Archived version: https://archive.ph/aadYc

A man living in the village of Kållby in the Ostrobothnian municipality of Pedersöre in the west of Finland, found 12 kilograms of dynamite in two cars he owned on Thursday last week.

The dynamite had been stored in the cars by an acquaintance of the man, also from Pedersöre.

Tony Rauma, Detective Chief Inspector with the Ostrobothnia Police, confirmed that the two individuals knew each other prior to the incident.

"The suspect had called the owner of the cars to say that he had taken dynamite to the cars for storage. According to his own words, he had done it as a joke," Rauma told Yle.

The owner of the cars did not take it as a joke and called the police.

"In addition to the dynamite, detonators were also confiscated from the cars," said Rauma.

Police had to evacuate nearby buildings because of the large quantity of explosives. A police bomb squad from Seinäjoki removed the dynamite from the cars.

Terrorist act ruled out

The suspect was arrested later that day. He was later released, but is suspected of an explosives offence.

The suspect has admitted the crime to the police, but said he did not intend to blow up the cars. Police have also ruled out any possible terrorist intent.

It is not yet known for sure where the explosives came from, as there is no criminal record in the police register that would match the quantity of dynamite used in the prank.

"However, the suspect has access to a deserted house where the dynamite may have come from," said Rauma.

The explosives offence carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

The case was first reported in local newspaper Österbottens Tidning.

On the flip side, this also means users have the option to have a cleaner, less cluttered interface.

Full text:

[AUGUST 8, 2023] A new viewer experience that better corresponds to your YouTube watch history preferences

One of the benefits of having YouTube watch history on is that it enables YouTube to provide video recommendations you may be interested in; however, we know some prefer to clear and turn off your YouTube watch history. Starting today, we’re changing how you see recommendations on YouTube, based on your Watch History settings:

Starting today, if you have YouTube watch history off and have no significant prior watch history, features that require watch history to provide video recommendations will be disabled – like your YouTube home feed. This means that starting today, your home feed may look a lot different: you’ll be able to see the search bar and the left-hand guide menu, with no feed of recommended videos thus allowing you to more easily search, browse subscribed channels and explore Topic tabs instead.

We’re rolling these changes out slowly, over the next few months. We are launching this new experience to make it more clear which YouTube features rely on watch history to provide video recommendations and make it more streamlined for those of you who prefer to search rather than browse recommendations. You can change your YouTube watch history settings at any time based on whether you prefer us to provide video recommendations or not.

On the flip side, this also means users have the option to have a cleaner, less cluttered interface.

Full text:

[AUGUST 8, 2023] A new viewer experience that better corresponds to your YouTube watch history preferences

One of the benefits of having YouTube watch history on is that it enables YouTube to provide video recommendations you may be interested in; however, we know some prefer to clear and turn off your YouTube watch history. Starting today, we’re changing how you see recommendations on YouTube, based on your Watch History settings:

Starting today, if you have YouTube watch history off and have no significant prior watch history, features that require watch history to provide video recommendations will be disabled – like your YouTube home feed. This means that starting today, your home feed may look a lot different: you’ll be able to see the search bar and the left-hand guide menu, with no feed of recommended videos thus allowing you to more easily search, browse subscribed channels and explore Topic tabs instead.

We’re rolling these changes out slowly, over the next few months. We are launching this new experience to make it more clear which YouTube features rely on watch history to provide video recommendations and make it more streamlined for those of you who prefer to search rather than browse recommendations. You can change your YouTube watch history settings at any time based on whether you prefer us to provide video recommendations or not.

On the flip side, this also means users have the option to have a cleaner, less cluttered interface.

Full text:

[AUGUST 8, 2023] A new viewer experience that better corresponds to your YouTube watch history preferences

One of the benefits of having YouTube watch history on is that it enables YouTube to provide video recommendations you may be interested in; however, we know some prefer to clear and turn off your YouTube watch history. Starting today, we’re changing how you see recommendations on YouTube, based on your Watch History settings:

Starting today, if you have YouTube watch history off and have no significant prior watch history, features that require watch history to provide video recommendations will be disabled – like your YouTube home feed. This means that starting today, your home feed may look a lot different: you’ll be able to see the search bar and the left-hand guide menu, with no feed of recommended videos thus allowing you to more easily search, browse subscribed channels and explore Topic tabs instead.

We’re rolling these changes out slowly, over the next few months. We are launching this new experience to make it more clear which YouTube features rely on watch history to provide video recommendations and make it more streamlined for those of you who prefer to search rather than browse recommendations. You can change your YouTube watch history settings at any time based on whether you prefer us to provide video recommendations or not.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/fj7IK

Qatar Airways has been flying near-empty, and sometimes entirely empty large passenger jets every day between Melbourne and Adelaide to exploit a loophole allowing it to run extra flights to Australia.

Qatar’s ghost flights – an open secret within the aviation sector – are “taking the piss” out of Australia’s strict aviation laws, industry sources say, and are occurring despite the Albanese government rejecting the airline’s formal request to increase flights out of concern the extra capacity would go against Australia’s “national interest”.

The Qatari-government owned airline is currently limited to running 28 weekly services into Australia’s four major airports – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth – allowing it to run once daily return flights from Doha into each of these cities.

However under the existing bilateral agreement, there is no limit placed on how many services Qatar is able to run to non-major airports.

In November 2022, Qatar Airways introduced a second daily, non-stop flight between Doha and Melbourne, but with Adelaide registered as its destination and departure port in Australia.

By flying the 354-seater Boeing 777-300ers between Melbourne and Adelaide, it means the airline does not exceed the 28 weekly services into major airports it is allowed to operate under the existing bilateral agreement.

However, the airline is not permitted to sell tickets on the leg between Melbourne and Adelaide to domestic passengers under Australia’s aviation laws. It can only carry the few international passengers booked through to Doha who have chosen the two-legged route instead of the separate daily non-stop flight between Adelaide and Doha that Qatar Airways also operates.

Qatar’s QR988 arrives from Doha into Melbourne at 11.30pm each night, where almost all passengers disembark. However, any passengers booked to stay on the plane for the Adelaide leg must endure a six-hour layover in Tullamarine airport’s international terminal before the flight departs at 5.35am, because of Adelaide airport’s 11pm to 6am curfew.

The QR989, which flies the outbound direction to Doha, departs Adelaide at 11.40am each day, lands in Melbourne 1hr 30min later, and travellers have a shorter 1hr 45min layover in the international terminal before the majority of passengers board for the non-stop flight to Doha.

Passenger numbers on the 354-seat aircraft average in the single digits on the inbound QR988 leg from Melbourne to Adelaide with the overnight layover, according to Guardian analysis of government flight data and confirmed by sources with knowledge of the flights. This flight sometimes carries no passengers at all.

The outbound QR989 Adelaide to Melbourne service has proved slightly more popular with travellers to Adelaide – there are between 20 and 35 passengers on this flight on average, according to the analysis.

Patronage is so low on both Melbourne-Adelaide legs of these trips they are considered ghost flights – the term for a usually loss-making service operated with zero passengers or fewer than 10% capacity in order to meet an obligation.

The separate, non-stop flight between Doha and Adelaide that Qatar Airways flies as part of its Auckland-Doha service is a significantly more popular option with Adelaide travellers, the government data shows.

Qatar Airways previously ran a second daily service between Doha and Sydney by extending the final port to Canberra, exploiting the same legal option.

While flights with a secondary port can encourage global airlines to better serve smaller cities in Australia, the scheduling of QR988 and QR989 have led to a view within the aviation sector that they are primarily functioning as second daily Melbourne services, multiple sources said.

Such was the case that when Qatar Airways launched the flights in November, it was not selling tickets on the Melbourne-Adelaide legs to international passengers for the initial weeks of the service. The overnight layover was originally more than 11 hours.

Frustrated by Qatar exploiting the loophole, the department of infrastructure and transport placed a condition on the timetable approval “for these flights on this route that they must be available for sale for passengers and cargo arriving and departing from Adelaide”, a spokesperson for transport minister Catherine King said.

The department now continuously monitors Qatar Airways sales to ensure “this condition is being met by the airline”, the spokesperson said.

An industry source said: “The whole purpose is to get to Melbourne … I mean they weren’t even selling tickets (to Adelaide) for the first few weeks.”

“They were taking the piss out of the industry and the laws,” the source said.

The extra flights will be allowed to continue even after the Albanese government rejected Qatar Airways’ push to fly an additional 21 services into major airports – something supported by most in the aviation and tourism industries as well as state premiers – after “taking into account all national interest considerations”.

The Guardian understands foreign policy factors influenced the decision. Others including Australian women suing Qatar Airways for damages over forced invasive bodily examinations, and Qantas, were opposed to the greater air rights for the airline.

The rejection has fuelled claims that refusing Qatar additional air rights benefits Qantas, as it and other global airlines remain constrained from increasing international flight capacity to Australia, at a time of stubbornly high air fares and record operator profits.

Qatar Airways declined to comment.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/fj7IK

Qatar Airways has been flying near-empty, and sometimes entirely empty large passenger jets every day between Melbourne and Adelaide to exploit a loophole allowing it to run extra flights to Australia.

Qatar’s ghost flights – an open secret within the aviation sector – are “taking the piss” out of Australia’s strict aviation laws, industry sources say, and are occurring despite the Albanese government rejecting the airline’s formal request to increase flights out of concern the extra capacity would go against Australia’s “national interest”.

The Qatari-government owned airline is currently limited to running 28 weekly services into Australia’s four major airports – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth – allowing it to run once daily return flights from Doha into each of these cities.

However under the existing bilateral agreement, there is no limit placed on how many services Qatar is able to run to non-major airports.

In November 2022, Qatar Airways introduced a second daily, non-stop flight between Doha and Melbourne, but with Adelaide registered as its destination and departure port in Australia.

By flying the 354-seater Boeing 777-300ers between Melbourne and Adelaide, it means the airline does not exceed the 28 weekly services into major airports it is allowed to operate under the existing bilateral agreement.

However, the airline is not permitted to sell tickets on the leg between Melbourne and Adelaide to domestic passengers under Australia’s aviation laws. It can only carry the few international passengers booked through to Doha who have chosen the two-legged route instead of the separate daily non-stop flight between Adelaide and Doha that Qatar Airways also operates.

Qatar’s QR988 arrives from Doha into Melbourne at 11.30pm each night, where almost all passengers disembark. However, any passengers booked to stay on the plane for the Adelaide leg must endure a six-hour layover in Tullamarine airport’s international terminal before the flight departs at 5.35am, because of Adelaide airport’s 11pm to 6am curfew.

The QR989, which flies the outbound direction to Doha, departs Adelaide at 11.40am each day, lands in Melbourne 1hr 30min later, and travellers have a shorter 1hr 45min layover in the international terminal before the majority of passengers board for the non-stop flight to Doha.

Passenger numbers on the 354-seat aircraft average in the single digits on the inbound QR988 leg from Melbourne to Adelaide with the overnight layover, according to Guardian analysis of government flight data and confirmed by sources with knowledge of the flights. This flight sometimes carries no passengers at all.

The outbound QR989 Adelaide to Melbourne service has proved slightly more popular with travellers to Adelaide – there are between 20 and 35 passengers on this flight on average, according to the analysis.

Patronage is so low on both Melbourne-Adelaide legs of these trips they are considered ghost flights – the term for a usually loss-making service operated with zero passengers or fewer than 10% capacity in order to meet an obligation.

The separate, non-stop flight between Doha and Adelaide that Qatar Airways flies as part of its Auckland-Doha service is a significantly more popular option with Adelaide travellers, the government data shows.

Qatar Airways previously ran a second daily service between Doha and Sydney by extending the final port to Canberra, exploiting the same legal option.

While flights with a secondary port can encourage global airlines to better serve smaller cities in Australia, the scheduling of QR988 and QR989 have led to a view within the aviation sector that they are primarily functioning as second daily Melbourne services, multiple sources said.

Such was the case that when Qatar Airways launched the flights in November, it was not selling tickets on the Melbourne-Adelaide legs to international passengers for the initial weeks of the service. The overnight layover was originally more than 11 hours.

Frustrated by Qatar exploiting the loophole, the department of infrastructure and transport placed a condition on the timetable approval “for these flights on this route that they must be available for sale for passengers and cargo arriving and departing from Adelaide”, a spokesperson for transport minister Catherine King said.

The department now continuously monitors Qatar Airways sales to ensure “this condition is being met by the airline”, the spokesperson said.

An industry source said: “The whole purpose is to get to Melbourne … I mean they weren’t even selling tickets (to Adelaide) for the first few weeks.”

“They were taking the piss out of the industry and the laws,” the source said.

The extra flights will be allowed to continue even after the Albanese government rejected Qatar Airways’ push to fly an additional 21 services into major airports – something supported by most in the aviation and tourism industries as well as state premiers – after “taking into account all national interest considerations”.

The Guardian understands foreign policy factors influenced the decision. Others including Australian women suing Qatar Airways for damages over forced invasive bodily examinations, and Qantas, were opposed to the greater air rights for the airline.

The rejection has fuelled claims that refusing Qatar additional air rights benefits Qantas, as it and other global airlines remain constrained from increasing international flight capacity to Australia, at a time of stubbornly high air fares and record operator profits.

Qatar Airways declined to comment.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/fj7IK

Qatar Airways has been flying near-empty, and sometimes entirely empty large passenger jets every day between Melbourne and Adelaide to exploit a loophole allowing it to run extra flights to Australia.

Qatar’s ghost flights – an open secret within the aviation sector – are “taking the piss” out of Australia’s strict aviation laws, industry sources say, and are occurring despite the Albanese government rejecting the airline’s formal request to increase flights out of concern the extra capacity would go against Australia’s “national interest”.

The Qatari-government owned airline is currently limited to running 28 weekly services into Australia’s four major airports – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth – allowing it to run once daily return flights from Doha into each of these cities.

However under the existing bilateral agreement, there is no limit placed on how many services Qatar is able to run to non-major airports.

In November 2022, Qatar Airways introduced a second daily, non-stop flight between Doha and Melbourne, but with Adelaide registered as its destination and departure port in Australia.

By flying the 354-seater Boeing 777-300ers between Melbourne and Adelaide, it means the airline does not exceed the 28 weekly services into major airports it is allowed to operate under the existing bilateral agreement.

However, the airline is not permitted to sell tickets on the leg between Melbourne and Adelaide to domestic passengers under Australia’s aviation laws. It can only carry the few international passengers booked through to Doha who have chosen the two-legged route instead of the separate daily non-stop flight between Adelaide and Doha that Qatar Airways also operates.

Qatar’s QR988 arrives from Doha into Melbourne at 11.30pm each night, where almost all passengers disembark. However, any passengers booked to stay on the plane for the Adelaide leg must endure a six-hour layover in Tullamarine airport’s international terminal before the flight departs at 5.35am, because of Adelaide airport’s 11pm to 6am curfew.

The QR989, which flies the outbound direction to Doha, departs Adelaide at 11.40am each day, lands in Melbourne 1hr 30min later, and travellers have a shorter 1hr 45min layover in the international terminal before the majority of passengers board for the non-stop flight to Doha.

Passenger numbers on the 354-seat aircraft average in the single digits on the inbound QR988 leg from Melbourne to Adelaide with the overnight layover, according to Guardian analysis of government flight data and confirmed by sources with knowledge of the flights. This flight sometimes carries no passengers at all.

The outbound QR989 Adelaide to Melbourne service has proved slightly more popular with travellers to Adelaide – there are between 20 and 35 passengers on this flight on average, according to the analysis.

Patronage is so low on both Melbourne-Adelaide legs of these trips they are considered ghost flights – the term for a usually loss-making service operated with zero passengers or fewer than 10% capacity in order to meet an obligation.

The separate, non-stop flight between Doha and Adelaide that Qatar Airways flies as part of its Auckland-Doha service is a significantly more popular option with Adelaide travellers, the government data shows.

Qatar Airways previously ran a second daily service between Doha and Sydney by extending the final port to Canberra, exploiting the same legal option.

While flights with a secondary port can encourage global airlines to better serve smaller cities in Australia, the scheduling of QR988 and QR989 have led to a view within the aviation sector that they are primarily functioning as second daily Melbourne services, multiple sources said.

Such was the case that when Qatar Airways launched the flights in November, it was not selling tickets on the Melbourne-Adelaide legs to international passengers for the initial weeks of the service. The overnight layover was originally more than 11 hours.

Frustrated by Qatar exploiting the loophole, the department of infrastructure and transport placed a condition on the timetable approval “for these flights on this route that they must be available for sale for passengers and cargo arriving and departing from Adelaide”, a spokesperson for transport minister Catherine King said.

The department now continuously monitors Qatar Airways sales to ensure “this condition is being met by the airline”, the spokesperson said.

An industry source said: “The whole purpose is to get to Melbourne … I mean they weren’t even selling tickets (to Adelaide) for the first few weeks.”

“They were taking the piss out of the industry and the laws,” the source said.

The extra flights will be allowed to continue even after the Albanese government rejected Qatar Airways’ push to fly an additional 21 services into major airports – something supported by most in the aviation and tourism industries as well as state premiers – after “taking into account all national interest considerations”.

The Guardian understands foreign policy factors influenced the decision. Others including Australian women suing Qatar Airways for damages over forced invasive bodily examinations, and Qantas, were opposed to the greater air rights for the airline.

The rejection has fuelled claims that refusing Qatar additional air rights benefits Qantas, as it and other global airlines remain constrained from increasing international flight capacity to Australia, at a time of stubbornly high air fares and record operator profits.

Qatar Airways declined to comment.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/fj7IK

Qatar Airways has been flying near-empty, and sometimes entirely empty large passenger jets every day between Melbourne and Adelaide to exploit a loophole allowing it to run extra flights to Australia.

Qatar’s ghost flights – an open secret within the aviation sector – are “taking the piss” out of Australia’s strict aviation laws, industry sources say, and are occurring despite the Albanese government rejecting the airline’s formal request to increase flights out of concern the extra capacity would go against Australia’s “national interest”.

The Qatari-government owned airline is currently limited to running 28 weekly services into Australia’s four major airports – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth – allowing it to run once daily return flights from Doha into each of these cities.

However under the existing bilateral agreement, there is no limit placed on how many services Qatar is able to run to non-major airports.

In November 2022, Qatar Airways introduced a second daily, non-stop flight between Doha and Melbourne, but with Adelaide registered as its destination and departure port in Australia.

By flying the 354-seater Boeing 777-300ers between Melbourne and Adelaide, it means the airline does not exceed the 28 weekly services into major airports it is allowed to operate under the existing bilateral agreement.

However, the airline is not permitted to sell tickets on the leg between Melbourne and Adelaide to domestic passengers under Australia’s aviation laws. It can only carry the few international passengers booked through to Doha who have chosen the two-legged route instead of the separate daily non-stop flight between Adelaide and Doha that Qatar Airways also operates.

Qatar’s QR988 arrives from Doha into Melbourne at 11.30pm each night, where almost all passengers disembark. However, any passengers booked to stay on the plane for the Adelaide leg must endure a six-hour layover in Tullamarine airport’s international terminal before the flight departs at 5.35am, because of Adelaide airport’s 11pm to 6am curfew.

The QR989, which flies the outbound direction to Doha, departs Adelaide at 11.40am each day, lands in Melbourne 1hr 30min later, and travellers have a shorter 1hr 45min layover in the international terminal before the majority of passengers board for the non-stop flight to Doha.

Passenger numbers on the 354-seat aircraft average in the single digits on the inbound QR988 leg from Melbourne to Adelaide with the overnight layover, according to Guardian analysis of government flight data and confirmed by sources with knowledge of the flights. This flight sometimes carries no passengers at all.

The outbound QR989 Adelaide to Melbourne service has proved slightly more popular with travellers to Adelaide – there are between 20 and 35 passengers on this flight on average, according to the analysis.

Patronage is so low on both Melbourne-Adelaide legs of these trips they are considered ghost flights – the term for a usually loss-making service operated with zero passengers or fewer than 10% capacity in order to meet an obligation.

The separate, non-stop flight between Doha and Adelaide that Qatar Airways flies as part of its Auckland-Doha service is a significantly more popular option with Adelaide travellers, the government data shows.

Qatar Airways previously ran a second daily service between Doha and Sydney by extending the final port to Canberra, exploiting the same legal option.

While flights with a secondary port can encourage global airlines to better serve smaller cities in Australia, the scheduling of QR988 and QR989 have led to a view within the aviation sector that they are primarily functioning as second daily Melbourne services, multiple sources said.

Such was the case that when Qatar Airways launched the flights in November, it was not selling tickets on the Melbourne-Adelaide legs to international passengers for the initial weeks of the service. The overnight layover was originally more than 11 hours.

Frustrated by Qatar exploiting the loophole, the department of infrastructure and transport placed a condition on the timetable approval “for these flights on this route that they must be available for sale for passengers and cargo arriving and departing from Adelaide”, a spokesperson for transport minister Catherine King said.

The department now continuously monitors Qatar Airways sales to ensure “this condition is being met by the airline”, the spokesperson said.

An industry source said: “The whole purpose is to get to Melbourne … I mean they weren’t even selling tickets (to Adelaide) for the first few weeks.”

“They were taking the piss out of the industry and the laws,” the source said.

The extra flights will be allowed to continue even after the Albanese government rejected Qatar Airways’ push to fly an additional 21 services into major airports – something supported by most in the aviation and tourism industries as well as state premiers – after “taking into account all national interest considerations”.

The Guardian understands foreign policy factors influenced the decision. Others including Australian women suing Qatar Airways for damages over forced invasive bodily examinations, and Qantas, were opposed to the greater air rights for the airline.

The rejection has fuelled claims that refusing Qatar additional air rights benefits Qantas, as it and other global airlines remain constrained from increasing international flight capacity to Australia, at a time of stubbornly high air fares and record operator profits.

Qatar Airways declined to comment.

Two weeks after workers at the company announced a union drive, Grindr management has issued a return-to-office policy that workers say is retaliatory.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/4K1Ob

Earlier in the year they removed the trial offer. Now it's returned, but worse than before.

Earlier in the year they removed the trial offer. Now it's returned, but worse than before.

While the mayor doesn't have any authority in the matter (considering he's in charge in a different county) he's at least got some attention and likely isn't the only person feeling this way.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/00MAo

Andy Street has called for the Crooked House pub to be “rebuilt brick by brick” after it was demolished following a huge fire over the weekend.

The building, known as the Britain’s “wonkiest pub” and dating back to 1765, was gutted by a fire on Saturday night just two weeks after it was sold to a private buyer.

On Monday the remains of the building in Himley, near Dudley in the Black Country, were demolished, hours after Staffordshire police said they were gathering evidence as part of an investigation into the cause of the fire.

It is not yet clear who demolished the pub.

Street, the mayor of the West Midlands, said he had written to the leader of South Staffordshire council, Roger Lees, asking him to ensure the building was rebuilt, and any application to change its use was blocked.

“This pub may be just over the border in your county of Staffordshire, but it clearly holds real cultural and historical significance to the West Midlands. We therefore found it deeply upsetting to see the iconic location gutted in this way,” the letter read.

“We therefore ask you to consider ensuring the property is rebuilt brick by brick (using as much original material as possible) before any further discussion about the future of the site take place.”

He added: “We would strongly ask you to consider not allowing any alternative use and instead keeping this iconic location as a pub. It is in all our interests that we do not allow the Crooked House pub to be consigned to history.”

On Monday, Staffordshire police said they were “reviewing all of the available evidence alongside fire investigators to determine the cause of the incident”.

Firefighters said they struggled to access the building when it was ablaze on Saturday as large mounds of dirt were blocking the road leading up to it.

The station commander, Liam Hilton, from Staffordshire fire service said they were “a good 800 metres to approximately 1,000 metres distance” from the building meaning they had to get water from a “high volume pump”.

In another letter to the chief constable of Staffordshire police and the chief fire officer, Street said “there are major questions to be answered given how swiftly this fire happened following the sale of the pub to an unknown private developer”.

“We are also intrigued by the fact your officers faced blocked access when trying to get to the scene,” he said.

Staffordshire police and Staffordshire fire and rescue service have been approached for comment.