Monday morning news: March 11, 2019

Jetline crashes in Ethiopia killing more than 150 » A jetliner crashed in Ethiopia Sunday, killing more than 150 people. The passengers from dozens of countries.

MACHARIA: We can now confirm that there were at least 35 nationalities. 

Kenyan Cabinet Secretary of Transport James Macharia.

MACHARIA: Among the most affected, as you may expect, is Kenya, which had about 32 passengers on board.

The jet crashed shortly after takeoff in clear weather. It’s still not known what caused the plane to go down. But the accident was strikingly similar to last year’s crash of a Lion Air jet that plunged into the Java Sea, killing nearly 200 people. Both crashes involved the Boeing 737 Max 8 and both happened minutes after the jets became airborne.

Power outages remain throughout much of Venezuela » Many parts of Venezuela remained without power and communications on Sunday after several days of the country’s worst-ever blackouts. The outages forced some hospitals to treat patients without electricity.

Julio Castro is a hospital physician who supports opposition leader Juan Guaidó. Castro said at least 15 deaths have been linked to outages, which have especially affected patients who rely on oxygen concentrators and dialysis machines.

Embattled leader Nicolas Maduro blamed a cyberattack for the inability to get power restored sooner. But his opponents aren’t buying it. They say failing infrastructure is one more sign of a crumbling economy. And many demonstrators took to the streets once again on Sunday, calling for Maduro to step down.

White House set to unveil budget » The White House is set to unveil President Trump’s proposed budget today.

It comes as some conservatives are sounding alarms about the federal government’s continued overspending. But the president’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday…

KUDLOW: If you want to deal with budget deficits, you’ve got rapid growth, which means keep the tax cuts in place. We believe the 3 percent growth rate of 2018 will continue in 2019 and beyond 2020 and so forth. 

Kudlow said the president’s also proposing a roughly “5 percent across the board reduction in domestic spending accounts.”

The White House budget is expected to call for another increase in military spending and the president will again ask Congress for nearly $9 billion for a border wall.

White House hopefuls gather at SXSW Festival » Meantime, numerous Democrats who hope to take on President Trump in next year’s election gathered at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, over the weekend.

Texas is an early primary state and the festival gives Democrats face time with the party’s young and liberal wing.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee said he’s running for president because America must make defeating climate change its No. 1 priority.

INSLEE: It has to be the first and foremost and paramount duty of the next administration.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren took on corporate giants like Amazon, Google, and Facebook. She said they’ve grown too large and are killing off competition.

WARREN: Because if you try to step a small business into that, one of two things happens: It either gets bought up when it shows its worth and before it can actually grow into something really strong and valuable, or it just gets wiped out. 

Other Democrats at the event included Senator Amy Klobuchar, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro and Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper.

Joining them was one prominent Republican who may challenge President Trump in a GOP primary — former Ohio Governor John Kasich.

KASICH: I talk to a lot of people who are what I call kind of like normal Republicans about the fact that we should have an agenda. What should it focus on? Well, it ought to focus on climate. It ought to focus on income inequality. You can’t just oppose these things and say what a stupid idea without having an alternative. 

Kasich ran for the GOP nomination in 2016. He said he still hasn’t made up his mind about 2020.

Captain Marvel dominates weekend box office » At the weekend box office, Captain Marvel soared into the top spot with a huge opening.  

AUDIO: I know a renegade soldier when I see one. Never occurred to me that one might come from above.

The latest Marvel superhero blockbuster took in $153 million in its opening weekend.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World finished a distant second with $15 million in ticket sales.

You can find WORLD’s reviews of current films — along with ratings and content information — at WNG.org/movies.

(AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene) Parts of the plane wreckage with rescue workers at the crash site at Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, outside Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Monday, March 11, 2019, where Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 crashed Sunday. 

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