19/05/2025

MONDAY | MAY 19, 2025

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Pope Leo warns against exploitation at first mass

Families of MAX crash victims to object to deal

WASHINGTON: Families of some of the 346 people killed in two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes plan to object to a tentative nonprosecution agreement between the planemaker and the US Justice Department (DOJ), a lawyer said on Saturday. The Justice Department outlined the tentative deal in a more than two-hour meeting with families on Friday and said in a court filing on Saturday that they would have until Thursday to file written objections. Paul Cassell, a lawyer for the families, said they would object “to any deal along the lines described by DOJ yesterday, because it fails to hold Boeing accountable for the ‘deadliest corporate crime in US history’,” citing the comments of District Judge Reed O’Connor. The Justice Department said in its filing “it has not decided whether to enter into the agreement or to proceed to trial, and would not make the decision until after finishing conferring with the families.” The agreement would forestall a June 23 trial the planemaker faces on a fraud charge it misled US regulators about a crucial flight control system on the 737 MAX. The agreement would allow Boeing to avoid being branded a convicted felon and would be a blow to families who lost relatives in the crashes and had pressed prosecutors to take the US planemaker to trial. “The new deal is a step backward from last summer, when Boeing was going to plead guilty. Under the new arrangement, they don’t plead guilty,” Cassell said. Boeing declined to comment. Boeing agreed in July to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge after the two fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, spanning 2018 and 2019, and to pay a fine of up to US$487.2 million (RM2 billion). Boeing and DOJ officials have not yet exchanged papers to negotiate final details of any nonprosecution agreement, the department said on Saturday. The department told families on Friday that Boeing would be asked to pay an additional US$444.5 million into a victims’ fund that would be divided evenly per crash victim, lawyers for the families said, on top of US$500 million Boeing paid in 2021. – Reuters At least 17 killed in India building fire MUMBAI: At least 17 people died after a fire ripped through a building in the Indian city of Hyderabad, local officials said yesterday. The large blaze broke out early yesterday in a three-storey building which houses a jewellery store. A statement from the fire disaster response emergency and civil defence department in southern Telangana state, where Hyderabad is located, said they had received the call for help just after 6am local time (8.30am in Kuala Lumpur). “The fire broke out on the ground floor and spread to the upper floors. Firefighting, search and rescue operations were carried out simultaneously,” it said. The statement also listed the names of 17 individuals who lost their lives. “The suspected cause of the fire is under investigation,” it said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed “deep grief” over the loss of life and announced compensation of 200,000 rupees (RM9,880) to the next of kin of each victim. “Deeply anguished by the loss of lives due to a fire tragedy in Hyderabad, Telangana,” Modi said in a statement. “Condolences to those who lost loved ones. May the injured recover soon.”– AFP

o Pontiff calls for Church to be transformational

VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV set the tone for his papacy yesterday with a call to stop exploiting nature and marginalising the poor, before an audience, including US Vice-President J.D. Vance and tens of thousands of pilgrims. Ten days after Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost became the first US head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, he celebrated his inaugural mass in St Peter’s Square. The 69-year-old began the day by making his debut tour in a popemobile, standing up in the custom-made white vehicle and smiling, waving and blessing the cheering crowds. In front of dignitaries, including Vance and Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky, he then gave a homily calling for the Church to be a transformational force in a world of division and hatred. “We still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalises the poorest,” he said. The new pontiff, who spent many years as a missionary in Peru, also warned against “closing ourselves off in our small groups”. “We are called to offer God’s love to everyone, in order to achieve that unity which does not cancel out differences but values the personal history of each person and the social and religious culture of every people,” he said. Prevost, who was made a cardinal only in 2023 and is unknown to many Catholics, has repeatedly emphasised the importance of peace and social justice in his first few days. Inacia Lisboa, 71, a pilgrim from Cape Verde who lives in Rome, said Leo had already “entered my heart”. She said she wanted him to “pray for us all, for peace in the world... we need it so much”. Leo has made history as first pontiff from the United States, and his home country was represented yesterday by Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also a Catholic. Before becoming pope, Leo reposted on his personal X account criticism of President

Pope Leo XIV blesses the faithful during his inaugural Mass. – REUTERSPIC

Minister Giorgia Meloni. Peruvian President Dina Boluarte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Colombia’s Gustavo Petro and a host of European royals. Italian authorities deployed thousands of security officers for the event, alongside snipers on rooftops and anti-drone operations. Leo XIV was elected the 267th pope on May 8 after a conclave vote of cardinals that lasted less than 24 hours. Succeeding the charismatic but impulsive Francis, he takes over a Church still battling the fallout of the clerical child abuse scandal, and trying to adapt to the modern world. Leo acknowledged yesterday some trepidation in his new role. “I was chosen, without any merit of my own, and now, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother who desires to be the servant of your faith and your joy,” he said. – AFP

Donald Trump’s administration over its approach to migration and also pilloried Vance, but the account is no longer accessible. Vance was the last world leader to meet Pope Francis, the day before the Argentine died on April 21 after 12 years as pontiff. Leo’s elevation has sparked huge enthusiasm in the United States, but also some consternation elsewhere that a country with an already outsize political and military role in the world now boasts one of its foremost spiritual leaders. “There is going to be extra weight because he is American, I think there’s going to be a lot of extra eyes, and maybe criticisms,” said Sophia Tripp, a 20-year-old student visiting from Leo’s hometown of Chicago. But she said she hoped he would “bring people together”, adding: “We are all human, and we should just all be loving to one another.” Other guests yesterday included German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime

One killed in bomb blast near clinic LOS ANGELES: A bomb exploded near a reproductive health facility in Palm Springs, California on Saturday, killing one person and injuring at least four in an incident the FBI called an “intentional act of terrorism”. interest in the investigation. Videos posted online showed the single storey structure that houses some of the clinic’s operations. The bomb appeared to have ripped a gaping hole in one of its walls and caused damage throughout the building.

The authorities have a person of interest in the investigation and are searching for a suspect, said Akil Davis, assistant director of the FBI Los Angeles field office. The person killed was near a vehicle that had been blown to pieces outside the clinic, operated by American Reproductive Centres (ARC), Davis said. The bomb was either in or near a car parked outside the clinic when it exploded, said Mayor Ron deHarte of Palm Springs, about 160km east of Los Angeles. “Make no mistake, this is an intentional act of terrorism,” Davis said, adding the FBI would determine if it was an act of “international terrorism or a domestic terrorism”. Davis did not comment on the relationship, if any, between the victim and the person of

Several other buildings in the area were damaged, some extensively, authorities said. California Governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the explosion, his office said. American Reproductive Centres, which has offices in at least three California cities, provides services including in vitro fertilisation, genetic testing and in-house egg donation. Despite damage to the building, ARC said the facility would be fully operational today. The clinic’s laboratory, including all eggs, embryos and reproductive materials, was safe and secure, and all members of staff were unharmed, it said in a Facebook post. “The moment has shaken us but it has not stopped us,” said Dr Maher Abdallah, who runs the clinic. – Reuters

The damaged front of the clinic. – AFPPIC