NASA’s Mars helicopter takes flight, 1st for another planet

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s experimental Mars helicopter has taken flight. The little 4-pound helicopter named Ingenuity rose into the thin air above the dusty red surface of Mars on Monday, achieving the first powered flight by an aircraft on another planet. Ground controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California were jubilant as…

Biden meets Japan’s leader to boost China-facing alliances

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is welcoming Japan’s prime minister to the White House in his first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader. Biden’s choice of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga as his first guest Friday underlines a theme of Biden’s administration — strengthening U.S. alliances as a first step to dealing with global challenges,…