given | Common News Update

Sep172021 by adminNo Comments

California fires: General Sherman and other sequoias given blankets

Science

AFPFirefighters are wrapping fire-resistant blankets around ancient trees as blazes tear through California's world-famous Sequoia National Park.Officials fear the fire could reach the Giant Forest, a grove of some of the world's biggest trees, within hours.The forest hosts some 2,000 sequoias, including the 275ft (83m) General Sherman, the biggest tree by volume on Earth and about 2,500 years old.The Colony and Paradise fires have been growing for a week.More than 350 firefighters, along with helicopters and water-dropping planes, have been mobilised to battle the blazes.They have wrapped several trees, including the General Sherman, with aluminium foil to protect them.National Park Service"It's a very significant area for many, many people, so a lot of special effort is going into protec...

Mar282021 by adminNo Comments

Officials preparing to remove cargo from Ever Given after 5 days blocking Suez Canal

World

March 28 (UPI) -- Officials began preparing to unload cargo from the Ever Given after the massive cargo ship has remained lodged in the Suez Canal since Tuesday. Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, told Egyptian media that President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi had ordered officials to prepare for a "third scenario" of removing containers from the 1,300-foot, 200,000-ton ship to allow it to be refloated. Advertisement Rabie said that the president authorized the acquisition of special equipment necessary to move some of the 18,000 containers from the vessel. Leth Agencies, the canal's service provider, wrote on Twitter that tidal conditions did not help refloat the ship overnight, adding that a refloating effort on Sunday was postponed until 11 p.m. local time in order to ...

Dec122020 by adminNo Comments

Refunds given for 75% tickets of flights cancelled during lockdown: Aviation ministry

Finance

(This story originally appeared in on Dec 11, 2020)NEW DELHI: The government on Friday said airlines have refunded almost three-fourth of tickets sold for flights cancelled during the Covid lockdown. In all, Rs 3,200 crore have been refunded to passengers and the rest are being processed, the aviation ministry said. While, tickets worth Rs 219 crore have been converted into credit shells voluntarily by passengers for future travel. Nearly one-third of the refund amount has come from India’s biggest airline (by market share), IndiGo, alone. The low cost carrier had earlier this week said it has already paid Rs 1,000 crore as refunds, representing 90% of the total amount owed to its customers for cancelled flights. IndiGo says it will “complete payment against all pending credit shells (an...

Nov272020 by adminNo Comments

AI ‘doctor’s assistant’ among projects given £20m

Science

.css-94m6rd-HeadingWrapper{border-bottom:solid 1px #BABABA;padding-bottom:1.5rem;}.css-94m6rd-HeadingWrapper > *:not([hidden]):not(style) ~ *:not([hidden]):not(style){margin-top:1rem;}.css-vk3nhx-ComponentWrapper{margin:1.5rem 0;}.css-1759m9z-StyledFigure{font-family:ReithSans,Helvetica,Arial,freesans,sans-serif;font-weight:400;font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.125rem;}.css-kwaqyc-StyledFigureContainer{position:relative;}.css-1xtcmof-Placeholder{position:relative;display:block;padding-bottom:56.25%;background-color:#EEEEEE;}.css-1xtcmof-Placeholder img{overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;left:0;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;justify-content:center;-webk...

Nov42020 by adminNo Comments

Thousands given wrong dates for self-isolation by Test and Trace

Technology

More than 7,000 people have been given the wrong dates for self-isolation by Test and Trace, Sky News can reveal, raising further questions about the competence of the troubled service.An error in the software used by Test and Trace meant that the contact-tracing service gave contacts of people who had tested positive for coronavirus the wrong dates for the start and end of their quarantine. A total of 7,230 people in England were affected, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirmed to Sky News.Most were contacted with new advice on when their self-isolation period should end. But 2,455 individuals had already finished self-isolating before they could be reached. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player ...