United Airbus catches fire at Chicago, airport halts all flight operations
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The Seattle-bound United A320 flight 2091 was towed back to a gate and all 148 passengers and five crew safely deplaned. The mishap held up flight operations at O'Hare.
The disruption compounded the travel chaos caused by a bevy of twisters in most places upsetting a Memorial Day** weekend that was expected to kick off a busy summer season.
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CHICAGO, May 28: A United Airlines Airbus caught fire while taxiing at the
Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Monday afternoon. Thick smoke was gushing
out of one of its engines that burst into flames and the take-off was aborted.
The mishap halted all flight operations at the airport.
Nobody was hurt in the incident. The plane was towed back to a gate to evacuate
the passengers and the crew. They all safely deplaned. But the mishap played
spoilsport to Memorial Day** weekend celebrations for many passengers as the
United mishap held up other flights too, adding to the mayhem created by the
thunderstorms elsewhere.
The Seattle-bound United A320 flight 2091 with 148 passengers and five crew
on board was halted around 2 pm Monday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA). An engine caught fire, it confirmed.
The cause of the engine fire is still under investigation, and the passengers
were accommodated on alternative flights.
A passenger, Ivan Paloalto, said he heard an explosion when the plane was about
to take off. “I felt the impact on my window. As I looked, the engine was on
fire and smoke was coming out,” he said.
Ground crew and emergency responders 'immediately addressed' the issue.
Meanwhile, the John F Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, was
issued a ground stop on Monday afternoon by the Air Traffic Control System Command
Center, a part of the FAA, in view of the severe thunderstorms battering most
of the US. JFK airport is one of the most bustling airport hubs in the US.
All flights were grounded at New York's JFK on Monday - an occurrence attributed
to ongoing thunderstorms seen across much of the US, the FAA said.
The travel chaos comes as citizens in Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri and
Tennessee were all hit over Memorial Day weekend by a bevy of twisters, heavy
winds and flooding, which, so far, have killed at least 21 people, reported
Daily Mail. In fact, Memorial Day weekend was expected to kick off a busy summer
travel season.
Yet, the US Transportation Security Administration said it screened 2.95 million
airline passengers on Friday, the highest number ever on a single day. United
Airlines too had forecast it would handle 3 million travellers during the Memorial
Day travel period.
**What is Memorial Day: It was started as Decoration Day in 1860s after
the Civil War in remembrance of those Americans who sacrificed their life, but
post-World War the day is observed to honor all American soldiers who died in
any war. In 1971, Congress renamed the holiday as Memorial Day and changed its
observance to the last Monday of every May, from May 30. As Christians usually
celebrate the dead, the long weekend is widely used for travel and revelry.
Living veterans, however, advise the countrymen not to say "Happy Memorial Day"
as it is a solemn day to remember the fallen.
Veterans Day: There is also a Veterans Day holiday alongside, on every
November 11, which is, instead, a celebration of all veterans, living and dead.
Both are Federal holidays in the US. If Veterans Day falls on a Saturday, the
Federal offices are closed on Friday, November 10, and if it falls on a Sunday
they are closed on Monday, November 12.
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SELECTIONS FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
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Top Govt officer thrashed, kicked inside Bhubaneswar office: Incident sparks a debate
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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.
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UK's House of Commons votes to legalise assisted dying: What it means | |
ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!
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What caused Air India Boeing 787 crash? Some questions, some answers | |
The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.
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Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line brings Kashmir Valley on India's rail map |
- The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
- The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
- The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest
railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)
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Work done, Elon Musk steps down from DOGE, leaves White House | |
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
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Ailing Asiatic lion Pataudi too dies of bird flu at Kanpur zoo
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Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
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Trump slaps ‘kind’, ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on trading partners; a 'lenient' 26% on India!
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ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
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Trump signs order to shut Education Dept - And the contrast with India
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PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
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Sunita, Wilmore's Dragon splashes down in Gulf: What delayed their return? |
THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.
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All 80k health workers in US offered $25,000 voluntary buyout: Administering wrong prescriptions!
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The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
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Neighbours Calling
Bhutan
Nepal
Malaysia
Dubai
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Visit Indian Travel Sites
Goa,
Kerala,
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh,
Assam,
Sikkim,
Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir
Gujarat
Puducherry
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