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An international crew of four astronauts is back home on Earth Saturday after nearly five months aboard the International Space Station, returning safely in a SpaceX capsule.The spacecraft carrying US astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov splashed down off California’s coast at 8:44 am local time (1534 GMT). Their return marks the end of the 10th crew rotation mission to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which was created to succeed the Space Shuttle era by partnering with private industry.The Dragon capsule of billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company detached from the International Space Station (ISS) at 2215 GMT on Friday.When these capsules reenter Earth’s atmosphere, they heat up to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,925 Celsius), according to NASA.Atmospheric reentry — then the deployment of huge parachutes when the capsule gets closer to Earth — slows its speed from 17,500 miles (28,100 kilometers ) per hour to just 16 miles per hour.After the capsule splashed down, it was recovered by a SpaceX ship and hoisted aboard. Only then were the astronauts able to breathe Earth’s air again, for the first time in months.The crew will now fly to Houston to be reunited with their families.They conducted numerous scientific experiments during their time on the space station, including studying plant growth, how cells react to gravity, and the effect of microgravity on human eyes.- ‘Bittersweet’ return -NASA acting Administrator Sean Duffy praised the successful mission.”Our crew missions are the building blocks for long-duration, human exploration pushing the boundaries of what’s possible,” he said in a NASA statement.McClain said her farewell to the ISS was “bittersweet” because she may never return.”Every day, this mission depends on people from all over the world,” she wrote on X.”It depends on government and commercial entities, it depends on all political parties, and it depends on commitment to an unchanged goal over many years and decades.”NASA said last month it would lose about 20 percent of its workforce — around 3,900 employees — under cuts from the US President Donald Trump’s sweeping effort to trim the federal workforce.Trump has meanwhile prioritized crewed missions to the Moon and Mars.The Crew-10’s launch into space in March allowed two US astronauts to return home after being unexpectedly stuck aboard the space station for nine months.When they launched in June 2024, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were only supposed to spend eight days in space on a test of the Boeing Starliner’s first crewed flight. However, the spaceship developed propulsion problems and was deemed unfit to fly back, leaving them in space for an indefinite period.NASA announced this week that Wilmore has decided to retire after 25 years of service at the US space agency. Last week, US astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov boarded the ISS for a six-month mission. 

US fashion designer Willy Chavarria said Saturday he regrets that sandals he created together with Adidas “appropriated” a traditional design from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.Local authorities had complained that the Oaxaca Slip-On sandals were a “reinterpreted” model of huarache sandals, particularly one found uniquely in the area, which has one of the highest Indigenous populations in the country. Mexico’s government said Friday it was seeking compensation from Adidas.”I deeply regret that this design has appropriated the name and was not developed in direct and meaningful partnership with the Oaxacan community,” Chavarria, who is of Mexican heritage, said in a statement sent to AFP. Chavarria acknowledged that the sandals “did not live up to the respect and collaborative approach” deserved by the community of Villa Hidalgo Yalalag, from where the original design is said to have come.The Mexican government said Friday that Adidas had agreed to meet with Oaxaca authorities.”It’s collective intellectual property. There must be compensation. The heritage law must be complied with,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said during her regular morning press conference Friday. The controversy is the latest instance of Mexican officials denouncing major brands or designers using unauthorized Indigenous art or designs from the region, with previous complaints raised about fast fashion juggernaut Shein, Spain’s Zara and high-end label Carolina Herrera.

After nearly five months onboard the International Space Station, an international crew of four astronauts began their descent back down to Earth in a SpaceX capsule Friday. US astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov are expected to spend more than 17 hours in the capsule before splashing down off California’s coast at 1533 GMT on Saturday.Their return will mark the end of the 10th crew rotation mission to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which was created to succeed the Space Shuttle era by partnering with private industry.The Dragon capsule of billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company detached from the International Space Station (ISS) at 2215 GMT on Friday.The capsule’s dizzying drop back down to Earth will be slowed when it re-enters the atmosphere — and then again by huge parachutes to soften its landing.After the capsule splashes down, it will be recovered by a SpaceX ship and hoisted aboard. Only then will the astronauts be able to breathe Earth’s air again, for the first time in months.The astronauts, known as Crew-10, conducted numerous scientific experiments during their time on the space station, including studying plant growth and how cells react to gravity.Their launch into space in March was heavily scrutinized because it finally allowed two US astronauts — who had been unexpectedly stuck onboard the space station for nine months — to return home.When they launched in June 2024, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were only supposed to spend eight days in space on a test of the Boeing Starliner’s first crewed flight. However, the spaceship developed propulsion problems and was deemed unfit to fly back, leaving them stranded in space.NASA announced this week that Wilmore has decided to retire after 25 years of service at the US space agency. Last week, US astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov boarded the ISS for a six-month mission.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have committed to a lasting peace after decades of conflict, US President Donald Trump said after the South Caucasus rivals signed a deal welcomed on Saturday by Iran and Western nations.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s long-time President Ilham Aliyev said Trump’s mediation should earn him a Nobel Peace Prize — an award the US leader has been vocal about seeking.The two former Soviet republics “are committing to stop all fighting forever, open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations and respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Trump said at a White House signing event on Friday.However, the fine print and binding nature of the deal between the long-time foes remained unclear.The two leaders would have a “great relationship,” Trump said.”But if there’s conflict… they’re going to call me and we’re going to get it straightened out,” he said.Christian-majority Armenia and Muslim-majority Azerbaijan have feuded for decades over their border and the status of ethnic enclaves within each other’s territories.They went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a lightning 2023 offensive, sparking the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians.- ‘Historic signature’ -The Azerbaijan and Armenian leaders shook hands under the satisfied gaze of Trump before all three signed a document the White House called a “joint declaration.”Aliyev hailed the “historic signature” between two “countries which were at war for more than three decades.” “We are today establishing peace in the Caucasus,” he said.Aliyev offered to send a joint appeal, along with Pashinyan, to the Nobel committee recommending Trump receive the Peace Prize. “Who, if not President Trump, deserves a Nobel Peace Prize?” he said.Aliyev also thanked Trump for lifting restrictions on US military cooperation with Azerbaijan, which was announced on Friday.Pashinyan said the “initialing of (the) peace agreement will pave the way to end decades of conflict between our countries and open a new era.”The Armenian leader said the “breakthrough” would not have been possible without “peacemaker” Trump.”Today, we can say that peace has been achieved,” Pashinyan told a news conference after signing the deal.The agreement includes establishing a transit corridor passing through Armenia to connect Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan, a longstanding demand of Baku.The United States will have development rights for the corridor — dubbed the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” — in the strategic and resource-rich region.Iran, which has long opposed the corridor over fears it would cut the country off from the Caucasus, welcomed the deal on Saturday.However, it also expressed “concern over the negative consequences of any foreign intervention in any way and form, especially in the vicinity of common borders.”The foreign ministry in Turkey, a longtime supporter of Azerbaijan, hailed the “progress achieved towards establishing a lasting peace”.UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy congratulated the two countries “on the bold steps taken in Washington.”European Union chiefs said it would pave the way to “lasting, sustainable peace for both countries and across the entire region.”- ‘Strategic’ partner -Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed on the text of a comprehensive peace deal in March. However, Azerbaijan later outlined a host of demands — including amendments to Armenia’s constitution to drop territorial claims for Karabakh — before signing the document.Pashinyan has announced plans for a constitutional referendum in 2027, but the issue remains deeply divisive among Armenians.Asked what Armenia stood to gain from Friday’s deal, a White House official said it was “an enormous strategic commercial partner, probably the most enormous and strategic in the history of the world: the United States of America.””The losers here are China, Russia, and Iran,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.The disputed mountainous enclave of Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but was controlled by pro-Armenian separatists for nearly three decades after a war following the break-up of the Soviet Union. Azerbaijan captured part of the territory during a 2020 war, then took all of it three years later. Almost the entire local population of around 100,000 ethnic Armenians left for Armenia.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that there would be “no invasion of Mexico” following reports that President Donald Trump had ordered the US military to target Latin American drug cartels.”There will be no invasion of Mexico,” Sheinbaum said after The New York Times reported that Trump had secretly signed a directive to use military force against cartels that his administration has declared terrorist organizations.”We were informed that this executive order was coming and that it had nothing to do with the participation of any military personnel or any institution in our territory,” Sheinbaum told her regular morning conference.The Mexican foreign ministry said later that Mexico “would not accept the participation of US military forces on our territory.”The remarks followed a statement released by the US embassy in Mexico, which said both countries would use “every tool at our disposal to protect our peoples” from drug trafficking groups.US ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson said on X that the countries “face a common enemy: the violent criminal cartels.”The Pentagon referred questions on the issue to the White House, which did not immediately confirm the order.The Times said Trump’s order provided an official basis for military operations at sea or on foreign soil against the cartels.In February, his administration designated eight drug trafficking groups as terrorist organizations. Six are Mexican, one is Venezuelan and the eighth originates in El Salvador.Two weeks ago, his administration added another Venezuelan gang, the Cartel of the Suns, which has shipped hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States over two decades.On Thursday, the US Justice Department doubled to $50 million its bounty on Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, whom it accuses of leading the Cartel of the Suns. Venezuela has dismissed the allegations, with Foreign Minister Yvan Gil calling it “the most ridiculous smokescreen we have ever seen.”Sheinbaum has made strenuous efforts to show Trump she is acting against her country’s cartels, whom he accuses of flooding the United States with drugs, particularly fentanyl.”We are cooperating, we are collaborating, but there will be no invasion. That is absolutely ruled out,” she said.She said that in “every call” with US officials, Mexico insisted that this “is not permitted.”The 63-year-old has been dubbed the “Trump whisperer” for repeatedly securing reprieves from his threats of stiff tariffs over the smuggling of drugs and migrants across their shared border.

President Donald Trump is moving to target Latin American drug cartels with the military, US media said Friday, after Washington designated several narcotics trafficking groups as “terrorist” organizations earlier this year.The New York Times reported that Trump has directed the Pentagon to use military force against cartels deemed terrorist organizations.The Wall Street Journal said the president ordered options to be prepared, with the use of special forces and the provision of intelligence support under discussion, and that any action would be coordinated with foreign partners.White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly, while not confirming the reports, said in a statement that Trump’s “top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.”The United States designated Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and six other drug trafficking groups with Latin American roots as terror groups in February.The US embassy in Mexico released a statement later Friday, saying both countries would use “every tool at our disposal to protect our peoples” from drug trafficking groups.But the Mexican foreign ministry stressed that Mexico “would not accept the participation of US military forces on our territory.”- ‘No invasion’ -Trump’s administration has since added another Venezuelan gang, the Cartel of the Suns, which has allegedly shipped hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States over two decades.The United States accuses Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro of leading that cartel — an allegation Caracas has rejected as a “ridiculous smokescreen.”Trump signed an executive order on January 20, his first day back in the White House, creating a process for the designation of the cartels, which he said “constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime.”US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Thursday interview with EWTN that the designations allow “us to now target what they’re operating and to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever — to target these groups.””We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug dealing organizations,” Rubio said. “It’s no longer a law enforcement issue. It becomes a national security issue.”Trump vowed in March to “wage war” on Mexico’s drug cartels, which he accused of rape and murder.His Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum, following the reports of potential US military action against cartels, insisted on Friday that there would be “no invasion” of her country.Sheinbaum has made strenuous efforts to show Trump she is acting against Mexico’s cartels, whom he accuses of flooding the United States with drugs, particularly fentanyl.”We are cooperating, we are collaborating, but there will be no invasion. That is absolutely ruled out,” she said.Sheinbaum has been dubbed the “Trump whisperer” for repeatedly securing reprieves from his threats of stiff tariffs over the smuggling of drugs and migrants across their shared border.

President Donald Trump demanded a massive $1 billion fine from the prestigious University of California system on Friday as the administration pushed its claims of antisemitism in UCLA’s response to 2024 student protests related to Gaza.The figure, which is five times the sum Columbia University agreed to pay to settle similar federal accusations of antisemitism, would “completely devastate” the UC public university system, a senior official said. President James Milliken, who oversees the 10 campuses that make up the University of California system, including Los Angeles-based UCLA, said managers had received the $1 billion demand on Friday and were reviewing it.”As a public university, we are stewards of taxpayer resources and a payment of this scale would completely devastate our country’s greatest public university system as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians,” he said.”Americans across this great nation rely on the vital work of UCLA and the UC system for technologies and medical therapies that save lives, grow the US economy, and protect our national security.”Asked about Trump’s fine during a press conference on Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom — who sits on the UC’s board — said “we’ll sue” and accused the president of trying to silence academic freedom.”He has threatened us through extortion with a billion dollar fine unless we do his bidding,” Newsom said, crediting the UC system as “one of the reasons California is the tentpole of the US economy, one of the reasons we have more scientists, engineers, more Nobel laureates, than any other state in this nation.” Media reports suggest the government wants the money in installments and is demanding the university also pay $172 million to a claims fund to compensate Jewish students and others affected by alleged discrimination.The UC system, with schools that are consistently ranked among the best public universities in the United States, is already grappling with the Trump administration’s more-than half-billion dollar freeze on medical and science grants at UCLA alone.The move appears to follow a similar playbook the White House used to extract concessions from Columbia University, and is also trying to use to get Harvard University to bend.Columbia’s agreement includes a pledge to obey rules barring it from taking race into consideration in admissions or hiring, among other concessions, drawing criticism from Newsom.”We will not be complicit in this kind of attack on academic freedom, or on this extraordinary public institution. We are not like some of those other institutions that have followed a different path,” Newsom said.Pro-Palestinian protests rocked dozens of US campuses in 2024, with police crackdowns and mob violence erupting over student encampments, from Columbia to UCLA, with then-president Joe Biden saying “order must prevail.” Universities have been in Trump’s sights since he returned to the White House in January.His Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement views academia as elite, overly liberal and hostile to the kind of ethno-nationalism popular among Trump supporters.

New York is waging a war on multiple fronts to combat the near ubiquitous rats that plague city streets and the subways, leaving some residents afraid to let their children walk on sidewalks.Faced with an overwhelming and ever-growing problem, officials have moved beyond gassing burrows to suffocate rodents and are now using high-tech mapping tools to try and sterilize the population.Alongside targeted interventions, officials are mounting an effort to educate the public about the need to avoid leaving behind food waste that feeds and sustains the rat population.Caroline Bragdon, director of neighborhood interventions for Pest Control Services within New York City’s Department of Health, told AFP that the lack of food “stresses” rats and other vermin. “Perhaps this forces them to go further in search of food, but perhaps they simply have fewer offspring,” she said. “That’s usually what we’re seeing. Fewer rats over time. Less breeding leads to less rat activity,” Bragdon added.The city is testing out an arsenal of different tools in the Harlem neighborhood, aiming to find new products and methods to tackle the rats. For large, densely populated cities like New York — with its 8.5 million inhabitants — food sources for the rodents are bountiful, whether it’s on sidewalks, in overflowing trash bins, or in parks.”Lately, I haven’t felt that I have to run in between the mounds of trash to run away from rats because they have those new (sealed trash) containers,” said Harlem resident Karen Del Aguila, 50.Rats, which survive on practically the same diet as humans, can flourish even on items discarded as trash — like soda cans thrown into recycling bins, or crumbs given to pigeons, warned Bragdon. A rat needs one ounce (28 grams) of food per day to sustain itself, and it can have up to 12 offspring per litter. During its short life of less than a year, it can have between five and seven litters. The best way to counter the scourge of rats is to “remove their food source… So make it harder for them, then they’re going to have to travel further to try and find something,” said Alexa Albert, a supervisor for the city’s pest control service.- ‘It can be done’ -She swiped her screen to show the street-level data logged on a rat tracker app used by those involved in the crusade against rodent infestation.The city health department’s 70 inspectors use the mobile app to detect, report and monitor rodent activity — as well as plot abatement tactics.Inspectors go door to door asking businesses and residents to clean buildings, stores, and sidewalks.Authorities also now offer training on how to combat rats, taken by thousands of residents and building managers. In October 2022, New York City vaunted a “trash revolution,” aimed at installing sealed containers to allow the removal of black bags of organic waste from sidewalks after rats surged during the coronavirus pandemic.Pre-pandemic, their population had been cut by as much as 90 percent in some areas.”So we know it can be done,” said Bragdon, who added that she hoped 2025 would be a “turnaround year.”Local resident Jessica Sanchez said she had observed much fewer rats in her neighborhood.”Not a long time ago, when you went to put out the trash, five of them came out,” she said.”I was even afraid to put my son on the floor.”The rat warriors are seeking to learn the rodents’ dietary habits throughout the year by using samples of different food types to identify what bait they are most likely to take.In 2024, complaints about rat activity dropped 25 percent compared to the year before, according to official data. But so far, only Manhattan’s Chinatown has managed to bring the rat population under control.

After nearly five months onboard the International Space Station, an international crew of five astronauts began their descent back down to Earth on a SpaceX capsule Friday. US astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov are expected to spend more than 17 hours in the capsule before splashing down off California’s coast at 1533 GMT on Saturday.Their return will mark the end of the 10th crew rotation mission to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which was created to succeed the Space Shuttle era by partnering with private industry.The Dragon capsule of billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company detached from the International Space Station (ISS) at 2215 GMT on Friday.The capsule’s dizzying drop back down to Earth will be slowed when it re-enters Earth — and then again by huge parachutes to soften its landing.After the capsule splashes down, it will be recovered by a SpaceX ship and hoisted aboard. Only then will the astronauts be able to breathe Earth’s air again, for the first time in months.The astronauts, known as Crew-10, conducted numerous scientific experiments during their time on the space station, including studying plant growth and how cells react to gravity.Their launch into space in March was heavily scrutinized because it finally allowed two US astronauts — who had been unexpectedly stuck onboard the space station for nine months — to return home.When they launched in June 2024, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were only supposed to spend eight days in space on a test of the Boeing Starliner’s first crewed flight. However, the spaceship developed propulsion problems and was deemed unfit to fly back, leaving them stranded in space.NASA announced this week that Wilmore has decided to retire after 25 years of service at the US space agency. Last week, US astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov boarded the ISS for a six-month mission.

US President Donald Trump said Friday he would meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in one week in Alaska, and suggested that an eventual deal between Moscow and Kyiv to end the war in Ukraine could involve swapping territory.The Kremlin later confirmed the summit, calling the location “quite logical.””The presidents themselves will undoubtedly focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said in a statement posted on Telegram.Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes.Putin held consultations Friday with the leaders of China and India ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough.”The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska,” Trump said on his Truth Social site.He said earlier at the White House that “there’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” Ukraine and Russia, without providing further details.- Trump invited to Russia -Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have failed to bear fruit, and it remains unclear whether a summit would bring peace any closer.Russian bombardments have forced millions of people to flee their homes and have destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire.He has also ruled out holding talks with Volodymyr Zelensky at this stage, a meeting the Ukrainian president says is necessary to make headway on a deal.At talks in Istanbul last month, Russian negotiators outlined hardline territorial demands for halting its advance — calling for Kyiv to withdraw from some territory it controls and to renounce Western military support.The Alaska summit would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump’s first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January.The Kremlin’s Ushakov said that Trump had been invited to visit Russia.”Looking ahead, it is natural to hope that the next meeting between the presidents will be held on Russian territory. A corresponding invitation has already been sent to the US president,” Ushakov said.- Witkoff visit -The Kremlin said Friday that Putin had updated Chinese President Xi Jinping on “the main results of his conversation” with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who visited Moscow earlier this week.Xi expressed support for a “long-term” solution to the conflict, the Kremlin said.China’s Xinhua state news agency quoted Xi as having told Putin: “China is glad to see Russia and the United States maintain contact, improve their relations, and promote a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.”Moscow and Beijing have deepened political, economic and military ties since the start of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.Putin also spoke by phone to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after both countries condemned new US tariffs over New Delhi’s oil purchases from Russia.Xi and Modi have both tried to tout their own peace initiatives for Ukraine, though they have gained little traction.Putin, a former KGB agent who has ruled Russia for more than 25 years, said in June that he was ready to meet Zelensky, but only during a “final phase” of negotiations on ending the conflict.In his regular evening address on Thursday, Zelensky said “it is only fair that Ukraine should be a participant in the negotiations.”Donetsk governor Vadym Filashkin said Friday that families with children would be evacuated from 19 more villages in the region’s east, where Russian forces have been advancing.The villages, home to hundreds of people, are all within about 20 miles (30 kilometers) of the front line.