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☆ Cape Town home decked in thousands of lights spreads festive joy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CAPE TOWN, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Matthew Haines, who fell in love with Christmas lights as a child, has decorated his home with thousands of twinkling bulbs, aiming to bring some festive cheer into people's lives for free after a tough few years. People of all ages come in droves to Haines's home in the coastal town of Fish Hoek to see the house, decked with more than 200,000 Christmas lights. "I fell in love with Christmas lights when I was very young... It’s always brought me joy," Haines said. [1/7] Visitors takes selfies outside the Haines residence in Fish Hoek, where people can experience over 120 000 colourful and glittering Christmas lights, in Cape Town, South Africa, December 10, 2022. With a display of Santa Claus in the background, children and elderly women danced around, taking in the festive atmosphere.

After a 26-day mission that took it on a historic journey around the moon, NASA’s next-generation Orion capsule has returned to Earth. NASA has touted the Artemis I test flight as laying the foundation for returning U.S. astronauts to the moon. Artemis I was designed to test the Orion capsule and the huge Space Launch System rocket that carries it into orbit. NASA plans two more Artemis test flights before it launches regular missions to the moon to establish a lunar base camp. Artemis II will launch four astronauts in the Orion spacecraft on an expedition around the moon.

The Rashid Rover was built by Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and is being delivered by the HAKUTO-R lander, engineered by Japanese lunar exploration company ispace. The Rashid Rover, named after the late Sheikh Rashid Al Saeed, the former ruler of Dubai, will analyze the plasma on the lunar surface and conduct experiments to understand more about lunar dust. The Rashid Rover was built at Dubai's Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre. Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC)The rover will be entirely solar-powered and equipped with four cameras, including a microscopic and thermal one. Al Marzooqi hopes that the lunar surface mission will be a stepping stone to Mars.

[1/4] NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion crew capsule, lifts off from launch complex 39-B on the unmanned Artemis 1 mission to the moon, seen from Sebastian, Florida, U.S. November 16, 2022. REUTERS/Joe Rimkus Jr.Dec 11 (Reuters) - NASA's uncrewed Orion capsule hurtled through space on Sunday on the final return leg of its voyage around the moon and back, winding up the inaugural mission of the Artemis lunar program 50 years to the day after Apollo's final moon landing. The gumdrop-shaped Orion capsule, carrying a simulated crew of three mannequins wired with sensors, was due to parachute into the Pacific at 9:39 a.m. PST (1739 GMT) near Guadalupe Island, off Mexico's Baja California peninsula. They were the last of 12 NASA astronauts to walk on the moon during a total of six Apollo missions starting in 1969. "It is our priority-one objective," NASA's Artemis I mission manager Mike Sarafin said at a briefing last week.

☆ Nearly 25% of U.S. homebuyers want to move — this state is the top destination
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Mike Winters | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Nearly 25% of the property search queries on online real estate brokerage Redfin.com are for cities where the person doesn't live, according to the company's most recent data. Out of 100 metro areas examined during the three months ended in October, the following 10 cities had the highest net inflow of property searches on Redfin's website. Net inflow is the number of people looking to move into a city minus the number of people looking to leave. To measure the share of homebuyers looking to relocate from one metro to another, a person browsing Redfin for properties in another city counts as a migrant. The net inflow rankings were compiled based on the total number of migrants.

☆ Japan's ispace launches world's first commercial moon lander
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Rocky Swift | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ispace Inc's HAKUTO-R mission took off without incident from Cape Canaveral, Florida, after two postponements caused by inspections of its SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The project was a finalist in the Google Lunar XPRIZE before being revived as a commercial venture. The M1 lander will deploy two robotic rovers, a two-wheeled, baseball-sized device from Japan's JAXA space agency and the four-wheeled Rashid explorer made by the United Arab Emirates. "The Rashid rover is part of the United Arab Emirates ambitious space programme," said Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also vice-president of the United Arab Emirates and who watched the launch at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre. Privately funded ispace has a contract with NASA to ferry payloads to the moon from 2025 and is aiming to build a permanently staffed lunar colony by 2040.

☆ JetBlue and American announced 11 all-new routes as the pair beefs up its controversial Northeast Alliance — see the full list
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Taylor Rains | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

JetBlue Airways and American Airlines announced 11 new routes as part of their Northeast Alliance. Walter Bibikow/Getty ImagesJetBlue will start once-daily flights between New York and Hyannis near Cape Code in the spring of 2023. Just dance/ShutterstockJetBlue will start once-daily flights between New York and Bermuda in the spring of 2023. Aleenah AnsariJetBlue will start once-daily flights between Boston and Vancouver in the spring of 2023. American will start once-daily flights between New York and Knoxville on May 5.

SANDWICH, Mass.—Rob Martin eases the throttle on his 40-foot boat, pulls on his work gloves and prepares to hoist a string of lobster traps from the seafloor below. But instead of looking for a buoy tethered to the traps on the bottom, as lobstermen typically do when checking their traps, he listens for telltale beeps from an electronic device mounted in the wheelhouse. “I can look at my plotter and see where all my gear is,” Mr. Martin, who has fished the waters off Cape Cod for 42 years, said during a recent outing offshore. “Once you start using this stuff, it’s pretty simple.”

☆ The US Navy spent 4 weeks blasting one of its aircraft carriers to figure out how to keep enemies from sinking them
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Harrison Kass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In May 2005, the US Navy sank the decommissioned aircraft carrier America in the Atlantic Ocean. The USS America (CV-66) was one of three Kitty Hawk-class carriers built in the 1960s. Building the USS America of the Kitty Hawk-classUSS America in the Indian Ocean on April 24, 1983. The career of the USS AmericaA U-2 reconnaissance aircraft on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS America. A declassified image of USS America sinking after four weeks of live-fire weapons damage tests in May 2005.

☆ How to stay safe in an extreme solar flare, where the sun bombards Earth with radiation and magnetic havoc
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Stay safe during a solar storm by preparing to lose power, printing out maps, and staying off planes. What is a solar flare and how do they affect Earth? CMEs primarily affect the magnetosphere, jostling Earth's magnetic field lines in an event called a geomagnetic storm, also known as a solar storm. NASAGetting ready for the possibility of a major solar flare isn't that different from getting ready for any other disaster. If you follow the basics of disaster preparedness, you'll probably be ready for a solar flare.

Work is finally underway on the world’s largest radio astronomy observatory. Known as the Square Kilometre Array, the mega telescope consists of huge clusters of dishes and antennas spread across remote parts of South Africa and Western Australia. The Square Kilometre Array has been called one of the biggest scientific projects of the 21st century. A journey to deliver the world’s largest scientific instrument,” she said in a statement. The South African component will consist of nearly 200 dishes, expanded from the 64-dish MeerKAT telescope that already exists on the site.

☆ North Korea Shoots Off About 130 Artillery Shells
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Dasl Yoon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SEOUL—North Korea fired about 130 artillery shells off its west and east coasts on Monday, as the U.S. and its allies pressure the Kim regime to abandon its weapons programs. The artillery shells were fired at around 2:59 p.m. from Kumgang county, which lies north of the heavily fortified demilitarized zone, and Jangsan Cape located on the country’s west coast, the military in Seoul said. The artillery firings involved multiple rocket launchers and splashed into the maritime buffer zones north of the Northern Limit Line, a disputed inter-Korean maritime border.

☆ A Lufthansa Airbus A350 was forced to emergency land in Angola leaving some passengers stranded in the country for days
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Taylor Rains | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Lufthansa Airbus A350 diverted to Luanda, Angola, after suffering an engine issue on Saturday. Passengers were stuck on the plane for hours after landing, and their passports were confiscated. Lufthansa told Insider it sent a team of technicians to inspect the aircraft. The airline told Insider the passengers were given a hotel room, where they "were looked after around the clock by Lufthansa staff." However, NTV reported some passengers were offered flights for days or even weeks later, but Lufthansa told Insider that all passengers will have left by Monday — three days after the diversion to Luanda.

☆ South Africa's Ramaphosa hits back as party backs him over 'Farmgate' scandal
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Kopano Gumbi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A copy of court papers filed by Ramaphosa's lawyers in the Constitutional Court showed Ramaphosa wanted the panel report "reviewed, declared unlawful and set aside." Ramaphosa also wants any steps taken by the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, over the panel report to be declared unlawful and invalid, the papers showed. South Africa's parliament postponed by a week to Dec. 13 a debate that had been scheduled for Tuesday on the report. [1/5] South African President Cyril Ramaphosa leaves the African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, December 5, 2022. That we will not support this report," Mashatile told reporters.

☆ China operating over 100 police stations across the world with the help of some host nations, report claims
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Nina Dos Santos | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Madrid-based human rights campaigner Safeguard Defenders says it found evidence China was operating 48 additional police stations abroad since the group first revealed the existence of 54 such stations in September. When approached by CNN last month about Safeguard Defenders’ original allegations, China’s foreign affairs ministry said the overseas stations were staffed by volunteers. However, the organization’s latest report claims one police network it examined had hired 135 people for its first 21 stations. The organization also sourced a three-year contract for a worker hired at an overseas station in Stockholm. The NGO determines Italy has hosted 11 Chinese police stations, including in Venice and in Prato, near Florence.

☆ These are the best U.S. states to raise a family if you make over $70,000 a year
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Celia Fernandez | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Rocket Mortgage's November report ranked the best states to raise a family based on data from U.S. News and WalletHub. A new report from Rocket Mortgage used data from U.S. News and WalletHub to rank states according to several criteria: family funhealth and safety concernseducation and childcare possibilitiesoverall affordabilitysocial and economic factors Overall, the report found that the best states in the U.S. to raise a family are home to major cities that are continuing to grow in population size and emerging industries. 1 best state to raise a family if you make over $70,000 a year: MassachusettsTotal score: 65.21 Massachusetts is a state that offers everything from the Berkshire Mountains to the beaches of Cape Cod and a major city like Boston. Boston is home to two of the best hospitals in the country: Massachusetts General (rank: 5) and Brigham and Women's (rank: 14). 5 best U.S. states to raise a family if you make over $70,000/year

☆ Analysis: Ghana overhaul a test for $1 billion World Bank-backed debt
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Jorgelina Do Rosario | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] A girl walks past a flag of Ghana outside the Cape Coast Castle, in Ghana, July 28, 2019. "If Ghana decides to use the guarantee, it has to pay back immediately to the World Bank," Mitu Gulati, a law professor at the University of Virginia and debt restructuring expert, said. "This is a highly protected instrument that was issued with the logic that Ghana would never default on the World Bank," Gulati said. Ghana 2030 bondIN OR OUT? Ghana has not yet said whether the 2030 issue will be part of its debt restructuring.

☆ The incredible true story of the time an astronaut played golf on the moon
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Jack Bantock | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

The resulting creation, a Wilson Staff Dyna-Power 6-iron head, was tucked away in Shepard’s space suit for launch, with a few balls hidden in a sock. “Miles and miles and miles,” the jubilant astronaut remarked as the ball sailed out of his view, swallowed by the infinite blackness of space. What does any of that have to do with an astronaut playing golf on the moon? Saunders believed Shepard’s “miles and miles” remark to have been made tongue-in-cheek, an almost instinctive reflex of his hyper-competitive, “fighter-jock” nature. “We always talk about getting to the moon, landing on the moon, returning back to Earth – that’s how we think of the moon,” Odom said.

☆ England take unbeaten record against African teams into Senegal clash
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Mark Gleeson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DOHA, Dec 1 (Reuters) - England will take an unbeaten record against African opposition into Sunday’s World Cup last-16 clash against Senegal – the first meeting between the two countries. It will be England’s 21st clash against an African team, the last coming in March against Senegal’s regional rivals Ivory Coast, who a second-string England easily beat 3-0 at Wembley. Morocco were England's first African opponents at a World Cup in 1986 when a 0-0 draw at Monterrey proved a breakthrough result for African football. England beat Egypt at the 1990 World Cup in Cagliari and Tunisia twice in the 1998 and 2018 editions. If any England players need advice on scoring against an African team ahead of Sunday's clash they need look no further than their manager Gareth Southgate.

☆ Explainer: The Phala Phala farmgate scandal hanging over South Africa's Ramaphosa
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Wendell Roelf | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Ramaphosa has denied any wrongdoing. But with less than a month to go before the party chooses its next candidate, he is battling for political survival. HOW IT ALL STARTEDEverything changed for Ramaphosa when South Africa's former spy chief, Arthur Fraser, walked into a police station in June and accused him of money laundering and covering up a large theft of cash. Ramaphosa, acknowledged there had been a break-in and said that cash proceeds from the sale of game had been stolen. RAMIFICATIONSThe affair has been a huge embarrassment for Ramaphosa who has repeatedly spoken about taking a tough line on graft.

[1/2] South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his State of the Nation Address at parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, June 20, 2019. REUTERS/Rodger Bosch/Pool via REUTERSJOHANNESBURG, Dec 1 (Reuters) - President Cyril Ramaphosa, the anti-apartheid champion who become one of South Africa's wealthiest businessmen and then its most powerful politician, was battling for his political survival on Thursday. Ramaphosa was the leading negotiator for the African National Congress (ANC) during talks that led to a peaceful end to apartheid in 1994, which enabled Nelson Mandela to become South Africa's first Black president. Shanduka Holdings, which is unlisted, has become one of the biggest black-owned groups in the country, holding 10% stakes in South Africa's biggest bank, Standard Bank, and insurer Liberty. Ramaphosa's negotiating skills at constitutional talks in the early 1990s won him grudging respect from South Africa's last white president, F.W.

[1/3] South African president Cyril Ramaphosa speaks at the Green Hydrogen Summit at Century City in Cape Town, South Africa, November 29, 2022. The inquiry centred on the theft of a millions of dollars of cash from the billionaire president's farm in 2020, which came to light in June. The country's biggest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, has called for an early election and the report has plunged the governing African National Congress (ANC) into crisis. The ANC's executive committee is due to meet to discuss the panel report on Thursday evening. Asked by Reuters about a local media report that Ramaphosa was due to address the nation on Thursday, Ramaphosa's spokesman Vincent Magwenya said: "An announcement is imminent.

☆ Why Saudi Arabia is hosting one of the world's biggest raves
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Nadeen Ebrahim | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

The kingdom’s Soundstorm music festival, which began in 2019, is back again for its fourth year and will start on Thursday. “(It) is a particularly powerful example because it seeks to bring together young people and women from across Saudi Arabia and the world,” she said. By contrast, Las Vegas’ Electric Daisy Carnival, considered North America’s biggest dance music festival, had an attendance of over 400,000 this year. Last year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that performers should either “speak up” about Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations or not attend the festival at all. Some however argue that opening up countries to international norms and values can allow for better discussion on human rights shortcomings.

☆ New space observatory helps solve mystery involving enormous black holes
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Most galaxies are built around humongous black holes. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). They have the biggest, scariest black holes. IXPE, launched last December as a collaboration between the U.S. space agency NASA and the Italian Space Agency, measures the brightness and polarization — a property of light involving the orientation of the electromagnetic waves — of X-ray light from cosmic sources. “Black holes are unique laboratories to study fundamental physics in extreme conditions we cannot replicate on Earth,” Liodakis said.

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