[MUSIC PLAYING]

CARL AZUZ: Hi, I'm Carl Azuz.

And welcome to "CNN 10."

It's always good to see you.

A growing number of countries around the world

are grounding a popular type of passenger plane.

And that's the first story we're explaining.

On Sunday, an Ethiopian Airlines flight

crashed shortly after takeoff in the capital of Ethiopia.

All 157 people aboard were killed.

It happened less than six months after an incident on October

29, when a Lion Air flight crashed shortly after takeoff

in the capital of Indonesia.

All 189 people aboard that flight were killed.

The one thing these two flights have in common

is that they were aboard new models of the same airplane,

a Boeing 737 Max 8.

It was introduced two years ago.

It's a very technologically advanced jet.

And it might be that technology that's causing its problems.

- Boeing bills its 737 Max as the fastest selling airplane

in the company's history.

A high-tech, single-aisle jet, there are more than 5,000

on order for 100 airlines worldwide.

Many of them are in China and India.

The 737 has a long history.

Since the first twin jet Baby Boeing was introduced in 1967,

it's grown into the best-selling line

of commercial jets in history.

The Max 8 variant, launched in 2017,

seats up to 200 passengers.

It was designed to offer airlines

greater range, better fuel efficiency than the models that

came before.

Like any new series, Boeing introduced brand-new technology

and features into the 737 series,

including the automatic safety system.

DAVID SOUCIE: This particular aircraft

has a new, something new, as far as how the autopilot responds.

When the angle of attack, when the aircraft nose

goes up too high, it pushes that nose down,

even when the autopilot is off.

And a lot of pilots aren't used to that.

- In the case of Lion Air, Indonesian investigators

say pilots repeatedly fought to override

that system before the fatal crash

of the plane back in October.

The preliminary crash report said faulty sensors

led the automated system to push the nose of the plane

down again and again.

It's not clear why the pilots did

not follow the recognized procedure

and turn the system off.

Now, this crash, the second in a brand-new model

plane shortly after takeoff.

It's provoking more questions about the plane's design

and what Boeing has told the airlines.

CARL AZUZ: The CEO of Ethiopian Airlines

says the pilot had flight control problems shortly

before the plane crashed.

But both accidents involving this Boeing model

are under investigation.

And there's no evidence at this point

that the same problem caused them.

Still, countries from Australia, to China, to the European Union

and India have grounded the 737 Max 8

airplanes, making it illegal for them to fly

in or over these nations.

According to the Reuters news organization,

Boeing says it's been developing a software update for the plane

that's quote, "designed to make an already

safe aircraft even safer."

The US Federal Aviation Administration also

said earlier this week that the aircraft is safe,

though it has ordered Boeing to make some design changes to it.

Some US senators are now saying the FAA

should temporarily ground it until it's proven airworthy.

The US and Canada are the only two

countries where substantial numbers of these planes

are still flying.

The United States government is trying

to keep American wireless companies and countries

around the world from buying telecommunications

equipment made by a Chinese company named Huawei.

This is the world's largest telecom manufacturer.

It's taken such a lead in developing

5G wireless technology that many carriers can't replace it.

5G is said to be many times faster and more reliable

than 4G.

China and Huawei have denied doing anything wrong.

But the US says Huawei has connections

to Chinese government intelligence

and that Huawei's equipment could

allow China to potentially spy on people who use it.

It's not just civilian security the US is concerned about.

- Hidden beneath this vast, snowy prairie land in Central

Montana are more than 100 nuclear-armed

intercontinental ballistic missiles ready for launch.

It's desolate terrain, but vital to American national security,

which experts worry could face a threat from China.

This fenced-in area is a missile silo controlled

by Malmstrom Air Force Base.

Right next to it, a cell tower belonging to a company

called Triangle Communications system.

It's an American company.

But its network uses radio transmitters and receivers made

by the Chinese company, Huawei, a telecom giant that

has been called a national security risk

by US intelligence officials.

CHRISTOPHER WRAY: We're deeply concerned about the risks

of allowing any company or entity that

is beholden to foreign governments that don't share

our values to gain positions of power

inside our telecommunications networks.

- Given the power of the Chinese government

over Chinese companies, experts say the Huawei technology

could be weaponized by Beijing.

JAMES ANDREW LEWIS: If they asked Huawei,

turn off the phones, tell us what people are doing,

scramble the data going over it, block calls,

make random phone calls, there's nothing we

could really do to stop that.

[BEEP]

- These bases use encrypted communications.

But valuable intelligence could be gathered on the people

working with the ICBMs.

- 2, 1, turn.

- And the area could also be targeted with network attacks.

There's no evidence that anything like this

has happened.

But CNN has identified dozens of cellphone towers equipped

with Huawei technology, some dispersed among the Malmstrom

Nuclear Missile Fields.

JAMES ANDREW LEWIS: ICBMs are supposed to be pretty hard.

That might not be easy to do.

But that doesn't mean our opponents

won't try and figure out if they can do it.

- Areas like this are so remote that often

the only cellphone service comes from small networks.

Unlike major carriers like Verizon and AT&T,

smaller companies depend on government subsidies.

And many buy cheaper equipment made by Chinese companies

like Huawei.

While the company is barred from US government contracts

and federal employees can't use their devices,

rural carriers have no such restrictions.

The companies that own these towers are part of the Rural

Wireless Association, who say a quarter of their members

buy Huawei because it's far cheaper,

and say it would cost up to $1 billion to replace.

The Pentagon would not say what kind of relationship, if any,

it has with these carriers.

But Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan

told CNN in a statement, they are "working closely

with our industrial and research partners

to develop comprehensive and innovative solutions

for both the department and commercial industries."

CARL AZUZ: 10-second trivia.

Which of these American universities

is the oldest, Wake Forest, Georgetown,

Stanford, or the University of Southern California?

[BEEPING]

The oldest university here, and the only one

on this list that was founded in the 1700s, is Georgetown.

50 people across the United States

have been formally charged with cheating

to get students in the highly respected colleges.

The FBI'S criminal investigation was

called Operation Varsity Blues.

It covers crimes allegedly committed

between 2011 and 2019.

And it led to the arrests of athletic coaches, DAT and ACT

administrators, and dozens of parents.

What they're accused of doing is helping students cheat

on college entrance exams like the SAT and paying some sports

coaches to say certain students should be admitted

to their colleges because the students were good athletes,

even when they weren't.

In some cases, this involved creating

fake athletic profiles for students to make

them look like good athletes.

Prosecutors say the cheating was carried out mostly

without the students' knowledge, according to ABC News,

and that it was done to get them into schools like Yale,

Georgetown, Stanford, and the University of Southern

California, among others.

The interim president of USC called it "immensely

disappointing that school employees would allegedly abuse

their positions in this way."

A US attorney involved in the investigation

said, "for every student admitted through fraud,

an honest, genuinely talented student was rejected."

US officials say this was the largest

college cheating scam the federal government

has ever prosecuted.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

When you see this winterized car for the first time,

don't be fooled.

It's no Mustang.

It's snow Mustang.

A Nebraska State trooper found this and shared it

on social media, saying that while some people

make snowmen, in this part of the country,

they make snow cars.

The officer even gave it a ticket--

a fake one, of course--

for being double parked.

Apparently, a local businessman and his kids

formed this frosty Ford.

Forget 5.0, it's a five point snow.

It's a cold weather curbside car you can't tow.

Only where it's chilling could you

shape one if you're willing.

But there's no way to be telling when

your sculpture will be melted.

So if you're going to make one, it has to be a fake one.

You'd be sure to break one if you ever tried to take one.

It's a truly cool vehicle that no one's going to seize.

And maintenance is easy because it needs no anti-freeze.

I'm Carl Azuz on the loose for CNN.

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