More than half of A&E attendees at the worst-performing hospitals have had to wait more than four hours for care in the last year, official figures show.

NHS data revealed 54 per cent of sick Brits showing up to Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in the year to March 2023 waited at least this long.

Under decade-old guidelines, 95 per cent of casualty patients should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours of being seen.

But overall, only 71 per cent of patients in England were seen within this timeframe, according to latest NHS data for 2022/23, plummeting from 77 per cent in the previous year.

Health leaders warned that difficulties getting GP appointments, strikes by NHS medics and the record 7.68million backlog is piling pressure on emergency units. 

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust recorded the worst four-hour A&E performance in the country last year.

More than half of patients (54 per cent) had to wait too long to been at the Trust’s A&E facilities — 66,159 patients in total.

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust was the second worst in the country with only 48 per cent of patients being seen within the four-hour target, meaning 181,451 had to wait too long.

This was followed by East Cheshire NHS Trust, where 46 per cent patients weren’t seen within guidelines. 

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust each recorded that 45 per cent of patients weren’t seen within four hours.

Wye Valley NHS Trust and The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust in Essex reported that around 44 per cent of patients waiting in excess of four hours. 

Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust rounded off the list of 10 worst NHS trusts for four-hour A&E waits, with around 43 per cent of patients forced to wait this long.   

Responding to the figures, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: ‘A&Es have been under enormous pressure for years, with people naturally gravitating towards ‘where the lights are on’ and where they know they will be seen in a relatively short time frame.

‘But it’s not just A&Es that are under pressure and that is the problem. 

‘With general practice and primary care also facing huge demand, we know that patients may turn towards urgent and emergency care should they struggle to get a GP appointment at a time suitable to them.’

He added: ‘The data for last year shows the scale of the effects ever growing demand is having on A&E and on patients, with over 410,000 people waiting over half a day for admission, up from 98,000 the previous year, and this isn’t even from time of arrival, so a patient could’ve been waiting much longer. 

‘But with too few staff, beds, or capacity and availability in alternative services, health leaders can only do so much.

‘This level of demand is unsustainable, so we need to see a greater focus on prevention and resourcing for community care to help relieve some pressure, keep patients healthy and out of hospital, and enable them to get care closer to home.  

Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) president, Dr Adrian Boyle, said the figures showed how ‘dire’ both last winter, and last year in general had been for patients, some of whom had paid the ultimate price for care delays.  

‘Record attendances met with the significant shortfall of staff and beds meant huge numbers of patients faced severe delays for care that we know are associated with increased harm and even deaths,’ he said. 

‘We know that it is the elderly, the sickest and most vulnerable, and those experiencing a mental health crisis that face the longest waits for a bed.’

He added that the RCEM added that despite ministers pledging to improve A&E waits, data for this year showed no significant improvement.

‘Since the Government published their urgent and emergency care delivery plan in January 2023 we have not seen sufficient progress on reducing long stays for patients who need to be admitted to hospital,’ he said.

Dr Boyle said this winter was likely to be another difficult one for A&E services and urged the Government to take further action.  

‘The emergency care system is under severe pressure. Resuscitating it is a necessity,’ he said. 

Louise Ansari, chief executive of Healthwatch England, the patient watchdog, said: ‘People continue to wait many hours for care, often in crowded waiting rooms, with little or no information on when they will be seen.’

She added: ‘Undoubtedly, urgent and emergency services have been under unprecedented pressure for the last few years amid the pandemic, industrial action, record waiting times for hospital treatment and struggles to access GP care.

‘People will go to A&E if there is nowhere else to go, leading to increased treatment and care because they couldn’t get help sooner.’

Professor Julian Redhead, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Urgent and Emergency Care, said: ‘These latest figures demonstrate the incredible pressure NHS staff are facing, and on top of this record year we know that we have also just experienced the busiest summer ever in A&E, with more than 6.5million attendances between June and August.’

However, he insisted efforts to slash A&E waits are now paying off.

‘Despite this pressure, the measures in our urgent and emergency recovery plan are beginning to deliver real improvements with 73 per cent of patients seen within four hours in August, up from 69 per cent in December,’ Professor Redhead added.

A Department of Health spokesperson insisted that Government efforts to boost A&E performance were working.   

‘No one should be waiting longer than necessary for urgent and emergency care and we are taking immediate action to improve access – with improvements made in both A&E waits and ambulance response times compared to last year,’ they said. 

‘Our Urgent and Emergency Care Recovery Plan aims to deliver one of the fastest and longest sustained improvements in waiting times in the NHS’s history, including creating 5,000 permanent staffed hospital beds – with the NHS on track to deliver this by winter.

‘The NHS has already rolled out over 9,800 virtual ward beds to care for patients in their own homes and ease pressure on hospitals, and is on track to reach 10,000 ahead of winter.’

The new analysis of NHS data comes as latest monthly A&E waiting time figures, released last week, showed 2.1million sick Brits showed up to A&E departments in August.

Of those, only 73 per cent were treated within four hours, compared to around 83 per cent pre-pandemic.

All of the Trusts named as low performers for four-hour waits to be seen in A&E were contacted for comment. 

A spokesperson for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: ‘Like other hospitals around the country, our emergency department at Hull Royal Infirmary is under intense pressure. 

‘We apologise to patients waiting too long to be seen and those facing delays in admission to our wards because of this pressure.’

The spokesperson said while staff are working hard to address pressures the Trust was trying to combat issues with bed-blockers.

‘Each day, we have up to 200 people who have completed their treatment but have to remain in our beds until a suitable place in the community can be found,’ they said. 

‘That causes longer waiting times in our emergency department while we wait for beds to become available.’

They added the Trust had a number of projects underway to boost A&E performance including a new facility to discharge medically fit patients to free up beds and a new urgent treatment centre to reduce pressure on the emergency department. 

A Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said: ‘Like hospital trusts across the country we are seeing an increasing demand for services, with a growing number of patients with an acute need for treatment, which has led to patients waiting longer than we would like within our Emergency Department.’

The spokesperson added the Trust had recently expanded its A&E staffing and physically expand the emergency department itself in an effort to reduce waits. 

‘We have seen improvements in our four-hour performance in recent months and anticipate seeing further improvements going forward,’ they said. 

A Wye Valley NHS Trust spokesperson told MailOnline that their poor A&E performance figures were partly due to a lack of walk in centres for patients. 

However, they added the Trust understood the ‘frustration of patients waiting for treatment’ and is working hard to reduce waits.

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust’s chief operating officer Stephanie Lawton said: ‘We continue to experience an extremely high demand for our emergency department services, and across our hospital. 

‘We recognise this has an impact on the time that patients are waiting to be seen and our dedicated teams continue to work hard to assess, treat and admit patients and ensure that those who are well enough can leave hospital and return home as soon as possible. 

‘We have ongoing work with our local health and social care partners to support patients with the right care, in the right place, at the right time.’

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust chief operating officer Michelle Cady said: ‘We recognise the challenges we face in achieving the four-hour A&E access performance standard mainly for our Peterborough site. 

‘A board approved improvement program is in place and whilst it is still early days, we have seen significant improvements in ambulance handover times, improved journey times through the department and improvement of our time-to-initial-assessment performance.’

‘As a result, the Trust’s overall performance against the 4-hour standard in accident and emergency continue to maintain over 60% this year.’

MailOnline recently revealed that no NHS Trust in England with a major A&E department has hit goal of seeing 95 per cent of patients within four hours between January and July 2023.

Record breaking NHS staff strikes, which have delayed or cancelled almost 1million appointments or procedures, adding to the 7.6billion waiting list for elective treatment, have been partly blamed for the crisis.

Some experts have also pointed to Britain’s GPs as part of the problem, warning A&Es are overwhelmed by people left with nowhere else to turn as they can’t get an appointment with their family doctor.

For their part, GPs themselves report being overwhelmed with some family doctors now responsible for up 2,600 patients each in some areas, up from an average 1,900 in 2016.

Bed-blockers — patients trapped in hospital unable to safely be discharged due to a lack of support in the community — is another factor.

About 11,895 NHS beds were taken up by patients ‘no longer meeting the criteria to reside’ in any given day in August this year, the latest data available. 

NHS staff shortages are also contributing, with the latest data for June suggesting there are just over 125,500 full-time-equivalent vacancies in the health service, meaning roughly one in 10 NHS roles is unfilled. 

The A&E crisis is so bad the NHS effectively abandoned the 95 per cent of patients seen within four hours at the end of 2022.

Instead, trusts have been told to focus on an ‘interim goal’ of getting 76 per cent of patients seen within four hours by March next year.

But for some patients a wait of even four hours to be seen by a medic is a luxury. 

NHS data shows that in some hospitals almost one in five A&E patients had to wait over 12 hours to be seen in August. 

Nationally this figure was almost 9 per cent.  

Experts have warned dogwalkers to be on the lookout for a toxic algae that looks like ‘green mashed potato’ which can be fatal if ingested. 

Blue-green algae spreads in ‘blooms’ over lakes and rivers, transforming the water into a vibrant green colour and giving it an earthy or musty smell. 

But the substance contains toxins that stop a dog’s liver from functioning, potentially resulting in death within just one hour. 

One woman tragically lost her beloved two-year-old pooch after he came into contact with the lethal substance at a lake in Somerset. 

One badly affected freshwater lake – Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland – is being devastated by the algae, which has formed uncontrollable blooms over the summer. 

It comes as environmentalists at Lough Neagh stage a ‘wake’ to mark what they say is the death of the famous lake due to the substance, officially known as cyanobacteria. 

Lough Neagh, the biggest freshwater lake in the UK or Ireland, supplies 40 per cent of Northern Ireland’s drinking water and sustains a major eel fishing industry. 

While ingestion of the cyanobacteria is not known to be fatal to humans, it can cause us severe illness. 

‘The state of the loch at the moment is simply appalling,’ environmental scientist Dr Leslie Gornall told BBC Radio 4 on Thursday. 

‘At the end of the loch there is a green mashed potato-looking crust which is a minimum of six inches deep and possibly 18 inches deep. 

‘If you put the oar of a boat into it the full blade of the oar can scoop up and act like a shovel…it smells disgusting.’

Blue-green algae contains toxins that can kill livestock, wild animals and domestic pets – both cats and dogs. 

‘If you drop your dog in there to chase a ball it will come out, lick it’s coat and then it’ll be dead in 24 hours,’ Dr Gornall said. 

‘It does need immediate action otherwise we’re going to lose not only the loch but the Lough Neagh eel will become extinct…we will lose tourism as well.’ 

Blue-green algae is not unique to Lough Neagh by any means, and the substance has been recently sighted in Lake Windermere in Cumbria, Highams Park Lake in London, Jubilee River in Berkshire and Wimbleball Lake in Somerset. 

An interactive map shows locations of the cyanobacteria in UK waters, as reported by members of the public. 

Blooms make waters look like pea soup or spilled green paint, but they can also look like more solid clumps or foams, especially near the shorelines. 

Some councils have erected signs that warn of the dangers if a lake is poisoned by the blooms, but this is not always the case.

Dogs that run away from their owners while off the lead could enter an affected river or lake before the owner has even realised it. 

A spokesperson at the Blue Cross said there is no antidote for the toxins produced by the blue-green algae.

‘If caught early enough, your vet will likely try to make your dog sick and attempt to flush the toxins from the body before they take hold,’ they said.

‘Sadly, blue-green algae poisoning often eventually causes fatal liver failure.’

In humans, contact with blue-green algae can cause skin rashes, sickness, stomach pains, fever and headaches.

There have been some reports of more serious illnesses including liver and brain damage, according to the Blue Cross, but there are no confirmed human deaths. 

Children are at greater risk than adults of developing problems because of their comparative lower body weight. 

Due to the health risks, anglers are being urged not to eat anything they catch from waters that they suspect might be affected. 

Although the cyanobacteria is not a new species, growth has been fuelled in the past few months by summer heat. 

A combination of warm temperatures, sunlight, and nutrient-rich waters is what causes blue-green algae to reproduce rapidly, or ‘bloom’. 

Nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural fertiliser running off fields is believed to be another major factor  

The spread of the invasive Zebra mussel species is also understood to have played a role, as they have made the water clearer, allowing more sunlight to penetrate, stimulating photosynthesis. 

Britons spend more than two days – an average of 53 hours – per year planning their holidays, according to new research.

The findings suggest millions of would-be holidaymakers from Britain are hesitating to press the ‘book’ button due to the sea of choice on offer.

Gen Z (aged 16 to 26) appear to suffer the most from indecision, dedicating three days (72 hours) per year to crafting trips.

Baby boomers (aged 59 to 77) chart their courses in almost half the time but still spend close to two days a year (37 hours) planning trips.

This procrastination, the study says, is due to ‘Travel FOBO’ – ‘fear of better options’.

A close relative of FOMO, ‘fear of missing out’, FOBO is caused by information and choice overload, partly fuelled by inspiration from social media, and it’s crippling Britons when it comes to booking their getaways, the study by First Choice holidays says.

Instead of feeling excited in anticipation of a holiday, Britons are commonly left feeling mentally exhausted by the process, are often hit by ‘reservation remorse’ – and two in five (41 per cent) said they consider holiday planning to be one of ‘life’s most stressful decisions’.  

The new study, of over 3,000 Britons, found 40 per cent feel overwhelmed by travel choice anxiety when it comes to booking, with 50 per cent of Gen Z and 52 per cent of millennials (aged 27 to 42) feeling the heat.   

More than a third (39 per cent) of travellers get overwhelmed by the chaos of keeping track of multiple tabs open on devices and nearly a quarter (23 per cent) consider over 16 destinations before deciding what to book.

Almost half (42 per cent), meanwhile, get tired from an unending cycle of evaluating and re-evaluating alternative options.

And in total, 42 per cent admitted to being beaten by the ‘procrastination paradox’ – delaying booking until the last minute to find better deals, only to find that prices have increased. 

The wide range of choices and information overload has left nearly two in five (37 per cent) with reservation remorse, feeling they had made a mistake after booking, with indecision and apprehension kicking in after just two hours and seven minutes.

Despite the stress of FOBO, more than half of Brits (51 per cent) love taking control of their own travel arrangements and discovering the world on their own terms, the findings reveal. 

More than half (55 per cent) said that reviews and recommendations play an ‘important role’ when it comes to booking a break.

But more than a third (37 per cent) feel their trust in online reviews has dwindled, preferring to consult holiday company websites and apps (34 per cent).

First Choice has released a new holiday booking platform to combat Travel FOBO and ‘help travel lovers pick the trip they really want’.

The newly renovated platform combines options for different tastes, budgets and values, the holiday company explains – there are even options for trips by train.

Travellers can also choose between familiar and far-flung destinations and different activities, from cooking classes in Crete to stand-up paddleboarding in Majorca, it adds.

Bart Quinton Smith, managing director of First Choice, said: ‘Our research shows that many of us get a thrill from piecing our perfect trip together. But, in a world of endless choices, FOBO can take all the fun out of planning a holiday.’

The company has seen a change in holiday behaviours in recent years, driven by ‘a new mindset’ among travellers, the MD said.

‘For those who love to travel, holidays are up there with the most important choices we make and you don’t want to settle for anything less than the best,’ he added.

China has flown 68 warplanes and deployed 10 navy vessels around Taiwan in a day’s span – just weeks after the US announced its first-ever transfer of military equipment to the island. 

The move is the latest in military demonstrations between China, Taiwan and the US. 

The 68 plane total came a day after Taipei said 35 Chinese warplanes were detected around the self-ruled island, with some then flying to join China’s Shandong aircraft carrier for naval drills in the Western Pacific. 

Communist China claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and relations have soured since Taiwan’s independence. When Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, Beijing ratcheted up military and political pressure on the island. 

The US has been a long backer of Taiwan, including Nancy Pelosi making a visit to the island in 2022. Last month, President Joe Biden‘s administration announced an $80million transfer of military hardware to Taiwan. 

The State Department informed Congress of the $80 million package, which is small compared with recent sales to Taiwan but marks the first assistance to Taipei under the Foreign Military Financing program, which generally involves grants or loans to sovereign countries.

The State Department did not formally announce the aid or give details, but a person familiar with the notice said the assistance would involve support to improve awareness at sea. 

Taiwan’s defense ministry said beginning at around 6 a.m. local time, Chinese warplanes, including J-10 fighters, had flown into the southwestern corner of the island’s air defense identification zone, or ADIZ.

‘This year, the Chinese Communist Party has aggressively expanded its armaments and continued to build various types of fighter jets and drones,’ Taiwanese Major General Huang Wen-Chi said in a statement. 

Some of the Chinese aircraft crossed the Bashi Channel to carry out drills with the Chinese aircraft carrier the Shandong in the Pacific, the ministry added.

Japan’s defense ministry also said Wednesday its navy had detected six ships – including frigates, destroyers, one fast combat support ship and the Shandong – sailing through waters some 400 miles south of Miyakojima island, east of Taiwan. 

Japan sent a destroyer to monitor the Chinese ships and confirmed that jet fighters and helicopters aboard the Shandong conducted landing training, the ministry added. 

China’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Taiwan’s forces monitored the situation, including sending up its own air force planes and activating air defense systems, the ministry added, using the normal phrasing for its response to such Chinese incursions.

A Chinese naval formation led by the Shandong entered the western Pacific for training, Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Monday. 

Separately, more than 20 Chinese warships, including Type 055 destroyers, sailed through the Bashi Channel and Miyako Strait into the Pacific on Wednesday, a senior official familiar with security planning in the region told Reuters. 

The Chinese naval maneuver, along with the training exercises by the carrier group, were an ‘obvious challenge’ to the recent military activities by the United States and its allies in the region, the person said.

‘They want to show that they got the total control of the west of the first island chain,’ the person said, referring to the area which runs from Japan through Taiwan, the Philippines and on to Borneo, enclosing China’s coastal seas.

A US and a Canadian warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, the U.S. Navy said, marking the second such joint mission since June and coinciding with the leaders of both countries attending the G20 summit in India.

The two countries’ navies also conducted a series of exercises in the South China Sea this week, according to the US Navy.

China has been increasing its military operations around Taiwan over the past few years in response to what it calls ‘collusion’ between Taiwan independence forces and the US.

For five decades, the United States has officially recognized only Beijing although Congress, under the Taiwan Relations Act, requires the supply of weapons to the self-governing democracy for its defense. 

The State Department insisted that the first-ever aid under the program did not imply any recognition of Taiwan sovereignty.

‘Consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act and our longstanding One China policy, which has not changed, the United States makes available to Taiwan defense articles and services necessary to enable it to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability,’ a State Department spokesperson said.

‘The United States has an abiding interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, which is critical to regional and global security and prosperity.’

Taiwan’s defense ministry expressed gratitude. ‘The aid will help in regional peace and stability,’ it said in a short statement.

China’s defense ministry, asked about the aid at a regular briefing, warned that US military aid to Taiwan would harm the island.

‘US military aid and sales to Taiwan only nourish the US military-industrial complex while harming the security and well-being of Taiwan compatriots,’ spokesperson Wu Qian told a briefing.

‘In this regard, the People’s Liberation Army will, as always, take all necessary measures to resolutely counter it,’ he added, referring to the Chinese military by its official name.

Kevin McCarthy greeted Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen in his home state of California in April amid rising threats from China warning the two leaders against bilateral talks.

The House Speaker led a bipartisan group of lawmakers to meet with Tsai and her delegation as they wrap up a highly controversial and closely-watched tour through Central and North America.

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited in August of 2022, becoming the first speaker to do so since 1997. 

Hunter Biden steps out in Malibu – 24 hours after Special Counsel said he would indict him on gun charges

By Nikki Schwab, Senior U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com and Wills Robinson For Dailymail.com

Updated: 18:22 EDT, 7 September 2023

A carbon-zero flight from London to New York in just 3.5 hours might sound too good to be true. 

But believe it or not, it could become a reality in just four years.

Boom Supersonic’s Overture, dubbed the ‘Son of Concorde’, is tipped to be the ‘world’s fastest airliner’, reaching speeds of Mach 1.7 (about 1,300mph).

A scaled-down prototype of Overture, called XB-1 Baby Boom, has completed ‘key milestones’ during testing as it progresses towards its first flight, the firm says. 

Should XB-1 Baby Boom pass its tests, Overture will be unveiled in 2026, before the first flight of the aircraft in 2027 and commercial passenger flights in 2029. 

Earlier this year, XB-1 Baby Boom moved from the company’s hangar in Centennial, Colorado to the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, California to continue preparations for flight. 

It’s just completed ‘taxi testing’ – a step in aircraft development that looks at whether the plane can go down the runway at speed (without leaving the ground), the firm explained. 

‘The recent progress made towards XB-1’s first flight reflects the team’s collective efforts to build and safely fly the world’s first independently developed supersonic jet,’ said Blake Scholl, Boom Supersonic founder and CEO. 

At 62 feet long, XB-1 Baby Boom is around one-third of the size of the Overture (201 feet), which will eventually transport up to 80 paying passengers, whether for business or leisure.  

Overture, which is still under development, will be built to operate on 100 per cent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), made from sustainable and renewable sources, rather than fossil fuels.

Crucially, Overture will have a quieter ‘supersonic boom’ than the original Concorde, which was known for its unsettling noise. 

A sonic boom happens when the shock waves from an object travelling through the air faster than the speed of sound merge together before they reach the ground. 

Overture is driven by four powerful wing-mounted engines, meaning lower thrust is needed for each. 

Overall, this reduces noise levels, according to Boom Supersonic. 

However, Overture will cruise at Mach 1.7 (about 1,300mph) – less than Concorde’s max cruising speed of Mach 2.04 (1,550 mph). 

Regardless, industry heavyweights who are interested in reducing their carbon footprint have snapped up Overture planes when they become ready, including United Airlines and American Airlines. 

Along with successful taxi flights, the firm’s one-third model, XB-1 Baby Boom, has received an ‘experimental airworthiness certificate’, given to more unconventional flying machines so the manufacturer can perform flight tests. 

The certification was issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following a ‘detailed aircraft inspection’, Boom Supersonic said. 

Letters of agreement with airspace authorities are also in place allowing for flights of the aircraft over the Mojave desert. 

Boom Supersonic’s XB-1’s historic first flight will occur in the same airspace where the first airplane flew faster than the speed of sound. 

Captain Charles ‘Chuck’ Yeager first broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 – from which the new craft borrows its name – back in October 1947.  

The legendary rocket engine-powered aircraft, designed and built in 1945, achieved a speed of 700 miles (1,127 kilometers) per hour. 

‘It’s fitting that XB-1 is now progressing toward first flight at the Mojave Air & Space Port, home to more than 50 first flights and other significant aviation events,’ said Bill Shoemaker, chief test pilot at Boom Supersonic. 

‘I’m looking forward to flying XB-1 here, building on the achievements of other talented engineers and pilots who inspire us every day to make supersonic travel mainstream.’ 

Boom Supersonic is one of several firms working on developing commercial liners that are being dubbed ‘Son of Concorde’, in a race to be the first successor of the iconic British-French creation, which made its first successful flight in March 1969.

Concorde had its first commercial flights in 1976, but it was grounded in October 2003 in the aftermath of the catastrophic Air France Flight 4590 crash. 

Other reasons for the demise of Concorde were high fuel costs, concern over its noise and a preference for lower fares over speed. 

No government or manufacturer has since been able to build a commercial plane that can travel faster than the speed of sound.

NASA wants to take commercial passengers from New York to London in less time than it takes to watch the average in-flight movie.

America’s space agency announced this week that it has been exploring ‘the business case for supersonic passenger air travel.’

The craft promises blistering speeds between Mach 2 and Mach 4, or from roughly 1,535 to 3,045 miles per hour (mph) — easily over twice as fast as an F/A-18 fighter jet’s top speed of Mach 1.8 or 1,190 mph.

According to NASA, the next phase of its high-speed air travel research is now underway: two 12-month contracts granted to Boeing, Rolls-Royce and others to help conceptualize the new jet and build a ‘technology roadmap.’

Earlier this summer, NASA completed its X-59 quiet supersonic test aircraft, which is designed to muffle its own sonic booms; the program that will serve as an inspiration for the new jet project. 

The X-59 is scheduled to have its first test flight later this year. 

The world’s current fastest passenger jet, the French- and British-made Concorde made its fasted flight between New York and London on February 7, 1996, crossing the Atlantic in just 2 hours 52 minutes and 59 seconds.

For comparison’s sake, the standard large airliner today flies at a cruising speed of about 600 mph, under Mach 1 at roughly 80 percent of the speed of sound.

These jets can take 5 hours or more to make the 3461-mile trek from New York to London.

The Concorde, by contrast, enjoys a maximum cruising speed of 1,354 mph or Mach 2.04. 

But Concorde jets were retired in 2003 following a downturn in the commercial aviation industry and the widely publicized first-ever and only crash of a Concorde in 2000.

NASA hopes to cut even the zippy Concorde’s flight time nearly in half.

In its press statement, NASA said they hoped to see flights from New York City to London accelerate ‘up to four times faster than what’s currently possible.’

From their business analysis, the agency believes that there are potential passenger markets in as many as 50 established routes connecting various cities, focusing on ocean-crossing flights first to minimize regulatory hurdles.

According to the manager of NASA’s Hypersonic Technology Project, Mary Jo Long-Davis, the development phase for the new hypersonic passenger jet will focus on reducing noise during takeoff and landing at first, leaving any issues with mid-flight sonic booms until later.

Both the United States and many other nations prohibit over-land supersonic flights, citing noise pollution from sonic booms and other issues.

High-altitude emissions and other environmental factors, Long-Davis said, are the critical starting concerns for their new project. 

‘We are also collectively conscious of the need to account for safety, efficiency, economic, and societal considerations,’ Long-Davis said. 

‘It’s important to innovate responsibly so we return benefits to travelers and do no harm to the environment.’

NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program (AAVP) will oversee the two new contracts which will produce tech roadmaps detailing hypersonic air travel options, risks and challenges, as well as the innovations necessary to achieve ‘Mach 2-plus travel.’

‘The design concepts and technology roadmaps are really important to have in our hands when the companies are finished,’ Long-Davis at NASA said. 

Aerospace giant Boeing will lead the first team, managing partners including Exosonic, GE Aerospace, Georgia Tech Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory and Rolls-Royce North American Technologies.

Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems will lead the second contracted team, overseeing partners Blue Ridge Research and Consulting, Boom Supersonic and Rolls-Royce North American Technologies, who is participating on both teams.

Both teams will be tasked with designing concepts for the passenger jet’s airframe, its power system, propulsion methods, heat exhaust and heat friction management, and the lightweight-but-tough composite materials employed. 

These technology roadmaps will also create non-proprietary, meaning public domain, designs for hard-flying concept vehicles.

‘We conducted similar concept studies over a decade ago at Mach 1.6-1.8, and those resulting roadmaps helped guide NASA research efforts since, including those leading to the X-59,’ Lori Ozoroski, the project manager for NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology Project, said in a press statement. 

‘These new studies will both refresh those looks at technology roadmaps and identify additional research needs for a broader high-speed range.’ 

The public-private collaboration will be reminiscent of NASA’s QueSST mission, which led to the sonic boom-reducing X-59 test craft, made in partnership with defense contractor Lockheed Martin.

QueSST and the X-59 have an ongoing mandate to supply experimental data to federal regulators that would help change the rules barring overland supersonic flights, by proving that those flights can be quieter and meet other legal standards.

Once these contracts are concluded, according to NASA, the space agency and its partners in both industry and academia will then assess independently whether or not to continue the research with their own funding.

Republicans claimed that the third indictment of former President Trump is a ‘witch hunt’ conveniently timed to come down one day after Devon Archer testified about the Biden family business deals. 

‘When you drain the swamp, the swamp fights back. Trump did nothing wrong!’ Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, cried on Twitter. 

‘Less than 24 hours ago, Congress heard testimony from Hunter Biden‘s longtime business partner that Joe Biden joined Hunter’s business calls over 20 times,’ said GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik. 

‘Today’s sham indictment of Donald Trump is yet another desperate attempt to distract attention away from the mounting evidence of Joe Biden’s direct involvement in his family’s illegal influence peddling scheme.’

Trump is facing four counts including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and obstruct the electoral count for trying to overturn the 2020 election. The 45-page indictment says he was ‘determined to remain in power’ despite ‘having lost.’

The former president has been summoned to appear before a federal magistrate judge on Thursday in Washington, D.C. There are also six unnamed alleged co-conspirators according to the indictment.

A source familiar had confirmed to DailyMail.com that Trump was informed he was indicted Tuesday afternoon in the January 6 case. Special Counsel Jack Smith is expected to make a public statement regarding the indictment at 6 p.m.

He is already facing 40 federal charges in Florida relating to his handling of sensitive government documents after leaving office, and is due to stand trial in New York next year accused of falsifying business documents after making a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

The criminal cases have plunged the country into uncharted legal and political territory, as Trump accuses prosecutors of trying to derail his election campaign.

The latest indictment comes amid a slew of investigations into the events of January 6, 2020, when Trump supporters clashed with police and overran the U.S. Capitol, and the way the then president tried to overturn the result.

The Trump campaign put out a statement calling the indictment another ‘witch hunt.’

Speaker Kevin McCarthy linked the indictment to Archer’s testimony in a Twitter post.

‘Everyone in America could see what was going to come next: DOJ’s attempt to distract from the news and attack the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, President Trump.’

Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., said of the indictment: ‘It’s no surprise at all that following Devon Archer’s damning testimony yesterday, the DOJ drops more charges against President Trump. Their efforts at distraction can never change the real problem: President Biden is in serious trouble.’ 

Other Republicans renewed calls to defund the FBI and Department of Justice.  

‘DEFUND JACK SMITH’S WITCH HUNT AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP!’ said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. 

Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., accused the DOJ of undermining democracy. 

‘Our democracy depends on voters being able to vote for the candidate of their choice in a free & fair election. Biden’s DOJ has decided to attack our democracy by interfering in the 2024 election to help their boss, Joe Biden, and hurt his chief rival, President Trump.’ 

‘Election interference,’ tweeted the House Judiciary Republicans.  

While Minnesota Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips insisted Trump is ‘innocent until proven guilty, Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., insisted it’s ‘about damn time’ Trump was charged. 

‘Donald Trump led a treasonous conspiracy to overturn the results of a free and fair election that he lost. It’s about damn time he joins the over 1,000 domestic terrorists who have been charged for participating in the January 6th insurrection,’ Gomez wrote on Twitter. 

‘Another indictment and another stain on our great nation. No one, even former presidents, is above the law in America and everyone, including former presidents, are innocent until proven guilty,’ said Phillips.  

Special Counsel Jack Smith was appointed last year to lead the federal probe.

In June, he brought charges in the documents case while continuing to present Jan. 6 evidence to a grand jury sitting in Washington D.C.

Trump has always denied wrongdoing.

But he revealed a few weeks ago that he had received a letter from the Justice Department indicating that he was a target of its Jan. 6 investigation.

Such letters are generally an indication that the target will face charges.

‘Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter … stating that I am a target of the January 6th grand jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the grand jury, which almost always means an arrest and an indictment,’ he posted on his Truth Social site.

Once again, the former president managed to blow up the news cycle and his 2024 rivals’ plans by revealing the latest legal twist himself.

He added in all caps: ‘This witch hunt is all about election interference and a complete and total political weaponization of law enforcement.’

Smith, whose most recent role was prosecuting war crimes, has cast a wide net over Trump’s efforts to stay in power. That includes examining lawyers who pushed to reverse results, proposals to seize voting machines, fundraising for the Jan. 6 protest, as well as a plan to use a slate of ‘fake electors’ in states won by Joe Biden to upend the certification process.

Beyonce left out Lizzo‘s name from lyrics of her remixed version of Break My Soul amid claims the singer sexually harassed three dancers. 

The Crazy In Love singer, 41, has been performing Break My Soul (The Queens Remix) on her Renaissance tour, in which she ists off a number of boundary-breaking Black female artists.

Yet during her performing in Boston, Massachusetts on Tuesday night, Lizzo’s name was left out of her performance. 

The show came hours after news that Lizzo, 35, is being sued by three of her former dancers for alleged sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment.

The lyric mentioning Lizzo goes: ‘Betty Davis, Solange Knowles / [Erykah Badu], Lizzo, Kelly Rowl’ (You know you can do it)’ 

But in concert footage shared to Twitter, Beyonce purposely replaces Lizzo’s name with four repetitions of ‘Badu.’

Lizzo — whose real name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson — faces a legal battle after her ex backup dancers alleged she commented on their weight and pressured one to touch a nude performer in a strip club.

The plaintiffs — her former dancers — are named in the lawsuit as Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez. Williams and Davis both appeared on the recent Amazon Prime reality show ‘Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls’ – about the singer’s quest to find backup dancers. 

It accused the famous singer of ‘inviting cast members to take turns touching the nude performers,’ inside an Amsterdam strip club, the suit states.

She allegedly encouraged ‘catching dildos launched from the performers’ vaginas, and eating bananas protruding from the performers’ vaginas.’

The About Damn Time singer is known for her gregarious body positivity, but the lawsuit paints her in a much different light. 

Ron Zambrano, the women’s lawyer, said in the suit, revealed first by NBC News: ‘The stunning nature of how Lizzo and her management team treated their performers seems to go against everything Lizzo stands for publicly.

‘While privately she weight-shames her dancers and demeans them in ways that are not only illegal but absolutely demoralizing.’ 

Lizzo is not the only named defendant in the case, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday.

Her dance captain, Shirlene Quigley, is also facing a slew of accusations.

Quigley, according to the lawsuit, shared ‘lewd sexual fantasies,’ and publicly discussed the virginity of one of the plaintiffs while berating those who had had pre-marital sex. 

The complaints for all damages include: Hostile work environment, sexual harassment, religious harassment, racial harassment, disability discrimination, and failure to prevent or remedy the harassment. 

Lizzo is specifically accused of disability discrimination, creating a hostile work environment, sexual harassment, and failing to stop said issues. 

Her touring company Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc. is also named as a defendant. 

Inside the Amsterdam strip joint, Lizzo allegedly ‘turned her attention to Ms. Davis and began pressuring Ms. Davis to touch the breasts of one of the nude women.’

Davis refused multiple times, while the popstar allegedly chanted louder and louder to encourage her to do the act, the lawsuit claimed. Davis eventually did touch the performer. 

‘Plaintiffs were aghast with how little regard Lizzo showed for the bodily autonomy of her employees and those around her, especially in the presence of many people whom she employed,’ the filing read.

In another instance, the plaintiffs claim Lizzo invited the dancers to a club in Paris – but failed to mention that it was a nude cabaret bar. This ‘shocked’ the dancers, who said Lizzo ‘robbed them of the choice not to participate,’ the suit said. 

Lizzo also allegedly made a claim the dancers were drinking before performances, which Williams then spoke out about. The popstar allegedly made the group go through an ‘excruciating’ 12-hour rehearsal. 

Williams lost her job days after, the lawsuit claimed. 

Davis, meanwhile, soiled her pants during the intense rehearsal because she was so fearful she’d lose her job, the documents state. She was then handed a see-through outfit with no undergarments to finish the performance, the suit said. 

Rodriguez complained to a manager about the decision to publicly fire Williams, after Lizzo had told the group she had ‘eyes and ears everywhere.’

Davis recorded the meeting on April 27, because she claimed she suffers from an eye condition that leaves her disoriented.

But as a result, Lizzo held a meeting and had security confiscate dancers’ phones, the lawsuit claimed. 

‘Lizzo became furious, hurling expletives at the group and stated that she was going to go around the room, person-by-person until someone told Lizzo who made the recording,’ the filing contended. 

When Davis tried to tell Lizzo and Quigley she meant no harm recording the meeting, they berated her and Lizzo fired her on the spot, the suit read. 

Rodriguez then expressed how she felt disrespected and threatened to resign – to which Lizzo said she was ‘lucky.’ 

When Rodriguez did indeed quit, Lizzo showed her two middle fingers and yelled a slur at her, the lawsuit claimed. 

Lizzo has yet to respond to the lawsuit.  

Tarmac delays are almost double what they were ten years ago, with severe weather and staffing shortages among the contributing factors. 

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, there were 22,425 tarmac delays over an hour long in the U.S. from January to April in 2023. 

This compares to 12,739 tarmac delays of the same length during the same time period in 2013.   

For the first quarter of this year, Chicago O’Hare International Airport witnessed the highest number of tarmac delays (1,726), followed by John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York (1,307), and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey (1,285). If you’ve got a flight coming up and worried about disruptions, read on for in the in and outs around tarmac delays, as outlined by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT). 

What is a tarmac delay and when to the DoT’s rules apply?

A tarmac delay is defined by law as the ‘period of time when an aircraft is on the ground with passengers and the passengers have no opportunity to deplane.’

The DoT’s tarmac delay rules only apply to incidents at U.S. airports and to ‘covered carriers.’

A covered carrier means ‘a certificated carrier, a commuter carrier, or a foreign air carrier operating to, from or within the United States, conducting scheduled passenger service or public charter service with at least one aircraft having a designed seating capacity of 30 or more seats.’ 

Passengers who experience tarmac delays at a foreign airport while flying to the U.S. may be protected from extended tarmac delays but the DoT notes that these will comes under the laws of another nation.

How long can an airline keep me on the tarmac for? 

For flights departing from a U.S. airport, airlines are required to safely disembark passengers before three hours of waiting on the tarmac for domestic flights and for international flights, the limit is four hours. 

The same timeframe applies to flights landing at U.S. airports. In some cases, the DoT notes that waiting time might be longer due to ‘safety, security, or air traffic control-related reasons.’

Airlines are required to provide passengers with information around a delay after 30 minutes of waiting on the tarmac. Afterwards, it is up to the airline to give updates when they ‘deem appropriate.’

If an airline offers me the opportunity to disembark during a tarmac delay, is it required to let me back on for eventual takeoff?

An airline might offer passengers the option to disembark during a long delay if it is safe to do so.  

However, the DoT says that ‘passengers should be aware that if they choose to get off the airplane during a tarmac delay, airlines are not required to let them back on.’

This means the flight might take off without them and then it would be the passenger’s responsibility to find another flight at their own cost. 

They might also be left without their luggage, as the airline might not be required to unload checked baggage before take off. 

To retrieve their bags, passengers will need to arrange a delivery or pickup with the airline. 

What rights do I have during a tarmac delay?

The DoT stipulates that airlines must provide passengers with ‘a snack, such as a granola bar, and drinking water no later than two hours after the start of the tarmac delay.’

The airlines are not required to serve full meals during delays, even if they are lengthy. But they must have enough food and drinking water to serve every passenger. 

If there are safety or security concerns, the pilot might request for the food and beverage service to stop. For instance, ‘when an airplane is taxing on an active runway, it may be unsafe for flight attendants to hand out food and water.’ 

Along with a snack and water, passengers are entitled to a number of other things during tarmac delays including working toilets, a comfortable cabin temperature and ‘adequate medical attention, if needed.’