Foreign
India sends its first astronaut into space in 41 years
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India celebrated on Wednesday the launch of the Axiom-4 mission, which has taken off to the International Space Station with a crew including the first Indian astronaut in 41 years.
Launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday morning, the 14-day mission is a collaboration between American startup Axiom Space, NASA, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, whose Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule carried the four-member team into orbit.
A private spaceflight, it is led by Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut, with Shubhanshu Shukla, an Indian Air Force pilot responsible for flying the spacecraft through launch, orbital insertion, docking with the ISS, undocking, re-entry, and landing.
Another two members of the crew are Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski — a European Space Agency astronaut and the second Polish national in orbit, who will conduct science experiments in microgravity — and Tibor Kapu, a Hungarian mechanical engineer who will perform experiments in space health.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to social media to wish “all the success” to Shukla and the other astronauts on the Axiom-4 mission.
“The Indian Astronaut, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is on the way to become the first Indian to go to (the) International Space Station,” Modi said. “He carries with him the wishes, hopes and aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians.”
Shukla is the second Indian national in space, after Rakesh Sharma, who flew aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz T-11 in 1984 and spent seven days and 21 hours aboard the Salyut 7 space station.
“We are proud and happy to see Shubhanshu Shukla become the second Indian to travel to space, this time as part of the Axiom-4 Mission. This journey is a testament to the growing global footprint of India in space exploration and is a stepping stone to what we want to achieve with Gaganyaan, our own indigenous human spaceflight program,” Lt. Gen. AK Bhatt (retd.), director general of the Indian Space Association, told reporters.
India’s own first human spaceflight aboard the Gaganyaan spacecraft is planned for 2027. So far, only three countries — Russia, the US and China — have sent humans into space on their own spacecraft.
“India is now in the final stages of preparation for the Gaganyaan mission, with firms like Larsen and Toubro, Tata and Ananth Technologies playing a critical role alongside our vibrant startups,” Bhatt said.
“If all goes as planned, we are just one or two years away from realizing the dream of sending Indian astronauts to space on an entirely indigenous platform. The success of missions like Axiom-4 inspires our ecosystem and strengthens our resolve to make India a leading force in the new era of space exploration.”
Shukla, 39, was chosen to take part in the Axiom-4 mission by the Indian Space Research Organization, which is responsible for the country’s space research and exploration activities and is the agency preparing the Gaganyaan mission.
Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh told Indian news agency ANI that the offer for an Indian astronaut to take part in Axiom-4 was presented during Modi’s visit to the US in 2023.
“We had four Air Force officers who were already undergoing training for Gaganyaan — Shubhanshu being the youngest of the four. So, the choice had to zero down on one of them. Finally, Shubhanshu’s name was picked up and (the) standby was Nair (Gp. Capt. Prasanth Nair),” Singh said.
“The Americans were equally keen to have an Indian onboard. In other words, it means that they, today more than ever before, realize the importance of India’s potential, India’s talent and India’s capacity to contribute.”
For the past few years, India has been establishing its position in the global space industry.
In January 2025, it became the fourth country to perform space docking, connecting two spacecraft in orbit. Codenamed Space Docking Experiment, or SpaDeX, the mission involved deploying two small spacecraft, each weighing about 220 kg, into an orbit approximately 470 km above Earth.
In August 2023, ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 moon rover made history by landing on the lunar surface, making India the first country to land near the lunar south pole and the fourth to land on the moon, after the US, the Soviet Union, and China.
A month later, it launched Aditya-L1 in 2023 — the country’s first solar observation mission, and the world’s second after the US Parker Solar Probe in 2021.
The death toll from Venezuela’s devastating earthquakes has risen to at least 188, with 971 people injured, National Assembly chief Jorge Rodriguez, said on Thursday.
Interim president Delcy Rodriguez had earlier said that round 30 aftershocks have been recorded following the two strongest quakes on Wednesday.
Authorities initially reported 32 dead and more than 700 injured.
The earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck the same area of Venezuela on Wednesday, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), causing buildings in the capital to crumble and forcing the closure of the country’s main airport.
US President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that “the two major earthquakes that just hit the great people of Venezuela are both massive in scale and have left a devastating number of deaths.”
“The U.S.A. stands ready, willing, and able to help! I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly,” the American president wrote on his Truth Social platform.
An AFP journalist saw a 22-story building completely destroyed in the capital’s Altamira neighborhood, where people cried out relatives’ names as volunteers climbed over the rubble.
“We need flashlights,” one of them said.
The first quake, with an epicenter 21 kilometers (13 miles) west of the coastal town of Moron, occurred at 2204 GMT, USGS said. Within a minute, a 7.5-magnitude quake struck about 45 kilometers away.
“This earthquake was the second event in a doublet. This magnitude 7.5 mainshock was preceded by 39 seconds by a 7.2 foreshock,” USGS said.
The United States government has identified a Nigerian national among several individuals and organisations accused of facilitating financial operations for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), as part of a broader crackdown on the group’s global funding network.
In a statement issued by the U.S. Department of State, officials said the action targeted three individuals and six entities operating across Europe, the Middle East, and West Africa, who are allegedly involved in moving funds used to support ISIS activities.
According to the department, the measures are aimed at disrupting the terrorist group’s ability to finance attacks and sustain its international operations.
“Under the leadership of President Trump, the United States is dismantling ISIS’s ability to finance terrorism around the world. We are cutting off the financial lifelines from around the world that enable ISIS to fund attacks, support its regional affiliates, and threaten civilians, including religious minorities,” spokesperson Thomas Pigott said.
The statement noted that the network spans France, Syria, Türkiye, and Nigeria, and is believed to have facilitated the cross-border movement of funds linked to the extremist group.
Officials alleged that the designated individuals include a France-based facilitator connected to explosives-related information shared with ISIS supporters, a Syria-based operator who reportedly used cryptocurrency to transfer funds internationally, and a Nigeria-based facilitator whose money exchange businesses were allegedly used as channels for ISIS financing.
The U.S. government said the designations are part of ongoing efforts to dismantle financial pipelines supporting terrorist organisations and to restrict their global operations.
Britain will have its seventh prime minister in 10 years after Labour leader Keir Starmer was ousted on Monday by his own party.
The party’s self-inflicted wound was a trend set by the Conservatives when they were in office.
Starmer announced his resignation on Monday following months of nose-diving poll ratings and manoeuvring by his own MPs.
Veteran Labour politician Andy Burnham has confirmed he will seek to replace him.
The main opposition Tories went through five prime ministers between 2016 and July 2024 when Starmer swept to power in a landslide general election victory.
The rapid turnover at the top prompted Starmer — before he became prime minister — to call for an end to the “chaos” of chopping and changing leaders.
After less than two years, Starmer has now met a similar fate himself.
Here’s what happened to his predecessors:
David Cameron (May 2010 to July 2016)
Britain’s decision to leave the European Union ended Cameron’s second term as prime minister.
After the country voted to leave in a June 2016 referendum, Cameron, who had campaigned to remain in the bloc, resigned.
Theresa May (July 2016 to July 2019)
Tolga AKMEN / AFP
May took over amid the fallout from the Brexit referendum after a long tenure in the notoriously difficult post of interior minister.
She called a snap election the following year to strengthen her hand in Brexit negotiations, but the move backfired when her party emerged as the biggest in parliament but without a majority.
Unable to get her Brexit deal through parliament, the Conservatives suffered a drubbing in European Parliament elections in May 2019, leading to her resignation.
Boris Johnson (July 2019 to September 2022)
Johnson, a maverick politician famed for making a career out of breaking the rules, had to navigate the coronavirus pandemic and Britain’s departure from the European Union.
He led the Conservatives to victory in the December 2019 snap general election.
But weakened by scandals, he was eventually forced to step down following a cascade of resignations by ministers and aides.
Liz Truss (September 2022 to October 2022)
Truss was prime minister for just 49 days, the shortest on record, before being ousted over her disastrous tax-cutting mini-budget.
Her economic agenda spooked the markets and took the UK to the brink of financial meltdown, losing her the support of her own party.
Rishi Sunak (October 2022 to July 2024)
Sunak was at the helm for 20 months before losing the 2024 general election to Starmer, bringing to an end 14 years of Conservative rule.
He brought some stability following the Truss debacle but failed to stop bitter Tory infighting.
The privately wealthy former financier ultimately failed to connect with regular voters struggling with a cost-of-living crisis.
AFP
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