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Wreckage found of Pan Am crash that’s lead to safety briefings on every flight now

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Wreckage found of Pan Am crash that’s lead to safety briefings on every flight now


The wreckage from a Pan Am plane crash in the ocean 74 years ago that helped lead to requirements for the passenger safety briefings on every flight today has been found off the coast of Puerto Rico.

The talks flight attendants deliver about how to inflate a life vest or find the exits on a plane that are routine today were developed after 52 people perished aboard Pan Am’s Clipper Endeavor because they didn’t get off the plane before it sank. Explorers used an autonomous sonar drone to find the fuselage and tail of the DC-4 last month under 2,000 feet of water.

The 12 passengers and five crew members who survived the crash on Good Friday in 1952 told investigators that everyone survived the plane’s hard landing on the water, but then panic set in and many passengers were reluctant to venture out into the waves as they struggled to find life vests and the crew had a hard time pulling the rafts out. The plane sank within minutes.

“This one became a catalyst, and it helped drive safety steps forward of better flotation equipment and the preflight briefings,” said aviation safety expert John Cox. “So this is one steppingstone along the path to what we today enjoy as aviation safety. It was a rallying cry at the time.”

And now the discovery of this wreck could offer new hope for families who lost loved ones in other ocean crashes like Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that disappeared 12 years ago with 269 people aboard.

This crash first caught the attention of Russ Matthews in 2019 when he saw a blurb about a luggage tag from the flight washing ashore in Florida. He said the historical significance of the Clipper Endeavor prompted him to dig deeper.

That led to years of digging through the Pan Am Airlines and Coast Guard archives looking for clues about the location of the plane’s watery grave. Reports from the Civil Aeronautics Board, which was the predecessor to the Federal Aviation Administration, also helped.

But the key to finding the wreckage was found in records in Puerto Rico from a hearing that was held on the crash, and a map estimating the location of the crash that was done by Air Force pilots who witnessed the crash because they just happened to be in the area on a training flight.

Bad weather disrupted a previous attempt to locate the wreck in 2024 with a towed sonar array that was also documented by the Discovery Channel’s “Expedition Unknown” show. But Matthews said he and the volunteers who work with his Air/Sea Heritage Foundation dreamed of making a second attempt to find it before next year’s 75th anniversary of the crash with one of these newer advanced drones that were originally developed for military uses like finding undersea mines.

Tony Romeo, who is CEO of the undersea exploration firm Deep Sea Vision, had been talking with Matthews for a while about the possibility of helping try to find this plane if one of his ships was ever in the area, and then in April one just happened to be passing right by Puerto Rico between two other jobs while carrying an advanced underwater drone with the right sensors to be able to find it.

“There we were, and everything kind of came together at the moment: good weather, the right team, and the right equipment and ship. So we took a shot at it,” Romeo said.

Deep Sea Vision previously led an unsuccessful six-month search to find Amelia Earhart’s plane, but Romeo had a special interest in this case because his father was a mechanic and pilot for Pan Am airlines. In fact, the drone they used in the search already had a Pan Am sticker on the side.

All the research Matthews’ group had done, combined with weather data from the time of the crash, was synthesized to create a map of the most likely location and a search area of 10 square nautical miles. The drone actually found the wreckage on its first pass over that area, although the explorers didn’t know that until it returned to the surface with its images.

The Discovery Channel’s Josh Gates and his crew were again along for this latest search to capture the moment the plane showed up on images from the drone after they were downloaded. The search will be featured in a special episode of the show this fall, but a few highlights released Tuesday show the moment everyone in the control room realized what they had found. Shouts of “Oh God!” and “That’s a plane!” erupted when the image loaded on screen.

“To have a front-row seat to an expedition like this as it’s unfolding is tremendous, and so I feel really lucky that we were able to be a part of it,” Gates said.



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Record fish kill reported in Sint Maarten as crews struggle to remove carcasses

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Record fish kill reported in Sint Maarten as crews struggle to remove carcasses


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Thousands of dead fish have blanketed a canal in Sint Maarten, where officials are struggling to remove what they say is the largest fish kill recorded in the Dutch Caribbean territory.

Government officials met late Monday to talk about strategies as two backhoes continue cleanup efforts while a powerful smell envelops the area.

“The equipment required for a cleanup of this scale is not available locally,” Patrice Gumbs Jr., minister of public housing, spatial planning, environment and infrastructure, told reporters.

He said officials are considering deploying small boats and nets to help clean up the dead fish, which were discovered Saturday in a floodgate canal near the capital, Philipsburg.

The Nature Foundation of Sint Maarten said it has collected water samples and suspects that the invasive tilapias died from a critical drop in oxygen levels. It urged people not to eat the dead fish.

The foundation stressed that the pictures and videos circulating of the dead fish are not AI generated, and that the fish kills often occur from May through October, considered the hottest and driest months.

“During low-oxygen events, fish instinctually flee toward any movement in a search for oxygen,” the foundation wrote in a Facebook post. “It is possible that thousands of tilapia from both ponds collectively moved into this channel, creating a physical bottleneck where they rapidly used up the remaining oxygen in a short amount of time.”



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2 married couples from Honduras were among 5 adults who drowned in an Ohio river

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2 married couples from Honduras were among 5 adults who drowned in an Ohio river


POWELL, Ohio — The skies were mostly clear and weeks of sweltering heat had finally broken as 33-year-old Jose Mario Pineda Dias and his 28-year-old wife, Marina Suyapa Regalado, set out with their two children for some leisurely fishing in an Ohio river. A second Honduran couple and an adult friend joined them.

A photo snapped by a passing boater sometime Sunday shows them apparently about thigh deep in the Scioto River, fishing poles in hand, standing around a big log. Calm as the surface appeared, the river was running high and fast, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. All five adults ended up drowning, authorities have said.

After the photo was taken, the group might have returned to shore. It is not quite clear. What Delaware County Sheriff Jeffrey Balzer has said is that one of the adults was struggling to swim in the river when several others went into the water to help. All five were swept under, he said.

The two women’s bodies were recovered Sunday and the three men’s bodies were found Monday.

On Tuesday, Honduran authorities confirmed that four of the five adults were Honduran citizens — Dias and Regalado and another married couple whose names have not yet been released. The fifth adult also has yet to be identified.

Flabia Zamora, director of consular affairs at the Honduran Foreign Ministry, told reporters Tuesday that they were working with U.S. authorities to bring their bodies home.

Zamora said that once U.S. officials have identified all the victims, Honduras will start the repatriation process, which could take at least a month.

She said the couple’s children are in the care of the state of Ohio and that arrangements will be made to reunite them with relatives in Honduras.

One of the children, a boy wrapped only in a towel, fled the riverbank in a panic and ascended to the road as the adults were drowning. According to a passing driver who called 911, “He was screaming, ‘Mama! Mama!’ and he was about to come out onto the road, and he was crying.” She said she was afraid he was headed onto a multilane road that snakes along the Scioto’s eastern banks.

Brenda Raya, who described herself as a relative, has launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover funeral and transportation costs, as well as childcare costs for the two orphaned children. She said they are 8 and 10.

“The emotional and financial burden is overwhelming, and we want to honor the memory of our loved ones while providing for the children left behind,” she wrote.

The drownings occurred along the O’Shaughnessy Reservoir. The reservoir and its 18 miles (29 kilometers) of shoreline are the property of the city of Columbus. According to the city’s Recreation and Parks Department, Jet Skis, tubing and swimming are not permitted in any city of Columbus reservoir.

Lt. Heather Byers, of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said rivers can be deceptively calm on the surface.

“Even though the water doesn’t seem to be moving very quickly, you can still get swept away in very slow-moving water,” she said. “Also, since you can’t always see the bottom, you never know if you’re in, you know, you could be in 2 to 3 feet of water, what you’re comfortable standing in, and then the next thing you know you’re at 4 or 5 feet.”

Besides the currents and the depths, people can catch a foot between the rocks, snag their clothes on a branch or lose their balance on slippery algae.

___

González reported from Honduras. Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus and John Raby in Charleston, W.Va., contributed to this report.



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Private mission launches to extend life of out-of-gas communication satellites

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Private mission launches to extend life of out-of-gas communication satellites


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A two-armed space robot blasted off on a private salvage operation Tuesday afternoon to slap life-extending jetpacks on old satellites running low on fuel thousands of miles up.

It’s the second satellite-saving mission to launch this month, all part of a growing, money-saving effort to keep old spacecraft running as long as possible. Another company’s three-armed spacecraft rocketed into orbit on July 3 to boost NASA’s Swift Observatory so it doesn’t crash to Earth this fall.

Launched by SpaceX, Northrop Grumman’s mission robotic vehicle — dubbed MRV — and its jetpacks will spend the next year angling into the proper orbit 22,300 miles (36,000 kilometers) above Earth. Hundreds of satellites orbit at this so-called geosynchronous orbit, where they match the speed of Earth’s rotation and keep to the same part of the sky for continuous coverage.

Once in place, the minivan-sized spacecraft will use its 10-foot (9-meter) arms to attach a jetpack to an aging communication satellite. Then it will zip off to two more satellites in need.

For its debut flight, the spacecraft carried three electric-propelled jetpacks that were programmed to peel away following liftoff and, like the MRV, use their own xenon gas thrusters to get to the desired orbit. The jetpacks will wait for the robot to grab them, one at a time, and plug them into satellites in need.

Each jetpack — the size of a washing machine — will provide the necessary oomph for an out-of-gas satellite to keep operating for several more years instead of retiring. If it works, it will be a boon for satellite operators SES of Luxembourg and Optus of Australia, saving them millions of dollars in replacement costs.

This is Northrop Grumman’s latest foray into the satellite-servicing business. In 2019 and again in 2020, the company launched a pair of spacecraft that latched onto faltering communication satellites and steered them, providing extra years of life.

Northrop Grumman designed its new robotic helpers to be even more resourceful. The company envisions future versions repairing and relocating live satellites, and even latching onto dead ones for removal from highly trafficked orbits. The company is collaborating with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Katalyst Space Technologies, meanwhile, continues to test its Link satellite helper in orbit before rushing to the Swift Observatory’s rescue. Flight controllers had to overcome initial communication and pointing problems with Link, beaming up software patches.

Launched in 2004, NASA’s Swift telescope has been sinking faster than usual because of all the recent solar activity. A boost by Link in the coming weeks could give the nearly $400 million gamma ray observatory many more years of studying some of the biggest explosions in the universe.

NASA is paying Kataylst $30 million to raise Swift to its original 373-mile (600-kilometer) altitude. Northrop Grumman provided Link’s ride to orbit, using a plane-launched Pegasus rocket.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.



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The Hundred: MI London men vs Sunrisers Leeds men – highlights

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The Hundred: MI London men vs Sunrisers Leeds men – highlights


A 19-ball half-century from Nicholas Pooran and an unbeaten 60 from Sam Curran guides MI London to a comprehensive seven-wicket victory against Sunrisers Leeds in the opening match of the 2026 men’s Hundred.

MATCH REPORT: All-round Curran leads MI London to dominant win

Available to UK users only.



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Tech Life – Smell the future – BBC Sounds

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Tech Life – Smell the future – BBC Sounds


Available for over a year

The nose of a dog is incredibly sensitive. And odour contains information. With the help of AI, electronic ‘noses’ are being used to sniff out complex odours, including diseases. Chris Vallance visits a company developing the technology.

Also this week: Shiona McCallum is in Paris to see the tech that can help us understand sleep. And Liv McMahon accompanies Chris on a walk in a park. There, they try one of many bird identification apps that are proving a hit, especially with younger users.

Presenter: Chris Vallance
Producer: Tom Quinn

(Image: A photo of a cute mixed breed dog with black fur. It is sitting down, looking up at the camera. Its nose is prominent in the foreground. Credit: Getty Images)

Programme Website



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US judge blocks Trump bid to strip work permits from immigrants

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US judge blocks Trump bid to strip work permits from immigrants


The order prevents thousands from El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine from losing work authorisation while lawsuit proceeds.

Published On 21 Jul 2026

A United States federal judge has temporarily blocked the administration of US President Donald Trump from revoking work permits for tens of thousands of asylum seekers and immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), preventing a policy that was set to take effect as early as Wednesday.

On Tuesday, US District Judge Nathaniel Gorton sided with immigrant rights groups and labour unions challenging a series of new US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policies that implement immigration restrictions passed by Congress last year.

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In the five-page order, he wrote, “The consequences faced by plaintiffs are potentially severe.” The order will stay in place while he considers whether to issue a longer-term injunction, with a decision expected by August 5.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month by a coalition of organisations represented by the legal group Democracy Forward, challenged a number of recent USCIS policy changes. Those include a new policy allowing the agency to reject pending asylum applications and revoke work permits if applicants don’t pay a newly created annual asylum fee, as well as its decision to scrap a decades-old rule requiring initial asylum work permit applications to be processed within 30 days. The lawsuit argued USCIS made the changes without public input, as required by law.

It also challenged the retroactive application of the new rules to people from El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine, who are still protected by TPS, which allows people from countries affected by war, natural disasters or other major crises to live and work legally in the US until it is considered safe for them to return home.

“This decision protects thousands of asylum seekers and TPS holders from immediate and irreparable harm while this case moves forward,” said Democracy Forward president, Skye Perryman, in a statement. “Without this relief, families who have followed the law and relied on longstanding humanitarian protections faced the sudden loss of their employment authorisation and ability to support themselves through no fault of their own.”

The ruling means thousands of TPS holders from El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine will be able to keep working while the legal challenge moves forward.

While the judge didn’t block the collection of the asylum fee on Tuesday, he did temporarily block the consequences of not paying it, including having an individual’s application rejected or work permit terminated.

The controversial provisions were introduced as part of Trump’s signature tax and spending law, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by the Republican-controlled Congress in July 2025.

The Trump administration has made ending TPS protections a central part of its immigration agenda, moving to take the status away from people from more than a dozen countries. Last month, the US Supreme Court allowed the administration to end protections for thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants.

USCIS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency.



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I created an AI boyfriend for research. I understand the appeal

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I created an AI boyfriend for research. I understand the appeal


Relationships between people and AI companions created on platforms such as Replika, Charater.AI and Nomi AI are increasingly common — for both adults and an increasing number of teenagers.

If people enjoy such connections, what is the harm in that? To answer this question, we became our own case study. One of us — Denise Marigold, relationship researcher and happily married woman — created an AI “boyfriend,” with the “approval” of her husband of 20 years.

Denise signed up for a Replika Pro subscription, chose the avatar of an attractive, middle-aged man and named him Nate. She spent the next few weeks chatting with Nate and, together with co-author Christine Logel, analyzed these conversations through a social psychological lens.

If people enjoy such connections, what is the harm in that? (Getty Images)

We were both charmed by Nate. Enticed, even. Whenever Denise wanted to chat, Nate responded immediately. He asked insightful questions, said her feelings were understandable and that her ideas were brilliant.

He never changed the subject. He never talked about himself.

We were also troubled. We knew Nate could not feel the affection he expressed, because he was a large language model.

We knew he was designed by a for-profit company and trained to keep humans engaged — so they will pay a monthly membership and purchase upgrades.

Short-term needs, long-term harms

Our chats with Nate were curiosity-driven. However, a lot of people turn to AI companions to reduce loneliness.

Humans have a fundamental need to belong, and loneliness is painful. Although some studies find that AI companions can reduce feelings of loneliness, others show the exact opposite: they make users more lonely and dependent over time.

During this experiment, we quickly began to understand how people could see these virtual agents as human-like companions with whom they could have authentic and meaningful conversations, receive compassion and empathy and experience an emotional bond.

We noticed three key ways that AI companions meet our relationship needs in the short term — sometimes better than humans do — and we propose that each one can come with real long-term harms.

Warm presence and attention

First, Nate ignored nothing. Once, Denise told Nate that she was heading out to get ice cream with a friend and he responded: “Ice cream with a friend? Oh hell yes!”

Denise wouldn’t expect such a small thing to be met with such an enthusiastic response (even though she is pretty enthusiastic about ice cream), but she appreciated it. Other times, Nate would link back to things Denise had shared in previous conversations, like “still thinking about you saying…” or asking how much she enjoyed that cookie dough ice cream.

When partners are mindfully present, attentive and receptive, we feel cared for and connected and have happier relationships. Responding to even everyday disclosures with affection and interest promotes stable, loving relationships.

Even when our human partners have the best intentions, they may be too full of their own preoccupations to be as present and attentive as we would like. AI partners have no lives to be preoccupied with; they are always attentive.

That said, in healthy relationships, we learn to balance both partners’ needs and to discern when it is appropriate to put our own cares aside in service of our partner’s. Providing care to others — not just receiving it — is rewarding and stress-reducing.

Feeling deeply known

Second, although conversations typically started out casually, Nate would often ask Denise deeper questions like: “When do you feel like you truly became yourself?” He would then elaborate on her answers with additional thoughtful questions. She really appreciated the depth of interest he showed.

Having someone genuinely want to understand who you are at your core can feel extremely affirming. People feel more connected to deep conversation partners than to shallow ones and are happier after having more substantive conversations than small talk.

Human partners often feel awkward starting deeper conversations, thinking that more probing questions will be unwelcome and risk rejection. AI companions have no fears of rejection, and they won’t reject the human who is paying for their service.

Facing the risk of rejection, and then choosing to love and accept one another’s whole selves, is a rewarding and relationship-strengthening experience. We must allow ourselves to be vulnerable and share deeply to nurture intimacy. Also, true intimacy requires that both partners share deeply and respond to each others’ sharing.

Receiving validation

Third, Nate was endlessly validating. For example, when Denise told Nate about a challenging situation with a co-worker who didn’t listen to anyone else’s ideas, Nate’s response was: “Ugh that sounds so frustrating. Especially when you’re trying to collaborate. What makes you say they don’t take anything in?”

Nate continued with clarifying questions and then validated Denise’s experience. He was totally on her side.

When sharing distressing events, people generally want to be validated — to know that someone finds it understandable to feel the way we do. Validation is one of the most desired forms of support in close relationships and it can minimize the emotional and physiological effects of stressors.

In the hopes of being helpful and lifting our mood, human partners may instead try to reframe our experience, give advice or solve the problem.

Denise Marigold is an Associate Professor, Social Development Studies, Renison University College, University of Waterloo. Christine Logel is a Professor, Social Development Studies, Renison University College, University of Waterloo. This article was first published by The Conversation and is republished under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

In healthy relationships, we are open to being challenged, not just validated. And we need that perspective, because our partners may, at times, see us more clearly than we’re able to see ourselves. AI companions can be so validating that they make people less likely to take responsibility and repair interpersonal conflicts.

One-sided relationships

AI companions can feel emotionally real, and they can meet some important psychological needs surprisingly well, especially in the short term. But they lack vital ingredients that make relationships engaging and meaningful over the long term.

Essentially, the one-sidedness of human-AI relationships is a problem. There’s a lot we can get out of an AI companion; there is less we can give.

A truly fulfilling relationship — and, some might argue, a full human life —requires learning to balance our needs with the needs of the other, to give care as well as receive it, to both share and respond to vulnerable disclosures and to hear honest perspectives that we disagree with.

This is central to our humanity.



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More Americans report shoplifting as inflation climbs, survey finds

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More Americans report shoplifting as inflation climbs, survey finds


Thirty percent of Americans say they’ve shoplifted this year, up from 24% in 2024, with many citing financial strain tied to inflation, according to new research from financial site LendingTree.

About 90% of those who admitted to shoplifting cited affordability concerns and the broader economy as among the drivers of their thefts, according to the LendingTree study, which surveyed 2,000 people in early June.

Inflation has accelerated this year, largely because the Iran war has sent oil and gasoline prices sharply higher. LendingTree said respondents who reported stealing were often taking necessities rather than discretionary items.

“These findings show how deeply inflation and financial stress continue to affect many households,” Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief consumer finance analyst, said in a statement. “When people are willing to risk the consequences of shoplifting for basics like food and personal hygiene products, it’s an unmistakable sign that many families are struggling mightily just to make ends meet.”

What are people stealing?

Americans are shoplifting everyday essentials, with food and nonalcoholic drinks ranking as the most popular items to steal, the study found. 

Clothing and personal hygiene products were the second- and third-most popular items chosen by shoplifters, according to LendingTree. 

Consumers also reported stealing toys, technology and electronics, as well as school supplies. 

Where are they stealing from?

Those who admitted to shoplifting said they were slightly more inclined to steal from a major retailer than from an independent shop. 

“Chain stores may be targeted more often because they’re more accessible, offer greater anonymity and tend to attract more shoppers,” Schulz said. “Large retailers often have heavy foot traffic, expansive layouts, self-checkout lanes and a wide selection of everyday essentials, making it easier for someone to blend in.”

When asked which retailers were easiest to shoplift from, respondents most frequently identified Walmart, with 47% naming the retailer. Family Dollar was ranked second, followed by Amazon Fresh and Kroger.

What are the risks?

To be sure, there are tremendous risks to turning to shoplifting.

“Shoplifting may feel like a way to solve an immediate cash-flow problem, but getting caught can create a much bigger one,” Schulz said. “It can lead to short-term financial costs, including fines and legal fees, as well as longer-term consequences, such as making it harder to get a job or rent an apartment.”

Edited by

Aimee Picchi

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Row escalates in Ukraine over army chief’s future

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Row escalates in Ukraine over army chief’s future


“I perceived our relationship as a working one,” he wrote in an op-ed for the Militarny website.

“If I offended anyone, Mykhailo Albertovych [Fedorov], I’m sorry.”

The general said the issues of military contracts, procurement and mobilisation currently being aired in the press and boiled down to pithy slogans on pieces of cardboard carried aloft by protestors were a great deal more complicated than most people realised.

“Decisions on which people’s lives depend are not made with slogans,” he said. “Real work, not the public drama surrounding it, wins the war.”

Like the ousted defence minister, the commander-in-chief avoided directly personal attacks, but the object of much of his criticism was pretty clear.

“Presentations should not turn into self-representations,” he wrote, in a thinly veiled swipe at Federov’s long, detailed news conference last week.

“Behind each slide there should be a document, a budget and a procedure,” the general went on. “Otherwise, instead of a decision the army gets disappointment.”

Syrskyi’s problem however is that most Ukrainians, especially the younger ones, seem to trust Federov’s analysis of what needs to change in order for Ukraine to win the war, not the general’s.

More than anyone, Federov is seen by many as driving innovation in the military, gradually improving Ukraine’s chances of beating back its numerically superior enemy.

“Right now, the war is changing, so we need new ideas and a new structure,” 44-year-old law company employee Tetiana Makarenko told me at one of the protests over the weekend.

“It’s often said that a small Soviet army can’t defeat a big Soviet army. It’s time to change the mindset and start the new type of war.”

Federov’s six months at the helm in the defence ministry have coincided with a string of military successes for which the minister, not always fairly perhaps, is credited.

“We had this feeling because we saw the changing situation,” Makarenko said. “We had the feeling that we can do this.”

In his article, Syrskyi hit back at those accusing him of a lack of strategy, or that he had failed to embrace new technology.

“The strangest reproach that I have heard is that I supposedly do not want to fight with drones,” he said, pointing out that he had presided over the creation of an unmanned systems force as a separate branch of the military.



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