Latest news with #214
TimesLIVE
4 days ago
- Business
- TimesLIVE
GNU ministers spent R200m of taxpayers' money on travelling since taking office
Ministers in the government of national unity (GNU) have spent more than R200m on travel expenses since July last year. This was revealed by ActionSA through its GNU performance tracker after receiving replies to parliamentary questions sent to ministers. This week, the party said Deputy President Paul Mashatile and his staff splurged more than R2m on travel expenses for transport and accommodation since last year. In a written reply, Mashatile said he has been on four international trips - to Ireland, Botswana, Zimbabwe and, recently, Japan. A total of R613,214 was spent on flights, R1,235,569 on accommodation and R410,926 for ground transport for all trips. Other costs included laundry services at R8,033 and R51,393 for restaurant services. ActionSA MP Alan Beesley criticised the spending, calling it 'executive indulgence' and 'wasteful expenditure'. 'This sort of wasteful expenditure, an extension of ANC excess now rebranded under the GNU, has become business as usual for the world's most bloated executive,' Beesley said. 'South Africans deserve leadership that puts people before perks and not a R200m travel spree by the world's largest cabinet.' The sport, arts and culture department's travel expenses have also raised concern. Minister Gayton McKenzie said he and his staff undertook 11 international trips costing more than R2m. R164,556 was paid for a trip to Burkina Faso that never took place. 'Not only is this spending exorbitant, but it is riddled with red flags, gaps and inconsistencies. The public paid for flights and accommodation for an event that was abandoned, a textbook case of wasteful expenditure, as defined by the Public Finance Management Act. 'Unless the minister can demonstrate that this loss was unavoidable and efforts were made to recover the funds, this reflects a serious failure of financial oversight and internal control.' ActionSA has introduced the Enhanced Cut Cabinet Perks Bill to address unchecked government spending. 'This bill seeks to slash ministerial perks and restore much-needed fiscal discipline.'
Pink Villa
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
Sakamoto Days Chapter 214: Natsuki Disables X's Guns; Recap, Release Date, Where To Read And More
The last Sakamoto Days chapter, titled Resistance, began with Shin's ESP compelling an entire district to fire their guns into the ground. Though he suffers a nosebleed from the strain, he continues, moving on to Nerima and succeeding again. Heisuke proposes using the Sky Tower to broadcast nationwide. As Shin's group climbs, the JAA intervenes, and Kindaka holds them off. A jet then crashes into the tower, and X confronts Shin. Before X can shoot, Natsuki Seba's hack disables all guns in Japan. X then draws a katana to kill Shin. Sakamoto Days Chapter 214 will likely continue with Shin attempting to survive against X, who now wields a sword. Shin may try to defend himself or flee using physical or ESP-based maneuvers. Boiled, Heisuke, or Asakura could intervene to protect him. With the firearms now rendered useless, X may change tactics or alter his broader plan for national control. The chapter may also touch on how the rest of Japan responds to the sudden end of gun usage and the chaos surrounding the Sky Tower. Sakamoto Days Chapter 214 will be released on Monday, May 26, 2025, at 12 am JST. However, fans worldwide will likely be able to read it on Sunday, May 25, around 3 pm GMT / 7 am PT / 10 am ET. Please note that the exact timing may vary depending on your time zone. The latest chapters are available on various online platforms. Viz Media provides access to the series in the US and Canada, while Shueisha's MangaPlus also releases new chapters. Additionally, readers can find Sakamoto Days Chapter 214 in Weekly Shonen Jump 2025 Issue 26. For more updates from the Sakamoto Days manga, keep an eye on Pinkvilla.
Hans India
19-05-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Khammam-Devarapalli highway nears finish line
Khammam: In a major boost to connectivity, the government is pushing for completion of the Khammam-Devarapalli National Highway by August 15. With over 80% of the work already finished, officials say only seven of the 124 bridges and underpasses remain under construction. At a total cost of Rs2,214 crore, this 165-kilometer highway is being built from Suryapet to times between Hyderabad and other locations to Rajahmundry and Vizag in Andhra Pradesh via the combined Khammam district will be shortened once this highway's development is finished. The Khammam district's Suryapet to Ponnekal roadway has already been finished and made accessible as part of this. Major constructions like bridges, underpasses, and bridges under construction in Kalluru Mandal are presently under process, even if the road construction is nearly finished. Meanwhile, 117 important structures have already been finished. A change in high-tension power lines is causing some delay in the construction of the railway overbridge near Kodumuru, while design revisions are delaying the one near Khammam. Three of the five packages that make up the whole highway construction are in the joint district. No cattle or other animals are allowed on this national highway, which is being built as an access-controlled route. Although Rs772 crore is being spent to build Package 1 from Tallampadu to Somavaram, 30 of the 33 km have been covered. The ROB and power line changes in this area are still pending. There are still three unfinished bridges and underpasses. At a cost of Rs637 crore, Package 2 from Somavaram to Chintagudem was started; 26 of the 29 km have been are three locations in this bundle where bridges and underpasses are still pending. With respect to Package 3 being built at a cost of Rs804 crore, 37 of the 43 km from Chintagudem to Razorla have been finished. The constituencies of Dhamsalapuram, Vandanam, and Sathupalli have three points of entry and departure. However, plans for building service roads for this road have already been submitted to the Centre. Tummala inspects project Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Raovisited the joint district recently to inspect the construction projects. He examined the field-level work progress while traveling the Green Field Highway from Vemsur to Dhamsalapuram. He gave the officials and contractors instructions to make at least one side of the highway open to the public by July 15 of the year. He said that all the packages were working simultaneously and that there were no issues with the work's progress. He claimed that because it is an access-controlled highway, the absence of a service road would be problematic for the farmers in the neighbouring communities. He claimed that during Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari's recent visit to the State, he was reminded of this problem. According to him, the Green Field Highway has three exitsin the constituency of Sathupalli, and no other State in the nation can boast of a similar claim. Tummala asserted that transportation system would be improved, and travel times significantly reduced once the Greenfield Highway becomes accessible.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Opinion - Is it still safe to fly in the US?
The midair collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Blackhawk helicopter at Washington Reagan National Airport on Jan. 29 resulted in 67 deaths. If the plane struck by the helicopter had been a larger jet, the number of casualties could have been two or three times larger. Should this incident raise concern about the safety of air travel in general? To best address this question, one must look at the risks of air travel in general and what the data says about its safety. Air travel in the U.S. is remarkably safe and has only become safer with time. Much of this can be attributed to the many requirements imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration on aircraft manufacturers, the airlines and within the airspace itself. For example, well defined procedures exist to guide airplanes around inclement weather to achieve the highest safety level. Prior to the recent collision, the last time that an air crash incident occurred resulting in more than 67 deaths was back in November 2001, when American Airlines flight 587 crashed shortly after takeoff from JFK International airport, causing 265 fatalities. The cause of that crash was determined to be human error by the first officer in setting the airplane's rudder. After that, crashes in 2009 at Buffalo Niagara International Airport with Colgan flight 3407 and in 2006 at Lexington Blue Grass Airport with Comair flight 5191 led to 50 and 49 deaths, respectively. Pilot errors were determined to be the causes of both of these crashes as well. There have been other incidents that did not lead to significant fatalities, like Asiana Airlines flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport, when the airplane hit a seawall upon landing, killing three people. All this data indicate that air travel is remarkably safe, given that the FAA manages over 45,000 flights takeoffs and landings every day, with around 60 percent of these flights on commercial airlines. Yet when an incident like the recent crash occurs, it shakes our trust in the air system and forces us to question air system safety — even when the data says otherwise. The larger issue is whether there is something fundamentally different today that would make the last 20-plus years of air travel safety data uninformative. Over time, excluding the COVID perturbation, the number of air travelers has grown. In 2024, over 900 million people were screened at air security checkpoints by the Transportation Security Administration. That amounts to an average of 2.5 million people per day, with a few days topping 3.0 million travelers (like Dec. 1, 2024). This demand has resulted in airlines filling their airplanes to near capacity, with load factors routinely over 80 percent. In 2024, Delta filled more than 85 percent of their available seats. To control their revenue stream, airlines have been careful to control their capacity, tilting the economics of supply and demand in their favor. The end result has been record profits. By controlling capacity, using larger airplanes while limiting the number of flights that they offer, airlines are curbing congestion in the airspace, particularly around high-volume airports in the Northeast and at hub airports around the nation. Then there is air traffic control. The FAA has struggled to maintain required staffing levels for air traffic controllers. The emotional and physical strain placed on such people is immense, as the lives of thousands of people rest within their control every day. If there is an area where air traffic control can be enhanced, it is with artificial intelligence. Given the plethora of repetitive tasks that air traffic controllers must executive multiple times per day, a number of such tasks can be offloaded to AI system. For example, the taxiing of airplanes from the end of a runway after they land to their gate can be overseen with an AI system. Similar movements from their departure gate to the end of the runway for takeoff may also be managed with AI. Such ground operations provide a low-risk way to introduce AI into air traffic control operations. The number of runway incursions reported by the FAA is concerning, even when they have not resulted in collisions. The good news is that the majority of such incursions are benign, involving airplanes being out of position but not in a direct line of risk. A midair collision between a commercial airplane and an Army helicopter is unprecedented. Every large high-volume airport today is now on high alert, particularly those that also oversee helicopters. Even large drones can become a risk factor for commercial airplanes. So is air travel riskier today than it was five, 10 or 20 years ago? The data says that air travel has never been safer. Yet the midair collision at Washington Reagan National suggests that there remains room for improvement. Remarks that DEI contributed to the incident provide nothing more than a distraction from uncovering the facts. The findings of the National Transportation Safety Board will likely reveal what such improvements should be, and what changes are necessary, either at Washington Reagan National or across the nation's entire airport system. Sheldon H. Jacobson, Ph.D., is a professor in computer science in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He used his expertise in risk-based analytics to address problems in public policy. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
