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Kim Jong Un has made military improvements which could lead us closer to a nuclear war.

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North Korea has struck again in its nuclear-fueled war of words with the U.S., this time warning Washington that its latest military developments give supreme leader Kim Jong Un unprecedented clout amid the current crisis.

North Korea's state-run media ran a series of articles on Friday threatening to meet any further U.S. military expansion in the region with an opposing show of force. After North Korea successfully tested its first two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), in July and conducted its first hydrogen bomb test earlier this month, it launched a second intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), over Japan on Friday. As President Donald Trump and allies continue to demand the total denuclearization of North Korea, Pyongyang struck back against talk of bringing back U.S. tactical nukes to the Korean Peninsula.
Related: North Korea launches missile as Defense Secretary James Mattis inspects U.S. nuclear arsenal
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"The attempt of the U.S. to deploy tactical nuclear weapons into south Korea and develop up-to-date miniaturized nuclear bombs is targeted at its strategic rivals in the region as well as the DPRK, and it will increase the tension in the Korean Peninsula and the region and instigate intense arms race," the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Institute of American Studies said in a statement, referring to the country by its official title: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"The nuclear threat of the U.S. which is growing more vicious propels the DPRK to continuous development of all means of counterattack including tactical nuclear weapons to the highest level at a maximum speed and to faster deployment of these means ready for battle," it added, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The U.S. once maintained an arsenal of about 100 tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush withdrew all nuclear assets stationed abroad, according to The Washington Post. This could change, however, as mounting tensions in the region reportedly compelled the South Korean defense minister to appeal to his U.S. counterpart for a redeployment of such weapons.

South Korea President Moon Jae-in rejected this notion, however, seemingly agreeing with his northern rival that such a move could "lead to a nuclear arms race in northeast Asia," CNN reported.

North Korea has been extremely critical of the U.S.'s close relationship with South Korea, with which the North has technically been at war since the 1950s. In a commentary published Friday by government newspaper Rodong Sinmun, North Korea dismissed the U.S.'s efforts to lead the international community in punishing Kim Jong Un's government with economic sanctions, and claimed it is now invulnerable to U.S. tactics because of its weapons capable of delivering a devastating nuclear strike to major U.S. cities.

"The U.S. might have complex mental state due to its consecutive setbacks in the confrontation with the DPRK, but it has to draw a lesson and make a correct judgment," the commentary read, according to KCNA.

"Whatever means and methods the U.S. may employ, they will never work on the DPRK," it added. "The U.S. fate is in the hands of the DPRK."

Like his predecessors, Trump does not recognize North Korea's claim that it has the right to possess nuclear weapons, which Kim and his government argue are necessary to prevent a U.S. invasion. China and Russia have also called on North Korea to abandon its nuclear testing, but have been more vocally critical of what they perceive to be an invasive U.S. foreign policy in the region.

Following Friday's North Korean missile launch, Defense Secretary James Mattis said he "immediately" went to the U.S. Strategic Command's operations center in Omaha, Nebraska, where he was visiting at the time. The site oversees the U.S.'s nuclear forces.

" Steady as she goes," Mattis reportedly said about the launch.

"In a deterrent, you can leave no doubt at all," he earlier told reporters, on Wednesday, "Don't try it. It won't work. You can't take us out."

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North Korea says it now controls the fate of the U.S.

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North Korea has struck again in its nuclear-fueled war of words with the U.S., this time warning Washington that its latest military developments give supreme leader Kim Jong Un unprecedented clout amid the current crisis. North Korea's state-run media ran a series of articles on Friday threatening to meet any further U.S.

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A 11 year old boy got to mow the white house lawn after he sent a letter to president Trump.

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11-year-old Frank describes mowing the White House lawn

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'Fox & Friends': Frank 'FX' Giaccio wrote to President Trump after starting his own lawn care business

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LONDON - Parents and nannies bustling their children to school were enjoying an unseasonably sunny morning in the Parsons Green neighborhood Friday when they were suddenly swamped by helicopters, police cars and ambulances.

Just after 8:20 a.m. local time (3:20 a.m ET), the fiery detonation of an improvised device on a subway train brought terrorism to the affluent area.

And amid the hysteria and stampede of commuters dashing for safety, some found themselves separated from young loved ones.

"Everyone was doing the 100-meter sprint at the same time. The girl I was sat next to fell to the floor, she got trampled on and flattened," Luke Walmsley, a 33-year-old video editor, told NBC News at the scene. "There were lots of kids and lots of nannies and moms trying to work out where their kids were."

Walmsley was a few subway cars away from the incident, but he and other eyewitnesses described seeing a flash that caused minor burns to some others aboard.

Lauren Hubbard, 24, described standing by the doors of the subway and suddenly hearing a loud bang.

"This wall of fire was just coming towards us. So we just ran," Hubbard said. "The fireball came at us. If the doors were shut people would have been engulfed."

Victims were taken to the nearby brasserie, which was being used as an impromptu triage center.

Ben Geoghegan, 21, was in his house opposite Parsons Green station when the incident occurred.

"The sirens and the screaming and the people running out woke me up a bit and I looked out the window to see people streaming out of the station," he said.

Geoghegan, who works in a bar, said he saw five or six victims be taken to the restaurant for treatment.

"There was one lady stretchered. Other people just had burns on their arms or legs and they were wrapped in medical clingfilm," he said.

The British capital is no stranger to these sorts of incidents, after recent attacks on London Bridge and nearby Borough Market as well as Westminster Bridge earlier this year.

Related: 90 Percent of U.K. Police Don't Carry Guns. Here's Why.

Many Londoners have refused to be cowed - often invoking the World War II "spirit of the Blitz" and their stoic resolve in the face of decades of attacks by the IRA.

This "stiff upper lip" mentality was on show Friday, with many locals and passersby filming on their iPhones or calmly waiting in their bathrobes after emerging from their Victorian and Georgian houses to see what all the commotion was about.

Despite the cavalry of police and journalists, many continued to walk their dogs, while others decided it was time for a pint in the local pub, the Duke on the Green, which of course, being Britain, was already open.

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Nannies, moms race to find their kids after London subway blast

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LONDON - Parents and nannies bustling their children to school were enjoying an unseasonably sunny morning in the Parsons Green neighborhood Friday when they were suddenly swamped by helicopters, police cars and ambulances. Just after 8:20 a.m. local time (3:20 a.m ET), the fiery detonation of an improvised device on a subway train brought terrorism to the affluent area.

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11-year-old Frank mows the white house lawn just for fun.

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Eleven-year-old yard services entrepreneur Frank Giaccio locked down his biggest client ever Friday morning, mowing the White House lawn on the invitation of President Trump.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted a photo of Giaccio taking care of business Friday morning.

"Frank is hard at work in the Rose Garden and doing a great job!" she wrote.

Sanders announced earlier this week that "Frank from Falls Church, Virginia" would help the grounds crew cut the Rose Garden grass.

Trump accepted the Virginia boy's offer after he wrote to the president saying it would be his "honor to mow the White House lawn." Giaccio also enclosed a menu of his services, which include weed-whacking.

Giaccio told Fox Business Network's "Mornings with Maria" earlier Friday, "So far it's pretty much the best day of my life."

The White House later tweeted a photo of Trump walking alongside Giaccio on the lawn.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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11-year-old Frank does a 'great' job' mowing White House lawn

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Eleven-year-old yard services entrepreneur Frank Giaccio locked down his biggest client ever Friday morning, mowing the White House lawn on the invitation of President Trump. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted a photo of Giaccio taking care of business Friday morning. "Frank is hard at work in the Rose Garden and doing a great job!"

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A giant 20 foot dinosaur eating crocodile from the Cretaceous Period was found in Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas.

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A giant, 20-foot long crocodile from the Cretaceous Period has been discovered in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas.

Dubbed the Deltasuchus motherali, the ancient beast was discovered by a local teenager, Austin Motheral. Motheral worked with paleontoligists from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, who spent a decade excavating the bones.

The creature existed approximately 95 million years ago, at the same time as Tyrannosaurus Rex. During that era, modern-day Texas was largely covered by a shallow sea. In addition to T. rex, the area was home to other dinosaurs, turtles, crocodiles, mammals and fish.
DINOSAURS' MISSING LINK FOUND
UT paleontologist Stephanie Drumheller-Horton said, based off the fossils and bite marks, the animal ate whatever it wanted. However, there is much to be learned from this era.

"We simply don't have that many North American fossils from the middle of the Cretaceous, the last period of the age of dinosaurs, and the eastern half of the continent is particularly poorly understood," Drumheller-Horton said in a press release. "Fossils from the Arlington Archosaur Site are helping fill in this gap, and Deltasuchus is only the first of several new species to be reported from the locality."
CAR-SIZED 'LOCH NESS MONSTER' WAS RUNT OF THE LITTER
"Prior to this discovery, the only identified crocodyliforms from the Woodbine Formation had been the longirostrine taxa Terminonaris and Woodbinesuchus," according to a research journal, detailing the findings.

The research has been published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

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Giant, dinosaur-eating crocodile discovered in Texas

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A giant, 20-foot long crocodile from the Cretaceous Period has been discovered in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. Dubbed the Deltasuchus motherali, the ancient beast was discovered by a local teenager, Austin Motheral. Motheral worked with paleontoligists from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, who spent a decade excavating the bones.

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A teen was killed in a school shooting  in Washington state.The shooting took place Wednesday at Freeman High School in Rockford, Washington. Three other students were injured.

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When a Washington state high school student confronted a classmate who was armed with an automatic rifle and a semi-automatic handgun inside the school, authorities said the student "tried to talk" the armed classmate "out of it," but the gunman fatally shot him.

"That young man gave his life ... to save his fellow classmates," Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich told reporters Thursday.

The shooting took place Wednesday at Freeman High School in Rockford, Washington.

According to ABC Spokane affiliate KXLY, friends and family identified the victim as sophomore Sam Strahan.

"My heart goes out to her because she lost her husband three months ago," Knezovich said, referring to Sam's mother.

"There's nothing like that scream. You will never forget it," he said. "I heard it one too many times. Half her family is now gone. Partly because of senseless violence."

Three other students were injured in the shooting and were transported to a local hospital.

According to court documents, surveillance video showed the suspect -- who has since been taken into custody -- pull out two weapons -- an automatic rifle and a semi-automatic handgun -- inside the school that morning.

But Knezovich said the automatic rifle jammed.

"Thank God he had jammed that AR up so badly that it was not going to function," Knezovich said.

The suspect "transitioned to that pistol, and when one of the classmates that he knew came up to him and tried to talk him out of it," the suspect fatally shot him, the sheriff said.

The suspect, who is a juvenile and is not being named by ABC News, ultimately surrendered to a janitor who ordered him to lay down on the floor, the documents said.

Knezovich said the janitor "confronted him, ordered him to the ground and held him there," and then a school resource officer rushed in and helped the janitor take the suspect into custody.

The families of the three injured students released a statement through the hospital where the students are being treated, saying, "In this, our darkest hour, we feel blessed and lucky in so many ways. Our daughters are recovering from their wounds, and we know that your thoughts and prayers are with us."

They added, "Our hearts are breaking for another family in our community who lost their son. We are keeping Sam's family in our thoughts and prayers."

"We wish to express our overwhelming gratitude for the outpouring of support and love you have shown our families in our time of need," the families said. "Everyone - our friends, Freeman School District, first responders, the trauma team and care providers at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children's Hospital, the communities of Freeman and Rockford as well as Spokane - have all been phenomenal. No words can express our gratitude."

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Teen killed in school shooting 'tried to talk' armed classmate 'out of it': Sheriff

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When a Washington state high school student confronted a classmate who was armed with an automatic rifle and a semi-automatic handgun inside the school, authorities said the student "tried to talk" the armed classmate "out of it," but the gunman fatally shot him. "That young man gave his life ......

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A high ranking priest working at the Vatican's embassy in Washington has been recalled after U.S. prosecutors charged him there to face trial in a child pornography investigation. He was suspected of possessing, but not producing child pornography images of pre-pubescant children.

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A high-ranking priest working in the Vatican's embassy in Washington has been recalled after U.S. prosecutors asked for him to be charged there and face trial in a child pornography investigation, Vatican and U.S. officials said Friday.

The diplomat was suspected of possessing, but not producing or disseminating, child pornography including images of pre-pubescent children, a U.S. source familiar with the case said. The source was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Vatican declined to identify the priest, but said he was currently in Vatican City and that Vatican prosecutors had launched their own probe and sought evidence from the U.S.

If the accusations pan out, the case would be a major embarrassment for the Vatican and Pope Francis, who has pledged "zero tolerance" for sexual abuse. The diplomat would be the second from the Vatican's diplomatic corps to face possible criminal charges for such crimes during Francis' papacy. And any trial in the Vatican would come as Francis' own financial czar, Cardinal George Pell, is on trial in his native Australia for alleged historic sex abuse cases.

The State Department said it had asked the Vatican to lift the official's diplomatic immunity on Aug. 21. It said that request was denied three days later. For the State Department to make such a request, its lawyers would have needed to be convinced that there was reasonable cause for criminal prosecution.

The circumstances that prompted prosecutors to make the request, however, weren't clear. The Justice Department, which would have brought any charges, didn't immediately comment, and the Vatican gave no details about what, if any, evidence had been provided to persuade it to recall the priest.

In a statement, the Vatican said the State Department had notified the Vatican on Aug. 21 of a "possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images" by one of its diplomats in Washington.

A U.S. official familiar with the case said the priest was a senior member of the Vatican embassy staff. The Vatican yearbook lists three counselors who work under the nuncio, or ambassador.

The Vatican said recalling the priest was consistent with diplomatic practice of sovereign states. In declining to identify him, the Vatican said the case was subject to confidentiality while still under investigation. It said the Vatican had asked for information about the case from the U.S; it wasn't clear if any had been provided.

The Vatican has recalled envoys before, including its then-ambassador to the Dominican Republic, who was recalled in 2013 after being accused of sexually abusing young boys on the Caribbean island.

The Vatican justified its decision to remove Monsignor Jozef Wesolowski from Dominican jurisdiction by submitting him first to a canonical court proceeding at the Vatican, and then putting him on trial in the Vatican's criminal court, which has jurisdiction over the Holy See's diplomatic corps.

Wesolowski was defrocked by the church court. But he died before the criminal trial got underway. Dominican prosecutors initially balked at the recall, and they never filed charges because of his immunity.

After he was defrocked, Wesolowski lost his diplomatic immunity and the Vatican said he could be tried by other courts. However, it refused to provide Dominican authorities with information about his whereabouts or how even he had pleaded to the charges.

The Vatican doesn't have extradition treaties.

The Vatican in 2013 specifically criminalized child porn possession, distribution and production in its criminal code. Possession carries a possible jail term of up to two years and a 10,000-euro fine. Distribution can be punished with a term of up to five years and a 50,000-euro fine, while the most serious offense of production can bring a 12-year term and 250,000-euro fine.

The head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, said the case was serious and that he hoped the Vatican would be "forthcoming with more details."

"We reaffirm that when such allegations occur, an immediate, thorough and transparent investigation should begin in cooperation with law enforcement and immediate steps be taken to protect children," DiNardo said in a statement.

Francis has a spotty record on handling sex abuse cases. He won praise from advocates of survivors of abuse for having established a commission of experts to advise the church on keeping pedophiles out of the priesthood and protecting children. But the commission has floundered after losing the two members who themselves were survivors of abuse.

Francis' promotion of Pell to be his finance czar when allegations abounded in Australia about his past conduct, as well other appointments, in-house decisions and his scrapping of a proposed tribunal to prosecute negligent bishops also have raised questions.

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Vatican diplomat in US recalled amid child porn investigation

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A high-ranking priest working in the Vatican's embassy in Washington has been recalled after U.S. prosecutors asked for him to be charged there and face trial in a child pornography investigation, Vatican and U.S. officials said Friday. The diplomat was suspected of possessing, but not producing or disseminating, child pornography including images of pre-pubescent children, a U.S.

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Five Republican senators are urging Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to punish Cuba after U.S. diplomats stationed in the island nation were harassed and injured under mysterious circumstances.

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The Latest on the U.S. response to diplomats mysteriously harmed in Cuba (all times local):

12:40 p.m.

Five Republican senators are urging Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to punish Cuba after U.S. diplomats stationed in the island nation were harassed and injured under mysterious circumstances.

They want Tillerson to expel accredited Cuban diplomats from the United States and, if Cuba doesn't take swift action to ensure the safety of American personnel, shutter the U.S. Embassy in Havana.

The letter follows an Associated Press report that examined "health attacks" against U.S. diplomats in Cuba that have caused hearing loss and speech problems for at least 21 victims. The State Department, FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies are investigating.

The letter was signed by Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Richard Burr of North Carolina, John Cornyn of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida, and James Lankford of Oklahoma.

___

6 a.m.

Cuban President Raul Castro stepped in personally earlier this year to deny his government was responsible after the United States demanded answers about American diplomats harmed in Havana.

U.S. officials say Castro sought out the top American diplomat in Havana for a rare face-to-face conversation. They say Castro relayed that he was just as befuddled about what was happening. The officials weren't authorized to discuss the meeting publicly and demanded anonymity.

Castro's reaction was surprising to U.S. officials. They say they would have expected Castro would react defensively or refuse to cooperate with the investigation.

The U.S. has said at least 21 diplomats suffered damage including permanent hearing loss and concussions. Canadian diplomats were also affected. A U.S. investigation has reached no conclusion about a device or a culprit.

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The Latest: GOP senators want US pushback on Cuba

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The Latest on the U.S. response to diplomats mysteriously harmed in Cuba (all times local): 12:40 p.m. Five Republican senators are urging Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to punish Cuba after U.S. diplomats stationed in the island nation were harassed and injured under mysterious circumstances.

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a 11 year old kid got to mow the white house grass after he sent a letter to president Trump.

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President Trump surprised an 11-year-old from Falls Church, Virginia, who had the honor of mowing the Rose Garden lawn today.

The president clapped in approval as he walked toward Frank "FX" Giaccio, who was hard at work cutting the grass. Trump gave Frank a high-five and a pat on the back.

"Future of the country right there, we're lucky," Trump said.

Trump then asked Frank what he wants to be when he grows up. Frank's answer: a U.S. Navy SEAL.

"This is Frank, he's going to be very famous, he's going to be a Navy SEAL one day, he's going to do great things for the country," Trump said, introducing the young boy to reporters. The president then invited Frank, along with his father, into the Oval Office.

Frank wrote a letter to the White House earlier this year, asking for the honor to mow the White House lawn and "show the nation what young people like me are ready for."

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders shared Frank's letter at an August press briefing and announced Wednesday that the president had accepted his offer. On Wednesday, Sanders confirmed Giaccio would work with the groundskeeping crew and cut the grass in the Rose Garden lawn.

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Trump surprises 11-year-old boy who mowed Rose Garden lawn

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President Trump surprised an 11-year-old from Falls Church, Virginia, who had the honor of mowing the Rose Garden lawn today. The president clapped in approval as he walked toward Frank "FX" Giaccio, who was hard at work cutting the grass. Trump gave Frank a high-five and a pat on the...

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Hurricane Irma left behind catastrophic damage on the island of Barbuda last week.
Then, as the storm barreled toward Florida, much of the world began to forget about the Caribbean island. But Robert De Niro did not.

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Hurricane Irma left behind catastrophic damage on the island of Barbuda last week.

Then, as the storm barreled toward Florida, much of the world began to forget about the Caribbean island. But Robert De Niro did not.

He quickly promised to help rebuild Barbuda after 95% of the buildings on the island were damaged. It was left uninhabitable for the time being, with no power, water or cell service. All the island's residents -- of which there's fewer than 2,000 -- were forced to evacuate.

This week, De Niro sat down exclusively with CNN's Poppy Harlow to talk about his connection to the now-decimated island paradise, which he first visited decades ago.

Recently, he took up a financial interest in the island with a plan to develop a $200 million resort through Nobu, the hospitality company he co-founded.

De Niro, 74, says the island's allure is that it's been minimally developed, with endless acres of natural earth that are "unspoiled."

"It's just a beautiful place, and it's quiet, and the people are nice," De Niro told Harlow.

Related: How to rebuild an entire island after Hurricane Irma

The location for his new resort was to be at the site of the former Club K, the posh hideaway that once frequently hosted Princess Diana before it closed down 12 years ago.

De Niro wants to pour millions into a lavish new resort, build fresh structures and rename it Paradise Found. The goal is to draw more tourists to the secluded island and provide jobs to the local islanders.

Mary Beth Medley, who lived in Barbuda for years and is heading up Nobu's Paradise Found development, said they plan to offer a job to "every Barbudan that's willing to work."

But not everyone on the island was thrilled about the resort project. A group of Barbudans who oppose the island's governing party vocally opposed the plan. But ultimately, it passed a public vote.

In an area where tourism is the economic lifeblood, De Niro noted that a new resort will be a major boon for the local economy.

"It's an ambitious project. It'll take a long time, but we were about to start with investors...And then this happens," De Niro said, referring to the hurricane.

But, he added, his dedication to the island goes beyond ensuring his venture moves forward.

Related: Demolished by Irma, Barbuda spared from Hurricane Jose

"I feel a responsibility to help everyone, to get everything up and running," De Niro said. "The most important thing is people first."

Ultimately, Barbuda was among the places that was hardest hit by Irma. All told, the damage could cost more than $100 million, according to Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda.

Medley, the Paradise Found project leader, said her team has a fund to help rebuild local infrastructure. De Niro and some of his personal friends have contributed.

"We've already donated [the money] to build a new airport," she said. And on Thursday, her team handed over a generator to help run the local water plant.

But there's still a long way to go before the island is inhabitable once again.

"The focus now is to help the government get people back to their homes," she said.

You can listen in on CNN's full interview with Robert De Niro on Poppy Harlow's "Boss Files" podcast.

CNNMoney (New York) First published September 15, 2017: 10:09 AM ET

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Robert De Niro wants to help rebuild Barbuda after Hurricane Irma

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Then, as the storm barreled toward Florida, much of the world began to forget about the Caribbean island. But Robert De Niro did not. He quickly promised to help rebuild Barbuda after 95% of the buildings on the island were damaged. It was left uninhabitable for the time being, with no power, water or cell service.

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Home made bomb injures 22 on packed London train, although the bomb failed to fully explode is caught a carriage on fire and injured 22 people on a busy rush hour train

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(Video by Newsweek)

LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - A home-made bomb on a packed rush-hour commuter train in London engulfed a carriage in flames and injured 22 people on Friday in Britain's fifth major terrorism incident this year, but apparently failed to fully explode.

Passengers heading into the British capital fled in panic after the blast as the train was about to depart Parsons Green underground station in West London at 8.20 a.m. (0720 GMT).

Some suffered burns and others were injured in a stampede to escape but health officials said none were thought to be in a serious condition.

"We now assess that this was a detonation of an improvised explosive device," Britain's top counter-terrorism officer Mark Rowley told reporters.

Police said a hunt involving hundreds of detectives backed by the intelligence services was underway to find out who was responsible. Rowley declined to say if the suspected bomber had been on the train, saying it was a live investigation.

Britain's threat level remained on its second-highest rank of severe following the "cowardly attack" intended to cause significant harm, said Prime Minister Theresa May. But she added the threat level would be kept under review.

Pictures taken at the scene showed a slightly-charred white bucket with a supermarket freezer bag on the floor of one train carriage. The bucket, still intact, was in flames and there appeared to be wires coming out of the top.

"I was on second carriage from the back. I just heard a kind of whoosh. I looked up and saw the whole carriage engulfed in flames making its way towards me," Ola Fayankinnu, who was on the train, told Reuters.

"There were phones, hats, bags all over the place and when I looked back I saw a bag with flames."

Charlie Craven said he had just got on the train when the device exploded.

"Literally within three seconds of putting your bag down, the doors just closing, we hear a loud explosion," he told Reuters. "I looked around and saw this massive fireball ... coming down the carriage."

He said terrified passengers fled, fearing a second explosion or a gunman, with people being knocked to the ground and crushed in the stampede to escape.

Outside the station, a woman was carried off on a stretcher with her legs covered in a foil blanket while others were led away swathed in bandages. Health officials said 22 were taken to hospital most suffering from flash burns.

Parsons Green is one of the surface stations of London's underground network.
(Slideshow by Photo Services)

"SPECULATION UNHELPFUL"
In 2005, 52 people were killed when four British Islamists carried out suicide bomb attacks on three London underground trains and a bus and this year Britain has suffered four attacks which killed a total of 36 people.

"Another attack in London by a loser terrorist," U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter. "These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!"

May, who returned to London to chair a meeting of Britain's emergency response committee, said police and security services were working to track down those responsible.

Asked about Trump's tweet, she replied: "I never think it's helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation."

Others were more directly critical of Trump. "True or not - and I'm sure he doesn't know - this is so unhelpful from leader of our ally and intelligence partner," May's former chief of staff Nick Timothy said on Twitter.

A U.S. law enforcement official and a U.S. intelligence source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attack might well have been carried out in response to recent Islamic State video messages urging would-be militants to attack trains and other public transport.

One of the officials said the device "doesn't look very professionally built" and said its rudimentary design suggested the attack was carried out by someone inspired by Islamic State propaganda rather than by a well-trained cell.

Professor Hans Michels, an explosives expert from Imperial College London, said the device appeared to have largely failed.

"The flash flame reported suggests that the 'explosion' was only partly successful," he said. "I must speculate that either the mixture was not of the right composition or that the ignition system was inadequate or not properly placed."

UK security services believe those behind some of the militant incidents in Britain this year had probably been acting alone and likely radicalized by online material.

In March this year, a man drove a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge killing four, before he stabbed a policeman to death outside parliament.

A further 22 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a pop concert in Manchester in May and the following month three Islamist militants drove into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing people at nearby restaurants and bars, killing eight.

In June, a van was driven into worshippers near a mosque in north London which left one man dead.

On Thursday, figures showed there had been a record number of terrorism-related arrests in the last year and earlier this week Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer Mark Rowley said there had been a shift-change in the threat.

In the three years until March this year, police foiled 13 potential attacks but in the next 17 weeks, there were the four attacks while the authorities thwarted six others, Rowley said. (Additional reporting by Kate Holton, Mark Hosenball, Elizabeth Piper, Paul Sandle, Costas Pitas and Mitch Phillips; writing by Michael Holden; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Janet Lawrence)

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Home-made bomb injures 22 on packed London commuter train

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(Video by Newsweek) LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - A home-made bomb on a packed rush-hour commuter train in London engulfed a carriage in flames and injured 22 people on Friday in Britain's fifth major terrorism incident this year, but apparently failed to fully explode.

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President Trump tweets his response to yet another terrorist attack in London

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trump tweets about 'loser terrorist' - cnn video

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Trump tweets about 'loser terrorist' - CNN Video

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President Trump responds to the rush hour blast caused by an improvised explosive device on a London Underground train. London police are treating the incident as terrorism.

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London man hunt The 5th terrorist in London this year attack a bomb in the subway 22 people in the hospital

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Britain's terrorist threat level has been lowered from critical to severe after police arrested a second man in connection with Friday's terrorist attack on a London Underground subway car and authorities there cited progress in the investigation.

Interested in London?

Add London as an interest to stay up to date on the latest London news, video, and analysis from ABC News.

Britain's Home Secretary Amber Rudd said Sunday that the decision was made "to lower that level from critical to severe," according to The Associated Press.

On Friday, an apparent bucket bomb exploded on a London Underground train at the during the morning rush hour. The blast propelled a fireball through a passenger car, sending at least 30 people to area hospitals, officials said.

Rudd warned that the lowering of classification doesn't mean the danger is over.

"'Severe' still means that an attack is highly likely, so I would urge everybody to continue to be vigilant, but not alarmed," she said, according to the AP.

Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service Mark Rowley added that beyond the overnight arrests, a "rapid progress" in the investigation contributed to the decision to downgrade the threat level.

"There are now two searches continuing at addresses in Surrey, and we are getting a greater understanding of the preparation of the device," he said.

A 21-year-old man was arrested around 11:30 p.m. Saturday in Hounslow, a borough in west London, by detectives with the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command. The unidentified man was arrested under section 41 of the U.K.'s Terrorism Act, and taken to a south London police station where he remains in custody.

Earlier Saturday, police had evacuated a house in a London suburb as well as part of the Port of Dover after arresting an 18-year-old man that morning in the southeastern coastal city in connection with the attack, police said.

Kent Police arrested the man in the port's departure area -- about 75 miles from London -- at approximately 7:50 a.m. local time under section 41 of the U.K.'s Terrorism Act, according to London's Metropolitan Police Service. The section provides authorities the power to arrest a person suspected of terrorism-related offenses without a warrant.

"We have made a significant arrest in our investigation this morning," Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said in a statement. "He was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. He has now been transferred to custody at a police station in London."

Today, Rowley provided an update on the Parsons Green investigation and the change to the threat level.

"There is still much more to do but this greater clarity and this progress has led JTAC - the independent body that assess threat - to come to the judgement that an attack is no longer imminent. And you will have heard consequently the Home Secretary's announcement that the threat level has reduced from Critical to Severe which of course means that an attack is highly likely," he said.

Basu said that after they closed the Port of Dover, "they recovered a number of items during this search."

On Saturday afternoon, police evacuated and launched a search of a house in Sunbury-on-Thames, a town in Surrey county 15 miles southwest of central London, in connection with the investigation. Neighbors immediately surrounding the address were also evacuated as a precautionary measure.

"I want to reassure that community that our expert officers are quickly and thoroughly searching that address and working to ensure that it is safe. Once this is done a detailed search will take place," Basu said.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan hailed Saturday morning's arrest.

"This morning police have made a significant arrest as part of the investigation into the terrorist attack at Parsons Green station yesterday morning," Khan said in a statement. "The police investigation is ongoing and there will still be significant activity today and over the days ahead. I am sure I speak for London when I say we are incredibly grateful to the police and intelligence services for doing everything possible to keep Londoners safe."

"London will never be intimidated by terrorism. We will always defeat those who seek to harm us and destroy our way of life," the mayor added.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack through its Amag News Agency. Rowley told reporters that it is "routine" for ISIS to claim responsibility for such attacks, whether the group was involved or not.

Authorities had immediately launched a manhunt for suspects. Following Saturday's arrest, the Metropolitan Police Service announced it was still working to identify and locate any other potential suspects.

"At this stage we are keeping an open mind around whether more than one person is responsible for the attack and we are still pursuing numerous lines of inquiry and at a great pace," Basu said in a statement Saturday night. "We have identified 121 witnesses so far, and we have spoken to 100 of them already. Officers continue to trawl through many hours of closed circuit television footage and more than 180 videos and pictures that have been sent to them by the public."

Eyewitnesses told ABC News that the blast happened as the train pulled into the Parsons Green station in Fulham, an affluent, mainly residential area of West London.

"I heard a loud bang and as I looked to my right, there was a flame, a fireball came through the carriage. ... As the doors opened, people then began leaving the train straight away," said Martin Adams, a security manager for The Walt Disney Company who was riding in the subway car at the time. "I saw some flames coming from what I thought was a blue bag."

Another person who was at the station said she saw a number of people with what appeared to be facial burns and singed hair after the explosion.

"I saw a couple people with burns. One lady had her hair badly singed by the fire," said Sally Faulding, who witnessed the panic on the subway platform. "I also saw people injured obviously from having been stampeded on the platform because we were all running. People were falling over."

As of Friday, the London Ambulance Service said it had transported 19 patients to area hospitals and 10 others took themselves, but none of the injuries were serious or life-threatening. On Saturday, the Metropolitan Police Service said a total of 30 people have received treatment at hospitals for injuries from the attack.

Adams said the situation was managed well by train operators and emergency crews, and that passengers remained relatively calm.

"There were no casualties at all on the train. Everybody appeared to get off," Adams told ABC News. "There was nobody laying on the platform floor. I assessed that there were no serious casualties at that time."

Police said the improvised explosive device on the train did not fully explode. Apparent images of the device show wires hanging out of a white bucket.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has clashed with Khan in the past, shared his thoughts on Twitter just before 7 a.m. ET.

Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017

Trump referred to the suspects being "in the sights of Scotland Yard," though London officials have not publicly provided any confirmation of that.

Law enforcement agencies across the United States said they are closely monitoring Friday's incident. New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill said Friday there were no known threats to the city's subway system, but reminded passengers to remain vigilant and aware of their surroundings.

However, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo released a statement Friday saying he was increasing security in public transportation areas across the Empire State.

"Out of an abundance of caution, I am directing state law enforcement to increase security at vital assets across New York, including airports, bridges, tunnels and mass transit systems," Cuomo said. "The safety and security of New Yorkers is our No. 1 priority, and we remain in close contact with local and federal officials. We remain vigilant, and we stand with the people of London."

ABC News' Rashid Haddou, Dimitrije Steijic, Kelly Stevenson and M.L. Nestel contributed to this report.

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UK terror threat lowered after 2nd man arrested in London Underground attack

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Britain's terrorist threat level has been lowered from critical to severe after police arrested a second man in connection with Friday's terrorist attack on a London Underground subway car and authorities there cited progress in the investigation. Add London as an interest to stay up to date on the latest London news, video, and analysis from ABC News.

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London had a explosion on a subway,they say it was a terror attack and 22 people were sent to the hospital.http://abcnews.go.com/International/london-police-investigating-incident-subway-station/story?id=49866327

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Refugees from Iraq, Syria eyed in British subway terror attack investigation.

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Authorities named one of two Middle Eastern refugees believed to be responsible for last week's London subway bombing, as new details emerged about their troubled time being fostered by a British couple previously honored by Queen Elizabeth II.

Yahyah Farroukh, 21, was identified as one of the suspects being held by London police, Sky News reported. Farroukh was arrested at a fried chicken shop, where he worked, in Hounslow in west London Saturday night. Suleman Sarwar, 43, who owns the chicken shop, said the 21-year-old suspect was arrested after he finished his shift.

"He was very normal," Sarwar told Sky News. "I don't know how long he worked here. It was surprising seeing him on the news."

Farroukh's Facebook profile indicated he was from Damascus and studied English in West Thamas College between 2013 and 2015. He was living in Stanwell, Surrey, where officials conducted a search on Sunday, but also most recently was registered to live with Penelope and Ronald Jones, who were honored by the queen for fostering more than 200 children - including refugees from Middle Eastern countries affected by conflicts. Another unidentified 18-year-old man who was arrested earlier in the day at Dover ferry port, where boats to France leave, was also fostered by the couple.

Both men are being held under the Terrorism Act and questioned by London police about Friday's attack, when an improvised explosive device partially detonated aboard a subway train at Parsons Green station during morning rush hour, injuring 30 people.

But trouble with the couple's foster children was reportedly visible beforehand - when police visited the Sunbury house two or three weeks ago, according to neighbor Stephen Griffiths.

"The police were there multiple times over the span of about a month - a few times a week," Griffiths said. "You always think foster kids are going to have a bit of trouble, but you don't think terrorism."

The 18-year-old man is believed to be an Iraqi orphan who moved to the United Kingdom when he was 15 years old, after his parents died. The man was reportedly a "problem" for the foster parents and they had been contacting officials before the attack, according to the Telegraph. He lived with the Joneses, but hadn't been arrested "in the last couple of weeks" despite the police activity at the Jones house, a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman told Sky News.

The news of frequent police visits could shed light on a tweet sent soon after the attack by President Trump in which he appeared to criticize British authorities for not acting sooner to prevent the attack.

"Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!" Trump wrote.

Images of the 18-year-old suspect, who is believed to have planted the bomb, have not emerged.

ITV News, however, obtained CCTV footage showing a man near Joneses' Sunbury house Friday morning carrying a bag from Lidl supermarket. Images after the device detonated on Friday showed it was carried in a Lidl bag.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, but British officials said there's no proof yet the terror group was actively involved in the planning, preparation or carrying out of the attack. British Prime Minister Theresa May raised the city's terror threat level to "critical" - meaning an attack is imminent - but downgraded it Sunday to "severe" - meaning an attack is highly likely.

"Severe still means that an attack is highly likely, so I would urge everybody to be vigilant but not alarmed," Home Secretary Amber Rudd said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Refugees from Iraq, Syria eyed in British subway terror attack investigation

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Authorities named one of two Middle Eastern refugees believed to be responsible for last week's London subway bombing, as new details emerged about their troubled time being fostered by a British couple previously honored by Queen Elizabeth II. Yahyah Farroukh, 21, was identified as one of the suspects being held by London police, Sky News reported.

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Jose is a tropical storm at the moment. By tonight Jose could turn into a hurricane again and turn north, possibly hitting the north east coast

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Jose remains out in the Atlantic Ocean and is moving toward the northwest, and that motion will bring it closer to the United States through the weekend. Just how far it moves west before turning to the north will tell forecasters a great deal about the likelihood of whether it will make landfall somewhere along the Eastern US coastline.

The National Hurricane Center has included parts of the United States, from New Jersey up to New England, in its "cone of uncertainty," which shows the probable track of the center of a storm over a five-day period. The cone includes the New Jersey coastline, Long Island, most of Connecticut and Massachusetts and all of Rhode Island.

A majority of the models keep the center of the storm over the ocean, including the major global models from the Americans -- GFS -- and Europeans -- ECMWF.

Still, the proximity to land will likely bring strong gusty winds and rain to the Northeast, including New York City, by the middle of next week. In addition, tropical storm-force winds could extend to North Carolina's Outer Banks on Monday, the National Hurricane Center said.

The official forecast track from the hurricane center puts Jose as a strong tropical storm Wednesday 225 miles southeast of New York. Coincidentally, the average track error for the forecast at five days is 225 miles. The forecast gives about a 1-in-4 chance of seeing tropical storm-force winds -- more than 39 mph -- in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

The storm has maximum sustained winds near 70 mph. Jose is looking better organized on satellite and appears set to gain strength over the next couple of days. An Air Force plane is en route to determine if Jose's winds have reached 75 mph, which would make it a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, the hurricane center said. At one point last weekend, it was a Category 4 hurricane.

But the window for intensification looks to last the weekend only. After that, an increase in wind shear and cooler ocean temperatures should begin to weaken Jose as it approaches the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast coasts next week.

No matter its path, Jose's ocean swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions in Bermuda, the Bahamas, the northern coasts of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, and the US Southeast, the hurricane center said.

Jose is the sixth named hurricane of this storm season, which lasts through November. Two major hurricanes, Harvey and Irma, have made landfall in the United States already this year.

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tropical storm jose may threaten northeast next week - cnn

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Tropical Storm Jose may threaten Northeast next week

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Jose remains out in the Atlantic Ocean and is moving toward the northwest, and that motion will bring it closer to the United States through the weekend. Just how far it moves west before turning to the north will tell forecasters a great deal about the likelihood of whether it will make landfall somewhere along the Eastern US coastline.

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Cassini, NASA's 13-year Saturn mission, has ended

They lost contact with the spacecraft

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The spacecraft deliberately sank into Saturn's upper atmosphere at a high speed and plunged itself into the planet just after 6:30a.m. ET Friday. Given the amount of time it takes signals to reach Earth, the final signal and last bits of data reached the Deep Space Network's Canberra Station in Australia about an hour and a half later.

NASA confirmed the spacecraft's demise at 7:55 a.m. ET, as predicted.

For about a minute, Cassini was able to transmit new data about the planet's composition as long as its antenna remained pointed toward Earth, with the assist from small thrusters. Then, the spacecraft burned and disintegrated due to the heat and high pressure of the hostile atmosphere. It became part of the planet it set out to explore.

"It was a perfect spacecraft," said Julie Webster, spacecraft operations chief. "Right to the end, it did everything we asked it to. It's perfect, it's perfect."

No spacecraft has ever been so close to Saturn. The last few seconds of the Cassini mission provided the "first taste" of the atmosphere of Saturn, NASA said.

"You can think of Cassini as the first Saturn probe," said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist.

On Thursday, Cassini took its last images and transmitted all the data on its recorder to prepare for the final plunge. The final data from Friday is already being processed and analyzed.

For the team behind the mission, losing their spacecraft is bittersweet: Many are sad that the mission is over but excited to see the groundbreaking science provided by unprecedented proximity to Saturn during the final dive.

"The Cassini operations team did an absolutely stellar job guiding the spacecraft to its noble end," said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager. "From designing the trajectory seven years ago, to navigating through the 22 nail-biting plunges between Saturn and its rings, this is a crack shot group of scientists and engineers that scripted a fitting end to a great mission. What a way to go. Truly a blaze of glory."

The team members that have worked together from concept to the final minutes exchanged hugs and tears in Mission Control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California after the loss of signal was confirmed.

"Things never will be quite the same for those of us on the Cassini team now that the spacecraft is no longer flying," Spilker said. "But, we take comfort knowing that every time we look up at Saturn in the night sky, part of Cassini will be there, too."

After launching in 1997 and reaching the Saturn system in 2004, Cassini spent 13 years exploring the planet and its moons. The data and images led to numerous discoveries that changed how scientists think about our solar system.

"A superb machine in an amazing place doing everything possible to reveal the mysteries and secrets of our solar system," Maize said. "This morning, a lone explorer, a machine made by humankind, finished its mission 900 million miles away. To the very end, the spacecraft did everything we asked. We believe we got every last second of data. We have indeed accomplished everything we set out to do."

Why the dramatic ending?

Cassini had its closest approach with Saturn's moon Titan on Monday, dubbed a "goodbye kiss" by the mission's engineers because it provided the gravity assist that sent the spacecraft on its final encounter with Saturn.

Mission scientists and operators gave Cassini this fiery send-off on purpose. Although many other options were considered -- such as "parking" the spacecraft in orbit -- they didn't want to risk Cassini colliding with any of Saturn's moons.

Cassini data and observations revealed that while seemingly inhospitable to us, the moons Enceladus and Titan could be habitable for some form of life. And NASA didn't want to risk contaminating the moons or any future studies of themwith Earth particles. Although Cassini has been in space for 20 years, microbes from Earth could still exist on the spacecraft without air, water or protection from radiation.

Although the mission itself has ended, the data and observations provided by Cassini will provide new details about the planet, its unique rings and its moons for decades to come.

"Cassini may be gone, but its scientific bounty will keep us occupied for many years," Spilker said. "We've only scratched the surface of what we can learn from the mountain of data it has sent back over its lifetime."

During the final plunge, the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer acted as the "nose" of the spacecraft, directly sampling the composition and structure of the atmosphere -- something that can't be done from orbit, said Hunter Waite, team lead for the spectrometer.

This was in the hopes of investigating the "ring rain" phenomenon discovered by NASA's Voyager mission in the early 1980s, in which it appeared that the rings were raining down material on the planet and causing changes in the atmosphere. The spectrometer could determine what material is from the rings and what material is part of the atmosphere.

Cassini's grand finale actually began in April, with a series of dives between Saturn's rings, close to the planet and its moons, providing unprecedented insight. This is another reason the mission scientists decided on Cassini's particular end-game: The final dive was a dramatic conclusion to this long and scientifically valuable goodbye.

What Cassini taught us and what's next

Inspired to learn more after flybys of Saturn by NASA's Voyager missions, the Cassini mission was designed to be an international effort that united NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

It is known as the Cassini-Huygens mission because it delivered the European agency's Huygens probe to Titan, the "first descent and landing on a world in the outer solar system," according to NASA.

The Cassini mission has been extended twice and finally used up the last of its rocket propellant this week.

In the end, Cassini witnessed about half of a Saturn year. When the craft arrived, Saturn's northern hemisphere was emerging from winter. As seasons on Saturn last about seven Earth years each, Cassini was just able to witness summer in the northern hemisphere before the mission ended.

Over the years, Cassini has revealed insights about Saturn, its rings and how they operate, the complexities of its moons, the history of the solar system and planet formation and even the other places in our solar system where life might exist: ocean worlds. Cassini has collected more than 450,000 images using a visible light camera.

It has traveled nearly five billion miles, executed 2.5 million commands, conducted 162 targeted flybys of Saturn's moons, completed 294 orbits and its collected data has led to the publication of nearly 4,000 research papers.

When Cassini arrived, it witnessed a giant storm circling the planet for nine months. We learned that there are 3-D structures in the rings. Serendipitous observations showed that icy jets erupt from Enceladus. And Titan not only has seas and lakes of liquid ethane and methane, it has an atmosphere of chemicals that rain down, forming a unique chemistry that could lead to life.

"This is the final chapter of an amazing mission, but it's also a new beginning," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "Cassini's discovery of ocean worlds at Titan and Enceladus changed everything, shaking our views to the core about surprising places to search for potential life beyond Earth."

And the spacecraft itself, as well as its instruments, are informing future missions like NASA's Europa Clipper mission to explore Jupiter's icy moon, launching in the 2020s.

"Cassini has enabled those future missions to be possible," said Jim Green, NASA's director of planetary science.

NASA's New Frontiers competition has called for proposals that include future missions to the Saturn system. The proposals include a Saturn probe that explore the planet deeper than Cassini. Intrigued by Cassini's discoveries, scientists have submitted concepts for future "spacecraft to drift on the methane seas of Titan and fly through the Enceladus plume to collect and analyze samples for signs of biology," according to NASA.

Finalists will be announced at the end of the year, and NASA will explore those mission concepts further.

"For future missions to Saturn, there are a lot of possibilities," Spilker said. "One certainly involves the tiny moon Enceladus and the potential for life in that global ocean. The potential for astrobiology in the ocean on Titan. There's questions about the rings -- can we get even closer and understand those individual ring particles? Lots of questions remain, so that's why we have to go back."

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Cassini, NASA's 13-year Saturn mission, has ended

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The spacecraft deliberately sank into Saturn's upper atmosphere at a high speed and plunged itself into the planet just after 6:30a.m. ET Friday. Given the amount of time it takes signals to reach Earth, the final signal and last bits of data reached the Deep Space Network's Canberra Station in Australia about an hour and a half later.

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More evidence has come up against former St.Louis cop Stockley in the murder of the young black male Anthony Smith.

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Preparations for possible protests are set in St. Louis, where a judge may rule Friday in the murder trial of a white former police officer who fatally shot a black suspect.

Jason Stockley's first-degree murder trial concluded Aug. 9 and St. Louis has been on edge awaiting Judge Timothy Wilson's ruling.

Stockley testified he shot Anthony Lamar Smith in 2011 because he thought the drug suspect was reaching for a gun. Prosecutors say Stockley planted the weapon.

Media reports and preparation announcements from officials indicate that Wilson may rule Friday. Gov. Eric Greitens has the National Guard on standby. Police are working 12-hour shifts, starting Friday. All downtown courthouses will be closed, including the federal courthouse.

Greitens and Mayor Lyda Krewson are urging calm. Also asking for peace is Smith's fiancée, Christina Wilson.

___

Sign up for the AP's weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas: http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv .

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With ruling near in ex-St. Louis officer's trial, calm urged

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Preparations for possible protests are set in St. Louis, where a judge may rule Friday in the murder trial of a white former police officer who fatally shot a black suspect. Jason Stockley's first-degree murder trial concluded Aug. 9 and St. Louis has been on edge awaiting Judge Timothy Wilson's ruling.

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Cassini, NASA's 13-year Saturn mission, has end. contact has been lost with the Cassini spacecraft after it completed a "death dive" into the upper atmosphere of Saturn and transmitted its final signal, according too NASA.

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The spacecraft deliberately sank into Saturn's upper atmosphere at a high speed and plunged itself into the planet just after 6:30a.m. ET Friday. Given the amount of time it takes signals to reach Earth, the final signal and last bits of data reached the Deep Space Network's Canberra Station in Australia about an hour and a half later.

NASA confirmed the spacecraft's demise at 7:55 a.m. ET, as predicted.

For about a minute, Cassini was able to transmit new data about the planet's composition as long as its antenna remained pointed toward Earth, with the assist from small thrusters. Then, the spacecraft burned and disintegrated due to the heat and high pressure of the hostile atmosphere. It became part of the planet it set out to explore.

"It was a perfect spacecraft," said Julie Webster, spacecraft operations chief. "Right to the end, it did everything we asked it to. It's perfect, it's perfect."

No spacecraft has ever been so close to Saturn. The last few seconds of the Cassini mission provided the "first taste" of the atmosphere of Saturn, NASA said.

"You can think of Cassini as the first Saturn probe," said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist.

On Thursday, Cassini took its last images and transmitted all the data on its recorder to prepare for the final plunge. The final data from Friday is already being processed and analyzed.

For the team behind the mission, losing their spacecraft is bittersweet: Many are sad that the mission is over but excited to see the groundbreaking science provided by unprecedented proximity to Saturn during the final dive.

"The Cassini operations team did an absolutely stellar job guiding the spacecraft to its noble end," said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager. "From designing the trajectory seven years ago, to navigating through the 22 nail-biting plunges between Saturn and its rings, this is a crack shot group of scientists and engineers that scripted a fitting end to a great mission. What a way to go. Truly a blaze of glory."

The team members that have worked together from concept to the final minutes exchanged hugs and tears in Mission Control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California after the loss of signal was confirmed.

"Things never will be quite the same for those of us on the Cassini team now that the spacecraft is no longer flying," Spilker said. "But, we take comfort knowing that every time we look up at Saturn in the night sky, part of Cassini will be there, too."

After launching in 1997 and reaching the Saturn system in 2004, Cassini spent 13 years exploring the planet and its moons. The data and images led to numerous discoveries that changed how scientists think about our solar system.

"A superb machine in an amazing place doing everything possible to reveal the mysteries and secrets of our solar system," Maize said. "This morning, a lone explorer, a machine made by humankind, finished its mission 900 million miles away. To the very end, the spacecraft did everything we asked. We believe we got every last second of data. We have indeed accomplished everything we set out to do."

Why the dramatic ending?

Cassini had its closest approach with Saturn's moon Titan on Monday, dubbed a "goodbye kiss" by the mission's engineers because it provided the gravity assist that sent the spacecraft on its final encounter with Saturn.

Mission scientists and operators gave Cassini this fiery send-off on purpose. Although many other options were considered -- such as "parking" the spacecraft in orbit -- they didn't want to risk Cassini colliding with any of Saturn's moons.

Cassini data and observations revealed that while seemingly inhospitable to us, the moons Enceladus and Titan could be habitable for some form of life. And NASA didn't want to risk contaminating the moons or any future studies of themwith Earth particles. Although Cassini has been in space for 20 years, microbes from Earth could still exist on the spacecraft without air, water or protection from radiation.

Although the mission itself has ended, the data and observations provided by Cassini will provide new details about the planet, its unique rings and its moons for decades to come.

"Cassini may be gone, but its scientific bounty will keep us occupied for many years," Spilker said. "We've only scratched the surface of what we can learn from the mountain of data it has sent back over its lifetime."

During the final plunge, the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer acted as the "nose" of the spacecraft, directly sampling the composition and structure of the atmosphere -- something that can't be done from orbit, said Hunter Waite, team lead for the spectrometer.

This was in the hopes of investigating the "ring rain" phenomenon discovered by NASA's Voyager mission in the early 1980s, in which it appeared that the rings were raining down material on the planet and causing changes in the atmosphere. The spectrometer could determine what material is from the rings and what material is part of the atmosphere.

Cassini's grand finale actually began in April, with a series of dives between Saturn's rings, close to the planet and its moons, providing unprecedented insight. This is another reason the mission scientists decided on Cassini's particular end-game: The final dive was a dramatic conclusion to this long and scientifically valuable goodbye.

What Cassini taught us and what's next

Inspired to learn more after flybys of Saturn by NASA's Voyager missions, the Cassini mission was designed to be an international effort that united NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

It is known as the Cassini-Huygens mission because it delivered the European agency's Huygens probe to Titan, the "first descent and landing on a world in the outer solar system," according to NASA.

The Cassini mission has been extended twice and finally used up the last of its rocket propellant this week.

In the end, Cassini witnessed about half of a Saturn year. When the craft arrived, Saturn's northern hemisphere was emerging from winter. As seasons on Saturn last about seven Earth years each, Cassini was just able to witness summer in the northern hemisphere before the mission ended.

Over the years, Cassini has revealed insights about Saturn, its rings and how they operate, the complexities of its moons, the history of the solar system and planet formation and even the other places in our solar system where life might exist: ocean worlds. Cassini has collected more than 450,000 images using a visible light camera.

It has traveled nearly five billion miles, executed 2.5 million commands, conducted 162 targeted flybys of Saturn's moons, completed 294 orbits and its collected data has led to the publication of nearly 4,000 research papers.

When Cassini arrived, it witnessed a giant storm circling the planet for nine months. We learned that there are 3-D structures in the rings. Serendipitous observations showed that icy jets erupt from Enceladus. And Titan not only has seas and lakes of liquid ethane and methane, it has an atmosphere of chemicals that rain down, forming a unique chemistry that could lead to life.

"This is the final chapter of an amazing mission, but it's also a new beginning," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "Cassini's discovery of ocean worlds at Titan and Enceladus changed everything, shaking our views to the core about surprising places to search for potential life beyond Earth."

And the spacecraft itself, as well as its instruments, are informing future missions like NASA's Europa Clipper mission to explore Jupiter's icy moon, launching in the 2020s.

"Cassini has enabled those future missions to be possible," said Jim Green, NASA's director of planetary science.

NASA's New Frontiers competition has called for proposals that include future missions to the Saturn system. The proposals include a Saturn probe that explore the planet deeper than Cassini. Intrigued by Cassini's discoveries, scientists have submitted concepts for future "spacecraft to drift on the methane seas of Titan and fly through the Enceladus plume to collect and analyze samples for signs of biology," according to NASA.

Finalists will be announced at the end of the year, and NASA will explore those mission concepts further.

"For future missions to Saturn, there are a lot of possibilities," Spilker said. "One certainly involves the tiny moon Enceladus and the potential for life in that global ocean. The potential for astrobiology in the ocean on Titan. There's questions about the rings -- can we get even closer and understand those individual ring particles? Lots of questions remain, so that's why we have to go back."

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Cassini, NASA's 13-year Saturn mission, has ended

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The spacecraft deliberately sank into Saturn's upper atmosphere at a high speed and plunged itself into the planet just after 6:30a.m. ET Friday. Given the amount of time it takes signals to reach Earth, the final signal and last bits of data reached the Deep Space Network's Canberra Station in Australia about an hour and a half later.

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A teen was killed in Washington at a high school.

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When a Washington state high school student confronted a classmate who was armed with an automatic rifle and a semi-automatic handgun inside the school, authorities said the student "tried to talk" the armed classmate "out of it," but the gunman fatally shot him.

"That young man gave his life ... to save his fellow classmates," Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich told reporters Thursday.

The shooting took place Wednesday at Freeman High School in Rockford, Washington.

According to ABC Spokane affiliate KXLY, friends and family identified the victim as sophomore Sam Strahan.

"My heart goes out to her because she lost her husband three months ago," Knezovich said, referring to Sam's mother.

"There's nothing like that scream. You will never forget it," he said. "I heard it one too many times. Half her family is now gone. Partly because of senseless violence."

Three other students were injured in the shooting and were transported to a local hospital.

According to court documents, surveillance video showed the suspect -- who has since been taken into custody -- pull out two weapons -- an automatic rifle and a semi-automatic handgun -- inside the school that morning.

But Knezovich said the automatic rifle jammed.

"Thank God he had jammed that AR up so badly that it was not going to function," Knezovich said.

The suspect "transitioned to that pistol, and when one of the classmates that he knew came up to him and tried to talk him out of it," the suspect fatally shot him, the sheriff said.

The suspect, who is a juvenile and is not being named by ABC News, ultimately surrendered to a janitor who ordered him to lay down on the floor, the documents said.

Knezovich said the janitor "confronted him, ordered him to the ground and held him there," and then a school resource officer rushed in and helped the janitor take the suspect into custody.

The families of the three injured students released a statement through the hospital where the students are being treated, saying, "In this, our darkest hour, we feel blessed and lucky in so many ways. Our daughters are recovering from their wounds, and we know that your thoughts and prayers are with us."

They added, "Our hearts are breaking for another family in our community who lost their son. We are keeping Sam's family in our thoughts and prayers."

"We wish to express our overwhelming gratitude for the outpouring of support and love you have shown our families in our time of need," the families said. "Everyone - our friends, Freeman School District, first responders, the trauma team and care providers at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children's Hospital, the communities of Freeman and Rockford as well as Spokane - have all been phenomenal. No words can express our gratitude."

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Teen killed in school shooting 'tried to talk' armed classmate 'out of it': Sheriff

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When a Washington state high school student confronted a classmate who was armed with an automatic rifle and a semi-automatic handgun inside the school, authorities said the student "tried to talk" the armed classmate "out of it," but the gunman fatally shot him. "That young man gave his life ......

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Contact has been lost with the Cassini spacecraft after it completed a "death dive" into the upper atmosphere of Saturn and transmitted its final signal, according to NASA

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The spacecraft deliberately sank into Saturn's upper atmosphere at a high speed and plunged itself into the planet just after 6:30a.m. ET Friday. Given the amount of time it takes signals to reach Earth, the final signal and last bits of data reached the Deep Space Network's Canberra Station in Australia about an hour and a half later.

NASA confirmed the spacecraft's demise at 7:55 a.m. ET, as predicted.

For about a minute, Cassini was able to transmit new data about the planet's composition as long as its antenna remained pointed toward Earth, with the assist from small thrusters. Then, the spacecraft burned and disintegrated due to the heat and high pressure of the hostile atmosphere. It became part of the planet it set out to explore.

"It was a perfect spacecraft," said Julie Webster, spacecraft operations chief. "Right to the end, it did everything we asked it to. It's perfect, it's perfect."

No spacecraft has ever been so close to Saturn. The last few seconds of the Cassini mission provided the "first taste" of the atmosphere of Saturn, NASA said.

"You can think of Cassini as the first Saturn probe," said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist.

On Thursday, Cassini took its last images and transmitted all the data on its recorder to prepare for the final plunge. The final data from Friday is already being processed and analyzed.

For the team behind the mission, losing their spacecraft is bittersweet: Many are sad that the mission is over but excited to see the groundbreaking science provided by unprecedented proximity to Saturn during the final dive.

"The Cassini operations team did an absolutely stellar job guiding the spacecraft to its noble end," said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager. "From designing the trajectory seven years ago, to navigating through the 22 nail-biting plunges between Saturn and its rings, this is a crack shot group of scientists and engineers that scripted a fitting end to a great mission. What a way to go. Truly a blaze of glory."

The team members that have worked together from concept to the final minutes exchanged hugs and tears in Mission Control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California after the loss of signal was confirmed.

"Things never will be quite the same for those of us on the Cassini team now that the spacecraft is no longer flying," Spilker said. "But, we take comfort knowing that every time we look up at Saturn in the night sky, part of Cassini will be there, too."

After launching in 1997 and reaching the Saturn system in 2004, Cassini spent 13 years exploring the planet and its moons. The data and images led to numerous discoveries that changed how scientists think about our solar system.

"A superb machine in an amazing place doing everything possible to reveal the mysteries and secrets of our solar system," Maize said. "This morning, a lone explorer, a machine made by humankind, finished its mission 900 million miles away. To the very end, the spacecraft did everything we asked. We believe we got every last second of data. We have indeed accomplished everything we set out to do."

Why the dramatic ending?

Cassini had its closest approach with Saturn's moon Titan on Monday, dubbed a "goodbye kiss" by the mission's engineers because it provided the gravity assist that sent the spacecraft on its final encounter with Saturn.

Mission scientists and operators gave Cassini this fiery send-off on purpose. Although many other options were considered -- such as "parking" the spacecraft in orbit -- they didn't want to risk Cassini colliding with any of Saturn's moons.

Cassini data and observations revealed that while seemingly inhospitable to us, the moons Enceladus and Titan could be habitable for some form of life. And NASA didn't want to risk contaminating the moons or any future studies of themwith Earth particles. Although Cassini has been in space for 20 years, microbes from Earth could still exist on the spacecraft without air, water or protection from radiation.

Although the mission itself has ended, the data and observations provided by Cassini will provide new details about the planet, its unique rings and its moons for decades to come.

"Cassini may be gone, but its scientific bounty will keep us occupied for many years," Spilker said. "We've only scratched the surface of what we can learn from the mountain of data it has sent back over its lifetime."

During the final plunge, the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer acted as the "nose" of the spacecraft, directly sampling the composition and structure of the atmosphere -- something that can't be done from orbit, said Hunter Waite, team lead for the spectrometer.

This was in the hopes of investigating the "ring rain" phenomenon discovered by NASA's Voyager mission in the early 1980s, in which it appeared that the rings were raining down material on the planet and causing changes in the atmosphere. The spectrometer could determine what material is from the rings and what material is part of the atmosphere.

Cassini's grand finale actually began in April, with a series of dives between Saturn's rings, close to the planet and its moons, providing unprecedented insight. This is another reason the mission scientists decided on Cassini's particular end-game: The final dive was a dramatic conclusion to this long and scientifically valuable goodbye.

What Cassini taught us and what's next

Inspired to learn more after flybys of Saturn by NASA's Voyager missions, the Cassini mission was designed to be an international effort that united NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

It is known as the Cassini-Huygens mission because it delivered the European agency's Huygens probe to Titan, the "first descent and landing on a world in the outer solar system," according to NASA.

The Cassini mission has been extended twice and finally used up the last of its rocket propellant this week.

In the end, Cassini witnessed about half of a Saturn year. When the craft arrived, Saturn's northern hemisphere was emerging from winter. As seasons on Saturn last about seven Earth years each, Cassini was just able to witness summer in the northern hemisphere before the mission ended.

Over the years, Cassini has revealed insights about Saturn, its rings and how they operate, the complexities of its moons, the history of the solar system and planet formation and even the other places in our solar system where life might exist: ocean worlds. Cassini has collected more than 450,000 images using a visible light camera.

It has traveled nearly five billion miles, executed 2.5 million commands, conducted 162 targeted flybys of Saturn's moons, completed 294 orbits and its collected data has led to the publication of nearly 4,000 research papers.

When Cassini arrived, it witnessed a giant storm circling the planet for nine months. We learned that there are 3-D structures in the rings. Serendipitous observations showed that icy jets erupt from Enceladus. And Titan not only has seas and lakes of liquid ethane and methane, it has an atmosphere of chemicals that rain down, forming a unique chemistry that could lead to life.

"This is the final chapter of an amazing mission, but it's also a new beginning," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "Cassini's discovery of ocean worlds at Titan and Enceladus changed everything, shaking our views to the core about surprising places to search for potential life beyond Earth."

And the spacecraft itself, as well as its instruments, are informing future missions like NASA's Europa Clipper mission to explore Jupiter's icy moon, launching in the 2020s.

"Cassini has enabled those future missions to be possible," said Jim Green, NASA's director of planetary science.

NASA's New Frontiers competition has called for proposals that include future missions to the Saturn system. The proposals include a Saturn probe that explore the planet deeper than Cassini. Intrigued by Cassini's discoveries, scientists have submitted concepts for future "spacecraft to drift on the methane seas of Titan and fly through the Enceladus plume to collect and analyze samples for signs of biology," according to NASA.

Finalists will be announced at the end of the year, and NASA will explore those mission concepts further.

"For future missions to Saturn, there are a lot of possibilities," Spilker said. "One certainly involves the tiny moon Enceladus and the potential for life in that global ocean. The potential for astrobiology in the ocean on Titan. There's questions about the rings -- can we get even closer and understand those individual ring particles? Lots of questions remain, so that's why we have to go back."

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Cassini, NASA's 13-year Saturn mission, has ended

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The spacecraft deliberately sank into Saturn's upper atmosphere at a high speed and plunged itself into the planet just after 6:30a.m. ET Friday. Given the amount of time it takes signals to reach Earth, the final signal and last bits of data reached the Deep Space Network's Canberra Station in Australia about an hour and a half later.

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Barbuda in the Caribbean lasted over 300 years and now its gone due to hurricane Irma. Now there is no one on the island.
In july 94,731 people were counted

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"The damage is complete," Ronald Sanders, the Antigua and Barbuda ambassador to the United States, told Public Radio International. "It's a humanitarian disaster."

"For the first time in 300 years, there's not a single living person on the island of Barbuda -- a civilization that has existed in that island for close to, over 300 years has now been extinguished."

Sanders made similar remarks in an interview with CNN.

Antigua and Barbuda -- located southeast of Puerto Rico and where the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea meet -- became a sovereign state in the British commonwealth in 1981. Its population in July was estimated to be 94,731, with 97% of the population living on the island of Antigua, the CIA World Factbook said.

The majority-Christian and the majority-English speaking nation is reliant in large part on travel and tourism and has financial services businesses. But tourism is its bread and butter -- accounting for nearly 60% of its GDP.

When the storm hit, Antigua received minimal damage but the storm obliterated Barbuda's infrastructure, flattening structure after structure. At least one death was reported. Rescuers evacuated residents to Antigua and a state of emergency has been declared.

"We've tried to make living accommodations as good as humanly possible in these circumstances. Fortunately, we had planned ahead for this hurricane, and we had ordered supplies in from Miami and the United States before the hurricane hit," Sanders told PRI.

He told CNN about 1,700 people were evacuated from Barbuda to Antigua and said others went to Antigua on their own.

The living conditions aren't perfect and they can be "cramped," he said. But the evacuees are safe and the young people from Barbuda will be going to school in Antigua, for the time being.

"It's government facilities in which they are being located. We've opened some others. We've taken a nursing home for instance and converted that into accommodation and Antiguans have been very generous in opening their homes to some of the Barbudans, particularly those with young children," he told PRI.

The government believes that while some Barbudans might choose to stay in Antigua even after their island is rebuilt, many will want to go home.

It's a small island, 62 square miles, and its residents have a strong sense of belonging. That's where their ancestors are buried, Sanders said.

"Generations of people have lived on that island. They know nothing else. The commitment to that island is extremely strong. They have a strong sense of who they are," he told CNN.

The government intends to rebuild the island, which will take time. International humanitarian help is needed in what is a gargantuan job, Sanders said, adding that the small island community can't rebuild without such assistance.

Rebuilding

Prominent voices, such as actor Robert de Niro, are urging help for the island. Wealthy individuals have made donations that add up to around $5 million or more and countries have come forward with immediate relief.

The country is thankful for the help but Sanders notes that a few million dollars is a "drop in the bucket." A massive effort is required, he told CNN.

"We're a $1 billion economy facing a $250 million problem," he said. "We need to look at how we get this island back into shape."

He can't give a timetable for any of the steps to rebuild. It all depends on how much funding the country can raise.

The first thing to do now is clean up so construction can start on buildings strong enough to withstand hurricanes.

"The island is not exactly safe for anything to happen," he told CNN, saying it is filled with dead animals, water flies and rubbish everywhere.

Electricity must be re-established and water needs to flow again.

Antigua and Barbuda is in a different situation from other hard-hit Caribbean islands that are territories of larger and richer nations that can step in to help rebuild: the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands, for example.

"Antigua is a tiny place, and we have no godfather," Sanders told CNN.

Officials are envisioning assembling a donors conference, he said, where international agencies and nations would plan a rebuilding initiative.

He said it makes sense for larger industrial nations to help out his small and pristine country because of climate change.

"We are the victims of greenhouse gases. We contribute little to pollution," he told CNN. "We are hoping our neighboring countries can respond."

The country would have been hurt even worse if Antigua had taken the same kind of beating from Irma that Barbuda did, Sanders said. But it has been spared and the tourist industry is still functioning well.

"Antigua remains open for business," he told CNN.

Sanders describes the "remarkable beauty" of Barbuda and its beaches.

"Crystal clear water with pink sand beaches. You stand in that water up to your neck and you can look down and see your toes," he said.

While rebuilding Barbuda is a daunting task, the alternative of abandoning the island is "crazy," Sanders said.

It would become a haven for drug traffickers if it is left alone.

"The island has to be secure. It has to be populated. It has to be policed," he told CNN.

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barbuda is empty for first time in 300 years after irma - cnn

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Joe Sterling and Cassandra Santiago, CNN

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
For first time in 300 years, Barbuda is empty

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"The damage is complete," Ronald Sanders, the Antigua and Barbuda ambassador to the United States, told Public Radio International. "It's a humanitarian disaster." "For the first time in 300 years, there's not a single living person on the island of Barbuda -- a civilization that has existed in that island for close to, over 300 years has now been extinguished."

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A contract has been lost from the Cassini spacecraft after it was done completing a "death drive". The space craft sunk into Saturn at the high point of the atmosphere in a high speed plug in

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The spacecraft deliberately sank into Saturn's upper atmosphere at a high speed and plunged itself into the planet just after 6:30a.m. ET Friday. Given the amount of time it takes signals to reach Earth, the final signal and last bits of data reached the Deep Space Network's Canberra Station in Australia about an hour and a half later.

NASA confirmed the spacecraft's demise at 7:55 a.m. ET, as predicted.

For about a minute, Cassini was able to transmit new data about the planet's composition as long as its antenna remained pointed toward Earth, with the assist from small thrusters. Then, the spacecraft burned and disintegrated due to the heat and high pressure of the hostile atmosphere. It became part of the planet it set out to explore.

"It was a perfect spacecraft," said Julie Webster, spacecraft operations chief. "Right to the end, it did everything we asked it to. It's perfect, it's perfect."

No spacecraft has ever been so close to Saturn. The last few seconds of the Cassini mission provided the "first taste" of the atmosphere of Saturn, NASA said.

"You can think of Cassini as the first Saturn probe," said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist.

On Thursday, Cassini took its last images and transmitted all the data on its recorder to prepare for the final plunge. The final data from Friday is already being processed and analyzed.

For the team behind the mission, losing their spacecraft is bittersweet: Many are sad that the mission is over but excited to see the groundbreaking science provided by unprecedented proximity to Saturn during the final dive.

"The Cassini operations team did an absolutely stellar job guiding the spacecraft to its noble end," said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager. "From designing the trajectory seven years ago, to navigating through the 22 nail-biting plunges between Saturn and its rings, this is a crack shot group of scientists and engineers that scripted a fitting end to a great mission. What a way to go. Truly a blaze of glory."

The team members that have worked together from concept to the final minutes exchanged hugs and tears in Mission Control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California after the loss of signal was confirmed.

"Things never will be quite the same for those of us on the Cassini team now that the spacecraft is no longer flying," Spilker said. "But, we take comfort knowing that every time we look up at Saturn in the night sky, part of Cassini will be there, too."

After launching in 1997 and reaching the Saturn system in 2004, Cassini spent 13 years exploring the planet and its moons. The data and images led to numerous discoveries that changed how scientists think about our solar system.

"A superb machine in an amazing place doing everything possible to reveal the mysteries and secrets of our solar system," Maize said. "This morning, a lone explorer, a machine made by humankind, finished its mission 900 million miles away. To the very end, the spacecraft did everything we asked. We believe we got every last second of data. We have indeed accomplished everything we set out to do."

Why the dramatic ending?

Cassini had its closest approach with Saturn's moon Titan on Monday, dubbed a "goodbye kiss" by the mission's engineers because it provided the gravity assist that sent the spacecraft on its final encounter with Saturn.

Mission scientists and operators gave Cassini this fiery send-off on purpose. Although many other options were considered -- such as "parking" the spacecraft in orbit -- they didn't want to risk Cassini colliding with any of Saturn's moons.

Cassini data and observations revealed that while seemingly inhospitable to us, the moons Enceladus and Titan could be habitable for some form of life. And NASA didn't want to risk contaminating the moons or any future studies of themwith Earth particles. Although Cassini has been in space for 20 years, microbes from Earth could still exist on the spacecraft without air, water or protection from radiation.

Although the mission itself has ended, the data and observations provided by Cassini will provide new details about the planet, its unique rings and its moons for decades to come.

"Cassini may be gone, but its scientific bounty will keep us occupied for many years," Spilker said. "We've only scratched the surface of what we can learn from the mountain of data it has sent back over its lifetime."

During the final plunge, the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer acted as the "nose" of the spacecraft, directly sampling the composition and structure of the atmosphere -- something that can't be done from orbit, said Hunter Waite, team lead for the spectrometer.

This was in the hopes of investigating the "ring rain" phenomenon discovered by NASA's Voyager mission in the early 1980s, in which it appeared that the rings were raining down material on the planet and causing changes in the atmosphere. The spectrometer could determine what material is from the rings and what material is part of the atmosphere.

Cassini's grand finale actually began in April, with a series of dives between Saturn's rings, close to the planet and its moons, providing unprecedented insight. This is another reason the mission scientists decided on Cassini's particular end-game: The final dive was a dramatic conclusion to this long and scientifically valuable goodbye.

What Cassini taught us and what's next

Inspired to learn more after flybys of Saturn by NASA's Voyager missions, the Cassini mission was designed to be an international effort that united NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

It is known as the Cassini-Huygens mission because it delivered the European agency's Huygens probe to Titan, the "first descent and landing on a world in the outer solar system," according to NASA.

The Cassini mission has been extended twice and finally used up the last of its rocket propellant this week.

In the end, Cassini witnessed about half of a Saturn year. When the craft arrived, Saturn's northern hemisphere was emerging from winter. As seasons on Saturn last about seven Earth years each, Cassini was just able to witness summer in the northern hemisphere before the mission ended.

Over the years, Cassini has revealed insights about Saturn, its rings and how they operate, the complexities of its moons, the history of the solar system and planet formation and even the other places in our solar system where life might exist: ocean worlds. Cassini has collected more than 450,000 images using a visible light camera.

It has traveled nearly five billion miles, executed 2.5 million commands, conducted 162 targeted flybys of Saturn's moons, completed 294 orbits and its collected data has led to the publication of nearly 4,000 research papers.

When Cassini arrived, it witnessed a giant storm circling the planet for nine months. We learned that there are 3-D structures in the rings. Serendipitous observations showed that icy jets erupt from Enceladus. And Titan not only has seas and lakes of liquid ethane and methane, it has an atmosphere of chemicals that rain down, forming a unique chemistry that could lead to life.

"This is the final chapter of an amazing mission, but it's also a new beginning," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "Cassini's discovery of ocean worlds at Titan and Enceladus changed everything, shaking our views to the core about surprising places to search for potential life beyond Earth."

And the spacecraft itself, as well as its instruments, are informing future missions like NASA's Europa Clipper mission to explore Jupiter's icy moon, launching in the 2020s.

"Cassini has enabled those future missions to be possible," said Jim Green, NASA's director of planetary science.

NASA's New Frontiers competition has called for proposals that include future missions to the Saturn system. The proposals include a Saturn probe that explore the planet deeper than Cassini. Intrigued by Cassini's discoveries, scientists have submitted concepts for future "spacecraft to drift on the methane seas of Titan and fly through the Enceladus plume to collect and analyze samples for signs of biology," according to NASA.

Finalists will be announced at the end of the year, and NASA will explore those mission concepts further.

"For future missions to Saturn, there are a lot of possibilities," Spilker said. "One certainly involves the tiny moon Enceladus and the potential for life in that global ocean. The potential for astrobiology in the ocean on Titan. There's questions about the rings -- can we get even closer and understand those individual ring particles? Lots of questions remain, so that's why we have to go back."

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Cassini, NASA's 13-year Saturn mission, has ended

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The spacecraft deliberately sank into Saturn's upper atmosphere at a high speed and plunged itself into the planet just after 6:30a.m. ET Friday. Given the amount of time it takes signals to reach Earth, the final signal and last bits of data reached the Deep Space Network's Canberra Station in Australia about an hour and a half later.