Cheddar RSS

A London-bound Air India plane carrying more than 240 people crashed shortly after takeoff Thursday. Authorities said there were no known survivors.

It was not immediately clear why Air India flight 171, a Boeing 787-8, crashed into a residential area five minutes after taking off.

Boeing said it was aware of the reports of the crash and was “working to gather more information.”

It was the first fatal crash of a Boeing 787, a widebody, twin-engine plane known as the Dreamliner. But it’s the latest in a string of troubles for Boeing, most of them tied to the 737 Max, a different plane.

Here is a timeline of key events for Boeing in recent years:

December 2009: The 787 Dreamliner makes its first flight, taking off from Paine Field in Everett, Washington.

January 2013: 787s worldwide are grounded nearly three weeks after lithium ion batteries that are part of the planes led to a fire in one plane and smoke in a second.

August 2015: The first 737 Max plane rolls off the production line and within a year are undergoing flight tests.

Oct. 29, 2018: Lion Air Flight 610, a Boeing 737 Max 8, plunges into the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board. Questions arise over a new Boeing flight-control system called MCAS that Boeing did not disclose to pilots and airlines. Indonesian investigators say the Flight 610 pilots struggled for control as the automated system pushed the nose of the plane down more than two dozen times.

March 1, 2019: Wall Street remains enamored with Boeing as commercial aircraft orders rocket. Shares of Boeing Co. close at an all-time high of $430.35.

March 10, 2019: Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 Max 8, crashes after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 157 passengers and crew members. Shares of Boeing begin a long, downward slide and have yet to recover.

March 2019: Within days of the second crash, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and regulators in nations around the world order the grounding of all 737 Max jets.

Dec. 23, 2019: Boeing ousts CEO Dennis Muilenburg, who was seen as pressuring the FAA to lift the Max grounding order.

Jan. 7, 2021: U.S. Justice Department charges Boeing with fraud but won’t prosecute the company for misleading regulators about the 737 Max if it pays a $2.5 billion settlement.

Jan. 5, 2024: A panel covering an unused emergency exit blows off a 737 Max 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight. Pilots land the plane safely.

Feb. 26, 2024: A panel of outside experts, convened after the two deadly crashes, reports Boeing’s safety culture falls short despite the company’s efforts to fix it.

March 11, 2024: A LATAM Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flight between Australia and New Zealand suddenly plunges, injuring 50 people. Boeing tells airlines to inspect switches on pilots’ seats after a published report said an accidental cockpit seat movement likely cause the rapid loss of altitude.

March 25, 2024: Dave Calhoun, who replaced Muilenburg, says he will step down as CEO by year-end as part of a broader shakeup of Boeing leadership.

July 7, 2024: Boeing agrees to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government for misleading regulators who approved pilot-training standards for the Max.

July 31, 2024: Boeing names Kelly Ortberg as its new chief executive. Ortberg is a trained engineer and was CEO of aerospace supplier Rockwell Collins for eight years. Many see his appointment as an attempt by Boeing to get back to its roots.

Sept 13, 2024: About 33,000 Boeing factory workers walk off the job in a strike that will cripple production at one of the preeminent manufacturers in the U.S. for almost two months. It is the first labor action taken against the company in 16 years.

May 23, 2025: The Justice Department reaches a deal with Boeing that takes criminal prosecution off the table for allegedly misleading regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before the two fatal planes crashes. Boeing agreed to pay or invest more than $1.1 billion, including an additional $445 million for crash victims’ families, removing the risk of a criminal conviction that would have jeopardized the company’s status as a federal contractor.

NEW YORK (AP) — A senior adviser to Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign is joining Coinbase’s global advisory council, which already includes several former U.S. senators and President Donald Trump’s ex-campaign manager, as the cryptocurrency exchange broadens its political reach.

David Plouffe, a top Democratic strategist best known as an architect of Barack Obama’s successful 2008 presidential campaign, is the latest addition to the council, joining as the cryptocurrency industry plays an increasingly prominent role in shaping fast-moving legislation in Congress.

The bipartisan involvement reflects how both parties see crypto holders as an important and growing base of potential swing voters they are eager to tap, as well as their efforts to shape — and profit from — the lucrative industry. It also shows the political heft the crypto industry now carries under Trump, with several Democrats and Republicans joining the company’s payroll in order for the company to influence policy how it wishes.

The crypto industry also was among the largest spenders in the 2024 election. A crypto super political action committee spent over $130 million in 2024 congressional races. Coinbase — the nation’s largest crypto exchange — was the super PAC’s biggest contributor.

The cryptocurrency industry’s bets are already paying dividends. Congress is now moving quickly to create a comprehensive framework for the regulation of digital assets amid a shift in Washington. Trump, a Republican, has pledged to make the U.S. the global capital of cryptocurrency, contrasting with what industry leaders viewed as a stifling regulatory approach under the previous Democratic administration. Americans may be soon able to invest in crypto in their retirement accounts, after Trump’s Secretary of Labor repealed a Biden administration’s guidance that said crypto may not be appropriate for 401ks and IRAs. President Joe Biden’s regulators had argued that extreme volatility of cryptocurrencies makes the asset class too risky for Americans trying to save long-term for retirement.

Regardless of how crypto has performed in the past, the ability for Americans to put their retirement funds, roughly $44 trillion in assets, into crypto will lead to billions of dollars in profits for the industry, if even a small portion of Americans put their assets into a cryptocurrency fund.

Trump and his family have also been aggressively expanding their personal business into almost every part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, including raising billions of dollars to buy bitcoin, creating a new stablecoin and launching and promoting a Trump-themed meme coin.

Trump addressed crypto enthusiasts at Coinbase’s policy conference in New York via video on Thursday, saying it’s “a really big honor” to be called the “first crypto president.”

“Congratulations to everyone at this exciting time for your industry and in our country’s life,” Trump said, to applause.

Chris LaCivita, the former co-campaign manager of Trump’s successful 2024 presidential bid, joined Coinbase’s advisory council in January.

LaCivita and Plouffe were interviewed Thursday at the policy conference in New York, where they talked about their efforts to court so-called “crypto voters” in the 2024 election. Both the Harris and Trump teams viewed the group as a new bloc of potential swing voters who were up for grabs. Coinbase chief policy officer Faryar Shirzad said the company met with both campaign to sell them on the potential.

LaCivita said Trump — who had once been a crypto skeptic — quickly came around, with the help of input from his sons Barron Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

“The newness of it I think was exciting, from the president’s standpoint,” said LaCivita. “It didn’t take really a lot.”

The campaign, he said, also saw an opportunity to engage with a swath of voters who may not have been actively engaged with politics in the past, including Black and younger voters, with whom the Republican Party has struggled in the past.

“It gave us an opportunity to establish common ground with an area and a demographic that we need expand in in order to be successful,” he said. “This was one of those just great growth opportunities in politics,” which he said are “few and far between.”

Plouffe said the Harris campaign had reached the same conclusion and argued the group is only growing.

“The folks who own crypto are pretty politically competitive,” he said. “These are not MAGA voters. They are swing voters. Lean a little Democratic, certainly lean a lot younger.”

Both were also bullish on their party’s chances in next year’s midterm elections. Plouffe stressed the party out of power generally has an edge. He acknowledged that the Democratic Party “has a lot of work to do on its brand” after their disappointing finish last year, but said he hoped “that’s going to come from the people who run and from the grassroots together.”

LaCivita said the goal for Trump would be to demonstrate to voters that he is delivering on his campaign promises.

Plouffe, who previously served on the global advisory board for Binance, joins a council that also includes former Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat-turned-independent. The role of advisers is to be a “sound board” to discuss policy efforts and business strategy, said Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase’s chief policy officer.

In Congress, legislation is advancing far more quickly than usual for a new industry — a pace that some involved in shaping the bills say comes amid an all-out pressure campaign from the cryptocurrency sector.

On Wednesday, a group of Democrats joined the Republican majority to advance legislation regulating stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency typically pegged to the U.S. dollar. Final passage through the Senate could come next week.

Meanwhile, a more sweeping bill to implement cryptocurrency market structure has begun moving through House committees.

___

Cappelletti reported from Washington.

NEW YORK (AP) — A man who says he was kidnapped by two crypto investors for his Bitcoin was seen in photos and videos “laughing and smiling” and moving about Manhattan freely during the days he claimed he was held captive and tortured, lawyers for the two suspects said in court Wednesday.

William Duplessie, 32, and John Woeltz, 37, pleaded not guilty and were ordered held in custody until their next court date on July 15. Prosecutors argue the man was clearly in distress because he ran barefoot and bloodied to the nearest police officer after escaping 17 days in captivity.

However, Duplessie’s lawyer said Wednesday that videos show the accuser participating in group sex and smoking crack cocaine while “laughing and smiling the whole time.” In other photos, Sam Talkin said, the accuser is seen visiting an eyeglass store with one of the defendants and could have fled or sought help at any time.

“The story that he is selling doesn’t make sense,” Talkin said in Manhattan criminal court as the defendants were formally arraigned.

Woeltz’s lawyer Wayne Gosnell added that witnesses told him the accuser came and went as he pleased from the upscale town house where he says he was held — going to church, clubs and dinners.

The accuser, a 28-year-old Italian national, has not been named by officials. Prosecutors say the defendants have known him personally for years.

In court Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Sarah Khan argued that someone who supports the defendants was selectively leaking videos to present a counternarrative of the events.

In reality, she said, the accuser was constantly watched, was not permitted to leave the house without being guarded and was subjected to violence, including being pistol whipped and cut with a small chain saw.

The defendants also took photos of the man various poses and acts to create the impression that he was not being held against his will, Khan said.

Police searching the town house found evidence corroborating his story, including a loaded pistol, chain saw and other instruments purportedly used to torture him.

They also located photographs, including one where the defendants point a gun to the accuser’s head, another where the accuser is tied to wheelchair, and still another showing the accuser being set on fire.

When prodded by the judge, Khan explained that the man didn’t actually sustain any burn injuries because the defendants would quickly douse the flames, sometimes by urinating on him.

What’s more, she said, prosecutors believe this is not the first time the defendants have held a person against their will. They are aware of two other potential victims in two other locations, according to Khan.

Lawyers for the two men, meanwhile, sought their release on $1 million bail and home confinement with their parents. They rejected suggestions from prosecutors that their clients could flee the country.

“He’s so far from a flight risk here. He’s ready to fight this case. He’s not going anywhere,” Talkin said of Duplessie.

The two appeared handcuffed in prison uniforms and didn’t speak in court other than to formally enter their pleas.

They are charged with kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon and face up to life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors say on May 6, the two men lured the victim to a town house in Manhattan’s posh SoHo neighborhood by threatening to kill his family.

The man said the two investors tormented him with electrical wires, forced him to smoke from a crack pipe and at one point dangled him from a staircase five stories high.

The man said he eventually agreed to hand over his computer password, then managed to flee as his captors went to retrieve the device.

Khan said Wednesday that last month’s kidnapping was at least the third instance in which the two had convinced the man to meet them in person, only to threaten him and take his electronic devices in order to obtain his cryptocurrency.

To date, she said, he hasn’t received his money or electronic devices back.

___

Follow Philip Marcelo on X: @philmarcelo.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Google has offered buyouts to another swath of its workforce across several key divisions in a fresh round of cost cutting coming ahead of a court decision that could order a breakup of its internet empire. The Mountain View, California, company confirmed the streamlining that was reported by several news outlets.

It’s not clear how many employees are affected, but the offers were made to staff in Google’s search, advertising, research and engineering units, according to The Wall Street Journal. Google employs most of the nearly 186,000 workers on the worldwide payroll of its parent company, Alphabet Inc.

“Earlier this year, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance for U.S.-based Googlers, and several more are now offering the program to support our important work ahead,” a Google spokesperson, Courtenay Mencini, said in a statement.

“A number of teams are also asking remote employees who live near an office to return to a hybrid work schedule in order to bring folks more together in-person,” Mencini said.

Google is offering the buyouts while awaiting for a federal judge to determine its fate after its ubiquitous search engine was declared an illegal monopoly as part of nearly 5-year-old case by the U.S. Justice Department. The company is also awaiting remedy action in another antitrust case involving its digital ad network.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is weighing a government proposal seeking to ban Google paying more than $26 billon annually to Apple and other technology companies to lock in its search engine as the go-to place for online information, require it to share data with rivals and force a sale of its popular Chrome browser. The judge is expected to rule before Labor Day, clearing the way for Google to pursue its plan to appeal last year’s decision that labeled its search engine as a monopoly.

The proposed dismantling coincides with ongoing efforts by the Justice Department to force Google to part with some of the technology powering the company’s digital ad network after a federal judge ruled that its digital ad network has been improperly abusing its market power to stifle competition to the detriment of online publishers.

Like several of its peers in Big Tech, Google has been periodically reducing its headcount since 2023 as the industry began to backtrack from the hiring spree that was triggered during pandemic lockdowns that spurred feverish demand for digital services.

Google began its post-pandemic retrenchment by laying off 12,000 workers in early 2023 and since then as been trimming some divisions to help bolster its profits while ramping up its spending on artificial intelligence — a technology driving an upheaval that is starting to transform its search engine into a more conversational answer engine.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Elon Musk says Tesla is “tentatively” set to begin providing robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, on June 22.

In a post on his X social media platform, Musk said the date could change because Tesla is “being super paranoid about safety.”

Investors, Wall Street analysts and Tesla enthusiasts have been anticipating the rollout of the driverless cabs since Musk said earlier this year that the service would launch in Austin sometime in June.

Last month, Musk told CNBC that the taxis will be remotely monitored at first and “geofenced” to certain areas of the city deemed the safest to navigate. He said he expected to initially run 10 or so taxis, increase that number rapidly and start offering the service in Los Angeles, San Antonio, San Francisco and other cities.

Musk has been promising fully autonomous, self-driving vehicles “next year” for a decade, but the pressure is on now as Tesla actually begins to operate a self-driving taxi service. Sales of Tesla’s electric vehicles have sagged due to increased competition, the retooling of its most popular car, the Model Y, and the fallout from Musk’s turn to politics.

The Austin rollout also comes after Musk had a public blowup with President Donald Trump over the administration’s tax bill. Some analysts have expressed concern that Trump could retaliate by encouraging federal safety regulators to to step in at any sign of trouble for the robotaxis.