We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
WASHINGTON – In a groundbreaking move by the Trump administration, an Afghan woman is facing deportation through a little-known court that has been inactive for three decades. This court action relates to her alleged involvement in an Islamic State-inspired plot within the United States, as revealed by court documents filed on Wednesday.
Nazira Haji Zada, residing in Fort Worth, Texas, is the subject of a government petition to the Alien Terrorist Removal Court. A hearing is slated to take place on Thursday in Washington, D.C., following her arrest earlier this week.
An FBI document from July 15 indicated that Nazira expressed support for the Islamic State and compelled her children to pledge allegiance to the extremist group. The memo further alleges that she backed a plan orchestrated by her relatives to execute a terrorist attack inspired by ISIS within the U.S.
According to court records, Nazira is connected to two Afghan men convicted in Oklahoma for their part in a plot targeting Election Day 2024. Her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, was handed a 15-year prison sentence last November and has agreed to leave the U.S. following his incarceration.
Additionally, her son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, formerly a security guard at a U.S. military facility in Afghanistan, confessed to conspiring and attempting to aid the Islamic State. Prosecutors disclosed that he actively pursued his attack plan by acquiring AK-47 rifles, liquidating family assets, and arranging one-way travel for his wife and child back to Afghanistan.
The Alien Terrorist Removal Court was established in 1996 but had never received a petition until this month, when the Justice Department filed an application seeking Nazira’s removal. Documents in support of that application were unsealed Wednesday night ahead of a scheduled hearing Thursday.
The long-dormant court has a specific authority to conduct deportation proceedings for individuals whom the Justice Department classifies as “alien terrorists.”
The court is comprised of five federal judges from different districts across the country who are appointed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, with all proceedings, at least for now, taking place at the federal courthouse in Washington.
“Congress created the Alien Terrorist Removal Court three decades ago to remove from the United States alien terrorists who never should have been here in the first place,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.
“The allegations in this case show the matriarch of an ISIS-sympathizing family aiding in a plot to launch a mass casualty attack on American voters on Election Day. The Department’s application in this court makes clear that terrorists have no place in the United States of America,” Blanche added.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
A staff member from a high school in Maryland is under fire for allegedly recording female students in a changing room. Authorities have announced new charges after uncovering eight additional victims as part of a broader investigation.
James Mulhern III, who works at Walter Johnson High School in Montgomery County, is now charged with 12 counts of abusing minors. This follows the discovery of videos featuring 12 female students in various states of undress.
The investigation kicked off when two students found a hidden camera in the theater control booth at Walter Johnson High School on April 7, according to Montgomery County police.
Upon checking the camera’s memory card, one of the students uncovered recordings from the girls’ changing room, prompting them to notify school officials.
James Mulhern III, associated with Walter Johnson High School, is facing new charges after the identification of eight more alleged victims connected to a student voyeurism investigation. (Montgomery County Department of Police)
Police said the footage showed an adult male placing the camera inside the room before leaving. The school’s principal identified the man as Mulhern, a media services technician at the school.
Detectives executed search warrants at the high school and Mulhern’s Clarksburg home, where they recovered items of evidentiary value and seized several electronic devices, according to police.
Authorities said evidence recovered during the investigation led detectives to identify eight additional alleged victims and videos dating back to 2015, expanding the case from the four victims identified when Mulhern was first charged in April.
Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Md., where authorities say employee James Mulhern III is accused of secretly recording female students in a theater changing room.(Google Maps)
Mulhern appeared in court Wednesday on the additional charges. A judge ordered his release on a $100,000 unsecured personal bond with conditions that he stay away from Walter Johnson High School, have no contact with minors and have only supervised contact with his 4-year-old son.
Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said the newly uncovered evidence heightened prosecutors’ concerns in the case.
An aerial view of Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Md., where investigators said James Mulhern III worked as a media services technician.(Google Maps)
Each count of abuse of a minor carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison under Maryland law. If convicted on all 12 counts, Mulhern could face up to 300 years behind bars.
News Media has reached out to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office for additional comment.
In a dramatic escalation of an already heated campaign, Republican gubernatorial hopeful Steve Hilton has launched a series of fresh allegations against his Democratic opponent, Xavier Becerra. Hilton accuses Becerra of dangerously mishandling the welfare of countless migrant children held within the state.
The California Post recently released a video from Hilton’s campaign team featuring a whistleblower, who anonymously claims to have been employed at the Pomona Fairplex.
Pomona Fairplex was one of three facilities in California designated as emergency intake sites amid a nationwide response to the surge of unaccompanied migrant children. This surge occurred under the Biden administration when Becerra was the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
In the footage, the whistleblower asserts that those who voiced concerns for the well-being of migrant children faced retaliation.
One particularly alarming allegation from the whistleblower involved the case of a 13-year-old from El Salvador. The sponsor set to receive the child was reportedly wanted by international authorities. A federal worker probing the situation was allegedly escorted off the premises, a scenario The Post has not yet corroborated independently.
“Mind you, she’s working for the government. She’s trying to protect these children,” she said in the video, “and she got escorted out. She got fired.”
“That was the, I guess you could call it the culture at the Pomona Fairplex,” she added.
In another case, another worker was doing a background check on an address that over 200 migrant children had been sent to, the whistleblower alleged. The worker saw on Google Maps that location had no homes, just a bunch of containers, and called an anti-trafficking number.
That worker was terminated the next day, the whistleblower claimed.
Becerra knew about all this, she alleged, but he would visit the Fairplex only to do photo ops.
“They knew exactly what was going on. Their concern was speed,” she said. “They wanted the children out right away rather than the concern for safety of the child. So it’s speed over safety.”
She said after a visit by Becerra, the center put even more pressure on workers to release migrant children so cases can be resolved. Workers would wait on a crucial piece of verification but instead were berated.
The Hilton campaign had already surfaced more shocking allegations this past Monday by a whistleblower claiming some children were later trafficked for sex or labor.
Becerra has been dogged by his performance under Biden as far back as the primary, and fellow Democrats had particularly pounced on his handling of the migrant child crisis.
A February 2023 investigation by The New York Times found that thousands of unaccompanied minors were funneled into exploitative labor situations after being released from federal custody.
Becerra was infamously caught on video making remarks that “if Henry Ford had seen this in his plants, he would have never become famous and rich. This is not the way you do an assembly line.”
Hilton is now seizing on that attack line for the general election, where he faces an uphill battle in a predominantly blue state.
“These children were trafficked as a direct result of Becerra’s personal instructions to eliminate proper vetting of the adults these migrant children were being sent to,” Hilton had said Monday.
Becerra had told Congress that his agency’s legal authority over unaccompanied migrant children ends once they are placed with an approved sponsor unless Congress granted him that authority.
A spokesperson for the Becerra campaign told The Post that Hilton should instead be scrutinizing one of his biggest supporters — President Donald Trump.
“Where Sec. Becerra rebuilt the child protection systems Trump gutted, Steve Hilton has proudly allied himself with the president who put those children in harm’s way — who illegally sent a father to a foreign prison, whose separation policies continue to take children away from their parents, and whose ICE agents shot two fathers dead this month.”
In a shocking development, authorities have detained a couple in France after the grim discovery of five infant bodies stored in cardboard boxes at their residence.
These tragic findings were uncovered in their dwelling located in Orange, a town nestled in the picturesque Provence region of southeastern France, on Monday.
The horrifying revelation followed a day after the 32-year-old mother delivered a healthy baby boy in the privacy of their home before being transported to a hospital.
Amidst a dispute over the mysterious contents of the boxes, just a day post-birth, the man and his wife, whose identities remain confidential due to legal constraints, found themselves embroiled in legal troubles.
Reports from local media have highlighted a pattern, indicating this marked the third instance where the woman had concealed her pregnancy.
But after she began suffering from abdominal pains, she went to hospital while her husband stayed behind and looked inside.
An investigating source previously told the Daily Mail that he ‘looked inside the cardboard boxes they had been arguing over – that’s when he found the five dead babies’.
They added: ‘All the foetuses were decomposing, and had been around for quite a while.’
French police seals affixed to the door of an appartment in Orange, southern France, on July 28, 2026, after the bodies of five deceased infants were discovered
The horrifying discoveries were made at a house in the French town of Orange in the Provence region on Monday morning
He called the police, who are now investigating the incident.
The couple also had two children aged eight and nine, who have been taken in by relatives. The newborn was placed with social services, the prosecutor’s office said.
Medical examinations will determine the exact nature of the remains, as well as the circumstances and date of their deaths.
Florent Jean, a neighbour, told Le Parisien that the couple were ‘charming people’ who had moved into the building around two years ago and whose children attended a local primary school.
After she saw emergency services arrive for the mother, she asked herself: ‘Is she pregnant? That’s impossible, she’s so thin.’
Florent added that the woman would ‘pick up the children from school at lunchtime to eat’, while the man would ‘go to work in the morning and come back in the evening.’
The Orange horror has drawn parallels with the Dominique Cottrez multiple murder case.
Cottrez, a 45-year-old nursing assistant from northern France, confessed to killing her eight newborn children at birth and hiding their bodies.
The so-called ‘house of horror’ in Villers-au-Tertre was used to hide the bodies over almost 20 years.
Cottrez committed the murders between 1989 and 2006, by suffocating eight of her children shortly after giving birth.
The entrance to a building in Orange, Vaucluse department, southeastern France, 28 July 2026
An apartment in Orange, southern France, on July 28, 2026, after the bodies of five deceased infants were discovered
Cottrez was able to conceal her pregnancies from her husband and doctor due to being overweight, according to prosecution evidence.
In July 2010, two of the bodies were discovered in plastic bags by new owners working in the garden of Cottrez’s old house.
When police contacted her, she immediately admitted that the bodies belonged to two infants she had given birth to.
She also told police that six more infants’ bodies were hidden in the garage.
In July 2015, Cottrez was found guilty of eight counts of infanticide and sentenced to a total of nine years in prison.
In March, a French court jailed a 44-year-old woman for 25 years over the deaths of two of her newborn babies, who police found in the family freezer.
And in 2018, a court sentenced a woman with a depressive and sometimes violent husband to eight years in prison for drowning five of her newborn babies and freezing their bodies.
Harness the power of everyday furniture to reclaim your waistline; all you need is a sturdy chair for your next workout.
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If your fitness goal is to fortify your core and achieve a slimmer waistline, a simple chair could be your ticket to success. Aging introduces several shifts in the body, such as reduced lean muscle, hormonal adjustments, and less physical activity, often leading to a wider waistband. The silver lining lies in maintaining a consistent workout regimen, which can help retain muscle mass and keep your body fit.
We had an enlightening conversation with Portia Page, a Balanced Body Educator and certified trainer (CPT, NCPT, PMA, ACE, and AFAA), who revealed the implementation of a chair in workouts. Get comfortable because Page shares five effective seated exercises designed to tone and firm your midsection.
But before jumping in, it’s crucial to dispel a common misconception: spot reduction. Unfortunately, you cannot single out fat loss in the belly or waist areas.
“No exercise, be it seated, standing, or floor, can specifically target fat burning in the waist or midsection,” Page explained. “Chair exercises, however, enhance strength, improve posture, boost daily movement, and offer an accessible starting point for those over 60, building confidence and promoting consistency. These benefits significantly increase the likelihood of adopting broader, impactful lifestyle habits that truly alter body composition.”
Rather than looking for one “magic” exercise, Page recommends selecting movements that build strength in the entire core, back, hips, abs, and pelvic stabilizers while boosting posture and daily function.
Seated Marches
“This exercise activates the deep core while improving balance and hip strength. It teaches the body to stabilize the pelvis as one leg moves, which is a fundamental movement skill we use every day. A bonus is that you can ‘push/drive’ through the other foot to build isometric strength and endurance in the stable/non-moving leg,” Page tells us.
Begin seated on a chair with your feet placed hip-width apart on the floor.
Gently draw your lower belly inward.
Slowly lift one knee up to hip height.
Lower.
Alternate sides in a “marching” fashion.
5 Body-Sculpting Moves To Build a Lean Waistline
Seated Knee Extension
“Straightening one leg at a time while maintaining an upright posture encourages core stability without excessive strain on the spine. It also strengthens the quadriceps, which are essential for getting up from a chair and climbing stairs, while stretching the ‘backline’ of the body from the lower back, across the glutes, to the hamstrings,” Page points out.
Begin seated with your knees bent to 90 degrees.
Brace your core.
Gradually straighten one knee until that leg is completely extended.
Hold at the top for 2 to 3 seconds.
Lower with control
Repeat on the other side.
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Seated Spinal Rotation
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“Gentle rotational movement improves spinal mobility while engaging the obliques. Many older adults lose rotational mobility, which affects everything from walking to reaching into the back seat of the car, or overhead into closets, overhead bins on a plane, etc.,” Page explains.
Begin sitting tall on a sturdy chair with your feet flat on the floor. Activate your core.
Place your hands behind your head or cross them in front of your chest.
Slowly twist your torso to the left, keeping your hips facing forward.
Return to the center, then twist to the right.
8 Bodyweight Moves That Burn Belly Fat Faster Than HIIT After 45
Seated Side Bends
“The lateral core/torso muscles are often overlooked. Strengthening them improves trunk stability and control, balance, and posture, and not just the appearance of the waist,” Page tells us.
Begin sitting tall with your core engaged and your feet flat on the ground.
Place your right hand on the side of the chair for support. Alternatively, hold a dumbbell with that arm extended toward the floor.
Extend your right arm overhead and slowly bend to the right, feeling a solid stretch along the left side of your body.
Hold for a moment at the bottom before returning to the start position.
9 Best Daily Exercises for Women Over 50 to Sculpt a Lean Waistline
While the global spotlight often shines on international issues like Iran’s tensions and Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, Sudan endures as a significant yet underreported humanitarian and displacement crisis.
Since hostilities flared in 2023, the turmoil in Sudan has forced over 14 million individuals from their homes, with nearly 34 million requiring crucial humanitarian aid. This constitutes a staggering 10% of the world’s humanitarian demand, according to figures from the International Rescue Committee.
Alan Boswell, the Project Director for the Horn of Africa at the International Crisis Group, informed News Media, “The conflict in Sudan has emerged as the world’s largest humanitarian challenge, escalating into a regional conflict involving all neighboring states and several Middle Eastern powers.”
Boswell continued by highlighting a critical issue, stating, “World leaders persist in neglecting this conflict, delegating responsibilities to subordinates. This strategy has consistently failed to address the crisis effectively.”
In the southern Kordofan region, near El-Obeid, women and children line up to receive free food at al-Mohayra camp for displaced individuals, a poignant scene captured on June 29, 2026. (AFP via Getty Images)
The United Nations says that some 19.5 million people are experiencing acute hunger, and 4.5 million people have fled the country.
The U.S. also recently imposed an additional round of sanctions against the Sudanese Armed Forces for allegedly using chemical weapons in 2024 in violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The Sudanese government denied the allegations.
The Trump administration has made significant efforts in trying to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, as well as bring Israel’s war against Gaza to an end. The administration is also trying to uphold a shaky ceasefire that was agreed with Iran to halt the war that began on February 28.
“For three years, we have warned that Sudan was on the brink of catastrophe, and those warnings have gone unanswered,” said International Rescue Committee Country Director Richard Data.
Sudan’s recent outbreak of civil war, following years of coups and credible accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide, persists under the radar.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TOUTS MORE THAN $1B IN UN BUDGET CUTS AS REFORM PUSH GAINS MOMENTUM
Members of Sudanese Armed Popular Resistance Force take part in a military parade for fresh graduates, in Al-Qadarif state, in eastern Sudan on May 20, 2026. (AFP via Getty Images)
The civil war broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as “Hemedti,” leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The two had been in an uneasy alliance ruling the country following the 2019 overthrow of Sudan’s longtime dictator, Omar al-Bashir, who had been in power since 1989. Together, the generals staged another coup in 2021, toppling the interim civilian government that had been in power after the fall of Bashir.
While both the Sudanese Armed Forces and RSF are accused of committing atrocities, recent reports have highlighted the brutality of the RSF.
A major focus of the deteriorating conditions has been in El-Obeid in North Kordofan state, where an escalating hunger crisis is plaguing over 100,000 displaced people in camps throughout the city.
“What we need to do is really now to plan for the scale-up beyond the 100,000 people that we have been supporting,” said World Food Programme Sudan Country Director, Abdallah Alwardat.
Members of the Sudanese army’s Special Mission Forces batallion in the Northern State hold a parade in Karima city on May 19, 2024. Sudan has been in the throes of conflict for over a year between the regular army led by de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. (AFP via Getty Images)
El Fasher in the Darfur region is another major flashpoint, where the RSF took control in October 2025 and killed more than 6,000 people in the initial siege of the city.
A recent July report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights revealed widespread acts of sexual violence against women and girls, some as young as 12, including reports of mass and gang rapes committed by the RSF.
The RSF is also accused of abduction, with survivors describing incidents of girls and women being beaten, having their hands tied behind their backs, and being driven away in a Land cruiser.
Sudanese displaced people gather at the Zam Zam refugee camp outside the town of El-Fashir in the Darfour region of Sudan, during a visit by U.N. officials, on July 1, 2004. The U.N. humanitarian aid and refugee agencies appealed Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024, for $4.1 billion in international support for embattled civilians in Sudan amid signs that some may be dying of starvation after nearly a year of war there between the forces of rival generals.(AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo, File)
The United Nations and other human rights groups have accused the RSF of perpetrating ethnically targeted attacks and concluded that at least three components of genocide have been overwhelmingly met, including deliberately inflicting conditions of life intended to destroy a group in whole or in part.
A U.N. report from September 2025 found that the Sudanese Armed Forces have also committed war crimes and attacked civilian populations and infrastructure. Both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces targeted civilians with perceived affiliations to the enemy, executing, torturing and raping victims.
In an inspiring act of bravery, a teenage lifeguard took center stage after rescuing a young boy from the fierce waves of Santa Cruz’s Seabright Beach. The hero, 16-year-old Ryder Williams, has become an overnight sensation, drawing admirers nationwide, including a nod from President Trump. The father of the saved child expressed his gratitude and admiration as Ryder’s biggest fan.
Captured on dramatic footage, Ryder leapt into action on a recent Saturday, diving into the turbulent surf to pull a distressed 10-year-old to safety. This remarkable act has earned Ryder widespread acclaim and recognition from across the country.
After wrapping up his day at the beach, Ryder returned home with a modest reflection on his heroic deed, describing the rescue as just part of the job.
“When he got home, he said, ‘Dad, I wasn’t going to let go of that kid because I knew if I let go, he would drown, and I wasn’t going to let that happen,'” recounted Shane Williams, Ryder’s father and a retired firefighter, in an interview with The California Post. The proud father admitted those words moved him deeply.
“It was pretty amazing,” he added, clearly awestruck by his son’s courage and resolve.
The rescued boy’s father, Sumit Rai, called his son’s survival “a miracle.”
He told told the New York Times his son and 8-year-old daughter were vacationing with their mother in California when the terrifying ordeal unfolded. Rai only found out about the rescue during a phone call with his kids later that night and didn’t sleep for days after.
“To watch her brother go through a near-death experience is not a small thing,” he told the Times, calling himself Ryder’s “biggest fan.”
Ryder’s grandfather said the teen has sought to downplay the attention surrounding his bravery.
“It was all in a day’s work,” George said Ryder told the family after the rescue. “He said, ‘This is what I do.’”
His grandfather added that Ryder participated in five rescues during his Saturday lifeguard shift, including two “that were more gnarly” than saving the 10-year-old.
“He’s a great kid,” George added. “We love him to pieces.”
Ryder’s dad said his son’s actions reflected the kind and caring person he has always been.
“He just wants to give back to his community because he grew up here,” he said.
Despite gaining the national spotlight, Ryder was back at his lifeguard station on Tuesday and is father eager to return to normal life, his dad said.
The soon-to-be high school junior has talked about following in his father’s footsteps.
“He’s still young but he’s thinking he wants to get into the fire service eventually,” he said. “We’re taking it step by step. We’re just trying to regroup and make sure he’s okay.”
On Tuesday, Trump announced that Ryder would receive a “high civilian honor” for his bravery.
“We’re going to bring this heroic young man, and his family, into the White House with, perhaps, the boy he saved, to give him a High Civilian Honor. Very brave, he deserves it!” Trump wrote on social media.
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An unprecedented test flight, spanning over an entire day, has successfully landed in France, having departed from Melbourne. Experts suggest that Australia’s innovations in aviation could position the country as a leader in adopting new technology.
A uniquely outfitted Airbus A350-1000ULR operated by Qantas arrived in France on Tuesday after enduring a remarkable 24 hours and 24 minutes of non-stop flight. The aircraft covered an impressive distance of 23,057 kilometers, setting a new record for the longest direct flight undertaken by a commercial plane.
This groundbreaking journey is part of a two-month experimental initiative under Qantas’ Project Sunrise. The ambitious project aims to launch the longest non-stop commercial passenger flights available, connecting Australia’s eastern cities directly to London and New York, thereby revolutionizing long-haul air travel.
The previous accolade for the longest direct flight was held by a Boeing 777-200LR, which flew 21,601.7 kilometers from Hong Kong to London in just under 23 hours, achieved in 2005.
Qantas has committed to acquiring 12 of the modified A350 aircraft, each equipped with an additional fuel tank capable of holding 20,000 liters, and designed to accommodate 238 passengers comfortably.
The first is due for delivery in April 2027, with daily non-stop flights between Sydney and London planned from October that year — turning what was once a five-day journey in 1947 on the old ‘Kangaroo Route’ into a single hop of 19 to 21 hours, depending on winds and routing.
The airline has said a Sydney-New York route will follow shortly after the launch of the London route.
Could stopovers become a thing of the past?
The test flight’s success has cast eyes towards the future of air travel, with some wondering whether stopovers in Singapore, Dubai or Los Angeles may be a thing of the past.
But that’s not quite where we’re headed, experts say.
Justin Brownjohn from RMIT University’s Aviation Academy says non-stop routes will keep becoming more viable as aircraft range improves and fuel use falls — but that doesn’t make them a replacement for one-stop flying.
“Airlines have historically competed on network and frequency, but Project Sunrise competes on time,” he said.
“Cutting up to four hours off the journey from Sydney to London and removing the connection entirely is a different product, not an improved version of the existing one.
“These services won’t replace one-stop flying, they’ll sit alongside it.”
Brownjohn expects the strongest demand for the ultra-long-haul services to come from business and premium leisure travellers willing to pay more for the time saved — and says the wider effect may be felt most by the Middle Eastern and Asian hub airports that have built their business models around the layover.
‘A different physiological event’
Spending over 20 hours in the air also raises real questions about passenger wellbeing.
“Twenty hours is not a longer flight, it is a different physiological event,” Brownjohn said. “On this flight comfort has stopped being a luxury feature and become the thing being sold.”
Peter Cistulli, professor of sleep medicine at the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre, worked with Qantas on the physiological side of the aircraft’s design.
“Project Sunrise takes ultra-long-haul flights to a whole new level,” Cistulli told SBS News.
“It’s arguably the final frontier of travel on Earth, so it brings a whole lot of additional challenges, including the biological challenge of crossing so many time zones over a short period and how that can influence your health and wellbeing.”
Cistulli, who also worked with the airline on its long-haul Dreamliner aircraft, said compressing so many time zones into one flight leaves the body’s circadian system less time to adjust.
He says researchers’ input on elements including lighting, meal timing, and in-flight exercise is intended to help passengers adapt to their destination time zone faster.
The aircraft has what Qantas describes as the lowest seat density of any comparable jet, with more than 40 per cent of the 238 seats allocated to premium cabins.
A wellness zone will also offer stretch handles, refreshments, and a guided, video-led movement program.
But Cistulli is also candid about the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), with long periods of immobility already proven to raise DVT risk.
While he says the baseline risk on any flight is already low at under 1 per cent, those with “heightened risk” of DVT may not be suitable for the ultra-long-haul flight.
For the average person, however, concerns about the lengthy flight can be mitigated by adequate physical activity on board.
He says that opting for stopovers has both its pros and cons when it comes to health. Being able to get off a flight and move around in an airport is a benefit, he says, but that also adds to the journey and can increase fatigue.
“Of course, not everybody would choose to be cooped up in a plane for 20-plus hours — the stopover options will always remain there. Passengers will have their choice.”
Australia’s shrinking distance problem
Cistulli sees Project Sunrise as part of Australia’s long fight against the “tyranny of distance” it’s grappled with as a geographically isolated nation.
“This is the ultimate frontier, in that we’re bringing the world closer to Australia and Australia closer to the world,” he says. “It’s a really fantastic story for Australia, and it’s no surprise that an Australian airline would go to the trouble of solving this problem.”
Whether Qantas holds onto the bragging rights is another question.
Singapore Airlines already operates the world’s longest scheduled commercial route — a roughly 19-hour service between Singapore and New York.
“I think it will be interesting to see what the competition do,” he says. “This will definitely give Qantas a competitive advantage, but whether that’s long-lived, time will tell.”
The extended range also opens up more than just one route. With planes capable of covering these distances, almost any city pairing becomes commercially viable if there’s demand for it.
It also gives Qantas more flexibility to route around trouble spots, including current airspace restrictions due to the war in the Middle East, opening up options such as flying to London over the North Pole instead.
Cistulli is careful to frame Project Sunrise as an addition to the market, not a replacement for it.
“I think it’s all about choice, and tailoring the opportunity for particular customer needs,” he said. “This just adds a new option for people who do need to get somewhere in a hurry, so to speak — and I think that’s a great addition.”
— With additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press.
On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched a lawsuit against Hims & Hers, accusing the telehealth company of improperly sharing customers’ sensitive health information with third-party entities, including Meta and Snap, without obtaining their consent.
The lawsuit, filed in the federal court of California’s Northern District, claims that Hims & Hers violated consumer trust by mishandling personal data despite assuring users of safeguarding their privacy.
The FTC stated that “Hims was able to target specific audiences due to its disregard for the privacy promises it made to users, around both treating medical conditions confidentially and maintaining the privacy of their health information.”
Established in 2017 and publicly traded, Hims & Hers provides a platform for users to virtually engage with healthcare professionals and access prescriptions for issues like sexual health and weight management. Following the announcement of the lawsuit, the company’s stock took a nosedive, dropping close to 15% on Wednesday.
In response, Hims & Hers rejected the accusations as “baseless” and expressed its determination to contest the claims vigorously in court.
“Our customers have the information they need to make informed decisions about their care and the use of our services,” the San Francisco-based company said in a statement on social media. “And our Privacy Policy makes clear that they may choose how their data is used, and that information patients share with their healthcare providers is used only in providing care.”
The FTC alleged that Hims & Hers disclosed user information through tracking technologies “offered by Meta” that monitor people’s actions on its website and by sharing lists of some customers with third parties. The health service also shared information with other advertising platforms, according to the consumer protection agency.
The FTC also accused Hims & Hers of failing to clearly disclose when consumers are charged for prescriptions purchased through the service and making it difficult for users to cancel subscriptions.
“The FTC’s complaint lays out a troubling scenario — consumers unknowingly locked into recurring subscriptions and the disclosure to third parties of consumers’ most private health information without their consent,” Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement.
