A close mainland relative cried her eyes out while video-calling with my wife and me recently. Like many in China who have bought property since the late 2010s, she is sitting on a big loss with her flat outside downtown Chongqing. The city saw sales pick up around the time of the Spring Festival, traditionally an off-season. But when she tried her luck, the offers from potential buyers were bruta...
A close mainland relative cried her eyes out while video-calling with my wife and me recently. Like many in China who have bought property since the late 2010s, she is sitting on a big loss with her flat outside downtown Chongqing. The city saw sales pick up around the time of the Spring Festival, traditionally an off-season. But when she tried her luck, the offers from potential buyers were brutal, and she called off the sale. Knowing that I work for an English-language newspaper in Hong Kong...
Slamming into the atmosphere at more than 30 times the speed of sound, NASA’s Orion spacecraft blazed a trail over the Pacific Ocean on Friday, returning home with four astronauts and safely capping humanity’s first voyage to the Moon in nearly 54 years. Temperatures outside the capsule builtup to some 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit as a sheath of plasma enveloped the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity ,...
Slamming into the atmosphere at more than 30 times the speed of sound, NASA’s Orion spacecraft blazed a trail over the Pacific Ocean on Friday, returning home with four astronauts and safely capping humanity’s first voyage to the Moon in nearly 54 years. Temperatures outside the capsule builtup to some 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit as a sheath of plasma enveloped the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity , and its four long-distance travelers, temporarily blocking radio signals the Moon ship and Mission Control in Houston. Flying southwest to northeast, the spacecraft steered toward a splashdown zone southwest of San Diego, where a US Navy recovery ship held position to await the crew’s homecoming. Ground teams regained communications with Orion commander Reid Wiseman after a six-minute blackout. Airborne tracking planes beamed live video of Orion’s descent back to Mission Control, showing the capsule jettison its parachute cover and deploy a series of chutes to stabilize its plunge toward the Pacific. Then, three larger main chutes, each with an area of 10,500 square feet, opened to slow Orion for splashdown at 8:07 pm EDT Friday (00:07 UTC Saturday). Read full article Comments
Airfares In Israel Skyrocket As Travelers Take Advantage Of Ceasefire, But Foreign Airlines Stay Away The Iran ceasefire has finally allowed Ben Gurion international airport to fully reopen after 40 days of severe war disruptions, and after the 'new normal' for people across Israel was to routinely scramble to find missile shelters. Foreign and international carriers had canceled flights to Israel...
Airfares In Israel Skyrocket As Travelers Take Advantage Of Ceasefire, But Foreign Airlines Stay Away The Iran ceasefire has finally allowed Ben Gurion international airport to fully reopen after 40 days of severe war disruptions, and after the 'new normal' for people across Israel was to routinely scramble to find missile shelters. Foreign and international carriers had canceled flights to Israel since the US-Israeli attack started on Feb. 28 - and amid the de facto shutdown in commercial air traffic across the whole region. But Israeli media says that now two days into a full reopening and foreign airlines are not coming back for a while . El Al airlines file image Israeli airlines are hastily trying to restore their full regular schedules, amid an expected burst in travel demand during the spring and headed into the summer season. But given rising fuel costs and expected high demand, amid the absence in seats provided by foreign airlines in 'normal times', airfares are skyrocketing, Israeli media says. "The airfares of Israeli airlines are already skyrocketing because of expectations of strong travel demand in the coming weeks and especially during the summer months," Yoni Waxman, deputy chairman of Ophir Tours, explained to The Times of Israel . "Prices are very high because of the low capacity of seats currently available for the upcoming period relative to the demand for bookings," Waxman continued. "Now airfares will be even higher as the Iran war sent global oil prices and jet fuel costs soaring in recent weeks," the analyst added. TOI reviews the impact of the over one-month long war on Israel's national carriers: "Due to the imposed aviation restrictions, Israeli airlines El Al, Arkia, Israir, and Air Haifa had to cancel their regular flight schedules and operate a sharply reduced emergency schedule, mainly to repatriate citizens stuck abroad and help travelers stranded inside the country leave. The restrictions at Ben Gurion Airport upended travel plans f...