ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer ends 1st spacewalk with water in his helmet

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. CNN  —  European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer’s first spacewalk was an eventful one, beginning and ending with helmet issues. Maurer and NASA astronaut Raja Chari began the spacewalk at 8:32 a.m. ET. At the beginning of the walk, Maurer experienced an issue involving the camera and light assembly on his helmet, which did not pose any threat to his safety, according to NASA. Chari assisted Maurer and they worked on a solution with mission control members on the ground,…


Mykhailo Golod: Golf community rallies to help teenage Ukrainian golfer escape to US

But his arrival in the US — while it assured his safety — came at a price. His mother would soon return to Ukraine to be with his dad, who had to remain due to martial law, and his grandparents. Although Golod thinks his grandparents and mother will travel to the US, he’s unsure when he’ll next see his father, Oleg. Although he appreciates his safety, having the majority of his family back in Ukraine in the midst of Russia’s invasion of the country has weighed heavily on him. “It’s very devastating, but thankfully, they all have Wi-Fi and a…


Nicaragua sentences ex-presidential candidate to 8 years in prison amid wider opposition crackdown

This is the latest crackdown by President Daniel Ortega’s government on opposition members. Ortega claimed a fifth term as president last November. In June 2021, his government began using a vague national security law as justification to lock up opposition presidential candidates, opposition leaders, journalists, human rights activists and others ahead of the November election. At least 40 opposition figures have been found guilty of conspiring to undermine national integrity and financial crimes, according to CNN Español. Chamorro, a journalist and former director of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation for Reconciliation and Democracy, was sentenced to eight years in…


Hong Kong lifts flight bans, cuts quarantine to ‘relaunch’ economy

In a press conference Monday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that residents of nine countries, including India, the United Kingdom and the United States would be allowed to return home starting April 1. The other nations are Australia, Canada, France, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines. Only vaccinated residents of Hong Kong will be eligible to return from those nine countries. It was not immediately clear what the changes meant for non-residents arriving from any country outside mainland China. Flights from the nine countries were banned earlier this year, as the Omicron variant was spreading across the world. Lam said the…



Genocide in Myanmar: Biden administration formally determines military committed genocide against the Rohingya

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will publicly announce the determination, which human rights groups have been advocating for years, at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, on Monday. Reuters first reported on the administration’s recognition of genocide. Until now, the US had stopped short of declaring the atrocities — including mass killings and rape — committed in 2017 against the Muslim minority Rohingya population a genocide. The violence forced nearly a million people to flee, and the United Nations recommended that top military officials face genocide charges. “I applaud the Biden administration for finally recognizing the atrocities…


Belgium carnival crash: Six people killed after car plows into crowd

Abnother 10 people were sent to nearby hospitals with life-threatening injuries and 27 were “slightly injured,” Deputy Crown Prosecutor Damien Verheyen said. As a group of carnival-goers were marching towards the town center, “a car came from the back at high speed and crashed into group, pulverized a large number of people, continuing its way before stopping a little further down,” La Louvière mayor Jacques Gobert told reporters. The two men who were in the car, both from La Louvière and born in 1988 and 1990, were arrested, Verheyen said. He added that a “reconstruction of the facts” will be…


Iran: Detainee with triple nationality who was released as part of deal with UK is sent back to jail 

Morad Tahbaz, who is also a US citizen, spent 48 hours “under house arrest” with an ankle bracelet before being taken back to prison, according to his lawyer Hojjat Kermani. Tahbaz, an environmentalist who was first detained in January 2018, was released from Evin prison “on furlough to his house in Tehran,” UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement on Wednesday. Tahbaz’s lawyer told CNN that “security guards surrounded Morad’s home for 48 hours before taking him back to prison.”  On Friday, a UK Foreign Office spokesperson said “the Iranians have told the UK government that Morad has…


Canada mosque: Worshipers subdue attacker in Mississauga

Mohammad Moiz Omar, a 24-year-old Mississauga resident, was arrested at the Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre about 7 a.m. local time during the dawn prayer of Fajr, Peel Regional Police said in a statement. “Before he could inflict harm on any (worshipers), several congregants bravely were able to stop him,” the Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre said in Facebook statement. The mosque statement said the man was also armed with “numerous other sharp edged weapons.” Worshipers sustained minor injuries from the bear spray, police said. “The members of the Mosque quickly subdued the man until police arrived,” police said in a statement….


Young brothers rescued from Brazilian Amazon after nearly a month

The children — ages 7 and 9 — were found near their hometown of Manicoré by a local resident on Thursday, their father told local media. The boys — who are indigenous Mura people, who live in the central and eastern parts of Amazonas, Brazil — had been lost for 27 days. The father said the search was “difficult” and involved police, firemen and Funai, the governmental protection agency for indigenous people. He told local media he had lost hope his sons would be found alive when a local farmer — who was also a friend of the boys’ father…