BEIJING, China (AP) — China on Thursday launched the main module of its first permanent space station that will host astronauts long term, the latest success for a program that has realized a number of its growing ambitions in recent years.
The Tianhe, or “Heavenly Harmony,” module blasted into space atop a Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang Launch Center on the southern island province of Hainan, marking another major advance for the country’s space exploration.
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MICHIGAN, United States (AP) — Months after President Joe Biden snubbed Canadian officials by canceling Keystone XL, an impending showdown over a second crude oil pipeline threatens to further strain ties between the two neighbors that were frayed during the Trump administration.
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BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — World shares were mixed Monday as worries over the pandemic clouded the outlook for a recovery from the coronavirus crisis.
Tokyo and Paris advanced, while Frankfurt and London were almost unchanged. Benchmarks fell in Hong Kong and Shanghai and U.S. futures were mixed.
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BEIJING, China (AP) — China will launch its next robot lunar lander in 2024, and it will carry equipment from France, Sweden, Russia and Italy, the official news agency reported.
Plans call for Chang’e 6 to land near the lunar south pole and collect samples for return to Earth, the program’s chief designer, Hu Hao, said at a conference Saturday, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, United States (AP) — SpaceX launched four astronauts into orbit Friday using a recycled rocket and capsule, the third crew flight in less than a year for Elon Musk’s rapidly expanding company.
The astronauts from the U.S., Japan and France should reach the International Space Station early Saturday morning, following a 23-hour ride in the same Dragon capsule used by SpaceX’s debut crew last May. They’ll spend six months at the orbiting lab.
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WASHINGTON, United States (AP) — U.S. health officials lifted an 11-day pause on COVID-19 vaccinations using Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose shot on Friday, after scientific advisers decided its benefits outweigh a rare risk of blood clot.
The government uncovered 15 vaccine recipients who developed a highly unusual kind of blood clot out of nearly 8 million people given the J&J shot. All were women, most under age 50. Three died, and seven remain hospitalized.
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HONOLULU (AP) — A crew returned from the northernmost islands in the Hawaiian archipelago this week with a boatload of marine plastic and abandoned fishing nets that threaten to entangle endangered Hawaiian monk seals and other animals on the uninhabited beaches stretching more than 1,300 miles north of Honolulu.
The cleanup effort in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument lasted three weeks and the crew picked up more than 47 tons (43 metric tons) of “ghost nets” and other marine plastics such as buoys, crates, bottle caps and cigarette lighters from the shores of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
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MOSCOW, Russia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for international cooperation to tackle climate change at a virtual climate summit.
In his speech, Putin urged “broad and effective international cooperation in the calculation and monitoring of volumes of all types of harmful emissions into the atmosphere.”
Putin said Thursday, “Russia is genuinely interested in galvanizing international cooperation so as to look further for effective solutions to climate change as well as to all other vital challenges.”
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CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Developers of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine say they signed a deal with a leading Egyptian pharmaceutical company to manufacture more than 40 million doses annually in Cairo.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund, along with Egypt’s Minapharm and its Berlin-based subsidiary, issued a joint press release saying the technology transfer will begin immediately. It expects the roll out of the Sputnik V vaccine in the third quarter of 2021.
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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s navy is searching for a submarine that went missing north of the resort island of Bali with 53 people on board, the military said Wednesday.
Military chief Hadi Tjahjanto said the KRI Nanggala 402 was participating in a training exercise when it missed a scheduled reporting call.
The submarine is believed to have disappeared in waters about 60 miles (95 kilometers) north of Bali, he said.
Tjahjanto said the navy has deployed scores of ships to search the area, including a hydrographic survey ship, and has asked for help from Singapore and Australia, which have submarine rescue vessels.
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