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Spain and Portugal are reeling from a massive, unexplained power outage that knocked out traffic lights, caused chaos on roads and in airports, and prompted both countries to declare a state of emergency, CNN reported.

Portugal’s grid operator Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN) said electrical supply was lost across the entire Iberian Peninsula, and in parts of France, shortly after midday. Hours later, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said authorities were still not sure what caused the blackout.

The outage took out lighting and power sockets, and caused subway systems to suddenly fail. In Madrid, traffic piled up on the roads after the lights went out.

“I was driving and suddenly there was no traffic lights … It was a bit of a jungle,” Luis Ibáñez Jiménez told CNN. “I saw a massive bus coming, and I had to accelerate a lot to go past it.”

The cause of the blackout was unclear, but its impact was dramatic: transport hubs were shuttered and governments in both countries, which share a population of around 60 million people, hastily arranged emergency meetings to co-ordinate a response, according to CNN.

The head of Israel’s domestic intelligence service, Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, announced his resignation on Monday, stating he would step down on June 15, 2025, after 35 years of service. His retirement comes after a turbulent era, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's effort to dismiss him earlier this year, Reuters reported.

Netanyahu had expressed distrust in Bar, especially amid the ongoing war, with Bar's duties including counter-terrorism and security for government leaders. The attempt to remove Bar triggered significant protests, with critics accusing the administration of weakening major government structures. The Israeli Supreme Court intervened and temporarily halted the dismissal.

Bar had already expressed his intent to resign before his term’s official end, taking responsibility for Shin Bet's failure to prevent the October 7 Hamas attack, which triggered the Gaza war, as stated by the Reuters.

The controversy highlights the ongoing tensions between Netanyahu’s government and the Israeli security establishment.

The first 27 satellites for Amazon's Kuiper broadband internet constellation were launched into space from Florida on Monday, kicking off the long-delayed deployment of an internet-from-space network that will rival SpaceX's Starlink, Reuters reported.

The satellites are the first of 3,236 that Amazon plans to send into low-Earth orbit for Project Kuiper, a $10 billion effort unveiled in 2019 to beam broadband internet globally for consumers, businesses and governments - customers that SpaceX has courted for years with its powerful Starlink business.

Sitting atop an Atlas V rocket from the Boeingand Lockheed Martinjoint-venture United Launch Alliance, the batch of 27 satellites was lofted into space at 7 p.m. EDT pm from the rocket company's launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Bad weather scrubbed an initial launch attempt on April 9.

Kuiper is arguably Amazon's biggest bet under way, pitting it against Starlink as well as global telecommunications providers like AT&T and T-Mobile. The company has positioned the service as a boon to rural areas where connectivity is sparse or nonexistent, according to Reuters.

The 19th meeting of the Medical Education Commission held on Monday concluded that the private medical colleges should provide living allowance to residential doctors on par with government doctors..

Similarly, residential doctors who are agitating should get back to their duties and studies, the meeting stressed.    

It may be noted that the 16th meeting of the Commission on February 8 had decided that the private medical colleges should pay the residential doctors with living allowances equivalent to their counterparts in public institutions. It has decided that private residential doctors shall be paid with Rs 48, 737 of living allowances per month.    

The meeting also entertained a report by the 11-member taskforce to review the number of seats and fees structures of the private medical colleges for MBBS and BDS programs.. 

In the meeting held at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, task force coordinator Dr Deepak Kafely, the Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, handed over the report to Prime Minister and Commission Chair KP Sharma Oli. 

The report has paved the way for forming a technical committee and reviews the seats and fees structures on the basis of standards of the medical colleges in accordance with the Medical Education Act- 2075 BS. 

Based on the report, a technical committee led by Prof Dr Sujan Babu Marhatta of the Directorate of Planning, Coordination and Academic Upgradation within the Commission was formed. It shall comprise Pro Dr Dibya Singh Shah, senior chartered accountant Mahesh Guragain, charter accountant Santosh Khanal and under secretaries of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Ministry of Health and Population and the Ministry of Finance. 

Talking to media following the meeting, Commission Co-Chair and Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Raghuji Pant said the Commission's 16th meeting has already decided that the living allowance should be provided to residential doctors on par with the government facilities and agitating doctors are expected to get back to the work.