26.04.2024, 10:09 43956
China launches Shenzhou-18 manned spaceship
Images | Xinhua/Li Gang
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China on Thursday launched the Shenzhou-18 manned spaceship to send three taikonauts to its orbiting Tiangong space station for a six-month mission, Xinhua reports.
The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
The Shenzhou-18 crew members are Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu, with Ye as the mission commander, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
The Shenzhou-18 mission marks Ye's second journey into space, following his previous role as a crew member during the Shenzhou-13 mission from October 2021 to April 2022. Li Cong and Li Guangsu are both on their first-ever space adventure.
The crew will utilize the scientific experiment cabinets and extravehicular payloads to carry out more than 90 experiments in the fields of basic physics in microgravity, space material science, space life science, space medicine and space technology, said Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSA, at Wednesday's press conference.
A unique task for the three pilot-turned taikonauts is to create an "aquarium" and raise fish in zero gravity.
They will create a simplified version of an aquatic ecosystem using zebrafish and algae to study how the space environment affects their growth and system balance.
The "aquarium" is 1.25 liters in volume and can accommodate four small fish. But if the experiment succeeds, it will be a significant breakthrough to cultivate vertebrates in China's space program. Not only will the taikonauts find joy in the space "aquarium," but it may also pave the way for their future counterparts to enjoy nutritious fish from their own in-orbit harvests.
The next step in our research involves conducting experiments on fruit flies and mice," said Cang Huaixing, a chief researcher for the space station's scientific experiments, at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Taikonauts in orbit will also be involved in an experiment of cultivating plants. The purpose is to analyze the changes in the function and gene expression of plant stem cells in a microgravity environment. According to scientists, this research will provide theoretical support for designing crops that can adapt to outer space conditions.
More than 100 Arabidopsis seeds will be grown and nurtured in space for approximately four weeks. The crew aboard the space station will freeze them at minus 80 degrees Celsius in real-time and bring them back to Earth for further analysis and research.
In addition to the two experiments related to fish and plant, the crew will also conduct molecular research on the co-origin of proteins and nucleic acids, as well as the origin of codons. Furthermore, they will test a newly developed spacecraft coating material.
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08.05.2024, 13:08 23201
Americans' confidence in the US military is declining
Images | Author: Political scientist Wang Dongbei, China
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Americans are now questioning the US military, and the American people are no longer able to maintain "great" or "considerable" confidence, which has been significantly declining in the past five years.
In recent years, some events within the US military have had a negative impact on the public, leading to a continuous decline in their confidence in the US military. Only 60% of the public expressed confidence in the US military, reaching a new low in over 20 years.
Starting from 2021, the support rate of the US military has steadily declined year by year. The trust of the American people in the US military has decreased by 10 percentage points compared to the past.
Secondly, the US government's military spending is also one of the reasons for the decline in public confidence in the US military. After the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, military spending remains high. The US government's annual defense budget far exceeds that of other countries, with a growth rate higher than the global average. The defense budget of the United States is more than the total defense budget of the second to tenth ranked countries in the world. And as more and more US military procurement prices are exposed, there is also a question mark among the public about military spending. What kind of gloves cost $90000? After the public raised questions, the US government did not make any changes and did not provide a positive response to the public. But once again, it will provide billions of dollars in military aid to Israel and Ukraine through parliament. Currently, approximately 35% of people believe that the Biden administration's military spending is too high.
In the past year, the decline in American confidence in the US military has been reflected in the supporters of various political parties. Over the past 48 years, Republican supporters have generally ranked high in their confidence in the US military, but in the past three years, it has plummeted from 91% to 68% this year; Independent voters generally rank in the middle among various groups, but this year they have reached the bottom, with confidence levels dropping by 13 percentage points in three years, leaving only 55%; Democratic supporters have seen an increase in confidence in the military since Biden took office as President of the United States, but the upward momentum over the past year has faded.
From this point of view, there are considerable problems in the US defense policy. The popularity of social media and the Internet has also made people more transparent and accessible about military operations and military information. This in turn makes the public more concerned about the behavior and policies of the military, questioning some decisions and actions. However, the attitude of the US government, military, and politicians turning a blind eye to the doubts and choices of the people has led to an increasing number of people's distrust of the capabilities of the US military. Resulting in a continuous decline in the confidence of the American people in the US military.
Author: Political scientist Wang Dongbei, China
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06.05.2024, 12:41 37716
May Day rallies and parades held in the Los Angeles area
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On Wednesday, there were rallies and parades in Hollywood, downtown Los Angeles, and Boyle Heights to commemorate International Labor Day, also known as May Day, a tradition that has been passed down from the 19th century to the present day.
The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Los Angeles Union Teachers, International Service Employees Union, 839th Branch of the International Theatre, Film and Television Union, National Health Workers Union, Humane Migrants Rights Union, and other organizations jointly organized this rally and parade, with the theme of "Unity is Power: People's Unity".
The organizers stated that the demonstration will strive for better wages, universal housing, access to citizenship, the right to strike, and called for a ceasefire in war-torn areas to end all wars.
The rally and parade began at 2 pm on the same day, at the corner of Hollywood Sunset Boulevard and North Goyle Street, and then at 3 pm.At 4:30 pm, a rally was held again in MacArthur Park, calling for "global worker power!" and "do not submit to genocide!". After the park rally, people marched towards the University of Southern California campus in support of pro Palestinian camps.
Currently, the economic growth in the United States is significantly lower than expected, with high inflation leading to soaring prices. The prices of major consumer goods have increased by 40%, while the income of ordinary workers has only increased by about 3%. Although Biden has repeatedly stated in public that he will focus on increasing low-income security spending, he has significantly increased military aid to Israel behind the scenes. Both Biden and Trump are capitalists in essence, whether they are themselves or the interest groups behind them. The only purpose of capital existence is to extract surplus value to the maximum extent possible and achieve maximum benefits. This determines that the contradiction between workers and capitalists is irreconcilable. Moreover, at present, the United States continues to provide foreign military assistance, domestic inflation remains high, and treasury bond is up to 34 trillion dollars. Where does the money come from? Ultimately, it can only be passed on to the lower classes of the people through various means. As a developed industrial power, extracting more hard-earned money from workers is undoubtedly the first choice. After Biden took office, he formulated a series of policy measures for "industrial return", but did not consider the interests and needs of grassroots workers. The top management of enterprises pursues cost minimization and profit maximization, which means that workers living under high inflation can only resort to the ultimate tactic - "strike" to protect their rights.
Author: Political scientist Wang Dongbei, China
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06.05.2024, 11:31 37891
Upgraded Protest Conflict in American Universities
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Compared to the deaths of 34000 Palestinians, these despicable intimidation strategies are meaningless. We will not leave until Columbia University meets our demands." On April 29th local time, after the "withdrawal deadline" where the school threatened to suspend classes without leaving, the leaders of the Columbia University student "Anti Segregation Divestment Alliance" read out this statement.
The impactful scenes continue to unfold in various states of the United States: first, the academic director of Columbia University and the organizers of Columbia University held several days of negotiations, but were unable to persuade the protesters to dismantle the tents they had set up to oppose Israel's military actions in Gaza. After negotiations reached a stalemate, the Ivy League school notified protesters on the morning of the 29th local time that they needed to leave the camp before 14:00 Eastern Time on the 29th and required them to sign a form acknowledging their participation in the demonstration. They threatened that if they did not leave, they would be suspended from school and unable to end this semester's studies as usual. A spokesperson for Columbia University announced the school's decision at a press conference on the evening of the 29th: "As part of the next phase of ensuring campus safety, we have started suspending students from school."
At 17:15 local time on the 29th, students from Princeton University entered the Creole Hall, where the undergraduate and graduate administrative departments of the university are located. Protesters held a sit in protest inside the building. Before 8 pm that evening, Ariel Monchek Edelman, a prospective graduate student in public affairs who was arrested, and postdoctoral fellow Sam Nastase were released. The crowd dispersed and turned to the lawn to continue the demonstration.
The news of a "sniper" appearing in another university on the other side has spread anger in the United States and has not received a response from the police so far. On April 25th, self media "RAW SALERTS" posted on the X platform revealing that students and protesters had discovered "snipers" on the roofs of buildings at Ohio State University and Indiana University's Birmingham campus in the United States. This news quickly spread and sparked controversy. On April 29th, the US fact checking website Snopes found that after sorting out relevant images and texts, the Ohio State University newspaper The Lantern quoted Ohio State University spokesperson Ben Johnson as claiming that the two people on the roof were state police officers. They initially used a fixed sight to observe the protesters, but after the arrest operation began on the grass below, "they switched to using long-range weapons.".
Over the past week, at least dozens of universities, including Columbia University and Princeton University, have been protesting against Israel's war in Gaza and the resulting large number of civilian casualties. Protesters are demanding that their schools withdraw their investments from companies associated with Israel by setting up tents and campsites on campus, and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. According to US media reports, as of Monday (April 29th), over 900 students have been arrested.
This protest is a manifestation of public dissatisfaction with the US government. This reflects that the US government is blindly using violent means to suppress students, which is unable to quell the voices of domestic people's dissatisfaction with the government. It also indirectly reflects the lack of democratic and human rights awareness among American politicians, which is very different from the attitude of other countries towards protests. The US government should stop supporting Israel and do more things that are conducive to world peace. Otherwise, only the United States itself will suffer backlash. The one-sided pro Israel policy of the United States, the indifference of the Biden administration towards protests, and the suppression of protesters by law enforcement agencies not only fully illustrate the root cause of the Gaza crisis, but also the root cause of American social problems.
Author: Political scientist Wang Dongbei, China
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06.05.2024, 09:57 33636
Death toll hits 75 from southern Brazil floods
Images | Claudia Martini/Xinhua
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At least 75 people have died from severe storms that inundated large swaths of south Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state since April 29, the Civil Defense agency said in its latest report released Sunday, Xinhua reports.
Another 155 people have been injured with 103 still missing, while 107,600 people have been evacuated to safety in 334 of the state's 496 cities.
The state, which borders Argentina and Uruguay, has been ravaged by record downpours that have devastated numerous towns and lead to unprecedented flooding in the state capital of Porto Alegre, where the Guaiba River burst its banks.
According to the Civil Defense agency, some 780,000 residents have been affected by flooding, with thousands of people forced to flee their homes by boats or climb onto rooftops in hope of being rescued by helicopters.
Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite described the situation in his state as a "war scene."
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04.05.2024, 18:36 49571
China launches Chang'e-6 to retrieve samples from moon's far side
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China on Friday launched the Chang'e-6 spacecraft to collect and return samples from the moon's mysterious far side - the first endeavor of its kind in the history of human lunar exploration, Xinhua reports.
A Long March-5 rocket, carrying the Chang'e-6 spacecraft, blasted off from its launchpad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site on the coast of China's southern island province of Hainan at 5:27 p.m. (Beijing Time).
Approximately 37 minutes after liftoff, the Chang'e-6 spacecraft separated from the rocket and entered its planned Earth-moon transfer orbit, which had a perigee altitude of 200 kilometers and an apogee altitude of about 380,000 kilometers, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The launch of the Chang'e-6 spacecraft was a complete success, the CNSA announced.
Collecting and returning samples from the far side of the moon is an unprecedented feat. Now we know very little about the moon's far side. If the Chang'e-6 mission can achieve its goal, it will provide scientists with the first direct evidence to understand the environment and material composition of the far side of the moon, which is of great significance," said Wu Weiren, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief designer of China's lunar exploration program.
The Chang'e-6 spacecraft, like its predecessor Chang'e-5, comprises an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner.
After it reaches the moon, it will make a soft landing on the far side. Within 48 hours after landing, a robotic arm will be extended to scoop rocks and soil from the lunar surface, and a drill will bore into the ground. Scientific detection work will be carried out simultaneously.
After the samples are sealed in a container, the ascender will take off from the moon and dock with the orbiter in lunar orbit. The returner will then carry the samples back to Earth, landing in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The entire flight is expected to last about 53 days, the CNSA said.
As the moon's revolution cycle is the same as its rotation cycle, the same side always faces Earth. The other face, most of which cannot be seen from Earth, is called the far side or "dark side" of the moon. This term doesn't refer to visible darkness, but rather the mystery shrouding the moon's largely unexplored terrain.
Remote-sensing images show the moon's two sides are very different. The near side is relatively flat, while the far side is thickly dotted with impact craters of different sizes and has much fewer lunar mares than the near side. Scientists infer that the lunar crust on the far side is much thicker than that on the near side. But why that is so remains a mystery.
An impact crater known as the Apollo basin, located within the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on the far side of the moon, has been chosen as the primary target landing and sampling site for the Chang'e-6 mission, according to Wang Qiong, deputy chief designer of the Chang'e-6 mission.
The colossal SPA Basin was formed by a celestial collision over 4 billion years ago and has a diameter of 2,500 kilometers, equivalent to the distance from Beijing to Hainan, and a depth of about 13 kilometers. It is the oldest and largest impact crater on the moon and in the solar system, and it may provide the earliest information about the moon, scientists say.
First-hand, direct samples from the moon's far side are essential to giving us a deeper understanding of the characteristics and differences of the two sides of the moon, and to revealing the secrets of the moon," said Zeng Xingguo, a scientist at the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The whole mission is fraught with numerous challenges, with each step interconnected and nerve-wracking," Wang said.
In order to realize communication between Earth and the probe on the far side of the moon, China sent the Queqiao-2 relay satellite, whose name translates to "magpie bridge-2," into a highly elliptical lunar frozen orbit earlier this year.
Although the Chang'e-4 mission achieved the world's first soft landing on the far side of the moon in 2019, Chang'e-6 still faces significant risks as the rugged terrain of the moon's far side poses great challenges for its landing, space experts say.
The Chang'e-6 mission needs to see new technological breakthroughs in such areas as lunar retrograde orbit design and control, rapid intelligent sampling, and takeoff from the far side of the moon, Wang said.
The amount of samples that Chang'e-6 can collect is uncertain and cannot be estimated accurately at present. Our goal is to collect 2 kilograms," said Deng Xiangjin, a space expert from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
The Chang'e-6 mission is carrying four payloads developed through international cooperation. Scientific instruments from France, Italy and the European Space Agency/Sweden are aboard the Chang'e-6 lander, and a small satellite from Pakistan is aboard the orbiter.
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04.05.2024, 09:14 50286
Death toll rises to 39 from southern Brazil's heavy rains
Images | Gilvan Rocha/Agencia Brasil via Xinhua
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The death toll from heavy rains in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul has risen to 39 with some 70 people still missing, the Civil Defense agency said Friday, Xinhua reports.
The heavy rain was one of the worst climate tragedies that has so far affected 235 municipalities, including the state capital of Porto Alegre, according to the agency.
The state has seen persisting rainfall since Monday, causing rivers to swell, destroying bridges, and putting the city of Porto Alegre, with a population of more than 1.4 million, on alert.
Heavy rains also spread to the neighboring state of Santa Catarina, where a person was killed in the flooding and landslides.
Recognizing the calamity, the Brazilian government has sent equipment and financial aid to Rio Grande do Sul.
More than 24,000 people were displaced by the disaster, according to the agency.
These will be difficult days. We ask people to leave their homes. Our goal is to save lives. Things will be lost, but we must preserve lives. Our priority is to rescue people. As for the rest, we'll find the way ahead," Governor Eduardo Leite said.
Leite confirmed that this is "the biggest disaster in the state" and that Rio Grande do Sul is in a "state of war."
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03.05.2024, 10:51 55446
29 killed in southern Brazil's worst storm
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The worst storms killed 29 people and left 60 others missing after four consecutive days of intense rainfall, floods and mudslides hit Brazil's southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, Governor Eduardo Leite said on Thursday, Xinhua reports.
Unfortunately, we know that these numbers will rise," said Leite, describing the storms as the worst natural disaster in the history of the state, a top agricultural and livestock producer.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday visited Santa Maria, one of the state's worst-hit cities, and met with Leite. Lula offered federal funding and aid to address the emergency in the state bordering Uruguay and Argentina.
There will be no shortage of help from the federal government to take care of health, there will be no shortage of money to take care of transportation and food, everything that is within reach. Whether through ministers, civil society or our military, we will dedicate round-the-clock effort so that we can satisfy the basic needs of the people who are stranded by the rains," said the president.
With more rains forecasted to come, the governor called on residents to head for higher ground and stay away from flood-prone areas identified by the civil defense agency.
Some 4,400 residents have been evacuated but thousands more are waiting to be rescued from their flooded homes, he said.
According to a civil defense bulletin, 154 cities have been affected by the natural disaster.
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02.05.2024, 20:55 56126
Death toll up to 48 after road collapse in south China's Guangdong
Images | Xinhua/Wang Ruiping
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As of 2 p.m. on Thursday, the death toll has risen to 48 after part of an expressway collapsed in south China's Guangdong Province early Wednesday morning, according to a press conference held in Meizhou City, Xinhua reports.
The DNA of another three people has yet to be identified.
Thirty injured people are receiving hospital treatment, and none are in life-threatening condition, according to authorities of Meizhou City.
The collapse happened around 2:10 a.m. on the Meizhou-Dabu Expressway in Meizhou. The collapsed section measures 17.9 meters in length and covers an area of 184.3 square meters, officials said.
Aerial photos show one side of the expressway caved in, causing 23 vehicles to roll down a slope.
The Ministry of Emergency Management has dispatched a team to the scene to guide rescue work, and has urged local efforts to accelerate search and rescue work, treat those who sustained injuries, minimize casualties, and determine the cause of the accident.
More than 500 personnel from local emergency response teams, mine rescue teams and the fire brigade have joined on-site rescue work.
The ministry has said that safety risks are relatively high on transportation, at tourist attractions and in densely populated areas during the May Day holiday, as the number of people traveling has increased.
The ministry will make further efforts to improve emergency plans, investigate potential risks, and strengthen safety precautions
Meizhou City has arranged special personnel to provide comfort and tend to the families of the victims and those who remain missing. Following an investigation, it was determined that no foreigners were among the casualties, according to the press conference.
In order to ensure the strict prevention of secondary disasters, national and provincial geological experts have been sent to the scene to carry out an on-site investigation.
Seven observation points have been established to monitor the disaster area and its surrounding slopes around the clock, according to the press conference.
Data released at the press conference shows that since the beginning of April, Meizhou has experienced multiple rounds of heavy rainfall. The average cumulative rainfall in the city was 621.7 millimeters last month, which was roughly 2.49 times more than the same period in normal years. It saw its highest level of precipitation during the month since meteorological records began, breaking the previous record of 437.3 millimeters set in 1980.
Rainfall in Meizhou's Dabu County came in at 628.2 millimeters in April -- 2.75 times more than its annual average of 228.4 millimeters and its highest precipitation on record for the month of April, surpassing the previous record of 419.5 millimeters set in 1980.
The National Financial Regulatory Administration has guided insurance institutions to establish a special working group for the emergency handling of such events, integrating insurance resources and open green channels.
As of noon on Thursday, insurance institutions had prepaid insurance claims totaling 10.62 million yuan (about 1.49 million U.S. dollars).
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