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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.

 
Actors and writers strikes enter second week...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The combined strike by Hollywood actors and screenwriters is entering its second week with no sign that a swift ending will be achieved. For a week, actors including household names like Tina Fey, Kevin Bacon and wife Kyra Sedgwick, Rosario Dawson, David Duchovny and other stars have joined working class performers and writers on picket lines outside studios and corporate offices of streaming giants Amazon, MAX and Netflix. The actors’ regular appearance on picket lines...

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Tony Bennett, masterful stylist of American musical...
FILE – Tony Bennett performs at the Statue of Liberty Museum opening celebration on May 15, 2019, in New York. Bennett has canceled his fall and winter 2021 tour dates. The legendary crooner is pulling out of concerts in New York, Maryland, Connecticut, Arizona, Oklahoma and Canada. Ticket holders should check with the local venues for information regarding refunds. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) FILE – Tony Bennett performs at the Statue of Liberty Museum opening celebration on May...

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Americans descend on New Zealand to cheer...
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — The Americans are here. They may still be jet-lagged, they may still be wearing sweats, and they may have been stumbling through the streets of Auckland for the past few days, but some fans of the U.S. women’s national team broke through with their unmistakable red, white and blue costumes as part of a boisterous crowd at the opening match of the Women’s World Cup. The thing was, the Americans weren’t even playing. The...

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Prosecutor says Kevin Spacey used celebrity status...
LONDON (AP) — It was more than a coincidence that three of Kevin Spacey ‘s four accusers described similar crotch-grabbing incidents, a prosecutor said Wednesday in her closing argument at his sexual assault trial. Prosecutor Christine Agnew told a London jury that Spacey seized brief moments for an “opportunity grab” and was able to get away with it for years because he was a celebrity. The two-time Oscar winner long had benefited from a “trinity of protection,” knowing that...

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The Taliban use tasers, fire hoses and...
Dozens of Afghan women protested a beauty salon ban on Wednesday after the Taliban ordered their closure nationwide. Security forces used fire hoses, tasers and shot their guns into the air to break up the protest. The Taliban said earlier this month they were giving all salons in Afghanistan one month to wind down their businesses and close shop, drawing concern from international officials worried about the impact on female entrepreneurs. The Taliban say they are outlawing salons allegedly...

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Movie Review: She’s Perfect Barbie. He’s Scene-Stealing...
For someone who’s 11.5 inches tall and weighs under 8 ounces, poor Barbie’s had to carry an awfully heavy load over the years on that slender, plastic back of hers. Welcomed as a trailblazer in 1959 — An adult doll! With actual breasts! — she was nonetheless branded an anti-feminist a decade later when women’s rights marchers chanted “I Am Not a Barbie Doll,” referring to her unrealistic body type (and perhaps ignoring the fact that she was single,...

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Loudoun Co. envisions what US 50 commute...
Loudoun County — the fastest-developing area in the D.C. region — is trying to prioritize improvements to perpetually congested stretches of U.S. Route 50, a major commuter route through Northern Virginia. The county board of supervisors on Tuesday will discuss what changes can be made over the next 40 years to improve the east-west route that runs 86 miles through Virginia. In Loudoun County, U.S. 50 consists of two lanes in the rural western county, where the Virginia Department...

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Book Review: Climate fiction space whodunit ‘The...
“The Deep Sky” by Yume Kitasei (Flatiron Books) Asuka’s never been assured of her place in the mission to Planet X. She worked hard, trained and studied and pushed herself, but still just barely made it as the Alternate. So when an explosion busts a hole in the ship and kills the captain, it’s Asuka’s chance to prove her worth or sink into endless space. Yume Kitasei’s debut novel, “The Deep Sky,” begins in the pivotal moments just before...

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Diversify or die: San Francisco’s downtown is...
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jack Mogannam, manager of Sam’s Cable Car Lounge in downtown San Francisco, relishes the days when his bar stayed open past midnight every night, welcoming crowds that jostled on the streets, bar hopped, window browsed or just took in the night air. He’s had to drastically curtail those hours because of diminished foot traffic, and business is down 30%. A sign outside the lounge pleads: “We need your support!” “I’d stand outside my bar at...

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Actor, singer and style icon Jane Birkin...
PARIS (AP) — Actor and singer Jane Birkin, who made France her home and charmed the country with her English grace, natural style and social activism, has died at age 76. The London-born star and fashion icon was known for her musical and romantic relationship with French singer Serge Gainsbourg. Their songs notably included the steamy “Je t’aime moi non plus” (“I Love You, Me Neither”). Birkin’s ethereal, British-accented singing voice interlaced with his gruff baritone in the 1969...

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On the picket lines with Hollywood’s actors...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s a “Strike Girl Summer.” So read a picket sign as the sidewalks of Hollywood and midtown Manhattan teemed with actors on Day 1 of their strike, protesting alongside the writers who have been at it since May. Together, the two guilds have ground the entertainment industry to a halt. On both coasts, though, there was a buoyant mood in the air as picket lines were reinvigorated by the support of some of the 65,000...

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1 Fargo police officer killed, 2 injured...
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — One police officer was killed and two others were critically injured in a shooting on a busy street in Fargo, North Dakota that also left the suspect dead, police said. A witness told The Associated Press that she saw a car crash and police standing around before gunfire broke out. A civilian also was seriously wounded in the shooting that happened just before 3 p.m. Friday, police said in a late-night statement that provided no...

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Movie stars could be on picket lines...
SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, center, Ben Whitehair, left, and Joely Fisher attend a press conference announcing a strike by The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists on Thursday, July, 13, 2023, in Los Angeles. This marks the first time since 1960 that actors and writers will picket film and television productions at the same time. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)(Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, center, Ben Whitehair, left, and Joely Fisher attend a press conference announcing a...

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A heat wave named Cerberus has southern...
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Tourists in central Athens huddled under mist machines and zoo animals in Madrid were fed fruit popsicles Thursday as southern Europeans suffered through a heat wave that was projected to get much worse heading into the weekend. Temperatures in parts of Mediterranean Europe were forecast to reach as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 F) starting Friday. The high-pressure system affecting the region, which crossed the Mediterranean from north Africa, has been named Cerberus after...

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One-third of Americans under heat alerts as...
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) — More than a third of Americans were under extreme heat advisories, watches and warnings Thursday as a blistering heat wave that’s been baking the nation spread further into California, forcing residents to seek out air conditioning or find other ways to stay cool in triple-digit temperatures. The sweltering conditions were expected to build Friday and through the weekend in Central and Southern California, where many residents should prepare for the hottest weather of the...

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