Launch preparations have begun for the Artemis II mission, NASA’s planned lunar fly-around by four astronauts that will be the first moon trip in 53 years. Tensions were high as hydrogen fuel started flowing into the rocket hours ahead of the planned launch. The launch team needs to load more than 700,000 gallons of fuel (2.6 million liters) into the 32-story Space Launch System rocket on the pad before the Artemis II crew can board.

A humpback whale stranded for days off Germany's Baltic coast has freed itself late on Saturday after getting stuck on another sandbank, a spokesman for the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Ministry of the Environment said. The whale was being accompanied by the water police, who are trying to follow it, Claus Tantzen said, adding that, since the waters in the area are very shallow, the animal may get stuck again.

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has attributed a controversial statement that 80% of the more than 900,000 Syrians in Germany should go back home within three years to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Merz made the announcement during al-Sharaa's visit to Germany on Monday, and clarified a day later that "the figure of 80% returnees within three years was cited by the Syrian president.