Chinese astronauts enter lab module in orbit

Beijing: Three Chinese astronauts aboard the country’s space station, currently under construction, successfully entered the lab module in orbit for the first time on Monday, a day after the space laboratory was launched, according to the China Manned Space Agency. China launched its space laboratory called Wentian on Sunday, sending the country’s largest-ever spacecraft into Earth’s orbit to become part of the space station named Tiangong, which is currently under construction. The Wentian module docked with the front port of the space station in the early hours of Monday after it entered the planned orbit. PTI

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Pope expresses sorrow over ‘painful’ memory

Maskwacis: Pope Francis apologised for the Catholic Church’s cooperation with Canada’s “devastating” policy of Indigenous residential schools, saying the forced assimilation of native peoples into Christian society destroyed their cultures, severed their families and marginalised generations in ways still being felt today. “I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous people,” Francis said near the site of the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School, now largely torn down, on lands of four Cree nations south of Edmonton, Alberta. Francis’ words on Monday went beyond his earlier apology for the “deplorable” acts of missionaries and instead took responsibility for the church’s institutional cooperation with the “catastrophic” assimilation policy, which Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has said amounted to a “cultural genocide”. Ap

Abe ‘assassin’ to undergo mental evaluation

Tokyo: The alleged assassin of Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be detained until late November for mental evaluation, so prosecutors can determine whether to formally press charges and send him to trial for murder, officials said Monday. The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, was arrested immediately after he allegedly shot Abe from behind when the former leader was making a campaign speech outside a busy train station in western Japan on July 8. The Nara District Court said it had granted permission for district prosecutors to detain the suspect for psychiatric examination until November 29, when they must decide whether to file formal charges. AP