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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.

 
The Latest | Commercial planes change routes...
Israel vowed to respond to Iran’s unprecedented weekend attack, leaving the region bracing for further escalation after months of fighting in Gaza. Commercial planes diverted from their routes over western Iran early Friday without explanation, while one semi-official Iranian news agency reported “explosions” being heard over the city of Isfahan, though without giving any reason for the blasts. Iranian state television acknowledged the sound. Israel’s allies have been urging Israel to hold back on any response to the attack...

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Long-lost first USS Enterprise model is returned...
DALLAS (AP) — The first model of the USS Enterprise — used in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series — has boldly gone back home, returning to creator Gene Roddenberry’s son decades after it went missing. The model’s disappearance sometime in the 1970s had become the subject of lore, so it caused a stir when it popped up on eBay last fall. The sellers quickly took it down, and then contacted Dallas-based Heritage Auctions to...

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From ‘The Wiz’ revival to Alicia Keys...
toggle audio on and off change volume download audio WTOP’s Jason Fraley previews the Alicia Keys musical ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ on Broadway (Part 1) $(function () { $(‘.wtop-audio-container .fa-play’).on(‘click’, function(){ var audio_filename = $(‘div.wtop-audio-file’).data(“mp3-url”); if( typeof gtag === “function” ){ gtag(‘event’, ‘post_audio’, { ‘play’: audio_filename, ‘permalink’: window.location.href }); } }); }); Last fall, her nonprofit teamed with National Theatre’s “Teens Behind the Scenes” program to bring hundreds of D.C. students to the national tour of her revival of “The Wiz,”...

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Black immigrant rally in NYC raises awareness...
NEW YORK (AP) — Black immigrants turned out in the hundreds on Tuesday across from New York City Hall during a hearing about racial inequities in the city’s shelter and immigrant support systems. Over 1,500 immigrants, mostly from Guinea, assembled in City Hall Park, after it became clear that only around a hundred people would be accommodated inside for the hearing. The City Council considered relatively minor proposals. One set of bills would require administrators to collect better data...

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Biden returns to his Scranton, Pennsylvania, roots...
FILE – Joe Biden, former Vice President, makes a visit to his childhood home in Scranton Pa., Oct. 23, 2019. President Joe Biden will return to his childhood hometown of Scranton on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, to kick off three straight days of campaigning in Pennsylvania, capitalizing on the opportunity to crisscross the battleground state while Donald Trump spends the week in a New York City courtroom for his first criminal trial. (Jason Farmer/The Times-Tribune via AP, File)(AP/Jason Farmer)...

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Israel hails ‘success’ in blocking Iran’s unprecedented...
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel on Sunday hailed its air defenses in the face of an unprecedented attack by Iran, saying the systems thwarted 99% of the more than 300 drones and missiles launched toward its territory. Regional tensions were high amid fears of an Israeli counter-strike that could fuel further escalation. U.S. President Joe Biden said he would convene a meeting Sunday of the Group of Seven advanced democracies “to coordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran’s...

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The Latest | Israel says 99% of...
Israel praised the success of its defenses in the face of an unprecedented attack by Iran involving hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles while tensions ran high over a possible Israeli counter-strike. An Israeli military spokesman said Sunday the launches numbered more than 300, but 99% of them were intercepted. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Iran fired 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles and more than 120 ballistic missiles. Several ballistic missiles reached Israeli territory, causing...

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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard seizes a container ship...
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Commandos from Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard rappelled down from a helicopter onto an Israeli-affiliated container ship near the Strait of Hormuz and seized the vessel Saturday, the latest in a series of attacks between the two countries. The Middle East had braced for potential Iranian retaliation over a suspected Israeli strike earlier this month on an Iranian consular building in Syria that killed 12 people, including a senior Guard general who once commanded...

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Max Homa is among a group of...
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Max Homa figures if he can conquer the mental task of playing well in a group with Tiger Woods for 36 holes at the Masters, he can accomplish pretty much anything in golf. That includes winning his first major championship. Homa was at 6 under midway through the tournament and in contention heading into Saturday’s third round at Augusta National. The 33-year-old Homa is no stranger to winning. He has six PGA Tour victories and...

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US airlines ask the Biden administration not...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Large U.S. airlines and some of their unions are asking the Biden administration to stop approving any more flights between the United States and China because of what they call “anti-competitive” policies that China imposes on U.S. carriers. The airlines and unions said Thursday that China closed its market to U.S. carriers at the outbreak of the pandemic and imposed rules that still affect American operations and airline crews. “These actions demonstrated the clear need for...

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Thirteen men plead not guilty for role...
NEW YORK (AP) — Thirteen members of the Hasidic Jewish community pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges stemming from their alleged role in a dispute over an illegal tunnel built beneath a historic Brooklyn synagogue. The defendants, many of them international students from Israel, appeared in Brooklyn court Wednesday on charges of reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and obstruction of governmental administration. They were issued a limited protection order that bars them from making any excavations or alterations to the...

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Bryson DeChambeau, matured in both game and...
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — It took Bryson DeChambeau four years and 13 rounds to finally break par at Augusta National. His par. Or at least, what he once proclaimed to be his par. DeChambeau birdied his first three holes Thursday, made five more over his last seven, and opened with a 65 to take the early lead at the Masters. It was his best round ever in the season’s first major, and only his second in the 60s since...

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The Masters: When it starts, how to...
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — The 88th Masters got underway on Thursday following a 2 1/2-hour weather delay and ceremonial tee shots from Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Gary Player down Tea Olive, the first hole at Augusta National. Erik van Rooyen and Jake Knapp were the first golfers on the course. They will be followed be a host of threesomes, including defending champion Jon Rahm, Nick Dunlap and Matt Fitzpatrick at 1 p.m. No. 1 Scottie Scheffler follows in...

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Muslims worldwide celebrate Eid al-Fitr, but the...
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Muslims around the world celebrated the Eid al-Fitr holiday Wednesday, marking the end of the Islamic holy month with family reunions, new clothes and sweet treats. But the celebrations were overshadowed by the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s expected offensive in the city of Rafah despite efforts from its Western allies to halt the fighting after six months of war. In Istanbul, thousands of worshippers gathered at the Aya Sofya Mosque...

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