PARIS: Test flights of so-called flying taxis — futuristic drones capable of transporting people — have been scrapped in Paris during the Olympics as the certification for the engine has not come through, its promoters said on Thursday.
German manufacturer Volocopter has been conducting test flights in the Paris region for several years and had lobbied hard for authorization from European authorities in time for the Olympics.
The company has partnered with French airport operator ADP, the capital’s metro and bus operator RATP, and the Paris regional government.
Certification for VoloCity, the engine conceived and made by Volocopter, had been delayed by a few weeks over its motors, ADP deputy CEO Edward Arkwright said.
“We are a little disappointed, but in any case we had said that we would not make any compromises with security,” he added.
Volocopter CEO Dirk Hoke said the delay was due to “an American supplier who was not capable of providing what he had promised.”
He said the motors would be sent back to France next week but not in time for the test flights to be held in Paris before the Olympics close.
Initially, test flights had been due to take place during the Games, landing on a float on the Seine near the Austerlitz railway station in southeastern Paris.
The promoters had hoped to use the global draw of the Olympics to show that the technology could efficiently link “vertiport” take-off and landing sites.
However test flights without passengers will be held in the aerodrome of the suburban town of Saint Cyr l’Ecole, west of Paris, on Thursday and Sunday, they said.
The town is close to the Chateau de Versailles where Olympic equestrian events are being held.
Backers tout flying taxis as a low-carbon form of aviation and hope future larger versions could be used as ambulances or in other roles.
However, many city officials in Paris have derided the plans as harmful to the environment.
Paris ‘flying taxi’ test flights scrapped during Olympics
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Paris ‘flying taxi’ test flights scrapped during Olympics
- German manufacturer Volocopter has been conducting test flights in the Paris region for several years
- Certification for VoloCity, the engine conceived and made by Volocopter, had been delayed by a few weeks over its motors
Portugal battles wildfires as death toll climbs to four
Authorities have closed several motorways, including a stretch of the main highway linking Lisbon and Porto
NELAS, Portugal: Four people have died so far in wildfires raging in central and northern Portugal and over 40 have been injured, state news agency Lusa reported on Tuesday, as authorities evacuated more villages overnight.
The civil protection authority accounted for three deaths as of Monday night and would not comment on Lusa’s report.
More than 1,000 firefighters worked through the night to control a cluster of four blazes in the northwestern Aveiro district.
Reuters footage showed local residents pouring buckets of water on advancing flames near the town of Nelas about 50 km (31 miles) east of Aveiro.
There were 48 active wildfires in mainland Portugal mobilizing around 5,000 firefighters.
In Aveiro alone, the blazes have burned through more than 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) of forest and scrubland in the past two days, officials said, roughly the same acreage that was consumed by fires through the end of August in the entire country.
National emergency and civil protection commander Andre Fernandes said late on Monday the Aveiro fires could engulf a further 20,000 hectares.
Authorities have closed several motorways, including a stretch of the main highway linking Lisbon and Porto, and suspended train connections on two railroad lines in northern Portugal.
Portugal and neighboring Spain have recorded fewer fires than usual after a rainy start to the year, but both remain vulnerable to the increasingly hot and dry conditions that scientists have blamed on global warming.
Temperatures topped 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) across the country over the weekend, when the fires first broke out and were fanned by strong winds. The meteorology agency IPMA forecasts they would stay above 30 C (86 F) for the next two days, amid extremely low humidity.
The danger of fires will remain ‘high, very high or maximum’ in the northern and central regions, it said.
“We need to be realistic. We will have difficult hours in the coming days and we have to get ready for it,” Prime Minister Luis Montenegro told reporters on Monday night.
The government on Monday requested help from the European Commission under the EU civil protection mechanism, leading Spain, Italy and Greece to send two water-bombing aircraft each.
India condemns Iran supreme leader’s comments on treatment of minorities
- India and Iran have typically shared a strong and close relationship
- India signed contract in May to develop, operate Iran’s Chabahar port
NEW DELHI: India has condemned comments made by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the treatment of Muslims in the South Asian nation, calling his remarks “misinformed and unacceptable.”
“We cannot consider ourselves to be Muslims if we are oblivious to the suffering that a Muslim is enduring in Myanmar, Gaza, India, or any other place,” Khamenei said in a social media post on Monday.
In response, India’s foreign ministry said it “strongly deplored” the comments.
“Countries commenting on minorities are advised to look at their own record before making any observations about others,” the foreign ministry spokesperson said.
The two countries have typically shared a strong relationship, and signed a 10-year contract in May to develop and operate the Iranian port of Chabahar.
India has been developing the port in Chabahar on Iran’s south-eastern coast along the Gulf of Oman as a way to transport goods to Iran, Afghanistan and central Asian countries, bypassing the ports of Karachi and Gwadar in its rival Pakistan.
Khamenei, however, has been critical of India in the past over issues involving Indian Muslims and the troubled Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.
Zimbabwe to cull 200 elephants to feed people left hungry by drought
- The El Nino-induced drought wiped out crops in southern Africa, impacting 68 million people and causing food shortages across the region
HARARE: Zimbabwe plans to cull 200 elephants to feed communities facing acute hunger after the worst drought in four decades, wildlife authorities said on Tuesday.
The El Nino-induced drought wiped out crops in southern Africa, impacting 68 million people and causing food shortages across the region.
“We can confirm that we are planning to cull about 200 elephants across the country. We are working on modalities on how we are going to do it,” Tinashe Farawo, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (Zimparks) spokesperson, told Reuters.
He said the elephant meat would be distributed to communities in Zimbabwe affected by the drought.
The cull, the first in the country since 1988, will take place in Hwange, Mbire, Tsholotsho and Chiredzi districts. It follows neighboring Namibia’s decision last month to cull 83 elephants and distribute meat to people impacted by the drought.
More than 200,000 elephants are estimated to live in a conservation area spread over five southern African countries — Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Angola and Namibia — making the region home to one of the largest elephant populations worldwide.
Farawo said the culling is also part of the country’s efforts to decongest its parks, which can only sustain 55,000 elephants. Zimbabwe is home to over 84,000 elephants.
“It’s an effort to decongest the parks in the face of drought. The numbers are just a drop in the ocean because we are talking of 200 (elephants) and we are sitting on plus 84,000, which is big,” he said.
With such a severe drought, human-wildlife conflicts can escalate as resources become scarcer. Last year Zimbabwe lost 50 people to elephant attacks.
The country, which is lauded for its conservation efforts and growing its elephant population, has been lobbying the UN’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to reopen trade of ivory and live elephants.
With one of the largest elephant populations, Zimbabwe has about $600,000 worth of ivory stockpiles which it cannot sell.
A military training camp in Mali’s capital has been attacked, the army says
BAMAKO, Mali: A military training camp in Mali’s capital was attacked early Tuesday, the army said.
Col. Marima Sagara, deputy director of the army’s communications service, said it received reports of an attack on the gendarme training school in Bamako but had no further information. An Associated Press reporter heard two explosions and saw smoke rise in the distance. The training school is located on the outskirts of the city.
It was unclear who the attackers were, how many there were and whether the situation was under control.
Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups, including some allied with Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russian mercenary units for security assistance instead.
Attacks in central and northern Mali are increasing. In July, approximately 50 Russian mercenaries in a convoy were killed in an Al-Qaeda ambush.
The mercenaries had been fighting mostly Tuareg rebels alongside Mali’s army when their convoy was forced to retreat into jihadi territory and ambushed south of the commune of Tinzaouaten.
Days of tribal violence in Papua New Guinea leave more than 35 people dead, police say
MELBOURNE, Australia: Days of tribal violence in Papua New Guinea’s mountainous interior have left more than 35 people dead, a police official said on Tuesday.
Police Assistant Commissioner Joseph Tondon in Enga province said the death toll from the violence blamed on illegal miners was still being assessed.
“There was a fierce battle on Sunday. It’s estimated 35-plus men were killed in action,” Tondon told The Associated Press.
“I’m putting all the figures together. There were some innocent bystanders also murdered,” he added.
A United Nations’ humanitarian adviser for the South Pacific island nation, Mate Bagossy, said as many as 50 people had been killed in days of violence in Enga. He had no estimate for the number of wounded and was checking with local health facilities, which he said were ill-equipped to cope with medical emergencies.
Authorities told aid agencies on Tuesday that up to 300 soldiers and police were moving to the area to restore peace, Bagossy said.
“We are not sure it’s calming. It’s not yet stabilized,” Bagossy said.
Fighting in the Porgera Valley broke out on the outskirts of Porgera town near the New Porgera gold mine, which has halted most of its operations because of the violence until at least Thursday.
Homes and businesses in Suyan village were razed in the fighting, the Post-Courier newspaper reported.
A disaster management meeting led by the Papua New Guinea’s National Disaster Center and the UN Resident Coordinator Richard Howard on Tuesday agreed to send a team to Porgera within days to assess humanitarian needs, the degree of danger and the area’s accessibility, Bagossy said.
One obstacle for responders delivering aid was that the main road to Porgera remained blocked 40 kilometers (25 miles) from town by rubble from a massive landslide on May 24. The national government estimates more than 2,000 villagers were buried and hundreds more displaced. The United Nations estimated only 670 villagers died but does not dispute that the death toll could be far higher.
Tribal warfare is a growing security problem across Papua New Guinea and is rife in Enga, where recovery has been slow since the landslide.
Bagossy did not know how many fighters were involved near Porgera, but social media video showed they were heavily armed.
“There is a combination of high-powered weapons, including assault rifles. That’s not very common yet — it’s expensive — but is becoming more and more common,” Bagossy said.
Community tensions had been simmering for some time, but the violence escalated last week.
“The reports that we got is that this was initiated as a ... relatively minor conflict between illegal miners,” Bagossy said.
“The conflict escalated into clashes between two groups and then those two groups have reportedly brought in their allies and this has caused an eruption of violence in the entire area of Porgera town and surrounds,” he added.
