Some little kids grow up dreaming of being pilots. Silva McLeod wasn’t one of them.

During her childhood on the Tongan island of Vava’u, she didn’t even know that being a pilot was a possible career.

But whenever a plane flew over the thatched hut she lived in with her family, little Silva would run outside to see.

“It was a fantasy as a child, as for every time an aircraft or the sign of an aircraft flying over, I’m always racing outside, pointing to the sky,” she says. “I wouldn’t say that I wanted to be a pilot, but it was that fascination, that curiosity in me that I thought, ‘Wow, what clever people are operating these machines.’”

Since then, much has changed for McLeod. She married, emigrated to Australia, and eventually became one of the clever people operating a flying machine. In doing so, she became one of only a handful of Tongan people ever to get a pilot’s license – and the first Tongan woman.

The long path to the sky

McLeod’s first time on a plane was in 1981, shortly after marrying her Australian husband Ken, whom she met when he came to Tonga to help build a hospital.

To get to his hometown in Victoria, they first had to fly in a small plane from Silva’s native Vava’u to the main island of Nuku’alofa, then fly from Nuku’alofa to Auckland, New Zealand, and finally travel from there to Melbourne.

The first flight was a disaster. They were flying in terrible weather, and water seeped in through a few small cracks in the plane’s body. The plane’s two pilots – both White men who weren’t from Tonga – made announcements in English, which most of the passengers couldn’t understand.

Although McLeod had long dreamed of learning about aviation, life got in the way. Her move to Australia required much more than relocating – she had to learn how to open a bank account, use a washing machine, read maps, drive a car and more. Soon, there were children added to the mix.

On her 32nd birthday, Ken presented his wife with a gift: a certificate for a basic introductory training flight. “Do you still want to learn to fly?” he asked. There was only one answer: yes.

Chipping away year by year, course by course, McLeod slowly worked her way toward becoming a pilot.

First she got her student license, then a restricted license, followed by a commercial license. Eventually, she was able to teach student pilots and fly small craft herself.

McLeod got her pilot’s license in 1992. According to the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority, that makes her the first Tongan woman to become a licensed pilot.

Still moving upward

McLeod may have had an atypical path toward the pilot’s seat, but she cherishes every moment she spends in the sky.

At age 37, she became a full-time pilot for Royal Tongan Airlines.

It was then that she was able to ease the memory of that terrifying flight the first time she’d left her island home.

“Delivering that (pilot address) in Tongan, flying in Tonga, I felt like my mission was accomplished,” she says. “Anything coming after that was bonus. If I die flying in Tonga, I would be the happiest pilot ever lived.”

That dream didn’t last, though. In 2004, the airline shut down. For McLeod, Royal Tongan’s demise was about more than losing a job. In order for young people to pursue careers in aviation, they need a place to train and to work.

Not having a national airline or national flight school can essentially be a death knell for a marginalized, under-served nation like Tonga. If McLeod hadn’t met her husband and been able to live and work overseas, odds are she would never have been able to achieve her dream. The other Tongan pilots she knows of were also trained abroad. There’s no flight school in Tonga where they’d be able to return and mentor the next generation.

Still, McLeod will always think of herself as a little girl growing up without electricity or a flush toilet, running around barefoot on a tropical island.

After losing Ken to cancer, she coped by writing a memoir, “Island Girl to Airline Pilot: A story of love, sacrifice and taking flight,” which was published in 2023. She hopes the book will give hope to other people from marginalized backgrounds who want to work in the aviation industry.

“Never look to the top of the mountain,” she says by way of advice. “Because that’s when you quit. It’s too high, too hard. But if you just focus on that step in front, chip away bit by bit, before you know it you have advanced right up halfway to the mountain.”

United Airlines will put Braille throughout its plane interiors in order to support customers who are blind or have visual disabilities, becoming the first US airline to do so.

The airline announced the news in a press release on Thursday, July 27. July is Disability Pride Month in the United States.

“By adding more tactile signage throughout our interiors, we’re making the flying experience more inclusive and accessible, and that’s good for everyone,” Linda Jojo, Executive Vice President, Chief Customer Officer for United, said in a statement.

“Finding your seat on a plane or getting to the restroom is something most of us take for granted, but for millions of our customers, it can be a challenge to do independently.”

Braille will be used to indicate aisle and seat numbers and the location of lavatories, according to United.

In addition, the airline is working with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) on other ways to support blind and visually disabled passengers on board.

“United is taking additional steps to create an accessible airline passenger experience through Braille signage,” ACB Interim Executive Director Dan Spoone said in a statement.

“We appreciate the airline’s continued exploration of additional in-flight navigational aids like large print and tactile indicators, and we encourage all airlines to follow United’s lead in making air travel more inclusive for the blind and low vision community.”

It’s not just planes themselves that are becoming more disability-friendly. United’s app was recently updated to make it easier for screen-reading programs to understand.

Braille is named for its creator, blind Frenchman Louis Braille. He invented the language, which uses raised dots, in 1824.

The leader of Ukraine’s national fencing team, Olga Kharlan, has been disqualified from participating in the world championships after she refused to shake hands with Anna Smirnova, who is from Russia.

Kharlan had just beaten Smirnova at the tournament in Milan, but rather than shake hands the Ukrainian offered her sabre to tap blades. Smirnova then walked away before staging a sit-down protest for about 45 minutes.

Smirnova was competing as an individual neutral athele as official Russian participation in such tournaments is outlawed.

Ukrainian Sports Minister, Vadym Guttsait, said on Facebook that he was proud of Kharlan, adding: “Your performance is an example of strength, will and love for Ukraine! Stay strong! The main victory of the country and yours will come soon.”

Kharlan is a four-time individual world champion and four-time Olympic medallist.

Mikhailo Ilyashev, President of the Ukrainian Fencing Federation, told Ukrainian television that Ukraine would protest the decision, saying the referee had not disqualified Kharlan, who was banned later.

“We hope that this (appeal) will be completed in a few days. But it’s out of the question for her to be returned to this competition. In this case, we will ensure that this black card is cancelled, because it is a disqualification that will entail the impossibility of her competing in the team competition.”

He said Kharlan’s disqualification would make it more difficult for her to qualify for the Olympics and it was “very important for us that this disqualification is lifted before the team competition, because she is very strong and without her, it is unlikely that our team will be able to go far and score many points in this competition.”

The International Fencing Federation has not offered any account of the decision on its website or social media accounts. But the refusal to shake hands after a contest results in a black card and expulsion, according to federation rules.

The issue of Ukrainians and Russians not shaking hands in sport is not confined to fencing – Ukrainian tennis star Marta Kostyuk, who is from Kyiv, said at the start of the year that she would not shake hands with Russian or Belarusian players while the war rages in her country, along with Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko.

Kostyuk was booed at the French Open when she refused to meet Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka at the net. Sabalenka condemned the booing and said she understands why Ukrainian players won’t shake her hand.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina took to Twitter to support Kharlan, writing: “We are not shaking hands with Russian and Belarusian athletes. That is our position! I call on international sports organisations and federations to respect our decision!”

She added that “All our love and respect goes to @olgakharlan.”

Women’s World Cup 2023: Live scores, fixtures, results, tables and top scorers

This year’s Women’s World Cup saw one of its biggest upsets Thursday when Nigeria beat co-host Australia 3-2, and spectators will be hoping for as much drama Friday.

Denmark faces reigning European champion England, China takes on tournament debutant Haiti and South Africa plays Argentina.

With this being the second round of matches in the group stage, teams will be looking to secure their place in the knockout stage with one game still to play.

How to watch

In the United States, the match will air on local Fox channels. Viewers can also stream the match by signing in with their TV provider at foxsports.com or on the Fox Sports app. Telemundo and Peacock are providing Spanish-language coverage.

Seven Network and Optus Sport are broadcasting matches in Australia and the BBC and ITV have the rights in the United Kingdom.

A full breakdown of media rights holders in each country is available on the FIFA website.

Argentina takes on South Africa at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, while England vs. Denmark starts at 4:30 a.m. ET Friday and China vs. Haiti kicks off at 7 a.m. ET Friday.

England vs. Denmark

Despite being one of the hot favorites to win this year’s title, England got off to a shaky start against Haiti in its opening Group D game.

The Lionesses managed to win 1-0 but many had expected them to beat their opponent, which was making its debut in the tournament, more easily.

In truth, Haiti was unlucky not to score against England, which will be looking for a more convincing performance against Denmark.

History is certainly in England’s favor, with the Danes having lost four out of the last five times the teams have played, failing to score in three of those encounters.

However, given the performance of underdogs in this year’s competition, there is certainly precedent here for an upset.

England and Denmark won their opening games so can qualify to the knockout stage should they win and results elsewhere go their way.

China vs. Haiti

The other fixture in Group D will see China take on Haiti.

Both teams lost their opening match, which means another defeat would see them knocked out of the World Cup should other results not go their way.

The two nations have never met on the pitch but China, which is appearing in its eighth World Cup, certainly has the experience over its opponent.

China was runner-up in the 1999 edition and has only failed to qualify for the tournament in 2011.

But while China may have the know-how, Haiti has its own not-so-secret weapon in Melchie Dumornay.

The attacking midfielder is one of the most exciting young talents in the world and was in inspired form against England, despite her team’s defeat.

She recently signed for European powerhouse Lyon and looks every inch the player that has been promised.

China will need to devise a plan to stop Dumornay from shining if it’s to keep its World Cup dream alive.

Argentina vs. South Africa

It’s a similar story for both Argentina and South Africa, who will both be playing for their World Cup survival in Group G.

South Africa is looking to bounce back from its agonizing, last-minute 2-1 defeat to Sweden, while Argentina was narrowly edged out by Italy 1-0 in its first match.

Defeat for either will make it difficult to progress to the knockout round.

It will be the first time the two nations have met and it’s the first time that either team has faced an opponent from the other’s respective continent at a World Cup.

Argentina will be looking to shake off the unwanted record of never winning a World Cup match in all of its 10 previous attempts – losing eight and drawing twice.

Similarly, South Africa has lost all its four World Cup matches to date and was the first side eliminated from the 2019 tournament.

Bronny James, the 18-year-old son of NBA legend LeBron James, has been released from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after being treated for a sudden cardiac arrest, according to the hospital.

“Although his workup will be ongoing, we are hopeful for his continued progress and are encouraged by his response, resilience, and his family and community support,” Dr. Merije Chukumerije, a cardiologist at the hospital, said.

Chukumerije complimented the “swift and effective response” of the University of Southern California training staff when James suffered cardiac arrest during basketball practice Monday and was hospitalized.

“He arrived at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center fully conscious, neurologically intact and stable,” Chukumerije said.

Earlier, LeBron James tweeted about his son, an incoming freshman for the USC men’s basketball team and a top collegiate prospect, for the first time since the practice incident, thanking well-wishers for sending his family “love and prayers.”

“We feel you and I’m so grateful. Everyone doing great,” the Lakers star wrote. “We have our family together, safe and healthy, and we feel your love. Will have more to say when we’re ready but I wanted to tell everyone how much your support has meant to all of us! #JamesGang”

Cardiac arrest occurs when electrical disturbances cause the heart to suddenly stop beating. It may be fatal if not immediately treated but can be reversed by CPR and a defibrillator, according to the American Heart Association.

Sudden cardiac arrest among young athletes is rare but not unheard of. A 2011 study that examined NCAA student-athlete sudden deaths between 2004 and 2008 found cardiovascular-related sudden death was the leading cause of death in 45 cases, or about 9 each year.

“Adolescent male basketball players and college male basketball players, for reasons that we don’t fully understand, are by far our single highest risk group of athletes for sudden cardiac arrest,” Drezner said. “In my opinion, they should all be screened with more robust and intensive cardiac screening than occurs typically.”

Bronny James had a cardiac screening several months ago as part of a program for prospective NBA players, according to a source familiar with the matter. The screening included a transthoracic echocardiogram, which looks at blood flow through the heart and heart valves, and an EKG, which is a recording of the heart’s electrical activity, the source said. Both screenings came back with normal results.

The 6-foot-3 combo guard graduated this spring from Sierra Canyon High School in Los Angeles, where he averaged 14.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.7 steals his senior year. He was rated a four-star recruit, and he stood out in the McDonald’s All-American Game in March, featuring some of the country’s top high school basketball players.

Experts say it’s hard to map out exactly what James’ recovery will look like until more is known about the cause of his cardiac arrest and his specific health condition. But the fact that he was treated immediately and is already out of the intensive care unit bodes well for his recovery, Drezner said.

Heat is intensifying for millions of people in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic Thursday, creating a “heat health emergency” as nearly half of the country bakes in dangerously high temperatures.

Around 150 million people from coast to coast are under heat alerts Thursday after extreme heat expanded into the highly populated I-95 corridor, bringing the highest temperatures of the year there.

The heat also won’t let up in the South and Southwest, where heat-related deaths are climbing, emergency rooms are filling with heat-related burn victims and even animals are falling victim to heat illness.

Live updates: The latest news on heat and extreme weather

Heat indexes – a measure of what the temperature feels like when accounting for relative humidity – are expected to top 100 degrees Fahrenheit across many areas in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Northeast through Friday.

These kinds of temperatures can be deadly – heat kills more people in an average year than hurricanes and tornadoes combined – so both Boston and Philadelphia have declared heat emergencies, opening cooling centers and warning residents to check on the elderly and others most vulnerable to heat illness.

“Let’s be clear: heat can kill,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Twitter Thursday. “This is dangerous. Take precautions.”

New York has also opened cooling centers as nearly 9 million residents across the nation’s largest city are under an excessive heat warning through 9 p.m. Friday. Temperatures in the mid-90s combined with high dew points will drive up the heat index and make it feel as hot as 105 degrees. Those temperatures will feel even hotter for millions of New Yorkers in intense urban heat island hot spots.

The temperatures are also testing infrastructure. PJM Interconnection – the nation’s largest power grid system – has declared an emergency alert. The move activates all systems to be online, including those with planned outages.

PJM coordinates electricity for more than 65 million people in all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, DC, according to its website.

And high heat has already disrupted work on some major US oil refineries, one of several factors driving higher gas prices.

Here are some other notable places bracing for and dealing with the severe heat:

Possible severe storms threaten Northeast megalopolis

The Northeast, mid-Atlantic and upper Midwest face an additional weather threat Thursday: strong-to-severe storms that could disrupt travel and knock out power amid the sweltering heat.

Brief and isolated tornadoes can’t be ruled out, but the Level 2 out of 5 threat is primarily for damaging winds that could affect the entire I-95 corridor from Washington, DC, to Boston. The storms should fire up in the early afternoon into the evening and could affect the afternoon rush hour commute, so also look out for flooding on roadways.

Parts of northern Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota, including Duluth, Minnesota, are under a Level 3 out of 5 threat Thursday for damaging storms that could produce wind gusts as high as 75 mph along with large hail. The Twin Cities faces a Level 2 out of 5 threat, also for strong winds and hail. Wind gusts that strong could easily down power lines and make for a miserably hot powerless evening.

In Nelson Mandela Bay, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, thousands of hectares of land could one day become the world’s largest green ammonia plant.

Ammonia, which is made up of nitrogen and hydrogen, is commonly used as a fertilizer. In the early 1910s scientists devised a way to synthesize it, but before then, the main agricultural fertilizer was guano, bat or bird excrement, which had to be obtained from tropical islands and was in short supply.

Production of ammonia at an industrial scale allowed agriculture to boom, and according to a study from the University of Manitoba, without it, we wouldn’t be able to produce roughly half of the world’s food today.

Ammonia is also used to manufacture explosives for the mining industry and is a key ingredient in many pharmaceutical and cleaning products. Currently, its production mainly involves fossil fuels and is responsible for 1.8% of global CO2 emissions. But by using renewable energy, “green” ammonia can be manufactured, slashing the carbon footprint of agricultural production and opening up the compound to further uses.

Prominent among them is the use of ammonia as fuel, which could help decarbonize the shipping sector. It is what the Mandela Bay plant will focus on. “It’ll start replacing heavy fuel oils on ships and it’ll replace diesel. That will become the fuel of the future, particularly in the maritime industry,” says Colin Loubser, managing director of Hive Energy Africa, which is building the plant.

‘A completely green process’

The process to make green ammonia is quite simple, Loubser says, requiring just water, air and energy. Electrolysis is used to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen, and an air separation unit extracts nitrogen from the air. The hydrogen and nitrogen are then combined to produce ammonia.

“The process of making it green is that you’re using renewable energy for this. You’re not using fossil fuels, coal or gas to make it. It’s a completely green process,” says Loubser.

Projected to start operations in 2026, the plant will cost $4.6 billion. It will be powered by a nearby solar farm and will get its water — of which vast amounts are needed to make ammonia — from a local table salt factory that desalinates seawater.

At least 20,000 jobs will be created in the region over the lifespan of the project, according to Loubser.

It will be a welcome development for the area. “We were hit very hard by Covid,” says Asanda Xawuka of the Coega Development Corporation, the entity in charge of bringing employment to the region. “A number of jobs were lost in South Africa. For us in the Eastern Cape, the unemployment rate is sitting at over 50%. (This) means an investment of this nature with a number of jobs that are going to be created, it’s going to be very big.”

The shipping industry made up nearly 3% of global CO2 emissions in 2018. According to the International Energy Agency, ammonia will need to account for 45% of the global energy demand for shipping in 2050, for net zero scenarios to realize, which means it’s an essential component of a greener future. But green ammonia could also be burned in existing coal-fired power plants to quickly reduce their CO2 emissions, the study notes, or in plants customized to run entirely on ammonia.

One limiting factor is that ammonia is a pungent and toxic gas, so it needs to be handled by trained professionals. Using it as a fuel produces nitrogen oxides, which can act as greenhouse gases and cause air pollution, requiring additional technology to control emissions.

And many of the systems that will make use of green ammonia – including ship engines – are still under development, which is why production levels are low at the moment. However, production is expected to boom: according to a report by Precedence Research, the green ammonia market accounted for just $36 million in 2021, but will grow to $5.4 billion by 2030.

Here’s a look at the bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7, 1998, which killed 224 people. Terrorist group al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the bombings.

Facts

The bombings took place eight years to the day after US troops were ordered to Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden considered the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia, home to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, a grave offense.

More than 20 people have been indicted in the United States for the bombings.

Timeline

August 7, 1998 – Almost simultaneously, bombs explode at US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 people and injuring about 5,000. Twelve of those killed are US citizens.

August 20, 1998 – The United States launches cruise missiles at suspected terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan, in retaliation for the embassy bombings.

August 27, 1998 – US officials charge Yemeni citizen Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-‘Owhali with 12 counts of murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and one count of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction in connection with the embassy bombing in Kenya.

August 28, 1998 – US officials charge Mohammed Saddiq Odeh with 12 counts of murder one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and one count of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. Odeh claims that the bombings were orchestrated by al Qaeda, led by bin Laden.

September 1998 – Suspect Wadih el Hage is arrested in Arlington, Texas. El Hage has previously worked for bin Laden in Sudan as a personal secretary. El Hage is initially charged with perjury and later with conspiracy to kill US citizens.

September 16, 1998 – Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, reportedly a founding member of al Qaeda, is arrested in Munich, Germany. He is later extradited to the United States and charged in the embassy bombings.

November 4, 1998 – US officials indict bin Laden and al Qaeda military chief Muhammad Atef on 224 counts of murder for the embassy bombings. The State Department offers a $5 million reward for information leading to bin Laden’s arrest or conviction.

July 11, 1999 – Suspects Ibrahim Hussein Abdel Hadi Eidarous and Adel Abdul Bary are arrested in London.

October 1999 – Suspect Khalfan Khamis Mohamed is arrested in South Africa and extradited to the United States.

October 20, 2000 – Former US Army Sergeant Ali Mohamed pleads guilty to terrorism conspiracy charges in connection to the embassy bombings. He had admitted in court to visiting the Nairobi embassy in the 1990s to assess its potential as a target for a terrorist attack.

November 1, 2000 – Salim stabs a prison guard in the eye with a sharpened comb, causing serious brain damage.

May 29, 2001 – A jury in New York finds Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-‘Owhali and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed guilty of murder in the embassy bombings. Two other defendants, Mohamed Saddiq Odeh and Wadih el Hage are convicted of conspiracy.

September 11, 2001 – The deadliest terrorist attack in US history takes place when 19 men hijack four US commercial airliners. The plot is orchestrated by al Qaeda leader bin Laden. A total of 2,977 people are killed at the World Trade Center in New York; at the Pentagon in Washington, DC; and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

October 18, 2001 – US District Judge Leonard Sand formally sentences al-‘Owhali, Mohamed, Odeh and el Hage to life in prison without parole.

March 3, 2003 – The United States opens a new, fortified embassy on the outskirts of Nairobi.

May 3, 2004 – Salim is sentenced to 32 years in prison for the 2000 attack on prison guard Louis Pepe.

July 2008 – Suspect Eidarous dies under house arrest in Great Britain, while fighting extradition to the United States.

November 24, 2008 – The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the convictions of al-‘Owhali, el Hage and Odeh. The court also rules that el Hage is eligible for resentencing.

August 31, 2010 – Salim is resentenced to life in prison.

January 25, 2011 – Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, the first Guantánamo Bay detainee to be tried in US civilian court, is sentenced to life in prison without parole for his role in the embassy bombings.

May 2, 2011 – Al Qaeda leader bin Laden is killed by US Special Forces in a raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

October 5, 2012 – Suspects Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary are extradited to the United States from Great Britain.

April 23, 2013 – El Hage is resentenced to life in prison.

October 5, 2013 – Suspect Abu Anas al Libi, also known as Nazih al-Ruqaii, is captured in Tripoli, Libya.

September 19, 2014 – Bary pleads guilty to conspiracy to kill US citizens and charges relating to making threats.

January 2, 2015 – Al Libi dies in custody, before his trial begins.

January 22, 2015 – The trial of al-Fawwaz begins in New York. He is accused of setting up an al Qaeda media office in London in the 1990s and facilitating conversations among members which led to the 1998 bombings.

February 6, 2015 – Bary is sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts, including conspiracy to murder US citizens abroad.

May 15, 2015 – Al-Fawwaz is sentenced to life in prison, after being convicted on conspiracy charges in February.

May 18, 2020 – The US Supreme Court rules that victims of the bombings and their family members are entitled to the $4.3 billion in punitive damages, of a total $10.2 billion in damages, previously awarded against Sudan, which was found to have assisted the al Qaeda operatives.

March 31, 2021 – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says in a statement that the United States has received the $335 million settlement from Sudan that will be paid out to victims and families of individuals impacted by the 1998 bombings at the US Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, the 2000 attack on the USS Cole and the murder of a USAID employee in Khartoum. The Sudan Claims Resolution Act, among the provisions of the omnibus bill signed by former US President Donald Trump in late December, resolved a major point of contention over an earlier settlement – unequal compensation for the victims. Under the $335M settlement, those who were US citizens at the time of the bombings would receive more than those who became citizens after the fact and foreign national embassy employees. The legislation signed into law as part of the omnibus includes $150M in additional funds to allow for equitable compensation between birthright and naturalized citizens.

Spaniards are voting in Sunday’s snap general election that could see a far-right party enter government for the first time in decades.

Most polls predict the center-right opposition Popular Party will win but fall short of an absolute majority in Parliament, meaning they would likely have to form a coalition with the far-right Vox party.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, in power since 2018, gambled on holding a snap vote after his party suffered major setbacks in regional and local elections in May while the PP made huge gains.

His Socialist party (PSOE) currently runs the country in a minority government with a junior coalition partner, the leftist Podemos party, and gets parliamentary support from other leftist forces.

Podemos also suffered in the May elections and has signed a deal to run under the new leftist Sumar alliance. The convergence aims to prevent another split in the leftist vote, like in May.

On the other side, the PP, led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has promised tax cuts, strong support for the European Union and a strategy of boosting economic growth by attracting foreign investment.

Both leaders have voted, with TV footage showing Sanchez being heckled and applauded as he cast his ballot. He said he had “good feelings” about the vote, while Feijóo said whatever happens he would continue working for the country.

During his time in government Sanchez has pushed a progressive agenda, including policies on women’s rights and a euthanasia law. These reforms won votes in urban areas, but the pace of change has also led to a backlash in other parts of the country.

The economy seems relatively healthy, with employment up and inflation down, but even some Socialists admit the benefits haven’t been felt across the board among Spaniards.

Separatist questions

Territorial questions have also been high on the agenda since 2017, when Catalonian authorities triggered a standoff with the government after attempting to secede from Spain.

Experts say that the idea of the country breaking up sparked a resurgence in Spanish nationalism, and has been key to the growth of support for Vox.

While Sanchez criticizes the conservatives for their governing deals with Vox in regional governments following the May elections, Feijóo has blasted Sanchez for getting support from Catalan pro-independence parties and from a Basque pro-independence party linked to the now disbanded ETA terrorist group.

Sanchez counters that he got votes from them to pass progressive laws, but they weren’t members of his government.

So voters seem to have a clear choice – a new government coalition of the right or repeat one on the left.

Spain emerged from the decades-long right-wing dictatorship of General Francisco Franco upon his death in 1975, and while analysts warn against making easy links between Franco and Vox, the party manifesto includes policies that would constitute a significant rollback in women’s rights, access to abortion and LGBTQ protections. The party also is anti-immigrant and has many skeptics of climate change.

The Socialists and the new Sumar grouping are hoping that such a prospect will mobilize liberal-minded voters and give them a fresh chance at the helm.

Feijóo under fire

Sanchez was widely seen to have lost the only televised debate with Feijóo early in the election campaign. But last week, it was Feijóo who was criticized, when he incorrectly claimed, in an interview on state television, that his party had always raised pensions to keep up with inflation. He walked that back later that day.

Later in the week, Feijóo told a rally that the employment data, which is part of Sumar leader Diaz’s portfolio as minister of labor, has been “touched up” as if with makeup, to make it appear better. “As for makeup, she knows a lot about that. No doubt about it,” Feijóo said of the only woman among the principal candidates in the election.

“It’s pure machoism,” former Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, shot back in a radio interview.

Spain’s political fragmentation away from the two dominant parties, the Socialists and the Popular Party conservatives, has been ongoing for a decade.

The winner on Sunday needs 176 seats in the 350-seat Legislature for an absolute majority, but polls say that’s unlikely.

If the largest party cannot agree a coalition deal that reaches 176 seats, the result would be a hung Parliament and a repeat election. This is what happened in 2019, which saw the PSOE win two elections in six months but only manage to form a government in November.

On Sunday, 37 million Spaniards will decide at the polls. That includes 1.6 million first-time voters who turned 18 since 2019. And a record 2.6 million ballots have been requested, 94% of which have been submitted.

It’s the first time a national election has been held at the peak of the summer vacation season, with extreme heat expected in eastern, central and southern Spain.

Voting begins at 9 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET) and finishes at 8 p.m. (2 p.m. ET).

When NASA’s next-generation space observatory launches in a few years, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will expand the search for exoplanets as well as rogue planets, or worlds that travel through space without orbiting stars.

The telescope, expected to lift off between October 2026 and May 2027, may have the potential to spot 400 such rogue planets that are similar in mass to Earth, according to new research. It’s unknown whether these planets will share any other similarities with Earth beside their mass.

Understanding these rogue planets could shed more light on the formation, evolution and disruption of planetary systems. The telescope is named in honor of Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief of astronomy and “mother of the Hubble Space Telescope.”

Two new studies, both set to publish in a future edition of The Astronomical Journal, point to the discovery of only the second known Earth-mass rogue planet and present evidence suggesting that rogue planets are six times more abundant than star-orbiting planets in our galaxy. The findings were made during a nine-year survey called Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics, carried out at New Zealand’s Mount John University Observatory.

“We estimate that our galaxy is home to 20 times more rogue planets than stars — trillions of worlds wandering alone,” said David Bennett, coauthor of both studies and a senior research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in a statement. “This is the first measurement of the number of rogue planets in the galaxy that is sensitive to planets less massive than Earth.”

Seeking rogue planets

Microlensing is a technique astronomers use to study distant stars and search for exoplanets. As stars in our galaxy move, they can align with more distant stars. The foreground star acts as a lens, magnifying and brightening the background star for a matter of hours. But anything with mass can cause this light-warping lensing effect, revealing other celestial objects.

For instance, if a rogue planet is in alignment with a distant star, the light from that star will essentially bend around the planet, resulting in a magnifying effect. Researchers can use the changes in light around the planet to measure the planet’s mass.

“Microlensing is the only way we can find objects like low-mass free-floating planets and even primordial black holes,” said Takahiro Sumi, lead author of one of the studies and a professor at Osaka University, in a statement. “It’s very exciting to use gravity to discover objects we could never hope to see directly.”

But opportunities to spot rogue planets using microlensing are incredibly rare, so a telescope like Roman will come in handy.

“Roman will be sensitive to even lower-mass rogue planets since it will observe from space,” said Naoki Koshimoto, lead author of the other study and an assistant professor at Osaka University, in a statement. “The combination of Roman’s wide view and sharp vision will allow us to study the objects it finds in more detail than we can do using only ground-based telescopes, which is a thrilling prospect.”

Astronomers have used a variety of techniques, telescopes and missions to detect more than 5,400 exoplanets, or planets outside of our solar system. Many of these worlds are closer in size to the largest planets in our solar system, like Jupiter or Neptune, and orbit very close to their host stars.

But rogue planets are likely much smaller. As planets form around stars, they exert a gravitational influence on one another as they settle into their orbits. Smaller, lighter planets don’t have as strong of a gravitational interaction with their host star, so the shifting of larger planets can send these planets spiraling out of the system.

“We found that Earth-size rogues are more common than more massive ones,” Sumi said. “The difference in star-bound and free-floating planets’ average masses holds a key to understanding planetary formation mechanisms.”

Roman’s potential for discovery

Engineers and scientists refer to the Roman telescope as the wide-eyed cousin of the Hubble Space Telescope because its massive field of view will create images that are much larger than what Hubble is capable of, all while providing the same level of intricate detail.

Roman will be able to observe more of the sky in less time than Hubble, measuring the light from a billion galaxies to help solve cosmic mysteries. The telescope is equipped with a powerful 7.9-foot (2.4-meter) mirror.

The never-before-seen images Roman will capture of the universe could help astronomers unlock why the universe seems to be expanding at an accelerated rate, mapping the distribution of matter across the cosmos and measuring how it has expanded over time.

With its improved capabilities, Roman is expected to discover around 2,600 exoplanets across the Milky Way galaxy. The observatory will carry a wide-field instrument, with a field of view that is 100 times greater than Hubble’s infrared instrument, and a coronagraph that can survey exoplanets. The coronagraph will directly image exoplanets by blocking the light of the bright stars they orbit, capturing details of planets that are 10 billion times fainter than their stars.

The search for new worlds

Roman’s microlensing survey will study 100 million stars for hundreds of days to search for planets around them.

“It’s the next major step on NASA’s path to finding life outside our solar system,” said Dr. Vanessa Bailey, staff scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and instrument technologist for Roman’s coronagraph.

Telescopes like Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope have enabled astronomers to observe large, glowing gas giant exoplanets called hot Jupiters. Eventually, the goal is to be able to observe Earth-like planets and study the light reflecting off their surfaces and clouds to look for atmospheric signatures, Bailey said. Until those capabilities are possible, Roman’s coronagraph serves as an intermediate stepping stone.

“It’s going to take the technologies that we pioneered in Hubble, in Webb and on the ground-based telescopes, and it’s going to add some new technology to help us improve that performance,” Bailey said.

“And hopefully that means we’ll be able to see Jupiter-like planets around sun-like stars in a few years to see light reflecting off their cloud tops.”

Roman’s targets include true Jupiter-like planets that are cold and more distant from their stars. Instead of the famous “pale blue dot” image of Earth, Roman will allow astronomers to see “pale brown dot images” of Jupiter-like planets, Bailey said.

Proving what Roman is capable of could lead to the technology necessary to search for Earth-like planets.

“What I’m really most excited about is that by the end of this, I think I’ll be feeling pretty confident about our ability to take that next step,” Bailey said.