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NASA and SpaceX have delayed a mission sending four astronauts to the International Space Station to avoid "a large storm system," the agency said Saturday. The astronauts of "Crew-3" were due to launch aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft named "Endurance" fixed atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday.

Source: france24.com

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday invited Pope Francis to visit the country, extending an official opening after plans for a 2017 papal visit fell apart. Modi made the invitation Saturday during an unusually long, 55-minute audience with Francis at the Vatican. Modi is in Rome for the Group of 20 summit. There are roughly 18 million Catholics in India, a small minority in the largely Hindu nation of 1.3 billion.

Source: apnews.com

More than 10 states sued the Biden administration on Friday over forthcoming vaccine rules for federal contractors.

Source: nbcnews.com

Boston Dynamics taught its Spot robot to mimic dance moves of Mick Jagger in the 'Start Me Up' music video. The video celebrates the 40th anniversary of The Rolling Stones' 'Tattoo You' album that was released in 1981. Spot lip-syncs along with the song and three other Spots were taught the moves of  fellow band members Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Saudi Arabia has banned all imports from Lebanon and given the Lebanese ambassador 48 hours to leave the kingdom after footage emerged earlier this week of a minister criticising the Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s war in Yemen, state news agency SPA reported. Saudi Arabia also banned its citizens from travelling to Lebanon and recalled its ambassador. Hours later, the Kingdom of Bahrain ordered the Lebanese ambassador to leave the country within two days for the same reason, Bahrain’s foreign ministry said.

Source: aljazeera.com

Doctors have advised the Queen to rest for at least another two weeks and not to undertake any official visits, Buckingham Palace has said. It means the 95-year-old will not attend the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on the eve of Remembrance Sunday, though she hopes to be at the Cenotaph for the Remembrance Day service itself.

Source: theguardian.com

Poland's parliament has voted to build a controversial wall on its border with Belarus to block an influx of migrants who are illegally entering Poland. Thousands of people - mostly from the Middle East and Asia - have tried to cross Poland's border in recent months. The 5.5m wall will cost €353m, and some critics say it is a waste of money. The legislation will now go to Poland's president, Andrzej Duda, who is expected to sign it into law.

Source: bbc.com

Toxic protein clusters thought responsible for the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease reach different regions of the brain early and then accumulate over the course of decades, according to a new study Friday. The research, published in Science Advances, is the first to use human data to quantify the speed of the molecular processes leading to the neurodegenerative condition, and could eventually have important implications for how scientists design treatments.

Source: france24.com

Music star Ed Sheeran released his fourth solo album, entitled "=" (equals), on Friday while isolating for COVID-19, saying he was going to celebrate with a "solo party".

Source: reuters.com

Archaeologists have uncovered an "astounding" set of Roman sculptures on the HS2 rail link route. Two complete sculptures of what appear to be a man and a woman, plus the head of a child, were found at an abandoned medieval church in Buckinghamshire. The discoveries at the old St Mary's Church in Stoke Mandeville have been sent for specialist analysis.

Source: bbc.com

South Korean President Moon Jae-in gave Pope Francis a statue of a cross made with barbed wire from the demilitarized zone separating the Koreas and told him Friday that a papal visit to the North would help create “momentum for peace” on the peninsula, officials said. Moon, a Catholic, called on Francis before the start of the Group of 20 summit in Rome.

Source: apnews.com

Poland has summoned Belgium's ambassador, a foreign ministry spokesman told state-run news agency PAP, after its Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, accused Warsaw of "playing with fire" in a worsening dispute with Brussels over the rule of law.

Source: reuters.com

Authorities in the United States have returned about 250 antiquities to India in a long-running investigation of a stolen art scheme. The items, worth an estimated $15m, were handed over on Thursday during a ceremony at the Indian consulate in New York City. Tens of thousands of antiquities were allegedly smuggled into US by dealer Subhash Kapoor, who has denied the allegations.

Source: aljazeera.com

Arnold Schwarzenegger says leaders who claim combating climate change hurts the economy are "stupid or liars". Ahead of the COP26 climate summit, the former governor of California told the BBC that cutting carbon emissions will benefit global economies. The Terminator actor said reducing meat intake does not have to mean sacrificing something - instead cutting his own has led him to be healthier. He also took aim at pollution caused by international trade.

Source: bbc.com

China's President Xi Jinping will participate in the Group of 20 (G20) leaders' summit in Rome on Oct. 30-31 via video link, according to a notice from China's foreign ministry on Friday. He will make a speech at the summit, the notice said. Xi has not left China since early 2020, when the gravity of the COVID-19 pandemic became clear.

Source: france24.com

A woman who bought what she thought was a costume jewellery stone is set for a £2m windfall after tests revealed it is a 34-carat diamond. Its owner, who is in her 70s, had been clearing her home in Northumberland and took it to be valued, along with other items she had bought at car boot sales over many years. Auctioneer Mark Lane said its true worth had come as a "huge shock". The gem, which is bigger than a pound coin, is being auctioned next month.

Source: bbc.com

The World Health Organization said Thursday it needed $23.4 billion over the next 12 months for its plan to conquer Covid-19, urging the G20 to show some leadership and pay up. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus bluntly told the Group of 20 global powers, meeting this weekend in Rome, they could no longer leave poorer countries hanging out to dry in the pandemic.

Source: france24.com

Researchers have announced the naming of a newly discovered species of human ancestor, Homo bodoensis. The species lived in Africa about 500,000 years ago, during the Middle Pleistocene age, and was the direct ancestor of modern humans, according to scientists. The name bodoensis derives from a skull found in Bodo D’ar in the Awash River valley of Ethiopia.

Source: theguardian.com