International
Flights gradually resuming in US after nationwide stoppage
January 11 | By AFP | John Biers, with Becca Milfeld in Washington |
US air authorities ordered an hours-long grounding of flight departures nationwide Wednesday following an outage affecting a key system used by pilots before takeoff.
Near 1400 GMT, the Federal Aviation Administration said that normal operations were resuming gradually as airlines warned of lingering delays.
“Normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the US,” the FAA said on Twitter near 1400 GMT. “The ground stop has been lifted. We continue to look into the cause of the initial problem.”
The agency had identified a problem with the Notice to Air Missions system (NOTAM), which provides information to flight crews about hazards, changes to airport facilities and other essential information.
The system is used by pilots before they take off, meaning that there was no risk to flights that had left before the outage, the FAA said.
Airlines and airports had been left scrambling with news of the nationwide pause, as the White House said there was no immediate evidence of a cyberattack.
Near 1430 GMT, a screen at Reagan National Airport was overwhelmingly red with flight delays and just a handful of departures.
“Customers may continue to see some delays and cancellations as we work to restore our schedule,” United Airlines said shortly after the FAA stop order was lifted, adding it would refund customers who no longer wish to travel.
Speaking to reporters, President Joe Biden said that he had been briefed by the transportation secretary and that “aircraft can still land safely, just not take off right now.”
“They don’t know what the cause of it is, they expect in a couple of hours they’ll have a good sense of what caused it and will respond at that time,” Biden said.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg directed “an after-action process to determine root causes and recommend next steps,” he said on Twitter.
Senator Maria Cantwell, the Democratic Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, also plans follow up.
“The number one priority is safety,” Cantwell said. “As the Committee prepares for FAA reauthorization legislation, we will be looking into what caused this outage and how redundancy plays a role in preventing future outages. The public needs a resilient air transportation system.”
Thousands of delayed flights
The NOTAM system is checked by pilots before they fly, the FAA said.
“A Notice to Air Missions alerts pilots about closed runways, equipment outages, and other potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the flight,” the agency tweeted earlier Wednesday.
The FAA had halted flights until 9:00 am (1400 GMT), but began resuming takeoffs at Newark and Atlanta airports before the nationwide order was lifted due to air traffic congestion.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted that “there is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point.”
“The President directed DOT to conduct a full investigation into the causes. The FAA will provide regular updates,” she said, referring to the Department of Transportation.
There were more than 5,400 flights delayed in the United States by 10:00 am US Eastern time (1500 GMT), flight tracking website Flight Aware data showed.
The halt comes in the wake of a large-scale aviation meltdown in the United States over the Christmas holiday, as a storm brought unseasonably cold temperatures to the majority of the country and caused chaos, with thousands of flights delayed or canceled.
Hard-hit Southwest Airlines canceled more than 15,000 flights over eight days after what it said was a breakdown in its scheduling systems.
International
Pope Francis meets former Gaza hostages
Pope Francis met on Thursday at the Vatican with 16 Israelis who had been held hostage in Gaza for months by the Islamist group Hamas, according to the official Vatican news website.
The group consisted of ten women, four men, and two children, as reported by the same source. Several of the former hostages showed the Argentine pontiff banners or photos of their loved ones who remain in captivity.
Francis had previously met with the families of hostages in April this year and November 2023, but this was the first time he had met with individuals who had personally endured captivity.
Since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began, the pope has repeatedly called for the immediate release of Israeli hostages, while also condemning the suffering of the Palestinian population.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023, when Islamist militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,206 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages who died in captivity.
Of the kidnapped, 97 are still being held in Gaza, but the Israeli military estimates that 34 of them have died.
The military offensive launched by Israel in response has killed at least 43,736 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-governed territory.
International
Israeli airstrikes on Damascus kill 15 and injure 16, including women and children
Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on residential buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and its surroundings on Thursday, resulting in at least 15 deaths and 16 injuries, according to Syria’s Ministry of Defense and state television.
The ministry stated that around 3:20 p.m. local time (12:20 GMT), the Israeli military launched an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, targeting several residential buildings in the Mazzeh neighborhood in western Damascus and the Qudsaya suburb to the northwest of the capital.
The airstrikes “resulted in the death of 15 people and injuries to 16 others, including women and children,” based on initial estimates, in addition to significant damage to private property and civilian buildings, the ministry added.
Meanwhile, state television reported Israeli airstrikes on three buildings in Mazzeh and another on a building in an educational complex located in a residential area of Qudsaya.
Following the strikes, loud explosions were heard throughout the city, and thick plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the targeted locations. Ambulances and emergency services rushed to the scene to attend to the victims.
International
Drug trafficker dies after boat collision with Guardia Civil Vessel in Sanlúca
Three people were on the boat that collided with a Guardia Civil vessel around midnight at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near the Andalusian city of Cádiz, a spokesperson for the Civil Guard reported.
Two officers sustained “contusions,” the spokesperson explained.
The drug traffickers managed to bring the boat to shore, where one of them was “abandoned” severely injured. The other two fled.
The Civil Guard officers attempted to resuscitate the victim before transporting him to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, but he ultimately died early in the morning.
The other two suspects took advantage of the officers’ absence while they were taking the victim and returned to set their boat on fire.
The collision occurred very close to the site of another accident on September 1, where a drug trafficker died following a Guardia Civil pursuit.
The suspects’ boat traveled “400 meters” before crashing head-on and “at full speed” into the riverbank, where a hundred bundles of hashish were found.
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