The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)’s chairwoman, Jennifer Homendy, said that 271 impacted parts could be installed on aircraft in service operated by at least 40 foreign air carriers. Sixteen of the impacted parts may still be installed on U.S.-registered aircraft and up to 75 such parts may have been used in aftermarket installation, she wrote in a Sept. 30 letter to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

On Sept. 27, the NTSB issued an “urgent” safety warning for some Boeing 737s, including the Max variant, because there is a “potential for a jammed or restricted rudder control system on some 737 airplanes.” The rudder that the NTSB is referencing controls a plane’s side to side movement of the nose of the aircraft.

Homendy’s Monday letter, making reference to last week’s warning, said that her agency is concerned “of the possibility that other airlines are unaware of the presence of these actuators on their 737 airplanes.” Her letter did not identify the foreign airlines or the countries where they operate.

Concerns Over FAA

The NTSB director further wrote that she believes the “FAA has been downplaying the urgency of this issue, maintaining that the units are no longer in service,” without elaborating.

“I remain concerned that the FAA, as a whole, did not take this issue more seriously until we issued our urgent safety recommendation report, despite the risk of loss of control of an aircraft or departure from the runway occurring due to a jammed or restricted rudder control system, caused by a defect in certain rollout guidance actuators,” the letter stated.

The FAA, Homnedy added, apparently has not “initiated urgent actions to address the risk of jammed rudder controls in the 6 months since our preliminary report on this incident was issued.”

“The case for urgent action is even greater since, after we opened our investigation, the FAA became aware of two similar incidents that had occurred with foreign operators in 2019,” the letter noted.

Concerns Over Boeing

Homendy was critical of Boeing for what she said was a failure to inform United Airlines that faulty actuators were installed in the 737 planes that were delivered to the carrier.

“We are concerned of the possibility that other airlines are unaware of the presence of these actuators on their 737 airplanes,” her letter stated. “Not making operators fully aware of the installed systems and equipment on the airplanes delivered to them is unacceptable and cannot continue to be tolerated,” she added.

The Epoch Times has contacted both Boeing and the FAA for comment on the letter. Boeing has not publicly commented on the urgent safety warning or Homnedy’s letter to the FAA.

What the Urgent Warning Said

The NTSB said last week it is currently investigating an incident in February in which the rudder pedals of a Boeing 737 Max 8 that was operated by United Airlines became “stuck” in a “neutral position” during the plane’s landing rollout at the Newark International Airport in New Jersey.

The plane wasn’t damaged, and no injuries were reported in association with the incident, the agency said.

“NTSB investigators tested one of the rudder control components from the incident airplane, a rollout guidance actuator, at the component’s manufacturer, Collins Aerospace,” the NTSB warning stated. “When the incident actuator and an identical unit from another airplane were tested in a cold environment, the actuators’ function was significantly compromised.”

Investigators with the safety agency discovered there may have been moisture in the actuators of the plane, “which failed testing.”

Collins Aerospace, the maker of the rudder control components used by the the plane “subsequently determined that a sealed bearing was incorrectly assembled during production of the actuators, leaving the unsealed side more susceptible to moisture that can freeze and limit rudder system movement,” the agency said.

Collins had also told Boeing that more than 353 actuators produced by the company were delivered to Boeing since February 2017 that were impacted by the issue, according to the warning.

Another Blow to Boeing

This year, Boeing aircraft have been involved in several high-profile incidents, including when a Boeing 737 Max 9 passenger jet lost a rear door plug during a January flight. Subsequently, the FAA ordered the grounding of similar Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets for weeks.

In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and pay at least $243.6 million after breaching a 2021 Justice Department agreement.

The planemaker also agreed to spend at least $455 million to boost safety and compliance programs, overseen by an independent monitor for three years.

Last week, FAA head Michael Whitaker told a House panel that safety culture improvements at Boeing may take three to five years to complete.

“It is not a six-month program; it is a three-year to five-year program,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said at a two-hour hearing, adding he has spoken to Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg and the company’s board of directors about the need for safety culture reforms.

The agency administration said Boeing has made significant improvement in the short term. “On culture it is a long-term project … there is progress but they are not where they need to be,” he said.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Boeing machinists in Washington state and Oregon are still on strike after walking off the job on Sept. 13 in the union’s first strike since 2008, halting production of airplane models including the 737 Max.

The union is seeking a 40 percent pay rise and the restoration of a defined-benefit pension that was taken away in the contract a decade ago.

On Sept. 27, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said that its pay deal talks with Boeing had broken off and that there were no further dates scheduled for negotiations at this time.

Reuters contributed to this report.

People who regularly exercise store excess fat under the skin rather than in or around vital organs, which reduces their risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and liver disease.

“We can have better metabolic health as a consequence of exercise by making our fat tissue healthier,” principal investigator Jeffrey Horowitz told The Epoch Times.

People get fat from weight gain, and weight gain commonly happens due to less physical activity, eating too much, and aging.

Horowitz said that it is important to reframe the way people think about fat: “Fat tissue isn’t the reason we gain weight; it’s just a place where we store that extra energy and weight,” he said. […]

— Read More: www.theepochtimes.com

Glendora Police Department detectives, with the assistance of Homeland Security Investigations personnel, worked collaboratively to apprehend Daniel Aravena Oliva at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Aug. 19 after linking him to an IP address traced back to Chile during an investigation of his “inappropriate online relationship” with the girl, according to Glendora police.

Investigators learned that over six months, Oliva had allegedly manipulated and groomed the teen through multiple online platforms.

“With critical assistance from HSI, Glendora detectives were able to confirm the suspect’s travel plans to California. The suspect had arranged to meet the victim in person, having booked accommodations near her residence,” police said in a statement.

Oliva was detained at LAX by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.

He was later taken into custody by Glendora police detectives and Homeland Security Investigations personnel without incident, police said.

Oliva was booked on suspicion of multiple offenses related to child exploitation and the production of child pornography. […]

— Read More: www.theepochtimes.com

It has become more expensive to eat out over the past five years, with food away from home increasing by 30 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In just the past year, the cost of eating at a fast-food restaurant has increased by more than that of a full-service restaurant.

Within the consumer price index, the limited-service meals category (food that is ordered at a counter and taken to go) rose by 4.3 percent year over year in July. By comparison, full-service meals (sit-down restaurants with wait staff) increased by 3.8 percent over the same period.

Mcdonald’s was recently stung by reports that it was charging $18 for a Big Mac, prompting the company’s president to issue an open letter in May.

“I can tell you that it frustrates and worries me, and many of our franchisees, when I hear about an $18 Big Mac meal being sold—even if it was at one location in the U.S. out of more than 13,700,” McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger wrote, noting that the average price of a Big Mac across all U.S. franchises had gone up by 21 percent since 2019, from $4.39 to $5.29 today. […]

— Read More: www.theepochtimes.com

In an Aug. 21 order, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston granted a motion filed in July by freelance journalist Jacob Silverman, who sought to intervene in an unrelated lawsuit brought against Musk by former Twitter employees, in which X Corp. filed a redacted shareholder list.

Silverman’s motion to intervene in the case aimed to get the X Corp. investor list unsealed. In this effort, he was backed by attorneys from the nonprofit Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which argued in the filing that unsealing the shareholder list was in the public’s best interest.

The motion argued that there is strong public interest in transparency, particularly regarding the ownership of a major social media platform such as X, which plays a critical role in public discourse. It contended that both the First Amendment and common law presumptions of public access require information such as X Corp.’s shareholder list to be made available in order to ensure judicial integrity and to subject the influences shaping the platform’s operations to public scrutiny.

Attorneys for X Corp. opposed the unsealing of the shareholder names that were filed as part of a corporate disclosure statement in an unrelated lawsuit. Their motion in opposition argued that the court lacks jurisdiction to consider Silverman’s request, as the case was remanded more than a year ago. In addition, X Corp. argued that the court had already found good cause to seal the statement, claiming that unsealing would violate the privacy rights of individuals and entities involved and that the disclosure statement was not relevant to the merits of the case.

The judge sided with Silverman, writing in her order that the shareholder list “does not contain any scandalous information or trade secrets” and may be revealed for “public interest in understanding the judicial process.” She also argued that X Corp. “presented little more than conjecture in support of their position” that the investor list should remain hidden. […]

— Read More: www.theepochtimes.com

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Buffett said that he intends for nearly all of his immense fortune to be put into a charitable trust that will be used to help the less fortunate.

“It should be used to help the people that haven’t been as lucky as we have been,” Mr. Buffett told the outlet.

His three children—Howard, Susan, and Peter Buffett—will manage the trust, he said. In order for a donation to be made, all three will have to be in agreement on the cause, he said. […]

— Read More: www.theepochtimes.com

“The certified conditions continue to exist and pose an ongoing and imminent threat of disaster,” Mr. Abbott wrote in the June 28 proclamation.

Mr. Abbott first declared the border security disaster on May 31, 2021, nearly three months after launching Operation Lone Star, which allowed for more resources and strategies to be deployed to combat the influx of illegal immigrants into Texas.

At the time, Mr. Abbott said that landowners along the border were seeing their property damaged and vandalized daily due to the federal government’s “open border policies.” […]

— Read More: www.theepochtimes.com

Mr. Campbell’s phone conversation with China’s vice premier of foreign affairs, Ma Zhaoxu, is the latest in a series of interactions Washington said aimed at responsibly managing competition between the two rival powers.

The United States and communist China remain at odds on almost every front, ranging from trade to technology, human rights conditions in the mainland, and Hong Kong, to Beijing’s role in aiding Moscow’s war against Ukraine and the regime’s military aggression in the South China Sea.

According to the U.S. State Department, Mr. Campbell’s conversation with Mr. Ma covered both areas of difference and potential cooperation. […]

— Read More: www.theepochtimes.com

Kyrollos Mekail, 36, of Moreno Valley, is charged with two counts of health care fraud. He is expected to be arraigned in the coming weeks in Los Angeles federal court.

“This case alleges that a licensed pharmacist committed an enormous fraud against a public health program designed to help our state’s neediest residents,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement.

“Bringing to justice those who unlawfully take from the public is a priority for my office, especially where those offenders harm the most vulnerable in our community.” […]

— Read More: www.theepochtimes.com

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, meanwhile, joined the majority opinion offered by Chief Justice John Roberts, but wrote her own concurring opinion.

Justice Roberts wrote that the law barring obstruction of an official proceeding is more limited than federal prosecutors asserted.

The law bars people from altering, destroying, mutilating, or concealing “a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding” and “otherwise obstruct[ing], influenc[ing], or imped[ing] any official proceeding or attempts to do so.” […]

— Read More: www.theepochtimes.com