Astronomers have discovered the&nbsp;Earth’s hidden layer&nbsp;within its innermost core in a recent study.

The study conducted by researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) and was&nbsp;published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth.&nbsp;

In this study, scientists used data available from the&nbsp;International Seismological Centre (ISC) to prove&nbsp;that seismic rays travelling parallel to the Earth's rotational axis travel faster than those parallel to the equator.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/why-scientists-believe-life-on-earth-will-perish-way-earlier-than-previously-thought-367457" hreflang="en">Why scientists believe life on Earth will perish way earlier than previously thought</a>

Traditionally we've been taught the Earth has four main layers: the crust, the mantle, the outer core and the inner core.&nbsp;The idea of another distinct layer was proposed a couple of decades ago, but the data has been very unclear.&nbsp;

The lead author of the study, PhD researcher Joanne Stephenson, says while this new layer is difficult to observe, its distinct properties may point to an unknown, dramatic event in the Earth's history.&nbsp;

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/earth-day-2020-why-we-need-to-act-now-293944/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

"We found evidence that may indicate a change in the structure of iron, which suggests perhaps two separate cooling events in Earth's history," Stephenson said. &nbsp;

"The details of this big event are still a bit of a mystery, but we've added another piece of the puzzle when it comes to our knowledge of the Earths' inner core."&nbsp;

There have been continuing discrepancies in estimates of the strength and orientation of anisotropy, with some evidence suggesting that such a model may not be supported by available data.

In the study,&nbsp;the radial dependence of anisotropy within the IC, where the nature of anisotropy has been shown to change anywhere between a 300 and 800&nbsp;km radius.&nbsp;

to provide a robust means of testing this idea,&nbsp;recent travel time data from the International Seismological Centre has been used in conjunction with the neighbourhood algorithm&nbsp;through the examination of an ensemble of models that satisfactorily fit the data.&nbsp;

This can be done with no explicit regularization and without the need for subjective choices associated with binning of phase data. In addition, uncertainty bounds are calculated for anisotropic parameters using a likelihood ratio approach.

The scientists found&nbsp;evidence to suggest that commonly employed spatial averaging (binning) methods may be detrimental to obtaining reliable results. They&nbsp;concluded that there is no significant change in the strength of anisotropy with depth in the IC. Instead, they&nbsp;found a change in the slow direction of anisotropy to 54 degrees&nbsp;within the innermost IC similar to the 650 km radius with a fast direction parallel to the Earth's rotational axis.

Astronomers have discovered the Earth’s hidden layer within its innermost core in a recent study. The study conducted by researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) and was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth.

Astronomers have discovered the Earth’s hidden layer within its innermost core in a recent study. The study conducted by researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) and was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. In this study, scientists used data available from the International Seismological Centre (ISC) to prove that seismic rays travelling parallel to the Earth's rotational axis travel faster than those parallel to the equator. Also read| Why scientists believe life on Earth will perish way earlier than previously thought Traditionally we've been taught the Earth has four main layers: the crust, the mantle, the outer core and the inner core. The idea of another distinct layer was proposed a couple of decades ago, but the data has been very unclear. The lead author of the study, PhD researcher Joanne Stephenson, says while this new layer is difficult to observe, its distinct properties may point to an unknown, dramatic event in the Earth's history. "We found evidence that may indicate a change in the structure of iron, which suggests perhaps two separate cooling events in Earth's history," Stephenson said. "The details of this big event are still a bit of a mystery, but we've added another piece of the puzzle when it comes to our knowledge of the Earths' inner core." There have been continuing discrepancies in estimates of the strength and orientation of anisotropy, with some evidence suggesting that such a model may not be supported by available data. In the study, the radial dependence of anisotropy within the IC, where the nature of anisotropy has been shown to change anywhere between a 300 and 800 km radius. to provide a robust means of testing this idea, recent travel time data from the International Seismological Centre has been used in conjunction with the neighbourhood algorithm through the examination of an ensemble of models that satisfactorily fit the data. This can be done with no explicit regularization and without the need for subjective choices associated with binning of phase data. In addition, uncertainty bounds are calculated for anisotropic parameters using a likelihood ratio approach. The scientists found evidence to suggest that commonly employed spatial averaging (binning) methods may be detrimental to obtaining reliable results. They concluded that there is no significant change in the strength of anisotropy with depth in the IC. Instead, they found a change in the slow direction of anisotropy to 54 degrees within the innermost IC similar to the 650 km radius with a fast direction parallel to the Earth's rotational axis.

Astronomers discover Earth’s hidden layer within its innermost core

A teenager in Queensland's western Cape York&nbsp;has died from a jellyfish sting in the first fatality in 15 years.

The 17-year-old teenager died&nbsp;a week after being stung by a box jellyfish while swimming at a beach&nbsp;at Patterson Point, near Bamaga, on 22 February.

Royal Flying Doctor Service's spokesman said&nbsp;a team flew from Cairns and stabilised the teenager before transferring him to Townsville hospital’s intensive care unit.

The teenager’s death was preventable with better resources and education for remote communities as per&nbsp;Marine biologist and jellyfish expert Dr Lisa-ann Gershwhin.

“As a country we need to do better. There’s education programmes, there’s stinger nets, there’s protective clothing. There’s all these things that we use in the more populated areas of Queensland, in Cairns, Townsville and Mackay.

“But up on the cape, sadly, we really don’t. We don’t have those programmes in place and I think we have absolutely failed our remote communities.

“We have miserably failed, and this poor young man, and his family and his community are paying the price for that failure.”

Gershwhin said it was not difficult to implement measures to protect communities from what is considered the most venomous animal on the planet.

She explained that a sting from a box jellyfish was the only thing from the natural world that “locks the heart” in a contracted state.

“When that happens, things go very bad, very quickly and irreversibly. Because you cannot unlock a clenched heart. You cannot unclench a clenched muscle.”

“So you can’t CPR it because there’s no passage for the blood to fill and be compressed and a defibrillator doesn’t work because it’s not going to be doing that.

“So the name of the game isn’t to rely on the treatment, because in most cases the treatment just isn’t fast enough. You can’t outrun that clenching of the muscle.”

The 17-year-old’s death is the 79th box jellyfish fatality since Australia began keeping records in the late 1800s.

Gershwhin said the last recorded death was in 2006 also occurred at Bamaga, near where the teenager was stung last month.

When asked how communities should respond, she said: “The one thing they should be doing the most to protect their safety from jellyfish is raising hell so that they get equal provision of safety and equal education.

“I would raise hell about needing the education, needing the safety provision, needing pools instead of the ocean, needing protective wear when people go in the water.

A teenager in Queensland's western Cape York has died from a jellyfish sting in the first fatality in 15 years. The 17-year-old teenager died a week after being stung by a box jellyfish while swimming at a beach at Patterson Point, near Bamaga, on 22 February.

A teenager in Queensland's western Cape York has died from a jellyfish sting in the first fatality in 15 years. The 17-year-old teenager died a week after being stung by a box jellyfish while swimming at a beach at Patterson Point, near Bamaga, on 22 February. Royal Flying Doctor Service's spokesman said a team flew from Cairns and stabilised the teenager before transferring him to Townsville hospital’s intensive care unit. The teenager’s death was preventable with better resources and education for remote communities as per Marine biologist and jellyfish expert Dr Lisa-ann Gershwhin. “As a country we need to do better. There’s education programmes, there’s stinger nets, there’s protective clothing. There’s all these things that we use in the more populated areas of Queensland, in Cairns, Townsville and Mackay. “But up on the cape, sadly, we really don’t. We don’t have those programmes in place and I think we have absolutely failed our remote communities. “We have miserably failed, and this poor young man, and his family and his community are paying the price for that failure.” Gershwhin said it was not difficult to implement measures to protect communities from what is considered the most venomous animal on the planet. She explained that a sting from a box jellyfish was the only thing from the natural world that “locks the heart” in a contracted state. “When that happens, things go very bad, very quickly and irreversibly. Because you cannot unlock a clenched heart. You cannot unclench a clenched muscle.” “So you can’t CPR it because there’s no passage for the blood to fill and be compressed and a defibrillator doesn’t work because it’s not going to be doing that. “So the name of the game isn’t to rely on the treatment, because in most cases the treatment just isn’t fast enough. You can’t outrun that clenching of the muscle.” The 17-year-old’s death is the 79th box jellyfish fatality since Australia began keeping records in the late 1800s. Gershwhin said the last recorded death was in 2006 also occurred at Bamaga, near where the teenager was stung last month. When asked how communities should respond, she said: “The one thing they should be doing the most to protect their safety from jellyfish is raising hell so that they get equal provision of safety and equal education. “I would raise hell about needing the education, needing the safety provision, needing pools instead of the ocean, needing protective wear when people go in the water.

Australia: First fatality from jellyfish sting reported in 15 years

US President Joe Biden's approval rating is&nbsp;witnessing a downward trend and have fallen in the past two months, according to a poll conducted by Monmouth University.

The poll&nbsp;states that Biden's approval rating stands&nbsp;at 51 percent nationwide, with 42 percent of the United States disapproving him as their leader. His&nbsp;disapproval rating has jumped from 30 per cent to 42 per cent.&nbsp;

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The poll also finds the job rating for Congress at 30 per cent&nbsp;approve and 59 per cent&nbsp;disapprove and views of the nation’s trajectory at 34 per cent&nbsp;who say it is headed in the right direction and 61 per cent&nbsp;saying it is on the wrong track.

Both ratings were slightly better in January: 35&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;approve to 51&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;disapprove for Congress and 42&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;right direction to 51&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;wrong track for the country. The prior poll’s results were a historical high in eight years of national polling by Monmouth. While the current ratings have declined, they remain on the higher end of the range across which they have fluctuated since 2013.

Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute said&nbsp;"It’s probably not a surprise that Biden’s honeymoon period has closed quickly. He does maintain a net positive rating, but the Covid stimulus package will be the first significant test of how stable that support is."

Americans continue to give President Biden broadly positive marks on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic but when it comes to Congress, they’re impatient to see more action.

Just over 6 in 10&nbsp;Americans support the $1.9 trillion Covid stimulus package currently making its way through Congress, while 34&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;oppose it. Strong support registers at 35&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;of the public while strong opposition stands at 23 per cent. Overall support for the plan comes from 92&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;of Democrats and 56&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;of independents, but just 33 per cent&nbsp;of Republicans.

Most Americans are satisfied with one key component of the package – the $1,400 per person payments to individuals and families who meet certain income levels. A majority&nbsp;say this amount is about right. Another 28&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;would like to see larger payments and just 14% want smaller payments.

Another aspect of the stimulus plan – increasing additional unemployment benefits from $300 to $400 per week and extending them through the summer – receives support from 67&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;of Americans. Just 30&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;are opposed to an extension of jobless aid.

A majorityof the public also supports raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, while 45&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;are opposed to this. The minimum wage hike was included in the House bill passed last week but is likely to be stripped from the Senate version due to a parliamentary ruling.

“Even though the decision to jettison the minimum wage hike is largely out of Democrats’ hands, one lesson from 2009’s recovery bill is that you don’t get much credit if it is seen as a half measure. The question is whether the minimum wage hike is considered essential. It will be interesting to see how public opinion reacts to the final legislation, both in the short-term and the long-term,” said Murray.

The bill passed by the House did not garner any Republican votes. It will almost certainly face the same fate in the Senate without significant changes. Looking at the plan as a whole, the public is evenly divided on whether the $1.9 trillion amount should be cut in order to gain bipartisan support (48 per cent) or whether the full plan should remain intact even if it only gets support from senators in one party (45 per cent).

US President Joe Biden's approval rating is witnessing a downward trend and have fallen in the past two months, according to a poll conducted by Monmouth University.

US President Joe Biden's approval rating is witnessing a downward trend and have fallen in the past two months, according to a poll conducted by Monmouth University. The poll states that Biden's approval rating stands at 51 percent nationwide, with 42 percent of the United States disapproving him as their leader. His disapproval rating has jumped from 30 per cent to 42 per cent. The poll also finds the job rating for Congress at 30 per cent approve and 59 per cent disapprove and views of the nation’s trajectory at 34 per cent who say it is headed in the right direction and 61 per cent saying it is on the wrong track. Both ratings were slightly better in January: 35 per cent approve to 51 per cent disapprove for Congress and 42 per cent right direction to 51 per cent wrong track for the country. The prior poll’s results were a historical high in eight years of national polling by Monmouth. While the current ratings have declined, they remain on the higher end of the range across which they have fluctuated since 2013. Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute said "It’s probably not a surprise that Biden’s honeymoon period has closed quickly. He does maintain a net positive rating, but the Covid stimulus package will be the first significant test of how stable that support is." Americans continue to give President Biden broadly positive marks on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic but when it comes to Congress, they’re impatient to see more action. Just over 6 in 10 Americans support the $1.9 trillion Covid stimulus package currently making its way through Congress, while 34 per cent oppose it. Strong support registers at 35 per cent of the public while strong opposition stands at 23 per cent. Overall support for the plan comes from 92 per cent of Democrats and 56 per cent of independents, but just 33 per cent of Republicans. Most Americans are satisfied with one key component of the package – the $1,400 per person payments to individuals and families who meet certain income levels. A majority say this amount is about right. Another 28 per cent would like to see larger payments and just 14% want smaller payments. Another aspect of the stimulus plan – increasing additional unemployment benefits from $300 to $400 per week and extending them through the summer – receives support from 67 per cent of Americans. Just 30 per cent are opposed to an extension of jobless aid. A majorityof the public also supports raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, while 45 per cent are opposed to this. The minimum wage hike was included in the House bill passed last week but is likely to be stripped from the Senate version due to a parliamentary ruling. “Even though the decision to jettison the minimum wage hike is largely out of Democrats’ hands, one lesson from 2009’s recovery bill is that you don’t get much credit if it is seen as a half measure. The question is whether the minimum wage hike is considered essential. It will be interesting to see how public opinion reacts to the final legislation, both in the short-term and the long-term,” said Murray. The bill passed by the House did not garner any Republican votes. It will almost certainly face the same fate in the Senate without significant changes. Looking at the plan as a whole, the public is evenly divided on whether the $1.9 trillion amount should be cut in order to gain bipartisan support (48 per cent) or whether the full plan should remain intact even if it only gets support from senators in one party (45 per cent).

US President Joe Biden approval rating declines in two months

Israel's army&nbsp;is facing a challenge on the home front unrelated to traditional threats against the Jewish state.

The battle&nbsp;comes in the form of facial hair as it has stirred a nationwide debate&nbsp;over the right to grow a beard, and activists say the army's ''future is at stake.''

As per the rules of Israel's military, all-male troops require to be clean-shaven&nbsp;and exceptions are made on the basis of religion.

Many orthodox Jewish men often go unshaven,&nbsp;a religious observance that the armed forces accommodate but Israel's secular youth is calling it ''discriminatory'' and ''counterproductive.''

Military duty at age 18 is mandatory in&nbsp;Israel, with young men compelled to serve for nearly three years and women for two. But increasing numbers are seeking exemptions, citing psychological conditions and other factors as grounds to avoid service.

Defence Minister Benny Gantz recently said that more than half of young Israelis were not serving in the military.&nbsp;

Bar Pinto and Gilad Levi, two red-bearded 29-year-olds, have founded "Beard Exemptions for All" ("Ptor Zakan Lekulam" in Hebrew), a campaign challenging Israeli military rules compelling all male troops to be clean-shaven.

Pinto and Levi have taken issue with a system that grants exemptions to that rule on religious grounds, while the faces of secular troops must remain smooth.

Beard Exemptions for All is bolstered by a nearly 4,000-member Facebook group, an online video campaign and merchandise, including t-shirts and stickers featuring the army's logo, branded with a beard.&nbsp;

Secular vs&nbsp;religious

Israeli army rules state that "all soldiers are required to shave their faces".

But Pinto and Levi charge that there is discrimination in how that rule is enforced.&nbsp;

Exemptions may be granted to men who adhere to Jewish religious rulings against shaving.

Others who claim that their beard forms an essential part of their identity are also entitled to an exemption, but Pinto said he had heard stories from "thousands" of secular soldiers whose request for an exemption had been denied.&nbsp;

A group of 17 soldiers who agree with that assertion filed a supreme court petition in January seeking to force the army to grant exemptions to anyone who makes a request.&nbsp;

Levi said 1,600 troops had contributed money from their own pockets to fund the legal challenge, which had so far raised 120,000 shekels ($36,000).

Facial hair, they argued, is crucial to many young Israeli men, regardless of their level of devoutness.&nbsp;

"Religious and secular are brothers in arms, we live together in this country," Pinto said. "Beards should not be an issue that divides us." &nbsp;

Israel's army is facing a challenge on the home front unrelated to traditional threats against the Jewish state. The battle comes in the form of facial hair as it has stirred a nationwide debate over the right to grow a beard, and activists say the army's ''future is at stake.

Israel's army is facing a challenge on the home front unrelated to traditional threats against the Jewish state. The battle comes in the form of facial hair as it has stirred a nationwide debate over the right to grow a beard, and activists say the army's ''future is at stake.'' As per the rules of Israel's military, all-male troops require to be clean-shaven and exceptions are made on the basis of religion. Many orthodox Jewish men often go unshaven, a religious observance that the armed forces accommodate but Israel's secular youth is calling it ''discriminatory'' and ''counterproductive.'' Military duty at age 18 is mandatory in Israel, with young men compelled to serve for nearly three years and women for two. But increasing numbers are seeking exemptions, citing psychological conditions and other factors as grounds to avoid service. Defence Minister Benny Gantz recently said that more than half of young Israelis were not serving in the military. Bar Pinto and Gilad Levi, two red-bearded 29-year-olds, have founded "Beard Exemptions for All" ("Ptor Zakan Lekulam" in Hebrew), a campaign challenging Israeli military rules compelling all male troops to be clean-shaven. Pinto and Levi have taken issue with a system that grants exemptions to that rule on religious grounds, while the faces of secular troops must remain smooth. Beard Exemptions for All is bolstered by a nearly 4,000-member Facebook group, an online video campaign and merchandise, including t-shirts and stickers featuring the army's logo, branded with a beard. Secular vs religious Israeli army rules state that "all soldiers are required to shave their faces". But Pinto and Levi charge that there is discrimination in how that rule is enforced. Exemptions may be granted to men who adhere to Jewish religious rulings against shaving. Others who claim that their beard forms an essential part of their identity are also entitled to an exemption, but Pinto said he had heard stories from "thousands" of secular soldiers whose request for an exemption had been denied. A group of 17 soldiers who agree with that assertion filed a supreme court petition in January seeking to force the army to grant exemptions to anyone who makes a request. Levi said 1,600 troops had contributed money from their own pockets to fund the legal challenge, which had so far raised 120,000 shekels ($36,000). Facial hair, they argued, is crucial to many young Israeli men, regardless of their level of devoutness. "Religious and secular are brothers in arms, we live together in this country," Pinto said. "Beards should not be an issue that divides us."

'Future is at stake': Israel's military faces battle over right to grow beard

Pentagon said on Wednesday that a&nbsp;civilian contractor who died during the rocket attack on an Iraqi base hosting US-led coalition troops was a citizen of the country.

"There are no current reports of US servicemember injuries and all are accounted for. A US civilian contractor suffered a cardiac episode while sheltering and sadly passed away shortly after," the Pentagon said in a statement.

Also read| <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/multiple-rockets-fired-at-iraq-airbase-that-hosts-us-coalition-forces-report-367595">Multiple rockets fired at Iraq airbase that hosts US, coalition forces: Report</a>

After a retaliation last week to earlier such rocket attacks, the White House said President Joe Biden was determined "to act to protect Americans" from such threats.

At least 10 rockets landed on Wednesday at&nbsp;Iraq's Ain al-Asad airbase that hosts the United States, coalition and&nbsp;Iraqi forces, the&nbsp;Iraqi military said.

It was the second rocket attack in&nbsp;Iraq&nbsp;this month and came two days before Pope Francis is due to visit the country.

The attack caused no significant losses, the Iraqi's military said without going into further detail.

The Pope will visit&nbsp;Iraq&nbsp;from March 5-8 despite deteriorating security in some parts of the country.

On February&nbsp;16 a rocket attack on US-led forces in northern&nbsp;Iraq&nbsp;killed a civilian contractor and injured a US&nbsp;service member.

US&nbsp;Army Colonel Wayne Marotto, the spokesman for the US-led coalition, said on Twitter that the rockets targeted the base at 7:30 a.m.&nbsp;Iraq&nbsp;time on Wednesday.

Pentagon said on Wednesday that a civilian contractor who died during the rocket attack on an Iraqi base hosting US-led coalition troops was a citizen of the country.

Pentagon said on Wednesday that a civilian contractor who died during the rocket attack on an Iraqi base hosting US-led coalition troops was a citizen of the country. "There are no current reports of US servicemember injuries and all are accounted for. A US civilian contractor suffered a cardiac episode while sheltering and sadly passed away shortly after," the Pentagon said in a statement. Also read| Multiple rockets fired at Iraq airbase that hosts US, coalition forces: Report After a retaliation last week to earlier such rocket attacks, the White House said President Joe Biden was determined "to act to protect Americans" from such threats. At least 10 rockets landed on Wednesday at Iraq's Ain al-Asad airbase that hosts the United States, coalition and Iraqi forces, the Iraqi military said. It was the second rocket attack in Iraq this month and came two days before Pope Francis is due to visit the country. The attack caused no significant losses, the Iraqi's military said without going into further detail. The Pope will visit Iraq from March 5-8 despite deteriorating security in some parts of the country. On February 16 a rocket attack on US-led forces in northern Iraq killed a civilian contractor and injured a US service member. US Army Colonel Wayne Marotto, the spokesman for the US-led coalition, said on Twitter that the rockets targeted the base at 7:30 a.m. Iraq time on Wednesday.

Pentagon says US contractor died of 'cardiac episode' in Iraq rocket attack

Chemical munitions experts have for years compiled information that Syria’s government has used these banned weapons against its own people, a war crime that so far has gone unpunished and been dismissed with a sneer by President Bashar Assad.

Now the first criminal inquiries that target Assad and his associates over the use of chemical weapons may soon get underway.

In a major step to hold Assad and his circle accountable for some of the worst atrocities committed in the decade-old Syria conflict, judges at a special war crimes unit in France’s palace of justice have received a complaint about chemical weapons attacks in Syria, filed by three international human rights groups.

The complaint, which lawyers said the judges would likely accept, requests a criminal investigation of Assad, his brother, Maher, and a litany of senior advisers and military officials that formed the chain of command.

Together with a similar complaint filed in Germany in October, the French complaint, submitted Monday and made public Tuesday, opens a new front aimed at ensuring that some form of justice for chemical weapons crimes is exacted on Assad and his hierarchy.

If nothing else, the criminal inquiries in France and Germany could vastly complicate the future for Assad, who has emerged largely victorious in the Syrian war, but with a pariah status that has blocked the international aid necessary to rebuild his country.

Getting such aid could become even more difficult if Assad and his upper echelons are defendants in prosecutions for war crimes in European courts, even if they consider such proceedings illegitimate. Nor are millions of Syrians who fled to Europe and elsewhere as refugees likely to return home.

Steve Kostas, the senior lawyer of the group that filed the complaints in France, said it focused on the August 2013 events in the city of Douma and the region of Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus — coordinated attacks that the U.S. government said killed more than 1,400 people, making them the world’s deadliest use of chemical weapons in this century.

The victims of those assaults, who inhaled sarin nerve agent or chlorine fumes from bombs, are only a small proportion of the estimated 400,000 people killed since the Syria war began in March 2011.

More than 300 chemical weapons attacks in Syria have been documented by experts, including photographs and videos of adults and children, seized by convulsions, gasping for air and often suffocating.

Many of these images have been publicized and shocked the world. To date, no one has had to answer for them.

“We want the French to conduct an independent investigation and ultimately to issue arrest warrants against those who bear responsibility for these crimes against civilians,’’ said Kostas, a senior lawyer with the Open Society Justice Initiative who is based in London.

‘’We know high-level perpetrators will not be arrested soon,’’ he said.

But cases must be built now, he said, to ensure prosecutions in the future.

The other two groups participating are Syrian Archive, a documentation center in Berlin, and the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, based in Paris.

Among the witnesses they can bring, they say, are not only survivors of attacks but also former members of the government who have been linked to the banned chemical arms arsenal or have knowledge of its workings.

The filing comes amid speculation over moves by some countries to seek closer ties with Damascus, an informal recognition that Assad has not been defeated. There has also been talk of planning a reconstruction phase, which would yield important contracts and facilitate the return of refugees.

But Western countries, even those who have taken in significant numbers of refugees, are adamant that impunity for the crimes is not an option for any future peace deal or normalization. Until now, only limited steps have been taken toward holding any senior Syrians accountable.

Russia and China have blocked the road to the International Criminal Court for any prosecution of Syrian atrocities by using their veto in the U.N. Security Council, which could grant ICC jurisdiction.

“After 10 years and all these crimes, there’s no reaction from the international community, so the victims themselves are trying to knock on all doors,” said Mazen Darwish, an activist and former prisoner from Syria who founded the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression.

“People are dying every day,” he said.

In the absence of any international court that has jurisdiction over Syrian crimes, a patchwork of efforts for accountability has been underway for some time. Several countries, including Germany, Sweden and France, are prosecuting or have already convicted individuals found among Europe’s many Syrian refugees.

They have mostly been low-level members of the Islamic State group or of the Syrian security forces, accused of human rights abuses.

But the complaint filed in Paris, and a similar one filed by the same group in Germany, is aiming for the first time for the top tier of the Syrian government over the chemical weapons issue — both for past attacks and what the complaints call a secretive program that flagrantly flouts international law.

The group’s complaint in Germany was submitted in October before the federal public prosecutor in Karlsruhe. It focuses on the sarin nerve agent attack in Eastern Ghouta in 2013 and in the rebel-held village of Khan Sheikhoun in 2017.

Both France and Germany accept a form of universal jurisdiction, which grants their national courts the power to prosecute individuals accused of heinous offenses committed anywhere.

Kostas said France’s law on responsibility of corporations could also provide the justification to introduce evidence on companies that supplied chemicals and equipment to Syria for its banned chemical weapon arsenal.

The United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons conducted inquiries after the 2013 attack in Syria, but the evidence they amassed has never led to any accountability and never identified perpetrators by name.

The request for a criminal investigation is based partly on a two-year study of Syria’s chemical weapons program that goes beyond what other international inquires have done, Kostas said. The study relied on a multitude of sources, he said, including defectors, former insiders, employees, engineers and people linked directly or with knowledge of the program.

Gregory Koblentz, an expert in chemical and biological weapons and professor at George Mason University who reviewed the study, said that while there was much open source material, “it brings to light new information from defectors and insiders.”

Koblentz called it the “most comprehensive and detailed account of the Syrian weapons program available perhaps outside the intelligence services. It maps out new details on the chain of command and shows how large and complex this program was. And it can name names.”

The complaint filed in Paris also makes ample use of evidence from the Syria Archive, which has stored more than 3 million videos sent by activists from Syria. It also draws on data from the Global Public Policy Institute, a research group in Berlin.

Tobias Schneider, a researcher at the institute, said it had verified 349 attacks in the past decade, “significantly more than has been commonly known.” The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, by contrast, has studied only 39 attacks because of what the organization has described as limited resources.

Darwish, who spent three years imprisoned in Syria and now lives in Paris, said the fight against chemical weapons was more than just about the attacks in his country.

“If they’re not banished, no place will be safe,” he said. “What’s next? They could be used on the Champs-Élysées.”

Chemical munitions experts have for years compiled information that Syria’s government has used these banned weapons against its own people, a war crime that so far has gone unpunished and been dismissed with a sneer by President Bashar Assad.

Chemical munitions experts have for years compiled information that Syria’s government has used these banned weapons against its own people, a war crime that so far has gone unpunished and been dismissed with a sneer by President Bashar Assad. Now the first criminal inquiries that target Assad and his associates over the use of chemical weapons may soon get underway. In a major step to hold Assad and his circle accountable for some of the worst atrocities committed in the decade-old Syria conflict, judges at a special war crimes unit in France’s palace of justice have received a complaint about chemical weapons attacks in Syria, filed by three international human rights groups. The complaint, which lawyers said the judges would likely accept, requests a criminal investigation of Assad, his brother, Maher, and a litany of senior advisers and military officials that formed the chain of command. Together with a similar complaint filed in Germany in October, the French complaint, submitted Monday and made public Tuesday, opens a new front aimed at ensuring that some form of justice for chemical weapons crimes is exacted on Assad and his hierarchy. If nothing else, the criminal inquiries in France and Germany could vastly complicate the future for Assad, who has emerged largely victorious in the Syrian war, but with a pariah status that has blocked the international aid necessary to rebuild his country. Getting such aid could become even more difficult if Assad and his upper echelons are defendants in prosecutions for war crimes in European courts, even if they consider such proceedings illegitimate. Nor are millions of Syrians who fled to Europe and elsewhere as refugees likely to return home. Steve Kostas, the senior lawyer of the group that filed the complaints in France, said it focused on the August 2013 events in the city of Douma and the region of Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus — coordinated attacks that the U.S. government said killed more than 1,400 people, making them the world’s deadliest use of chemical weapons in this century. The victims of those assaults, who inhaled sarin nerve agent or chlorine fumes from bombs, are only a small proportion of the estimated 400,000 people killed since the Syria war began in March 2011. More than 300 chemical weapons attacks in Syria have been documented by experts, including photographs and videos of adults and children, seized by convulsions, gasping for air and often suffocating. Many of these images have been publicized and shocked the world. To date, no one has had to answer for them. “We want the French to conduct an independent investigation and ultimately to issue arrest warrants against those who bear responsibility for these crimes against civilians,’’ said Kostas, a senior lawyer with the Open Society Justice Initiative who is based in London. ‘’We know high-level perpetrators will not be arrested soon,’’ he said. But cases must be built now, he said, to ensure prosecutions in the future. The other two groups participating are Syrian Archive, a documentation center in Berlin, and the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, based in Paris. Among the witnesses they can bring, they say, are not only survivors of attacks but also former members of the government who have been linked to the banned chemical arms arsenal or have knowledge of its workings. The filing comes amid speculation over moves by some countries to seek closer ties with Damascus, an informal recognition that Assad has not been defeated. There has also been talk of planning a reconstruction phase, which would yield important contracts and facilitate the return of refugees. But Western countries, even those who have taken in significant numbers of refugees, are adamant that impunity for the crimes is not an option for any future peace deal or normalization. Until now, only limited steps have been taken toward holding any senior Syrians accountable. Russia and China have blocked the road to the International Criminal Court for any prosecution of Syrian atrocities by using their veto in the U.N. Security Council, which could grant ICC jurisdiction. “After 10 years and all these crimes, there’s no reaction from the international community, so the victims themselves are trying to knock on all doors,” said Mazen Darwish, an activist and former prisoner from Syria who founded the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression. “People are dying every day,” he said. In the absence of any international court that has jurisdiction over Syrian crimes, a patchwork of efforts for accountability has been underway for some time. Several countries, including Germany, Sweden and France, are prosecuting or have already convicted individuals found among Europe’s many Syrian refugees. They have mostly been low-level members of the Islamic State group or of the Syrian security forces, accused of human rights abuses. But the complaint filed in Paris, and a similar one filed by the same group in Germany, is aiming for the first time for the top tier of the Syrian government over the chemical weapons issue — both for past attacks and what the complaints call a secretive program that flagrantly flouts international law. The group’s complaint in Germany was submitted in October before the federal public prosecutor in Karlsruhe. It focuses on the sarin nerve agent attack in Eastern Ghouta in 2013 and in the rebel-held village of Khan Sheikhoun in 2017. Both France and Germany accept a form of universal jurisdiction, which grants their national courts the power to prosecute individuals accused of heinous offenses committed anywhere. Kostas said France’s law on responsibility of corporations could also provide the justification to introduce evidence on companies that supplied chemicals and equipment to Syria for its banned chemical weapon arsenal. The United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons conducted inquiries after the 2013 attack in Syria, but the evidence they amassed has never led to any accountability and never identified perpetrators by name. The request for a criminal investigation is based partly on a two-year study of Syria’s chemical weapons program that goes beyond what other international inquires have done, Kostas said. The study relied on a multitude of sources, he said, including defectors, former insiders, employees, engineers and people linked directly or with knowledge of the program. Gregory Koblentz, an expert in chemical and biological weapons and professor at George Mason University who reviewed the study, said that while there was much open source material, “it brings to light new information from defectors and insiders.” Koblentz called it the “most comprehensive and detailed account of the Syrian weapons program available perhaps outside the intelligence services. It maps out new details on the chain of command and shows how large and complex this program was. And it can name names.” The complaint filed in Paris also makes ample use of evidence from the Syria Archive, which has stored more than 3 million videos sent by activists from Syria. It also draws on data from the Global Public Policy Institute, a research group in Berlin. Tobias Schneider, a researcher at the institute, said it had verified 349 attacks in the past decade, “significantly more than has been commonly known.” The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, by contrast, has studied only 39 attacks because of what the organization has described as limited resources. Darwish, who spent three years imprisoned in Syria and now lives in Paris, said the fight against chemical weapons was more than just about the attacks in his country. “If they’re not banished, no place will be safe,” he said. “What’s next? They could be used on the Champs-Élysées.”

Criminal inquiries loom over Assad's use of chemical arms in Syria

The United Nations has said that China remains&nbsp;the biggest source of applications for international&nbsp;patents in the world in 2020 for the second consecutive year.

China has&nbsp;extended its lead over the number two filer the United States, the U.N.&nbsp;patent&nbsp;agency said on Tuesday.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which oversees a system for countries to share recognition of&nbsp;patents, said China filed 68,720 applications last year while the United States filed 59,230.

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The rate of increase was higher for China with a 16.1 per cent&nbsp;year-on-year increase versus 3 per cent&nbsp;for the United States, it added. China first knocked the United States from the top spot in 2019.

Daren Tang, WIPO director-general, said the rise in Chinese filings was part of a longer-term trend for higher applications from Asia more broadly, with South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia all submitting more applications last year.

"It's not as if filings from the traditional parts of the world like the US&nbsp;or Europe have decreased, it's just that the rate, the acceleration, has become a lot stronger in Asia," he told journalists.

The region accounted for more than half of all filings via WIPO's system known as the&nbsp;Patent&nbsp;Cooperation Treaty versus just over a third ten years ago.

Unlike after the 2008 financial crisis when filings fell sharply, overall filings via WIPO's system were up 4 per cent&nbsp;overall in 2020 to a new record despite the COVID-19-induced slowdown, it said.

"The trend is that innovation remains resilient and the sense is that the world needs more innovation ... during a crisis," said Tang.

The biggest single filer under this system last year was China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd for the fourth consecutive year and second was South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, WIPO said.

Singapore's Tang began his term in October and received strong support from Western countries including the United States in a highly politicised race against a Chinese candidate for the top job last year.

The United Nations has said that China remains the biggest source of applications for international patents in the world in 2020 for the second consecutive year.

The United Nations has said that China remains the biggest source of applications for international patents in the world in 2020 for the second consecutive year. China has extended its lead over the number two filer the United States, the U.N. patent agency said on Tuesday. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which oversees a system for countries to share recognition of patents, said China filed 68,720 applications last year while the United States filed 59,230. Also read: Hackers linked to China attack Microsoft's email server The rate of increase was higher for China with a 16.1 per cent year-on-year increase versus 3 per cent for the United States, it added. China first knocked the United States from the top spot in 2019. Daren Tang, WIPO director-general, said the rise in Chinese filings was part of a longer-term trend for higher applications from Asia more broadly, with South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia all submitting more applications last year. "It's not as if filings from the traditional parts of the world like the US or Europe have decreased, it's just that the rate, the acceleration, has become a lot stronger in Asia," he told journalists. The region accounted for more than half of all filings via WIPO's system known as the Patent Cooperation Treaty versus just over a third ten years ago. Unlike after the 2008 financial crisis when filings fell sharply, overall filings via WIPO's system were up 4 per cent overall in 2020 to a new record despite the COVID-19-induced slowdown, it said. "The trend is that innovation remains resilient and the sense is that the world needs more innovation ... during a crisis," said Tang. The biggest single filer under this system last year was China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd for the fourth consecutive year and second was South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, WIPO said. Singapore's Tang began his term in October and received strong support from Western countries including the United States in a highly politicised race against a Chinese candidate for the top job last year.

UN says China still remains biggest source of applications for international patents

After weeks of waiting, Judy Franke’s vaccine breakthrough came when her phone rang at 8 p.m. one freezing February night. There were rumors of extra doses at the Minneapolis convention center. Franke, 73, had an hour to get there. No guarantees.

“I called my daughter and she said, ‘I’m putting my boots on right now,’” said Franke, a retired teacher with a weakened immune system. “You need to go find the vaccine because the vaccine’s not going to find you.”

The clamor for hard-to-get COVID-19 vaccines has created armies of anxious Americans who have resorted to hunting for leftovers on the fringes of the country’s patchwork vaccination system.

They haunt pharmacies at the end of the day in search of an extra, expiring dose. They drive from clinic to clinic hoping that someone was a no-show to their appointment. They cold-call pharmacies like eager telemarketers: Any extras today? Maybe tomorrow?

Some pharmacists have even given them a nickname: Vaccine lurkers.

Even with inoculation rates accelerating and new vaccines entering the market, finding a shot remains out of reach for many, nearly three months into the country’s vaccination campaign. Websites crash. Appointments are scarce. Severe weather like last month’s winter storms can wreak havoc on shipments. Many Americans have been left feeling like they are on their own.

“There are people who feel desperate, and this is what they end up doing,” said Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. “It’s ridiculous. It’s wholly unnecessary. There should be a way to do this that does not require us going down this path.”

The leftover shots exist because the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have a limited life span once they are thawed and mixed. When no-shows or miscalculations leave pharmacies and clinics with extras, they have mere hours to use the vaccines or risk having to throw them away.

And so, tens of thousands of people have banded together on social media groups under one mantra: Better in an arm than in the trash. They trade tips about which Walmarts have extra doses. They report on whether besieged pharmacies are even answering the phone. They speculate about whether a looming blizzard might keep enough people home to free up a slot.

In Denver, suburban teachers stampeded a mass-vaccination site after they got an email saying they had an hour to claim 200 unused doses. In Massachusetts, hourslong lines wrapped around a DoubleTree Hotel after reports of extras ping-ponged across social media.

“It’s like buying Bruce Springsteen tickets,” said Maura Caldwell, who started a Minneapolis Vaccine Hunter Facebook group to help people navigate the search for appointments. The group now has 20,000 members. “It’s not easy. You can’t just sign up.”

Thousands of doses have already gone to waste because of power failures, paperwork mix-ups and a shifting jumble of state and local guidelines about what to do with leftovers. Earlier this year, health officials in California and New York state loosened their rules for who could be vaccinated when vaccines are about to expire.

Other health workers have distributed leftovers on their own. In Oregon, a vaccination team stranded on a snowbound highway went from car to car offering doses that would go bad in six hours. A doctor in Houston received national attention after he was fired for racing to inoculate 10 people — including his wife — before his vial of extra doses expired.

The pace of vaccinations has picked up to about 1.9 million doses per day, with more due as the single-shot Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson vaccine rolls out. But health experts said the scavenger hunt for leftovers highlights the persistent disparities in America’s vaccination rollout, where access to lifesaving medicine can hinge on computer savvy, personal connections and a person’s ability to drop everything to snag an expiring dose.

In Dallas, Kimberly White-Agent said she had struggled to find appointments for her brother and 83-year-old stepfather, even after city and federal officials opened a mass-vaccination site to serve their largely Black neighborhood. She resorted to putting them on wait lists and hoping an extra slot opened up.

“It’s like a mirage,” she said.

Some of the leftover chasers are not yet eligible to sign up for appointments. Others are old enough or sick enough to qualify, but said that overloaded vaccination websites and endless hold lines convinced them to abandon the official channels and search for themselves.

Gunnar Esiason, 29, has cystic fibrosis and said he was not about to wait until his New Hampshire vaccine appointment rolled around on April 21. So he started showing up at Walgreens pharmacies and state-run vaccination sites — wherever there was a whiff of an extra vaccine, until he got a tip that a Dartmouth medical center had a few extras.

“I knew I was going to a lot of ‘No’s,’” he said. “All I needed was one ‘Yes.’”

In Minnesota, Franke signed up for eight different vaccine lists managed by doctors, Walgreens, Walmart, even a state lottery, but said nobody called. Then last month, she got a tip that the mass-vaccination site at the convention center might have some extras.

There were about 20 other people already milling around in the lobby when Franke arrived, she said, and a health worker quickly emerged to inform them there were no leftovers.

But many in the crowd stuck around, and after a half-hour, the vaccination team allowed people 65 and older, teachers and emergency responders to get their shots. Franke lined up and said she cried with relief on the car ride home to the suburbs.

Ashok Shah, 77, a retired internal-medicine physician in Poughkeepsie, New York, tried to sign up. But failed again and again.

Shah said he and his 79-year-old wife spent weeks languishing on their county’s official vaccination lists. He would search fruitlessly for online appointments in the middle of the night, and put himself on informal wait lists kept by nearby pharmacies.

When it became clear there would be little progress, “We had to go looking,” he said.

In early February, with 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground and a nearly impassable mound plowed into the base of his driveway, he said a Rite Aid called with the news that they had one spare dose.

“I said, I’ll take it,” said Shah, who got his second dose Tuesday. “Come rain, come shine, come snow, I’ll be there.”

But leftovers are getting harder and harder to find. More people are looking, and the extras are dwindling as pharmacies and public-health agencies get better at matching each day’s available vials with their list of appointments.

Vaccine teams in Fairfax County, Virginia, fill up individual syringes from a shared supply of vaccines to make sure they are not cracking open new vials at the end of the day. Several cities have created special leftover lists to offer doses to police officers, teachers or older people. Columbus, Ohio, said its “no waste” list of 250 people is full.

At Discount Drug Mart, a chain of 76 pharmacies in Ohio, the vaccination teams add up their doses against no-shows throughout the day, and start reaching out early to the 25 people who are on their rolling standby lists. Rarely, someone waiting in the parking lot at 9 p.m. or calling on a whim may land a vaccine.

“It’s a priority to never waste a dose,” said Jason Briscoe, the company’s director of pharmacy operations.

Often, the hunt just amounts to days of frustration. Sara Stoltz has spent days driving around Dallas trying to get a leftover dose for her 64-year-old mother. They get turned away from pharmacies whose wait lists are already full at 200 people deep. They stop at every Walmart they can, only to learn that nobody missed an appointment.

“I keep hearing rumors,” Stoltz said, with no dose behind them. “It’s like one of those urban myths.”

After weeks of waiting, Judy Franke’s vaccine breakthrough came when her phone rang at 8 p.m. one freezing February night. There were rumors of extra doses at the Minneapolis convention center.

After weeks of waiting, Judy Franke’s vaccine breakthrough came when her phone rang at 8 p.m. one freezing February night. There were rumors of extra doses at the Minneapolis convention center. Franke, 73, had an hour to get there. No guarantees. “I called my daughter and she said, ‘I’m putting my boots on right now,’” said Franke, a retired teacher with a weakened immune system. “You need to go find the vaccine because the vaccine’s not going to find you.” The clamor for hard-to-get COVID-19 vaccines has created armies of anxious Americans who have resorted to hunting for leftovers on the fringes of the country’s patchwork vaccination system. They haunt pharmacies at the end of the day in search of an extra, expiring dose. They drive from clinic to clinic hoping that someone was a no-show to their appointment. They cold-call pharmacies like eager telemarketers: Any extras today? Maybe tomorrow? Some pharmacists have even given them a nickname: Vaccine lurkers. Even with inoculation rates accelerating and new vaccines entering the market, finding a shot remains out of reach for many, nearly three months into the country’s vaccination campaign. Websites crash. Appointments are scarce. Severe weather like last month’s winter storms can wreak havoc on shipments. Many Americans have been left feeling like they are on their own. “There are people who feel desperate, and this is what they end up doing,” said Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. “It’s ridiculous. It’s wholly unnecessary. There should be a way to do this that does not require us going down this path.” The leftover shots exist because the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have a limited life span once they are thawed and mixed. When no-shows or miscalculations leave pharmacies and clinics with extras, they have mere hours to use the vaccines or risk having to throw them away. And so, tens of thousands of people have banded together on social media groups under one mantra: Better in an arm than in the trash. They trade tips about which Walmarts have extra doses. They report on whether besieged pharmacies are even answering the phone. They speculate about whether a looming blizzard might keep enough people home to free up a slot. In Denver, suburban teachers stampeded a mass-vaccination site after they got an email saying they had an hour to claim 200 unused doses. In Massachusetts, hourslong lines wrapped around a DoubleTree Hotel after reports of extras ping-ponged across social media. “It’s like buying Bruce Springsteen tickets,” said Maura Caldwell, who started a Minneapolis Vaccine Hunter Facebook group to help people navigate the search for appointments. The group now has 20,000 members. “It’s not easy. You can’t just sign up.” Thousands of doses have already gone to waste because of power failures, paperwork mix-ups and a shifting jumble of state and local guidelines about what to do with leftovers. Earlier this year, health officials in California and New York state loosened their rules for who could be vaccinated when vaccines are about to expire. Other health workers have distributed leftovers on their own. In Oregon, a vaccination team stranded on a snowbound highway went from car to car offering doses that would go bad in six hours. A doctor in Houston received national attention after he was fired for racing to inoculate 10 people — including his wife — before his vial of extra doses expired. The pace of vaccinations has picked up to about 1.9 million doses per day, with more due as the single-shot Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine rolls out. But health experts said the scavenger hunt for leftovers highlights the persistent disparities in America’s vaccination rollout, where access to lifesaving medicine can hinge on computer savvy, personal connections and a person’s ability to drop everything to snag an expiring dose. In Dallas, Kimberly White-Agent said she had struggled to find appointments for her brother and 83-year-old stepfather, even after city and federal officials opened a mass-vaccination site to serve their largely Black neighborhood. She resorted to putting them on wait lists and hoping an extra slot opened up. “It’s like a mirage,” she said. Some of the leftover chasers are not yet eligible to sign up for appointments. Others are old enough or sick enough to qualify, but said that overloaded vaccination websites and endless hold lines convinced them to abandon the official channels and search for themselves. Gunnar Esiason, 29, has cystic fibrosis and said he was not about to wait until his New Hampshire vaccine appointment rolled around on April 21. So he started showing up at Walgreens pharmacies and state-run vaccination sites — wherever there was a whiff of an extra vaccine, until he got a tip that a Dartmouth medical center had a few extras. “I knew I was going to a lot of ‘No’s,’” he said. “All I needed was one ‘Yes.’” In Minnesota, Franke signed up for eight different vaccine lists managed by doctors, Walgreens, Walmart, even a state lottery, but said nobody called. Then last month, she got a tip that the mass-vaccination site at the convention center might have some extras. There were about 20 other people already milling around in the lobby when Franke arrived, she said, and a health worker quickly emerged to inform them there were no leftovers. But many in the crowd stuck around, and after a half-hour, the vaccination team allowed people 65 and older, teachers and emergency responders to get their shots. Franke lined up and said she cried with relief on the car ride home to the suburbs. Ashok Shah, 77, a retired internal-medicine physician in Poughkeepsie, New York, tried to sign up. But failed again and again. Shah said he and his 79-year-old wife spent weeks languishing on their county’s official vaccination lists. He would search fruitlessly for online appointments in the middle of the night, and put himself on informal wait lists kept by nearby pharmacies. When it became clear there would be little progress, “We had to go looking,” he said. In early February, with 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground and a nearly impassable mound plowed into the base of his driveway, he said a Rite Aid called with the news that they had one spare dose. “I said, I’ll take it,” said Shah, who got his second dose Tuesday. “Come rain, come shine, come snow, I’ll be there.” But leftovers are getting harder and harder to find. More people are looking, and the extras are dwindling as pharmacies and public-health agencies get better at matching each day’s available vials with their list of appointments. Vaccine teams in Fairfax County, Virginia, fill up individual syringes from a shared supply of vaccines to make sure they are not cracking open new vials at the end of the day. Several cities have created special leftover lists to offer doses to police officers, teachers or older people. Columbus, Ohio, said its “no waste” list of 250 people is full. At Discount Drug Mart, a chain of 76 pharmacies in Ohio, the vaccination teams add up their doses against no-shows throughout the day, and start reaching out early to the 25 people who are on their rolling standby lists. Rarely, someone waiting in the parking lot at 9 p.m. or calling on a whim may land a vaccine. “It’s a priority to never waste a dose,” said Jason Briscoe, the company’s director of pharmacy operations. Often, the hunt just amounts to days of frustration. Sara Stoltz has spent days driving around Dallas trying to get a leftover dose for her 64-year-old mother. They get turned away from pharmacies whose wait lists are already full at 200 people deep. They stop at every Walmart they can, only to learn that nobody missed an appointment. “I keep hearing rumors,” Stoltz said, with no dose behind them. “It’s like one of those urban myths.”

America’s most prized leftovers: COVID vaccines

The&nbsp;International Criminal Court prosecutor on Wednesday announced that she had&nbsp;launched an&nbsp;investigation into alleged crimes in the Palestinian territories.

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has previously said there is a "reasonable basis" to believe crimes were committed by members of the Israeli Defence Forces, Israeli authorities, Hamas and Palestinian armed groups during the 2014 Gaza conflict.

"Today, I confirm the initiation by the office of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of an investigation respecting the situation in Palestine," Bensouda said in a statement.

Bensouda said there were "admissible potential cases" for the war crimes court, which was set up in 2002.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/israel-to-protect-hundreds-of-personnel-against-icc-probe-367505" hreflang="en">Israel to protect hundreds of personnel against ICC probe&nbsp;</a>

The prosecutor said the probe would be conducted "independently, impartially and objectively, without fear or favour".&nbsp;

"In the end, our central concern must be for the victims of crimes, both Palestinian and Israeli, arising from the long cycle of violence and insecurity that has caused deep suffering and despair on all sides," she said.

The Palestinians joined the court in 2015 and have long pushed for an investigation of Israel, which is not a member of the court. The Palestinians asked the court to probe Israeli actions during its 2014 war against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, as well as Israel's construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem.

In the past, Israeli officials have accused the court of overstepping its bounds, saying the Palestinians are not an independent sovereign state.

Officials say that Israel has been unfairly singled out and reject the allegations. They say military actions in Gaza were acts of self-defence and the status of the West Bank is disputed and must be resolved through negotiations.

The investigation will likely also look into alleged crimes by Palestinian militants. Bensouda has said her probe would look into the actions of Hamas, which fired rockets indiscriminately into Israel during the 2014 war.

Bensouda said how prosecutors prioritise their work will be ''determined in due time''&nbsp;based on constraints including the coronavirus pandemic, limited resources and their existing heavy workload.

''Such challenges, however, as daunting and complex as they are, cannot divert us from ultimately discharging the responsibilities that the Rome Statute places upon the Office,''&nbsp;she said, referring to the court's founding treaty.

Israel is not a member of the Hague-based ICC and has vehemently opposed any probe, but Palestine has been a state party to the court since 2015.

ICC judges paved the way for a war crimes investigation when they ruled a month ago that the court has jurisdiction over the situation due to Palestine's membership.

Bensouda said in December 2019 that she wanted a full investigation after a five-year preliminary probe, but asked the court to rule whether its reach extended to the Palestinian territories.

'Pure anti-Semitism'

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month condemned the judges' decision paving the way for a probe as "pure anti-Semitism".

"As prime minister of Israel, I can assure you this: we will fight this perversion of justice with all our might," Netanyahu said in a statement, railing against any probe into "fake war crimes".

The US State Department said at the time it had "serious concerns" about the ICC ruling, adding that Israel should not be bound by the court as it was not a member.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh had praised February's ICC ruling as "a victory for justice and humanity" while Hamas said it wanted to "bring the Zionist criminals of war before international courts and hold them responsible".

Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War of 1967, and later annexed mostly Arab east Jerusalem.

Today they are home to at least five million Palestinians defined by the United Nations as living under Israeli occupation.

The Gaza Strip is blockaded by Israel and ruled by the Islamist Hamas group.

The Israel-Palestinians probe will prove the first major test for incoming ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, the British lawyer who was elected in February to replace Bensouda when her mandate ends in June.

Bensouda is under US sanctions for her decision to investigate alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan, but Washington has also strongly criticised the Palestinian probe.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor on Wednesday announced that she had launched an investigation into alleged crimes in the Palestinian territories. ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has previously said there is a "reasonable basis" to believe crimes were committed by members of the Israeli Defence Forces, Israeli authorities, Hamas and Palestinian armed groups during the 2014 Gaza conflict.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor on Wednesday announced that she had launched an investigation into alleged crimes in the Palestinian territories. ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has previously said there is a "reasonable basis" to believe crimes were committed by members of the Israeli Defence Forces, Israeli authorities, Hamas and Palestinian armed groups during the 2014 Gaza conflict. "Today, I confirm the initiation by the office of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of an investigation respecting the situation in Palestine," Bensouda said in a statement. Bensouda said there were "admissible potential cases" for the war crimes court, which was set up in 2002. Also read: Israel to protect hundreds of personnel against ICC probe The prosecutor said the probe would be conducted "independently, impartially and objectively, without fear or favour". "In the end, our central concern must be for the victims of crimes, both Palestinian and Israeli, arising from the long cycle of violence and insecurity that has caused deep suffering and despair on all sides," she said. The Palestinians joined the court in 2015 and have long pushed for an investigation of Israel, which is not a member of the court. The Palestinians asked the court to probe Israeli actions during its 2014 war against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, as well as Israel's construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem. In the past, Israeli officials have accused the court of overstepping its bounds, saying the Palestinians are not an independent sovereign state. Officials say that Israel has been unfairly singled out and reject the allegations. They say military actions in Gaza were acts of self-defence and the status of the West Bank is disputed and must be resolved through negotiations. The investigation will likely also look into alleged crimes by Palestinian militants. Bensouda has said her probe would look into the actions of Hamas, which fired rockets indiscriminately into Israel during the 2014 war. Bensouda said how prosecutors prioritise their work will be ''determined in due time'' based on constraints including the coronavirus pandemic, limited resources and their existing heavy workload. ''Such challenges, however, as daunting and complex as they are, cannot divert us from ultimately discharging the responsibilities that the Rome Statute places upon the Office,'' she said, referring to the court's founding treaty. Israel is not a member of the Hague-based ICC and has vehemently opposed any probe, but Palestine has been a state party to the court since 2015. ICC judges paved the way for a war crimes investigation when they ruled a month ago that the court has jurisdiction over the situation due to Palestine's membership. Bensouda said in December 2019 that she wanted a full investigation after a five-year preliminary probe, but asked the court to rule whether its reach extended to the Palestinian territories. 'Pure anti-Semitism' Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month condemned the judges' decision paving the way for a probe as "pure anti-Semitism". "As prime minister of Israel, I can assure you this: we will fight this perversion of justice with all our might," Netanyahu said in a statement, railing against any probe into "fake war crimes". The US State Department said at the time it had "serious concerns" about the ICC ruling, adding that Israel should not be bound by the court as it was not a member. Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh had praised February's ICC ruling as "a victory for justice and humanity" while Hamas said it wanted to "bring the Zionist criminals of war before international courts and hold them responsible". Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War of 1967, and later annexed mostly Arab east Jerusalem. Today they are home to at least five million Palestinians defined by the United Nations as living under Israeli occupation. The Gaza Strip is blockaded by Israel and ruled by the Islamist Hamas group. The Israel-Palestinians probe will prove the first major test for incoming ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, the British lawyer who was elected in February to replace Bensouda when her mandate ends in June. Bensouda is under US sanctions for her decision to investigate alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan, but Washington has also strongly criticised the Palestinian probe.

ICC prosecutor launches investigation into alleged crimes in Palestinian territories

Sri&nbsp;Lanka will&nbsp;offer a strategically located deep-sea port to India and Japan,&nbsp;as the island seeks to balance traditional ties against China's rising regional influence.

Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said&nbsp;the cabinet decided Monday to allow India and Japan to have an 85 per cent stake in the West Container Terminal -- the same terms China was granted when building the CICT(Colombo International Container Terminal).

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/sri-lanka-offers-strategic-deep-sea-port-to-india-japan-367501" hreflang="en">Sri Lanka offers strategic deep-sea port to India, Japan</a>

The government said the Indian High Commission in Colombo has "approved"&nbsp;Sri&nbsp;Lanka's latest offer. However,&nbsp;There has been no official&nbsp;response from India's foreign ministry in New Delhi.

In keeping with the discussions held at the previous National Security Advisor (NSA) meetings,&nbsp;Sri Lanka has established a trilateral&nbsp;secretariat on Maritime Security Cooperation with India and Maldives.

Earlier, the three countries had agreed to&nbsp;share intelligence on issues such as terrorism, radicalisation, extremism, drugs, arms and human trafficking, money laundering, and effects of climate change on the maritime environment.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-sri-lanka-approves-port-deal-with-india-367514">WATCH |</a>

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-sri-lanka-approves-port-deal-with-india-367514/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

''The entire world will benefit from this initiative as the Indian Ocean is the lifeline of the entire world,'' said the Foreign Secretary Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage during the event while expressing his concerns about the importance of the region.

Sri Lanka has put Chinese Sinopharm's Covid-19 vaccine on hold and will use India-manufactured Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine to inoculate 14 million people, a government spokesperson has said.&nbsp;

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/sri-lanka-puts-chinese-sinopharm-on-hold-to-use-india-manufactured-vaccine-366513">Sri Lanka puts Chinese Sinopharm on hold, to use India-manufactured vaccine</a>

According to Cabinet co-spokesman, Dr Ramesh Pathirana, ''the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm has not yet completed phase 3 clinical trials. The complete dossier pertaining to the registration of the Chinese vaccine has also not yet been received.''&nbsp;

"For the time being, we need to go with the AstraZeneca vaccine. The moment we receive full documentation from the Chinese manufacturer, we can consider registering it," he added.

The Sri Lankan cabinet approved the purchase of 10 million doses of 'Made in India' AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine from the SII for USD 52.5 million, local media reported.&nbsp;

Sri Lanka is not the only country that has expressed its concerns over the lack of information on Chinese-made vaccines. Earlier, it was reported that Sri Lankan authorities will begin inoculating the general public against the Covid-19 from next month.&nbsp;

In the month of January, the Sinovac vaccine was found to be far less effective than vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, according to a Brazilian government statement.&nbsp;

The efficacy of the Chinese-made vaccine was also found to be 50.38 per cent in Brazil's late-stage trials.&nbsp;

Sri Lanka will offer a strategically located deep-sea port to India and Japan, as the island seeks to balance traditional ties against China's rising regional influence.

Sri Lanka will offer a strategically located deep-sea port to India and Japan, as the island seeks to balance traditional ties against China's rising regional influence. Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said the cabinet decided Monday to allow India and Japan to have an 85 per cent stake in the West Container Terminal -- the same terms China was granted when building the CICT(Colombo International Container Terminal). Also read| Sri Lanka offers strategic deep-sea port to India, Japan The government said the Indian High Commission in Colombo has "approved" Sri Lanka's latest offer. However, There has been no official response from India's foreign ministry in New Delhi. In keeping with the discussions held at the previous National Security Advisor (NSA) meetings, Sri Lanka has established a trilateral secretariat on Maritime Security Cooperation with India and Maldives. Earlier, the three countries had agreed to share intelligence on issues such as terrorism, radicalisation, extremism, drugs, arms and human trafficking, money laundering, and effects of climate change on the maritime environment. WATCH | ''The entire world will benefit from this initiative as the Indian Ocean is the lifeline of the entire world,'' said the Foreign Secretary Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage during the event while expressing his concerns about the importance of the region. Sri Lanka has put Chinese Sinopharm's Covid-19 vaccine on hold and will use India-manufactured Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine to inoculate 14 million people, a government spokesperson has said. Also read| Sri Lanka puts Chinese Sinopharm on hold, to use India-manufactured vaccine According to Cabinet co-spokesman, Dr Ramesh Pathirana, ''the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm has not yet completed phase 3 clinical trials. The complete dossier pertaining to the registration of the Chinese vaccine has also not yet been received.'' "For the time being, we need to go with the AstraZeneca vaccine. The moment we receive full documentation from the Chinese manufacturer, we can consider registering it," he added. The Sri Lankan cabinet approved the purchase of 10 million doses of 'Made in India' AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine from the SII for USD 52.5 million, local media reported. Sri Lanka is not the only country that has expressed its concerns over the lack of information on Chinese-made vaccines. Earlier, it was reported that Sri Lankan authorities will begin inoculating the general public against the Covid-19 from next month. In the month of January, the Sinovac vaccine was found to be far less effective than vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, according to a Brazilian government statement. The efficacy of the Chinese-made vaccine was also found to be 50.38 per cent in Brazil's late-stage trials.

By improving ties with India and shunning China, is Sri Lanka on a course correction path?

Researchers have digitally unfolded&nbsp;historical letters&nbsp;from the Renaissance era that were&nbsp;sealed for more than 600 years.

A study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday is the first to propose a complete systematisation of evidence and tie it consistently to security.

It analysed a European postmaster’s trunk preserving 300-year-old undelivered post, the Brienne Collection. The trunk contained&nbsp;3,148 catalogued items, including 2,571 opened letters, fragments, and other documents, and 577 letter packets that have never been opened.

The most renowned letter is the&nbsp;request from Jacques Sennacques, dated July 31, 1697, to his cousin Pierre Le Pers, a French merchant in The Hague, for a certified copy of death notice of one Daniel Le Pers.

The letter is one of the most important communication technologies in human history. Before the proliferation of mass-produced envelopes in the 1830s, most letters were sent via letter locking, the process of folding and securing writing substrates to become their own envelopes.

Letterlocking was an everyday activity for centuries, across cultures, borders, and social classes, and plays an integral role in the history of secrecy systems as the missing link between physical communications security techniques from the ancient world and modern digital cryptography.

Until now, letter locking analysis has been limited by the standard archival practice of cutting open sealed letters on request, compromising the physical integrity of the unopened letter packet.&nbsp;

However, in this study, scientists observed&nbsp;built-in tamper-evident locking mechanisms that deter potential interceptors by irreversibly damaging a letter packet on opening, enabling the intended recipient to detect so-called “man-in-the-middle” attacks.&nbsp;Virtual unfolding confirms the categorisation system of letter locking, without perturbing the rare historical artifacts studied .

Drawing on high-resolution volumetric scans, produced by high-contrast time delay integration X-ray microtomography (XMT), they&nbsp;developed virtual unfolding to prove our letter locking theories, and elucidate a historically vital—but long underappreciated—form of physical cryptography.

They presented&nbsp;a fully automatic computational method for reconstructing and virtually unfolding letters imaged by volumetric scanning. To&nbsp;validate&nbsp;their results, they&nbsp;compared&nbsp;the reconstruction of the opened letter&nbsp;to a photograph of its contents.

Researchers have digitally unfolded historical letters from the Renaissance era that were sealed for more than 600 years. A study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday is the first to propose a complete systematisation of evidence and tie it consistently to security.

Researchers have digitally unfolded historical letters from the Renaissance era that were sealed for more than 600 years. A study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday is the first to propose a complete systematisation of evidence and tie it consistently to security. It analysed a European postmaster’s trunk preserving 300-year-old undelivered post, the Brienne Collection. The trunk contained 3,148 catalogued items, including 2,571 opened letters, fragments, and other documents, and 577 letter packets that have never been opened. The most renowned letter is the request from Jacques Sennacques, dated July 31, 1697, to his cousin Pierre Le Pers, a French merchant in The Hague, for a certified copy of death notice of one Daniel Le Pers. The letter is one of the most important communication technologies in human history. Before the proliferation of mass-produced envelopes in the 1830s, most letters were sent via letter locking, the process of folding and securing writing substrates to become their own envelopes. Letterlocking was an everyday activity for centuries, across cultures, borders, and social classes, and plays an integral role in the history of secrecy systems as the missing link between physical communications security techniques from the ancient world and modern digital cryptography. Until now, letter locking analysis has been limited by the standard archival practice of cutting open sealed letters on request, compromising the physical integrity of the unopened letter packet. However, in this study, scientists observed built-in tamper-evident locking mechanisms that deter potential interceptors by irreversibly damaging a letter packet on opening, enabling the intended recipient to detect so-called “man-in-the-middle” attacks. Virtual unfolding confirms the categorisation system of letter locking, without perturbing the rare historical artifacts studied . Drawing on high-resolution volumetric scans, produced by high-contrast time delay integration X-ray microtomography (XMT), they developed virtual unfolding to prove our letter locking theories, and elucidate a historically vital—but long underappreciated—form of physical cryptography. They presented a fully automatic computational method for reconstructing and virtually unfolding letters imaged by volumetric scanning. To validate their results, they compared the reconstruction of the opened letter to a photograph of its contents.

Researchers digitally unfold Renaissance-era sealed letters

The&nbsp;National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Elon Musk's SpaceX are going to launch the&nbsp;second Commercial Crew Rotation Mission to International Space Station.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission will carry astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur of NASA, Akihiko Hoshide of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft launching atop a Falcon 9 rocket on its way to the space station.

The mission is scheduled to lift off no earlier than April 20 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Also see|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/nasa-vs-musks-spacex-race-to-put-american-boots-on-mars-365406#american-boots-on-the-red-planet-365388">NASA vs Musk's SpaceX: Race to put American boots on Mars</a>

The crew is scheduled for a long-duration stay aboard the orbiting laboratory, spending several months conducting science and maintenance before the four astronauts return to Earth in fall 2021.

NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 test flight completed in 2020 was the final demonstration flight of the Crew Dragon and was followed by NASA completing the certification of the Crew Dragon system ahead of the Crew-1 mission.

All four astronauts were assigned to the Crew-2 mission in July 2020 and began working and training on SpaceX’s next-generation human spacecraft and for their long-duration stay aboard the space station.

Also read| <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/spacex-announces-first-commercial-astronaut-mission-to-orbit-earth-360776">SpaceX announces first commercial astronaut mission to orbit Earth</a>

Lifting off from Launch Pad 39A on a Falcon 9 rocket, Crew Dragon will accelerate its four passengers to approximately 17,500 mph and put it on an intercept course with the International Space Station. The Falcon 9 that will be used to launch this mission uses the same booster as NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1, marking the first time a flight-proven booster will be used for a crewed launch.

Once in orbit, the crew and SpaceX mission control will monitor a series of automatic manoeuvres that will guide the Crew-2 astronauts to their new home in orbit. After a predetermined time in orbit driven by the launch date, Crew Dragon will be in a position to rendezvous and dock with the space station. The spacecraft is designed to dock autonomously with the ability for astronauts aboard the spacecraft to take control and pilot manually, if necessary.

After successfully docking, the astronauts of Crew-2 will be welcomed aboard the station by the Expedition 65 crew, including the Crew-1 astronauts still onboard. The space station’s crew size will again expand to seven people, increasing the amount of crew time available for research.

The Crew Dragon being used for this flight will remain docked to the station for the full length of a long-duration space station expedition, lasting approximately six months. It is the same Crew Dragon capsule, dubbed “Endeavour,” that astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken flew to the space station for their historic Demo-2 mission. The Crew-2 astronauts will spend their time aboard the International Space Station conducting new and exciting scientific research in areas, such as medical technology, human health, and materials to benefit life on Earth.

Crew members will test the Butterfly IQ Ultrasound, a portable ultrasound device used in conjunction with a mobile computing device in the space environment. They also will conduct a variety of tissue engineering investigations, ranging from studies of bone, cardiovascular, muscle and liver health. An experiment from retail store Target will study cotton growth in microgravity to help identify more robust cotton varieties that require less water and pesticide use.

During their stay on the orbiting laboratory, astronauts of Crew-2 will see cargo spacecraft including the Northrop Grumman Cygnus and the SpaceX cargo Dragon. They will conduct a series of spacewalks to install new solar arrays, increasing the station’s total available power from 160 kilowatts to up to 215 kilowatts.

At the conclusion of the mission, Crew Dragon will autonomously undock with the four astronauts on board, depart the space station and re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. After splashdown just off Florida’s coast, a SpaceX recovery vessel will pick up the crew and bring them back to shore to board a plane for return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The Crew-2 mission continues the efforts of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to restore and maintain American leadership in human spaceflight. Regular, long-duration commercial crew rotation missions enable NASA to continue the important research and technology investigations taking place onboard the station. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future exploration of the Moon and Mars starting with the agency’s Artemis program, which will land the first woman and the next man on the lunar surface.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Elon Musk's SpaceX are going to launch the second Commercial Crew Rotation Mission to International Space Station.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Elon Musk's SpaceX are going to launch the second Commercial Crew Rotation Mission to International Space Station. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission will carry astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur of NASA, Akihiko Hoshide of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft launching atop a Falcon 9 rocket on its way to the space station. The mission is scheduled to lift off no earlier than April 20 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Also see| NASA vs Musk's SpaceX: Race to put American boots on Mars The crew is scheduled for a long-duration stay aboard the orbiting laboratory, spending several months conducting science and maintenance before the four astronauts return to Earth in fall 2021. NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 test flight completed in 2020 was the final demonstration flight of the Crew Dragon and was followed by NASA completing the certification of the Crew Dragon system ahead of the Crew-1 mission. All four astronauts were assigned to the Crew-2 mission in July 2020 and began working and training on SpaceX’s next-generation human spacecraft and for their long-duration stay aboard the space station. Also read| SpaceX announces first commercial astronaut mission to orbit Earth Lifting off from Launch Pad 39A on a Falcon 9 rocket, Crew Dragon will accelerate its four passengers to approximately 17,500 mph and put it on an intercept course with the International Space Station. The Falcon 9 that will be used to launch this mission uses the same booster as NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1, marking the first time a flight-proven booster will be used for a crewed launch. Once in orbit, the crew and SpaceX mission control will monitor a series of automatic manoeuvres that will guide the Crew-2 astronauts to their new home in orbit. After a predetermined time in orbit driven by the launch date, Crew Dragon will be in a position to rendezvous and dock with the space station. The spacecraft is designed to dock autonomously with the ability for astronauts aboard the spacecraft to take control and pilot manually, if necessary. After successfully docking, the astronauts of Crew-2 will be welcomed aboard the station by the Expedition 65 crew, including the Crew-1 astronauts still onboard. The space station’s crew size will again expand to seven people, increasing the amount of crew time available for research. The Crew Dragon being used for this flight will remain docked to the station for the full length of a long-duration space station expedition, lasting approximately six months. It is the same Crew Dragon capsule, dubbed “Endeavour,” that astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken flew to the space station for their historic Demo-2 mission. The Crew-2 astronauts will spend their time aboard the International Space Station conducting new and exciting scientific research in areas, such as medical technology, human health, and materials to benefit life on Earth. Crew members will test the Butterfly IQ Ultrasound, a portable ultrasound device used in conjunction with a mobile computing device in the space environment. They also will conduct a variety of tissue engineering investigations, ranging from studies of bone, cardiovascular, muscle and liver health. An experiment from retail store Target will study cotton growth in microgravity to help identify more robust cotton varieties that require less water and pesticide use. During their stay on the orbiting laboratory, astronauts of Crew-2 will see cargo spacecraft including the Northrop Grumman Cygnus and the SpaceX cargo Dragon. They will conduct a series of spacewalks to install new solar arrays, increasing the station’s total available power from 160 kilowatts to up to 215 kilowatts. At the conclusion of the mission, Crew Dragon will autonomously undock with the four astronauts on board, depart the space station and re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. After splashdown just off Florida’s coast, a SpaceX recovery vessel will pick up the crew and bring them back to shore to board a plane for return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The Crew-2 mission continues the efforts of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to restore and maintain American leadership in human spaceflight. Regular, long-duration commercial crew rotation missions enable NASA to continue the important research and technology investigations taking place onboard the station. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future exploration of the Moon and Mars starting with the agency’s Artemis program, which will land the first woman and the next man on the lunar surface.

SpaceX, NASA to launch second Commercial Crew Rotation Mission to International Space Station

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