this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. questions for boeing after the deadly crash of an ethiopian airlines plane, the second such accident involving the 737 max—8 within five months. china has grounded its planes. ousted nissan chairman carlos ghosn seeks court permission to attend a board meeting at the japanese carmaker this week while out on bail. a brand—new trading week under way in asia, a mixed results so far.

us plane maker boeing is under pressure to guarantee the safety of its 737 max—8 aircraft after all 157 people on board an ethiopian airlines jet were killed, when it crashed in nearaddis ababa. china is grounding all of its aircraft of the same type, flown by domestic airlines. the aircraft involved was the same model as a lion air plane which went down off the coast of indonesia in october, claiming the lives of all 189 people on board. the cause of that crash is still being investigated. the boeing 737 max—8 has only been in commercial use since 2017. it's from a new family of aircraft which boeing claims is the fastest—selling in its history, with nearly 4,700

orders from more than 100 customers worldwide. the us federal aviation administration says it's "closely monitoring developments". we can cross live to los angeles, to speak to geoffrey thomas, editor of airlineratings.com. given the latest developments, what conclusions can you draw? look, sally, i think that the grounding by china and ethiopian is possibly premature. i can understand the ethiopians, but the chinese possibly not. we have to remember with the indonesian lion air crash, while the investigation is still ongoing and we are yet to get the final report, we are yet to get the final report, we have had a preliminary report from the indonesians. it points to maintenance issues, a faulty sensor,

and the resulting pilot actions when the faulty sensor sent incorrect data through the flight management computer. he didn't follow a simple, straightforward procedure, which is what is called every item. it is committed to memory that if you have what is called a runaway stabiliser trim, which is something that is not hidden, it is right beside you, right beside you and me in the aircraft, it is a wheel that spins around and you can see what is going on, you can hear what is going on, you simply turn it off. i know i am making a very simplistic, and it is a bit more complex than that, but we do know what caused that problem, and it wasn't necessarily the aircraft itself. with the ethiopian, there were similar speed and altitude readings initially, similar

to the lion air tragedy, so there are some similarities, but it is way too early to tell what caused the ethiopian crash. i don't believe the two will be related at all.” ethiopian crash. i don't believe the two will be related at all. i was going to say, you feel that it is more of a tragic coincidence than something that is fundamentally wrong with this new aircraft? yes, i do. it is a very complex upgrade, if you like, from the previous model. the previous model is called the nanograms, and both airbus and boeing have this velocity, when pilots fly a new model, it should feel and react the same way as the previous model. when you add power to the engines and have other

performance improvements, you have softwa re performance improvements, you have software updates in the background that make the plane react and feel exactly the same, and that is what this system is all about. will have to leave it there, thank you very much. just to say of course, this will have an impact on boeing shares i would imagine, will have an impact on boeing shares iwould imagine, when will have an impact on boeing shares i would imagine, when wall street opens later today. boeing is one of the biggest components of the dow jones industrial average so it could hit markets later on wall street. now, let's move on to the other interesting story. former nissan chief carlos ghosn is seeking court permission to attend a board meeting at the japanese carmaker on tuesday. he was released from custody last week after paying bail of almost $9 million. let's go to our asia business hub where rico hizon is following the story. so, he wants to get back in the boardroom? it is a surprise move

from mr ghosn that was not expected, but if he is given permission his attendance at this board meeting would mark the first time he will face colleagues since being arrested in november. nissan is scheduled to hold the meeting in the city off yokohama. even though he has been removed as the chairman of the company, he remains part of these companies, given that the shareholder vote is required to remove a board member. his lawyer said that he has a duty to attend this board meeting as a member of the board. this latest move, with this latest move representatives from nissan couldn't be reached for

comment at this point. mr ghosn was released on bail after you more than 100 days in detention, and he has agreed to conditions that would involve him residing in tokyo and not travelling overseas. thank you, rico hizon. 19 united nations staff were on the ethiopian airlines plane. they were en route to a major un environment conference taking place in nairobi, attended by 193 un member states. we had thought our next guest would not want to join us in view of the circumstances. but united nations assistant secretary—general satya tripathi wanted to speak to us because of the importance of today's conference. hejoins me now from nairobi. first of all, and a deep condolences to you at the un for having lost 19

of your staff. thank you, thank you so of your staff. thank you, thank you so much. it is a very tragic time, not just for the un so much. it is a very tragic time, notjust for the un but so much. it is a very tragic time, not just for the un but for all member state delegations and the private sector who were coming here to serve the cause of the environment, which is so important to the planet at this time. thank you. tell us about this conference. of course, it will have a different field because of what has happened with regards to the crash yesterday, but you wanted to talk about how significant and important it is. absolutely, we have about 5000 delegates attending from 170 countries, 88 ministers, five heads of state and government, and then of course a0 odd resolutions being negotiated at this time. so, a lot of very important work to be done, and the true celebration of the

memory of the departed souls will be to rededicate ourselves to the cause of the environment and further strengthen our efforts to develop what the world needs so badly at this time. what are you hoping to achieve at this event? this is the highest decision—making body on the environment for the planet, and the previous three meetings have focused on economy and sustainable development, on agenda 2030, and many things are being discussed but plastics is at the top of the conversation for what it is doing. marine litter and single use plastic particularly. to what extent are you hopeful that governments are getting on board with regards to this message about the environment, about sustainability, given the fact that of course president trump in the us is not forthcoming when it comes to

matters such as climate change. is not forthcoming when it comes to matters such as climate changelj matters such as climate change.” think — the governments are very strongly engaged, including the us government. we have a very strong delegation from the us and they are all working together to see how best to proceed forward and not to forget that thousands of civil society at us that thousands of civil society at us in the private sector who are also here. wejust concluded our science policy business forum, some very big partnerships are coming around to work together and get innovative technologies in support of the environment. i think the mood, as sombre as it is, it is very hopeful for the future. what would you say is the biggest obstacle to reaching some of the most important goals in reaching sustainability and the environment and slowing global warming? i think the biggest obstacle warming? i think the biggest o bsta cle to warming? i think the biggest obstacle to me is finance, finding sources. i think the willingness is

there, but finding the finance is a problem, and the solution lies in private finance being used to solve the biggest problem that humanity in all species face at this time. we are very hopeful about that, we see the strategic shifts in modern terms, of not just the strategic shifts in modern terms, of notjust financial institutions but sovereign wealth funds, drawing from fossil fuel investments, so i think it is a very interesting time in terms of private finance doing public good. we do appreciate you joining us on business briefing. the un assistant secretary general, they have lost 19 staff who were trying to get to that conference that is taking place in nairobi. let's quickly show you the markets.

in terms of markets in asia, they are looking on the bright side. i will see you in a moment. the ethiopian prime minister has promised to publish the findings of the investigation into the ethiopian airlines crash near addis ababa on sunday. it's the second plane crash in six months involving an almost new boeing 737 max—8 aircraft and concerns have been raised about its safety systems. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridge has been taking a look. debris recovered in october when another boeing 737 max—8 went down off indonesia. the crash raised questions about automatic computer

systems on board the aircraft, and whether pilots were properly informed about how the new plane had been modified. in the weeks after the crash, authorities in america issued an emergency airworthiness directive about the boeing 737 max—8. authorities believe that an automatic anti— stalling system, designed to stop it from stalling, malfunctioned and put it into a nosedive. notes were put in to make sure that pilots knew about a switch to deactivate the system. ryanair is to deactivate the system. ryanair is to begin transporting passengers on this aircraft next month. it only began commercial flights in 2017. some a500 have been ordered by airlines worldwide. the 737 max is very important to boeing, it is part ofan important very important to boeing, it is part of an important portfolio available to airlines, and it is important to

airlines because it offers much greater efficiency and capacity. airlines because it offers much greater efficiency and ca pacity.m is far too early to tell what caused this aircraft crash. authorities say that the fairly small distribution of parts suggest it descended quickly and vertically. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: two years after the killing of kim jong—un‘s half—brother in malaysia, murder charges against one of the defendants have been dropped. several countries have grounded all boeing 737 aircraft following the air disaster in ethiopia that left more than 150 people dead. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the independent.

it's leading with the ethiopian airlines crash on sunday that killed all 157 people onboard. the daily telegraph looks at how british prime minister theresa may risks facing punitive measures from the european union in the case of a brexit delay, as well as a possible leadership challenge. the front page of the gulf news covers the forthcoming general elections in the world's largest democracy, india, where more than 900 million people will cast their votes in april and may. the sun leads with the attack on aston villa captainjack grealish by a spectator who ran onto the pitch in the championship match at rivals birminghan city. and — the guardian features a story on how the uncertain times we're living through may be causing some people stress.