
EasyJet to send ‘rescue flights’ for passengers stranded by air traffic control chaos
Britain’s largest budget airline will send “rescue flights” for passengers stranded abroad by air traffic control chaos. As hundreds of flights were cancelled on Tuesday, easyJet confirmed it would operate five repatriation flights to London Gatwick over the coming days. The rescue flights will operate from Palma and Faro on 30 August, Tenerife and Enfidha on 31 August and Rhodes on 1 September. More than 1,200 flights to, from and within the UK were grounded by the failure at the national air traffic provider Nats, with around 200,000 people sleeping at airports overnight. Earlier on Tuesday, easyJet grounded more than 80 flights, including three dozen at Gatwick, including those serving popular tourist destinations such as Athens and Venice. Confirming the rescue flights, an easyJet spokesperson said: “We have been providing customers with assistance and hotel accommodation and advising anyone who has needed to make their own hotel or alternative travel arrangements that they will be reimbursed. “During this traditionally very busy week for travel, options for returning to the UK are more limited on some routes and so easyJet will be operating five repatriation flights to London Gatwick over the coming days from Palma and Faro on August 30, and Tenerife and Enfidha on Thursday August 31 and from Rhodes on Friday September 1. “We are also operating larger aircraft on key routes including Faro, Ibiza, Dalaman and Tenerife to provide some additional 700 seats this week. “Although this situation was outside of our control, we are sorry for the difficulty this has caused for our customers and remain focused on doing all possible to assist and repatriate them. Customers will be moved onto repatriation flights and notified directly.” Meanwhile, National Air Traffic Services (Nats) confirmed that the air traffic control failure was caused by flight data received by the organisation, prompting both its primary and backup systems to suspend automatic processing. His statement appeared to confirm earlier reports from sources who told The Independent that a dodgy flight plan filed by a French airline may have sparked the major systems meltdown. “Very occasionally technical issues occur that are complex and take longer to resolve. In the event of such an issue our systems are designed to isolate the problem and prioritise continued safe air traffic control”, the statement from Nats CEO Martin Rolfe read. “This is what happened yesterday. At no point was UK airspace closed but the number of flights was significantly reduced. Initial investigations into the problem show it relates to some of the flight data we received. “Our systems, both primary and the back-ups, responded by suspending automatic processing to ensure that no incorrect safety-related information could be presented to an air traffic controller or impact the rest of the air traffic system. There are no indications that this was a cyber-attack.” Read More EasyJet lays on rescue flights as ‘dodgy French flight plan’ blamed for air traffic chaos – latest More travel chaos after 300,000 hit by cancellations – and French error blamed for air traffic mayhem Ask Me Anything: Put your questions to Simon Calder as flight cancellations cause mayhem across Europe Caught in the air traffic control nightmare? Your rights when flights go wrong Everything you need to know about air traffic control failure on Tuesday Travel chaos over bank holiday weekend as BA and easyJet cancel dozens of flights Train strikes and cancelled flights spell Bank Holiday travel chaos
2023-08-30 03:51

Adam Schefter gives Chiefs fans a heart attack with Chris Jones-related trade reveal
ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter gave Kansas City Chiefs fans a heart attack by announcing a trade relating to Chris Jones...sort of.
2023-08-30 03:17

Harry Kane eyeing Eric Dier reunion at Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich are considering moving for Eric Dier after a recommendation from former Tottenham teammate Harry Kane.
2023-08-30 03:17

Six inmates in St. Louis jail face charges over 73-year-old guard’s abduction
Six inmates at the downtown St. Louis jail are facing charges related to the abduction last week of a 73-year-old jail guard. Charging documents released Monday by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office offered insight into how the guard was taken hostage around 6 a.m. on Aug. 22. He was freed by a police SWAT team more than two hours later and treated at a hospital for minor injuries. Two inmates jailed on first-degree murder charges, Eric Williams and Anthony Newberry, were outside their cells helping the guard deliver breakfast trays to other inmates, charging documents stated. Williams allegedly began punching the guard, knocking him to the ground. The document said Newberry joined in the attack and the men pulled the guard to a shower area. Newberry allegedly took the guard's cell keys and began unlocking “all the cells in the pod,” charging documents stated. Dozens of inmates left their cells. Inmates Paul Mondaine and Earnest Lyons moved the guard to a table inside the pod, where he was handcuffed and had his legs shackled, documents stated. Newberry and Richard Bolden III smashed televisions, and inmates used pieces taken from the TVs, along with broom and mop handles, to make weapons, according to the documents. Mondaine allegedly used one of the handmade weapons, held it near the guard, and told him, “I’ll cut your throat if they come in here.” SWAT officers were able to free the guard shortly after 8 a.m., more than two hours after the abduction began. The motive behind the abduction remains under investigation but Corrections Director Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah said at a news conference Aug. 22 that one inmate demanded pizza. Interim Public Safety Director Chris Coyle said “less-than-lethal ammunition” was used on the inmates, but he did not elaborate. Coyle said two inmates suffered minor injuries inflicted by other inmates during the hostage situation. Five of the inmates are charged with first-degree kidnapping: Williams, 20; Newberry, 29; Mondaine, 29; Lyons, 21; and Cleveland Washington Jr. 21. Bolden, Newberry and Washington are charged with damaging the jail. Williams and Newberry also face assault charges. Mondaine also is charged with unlawful use of a weapon. The inmates do not yet have listed attorneys, according to Missouri's online court records. All are being held without bond. The abduction was the latest of several acts of violence inside the jail, known as the City Justice Center, which holds nearly 700 inmates. Advocates for inmates have long complained about conditions at the jail. It was the site of three uprisings among inmates between late 2020 and early 2021. In February 2021, inmates set fires, caused flooding, broke out fourth-floor windows and tossed chairs and other items through the broken glass. A guard also was attacked. Inmates again broke windows and set a fire during another riot in April 2021. A month later, Dale Glass, the embattled director of the jail, resigned.
2023-08-30 02:49

Denver to pay $4.7 million to settle claims it targeted George Floyd protesters for violating curfew
Denver will pay $4.7 million to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged that protesters were unjustly targeted for violating the city's curfew during demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd in 2020. City councilors unanimously agreed to the deal Monday without any debate. The lawsuit alleged that the city directed police to only enforce the emergency 8 p.m. curfew against protesters, violating their free speech rights, even though the curfew applied to all people in any public place. It also said that over 300 protesters were taken to jail in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic rather than just being issued tickets for violating the curfew. “The First Amendment does not allow police to clear the streets of protestors simply because they do not agree with their message,” the lead attorney for the protesters, Elizabeth Wang, said in a statement. The city denied having an official policy of using the curfew against protesters but decided that continuing the lawsuit and going to a trial would be “burdensome and expensive," according to the settlement. Last year, a federal jury ordered Denver to pay a total of $14 million in damages to a group of 12 protesters who claimed police used excessive force against them, violating their constitutional rights, during the demonstrations. The curfew deal is the latest in a series of settlements related to the 2020 protests over police killings of Floyd and other Black people. In March, the city council approved a total of $1.6 million in settlements to settle lawsuits brought by seven protesters who were injured, The Denver Post reported.
2023-08-30 02:47

Elon Musk booed at video games contest as crowds shout: ‘Bring back Twitter!’
Elon Musk, the owner of X – formerly known as Twitter – was booed at a video game contest in Los Angeles. The audience at Valorant World Championship Final on Saturday did not seem to like Mr Musk’s takeover of the social media platform, which he then renamed. As soon as the cameras showed him, he was met with a cacophony of boos. Mr Musk was attending the tournament with one of his sons, Insider reported. A clip of the event has ironically garnered over 14m views on Mr Musk’s social media platform. “Where is that from? That can’t be from in here, surely,” one of the commentators said amid the booing after the camera aired a brief shot of the Tesla and SpaceX founder. Even after the camera returned to focus on the game play, the crowd continued to boo. Then people started chanting in unison: “Bring back Twitter!” People on X weighed in on what it means to elicit such a reaction at a video game tournament. One X user wrote: “Getting booed by Valorant players is like getting wedgies by the anime club in middle school.” Another user remarked, “Lol we want a new logo,” seemingly blasting the black “X” that replaced the blue bird as the platform’s logo. Yet another said that the boos weren’t that bad: “That was actually a very sweet chant compared to all the other things they could of chanted.” The X owner has faced consistent criticism over the changes he has made to the popular and influential social media platform since his takeover last year. On top of unhappiness over the policy changes, Mr Musk was also blasted over his decision to rebrand the site from the household name Twitter to a simple X. Last month, a giant “X” sign appeared above the company’s headquarters in San Francisco, sparking an investigation; the sign has since been taken down. This wasn’t the first harsh rebuke Mr Musk faced last week; the Justice Department sued his company, SpaceX, accusing it of hiring discrimination. Read More Elon Musk’s SpaceX sued over allegations of hiring discrimination Elon Musk’s X took two days to remove account where Laura Carleton’s killer spewed anti-LGBT+ hate Musk admits X may be doomed to fail as new glitch wipes out pictures from former Twitter platform Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis faces Black leaders' anger after racist killings in Jacksonville Trump misleadingly claims 250 million viewers watched his Tucker Carlson interview Trump insists ‘I LOVE TRUTH SOCIAL’ after making return to Twitter with mug shot
2023-08-30 02:21

NBA Rumors: 4 untouchable Lakers not named LeBron James
The Lakers have revamped their roster, trading for and developing a slew of cornerstones who could be in L.A. long after LeBron leaves.
2023-08-30 01:55

French ambassador in Niger stays put, defies junta's deadline to quit the country
France's ambassador to Niger is staying put in the West African country in defiance of an ultimatum by its military rulers ordering his exit within 48 hours on Friday.
2023-08-30 01:24

Francis Suarez ends campaign for Republican presidential nomination
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announced Tuesday that he is ending his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
2023-08-30 01:23

UNC shooting suspect’s social media complaints about murdered faculty member revealed
A University of North Carolina PhD student shared several posts on social media complaining about his academic adviser before allegedly shooting him dead in the science lab and plunging the Chapel Hill campus into lockdown. Tailei Qi, a 34-year-old graduate student majoring in applied physical sciences, was arrested on Monday and charged with first-degree murder in the killing of faculty member Dr Zijie Yan. The motive for the shooting remains unclear but his account on X, formerly known as Twitter, reveals he had complained grumbled about his head of lab in the lead-up to the shooting. In other posts, he also railed against hard work, aired his grievances with some “girls and tattletales” and complained about bullies in the US. “Bully in america seems to be a problem. It often comes with people not stopping them at the first time,” he wrote in one bizarre post in August 2022, reviewed by The Independent. “Explanation is not a solution but makes them feel others will plead them every time they raise a problem, making them voyeur to find an excuse day and night.” Two weeks later on 18 August 2022, he tweeted about his “PI” – an abbreviation for his head of lab – handling “these girls and tattletales”. “Just have a talk with my PI and get his promise. He should have more experience to handle with these girls and tattletales,” he wrote. “Then, we can just get ourselves out of these stupid topic. Let’s just focus our attention on nature.I won’t change anything if not necessary.” Two months later in October 2022, he referred to his PI again and an unidentified “group of people”. “Both the group of people to say I am lazy and that to prove me working hard instead of telling me that are trying to consume my privacy. I judge their motivation is only to tell my PI then control me by taletelling,” he tweeted. “But it’s weird when I talked about it with my PI, he said no people spoke to him about that. so it’s nothing but some voyeurism for these people?” Yan headed up the Department of Applied Physical Sciences and physical chemistry group the Yan Research Group, which Mr Qi joined when he began his graduate program at UNC in 2022. In other online posts, Mr Qi addressed a mystery woman who he vowed to “just let her go” and his exhaustion with his workload. “I used to walk [sic] 80+ hours per week and I feel relaxing and energetic. Now I only work 60+ hours per week and I feel tired,” he wrote in one. In a post in July 2022 – before he is believed to have started at UNC that fall – he posted a cryptic message calling his treatment by an unnamed boss “disgusting”. “Just feel my privacy was insulted. When I work, I will think I was showing the boss I am working instead of interests, devaluing the meaning of my work,” he wrote. “That’s so disgusting. Self-respect block me from working. Then it takes pains to convince myself what I do is just because I like.” In another post that same month, he wrote that “only work with no play makes Jim a dull boy”. In one of his most recent posts in early August 2023 – just weeks before the shooting – Mr Qi issued an appeal to meet people at the college. “I would like to make some new friends. I am a second-year PhD student, interested in nanoparticle synthesis, optical trapping, self-assembly, spectra analysis, and ML,” he said. “a bit stupid in daily trifles, very enthusiastic talking about research. Reach me if inerest.” The Twitter account has the same name and the same image as both Mr Qi’s bio and the person of interest sent out by police during the brief manhunt. It describes him as “Graduate student @UNC, engaged in light-matter interaction and related materials”. Mr Qi previously studied at Wuhan University before moving to the US from China and studying at Louisiana State University. He joined the Yan Research Group at UNC in 2022. At around 1pm on Monday afternoon – just days into the new term of the second year of his PhD studies – Mr Qi allegedly entered the science lab at the UNC’s Chapel Hill campus and shot and killed Yan. Law enforcement arrived on the scene around two minutes later and the campus was plunged into lockdown, with officials warning that “an armed and dangerous person” was at large. The wrong person was briefly arrested after the unsuspecting individual missed the shelter-in-place alerts. Soon after, the UNC Police released an image of Mr Qi, calling him a person of interest and warning the public that “if you see this person, keep your distance, put your safety first and call 911”. Around three hours on from the shooting, police confirmed that a suspect had been arrested near a residential area 10 minutes away from campus and the lockdown was lifted. The gun is yet to be recovered, police said. The motive for the attack remains unknown at this time. “To actually have the suspect in custody gives us an opportunity to figure out the why and even the how, and also helps us to uncover a motive and really just why this happened today. Why today, why at all?” UNC Police Chief Brian James said in a press conference on Monday. “And we want to learn from this incident and we will certainly work to do our best to ensure that this never happens again on the UNC campus.” Read More UNC shooting – latest: Motive remains unknown after shooter kills faculty member in Chapel Hill He moaned about work, ‘bullies’ and his head of lab online. Then police say he shot dead a UNC faculty member A new college term, a faculty member killed and a student arrested: What we know about the UNC shooting
2023-08-30 00:49

UNC Chapel Hill shooting victim identified as associate professor Zijie Yan
Authorities have identified the fatal victim in Monday’s shooting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. UNC PhD student Tailei Qi, 34, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the killing of Zijie Yan, an associate professor in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences and a researcher. Mr Yan was listed as his alleged killer’s academic advisor on Mr Qi’s UNC profile, which has since been removed from the university’s website. Yan joined UNC in 2019. Before that, he was an assistant professor at Clarkson University in New York following a postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago. Mr Qi and Yan co-authored several research papers, the latter having been published just last month. But on tweets from an account believed to belong to Mr Qi, the alleged shooter complained about “bullies and his “PI” – referring to his unnamed head of lab – being unable to handle “these girls and tattletales”. “Just have a talk with my PI and get his promise. He should have more experience to handle with these girls and tattletales,” he wrote. Two months later in October, he referred to his PI again: “Both the group of people to say I am lazy and that to prove me working hard instead of telling me that are trying to consume my privacy. I judge their motivation is only to tell my PI then control me by taletelling.” “But it’s weird when I talked about it with my PI, he said no people spoke to him about that. so it’s nothing but some voyeurism for these people?” Yan studied undergrad at the Hauzhong University of Science and Technology, where he obtained his bachelor’s in material science and engineering and computer science in 2005, the NC Newsline reports. The university is located in the same province where Mr Qi studied at Wuhan University until his graduation in 2015. This is a developing story ... check again for updates. Read More UNC shooting – latest: Graduate student charged with murder of faculty member on Chapel Hill campus He moaned about work, ‘bullies’ and his head of lab online. Then police say he shot dead a UNC faculty member UNC shooting suspect’s social media complaints about murdered faculty member revealed
2023-08-30 00:27

He moaned about work, ‘bullies’ and his head of lab online. Then police say he shot dead a UNC faculty member
Tailei Qi shared several cryptic posts online after joining the University of North Carolina in 2022. The well-educated graduate student – who previously studied at both Wuhan University and Louisiana State University – complained about bullies, aired his grievances with some “girls and tattletales” and grumbled that his head of lab should have more experience to deal with his issues. “Bully in america seems to be a problem. It often comes with people not stopping them at the first time,” he wrote in one bizarre post in August 2022. But – despite the complaints – the messages could not prepare anyone for the horror of what happened next. On the afternoon of Monday 28 August 2023 – just days into the new term of the second year of his PhD studies – Mr Qi allegedly entered the science lab at the UNC’s Chapel Hill campus armed with a firearm. Inside the lab where he carried out his studies, he shot and killed a faculty member, police said. The campus was plunged into lockdown before Mr Qi was arrested at a home just 10 minutes from the lab around three hours later. The motive for the attack remains unknown at this time and the victim’s identity has not been publicly released. “To actually have the suspect in custody gives us an opportunity to figure out the why and even the how, and also helps us to uncover a motive and really just why this happened today. Why today, why at all?” UNC Police Chief Brian James said in a press conference on Monday. “And we want to learn from this incident and we will certainly work to do our best to ensure that this never happens again on the UNC campus.” The suspect The suspect was identified on Tuesday as Tailei Qi, a graduate student who joined the Yan Lab of the college in 2022. Based on his online bio at the UNC, he studied under Dr Zijie Yan – the leader of the physical chemistry group the Yan Research Group and head of the Department of Applied Physical Sciences. Before joining UNC, Mr Qi previously studied material science at Louisiana State University and physics at Wuhan University. A Twitter account believed to belong to Mr Qi reveals that he had railed against his work and his head of lab as well as what he described as “bullies” in the US before allegedly carrying out the mass shooting. In a post on 1 August 2022, he wrote: “Bully in america seems to be a problem. It often comes with people not stopping them at the first time. “Explanation is not a solution but makes them feel others will plead them every time they raise a problem, making them voyeur to find an excuse day and night.” Two weeks later on 18 August 2022, he tweeted about his “PI” – referring to his unnamed head of lab – handling “these girls and tattletales”. “Just have a talk with my PI and get his promise. He should have more experience to handle with these girls and tattletales,” he wrote. “Then, we can just get ourselves out of these stupid topic. Let’s just focus our attention on nature.I won’t change anything if not necessary.” Two months later in October, he referred to his PI again and an unidentified “group of people”. “Both the group of people to say I am lazy and that to prove me working hard instead of telling me that are trying to consume my privacy. I judge their motivation is only to tell my PI then control me by taletelling,” he tweeted. “But it’s weird when I talked about it with my PI, he said no people spoke to him about that. so it’s nothing but some voyeurism for these people?” In other posts, Mr Qi addressed a mystery woman who he vowed to “just let her go” and his exhaustion with his workload. “I used to walk 80+ hours per week and I feel relaxing and energetic. Now I only work 60+ hours per week and I feel tired,” he wrote in one. In a post in July 2022 – before he is believed to have started at UNC that fall – he posted a cryptic message calling his treatment by an unnamed boss “disgusting”. “Just feel my privacy was insulted. When I work, I will think I was showing the boss I am working instead of interests, devaluing the meaning of my work,” he wrote. “That’s so disgusting. Self-respect block me from working. Then it takes pains to convince myself what I do is just because I like.” In another post that same month, he wrote that “only work with no play makes Jim a dull boy”. The Twitter account has the same name and the same image as both Mr Qi’s bio and the person of interest sent out by police during the brief manhunt. It describes him as “Graduate student @UNC, engaged in light-matter interaction and related materials”. In one post in early August – just weeks before the shooting – he issued an appeal to meet people at the college. “I would like to make some new friends. I am a second-year PhD student, interested in nanoparticle synthesis, optical trapping, self-assembly, spectra analysis, and ML,” he said. “a bit stupid in daily trifles, very enthusiastic talking about research. Reach me if inerest.” The shooting The shooting unfolded at around 1pm local time on Monday when UNC Police responded to a 911 call reporting gunfire at the science lab in the heart of the campus. Law enforcement arrived on the scene around two minutes after the call came in and found a faculty member shot dead inside the science lab building. The campus was plunged into lockdown, with officials warning that “an armed and dangerous person” was at large. The wrong person was briefly arrested after the unsuspecting individual missed the shelter-in-place alerts. Soon after, the UNC Police released an image of Mr Qi, calling him a person of interest and warning the public that “if you see this person, keep your distance, put your safety first and call 911”. Chilling footage shows terrified students and staff members barricaded inside classrooms and offices for fear that an active shooter was at large. Around three hours on from the shooting, police confirmed that a suspect had been arrested near a residential area 10 minutes away from campus. The gun is yet to be recovered, police said. The lockdown was eventually lifted at around 4.15pm. The victim’s identity is yet to be released, pending next of kin being notified. UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin M Guskiewicz said in a statement that a hotline and other mental health resources were on offer for staff and students affected by the shooting. “The students are certainly traumatised,” he said. “But I want to commend those who were inside the building ensuring everyone’s safety.” Classes have been canceled through Tuesday following the deadly shooting. “Due to today’s incident on campus, UNC-Chapel Hill will operate at a Condition 2 on Tuesday, Aug. 29. This means that classes are canceled, and non-mandatory operations are suspended,” the UNC said in an update. The shooting came just days into the start of the new term. Harrowingly, the horror was a somewhat familiar sight for the UNC community coming four years after a mass shooting at the Charlotte campus left two dead and four injured. Back on 30 April 2019 – onthe last day of the spring semester classes – two people were killed and four injured in a mass shooting inside a classroom in the Woodford A. Kennedy Building. The gunman – identified as former UNCC student Trystan Andrew Terrell – was arrested soon after. In September 2019, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced life without the possibility of parole. Read More UNC shooting – latest: Motive remains unknown after shooter kills faculty member in Chapel Hill A new college term, a faculty member killed and a suspect arrested: What we know about the UNC shooting UNC faculty member confirmed dead as active shooter shuts down Chapel Hill school
2023-08-29 22:57