Gold smuggling route to India via London - courtesy airline staff

The gold route to India is changing track – it is now entering the country via London, courtesy airline staff. London is fast becoming the new source for smuggling the yellow metal into India and crew members of international airlines are turning out to be the new carriers. This is the first time that London has figured on the gold smuggling map to India.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 1 August 2015.

In the recent past, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) have arrested three crew members of Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic – they were carrying nearly 7-Kg of gold valued at nearly Rs 2 crore. They were on the route Heathrow airport to Delhi.
Moreover, Customs authorities at the airport have also apprehended staff of Bird Worldwide Flight Services India Private Ltd for helping a passenger smuggle in gold.
In the opinion of experts, since the authorities have become more alert on traditional smuggling routes like through Dubai, Thailand, Colombo and Nepal, the smugglers had to identify an alternate route – hence, London.
Gold has also been smuggled in from other routes like Bangladesh, Singapore and China.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Britain was battered by hailstorms with large size hailstones the size of coins pelting the north east of England with fierce lightning storms sweeping across the country following the sweltering heat in which temperatures reached up to 98F.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 2 July 2015.

It was the hottest day in Britain and the rains swept through the north of the country overnight, with the wet weather predicted to become more widespread by this afternoon. There were lightning strikes hit the North Sea just off Saltburn-by-the-Sea.
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Gift a drone this Christmas – they come for less than £50

The latest fad this Christmas appears to be to gift a drone - for less than £50, battery-powered drones with four motors are available and they will perform your commands. Spend a bit more and the drone will hover perfectly still, then loop the loop and keep sending back quality video of the surroundings and the landscape below.
Obviously, these machines have great appeal and are great fun to play with. The electronics shops have lined up these strangely-shaped flying machines. These remote-controlled devices, officially described as ‘multi-copters’ or ‘unmanned aerial vehicles’, are usually known by a much more recognizable name: drones.
Till recently, drones were the exclusive purview of the military – but, gradually, civilian applications have been introduced like delivering pizzas and books by drones.
Many kids will love this present but, if not handled properly, it could lead to an accident or, even help a terrorist to launch a deadly attack. Already, there was a near miss near Heathrow airport when a drone narrowly missed an aircraft in flight.

Airbus A320 had a brush with death over Heathrow airport

An Airbus A320 with 180 passengers on board had a near brush with death at an altitude of 700ft when it came near a drone that was in the air – the incident near Heathrow airport which is the busiest airport in the UK took place on July 22. The report has, only now, been made public.
It was fortunate that the pilot who spotted the drone in time and took evasive action.
In the opinion of aviation experts, it is only a matter of time before a drone causes a major accident with a passenger jet in the skies above Britain. These fears arise because of the increase in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in the last few years which do not need a license and there is only minimal regulation.
The warning has come from the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA). The general secretary of BALPA, Jim McAuslan, has remarked that it would be very easy for a near-miss to become a disaster. Hence, it is necessary to introduce suitable regulations and have enforcement procedures that are practical in operating efficiently.
The weight of a drone may be small (around 3Kg) but, such an object, can cause serious damage to the aircraft when it is going at a speed. It could strike the windscreen or get ingested into the engine.
The popularity of drones is on the rise and, with its cost falling, these UAVs are being used for everything from promotional videos to gathering pictures for the news and, probably, during Christmas thousands of drones could be sold on the high street and online.