By Maria Sheahan BERLIN The boom in holiday travel shows no signs of ending, German airline group Lufthansa

Azerbaijan's president on Wednesday hailed the country's restoration to "full sovereignty" over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region as ethnic Armenian forces agreed to lay down their weapons. Authorities in the Armenian region declared that the local defence force will disarm and withdraw all weaponry under a Russia-mediated ceasefire following the latest bout of fighting in the decades-long separatist conflict. President Ilham Aliyev in a televised address hailed his soldiers, while offering the ethnic Armenians of the Nagorno-Karabakh region prospects of cooperation, reconciliation and joint development. "In just one day, Azerbaijan fulfilled all the tasks set as part of local anti-terrorist measures" and "restored its sovereignty", the president said, adding he now wished to integrate Karabakh's population and turn the region into "paradise". He said Azerbaijan had nothing against Karabakh's Armenian people – "they are our citizens" – but only against their "criminal" separatist leadership. His words appeared aimed at addressing allegations by Armenian leaders that Baku planned to "ethnically cleanse" Karabakh's 120,000-strong Armenian population amid decades of mistrust between the two nations. The Azerbaijan army on Tuesday launched an "anti-terrorist" operation, unleashing an artillery barrage and drone attacks against outnumbered and undersupplied pro-Armenian forces. Nagorno-Karabakh human rights ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan said at least 200 people, including 10 civilians, were killed and more than 400 others were wounded in the fighting. He said earlier that children were among the dead and wounded. Russia and America condemned the “bloodshed” and called for an “immediate” end to hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenians in the contested region. French president Emmanuel Macron spoke with Mr Aliyev and "condemned Azerbaijan's decision to use force ... at the risk of worsening the humanitarian crisis" and "compromising ongoing efforts to achieve a fair and lasting peace", his office said. Russian peacekeepers in a statement on Thursday said they have taken in about 5,000 Karabakh residents after evacuating them from dangerous areas. Thousands of Armenians also gathered at the airport of the regional capital, Stepanakert, in a bid to flee the conflict. Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan in an address to the nation said the fighting decreased following the truce, emphasizing that Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh are fully responsible for its residents’ security. "If peacekeepers have proposed a peace deal, it means that they completely and without any reservations accepted the responsibility of ensuring the security of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, and provide the conditions and the rights for them to live on their land and in their homes safely," he said, according to the Associated Press. Mr Pashinyan, who has previously recognised Azerbaijan's sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh, said Armenia wouldn't be drawn into the fighting. He said his government didn't take part in negotiating the deal, but "has taken note" of the decision made by the region's separatist authorities. Protesters rallied in the Armenian capital of Yerevan for a second straight day Wednesday, blocking streets and demanding that authorities defend Armenians in Karabakh. Azerbaijan's move to reclaim control over Nagorno-Karabakh raised concerns that a full-scale war in the region could resume between the two nations, which have been locked in a struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh since a separatist war there ended in 1994. During another war that lasted for six weeks in 2020, Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent territories that were held for decades by Armenian forces. More than 6,700 people died in the fighting, which ended with a Russian-brokered peace agreement. Moscow deployed about 2,000 peacekeeping troops to the region. Read More Ceasefire agreed after Azerbaijan unleashes military strikes in Nagorno-Karabakh Why new fighting in Azerbaijan's troubled region may herald a new war Nagorno-Karabakh: Fears of full-scale war as Azerbaijan launches attack on Armenian positions The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

An Air China flight was evacuated upon landing in Singapore after one of the aircraft engines caught fire on Sunday, leading to a three-hour closure of Changi Airport.

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Ukrainian officials say a third night of Russian air attacks have hit southern Ukraine, injuring at least 21 people in two major cities

BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 12, 2023--

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Direct messaging is reportedly coming to Threads soon as the Twitter rival app’s user base grows to nearly one-tenth of the Elon Musk-owned platform. A leaked internal report from Meta suggests DMs will be “coming soon” to Instagram’s Threads, along with other exciting features, Business Insider reported. Initially, Instagram’s chief Adam Mosseri had said DMs are not in Threads’ immediate roadmap, but the new leaked memo suggests the Twitter competitor could offer the messaging feature much sooner than expected. This expected update to the platform comes as Threads now has over 100 million user sign ups just within days of its arrival, boasting a weekly active user base that is nearly one-fifth of competitor Twitter’s. Within just its first week of launch, Threads racked up about 93 million active users globally and on 10 July, Meta announced that the app had reached 100 million signups. The app now has more than 150 million downloads, reaching this milestone “5.5 times more quickly than the second-fastest app to do so”, according to the app intelligence firm data.ai. Niantic’s Pokémon GO held the top spot as the most rapidly downloaded app for years since its debut in July 2016. Among Threads’ userbase, data.ai’s report suggested India accounts for nearly a third of the app’s downloads, followed by Brazil, with 22 per cent of overall Threads’ installs, and the US representing about 16 per cent of the total. Now, with the anticipated inclusion of a direct messaging feature, people on Threads can stay longer and chat privately without having to leave the app. Other features such as improved search, trends and topics are also reportedly coming soon, along with a feed in chronological order. It is unclear when these new updates will come. The new changes could put more pressure on Twitter and its owner Elon Musk, who said the platform continues to lose cash as advertising has dropped by half. “We’re still negative cash flow, due to (about a) 50 per cent drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load,” Mr Musk tweeted on Saturday. “Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else,” he said. Read More $44 billion and eight months later. It’s finally all over for Elon Musk Twitter changed my life – I’ll never forgive Elon Musk for what he’s done to it Twitter is in negative cash flow due to 50% drop in advertising revenue, says Elon Musk Twitter in negative cash flow due to 50% drop in advertising revenue, says Elon Musk Twitter starts making payments to its most controversial users Elon Musk posts series of explicit tweets about Mark Zuckerberg

Paige Spiranac said, 'It has been for years which is crazy to say because she is so young, but she is so poised and so professional and at that age'