The SpaceX commercial astronaut capsule has splashed down successfully in the Atlantic Ocean, marking a significant step in Nasa’s quest to resume manned space flight from the US. The Crew Dragon capsule, whose lone occupant was a test dummy named Ripley, spent a week docked at the International Space Station (ISS) before returning to Earth on Friday morning. Footage of the landing shows the capsule hitting the water gently under four billowing red and white parachutes. A boat, the GO Searcher, was waiting to recover the capsule, which splashed down about 280 miles (450 km) from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The mission appears to have gone smoothly, which bodes well for plans to use the capsule to ferry astronauts to the ISS this year. After docking at the ISS, the Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques was the first to enter the capsule, describing it as a “business-class” experience. The descent through Earth’s atmosphere had been expected to be the most challenging part of the Crew Dragon’s maiden mission, Elon Musk, the SpaceX founder and chief executive, said. The capsule’s heat shield and parachute system were relatively untested. After the Crew Dragon was launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday, Musk said there was a chance that the shield’s irregular shape could cause instability at hypersonic speeds.(theguardian)…[+]

RIO DE JANEIRO– Brazil’s far-right president yesterday described the country’s armed forces, which led the country under a military dictatorship for over two decades, as the ultimate arbiters of democracy. Speaking at a naval event in Rio de Janeiro alongside some of the former generals who sit in his cabinet, Jair Bolsonaro praised Brazil’s military.

“Democracy and liberty only exist when your armed forces want them to,” said Bolsonaro, himself a former army captain. Critics of Bolsonaro, a longtime advocate of Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship, have expressed concern over the growing role of high-ranking former soldiers in his government. Speaking with reporters in Brasilia, Vice President Hamilton Mourao defended Bolsonaro’s comments, which he said were not meant as a threat. “The president said that if the armed rorces are not committed to democracy and freedom, those values die. That is what has happened in Venezuela, where the Venezuelan armed forces tore those values up,” Mourao said.(Reuters)…[+]

A Caribbean Airlines aircraft crashed into the terminal building at the Piarco International Airport on Wednesday night causing extensive damage. According to CAL, at approximately 11:15 p.m. the ATR-72 aircraft, 9Y-TTA, was being taxied from the ramp at the Piarco International Airport, to an aircraft hangar when it came into contact with the wall of the airport terminal building. The aircraft was not in active service and there were no passengers or crew on board. How the airplane ended up hitting the terminal building was not disclosed. CAl said that the extent of damage to the aircraft is being assessed, and it has been withdrawn from service. There were no injuries to any personnel.An investigation has been initiated by the relevant authorities.(Trinidad Express)…[+]

A fresh allegation has been made against R Kelly, by an unnamed woman who says the R&B star sexually assaulted her when she was 13, and later infected her with herpes. Police in Detroit are investigating the claims made by the woman, who says she and Kelly had sex at a hotel in the city in December 2001, and a few weeks later at a recording studio. The woman says she visited Kelly at his home over the next four years, eventually contracting herpes from him when she was 17.

“We are eagerly waiting to speak to the alleged victim,” Detroit police chief James Craig told CBS News. It is the latest in a long series of sexual assault allegations made against Kelly, including those from women who were underage at the time of the claimed incidents. Kelly, who is in custody, has not responded to the new allegation, but has long denied all accusations against him, saying that any sexual relations have been consensual or that the alleged victims are lying.(theguardian)…[+]

Brazil’s agency for indigenous peoples has sent off a rare and high-risk expedition, hoping to contact a small, isolated group in the Amazon and reunite its members with some of their relatives, saying the move is necessary to avoid bloodshed in an area near the border with Peru.

A team of nearly two dozen sponsored by the Funai agency headed up the Coari river over the weekend looking for the group of at least 22 people who are members of the widespread Korubo indigenous community and live in the Javari valley, in the northern state of Amazonas. Brazil’s army, federal police and health ministry are backing the initiative, which could take weeks.

The last time Funai organized such a big expedition was in 1996, also in that region. The Javari valley, an area of more than 8m hectares (nearly 31,000 sq miles), or bigger than Hungary, is home to the biggest concentration of isolated indigenous peoples in Brazil, amounting to at least 11 groups.(theguardian)…[+]

The police are reporting that Alicia England, a woman accused of posing as a medical doctor and fleecing individuals of hundreds of thousands of dollars, is now in custody. England has been charged by Area One Fraud Squad detectives, as well as by personnel in the Corporate Area, for several offences including forgery, uttering forged documents, obtaining money by false pretence and breaches of the Medical Act, the police said.She is scheduled to appear in the St James Parish Court on Friday, March 22, while a date is being finalised for her to appear in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.(Jamaica Gleaner)…[+]

The father of Shamima Begum, a British-born teenager who travelled to Syria to join Islamic State, has urged the government not to revoke her UK citizenship.

“My child was only 15 years old when she fled [to Syria], she was immature,” Ahmed Ali said in an interview with the Associated Press. “I would ask the British government not to cancel her citizenship, to return her citizenship, and if she is guilty, bring her back to Britain and give her punishment there.”

Begum, now 19, said last month she wanted to return home for the health of her then unborn child. But the home secretary, Sajid Javid, ordered her citizenship to be revoked. Begum, who gave birth days after telling a journalist of her desire to return, has since said she wished she had kept a low profile. She and her son are said to have been moved to another camp nearer the Iraqi border.(theguardian)…[+]

Spain’s far-right Vox party has suspended one of its senior regional members and apparently set about deleting references to him on social media after he was arrested on suspicion of sexual offences. Officers from the Catalan police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, arrested José Antonio Ortiz Cambray, 53, on Tuesday afternoon in the city of Lleida after receiving information that prompted them to open an investigation.

“A man of Spanish nationality was arrested yesterday afternoon in Lleida in connection with that investigation,” a Mossos spokesman said. “The allegations are of crimes against sexual freedom. We cannot go into more details or say whether the victims were adults or minors.” Vox confirmed that Ortiz had been arrested, but disputed reports that he was its local leader.(theguardian)…[+]

Incarcerated dancehall star Vybz Kartel has returned to prison following a visit to the hospital today to receive treatment for a health condition. This after news broke earlier today that the ‘World Boss’ had been rushed to the University Hospital of the West Indies for treatment.

Kartel, however, despite earlier reports, has not been hospitalised and his condition is not considered life-threatening.  “He has a condition and he wasn’t feeling well. He was not admitted. It’s not serious,” Valerie Neita-Robertson, attorney of the dancehall phenom told The Gleaner, adding that he will be escorted back to prison later this afternoon. When contacted earlier today, Neita-Robertson had advised that fellow co-counsel, Tom Tavares-Finson, had been en route to the medical facility to oversee their client.  Following his widely publicised hospitalisation in 2017, it was revealed that the entertainer lives with a thyroid condition. (Jamaica Gleaner)…[+]

Hotels around the world at the centre of sexual assault allegations are continuing to be promoted on TripAdvisor, despite some complainants contacting the travel company to warn them of alleged attacks by staff members. TripAdvisor is the largest travel site in the world, with 456 million people visiting the site every month to search for accommodation and other hospitality sites ranked according user reviews.

But two women who alleged they were raped by staff employed by businesses currently promoted on TripAdvisor said the company is failing its “duty to public safety” in the way it handles such complaints. They said they fear others are at risk without information about prior alleged incidents being made visible on the business page.

In emails seen by the Guardian, a woman called “K” approached TripAdvisor to say she had been raped by a tour guide whose business was being promoted on the website. After contacting the hotel where he worked and reporting him to the police, K wanted to warn other tourists. TripAdvisor responded by suggesting K could leave a first person review detailing her sexual assault on the website.(theguardian)…[+]