UR MAG

By Laurie Chen

Press conference before the Shenzhou-23 spaceflight mission to China's Tiangong space station, at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center

JIUQUAN, China, May 24 (Reuters) - China will send an astronaut to its space station on Sunday for a year, a record length for the country, enabling the study of long-duration human physiology in space as Beijing works towards its ambition of a crewed moon landing by 2030.

The ‌Shenzhou-23 vessel is scheduled to launch at 11:08 p.m. (1508 GMT) using the Long March-2F Y23 carrier rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, with ‌three Chinese astronauts on board.

Payload specialist Li Jiaying, a former Hong Kong police inspector, will be the first astronaut from the city to take part in a Chinese space mission. The other crew members are commander ​Zhu Yangzhu and pilot Zhang Yuanzhi, both from the People's Liberation Army's astronaut division.

CHINA, U.S. SET SIGHTS ON MOON

One of the three is to stay on the Tiangong space station for a year, one of the longest space missions ever but short of the 14-1/2 month record set by a Russian cosmonaut in 1995. That astronaut will be decided later, depending on the progress of the mission, the China Manned Space Agency said on Saturday.

China has sent astronauts to its space station almost a dozen times, but this launch comes amid an accelerating race ‌to the moon with the U.S., which has warned about ⁠what it alleges are Beijing's plans to colonise and mine lunar territory and resources.

Beijing has strongly rejected these claims.

NASA is seeking to achieve a crewed moon landing in 2028, two years ahead of China. The U.S. aims to establish a long-term lunar presence as a stepping ⁠stone to eventual human exploration of Mars.

In April, four NASA astronauts made a historic trip around the moon as part of the Artemis II mission, flying farther from Earth than anyone before in the world's first crewed lunar mission in half a century.

On Friday Elon Musk's SpaceX made a largely successful, uncrewed test flight of its next-generation Starship rocket, which is designed to enable more ​frequent ​Starlink satellite launches and to send future NASA missions to the moon.

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China, with less than four years ​until its 2030 deadline, faces a tall order of developing entirely ‌new hardware and software specific to its lunar mission, proving it is mission-ready. That will ensure its astronauts, used to the relative safety of Tiangong in low-Earth orbit, can safely make the riskier transition to the moon's surface.

China's Shenzhou missions have been sending trios of astronauts to the station for six-month stays since 2021. The Chinese space agency is training two Pakistani astronauts, one of whom could join an expected mission to Tiangong this year on a short-duration basis.

GOAL OF PERMANENT LUNAR BASE BY 2035

The previous mission, Shenzhou-22, was launched ahead of schedule in November to return three Chinese astronauts to Earth after their Shenzhou-20 vessel was damaged by space debris in orbit.

China has only sent robots to the moon, ‌but its successive Shenzhou missions highlight the country's rapidly improving space capabilities. In June 2024, China ​became the first country to recover lunar samples from the moon's far side, using robots.

A successful crewed landing ​before 2030 would boost China's plans to establish a permanent base on the ​moon by 2035 with Russia.

The Chinese lunar programme's chief scientist, Wu Weiren, has said Beijing's public timeline is intentionally conservative.

Over the past year, ‌Beijing has been carrying out safety tests of hardware developed for the ​2030 mission, including heavy-lift Long March-10 rockets, ​the Mengzhou spacecraft and the Lanyue lunar lander.

The Shenzhou-23 flight will execute the first autonomous rapid rendezvous and docking procedure with the core module of Tiangong in preparation for the 2030 mission, which hinges on an automated lunar-orbit rendezvous between the Mengzhou capsule and the Lanyue lander.

Scientists will also study the physiological effects of radiation ​exposure, bone density loss and psychological stress in space for the ‌extended duration of the Shenzhou-23 mission.

Beijing is conducting the world's first human "artificial embryo" experiment in space, having sent samples of human stem cells to the ​Shenzhou-22 crew on the Tiangong this month, state media reported. The experiment is intended to study the long-term residence, survival and reproduction of human ​beings in space.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen; Editing by Eduardo Baptista, Jamie Freed and William Mallard)

Here's what we know about the shooting near the White House:Two people were wounded, including a suspect, in a shooting near the White House on Saturday evening, law enforcement sources told CBS News.Approximately 15 to 30 gunshots were fired at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW near the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the sources said.Multiple CBS News reporters said they heard what sounded like gunfire coming from the side of the White House complex at around 6 p.m. ET before U.S. Secret Service ushered them inside. CBS News producer recounts hearing shots: "We ducked to the ground"

CBS News White House associate producer Emma Nicholsonsaidin a social media post a CBS News crew was preparing to record for "CBS Weekend News" when they heard what sounded like multiple gunshots near the White House and "ducked to the ground."

Nicholson said they were then ushered into the White House "shortly after."

White House lockdown lifted

The lockdown at the White House has been lifted, and the press has been allowed back on the White House North Lawn.

2 wounded in shooting near White House, sources say

Two people were wounded in a shooting near the White House, law enforcement sources told CBS News.

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The two people, a suspect and a possible bystander, were taken to an area hospital, the sources said. The suspect was in critical condition, and the second person was in serious condition, the sources said.

The sources said it appears that Secret Service agents were shot at, unsuccessfully, and returned fire.

Somewhere between 15 and 30 gunshots were fired during the incident, according to the sources.

Several Secret Service officers were evaluated at the scene, but none were hospitalized, the sources said.

U.S. Secret Service aware of gunshots near White House, spokesperson says; FBI also responding

U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement to CBS News that the agency was aware of "reports of shots fired near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW" and is "working to corroborate the information with personnel on the ground."

FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post that the FBI was "on scene and supporting the Secret Service."

TheNew England Patriotswill be advantaged greatly by not facing a single opponent that will be coming off a bye week next season.

According to WEEI’s Chris Curtis,none of thePatriots’ games on their schedule will be against an opponent that had a bye week the week prior, which gives them an upper hand against their opponents in 2026.

The bye week comes with its share of perks and downsides in the NFL. Teams are able to get rest at critical points in the season. However, a bye week also runs the risk of interrupting a team’s momentum well into the year.

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The Patriots will get to play some of their opponents on potentially tired legs, with attrition taking its toll later on in the year.

Bye weeks will take place from Weeks 5-14 of the 2026 season. The Patriots will play theMinnesota Vikingsin Week 14, eight weeks after their Week 6 bye. New England will also play the Kansas City Chiefs 10 weeks after their Week 5 bye in Week 15 and theMiami Dolphins12 weeks after their Week 6 bye in Week 18.

Follow Patriots Wire onTwitterandFacebook.

This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire:Patriots have one major advantage on the 2026 NFL schedule

TheNorth Carolina Education Lottery 200NASCAR Craftsman Truck Seriesrace at Charlotte is under a weather delay for rain on May 22.

The start time was moved up to 7 p.m. local/6 p.m. Central on May 22 in an attempt to get ahead of an impending wave of storms.

The trucks made several pace laps before being brought down pit road after light rain fell on the track.

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Truck Series practice and qualifying was canceled earlier in the day.

Corey Day is on the pole, driving the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet originally entered for Kyle Busch beforeBusch's death on May 21.Busch won the previous Truck Series race in the No. 7 on May 15 at Dover.

A moment of silence honoring Busch was held during pre-race introductions. Charlotte Motor Speedway also added a tribute to Busch in the infield grass on the tri-oval.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean:NASCAR Truck Series race at Charlotte weather delay update, rain

WASHINGTON (AP) — When acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed off ona nearly $1.8 billion fundmeant to compensate President Donald Trump's allies for alleged political prosecution, he may have pleased his boss.

Congress White House Ballroom

Butthe eyebrow-raising move— the latest in his push to prove his loyalty to Trump —has agitated the same Republican lawmakerswhose support he would need if he is nominated for the permanent job.

Blanche insists he’s not auditioningfor the job of attorney general. But a series of splashy steps the Justice Department has taken under his watch since he took the position on an acting basis last month,including an indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, has left no doubt about the impression he’s hoping to make on the president who appointed him.

The fund in particular has put Blanche at the center ofa Republican firestormat a time when he aims to establish himself as the perfect person for the post for the remainder of Trump’s term. And it sharpened concerns from Democrats and other Blanche critics that he has not shed his mantle as the president’s personal attorney.

“So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong — Take your pick,” Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former majority leader, said in a statement.

From Trump's former lawyer to the Justice Department's top job

A former federal prosecutor in New York, Blanche came to public prominence for his lead role on Trump's defense team, including during theRepublican's hush money trial in New York.That perch afforded him, he has said, a firsthand look at what he contends was the weaponization of the criminal justice system against Trump.

He was brought into the Justice Department as deputy attorney general, the No. 2 job, then was elevated last month afterTrump ousted Pam Bondi.

Now he finds himself the latest Trump-appointed attorney general to simultaneously confront expectations from subordinates to uphold institutional norms and demands from the president to do his bidding.

Trump's first attorney general, Jeff Sessions,was forced out after the 2018 midtermsafter infuriating the president over his recusal from an investigation into ties between Russia and the 2016 presidential campaign. Another, William Barr, resigned after their relationship fizzled overBarr's refusal to back Trump's baseless claims of massive election fraud.Bondi was removed after struggling to bring successful prosecutions against Trump's political opponents.

Blanche has moved to advance Trump's interests

Two weeks after becoming acting attorney general, Blanche announced the appointment of Joseph diGenova, an 81-year-old former Justice Department prosecutor from the Reagan administration, to a special position inside the department, where he'll oversee a Florida-based investigation into whetherformer law enforcement and intelligence officials conspiredover the last decade to undermine Trump.

“At some point, at the right time, that will be made public and the American people will see exactly what happened to this administration and President Trump over the past decade," Blanche said in a Fox News Channel interview.

Prior government reviews of the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation, a centerpiece of the current conspiracy investigation, have failed to produce criminal charges against senior officials or evidence of criminal conduct by them. It's not clear what, if any, new information the continuing investigation has developed.

The Justice Department also last month obtained an indictment charging Comey, a Trump foe whose prosecution the president has long called for, with threatening Trump through a social media photo of seashells in the numerical arrangement of “86 47" — a case legal experts say will be challenging for prosecutors. Comey has said he wouldn't be surprised if the Justice Department pursues additional indictments against him.

In other moves,Blanche announced an indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit that has long been the target of conservative outrage, with misleading donors about its activities, and has publicly defended a Justice Department crackdown on leaks to the news media, including subpoenas to reporters.

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The $1.8 billion fund sparks Republican resistance

Arguably the most audacious demonstration of loyalty to Trump came this week when the Justice Department announced the creation of a $1.776 billion fund to compensate people who feel they've been unjustly investigated and prosecuted,coupled with a guarantee of immunity from tax audits for Trump and his eldest sons.

As Republican concerns grew, Blanche held a tense meeting with GOP lawmakers Thursday. Shortly afterward, Senate Republicans abruptly left Washington without voting on a roughly $70 billion bill to fund immigration enforcement agencies.

Blanche,who defended the fundat a congressional hearing this week, has said anyone who believes they've been persecuted can apply for compensation regardless of political affiliation. But the fund has been widely understood as a boon to Trump allies investigated during the Biden administration.

“It’s pretty clear that he’s not the attorney general for the United States as much as he's the attorney general for President Trump,” said Stephen Saltzburg, a George Washington University law professor and former senior Justice Department official. He said Blanche would get an A+ if report cards were issued for loyalty to Trump.

David Laufman, a former chief of staff to the deputy attorney general in President George W. Bush's administration, said that rather than protecting the Justice Department's independence, Blanche has been a “willing and ardent accomplice for carrying out any partisan or corrupt scheme the White House may devise.”

Blanche says he feels no pressure to please Trump

Blanche’s supporters dismiss the suggestion he is trying to curry favor with Trump to secure the permanent job.

“What he is doing is he is seeking justice based on facts and the law,” said Jay Town, who served as a U.S. attorney in Alabama during the first Trump administration. “And I don’t think that will ever change about him, whether he is the attorney general going forward or doesn’t spend another day in the administration. He is an honorable man and anybody that knows him knows that to be true.”

Blanche also insists he is not angling to keep his job or feeling pressure to placate Trump.

He has told reporters he would be honored to be nominated but, "if he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say, ‘Thank you very much. I love you, sir.’ I don’t have any goals or aspirations beyond that.”

In recent days, he's functioned as the fund's public face and most visible defender, a role consistent with his comfort in the spotlight. He sometimes holds multiple press conferences a week and grants interviews to a variety of news outlets, a contrast to Bondi, who largely stuck to Fox News appearances.

His defenders say his experience as a federal prosecutor has made him a more sophisticated communicator for the department than Bondi, but his statements have at times invited backlash, such as hisrefusal to rule out that violent Jan. 6 rioters could be eligible for payouts.

Though Blanche will appoint the five commissioners tasked with processing claims, his precise role in the fund’s conception and implementation is unclear. He told CNN it was developed through negotiations with Trump’s private lawyers, not him.

But for some Democrats, that's a difference without a distinction.

“Mr. Attorney General, you are acting today like the president's personal attorney," Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, told Blanche during a combative exchange in the Senate hearing, "and that's the whole problem."