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Another secession move: Corsican nationalists win regional election

France's island region of Corsica is seeing new stirrings of nationalism, as pro-independence parties won power in the regional elections earlier this month. The new leaders have promised to move toward independence, but cautiously. The caution is based on a few points, among them polls that make clear that most Corsicans want a vote on independence, but that many are not sure it's a realistic goal economically. Unlike Spain's Catalonia or the U.K.'s Scotland, Corsica does not have a strong...

Flooding in Britain after heavy winter rains

Heavy rainfalls have led to flooding in many towns in England over the Christmas holidays, especially in the South East and mid Wales. As of this morning, the number of flood warnings and floods was still increasing. The rains have been extremely heavy for days; Brighton has had more than three times the average monthly rainfall in only 11 days. While the rains in the south are expected to drop off today, they are on the increase in the north and into Scotland. In many areas, army units have...

TAP Portugal's plane sings Jingle Bells

Touching or humorous airline videos have become something of a Christmas tradition, and TAP Portugal has joined the crowd with this cute rendition of Jingle Bells, composed entirely of aircraft sounds...the beeps, boops, clicks and more of seatbelts, lavatory doors, PA signals and more, accompanied by on-plane video. Like other airlines' videos, this is not a one-off; here's a link to their flash-mob dance party from June 7, 2011, celebrating the first flight of its Miami-Lisbon route.

Mitsubishi takes a 1-year delay for its new regional jet

Mitsubishi's plans to get Japan's first postwar jetliner out to the flight line in 2017 have been put on hold to reevaluate and redesign some of its structural parts. The new delivery date is set for 2018. Japan has largely been out of the aircraft manufacturing business since the end of World War II, although some turbo-prop models have been marketed. Mitsubishi's experience as an aircraft manufacturer is long: it made many of Japan's World War II planes. The new MRJ, with 78 and 92...

Solar plane to resume its round-the-world trip

Solar Impulse 2, a sun-powered plane that has completed half of its intended round-the-world trip without a drop of fuel, is almost ready to tackle the second half of the trip. The Swiss-built plane which uses solar energy to fill its batteries and power the engine, has been grounded in Hawaii by battery damage suffered during a 5-day flight from Japan to Hawaii. Yes, it doesn't fly very fast! Project staff say that they've raised enough money for the repairs, and can be in the air again by...

Sweden's new border checks set to snarl rail traffic

Sweden's plan for mandatory ID checks at borders, designed to reduce the flow of refugees seeking asylum, is about to have an unintended consequence: reducing service and snarling travel across the Oresund bridge between Sweden and Denmark. As a response to the controls, to take effect on January 4, SJ, Sweden's national rail operator, is cancelling all cross-border service to Denmark in order not to take on responsibility for the ID checks, and Skanetrafiken, which operates the commuter...

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