Latest news with #Venn
Leader Live
2 days ago
- Business
- Leader Live
New owner for the Crown Inn pub in Caergwrle
Businessman Robert Venn approached law firm Brindley Twist Tafft & James (BTTJ) when he was in the process of preparing to buy The Crown Inn on the High Street in Caergwrle. Alex Khan, managing partner at Midlands firm BTTJ and an expert in commercial property law, explained Coventry-based Mr Venn's initial request was for assistance with conveyancing on his property, as he was in the process of extending the lease to make it more attractive for sale. Read more: Australian bar saved after being transformed into Wrexham AFC fan dream But as the same time he mentioned the potential of selling his home and buying the pub in Wales, and so Mr Khan explained the complexity of the process, what steps were needed, and in what order. Mr Khan said: "We are delighted Mr Venn is now the new owner of The Crown Inn. "He needed initial expert advice regarding negotiating terms and finalisation of the lease extension on his property. "Once this was completed, he was able to sell his flat for a higher price, as the buyer saw the extended lease as better security. Read more: Three 'unforgettable' seaside pubs in North Wales named among the UK's best "Mr Venn was then able to combine the funds raised from his residential property sale with a commercial loan that enabled his purchase of the pub. "As ever with these investment projects, there were various twists and turns along the way, and we were happy to help guide Mr Venn through what developed into a complex legal and taxation process." The freehold interest in The Crown Inn had been marketed by property agency Sydney Phillips at an asking price of £230,000 - although the final purchase price has not been disclosed. The traditional pub is an end-terraced property with a bar, lounge and seating for 65, a split-level beer garden, and five-bedroomed owner's accommodation above. Read more: Kat hopes to blend wellbeing and business with Flintshire smoothie bar Mr Venn said: "I am thrilled to be the new owner of The Crown Inn and look forward to the venue serving the community in Caergwrle with a warm welcome for many years to come. "The advice I received from Alex at BTTJ was truly excellent. He helped guide me from the inception of an idea through to completion of a pub purchase, with an assured calm that I doubt could be rivalled. "Also, because I was purchasing the pub as a going concern, there were various complexities involving the transfer of the business and VAT issues, a stumbling point for other experts involved, but all expertly handled by Alex. "The process was lengthy and complex, but thanks to BTTJ I have now achieved my ambition of owning the pub."
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Hindustan Times
realme GT 7 review: Value flagships still make a whole lot of sense
When we talk about a special category of phones in India called 'flagship killers,' a simple Venn diagram can help explain them. Imagine three overlapping circles: one representing 'True Flagship' features (think cutting-edge processors, premium displays, and top-tier camera systems), another representing 'Budget Phone' characteristics (which might include some minimal bloatware or more functional rather than luxurious materials), and a third, 'Mid-Range Pricing.' The exciting space where these three circles intersect, that small zone drawing elements from all three: that's the area of the 'Value Flagship.' I think it is far from being an outdated concept, and feel this category is more relevant than ever, representing the sweet spot many consumers actively seek. It's a challenging experience to get right, but when a phone gets it right, it becomes a much sought after option. This is precisely what I kept in mind after testing the realme GT 7, which was launched yesterday in the Indian market. Priced at ₹39,999 (with launch offers bringing it closer to ₹35,000 for the standard version), it directly targets this Value Flagship space. There's also the realme GT 7 Dream Edition, which is essentially a special edition phone with more RAM compared to the regular GT 7, for ₹49,999, F1 goodies, and a unique Aston Martin green colour; unboxing here: A post shared by HT Tech (@hindustantimestech) Well, I have been using the phone for over 15 days now, at least the standard edition of the phone. I got access to the Dream Edition only a while ago, but they are essentially the same phones. It is just that the aesthetics are different with the Dream Edition, and there is more RAM, but mostly, every point applies to both unless I state otherwise in this review later on. Having said that, the realme GT 7 was an interesting experience because, in a way, I did not feel that it compromised on many things. It gets the basic pillars of a smartphone right. However, there are still minor annoyances, which could be easily removed, and it would certainly make the phone a nearly perfect device. And luckily, most of it has to do with software, not hardware, so this is something that realme can address soon. Well, firstly, let's talk about what is good, and there is a lot of it here. No curved displays to see here: a flat display, and that makes it ideal for gaming, practicality, and installing screen protectors. The phone has flat sides, which is standard at this point. The back has subtle curves on the edges, which makes it comfortable to hold. The corners are not particularly sharp, and this makes long-term usage a comfortable affair. The camera bump is flat, and that means there is not a lot of dust that gets attracted because, with individual circles for cameras, what I have seen is there is a lot of pocket lint that gets deposited on the edges. And then there is little attention to detail, especially with the IceSense Blue colourway, as well as the special edition Aston Martin green colourway. The IceSense Blue has a subtle red lining that goes across the camera module, and that certainly makes it pop. And it also has a red camera button, which adds a nice visual flair to the overall design. The weight balance has been done quite well; despite the phone having a massive 7000 mAh battery, it weighs around 200 grams, and that is quite commendable. The phone is also quite durable. It has IP69 dust and water resistance, so you do not have to worry about the elements a lot. Having said that, the phone, whilst certainly not feeling cheap, does not feel as premium as, let's say, something like the OnePlus 13R per se. It has a functional design. It is comfortable in hand, and that is what I appreciate about it. It puts function first. While, we are at it, there is also a supplied case, which seems sturdy enough, though it is not going to protect a lot. And then there is also an IR blaster on top of the phone, which will let you control a lot of appliances like air conditioners and more. Also, talking about the aesthetics, the Aston Martin green colourway, which is part of the Dream Edition of the phone, is certainly a looker. It has gold accents with the power button. The rest of the phone is, as expected, green. And apart from the aesthetics, virtually everything remains the same. It will certainly appeal to you if you are big F1 fan. Also Read: Marshall Middleton review: Retro charm meets big sound in compact party speaker Performance is key for a value flagship, and here, the realme GT 7 certainly gets things right. Getting the synthetic benchmarks first, I tested both editions of the phone because I have both for testing: the realme GT 7 as well as the Dream Edition. The Dream Edition packs 16 GB of RAM by default, compared to the 12 GB maximum of the standard variant. But apart from this, most of the things remain the same. The realme Dream Edition, in the Geekbench 6 benchmark, scored 7238 in the multi-core score and 2210 in the single-core score in the CPU benchmark. The standard edition scored 7184 in the multi-core score and 2119 in the single-core score. And, as you can see, these are very similar, so you should not really buy the Dream Edition for the performance side of things. 12 GB RAM should be enough for the most part. Having said that, in general UI operation, the phone absolutely flies. There are no lags or hiccups or frame drops that I noticed. I did notice that sometimes the phone could suddenly switch to 60 Hertz. So, what I did was, I switched the display frame rate to 120 Hertz at all times instead of Auto Select, and this solved the problem. And then also, a couple of rather heavy games, including GTA Vice City and BGMI. And I can say that this, in games like BGMI, can certainly give you 120 FPS, which is going to be almost necessary at this point for most gamers investing around ₹35,000 in a phone. So, performance-wise, you are not going to be unhappy with this. The MediaTek Dimensity 9400e, whilst based on a 4-nm architecture instead of the 3-nm architecture that the flagship 9400 comes with, still holds its own. It is one of the fastest processors around this price point and goes toe-to-toe with flagships like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and sits just slightly below the other top dogs like the Snapdragon 8 Elite as well as MediaTek's own 9400. How is the battery life with the 7000 mAh battery? Let me start by saying that the combo of the 7000 mAh battery and 120-watt fast charging, for which you do get the charger in the box, is certainly a godsend for someone who has battery anxiety, because this is easily a two-day phone. This is one of the best battery lives I have experienced on a phone so far. What I did was, whilst preparing for Monday, the phone was around 10 to 15 percent. I plugged it in before going to the shower, and after coming back, it was fully charged. And then, after being at 100%, the phone lasted for two entire days, easily crossing the 10-hour screen-on time threshold. So, this is going to be a two-day phone for most people. Even if you are a power user, who could be taking a lot of photos, recording videos, and whatnot, the phone will just go on. So, battery anxiety is not going to be a problem. How is realme UI 6.0? Okay, so, whilst my experience of the realme UI 6.0 is positive for the most part, there are annoyances which brands just have to fix because this is not ideal for a phone that costs ₹35,000. Firstly, the phone absolutely flies. The UI has been optimised quite well. The phone does give you a lot of options to customise, including being able to choose how your quick settings look, including a split layout or a classic layout (I am more of a classic guy). You can adjust your tile shape. There are a lot of features baked in, including being able to choose the transitions for the launcher, locking the layout, icon auto-fill, double-tap to lock, raise to wake, and a whole lot more. The UI is also quite clean in a way. It will remind you of Oppo's ColorOS, which is a good thing in my opinion. The icons are clear in the design as well. The animation is also quite smooth, right from how the brightness slider works to how the apps open. It is a smooth experience overall. I think this is certainly an underrated Android implementation and deserves recognition. But what stops it from being a truly premium experience has to be the bloatware. I remember being asked to turn on the Glance for realme features while setting up the device, and even whilst setting up wallpapers. And this is slightly intrusive, and I would want realme to remove this altogether. And then, there is other certain bloatware as well, including apps like FinShell Pay, the realme Community app, a separate app market, and others like ORoaming and Snapchat. Pre-installed Snapchat can be uninstalled if you do not want it, but others, like the realme store, cannot be uninstalled. You can only disable them. But for the most part, this is a refined experience. I did not have any problems, as such, with the UI. There were no bugs. The experience was smooth, but one is just hoping realme gets rid of the Glance implementation. I also particularly like the attention to detail in terms of how the haptics feel on this phone. So, right from when you reduce the brightness or increase it, unlock the phone, to adjusting the volume, there are subtle vibration hints. The haptics across the device are done quite well. The haptics themselves are quite strong. There is a very precise feel that will remind you of premium phones like the Pixel 9. This thanks to O-Haptics, which are quite precise, and they do feel premium. Also Read: Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge review: New featherweight champion So, the realme GT 7, both the Dream Edition and the standard edition, come with a triple camera setup. There is a main 50 MP camera, an 8 MP ultrawide, and a 50 MP 2x telephoto lens. Images coming out of the main camera are certainly pleasing in most lighting conditions. On bright days, you will see that the highlight roll-off is quite decent. However, I noticed that at the corners, there is a minor colour shift and the detail slightly diminishes, but for the most part, the images are pleasing and certainly social media ready. The close-ups are also quite great. There is ample detail. In low light as well, the detail level is decent. The phone keeps the noise to a minimum. And the selfies, surprisingly, do not entirely smooth your skin out, so the selfies stay natural as well, which is a nice change. The ultrawide lens, well, it could have been sharper, and the colour shift could have been controlled better. realme GT7 gets a large LTPO 6.78-inch panel with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support, and has a huge six thousand nits of peak brightness, offering 450 pixels per inch. This is a beautiful display panel, Especially the way colours look; they are not overly saturated. They strike just the right balance. Media consumption is also a great experience on this phone. It is sharp, colour-accurate, and incredibly bright in sunlight. Not once did I feel that the legibility was bad. In fact, it was quite commendably bright, even in direct sunlight. That said, I manually did set the display refresh rate to 120Hz instead of leaving it on Auto Select, as I noticed the phone would frequently drop to 60Hz, switching it manually fixed the issue instantly. The realme GT 7 is a near-perfect device around the ₹35,000 mark. However, if you are in the market and want the best value, I would recommend you go with the standard variant if you do not care about the aesthetics of the Dream Edition. Apart from the fresh coat of paint and more RAM, it does not offer much value, unless, of course, you want the Aston Martin collectibles that come in the box. So, at ₹50,000, it does not make sense. So, I would recommend the standard variant for most people. The phone does the basics right, including call quality, signal reception, and speaker output. Call quality was great, no issues on WhatsApp or cellular calls. I used the phone with both Vodafone and Jio 5G, and reception was solid with both. The stereo speakers, though loud enough, could use more depth and bass. At large, you can't go wrong with the realme GT 7. 8.5/10 stars. MOBILE FINDER: iPhone 16 LATEST Price, Specs And More
The Age
23-05-2025
- The Age
Trump, turbulence and travel: Are US skies still safe?
Anyone considering a trip to the US is confronted with a question: Is it safe to go? Headlines from the second administration of President Donald Trump convey scenes of disruption, confusion, corruption and shattered norms. Is it possible to enjoy a vacation in a country like this? You can imagine two circles of a Venn diagram: One represents the Trump-spurred disruption and sense of perma-crisis he brings. A second one represents basic aviation safety and having a good time. Surely, the two circles can't stay separate forever. If and when they overlap, will they overlap on your holiday to the US? The US suffered its most deadly air crash in years in January when an American Airlines Flight collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia, killing 67 people. A preliminary investigation raised questions about congestion in the area and the air traffic control staffing. A perhaps more pressing example in the era of Trump: air traffic controllers at Newark Liberty airport near New York lost radar vision and radio contact with flights on April 28. Some controllers were so upset afterwards that they took trauma leave. After the scare, the chief executive of United, which uses Newark as a hub, cut back flights for safety. One contributing factor is that Newark is a temporarily closed runway, set to reopen in June. Loading But to give a sense of the challenge for the US more broadly, consider that there are 3800 commercial flights a day in Australia. In the US, that number is closer to 27,500, with air traffic controllers monitoring and directing 5000 flights simultaneously in peak periods. The Federal Aviation Administration has been trying to upgrade its network of staff and equipment for decades, while attracting more air traffic controllers. There are now 14,000 air traffic controllers in the US, nearly 2000 of them hired last year. However, that still leaves a shortfall of 3000. Trump has largely inherited this problem, though he previously had four years as president to address it. However, it's far from clear that Trump is inclined or capable of improving the situation for US air traffic control. Immediately after the January crash near Washington, Trump blamed 'diversity, equity and inclusion' hires as contributing to the ability of air traffic controllers to function. In a statement at the time, Trump claimed that under former president Joe Biden the FAA 'specifically recruited and hired individuals with 'severe intellectual' disabilities [and] psychiatric issues ...'' When Trump returned to office in January, he came with billionaire campaign funder Elon Musk in tow, pushing a radical government-slashing project called DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency). FAA air traffic controllers are themselves exempt from DOGE cuts and are being recruited. But at more senior levels, the Washington Post reports, in keeping with the DOGE purges, there has been an exodus of people. American air traffic control is ripe for reform. As the Brookings Institute notes: 'The consensus of countless commissions and expert reports is that air traffic management is a 24/7 high-tech service 'business' trapped in a regulatory agency that is constrained by federal budget and acquisition rules.' That is, the budget for its modernisation keeps getting eaten up by the cost of maintaining legacy systems. United chief executive Scott Kirby reassured reporters in New York on May 13: 'At Newark, first and foremost, it is safe. It is absolutely safe when these issues happen. Our pilots are trained with back-up procedures to keep the airline safe, and so whether you lose communications or radar, we have back-up procedures.' To his credit, Kirby has not shied away from the issue. Kirby has publicly highlighted the jam United and the US aviation sector has been put in by the FAA, and by Trump. In April, as the world watched and waited for the next shoe to drop in Trump's tariff strategy, Kirby offered not one but two earnings estimates, depending on whether the US president's moves triggered a recession or not. Trump, in his first 100 days in office, has imposed hiring freezes across government, stripped federal employees of job protections and fundamentally downsized the US government while centralising White House power. The head of the US Department of Transportation, Sean Duffy – an ex-congressman, prosecutor and former reality TV star, natch – has announced a plan expected to cost tens of billions of dollars to fix the US air traffic control system within four years. Trump supports the plan. But the devil is in the delivery. And to be sure, many air traffic controller bodies around the world are in the process of rebuilding staff. Airservices Australia, for example, is recruiting and training controllers. 'We expect controller numbers to be back to surplus capacity by mid-year,' a company spokesman said. But in the US, the problem is longstanding and deep-seated. Now uncertainty abounds for Americans and visiting travellers alike. And it's not just the fear of accidents. It's also the waiting, the delays and the disruptions on the ground that mark so much travel in the US. As for Newark Liberty Airport, Kirby cut back flights in light of the safety scare and issued two messages exhorting regulators to take further actiondespite his insistence that it's safe. Not everyone agrees. William McGee, a senior fellow for aviation and travel at the American Economic Liberties Project, told NPR he just didn't 'see the seriousness and the sense of purpose from this administration' to address the FAA problems. Despite Kirby's commentary on the FAA and US aviation, he is supportive of Trump's aspirations to bring back well-paid jobs to the US, saying the goal is 'laudable'. He notes that United is 'one of the few companies left in the country that creates the kind of jobs where you can make a six-digit income, you can support a family, buy a house and [send] your kids to college, even if you only have a high school education'. Kirby says he is taking a wait-and-see approach to Trump on the economy and tariffs. Speaking the day after Trump announced a reduction in tariffs with China, Kirby said: 'Everyone should kind of take a breath because we're not at the end game yet. We're not at the new normal yet'. Whatever the outcome, United is betting big on the future. After being the only American airline to fly to Australia through COVID lockdown, United is piling on more capacity for flights to Australia. Already, from November to March, United says it was the largest carrier between the US and Australia as measured by available seat miles. While the majority of those flights were Americans visiting Australia, Australians travelling to the US are well represented. United flies between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne from its Los Angeles and San Francisco hubs. In December, it will begin a service from San Francisco to Adelaide. Even if air travel is becoming more difficult in the US because of creaky infrastructure and delays, United is evolving with the times. A small example: the United app allows you to track the progress of the flight, then provides updated gate information, down to a floor map of the airport you arrive at. The effect is not just to remove some uncertainty and confusion but also gives an added sense of control in an experience – air travel in the US – that is increasingly marked by a feeling of helplessness among delayed and diverted passengers. In the realm of long-haul, United is lifting its game to attract more of those dollars. At the Duggal Greenhouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, United organised an event that included segments of its new Polaris Studio class seating, displays of bigger video screens, samples of new food – and drink including Aperol Spritzes – talks by executives, walk-throughs and talks by subject-matter experts, all while United's corporate versions of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue played on speakers. There was even a supply of the airline's signature ice cream sundaes. Before Kirby took to the stage to announce ambitious improvements in seating, voices began chanting on one side of the room. They grew louder as flight attendant union-members burst into the venue, chanting: 'What do we want? A contract, When do we want it? Now!' Loading For a Trumpian America in convulsions, it somehow seemed on-brand. Is a renewed focus on higher wages part of the 'new normal'? But the fear and loathing in US politics, along with questions about governance, create anxiety for visitors to the US. While anger and concern for Trump's tariffs, and his threats to Canada and Greenland remain, like so many other things in the Trump era, what was a certainty turned to something less sure. Reports of huge falls in arrivals coincided with Trump's first 100 days of chaos. US International Trade Administration data show the number of Australians travelling to the US actually rose 1 per cent to 89,363 in April over the previous year. In the four months to April, the number edged down 0.2 per cent over the same period in 2024. The same figures show the number of Europeans visiting the US fell 15.9 per cent in the year to March compared with the same period in 2024. But over the first four months of the year, aside from Canada, it's not clear the backlash is sustained. European visitors to the US rose 11.5 per cent in the year to April. The difference possibly arose from Easter, a major travel holiday in Europe, having fallen in March last year, skewing expectations for this year's statistics. Still, the Trump factor remains. The US president and his administration relish their roles as disruptors. And they are disruptors coming after decades of American politics that frequently allowed industries an outsized influence in their own regulation. There is disruption aplenty in US aviation. Now, no matter who is president, the country needs effective reform to address the problem.
Sydney Morning Herald
23-05-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Trump, turbulence and travel: Are US skies still safe?
Anyone considering a trip to the US is confronted with a question: Is it safe to go? Headlines from the second administration of President Donald Trump convey scenes of disruption, confusion, corruption and shattered norms. Is it possible to enjoy a vacation in a country like this? You can imagine two circles of a Venn diagram: One represents the Trump-spurred disruption and sense of perma-crisis he brings. A second one represents basic aviation safety and having a good time. Surely, the two circles can't stay separate forever. If and when they overlap, will they overlap on your holiday to the US? The US suffered its most deadly air crash in years in January when an American Airlines Flight collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia, killing 67 people. A preliminary investigation raised questions about congestion in the area and the air traffic control staffing. A perhaps more pressing example in the era of Trump: air traffic controllers at Newark Liberty airport near New York lost radar vision and radio contact with flights on April 28. Some controllers were so upset afterwards that they took trauma leave. After the scare, the chief executive of United, which uses Newark as a hub, cut back flights for safety. One contributing factor is that Newark is a temporarily closed runway, set to reopen in June. Loading But to give a sense of the challenge for the US more broadly, consider that there are 3800 commercial flights a day in Australia. In the US, that number is closer to 27,500, with air traffic controllers monitoring and directing 5000 flights simultaneously in peak periods. The Federal Aviation Administration has been trying to upgrade its network of staff and equipment for decades, while attracting more air traffic controllers. There are now 14,000 air traffic controllers in the US, nearly 2000 of them hired last year. However, that still leaves a shortfall of 3000. Trump has largely inherited this problem, though he previously had four years as president to address it. However, it's far from clear that Trump is inclined or capable of improving the situation for US air traffic control. Immediately after the January crash near Washington, Trump blamed 'diversity, equity and inclusion' hires as contributing to the ability of air traffic controllers to function. In a statement at the time, Trump claimed that under former president Joe Biden the FAA 'specifically recruited and hired individuals with 'severe intellectual' disabilities [and] psychiatric issues ...'' When Trump returned to office in January, he came with billionaire campaign funder Elon Musk in tow, pushing a radical government-slashing project called DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency). FAA air traffic controllers are themselves exempt from DOGE cuts and are being recruited. But at more senior levels, the Washington Post reports, in keeping with the DOGE purges, there has been an exodus of people. American air traffic control is ripe for reform. As the Brookings Institute notes: 'The consensus of countless commissions and expert reports is that air traffic management is a 24/7 high-tech service 'business' trapped in a regulatory agency that is constrained by federal budget and acquisition rules.' That is, the budget for its modernisation keeps getting eaten up by the cost of maintaining legacy systems. United chief executive Scott Kirby reassured reporters in New York on May 13: 'At Newark, first and foremost, it is safe. It is absolutely safe when these issues happen. Our pilots are trained with back-up procedures to keep the airline safe, and so whether you lose communications or radar, we have back-up procedures.' To his credit, Kirby has not shied away from the issue. Kirby has publicly highlighted the jam United and the US aviation sector has been put in by the FAA, and by Trump. In April, as the world watched and waited for the next shoe to drop in Trump's tariff strategy, Kirby offered not one but two earnings estimates, depending on whether the US president's moves triggered a recession or not. Trump, in his first 100 days in office, has imposed hiring freezes across government, stripped federal employees of job protections and fundamentally downsized the US government while centralising White House power. The head of the US Department of Transportation, Sean Duffy – an ex-congressman, prosecutor and former reality TV star, natch – has announced a plan expected to cost tens of billions of dollars to fix the US air traffic control system within four years. Trump supports the plan. But the devil is in the delivery. And to be sure, many air traffic controller bodies around the world are in the process of rebuilding staff. Airservices Australia, for example, is recruiting and training controllers. 'We expect controller numbers to be back to surplus capacity by mid-year,' a company spokesman said. But in the US, the problem is longstanding and deep-seated. Now uncertainty abounds for Americans and visiting travellers alike. And it's not just the fear of accidents. It's also the waiting, the delays and the disruptions on the ground that mark so much travel in the US. As for Newark Liberty Airport, Kirby cut back flights in light of the safety scare and issued two messages exhorting regulators to take further actiondespite his insistence that it's safe. Not everyone agrees. William McGee, a senior fellow for aviation and travel at the American Economic Liberties Project, told NPR he just didn't 'see the seriousness and the sense of purpose from this administration' to address the FAA problems. Despite Kirby's commentary on the FAA and US aviation, he is supportive of Trump's aspirations to bring back well-paid jobs to the US, saying the goal is 'laudable'. He notes that United is 'one of the few companies left in the country that creates the kind of jobs where you can make a six-digit income, you can support a family, buy a house and [send] your kids to college, even if you only have a high school education'. Kirby says he is taking a wait-and-see approach to Trump on the economy and tariffs. Speaking the day after Trump announced a reduction in tariffs with China, Kirby said: 'Everyone should kind of take a breath because we're not at the end game yet. We're not at the new normal yet'. Whatever the outcome, United is betting big on the future. After being the only American airline to fly to Australia through COVID lockdown, United is piling on more capacity for flights to Australia. Already, from November to March, United says it was the largest carrier between the US and Australia as measured by available seat miles. While the majority of those flights were Americans visiting Australia, Australians travelling to the US are well represented. United flies between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne from its Los Angeles and San Francisco hubs. In December, it will begin a service from San Francisco to Adelaide. Even if air travel is becoming more difficult in the US because of creaky infrastructure and delays, United is evolving with the times. A small example: the United app allows you to track the progress of the flight, then provides updated gate information, down to a floor map of the airport you arrive at. The effect is not just to remove some uncertainty and confusion but also gives an added sense of control in an experience – air travel in the US – that is increasingly marked by a feeling of helplessness among delayed and diverted passengers. In the realm of long-haul, United is lifting its game to attract more of those dollars. At the Duggal Greenhouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, United organised an event that included segments of its new Polaris Studio class seating, displays of bigger video screens, samples of new food – and drink including Aperol Spritzes – talks by executives, walk-throughs and talks by subject-matter experts, all while United's corporate versions of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue played on speakers. There was even a supply of the airline's signature ice cream sundaes. Before Kirby took to the stage to announce ambitious improvements in seating, voices began chanting on one side of the room. They grew louder as flight attendant union-members burst into the venue, chanting: 'What do we want? A contract, When do we want it? Now!' Loading For a Trumpian America in convulsions, it somehow seemed on-brand. Is a renewed focus on higher wages part of the 'new normal'? But the fear and loathing in US politics, along with questions about governance, create anxiety for visitors to the US. While anger and concern for Trump's tariffs, and his threats to Canada and Greenland remain, like so many other things in the Trump era, what was a certainty turned to something less sure. Reports of huge falls in arrivals coincided with Trump's first 100 days of chaos. US International Trade Administration data show the number of Australians travelling to the US actually rose 1 per cent to 89,363 in April over the previous year. In the four months to April, the number edged down 0.2 per cent over the same period in 2024. The same figures show the number of Europeans visiting the US fell 15.9 per cent in the year to March compared with the same period in 2024. But over the first four months of the year, aside from Canada, it's not clear the backlash is sustained. European visitors to the US rose 11.5 per cent in the year to April. The difference possibly arose from Easter, a major travel holiday in Europe, having fallen in March last year, skewing expectations for this year's statistics. Still, the Trump factor remains. The US president and his administration relish their roles as disruptors. And they are disruptors coming after decades of American politics that frequently allowed industries an outsized influence in their own regulation. There is disruption aplenty in US aviation. Now, no matter who is president, the country needs effective reform to address the problem.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Lawmakers approve bold new safety net for uninsured homeowners after devastating fires: 'It's time ... to align with the rest of the world'
In January, wildfires raged throughout the Los Angeles area. According to Cal Fire, in 2025 alone there have been 850-plus wildfires, with over 60,000 acres burned and over 16,000 structures destroyed. The California State Assembly Insurance Committee recently approved Assembly Bill 1236. This bill includes provisions to create climate resilience insurance and grant programs to reduce risk. In addition to destroying acres of natural habitats, the fires also had a substantial impact on residential areas, displacing more than 100,000 people. The insurance will address this by providing coverage for events related to natural disasters like the wildfires. It places special emphasis on vulnerable populations who may not have insurance. California has always been prone to wildfires, but they have been exacerbated by rising global temperatures. Wildfire season is typically over the summer, so these powerful January fires were a rare event. "The climate crisis demands action and innovative solutions. It's time for California to align with the rest of the world, which has been developing innovative climate insurance solutions to protect our most vulnerable populations for years now," Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said in a news release. As Californians recover after the wildfires and adapt to the changing climate, measures such as AB 1236 could be pivotal in preparing for wildfire seasons to come. The bill is under review by the Assembly Appropriations Committee, but its supporters are hopeful that it will become law. Tim Brown, director of the NOAA Western Regional Climate Center, wrote that California's fires result from "the confluence of climate, people, topography, and fuels…the intersection where these meet on the Venn diagram." To reduce the severity of severe natural events including wildfires, humans will need to move away from dirty energy sources that release heat-trapping pollution and invest in renewable energy technologies. Do you think your city has good air quality? Definitely Somewhat Depends on the time of year Not at all Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. If you live in an area that is prone to wildfires, you can take precautions by fireproofing your home or planting fire-resistant plants in your yard — just be sure to research which plants are native to the area and which may be invasive species. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
