Satellite launch fails just after liftoff

PARIS>> The launch of a European rocket carrying two Earth observation satellites failed and ditched in the sea less than three minutes after liftoff from a spaceport in French Guiana on Wednesday.

Arianespace, which provided the launch service, said a decrease in pressure was observed in the Vega C rocket’s second stage approximately 2 minutes and 22 seconds after liftoff, “leading to the premature end of the mission.”

“Under standard procedure, the order of destruction of the launcher was given” by France’s CNES space agency, Arianespace said. “No damage to persons or properties occurred.”

The launch, operated by the European Space Agency, was meant to take two Earth observation satellites made by Airbus, Pleiades Neo 5 and 6, into orbit. The satellites would have been part of a constellation capable of taking images of any point on the globe with a resolution of 11.8 inches.

ENGLAND

Dead man found in jet wheel bay

SERREKUNDA, Gambia>> A dead man was found in the wheel bay of an airplane that flew from Gambia to Britain, Gambian authorities said this week.

The unidentified body of a black man was found on a jet operated by TUI Airways — a British charter airline — that had flown from Gambia’s capital of Banjul to London’s Gatwick airport, a government spokesman said in a statement Tuesday.

The flight was on Dec. 5.

Train derails after striking truck; 2 hurt

COLLEGEDALE, Tenn.>> Two train employees were injured in Tennessee when a train hit a semi-truck that was sitting on the tracks waiting for a traffic light to change, causing three locomotives and 10 railroad cars to derail.

The collision left “a disastrous mess” Tuesday in Collegedale, a suburb of Chattanooga, the Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management said in a statement. The freight train hit a truck carrying a 134-foot concrete truss bridge beam, the statement said.

Two Norfolk Southern Train employees were hospitalized with minor injuries, according to the office. News outlets report the truck driver wasn’t injured.

City to open first legal pot dispensary

NEW YORK>> The first legal dispensary for recreational marijuana in New York is set to open Dec. 29, marking a long-awaited launch of a cannabis industry that could become one of the country’s most lucrative.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday that Housing Works, a minority-controlled nonprofit in Manhattan that serves people with HIV and AIDS, will be the first of 36 recently licensed dispensaries to begin selling cannabis to the general public — even though dozens of illegal shops have been in operation for many months.

New York legalized recreational use of marijuana in March 2021.

Law outlaws private ownership of big cats

The days of paying to pet lion and tiger cubs, as portrayed in the hit Netflix documentary television series “Tiger King,” are officially over in the United States.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that seeks to halt the exploitation of big cats by preventing unlicensed people from owning, breeding and transporting these animals.

The law also bans licensed exhibitors — mainly zoos and sanctuaries — from allowing the public to touch the animals or hold cubs.

“Tiger King,” which captivated viewers in 2020, shone a light on the fraught world of private big cat ownership.

—Denver Post wire services