Your World This Week, Volume VII

Published August 3, 2015

Newly Discovered Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Debris Could Reveal Crucial Crash Details

Airplane Wing Debris Beach

French police officers carry a piece of debris in Saint-Andre, Reunion Island. Source: ABC

Last week, a battered piece of a wing from a Boeing 707 was found on the beaches of Reunion, a tiny French island in the Indian Ocean. Because there is only one Boeing 707 to ever have been lost at sea, it wasn’t long before authorities discovered that this wing belonged to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which vanished 18 months ago, along with the 239 people on board.

Experts from several organizations are set to analyze the debris on Wednesday in France in hopes of finding clues as to how and why the plane disappeared. For example, we may now know whether the plane crashed into the sea or was first blown apart in mid-air, as some have theorized.

As the analysis of the debris gets underway, authorities on Reunion and a number of surrounding islands are broadening their search in order to find more debris–and some clue as to what happened to Flight 370. Delve into the search at CNN.

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5 Events To Know About This Week

Christopher Columbus

Source: Wikimedia

  • August 3, 1492: Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos, Spain with the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria.
  • Hiroshima Man Rubble Destruction

    Source: boston.com

  • August 6, 1945: The United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, killing an estimated 140,000 people.
  • Young Obama

    A young Barack Obama who this week turns 54. Source: Western Journalism

  • August 4, 1961: President Barack Obama is born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
  • Uss Maddox Gulf Tonkin

    The USS Maddox (above) was reportedly attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2, 1964. Source: SFGate

  • August 7, 1964: The passing of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution effectively starts the Vietnam War.
  • August 8, 1974: Amid the Watergate scandal, President Nixon announces his resignation.
  • author
    John Kuroski
    author
    John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.
    editor
    Savannah Cox
    editor
    Savannah Cox holds a Master's in International Affairs from The New School as well as a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and now serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Sheffield. Her work as a writer has also appeared on DNAinfo.