For the first time in five decades, a NASA astronaut candidate has resigned from training. Robb Kulin resigned from NASA effective August 31 for personal reasons, spokeswoman Brandi Dean said, declining to provide further details. Kulin, who joined his class sounding upbeat, is the first would-be astronaut to leave training since a resignation in 1968.

5-year-old girl falls to death from 19th floor

Parental neglect is the main reason for children’s fatal falls, say police. A five-year-old American girl died on the spot after falling from the 19th floor of a Sharjah high-rise building on police said on Thursday; however the incidence as per police happened on last Sunday. The incident was reported to the police operations room by residents who witnessed the incident. Ambulance and police patrols rushed to the site and found the girl lying motionless on the ground.

She had died instantly from the impact of the fall. A team attended the scene and the body was taken to a Hospital and then to the forensic laboratory. Investigations revealed the girl, who was alone in her apartment at the time of the accident, had climbed onto a piece of furniture and fallen.

A Sharjah Police official said her parents, of Arab origin, are being questioned on suspicion of negligence because the child had been left unattended. He warned parents not to leave their children without supervision at home and to instruct housemaids to keep a close eye on them. The tragedy is the latest in a series of fatal falls involving children in high-rise apartment blocks across the UAE. Sharjah had tightened safety rules after a string of high-rise falls.