US airlines will have to get special permission to fly over Afghanistan because there are no longer air-traffic controllers overseeing the skies under the new Taliban leadership, aviation regulators said late Wednesday. The FAA issued a legally binding notice to US-licensed operators requiring that they notify the agency before flying over Afghan territory. The FAA action comes as the US military is engaged in a mission to evacuate American citizens, people holding special immigrant visas and others from the airport in Kabul. The order will not prohibit relief and military flights. It’s unclear how many US flights will be covered under the order. United announced Aug. 15 that it was no longer flying over the nation and few U.S. carriers operate in the region. The US military is guiding aircraft within close proximity of the airport in Kabul, but that is the only part of Afghanistan where planes are tracked by controllers. American intelligence officials didn’t foresee such a rapid collapse of the Afghan military, and the U.S. now has a limited ability to aid allies stuck in Kabul, the Pentagon’s top leaders said earlier Wednesday.<br/>
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Armed members of the Taliban kept people desperate to flee Afghanistan from reaching Kabul’s airport on Wednesday, witnesses said, while President Joe Biden vowed to keep US troops in the country until all Americans are evacuated. Since the Taliban entered Kabul over the weekend, scenes of chaos have unfolded as thousands seek to leave, fearing a return to the austere interpretation of Islamic law imposed during the previous Taliban rule that ended 20 years ago. “Everyone wants out,” said a member of an Afghan family after it arrived in Germany. “Every day is worse than the day before. We saved ourselves but we couldn’t rescue our families.” Witnesses said Taliban members prevented people from getting into the airport compound, including those with the necessary documents to travel. “It’s a complete disaster. The Taliban were firing into the air, pushing people, beating them with AK47s,” said one person who was trying to get through. A Taliban official said commanders and soldiers had fired into the air to disperse crowds outside Kabul airport, but told Reuters: “We have no intention to injure anyone. As the airlift of Western citizens and Afghans who worked for foreign governments sought to ramp up, Biden said US forces would remain until the evacuation of Americans was finished, even if that meant staying past the Aug. 31 U.S. deadline for complete withdrawal.<br/>
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey still aims to maintain security at Kabul airport, after Taliban fighters took control of Afghanistan's capital. NATO member Turkey, which has hundreds of troops in Afghanistan, had been discussing with the United States a proposal to keep those forces in the country to guard and run the airport after the withdrawal of other NATO forces. Turkish sources told Reuters this week that those original plans were dropped because of the chaos in Kabul, but that Turkey would still offer the Taliban security and technical assistance at the airport. "With the Taliban maintaining control over the country, a new picture appeared before us," Erdogan said in a television interview. "Now we are making our plans according to these new realities that were formed on the field and we are continuing our talks accordingly." Turkey was continuing contacts with all sides in the process, Erdogan said, and welcomed what he described as moderate statements by the Taliban since they swept into Kabul.<br/>
Spain plans to airlift around 500 people including Spanish embassy staff and Afghans who worked with them and their families from Kabul, radio station Cadena SER said on Wednesday, citing sources close to the evacuation. A first military plane landed at Kabul airport late on Wednesday morning, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It was due to take off shortly with some of the evacuees aboard. Cadena SER said Spanish authorities were planning to fly back embassy workers including Afghan staff who worked as translators or in logistics and security. Afghan contractors would be allowed to take their spouses, children and other close family with them, Cadena SER said. Officials from the foreign and defence ministries declined to confirm the number of people to be evacuated from Kabul. The first plane had taken off on Wednesday morning from Dubai, where it was sent earlier this week to carry out the evacuation. Another aircraft is currently in Dubai and a third, equipped with medical infrastructure, is on its way, the Foreign and Defense ministries said. France, Germany and Britain have already begun evacuating residents and local contractors after Taliban militants seized control of Afghanistan from the government at the weekend.<br/>
Researchers have developed a new Covid-19 test that is designed to provide results in less than 10 minutes, a breakthrough that could transform the current testing process for international travel. A team from the University of Birmingham has found that the test, called RTF-EXPAR, is “just as sensitive” in detecting the virus as PCR tests, and detects low levels of Covid-19 – which lateral flow or antigen tests cannot. Results are produced in rapid time, reported to be under 10 minutes, and the tests could be used at airport terminals. Professor Tim Dafforn, who is working on the project, said: “An ideal test would be one that is both sufficiently sensitive and speedy – our test, called RTF-EXPAR, achieves this goal.” His team from the university’s Surgical Research Laboratory plans to publish full results of its research “in the future” and are reportedly looking for commercial partners to license the test and make it widely available to the public.<br/>
Auckland International Airport has posted an after tax profit of NZ$464.2m for the year to June 30, while also announcing plans to build a retail precinct with 100 stores that is expected to create 500 new jobs. Although its after tax profit was up 139% on the previous year’s $194m profit, the airport made an underlying loss of $41.8m, its first full year underlying loss in history. The underlying loss was in line with guidance the airport gave at the start of the year. The airport says underlying profit is how it measures its financial performance because it removes revaluation changes that can distort financial results or where one-off transactions, both positive and negative, can make it difficult to compare profits between years. The airport also recorded its lowest number of international arrivals and departures since 1972, with just 600,000 passengers, including transits, down 93% on the previous year. Total passenger numbers were 6.4m, down 59% on the previous financial year. The new retail precinct would involve the development of a 23,000 square metre-plus outlet centre on undeveloped land at the north-eastern edge of the airport. “Premium and lifestyle brands” will be sold “at often heavily discounted prices”, the company said. The airport’s general manager of property and commercial Mark Thomson said there was a gap in the market for a purpose-built fashion outlet centre and the airport had been exploring the concept for several years.<br/>