Air India flight to Delhi makes emergency landing in Thailand after bomb threat
Flight AI 379 had landed and the airport was proceeding with emergency plans, an official told Reuters.
This comes a day after an Air India Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on June 12, leading to deaths of 265 people.
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The National
a day ago
- The National
A phone call has shaken Thailand, but could it also spell the end of a political dynasty?
On Tuesday Thailand's Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office, pending an enquiry into a leaked phone call between her and former Cambodian leader Hun Sen. In the conversation, she referred to Hun Sen as 'uncle' and made derogatory remarks about a top Thai army commander, words which in the context of heightened tensions in the Emerald Triangle border area between the two countries triggered mass protests in Thailand and the exit of the Bhumjaithai Party, her governing coalition's second-largest member. This could bring to a premature end Ms Paetongtarn's short-lived political career – she only became prime minister last August. But the bigger question is: does this herald the beginning of the end for the whole Shinawatra dynasty? For the last 25 years, the family, headed by Thaksin Shinawatra, who was prime minister from 2001 to 2006, has almost completely dominated electoral politics in the country. He was ousted in a coup backed by Thailand's powerful army, and his sister Yingluck was also forced from office in 2014 after three years as prime minister. But time after time, when elections were held, Thaksin-backed parties kept on winning. In 2023, Mr Thaksin returned from self-imposed exile, on the same day a new government led by his supporters' party, Pheu Thai, was formed. Since the new coalition included parties aligned with the royalist-military establishment previously deeply opposed to Mr Thaksin – whose critics have accused him of irresponsible populism and corruption – it seemed that an accommodation had finally been reached between the country's two most important blocs. On his arrival in Thailand, Mr Thaksin was arrested and taken into custody, but the convictions to which he had been sentenced in absentia were reduced days later to just one year in jail, and after spending six months in a luxury hospital he was released on parole. Appearances were satisfied. Mr Thaksin was home. And months later, his youngest daughter Paetongtarn became prime minister. The rapprochement between Mr Thaksin's supporters and the country's conservative institutions may have been a shaky alliance of convenience. But it could not last after details of Ms Paetongtarn's call with Hun Sen came out. In the conversation, which both sides have confirmed as authentic, Ms Paetongtarn referred to her country's military as 'the opposite side' and accused a general at the border of just wanting 'to look cool and saying things that are not useful'. Cambodia's longtime former prime minister, whose son Hun Manet succeeded him in 2023, has since gone further. According to the Khmer Times, this week Hun Sen accused the Thaksins of insulting their country's king in private conversations with him and said Ms Paetongtarn 'conspiring with foreigners to denigrate one's own military', as he put it, was tantamount to treason. For the last 25 years, the family headed by Thaksin Shinawatra has almost completely dominated electoral politics Why did Hun Sen make such incendiary comments and release a full recording of the phone call, especially since he had been close to Mr Thaksin for decades? The border issue is highly sensitive – a Cambodian soldier was killed in clashes with Thai forces in May – and some speculate it was an attempt to rally patriotic sentiment around Hun Manet. The former Cambodian leader also accused the Thaksins of having a history of saying one thing to him about the border disputes and then another in public. Either way, the damage has been done. And it's not just Ms Paetongtarn who's in trouble. On the same day that she was suspended from office, her father was in a Bangkok court to hear prosecution testimony over a lese-majeste charge he faces relating to an interview he gave in South Korea in 2015. Mr Thaksin may have thought this would just be a formality, given the understanding he believed had been reached with the royalist-military forces. But as the Thai academic Pavin Chachavalpongpun wrote in a prescient analysis published on Monday: 'The lese majeste case against Thaksin, or [the] Constitutional Court case against Paetongtarn, could be strategically used to neutralise their influence, putting them in jail or (more likely) letting them flee.' In that event, could the Thaksins still make another comeback in the future? It can't be completely ruled out, and it may be just possible that the current governing coalition holds on, as it still has a majority in Parliament. But many believe that the Thaksin coalition – low-income workers in the country's north and north-east, plus progressive-minded urban middle classes – has been irretrievably weakened. Pheu Thai has been outflanked by the social democratic Move Forward Party, which beat them into second place in the 2023 election, and severely disillusioned their progressive supporters by allying with the conservative forces who kept ousting Mr Thaksin and his successors from power. Younger voters don't remember Mr Thaksin's glory years, when he instituted universal health care and a raft of polices that helped rural voters. Paetongtarn Shinawatra is a novice who plainly owed her job solely to her surname. Her approval rating was at a meagre 9.2 per cent in March. Mr Thaksin is still a giant of Thai politics. But he's not the figure he once was, and he has run out of family proxies to take the country's top job while he remains a power behind the curtain. No one would accept one of his other two – politically inexperienced – children as prime minister. And, in any case, it's not clear they, or Pheu Thai, could command a majority in Parliament. So, is this the end for the Shinawatra dynasty? Thai politics is too unpredictable to tell. If it is the beginning of the end, however, Thailand's perennial problem will remain: how to square the views of the royalist-military establishment, who see themselves as guardians of the country, with populist or left-leaning parties that keep topping the polls. That's the democratic conundrum that has been both the blessing, and the misfortune, of the Shinawatra family.
Tahawul Tech
4 days ago
- Tahawul Tech
Cybercriminals set their sights on U.S. airlines
Notorious cybercriminal group 'Scattered Spider' has set its sights on the aviation industry, successfully breaching the computer networks of multiple airlines in the U.S. and Canada, according to the FBI and private experts responding to the hacks. The hacking hasn't affected airline safety, but it has top cyber executives at major airlines across the United States on alert because of the hacking suspects: A network of young cybercriminals called 'Scattered Spider' who are known for their aggressive efforts to extort or embarrass their victims. It's a fresh headache for the travel industry as the busy summer travel season kicks into high gear. This is now the third major US business sector, after insurance and retail, to face a flurry of cyberattacks tied to the criminal group. The hackers target big companies and their IT contractors, 'which means anyone in the airline ecosystem, including trusted vendors and contractors, could be at risk', the FBI said in a statement that named Scattered Spider as the perpetrator of the airline hacks. 'Once inside (a victim's network), Scattered Spider actors steal sensitive data for extortion and often deploy ransomware', the FBI said. The FBI, the statement continued, 'is actively working with aviation and industry partners to address this activity and assist victims.' Hawaiian Airlines and Canada's WestJet confirmed that they were still assessing the fallout from recent cyberattacks, though the airlines did not name the perpetrators. More victims in the aviation industry could come forward, sources briefed on the investigation said. WestJet's issues began when the airline said it was responding to a 'cybersecurity incident' that was affecting access 'to some services and software systems', including its app for customers. Both WestJet and Hawaiian Airlines said their operations were unaffected by the hacks. The lack of impact on operations at the airlines is 'likely a sign of good internal network separations or good business continuity and resiliency planning', said Aakin Patel, the former chief information security officer of Las Vegas' main airport. It is not just the airlines themselves, but other 'segments of the aviation ecosystem' that are seeing increased cyberattacks, according to Jeffey Troy, the president of the Aviation ISAC, an industry group for sharing cyber threats. 'Our members are keenly alert to attacks from financially motivated attackers and collateral impacts emanating out of geo-political tensions around the world', Troy said. The fine margins for error in the airline industry were on display recently, when a separate IT outage, apparently unrelated to malicious cyber activity, caused delays for some American Airlines passengers. The Scattered Spider hacks have mobilised people across the industry to respond. In-house cybersecurity experts at major airlines have been closely monitoring the situation while cybersecurity firms such as Google-owned Mandiant are helping with the recovery and urging airlines to secure their customer service call centres. One of Scattered Spiders' preferred methods of infiltrating corporations is calling up help desks and pretending to be employees or customers. The technique has been highly effective for hackers to gain access to the networks of big companies. 'Airlines rely heavily on call centres for a lot of their support needs,' said Patel, making them 'a likely target for groups like this'. Scattered Spider gained attention in September 2023 when they were linked to a pair of multimillion-dollar hacks on Las Vegas casinos and hotels MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment. The hackers tend to pick one sector to target for weeks on end. Recently they were the suspect in a hack of insurance giant Aflac that potentially stole Social Security numbers, insurance claims and health information. Before that, it was the retail sector: The hackers, according to an internal memo, targeted Ahold Delhaize USA, which has the same parent company as the Giant and Food Lion grocery chains. 'The actor's core tactics, techniques, and procedures have remained consistent,' Mandiant chief technology officer Charles Carmakal said in a statement, and that it 'is aware of multiple incidents in the airline and transportation sector' that resemble the operations of Scattered Spider. Source: CNN Image Credit: Stock Image
Khaleej Times
5 days ago
- Khaleej Times
India: Burning smell in flight cabin causes Chennai-bound plane to return to Mumbai
A Chennai-bound Air India flight returned to Mumbai, its departure location, after a burning smell was found inside the cabin, the airline confirmed on Saturday. According to Air India, the incident occurred on Friday, June 27 on flight Al639, which departed from Mumbai and was headed to Chennai. "The crew of flight Al639 operating from Mumbai to Chennai on Friday, June 27, 2025, made a precautionary air-return to Mumbai due to a burning smell in the cabin," an Air India spokesperson said. "The flight landed safely back in Mumbai, and an aircraft change was initiated. Our ground colleagues in Mumbai provided all necessary support to passengers to minimise the inconvenience caused by this unforeseen disruption," the spokesperson added. In another incident, a non-specific security alert was detected on one of Air India's aircraft on Friday. The aircraft was cleared for the next flight after standard security procedures, the Air India spokesperson said. A statement issued by the Air India spokesperson said, "A non-specific security alert was detected on one of our aircraft. Standard security procedures were duly carried out, and the aircraft has been cleared for the next flight. Air India accords top priority to the safety and security of its passengers and crew." Earlier, Air India Express (a subsidiary of Air India) flight IX2564, operating from Delhi to Jammu, was forced to return to its point of origin after a technical issue was detected mid-flight. The flight, operated by an Airbus A320 aircraft, had a scheduled departure time of 10.40am but took off at 11.04am. It was expected to arrive in Jammu at 12.05pm. However, the aircraft was diverted back to Delhi, as per Flightradar24. Confirming the development, an Air India Express spokesperson said, 'An alternative aircraft was arranged to operate our Delhi-Jammu flight after the original aircraft returned to Delhi due to a technical issue. We regret the inconvenience caused.' These security concerns have come to light following the crash of the London-bound Air India-171 flight in Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 241 out of 242 passengers and crew members on board.
