Category Archives: World News

Nasa calls off Artemis 1 moon rocket launch for second time after fuel leak

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Head of US space agency suggests maiden test flight will probably be delayed until the middle of October

Nasa called off its latest attempt to launch the groundbreaking Artemis 1 moon rocket on Saturday after failing to stem a fuel leak discovered during tanking. It was the second time in five days that technical issues had kept the spacecraft on the launchpad.

Mission managers at Kennedy Space Center waited until late in the countdown to scrub the liftoff after the failure of several workarounds to try to plug the leak of liquid hydrogen as it was being pumped into the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

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Oldest human or just another ape? Row erupts over 7m-year-old fossil

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Remains from Chad desert provoke rancorous dispute over whether species was earliest to walk upright

It is a dispute that has taken a long time to reach boiling point. Seven million years after an apelike creature – since nicknamed Toumaï – traversed the landscape of modern Chad, its means of mobility has triggered a dispute among fossil experts. Some claim this was the oldest member of the human lineage. Others that it was just an old ape.

The row, kindled by a paper in Nature, last week led scientists to denounce opponents while others accused rivals of building theories on “less than five minutes’ observation” .

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EU ‘prepared to meet challenge’ if Russia fails to respect energy contracts

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Comments come after Gazprom extends shutdown of gas supply through Nord Stream 1 to Germany

The EU expects Russia to respect existing energy contracts but is prepared to meet the challenge if it fails to do so, the economic commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, said.

Gentiloni was speaking after Russia scrapped a Saturday deadline to resume flows of an important gas supply route to Germany, deepening Europe’s difficulties in securing winter fuel.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Zaporizhzhia plant again loses last main power line; public bids farewell to Gorbachev at funeral – as it happened

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Nuclear energy facility now linked to grid with a reserve line; former leader buried without state honours. This blog is now closed.

The Russian energy major Gazprom has said Siemens Energy is ready to help repair broken equipment for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, but claimed there was nowhere available for them to carry out the work.

Gazprom, the state-owned oil and gas firm, extended the shutdown of gas flows through its key Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany on Friday evening, citing “malfunctions” on a key turbine along the pipeline.

In Kramatorsk, a rocket hit a food enterprise, injuring a person. Another one hit a light industry enterprise. A fire broke out there.

The city was shelled again. There were loud explosions on the outskirts. In Bylbasivka, private houses were damaged on Shkilna and Yaseneva Streets.

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Calls for arrest of Sri Lanka’s ousted president after return

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Rights groups say Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled in July amid protests, should be brought to justice on a number of charges

The deposed Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa is facing calls for his arrest after returning home from self-imposed exile under the protection of the government that took charge when he fled.

Rajapaksa fled the island country under military escort in July when a huge crowd stormed his official residence after months of angry demonstrations against his government.

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Mikhail Gorbachev funeral held in Moscow as Putin too busy to attend

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Hundreds of mourners pay tribute in Russian capital to former Soviet leader credited with helping to end cold war

Hundreds of mourners are lining up in central Moscow to bid farewell to Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, often credited with bringing an end to the cold war.

The farewell ceremony, which is being held in the Hall of Pillars in Moscow’s House of the Unions, will be followed by a closed funeral in the Novodevichy cemetery.

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Cool reception to Meghan media blitz suggests US not yet sold on former royals

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Response to podcast series and magazine profile met with barb that duke and duchess are ‘taking a hardship and turning it into content’

Meghan Markle launched a US media blitz last week with a podcast and a lengthy magazine profile, but the somewhat cool reception she and husband Prince Harry are now receiving in America suggests there are still bumps in their road ahead as they seek to establish themselves as bona fide celebrities.

The push came with an interview in New York magazine’s the Cut, titled “Meghan of Montecito”, and it touted the launch of Markle’s Spotify podcast Archetypes.

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Athens ranked cheapest location in Europe for city break

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Prices have fallen and a weekend in the Greek capital costs £207, compared with £218 in runner-up Lisbon

Athens has been ranked the cheapest location for a city break on the continent, ahead of traditional budget-friendly eastern European destinations.

Analysis of a dozen typical tourist costs for UK visitors in 20 popular cities by Post Office Travel Money found prices in the Greek capital have fallen by 15% since 2021.

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EU to invite next UK PM to summit on new pan-European security body

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European leaders will head to Prague on 6 October to forge European Political Community

The EU will offer an olive branch to the new British prime minister with an invitation to a summit to discuss a new organisation uniting the democracies of the European continent.

Britain’s next prime minister, widely expected to be Liz Truss, will be invited to join fellow leaders across Europe at a summit in Prague on 6 October to forge a European Political Community, a body dedicated to advancing security across the continent.

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Argentinians march for Cristina Kirchner after vice-president survives assassination bid

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Tens of thousands take to the streets to condemn political violence and show support for vice-president a day after shock attack

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets across Argentina to protest against political violence and show support for vice-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the day after she survived what appeared to be a failed assassination attempt.

Political leaders around the world and Pope Francis condemned the attack, as marchers flooded cities across the country in solidarity with a political leader who, like Juan and Evita Perón, dominates Argentina’s political landscape.

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Gotabaya Rajapaksa: ousted former president returns to Sri Lanka

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Rajapaksa touched down in Colombo seven weeks after he fled the extraordinary protests triggered by an economic meltdown that many lay at his feet

Sri Lanka’s former president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country in July after tens of thousands of protesters stormed his home and office in a display of anger over the country’s economic crisis, has returned to the country after seven weeks.

Rajapaksa flew into Colombo’s Bandaranaike international airport early on Saturday from Bangkok via Singapore. After being welcomed by lawmakers in his party, Rajapaksa left the airport in a motorcade heavily guarded by armed soldiers.

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Biden targets Trump and says ‘anyone who fails to condemn violence is a threat to democracy’ – live

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Biden speaks at White House and takes swipe at former president, but says not all Trump supporters are threat to America

At the White House press briefing just now, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre spoke on Joe Biden’s speech last night where he warned that Donald Trump and “MAGA Republicans” are a threat to democracy.

“The president was trying to give the American people a choice: how do we move forward in this inflection point?” Jean-Pierre said. “When it comes to the soul of the nation, that is something the president has talked about for years… He has been concerned about where our democracy is going.”

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Iran forced to return US sail drones seized at sea for second time

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US defence official says Iranian navy warship had pulled two sail drones out of water and covered them with tarps

The US has for the second time this week compelled Iran to release US military sail drones that it tried to seize at sea, according to officials.

The US military has not officially commented on the incident. But a US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested the Iranians had sought to secretly seize the drones.

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Nord Stream 1: Gazprom announces indefinite shutdown of pipeline

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Russian energy company had been due to resume gas delivery to Germany on Saturday morning

The Russian energy major Gazprom extended the shutdown of gas flows through its key Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany on Friday evening, providing no timeframe for a reopening.

The move came hours after G7 countries agreed to impose a price cap on Russian oil in an attempt to stem the flow of funds to Vladimir Putin’s regime.

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Transgender man dies after Pride parade assault in Germany

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Malte C, 25, died in hospital a week after being struck by assailant at parade in Münster

A 25-year-old transgender man has died of his injuries in hospital almost a week after he was assaulted while helping people at a Pride parade in western Germany, police have said.

The man, who police have named only as Malte C in accordance with privacy conventions, intervened when the attacker aimed homophobic slurs at other participants during the Christopher Street Day parade in Münster, police said.

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EU warns next PM unilateral action on Brexit deal is of ‘great concern’

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European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, says it is ‘legally and politically inconceivable’

The EU has warned the incoming British prime minister, likely to be Liz Truss, that any unilateral action to scrap part of the Brexit deal is legally and politically of “great concern” across the continent.

The warning by the European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, comes just days before the new prime minister is expected to confirm they will press ahead with new laws to dismantle the arrangements for Northern Ireland.

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EU must act now on ‘catastrophic’ energy price spike, says European Council chief

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Charles Michel says bloc must address price caps and has been too late in putting ‘concrete proposals on the table’

The EU must “make up for lost time” in finding urgent answers to an energy price spike that is a “catastrophe” for households and businesses, the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, has said.

Michel, who chairs EU leader summits, said the bloc needed to address the question of price caps, an idea backed by many EU member states.

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Former Chilean police captain found guilty of assault for blinding woman

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Patricio Maturana fired a teargas canister that permanently blinded Fabiola Campillai as she walked to work during protests

A former Chilean police special forces captain has been found guilty of assault after permanently blinding a woman he shot in the face with a teargas canister during a wave of protests in 2019.

The court in the capital Santiago found that Patricio Maturana had committed “unlawful coercion resulting in serious and very serious injuries” to Fabiola Campillai who was walking to a bus stop when she was struck. The public prosecutor has requested a 12-year prison sentence.

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Canadian city pulls bison sculpture in row over representation of colonialism

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Edmonton decided Ken Lum’s paired figures of a bison and fur trader could ‘cause harm and induce painful memories’

A Canadian city has pulled a public art project over fears that a pair of towering bronze statues could be seen as an endorsement of colonialism – the exact opposite of the work’s intended meaning, according to the artist.

The work, which cost C$375,000 (US$285,000), comprises two large bronze figures which were intended to stand on either end of a pedestrian bridge in Edmonton. On one end, a 13ft bison was to stare out over the water. At the other, a colonial fur trader, measuring 11.5ft, would sit atop a pile of bison pelts.

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