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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.

 
Room with a view: US Open seeds...
NEW YORK (AP) — The see-and-be-seen scene in the U.S. Open’s Arthur Ashe Stadium corporate suites is different this year: The usual cast of celebrities, socialites and sponsors — banned, along with all spectators, because of the pandemic — has been replaced by the stars of the sport themselves. The 64 seeded players in the women’s and men’s singles draws, along with past champions Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters and Andy Murray, were assigned those special boxes to use as...

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Virus or not, it’s time for class...
PARIS (AP) — Tugging on their masks or dashing to hug long-unseen friends, millions of children returned to school across Europe and beyond Tuesday in a mass experiment aimed at bridging inequalities and resuscitating economies — despite the coronavirus pandemic. The virus threat lurked as children kissed their parents goodbye in France, shyly greeted their teachers in Jordan and Israel, settled into spaced-out desks in England and raised their hands in Russia just as infections there surpassed the 1...

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The Latest: NYC delays start of school...
NEW YORK — New York City is delaying the start of its school year until Sept. 16 to give teachers more time to prepare for the return of students amid the coronavirus pandemic. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the deal struck with unions representing teachers, staff and administrators. Instruction was supposed to begin on Sept. 10. All students will spend the first few days learning from home online before in-person instruction begins for some students on Sept. 21. The...

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US Open Glance: Serena, Venus Williams in...
NEW YORK (AP) — A quick look at the U.S. Open: LOOKAHEAD TO TUESDAY The Williams sisters both are scheduled to play in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Day 2 of the U.S. Open — Serena during the day, Venus at night. They have won a combined eight titles at Flushing Meadows; Serena has six of those and also was the runner-up in New York each of the past two years. Serena begins her latest attempt to get a 24th...

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Israeli, US delegations depart to UAE in...
ABOARD EL AL FLIGHT TO THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (AP) — A Star of David-adorned El Al plane took off Monday from Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport, carrying a high-ranking American and Israeli delegation to Abu Dhabi in the first-ever direct commercial passenger flight to the United Arab Emirates. The Israeli flag carrier’s flight marks the implementation of the historic U.S.-brokered deal to normalize relations between the two nations and solidifies the long-clandestine ties between them that have evolved over years...

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Isles beat Flyers 3-2, move within win...
TORONTO (AP) — Jean Gabriel Pageau scored the go-ahead goal 7:18 into the third period and the New York Islanders moved within one win of advancing to the Eastern Conference finals with a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night. Brock Nelson scored twice, both set up by Josh Bailey, and the Islanders gained a 3-1 lead of the best-of-seven second-round series with Game 5 set for Tuesday night. New York is seeking to make its first...

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Trump, Portland mayor blame each other after...
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The mayor of Portland, Oregon, and President Donald Trump engaged in a real-time argument Sunday as the president sent a flurry of critical tweets about Ted Wheeler as the mayor was holding a press conference about the fatal shooting of a right-wing supporter in his city the night before. After Trump called Wheeler, a Democrat, a “fool” and blamed him for allowing violence to proliferate in the liberal city, the visibly angry mayor lashed out...

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Lady Gaga dominates at MTV VMAs, The...
NEW YORK (AP) — Lady Gaga cleaned house at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, while The Weeknd took home the top prize — and both pop stars sent important messages to viewers about the current state of the world: “Wear a mask” and “Justice for Jacob Blake and Breonna Taylor.” Gaga won five honors Sunday, most of them for her No. 1 hit with Ariana Grande, “Rain on Me,” which the pop stars performed live for the first...

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What does Walmart see in TikTok? Millions...
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart may be the world’s largest retailer but it has mostly failed in its efforts to break Amazon’s online dominance. Could TikTok, a fast-growing 3-year-old app filled with goofy videos, be the answer? TikTok’s U.S. business appears up for grabs, with the Trump administration trying to force a sale, claiming national-security risks due to its Chinese owner, ByteDance. TikTok denies it is a risk and is suing to stop the administration from a threatened ban....

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‘Black Panther’ star Chadwick Boseman dies of...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor Chadwick Boseman, who played Black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown with searing intensity before finding fame as the regal Black Panther in the Marvel cinematic universe, died Friday of cancer, his representative said. He was 43. Boseman died at his home in the Los Angeles area with his wife and family by his side, his publicist Nicki Fioravante told The Associated Press. Boseman was diagnosed with colon cancer four years ago, his family...

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Mets’ Smith follows plea with HR; Rosario...
NEW YORK (AP) — Dominic Smith hit the go-ahead home run in his first game since tearfully pleading for help combating racial inequality, Pete Alonso also connected and the New York Mets beat the crosstown Yankees 6-4 in the opener of a doubleheader Friday. Amed Rosario hit a walkoff, two-run homer to lift the Mets to a 4-3 victory in the nightcap — a bizarre scene in the Bronx, where the Yankees batted first as the visiting team in...

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The Latest: Indiana athletic employees face furloughs
The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world: ___ Athletic department employees at Indiana University will face furloughs, and reduced hours in response to the cancellation of fall sports seasons. All staff members will be required to take a two-week, unpaid furlough between Oct. 1 and June 30. Some furloughed workers will see their work hours cut in half while others will be 100% furloughed. In addition, the department’s three highest-paid employees —...

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California governor announces new reopening plan
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is announcing a new process for reopening businesses that is slower and more gradual than what the state tried earlier this summer. The new rules announced Friday create a four-tier, color-coded system that counties will move through based on their number of cases and percentage of positive tests. It will rely on two metrics to determine which tier a county is in: case rates and the percentage of positive tests. THIS...

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Thousands gather at March on Washington commemorations
WASHINGTON (AP) — Capping a week of protests and outrage over the police shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin, civil rights advocates began highlighting the scourge of police and vigilante violence against Black Americans at a commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. An estimated thousands have gathered Friday near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic “I Have A Dream” address, a vision of...

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Ineos riders’ dominance under threat at Tour...
NICE (AP) — The dominant force at the Tour de France for most of the last decade, the Ineos team of defending champion Egan Bernal is seeing its supremacy challenged, and this year’s race could well be the one marking a major shift of power in cycling. Since Bradley Wiggins’ triumph at the marquee event back in 2012, the British outfit has never been under such a threat as it is on the starting line in the Riviera city...

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