Trump accused of flashing ‘middle finger’ at female astronaut
Washington: US President Donald Trump has found himself at the centre of a fierce controversy after he was seen scratching his forehead with his middle finger when a female NASA astronaut corrected him during a video call to the International Space Station (ISS). During a video call to US astronauts Jessica Meir and her colleague Christina Koch who were on the International Space Station, Trump congratulated them for being the first two female astronauts to walk in space. “We are thrilled to be speaking live with two brave American astronauts who are making history joining us during their spacewalk…And this is the first time for a woman outside of the space station,” the US President said, who was accompanied by his daughter, Ivanka Trump. However, Meir fact-checked the President and said that they were not the first female astronauts to walk in space. In fact, it was “the first time that there has been two women outside” at the same time.After the astronaut corrected Trump, he was seen scratching his forehead with his middle finger. Trump’s gesture didn’t go down well with Twitterati, who accused him of flipping a middle finger at the astronaut. “He gives them the middle finger after they correct his erroneous remark. How presidential,” commented one Twitter user. Another user wrote: “Was Trump giving her the finger as she corrected him?” One Twitter user stated, “There is absolutely no way that was not on purpose.” Meir and Koch’s historic eight-hour spacewalk took place last week. Their job was to fix a broken part of the ISS solar power network. (IANS)
Italian couple saved from landslide by their cats
Rome: An Italian couple survived a landslide that caused their house to collapse after being woken by their cats, giving them time to escape, media reported Wednesday. “My wife got up because Simba and Mose, our cats, were making a noise and woke us up,” Claudio Piana told the Secolo XIX newspaper, as violent storms lashed northern Italy, killing a taxi driver and forcing dozens of people from their homes. “She realised they were playing with a piece of plaster which had just fallen off the ceiling. Then we saw cracks opening in the walls,” he said. Piana and his wife Sabrina Pellegrini had gone to bed at home in Campo Ligure on Monday night as fierce rains across the Liguria region saw rivers burst their banks, washed away a bridge and sparked landslides. Unbeknown to them, one such landslide had damaged the house’s foundations, the newspaper said. The couple rushed out to the car, but found themselves trapped by a sea of mud. They were rescued by firefighters. “My brother then called and said ‘Claudio, your house has collapsed’,” Piana said. A video published on the daily’s website showed the two-storey home reduced to pile of rubble. “Now we have nothing. The firefighters said we can never go back into the house, it’s too dangerous,” he added. “At least Simba and Mose survived.” (AFP)
