Israel's first F-35 jets land as Trump blasts costs

December 13, 2016

Nevatim Air Base (Israel), Dec 13: The US F-35 stealth fighter programme suffered a dual blow today as President-elect Donald Trump blasted "out of control" costs and bad weather delayed delivery to Israel by six hours.Trump reuters1

With US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter in Israel for the arrival of the first two of 50 of the warplanes bought from aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, Trump lashed out on Twitter against the programme.

"The F-35 program and cost is out of control. Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th," Trump said, referring to his inauguration day.

Lockheed Martin's stock tumbled 4.3 per cent shortly after the tweet, which prompted a response from the company. With a current development and acquisition price tag of USD 379 billion for a total of 2,443 F-35 aircraft - most of them destined for the US Air Force - the plane is the most expensive in history.

Once servicing and maintenance costs are factored in over the aircraft's lifespan through 2070, overall programme costs are expected to soar to USD 1.5 trillion.

Speaking at the landing site in southern Israel, Jeff Babione, Lockheed's programme manager for the F-35s, told journalists the planes represented a good deal. "It's great value and I look forward to any questions that the president-elect may have," he said.

In Israel, the first two F-35s landed at Nevatim air base at around 8.15 pm (1845 GMT), around six hours late after being delayed by bad weather in Italy, believed to be fog.

Some 4,000 people had been expected to watch the landings but the crowds thinned as the landing was delayed, leaving only around half the seats full by nightfall.

The two planes came to a halt in front of the spectators, one on each side of the stage erected for speeches of welcome. "The aircraft landing here will change the rules of the game," President Reuven Rivlin said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to Israel's air force as the state's long arm. I want to tell the people of Israel today that this long arm today became longer, more powerful," he said.

"Anyone thinking of attacking us will be attacked," he added, in an apparent reference to arch-foe Iran. "Anyone thinking of destroying us places his own existence in danger."

A Lockheed official said the delivery delay was caused by Italian air safety regulations, rather than any limitation of the planes, but this did not stop jibes.

"Here's hoping we only go to war on sunny days..." one Israeli joked on Twitter. The Trump attack and the delay in the fighters' arrival threatened to overshadow what Israel had labelled a key day in its military's future.

While other countries have ordered the planes, Israel - which receives more than USD 3 billion a year in US defence aid - says it will be the first outside the US with an operational F-35 squadron.

Carter and Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman joined Netanyahu and Rivlin at the ceremony.

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News Network
February 4,2020

Kolkata, Feb 4: A Thailand national on Tuesday gave birth during a flight from Doha to Bangkok.

The unnamed woman passenger went into labour and delivered the baby with the help of a cabin crew of Qatar airways at around 3 am.

The aircraft made the emergency landing in Kolkata and the woman was admitted to a private hospital here. Both the mother and the baby are doing fine.

"An unscheduled flight from Doha to Bangkok QR-830 landed around 03:09 am at Kolkata airport in medical priority landing. The pilot of Qatar flight had asked SOS to ATC for medical priority landing. The flight landed safely, the airport team with the doctor was attending the concerned." Kolkata Airport official said while speaking to news agency.

More details in this regard are awaited.

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News Network
June 24,2020

Washington, Jun 24: An Indian restaurant in the Sante Fe City of New Mexico, owned by a Sikh, was broken into and vandalised with hate messages scrawled on its walls, a media report said Tuesday.

The damage caused to India Palace restaurant is estimated to be worth USD 100,000, local Santa Fe Reporter said adding that the vandalisation is being investigated by local police and the FBI.

Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) has condemned the incident.

"This kind of hate and violence is unacceptable and swift action must be taken to ensure the safety and security of all Americans," said Kiran Kaur Gill SALDEF executive director.

According to the local daily, tables were overturned, glassware was smashed into piles on the floor, wine racks were emptied, a statue of a goddess was beheaded and computers were stolen.

The vandals also turned over and destroyed food warmers while the front desk area was devastated, plates smashed and the kitchen rendered completely unusable, it said.

"I walked into the kitchen, I saw everything and I was like, hold on, what? What is going on here?" owner Baljit Singh told Santa Fe Reporter. "White power," "Trump 2020," "go home," and far worse were spray-painted on walls, doors, counters and any other available surface.

"Some phrases contained threats of violence and derogatory racial slurs," the daily said.

"Santa Fe is a peaceful town, and the Sikh community has lived here, beautifully integrated, since the 60s," said SALDEF board member Simran Singh, who lives minutes away from the restaurant.

"Tensions have flared recently with the reinvigoration of the Black Lives Matter movement and the removal of statues associated with Spanish colonisers of this area, who committed a number of atrocities," he said.

"Nevertheless, we are seeing an outpouring of love and support around the city and in my experience, our neighbors love and appreciate us, as we love and appreciate them," he added.

SALDEF said that it has seen an unprecedented rise in hate crimes including the April 29 incident wherein a Sikh American Lakhwant Singh was brutally attacked by a man identified as Eric Breeman in Lakewood, Colorado.

Lakhwant Singh was told to "go back to your country," while being attacked. No formal hate crime charges have been brought against the attacker.

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Agencies
March 1,2020

Washington, Mar 1: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed a fine of over $200 million for all major US mobile carriers for selling the location data of customers to some agencies.

The Federal Communications Commission today proposed fines against the nation's four largest wireless carriers for apparently selling access to their customers' location information without taking reasonable measures to protect against unauthorised access to that information. As a result, T-Mobile faces a proposed fine of more than $91 million, AT&T faces a proposed fine of more than $57 million, Verizon faces a proposed fine of more than $48 million, and Sprint faces a proposed fine of more than $12 million, the FCC said in a statement on Friday.

The Enforcement Bureau of FCC opened this investigation after reports surfaced that a Missouri Sheriff, Cory Hutcheson, used a "location-finding service" operated by Securus, a provider of communications services to correctional facilities, to access the location information of the wireless carriers' customers without their consent between 2014 and 2017.

"American consumers take their wireless phones with them wherever they go. And information about a wireless customer's location is highly personal and sensitive. The FCC has long had clear rules on the books requiring all phone companies to protect their customers' personal information. And since 2007, these companies have been on notice that they must take reasonable precautions to safeguard this data and that the FCC will take strong enforcement action if they don't. Today, we do just that," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

"This FCC will not tolerate phone companies putting Americans' privacy at risk."

The FCC also admonished these carriers for apparently disclosing their customers' location information, without their authorisation, to a third party

The four major US carriers mentioned sold access to their customers' location information to "aggregators," who then resold access to such information to third-party location-based service providers (like Securus).

Although their exact practices varied, each carrier relied heavily on contract-based assurances that the location-based services providers (acting on the carriers' behalf) would obtain consent from the wireless carrier's customer before accessing that customer's location information.

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