#emir the tiger

[googlemapsrandomplaces]

ras al khaimah zoo, united arab emirates by saed alhassan

[qj1]

أحبهاااا 🤍🤍🤍🤍

[tigermousse]

hello

[vngelskyy]

[hannahhook7744]

Disney Descendants Random Headcanons (Part 1);

(No Kids/some kids Born Pre D1 Addition since I don't have the full list yet).

Let me Know if I'm missing any characters because I'm well aware I'm missing more than a few.

------------------------------------------------------------

Akio (number 42): He is the son of Tomiko (from Elena of Avalor).

Ally: Her dad is Pinocchio, making Pin her younger brother.

Amber Dearly: She's a waitress but still does beauty pageant events when they're in season.

Anthony Tremaine: Jacob Lathyn (The Baker from Cinderella 2) is his dad.

Anxelin Fitzherbert: She's Goth.

Arabella: She's morally gray (and had ill intentions when she stole her granddad's trident).

Ariana Rose: Grows less jealous of Audrey over time and cuts contact with their grandmother. Is very popular in college.

Artie Pendragon: Somehow ends up with a pet dragon. No one knows how it happened.

Audrey Rose: Goes on to be the CEO she always wanted to be.

Aziz: He takes after his mother in looks and personality.

Bashful Jr.: He goes by Bash and is very popular in school.

Beezlebub (The Cat): Beelzebub is the Lucifer's least favorite kitten.

Ben: Likes building miniature models and wanted to be in a band with Ben and Lonnie when he was a kid.

Big Murph: He lost his eye as a kid when rough housing with the Gaston Twins.

Bobby Hood: He's Tiger Peony's boyfriend and a sports commentator at school.

Bobby Radcliffe: is a good friend of Artie Pendragon and is very shy.

Bonny: Is the medic of Uma's crew.

Carina Potts: Wears a cooking pot as a hat.

Carlos de Vil: He becomes Henry's mentor and gets Beelzebub back.

Carter: The 'nice' twin.

Celia Facilier: Goes on to be a very successful business woman (in whatever you think she'd go on to do).

Chaca: She's Li Shang Jr's girlfriend and Kuzco is very protective of her, much to her and his wife's bemusement.

Chad Charming: Redeems himself sometime after d3 and leaves to find himself.

Cheerful: Is emo.

Chip Potts: Babysat Ben a lot when he was younger. Has 13 siblings. He works at the castle.

Chloe Charming: Learned a lot of what she knows in ROAR from Lonnie.

Claudine Frollo: She had red hair and is left handed.

Clay Clayton: He's a party animal and is very hard to take out in a fight.

Crabby: is actually quite pleasant to be around.

Crocodile Descendants: They love tormenting Captain Hook and wrestling.

Cubby: He handles Neverland Academy's finances.

Danny Darling-Cooper: He's good at tourney and ROAR.

Derek: He's a selective mute and carries a bell around to get his friends' attention when they're arguing.

Derelict (Electric Eel): He's the friendly eel.

Desiree: She's one of the most wild pirate kids. Even when compared to her crewmates.

Diego de Vil: His most popular song is titled 'Kill the Beast'.

Dhandi: Is Jordan's adoptive older sister (since Eden is Jordan's bio mom).

Dizzy Tremaine: She joins Evie's business when she graduates and her jewelry becomes very popular.

Doc II: Goes by Raphael.

Doug: Evie helps him meet his favorite band (The Dragon Players) on his 21st birthday.

Dude (The Dog): He is jealous of Beelzebub.

Eddie Balthazar: He is always tired.

Eliza: She becomes more of a rebel as she grows up and is always backing Jane up when FG gets difficult (like most parents do).

Elle: She's adopted.

Emir (number 26): He's Aziz's younger brother and is a lot like his dad, personality wise. He does not like his mom's cousins.

Evie: She is Dizzy's half sister.

Finn the Mer-Boy: He works at neverland academy but also remains as Neverland's Protectors (kicking entitled tourist out when they cause too much non fun trouble/damage).

Freddie Facilier: Is banned from being alone with Jordan because those two are just as bad as Ally and Cj when alone together.

Gaston Jr.: He relates a lot to Luisa Madrigal. He also walks with a limp after a failed escape attempt he and his father attempted (he nearly drowned).

Gaston The 3rd.: He's the smart twin.

Gesundheit: Cannot for the life of him spell his name.

Gil: Has stolen a penguin from the zoo with Jay, Chad, Harry, and Carlos before.

Ginny Gothel: Is allergic to flowers. Her middle name is flower.

Gordon: Is a mechanic.

Hadie: Has a villain phase as a teen that no one takes seriously.

Hamish of DunBroch: He works with bears.

Hana: She is the royal party planner in her kingdom.

Hap: He's a hippie/hipster mixture and has a van he customized himself.

Harriet Hook: She has a hip high rose tattoo and broke Anthony Tremaine's nose once when she was 12.

Harris of DunBroch: Will not hesitate to bite people in fights even as an adult.

Harry Badun: He is a detective and has made it his job to make everyone behind the isle and every bad isle adult's lives hell. He will also make up outrageous theories to mess with people he doesn't like.

Harry Hook: Is good at art and has Dyscalculia.

Henry: He's a long lost de Vil.

Herkie: He has his dad's personality and strength but his mama's brain and kinda looks like a blend of his parents.

Hermie Bing: She has a variety of circus related skills, loves clowns, has a sweet tooth, and wears very colorful clothes.

Hubert of DunBroch: Loves reminding his sister of how she turned him into a bear all the time.

Hunter de Vil: His influencer career takes off when the barrier is brought down.

Ivy de Vil: She's allergic to hair dye and becomes a great model when off the isle.

Izzy: She's ROAR instructor at Neverland Academy.

Jace Badun: His mom was a strong woman at the Ringmaster's circus. He is the most exasperated person you will ever meet.

Jack/Korak: He prefers 'Korak' over Jack. He takes after his dad looks wise but his mom personality and fashion wise.

Jade: She has tons of scars from the crocodile wrestling.

Jake: Because of him, Princess Pirate, Finn, Stormy, Marina, Izzy, and Cubby all grew up.

James Brown Jr.: He works at a candy shop.

Jane: She's a big gossip and she and Carlos both bonded over this.

Jane Darling-Cooper: She's a teaching assistant at Neverland Academy.

Jay: He sleeps with a stuffed tiger but will deny it if asked.

Jenna: She's Aziz's oldest sibling and is the heir to the throne. She has a pet Elephant.

Jonas: He's Uma's cousin.

Jordan: She's the one who created the secret Agrabah Club at school (along with Aziz).

La Foux Doux: He's younger than LeFou Deux and loves puppet shows.

Lagan (Electric Eel): He's the mean eel.

LeFou Deux: He has a crush on Claudine and is the isle's Santa Claus.

Li (number 85): His parents took creative liberty with his name without checking to see if that spelling already existed.

Li Lonnie: She does eventually get her show. Her successful ROAR career probably helped (: .

Li Shang Jr: His music is decent but few people take him seriously because of the whole 'Lil Shang' nickname thing.

Lil Yaz: He died of appendicitis after d1. He was morally grey/apathic and had eyes for Quinlynn Hearts.

Lina: Jasmine was her favorite babysitter and she in turn, ended up babysitting the younger of Jasmine's kids when she was in Agrabah.

Lucifer: Lucifer often escapes from the saloon and gets on everyone's nerves.

Lulu Brown: She's much younger than her brother, Jim/James Brown Jr. and is a very good at ballet.

Mad Maddy: She has quite the sweet tooth.

Madam Mim's granddaughters: No one is sure how many there are or how they came to be.

Maddox Hatter: He's an inventor and is very close to Red.

Mal: She grows up a lot after the royal wedding and gets back in touch with her artistic side.

Marina the Mermaid: She's the swim coach at Neverland Academy.

Marya Rasputin: She's the doctor of Harriet's crew.

Max La Bouf: He works at Tiana's palace and often caters the events for his family and Ralphie's.

Melody: She's an environmental activist and the go-to cousin everyone talks to when they need someone who will hear them out.

Meriem: She and Korak are married now, and she's very into learning languages.

Mia: She is a sore loser when it comes to the fashion industry.

Miguel (number 44): He's a Madrigal.

Morgie le Fay: Morgie is just a nickname.

Opal: She's Freddie and Celia's aunt.

Othello (The Parrot): He repeats the things EQ used to say to Evie but is a very loving pet otherwise.

Pin: He's very smart and skipped a grade.

Pirate Kitty (Cat): It's Gil's pet cat (seen in a missing poster in d2).

Princess Pirate: Her friends now call her 'Princess' for short.

Quinlynn Hearts: She's the oldest Heart child and she had a crush on LIl Yaz.

Rafi: He gets along the best with his younger brother, Aziz, and works in the royal guard now.

Ralphie: He and Max are Pen Pals.

Rami: He's a party animal.

Red Hearts: Red is just a nickname. She's also in the school newspaper.

Reza: He is very interested in forensics and was adopted by Mozenrath and Sadira. He has two younger siblings and one older.

Rick Ratcliffe: His middle name is 'Perseus'. Yes, after the pug. And he has a habit of saving people from drowning/bodies of water.

Ruby Fitzherbert: She's shy and artsie.

Salima: She's a middle child now.

Sammy Smee: He's an inventor and a book worm.

Scarlet: She's Carter's twin and is considered the 'evil' twin.

Shy: His name is very fitting because he really is shy.

Sleepy Jr.: He's a gamer.

Snoozy: Snoozy is a night owl.

Sophie: She's Snow White's eldest child.

Spotted Hyenas: They like tormenting Gaston but not his kids.

Squeaky Smee: He's a selective mute.

Squirmy Smee: He and his brother look up to Harry a lot.

Stabbington cousins: They're only known by their nicknames by those outside of their family (and for good reason, since they're secretly Westergaards).

Stormy The Mermaid: She becomes a hippie when's older and mellows out.

The Sea witches: They're the daughters of Ursula's sisters.

The Tweedledum and Tweedledee cousins: They all have varying shades of red hair.

The Wicked Step-Granddaughters: The seven that are Drizella's are Hans' daughters as well. If any are Anastasia's, they're adopted.

Tiger Peony: She's a hippie vegetarian who's really into Tourney but doesn't play.

Tipo: He learns to cook from Kronk and helps him out with  Camp Chippamunka during the summer when he's older.

Tyrone (number 32): He's Tiana and Naveen's son. Lotte spoiled him, lol.

Uma: She gets her OWN sea phonies after d3 and she keeps her shark friends as well.

William (number 12): Wendy's oldest son and Jane Darling's younger brother.

Yi-Min: She's good at tourney as well as Swords and Shields.

Yupi: He is Kuzco's favorite 'nephew'.

Yzla: She's good at gymnastics.

Zam: He is the oldest of the kids in Yzma's family and has also caught his cousins doing weird things most often.

Zellie: She's the oldest of Flynnpunzal's kids.

Zephyr: He looks more like his mom as he grows up.

Zevon: His dad (and his siblings' dad) is Cedric from Sofia the first. His mom also accidentally turned him into a llama as a baby.

Zim: He still practices chemistry but the idea of being evil bores him.

[warcrimesimulator]

I'm not actually as anti exotic pet as a lot of people on here and I am very capable of nuance on this topic, I'm just kinda tired seeing all these idiots in the United Arab Emirates or Russia or whatever other cringe country with lions and tigers and bears (oh my). Should go without saying that my stance on large predators as pets is a hard No.

[rebeccalouisaferguson]

No one signs up for a Mission: Impossible movie without expecting to do a few stunts. But back in 2014, when Rebecca Ferguson was filming Rogue Nation, the first of the MI films in which she has starred as the international spy Ilsa Faust, the actress got something of a surprise. In a scene set at the Vienna Opera House, Tom Cruise (who plays the seemingly unkillable covert agent Ethan Hunt) planned for his character to exit the building, alongside Ferguson, via its roof. There was just one hitch: “She never told me—or anyone else—she was uncomfortable with heights,” Cruise says. Instead of suggesting the front door, however, Ferguson did what any self-respecting secret agent would. “She trained for it and did it. She confronted it full on,” Cruise says. “That is Rebecca. She knew it made the sequence, and she knew that she could trust me, and I could trust her. It is a lovely moment.”

The stakes are slightly lower on this rainy Monday morning in West London, but Ferguson’s not one to do anything halfway. It’s 8:58 a.m., and I’m sitting in a café when I receive a text: She’s running late but she’s en route: “See you in eight minutes on the dot.” True to her word, exactly eight minutes later Ferguson breezes into the café wearing head-to-toe black, with wet hair and a grin on her bare face. She shrugs off her dark overcoat, orders a fruit plate for the table and a latte and an espresso for herself, opens the book I’m reading to the first page, and declaims the opening lines as if she’s doing a dramatic reading. Then, when she spots the app on my phone transcribing our conversation in real time, the sly sense of humor I’ve heard about makes its entrance. “Penis! Yep, there it is,” Ferguson says, chuckling as the word pops up on the screen. She quickly adds, “Vagina! For equality…”

Warming to Ferguson is effortless. She exhibits an eager inquisitiveness and charming candor, and our discussion careens from marriage (“We live in a society where it’s kind of forced on us,” says Ferguson, who is married to Rory St. Clair Gainer) to the merits of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (“I just got goosebumps when you said it!”). This openness and wide-ranging interest might explain why she’s one of the most exciting, and busiest, actors working in Hollywood right now, with Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One out this summer, Dune: Part Two hitting theaters in late fall, and the acclaimed post-apocalyptic series Silo (on which she’s also executive producer) streaming now on Apple TV+.

There’s a lot of pressure on movies like the ones Ferguson is starring in this year. After Cruise was credited with saving last year’s box office with Top Gun: Maverick, the stakes for this year’s blockbusters are higher, farther, and faster than ever before. The pressure for tentpole films to perform is intense, but it also signals a chance for Ferguson, who appears in two of them, to become more visible than she has ever been. She’s a screen voyager whose adventurous spirit has led her across various genres, and her upcoming projects have taken her around the world—as well as out of it. For Mission: Impossible alone she has filmed in Italy, the United Arab Emirates, and the UK—and director Christopher McQuarrie was recently Insta­gramming cryptically from the arctic.

It’s no wonder Ferguson gravitates toward the peripatetic. Born in Stockholm in 1983, she was raised by a British mother, Rosemary Ferguson, and a Swedish businessman father, Olov Sundström. Rosemary was the daughter of Northern Irish and Scottish academics; she rebelled in her youth by moving to Sweden, where she found herself entangled in such glamorous projects as helping ABBA with the English translation of the lyrics from the 1974 album Waterloo. “She is rather eccentric,” Ferguson says with a smile.

Though separated, Ferguson’s mother and father both stimulated their daughter’s creativity, signing her up to do everything from music and gymnastics to tap dancing, modeling, and card playing. It was her mother who encouraged her to audition, at age 15, for the part of Anna Gripenhielm in the Swedish soap opera Nya Tider, which she landed and played in 1999 and 2000.

More than 20 years later Ferguson boasts a catalog of complex characters whose one similarity is that they hold their own against male leads played by the likes of Hugh Jackman (The Greatest Showman, Reminiscence), Jake Gyllenhaal (Life), and Ewan McGregor (Doctor Sleep). She also has two children to guide—a son, Isac, from her previous relationship with Ludwig Hallberg, and a daughter, Saga, with husband Gainer. Being a parent has, she says, been pivotal to her performance in the Dune films and her understanding of her character, Lady Jessica, the mother of Timothée Chalamet’s Paul. “She’s a mom protecting and training someone, something,” Ferguson explains. “I say something because she knows [she’s dealing with] an entity bigger than themselves. When Paul starts going off, she begins losing power, and it puts her on an unpredicted journey to discover who we are in response to other people. That’s when we find ourselves again.”

Ferguson doesn’t seem to have trouble figuring out who it is she is. Dune director Denis Villeneuve says, “Rebecca’s a passionate, warm human being who loves to quickly break the ice. She has a huge imagination. She’s someone who has no fear to walk into the zone of the unknown. She can make you believe in the extra­terrestrial, in other cultures, in different worlds or dimensions. Some actors are very down to earth, but she’s someone who can fly high.”

High enough, it seems, that Villeneuve expanded her role in the second installment of Dune, which is adapted from Frank Herbert’s beloved novel. “Lady Jessica kind of disappears in the second part of the book, and I made sure as I was writing the screenplay to do the opposite, to make sure that she will be active, to bring her back to the front of the story,” he says. “I’m looking forward for the world to see what Rebecca has accomplished. She’s not afraid to go very far away. She’s a force that I can count on.”

Or, at least, she can be counted on to stay surprising. While filming Dune in Jordan, Ferguson and Gainer organized excursions for the cast and crew so they could appreciate the places their work had taken them. “I rented a boat for the stunt team and the actors and took them out in Jordan to a place in the middle of the Dead Sea where you can see four different countries,” she says. “Seeing them dive for the first time, I enjoyed that.”

Ferguson is an actor who takes her work very seriously, but she believes a happy set is key to great creative collaborations. “She loves to have fun,” Villeneuve says. “It’s important for her to enjoy the moment and to create a lightness, make jokes and make sure that everybody is comfortable. She wants you to feel secure.” But she also wants to be pushed beyond her comfort zone, which has happened frequently on the Mission: Impossible films. “We don’t really work with scripts,” Ferguson says. “As someone who likes structure, I find it tricky, but it makes me confront the fact that I have zero control. There is method to the madness.”

Structure might be appealing, but Cruise says Ferguson does just fine without it. “Her elegance and intelligence jump off the screen. She reminded [McQuarrie] and me of Ingrid Bergman,” he says. “We knew when we met her we had found our Ilsa. Rebecca is enormously talented, and when she decides to do something, she makes it happen.”

Throughout the Mission: Impossible franchise, Ilsa gives Ethan a run for his covert-ops money—and Ferguson promises that Dead Reckoning will once again up the ante. “I can tell you it is an explosive, dynamic film with incredible stunts you’ve never seen before,” she says. But the actor is also cognizant of how being known for characters like Ilsa and Lady Jessica may limit her ability to escape typecasting as an action hero version of the so-called “strong female character”.

“I feel frustrated by the pitfall of doing things that are not completely different, from a creative aspect,” she says. “People enjoy what I do, but it’s recognized in a similar way. It makes me see that I’m trying to put together something that is shaped by other people, and I want to break out of it.” Ferguson wouldn’t be the first actor to feel boxed in by type, but what would she like to do to free herself from preconceived expectations?

“It changes all the time,” she says. “I enjoy real stories and real people, but if I go back in history, whose story am I going to tell?” What she’d rather do is discover a script that grapples with messy humanity, the kind we all live with when we’re not super-spies or in a universe 20,000 years in the future. “That’s what I want to do,” she says, “but I don’t know where to find it.” Lucky for Ferguson, that mission is still possible.

[elisaphoenix13]

Midnight Tour

No matter how tired Quill was because of work, he always woke up whenever Scott rolled out of bed in the middle of the night. Maybe a part of him was still concerned that the other man had a nightmare about his time in captivity, but those had become rarer and rarer, and he was normally just getting up to go to the bathroom. Tonight was like any other night. Scott rolled out of bed, Quill woke briefly as the bed shifted, and then he rolled over and went back to sleep when he realized the disturbance was only his husband.

Even Flynn and Emir were unperturbed by their nightly bathroom breaks so they continued to sleep.

But then Quill was woken again, and before he could figure out what had disturbed him, he noticed that Scott's side of the bed was still empty. Not that weird. Emir might have attempted to find a new comfortable spot at the foot of the bed. A quick glance over his shoulder revealed that Cassie stood next to his side of the bed.

"Wha's wrong?" Quill slurs tiredly. "Can't sleep?"

"I think Dad is sleep walking," Cassie says quietly. "He walked into my room and said something about…collars? Then he left."

Quill swears softly and throws his blankets off to follow Cassie out of the bedroom. Her assumption had been correct. Scott was found wandering down in the living room, relocating pillows into odd places like the fake house plant that Emir had some kind of one sided rivalry with, and then he started muttering to himself. Standing in the middle of the room.

Quill was barely able to make out "birds are spies" and while he wanted to laugh, he simply rubbed his face before patting Cassie's shoulder.

"I'll take care of him Sunshine. You get back to bed."

Cassie frowns. "Do you think it was one of his nightmares? I've heard stress makes people sleepwalk sometimes."

"I dunno. Maybe it's the project he's working on right now." Quill muses. "He's been practically pulling out his hair over it."

"Maybe both."

Quill chose not to answer her because that was a depressing thought. While Scott's nightmares were few and far between now, they did seem to rear their ugly head whenever he was overly stressed. Sleepwalking was new though. Scott talked in his sleep on occasion but moving around…

He shook the thought away and descended the stairs as Scott started to take the batteries out of one of the remotes. Quill had no idea what he was going to do with them, but he didn't want to end up dealing with batteries up the nose. Anything was possible at this point.

But Scott simply inspected them, then apparently deemed them unworthy and threw them over his shoulder where they clattered on the carpet with a dull thud. The remote was placed back on the coffee table and Scott turned his attention to the couch. Specifically one of the cushions. When he began to pull it off and unzip the cover, Quill walked over and gently shook Scott's shoulder. The man paused and stared at the cushion in his hands and then glanced up at Quill in confusion.

"...what happened?" Scott mumbles.

"You just decided to take a midnight tour," Quill answers. "Did you have that dream again?"

Scott scrunches his eyebrows in thought. "I…think so?" He admits. "It's already starting to slip away."

"Okay. Cassie said you walked into her room saying something about collars. You okay?"

"Yeah," Scott returns the couch cushion to its proper place and allows Quill to lead him back up to their room. Cassie had gone to bed. "It didn't stick."

The nightmare didn't follow Scott into the waking world, which was good news. The nightmare hadn't affected him like that for over a year now and so the younger man wasn't waking up in terror. The nightmare was already becoming a distant memory.

"Hey buddy, isn't it your job to look after Scott?" Quill says to Emir who barely cracks an eye open to look at him. If he squinted in the darkness of the room, Quill could make out Flynn's ears peeking over the tiger's side. No doubt snuggling against the beast's belly since the god had gotten up from bed.

"I'm fine," Scott reassures Quill as they crawl back into bed. "Confused about the couch cushion, but fine."

Quill snorts in amusement. "I don't know what you were doing with it either, but we might need to put some new batteries in the tv remote."

Scott groans and throws the duvet over his head, "I don't want to know."

"It was kind of funny. Might see if Friday or Victor have a recording." Quill teases before laying on his side and pulling Scott flush against him. The younger mumbles something in annoyance that Quill didn't quite catch, but he laughed all the same. "Go to sleep, Pidge. And no dreams about tea parties with Satan."

"Shut up."

The next day, Scott finally finished his newest project and sent the plans to Luis to handle, and Quill congratulated him with a kiss…and then held out his hand. Two batteries laid in his palm and Scott gave him a look of mild irritation. Watching Scott find the new adjustments he made to their floor was hilarious and of course Quill had to make an occasional teasing statement. Such as the pillow in the house plant.

You just wanted it to be comfortable, babe. Since Emir has something against it.

They found the dining room table facing a corner.

Mom was probably astral projecting and you gave him a timeout?

"So what's your clever input for the batteries?" Scott asks flatly as he takes them.

"Common sense actually. We've been smashing the buttons of the remote for a week now and you were probably just subconsciously changing the batteries." Quill shrugs. "Or at least taking them out. You got bored halfway through."

"Awesome."

Cassie laughs from the direction of the kitchen. "Dad! You put your pants in the freezer!"

Quill cackles. "He was just preparing for when I–"

"No! Shut up!" She screeches. "Ewwwww the image is ingrained in my mind!"

"You love me!" Quill calls out.

"Not right now I don't!"

"Quill, stop traumatizing her." Scott huffs. "You keep this up and she'll never make you food again."

"...good point. I don't think I could live without her macaroni salad." Quill admits. "Or her chili…or her baked cheesecake! I swear she pulls that from heaven or something!"

Scott snorts and grabs a napkin from the nearby holder and hands it to Quill. "You got a little drool there big guy."

[usafphantom2]

Boeing receives $1.2 billion to work on USAF's new E-7 AEW&C aircraft

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 03/01/2023 - 11:00 in Military

The U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a $1.2 billion contract to begin the development of two new U.S. variants of the E-7 early air alert and control (AEW&C) aircraft.

The service expects to receive the first aircraft developed under the rapid prototype program in fiscal year 2027.

While the E-7 is an operational platform in service with several operators, Boeing will deliver prototypes of the aircraft to the U.S. Air Force. This may mean that the U.S. variants will receive new features or that extensive work is required to bring the aircraft to the USAF's "standard and configuration mandates".

The E-7, with the Northrop Grumman Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar, provides a fully integrated command and control node. The U.S. Air Force is buying the platform as a replacement for a part of the AWACS E-3 Sentry fleet.

“The E-7 is a proven platform,” said Stu Voboril, vice president and general manager of the E-7 program. "It is the only advanced aircraft capable of meeting the short-term requirements of U.S. Air Force Early Air Alert and Control, allowing integration into the entire joint force."

The E-7 tracks multiple air and sea threats simultaneously with 360-degree coverage through the MESA (Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array) sensor. MESA provides the combatant with critical domain awareness to detect and identify opposing targets at long distance and dynamically adjusts to emerging tactical situations.

Other E-7 operators include the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), the Air Force of the Republic of Korea (RoKAF), the Turkish Air Force and the Royal British Air Force (RAF).

The E-7 is based on a Boeing 737-700 series aircraft, taking advantage of existing processes of design, certification and modification of derived commercial aircraft, allowing the E-7s to be fielded to meet the needs of the USAF.

Tags: AEWMilitary AviationBoeing E-7 WedgetailUSAF - United States Air Force / U.S. Air Force

Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work throughout the world of aviation.

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[cybercrime-blogs]

Mahadev Online Betting Scam: Bollywood Celebrities and Pakistani Connections Under Scrutiny

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has initiated an extensive investigation into the Mahadev Online Betting scandal, revealing a complex network of money laundering activities that extend far beyond the realm of online betting. This case has taken an intriguing turn, with the involvement of UPI IDs, implicating well-known personalities, celebrities, and even political contributions.

The Mahadev Online Betting Scandal: A Brief Overview The spotlight has turned to Mahadev, an online betting application, founded by Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal hailing from Bhilai, Chattisgarh. The ED has cast a sharp eye on this platform, alleging that it served as a hub for illicit betting websites. It facilitated new user registrations, generated User IDs, and funneled funds through a convoluted network of anonymous bank accounts.

Also Read: Kashmiri Brother-in-Law could not show Kamal, and pressure on Nagpur police failed

Extensive Raids and Compelling Evidence In a recent series of coordinated raids conducted in cities like Kolkata, Bhopal, and Mumbai, the ED has unearthed substantial evidence and frozen/seized assets totaling an astounding Rs 417 Crore. According to the ED, Chandrakar and Uppal orchestrated the operations of Mahadev Online Betting from a central headquarters located in the UAE. They employed a franchising model, establishing "Panel/Branches" for their associates, with profit-sharing arrangements set at a 70:30 ratio.

A deeply troubling aspect of this scandal revolves around the exploitation of vulnerable communities, specifically slum residents and those with limited incomes. It appears that individuals implicated in this alleged scam acquired UPI (Unified Payments Interface) details from these unsuspecting individuals, effectively using them as pawns in money laundering schemes. In return for the use of their UPI IDs, these victims were given meager sums, while the ill-gotten funds were channeled to foreign entities. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is currently conducting a thorough investigation to determine the full scope of this fraudulent activity and quantify the amount of money that has been laundered through this deceptive modus operandi.

Lavish Wedding Expenditure Raises Concerns

Recent ED raids conducted in Bhopal, Mumbai, and Kolkata have brought to light the extravagant lifestyle of the primary accused, Saurabh Chandrakar. Astonishingly, it was revealed that he lavishly spent over Rs 200 crore on his wedding ceremony in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Shockingly, reports suggest that the funds for this opulent celebration were sourced from the proceeds of criminal activities.

Private jets were chartered to transport family members from Nagpur to the UAE for the wedding festivities, and renowned celebrities were hired for special performances. An array of wedding planners, dancers, and decorators were flown in from Mumbai, with cash payments facilitated through clandestine hawala channels.

Also Read: Cybercrime in Nagpur - Cyber Blackmailer Couple Arrested in Pune for Extorting Money

Celebrity Involvement and Suspicions of Proceeds from Illegal Activities

The ED's ongoing investigation has also implicated several prominent celebrities who endorsed these betting entities. These celebrities not only lent their names to these platforms but also participated in various events organized by the app promoters and other individuals accused in this case. Payments to these celebrities were routed through intricate transactions, ultimately sourced from the proceeds of online betting activities.

The list of celebrities under scrutiny includes well-known figures such as singers Atif Aslam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Neha Kakkar, Vishal Dadlani, actor Tiger Shroff, Elli Evram, Bhagyashree, Pulkit Samrat, Sunny Leone, Kirti Kharbanda, Nushrat Bharucha, and comedians Bharti Singh, Krishna Abhishek, and Ali Azgar.

In conclusion, this disturbing scandal not only highlights the exploitation of vulnerable populations but also shines a light on the extravagant spending habits of key individuals involved. The web of celebrity endorsements and the suspected use of proceeds from illegal activities underscore the need for a thorough investigation into the matter, ensuring that justice is served and accountability upheld.

Source: https://www.the420.in/bollywood-celebrities-pakistani-connections-mahadev-online-betting-scam-ed/

[sarah17-05]

Exploring the Wonders of Dubai Safari Park: A Wildlife Paradise in the Desert

Dubai, renowned for its architectural marvels and extravagant lifestyle, has now added a natural gem to its crown: the Dubai Safari Park. Nestled amidst the desert landscape, this sprawling wildlife sanctuary offers an immersive experience that transports visitors into the heart of diverse ecosystems, showcasing a commitment to conservation and education.

A Blend of Nature and Innovation: Dubai Safari Park is a testament to human ingenuity and the desire to connect people with the natural world. Spanning over 119 hectares, it brings together a range of habitats, from savannas to rainforests, to cater to the diverse needs of its animal residents.

What sets Dubai Safari Park apart is its emphasis on promoting sustainable and humane wildlife conservation practices. The park is designed with animals' welfare in mind, offering spacious enclosures that replicate their natural habitats and encouraging their physical and mental well-being.

Embarking on a Wildlife Journey: Upon entering Dubai Safari Park, visitors are welcomed into a world of wonders. The journey begins at the Asian Village, where one can witness majestic elephants, tigers, and other creatures native to the Asian continent. Moving forward, the African Village presents the awe-inspiring savanna, home to giraffes, zebras, and various antelope species. The Wadi Area showcases Arabian wildlife, highlighting the rich biodiversity of the region.

A Glimpse of the Aquatic Realm: The park doesn't limit itself to land-dwelling creatures; the Dubai Safari Park Aquarium unveils the mysteries of marine life. With a variety of aquatic species on display, visitors can learn about marine ecosystems and the importance of ocean conservation.

Conservation and Education: Dubai Safari Park is not just a destination for leisure and entertainment; it serves as a hub for education and awareness. The park hosts interactive programs and guided tours that shed light on the importance of biodiversity, conservation efforts, and the delicate balance of ecosystems. Such initiatives inspire visitors, especially the younger generation, to become stewards of the environment.

Promoting Research and Sustainability: Beyond being a tourist attraction, Dubai Safari Park is dedicated to research aimed at understanding animal behavior, genetics, and ecology. The insights gained from these efforts contribute to global conservation strategies and help safeguard endangered species.

Sustainability is also a core principle of the park. From its energy-efficient design to its waste management practices, Dubai Safari Park sets an example for integrating eco-friendly solutions into large-scale projects.

A Vision for the Future: Dubai Safari Park is more than just an exhibit of exotic animals; it embodies the Emirate's vision for a harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. By fostering a deep connection with the animal kingdom, the park encourages a shift in mindset – from mere spectators to active participants in safeguarding our planet's biodiversity.

In a world where urbanization and habitat destruction threaten countless species, Dubai Safari Park serves as a beacon of hope. It showcases that even in the heart of a desert city, nature can thrive, and the wonders of the animal kingdom can be preserved for generations to come.

[googlemapsrandomplaces]

ras al khaimah zoo, united arab emirates by saed alhassan

[carrionhand]

Emir likes his Christmas present.

[A picture of a large (slightly tubby) Bengal tiger pawing a large cable spool wrapped up with rope, set so it can spin freely. His eyes are like @ w @]

[tigermousse]

It's Orthodox Easter today and I'm so happy that I am with my family today

[typhlonectes]

Tiger Beetles, Callytron monalisa, mating on tidal flats at Umm Al Quwain,  United Arab Emirates

photograph by Khalid Afreek | inaturalist CC

[mariacallous]

In 2020, Nazia was working at a data entry office in Hyderabad, but dreamed of being a beautician. Then, on YouTube, she saw a video about Urban Company, a platform similar to the US site TaskRabbit, which promises to connect workers—plumbers, electricians, painters, beauticians, and others—with clients who need their services. Workers who join the platform as beauticians often pay upward of $500 to register and receive a salon equipment kit. For Nazia, it felt like an investment worth taking.

When it launched in 2014, Urban Company was revolutionary for India’s disjointed home services market, providing customers with vetted and trained workers through an easy-to-use interface. Nazia was one of tens of thousands of workers who joined the platform, which grew and grew thanks to consecutive rounds of fundraising from investors including Tiger Global and Prosus Ventures, becoming the largest home services provider in India, valued at almost $3 billion. Then it expanded into the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. In 2023, it launched in the US.

For workers it promised an opportunity to work flexibly, and earn well. In 2020, Fair Work, a research group that studies gig work companies, rated the company the best for workers in India, giving it a score of eight out of 10 on parameters that include fair pay and working conditions. (Uber scored one out of 10).

Nazia got stellar ratings and reviews from customers on the platform—so much so that she was invited to pay $300 to upgrade her account to Prime, which gave her access to better-paying jobs.

“Everything was going great,” she says. “With the money I made, I was able to help my family, buy a two-wheeler, and save money for my wedding.”

Urban Company fostered an identity for itself that was different from other gig work platforms, particularly for women. But since the start of the year, things have gone downhill, fast. Thousands of workers have found themselves arbitrarily dumped from the platform for not meeting new targets that they say have been set unattainably high. Nazia is among them. The platform, it seems, is subject to the same cycle of “enshittification” as its peers, sacrificing the incentives it had offered to get workers onto the platform in order to turn a profit—and abandoning its promises of flexibility in the process.

Urban Company declined to comment.

The first sign of trouble at Urban Company started in 2021, as the pandemic hit the home services business. The company slipped in Fairwork’s rankings, scoring five out of 10. Workers twice held protests demanding lower commissions and safer working conditions. After a media storm, Urban Company published a Medium blog introducing a “12 point program” to “improve partner earnings and livelihood”—which included lowering commissions and introducing an SOS helpline for women’s safety. In an attempt to be more transparent, the company started publishing a partner earnings index, but it also filed lawsuits against four protesters for “illegal and unlawful” actions.

But things got really difficult for Urban Company’s workers in 2023. The platform introduced a new rule stipulating that workers had to maintain an acceptance rate of at least 70 percent, a customer rating of at least 4.7 out of 5, and cancel fewer than four jobs per month. Failure meant being blocked from the app. Nazia managed to keep her ratings above 4.8 until May 2023, when they slipped to 4.69. She was temporarily blocked and put into “retraining”—an online video course followed by 10 bookings that she had to take free of charge in an attempt to boost her rating. Unfortunately, for Nazia, her rating did not budge from 4.69. Since then, she’s been out of work.

“It all happened so quickly,” Nazia says. Now she’s stuck with $2,500 in loans.

I spoke to more than a dozen women like Nazia, all of whom asked for anonymity to protect themselves from retribution and say they were blocked by the platform after failing to meet what they believe were unrealistic expectations.

In Bengaluru, Shabnam—who used a friend’s credit card to pay the $500 joining fee—found that Urban Company started assigning her jobs farther and farther away from home. With rising costs and high commissions, taking these distant trips was “as good as earning nothing,” she says. She turned down the jobs that weren’t economically viable, and soon her response rate—the number of jobs she accepted—dropped to 20 percent. In June, she was dropped from the platform.

Seema, who had worked for Urban Company for five years, had a miscarriage earlier this year. As she was being rushed to the hospital, she didn’t have time to mark in the Urban Company app that she wasn’t able to work that day. Her acceptance rate of bookings fell to 30 percent. She couldn’t get her rate back up to the mandated 80 percent, and she was permanently suspended from the platform. “I went to the office with the doctor’s prescription and everything. They still did not agree to reinstate my account,” Seema says.

In Hyderabad, Sunanda says her account was deactivated earlier this year after a death in the family meant she had to cancel some jobs. She pleaded with a company representative on its helpline and in person—she even submitted the death certificate, but she’s still blocked. “They said they cannot reinstate my account because my rating is not 4.7 or above. I told them my rating is 4.69 and if they give me a chance I will bring it back up, but they refused,” Sunanda, 42, said. “They have given the customers this one weapon: ratings.”

As well as the stick of targets and quotas, Urban Company also offered a carrot for workers: shares in the business.

In 2022, the company announced its Partner Stock Options Program (PSOP), granting shares worth $18 million over the next five to seven years. The following November, they awarded stocks worth approximately $635,000 to 500 partners. But while the PSOPs seemed to be almost guaranteed for workers, the process of accessing them is heavily gamified.

Pratima, an Urban Company beautician, was very excited at the end of 2022 when she realized she’d made it to the top 10 list of workers in her category in Bengaluru. If she continued to stay in the top 10 until April, she was told she’d be granted the company’s stock options that following November. “They call us partners, but don’t treat us like it,” said Pratima, requesting to be referred to under a pseudonym. “I was hoping that if I get a share in the company, maybe then I will be treated like a partner.”

By February, Pratima had completed more than 200 jobs, and she was still in the top 10. Then, a series of low ratings by disgruntled customers pulled down her overall rating, blocking her temporarily and dropping her off the leaderboard. She kept at it, worked back-to-back jobs, and got herself unblocked and back into the rankings. April came around, and she was in the top 10. But then the company seemed to have extended the contest—the leaderboard has kept on counting, but the workers don’t know what’s going on. “It’s like they are making us run a marathon in the name of shares,” she says.

For women who were sold Urban Company’s promises of flexibility and empowerment, the shock of losing their livelihood or being forced to work longer and longer hours has been exacerbated by a sense of betrayal.

“For women especially, a lot of times they have care responsibilities at home, and so there’s hope to find work that’s flexible, that allows them to pick up their kids from school or take junior to the doctor,” says Alexandrea Ravenelle, an author of two books on gig work and a sociology assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. “A lot of these platforms are playing off of that need for flexibility because, for many of the workers who are coming to these platforms, an alternative isn’t a white-collar job in a tech office where they can bring the play pen and set the kid up.”

The mismatch between the promise of these platforms and their reality becomes clear when the businesses move from their early growth phase, in which they are able to burn investors’ cash, to one where they have to start to turn a profit.

When two-sided marketplaces that match workers with clients grow, they try to make things as comfortable as possible for workers to create a deep pool of available services. “The shortcut way to do this is to offer incentives to them—be it sellers, drivers, or other gig workers—showing them that this is a lucrative business,” says Rutvik Doshi, a general partner at VC firm Athera Venture Partners.

Companies spend big on marketing as they try to grow as fast as possible (during the 2021–2022 financial year, Urban Company spent close to $30 million on marketing and clocked a loss of over $60 million), working on the assumption that one day the demand for their services will become organic, the suppliers will start making enough money without incentives, and the platform will be able to raise the commissions it takes off its workers.

But when this doesn’t happen, companies desperately rework their models. When they need to curb spending, or when they struggle to raise new funding, marketing is the first thing they cut. Demand drops, creating an oversupply of workers on the platform. “And the excessive supply on the platforms feels the pinch. That’s the typical cycle with a two-sided marketplace,” Doshi says.

On July 10, Urban Company CEO Abhiraj Bahl released a video to the company’s workers explaining the new strict policies. He said that each year, 45 percent of customers use the platform just once and don’t make a second booking, while 15 to 20 percent of workers leave. “And as a result of all of this, Urban Company is still a loss-making company,” he said in the video, part of which has been viewed by WIRED. “So we are losing customers and we are also losing money.”

He blamed the decline in customers on “poor quality service” and “off-platform jobs”—that is, workers making private arrangements with clients and taking their work off Urban Company, something that’s a serious risk to the company’s model. “It’s kind of an existential question: They need the workers and the customers to stay on their platform in order to remain an intermediary,” says Ambika Tandon, a tech and labor researcher at the Center for Internet and Society think tank.

All of this has led the company to push its workers into a mold that essentially has all the downsides of regular employment but few of the benefits. For workers who joined the platform for its flexibility and autonomy, this reality of platform work becomes difficult to reconcile with.

“Urban Company is trying to imagine an ideal worker for this particular model to be someone who is always available, gives their 100 percent, [doesn’t] cancel at all, has no family responsibilities,” Tandon says. “But a lot of these workers are single parents, who have family responsibility and children to take care of. These are not folks who will fit into this model of having a 80 percent, 90 percent acceptance rate.”

In June, WhatsApp groups used by Urban Company workers were flooded with messages about one of their peers, who had reportedly died by suicide after the company deactivated her account—leaving her with no source of income. Several workers I spoke with said that while the news was shocking, none of them knew the victim. “We were vexed,” Seema from Bengaluru says, “But the problem is that all of us are so isolated from each other. The platform doesn’t have any get-togethers, nothing. We all don’t have any relationships, which is a plus point for Urban Company.”

But, like their peers across the platform economy, Urban Company workers are now getting organized. In June and July, hundreds of Urban Company workers took to the streets in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. Shabnam was present at one of the protests last month in Bengaluru, demanding that the company reinstate her account. With this, they have joined thousands of Indian gig workers from Uber, Ola, Swiggy, Blinkit and more.

There have been at least half a dozen such protests across different cities in India since the beginning of the year—all of them essentially fighting for the same reasons: better pay and working conditions, a ban on unfair practices, and laws governing gig work that workers can lean on for safety and protection. “It’s not just Urban Company that has been blocking accounts,” said Shaik Salauddin, founder of Telangana Gig and Platform Worker Union. “Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato, Amazon, Flipkart—all aggregator companies are doing this.”

Rikta Krishnaswamy, a coordinator with the All India Gig Workers Union, said that the union has had conversations with the labor departments across different cities, including Delhi and Pune. Another meeting is coming up in Mumbai. “We have raised complaints against these illegal dismissals, and the labor departments in Delhi, Noida, and Gurugram have sent notices to the company for a meeting,” she said. “Let’s see if they actually show up.”

Some of the workers whose accounts were blocked have been able to get it reinstated, provided their rating was not lower than 4.7 and they weren’t blocked for trust and safety issues. But, if the video shared by Bahl is any indication, things are only going to get worse by the end of the year. The company has launched a salon quality improvement program called Project Shakti, under which, by December, the performance metrics are going to get even stricter for beauticians: an acceptance rate greater than 80 percent, no more than three monthly cancellations, and “100 percent orders delivered on UC app only.” The rating threshold will continue to be at a minimum of 4.7.

The new policy is being hammered home. Workers whose accounts have been reinstated and those already active on the platform are being called for a meeting to the Urban Company office in small groups of around 10. Some have to watch Bahl’s video. Then they are presented with new terms and conditions to sign, which include consent for them to be permanently blocked from the platform if they miss their targets.