Author: Steven Sahiounie

AL RAYYAN, Qatar — When United States coach Gregg Berhalter walked into the locker room after his team squandered a late 1-0 lead Monday against Wales and settled for a tie in the U.S. men’s first World Cup game in eight years, his overriding emotion wasn’t frustration. It could have been. Maybe it should’ve been. The Americans utterly dominated the first half at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium. They took the lead in the 36th minute on a superb goal by Tim Weah that was set up by an even better Christian Pulisic pass, and they held onto that slim advantage almost until the end, when one crucial mistake cost them the victory.…

A combination of the Shenzhou-15 spaceship and a Long March-2F carrier rocket has been transferred to the launch area and will be launched in the near future at an appropriate time, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said on Monday. The facilities and equipment at the launch site are in good condition, and various pre-launch function checks and joint tests will be carried out as planned, the agency added. The Shenzhou-15 mission is expected to launch three Chinese astronauts, or taikonauts, to the China Space Station for a half-year stay. They will briefly stay with the three-person Shenzhou-14 crew in…

China is willing to work with other countries to strengthen exchanges and cooperation to jointly explore the universe, peacefully utilize outer space and promote space technology to better benefit the people of the world, said Chinese President Xi Jinping. President Xi made the remarks on Monday in a congratulatory letter to the United Nations/China Global Partnership Workshop on Space Exploration and Innovation, which opened on Monday in Haikou City, south China’s Hainan Province. With the Chang’e probes flying to the moon, the Zhurong rover probing Mars, the Xihe satellite chasing the sun and the China Space Station’s traveling among the stars,…

The FIFA World Cup 2022 opened in Qatar on Sunday, with Chinese-made products ranging from stadiums to water supply systems and clean energy technologies shining, ensuring a green global football extravaganza in the high-temperature desert area. Zhou Jian, Chinese ambassador to Qatar, told CGTN that China’s contributions to the World Cup would optimize the close friendship between the two countries. “The Lusail Stadium is an iconic project in the Chinese contribution to the World Cup. From infrastructure to telecommunications, from 1,500 new-energy buses to solar power plants, from match supplies to souvenirs and fan items, made-in-China can be found everywhere in Qatar.” Lusail Stadium …

Hundreds of millions of items of human-made debris are continually circling Earth, including broken rocket bodies, defunct satellites and fragments from orbital collisions as the number of rocket launches and space activities have been growing. Keen to tackle the space-junk problem, Chinese aerospace scientists have managed to use a large “sail” to de-orbit spacecraft at the end of their life. The de-orbiter is a sail-like device made of a thin film, the thickness of which is less than one tenth of the diameter of a hair. Folded, it is approximately the size of an adult’s palm, but it can cover…

China’s Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Zhang Yunming said on Sunday that the country’s 5G+ industrial internet has entered the fast lane of development. He made the remarks at the opening of 2022 China 5G+ Industrial Internet Conference in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province. The event has gathered academicians, experts, entrepreneurs and representatives of industry associations from across the country to explore innovation avenues and discuss wider integration of 5G technology and industrial internet. Jointly hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the People’s Government of Hubei Province, the conference is scheduled to hold two main forums…

Lionel Messi begins his final World Cup with high hopes for Argentina and a tricky test from Saudi Arabia in Lusail on Tuesday. Messi’s nation is one of the favorites to go far in Qatar and the one-time finalist would love to add a World Cup to his glittering resume. Saudi Arabia’s close to home and a tough nut to crack, scrappy and capable of hanging in any game. Saudi coach Herve Renard is well-experienced on the stage and may have a surprise in store for Group C, where his completely Saudi-based squad has been training together for some time.…

Denmark and Christian Eriksen know they’ll have a chance to be the darlings of the 2022 World Cup, and that that journey begins with tournament dark horse Tunisia on Tuesday in Al Rayyan. Eriksen’s terrifying on-field injury at EURO 2020 caught the attention of the world and Denmark went deep into the tournament while following the progress of their ailing captain. Eriksen is back and thriving, now a member of Manchester United. He’ll know that Tunisia and coach Jalel Kadri will view this tournament as a chance to bring an African tournament as deep as it’s ever gone at a…

Mexico will kick off its 2022 World Cup campaign against Robert Lewandowski, Piotr Zielinski and Poland on Tuesday at Stadium 974 in Doha, Qatar. Gerardo “Tata” Martino’s side qualified by finishing 2nd in CONCACAF (one place and three points above the USMNT), as they get set to compete in their 8th straight World Cup. Poland qualified by beating Sweden in the sides’ UEFA playoff in March. Poland were previously scheduled to face Russia in the semifinals, but Russia were banned from the competition following the country’s invasion of Ukraine, thus Poland advanced in a walkover. Key storylines, players to watch closely…

DOHA, Qatar — England delivered a warning to the rest of Group B by thrashing Iran 6-2 to kick off its World Cup campaign on Monday, placing even more importance on the United States’ subsequent clash with Wales.  Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka (twice), Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish all got on the scoresheet in an early indication that the widespread predictions of England being the dominant force in the group appear to be well-founded. Gareth Southgate’s men raced into a 3-0 lead by halftime and barely broke stride, with the coach even able to rest key players such as captain Harry Kane, Saka, Sterling and Mason Mount midway through the second half, ahead of Friday’s meeting with the…