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Tag: safety issues and practices

  • Gold mine fire in Peru kills 27, country’s worst in two decades | CNN

    Gold mine fire in Peru kills 27, country’s worst in two decades | CNN

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    Reuters
     — 

    A fire in a small gold mine in southern Peru has left 27 people dead, authorities said on Sunday, in the country’s single deadliest mining accident in more than two decades.

    In a statement, the local government said a short-circuit sparked the fire in the early morning hours of Saturday in the southern region of Arequipa. Images on local media and on social media showed dark plumes of smoke pouring out of the site.

    The mine is operated by Yanaquihua, a small-scale firm. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    “It’s been confirmed by the Yanaquihua police station, there are 27 dead,” local prosecutor Giovanni Matos told local television on Sunday.

    Peru is the world’s top gold producer and second-largest copper producer. According to data from Peru’s ministry of energy and mines, the incident is the single deadliest mining accident since 2000.

    In 2022, 38 people were killed in mining accidents around the country, highlighting safety concerns in Latin American mining. Peru had its deadliest year in 2002 when 73 people died in different mining accidents.

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  • 21-year-old former UC Davis student arrested in connection with series of stabbings near campus, police say | CNN

    21-year-old former UC Davis student arrested in connection with series of stabbings near campus, police say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A 21-year-old former student at the University of California, Davis, has been arrested in connection with three stabbings that occurred near the campus within the span of five days, leaving two people dead and the community in fear, the city’s police chief said Thursday.

    Carlos Dominguez, 21, was arrested on two counts of homicide and one count of attempted murder, Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel said during a Thursday news conference.

    “At this point we believe that all three (stabbings) are connected and we have evidence and information that they are and have one person responsible,” the chief said, linking the three attacks for the first time.

    The latest attack happened Monday night near campus and left a woman in critical condition. Just days before, stabbings at two different parks near campus claimed the lives of UC Davis senior Karim Abou Najm on Saturday and 50-year-old David Breaux on Thursday.

    Dominguez was a third-year student at the university until April 25, when he was “separated for academic reasons,” UC Davis said in a news release.

    He was initially taken into custody Wednesday for possessing a large knife and was placed under arrest earlier on Thursday in connection to the stabbings, Pytel said.

    The university is working with law enforcement to “provide access to any and all information as part of the investigation,” its news release said.

    Police are conducting a search warrant at a house where Dominguez lived with several roommates and where it appears he had been in between the stabbings, Pytel said. The roommates have been interviewed, he added.

    Officials believe Dominguez is from Oakland, but they are still working to learn more, Pytel said. He is being held at the Yolo County Jail while the district attorney reviews the investigation to determine any final charging decisions, the chief said.

    About 15 people called police Wednesday afternoon to report someone matching the suspect description from the third attack near Sycamore Park, where the second stabbing occurred, Pytel said.

    One of the callers followed the individual and led law enforcement officers directly to him, the chief said.

    The suspect was wearing the same clothing described by a witness to the third attack and appeared to have “some physical evidence on him that might be part of the investigation,” Pytel said.

    In his backpack, law enforcement found “a large knife that was consistent with the one we were looking for based on evidence from the first homicide,” which led to his arrest, the chief added.

    Detectives interviewed Dominguez for “many hours” following the arrest, Pytel said. He described Dominguez’s demeanor as “reserved.”

    The suspect was “compliant during the entire process,” the chief said, adding that the motive remains under investigation. He did not offer further details on what Dominguez said to police.

    Pytel said the evidence collected included “blood evidence and fibers and other types of trace evidence.”

    The days leading up to Dominguez’s arrest saw the college community on edge, with officials ramping up security measures and urging students to be ultra-vigilant.

    Police patrols on campus and around the city increased, classes were rescheduled or went virtual and the university expanded its Safe Rides program, which provides students with transportation to other campus locations or within the city from 8 p.m. – two hours earlier than its previous starting time – until 3 a.m.

    Elaine Lu, a recent graduate of UC Davis, was visiting campus earlier this week and said the town had always felt safe – until these attacks.

    “This kind of thing never happened before. After this murder, everyone is going to be so intimidated about it. I hope the school can improve their safety,” Lu told CNN Tuesday.

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  • The Philippines will briefly shut its airspace later this month in a bid to tackle recent airport outages | CNN

    The Philippines will briefly shut its airspace later this month in a bid to tackle recent airport outages | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel’s weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations opening, inspiration for future adventures, plus the latest in aviation, food and drink, where to stay and other travel developments.


    Hong Kong
    CNN
     — 

    “It’s more fun in the Philippines” is the tourism tagline that draws travelers from around the globe to explore the country’s pristine beaches and lush mountains.

    But getting there is not always a smooth journey, as anyone unfortunate enough to be at Manila’s airport during two crippling power outages this year discovered.

    Those outages, on Labor Day and New Year’s Day, caused widespread chaos with hundreds of flight cancellations affecting tens of thousands of passengers.

    In a bid to solve that issue, the Philippines will close the whole country’s airspace for 6 hours on May 17 to replace malfunctioning electrical equipment.

    “It’s the entire Philippine airspace that will be shut down,” Bryan Co, senior assistant general manager at the Manila International Airport Authority, said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

    The work will replace the uninterruptible power supply for the air traffic management center and the airspace closure will take place between 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. local time, usually a period of lower air traffic, Co added.

    Co called on airlines to prepare for its airspace going dark by re-arranging their flight schedules and advising passengers on alternative arrangements early on.

    Built 75 years ago, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) in Manila – the country’s main international gateway – has been struggling to cope with soaring passenger traffic since flights resumed after pandemic restrictions were lifted.

    On May 1, the airport’s Terminal 3 suffered an almost nine-hour outage that led to the cancellation of 48 Cebu Pacific’s domestic flights on the Labor Day long weekend holiday.

    Crowds of unhappy passengers lining up at Cebu Pacific’s counter heckled staff over a lack of clarity on flight arrangements, according to videos from CNN affiliate CNN Philippines.

    A full electrical analysis is being conducted in the aftermath of the incident and an audit may take up to 90 days to assess which updates need to be prioritized, the airport authority said.

    Just days before the chaos, a newly-formed Manila International Airport Consortium (MIAC) had made proposals to the national government outlining a series of upgrades at the country’s largest airport, aiming to double annual passenger capacity to 62.5 million by 2028, the group of six conglomerates said in a statement on Thursday.

    The airport handled 48 million passengers in 2019, despite being designed to handle 31.5 million, it said, and the revamp is expected to cost $1.8 billion (100 billion Philippine pesos).

    Upgrades had long been overdue especially after tens of thousands of travelers were stranded in the Southeast Asian hub after severe power interruptions impacted air traffic control at the country’s largest airport on New Year’s Day this year. Nearly 300 flights were either delayed, canceled or diverted to other regional airports and at least 56,000 passengers were affected.

    The Philippine government launched an official investigation into what led to a severe outage on New Year’s Day, which took place during the busy year end travel season that sees large numbers of foreign tourists as well as overseas citizens flying into the country from abroad to mark Christmas and New Year.

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  • Environmental groups sue FAA for SpaceX launch that exploded in April | CNN

    Environmental groups sue FAA for SpaceX launch that exploded in April | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Environmental groups are suing the Federal Aviation Administration in federal court over SpaceX’s launch of its massive Starship rocket last month.

    The rocket – the most powerful ever built – lifted off the pad, spewing debris over miles, before exploding over the Gulf of Mexico four minutes into flight.

    This story is breaking news and it will be updated.

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  • Nevada firefighters came to the rescue of a bear that got stuck in a tree | CNN

    Nevada firefighters came to the rescue of a bear that got stuck in a tree | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A team of firefighters and wildlife officials in Nevada accomplished a “bear-y” important rescue mission Wednesday.

    A bear was “spooked up a tree in front of a home” Wednesday morning in Reno, according to a Facebook post from the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

    “Between the busy roads, people, and all the attractants that can cause a bear to lose its natural fear of humans, a neighborhood is not a safe place for a bear!” wrote the department.

    The department’s game wardens and biologists helped remove the bear from the tree, the Facebook post says. They teamed up with firefighters from the Reno Fire Department to tranquilize the bear and safely catch it in a tarp.

    Photos posted by both agencies show officials in a suburban neighborhood patiently waiting at the base of a tree with a red tarp. The images show the bear clinging to branches before falling seemingly head-first onto the tarp.

    The Nevada Department of Wildlife said officials would release the bear in its natural habitat Thursday. The agency didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry by CNN about the animal’s release.

    Black bears are the only species of bear that live in Nevada, according to the department’s website. The agency advises Nevadans to use bear-resistant garbage containers to avoid attracting animals and critters, lock windows and doors and keep food out of vehicles.

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  • US Army orders aviation safety stand down following deadly helicopter crashes | CNN Politics

    US Army orders aviation safety stand down following deadly helicopter crashes | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The chief of staff of the US Army has grounded all Army aviators not involved in critical missions following two recent helicopter crashes that left 12 soldiers dead.

    The order from Army Chief of Staff James McConville grounds the aviators “until they complete the required training,” according to the Army.

    “The safety of our aviators is our top priority, and this stand down is an important step to make certain we are doing everything possible to prevent accidents and protect our personnel,” McConville said in a statement.

    Army pilots, at McConville’s direction, “will focus on safety and training protocols to ensure our pilots and crews have the knowledge, training and awareness to safely complete their assigned mission.”

    The safety stand down comes after Thursday’s mid-air collision of two AH-64 Apache helicopters near Fort Wainwright, Alaska, that killed three soldiers and wounded another. Two of the soldiers died at the scene and the third died while being transported to a hospital, according to a release from the US Army’s 11th Airborne Division.

    The crash occurred about 100 miles south of Fort Wainwright, where the helicopters are based as part of the 1st Attack Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment.

    “This is an incredible loss for these soldiers’ families, their fellow soldiers, and for the division,” Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, commanding general of the 11th Airborne Division, said in the release. “Our hearts and prayers go out to their families, friends and loved ones, and we are making the full resources of the Army available to support them.”

    That deadly collision came just weeks after nine soldiers were killed when two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed during a nighttime training mission near Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the Army said.

    The medical evacuation helicopters were conducting a routine training mission when they crashed at approximately 10:00 pm local time in an open field across from a residential area. All nine of the service members aboard the two aircraft were killed.

    The incidents are under investigation, according to the Army, but “there is no indication of any pattern” between the two.

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  • 3 soldiers dead, 1 injured after Army Apache helicopters collide midair while returning from a training flight in Alaska | CNN

    3 soldiers dead, 1 injured after Army Apache helicopters collide midair while returning from a training flight in Alaska | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Three soldiers were killed and another was injured when two AH-64 Apache helicopters collided Thursday as they were flying back from a military training flight near Healy, Alaska, US Army officials said.

    Two of the soldiers died at the scene and the third died while being transported to a hospital, according to a release from the US Army’s 11th Airborne Division.

    The names of the deceased are being withheld until 24 hours after their families have been notified, the release said.

    The crash occurred about 100 miles south of Fort Wainwright, where the helicopters are based as part of the 1st Attack Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment.

    “This is an incredible loss for these soldiers’ families, their fellow soldiers, and for the division,” Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, commanding general of the 11th Airborne Division, said in the release. “Our hearts and prayers go out to their families, friends and loved ones, and we are making the full resources of the Army available to support them.”

    US Army officials said Friday that the surviving soldier is in stable condition at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.

    The deadly collision comes less than a month after nine soldiers were killed when two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed during a nighttime training mission near Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the Army said. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

    “The Fort Wainwright community is one of the tightest military communities I’ve seen in my 32 years of service. I have no doubt they will pull together during this exceptional time of need and provide comfort to our families of our fallen,” Eifler added.

    Fort Wainwright’s Emergency Assistance Center is available to “provide support for families, friends and fellow soldiers of those involved in the crash,” the release said.

    The crash will be investigated by an Army Combat Readiness Center team, the release said.

    Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy took to Twitter on Friday to send “thoughts and prayers” to the soldiers involved in the incident.

    “My heart breaks for the family of the 3 soldiers who were killed. We pray for the injured soldier to be treated and return home safely,” he wrote.

    Correction: A previous version of this story misstated where the crash happened. It was near Healy, Alaska.

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  • Children’s cat-killing contest axed following backlash in New Zealand | CNN

    Children’s cat-killing contest axed following backlash in New Zealand | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A contest planned for children in New Zealand to hunt and kill feral cats as part of a drive to protect native species has been axed following backlash from the public and animal rights groups.

    The event would have been part of a fundraiser organized by the North Canterbury Hunting Competition for the Rotherham School, located in the Canterbury region of South Island.

    Organizers on Saturday had announced a new junior category for children under 14 in the annual competition – to hunt feral cats for a top prize of 250 New Zealand dollars ($150).

    The announcement drew public anger leading organizers to withdraw the event on Monday.

    In a statement issued Wednesday, organizers said “vile and inappropriate emails and messages had been sent to the school and others involved.”

    “We are incredibly disappointed in this reaction and would like to clarify that this competition is an independent community run event,” the statement read.

    While cats are a popular and beloved pet among many New Zealanders, feral cats have been a long-standing issue between animal lovers and authorities because of the impact they can have other wild animals.

    In neighboring Australia, authorities say feral cats threaten the survival of more than 100 native species. Feral cats are blamed for killing millions of birds, reptiles, frogs and mammals, every day, prompting authorities to arrange regular culls.

    Organizers of the contest in Canterbury maintained that the junior hunting tournament to kill feral cats, using a firearm or other means, was about “protecting native birds and other vulnerable species.”

    “Our sponsors and school safety are our main priority, so the decision has been made to withdraw this category for this year to avoid further backlash at this time,” it said.

    “To clarify, for all hunting categories, our hunters are required to abide by firearms act 1983 and future amendments as well as the animal welfare act 1999.”

    Addressing concerns from the public, organizers had earlier announced rules to discourage young participants from targeting pets.

    Any child who brought in a microchipped cat would have been disqualified, organizers said.

    The group also noted that scheduled hunts for other categories like local pigs and deer would still proceed.

    The New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it was “both pleased and relieved” that the cat-killing contest for children had been removed. “Children, as well as adults, will not be able to tell the difference between a feral, stray or a frightened domesticated cat,” the SPCA said.

    “There is a good chance someone’s pet may be killed during this event. In addition, children often use air rifles in these sorts of event which increase the likelihood of pain and distress and can cause a prolonged death,” it added.

    Animals rights group PETA also welcomed the decision to cancel the event.

    In a statement,Jason Baker, the group’s Asia Vice President said,”Encouraging kids to hunt down and kill animals is a sure-fire way to raise adults who solve problems with violence … We need to foster empathy and compassion in kids, not lead them to believe animals are ‘less than’ humans while rewarding them for brutality.”

    The event attracted significant overseas attention, including from British comedian Ricky Gervais, a known animal lover with more than 15 million followers on Twitter.

    He slammed the proposed cat hunt in a sarcastic tweet, saying: “Right. We need some new PR ideas to make the world love New Zealand. Maybe something involving kids & kittens. Yes, Hargreaves?”

    New Zealand is one of the world’s last remote island nations and has no native land mammals besides bats.

    There have been official campaigns against cats in previous years – including one that encouraged cat lovers to avoid replacing their pets when they die.

    “Cats are the only true sadists of the animal world, serial killers who torture without mercy,” said then-Prime Minister John Key, who himself had a cat named Moonbeam.

    “Historically, we know that feral cats were responsible for the extinction of six bird species and are leading agents of decline in populations of birds, bats, frogs and lizards,” Helen Blackie, a biosecurity consultant at Boffa Miskell told CNN affiliate RNZ.

    Blackie, who has studied feral cats for two decades, said numbers had exploded in the last decade, and in some areas where pests were tracked by camera, feral cats outnumbered other species like possums.

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  • Hundreds of Southwest Airlines flights are delayed after FAA lifts nationwide ground stop | CNN

    Hundreds of Southwest Airlines flights are delayed after FAA lifts nationwide ground stop | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Hundreds of Southwest Airlines flights were delayed after technical issues that prompted the airline to temporarily halt its operations on Tuesday morning.

    Southwest said the flight delays were the result of “data connection issues resulting from a firewall failure,” a problem that led to a brief ground stop.

    The Federal Aviation Administration initiated the ground stop at the airline’s request, citing “equipment issues.” The ground stop was soon lifted, and in a tweet at 11:35 a.m. ET Southwest said it had resumed operations.

    “Early this morning, a vendor-supplied firewall went down and connection to some operational data was unexpectedly lost,” spokesman Dan Landson said in a statement.

    Southwest had delayed 1,820 flights or 43% of its schedule as of just after noon Tuesday, according to FlightAware. The airline has canceled only nine flights on Tuesday, according to FlightAware. Southwest says its workers “worked quickly to minimize disruptions.”

    Southwest reported technology issues Tuesday morning and said it would “hopefully be resuming our operation as soon as possible.”

    The FAA in a statement told CNN that Southwest “requested the FAA pause the airline’s departures.”

    The problems come months after the airline was forced to cancel more than 16,700 flights between December 20 and 29, roughly half its schedule during that period. The airline attributed the meltdown in part to changes to its staff scheduling computer systems. Southwest last month unveiled an “action plan” to prevent another operational meltdown.

    Southwest called the latest problem “intermittent technology issues” in a social media post to customers. Several took to social media to complain about delayed flights.

    “We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we’re hoping to get everyone going ASAP,” the airline wrote in another social media post.

    A massive winter storm started the service problems during the holiday season, but Southwest had a much tougher time recovering because of an antiquated crew scheduling system that was quickly overwhelmed, leaving the airline unable to get the staffing it needed to locations to operate flights. Nearly half of its schedule was canceled during from December 20 to December 29. Some days, as many as 75% of its scheduled flights were grounded.

    Part of what created worse problems at Southwest than at other airlines is that crew members had to call in to the airline, rather than notify it electronically, to let them it of their availability.

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  • Former Florida state employee’s son arrested for alleged school threats | CNN Politics

    Former Florida state employee’s son arrested for alleged school threats | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The 13-year-old son of Rebekah Jones, who claimed she was fired for refusing to manipulate state Covid-19 data while working in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ state Health Department, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly threatening a shooting at a middle school.

    The boy, whom CNN is not naming because he is a minor, was charged with written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism, a second-degree felony, according to a warrant issued by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office.

    In security camera video at the sheriff’s office, obtained by CNN, Jones can be seen accompanying the boy to the sheriff’s office on Wednesday afternoon, where he surrendered.

    Thursday evening, Jones, who has a sizable online following, tweeted, “My son is home with me now and sleeping.”

    She suggested, without evidence, that her son’s arrest was related to a lawsuit she filed on March 13 in Leon County, Florida, against the Florida Department of Health and a former supervisor, under the state whistleblower act, seeking to get her job back, lost wages and damages for her treatment as an employee.

    A spokeswoman for DeSantis referred questions about the arrest “to the diligent law enforcement of Santa Rosa Sheriff’s office.”

    Jones noted in a tweet that the sheriff’s office began investigating her son shortly after she filed the lawsuit. She claimed on Twitter that her son had sent “just memes” to his friends that she says were not threatening.

    But, according to police reports, multiple students at a Navarre, Florida, middle school told police that Jones’ son had told people he planned a school shooting and posted threatening memes and messages on Snapchat and Discord. One student told police that the boy told her on Discord he wanted to end his life and shoot up the school.

    After issuing a search warrant, officers said they found messages in February from the boy’s Snapchat account referencing guns and the Columbine High School massacre and plans to shoot and stab people at the school.

    During an interview with police on March 23, the boy told police he did not intend to carry out the shooting and police did not find any guns at his home. Jones told police the boy no longer attended the school and was being home schooled, according to police documents.

    CNN has reached out to the sheriff’s office for additional information on the case.

    Jones in 2020 accused the DeSantis administration of trying to cover up the extent of the pandemic and firing her for refusing to falsify numbers to minimize the scale of the outbreak. Last year, a state inspector general report said her claims were “unsubstantiated” and Covid-19 data was not falsified.

    Jones publicly shared the story of her dismissal before leaving the department in May 2020 and became a prominent online critic of DeSantis. She unsuccessfully ran for Congress last year against Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz.

    In December 2020, state police executed a search warrant at Jones’ home while investigating whether she accessed a state messaging system without authorization to call for state officials to speak out about Covid-19 deaths. She was ultimately charged with one count of offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks and electronic devices. In December, Jones agreed to admit guilt and pay a $20,000 fee in a pretrial deferred prosecution agreement.

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  • The fatal mauling of 4-year-old forces India to grapple with stray dog problem | CNN

    The fatal mauling of 4-year-old forces India to grapple with stray dog problem | CNN

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    New Delhi
    CNN
     — 

    For nearly a minute, the 4-year-old boy attempts to valiantly escape the hungry pack of stray dogs as they circle around him.

    He tries to run, but one of the animals pulls the boy to the ground. Two more dogs close in, offering the victim little respite.

    The boy, who has not been publicly identified, is dragged by the pack for several feet, writhing in pain as the strays pounce. He strives to wrestle from their grip, but his small and fragile body cannot compete with the aggressors.

    His piercing screams alert his father nearby – but it was too late. The child was declared dead upon arrival at the hospital.

    The brutal attack, captured by a security camera in Hyderabad in February, a sprawling city in the central Indian state of Telangana, has horrified the nation of 1.3 billion and placed focus on an issue that long divided opinion: what to do with India’s vast number of stray dogs?

    The issue is a sensitive one in a country where there is an ingrained cultural respect for animals and an aversion to culling. Most agree stray dogs are an issue, but there is a fierce debate over how best to respond.

    According to the Press Trust of India, there are around 62 million strays in the country, although experts say the real number would be nearly impossible to verify.

    Most of these animals – lovably nicknamed ‘Indie’ dogs – live in harmony with humans. Often, residents of gated communities come together to feed them, some even adopting them as family pets.

    But over the years, bites and killings by stray dogs have put many cities on edge, with politicians, the media, and citizens scrambling to present various solutions.

    Long before the death of the 4-year-old boy in Hyderabad made headlines, local media have run similar tales about India’s “killer dogs” – stories that are then often picked up by international outlets.

    “”Man-eater’ dog terror back in Bihar,” wrote The Telegraph India in a story last month after a series of bites in the northern Indian state.

    It is illegal to kill stray dogs in India. A 2001 law states strays should instead be picked up, neutered, and vaccinated against rabies, before being released.

    But in light of the gruesome attacks, many of which have happened to children, some have attempted to challenge the law.

    In 2016, a campaign to kill stray dogs after a series of bites in the southern state of Kerala gained traction in the local news.

    But animal rights activists were angered, instead urging authorities to offer clemency and find other solutions. The hashtag #BoycottKerala began trending on social media, and the plan was later abolished.

    While the law requires strays to be neutered and vaccinated, experts say there is a lack of strict implementation.

    “Of course we have a stray dog problem,” Anjali Gopalan, managing trustee at the All Creatures Great and Small, a Delhi-based non-profit that cares for animals, said.

    “Not only do we have a stray dog problem, but we also have a problem with rabies in this country. So, steps have to be taken to deal with both.”

    Rabies is a vaccine-preventable disease which can spread to humans if they are bitten or scratched by an infected animal. It is almost always fatal unless a series of jabs can be administered soon after someone is bitten.

    Dogs are the source of the vast majority of human rabies deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and contribute up to 99% of all rabies transmissions to humans. India is endemic for rabies, the WHO said, accounting for 36% of the world’s rabies deaths.

    A key way to reduce rabies within a stray dog population is to capture and vaccinate as many animals as possible.

    But veterinarian Sarungbam Devi, founder and trustee of Animal India Trust, said India needs to do more.

    “At the time of the sterilization, we vaccinate the dog only once and then they are released. That’s all the vaccination a stray dog gets in his lifetime and that’s not enough,” she said.

    A lack of resources in the country means it is difficult to push government bodies to increase the inoculation of street dogs against the virus, Devi added.

    But when it comes to dog bites, Devi said, education plays the biggest role: “The government hasn’t done anything to increase awareness or educate the masses. We need to educate people, we need to be more vocal and visual about the (anti-bite) programs,” she said.

    “People need to know what to do when a dog bites you, how to you prevent it … I don’t think I have ever seen anything on this anywhere.”

    The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) recommends avoiding unfamiliar dogs and wild animals, not running when approached by an unknown dog and always supervising children and dogs, among other things, to avoid bites.

    According to the government, more than 6.8 million Indians were bitten by stray dogs in 2020 – and increase from 3.9 million in 2012. And experts say those numbers are likely not the full picture.

    CNN has reached out to the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying but has not received a response.

    “The problem is lack of awareness towards how to live around dogs,” Devi said, adding there needs to be an “intense anti-rabies drive and sterilization program everywhere in India.”

    But many Indian cities and states have been successful in bringing down their feral dog population and eradicating rabies.

    In the financial capital Mumbai, as many as 95% of the city’s stray dogs have been sterilized owing to “consistent” implementation of re-vaccination and welfare programs, said Abodh Aras, CEO of the non-profit Welfare of Stray Dogs.

    A robust public health system for post-bite treatment and regular school programs about dog bite and rabies prevention has also contributed, Aras said.

    “There are other places that have success stories. There is Goa that has eliminated rabies, (the state of) Sikkim that has got its state of operations around, and eliminated rabies,” he added. “It needs a combination of government support, will and infrastructure, and animal welfare NGOs working in that area for this model to be successful.”

    But not every city has the resources to implement this model.

    Take for example Noida, a satellite city of more than half a million on the outskirts of Delhi that is a comparatively wealthy place and home to many middle-class families.

    Devi, from the Animal India Trust, said Noida remains “very disorganized,” and her organization is the only non-profit covering the entire city – a colossal and tedious task for a small team, she said.

    Stray dogs caught by authorities in Noida on October 18, 2022.

    Gopalan, from All Creatures Great and Small, points to even more difficult operations in rural India, where electricity is lacking and maintaining cold storage for vaccines is an issue.

    Following the 4-year-old’s death in Hyderabad, officials promised swift action to prevent future tragedies.

    “We have been sterilizing dogs and anti-rabies injections are being given to them,” Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Mayor Vijayalaxmi Gadwal, told local news agency, ANI.

    “So far in Hyderabad we have identified more than 500,000 dogs and sent more than 400,000 dogs for sterilization. We are following every guideline which is being given to us by the Supreme Court. We’re also going to adopt these dogs so that the number of stray dogs will be reduced.”

    That campaign may have an impact locally. But it many fear it is likely only a matter of time before another pack of dogs somewhere in India takes a child’s life.

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  • FDA sketches out plan to bolster fragile US infant formula supply management | CNN

    FDA sketches out plan to bolster fragile US infant formula supply management | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The US Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday its initial strategy to boost and strengthen the management of the country’s supply of infant formula.

    The announcement came just ahead of a hearing of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee about what went wrong during last year’s infant formula shortage.

    Committee members and experts who testified were critical of formula makers and the FDA’s food safety program, which the agency has pledged to revamp in order to protect the nation’s food supply and promote better nutrition. Many experts are concerned that the formula shortage of 2022 could easily happen again, even with those changes.

    “While we stand here today, more than a year since the recall, it is my view that the state of the infant formula industry today is not much different than it was then,” testified Frank Yiannas, who stepped down from his role as the agency’s deputy commissioner of food policy and response in late February.

    “The nation remains one outbreak, one tornado, flood or cyberattack away from finding itself in a similar place to that of February 17, 2022.”

    A formula shortage that started in 2021 was exacerbated when the United States’ largest infant formula maker, Abbott Nutrition, recalled multiple products in mid-February and had to pause production after FDA inspectors found potentially dangerous bacteria at its Sturgis, Michigan, plant.

    A former Abbott employee filed a whistleblower complaint about the plant with the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration in February 2021. The complaint suggested that the plant lacked proper cleaning practices and that workers falsified records and hid information from inspectors.

    The complaint was filed February 16, 2021, and was passed on to Abbott and the FDA three days later.

    Yiannas testified that because of the siloed nature of the agency, he wasn’t made aware of the complaint until February 2022. It was only then that he learned that children had gotten sick with Cronobacter after consuming powdered formula made at the plant.

    The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated at least four illnesses and two deaths in three states in connection. The agency sequenced bacteria from two of the children to compare against the samples the FDA took at the facility, but it did not find that the samples were closely related.

    Cronobacter infections are rare but can be serious and even fatal, especially in newborns. The bacteria lives in the environment, but when these infections are diagnosed in infants, they are often linked to powdered formula.

    “Clearly, I really wish, and I should have been notified sooner, so I could have initiated containment steps earlier. Had that happened, I believe we might not be here today,” Yiannas said Tuesday. “Had the agency responded quicker to some of the earlier signals, I believe this crisis could have been averted or at least the magnitude lessened.”

    With more demand for other brands after the Abbott recalls, families across the country had to hunt through multiple stores for formula last year. Stock rates of baby formula stayed lower than they were the year before for much of 2022. Even in October, when rates had improved, nearly a third of households with a baby younger than 1 said they had trouble finding formula over the course of one week, according to a survey by the US Census Bureau.

    The FDA said Tuesday that its new national strategy helps ensure that the country’s supply of formula will remain constant and safe.

    The agency said it will work with the industry on redundancy risk management plans that will help companies identify possible supply chain problems. It will also continue to enhance inspections of infant formula plants by expanding and improving training for agency investigators.

    According to the strategy, the FDA will expedite review of premarket submissions for new products to prevent shortages. It will continue to closely monitor the formula supply and has developed a model to forecast any potential disruptions.

    It also plans to work closely with the US Department of Agriculture to build in more resiliency with its Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children program, or WIC, the nation’s largest purchaser of infant formula.

    The new strategy is just a first step; the long-term strategy is expected to be released in early 2024.

    Dr. Susan Mayne, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said in a statement that the new strategy aims to incentivize “additional infant formula manufacturers to enter the market.”

    Many parts of the strategy are underway, the FDA said.

    “Safety and supply go hand-in-hand. We witnessed last year how a safety concern at one facility could be the catalyst for a nationwide shortage. That’s why we are looking to both strengthen and diversify the market, while also ensuring that manufacturers are producing infant formula under the safest conditions possible,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said in a news release. “Now, with this strategy, we are looking at how to advance long-term stability in this market and mitigate future shortages, while ensuring formula is safe.”

    Formula stock rates are still not where they once were before last year’s crisis, Yiannas said, but the problem can’t be solved overnight. He said it was a good step for Congress to ask for a resiliency report from the industry.

    One positive development that came out of the crisis is that manufacturers are reporting formula volume to the FDA on a weekly basis even though there is no legal requirement to do so, he said.

    Historically, the FDA has focused on food safety and nutrition, not supply chain availability, but the Covid-19 pandemic opened eyes and served as the “biggest test on the US food system in 100 years,” Yiannas said. Food supply shortages made experts realize that the agency needed more intelligence on how companies’ supply chains worked.

    “Progress is being made, but it’s not being made fast enough,” Yiannas said.

    The FDA is now tracking sales and stock rates of baby formula. He said he’s talked to formula companies that say they have ramped up production, even though they might have cut back on the number of varieties of product they offer.

    The FDA said Tuesday that it has also done a study to better understand what led to the recall of infant formula at the Abbott plant. The agency had conducted a routine surveillance inspection at the plant in September 2021 and even then found problems like standing water and inadequate handwashing among employees.

    Abbott is facing additional investigations from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the US Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Justice as well as lawsuits from customers.

    Yiannas told the House committee Tuesday that one strategy to head off similar shutdowns would be to require manufacturers to report Cronobacter bacteria found in its products. Currently, only the Abbott plant in Michigan is required to report the bacteria as part of the consent decree that allowed it to reopen.

    The FDA said in November that it would like Cronobacter infections added to the CDC’s list of national notifiable diseases, which would require doctors to report cases to public health officials so the CDC and the FDA could keep better track of infections. Only two states have such a reporting requirement now.

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  • Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg cites ‘uptick’ in aviation incidents at FAA safety summit reviewing ‘serious close calls’ | CNN

    Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg cites ‘uptick’ in aviation incidents at FAA safety summit reviewing ‘serious close calls’ | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday there has been an “uptick” in recent aviation incidents and called on participants at a Federal Aviation Administration safety summit to help find the “root causes” of the issues.

    “We are particularly concerned because we have seen an uptick in serious close calls,” Buttigieg said in his opening remarks, referring to a series of near collisions on runways across the US.

    The summit comes after the FAA said it was investigating another close call between commercial airliners. The most recent close call was at Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC – the seventh since the start of this year.

    On March 7, Republic Airways Flight 4736 crossed a runway, without clearance, that United Airlines Flight 2003 was using for takeoff, according to a preliminary review, the FAA said. The United pilot had just been cleared for takeoff, the agency said.

    “An air traffic controller noticed the situation and immediately canceled the takeoff clearance for the United flight,” the FAA said.

    The FAA safety summit in McLean, Virginia, is the first of its kind since 2009 and kicks off a sweeping safety review the agency is conducting in the wake of the incursions.

    “Today is about the entire system, which means it’s about all of us,” Buttigieg said at the summit’s opening on Wednesday. The summit includes safety investigators, industry representatives, union leaders, and others.

    Buttigieg said Wednesday’s summit is the first in a series of coordinated events the FAA will conduct to find out what’s working well and what “new steps” need to be taken to ensure safety.

    Air travel has had a strong safety record and is the safest form of travel, Buttigieg said, but “we dare not” take that record for granted.

    The chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board told participants in the summit that the safety agency has made seven recommendations on runway collisions that have not been enacted.

    “One is 23 years old and still appropriate today on technology warning pilots of an impending collision,” chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said.

    “How many times are we going to have to issue the same recommendations over and over and over again?” she asked.

    Homendy said she’s already found one common issue with the six runway incursions they are investigating. In each case, the cockpit voice recorder, known as one of the black boxes, was overwritten, preventing investigators from hearing what took place on the flight deck.

    “All federal agencies here today need to ask: Are we doing everything possible to make our skies safer? We’ve been asking ourselves that very question at the NTSB,” she said.

    Nick Calio, president and CEO of Airlines for America, the trade association representing the major airlines, told the summit, “There’s constant self-evaluation always going on.”

    Calio said the airlines are looking at their data to try to find ways to make aviation safer so that close calls on runways, like those under investigation by the NTSB, don’t happen.

    “I don’t want to speculate a lot on what’s happened there, because they’re all under investigation. And we’re all trying to determine what is going on. Is this a trend? Is this a pattern?” he said.

    Rich Santa, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union, cited a lack of staffing in air traffic control towers as a potential culprit.

    “Unfortunately, we have a staffing issue right now, as air traffic controllers. We are 1,200 certified professional controllers less now than we were 10 years ago,” he said at the summit. “It’s time for us to accurately and adequately staff the facilities.”

    Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen told the summit the agency is “continuing to hire” and is on pace to hire 1,500 controllers this year and another 1,800 next year.

    The NTSB is investigating the string of runway incursions involving commercial airliners. The near-collisions on US runways also have prompted federal safety investigators to open a sweeping review.

    Last month, a Southwest passenger jet and a FedEx cargo plane came as close as 100 feet from colliding at an Austin, Texas, airport, and it was a pilot – not air traffic controllers – who averted disaster, according to Homendy.

    In January, there was an alarming close call similar to this latest one. A Delta Air Lines flight was taking off from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport when air traffic controllers “noticed another aircraft crossing the runway in front of the departing jetliner,” the FAA said in a statement.

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  • On eve of safety summit, FAA investigates another runway close call | CNN

    On eve of safety summit, FAA investigates another runway close call | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating yet another close call between commercial airliners, this time at Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC – the seventh since the start of this year.

    On March 7, Republic Airways Flight 4736 crossed a runway, without clearance, that United Airlines Flight 2003 was using for takeoff, according to a preliminary review, the FAA said. The United pilot had just been cleared for takeoff from the runway, the agency said.

    “An air traffic controller noticed the situation and immediately canceled the takeoff clearance for the United flight,” the FAA said.

    Recordings accessed from LiveATC.net show air traffic controllers in the tower exclaiming, “United 2003 cancel takeoff clearance!” The crew of the United flight responded, “Aborting takeoff, United 2003.”

    The pilot of the Republic flight had been cleared to cross a different runway, “but turned on the wrong taxiway,” the FAA said.

    The news of yet another close call comes ahead of Wednesday’s FAA safety summit, the first of its kind since 2009. The summit kicks off a sweeping safety review that the agency is conducting in the wake of these incursions.

    Last month, a Southwest passenger jet and a FedEx cargo plane came as close as 100 feet from colliding at an Austin, Texas, airport, and it was a pilot – not air traffic controllers – who averted disaster, according to Jennifer Homendy, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

    And in January, there was an alarming close call similar to this latest one. A Delta Air Lines flight was taking off from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport when air traffic controllers “noticed another aircraft crossing the runway in front of the departing jetliner,” the FAA said in a statement.

    “S–t!” exclaimed the controller from the tower of John F. Kennedy International Airport on Friday night. “Delta 1943 cancel takeoff clearance!”

    The Delta plane “stopped its takeoff roll approximately 1,000 feet before reaching the point where American Airlines Flight 106, a Boeing 777, had crossed from an adjacent taxiway,” the FAA said.

    The NTSB – which is investigating the six other runway incursions involving commercial airliners – told CNN it is aware of the latest incident but has not yet launched an investigation.

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  • What’s going on with all the runway close calls | CNN Politics

    What’s going on with all the runway close calls | CNN Politics

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    A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.



    CNN
     — 

    There have been six close calls on US runways this year, which has led to a fair amount of news coverage, some alarm among the flying public and a lot of calls for answers – including from the acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration Billy Nolen, who testified on Capitol Hill this week.

    Unable to explain the spike, Nolen told lawmakers the agency wants to get to the bottom of things at a safety summit planned for next week. There are also specific investigations into each incident in Boston; Burbank, California; Austin, Texas; Honolulu; New York; and Sarasota, Florida.

    I talked to CNN’s Pete Muntean, who not only covers aviation but is also a pilot and flight instructor, for his perspective on what the heck is going on.

    Our conversation, conducted by phone, is below. Stick with it for an interesting bonus story on how low-flying planes are used to find poachers in Africa.

    WOLF: Six close calls in recent weeks. Are these all distinct events? Or should we view them as one larger issue?

    MUNTEAN: There’s definitely a constant theme because they’re the same type of event, which is officially known as a runway incursion. It is where two airplanes essentially get in the way of one another on or near the runway.

    These types of events can range from really minor to more egregious. What we saw at JFK in New York in January, that had to be one of the more egregious ones. The air traffic controller had to swoop in and stop a flight that was barreling down the runway toward a crossing, taxiing (Boeing) triple seven from taking off.

    That is a more extreme, severe example. There have been some examples where the airplanes get within a few hundred feet of one another, maybe as close as 100 feet. One of the cases like in Austin.

    But they’re not really caused, necessarily, by the same thing. That’s, of course, something that investigators will look at.

    (On Wednesday) the acting head of the FAA on Capitol Hill said that if there are dots to connect, they’ll connect them in this safety summit next week, although it doesn’t seem like there was any real common trigger. No common cause.

    RELATED: FAA to conduct sweeping safety review after multiple incidents

    WOLF: Who is supposed to keep these from happening? Is it the air traffic controllers? Is it the pilots? How is it supposed to work?

    MUNTEAN: There are multiple different layers of safeguards in place in the air traffic system, especially at these busy airports where there are a lot of airliners coming in and out in a lot of varying conditions, a lot of different times of day.

    Some of the responsibility falls on air traffic control. Of course, it’s their job to keep airplanes from running into one another. Some of the responsibility falls on the flight crew to keep it so that they follow the instructions of air traffic control, that they remain vigilant all the time, if they’re taxiing across runways or taking off from a runway that’s crisscrossing with another one as they’re about to land.

    The good news is that in commercial aviation in the US – which has a stellar track record, by the way – there are two trained pilots at all times. And there are a lot of eyeballs essentially making it so that these things don’t happen.

    The pilots can intercede at any point, and in some cases they have. They’ve just essentially called their own go-arounds to make it so that they don’t come in contact with an airplane. In some cases, the air traffic controllers will call it. The onus is on a few different layers here.

    I’m a pilot, but I just did a demonstration with a former NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) investigator at a busy airport, Dulles (in Virginia), and it begs pointing out that some of the safeguards are as simple as paint on the runway and taxiways to remind pilots not to taxi too close to the runway. Some of it is in the phraseology that’s used on the radio. Some of it is in the procedures and training the pilots get.

    I think every pilot that’s out there now – and if you talk to professional pilots this is something that weighs on them – this has been a chronic problem for aviation for a while. But now, because of these headlines, it’s especially top of mind for pilots and air traffic controllers and regulators and safety advocates.

    WOLF: You said it’s a chronic problem. Is there any indication or any data to suggest this is happening more often? Or are we in the media just paying attention to it?

    MUNTEAN: I think these events are getting more attention. No doubt that these six that we have seen so far this year are extreme. Usually they don’t happen with such severity, with such frequency.

    But the FAA, at every layer of aviation from commercial aviation on down to small airplanes and private airports, they’re always trying to remind pilots to remain vigilant. Something that pilots really train for in their first flying lesson is how to behave in and respect the environment around an airport.

    In some ways, it’s like flying with a loaded gun. You have to be really, really careful.

    The reason why these are happening, one pilot told me – who’s the representative for a large union of airline pilots and a major airline – he said the system is just under so much pressure right now. There’s a lot of corporate pressure for airlines to get back on their feet after the pandemic.

    There’s a lot of new pilots flying right now, who may have matriculated from regional airlines to larger airlines. A lot of the old guard have retired. Pilots have left just because they were given voluntary leave packages as a result of the downturn of the pandemic.

    There are a ton of different factors at play.

    The fact that we’re sort of paying attention to these more just sort of highlights that nobody can ever let their guard down.

    WOLF: Is the current air traffic system that we’re using technologically up to snuff?

    MUNTEAN: I think it is. And I think the FAA would say that it is, because they have added in so many layers of technology to make it so that these incidents are avoided.

    They have technology that can sense, at some larger airports, whether or not a pilot is lined up with the wrong thing, if they were aiming for a runway but instead aimed for a taxiway to land on – which has happened before.

    They have more lighting on the pavement that warns pilots, essentially like a stoplight, to make it so they don’t go rolling across a runway as they are taxiing across one.

    There are even systems that make it so that they can sense, using radar and other technologies, where airplanes are on the ground and not just in the air. Some of these runway incursions are caused simply by airplanes being in the wrong place as they are taxiing and not necessarily in the air.

    I think the system is up to snuff. I think the FAA would say the system is up to snuff. But they’re also using this as a moment to sort of reinspect and have some introspection on the matter and whether or not they could be doing more to make it so that these problems can be avoided.

    WOLF: You already pointed out that commercial aviation in the US is incredibly safe.

    MUNTEAN: The last time there was a fatality was 2018, which was kind of a freak accident, where a person got hit on a Southwest flight by a fan blade that broke up in a jet engine.

    We’re reporting on crashes that don’t happen. These are close calls, sure, but nobody’s been hurt. Nobody’s been killed. So it kind of shows, in a way, how safe the system is.

    WOLF: Is there a spot in the system that is particularly weak? Is it takeoff or landing? What is the thing that makes pilots most nervous?

    MUNTEAN: The common theme is having so many airplanes close together. That’s sort of the inherent flaw of an airport, right? You bring in airplanes and take off and land. You may be using multiple different runways at the same time. There’s a lot of demand in the air traffic right now.

    Every airport is different, right?

    Some airports may have a lot of runways that are parallel and a lot of taxiways that are parallel to one another, like at Dulles the other day, where we went. There are three runways lined up: one left, one center and one right. They’re all headed the same direction to the north. You have to be really careful that you’re lined up with the right one.

    There are a few different things that you can do in the airplane to mitigate that and make sure that you have a safeguard of your own. But I think it really varies by the airport. In some places, there are intersecting runways. There are taxiways that have confusing turns.

    The FAA does granular looks at things like this, where they say something like this taxiway design isn’t all that great, there may be a blind spot here, as you’re taxiing you may approach this at a 45-degree angle or it could be a 90-degree angle where somebody in the cockpit can see more.

    Also when conditions are changing – we saw in the Austin incident the weather was abysmal at that time. It was very low cloud ceilings and very low visibility where the pilots were able to get an indication that there was somebody on the runway, an approaching FedEx flight and a Southwest flight that was still on the runway that hadn’t taken off yet.

    They weren’t necessarily able to see that (Southwest flight), so far as we know, by their eyeball.

    There are a lot of things at play. You can’t just say it’s any one different thing. And remember, these pilots are often going in and out of different places multiple times a day. The responsibility is on everybody.

    WOLF: Do pilots face the same sort of difficult lifestyle we’ve been hearing about for train operators?

    MUNTEAN: There’s a ton of regulation that protects pilots. We see that occasionally getting better. Even flight attendants have gotten longer rest rules recently, where they’re able to rest between trips for a longer period of time.

    There’s always friction between organized labor, work groups and the companies that they work for. A lot of times it comes down to regulators and what they are able to do for workers. Pretty much every major airline right now – their pilot groups, as well as a lot of major flight attendant groups – are going through contract negotiations with their companies.

    Some of the safety and protection, unions would say, comes from a good deal that protects not only their ability to work but also keeps pilots and passengers safe. Organized labor and unions have a lot to say about this, and they want to make sure that they are treated fairly to make it so that these incidents don’t happen.

    I just talked to Dennis Tajer, who’s the representative of the Allied Pilots Association, which represents all the American Airlines pilots, and he said this is something that we’ve kind of been pounding our fists on the podium about, we’ve said for about a year that the air traffic system and the aviation system and the airline system are just under too much pressure, and now you’re seeing the result of that.

    It’s on not only regulators like the FAA, the Department of Transportation but also companies to make sure that these major airlines – which are huge corporations – to make sure that their pilots are safe and doing the job properly with the proper amount of rest, with the proper amount of resources.

    WOLF: Right. It’s in nobody’s interest for there to be an incident.

    MUNTEAN: Everyone says safety is a top priority, of course.

    But depending on your viewpoint, safety can have a lot of different meanings.

    WOLF: It’s always been my sense that air traffic is one of the most, if not the most, government-regulated systems in the country. Unlike other areas where there might be a move toward deregulation, this is something the government controls and is going to continue to control.

    MUNTEAN: It’s super regulated because a lot of the rules are, frankly, written in blood.

    When you talk about this runway incursion issue, the landmark case is the Tenerife accident (in 1977), where KLM and Pan Am 747s that both diverted to Tenerife, an island near Spain, ran into one another and killed a bunch of people. There were some survivors, but it was a classic runway incursion incident.

    One of the airplanes was back taxiing down the runway, as the KLM crew essentially blasted off without regard for where the other airplane was. They couldn’t see it because the weather was poor.

    These regulations are often born out of horrible disasters. And I think the thing to point out here is that we have avoided disaster in these six cases, but in some cases came pretty close. It underscores why things were so regulated and also why the regulators are taking this so seriously.

    WOLF: What are you looking out for?

    MUNTEAN: I would point out these things are still under investigation. And the National Transportation Safety Board has tried to shed a lot of light on this issue. I asked Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the NTSB, why do you think these things are happening more?

    She said, well, it’s possible that these things are happening more. It’s also possible that these things are getting more attention. It doesn’t matter; it’s good that these things are being brought to the spotlight.

    That could ultimately have a huge impact on safety. Aviation is not waiting for another Tenerife. They’re taking these one-off scares and really trying to learn from them.

    WOLF: You sound very passionate about all of this.

    MUNTEAN: I love flying more than anything. The cool part of my job is I get to talk about aviation for a living, and it’s something I’m so passionate about.

    I also instruct and teach people. I just came back from this incredible trip in Kenya where I got to instruct for the Kenya Wildlife Service Airwing, flying with essentially rangers, who are also pilots, with an anti-poaching air force.

    And that was just incredibly cool, but the focus is safety. Maybe I’m a little biased, but aviation is just like something I always geek out on. It’s fun to talk about. …

    I was invited with a group of instructors to go there, and we were in a national park south of Nairobi, called Tsavo West. We flew with 19 different pilots. Three instructors from the States essentially go down and audit their flying ability and safety.

    They’re very, very good pilots. Because they fly at a few hundred feet, guarding against poachers and spotting wildlife, they don’t have a ton of margin for error. We did a lot of brush-up things with them, and they were all very appreciative, and it was a very cool and rewarding experience flying smaller airplanes.

    Those are the type of airplanes that are best suited for that mission, because they can fly low and slow and have a lot of visibility. You can’t do that in a jet.

    It’s sort of like flying into Jurassic Park, because you see elephants all the time, and we saw rhinos and more zebras than I can ever count, and giraffes. But these pilots do a really important job, and (it) was really cool to be a part of it.

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  • Why lithium-ion batteries found in many products keep exploding | CNN Business

    Why lithium-ion batteries found in many products keep exploding | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Lithium-ion batteries, found in many popular consumer products, are under scrutiny again following a massive fire this week in New York City thought to be caused by the battery that powered an electric scooter.

    At least seven people have been injured in a five-alarm fire in the Bronx which required the attention of 200 firefighters. Officials believe the incident stemmed from a lithium-ion battery of a scooter found on the roof of an apartment building. In 2022, the the New York City Fire Department responded to more than 200 e-scooter and e-bike fires, which resulted in six fatalities.

    “In all of these fires, these lithium-ion fires, it is not a slow burn; there’s not a small amount of fire, it literally explodes,” FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh told reporters. “It’s a tremendous volume of fire as soon as it happens, and it’s very difficult to extinguish and so it’s particularly dangerous.”

    A residential fire earlier this week in Carlsbad, California, was suspected to be caused by an e-scooter lithium battery. On Tuesday, an alarming video surfaced of a Canadian homeowner running downstairs to find his electric bike battery exploding into flames. A fire at a multi-family home in Massachusetts last month is also under investigation for similar issues.

    These incidents are becoming more common for a number of reasons. For starters, lithium-ion batteries are now in numerous consumer tech products, powering laptops, cameras, smartphones and more. They allow companies to squeeze hours of battery life into increasingly slim devices. But a combination of manufacturer issues, misuse and aging batteries can heighten the risk from the batteries, which use flammable materials.

    “Lithium batteries are generally safe and unlikely to fail, but only so long as there are no defects and the batteries are not damaged or mistreated,” said Steve Kerber, vice president and executive director of Underwriters Laboratory’s (UL) Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI). “The more batteries that surround us the more incidents we will see.”

    In 2016, Samsung issued a global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 in 2016, citing “battery cell issues” that caused the device to catch fire and at times explode. HP and Sony later recalled lithium computer batteries for fire hazards, and about 500,000 hoverboards were recalled due to a risk of “catching fire and/or exploding,” according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

    In 2020, the Federal Aviation Administration banned uninstalled lithium-ion metal batteries from being checked in luggage and said they must remain with a passenger in their carry-on baggage, if approved by the airline and between 101-160 watt hours. “Smoke and fire incidents involving lithium batteries can be mitigated by the cabin crew and passengers inside the aircraft cabin,” the FAA said.

    Despite the concerns, lithium-ion batteries continue to be prevalent in many of today’s most popular gadgets. Some tech companies point to their abilities to charge faster, last longer and pack more power into a lighter package.

    But not all lithium batteries are the same.

    Dylan Khoo, an analyst at tech intelligence firm ABI Research, said electric bikes and scooters use batteries which can be around 50 times larger than the one in a smartphone. “So when a fire does happen, it’s much more dangerous,” Khoo said.

    All lithium-ion batteries use flammable materials, and incidents such as the one in the Bronx are likely the result of “thermal runaway,” a chain reaction which can lead to a fire or catastrophic explosion, according to Khoo.

    “This process can be triggered by a battery overheating, being punctured, or an electrical fault like a short circuit,” Khoo said. “In cases where fires occur spontaneously while charging, it is likely due to manufacturing defects.”

    According to Kerber, the number of lithium-ion battery-based fires is growing with enormous frequency both in the United States and internationally, particularly when it comes to e-bikes and e-scooters, due to an uptick in purchases of these products during the pandemic.

    “After Covid started, scooter use went dramatically up, especially in places like New York City, for deliveries,” Kerber said. “People started to get overcharged for them and turned to manufacturers which happened to have lower quality control with the battery systems. The quality manufacturers are not having issues.”

    “It will continue to happen until there are regulations around the quality of these devices,” Kerber said.

    Kerber recommends people buy UL-certified electric bikes and scooters from reputable retailers; online marketplaces often make it hard for customers to tell where products are actually coming from. If a fire occurs, he advised people to evacuate and call 911 immediately rather than trying to put it out themselves.

    “The fire spreads incredibly fast and a fire extinguisher is not effective,” he said.

    Beyond scooters and e-bikes, experts warn anyone with a lithium-ion battery should follow proper charging and battery usage guidelines. According to researchers at the University of Michigan, any device with this kind of battery should be charged and stored in a cool, dry place, and not left charging for too long or while you’re asleep – a recommendation likely at odds with how many consumers handle their devices.

    “Elevated temperatures can accelerate degradation of almost every battery component and can lead to significant safety risks, including fire or explosion,” the researchers said. “If a laptop or cellphone is noticeably hot while it’s charging, unplug it. Minimize exposure to low temperatures, especially when charging.”

    Batteries should also be routinely inspected to make sure there is no cracking, bulging or leaking, and people should always use the charger that came with the device or use one from a reputable supplier. When charging an electric scooter or bike, Kerber said it should never block a fire escape or exit route.

    Although some battery chemistries are safer than others, we are still a few years away from adoption of a better, safer lithium-ion alternative, according to Sridhar Srinivasan, a senior director at market research firm Gartner.

    For example, LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries don’t overheat as much as other types of lithium-ion batteries. Future battery technologies in development, such as sodium-ion or solid state batteries, are also expected to address some of the safety issues of lithium ion.

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  • Marine injured in Kabul airport bombing recounts ‘catastrophic’ US withdrawal from Afghanistan at House hearing | CNN Politics

    Marine injured in Kabul airport bombing recounts ‘catastrophic’ US withdrawal from Afghanistan at House hearing | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    US Marine Corps Sergeant Tyler Vargas-Andrews can remember in specific detail the moment that a suicide bomber attacked Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate in August 2021 amid the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

    “A flash and a massive wave of pressure. I’m thrown 4 feet onto the ground but instantly knew what had happened. I opened my eyes to Marines dead or unconscious lying around me. A crowd of hundreds immediately vanished in front of me. And my body was catastrophically wounded with 100 to 150 ball bearings now in it,” he recalled.

    Vargas-Andrews, 25, offered emotional and detailed testimony of the days leading up to the bombing, which took the lives of 13 US service members and more than 100 Afghans, as part of a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the evacuation from Afghanistan.

    The Biden administration’s frenzied withdrawal after two decades of US involvement in the war has come under immense scrutiny by Republican lawmakers, including the new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, who has vowed to investigate the matter.

    However, those accusations in Congress about who is responsible for the chaotic final weeks of the United States’ presence in Afghanistan have fallen largely along party lines, with Republican lawmakers pointing fingers at the Biden administration and Democratic lawmakers casting blame on the Trump administration for the deal that set the US withdrawal into motion.

    In a statement to CNN Wednesday, White House spokesperson for oversight Ian Sams also pointed to the deal President Joe Biden “inherited” from Trump and said the last administration “failed to establish an evacuation plan and slowed down processing of special visas for our Afghan allies.”

    “Instead of returning the U.S. to active combat with the Taliban and putting even more of our troops’ lives at risk, President Biden made the tough decision to finally end the 20-year war in Afghanistan, bring our troops home, and safely evacuate tens upon tens of thousands of Americans and Afghan allies,” Sams said. He added that the withdrawal put “the U.S. in a stronger position to lead the world and address the challenges of the future, while continuing to welcome our Afghan allies and maintaining our ability to deal with terrorist threats in the region.”

    Wednesday’s hearing featured the testimonies of two service members who were on the ground in Afghanistan during those final weeks: Vargas-Andrews and US Army Specialist Aidan Gunderson. In addition, three people involved with groups who worked to evacuate Afghans – Francis Hoang from Allied Airlift 21, retired Lt. Col. David Scott Mann from Task Force Pineapple and Peter Lucier from Team America Relief – and immigration lawyer Camille Mackler, who worked to try to get the administration to begin relocating vulnerable Afghans well before the fall of Kabul, all served as witnesses.

    Vargas-Andrews described the withdrawal as a “catastrophe,” telling lawmakers that “there was an inexcusable lack of accountability and negligence.” He painted a picture of days of chaos and violence toward Afghans who were trying to flee the Taliban, described the US State Department as “not prepared to be at” the Kabul airport, claimed that threat warnings were disregarded by higher command on the day of the attack.

    Vargas-Andrews described the horrific scenes he witnessed from his post at Abbey Gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), telling lawmakers that “Afghans were brutalized and tortured by the Taliban.”

    “Some Afghans turned away from HKIA tried to kill themselves on the razor wire in front of us that we used as a deterrent,” he said. “Countless Afghans were murdered by the Taliban 155 yards in front of our position day and night.”

    “We communicated the atrocities to our chain of command and intel assets but nothing came of it,” he said.

    Vargas-Andrews said on the day of the August 26 suicide attack, he spotted a man in the crowd who fit the description of “a suicide bomber in the vicinity of and nearing Abbey Gate.”

    “Over the communication network we passed that there was a potential threat and an IED attack imminent. This was as serious as it could get,” he said, noting that he asked for permission to shoot, but “our battalion commander said, and I quote, ‘I don’t know,’ end quote.”

    “Myself and my team leader asked very harshly, ‘Well, who does? Because this is your responsibility, sir.’ He again replied he did not know but would find out. We received no update and never got our answer. Eventually the individual disappeared. To this day, we believe he was a suicide bomber,” he said.

    “Plain and simple, we were ignored. Our expertise was disregarded. No one was held accountable for our safety,” he said.

    Beyond the suicide attack, witnesses spoke about the mental health toll that the botched evacuation has had on US veterans of the war in Afghanistan.

    Mann, the retired lieutenant colonel, said he had a friend who took his own life, whose wife said “that the Afghan abandonment reactivated all the demons that he had managed to put behind him from hard time and Afghanistan together.”

    “And he just couldn’t find his way out of the darkness of that moral injury,” he said.

    They also spoke broadly about their work to try to aid the Afghans who worked alongside US troops during the war, the “majority” of whom were left behind in the evacuation, and the need to continue to work to help them.

    “I and thousands of others received frantic pleas for help from our Afghan allies whose lives were in peril,” said Hoang from Allied Airlift 21. “Thousands of us guided tired and scared Afghan families through crowds and Taliban checkpoints. The weight of this work was crushing. We left jobs, drained savings, reopened old wounds.”

    “We looked in horror as our screens filled with images of violence and desperation outside the gates of Kabul airport. We wept as we listened to messages left by children pleading for our help. Nine times out of 10 our efforts failed. But every success was a family saved, a promise kept,” he said.

    “It is our turn to summon the courage to fill our commitment to the Afghan allies still left behind,” Hoang said.

    Mackler, the immigration lawyer, told lawmakers that “what happened in August of 2021 was the product of decades long of inaction and systemic failures that we can no longer ignore.”

    “To ensure that the actions we heard today were not in vain, we must use this moment to create and implement better solutions,” she said, and called on Congress to take steps like passing the Afghan Adjustment Act.

    “After all, as we’ve been told, those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it. We saw that in Afghanistan. We tried to learn the lessons from Vietnam and we were ignored, and we cannot allow a future generation to go through this as well,” Mackler said.

    This story has been updated with additional information.

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  • Man arrested after allegedly trying to open emergency door on plane and stabbing flight attendant | CNN

    Man arrested after allegedly trying to open emergency door on plane and stabbing flight attendant | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A Massachusetts man was arrested for allegedly stabbing a flight attendant in the neck with a broken metal spoon three times during a flight from Los Angeles to Boston on Monday, after attempting to open an emergency exit door, according to the Justice Department.

    Francisco Severo Torres, 33, faces one charge of interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon. Torres was arrested at Boston Logan International Airport Monday and will remain detained pending a hearing set for Thursday.

    During a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Boston, the flight crew saw an alarm that a door in the plane had been disarmed and, after inspection, a flight attendant saw the door’s locking handle had been pushed out of the fully locked position and an emergency slide arming lever had been disarmed, according to the Justice Department.

    A flight attendant who saw Torres near the door went to talk to Torres about the door, according to the department, who asked if there were cameras showing he had tampered with the door.

    “According to court documents, the flight attendant then notified the captain that they believed Torres posed a threat to the aircraft and that the captain needed to land the aircraft as soon as possible,” the Justice Department said.

    Soon after, Torres allegedly got out of his seat, mouthing something, before thrusting “towards one of the flight attendants in a stabbing motion with a broken metal spoon, hitting the flight attendant on the neck area three times,” the Justice Department said.

    Torres was then tackled by other passengers on the flight and was immediately taken into custody after the flight landed.

    United Airlines says it has banned Torres from flying on future flights following this incident.

    “Thanks to the quick action of our crew and customers, one customer was restrained after becoming a security concern on United flight 2609 from Los Angeles to Boston,” United said in a statement.

    United says the flight was able to land safely and without any reported injuries.

    “We have zero tolerance for any type of violence on our flights, and this customer will be banned from flying on United pending an investigation. We are cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation,” the statement says.

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  • All flights grounded at airport near Penn State University over suspicious device, 100 passengers bused to campus | CNN

    All flights grounded at airport near Penn State University over suspicious device, 100 passengers bused to campus | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    All flights were grounded at University Park Airport in Pennsylvania Friday as authorities investigated a suspicious device in a checked bag, forcing about 100 passengers to be bused out of the area and the airport to close until Saturday, officials said.

    The airport in State College, located less than five miles from the Penn State University campus, was closed to air traffic and passengers while an explosives device team and local police examined the contents of the bag, which was checked on a flight en route to Chicago, Penn State University Police and Public Safety said in a statement.

    The “suspicious” contents were later determined to not be an explosive device, Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Marie Powers told CNN late Friday.

    The item had been detected by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at the airport, according to TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein. Local police officers and FBI officials were also on site, she said.

    “The immediate area was evacuated and a perimeter established,” Farbstein said in a statement, adding bomb technicians would be looking at the bag and its contents.

    The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop for the airport “due to security.” The airport will reopen early Saturday morning, police said.

    The airport closure took place as Penn State students were gearing up for their Spring Break travel plans next week. Buses from the university came to the airport to transport about 100 passengers to the campus, where they were offered shelter and given food, according to police.

    The University Park Airport calls itself “a home town airport with a world of destinations,” according to its Facebook page. It says four airlines – Allegiant, Delta, United, and American airlines – offer regularly scheduled flights to and from major hub cities including Detroit, Philadelphia and Washington/Dulles.

    Earlier in the day, the general passenger terminal at the airport was evacuated “out of an abundance of caution,” police said. There were no incoming or outgoing flights scheduled when the evacuation took place.

    The investigation at the airport comes just days after federal agents arrested a Pennsylvania man after he allegedly tried to bring explosives in his suitcase on a flight from Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown to Florida.

    Marc Muffley, 40, faces two charges, according to a federal complaint, including possession of an explosive in an airport and possessing or attempting to place an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft.

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  • Lufthansa flight diverts to Virginia after ‘significant turbulence,’ and 7 people are transported to hospitals | CNN

    Lufthansa flight diverts to Virginia after ‘significant turbulence,’ and 7 people are transported to hospitals | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A Lufthansa flight traveling from Texas to Germany was diverted to Virginia’s Washington Dulles International Airport on Wednesday evening because of turbulence that left some passengers injured, an airport spokesperson said.

    Lufthansa Flight 469, which took off from Austin, experienced “significant turbulence” and landed safely at Dulles, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority spokesperson Michael Cabbage said.

    Seven people were transported to hospitals, Cabbage said.

    Brief but severe turbulence happened about 90 minutes after takeoff and resulted in minor injuries to some passengers, a statement given to CNN by a Lufthansa spokesperson reads.

    “This was so-called clear air turbulence, which can occur without visible weather phenomena or advance warning,” the statement reads.

    “The affected passengers were given initial care on board by the flight attendants trained for such cases. As the safety and well-being of passengers and crew members is the top priority at all times, the cockpit crew decided to make an alternate landing to (Dulles airport) after flying through the turbulence.”

    The crew of the Airbus A330 reported reported encountering the turbulence at an altitude of 37,000 feet over Tennessee, the Federal Aviation Administration told CNN.

    The flight landed at Dulles airport around 9:10 p.m., FAA spokesperson Ian Gregor said.

    The FAA will investigate the incident, Gregor said.

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