dancing, complete with stomps, shouts, and body rolls. Dance director Maud Le Pladec instructed around 50 dancers on their twists and turns at a warehouse in the northern Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis.
Thailand on Tuesday became the first country in Southeast Asia to legalise same-sex marriage, in a historic parliamentary vote hailed as a "victory" by campaigners.More than 30 countries around the world have legalised marriage for all since the Netherlands became the first to celebrate same-sex unions in 2001.
More than a dozen people were missing in China on Tuesday after heavy rains and flooding struck swaths of the south, while the north baked under some of its highest temperatures this year.State news agency Xinhua reported that four people were unaccounted for after a flash flood in Changji, in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, where torrential rains triggered landslides and clogged roads.
Four Philippine policemen were found guilty Tuesday of killing a father and son, court officials said, in a rare case of law enforcement officers being prosecuted for taking part in former president Rodrigo Duterte's deadly drug war.Two other narcotics police officers were found guilty last year for separate killings in 2016 and 2017, the latter victim a South Korean businessman.
Far-right party leader Jordan Bardella called on French voters on Tuesday to give his party an absolute majority in upcoming parliamentary elections so that it is able to govern effectively. Bardella, whose National Rally (RN) party has its first real chance of winning national power in the June 30 and July 7 ballot, watered down some of his party's pledges, saying they would not immediately cut VAT on a list of 100 essential goods. Opinion polls have consistently placed the eurosceptic, anti-immigration RN first since President Emmanuel Macron's shock decision earlier this month to dissolve parliament.
Australia voiced concern Tuesday about the "ham-fisted" actions of two Chinese diplomats at a media event, tarnishing a highly touted visit in which Premier Li Qiang has sought to celebrate trade and friendship. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticised the "ham-fisted" behaviour, saying on Tuesday Australia had "followed up with the Chinese embassy to express our concern".
Thailand will become the first nation in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage after the kingdom’s Senate approved a marriage equality bill on Tuesday, with supporters calling it a “monumental step forward for LGBTQ+ rights.”
North Korean troops have suffered “multiple casualties” from land mine explosions while laying explosives along the country’s heavily armed border with the South in recent months, the South Korean military said Tuesday.
Thailand’s Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to approve a marriage equality bill, clearing the last legislative hurdle for the country to become the first in Southeast Asia to enact such a law. The bill passed its final reading with the approval of 130 of the 152 members of the Senate in attendance, with 4 voting against it and 18 abstaining. The bill now needs the pro forma endorsement of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, followed by its publication in the Government Gazette, which will set a date within 120 days when it becomes effective.
Residents in the New Mexico village of Ruidoso were told to immediately flee Monday due to a wildfire that had grown to more than 1,300 acres, officials said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed North Korea on Tuesday for "firmly supporting" Moscow's war in Ukraine ahead of a visit to Pyongyang set to boost defence ties between the two nuclear-armed countries."We highly appreciate that the DPRK (North Korea) is firmly supporting the special military operations of Russia being conducted in Ukraine," Putin wrote in an article published by Pyongyang's state media on Tuesday.