UNITED STATES
Scientists begin Mars study
Six carefully selected scientists have entered a dome on a remote Hawaii volcano as part of a human-behavior study that could help NASA as it draws up plans for sending astronauts on long missions to Mars. The four men and two women moved into their new simulated space home on Thursday afternoon on Mauna Loa, settling into the vinyl-covered shelter of 110m2, or about the size of a small, two-bedroom home, for an eight-month stay. They will have no physical contact with people in the outside world and will work with a 20-minute delay in communications with their support crew, or the time it would take for an e-mail to reach Earth from Mars. The NASA-funded project is studying the psychological difficulties associated with living in isolated and confined conditions for an extended period.
UNITED STATES
Hastert files US$1.7m claim
Imprisoned former House of Representatives speaker Dennis Hastert wants one of his sexual abuse victims to return the US$1.7 million in hush money the Illinois Republican paid him over several years, according to a court filing this week in an ongoing civil case. The document is a counterclaim to the victim’s breach-of-contract lawsuit that he filed last year, arguing that Hastert owed him US$1.8 million — what he said was the unpaid balance of an unwritten US$3.5 million hush-money deal. Hastert, 75, is serving a 15-month sentence in a federal prison for violating banking laws as he withdrew thousands of dollars, starting in 2010, to pay the victim, abruptly halting the payments after the FBI interviewed Hastert in late 2014. Documents in Hastert’s federal criminal case say he abused the victim — referred to in filings only as “Individual A” — when he was 14 in the late 1970s when Hastert coached wrestling at Chicago’s Yorkville High School.
UNITED STATES
Mosque leaders sent survey
A Texas lawmaker has sent a survey to mosques in the state asking leaders about Shariah law and to pledge support for the “safety” of former Muslims who have chosen to leave the faith, implying that they could face unspecified persecution for doing so. The correspondence, marked “urgent,” was mailed by Republican Representative Kyle Biedermann of Fredericksburg. Mustafaa Carroll, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said on Thursday that he told mosque leaders to ignore the survey. He also called on state leaders to formally rebuke it. One question asks respondents to renounce possible retribution those choosing to leave Islam could face. Others inquire about support for opposing Shariah law and about efforts by congressional Republicans to have the US Department of State label the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization.
UNITED STATES
Canadians handed land ban
Three Canadians have been banned from US federal land for five years after pleading guilty to walking on a sensitive hot spring in Yellowstone National Park and other crimes at parks across the western US. Charles Gamble, Alexey Lyakh and Justis Price Brown pleaded guilty during a hearing on Thursday before US Magistrate Judge Mark Carman at the Yellowstone Justice Center. The men were from the group High on Life SundayFundayz. Gamble’s attorney, Alex Rate, said his client and friends have been threatened and shamed on social media for what amounted to making bad decisions on a road trip.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was