Entertainment
At least 250 dead, 500 injured in Afghanistan earthquake: reports
- Early reports show 30 dead in single village: health ministry.
- Number of casualties and injuries is high, says ministry’s spox.
- Figures likely to rise as reports arrive from remote areas.
KABUL: Hundreds were feared dead and injured after an earthquake of magnitude-6 struck two rugged eastern provinces in Afghanistan, authorities said on Monday, as helicopters ferried the injured to safety from rubble being combed in a hunt for survivors.
Reports showed 250 dead and 500 injured, said Najibullah Hanif, the provincial information head of Kunar, adding that the tally could change.
The disaster will further stretch the resources of the South Asian nation already grappling with humanitarian crises, from a sharp drop in aid to a huge pushback of its citizens from neighbouring countries.
There was no confirmed death toll, health authorities said in Kabul, the capital, as rescuers raced to reach remote hamlets dotting an area with a long history of earthquakes and floods.
“Figures from just a few clinics show over 400 injured and dozens of fatalities,” ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman said in a statement that warned of higher casualties.
Images from Reuters Television showed helicopters ferrying out the affected, while residents helped soldiers and medics carry the wounded to ambulances.
Three villages were razed in the province of Kunar, with substantial damage in many others, the health ministry said.
Early reports showed 30 dead in a single village, with hundreds of injured taken to hospital, authorities said.
Rescuers were scrambling to find survivors in the area bordering Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, where homes of mud and stone were levelled by the midnight quake that hit at a depth of 10 kilometres (6 miles).
“So far, no foreign governments have reached out to provide support for rescue or relief work,” a foreign office spokesperson said.
Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.
A series of earthquakes in its west killed more than 1,000 people last year, underscoring the vulnerability of one of the world’s poorest countries to natural disasters.
America’s aviation has been hit by catastrophic conditions on Tuesday, April 21, as three simultaneous crises hit the nation.
The primary reasons for the collapse include TSA staffing collapse, Iran-war fuel shock, and weather restrictions.
As per live FlightAware data, total delays worldwide reached 8,845 on Tuesday, with 675 delays occurring within, into, or out of the United States.
The total number of cancellations worldwide was 421, of which 28 occurred in or affected flights departing from US airports.
San Francisco International Airport became the epicenter of the disaster, with 475 delays and 69 cancellations following the FAA’s issuance of weather-related flight restrictions. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Boston Logan, and JFK International were the next most affected airports.
Full list of airlines with cancellations and delays
Major affected carriers include:
- SkyWest (7 cancellations, 68 delays)
- United Airlines (7 cancellations, 33 delays)
- Southwest (2 cancellations, 71 delays)
- Delta Airlines (1 cancellation, 51 delays)
- American Airlines
International carriers operating US routes suffered heavily, including:
- Japan Airlines (65 cancellations, 257 delays)
- Air China (24 cancellations, 174 delays)
- China Eastern (19 cancellations, 329 delays)
- Emirates (2 cancellations, 25 delays)
- Air Canada (7 cancellations, 21 delays)
Reroutes and fuel-driven cuts
Apart from delays and cancellations, airlines have been actively cutting down their schedules.
United Airlines has reduced 5% of its schedule over six months. Air Canada plans to discontinue its JFK services for six months, starting June 1 and ending October 25. Delta Airlines lost an additional $400 million on fuel costs in March alone.
There are just 60 days left until the start of the FIFA World Cup, and the TSA training cycle takes four to six months.
Jennifer Lopez and Will Smith are once again being linked together online, with many people wondering if something is going on between them.
The rumours have picked up quickly but there is no real proof that the two are dating.
The viral buzz started after old videos and past gossip started circulating again on social media.
As these clips made their way back into the spotlight, some fans started connecting dots and assuming that there might be a hidden story behind it.
But so far, nothing new has actually come out to support those claims.
A lot of this opinion seems to be coming from older speculations that have been around for years, which often involving Jada Pinkett Smith and Sean Combs.
These stories, however, were never confirmed yet they keep returning every now and then.
Right now, Lopez is said to be focusing on her life and work after her high-profile split from Ben Affleck.
At the same time, Smith still shares a public bond with Jada, even though they have spoken about living separately. Moreover, they do have a past connection, as they once talked about working together on a film that never happened.
For now, it looks like this is more about old rumours coming back again rather than anything new actually happening.
Gout Gout has broken the Jamaican icon Usain Bolt’s world record, but the legend has a warning for the teen phenom.
Sprint icon Usain Bolt has advised the buzzing teen phenom from Australia Gout Gout, not to forget track and field and to find a good support network in order to remain focused on his career goals.
Gout, 18, kept the 200m title at the Australian Athletics Championship on April 12 in a time stamp of 19.67 seconds, crushing U.S. sprinter Erriyon Knighton’s world under-20 record (19.69) and edging past Bolt’s time of 19.93 seconds from 2004—the Jamaican’s fastest time as a teenager.
Gout, who also clinched the under-20 100m national title, went under the 20-second mark at last season’s championships with a wind-assisted 19.84 and once held the fastest time by a 16-year-old over 200m when he posted that time, 20.04, in 2024.
The Jamaican eight-time Olympic GOAT has some piece of advice for the teen and spoke in an interview with CNN.
Bolt expresses hope for young Gout Gout, “Hopefully he has the right set of people to guide him and keep him focused on track and field because the rest of the stuff will always be there.”
While warning the teen sprint sensation, Bolt said, “But if you mess up on track and field, then it all goes away.”
The 18-year-old Australian sprinter Gout is all geared up to make his debut in the Diamond League in the 200m in Oslo on June 10, 2026.
But with a focus on the upcoming World Under-20 Championships in Oregon in August, he has indicated that he will not be part of the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow, due in July this year.
Soccer’s incredible shrinking shin guards could be a big problem
Leave, holidays and encashment: What India’s changing labour laws mean for employees – The Times of India
Here’s full list of airlines hit by cancellations, reroutes, delays
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