Briefly

UNITED STATES

Artemis II moonship returns to space center

NASA's Artemis II capsule returned to Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, almost a month after blasting off on humanity's first lunar trip in more than half a century. Following its splashdown in the Pacific on April 10, the Orion capsule was trucked from San Diego to Cape Canaveral. Engineers will examine the capsule's heat shield in detail, along with everything else, in preparation for next year's Artemis III docking demo in orbit around Earth. Aside from a finicky toilet, the capsule appeared to perform well during the nearly 10-day voyage, according to NASA.

UNITED KINGDOM

King visits Washington in bid to salvage ties

King Charles III is on a four-day visit to the US, intending to both celebrate US independence and repair the fraying relationship between the two countries. Speaking on Tuesday at a joint session of the US Congress, Charles highlighted the historical ties between the US and UK, but also urged to "ignore the clarion calls to become ever more inward-looking". The bilateral ties have taken a sour turn as US President Donald Trump challenged the traditional trans-Atlantic alliance, threatening to walk away from NATO. UK also resisted US overtures for support in the Iran war earlier this year.

EUROPE

Countries, lawmakers fail to reach AI deal

European Union legislators failed to agree on a rollback of the bloc's artificial intelligence rules after 12 hours of negotiations on Tuesday. Rules for machinery and medical devices were the main sticking point. The talks derailed over a request by the center-right in Parliament to allow key products, such as machinery and medical devices, to comply with AI requirements under sectoral law rather than the AI Act. People with direct knowledge of the negotiations said the next round of discussions will likely be in two weeks' time.

Agencies via Xinhua