By Remo Casilli and Roberto Mignucci ROME (Reuters) -Pope Francis did not deliver his Sunday blessing in public but his

Elon Musk has been told Taiwan is “not for sale” by the island’s foreign minister after the tech mogul said Taiwan was an integral part of China. Speaking to the All-In Summit in Los Angeles uploaded to YouTube this week, Musk attracted criticism when he said: “Their [Beijing’s] policy has been to reunite Taiwan with China. From their standpoint, maybe it is analogous to Hawaii or something like that, like an integral part of China that is arbitrarily not part of China mostly because … the US Pacific Fleet has stopped any sort of reunification effort by force,” he said. Taiwan foreign minister Joseph Wu, posted on Twitter/X in response, saying that he hoped Musk could ask China to “open @X to its people“. China blocks X, along with other major western social media like Facebook. "Perhaps he thinks banning it is a good policy, like turning off @Starlink to thwart Ukraine’s counterstrike against Russia,” Wu added, referring to Musk’s refusing a Ukrainian request to activate his Starlink satellite network in Crimea’s port city of Sevastopol last year to aid an attack on Russia’s fleet there. “Listen up, Taiwan is not part of the PRC & certainly not for sale!” Wu said, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China. This is not the first time Musk has annoyed Taiwan, which Xi Jinping wants to annex, claiming it is a province of China. Last October, he suggested that tensions between China and Taiwan could be resolved by handing over some control of Taiwan to Beijing. Meanwhile, this week has seen the largest scale Chinese military activity near Taiwan since major drills in April. On Thursday Taiwan’s defence ministry said it had detected 68 aircraft and 10 ships around Taiwan in the previous 24 hours, including 40 aerial crossings of the median line, prompting rumours of suspected military exercises, which have not been announced by China. Meanwhile, on Wednesday Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, accused the US and Taiwan of collusion to strengthen Taiwan’s defense capabilities. Maybe Musk should stay out of international relations and stick to Twitter/X. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Dramatic explosions on the surface of one of Saturn's moons have been observed, and it could change the way scientists approach the search for life in the universe. Saturn's ice-covered moon Enceladus has been the subject of attention from astronomers for decades after plumes of water vapor were observed erupting from its surface 20 years ago by the Cassini spacecraft. Now, the biggest plume yet has been spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope and it measures a massive 10,000 kilometers in length. Incredibly, the plume emitting from the geyser on the surface measures 20 times the size of the moon itself, and it indicates that there’s more to Enceladus than previously thought. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Planetary scientist Geronimo Villanueva of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center said: "When I was looking at the data, at first, I was thinking I had to be wrong, it was just so shocking to map a plume more than 20 times the diameter of the moon. "The plume extends far beyond what we could have imagined." Instead of solid ice, the size of the plume shows us that there’s a liquid ocean under the surface. It’s kept warm enough to avoid freezing due to the movement that results from the gravitational pull of Saturn. As ever, the existence of liquid water suggests that there’s the possibility of life existing there, and it's encouraging news for authors of the study accepted in Nature Astronomy. "The orbit of Enceladus around Saturn is relatively quick, just 33 hours. As it whips around Saturn, the moon and its jets are basically spitting off water, leaving a halo, almost like a donut, in its wake," Villanueva said. "In the Webb observations, not only was the plume huge, but there was just water absolutely everywhere." It remains one of the most interesting bodies being studied in the solar system, as geochemist Christopher Glein of the Southwest Research Institute. “Enceladus is one of the most dynamic objects in the Solar System and is a prime target in humanity's search for life beyond Earth," geochemist Christopher Glein of the Southwest Research Institute said. "In the years since NASA's Cassini spacecraft first looked at Enceladus, we never cease to be amazed by what we find is happening on this extraordinary moon." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Muslims complained it was blasphemous to ask students to colour in a picture of the Islamic prophet.

The People’s Bank of China hinted Monday it will keep monetary policy supportive, prompting expectations it may cut

A woman with whom Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s staff say he carried on extramarital affair is expected to be called to testify in the Republican’s impeachment trial Wednesday

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 11, 2023--

The Crimean Bridge, which links the annexed peninsula to mainland Russia, was hit by two strikes early Monday in an attack a Ukrainian security official told CNN Kyiv was responsible for.

Madagascar’s highest court has ruled that next month’s presidential election be postponed for a week to allow authorities to prepare after two candidates were injured during protests when security forces fired tear gas grenades

RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 27, 2023--

A fan commented on Alix Earle's brow makeover, saying, 'The arch is perfection!'

By Sharon Bernstein North Carolina Republicans on Tuesday pushed through new curbs on same-day voter registration by overriding