At least 16 people are believed to have died after an Air India passenger plane crashed in the Indian state of Kerala yesterday evening.
The aircraft had been flying into Calicut airport in southern India from Dubai. At just before 8 pm, the Boeing 737 aircraft slid off the runway while landing at Calicut and subsequently broke in two.
The airline says 184 were on board including 7 crew. The flight, which was being operated by the Indian government, had been sent to bring home Indians stranded abroad by the coronavirus lockdown.
Most of those on board survived. According to the BBC, at least 89 people were taken to hospital with serious injuries and at least 16 are known to have died.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told has said he is pained by the accident.
Coronavirus cases in Poland have continued to spike, with the country again recording record daily infections.
809 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded on Friday, bringing the total number of cases in the country above 50,000 for the first time.
The news comes as renewed lockdown measures come into force in 19 counties in southern Poland which have seen outbreaks of the virus.
Poland’s national ice hockey team has also been struck by the virus, with eleven players and two coaches testing positive for the virus after a Warsaw training camp in July.
Polish President Andrzej Duda is to make a visit to Italy in his first foreign trip since re-election last month.
The three-day visit in September will also include a stop at the Vatican and a meeting with Pope Francis as well as official talks with Italian officials in Rome.
Speaking to Polsat News on Thursday, Mr Duda said the trip would be „very important” for him personally.
Andrzej Duda won a second term as President last month in a knife-edge election. He was sworn in as President at the Polish Parliament on Thursday.
The Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk has this week taken over management of a strip of land on the Westerplatte peninsula.
The Pomeranian provincial government approved the hand-over on Friday, allowing the museum to take over control of the site. It’s part of plans for a massive revitalisation of the peninsula, including the construction of a new museum commemorating the 1939 battle.
The museum is also expected to organise an archaeological and geological study of the battlefield before building the museum. The site also needs clearing of possible unexploded bombs and hazardous materials left over from the battle 80 years ago.
In September 1939, Westerplatte was the site of the opening battle of the Second World War, when the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire of the Polish army transit depot based on the peninsula.
A competition has been launched to name two new Polish islands.
Two artificial islands will emerge in the Vistula and Szczecin lagoons. They’re being made from land excavated on the Vistula Spit and will mainly serve as a shelter for birds. Together the islands will add 600 hectares to the size of Poland.
Name suggestions can be sent to the Ministry of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation until August 31st with the most interesting proposals going to an online vote next month.
The winner will receive a special engraving proving they named the new islands.
Dry and mostly sunny with some cloud as we go into the afternoon. Temperatures reaching 27°C, 80°F.
It’s going to be a warm night with temperatures not going much below 20°C. Much the same story tomorrow with no rain expected.
