New Delhi: Following inspections of its Boeing fleet, Air India has said it did not find “any problems” with the locking mechanisms of its fuel switches, Jenny Gross reports in the New York Times.
The inspection came within days of a preliminary report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau on the 12 June crash of Air India plane AI 171 in Ahmedabad. The report said that moments after the take-off, the fuel switches of the London-bound plane transitioned from the ‘run’ to ‘cut-off’ position just one second apart. The deadly crash left 260 people dead.
The NYT wrote, “Last week, regulators in India ordered that airlines inspect all the fuel switches on their Boeing planes. In a statement on Tuesday, Air India, the nation’s flagship carrier, said that it had ‘completed precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism’ of the switches. In the inspections, no issues were found with the said locking mechanism,’ it said.”
A British F-35B fighter jet that was stranded in Kerala for weeks and offered plenty of meme material is finally on its way home, the New York Times also reported.
“As the jet sat idle at the airport, it drew attention from amused locals, including the region’s tourism department. Indians poked fun at the plane with memes, including a fake travel review of Kerala from the jet and a spoof listing for the plane’s sale on a classified site,” the report says.
The Wall Street Journal’s Aakash Hassan and Shan Li spotlight India-Pakistan bravado and another kind of standoff, the flag lowering ceremony at the Wagah Border.
The ritual has fueled an escalating game of one-upmanship, which has only ratcheted up since May, when the two nuclear-armed neighbours clashed in a four-day conflict that tipped dangerously close to a full-blown war.
“We cannot be seen any lesser than the Pakistan side—in height, in bearing,” Himanshu Yadav, assistant commandant in India’s Border Security Force posted at the Wagah border, has been quoted as saying. “This is why very fine men get sent here.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to the United Kingdom beginning 23 July will see the signing of a “landmark” free trade agreement, “a political and economic prize” amid US-induced trade tensions, reports Penelope Macrae in The Guardian.
“India stood firm on key demands during negotiations, winning concessions on work visas, recognition of professional qualifications, and exemptions from national insurance contributions for Indian nationals working temporarily in the UK, all longstanding sticking points,” the report says.
German insurer Allianz has reentered India to tie up with Jio in a 50:50 venture, “months after it exited a 24 year partnership with Bajaj,” notes Veena Venogupal in the Financial Times’ India Business Briefing.
“While Allianz has significant depth of experience and underwriting capabilities and has been a reinsurer in India for more than a quarter of a century, the Ambanis and their Reliance empire bring deep pockets and the patience to play the long game. In the past couple of years, Reliance has also managed to quickly build expertise in offering digital-first financial services products to the mass market in India,” says the India Business Briefing.
Another report in the FT looks at how competitive MNCs are returning to India in order to furnish “their core AI needs,” including McDonald’s and UK insurer Bupa.
“The centres represent a shift for India’s back offices from providing support services to performing core competitive functions that directly affect companies’ profitability. They come as hiring AI engineers in the US and Europe has become increasingly expensive, with some technology groups offering eye-watering sign-on bonuses for top talent,” the report says.
“Babydoll Archi”, an AI-generated Instagram star, garnered 1.4 million followers. But her face bore an uncanny similarity to a homemaker in Assam’s Dibrugarh, and her ex-boyfriend has now been arrested for creating the deepfake, finds Geeta Pandey in the BBC.
“Senior police officer Sizal Agarwal who’s heading the investigation told the BBC that Sanchi and Bora had a falling out and the AI likeness he created was to exact ‘pure revenge’ on her,” the report notes.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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