A dozen poor countries are facing economic instability and even collapse under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign loans, much of them from the world’s biggest and most unforgiving government lender, China

This week’s new entertainment releases include albums from Irish singer-songwriter Hozier and Idina Menzel, the animated “The Monkey King” from Stephen Chow and Jennifer Lawrence’s R-rated comedy “No Hard Feelings.”

By David Ljunggren OTTAWA Canada's national statistics agency on Tuesday revealed new weights for the basket of goods

Tens of thousands of Muslims are demonstrating across the Middle East in support of the Palestinians and to protest against the Israeli airstrikes pounding the Gaza Strip

State attorneys general threaten top US companies with legal action over race-based quotas.

Former President Donald Trump said Monday that if elected again to the White House, he would reinstate and expand a travel ban on people from predominantly Muslim countries, suspend refugee resettlements and aggressively deport those whom he characterized as having "jihadist sympathies."

Four volunteers have entered a simulated Mars habitat as part of a year-long Nasa experiment to test astronauts’ resilience to isolation and other psychological stress factors. The CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) mission will see the participants live and work in a 158-square-metre (1,700-square-foot) habitat at Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. It is the first of three one-year simulated Mars missions, which each aim to assess the health and performance of crew members when living in confinement with limited resources. Participants will take part in simulated spacewalks, science experiments and habitat maintenance, while also attempting to grow crops for food. “The simulation will allow us to collect cognitive and physical performance data to give us more insight into the potential impacts of long-duration missions to Mars on crew health and performance,” said Grace Douglas, CHAPEA principal investigator. “Ultimately, this information will help Nasa make informed decisions to design and plan for a successful human mission to Mars.” The four members of the CHAPEA mission are research scientist Kelly Haston, structural engineer Ross Brockwell, emergency medicine physician Nathan Jones and microbiologist Anca Selariu. Each were chosen after Nasa put out a call for “healthy, motivated” applicants in 2021. There have been several previous research projects involving simulated Mars habitats, with the Mars-500 missions between 2007 and 2011 seeing volunteers spend months locked inside a facility in Mosco, Russia. The HI-SEAS program in Hawaii also saw participants spend time living in isolation, though one mission lasted just four days after one of the crew members suffered an electric shock. Nasa plans to return humans to the Moon within the next three years as part of its Artemis missions, which the US space agency hopes to use as a foundation to eventually send astronauts to Mars. Private space firm SpaceX also plans to send people to Mars aboard its Starship rocket, which is currently under development at the company’s Starbase facility in Texas. SpaceX boss Elon Musk said a second attempt at an orbital flight test will be made before the end of August, after the first attempt in April ended in a large explosion just minutes after take off. The 480 million kilometre (300 million mile) journey to Mars is expected to take around seven months, with the planet’s orbit meaning that a travel window only opens up every 26 months. This means that any return mission would likely take close to four years to complete. Read More Elon Musk to launch biggest ever rocket after dramatic failure Elon Musk eyes ‘highly habitable’ planet that’s ‘practically next door’ Elon Musk eyes ‘highly habitable’ planet that’s ‘practically next door’ Apple releases urgent update to iPhone and iPad users Twitter hacker who took over Musk, Obama, Biden accounts gets prison sentence

NCAA tax records show former president Mark Emmert was paid nearly $3.3 million in 2021

Hong Kong is set to launch Asia's first Gay Games on Friday, fostering hopes for wider LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Asian financial hub

The voice of Peter Parker in 'Marvel's Spider-Man 2' has provided an update on the game.

Mauricio Pochettino will have final say on Chelsea transfers as the club hone a more collaborative approach going forward. While there are set to be more signings in January despite a £1bn-plus outlay over the last three windows, the aim is to be far more targeted in the new year. The club's much-discussed American owners felt a total overhaul of the squad was due on arriving, as they sought to reshape it to have a much younger and leaner profile. That create a bloated group for a period of time that sometimes felt too large for the dressing room, but the feeling is that gradual trading has left them closer to an ideal profile. The target now is to fill any remaining positional gaps or depth to the team, so as to maximise Pochettino's tactics. It is within that process that the Argentine will have a final say on any purchases, after a collaborative process with the recruitment team, which includes co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart and co-director of recruitment and talent Joe Shields. The model is described as more like Manchester City's, where the manager will identify the type of tactical profile he needs, then the staff come up with suitable names, and the manager then decides on who to go for. Chelsea are expected to be one of the clubs that go for Brentford's Ivan Toney in the window, as a number nine would still be preferred, with Nicolas Jackson and Armando Broja yet to fully convince as a long-term option. Although there is still a sense of seeing how the squad settles after one more international window. Chelsea enjoyed one of their brightest performances yet under Pochettino in the 2-2 draw with Arsenal, with Brentford visiting Stamford Bridge this weekend as the Blues look to rebuild after a slow start to the season. Read More Gary O’Neil unpacks Wolves secrets on MNF to show the future of football punditry Mikel Arteta showing he is ‘one of best in world’, says Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino Mikel Arteta, Mauricio Pochettino and the ‘love’ at the heart of a fractious rivalry

According to former Chicago White Sox cacher A.J. Pierzynski, the team is going to promote Chris Getz as the general manager 'soon.'