Author: News Desk

London: Airlines have reacted angrily after a radar-related technical failure in the UK’s air traffic control systems led to the cancellation of more than 150 flights, disrupting travel plans for thousands of passengers during one of the busiest periods of the year. The National Air Traffic Services (NATS) issued an apology for the IT failure, which was detected at 4:05 pm and resolved within 20 minutes by switching operations to a backup system. Despite the quick fix, significant travel disruption followed, leading airline leaders to criticise NATS for repeated failures and inadequate crisis management. https://twitter.com/NATS/status/1950588789958844445 Ryanair’s Chief Operating Officer Neal…

Sriharikota, India: A groundbreaking Earth-observation satellite, NISAR, jointly developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and NASA, is set to launch on July 30 at 17:40 IST (12:10 GMT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in southern India. The 2,392kg NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite is expected to transform global disaster management and climate monitoring by detecting even minute changes in Earth’s surface. Described by NASA as its ‘most sophisticated radar ever built,’ NISAR will use both L-band (NASA) and S-band (ISRO) radar frequencies, a first-of-its-kind configuration in space, to measure Earth’s shifts, from glacial melt and land subsidence to…

Washington DC: People across the globe are living better lives and expressing more hope for the future, as global life satisfaction reaches a record high, according to a new Gallup survey. Gallup’s data, based on responses from 142 countries in 2024, shows that a median of 33 percent of adults rated their lives positively enough to be considered thriving. This marks a two-percentage-point increase from 2023. In contrast, only 7 percent of adults were categorized as ‘suffering,’ a figure that has declined from the 12 percent low point recorded in 2014. These findings continue a nearly two-decade trend of rising…

Hindhead, England: Knife crimes in England and Wales have surged by 87 percent over the past decade, with over 54,500 offences recorded in the past year alone, making it one of the highest rates in Europe. In the wake of the tragic 2024 Southport knife attack that left three girls dead and several injured, the UK government is stepping up its efforts to curb youth-related knife violence through stricter laws, public campaigns, and education initiatives aimed at addressing the root causes. The government, under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, has launched a month-long campaign encouraging youth to surrender knives in ‘amnesty’ bins…

London, UK: A new report from the Lancet Commission on Liver Cancer has revealed that three out of five global liver cancer cases could be prevented through targeted public health strategies such as reducing obesity, limiting alcohol consumption, and expanding hepatitis B vaccination programs. The commission’s findings show that addressing major risk factors, including fatty liver disease and viral hepatitis B and C, could reduce liver cancer incidence by 2 percent to 5 percent annually by 2050, potentially preventing between 9 and 17 million new cases and saving 8 to 15 million lives. Prof Jian Zhou, from Fudan University in…

Riedlingen, Germany: A tragic train derailment in southwestern Germany has claimed the lives of at least three individuals and left 50 others injured, 25 of them seriously, according to officials. The passenger train, carrying around 100 people, derailed on July 27 in a wooded area near the town of Riedlingen in Baden-Württemberg, about 158km west of Munich. Among the deceased were the train driver and an employee of Germany’s state-owned rail company, Deutsche Bahn, as confirmed by district fire chief Charlotte Ziller. Two carriages came off the tracks, though the exact cause remains undetermined. The accident occurred as the train…

Ankara, Turkey: Google has officially acknowledged that its Android Earthquake Alerts (AEA) system failed to deliver critical alerts ahead of the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck southeastern Turkey on February 6, 2023. Although the system was live and functioning at the time, it significantly underestimated the strength of the quake, resulting in a failure to issue appropriate warnings to those in harm’s way. At least 55,000 people lost their lives, and over 100,000 were injured when two massive earthquakes hit the region. Many were sleeping in buildings that collapsed, with no timely warning to seek safety. Google’s highest-level alert,…

Athens, Greece: Greece is facing a critical emergency as five major wildfires rage across the country, with evacuations in progress and firefighting resources under immense pressure. The crisis unfolds amid an intense heatwave, with temperatures expected to reach 44°C on July 27 and remain high through the weekend. One of the worst-affected areas lies just 30 kilometers north of Athens, where the smell of burning wood has drifted into the city center, prompting Greece to request assistance from the European Union to help combat the expanding fires. The country has officially activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to secure six…

Las Vegas: A Southwest Airlines flight from Hollywood Burbank Airport to Las Vegas made a sudden and alarming altitude drop shortly after takeoff, in what passengers and reports described as a near-miss with another aircraft. Flight 1496, which departed from the Los Angeles area, experienced a rapid change in elevation just minutes into the journey. The abrupt maneuver caused passengers to be lifted out of their seats and left two flight attendants injured. According to Southwest Airlines, the crew responded to two onboard traffic collision alerts, requiring immediate climb and descent actions to avoid a potential mid-air collision. The Federal…

New York: A women-only app called Tea Dating Advice has rapidly become the most downloaded free app in the United States, topping the lifestyle category on the App Store, according to data from SensorTower.com. The app claims to empower women with tools to date more safely, offering features like AI-powered reverse image searches to catch catfish, phone number lookups to identify hidden marriages, background checks for criminal history, and access to a map of registered sex offenders, all in one integrated platform. The company recently stated on Instagram that it had gained nearly one million new users in a short…