The Duchess of Edinburgh spoke live with an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as she visited a historic motoring and aviation museum.

Sophie was joined by Brownies, Guides and Rangers as she made radio contact with Sunita Williams at Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, Surrey, on Saturday.

The event was part of a wider day of activities for the children aiming to promote the engagement and involvement of girls and young women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem).

It comes after the duchess was announced as the new Patron for Girlguiding, the country’s largest organisation dedicated solely to girls, earlier this week.

Sophie received a warm applause as she was welcomed by more than 100 Brownies, Guides, Rangers and other guests to the museum.

Appearing on stage in front of a specially fitted microphone, the royal then made an address to Ms Williams as the ISS flew within range, some 270 miles above the Earth.

Sophie said: “As now patron of the Girlguiding Association in the UK, I want to thank you for the inspiration you showed to our young girls to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Are you ready for your first question?”

She then asked the astronaut who or what inspired her to pursue her career, and for any advice she had for the Girlguides listening.

Addressing the girls, Ms Williams responded: “Do what you like – don’t be stuck in one thing or another.”

Ms Williams, an astronaut since 1998, went on her third trip to the International Space Station for an eight-day mission in June.

However, she remained stuck on the ISS after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft she travelled on experienced problems, with February next year now the earliest date she can return to Earth.

Ms Williams answered questions read out by 10 members of Girlguiding Surrey West, revealing that she wanted to be a veterinarian if she was not an astronaut, she wrote a journal in her free time on the ISS and her favourite planet was Saturn.

The wider audience of children then quizzed British reserve astronaut Meganne Christian, who appeared in person, on further details of life in space.

Sophie was then presented with three commemorative Girlguiding challenge badges and a rose gold Patron pin badge.

The duchess briefly stopped to chat with public visitors as she left the museum, saying to one: “It’s a lovely museum – such fun.”

Girlguiding chief executive Angela Salt OBE told the PA news agency after the event: “It’s been such an exciting day for the girls and for us grown-ups as well. It brings Stem subjects to life in such a real way.

“We have this phrase in Girlguiding that girls can do anything, and today they really proved it.”

Ms Salt said Girlguiding, which has around 385,000 members, faced lots of competition for girls’ time today but was “alive and kicking”.

She added: “Girls face so many challenges today – it’s really tough being young, there are all sorts of problems with safety, both online and in real life, so what we help girls do is have a voice and have a space to be themselves.”

Opened in 1906, Brooklands Museum occupies the site of the world’s first motor racing circuit and later went on to become a hub for manufacturing aircraft.

Alex Patterson, chief executive at Brooklands Museum, said the event would “create lifelong memories” for the Girlguiding members in attendance.

He added: “It is also our great privilege to have welcomed HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh to Brooklands Museum and we extend our gratitude for her involvement in this special event.

“Encouraging and inspiring girls and young women to pursue an interest and career in Stem is integral to our mission, particularly through the Brooklands Innovation Academy.”

Can Adhere to Surfaces

Napalm, a thickened gasoline or diesel fuel, is among the most commonly used incendiary substances. Compared to thermite, which is more expensive and complex to produce, napalm is both cheaper and capable of igniting larger areas.

Once created, napalm burns at temperatures ranging from 800°C to 1,200°C (1,472°F to 2,192°F) and can adhere to surfaces upon impact, making it particularly dangerous.

The formulation of napalm involves mixing flammable liquids with thickening agents, resulting in a gel-like substance. Modern versions contain additives that can cause spontaneous ignition when exposed to air.

Napalm can burn for several seconds to over ten minutes, depending on its mixture, and its suppression is notoriously difficult. Conventional methods such as smothering with sand or dirt may fail, especially with variants containing oxidizers, while water is ineffective since napalm floats on it.

Donald Trump returned on Saturday to the site where a gunman tried to assassinate him in July.

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, got on stage at the Butler Farm Show grounds to speak before the former president and reflected on the events that day while severely criticising Democrats for calling Trump “a threat to democracy”.

“You heard the shots. You saw the blood. We all feared the worst. But you knew everything would be OK when President Trump raised his fist high in the air and shouted, ‘fight, fight!’” said Vance.

“Now I believe it as sure as I’m standing here today that what happened was a true miracle.”

Billionaire Elon Musk is also expected to speak as the campaign elevates the headline-generating potential of his return with just 30 days to go in their tight campaign against Democrats Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

A billboard on the way into the rally said, “IN MUSK WE TRUST”.

It comes after Trump was struck when 20-year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from an unsecured rooftop nearby before he was fatally shot by US security services.

The building from which Crooks fired was completely obscured by tractor trailers, a large grassy perimeter and a fence, while images showed crowds draped in American flags, with the rally billed as “tribute to the American spirit”.

Meanwhile, Democratic US presidential candidate Kamala Harris visited North Carolina on Saturday in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, her second trip in four days to the disaster zone.

The vice president was in Charlotte one day after a visit to the state by Trump, who is spreading false claims about the federal response to the disaster.

Ms Harris began by attending a briefing with state and local officials, where she thanked “those who are in the room and those who are out there right now working around the clock”.

She promised federal assistance would continue to flow and praised the “strangers who are helping each other out, giving people shelter and food and friendship and fellowship”.

Despite Mr Trump’s claims that the federal response in the state has been “lousy”, Democratic governor Roy Cooper said the state was “deeply grateful for the federal resources that we have.”

By Maya Gebeily and Laila Bassam

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Massive consecutive strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs from late Saturday into Sunday, Reuters eyewitnesses said, sending booms across the city and sparking flashes of red and white for nearly 30 minutes visible from several kilometers away.

The strikes came after days of bombing by Israel of Beirut suburbs considered strongholds for Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, killing its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and possibly his potential successor.

A Lebanese security source said on Saturday that Hashem Safieddine, the potential successor, had been out of contact since Friday, after an Israeli airstrike near the city’s international airport that was reported to have targeted him.

The Israeli military said it eliminated Nasrallah in a strike on the group’s central command headquarters in Beirut on Sept. 27. Hezbollah confirmed he had been killed.

Lebanese security sources said Israeli strikes since Friday on Dahiyeh, a residential area and Hezbollah stronghold south of central Beirut, have kept rescue workers from scouring the site of Thursday night’s attack.

Hezbollah has made no comment so far on Safieddine.

His loss would be another blow to the group and its patron Iran. Israeli strikes across the region in the past year, sharply accelerated in the past few weeks, have decimated Hezbollah’s leadership.

Israel has been expanding its actions in Lebanon. On Saturday, it made its first strike in the northern city of Tripoli, a Lebanese security official said, and Israeli troops launched raids in the south.

At least eight strikes rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs late on Saturday including close to the airport, according to Reuters witnesses, after the Israeli military warned some residents to flee.

Before the recent upsurge, exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah had been mostly limited to the Israel-Lebanon border area, in parallel to Israel’s year-old war in Gaza against Palestinian group Hamas.

Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Saturday that Israel had killed 440 Hezbollah fighters in its ground operations in southern Lebanon and destroyed 2,000 Hezbollah targets. Hezbollah has not released death tolls.

Israel says it stepped up its assault on Hezbollah to enable the safe return of tens of thousands of citizens to homes in northern Israel, bombarded by the group since last Oct. 8.

Israeli authorities said on Saturday that nine Israeli soldiers had been killed in southern Lebanon so far.

CIVILIAN DEATHS, DISPLACEMENT

The Israeli assault has also killed hundreds of ordinary Lebanese, Lebanese officials say, and forced 1.2 million people – almost a quarter of the population – from their homes.

The Lebanese security official told Reuters that Saturday’s strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli killed a member of Hamas, his wife and two children. Media affiliated with the Palestinian group said the strike killed a leader of its armed wing, naming him as Saeed Atallah.

The Israeli said in a statement that it had killed two Hamas members operating in Lebanon, but did not say whether they had been in Tripoli, a Sunni Muslim-majority port city also targeted during a 2006 war with Hezbollah

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

In northern Israel, air raid sirens on Saturday sent people running for shelters amid rocket fire from Lebanon.

Hezbollah said it had fired missiles at what it called “ATA company for military industries near Sakhnin base,” close to Haifa. It was not immediately clear what Hezbollah was referring to.

The Israeli army said two projectiles had crossed from Lebanon, one of which was intercepted while the other landed but caused no damage.

ANNIVERSARY OF OCT. 7

The violence came as the anniversary approached of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and displaced nearly all of the enclave’s population of 2.3 million.

The impact on civilians has prompted widespread protests internationally. Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in major cities around the world on Saturday as the anniversary approached.

Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas, and which has lost key commanders of its elite Revolutionary Guards Corps to Israeli airstrikes this year, launched ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday. The strikes did little damage.

Israel has been weighing options for its response.

Oil prices have risen on the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iranian oil facilities. U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday urged Israel to consider alternatives to striking Iranian oil infrastructure.

The top U.S. general for the region, Army General Michael “Eric” Kurilla, is traveling in the Middle East, a U.S. defense official said on Saturday, declining to specify which country or to confirm Israeli media reports that he had arrived in Israel for consultations with Israeli military officials.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Maya Gebeily, Timour Azhari and Laila Bassam in Beirut; Phil Stewart in Washington, Writing by John Davison and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Daniel Wallis)