Clearing the heavens of space junk
CBSN
If you're going to be a character in a space movie, like "Space Cowboys" or "Gravity," you've got to watch out for space junk; everybody knows that. But what not everyone knows is that that plot twist isn't fiction anymore.
"I got a call from my chief satellite officer, he said, 'We've lost track of our satellite vehicle number 33 somewhere over Siberia; it may have been hit by something,'" recalled Matt Desch, the CEO of Iridium, whose 66 satellites provide voice and data connections for governments, companies, air traffic and shipping. In 2009, a defunct Russian satellite crashed into one of Iridium's.Noumea — France's president held a flurry of meetings with local representatives in the restive Pacific territory of New Caledonia on Thursday, urging calm after deadly rioting, and vowing thousands of military reinforcements will stay in place to quell what he called an "unprecedented insurrection."
Kathmandu — Nepali climber Phunjo Lama on Thursday reached Mount Everest's summit in 14 hours and 31 minutes, smashing the record for the world's fastest ascent of the mountain by a woman. Climbers usually take days to reach the top of the 29,032-foot mountain, spending nights on its different camps to rest and acclimatize.
New Delhi — Indian justice officials have changed course amid outrage over the bail terms set for a teenager accused of killing two people while driving a Porsche at high speed while drunk and without a license. The 17-year-old son of a wealthy businessman had been ordered to write a 300-word essay and work with the local traffic police for 15 days to be granted bail — a decision that was made within 15 hours of his arrest.
Zurich — A woman jogger was killed by a naked man who was screaming and attacking people in a lakeside park in Switzerland, police said Wednesday. The attack happened Tuesday evening in Mannedorf on Lake Zurich, around 12 miles southeast of Switzerland's biggest city, the Zurich cantonal police said.