Say WOW

Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

 
Ridley Scott rebuilds Rome for ‘Gladiator II’
NEW YORK (AP) — An inevitable fact of interviewing Ridley Scott is that, whatever movie he’s about to release, you’ll find him already knee-deep in his next project. Scott, Hollywood’s perpetual rolling stone even at age 86, may be preparing to unveil “Gladiator II,” one of his biggest epics yet, but at the moment he’s got the Bee Gees on the brain. Scott is developing a biopic on the Gibb brothers. On a recent Zoom call from his office...

Read More

Poland charges 3 Belarusian officials with diverting...
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish prosecutors on Friday charged three Belarusian officials with using a ruse to divert a Poland-registered plane while in flight three years ago and violating the freedom of 132 people on board as they sought to arrest a dissident. The three officials are accused of ordering the plane carrying a dissident blogger to make an unplanned landing in the Belarus capital of Minsk, leading to the arrest of Raman Pratasevich, a Belarussian blogger who was...

Read More

Bomb threat forces Vistara airline plane en...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Vistara airline flight en route to Germany made a forced landing in Turkey on Friday following a bomb threat, a Turkish official said. Flight UK27 from Mumbai to Frankfurt, with 247 passengers and crew on board, landed at Erzurum airport, in eastern Turkey, Gov. Mustafa Ciftci told the state-run Anadolu Agency. All passengers were evacuated from the plane and authorities were searching the luggage, Ciftci said. HaberTurk television said the pilots decided to land...

Read More

 
Music Review: On ‘Cowboys and Dreamers,’ George...
George Strait’s 31st studio album, the feel-good “Cowboys and Dreamers,” marks five decades of record releases; a titanic career for a Texas troubadour whose greatest ambition seems to have always been the same: Make pretty, plain-spoken songs about life’s true pains and pleasures, and listeners will find their own resonance within them. Across 13 songs in 47 minutes — his first collection since 2019’s “Honky Tonk Time Machine” — Strait plays to his traditionalist country style without ever sounding...

Read More

No. 3 Texas’ rebuilt receiving corps ready...
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas ended Alabama’s long home winning streak last season with Quinn Ewers throwing to big and fast receivers who are now in the NFL. The No. 3 Longhorns play at No. 10 Michigan on Saturday with Ewers throwing to a mostly new receiving corps, one rebuilt through the transfer portal with smaller but fast players who could pose a challenge for a Wolverines secondary that features preseason All-American cornerback Will Johnson but only one other...

Read More

James Darren, ‘Gidget’ teen idol, singer and...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Darren, a teen idol who helped ignite the 1960s surfing craze as a charismatic beach boy paired off with Sandra Dee in the hit film “Gidget,” died Monday at 88. Darren died in his sleep at a Los Angeles hospital, his son Jim Moret told news outlets. Moret told The Hollywood Reporter that Darren was supposed have had an aortic valve replacement but was too weak for the surgery. “I always thought he would...

Read More

 
Orlando remains unbeaten in the NWSL with...
Adriana scored twice to give the undefeated Orlando Pride a 2-0 win at home over Gotham FC on Sunday evening in the National Women’s Soccer League. The Pride (13-0-5) extended their unbeaten streak to a league-record 19 games, dating back to last year. It only took six minutes for the Pride to get on the board. Adriana volleyed a loose ball into the goal after teammate Kylie Strom won a header in the box. In the 19th minute, Adriana...

Read More

On the first day without X, many...
SAO PAULO (AP) — The blocking of social media platform X in Brazil divided users and politicians over the legitimacy of the ban, and many Brazilians on Saturday had difficulty and doubts over navigating other social media in its absence. The shutdown of Elon Musk’s platform started early Saturday, making it largely inaccessible on both the web and through mobile apps after the billionaire refused to name a legal representative to the country, missing a deadline imposed by Supreme...

Read More

Venice Film Festival welcomes Pitt and Clooney,...
VENICE, Italy (AP) — George Clooney and Brad Pitt returned to the Venice Film Festival on Sunday for the world premiere of “Wolfs.” Before hitting the red carpet, the Hollywood stars reflected on reuniting, the rise of streaming and Clooney’s New York Times op-ed urging President Joe Biden to end his reelection bid. Asked about the impact of his piece, Clooney said he’d not yet had to answer that question. “The person who should be applauded is the president...

Read More

 
Chinese and Philippine vessels collide at a...
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China and the Philippines accused each other of causing a collision between their two vessels Saturday in the latest flareup of tensions over disputed waters and maritime features in the South China Sea. In a statement posted on social media, Chinese coast guard spokesperson Liu Dejun was quoted as saying that a Philippine ship maneuvered and “deliberately collided” with a Chinese coast guard ship “in an unprofessional and dangerous manner.” Philippine officials in Manila said...

Read More

Defense leads way as Duke beats Elon...
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Jaquez Moore, Jeremiah Hasley and Eli Pancol scored short touchdowns while Duke’s defense racked up eight sacks as the Blue Devils beat Elon 26-3 on Friday night in their first game under Manny Diaz. It wasn’t a big offensive day for Duke (1-0), which often had to grind its way through drives while quarterback Maalik Murphy — a touted transfer from Texas — struggled to connect deep on multiple tries and threw a fourth-quarter pick...

Read More

Brazil blocks Musk’s X after company refuses...
FILE – Brazilian Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexandre de Moraes arrives for a court hearing, in Brasilia, Brazil, June 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)(AP/Eraldo Peres) FILE – Brazilian Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexandre de Moraes arrives for a court hearing, in Brasilia, Brazil, June 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)(AP/Eraldo Peres) SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil started blocking Elon Musk’s social media platform X, making it largely inaccessible on both the web and through mobile apps early Saturday...

Read More

 
Transfer deadline day: Premier League leads spending...
Last-minute medicals, number crunching and Saudi speculation. It’s deadline day in the summer transfer window for Europe’s five big domestic leagues. The English Premier League again leads overall spending — about $2.4 billion and counting — and once again Chelsea is first in line with an outlay of $290 million. Deadline-day deals could see some players headed to Saudi Arabia, which has been less active compared to a year ago. Among the big names in European soccer that could...

Read More

Harris defends shifting from some liberal positions...
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday defended shifting away from some of her more liberal positions in her first major television interview of her presidential campaign, but insisted her “values have not changed” even as she is “seeking consensus.” Sitting with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris was asked specifically about her reversals on banning fracking and decriminalizing illegal border crossings, positions she took during her last run for president. She confirmed she...

Read More

New Zealand’s Māori King dies after 18-year...
NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga (AP) — New Zealand’s Māori King, Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII, died Friday at age 69, days after the celebration of his 18th year on the throne. He was the seventh monarch in the Kiingitanga movement, holding a position created in 1858 to unite New Zealand’s Indigenous Māori tribes in the face of British colonization. Tuheitia died in hospital after heart surgery, said Rahui Papa, a spokesperson for the Kiingitanga, the Māori King Movement, in a...

Read More