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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.

 
Ford to convert Ontario plant into electric...
DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. says it will spend $1.34 billion ($1.8 billion Canadian) to convert an SUV factory in suburban Toronto so it can build next-generation electric vehicles. The roughly 3,000 workers at the plant in Oakville, Ontario, are expected to keep their jobs depending on market conditions, the company said Tuesday. But some production workers will be furloughed during a six-month construction process to begin in the second quarter of 2024. Ford wouldn’t say which models...

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Strome helps Capitals deal hit to Islanders’...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ilya Sorokin allowed three goals on the first nine shots he faced behind a sloppy defense, and the New York Islanders’ playoff hopes took a significant hit with a 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Monday night. The Islanders needed only to win out against opponents out of contention to return to then postseason after a one-year absence. After an uninspired effort that lacked the intensity and urgency the situation warranted, they’ll need help to...

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North Korean leader vows ‘offensive’ nuclear expansion
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to enhance his nuclear arsenal in more “practical and offensive” ways as he met with senior military officials to discuss the country’s war preparations in the face of his rivals’ “frantic” military exercises, state media said Tuesday. The meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission on Monday came amid heightened tensions as the pace of both the North Korean weapons demonstrations and the U.S.-South Korean...

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Taliban ban restaurant gardens for families, women...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban have banned families and women from restaurants with gardens or green spaces in Afghanistan’s northwestern Herat province, an official said Monday. The moves followed complaints from religious scholars and members of the public about mixing of genders in such places, he said. It was the latest in a slew of restrictions imposed by the Taliban since they took power in August 2021. They have shut girls out of classrooms beyond sixth grade and...

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Avalanche fight back for critical 5-4 OT...
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon scored his second power-play goal of the game with 44.3 seconds left on the clock in overtime, and the Colorado Avalanche rallied for a 5-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night. Mikko Rantanen had two goals and two assists, and J.T. Compher also scored to help Colorado move two points ahead of Dallas atop the Central Division. The Stars hold the potential tiebreaker with more regulation wins, which made MacKinnon’s one-timer...

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Wild beat Blues 5-3 to keep pace...
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Ryan Hartman and Sam Steel scored short-handed goals 20 seconds apart in the first period and the Minnesota Wild earned two key late-season points by beating the St. Louis Blues 5-3 on Saturday night. Freddy Gaudreau, Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin also scored to help the Wild end a three-game skid, its longest in two months. Filip Gustavsson made 37 saves. Back after missing 13 games with a lower-body injury, Minnesota All-Star Kirill Kaprizov...

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Bouanga’s hat trick lifts LAFC to 3-0...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dénis Bouanga scored an unassisted goal in each half and finished with a hat trick to spark Los Angeles FC to a 3-0 victory over Austin FC on Saturday night. Bouanga found the net unassisted in the 40th minute to send LAFC (4-0-2) into halftime with a 1-0 lead. Bouanga added another unassisted goal in the 58th minute to push the advantage to 2-0 and put the finishing touches on the victory with a score...

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Afghan religious scholars criticize girls’ education ban
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan religious scholars Saturday criticized a ban on female education, as a key Taliban minister warned clerics not to rebel against the government on the controversial issue. Girls cannot go to school beyond sixth grade in Afghanistan, with the education ban extending to universities. Women are barred from public spaces, including parks, and most forms of employment. Last week, Afghan women were barred from working at the U.N., according to the global body, although the...

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Iraq, Syria’s Kurdish leader condemn attack on...
BAGHDAD (AP) — The commander of the main U.S.-backed force in Syria and Iraq’s presidency Saturday condemned what they say was a Turkish attack on an airport in northern Iraq. The condemnation came as the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces confirmed Saturday that its chief commander, Mazloum Abdi, was at the airport in northern Iraq at the time of the attack but withheld information until he returned home safely. Iraq’s presidency called the late Friday explosion in northern...

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Woodruff stars as Brewers beat Flaherty, Cardinals...
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Brandon Woodruff pitched four-hit ball into the sixth inning, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 on Friday night for their sixth straight win. Willy Adames hit a solo homer for Milwaukee, and rookie Garrett Mitchell collected two more hits. Christian Yelich had a run-scoring groundout. Woodruff (1-0) struck out four and walked two in 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander improved to 9-1 in his last 20 starts dating to last season. After...

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Save the date: One year until total...
NEW YORK (AP) — Dust off your eclipse glasses: It’s only a year until a total solar eclipse sweeps across North America. On April 8, 2024, the moon will cast its shadow across a stretch of the U.S., Mexico and Canada, plunging millions of people into midday darkness. It’s been less than six years since a total solar eclipse cut across the U.S., from coast to coast. That was on Aug. 21, 2017. If you miss next year’s spectacle,...

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David Pastrnak lifts Bruins past Maple Leafs,...
BOSTON (AP) — David Pastrnak scored his 57th goal of the season at 2:30 of overtime to give the history-chasing Boston Bruins a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night. Pastrnak blasted a shot from inside the left circle as the Bruins notched their 61st victory — one off the NHL season record set by Detroit in 1995-96 and matched by Tampa Bay in 2018-19. Jeremy Swayman made 31 saves for Boston, winners of four straight,...

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Robertson scores 2, Stars keep pace with...
DALLAS (AP) — Jason Robertson beat the first-period buzzer while scoring twice and the Dallas Stars kept pace in the tight Central Division playoff race with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night. Joe Pavelski had a goal and two assists and Colin Miller scored as the Stars reached 100 points after starting the night with the same total atop the Central as defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado and Minnesota. The Wild lost 4-1 at Pittsburgh...

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Pope washes feet in Holy Thursday rite...
VATICAN CITY (AP) — In a Holy Thursday ritual symbolizing humility, Pope Francis washed and dried the feet of a dozen residents of a Rome juvenile prison, assuring them of their dignity and telling them “any of us” can fall into sin. The Casal del Marmo facility on the outskirts of Rome is the same juvenile prison where Francis performed the first feet-washing ritual of his papacy, demonstrating his belief that the Catholic Church should give attention to people...

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North Korea warns ‘offensive action’ over allies’...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday threatened unspecified “offensive action” over the expansion of U.S. military exercises with rival South Korea as President Joe Biden’s special representative for North Korea flew to Seoul for talks with allies over the North’s growing nuclear threat. The North Korean comments came a day after the United States flew nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to the Korean Peninsula for joint aerial exercises with South Korean warplanes in their latest show of force...

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