NASA began the countdown Monday for humanity’s first launch to the moon in 53 years. The 32-story Space Launch System rocket is poised to blast off Wednesday evening with four astronauts. “Our team has worked extremely hard to get us to this moment,” said launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson.

Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates emphasized the "urgent need to refrain from measures" that risk further inflaming tensions on the ground. Eight Muslim-majority countries "strongly condemned" Israel's move to pass a law making death by hanging a default sentence for Palestinian terrorists convicted in military courts, a joint statement released by Pakistan said on Thursday.

Oil tycoon Wilmer Ruperti showed up for a meeting with Venezuela’s intelligence agency last Thursday. A week later, he’s still in custody.