Robb Kulin was on a break from his console at SpaceX’s Launch Control Center last year when he received a phone call from NASA welcoming him into the agency’s newest astronaut class.

The selection gave Kulin, who then led SpaceX’s Launch Chief Engineering group for flight reliability, the opportunity to one day fly atop a Falcon 9 rocket he had helped design and build.

“If we could really try to help people realize that borders are something that we create, and they’re not natural, I think we would just make the world a better place,” Kulin, then 33, said during a June 2017 press conference introducing a dozen astronaut candidates, or ASCANs.

But in a very rare move, Kulin has turned in his NASA-issued blue  jumpsuit, just a year into the two-year training program the astronaut candidates must complete before being eligible for flight assignments.

NASA this week confirmed that Kulin has resigned, effective Aug. 31, citing “personal reasons.”

Kulin, whose resignation was first reported by the Houston Chronicle, so far has not commented publicly on Facebook or Twitter.

It was the first time in 50 years that an astronaut candidate has resigned, according to Robert Pearlman, editor of CollectSpace.com.

Kulin and his classmates were selected from more than 18,300 applicants, and publicly introduced last year at Johnson Space Center in Houston by Vice President Mike Pence.

Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, Kulin earned a master’s degree in materials science and doctorate in engineering, studying bone fractures. He had previously worked as a commercial fisherman in Alaska and as a technician drilling ice cores in Antarctica to support climate research.

He started working at SpaceX headquarters in California in 2011, working on the first upgrade of the Falcon 9 rocket. He later helped investigate a Falcon 9 failure.

“My whole goal coming out of that, and I would say the team’s whole goal, was to make sure that the Falcon 9 was as reliable and successful as possible, for SpaceX’s commercial partners, but also of course very importantly for the crew that will fly on that vehicle,” he said last year. “It’s something just that helped us grow stronger and me grow stronger as an engineer.”

SpaceX says it within months of launching a Falcon 9 carrying a Crew Dragon capsule from Kennedy Space Center on a first test flight without anyone on board. That could be followed by a crewed test flight to the International Space Station next spring.

SpaceX did not comment on Kulin’s departure from NASA.

NASA said Kulin would not be replaced by a new astronaut candidate.

As trainees, astronaut candidates study International Space Station systems, spacewalking techniques, robotics skills, and aircraft flight readiness using two-person T-38 jets. They also receive Russian language training, necessary to serve on a space station expedition.

The candidates also must complete military water survival training before beginning their flying program, pass a swimming test, and become qualified SCUBA divers to practice spacewalks in Johnson Space Center’s giant swimming pool, officially called the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, which simulates working in microgravity.

Asked in a NASA interview what he would bring to Mars, Kulin, who grew up ski racing, said “skis.”

Kulin recalled as a boy reading about great ocean explorers, and feeling as if I had missed his time. 

“But once I realized kind of what space was, I realized that was actually the place that I wanted to go,” he said. “It’s probably one of the remaining frontiers for exploration and to try to push the limits of mankind.”

The advice he said he’d give students was to focus not on getting high marks on tests, but on building “that great foundation of understanding, which is the important part, and it really helps later on in life.”

Kulin was at Cape Canaveral preparing for a SpaceX cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station last year when he took a break, stepped away from his console and his phone rang. It was NASA’s astronaut office offering him a job. 

“Pretty awesome moment,” he told NASA.

Kulin’s last official Twitter messages as an astronaut candidate came April 30 and May 1 during a visit to the Space Coast. He said it was “incredible to be back at the cape” to see the “awesome work” of his former SpaceX colleagues, linking to a photo that is no longer available.

NASA’s remaining astronaut candidates from Kulin’s class are Kayla Barron, Zena Cardman, Raja Chari, Matthew Dominick, Bob Hines, Warren Hoburg, Jonny Kim, Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O’Hara, Frank Rubio and Jessica Watkins. 

In addition, NASA lists 39 active astronauts eligible for flight assignments.

More: Boeing Starliner astronauts make first official visit to Kennedy Space Center

Contact Dean at 321-917-4534 or jdean@floridatoday.com. And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at https://ift.tt/2D4ogtU.

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., thew cold water Tuesday on a proposal to rename the Senate Russell Office building in honor of Sen. John McCain and suggested the formation of a bipartisan “gang” to explore a range of options to commemorate the Arizona Republican. 

McCain “meant so much to so many of us,” McConnell said in a statement, and the “Senate is eager to work on concrete ways” to “provide a lasting tribute to this American hero long after this week’s observances are complete.” 

McConnell said there several ways the Senate could honor McCain, who died Saturday from brain cancer. One is to name the Senate Armed Services Committee room after him and another could be to hang his portrait in the Senate Reception Room. 

“It’s a further tribute to our colleague that there’s no shortage of good ideas,” McConnell said. To “realize these intentions,” he proposed bringing together a group of current and former senators from both sides of the aisle.

“And come to think of it, we should probably call it not a committee, but a gang,” McConnell said. “So I’m glad we’ll be able to form this gang to ensure that a suitable, lasting tribute becomes a reality.” 

McConnell told reporters he was “not notified in advance” of the proposal Monday by Senate Minority Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to rename the Russell Senate Office building. He said that the Senate does not usually move so quickly to honor deceased colleagues and that there should be deliberation “after proper recognition of the person we’ve lost” and “in a calmer environment.” 

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said McCain would have wanted the Senate to go through a deliberative process. 

More: What I learned about John McCain during 20 years covering him

More: Here are details about John McCain viewing, funeral

“While John McCain always wanted to get things done, he also always wanted to get things done in a regular order,” Blunt said.  

The Russell building is named for Georgia Sen. Richard Russell, a Democratic segregationist who opposed anti-lynching laws and the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Russell died in 1971. 

Current Georgia Sen. David Perdue said his constituents might not support changing the building’s name. Perdue said the senators should find the “right way” to honor McCain and avoid any “knee-jerk” reactions. 

Sen. John McCain’s farewell letter: ‘I lived and died a proud American’

More: Trump flip-flops, lowers White House flag back to half-staff

“This is a guy who was a giant of the Senate,” Perdue told The Hill in reference to Russell. “So this renaming thing because of one issue, you know, is somewhat troubling. The fact that it’s been brought into this John McCain thing I think is inappropriate.”

Other southern senators agreed. 

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told The Hill that Russell was a “well-respected man from the South.” He called Russell “a man of his time,” and rejected the impulse to judge him for his civil rights record. 

“If you want to get into that you have to get into George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and all of our – most of our founding fathers, maybe with the exception of Hamilton,” Shelby said. “It’s easy to prejudge what they should have done.”

“I think Russell being named Russell is that generation of senators’ message to future generations,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. “What I don’t want is to establish a precedent, so something named after John McCain is named after somebody else in the future.”

McCain’s fellow Arizona Republican, Sen. Jeff Flake, co-sponsored the proposal to rename the Russell building, but he also seemed ready to pump the brakes on the effort. Flake told The Associated Press that he did not “want to get out ahead” of McCain’s family in the drive to honor him. 

“There are a number of proposals coming forward about ways to honor John McCain. I think this would be a particularly good one, but I want to make sure the family is OK with it,” Flake said.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., was “all for” renaming the Russell building after McCain. 

“Russell is somebody that’s obviously a huge figure, but it is an era that’s gone by. We’re in a new era now,” Corker said Monday. “Who would want to vote against naming a building after somebody who just passed away?” 

Contributing: The Associated Press

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England will attempt to replicate their World Cup schedule by flying back from Portugal just 48 hours before the first autumn international at Twickenham.

Eddie Jones’ squad will train in the Algarve for a week, returning to England on the Thursday before facing South Africa on Saturday, 3 November.

England usually spend the week of their home Tests at their base in Bagshot, Surrey.

But Jones wants his side to match the travel conditions in Japan next year.

England’s first two matches of the World Cup – against Tonga and the USA in September 2019 – take place four days apart in Sapporo and Kobe, a distance of 1,000km – needing a two-hour flight.

They then have a nine-day break before their third game against Argentina in Tokyo, before the group finale with France in Yokohama a week later.

As well as having extensive experience of Japan from his time as head coach of their national side, Jones has been there this summer to fine-tune England’s preparations.

England also face world champions New Zealand, Japan and Australia this November as they bid to turn around a poor run of results, with just three wins from nine matches in 2018.

A Texas jury has found a white former police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager last year guilty of murder.  

Roy Oliver shot into a car full of teenagers as they were leaving a party in the Dallas suburb of Balch Springs in April 2017. 

Fifteen-year-old Jordan Edwards, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was struck and killed. 

“It’s been a hard year … I’m just really happy,” Edwards’s father, Odell, told reporters at the courthouse after the verdict on Tuesday. 

At the time of the shooting, Oliver claimed the vehicle was trying to run over his partner, but several witness accounts and body-cam footage showed the car was moving away from the officer.

Oliver was fired from the Balch Springs police force in May 2017 after police admitted the video of the shooting contradicted Oliver’s initial statement. 

Local reporters, who were present in the courtroom on Tuesday as the verdict was read, reported that there were hugs, claps and cheers from the family of Edwards. 

Oliver faces between five and 99 years in prison for the murder. His sentencing hearing began immediately after the trial. The former police officer was acquitted of manslaughter and aggravated assault. 

‘Not just about Jordan’

Daryl Washington, Edwards’s lawyer, said the verdict is not just about justice for the young teenager’s family but for the families of all unarmed black people killed by police. 

“This case is not just about Jordan,” Washington told reporters. “It’s about Tamir Rice, it’s about Walter Scott, it’s about Alton Sterling, it’s about every unarmed African American who has been killed and who has not got justice.” 

According to Washington Post Fatal Force database, more than 980 people were killed by police in 2017. 

The Guardian identified more than 1,090 police killings the previous year.

Nearly a quarter of those killed by police in 2016 were African Americans, although the group accounted for roughly 12 percent of the total US population.

According to watchdog group The Sentencing Project, African American men are six times more likely to be arrested than white men.

These disparities, particularly the killing of African Americans by police, has prompted the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, a popular civil rights movement aimed at ending police violence and dismantling structural racism.

‘Finally’

Online, many called Tuesday’s verdict a “small”, but “significant” step for justice for unarmed people killed by police. 

According to Phil Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University, only 91 police officers in the US have been charged with murder or manslaughter resulting from an on-duty shooting since 2005. Less than 40 have been convicted of a crime. 

“This is a big deal,” tweeted Sherrilyn Ifill, the president and director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 

This is a big deal. #JordanEdwards. https://t.co/GGnixJVCZW

— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) August 28, 2018

Twitter user, Ben Frank, wrote: “Finally, a cop was found guilty of murdering a black man. Hopefully this will be the new norm and [teach] these cops they just can’t murder us and get away with it.” 

Finally, a cop was found guilty of murdering a black man. Hopefully, this will be a new norm and theach these cops they just can’t murder us and get away with it. #JordanEdwards #Dallas

— $Ben Frank$ (@Let_Me_B_Frank) August 28, 2018

Angie Thomas, author of the book The Hate You Give, and others pointed out that the verdict came on the same day as the anniversary murder of Emmet Till, a 14-year-old African American who was kidnapped and brutally killed in 1955 in Mississippi. Although two white men confessed to the murder after they were acquitted by an all-white jury, experts say details around the murder remain unclear. The US Department of Justice recently announced it was reviving its investigation into the case, which became a focal point of the civil rights movement in the US. 

“It’s not lost on me that Jordan Edwards received justice on the anniversary of Emmett Till’s murder,” Thomas tweeted. “Trying to process this.” 

It’s not lost on me that Jordan Edwards received justice on the anniversary of Emmett Till’s murder. Trying to process this.

— T’ChAngie Thomas (@angiecthomas) August 28, 2018

63 years ago today a 14-year-old Black child named Emmett Till was murdered. His killers got away with it.

Today, a police officer was convicted of murdering a 15-year old Black child named Jordan Edwards.

— Daryle Lamont Jenkins (@DLamontJenkins) August 28, 2018

Mr. Bubz the dog has seemingly come out of nowhere, blessing the internet with his snarls and nervous energy.

After a 14-second video of the pup snarling while a man offered some affection was uploaded to YouTube on Monday it quickly ramped up well over 10,000 views. 

And while Mr. Bubz currently only has a handful of post on his Instagram — the first of which was also posted on Monday — he already has over 10,000 followers. 

Regardless of what launched Mr. Bubz into an overnight sensation, all I know is that I too love Mr. Bubz, and so should you. He’s not perfect! But who is? 

There’s something indescribable about Mr. Bubz that just makes him a treat to watch. Maybe it’s his constant expression of dread and whiny snarls, or perhaps it’s his big bulging eyes and stout body. 

Who can say for sure? It is a mystery. Truly.

Making things even weirder, Mr. Bubz’s Instagram posts also have some, uh, interesting captions that I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around.

“Never not dreaming of motherwife’s ripe panties,” is one of the curiouser captions. 

And then there’s also this gem of a caption: “Mr. Bubz loves rubbing his dick on stuff and tending his garden.” 

Yikes.

All concerning comments aside, now that Mr. Bubz has entered into my life I am hooked, and I will be sitting patiently waiting for more Mr. Bubz-related content. 

We’ve reached out to Mr. Bubz’s humans for additional information and comments, and we’ll update this post if we hear back. 

Fashion Climbing: A Memoir With Photographs

type

Book

Genre

Memoir, Fashion

publisher

Penguin Press

publication date

09/04/18

author

Bill Cunningham

Bill Cunningham was the unofficial mascot of New York City. To see the legendary fashion photographer on the street, his signature blue jacket flapping in the breeze as he pedaled his trusty bicycle, was always a good omen, like finding a lucky penny. His fans spotted him by his ever-present camera, knew his voice as the narrator of New York Times fashion trend videos, and recognized his iconic photographs of the women of Madison Avenue, each more glamorous than the last.

But few of these people really knew Bill Cunningham. He was a chronicler, a mysteriously friendly observer among constant crowds of extroverts. Those who devoured his eponymous documentary, Bill Cunningham New York, are familiar with the way he dodged and deflected personal questions with seasoned practice. So when The Times revealed earlier this year that he had written a secret memoir before his death, titled Fashion Climbing, it was a pleasant shock.

It wasn’t until after his 2016 passing that his family discovered the manuscript, stored among the extensive archives he kept in his spartan apartment. (For years Cunningham lived in a quintessentially bohemian rent-controlled unit above Carnegie Hall that measured 300 square feet and had a communal bathroom down the hall.) He kept the book’s drafts alongside thousands of photographs and negatives, and took pains to preserve it all. His surviving nieces and nephews (he never had children) got the manuscript into the hands of book agent Bill Clegg, who contacted Penguin Press editor Christopher Richards. Richards, for his part, never saw it coming.

“When they called me and said ‘Bill Cunningham,’ it was a real shock,” Richards tells EW. “It seemed impossible that Bill of all people had written a memoir. You’re so vulnerable when you write about yourself at length, and the idea that this particular man, who was so guarded, had done this was a complete and total surprise.”

Richards read the manuscript immediately, and knew within 30 minutes that he “absolutely had” to publish it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to score this kind of a title, especially as a young editor, and Penguin was lucky enough to beat out the competition.

While the public, the publishing industry, and even Cunningham’s own family may have been shocked to discover that the man they had been so fascinated by for decades was secretly documenting his personal life, those who worked alongside him for decades were not. Cathy Horyn, the prominent fashion critic and journalist who worked at The New York Times for more than 15 years (and is now at New York magazine), saw this memoir coming before most. She first met Cunningham in the early ’90s, while at the Washington Post, and befriended him over early-morning breakfasts at the Times cafeteria.

“Bill’s life was a mystery to most people, but he thought a lot about the past,” she says. “So it didn’t surprise me that he would have written things down. And there’s another good explanation for the book, or why he was doing this book in secret, which is that Bill was a writer. A lot of people don’t realize that.”

Horyn recalls a time in 2002 when Howell Raines, then the Times’ executive editor, tasked her with interviewing Cunningham for a special section about him. It took a little arm-twisting, but once they sat down he talked for hours and hours, filling up all her tapes.

It’s this side of Cunningham’s personality that Richards discovered while editing the book, which is subtitled A Memoir With Photographs. The version he read on submission was a scanned facsimile of the manuscript Cunningham’s family found, and it was covered in little notes the author left to himself in the margins, and words or phrases he had crossed out and revised.

“It was clear he reworked certain sections and really put a lot of care into preparing and preserving it,” Richards says.

That precision, combined with the fact that Penguin is publishing Fashion Climbing posthumously, means that the book fans will read when it hits shelves Sept. 4 is almost exactly the version its author left behind. Richards worked with Cunningham’s family to select photographs and commissioned New Yorker writer Hilton Als to pen a preface, but Cunningham’s account of his journey to the upper echelons of fashion’s elite speaks for itself.

The story begins with a difficult childhood in Boston, with a rigidly traditional family wary of a young man’s interest in fashion, design, and millinery. Most poignant is the fact that, despite what most would consider a struggle at home, Cunningham retained a sunny optimism, even through reliving the experience in his memoir. Horyn chalks that up to the restorative power of New York City.

“When people come to New York, they reinvent themselves,” she says. “Bill was such a positive, jubilant guy, and he was very connected to the present. That’s the thing about fashion: It’s all about change and new things.”

Even for readers who don’t count themselves as part of the Cult of Bill Cunningham, there’s a message in his memoir that he seems to have left — and keeping that lesson intact was important to the editors. The discovery of Fashion Climbing led to many discussions among the Penguin Press team, and the overriding opinion was that the book’s warmth reigns supreme.

“This is a book that is going to resonate with a lot of people who have thought about New York city as a kind of emerald city,” says Richards. “A place you can attain your dreams or be the person you couldn’t be in your hometown. A place to really pursue exactly who you believe you are at heart.”

Roy Oliver, the former Dallas-area police officer who shot and killed 15-year-old Jordan Edwards in April 2017, has been found guilty of murder. 

Oliver, who is white, was fired from the Balch Springs Police Department just days after the death of Edwards, a black teenager who was leaving a local house party with friends when Oliver opened fire on their vehicle. Edwards, who was unarmed, was in the passenger seat. 

Oliver, 38, testified last week that he had no choice other than to fire his weapon after seeing the car move toward his partner, Tyler Gross. Oliver said he believed Gross to be in danger, but Gross told jurors he never felt threatened and did not feel the need to open fire. 

“I was not in fear at that point,” Gross told jurors. 

More: Former Texas cop testifies he had no option in fatal shooting of black teen

A video released by local authorities at the time of the shooting showed the vehicle moving away from officers. Oliver fired five shots from his AK-15 rifle, striking Edwards in the back of the head and killing him instantly. He was fired shortly after the shooting. 

Jury deliberations took 13 hours. Oliver was also found not guilty of two counts of aggravated assault. 

It is the first time since 1973 that a Dallas County police officer has been found guilty of murder. 

Oliver faces between five years and life in prison at his sentencing. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Bob Costas is in talks to leave NBC. Only the peacock has served NBC Sports longer.

Costas, his representatives and NBC have held discussions that could result in the longtime face of NBC Sports being let out of a contract that currently runs through 2021, a person with knowledge of the conversations told USA TODAY Sports. The person requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.

NBC declined to comment on Costas’ potential departure. Costas declined to comment on the specifics but offered some general comments in a pair of brief phone calls with USA TODAY Sports.

“There was a very long period of time when NBC’s programming suited my interests and abilities very well, from (late-night talk show) Later, to the news magazines, to baseball, the NBA and the Olympics,” Costas said. “And after deciding on my own to leave the Olympics after having done a dozen of them, you just look around and say, ‘What was once a perfect fit no longer fits that description.’ ”

Costas, 66, has worked at NBC since 1979 in starring roles as lead announcer on the Olympics, World Series and Super Bowls. More recently, he took on a sort of emeritus role at NBC Sports — of the sort that Tom Brokaw fills for NBC News — where he is on air mainly for major news events, such as the death of Muhammad Ali.

“It would be as if NBC suddenly lost the rights to hockey,” Costas said. “They wouldn’t think any less of Mike Emrick, and he wouldn’t think any less of them, but he’d have to go find a place to do what he does best.”

By that, Costas doesn’t mean baseball. He already broadcasts games for the MLB Network. The New York Post, which first reported the talks between Costas and NBC, reported that Costas wants to pursue a journalism show that includes news-making interviews and commentaries, some of which might extend beyond sports. That’s the sort of show that might appeal to pay networks such as HBO and Showtime, or streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon.

Costas declined comment on those possibilities, but he is known for outspoken commentary. He spoke at the University of Maryland in 2017 and said of football: “The reality is that this game destroys people’s brains.” The NFL is a business partner with NBC on Sunday Night Football, which has been the top-rated program in prime time for the last seven seasons.

Costas was at home Tuesday fighting a head cold. He cited “a great deal of mutual appreciation for everything that I was a part of at NBC for nearly 40 years.”

MORE: Bob Costas on the future of football: ‘This game destroys people’s brains’

 

 

British number one Johanna Konta lost in the US Open first round for the second successive year as she was beaten 6-2 6-2 by Caroline Garcia.

Konta, 27, struggled on serve against the French sixth seed at Flushing Meadows in New York.

Her exit means there are no British women left in the singles draw after Heather Watson’s defeat on Monday.

It is the first time Konta was unseeded at a Grand Slam since the 2016 Australian Open.

Having fallen to 46th in the world rankings this year, she paid the price for a tough draw.

Konta outclassed by Murray’s tip

Konta’s slide down the rankings led to a meeting with a player who, as a teenager, was tipped as a future world number one by Britain’s Andy Murray.

Garcia has not managed to reach those heights yet but, having spent over a year inside the top 10, she was too good for Konta in her current form.

Konta, who led Garcia 3-2 in their head-to-head going into the match, was feeling positive after earning impressive wins over former Grand Slam winners Serena Williams, Jelena Ostapenko and Victoria Azarenka on the American hard courts leading up to the US Open.

However, she never looked like causing a problem for the dominant Garcia.

Perhaps Garcia was not the only obstacle for Konta, with a virus forcing her to pull out of the Connecticut Open last week and keeping her bed-ridden for three days.

Despite still sounding bunged up during her pre-tournament interviews on Saturday, she had already started to hit again in New York and insisted she was on the mend and ready to play.

Konta constantly put herself under pressure with a low first-serve percentage, enabling Garcia to dominate and win 48% of Konta’s service points.

Garcia broke twice in each set, although missed another six chances as Konta showed some signs of resistance.

She saved a match point with an accurate serve out wide to force deuce in the final game, but that was brief respite as two loose forehands long saw her lose in one hour 15 minutes.

Russia has deployed a dozen warships to the Mediterranean Sea in what a Russian newspaper on Tuesday called Moscow’s largest naval buildup since it entered the Syrian conflict in 2015.

The reinforcement comes as Russia’s ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is believed to be considering a major assault on the last rebel-held enclave in northern Idlib province.

Russia has accused the United States of building up its own forces in the Middle East in preparation for a possible strike on Syrian government forces.

On Saturday, the Admiral Grigorovich and Admiral Essen frigates sailed through Turkey’s Bosphorus towards the Mediterranean, Reuters news agency images showed.

The day before, the Pytlivy frigate and landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov were pictured sailing through the Turkish straits that connect the Black Sea with the Mediterranean. The Vishny Volochek missile corvette passed through earlier this month.

The Izvestia newspaper said Russia had gathered its largest naval presence in the Mediterranean since it intervened in Syria in 2015 and turned the war’s tide in Assad’s favour.

The force included 10 vessels, most of them armed with long-range Kalibr cruise missiles, Izvestia wrote, adding more ships were on the way. Two submarines had also been deployed.

The Syrian government is gearing up for an expected offensive in Idlib province, which is home to nearly three million people and has a large al-Qaeda presence in addition to several Syrian rebel groups.

It borders Turkey, which fears an offensive may trigger a humanitarian and security catastrophe.

Chemical attack?

The United States on Tuesday warned the Russian and Syrian governments against chemical weapon use in Syria.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the United States “will respond to any verified chemical weapons use in Idlib or elsewhere in Syria … in a swift and appropriate manner”.

The comments came as Russia again accused Syrian rebels of preparing a chemical attack that Moscow said will be used to justify a Western strike against Syrian troops.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday an al-Qaeda-linked group is preparing the attack in Idlib.

Western countries and independent analysts say Syrian government forces have conducted several chemical weapons attacks over the course of the seven-year civil war. Alleged chemical attacks in 2017 and earlier this year led the US to launch punitive strikes against Syrian forces.

The Syrian government denies ever using chemical weapons.

Damascus has been sending reinforcements towards Idlib for weeks ahead of an expected attack against the last major rebel stronghold in the country.

‘Russian propaganda’

Last week, Russian Major General Alexei Tsygankov, who heads the centre for reconciliation of warring parties in Syria, claimed British special services were involved in plans for the alleged provocation.

That brought a heated denial from Britain’s UN Ambassador Karen Pierce during a Security Council session on the humanitarian situation in Syria held on Tuesday.

“Even by the egregious standards of Russian propaganda, this is an extraordinary allegation,” she said. “It is wholly untrue.”

She said the claim was either aimed at increasing “the amount of fake news in the system [or] as a smoke screen for a possible impending attack by the Syrian regime, once again against its own people, in Idlib”.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said “if the defence ministry says something, then it says that based on concrete facts”.

“The Syrian armed forces do not have chemical weapons and have no plans to use them. There is no military need for that. We have stated that more than once. People in their right minds will not use means that are useless from a military point of view in order to trigger reprisals by three major powers,” said Nebenzia.

The UN director of humanitarian operations warned a major offensive in Idlib “has the potential to create a humanitarian emergency at a scale not yet seen” in the seven-year civil war.

John Ging called on members of the UN Security Council on Tuesday “to do all they can to ensure that we avoid this”.