a Horrific Ethiopian Airlines Crash
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: A search for answers and repercussions for a major plane manufacturer after a horrific crash kills everyone onboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Nairobi.</s>GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, President Trump settles in for another fight as he proposes slashing the U.S. budget drastically on healthcare and education in order to pay for his border wall.</s>CHURCH: And the top critic of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro says the country has already collapsed. Juan Guaido sits down with CNN for an interview. Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and, of course, from all around the world. I am Rosemary Church.</s>HOWELL: And I am George Howell from CNN world headquarters. Newsroom starts right now.</s>CHURCH: And our top story, Ethiopia and China are now grounding all Boeing 737 max8 aircraft, the same type of plane from Sunday's crash in Ethiopia which killed all 157 people onboard. Ethiopia says the decision was made as a safety precaution. China says it wants assurances from Boeing and U.S. regulators before resuming the flights.</s>HOWELL: The 737 max8 is also the same model from last year's Lion Air crash in Indonesia. That crash killing 189 people. It's still unclear what caused the Ethiopian Airlines crash. And there's no evidence the two incidents are linked. In the meantime, investigators comb the crash site for more clues. Ethiopia's prime minister is offering his condolences and some promises. Listen.</s>ABIY AHMED, ETHIOPIAN PRIME MINISTER: The accident is shocking and tragic. As we all know, Ethiopian Airlines is a reputable airline with a good safety record for a long time. The cause of the accident will be deeply investigated by the professionals of the field, and the results of the findings will be made public.</s>CHURCH: Well, CNN's Farai Sevenzo is in Nairobi, Kenya. He joins us now live. So, of course, Farai, we know that the plane was heading there for Nairobi. Talk to us about the reaction there in light of this doomed aircraft going down.</s>FARAI SEVENZO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, there's a real sense of shock amongst all the people who work for nongovernmental organizations like the human rights people that the United Nations, Refugee Council, The World Food Program. All of these organizations have massive bases here in Nairobi. In fact, in many of the cases they are living in Nairobi and hopping over to (Inaudible), which is of course, the seat of the African Union where policy makers. So all Africans' many huge problems like Somalia, South Sudan wars, and then the crisis of refugees in Northern Uganda, they're tackled between these two great east African cities, Nairobi and (Inaudible). So it came as no surprise that there would be so many United Nations people onboard. But the reaction, Rosemary, is of course, a great sense of deep loss and shock really. I am here talking to you from (Inaudible) International Airport. Behind me is the international arrivals. Now, 24 hours ago, that plane, that doomed (Inaudible) should have landed at this airport, and many of those people and including 32 Kenyans would have been walking through this international arrivals area. And sadly, that isn't the case. At the moment, we know that (Inaudible) the company's secretary for transport is about to give a statement just across the way from where we're standing at the moment. And he's joined as well by the Ethiopian Airlines chief from Nairobi. We don't quite know what they're going to say, but of course, the feeling of tragedy is palpable in this town where so many United Nations people work. No matter what organization you come from, whether it's the international organization</s>CHURCH: Farai, as you mentioned this is a global tragedy. We know that that news conference that you referred to has gotten underway. We're monitoring that. I do want to go to our Robyn Kriel. She joins us on the line now. And Robyn, earlier you went out to that crash site. Talk to us about what you saw, and you're intending to head out there again.</s>ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, we're at the crash site right now. It's a lot of clanging as you can watch (Inaudible) sifting through debris. I'm not sure exactly what they're looking for. But they're digging deep into this hole that we can't really see. On the side of the hole, though, is pieces of scrapped metal from that plane. And anyone who's flown with Ethiopian Airlines will know the colors of the (Inaudible) so vibrant of the airplane, bright green and orange. So those are the colors of the scrap metal all mangled they're taking out of the holes. There's also a number of Ethiopian federal police. And I can see the forensic investigation team from the Ethiopians. And they have some equipment as well, lights, because I am guessing that this continued late into last night, and will likely do so again today just judging from the amount of debris. There's also just big pieces of what looked like mechanical parts of the plane. I am not an expert but something that looks like it could be some kind of turbine. Just the same as yesterday, really, pieces of paper scattered by the wind and glass across this field, spanning about 500 meters, the pieces of paper that we've been seeing are luggage tags, pieces of clothing, women's handbags, people's business cards, and part of the flight maps that would have been ejected from the cockpit. There's also a number of Red Cross people here. And we understand that as obviously the scene develops and the people are needing to be proven. They're going to need their embassies to come out, bringing forensic investigations teams from likely the affected countries. That would be your French, your Kenyan. The Ethiopia is already here, but also American, British. All of those people that are affected, they'll be coming up here with more than likely with their own people working side by side with the Ethiopians to try and figure out who perished in this crash, and make sure that everyone's DNA is matching up.</s>CHURCH: Yeah. People desperately at this point wanting some answers as to why this plane went down, our Robyn Kriel there at that crash site, it's the second time that she has returned to that area. And, of course, we're waiting to hear more from that news conference as to what happened.</s>HOWELL: So many questions at this point still.</s>CHURCH: Yeah, indeed. And the passengers on the Ethiopian Airlines flight came from 35 countries, as you heard there, and as live reports showing that Sunday's crash is truly a global tragedy.</s>HOWELL: They included 19 United Nations staff members. Six of them worked at the U.N. Office in Nairobi. The U.N. secretary general says he was deeply saddened by the loss. A Georgetown University law student from Kenya also died in the crash. School officials called him a champion for social justice across east Africa. Also onboard, the children and wife of a Slovakian lawmaker, he asked people to think of them in a quiet memory.</s>CHURCH: And we are hearing more from the families of those who lost their lives on Sunday.</s>HOWELL: Dan Curia, whose father died in the crash, told the BBC that the two shared a meal in the U.K. shortly before his dad left for Ethiopia.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I woke up, I was -- I went on the phone to look at whether he put a message to say he'd arrived safely in (Inaudible). And the first thing that I saw was a message that said that an Ethiopian Airlines airplane had crashed near (Inaudible) and then it was just a roller coaster of news. I think shortly after that, I found out that nearly everybody had passed away. And it was just a frantic rush to work the phones to kind of try and get any information that we could get.</s>HOWELL: He says that he is still in shock, not just from the passing of his father, but for all the people who died on that flight. The U.S. president is ready to launch a new border wall fight, but his 2020 budget proposal is already getting a thumbs down from Democratic leaders. We'll have more on that ahead.