Latest news with #Nathan
National Post
3 hours ago
- National Post
WestJet must pay $2K for cancelled flights after B.C. tribunal rejects airline's 'highly technical' evidence
A B.C. tribunal has ordered WestJet to pay more than $2,000 to two passengers after ruling the airline failed to provide sufficient evidence that weather conditions made it unsafe to operate scheduled flights. Article content In a decision from the province's civil resolution tribunal published last week, Nathan and Leah Baugh were awarded $1,000 each under Canada's Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR), which mandate such compensation when arrival at a passenger's destination is delayed by nine hours or more beyond the time noted on the original ticket for reasons within the airline's control. Article content Article content Article content The Baughs, scheduled to fly from St. John's to Vancouver on March 7, 2022, with a stopover in Toronto, were notified by email about 17 hours prior that their flight had been cancelled due to weather. They were rebooked on flights departing March 8. Article content Article content WestJet said the weather in St. John's on the evening of March 6 — a winter storm and wind speeds greater than 62 kilometres per hour at the airport — forced the cancellation of the incoming flight from Toronto due to safety concerns. With no aircraft available to operate the route the next morning, the March 7 departures had to be rescheduled. Article content As part of their claim, the Baughs also submitted a recording of a phone call with a WestJet representative who said the cancellation was due to a scheduling change — not weather. The airline didn't dispute that the call took place, but said its agents sometimes operate with incomplete information and maintained that the cancellations in question were weather-related. Article content Article content The Baughs also submitted a screenshot showing that several other airlines operated flights out of St. John's International Airport on March 7, arguing that weather conditions did not prevent safe departures that day. Article content Article content The APPR absolves airlines of compensatory obligations in instances where weather would make it unsafe to operate, provided they can provide the necessary evidence. Article content Tribunal member Max Pappin, however, said the Western Canadian airline didn't provide 'any information about the specific aircraft' or its limits as it relates to the terminal aerodrome forecasts submitted as evidence. Article content 'Additionally, much of the evidence provided consists of unexplained acronyms, codes, and numbers, whose meaning is far from obvious,' Pappin wrote of the 'highly technical' evidence, which he ruled needed an expert's opinion to decipher their meaning as it relates to the APPR. Article content 'There is no expert evidence before me. So, I find the submitted evidence is not sufficient to show that safe operation of the aircraft was impossible due to meteorological conditions.'
Straits Times
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Irish swimming's trailblazer Daniel Wiffen wants a world record
SINGAPORE – The dejection on Daniel Wiffen's face was unmistakable as the defending champion touched the wall fifth in the second heat of the World Aquatics Championships (WCH) men's 800m freestyle on July 18. His time of 7min 46.36sec was almost five seconds behind Tunisia's Ahmed Jaouadi, who won in 7:41.58. This was a far cry from the 2024 final in which he cruised to gold by two seconds. After initial despair, there was some relief as the 24-year-old Irishman squeezed into the July 29 final as the eighth-ranked qualifier overall. A month before the meet, he was hit by appendicitis but chose to treat it with antibiotics, putting off surgery until after the championships. He told The Straits Times at the WCH Arena: 'I don't feel the appendicitis, but I have to get it out after this competition. I held off the surgery until after the world champs because I wanted to give a good crack at defending both my (800m and 1,500m freestyle) titles. I hope it's not affecting me anymore... it certainly looks like it is, but I don't know. 'That was probably one of the worst swims I've done in a long time. But whatever we are overcoming right now, we are going to come back stronger.' Born in England, the lanky and bubbly Irishman's brush with fame began at a young age. As an 11-year-old, despite not being allowed to watch the Game of Thrones, he managed to snag a role as an extra in the popular TV drama alongside his twin brother Nathan in the famous Red Wedding scene. His sister Elizabeth had a more prominent role as Neyela Frey. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Grace Fu apologises for Tanjong Katong sinkhole, says road may stay closed for a few more days Singapore Terrorism threat in Singapore remains high, driven by events like Israeli-Palestinian conflict: ISD Singapore S'pore can and must meaningfully apply tech like AI in a way that creates jobs for locals: PM Wong Singapore 7, including child and firefighter, taken to hospital after fire breaks out in Toa Payoh flat Sport IOC president Kirsty Coventry a 'huge supporter' of Singapore Singapore ICA inspector obtained bribes in the form of sex acts from 6 foreign men in exchange for his help Singapore Doctor who forged certificates for aesthetic procedures gets 4 months' jail Singapore 12 motorists nabbed for providing illegal private-hire services: LTA His swimming journey with his brother began when they joined local Water Babies sessions at just three months old and started competing at age six – Daniel and Nathan specialised in freestyle and backstroke respectively. By 13, he made the national team. Despite setting 800m and 1,500m freestyle national records, he missed both finals at his first Olympics in Tokyo 2020, and finished fourth in both events at the 2023 world championships. But he went on to break the 1,500 free short course world record with a blistering 7:20.46 later that year at the European Championships. He then claimed double gold at the WCH 2024 before going on to become the first Irishman to win Olympic swimming medals with his 800m gold in Olympic record time (7:38.19) and 1,500m bronze at Paris 2024. 'I was telling people for five years I was going to be the Olympic champion in Paris and nobody believed me at the start, but as we got closer, everybody was like 'this guy is easily gonna win'', said Daniel, who has the words 'dream big' tattooed on his arm. Since his historic feats for Ireland, life has been 'very weird' for him as he gets stopped for photos, even when he was on holiday in Bali. But he has remained down-to-earth, donating his entire £25,000 (S$43,000) Olympic Medallist Fund to his former school, St. Patrick's Grammar School, to build a new gym, enhance its sporting facilities and provide new equipment. While all eyes are on the women's 400m and 800m freestyle showdowns between American legend Katie Ledecky and Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh, he feels the men's 800m is 'definitely more competitive'. Although he is not in his best condition here, it should not be long before he flashes his trademark two-hand W celebration, which stands for Wiffen and winning, again. Eyeing the world records held by Chinese swimmer Zhang Lin in the 800m (7:32.12) and American Bobby Finke in the 1,500m (14:30.67), he said: 'Breaking a world record is a different type of feeling because you're the fastest-ever, whereas at the Olympics there are like nine other men winning Olympic golds. 'Everyone says the hardest thing to do is to win a world championships after an Olympics, and I'm up for the challenge. I think winning back-to-back world championships is going to be better than winning the Olympics for me.'
Canada News.Net
13 hours ago
- Sport
- Canada News.Net
Brewers acquire Rays C Danny Jansen for minor-leaguer
(Photo credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images) The Milwaukee Brewers made a move Monday night to add power at the catcher position, acquiring Danny Jansen and cash from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for minor league infielder Jadher Areinamo. Jansen, who has 11 homers this year, will take the roster spot of Milwaukee backup catcher Eric Haase, who was designated for assignment as part of the transaction. Jansen, 30, grew up in Appleton, Wis. 'I don't live too far (from Milwaukee), so that's going to be something that my wife and I have never experienced as a family,' Jansen said, according to 'I'm definitely excited to meet the new organization, and I've heard nothing but great things about them as well. I'm super grateful for my time here, and I'm excited for the next chapter as well.' In 73 games for Tampa Bay this year, Jansen hit .204 with a .314 on-base percentage, a .389 slugging percentage and 29 RBIs. Across 574 major league games for the Toronto Blue Jays (2018-24), the Boston Red Sox (2024) and Tampa Bay (2025), Jansen has a career hitting line of .218/.309/.415 with 85 home runs and 249 RBIs. Haase, 32, hit .228/.278/.396 with two home runs and nine RBIs in 30 games for the Brewers in 2025. In 383 games for Cleveland (2018-19, 2023), Detroit (2020-23) and Milwaukee (2024-25), he owns a .228/.278/.396 slash line with 48 homers and 160 RBIs. Areinamo, 21, was ranked as the Brewers' 24th-best prospect by MLB Pipeline. He hit .297/.355.463 with 11 homers, 51 RBIs and 15 stolen bases this season for high Class-A Wisconsin, which plays in Appleton.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
'More signings needed' & 'Roll on Sunday' your views on League Cup win
We asked for your views on Falkirk's League Cup is what some of you said:Nathan: Job done, we are through despite narrowly missing a seeded spot. Hopefully, a good draw in the next round, then bring on United next Good performance, still need a couple of signings before the season kicks Really good second-half performance from the Bairns today. Played some lovely football and were unlucky not to score more. Roll on next week!Kev: Decent win against poor opposition. In my opinion, though, we will struggle against Premiership defences. Always seem to need too much time on the A good win ready for next SUNDAY!
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Russia-Ukraine war: The Kiwi troops training Ukraine soldiers
The New Zealand soldiers lined up in formation, legs akimbo, clad in camouflage and thumbed their chests. 'Ah ka mate, ka mate, ka ora, ka ora', or 'it is life, it is life, it is death, it is death'. The haka, made famous by the All Blacks, is a war dance, and you slap your chest to indicate that you will live and point at your enemy to let him know he will die. It was being done to greet a series of visiting dignitaries. The crack of rifle fire echoed over Salisbury Plain and, in the background, we could hear the whirr of helicopter blades as a large, dark green military helicopter carrying the Defence Ministers of New Zealand and the United Kingdom landed. I was proud to see my country doing its part. Here, about 130 Kiwis had been training greenhorn Ukrainian troops in the basics of combat. My countrymen were impressed. Nathan, one trainer, said the Ukrainians were far more impressive than the Afghans or Iraqis he had trained on previous missions. 'They're really hungry to learn; they have a passion and a thirst for knowledge.' Between breaks, the recruits would come to the instructors and bombard them with questions and demand explanations and extra rehearsals of what they had been learning. Nathan said it was astonishing that 'we haven't had people pulling sickies or trying to get out of the field. They hate it if they have to leave for some medical thing. Whereas back home, if things are going hard, you might get up and say, 'Oh, I'm feeling sick today.'' The Dogs of Mariupol by Tom Mutch, published by Biteback Publishing, is out now. After Ukraine's stunning successes in Kharkiv and Kherson, many in the West had finally come around to the possibility of Ukraine not just keeping itself alive but even winning back territory, possibly kicking the Russians out of the territory they had stolen in 2014. There was one military objective over all others. The only real prize the Russians had captured – outside some ruined husks of cities in the Donbas – was the land bridge to occupied Crimea via southern Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts. An attack here could potentially cut off the Kremlin's access to Crimea. Ben Wallace, then UK Secretary of Defence, was about as gung-ho as it gets about Ukraine's chances. He said that, in weekly conversations with his Ukrainian counterparts, he'd urged them to 'keep up the pressure'. The Ukrainians were taking an operational pause, but he seemed to think this was unwise. 'Given the advantage the Ukrainians have in equipment training and quality of their personnel against the demoralised, poorly trained, poorly equipped Russians, it would be in Ukraine's interest to maintain momentum through the winter. They have 300,000 pieces of arctic warfare kit, from the international community.' The British had always been the most bullish about Ukraine's chances. The US, by contrast, was beginning to show a note of caution. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, had said that Ukraine should consider negotiating, now that it was in its strongest battlefield position yet. The training, praised for its intensity, aims to enhance Ukraine's capabilities against Russian forces. Photo / Tom Mutch Vitaliy Krasovskiy, Ukraine's defence attache in London, who worked on liaising with foreign militaries, was full of praise for his British counterparts, saying that British commitment went 'well above' that of most other countries. He noted that officials at the UK's Ministry of Defence were 'extraordinarily committed', regularly working overtime and at weekends at key points of the military campaign. 'If our armed forces need a particular vehicle or piece of weaponry, the Brits will search through the military catalogues of different countries and find what we need,' he added, citing the Australian Bushmaster armoured vehicle as an example. The difference, he explained, was that, while the US saw Ukrainian success as in their own interests, the Brits had a passionate emotional attachment to a full Ukrainian victory. He also mentioned former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's early and regular trips to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as an important factor in boosting Ukrainian morale and demonstrating international support. While Johnson is mostly disgraced at home, he remains a folk hero in Ukraine, appearing on murals, T-shirts, coffee mugs and beer cans. Despite the professionalism of the Western trainers, and the thoroughness of their instruction, they privately admit there is a gaping hole in their ability to teach. 'Quite frankly, we've never fought this kind of war before,' one instructor said. Kiwi photojournalist Tom Mutch. Western militaries' combat experience in recent decades has been fighting counter-insurgency battles against the Taliban in Afghanistan. But this was a war being fought largely through massive artillery barrages from a powerful state military, which most Western soldiers have never faced. One trainer told me: 'They are practising artillery on the light-fire range at the moment, and we do fire manoeuvre ranges as well as battle simulation. We'll have loud bangs that simulate artillery. We have exercises where we bring in amputees and dress them to make it look like that amputation was caused by artillery and make the recruits responsible for treating that individual.' He is confident that, despite the short training time, 'after five weeks, they come out combat capable. They can shoot straight, communicate and medicate.' There were already some grumblings that not all of the preparations were going right. One of the Ukrainian soldiers on the base complained that, when they were on the battlefield, reconnaissance drones were the big new thing, and so learning to navigate through binoculars and maps seemed completely anachronistic. Cutting the land bridge was a daunting prospect, with considerably different battlefield contradictions from either Kherson or Kharkiv. Kherson had been a particularly tough nut to crack. Ukraine was fighting well-trained Russian airborne troops, who were well dug in and took heavy casualties at first. It took months to make a breakthrough – and that was only because the Russians had their backs to the river. A helicopter bringing in a ministerial delegation about to land in the training camp. Photo / Tom Mutch Russians had mobilised 300,000 additional troops, and while the process had been bedraggled and chaotic, bringing in a lot of low-quality troops, it allowed them to plug the gaping holes in their front line. This situation would not be replicated in Zaporizhzhia. Russian General Sergey Surovikin had invested huge amounts of work in building an extensive fortifications network stretching across Zaporizhzhia, where the Ukrainian Army was expected to come from. To make matters worse, the outlines of the Ukrainian plans were leaked to the Russians months in advance, so they knew exactly where, and close to when, Ukraine would attack. Labour MP Peeni Henare and Ben Wallace, former UK Defence secretary, in Salisbury plains. Photo / Tom Mutch To counter the Russian advantages, the Ukrainians and their supporters in the West embarked on a campaign to get Ukraine an extraordinary number of armoured vehicles and the latest Western tanks, along with F-16 fighter jets and long-range missiles like the Army Tactical Missile System. The exact process of what was delivered when is a complicated and dull affair, but suffice to say that the timelines were far too slow. There was a large delay caused by the international effort to convince Germany to allow the transfer of Leopard tanks to Ukraine. But there were larger strategic errors as well. The Russians had begun ramping up their industrial production for artillery shells and drones and importing extra weapons from North Korea and Iran. It was reasonable to think that Ukraine could establish an advantage in artillery fire, and the risk of a Russian counteroffensive was low. Western support, which has been essential to Ukraine's war effort, was also likely to peak in summer 2023. The US was burning through its stockpile of ammunition, while European states had failed to ramp up munitions production in 2022 and were just beginning to make the required investments, with lacklustre results. With elections looming in 2024, the political headwinds in Western capitals also suggested that funding to support Ukraine would decline after this operation. The US borrowed ammunition from South Korea, and other Western countries made efforts to contribute as part of a crash train-and-equip programme for Ukrainian forces. All told, the West trained and equipped nine brigades for the offensive. Ukraine would field several additional brigades from the armed forces and National Guard, organised under two corps, and a reserve task force. Tom Mutch is a war correspondent who became embedded in Ukraine just before Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed his military might on the country in 2022. He has written countless articles for the Herald through a Kiwi lens. He went on to cover the war in Gaza. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
