US military launches robot spaceplane on seventh mission
The delayed launch on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket came two weeks after China launched its Shenlong space plane. The US military’s secretive X-37B robotic spaceplane has taken off from Florida on its seventh mission. The mission marks the first time the plane has been launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket capable of delivering it into a higher orbit than ever before. The Falcon Heavy, made up of three rocket cores strapped together, roared off its launch pad from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday in a spectacular nighttime lift-off that was streamed live. The US launch comes two weeks after China’s own robot spaceplane, known as the Shenlong, or Divine Dragon, was launched on its third mission into orbit since 2020, adding a new twist to the two countries’ growing rivalry in space. The Pentagon has disclosed few details about the X-37B mission, which is expected to last for years and is being conducted by the US Space Force under the military’s National Security Space Launch programme. The Boeing-built aircraft, which is about nine metres (29 feet) long and resembles a mini space shuttle, is unmanned and carries various experiments. Its first mission was in 2010, and the most recent in May 2020, with those flights confined to low-Earth orbit, at altitudes below 2,000km (1,200 miles). The Pentagon has not said how high the plane will fly during this mission, but in a statement last month, the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office said it would involve tests of “new orbital regimes, experimenting with future space domain awareness technologies”. The X-37B is also carrying out an experiment to study how plant seeds are affected by prolonged exposure to the harsh environment of radiation in space. China’s equally secretive Shenlong was launched on December 14 by a Long March 2F rocket. Space Force General B Chance Saltzman told reporters at an industry conference earlier this month that it was probably “no coincidence” that the launches had taken place so close together. “It’s no surprise that the Chinese are extremely interested in our spaceplane. We’re extremely interested in theirs,” Saltzman said, according to remarks published in Air & Space Forces Magazine, a US aerospace journal. “These are two of the most watched objects on orbit while they’re on orbit. It’s probably no coincidence that they’re trying to match us in timing and sequence of this,” he said. The planned duration of the latest X-37B mission has not been made public, but it will presumably run until June 2026 or later, given the prevailing pattern of successively longer flights. The last flight, the longest one yet, lasted for two and a half years before touching down on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center in November last year. Adblock test (Why?)
Elon Musk’s X loses court bid to block California content moderation law
US District Judge William Shubb rules that legislation’s disclosure rules are not ‘unjustified or unduly burdensome’. Elon Musk’s X has lost a bid to block a California law that forces social media companies to publicly reveal how they carry out content moderation on their platforms. X sued the state of California in September, arguing that the first-of-its-kind legislation violates the United States Constitution’s protections of freedom of speech. Under the measures signed into law last year by California Governor Gavin Newsom, social media firms are required to submit twice-yearly reports on how they tackle hate speech, misinformation and other objectionable content. US District Judge William Shubb on Thursday denied X’s motion to temporarily suspend the law, ruling that its disclosure obligations are “uncontroversial” and not “unjustified or unduly burdensome within the context of First Amendment law”. X’s lawsuit had argued that the law “compels companies to engage in speech against their will”, “impermissibly interferes” with a firm’s editorial judgement and pressures companies to remove “constitutionally-protected speech”. X, formerly Twitter, has seen an exodus of advertisers, including Apple, Disney, IBM and Lions Gate Entertainment, amid controversy over the levels of hate speech and misinformation on the platform and Musk’s own statements. The social media platform is also under scrutiny by the European Union, which has opened a probe into the company over suspected breaches of the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA) related to content about Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel. Adblock test (Why?)
Bombed, then stabbed: West Bank doctors recall horrors of refugee camp raid
The Israeli raids on the Nur Shams and Fawwar refugee camps followed a pattern of deadly assaults that have killed more than 300 people in the West Bank since October 7, say doctors and politicians. Fawwar, occupied West Bank — It was one o’clock at night when the casualties started arriving at Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in the city of Tulkarem. There were six of them, all with critical wounds, said Dr Iyad al-Aqqad, the hospital’s medical director. They were victims of an Israeli bombing on the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem, during a raid that started on the night of December 26 and continued into the early hours of the following day. It was the second time in 24 hours that Israeli forces had stormed the camp, entering several homes, and dropping at least two bombs, including on an industrial facility. Israeli soldiers are often accused — both in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip — of not allowing ambulances to reach the wounded promptly. That is what happened in Nur Shams too, say witnesses and doctors — a two-hour delay during which the six men were bleeding. By the time they were brought to al-Aqqad’s hospital, it was too late to save them. The six joined a ballooning list of Palestinians killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers and illegal settlers since October 7, when a Hamas attack on southern Israel sparked a deadly war of retribution focused on — though not limited to — Gaza. Since then, Israeli bombing and artillery attacks have killed more than 21,000 people in Gaza, while Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed more than 300 people in the West Bank. At least 56 people have been killed in Tulkarem governorate itself, according to the Shireen Observatory, a non-profit group that tracks killings and arrests by Israeli forces. Tens of thousands more have been injured in Gaza and the West Bank. Soon after the six victims of the Israeli bombing on Nur Shams arrived early on December 27, several other Palestinians with injuries from the attack were brought to Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital. Three of them had serious injuries to their upper bodies. And all of them had harrowing tales to relate to the doctors. Radwan Balibla, the head of the Tulkarem Doctors’ Syndicate, said a soldier had stabbed one of the victims in the neck while he was being moved to the hospital in an ambulance. Others said they had been beaten in the ambulances. “They were told, ‘We do not want you to reach the hospital and survive’,” Balibla told Al Jazeera. Just hours later, Israel launched another raid, this time in the Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron. As Israeli troops entered homes and occupied the streets for hours, they faced confrontations with locals and responded by opening fire. Ahmed Muhammad Yaghi, 17, and Ibrahim Majed al-Titi, 31, were killed. Ambulance crews in the camp provided first aid to them and transferred them to Yatta Governmental Hospital, but they died as a result of their critical injuries. Six other injured people were transferred to hospitals to receive treatment. In an interview with Al Jazeera, the representative of the Fatah movement in the Fawwar camp, Muhammad Abu Esh, said Israeli forces are storming the camp on an almost daily basis. Israel’s army has also closed the entrances to the camp since October 7, hampering the movement of Palestinians by preventing entry and exit. Meanwhile, amid increasingly frequent raids, the number of detainees has also grown to 100 in Fawwar. Abu Esh said Israel had deployed snipers inside buildings and houses during the raid this week. Yet, he added, “Israel is mistaken if it thinks it is scaring the people al-Fawwar”, especially its children. “No attacks ever will.” Adblock test (Why?)
Former India and CSK player Ambati Rayudu joins YSR Congress in CM Jagan Mohan Reddy’s presence
Ambati Rayudu has joined the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu (YSR) Congress
End ‘unlawful killings’ in occupied West Bank, UN tells Israel
The United Nations has called on Israel to end “unlawful killings” and settler violence in the occupied West Bank, warning of a rapidly deteriorating human rights situation during intensified Israeli raids. In a report published on Thursday, the UN Human Rights Office detailed a “sharp increase” in air strikes and military incursions into densely populated refugee camps, resulting in deaths, injuries and widespread damage to civilian infrastructure in the occupied territory. “The use of military tactics means and weapons in law enforcement contexts, the use of unnecessary or disproportionate force, and the enforcement of broad, arbitrary and discriminatory movement restrictions that affect Palestinians are extremely troubling,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement. Violence across the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem has flared since Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip began on October 7. More than 21,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, most of them civilians, after about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas attacks in southern Israel. Since then, the UN has verified the deaths of at least 300 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 79 children, the report said. Of these, 291 were killed by Israeli forces, eight by settlers and one was killed by either soldiers or settlers. Nearly 4,800 Palestinians have been arrested since the war on Gaza began. Since October 7, the UN has documented a “sharp rise in settler attacks”, including “shootings, burning of homes and vehicles, and uprooting of trees”. “I call on Israel to take immediate, clear and effective steps to put an end to settler violence against the Palestinian population, to investigate all incidents of violence by settlers and Israeli Security Forces, to ensure effective protection of Palestinian communities against any form of forcible transfer,” Turk said. “The dehumanisation of Palestinians that characterises many of the settlers’ actions is very disturbing and must cease immediately,” his statement added. Ajith Sunghay, the head of the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territories, told Al Jazeera that a lack of accountability – and in some cases incitement from Israeli officials – has led to a spike in both settler violence and violence committed by Israeli forces in the West Bank. “I think that’s extremely important to underscore – where there is impunity violations will continue to happen,” Sunghay said. “These statements [from Israeli officials] embolden settlers, give them a sense of security. It gives them a certain kind of permission to do what they want to do,” he added. #UN report: Türk warns of rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the West Bank, calls for end to violence. Read the report here 👉 https://t.co/BGZChZobZg#OPT #WestBank #Jerusalem #ENDViolencehttps://t.co/Zk5NQ5zdEO — UN Human Rights OPT (@OHCHR_Palestine) December 28, 2023 Unparalleled incursions The report was released as Israeli forces began one of the largest incursions in the West Bank since the war started, launching a coordinated overnight assault on 10 cities, including Ramallah, the administrative headquarters of the Palestinian Authority. The raids, which continued until early on Thursday, targeted Palestinian money exchange outlets. A Palestinian man was also killed by Israeli forces on Thursday near a checkpoint west of the city of Bethlehem. Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative party, believes the growing raids in the West Bank are an attempt by Israel to reoccupy the territory “completely”. “They are marginalising the Palestinian Authority, depriving it of all its authorities,” Barghouti told Al Jazeera. “There is no security control by the Palestinian Authority because the Israeli army invades all cities, all [of] Area A that was supposed to be under the Palestinian Authority,” he said. “This is a clear message from [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. He’s saying there’s no place any more for any independent Palestinian authority here. He’s reoccupying the West Bank as he is trying to reoccupy Gaza.” Barghouti added that despite the Israeli claims that its raids are to fight against “terrorism”, the real goal is to “provoke an intifada [uprising]”. “Netanyahu knows very well if he leaves his position as prime minister, he will go to jail,” he said, referring to the corruption charges the Israeli leader is now on trial for. “This man wants to extend the war in Gaza, to expand it, to continue it as long as possible.” Deadliest year for children Also on Thursday, UNICEF said 2023 has been the deadliest year for children in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem with 124 Palestinian and six Israeli children killed there since the start of the year. “At least 83 children have been killed in the past 12 weeks – more than double the number of children killed in all of 2022, amid increased military and law enforcement operations,” Adele Khodr, UNICEF’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa said in a statement. “More than 576 have been injured, and others have reportedly been detained.” Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 674
As the war enters its 674th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Friday, December 29, 2023. Fighting Ukraine’s general prosecutor said two fishermen were killed after Russia shelled a village on the banks of the Dnipro river along southern Ukraine’s front line. Five people were also injured in the attack. Ukraine’s southern military command said a Panama-flagged bulk carrier that was heading to one of the country’s River Danube ports to load grain hit a Russian mine in the Black Sea causing it to lose speed and control and starting a fire. Two members of the 18-strong crew were injured, and one of them, an Egyptian, was taken to hospital. The captain intentionally ran the ship aground to stop it from sinking and Ukraine will use tugs to take it into port. Ukraine’s air force said air defence systems shot down seven out of eight Shahed drones launched by Moscow during the night overnight, the country’s air force said on Thursday. The drones came down in three central and southern regions, the air force added. Odesa regional governor, Oleh Kiper, said a fire broke out at a multistorey building in the Black Sea port city that was hit by a downed drone. Kiper said information about casualties was being verified and urged residents to stay in shelters amid an ongoing drone attack. The Russian Defence Ministry said it thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack over Crimea, which Russia seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The captain ran the ship aground after it hit the mine to stop it from sinking. Two of the crew were injured [Ukrainian Border Guards Press Service via AFP] Politics and diplomacy The United States proposed that the Group of Seven (G7) countries explore ways to seize $300bn in frozen Russian assets, according to Britain’s Financial Times. Washington, backed by the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada, has proposed that options be ready for G7 leaders to consider at a potential meeting around February 24, the report said. A Moscow court jailed two men for taking part in a poetry recital critical of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Poet Artyom Kamardin, 33, was sentenced to seven years for reciting the poem, while Yegor Shtovba, 23, got five and a half years for attending the anti-mobilisation protest. Supporters shouted “Shame!” after the sentences were announced and some people were later detained by police, according to the AFP news agency. Belarus’s President Alexander Lukashenko attended a government-organised event for a new group of children brought from Russia-occupied areas of Ukraine, amid international outrage over his country’s involvement in Moscow’s forced deportation of Ukrainian children. Officials did not say how many Ukrainian children were in the latest group. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed Ukraine’s peace formula in a call with Pope Francis, noting that more than 80 countries were “already involved” in the process. Zelenskyy has said the framework will next be discussed in Davos, Switzerland. The formula requires Russia to withdraw all its troops from Ukrainian territory, including regions it has been occupying since 2014, before talks can begin. Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said he had a “productive phone call” with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto to discuss a meeting between Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the “near future”. Earlier this month, all European Union states except Hungary agreed to start accession talks with Ukraine, and Budapest blocked a new EU budget providing aid to Ukraine. Adblock test (Why?)
Donald Trump kicked off 2024 ballot in US state of Maine
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows says Trump should not be allowed to run due his support of insurrection. Former United States President Donald Trump has been kicked off the ballot for the 2024 presidential primary in Maine after a state official determined the Republican frontrunner is ineligible due to his support of insurrection. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, announced the decision to remove Trump from the ballot on Thursday, citing a clause in the US Constitution that bars those who have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding public office. Bellows said that Trump should be considered ineligible to run as the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 had “occurred at the behest of, and with the knowledge and support of” the former president. “I do not reach this conclusion lightly,” said Bellows. “Democracy is sacred … I am mindful that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.” Trump is facing criminal charges over his alleged role in trying to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election, but the businessman-turned-politician has not been charged with insurrection related to January 6. The Trump campaign said shortly after the announcement that it would challenge the decision in court. Despite being one of the least populous US states, with just four votes in the electoral college, Maine could play an outsized role in the 2024 election. Trump carried the state’s rural 2nd district to secure one electoral vote in both 2016 and 2020. Adblock test (Why?)
PM Modi to visit Ayodhya on Dec 30, to inaugurate multiple projects worth Rs 11100 crore
The prime minister’s vision encompasses a holistic development plan exceeding Rs 15,700 crore for Ayodhya and other parts of Uttar Pradesh.
DOJ threatens to sue Texas over anti-illegal immigration law; Abbott prepared for Supreme Court fight
The Biden administration on Thursday threatened to sue Texas if it moves forward with a new anti-illegal immigration law signed this month by Gov. Greg Abbott – but the Republican governor says he is prepared to take the fight to the Supreme Court. Abbott signed the legislation, SB 4, this month, which allows law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants and allows state judges to order them removed from the country. In a letter to Abbott, first reported by the Houston Chronicle, the Department of Justice says it will “pursue all appropriate legal remedies to ensure that Texas does not interfere with the functions of the federal government.” TEXAS IMMIGRATION LAW PUSHBACK MARKS LATEST TENSION BETWEEN BIDEN ADMINISTRATION AND BORDER STATES OVER CRISIS The letter says that the law “intrudes into a field that is occupied by the federal government and is preempted,” citing a 2012 Supreme Court ruling, U.S. v Arizona, which found that the federal government has the power to enforce immigration law, according to the outlet. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Abbott’s office said Texas was prepared to go to the nation’s highest court in defense of the legislation. “Texas is prepared to take this fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect Texans and Americans from President Biden’s open border policies,” spokesperson Renae Eze said. “President Biden’s deliberate and dangerous inaction at our southern border has left Texas to fend for itself. Governor Abbott signed Senate Bill 4 into law last week to help stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas as the President refuses to enforce federal immigration laws.” TEXAS GOV. ABBOTT SIGNS BILL MAKING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION A STATE CRIME The legal battle is the latest clash between Abbott and the Biden administration over the illegal immigrant crisis at the border, of which Texas has been on the front line. Abbott has accused the Biden administration of failing to secure the border, while the administration has accused Abbott of promoting inhumane policies at the border. Last week a federal appeals court temporarily blocked the Biden administration from cutting razor wire set up by Texas earlier this year. The state had sued in October and had been rebuffed by a federal judge, but the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals barred the Biden administration from damaging, destroying, or otherwise interfering with Texas’s [concertina wire] fence in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, Texas” unless it is for a medical emergency. Separately, the DOJ has sued Texas over its deployment of buoys in the Rio Grande to stop illegal crossings. Texas says the buoys are designed to save lives by preventing people from entering the river, but humanitarian groups and the DOJ argue the barrier poses a safety risk. The White House has also criticized Abbott for his moves to bus migrants to “sanctuary” cities, including Chicago and New York City, which Abbott says is necessary to relieve overwhelmed border communities. FEDERAL APPEALS COURT BLOCKS BIDEN ADMIN FROM REMOVING TEXAS’ RAZOR WIRE AT SOUTHERN BORDER “We believe that Gov. Abbott’s policies and political stunts are not safe, not safe for Texas communities and our CBP, our law enforcement on the ground who are trying to do their work. It puts them in harm’s way, and they dehumanize and demonize immigrants. That’s what his political stunts do,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said last week. The threat of a new lawsuit comes as the border is again seeing record numbers at the border. Fox News reported this week that during the four-day Christmas weekend, there were more than 35,000 migrant encounters, and since Dec. 1, there have been over 250,000 migrant encounters at the southern border. Meanwhile, a delegation from the Biden administration including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas met with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday to discuss the migration crisis in the hemisphere.
Trump disqualified from Maine 2024 Republican primary ballot
Maine’s Democratic secretary of state on Thursday disqualified former President Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot. The decision follows a ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court earlier this month that booted Trump from the ballot there under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Colorado is a Democratic-leaning state that is not expected to be competitive for Republicans in November. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.