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WASHINGTON: Elon Musk’s SpaceX is looking to deploy Starlink satellite Internet terminals to speed up the information technology networks that support the US Federal Aviation Administration’s national airspace system, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.
BEIJING: Flash floods in eastern China’s Shandong province killed two people and left 10 missing on Tuesday, state media said.
Up to 364 millimeters (14 inches) of rain lashed parts of the provincial capital Jinan between midnight and 5 am, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The downpours triggered flash floods in two villages in the town of Dawangzhuang, “destroying or damaging” 19 homes, CCTV said.
“At present, all-out efforts are being made to search for and recover the missing persons,” the broadcaster said.
It added that authorities would “carry out post-disaster rescue and follow-up work in an orderly manner.”
Natural disasters are common in China, particularly in summer when some regions experience heavy rainfall while others bake in searing heat waves.
China is the world’s biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists generally agree cause climate change and make extreme weather more frequent and intense.
But it is also a global renewable energy powerhouse that aims to make its massive economy carbon-neutral by 2060.
Six people were killed and more than 80,000 evacuated due to floods in southern Guizhou province in June, according to state media.
A landslide on a highway in Sichuan province this month also killed five people after it swept several cars down a mountainside.
KYIV: Ukraine’s new prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, said she will probably seek more financing from the International Monetary Fund, and will speak with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about new funding, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.
“If the baseline scenario assumes the war will continue into next year, it is very likely we will have a new IMF program,” Svyrydenko told Bloomberg News in an interview.
$120 billion for defense
Ukraine will need at least $120 billion for defense spending next year, Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Tuesday.
Negotiations are ongoing with NATO and EU members as Ukraine seeks $60 billion in funding from partners, he added in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
KHAPLU, Pakistan: A landslide triggered by torrential monsoon rains swept away cars on a mountainous highway in northern Pakistan, killing at least three people, with more cars buried under the debris, officials said Tuesday.
Flashfloods, collapsed buildings and electrocutions have killed more than 180 people since monsoon season arrived in late June.
More than eight vehicles were swept away on Monday when heavy rains triggered a landslide on a highway in Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan, Abdul Hameed, a senior police officer in the area, said.
“Three dead bodies have been recovered and more than 15 are still missing,” Abdul Hameed, the district police officer for Diamer district, said.
He said at least 10 vehicles were buried under the debris.
“The rescue operation has been launched again at 6:00 am today,” he added.
Faizullah Faraq, spokesperson of the Gilgit-Baltistan government, confirmed the death toll to AFP.
Floods in the area on Monday have damaged 50 houses, four bridges, a hotel, a school and blocked major highways and damaged communication signals.
“Hundreds of trapped tourists have since been brought to safety; government teams cleared debris and escorted them off the mountain road, while local villagers provided emergency shelter and assistance,” Faraq added.
The region is a popular tourist destination, marked by towering mountains, deep valleys and wide rivers.
Monsoon season brings South Asia 70 to 80 percent of its annual rainfall, and runs from June until September in India and Pakistan.
The annual rains are vital for agriculture and food security, and the livelihoods of millions of farmers, but also bring destruction.
In late June, at least 13 tourists were swept to their deaths while sheltering from flash floods on a raised riverbank.
In 2022, monsoon floods submerged a third of the country and killed 1,700 people.
SEOUL: The families of victims of South Korea’s deadliest plane crash on home soil have denounced a government report which blamed the disaster on pilot error, a representative said Tuesday.
The Boeing 737-800 was flying from Thailand to South Korea’s southwest on December 29 last year but ended up belly-landing at Muan airport and exploding in a fireball after slamming into a concrete barrier, killing 179 people.
South Korea’s land ministry said it had planned to release the partial findings of the investigation into the crash at the weekend but called off a briefing and withheld the report after the families objected, claiming it could be misleading.
The report said a bird strike damaged the plane’s right engine but the pilot then mistakenly shut down the left engine instead, a representative for the families, who saw the report, said.
The error resulted in a total power loss and a failure of the landing gear system, they said.
The pilot said: “Let’s shut down engine number 2 (the right engine),” but the flight data recorder showed that actually it was the left engine that was shut down, according to the report.
“No one has directly seen or heard the cockpit voice recorder or the flight data recorder,” Kim Youn-mi, a representative of the victims’ families, said.
“We weren’t given any proper explanation about those things. We need to hear that to know. We have the right,” she added.
The Jeju Air pilots’ union also criticized the report, saying it was “strongly angered” by the findings and would “firmly reject the malicious attempt to shift blame onto the pilot.”
The findings were part of an ongoing probe by South Korean and US investigators, who are still investigating the cause of the disaster.
A bird strike – feathers and bloodstains were found in both engines – a faulty landing gear and the runway barrier are among the possible issues.
The final report is planned to be released in June next year.
