Liftoff, finally: Boeing Starliner launches first crew to space station
Liftoff, finally: Boeing Starliner launches first crew to space station/node/2524561/world
Liftoff, finally: Boeing Starliner launches first crew to space station
A successful mission will help dispel the bitter taste left by years of safety scares and delays, and provide Boeing a much-needed reprieve from the intense safety concerns surrounding its passenger jets. (AP)
Liftoff, finally: Boeing Starliner launches first crew to space station
The third time turned out to be the charm for the aerospace giant
Updated 06 June 2024
AFP
CAPE CANAVERA: Boeing on Wednesday launched its very first astronauts bound for the International Space Station aboard a Starliner capsule, which joins a select club of spacecraft to carry humans beyond Earth.
The third time turned out to be the charm for the aerospace giant, after two previous bids to fly were aborted with the crew strapped in and ready to go.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, both of whom have two previous spaceflights under their belts, blasted off at 10:52 am (1452 GMT) atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Their Starliner, named “Calypso” after famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau’s ship, is now chasing the ISS in orbit. It should rendezvous with the research lab at 12:15 p.m. (1615 GMT) Sunday to begin a roughly one-week stay.
“Suni and I are honored to share this dream of spaceflight with each and every one of you,” Wilmore, who is commander of the test flight, said just before liftoff. “Let’s put some fire in this rocket, and let’s push it to the heavens.”
Starliner becomes just the sixth type of US-built spaceship to fly NASA astronauts, following the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs in the 1960s and 1970s, the Space Shuttle from 1981 to 2011, and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon from 2020.
“This is another milestone in this extraordinary history of NASA,” the space agency’s chief Bill Nelson told reporters.
“And I want to give my personal congratulations to the whole team that went through a lot of trial and tribulation. But they had perseverance. And that’s what we do at NASA, we don’t launch until it’s right.”
A successful mission will help dispel the bitter taste left by years of safety scares and delays, and provide Boeing a much-needed reprieve from the intense safety concerns surrounding its passenger jets.
“I think about over the years how many bad headlines I read about the Shuttle program, about the International Space Station — and I look back now at how successful they were,” said Mark Nappi, Boeing’s vice president and program manager of Commercial Crew Program.
“Someday, we’ll be looking back at this program the same way.”
NASA meanwhile is seeking to certify Boeing as a second commercial operator to ferry crews to the ISS — something Elon Musk’s SpaceX has already been doing for the US space agency for four years.
Both companies received multibillion-dollar contracts in 2014 to develop their crew capsules, following the end of the Space Shuttle program that left the US temporarily reliant on Russian rockets for rides.
Boeing, with its 100-year history, was heavily favored, but its program fell badly behind.
Setbacks ranged from a software bug that put the spaceship on a bad trajectory on its first uncrewed test, to the discovery that the cabin was filled with flammable electrical tape after the second.
The first crewed launch attempt on May 6 was scuppered in the final hours due to a buzzy valve on the Atlas V rocket the capsule is fixed atop.
Saturday’s launch attempt was even more dramatic, aborted with just minutes left on the countdown due to a ground launch computer issue.
Ex-Navy test pilots Wilmore and Williams are now charged with probing Starliner “from izzard to gizzard,” in Nelson’s words — from piloting it manually, to tracking the stars around them to recover the spacecraft’s orientation.
During their stay on the orbital outpost, they will continue to evaluate the spacecraft, including simulating whether the ship can be used as a safe haven in the event of problems.
NASA’s Steve Stich said teams were monitoring just one issue so far: excessive water use in a spacecraft cooling system called a sublimator, but expected there was enough in reserve for a safe return.
After undocking from the ISS, Starliner will re-enter the atmosphere, with the crew experiencing 3.5G as they slow down from 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 kph) to a gentle parachute and airbag-assisted touchdown on land in the western United States.
Zelensky says discussed idea of Western troops in Ukraine with Macron
Updated 23 sec ago
AFP
KYIV, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he spoke with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Monday and discussed the idea of Western “contingents” being deployed to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian leader did not say whether he was talking about the West sending combat troops or peacekeepers as part of a settlement to end the nearly three-year war with Russia.
“Today I spoke with the president of France. It was a rather long and detailed conversation. We discussed defense support — various forms of defense, arms packages for Ukraine,” Zelensky said in his evening address.
“We also discussed the deployment of partner contingents and the training of our military,” he added.
Macron has floated the idea of sending Western troops to Ukraine before, including last month when he and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk discussed the possibility of stationing peacekeepers there in the event of a ceasefire.
Moscow accelerated its advances in Ukraine last year, as Kyiv’s overstretched army suffered from exhaustion and a lack of manpower.
US President-elect Donald Trump has promised to bring a swift end to the fighting when he enters office next week, raising fears in Ukraine that it will be forced to make major territorial concessions in exchange for peace.
Several Daesh fighters killed in Somalia’s Puntland state
“The security forces are advancing onto key hideouts of the terrorists to flush them out”
Updated 10 min 1 sec ago
AFP
MOGADISHU: Somali security forces said they killed several Daesh fighters and seized eight terrorist outposts during ongoing military operations in the semi-autonomous Puntland region.
Daesh has a relatively small presence in Somalia compared to the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab, but experts have warned of growing activity.
A United Nations counter-terrorism official last year warned of increased attacks by Daesh affiliates in Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.
Somali military officials said Monday’s operation in the northern province was centered around the Cal Miskat mountains in the Bari region.
“The security forces took control of eight Daesh military outposts including a major one in the Cal Miskat mountains; several gunmen including foreign fighters had been killed in the military operations” the Puntland army said in a statement.
“The army shot down around nine drones loaded with explosives which Daesh tried to attack and detonate on the security forces during the fighting,” it said.
“The security forces are advancing onto key hideouts of the terrorists to flush them out.”
According to Ahmed Rage, one of the military commanders in the area, heavy fighting was underway as the Daesh “militias took positions inside a cave in the mountain,” but he added that the army was making “progress and continues to advance onto the stronghold positions.”
According to experts and officials, Daesh in Somalia is run by Abdul Qadir Mumin, a Puntland native.
“He is the most important person, the most powerful one, he is the one controlling the global Daesh network,” said Tore Hamming from the International Center for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR).
What is behind the resurgence of vehicular-ramming terror attacks?
Bollards and urban design changes reduce VAW risks but aren't foolproof — a multi-layered approach is essential, says counterterrorism expert
Geofencing and blockchain forensics are emerging tools to track suspicious transactions and block vehicles from high-risk areas
Updated 21 min 27 sec ago
GABRIELE MALVISI
LONDON: Vehicles have a long history as tools of terror, but their use has surged in recent years, becoming a preferred method for attackers seeking to cause mass casualty events, creating headaches for security agencies.
On Jan. 1, at approximately 3:15 p.m. local time, a Ford pickup truck plowed into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more. The FBI has classified the attack as terrorism.
The driver, identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a Texas native, was found to have a Daesh flag inside the vehicle. Before he was shot dead by police, Jabbar recorded videos referencing his divorce and how he joined Daesh earlier in the summer, authorities revealed.
Initially believed to have acted alone, investigators said on Monday they were pursuing leads related to his recent travels to Egypt, Canada, and several US cities.
On the same day as the New Orleans attack, another incident took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, when a Tesla Cybertruck packed with explosives burst into flames outside the Trump International Hotel.
The perpetrator, Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Green Beret and highly decorated soldier from Colorado Springs, refrained from labeling his actions as terrorism.
A Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel on Jan. 1. (AFP)
In notes discovered by authorities, Livelsberger, who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, described the act as a “wake-up call” rather than a terrorist attack. Despite this, the method — the use of a vehicle as a weapon — was a common feature.
Earlier in December, a rented black BMW SUV was driven into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, central Germany, killing six and injuring almost 300. The suspect, Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, a German citizen of Saudi origin, was arrested at the scene.
While his social media history revealed anti-Islam and anti-immigration remarks, German authorities are continuing to search for a motive, emphasizing that he appeared to have acted alone.
While these incidents may seem unrelated, they again share a critical commonality: the weapon of choice.
“While accessibility is a key factor, vehicles also appeal to terrorists for strategic and technological reasons,” Danielle Cosgrove, a member of the Counterterrorism Group at the Atlantic Council, told Arab News.
“Their widespread availability and ability to blend into myriad environments allow attackers to operate under the radar,” she said, adding that platforms like peer-to-peer car rental services — including Turo, which was used by both US attackers — coupled with cryptocurrency payments, have made it easier for attackers to rent vehicles anonymously, avoiding traditional paper trails.
An artist lights candles at a memorial on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Getty Images/AFP)
Since the turn of the century, terrorism has shaped global debates and drastically influenced government policies and budgets. According to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, the US alone — by far the largest spender — allocated around $8 trillion to the global war on terror between 2001 and 2022.
Despite this immense expenditure, the number of “vehicle-as-a-weapon,” or VAW, attacks has risen. More than 40 such incidents have occurred globally in recent years, although the exact figure varies due to inconsistent reporting and regional definitions.
A 2019 study by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University found that the majority of these attacks took place in Israel and the West Bank.
FASTFACTS
• Vehicle-as-a-weapon attacks have surged globally, with more than 40 incidents in recent years targeting crowded areas.
• Groups like Daesh and Al-Qaeda promote vehicle attacks for their accessibility, ease of use, and high casualty potential.
• Experts advocate AI surveillance, stricter rental policies, and smart urban designs to prevent future vehicle-based attacks.
“Vehicle-based attacks remain prevalent because they are able to exploit gaps in both physical security and digital infrastructure,” Cosgrove said.
She explained that while “modern counterterrorism efforts have become highly effective at identifying organized plots, lone-wolf terrorists — often radicalized online — pose a different kind of challenge.”
Although terrorist groups began using ramming attacks in the 1990s, calls for such attacks intensified a decade later. In 2010, Al-Qaeda encouraged its followers through its magazine, Inspire, to use vehicles to “mow down the enemies of Allah.”
A car drives through the annual Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany. (CCTV Video)
The tactic — propelled by the rise of online forums and propaganda networks offering tactical guidance, including detailed step-by-step instructions — gained momentum years later, as groups like Daesh and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula publicly advocated for vehicle-based attacks, recommending four-wheel-drive pickup trucks for their strength and effectiveness in targeting crowded places such as markets and public events.
“Beyond logistical ease, vehicles create mass casualties in crowded areas and generate widespread media attention, aligning with terrorists’ goals of fear and disruption,” Cosgrove said.
In one of the deadliest VAW attacks in history, in July 2016, more than 80 people were killed and hundreds injured when a man drove a 19-ton truck through a crowd gathered to watch Bastille Day fireworks in Nice, southern France, before the driver was shot dead by police at the scene.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it a “special operation using a truck” carried out by one of its “soldiers” — Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian man with French residency status.
However, despite a 2022 French court sentencing eight individuals for aiding the attack, authorities found no concrete links between the perpetrator and the extremist group. The case highlighted what officials called “the extreme difficulty of the fight against terrorism.”
“The biggest challenge in spotting these attacks before they happen lies in identifying intent rather than capability,” said Cosgrove, explaining that vehicles, being easily accessible and requiring limited training or skill, allow attackers to “operate under the radar.”
She added that the “rise of AI-driven radicalization also complicates early intervention, as lone wolves often operate outside of traditional terrorist networks in spite of ideological backing.”
People attend a commemoration after the Christmas market car-ramming attack in Magdeburg, eastern Germany. (AFP)
While Daesh has claimed many VAW attacks in the US and Europe — where access to firearms is more restricted — authorities have struggled to establish concrete links beyond ideological inspiration. Regardless of the motives, such attacks have proven extremely difficult to prevent.
Following a wave of vehicle ramming incidents between 2014 and 2017, many cities implemented urban design changes, such as installing barriers and bollards. Yet, Cosgrove says these measures provide only limited reassurance.
“To mitigate these risks, cities and countries should adopt a multi-layered approach,” she said.
This includes artificial-intelligence-powered surveillance to flag anomalies such as erratic driving or rapid vehicle rentals under different aliases, stricter regulations for rental platforms such as “know your customer” policies, geofencing, smart urban design to limit access to high-risk areas, and blockchain forensics to track suspicious transactions tied to vehicle rentals or extremist financing.
However, with the rapid advance of technologies like self-driving cars, Cosgrove says authorities must act swiftly to address potential vulnerabilities. “Self-driving cars introduce both risks and opportunities,” she said.
Police secured the area where a car exploded in Las Vegas. (Getty Images/AFP)
“On one hand, autonomous vehicles could be hijacked digitally, turning them into remotely controlled weapons. On the other hand, self-driving technology also presents opportunities for prevention,” allowing autonomous technology to be programmed with safeguards like geofencing to block entry into pedestrian zones or high-risk areas.
“The key challenge will be cybersecurity. As autonomous vehicles become more widespread, policymakers ought to prioritize regulations to close vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.
“Strengthening digital security, enforcing smarter regulations, and designing urban defenses must go hand in hand to address both physical and digital vulnerabilities in the fight against terrorism in a digital age.”
China says fishing vessel hijacked off Somalia ‘freed’
Somalia has for years been blighted by piracy, which peaked in 2011, when the UN says more than 160 attacks were recorded off the Somali coast
Updated 13 January 2025
AFP
MOGADISHU: A Chinese-owned fishing vessel hijacked off the Somali coast in November has been set free with its 18-member crew, the Chinese Embassy in Somalia said Monday.
The embassy said in a statement posted on X that the crew was rescued Monday following “the unremitting efforts of the Chinese government.” “The Chinese side strongly condemns this vicious action which threatened the safety of the crew and international navigation security, and will continue to firmly safeguard the lawful rights of Chinese citizens and enterprises overseas,” the statement said.
HIGHLIGHTS
• The ship and its crew were hijacked in late November and taken to Xaafuun district in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland.
• The pirates who took the ship later demanded a ransom of $10 million. It was not immediately clear if the money was paid.
The ship and its crew were hijacked in late November and taken to Xaafuun district in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland, a territory in Somalia’s northeast. The pirates who took the ship later demanded a ransom of $10 million.
It was not immediately clear if the money was paid.
“The Chinese side maintained close consultation and coordination” with federal authorities in Somalia as well as the regional government of Puntland in efforts to rescue the ship and its crew, the embassy statement said.
The hijacking underscored the persistent challenges of maritime security in Somalia’s waters. Somalia has for years been blighted by piracy, which peaked in 2011, when the UN says more than 160 attacks were recorded off the Somali coast.
Incidents have declined drastically since then, however, largely due to the presence of American and allied navies in international waters.
Tropical storm barrels toward Mozambique after leaving 3 dead in Madagascar
Mayotte’s prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville said the red alert — imposed since Saturday — would remain in place at least until nightfall
Updated 13 January 2025
AFP
MAMOUDZOU: Tropical storm Dikeledi barreled toward Mozambique on Monday after leaving three dead in Madagascar and triggering floods in the French territory of Mayotte, less than a month after the cyclone-battered region was hit by Chido.
It had hit Madagascar’s northern tip as a cyclone Saturday, whipping up strong winds and torrential rains.
The storm left at least three dead, according to the National Office for Risk and Disaster Management on Sunday.
By Sunday, Dikeledi had weakened into a severe tropical storm, passing Mayotte — France’s poorest department — by about 100 kilometers at its closest point.
Mayotte’s prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville said the red alert — imposed since Saturday — would remain in place at least until nightfall.
“We have a territory that is very fragile so I decided to keep this red alert,” Bieuville, the top Paris-appointed official on Mayotte, said on television.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Diekledi came as the region was still reeling from the deadly Cyclone Chido. It left at least 39 dead in Mayotte, injuring more than 5,600, and causing colossal damage.
• When Chido made landfall in the southeast African country of Mozambique in December, it inflicted a more punishing toll — killing at least 120 people and injuring more than 900.
“We still have extremely strong winds and rainfall that is just as strong.”
However, no casualties have been reported from the storm, he said.
Diekledi came as the region was still reeling from the deadly Cyclone Chido.
It left at least 39 dead in Mayotte, injuring more than 5,600, and causing colossal damage.
When Chido made landfall in the southeast African country of Mozambique in December, it inflicted a more punishing toll — killing at least 120 people and injuring more than 900.
By Monday, Dikeledi was 150 kilometers off the coast of Mozambique, according to French weather administration Meteo-France.
It is expected to intensify over the warm waters of the Mozambique Channel to reach “the stage of an intense or very intense tropical cyclone,” Meteo-France said.
Despite the storm’s passage, heavy rains were still expected in Mayotte, Floriane Ben Hassen of Mayotte’s meteorological center said on television, recommending “great caution in all coastal villages ... around these high tide peaks.”
About a dozen houses in the south and the center of the archipelago had been washed away, according to local emergency services Sunday, while several villages had been inundated, including Mbouini, on the southern coast.
“We’re traumatized by everything that happened here. We’ve already been traumatized Chido, and now we’re at a loss for words,” Massa, a resident of Mbouini said.
“We’re only in the middle of the rainy season, so we don’t know what’s going to happen between now and February or March,” she said.
Due to the red alert — which banned all travel except for rescue services and other authorized personnel — Mayotte’s inhabitants have been confined to their homes since Saturday until further notice.
But in the capital Mamoudzou, some residents ventured out Sunday onto the streets, a few taking advantage of the rain to wash their vehicles. In nearby Pamanzi, residents braved the red alert to shore up their roofs weakened by the rain.
More than 4,000 people have been mobilized in Mayotte, including members of the police and the military, while France’s overseas territory minister said that 80 accommodation centers were set up to host 14,500 people.
As Dikeledi approaches Mozambique, its Nampula region “should experience very degraded conditions,” Meteo-France said, warning of torrential rainfall and “very destructive winds,” as well as dangerous sea conditions.
Cyclones usually develop in the Indian Ocean from November to March. This year, surface water temperatures are close to 30 degrees Celsius in the area, which provides more intensity to storms, a global warming phenomenon also observed in the North Atlantic and the Pacific.
