Seven members of a crew forced to abandon their cargo ship after it ran aground during a typhoon in the Philippines have been rescued and the bodies of four others found, authorities said Wednesday.

Search teams were still looking for nine crew members two days after the Cebu Great Ocean vessel hit the shore at Malimono town on the southern island of Mindanao.
The survivors were taken to hospital for treatment and were in a stable condition, local disaster officer Aladdin Sumampong said.
-I asked them what happened since the ship just ran aground... but they said the order of the captain was to abandon the ship because it will capsize soon due to big waves- Sumampong told AFP.
The Philippine-registered vessel -- laden with nickel ore and carrying 2,000 litres (528 gallons) of diesel fuel -- was still afloat, Sumampong said. 
Two of the survivors were found on a beach with the bodies of two colleagues they had carried while swimming to shore, he said.
Photos shared by a government disaster office showed a makeshift floating device made out of life rings and water containers washed up on the beach where some of the bodies were found.
At least three people have died in the central and southern Philippines as Typhoon Surigae skirts the country, authorities said, forcing tens of thousands to seek shelter from flooding and strong winds.
The slow-moving Surigae is packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 165 kilometres (103 miles) an hour near its centre, about 345 kilometres off the northern province of Cagayan.
It is not expected to make landfall.
The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 typhoons or storms every year, a dangerous and disruptive part of life in the country.&nbsp;

The survivors were taken to hospital for treatment and were in a stable condition

Search teams were still looking for nine crew members two days after the Cebu Great Ocean vessel hit the shore at Malimono town on the southern island of Mindanao

Seven crew rescued, four dead in Philippine ship grounding

Germany's defence ministry on Wednesday said it planned to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in early July, after the United States announced plans to pull out by September 11.

-The current thinking... is to shorten the withdrawal period. A withdrawal date of July 4 is being considered- a ministry spokesman told AFP, stressing that the final decision would be made by NATO.
NATO had agreed last week to begin their troop drawdown by May 1.
The 9,600-strong NATO training and support mission, which includes the US troops and depends heavily on Washington's military assets, includes personnel from 36 NATO members and partner countries. 
With 1,100 troops, Germany has the second biggest contingent of soldiers after the United States in the country.
The withdrawal comes despite a deadlock in peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
But Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the US decision to leave, saying the terror threat had moved elsewhere and resources had to be refocused on challenges like China and the pandemic.

With 1,100 troops, Germany has the second biggest contingent of soldiers after the United States in the country

The withdrawal comes despite a deadlock in peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government

Germany plans to pull troops out of Afghanistan from July 4

Russian police on Wednesday searched the Saint Petersburg offices of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and detained his top aide Lyubov Sobol and spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh, his allies said, ahead of nationwide protests in his support.

The morning police raids came ahead of protests planned in more than 100 cities across Russia on Wednesday evening in support of the hunger-striking Navalny, who is protesting his lack of medical treatment in prison. 
-Searches were carried out from the very morning- his team in Saint Petersburg said on Twitter.
-They have already come for the office's cameraman, several volunteers and activists.-Sobol's lawyer Vladimir Voronin said on Twitter that police had pulled her out of a taxi. 
-According to her, she was detained by many uniformed officers- he wrote. 
He later said she was taken to a police station but was being kept in a police wagon.
Yarmysh retweeted her lawyer saying that she was "just detained at the entrance of her building".
The independent monitor OVD-Info said Wednesday that police had conducted searches and detained activists in at least 20 cities across the country. 
The police raids also come ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual state of the nation address, which he is set to deliver at 12:00 (0900 GMT).
Police have issued warnings against joining Wednesday's rallies in support of Navalny, saying they are illegal gatherings.
More than 10,000 people were detained during demonstrations in support of the Kremlin critic in late January and early February. 
The opposition figure was arrested on arrival to Russia in January from Germany, where he had spent months recovering from near fatal nerve toxin poisoning. 
He is serving two-and-a-half years in a penal colony for violating parole terms on old fraud charges he says are politically motivated.&nbsp;

The morning police raids came ahead of protests planned in more than 100 cities across Russia on Wednesday evening in support of the hunger-striking Navalny, who is protesting his lack of medical treatment in prison

Alexei Navalny was arrested in January when he returned to Russia

Russian police detain Navalny aides, activists before protests

Police in the US state of Ohio fatally shot a Black teenager who appeared to be lunging at another person with a knife, less than an hour before former officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd.

The shooting occurred at a tense time with growing outrage against racial injustice and police brutality in the United States, and set off protests in the city of Columbus.
The city's police chief Michael Woods said officers were responding to a 911 emergency call about a disturbance Tuesday afternoon from someone who feared being stabbed, around 4:30 pm local time (2030 GMT).
Police also released a portion of the footage from the body camera worn by the officer who shot the teenager. Franklin County Child Services identified her as Ma'Khia Bryant, 16.
-We thought it was important to share with the community, to be transparent about this incident, to let them have some answers that we can provide tonight- said Woods.
The video showed officers arriving at the scene during a scuffle, with a small crowd of onlookers. One teenage girl is seen lunging at another with what appears to be a knife, when shots are heard and the girl collapses on the ground.
The officer is later seen tossing a knife away from the girl.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said the girl's death was a "horrible, heartbreaking situation."
He called it a "tragic day in the city of Columbus," and asked his city to pray for the teenager's family.
Ginther said the officer in the video, whose name has not been released, "took action to protect another young girl in our community."
The teenager's mother Paula Bryant told the local CBS station: "She was a very loving, peaceful little girl.
-She promoted peace. And that's something I want to always be remembered.-

The shooting occurred at a tense time with growing outrage against racial injustice and police brutality in the United States, and set off protests in the city of Columbus

The shooting happened  less than an hour before former officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd

Black teenager shot dead by police in Ohio

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday encouraged Kosovo and Serbia to carry on aiming for "mutual recognition" to resolve a 13-year impasse over the former Serbian province's status.

Serbia refuses to recognise the independence of Kosovo, which seceded in 2008, almost a decade after a NATO bombing campaign forced Serbian troops to abandon their conflict against ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
The two held a high-profile meeting at the White House overseen by former US president Donald Trump last September, but the stalemate has continued.
-Normalisation of relations with Serbia is essential for Kosovo to realise its potential- Biden wrote this week in a letter of congratulations to newly elected Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, made public by her office on Tuesday.
Biden said the US would "continue to support efforts to secure a lasting peace", calling for a "comprehensive normalisation agreement" that would be "centred on mutual recognition".
Osmani was chosen as leader earlier this month after a landslide election victory in February.
The US president used the opportunity to recall his family's links with Kosovo -- noting that his son Beau, who died in 2015, had worked there after the 1999 NATO campaign.
The Kosovo authorities named a highway next to a US military base after Beau Biden in 2016, with his father attending the inauguration.
Muslim-majority Kosovo is considered one of the most pro-American parts of the world, with a statue of President Bill Clinton, a boulevard named after former President George W. Bush and a bust of former secretary of state Madeleine Albright.
Kosovo has been recognised by more than 100 countries but Serbia still considers the territory as its southern province, and is supported by Russia and China. 
The two sides have negotiated under EU auspices since 2011 but a solution to the status dispute has remained out of reach.

Normalisation of relations with Serbia is essential for Kosovo to realise its potential, says Biden

The US president used the opportunity to recall his family's links with Kosovo, noting that his son Beau, who died in 2015, had worked there after the 1999 NATO campaign

Biden renews bid for Kosovo-Serbia 'mutual recognition'

Mali's military has killed at least 34 people and disappeared 16 or more during recent operations in the war-torn centre of the Sahel state, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday.

The rights group made the allegations in a report based on dozens of interviews testifying to massacres and beatings allegedly committed by security forces in several towns and villages in central Mali between October 2020 and March.
The region has become the epicentre of a jihadist insurgency which first emerged in northern Mali in 2012 before spreading to the centre and neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Jihadists and soldiers are often blamed for abuses against civilians in the brutal conflict, which has killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands more. 
The HRW report said that soldiers blindfolded and "severely beat" dozens of passengers on a bus in the town of Boni on March 23 over suspicious material allegedly found in the baggage compartment. 
At least 13 of those passengers have been "disappeared", the report said. 
In October near the village of Libe, according to the report, soldiers killed 25 people, many of whom were trying to flee. 
Overall, the report said at least 34 people were killed and 16 forcibly disappeared between October and March in the poor Sahel country. 
-Mali's security forces have shown scant regard for human life during recent counter-terrorism operations- Corinne Dufka, HRW's Sahel director, said in the report. 
-Committing serious abuses in the name of security only fuels recruitment into abusive armed groups and undermines trust by local populations- she warned. 
HRW said that the latest alleged abuses had occurred since the military deposed president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in a coup in August. 
It added that the interim government has pledged to investigate the findings. 
Dufka said however that the Malian authorities had "failed to make good on many previous such commitments". 
Rights groups regularly accuse Sahel armies of indiscriminate rights abuses. 
In late December, UN investigators accused Malian security forces of war crimes, and jihadists and other armed groups of crimes against humanity.

The rights group made the allegations in a report based on dozens of interviews testifying to massacres and beatings allegedly committed by security forces in several towns and villages in central Mali between October 2020 and March

A member of the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA) patrols a road in central Mali, February 2020.

Dozens dead, 'disappeared' in Mali military ops

Australia's most populous state has closed out its quietest fire season in a decade, its fire service said, as the coolest and wettest summer in years offered a reprieve from the uncontrolled blazes that torched large swathes of the country in 2019 and 2020.

The current bushfire season has seen half the number of callouts in New South Wales state, at 5,500, as the previous season, the NSW Rural Fire Service said on Wednesday. This season, just 31,000 hectares (76,600 acres) of land burned across the state, compared to 5.5 million hectares (13.6 million acres) during last season's Black Summer wildfires.
The less hazardous fire conditions were underpinned by a La Nina weather pattern, which saw Australia registering its wettest weather in four years and its coolest in nine -- though it also had the downside of causing massive floods in parts of the country's east coast.
-Today marks the official end to the quietest fire season in more than a decade, a welcome and stark contrast to last year- the RFS said in a social media post.
Fires this year blackened nearly half of the World Heritage listed Fraser Island, home to the world's only tropical forest that grows on sand, off the country's northeast coast. In Western Australia state, fires burned more than 70 homes.

Australia's climate has warmed by around 1.4°C (about 34.5°F) since 1910, while southern Australia has seen a reduction of 10-20% in cool season rainfall between April and October in recent decades, according to the country's Bureau of Meteorology.
Australia's last wildfire season began in June 2019, and continued through the following spring. The fires killed at least 33 people, including nine firefighters, and destroyed more than 3,000 homes nationwide, according to the Australian Parliament. More than a billion animals are estimated to have died, with many species pushed close to extinction.
In March, Australians on the east coast have been inundated with rain and the worst floods in more than half a century, with tens of thousands of people evacuated. Numerous regions were declared natural disaster areas, with authorities warning NSW was reaching a "breaking point."
-Communities who were battered by the bushfires are now being battered by the floods and a deep drought prior to that. I don't know anytime in our state's history where we've had these extreme weather conditions in such quick succession in the middle of a pandemic- NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said last month.
Authorities this week began recovery efforts as water levels receded.

This season, just 31,000 hectares (76,600 acres) of land burned across the state, compared to 5.5 million hectares (13.6 million acres) during last season's Black Summer wildfires

Fire crews fight bush fires in Perth, Australia, on February 2, 2021.

Australia marks quietest fire season in a decade

More than 30 South Korean college students shaved their heads in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul on Tuesday to protest Japan's decision to release water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.

Police periodically dispersed crowds, who chanted and held placards, but did not stop the event from taking place, though there is an anti-pandemic ban on gatherings larger than 10 people.
The protesters who were shaved were draped in protective sheets emblazoned with messages condemning the Japanese plan and calling for it to be ditched.
One read: "The Japanese government should immediately cancel the plan to release the contaminated water."Japan's government said last week it will release more than 1 million tonnes of treated water from the Fukushima site in stages starting in about two years.
Seoul has strongly rebuked the decision, with the foreign ministry summoning the Japanese ambassador and President Moon Jae-in ordering officials to explore petitioning an international court.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry on Sunday (April 18) said he believed Japan had made the decision in a transparent manner and would continue to follow due procedures.

Police periodically dispersed crowds, who chanted and held placards, but did not stop the event from taking place, though there is an anti-pandemic ban on gatherings larger than 10 people

South Korea university students gets their heads shaved during a protest against Japan?s decision to release contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, in front of the Japanese embassy, in Seoul, South Korea, April 20, 2021.

S.Korean students shave heads in protest over Japan's nuclear waste water plan

A team of medics including ailing Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's personal doctor were denied access Tuesday to a penal colony where he is being treated at a prison hospital.

Navalny, 44, launched a hunger strike on March 31 and his medical team over the weekend warned that his health was failing so rapidly he could die at "any minute". 
Russia's prison service, which has repeatedly prevented Navalny's doctors from visiting him, on Monday moved him from his penal colony in the Vladimir region some 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Moscow to a medical facility at another colony in the same region. 
A team of physicians including his personal doctor Anastasia Vasilyeva has made multiple attempts to see him but been rejected each time. 
On Tuesday morning the team was once again barred from seeing him, but was told to try again later in the day. 
-This is super disrespectful to people who came to fulfil their human duty, a medical duty to help a patient- Vasilyeva told AFP outside the colony.
-We are talking now only about health and life.-Navalny's lawyers also arrived at the penal colony on Tuesday and were allowed in, an AFP journalist at the scene reported.
Navalny is serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence for violating parole terms on old fraud charges he says are politically motivated. 
The opposition politician was arrested on his return to Russia in January from Germany, where he had spent months recovering from a poisoning attack with the Novichok nerve agent. 
Navalny blames the attack on President Vladimir Putin, a claim the Kremlin has repeatedly denied. 
The European Union and the United States have imposed sanctions on Russia over the poisoning, and on Monday threatened Moscow with further penalties in the event of Navalny's death. 
The opposition figure launched his hunger strike last month demanding proper medical treatment over severe back pain and numbness in his limbs. 
His team over the weekend said a blood test had shown showed high potassium levels and elevated creatinine, indicating Navalny could be suffering from impaired kidney function and risked cardiac arrest.
Russia's prison service on Monday insisted his condition was "satisfactory", despite moving him to the medical facility, and said he was taking vitamin supplements as part of medical treatment.
Navalny's team has called on supporters to take to the streets on Wednesday -- when Putin is due to deliver his annual state of the nation address -- to protest how he is being treated.

His team over the weekend said a blood test had shown showed high potassium levels and elevated creatinine, indicating Navalny could be suffering from impaired kidney function and risked cardiac arrest

Navalny, 44, launched a hunger strike on March 31 and his medical team over the weekend warned that his health was failing so rapidly he could die at "any minute"

Doctors denied access to Navalny prison hospital

Four drugmakers, including Johnson &amp; Johnson, went on trial Monday over claims they helped fuel the deadly opioid epidemic in the United States through deceptive marketing that downplayed the risks of addiction.

J&amp;J, Teva, Endo and Allergan are accused of trivializing the dangers of long-term use of opioid painkillers to boost sales in a lawsuit filed by several California counties and the city of Oakland.
The complaint seeks billions of dollars in damages to abate the public nuisance it says the drugmakers created. 
-Defendants prioritized profits over lives and deceived the public about the real dangers of opioids- Santa Clara County attorney James Williams said in a statement. 
Almost 500,000 people in the United States have died from overdoses involving prescription or illicit opioids over the past two decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 50,000 people died from opioid overdoses in 2019 alone. 
The plaintiffs -- Santa Clara, Los Angeles and Orange counties, as well as the city of Oakland -- represent 15 million people, or 40 percent of the most populous American state. In addition to the damages, they are asking for measures to prevent deceptive pharmaceutical marketing practices in the future.
-While the use of opioids has taken an enormous toll on the State of California and its residents, Defendants have realized blockbuster profits. In 2014 alone, opioids generated $11 billion in revenue for drug companies like Defendants- the complaint said.
The lawsuit comes at a particularly bad time for J&amp;J.
The pharmaceutical giant, also tainted by a scandal related to its talcum-based baby power, was hoping to restore its reputation with its coronavirus vaccine. But the shot has been suspended in the United States, pending an investigation, after reports that six women had developed serious blood clots.
Neither J&amp;J nor any of the other companies responded to AFP's request for comment.
More than 3,000 lawsuits related to the opioid crisis have been filed in US courts.
In 2019, an Oklahoma judge ordered J&amp;J to pay a $465 million fine for downplaying the risks of opioids. J&amp;J is appealing.&nbsp;

The complaint seeks billions of dollars in damages to abate the public nuisance it says the drugmakers created

Almost 500,000 people in the United States have died from overdoses involving prescription or illicit opioids over the past two decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

J&J and other drugmakers go on trial over US opioid crisis

The Chadian army announced late Sunday that it has killed more than 300 rebels in the northern part of the Central African country.

The rebels were from The Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), the military said in a press release.
-More than 300 terrorists have been neutralized and 150 were taken prisoner, including three senior officials during the clashes in the Kanem province on Saturday- said army spokesperson Gen. Azem Bermandoa Agouna.
-We deplore five martyrs and 36 wounded- Agouna added.
According to him, 26 vehicles, including 16 equipped with heavy weapons, were recovered from the rebels.
Last week, FACT claimed independence of Chad's northern region of Tibetsi, which is close to the Libyan border.
Fighting started a day after presidential elections on April 11. Unofficial partial results show President Idriss Deby Itno taking an early lead and extending his 30-year rule, a possibility being defied by opposition parties and civil society groups.
On Saturday, the US Department of State ordered the departure of non-emergency US government employees from its Embassy in N’Djamena fearing political unrest and violence.

5 Chadian soldiers killed, 36 others wounded as political tensions rise post-election

More than 300 terrorists have been neutralized and 150 were taken prisoner, including three senior officials during the clashes in the Kanem province on Saturday

Over 300 rebels killed in northern Chad

A Syrian court Monday started receiving applications from presidential hopefuls, the state news agency said, for polls next month expected to keep Bashar al-Assad in power in the war-torn country.

Two candidates filed applications with the high constitutional court, state news agency SANA said, a day after the speaker of parliament announced the poll will take place on May 26.
The first was a former lawmaker, while the other had applied for the last presidential elections in 2014, but did not meet the criteria.
They will now have to garner support from at least 35 members of the 250-seat parliament, which is dominated by Assad's Baath party.
Fifty-five-year-old Assad, who succeeded his father in 2000 and has managed to cling on to power through a decade of conflict, has not yet announced his own candidacy.
Presidential hopefuls have until April 28 to put forth their candidacy for the second such vote to be held during the war.
They must have lived continuously in Syria for at least 10 years, meaning that opposition figures in exile are barred from running.
The last presidential elections in 2014 were the first such multi-candidate polls in Syria, but only two other candidates were approved and Assad won with an official 88 percent of the vote.
The government has since won back large parts of the country from rebels and jihadists.
But Syria is also battling a dire economic crisis compounded by Western sanctions and a financial crisis in neighbouring Lebanon.
The war has killed more than 388,000 people since it started in 2011 with the repression of anti-government protests, but endless rounds of talks have failed to find a political solution.

Two candidates filed applications with the high constitutional court

Hammouda Al-Sabbagh (C), head of the Syrian People's Assembly, presides over a parliamentary session to discuss upcoming presidential elections, in the capital Damascus, on April 18, 2021.

Syria court gets 1st applications for presidential vote

United Airlines is adding three new flights from the United States to European markets that are beginning to reopen to vaccinated visitors, the carrier announced Monday.

Starting in July, the big US airline will offer international service to Dubrovnik, Croatia, Athens, Greece and Reykjavik, Iceland, United said.
The announcement came as Greece said it would lift its quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated visitors from the United States and five other jurisdictions.
Travellers must now present either proof that they are either fully vaccinated, or a negative Covid test from the previous 72 hours, Greece's civil aviation authority said. 
The decision also ends a week-long quarantine requirement applying to visitors from the EU, Britain, Israel, Serbia and the United Arab Emirates.
Iceland and Croatia have previously announced steps to eliminate mandatory quarantines for fully vaccinated passengers or those possessing a negative test.
The announcement is a bright spot on the international aviation front, which for US carriers is lagging the recovery seen in domestic markets.
-As countries around the world begin the process of reopening, leisure travelers are eager to take a long-awaited getaway to new international destinations- said Patrick Quayle, United's vice president of international network and alliances.

Starting in July, the big US airline will offer international service to Dubrovnik, Croatia, Athens, Greece and Reykjavik, Iceland

United Airlines will launch flights to three European countries that have lifted mandatory quarantines for visitors who can show they have been vaccinated against COVID-19

United Airlines adds US flights to three European cities

Twelve people were killed and dozens of houses burnt when a fuel tanker overturned, spilled its contents and caught fire in central Nigeria, the emergency services said Monday.

The accident, which occurred on Sunday in the Agatu area of Benue state, is the latest to hit the oil-rich West African nation in recent months.
-Twelve bodies were recovered from the scene of the carnage yesterday, while over 50 houses and shops were burnt- said Emmanuel Shior, the executive secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).
He said many people were also injured following the fire from the crashed tanker, fearing that the death toll might rise.
-Our operatives are still combing the area to determine if more bodies could be recovered from the burnt buildings- Shior told AFP.
He said the tanker had lost control before overturning and catching fire, which spread and engulfed houses and shops in the area.
-The emergency services quickly mobilised to the scene and put out the fire. Everything is calm now- he added.
Fuel accidents are frequent in Nigeria when residents try to siphon off oil or petrol from pipelines or when tanker drivers crash on poorly maintained roads.
Most Nigerians live in poverty even though the country is Africa's biggest oil producer, putting out around two million barrels per day.
In January, a tanker explosion in the southern city of Agbor claimed four lives and injured 11.
In October last year, a tanker exploded and caused a fire in Lagos, Nigeria's biggest city, killing five people, wounding eight and damaging more than 100 homes and businesses.

The accident, which occurred on Sunday in the Agatu area of Benue state, is the latest to hit the oil-rich nation in recent months

Fuel accidents are frequent in Nigeria when residents try to siphon off oil or petrol from pipelines or when tanker drivers crash on poorly maintained roads

12 die, dozens of houses burnt in Nigeria fuel tanker fire

NASA's miniature robot helicopter Ingenuity performed a successful takeoff and landing on Mars early on Monday, achieving the first powered, controlled flight by an aircraft over the surface of another planet, the U.S. space agency said.

The solar-powered whirligig's debut on the Red Planet marked a 21st-century Wright Brothers moment for NASA, which said success could pave the way for new modes of exploration on Mars and other destinations in the solar system, such as Venus and Saturn's moon Titan.
Mission managers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Los Angeles burst into applause and cheers as engineering data beamed back from Mars confirmed that the 4-pound (1.8-kg) twin-rotor helicopter had performed its maiden 40-second flight as planned about three hours earlier.
The robot rotorcraft was programmed to ascend 10 feet (3 meters) straight up, then hover and rotate in place over the Martian surface for half a minute before settling back down on its four legs. JPL officials said data returned from Mars showed that this had in fact occurred.
During NASA's own coverage of the event livestreamed from JPL headquarters, NASA also displayed the first images from the flight.
A black-and-white photo taken by a downward-pointing onboard camera while the helicopter was aloft showed the distinct shadow cast by Ingenuity in the Martian sunlight onto the ground just below it.
A snippet of color video footage captured by a separate camera mounted on the NASA's Mars rover Perseverance, parked about 200 feet away, showed the helicopter in flight against the orange-colored landscape surrounding it.
-We can now say that human beings have flown an aircraft on another planet- said MiMi Aung, Ingenuity project manager at JPL.

The robot rotorcraft was programmed to ascend 10 feet (3 meters) straight up, then hover and rotate in place over the Martian surface for half a minute before settling back down on its four legs

The shadow of NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity is seen during its first flight on the planet in this still image taken from a video on April 19, 2021.

NASA's Mars helicopter makes history with successful flight on Red Planet

Russia announced Sunday that it is expelling 20 Czech diplomats in response to a similar move by Prague. 

In a statement published on its official website, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Czech Ambassador Vitezslav Pivonka was notified that the diplomats had been declared persona non-grata and must leave the country by the end of Monday.
The ministry also demanded that the number of locally hired staffers at the Czech Embassy be reduced to the same level as that of the Russian Embassy in Prague.
On Saturday, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis announced that 18 Russian diplomats had been declared persona non grata over their alleged links to huge explosions in 2014 at military warehouses in the town of Vrbetice which left two people dead.
The diplomats were asked to leave the country within 48 hours.
Russia protested the decision, terming it “unfounded.” It recalled that earlier, Czech authorities had investigated the case and found the companies that owned the warehouses guilty.
Britain has said it “stands in full support” of its Czech allies.
A government statement said the two officers of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) who were charged with the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury in 2018 were also behind the explosions in Vrbetice.
British intelligence had accused Russian citizens Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov and charged them for the Novichok attack in Salisbury.

Foreign Ministry instructs 20 Czech diplomats to leave Russia by end of day on April 19

The ministry also demanded that the number of locally hired staffers at the Czech Embassy be reduced to the same level as that of the Russian Embassy in Prague

Seven crew rescued, four dead in Philippine ship grounding

Germany plans to pull troops out of Afghanistan from July 4

Russian police detain Navalny aides, activists before protests

Black teenager shot dead by police in Ohio

Biden renews bid for Kosovo-Serbia 'mutual recognition'

Dozens dead, 'disappeared' in Mali military ops

Australia marks quietest fire season in a decade

S.Korean students shave heads in protest over Japan's nuclear waste water plan

Doctors denied access to Navalny prison hospital

J&J and other drugmakers go on trial over US opioid crisis

Over 300 rebels killed in northern Chad

Syria court gets 1st applications for presidential vote

United Airlines adds US flights to three European cities

12 die, dozens of houses burnt in Nigeria fuel tanker fire

NASA's Mars helicopter makes history with successful flight on Red Planet

Russia expels 20 Czech diplomats in tit-for-tat move

World

Seven crew rescued, four dead in Philippine ship grounding

Germany plans to pull troops out of Afghanistan from July 4

Russian police detain Navalny aides, activists before protests

Black teenager shot dead by police in Ohio

Biden renews bid for Kosovo-Serbia 'mutual recognition'

Dozens dead, 'disappeared' in Mali military ops

Australia marks quietest fire season in a decade

S.Korean students shave heads in protest over Japan's nuclear waste water plan

Doctors denied access to Navalny prison hospital

J&J and other drugmakers go on trial over US opioid crisis

Over 300 rebels killed in northern Chad

Syria court gets 1st applications for presidential vote

United Airlines adds US flights to three European cities

12 die, dozens of houses burnt in Nigeria fuel tanker fire

NASA's Mars helicopter makes history with successful flight on Red Planet

Russia expels 20 Czech diplomats in tit-for-tat move