Nearly five months after a plane crash in India which killed 260 people, the investigation has become mired in controversy – with the country's Supreme Court the latest to weigh in. Flight 171 was en route to London from Ahmedabad in western India on 12 June. It crashed into a building just 32 seconds after taking off.
An interim report was released in July, but critics argue it unfairly focused on the actions of the pilots, diverting attention away from a possible fault with the aircraft. On Friday, a judge in India's Supreme Court insisted that nobody could blame the aircraft's captain. His comments came a week after the airline's boss insisted there was no problem with the aircraft.
Capt. Amit Singh, founder of the Safety Matters Foundation, an organisation based in India that works to promote a safety culture in aviation has produced a report which claims the available evidence "strongly supports the theory of an electrical disturbance as the primary cause of the engine shutdown" that led to the disaster.
He believes an electrical fault may have caused the Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC), a computerised system which manages the engines, to trigger a shutdown by cutting off the fuel supply.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33pzypkkdzo
img: Prime Minister's Office (GODL-India), GODL-India <https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/Gazette_Notification_OGDL.pdf>, via Wikimedia Commons
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At least 12 people have been killed after a cargo plane ran off the runway and burst into flames in Kentucky on Tuesday. The aircraft, which was operated by the American delivery company UPS, struck several buildings after one of its engines caught fire and fell off during takeoff. Officials fear the number of dead and injured could rise.
UPS flight 2976, an MD-11F cargo plane, crashed during takeoff at Louisville International Airport at around 17:15 local time on Tuesday, skidding off the runway and striking nearby buildings. It was bound for Honolulu, Hawaii, with three crewmembers aboard.
The aircraft burst into flames and at least two nearby businesses were hit by the wreckage, the state's governor Andy Beshear has said.
Kentucky Petroleum Recycling was struck "pretty directly", Beshear said, with a second business - Grade A Auto Parts - also impacted.
Unverified footage of the incident shows the plane was already engulfed in flames when it careered off the runway.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce86gneqvz1o
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Three people were wrongly accused of downloading child abuse images due to a broadband wiring error by a BT engineer, a tribunal has heard.
The mistake meant internet activity linked to the real offender was traced instead to the address where two men and a woman were staying, who had their electronic devices seized over the course of two police searches.
The false accusations back in 2016 had "highly distressing and far-reaching" consequences for the three, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) was told.
It ruled that Dyfed-Powys Police had acted lawfully, and found that the error was caused by a technical fault rather than police misconduct.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgknm8xrgpo
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A preliminary report into last month's funicular crash in Lisbon that killed 16 people has detailed a litany of failings.
Portugal's Air and Rail Accident Investigations Bureau said an underground cable - which acted as a counterweight between two carriages and broke, causing the crash - was defective and had never been certified for passenger transportation.
It said the cable was not technically suitable and was acquired in 2022 by Carris, the company running Lisbon's public transport that now says it has dismissed its head of maintenance of furniculars and trams.
The 140-year-old Glória funicular, popular with tourists, derailed and crashed into a building on 3 September.
There were 11 foreigners among those killed, including the three British nationals, while another 20 people were injured.
The preliminary report, released on 20th October 2025, said there had been no oversight by Carris engineers and the cable was not tested before it was installed.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20pg8pzp2no
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Waymo, the American autonomous driving technology company, is expanding to London, with plans to offer rides starting in 2026. They aim to provide a fully autonomous ride-hailing service with no human behind the wheel.
“We’re thrilled to bring the reliability, safety and magic of Waymo to Londoners,” said Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. "Waymo is making roads safer and transportation more accessible where we operate. We’ve demonstrated how to responsibly scale fully autonomous ride-hailing, and we can’t wait to expand the benefits of our technology to the United Kingdom. ”
You can follow the Waymo journey in London here: https://waymo.com/waymo-in-uk
https://waymo.com/blog/2025/10/hello-london-your-waymo-ride-is-arriving
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