New York City’s long-awaited congestion pricing plan got off to a smooth start as drivers adjusted to the new tolls, but many crucial questions remained about the nation’s most ambitious traffic experiment.

After decades of failed efforts to bring the tolling program to city streets, it finally went live on a freezing night over the weekend when few drivers were out and transit workers could monitor the newly deployed tolling equipment at a relaxed pace.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s about to get a lesson in the law of unintended consequences as her “congestion pricing” toll disaster unfolds. 

The scheme squeezes average New Yorkers hard with a $9 toll to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street.

White House spokesman John Kirby has said the US has seen "early indications" that Russia may have been responsible for the downing of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed on 25 December, killing 38 people.

Mr Kirby did not elaborate further, but told reporters the US had offered assistance to the investigation into the crash.

The White House said preliminary evidence suggests that Russia‘s defense systems shot down a commercial flight originating in Azerbaijan. 

On Christmas Day, the plane, operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, was flying from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, the capital of Chechnya in Russia, when it crashed. Thirty-eight people were killed, and 29 survived. 

Evidence suggests the Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day was brought down by Russia, the White House said Friday.

“We have seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by Russian air defense systems,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. He said the evidence went beyond widely circulated images of the damaged aircraft, but he did not provide details.

An Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people, was shot down by a Russian air defense system, Reuters reported Thursday.

The report cited four sources in Azerbaijan familiar with the investigation into the crash. One of the sources said preliminary results showed the plane was struck by a Russian Pantsir-S air defense system, and its communications were paralyzed by electronic warfare systems on the approach into Grozny, Reuters reported.

The Russian government has cautioned against promoting "hypotheses" about the cause of the crash of a Russia-bound passenger plane that killed 38 people in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

Some aviation experts suggested that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane had been hit by air defence systems over the Russian republic of Chechnya and pro-government media in Azerbaijan quote officials as saying a Russian missile was responsible.

Azerbaijan held a day of mourning on Thursday for the dozens of victims of an airliner crash in Kazakhstan, as questions were being asked over the cause of the disaster.

The reasons that Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 came down are still unknown. Reuters reported Thursday that the plane was downed by a Russian air defense system, citing multiple unnamed sources in Azerbaijan with knowledge of the investigation.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian apologized and offered frequent flyer miles to travelers for thousands of flight cancellations as the carrier struggled to recover from Friday’s globe-spanning IT outage, disruptions that sparked criticism from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The Atlanta-based airline canceled over 4,600 flights from Friday through Sunday, more than any other airline, according to aviation data firm OAG.

Although US coal consumption has fallen dramatically since 2005, the country still consumes millions of tons a year, and exports tons more—much of it transported by train. Now, new research shows that these trains can affect the health of people living near where they pass.