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TOKYO - Japan’s space agency intentionally destroyed a new H3 rocket minutes after its launch Tuesday because the ignition failed for the second stage of the country's first new rocket series in more than two decades.Coming three weeks after an aborted launch due to a separate glitch, the H3's failure was a setback for Japan’s space program — and possibly for its missile detection program — and a disappointment for space fans who were rooting for Tuesday's retrial.The H3 rocket with a white head blasted off and soared into the blue sky from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan as fans and local residents cheered. It followed its planned trajectory and the second stage separated as designed, but the ignition for it failed, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.JAXA officials apologized for the failure, and said it sent a command to destroy the rocket about 14 minutes after liftoff as there was no hope for it to complete its mission.Japan's next-generation H3 rocket failed after liftoff on March 7, 2023, with the space agency issuing a destruct command after concluding the mission could not succeed.

File: Malcolm Smith of the Cleveland Browns reacts after finishing a drill during a joint practice with the New York Giants on August 19, 2021 in Berea, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images) INDIANAPOLIS - The Minnesota Vikings treat their players best, according to a new NFL Players Association survey.The Washington Commanders have a long way to go.The report, released Wednesday during the league's annual scouting combine, rated teams in eight categories — everything from meals and nutrition to training and travel — based on anonymous responses from about 1,300 players.

A social media influencer has pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining more than $1m in COVID-19 pandemic-related loans from the US government used to fund a lavish lifestyle which she flaunted on Instagram. Danielle Miller, a self-proclaimed con artist whose scams have been chronicled in a New York Magazine profile last year, appeared before a general judge in Boston by video from a prison cell to plead guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges.

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 06: U.S. President Joe Biden addresses the International Association of Fire Fighters' legislative conference at the Hyatt Capitol Hill on March 06, 2023 in Washington, DC.

NEW YORK - Mayor Eric Adams has been tapped to spread the Democratic Party’s message across the country.First reported by the Washington Post, Adams along with around 20 other Democrats, will sit on a national advisory board convened by President Joe Biden’s team. With the 2024 presidential election looming closer, Adams will also appear on national TV to stump for President Biden once he officially announces his re-election campaign.As Lawrence Levy, executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University explained, Adams poses as a unique pick to spread the democratic party’s message."The Democratic Party's problem is not with the left, it's with the center," Levy said.New York City Democratic Mayor-elect Eric Adams gestures to supporters during his 2021 election victory night party at the Brooklyn Marriott on November 2, 2021 in New York City.

PARIS - The reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is going fast enough to allow its reopening to visitors and faithful at the end of 2024, less than six years after a fire ravaged its roof, French officials said Monday.The cathedral's iconic spire, which collapsed in the blaze, will gradually start reappearing above the monument this year in a powerful signal of its revival, the army general in charge of the colossal project, Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, said."The return of the spire in Paris’ sky will in my opinion be the symbol that we are winning the battle of Notre Dame," he told the Associated Press.The reconstruction itself started last year, after more than two years of work to make the monument stable and secure enough for artisans to start rebuilding it.RELATED: Notre Dame Cathedral to get expanded park, underground entrywayAuthorities have made the choice to rebuild the 12th century monument, a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, the way it was before.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released a proposed rule with new requirements on "Product of USA" labels in an effort to increase transparency and help ensure consumers understand where their food comes from. Announced Monday, the proposed rule allows the voluntary label "Product of USA or "Made in the USA" claim be used on meat, poultry and egg products only when they are derived from animals born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the U.S. "American consumers expect that when they buy a meat product at the grocery store, the claims they see on the label mean what they say," agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.

Colombo (News 1st) – State Minister of Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasuriya was amongst the dignitaries present for the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries taking place in Doha, Qatar The event is being held from the 5th to the 9th of this month.State Minister Tharaka Balasuriya met with counterpart Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in Qatar, for a discussion that touched upon many areas including the recognition of the Sri Lankan Engineering degrees by Qatari authorities and Sri Lanka's technical support for Qatari government's attempt to promote cricket in Qatar. Tharaka Balasuriya also expressed Sri Lanka's unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and its people to the President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas.With ongoing progressions and developments on the new establishment of the Office of Overseas Sri Lankans, the State Minister held a side meeting with HE Antonio Vitorino, Director of IOM in Doha, in which HE Vitorino assured IOM support on the digitalization of the Office of Overseas Sri Lankans as well as continuous support of the IOM with matters pertaining to migration. State Minister Balasuriya also met with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Italy Maria Tripodi. Discussions were held, particularly on bilateral relations between the respective countries.

SELMA, Ala. (AP) - President Joe Biden used the searing memories of Selma's "Bloody Sunday" to recommit to a cornerstone of democracy, lionizing a seminal moment from the civil rights movement at a time when he has been unable to push enhanced voting protections through Congress and a conservative Supreme Court has undermined a landmark voting law."Selma is a reckoning.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 20: (L-R) Dawn Dickson, Mona Scott-Young, Wendy Diamond, Judy Heumann, Mitzi Perdue, Nadja Swarovski and Coco Rocha attend the 2022 Women's Entrepreneurship Day Organization Summit at United Nations on May 20, 2022 in New Yor Judy Heumann, a renowned activist who helped secure legislation protecting the rights of disabled people, has died at age 75.News of her death Saturday in Washington, D.C., was posted on her website and social media accounts and confirmed by her youngest brother, Rick Heumann.He said she had been in the hospital a week and had heart issues that may have been the result of something known as post-polio syndrome, related to a childhood infection that was so severe that she spent several months in an iron lung and lost her ability to walk at age 2.She spent the rest of her life fighting, first to get access for herself and then for others, her brother recalled.Javeno McLean talks with FOX Television Stations about why it's important to give back."It wasn’t about glory for my sister or anything like that at all. It was always about how could she make things better for other people," he said, adding that the family drew solace from the tributes that poured in on Twitter from dignitaries and past presidents like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.RELATED: Study: NFL players who experience concussions may exhibit cognitive failure later in lifeHeumann has been called the "mother of the disability rights movement" for her longtime advocacy on behalf of disabled people through protests and legal action, her website says.She lobbied for legislation that eventually led to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act.

Marianne Williamson speaks as she endorses Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) during a campaign rally at Vic Mathias Shores Park on February 23, 2020 in Austin, Texas.

Former Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) appears on Meet the Press in Washington, D.C. Sunday, Feb.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Friday that he plans to sign a measure that would effectively ban abortion clinics from operating in the state, meaning hospitals will soon be the only places where they can be provided in the state.After passing through the state Senate on Thursday with minor amendments, it returned to the Utah House of Representatives Friday morning, where it was approved and then sent to the governor for final approval.

bill has been reintroduced in the U.S. Senate that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent in the United States.When Florida Sen.

COLOMBO (News 1st): Parliamentarian Rauff Hakeem challenged President Ranil Wickremesinghe to conduct General Elections, speaking at an event on Saturday (4).“The President says the Local Government Election is not useful and that a Parliamentary Election is required to change a government. If so, hold a General Election.

A Russian virologist who one of the scientist who helped develop Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine was found dead in his Moscow apartment, the Russian Media has reported.  It was found that he was strangled to death with a belt in his Moscow apartment and a murder investigation launched on this.    Andrey Botikov, 48, was one of the 18 scientist who developed Sputnik V vaccine at the Gamaleya National Research Center.  According to some local media reports, a intruder had broke into his home and started asking for money. According to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, on March 2, 2023, in an apartment building located on Rogova Street in Moscow, a 29-year-old young man, during an argument, strangled the 47-year-old owner of the apartment with a belt and fled the scene.

PHILADELPHIA - It’s been one year since a law went into effect in Philadelphia, meant to combat racial profiling and make traffic stops more equitable across the city. The controversial measure banned traffic stops for minor infractions like bumper issues and driving with missing headlights."If pulling people over made this city safer? I’d be the first volunteer for my rights to be violated.

WASHINGTON - A skin lesion removed from President Joe Biden's chest last month was a basal cell carcinoma — a common form of skin cancer — his doctor said Friday, adding that no further treatment was required.Dr. Kevin O'Connor, the White House doctor who has served as Biden's longtime physician, said "all cancerous tissue was successfully removed" during the president's routine physical on Feb.

Hoda Kotb made a brief appearance on Friday's episode of the show in a pre-taped interview with John Easterling and Chloe Lattanzi, the husband and daughter of the late Olivia Newton-John.The 58-year-old newswoman has been noticeably absent from live segments of the NBC morning show for more than a week. Kotb's co-anchors shared earlier this week that she is «OK,» but is dealing with «a family health matter,» and will be back on the show soon.During Friday's episode, Sheinelle Jones introduced Kotb's interview saying her co-anchor «recently» spoke to Newton-John's family.

PHILADELPHIA - Temple University’s faculty-union will meet Friday to consider a no-confidence vote on President Jason Wingard and two other administrators. This would mark the first time the union has held a no-confidence vote of a president in its 50-year history.Faculty will also consider no-confidence votes on Provost Gregory N. Mandel and Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ken Kaiser. The meeting comes as graduate students are on strike over pay and as the school continues to struggle with violent crime near campus following the death of Temple University Police Sgt.

Then-Capt. Paris Davis poses for an official U.S.

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe emphasized that a change of government can only be brought about through a parliamentary election and the streets is not an option for parliament.He made this comment on Friday (3) while participating in the Air Force cadets and other officers Passing Out Parade at the Trincomalee Air Force Base today."When you passed out today, you had to take an oath under the constitution. You also undertook an oath of the Sri Lanka Air Force in public. These two oaths underline your primary responsibility.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former President Donald Trump can be sued by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (top C) walks past Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (lower) during the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi on March 2, 2023. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) NEW DELHI - U.S.

During a discussion held at the President’s Office today, President Ranil Wickremesinghe emphasized the timely amendment of the Agricultural Development Act and the Paddy Land Act to enable the replanting of cultivable paddy lands and the cultivation of other crops on non-paddy lands.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - West Virginia's governor signed a bill Wednesday allowing people with concealed carry permits to take firearms onto public college and university campuses."Proud day for me," Republican Gov.

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 30: U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) asks a question of former FBI Director James Comey at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 30, 2020 in Washington, DC.

FILE - Deputy Labor Secretary Julie Su attends a Learn About Worker Experiences event at the Skal restaurant in Brooklynon April 11, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for One Fair Wage) WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden is nominating Julie Su, the current deputy and former California official, as his next labor secretary, replacing the departing incumbent, former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.Su, a civil rights attorney and former head of California's labor department, was central to negotiations between labor and freight rail companies late last year, working to avert an economically debilitating strike.

FILE - The Yellowstone River flows through Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images) Yellowstone National Park, an almost mystical 2.2-million acre wonderland of dynamic hydrothermal activity, breathtaking scenery and spectacular wildlife, was established on this day in history, March 1, 1872. It was the first national park in the United States and, to most people around the world, the first known on the planet. It quickly inspired an international conservation movement in the wake of the Industrial Revolution."The headwaters of the Yellowstone River … is hereby reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale … and dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people," states the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act, signed into law by President Ulysses S.

COLOMBO (News 1st); The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has urged the Government of Sri Lanka to hold free and fair local elections without delay.In a tweet, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee noted that any effort to take away the voice of the people of Sri Lanka is undeniably undemocratic & a direct violation of Sri Lankans’ rights.Sri Lanka's Election Commission recently said that the Local Government Election scheduled for March 9th was postponed due to reasons beyond its control.The Election Commission is expected to meet on Thursday (3) to reach a final decision on the Local Government Election that has faced numerous obstacles since it was announced.About the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was established in 1816 as one of the original ten standing committees of the Senate.

Representatives from the World Bank stated that the World Bank will continue to support Sri Lanka’s development reforms program.They stated that the World Bank will provide technical assistance in the drafting of laws for development policy operations, as well as work to provide additional guidance and support regarding the use of international media and welfare benefits.The delegation including the Vice President of the South Asian Region of World Bank, Martin Raiser, met President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Presidential Secretariat on Tuesday (28).The World Bank Development Policy Operational Program was fully investigated and the President and World Bank representatives commented on its progress.Improving financial supervision and credit management, improving tax administration, sovereign-financial sector linkages and reducing systemic risks; maintaining stability and confidence in the banking sector, restructuring and divestment, reducing policy uncertainty and increasing competitiveness in the economy, mobilizing private capital and competition in the broadband market, strengthening the social security institution, delivery system and targeting was discussed.Source: PMD

PHILADELPHIA - A crowd of Temple University students gathered Tuesday to criticize school leadership for an accused lack of safety on the North Philadelphia campus.The protest comes more than a week after Temple University police Sgt. Chris Fitzgerald was shot and killed during a struggle with a suspect in the troubled 22nd district."What happened to Officer Fitzgerald is a direct fall out of this lack of safety and lack of resources for safety," John Mangan, Founder of the growing Instagram page ‘Keep Us Safe TU,' said.Mangan's page strives to alert students and residents on and around Temple about violent crimes that they allege the school fails to properly distribute information about.MORE LOCAL COVERAGE"We had a home invasion, people weren't alerted about, we had robberies on campus people weren't alerted about," Mangan said.

About $441 billion in student loan balances are eligible for forgiveness under the plan, according to one report. (iStock) The Supreme Court will hear two cases against President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan on Tuesday.

TOPSHOT - Iranian high school students sit for their university entrance examination in Tehran on June 25, 2009. Iran has jailed more than 140 political activists, journalists and university lecturers since the disputed election which returned Presid DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Over the past three months, hundreds of young girls attending different schools in Iran have become overpowered by what are believed to be noxious fumes wafting into their classrooms, with some ending up weakened on hospital beds.Officials in Iran's theocracy initially dismissed these incidents, but now describe them as intentional attacks involving some 30 schools identified in local media reports, with some speculating they could be aimed at trying to close schools for girls in this country of over 80 million people.The reported attacks come at a sensitive time for Iran, which already has faced months of protests after the September death of Mahsa Amini following her arrest by the country's morality police.RELATED: Feds say Iranian-backed gang behind Brooklyn assassination attemptThe authorities have not named suspects, but the attacks have raised fears that other girls could be poisoned apparently just for seeking an education — something that's never been challenged before in the over 40 years since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

WASHINGTON - Conservative justices holding the Supreme Court's majority are skeptically questioning President Joe Biden's plan to wipe away or reduce student loans held by millions of Americans.In arguments on Tuesday stretching well beyond the allotted two hours, Chief Justice John Roberts led his conservative colleagues in questioning the administration's authority to broadly cancel federal student loans because of the COVID-19 emergency.A student speaks as student loan borrowers gather at the Supreme Court the evening before the court hears two cases on student loan relief to state the relief is legal and needs to happen immediately on Feb. 27, 2023 in Washington, D.C.

PHOENIX - A man who police say was in illegal possession of a tiger cub and tried to sell the animal has been indicted.Phoenix Police say 25-year-old Carlos Eduardo Castro Alcaraz was arrested on Jan. 23. An investigation began after officers received a tip that Alcaraz was trying to sell a baby tiger on social media for $25,000.

Savannah Guthrie has tested positive for COVID-19. On Tuesday's broadcast of, the 51-year-old anchor began the show at the 7 a.m. hour.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - A Bay Area nonprofit said thieves had stolen a bus that carries supplies to cancer patients.The bus has been recovered. But it's damaged, and almost everything inside was stolen."This is our mobile resource center.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the daily morning press conference at the National Palace on Feb. 27, 2023, in Mexico City, Mexico.

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka's Cabinet of Minister granted approval for the establishment of National Contributory Pension Fund.According to a document released by the Department of Government Information, the Cabinet has recognized that is appropriate to establish a fund named National Contributory Pension Fund to ensure an appropriate environment is created for public sector employees to spend their retired life without being a burden to the country as well as to provide a pension with a certain profit for the retired life of the state sector pensioners. Accordingly, 8% from the basic salary of the employee and 12% from the employer should be credited to the proposed fund when a state employee is recruited in the state service, it added.An independent entity governed by a board of management to manage the proposed contributory pension fund will be established and a fund manager with special skills will be appointed for management of the funds. The proposed national contributory pension scheme will be applicable to the individuals newly recruited  to the government service, said Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Bandula Gunwardena on Tuesday (28).Those recruited to government service after the month of January  2016 can contribute to the proposed national contributory pension scheme as per their consent, said the statement from the Departmnet of Government Information."Since 2000, all public sector appointment letters carry the clause that they would be moved to the National Contributory Pension Scheme in the future. Therefore, this National Contributory Pension Scheme applies to all those who were recruited since 2016.

Chinese laboratory leak, the White House on Monday asserted that there is no definitive conclusion on the origin of Covid-19, according to the news agency ANI.  Speaking to media persons at a daily White House news conference, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said that the intelligence community and the government are still looking at the Covid-19 origin theory.  “There's not been a definitive conclusion, so it's difficult for me to say, nor should I feel like I should have to defend press reporting about a possible preliminary indication here," he said.  Kirby was responding to questions on the findings of the Department of Energy that a lab leak most likely caused the Covid-19 pandemic, which was first reported in The Wall Street Journal over the weekend. He further said that President Joe Biden made trying to find Covid origin a priority right when he came into office.

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe signed a Gazette notification on Monday (27) night declaring transportation services as essential services.Accordingly, public transport services for passengers or goods, discharge, carriage, landing, storage, delivery & removal of articles of food or drink, or coal, oil, fuel from vessels within any port as defined for the purposes of the Customs Ordinance (Chapter 235), the provision and maintenance of facilities for transport services by road, rail or air, including roads, bridges, culverts, airports, ports & railway lines, have been declared as essential services with immediate effect.   

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia police have launched an investigation after a student found a gun in her backpack at a North Philadelphia school Monday morning. "As school began this morning, a student communicated to her teacher that a firearm was present in her backpack. This young student was keenly aware that this weapon was dangerous and should not be in school with her," said the statement from Bryan Carter, Gesu School President. Carter said the student's backpack and gun were confiscated immediately, and the police were notified.

A student attends the proclamation ceremony for the graduation of the VUB and ULB universities, at the Grote Markt, in Brussels, on October 10, 2022. - Belgium OUT (Photo by BENOIT DOPPAGNE / Belga / AFP) / Belgium OUT (Photo by BENOIT DOPPAGNE/Belga WASHINGTON (AP) — - The Supreme Court is about to hear arguments over President Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan, which impacts millions of borrowers who could see their loans wiped away or reduced.So far, Republican-appointed judges have kept the Democratic president’s plan from going into effect, and it remains to be seen how the court, dominated 6-3 by conservatives, will respond.

FILE - Students walk to class at Rice University on Aug. 29, 2022, in Houston, Texas.

GOODYEAR, Ariz. - Two bicyclists are dead and 11 others have been hospitalized after a pickup truck struck a group of bicyclists in Goodyear, police said Saturday.The collision happened near MC-85 and Cotton Lane just before 8 a.m. on Feb.

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 25: An entrance sign near the main gate at Howard University October 25, 2021 in Washington, DC. Students have complained about mold and poor conditions in some dorm rooms and over 100 students have been staging a weeks-long WASHINGTON - A White student at Howard University’s law school is suing the institution for racial discrimination, alleging the school created a "hostile education environment."Michael Newman, the plaintiff, attended Howard University School of Law starting in the fall semester of 2020 and remained there for just two years until he was expelled in September 2022.

File Image of a clinical support technician extracting swab samples. (Photo by Jane Barlow - WPA Pool/Getty Images) The U.S.