Bolivia shuts down Colombia crash airline

Yahoo – AFP, Rodrigo Almonacid, Dec 1, 2016

Rescue teams recover of the bodies from the LAMIA airlines charter flight that
crashed in the mountains of Cerro Gordo, municipality of La Union, Colombia, on
November 29, 2016 carrying members of the Brazilian football team Chapecoense
Real (AFP Photo/Raul Arboleda)

Medellín (Colombia) (AFP) - The Bolivian charter airline behind a plane crash that killed 71 people in Colombia was shut down Thursday, as shock grew over a harrowing recording of the pilot's final minutes without fuel.

Bolivia said it had suspended charter company LAMIA's permit and ordered an investigation into its operations.

It also sacked the executive staff of both the civil aviation authority and the airports administrator for the duration of the probe.

The government did not explain the decision.

But it came as investigators examine pilot error and air traffic control problems as possible factors in the Monday night crash, which killed most of Brazilian football club Chapecoense Real and 20 journalists traveling with them to a championship match.

LAMIA, which specializes in flying Latin American football teams, has ferried local clubs and national sides around the region, with players including superstar Lionel Messi.

Investigators are trying to piece together the last moments of the doomed flight, which slammed into the mountains outside Medellin with 77 people on board, six of whom miraculously survived.

Details of the jet's terrifying end emerged in an audio recording aired by Colombian media in which the pilot radioed frantically that he was out of fuel.

In the recording, pilot Miguel Quiroga contacts the control tower seeking priority to land.

The operator tells him he will have to wait seven minutes for another plane to land first.

"We have a fuel emergency, ma'am, that's why I am asking you for it at once, full stop," the pilot replied.

The timeline was not immediately clear, but shortly after the pilot radioed: "Ma'am, Lima-Mike-India 2933 is in total failure, total electrical failure, without fuel."

The operator responded: "Runway clear and expect rain on the runway Lima-Mike-India 2933. Firefighters alerted."

The pilot is heard asking: "Vectors, ma'am, vectors to the runway." Vectors is the term for the navigation service provided to planes by air traffic control.

The operator is heard giving him directions, and asking his altitude.

"Nine thousand feet, ma'am. Vectors! Vectors!"

Those were Quiroga's last words to the control tower.

Fans of Brazil's Chapecoense football club take part in a tribute to their players

killed in a plane crash (AFP Photo/DOUGLAS MAGNO)

Six-month wait

Colombia's civil aeronautics agency said the time sequence of the tape was "inexact," and had no comment on the content of the recording.

But the agency's air safety chief, Freddy Bonilla, confirmed at a news conference that the plane was out of fuel at the moment of impact.

Bonilla said international rules require aircraft to maintain fuel in reserve when flying between airports, and that the LAMIA plane had failed to do so.

The British Aerospace 146 jet was scheduled to make a refueling stop in Bogota, but skipped the Colombian capital and headed straight for Medellin, reported Bolivian newspaper Pagina Siete, citing a representative of the airline.

Civil aviation director Alfredo Bocanegra said it would take investigators at least six months to analyze the black box recorders recovered from the plane and reach a conclusion on the cause of the crash.

Bodies identified

Investigators finished identifying the victims' bodies Thursday.

A representative for the funeral homes preparing them said they would be sent home to Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela and Paraguay late Thursday or early Friday.

Cinderella-story club Chapecoense had been traveling to what would have been the biggest match in its history, the finals of South America's second-largest club tournament, the Copa Sudamericana.

Tearful tributes to the club were held Wednesday evening, at the time the match was to have been played, in Medellin and the team's hometown, Chapeco in southern Brazil.

Both stadiums were packed to capacity.

Mourners held candles in the air in Chapeco as the handful of remaining players from the team took to the pitch in tears.

A minute's silence for Chapecoense will be held before every Champions League and Europa League game next week, UEFA said Thursday.

People participate in a tribute to the players of Brazilian team Chapecoense

killed in a plane crash in the Colombian mountains (AFP Photo/LUIS ACOSTA)

Caring for survivors

Six people survived the crash.

Bolivian crew members Ximena Suarez and Erwin Tumiri are expected to be released from hospital Thursday, an official said.

Chapecoense defender Alan Ruschel was in critical but stable condition in intensive care after having back surgery.

Journalist Rafael Henzel and player Helio Neto were listed as stable.

Goalkeeper Jakson Follmann was meanwhile set to undergo surgery again, after having his right leg amputated.

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Emirates airline to launch 'world's longest' non-stop flight

Dubai-based Emirates airline says it will launch the world's longest non-stop flight next year, connecting the Gulf nation with Central America. Dubai-Panama City passengers will be in their seats for over 17 hours.

Deutsche Welle, 14 Aug 2015

Slated to debut in February 2016, the 13,821-kilometer (8,590-mile) stretch between Dubai and Panama City will take approximately 17 hours, 35 minutes - using a Boeing 777-200LR to carry up to 266 passengers and 15 tons of cargo.

"Panama City will be our first destination gateway in Central America, providing a convenient option for our passengers travelling from or through our global hub in Dubai and onward to destinations throughout Central America, the Caribbean and the northern part of South America," the airline's chief executive Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum told the dpa news agency.

Panama to United Arab Emirates

Australia's Qantas currently operates the world's longest flight, from Dallas, Texas to Sydney, Australia, which takes just under 17 hours. The new flight between Dubai and Panama City is longer by just 17 kilometers.

Singapore Airlines had previously operated an even longer flight - nearly 19 hours - that connected Singapore to Newark, New Jersey, but scrapped it two years ago to cut costs.

Emirates is backed by the government of Dubai and has expanded rapidly by routing international transit passengers and cargo through its hub in the Persian Gulf.

jar/jr (dpa, AFP, AP)

Houston submerged as wild weather kills 20 in US, Mexico

Yahoo – AFP, 26 may 2015

Vehicles are left stranded on Interstate 45 in Houston, Texas on May 26, 2015, 

after heavy rains put the city under massive amounts of water (AFP Photo/

Aaron M. Sprecher)

Houston (AFP) - Torrential rain left large parts of Houston submerged Tuesday and trapped fans at an NBA basketball game, in savage weather that has killed nearly 20 people in the United States and Mexico.

The southern US states of Texas and Oklahoma, and northern Mexico, have borne the brunt of several days of violent weather, including tornadoes, which have left scores dead, missing and injured on both sides of the border.

More than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain fell in just a few hours in the Texas city of Houston, triggering the worst flooding there in at least a decade and stranding at an arena a Houston Rockets player and spectators who had gone to see the basketball team Monday night.

Hundreds of vehicles, some fully under water, were abandoned on Houston's roads. Some people were trapped in their cars, others marooned in their homes, as flood waters rose menacingly up around them.

Two people died overnight in the flooding in the city, Mayor Annise Parker said, with the toll expected to rise. Both had drowned.

"I want to ask and urge people to continue to be safe and recognize that we may have more rain later today," she said, encouraging people to stay at home in America's fourth-largest city.

The southern US states of Texas and Oklahoma, and far northern Mexico, 

have borne the brunt of several days of wild weather, including tornadoes, which

 have destroyed homes, seen rivers swell to record levels and left cars 

submerged on highways (AFP Photo/Aaron M. Sprecher)

"We have cars littered all over the city," she told a press conference, adding that emergency crews were attempting to reach the abandoned vehicles to see if anyone had been trapped inside.

Downtown Houston, where the Toyota Center is located, was not under water, said Parker. But about 200 fans had been unable to get home from the NBA game for several hours after the deluge and a few settled down for the night in the arena.

At least one Rockets player, center Dwight Howard, was among those stranded into the night after learning of the treacherous road conditions.

"There's no need to try to push it," the Houston Chronicle reported him as saying.

"I don't think it's smart for anybody to try to be out in this weather."

President Barack Obama called the flooding in Texas "terrible" and said he had offered urgent assistance to state Governor Greg Abbott.

'I love you. And pray'

Fears were growing meanwhile for at least 12 people still missing in Hays County, also in Texas.

Vehicles are left stranded on Highway

 288 in Houston, Texas on May 26, 

2015, after heavy rains put the city

 under massive amounts of water 

(AFP Photo/Aaron M. Sprecher)

One person was already confirmed dead there and two more died in Oklahoma, which is located to the north of Texas.

Many of the dozen missing in Hays County were from one house that was torn from its foundations during a terrifying flash flood over the weekend.

View galleryVehicles left stranded on a flooded Interstate 45 in …

Vehicles left stranded on a flooded Interstate 45 in Houston, Texas on May 26, 2015, after heavy rai …

There were two families staying at the A-frame house in the picturesque town of Wimberley for the long Memorial Day weekend, NBC News reported. Among them were three children.

Inside was Laura McComb, who was on the phone with her sister when the house, built on stilts, broke off and was swept away.

"We are in a house that is now floating down the river," she reportedly told her sister, Julie Shields. "Call Mom and Dad. I love you. And pray."

Shields told the NBC affiliate KXAN that the phone call ended when McComb thought she saw a light from a helicopter that had come to rescue them.

She has not been heard from since Saturday night.

Baby found dead

Vehicles left stranded on a flooded Interstate 

45 in Houston, Texas on May 26, 2015,

 after heavy rains put the city under massive

 ammounts of water (AFP Photo/Aaron M. 

Sprecher)

South of the border, Mexico has also felt nature's wrath.

A savage twister roared through the border city of Ciudad Acuna at dawn Monday, killing at least 14 people and flattening hundreds of homes in a deadly six-second blast.

Among the victims of the tornado’s 270-300 kilometer-per-hour (168-186 miles) winds was a baby boy who was ripped from the grasp of his desperate parents and flung into the air.

His body was found on Tuesday after a frantic search.

The child was "catapulted by the tornado," Mayor Evaristo Lenin Perez said.

"It was horrible. It started raining in the morning. Very early, the wind came and everything started to fly around and then it all fell to the ground," Ciudad Acuna resident Juanita Perez said tearfully.

The federal government said the tornado destroyed 247 homes and damaged another 450.

US-Russia duo land in Mexico after balloon journey

Two hot air balloon pilots have touched down in Mexico, completing a record-breaking flight across the Pacific Ocean. The six-day adventure smashed world records unbeaten for over three decades.

Deutsche Welle, 31 Jan 2015

 View of earth from the Two Eagles Balloon

The helium-filled balloon piloted by the American Troy Bradley and Russian Leonid Tiukhtyaev landed safely in the sea just off the Baja coast near La Poza Grande on Saturday.

"The pilots made a controlled descent to a gentle water landing about four miles (6.5 kilometers) off the ... coast. The balloon is stable and still inflated and the pilots are fine," the Two Eagles balloon team announced.

Meanwhile, at mission control in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the balloon team and pilots' families exchanged hugs and relieved smiles as they watched the landing on a giant screen.

Relief and joy. Two Eagles gas ballon pilots are out of the ballon capsule after successful water landing, Baja coast pic.twitter.com/SijuFt62u0
— Marla Brose (@marlabq) January 31, 2015

Historic flight

Bradley, 50, and Tiukhtyaev, 58, set off on their epic voyage from Saga, Japan, on Sunday morning. By Friday, they had broken consecutive distance and duration world records by flying for over 137 hours and traveling more than 8,383 kilometers in a gas-filled balloon.

According to the Two Eagles team, the duo's six-day journey was eventually timed at 160 hours and 37 minutes at a distance of 10,696 kilometers (6,646 miles). They are the first crew to attempt a trans-Pacific balloon crossing since 1981 - when the distance record was set. The flying duration record of 137 hours was set by a trans-Atlantic balloon flight in 1978.

Mission control director Steve Shope said he was "really pleased" with the numbers. "These are significant improvements over the existing records," he said. "We didn't break them by just a little bit. They were broken by a significant amount."

Bradley and Tiukhtyaev managed to keep
 their spirits up during the grueling journey

The record-shattering trip wasn't without its challenges, though. Difficult weather conditions off the western coast of the United States meant that the team had to abandon their original plan to land in Canada, and instead veered south towards Mexico for the descent.

The two men traveled in an unpressurized carbon-fiber flight capsule, described as being smaller than a king-sized mattress, and took turns piloting the balloon in shifts of four-to-six hours. They had to stay rugged up in cold-weather gear and use oxygen masks to be able to withstand the conditions at an altitude of over 4,700 meters (15,500 feet).

Organizers cautioned that the new world records would not be made official until they had been certified by US and International Aeronautics Associations.

nm/mkg (AP, AFP, dpa)

Russia, China to combine efforts in satellite battle with US

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-06-26

A model of China's Beidou satellite navigation system on display
at the Zhuhai Airshow, Nov. 14, 2012 (Photo/Xinhua).

Russia and China are likely to sign a cooperation pact regarding ground operation stations for Russia's GLONASS satellite and China's Beidou satellite, reports Huanqiu, the website of China's nationalistic tabloid Global Times, citing Sergei Savelyev, deputy head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

Savelyev said that Russia expects an agreement with China, which will allow the countries to build three ground operational stations in each other's territory, with the number potentially increasing in the future.

At the St Petersburg International Economic Forum 2014 held in late May, Savelyev also said that Russia is preparing to discuss construction of GLONASS ground operation stations with both China and India and expects to reach an agreement of equal number construction by the end of the year.

The Moscow-based Voice of Russia reported that the number may be more than three, as China initially proposed setting up about a dozen Beidou stations in Russia from the Urals to the Far East, and to host a similar number of GLONASS stations.

A Russian researcher told Huanqui that China and Russia are highly likely to cooperate in a joint satellite navigation system, given that they share a common competitor — the US Global Positioning System (GPS). The wise choice would be for Beijing and Moscow to install each other's devices on the counterparts satellites, the researcher said.

During the 2nd Technoprom International Forum held in Novosibirsk in Russia on June 5-6, Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin said that cooperation between Russia and China in the field will not be limited to ground operational stations, but will also include reception devices and related infrastructure. "Our system is more suitable for northern, polar latitudes. The Chinese system is more southern. Their complementary natures would result in a biggest and most powerful competitor to any navigation system," he said.

Meanwhile, Sergei Ivanov, chief of staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia, said that in addition to ground operational stations in China, Russia plans to construct 50 GLONASS ground operation stations with 36 countries. He said that negotiations with Nicaragua, Vietnam, Iran and Indonesia are underway, while agreements with Cuba and Spain have already been reached.

Roscosmos also proposed to construct six ground operational stations in the US, but the plan was turned down due to national security concerns, while the US has already set up 11 GPS stations on Russian soil.

However, Russia announced in May that it would suspend the operation of all 11 GPS stations from June 1 due to poor progress in Russia-US talks over the construction of Russian ground stations in the US. The GPS ground operational stations will be permanently shut on September 1 if the two countries fail to reach a consensus by then, according to Huanqiu.

Colombia's Medellin rides cable car to a better future

Google – AFP, Ariela Navarro (AFP), 25 January 2014

Picture showing the Metrocable cable railway in Santo Domingo neighbourhood

 in Medellin, Antioquia department, Colombia, on January 5, 2014 (AFP/File,

Fredy Amariles Garcia)

Medellín — Medellin's "cable car of the poor," soaring over the slums of Colombia's second largest city, has revolutionized this former drug lord fiefdom and inspired other violent Latin American cities.

The city of 2.5 million, long considered one of the most dangerous places on the planet, has seen crime rates fall and neighborhood life return thanks to new public services in some of its poorest areas.

At the center of the strategy to reclaim the slums is a transportation system that now includes subways, the cable car, hillside escalators and even public libraries at metro stations.

Picture showing the Metrocable cable

 railway in Santo Domingo neighbourhood

 in Medellin, Antioquia department,

 Colombia, on January 5, 2014 (AFP/

File, Fredy Amariles Garcia)

It "creates a sense of belonging," said Juliana Correa, communications director for the Metro de Medellin.

"Before, the people of the hillside slums would say, 'I'm going down to Medellin.' Now they feel part of the city," he said.

At the Acevedo station, where the subway and Metrocable meet, a huge library welcomes residents from the gritty neighborhoods surrounding it -- and also tourists who ride the cable car for the spectacular birds eye views of the city.

"This was a very violent neighborhood, not that busy, so there was no transportation," Luz Valdes, at a small grocery store just outside the station, told AFP.

"Now there are many jobs and many tourists from far away visit the neighborhood because it's very nice with the Metrocable and library."

'Dark, long night'

It is all a far cry from just a few years ago.

Medellin went through "a dark, long and painful night", the mayor, Anibal Gaviria, told AFP, referring to the 1990s, when the drug lord Pablo Escobar unleashed a wave of violence.

Then, the city had a startling homicide rate of 380 per 100,000 inhabitants and the dubious distinction of being known as the murder capital of the world.

Last year, the murder rate was 10 times lower according to the mayor. Other studies support the claim that there has been a sharp drop in violence.

To change the dynamic local governments have employed a kind of "urban acupuncture," bringing to bear a welter of programs designed to reach long neglected shantytowns.

With an $88 million budget in 2014, the plan provides transportation at critical points and promotes education, culture, health and the deployment of security forces.

People chat next to a section of the

covered outdoor escalators at Comuna

13, one of the poorest neighbourhoods

of Medellin, Antioquia department,

Colombia, on January 5, 2014 (AFP/

File, Fredy Amariles Garcia)

The Metrocable opened in 2004, and the subway system has also added on a bicycle rental service.

But the most striking initiative is a system of outdoor escalators that has served Comuna 13, one of the poorest and most violent areas in Medellin, since December 2011.

Instead of trudging up 350 concrete steps, residents take escalators now.

"Projects such as the Metrocable, the metro, the escalators and the libraries imply the presence of the state in places in the city that had been abandoned," Gaviria said.

'Cable car of the poor'

None of this is to say that Medellin does not still have considerable problems. In Comuna 1, which is served by a cable car, gangs maintain a discreet presence.

But Ferney Navarro, a resident of 32 years, told AFP: "There is more control from the authorities.

A man walks with his mules past the

 Metrocable cable railway station in

 San Javier neighbourhood in Medellin,

 Antioquia department, Colombia, on 

January 5, 2014 (AFP/File, Fredy

Amariles Garcia)

"Seeing so many tourists coming, the government has had to tighten control. Before we were totally abandoned, but now we have more protection."

A study by Columbia University in the United States found the homicide rate in the slums of Medellin where Metrocable serves dropped by 66 percent between 2003 and 2008.

This decrease coincides with a sharp drop in homicides in Colombia -- from 78 per 100,000 population in 1991 to 32 in 2012.

The rate, however, remains well above the Latin American average of 15.6 , according to the Organization of American States.

A secret of Medellin's success has been its ability to adapt initiatives that have worked elsewhere in the world.

At the same time, the city has become "an inspiration for other cities living difficult times," said the mayor.

Thus the Metrocable -- "the cable car of the poor" -- has been replicated in Curitiba, in southern Brazil, and Caracas, capital of Venezuela.

Since 2010 in San Agustin del Sur, in the west of Caracas, a Metrocable carries more than 40,000 people a day on a nine-minute ride from the foot of a mountain to the populous neighborhoods overhead.

That initiative's success led Venezuelan authorities to begin building another cable car serving Mariche neighborhood in February 2012.

Another is scheduled for December this year for Petare, the largest slum in the Venezuelan capital and one of the most overcrowded in Latin America.

China sends Bolivian communications satellite into orbit

Want China Times, Xinhua and Staff Reporter 2013-12-21

The Bolivian satellite is launched from the Xichang Satellite
Launch Center, Sichuan province, Dec. 21. (Photo/Xinhua)

China successfully sent a Bolivian communications satellite into orbit with its Long March-3B carrier rocket from southwest Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 0:42am (Beijing Time) Saturday.

Bolivian president Evo Morales was present, the first time a foreign head of state has witnessed a satellite launch in China.

The satellite was produced by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) with a designed longevity of 15 years. It is Bolivia's first communications satellite and is named Tupac Katari in homage to an 18th century indigenous hero who fought Bolivia's Spanish colonizers.

China's president, Xi Jinping, sent a message of congratulations to President Morales, saying the successful development and launch of the satellite represents the latest achievements and level of cooperation between China and Bolivia in the field of science and technology.

"The satellite will play an important role for Bolivia to improve its broadcasting, education and medical services. It will make important contributions to promote cooperation between China and Latin American countries," Xi said.

Bilateral ties have been progressing smoothly while pragmatic cooperation in all areas are making steady headway since China and Bolivia established diplomatic ties 28 years ago, Xi said.

Xi said China hopes for more space collaboration with Bolivia, which will promote mutual beneficial cooperation and friendly relations, bringing benefits to the people of both countries.

In a speech made after the launch, President Morales thanked Xi for his congratulations and expressed gratitude towards the Chinese government, scientists and the people. He hopes that China and Bolivia will take the opportunity of the successful launch to deepen cooperation in all areas and bring bilateral ties to a higher level.

The satellite agreement was signed between the Bolivian Space Agency (ABE) and the Great Wall Industry Corporation of China, a subsidiary of CASC, in December 2010.

It is the fifth Chinese communications satellite for international users and the second in-orbit delivery for a Latin American customer. China launched a telecom satellite for Venezuela in 2008.

The successful launch will bring Bolivia into an age of digital economy and make its people more connected, said Ivan Zambrana, head of the ABE.

"We wish to launch a remote sensing satellite in 2017 and China is one of our best alternatives," he added.

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