S. KOREA SUSPENDS ROCKET LAUNCH
SEOUL: South Korean space officials suspended a crucial rocket launch on Thursday, after a technical problem halted the countdown just 17 minutes before the scheduled blast-off.

Deputy Science Minister Cho Yul-Rae told reporters at the Naro Space Center on the south coast that the launch had been postponed so that the problem could be analyzed.“It is impossible to resume the launch sequence today,” he said, declining to speculate on the duration of the delay. It was to have been South Korea’s third attempt to put a satellite in orbit and gain entry to an elite global space club that includes Asian powers China, India and Japan.

2 WIN US POWERBALL POT
WASHINGTON: Two people had winning tickets in the $550 million Powerball jackpot, beating the one in 175 million odds for the second largest lottery in US history, the game’s website said on Thursday. Powerball’s website crashed shortly after the winning numbers—5, 23, 16, 22, 29, with Powerball 6—were announced on Wednesday, as did that of the Multi-State Lottery Association, which oversees Powerball. Lottery fever in the lead-up to the drawing was such that 160,000 tickets per minute were being sold, according to media reports. The Powerball website said that players in Arizona and Missouri had the winning numbers. It was not yet clear if anyone had come forth to claim the prize. Another 8.9 million players won lesser prizes totaling $131 million.

GROUPS BOYCOTT KUWAIT POLLS
KUWAIT CITY: Ranging from advocates of Islamic law to Western-style liberals, almost all political groups are boycotting on Saturday’s election for Kuwait’s 50-seat parliament. These opposition groups along with independent opposition members held 36 seats in parliament after February polls, which were nullified by Kuwait’s top court in June. Political parties remain banned in the oil-rich Gulf emirate, although the groups act as de facto parties. AFP