NASA delayed a planned spacewalk on Tuesday outside the International Space Station (ISS) because of threats from space debris.

Two NASA astronauts were scheduled to venture out of the station for a spacewalk to replace a faulty antenna system but the agency said it received a debris notification Monday evening.

"Due to the lack of opportunity to properly assess the risk it could pose to the astronauts, teams have decided to delay the spacewalk until more information is available," said NASA.

The antenna recently lost its ability to send signals to Earth via NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.

"Although its degradation has had limited impact on station operations, mission managers decided to install a new antenna to ensure communications redundancy," the agency said. /aa

Azerbaijan plans to export domestically produced diesel fuels to Georgia and Turkey, Emil Alkhasli, a deputy director at the Heydar Aliyev refinery announced, Trend News Agency reported Monday.

"We plan to export refinery products to the markets of Georgia and Turkey. The main export product will be diesel fuel," Alkhasli, who heads the refinery’s “modernization project,” said.

According to Alkhasli, the refinery is sticking to the implementation of its investment strategy within the scope of the project.

He noted that they will re-evaluate the potential for further investments after the first stage is completed in 2023.

The production capacities of the refinery at the first stage will fully meet the needs of the Azerbaijani market for diesel fuel, as well as RON-92 and RON-95 gasoline of Euro-5 standard, the deputy director said./aa

Wind power became the largest source of electricity generation for the first time in the country's history with a 22.6% share on Nov. 28, according to the Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation on Monday.

Wind power plants generated 178,964 megawatt-hours out of a total of 791,794 megawatt-hours of daily electricity output.

Turkey's installed wind power capacity reached 10,585 megawatts, making it the second-largest renewable capacity after hydropower.

Natural gas power plants followed with a 22% share of electricity generation on Sunday, with imported coal power plants ranking third with a 17.8% share./aa

The prison gates finally have been flung open for a Missouri man who spent almost half a century behind bars for a triple murder he had always insisted he didn’t commit.

Kevin Strickland, now 62, beamed as he was wheeled out to the fresh air on Tuesday morning after being exonerated in a 1978 triple murder case in the U.S.

However, he is not eligible to receive a dime from the state for his nearly 43-year wrongful conviction, one of the longest-standing wrongful convictions in America’s history, as Missouri only permits compensation from the state if an individual's innocence is proven as a result of DNA testing.

Now, thousands of supporters have raised more than $1.4 million through a GoFundMe campaign to help him start a new life and pay his medical bills.

“I wish Mr. Strickland all the best for the rest of his life,” said one donor.

On April 25, 1978, Larry Ingram, 21, John Walker, 20, and Sherrie Black, 22, were shot to death while a key witness was struck in the leg and identified Strickland as one of the four men responsible for the fatal shootings.

"Still in disbelief...I didn't think this day would come," Strickland told reporters as he was rolled out of the Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron.

The only survivor of the shooting later tried for years to recant her testimony, saying that she was pressured by police to blame the murders on him before passing away in 2015.

The now-free man received a 50-year-life sentence without the possibility of parole by an all-White jury even though he has always maintained that he was home watching television when the killings took place.

"I'm not necessarily angry. It's a lot. I think I've created emotions that you all don't know about just yet," Strickland said./YS

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister said there is no need for immediate action to balance the oil market amid reports that the OPEC group may tweak its output schedule over potentially lower demand resulting from the new COVID-19 variant.

Novak's remarks came after reports that the new variant Omicron, considered by the World Health Organization to be "a variant of concern," had been detected in several countries, prompting big economies to respond with stricter restrictions.

Novak said OPEC partners had not requested a revision of their short-term production plan, according to Russian news agency TASS.

The OPEC group is scheduled to hold a meeting on Thursday after which an announcement of the final decision on January's production volume will be made following technical discussions.

After South African scientists said last week that they had discovered the highly mutated variant, it spread from South Africa to several countries including Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, France and Canada.

Several countries around the world have now banned flights from over half a dozen southern African nations, including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Eswatini over fears of the new variant.

- Russia has enough oil reserves for next 30 years

Novak said that in the coming years, oil and gas resources would be in demand in the energy markets and he expressed his confidence that Russia would more than able to sell its reserves despite the global energy transition.

Based on current production levels, Novak said Russia's oil reserves would last for at least 30 years and its gas reserves for 50 years.

Asia will continue to be the primary destination for export growth, Novak said, noting that oil exports to China have increased six fold in the last ten years.

Gas exports are also increasing, he said, with a volume of 13.4 billion cubic meters at the end of November 2021, up from 1.2 billion cubic meters at the start of the year./aa

The US Defense Department will investigate a 2019 airstrike in the Syrian town of Baghuz that killed dozens of civilians, spokesman John Kirby announced Monday. 

Speaking at a press briefing at the Pentagon, Kirby said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a full review of the March 18 airstrike in which US fighter jets killed 70 civilians, including women and children.

The investigation will be conducted by Gen. Michael Garrett, the commander of US Army Forces Command.

"He will review the reports of investigation already conducted into that incident and will conduct further inquiry into the facts and circumstances related to it," Kirby told reporters.

The inquiry will include an assessment of the number of casualties, compliance with the law of war, record keeping and reporting procedures and whether accountability measures would be appropriate.

On Nov. 14, The New York Times reported that the casualties occurred in an airstrike that came without warning during the last days of the fight against the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group in the eastern part of the country.

First, a US military drone spotted a crowd and an American F-15E attack jet bombed the civilians, followed by another jet that tracked the crowd and killed most of the survivors, said the Times./aa

Two civilians were killed Monday in an attack by forces of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime in southwestern Daraa province.

Aymen Abu Nokta, a local activist, told Anadolu Agency that the attack was carried out after unidentified individuals targeted a vehicle of the regime's military security unit with an improvised explosive device (IED) on the road between the city of Nawa and the town of Al-Shaykh Saad.

Noting that three soldiers were killed, Abu Nokta said the Assad regime, which held the people of Nawa responsible for the attack, rained mortars on the city in retaliation.

He said two civilians including a woman were killed and 10 others wounded in the bombardment, which was carried out as students were leaving school.

Abu Nokta said the wounded were transported to a hospital in Nawa.

The Daraa al-Balad area was blockaded by regime forces on June 25 after residents, including former members of the Syrian opposition, resisted an order to surrender light weapons and allow regime forces to search homes in the area.

Daraa, known as the birthplace of the Syrian revolution, is home to 40,000 residents and was an opposition stronghold until 2018.

Syria has been ravaged by civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters./aa

Southern African leaders have expressed disappointment over decisions taken by several countries to ban travel from half a dozen Southern African Development Community member states (SADC) following the detection of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus. 

“The unilateral travel bans now imposed on SADC countries by the United Kingdom, European Union, United States and others are uncalled for. COVID-19 measures must be based on science, not Afrophobia,” Lazarus Chakwera, Malawi’s president, who is also currently chairman of the SADC, said late Sunday in a brief statement on his official Facebook page.

Speaking on Monday at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Dakar, Senegal, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa condemned countries for their unfair travel restrictions.

"We must resist unjustified and unscientific travel restrictions that only serve to disadvantage developing economies,” Ramaphosa said.

Last week, South African scientists announced that they had discovered a new COVID-19 variant with a large number of mutations compared to previous variants and reported it to the World Health Organization (WHO), which named it omicron.

In an address to the nation Sunday night, Ramaphosa said the current travel restrictions are unjustified and unfairly discriminate against his country and neighboring southern African nations.

“The prohibition of travel is not informed by science, nor will it be effective in preventing the spread of this variant,’’ he said, adding the only thing the travel restrictions will do is further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to and recover from the pandemic.

“We call upon all those countries that have imposed travel bans on our country and our southern African sister countries to urgently reverse their decisions and lift the ban they have imposed before any further damage is done to our economies and to the livelihoods of our people,” he said.

The countries facing travel bans include South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Ramaphosa said the emergence of the omicron variant should be a wake-up call to the world that vaccine inequality cannot be allowed to continue.

“Until everyone is vaccinated, everyone will be at risk. Until everyone is vaccinated, we should expect that more variants will emerge,” he said.

The South African leader further said that “instead of prohibiting travel, the rich countries of the world need to support the efforts of developing economies to access and to manufacture enough vaccine doses for their people without delay.”

Ramaphosa also called on his countrymen to get vaccinated and follow health guidelines to avoid getting infected in a country where close to 3 million cases have been reported so far and nearly 90,000 fatalities./aa

A number of countries have imposed travel bans on African nations amid fears over the new COVID-19 variant omicron. 

Travel restrictions have been imposed on eight southern African countries after the potentially more contagious variant was first detected earlier this month in South Africa and Botswana.

The bans apply to South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe and Lesotho.

The UK immediately added South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini and Zimbabwe to its red list of countries deemed high risk after omicron was detected.

The European Union announced on Nov. 26 that it will block flights from these countries.

The US, Canada, Germany, France, Japan, Israel, India, Australia, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Italy, Malta, Pakistan, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman have also imposed similar travel restrictions.

Turkey also announced that it will restrict travel from South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe from Nov. 26.

The national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) carried out evacuation flights from Cape Town and Johannesburg on Nov. 27 for Turkish citizens in South Africa, repatriating 71 citizens in all.

Turkey has also imposed a 14-day quarantine on passengers coming from South Africa regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or had the disease in the last 180 days.

African countries also closing their doors

Angola has meanwhile decided to close its borders to seven African countries to prevent the spread of the omicron variant.

Sudan has banned entry for travelers from South Africa, while Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Rwanda announced that direct flights to South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe have been temporarily suspended.

Morocco suspended passenger flights for two weeks to prevent the variant from entering the country.

What does WHO say?

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Sunday there is no evidence so far concerning the transmissibility or severity of the new omicron strain.

The WHO's regional office for Africa urged countries to follow science and health regulations rather than imposing travel bans on African nations.

The African Union criticized the travel bans on African countries while South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the restrictions were “scientifically unjustified.”

“We call upon all those countries that have imposed travel bans on our country and our southern African sister countries to immediately and urgently reverse their decisions,” he said.

John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said the coronavirus pandemic had indicated that travel bans served little purpose in managing the spread of the virus./aa