A Russian-American space crew have been forced to make an emergency landing in Kazakhstan after their Soyuz rocket suffered a failure shortly after launching from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in one of the most serious space incidents in recent years.

The launch began as a routine affair. Missions bound for the International Space Station (ISS) have been conducted every few months for the past 20 years. But 119 seconds into Thursday’s flight, mission controllers on the Nasa broadcast began to speak of a failure. Shaky footage from the capsule’s cabin seen during the live broadcast appeared to show objects floating mid-launch. The crew told mission control they felt weightless, an indication of a problem during that stage of the flight.

Agitated voices flooding the radio link between mission control and the capsule could be heard on the Nasa broadcast. Details and the exact sequence of events remain unclear, but shortly afterwards the crew initiated an abort and ejected their capsule from the rocket.(theguardian)…[+]

JAMAICA-A man was Monday night shot dead and his teenage son shot and injured when a gunman attacked them in Patrick City, a middle-income community in Kingston. The Hunts Bay police reported that about 9:25 pm, Courtney Russell, 53, and another man were at a ‘cook shop’ when they were pounced on by an armed man.

It was discovered that Russell had been shot multiple times and the other man injured by a bullet. The police were summoned and they were both taken to hospital where Russell was pronounced dead and the injured man treated. The gunman allegedly escaped in a waiting motor car. However, Russell’s wief Joan, otherwise known as Miss Donna, told the Jamaica Observer that her husband and her son were shot inside their house. “About quarter past nine a slim guy came in and say, ‘You have food?’ Mi say, ‘Yes’, but at the same time when he asked if mi have food mi a watch him”. According to Joan, the man moved towards her but the door separating them was locked.(JAMAICA OBSERVER)…[+]

A man has been arrested over the rape and murder of the journalist Victoria Marinova, Bulgarian authorities have said, adding that they do not believe the attack was linked to Marinova’s work. The body of Marinova, 30, was found by a passerby on Saturday, after she had gone running along the Danube in Ruse, Bulgaria’s fifth biggest city. She presented a programme on TVN, a local channel.

The man, named as 21-year-old Bulgarian citizen Severin Krasimirov, was detained by German police near Hamburg on Tuesday, at the request of Bulgarian authorities.

“We have enough proof linking this person to the scene of the crime,” said Bulgaria’s interior minister, Mladen Marinov, on Wednesday. Krasimirov, a resident of Ruse, has a criminal record for scrap metal theft, he said. The minister said investigators had spoken to the journalist’s family and friends and added: “There is no apparent link to her work.” The chief prosecutor, Sotir Tsatsarov, said Krasimirov was already wanted by police over another rape and murder, and added that he did not believe the killing of Marinova was connected to her work, suggesting it was a “spontaneous” attack.

The attack marked the third death of a journalist in an EU country in the space of a year, prompting fears Marinova could have been targeted for her work, especially given that her final broadcast involved an interview with two investigative journalists who were looking into high-level corruption.(theguardian)…[+]

JAKARTA (Xinhua) — The Indonesian national disaster agency put the death toll from multiple strong quakes and an ensuing tsunami in Central Sulawesi province at 2,045 on Wednesday, a day before the search operation ended.

Spokesman of the agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said most of the bodies were retrieved in the provincial capital of Palu which was hardest hit by the disaster late last month. “The worst-hit area is Palu, where the damages were resulted from the strikes of tsunami,” he told a press conference. Authorities have hastened funerals for victims as many of the recovered bodies were decomposing. As many as 2,549 people were severely injured and 8,130 others suffered minor wounds, he added. Some 5,000 people remained missing in two residential compounds, the spokesman said. A total of 74,044 people were taking shelter in 112 evacuation centers in the province and 8,731 people outside of the province.

The deadly disaster destroyed a total of 67,310 houses in Palu, the adjoing districts of Donggala, Sigi and Parigi Mountong, said Sutopo. The search and rescue mission will be terminated on Thursday, the 14th day after the catastrophe due to the potential risk of an epidemic, according to head of the disaster agency Willem Rampangilei.

Strong and shallow quakes of 6.0, 7.4 and 6.1 magnitude, which triggered a tsunami of up to 3 meters, destroyed the province on Sept. 28 with massive damage to houses, buildings and infrastructure facilities.(Xinhua)…[+]

BRIDGETOWN – Although gender equality is necessary for inclusive and sustainable development and poverty reduction in the Caribbean, actions to promote it still encounter resistance. Recognizing this, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is consulting with regional stakeholders to update its gender strategy—to achieve great progress on gender equality in the Region and align with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by world leaders in 2016.

“Actions to promote gender equality still encounter resistance at all levels – policy, institutional, community, household and individual. This resistance, along with natural hazards and governments’ fiscal constraints present additional challenges to leveraging financial allocations for gender work. In view of the persistent inequalities that remain, the Bank has committed to revising the Gender Equality Policy and Operational Strategy to reinforce and restructure our efforts to achieve gender equality,” said Deidre Clarendon, Division Chief, Social Sector Division, CDB, at a workshop and consultation for representatives from government institutions responsible for gender equality.

CDB’s Gender Equality Policy and Operational Strategy (GEPOS), published in 2008, provides the framework for the new policy, which is scheduled for completion in 2019. As part of the revision process, the Bank hosted the event at its headquarters in Barbados from October 4 to 5. Participants examined the results of an external evaluation of the 2008 GEPOS, commissioned by CDB’s Office of Independent Evaluation. Clarendon noted that one of the recommendations from the evaluation was that CDB and its Borrowing Member Countries need to work together with increased coherence and cooperation, in order to enhance gender equality in the Caribbean Region…[+]

The world’s leading climate scientists have warned there is only a dozen years for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5C, beyond which even half a degree will significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people.

The authors of the landmark report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released on Monday say urgent and unprecedented changes are needed to reach the target, which they say is affordable and feasible although it lies at the most ambitious end of the Paris agreement pledge to keep temperatures between 1.5C and 2C. The half-degree difference could also prevent corals from being completely eradicated and ease pressure on the Arctic, according to the 1.5C study, which was launched after approval at a final plenary of all 195 countries in Incheon in South Korea that saw delegates hugging one another, with some in tears.(theguardian)…[+]

JAKARTA-Death toll from multiple- powerful quakes and an ensuing tsunami striking Central Sulawesi province of Indonesia on September 28 jumped to 1,948 on Monday and more than 5,000 others went missing, according to a disaster agency official here.

The number of people severely injured by the catastrophes climbed to 10,679, spokesman of the national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

The quakes and tsunami forced a total of 74,444 people to flee home and take shelter in 147 evacuation centers as the deadly disaster destroyed 65,733 houses and 2,736 schools buildings, Sutopo added. Scores of health facilities and some health clinics were also devastated, he said.

Most of the missing are believed to remain being buried in residential areas located in Balaroa and Petobo, due to a phenomenon called “liquefaction” during the quakes and soil movement, Sutopo said. Powerful and shallow under-earth quakes of 6.0-, 7.4- and 6.1-magnitudes that triggered a tsunami devastated the province on Sept. 28, with the hardest-hit area being in Palu city and Donggala district.(Xinhua)…[+]

Three Colombian women who were “pimping out” girls in Trinidad and Tobago have been captured, Colombia’s state prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.

The girls were between the ages of 15 and 19 and were offered jobs in T&T, only to be forced into sexual slavery on arrival, Colombian law enforcement said. The human trafficking ring has sent at least 100 women to T&T over the years. Colombia’s state prosecutor (fiscalia general) began the investigation after some of the victims managed to report the three Colombian women pimps to the authorities.(stabroeknews)...[+]

Melania Trump has prompted consternation, some anger and much derision by choosing a pith helmet – a symbol of colonial rule across Africa – as headwear for a brief safari in Kenya. On the penultimate day of her tour of the continent – her first solo trip overseas – the first lady visited an orphanage in Nairobi before heading to a national park near the city.

Dressed in riding pants, boots and a spotless white pith helmet, the former model climbed into an open-air vehicle for the safari, taking photos on her iPhone of zebras, giraffes, impalas, rhinos and hippos. She also stopped at a site where 105 tons of ivory was burned as part of an effort to discourage the trade.

But it was the headgear that attracted most attention. Pith helmets – so-called because they are made of the material sholapith – were worn by European explorers and imperial administrators in Africa, parts of Asia and the Middle East in the 19th century before being adopted by military officers, rapidly becoming a symbol of status – and oppression.(theguardian)…[+]

NEW DELHI-India Friday inked a multi-billion dollar defense deal with Russia to acquire S-400 Triumf missile systems from Moscow, government sources here said.

The pact was signed during talks between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin here. “The missile deal worth over five billion U.S. dollars has been signed between India and Russia. Under the deal, India will get five such missile systems. The deliveries will begin in two years’ time,” the sources said. The Russian president arrived in the Indian capital Thursday on a two-day visit. “As and when the government approves it, delivery (of the missiles) will be in 24 months,” Indian Air Force chief B.S. Dhanoa had earlier said.(Xinhua)…[+]