The crash of Sri Lankan Air Force's China-made K-8 trainer jet in the Wariyapola area on Friday has raised serious concerns about the safety and operational readiness of the remaining aircraft in service.

The incident took place during a training exercise with the Chief Training Instructor Pilot and the trainee pilot ejecting from the aircraft before the crash. Both are currently undergoing treatment at the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital, local media reported.

Air Marshal Bandu Edirisinghe, Commander of the Sri Lankan Air Force, has appointed a seven-member Special Investigation Committee to determine the cause of the accident.

However, no decision has been made on the remaining operational K-8 trainer jets following the crash,

A day after flights were grounded at the Heathrow airport, nation’s largest carrier Air India said on Saturday that its flights, to and from the Europe’s busiest airport, have resumed.

The shutdown caused inconvenience to as many as 200,000 passengers as at least 1,351 inbound and outbound flights were grounded throughout Friday.

In a statement, Air India said that its operations to and from London Heathrow (LHR) airport have “recommenced after the disruption at the airport yesterday due to a power outage”.

“Today’s flight AI111 was on schedule and other flights, to and from London, are expected to operate as per schedule. Flight AI161 of 21 March, which was diverted to Frankfurt, is expected to leave Frankfurt at 14:05 pm local time,” the airline added.

Thousands of workers staged demonstrations and blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway on Saturday, demanding factory reopening, annual leave, due holiday payment, and bonuses.

They blocked the highway for two hours, halting the movement of traffic and causing severe issues to the locals.

The workers of the Giant Knit garment factory in the Gazipur district of Dhaka division started the protest after seeing a factory closure notice in the morning.

Gazipur Industrial Police Sub-Inspector (SI) Faruk Hossain said that workers had already protested on Thursday over leave and bonus payments.

In a sign of US President Donald Trump pulling back Elon Musk’s overreach, the President has acknowledged his possible conflict of interest after his reported briefing on US war plans for China was scrapped.

“Certainly, you wouldn’t show it to a businessman who is helping us so much. Elon has businesses in China, and he would be susceptible perhaps to that”, Trump told reporters on Friday after the cancelation.

The world’s richest man and a Trump benefactor to the tune of millions, Musk has big business interests in China, which is a hub for his Tesla car manufacture.

Some of the several companies he owns have contracts with the Defence department.

About the war plans, Trump said, “I don’t want to show it to anybody. You know you’re talking about a potential war with China”.

A day after flights were grounded at Europe’s busiest airport Heathrow, operations resumed on Saturday as the first flight landed.

Full service is expected to resume at London's Heathrow Airport on Saturday a day after it was shut down due to an unprecedented loss of power caused by nearby a substation fire.

The shutdown caused inconvenience to as many as 200,000 passengers as at least 1351 inbound and outbound flights were grounded throughout Friday.

Inbound planes were diverted to other airports in Europe after flames ripped through the North Hyde plant in Hayes, west London, on Thursday evening.

Air India had on Friday temporarily suspended its flight operations from Heathrow as the airport announced a closure until March 21 midnight due to the power outage.

Korean Air Lines, South Korea's national carrier, will acquire some 20 aircraft from US Boeing and procure spare engines from GE Aerospace, in a combined deal worth US$32.7 billion, Seoul's industry ministry said.

A pre-signing ceremony took place at the Department of Commerce in Washington, attended by Cho Won-tae, chairman of Hanjin Group, Korean Air's parent firm; Kelly Ortberg, Boeing's president and CEO; and Russell Stokes, president and CEO of GE Aerospace Commercial Engines and Services.

Also present at the event were South Korean Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, reports news agency.

Under the agreement, Korean Air will acquire 20 Boeing 777-9 and 20 Boeing 787-10 aircraft by 2033, with an option to purchase an additional 10 aircraft. The two companies agreed to swiftly proceed with the deal, valued at $24.9 billion.

The crime rate in Australia's state of Victoria surged by 13.2 per cent in 2024, marking the highest level since 2016.

The latest data released by the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) on Thursday shows that the sharpest increase was in property and deception offences, increasing by 21.9 per cent, which is largely attributed to thefts.

"The rate of theft offences being recorded per 100,000 Victorians has exceeded historical peaks, driven by record-high numbers of steal from motor vehicle, steal from retail store and motor vehicle theft offences recorded by Victoria Police in 2024," said CSA Chief Statistician Fiona Dowsley.

Up to 40 migrants are believed to have died after their boat capsized in rough seas in the central Mediterranean, while another 10 were rescued, Italian authorities and the agency said on Wednesday.

The 10 survivors, including four women, were taken to the tiny island of Lampedusa in the early hours of the morning, and assisted by the Red Cross, according to the Italian coastguard.

The boat involved in the shipwreck was an inflatable rubber dinghy that had left the port of Sfax, Tunisia, on Monday with at least 56 people on board, a representative of UNHCR-Italy said on social media, news agency reported. The passengers were reportedly from Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mali and Guinea.

A man and his wife have been confirmed dead, and another person remains missing as torrential rain from storm Laurence continues to impact southern Spain, local authorities reported on Wednesday.

Rescue services in the southwestern province of Seville recovered the bodies of the couple on Wednesday after their vehicle was swept away by floodwaters near the municipality of Constantina. The pair had been reported missing earlier.

Meanwhile, a man in his seventies has been missing since Monday near the city of Cordoba.

Amid growing security concern and aggressive posturing of China, Taiwan stated on Tuesday that it has detected a number of Chinese aircraft and warships operating around the country over the past 24 hours that crossed the meridian line of the Taiwan Strait and entered air defence identification zone.

According to the Defence Ministry of Taiwan, 59 sorties of Chinese military aircraft and nine Chinese naval ships operating around Taiwan were detected on Tuesday morning. It said that 43 out of 59 sorties crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s northern, central southwestern and eastern Air Defence Identification Zone.