Top News Stories for Today – Mar 11, 2019
Top News Stories for Today – Mar 11, 2019
Kim Jong-nam murder suspect freed
The Indonesian woman accused of killing Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea’s leader, has been freed after charges against her were dropped. Siti Aisyah had been accused of smearing VX nerve agent on Kim’s face in Kuala Lumpur airport in 2017. She and her co-accused, Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, deny murder and say they thought they were part of a TV prank.
The brazen killing at an international airport left observers stunned and gripped international headlines. After several months of delay, the defense phase of the trial was set to begin Monday, with testimony from Huong. However, the prosecutor in the case requested the murder charge for Siti Aisyah be dropped, without giving a reason. BBC
Ethiopian Airlines crash victims
All 157 people on board Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 were killed Sunday morning when the plane crashed shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. The cause of the crash is under investigation, with Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde GebreMariam telling reporters the pilot, after experiencing technical difficulties, asked for clearance to return to Bole International Airport. The plane, a brand new Boeing 737 MAX, was headed to Nairobi, and the pilot had an “excellent flying record,” the CEO said.
The victims include Pius Adesanmi, a Nigerian author and professor from Ottawa’s Carleton University; retired Nigerian Ambassador Abiodun Oluremi Bashu; the wife, daughter, and son of Slovakian lawmaker Anton Hrnko; and several U.N. employees, including workers with the World Food Program. The Associated Press via The Week
China halt use of Boeing 737 MAX 8
China’s aviation regulator on Monday grounded nearly 100 Boeing Co 737 MAX 8 aircraft operated by its airlines, more than a quarter of the global fleet of the jets, after a deadly crash of one of the planes in Ethiopia. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said it would notify airlines when they could resume flying the jets, after contacting Boeing and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ensure flight safety.
Most other Boeing 737 MAX operators globally told Reuters their planes would keep flying and they had no plans to cancel orders. Chinese airlines have 96 737 MAX 8 jets in service, the state company regulator said on Twitter-like Weibo, including Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines. Reuters
WH proposes $8.6b for border wall in 2020 budget
President Donald Trump plans to seek another $8.6 billion for a border wall in his new budget to be released Monday, White House officials say. This new request would be on top of the nearly $7 billion Trump has ordered to be used to build a wall under his state of emergency declaration. The budget also calls for a big boost for the Pentagon and a 5 percent cut in nonmilitary programs.
“(Trump) hurt millions of Americans and caused widespread chaos when he recklessly shut down the government to try to get his expensive and ineffective wall,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement Sunday. The Voice of America
China and Vietnam are regularly clashing at sea
A capsized Vietnamese fishing boat that Hanoi says was hit by a Chinese vessel in contested waters is the latest in what scholars call a string of often unreported maritime mishaps between the two sides despite official efforts to get along. The fishing boat carrying a crew of five capsized on March 6 near the Paracel Islands, a group of South China Sea islets claimed by both countries but controlled by China.
The National Committee for Incident-Natural Disaster Response and Search and Rescue in Hanoi says a Chinese vessel rammed the boat near Discovery Reef due east of Vietnam and southwest of Hong Kong, according to the news website VnExpress International. Another Vietnamese fishing boat rescued the crew, the report says. China rejects blame for the mishap. The Voice of America
Iran’s President visits Iraq
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrived in Baghdad on Monday, Iraqi state television said, making his first official visit to the nation that Tehran once fought a bloody war against and later backed in the battle with the Islamic State group. Since Rouhani’s election in 2013, Iraq has relied on Iranian paramilitary support to fight IS, following the militant group’s capture of the Iraqi city of Mosul and other territory in both Iraq and Syria. Now with the militants facing a final territorial defeat in the Syrian village of Baghouz, Iran is looking for Iraq’s continued support as it faces a maximalist pressure campaign by President Donald Trump after his decision to withdraw America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Rouhani was received by an honor guard on landing in Baghdad, where he was welcomed by Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Ali Al-Hakim. He is to first visit a Shiite shrine in the Iraqi capital and then meet with both President Barham Salih and Prime Minister Abdel Abdul Mehdi, as well as visit other politicians and Shiite leaders. Rouhani is accompanied on the three-day visit to Iraq by a high-ranking political and economic delegation. The Voice of America