SEOUL, South Korea: A second Boeing jet intended for use by a Chinese airline was heading back to the US on Monday, flight tracking data showed, in what appears to be another victim of the tit-for-tat bilateral tariffs launched by President Donald Trump in his global trade offensive.
The 737 MAX took off from Boeing’s Zhoushan completion center near Shanghai on Monday morning and was heading toward the US territory of Guam, data from flight tracking website AirNav Radar showed.
Guam is one of the stops such flights make on the 5,000-mile (8,000-km) journey across the Pacific between Boeing’s US production hub in Seattle and the Zhoushan completion center, where planes are ferried by Boeing for final work and delivery to a Chinese carrier.
On Sunday a 737 MAX painted with the livery for China’s Xiamen Airlines made the return journey from Zhoushan and landed at Seattle’s Boeing Field.
It is not clear which party made the decision for the two aircraft to return to the US.
Trump this month raised baseline tariffs on Chinese imports to 145 percent. In retaliation, China has imposed a 125 percent tariff on US goods. A Chinese airline taking delivery of a Boeing jet could be crippled by the tariffs, given that a new 737 MAX has a market value of around $55 million, according to IBA, an aviation consultancy.
The plane flew from Seattle to Zhoushan just under a month ago.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The return of the 737 MAX jets, Boeing’s best-selling model, is the latest sign of disruption to new aircraft deliveries from a breakdown in the aerospace industry’s decades-old duty-free status.
The tariff war and apparent U-turn over deliveries comes as Boeing has been recovering from an almost five-year import freeze on 737 MAX jets and a previous round of trade tensions.
Confusion over changing tariffs could leave many aircraft deliveries in limbo, with some airline CEOs saying they would defer delivery of planes rather than pay duties, analysts say.
Second Boeing jet starts return from China as trade war with US escalates
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Second Boeing jet starts return from China as trade war with US escalates
- Confusion over changing tariffs could leave many aircraft deliveries in limbo, with some airline CEOs saying they would defer delivery of planes rather than pay duties, analysts say
Putin not listed in Kremlin delegation for Istanbul talks: statement
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin was not on a list of negotiators the Kremlin published for talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on Thursday, despite Kyiv insisting he attend and some allies calling on him to attend.
The Kremlin late Wednesday named four negotiators — including a hawkish former culture minister — and four experts for the talks, set to take place on Thursday in Istanbul.
Pope Leo says he will make ‘every effort’ for world peace
- Pope Leo warned against the rise of simplistic narratives that divide the world into good and evil
- “Our neighbors are not first our enemies, but fellow human beings,” he said
VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV, the first American to head the global Catholic Church, pledged on Wednesday to make “every effort” for peace and offered the Vatican as a mediator in global conflicts, saying war was “never inevitable.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who spoke to the Pope soon after his election, welcomed the Pontiff’s offer and repeated that Kyiv backed all efforts to end his country’s war with Russia.
Leo, elected last week to succeed the late Pope Francis, has already made repeated calls for peace. His first words to crowds in St. Peter’s Square were “Peace be with all of you.”
He returned to the issue while addressing members of the Eastern Catholic Churches, some of which are based in conflict-ridden places such as Ukraine, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and often face persecution as religious minorities.
“The Holy See is always ready to help bring enemies together, face-to-face, to talk to one another, so that peoples everywhere may once more find hope and recover the dignity they deserve, the dignity of peace,” Leo said.
“War is never inevitable. Weapons can and must be silenced, for they do not resolve problems but only increase them. Those who make history are the peacemakers, not those who sow seeds of suffering,” he added.
Pope Leo warned against the rise of simplistic narratives that divide the world into good and evil. “Our neighbors are not first our enemies, but fellow human beings,” he said.
On Sunday, the pontiff called for an “authentic and lasting peace” in Ukraine; a ceasefire in Gaza and release of all Israeli hostages held by militant group Hamas; and he also welcomed the fragile ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
Zelensky, writing in English on the X social media platform, said he was grateful to Pope Leo “for his wise words about the Holy See’s willingness to play a mediatory role in restoring global peace.”
“We appreciate the Pontiff’s insightful statement and reiterate our commitment to advancing meaningful peace efforts, including a full ceasefire and a personal highest-level meeting with Russia.”
Later, in his nightly video address, Zelensky said: “The Vatican can help diplomacy. There is support for a direct meeting from leaders of the Global South. And this voice is being heard.”
First leader to speak to new pope
Leo spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday in his first known conversation with a foreign leader as pope. He offered to facilitate peace talks as world leaders come to his inauguration mass, the Ukrainian leader said.
Zelensky hopes to be present for the event in St. Peter’s Square on May 18 and is ready to hold meetings on the sidelines, the Ukrainian leader’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak told Reuters on Tuesday.
Mauritania ex-leader Aziz jailed on appeal for 15 years
- Aziz had appealed his original five-year sentence after his conviction two years ago of using his power to amass a fortune
- Aziz, 68, remained impassive when the decision was announced
NOUAKCHOTT: An appeals court sentenced Mauritania’s former president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to 15 years in prison on Wednesday for abuse of office and illicit enrichment.
Aziz, who came to power in a 2008 coup, had appealed his original five-year sentence after his conviction two years ago of using his power to amass a fortune.
The former leader, who has been in custody since his original trial began in January 2023, appeared alongside several former top officials and advisers also facing charges of abuse of office, illicit enrichment, influence peddling and money laundering.
The court in the capital Nouakchott also upheld the confiscation of Aziz’s assets and the stripping of his civic rights.
Aziz, 68, remained impassive when the decision was announced, an AFP journalist saw.
Investigators estimate that Aziz, who led the northwest African country of 4.5 million people for more than a decade, accumulated assets and capital worth $70 million during his presidency.
He was found guilty and sentenced to five years in jail in December 2023.
Aziz was excluded from the 2019 presidential election, won by his former right-hand man, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, who had been at his side for the coup and acted successively as his chief of staff then defense minister.
Aziz led the country linking the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa until 2019, returning to general stability a nation once prone to coups and jihadist activities.
He groomed Ghazouani as his successor and handed over to him after elections in 2019 in what was the first peaceful transition of power in a country that proclaimed independence from France in 1960 but then saw decades of political unrest.
At the time of his indictment investigators estimated that Aziz, the son of a merchant, had amassed wealth and capital of 67 million euros ($75 million) over his time in power.
Although not denying his wealth, Aziz has always strenuously contested the accusations against him, seeing a conspiracy to oust him from political life.
His successor has always denied any interference in the case. After remaining discreet about where he had obtained his wealth, Aziz surprised everyone toward the end of his trial by implicating his successor.
He claimed that, the day after the 2019 election, Ghazouani had handed him two suitcases filled with several million euros.
Neo-Nazis plotted terrorist attacks on UK mosques and synagogues
- Court in Britain convicts three far-right extremists who stockpiled more than 200 weapons
LONDON: Three far-right extremists were convicted in a UK court on Wednesday of planning terrorist attacks against mosques and synagogues.
The men were part of an online neo-Nazi group that had stockpiled more than 200 weapons and were close to finishing a 3-D printed semi-automatic gun.
Brogan Stewart, 25, Marco Pitzettu, 25, and Christopher Ringrose, 34, were found guilty of multiple terrorism and firearms offenses, following a nine-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court. They will be sentenced in July.
The group were arrested in February last year after an investigation by counter terrorism police found that the men were intent on carrying out a violent attack.
“These extremists were plotting violent acts of terrorism against synagogues, mosques and Islamic education centers,” said Bethan David, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Counter Terrorism Division. “By their own admission, they were inspired by SS (Nazi) tactics and supremacist ideology.”
Counter terrorism police said that the men belonged to an online group that provided an echo chamber of extreme right-wing views. They shared horrific racial slurs, glorified mass murderers and encouraged violence.
The group, which idolized the Nazi Germany regime, prepared for what they claimed would be a “race war” by sourcing body armor and weapons including machetes, hunting knives, swords and crossbows.
“They were a group that espoused vile racist views and advocated for violence, all to support their extreme right-wing mindset,” said Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East. “All three took real-world steps to plan and prepare for carrying out an attack on innocent citizens.”
Saudi crown prince hopes India-Pakistan ceasefire restores ‘calm’ between neighbors
- India and Pakistan exchanged missiles, drone attacks and artillery fire last week before agreeing to ceasefire
- Saudi Arabia was one of several countries that defused tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday hoped the recent ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan would contain escalation and “restore calm” between the two neighbors, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Pakistan has credited Saudi Arabia and several other nations for playing a constructive role in defusing its tensions with India last week after fighting erupted between the two. US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that Washington had brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, calming fears of an all-out war between the nuclear-armed states.
The Saudi crown prince welcomed the ceasefire during his opening address at the GCC-USA summit in Riyadh on Wednesday, which was held in Trump’s presence.
“We welcome the ceasefire agreement between Pakistan and India and hope that it will contain escalation and restore calm between the two countries,” the crown prince said as per the SPA.
The Saudi crown prince said the Kingdom aimed to work with Trump and GCC countries to de-escalate tensions in the region, end the war in Gaza and seek a “lasting and comprehensive solution” to the Palestinian cause.
“Our objective is to ensure security and peace for the peoples of the region,” he said. “We reiterate our support for all endeavors aimed at resolving crises and halting conflicts through peaceful means.”
The fragile ceasefire has temporarily halted hostilities with India and Pakistan trading blame for the conflict.
