International news brief: Mikhail Gorbachev, who steered Soviet breakup, dies, NASA's Artemis 1 launch on Sat

Washington, Aug 31: Mikhail Gorbachev, who as the last leader of the Soviet Union waged a losing battle to salvage a crumbling empire but produced extraordinary reforms that led to the end of the Cold War, died Tuesday. He was 91. The Central Clinical Hospital said in a statement that Gorbachev died after a long illness. No other details were given.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that Russian President Vladimir Putin offered deep condolences over Gorbachev's death and would send an official telegram to Gorbachev's family in the morning.

US announces USD 30-mn humanitarian aid to Pak as it battles deadly floods

The United States on Tuesday announced USD 30 million in humanitarian aid to Pakistan as it battles one of the worst floods in recent history. US Secretary of State Tony Blinken said, ''We stand with Pakistan in this difficult time.'' ''As Pakistan suffers from devastating flooding, the United States -- through the USAID -- is now providing USD30 million towards critical humanitarian assistance like food, safe water, and shelter,'' he said.

The flooding has affected an estimated 33 million people and resulted in more than 1,100 deaths and over 1,600 injuries, Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the Department of State, told reporters during a conference call.

US has concerns about any country exercising with Russia: White House

The United States has concerns about any country conducting an exercise with Russia which has waged an unprovoked and brutal war against Ukraine, the White House said Tuesday.

It said this in response to a question on a multinational military exercise -- called ''Vostok 2022'' -- from September 1-7 in Russia which among others would be attended by India and China. This will be the first large-scale multinational military exercise in Russia since the beginning of its offensive in Ukraine.

NASA aims for Saturday launch of new moon rocket: Take 2

NASA will try again Saturday to launch its new moon rocket on a test flight, after engine trouble halted the first countdown this week.

Managers said Tuesday they are changing fueling procedures to deal with the issue. The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket remains on its pad at Kennedy Space Center, with an empty crew capsule on top. It's the most powerful rocket ever built by NASA.

The Space Launch System rocket, or SLS, will attempt to send the capsule around the moon and back. No one will be aboard, just three test dummies. If successful, it will be the first capsule to fly to the moon since NASA's Apollo program 50 years ago.

Musk cites whistleblower as new reason to exit Twitter deal

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter lobbed more accusations at each other Tuesday over revelations by a Twitter whistleblower, who has taken center stage in Musk's effort to back out of an agreement to buy the social media platform for $44 billion.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk said his legal team notified Twitter that information in a whistleblower complaint filed by Peiter Zatko, Twitter's former head of security, provided additional reasons for ending the deal.