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More than 280 people were killed and over 1,100 injured in a three-way crash involving two passenger trains and a freight train in eastern Odisha state on Friday, officials said. BJP4India/TwitterThe cause of Friday’s crash remains unclear, but senior state railway officials told CNN that it is suspected to have been caused by a traffic signaling failure. Video footage and photographs from the crash site near Bahanaga Bazar rail station showed scenes of chaos and despair. An official overseas rescue efforts at the site of the train crash in Balasore. An aerial view of the derailed coaches in Balasore.

Persons: Narendra Modi, Modi, Ashwini Vaishnaw, ” Modi, “, “ It’s, Sudhanshu Sarangi, “ We’ve, Piyal Adhikary, Anshuman Purohit, ” Rohit Raj, Dibyangshu Sarkar, ”, Narendra Singh Bundela, ” Bundela, Stringer, Rafiq Maqbool, AP Modi, Shehbaz Sharif, Rishi Sunak, Ursula von der Leyen, Fumio Kishida Organizations: India CNN — Indian, Bharat, CNN, Chennai Coromandel, Passengers, NDTV, Getty, Response Force, Reuters, National Crime Records, Western, AP, Force, Rapid Action Force, Soro Block, “, British, EU, Japan’s Locations: Bhubaneswar, India, Odisha, Balasore, Shalimar, Chennai, Yesvantpur, Howrah, Bahanaga Bazar, AFP, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, Mumbai, country’s Jammu, Kashmir, Soro

☆ Modi Arrives at Scene of Train Crash That Killed Over 260 in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Mujib Mashal | Hari Kumar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, had been scheduled soon to inaugurate the latest in a series of new high-speed trains highlighting his government’s expanded infrastructure investment. Instead, he arrived on Saturday at the devastating scene of the country’s deadliest rail disaster in decades. At least 261 people were killed and about 900 others injured on Friday night in what officials in a preliminary government report described as a “three-way accident” involving two passenger trains and one freight train in the eastern state of Odisha. The toll, exceptionally large even in a nation with a long history of deadly crashes, renewed longstanding questions about safety problems in a system that transports more than eight billion passengers a year.

Persons: India’s, Narendra Modi Locations: Odisha

A train crash in eastern India on Friday was the country’s worst rail disaster in two decades, killing more than 230 people. The crash occurred when several cars of a train derailed and hit a second one, the train’s operator, South Eastern Railway, said in a statement. Local officials said that a third train, carrying freight, was ultimately involved, but details of this were not yet clear. One of the trains involved was a Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express train, according to South Eastern Railway. The Coromandel Express service has been known for connecting the biggest cities on India’s east coast at relatively high speed.

Persons: Pradeep Jena Organizations: Eastern Railway, Chennai Coromandel Express, South Eastern Railway, Express Locations: India, Balasore, Odisha, Shalimar, Chennai Coromandel, India’s

BALASORE, India, June 3 (Reuters) - Ompal Bhatia, a survivor of the three-train crash in India on Friday, had first thought he was dead. When the train he was traveling in went off-track, Bhatia was with three friends on his way to Chennai for work. The 25-year-old had spent most of the four-hour journey on the Coromandel Express standing. The train, traveling past hills along India’s eastern coast, takes more than 24 hours to complete the journey of more than 1600 kilometres. Archana Paul, a housewife from West Bengal, was in the other train, the Howrah Yesvantpur Express, when the crash happened.

Persons: Ompal Bhatia, Bhatia, Moti Sheikh, Sheikh, ” Bhatia, ”, Archana Paul, Paul, “, Das, Jatindra Dahs, Krishn Kaushik, Christina Fincher Organizations: Reuters, Express, Thomson Locations: BALASORE, India, Chennai, Bangalore, West Bengal, Howrah, Balasore, New Delhi

☆ Deadly Indian rail crash shifts focus from new trains to safety
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Yp Rajesh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

State monopoly Indian Railways runs the fourth largest train network in the world. It transports 13 million people every day and moved nearly 1.5 billion tonnes of freight in 2022. 'GOOD SAFETY RECORD'Indian Railways maintains that safety has always been a key focus, and points to its low accident rate over the years. “Some malfunction has happened and that the inquiry will reveal,” he said, referring to Friday’s crash. “This accident brings out the need to focus more on these aspects,” he said.

Persons: Long, Narendra Modi's, Modi, Prakash Kumar Sen, ” Sen, Sen, ”, ” Srinand Jha, ” Jha, Mark Potter Organizations: Indian Railways, India, Kirodimal Institute of Technology, Workers, International Railway Journal, YP, Thomson Locations: DELHI, Odisha ., India

☆ Heavy rains continue to hit Japan, suspending some trains
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Vehicles submerged under water following heavy rain brought about by Typhoon Mawar are pictured in Toyokawa, Aichi Prefecture, central Japan in this photo taken by Kyodo on June 3, 2023. Although Mawar has weakened from super typhoon status, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) urged people to be on high alert for landslides, rising rivers and flooding in eastern Japan, while warning of landslides in western Japan. Shinkansen bullet trains, suspended from Tokyo to Nagoya in central Japan since Friday, resumed operation around noon (0300 GMT) on Saturday, Kyodo news agency reported. From Friday through Saturday morning, heavy localised rain fell in many parts of Japan, marking the heaviest rainfall on record for June in some areas, Kyodo said. A man found in a car flooded by heavy rain in Toyohashi in central Japan was taken to the hospital, where he was later confirmed dead, Kyodo said.

Persons: Typhoon Mawar, Mawar, Kyodo, Yuka Obayashi, William Mallard Organizations: Kyodo, REUTERS, Japan Meteorological Agency, JMA, NHK, Thomson Locations: Toyokawa, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, REUTERS TOKYO, Tokyo, Nagoya, Mawar, Guam, Toyohashi

☆ 10 images of the devastation following a 3-train crash in India that killed nearly 300 passengers
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Isobel Van Hagen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

The cause of the crash is not immediately apparent. Officials told reporters that a "high-level inquiry" has been ordered. This frame grab taken from an AFPTV video footage on June 3, 2023, shows injured survivors receiving treatment at the Bhadrak District Hospital after a horrific three-train collision that took place near Balasore. STR/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images"The force with which the trains collided has resulted in several coaches being crushed and mangled," Atul Karwal, chief of India's National Disaster Response Force, told local news, per the BBC.

Persons: Atul Karwal Organizations: Getty, Force Locations: Bhadrak, Balasore, AFP

June 3 (Reuters) - At least 233 people were killed and 900 were injured when two passenger trains collided in India's Odisha state, a government official said on Saturday, making the rail accident the country's deadliest in more than a decade. The death toll from Friday's crash is expected to rise, the state's Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena said on Twitter. Early on Saturday morning, Reuters video footage showed police officials moving bodies covered in white cloths off the railway tracks. [1/5] A drone view shows derailed coaches after two passenger trains collided in Balasore district in the eastern state of Odisha, India, June 3, 2023. Although Chief Secretary Jena and some media reports have suggested a freight train was also involved in the crash, railway authorities have yet to comment on that possibility.

Persons: Pradeep Jena, sobbed, Naveen Patnaik, Abinaya Vijayaraghavan, Akriti Sharma, Jatindra, Subrata Nag Choudhury, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: Twitter, Reuters, REUTERS, Stringer Authorities, Ministry of Railways, Jena, Force, Indian Railways, Thomson Locations: India's Odisha, Balasore, Howrah, Bangalore, Howrah , West Bengal, Kolkata, Chennai, Balasore district, Odisha, India, Odisha's, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar

☆ More Than 200 Dead and 900 Injured in Train Crash in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Dan Bilefsky | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Video footage of the scene of the crash showed stunned onlookers, and Indian news reports said more than 50 ambulances had arrived to the area, along with teams of doctors to tend to the injured. Ashok Samal, a shopkeeper, told The Hindustan Times that he was ending his day near the railway track in his village of Bahanaga on Friday when he heard a deafening noise, ran to the track on the main line between Kolkata and Chennai, and saw a pile of mangled train cars. “There were loud shrieks and blood all over,” he told the newspaper, adding that he saw people trapped under coaches and people wailing for help. Ashwini Vaishnaw, the minister of railways, said on Twitter that the National Disaster Response Force had been mobilized, along with rescue workers from the air force. Dozens of trains were canceled.

Persons: Ashok Samal, ”, Ashwini Vaishnaw Organizations: Hindustan Times, Twitter, Force Locations: Bahanaga, Kolkata, Chennai

☆ Up to 50 Feared Dead in Train Crash in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Dan Bilefsky | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Two trains derailed in India in the eastern state of Odisha on Friday, Indian news reports said, killing as many as 50 people and injuring hundreds more in an accident that deeply shook the country. Amitabh Sharma, a railroad ministry spokesperson, was quoted by The Times of India as saying that 10 to 12 coaches of one train derailed and that some of the debris then encroached on a nearby track, where it was hit by another train. Video footage of the scene of the crash showed frantic onlookers, and Indian news reports said 50 ambulances had arrived to the area, along with teams of doctors to tend to the injured. The number of dead was not confirmed, but the reports said it was feared to be at least 50 people. “Distressed by the train accident in Odisha,” he wrote.

Persons: Amitabh Sharma, Narendra Modi, ” Organizations: The Times, India, Twitter Locations: India, Odisha

☆ AI hypocrisy: OpenAI, Google and Anthropic won't let their data be used to train other AI models, but they use everyone else's content
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Google and Anthropic ban the use of their content to train other AI models. Microsoft-backed OpenAI, along with Google, and Google-backed Anthropic have for years been using online content created by companies to train their generative AI models. However, these big tech companies won't let their own content be used to train other AI models. In April, Elon Musk accused Microsoft, the main backer of OpenAI, of illegally using Twitter's data to train AI models. The current way AI models are trained 'breaks' the webOne former Microsoft executive believes something is wrong here.

Persons: Claude, Anthropic's, OpenAI, Steve Huffman, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Steven Sinofsky, couldn't Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Services, . Publishers, News Corp

☆ Factbox: India's deadliest rail accidents
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 3 (Reuters) - At least 207 people were killed and 900 injured when two passenger trains collided in Odisha on Friday, according to government officials in the eastern Indian state, in one of India's worst rail accidents in years. Here are details of some of the deadliest rail accidents in India in recent decades:June 1981: At least 800 people are killed when seven rear coaches of an overcrowded passenger train are blown off the track and fall into a river during a cyclone. July 1988: An express train leaves the rails and plunges into a monsoon-swollen lake near Quilon in southern India, killing at least 106 people. October 2005: Several coaches of a passenger train derail in southern Andhra Pradesh state, near Velugonda. January 2017: At least 41 people are killed after several coaches of a passenger train go off the rails in southern Andhra Pradesh state.

Persons: Akriti Sharma, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Reuters, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Odisha, India, Quilon, Delhi, Balasore, Calcutta, Andhra Pradesh, Velugonda, Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, India's Amritsar, Bengaluru

Two passenger trains and a goods train collided in an accident in the city of Balasore in Odisha state, according to a video statement by state chief secretary Pradeep Jena. Press Trust of India/APA view of a damaged compartment, following the deadly train collision in Balasore, India June 2, 2023. The train travels through India’s east coast, between West Bengal’s capital Kolkata to the South Indian city of Chennai. “Distressed by the train accident in Odisha. The following November, at least 39 people died and 50 others were seriously injured in a train derailment in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

Persons: Pradeep Jena, “, ”, Mamata Banerjee, Narendra Modi Organizations: CNN, News18, ”, Jena, Twitter, Press Trust of, Indian, Local, AP India’s, Railways, Communications, Electronics, Information Technology, National Crime Records Locations: India, Balasore, Odisha, Balarore, Press Trust of India, Shalimar, Chennai Coromandel, West Bengal, India’s, West Bengal’s, Kolkata, Indian, Chennai, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh

☆ Passenger trains derail in India, killing at least 50, trapping many others
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Rescuers work at the site of passenger trains that derailed in Balasore district, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Friday, June 2, 2023. Two passenger trains derailed Friday in India, killing at least 50 people and trapping hundreds of others inside more than a dozen damaged rail cars, officials said. The debris was hit by another passenger train coming from the opposite direction, and up to three coaches of the second train also derailed, Sharma said. In August 1995, two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people in the worst train accident in India's history. More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, traveling on 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track.

Persons: Amitabh Sharma, Sharma, Kaleda, Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde, Pradeep Jena, Shinde, Narendra Modi, Modi Organizations: The Press Trust of India, New Delhi Television, Press Trust, Rescuers, The Press Trust, Indian Locations: Balasore district, Orissa, India, Kolkata, Balasore, Howrah, West Bengal, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, New Delhi

☆ At least 50 dead, 350 injured in train crash in eastern India, media report
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BHUBANESWAR/KOLKATA June 2 (Reuters) - At least 50 people were killed and 350 injured when two passenger trains collided in the eastern Indian state of Odisha on Friday, Indian media reported. The Coromandel Express, which runs from Kolkata to Chennai, collided with another passenger train, the Howrah Superfast Express, railway officials said. The Howrah Superfast Express derailed and became entangled with the Coromandel Express, South Eastern Railway authorities said in a statement. Media reports had earlier said that the crash was between the Coromandel Express and a goods train. Media reports said at least 50 people had died.

Persons: Pradeep Jena, Naveen Patnaik, Narendra Modi, Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw, Abinaya, Jatindra, Nag Choudhury, Shubhendu Satish Deshmukh, Andrew Heavens, David Holmes, Frances Kerry Organizations: Eastern Railway, Media, Coromandel, Reuters, REUTERS, Railways, Force, Thomson Locations: BHUBANESWAR, KOLKATA, Odisha, Kolkata, Chennai, Howrah, Balasore district, Balasore, India, Odisha's Bhubaneswar, West Bengal, Bengaluru

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) - U.S. passenger railroad Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner will testify on June 6 before a U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure railroads subcommittee, a spokesperson for the panel said on Wednesday, as traffic rebounds after a pandemic-driven dip. Gardner and Northeast Corridor Commission Executive Director Mitch Warren will testify at a hearing on Amtrak operations examining the challenges and opportunities for improving efficiency and service. Traffic on the busy Northeast Corridor connecting Boston and Washington more than doubled in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30 to 9.2 million passengers. Aging infrastructure is preventing Amtrak from running trains at higher speeds along the Boston to Washington northeast corridor. Amtrak said ridership rose 89% over 2021 levels to 22.9 million riders, up 10.8 million passengers over the prior year.

Persons: Stephen Gardner, Mitch Warren, Biden, David Shepardson, Chris Reese, Jamie Freed Organizations: Amtrak, . House Transportation, Infrastructure, Commission, Congress, Thomson Locations: Gardner, Boston, Washington, United States, New York Hudson

☆ Red light therapy: How it affects sleep
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Kristen Rogers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Red light therapy has been found to be helpful for skin health, wound healing, hair growth among people with alopecia and pain management. “That’s why when we talk about blue light or red light, we’re not talking about a red-colored light bulb. A 2019 study led by Figueiro looked into whether delivering red light to closed eyes during sleep — using a red light mask — and to open eyes upon waking — via red light goggles — reduced sleep inertia among 30 adults. In other words, it might be that any benefits come from replacing the light you’re exposed to before sleep with red light, rather than adding the latter during sleep. The bottom line is that when it comes to sleep, “what’s better than red light is no light,” Dasgupta said.

Persons: ”, Raj Dasgupta, “, ” Dasgupta, ‘, Dasgupta, Joshua Tal, Mariana Figueiro, Figueiro, who’s, ” Figueiro Organizations: CNN, US Centers for Disease Control, University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, Health Research Center, Icahn School of Medicine Locations: China, New York City, Mount Sinai

☆ Amtrak's new high-speed trains have been delayed again because the tracks they're supposed to run on are too old and busted
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Hannah Towey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The debut of Amtrak's new high-speed trains has been delayed for a third year in a row to 2024. It's due to complications passing federal safety checks on the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak said. The Amtrak tracks between Boston and Washington are notoriously run down. The trains' manufacturer, Alstom, says the culprit isn't the trains themselves, but rather the tracks they're supposed to run on. The Amtrak tracks between Boston and Washington, a high-traffic section known as the Northeast corridor, are notoriously rundown — with some tracks dating back 150 years.

Organizations: Amtrak, Morning, Alstom, Federal Railroad, FRA Locations: Boston, Washington, United States, Europe, Asia

☆ Amtrak's upcoming high-speed Acela trains have been delayed again — see what they'll look like
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Brittany Chang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

But in anticipation of the smoother and faster trains — as delayed as they may be — let's take a closer look at the interior, which will appeal to Amtrak riders who are tired of the old cars lined with grey and blue seats. Joey Hadden/InsiderSource: Amtrak

Persons: Joey Hadden Organizations: Amtrak

☆ Private jets get a bad rap. Jetex is trying to make them greener
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Rym Bendimerad | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Because they often travel shorter distances than commercial jets, private jets are generally less efficient, and their emissions per passenger are much higher. According to data from European non-profit Transport and Environment, private jets can be five to 14 times more polluting than commercial planes, and 50 times more polluting than trains. Yet the private aviation sector has seen considerable growth in recent years. EVTOL aircraft have a more limited range than private jets, and would be used for short flights around and between cities – which, in the future, could be an eco-friendlier option for the many celebrities who’ve been criticized for traveling short distances in their private jets. “We are seeing some really exciting innovations coming from private aviation,” said Dr. Kearns.

[1/3] Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang speaks at the COMPUTEX forum in Taipei, Taiwan May 29, 2023. Under the agreement, announced at the Computex technology trade show in Taipei, MediaTek will integrate an Nvidia graphic processing unit chiplet and Nvidia software into the system-on-chips it supplies to automakers for infotainment displays. MediaTek systems using Nvidia software would be compatible with automated driving systems based on Nvidia technology, the companies said. The partnership with MediaTek gives Nvidia wider access to the $12 billion market for infotainment system-on-chips, the companies said. MediaTek, which has its base in the Android smartphone chip sector, sells its Dimensity Auto technology to lower-priced, mass market vehicle lines, and has strengths in mobile connectivity and Android systems.

☆ How a Maitre d’ at Balthazar Spends His Sundays
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Tammy La Gorce | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Zouheir Louhaichy, the head maître d’ at Balthazar, the perennially popular SoHo brasserie, doesn’t give just any customer his cell number. Those who have it, though, are not shy about reaching out on Sundays, his day off. “I’ll get texts from regulars who are either desperate to get in on short notice or need help with future requests,” he said. Between returning regulars’ texts on Sundays, he trains for triathlons. I love Hawaiian coffee because the beans are sort of a connection to Hawaii, which I love.

☆ Iraq launches $17 billion road and rail project to link Asia and Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Timour Azhari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"The Development Road is not just a road to move goods or passengers. This road opens the door to development of vast areas of Iraq," Farhan al-Fartousi, director general of the General Company for Ports of Iraq, told Reuters. The Grand Faw Port, which was devised over a decade ago, is halfway to completion, Fartousi said. Passenger transport between Iraq and Europe harkens back to grand plans at the turn of the 20th century to create a Baghdad to Berlin express. But officials say the Development Road is based on something new: a period of relative stability since late last year that they hope can be maintained.

Biden said on Friday he had an "extremely negative" reaction to reports that Russia has moved ahead with a plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. The U.S. State Department denounced the Russian nuclear deployment plan. Tactical nuclear weapons are used for tactical gains on the battlefield, and are usually smaller in yield than the strategic nuclear weapons designed to destroy U.S., European or Russian cities. "The United States has been for decades maintaining a large arsenal of its nuclear weapons in Europe. Together with its NATO allies it participates in nuclear sharing arrangements and trains for scenarios of nuclear weapons use against our country."

☆ How Americans plan to travel this Memorial Day
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 26 (Reuters) - The upcoming Memorial Day weekend is expected to see millions of Americans travel despite tight budgets, kicking off the busy summer travel in the U.S on a high note. Here's how the Memorial Day travel might look like:ROADTRIPS** Cheaper gas is pushing more Americans to consider road travel as an alternative. ** About 37.1 million Americans are expected to drive down to their destinations this Memorial Day, a 6% increase compared to 2022, according to data from travel group AAA. ** Car rental prices are down 17% compared to Memorial Day Weekend last year, travel booking website Hopper says. FLIGHTS** 3.4 million travelers are expected to take a flight for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, an 11% increase year-over-year - AAA.

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