Briefly

UNITED STATES

Stranded NASA astronauts to return

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded at the International Space Station since last June, are scheduled to return to Earth aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft on Tuesday, according to NASA. Their fellow Crew-9 astronauts, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, are also preparing to leave the station following the arrival of Crew-10 to the orbital laboratory. According to the latest schedule, the spacecraft carrying the four astronauts is scheduled to undock from the space station at 1:05 am on Tuesday to start the journey home.

RWANDA

Nation cuts diplomatic relations with Belgium

Rwanda on Monday severed its diplomatic relations with Belgium, citing Brussels' "pitiful attempts to sustain its neocolonial delusions.""The government of Rwanda today notified the government of Belgium of its decision to sever diplomatic relations, effective immediately," the Rwandan foreign ministry said in a statement. "Rwanda's decision has been taken after careful consideration of several factors, all linked with Belgium's pitiful attempts to sustain its neocolonial delusions." Belgium, describing Kigali's move as "disproportionate," said it will take similar measures.

Xinhua