World Hot News

04/08/2022

04/08/2022

21/06/2022

21/06/2022

South Korea launches homegrown space rocket in the
second such attempt [ The Hindu - 2022.06.21 ]
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If the launch is successful, South Korea would become the world's 10th nation to place a satellite into space with its own technology
South Korea launched its first domestically built space rocket on June 21 in the country's second attempt, months after its earlier liftoff failed to place a payload into orbit.

A successful launch would boost South Korea's growing space ambitions but also prove it has key technologies to build a space-based surveillance system and bigger missiles amid animosities with rival North Korea, some experts say.

The three-stage Nuri rocket carrying what officials call a functioning “performance verification” satellite blasted from South Korea's only space launch centre on a small island off its southern coast at 4 p.m. Live TV footage showed the rocket with a national flag rising into the air with bright flames and above thick white smokes.

Officials are to announce the results of the launch later Tuesday.

In the first attempt last October, the rocket's dummy payload reached its desired altitude of 700 km (435 miles) but didn't enter orbit because the engine of the rocket's third stage burned out earlier than planned.

If Tuesday's launch is successful, South Korea would become the world's 10th nation to place a satellite into space with its own technology.

South Korea, the world's 10th-largest economy, is a main supplier of semiconductors, automobiles and smartphones on world markets. But its space development programme lags behind that of its Asian neighbours China, India and Japan.

North Korea placed its first and second Earth observation satellites into orbit in 2012 and 2016 though there is no proof that either one has ever transmitted spaced-based imagery and data back home. Those North Korean launches invited U.N. economic sanctions because they were viewed as covers for testing the country's banned long-range missile technology.

Since the early 1990s, South Korea has sent a slew of satellites into space, but all from overseas launch sites or aboard a rocket built with the help of foreign technology. In 2013, South Korea successfully launched a satellite for the first time from its soil, but the first stage of its launch vehicle was manufactured by the Russians.

After Tuesday's liftoff, South Korea plans to conduct four more Nuri rocket launches in the coming years. It also hopes to send a probe to the moon, build next-generation space launch vehicles and send large-scale satellites into orbit.

South Korean officials said the Nuri rocket has no military purposes.

The transfer of space launch technology is strictly restricted under a multilateral export control regime because it has military applications. Experts say ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles share similar bodies, engines and other components, though missiles require a reentry vehicle and other technologies.

“If you put a satellite on the top of a rocket, it would become a space launch vehicle. But if you mount a warhead on it, it becomes a weapon,” said Kwon Yong Soo, a former professor at Korea National Defence University in South Korea. “If we succeed in Nuri's launch, it's really meaningful because we also succeed in the test of a long-range rocket that can be used to build a long-range missile.”

Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea's Science and Technology Policy Institute, said it's difficult to directly use Nuri as a missile because it uses liquid fuels that must be kept at an extremely low temperature and require much longer fuelling time than solid fuels.

He said North Korean long-range missiles also use liquid fuels, but extremely toxic ones that are maintained at ordinary temperatures and need faster fuelling time than Nuri's.

This year, North Korea has test-launched about 30 missiles with potential ranges that place the U.S. mainland and its regional allies like South Korea and Japan within striking distance.

Link - bit.ly/3zTBh9c

21/06/2022

France elections: Macron to meet rival parties after losing the majority - [BBC News]
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French President Emmanuel Macron will meet political opponents on Tuesday after his coalition failed to win a majority in parliamentary elections.

Mr Macron is now under pressure to secure support from rivals to fulfil his government's reform agenda.

But neither Marine Le Pen's far-right nor Jean-Luc Mélenchon's left-green alliance are keen to work with him.

Minority governments are a rarity in France, and Mr Macron's Ensemble alliance is 44 seats shy of a majority.

This means he will need to find support from mainstream MPs from both the left and right side of politics to help build a working majority.

Party representatives will visit the Élysée Palace separately for the high-level talks on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Analysts say the president may be eyeing a deal with the right-wing Republicans, and the party confirmed that its leader, Christian Jacob, would attend the talks.

Ms Le Pen will take part but Mr Mélenchon will not, the AFP news agency reports.

Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure and Communist Party boss Fabien Roussel, members of the Nupes left-wing alliance, will also meet Mr Macron.

France's far right and left both make breakthroughs
What now for Macron after poll setback?
France's centrist government is desperately trying to avoid political paralysis after losing its majority, with some commentators warning of France becoming ungovernable.

Mr Macron will also have to replace three ministers who lost their seats in Sunday's vote, and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne's future looks increasingly under threat.

The election on Sunday saw a low-turnout, with an abstention rate of 53%.

Link - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61874751