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SpaceX launches giant new rocket on 1st test flight

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:34:06 GMT

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — SpaceX’s new rocket, the biggest and most powerful ever built, blasted off Thursday on its first test flight, thundering into the South Texas sky in an attempt to orbit the world.Elon Musk’s company launched the nearly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship rocket from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. The plan called for the booster to peel away and plummet into the Gulf of Mexico shortly after liftoff, with the spacecraft hurtling ever higher toward the east in a bid to circle the world, before crashing into the Pacific near Hawaii.No people or satellites were aboard for this debut launch.Throngs of spectators watched from several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits.The company plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys.It was the second launch attempt. Mond...

Extremists kill 20, abduct others in attack on Congo village

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:34:06 GMT

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — At least 20 people have been killed and others abducted by extremists in eastern Congo’s North Kivu province, a civil society group said Thursday. The Allied Democratic Forces — believed to be linked with the Islamic State group — attacked civilians in Samboko village in Beni territory on Wednesday, Mamove civil society organization president Kinos Katuho told The Associated Press. Congo’s army deployed to the area and freed two of the hostages after a battle with the rebels, he said.Conflict has been simmering for decades in eastern Congo where more than 120 armed groups are fighting, most for land and control of mines with valuable minerals, while others are trying to protect their communities. Since April last year, ADF attacks have killed at least 370 civilians and abducted hundreds, including several children, according to the United Nations. The group, which originally operated in North Kivu province, has spread to neighboring Ituri, where mo...

Boy, 12, charged in string of sexual assaults on Toronto walking trails

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:34:06 GMT

A young boy is in police custody following a string of sexual assaults last summer on walking trails in Toronto’s east end.The first incident was reported on July 7, 2022 when a woman was running on Gatineau Hydro Corridor Trail near Birchmount Road in Scarborough. It’s alleged the suspect blocked the woman with his bike and then sexually assaulted her.A day later, a woman was riding a bicycle in the same area when she was followed by a boy who asked to show her an “11 fingers TikTok trick” before he allegedly sexually assaulted her.On July 22, it’s alleged a 54-year-old woman was walking along the East Don Valley Trail when a suspect approached her and asked for water. Police say he then sexually assault her before getting on his bike and fleeing the area.The next day, police allege a 52-year-old woman was walking along the East Don River Trail when a boy on a bike came up behind her and sexually assaulted her.Police received two more reports of simila...

Key shareholder Sumitomo to vote in favour of Teck plan to split business

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:34:06 GMT

VANCOUVER — Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd., a key shareholder at Teck Resources Ltd., says it will vote in favour of the company’s plan to separate its metals and steelmaking coal operations into two companies.The Japanese company says in a statement that it has built a trusted partnership with Teck in the mining business.Swiss company Glencore has proposed a takeover offer for Teck that would see shareholders receive a stake in a combined metals company as well as a choice of cash or shares in a company that would hold their merged coal assets.  However, Glencore has said Teck shareholders must first reject the company’s plan to split its business into Teck Metals and Elk Valley Resources.Teck, which has rejected the Glencore proposal, is controlled by the Keevil family, which owns the company’s multi-voting class A shares together with Sumitomo. Sumitomo holds 18.9 per cent of Teck’s class A shares and 0.1 per cent of its class B shares. It also holds a 49 ...

Book invites kids to turn native gardens into national park

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:34:06 GMT

Doug Tallamy, the wildlife ecologist and entomologist who urges home gardeners to join forces and create a pollinator-friendly “Homegrown National Park,” is now bringing kids into the effort.Tallamy has become a leading evangelist for the return of native plants and trees that can support birds, bees and other essential wildlife. Anyone with a yard, patio or windowsill can chip in.And they can encourage parks, playgrounds, schools and colleges, hospitals and office buildings, golf courses and even airports to join in, he urges.Tallamy’s new book, “Nature’s Best Hope: How You Can Save the World in Your Own Yard” (Timber Press), is aimed at middle schoolers (and, he hopes, their parents) in time for Earth Day. It follows his influential 1999 book for a general audience, “Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard.”He hopes the book will carry the message into classrooms around the country.“The idea is that kids are the future stewards of ou...

Dutch salvage team set to pump oil off rusting Yemen tanker

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:34:06 GMT

AMSTERDAM (AP) — A Dutch salvage company has reached agreement with the United Nations to pump oil from a rusting tanker off the coast of war-ravaged Yemen in a move hailed as a “critical milestone” in moves to avert a possible environmental disaster, its parent company announced Thursday.Boskalis said that its Smit Salvage subsidiary has reached agreement with the U.N. Development Program to transfer more than one million barrels of oil from the decaying tanker FSO Safer. A specialist support ship, the Ndeavor, is setting sail Friday to the east African nation of Djibouti to prepare for the mission, the company said.The announcement came just over a month after the U.N. said it had signed an agreement to buy a very large vessel that can hold oil pumped off the Safer.The Japanese-made Safer was built in the 1970s and sold to the Yemeni government in the 1980s to store up to 3 million barrels of oil pumped from fields in Marib, a province in eastern Yemen. With the impoverished Arab ...

Texan princess evicted from Rome villa, Caravaggio stays

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:34:06 GMT

ROME (AP) — A Texas-born princess piled her four yapping bichon frise dogs into a taxi Thursday after being evicted, following a bitter inheritance dispute, from a historic villa in Rome that contains the only known ceiling painted by Caravaggio.Princess Rita Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi, nee Rita Carpenter, abandoned the Casino dell’Aurora off the swank Via Veneto hours after Carabinieri police arrived to enforce a court-mandated eviction order. Before she had even left, a locksmith changed the locks on the big green front door. Her dramatic exit — one of the dogs briefly escaped as she spoke to journalists on the street — capped a remarkable, years-long soap opera that exposed the dirty laundry of one of Rome’s aristocratic families. The Boncompagni Ludovisi are perhaps best known for having produced Pope Gregory XIII of Gregorian calendar fame. But lately they have attracted more attention due to the inheritance dispute and court-mandated auction of their famous villa in the hea...

320 Sudanese soldiers crossed into neighboring Chad

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:34:06 GMT

N’DJAMENA, Chad (AP) — At least 320 Sudanese soldiers have fled into neighboring Chad amid fighting in their own country, authorities said. A contingent of soldiers crossed into Chad earlier this week and have been disarmed said Daoud Yaya Brahim, Chad’s defense minister at a press conference in the capital, N’Djamena, on Wednesday.As fighting rages in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, between army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, concerns of a regional spillover are increasing. After the fighting erupted on Saturday, as both sides vie for power, Chad closed its 1,400-kilometer (870-mile) border with Sudan. The RSF is a powerful armed force and this military superiority likely explains why Sudanese troops are fleeing into Chad, say conflict analysts.“By detaining these fleeing troops, (Chad’s president) is seeking to avoid the perception that he is allowing the Sudanese army to operate fro...

16-year-old critical after double shooting on South Side

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:34:06 GMT

CHICAGO — A 16-year-old boy was critically wounded following a double shooting on the South Side early Thursday morning.Just after 12:15 a.m., police responded to the 2900 block of South State on the report of shots fired. Police discovered a 16-year-old boy laying down inside a residence suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to Northwestern in critical condition. 3-year-old girl shot inside Gary home A 20-year-old man self-transported to the University of Chicago with a gunshot wound to the body. He was last listed in good condition.No one is in custody. Anyone with information can leave an anonymous tip at cpdtip.com.

Girls, 13 and 15, face felonies for robbery and battery

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:34:06 GMT

CHICAGO — Two teenagers, 13 and 15, are facing multiple felonies for a robbery and aggravated battery that took place in the Loop Wednesday. Police reports state that both the 13 and 15-year-old girls are facing two felony counts of robbery and another count of aggravated battery. According to police, the girls were arrested on Wednesday around 7:40 p.m. in the 100 block of West 79th Street on the South Side. They were identified as the offenders who less than 90 minutes earlier, battered and robbed a 30-year-old woman in the 100 block of West Jackson Boulevard. 3-year-old girl shot inside Gary home Police said they were also connected to a robbery of a 26-year-old woman in the 100 block of West Madison Street. The teens were placed into custody and charged accordingly.