News Headlines - 01 May 2021
▽Kyrgyzstan reports 13 deaths in territorial clashes with Tajikistan | Euronews
Kyrgyzstan has reported a death toll of 13 on its side after border clashes with Tajikistan.
The two central Asian countries have traded fire in a dispute over a large area of territory.
Thirteen people have died amid 134 casualties since military units from both countries started fighting, the Kyrgyz health ministry said in a statement.
Amid the 60 pages of protocols and procedures that will govern the running of the Games, one surprising stipulation was spelled out clearly. The Tokyo Olympics, according to the document, are a BYO-PPE affair. As in, Bring Your Own Personal Protective Equipment.
“Make sure you have access to enough masks to last throughout your stay in Japan,” the playbook cautioned. “Everyone is responsible for their own supply.”... “It’s ridiculous,” said Rob Koehler, director general of Global Athlete, the Montreal-based athlete lobbying group. “You go to an Olympic Games, there’s always thousands of condoms in the athletes’ village to ensure safe sex. But yet when it comes to a pandemic they’re not willing to provide free medical-grade masks for all competitors? It doesn’t make sense.”
▽Fukui governor OKs restarts of reactors at aging nuclear plants : The Asahi Shimbun
Kansai Electric Power Co. has been given the green light to resume operations of three nuclear reactors more than 40 years old, a first under new safety regulations in place since 2013.
Fukui Governor Tatsuji Sugimoto on April 28 told reporters he had given his consent to resume operations at the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors of the Takahama nuclear plant and the No. 3 reactor at the Mihama nuclear plant.
▽China launches core module of new space station to orbit | Space
The core element of the Chinese Space Station launched to Earth orbit tonight (April 28), lifting off at 11:23 p.m. EDT (0323 GMT on April 29) atop a heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the island of Hainan.
The 54-foot-long (16.6 meters) module, known as Tianhe ("Harmony of the Heavens"), is the first space station component to launch. It will be joined in low Earth orbit later by two slightly smaller elements, forming a T-shaped space station that China aims to complete by the end of 2022.
▽Apollo 11 Astronaut Michael Collins Dies : NPR
An astronaut who flew on one of the most famous space missions of all time has died. Michael Collins, 90, was part of the three-member crew on Apollo 11, the first lunar landing mission in 1969. Unlike Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, he never walked on the moon. Collins stayed behind and piloted the command module as it circled above. Because of that, Collins is often called the "forgotten astronaut."
