British Navy's F-35 still stuck in Kerala, CISF posts man to guard it

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The British Royal Navy F-35 fighter jet that made an emergency landing Saturday night remains stranded at Thiruvananthapuram airport. A snag in the hydraulic system of the aircraft is delaying its departure.
The fighter jet is from the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, sailing around 100 nautical miles off the Kerala coast. Technicians arrived by a British Navy MJS-101 helicopter from the aircraft carrier the same night.
Sources said the fighter jet, which was ready to leave Tuesday after repairs, was further delayed. The aircraft was attended to by Royal Navy personnel in past two days. Soon after the emergency landing, the pilot was moved to apron control at the airside.
"As he was the only personnel with the aircraft, he wanted to stay within sight of it. He was assigned a seat at the apron control, positioned in a way that allowed him to keep watch on the aircraft until other personnel landed in a helicopter from the aircraft carrier," an official said.
Airport officials arranged food and accommodation for them. CISF has posted an armed guard near the plane.

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Ahmedabad plane crash: DNA confirms identities of 247 of those killed

The identities of 247 persons who died in the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12 have been confirmed through DNA testing so far, The Hindu reported on Saturday. Among those identified, 238 persons were on board the aircraft, including 175 Indians, 52 British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian, The Indian Express reported. The bodies of 232 persons have also been handed over to their families till now, Civil Hospital Superintendent Dr Rakesh Joshi told The Hindu. The families of eight victims have been asked to provide a sample of another relative for DNA testing after the initial tests did not yield a match, the newspaper quoted Dr Joshi as saying. On June 12, Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, which was en route to London's Gatwick airport from Ahmedabad, crashed just 33 seconds after taking off. This is being viewed as the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. There were 242 people aboard the aircraft. One passenger survived with ' impact injuries '. Thirty-four persons were also killed on the ground after the plane crashed into the hostel building of the BJ Medical College and Hospital in Ahmedabad, according to Air India.

Time of India

3 hours ago

• Time of India

Patna airport faces safety risks amid urban sprawl & natural obstacles

1 2 Patna: The tragic plane crash in Ahmedabad has rekindled long-standing fears over the precarious nature of operations at Patna's Jayprakash Narayan International Airport, a facility so tightly hemmed in by urban sprawl and natural constraints that even seasoned pilots concede it offers almost no margin for error. Tucked between the lush, wildlife-rich Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park (better known as Patna zoo) to the east and the railway corridor of Phulwarisharif to the west, the airport is, by all accounts, flying on the edge. Its geographical squeeze is more than a cartographic inconvenience – it is a hazard. Short runways, tall trees, electric cables, a looming British-era clock tower and erratic light sources such as DJ laser beams during weddings all conspire to make every landing and take-off a potential challenge. "The airport is surrounded by thick settlement, making it one of the most challenging for take-offs and landings," an aviation official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The short runway only adds to the difficulty," he added. Despite being operationally critical for Bihar, the airport continues to run on borrowed time. Runway expansion has long been discussed, but actual action remains elusive. In the wake of the June 12 AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad, which sent shockwaves across the country, officials from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the district administration inspected Patna airport to examine possibilities for runway extension. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 오스템 임플란트 받아가세요 임플란터 더 알아보기 Undo A proposal has been drawn up yet again, but those on the ground remain sceptical. "We have heard promises before," said an airport official. "But the challenges we face demand more than paperwork and inspections," he added. Standing at 49.5 metres tall, the iconic clock tower near the Old Secretariat, built in 1917, poses a major hurdle for approaching aircraft. "It eats into our usable runway length," said Krishna Mohan Nehra, Patna's airport director. While the runway officially stretches 2,072 metres, pilots are forced to work with only 1,938 metres from the east and just 1,677 metres from the west due to the tower's presence. Nehra said the tower disrupts the standard three-degree landing approach, forcing aircraft to descend at steeper angles of up to 3.5 degrees which is risky, especially in poor weather. The Airport Environment Management Committee (AEMC), chaired by divisional commissioner Chandrashekhar Singh, has recommended reducing the tower's height by 17.5 metres. The proposal now awaits cabinet secretariat approval. "Pilots often have to go around again due to incorrect approach angles caused by the tower," an official added. Patna's airstrip is nearly 750 feet shorter than the 2,300 metres recommended by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for safe operation of commercial jets like the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737. In fact, Patna was one of four airports flagged in 2010 by the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council (CASAC) for critical safety limitations. The latest expansion proposal includes acquiring 37 acres to the east – 15 acres of which belong to the Patna zoo – and 200 metres of land towards the west, near the railway line in Phulwarisharif. District officials are eyeing sites near the Patna Golf Club to compensate the zoo for any lost land. Rajender Singh Lahauria, former airport director, supports the relocation of the zoo altogether. "The zoo director back then felt the airport operations were affecting animal breeding. Shifting the zoo and govt bungalows would make runway extension viable," he said. However, Lahauria cautioned that western expansion won't benefit landing distances due to the railway traction lines but could help with take-offs. "The real game-changer would be reducing the clock tower's height, but historically the AAI hasn't received a positive response from the state," he added. Lahauria said in 2016, a proposal was sent at his time to reduce the clock tower height by 11.5-m and land acquisition for runway extension, but nothing was done. Arvind Kumar Singh, secretary of Patna Golf Club, said they have a lease of 102.8acres of land out of which 20acres is "encroached" by zoo. "The club does not in any way interfere with flight safety funnel. Golf Club has been declared as a green belt with multiple heritage trees of over 70/80 years old. The Golf Club has given national level golfers creating a good image of emerging Bihar. We have plans to further upgrade the facility but if they take another 15-acre land, then how can we do it?" he asked. According to AAI officials, even the western extension is fraught with problems. "We can only extend by 120 metres towards Phulwarisharif. But even that will be largely unusable. There must be at least 150 metres between the runway's centreline and the railway track. Currently, we only have 70 metres and an extension would reduce it to just 39," one official said. High-tension wires along the railway line further complicate the possibility of creating a slope. Efforts to move the railway line underground were ruled out after a RITES feasibility study. "There is simply no scope westward," the official said. The eastern approach is equally complex. "When pilots land from the east, the first thing they see are tree canopies, not the runway," another official said. "Beyond the zoo, new multi-storey buildings could emerge as future obstructions. We have only surveyed within our jurisdiction, but even now, we can't use the full 2,072 metres," he added. Tree growth at the zoo poses a persistent safety threat. Regular pruning, officials say, is either delayed or ignored. At a recent AEMC meeting, the airport director stressed the urgency of compliance with the Obstacle Limitation Survey under the Aircraft Act, 1934. The forest department has been instructed to take immediate action. "Tree growth is natural, and so should be its management," said Arvind Dubey, former director of the airport. "We need the state's cooperation to ensure aircraft safety. Passenger facilities have improved, but operational safety must follow," he added. Another growing concern is the menace of laser lights from wedding venues. On April 17 this year, an IndiGo flight (6E-653) from Pune was temporarily blinded by a DJ laser beam during its approach to Patna. While the pilot managed a safe landing, the potential consequences could have been catastrophic. Following the incident, authorities banned laser lights in the airport vicinity, requiring prior police clearance for DJs and sound systems at public events. Yet enforcement remains patchy. "Laser distractions during peak wedding season can be fatal," airport officials said. Though bird-hit incidents have decreased due to tighter controls on open meat and fish shops in Phulwarisharif, danger still looms large, thanks to the nearby garbage transfer station at Gardanibagh. Only 800 metres from the airport, the site attracts birds and poses a serious threat. Divisional commissioner Singh said that a new dumping site is being constructed at Yarpur and is expected to be operational by Aug 15. "Proper waste disposal near the airport is crucial for safety," he said. This year, Patna airport has already reported seven bird-hit incidents, three of which occurred in May alone. The Ahmedabad crash also revived haunting memories of Patna's own aviation tragedy. On July 17, 2000, Alliance Air flight 7412 ploughed through a residential colony in Gardanibagh, killing over 60 people. Naveen Singh, a local, still remembers it vividly. "I was at the airport when it happened. I rushed to the site. It's an image I can't erase," he said. Akhilesh Choudhary, a 62-year-old resident of Gardanibagh, said, "The sound of aircraft engines still fills us with dread. After Ahmedabad, those old fears have returned. The authorities must take action for us and for the pilots." Ultimately, many aviation experts believe that only a greenfield airport can address Patna's aviation challenges comprehensively. "We are working within impossible constraints," said an AAI official. "The land is limited, the obstructions are permanent and the risks are real," he added.

First Post

3 hours ago

• First Post

Americans swear more frequently than Australians & Brits online. Here's why

A new study has revealed that Americans tend to swear more online than Brits and Australians. The researchers, who analysed more than 1.7 billion words of online language across 20 English-speaking regions, argued that the 'individualistic culture' in the US is one of the main reasons why Americans tend to swear more read more Martin Schweinberger, The University of Queensland and Kate Burridge, Monash University Our brains swear for good reasons: to vent, cope, boost our grit and feel closer to those around us. Swear words can act as social glue and play meaningful roles in how people communicate, connect and express themselves – both in person, and online. In our new research published in Lingua, we analysed more than 1.7 billion words of online language across 20 English-speaking regions. We identified 597 different swear word forms – from standard words, to creative spellings like '4rseholes', to acronyms like 'wtf'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The findings challenge a familiar stereotype. Australians – often thought of as prolific swearers – are actually outdone by Americans and Brits, both in how often they swear, and in how many users swear online. How much does the world swear? Our study focused on publicly available web data (such as news articles, organisational websites, government or institutional publications, and blogs – but excluding social media and private messaging). We found vulgar words made up 0.036 per cent of all words in the dataset from the United States, followed by 0.025 per cent in the British data and 0.022 per cent in the Australian data. Although vulgar language is relatively rare in terms of overall word frequency, it was used by a significant number of individuals. Between 12 per cent and 13.3 per cent of Americans, around 10 per cent of Brits, and 9.4 per cent of Australians used at least one vulgar word in their data. Overall, the most frequent vulgar word was 'f**k' – with all its variants, it amounted to a stunning 201 different forms. We focused on online language that didn't include social media, because large-scale comparisons need robust, purpose-built datasets. In our case, we used the Global Web-Based English (GloWbE) corpus, which was specifically designed to compare how English is used across different regions online. So how much were our findings influenced by the online data we used? STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Telling results come from research happening at the same time as ours. One study analysed the use of 'f**k' in social networks on X, examining how network size and strength influence swearing in the UK, US and Australia. It used data from 5,660 networks with more than 435,000 users and 7.8 billion words and found what we did. Americans use 'f**k' most frequently, while Australians use it the least, but with the most creative spelling variations (some comfort for anyone feeling let down by our online swearing stats). How swearing varies across cultures Americans hold relatively conservative attitudes toward public morality, and their high swearing rates are surprising. The cultural contradiction may reflect the country's strong individualistic culture. Americans often value personal expression – especially in private or anonymous settings like the internet. Meanwhile, public displays of swearing are often frowned upon in the US. This is partly due to the lingering influence of religious norms, which frame swearing – particularly religious-based profanity – as a violation of moral decency. Significantly, the only religious-based swear word in our dataset, 'damn', was used most frequently by Americans. Research suggests swearing is more acceptable in Australian public discourse. Certainly, Australia's public airing of swear words often takes visitors by surprise. The long-running road safety slogan 'If you drink, then drive, you're a bloody idiot' is striking – such language is rare in official messaging elsewhere. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Americans often value personal expression – especially in private or anonymous settings like the internet. Meanwhile, public displays of swearing are often frowned upon in the US. Image for Representation. Reuters Australians may be comfortable swearing in person, but our findings indicate they dial it back online – surprising for a nation so fond of its vernacular. In terms of preferences for specific forms of vulgarity, Americans showed a strong preference for variations of 'a**(hole)', the Irish favoured 'feck', the British preferred 'c**t', and Pakistanis leaned toward 'b***(hole)'. The only statistically significant aversion we found was among Americans, who tended to avoid the word 'bloody' (folk wisdom claims the word is blasphemous). Who swears the most? People from countries where English is the dominant language – such as the US, Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland – tend to swear more frequently and with more lexical variety than people in regions where English is less dominant like India, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Ghana or the Philippines. This pattern holds for both frequency and creativity in swearing. But Singapore ranked fourth in terms of frequency of swearing in our study, just behind Australia and ahead of New Zealand, Ireland and Canada. English in Singapore is increasingly seen not as a second language, but as a native language, and as a tool for identity, belonging and creativity. Young Singaporeans use social swearing to push back against authority, especially given the government's strict rules on public language. People from countries where English is the dominant language tend to swear more frequently and with more lexical variety than people in regions where English is less dominant. Image for Representation. Pixabay One possible reason we saw less swearing among non-native English speakers is that it is rarely taught. Despite its frequency and social utility, swearing – alongside humour and informal speech – is often left out of language education. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Why swearing sticks Cultural, social and technological shifts are reshaping linguistic norms, blurring the already blurry lines between informal and formal, private and public language. Just consider the Aussie contributions to the July Oxford English Dictionary updates: expressions like 'to strain the potatoes' (to urinate), 'no wuckers' and 'no wucking furries' (from 'no f**ing worries'). Swearing and vulgarity aren't just crass or abusive. While they can be used harmfully, research consistently shows they serve important communicative functions – colourful language builds rapport, expresses humour and emotion, signals solidarity and eases tension. It's clear that swearing isn't just a bad habit that can be easily kicked, like nail-biting or smoking indoors. Besides, history shows that telling people not to swear is one of the best ways to keep swearing alive and well. Martin Schweinberger, Lecturer in Applied Linguistics, The University of Queensland and Kate Burridge, Professor of Linguistics, Monash University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.