 |
|
|
|||||
U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan for a “Golden Dome” to protect the United States from long-range missiles was at least partly inspired by Israel’s multitiered missile defenses.Trump announced the $175 billion concept in the Oval Office on Tuesday, saying it would put U.S. weapons in space for the first time and be would be “fully operational” by the end of his term in early 2029, though a U.S. official familiar with the program said it could take longer.Israel’s multilayered defenses, often collectively referred to as the “Iron Dome,” have played a key role in defending it from rocket and missile fire from Iran and allied militant groups in the conflict unleashed by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.The sophisticated system, developed over decades with considerable U.S. support, is capable of detecting incoming fire and deploying only if the projectile is headed toward a population center or sensitive military or civilian infrastructure. Israeli leaders say the system isn’t 100% guaranteed, but credit it with preventing serious damage and countless casualties.Here’s a closer look at Israel’s multilayered air-defense system: The Arrow This system developed with the U.S. is designed to intercept long-range missiles. The Arrow, which operates outside the atmosphere, has been used to intercept long-range missiles launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and by Iran itself during two direct exchanges of fire last year. David’s Sling Also developed with the U.S., David’s Sling is meant to intercept medium-range missiles, such as those possessed by Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group. It was deployed on multiple occasions throughout the war with Hezbollah, which ended with a ceasefire last year. Iron Dome This system, developed by Israel with U.S. backing, specializes in shooting down short-range rockets. It has intercepted thousands of rockets since it was activated early last decadeincluding volleys launched by Hamas and Hezbollah. Israel says it has a success rate of over 90%. Iron Beam Israel is developing a new system to intercept incoming threats with laser technology. Israel has said this system will be a game changer because it would be much cheaper to operate than existing systems. According to Israeli media reports, the cost of a single Iron Dome interception is about $50,000, while the other systems can run more than $2 million per missile. Iron Beam interceptions, by contrast, would cost a few dollars apiece, according to Israeli officialsbut the system is not yet operational. Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
Hollywood loves a sequel. And it turns out, Burger King loves them too. For the third consecutive year, the fast-food operator is debuting a limited-time menu tied to a big box film, this time How to Train Your Dragon, ahead of the live-action film based on Universal Pictures film that will be released in June. Beginning May 27, Burger King will start selling a new red-and-orange marble colored Whopper and Dragon-inspired mozzarella fries, strawberry lemonade, and a chocolate sundae, all taking inspiration from a franchise that has grossed more than $1.6 billion at the global box office and earned four Academy Award nominations. Burger King says the partnership extends a family-focused marketing strategy that kicked off in 2023 with Spider-Man and 2024s tie-in with The Addams Family. Both led to larger orders and over-indexed in popularity with younger audiences and families. [Photo: Burger King] What weve seen is that were starting again to grow with families, says Tom Curtis, president of Burger King, during an interview with Fast Company. The Whopper plays itself Since Curtis joined Burger King in 2021, after a long career at rival restaurant operator Dominos, he has helped spearhead nine unique Whopper limited-time offers. The red-bun Whopper was connected to the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and last years purple-bun evoked the popular Addams Family character Wednesday, who has an ongoing live-action TV show on Netflix. Those Hollywood-inspired Whoppers were the strongest selling LTOs that Curtis launched, doubling the AUV, or average unit volume sold at each restaurant location, versus the LTOs that werent connected to a film. Spider-Man and The Addams Family, in particular, are decades-old intellectual properties that have spanned film, television, video games, and comics. That gives Burger King the ability to market cross-generationally, luring younger children who are newer fans of the more recent film and TV releases, but also appealing to parents and older diners who may have fond memories of these properties from their childhood. Even How to Train Your Dragon, initially based on a novel released in 2003, is now over two decades old and has inspired multiple hit films and a TV series. [Photo: Burger King] When you really associate yourself with a powerful property, especially one thats appealing not only to kids, but has a nostalgic element of it as well, then those can be really big movers of the business, says Curtis. Spider-Man was a driver that helped U.S. comparable sales at Burger King restaurants open at least 13 months increase 7.5% in 2023. The growth slowed to a more modest 1.2% last year and dipped 1.1% in the U.S. for the first quarter of 2025 compared to prior-year levels. Burger King says it was encouraged by the steady traffic and market-share gains it has achieved compared to other fast-food chains even amid the more recent sales softness. Were in an industry thats going to have ebbs and flows, says Curtis. As long as were outgrowing the competition on a fairly consistent basis, then we know were winning the game. Investing in the future Burger King and the brands parent company, Restaurant Brands, have jolted sales in part thanks to a $400 million Reclaim the Flame investment unveiled in 2022 that pumped millions into advertising, restaurant remodels, and new kitchen equipment. Touchscreen kiosks were added to more locations to ease the workload for staff at the counter, new seat formats were designed to be more family friendly for larger groups, and Burger King reemphasized adding playgrounds for kids. Curtis says before he joined, traffic had been decelerating and restaurants werent operated to their full potential. The chain needed to reinvest to entice diners. [Photo: Burger King] You can’t invite a family with parents who love their kids to a dirty restaurant where they’re not going to be treated in a friendly way, and in a restaurant that, frankly, is in some cases, [falling down around them], says Curtis. Fast food faces growing consumer caution This year, Burger King will need to contend with softer consumer sentiment, as diners fret that a trade war and tariffs will result in higher inflation. Already, data has shown that traffic at quick-service restaurants has been slowing, and brands including McDonalds and Chipotle have reported softer sales. Burger King has offered menu deals, including a $5 duo and $7 trio offer that allowed diners to select two or three items from a list that included a Whopper Junior, fries, and chicken sandwiches. Curtis acknowledges that when budgets get tigher, Burger King may be inclined to lean on the combination of menu innovations with value pricing, meaning promos. But he says that Burger King does benefit from the fact that it doesnt sell consumer discretionary goods. People have to eat, says Curtis. If you can give them great value and a great menu, you can be an option in all economic environments.
Category:
E-Commerce
As nasty tornadoes popped up from Kansas to Kentucky, a depleted National Weather Service was in scramble mode.The agency’s office in Jackson, Kentucky, had begun closing nightly as deep cuts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency began hitting. But the weather service kept staffers on overtime Friday night to stay on top of the deadly storms, which killed nearly 20 people in the Jackson office’s forecast area.It’s a scenario likely to be repeated as the U.S. is on track to see more tornadoes this year than in 2024, which was the second-busiest tornado year on record. Forecasters said there was at least a 10% risk of tornadoes Tuesday for 10.6 million people in parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Weather service veterans expressed concern about the agency’s ability to keep up in the face of the cuts.Rich Thompson, lead operations forecaster at the NWS Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said the job is getting done. But he acknowledged that staffing cuts have “made it harder on us.”“It has made it hard on the local offices just to make sure that we have all of our important duties covered. But, I mean, most of the people take those important duties seriously, so we’re going to do what it takes to cover it,” Thompson said. “I hope we’re not in the same staffing situation long term. . . . It would be hard to sustain this for months or years.”NWS spokesperson Erica Grow Cei said the Jackson office “remained fully staffed through the duration of the event using surge staffing” and had support from neighboring offices. A leaner weather service is seeing more extreme weather The Storm Prediction Center had tallied 883 local tornado reports this year as of Monday, which was 35% higher than average for this time of year.Many former weather service employees, especially those fired by the Trump administration, remain connected to the agency’s inner workings. They describe an agency that’s somehow getting forecasts and warnings out in time, but is also near the breaking point.“They’ll continue to answer the bell as long as they can, but you can only ask people to work 80 hours or 120 hours a week, you know for so long,” said Elbert “Joe” Friday, a former weather service director. “They may be so bleary-eyed, they can’t identify what’s going on on the radar.”Tom DiLiberto, a weather service meteorologist and spokesman who was fired in earlier rounds of the job cuts, said the situation is like a boat with leaks “and you have a certain amount of pieces of duct tape and you keep moving duct tape to different holes. At some point, you can’t.”As of March, some of the weather service offices issuing tornado warnings Friday and Sunday were above the 20% vacancy levels that outside experts have said is a critical threshold. Those include Jackson, with a 25% vacancy rate, Louisville, Kentucky, with a 29% vacancy rate, and Wichita, Kansas, with a 32% vacancy rate, according to data compiled by weather service employees and obtained by the AP.Technologies used to predict tornadoes have significantly improved, but radar can’t replace a well-rested staff that has to figure out how nasty or long-lasting storms will be and how to get information to the public, said Karen Kosiba, managing director of the Flexible Array of Mesonets and Radars (FARM) facility, a network of weather equipment used for research.“There really are not enough people to handle everything,” said University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Howard Bluestein, who chased six tornadoes Sunday. “If the station is understaffed, that could affect the quality of forecasts.” Cuts hit in different ways Former weather service Director Louis Uccellini said budget cuts have drastically reduced the number of weather balloon launches, which provide critical information for forecasts. And weather service workers aren’t being allowed to travel to help train local disaster officials for what to do when they get dangerous weather warnings, he said.Though the number of tornadoes is nearly at a record pace, Thompson and other experts said the tornado outbreak of the last few days is mostly normal for this time of year.For tornadoes to form, the atmosphere needs a collision of warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and storm systems chugging through via the jet stream, the river of air that brings weather fronts from west to east, said Thompson, Bluestein and Harold Brooks of the weather service’s National Severe Storm Laboratory.“The moisture that we’re getting from the Gulf of Mexico is a lot more than we used to get,” said Bluestein. “That makes the likelihood that we’re getting a stronger storm higher and that’s pretty unusual.”Temperatures in the Gulf are a couple of degrees warmer than usual for this time of year, according to the weather service.The connection between climate change and tornadoes is not as well understood as the links between other types of extreme weather such as heavy rainfall and heat waves, experts say.“Under the climate change scenario, we’re kind of supercharging the atmosphere on some days and then actually reducing the favorability on others,” said Ohio State University atmospheric sciences professor Jana Houser.Scientists are also seeing more tornadoes in January, February, March, and other times when it used to be too cold for twisters to form, especially in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee, she said.More people are also living in harm’s way, Brooks said. That’s why Uccellini and others see increasing risks to people and property.“When you have this kind of threat and you’re understaffed at some point, something’s going to slip through the cracks,” Uccellini said. “I can’t tell you when it’s going to happen.” Associated Press reporter Isabella O’Malley contributed from Philadelphia. The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||