WORLD
'Best day ever': Bezos after first unpiloted suborbital flight
Bezos flew beyond the Karman line -- 100 kms above the ground and the internationally recognised boundary of space -- on board his company Blue Origin's fully automated and reusable New Shepard rocket. The mission lasted 10 minutes and 10 seconds. He was accompanied by his brother Mark, 82-year-old female aviator Wally Funk and an 18-year-old physics student Oliver Daemen on the first human flight of the New Shepard rocket, NS-16.
Bezos attempts history with flight to edge of space
New Shepard launched its first human flight, NS-16, from Launch Site One in West Texas at 9 am EDT (6.30 pm IST). The rocket aims to fly beyond the Karman line and the trip will last approximately 11 minutes from launch to capsule landing. Astronauts will experience three to four minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth in their space capsule.
Covid hospitalisations spike in LA County
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 1,233 new cases and two new deaths in the last 24 hours, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday. There are 528 infected people currently hospitalised in Los Angeles County. On June 15, there were 218 people hospitalised, said the department, adding that test positivity increased 10-fold from the 0.4 per cent on June 15 to Monday's test positivity rate of 4.1 per cent.
'Americas account for a quarter of global Covid cases, 40% deaths'
"There were almost one million cases reported in the Americas last week," Xinhua news agency quoted Maria Van Kerkhove, Technical Lead on Covid-19 for the WHO, as saying in a live social media Q&A on Monday. "In Brazil there were almost 300,000 cases reported last week. In the US, more than 200,000 cases reported," she said.
Oregon wildfire scorches area 1.5 times the size of NYC
As of Monday, the active wildfire, which has burned through more than 300,000 acres, was 25 per cent contained from 22 per cent the previous day, reports Xinhua news agency. According to the fire officials, another 2,500 structures have been threatened by the massive blaze which has also triggered the expansion of mass evacuation orders.
S Korea readies law to curb Google's in-app billing system
Over the past year, multiple lawmakers have proposed bills to curb app market operators from imposing their proprietary billing systems on in-app purchases amid growing complaints from local app developers and content creators over high fees. Last September, Google said it would impose its billing system on all app developers on its mobile Android operating system's Play store from October this year.
Plan to build routes to China via PoK likely to irk India
The new routes through Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), which India claims as part of its territory will not go down well in New Delhi, which has already rejected the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as it pases through this zone. CPEC begins in Gwadar on the Arabian Sea coast, but has to pass through PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan before it heads towards Kashgar, its terminus in China's Xinjiang region.
4th wave hits France, tougher sanctions announced
"We are seeing a wave faster than all the previous ones," Attal said while addressing a press conference late on Monday. He noted that the incidence rate has spiked by nearly 125 per cent in one week, "an increase so strong, so sudden that we had never known since the beginning of the epidemic in our country", reports Xinhua news agency. The Delta variant now accounts for 80 per cent of the overall infections in France, he added.
Biden downplays inflation fears before infrastructure bill vote
"Our experts believe and the data shows that most of the price increases we've seen were expected and are expected to be temporary," Biden said in remarks on the economy at the White House on Monday, pushing back against fears of persistent inflation. The White House is concerned that fears of rising prices could derail Biden's legislative agenda, which includes massive spending packages.
2 Americans get jail terms for helping Ghosn flee Japan
On Monday, the Tokyo District Court sentenced Michael Taylor, a 60-year-old former Green Beret, to two years in prison, and his 28-year-old son Peter to one year and eight months, reports Xinhua news agency. In Japan, the maximum penalty for helping a defendant escape is three years in prison. Presiding Judge Hideo Nirei said that there was no prospect of holding Ghosn's trial because of his escape.
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