UNITED STATES
Leak cancels spacewalk
A spacewalk to work on the International Space Station ended abruptly on Tuesday when a water-like liquid started building up inside an Italian astronaut’s helmet, NASA officials said. US astronaut Chris Cassidy and Italy’s Luca Parmitano were less than an hour into a planned six-hour outing when Parmitano reported what seemed to be water inside his helmet. “My head is really wet and I have a feeling it’s increasing,” Parmitano radioed to flight controllers in Houston. Thinking it might be his drink bag leaking, Parmitano drained the bag, but in the weightless environment of space, blobs of liquid continued to collect in his helmet. “Where’s it coming from?” Parmitano said. “It’s too much. Now it’s in my eyes.” With the astronaut at risk of choking or drowning, NASA called off the spacewalk. Engineers estimate about 1 liter to 1.5 liters of water had collected inside Parmitano’s spacesuit by the time station crew members were able to get to him and take off his helmet.
CANADA
‘Glee’ star overdosed: report
Cory Monteith, the Canadian star of the hit TV musical series Glee, died of an apparent overdose of heroin and alcohol, the British Columbia Coroner’s Office said on Tuesday. The 31-year-old Monteith, who had struggled in the past with substance abuse and checked into a rehabilitation facility in April, was found dead on Saturday in his Vancouver hotel room. “There is no evidence to suggest this is anything other than the most sad and tragic accident,” coroner Barbara McLintock said in a statement released on YouTube. McLintock said the coroner’s investigation was continuing. Monteith starred on Glee as Finn Hudson, a star high-school football player who joined a motley crew of students in the glee club.
UNITED STATES
Army trial jury picking starts
Jury selection began on Tuesday for the trial of Army General Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair, who is charged with sexually assaulting a subordinate, in the latest in a string of sexual misconduct allegations in the military. The charges against Sinclair led to his removal from command last year in Afghanistan. Sinclair, a 27-year army veteran, pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of forcible sodomy, wrongful sexual conduct, possessing pornography while deployed and conduct unbecoming of an officer. The most serious charges stem from accusations that he forced a subordinate with whom he acknowledges having a three-year affair to perform oral sex on two occasions. He is also accused of eliciting nude e-mails and text messages from other female subordinates. He could be sent to prison for life if convicted of the most serious charge: forcible sodomy.
UNITED STATES
Guard charged for sex abuse
An Ohio National Guard major who once said he wanted to adopt a girl from Africa to protect her from rape has been indicted on charges he sexually abused three children, including two of his own. A grand jury indicted the man on charges of rape, sexual battery and gross sexual imposition between 2006 and last year. The indictment said he is the father of two of the children, but does not give his relationship with the third. The man is not being named to protect the children’s identities. The Guard say he is on duty in Kuwait. The man spoke in a 2008 story in a military publication about his large family and his desire to adopt an African girl to protect her from sexual assault.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
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