UNITED STATES
SpaceX launch delayed
SpaceX’s launch to the International Space Station — the first crewed mission to blast off from US soil in almost a decade — was scrubbed on Wednesday due to fears of a lightning strike. With NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley strapped into the Crew Dragon capsule, the launch pad platform retracted and rocket fueling under way, SpaceX made the call to abort. “We had just simply too much electricity in the atmosphere,” NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said.
UNITED STATES
Chinese ministry checked
Twitter has applied a fact check tag to at least two posts made in March by Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) that advanced questions about whether COVID-19 began in the US rather than China. Zhao’s tweets “contain potentially misleading content” about the virus and have been labeled “to provide additional context to the public,” a Twitter spokesperson said.
UNITED STATES
Surveillance bill threatened
Legislation extending surveillance laws was thrown into doubt as President Donald Trump threatened a veto and lawmakers said they would oppose it. House of Representatives Democratic leaders on Wednesday adjourned without considering the bill hours after saying there would be a vote. “If the FISA Bill is passed tonight on the House floor, I will quickly VETO it,” Trump tweeted, using the acronym for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. “Our Country has just suffered through the greatest political crime in its history. The massive abuse of FISA was a big part of it!” Although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: “We have to have a bill, if we don’t have a bill, then our civil liberties are less protected,” representatives Pramila Jayapal and Mark Pocan said that “we cannot in good conscience vote for legislation that violates Americans’ fundamental right to privacy,”, despite The Department of Justice said that the bill would “weaken national security tools while doing nothing to address the abuses” identified in a report on the FBI investigation into ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.
UNITED STATES
Soldier’s actions praised
A soldier stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on Wednesday saved “countless lives” when he hit a man with his car as the man was shooting randomly at people on a bridge near the fort, Leavenworth Police Chief Patrick Kitchens said. One person was injured by the shooter, Kitchens said. “The soldier intervened by striking the shooter with his vehicle, causing him to be critically injured, but ending the encounter with the active shooter and likely saving countless lives,” Kitchens said.
MEXICO
Drug lord pleads poverty
Drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero said in a legal appeal that he has no money, is too old to work and has no pension. The plea was filed on Tuesday by Caro Quintero’s lawyer seeking an injunction against his arrest or extradition to the US for the kidnapping and murder of US Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Enrique Camarena in 1985. The court papers state: “The plaintiff argues insolvency, because he says he is more than 60 years old, is neither retired nor has a pension, and given the fact that he is a fugitive from the law, cannot work or perform any activity to earn money.”
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
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
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