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Although TeraWulf (WULF 1.04%) stock’s September wasn’t quite as hot — literally and figuratively — as its August, it still did gangbusters on the exchange. The Bitcoin mining company and increasingly, high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure provider, saw its share price rise by almost 21% during the month.

Bark and bite

Compared to August, September for TeraWulf was rather quiet and not as eventful. The company’s rise in that 30-day stretch was due more to external developments than any proprietary news coming from the company.

Image source: Getty Images.

Its money asset (Bitcoin, of course) had a good run over those few weeks, benefiting from generally positive investor sentiment on cryptocurrencies. Typically, when Bitcoin does well, so do the companies who earn money mining it, for understandable reasons.

Like other miners, TeraWulf has been attempting to leverage its assets to bring in more coin. In September, this dovetailed nicely with the popularity of data center operators and businesses associated with such facilities.

The upgrading and expansion of data centers, the sprawling buildings that host banks of computer servers, are necessary steps to advance the AI revolution. After all, AI is quite resource- and power-hungry compared to preceding IT technologies.

Another development helping to drive TeraWulf stock northward in September was a pair of bullish new analyst notes. In the middle of the month, researcher Compass Point initiated coverage of the company, with its pundit Michael Donovan rating it a buy at a price target of $6.50.

It wasn’t immediately clear why Donovan was so bullish on the company. That sunny view wasn’t out of the ordinary, however — during TeraWulf’s hot August, several of his peers also upped their price targets on the stock.

New York groove

As September came to a close, that second prognosticator became more positive on TeraWulf’s future.

Darren Aftahi was the man behind the move, and it wasn’t a minor one. He cranked his fair value assessment on TeraWulf more than 50% higher, to $21.50 per share from his former $14. In line with other analysts and many investors, Aftahi is particularly impressed with the company’s confident push into HPC and AI, according to reports.

The analyst singled out TeraWulf’s Lake Mariner facility in upstate New York as being especially packed with promise. He wrote that there are currently around 422 megawatts in signed leases with two clients at the site, and expects more take up in TeraWulf’s facilities in the future.

Wednesday might have been a Hump Day of a slog to some investors, but not for those holding shares of Immunovant (IMVT 10.82%). On some rather encouraging news from the laboratory, the clinical-stage biotech‘s shares gained almost 11% in value, easily topping the 0.5% rise of the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.51%).

Proven results

That afternoon, Immunovant shared data from a proof-of-concept study of its batoclimab. This is an investigational drug targeting Grave’s disease (GD), an autoimmune disorder that results in the body producing too much thyroid hormone (also known as hyperthyroidism).

Image source: Getty Images.

The study, which lasted nearly one year, saw 17 of the 21 patients dosed with the drug maintain normal thyroid function six months after the completion of treatment. Eight of the 17 also did not require anti-thyroid drugs to keep the hormone in check.

The participants in the study suffered from Grave’s disease, and continued to experience hyperthyroidism despite taking standard anti-thyroid medication.

In the press release trumpeting these results, Immunovant quoted its CEO Eric Venker as saying, “We believe these data have the potential to be transformative for patients and practice-changing for physicians, if approved by the Food and Drug Administration, by addressing a significant unmet need in Grave’s disease.”

A flexible drug?

As Grave’s disease is a chronic condition, it is an appropriate target for an advanced treatment like batoclimab. Immunovant is also investigating the treatment for other indications, such as Sjögren’s syndrome, a disorder of the salivary and tear glands. The company is in the early stages of development for these.

Paul and Ellie Bell’s Greek getaway was cut short after the couple were ejected from their hotel and told they couldn’t fly home – but TUI say the decision was based on “repeated incidents”

A British couple were left stranded in Corfu after being booted out of their hotel and denied boarding on their return flight to the UK, claiming that TUI “washed their hands of them”.

North Shields couple Paul Bell, 64, and his wife Ellie, 65, had booked a week-long half-board holiday at the Terezas Hotel in Sidari, Corfu, having previously enjoyed a stay there.

Their holiday was abruptly cut short when TUI removed them from their hotel and prevented them from flying home, despite the couple having booked a package deal.

Paul is baffled as to why they were ejected and then left several hundred pounds out of pocket, having to arrange an alternative flight home with Jet2, take a taxi to the airport instead of a transfer, and book into another hotel for the remainder of the holiday.

In letters seen by ChronicleLive, TUI stated that the decision was based on repeated incidents during their stay which were deemed unacceptable and disruptive. However, Paul contests this, stating that TUI never asked him or Ellie for their side of the story.

Earlier in the holiday, Ellie had voiced her dissatisfaction to the manager about the quality of the food, which Paul described as “tepid” and “not very nice”. He said: “Some of the things you would get were rice with sprouts, or another time you’d have rice with a slice of beetroot in it.

READ MORE: Brits’ holidays from hell revealed – ‘wild animals’ at breakfast to horror pool injury

“My wife spoke to the manager twice, she complained about the food being inedible and he didn’t seem interested. She asked him to join us for breakfast the next day so we could show him what we meant, but he never turned up.”

The couple enjoyed a day out, but upon their return, they “had a word” with the representative. The following day, as Paul and Ellie awaited their excursion to Corfu town, they were stunned to receive a letter stating they could no longer stay at the hotel.

Dated May 20, the letter read: “You caused a serious disturbance by shouting inside the hotel restaurant in front of other guests, resulting in significant distress and disruption to the peaceful environment of the hotel,” and “you directed aggressive and disrespectful language towards both hotel staff, the hotel owners, and TUI representatives on site.”

Paul insists that they did nothing wrong, highlighting that no one from TUI sought their side of the story before making a decision. He claimed: “I don’t remember anybody shouting.

“We only spoke to the rep when she was present at the hotel, and there was no disrespect towards her. They’ve made a decision based on the manager’s account without hearing us out. But surely every story has two sides? I was livid; it completely ruined our plans for the day.”

Paul and Ellie were instructed to contact the UK consulate for further assistance, rather than being given a chance to respond or appeal. On May 21 at 22.28, they received another letter stating that Ellie was prohibited from boarding the TOM1531 flight on Friday, May 23.

Just over 12 hours later, an additional email stated that both Paul and Ellie would be barred from the flight. TUI explained this decision was made in line with their terms and conditions, due to “due to your conduct and behaviour”.

On Thursday, May 22, Paul booked flights home from Corfu with Jet2 for later that day, costing €328.56 (£284). However, after returning to North Shields, they received another email from TUI stating that “the refusal of carriage for Paul Bell and Eleanor Bell has now been revoked, and you will now be allowed travel on your inbound flight”.

Paul said: “That doesn’t help us now, because we were told we have to make our own travel arrangements and we came home. We had to pay €60 (£50) for a taxi to the airport as well, because we weren’t allowed on the transfers.

“When we go on holiday, we try to go somewhere nice and quiet, sit and chill, try the local stuff, go to the towns and see the scenery and to have food like we did (in the hotel) was really disappointing. We got no back-up whatsoever from TUI.

“They took whatever the manager said as gospel and came to a decision just like that. Had we been drunk and disorderly, fine, but we weren’t – we’ve never had any bother on any holidays before, until this time with TUI.”

ChronicleLive reported that TUI plans to refund the couple’s flights home with Jet2.com and their journey to the airport. TUI declined to comment further.

Paul is not the only North East holidaymaker to come back from Corfu feeling let down by their experience. Earlier in June, Westerhope gran Susan Edwards vouched to never book with the tour operator again after moaning that there was “no English food” available at the Lido Corfu Sun Hotel.

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Air India was battling an ‘exceptionally poor’ reputation before the horror incident that claimed the lives of all but one flight AI171 passengers – and many more people on the ground

Air India flights were notoriously plagued with issues in the years before the tragic AI171 disaster last week, with bad publicity from a series of incidents giving the airline what an expert has said was an “exceptionally poor” reputation.

Hospital officials in Ahmedabad, in Gujarat province, western India, confirmed today that 270 people died in the disaster after the doomed flight hit a medical college hostel on Thursday shortly after takeoff – killing all but one of 241 passengers and dozens of people on the ground. Indian officials continue to pick up the pieces this morning, with investigations underway to determine exactly what caused the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to crash as bereaved families wait to collect the bodies of their loved ones from a post-mortem centre.

The airline has received high praise for its response to the disaster, which comes three years after it was acquired and privatised by Tata steel. Prior to this, Rhys Jones, a luxury travel expert and editor of Head for Points, told The Mirror, Air India’s reputation was “extremely poor” despite it being cleared by European and US regulators. Previous incidents aboard Air India planes have seen window panels break off and passengers complain of dirty interiors.

READ MORE: Air India plane crash UPDATES: Sole survivor reveals horror moment before impact

Window panel chaos

Back in 2018, chaos erupted during a 30-minute Air India flight from Amritsar to Delhi, when intense turbulence resulted in the inside part of a window panel becoming dislodged.

Panic spread across the packed cabin, filled with 240 passengers, while a cabin crew member bravely pushed the panel back in, all while comforting a distressed passenger.

Footage of the terrifying incident was shared widely on social media at the time and shows some overhead oxygen masks being deployed.

Three people were left requiring hospital treatment, as per The Times of India newspaper.

A source told the publication: “Passengers were naturally terrified.” He continued: “The turbulence on Flight AI 462 was such that the head of a seated passenger, who possibly did not have his seat belt fastened, hit the overhead cabin because of a bump.

“The person suffered injuries. Two more had minor injuries. The inside of a window panel came off. The outside window did not break, and there was no depressurisation.”

‘Dirty’ conditions

One year ago, after the Tata group took over the airline, a Dubai-based travel influencer, who vlogs via the YouTube channel Living Jet Setters, reviewed a flight they took aboard a 787-8 Dreamliner, to see if improvements had been made.

The vlogger, who travelled in economy class, was impressed by the speedy check-in and the “great service” they received from “extremely friendly and very nice” cabin crew members. They also noticed improvements with the on-flight food, which they described as “tasty” and “delicious”, and found their seat and headrest to be comfortable.

However, there were a number of areas they found to be “pretty outdated” aboard the aircraft, which had been part of Air India’s fleet for 10.4 years by this point. They noted: “Even the magazines aren’t very well kept”.

Expressing displeasure at the “very poor hygiene” standards that quickly became apparent when they took their seat, the travel reviewer showed footage of stains on the torn seat cushions, as well as on the fold-out tray table. He remarked: “Air India has to improve on this.”

On top of this, their remote control socket was broken, and their in-flight entertainment screen wasn’t working. A glance around the cabin showed he wasn’t alone on this front.

Unfortunately, there were yet more grim finds awaiting him in the “old and dirty” bathroom, which he claimed had “no amenities” or even tissue paper. The air freshener also didn’t seem to be working. Calling upon Air India to update and refurbish their older planes, he asserted: “It’s only been half an hour into the flight, and it’s already dirty”.

Broken seats

In April of this year, as previously reported by the View From The Wing travel publication, an Air India passenger making the 7,500-mile journey from Chicago to Delhi claims she was told “there was a technical issue” with her business class seat, which “wouldn’t recline”.

Instead, she says she was offered two economy seats, which she was allegedly pressed to take.

Although she allegedly made it clear that she wished to keep the broken business class seat and have a partial refund, she was informed this wasn’t an option.

She claims staff continued to press her to take the economy seats, and handed over a form for the seat reassignment.

After sitting in her original business class seat, the passenger allegedly found only a broken tray table. She also learned that her seat opponent had accepted a downgrade from first class, on account of a broken seat.

Two rows of business class had also been cleared out, apart from the crew rest seats in the cabin that were curtained off.

This alleged series of events was told by the woman’s daughter, who uploaded a screenshot of the seat reassignment form to Reddit.

Claiming that her mother had been “scammed”, she wrote: A few hours in, several of the crew/attendants get in the seats, cover themselves with blankets, and go to sleep.

“Then on her flight back home there were no issues with her seat but she watched them run the exact same play on the woman in front of her in line with the form, technical issue, etc – she tells her and multiple of the passengers get to talking about it and corroborate similar happening to them on other flights. Same situation occurs with rows of empty business seats that the crew takes over midway through the flight.”

‘Technical snag’

In a more recent review filmed back in May, aviation vlogger and content creator Noel Phillips documented his “awful” flight aboard Air India’s “Filthy Boeing 797”, showing followers sights such as a “grimy” window button, and a hair left behind by the previous seat occupant. They also spoke about how the power went out, and how passengers were told they’d been a “technical snag”, after learning the flight would be delayed by 45 minutes.

In one part of the video, a baffled Noel, who was travelling business class, shared: “So a passenger across the aircraft has got to their seat, and there’s like a massive bit of metal sticking out of the seat. Okay, they’ve fixed it with a bit of gaffer tape, so that’s all good, I suppose.”

According to Noel, staff initially didn’t mind him taking a review video, but when the technical difficulties began, it allegedly became clear that his camera was no longer welcome, forcing him to be more “discreet”.

While inspecting the toilet, Noel was alarmed to find “liquid matter on the floor”, and also wasn’t majorly won over by the in-flight entertainment, where advertised content such as games, music, and even the flight map, wasn’t available.

Unfortunately, Noel’s reading light was out of order, meaning he couldn’t even read the newspaper he’d been handed at the beginning of the flight. He also advised future travellers to bring along a power bank, as neither the 3-pin plug nor USB were working.

Flights deemed safe despite poor reputation

Mr Jones noted that, before the airline was acquired in 2022, the overall reputation of Air India was “exceptionally poor”, but regulators in the US and Europe continued to allow the airline to take passengers.

He said it was important to note that the airline would not have been able to if any “significant safety lapses” were found. The expert said: “Prior to privatisation, Air India’s reputation was exceptionally poor. But it’s important to remember that the airline was still deemed safe by European and American regulators, who permitted the airline to operate flights to the US, UK and Europe.

“If these bodies had found significant safety lapses then this would not have been permitted, as we saw over the last five years with Pakistan International Airlines which was banned from flying to these destinations until their safety record (and that of the Pakistani regulator) improved.”

The Mirror has reached out to Air India for comment

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