Soyuz spacecraft takes three to space station
MOSCOW – A Soyuz spacecraft carrying two Russians and an American lifted off early Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, soaring into the night sky for a six-hour trip to the International Space Station. Their six-month mission will include a spacewalk with the Olympic torch.
NASA’s Michael Hopkins and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky will orbit the Earth four times in the cramped capsule before docking at the orbiting outpost.
Live coverage provided by NASA TV showed the launch went off as scheduled shortly before 1 a.m. Moscow time on Thursday.
During a spacewalk in November, the two Russians will have the honor of taking the Olympic torch into open space as part of the relay of the Olympic flame ahead of the Winter Games being held in Sochi in February.
U.S. signs U.N. treaty regulating arms sales
UNITED NATIONS — The United States, the world’s largest arms dealer, has joined more than 90 other nations in signing a treaty that regulates global arms trading, but there is strong resistance in the Senate, which must ratify it.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who signed the Arms Trade Treaty on Wednesday, said it was a “significant step” in keeping the world safe and preventing terrorists and others from obtaining conventional weapons.
The Obama administration’s move is seen as critical to the treaty’s success. The U.S. was the 91st country to sign, but the treaty will not take effect until 50 nations have ratified it. Only four had ratified the treaty as of Wednesday.
Many of the world’s other top arms exporters have yet to sign.
France’s treatment of Roma under review
PARIS — France’s treatment of thousands of Roma migrants who have been expelled to Eastern Europe came under new scrutiny Wednesday from the European Commission and a leading rights group, after France’s top security official said the migrants had a “duty to return to their homeland.”
Amnesty International said more than 10,000 Roma, also known as Gypsies, had been evicted from French squatter camps from January through August, with many forced to return home to Romania and Bulgaria, despite European Union rules requiring free movement for all EU citizens.
Associated Press
