Say WOW

Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

 
Astronomers capture 1st image of Milky Way’s...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The world got a look Thursday at the first wild but fuzzy image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers believe nearly all galaxies, including our own, have these giant black holes at their center, where light and matter cannot escape, making it extremely hard to get images of them. Light gets chaotically bent and twisted around by gravity as it gets sucked into the abyss along with...

Read More

The tiniest babies: Shifting the boundary of...
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Michelle Butler was just over halfway through her pregnancy when her water broke and contractions wracked her body. She couldn’t escape a terrifying truth: Her twins were coming much too soon. Dr. Brian Sims entered the delivery room and gently explained that babies born so early likely won’t live. He told Butler he could keep them comfortable as they died. But she pleaded through tears: “Give my twins a chance to survive.” And he did....

Read More

 
Haitian gang leader charged in kidnapping of...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors in the U.S. have charged the leader of a notoriously violent Haitian gang in connection with the kidnapping of 16 Americans last year, the Justice Department said Tuesday. Germine Joly, 29, who is also known as “Yonyon,” is accused of leading the 400 Mawozo gang and is the first person charged by Justice Department prosecutors with having any involvement in the kidnapping of the Christian missionaries. He was extradited to the U.S. last week...

Read More

Crucial NATO decisions expected in Finland, Sweden...
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Key decision-makers in non-aligned Finland and Sweden are set to announce their positions on NATO membership this week in what could be a serious blow to Russia as its military struggles to make decisive gains in Ukraine. If Finland’s president and the Social Democrats who govern both countries ignore Moscow’s warnings and come out in favor of accession, NATO could soon add two new members right on Russia’s doorstep. Such an expansion by the Western military...

Read More

Mexico president threatens to skip Americas Summit
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president said Tuesday that he would not attend next month’s Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles if the Biden administration excludes Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua — adding his voice to increasing warnings of a boycott by some leaders across the region. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been saying in recent weeks that the U.S. government should not exclude anyone from the summit, but he had not previously threatened to stay home. “If...

Read More

 
Montgomery Co. police on protests outside homes...
Protesters outside the homes of U.S. Supreme Court Justices have been the focus of debate over when and where First Amendment rights can be exercised. Lt. Peter Davidov, with Montgomery County police, said that county code and state law both have prohibitions about picketing a particular private residence, which does not mean you can’t protest in a residential neighborhood, “but you cannot picket at a particular residence.” Groups of protesters who are upset over the court’s leaked draft decision...

Read More

China cargo craft docks with space station...
BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese cargo vessel docked with the country’s under-construction space station Tuesday ahead of a new three-person crew expected to arrive next month. The Tianzhou-4 spacecraft was slung into space atop a Long March-7 Y5 rocket at 1:56 a.m. from the Wenchang Launch Base in the southern island province of Hainan. State media said it docked with the station about seven hours later. The cargo vessel is carrying supplies for the next crew’s six-month stay, along...

Read More

Buehler stars in 100th career start as...
CHICAGO (AP) — Walker Buehler marked his 100th career start with his usual performance. Cool. Calm. Efficient. Buehler pitched seven sparkling innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the sliding Chicago Cubs 7-1 on Sunday night for their sixth consecutive victory. “Tonight was all about Walker,” manager Dave Roberts said. Sure was. Buehler (4-1), a two-time All-Star who made his big league debut in 2017, improved to 3-0 with a 0.43 ERA over his last three outings. The right-hander...

Read More

 
Workers grapple with new stresses as they...
NEW YORK (AP) — Last summer, Julio Carmona started the process of weaning himself off a fully remote work schedule by showing up to the office once a week. The new hybrid schedule at his job at a state agency in Stratford, Connecticut, still enabled him to spend time cooking dinner for his family and taking his teenage daughter to basketball. But in the next few months, he’s facing the likelihood of more mandatory days in the office. And...

Read More

Live updates | Russia says no nuclear...
MOSCOW — Russia has no intention of deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday, a day after Moscow’s top diplomat in the U.S. chided Western officials for targeting it with “baseless” accusations. “Russia firmly abides by the principle that there can be no victors in a nuclear war and it must not be unleashed,” Alexey Zaitsev said. He added that Russian nuclear doctrine does not envisage any scenarios for potential strikes which would...

Read More

‘Heartbreaking’: Wild fox kills 25 flamingos, 1...
The National Zoo says a wild fox broke through a heavy-duty metal mesh enclosure overnight and killed 25 flamingoes and one Northern pintail duck. Zoo staff “are devastated and mourning the loss” of the birds, a National Zoo news release said. More Animal News More D.C. News The zoo said the incident is the first time a predator has breached protective mesh around the flamingo exhibit since it was designed in the 1970s. “This is a heartbreaking loss for...

Read More

 
Met Gala: Kardashian as Monroe, a gilded...
NEW YORK (AP) — Kim Kardashian shut down the Met Gala red carpet Monday in one of Marilyn Monroe’s most iconic dresses, a gold-beaded body hugger Monroe wore when she sexily sang happy birthday to President John F. Kennedy 60 years ago. Kardashian had to lose 16 pounds to fit into the dress, designed by Jean Louis and purchased in 2016 by the Ripley’s Believe or Not! museum in Orlando, Florida, for a whopping $4.81 million. “It was such...

Read More

Beijing preps COVID-19 hospital spaces, though new...
BEIJING (AP) — Beijing is preparing new hospital facilities to deal with a spike in COVID-19 cases, even though the numbers of new cases remain low. State media reported Tuesday a 1,000-bed hospital at Xiaotangshan in the northeastern suburbs built for the 2003 SARS outbreak has been refurbished in case it’s needed. Unofficial reports online say thousands of beds have been prepared in a centralized quarantine center near the airport, but state media has not confirmed those preparations in...

Read More

Live updates l German leader calls pacifism...
DUSSELDORF, Germany — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has pledged to continue to support Ukraine with money, aid and also weapons, saying a pacifist approach to the war is “outdated.” Speaking at a May Day rally in Dusseldorf, Scholz said: “I respect all pacifism, I respect all attitudes, but it must seem cynical to a citizen of Ukraine to be told to defend himself against Putin’s aggression without weapons.” The German leader also warned that the war would have consequences...

Read More