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.

 
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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

 
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,...

Read More

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,...

Read More

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...

Read More

 
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...

Read More

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...

Read More

Turkey closes airspace to flights using north...
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey has closed its airspace to flights to and from an airport in Kurdish-administered northern Iraq, a top Turkish official announced Wednesday, citing an alleged increase in Kurdish militant activity threatening flight safety. The airspace was closed Monday to flights taking off from and landing at Suleimaniyah International Airport, in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tanju Bilgic said. The closure was a response to an alleged increase in the activities of the...

Read More

 
Zelenskyy visit tightens bonds with Poland amid...
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy won new pledges of deeper cooperation on a state visit to Poland on Wednesday as the neighbors sought to forge a tighter relationship in defiance of Russia’s full-scale war against Kyiv that has reshaped international alliances. Polish President Andrzej Duda said his country has provided four Soviet-designed MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine to help it beat back the Kremlin’s assault. Four more are in the process of being handed over and...

Read More

Denver’s more moderate mayoral candidates pull ahead
DENVER (AP) — As votes for Denver’s mayoral election poured in Tuesday night, two of the more moderate candidates in the unusually large and divergent field of 16 contestants pulled far ahead in the initial results. If early results hold, Kelly Brough, the president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, and Mike Johnston, a former state senator, could be pushed to a runoff election. They would leave behind the more progressive candidates in a largely left-leaning...

Read More

Grassroots faith leaders navigate a Northern Ireland...
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Teenagers from Catholic and Protestant youth groups lit candles on a Belfast street in memory of those who perished in the Holocaust, then listened solemnly to a warning about the dangers of Northern Ireland’s own infamous religious bigotries. “We all know what prejudice is,” said Stephen Hughes, leader in charge of St. Peter’s Immaculata Youth Centre, his voice robustly carrying over the twilight rush-hour traffic. “We were encouraged to hate each other because they’re...

Read More

 
Grassroots faith leaders navigate a Northern Ireland...
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Teenagers from Catholic and Protestant youth groups lit candles on a Belfast street in memory of those who perished in the Holocaust, then listened solemnly to a warning about the dangers of Northern Ireland’s own infamous religious bigotries. “We all know what prejudice is,” said Stephen Hughes, leader in charge of St. Peter’s Immaculata Youth Centre, his voice robustly carrying over the twilight rush-hour traffic. “We were encouraged to hate each other because they’re...

Read More

US chip controls threaten China’s technology ambitions
BEIJING (AP) — Furious at U.S. efforts that cut off access to technology to make advanced computer chips, China’s leaders appear to be struggling to figure out how to retaliate without hurting their own ambitions in telecoms, artificial intelligence and other industries. President Xi Jinping’s government sees the chips that are used in everything from phones to kitchen appliances to fighter jets as crucial assets in its strategic rivalry with Washington and efforts to gain wealth and global influence....

Read More

Women’s NCAA Tournament features plethora of March...
DALLAS (AP) — This year’s record-breaking women’s NCAA Tournament featured breakout stars, upsets and capped off with the flamboyant Kim Mulkey leading LSU to its first basketball championship. Mulkey’s unforgettable outfits were just one of several memorable moments. There was Caitlin Clark’s 40-point triple-double in the Elite Eight game, the drama of South Carolina’s quest to complete the latest undefeated season and two No. 1 seeds being knock off before the Sweet 16. It led to the highest attendance...

Read More