News

Fifth Blue Origin flight scheduled for next week

Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin space tourism company announced Friday that its next rocket will take off on May 20 with six passengers on board. One of the travelers will be the first woman born in Mexico to go into space. Liftoff is scheduled for 8:30 am (1330 GMT) from western Texas. It will be the fifth manned space flight for the company. Katya Echazarreta, who was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, arrived in the United States at age seven. Now 26, she will become the youngest American woman in space. The engineer was sponsored by the "Space for Humanity" program, which seeks to democratize access to space and selected her from among 7,000 candidates. The crew will also include the second Brazilian person to go into space, Victor Correa Hespanha. Blue Origin takes passengers above the Karman line, which marks the start of space at 100 kilometers (62 miles) high. The flight lasts about 10 minutes total. Passengers can unfasten their seat belts and float for a few moments in zero gravity while they admire the curvature of Earth through the rocket windows. The price of a ticket is not known. Amazon founder Bezos participated in the first manned flight of the New Shepard rocket in July 2021. Since then, the rocket has also carried Star Trek icon William Shatner and Laura Shepard Churchley, the daughter of the first American in space.

Read more

Airlines press US to lift predeparture testing requirements

US airlines are pressing the Biden administration to lift a 16-month-old rule requiring nearly all international air passengers with some exceptions to test negative for Covid-19 before entering the country. Airline executives say many Americans are not travelling internationally because of concerns they will test positive in a foreign country and then be stranded abroad. International US air travel remains down about 15 per cent from pre-pandemic levels. Airlines for America, an industry group, said that a survey of its carriers estimated that dropping testing rules would bring in an additional 4.3 million international passengers and USD 1.7 billion in incremental revenue - and could result in an incremental 1.075 million foreign visitors and USD 2.1 billion in visitor spending. Crain's Chicago Business reported Thursday that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he did not think pre-departure rules “will be there forever” but added lifting them would require the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) to be confident “relaxing it would not harm the progress that we've made against the virus.” CDC declined to comment. Britain's Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Reuters and other reporters in Washington on Thursday he discussed the issue with Buttigieg and some US lawmakers. Shapps said dropping requirements have boosted the British economy and not impacted Covid-19 cases. “It works to get rid of it. It's been a massive boost for our tourism, travel industry,” Shapps said. He thinks the United States is moving toward lifting the rules, but US officials offered no firm indications. “My sense is that it's moving towards endgame. I think they realise that it needs to go,” Shapps said. “My sense is that by the summer.” The United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and many other countries have eliminated pre-departure testing requirements for vaccinated travellers.

Read more

Madurai plans heritage walks, cycling to showcase nightlife of the city

Madurai City Corporation is planning heritage walks and heritage cycling especially during the night to showcase the nightlife of Madurai, popularly called Thoonganagaram or the city that never sleeps. Mayor V Indirani Ponvasanth presented the idea during the corporation budget meeting on Wednesday. The initiative is aimed at giving a boost to the tourism sector in Madurai post Covid-19. The city corporation will collaborate with the state tourism department in this regard. Corporation commissioner, K P Karthikeyan, said that the project is in its initial stage and the objective is to package Madurai’s heritage with nightlife and food. “These heritage walks and cycling will be held during the nights so that the tourists can go back to those places the next day (if they wished). Heritage cycling will be designed to introduce Madurai’s iconic streets to the tourists,” he said. The city corporation has also proposed to create cycling tracks at Vaigai North Bank road and Teppakulam for the city dwellers. The Race Course road in north zone will be provided with walking track, entertainment features and cycle track as well. City-based NGO, DHAN foundation has been conducting monthly heritage walks for years. During Covid-19 the heritage walk was moved to virtual tour but the NGO covers the entire district for heritage walks. Collaborating with the NGO, the city corporation laid coloured paver block roads to the heritage structures some years ago. “It will be a very good initiative if the corporation takes out heritage walks to showcase our rich culture to visiting tourists,” said K P Bharathi, advisor to DHAN’s Tourism for Development project. The present heritage structures go back in history as early as 12 to 13th centuries. The NGO developed two heritage circuits inside the city. One began from Nayak’s Mahal to Meenakshi temple’s east tower that dates back to Maravarman Sundara Pandyan I, covering spots like Pathuthoon, Vilakkuthoon, Vittavasal, Pudumandapam and Rayagopuram. The second one that started from Meenakshi temple’s west tower ended in the remnants of Nayak’s fort at West Gate covering St George’s Anglican Church, West Masi street building where Gandhi changed his attire, Koodal Alagar temple and Kajimar mosque.

Read more

Delhi to Leh bus service flags off after 8 months as snow clears off sooner than usual

After a long wait of eight months, the bus services in Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district to Leh in Ladakh resumed on Sunday. The services were paused on this route in Himachal Pradesh during the winters. This morning, the Sub-Divisional Officer of Keylong, Priya Nagta, flagged off the bus carrying 17 passengers, as this year, the snow has been cleared off one and a half months sooner than usual. The bus is decided to facilitate the direct travel of people from Delhi to Leh via Keylong, in two shifts from Keylong to Leh and Leh to Delhi. It will depart from Keylong, every day at 5 AM to cover its 365 km to Leh, followed by travelling a distance of 1026Km from Leh to Delhi. In 2021, the bus services were started on July 1. The Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) has announced the fare price, for each passenger, from Keylong to Delhi as ₹2,398 (Rs.658 from Keylong to Leh and ₹1,740 from Leh to Delhi). Keylong to Leh bus service has resumed to services after 8 months of winter break.

Read more

Reservations required to visit Hawaii's famous Diamond Head State Monument

Out-of-state visitors to the Diamond Head State Monument in Hawaii, locally known as Lē'ahi, are now required to make reservations prior to the visit. Diamond Head State Monument is one of the most-visited sites in Hawaii. Located on the island of O’ahu, the park is a popular hiking destination and the scenic views are its main feature. Residents have free access to the park but those from outside of Hawaii must have a reservation for entry and parking. Entry might be based on the availability of parking. So plan ahead for this one. The last time slot for entrance is 4 PM; park closes at 6 PM daily. Also, no pets are allowed in the park except for service animals. The hiking trails are not accessible to people with disabilities; however, the crater floor of Diamond Head is fully accessible. The new rules and regulations have been put in place due to the problem of overcrowding. With no cap on visitors’ entry, the park was used to getting a very big number of visitors daily.

Read more

India's first ever ‘Amrit Sarovar’ inaugurated in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur

Uttar Pradesh has now become home to the country’s first-ever ‘Amrit Sarovar’ which was inaugurated in Rampur district. The inauguration was done by the union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and state’s Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh on Friday. So Amrit Sarovar in Rampur is basically one of 789 ponds which the Uttar Pradesh government will develop. Nearly INR 60 lakh were spent in the creation of this water body. As per Swatantra Dev Singh, this will not just help in preserving groundwater but also promote tourism in the state. The government will also be ensuring greenery in and around the water bodies region. And for this project, the forest and horticulture departments will come together with the Jal Shakti ministry. Singh said that the UP government has taken an important step towards water conservation with the inauguration of the first Amrit Sarovar. He further stated, “In the coming years, there will be no shortage of water in the state. The government is making arrangements for continuous availability of water”. The Union Minister also applauded the efforts of the state in creating the first ever Amrit Sarovar in a record time. He said that such developments are crucial in promoting tourism as well as conserving water. And it is the result of participation of common people, villagers and gram panchayat along with district administration.

Read more