GovSat launch delayed

Because of technical and meteorological problems, the launch of the Luxembourg GovSat-1 in Cape Canaveral was called off on Tuesday. A faulty sensor of the Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket and windy conditions led to the decision. The new launch window has been set to Wednesday 31 January at 22:25 (Luxembourg time).

Trump calls for unity

In his first state of the union speech, US president Donald Trump said: “Tonight, I call upon all of us to set aside our differences, to seek out common ground, and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people we were elected to serve.” According to Reuters however, Trump stood by his proposals to build a wall between the US and Mexico and on the new restrictions on family reunification for legal immigrants. He praised the US economy and called on Congress to support his major infrastructure investment plan. On foreign policy matters, Trump took a hard line against “rogue states” such as North Korea and promised maximum pressure. He also advocated modernizing the atomic weapons arsenal, and said that US aid would only be allocated in future to US friendly states, the ARD reports. He also vowed to keep Guantanamo open.

Facebook bans cryptocurrency ads

Facebook has banned all advertisements for cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, after it decided too many of them were being used to mislead or deceive potential customers, the Financial Times reports. Ads which feature “financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices”, will be banned, with cryptocurrencies and a type of financial betting called binary options cited among the worst offenders. The ban also includes ICOs (initial coin offerings).