Families of victims appalled as Boeing seems likely to avoid prosecution over 737 Max crashes
Boeing is set to avoid prosecution in a fraud case sparked by two fatal crashes of its bestselling 737 Max jet that killed 346 people, according to sources familiar with the matter,The US Department of Justice is considering a non-prosecution agreement, relatives of the victims were told on Friday, through which the US aerospace giant would not be required to plead guilty,Representatives of the crash victims’ families expressed outrage, describing the proposal as “morally repugnant” after a tense call with senior justice department officials,Boeing declined to comment,The justice department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The tentative deal was first reported by Reuters.In October 2018, 189 people were killed when Lion Air flight 610 fell into the Java Sea off Indonesia.In March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa airport, claiming 157 lives.The second crash prompted the worldwide grounding of the 737 Max for almost two years, and left Boeing scrambling to repair its reputation.While Boeing initially resolved a criminal investigation in January 2021, prosecutors accused it of breaching the settlement in 2024.
This led the justice department to offer the firm a controversial plea deal last summer.In December, however, US district Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas rejected the agreement.He cited a diversity and inclusion provision related to the selection of an independent monitor.While Boeing had agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and pay a fine of up to $487.2m during the final months of the Biden administration, O’Connor’s decision meant the Trump administration inherited the case.
Under Donald Trump, the justice department has been overhauled, and his administration has faced questions around how aggressively it intends to pursue big companies that break the law,Sanjiv Singh, counsel for 16 families of crash victims, said: “We are appalled by this sudden possible retreat from criminal prosecution of Boeing,A non-prosecution agreement is morally repugnant and lacks the teeth and bite to cause fundamental change in Boeings safety practices,”Shares in Boeing slipped 0,5% in New York.
Families of victims appalled as Boeing seems likely to avoid prosecution over 737 Max crashes
Boeing is set to avoid prosecution in a fraud case sparked by two fatal crashes of its bestselling 737 Max jet that killed 346 people, according to sources familiar with the matter.The US Department of Justice is considering a non-prosecution agreement, relatives of the victims were told on Friday, through which the US aerospace giant would not be required to plead guilty.Representatives of the crash victims’ families expressed outrage, describing the proposal as “morally repugnant” after a tense call with senior justice department officials.Boeing declined to comment. The justice department did not immediately respond to a request for comment
US consumer sentiment falls as tariffs drive up inflation fears; Number of UK billionaires drops – as it happened
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.The number of British billionaires has fallen, as the super-rich are hit by stock market turbulence and the end of tax breaks for non-doms.The Sunday Times’s annual totting-up of Britain’s richest people, just published shows that the number of billionaires slid to 156 this year from 165 in 2024. That’s the sharpest decline in the Rich List’s 37-year-history.The Sunday Times reports that “falling fortunes” have led many to drop off the list, while others are no longer eligible, having “fled Britain after Labour’s non-dom crackdown”
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UK-based members of the Scattered Spider hacking community are actively “facilitating” cyber-attacks, according to Google, as disruption to British retailers spreads to the US.A group of hackers labelled “Scattered Spider” have been linked with attacks on UK retailers Marks & Spencer, the Co-op and Harrods, with Google cybersecurity experts warning this week that unnamed retailers across the Atlantic are being targeted as well.Charles Carmakal, the chief technology officer at Google’s Mandiant cybersecurity unit, said that the threat had moved to the US in a pattern typical of Scattered Spider assailants.“They tend to focus on a particular industry sector and geography for a few weeks and then they move on to something else,” he said. “And right now they’re focused on retail organisations
Elon Musk’s AI firm blames unauthorised change for chatbot’s rant about ‘white genocide’
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company has blamed an “unauthorised modification” for a glitch in its Grok chatbot that resulted in the tool ranting about “white genocide” in South Africa.In a post on Musk’s X platform, xAI said new measures would be brought in to ensure its employees cannot modify the bot’s behaviour without extra oversight.The Grok bot repeatedly referred to a white genocide in South Africa – a discredited claim promoted by Donald Trump among other US populist figures – this week in responses to unrelated queries.One user of Musk’s X platform, which also hosts Grok, asked the bot to identify the location of a photo of a walking path, triggering a non sequitur swerve into “South Africa’s farm attack debate”.xAI, the Musk-owned company that developed the chatbot, said in a post on X that the bot’s erratic behaviour was due to an unauthorised change made to the Grok bot’s system prompt, which guides a chatbot’s responses and actions
Rampant Knicks blow out Celtics to advance to first East finals since 2000
It didn’t take long for the New York Knicks to turn their biggest game in a quarter-century into a complete laugher on Friday night.Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby scored 23 points apiece as the Knicks eliminated the defending champion Boston Celtics with a 119-81 beatdown in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference semi-final series, propelling New York into the last four of the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2000.The Knicks advance to meet the Indiana Pacers, the same team they faced in each of their previous three trips to the East finals in 1994, 1999 and 2000. Game 1 is Wednesday night in Manhattan.New York overcame a sloppy opening quarter to lead by as many as 41 points during a non-competitive second half in front of a rollicking, celebrity-flecked crowd that included Timothée Chalamet, Ben Stiller, Bad Bunny and Lenny Kravitz
US PGA Championship 2025: second round – as it happened
Thanks for reading today. A few shots still to be played before everything is wrapped up but no television pictures so we’ll bid farewell.Scott Murray will guide you through all the weekend action. Can Rory McIlroy repeat history? Will Bryson DeChambeau fire? Is Scottie Scheffler going to land a third major championship victory? Or are we due a surprise? Join Scott tomorrow to find out!The Venezuela player holds a two-shot advantage over the field, but Scottie Scheffler will be the man whose shadow looms darkest for the pace-setter.-8: Vegas (F) -6: Pavon (F), Fitzpatrick (F), SW Kim (F) -5: Homa (F), Scheffler (F) -4: Stevens, (F), MacIntyre (F), Poston (F), Smalley (F), Fox (F), Bezuidenhout (F), Thorbjornsen (F), McCarthy (F), Gerard (F), Higgo (17)Catch up with the day’s action with Ewan Murray’s report
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