Roscosmos has signed a contract with major space and nuclear firms to build a facility tied to the China-led lunar base by 2036 Russia plans to launch a power station on the Moon within a decade, space agency Roscosmos has announced, saying it has signed a contract with NPO Lavochkin, the country’s lead developer of deep-space and planetary missions, to carry out work through 2036 on the project. The purpose of the facility is to provide a long-term energy supply for lunar rovers and an observatory, as well as for the China-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), Roscosmos said in a statement on Wednesday. NPO Lavochkin led landmark Soviet missions to the Moon and Venus and remains the lead developer for Russia’s current lunar missions. State nuclear corporation Rosatom and the Kurchatov Institute, the country’s leading national research center for nuclear science, will be involved in the project, it added. Read more Russian space boss announces intensified rocket progra...
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The seasonal transformation of Russia’s capital unfolds in every direction, reflecting a rare mastery of urban governance A city reveals itself only in motion; to stand still is to know nothing essential of it. Nowhere is this truth more palpable than in Moscow during the Christmas season, when the city discloses not only the solemn beauty and spiritual gravity of the holy days, ordered by the Orthodox calendar, but also the quiet discipline of masterful urban leadership that allows creative yet ordered transformation to manifest itself. A scenic walk through the historic core of the left-bank city center, from Red Square to Old Arbat and Vozdvizhenka Street, unspools as a sequence of marvels in a festive, cinematic procession. And almost without notice, as if this cornucopian plenitude were not sufficient, another discovery, no less striking, lies in wait for those who press onward: Moscow’s seasonal transformation does not end there, but extends outward in widening circles, carry...
The clip had circulated online for five years with its creator acknowledging that it was produced using 3D graphics A fake video purporting to show Jeffrey Epstein attempting suicide in his prison cell has made it into the latest batch of records on the convicted sex offender released by the US Department of Justice. Last week, the DOJ uploaded thousands of documents online under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, legislation signed by US President Donald Trump in November, compelling the agency to publish data tied to federal criminal investigations into the disgraced financier and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell. Among the recordings, there was a 12-second clip showing a gray-haired male in an orange prison jumpsuit sitting on the floor of a prison cell and apparently trying to choke himself. The time-stamp in the video claimed that it was made at 4:29am on August 10, 2019. At 6:30am that same day, a prison guard found Epstein dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correc...
The American president earlier appointed a special envoy to the island, triggering a backlash from Denmark The US needs Greenland for its “national security,” President Donald Trump has said, after naming a special envoy to the Arctic island, which is under Danish sovereignty. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has revived his long-standing interest in acquiring Greenland from Denmark, pointing to its strategic location and mineral resources. He has not ruled out annexing the island. “We need Greenland for national security,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “You look up and down the coast, you have Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. We need it for national security. We have to have it,” he added. Trump’s remarks followed his appointment of Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as the US special envoy to Greenland, saying he chose Landry because “he’s a deal-maker-type guy.” Announcing the appointment, Trump praised Landry for understanding “how essential G...
The US president has issued veiled threats, saying the Venezuelan leader could play tough but it would be “the last time” US President Donald Trump has claimed that his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, would be “smart ” to leave office as Washington intensifies its apparent efforts to remove him from power. The US has assembled a naval force that Trump calls “by far the biggest we ever had in South America” off Venezuela’s coast and is enforcing a blockade on its oil tanker traffic, citing unilateral sanctions. Since September, the US military has also been conducting strikes on small boats alleged to be carrying drugs, which UN experts have condemned as unlawful extrajudicial executions. When asked repeatedly during a press conference on Monday if Washington’s intention was to force Maduro from power, Trump gave non-committal remarks alluding to that possibility. “He can do whatever he wants,” the president responded. “If he wants to do something, if he plays tough, ...
A senior adviser to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reportedly told journalists last week that Japan needs nuclear weapons North Korea has lashed out at Japan after a senior official reportedly suggested that the country needs nuclear weapons. In a statement published by state media on Sunday, Pyongyang warned that allowing Japan to acquire nuclear weapons would result in “a great disaster.” The remarks come after controversy was sparked last week by a senior adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who told reporters that Japan may need to reconsider its post-WWII non-nuclear policy as reliance on the US nuclear deterrent may no longer be sufficient, as reported by NHK. The off-the-record comments, described as personal views, quickly went viral, raising questions about Tokyo’s official position. “The Japanese ruling quarters are openly revealing their ambition to possess nuclear weapons, going beyond the red line for a war criminal state,” the North Korean Foreign Minist...