A passenger recently had such a harrowing experience.

It was on an Alaska Airlines flight, travelling from Seattle to Las Vegas, that a man attempted to kill a fellow passenger with a makeshift weapon after a violent altercation mid air.

Julio Alvarez Lopez, the accused, was arrested at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on January 24, a report in the New York Post said.

Lopez was charged with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon.

So what was his modus operandi?

Lopez was “fidgety” throughout the flight, and kept on putting and removing his gloves, using the bathroom for a long period during the flight’s descent.

“He sat down, got up a second time, and went to the restroom, where he was reportedly gone for ‘a while’,” Fox News reported.

After Lopez returned to his seat, he began “punching and hitting” the man seated across the aisle, and tried to stab him in the eye.

“During the altercation, the victim’s wife was screaming at the defendant to stop hitting her husband. A witness unbuckled her seatbelt and yelled at the defendant to stop,” an FBI agent wrote in court documents.

Lopez also struck the woman, who was trying to protect their seven-year-old son.

He told investigators that he was seeking asylum in the US, and added that he believed the co-passenger was with ‘the Cartel’ and was following him, as per Fox News.

The passenger who was attacked is alive, but he was severely injured.

The agency said around 171 aircraft worldwide would be affected, with each inspection taking four to eight hours.

The FAA is requiring immediate inspeAlaska and United Airlines fly the largest number of MAX 9 planes, while Icelandair and Turkish Airlines have smaller fleets of these aircraft. Boeing has so far delivered some 218 737 MAX 9 planes worldwide, the company told AFP.

US-based Alaska Airlines grounded all 65 of its Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes on Friday after a flight carrying 171 passengers and six crew was forced to make an emergency landing, with passengers saying a window panel blew out after takeoff.

Alaska Flight 1282 had departed from Portland International Airport and was still gaining altitude when the cabin crew reported a “pressurization issue,” according to the FAA.

The plane quickly returned to Portland, and there were no major injuries.

Images posted on social media showed a side panel of the plane blown out, with emergency oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling, AFP reported.

“Following tonight’s event on Flight 1282, we have decided to take the precautionary step of temporarily grounding our fleet of 65 Boeing 737-9 aircraft,” Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said in a statement Friday.

“Each aircraft will be returned to service only after completion of full maintenance and safety inspections,” he said.

Alaska Airlines said Saturday that more than a fourth of its Max 9 fleet had been inspected since the incident, with nothing noteworthy being found.

About military efforts to dismantle Hamas in the central and southern Gaza Strip, Hagari said “we will do it in a different way” without elaborating.

According to him, the refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip are crowded and full of terrorists, while in the south, the large urban landscape of Khan Yunis has an elaborate underground network of tunnels. “It takes time,” he was quoted as saying.

Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government had directed the army to “eliminate Hamas”, return all the hostages and ensure that Gaza will “never again be a threat to Israel”. The war must not be stopped until we achieve all of the goals,” he said in a statement.

“I have decided that now is the right time. On 14 January 2024 – 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father – I will step down as queen of Denmark,” she said.

“I leave the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederik,” she said.

In July, she became the longest-sitting monarch in Denmark’s history.

In Denmark, formal power resides with the elected parliament and its government. The monarch is expected to stay above partisan politics, representing the nation with traditional duties ranging from state visits to national day celebrations.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen thanked the queen for her life-long dedication to duty.

“It is still difficult to understand that the time has now come for a change of throne,” Frederiksen said in a statement, adding that many Danes had never known another monarch.

“Queen Margrethe is the epitome of Denmark and throughout the years has put words and feelings into who we are as a people and as a nation,” she said.

Born in 1940 to Denmark’s former monarch King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid, Margrethe has throughout her life enjoyed broad support from Danes, who are fond of her tactful and yet creative personality.

She is also known for her love of archaeology and has taken part in several excavations.

She became heir to her father in 1953 at the age of 31, after a constitutional amendment allowed women to inherit the throne.

In 1967, she married French diplomat Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, who served as her royal consort until his death in 2018.

The couple’s two sons are Crown Prince Frederik, who will become King Frederik X, and Prince Joachim. Frederik married Mary Elizabeth Donaldson, an Australian, in 2004.

Following the Sunday broadcast, Meltem Gunay, a 45-year-old seasoned newscaster with TGRT Haber, and the program director were promptly dismissed, as reported by the Turkish television conglomerate.

The Istanbul-based media company in a statement said, it “has an understanding that knows the sensitivities of the Turkish people regarding Gaza and defends them to the end.”

“We do not approve of this action of the presenter and director, whose employment contracts were terminated, and we strongly condemn it.”

As per the statement, the anchor and the director of the newscast were “terminated for just cause” after they were found to have “acted contrary to this principle.”

In recent weeks, coffee enthusiasts across Turkey have initiated a widespread boycott of Starbucks, claiming that the company exhibits bias towards Israel, as asserted by pro-Palestinian sympathizers. Viral videos shared on social media depict protesters rallying outside Starbucks establishments, urging customers to refrain from patronizing the coffee giant, as per the report.

Historically, Turkey, a crucial NATO member, maintained an alliance with Israel during the rule of secularist governments. However, under the current leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Ankara has adopted a more confrontational stance towards Israel.

Meanwhile, Starbucks has found itself in a defensive position in the United States as unionized workers took to social media to express criticism of Israel and express sympathy for the Palestinians.

Last week, Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan blamed “misrepresentation on social media of what we stand for” in a letter that appeared to address recent controversies over the coffee chain’s stance on Israel and Hamas

India’s High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma has alleged that the probe into the June murder of Nijjar in Vancouver by police has been damaged by a high-level Canadian official’s public statements.

“I would go a step further and say now the investigation has already been tainted. A direction has come from someone at a high level to say India or Indian agents are behind it,” Verma told the Globe and Mail newspaper.

Verma, however, did not name the “high level” Canadian official, reported Reuters.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has alleged Indian involvement in the killing of Canadian citizen and Sikh separatist leader Nijjar.

“Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India” and Nijjar’s death, Trudeau had said on September 18.

The Indian government dismissed the allegation, saying that no evidence has been provided by Canada to back it up.

Verma reiterated that India has not been shown concrete evidence by Canada or Canada’s allies that Indian agents were involved in Nijjar’s killing.

The High Commissioner said that despite strained relations between the two countries, India would like to expand business ties and return to the negotiating table on a proposed trade treaty, talks on which Canada paused in September three months after agreeing to seal an initial agreement.

Earlier the age limit for entering this beauty pageant was 18 to 28 years only. Gabriel made this announcement at designer Tanner Fletcher’s “Beauty Pageant” show during New York Fashion Week. Beginning in 1952, when the Miss Universe pageant started, the age limit for the participants was 18 to 28 years. R’Bonney who is now 29 years old, made a new record as she won the pageant in 2022 as the oldest contestant to become Miss Universe.

Miss Universe’s Instagram handle put up a post captioned, “Limitless @rbonneynola closed out Tanner Fletcher’s stunning NYFW show as the MISS UNIVERSE Organization announced the elimination of age limits across all MISS UNIVERSE and associated pageants.”

“What I love about Miss Universe is that they are always at the forefront, seeking ways to be more inclusive and fulfill the platform they’ve designed for us. There’s a bold, forward-thinking team leading the way here, and many tend to follow our lead. It’s an honor to set the standard, and I’m proud that we are making this change,” Gabriel said, according to reports.

Here’s how the Miss Universe pageant will become more inclusive:

While the current age limit for Miss Universe is 28, it is 27 for Miss Word and 25 for Femina Miss India, the latter with a height restriction of 5 foot 3 and above. For older contestants, there is a Mrs Universe pageant for which the age limit is much higher at 55 but contestants have to be married to enter to be able to participate.
With this announcement, traditional beauty standards are being challenged. In its 72-year history, Miss Universe crowned 40 young women between the ages of 17 to 20 years. Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu was 21 when she won the crown, one among 3 in the last 5 years who were under 25.
What’s more, until last year Miss Universe contents had to be unmarried to qualify and mothers were restricted from participating too. However, according to reports released last year, the pageant will also be revising those rules this year, opening the pageant up like never before, NDTV reported.

In the video, the man proudly holds the G20 flag to celebrate the two-day-long G20 Leader’s Summit in the national capital that is being held at the newly inaugurated Bharat Mandapam.

”I like this very much,” Rijiju captioned the video. It is not known when and where the video was shot.

Earlier in March, an Indian Air Force (IAF) officer was also seen skydiving in Rajasthan while displaying the G20 2023 flag. According to the South Western Air Command, Wing Commander Gajanand Yadava skydived from an altitude of 10,000 feet with the G20 flag with the theme ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – One Earth, One Family, One Future’.

Though the video is from March, it has surfaced again due to the G20 summit.

General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid said on Monday: “Today could not have come at a more opportune time as the Covid-19 pandemic has upended the lives and livelihoods triggering a deluge of anxiety and depression.

“The practice of yoga serves as a holistic approach to the physical, mental and spiritual health and well-being of humanity.”

India’s Permanent Representative T.S. Tirumurti said that the Yoga Day celebration was returning to the UN after two years “during which the Covid pandemic had upended the lives of people”.

“During these difficult times, millions embraced yoga as their companion to stay healthy, to overcome depression and mental anxiety In recognition of this important role of yoga, this year’s theme is ‘Yoga for Humanity’,” he said.

In 2014, the General Assembly declared June 21, the traditional solstice day when the sun shines the longest in the northern hemisphere, as the International Day of Yoga. Since then, the day has been celebrated at the UN and around the world, although during the pandemic it was observed only virtually here.

New York City will celebrate the day at Times Square, considered the “Crossroads of the World”, with the participation of India’s Consulate General.

The celebrations there on the theme, ‘Mind over Madness’, will include yoga classes and demonstrations involving several thousand people throughout the day as it had last year despite the pandemic.

At the UN, where the celebration was held a day earlier, most of the attendees, including Shahid, wore white Tshirts emblazoned with the Yoga Day and “75 Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav” logos and participated in yoga exercises on the lawn of the UN headquarters next to the East River.

Tirumurti said: “Yoga can also be an integral part of our ‘Build Back Better’ strategy. The essence of yoga is balance, not just balance within the body or that between the mind and body but also balance in the human relationship with planet earth.”

Bhutan’s Permanent Representative Doma Tshering said that “moderation, discipline and perseverance are all values with universal appeal that encourage a deeper sense of interconnectedness within community, society and the natural world around us as a pathway towards sustainable living”.

“It is in consonance with the ethos of Bhutan’s development philosophy of gross national happiness, that seeks to achieve harmonious balance, balance between material wellbeing on the one hand, and the spiritual, emotional and cultural needs of society on the other.”