Aeroflot jet's black boxes recovered after Moscow crash kills dozens - NBC News

The Flightradar24 tracking service showed that the Murmansk-bound aircraft had circled twice over the Russian capital before making an emergency landing after just under 30 minutes in the air. Storms were passing through the Moscow area at the time.

Survivor Pyotr Egorov said the plane appeared to have been hit lightning.

"We were so scared, we almost lost consciousness," the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily quoted Egorov as saying. "The plane jumped down the landing strip like a grasshopper and then caught fire on the ground."

The Aeroflot plane burns after making an emergency landing on Sunday.Russian Investigative Committee / via AFP - Getty Images

Video captured at the scene showed passengers leaping from the wreckage onto an inflatable slide and people clinging to their luggage as emergency vehicles sped toward the jet.

Russian news agencies reported that the plane had been serviced as recently as last month.

Aeroflot has long shaken off its troubled post-Soviet safety record and now has one of the world's most modern fleets on international routes where it relies on Boeing and Airbus aircraft.

The airline said the pilot had some 1,400 hours of experience flying the two-engine regional aircraft.

The remnants of the Aeroflot jet after it made an emergency landing on Sunday.HANDOUT / Reuters

The Sukhoi Superjet was the first passenger plane developed in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

The model was put into service in 2011 and has been used by airlines in countries including Mexico.

One crashed in Indonesia in 2012, killing all 45 people on board. Human error was blamed.

Yuliya Talmazan

Yuliya Talmazan is a London-based journalist.

Elena Holodny

Elena Holodny is a Moscow-based producer for NBC News.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed.

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2019-05-06 09:50:00Z
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Ceasefire appears to take hold in Gaza, ending deadly weekend of hostilities - CNN

At least 23 people were killed in Gaza, including two infants and two pregnant women, in the exchanges that began Friday, while four people were killed in Israel by rockets.

A spokesman for the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad told CNN that the agreement took effect at 4:30 a.m. local time in Gaza.

Israel rarely confirms or comments on the existence of any ceasefire. But Israeli authorities have lifted all restrictions on civilians in the Gaza periphery, which is likely a clear indication that Israel expect this latest round of fighting has ended.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned Sunday that "massive attacks against terrorist elements" would continue due to the rocket attacks coming from Gaza.

At his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday morning, Netanyahu said "Hamas bears the responsibility not only for its own attacks and actions but also for the actions of Islamic Jihad, and it is paying a very heavy price for this."

Israeli Economy Minister Eli Cohen used similar language in discussing the conflict.

"The rules of the game have changed. We are preparing for a campaign that, by the end of it, Hamas and Islamic Jihad will beg for a ceasefire," Cohen said in a statement posted on social media.

"The heads of the snake in Gaza are already paying a price and they will continue to a heavy price for the unnecessary provocation and the harm to our citizens."

Hamas threatened a similar escalation if the fighting continued.

"We stress that the more atrocious the Israeli attacks on the Palestinian civilians are, the stronger the Palestinian response will be," Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' leader in Gaza, said in a statement Sunday.

"If the Israeli occupation does not implement the ceasefire understandings, the battlefield will witness more escalation."

The violence marks the first serious escalation in hostilities since the Israeli election about a month ago. Included among the deceased in Gaza are eight members of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad -- the Quds Brigade -- a spokesman for the group said.

The weekend also saw the first use of a targeted killing by Israeli authorities in Gaza in years. Israeli aircraft struck the vehicle of Hamid Ahmed Abdul Khudri, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), who they say was responsible for money transfers from Iran to militant groups like Islamic Jihad and Hamas, the two largest factions inside the Gaza Strip.

The catalyst for the weekend of hostilities occurred Friday afternoon.

Two Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli troops during weekly protests along the fence between Gaza and Israel Friday, according to Palestinian health officials.

Also during the demonstrations, a sniper in Gaza wounded two Israeli soldiers near the border. Israel responded by striking a Hamas military post, killing two members of Hamas' military wing.

Hamas and other factions inside Gaza vowed to hit back. On Saturday morning, militant factions fired a barrage of rockets into Israel.

The fighting escalated by the hour. Short-range rockets targeting the Gaza periphery gave way to more powerful rockets aimed at Beer Sheva and Ashdod, some of the largest cities in southern Israel. Islamic Jihad also fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli civilian vehicle. Israel's attacks escalated as well, from hitting smaller military posts to larger multi-story buildings the IDF says were used as terror infrastructure by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

By the time the sun rose Monday, Palestinian militants had fired about 690 rockets into Israel, according to the IDF, and Israel had conducted airstrikes on 350 targets.

Those killed in Israel include two men in their fifties, health officials said. In Gaza, two infants, a 12-year-old boy and two pregnant women were among the dead, per Gazan officials.

There is a dispute over the cause of the deaths of one of the infants and one of the pregnant women -- Gaza health officials say both died in an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military says they were killed when a militant rocket misfired on launch.

Diplomatic attempts to bring an end to the fighting continued throughout the weekend, including "very intense" mediation efforts by Egypt and the United Nations, a source with direct knowledge of the negotiations told CNN.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' office condemned "in the strongest terms the launching of rockets from Gaza into Israel, particularly the targeting of civilian population centers" in a statement Sunday.

CNN's Joshua Berlinger contributed to this report

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2019-05-06 09:00:00Z
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In Israel-Gaza conflict, an airstrike response to a cyberattack will be closely watched by experts - CNBC

Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, on May 05, 2019.

Sameh Rahmi| NurPhoto | Getty Images

The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday they responded to a cyberattack from a Hamas-controlled compound in Gaza with an airstrike, a rare mix of physical and cyber conflict on the world stage.

The cyberattacks emanating from the Gaza facility were aimed at harming Israeli civilians and was thwarted online before the strike, the IDF said, though they did not immediately release further details about the cyberattack.

In Gaza, Hamas militants have launched 600 rockets into Israel, while the country has retaliated with hundreds of strikes on military targets there.

International organizations and militaries have long debated how or when countries should use military force to respond to cyberattacks that could harm citizens.

The incident is certain to spark further debate on how cyberattacks and live conflict should mix. It's an important distinction as countries including the United States grow increasingly concerned at the possibility a cyberattack on the electric grid, water supply or other infrastructure could lead to loss of human life, and create norms for how they will respond to those threats, either immediately or preemptively.

NATO, cyberwarfare experts will weigh in

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been the preeminent world group involved in creating rules and norms for how cyber conflict and "kinetic," or live physical conflict, should intersect.

NATO's role at the forefront of this debate has roots in 2007, when a dispute between Russia and Estonia over military statues led to a cyberattack by Russia against the smaller country. The attack devastated communications infrastructure, knocked out access to banks and news broadcasts in Estonia, and was the first example of how a cyberattack could be use to hobble a country's citizens.

As a result of the attacks, NATO headquartered its international Cyber Defense Center in Tallinn, Estonia's capital. The organization has closely tracked what it refers to as "hybrid warfare." In 2016, the organization expanded its list of warfare domains – air, land and sea – to include "cyber" for the first time, meaning a cyberattack on any NATO organization could invite retaliation from all of them.

Further attacks, including the ransomware attacks of 2017 and attacks on Ukraine's infrastructure from Russia, among others, have all contributed to a young but growing body of knowledge of how to handle major cyber conflicts in realtime.

But few countries have been involved in such a hybrid conflict that spilled over to the physical realm. Israel's actions will likely shift the debate of how to handle cyberattacks in times of conflict or war forward. This is especially true because Israel is already a world leader in cybersecurity and cyberwarfare, making its actions and techniques in this case likely to be emulated by other countries in the future.

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2019-05-06 07:49:19Z
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China says trade delegation is preparing to go to the U.S. - Reuters

FILE PHOTO: Chinese staffers adjust U.S. and Chinese flags before the opening session of trade negotiations between U.S. and Chinese trade representatives at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s foreign ministry said on Monday a Chinese delegation is preparing to go to United States for trade talks, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods this week and target hundreds of billions more soon.

Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, speaking at a regular news briefing, did not say if Vice Premier Liu He, who is China’s lead official in trade negotiations with the United States, would be part of the delegation.

Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Writing by Michael Martina; Editing by Robert Birsel

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2019-05-06 07:44:00Z
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Exclusive: Images show North Korea missile launch as Pyongyang tests Trump - CNN

"The location of the launch, the thick, smoky appearance of the exhaust and the fact that there is only one rocket trail all suggest this was the short-range ballistic missile that North Korea showed in its propaganda," said Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute.

The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey provided CNN with two images of the smoke trail.

The missile test, North Korea's first since 2017, serves as a clear warning of leader Kim Jong Un's frustration at the state of talks with the US, which have been deadlocked since President Donald Trump walked out of their Vietnam summit early in February. The launch follows a warm meeting between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin less than two weeks ago and likely signals more tests to come, Lewis said.

Lewis said the North Koreans began firing a barrage of short-range projectiles beginning at approximately 9:06 a.m. on Saturday (8:06 p.m., ET Friday). Sometime around or after 10 a.m., Pyongyang fired another projectile. The image of that launch and the smoky plume it trailed in its wake was caught by Planet Labs, which works with the Middlebury Institute.

"This is a one in a million shot," Lewis told CNN. The missile "was fired right about this time" and the photo would have been taken "within a few seconds, maybe a few minutes."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaking on ABC News "This Week," confirmed that the projectile was "relatively short range" and "landed in the water east of North Korea and didn't present a threat to the United States or to South Korea or Japan."

The US and North Korea have hit an impasse as Pyongyang is demanding sanctions relief before it begins to denuclearize, while the US insists that Pyongyang relinquish its nuclear weapons before any economic pressure is eased.

Pompeo struck a positive note on ABC, saying, "We still believe there's an opportunity" to achieve "verified denuclearization" and that the US side hopes "we can get back to the table and find the path forward." The top US diplomat added that the US is still speaking with representatives of the regime since the failed Hanoi summit.

Pompeo and other senior security officials met to discuss the launch on Saturday. The US special representative to North Korea, former Ford auto executive Stephen Biegun, travels to Japan on May 5 for meetings.

Kim had pledged not to fire long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles, so the launch doesn't violate the letter of his agreement with Trump, but it does violate an understanding Pyongyang made with Seoul to stop firing missiles as a confidence building measure.

Lewis sees a historical parallel with a North Korean promise to declare a moratorium on long range missile tests in the early 2000s that lasted for several years. When Pyongyang broke that moratorium in 2006, they started with a short range missile test that technically did not break the agreement.

"But it was a warning," Lewis said. "Then as now, talks were deadlocked. They did a short-range missile test and in July they did a big one," using the long range Taepodong 2 missile. "This is a pretty classic move from them to start small and work their way up. It's a warning that there's more to come."

Despite the prospect of escalating tensions, Pompeo defended the President's negotiating tactics on ABC, saying "this is the President who has put on the toughest sanctions in the world on North Korea" and that "the US continues to apply pressure."

He said the US has to "play out every diplomatic effort we have" to achieve denuclearization and do that "without the use of force."

"We continue to work toward that," Pompeo said.

Asked about reports that North Korean negotiators involved in the failed Vietnam summit have been executed, Pompeo said, "I don't have anything to add to that this morning," but acknowledged that he may have to negotiate with other people going forward.

CNN's Matthew Hoye, Jennifer Hansler and Kylie Atwood contributed to this report

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2019-05-05 19:39:00Z
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More than 600 rockets fired at Israel from Gaza in less than 24 hours, death toll rises - Fox News

The death toll continues to rise Sunday on both sides of the Israel-Gaza border in one of the most intense flare-ups of violence in the region in years, shattering a month-long lull in attacks.

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired more than 600 rockets into southern Israel in less than 24 hours, killing at least four Israelis and leaving several more in critical condition.

Israel has retaliated with dozens of airstrikes against militant sites in Gaza. More than a dozen Palestinians, including a pregnant woman and her 14-month old niece, have also been killed.

According to Haaretz, four Israeli men and 16 Palestinians were killed so far since tensions increased along the border on Friday. Four Israelis were also wounded as rockets fell on the Israeli south on Saturday.

ISRAEL STRIKES GAZA TARGETS IN RESPONSE TO PALESTINIAN HEAVY ROCKET FIRE

On Sunday, the Israeli military said a misfired Palestinian rocket — not an Israeli airstrike — caused the death of a pregnant Palestinian woman and her infant niece in the Gaza Strip, disputing the Gaza Health Ministry's statement that Israel is to blame.

According to the Israeli military, Israeli forces struck dozens of targets in Gaza, including militant sites that were concealed in residential areas. Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Israel’s strikes hit a variety of “high-quality” militant sites, including commanders’ homes in which militant activity was observed.

Israeli medical officials said an early morning rocket from Gaza Sunday killed an Israeli father of four, 58-year-old Moshe Agadi, outside a home in the coastal city of Ashkelon.

Agadi reportedly died of his injuries after he was struck by shrapnel, marking the first Israeli casualty from rocket fire since the 2014 war with Hamas militants.

According to The Barzilai Medical Center in Israel, a 49-year-old man was killed when a rocket hit an Ashkelon factory, while another man in Israel was killed when his vehicle was hit by a projectile near a small border community called Yad Mordechai.

Israeli medical officials also said a Thai laborer was critically injured in a rocket strike later on Sunday.

ISRAEL SAYS 2 SOLDIERS WOUNDED BY GUNFIRE FROM GAZA

By late afternoon, the Israeli military said militants had fired more than 600 rockets into Israel, and that Israeli forces had launched about 260 airstrikes against militant targets in Gaza.

Palestinian officials identified one of the militants who was killed as Hamas commander Hamed al-Khoudary, who Israel said was integral in transferring Iranian money to the militant group.

In Israel, sirens warning of incoming attacks were heard along the border region overnight and throughout the day. Schools were canceled and roads were closed as many Israelis reportedly hid in bomb shelters.

According to Haaretz, the Israeli army said it expects the flare-up to continue in the coming days. A Hamas political source told the news outlet that the group decided to take serious steps against Israel because the Israeli government has been slow in implementing understandings reached between the two parties.

Smoke rises from an explosion after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Sunday, May 5, 2019. The Israeli military said Sunday it had responded to more than 600 rockets fired from Gaza with more than 250 airstrikes against the besieged Palestinian enclave. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa) (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

In Gaza, large explosions thundered across the blockaded enclave throughout the night and plumes of smoke rose into the air.

One of the airstrikes hit a commercial and residential building that housed the office of Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency.

The Israeli military said its Iron Dome defense system intercepted more than 150 of the projectiles from Gaza, but several still managed to get through.

The sudden violence has ended a month-long lull as Egyptian mediators had been trying to negotiate a long-term cease-fire.

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Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies that have fought three wars since 2007 when the Islamic militant group seized control of Gaza. There have been also been several smaller flare-ups, most recently, in late March.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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2019-05-05 18:02:43Z
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Russian Aeroflot plane makes emergency landing in Moscow - BBC News

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A Russian passenger plane has made an emergency landing at a Moscow airport after a fire broke out on board.

Videos on social media show passengers using emergency exit slides to escape and run away from the burning Aeroflot aircraft.

The Tass news agency said at least one person died but an official toll is yet to be released.

At least five others are said to have been injured, with the plane reportedly carrying 78 people.

It remains unclear what caused the large blaze and emergency landing.

The aircraft is reportedly a Sukhoi Superjet-100, and was scheduled to depart at 17:50 local time (14:50 GMT) for the city of Murmansk.

The Interfax news agency reports the crew issued a distress signal shortly after departure from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.

Reports also suggest it did not succeed in its first emergency landing attempt.

Data from tracking website Flightradar24 appears to confirm reports the emergency landing happened about 30 minutes after take-off.

Kristian Kostov, a former Bulgarian Eurovision contestant, has posted on social media about witnessing the incident.

He said people at the airport were left "shaking" after seeing the aircraft engulfed by fire and said other flights are now unable to take-off.

An investigation has been opened into the incident, reports say.

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2019-05-05 16:47:28Z
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