UPS grounds its MD-11 cargo planes after deadly crash

UPS said Friday that it had grounded its fleet of MD-11 cargo planes, after one of them was involved in a deadly crash in Kentucky this week.A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft exploded into flames when it crashed shortly after departing on Tuesday, killing at least 14 people. A three-person crew was aboard.Delivery giant FedEx has also grounded its fleet of MD-11s while it conducts a safety review, according to US media reports. The company did not immediately reply to an AFP request for confirmation.”Out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of safety, we have made the decision to temporarily ground our MD-11 fleet,” UPS said.”The grounding is effective immediately. We made this decision proactively at the recommendation of the aircraft manufacturer,” the courier added.The company said it had contingency plans in place “to ensure we can continue to deliver reliable service.”Around nine percent of UPS’s fleet are MD-11s, according to the company.Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said earlier that another crash victim had been located, bringing the total number to 14.”Please pray for these families, the Louisville community and everyone affected by this terrible event,” he said on X.- Trail of debris -The plane, filled with some 38,000 gallons of fuel for the long-haul flight to Hawaii, narrowly missed a major Ford vehicle assembly plant that employs some 3,000 people.Aerial footage of the crash site showed a long trail of debris as firefighters blasted water on the flames, with smoke billowing from the area.Investigators have said the accident was caused by one of the engines catching fire and detaching during takeoff.Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said this week that investigators had identified the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder — known as a plane’s black boxes — and would send them to Washington for analysis.The crash was reportedly the deadliest in UPS history. Its main hub, Worldport, is in Louisville, where it employs thousands of people.According to the NTSB, the plane was built in 1991 and was modified into a cargo aircraft. McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in 1997. The crash comes amid the longest government shutdown in US history, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warning this week of “mass chaos” in the skies due to a lack of air traffic control staff.Inman said the NTSB was not aware of any staff shortages at Louisville’s airport at the time of the crash.

Taliban govt says Pakistan ceasefire to hold, despite talks failing

Afghanistan’s Taliban government said Saturday its ceasefire with Pakistan would remain even though their latest talks failed, blaming Islamabad’s “irresponsible and uncooperative” approach.The two sides met on Thursday in Turkey to finalise a truce agreed on October 19 in Qatar, following deadly clashes between the South Asian neighbours.Both have remained tight-lipped on the content of the discussions, which are known only to have addressed long-standing security issues.”During the discussions, the Pakistani side attempted to shift all responsibility for its security to the Afghan government, while showing no willingness to take responsibility for either Afghanistan’s security or its own,” Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on social media.”The irresponsible and uncooperative attitude of the Pakistani delegation has not yielded any results,” he said.At a news conference later on, Mujahid stressed that the ceasefire “will hold”.”There is no issue with the ceasefire previously agreed upon with Pakistan, it will hold,” he said.Neither Islamabad nor mediators immediately commented on the announcement that the talks had failed.Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar had previously hinted that negotiations in Turkey were falling through, saying that the onus lay on Afghanistan to fulfil pledges to clamp down on terrorism, “which so far they have failed”.”Pakistan shall continue to exercise all options necessary to safeguard the security of its people and its sovereignty,” he wrote.- Demands -Relations between the one-time allies, who share a 2,600-kilometre (1,600-mile) frontier, have soured in recent years over Islamabad’s accusations that Afghanistan harbours militant groups which stage attacks in Pakistan.The Taliban government has consistently denied the allegations.Islamabad wants guarantees from Afghanistan’s Taliban government that it will stop supporting armed organisations, in particular the Pakistani Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan).Afghanistan meanwhile wants its territorial sovereignty to be respected and accuses Islamabad of supporting armed groups against it.Each side has threatened a resumption of hostilities that saw more than 70 people killed and hundreds wounded last month.The talks were threatened on Friday after each side blamed the other for border fighting in Spin Boldak on the Afghan side.A district hospital official told AFP that five people were killed in the fighting, including four women and one man.Afghanistan did not retaliate “out of respect for the negotiating team and to prevent the loss of civilian lives”, the Taliban spokesman said. Islamabad also accuses Afghanistan of acting with the support of India, its historical enemy, during a period of closer ties between the two countries. 

Trump says no US officials to attend G20 in South AfricaSat, 08 Nov 2025 08:27:26 GMT

President Donald Trump said no US officials would attend the G20 summit in South Africa, reviving debunked claims of white Afrikaners being systematically “killed and slaughtered” in the country.Trump had announced in September that Vice President JD Vance would travel to the meeting later this month instead of him, but has now said that US …

Trump says no US officials to attend G20 in South AfricaSat, 08 Nov 2025 08:27:26 GMT Read More »

Trump says no US officials to attend G20 in South Africa

President Donald Trump said no US officials would attend the G20 summit in South Africa, reviving debunked claims of white Afrikaners being systematically “killed and slaughtered” in the country.Trump had announced in September that Vice President JD Vance would travel to the meeting later this month instead of him, but has now said that US representatives will skip it entirely.”It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.”No U.S. Government Official will attend as long as these Human Rights abuses continue.”Trump said that Afrikaners — descendants of the first European settlers of South Africa — “are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated.”He added that he looked forward to hosting the 2026 G20 summit in the United States — which the billionaire US president will controversially hold at his own golf resort in Miami, Florida.The South African foreign ministry called Trump’s comments “regrettable” and said it was looking forward to hosting a “successful” summit set for November 22-23.”The characterisation of Afrikaners as an exclusively white group is ahistorical. Furthermore, the claim that this community faces persecution is not substantiated by fact,” it said in a statement. Pretoria chose “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability” as the theme for its G20 presidency but has faced some resistance, including from Washington.”South Africa’s focus remains on its positive global contributions,” the foreign ministry said.”Drawing on our own journey from racial and ethnic division to democracy, our nation is uniquely positioned to champion within the G20 a future of genuine solidarity.”- ‘White genocide’ -Trump has singled out South Africa for harsh treatment on a number of issues since he returned to the White House in January, most notably on his false claims of a “white genocide” in the country.He ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval office earlier this year, playing a video in which he alleged a campaign against white farmers by the post-apartheid government. South Africa’s government denies any such policy.Trump’s administration announced plans last week to drastically cut back the number of refugees to be accepted annually by the United States to a record low of 7,500 — and give priority to white South Africans.The two countries have also fallen out over issues including South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice, the UN’s top court.Trump has meanwhile slapped 30 percent tariffs on South Africa, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.