Briefly

SOUTH KOREA

First lunar orbiter launched by SpaceX

South Korea's first lunar orbiter successfully launched on a yearlong mission to observe the moon, Seoul said on Friday, with the payload including a new disruption-tolerant network for sending data from space. Danuri, a portmanteau of the Korean words for "moon" and "enjoy", was on a Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida by Elon Musk's aerospace company SpaceX. It aims to reach the moon by mid-December. Danuri will use six different instruments to conduct research.

UNITED STATES

Twitter says Musk making up excuses

Twitter on Thursday said the notion Elon Musk was "hoodwinked" into inking a $44 billion buyout deal defies reason and the facts. In a filing, Twitter rejected counterclaims made by Musk as he fights to walk away from the deal he inked in April to buy the company. Musk has filed a countersuit along with a legal defense against Twitter's claim that the billionaire is contractually bound to complete the takeover deal. A trial against Musk has been scheduled for Oct 17.

TURKIYE

Three more grain ships leave Ukraine: Ankara

Three more ships loaded with grain sailed from Ukraine on Friday under the UN-backed deal lifting the blockade of the Black Sea, Turkiye's defense ministry said. The Panama-flagged Navistarl eft Odessa for Ireland with 33,000 metric tons of grain, it said. And two ships left the port of Chornomorsk, the Malta-flagged Rojen headed to Britain, and the Turkish-flagged Polarnet sailing toward Turkiye.

Agencies - Xinhua