International MONDAY, JULY 5, 2021 Bangladesh’s virus hotspot gasps for air as Rescuers search for survivors in landslide-hit Japan town Page 7 tough lockdown bites Page 7 IN SPACE: This screen grab made from video released by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV shows Chinese astronaut Liu Boming stepping outside China’s new Tiangong space station in orbit yesterday. —AFP Chinese astronauts complete first spacewalk Tiangong’s construction a major step in China’s ambitious space program TIANGONG STATION: Chinese astronauts success- tiful out here.” Television footage showed the astro- tion, along with supplies and astronauts. President Xi Jinping has said the construction of fully performed the country’s first tandem spacewalk nauts preparing for the spacewalk by donning gear China’s first space station is opening “new horizons” yesterday, working for seven hours on the outside of and conducting health checks while exercising. ‘Beyond words’ in humanity’s bid to explore the cosmos. China’s the new Tiangong station in orbit around Earth. Liu and Tang were later shown opening the hatch Yesterday, state television showed footage of the ambition to build an orbiting outpost of its own was Tiangong’s construction is a major step in China’s and exiting the module separately, wearing newly astronauts’ daily lives on Tiangong, including setting fuelled in part by a US ban on its astronauts on the ambitious space program, which has seen the nation developed suits said to weigh some 130 kilograms. up an exercise bike and working out on a treadmill. International Space Station, a collaboration between land a rover on Mars and send probes to the Moon. They were supported from inside the station by the One crew member was shown eating with chopsticks, the United States, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan. Three astronauts blasted off last month to become mission commander Nie Haisheng, a decorated air while another did a handstand and somersault after The ISS is due for retirement after 2024, the station’s first crew, where they are to remain for force pilot who is on his third space mission. mealtime. The mission attracted a flurry of discussion although NASA has said it could potentially remain three months in China’s longest crewed mission to date. This was the first of two spacewalks planned for online, with a hashtag about the spacewalk garnering functional beyond 2028. Tiangong is expected to Yesterday morning, two of them exited the station for the mission, both expected to last six or seven hours. 200 million views on China’s Twitter-like platform have a lifespan of at least 10 years, and China has around seven hours of work in the first spacewalk at It was also the first time since 2008 that Chinese Weibo. One user wrote: “How much I’m moved by said it would be open to international collaboration Tiangong, the China Manned Space Agency said. astronauts went outside their spacecraft. Back then, each step of achievement is beyond words.” on the station. —AFP “The safe return of astronauts Liu Boming and Zhai Zhigang made China the third country to com- Tang Hongbo to the Tianhe core module marks the plete a spacewalk after the Soviet Union and the complete success of the first spacewalk in our coun- United States. try’s space station construction,” the space agency This is China’s first crewed mission in nearly five said. Their tasks involved elevating a panoramic cam- years, and a matter of huge prestige as the country era outside the Tianhe core module, as well as testing marks the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist the station’s robotic arm which will be used to transfer Party this month with a massive propaganda cam- future modules around the station, state media said. paign. To prepare, the crew underwent more than The astronauts installed foot stops on the robotic 6,000 hours of training. The Chinese space agency is arm and, with its support, carried out other assembly planning a total of 11 launches through to the end of work, added the space agency. In a video clip of Liu next year, including three more crewed missions. leaving the cabin, he exclaimed: “Wow, it’s too beau- They will deliver two lab modules to expand the sta- Harsher sentences for Channel migrants: UK LONDON: Britain has announced it will seek harsher sentences for migrants caught entering the country without permission amid a record-break- ing surge in arrivals over the English Channel. The stricter prison sentences for both migrants and people smugglers come as part of Home Secretary Priti Patel’s plans to overhaul asylum rules in a bid to prevent what her department has characterised as “asylum shopping”. The legislation announced Saturday makes it a DEAL, UNITED KINGDOM : File photo shows migrants travel criminal offence to arrive in the UK without per- by inflatable boat as they reach the shore near Deal on the south east coast of England. Britain announced it will seek mission, with a maximum sentence for those enter- harsher sentences for migrants caught entering the country ing the country unlawfully increasing from six without permission. —AFP months to four years. Under the law set for its first reading in parliament on Tuesday, people smug- glers will face life sentences, up from the current which they could have claimed asylum”. “Where maximum of 14 years. this is the case, they are not seeking refuge at the Patel said the plans were “fair but firm”, adding earliest opportunity or showing good reason for that the UK would “welcome people through safe seeking to enter the UK illegally but are instead and legal routes whilst preventing abuse of the ‘asylum shopping’ by picking the UK as a pre- system, cracking down on illegal entry and the ferred destination over others and using an illegal criminality associated with it”. The bill’s unveiling route to get here,” it added. comes as the Britain’s asylum system strains under The government launched plans earlier this year the pressure of a record number of arrivals over for what it called the biggest changes to asylum the Channel. rules in decades, saying the current system was A total of nearly 6,000 migrants have made the overwhelmed. The plan drew fire from refugee dangerous crossing in the first six months of 2021. groups, who accused the ruling Conservatives of The total number of 8,417 arrivals for the whole of political cynicism. “Instead of peddling deliberately 2020 is likely to be overtaken in the next two misleading myths and untruths about asylum and months if trends continue, according to figures migration, the Home Office should be establishing from the domestic Press Association news agency. safe routes for those few people escaping persecu- The Home Office said it was “very likely that tion who wish to seek asylum here,” Amnesty those travelling to the UK via small boat will have International UK’s refugee and migrant rights come from a safe European Union country in director said. —AFP toral visit,” Francis told pilgrims gathered on Rome’s Pope to visit St Peter’s Square for his traditional Sunday prayer. He added that he would celebrate the closing mass of the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress Hungary, Slovakia in Budapest on September 12. Francis’ visit to Slovakia will include the cities of Bratislava, Presov, VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis said yesterday he Kosice and Sastin, the Vatican said in a statement. would visit Hungary and Slovakia from September Although more detailed plans for the trip will be 12 to 15, including celebrating a mass in Hungarian announced later, there was no sign the pope intends capital Budapest. “I’m happy to announce that from to meet Hungary’s political leaders during his stop September 12 to 15... I will go to Slovakia for a pas- in Budapest. —AFP.