US judge applies ‘crime victims’ status in Boeing 737 MAX crashes

 The first Boeing Max 737 crashed in Indonesia in October 2018, killing 189, and another crashed in Ethiopia killing 157.

A United States federal court judge has ruled relatives of the 346 people killed in the crashes of two Boeing 737 Max planes in Indonesia and Ethiopia are representatives of crime victims under federal law and should have been told about private negotiations over a settlement that spared Boeing from criminal prosecution.

The full impact of the ruling on Friday is not yet clear, however. The judge said the next step is to decide what remedies the families of victims should receive for not being told of the talks between the US government and Boeing.

The first Boeing Max 737 crashed in Indonesia in October 2018, killing 189, and another crashed five months later in Ethiopia, killing 157.

All Boeing 737 Max jets were grounded worldwide for nearly two years. They were cleared to fly again after Boeing overhauled an automated flight-control system that activated erroneously in both crashes.

Relatives are pushing to scrap the US government’s January 2021 settlement with Boeing and have expressed anger that on one in the company has been held criminally responsible for the two crashes.

Boeing Co., which is based in Arlington, Virginia, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the judge’s ruling.

Boeing, which misled safety regulators who approved the Max, agreed to pay $2.5bn including a $243.6m fine. The US Justice Department, in return, agreed not to prosecute the company for conspiracy to defraud the government.

The Justice Department, in explaining why it did not tell families about the secret negotiations with the company, argued the relatives were not crime victims.

However, US District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, said on Friday that the crashes were a foreseeable consequence of Boeing’s conspiracy, making the relatives representatives of crime victims.

“In sum, but for Boeing’s criminal conspiracy to defraud the FAA, 346 people would not have lost their lives in the crashes,” he wrote.

Chris Moore, who lost his daughter Danielle in the Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crash one year ago, protests at Transport Canada’s headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on March 10, 2020 [Patrick Doyle/Reuters]

Boeing did not disclose key details to the Federal Aviation Administration of a safety system called MCAS, which was linked to both fatal crashes and designed to help counter a tendency of the MAX to pitch up.

“Had Boeing not committed its crime” pilots in Ethiopia and Indonesia would have “received training adequate to respond to the MCAS activation that occurred on both aircrafts”, O’Connor ruled.

Paul Cassell, a lawyer for the families, said the ruling “is a tremendous victory” and “sets the stage for a pivotal hearing, where we will present proposed remedies that will allow criminal prosecution to hold Boeing fully accountable”.

Irish woman, Naoise Connolly Ryan, whose husband, Mick Ryan, a senior engineer with the United Nations’ World Food Programme, died in the second Max crash in Ethiopia, has long campaigned that Boeing is responsible for her husband’s death.

“Families like mine are the true victims of Boeing’s criminal misconduct, and our views should have been considered before the government gave them a sweetheart deal,” she said in a statement issued by a lawyer for the families.

Connolly Ryan had been offered, along with all bereaved families, a substantial cash settlement from Boeing, which she had turned down saying that she wanted justice, according to the News

Shareholders of the company had accused Boeing Co. directors of lying about the company’s oversight of its 737 Max 8 airliner and had participated in a misleading public-relations campaign following two fatal crashes involving the plane.

According to unsealed court filings, Boeing’s board was accused of ignoring red flags about the 737 Max, failing to develop adequate tools to evaluate safety on the planes, and did not properly hold former executives accountable for a public-relations campaign that pushed back against criticism of the plane’s design flaws, Bloomberg reported.

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Dusk to dawn curfew in chaotic Chad as more demonstrations vowed

 First his father, Idriss Deby Itno ruled Chad dictatorially for 31 years until he was killed in April of 2021 whiLe visiting troops on the frontlines engaged with jIhadists.

Then his son, Mahamat Idriss Deby, also an army commander, took over in what was agreed to be a transitional period of 18 months which ended on October 20, 2022.

Many expected months ago for the transitional process to begin but no word was forthcoming from the government.

With no word thus far on the transition process, Chadians suspected the makings of another Idriss Deby scheming to impose himself on the citizens so they took to the streets of capital N’Djamena and other cities to protest.

In response, Idriss Deby gave his military orders to shoot to kill, resulting in hundreds dead and thousands injured in various hospitals.

Undeterred, Chadian youth have vowed to continue with their demonstrations notwithstanding the shoot-to-kill orders to the military.

The government has responded with a dusk to dawn curfew, and the military is reported to be conducting house-to-house searches for ring leaders. Some journalists have been reportedly killed at their homes in front of their families.

DNT News with correspondence reports from Julius Ouya and Chadian Journalist Bakaine Alliance

Chadian Journalist Bakaine Alliance

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Blackouts in parts of Ukraine after ‘massive’ Russian attacks

Hundreds of thousands of people in central and western Ukraine are without power after Russia carried out missile and drone attacks.

Hundreds of thousands of people in central and western Ukraine are without power after Russia carried out massive drone and missile attacks, as intense fighting continues in the southeastern region of Luhansk, Donetsk and Kherson where Russia has been struggling to stop renewed Ukrainian advances.

Ukraine’s air force said in a statement on Saturday that Russia had launched “a massive missile attack” targeting “critical infrastructure”, hours after air raid sirens blared across the country. It said that it had downed 18 out of 33 cruise missiles launched from air and sea.

Local officials in regions across Ukraine reported strikes on energy facilities and power outages as engineers scrambled to restore the ruined network. Some advised residents to stock up on water in case of cuts.

Russia has intensified its attacks on power stations, water supply systems and other key infrastructure across the country since October 10, destroying one-third of Ukraine’s power stations in apparent retaliation to an attack on the Crimea bridge – a key military supply route – and recent advances made by Ukrainian forces.

After the first wave of missiles hit early in the morning, air raid sirens rang out again nationwide at 11.15am local time (08:15 GMT).

State grid operator Ukrenergo said the attacks targeted transmission infrastructure in western Ukraine, but that power supply restrictions were being put in place in 10 regions across the country, including in the capital, Kyiv.

“The scale of damage is comparable or may exceed the consequences of the attacks [between] October 10-12,” Ukrenergo wrote on the Telegram app, referring to the first wave of strikes on Ukraine’s power system last week.

“Another rocket attack from terrorists who are fighting against civilian infrastructure and people,” the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on the Telegram app.

The western city of Khmelnitsky, which straddles the Bug river and was home to some 275,000 people before the war, was left with no electricity, shortly after local media reported several loud explosions.

The city council urged residents to store water, “in case it’s also gone within an hour,” in a social media post on Saturday.

The mayor of Lutsk, a city of 215,000 in Ukraine’s far west, made a similar appeal on Telegram on Saturday. Power in Lutsk had been partially knocked out after Russian missiles slammed into local energy facilities, he said.

The central city of Uman, a key pilgrimage centre for Hasidic Jews which counted some 100,000 residents before the war, was also plunged into darkness after a rocket hit a nearby power station, regional authorities said on Telegram.

In comments to AFP news agency on Saturday, Ukrenergo said some parts of Ukraine are reducing their electricity use by up to 20 percent.

“We are grateful to both people, who have reduced their consumption at home, and to businesses, who are doing the same in their offices and workplaces. We see savings in different regions and on different days the level of voluntary consumption reduction ranges from five to 20 percent on average,” Ukrenergo chief Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said in written comments to AFP.

Earlier this week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on consumers to curb their power use between 7am and 11am daily, and avoid using energy-guzzling appliances such as electric heaters.

Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday that its forces had repelled attempted Ukrainian offensives in the southern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk and the southern region of Kherson.

It said Russian forces had prevented an attempt by Ukraine to break through its line of defence in the Kherson region by the settlements of Piatykhatky, Sukhanove, Sablukivka and Bezvodne.

Ukrainian authorities say they have taken some 88 towns in the region. Al Jazeera could not independently verify reports from the battlefield.

Civilians evacuated from the Russian-controlled Kherson region of Ukraine arrive at a railway station in the town of Dzhankoi, Crimea, on October 20, 2022 

Kherson is one of four Ukrainian territories illegally annexed by Moscow last month.

Russia and Ukraine have also accused each other of planning to blow up a huge dam in the Kherson region. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has alleged that Russian forces are planting explosives in the Nova Kakhovka dam.

He warned its destruction would be catastrophic. Meanwhile, Russian-installed officials in Kherson have accused Ukraine of firing missiles at the dam.

Neither side has produced evidence for their claims.

Al Jazeera’s Kimberley Halkett reporting from the White House spoke to the National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby who said Russia’s attack on civilian infrastructure including alleged ones on the dam were “absolutely unacceptable”.

“It’s another example of Russian brutality against the Ukrainian people who he’s trying to strike fear into them and he’s trying to affect their ability to get through what will likely be a cold winter,” he said.

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Former China President Hu led out of Communist Party Congress

The 79-year-old Hu Jintao’s departure was left unexplained as he seemed reluctant to leave while seated next to President Xi Jinping.

Former Chinese President Hu Jintao was unexpectedly led out of Saturday’s closing ceremony of the Communist Party Congress in a dramatic moment that disrupted the highly choreographed event.

No official comment about Hu’s removal was given as the nation’s censors appeared to quickly scrub any recent references to him from the internet.

The frail-looking 79-year-old seemed reluctant to leave the front row of proceedings at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, where he was sitting next to President Xi Jinping.

A steward attempted to take a sitting Hu by the arm before being shaken off. The steward then attempted to lift Hu with both hands from under the armpits.

After an exchange of about a minute, in which Hu spoke briefly with Xi and Premier Li Keqiang, he was led out of the hall.

A seated Xi was filmed holding papers down on the desk as Hu tried to grab them.

Hu patted Li’s shoulder as he left, as most of his colleagues stared firmly ahead.

The week-long congress occurred mostly behind closed doors, but Hu’s departure occurred shortly after journalists were allowed in to cover the closing ceremony.

Authorities offered no explanation for Hu’s exit, which came just before the 2,300 delegates at the congress voted unanimously to endorse Xi’s “core” leadership position.

“We still don’t know what caused Hu’s actions, such as whether it was opposition to Xi’s power or simply an unfortunately timed senior moment,” said Neil Thomas, a senior China analyst at the Eurasia Group consultancy, according to AFP news agency.

“So without more information, it’s hard to draw solid conclusions about how this incident relates to Chinese politics.”

Premier Li Keqiang and Chinese President Xi Jinping leave at the end of the closing ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on October 

Search results for “Hu Jintao” on the Twitter-like Weibo platform appeared to be heavily censored on Saturday afternoon, with the most recent result dated Friday and posts limited to those of official accounts.

Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the nation’s number two official was among four of the seven members of the nation’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee who will not be reappointed in a leadership shuffle on Sunday.

Li and three others were missing from the ruling Communist Party’s new 205-member Central Committee that was approved at the closing session of a weeklong party congress, which set the leadership and agenda for the next five years.

Only Central Committee members can serve on the Standing Committee.

Xi is all but assured of being formally announced on Sunday as the party’s general secretary for another five years, also allowing him to become president for a third straight time.

Since taking over from Hu 10 years ago, Xi has become China’s most authoritarian leader since Mao Zedong.

Xi has crushed the opposition to his rule inside the party, with many of his rivals jailed on corruption charges, and he has shown no tolerance for any form of public dissent.

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Giorgia Meloni sworn in as Italy’s first female prime minister

 

The ceremony took place after a week of tensions within Meloni’s coalition after partner Berlusconi boasted about his ties with Russian President Putin.

Hard-right Leader Giorgia Meloni was sworn in as Italy’s first female prime minister amid looming questions over her coalition partners’ stance towards Russia.

The 45-year-old leader recited the ritual oath of office before Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Saturday after her party Brothers of Italy won more than 25 percent of the vote in snap elections in late September.

She pledged to act “in the exclusive interests of the nation” – a promise then repeated by her 24 ministers, six of them women.

The ceremony took place a day after Meloni along with her coalition partners – hardliner Matteo Salvini of the League party and Forza Italia’s TV tycoon Silvio Berlusconi – unveiled their cabinet. The government is expected to face confidence votes in parliament next week.

Forza Italia’s Antonio Tajani is now the country’s foreign minister. He has a long history with European institutions and was president of the European Parliament in 2017.

The economy ministry will be in the hands of League’s Giancarlo Giorgetti who is considered relatively pro-Europe, and one of the most moderate among party members.

Another key department, the defence ministry, is going to Brothers of Italy’s co-founder and close adviser to Meloni Guido Crosetto – a defence industry expert who was head of the Federation of Italian Aerospace Companies.

“Throughout Europe, patriots are coming to power and with them this Europe of nations,” said French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, referring to Meloni and Salvini, on Twitter.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban hailed a “big day for the European Right”.

Members of the new government pose for a photo after the swearing-in ceremony at the Quirinale Presidential Palace in Rome on Saturday [Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters]

The ceremony comes after days of tensions within the ruling coalition and infighting over who to appoint in key ministries. As the new parliament held its first session last week, a clandestine photo taken of Berlusconi’s notes showed a list of adjectives describing Meloni as “overbearing, domineering, arrogant and offensive”.

The standoff was triggered by the leader of Brothers of Italy refusing to consider a close ally to Berlusconi as justice minister. Just hours after the two seemed to have mended ties, an audio clip of Berlusconi was leaked to the media with the octogenarian boasting about his personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin – which included gift exchanges of vodka and red wine – and offering his party members an explanation of how Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was the one responsible for the war.

The audio sent a tremor throughout the coalition after Meloni made a concerted effort throughout the campaign to reassure Italy’s Western allies over the country’s pro-NATO stance and its support for Ukraine in the conflict.

“Italy with us in government will never be the weak link in the West,” Meloni snapped back after the audio leak. “I intend to lead a government with a clear and unequivocal foreign policy line … Anyone who does not agree with this cornerstone cannot be part of the government.”

But if she has been firm, her coalition partners have been wobbling, spurring doubts over what is going to be the country’s position in the long term.

“Foreign policy is definitely one of the most critical aspects to tackle. Doubts over Italy’s collocation have been ongoing for years,” said Gregory Alegi, professor of history and politics at Luiss University, referring to the five Star Movement’s past sympathies towards China and openly pro-Russia stance of several other politicians.

Among them are Salvini and the newly elected speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Lorenzo Fontana, who have repeatedly insisted on lifting sanctions against Moscow.

“The filo-Russian curriculum of several actors of the new government is hard to hide and it poses a question mark,” said Alegi.

Italy’s new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni waves to the media before the swearing-in ceremony in Rome [Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters]

Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, founded in 2012 on the ashes of a post-fascist party, had rallied its supporters around an aggressive agenda against the European Union and international financial markets.

She has often raised eyebrows among bloc’s members by aligning with far-right Spanish party Vox and Hungary’s Orban – recently accused by the EU of failing to respect the rule of law.

But she very much diluted that tone as the prospect of entering government neared and Italy’s chronically ill economy receives millions of euros from the EU.

The country is also going through biting inflation and an energy crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine – elements that leave Meloni with little room for radical change, observers say.

“Meloni knows her political fate is tied to the economy,” said Tommaso Grossi, political analyst at the European Policy Center, noting she will not be fighting with Brussels over budget overshoots or fiscal policies.

“She doesn’t want to be the Liz Truss of Italy,” said Alegi – referring to the UK’s former Conservative leader who made British history by lasting only 44 days in office after she sent markets into disarray following a radical economic plan later reversed.

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