Headline

Tragedy Averted As Cargo Plane Makes Emergency Landing Shortly After Takeoff

Published

2 years ago

January 19, 2024

An Atlas Air Boeing 747 cargo plane made an emergency return to Miami International Airport following an engine problem shortly after takeoff, the airline said — prompting another investigation into the aviation giant.

The plane, which was headed to Puerto Rico, landed safely late Thursday “after experiencing an engine malfunction soon after departure,” an Atlas Air spokesperson told AFP in a statement. No injuries were reported.

“The crew followed all standard procedures and safely returned to MIA,” the spokesperson said, adding that the airline would investigate the cause of the incident.

A post-flight inspection revealed a softball-size hole above the second engine, said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in a notice.

The National Transportation Safety Board told AFP that it has opened an investigation into the case.

Boeing said in a separate statement that it is supporting its customers and will aid with the NTSB review.

The plane uses four engines made by GE Aerospace, which is also providing technical assistance as investigations proceed.

Atlas Air, which started operations in 1992, said on its website that it runs the world’s biggest fleet of Boeing 747 freighter aircraft.

Heightened scrutiny

US aviation giant Boeing is under intense global scrutiny over its 737 MAX 9 jet, following a scare on an Alaska Airlines plane this month when a panel came off mid-flight and forced an emergency landing.

There were no fatalities or serious injuries in that case either, but US regulators grounded 171 MAX 9 planes with the same configuration as the jet involved in the incident.

Boeing shares took a hit earlier in the month, with the FAA launching a safety probe into the January 5 Alaska Airlines incident too.

Woman in court for allegedly causing neighbour’s miscarriage
The FAA said this week that its probe would extend to Boeing’s manufacturing practices and production lines.

This was the first major in-flight safety issue on a Boeing plane since two fatal 737 MAX crashes, one in 2018 and one in 2019, led to a nearly two-year grounding of the aircraft.

Several incidents involving Boeing planes have since garnered attention, with an All Nippon Airways flight reportedly having to turn back on Saturday after a crack was found on the cockpit window of the Boeing 737-800.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was forced to delay his return from Switzerland due to what a US official called a “critical failure” of his airplane, also a Boeing.

A separate plane was sent to retrieve Blinken, with aides returning to Washington by commercial flight.

While US air safety regulators have completed inspections on 40 grounded 737 MAX planes, they have not specified when the aircraft would be cleared to return to service.

Headline

UK Nursery Worker Jailed For Abusing 21 Babies

Published

13 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

A judge on Friday jailed a nursery worker for eight years for a string of “gratuitous” and “sadistic” attacks on babies.

In one incident, Londoner Roksana Lecka, 22, kicked a little boy in the face several times.

Lecka, who blamed cannabis for her crimes, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 and was convicted after a trial of another 14 counts.

Sentencing her for attacks on 21 babies, Judge Sarah Plaschkes said she had committed “multiple acts of gratuitous violence” at two London nurseries where she worked.

“You pinched, slapped, punched, smacked and kicked them. You pulled their ears, hair and their toes. You toppled children headfirst into cots,” she said.

“Often the child would be quietly and happily minding its own business before you deliberately inflicted pain… Your criminal conduct can properly be characterised as sadistic,” she added.

Lecka’s cruelty was revealed in June 2024 after she was seen pinching a number of children.
Police were called in and found multiple incidents recorded on the nursery CCTV.

Victim impact statements submitted to London’s Kingston Crown Court from parents of Lecka’s victims told how they were left heartbroken and guilt-stricken by the attacks.

“These children were so innocent and vulnerable,” one mother told the court.

“They couldn’t speak, they couldn’t defend themselves and they couldn’t tell us as parents that something had happened to them,” she added.

“They were totally helpless and Roksana preyed upon them.”

The hearing was told that she had apologised to the parents in a letter to the court in which she said cannabis had turned her into a different person.

She had been addicted to the drug around the time of the offences, but had not told the nursery.
She was found not guilty of three further counts of child cruelty.

Headline

Italy Fines Six Oil Firms $1bn Fine For Restricting Competition

Published

15 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

Italy’s antitrust regulator said Friday it has slapped Italian energy giant Eni and five other companies with fines totalling more than 936 million euros ($1.1 billion) for “restricting competition” in the sale of fuel.

The authority said in a statement that Eni, Esso, Ip, Q8, Saras and Tamoil “coordinated to set the value of the bio component factored into fuel prices”, which tripled between 2019 and 2023.

A probe following a whistleblower’s complaint revealed that “the companies implemented parallel price increases — largely coinciding — which were driven by direct or indirect information exchanges among them”, the authority said.

“The cartel began on 1 January 2020 and continued until 30 June 2023,” it added.

AFP

Headline

Trump Signs Order For TikTok’s Sale, Valued At $14bn

Published

17 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order declaring that his plan is to sell TikTok’s US operations to American and global investors.

As reported by Reuters on Friday, the order requires companies bidding for TikTok to meet the national-security requirements of the 2024 law that otherwise would ban the app unless its Chinese owners divest.

Speaking to reporters at an Oval Office briefing on Thursday, Vice President James Vance said the newly created US entity would be “valued around $14 billion.

“We actually think this is a good deal for investors, but they will make a determination about what they want to invest and what they think is the proper value,” he said.

The White House on Thursday pushed back the law’s enforcement date to January 20 to allow time for the transaction, investor commitments, and negotiations with Chinese authorities.

The publication of the executive order shows Trump is making progress on the sale of TikTok’s US assets.

However, details remain to be worked out, including how the U.S. company would handle TikTok’s most valuable asset: its recommendation algorithm.

“There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law,” Vance said.

According to Reuters, Trump’s order says the algorithm will be retrained and monitored by the U.S. company’s security partners, and operation of the algorithm will be under the control of the new joint venture.

Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had indicated approval of the plans. “I spoke with President Xi,” Trump said. “We had a good talk, I told him what we were doing, and he said go ahead with it.”

Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. TikTok did not immediately comment on Trump’s action.

Trump has credited TikTok, which has 170 million U.S. users, with helping him win reelection last year. Trump has 15 million followers on his personal TikTok account. The White House also launched an official TikTok account last month.

“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said.

He said that Michael Dell, the founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies; Rupert Murdoch, the chairman emeritus of Fox News owner Fox Corp, and newspaper publisher News Corp, and “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors” would be part of the deal.