European stocks kicked off December with gains, extending a rally that added $1.2 trillion to the Stoxx 600’s

There is a more than 95% chance that El Niño conditions will prevail from December 2023 to February

India has successfully landed on the Moon – for less than the cost of the film Interstellar. The Indian space agency announced on Wednesday that it had completed a “soft landing” on the lunar surface, near its southern pole. It becomes the first ever to land there, and just the fourth country to successfully send a mission to the Moon at all. And it did so on a very restrictive budget. The Chandrayaan-3 cost was sent to the Moon at a cost of about 6.15 billion rupees, or $75 million, according to Reuters. That is less than the cost of most blockbuster space films. Gravity cost $100 million, The Martian cost $108 million – and it was less than half the cost of Interstellar, which was filmed on a budget of $165 million. It even costs less than some houses. The UK’s most expensive house, for instance, went on sale at £200 million, or nearly three-and-a-half missions to the Moon. The budget is even less than India allocated to Chandrayaan-2, the previous attempt to land on the Moon in 2019, which ended in failure when the lander crashed. That cost around 8 billion rupees, or about 30 per cent more than the latest successful mission, though engineers have made clear that many of the learnings from that earlier launch had been integrated into the latest one. India has looked to build a reputation for cost-effective but still successful missions to space. It comes as the country encourages investment in the private space industry and businesses focused on satellites. The price of the whole Indian mission is similar to that charged by SpaceX for one Falcon 9 launch. That is charged at $67 million, according to its website. Read More Why India’s moon landing is about a lot more than exploring the lunar surface WhatsApp has finally fixed the most stressful thing about making a group Jury finds teenager responsible for computer hacking spree

The Dallas Mavericks blew a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter before rallying back for a 104-101 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers

Darius Vines pitched six strong innings to win in his major league debut and Marcell Ozuna homered for the second time in as many games as the Atlanta Braves beat the Colorado Rockies 7-3 to complete a season sweep

The Biden administration and JetBlue Airways are facing off in court over the Biden administration's effort to stop JetBlue from buying Spirit Airlines

Jacob Wilhoit is charged with threatening, aggravated assault, unlawful imprisonment, kidnapping, and other crimes

WASHINGTON Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and multiple other witnesses have testified before a grand jury in recent

Joao Palhinha has signed a new contract with Fulham. He was close to joining Bayern Munich during the summer transfer window.

Cricket could feature in the Olympics for the first time since 1900 after organisers of the 2028 Los Angeles Games...

The Walt Disney Company has pulled the plug on a $1bn office complex in Orlando, following a warning from Disney leadership that billions of dollars in projects were on the line after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis escalated his feud with the company. The development scheduled for construction in the Orlando area was set to bring 2,000 jobs to the region, with 1,000 employees expected to be relocated from southern California. In an email to employees on 18 May, Disney’s theme park and consumer products chair Josh D’Amaro pointed to “changing business conditions” for the cancellation of the 60-acre Lake Nona Town Center project, according to The New York Times, which first reported the move. “I remain optimistic about the direction of our Walt Disney World business,” he added, noting that the company has still planned $17bn in projects over the next decade its Disney World campus. “I hope we’re able to,” he said. For years, Florida legislators and the governor’s office enjoyed a close relationship with the state’s largest taxpayers, among the state’s largest employers, which has wielded enormous political influence while bringing in billions of dollars to the state each year. Now, the company and DeSantis allies are suing one another, following a year-long feud over opposition to what opponents have called Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law that boiled over into political and legal battles that could shape the company’s business in the state. Moments after board appointed by Mr DeSantis voted to strip the company’s control of its Florida park, Disney filed a federal lawsuit against the governor and state officials alleging a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” for “expressing a political viewpoint.” The lawsuit follows the governor’s state takeover of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, now the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, made up of conservative activists and DeSantis loyalists, a move that followed Florida Republicans’ punitive measures against the company after its public opposition to the “Don’t Say Gay” law. Days later, the board voted to sue Disney in state court. In March, Disney slammed the governor’s “anti-business” approach to the company, which Mr DeSantis has accused of advancing a “woke agenda” while his administration targets LGBT+ people and their families with sweeping laws to control public school education, healthcare access and speech. The governor dissolved a decades-old municipal district that allowed Disney to control its own land use, zoning rules and public services, without putting a tax burden on Florida residents. In effect, Disney taxed itself to foot the district’s bill for its municipal needs. “Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes, or not?” Disney CEO Bob Iger said on a conference call with analysts last week. A statement from Disney said the company has decided to pull out of the new campus construction “given the considerable changes that have occurred since the announcement of this project, including new leadership and changing business conditions.” The “Parental Rights in Education Act” – what opponents have called “Don’t Say Gay” – prohibits instruction of “sexual orientation or gender identity” from kindergarten through the third grade and any such discussion “that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students” in other grades. The governor recently expanded the law to explicitly extend such restrictions to all grades. Critics have warned that the broadly written law threatens to freeze classroom speech involving LGBT+ people and issues, from civil rights history lessons to discussion of LGBT+ students, school staff and their families. Following passage of the Florida law, lawmakers across the US and in Congress have introduced similar legislation, including more than two dozen measures in current legislative sessions. Read More DeSantis v Disney: Why Florida’s governor is at war with the Mouse ‘We will not be erased’: Critics slam Ron DeSantis for unprecedented bills attacking LGBTQ+ people Penguin Random House sues Florida school district over ‘unconstitutional’ book bans Florida teacher under investigation for showing Disney movie with LGBT+ character speaks out

The war between Israel and Hamas is raising fears about rising hostility across the United States