While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, April 4
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Christina Koch (left) was named as a mission specialist, along with Victor Glover who was selected as the Artemis II pilot.
PHOTOS: NASA/FACEBOOK
Nasa names first woman, first Black astronauts for Artemis II lunar flyby
Nasa on Monday named the first woman and the first African American ever assigned as astronauts to a lunar mission, introducing them as part of the four-member team chosen to fly on what would be the first crewed voyage around the moon in more than 50 years.
Christina Koch, 44, an engineer who already holds the record for longest continuous spaceflight by a woman and was part of Nasa’s first three all-female spacewalks, was named as a mission specialist for the Artemis II lunar flyby expected as early as next year.
She will be joined by Victor Glover, 46, a US Navy aviator and veteran of four spacewalks who Nasa has designated as pilot of Artemis II. He will be the first Black astronaut ever to be sent on a lunar mission.
Leonardo DiCaprio says Malaysian financier planned to donate to Obama’s 2012 campaign
REUTERS
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio told a Washington jury on Monday that Malaysian financier Jho Low revealed his plans to donate up to US$30 million (S$39.81 million) to help US President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign in what prosecutors allege was part of an illegal foreign influence operation.
“It was a casual conversation about what party he was in support of,” DiCaprio said, telling jurors that Low said he planned on giving “a significant donation” to the Democratic Party that was “somewhere to the tune of US$20-30 million.”
“I basically said, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of money,’“ DiCaprio added.
Trump arrives in New York for surrender, opposes TV court coverage
EPA-EFE
Former US President Donald Trump flew into New York City on his private plane on Monday to face charges stemming from a probe into hush money paid to a porn star, while his lawyers argued against letting cameras in the courtroom.
With New York taking security precautions and the mayor telling potential rabble-rousers to behave, Trump was due to surrender at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday and will likely be fingerprinted prior to appearing before a judge for an arraignment where he will plead not guilty.
Trump, a 76-year-old Republican seeking to regain the presidency in 2024, is the first former US president to face criminal charges.
Football: Peru stripped of U-17 World Cup hosting rights: Fifa
REUTERS
Peru became the second country in recent weeks to be stripped of the right to host a Fifa tournament, after the governing body on Monday said the South American nation had failed to fulfil infrastructure commitments ahead of the under-17 World Cup.
Fifa said the U-17 tournament is still set to take place from Nov 10-Dec 2, adding that its Council will designate a new host.
“The move was made given the inability of the host country to fulfil its commitments to completing the infrastructure required to stage the tournament,” Fifa said in a statement.
BTS’s Jimin first South Korean solo artist to top US songs chart
Jimin, a member of the K-pop supergroup BTS, has made history as the first South Korean solo artist to land the number one spot on the top US songs chart, Billboard announced Monday.
The single Like Crazy debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 this week, bumping Miley Cyrus’s Flowers out of the top spot, where it had reigned for eight weeks.
“Jimin is the first South Korean soloist to score a No. 1 hit on the #Hot100, thanks to ‘Like Crazy,’“ Billboard tweeted.
