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China accuses US of militarizing space following protest over Navy plane’s Taiwan Strait transit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:47 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Amid a freeze in military-to-military contacts, China is accusing the United States of militarizing outer space, a day after it protested the passage of a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft through the Taiwan Strait. Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Col. Tan Kefei said on Friday that U.S. actions, including the establishment of the Space Force in 2019 as the newest branch of the military, have “had a great negative impact on space security and global strategic stability.” “In recent years, the United States has accelerated the militarization of space,” Tan said. “I would like to reiterate here that China adheres to the peaceful use of space, firmly opposes the weaponization and the making of space into a battlefield, and opposes any form of arms race in space.” The ministry said Tan was responding to recent concerns expressed by Space Force leaders over China’s rising capabilities, calling that “classic cognitive dissonance.” China’...

Biden making $20 billion available from ‘green bank’ for clean energy projects

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:47 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is making available $20 billion from a federal “green bank” for clean energy projects such as residential heat pumps, electric vehicle charging stations and community cooling centers. Two programs, worth $14 billion and $6 billion, respectively, will offer competitive grants to states, tribes and nonprofits to invest in clean energy projects, with a focus on disadvantaged communities, the White House says.Vice President Kamala Harris, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan and other officials will announce the grant competitions Friday at a historically black university in Baltimore.Congress created the green bank, formally known as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, in last year’s climate law. The grant competitions follow a $7 billion Solar for All program launched last month for residential and community solar projects in low-income communities. All three programs will be overseen by the green bank, with grant awards...

India launches a lander and rover to explore the moon’s south pole

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:47 GMT

SRIHARIKOTA, India (AP) — An Indian spacecraft blazed its way to the far side of the moon Friday in a follow-up mission to its failed effort nearly four years ago to land a rover softly on the lunar surface, the country’s space agency said.Chandrayaan-3, the word for “moon craft” in Sanskrit, took off from a launch pad in Sriharikota in southern India with an orbiter, a lander and a rover, in a demonstration of India’s emerging space technology. The spacecraft is set to embark on a journey lasting slightly over a month before landing on the moon’s surface later in August.Applause and cheers swept through mission control at Satish Dhawan Space Center, where the Indian Space Research Organization’s engineers and scientists celebrated as they monitored the launch of the spacecraft. Thousands of Indians cheered outside the mission control center and waved the national flag as they watched the spacecraft rise into the sky.“Congratulations India. Chandrayaan-3 has started its journey towa...

Putin says he offered Wagner mercenaries the option to keep operating as a single unit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:47 GMT

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he offered mercenaries from the Wagner private military company the option of continuing to serve as a single unit under the same officer when he met with them five days after the group’s abortive revolt last month that posed the most serious threat to his 23-year rule amid the war in Ukraine.In remarks to the business daily Kommersant published Friday, Putin described a Kremlin event attended by 35 Wagner commanders, including the group’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on June 29. He said that he talked to them about their actions in Ukraine, their mutiny — which he denounced as an act of treason in a televised address to the nation — and offered them various alternatives for future service.Putin told Kommersant that one option would see Wagner keep serving under the same commander who goes by the call name Gray Hair, a man who has led the military company’s operations in Ukraine for the past 16 months. “All of them could have gathe...

IRS says it collected $38 million from more than 175 high-income tax delinquents

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:47 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS is showcasing its new capability to aggressively audit high-income tax dodgers as it makes the case for sustained funding and tries to avert budget cuts sought by Republicans who want to gut the agency. IRS leaders said they collected $38 million in delinquent taxes from more than 175 high-income taxpayers in the past few months.In one case, an individual had used money owed to the government to buy a Maserati and a Bentley, and roughly 100 high-income individuals attempted to get favorable tax treatment through Puerto Rico without meeting certain tax requirements. Many of those cases are expected to face criminal investigation.“It just shows you how much money is out there in delinquent taxes, and there are so many more cases for us to tackle,” said new IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, just four months into the job. “There’s just a significant opportunity there.”The agency did not provide figures for how those high-dollar tax collections compared with...

Russian lawmakers pass a bill outlawing gender-affirming procedures to protect ‘traditional values’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:47 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian lawmakers on Friday adopted a bill outlawing gender-affirming procedures amid the Kremlin’s crusade to protect what it views as the country’s “traditional values.” The toughened version of the bill was passed unanimously in its third and final reading in Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma.The bill bans any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records.The only exception will be medical intervention to treat congenital anomalies.In its second reading on Thursday, clauses were added that annul marriages in which one person has “changed gender” and bar transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents.The bill must be passed by the Federation Council, Russia’s Kremlin-controlled upper chamber that generally rubber-stamps legislation that the Duma has approved, before being signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin.It has rattled the countr...

South Africa deploys army over burning of trucks and braces for the possibility of more unrest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:47 GMT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa deployed the army in four of its provinces Friday after at least 21 trucks carrying goods were set on fire on national roads in various parts of the country over the past week.Authorities haven’t established the motive for the attacks, nor if they are connected. But Police Minister Bheki Cele said there is a possibility of economic sabotage against South Africa. He didn’t say who might be behind the campaign but police are hunting for at least 12 people believed to be linked to the attacks.“These are organised and sophisticated operations,” Cele said in a statement released by the South African government’s official news agency.Cele said there was no evidence that the truck burning was connected to the violence and unrest that shook the country for a week in July 2021, when more than 350 people were killed and businesses were looted and burned in a wave of protests sparked by the jailing of former President Jacob Zu...

Eastbound SH 45 shutdown after deadly crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:47 GMT

CREEDMOOR, Texas (KXAN) – The Department of Public Safety said Friday morning it is investigating a deadly crash on State Highway 45. According to Austin Travis County-EMS, two vehicles crashed on the eastbound lanes of State Highway 45 near Turnersville Road just before 2 a.m. DPS told KXAN that one driver died in a 4-door passenger vehicle that caught fire. ATCEMS said STARFlight transported the other driver to the hospital with critical injuries. DPS said the second vehicle was a Toyota Tundra. A DPS spokesperson said it was not not known which direction the vehicles were headed but it appeared to be a head-on collision. The Travis County Sheriff's Office said eastbound lanes of 45 would be closed for "an extended period of time".Drivers using eastbound SH 45 were told exit at Creedmoor, DPS said. The agency said the highway would be shut down until at least 6 a.m.

Mopac Service road to be closed for hours after ruptured gas line, APD says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:47 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Austin Police told KXAN Friday morning that a portion of the northbound Mopac Service Road in Southwest Austin would be closed "for hours" as crews work to repair a ruptured gas line.According to APD, a construction crew hit the gas line off the Service Road between Ben Garza Road and U.S. 290. The call was reported as a hazmat call to Austin Fire just after 2 a.m. APD said crews are focused on the northbound Service Road in front of the Marquis at Barton Trails. Earlier, police told KXAN people had reported the smell of gas in the area. KXAN has reached out to Austin Fire and Texas Gas Service for more information and will update when we get more.

Spain rescues boat with 86 migrants, hundreds likely still missing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:47 GMT

Spanish maritime rescue that dispatched a plane and a ship to search for a fishing vessel from Senegal with about 200 migrants on board and missing for nearly two weeks, on Monday (10 July) discovered what appears to be a different migrant boat.The reconnaissance plane spotted a boat 71 miles (114 km) to the south of the island of Gran Canaria, which the rescue service initially thought could have been the missing boat.But its spokesperson later said the rescue vessel found 86 people on board and only a further investigation would show where it had sailed from. The boat was being towed to Gran Canaria.Migrant aid group Walking Borders said on Sunday (9 July) that the fishing vessel with about 200 people and another two boats - one carrying about 65 people and the other with between 50 and 60 on board - had been missing for about two weeks since they left Senegal to try to reach Spain.Helena Maleno of Walking Borders said on Monday that the families of the at least 300 migrants on bo...