World

After making a close pass at the Moon and venturing further into space than any previous habitable spacecraft, NASA’s Orion capsule is due to splash down Sunday in the final test of a high-stakes mission called Artemis.

As it hurtles into Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers) per hour, the gumdrop-shaped traveler will have to withstand a temperature of 2,800 degrees Centigrade (5,000 Fahrenheit) — about half that of the surface of the sun.

Splashdown in the Pacific off the Mexican island of Guadalupe is scheduled for 1739 GMT (9:39 am local time).

Achieving success in this mission of just over 25 days is key for NASA, which has invested tens of billions of dollars in the Artemis program due to take people back to the Moon and prepare for an onward trip, someday, to Mars.

So far the first test of this uncrewed spacecraft has gone very well.

But it is only in the final minutes of this voyage that the true challenge comes: seeing if Orion’s heat shield, the biggest ever built, actually holds up.

“It is a safety-critical piece of equipment. It is designed to protect the spacecraft and the passengers, the astronauts on board. So the heat shield needs to work,” said Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafin. 

A first test of the capsule was carried out in 2014 but that time the capsule stayed in Earth’s orbit, so it came back into the atmosphere at a slower speed of around 20,000 miles per hour.

– Choppers, divers and boats – 

A US Navy ship, the USS Portland, has been positioned in the Pacific to recover the Orion capsule in an exercise that NASA has been rehearsing for years. Helicopters and inflatable boats will also be deployed for this task.  

The falling spacecraft will be slowed first by the Earth’s atmosphere and then a web of 11 parachutes until it eases to a speed of 20 miles (30 kilometers) per hour when it finally hits the blue waters of the Pacific.

Once it is there, NASA will let Orion float for two hours — a lot longer than if astronauts were inside — so as to collect data.

“We’ll see how the heat soaks back into the crew module and how that affects the temperature inside,” said Jim Geffre, NASA’s Orion vehicle integration manager.

Divers will then attach cables to Orion to hoist it onto the USS Portland, which is an amphibious transport dock vessel, the rear of which will be partly submerged. This water will be pumped out slowly so the spacecraft can rest on a platform designed to hold it.

This should all take about four to six hours from the time the vessel first splashes down.

The Navy ship will then head for San Diego, California where the spacecraft will be unloaded a few days later.

When it returns to Earth, the spacecraft will have traveled 1.4 million miles since it took off November 16 with the help of a monstrous rocket called SLS.

At its nearest point to the Moon it flew less than 80 miles (130 kilometers) from the surface. And it broke the distance record for a habitable capsule, venturing 268,000 miles (432,000 kilometers) from our planet.

– Artemis 2 and 3 –

Recovering the spacecraft will allow NASA to gather data that is crucial for future missions.

This includes information on the condition of the vessel after its flight, data from monitors that measure acceleration and vibration, and the performance of a special vest put on a mannequin in the capsule to test how to protect people from radiation while flying through space.

Some components of the capsule should be good for reuse in the Artemis 2 mission, which is already in advanced stages of planning.

This next mission planned for 2024 will take a crew toward the Moon but still without landing on it. NASA is expected to name the astronauts selected for this trip soon.

Artemis 3, scheduled for 2025, will see a spacecraft land for the first time on the south pole of the Moon, which features water in the form of ice.

Only 12 people — all of them white men — have set foot on the Moon. They did this during the Apollo missions, the last of which was in 1972.

Artemis is scheduled to send a woman and a person of color to the Moon for the first time.

NASA’s goal is to establish a lasting human presence on the Moon, through a base on its surface and a space station circling around it. Having people learn to live on the Moon should help engineers develop technologies for a years-long trip to Mars, maybe in the late 2030s.

When Barack Obama welcomed African leaders to Washington in 2014, many viewed the summit as historic, not just due to the US president’s background but for the pledges to make the partnership deeper and such events routine.

The sequel took eight years — the equivalent of two presidential terms — but on Tuesday, Joe Biden will host a second US-Africa summit.

Since 2014, China — viewed by Washington as its main long-term challenger — has consistently outpaced the United States as the largest investor in Africa and Russia has increasingly flexed its muscle, sending mercenaries to hotspots and trying to rally opinion to blunt Western pressure over Ukraine.

Biden’s three-day summit will feature announcements of new US investment and highlight food security — worsened by the invasion of Ukraine — but, unlike China, also focus on values such as democracy and good governance, as well as fighting climate change.

But the biggest message from Biden, a lover of backslapping face-to-face diplomacy, will be that the United States cares.

Since defeating Donald Trump, who made no secret of his lack of interest in Africa, Biden has thrown his support behind an African seat on the Security Council and at the Washington summit will call for the African Union to formally join the Group of 20 major economies, an aide said.

“We believe that this is a decisive decade. The way in which the world will be ordered will be determined in the coming years,” said Biden’s top Africa advisor, Judd Devermont.

Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken “believe strongly that African voices are going to be critical in this conversation,” he said.

African leaders have already been holding summits every three years with China and also have regular meetings with several US allies — France, Britain, Japan and the European Union.

– All, almost, welcome –

After a row over invitations distracted attention from his Western Hemisphere summit in Los Angeles in June, Biden has been open with the guest list from Africa.

The United States is inviting all African Union members in good standing — meaning not Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali or Sudan — and with which Washington has full relations, which excludes authoritarian Eritrea.

One of the most closely watched leaders expected in Washington will be Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a onetime US ally whom the Biden administration has accused of backing widespread abuses in the Tigray conflict, which has subsided with a breakthrough November 2 agreement signed in South Africa.

Also in Washington will be the presidents of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo as Blinken leads international pressure on Rwanda over alleged support to rebels advancing in its giant neighbor.

Other presidents due at the summit include Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Tunisia’s Kais Saied, who have both faced criticism on democratic rights, and Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, days after the United States called his latest election a sham. The foreign minister of Zimbabwe, which is under US sanctions, is also expected to attend.

“We’ve taken some criticism, I think it’s fair to say, from some who wonder why we invited this government or that government about which there are some concerns,” said Molly Phee, the top State Department official for Africa.

“But that reflects the commitment of President Biden and Secretary Blinken to having respectful conversations even where there are areas of difference.”

– ‘Robust’ debate on trade –

One key topic will be the fate of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the 2000 deal that granted duty-free access to the US market for most products from sub-Saharan nations that meet standards on rights and democracy.

The pact expires in 2025, leading African leaders to seek clarity at a time that the United States has soured on trade deals.

“We regret that AGOA trade preferences have not been utilized to the maximum,” Phee said.

She expected a “robust discussion” and said the United States may look after 2025 to engage instead with a nascent continental free trade area.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the United States was entering the summit with a “trust deficit” from Africans due to the long wait since 2014.

“The summit presents great opportunities but it also poses some risks,” he said.

“This is an opportunity to show Africa that the US really wants to listen to them,” he added.

“But now that we have high expectations, the question will be, what will be different now?”

Fijians go to the polls on Wednesday after a bitter and close election race between two ex-coup leaders that could test the Pacific nation’s fledgling democracy.

Prime minister and former military commander Frank Bainimarama came to power almost 16 years ago in a bloodless coup, but is looking for a third elected term via the ballot box.

To win, his FijiFirst party will have to best that of long-time rival Sitiveni Rabuka — an ex-prime minister and military commander who himself led two coups in 1987. 

In recent years, Bainimarama has switched his fatigues for suits and colourful bula shirts and focused heavily on Fiji’s fight against climate change — an existential issue for the low-lying nation.

But the run-up to the vote has been marred by allegations of corruption, prosecutions of rival politicians and threats against journalists.

Many local commentators are fearful of speaking publicly about a vote that is expected to be a close-run affair.

“Some are concerned another coup is on the cards,” said analysts Lucy Albiston and Blake Johnson, writing for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

“Although there are no reliable pre-election polls, it’s looking like Rabuka might win,” they said, noting Bainimarama had not pledged to respect the result while his rival had.

But after democratic votes in 2014 and 2018, there are hopes Fiji can again avoid a return to instability that saw four coups in the last 35 years. 

The military’s role will be key, and commanding officer Major General Jone Kalouniwai has insisted his forces will “honour the democratic process by respecting the outcome”.

Lobby group Freedom House rates Fiji as “partially free”, with the “repressive climate” of previous coups easing.

However, the group has also noted “the ruling party frequently interferes with opposition activities, the judiciary is subject to political influence, and military and police brutality is a significant problem”.

– ‘A curse and a blessing’ –

Bainimarama has painted the election as the “most important election ever” after a tumultuous few years of pandemic-induced pain.

Covid-19 travel restrictions put thousands reliant on the tourism industry out of work and sent the national debt skyrocketing.

“We know the stakes: our recovery, our jobs, family support, strong leadership that serves everyone equally,” said Bainimarama in a campaign stop ahead of a pre-election media blackout.

Previous Fiji elections had been largely split down ethnic lines between Indo-Fijians — descended from indentured labourers brought from India — and the Indigenous Fijians, or iTaukei.

Bainimarama was one of the first politicians to grasp the importance of building a coalition of the two.

Yet holding power since 2006 could be both a “curse and a blessing” for him at the polls, according to Suva-based political commentator Shailendra Singh from the University of the South Pacific.

“A curse in that people might feel that this government has been in power too long,” Singh told AFP.

“There might be voter fatigue — the same government and the same faces, the same messages.”

Singh believes the high cost of living, with inflation around five percent, will weigh on voters’ minds.

“Rightly or wrongly, the government will get most of the blame for it, so I believe it will be a major determining factor in how people vote,” he added. 

In a final campaign rally, Rabuka — a former Fiji international rugby player — said Fijians were ready for change and predicted victory was at hand.

“After 16 years of disastrous dictatorial rule, we’re coming very close to the end of it,” he told supporters. “We will be consigning them to the dustbin of history where they rightly belong.”

The world’s next global pact for nature is doomed without clear mechanisms for implementing targets, conservation groups said Saturday on the sidelines of UN talks, as hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Montreal demanding greater action.

Similar factors were widely blamed for the failure of the last 10-year biodiversity deal, adopted in 2010 in Aichi, Japan, which was unable to achieve nearly any of its objectives. 

“Strong text that commits countries to review progress against global targets and ratchet up action over time is essential to hold governments accountable,” said Guido Broekhoven of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), adding he was “very worried” about the current state of negotiations on this point.

Implementation mechanisms are at the heart of the Paris agreement on the fight against global warming, in the form of “nationally determined contributions.”

However, the current text on biodiversity only “urges” countries to take into account the conclusions of a global review in four years’ time — without committing them to enhance action if the review finds targets aren’t on track.

“So what we have on the table is barely an encouragement to maybe do better,” Aleksandar Rankovic, of the US nonprofit Avaaz, told AFP. 

“And there is no compliance mechanism being discussed that could help organize this necessary conversation between governments, on how they could cooperate better.”

The UN meeting, called COP15, running from December 7 – 19, bringing together nearly 5,000 delegates from 193 countries to try to finalize “a pact of peace with nature,” with key goals to preserve Earth’s forests, oceans and species.

On a freezing Saturday, people young and old, including a large contingent of Indigenous Canadians, braved the biting cold to make their voices heard in Canada’s second city.

Some wore costumes, dressed as birds, trees, and even caribou — an emblem of Canada’s boreal forests that are now threatened.

“The people are trying to speak, trying to say you can’t just talk, you have got to act,” said Sheila Laursen, part of the group Raging Grannies. 

“Let’s not forget that… to protect biodiversity we need to protect Indigenous people first, Indigenous people are protecting biodiversity,” Helena Gualinga, who belongs to a tribe in the Ecuadoran Amazon. 

– ‘Missing critical elements’ –

Saturday was supposed to be the last day for delegates to work on the implementation text, before their environment ministers arrive on December 15 for the home stretch of the negotiations. Under pressure, an additional meeting day next week was approved.

“If biodiversity targets are the compass, implementation is the actual vessel to take us there,” Li Shuo of Greenpeace told AFP.

“The implementation negotiations are missing critical elements that will ensure countries to ramp up their action over time: this is like a bicycle without gears.”

“There has been some progress,” Juliette Landry, a researcher at French think tank IDDRI added, pointing out that the countries have for the first time adopted common planning and reporting templates, making cross-comparison possible.

A Greek MEP had her powers as a vice president of the European Parliament suspended Saturday over a corruption probe implicating World Cup hosts Qatar that has ensnared four others and sparked calls for “root and branch reform” in the EU institution.

European Parliament president Roberta Metsola “has decided to suspend with immediate effect all powers, duties and tasks that were delegated to Eva Kaili in her capacity as Vice-President of the European Parliament,” a spokesperson said.

Earlier Saturday, Metsola said on Twitter that the parliament “stands firmly against corruption”, adding they would do everything they could to “assist the course of justice”.

Socialist MEP Kaili was arrested on Friday hours after four others were detained for questioning.

The arrests followed raids in Brussels which prosecutors said turned up 600,000 euros ($630,000) in cash. Police also seized computers and mobile phones.

Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office said the investigation concerned suspected “corruption” and “money laundering” and an unnamed Gulf country.

A legal source close to the case confirmed to AFP Belgian press reports that the country was Qatar.

News of the arrests sparked outrage and calls for action to tackle corruption inside the European Parliament.

“Over many decades, the Parliament has allowed a culture of impunity to develop, with a combination of lax financial rules and controls and a complete lack of independent (or indeed any) ethics oversight,” Transparency International’s  director Michiel van Hulten said.

The European Parliament’s Greens group called for a full investigation into allegations of bribery by Qatar.

“We will not accept business as usual…,” the group said. “We must strengthen our rules so this cannot happen again.”

The European Parliament had “become a law unto itself”, said Van Hulten. “It is time for root and branch reform.”

Alberto Alemanno, a law professor based in Belgium, said the “scandal opens multiple Pandora’s boxes all at once”, including “flawed EU ethics system for MEPs” and the “scale of foreign influence over EU”.

Only a vote of MEPs can strip Kaili of her mandate as a vice-president, but Metsola’s decision effectively strips her position of any powers for the time being.

– Corruption, money laundering –

At least three of the others arrested were either Italian citizens or originally came from Italy, a source close to the case told AFP.

Kaili, 44, is the partner of one of the four others detained: Francesco Giorgi, a parliamentary assistant with the European Parliament’s Socialists and Democrats group, said the source.

Former Italian MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri, who served as a socialist in the parliament between 2004 and 2019, was also reportedly arrested. 

In Rome, a government source confirmed to AFP reports that Panzeri’s wife and daughter had been detained.

Belgian daily L’Echo reported that “several bags full of (cash) notes” had been found at Kaili’s Brussels home.

– Kaili expelled from party –

Kaili is a former television presenter and one of the European Parliament’s 14 vice presidents. In November, just prior to the World Cup, she met Qatar’s Labour Minister Ali bin Samikh Al Marri.

In a video statement posted on Twitter by the Qatar News Agency, she said: “I believe the World Cup for Arabs has been a great tool for… political transformation and reforms”.

In a subsequent speech at the European Parliament she said Qatar was a “front-runner in labour rights”.

In Athens Friday, the president of the Greek socialists (PASOK) Nikos Androulakis announced on Twitter that Kaili had been expelled from the party.

On Saturday, the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament announced they had suspended her membership.

– Qatar denial –

A Qatari government official told AFP: “We are not aware of any details of an investigation. Any claims of misconduct by the State of Qatar are gravely misinformed.”

The country “operates in full compliance with international laws and regulations”, he added.

Panzeri, 67, currently heads a Brussels-based human rights organisation called Fight Impunity.

The secretary general of the International Trade Union Confederation, Italian Luca Visentini, was also among those reportedly arrested. The ITUC said it was “aware” of the media reports.

World Cup host Qatar has striven to improve its image in the face of criticism over its record on worker protections and human rights. 

Migrant workers make up more than 2.5 million of Qatar’s 2.9 million population.

Rescuers in Jersey were searching through the night for any survivors from a “devastating” explosion Saturday that flattened a low-rise apartment block, killing at least three people.

Security camera footage showed a fireball engulfing the three-storey building in the Channel island’s port capital St Helier, leaving several people missing.

The blast struck at around 4:00 am (0400 GMT), hours after reports of a gas leak at the bayside block.

“The area is being lit and teams will be working tonight, all night, and we will not stop for the time being,” chief fire officer Paul Brown told reporters. 

Chief Minister Kristina Moore confirmed at least three fatalities, and noted that Jersey was already reeling from the sinking of a fishing boat this week in which three men were lost.

Nearby resident Anthony Abbott said his flat’s windows were smashed inward by the blast wave, “and there was fire everywhere outside”.

“It was very, very distressing,” he told the BBC. “I’m a little bit shocked, but we are lucky we’re OK.”

Jersey’s gas supplier, Island Energy, said it was working with the fire service to understand what happened.

The fire was put out but emergency services were conducting “significant work” at the scene, and the rescue operation could take days, police said.

– Tragic week –

Jersey police chief Robin Smith likened the remains of the apartment building to a “pancake”. 

“There is also damage to a nearby building as well, another block of flats that the fire service needs to make safe,” he said.

“It is a pretty devastating scene, I regret to say.”

Smith said earlier Saturday that “around a dozen” people were missing, “but you will appreciate also that number could fluctuate”.

Two others were taken to hospital but later discharged.

Specialist equipment was mobilised to find anyone trapped in the rubble, according to the police, helped by an urban search-and-rescue team from southern England.

The chief minister expressed condolences and said residents displaced by the blast were being found somewhere to stay.

“This is going to take some days and we will keep everyone updated and fully informed, and we will do our very best to ensure everybody is properly looked after,” Moore said.

The incident caps a tragic week for Jersey, a British Crown dependency not part of the United Kingdom, whose economy relies on banking, tourism and fishing.

The coastguard Friday abandoned a search for three Jersey fishermen missing for nearly 36 hours after their wooden boat hit a cargo ship and sank.

The freighter is owned by Condor Ferries, whose Jersey offices lie near the destroyed apartment block.

“We must call on the collective strength of the island community,” Moore said.