Boeing to plead guilty in US probe of fatal 737 MAX crashes, says DOJ official

Boeing to plead guilty in US probe of fatal 737 MAX crashes, says DOJ official
A lawyer for some of the families of the 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia criticized the plea agreement as a ‘sweetheart deal’, who earlier this year pressed the Justice Department to seek as much as $25 billion from Boeing. (AFP file photo)
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Updated 08 July 2024
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Boeing to plead guilty in US probe of fatal 737 MAX crashes, says DOJ official

Boeing to plead guilty in US probe of fatal 737 MAX crashes, says DOJ official
  • The plea, which requires a federal judge’s approval, would brand the planemaker a convicted felon
  • Charge relates to two 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia over a five-month period in 2018 and 2019

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON: Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge to resolve a US Justice Department investigation linked to two 737 MAX fatal crashes, a government official said on Sunday.
The plea, which requires a federal judge’s approval, would brand the planemaker a convicted felon. Boeing will also pay a criminal fine of $243.6 million, a Justice Department official said.
The charge relates to two 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia over a five-month period in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people and prompted the families of the victims to demand that Boeing face prosecution.
A guilty plea potentially threatens the company’s ability to secure lucrative government contracts with the likes of the US Defense Department and NASA, although it could seek waivers. Boeing became exposed to criminal prosecution after the Justice Department in May found the company violated a 2021 settlement involving the fatal crashes.
Still, the plea spares Boeing a contentious trial that could have exposed many of the company’s decisions leading up to the fatal MAX plane crashes to even greater public scrutiny. It would also make it easier for the company, which will have a new CEO later this year, to try to move forward as it seeks approval for its planned acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems.
Boeing declined to comment.
Boeing has also agreed to invest at least $455 million over the next three years to strengthen its safety and compliance programs, the official said. DOJ will appoint a third-party monitor to oversee the firm’s compliance. The monitor will have to publicly file with the court annual reports on the company’s progress.
The Justice Department on June 30 offered a plea agreement to Boeing and gave the company until the end of the week to take the deal or face a trial on a charge of conspiring to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration in connection with a key software feature tied to the fatal crashes.
After being briefed last week on the DOJ’s offer, a lawyer for some of the families criticized it as a “sweetheart deal.” They have vowed to oppose the deal in court.
The Justice Department’s push to charge Boeing has deepened an ongoing crisis engulfing Boeing since a separate January in-flight blowout exposed continuing safety and quality issues at the planemaker.
A panel blew off a new Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet during a Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines flight, just two days before the 2021 deferred prosecution agreement that had shielded the company from prosecution over the previous fatal crashes expired. The agreement only covers Boeing’s conduct before the fatal crashes and does not shield the planemaker from any other potential investigations or charges related to the January incident or other conduct.
Boeing is pleading guilty to making knowingly false representations to the Federal Aviation Administration about having expanded a key software feature used on the MAX to operate at low speeds. The new software saved Boeing money by requiring less intensive training for pilots.
The Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) is a software feature designed to automatically push the airplane’s nose down in certain conditions. It was tied to the two crashes that led to the FAA’s grounding the plane for 20 months, an action that cost Boeing $20 billion, and the government lifted in November 2020.
As part of the deal, Boeing’s board of directors will meet with relatives of those killed in the MAX crashes, the official said.
The agreement does not shield any executives, the DOJ official said, though charges against individuals are seen as unlikely due to the statute of limitations.
The agreed penalty will be Boeing’s second fine of $243.6 million related to the fatal crashes — bringing the full fine to the maximum allowed. The company paid the fine previously as part of 2021’s $2.5 billion settlement. The $243.6 million fine represented the amount Boeing saved by not implementing full-flight simulator training.
Families of the victims of those crashes slammed the previous agreement and earlier this year pressed the Justice Department to seek as much as $25 billion from Boeing.
This year, the DOJ has held several meetings to hear from the victims’ families as they investigated Boeing’s breach of the 2021 deal.


Air India cuts narrowbody jet routes, suspends international flights after deadly crash

Air India cuts narrowbody jet routes, suspends international flights after deadly crash
Updated 10 sec ago
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Air India cuts narrowbody jet routes, suspends international flights after deadly crash

Air India cuts narrowbody jet routes, suspends international flights after deadly crash
  • This is the second such reduction after the crash killed all but one of 242 people aboard this month
  • The airline said in a post on X that the reductions will strengthen its network-wide operational stability

NEW DELHI: Air India said on Sunday it is temporarily reducing less than 5 percent of its narrowbody jet routes for “operational stability,” its second such reduction following a plane crash earlier this month that killed all but one of the 242 people on board.

The airline, reeling from the deadliest crash in decades, said in a post on X that the cuts will strengthen its network-wide operational stability.

Two daily flights from India to Singapore will be suspended along with disruptions on 19 domestic routes until July 15, it said.

On June 18, the airline cut international operations on its widebody aircraft by 15 percent, citing ongoing safety inspections and operational disruptions.


UK govt plan to ban Palestine Action ‘absurd’

UK govt plan to ban Palestine Action ‘absurd’
Updated 25 min 6 sec ago
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UK govt plan to ban Palestine Action ‘absurd’

UK govt plan to ban Palestine Action ‘absurd’
  • Member: Proscription would ‘rip apart the very basic concepts of British democracy’
  • Amnesty International UK: ‘Terrorism powers shouldn’t be used to ban them’

LONDON: A member of the UK’s Palestine Action, which on Friday carried out a high-profile protest by breaking into an air force base, has described government plans to proscribe the group as “absurd.”

Saeed Taji Farouky told the BBC that the plan to effectively brand the group a terrorist organization “rips apart the very basic concepts of British democracy and the rule of law.” He added: “It’s something everyone should be terrified about.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is believed to be drafting a written statement on the proscription to be delivered before Parliament on Monday, the BBC reported.

It follows a protest by two members of Palestine Action who broke into RAF Brize Norton and sprayed red paint inside the jet engines of two military aircraft.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer branded the protest “disgraceful,” and the story has raised questions in the national media over the security of British bases.

Farouky told the BBC that he had been convicted for criminal damage after a separate Palestine Action event.

The government move to proscribe the group is a “knee-jerk reaction” that is “being rushed through,” he added.

Palestine Action’s “whole reason for being is to break the material supply chain to genocide,” he said, describing the break-in on Friday as an “escalation in tactics because the genocide has escalated.”

RAF Brize Norton is a hub for strategic air transport and refueling operations, and military aircraft regularly fly from there to the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, which serves as an operational center for British reconnaissance flights over Gaza.

After the Brize Norton protest, a Palestine Action spokesperson said: “Despite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US and Israeli fighter jets.”

After self-recorded footage of the break-in was posted online, counterterrorism police launched an investigation. The government also launched a security review of military bases across Britain.

Amnesty International UK on Friday said it is “deeply concerned” over the use of British counterterrorism to target protests.

“Terrorism powers should never have been used to aggravate criminal charges against Palestine Action activists and they certainly shouldn’t be used to ban them,” it said.

Since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza, Palestine Action has carried out protests against arms companies, including Israel’s Elbit Systems, which operates factories in Britain.

Jonathan Hall, the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, told the BBC that the group had “gone beyond protest to blackmail.”

He added: “It’s got to a point where they’ve started to say: ‘We will carry on causing hundreds of millions of pounds worth of damage unless you stop.’”

The UK has proscribed 81 groups as terrorist organizations under the Terrorism Act 2000.


Syrian refugees in UK threaten legal action over Home Office pause on settlement decisions

Syrian refugees in UK threaten legal action over Home Office pause on settlement decisions
Updated 22 June 2025
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Syrian refugees in UK threaten legal action over Home Office pause on settlement decisions

Syrian refugees in UK threaten legal action over Home Office pause on settlement decisions
  • The number of Syrians awaiting a decision on permanent settlement is not known
  • UK government department citied need to “assess current situation” in the wake of Assad’s regime collapsing

LONDON: Five Syrian refugees in the UK are threatening legal action against the British Home Office after their applications for permanent settlement were left in limbo after a government decision to halt all decisions on Syrian asylum and settlement cases.

The Home Office paused interviews and decisions on Syrian asylum claims on Dec. 9 last year, citing the need to “assess the current situation” in the wake of the collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime.

The freeze also applies to Syrians who have already been granted refugee status and are now seeking indefinite leave to remain, The Independent reported on Sunday.

According to government figures cited by the newspaper, at least 7,000 people have been affected by the wider pause on asylum decisions as of the end of March.

However, the number of Syrians awaiting a decision on permanent settlement is not known.

The five people mounting the challenge are being represented by law firm Duncan Lewis, which has issued pre-action letters to the Home Office arguing that the pause is unjustifiable.

Lawyers contend that if the government cannot assess whether Syria is safe to return to, it must uphold its obligations under UK immigration rules and international law.

“Our clients have all fled violence and persecution in Syria, and sought refuge in the United Kingdom,” said Manini Menon of Duncan Lewis, in comments published by The Independent.

“In granting them refugee status, the home secretary guaranteed our clients the protections afforded by the Refugee Convention and assured them that they would be treated fairly and in line with the immigration rules as approved by parliament.

“Those rules are clear: as long as the home secretary cannot conclude that individuals who have been recognised as refugees may safely return to Syria (and that they are therefore no longer entitled to refugee status), she must grant their applications for settlement,” Menon added.

Refugees are eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain five years after being granted asylum. But with the Home Office yet to provide a timeline for when decisions will resume, concerns are growing about the uncertainty faced by Syrians living in the UK.

The pause follows the toppling of Assad in December by a rebel offensive led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham.

Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the group’s leader, is now interim president, although HTS remains a proscribed terrorist organisation under UK law.

Al-Sharaa, who previously had a $10 million US bounty on his head, met with US President Donald Trump in May.

“I think he has got the potential,” Trump said after the meeting.

In January, Home Office minister Lord Hanson told parliament that decisions had been paused because “we do not yet understand what has happened in Syria on a permanent basis or know how stable Syria is as a whole.”

Labour MP Dame Angela Eagle echoed the stance in February, saying: “As soon as there is a sufficiently clear basis upon which to make determinations, asylum decision making will recommence.”

A Home Office spokesperson told The Independent: “The Home Office has paused decisions on all Syrian asylum cases whilst we continue to assess the current situation, including those for individuals who arrived under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme. We are keeping this pause under constant review.”


Toll in lynching of Nigeria wedding guests rises to 12

Toll in lynching of Nigeria wedding guests rises to 12
Updated 22 June 2025
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Toll in lynching of Nigeria wedding guests rises to 12

Toll in lynching of Nigeria wedding guests rises to 12

JOS: The number of people killed after a mob stormed a bus carrying Muslim wedding guests in central Nigeria’s volatile Plateau state has risen to 12, according to the Nigerian presidency.
The dead include the groom’s father and brother, it said.
President Bola Tinubu has condemned the killings, the latest attack to hit the region where tensions are high after a series of bloody attacks in recent days, with ethnic Fulani nomadic Muslim herders suspected of killing dozens of people in Plateau’s Mangu local government area.
Police, survivors and local organizations said around 30 people on a bus to a wedding lost their way, stopped to ask for directions, and were accosted by an irate mob.
They were attacked with sticks, machetes and stones and their bus set ablaze, a survivor told AFP. Initially authorities had confirmed eight dead with four reported missing.
Tinubu described the lynching “as unacceptable and barbaric,” said a statement from his office which said the dead included the groom’s father and brother.
The Nigerian leader ordered the arrest and punishment of the culprits as he urged the Plateau state government to “take decisive action in handling these vicious cycles of violence.”
Fulani herders in the state have long clashed with settled farmers, many of whom are Christian, over access to land and resources.
Police say they have arrested 22 suspects in connection with the attack.


Saudi dentists bring new expertise home from South Korea’s top medical schools

Saudi doctor Mohammed Al-Keshan, second left, participates in a conference at the Japanese Society of Pediatric Dentistry.
Saudi doctor Mohammed Al-Keshan, second left, participates in a conference at the Japanese Society of Pediatric Dentistry.
Updated 22 June 2025
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Saudi dentists bring new expertise home from South Korea’s top medical schools

Saudi doctor Mohammed Al-Keshan, second left, participates in a conference at the Japanese Society of Pediatric Dentistry.
  • Around a dozen Saudi dentists begin residency programs in South Korea each year
  • They are part of a program by the health ministries of Saudi Arabia and South Korea

SEOUL: When Mohammed Al-Keshan left Makkah to study at South Korea’s top university, he found himself not just 8,000 km away from home, but also in a place where everything seemed different from what he was used to.

Al-Keshan was already 32 when he started his dentistry residency at Seoul National University in 2017. He neither knew the language nor culture — and at that time, there were not many other students in Saudi Arabia with the experience of pursuing medicine in South Korea.

“Then, there was loneliness and homesickness. The courses were more intense (than in Saudi Arabia), and it took me about two to three months to adapt,” he told Arab News.

“It is not easy to learn at this age and to adapt to the culture. But the Korean people are very kind and smart. They gave me a lot of advice and were very helpful.”

Al-Keshan became one of the pioneers in a growing medical exchange program under the Saudi and Korean ministries of health that places a special focus on dental sciences.

The Seoul National University School of Dentistry, where he was enrolled, is ranked among the world’s 30 best dental schools.

After completing his residency in 2021 and receiving certification from the Saudi board, he returned to South Korea in 2024 to pursue further professional development at a special facility that his school runs: the Seoul Dental Hospital for the Disabled.

While in other countries dental care for people with disabilities is usually part of general dental care or is provided at specialized departments within broader hospitals, the South Korean hospital is the only dedicated dental hospital in the world exclusively for patients with disabilities.

“Saudi Arabia does not have a whole dental hospital that is dedicated to special needs care like the one at SNU. So, I would like to coordinate with the Ministry of Health to create one when I go back to Saudi Arabia,” Al-Keshan said.

“I would like to help build something similar … because people with special needs have different dentistry needs.”

The Saudi-Korean medical exchange program, which began in 2015, initially accepted no more than five dentists per year. The number has since more than doubled.

“I was the second batch that the MOH was sending to Korea. The first batch was in 2015 … It was usually under five people,” Al-Keshan said.

“I think it is around 11 or 12. So, there are many more people now.”

For South Korea, the initiative has become a model for global cooperation in healthcare and is resulting in a wave of medical professionals bringing global expertise back to the Kingdom.

Prof. Lee Yong-moo, head of SNU Dental Hospital, vowed during this year’s commencement ceremony for Saudi doctors to continue the training program to “nurture talent to develop Saudi Arabia’s dentistry field” as the program “has become a milestone global exchange project that contributes to the growing friendship between the two countries.”

Saudi dentist Youssef Bajnaid after graduating from a Korean language course at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in 2024. (Youssef Bajnaid) 

As the program expands, more young Saudi dentists are coming to South Korea to study at its top institutions. One of them is Youssef Bajnaid, a 33-year-old dentist from Jeddah, who arrived in South Korea in 2023. He is currently completing his residency in prosthodontics at Kyung Hee University — another institution known for its strong dental program.

He studied dentistry for seven years in Saudi Arabia and after a year of learning Korean at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies is now a resident in the prosthodontics department.

“My batch is 11 doctors … We want to know the (latest) treatment methods in the dentistry field,” he said.

“And I want to represent my country during my work. I get a lot of support from my professors at Kyung Hee … We have the same vision.”