Defenceless dead: Media rush to blame Air India pilot
| The ink is barely dry on the preliminary report into the tragic June 12 crash of Air India Flight 171 - a Boeing 787 Dreamliner that plunged into a medical college housing block in Ahmedabad just seconds after takeoff - and already, parts of the British press have done what they do best: smear the dead to save the powerful.
A total of 260 lives were lost, including everyone onboard except one British national, and several on the ground.
And yet, instead of waiting for a thorough, fact-based conclusion, journalists have gleefully latched onto a single ambiguous cockpit exchange to paint a dead man - Captain Sumeet Sabharwal - as the architect of his demise.
According to investigators and US officials...
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malaysiakini
16 hours ago
- Malaysiakini
Defenceless dead: Media rush to blame Air India pilot
COMMENT | The ink is barely dry on the preliminary report into the tragic June 12 crash of Air India Flight 171 - a Boeing 787 Dreamliner that plunged into a medical college housing block in Ahmedabad just seconds after takeoff - and already, parts of the British press have done what they do best: smear the dead to save the powerful. A total of 260 lives were lost, including everyone onboard except one British national, and several on the ground. And yet, instead of waiting for a thorough, fact-based conclusion, journalists have gleefully latched onto a single ambiguous cockpit exchange to paint a dead man - Captain Sumeet Sabharwal - as the architect of his demise. According to investigators and US officials...
The Star
20 hours ago
- The Star
Junta chief attends event honouring Suu Kyi's father
Watchful eye: Policemen patrolling a street in Yangon on the 78th Martyrs' Day. — AFP The head of the military government made a rare appearance at a ceremony honouring Gen Aung San, an independence hero and father of jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Yesterday was the first time 69-year-old Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing attended the Martyrs' Day wreath-laying since the army ousted Suu Kyi and seized power in February 2021. Martyrs' Day was an important event in Myanmar's calendar for decades. However, the military has downplayed the holiday in recent years. It commemorates the assassination of Aung San, a former prime minister who was gunned down at the age of 32 along with six Cabinet colleagues and two other officials in 1947, just months before the country – then called Burma – achieved freedom from British colonial rule. A political rival, former prime minister U Saw, was tried and hanged for plotting the attack. Suu Kyi, who was detained when the army took over in 2021, was absent from the event for a fifth consecutive year. She is currently serving a 27-year prison term on what are widely regarded as contrived charges meant to keep her from political activity. She has not been seen in public since her arrest. Ye Aung Than, a son of Suu Kyi's estranged older brother, was seen laying a wreath in front of his grandfather's tomb during the main ceremony at the Martyrs' Mausoleum near the foot of the towering Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. With Myanmar national flags flying at half-staff, members of the ruling military council and Cabinet as well as high-ranking military generals joined Hlaing in placing a basket of flowers in front of the tombs of the nine martyrs. As the ceremony was held, people in Yangon paid tribute to independence leaders by blaring car horns and sirens at 10.37am, the time of the 1947 attack. The event comes five months before elections that the military has promised to hold by the end of this year. The poll is widely seen as an attempt to legitimise the military's seizure of power through the ballot box and is expected to deliver a result that ensures the generals retain control. The 2021 military takeover was met with widespread nonviolent protests, but after peaceful demonstrations were put down with lethal force, many opponents of military rule took up arms, and large parts of the country are now embroiled in conflict. — AP
The Sun
21 hours ago
- The Sun
Arensman gives Ineos something to cheer about as doping cloud hangs
THYMEN Arensman gave Ineos-Grenadiers something to cheer about, despite a doping cloud hanging over the team, as he won the 14th stage of the Tour de France following a superb solo ride in the 182.6-km mountain trek between Pau and Superbagneres on Saturday. Slovenian Tadej Pogacar retained the overall leader's yellow jersey as he took second place by beating chief rival Jonas Vingegaard in a two-man sprint finish, one minute 12 seconds behind Arensman, the first rider from the British outfit to win on the Tour in two years. Ineos Grenadiers have been facing questions about one of their team carers, who is at the centre of allegations involving alleged message exchanges in 2012 with a doctor connected to the notorious Operation Aderlass doping scandal, which rocked the sporting world in 2019. Bradley Wiggins won the Tour in 2012 with the team, which was then known as Team Sky before Chris Froome went on to win another four for the squad. The team carer was seen at the beginning of the Tour in Lille but has not been sighted in recent days. 'I have no idea about this, you have to ask the management about this. I'm just focused on my job, doing my own thing,' Arensman told reporters. Ineos Grenadiers were not immediately available for comment. Although no formal charges have been brought, the development has cast a shadow over the team's Tour campaign. 'Ineos Grenadiers Cycling Team is aware of recent media allegations relating to the 2012 season and a member of its staff. These allegations have not to date been presented to the team by any appropriate authority,' the team said in a statement. The team added that it had formally requested information from the International Testing Agency (ITA) and reaffirmed its zero-tolerance policy regarding doping violations. The ITA told Reuters it would not further comment on the matter. Blood transfusions Operation Aderlass, which began with a raid during the 2019 Nordic World Ski Championships in Austria, implicated athletes and medical personnel across several sports, including cycling. The doctor at the centre of the case, Mark Schmidt, was later convicted and sentenced to prison for administering illegal blood transfusions. On the Tour, defending champion Pogacar extended his lead over Dane Vingegaard in the general classification by six seconds to 4:13 at the end of the Pyrenean stage, where Belgian Remco Evenepoel, who had started the day in third place overall, abandoned. The day belonged to Arensman, however, as the Dutchman went solo from the day's breakaway in the penultimate climb to the Col de Peyresourde (7.1 km at 7.8%) before his team car hit and knocked down a spectator amid the usual roadside chaos on the Tour. Arensman never looked back and held firm on his way up to Superbagneres (12.4 km at 7.3%) as Vingegaard attacked several times in an attempt to drop Pogacar. But the world champion did not flinch and easily beat his rival in the final metres to further cement his dominance. 'I can't really believe it. I got sick after the Giro, but I had a good preparation going into my first Tour. I had to be patient and wait for the mountains to try my luck. This is unbelievable, the way I did it today,' Arensman said. 'I had amazing legs and I'm in the shape of my life. I thought with Tadej and Jonas in the favourites group three minutes behind, I was not sure I had enough, but I held them off.' The peloton, controlled by Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG, reduced the gap with the breakaway from four to just over two minutes, giving the sense that the Slovenian would go for the win. But Arensman had other ideas and he went on his own in the Col de Peyresourde and never looked back - REUTERS
