A Russian launch site in Kazakhstan was damaged during a spacecraft launch carrying Russian and American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), Moscow’s space agency Roscosmos has said.
The joint Russian-US Soyuz MS-28 mission, carrying Roscosmos astronauts Sergey Mikaev and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and NASA astronaut Chris Williams, took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 12:28pm Moscow time (09:27 GMT) on Thursday.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
The spacecraft successfully docked later that day, the ISS announced in a social media post, and the crew was on board the station in good health.
But after inspecting the Baikonur Cosmodrome following the launch, Russia’s state space agency confirmed that “damage to a number of elements of the launchpad” had been detected.
“An assessment of the state of the launch complex is being conducted now,” Roscosmos said.
“All the necessary reserve elements are there to restore it and the damage will be eliminated very soon,” it said.
Russian space bloggers, however, have claimed that the damage to the Baikonur Cosmodrome – Russia’s only launch site for crewed missions, located in the Russian-leased city of Baikonur in Kazakhstan – is more severe than authorities are claiming.
.@NASA astronaut @Astro_ChrisW and his two Roscosmos crewmates opened the Soyuz MS-28 hatch at 10:16am ET on Thanksgiving Day and joined Exp 73 crew. https://t.co/NQ7pUizkO2
Immediately after the morning launch, Russian rocket launch analyst Georgy Trishkin claimed that “the service cabin [had] collapsed” and part of the structures had fallen on launchpad 31, causing serious damage that could suspend operations for some time.
Russian space journalist Vitaly Egorov also drew attention to visible damage at the launch site that could be seen during the official broadcast.
“In the gas exhaust tray under the launchpad, there was some massive metal structure that should not have been there,” he said.
Egorov added that if the Baikonur Cosmodrome is disabled as suspected, Russia will have “lost the ability to launch people into space” for the first time since 1961.
The Soyuz crew is scheduled to spend 242 days at the ISS, returning to Earth in July 2026. Some 40 scientific experiments and two extravehicular activities will be conducted over the course of the eight-month mission.
Russia’s space programme, once a source of national pride, has suffered from years of chronic underfunding and corruption scandals.
Despite an almost complete breakdown in relations between Moscow and Washington over the war in Ukraine, space continues to be one of the few remaining areas of US-Russia cooperation.
According to officials, Sri Lanka has closed government buildings and schools as a result of the country’s 56-person death toll from floods and landslides, with more than 600 homes engulfed.
Last week, severe weather began to grip Sri Lanka, and heavy downpours flooded homes, fields, and roads, causing landslides all over the country.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
More than 25 people died on Thursday in landslides in Badulla and Nuwara Eliya, which are central mountain tea-growing regions, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) east of Colombo, the capital.
According to the government’s disaster management center, another 21 people have been missing and 14 have been injured in the Badulla and Nuwara Eliya areas, according to a source with The Associated Press.
In various regions of the nation, others perished in landslides.
Clearly impacted by daily life
The government announced Friday that all government offices and schools would be shut down as a result of the worsening weather.
Most reservoirs and rivers have overflowed, preventing access to roads as a result of heavy rains. After rocks, mud, and trees fell on roads and railroad tracks, which were also flooded in some areas, authorities shut down passenger trains and reopened roads in many parts of the nation.
On Thursday, the navy and police used boats to transport residents while the air force helicopter flew to rescue three people trapped on the roof of a house surrounded by floods.
Three people died as a result of a car being swept away by floodwaters near the eastern town of Ampara, according to footage from Thursday.
The day after an Afghan national was named as a suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, DC, President Trump announced he would “select all Third World countries” and announced that he would “select all Third World countries.”
In the wake of the Washington, DC, shooting, Trump earlier ordered the US government to re-examine all green card applications from 19 “countries of concern.” As a result, Trump’s announcement is the latest in a line of escalating immigration restrictions.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
Trump stated in a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday that he would “permanently pause migration from all Third World countries to allow the US system to fully recover” and that he would “terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions.”
Although he did not define the term “Third World,” it frequently refers to developing nations in the Global South.
Trump added that he would “remove anyone who is incapable of loving our country or who is not a net asset to the United States.”
He added that “noncitizens” would no longer be eligible for federal benefits or subsidies, and he would “denaturalize migrants who violate domestic tranquillity and deport any foreign national who poses a public charge, security risk, or is incompatible with Western civilization.”
Joseph Edlow, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, earlier on Thursday, claimed that President Trump had mandated “a full, thorough re-examination of every green card for every alien from every country of concern.”
The American people will not have to bear the cost of the previous administration’s careless resettlement policies, according to Edlow, who emphasized that the protection of this nation and the American people is still important.
Although Edlow did not specify which nations’ applications would be reviewed, his office directed The Associated Press (AP) news agency to a presidential proclamation that barted out of US citizens from 19 nations. Afghanistan, Haiti, Iran, Myanmar, Venezuela, and Yemen are included on the list.
In response to Citizenship and Immigration Services’ earlier statement, the agency decided to “update security and vetting procedures” and suspend all Afghan immigration requests indefinitely.
As the US attorney for the District of Columbia in Washington, DC, Jeanine Pirro, a 29-year-old Afghan national who previously worked with US forces in Afghanistan, identified the suspect in the shooting of the National Guard members as Rahmanaullah Lakanwal.
Following the US’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Lakanwal reportedly arrived in the US through a program called “Operation Allies Welcome.” She claimed that federal authorities, including the FBI, would be scrutinizing his past and current immigration procedures.
The Trump administration has already aggressively restraining immigration into the US. The country announced in October that it would only accept 7,500 refugees by 2026, the lowest number since 1980.
According to a memo Edlow signed and obtained by the AP on Monday, the US government is currently conducting a thorough review of recent US refugee arrivals.
According to the AP, the memo directs the review of the roughly 200 000 refugees who have been granted asylum in the US through President Joe Biden’s administration.
According to state media reports that several Israeli soldiers were injured in clashes while another incursion by Israel into Syrian territory, including 12 children, was being carried out in the Damascus countryside.
Two children were among the victims of the Israeli dawn raid and strikes, which forced hundreds of families to flee Beit Jinn to nearby, safer locales, according to Syrian state media on Friday.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Israeli drones continue to hover over the area, according to the report.
The Israeli military continues to target any movement, according to the Syrian Civil Defense, and their teams were unable to enter Beit Jinn to help the injured.
Since Israel’s occupation of southern Syria expanded after President Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December 2024, its military incursions have become more brutal, more frequent, and more violent.
Local sources also confirmed to Al Jazeera on Friday that Israeli missile and artillery strikes on Beit Jinn resulted in the deaths of several Syrians and their injuries.
Following the incursion, there were verbal altercations between the residents and the occupying Israeli force.
The Israeli military claimed that three of its soldiers had been seriously injured in an exchange of fire, according to a statement posted on X.
According to reports, an Israeli force that had entered the Syrian village of Beit Jinn was surrounded, prompting air strikes and artillery shelling to expel it and compel its retreat, according to Israeli news outlet Yedioth Ahronoth. Numerous Syrians were killed and others were injured as a result of this.
After an Israeli force entered the town, an Israeli military helicopter exchanged fire.
Israeli bombings, kidnappings, and incursions in Syria
In the Golan Heights and Damascus countryside governorates, the Israeli army frequently launches ground incursions into Syrian territory.
Since Israel expanded its occupation of southern Syria in December 2024, Israeli military incursions have become more brutal, more frequent, and violent.
Following the 1967 conflict, Israel seized control of the Syrian Golan Heights and has held it ever since. However, Israel violated a 1974 agreement by occupying more land along the border as a “buffer zone,” including the strategically important summit of Jabal al-Sheikh, and then again invaded its neighbor’s territory.
Prior to the fall of al-Assad, a ally of its regional adversary Iran, Israel was already bombing Syria. However, Israel has increased its bombing activity and increased the number of strikes this year, including those in Damascus, which has resulted in the deaths of several Syrian soldiers and hitting the Ministry of Defense, as opposed to trying to take a new direction with Syria.
Damascus was in anger after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared with Israeli troops in an illegally occupied area of southern Syria earlier this month, which added to the uncertainty surrounding a security deal that could be reached.
Despite receiving support from the United States, Netanyahu’s visit signaled that he is not intending to change from his hardline position on Syria.
The Israeli military has established checkpoints, patrols, and even gates across Quneitra province. Some are abducted, while others are stopped and searched by police.
Syrian authorities and human rights organizations refer to these incidents as abductions or unlawful arrests, as they are described by Israel as security operations. In recent weeks, up to 40 people have reportedly been detained.
According to a government official, the deadliest fire in Hong Kong’s history has been contained, with 94 dead and dozens more missing.
The fire service reported that “firefighting operations have ended” as of Friday, 10:18 AM (02:18 GMT), and that the company’s operations were “largely extinguished.”
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
More than 4,600 people live on the eight-story Wang Fuk Court estate in Tai Po’s northern district, which was covered in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh when the fire started and quickly spread on Wednesday afternoon.
According to the police, three construction company employees have been detained on suspicion of manslaughter for using dangerous materials, including flammable foam boards that block windows.
The complex’s firefighters continued to work on Friday morning.
Deputy Fire Services Director Derek Chan stated to reporters early on Friday that “we’ll work with force to prevent any other possible casualties” by attempting forcible entry into all the seven buildings.
According to Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington, who is reporting from outside the residential complex, firefighters have been attempting to locate any trapped residents by going through each of the apartments on Friday.
She said, “The community is grieving a lot.”
In the early hours of Thursday morning, 279 people were reported missing, but that number has not changed in more than 24 hours.
According to Chan, there are currently 25 calls for assistance from the Fire Department, of which three are urgently needed.
“I’m hoping they can find more survivors inside the building.” The firefighters have done a lot, according to resident Jacky Kwok, and I believe they had made the best of it.
No one wanted it to happen, according to the statement.
As they attempted to reach residents feared trapped on the upper floors of the complex, rescuers had to battle intense heat, thick smoke, and shattered scaffolding and debris.
A distraught woman carrying her daughter’s graduation photo and a woman with a broken leg searched for her child outside a shelter, one of eight, which the authorities claimed housed 900 people.
According to Chan, who did not provide further information, firefighters discovered survivors in several buildings, with the majority of the victims in two towers of the complex.
The Hospital Authority reported that 94 people had already died as of early on Friday.
According to the Indonesian consulate, two of the dead were domestic helpers who were Indonesian nationals. There are about 368,000 domestic workers in Hong Kong, primarily women from low-income Asian nations who co-habitate with their employers.
The fire has caused comparisons to London’s Grenfell Tower inferno, which killed 72 people in 2017 and is now Hong Kong’s deadliest since 1948, when 176 people died in a warehouse fire.
While some of China’s largest listed companies announced donations, Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, announced that the government would establish a 300-million ($39 million) fund to assist residents.
Following the fire at the Wang Fuk Court housing complex, a woman reacts [Tyrone Siu/Reuters] outside the Kwong Fuk Community Hall, where relatives showed family members on Friday in photos.
Senegal and the International Monetary Fund are at odds over a bailout that it urgently needs to close its public finances. While the IMF wants the West African nation to undertake a painful restructuring before it will agree to a bailout, Senegal, which was recently downgraded to deep within “junk bond” status, is resisting this plan.
Senegal was reduced by credit rating agency S&, P earlier this month, citing the country’s fragile government finances. Senegal’s public finances remain precarious, especially in the absence of a comprehensive official support program, according to S&, P on November 14.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
After the government discovered $7 billion in borrowing that the previous administration had concealed, the IMF suspended a $1.8 billion funding package for Senegal last year.
Negotiations between Dakar and the IMF for a new bailout package are continuing as they hammer out what the government must do to restore public finances. However, so far, neither party has been able to reach an agreement.
How much public debt does Senegal have?
In its latest rating review, S&, P estimated Senegal’s public debt had risen to $42.1bn, or 119 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), at the end of 2024, making it one of the most indebted countries in Africa. About 9% of GDP was made up of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) owed debt, which was excluded from that figure.
Senegal has relied heavily on borrowing to pay for infrastructure projects since 2008. But during the COVID-19 crisis and subsequent jump in global interest rates, which made debt more expensive, costs soared as income fell. Senegal’s fiscal strains increased significantly in turn.
The government is now attempting to reduce its fiscal deficit, which is the percentage of public spending that exceeds the government’s budget, from 26% of GDP in 2024 to 5.4 percent by 2027, while reducing it to just 3 percent.
But S&, P’s outlook is far less rosy. The organization projects a fiscal deficit of 8% of GDP in 2027 and 8% of GDP in the next year. In this context, S&, P projects a 123 percent debt-to-GDP ratio as the ratio will increase over the coming year before gradually decreasing in 2027.
What has led to the current impasse with the IMF?
Bassirou Diomaye Faye won Senegal’s presidential election in March 2024. He ran in place of Ousmane Sonko, a disqualified opposition figure who had been barred from office because of a libel case involving the then-tourism minister. But after the vote, Sonko became Faye’s prime minister.
The new Pastef party government mandated an audit of the nation’s public finances in September 2024. The previous administration, led by President Macky Sall, significantly understated the public debt’s current status, according to Senegal’s court of auditors.
The court estimated that Senegal’s real debt-to-GDP ratio was closer to 100 percent, compared with the roughly 70 percent which had earlier been reported, revealing almost $7bn in undisclosed borrowing, which largely stemmed from not including the liabilities of SOEs.
The Sall administration’s “conscious decision,” according to the IMF, was used to conceal Senegal’s true debt burden. The IMF then terminated its $ 1.8 billion loan agreement with Senegal, which it had approved in 2023.
IMF loan packages are typically paid over in tranches. The IMF had already disbursed $ 700 million of the total by the time it abruptly ended the Senegal program. The executive board of the IMF must now decide whether to keep the arrangement going. If its review goes against Dakar, the board could ask the government to repay the disbursed funds.
The IMF may choose to continue funding the program and announce the next installment of the funding package if the review is favorable.
For context, Senegal’s deficit from 2024 is roughly half the size of the IMF’s $1.8 billion loan. The upshot is that it would provide essential funds for public spending. Without it, Senegal will have a significant funding problem.
On March 24, 2024, Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko supports presidential candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
Why hasn’t the IMF reached a decision about this yet?
The IMF mission chief for Senegal, Edward Gemayel, said, “We’re engaged and determined to move as quickly as possible to help. ” Following a two-week visit to the West African nation, the IMF mission chief said on November 6.
In order to reduce its debt, Prime Minister Sonko revealed that Gemayel’s team had urged Senegal to undergo a restructuring, which would involve replacing old debt with new debt with longer maturities, lower interest rates, or a reduced debt stock. But these arrangements generally lead to reduced public spending and slower growth.
Countries that default on their debts typically struggle because they are forced to cut spending to stabilize their finances, leaving less money for investment and public services. Investor confidence also tends to decline, making borrowing from governments more expensive and difficult.
At a meeting of Pastef officials on November 8, Sonko, who has considerable influence over economic policy, said he had rejected the IMF’s proposal to restructure Senegal’s debt. However, Dakar now has few options for closing the nation’s fiscal gap as a result of his decision to reject the IMF’s plan.
The prime minister will need to present a credible fiscal plan that restores Senegal’s finances without resorting to a debt restructuring in order to persuade the Washington-based IMF to release its paused loan.
But Gemayel has already cautioned that the government’s 2026 budget is “very ambitious”, citing large tax increases. He declared, “We’ve never seen this before.” They must therefore be cautious.
What has the impact of this been on Senegal’s economy?
Investors were irritated by Sonko’s decision to reject the IMF’s restructuring plan. Senegal’s 2031-dollar bonds dropped by 4% on Monday, November 10 for the first trading day following Sonko’s cabinet meeting. Elsewhere, its notes due in 2048 fell by 2.4 cents to $60.30.
According to Leeuwner Esterhuysen, an analyst for Africa at Oxford Economics, “the markets reacted to the IMF’s request for a restructuring,” “the bonds dropped.” There is no indication of any imminent IMF funding, despite the fact that there is obviously a high level of debt distress.
“It seems the Fund is making a new loan contingent on Dakar accepting a restructuring”, Esterhuysen told Al Jazeera. The government is “playing ball,” he said, “for the time being, it will only prolong the impasse.”
In addition to the market’s concern, the cost of credit-default swaps, or default insurance, nearly doubled in the days leading up to November 12 from 750 to 1,120 basis points, or 3.7 percentage points.
During a speech at a rally in Dakar on November 11, Sonko insisted, “Senegal is a proud nation. We won’t be treated like a state that has failed. Better to accept a debt restructuring than to accept tax revenue?
Since 2020, Zambia, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Chad have all been forced to restructure their debt. However, other African governments are unappealing because of the lengthy and laborious process and accompanying economic hardship.
Instead of opting for expensive trade-offs last year, Kenya, another debt-strapped nation, went for tax increases and subsidy cuts. The measures were aimed at reducing Kenya’s budget deficit. They also sparked vicious demonstrations, which highlighted the political risks of austerity.
On March 20, 2024, a billboard for Senegalese presidential candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye, supported by Ousmane Sonko, was displayed in Dakar, Senegal.
How has this affected the political situation in Senegal?
Sonko opposes an IMF-backed restructuring because “he doesn’t want to undermine his 2024 election campaign pledge to restore Senegal’s sovereignty,” according to Paul Melly, a consulting fellow on the Africa program at Chatham House.
Sonko is currently battling “tensions” between himself and President Faye, according to Melly. Earlier this month, it emerged that Sonko’s party rejected Faye’s attempt to lead a revamped coalition, a move viewed as an effort to consolidate power.
Sonko is regarded as a key power broker, frequently deciding policy on his own terms, despite serving under Faye and  . According to Melly, “Sonko was never going to be a subordinate prime minister.”
As such, Senegal’s fiscal position represents a major political challenge for Sonko. He may need to impose unpopular spending cuts to stay ahead of debt repayments, but he still wants to assert his “sovereignty” position.
What other options does Senegal have for resolving its debt problem?
In recent weeks, the government has introduced new levies on tobacco, alcohol, gambling and widely used mobile money transfers. In addition, it has made internal efforts to reduce spending by trying to reduce travel expenses and car purchases.
It’s difficult to strike a balance, Melly said.  , “Expectations remain high even as the economic challenges are huge”.
