Entertainment
Lufthansa hit by back-to-back strikes as pilots, cabin crew walk out
Lufthansa has had to cancel hundreds of flights amid continuing labor unrest from pilots and flight attendants at the national airline company in Germany.
The pilots’ union, called Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), has staged a 48-hour strike from Monday, impacting not only the Lufthansa brand but the cargo arm of the airline and even its regional carrier called CityLine. The pilots in Eurowings only go on strike on Monday.
Frankfurt International Airport, which is Germany’s busiest airport, saw 570 take-offs and landings cancelled, most of which belonged to Lufthansa. This affected more than 50,000 passengers.
Lufthansa reported that two-thirds of its short and medium-haul flights, and half of its long-haul flights were grounded. Eurowings, another subsidiary of Lufthansa, flew just under 60% of its planned routes.
The strike is caused by a disagreement regarding the pension scheme of the company, where VC is demanding an increased contribution from Lufthansa by over 100%. The airline referred to the request as “absurd and unfulfillable.”
As an additional aggravating factor, the UFO cabin crew union launched its two-day strike effective from Wednesday, and thus Lufthansa is facing four days of strikes consecutively.
However, according to the airline, flights to the Middle East will not be impacted due to ongoing conflicts in Iran.
Lufthansa recommended exchanging tickets for train vouchers to minimize the inconvenience to the passengers, while criticizing the unnecessary strike. Union representatives, however, referred to the management’s reluctance to hold negotiations as a cause for strikes.
This strike is the fourth one this year involving Lufthansa pilots.
Entertainment
‘Saturday Night Live’ alum Tina Fey admits past jokes missed the mark
Saturday Night Live veteran Tina Fey reflected on her years at the NBC sketch institution, acknowledging that some of her jokes were “on the wrong side”.
Speaking at the History Talks event in Philadelphia, Fey said she’s realized with time that not every punchline was fair.
The two times Globe Globe winner added candidly, “I was pretty dumb.”
Fey joined SNL in 1997 and later became head writer.
She recalled navigating some of the show’s most difficult broadcasts, from the first episode after September 11 to the anthrax scare and even President George W. Bush’s visit to meet Will Ferrell.
Over time, she said, the line between comedy and current events grew thinner, with politicians and public figures often responding directly to the sketches.
One of her most memorable stretches came in 2008, when she teamed with Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler to craft the now iconic Sarah Palin sketches.
Fey explained that the team worked hard to make sure their material was “a fair hit,” grounded in truth rather than random exaggeration.
“If it’s not true, it will not be funny,” she noted.
Reflecting on the influence of SNL, Fey said it was both thrilling and intimidating to know that what she wrote could be taken seriously by people in power.
She emphasized that the show never set out to control politics or the national narrative, but admitted that some of her own jokes didn’t age well.
Fey appeared alongside Nicole Kidman, Ted Danson, Kate McKinnon, Colin Jost and others at the event, which marked the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Entertainment
Prince William’s ally Robert Irwin rejects Prince Harry, Meghan offer
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appeared to completed a successful four-day tour to Down Under, as they received a warm welcome from the Aussies.
The optics of the visit worked in the Sussexes’s favour, having plenty of similarities to an official royal tour. However, there was one particular item on their to-do list which they were not able to accomplish after facing a major rejection.
The Irwin family is hugely popular in Australia and especially with Robert Irwin’s work and amplified fame after winning Dancing with the Stars, they hold a special prestige in the country. So much so, Prince William has made Robert one of the ambassadors of the Earthshot Prize, a deeply personal and important initiative William had taken over five years ago.
Hence, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were hoping to get a meeting with the Irwins especially the celebrity conservationist at Australia Zoo in Queensland. However, it was not possible during the four-day trip, per New Idea magazine.
The source revealed that there is “no ill-will” towards the Sussexes from the Irwins and cited that it “wasn’t possible”. Although, it is key to note that they are all “staunch monarchists and fiercely loyal to The Firm”.
“Aligning with the Irwins’ worthy causes is something that Meghan and Harry could be on board with,” the source said. But, it seems that Robert may have played it safe as he did not want to upset William.
Entertainment
Breakthrough Prize laureate David Gross drops shocking prediction for humanity
David Gross has won the Special Breakthrough Prize for Fundamental Physics with a whopping $3 million prize, as announced by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation on April 18, 2026.
The prize honors scientists whose discoveries have contributed significant advancement to the development of human knowledge.
The Breakthrough Prizes—commonly known as the ’Oscars of Science’—were established in 2012 to celebrate the wonders of the 21st century scientific age.
David Gross, who is a Nobel Prize laureate in Physics (2004), served as director at the Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics at University of California, Santa Barbara for three decades.
What earned Gross winning Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics?
In the early 1970s, there was a wide gap in quantum field theory, as it could not define the strong nuclear force, which holds the atom’s nucleus together.
But in 1973, Gross and his graduate student Frank Wilczek cracked the mystery.
They discovered that the strong force works the opposite way to familiar forces like gravity: it gets weaker as particles approach each other, but stronger as they move apart.
That discovery led to the development of quantum chromodynamics.
After taking home the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, he drops a shocking prediction for humanity in an interview with LiveScience.
Gross, when asked if humanity will ever get to a place where we get rid of nuclear weapons.
Gross predicted, “We’re not recommending that. That’s idealistic, but yet, I hope so. Because if you don’t, there’s always some risk an AI 100 years from now, but chances of (humanity) living, with this estimate, 100 years, is very small, and living 200 years is infinitesimal.”
Gross became one of this year’s six awardees for his contributions to theoretical physics, earning the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
David Gross has remained an authority in fundamental physics for six decades.
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