Kim Jong-un may be going to Russia this month to meet Vladimir Putin as Moscow tries to negotiate the possibility of receiving military equipment from North Korea for its Ukraine invasion. North Korea’s leader would travel from Pyongyang, probably by armoured train, to Vladivostok on the Pacific Coast of Russia, where he would meet Mr Putin, reported The New York Times. Both heads of state could be on the campus of Vladivostok’s Far Eastern Federal University to attend the Eastern Economic Forum, scheduled to take place from 10-13 September, according to the outlet. The date of travel or exact place of meeting, however, is not yet clear. Pyongyang is expected to ask Moscow to share their advanced technology for satellites and nuclear-powered submarines in exchange for weapons, reported NYT, citing officials on the condition of anonymity. The US has previously warned North Korea could supply more weapons to Russia, with US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson noting earlier on Monday that Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu travelled to Pyongyang recently in a bid to persuade North Korea to sell artillery ammunition. “We have information that Kim Jong Un expects these discussions to continue, to include leader-level diplomatic engagement in Russia,” she said. She said the US is urging North Korea “to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia”. The White House said last week that it had intelligence indicating Mr Putin and Mr Kim swapped letters following Mr Shoigu’s visit. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the letters were “more at the surface level”, but that Russian and North Korean talks on a weapons sale were advancing. He also warned of sanctions against Pyongyang if it goes ahead with the weapons supply. Additional reporting by agencies Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s forces pushed back in the south as Moscow launches kamikaze drone attack Ukraine will need to be cunning – and patient – in its push to break through Russia’s defensive lines Pope insists Vatican-China relations are on track but says more work is needed

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Is there life on Mars? Well, according to new research, an alien crash landing there could explain puzzling new findings on the surface of the Red Planet. It comes after Nasa’s Curiosity Rover captured images of spiked protrusions on the surface back in April. The strange formations captured in the pictures seem to show a row of spikes and sharp angles emerging from rocks at the base of the Gale Crater, which is 154km long. The odd discovery has put scientists on high alert and it marks one of the most peculiar things ever recorded on the surface of Mars. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Astrobiologist Dr Nathalie Cabrol, who is from the NASA Ames Research Centre and Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, even said that it’s the “most bizarre” rock she’s seen in 20 years of studying the planet. The findings are so irregular, in fact, that experts cannot rule out the idea that they’re extraterrestrial in origin. “A fragment from an extraterrestrial or terrestrial spacecraft cannot be discounted with absolute certainty” the authors of new research published in the Journal of Astrobiology stated. The odd protrusions could be “sand spikes”, which form in certain sands as a result of strong earthquakes. Another theory posits that the formation could be debris from crashed spacecraft, and authors of the study have not ruled out that it could be the result of crafts launched by humans landing on the surface. "Given that possibly 10 or more craft have crashed upon the surface, coupled with the jettison of equipment associated with landing the rovers, it is possible the spikes and its substrate are human-made and consist of debris that fell onto the surface of Gale Crater," the paper reads. “Nevertheless, no debris field is evident and no evidence of any additional debris that may have originated on Earth. “Given its small size and that there are no known human-made analogs and no logical explanation as to what purpose these spikes may serve, it does not seem likely these specimens are the remnants of craft or equipment that fell into Gale Crater. One can only speculate about extraterrestrial origin." However, speaking to The Telegraph, Prof Richard Armstrong, of Aston University, Birmingham said: “There is no way of proving for certain what the spikes are but the balance of the evidence would suggest ‘sand spikes’ resulting from seismic activity on Mars.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Scientists are preparing to receive pieces of a distant asteroid, which will fall to Earth over the weekend and could reveal where we came from. On Sunday, a sample collected by a Nasa spacecraft that landed on Asteroid Bennu will float down into the Utah desert, where it will be gathered by scientists. They will then start work on analysing that material, in the hopes of understanding how planets form and what our solar system was like in its distant past. Nasa sent its Osiris-Rex spacecraft to Bennu in 2016, and it touched down on the distant asteroid in 2020, and scooped up a piece. Since then, it has been flying back towards Earth to drop the sample back home. The sample dropped out of Osiris-Rex will float down into the desert, helped by a parachute that should safely allow it to fall to the ground. The spacecraft itself will continue to fly, on its way to start a new mission to study another asteroid towards the end of the decade. It is the US space agency’s first mission to collect a sample from an asteroid, and is the largest asteroid sample ever returned to Earth. The capsule is estimated to hold around 250g of rocks and dust collected from the asteroid’s surface. Nasa will release a quarter of the sample to a group of more than 200 people from more than 35 globally distributed institutions, including a team of scientists from The University of Manchester, and the Natural History Museum. Asteroid Bennu is a 4.5-billion-year-old remnant of our early solar system and scientists believe it can help shed light on how planets formed and evolved. Experts say the carbon-rich, near-Earth asteroid serves as a time capsule from the earliest history of the solar system. It is anticipated that the sample will provide important clues that could help us to understand the origin of organics and water that may have led to life on Earth. Because the sample has been collected directly from the asteroid, there will be almost zero contamination. Meteorites that fall to Earth are quickly contaminated from the second they make contact with our atmosphere. This means Bennu can give us an unspoiled glimpse into the past. Ashley King, UKRI future leaders fellow, Natural History Museum, said: “Osiris-Rex spent over two years studying asteroid Bennu, finding evidence for organics and minerals chemically altered by water. “These are crucial ingredients for understanding the formation of planets like Earth, so we’re delighted to be among the first researchers to study samples returned from Bennu. ‘We think the Bennu samples might be similar in composition to the recent Winchcombe meteorite fall, but largely uncontaminated by the terrestrial environment and even more pristine.” Dr Sarah Crowther, research fellow in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at The University of Manchester, said: “It is a real honour to be selected to be part of the Osiris-Rex Sample Analysis Team, working with some of the best scientists around the world. “We’re excited to receive samples in the coming weeks and months, and to begin analysing them and see what secrets asteroid Bennu holds. “A lot of our research focuses on meteorites, and we can learn a lot about the history of the solar system from them. “But meteorites get hot coming through Earth’s atmosphere and can sit on Earth for many years before they are found, so the local environment and weather can alter or even erase important information about their composition and history. “Sample return missions like Osiris-Rex are vitally important because the returned samples are pristine, we know exactly which asteroid they come from and can be certain that they are never exposed to the atmosphere so that important information is retained.” The spacecraft launched on September 8, 2016 and arrived at Bennu in December 2018. After mapping the asteroid for almost two years, it collected a sample from the surface on October 20, 2020. The capsule is expected to land at 3.55pm (BST). Astrophysicist Professor Boris Gansicke, Department of Physics, University of Warwick, said: “The asteroids in our solar system contain the raw building blocks from which the Earth was made, so working out their composition will tell us a lot of how our planet formed. “There are many open questions, for instance where did the water that we have on Earth come from? And where did the ingredients that made life possible to develop come from? “To answer those questions, i.e. measure the composition of an asteroid, you need to get your ‘hands’ on them (or in this case the arm of a space mission), and this is what Osiris-Rex achieved. “In a nutshell, it’s similar to sitting in front of a delicious dinner and wanting to have the list of ingredients.” Additional reporting by agencies Read More You need to update your Apple devices right now Amazon Prime Video will soon start running ads – unless you pay even more Amazon Prime Video will soon start running ads unless you pay a monthly fee You need to update your Apple devices right now Amazon Prime Video will soon start running ads – unless you pay even more Amazon Prime Video will soon start running ads unless you pay a monthly fee

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The gunman accused of murdering 11 in a mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in 2018 is now on trial in a federal courtroom in Pittsburgh. On 27 October 2018, Robert Bowers, then 46, entered the synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood armed with three handguns, an AR-15 rifle, and a trove of magazines and ammunition. Inside, he opened fire on congregants in what marks the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history. Eight men and three women – aged from 54 to 97 – died in the massacre. After numerous delays, the now-50-year-old is finally standing trial for more than 60 federal charges including obstruction of free exercise of religion resulting in death and hate crimes resulting in death. During opening arguments on Tuesday, Mr Bowers’ attorneys admitted that he was responsible for the massacre but claimed that he acted on “an irrational motive” and had “misguided intent”. Prosecutors meanwhile pointed out that, in the months leading up the shooting, the suspect was spewing bigoted and antisemitic vitriol online. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. Read More Who is Robert Bowers: Alleged antisemite on trial for Tree of Life synagogue shooting Police say Robert Bowers had an ‘unthinkable’ thought – then carried out America’s deadliest antisemitic attack