Foreign News
Alaska Airlines grounds 737 Max 9 planes after section blows out mid-air
A passenger plane lost a section of its fuselage in mid-air forcing it to make an emergency landing in the US state of Oregon.
The Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 turned back minutes into its flight to California after an outer section, including a window, fell off on Friday. There were 177 passengers and crew on board and it landed safely in Portland. The airline said it would temporarily ground all 65 of its 737 Max 9 aircraft to conduct inspections.
Boeing said it was aware of the incident and was “working to gather more information”.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority told the BBC it was “monitoring the situation very closely”.
Evan Smith, one of the 171 passengers on board, said: “There was a really loud bang towards the left rear of the plane and a woosh noise – and all the air masks dropped. “They said there was a kid in that row who had his shirt sucked off him and out of the plane and his mother was holding onto him to make sure he didn’t go with it.”
Diego Murillo said the gap was “as wide as a refrigerator”.
Fellow passenger Elizabeth Lee added: “Part of the plane was missing and the wind was just extremely loud. but everyone was in their seats and had their belt on.”
Jessica Montoia described the flight as a “trip from hell” adding a phone was taken out of a man’s hand by the wind.
Announcing the grounding of the 65 planes, Alaska Airlines’ CEO Ben Minicucci said: “Each aircraft will be returned to service only after completion of full maintenance and safety inspections. My heart goes out to those who were on this flight – I am so sorry for what you experienced. I am so grateful for the response of our pilots and flight attendants.”
The flight to Ontario, California, had reached 16,000ft (4,876m) when it began its emergency descent, according to flight tracking data. Images sent to news outlets show the night sky visible through the gap in the fuselage, with insulation material and other debris also seen.
Other pictures show the seat closest to the affected section, a window seat that passengers said was unoccupied, leaning forward without its cushion. In an audio clip, the pilot can be heard talking to air traffic control requesting a diversion. “We are an emergency,” she said. “We are depressurised, we do need to return back.”
According to photographs, the affected area was in the back third of the plane, behind the wing and engines. The section of fuselage involved appears to be an area that can be used as an additional emergency exit door by some operators, but not by Alaska.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 “returned safely… after the crew reported a pressurisation issue”.
Boeing said a “technical team stands ready to support the investigation”. Flydubai told the BBC that its three Boeing 737 Max 9 had a “different configuration with mid-aft cabin exits” compared to the Alaska Airline planes and have completed recent safety checks. “We will follow any guidance issued by Boeing once more information is available,” a spokeswoman added.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the incident.
The Boeing 737 Max has been described as “the most scrutinised transport aircraft in history” after a series of safety issues. The Max was grounded in March 2019 for a year-and-a-half after two of the type crashed in similar circumstances to each other killing those on board.
Aviation expert John Strickland said the Alaska Airlines incident was very different to those crashes, adding that since the 737 Max came back into service it had “an enormous safety record”. “While we know little evidence of why this section of the fuselage has come out – this has nothing to do with the aircraft being grounded for 18 months,” he told BBC News. “But, it is natural Alaska Airlines is taking a cautious approach grounding its fleet”
More recently, Boeing said it would increase the pace of 737 Max deliveries after resolving a supply error that required it to conduct lengthy inspections of new planes and its inventory, Reuters news agency reported.
About 1,300 737 Max aircraft have been delivered to customers, Boeing data shows. Last month, the FAA urged airlines to inspect Max models for a possible loose bolt in rudder control systems.
(BBC)
Nearly 1,000 people have been killed, and close to one million displaced, Indonesia has said a week after torrential rains triggered catastrophic floods and landslides.
The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) reported late on Sunday that 961 people had been killed, with 234 people missing and about 5,000 injured across the Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra provinces.
The agency also recorded damage to more than 156,000 homes, and 975,075 people had taken refuge in temporary shelters.
Floodwaters have begun to recede in several coastal districts, although large areas in the central highlands are still cut off, BNPB said. However, heavy rain is forecast for parts of the island in the coming days, raising concerns for displaced people.
Indonesia’s rainy season, which usually peaks between November and April, frequently brings severe flooding.
Environmental groups and disaster specialists have warned for years that rapid deforestation, unregulated development and degraded river basins have increased the risks.
Several other countries in Southeast Asia, including Sri Lanka and Thailand, have been hit hard by storms and floods in recent weeks.
Risk to billions
The Asian Water Development Outlook 2025, published by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday, warned that the impact of climate change on Asia’s water systems poses a risk to billions.
The research said accelerating ecosystem decline and funding shortfalls for investment in critical water infrastructure threaten to plunge many in the sprawling region into water insecurity.
That could jeopardise gains over the past 12 years that have seen more than 60 percent of Asia-Pacific’s population – about 2.7 billion people – escape extreme water insecurity, the report says.
“Asia’s water story is a tale of two realities, with monumental achievements on water security coupled with rising risks that could undermine this progress,” said Norio Saito, the ADB’s senior director for water and urban development.
“Without water security, there is no development,” Saito said, adding that the report showed that urgent action was needed to restore ecosystem health, strengthen resilience, improve water governance, and deploy innovative finance to deliver long-term water security.
Rising disaster threat
The report said extreme weather events such as storm surges, rising sea levels, and saltwater intrusion, along with rising water-related disasters, threaten the region, which already accounts for more than 40 percent of the world’s floods.
That includes the disasters that ravaged Indonesia and other countries in the region in recent weeks.
From 2013 to 2023, the Asia Pacific region experienced 244 major floods, 104 droughts, and 101 severe storms, causing widespread damage to life and property and undermining crucial development gains.
The report said accelerating ecosystem decline was also a serious threat to water security in the region, with rivers, aquifers, wetlands and forests that sustain long-term water security deteriorating rapidly.
It said water ecosystems were deteriorating or stagnating in 30 of the 50 Asian countries it looked at, as they face threats from pollution, unchecked development and the conversion of land to other uses.
Under investment in water infrastructure is another threat to water security.
Asian nations will need to spend $4 trillion for water and sanitation between now and 2040, an outlay of about $250bn a year, the report said.
Currently, governments are collectively spending about 40 percent of that, an annual shortfall of more than $150bn.
[Aljazeera]
Benin’s president has appeared on television to reassure citizens of the West African nation that the situation was now “totally under control” following an attempted coup earlier in the day.
“I would like to commend the sense of duty demonstrated by our army and its leaders, who have remained… loyal to the nation,” Patrice Talon said, looking calm during the live evening broadcast.
The government said it had thwarted the mutiny hours after a group of soldiers declared a takeover on national television.
Later in the afternoon, huge explosions were heard in Cotonou, Benin’s largest city and seat of government. They were thought to have been the result of an air strike.
Prior to the explosions, flight-tracking data showed that three aircraft had entered Benin’s airspace from neighbouring Nigeria before returning home.
A spokesman for Nigeria’s president later confirmed that its fighter jets had gone in to “take over the airspace to help dislodge the coup plotters from the national TV and a military camp where they had regrouped”.
There have been a series of coups in West Africa before Sunday’s thwarted attempt in Benin, heightening fears that the security of the region could worsen.
Benin, a former French colony, has been regarded as one of Africa’s more stable democracies. But Talon has faced accusations of suppressing criticism of his policies.
The nation is one of the continent’s largest cotton producers, but ranks among the world’s poorest countries.
Nigeria, Benin’s large neighbour to the east, has described the coup attempt as a “direct assault on democracy”.
“This commitment and mobilisation enabled us to defeat these opportunists and avert disaster for our country. This treachery will not go unpunished,” he added.
“I would like to reassure you that the situation is completely under control and therefore invite you to go about your business peacefully this evening.”
It is not clear if there have been casualties, but the president expressed his condolences “to the victims of this senseless adventure, as well as to those still being held by fleeing mutineers”.
Earlier, government spokesperson Wilfried Leandre Houngbedji told news agency Reuters that 14 people had been arrested in connection with the attempted coup.
A journalist in Benin told the BBC that, of those reportedly arrested, 12 are believed to have stormed the offices of the national TV station – including a soldier who had previously been sacked.
Eyewitnesses told the BBC gunfire was heard near the presidential residence early on Sunday morning, as a group of soldiers announced on national TV that they were suspending the constitution.
They also said some journalists working for the state broadcaster had been held hostage for a few hours.
The French and Russian embassies urged their citizens to remain indoors, while the US embassy’s advice was to stay away from Cotonou, especially the area around the presidential compound.
The rebel soldiers, led by Lt Col Pascal Tigri, justified their actions by criticising Talon’s management of the country, complaining first about his handling of the “continuing deterioration of the security situation in northern Benin”.
Benin’s army has suffered losses near its northern border with insurgency-hit Niger and Burkina Faso in recent years, as jihadist militants linked to Islamic State and al-Qaeda spread southwards.
The soldier’s statement cited “the ignorance and neglect of the situation of our brothers in arms who have fallen at the front and, above all, that of their families, abandoned to their sad fate by Mr Patrice Talon’s policies”.
The rebels also hit out at cuts in health care, including the cancellation of state-funded kidney dialysis, and taxes rises, as well as curbs on political activities.
Talon, who is regarded as a close ally of the West, is due to step down next year after completing his second term in office, with elections scheduled for April.
A businessman known as the “king of cotton”, he first came to power in 2016. He promised not to seek a third term, despite Benin’s current two-term limit for presidencies, and has endorsed Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni as his successor.
Talon has been praised by his supporters for overseeing economic development, but his government has also been criticised for suppressing dissenting voices.
In October, Benin’s electoral commission barred the main opposition candidate from standing on the grounds that he did not have enough sponsors.
Last month, constitutional amendments were passed by MPs, including the creation of a second parliamentary chamber, the Senate.
Terms for elected officials were extended from five to seven years, but the presidential two-term limit remained in place.
Sunday’s attempted coup comes just over a week after Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embaló was overthrown – though some regional figures have questioned whether this was staged.
In recent years, West Africa has also seen coups in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Niger, prompting concerns about the region’s stability.
Russia has strengthened its ties with these Sahel countries over recent years – and Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have left the West African regional bloc Ecowas to form their own group, the Alliance of Sahel States.
News of the attempted takeover in Benin was hailed by several pro-Russian social media accounts, according to BBC Monitoring.
Ecowas and the African Union (AU) have both condemned the coup attempt.
A contingent from Ecowas’s standby force is to be deployed to preserve the “constitutional order and the territorial integrity of the Republic of Benin”, the regional bloc has said in a statement.
AU Commission chair Mahmoud Ali Yousouf reiterated the pan-African organisation’s “zero tolerance stance toward any unconstitutional change of government, regardless of context or justification”.
[BBC]
A drone attack on the town of Kalogi, in Sudan’s South Kordofan region, is said to have hit a kindergarten and killed at least 50 people, including 33 children.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group battling the army in Sudan’s civil war, was accused of Thursday’s attack by a medical organisation, the Sudan Doctors’ Network, and the army.
There was no immediate comment from the RSF.
The RSF in turn accused the army of hitting a market on Friday in a drone attack in the Darfur region, on a fuel depot at the Adre border crossing with Chad.
Sudan has been ravaged by war since April 2023 when a power struggle broke out between the RSF and the army, who were formerly allies.
The reports could not be verified independently.
According to the army-aligned foreign ministry, the kindergarten was struck twice with missiles from drones.
Civilians and medics who rushed to the school were also attacked, it added.
Responding to reports of the attack in Kalogi, a spokesman for the UN children’s agency Unicef said: “Killing children in their school is a horrific violation of children’s rights.”
“Children should never pay the price of conflict,” Sheldon Yett added.
The agency, he said, urged “all parties to stop these attacks immediately and allow safe, unhindered access for humanitarian assistance to reach those in desperate need”.
The RSF accused the army of attacking the Adre crossing because it was used for the “delivery of aid and commercial supplies”.
According to the Sudan War Monitor, a group of researchers tracking the conflict, the attack caused civilian casualties and significant damage to a market.
The military did not immediately comment on the reports from Darfur.
Wedged between Sudan’s capital Khartoum and Darfur, the region made up of North Kordofan, South Kordofan and West Kordofan has been a frontline in the civil war.
The battle for the Kordofans – which have a population of almost eight million – has intensified as the army pushes towards Darfur.
[BBC]
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