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40 Rescued After Military Plane Carrying 92 People Crashes In Philippines

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="40 Rescued After Military Plane Carrying 92 People Crashes In Philippines" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-07/tejlqki_philippines-crash-650_625x300_04_July_21.jpg" title="40 Rescued After Military Plane Carrying 92 People Crashes In Philippines" /></div>
Philippines plane crash: The air force said rescue efforts are going on.
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Manila:
A military plane crashed and broke up in flames in the southern Philippines on Sunday with 92 people aboard, and the army chief said at least 40 people had been rescued.
The C-130 aircraft of the Philippine Air Force had a mishap on landing on the island of Jolo, the air force said in a statement. "Rescue efforts are ongoing," it said.
Pictures from the scene showed flames and smoke pouring from wreckage of the aircraft among trees.
Defence Minister Delfin Lorenzana told Reuters the plane had been carrying 92 people, including three pilots and five other crew members, according to his initial reports.
Armed forces chief Cirilito Sobejana told reporters that at least 40 people had been rescued from the crashed plane and were now being treated.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/philippines-military-plane-crash-40-rescued-after-military-plane-carrying-92-people-crashes-in-philippines-2478811">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/philippines-military-plane-crash-40-rescued-after-military-plane-carrying-92-people-crashes-in-philippines-2478811</a>

news world 40 Rescued After Military Plane Carrying 92 People Crashes In Philippines

Philippines plane crash: The air force said rescue efforts are going on. Manila: A military plane crashed and broke up in flames in the...

Astronauts Step Out Of China's New Space Station For Spacewalk

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Astronauts Step Out Of China's New Space Station For Spacewalk" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-05/nuvr3h8k_china-space-station-reuters-650_625x300_19_May_21.jpg" title="Astronauts Step Out Of China's New Space Station For Spacewalk" /></div>
The spacewalk comes after 3 Chinese spacemen, who blasted off in June, docked at Tiangong station (File)
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Beijing:
Astronauts at China's new space station conducted their first spacewalk Sunday, state media reported, as Beijing presses on with its extraterrestrial ambitions.
It was only the second time the country's astronauts have stepped out of their craft while in space.
Three Chinese spacemen blasted off in June, docking at the Tiangong station where they are to remain for three months in China's longest crewed mission to date.
[embedded content]
On Sunday morning, two of them exited the core cabin, said state broadcaster CCTV.
The first, Liu Boming, was transported via mechanical arm to a work site and the other, Tang Hongbo, moved by climbing on the outside of the cabin.
Their mission involves elevating the panoramic camera outside the Tianhe core module, as well as verifying the robotic arm's transfer capability, state media said.
Television footage showed the astronauts preparing for the spacewalk by donning gear and conducting health checks while exercising in the cabin.
The astronauts were later shown opening the cabin door and exiting the module, in the first of two spacewalks planned for the mission -- both expected to last six or seven hours.
The launch of China's first crewed mission in nearly five years is a matter of huge prestige for the country, as Beijing marks the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist Party this month with a massive propaganda campaign.
To prepare, the crew underwent more than 6,000 hours of training.
The Chinese space agency is planning a total of 11 launches through to the end of next year, including three more manned missions that will deliver two lab modules to expand the 70-tonne station, along with supplies and crew members.
In addition to Liu and Tang, the mission's commander is Nie Haisheng, a decorated air force pilot in the People's Liberation Army who has already participated in two space missions.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/astronauts-step-out-of-chinas-new-space-station-for-spacewalk-2478796">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/astronauts-step-out-of-chinas-new-space-station-for-spacewalk-2478796</a>

news world Astronauts Step Out Of China's New Space Station For Spacewalk

The spacewalk comes after 3 Chinese spacemen, who blasted off in June, docked at Tiangong station (File) Beijing: Astronauts at China...

Airlines Clean Bugs And Bird Nests On Planes As Travel Picks Up

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As much as 80% of Air France's fleet was parked at the peak of the pandemic crisis (Representational).
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Orly, France:
As travel picks up this summer, airlines are dusting off planes that were grounded during the pandemic, checking they are clear of fungus, bugs and bird nests before sending them back in the air.
In Paris this week, a tow tractor grabbed an Air France plane that had been parked outside for a year at Orly Airport and brought it to a cavernous hangar where technicians quickly removed the tarpaulins.
Like most airlines, Air France took the overwhelming majority of its planes out of service during the pandemic as travel restrictions choked traffic to a trickle.
As much as 80 per cent of its fleet was parked at the peak of the crisis.
The Airbus A321 at the Orly hangar will soon have to make up to seven flights a day as the summer season kicks off in Europe and Covid-weary travellers seek respite in sunny Mediterranean destinations.
Although planes that were grounded received regular maintenance, getting the Airbus ready to carry more than 200 passengers per flight again is not a quick job.
"There are a whole bunch of systems that were shut down and haven't been in operation for a long time and that we have to retest and recheck," said Vincent Rigaudie, one of people responsible for preparing Air France aircraft for flight at Orly.
"We need to check oil levels in the hydraulics, we check all of the engine systems," he added.
Then aircraft are given a test flight to ensure all systems are operating normally before a plane is given the green light to return to commercial service.
In the hangar the size of several football pitches, teams of technicians normally work in shifts 24/7 to ensure Air France aircraft are fit to fly.
But the long hibernation of planes has created its own sort of problems that technicians must confront, Rigaudie explained above the din of shrieking loudspeakers meant to drive away pigeons.
The birds love to make their nests on parked planes, particularly on the wings at the level of the ailerons, and their droppings are corrosive.
"They don't need much room to get inside," Rigaudie said.
Bugs And Fungus
Two other potential problems: the contamination of fuel tanks by fungus and insects blocking air speed sensors.
The tarps protecting the plane present their own challenge as humidity can build up under them.
Bags that absorb moisture were placed near the fan blades of the Airbus.
"These are to capture moisture that can stay inside the motor for the entire time it is parked," said technician Julien Breuzard.
Depending on where a plane is parked, such as in a hot and humid city exposed to pollution, more corrosion than normal can be expected.
At Orly, between 200 and 300 hours of work is needed to take a parked Airbus A320 family model aircraft and make it ready to fly again.
It all starts with a visual inspection, including using a micro-camera mounted on a long flexible tube to get into inaccessible areas. The Airbus has a computer system that detects malfunctions.
A drone is used to check out areas high up.
Then equipment is tested and repaired or replaced if necessary.
Batteries are reconnected and interior and exterior surfaces cleaned before the plane is ready to take passengers again.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/airlines-clean-bugs-and-bird-nests-on-planes-as-travel-picks-up-2478779">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/airlines-clean-bugs-and-bird-nests-on-planes-as-travel-picks-up-2478779</a>

news world Airlines Clean Bugs And Bird Nests On Planes As Travel Picks Up

As much as 80% of Air France's fleet was parked at the peak of the pandemic crisis (Representational). Orly, France: As travel pick...

Jeff Bezos Leaves Enduring Legacy As He Steps Away As Amazon CEO

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The stunning rise of Amazon has made Jeff Bezos into one of the world's richest people.
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Washington, United States:
As he prepares to blast off into a new career stage, Jeff Bezos leaves an enduring legacy after transforming Amazon from a modest online bookseller into one of the world's most powerful corporations.
Bezos, 57, was set to hand over the job of Amazon chief executive on Monday to Andy Jassy and turn his attention to his private space exploration firm, philanthropy and other endeavors. He will retain a key role, however, as executive chair at the technology and e-commerce colossus he founded 27 years ago.
The transition comes after a spectacular streak for Amazon, which has drawn attention for its innovations.
But the firm has also been vilified over business practices that have crushed competitors and raised concerns over treatment of a workforce of more than one million.
"Bezos has been a transformational leader... in book selling, the retail market, cloud computing and home delivery," said Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for Technology Innovation.
"He was a pioneer who introduced many of the conveniences that people take for granted, such as going to an online store, ordering something, and having it delivered to your home the next day. The whole e-commerce sector owes many of its innovations to this individual."
In public appearances, Bezos often recounts the early days at Amazon, started in his garage, when he packed up orders himself and drove boxes to the post office.
Today, Amazon has a market value of more than $1.7 trillion. It posted 2020 annual revenues of $386 billion from operations in e-commerce, cloud computing, groceries, artificial intelligence, streaming media and more.
'An instinct'
Bezos "had an instinct for the right thing" in finding the next market, said Roger Kay, analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates.
Kay said Bezos deftly transitioned from books to other merchandise to an online marketplace, and successfully built the cloud infrastructure for the company which became the highly profitable Amazon Web Services.
Amazon outlasted its rivals by forgoing profits in its early years "and reinvesting everything into expanding," Kay said.
"If you look at the trajectory now, it was all logical," Kay added. "You can say Bezos has been one of the best business architects of his time."
Bob O'Donnell of Technalysis Research said Bezos "wasn't the first or the only one, but he took the concept (of e-commerce) and worked to perfect it."
Amazon was able to outdo rivals because Bezos "recognized the need to build infrastructure," including the vast network of warehouses, trucks, planes and other logistics for the business, O'Donnell said.
"A lot of other companies didn't want to spend money on the messy behind-the-scenes work."
The stunning rise of Amazon has made Bezos into one of the world's richest people, with a net worth close to $200 billion, even after a divorce settlement which gave part of his stake to his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott.
Bezos will step away from day-to-day Amazon management to spend more time on projects including his space firm Blue Origin -- which is set to take him into space later this month.
He owns the Washington Post newspaper and has devoted time and funds to efforts to fight climate change, while also facing criticism after recent reports that he paid no income tax at all some years.
Whither Amazon?
His departure leaves questions about the future of Amazon as it faces a torrent of regulatory scrutiny and criticism from activists.
US lawmakers are considering a measure that would make it easier to break up Amazon, amid concerns that a handful of Big Tech firms have become too dominant, hurting competition in a way that eventually harms consumers.
Amazon was well-positioned during the coronavirus pandemic with its fast delivery of goods and groceries, and boosted its US workforce to more than 800,000.
While the company has boasted of its $15 minimum wage and other benefits, critics say its relentless focus on efficiency and worker surveillance has treated employees like machines.
The Teamsters union recently launched a campaign to organize Amazon employees, claiming its workers "face dehumanizing, unsafe and low-pay jobs, with high turnover and no voice at work."
Bezos appeared to respond to worker concerns earlier this year when he called for a "better vision" for employees after a bruising battle over a unionization vote in Alabama, which ultimately failed.
He laid out a new goal for the company to be "Earth's best employer and Earth's safest place to work," in his final letter as chief executive.
Yet Amazon is likely to face challenges ahead that will make it difficult to keep its trajectory.
"The backlash against this sector probably will result in stronger government oversight of technology companies," said West.
Kay said Amazon might become "a victim of its own success" and be forced to break up into two or more firms.
Still, he said that "each of those entities would thrive in its own market; I can easily imagine the sum of the parts being greater than the whole, so it might not hurt shareholders." 
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/jeff-bezos-leaves-enduring-legacy-as-he-steps-away-as-amazon-ceo-2478759">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/jeff-bezos-leaves-enduring-legacy-as-he-steps-away-as-amazon-ceo-2478759</a>

news world Jeff Bezos Leaves Enduring Legacy As He Steps Away As Amazon CEO

The stunning rise of Amazon has made Jeff Bezos into one of the world's richest people. Washington, United States: As he prepares t...

Wildfire-Ravaged Canada Province Saw "12,000 Lightning Strikes" In A Day

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Wildfire-Ravaged Canada Province Saw '12,000 Lightning Strikes' In A Day" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-07/atgn8ids_canada-wildfire_625x300_03_July_21.jpg" title="Wildfire-Ravaged Canada Province Saw '12,000 Lightning Strikes' In A Day" /></div>
Most of the wildfires active in Canada were caused by intense lightning storms. (File)
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Ottawa:
The Canadian military was on standby Saturday to help evacuate towns and fight more than 170 wildfires fuelled by a record-smashing heat wave and tinder-dry conditions as the government in Ottawa warned of a "long and challenging summer" ahead.
At least 174 fires were active in the western province of British Columbia, 78 of them sparked in the last two days, officials said. Most were caused by intense lightning storms. The fires were north of the city of Kamloops, 350 kilometers (220 miles) northeast of Vancouver.
"We saw 12,000 lightning strikes, roughly, yesterday," said Cliff Chapman, the director of provincial operations for British Columbia Wildfire Service, according to public broadcaster the CBC. "Many of those lightning strikes were hitting near communities, (as) was seen in the Kamloops area."
While the immediate blame for the scorching heat has been placed on a high-pressure "heat dome" trapping warm air in the region, climate change is making record-setting temperatures more frequent.
Globally, the decade to 2019 was the hottest recorded, and the five hottest years on record have all occurred since 2012, according to climate.gov.
"The dry conditions and the extreme heat in British Columbia are unprecedented," Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said Friday. "These wildfires show that we are in the earliest stages of what promises to be a long and challenging summer."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met Friday with an incident response group that included several ministers, after earlier speaking with local, provincial and indigenous leaders. "We will be there to help," he told reporters.
The response group said it would establish an operations center in Edmonton, with up to 350 military personnel providing logistical support to the region, according to Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan. Military aircraft are also being deployed.
Roughly 1,000 people have fled the wildfires in British Columbia, with many others still missing.
The British Columbia medical examiner's office said there had been 719 deaths in the past week, "three times more" than the average number recorded over the period.
Lisa Lapointe, the province's chief coroner, said the extreme weather was likely "a significant contributing factor."
The village of Lytton, 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of Vancouver, was evacuated Wednesday after a fire flared up and spread quickly. Nearly 90 per cent of the village was torched, according to Brad Vis, an MP for the area.
"We really just had to get out there and we had no choice," resident Gordon Murray told CBC.
"We grabbed the pets that we could find. We had to leave one behind. We grabbed our wallets and got in the car. We didn't have time for anything else."
On Tuesday, the village set a Canadian record of 49.6 degrees Celsius (121 degrees Fahrenheit).
Wide Area Affected
The heat wave continued to spread across central Canada on Saturday, also affecting the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as well as parts of the Northwest Territories and northern Ontario.
"A dangerous long-duration heat wave will continue," bringing "very warm temperatures over the next couple of days," Environment Canada warned in bulletins for British Columbia.
Lytton resident Jeff Chapman told the CBC he saw his parents die in the fire that engulfed the town.
With only minutes to react, the elderly couple sought shelter in a trench in their backyard, as Chapman ran for safety at nearby rail tracks. From that vantage, he said, he saw the fires sweep across and destroy most of the town.
British Columbia also warned of flooding from melting mountain snowcaps and glaciers.
Further south, the US states of Washington and Oregon have also suffered record temperatures.
The death count in Oregon from heat-related causes has hit 94, the state's medical examiner said late Friday.
Three wildfires in drought-hit northern California have scorched nearly 40,000 acres (16,200 hectares), including a popular tourist lake preparing to welcome visitors for the July 4 holiday weekend. Evacuation orders were in place along stretches of Shasta Lake.
Around 40 structures were destroyed.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/wildfire-ravaged-canada-saw-12-000-lightning-strikes-in-a-day-2478755">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/wildfire-ravaged-canada-saw-12-000-lightning-strikes-in-a-day-2478755</a>

news world Wildfire-Ravaged Canada Province Saw "12,000 Lightning Strikes" In A Day

Most of the wildfires active in Canada were caused by intense lightning storms. (File) Ottawa: The Canadian military was on standby Sat...

With Home Prices Soaring, Shoppers Fear Buying at the Top of a Bubble

Google reported in April that the search question “When is the housing market going to crash?” had spiked 2,450 percent in the past month, according to Diana Olick of <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/13/when-is-the-housing-market-going-to-crash-consumers-ask.html" target="_blank">CNBC</a>.
“Why is the market so hot?” searches had doubled in just a week.
Since 2008, everyone has been on bubble watch. The price of anything goes up, for any sort of reason, and it’s deemed a bubble, soon to be popped. The large number of searches implies those shopping for a new home are wondering if they are walking into a trap. Home prices have soared and no one wants to buy at the top. 
Olick wrote, “And, in the most telling indication that the market may be in a bubble, ‘How much over asking price should I offer on a home 2021’ jumped 350% in that same week.”
However, home construction over the past decade has lagged behind, as many builders went belly-up in the 2008 crash and large builders have managed inventories more carefully. 
According to Freddie Mac the US housing market is 3.8 million single-family homes short of what is needed to meet the country’s demand, wrote Nicole Friedman for the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-housing-market-is-nearly-4-million-homes-short-of-buyer-demand-11618484400?mod=article_inline" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wall Street Journal</a>. 
Natalie Campisi of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/mortgages/new-home-construction-forecast/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Forbes</a> explained, “The housing market has been struggling to keep up with demand since the 2010s, when the number of new homes built was slashed in half compared with the previous decade. As the demand for residential real estate has increased, the scarcity of homes for sale has created a logjam on the supply side.”
The usual problems are foiling homebuilders, according to Ms. Campisi: “increased lumber prices, limited lot supplies, supply-chain issues, restrictive zoning laws, costly permits and a skilled labor deficit.”
<div class="mw9w9R4A"><a href="https://www.infowarsstore.com/specials-clearance/july-4th-super-sale?ims=bcrff&utm_campaign=July4thSuperSale&utm_source=Infowars+Hero&utm_medium=Banner&utm_content=july4thhero" target="_blank"><img src="https://api.directus.libertycdn.com/uploads/_/originals/Friday-4thOfJuly-hero-385.jpg" /></a></div>
This generation of skilled labor was neutered long ago when parents insisted their kids go to college so they could get office jobs. At the same time, in population centers, neighborhood associations band together to stop any new development in their backyards. Especially any proposal for affordable homes. 
With covid sending municipal staff home to work remotely, the entitlement and permitting process has been slowed by months here in Las Vegas, according to a knowledgeable observer.
This is not your grandfather’s housing market. Blackstone Group just spent $6 billion buying Home Partners of America Inc., which owns more than seventeen thousand houses throughout the US. Some simple arithmetic generates a price per unit of more than $350,000. Compare that to Blackstone’s $7.5 billion <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-10-23/blackstone-creating-rental-home-bonds-after-buying-spree" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">purchase</a> of forty thousand homes from 2011 to 2013, or $187,500 per unit.
In between, the firm exited from the single-family rental business when it sold its last shares in Invitation Homes in 2019, which had become the largest US firm in this industry, with eighty thousand homes for lease. 
Last year, Blackstone put “its toe back in the market in 2020 by investing $240 million to buy a preferred equity stake in Toronto’s <a href="https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/CA/XTSE/TCN" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tricon Residential</a> Inc., which buys single-family rentals in North America,” writes Peter Grant. 
Blackstone is not alone, rejoining an expanding roster of Wall Street powerhouses that have acquired single-family rental companies, according to Grant. “Canadian property giant <a href="https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/BAM" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brookfield Asset Management</a> Inc. recently acquired a stake in <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/invitation-rockpoint-forge-1-billion-rental-home-venture-11602067500?mod=article_inline" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a landlord that owns more than 10,000 U.S. homes</a>. J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Rockpoint Group LLC also have made big investments in single-family rental operators.”
Buyers large and small pushed the median existing-home sales price in May to $350,000 for the first time, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-existing-home-prices-hit-record-high-in-may-11624371222" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a> to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). That makes for a nearly 24 percent increase from a year ago, the biggest year-over-year price increase NAR has recorded in data going back to 1999.
Of course, trees don’t grow to the sky. “Affordability appears to be now squeezing away some buyers,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “There are so many people who have been outbid, frustrated they are unable to buy.”
Raoul Pal of Real Vision says one should compare home prices to the Fed’s balance sheet. He claims the median price index is flat by this metric. Actually, by my calculations home prices are falling in relation to the Fed’s assets. When the median hit $350,000 recently, the Fed’s balance sheet was nearly $8 trillion.
Back in the first quarter of 2007, when the median hit $257,400, the Fed’s footings stood at a mere $862 billion.
The central bank didn’t start its exponential growth spurt until the dark days of September 2008. And it’s never looked back. Will housing prices do the same? 
<hr />
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/with-home-prices-soaring-shoppers-fear-buying-at-the-top-of-a-bubble">https://www.infowars.com/posts/with-home-prices-soaring-shoppers-fear-buying-at-the-top-of-a-bubble</a>

news With Home Prices Soaring, Shoppers Fear Buying at the Top of a Bubble

Google reported in April that the search question “When is the housing market going to crash?” had spiked 2,450 percent in the past month, a...