Image: Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. Pics: NASA
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1:58
Splashdown! Butch and Suni’s space saga is over
Wilmore: ‘Start with me’ for blame
Mr Wilmore was asked at a NASA news conference on Monday evening where he lays the blame for the issues with Starliner, to which he said, “I’ll start with me”.
“There were issues, of course, with what happened with Starliner,” he added. “There were some issues, of course, that happened that prevented us from returning on Starliner.
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“And I’ll start with me because there were questions that, as the commander of the spacecraft that I should have asked. And I did not, I didn’t know I needed to…
“Blame, that’s a term – I don’t like that term – certainly there’s responsibility throughout all the programmes, and certainly you can start with me.”
He then added that responsibility for the issues with returning home can be found “all throughout the chain”, including with NASA and Boeing.
Image: Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Pic: NASA Johnson
Williams: ‘Life goes on up there’
Ms Williams also said she was somewhat surprised by the interest in their prolonged space mission.
“Life goes on up there. I mentioned today that we pivoted and became [ISS] crew members,” she said. “You maybe sort of get tunnel visioned into doing your job.
“We were just really focused on what we were doing… ‘the world doesn’t revolve around us but we revolve around it’.”
Ms Williams then said: “I don’t think we were aware to the degree [people were interested], pretty honoured and humbled by the fact of when we came home, it was like ‘wow there are a lot of people’.”
During their long wait in space, the two US navy veterans completed spacewalks, experiments and even helped sort out the plumbing onboard the ISS.
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0:57
Stuck astronaut takes first spacewalk
Sky’s science and technology editor Tom Clarke asked the astronauts if the politics around their stay in the ISS made a difficult situation worse. Nick Hague – who also was onboard the Crew-9 flight – disagreed.
After explaining the timeline from the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 to the return of the two astronauts, he said: “That was never in question the entire time.
“The politics don’t make it up there when we’re making operational decisions. There were a lot of options that were discussed, and the team on the ground… is gigantic, and everyone was working with a singular focus.”
The life of an astronaut is all about preparation.
And as Butch and Suni faced questions for the first back on Earth time about how their “stranding” in space was treated like an orbital political football – that really shone through.
The astronauts looked healthy and relaxed, despite having spent 35 times longer in space than they had expected to.
They were happy to answer questions about their safe return, the effects of their extended stay in space on their bodies.
But when it came to politics, the answers were much more guarded.
When I asked them about whether politics had made their difficult situation worse, it was quickly picked up, not by the pair themselves, but by astronaut Nick Hague, their mission commander for the ride back to Earth.
“The politics don’t make it up there when we’re making operational decisions,” he said.
“There were a lot of options discussed by the ground team, and everyone worked with singular focus on how do we end the Crew 9 mission at the right time and maintain the safety and the success of the space station mission.”
Their reluctance to address the political questions around the mission is understandable.
They have returned to a NASA bracing itself, like many federally funded organisations, for possible budget cuts and the mercurial decision-making of Donald Trump and his close ally Elon Musk.
Both men had suggested it was a political decision by the previous administration not to return them to Earth sooner.
Painting their already scheduled return as a “rescue mission” – despite presenting no evidence of the claim it put NASA in an embarrassing position.
It has been maintained all along that the plan was for the pair to return to Earth with the next rotation of the space station crew. Which is what subsequently happened.
But in the current political climate, and still awaiting the confirmation of a new leader for NASA’s administration, it’s giving politics a wide berth.
The crew were also asked about how weird it was to return to Earth in the SpaceX capsule – and about the welcome party of dolphins that swam around the vessel after splashdown.
“I can tell you that returning from space to Earth through the atmosphere inside of a 3000-degree fireball of plasma is weird, regardless of how you look at it,” Mr Wilmore said.
“It’s thrilling, it’s amazing, I remember thinking about the structure of the capsule,” as the Dragon Freedom capsule descended at pace toward our planet.
“And then the parachutes open and… it’s exhilarating.”
Mr Hague then remarked, “I had requested dolphins as kind of a joke”.
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The US president has spent months verbally attacking Mr Powell.
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2:18
Fed chair has ‘done a bad job’, says Trump
There were clear tensions between the pair last Thursday as they toured the Federal Reserve in Washington DC, which is undergoing renovations.
When taking questions, Mr Trump said: “I’d love him to lower interest rates,” then laughed and slapped Powell’s arm.
Image: There were clear tensions between the US President and Mr Powell during last week’s visit to the Federal Reserve. Pic: Reuters
The US president also challenged him, in front of reporters, about an alleged overspend on the renovations and produced paperwork to prove his point. Mr Powell shook his head as Trump made the claim.
When Mr Trump was asked what he would do as a real estate mogul if this happened to one of his projects, he said he’d fire his project manager – seemingly in reference to Mr Powell.
Image: Donald Trump challenged Mr Powell in front of reporters. Pic: Reuters
Unlike the UK, the US interest rate is a range to guide lenders rather than a single percentage.
The Fed has expressed concern about the impact of Mr Trump’s signature economic policy of implementing new tariffs, taxes on imports to the US.
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1:42
Trump’s tariffs: What you need to know
On Wednesday, the president said he was still negotiating with India on trade after announcing the US will impose a 25% tariff on goods imported from the country from Friday.
Mr Trump also signed an executive order on Wednesday implementing an additional 40% tariff on Brazil, bringing the total tariff amount to 50%, excluding certain products, including oil and precious metals.
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The committee which sets rates voted 9 to 2 to keep the benchmark rate steady, the two dissenters were appointees of President Trump who believe monetary policy is too tight.
In a policy statement to explain their decision, the Federal Reserve said that “uncertainty about the economic outlook remains elevated” but growth “moderated in the first half of the year,” possibly bolstering the case to lower rates at a future meeting.
Nathan Thooft, chief investment officer at Manulife Investment Management, described the rate decision as a “kind of a nothing burger” and it was “widely expected”.
Tony Welch, chief investment officer at SignatureFD, agreed that it was “broadly as expected”. He added: “That explains why you’re not seeing a lot of movement in the market right now because there’s nothing that’s surprising.”
A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake has struck off Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, causing a tsunami.
A tsunami of up to four metres (13 feet) was recorded in Kamchatka Peninsula, leading to evacuations and damaging buildings, officials said.
Tsunami warnings have been issued for Japan, the Philippines, Hawaii and parts of Alaska in the US.
The Honolulu Department of Emergency Management in Hawaii has called for the evacuation of some coastal areas, writing on X: “Take Action! Destructive tsunami waves expected.”
The first waves in Hawaii are expected to hit at 7pm local time (6am UK time).
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has said waves of one to three meters (three to 10 feet) above tide level were possible along some coastal areas of Hawaii, Chile, Japan and the Solomon Islands.
Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov had earlier said: “Today’s earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors.”
Several people in the region sought medical assistance following the quake, Oleg Melnikov, regional health minister told Russia’s Tass state news agency.
“Unfortunately, there are some people injured during the seismic event. Some were hurt while running outside, and one patient jumped out of a window. A woman was also injured inside the new airport terminal,” Mr Melnikov said.
Russia’s Tass news agency reported from the biggest city nearby, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, that many people ran out into the street, while cabinets toppled inside homes, mirrors were broken, cars swayed on roads and balconies on buildings shook noticeably.
Power outages and mobile phone service failures were also reported in the capital of the Kamchatka region.
The first tsunami wave hit the coastal area of Severo-Kurilsk, the main settlement on Russia’s Kuril Islands in the Pacific, according to the local governor Valery Limarenko.
He said residents were safe and staying on high ground until the threat of a repeat wave was gone.
A regional branch of Russia’s geophysical service has said that “significant, noticeable” aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 7.5 after expected to continue for at least another month.
Japan issued a tsunami warning, saying it expects waves as high as three metres to arrive along large coastal areas along the Pacific Ocean.
Image: Waves off the coast of the Hokkaido Prefecture in Japan after the tsunami warning was issued. Pic: AP
It has ordered the evacuation of some areas.
The National Tsunami Warning Center, based in Alaska, issued a tsunami warning for parts of the Alaska Aleutian Islands.
A tsunami warning also was extended to the US state of Hawaii, with the National Weather Service’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center saying a tsunami from the quake had been generated that could cause damage along the coastlines of all the Hawaiian islands.
A tsunami “watch” was issued for portions of the West Coast, including California, Oregon, and Washington.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was shallow at a depth of 19.3 km (12 miles), and was centred about 125 km (80 miles) east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000 along the coast of Avacha Bay. It revised the magnitude up twice from 8.0 and 8.7 to 8.8 earlier.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s disaster management agency has warned that the country’s coastal areas could expect “strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore”.
In a national advisory alert, Civil Defence New Zealand said there was no immediate need to evacuate but said citizens should stay away from beaches and shore areas.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Donald Trump has claimed billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein “stole” prominent accuser Virginia Giuffre and other young women from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Ms Giuffre became a household name after she sued Prince Andrew for sexual abuse in August 2021 – saying he had sex with her when she was 17 and had been trafficked by his friend Epstein.
Mr Trump made his remarks about Ms Giuffre as his administration has faced growing pressure in recent weeks, including from within his “MAGA” base, to release files related to Epstein after he promised to do so during his 2024 presidential campaign.
The US president was speaking to reporters on Tuesday when he was asked about comments he made over the weekend about a falling-out with Epstein over employees taken from his business.
“He took people that worked for me. And I told him, ‘Don’t do it anymore.’ And he did it,” Mr Trump told reporters while on board Air Force One as he returned to the US from Scotland.
“I said, ‘Stay the hell out of here’,” the US president added.
Image: Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre in 2001. Pic: Shutterstock
Pressed about whether any of the employees he referred to were young women, Mr Trump said many of them worked in the spa at Mar-a-Lago.
“The answer is yes, they were in the spa,” he said. “I told him, I said, ‘Listen, we don’t want you taking our people, whether it was spa or not spa.’ … And he was fine. And then not too long after that, he did it again.”
Asked if Ms Giuffre was one of the employees poached by Epstein, the US president replied: “I think she worked at the spa… I think so. I think that was one of the people. He stole her, and by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know, none whatsoever.”
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1:09
Trump dismisses Epstein ‘witch hunt’
The White House said in a statement last week that Mr Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because he was acting like a “creep”.
Epstein took his own life in a Manhattan prison cell in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
On Tuesday, lawyer’s for his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in prison for recruiting young girls for the financier, said that they are open to her answering more questions from US Congress if she is granted immunity from future prosecution.
However a spokeswoman for the House Oversight Committee, which requested the interview with Maxwell, said the panel would not consider granting the immunity she requested.
Image: Undated picture of Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein. File pic: US Department of Justice
The former British socialite was interviewed inside a Florida courthouse by US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last week.
Officials have not publicly disclosed what she said.
Mr Blanche had earlier said that Maxwell would be interviewed because of Mr Trump’s directive to gather and release any credible evidence about others who may have committed crimes in relation to the Epstein case.
Separately, Maxwell’s lawyers have urged the Supreme Court to review her conviction, saying she did not receive a fair trial.
They also say that one way she would testify “openly and honestly, in public”, is in the event of a pardon by Mr Trump, who has told reporters that such a move is within his rights but that he has not been not asked to make it.
Image: Virginia Giuffre in 2019. File pic: AP
What had Ms Giuffre said about Mar-a-Lago?
Ms Giuffre, who took her own life in April, claimed Maxwell spotted her while she was working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago when she was a teenager in 2000.
She added that Maxwell hired her as Epstein’s masseuse, which led to sexual abuse.
She accused Epstein of pressuring her into having sex with powerful men.
Why is the Epstein case such a problem for Trump?
Rumours have circulated since Epstein’s death about who he may have supplied underage girls to and who visited his private island.
Some of those rumours quickly spiralled into conspiracy theories, which Mr Trump fanned the flames of during his campaign for a second term.
Mr Trump promised to release more Epstein files to the public if he was elected president for a second time – but is now facing a backlash from his voter base after carrying out a complete U-turn on the move.