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Christian Pulisic Ex Backtracks After Cheating Accusation ... 'I Received False Info' Published April 9, 2026 4:32 PM PDT Christian Pulisic's ex-girlfriend is backpedaling in a big way after accusing the U.S. soccer star of
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Gypsy Rose is banned on TikTok -- at least for now -- after the platform dropped the hammer on her account ... but she’s telling TMZ the whole thing isn’t what it seems. Gypsy tells
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President Donald Trump is going scorched earth on some of the biggest names in conservative media ... He just torched Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones in a blistering Truth Social post.
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Coachella’s first weekend is here ... and yeah, rain might be in the forecast ... but we’re turning up the heat with a look back at the steamiest celeb PDA over the years! Take a
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Stormy Daniels' Lawyer Michael Avenatti Spotted Fresh Out of Lockup!!! Published April 9, 2026 3:36 PM PDT Michael Avenatti -- the lawyer busted for ripping off clients like Stormy Daniels and others -- is out
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Congressman Randy Fine Bilzerian Called Me 'Fat Jew' as a Slur ... But My Slams on Muslims Aren't Racist Published April 9, 2026 2:37 PM PDT Play video content TMZ.com Rep. Randy Fine is clapping
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Qatar’s Sultan Jassim al-Suwaidi won the Amateur Tour at 100cm on Cat Ballou 27 in 26.79 seconds. The ninth edition of the Hathab Qatar Equestrian Tour resumed Thursday with the tenth round of the championship at the Qatar Equestrian Federation’s main arena. The Tour paused for the prestigious Doha Equestrian Tour, which wrapped up over the weekend. The three-day event features 14 rounds and saw over 65 riders competing in both the Amateur and Silver Tours. Saudi rider Khaled al-Hadi claimed first and third place on Carlton de Sauvageonn and Capoen in the
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Turkish drilling vessel Cagri Bey, which is set to conduct Turkiye's first deep-sea drilling operation abroad, docks in the Indian Ocean near the Mogadishu sea port in Somalia, yesterday. (Reuters) A Turkish drilling ship docked at the port of Mogadishu yesterday ahead of Somalia's first offshore oil drilling project, the two countries announced.A hydrocarbon development deal signed in 2024 granted Turkiye's state-owned energy company the right to explore three offshore blocks of around 5,000 square kilometres each.In late 2024, another Turkish vessel carried out seismic surveys in the three blocks to identify drilling sites.The Cagri Bey, featuring a red bow emblazoned with a white star and crescent and topped by a drilling derrick, arrived in Somali waters Thursday and docked in the capital's port yesterday."It docked this (Friday) morning... the ship is very big, we have never seen anything like this at the port before," said Abshir Yare, a port employee.The vessel will carry out "Somalia's first-ever offshore drilling operations", the African nation's state news agency Sonna reported Thursday.It will also conduct Turkiye's "first overseas deep-sea drilling" operations outside its own waters, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on X.Bayraktar was due to attend a ceremony at the Mogadishu port yesterday alongside Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, according to Sonna.Turkiye is one of Somalia's main military and economic partners, with Ankara inaugurating its largest overseas base in Mogadishu in 2017.
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* Middle East conflicts increase risks for pilots and airports* Drones disrupt European airports, posing risks to aircraft* Airspace safety worsens with increased drones and missile threatsAirline pilots have faced escalating risks in recent years, from drone incursions to flight paths squeezed by conflict.Now US-Israeli attacks on Iran are making the skies even more perilous and ratcheting up the pressure on those flying through them.The outbreak of war in the Middle East has put hundreds of ballistic missiles and attack drones into the skies above some of the world's busiest airports. Tehran's retaliation against the US and its allies has included hitting airports, grounding scores of flights from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. A trickle of rescue flights has made it through for thousands of stranded passengers.Reuters spoke to eight pilots and more than a half-dozen aviation and security insiders who said the accumulation of conflicts — from Ukraine to Afghanistan and Israel — has increased the burden on pilots, forcing them to manage shrinking airspace and the wider use of military drones far from active war zones. That's increased the strain on the mental health of pilots desperate to keep themselves and their passengers safe."We are not military pilots. We are not trained to deal with these kinds of threats in the air," Tanja Harter, a pilot with Middle East experience and president of the European Cockpit Association, told Reuters.The current crisis is the latest in a string of security threats the sector has faced over the years, she said, which could cause "fear and anxiety" for pilots. Airlines now often have peer programmes to help, she said, adding as a pilot she would not want to "share airspace with missiles."Airspace safety has worsened in the last two-and-a-half years as conflicts have grown, industry experts said, through a combination of GPS spoofing — maliciously tricking planes about their position — and increased numbers of missiles and drones.An Air France flight to bring stranded French nationals home from the United Arab Emirates turned back due to missile fire on Thursday. A Lufthansa pilot on Friday diverted from Riyadh to Cairo over regional security fears.FLYING HIGHER TO AVOID MISSILESMiddle East-trained pilots have become wearily used to emergencies, the head of Lebanon's civil aviation body said. The escalating conflict put those skills to the test quickly. Video footage on March 5 showed planes taking off from Beirut airport as smoke billowed over buildings in the Lebanese capital."Middle East pilots have always faced crises, so from the start we trained how to deal with contingencies, emergencies and everything else," said Captain Mohammed Aziz, director general of Lebanon's civil aviation authority."No one can give you a guarantee that they won't bomb the airport or will bomb the airport."One Middle East Airlines' pilot with a decade of experience said routes to Beirut have become more complex. In the past, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles in Lebanon usually had a range of 15,000 feet, so pilots would increase altitude to stay out of range, he said, while planes often carried extra fuel in case they were forced to divert.Still, most missile strikes are far enough away not to be a risk and pilots are often too busy to worry about them."You're actually busy enough on the plane trying to make sure you have clearance to land, that everything is in order, so you don't have time to process your emotions over what's happening outside the plane," he said.DRONES DISRUPT EUROPEAN AIRPORTSThe risks are not confined to the Middle East. Since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, drones have become a key weapon on both sides. Airports in European cities from Stockholm to Munich have faced drone disruptions — suspected though not confirmed to be linked to the conflict.Airline Captain Christian von D'Ahe, a commercial aircraft pilot for 15 years and head of the Danish Air Line Pilots Association, is alarmed by the emerging threat."Drones are not easily detected," Von D'Ahe said. "We can see them in the air, and they're very small. So sooner or later, something will happen."Drones striking an aircraft's engines could cause total power loss, while damage to wings could compromise a jet's ability to manoeuvre.Most registered planes emit a signal via a transponder, a device that identifies aircraft to radar, but drones do not, leaving pilots in the dark. Regular radars used by airports struggle to catch drones. Specialised radar exists, but is typically operated by law enforcement or the military.Dedrone, a company that produces counterdrone technology, said there were over 1.2mn drone violations in the US in 2025, with more expected in coming years.'THERE'S NOT MUCH YOU CAN DO'Airports can use radar, frequency sensors and jamming tools to counter drones, while some systems can "spoof" them off course. But safety concerns mean airports cannot shoot drones down.Tim Friebe, an air traffic controller in Germany and a vice president at the Air Traffic Controllers European Unions Co-ordination (ATCEUC), said drones were a "threat that is growing," while airports often had limited options."For now we have reports, pilot reports, or sometimes controllers spot drones. The problem is there's not much you can do except shutting down the airport," he said.Drones shut down some of the world's biggest airports from Munich to London's Gatwick last year, driving operators to beef up their foreign object and drone detection systems, according to half a dozen industry officials.Moritz Burger, a commercial pilot based in Germany, recalled spotting an object that looked like a balloon with a structure underneath as he was about to land at a European airport."I was looking out of the window and suddenly there appeared an object that passed by just below our aircraft. We could see it for maybe one, maximum two seconds," he said, adding it startled him and left him no time to take any evasive action."When you encounter such a near-miss or some passing object, there is not enough time to react. So it is unrealistic to expect that pilots could fly around such an object. There's pretty much nothing we can do."
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Kuomintang Chairperson Cheng Li-wun (left) shaking hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Great Hall of the People in Beijing, yesterday.(AFP) China's President Xi Jinping met Taiwan's opposition party leader Cheng Li-wun in Beijing yesterday, telling the visiting delegation he had "full confidence" that Taiwanese and Chinese people would be united.Kuomintang (KMT) chairwoman Cheng is the party's first leader to visit China in a decade, but her trip has sparked debate in Taiwan with critics accusing her of being too pro-Beijing.China severed high-level contact with Taiwan in 2016 after Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidency and rejected Beijing's claims that the self-ruled island is part of its territory.Xi told Cheng as the two met yesterday that "the general trend of compatriots on both sides of the Strait getting closer, edging nearer and becoming united will not change"."This is an inevitable part of history. We have full confidence in this," Xi said during the talks carried by Taiwanese media.He also said China was willing to strengthen dialogue with groups in Taiwan, including the KMT, on the "common political foundation of... opposing Taiwan independence".The KMT supports closer relations with China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize it.Cheng echoed Xi's stance at a press conference after their meeting, stressing the need for younger generations to understand "what challenges we face at this stage" and "how, by adhering to the 1992 Consensus and opposing Taiwan independence, we can avoid war".The so-called consensus suggests there is "one China" without specifying which is its rightful representative.Earlier, she told Xi that the Taiwan Strait would "no longer be a focal point of potential conflict" and "both sides should transcend political confrontation".She also said Xi had responded "positively" to her proposal that the sides work toward Taiwan participating in international organisations such as Interpol and regional trade agreements.A spokesman for Taiwan's ruling DPP said China should respect Taiwan's "commitment to freedom and democracy, rather than interfering in the choices of the Taiwanese people through division and inducement"."Differences between the two sides must be handled through peaceful and equal means, rather than by using suppression and intimidation," spokesman Lee Kuen-cheng said.Beijing has ramped up military pressure around Taiwan in recent years, conducting near-daily deployments of fighter jets and warships near the island and regular large-scale military drills.Taiwanese lawmakers have been at loggerheads over the government's plan to spend NT$1.25tn ($39bn) on defence, which has been stalled for months in parliament, controlled by opposition parties including the KMT.Cheng's trip comes a month before US President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing for a summit with Xi.The US has been piling pressure on Taiwanese opposition lawmakers to back a proposal for defence purchases, including US weapons, to deter a potential Chinese attack.Cheng has railed against the government's proposal, insisting "Taiwan isn't an ATM" and instead backing a KMT plan to allocate NT$380bn ($12bn) for US weapons with the option for more acquisitions.While KMT party members regularly fly to China for exchanges with officials, its last leader to visit was Hung Hsiu-chu in 2016.Cross-strait relations have worsened in particular since the election of Tsai's successor, Lai Ching-te, who Beijing considers a separatist.Lai said in a Facebook post yesterday that "China's... military threats in and around the Taiwan Strait and the island chain have severely undermined regional peace and stability".Cheng landed in Shanghai on Tuesday evening, saying shortly after her arrival that "the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are not doomed to war, as the international community has feared".
