Category World News

NASA launches space mission to Jupiter moon in search for life

The Europa Clipper spacecraft is embarking on a nearly six-year, 3 billion kilometer (1.8 billion miles) mission to investigate whether the conditions on Jupiter’s moon could support life in what experts believe could be a deep ocean beneath its icy surface.

From a NASA facility on the east coast of Florida on Monday, the spacecraft launched on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket.

The launch was delayed by Hurricane Milton’s impact on its Florida launch site, which delayed it by several days.

The launch took place the same day SpaceX made its fifth space shuttle test flight from Texas, which for the first time brought the booster’s booster back to Earth.

Europa’s hidden ocean

Europa is one of Jupiter’s 95 known moons, and scientists believe it could have an ocean that is up to 120 kilometres (80 miles) deep, hidden beneath a thick ice sheet covering its surface.

The largest of Jupiter’s 95 known moons, Europa, was discovered by the Italian astronomer Galileo in the early 17th century, in 2013. In 2013, the Hubble Space Telescope discovered what appeared to be geysers erupting from the surface of the planet.

Scientists are now interested in examining what might be thermal vents beneath the ocean floor. These vents might have the potential to support life and provide a potent source of energy.

Program scientist Curt Niebur told The Associated Press that “it’s a chance for us to explore a world that might have been habitable billions of years ago, but one that might be habitable right now.”

The Europa Clipper, NASA’s largest craft ever to investigate another planet, is equipped with enormous solar panels. It has a budget of $5. 2 billion and is roughly the size of a basketball court.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with a NASA spacecraft bound for Jupiter lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center, October 14, 2024 in Cape Canaveral, Fla.]AP Photo/John Raoux]

Closer look

Although it claims this is NASA’s first mission to Jupiter, it is not its first effort to study Europa in detail. The spacecraft will fly closer than previous missions, within about 25 kilometres (nearly 16 miles).

After orbiting Jupiter, it will make 49 close flybys of Europa before ending the mission in 2034 with a planned crash into Ganymede, another of Jupiter’s moons.

The first detailed images of Europa from a distance were captured by the Pioneer spacecraft and two Voyager missions in the 1970s.

NASA’s Galileo and Juno spacecraft have since captured images of the moon in a significant way.

Nine scientific devices are housed within the spacecraft, including cameras that can map the entire moon and radar to see beneath the ice.

The Clipper’s passage through Jupiter’s radiation bands, which require special protection for its instrument controls, which are housed inside thick aluminum and zinc walls, is one of the challenges facing the Clipper’s ability to reach Europe.

New Zealand beat Pakistan to enter Women’s T20 World Cup semifinals

After defeating Pakistan by 54 runs in their final group match in Dubai, New Zealand have qualified for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup semifinals.

With the outcome on Monday, India will exit the competition in Group A, finishing third behind Australia and New Zealand.

In their final 20 overs, New Zealand defeated Pakistan for 56 to seal an emphatic victory.

Fast bowlers from Pakistan were added to New Zealand’s offense, which hindered their fast-paced scoring system and prevented their impressive starting lineup from posting a grand total.

Suzie Bates top-scored for the White Ferns with 28 runs off 29 balls while Nashra Sandhu took three wickets for 18 runs in her four overs.

Fatima Sana, the captain of Pakistan, returned to lead her team after missing their previous game against Australia because of her father’s passing.

As the women in green attempted to chase the target in 10 overs to increase their net run rate, Sana scored 21 runs off 23 balls, which is the highest total in the Pakistani innings.

In the process, Pakistan lost numerous wickets and was bowled out in the 12th over. Their defeat also led to India’s exit, which put them out of contention for the semifinals.

Australia are still favorites to win the title they have won six of their four games, topping the group with eight points.

With six points and three victories from their four games, Trans-Tasman neighbors New Zealand came in second.

India came in third with two victories and four points from their four games, while Pakistan came in fourth with two victories and one win. Sri Lanka finished last in every game that they didn’t win.

When England and the West Indies play their final group game in Dubai on Tuesday, their fate will be revealed.

Both teams, along with 2023 finalists South Africa, are in contention for the last-four spot.

The semifinals will be played on October 17 (Dubai) and October 18 (Sharjah), while the final is scheduled for October 20 in Dubai.

Five beheaded bodies found next to road in Mexico’s Jalisco

As the new government’s administration struggles to stop organized crime, police in Mexico have discovered the decapitated bodies of five men on a road in western Jalisco state.

Drivers on the road spotted plastic bags containing the remains in the municipality of Ojuelos, in northeastern Jalisco on Sunday, the state prosecutor’s office said.

A report was received, stating that several bags that appeared to be human silhouettes were found on the asphalt road.

The five men’s headless bodies were discovered by National Guard personnel who were on the scene. Authorities also discovered a bag near the victims’ severed heads, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office.

Forensic experts are now identifying the victims and looking for additional evidence in the area.

In most grisly murders, bodies are typically disposed of in public places in Mexico. One of the most powerful and violent organized crime organizations, Jalisco Nueva Generacion Cartel (CJNG), is located here.

Additionally, Lagos de Moreno, which has been the site of numerous violent murders linked to organized crime, is a municipality in the Ojuelos municipality. Between January and September of this year, 1, 415 people were murdered in Jalisco, according to official figures.

Violence is common across Mexico, particularly as local gangs clash with authorities. In 2006, Mexico’s government deployed the army to combat drug trafficking. Since then, more than 450, 000 people have been killed and tens of thousands have gone missing

Alejandro Arcos, the mayor of Chilpancingo city in southern Guerrero state, was killed on October 6 after receiving additional security, according to reports. His head was reportedly left on a pickup truck’s hood, according to local media.

Guerrero has long been a hub for opium poppy production, fueling violent competition among at least 16 drug-trafficking gangs. Tensions will increase in 2023 as a result of these armed groups’ increasingly violent local authorities.

Mexico’s first female leader – President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office on October 1 –&nbsp, faces a major challenge to tackle the cartel violence.

She has pledged to continue using social policy to combat crime at its root, as did her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who used the phrase “hugs not bullets.”

Former Stasi official sentenced to 10 years for 1974 Berlin border murder

A Polish man was shot dead by a former East German secret police officer 50 years ago as he attempted to enter West Germany via the Berlin Wall. He was given a 10-year prison sentence.

Former Stasi officer Martin Naumann, 80, was found guilty of murder on Monday in Berlin for the death of Czeslaw Kukuczka on March 29, 1974, as he attempted to flee through Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse border point.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Bernd Miczajka stated that the Stasi planned and brutally executed the act for personal reasons.

The defendant “shot at the end of a chain of command,” Miczajka continued.

Ahead of the verdict, Daniela Munkel, the head of the Stasi archives in Berlin, said the conviction would have “great symbolic significance” in the country’s efforts to atone for the Nazi regime.

However, the court did not accept the Berlin public prosecutor’s request to sentence Naumann to 12 years in prison.

Andrea Liebscher, Naumann’s attorney, claimed that it was not established that her client fired the fatal shot, and that she had filed a lawsuit against the German news outlet DPA.

German secret police

According to recent historical research, Kukuczka threatened to detonate a fake bomb unless he was granted entry to West Berlin the day the fatal shooting occurred.

His request was approved while East German authorities were notified of the threat while the Embassy officials complied.

Once Stasi officials handed Kukuczka his exit visa, he was led to the “Palace of Tears” crossing, where he was shot in the back from close range.

Kukuczka was transported to a Stasi prison further away and bled to death instead of being taken to a nearby hospital after being shot.

According to archival documents, the secret police were under orders to “render harmless” Kukuczka, a common term in the Stasi document for the liquidation of political opponents.

Although initial investigations into Naumann’s death in the 1990s failed to lead to a conclusion, the case was later brought to light after Poland issued a 2021 European arrest warrant.

In October of last year, he was charged with murder.

In the 1990s, 251 people were charged with crimes committed for the Stasi, according to official government records.

Israeli strike kills 18 in northern Lebanon as Hezbollah steps up attacks

The Lebanese Red Cross has reported that an Israeli airstrike hit an apartment complex in northern Lebanon, killing at least 18 people.

“Eighteen dead and four wounded in the strike on Aito”, the Red Cross said on Monday, referring to the Aitou village in the Christian-majority Zgharta district.

The official Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported that the Israeli attack targeted a “residential apartment” in the village.

According to NNA, this is the first time Israel and the Lebanese organization Hezbollah have attacked the area in a year of hostilities.

The southern suburbs of Beirut and the south of the country are primarily where Hezbollah is active. The Israeli military did not respond right away.

As people tried to remove bodies from beneath rubble and trees, a large plume of smoke rose out of the hilly village and several destroyed cars were standing next to a severely damaged building.

Four soldiers were killed and dozens of others were hurt in a Hezbollah drone attack on a military base in northern Israel the day before the strike.

Hezbollah launched a ground offensive in the south of Lebanon, the deadliest known attack since the Israeli military’s recent military offensive. According to Lebanese officials, more than one million people have been forced to leave their homes as a result of the fighting.

Hezbollah claimed on Monday that its fighters clashed with Israeli soldiers in the Aita al-Shaab village in southern Lebanon. A guided missile was used by Hezbollah fighters to attack an armored personnel carrier, according to a statement. The vehicle caught fire and soldiers inside were killed and wounded, it said, without providing evidence.

The Iran-aligned group claimed to have fired rockets at Haifa, a northern Israeli city. The majority of the projectiles, according to the Israeli army, were intercepted.

On Monday, sirens were activated in the Sharon and Wadi Ara areas of central Israel. According to a military statement, Lebanon’s air defenses shot down all of the rockets, according to a statement from the military.

Separately on Monday, the Israeli military also claimed it killed Muhammad Kamal Naim, the commander of the anti-tank system of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, in an air strike in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

UN peacekeepers’ attacks are “total unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has recently experienced several Israeli attacks that have drawn international condemnation.

Such attacks against UN peacekeepers are inadmissible, according to a statement.

We demand urgent answers from the Israeli government regarding the UNIFIL attacks, which are essential to south Lebanon’s stability.

The force, which has about 9,500 soldiers from around 50 countries under the leadership of a general in Spain, has recently reported numerous Israeli attacks that have claimed the lives of five of its soldiers and sparked widespread criticism.

Israeli tanks forced entry into one of UNIFIL’s positions on Sunday, according to UNIFIL, the most recent incident in a string of Israeli forces’ violations and attacks against the peacekeepers.

Israeli officials have urged UN peacekeepers to step down, but Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared on Monday that UNIFIL would not leave southern Lebanon. He demanded that the EU take action in response to Spain and Ireland’s request to halt a free trade agreement because of Israel’s constant attacks on Gaza and Lebanon.

Israel is also accused of undermining the UN and its Lebanon-based peacekeeping force, according to Micheal Martin, the foreign minister of the Republic of Ireland.

Israel is essentially undermining the United Nations and the UN peacekeeping force with the very rules-based international order, according to Martin.

Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Hasbaiyya in southern Lebanon, said Sunday’s attack on the UNIFIL base was “extremely serious”.

According to Khan, “They used a tank to blow up a gate and then launched chemical-type bombs,” according to the injuries sustained by the peacekeepers.

He added: “Getting rid of an observer force would make the international community blind to what’s happening. The Lebanese army and the UN are both very concerned about this.