fears

Heavy rains could cause life-threatening flooding and landslides on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, the US National Hurricane Center warned.

Hurricane Polo has sent heavy rain and strong waves across Mexico’s Pacific coast, while Tropical Storm Nolo is approaching Hawaii with the potential for catastrophic flooding.

Early on Thursday, the hurricane was swirling about 130 miles (209 kilometres) south-southwest of the Mexican city of Zihuatanejo. It was moving northwest at 7mph (11kph) and forecast to turn west-northwest later in the day, taking it further out to sea, before turning northwest on Saturday.

Polo was forecast to maintain Category 5 strength as it moves along Mexico’s coast over the next few days.

While the eye and the strongest winds were expected to remain at sea, the heavy rains could cause life-threatening flooding and landslides, warned the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.

A hurricane watch was issued for Hawaii county and disaster preparations are under way because Tropical Storm Nolo could hit the island on Friday or Saturday, warned the National Weather Service.

John Bravender, a weather service warning coordination meteorologist, said during a news conference on Wednesday afternoon that the tropical storm could develop into a major hurricane.

Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda told residents in a video message that they should start preparing for the storm. He urged them to put together emergency kits with food, water and medications, as well as trim vegetation and clear drains.

“This is a very serious situation,” he said. “We do believe that the rain is going to come. It’s coming already.”

Governor Josh Green’s office said public schools and state and county offices across Hawaii’s Big Island will close on Thursday and Friday, while Maui County will shut them on Friday ahead of the threat of heavy rain, winds and flooding.

SCARBOROUGH Spa Cliff Lift was closed with immediate effect last month – with fears it might never reopen.

The funicular is the oldest of its kind in the country and has been described as a ‘landmark’ for the town.

The Scarborough Spa Cliff Lift closed to visitors on August 21 due to safety fears.

Later today, the lift’s closure and its future will be discussed at a council meeting.

What is set to be spoken about is the funicular’s closure as well as its repair requirements and predicted timescale for the lift’s reopening.

However, the North Yorkshire Council has yet to announce an opening date and is still reviewing the findings of a specialist report.

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Another assessment that examined the tracks and carriages said that the lift operates in a “challenging coastal environment, where salt-laden air, high winds and severe weather can accelerate wear and corrosion”.

The cliff lift is the oldest of its kind in the country, first opening in 1875.

Originally, it was used to transport passengers between the hotels on the Esplanade and the spa.

It was powered by water and gas engines until the 1950s when it was converted to run on electricity.

Council leader Carl Les, said: “The lift is an important part of Scarborough’s history and identity, and we recognise the affection people have for this landmark attraction.”

Last year when the attraction turned 150-years-old, live performances and exhibitions were held in the town to celebrate its anniversary.

There are roughly 12 funicular’s left in the UK with fewer that still function.

The Saltburn Tramway, which shut back in January 2026, reopened earlier this month.

And another one that’s set to open next year after a 10-year-closure is Folkestone’s Leas Lift which was forced to close in 2017.

TRAVELLERS heading to a popular European country next month could face flight delays and cancellations.

Pilots and cabin crew are set to walk out over five days in France next month.

A nationwide strike is set to take place between October 17 and October 21.

Action has been called by a number of unions regarding a disagreement over being allowed to receive their retirement pension while still working.

The strike notice applies to pilots and cabin crew working for all air transport and aviation companies, covered by French labour law – which means it might not just be French airlines affected.

Though airlines expected to be affected include French-based carriers such as Air France, Transavia France and Volotea.

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There may also be disruptions to easyJet and Ryanair flights.

Currently, it is not clear how many flights will be delayed or cancelled.

Travellers are being urged to check with their airline before travelling if they are due to travel in the five-day period.

Unions have stated that they remain open to discussions, so the situation may possibly change or be called off before October 17.

EasyJet is also planning to strike across six French airports on October 1 and 2.

The strikes were due to take place this week but have been postponed to the beginning of October and will involve pilots walking out at Paris Orly, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Nantes, Lyon, Nice and Bordeaux airports.

Repeated blasts at military sites expose the risks facing Syria as it rebuilds its army and consolidates weapons after years of war.

A series of explosions at weapons and ammunition sites across Syria this month have exposed the difficulties facing the country’s military in storing and moving munitions, as the armed forces rebuild after more than a decade of war.

The latest blasts injured at least four people in the early hours of Monday morning at an arms depot in al-Eis, south of Aleppo.

On Friday, a blast in Ayyash, west of Deir Az Zor, killed 11 soldiers. Another on September 9 killed 14 defence ministry personnel in Sarmada, Idlib. Also in Idlib, five people were killed when a vehicle carrying ammunition exploded in the town of Binnish on September 1 .

According to a tally by the Reuters news agency, at least 16 similar explosions have hit arms storage facilities since the fall of long-time President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 after an opposition offensive.

Some have been attributed to poor storage conditions. The Syrian Defence Ministry said it is investigating the causes behind the recurrent explosions to prevent future incidents.

Long-time neglect

Security analysts are divided on the root causes, with some pointing to a lack of professional infrastructure and others highlighting the potential for foreign interference – although there is as yet no hard evidence for that.

Omer Ozkizilcik, a nonresident senior fellow for the Syria Project in the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programmes, explained to Al Jazeera that the Syrian military is undergoing a period of huge change. It is reorganising from what it was under al-Assad, consolidating weapons from different sources and integrating various forces. All of that could be putting pressure on Syria’s storage infrastructure, which was already creaking after the long war and international isolation.

“The explosions could have happened due to neglect, Ozkizilcik said. “The Syrian army is receiving much more military aid than ever before. It gained control over the stockpiles of the former regime and the formerly US-backed [Syrian Democratic Forces]. The increase in quantity coupled with the need to protect weapons from potential Israeli airstrikes may have pushed the Syrian army to store weapons in inadequate places.”

Ozkizilcik emphasised that Syria’s military is still in a transitional phase. The former army was dissolved after the fall of the al-Assad regime and fighters from armed opposition groups were integrated into a new military structure. Damascus has also been working to integrate territory and forces previously controlled by the Kurdish-led SDF.

“The Syrian army has yet to become a professional army,” Ozkizilcik added. “These explosions are not the first that happen in Syria. Before the fall of al-Assad, similar things happened many times in Syria. [but] I don’t think these explosions will affect Syria’s military capabilities in any visible way. It’s merely a loss of some stockpiles that can be replenished.”

Weapons and ammunition, by their nature, need to be handled extremely carefully and stored properly. Storing large quantities of ageing ammunition for years in poor conditions, such as high temperatures or humidity, can accelerate their deterioration and lead to them becoming unstable.

“The current warehouse infrastructure suffers from severe ageing; most of it dates back decades and does not meet international safe storage standards,” said security expert Ismat al-Absi. “Storing ageing munitions in open or semi-closed environments without controlled cooling and humidity systems creates what we call a thermal runaway chain reaction.”

Possibility of sabotage

The repeated explosions have led to some fears of sabotage, particularly in light of repeated Israeli attacks against Syria since the fall of al-Assad, many of which have targeted the military, including the August strikes on the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Idlib.

Ozkizilcik noted that there was “no public information about possible sabotage” being behind the weapons depot explosions, and no evidence of any direct Israeli links. But the repeated explosions, coupled with Israel’s attacks in Syria and past intelligence operations against groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, mean it cannot be totally ruled out.

“Considering that the Israeli media recently wrote about the growing military capabilities of Syria, suspicions grow,” he said.

Al-Absi told Al Jazeera that the wide geographic scope of the explosions nevertheless meant that deliberate interference should be investigated.

“The main loopholes that [could have allowed sabotage operations] are the absence of smart surveillance, relying on traditional human guarding instead of remote sensors and thermal movement detection; weak securing of transport lines and administrative fragmentation,” al-Absi said. “The weakness of security discipline during the restructuring phase of the military institution has made some sites vulnerable to penetration or internal manipulation.”

KELLY Osbourne fears her son will become an addict like she and her father Ozzy were.

The TV personality, 41, used alcohol and drugs from 13.

She said it was to “numb that pain” she felt after becoming a child star.

Her rocker dad struggled with addiction for decades.

And the mum of Sidney, three, said: “I do believe it to be a genetic disorder.

“It’s something I even worry about with my son.

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“I never want him to go through what I went through. Ever.”

Kelly leapt to fame on reality TV show The Osbournes.

She told the We Need To Talk podcast that she took drugs and drank not because she “wanted a party” but to cope.

She said of her woes: “I went to bed one night.

“And then I woke up and I was the most famous 16-year-old in the world. It didn’t make sense.”

Ozzy died last year aged 76.

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday forcefully rejected calls to slow the development of artificial intelligence, dismissing concerns about its risks as a “hoax” and warning the United States remains locked in a fierce technological race with China.

The president’s position has put him at odds with a growing chorus of industry leaders and bipartisan lawmakers warning that AI could soon advance beyond human control.

Top executives from three of the country’s leading AI companies — OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and SpaceXAI’s Elon Musk — issued exceptional calls this past weekend for collaboration on a path forward that could “pace the frontier” of AI development.

Rare flashes of bipartisanship have also emerged on Capitol Hill, where Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, is working with Democrats on legislation aimed at guarding against AI’s most catastrophic risks, including its potential use to develop biological weapons.

And Democratic elders, including former President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have urged their party to treat the threats posed by AI as an acute national security crisis.

But Trump remained steadfast in his pushback, blaming the political backlash on a “conspiracy” perpetuated by China, the only major competitor in the field.

“AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX,” Trump wrote in a series of social media posts. “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!”

The Trump administration, the president continued, “has stopped AI ‘people’ from doing bad, or potentially bad, ‘things,’ like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a ‘perfect little angel’ — and we will continue to do so! We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies!”

Calls for action have grown since a former researcher at Anthropic posted a dire alert on social media that AI development could lead to an extinction-level event. His message went viral, prompting Amodei, the founder of Anthropic, to issue a public letter calling for a slowdown.

Altman said he agreed with Amodei, announcing the company would delay its initial public offering until 2027 over safety concerns. In July, OpenAI discovered a swarm of rogue AI agents had secretly plotted to escape their virtual sandbox, infiltrating the open internet and hacking a private company — a spectacular omen of how quickly AI systems could become difficult to contain.

“Given the accelerating rate of AI capability development, it’s my worry that in 6–12 months such a swarm could be capable of taking over the entire internet with a persistent botnet, potentially causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage,” Amodei wrote over the weekend, “and that the scale of damage would continue to increase from there if AI becomes more powerful without the necessary guardrails.”

Still, Trump and several of his Republican allies rejected the prospect of government regulation — or cast doubt on Altman and Amodei’s motives.

The Defense Department posted a graphic on X promoting “AI-First,” and stating the government would advocate “Americanism, not effective altruism.” The image appeared generated by artificial intelligence.

“If the unreleased models are scary enough that you think you should slow down, I support your decision to be responsible,” David Sacks, Trump’s former AI czar now serving as co-chair of the president’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, wrote on X. “But stop pretending you need anyone else’s permission. Stop pretending antitrust law has to be suspended so you can form a cartel. Stop pretending you need a regulatory approval process that supersedes product liability.”

“Most of all, stop pretending the motivation to slow down is purely altruistic,” Sacks added. “You face massive product-liability exposure if your products enable a truly damaging cyberattack.”

Regardless of the companies’ motives, Democrats are seizing the moment as an opportunity to pursue meaningful regulatory reforms.

At a Thursday fundraiser with Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, Obama said AI should move to the center of the Democratic agenda, both in Congress and on the campaign trail ahead of the 2028 presidential primary.

“I would strongly urge that the Democrats put together a framework for a very public conversation,” Obama said. “This is something that is moving very fast in private hands, and if we don’t get on top of it, I think can be dangerous.”

The following day, Clinton said AI was becoming “too dangerous” for partisanship to paralyze Washington.

“The one good thing that Donald Trump did in his first term was Warp Speed,” Clinton said on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe,” referring to a federal program in Trump’s first term to expedite the development of a vaccine for COVID-19. “Let’s put an AI commission on warp speed, and figure out what we’re going to do to sensibly regulate.”

AI leaders “are basically saying, ‘Stop us before something really bad happens,’” Clinton continued. “‘Help us stop.’ The president of China is coming to the White house in two weeks. There should be a concerted effort by this government to get off of the lies, get off of social media, quit worrying about ballrooms and ridiculous arches, and come up with a plan to enlist the Chinese.”

But China’s rapid progress in AI has so far pushed Trump to let U.S. industry move ahead with few constraints.

China’s spy chief issued a rare warning Monday that AI development could risk the future of Chinese Communist Party control over the country. But China’s foreign ministry responded defensively to the U.S. debate. “Fearmongering, confrontation and vicious competition will only disrupt the process of global AI governance which serves no one’s interest,” a spokesperson said.

Leading AI companies in the United States have begun using their most advanced models to train new ones, in a process known as recursive self-improvement. Within the industry, experts and researchers believe the first AI company to master recursive self-improvement will kick off exponential development, “winning” the race by making it impossible for competitors to catch up.

But that achievement — reaching endless intelligence improvements, generated by machines — could also drive intelligence growth beyond human control.

“There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China,” Trump wrote Monday. “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so. Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers, BEWARE!”

In the U.S. House, strange bedfellows from the Republican and Democratic parties, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), have come together to try to tackle legislation that might contain AI’s greatest dangers. One bill, introduced by Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Big Bear Lake), proposes embedding independent government auditors in AI labs and installing a federal “kill switch” to shut down agents in case of emergencies.

But it is far from clear whether Rep. Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House and a close Trump ally, would allow any such bill to come to the floor.

“We cannot put a moratorium on this because China will overlap us, and that’s the challenge,” Johnson said Sunday. “It’s national security balanced with the immediate security of making sure the models are safe.”

“We need to handle this new technology like we have others in the past and make sure we’re doing everything we can responsibly to also not smother American innovation,” Johnson added. “We have to do both things simultaneously.”

BEIJING: Oil prices jumped more than two percent on Monday, after new Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia and Iranian attacks on ships in the Gulf compounded supply concerns following the closure of a key Saudi oil pipeline.

Brent crude futures rose $2.90, or 2.77 percent, to $107.51 per barrel as of 2313 GMT. WTI futures rose $2.27, or 2.27 percent, to $102.32 per barrel. Prices had initially risen more than ‌3 percent at market ‌open.

Saudi Arabian state media on Sunday released ​video ‌footage of ⁠damage to ​homes ⁠and a mosque from what it said was a Houthi attack on the country’s southern Jazan province. The Houthis said they had also struck a Saudi military base in a neighboring province.

A vessel in the Strait of Hormuz was struck by a projectile, causing a fire and forcing the crew to be evacuated, the British maritime security agency UKMTO said on Sunday.

Iran said one person was killed ⁠and four crew wounded aboard an Iranian commercial vessel struck ‌off its coast.

Oil prices had been ‌expected to rise on Monday amid growing concerns about ​risks to supply from Saudi Arabia, ‌the world’s largest oil exporter, whose East-West oil pipeline was shut on Friday ‌by a drone strike that originated in Iraq.

The loss of the pipeline, which helped Saudi Arabia re-route its exports avoiding the Strait of Hormuz, threatens up to 4 percent of global oil supply.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis had reached the strategic island of Perim on ‌Friday, moving to tighten their control over the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, another key oil transit lane that has been shipping ⁠4-5 percent of ⁠global supply in recent months.

Oil surged 8 percent higher on the week due to the disruptions, rising above $100 for the first time since July.

“Looking ahead, unless this week’s talks in Oman produce something operational — or the East-West pipeline is brought back online quickly — the risk is that crude oil continues to extend its gains toward the $119.48 high of early March,” IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said in a note on Sunday.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said on X later on Sunday, however, that a scheduled Monday meeting in Oman between Gulf countries and Iran to discuss the Strait of Hormuz had been postponed.

No peace talks ​have been held in the ​war, launched six months ago by the United States and Israel, since an interim agreement in June collapsed after a few weeks.

EXCLUSIVE EastEnders’ Denise Fox actress Diane Parish has told the Mirror how she’s been kept out of the loop with what happens in the big flashforward episode yet to air

EastEnders cast members are completely in the dark about the events of the upcoming New Year’s Day episode.

In January, fans saw the events that were set to take place on January 1 2027, in a flashforward episode. From a kidnapping twist and a wedding day, to mystery links between characters, there were big things teased.

With it being a year into the future, not a lot was explained. Since then new twists have aired that have teased some of the events about to take place, while there’s still so much more to be explained.

In the episode, we knew that Denise was in it but she wasn’t actually shown onscreen. Now we know this is because the soap did not want to give away Denise’s cancer storyline, which is currently unfolding.

But despite new hints at what is ahead, the cast are still very much in the dark like viewers are. Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Denise actress Diane Parish confessed she didn’t know anything about the looming special episode.

She said: “I absolutely have no idea what’s going to happen! I keep watching things on TV, little bits of our show and they take me by completely surprise, I have no idea what’s going on!”

Diane also spoke about her cancer storyline, calling it “challenging” and confessing she had “struggled”. Diane told us: “It’s very challenging. I think it’s the most challenging storyline I’ve done both as my character or generally as an actress, but it’s really important.

“Sometimes there have been moments I’ve struggled [emotionally]. But I’ve got the blessing of working with people I know really well, I’ve known for years, and Tameka [Empson] and Scott [Maslen] keep it light and keep it fun when we’re working.

“But there are difficult moments because you’re immersed in it. If I was doing a one-off television drama or a film I’d have finished by now, but I’ve got to play this out in real time because we’re on your television every night.”

“I see it as a story of hope, a story about family, and it’s not just an easy story.” Diane praised the storyline though, as she talked of the feedback she had had from viewers.

Diane said: “”The wave of support I’ve got from the public, it’s touched so many lives and in particular highlighting cancer of this type for black people has been really important because statistically the survival rates are lower. That’s due to a number of reasons, including access to treatment and donors, and because people don’t put themselves on the register, making it very difficult without stem cells.

“So what has happened is, people are talking about it which is no small thing, so whether or not I’m having a hard time, it’s my job.”

EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

BEIRUT: The Lebanese army and other security agencies reinforced their presence in the southern city of Nabatiyeh Thursday amid continued Israeli military escalation. An official Lebanese source told Arab News that Beirut had received no guarantees that the city would be spared an Israeli incursion following Israel’s takeover of the Ali Al-Taher ridge.

The Lebanese source said the enhanced army deployment was intended to “remove Israeli pretexts” for advancing into and occupying the city. “No foreign party, including the Americans, has provided Lebanon with guarantees that Israel will be restrained from pursuing its ambitions,” the source said.

Concerns are mounting over the city’s fate since Israel announced taking control of Ali Al-Taher, amid silence from Hezbollah, raising fears that Nabatiyeh could become vulnerable militarily. Nabatiyeh is approximately 12-15 km from the Israeli border.

Any slide toward widespread destruction would mark a major escalation in the conflict. Recent Israeli attacks have struck government and public facilities in Nabatiyeh, prompting President Joseph Aoun to condemn the targeting of a Finance Ministry building and the destruction of Ghandour Hospital.

In a statement, Lebanese Army Command stressed that the reinforcements did not constitute a new deployment, as army units were already present in Nabatiyeh and other areas not occupied by Israeli forces. It said the military had instead intensified its duties to reassure residents.

Interior Minister Ahmad Al-Hajjar said reinforcing the military and security presence was “an essential step to reassure residents,” adding that the state would continue strengthening its presence in the south to create conditions for people to return safely.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told Nabatiyeh Mayor Abbas Fakhruddin that supporting the resilience of residents was a priority. He said he was following up with security chiefs on increasing the presence of official state agencies alongside the army in Nabatiyeh. Lebanon is seeking to consolidate its authority inside the city and turn it into a broader model of state administration in areas exposed to Israeli military pressure.

The developments at Ali Al-Taher have made those efforts more urgent, with concerns that any area not quickly brought under effective state authority could, under the current balance of power, become the target of further Israeli military pressure.

The push coincided with a statement from the US Embassy on Thursday, as public calls grew in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah’s weapons. Residents of Tyre and Nabatiyeh have urged the Lebanese army to deploy and for weapons to be restricted exclusively to state institutions, while backing the government’s efforts to secure an Israeli withdrawal.

The US Embassy in Lebanon said Thursday that “the Lebanese people are making clearer every day their preference for Lebanese state institutions over Hezbollah’s weapons.” It added that “southern Lebanon does not belong to regional actors or militias.”

The embassy reaffirmed US support for the government’s declared objective of asserting sovereignty, with the Lebanese army responsible for enforcing it and decisions of war and peace remaining exclusively in the hands of the Lebanese state. The Lebanese army, meanwhile, issued a detailed statement outlining its activities since the signing of the US-sponsored framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel.

The statement came in response to what the army described as continued Israeli efforts to undermine existing arrangements, obstruct the army’s field operations and continue attacks on civilians that killed and wounded dozens of people a week ago. Lebanese Army Command said the escalation in Israeli strikes, alongside demolition and explosive operations in the south, “leaves no room for doubt regarding the aggressive intentions of the Israeli occupation.”

It said the Israeli escalation threatened implementation of the framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel, while continued attacks endangered existing understandings and arrangements and obstructed the army’s efforts to establish stability in the south. The army also warned that Israeli attacks and violations demonstrated an effort to undermine its credibility both inside Lebanon and before the international community.

The continuation and escalation of these attacks, alongside brutal demolition and explosive operations in the south, left no doubt about Israel’s aggressive intentions and contradicts international law, the statement added. Lebanese Army Command said specialist units had seized about 1,818 weapons and ammunition items during their operations.

The seized material included 10 rocket-launching platforms, seven rockets, seven drones, 51 projectiles, 10 aerial bombs and 1,560 pieces of light ammunition, in addition to large numbers of mines and explosive devices.

The army said units had also searched some homes in accordance with Lebanese law and with owner consent. It said residents had cooperated with the measures, particularly those related to removing unexploded ordnance and other dangers left behind by the war. Military units also opened roads totaling about 12 km in length as part of efforts to rehabilitate damaged areas, facilitate the movement of residents and troops and consolidate the army’s presence.

The measures included controlling movement in and out of operational areas, giving deployed units greater ability to monitor the area and prevent unauthorized armed activity. Lebanese Army Command said there had been no corresponding Israeli compliance.

According to army monitoring, Israel has committed about 7,700 violations since the framework agreement was signed on June 26. These include multiple attacks, as well as incidents in which Israeli forces opened fire near Lebanese army personnel and patrols.

FURTHER disruption to air travel could be on the horizon with easyJet pilots confirming strike action in Europe.

The walkout is set to take place across two days meaning flights could be delayed or cancelled – including some to and from the UK.

Affecting flights in France, members of the SNPL pilots’ union have said that its members who work for easyJet will walk out over a pay dispute.

It will start at 4.59am on September 13 and end at 11.59pm on September 14.

According to a statement by Syndicat National des Pilotes de Ligne (SNPL) which is the main French national union for airline pilots, the dispute is around the pilots’ rosters with the airline.

Currently, there is no official estimate of how many flights could be cancelled or delayed as a result of the strike.

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The amount of disruption will depend on how many pilots participate in the strike and how easyJet changes its schedule.

For Brits, it could affect the airline’s flights to the likes of Paris Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly, Lyon, Nice, Nantes, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Rennes, La Rochelle and Strasbourg.

It’s likely that not every easyJet flight from these airports will be affected and passengers should check their flight status before travelling on these days for updates on their journey.

Last month another strike by easyJet staff in France resulted in almost 100 flights being cancelled.

The news comes after there were huge delays across all UK airports this week due to a NATS tech outage that left thousands of passengers stranded.

Sun Travel has contacted easyJet for comment.

Flight compensation rules

A look at your rights if a flight is delayed or cancelled, when your entitled to compensation and if your travel insurance can cover the costs.

What are my rights if my flight is cancelled or delayed?

Under UK law, airlines have to provide compensation if your flight arrives at its destination more than three hours late.

If you’re flying to or from the UK, your airline must let you choose a refund or an alternative flight.

You will be able to get your money back for the part of your ticket that you haven’t used yet.

So if you booked a return flight and the outbound leg is cancelled, you can get the full cost of the return ticket refunded.

But if travelling is essential, then your airline has to find you an alternative flight. This could even be with another airline.

When am I not entitled to compensation?

The airline doesn’t have to give you a refund if the flight was cancelled due to reasons beyond their control, such as extreme weather.

Disruptions caused by things like extreme weather, airport or air traffic control employee strikes or other ‘extraordinary circumstances’ are not eligible for compensation.

Some airlines may stretch the definition of “extraordinary circumstances” but you can challenge them through the aviation regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Will my insurance cover me if my flight is cancelled?

If you can’t claim compensation directly through the airline, your travel insurance may refund you.

Policies vary so you should check the small print, but a delay of eight to 12 hours will normally mean you qualify for some money from your insurer.

Remember to get written confirmation of your delay from the airport as your insurer will need proof.

If your flight is cancelled entirely, you’re unlikely to be covered by your insurance.

London, United Kingdom – In a wheat field near High Wycombe in the rolling English countryside, Alex Nelms watched the harvest on his farm die in a matter of days.

His crop had looked strong until the first heatwave came in May, when temperatures surpassed 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) just as his milling wheat entered its grain-fill phase, the critical weeks when the plant fattens its kernels.

“It just killed everything stone dead,” he told Al Jazeera. “Everything was finished really early, and when we were sort of full of optimism and hope, it was scuppered almost overnight.”

Nelms farms just over 2,000 acres (809 hectares) of arable land in south Buckinghamshire, on a business his grandparents founded in 1955. His uncle, who has worked the farm for more than 40 years, has just suffered the worst harvest of his career.

Last month, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said almost three-quarters of England, 71.3 percent, remained in drought. Rainfall in August reached just 34 percent of what would normally be expected by that point in the month, Defra said, and reservoir levels were 18.2 percentage points below where they should be for the time of year.

“We’re totally reliant on Mother Nature,” Nelms said, and nature did not deliver this year.

After a historically dry spring and a run of summer heatwaves, the farm is down roughly 1,000 tonnes on its average harvest, a shortfall of some $270,000 in revenue.

The farm, tucked in the Chiltern Hills, a steep, long ridge of white limestone rock, has no irrigation and never will.

“That has serious knock-on effects on our cash flow,” he said. A third consecutive difficult year would mean hard conversations with his bank and landlord, and farming to minimise risk rather than maximise output, “consequently, probably producing less food”.

‘Financial crisis point’

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) says farmers are at a “financial crisis point” after the worst drought in 50 years, with historically low harvests, stunted grass growth, rising fuel and fertiliser costs, and a severe outbreak of bluetongue disease in livestock.

The union puts the gross production value loss of wheat at approximately $499m and the cost of replacing a shortfall in forage at roughly $45m.

NFU president Tom Bradshaw has said farmers now lack “breathing space” and are “increasingly exposed to geopolitical shocks, as well as repeated weather extremes, animal disease and global wars”.

He believes action is needed now to ensure the future of British farming “and enable the next generation to keep producing the nation’s food”.

To manage the risk, Nelms is diversifying, planting oilseed rape again on about 350 acres (142 hectares) for the first time in 20 years. He says that the crop’s usual insecticide protection, neonicotinoid seed treatments, is now banned, leaving it exposed to cabbage stem flea beetle and to game birds that can “absolutely nibble, eat, and destroy a crop”.

Growing it also means breaking a continuous wheat rotation that has kept a soil-borne disease called “Take-all”.

Tax allowances would make investing in grain storage and diversified income worthwhile, he said, as well as government-backed bridging loans, modelled on COVID-era support, to survive a bad year without permanent damage.

It is the kind of relief the NFU is pressing the government to provide nationally.

The union wants an interest-free “Keep Britain Growing” loan tied to drought losses, help covering the cost of disposing of livestock lost to bluetongue, faster planning permission for on-farm reservoirs, and clearer rules letting farmers access water as soon as levels allow, echoing Nelms’s case for storage on his farm.

“Drought conditions will continue to worsen until we receive sustained rainfall across the country and we still all have a role to play in conserving precious water supplies,” according to Philip Duffy, the Environment Agency’s chief executive, in a statement shared by Defra.

The Environment Agency has applied for a drought order to restrict abstraction from the River Severn, and 10 water companies, serving 30 million customers, now have restrictions in place.

“A few days or even weeks of wetter weather cannot reverse the impacts of several months of exceptionally dry conditions,” added Duffy.

Defra noted that the first meaningful rains since June have fallen but they have been patchy, so reservoirs and groundwater are still declining even as a handful of rivers see brief upticks in flow.

Despite the losses, Nelms is hopeful about farmers pulling together – sharing labour, machinery and market routes. He points to the Central Chiltern Farmer Cluster, where growers meet to talk through their problems and find solutions together.

“We’re working together, not competing with each other,” he said.

For a farm like Nelms’s, with no irrigation and no water in reserve, that patchiness is the problem. Soil parched from months without rain needs to absorb sustained rainfall before groundwater can even begin to recharge, let alone refill the reservoirs a future harvest might depend on.

“Our climate has changed,” Water Minister Emma Hardy, who chairs the National Drought Group, said late last month, “and we will continue to take all action necessary.”

Dianne Buswell has addressed the notion that she could have been axed from Strictly Come Dancing when she was pregnant as bosses decided to add fresh talent to the show

Dianne Buswell has insisted she never worried about getting the axe from Strictly Come Dancing while she was pregnant. The TV star, 37, has served as a professional on the BBC Saturday night favourite for almost a decade and in March, she and her partner Joe Sugg became parents to son Bowden.

Around the same time, as part of a huge revamp, bosses also axed long-standing professionals Karen Hauer, Gorka Márquez, Nadiya Bychkova, Luba Mushtuk, and Michelle Tsiakkas in favour of new talent.

But now Dianne has insisted that whilst there is always a slight worry that she won’t be asked back to the programme, she wasn’t particularly concerned that she would be axed amid the “bloodbath” because of how much support she had received from the BBC in the first place.

She said: “We’re so lucky to be there every single year and you’re never guaranteed that you’ll be back. Of course, you always hope, but they’re putting on a show, and sometimes they will have to change it up.

Speaking to The Sun, she added: ““You always think: ‘Am I going to be back or not?’ But because of how supportive they were to me when I was pregnant and talking about me coming back, I didn’t feel like they would do that [axe her]. They were very aware that being a working mum while still dancing was possible and they wanted to accommodate that.”

This year’s Strictly Come Dancing will have a different feel entirely, with brand news hosts Johannes Radebe, Emma Willis and Josh Widdicombe having taken the reins from Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.

Dianne claimed that the decision of new presenters was “quite genius” and opined that if bosses had simply chosen two women, it would only lead to comparisons of Tess and Claudia. When it comes to the new trio Dianne said she is particularly excited to talk all about babies with Emma Willis, who previously trained as a maternity care assistant and has also fronted Emma Willis: Delivering Babies.

The star competed on Strictly Come Dancing last year alongside Neighbours legend Stefan Dennis, who eventually had to withdraw from the show over an injury, but prior to that Dianne was subject to criticism for performing whilst pregnant.

On her Instagram Stories, she shared a comment from a viewer that read: “I get so uncomfortable watching Dianne run down the stairs in heels, cartwheel and do tricks while pregnant.

“Your centre of gravity is off while you’re pregnant, just takes one slip to fall on the precious bump. She is a true professional and fabulous dancer but I think it might have been wise to sit this season out. She is 36 so classed as advanced maternal age mother regardless of how fit she is, I think BBC made a mistake here,

They continued by noting that Amy Dowden also took part in the BBC competition last year whilst facing health issues, adding: “It just doesn’t make sense. Like it didn’t make sense to give Amy a celebrity partner last year and look what happened there.” Fed up, Dianne shared her own thoughts as she reposted the comment, writing: “I have honestly had enough of comments like these.”

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Aug. 28 (UPI) — After Wednesday’s devastating glacier collapse in the Himalayas, scientists and geologists are warning that unstable conditions and the accelerating retreat of Andean ice sheets are exposing Chile, Argentina and Peru to the risk of catastrophic floods and mudslides.

The retreat of Andean glaciers has accelerated the formation of unstable lakes and exposed large slopes of loose rock that can collapse more easily as global temperatures rise, experts say.

Fast-moving floods and mudslides through mountain valleys could directly threaten drinking water supplies, energy projects and the lives of thousands of people living in vulnerable areas of the three countries.

The Himalayan disaster, which has left almost 600 people dead and more than 1,900 others missing, experts say that although monitoring and early-warning technologies exist, the speed and scale of glacial lake outburst floods, or GLOFs, such as the one in Nepal can make responding difficult.

“What happened in Nepal has already happened in Argentina,” Juan Pablo Milana, a researcher with Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council, told Infobae.

In November 2005, Laguna de los Erizos in San Juan province suddenly burst, releasing more than 1.1 billion cubic feet of water in just 67 minutes, Milana said. The flood traveled more than 155 miles, destroying crops and roads and isolating communities. No deaths were reported because the area was sparsely populated.

In Argentina, the areas at greatest risk are concentrated in Patagonia. One of the most critical sites currently under observation is the tourist town of El Chaltén, where instability on the slopes of Cerro Solo directly threatens Laguna Torre.

Lakes formed by the retreat of large ice masses, such as the Upsala Glacier, also pose a potential threat. In 2013, a collapse in the glacier’s channel generated a destructive wave in Onelli Bay.

Argentina’s Geological and Mining Survey and research teams from the University of Buenos Aires are responsible for monitoring the threats.

They combine satellite imagery used to update the National Glacier Inventory with projects to establish ground-based early-warning systems. Those systems are designed to use weather stations and hydrological sensors to detect changes in water levels and unusual slope movements in real time.

With more than 26,000 glaciers, Chile is among the countries most exposed to GLOFs worldwide, with risks divided between two distinct geographic areas.

The largest high-risk zone is concentrated in remote Chilean Patagonia, particularly the Aysén and Magallanes regions, where the rapid retreat of the Northern and Southern Patagonian Ice Fields has increased the formation of unstable lakes held back by fragile natural dams, although the region has a low population density.

Geographer Simón Inzunza told Chilean broadcaster T13 that the country has recorded GLOFs, particularly in Patagonia, as well as other emergencies associated with glacier melting and ice collapses.

In central Chile, watersheds are smaller but the risk is significant because of the high concentration of infrastructure, including hydroelectric plants, mining operations and drinking water systems serving millions of people.

Darío Ormeño, a geologist and professor at Andrés Bello University’s School of Earth Sciences, told BioBioChile radio that a mudslide is a real risk in Chile, although an event on the scale of the Nepal disaster is unlikely.

“Our glaciers are much smaller and do not have such an extreme elevation difference,” Ormeño said.

Chilean government agencies monitor glaciers using a national inventory updated with satellite imagery and radar. The tools allow authorities to measure the growth of glacial lakes and detect cracks in Andean slopes in an effort to issue early warnings before a disaster occurs.

Peru faces the highest risk in South America of disasters caused by GLOFs, with a history of deadly events and significant geographic vulnerability.

Paola Moschella, director of glacier research at Peru’s National Institute for Research on Glaciers and Mountain Ecosystems, or INAIGEM, told Exitosa radio that Peru has 528 lakes at risk of overflowing, including 58 considered high risk.

Unlike Patagonia and some high-altitude areas of Chile and Argentina, where glaciers are in remote valleys, entire cities and critical infrastructure in the Peruvian Andes, particularly in the Áncash region, lie directly along potential flood and mudslide routes.

Lake Palcacocha, in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca mountain range, is considered by scientists to be one of the world’s most critical cases because of its instability and proximity to the city of Huaraz, which has more than 120,000 residents.

The lake holds more than 599 million cubic feet of water and is fed by hanging glaciers that are susceptible to large avalanches as global temperatures rise.

If a large block of ice were to collapse into the lake, it could generate a massive wave capable of breaching its natural barriers and triggering a destructive flood that could reach urban areas in less than an hour.

The threat has a deadly historical precedent. In 1941, a similar outburst from the same lake destroyed about one-third of Huaraz and killed thousands of people.

Scientific monitoring in Peru has advanced significantly through the deployment of permanent personnel in high-altitude areas and the use of satellite surveillance systems.

Experts warn, however, that physical mitigation infrastructure installed in previous decades is outdated or insufficient to contain current water volumes.

Reporting from ORANGE CITY, Iowa — They met decades ago, when they were first married, and the three sisters-in-law still gather each week at the Dutch Bakery to catch up amid the sweet smell of flour and sugar floating through the air.

Despite the cozy setting here on the state’s western edge, they can feel the country beneath their feet slipping away, eroding under the threats of immorality and terrorism.

“I never thought we would live in so much fear,” said Joanne Niezen, as her coffee sat cooling before her in a Styrofoam cup.

There’s fear on the other side of the state as well, though for different reasons.

In the college town of Iowa City, with its hip music scene and pita restaurant advertising “fresh thinking and healthy eating,” Veronica Tessler worries about the harsh rhetoric directed at immigrants and the economic inequality that lingers years after the Great Recession.

“I really fear for our country,” said Tessler, who left her job at a foreign policy foundation to open a frozen yogurt shop near the University of Iowa campus.

A sense of dread is about the only thing that unites Orange City, a bastion of religious conservatism, and Iowa City, known for its blue-sky liberalism. Together they bookend not only the state’s geography but its political spectrum as Iowa prepares to kick off the presidential selection process Monday night with its closely watched caucuses.

The two communities, located in the most lopsidedly partisan counties in the state, reflect the vast political chasm here and across the country, a divide that President Obama was unable to heal and which may prove insurmountable for whomever takes his place.

“Republicans see an America where the government is too big at home and too feeble abroad. Democrats see an America where the economy is out of whack,” said David Nagle, a Democratic attorney who used to represent Iowa City and surrounding Johnson County in Congress. “It’s like two trains in the night, passing in opposite directions.”

But the division goes far beyond a profound disagreement on issues. While partisan tensions are nothing new, they have deepened and intensified during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama as the parties have splintered along the lines of age, race and culture. The result is a separation of America into mutually estranged and suspicious tribes.

Today, as conversations at opposite poles of Iowa show, voters on each side often get their news from different sources, worry about different problems and view political adversaries with mistrust and even contempt. One voter’s vision for America is nothing less than another’s nightmare; it’s common to hear candidates of the opposing party described as “concerning” or “scary” or “crazy.”

In 2014, a major study released by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that more than one-third of Republicans and just over a quarter of Democrats — especially those most engaged in politics — go as far seeing the other party as a “threat to the nation’s well-being.”

In Johnson County, known both affectionately and derisively as the “People’s Republic,” life in Iowa City revolves around the university, with young people constantly hustling between classes or hunkered down in coffee shops with headphones and homework.

Obama is largely viewed with gratitude or, at worst, disappointment for failing to deliver an even more liberal agenda.

The city’s leanings are evident at the Hamburg Inn, where jars labeled with the names of presidential candidates are lined up in the window. Diners drop in coffee beans to show their preferences; some of the Republican jars are nearly empty, while a second container was added for Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist, because the first overflowed.

Tessler, 30, is volunteering with the Sanders campaign, and she’s been alarmed by what she hears coming from the mouths of Republican contenders.

In response to Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., she helped make T-shirts to protest his Iowa City visit last Wednesday. “I stand with my Muslim neighbors,” they read.

She doesn’t dismiss the threat of terrorism — in fact, she was visiting family near San Bernardino on the day of the attack there that killed 14 people in December. But she’s also the daughter of a Soviet Jew who escaped to Los Angeles in 1973, and she thinks Republicans are scapegoating immigrants and refugees.

“They are not American ideals,” she said.

For many in Iowa City, issues like economic inequality and student debt feel most urgent, not fears of terrorist attack.

“ISIS could do something terrible anywhere,” said Chuck Michaelson, 61, a piano instructor who lives in nearby Coralville, using an acronym for the militant group Islamic State. He paused while flipping through a biography of writer Joan Didion at a bookstore near campus. “But the likelihood of it being personally affecting is slim. It’s like being struck by lightning.”

About 300 miles away in Orange City, across a vast expanse of fertile farmland, the fears of terrorism seem more immediate despite the area’s isolation and outward serenity.

“The whole thing of ISIS scares me,” said Bob Hulstein, 64, who publishes the Orange City newspaper and owns a printing business with his brother-in-law, Dave Pluim, 51.

After attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Hulstein said, “I’m afraid we’re going to see that closer and closer. I guess I want that stopped before it comes to my front door.”

Pluim agreed. “In fact, it would be real easy to do something horrible in Orange City,” he said. “Come to a high school basketball game.”

Settled largely by Dutch immigrants, this region proudly promotes its heritage; Orange City, the seat of Sioux County, was named after a Dutch prince, and decorative windmills, wooden shoes and tulip-themed businesses abound.

The area was hardly touched by the Great Recession — strong commodity prices and a boom in farm values helped see to that — and now there is something close to full employment. “Help wanted” signs are everywhere: at the florist, the bakery, restaurants, the post office.

So it is not economics that drives the anxiety here so much as concerns about the country’s place in the world.

“Are we willing to back our allies?” said Tony Vande Brake, 25, a financial advisor and newly elected member of the Orange City Council. “Are we willing to stand behind our military prowess, show strength if we had to?”

Back at the Dutch Bakery, Niezen and her sisters-in-law describe the election as a chance to reclaim the moral authority and military strength that, in their opinion, has withered under Obama and fueled a rise in Islamic extremism.

“He’s taken our military way down,” said Niezen, who is in her 70s. “When they were cutting our people’s heads off, he should have gotten in there right then.”

Leona Noteboom, an 83-year-old retiree, agreed. “I don’t trust him for taking care of my country,” she said.

“We’re just losing all our Christian values,” piped in Carol Noteboom, 74, who lives on a nearby farm.

Amid all the anxieties, there were glimmers of optimism.

Morgan Brittain, a political science student, crosses the ideological fault line every time he travels from his family’s home in Winterset, a small town outside Des Moines, to school in Iowa City. When he last got his hair cut back home, the woman holding the shears confided she planned to support Trump.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, Heidi, you’re killing me,’” Brittain said.

At the barbershop close to campus, everyone seems bewildered by Trump’s popularity.

Asked if any candidate could bridge the divide, Brittain laughed and said, “I’m going to say absolutely, anybody can unify us.”

But he’s just 22, Brittain said, and still an idealist.

Twitter: @ChrisMegerian

Twitter: @markzbarabak

Megerian reported from Iowa City and Barabak from Orange City.

Hoy: Léa esta historia en español

For more, go to latimes.com/politics.

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HOLLY Hagan has voiced some fears after her sister’s drug death as she warned Reading and Leeds festival-goers to “please be careful.”

The Geordie Shore star’s sibling tragically passed away last October just before her 20th birthday.

Taking to Instagram, Holly shared: “I haven’t stopped thinking about the fact that someone might not make it back from the festivals.

“When I see people’s videos walking into the camp grounds so happy for the weekend’s of their lives.

“I just think I hope to God you all make it home.

“On average 5 people a year die during UK festivals and the vast majority of those deaths are MDMA related.

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“Nobody thinks it’ll happen to them until it does.

“I know my sister’s death won’t be the last of this nature and it’s such a gut wrenching thought that other families will have to go through what we have.

“Please be careful. Look after your friends and don’t show off. It’s not worth the risk.”

Holly previously revealed that her world stopped spinning when she woke up one day to a whole load of missed calls and discovered Darci had collapsed on a night out and been rushed to hospital.

At just 19, she’d taken an accidental drug overdose and suffered two cardiac arrests.

Two days later, Darci died of organ failure with her family all around her.

In an emotional statement, Holly wrote: “It is with immeasurable grief and sadness that our baby girl, my baby sister Darci Rose passed away peacefully holding my hand surrounded by family and her best friends.

“She was never in any pain. The last four days have been something I hope no family ever has to go through.

“We are traumatised in every sense of the word.”

It came after The Sun revealed that Holly’s famous friends were doing everything they could to help after Darcy’s passing.

Earlier this year, Holly revealed that she talks to Darci through a medium, and that she’ll tell son about her sister’s tragic drug death.

Kelvin and Liz Fletcher share the highs and lows of farming on Fletcher’s Family Farm

Kelvin and Liz Fletcher shared fears for their Cheshire farm following a heartbreaking loss.

The couple shares the highs and lows of farming in their ITV series, Fletcher’s Family Farm. However, in the latest repeat episode, Kelvin and Liz faced a setback. They also bid a bittersweet farewell to their beloved alpacas as they needed to make space on the farm.

Kelvin Fletcher and Liz welcomed vet Angelica to the farm for a health check on their flock following the death of their beloved pet lamb, Aga.

“It kind of looks a bit chaotic, but this is the smoothest it’s ever happened,” Liz shared when referring to them rounding up the sheep.

Kelvin noted, “We’re improving. It just shows we are improving. With the ewes and lambs separated, it’s time for a not-so-pleasant job of the season.”

“Put your hand up if you want a poo bag,” Kelvin shouted to his kids, who seemed more than enthusiastic about picking up sheep poo.

The former soap star went on to share his fears, “To try to prevent losing any lambs, vet Angelica will take the poo samples collected today for testing so we can treat any early signs of infection.”

She explained to Kelvin, “As they grow up, they build some kind of immunity, but lambs are naive to them, and worms are everywhere at pasture, so we need to make sure that they have a good level of exposure when they’re young, which means that they will build up their immune response, but at the same time, the burden is not too high and make them sick. “

Sharing their previous loss, he continued, “We’re taking a belt and braces approach this year, as through the winter worms were a real problem and proved to be fatal for a couple of our lambs, including our beloved Aga. Aga was an orphan lamb, whom we fell in love with, but later lost to a worm infection.”

With all the samples collected, vet Angelica went back to the lab to test the sheep poo.

Luckily for the Fletcher family, the results came back all clear, as he informed viewers, “Angelica has been back in touch with the good news that the worm count isn’t dangerous, but as advised, we still treat them.

“It’s not the easiest job to do, but such an important one, and this time it was such a great team effort. Right, so now it’s that simple chase and getting them back out, back out in the pasture. “

Fletcher’s Family Farm is available to watch on ITVX.

A MAJOR airline has issued a luggage warning about items nearly everyone take on holiday with them.

Jet2 has warned travellers heading on holiday to carry two electronic items in their hand luggage, not their hold luggage.

Power banks and e-cigarettes need to be carried in hand luggage and should be kept under the seat instead of overhead lockers.

Items containing a lithium battery, which includes power banks and e-cigarettes, must be switched off, packed safely and carried in hand luggage.

Any electrical items or lithium batteries that are damaged are not allowed on board.

And if you plan on travelling with a hoverboard or balance wheel that has a lithium battery, it cannot go in hand luggage or hold luggage.

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David Hills, Chief Customer Officer at Jet2, said: “Lots of customers travel with everyday items such as power banks and e-cigarettes, so this is a simple but important reminder to check where they are packed before setting off for the airport.

“These items are common, but they do need to be carried correctly, and doing so helps us keep everyone safe while they travel to enjoy their well-deserved holidays.”

The reminder follows a number of lithium battery incidents on a number of flights over the past couple of years.

Back in May, an easyJet flight travelling from Egypt to the UK was forced to divert to Rome after a passenger revealed they had left a phone connected and charging via a power bank in their checked luggage.

In July last year, a power bank caught fire on a Bangkok Airways flight from Samui to Hong Kong.

The CAA’s power bank rules are as follows:

• Power banks must be carried in carry‑on baggage
• Power banks must be individually protected when not in use
• Power banks must not be recharged on board the aircraft
• Power banks should not be used to charge other portable electronic devices on board the aircraft
• Maximum of two power banks per person