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Osiris-Rex: Nasa awaits fiery return of asteroid Bennu samples

A seven-year mission to study what has been described as the most dangerous rock in the Solar System is about to reach its dramatic conclusion.
The Osiris-Rex spacecraft is bringing home the “soil” samples it grabbed from the surface of asteroid Bennu.
These dusty materials will be dropped off by the Nasa probe as it sweeps past the Earth on Sunday. They’ll be tucked inside a capsule to protect them from a fiery descent to the US State of Utah.
Scientists expect the samples’ chemistry to reveal new information about the formation of the planets 4.5 billion years ago, and possibly even to give insights into how life got started on our world.
Touchdown on desert land belonging to the Department of Defense is expected at 08:55 local time (14:55 GMT; 15:55 BST).
It is sure to be an anxiety-fuelled day for everyone involved in the Osiris-Rex project – especially during the 13 minutes it takes for the capsule to fall through the atmosphere.
The car tyre-sized container will be moving initially at more than 12km/s (27,000mph) and experiencing peak heating in excess of 3,000C. But a combination of a thermal shield and parachutes should bring it to a safe stop on the desert plain.
“We have spent an inordinate amount of time preparing for contingencies, everything that could go wrong, all the horrible things that we might encounter,” mission principal investigator Dante Lauretta told the BBC. “But the good news is we’ve practised and practised and practised and so we’re ready to go.”
The Osiris-Rex spacecraft left Earth in 2016 to investigate Bennu, which has a very slight chance of hitting our planet late next century. The probe took two years to reach the 500m-wide rock and a further two years observing the “space mountain” before making an audacious series of manoeuvres that obtained the cache of surface materials. All that remains is to bring those samples – about 250g (9oz) in mass – safely to the ground. The probe should release the capsule about four hours before re-entry is due to begin.
(BBC)
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No US soldiers would be needed in Gaza plan, Trump says

US President Donald Trump has restated a vision in which the US would take over Gaza, after officials in his administration appeared to contradict his earlier comments.
“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” Trump said on Thursday. He reiterated that the idea would mean resettling Palestinians, and that no US soldiers would be needed.
Trump’s resettlement idea has prompted accusations that he is planning ethnic cleansing, and has drawn condemnation from the UN, human rights groups and Arab leaders. Analysts doubt it will ever happen.
After Trump’s first comments on the issue, his officials suggested any relocation would be only temporary.
Under his plan, Trump wrote, Gazans “would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region”. The US would then be part of an effort to redevelop the enclave, he said.
His post, written on Truth Social, did not make clear whether the two million residents of the Palestinian territory would be invited to return.
Under international law, attempts to forcibly transfer populations from occupied territory are strictly prohibited.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that any displacement would be temporary. In his own comments, made on the same day, Secretary of State Rubio said the idea was for Gazans to leave the territory for an “interim” period while debris was cleared and reconstruction took place.
These views contradicted Trump’s initial comments on the matter. Speaking on Tuesday, when he proposed the development of Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East”, Trump suggested that the displacement of Palestinians would be permanent.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too,” he said on Tuesday during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called the idea “worth paying attention to”.
The announcement took even senior Trump aides by surprise due to a lack of planning around the idea, the New York Times reported, citing four anonymous sources with knowledge of the discussions.
Trump’s fresh comment on Thursday that no American soldiers would be needed was more clearly in agreement with Leavitt, who said the US had not committed to putting “boots on the ground”.
Fifteen months of fighting have left the Gaza Strip, a territory 41km (25 miles) long and 10km (6 miles) wide, largely uninhabitable.
Entire districts have been razed to the ground. Agricultural land where greenhouses once stood has been reduced to sand and rubble.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned that it could take 21 years to remove and dispose of all debris.
It described the water and sanitation systems as “almost entirely defunct”, warned of mounting rubbish around camps and shelters, and highlighted the risk that chemicals from destroyed solar panels and the munitions being used could contaminate soil and water supplies.
More than 50 million tonnes of debris have accumulated as a result of the destruction, according to the UN body.
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
More than 47,550 people have been killed and 111,600 injured in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

[BBC]
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Muzarabani’s seven headlines Zimbabwe’s dominant opening day

What started out as a potentially one-sided day in Bulawayo was anything but. Ireland zig-zagged through multiple ups and downs, however, Zimbabwe ended up dominating the day.
Blessing Muzarabani bowled like an Irish curse at the start of the day, utilising the two-paced nature and uneven bounce on day one. His 7 for 58, which is the second best figures for a Zibabwe bowler – dented Ireland but not before Lorcan Tucker’s initiative, followed by a 127-run stand between Andy McBrine and Mark Adair, lifted Ireland from the precarity of 31 for 5 to the comforts of 260.
In reply, Zimbabwe lost Ben Curran early but Takudzwanashe Kaitano and Nick Welch’s healthy starts saw off 21 overs to stumps, with the hosts trailing by 188 runs.
The day began under sunny skies but the first over showed the vagaries of a pitch that batters couldn’t trust. Peter Moor was lured by balls outside off, which brought him a boundary fourth ball but then the lack of bounce and pace had him drag a pull onto his stumps.
Curtis Campher got a jaffa that seamed away and beat his bat while trying to defend in the third over but then fell trying to counterattack Richard Ngarava in the fourth – the only batter in the Ireland top five to not fall to Muzarabani. Andy Balbirnie, who was in control against the full balls, was the next to go, out trying to flick a shortish ball that stopped in the pitch.
Muzarabani saved his best ball for Harry Tector, which seamed away to take a leading edge off the flick to have him caught at slip. He was then assisted by the pitch, which offered extra pace and bounce to undo Paul Stirling, caught at slip. And just like that, Ireland has lost half their side with nine overs yet to be bowled.
Brief scores: [Day 1 stumps]
Ireland 260 in 56.4 overs (Andy McBrine 90*, Mark Adair 78, Lorcan Tucker 33; Blessing Muzarabani 7-58, Richard Ngarava 2-65) lead Zimbabwe 72 for 1 in 21 overs (Nick Welch 33*, Takudzwanashe Kaitano 26*, Barry McCarthy 1-25) by 188 runs
[Cricinfo]
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Gill, Shreyas and Axar provide the firepower as India go 1-0 up

It was both untidy and emphatic. India made light work of their 249 target, passing it with 68 deliveries to spare in Nagpur. That they only won this first ODI by four wickets was down to an unnecessarily messy finish. One that spoke more to their disorder at how simple this was than any rallying from England’s part.
It was a mix of old and new that combined to give those in light blue a 1-0 lead in this three-match series. Ravindra Jadeja’s 3 for 26 was supplemented by Harshit Rana’s 3 for 53 on his maiden ODI appearance to roll England for 248 with 14 deliveries to spare. Jos Buttler’s 52 and Jacob Bethell’s 51 were the only scores of note after Phil Salt’s emphatic start of 43 from 26 had been wasted.
With Virat Kohli ruled out with a right knee injury sustained on Wednesday evening, Shubman Gill stepped up to ice the chase with 87, helped initially by Shreyas Iyer’s 59 and Axar Patel’s outstanding 52, in stands of 94 and 108, respectively.
The former came at a vital juncture, as Jofra Archer nicked off Yashasvi Jaiswal on ODI debut and Saqib Mahmood – in for the rested Mark Wood – had skipper Rohit Sharma caught at mid-on in the space of six deliveries. From 19 for 2, India did not look back.
Iyer’s fifty off 30 deliveries set an emphatic tone, dealing with anything and everything short, pulling and then ramping Archer for consecutive sixes at the end of the seventh over. Four of his nine fours were carved off Brydon Carse, who opted for length deliveries more on the off side once it became apparent Iyer was relishing the chance to heave to leg.
Axar’s introduction up the order proved a masterstroke, the left-hander playing with the kind of freedom that allowed Gill to calmly go about his business. Gill’s one alarm came when given out lbw on 38 to Liam Livingstone, but even that was corrected immediately as DRS showed a clear inside edge. The vice-captain’s 14th fifty was his first against England.
The pair combined expertly in the 29th over against Carse, taking 17 from it with two boundaries each – the best of them a ramp from Axar over the keeper. It was then that this chase officially became a canter, with just 48 needed from the last 21 overs. Axar raised his bat for fifty for the first time on home soil, driving his 46th ball, from Carse, on the up and through the fielder at mid-off.
That he was not able to see things through – bowled by a slow leg spinner by Adil Rashid – was a disappointment to Gill at the non-striker’s end. On 81 at the time, with 28 remaining, thoughts then turned to the 25-year-old’s century, which seemed to bring about indecision, first with KL Rahul’s dismissal – a tame caught and bowled to Rashid – and then his own, as he failed to strike Mahmood over Buttler at mid on.
Jadeja’s edge off Mahmood through wicketkeeper Salt for the winning runs characterised the anxiety brought on by that unnecessary cascade of three wickets for just four runs. But it also highlighted England’s shortcomings with the bat, brought about by their own three-wicket collapse at the top of the order in the space of eight deliveries.
Salt had driven an opening stand of 75 with Ben Duckett, leaving India flapping in the field. The brutality of Salt’s acceleration after a watchful start was contained in Rana’s third over for 26 courtesy of three sixes – a top-edge, a slog sweep off a slower ball and a heave over midwicket to finish the over.
But a miscommunication on a third run brought about his demise, the first domino to fall as 75 for 0 became 77 for 3. A cut to deep point was chased down by Iyer, who threw to the striker’s end to find Salt comfortably short of his ground, having been sent back by Duckett.
Back came Rana with a bang, with two wickets in the following over. Duckett mistimed a pull shot that required a spectacular catch from Jaiswal, running back from midwicket before a well-judged dive. Harry Brook was then taken well down the leg side by Rahul, who had beaten Rishabh Pant to wicketkeeping duties, after a rising length delivery caught the bottom glove.
Joe Root came to the middle for his first ODI innings since the 2023 World Cup, the ideal man for such a rebuild even given his absence from 50-over cricket. What optimism there was with Buttler at the other end did not last long, with Root falling lbw to Jadeja after 51 deliveries at the crease. It was the fourth time the left-arm spinner has dismissed him in the format.
At that stage, England were 111 for 4 in the 20th over. Not too dissimilar to India’s 111 for 3 at the end of the 16th, when Bethell trapped Iyer plumb in front.
Bethell’s stand with Buttler for the fifth wicket looked to be trending towards an emphatic rebuild akin to what Gill and Axar achieved. But the English duo’s partnership was capped at 59 when Buttler, nine deliveries after bringing up his 38th fifty-plus ODI score from 58 balls, clipped an Axar long-hop around the corner to Hardik Pandya at short fine leg.
Unlike India’s middle order, England’s fell apart, even as Bethell held his nerve through to a second ODI fifty from 62 balls. His maturity and reading of the situation was a lesson to more experienced heads around him. Those lower down owed it to him to stick around, but the return of pace ended up seeing off Liam Livingstone (caught behind for Rana’s third) and Carse (bowled for Mohammed Shami’s first).
Once Bethell was given out on review after Jadeja had struck his back pad on the sweep, only a few lusty strikes from Archer (21 not out) gave England what looked a respectable total at the halfway stage. India, though, showed it no respect whatsoever.
Brief scores:
India 251 for 6 in 3.4 overs (Shubman Gill 87, Shreyas Iyer 59, Axar Patel 52, Adil Rashid 2-49,Saqib Mahmood 2-47) beat England 248 in 47.4 overs (Joss Buttler 52, Phil Salt 43, Ben Duckett 32, Jacob Bethell 51; Harshit Rana 3-53, Ravindra Jadeja 3-26) by four wickets
[Cricinfo]
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