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Rocket Lab launches Japanese Satellite from the Space Company's Complex in New Zealand

In this image released by Rocket Lab, a electron rocket successfully takes off from its launch site on the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. (Rocket Lab via AP)
In this image released by Rocket Lab, a electron rocket successfully takes off from its launch site on the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. (Rocket Lab via AP)
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Rocket Lab launches Japanese Satellite from the Space Company's Complex in New Zealand

In this image released by Rocket Lab, a electron rocket successfully takes off from its launch site on the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. (Rocket Lab via AP)
In this image released by Rocket Lab, a electron rocket successfully takes off from its launch site on the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. (Rocket Lab via AP)

California-based Rocket Lab, which specializes in putting small satellites into orbit, launched a Japanese satellite on Friday from the space company's complex on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula.
The mission, named “The Moon God Awakens,” was initially scheduled for Wednesday but was postponed due to forecast strong winds. The Electron rocket launched at 5:06 p.m. local time (0406 GMT).
The rocket successfully carried the TSUKUYOMI-I satellite into orbit on behalf of Japanese startup Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space Inc, Rocket Lab said in a statement more than two hours after the launch.
The synthetic-aperture radar satellite, named after a Japanese god of the moon, will collect images of the Earth, The Associated Press quoted Rocket Lab as saying.
The mission is Rocket Lab’s 10th for 2023, exceeding its annual record of nine set in 2022.
It is the 42nd Electron launch from Mahia or from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops Island, Virginia, since 2017. Rocket Lab was founded in New Zealand in 2006.

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UK Starts Ban on Junk Food Ads on Daytime TV and Online

This photo illustration taken on December 18, 2025 shows a venison burger at a popular market in London. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)
This photo illustration taken on December 18, 2025 shows a venison burger at a popular market in London. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)
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UK Starts Ban on Junk Food Ads on Daytime TV and Online

This photo illustration taken on December 18, 2025 shows a venison burger at a popular market in London. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)
This photo illustration taken on December 18, 2025 shows a venison burger at a popular market in London. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

New regulations come into force Monday in Britain banning daytime TV and online adverts for so-called junk foods, in what the government calls a "world-leading action" to tackle childhood obesity.

The ban -- targeting ads for products high in fat, salt or sugar -- is expected to remove up to 7.2 billion calories from children's diets each year, according to the health ministry.

Impacting ads airing before the 9:00pm watershed and anytime online, it will reduce the number of children living with obesity by 20,000 and deliver around £2 billion ($2.7 bln) in health benefits, the ministry added.

The implementation of the measure -- first announced in December 2024 -- follows other recent steps, including an extended sugar tax on pre-packaged items like milkshakes, ready-to-go coffees and sweetened yoghurt drinks, AFP reported.

Local authorities have also been given the power to stop fast food shops setting up outside schools.

The government argues evidence shows advertising influences what and when children eat, shaping preferences from a young age and increasing the risk of obesity and related illnesses.

It notes 22 percent of children starting primary schooling in England -- typically aged around five -- are overweight or obese, rising to more than a third by the time they progress to secondary schools aged 11.

Tooth decay is the leading cause of UK hospital admissions for young children, typically aged five to nine, according to officials.

"By restricting adverts for junk food before 9pm and banning paid adverts online, we can remove excessive exposure to unhealthy foods," health minister Ashley Dalton said in a statement.

He added the move was part of a strategy to make the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) focus on preventing as well as treating sickness, "so people can lead healthier lives".

Katharine Jenner, executive director of the Obesity Health Alliance, said it was "a welcome and long-awaited step towards better protecting children from unhealthy food and drink advertising that can harm their health and wellbeing".

The charity Diabetes UK also welcomed the ads ban, with its chief executive, Colette Marshall, noting that type 2 diabetes is on the rise in young people.

"Obesity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, and the condition can lead to more severe consequences in young people -- leaving them at risk of serious complications like kidney failure and heart disease," she added.

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Bluefin Tuna Sells for Record $3.2 Million at Year-opening Auction at Tokyo Fish Market

Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., poses with the bluefin tuna that won the highest bid at the annual New Year auction in Tokyo, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., poses with the bluefin tuna that won the highest bid at the annual New Year auction in Tokyo, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
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Bluefin Tuna Sells for Record $3.2 Million at Year-opening Auction at Tokyo Fish Market

Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., poses with the bluefin tuna that won the highest bid at the annual New Year auction in Tokyo, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., poses with the bluefin tuna that won the highest bid at the annual New Year auction in Tokyo, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

A massive 243-kilogram (535-pound) bluefin tuna sold for a record 510 million yen ($3.2 million) at the first auction of 2026 at Tokyo's Toyosu fish market.

The top bidder for the prized tuna at the predawn auction on Monday was Kiyomura Corp., whose owner Kiyoshi Kimura runs the popular Sushi Zanmai chain. Kimura, who has won the annual action many times in the past, broke the previous record of 334 million yen ($2.1 million) he set in 2019.

According to The Associated Press, Kimura later told reporters he was hoping to pay a bit less for it, but “the price shot up before you knew it.”

The auction started when the bell rang, and the floor was filled with torpedo-shaped fish with their tails cut off so bidders could examine meat details such as color, texture and fattiness while walking around the rows of tuna.

The pricey fish was caught off the coast of Oma in northern Japan, a region widely regarded for producing some of the country’s finest tuna, and costs 2.1 million yen ($13,360) per kilogram ($6,060 per pound).

“It’s in part for good luck,” Kimura said. “But when I see a good looking tuna, I cannot resist ... I haven’t sampled it yet, but it’s got to be delicious.”

Hundreds of tuna are sold daily at the early morning auction, but prices are significantly higher than usual for the Oma tuna, especially at the celebratory New Year auction.

Due to the popularity of tuna for sushi and sashimi, Pacific bluefin tuna was previously a threatened species due to climate change and overfishing, but its stock is recovering following conservation efforts.

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Three Million Pounds to Save Polar Explorer Shackleton's Villa

A person taking a photo of Ernest Shackleton's grave, polar explorer, who died after a heart attach in 1922 (Shutterstock)
A person taking a photo of Ernest Shackleton's grave, polar explorer, who died after a heart attach in 1922 (Shutterstock)
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Three Million Pounds to Save Polar Explorer Shackleton's Villa

A person taking a photo of Ernest Shackleton's grave, polar explorer, who died after a heart attach in 1922 (Shutterstock)
A person taking a photo of Ernest Shackleton's grave, polar explorer, who died after a heart attach in 1922 (Shutterstock)

Work is under way on a South Atlantic island to preserve a key building in the story of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton.

Shackleton famosly reached the whaling station of Stromness on South Georgia in 1916 after spending 18 months stranded on Antarctica with his crew.

The now-dilapidated Stromness Manager's Villa was used as a base by Shackleton while he orchestrated the rescue of his men.

The Dundee-based South Georgia Heritage Trust have been working to stabilize the structure, with plans to create a digital “twin” of the building for people around the world to see it.

A 2022 survey found the building was very close to collapse.

Alison Neil, chief executive of the South Georgia Heritage Trust, said: “The reason for that is rotting timbers. This is an old-fashioned version of a flat-pack house. They would've been brought down from Norway on ships and then assembled on the island.”

The trust raised more than £3 million to send a team to South Georgia.
They arrived in October and have been working on stabilizing the structure.

Alison said: “It's in the middle of a whaling station that's full of asbestos, dangerous debris, and is not accessible to the public. Our plan is not to open it up to the public, our plan is to maintain it for the future.”

Shackleton's extraordinary story of survival has fascinated and inspired people for more than a century.

His most famous mission was his plan to cross Antarctica through the South Pole after travelling on board his ship The Endurance.

In 1915, The Endurance became trapped in ice, and his crew abandoned ship, crossing onto floating ice, which they hoped would drift towards land.

But by April 1916, the ice floes were breaking up, so Shackleton took his crew in lifeboats first to Elephant Island, then led a smaller group to find help for the others.

They crossed about 800 miles (1,300km) of ocean in the open boat before reaching the island of South Georgia.

Leaving three of the men behind with the boat, Shackleton, Frank Worsley and Tom Crean trekked across the island for three days until they reached Stromness whaling station on the far side of the island.

Alison said the men made it to the villa in a dishevelled state.

She said: “No-one recognized them, they must've looked terrifying. They knocked on the door of the villa and famously the whaling manager opened the door and said, 'who the hell are you?' Shackleton allegedly said: 'My name is Shackleton'.”

It was the men's first contact with the outside world for 17 months.

Shackleton, Worsley and Crean were invited in to the villa where they had a hot meal and a bath, before immediately starting the rescue of the rest of their crew with the help of the whalers.

Alison said: “That's a really important part of The Endurance story and it effectively is the next chapter on from the sinking of the vessel.”