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Chandrayaan-3 Rover Rolls Onto Moon's Surface as India Celebrates

A man reads a daily hindi newspaper with front page reporting on successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the south pole of the Moon, in New Delhi on August 24, 2023. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)
A man reads a daily hindi newspaper with front page reporting on successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the south pole of the Moon, in New Delhi on August 24, 2023. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)
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Chandrayaan-3 Rover Rolls Onto Moon's Surface as India Celebrates

A man reads a daily hindi newspaper with front page reporting on successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the south pole of the Moon, in New Delhi on August 24, 2023. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)
A man reads a daily hindi newspaper with front page reporting on successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the south pole of the Moon, in New Delhi on August 24, 2023. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)

The moon rover of India's Chandrayaan-3 exited the spacecraft on Thursday to begin its exploration of the lunar surface and conduct experiments to help future probes, as the media hailed the historic landing as the country's biggest scientific feat. The spacecraft landed on the unexplored south pole of the moon on Wednesday evening, days after Russia's Luna-25 failed, making India the first country to achieve this feat.
The soft, textbook touchdown by the lander after a failed attempt in 2019 sparked widespread jubilation and celebration in the world's most populous country. "The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon!" the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
ISRO chief S. Somanath said the "Pragyan" rover had two instruments to conduct element and chemical composition experiments.
"More than that it will do the roving on the surface, we will also do a robotic path planning exercise which is very important for us for future exploration," Somanath told Indian news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake. Accomplished with a budget of about 6.15 billion rupees ($75 million), this was India's second attempt to touch down on the moon. A previous mission in 2019, Chandrayaan-2, successfully deployed an orbiter but its lander crashed. Chandrayaan means "moon vehicle" in Hindi and Sanskrit. Chandrayaan-3 is expected to remain functional for two weeks which equals one lunar day when its solar-powered equipment is built to last. The moon's rugged south pole is coveted because of its water ice, which is believed to be capable of providing fuel, oxygen, and drinking water for future missions, but its rough terrain makes landing challenging.
People across the country tuned in to watch the landing on Wednesday, with nearly 7 million people viewing the YouTube live stream alone.
Prayers were also held at places of worship, and schools organized live screenings of the spectacle for students.
Besides boosting India's standing as a space power and its reputation for cost-competitive space engineering, the landing is also seen as a major moment of national pride.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was being congratulated by everyone since Wednesday evening and the world saw the successful landing not as one country's achievement but that of all of humanity.

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Cat-linked Parasite is ‘Major Cause of Vision Loss’

Awareness protects people from being infected with the parasite (Getty) 
Awareness protects people from being infected with the parasite (Getty) 
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Cat-linked Parasite is ‘Major Cause of Vision Loss’

Awareness protects people from being infected with the parasite (Getty) 
Awareness protects people from being infected with the parasite (Getty) 

As much as a third of the world’s population could be infected with a parasite from cats that might lead to retina-damaging eye infection and permanent vision loss, a groundbreaking new study warns.

Although the disease, toxoplasmosis, is preventable and treatable, researchers call for it to be formally recognized as a neglected tropical disease (NTD) by the World Health Organization (WHO), according to The Independent.

“Toxoplasmosis is a leading eye infection and a major cause of vision loss worldwide, yet it receives limited attention in global health agendas,” said Justine Smith, an author of the study published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

With WHO’s recognition, we can make substantial progress in prevention and management of this infection,” said Dr Smith, an ophthalmologist from Flinders University in Australia.

People may be infected with the parasite either through eating undercooked meat, contaminated produce or water, or exposure to cat feces.

Cats themselves may get infected from eating raw meat, birds, or rodents.

Curbing the disease spread would require integration of veterinary strategies, improved farm health safety, management of stray cats, and safe disposal of animal waste, scientists say.

It occurs mainly in communities with limited access to healthcare, safe food, clean water and prenatal care.

In most severe cases, infection with the parasite may lead to inflammation of the retina and permanent blindness; scientists warn.

Researchers warn that currently there is less research funding and policy attention for toxoplasmosis than diseases with similar or lower impacts.

A formal WHO recognition as an NTD would unlock funding for research, prevention and treatment.

“Without this recognition, we can expect limited progress in the prevention and management of toxoplasmosis to continue,” researchers warn.

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Why Some Europeans Resist Air Conditioning, Even Amid Deadly Heatwaves

People use an umbrella to protect themselves from the sun, amid a heatwave, at Castle Square in Warsaw, Poland, June 28, 2026. (Reuters)
People use an umbrella to protect themselves from the sun, amid a heatwave, at Castle Square in Warsaw, Poland, June 28, 2026. (Reuters)
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Why Some Europeans Resist Air Conditioning, Even Amid Deadly Heatwaves

People use an umbrella to protect themselves from the sun, amid a heatwave, at Castle Square in Warsaw, Poland, June 28, 2026. (Reuters)
People use an umbrella to protect themselves from the sun, amid a heatwave, at Castle Square in Warsaw, Poland, June 28, 2026. (Reuters)

As climate change drives more severe and prolonged heatwaves, it seems that turning to air conditioners is the most logic option to save lives.

But in Europe, many residents and officials are still reluctant to use air conditioning although the heat takes an increasingly deadly toll. A big part of the reason is many European countries consider air conditioning as an unnecessary, costly, carbon emissions-heavy indulgence.

France's record heat last week has been linked to around 1,000 deaths of mostly elderly people. Heat danger is a problem being felt across Europe, which has the oldest population of any continent and is also the world's fastest-warming continent, according to CBS News.

The continent also has more heat-related deaths per capita than anywhere else in the world, yet it has fewer hot days. According to World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, there have been more than 1,300 heat-related excess deaths in Europe since June 21.

European officials are calling for change, but not the kind that may seem obvious — like air conditioning.

A 2007 study found that air conditioning can cut heat-related deaths by 75%, but only about 20% of Europeans have air conditioning in their homes. In the US, it's about 90%.

“My honest response is I don't think that should be the solution anywhere,” Ine Vandecasteele, an urban adaptation expert with the European Environment Agency, told CBS News.

“It is an immediate response, which can support essentially those who may be vulnerable in hospitals, or in very short term can help. But in the longer term, what happens is, installing more air conditioning actually emits more heat into our environment, so it will actually increase the speed of warming,” she added.

It's also more expensive. In Europe, energy prices are much higher than in the US. European governments have instead funded other ways to cool historic and densely populated cities, such as public cooling stations.

In Rome, wearable technology is distributed to monitor the elderly, who are by far the most at risk in the increasing heat. But Italy has also embraced air conditioning more than other European nations.

About 56% of all homes in Italy had air conditioning as of 2024, according to the National Institute of Statistics, and the country accounts for one-third of all electricity use on air conditioning in the European Union, according to EU data.

A recent survey in France found that one in six people said they would rather suffer for the sake of the environment. Vandecasteele told CBS News she doesn't find that surprising.

“We're not doing this for us,” she said. “We're doing this for the future generations.”

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End of the Line for Finland’s Analogue Phone Network

Countries across the world have rolled out fiber optic cable that can handle both internet services and voice calls. (Reuters)
Countries across the world have rolled out fiber optic cable that can handle both internet services and voice calls. (Reuters)
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End of the Line for Finland’s Analogue Phone Network

Countries across the world have rolled out fiber optic cable that can handle both internet services and voice calls. (Reuters)
Countries across the world have rolled out fiber optic cable that can handle both internet services and voice calls. (Reuters)

Finland on Tuesday pulled the plug on analogue landline phone calls after almost 150 years, the latest country to push forward in a global transition towards digital infrastructure.

Estonia, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain have already made the jump, as countries across the world roll out fiber optic cable that can handle both internet services and voice calls.

Finland's fixed-line network began operating in the 1880s, but like everywhere else the digital revolution has swallowed up the old technology based on copper wires.

And the Nordic country, home of mobile phone pioneer Nokia, has seen the use of landline phones gobbled up by mobile technology.

Elisa, the country's last major telecom operator with a fixed-line copper-wire network, marked the end of its service with a call between the firm's CEO Topi Manner and Jarkko Saarimaki, head of the country's communication and transport agency.

The two chatted about their memories of landline phones, with Manner recalling his time as a teenager in London in the 1980s when he would call home once a week at an agreed time to make sure the family were all there.

They also discussed the future of mobile technologies, before ending the call with a casual "kuulemiin", meaning "speak later" in Finnish.

When announcing its decision to retire the network in January -- a move its competitors had already made earlier -- Elisa said its customers had just a "few thousand" landline-only plans, with no new ones being sold in years.

After Tuesday, the only providers of landline plans in Finland will be local operators, currently covering a few thousand plans for local calls, public broadcaster Yle said.