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Three more Chinese astronauts, or taikonauts, are now marooned in space following the successful return of their previously stranded comrades. The latest development highlights a potential flaw in China's space protocols, experts say, which could put astronauts needlessly at risk.

The latest stranded trio — Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang — are the crew of the Shenzhou-21 mission. They have been living onboard China's Tiangong space station since Oct. 31, shortly after they were launched into space by a Long March 2F rocket. Their mission was to take over from the station's incumbent Shenzhou-20 crew, made up of taikonauts Wang Jie, Chen Zhongrui and Chen Dong, who were originally due to return to Earth on Nov. 5.

However, after a successful handover period, the Shenzhou-20 crew's return trip was called off at the last minute when a piece of suspected space junk hit their return capsule. After tests revealed a crack in the viewing port of the struck spacecraft, the Shenzhou-20 crew boarded the return capsule designated for the Shenzhou-21 crew and successfully returned to Earth on Friday (Nov. 14).

But while many were quick to celebrate the return of the Shenzhou-20 crew, who completed the longest single spaceflight by any taikonauts (204 days), this now means that the Shenzhou-21 crew has no way of returning to Earth themselves, Live Science's sister site Space.com reported.

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O.J. Simpson's estate agreed to pay nearly $58 million to Ron Goldman’s father, decades after the former NFL star was acquitted of murdering Goldman and Simpson's ex-wife.

Fred Goldman filed a creditor claim in July 2024, originally seeking just over $117 million, after a civil jury found Simpson liable for the June 1994 deaths of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson and ordered him to pay millions of dollars in damages.

The money was never fully paid before he died last year from cancer.

Simpson was criminally charged with murder in 1994 but was acquitted in a shocking televised trial.

Brown Simpson and Goldman, who were friends, were found stabbed and slashed dozens of times outside her Los Angeles home. Goldman had been returning sunglasses that Brown Simpson’s mother had left at a restaurant where he worked when he was killed, authorities said.

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The Justice Department engaged in a “disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps” in the process of securing an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, a federal judge ruled Monday in directing prosecutors to provide defense lawyers with all grand jury materials from the case.

Those problems, wrote Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, include “fundamental misstatements of the law” by a prosecutor to the grand jury that indicted Comey in September, the use of potentially privileged communications during the investigation and unexplained iThe 24-page opinion is the most blistering assessment yet by a judge of the Justice Department’s actions leading up to the Comey indictment. It underscores how procedural missteps and prosecutorial inexperience have combined to imperil the prosecution pushed by President Donald Trump for reasons separate and apart from the substance of the disputed allegations against Comey.rregularities in the transcript of the grand jury proceedings.

“The Court recognizes that the relief sought by the defense is rarely granted,” Fitzpatrick wrote “However, the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.”

The 24-page opinion is the most blistering assessment yet by a judge of the Justice Department’s actions leading up to the Comey indictment. It underscores how procedural missteps and prosecutorial inexperience have combined to imperil the prosecution pushed by President Donald Trump for reasons separate and apart from the substance of the disputed allegations against Comey.

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David Richardson, who headed up the Federal Emergency Management Agency as acting chief for almost seven months, resigned on Monday, Nov. 17.

The agency has repeatedly drawn concern from members of Congress and others this year about its ability to respond to disasters after more than a third of its staff was removed by the Trump administration amid its efforts to slash the size of the federal government. The agency had been under fire from President Donald Trump even before the election last fall.

Richardson was the second person to step into the post this year. The first, acting chief Cameron Hamilton, was ousted by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after saying in a congressional hearing that he did not support the administration's proposal to eliminate the agency.

Karen Evans, FEMA's chief of staff, will move into the acting chief role on Dec. 1, Dhttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/11/17/david-richardson-fema-chief-resigns/87320836007/HS confirmed.

Criticism is not new for the agency. As the lead organization responsible for coordinating federal disaster assistance, it has often drawn the ire of disaster victims and politicians. But a USA TODAY/Ipsos poll conducted earlier this year found that FEMA still receives broad support from the public.

Shortly after taking office, Trump issued an order to create a FEMA review council. Noem has overseen the group, which is assigned to advise the administration on recommended changes to the emergency organization. The panel's final report to the president is due this week.

The report will "inform this Administration’s ongoing efforts to fundamentally restructure FEMA, transforming it from its current form into a streamlined, mission-focused disaster-response force," DHS said.

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On Thursday morning, a chartered plane carrying 153 Palestinians from war-torn Gaza – many without the required travel documents – landed at an airport near Johannesburg, leaving South African officials “blindsided”.

After nearly 12 hours of scrambling, the group was allowed to disembark into the care of a local charity organisation.

More details have emerged about the scheme run by “Al-Majd Europe”, through which activists argue Israel is advancing its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.

The Palestinian passengers were charged a hefty sum of money by the organisation, which says on its website that it coordinates “evacuations from conflict zones”.

Here is everything we know about the group’s transit so far and who’s behind Al-Majd Europe.

The plane full of people sat on a runway for nearly 12 hours while South African authorities tried to figure out why they did not have exit stamps or slips from when they left Gaza, according to officials from South Africa’s border agency.

They were also not sure when asked by immigration where they would stay or how long they planned to be in South Africa.

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OHCHR condemned this week’s attacks as abhorrent and said they reflected a wider pattern of increased violence against Palestinians.

Several people were reportedly injured in the attacks, which included a raid on a dairy factory, while delivery trucks and homes were set ablaze. 

The surge in violence comes as Israeli authorities have also ramped up home demolitions in addition to property seizures and the forcible displacement and transfer of thousands of Palestinians by Israeli settlers and the military, OHCHR continued, in a briefing for journalists at the UN in Geneva.

Officials reiterated that Israel’s assertion of sovereignty over the occupied West Bank and its annexation of parts of it, are in breach of international law which has been confirmed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Meanwhile in Gaza, hundreds of tents and makeshift shelters were flooded due to heavy rain on Friday.

“We fear that thousands of displaced families will be left fully exposed to these harsh weather conditions” amid wider health and protection concerns, said the UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric at a later briefing in New York. 

UN partners are working to provide shelter support via rapid response teams.

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There are now three remaining deceased hostages in Gaza, following Thursday's return of the body of Meni Goddard. Israeli authorities have been releasing the bodies of Palestinians in exchange for the return of hostage remains.

The ceasefire is broadly holding in Gaza. Elsewhere, Israel is continuing strikes on what it says are Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces is also continuing raids in parts of the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, last week that the war "has not ended," warning that "those who seek to do us harm are re-arming."

Netanyahu and other officials, meanwhile, have reiterated their intention to block future Palestinian statehood ahead of a planned United Nations Security Council vote on the U.S. plan for post-war Gaza.

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Ukraine and Greece signed an agreement in Athens on Sunday for the provision of US-supplied liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Kyiv throughout the winter months.

Greece’s national gas company DEPA Commercial and its Ukrainian counterpart Naftogaz announced the deal, covering December 2025 until March 2026, following a meeting between Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Athens.

The agreement “marks an essential step in strengthening regional energy cooperation and European energy security,” according to the joint statement.

The signing of the agreement, which took place in the presence of the two leaders and the new US ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, will make it possible to “support Ukraine in the midst of a difficult winter,” Mitsotakis and Zelensky said.

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