• A British newspaper said it has uncovered a major royal security breach by using an inexpensive app to track Prince William’s air rescue ambulance while it is in the air.
The Mail on Sunday said the $4.65 app allowed it to keep close track of William as he flew in his capacity as a private pilot with East Anglian Air Ambulance in eastern England. It said the app allowed its journalists to pinpoint where William was planning to land the air ambulance helicopter. It published photos appearing to show William’s helicopter landing and of the prince talking to colleagues on the ground. For a small extra fee, the Mail said, users can receive a text alert every time the helicopter William uses takes off on a mission.
Air safety expert Christopher Yates said it would be relatively easy to modify software so that a helicopter William was using couldn’t be tracked. “Most of the time when an air ambulance is called it appears on the scene, scoops someone up and disappears,” he said. “If there were someone monitoring, the chance of them being there at the scene when he arrives is quite remote. And we don’t know from one day to the next if he’s going to be on board. So I don’t see a problem.”
William’s press office refused to comment, calling it a security matter.
• Michelle Obama welcomed thousands of athletes with intellectual disabilities to the Special Olympic World Games on Saturday during an opening ceremony filled with cheers, songs and praise for their courage and determination.
“My husband and I, we are so proud of you, so incredibly proud of you, and we love you all from the bottom of our hearts,” the first lady said.
She said the athletes were an example to the millions of people watching the event on television.
She was introduced by Special Olympian Tim Harris, who owns a restaurant in New Mexico that he said serves “breakfast, lunch and hugs!” Michelle Obama “knows the power of a hug,” he said, and shared one with the first lady.
About 6,500 athletes — some 400 from the U.S. contingent — from 165 countries streamed into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to cheers and roars. The athletes will participate in 25 sports over nine days, ranging from weightlifting to the triathlon.