Obama backs Senate rule change

21 November 2013 Last updated at 17:31 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

President Obama says the blocking tactics are ''harmful to our democracy''

US President Barack Obama has lent his support to a move by Senate Democrats to limit Republicans' ability to block White House nominations.

The measure, known as the "nuclear option", curbs the power of the upper chamber's minority party to use a blocking tactic known as a filibuster.

Mr Obama cited Republicans' "unprecedented pattern of obstruction".

Republicans vowed they would use the new rule against Democrats if they won back the Senate in the next election.

Correspondents said Thursday's motion, which passed 52-48, would make American politics even more acrimonious.

'Power grab'

At the White House on Thursday, Mr Obama conceded that neither party had been blameless in filibusters.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

You may regret this a lot sooner than you think"

End Quote Mitch McConnell Senate minority leader

But he said it was unacceptable that nearly 30 of his nominees had been blocked from confirmation since he took office.

The US leader called it an "unprecedented pattern of obstruction in Congress" to block qualified candidates.

"A deliberate and determined effort to obstruct everything, no matter what the merits, just to refight the results of an election, is not normal," he said.

Under the rule change, the party in control of the upper chamber of the US Congress now requires just 51 votes, instead of 60, to overcome a filibuster of White House judicial or executive nominations.

Democrats currently have 55 seats in the Senate; Republicans 45.

The motion does not affect Supreme Court nominations or regular legislation.

Continue reading the main story

US filibuster reaction

"What is happening now is a rare change to the Senate rules, the consequences of which for the Senate, this president, the presidency and the future remain very uncertain," writes Talking Points Memo's David Kurtz.

Michael Needham, head of the conservative activist group Heritage Action, said: "For Harry Reid and President Obama, this is not about a couple of circuit court judges; this is an attempt to remake America to reflect their unworkable and unpopular progressive vision."

"If you think Republicans wouldn't have changed the rule to benefit themselves at the first chance they got - no matter what Democrats did - then you haven't been paying attention," writes Paul Waldman of the American Prospect.

"My suggestion to Republicans is to move on and, unfortunately, return the 'favor' when they are in power," writes Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post. "Republicans are not blameless in this."

It is viewed as the most significant rule change since 1975, when the requirement to end any filibuster on the Senate floor was decreased from two-thirds of all senators to the current 60.

"This is a power grab," argued Senator Lamar Alexander. "It's another raw exercise of political power to permit the majority to do anything it wants whenever it wants to do it."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his fellow Democrats - who control the chamber for now - had repeatedly warned they might ram through the motion.

In July, Democrats set aside a threat to do so only after Republicans dropped their long-standing objections to several White House nominees.

Earlier this week, Senate Republicans filibustered the nomination of a judge to a key appeals court, the third such move since October. Democrats could not muster enough votes to overcome the manoeuvre.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Democrats had themselves used the filibuster during the two terms of President George W Bush.

Democrats used the filibuster tactic 38 times during Mr Bush's two terms, while Republicans used it 54 times in Mr Obama's first term, according to a June report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

"You may regret this a lot sooner than you think," Mr McConnell, the Senate's top Republican, said on the chamber floor.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley told the Washington Post earlier that if the motion passed, his party would retaliate if it regained control of the chamber.

He said they would change the rules again to block any Democratic filibusters of Republican Supreme Court nominees.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Lamar Alexander called the rule change "dangerous", and a "raw exercise of political power"

20.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Alabama pardons 'Scottsboro Boys'

21 November 2013 Last updated at 18:42 ET

The US state of Alabama has granted posthumous pardons to three black teenagers wrongly accused of raping two white girls on a train in 1931.

Treatment of the youths known as the Scottsboro Boys - nine in all - helped spark the US Civil Rights movement.

The boys were convicted by all-white juries.

Eight were sentenced to death but none was ever executed. Five of the boys' convictions were overturned, and a sixth was pardoned in 1976.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

The decision by an Alabama parole board is the last chapter in a case that came to symbolise racial injustice in America's deep south, says the BBC's Jane O'Brien.

"While we could not take back what happened to the Scottsboro Boys 80 years ago, we found a way to make it right moving forward," said Alabama Governor Robert Bentley. "The Scottsboro Boys have finally received justice."

In March 1931, during the Great Depression, the boys were travelling by train through northern Alabama among a group of hobos, both black and white.

A fight broke out and the train was stopped near the town of Scottsboro. Nine black teenagers ranging in age from 13-19 were arrested.

"The deputy sheriff realised two of the white hobos were in fact women," historian Dan Carter told the BBC in October. "The young women worried they might be accused of prostitution, so they accused the black boys of having raped them.

"I think anyone today who studied the evidence would conclude no rapes occurred."

'Great day for freedom'

Charles Weems, Andy Wright and Haywood Patterson were pardoned on Thursday by the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles (ABPP).

Convictions against Olen Montgomery, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams and Roy Wright were overturned and charges dropped in 1937.

Clarence Norris received a pardon from Alabama Governor George Wallace in 1976. Norris, the last surviving Scottsboro Boy, died in 1989.

Civil rights groups' efforts to fight their convictions and to win new trials sparked civil rights protests and led to two landmark US Supreme Court rulings.

The US high court overturned convictions for some of them in 1932 on the grounds that the teenagers were denied competent legal counsel, and again in 1935 because African Americans were not allowed to serve as jurors during the trials.

The Alabama state legislature passed a law earlier this year allowing the parole board to grant the Scottsboro Boys posthumous pardons.

"Today, we were able to undo a black eye that has been held over Alabama for many years," ABPP assistant executive director Eddie Cook said following the board's unanimous decision.

The men's struggles later inspired books, films and a Broadway musical, as well as the Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center.

"It is a great day for freedom," the museum's executive director Shelia Washington said.

20.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

US-Afghan clash on pact timetable

22 November 2013 Last updated at 06:35 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

The BBC's Bilal Sawary in Kabul says security remains tight for the meeting

The US has said a new post-2014 security deal with Afghanistan should be signed by the end of the year - conflicting with earlier comments from Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The US said it was neither "practical nor possible" to delay the signing.

As a gathering of Afghan elders debated the pact, Mr Karzai said it would not be signed until after 2014 elections.

The deal may see 15,000 foreign troops remain, although the US says it has not yet taken a decision on any presence.

'I don't trust them'

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Washington appears to be growing more exasperated at efforts to sign the bilateral security pact with Afghanistan. If there was ever any doubt about the mistrust between the two countries, this issue has laid it bare.

The language from Washington has grown more impatient and blunt since President Karzai stated that the deal would only be signed when elections are conducted "correctly and with dignity".

American officials have made it clear that failure to sign the deal by the end of this year would "prevent" the US from being able to "plan for a post-2014 presence". And a firm commitment about just how many troops would remain won't be made without the deal.

President Karzai is clearly aiming for the maximum political cover - he used delaying tactics to secure a letter from President Obama giving assurances over the thorny issue of house searches. But there is a risk that the Americans, with other foreign commitments in Syria and Iran, could walk away altogether.

Opening the four-day grand assembly of elders - or Loya Jirga - in Kabul on Thursday, Mr Karzai urged the delegates to approve the new security deal.

He said that a number of world leaders - including from Russia, China, and India - were backing the accord, and that it would provide the security Afghanistan needed, as well as the foundation for forces from other Nato countries who were assisting Afghan troops.

But the tone of his comments reflected the difficulties both sides had experienced in the months it took to hammer out the details. The draft was made public only hours before the gathering.

Mr Karzai admitted there was a lack of trust between him and the Americans.

He said: "I don't trust them and they don't trust me. The last 10 years has shown this to me. I have had fights with them and they have had propaganda against me."

Debates

Loya Jirga delegates are now meeting in smaller closed-door groups to look at the deal in detail.

The delegates were divided into 50 groups, and were read each article in Dari and Pashto, allowing those without literacy time to debate each point.

The BBC's Bilal Sarwary, at the Loya Jirga, says the atmosphere in some rooms was relaxed, with delegates in favour of the pact.

But in other groups he could hear tense debates between the delegates.

Our correspondent witnessed one angry participant leaving in a protest, saying he had resigned from his position.

Afghan intelligence agents prevented the BBC from speaking to him.

Continue reading the main story

Security deal - main points

• Jurisdiction: US forces remaining after 2014 reportedly to receive immunity from Afghan courts
• Sovereignty: In October 2013 President Karzai appeared to have secured US agreement not to carry out attacks on Afghan soil without first consulting the Afghan authorities
• Security: The US in October 2013 said that it would not protect Afghanistan from external attack because it could get mired in a war with Pakistan

Timescale?

Mr Karzai also appeared to strike a new condition - saying any pact would not be signed until after presidential elections.

The vote will be held in less than six months' time, and Mr Karzai has served two terms so cannot stand again.

His office could not confirm to the BBC whether Mr Karzai - or his successor - would sign the pact.

The US quickly rejected that timetable.

State department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: "We believe that signing sooner rather than later is essential to give Afghans certainty about their future before the upcoming elections, and enable the United States and other partners to plan for US presence after 2014.

"It is neither practical nor possible for us to further delay because of the uncertainty it would create."

White House spokesman Josh Earnest reiterated the US timetable: "It is important for this security agreement to be signed, approved and signed by the end of this year."

Mr Earnest also stressed that no decision had yet been taken on any post-2014 US troops, saying: "We have not yet determined whether a troop presence will continue in Afghanistan."

Currently the multinational Nato force is due to pull out of Afghanistan from 2014.

According to the draft agreed by the US and Afghanistan, the new pact would remain in force "until the end of 2024 and beyond".

However, Mr Earnest said the mission "wouldn't take that long".

Tight security

The draft of the pact appeared to have resolved two critical issues - US raids on Afghan homes and who would have jurisdiction over trying US soldiers.

On Thursday, US President Barack Obama sent a letter to Mr Karzai vowing to respect his nation's sovereignty, and pledging that US forces would not enter Afghan homes except for "extraordinary circumstances".

Mr Karzai appeared to have conceded on jurisdiction for the prosecution of US troops.

The US-Afghan draft says: "Afghanistan authorises the United States to hold trial in such cases, or take other disciplinary action, as appropriate, in the territory of Afghanistan."

The Loya Jirga can amend or reject clauses in the pact, though its decisions are not binding. The deal will also have to be approved by parliament.

Security is tight for the meeting after a suicide bombing last weekend near the huge tent where it is being held.

The Taliban has branded the meeting a US-designed plot, and has vowed to pursue and punish its delegates as traitors if they approve the deal.

20.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

US prepares for more online gambling

22 November 2013 Last updated at 09:39 ET By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

Online gambling has been launched in the state of New Jersey, a sign that the US may slowly be opening up to the multibillion-dollar industry.

Unlike in many countries, online gambling remains prohibited by the US government because of legislation passed in 1961.

Individual states may allow online gambling if it does not cross borders.

A test is under way in New Jersey to make sure only people within the state can play.

Until now, only two of the country's 50 states, Nevada and Delaware, allowed online gambling and heavy restrictions are in place.

Geolocation technology, which checks where a person is logging on, is typically used to lock out gamblers from further afield.

In New Jersey, people taking part in the test have suggested the restrictions have been overbearing.

One user told the Associated Press news agency that he drove 30 miles further into the state to log on, but was still getting locked out because the system failed to recognise he was within New Jersey.

Despite these troubles, gambling in the state is expected to launch in full next week, with 14 websites on offer.

State-to-state

Although the US gave the world the glitz of Las Vegas and the bright lights of Atlantic City, the federal government has for the most part rejected the online gambling industry.

Continue reading the main story

The estimates for the New Jersey [gambling market] alone run somewhere between $250m and $1.2bn"

End Quote Mark Jordan PricewaterhouseCoopers

The 1961 Wire Act means a state can decide to allow online gambling, but only if sites and players are based within its borders.

The gambling industry is pressing for the federal government to greatly relax its stance, bringing it into line with other markets, such as the UK.

"A federal law, should it come in the future, would allow for a customer in California to play poker against a citizen in New Jersey," said Mark Jordan, a director at accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, who has researched the online gaming market extensively.

"At the moment you cannot do that. That's prohibited. What a lot of the operators are hoping is that as the states prove this can be done, and that it's safe, that the federal laws will change to allow state-to-state gaming."

Massive potential

The UK's online gambling industry is far less restricted, Mr Jordan told the BBC, and is envied by those looking to expand into the US.

"The UK gaming industry is one of the market leaders in the world," he said. "We are very well serviced here."

The value of the UK industry is put at around the $2bn (£1.2bn) mark. The US offers staggering possibilities in comparison.

"The estimates for New Jersey alone run somewhere between $250m and $1.2bn," Mr Jordan said.

"That market has got a huge broad range - it all depends on customer uptake and the quality of the product."

Illegal sites

Despite the illegality, some websites operating offshore have been able to offer gambling to people in the US.

Technology-savvy users have got around location restrictions by using proxy servers, which can fabricate a user's location.

But difficulties in receiving winnings have meant online gambling with offshore sites is too troublesome for all but a few determined users.

Furthermore, major innovations to create more sophisticated and life-like gaming environments are mostly the preserve of the major companies that do business in the UK.

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

20.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

US remembers Kennedy 50 years on

22 November 2013 Last updated at 14:55 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Kennedy died before he could disappoint, says the BBC's North America editor Mark Mardell from Dallas

The US has marked 50 years since President John F Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullet in Dallas, Texas.

The city, which long struggled with the legacy of the assassination, hosted a series of official events.

Kennedy, who served less than three years, is often ranked among the nation's most revered presidents.

Just 46 when he died, he is praised for his youthful vigour, his leadership through the Cuban missile crisis and his vision to put a man on the Moon.

But he is also remembered for ordering one of the most disastrous episodes of the Cold War, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of communist Cuba by a CIA-trained paramilitary force of Cuban exiles.

Continue reading the main story

The older generation who remember Kennedy the best perhaps look back through a golden haze"

End Quote

Kennedy's family members laid a wreath on his grave at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington DC on Friday. His wife Jackie and two of their children are also buried there.

President Barack Obama issued a proclamation for flags to be flown at half mast at the White House, US Capitol and other government buildings.

"Today, we honour his memory and celebrate his enduring imprint on American history," he said.

Among official events in Dallas on Friday, the city's symphony orchestra performed and bells tolled at the minute of Kennedy's death. Crowds thronged the ceremony at Dealey Plaza, where the president was shot.

"The man we remember today gave us a gift that will not be squandered: the chance to learn how to face the future when it's the darkest and most uncertain," Dallas Mayor Michael Rawlings said to a large crowd before a moment of silence was observed.

Historian and author David McCullough read several of Kennedy's most famous quotes, including: "We need men who can dream of things that never were, and ask, 'Why not?'"

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Bells mark the moment exactly 50 years since the death of JFK

Elsewhere, wreaths were laid in the German capital Berlin where Kennedy gave his Cold War-era "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in June 1963.

Those events and others conclude a week of tributes to the slain American leader.

Kennedy, a Democrat, belonged to one of the 20th Century's most prominent American political dynasties.

Conspiracy theorists gather

On 22 November 1963, he and his wife travelled to Dallas for early campaigning ahead of the following year's election.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Crowds of supporters lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the couple. As the presidential motorcade entered Dealey Plaza at around 12:30 local time (18:30 GMT), Kennedy's convertible passed the Texas School Book Depository.

Gunshots rang out. Bullets struck the president in the head and neck. Half an hour later, Kennedy was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

He was the fourth US president assassinated while in office, but the first to have his death captured on film.

Soon after, Vice-President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president aboard Air Force One.

Lee Harvey Oswald, a former Marine Corps veteran and Soviet defector employed at the depository at the time, was arrested in connection with the shooting.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

A British nurse in the Dallas hospital when JFK was shot and others recall learning of his death

On 24 November 1963, he was scheduled to be transferred from police headquarters to a county jail when he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby, a local nightclub owner.

Official inquiries have determined Oswald alone was responsible for the assassination, but Kennedy's murder has provided endless fodder for conspiracy theorists.

Members of one such group demonstrated in Dealey Plaza on Friday, wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "50 years in denial is enough" and holding a sign that said "coup d'etat".

'Look of horror'

The events of that November plunged the nation into mourning, and many Americans still recall where they were when they heard the news.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Texan Daniel Kendrick, who as a teenager witnessed the shooting, told the BBC he had been preparing to approach the motorcade in the hope of shaking the president's hand when he witnessed Kennedy's shooting.

"I saw the look on Jackie Kennedy's face," he recalled. "She turned and looked straight at me with a look of horror on her face. That really freaked me out. I had to run."

Historian Robert Dallek said Kennedy's popularity endured in part because Americans have been so disappointed in his successors.

"People want a better life in this country," he said. "They want to think their children are going to do better. And they associate this with Kennedy's youth, his promise, possibility."

20.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Duke rape accuser guilty of murder

22 November 2013 Last updated at 16:19 ET

A black US woman who falsely accused three white Duke University athletes of rape in 2006 has been convicted of stabbing her boyfriend to death.

In the state of North Carolina, Crystal Mangum was found guilty of the second-degree murder of Reginald Daye, 46.

Mangum, now 34, was hired to perform as an exotic dancer at a party for the Duke lacrosse players, later accusing three of gang-raping her.

The athletes were cleared after Mangum's story fell apart.

On Friday, Mangum was sentenced to up to 18 years in prison for stabbing Daye on 3 April 2011.

He died 10 days later from his injuries.

Privilege and entitlement

During the eight-day trial in Durham, North Carolina, Mangum acknowledged she "poked" Daye in the chest with a steak knife but claimed she acted in self-defence during an altercation.

Assistant District Attorney Charlene Franks told the jurors the evidence did not corroborate Mangum's account.

"It did not happen the way the defendant said it happened. No, not at all," he said, according to the Charlotte Observer.

In 2006, Mangum attended an off-campus party for the lacrosse team at which she was hired to perform as a stripper.

Later, Mangum accused Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans of raping her in a bathroom.

The case's race, class and gender elements provoked a national debate about the perceived privilege and out-of-control entitlement of elite male athletes on US university campuses.

But those assumptions were turned upside down when all charges against the three students were dropped by North Carolina's attorney general, who cited significant inconsistencies between the evidence and various accounts given by Mangum.

Durham, North Carolina, prosecutor Mike Nifong later resigned following an ethics trial investigating whether he had broken rules of professional conduct in the case.

20.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

North Korea confirms US citizen held

22 November 2013 Last updated at 19:06 ET

North Korea has acknowledged that it is holding an American national, the US state department has said.

The captive's identity has not been confirmed as consular access has not been granted, AP news agency reports.

The disclosure comes amid concern for Merrill Newman, 85, who was reportedly detained weeks ago in North Korea.

Mr Newman's family have appealed to Pyongyang to free him, saying there has been "some dreadful misunderstanding" and that he may need medication.

North Korea's acknowledgement came via Swedish officials, who oversee consular issues for the US as it lacks diplomatic ties with North Korea.

The Swedish embassy in Pyongyang had been requesting access to the American on a daily basis, a state department spokesman said.

Mistaken identity?

Mr Merrill's wife Lee said the family had had "no word on the state of his health, whether or not the medications sent to him through the Swedish Embassy in North Korea have been delivered or why he was detained".

"The family feels there has been some dreadful misunderstanding leading to his detention and asks that the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] work to settle this issue quickly and to return this 85-year-old grandfather to his anxious, concerned family," she said in a statement.

The couple's son, Jeffrey Newman, said earlier that Mr Merrill, a Korean War veteran, was taken off a plane by uniformed officers on 26 October at the end of a trip to North Korea.

He was visiting the country with a friend, on a guided tour arranged with a travel agent "approved by the North Korean government for travel of foreigners", Jeffrey Newman said.

US officials have not specifically confirmed the case, but have called on North Korea to "resolve the issue".

Merrill Newman appeared to have discussed his experience in the Korean War with North Korean officials the day before his detention, his son added.

Another veteran, also named Merrill Newman, was awarded a Silver Star medal for his efforts during the Korean War. In an interview with Reuters news agency, he said that he thought it was possible there had been "a case of mistaken identity".

The state department revised its travel guidance for North Korea this week, saying: "US citizens crossing into North Korea, even accidentally, have been subject to arbitrary arrest and long-term detention."

Another US citizen, Kenneth Bae, has been detained since November 2012.

US troops backed South Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War, which killed at least two million people.

20.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

US wind firm fined over eagle deaths

22 November 2013 Last updated at 19:20 ET

A huge US energy supplier has agreed to pay out $1m (£620,000) over the deaths of golden eagles at two wind farms.

Duke Energy Renewables agreed to the sum after pleading guilty to charges over the deaths of 14 eagles in the past three years at the Wyoming sites.

It is the first time the Obama administration has taken action against a wind energy company in such a case, the AP news agency report.

The fines will go to wildlife and wetlands conservation bodies.

The charges were brought under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which protects golden eagles as well as other species.

According to one study by federal biologists in 2013, wind energy facilities in 10 US states have killed at least 67 golden and bald eagles since 2008, AP said.

The eagles often fail to look up as they search for prey until it is too late, slamming into the turbines. They can also be sucked in by the tornado-like vortex created by the fast-moving blades.

Duke Energy Renewables president Greg Wolf said the company "deeply regretted" the impact to golden eagles at two of its wind facilities, and had been working closely with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to "take proactive steps to correct the problem".

These have included installing radar technology to help detect eagles in flight nearby and further curbing turbines at times of high eagle flight activity.

Duke Energy Renewables is the renewable energy arm of Duke Energy. This corporation, with market capitalisation put at around $50bn, says it is the largest electric power holding company in the United States, serving more than seven million customers.

20.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Alphabet killer' sentenced to death

22 November 2013 Last updated at 19:43 ET

A California man convicted of the murders decades ago of four women whose names and surnames bore matching initials has been sentenced to death.

Joseph Naso, 79, was found guilty last month in the so-called "Alphabet" killings of Roxene Roggasch, Carmen Colon, Pamela Parsons and Tracy Tafoya.

The bodies of the four strangled women, who worked as prostitutes, were dumped in rural areas in the 1970s and 1990s.

Naso was prosecuted after police found evidence in his home in 2009.

Naso, a former photographer, represented himself at his trial in Marin County, telling the jury he was "not the monster that killed these women".

Deputy District Attorney Dori Ahana argued for the death sentence, presenting the jury with macabre photographs of the lifeless bodies, and in September the jury recommended he be sentenced to death.

Journal of violence

In 2009, probation officers in Reno, Nevada, carried out a routine firearms search of Naso's home. At the time, he was on probation for a conviction in California.

Inside his house, officers discovered a grisly collection of evidence, including a "List of 10" featuring references to the women's killings. There were photographs of women appearing drugged or dead.

Also uncovered was a journal with detailed descriptions of rape and violence toward underage girls and women.

Roxene Roggasch, 18, and Carmen Colon, 22, were killed in the 1970s. Pamela Parsons, 38, and Tracy Tafoya, 31, were killed in the 1990s.

He remains a suspect in the killings of at least two other California women.

Analysts say it is unlikely Naso will actually be executed by the state. Hundreds of prisoners are already on California's death row, and executions have been on hold there since 2006.

20.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Airlines warned over engine ice

23 November 2013 Last updated at 10:01 ET

Fifteen airlines have been warned about the risk of ice forming on Boeing's new 747-8 and 787 Dreamliner planes.

The issue - affecting some types of engines made by General Electric when planes fly near high-level thunderstorms - prompted Japan Airlines to cancel two international routes.

There have been six incidents since April when aircraft powered by GE engines lost power at high altitude.

These are the latest technical issues to hit the Dreamliner.

They saw the entire fleet being grounded earlier this year following battery problems.

The Boeing 747-8 series and the new 787 Dreamliner are the only types of aircraft affected by the high-altitude icing issue.

The new warning was given to airlines including Lufthansa, United Airlines and Japan Airlines.

It says aircraft with the affected engines - GE's GEnx - must not be flown within 50 nautical miles of thunderstorms that may contain ice crystals.

As a result, Japan Airlines (JAL) has decided to withdraw Dreamliners from service on the Tokyo-Delhi and Tokyo-Singapore routes.

"Boeing and JAL share a commitment to the safety of passengers and crews on board our airplanes. We respect JAL's decision to suspend some 787 services on specific routes," a Boeing spokesman said, according to Reuters news agency.

A GE spokesman told the agency the aviation industry was experiencing "a growing number of ice-crystal icing encounters in recent years as the population of large commercial airliners has grown, particularly in tropical regions of the world".

He said GE and Boeing were hoping to eliminate the problem by modifying the engine control system software.

British airways use Rolls Royce engines on their Dreamliners. They are not affected by the warning, says the BBC's Ben Geoghegan.

Orders increase

The 787 Dreamliner has suffered a series of technical and safety problems in recent months.

In January, its entire fleet was temporarily grounded. The decision came after a fire broke out on one of JAL's Dreamliners, and an All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight was forced to make an emergency landing because of a battery fault and a fire in one of the electrical compartments.

In July, a fire broke out on a 787 jet operated by Ethiopian Airlines while it was parked at Heathrow airport. It was traced to the upper rear part of the plane where a locator transmitter is situated.

Then in August, ANA said it had found damage to the battery wiring on two 787 locator transmitters during checks. US carrier United Airlines also found a pinched wire during an inspection of one of its six 787s.

Despite the issues, the Dreamliner is still considered to be one of the most advanced planes in the industry and remains popular.

Boeing has received orders for more than 1,000 jets since its launch.

Last month, it announced plans to raise production of the 787 Dreamliner to 12 per month by 2016.

That would be an increase from its target for the end of this year of 10 planes a month.

20.24 | 0 komentar | Read More