India has temporarily blocked the Telegram messaging app, saying it was used to try to defraud candidates for a national medical entrance test, which had already been hit by allegations of leaked papers last month that led millions of results to be cancelled.
The ban, which is unprecedented in India, was “in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates appearing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test 2026 re-examination scheduled on 21 June 2026,” the Ministry of Education’s National Testing Agency said on Tuesday.
Last month, the Indian government cancelled the NEET undergraduate entrance exam for medical colleges after authorities said they were investigating allegations that its questions had been leaked.
The government said the platform was used by channels it did not name that said they were selling access to the exam paper.
Following the alleged paper leaks and the cancellation of exam results for 2.3 million students, protests erupted in various parts of India. They included demonstrations by India’s viral Cockroach Janta Party demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Indian law allows the blocking of online sites
The restriction on Telegram was issued under a provision of India’s IT law that allows the government to block access to online sites in the “interest of sovereignty and integrity of India”.
An activist group said the ban was an infringement of free speech that would not solve the problem.
“Shutting down Telegram is a band aid solution and is a disproportionate answer to exam fraud,” the Internet Freedom Foundation said.
It said the measure would “punish ordinary users instead of addressing the systemic source of exam leaks”.
In a statement on Tuesday the government said it regretted the inconvenience and that the measure was a “last resort” after earlier action to remove such content from the platform had not worked.
Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Telegram application was functioning in India as of 0830 GMT on Tuesday.
Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether they had received and begun implementing the blocking directive.
Alphabet’s Google and Apple both received an order from the government to de-list the Telegram app from their app stores temporarily and will comply, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Flying out this summer? IATA issues urgent safety reminder every passenger needs to know
The campaign comes in response to an increasing number of incidents where passengers have attempted to retrieve baggage or record videos during aircraft evacuations
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has launched a new global passenger safety campaign, “Save a Life, Not a Bag,” urging travellers to leave cabin baggage behind during aircraft evacuations.
The campaign, supported by aviation safety regulators including the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), aims to reinforce a critical message for passengers: when an evacuation is ordered, every second matters.
Travellers are being urged to follow crew instructions, abandon all personal belongings, and move immediately to the nearest available exit to help ensure a safe and rapid evacuation for everyone onboard.
“Taking bags during an evacuation is not a minor issue. Every second matters. Even taking one bag can affect the safe evacuation of everyone onboard. Crew instructions are clear and simple: leave everything behind and move quickly. ‘Save a Life, Not a Bag’ is a message that passengers need to understand and act upon,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general.
Passenger behavior raises evacuation concerns
The campaign comes in response to an increasing number of incidents where passengers have attempted to retrieve baggage or record videos during aircraft evacuations. Several such incidents have gained attention through videos shared online, highlighting concerns among aviation safety officials about passenger behavior during emergencies.
Safety experts say that delays caused by collecting personal items can have serious consequences in situations where passengers and crew must exit an aircraft within seconds.
“Rapid evacuation in an emergency situation saves lives. Aircraft are certified to stringent evacuation standards and crews are trained extensively for emergency situations, to make sure every single passenger has the best possible chance of survival in an acute situation,” said Florian Guillermet, EASA executive director.
“For this to work in a real emergency, all passengers must play their part too. And it is very simple: follow crew instructions, leave all baggage behind and move quickly to the nearest usable exit. Not only will this save your life, but you will have done your very best to allow everyone to get out of danger,” he added.
Research highlights passenger knowledge gaps
As part of the campaign’s development, IATA commissioned research among recent air travelers across four representative markets: the US, the UK, the UAE, and Singapore. The research was conducted with support from behavioral experts to better understand passenger awareness and decision-making during emergency evacuations.
The findings revealed several important gaps between what passengers believe they know and how they may respond in a real emergency.
The research showed:
While 80 per cent of surveyed passengers said they knew what to do during an emergency evacuation, only 61 per cent correctly identified that they should leave all personal belongings behind and exit the aircraft immediately.
33 per cent said they had seen reports of passengers taking baggage during an evacuation, while 22 per cent of those respondents said they would be likely to do the same.
Many travelers underestimate how quickly an aircraft evacuation must happen. Only 18 per cent understood that evacuation procedures are designed around a 90-second safety benchmark, while 38 per cent believed an evacuation could take three minutes or longer.
One in 10 passengers admitted they might still take baggage during an evacuation or follow others who do, even if instructed not to.
60 per cent said they would be less likely to take baggage if essential small items were already kept on their person.
“These findings show that while most passengers understand the importance of safety procedures, there remains a significant gap in awareness among some travelers,” said Nick Careen, IATA’s SVP Operations, Safety, and Security.
“Even just a passenger or two taking a few extra seconds to gather personal items can endanger lives. That’s why it’s essential to build good habits for all travelers, like paying attention to safety demonstrations each time and keeping essential items, such as passport, money, and medication on person,” he added.
Careen said passengers must also understand the consequences of ignoring crew instructions during an evacuation.
“Save a Life, Not a Bag is meant to be a blunt reminder of what is at stake for everyone in the rare event of an evacuation,” he said.
Carrying baggage creates risks for all passengers
Aviation safety officials warn that retrieving and carrying baggage during an emergency evacuation can create multiple risks inside an aircraft cabin.
Passengers stopping to access overhead bins can slow down movement, block aisles, and delay others trying to reach exits. Bags can also prevent passengers from using their hands to move safely, increasing the possibility of falls or injuries.
In addition, baggage can damage evacuation slides, become trapped on seats or aircraft fixtures, block emergency lighting, and create additional hazards for crew members and emergency responders outside the aircraft.
The danger extends beyond the individual passenger carrying the bag. A single delay caused by retrieving luggage can disrupt the evacuation process, interfere with crew instructions, and slow the movement of hundreds of other passengers.
Campaign encourages better preparation before flights
The “Save a Life, Not a Bag” campaign also focuses on passenger preparation before take-off and landing, the phases of flight when evacuation risks are most relevant.
The campaign video was developed with input from human behavioral specialists to ensure the message is clear, memorable, and effective. It uses surreal imagery and exaggerated situations to highlight the consequences of unsafe actions during emergencies.
Passengers are encouraged to prepare ahead by keeping essential items such as passports, money, and medication secured on their person before departure and arrival.
The campaign’s key passenger messages include:
Pay attention to crew instructions
Leave all baggage behind
Do not film or photograph during an evacuation
Keep moving
Exit quickly
Aviation industry prepares for global rollout
IATA said digital campaign materials will be made available to airlines and other aviation partners to help communicate the safety message directly to passengers through digital channels and social media platforms.
The assets will also be available to media organizations and other aviation stakeholders to support wider passenger education efforts.
With global air travel continuing to grow, aviation leaders say passenger awareness and cooperation remain essential parts of maintaining safety standards.
The campaign’s central message is simple: during an aircraft evacuation, personal belongings must never come before human lives.
300 flights a day, nine destinations added: Inside Etihad’s summer schedule
The latest expansion underscores Etihad’s continued growth strategy as it strengthens Abu Dhabi’s position as a major global aviation hub and gateway for international travellers
Etihad Airways has launched its largest summer programme to date, operating more than 300 daily flights, expanding its network and carrying near-record passenger loads as travel demand to, from and through Abu Dhabi continues to surge.
The Abu Dhabi-based carrier has increased its summer capacity by 10 per cent year-on-year, supported by a fleet expansion that has added 23 aircraft compared with the same period last year. The airline said flights are operating at close to 90 per cent load factors, reflecting strong demand across its network spanning Europe, Asia, North America, Africa and the Middle East, an Etihad news report said.
The latest expansion underscores Etihad’s continued growth strategy as it strengthens Abu Dhabi’s position as a major global aviation hub and gateway for international travellers.
Four new routes added in four days
Between June 11 and 14, Etihad launched four new destinations in as many days, introducing direct services between Abu Dhabi and Kraków, Palma de Mallorca, Damascus and Zanzibar.
The rapid rollout marks one of the airline’s most significant route expansion periods and broadens access to key leisure, cultural and regional markets.
Kraków offers travellers access to one of Central Europe’s leading cultural destinations, while Palma de Mallorca establishes a direct connection between Abu Dhabi and Spain’s Balearic Islands. The return to Damascus strengthens regional connectivity, and Zanzibar adds one of the Indian Ocean’s most popular leisure destinations to Etihad’s growing portfolio.
Antonoaldo Neves, CEO of Etihad Airways, said: “Today, Etihad is flying more guests to more destinations than ever before. We are operating more than 300 flights a day, carrying near-record loads and connecting Abu Dhabi with more destinations than ever before.
“This week alone we have launched four new destinations and welcomed back five seasonal routes, demonstrating both the strength of demand across our network and the pace of our growth.
“As we enter the peak summer travel period, we are delivering our most ambitious summer programme yet. Supported by 23 additional aircraft and strong demand from across the world, we continue to grow with confidence, expanding our network, increasing capacity and bringing more visitors to Abu Dhabi.”
Seasonal destinations return for peak travel period
Alongside the launch of new routes, Etihad is reintroducing five seasonal destinations as part of its summer schedule, providing travellers with greater access to popular holiday hotspots across Europe and North Africa.
The returning routes include Mykonos and Malaga from June 15, Santorini from June 16, Nice from June 19 and Al Alamein from July 16.
Services will operate at the following frequencies:
Mykonos – twice weekly from June 15
Malaga – up to four times weekly from June 15
Santorini – twice weekly from June 16
Nice – twice weekly from June 19
Al Alamein – twice weekly from July 16
Together with the newly launched routes, the destinations form part of Etihad’s largest-ever summer schedule, offering travellers a wider range of leisure and cultural experiences across Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean.
New travel insurance initiative supports tourism growth
To further support inbound tourism, Etihad and the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi have introduced complimentary medical travel insurance for international visitors flying to Abu Dhabi on Etihad-operated services.
Available between July and December 2026, the programme will be administered by The National Insurance Company – Daman and provides eligible travellers with up to 15 days of medical coverage in the UAE.
The initiative also extends to guests using Etihad’s stopover programme, which continues to attract increasing numbers of visitors by encouraging travellers to extend transit stays and explore Abu Dhabi.
Etihad’s latest network additions and capacity increases form part of a broader strategy to expand its global footprint while responding to growing demand across key international markets. The expansion further strengthens links between Abu Dhabi and major destinations across Europe, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean, reinforcing the emirate’s position as an increasingly important centre for tourism, business and global connectivity.
Your password is the vulnerability attackers are looking for
As geopolitical tensions increasingly spill into cyberspace, the most dangerous attacks are often launched not with sophisticated malware, but through stolen credentials
Geopolitical conflict and cyber warfare have become inseparable. When tensions rise between nations, the digital offensive begins quietly, often weeks before any physical escalation, targeting the institutions that hold economies and governments together. Critical infrastructure, financial systems, public services, and the private sector all become battlegrounds.
What is less often acknowledged is that most of these attacks do not begin with sophisticated exploits. They begin with a stolen identity.
Identity as the primary entry point
The threat environment has shifted structurally, not just in scale. State-aligned actors, criminal groups, and hacktivists increasingly share infrastructure, techniques, and even access, operating in a landscape that is high in volume, difficult to anticipate, and faster than most organizations can respond to.
What cuts across all of them is the entry point. Stolen credentials remain attackers’ preferred method, even as billions have been spent on stronger digital infrastructure. Roughly four in five breaches today are identity-driven, and credential abuse has become the single biggest growth vector across attack types, rising more than 70% year-over-year. Far from opportunistic; this is deliberate. The majority of identity-related incidents trace back to phishing and the use of stolen credentials, which often overlap as one feeds the other. Credential harvesting campaigns are established well in advance of any escalation, ready to activate when conditions shift.
Attackers love your password more than you do
A valid username and password is enough for an attacker to open the door from the inside. Traditional intrusion detection does not flag a successful login. Once inside, an attacker can move laterally, elevate privileges, and either collect intelligence quietly over extended periods or position for disruption. In confirmed incidents, access has been maintained for months before escalation.
The method is consistent across every type of attacker. Large-scale phishing campaigns target employees using lures designed to appear as internal communications, leading to credential harvesting pages indistinguishable from legitimate portals.
AI has removed whatever skill barrier previously existed. Campaigns that once required experienced social engineers now take seconds to generate, with voice cloning and language quality that eliminates the signals users have been trained to look for. More than 3.4 billion phishing messages are sent globally every day, and more than 75% of cyber breaches originate from phishing or fraudulent messages. Human-level defense alone cannot keep pace.
Why MFA is necessary but not sufficient
Multi-factor authentication improves resilience, but it does not remove the underlying exposure.
Adversary-in-the-middle frameworks now proxy authentication in real time, presenting a legitimate login page to the victim while relaying credentials and session tokens to the attacker. The victim completes a genuine MFA challenge. The attacker receives an authenticated session. If MFA can be bypassed at the protocol level without triggering detection, then adding layers to a credential-based architecture does not solve the problem.
Rethinking identity architecture
The problem is structural: passwords are vulnerable. They can be captured in transit, harvested through phishing, cracked offline, or purchased from prior breach datasets. Centralizing them in vaults does not solve this — it concentrates the attack surface, turning a single breach into exposure across every account. Organizations that continue to manage risk at the credential level are managing the symptom, not the cause.
The architectural shift that removes this exposure is the elimination of stored credentials entirely. In a passwordless model, credentials are derived cryptographically at the moment of authentication rather than retrieved from storage so there is no shared secret to intercept, and nothing persists between sessions. Phishing-resistant standards such as FIDO2 and passkeys extend this further by binding authentication to a specific device and origin through cryptographic key pairs. A phishing attempt cannot redirect or replay the authentication because the key pair is tied to the legitimate domain. The attack vector is removed at the architectural level, not mitigated at the behavioral level.
The next step for security is to go further: to architect systems where the credential no longer exists as a target.
The attack is already in progress
The campaigns are active, the techniques are documented, and the infrastructure is in place. The window between the start of a credential harvesting operation and an attacker establishing a persistent foothold is measured in hours, not days.
Continued reliance on credential-based architectures is no longer simply a technical legacy issue, but an active risk decision. The organizations that remain resilient will be those that move beyond credential dependence altogether, rethinking identity not as an authentication mechanism to be better protected, but as a core strategic control to be rearchitected. That work cannot wait for the next incident to make the case.
Janne Hirvimies is the chief technology officer for QuantumGate.
Janne Hirvimies, Chief Technology Officer – QuantumGate.
Eight people were killed after a US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber crashed shortly after take-off from Edwards Air Force Base in California during a routine test mission, military officials confirmed.
The aircraft went down at approximately 11:20 a.m. local time on June 15, v into flames near the runway at the Mojave Desert base. Air Force officials said the crash was deemed “unsurvivable,” with all eight people on board believed to have died, Reuters reported.
According to officials, the crew included a mix of military personnel, government civilians and contractors. Boeing confirmed that two of its employees were among those killed. The aircraft was reportedly supporting a radar modernisation programme at the time of the accident.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Edwards Air Force Base temporarily suspended flight operations following the incident, while emergency responders secured the crash site.
The B-52 Stratofortress, a long-range strategic bomber capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear weapons, remains a cornerstone of the US Air Force’s bomber fleet despite first entering service in the 1950s. The aircraft involved in the crash was one of a small number of B-52s used for testing and evaluation missions.
The incident marks the first B-52 crash since 2016 and is likely to draw renewed scrutiny over the operation and modernisation of ageing military aircraft.
New boost for entrepreneurs in UAE: du brings digital-first connectivity to ‘SME in a Box’
Through its du Business portfolio, du will provide customised connectivity solutions to startups, freelancers, entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises
du, the UAE’s leading telecom and digital services provider, has joined ‘SME in a Box’ as its official telecommunications partner, strengthening support for the country’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem through tailored connectivity and digital solutions.
The flagship initiative, led by the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) and Dubai SME, brings together more than 17 partners spanning banking, e-commerce, payments and other key business services. The programme is designed to simplify the process of launching and scaling businesses across Dubai and the wider UAE.
Through its du Business portfolio, du will provide customised connectivity solutions to startups, freelancers, entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that hold a valid trade licence issued by DET or Dubai SME. The offering is aimed at helping businesses establish a strong digital presence while accelerating their growth journeys.
Tailored Connectivity and Digital Services
As the initiative’s telco services partner, du will offer a range of Business Mobile Plans featuring exclusive benefits for ‘SME in a Box’ customers. The company will also provide flexible fixed connectivity solutions designed to help businesses adopt digital tools quickly and cost-effectively.
Participating businesses will receive a premium 5G-enabled router offering high-speed connectivity and unlimited internet usage. The package also includes access to key business services such as Microsoft 365, a .ae domain and enhanced security features, enabling companies to build and manage their digital operations more efficiently.
Commenting on the partnership, Karim Benkirane, Chief Commercial Officer at du, said: “‘SME in a Box’ is a forward-thinking initiative that helps businesses in the UAE scale faster and smarter. As the telco services partner, du ensures seamless connectivity for entrepreneurs and SMEs aiming to establish and grow their presence in Dubai. Our offers are designed to give businesses an immediate digital advantage, with the flexibility to diversify as their needs evolve.”
Supporting Dubai’s D33 Vision
The partnership underscores du’s customer-centric strategy and commitment to supporting SMEs through streamlined onboarding, scalable services and flexible digital solutions.
By providing access to affordable infrastructure, operational tools and a broad partner ecosystem, du aims to help businesses establish a strong digital foundation from day one.
Meanwhile, ‘SME in a Box’ continues to bring together pre-vetted service providers to reduce the complexity, time, cost and friction associated with setting up and operating a business in Dubai. The initiative aligns with Dubai’s D33 economic agenda by lowering barriers to entrepreneurship, reducing the cost of doing business, accelerating scalability and reinforcing the emirate’s position as a global hub for business, investment and innovation.
