UK air traffic controllers warn of over-crowded skies


Air traffic controllers are warning that UK skies are running out of room for record numbers of planes.
And they have called for a drastic modernisation in the way aircraft are guided across UK airspace.
It comes as the government launches a discussion to shape the UK's aviation industry for the next thirty years.
It wants the public to submit ideas on a wide range of subjects, from airport bag check-ins in town centres to noise reduction targets.
Aviation's rapid growth is causing headaches across the industry.
Today is likely to be the busiest day of the year, with air traffic controllers expecting to handle over 8,800 flights.
They will guide some 770,000 flights across UK airspace through the summer.
That's a record, and 40,000 more than last year.

Stretched to the limit

But the ability of the the UK's National Air Traffic Control Service (Nats) to deal with this surge is being stretched to its limit.
Jamie Hutchison, Nats Director said: "In the last few weeks we have already safely managed record-breaking daily traffic levels, but the ageing design of UK airspace means we will soon reach the limits of what can be managed without delays rising significantly."
Delays are not just inconveniences. The Department for Transport estimates that if airspace management remains unchanged, by 2030 there will be 3,100 days' worth of flight delays - 50 times the amount seen in 2015, along with 8,000 flight cancellations a year.
In February the government launched a consultation paper on reforming airspace, and it is expected to report back in the autumn.

"Beyond the horizon"

Today's government paper has a broader scope. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: "Our new aviation strategy will look beyond the new runway at Heathrow and sets out a comprehensive long-term plan for UK aviation. It will support jobs and economic growth across the whole of the UK.

"Our vision puts the passenger at the heart of what we do, but also recognises the need to address the impacts of aviation on communities and the environment."
Nats itself is rolling out a new £600m ($747m) computer system known as iTec that could result in more flights and fewer delays.
But Juliet Kennedy, Nats operations director, said: "What is needed is a clear and stable UK policy that recognises how important our airspace is as a critical part of our national infrastructure.
"It is essential that we are able to balance the needs of airspace users with the environment and, of course, with the communities who experience aircraft noise."

Glimmer of hope at last for India's vanishing Parsis


A jubilant Katy Gandevia passed around a box of celebratory sweets she had received in her office at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai.
"That," she said, gesturing towards the sweets, "was to celebrate the birth of the 102nd baby."
The baby in question had been born under the Jiyo Parsi scheme, a federal government initiative launched in 2013 to stem the decline of the India's Parsi population. Dr Gandevia is senior member of this initiative.
Every baby born is a moment for celebration in the dwindling community that traces its ancestry to Zoroastrian refugees who landed on the coast of the western Indian state of Gujarat around the 8th Century.
Fleeing Islamic persecution in Persia, the new arrivals integrated with the local populations, whilst maintaining their distinctive ethnic identity. As a highly-educated and prosperous community, their success and influence has been far in excess of their size. And that size is ever-shrinking.
With each census, the number of Parsis has dropped, even as India's population of 1.3 billion people has grown.
The latest 2011 census put the number of Indian Parsis at 57,264, a fall from 1,14,000 in 1941, and extinction has increasingly become a reality.
Jiyo Parsi is an ambitious plan to halt that.
For its first phase - which will conclude in a few months - the scheme received 100 million rupees ($1.5m;£1.1m) to defray costs of fertility treatments for Parsi couples earning less than 2m rupees a year.
The campaign also sought to encourage Parsis to go forth and multiply through advertising, counselling and outreach efforts, .


That flipped the script on family planning, a key part of Indian government policy for decades.
When it was first announced in September 2013, the scheme quickly became both a headline and a punchline. It's quirky outreach included ad campaigns that urged couples to "Be responsible, don't use a condom tonight" and told young men to cut the umbilical chord and marry because, "isn't it time you broke up with your mom?"
But even though some objected that the campaign reduced women to their uteruses, it appears to have made a dent.
"The scheme created an enthusiasm and a buzz," Ms Gandevia told the BBC. "People were pessimistic but this has been a ray of hope."
Most of the babies have been born in Mumbai, which has India's largest concentration of Parsis. The number includes five pairs of twins and a roughly equal number of boys and girls.
One woman who declined to be identified claimed she had given up on having a child after repeated efforts which drained both her patience and money, but said that the financial assistance and counselling under the Jiyo scheme helped her conceive.
Another woman said: "At the age of 41 when most women start experiencing the symptoms of menopause, I am experiencing the symptoms of a long-awaited pregnancy. At the end of every tunnel there is light."
Before she became a coordinator for the scheme, Ms Gandevia, a social scientist and Parsi herself, had studied this tightly-knit group for more than a decade.
She says the first cause for alarm was in 2001, when census figures showed a sharp drop.
"That was the time the bells should have started ringing. the writing was on the wall," she said.
More than 30% of Parsis don't marry, and an equal proportion are more than 60-years-old. The total fertility rate for Parsis- the number of children a woman has - has dropped to 0.8. The average for India is 2.3, and 2.1 is the figure at which a population remains steady.


Zoroastrianism


  • Zoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest monotheistic religions - Zoroastrians believe there is is one God called Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord)
  • Founded by Zoroaster, also known as Zarathustra (pictured above), in Persia about 3,500 years ago
  • Once one of the world's most powerful religions, it is now one of the smallest
  • Zoroastrians are roughly split into two groups, Iranians and Parsis - there are an estimated 110,000 Parsis around the globe and in 2006 the New York Times reported there were probably less than 190,000 Zoroastrians worldwide
  • They worship in fire temples and believe fire represents God's light or wisdom

A combination of factors has been responsible for this: marrying outside the community or not at all, divorce, couples having only one child and late marriages.
Furthermore, women who marry outside the community are not allowed to raise their children in the faith.
Hence, the two-pronged efforts of the team, which believes that talking to people, without lecturing them on reproducing, can be a powerful motivator.
"It is all because of the advocacy work that I decided to have a second child," said a Mumbai-based woman who is in her first trimester. "In whatever way, it is my small contribution."
The woman said she initially decided not to have another child to focus on her career.
"But maybe subconsciously I wanted another kid," she said. "All of us are happy."
Emphasising community pride and the joys of kinship has been another thrust area - a new advertising campaign launching later this month will focus on family.
Impressed by their efforts, even the Japanese government - a country where the population is rapidly aging and the fertility rate has fallen to 1.4 - has approached Parzor Foundation, an implementing partner, to decode the success of the campaign
"When we started, we were going into unknown territory," Shernaz Cama, the foundation's director told the BBC. "This had never been attempted by an urban, educated community before. Now we are seeing interest from all over."
Although the initial euphoria is palpable, it is too early to estimate any demographic impact it has had on the fertility rate.
"But 102 babies were born that would have otherwise not been there if Jiyo Parsi hadn't provided support," said Ms Gandevia. "That is a fact." She added that the real effects would be visible a generation from now.
Still, there are currently more Parsis dying than are being born every year. In Mumbai, for instance, about 750 Parsis die annually, and 200 children are born, pointed out Jehangir Patel, the editor and publisher of Parsiana, a community-focussed publication in the city.
"Even five or 20 more births per year more won't change the demographics," he said. "It's a good endeavour helping couples who might have otherwise not been able to have children but it won't drastically change the picture."
Bhavya Dore is a Mumbai-based journalist


Dalian Wanda $9.3bn deal in 'crazy' restructuring


One of China's biggest ever property deals is being restructured, less than a week after it was announced.
Dalian Wanda had said it was selling 13 tourism projects - including three theme parks - and 77 hotels to developer Sunac for $9.3bn (£7.1bn).
But now the deal is being split, with another firm, Guangzhou R&F Properties, taking on the hotels.
One analyst described the restructuring of the deal as "very unusual" and "kind of crazy".

Raised eyebrows

Neither side has commented on why the deal was reworked but it is believed to follow bank scrutiny.
R&F, which said it would now be the world's largest hotel owner, saw its share price jump sharply.
Sunac's stocks also rallied, as investors cheered that the firm was taking on less debt risk.


Under the previous terms, Wanda had been due to lend Sunac more than half the money needed to do the deal, which raised eyebrows among some observers.
The restructuring of the deal was "kind of crazy" said Ben Cavender, senior analyst with China Market Research.
"It is very concerning, and it's very unusual at this late stage to have a $9bn deal, and then to have another deal with another company in place."
He added Chinese firms were running into trouble because they did not have the due diligence or vetting in place for large mergers and acquisitions.
"They put out a lot of press, then the regulators realise there's some issues that need to be addressed. I suspect that's what happened here."
The initial transaction had been a surprise - not least because it represented a U-turn from Dalian Wanda's ambitions to expand in the tourism sector.

The three Chinese theme parks had only opened in the past year, and were intended to compete with US giant Disney's ventures in the country.
While it emerged as a property giant in China, Dalian Wanda has come to prominence abroad after its heavy investment in the film and cinema industries.
It controls the AMC cinema chain, as well as Legendary Entertainment, co-producer of hit films including Godzilla and The Dark Knight Rises.
But it is one of several major Chinese firms whose transactions have come under scrutiny from Beijing, and it has been widely reported that Chinese banks have been told to stop providing funding to Dalian Wanda and others to make overseas acquisitions.

'Bit of a mess'

The effects of the clampdown were first seen earlier this year when Wanda pulled out of a $1bn bid for the owner of the Golden Globe TV and film awards.
That pressure is widely seen as a blow to the ambitions of Wanda's billionaire chief executive Wang Jianlin.
"I'm a little bit sympathetic to Wanda," said Christopher Balding, professor of politics and economics at Peking University.
"What they were doing 12 months ago was being heavily encouraged by Chinese regulators. Beijing wanted to improve its soft power with entertainment assets and things like this and Wanda was very willing to help there.
"But they've clearly fallen into a bit of a mess."


Justine Damond's death 'should not have happened'

The fatal shooting of an Australian woman by a Minneapolis police officer "should not have happened", the city's police chief has said.
Justine Damond, originally from Sydney, was shot when she approached a police car after reporting a suspected rape.
A lawyer for Ms Damond's family has called it "ludicrous" to suggest the two officers inside feared an ambush.
Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau said the killing was the "the actions and judgement of one individual".
Officer Mohamed Noor, who shot Ms Damond in the abdomen in an upmarket neighbourhood of the city, has refused to be interviewed by investigators, as is his legal right.
"The actions in question go against who we are as a department, how we train and the expectations we have for our officers," Chief Harteau told reporters in Minneapolis.
"I want to assure Justine's family our community and those in Australia that I will do everything in my power to ensure due process is followed and justice is served."

Cameras 'should be active'

Body cameras, which are worn by all Minneapolis police, had not been turned onat the time of the shooting and the squad car dashboard camera also failed to capture the incident.
Chief Harteau said the cameras worn by Officers Noor and Matthew Harrity "should have been activated".
"An officer should have them on and that is what we are trying to identify," Chief Harteau said.
"We want to do everything we can in training and in our policy to ensure that they are put on before an officer arrives at the scene."
Fred Bruno, the lawyer for Officer Harrity has said: "It is reasonable to assume an officer in that situation would be concerned about a possible ambush."
However Robert Bennett, who represents Ms Damond's family, said the yoga instructor was in her pyjamas when she approached the police and "was not a threat to anyone".
Mr Bennett told CBS News: "I think that [the ambush fear] is ludicrous. It's disinformation. It doesn't have any basis in fact."
He added: "She obviously wasn't armed, was not a threat to anyone, and nor could she have reasonably been perceived to be."
On Thursday, a statement from Ms Damond's family said: "All we want to do is bring Justine home to Australia to farewell her in her hometown among family and friends.
"We are still trying to come to terms with this tragedy and we are struggling to understand how and why this could happen."

911 calls

On Wednesday, police released the transcript of two separate 911 calls Ms Damond made after hearing screams nearby.
"I'm not sure if she's having sex or being raped," she told the police operator, before giving her address.
"I think she just yelled out 'help', but it's difficult, the sound has been going on for a while," she continued.
Ms Damond called back eight minutes later to ensure police had the correct address.
Chief Harteau said she understood why the incident could make some people more reluctant to call 911.
"Although disheartening, I understand the fear and why it exists. This has had a negative impact on the community trust we have built," she said.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman has said he will decide whether to charge the police officer.


Strong earthquake kills two on Greek island of Kos

A strong earthquake in the Aegean Sea has killed at least two people on the Greek island of Kos, officials say.
The 6.7-magnitude quake hit 12km (seven miles) north-east of Kos, near the Turkish coast, with a depth of 10km, the US Geological Survey said.
Several others were injured on Kos, mayor George Kyritsis said.
A small tsunami was reported on the Turkish coast. Pictures on social media showed people walking with water lapping their ankles.

Justine Damond: Minneapolis police 'heard loud sound' before shooting

A Minneapolis police officer whose partner shot an Australian woman was "startled by a loud sound" just before the incident, investigators say.
Justine Damond, originally from Sydney, was gunned down after calling police to report a possible crime.
On a police radio recording, an officer mentions fireworks being let off near where the shooting happened.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said he wants answers from the US over the killing.
"It is a shocking killing, and yes, we are demanding answers on behalf of her family," he told Australian TV.
The shooting occurred as 40-year-old Ms Damond, dressed in her pyjamas, approached the driver's side door to talk to the officer at the wheel after police arrived.
Officer Mohamed Noor, who was sitting in the passenger seat, fired his weapon across his partner and through the driver's side window, striking Ms Damond, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said.
Officer Noor has refused to speak to investigators and US authorities say they cannot compel him to give a statement.
But the BCA said that Officer Matthew Harrity, who was driving the car, had told investigators that Ms Damond had come towards the car immediately after he heard a loud sound.
After the shooting, the officers are heard on the police radio recording telling dispatchers they are performing CPR and that "no suspects are at large".
State investigators say the officers failed to activate their body or dashboard cameras and both officers have been placed on administrative leave.

Why weren't the cameras on?

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman have both raised this question.
Minneapolis police are required to switch on their body cameras only during certain encounters, unlike in Los Angeles or Washington DC, where cameras must be switched on for any response to a call for service.
Instead, there are more than a dozen situations in which cameras should be used, according to the police manual, which adds that failure to use the camera could result in job termination.
"If a BWC [body-worn camera] is not activated prior to a use of force, it shall be activated as soon as it is safe to do so," reads the manual.

Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau has described Ms Damond's death as "tragic" and called for a quick investigation to provide "transparency".
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman has said he will personally decide whether to charge Officer Mohamed Noor, rather than put the question to a grand jury.
Officer Noor, who has been described by local media as a Somali-American, has been with the police force for two years.
A statement from his lawyer said he had arrived in the US "at a young age" and described him as "a caring person with a family he loves and he empathised with the loss others are experiencing".
Ms Damond, born Justine Ruszczyk, studied to be a veterinarian before relocating from Sydney to the US, where she is believed to have been for at least the last three years.
According to her website, she was a "qualified yoga instructor, a personal health and life coach and meditation teacher".
Speaking in Sydney, her father John Ruszczyk said: "Justine was a beacon to all of us, we only ask that the light of justice shine down on the circumstances of her death."
Ms Damond's death comes a year after Officer Jeronimo Yanez shot Philando Castile, a black man, during a traffic stop in St Paul - the twin city of Minneapolis - in an incident live-streamed on Facebook by his girlfriend.
Mr Castile had told the officer that he was licensed to carry a concealed weapon and was reaching for his wallet to get his driving licence out when he was shot, his girlfriend said on the video.
Officer Yanez was found not guilty of manslaughter last month - a verdict that Mr Castile's mother said showed the system "continued to fail black people".

On Wednesday morning, hundreds of people gathered for a dawn vigil at a Sydney beach to honour Ms Damond.
In silence, attendees including her family and friends lit candles and released pink flowers into the ocean.
"We are here to come together as a community around our beautiful Justine, to honour her life, share our love and mourn her death," Ms Damond's family said in a statement ahead of the vigil.


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