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international_peoplesdailyng@yahoo.com

Further delays to US flights expected after FAA issue

Normal air traffic operations are slowly resuming in the US after flights were halted on Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said. It follows a problem with the system that alerts pilots to potential hazards on flight routes.

The FAA had said flights would begin to take off again from 0900 ET (1400 GMT), though further delays are expected due to a backlog of flights.

Airports nationwide were affected, from Denver to Atlanta to New York City.

As of Wednesday morning east coast time, more than 6,700 flights in and out of the US had been delayed and more than 1,000 were cancelled.

One issue airlines are facing is trying to get planes in and out of crowded gates, which is causing further delays.

US President Joe Biden has been briefed on the FAA glitch, and the White House said there was no evidence of a cyberattack “at this point”.

Speaking to reporters, the president said the FAA “expect [that] in a couple of hours they’ll have a good sense of what caused it, and we’ll respond at that time”.

In a tweet, the White House Press Secretary said the president had called for a “full investigation”.

The FAA said the source of the problem was its Notice to Air Missions System.

According to the FAA, the system provides real-time safety information to pilots “about closed runways, equipment outages, and other potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the flight.”

Major US airlines said they were closely monitoring the situation. American Airlines, which carries the most passengers annually in North America, said it was working with the FAA to minimise customer disruption.

United Airlines said it would waive change fees and any difference in fare for customers rescheduling flights departing on or before 16 January, 2023.

Delta said it was “safely focused on managing our operation during this morning’s FAA ground stop for all carriers”, adding it would provide updates as soon as possible.

For international passengers, Air Canada - the foreign carrier with the most flights into the US - said the outage would impact on cross-border operations on Wednesday, but it couldn’t initially say to what degree. The carrier said it would put in place a “goodwill policy” so affected passengers can change their travel plans.

Meanwhile, airports in Paris - Paris Charles de Gaulle and Orly - said they expect delays to US flights. Air France said it is monitoring the situation.

For UK passengers, British Airways said its flights to and from the US will operate as planned, and Virgin Atlantic said it was continuing to operate its schedule of US flights departing from the UK. However, some US departures, the airline said, may be affected by delays.

Germany’s Lufthansa and Spain’s Iberia said they are still operating flights to and from the US as normal for now.

US Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he had been in contact with the FAA on Wednesday morning, and that they were working to resolve the issue “swiftly and safely”.

Passengers have posted on social media that they are experiencing delays.

“Always great to get up at 0400 to be at the gate in plenty of time for your flight that is now delayed by 37 minutes and counting,” said Daniel Huard in a Facebook post. “This will be a long day of travel.”

Michael Remy arrived to an airport in Virginia at 0600 ET (1100 GMT) planning to head to North Carolina for vacation. His flight was delayed right before boarding. “It is what is, so, you can only get so upset,” he told the BBC. “I may have seen it differently if I was headed to a wedding or a funeral, though.”

Elon Musk’s drop in fortunes breaks world record

From November 2021 to December 2022 he lost around $165bn, Guinness World Records said in a blog on its website.

The figures are based on data from publisher Forbes, but Guinness said other sources suggested Mr Musk’s losses could have been higher.

It follows a fall in value of shares in Mr Musk’s electric car firm Tesla after he bought Twitter last year.

His $44bn (£36bn) takeover of the social media company has sparked concerns among investors that Mr Musk is no longer giving Tesla enough attention.

Mr Musk’s losses since November 2021 surpass the previous record of $58.6bn (£47bn), suffered by Japanese tech investor Masayoshi Son in 2000.

The estimated loss is based on the value of his shares, which could regain their value, meaning Mr Musk’s wealth would increase again.

In December, the Tesla boss lost his position as richest person in the world to Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of French luxury goods company LVMH, which owns fashion label Louis Vuitton.

The value of Tesla shares dropped around 65% in 2022, in part because of Tesla’s performance. The firm delivered just 1.3 million vehicles during the year, falling short of Wall Street expectations.

However, Mr Musk’s takeover of Twitter - where he has sparked controversy by firing large numbers of staff and changing content moderation policies - is behind most of the share slump.

Many Tesla investors believe he should be focusing on the electric vehicle company as it faces falling demand amid recession fears, rising competition and Covidlinked production challenges.

“Long-term fundamentals [at Tesla] are extremely strong. Short-term market madness is unpredictable,” Mr Musk tweeted after the stock markets closed for the year in December 2022.

Mr Musk is now worth about $178bn (£152bn), according to Forbes, while Bernard Arnault has an estimated value of $188bn (£155bn).

The mystery buses behind Brazil Congress attack

Hundreds of the protesters who stormed Brazil’s Congress have been arrested but mystery still surrounds the identity of the people pulling the strings. Could a fleet of buses seized by police hold the key?

Two months ago, 60-yearold Odair boarded a bus in the southeastern state of Parana, bound for Brazil’s capital more than 1,460 km (907 miles) away.

His mission: to spend weeks showing his support for a man he affectionately refers to as “the Captain” - former President Jair Bolsonaro.

For Odair, the trip ended badly.

While he claims he did not participate in the riot at Brazil’s Congress on 8 January, he was among the more than 1,500 taken into custody by police at nearby Bolsonaro supporters’ encampments - where many had been for weeks - in the immediate aftermath.

“There were old ladies in there, crying. They had lost contact with everyone,” he told the BBC after his release, clad in the blue and yellow Brazilian football gear that has become synonymous with Bolsonaro supporters. “This is really sad business.”

Those detained hail from at least 10 Brazilian states and like Odair they made a long journey to Brasilia.

Four days before the riot, a video inviting people to the Brazilian capital for a “party” went viral. It promised free buses would take people from different parts of the country, with coffee and food laid on.

Who or what group was behind this idea, and financed it, remains something of a mystery - one that has gripped the attention of people across the country.

“It’s obvious to everyone they didn’t do it themselves,” Alice Teixeira, a Brasilia resident, told the BBC at a local filling station. “They were from many places.”

What have authorities said?

Earlier this week, Brazil’s current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the rioters are “possibly victims” of manipulation at the hands of still-unknown financiers.

So far, much of the investigation has focused on a fleet of approximately 40 buses seized by authorities after the riot. Many of these brightly-coloured buses are currently parked in a police lot on the outskirts of the city, where they are clearly visible from the highway.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Justice Minister Flavio Dino said that unnamed “business executives” rented the buses to transport Bolsonaro supporters to Brasilia from across the nation who had been offered “free trips” on social media.

While Mr Dino offered no names amid the ongoing investigation, he described the alleged organisers as being involved in the agriculture industry and the gun lobby in Brazil’s conservative midwestern and southern states. Others - including President Lula - have suggested that mining and logging firms may also be involved.

Politically, these regions are considered bastions of support for Mr Bolsonaro.

Paulo Abrão, a Brazilian law professor and human rights expert, said that backers are likely from groups that “benefited from a lack of government control” under the Bolsonaro government.

“The financiers of this incident could be groups that harm the environment, or who violate human rights in their work,” he said. “These groups would benefit from attacking the institutions of the state.”

Denials from ‘Bolsonaristas’

Many hardline supporters of the former President continue to cling to the narrative that the events of 8 January were the work of leftist provocateurs who, they say, wanted to derail peaceful protests against the Lula government.

Among them is Telma Viera, a Sao Paolo resident who spent weeks at a camp in the city alongside other Bolsonaro supporters. On Tuesday, she was in Brasilia, where she was visiting two friends taken into custody following the riot.

“This was not something done by our patriots,” she said outside the police facility where the alleged rioters are being held. “There were people from the left there, before ours.”

Another Bolsonaro supporter, Edson Varela, echoed Viera’s statement, saying that “infiltrators” started the violence at the riot “to give the government another reason for coming after Bolsonaro”.

As evidence, Ms Varela and Ms Viera both pointed to Instagram and social media videos which purport to show known Lula supporters among the crowd.

While none of these videos have been substantiated, these opinions are being widely shared and gaining traction among large swathes of Brazilians, both at home and abroad.

Juscelino Colares, a US-based Brazilian law professor, told the BBC that his numerous Brazilian friends have sent him “videos that document Bolsonaristas telling rioters how to burn or destroy public property”.

“Like me, they all believe many agent provocateurs from the left took advantage of frustration among some native right-wing protesters,” he said.

What’s next?

While Brazilian officials have vowed to identify and punish those responsible, they have so far offered little detail on the investigation, although Brazilian telecom carriers have been ordered to preserve data that may be related to the riot.

Any potential penalties for those who organised the riot remain unclear.

Some Brazilians, like Mr Abrão - a former executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights - are now calling for a congressional commission to probe the riot and what led up to it, as was the case in the US with the committee that looked into the 6 January 2021 riot.

“This country really needs to establish an instrument like that, that involves the judiciary and other government powers,” he said. “We need to create the conditions to make that possible. It’s vital.”

In the meantime, many Brazilians will be anxiously waiting for answers.

“I believe some will [eventually] be identified,” said Geomar Andre Bender, a lawyer and author. “But some will never leave their mark.”