SpaceX launched 60 mini satellites Monday, the second batch of an orbiting network meant to provide global internet coverage.
The Falcon rocket blasted into the morning sky, marking the unprecedented fourth flight of a booster for SpaceX. The compact flat-panel satellites – just 575 pounds (260 kilograms) each – will join 60 launched in May.
SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk wants to put thousands of these Starlink satellites in orbit, to offer high-speed internet service everywhere. He plans to start service next year in the northern U.S. and Canada, with global coverage for populated areas after 24 launches.
Last month, Musk used an orbiting Starlink satellite to send a tweet: “Whoa, it worked!!”
Employees gathered at company bases on both coasts cheered when the first-stage booster landed on a floating platform in the Atlantic.
“These boosters are designed to be used 10 times. Let’s turn it around for a fifth, guys,” company’s launch commentator said.
This also marked the first time SpaceX used a previously flown nose cone. The California-based company reuses rocket parts to cut costs.
SpaceX employees work on the Crew Dragon spacecraft that will astronauts to and from the International Space Station, from American soil, as part of the agency’s commercial crew Program, in Hawthorne, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019.
Stacked flat inside the top of the rocket, the newest satellites were going to maneuver even higher following liftoff, using krypton-powered thrusters. SpaceX said there was a potential problem with one of the 60 that could prevent it from moving beyond its initial 174 mile-high (280 kilometer-high) orbit. In that case, the faulty satellite will be commanded to re-enter and burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere.
Each satellite has an autonomous system for dodging space junk. In September, however, the European Space Agency had to move one of its satellites out of the way of a Starlink satellite. SpaceX later said it corrected the problem.
SpaceX is among several companies interested in providing broadband internet coverage worldwide, especially in areas where it costs too much or is unreliable. Others include OneWeb and Jeff Bezos’ Amazon.
According to Musk, Starlink revenue can help SpaceX develop rockets and spacecraft for traveling to Mars, his overriding ambition.
While many Americans celebrated Veterans Day Monday watching parades and basking in the autumn sun, residents across the Midwest spent much of the day clearing out snow. Two-thirds of the eastern states also were hit by unseasonably cold weather. Another arctic blast is expected to bring record-breaking low temperatures this week. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has this story.
When a wildfire threatened Margie Hanselman’s home in the northern California hills two years ago, the fire department dispatcher told her all the crews were already busy battling another blaze.
“That’s when I knew we were really on our own,” she said. “I knew I had to do something differently for the next big emergency.”
So Hanselman, her neighbors and fire officials got together and turned to mobile phone apps, social media and communications technology to better share news, emergency updates and preparation advice on threats in their fire-prone community in Sonoma County wine country.
This month’s wind-driven Kincade fire, which burned nearly 80,000 acres (32,400 hectares) and destroyed more than 370 structures, stopped just short of Hanselman’s driveway.
This time, no one died, unlike two years ago, when the nearby Pocket fire and other windy wildfires north of the San Francisco Bay area killed 43 people.
Joining forces to address the growing threat of living in a dry, rural forest area has made the community less stressed and anxious, said Priscilla Abercrombie, a nurse practitioner with a home on the region’s Fitch Mountain.
Hanselman and Abercrombie helped put together a local COPE team – Citizens Organized to Prepare for Emergencies – which links residents and authorities to share advice on everything from how to pack evacuation bags to how to find family during a fire.
“I feel more empowered. I feel more in control,” said Abercrombie. “I feel better about myself, and I feel better about my community.”
Typically, the COPE network might collect and share information such as where doctors live, where a resident might be house-bound or where swimming pools are located that could be used in fighting a fire, organizers said.
It was modeled after an original COPE team started a few miles south in Santa Rosa after the deadly 2017 Tubbs fire that killed more than 20 people, they said.
‘A huge difference’
Healdsburg Fire Marshal Linda Collister said she has integrated the local COPE network with GroupMe, a mobile messaging app, to help share information that in the recent Kincade fire helped people evacuate early and smoothly.
This time, no one died in the Kincade blaze.
“We made a huge difference in this fire, compared to the last one, simply because we were ready for it,” the fire marshall said.
Vines surround a burning building as the Kincade Fire burns through the Jimtown community of unincorporated Sonoma County, California, Oct. 24, 2019.
As the Kincade fire raged, Collister said she used the communications system to show evacuated residents that their homes were still standing.
“I could take a picture of their neighborhood and say it’s still there,” she said.
COPE is one of a range of local networks set up to help residents grapple with the stress of living amid the growing threat of wildfires.
The Integrative Healers Action Network, created in Sonoma County during the 2017 fires, for instance, draws on the skills of chiropractors, massage therapists and osteopaths to provide crisis care to those in need.
Another small group started by a survivor of a 2008 wildfire is building tiny homes – some 200 square feet – provided free for survivors of the Kincade and Paradise blazes.
Strengthened community links made an enormous difference this year compared to the fire two years ago, said Hanselman, who sells antiques in picturesque Healdsburg.
“Two years ago, none of us had any idea what to do,” she said. “Today I feel much more secure and confident.”
That’s something she and other residents are going to need more and more in coming years, she predicted.
“(With) climate change, it only gets worse,” she said. “I joke it’s not fall anymore. It’s fire season. Every fall, the anxiety level definitely goes up.”
Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is considering making a late run for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to two people with knowledge of his deliberations, underscoring some Democrats’ deep uncertainty about the party’s current crop of contenders.
Patrick, a close friend and ally of former President Barack Obama, ruled out a presidential bid earlier this year but has since been talking with Democratic operatives and donors about launching a campaign. He has not made a final decision on whether to run, but he is expected to do so quickly, given fast-approaching deadlines to get on the ballot in key states.
Patrick is the second Democrat to weigh jumping into the race at this late juncture, less than three months before the kickoff Iowa caucuses. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is also reconsidering a run, citing concerns about the current Democratic front-runners’ ability to defeat President Donald Trump. Bloomberg is expected to make a final decision on his 2020 prospects within days.
The people with knowledge of Patrick’s deliberations spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Democrats plunged into the 2020 race with sky high enthusiasm about the prospects of defeating Trump and with a historic number of candidates vying for the nomination. But as the field has started to dwindle, some in the party have raised concerns about the durability of former Vice President Joe Biden and the ability of liberal Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to win in a general election.
FILE – Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, center, waves to people in the audience as his wife Diane Bemus, left, looks on at the conclusion of ceremonies for the unveiling of his official state portrait, Jan. 4, 2015, at the Statehouse, in Boston.
Although Patrick ruled out a run late last year, he reopened conversations with close friends and aides over the summer but did not take active steps to form a campaign. In recent days, those conversations have intensified, with Patrick gauging interest in a run with donors and Democratic operatives.
He would face big hurdles to launching a campaign at this late stage. Unlike Bloomberg, a wealthy billionaire who would self-fund, Patrick would have to quickly raise money to build out a campaign operation and boost his familiarity with voters. Some of his former political advisers are already working for other 2020 candidates, including his former chief of staff Doug Rubin, who is working for Tom Steyer.
Patrick, who made history as Massachusetts’ first black governor, could gain traction in neighboring New Hampshire, which holds the first primary contest. However, he’d face stiff competition there from two other neighboring state candidates: Warren of Massachusetts and Sanders of Vermont.
New Hampshire’s primary filing deadline is Friday.
Honoree Michael Bloomberg attends the annual Hudson River Park Gala at Cipriani South Street, Oct. 17, 2019, in New York.
Bloomberg plans to skip the early states, where candidates have camped out for months courting voters and building operations. Instead, he’s said he would focus on the crush of states that vote on March 3 — dubbed Super Tuesday — and beyond, where more delegates are at stake.
When Patrick decided last year not to run, he cited what he called the “cruelty” of the election process.
“After a lot of conversation, reflection and prayer, I’ve decided that a 2020 campaign for president is not for me,” Patrick had posted on his Facebook page. Patrick said he and his wife worried that the “cruelty of our elections process would ultimately splash back on people whom Diane and I love, but who hadn’t signed up for the journey.”
Patrick has tried to position himself as more moderate than his party’s left flank and could compete for votes with Biden, who is running as a centrist.
Early in his career, Patrick served as assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration and later worked as an executive at Texaco and Coca-Cola. Since leaving the governor’s office, Patrick has worked as a managing director for Bain Capital — a company co-founded by Mitt Romney and widely criticized by Democrats during Romney’s 2012 Republican presidential campaign.
A blanket of smog has once again enshrouded India’s capital after a weekend of clearer air and better weather.
The morning air quality index Monday at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi was 497.
AQI between 301 and 500 is considered “hazardous” for all population groups. It is not measured past 500.
Air quality is considered good when the AQI is below 50 and satisfactory when it is under 100.
The Press Trust of India is reporting the capital’s AQI will be “severe” by Tuesday.
New Delhi, ranked the world’s most polluted city by Greenpeace and AirVisual, routinely gets more polluted at this time of the year. The air quality gets noticeably worse as winter approaches and farmers clear their fields by burning scrub.
“We should stop stubble burning,” said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kerjriwal. “People are suffering immensely.”
FILE – A policewoman wears a mask to protect herself from air pollution on a smoggy morning in New Delhi, Nov. 4, 2019.
Drivers in the city of 20 million residents and 8.8 million registered motor vehicles have been asked to follow the odd-even road rationing plan until November 15. Under the plan, cars will only only drive on odd and even dates that correspond with the last digit of the license plate number.
Environmental experts say to clean up its air,New Delhi needs permanent action to reduce the massive fleet of vehicles clogging its roads by scaling up public transportation.
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg says if elected he’d like to name a woman to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs for the first time as 2020 hopefuls take aim at President Donald Trump’s record on stemming military suicide and helping female vets.
On Veterans Day, several candidates rolled out proposals to meet the needs of America’s 20 million former service members.
Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said female veterans and service members have been neglected, including on concerns about sexual harassment and women’s health. Women are the military’s fastest-growing subgroup.
“I think leadership plays a huge role so absolutely I’d seek to name a woman to lead VA,” Buttigieg, a former Navy intelligence officer, said in an interview with The Associated Press. His comments went a step beyond his 21-page wide-ranging plan released on Monday.
“The president has let veterans down,” Buttigieg said.
Of the Cabinet and Cabinet-level roles, four have never been held by a woman: Veterans Affairs, Defense, Treasury and White House chief of staff. Buttigieg says he’d take a close look at appointing a female defense secretary as well.
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign said he would seek to build on current gains for vets that were started under the Obama-Biden administration, such as stemming homelessness and improving mental health care.
“Joe has a long record of support for veterans and our military families,” press secretary Jamal Brown said. “Bringing down the high rate of suicide among our military and veterans will be a top priority for a Biden administration.”
In a dig at Trump, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders released a video on Monday highlighting his role in working with the late Republican Sen. John McCain, a decorated war hero, to pass legislation that included the Veterans Choice program in 2014.
Trump routinely takes credit for being the first to enact the Choice program, ignoring the fact that it was signed into law by President Barack Obama. What Trump got done was an expansion of the program achieved by McCain and Sanders.
That expanded program, one of Trump’s signature accomplishments, seeks to steer more veterans over the next decade to private-sector doctors outside the VA.
Sanders, a former chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee who voted against Trump’s plan, says the expanded program goes too far in its investments in the private sector, rather than core VA health care , which many veterans view as better suited to treat battlefield injuries such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Sanders joins Buttigieg and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in urging increases in doctor pay to attract top VA candidates and fill 49,000 VA positions that have sat vacant as the Trump administration promoted private health care options.
Sanders said he would fill those vacancies in his first year as president and provide at least $62 billion in new funding to repair and modernize VA facilities to provide cutting-edge care.
“We will not dismantle or privatize the VA. We will expand and improve the VA,” Sanders said Monday.
Buttigieg told the AP that he would look at rolling back some of the Trump administration’s rules expanding Choice.
All the Democratic candidates who have articulated veterans’ plans call for added funding and training for suicide prevention. Buttigieg specifically proposes a new 24/7 VA “concierge” service aimed at guiding at-risk vets into mental health care.
Currently, about 20 veterans die by suicide each day, a rate basically unchanged during the Trump administration. Trump earlier this year directed a Cabinet-level task force to develop a broader roadmap for veterans’ suicide prevention, due out next spring.
Buttigieg, like Warren, would seek to improve responses to sexual assault in the military by shifting prosecution from military commanders to independent prosecutors. He also wants to put particular focus on stemming homelessness among women vets, many of whom may have experienced sexual trauma .
He pointed to his seven-month deployment in Afghanistan in 2014 and watching the impact a female general had “culturally” on the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
“When a leadership body is more gender diverse, it makes better decisions. So I would absolutely be looking at that,” Buttigieg told the AP. He’s previously pledged to appoint women to at least 50% of his Cabinet positions.
While veterans overall have strongly backed Trump throughout his presidency, views vary widely by party, gender and age, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of 2018 midterm voters. In particular, younger veterans and women generally were more skeptical of Trump, who received multiple draft deferments to avoid going to Vietnam.
A study released by the VA earlier this year found 1 in 4 women veterans using VA health care reported inappropriate comments by male veterans on VA grounds, raising concerns they may delay or miss their treatments. The VA also has rebuffed efforts by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and other groups to change the VA motto, which some vets believe is outdated and excludes women. That motto refers to the VA’s mission to fulfill a promise of President Abraham Lincoln “to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan.”
Buttigieg said he would direct his VA secretary to change that motto to “fairly represent the diversity of service members and veterans.”
Currently, about 10% of the nation’s veterans are female. In the U.S. military forces, about 17% of those enlisted are women, up from about 2% in 1973.
European Union foreign ministers on Monday debated ways to keep the Iran nuclear deal intact after the Islamic Republic began enrichment work at its Fordo site in a fresh act of defiance that seems likely to spell the end of the painstakingly crafted international agreement.
At talks in Brussels, the EU powers that signed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — Britain, France and Germany — were expected to signal what action should be taken as the bloc awaits a new report from the International Atomic Energy Agency later Monday on whether Iran is still complying with its commitments.
“We want to preserve the [deal], but Iran must finally return to its commitments and comply with them, otherwise we will reserve the right to use all mechanisms that are set out in the agreement,” said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
The EU sees the nuclear pact as a key component of regional and global security and has struggled to stop the nuclear deal from unraveling since President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the United States out of it over a year ago, triggering debilitating economic sanctions against Iran.
“It’s a great agreement and we need to keep it alive,” Slovakia’s foreign minister, Miroslav Lajcak, told reporters. But it remains unclear what more the EU can do as Iran’s economy buckles under the weight of the sanctions, apart from renewing its appeals for restraint and dialogue.
The Europeans have poured a lot of cash and credibility into ensuring the Iran nuclear deal stays afloat. A safeguard was built to keep money flowing to Tehran, but it has not been effective. A system is in place to protect European companies doing business in Iran from U.S. sanctions, even though many remain reluctant because they fear being shut out of the more lucrative American market if they do.
One option could be to trigger the dispute mechanism in the agreement, which would open a window of up to 30 days to resolve the problem. Some are even calling on the Europeans to impose their own sanctions on Iran.
“Sanctions, sanctions, sanctions. We’re not going to solve the problem like that,” said Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn. “Right now, we should wait for the report from the IAEA to see where we stand.”
Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said he was “very worried about Iran’s behavior,” after uranium gas was injected into centrifuges at Fordo last Thursday to produce low-enriched uranium to fuel nuclear power plants. Under the deal, Tehran was not supposed to do this at the site until 2030.
However, the Europeans are hardly surprised by Iran’s actions. They believe the writing has been on the wall ever since Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement last year, claiming that it does not to stop Tehran from developing missiles or undermining stability in the Gulf region.
“Sadly, it’s a degradation that was to be expected,” Asselborn said.
Just 25 years ago, women were not allowed to fly battle planes nor operate tanks. Yet, despite generations of physical and cultural obstacles, women have been drawn to the military.
For Libby Haynes, 92, planes have been a passion for over 75 years. When her mother gave her $10 as a birthday gift for her 17th birthday, Haynes knew what to do.
“I had a flying lesson, I spent $6 to rent a Piper Cub for an hour, $3 for an instructor for an hour and a dollar for the logbook,” she recalls.
In 1945 young Libby had already finished a training course of the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program and became a nurse. But after WWII she decided to head back into the sky.
“I just had a very very strong calling it’s the only name I can put to it that I was meant to join the Air Force. I don’t know whether you say divine guidance or what, but it was the best decision I ever made in my life!” she says.
WATCH: Iuliia Iarmolenko’s video report
The Long Journey Of Women In The US Military video player.
The US Army did not enlist women into active military service until 1972 but before that Haynes was an aerographer – the Navy’s meteorological and oceanographic experts who monitor, collect and record weather condition data. At the same time, she flew with the Civil Air Patrol and managed to buy her own tiny plane that she used to fly home for the weekend.
“I still had a student license when I bought that PG-23 Surplus for $500, which was two months’ salary!” she says.
The job brought Haynes more than just professional satisfaction it is there that she met her husband, a pilot. When she became pregnant, one of her colleagues reported it to the senior officers and Haynes was discharged.
But it wasn’t anything personal, explains Marilla Cushman from the Women In Military Service For America Memorial.
“There was a time where if you had children, if you became pregnant whether you were married or not you had to get out,” she says.
Cushman joined the military in the 70s, but just like Haynes, was unable to do what she wanted to.
“I was disappointed that I couldn’t do more, that I couldn’t do some of the other things that the guys were doing,” she says.
In mid 1970s the rules changed and women were allowed to pilot noncombat planes. After the Gulf War of 1990-1991, that limitation was also lifted. Cushman believes the US Army simply realized it needed women.
“Particularly during the global war on terror, we started bringing women in, attaching them to infantry units and special forces units because as these units went into Afghanistan and Iraq because of the cultural issues,” she says. “It just became clear that we couldn’t manage without women across the board.”
Today women in the US military make up 14% of the personnel. But it took years of fighting to get to that point.
“Let the generations know that women in uniform also guaranteed their freedom,” Cushman says. ” That our resolve was just as great as the brave men who stood among us.”
Both Cushman and Haynes say they are happy to see the position women enjoy in the US military today. Though Haynes confesses, she never really took any of limitations seriously.
President Donald Trump’s national security adviser says Trump will confront Turkey’s leader about his decision to buy a Russian air defense system when they meet Wednesday at the White House.
Robert O’Brien tells CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the U.S. is “very upset” about Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 system.
O’Brien says if the NATO ally doesn’t get rid of that system, Turkey will likely face U.S. sanctions. He says that’s a message Trump will deliver to Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The U.S. says the S-400 is not compatible with NATO forces, could compromise the F-35 fighter jet program and aid Russian intelligence. The Trump administration removed Turkey from the F-35 program in July.
Trump is to meet with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday.
Bolivian president Evo Morales called for new elections Sunday after weeks of protests around “irregularities” in last month’s elections.
The president announced in a televised address Sunday that he would also be replacing the country’s electoral body.
His announcement follows weeks of protests after the October 20 election which he narrowly won. The Organization of American States conducted an audit of the elections and found irregularities in nearly every area which it reviewed.
Morales, who is serving his fourth term as president, had previously called the protests around his election a coup.
The long-time president did not indicate whether he would once again be running in the new elections. Despite Sunday’s announcement, opposition leaders have continued to call for him to step down.
Latin America’s longest-serving leader went into the election needing a 10 percentage-point lead to avoid a runoff and secure his fourth term in office.
Partial results released after the election had predicted Morales would face a December runoff election against his main rival, former President Carlos Mesa.
Then, less than 24 hours later, the electoral commission released new numbers that showed with 95% of votes counted, Morales was just a 0.7 percentage point short of the 10 percentage-point mark.
The announcement prompted opposition complaints of fraud, and triggered violent protests in several cities.
A man believed to be a prominent Russian historian has been pulled out of a river in St. Petersburg with a backpack containing the severed body parts of a young woman and has been charged with murder.
The Russian Investigative Committee said a 63-year-old man was rescued from the Moika River near the city center early on Saturday with a woman’s arms and a gun in the backpack. Authorities said he has been hospitalized with hypothermia.
Local media identified the man as Oleg Sokolov, a historian at St. Petersburg State University who was once awarded France’s Order of Legion d’Honneur for his research into military leader Napoleon Bonaparte.
The state-run TASS news agency quoted police sources as saying the alleged victim may be a postgraduate student of Sokolov’s named Anastasia Yeshchenko from Russia’s Krasnodar region. She reportedly was a co-author of Sokolov’s in joint research on Napoleon’s French military rule.
The Fontanka news outlet quoted police sources as saying they suspect the man may have been drunk and fallen into the river while attempting to dispose of the backpack.
Further apparent confirmation of the suspect’s identity came from Aleksandr Pochuyev, who says he is Sokolov’s attorney and claims that his client has “signed a plea-bargain deal” in the matter.
“If such a heinous crime, which my client has confessed to, did take place, it was committed under the influence of strong factors — possibly pathologic intoxication or temporary insanity,” Pochuyev said.
“The verdict has not been passed yet, and until that moment a person is forbidden to be considered guilty” under Russia’s Criminal Code, Pochuyev added.
Pochuyev told investigators that Sokolov planned to dispose of the corpse and then commit suicide in public, dressed as Napoleon, AFP reported.
Police said that, during a search of the suspect’s apartment, they discovered the body of a dismembered 24-year-old woman and a cutting saw possibly used in the incident.
Sokolov was awarded the Order of Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest civilian decoration, in 2003 by France’s then-President Jacques Chirac for his studies on Napoleon.
In 1976, Sokolov founded the first military-historical reconstruction group in the Soviet Union, and he now heads the All-Russian Military Historical Movement, which conducts reenactments of military battles from the Napoleonic Wars.
TASS reported that divers searching the river for clues overnight discovered remains from another, unidentified individual. It was unclear whether those remains might be related to Sokolov’s case.
