ADDIS ABABA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Preliminary investigation results on doomed Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 plane discovered that the pilots followed Boeing required procedures, but could not control the flight, the Ethiopian government said on Thursday.

The Nairobi-bound Ethiopian airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed near Bishoftu town, about 45 km from the capital, Addis Ababa, just minutes after takeoff from Bole International Airport, killing all 157 people aboard.

5 Apr 2019; DW: British Prime Minister Theresa May has asked the European Union to extend the UK's divorce date from the bloc until June 30, according to a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk that was sent on Friday.

May has already secured one Brexit delay — currently slated for April 12 — to buy time to gain support for her Withdrawal Agreement, which British lawmakers have now rejected three times.

What May wrote in her letter to the EU:

KOROLYOV /Moscow Region/, April 4. /TASS/. The Progress MS-11 resupply ship has docked to the International Space Station (ISS) after using an ultra-short flight scheme. The flight lasted slightly over 3 hours and 20 minutes, Russia’s Mission Control reported on Thursday.

"The Progress MS-11 space freighter docked with the orbital station in an automated mode at 5:22 p.m. Moscow time," the Flight Control Center said, specifying that the resupply ship had arrived at the Pirs docking module.

5 Apr 2019; DW: US planemaker Boeing admitted on Thursday that its 737 MAX passenger jet has another software error in addition to the one implicated in two major crashes in recent months.

Boeing said the problem, which it described as a "relatively minor issue" that was already solved, had become apparent during work on overhauling the controversial anti-stalling system MCAS, but was not directly connected with it.

KIEV, April 4. /TASS/. Servant of the People Party’s presidential candidate Vladimir Zelensky believes that if he becomes the head of state, he could be victorious in the Donbass conflict. To that end, he is willing to try every means possible.

"It is impossible to stop the war," he said to the Radio Liberty journalists. "You either win or lose the war. And we can win by means of diplomacy, economic growth and reinforcing the army."

4 Apr 2019; AFP: US lawmakers voted Thursday to end military support for the bloody Saudi-led war in Yemen, dealing a harsh bipartisan rebuke to Donald Trump and taking the historic step of curtailing a president's war-making powers.

The House of Representatives voted 247 to 175, with one congressman voting present, to approve a resolution that directs the president "to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities in or affecting the Republic of Yemen" within 30 days.

SIMFEROPOL, April 4. /TASS/. The Kiev District Court of Simferopol has arrested Mayor of Yevpatoria Andrei Filonov until March 31 on the suspicion of abuse of power, TASS reports from the court hall.

"Arrest for one month and 28 days, until March 31, will be chosen as a measure of restraint," the judge stated.

Earlier, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) launched a criminal case against Filonov under suspicion of abuse of power. Filonov has served as head of the city’s administration since November 2014.

LONDON, April 3. /TASS/. The UK’s Typhoon aircraft were scrambled on Wednesday from RAF Lossiemouth airbase in Scotland to monitor two Russian bombers that were in the UK area of interest, a Royal Air Force spokesman told TASS.

"We can confirm that RAF quick reaction alert Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth scrambled to monitor two Blackjack bombers [NATO’s classification for the Tupolev Tu-160 long-range bomber - TASS] while they were in the UK area of interest. At no point did the Russian aircraft enter UK territorial airspace," he said.

BUENOS AIRES, April 5. /TASS/. Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry has dismissed as rumors a report that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be kicked out of the republic’s embassy in London soon, El Comercio newspaper reported.

"Ecuador is not answering rumors, hypotheses or suggestions, which are not confirmed by any documents," the newspaper quoted a ministry spokesman as saying.

MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. Russia has transferred the remains of Israeli tank battalion soldier Zachary Baumel, who had been missing in action for 37 years after the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in Lebanon, over to Israel, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters on Thursday.

"Today, in the Russian Defense Ministry the remains of the Israeli soldier were handed over to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with honors to be buried by his relatives in his homeland," the ministry said.

MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney will visit Moscow on April 10-11 and hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China pledges the implementation of large-scale tax cuts and fee reductions this year in a bid to further boost the vitality of market entities, increase urban and rural personal incomes and expand capacity for consumption.

The following are major moves China has taken since the start of the year, or are expected to take in 2019.