Headline
U.S Plane Carrying 64 Passengers Collides With Army Black Hawk At Reagan Airport

A commercial aeroplane collided in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter as the jet was approaching a runway at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night, according to federal aviation officials.
The accident happened as the jet, operated by regional carrier PSA Airlines on behalf of American Airlines, was attempting to land just before 9 p.m. ET.
There was no immediate word on fatalities. But the incident could be the most significant disaster in U.S. airspace in at least 15 years.
American Airlines said there were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the jet, a Bombardier CRJ-700. “Our concern is for the passengers and crew on board the aircraft. We are in contact with authorities and assisting with emergency response efforts,” the airline said in a statement.
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The Pentagon told NPR that the Army Black Hawk helicopter had three soldiers on board and was out of Fort Belvoir, Va.
A webcam at the nearby John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts showed a small aircraft, presumably the helicopter, colliding with the passenger jet at a low altitude, followed by a bright explosion. Radar tracking sites show the passenger jet appears to have fallen into the frigid Potomac River.
The jet, operating as American Eagle Flight 5342, had departed from Wichita, Kan., and was attempting to land on Runway 33 at Reagan airport (DCA).
DC Fire and EMS confirmed that a small aircraft crashed into the Potomac River near the airport, as helicopters and fireboats rushed to the scene to search for survivors. “There are multiple partner agencies coordinating a search and rescue operation in the Potomac River,” according to a news release from DC Fire and EMS and the Metropolitan Police Department.
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The airspace in and around DCA is complicated due to challenging approaches into the airport as well as flight restrictions above government buildings. It’s particularly busy airspace too with an influx of police and military helicopters operating in the area.
In a statement from the White House, President Trump said, “I have been fully briefed on the terrible accident which just took place at Reagan National Airport. May God Bless their souls. Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders. I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise.”
The last major commercial airplane accident in the U.S. occurred in 2009, when a Colgan Air flight crashed near Buffalo killing a total of 50 people (49 passengers and crew, and one person inside a house).
The plane, American Airlines Flight 5342 with 60 passengers and four crew members on board, had departed from Wichita, Kansas, according to the airline. Three soldiers were on board the helicopter that came out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, according to a US defense official.
All takeoffs and landings have been halted at Reagan National Airport.
Headline
UK Nursery Worker Jailed For Abusing 21 Babies

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.
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“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.
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“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

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.
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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

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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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