HOUSTON: One of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starships exploded during a routine test late Wednesday in Texas, law enforcement said, adding that no one was injured. The Starship 36 suffered “catastrophic failure and exploded” at the Starbase launch facility shortly after 11:00 pm (0400 GMT Thursday), a Facebook post by the Cameron County authorities…
PUERTO ESCONDIDO: Hurricane Erick strengthened to an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 early Thursday as it barreled toward Mexico’s Pacific coast, the US National Hurricane Center said, warning of potentially deadly floods. Erick is expected to make landfall on Thursday morning bringing “life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain”, the center’s latest bulletin…
HONG KONG: Governments around the world are attempting to evacuate thousands of their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiralling Israel-Iran conflict, organising buses and planes and in some cases assisting people crossing borders on foot. Foreigners have rushed to leave both countries after Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign last Friday targeting Iran’s nuclear…
TEHRAN: Iran launched a fresh salvo of missiles at Israel on Thursday, with a hospital reported hit, as President Donald Trump warned he was weighing US military action in the conflict. AFP journalists heard violent, sustained explosions in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and sirens sounded in several parts of the country to warn of incoming…
PESHAWAR: Pakistan says it has expelled more than a million Afghans in the past two years, yet many have quickly attempted to return — preferring to take their chances dodging the law than struggle for existence in a homeland some had never even seen before. “Going back there would be sentencing my family to death,“…
PRAGUE: The Czech Republic signed a contract earlier this month with South Korea’s KHNP to build two nuclear reactors, but experts question its future over complaints raised by KHNP’s French rival EDF. The deal is crucial for the EU member country of 10.9 million people, relying on nuclear power produced by the southern Dukovany and…
WASHINGTON: The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady for a fourth consecutive meeting Wednesday, forecasting higher inflation and cooler growth this year as President Donald Trump’s tariffs begin to take hold and geopolitical uncertainty swirls. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters the central bank would make better decisions if it waited a few months…
YANGON: Myanmar’s deposed democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi marked her 80th birthday in junta detention on Thursday, serving a raft of sentences set to last the rest of her life. Suu Kyi was the figurehead of Myanmar’s decade-long democratic thaw, becoming de facto leader as it opened up from military rule. But as the…
STRASBOURG: Compulsory microchipping, as well as bans on ear-cropping and tail-docking, are among a set of new rules to protect cats and dogs that European lawmakers are due to vote on Thursday. The European Union is home to more than 72 million dogs and 83 million cats, according to the European Commission, which so far…
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) and the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) on Thursday confirmed two local Zika cases at Woodlands Street 11 and Street 32. In a Facebook post, the NEA said it has commenced wastewater and mosquito surveillance in the surrounding residential areas following each case notification. “This enhanced surveillance has revealed persistent…
