The crashed Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max hit the ground at 575mph and left a crater 32 feet deep, horrifying details in official report reveal - INSIDER

• The crashed Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max plane hit the ground at 575mph, leaving a crater 32 feet deep and 131 feet long, according to a preliminary government report.
• The plane reached a speed that exceeded its design limits as the pilots rushed to follow Boeing's emergency procedures to stop the plane from nosediving.
• The speed of the descent would have pulled passengers from their seats and may have made them feel weightless before they hit the ground, Reuters reported.
• Boeing acknowledged on Thursday that a broken sensor triggered the plane's anti-stall software system, and said its fix software will ensure that it does not happen again.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The crashed Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max hit the ground at a speed of 575mph and left a crater 32 feet deep, according to a preliminary government report on the air crash. All 157 people on board died.

The plane's airspeed indicator reached 500 knots (roughly 575mph) just before the plane crashed, the 33-page report said. It had been in the air just six minutes.

Its impact in a field near Addis Ababa created a hole around 32 feet deep, 92 feet wide and 131 feet long, according to the report, which is subject to change as the investigation continues.

"This accident was not survivable," investigators bluntly concluded.

An image of the crater crated by the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max plane included in the preliminary report into the disaster.

Air Accident Investigation Bureau

The plane's speed exceeded its design limits, Reuters reported. It was travelling so fast, experts told the news outlet, that it would have created negative G-forces inside the cabin.

Such extreme forces would have pulled passengers out of their seats, Reuters said, and could have induced a feeling of weightlessness before impact.

People stand near debris at the crash site of the Ethiopia Airlines flight in Ethiopia in March 2019.

MICHAEL TEWELDE/AFP/Getty Images

Ethiopian Airlines' pilots followed Boeing's emergency procedures but were unable to control the plane and stop its nose from pointing down, the report said.

Ethiopia's Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges said "the crew performed all the procedures repeatedly provided by the manufacturer but was not able to control the aircraft" as she delivered the report on Thursday.

Read more:The Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max pilots followed all the right procedures but crashed anyway, official report finds. Now the spotlight turns to Boeing

The report also said that the plane was considered airworthy before takeoff and that the pilots were fully certified to fly the plane.

The findings put pressure on Boeing, which is facing questions about its software and how its planes are certified.

Rescuers work at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines flight crash.

Associated Press

Boeing acknowledged on Thursday that an erroneous AOA (angle-of-attack) sensor triggered the plane's MCAS anti-stall software system.

A similar error was was outlined in the preliminary report into the fatal Lion Air 737 Max 8 crash, which that killed all 189 people on board in October 2018.

Read more: Boeing and Ethiopian investigators confirm a faulty sensor was triggered on the 737 Max shortly before it crashed

The 737 Max has now been grounded around the world after the Ethiopian Airlines disaster.

The MCAS system is designed to prevent stalls by automatically pointing the nose of the plane downward if the plane senses the aircraft climbing too sharply.

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg.

BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images

Boeing is working on a software update to the planes, which will be examined by the Federal Aviation Administration before being rolled out.

Boeing also faces an investigation by the US Department of Justice, with FBI involvement, into its development process.

The US Senate is also examining how the FAA allowed it to self-certify parts of its aircraft as part of a policy mandated by Congress.

Its CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, said on Thursday that Boeing is "sorry for the lives lost in the recent 737 MAX accidents,"

He said the company's top engineers and experts are working "to finalize and implement a software update that will ensure accidents like that of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 never happen again."

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2019-04-05 10:53:15Z
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Theresa May Asks E.U. for Brexit Extension Until June 30 - The New York Times

LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May asked the European Union on Friday to delay Britain’s departure from the bloc for a second time — until June 30 — and conceded that the country was preparing to take part in European Parliament elections.

Mrs. May made a formal request in a letter to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, for a postponement of the departure, now scheduled for April 12, but analysts said her proposed date was likely to be rejected by Brussels.

British news reports said that Mr. Tusk was pushing European leaders to offer Mrs. May a one-year extension while leaving the door open to an earlier withdrawal if Britain ratifies a deal for Brexit, as the process is known.

That plan, described in Brussels as a “flextension,” would eliminated the need for European leaders to repeatedly consider British requests for a delay. And in allowing Britain to leave sooner if an agreement is reached, Mr. Tusk appears to be trying to make it clear that Brussels is not trying to trap Britain in the bloc.

Mr. Tusk’s plan would need the backing of the leaders of European Union member states.

In asking for an extension until June 30 — the same date she once asked for but which the European Union previously rejected — Mrs. May was bowing to pressure from within her Conservative Party not to be seen as forcing the country into a longer delay. But she was also laying the ground for a more protracted extension by agreeing that Britain was prepared to participate in European elections in May. That was seen in Brussels as a condition for another Brexit postponement.

Mrs. May has sought over the past week to break months of deadlock by meeting with the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, to try to reach an agreement. But she said in her letter to Mr. Tusk that if those talks did not produce a compromise, she would hold a series of votes in Parliament on alternative paths in the hopes that lawmakers would eventually settle on one.

“This impasse cannot be allowed to continue,” Mrs. May wrote. “In the U.K. it is creating uncertainty and doing damage to faith in politics, while the European Union has a legitimate desire to move on to decisions about its own future.”

The prime minister’s Brexit deal has already been rejected three times by British lawmakers, and there is likely to be a lively debate in Brussels on whether — or more particularly, on what terms — to grant a second extension. Britain was originally scheduled to leave the bloc on March 29, but European leaders granted a short extension to give Parliament more time to approve the withdrawal deal.

Mrs. May and Mr. Corbyn met on Wednesday, and teams from both sides continued the discussions on Thursday. The session ended with neither breakthroughs nor breakdowns.

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2019-04-05 09:17:40Z
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Theresa May Asks E.U. for Brexit Extension Until June 30 - The New York Times

LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May asked the European Union on Friday to delay Britain’s departure from the bloc for a second time — until June 30 — and conceded that the country was preparing to take part in European Parliament elections.

Mrs. May made a formal request in a letter to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, for a postponement of the departure, now scheduled for April 12, but analysts said her proposed date was likely to be rejected by Brussels.

British news reports said that Mr. Tusk was pushing European leaders to offer Mrs. May a one-year extension while leaving the door open to an earlier withdrawal if Britain ratifies a deal for Brexit, as the process is known.

That plan, described in Brussels as a “flextension,” would eliminated the need for European leaders to repeatedly consider British requests for a delay. And in allowing Britain to leave sooner if an agreement is reached, Mr. Tusk appears to be trying to make it clear that Brussels is not trying to trap Britain in the bloc.

Mr. Tusk’s plan would need the backing of the leaders of European Union member states.

In asking for an extension until June 30 — the same date she once asked for but which the European Union previously rejected — Mrs. May was bowing to pressure from within her Conservative Party not to be seen as forcing the country into a longer delay. But she was also laying the ground for a more protracted extension by agreeing that Britain was prepared to participate in European elections in May. That was seen in Brussels as a condition for another Brexit postponement.

Mrs. May has sought over the past week to break months of deadlock by meeting with the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, to try to reach an agreement. But she said in her letter to Mr. Tusk that if those talks did not produce a compromise, she would hold a series of votes in Parliament on alternative paths in the hopes that lawmakers would eventually settle on one.

“This impasse cannot be allowed to continue,” Mrs. May wrote. “In the U.K. it is creating uncertainty and doing damage to faith in politics, while the European Union has a legitimate desire to move on to decisions about its own future.”

The prime minister’s Brexit deal has already been rejected three times by British lawmakers, and there is likely to be a lively debate in Brussels on whether — or more particularly, on what terms — to grant a second extension. Britain was originally scheduled to leave the bloc on March 29, but European leaders granted a short extension to give Parliament more time to approve the withdrawal deal.

Mrs. May and Mr. Corbyn met on Wednesday, and teams from both sides continued the discussions on Thursday. The session ended with neither breakthroughs nor breakdowns.

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2019-04-05 08:46:07Z
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Theresa May asks Europe for Brexit extension to June 30 - NBC News

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April 5, 2019, 8:31 AM GMT / Updated April 5, 2019, 9:44 AM GMT

By Alexander Smith

LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May has written to the European Union to request another extension to give her country more time to work out its ongoing Brexit deadlock.

She asked European Council President Donald Tusk on Friday to delay the divorce deadline until June 30, with the option to terminate the postponement if a deal is worked out before then.

"It is frustrating that we have not yet brought this process to a successful and orderly conclusion," May wrote.

E.U. leaders are due to meet Wednesday and all 27 must unanimously agree for May's request to be approved.

Tusk is in favor of the idea of a "flextension" but he wants a longer delay window of one year, Reuters and The Associated Press cited anonymous senior European officials as saying. NBC News could not immediately independently verify the reports.

No matter the length, any deferral would come as another twist in a crisis that has all but consumed the collective British consciousness.

Brits have spent the past two years gearing up for their European exit — either with eager expectation or fear — only to have it postponed once already, and now possibly again next week.

"This impasse cannot be allowed to continue," May wrote. "In the U.K. it is creating uncertainty and doing damage to faith in politics."

Under the current law, the U.K. is currently due to leave the E.U. next Friday — April 12 — which itself is an extension from the original withdrawal date of March 29.

"Having reluctantly sought an extension to the Article 50 period last month, the government must now do so again," May wrote Friday, referring to the Article 50 clause that sets out the U.K.'s European departure.

An extension of any length would mean the U.K. preparing to take part in European elections that are happening in May. In her letter the prime minister said that if possible she wanted to cut short the extension before that date by reaching an agreement with British lawmakers.

March 14, 201901:51

So far this has proved difficult to say the least. May has negotiated a deal with the E.U. but it has been repeatedly rejected by British lawmakers, who have also failed to rally around any other alternative plan.

With her options growing increasingly limited, Conservative prime minister is currently in talks with opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, something that has provoked uproar and suspicion from both parties.

If there is no intervention before next Friday then the country will crash out of the bloc with no deal at all, a Brexit scenario many experts see as risking economy calamity.

Alexander Smith

Alexander Smith is a London-based senior reporter for NBC News Digital.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed.

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2019-04-05 08:31:00Z
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UK asks for another short Brexit delay — while the EU proposes something much longer - CNBC

A flurry of Brexit activity early Friday morning saw both the EU and the U.K. move to lengthen the current timetable for negotiations, reducing the prospect of Britain exiting the bloc without a deal.

First, European Council President Donald Tusk proposed allowing the U.K. a 12-month "flexible" extension to leave the European Union, an EU source told CNBC. Tusk's proposal, first reported by the BBC, would allow the U.K. the flexibility to leave the EU whenever British lawmakers approve and ratify a deal within the 12-month period.

However, leaders of the political and economic bloc would need to agree to Tusk's plan at a summit next week.

Later on Friday morning, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May officially asked the EU another short extension. A letter from May to Tusk proposes an extension to June 30, which could be terminated early if a deal is agreed. A report from Reuters said the latter mentioned preparations for the U.K. to hold EU elections in late May.

At the moment, the U.K. is scheduled to leave the EU on April 12 and will be the first country to leave the bloc. The process to take the U.K. officially out of the EU began two years ago, but has yet to be finalized. U.K. parliamentarians have so far rejected the deal that Prime Minister Theresa May negotiated with the EU three times.

When asked about a possible extension, German Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: "Hopefully, in the end we will have an agreement, because this is the best outcome for all the things that are going to happen."

Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, said the U.K. needs to have a very good reason to ask for another extension.

"If we are not able to understand the reason of why the U.K. is asking for an extension, we can't give a positive answer," he told CNBC's Silvia Amaro in Bucharest Friday, before May's letter was officially sent to Tusk.

Meanwhile, May is expected to write to opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to lay out her administration's offer on Brexit, the Guardian reported on Thursday. The letter would include a proposal to offer lawmakers the option to hold a referendum on any Brexit deal, the report said.

— CNBC's Silvia Amaro and Stevie Young contributed to this report.

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2019-04-05 08:23:26Z
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Duterte threatens 'suicide mission' if Beijing oversteps in South China Sea - CNN

Duterte's speech at a rally in the city of Puerto Princesa in Palawan came days after the Philippine government claimed as many as 275 Chinese boats and ships had been spotted in recent months around Manila's Thitu Island in the Spratly Island chain.

"Let us be friends, but do not touch Pagasa Island and the rest," Duterte said, according to CNN Philippines, using the Philippine word Pagasa for Thitu.

"If you make moves there, that's a different story. I will tell my soldiers, 'Prepare for suicide mission'."

Duterte said his words were not a warning, but rather "advice to my friends."

"I will not plead or beg, but I'm just telling you that lay off the Pag-asa because I have soldiers there," he said, according to CNN Philippines.

CNN has reached out to the Philippines government for further comment.

A small Philippine military garrison as well as about 100 civilians are based on Thitu, which lies about 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Palawan, one of the islands that make up the Philippines.

Tensions have risen since the start of 2019 in the South China Sea, one of the world's most disputed regions and an important shipping lane.

The Philippines and China each claim overlapping areas of the vast sea, along with multiple other countries including Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. The area where Thitu is located is also claimed by China as part of its territory.

The latest arrival of Chinese vessels around Thitu Island has provoked a stern response from Manila.

The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs in a statement Thursday said their presence was "illegal" and a "clear violation of Philippine sovereignty."

"It has been observed that Chinese vessels have been present in large numbers and for sustained and recurring periods — what is commonly referred to as 'swarming' tactics — raising questions about their intent as well as concerns over their role in support of coercive objectives," the Philippine statement said.

Independent analysis by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) of the hundreds of vessels which have appeared around Thitu Island since January has determined they are composed of dozens of fishing vessels, as well as China Coast Guard ships and People's Liberation Army Navy ships.

When asked about the disputed island on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang pointed to a meeting between Philippine and Chinese representatives to discuss a bilateral consultation mechanism to avoid South China Sea conflicts.

"I believe that the consensus reached by the two sides through discussion in this meeting is the best answer to your question," he said.

Diplomacy and intimidation

To reinforce its claims to the South China Sea, China has built and militarized artificial islands and has attempted to undermine other countries' positions through a combination of diplomacy and intimidation.

Its aggressive moves in the region had antagonized previous Philippine administrations, which took Beijing to court to prove its claims over the sea.

But relations between China and the Philippines have warmed considerably since the 2016 inauguration of Duterte, who has pushed for a closer economic relationship with Beijing.

"I need China. More than anybody else at this point, I need China," Duterte said before flying to China in April 2018.

Compared with his predecessors, Duterte has viewed the dispute in the South China Sea as more negotiable than a matter of principle.

But China has been strengthening its hold over the region. In May 2018, Beijing announced it had successfully landed bombers on islands under its control for the first time, a big step in the militarization of the region.

The United States has also ramped up its freedom of navigation exercises in the region under US President Donald Trump, in an apparent attempt to hold back Chinese influence.

In a defiant statement to then-US Secretary of Defense James Mattis during a Beijing meeting in June 2018, President Xi Jinping said China wouldn't give up "any inch of territory."

Fishing vessels and naval ships

Philippines armed forces spokesperson Edgard Arevalo cautioned on Monday that it was difficult to quantify how many ships are around the island at any one time, as Chinese vessels "come and go" from the area.

In an article published in February, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative said the sudden increase in the number of ships between December and January appeared to be a response to reclamation and construction by the Philippines government.

"The fishing boats have mostly been anchored between 2 and 5.5 nautical miles west of Thitu, while the naval and coast guard ships operate slightly farther away to the south and west," the AMTI said in an article.

"The fishing vessels display all the hallmarks of belonging to China's maritime militia, including having no gear in the water that would indicate fishing activity and disabling their Automatic Identification System (AIS) transceivers to hide their activities."

AMTI noted that Thitu is only about 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) from Subi Reef, one of the main places China has fortified in its recent buildup in the South China Sea.

The Philippines Foreign Ministry said on Thursday if the Chinese government didn't repudiate the actions of the fishing vessels in the vicinity of Thitu, it would be assumed to have directed them.

"The presence of Chinese vessels within the (island group), whether military, fishing or other vessels, will thus continue to be the subject of appropriate action by the Philippines," the statement said.

Duterte's administration has made threats of military action against Chinese troops in the South China Sea before which have come to nothing. In May 2018, his foreign minister threatened "war" if Beijing attempted to access the oil and gas reportedly buried beneath the sea.

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2019-04-05 08:11:00Z
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Caracas, once a thriving metropolis, is struggling as country plunges further into chaos - Fox News

A billboard stands empty above a highway with no traffic as the sun sets in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, March 18, 2019. When the sun goes down in Venezuela's capital, the once-thriving metropolis empties under darkness. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Caracas at night was like many major cities around the world – crazy traffic, people going in and out of shops, eateries, and dance clubs -- but now, as night falls in the Venezuelan capital, it seems more and more like a ghost town.

Many street lights don’t work. Residents avoid stepping outside their homes due to crime — or for lack of anything to spend — as a creeping economic collapse has accelerated amid a political battle between socialist President Nicolas Maduro and his foes at home and abroad. A string of devastating nationwide blackouts last month dramatized the decay.

Even under the light of day, billboards often have nothing to promote, their skeletal framework bare long after the wind has ripped away old advertising.

VP MIKE PENCE TO MEET IN DC WITH FAMILIES OF 6 CITGO EXECS DETAINED IN VENEZUELA

As dusk falls, many storefronts are just graffiti-scrawled security doors chained shut. Often just a single business along a city block is able to stay open, awaiting sparse customers. Others close earlier, like a beauty salon, the few remaining clients forced to decide between the simple luxury of haircut or buying food.

Caracas’ La Mercedes neighborhood, famous for its upscale shopping and nightlife, hasn’t been spared. Many of its pubs and fancy restaurants are devoid of waiters and customers. A shopping mall keeps its lights on, but the doors lock hours earlier than they did before, when they teemed with life.

The moon rises above an empty avenue in Caracas, Venezuela, late Thursday, March 21, 2019. Residents avoid stepping outside their homes due to crime, or for lack of anything to spend. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

High-rise buildings stand unfinished, the workers having long ago abandoned their jobs. Windows are covered over with cardboard rather than finished with glass.

Residents desperate for cash transform patches of sidewalk into their impromptu shops, laying out old shoes or second-hand shirts as merchandise.

The poor and hungry scour through household trash, scattering it across street corners before it’s collected, grabbing anything they can use or eat.

The despair and blight mark a precipitous fall for a country that has larger oil reserves than Saudi Arabia and that had one of Latin America’s highest living standards.

Maduro blames his domestic political opponents and the increasing grip of U.S. economic sanctions, which he says are part of a coup aimed at toppling his socialist government.

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The opposition, led by lawmaker Juan Guaidó, blames years of corrupt leadership, lack of investment and economic bungling that has left the country dependent on a collapsing oil sector and on remittances sent home by the millions who have fled the growing hardship.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, 15 U.S. senators introduced bipartisan legislation to provide $400 million in new aid, internationalize sanctions and ease penalties on Venezuelan officials who recognize Guaidó as the country's president.

Maduro still retains the support of much of the Venezuelan's military, including its hierarchy, and still gets aid from countries such as Russia, Cuba and China.

David Smilde, a Venezuela expert at Tulane University, wrote in The Conversation: "Russia has become Maduro’s most important ally. The Russian military equipment and personnel sent in March will likely help maintain and operate Venezuela’s sophisticated Russian-made S-300 air defense system, which protects the capital and key military bases from air attack."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2019-04-04 18:32:37Z
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