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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Sport
- Business Standard
Fearless Felix, skydiver who jumped from space, dies in paragliding crash
Felix Baumgartner, whose leap from the edge of space redefined the limits of human daring, has died at 56 in a tragic paragliding accident in central Italy, The daredevil Austrian skydiver leaves behind a legacy of etched in adrenaline and awe. The fatal crash occurred on Thursday, July 17, near Porto Sant'Elpidio, a seaside town on Italy's Adriatic coast. According to Italian broadcaster RAI and news agency Ansa, Baumgartner was piloting a motorised paraglider around 4 pm when he reportedly experienced physical discomfort and lost control of the craft. He crashed into the swimming pool of a local hotel and was declared dead at the scene. Italian firefighters confirmed the paraglider struck the side of the pool. An employee of the hotel was also hit during the fall and suffered minor neck injuries, according to Italian media. The specific cause of the loss of control has not yet been disclosed. Baumgartner's longtime partner, Romanian television presenter Mihaela Rădulescu, was present in the village at the time of the accident and has since been informed of his death, Sky Sports Austria reported. Porto Sant'Elpidio's mayor, Massimiliano Ciarpella, confirmed the incident and paid tribute to Baumgartner in a public statement. 'Our community is deeply affected by the tragic disappearance of Felix Baumgartner, a figure of global prominence, a symbol of courage and passion for extreme flight,' he said. Who was Felix Baumgartner? Popularly known as 'Fearless Felix', Baumgartner hailed from Salzburg, Austria. Born on April 20, 1969, he began skydiving at a young age and trained as a paratrooper in the Austrian military. Baumgartner built a reputation on high-risk, high-precision feats. In 1999, he made the world's lowest base jump, from the arm of Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue, and the same year completed the highest building jump from Malaysia's Petronas Towers. In 2003, he crossed the English Channel in freefall using a carbon-fibre wingsuit. His career was defined not only by records but by his relentless push against the boundaries of flight and human endurance. Skydiving from the edge of space Baumgartner rose to fame on October 14, 2012, when he leapt from a pressurised capsule suspended 128,100 feet (39,045 meters) above Earth by a helium balloon. The Red Bull Stratos project saw him become the first human to break the sound barrier in freefall, reaching a top speed of 843.6 mph, about 1.25 times the speed of sound, before safely parachuting into the New Mexico desert. Broadcast live to millions, the nine-minute descent broke multiple world records, including the highest-ever manned balloon flight, the highest parachute jump, and the fastest freefall. At one point during the fall, Baumgartner entered a flat spin while still supersonic, spinning uncontrollably for 13 seconds before recovering. A record-breaking moment of humility The stunt was supervised by Joe Kittinger, a retired US Air Force officer and previous record-holder, who served as an advisor on the mission. 'When I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble,' Baumgartner said afterwards. 'You don't think about breaking records anymore, you don't think about gaining scientific data — the only thing that you want is to come back alive.' Though his altitude record was surpassed in 2014 by Google executive Alan Eustace, the 2012 Red Bull Stratos jump remains one of the most iconic moments in modern extreme sports. He is survived by Rădulescu, his family, and a global community of fans, aviators, and extreme sports enthusiasts who viewed him as the embodiment of fearless ambition.
L'Orient-Le Jour
3 days ago
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Giorgia Meloni condemns Israeli strikes on Gaza catholic church
The Israeli army carried out air raids that struck the Catholic parish in Gaza, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni denounced on Thursday, with the Ansa news agency reporting two dead and several wounded in the attack. "The Israeli raids on Gaza also struck the Church of the Holy Family. The attacks against the civilian population carried out by Israel for months are unacceptable. No military action can justify such behavior," Meloni said in a statement.
Middle East Eye
3 days ago
- Middle East Eye
Two dead, several injured in raid on Catholic church in Gaza
Two women were killed and several injured following a strike on the Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip, doctors at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City said on Thursday. The strike damaged the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic Church inside the Palestinian enclave. Italy's Ansa news agency said six people were seriously injured, while parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli, who used to regularly update the late Pope Francis about the war, suffered light leg injuries.
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
ECB Should Cut Rates to Weaken Euro, Italy's Deputy Premier Says
The European Central Bank should reduce borrowing costs to help the economy by weakening the single currency, Italian Deputy Premier Antonio Tajani said. 'We have to ensure that the euro-dollar exchange rate isn't so detrimental to the euro, which is currently too strong,' Tajani, who is also foreign minister, was quoted as saying by Italian newswire Ansa. 'The ECB needs to intervene.'
Fashion United
6 days ago
- Business
- Fashion United
Milan court orders judicial administration for Loro Piana
Another case of labour exploitation involving a luxury brand has emerged. This time it concerns LVMH-owned brand, Loro Piana. A Milan Court has ordered judicial administration for one year for Loro Piana. Frédéric Arnault has been the CEO of the company since June 10. According to Italian news agency Ansa, the measure taken by the judges of the prevention measures section concerns an investigation by prosecutor Paolo Storari. He ascertained that Loro Piana had outsourced the production of garments, including jackets, which were allegedly manufactured under "labour exploitation". FashionUnited contacted Loro Piana for comment, but no statement has been released at this time. The company recently obtained a legal victory in the fight against counterfeiting. Returning to the labour exploitation case, Loro Piana is another high fashion brand on which Storari has shone a light. He obtained the judicial administration regime from the judges. According to investigations by the Milan Labour Protection Group, the company allegedly failed to prevent and contain labour exploitation within the production cycle, as well as implement appropriate measures to verify the actual working conditions. It is believed to have further failed to monitor the technical capabilities of the contracting companies. In this way, Ansa reports, it culpably facilitated labour exploitation. According to the investigation, the fashion house entrusted the production of garments to an external company, Evergreen. The latter, not having been able to produce the requested garments, allegedly subcontracted the work to Sor-Man snc of Nova Milanese. This company also lacked adequate production capacity. According to the Prosecutor's Office's reconstruction, the company turned, also to reduce costs, to Chinese factories. These were closed by the military and one of the owners was arrested in May. The ruling states they used "irregular and clandestine labour, in unhealthy and dangerous working environments". Workers were housed "in abusive dormitories in order to draw mere manpower at any time of day or night and subjecting them to work shifts (...) far exceeding those contractually foreseen". This system allegedly allowed for profit maximisation. It induced the Chinese factory that actually produced the goods to cut labour costs (contributions, insurance and direct taxes). It did this by resorting to "undeclared" and clandestine labour. It also failed to comply with health and safety regulations in the workplace and did not respect the National Collective Labour Agreements for the sector regarding workers' wages, working hours, breaks and holidays. According to Ansa, the court found this "mechanism was culpably fuelled by Loro Piana spa. It did not verify the real entrepreneurial capacity of the contracting and subcontracting companies (Sor-Man), to whom it entrusted production. Over the years, it did not carry out effective inspections or audits to ascertain in practice the operation of the production chain and the actual working conditions and work environments." This article was translated to English using an AI tool. FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@
