What’s next for Boeing after series of setbacks

Good morning. It's Thursday, January 18th. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, the challenges Boeing faces to rebuild trust after a panel blew off a jet in mid-flight… Why it feels like pretty much everyone is sick right now… And new data shows billionaires doubling their wealth.

But first, let's quickly look at some major stories that are in the news. Pakistan says it launched a series of attacks inside Iran, a new escalation of regional violence. This comes after Iran hit targets in Pakistan. Both countries said they were targeting militants, not the countries as a whole. But there are growing concerns that these tensions could lead to a much broader conflict. Also in the region, the U.S. launched another round of airstrikes on Houthis in Yemen.

We're marking a birthday to a kid that's not here. We're making him a cake, we put balloons, we put pictures and blessings and everything, and he's not here. It's crazy.

Here in the U.S., congressional efforts to give new aid to Israel and Ukraine are in doubt. President Biden's meeting with congressional leaders did not lead to a breakthrough. Some Republicans want tougher policy at the Mexico border in exchange for a deal on foreign aid. After the meeting, House Speaker Mike Johnson made clear how important immigration issues are to his party.

I told the president what I have been saying for many months, and that is that we must have change at the border, substantive policy change.

In legal news, a judge threatened to throw former President Donald Trump out of the courtroom yesterday. While E. Jean Carroll testified in the civil defamation trial, Trump repeatedly made disparaging comments about the case, potentially loud enough for the jury to hear. Trump was ultimately allowed to stay. The trial will decide whether he has to pay additional damages for defaming Carroll in 2019.

It cited the 14th Amendment ban on insurrectionists holding office. Ever since a panel of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 blew off mid-flight, the company has been in crisis.

The FAA grounded Boeing planes for inspection, and it's expanding the investigation to include manufacturing practices both at Boeing and its partners, especially Spirit AeroSystems.

They build about 70% of the plane for Boeing. And picture 400,000 parts coming together, tightly sequenced and tightly scheduled. It's like this intricate ballet.

"Bloomberg" senior aerospace reporter Julie Johnsson and her colleagues wrote a story about the swirling questions around the company right now. Boeing has been under pressure before. Hundreds died in 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. The company agreed to pay $2.5 billion in a deferred prosecution agreement. Boeing was once known for making the best planes in the world.

So, you know, even subtly, do those pressures trickle down to the shop floor? I think that's one of the questions to be asked.

The FAA investigation could show that the problem on that Alaska Airlines flight was an isolated issue. Or it could reveal larger, more complicated and costly problems for Boeing. That would be a big blow at a time when the company was starting to feel optimistic about its future, Johnsson says. She's watched Boeing work to rebuild after the deadly crashes.

It was starting to look like Boeing had its act together and that 2024 was going to be the year when finally they started to put some distance between them and the tragedies and this horrible episode.

And then, you know, within the span of a 20-minute flight, it all came crumbling down.

If it feels like you or everyone you know has been sick recently, you're not alone. We are in the midst of a surge of the flu, RSV, and COVID.

Health correspondent Pien Huang reported on this for "NPR."

Most of the country has been having high or very high respiratory virus levels, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And this is pretty common after the holidays, when people have been traveling, seeing loved ones, and sharing their respiratory viruses along the way.

But it's not just travel. A lot of Americans are behind on vaccines. The CDC says fewer than half of adults have gotten flu shots this season. And just 17% of Americans eligible for the latest COVID shots have gotten those. This is also the first respiratory virus season where a vaccine for RSV has been available. Older patients and infants are eligible for it. A lot of parents say they want it, but it's been hard to find.

So COVID numbers started climbing in November and accelerated through December. But the good news is that the most recent CDC data show that we may be turning a corner. You know, the doctor's visits and hospitalizations, they're still high, but they've been stable, or in some places, they're starting to decrease.

These three illnesses combined, COVID, the flu and RSV, are putting pressure on hospitals across the country. Some are now requiring masks again. Meanwhile, the "LA Times" spoke with disease experts who say if you think you might have COVID, you might need to test a few times to be sure. Some patients are testing negative on day one and day two after having symptoms, but then they're testing positive on day four or so. That lag may be because our immunity has built up over time.

And of course, the best advice for your health is to stay current on your shots and stay home if you're feeling sick. Finally, a recent study says that the world's five richest men have doubled their wealth since 2020, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffett. The numbers come from the anti-poverty charity Oxfam,

which put them out as billionaires and global business and political leaders meet in Davos. Danny Sriskandarajah, the CEO of Oxfam Great Britain, talked about the data on the BBC.

Just over the last two years, billionaires have gotten richer than the previous 14 years put together. So, you know, here we are at a time of a global crisis when so many people are finding their lives more vulnerable. They're worried about rising living costs, unemployment. But the global economy seems to be working really well for the richest who are getting eye-watering levels of accumulation.

And over the same span of time, some five billion people have gotten poorer. Oxfam says the massive wealth gap means policy changes are needed to close it. It supports caps on CEO pay and taxes on wealth and excess profits.

Oxfam says if current trends continue, the world could have its first trillionaire within a decade. But poverty will go on for centuries. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening to the News app right now, stick around. We've got a narrated article coming up next from "Vanity Fair" about the greatest gymnast of all time, Simone Biles.