There’s been royal drama in the skies when the plane carrying Queen Elizabeth was forced to abort its landing
Stormy weather and lightning are to blame, with the jet’s pilot forced to return the aircraft to cruising altitude, just seconds before it was due to touchdown.
The 13-seater was eventually able to make a safe landing, arriving in London after a short trip from Aberdeen.
Queen Elizabeth’s convoy was awaiting her majesty’s arrival, whisking the monarch away to Windsor Castle with her corgi on the back seat.
Buckingham Palace has since confirmed the flight did in fact abort the landing but stresses there were no safety concerns.
Celebrating 70 years on the throne
Now, Queen Elizabeth has arrived safely back at Windsor Castle ahead of four days of Platinum Jubilee celebrations
There are less than 48 hours to go before the long weekend of Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The Jubilee celebrates her majesty’s 70 years on the throne. The 96-year-old monarch was seen at Aberdeen airport, after a break in Scotland, before her special events begin.
The festivities will spread right across London over a four-day bank holiday.
WINDSOR, ENGLAND – MAY 15: Queen Elizabeth II during the “A Gallop Through History” performance as part of the official celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee at the Royal Windsor Horse Show at Home Park on May 15, 2022 in Windsor, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
Four days of festivities
First, is Trooping The Colour, with thousands anticipated to flock to London for the Queen’s Birthday Parade.
Next, the Queen will head to the palace balcony, for the RAF flypast.
In a show of solidarity, thousands will light beacons collectively as well as Buckingham Palace on Thursday evening.
There will be a thanksgiving service on Friday at St Paul’s Cathedral, with a reception shortly after at Guildhall.
On Saturday, her Majesty will attend Derby Day in Surrey, where she will be greeted with a guard of honour by her jockeys over the years.
Platinum party
Then comes to Platinum Party of 22,000 people at Buckingham Palace on Saturday night.
This is where the music will kick off, with a concert from the return of the rock band Queen, to begin around 8 pm local time.
Celebrities will be pouring into the events, with the likes of Andrea Bocelli, Alicia Keys, Nile Rodgers, and Craig David.
Sir Elton John will also grace the audience with a pre-recorded special performance.
On Sunday, Celebrations will wrap up with another parade throughout London. Here, is where performers will tell the monarch’s 70-year story on the throne.
The four-day celebrations will conclude with the national anthem sung by Ed Sheeran, where the Queen will stand on the palace balcony, singing along with thousands of onlookers.
Holly is an anchor and reporter at Ticker. She's experienced in live reporting, and has previously covered the Covid-19 pandemic on-location. She's passionate about telling stories in business, climate and health.
These travel tips will help you reduce jet lag the next time you travel abroad
We all love a holiday but, unfortunately, when you’re travelling long distances it often comes with a side of jet leg.
So what causes it and are there any ways to avoid that drowsy feeling?
After years of lockdowns and travel restrictions, people are finally back in the skies and venturing to destinations right around the world.
The term “jet lag” describes the physical and cognitive symptoms people experience when traveling quickly across several timezones.
Before you leave, you’re synchronised to your local time and once you enter a new timezone, your body’s rhythms are thrown out of whack.
The experience of jet lag varies between people because we all have our own internal rhythm.
Most have a natural daily cycle of about 24.2 hours.
But some people have slightly longer cycles than others, and this could play a role in how a person experiences jet lag.
Research shows if you have a longer cycle you might adjust quicker to westward travel.
We also get a little less resilient as we age, so the older you are, the worse the jet lag may be.
So does the direction of travel matter? Scientists think so.
Many people find westward travel easier. This is when you, essentially, gain time.
But that’s not always possible – so here are some tips to help you through the pain, or even avoid it, in the first place:
1. If you’re trying to shift your body clock, you should start on the plane. Do this by setting your watch to your destination’s timezone and line up your activities, like sleep and meals, accordingly.
2. Next, keep your caffeine and alcohol intake low on the journey to help aid both sleep and hydration.
3. When you arrive, try your absolute best to sleep during the local night time and rest during the day as needed.
4. You can take a nap – but make sure it’s 30 minutes or less.
5. If you’re prone to or experience tummy trouble while traveling, stick to small meals and only eat when you’re hungry.
6. Finally, you should also expose yourself to sunlight throughout the day when adjusting to your new timezone.
Young people are taking to the streets in France as Macron pushes ahead with raising nation’s retirement age
Huge crowds have gathered in France in recent weeks to protest a controversial rise in the country’s pension age by two years to 64.
Some of the marches have turned violent.
While the reform is most relevant to those approaching retirement, many young people are also taking to the streets.
But why might that be?
The French youth have joined the protests in growing numbers since the government bypassed parliament to push the plans through.
Every night for the past few weeks, 18-year-old Charles Chauliac has been making his voice heard. Not just for his parents, but for himself.
“I am against this reform simply because I have two parents who are killing themselves at work and damaging their health and I don’t want to see them die at work. My father, he works every day, he gets up to get on the tarmac at Charles de Gaulle airport at 5 a.m. to load the planes. I find it difficult to imagine myself at 64 getting up at 3 a.m.”
Chauliac is part of groups started by university students to organize unauthorized demonstrations, which are usually carried out in the evenings.
While a few protesters have been seen torching bins and throwing rocks at police, Chauliac insists he hasn’t.
Opinion polls show a wide majority of voters are opposed to the pension bill.
They are further angered by Macron’s leadership style and the government’s decision to skip the parliamentary vote.
“For young people like me, we grew up with the hope of being able to influence our society. And when we see that decisions are made without consulting the people who make up this society, that takes away the possibility of being able to change things.”
Many students, like Chauliac, have been joining private groups on social media which help students mobilize for spontaneous protests.
He says they help prevent the groups being noticed by police.
But does Chauliac worry about the repercussions, should the demonstrations get out of hand?
“I wonder about that, because I know what can happen to us too, we see the images and we see what happens to fellow protesters, but that wouldn’t prevent me from demonstrating, because I’m so outraged that it surpasses potentially endangering myself.”
Macron recently said he would press ahead with the reforms.
Unions have called for regional action, and the continuation of nationwide strikes and protests. #trending #featured
Controversial facial recognition has been used a million times by police to help track criminals
As facial recognition becomes more prominent, the founder of tech firm Clearview says his company has run nearly a million searches for U.S. police.
It’s also been revealed the company has scraped 30 billion images from platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, taken without users’ permissions.
The company has been fined numerous times in Europe and countries like Australia for breaches of privacy laws.
In the U.S., critics say the use of Clearview by authorities puts everyone into a “police line-up”.
The company’s high-tech system allows law enforcement to upload a photo of a face and find matches in a database comprising of billions of images it has collected.
It then provides links to where matching images appear online.
The tool is considered to be one of the world’s most powerful and accurate.
While the company is banned from selling its services to most U.S. companies, there is an exemption for police. #trending #featured