Stubborn Vulture Reportedly Plucked from Plane's Wing before Greece Flighthttps://english.aawsat.com/varieties/5307932-stubborn-vulture-reportedly-plucked-planes-wing-greece-flight
Stubborn Vulture Reportedly Plucked from Plane's Wing before Greece Flight
A vulture flies over the Iraty mountains, southwestern France on July 2, 2026. (Photo by Gaizka IROZ / AFP)
A vulture who refused to budge had to be removed from the wing of a flight awaiting takeoff on the Greek island of Crete, in order to avoid potential damage to the plane, a local newspaper reported Monday.
The Patris daily said the incident occurred late Sunday at the island's Iraklio airport, when the fire service was called in to remove the large scavenger.
It pictured the bird tucked inside a jacket held by a firefighter. The report did not specify where the flight was headed.
Birds are routinely sucked into aircraft engines, occasionally causing serious accidents.
Last week, the US National Transportation Safety Board said bird remains had been found in the engine of a Ryanair plane that saw a blade break off on July 10, shattering a cabin window and partially sucking a passenger outside.
Four suspected bird strikes to the plane's engine had been reported by flight crews in the 12 months preceding the accident, but no damage was found in subsequent maintenance, the report said.
Chile-led Team Maps Antarctic Plant Genome in Step Towards Climate-resilient Cropshttps://english.aawsat.com/varieties/5307944-chile-led-team-maps-antarctic-plant-genome-step-towards-climate-resilient-crops
Chile-led Team Maps Antarctic Plant Genome in Step Towards Climate-resilient Crops
FILE PHOTO: A frozen section of the Ross Sea at the Scott Base in Antarctica on November 12, 2016. REUTERS/Mark Ralston/Pool/File Photo
A team led by Chilean researchers has produced the most complete genetic map yet of one of only two flowering plants that grow naturally in Antarctica, potentially helping the development of crops resistant to extreme weather.
Colobanthus quitensis has long attracted scientific interest because it can survive the freezing temperatures, lack of water and high levels of ultraviolet radiation in Antarctica, one of the planet's coldest and driest environments.
As record heat and extensive drought have increased the urgency of debate in many parts of the world over how to adapt agriculture, the scientists said they are now equipped to start assessing whether the plant's traits could be transferred to agricultural crops through gene-editing techniques.
The study, published in Oxford University Press journal "Genome Biology and Evolution," assembled all 40 chromosome-scale scaffolds that make up the plant's genetic blueprint under a project known as Polarix.
"We were able to sequence and assemble the entire genome," said Eduardo Castro, an associate researcher at Chile's Cape Horn International Center and lead author of the study alongside Claudio Meneses of Chile's Pontifical Catholic University.
"The idea is not to create transgenic plants. The idea is to edit the genome of a plant with nutritional value," Reuters quoted Castro as saying.
Identifying individual genes is easier once a genome has been mapped, but it can still take time. When that has been done, Castro said that scientists could need between five and 10 years to develop commercial applications.
A team in California supported the Chilean scientists, who said their work built on previous efforts by the Korea Polar Research Institute. That work produced only a partial version of the genome and was not published.
Indian Marble Waste Dump Becomes Unlikely Tourist Attractionhttps://english.aawsat.com/varieties/5307918-indian-marble-waste-dump-becomes-unlikely-tourist-attraction
Tourists visit the marble-waste dumping yard in Rajasthan's Kishangarh city on August 16, 2026. (AFP)
TT
TT
Indian Marble Waste Dump Becomes Unlikely Tourist Attraction
Tourists visit the marble-waste dumping yard in Rajasthan's Kishangarh city on August 16, 2026. (AFP)
A sprawling expanse of white marble waste in India is drawing tourists, filmmakers and social media enthusiasts to a landscape that looks more like a snow-covered valley than a dumping ground.
The site in Kishangarh, a major marble-processing hub in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, is blanketed in white slurry and discarded stone generated when marble and granite blocks are cut and polished.
Spread across 82 acres (33 hectares), it receives more than 5,500 tons of slurry every day from over 1,200 processing units, making it one of Asia's largest such disposal sites.
But the industrial wasteland has evolved into an unlikely attraction.
Couples pose among the chalk-white mounds for pre-wedding photographs, while filmmakers and music-video crews use the terrain as a backdrop.
Visitors ride horses across the undulating landscape, drawn by its unusual appearance.
Social media has fueled the site's popularity, with visitors comparing its gleaming surface to snowy alpine scenery.
After rainfall, water collects in depressions between the waste piles, forming vivid blue pools that accentuate the illusion of a mountain vista.
Authorities have repeatedly warned about the environmental impacts of marble waste disposal in the region, citing risks ranging from airborne dust to groundwater contamination.
Studies have detected elevated levels of salinity, hardness and some heavy metals in water from the surrounding area.
India's top environmental court ordered a series of corrective measures in January, including guidelines aimed at promoting the reuse of slurry instead of uncontrolled dumping.
"There is no engineered liner system, no decanting wells, no dust suppression mechanisms, no monitoring of air or groundwater, and no protective green belt," the tribunal said in its order.
But those dangers have not yet deterred crowds of visitors from soaking in the striking, otherworldly scenery.
This photograph taken on July 30, 2026 shows Maharashtra's Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Tukaram Mundhe speaking with AFP at his office in Mumbai. (Photo by Indranil MUKHERJEE / AFP)
This photograph taken on July 30, 2026 shows Maharashtra's Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Tukaram Mundhe speaking with AFP at his office in Mumbai. (Photo by Indranil MUKHERJEE / AFP)
When food safety inspectors raided a Mumbai dessert parlor famed for its ice cream sandwiches last month, they found rats, houseflies and expired flavoring agents.
At another beloved restaurant known for slow-cooked mutton and beef stews, they discovered meat stored in filthy containers, greasy floors and open windows that could let in insects and crows.
Both eateries were ordered shut in the toughest crackdown in years on restaurants in the megacity of more than 20 million people.
Residents of India's financial capital are fiercely protective of their food culture, but many have welcomed the closure of some of the best-known establishments over a lack of hygiene.
Much of the campaign has been driven by Tukaram Mundhe, the new head of Maharashtra state's food safety regulator.
"If they are abiding by the law... they have nothing to fear. And those who do not, they have no place to hide," Mundhe told AFP.
In July alone, his office inspected nearly 900 businesses and temporarily suspended more than 100 licenses.
The sweep has targeted everything from top eateries and luxury hotels to canteens at elite institutions, including the nearly century-old Cricket Club of India.
Mundhe, who has 2.6 million Instagram followers, said he was surprised by how many owners lacked knowledge of even basic food safety rules.
"How to receive the raw material, how to store it, how to process it... whether there should be (special) flooring. Many of the things they are unaware (of)."
India has a robust food safety framework on paper, but enforcement remains weak.
Government data from 2022 to 2025 shows roughly one in six food samples tested by the federal regulator failed to meet key standards.
While Indians are used to street food carts that use grimy rags or rancid cooking oil, they have higher expectations for established restaurants.
Mundhe's no-holds-barred approach has won support from residents who believe some operators routinely bribe officials to overlook violations.
"Every department must have an officer like Mundhe," said Mumbai resident Pramod Shinde.
"Corruption and adulteration can be contained only through the strict actions of such officers."
But the campaign is also facing resistance from hotel lobby groups, who have criticized it as too heavy-handed.
"The sudden suspension or termination of licenses without prior notice or opportunity for corrective action is a matter of grave concern," three industry associations said in a statement, adding that they had appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This photograph taken on August 1, 2026 shows a cyclist riding past the 110 year-old Parsi Dairy Farm which reopened after being closed down for food safety norms violation by Maharashtra's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Mumbai. (Photo by Indranil Mukherjee / AFP)
Courts have also begun weighing in.
In one case, local media reported that Mumbai's high court had overturned the suspension of a hotel's license, telling regulators to tone down their approach given "we're in India".
Anxiety has also spread among roadside vendors, many of whom fear they could be next.
"If the smaller street-food stalls are closed down, where will we go? We have a family and kids to support," said Ashok Verma, who runs a sandwich shop.
Mundhe, who took over in May, says much of the criticism he has faced is unfair since only a small share of inspections have led to license suspensions.
"(But) we don't compromise on unhealthy or unsafe food which is likely to go in the stomach of the person."
Experts say India's food safety problems are structural and cannot be fixed through inspections alone.
A shortage of personnel is among the biggest challenges. Maharashtra's regulator has fewer than 400 officers, despite rules requiring more than twice that number.
"They ideally need 2,000 for proper functioning," said food safety consultant Sanjay Indani.
Many residents worry Mundhe may not stay long enough to complete the overhaul, given India's reputation for frequently transferring bureaucrats who upset powerful interests.
Mundhe has reportedly been moved 20 times during a career spanning more than two decades.
He has received some backing from the rich and influential, including billionaire Harsh Goenka.
"Nothing restores public faith faster than seeing the powerful treated like everyone else. Nothing destroys it faster than transferring the officer who made that happen. Let's hope this time it's different," Goenka wrote on social media.
Mundhe himself is unfazed by the prospect of reassignment.
"I do not look at it as a hanging sword on me. I just look at my role where I am posted. I try to do it in the best possible manner," he said.
لم تشترك بعد
انشئ حساباً خاصاً بك لتحصل على أخبار مخصصة لك ولتتمتع بخاصية حفظ المقالات وتتلقى نشراتنا البريدية المتنوعة
