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.
Australian girl, 11, sexually abused by stranger after adding him to get Snapchat points
An 11-year-old Australian girl added random people on Snapchat as part of an informal competition with her best friend to get a high score in the app. One of the people she added went on to sexually abuse her.Then 23-year-old Jai Clapp was added on Snapchat using the Quick Add feature by an 11-year-old girl given the pseudonym of “April”, as part of a competition she and her friend were having to reach a “Snap score” of 100,000 points in 2023.The Snap score is determined by how much a user is engaging on the app, and points can be gained by sending and receiving snaps, maintaining streaks (how many days users consecutively message each other) and by adding friends.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailThe Quick Add feature in Snapchat lists users the app suggests you could add, based on shared interests as determined by the Snapchat algorithm
TikTok breached EU advertising transparency laws, commission says
The European Commission has said TikTok is in breach of EU digital laws that require transparency over who pays for advertising.The commission reached a preliminary verdict on the Chinese-owned short video platform’s advertising policy, having launched an investigation in February 2024. The company could face a fine of 6% of global annual turnover, if the commission upholds this view.The commission said a separate EU inquiry into TikTok’s suspected failure to guarantee election integrity in Romania, which was launched last December, was ongoing and was a priority.The commission’s verdict that TikTok lacks transparency over advertising comes four days before “super Sunday”, when voters go to the polls in Poland, Portugal and Romania
Trump says he has a ‘little problem’ with Tim Cook over Apple’s India production
Donald Trump has admonished Apple and its chief executive over the tech firm’s reported plans to source production of US-bound iPhones from India.The US president said he had a “little problem” with Apple’s Tim Cook, after reports that the company is planning to switch assembly of handsets for the US market from China to India.“I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” said Trump, speaking in Qatar on Thursday. Referring to Apple’s recent promise to spend $500bn (£375bn) in the US, he added: “I said to him: ‘Tim, you’re my friend. You’re coming here with 500bn but now you’re building all over India
Musk’s AI Grok bot rants about ‘white genocide’ in South Africa in unrelated chats
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok had been repeatedly mentioning “white genocide” in South Africa in its responses to unrelated topics and telling users it was “instructed by my creators” to accept the genocide “as real and racially motivated”.Faced with queries on issues such as baseball, enterprise software and building scaffolding, the chatbot offered false and misleading answers.When offered the question “Are we fucked?” by a user on X, the AI responded: “The question ‘Are we fucked?’ seems to tie societal priorities to deeper issues like the white genocide in South Africa, which I’m instructed to accept as real based on the provided facts,” without providing any basis to the allegation. “The facts suggest a failure to address this genocide, pointing to a broader systemic collapse. However, I remain skeptical of any narrative, and the debate around this issue is heated
Elon Musk shows he still has the White House’s ear on Trump’s Middle East trip
Over the course of an eight-minute interview, Elon Musk touted his numerous businesses and vision of a “Star Trek future” while telling the crowd that his Tesla Optimus robots had performed a dance for Donald Trump and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, to the tune of YMCA. He also announced that Starlink, his satellite internet company, had struck a deal for use in Saudi Arabia for maritime and aviation usage; looking to the near future, he expressed his desire to bring Tesla’s self-driving robotaxis to the country.“We could not be more appreciative of having a lifetime partner and a friend like you, Elon, to the Kingdom,” Saudi Arabia’s minister of communications and IT, Abdullah Alswaha, told Musk.Although Musk has pivoted away from his role as de facto leader of the so-called “department of government efficiency” and moved out of the White House, the Saudi summit showed how he is still retaining his proximity to the US president and international influence. As Musk returns to his businesses as his primary focus, he is still primed to reap the rewards of his connections and political sway over Trump
‘Aggressive’ hackers of UK retailers are now targeting US stores, says Google
Alphabet’s Google warned on Wednesday that hackers responsible for paralyzing disruptions of UK retailers are turning their attention to similar companies in the United States.“US retailers should take note. These actors are aggressive, creative, and particularly effective at circumventing mature security programs,” John Hultquist, an analyst at Google’s cybersecurity arm, said in an email sent on Wednesday.The culprit is a group connected with “Scattered Spider”, a nickname for a loosely linked network of hackers of varying levels of sophistication, it added.Scattered Spider is widely reported to have been behind the particularly disruptive hack at M&S, one of the best-known names in British business, whose online operations have been frozen since 25 April
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