Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 lander, also called Odysseus or “Odie,” is on the lunar surface after experiencing unexpected issues hours prior to landing.

“I know this was a nail-biter, but we are on the surface, and we are transmitting,” Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus announced on a live webcast. “Welcome to the moon.”

The exact state of the lander is not yet clear, but the company has confirmed it has made contact and acquired a signal from the spacecraft.

If successful, the lander could be the first commercial spacecraft to soft-land on the moon, and the first US-made vehicle to touch down on the lunar surface since the Apollo program ended more than five decades ago. This mission is of key interest to Intuitive Machines’ primary customer, NASA, which is seeking to scout the moon using robotic explorers developed by private contractors before sending astronauts there later this decade through its Artemis program.

Odysseus landed at 6:24 p.m. ET Thursday after using its methane-fueled, onboard engine to steer itself toward the cratered surface and rapidly reduce its speed by 4,000 miles per hour (1,800 meters per second).

A couple of hours before landing, an apparent issue with Odysseus’ navigation systems force the lander to rely on experimental technology, resulting in a “dynamic situation,” according to Gary Jordan, a NASA communications manager.

“Intuitive Machines made the decision to reassign the primary navigation sensors from Odysseus … to use the sensors on NASA’s Navigation Doppler Lidar,” according to the webcast.

The Lidar payload is an experimental technology that aimed to test out how future landers would make more precise landings on the moon. It’s designed to shoot laser beams to the ground to give exact measurements of speed and direction of flight, according to Farzin Amzajerdian, NASA’s principal investigator for the instrument.

With its landing legs and sensors pointed toward the lunar terrain, Odysseus relied on the Lidar payload to locate a safe landing spot.

The IM-1 mission comes amid a renewed international dash for the lunar surface. Since the end of the Soviet-US space race of the 20th century, China, India and Japan have all landed spacecraft on the moon — with the latter two making their first touchdowns within the past six months.

The phone booth-size lander spent the past week in space, traveling about 620,370 miles (1 million kilometers) through the void before placing itself in lunar orbit on Wednesday morning. A model of the spacecraft is seen below.

What Odysseus is bringing to the moon

Intuitive Machines is aiming to land Odysseus near Malapert A, an impact crater close to the moon’s south pole — an area characterized by treacherous and rocky terrain.

Malapert A is a region that’s relatively flat in comparison with its surroundings, according to NASA. And the location is strategic: The south pole is of broad international interest because it’s suspected to be home to stores of water ice, which could be converted to drinking water or even rocket fuel for future missions.

Tucked on board Odysseus are six science payloads designed in various NASA laboratories that are expected to operate for up to seven days on the lunar surface.

“The NASA payloads will focus on demonstrating communication, navigation and precision landing technologies, and gathering scientific data about rocket plume and lunar surface interactions, as well as space weather and lunar surface interactions affecting radio astronomy,” according to the space agency.

Payloads from the commercial sector are also on board. They include insulation material developed by Columbia Sportswear, designed to shield Odysseus from the harsh temperatures on the moon, and commemorative payloads such as a sculpture of the moon phases designed in consultation with artist Jeff Koons.

Additionally, there is a camera along for the ride developed by students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. The device was set to pop off the lander and capture a selfie of Odysseus. Those images are expected about three hours after touchdown, though other snapshots may be shared sooner.

After one week, lunar night will shroud the landing zone in darkness, plunging the spacecraft into freezing cold. The dramatic swing in temperatures will be difficult — likely leaving the vehicle inoperable.

The odds of success

This mission comes after another commercial NASA partner, Astrobotic Technology, waved off its attempt to land on the moon hours into its mission last month. A critical fuel leak left the Peregrine lander without enough gas to reach the surface.

“We’re going 1,000 times further (into space) than the International Space Station,” Altemus said. “Then we’re flying to an orbiting body that has no atmosphere to slow down (the spacecraft). … It all has to be done with a propulsion system. And we’re doing it autonomously or robotically with no intervention from humans.”

The US is anxious to regain a presence on the moon as NASA aims to carry out robotic science missions, seeking to learn more about the lunar environment through private partners as it focuses on preparing to land astronauts on the moon. The space agency is targeting 2026 for the first crewed mission back to the surface.

The Artemis program has already experienced delays. Altemus said he envisions that companies such as Intuitive Machines — operating under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS initiative — could bolster US lunar efforts if astronaut missions face further schedule setbacks, especially with competition from China.

Anna wakes up about four times a night from dreams in which she is being sent to the front lines of a bloody war and forced to fight.

It’s a terrifying prospect that could become a reality for Anna and millions of her peers across Myanmar after the military junta activated a mandatory conscription law for all young men and women.

“We are in panic mode and are considering a way to escape,” said Anna, an educator in her 20s from the country’s south who requested to use a pseudonym to protect her safety. “I don’t think I can keep living in Myanmar.”

Three years on from its bloody coup, Myanmar’s military junta is facing the biggest challenge to its fragile hold on power as it struggles to fight a nationwide armed resistance on multiple fronts across the Southeast Asian nation.

The junta’s surprise announcement that it’s seeking to boost its armed forces with compulsory service prompted a rush by young people to get visas out of the country.

Videos shared on social media show long queues of people clutching documents at the Thai Embassy in Myanmar’s biggest city Yangon.

Under the law, all men ages 18 to 35 and women ages 18 to 27 are required to serve for up to two years under military command. Specialists such as doctors up to age 45 must serve for three years.

Evading conscription is punishable by three to five years in prison and a fine.

Analysts say the law, which has been on the books since the previous military regime in 2010 but not enacted until now, will force a young generation to fight their own people and could be used to justify human rights abuses. It could also result in further regional instability by sparking a mass exodus of people fleeing conscription into neighboring countries, they said.

Some say conscription is a desperate effort by the military to boost ranks depleted by death, desertions and defections.

“While wounded and increasingly desperate, the Myanmar military junta remains extremely dangerous,” Tom Andrews, United Nations Special Rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, said in a statement. “Troop losses and recruitment challenges have become existential threats for the junta, which faces vigorous attacks on frontlines all across the country. As the junta forces young men and women into the military ranks, it has doubled down on its attacks on civilians using stockpiles of powerful weapons.”

‘We don’t have another choice’

Myanmar’s military has been weakened by unprecedented coordination between ethnic armed organizations and resistance groups known as People’s Defense Forces, analysts say.

These groups, which support the National Unity Government in exile, and ethnic rebel armies have taken control of hundreds of strategic border towns, key military positions and vital trade routes since launching an offensive last October.

Analysis from the United States Insitute of Peace suggests the military only has about 150,000 personnel, including 70,000 combat soldiers — “barely able to sustain itself as a fighting force” — and has lost at least 30,000 soldiers since the coup.

Defense Minister Adm. Tin Aung San said the military has capacity to recruit up to 50,000 people a year and conscripts “will receive salary, rations, and entitlements according to their grades and qualifications,” according to the state mouthpiece Global New Light of Myanmar.

People who have been temporarily exempted from serving in the military — those with a medical reason, civil servants, students and carers — must return to serve even if over the age of military service, Ting Aung San said, according to the paper. Veterans could also be called up, the Global New Light reported.

Junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said about 13 million young people would be eligible for conscription, with 60,000 men the first to be recruited reportedly beginning in April.

There’s little detail about how they’d be called up – and what training they’d receive to fight.

“People know for sure that no matter what is written in the conscription law, they will have to go to the front lines. That is one thing that every person in the country is sure of,” said Kyaw Naing, 28, a teacher from Yangon region who requested to use a pseudonym for his security.

Aung Myo Min, human rights minister for the shadow government in exile said it has received reports of mass defections to People’s Defense Forces, with some soldiers abandoning the military because “they don’t have enough food and they are forced to take up a position to fight against civilians.”

Some of those former soldiers told the National Unity Government the military’s power has weakened, and it desperately needs recruits, according to Aung Myo Min.

But both Anna and Kyaw Naing say they’ll refuse to join their ranks.

Anna said she doesn’t have the money or connections to buy a visa out of the country, and worries the junta will be monitoring the airports, stopping those of age and arresting them.

Her parents have urged her to escape as soon as possible, but that means finding a way to cross the border illegally to Thailand.

“All the information on Facebook right now is about how to escape this country,” Anna said.

“From my side, I will try and do as much as possible to escape but if not, I will join (the People’s Defense Forces),” Anna said. “It seems like we don’t have another choice.”

Neighboring Thailand would likely be the country of choice for many of those deciding to flee.

While Thailand has hosted Myanmar nationals fleeing conflict for decades in displacement camps along the border, it has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention and considers those fleeing persecution to be illegal immigrants, who face jail and potential deportation.

Reports of kidnappings and arrests

For Kyaw Naing, fleeing to Thailand is not an option as he is the sole breadwinner of his family and cares for his elderly parents.

“If I leave, no one is there to look after them. I just have to survive,” he said.

Kyaw Naing says he’s stopped going out at night for fear he’ll be arrested and sent to the barracks.

“My parents are afraid I might be kidnapped by police and soldiers when I’m on my way back home from work, or when I go outside to hang out with my friends, or even when I go out to throw litter into the dustbin in the street,” Kyaw Naing said.

Even before the announcement of the mandatory conscription law, local media has reported an increase in the arrests of young people in several towns and cities and military vehicles picking people up in the street. There are also reports of dozens of young people detained at airports in western Rakhine state in recent days, with no official explanation.

Khin Ohmar, founder and chairperson of Progressive Voices, a Myanmar human rights research and advocacy organization, said the conscription law will “provide the junta legal cover for abusive forced recruitment practices — grabbing young men and women, especially the disenfranchised and impoverished including minors, from bus stops and factories in the cities.”

Maung Nyein, 32, lives and works in Yangon, and worries how his wife and 8-year-old daughter will cope if he’s forced to serve.

“In Myanmar, young people are not safe anymore,” said Maung Nyein, who also requested to use a pseudonym for safety reasons. “If you are forced to enter the military, there are so many things to worry about.”

The prospect of being forced to fight and kill his compatriots terrifies him.

“In other countries, this law is to train you in case of another country’s invasion, but here there is civil war going on. This is to force you to kill each other.”

The junta’s ministry of Immigration and Population said in a statement that there is “no restriction on overseas leave” and international airports and the entry and exit points with neighboring countries “are operating as usual,” according to Global New Light.

The junta also denied that its “security forces and administrative organizations are conscripting youths for military training and arresting passers-by,” calling it “misinformation” spread by “malicious media networks.”

Forced labor already happening

Myanmar’s military has a long and documented history of using civilians as human shields or forcibly recruiting them to work in the army, either as porters – carrying military equipment to and from the front lines — or performing the risky task of clearing land mines from fields.

A major concern is that the law will be used by the military to legalize this practice.

A report from the International Labour Organization’s commission of inquiry from October 2023 found that since the coup, the Myanmar military junta “continues to exact different types of forced labor in the context of armed conflict … as well as forced recruitment into the army.”

Wing Ko, a farmer from Shwebo in central Sagaing region, said he was forcibly recruited to work for the military for three months in 2023.

He says he was one of 42 men, most over the age of 50 with the youngest just 16, who were forcibly taken by junta troops from their villages.

“If we knew the areas, we were forced to walk in front of them so that they don’t risk themselves (standing on) land mines.”

“I never thought I would see my family again. When I got home, I felt like I came back from being dead,” he said.

Maung Aye, also from Sagaing region, said six people from his village were taken by the military in June last year and forced to carry clothes and weapons.

He said there’s no way his neighbors would willingly join them.

“Our villagers won’t join the military forces or leave the country, instead we will join our resistance forces. I won’t let my children be taken by the military, instead I’d rather risk them joining the (People’s Defense Forces) for the revolution’s sake,” said Maung Aye, who also used a pseudonym for safety.

Impact on millions of young people

Conscription is not just about boosting troop numbers, analysts and human rights workers say, but a means to break up the powerful democratic resistance movement that has only gained in strength since the coup.

“The junta’s decision to enforce the conscription law now is also a way to remove the young people who were spearheading the Spring Revolution from the civilian population and put them in positions where they are likely to be killed or to kill their fellow people,” said Khin Ohmar.

The law would allow corruption, extortion and crime to flourish and could exacerbate a brain drain that’s already seen many young people leave Myanmar, impacting education and the labor market, which would “cause utter devastation to the country,” she said.

Those too young to be conscripted are already feeling the weight of the law.

“Today one of my teens asked me if all the lessons she is learning right now in class are still useful for her life in the future if she has to go to the front line,” Kyaw Naing said of his student.

“I was deeply saddened by that.”

Kyaw Naing says he’d join the resistance if faced with conscription. But he would offer to teach over holding a gun.

“I don’t want to kill people,” he said. “But if the situation pushes me to do it, I will have to. I won’t have a choice.”

Israeli civilians suffered “brutal sexual assaults” that were carried out “systematically and deliberately” during Hamas’ October 7 attacks, according to a report published by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ARCCI) on Wednesday.

The report, which includes testimonies from eyewitnesses, first responders, forensic experts, and news articles, says Hamas militants who entered Israel used extreme acts of sexual violence against their victims and, in most cases, killed them “after or even during the rape.”

The report does not detail how many cases of sexual assault it has documented nor is it clear if it spoke to victims, although it notes that in most cases “the victims were killed after or even during the rape.”

“Many of those who have been raped and tortured were murdered, unable to ever voice their experiences. When most of the victims of sexual assaults are murdered, we have a moral and humanitarian obligation to amplify their silent cry,” the report said.

According to evidence collected by the ARCCI, men, women, and children were all victims of gruesome sexual abuse on October 7. The report outlines witness testimony of the brutality of the sexual crimes, including that of gang rape at the Nova music festival, in the desert of southern Israel.

The report said that “several survivors of the massacre (Nova) provided eyewitness testimony of gang rape, where women were abused and handled between multiple terrorists who beat, injured, and ultimately killed them.”

Furthermore, some rapes were carried out in front of an “audience” of the victims’ partners, family, or friends, intended to “increase pain and humiliation of all present,” the report said.

Testimony from first responders and forensic experts who spoke to the ARCCI revealed that the genitals of several bodies were mutilated. Some victims in the communities near the Gaza Strip, the report said, were women or young girls “who were raped, mostly in their bedrooms, while partially dressed in their pajamas.”

Two former hostages who were released in late November described witnessing and hearing about other hostages being assaulted while in captivity, according to their testimony, which the report emphasizes is likely continuing to happen to the hostages that remain in Gaza.

The ARCCI is an umbrella organization for nine regional Rape Crisis Centers. It is the only organization in Israel whose main aim is to combat sexual violence, according to its website.

Israeli police have been using forensic evidence, video, witness testimony and interrogations of suspects to document cases of rape amid the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

Orit Sulitzeanu, CEO of ARCCI, said the report had been “submitted to decision-makers at the UN [United Nations],” according to a release by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

UN Women released a statement in December condemning the attacks and saying it was “alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence during those attacks.” At the time, it was criticized for being slow to denounce the reports of rape against Israelis.

On Monday, UN experts called for an investigation into what they described as “credible allegations of egregious human rights violations” against Palestinian women and girls in Gaza and the West Bank by Israeli forces.

The allegations include extrajudicial killing, arbitrary detention, degrading treatment, rape and sexual violence, according to a statement by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

China, the world’s top carbon polluter, is at risk of falling short on its climate targets after approving dozens of new coal plants, according to research published Thursday.

In an effort to bring planet-heating pollution to a peak by 2030, China has vowed to “strictly control” new coal-fired generation capacity, and has also connected record numbers of new wind and solar plants to its grid.

But after a wave of electricity shortages in 2021, it also embarked on a coal power permitting boom that could slow its energy transition, according to analysis by US think tank Global Energy Monitor (GEM) and the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

In just two years, the country has approved 218 GW of new coal power, enough to supply electricity to the whole of Brazil.

China approved 114 gigawatts (GW) of coal power capacity in 2023, up 10% from a year earlier. Construction started on 70 GW of new coal plants last year, up from 54 GW a year earlier, with another 47 GW going into operation, up from 28 GW in 2022, the analysis found.

“Drastic action” is now required to meet 2025 carbon and energy intensity goals, and China could also struggle to meet a target to raise the share of non-fossil fuels in its total energy mix to 20% by 2025, the report said.

China’s total power capacity is already sufficient to meet demand, but its inefficient grid is unable to deliver electricity where it is needed, especially across provincial borders, encouraging more plant construction.

CREA has previously forecast that China’s carbon emissions will fall this year, with utilization rates at coal plants likely to drop significantly as more clean energy is connected to the grid.

“This risks significant financial problems for coal power plant operators and potential pushback against the energy transition,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, CREA’s chief analyst.

“This contradiction will have to be resolved in order for China to realize the emission reductions needed to get on track to carbon neutrality.”

American support for Taiwan will continue no matter who wins the upcoming US election, House Rep. Mike Gallagher told an audience in the democratic island on Thursday, as tensions simmer between Taipei and Beijing.

“I’m confident regardless of how the presidential election goes, we will maintain our support not only for Taiwan but also a posture of internationalism and engagement,” Gallagher told reporters in the capital Taipei.

The lawmaker, who chairs the House of Representatives select committee on China, is leading a five-member bipartisan delegation on a three-day visit to self-ruled Taiwan.

The trip comes amid a period of heightened tensions between Taipei and Beijing, following the deaths last week of two Chinese fisherman Taiwan said trespassed into protected waters.

China’s ruling Communist Party claims Taiwan as its own territory, despite never having controlled it, and has vowed to take the island – by force if necessary.

Gallagher said American efforts to support Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion were also critical to deterring Beijing from using force against Taiwan.

“The outcome in Ukraine matters not only for Ukraine and American credibility, but for deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, for cross-strait deterrence,” the lawmaker said.

US funding for Ukraine has been mired in political infighting in Congress, where a contingent of Republicans are resisting additional aid, encouraged by presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Trump is widely expected to face off against incumbent Joe Biden in the presidential elections in November.

The potential return to office of the former president, who earlier this month said he would not defend NATO allies that failed to spend enough on defense, has raised concerns in Europe about continued US support for Ukraine.

Speaking alongside Gallagher in Taipei, Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democratic congressman, also told reporters in the same news conference that Washington “can’t be tough on China and weak in your support of Ukraine … you can’t be inconsistent.”

Beijing’s ire

The US delegation also met with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and President-elect Lai Ching-te on Thursday.

Gallagher lauded Tsai, who ends her final term in office in May, as an “incredible” and distinguished leader of the free world where “freedom is under attack from authoritarian aggression.”

Tsai said Thursday that Taipei hopes “to see even more Taiwan-US exchanges” this year.

Congress plays an important role in the unofficial relations between Taiwan and the United States, which ended formal diplomatic ties with the self-ruled island in 1979 when it recognized Beijing.

American lawmakers regularly visit Taiwan and have supported legislation to bolster US support for the island and its defensive capabilities.

Gallagher, a Republican representing Wisconsin, has been a staunch supporter of Taiwan and a strong critic of China during his tenure in Congress.

The delegation’s visit sparked the ire of Beijing, with the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday saying it “always firmly opposes any form of official exchange between the United States and the Taiwan authorities and firmly opposes any interference in Taiwan affairs by any means or under any pretext.”

Troubled waters

The delegation’s visit comes during a period of heightened tensions between China and Taiwan, sparked by the drowning of two Chinese fishermen near Taiwan’s Kinmen Island last week.

According to Taiwanese authorities, the fishermen died after their speedboat capsized following a high-speed pursuit by Taiwan’s coast guard, which accused the vessel of entering prohibited waters.

Following the incident, Taiwanese authorities last week expressed regret over the deaths, but maintained that its maritime law enforcement officers were acting on their mandates in accordance with the law.

China condemned the incident and has since ramped up patrols in the area, including a rare Chinese coast guard interception earlier this week of a Taiwanese tourist boat.

The situation escalated further Wednesday when China accused Taiwan of a cover-up over the deaths after state media reported the return of two surviving Chinese crew members.

In an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Tuesday, one of the surviving fishermen said their boat was struck by a Taiwanese coast guard vessel.

“We didn’t expect it to rush over and hit our boat,” he said in a video. “How could our boat capsize on its own? … (They) rammed into us and knocked us over.”

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office issued a statement accusing Taiwan authorities of “seeking to evade responsibilities and covering up the truth.”

“We solemnly demand relevant parties in Taiwan to release the truth as soon as possible, severely punish those responsible … and solemnly apologize to the families of the victims,” Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the office, said in the statement.

Taiwan had earlier denied Beijing’s accusations of “rough expulsions” and defended the actions of its coast guard, saying the incident happened due to the refusal to cooperate by the Chinese fishermen, who made a dangerous move to flee.

On Thursday, deputy captain of Taiwan’s coast guard Chen Chien-wen said the Chinese vessel took a “sharp turn” while evading the coast guard, causing the speedboat to crash into the Taiwanese vessel and capsize.

Taiwan’s coast guard also said on Thursday that it cannot comment on China’s calls to “severely punish” personnel responsible for the deaths of the fishermen as the case is under investigation.

As the world prepares to mark the second anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion this week, Europe must ask itself some searching questions about the war that unexpectedly erupted on its borders – and how it will approach the next 12 months.

Arguably most important among those questions: How long can it practically sustain such draining financial support for Ukraine?

That thought is not new, but is increasingly echoed privately in some corners of officialdom. It also reflects several current grim truths.

The war has been deadlocked for some time, while last week, Ukraine was forced to withdraw from the key town of Avdiivka after months of fierce fighting, marking its worst defeat since the fall of Bakhmut in May.

Money desperately needed from the United States is stuck, having passed the Senate but awaiting House approval. Unity between the European Union (EU) and NATO is starting to fray, with nearly every big decision held up and threatened with veto.

No serious Western voices want to abandon Kyiv, but it’s undeniable that fatigue is setting in as the bills grow.

Since the start of the crisis, the EU and its regional allies have spent more than $100 billion funding Ukraine’s defense effort, according to the Kiel Institute’s Ukraine Support Tracker.

Earlier this month, EU leaders agreed to a $54 billion package for Ukraine between now and 2027. The United Kingdom, arguably the major security player in the region, has also pledged more than $15 billion to Ukraine since 2022. For context, according to the Kiel Institute the US has spent $66 billion, with another $60 billion in the pipeline.

While the West’s resounding support for Ukraine since 2022 has surprised many in the diplomatic world, the longer the war drags on, the more the fatigue grows.

Between there being no end to the conflict in sight, and competition for political attention in the Middle East – as well as domestic concerns from inflation-led cost-of-living crises around the world – spending huge sums on Ukraine could become politically harder to stomach for governments.

The political pressure on spending will become more visible as European Parliamentary elections take place in June, as well as national polls in multiple countries including the UK, a key Ukrainian ally.

European officials need only look at the difficulty US President Joe Biden is having with his own Ukraine package to see the real-world impact of funding a costly overseas war when it comes into direct contact with domestic politics.

Adding to these inauspicious distractions is the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House next year.

Trump has not clearly stated what his Ukraine policy would be, save his claim that he could end the war within 24 hours. The former president’s anti-NATO rhetoric, general disdain for European institutions and odd admiration for Putin are well-known.

While no one knows what another Trump presidency might materially mean, it is plausible to envisage a worst-case scenario for Ukraine, where it loses momentum on the ground while the new occupant of the White House decides that America has spent enough already.

This is an alarming prospect for European officials who already believe Putin is digging in and trying to wait out the West.

This is where the next 12 months become crucial for Ukraine’s European allies. It is manifestly in continental Europe’s interest that Putin does not win this war – there are very few who would disagree with that sentiment.

It is therefore crucial, officials say, that whatever happens in America, Europeans hold their noses and keep spending, however hard it seems.

In the run-up to the US presidential election, the question of what happens to European security without America will inevitably be asked. And while it is true that Ukrainian security is directly tied to wider European security, the immediate question of how to support Kyiv is subtly different to Europe’s long-term goal of greater security independence from DC.

Can Europe continue funding Ukraine if the US pulls financial support?

The official said that in the next 12 months, Brussels should start to look at using money tied up in frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine. “While that money cannot legally be used to buy weapons, it can be used to cover compensation costs, freeing up money for weapons from EU and national budgets,” they said.

Diplomatic voices who have eyes on the world beyond Europe raise eyebrows at this. Some fear that setting a precedent for using frozen assets to raise money for foreign wars could give countries like China a green light to do the same in its internal regional battles. Beijing introduced a new law last year that makes it easier to do similar to foreign assets within China.

The thornier issue is whether or not Europe could provide Kyiv with the weapons it needs to win the war without American support.

The answer to that would be no. Europe simply doesn’t have the manufacturing heft right now to independently serve Ukraine over the next 12 months.

However, Western diplomats are optimistic that arming Ukraine fits perfectly with a much-needed European drive to reduce its reliance on America.

Officials point to a recent deal, brokered by NATO, where European countries have pledged to purchase 1,000 missiles from American firms that will be built in a new German factory.

Almost everyone agrees that Europe needs to buy more weapons and have a security policy that is not so reliant on the US. Achieving that needn’t come at the expense of America, and dangling the carrot of lucrative contracts for US companies is one way of ensuring everyone wins.

Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is a travesty that has cost unnecessary lives. If any positives are to come from it, they should include Europe finally becoming fit to defend itself, and cooperating with its old ally.

And for what it’s worth, the vast majority of Western officials believe that if Europe can spend the next year making itself fighting fit, it will be far easier to keep a future President Trump onside.

At least five people were killed and a crew member was injured on Thursday when a cargo ship rammed into a bridge in southern China, cutting the structure in half, Chinese state media reported.

The maritime search and rescue center in Guangzhou said two vehicles fell into the water and three others landed on the vessel after it crashed into the Lixinsha Bridge in the southern part of the city in the Pearl River Delta, according to the official Weibo account of Guangzhou Nansha District.

Dramatic photographs of the aftermath showed the bridge split in two with the large stricken ship stationary under the structure. Police vessels were also seen at the scene.

Two people were pulled to safety after the collision, state-run news outlet the People’s Daily reported. A rescue operation is ongoing, it said.

The Lixinsha Bridge is located in Guangzhou’s Nansha district, a major international shipping hub in the megacity.

Reinforcement work on the bridge due to structural concerns had been repeatedly postponed in recent years, state-run broadcaster CCTV reported.

This story has been updated with new information.

A prominent pro-war Russian military blogger, Andrey Morozov, has reportedly died by suicide just days after he reported that Russia suffered huge losses during its months-long assault on the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka.

Morozov, known as “Murz” on Telegram, was an ultra-nationalist commentator and vocal supporter of Russia’s war in Ukraine, having fought alongside Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and during the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Writing on Sunday to his 120,000 followers on Telegram, Morozov said Moscow had lost around 16,000 soldiers and 300 armored vehicles since it launched its assault on Avdiivka in October, which forced Ukrainian troops to retreat from the eastern town last week. After the post drew severe criticism from Russian propagandists, Morozov said he had been forced to delete the post but did not specify who gave the order.

Several well informed pro-Russian military bloggers and Russian state media reported Wednesday that Morozov had died by suicide. His lawyer and friend, Maxim Pashkov, confirmed his death and said he had spoken to Morozov the day before.

“We spoke with him at night, two or three hours before what happened. We agreed to write it off in the morning,” Pashkov wrote Wednesday on Telegram. “You were a true friend.”

Morozov had written a series of posts on Wednesday morning announcing his apparent intention to take his own life. He called on his readers not to mourn him and asked that he be buried in the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) – the Russian name for the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, whose annexation by Moscow is considered illegal by most of the international community.

Spurred partly by the abortive mutiny last year of former Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin last year, the Kremlin has cracked down on military bloggers like Morozov, who had previously enjoyed some freedom to analyze and sometimes criticize the way Russia’s Defense Ministry is waging war in Ukraine.

Igor Girkin, another Russian pro-war blogger, was sentenced last month to four years in prison by a Moscow court after being found on extremism charges. Girkin had played a crucial role in Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014, but was arrested in July after becoming increasingly critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his military’s mishaps in Ukraine.

Russia’s true casualty numbers remain shrouded in secrecy, but Western officials believe Russia has had more than 300,000 troops killed or injured on the battlefields of Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began nearly two years ago.

The Ukrainian retreat from Avdiivka marked Russia’s first significant territorial gain in months, won partly through Ukraine’s dwindling supplies of weapons and ammunition due to the US Congress’ not passing a $60 billion package of aid.

In his final messages, Morozov complained he was being bullied because of his report and said he was ordered to delete the post by someone he described as “Comrade Colonel.”

“Your command forced you to give this order, relying on good old army collective responsibility. If he doesn’t remove it, we won’t provide supplies,” Morozov wrote. In his last few posts, he complained about the shortage of weapons for Russian troops at the front and also shared his will.

Once upon a time, gazing at the night sky was an escape from manmade messiness on Earth.

Not anymore.

Nearly 70 years after the launch of Sputnik, there are so many machines flying through space, astronomers worry their light pollution will soon make it impossible to study other galaxies with terrestrial telescopes.

Then there is the space junk — nearly 30,000 objects bigger than a softball hurtling a few hundred miles above Earth, ten times faster than a bullet.

And after NOAA used high-flying aircraft to take first-in-a-generation samples of the stratosphere, new science shows that the for-profit space race is changing the sky in measurable ways and with potentially harmful consequences for the ozone layer and Earth’s climate.

“We can see the fingerprint of human space traffic on stratospheric aerosol,” said Troy Thornberry, a research physicist at NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory. “Adding a lot of material to the stratosphere that was never there before is something that we’re considering, as well as the sheer mass of material that we put into space.”

The study found that 10% of the particles in the upper atmosphere now contain bits of metal from rockets or satellites falling out of orbit and burning up. As humanity becomes increasingly dependent on information beamed down from above, the report predicts manmade debris will make up 50% of stratospheric aerosols in coming decades, matching the amount created naturally by the galaxy.

While there is uncertainty over how this will affect the ozone layer — and a complicated climate system already in crisis — the commercial shift from solid rocket boosters on NASA’s Space Shuttles to the kerosene that fuels SpaceX rockets has added tons of new fossil fuel emissions with every launch, while aging satellites create clouds of debris as they deorbit.

According to the tracking site Orbiting Now, there are more than 8,300 satellites currently overhead, and predictions of how many will soon join them vary wildly.

More than 300 commercial and government entities have announced plans to launch a staggering 478,000 satellites by 2030, but that number that is likely inflated by hype. The US Government Accountability Office predicted 58,000 satellites will launch in the next six years. Other analysts recently estimated the number likely to make it to orbit is closer to 20,000.

But even the lowest estimates would have been inconceivable in the giddy aftermath of Neil Armstrong’s one small step. 1972’s “Blue Marble” photo from Apollo 17 may have inspired Earth Day, but few considered the orbital garbage created to take it until 1979, when NASA scientist Donald Kessler published a paper titled “Collision Frequency of Artificial Satellites: The Creation of a Debris Belt.”

Ever since, “Kessler Syndrome” — depicted with appropriate suspense in the 2013 film “Gravity” — has been shorthand for the industry’s worry that too much space traffic will eventually create a vicious cycle of more debris leading to even more collisions until launches become impossible.

In low-earth orbit, objects can collide at around 23,000 miles an hour, enough for even the tiniest debris to crack the windows on the International Space Station. All told, it is estimated that there are 100 million pieces of manmade debris the size of a pencil tip whizzing in orbit — a major risk of doing business in space.

Lopez is president of the US branch of Astroscale, a Japanese company competing for market share in the emerging field of orbital debris removal.

“In the Gold Rush, it was the folks that made the pickaxes and the shovels that often did better than the prospectors,” he said. “And in a sense, that’s exactly what we’re bringing to the market.”

Lopez admits that they are a long way from flying garbage trucks, orbiting recycling centers and a “circular economy in space,” but in 2022, Astroscale used a satellite with a strong magnet to catch a moving target launched in the same 3-year mission.

“It was the first commercially funded spacecraft to demonstrate a lot of the technologies that will be required to do docking and rendezvous with other satellites,” he said. “It could be that we move them, eventually refuel them, or in some cases, deorbit them to address the debris problem.”

A second Astroscale mission, launched from New Zealand by aerospace company Rocket Lab on February 18, is going to take a closer look at space junk. The satellite, named “On Closer Inspection,” will observe the motions of a rocket stage that was left in low-Earth orbit in 2009. Astroscale’s mission will use cameras and sensors to study the rocket debris and figure out how to get it out of orbit.

But with a pollution crisis now painfully evident on land, at sea and now in space, one of the most symbolic launches since Sputnik is scheduled for this summer, when scientists from Japan and NASA launch the world’s first biodegradable satellite, made mostly of wood.

One small step, indeed.

No one in the convoy was hurt, but much of its contents – mainly wheat flour desperately needed to bake bread – were destroyed. Tracing the strike offers a window into the major challenges that humanitarian efforts face in getting aid to Gaza’s more than 2 million people – nearly 85% of whom are internally displaced – amid Israel’s nearly five-month bombardment of the strip.

It is one of multiple incidents where aid convoys, as well as warehouses storing aid, have been hit since the war began.

Israel launched its bombardment and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip after Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack, in which at least 1,200 people were killed, and more than 250 others taken hostage. More than 29,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on the strip, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

In the wake of the strike on February 5, UNRWA decided to stop sending convoys to northern Gaza. The last time the agency was able to deliver food north of Wadi Gaza – a strip of wetlands that bisects the enclave – was on January 23. The UN estimates that 300,000 people are still living in northern Gaza, with very little assistance. Acute malnutrition has already been identified in 16.2% of children there, above the threshold considered critical, according to the UN.

The convoy, consisting of 10 aid trucks and two armored vehicles marked with UN insignia, started its journey in the early hours of February 5. UNRWA said the journeys are undertaken early in the day to avoid the trucks’ contents being raided along route by those desperate for food.

Setting off from the south of Gaza, the convoy travelled up Al Rashid Road, which follows the coastal edge of the strip. The road has been the main route permitted by the Israeli military for humanitarian convoys and evacuations since January.

At 4:15 a.m., the convoy reached a designated IDF holding point on Al Rashid Road, according to the UNRWA internal incident report, where the trucks sat stationary for over an hour. At 5:35 a.m., naval gunfire was heard, and the truck was hit, the report said.

The agency said that before setting out to deliver aid, it had coordinated in advance with the Israeli military, agreeing the route it would take – as it always does.

Email correspondence between UNRWA and COGAT, the Israeli military agency overseeing activities in the Palestinian territories, which supervises humanitarian relief, also shows an agreement for the convoy to take Al Rashid Road.

“We share with the Israeli army the coordinates of the convoys, and the route of that convoy,” Touma said. “Only when the Israeli army gives us the okay, the green light, does UNRWA move. We don’t move without that coordination.”

She said that the purpose of this coordination, called the deconfliction process, is to ensure aid convoys do not get hit.

“Gaza has become very fast one of the most dangerous places to be an aid worker in,” Touma said. “It is an extremely complex environment to operate in. Quite often our teams are forced to deliver humanitarian assistance under fire.”

UNRWA’s head legal advisor for Gaza, Philippa Greer, said she was on the convoy when it was hit and posted on X to say that the team were “extremely lucky” no one was injured.

Afterwards, the convoy still requested permission to proceed through an Israeli checkpoint that supervises entry into northern Gaza, but it was denied entry.

COGAT says that items deemed “harmful” are blocked from entry.

“Israel facilitates entry of any and all humanitarian aid with special emphasis on food into the Gaza Strip following a process of supervision and control to ensure that indeed the goods being transported are humanitarian aid and not other materials that will be harmful to Israel’s security,” it said in a newsletter on January 14.

Half of UNRWA’s aid mission requests to northern Gaza have been rejected since the start of the year, according to the agency. Severe delays make other journeys that are permitted no longer viable.

The World Food Programme announced in a statement on Tuesday that it too would pause missions to northern Gaza “until conditions are in place that allow for safe distributions.” This came after another convoy was reportedly met with gunfire in Gaza City.

Challenges to aid delivery

Aid missions are being further complicated by several other factors – from UNRWA’s impending loss of funding, to the Israeli military’s looming offensive in Rafah and reports of harassment of humanitarian workers.

UNRWA, the largest aid agency on the ground in Gaza, has been facilitating much-needed aid deliveries into Gaza from Israel and Egypt. Their operations have been under pressure in the wake of accusations that emerged in late January from Israeli intelligence that 12 of UNRWA’s staff were involved in the Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel on October 7.

The agency terminated their contracts and launched an investigation. But the accusation still prompted multiple UN member states to withdraw funding and as of February 12, UNRWA had lost 72% of the required $1.2 billion it needs to cover humanitarian missions until the end of March.

Amid funding shortages, aid operations in the south have become increasingly dangerous. In the past few weeks, Israel has begun intense aerial bombardments of Rafah, the southernmost part of the strip where the majority of Gaza’s population has fled, and now plans to intensify its ground operation, a move the French NGO, Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, has said would be “catastrophic.”

Meanwhile, there have been reports of humanitarian workers getting detained and abused by IDF soldiers while passing through these checkpoints. During one mission to transfer patients in early December, a member of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in a World Health Organization convoy was detained, according to a UN report of the incident.

“He said he was harassed, beaten, threatened, stripped of his clothes, and blindfolded. His hands were tied behind his back and he was treated in a degrading and humiliating manner. Once released, he was left to walk towards the south with his hands still tied behind his back, and without clothes or shoes,” the report said.

Israel’s treatment of aid workers and their convoys will be scrutinized further when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) holds public hearings between February 19 and 26. The court ordered at the end of January that Israel “must take immediate and effective measures” to provide humanitarian access to the strip.

Craig Jones, a lecturer at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom who has written a book, “The War Lawyers,” examining the legality of the IDF’s past operations in Gaza, says he thinks it’s unlikely Israel has met the ICJ’s criteria.

As Israel’s military offensive continues to squeeze Gaza’s population into smaller and smaller fractions of the strip, the humanitarian situation grows increasingly dire.

“Just like everyone is saying that there is no safe place,” Jones explained. “There is also no safe route into Gaza for this aid, and for the humanitarian workers carrying it.”

Gianluca Mezzofiore and Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.