Top News Stories for Today – Mar 21, 2019
Top News Stories for Today – Mar 21, 2019
European and Canadian to review Boeing 737
Boeing’s grounded airliners are likely to be parked longer now that European and Canadian regulators plan to conduct their own reviews of changes the company is making after two of the jets crashed. The Europeans and Canadians want to do more than simply take the US Federal Aviation Administration’s word that alterations to a key flight-control system will make the 737 Max safer. Those reviews scramble an ambitious schedule set by Boeing and could undercut the FAA’s reputation around the world.
Boeing hopes by Monday to finish an update to software that can automatically point the nose of the plane sharply downward in some circumstances to avoid an aerodynamic stall, according to two people briefed on FAA presentations to congressional committees. The Voice of America
New Zealand to ban military style weapons
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced an immediate ban Thursday on semi-automatic and automatic weapons like the ones used in the attacks on two mosques in Christchurch that killed 50 worshippers.
Ardern said she expects the new laws to be in place by April 11, but an interim measure means a ban on new purchases has for practical purposes already been enacted. A buy-back scheme will be established for banned weapons. The Voice of America
New round of US-China trade talks
China says a high-ranking US delegation will travel to Beijing next week to resume negotiations aimed at resolving the ongoing trade war between the world’s two leading economies. Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng announced Thursday that US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will visit the Chinese capital next Thursday and Friday, March 28 & 29, followed by a trip to Washington in early April by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.
The trade war between the United States and China began last year when President Donald Trump imposed punitive tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports to compel Beijing to change its trading practices. The Voice of America
Trump continues public criticism of McCain
President Trump’s feud with the late Sen. John McCain continued on Wednesday, when he said he gave McCain “the kind of funeral that he wanted” in a speech at an Ohio army tank plant. Trump said that McCain’s funeral was something he “had to approve,” but added that “I don’t care about this,” also claiming he “didn’t get a thank you.”
Trump has been leveling public criticism at McCain in recent days, linking McCain to the Steele dossier on Twitter Sunday, and complaining about McCain’s thumbs-down vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday. He also said he “never liked” McCain much and “probably never will.” ABC News via The Week
May to urge short Brexit delay to EU
Theresa May will make a direct plea to EU leaders later asking to postpone Brexit for three months, hours after telling the British public a delay was “a matter of great personal regret”. At an EU summit in Brussels, she will try to persuade the other 27 countries to delay the UK’s exit beyond 29 March.
On Wednesday, the PM made a speech blaming the delay on MPs and telling the nation she was “on their side”. Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn is also due in Brussels for separate Brexit talks. BBC
States seek political candidates to release tax returns
In refusing to release his tax returns, President Trump bucked decades of tradition and set off a Democrat hunt to obtain them. Now several statehouses are looking at making their release a condition of the 2020 presidential election: Show us your tax returns, or you can’t be on the ballot.
Eighteen states have considered legislation this year that would require presidential and vice presidential candidates to post their tax returns to appear on the ballot during a primary or general election, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). Trump has long insisted that he won’t release his returns because they are under audit, though that would not preclude him from doing so. The Washington Post