News Headlines - 16 December 2019
▽Japan considers bullet train luggage checks during Tokyo Games - SFChronicle.com
As part of efforts to prevent terrorism, the government is considering checking the luggage of passengers on Shinkansen bullet trains during the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics next year, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
The plan is to use body scanners and other methods to detect dangerous substances, including bomb-sniffing dogs like those that participated in a trial at Tokyo Station on Dec. 4.
Tokyo Station sees about 180,000 Shinkansen passengers every day. The key to the plan will be how to balance checks with smooth operation of the trains.
▽Amazon Blocks Sellers From Using FedEx Ground for Prime Shipments - WSJ
Amazon.com Inc. is blocking its third-party sellers from using FedEx Corp.’s ground delivery network for Prime shipments, citing a decline in performance heading into the final stretch of the holiday shopping season.
The ban on using FedEx’s Ground and Home services starts this week and will last “until the delivery performance of these ship methods improves,” according to an email Amazon sent Sunday to merchants that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
▽Boeing to Suspend 737 MAX Production in January - WSJ
Boeing Co. said it would suspend production of its 737 MAX jetliner, in an escalation of the crisis facing the giant plane maker that will ripple through the global aerospace industry.
The company said Monday that it plans to halt production in January, having assembled around 40 planes a month at its plant near Seattle since the MAX was grounded globally in March following two fatal crashes of the aircraft within five months. The two accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia claimed a combined 346 lives.
▽Demolition: Power station chimney comes down - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
Stunning video shows the towering chimney of a power station on the River Thames being demolished... Littlebrook Power Station was an oil-fired plant built in the 1980s, located in Kent on south bank of the River Thames next to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge and the Dartford Tunnel. The original power station first started generating electricity in 1939.
The crowning of Miss World 2019 has closed out this year’s historic pageant circuit, marking the first time the titles for all five top beauty contests were won by black women.
On Saturday, Jamaica’s Toni-Ann Singh was named Miss World, joining a 2019 cohort of advocates for prison reform, women’s rights and music education who used their platform to address conventional beauty standards: Miss Universe 2019 Zozibini Tunzi, Miss America Nia Franklin, Miss USA Cheslie Kryst and Miss Teen USA 2019 Kaliegh Garris.
