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  'Al-Qaeda' Wi-Fi connection delays plane

  The plane, an American Airlines flight bound for London, turned back to the gate in Los Angeles when the hotspot, entitled “Al-Quida Free Terror Nettwork” (sic), was spotted in a list of available connections. The passenger notified a flight attendant while the plane was taxiing.

  Flight 136 had been due to take off this past Sunday at 8pm but was held in LAX for three hours while passengers were told to turn off their electronic devices, ABC 7, an American news network, reports.

  Passengers were initially told that the delay was down to a maintenance issue rather than the discovery of the Wi-Fi network. The plane ended up being rescheduled for Monday at 1pm, with some passengers having to stay overnight in LA before they could board the next available flight.

  "After an hour, (the captain) said there was a security threat and that we didn't have clearance to take off," Elliot Del Pra, a passenger, told ABC 7.

  The flight was taken back to the gate and delayed until 1pm on Monday.

   

  The Los Angeles airport police said on Monday that "no crime was committed and no further action will be taken."

  An American passenger caused his fellow fliers to be detained on board a flight from Philadelphia to the Dominican Republic for an extra two hours earlier this month, after he shouted “I have Ebola!” and had been sneezing and coughing during the flight. He was removed by people in protective suits while a passenger filmed the incident.

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  Woman trampled to death by elephant in Indian park

  A woman has been killed after being trampled by an elephant in India.

  The 27-year-old woman, from Gujurat, India, was trying to take pictures of the elephant in a captive elephant park in Iruttukanam near Munnar in Kerala's Idukki district, when the elephant struck her with its trunk, then proceeded to trample her to death.

  "The couple along with their four-year-old son were taking pictures standing near the elephant," a police official told the Times of India. "Suddenly the elephant swayed its trunk and it hit the woman, who fell down near the elephant's leg. In the melee, accidentally she came under the elephant's feet and was seriously injured.”

  The woman was visiting the park with a tour group of 14 other people.

  The body has been kept in a nearby government hospital and will be flown home tomorrow, police said.

  Jacob Cheeran, an expert on elephants, told the Indo-Asian News Service: "This was purely an accident and not a case where an elephant turns violent. Since the woman fell under the elephant's body by mistake and she was trampled upon."

  No comment has been made by the organisers of the elephant park.

   

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  TripAdvisor launches customized travel recommendations

  TripAdvisor has unveiled its latest search feature that presents users with personalized recommendations based on search history, travel preferences and site usage.

  The company announced its “Just for You” feature today and hopes it will make the entire searching and planning experience more relevant for site users.

  “By virtue of the insights and attributes that we’ve gathered from millions of traveler reviews and opinions, TripAdvisor is uniquely able to match travelers with their ideal hotels,” said Adam Medros, senior vice president, global product, in a press release.

  Searchers can now tag certain travel preferences as they surf through destinations like price, hotel class, amenities and brand. The travel site will log these tags, along with traveler’s previous search history and recommendations of other places, to deliver customized results on future travel inquiries.

  “With the new feature, we can not only match a traveler with their preferred type of hotel, but we can suggest the trendy, boutique hotel located downtown with a swimming pool because we know those are the specific hotel characteristics you like,” Medros continued.

  But how invasive is the new function?

  According to the Boston Globe, TripAdvisor claims that it only monitors activity on its website and does not track general browsing history. Members may grant the site access to their Facebook accounts for more personalized results.

   

  Source: foxnews.com