Data retrieved from the recently crashed Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 shows "clear similarities" with the October 2018 crash of a Lion Air aircraft, according to the Ethiopian transport minister The recorder is "in a good condition that enabled us to extract almost all the data inside", the ministry added.

The flight data recorders were shipped in recent days to France for review. Investigators have said the Lion Air jetliner crashed after the pilots were unable to arrest a descent initiated by software new to the 737 Max, known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).

Boeing has halted deliveries of Boeing 737 Max in response to the global grounding of the aircraft, the company says.

"Boeing has paused delivery of 737 Max airplanes due to the temporary grounding," Boeing said in a statement. "We continue to build 737 Max airplanes, while assessing how the situation, including potential capacity constraints, will impact our production system."

"There has been no change in production rate at this time, but we continue to work through production decisions," Boeing adds.

The move comes in a year Boeing had hoped to boost 737 production from 52 to 57 aircraft monthly

The FAA has issued a statement saying it "is ordering the temporary grounding of Boeing 737 Max aircraft operated by US airlines or in US territory. The agency made this decision as a result of the data gathering process and new evidence collected at the site and analysed today."
"This evidence, together with newly refined satellite data available to FAA this morning, led to this decision," the FAA adds. "The grounding will remain in effect pending further investigation, including examination of information from the aircraft’s flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders."

This comes after Canada's Transport Minister, Marc Garneau issued its own grounding.
"I am issuing a safety notice. This safety notice restricts commercial passenger flights [by] any operator of Boeing 737 Max 8 or 9, whether domestic or foreign, from arriving, departing or overflying Canadian airspace,"

In a statement, Chicago-based Boeing says: "Boeing continues to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 Max. However, after consultation with the US Federal Aviation Administration, the US National Transportation Safety Board and aviation authorities and its customers around the world, Boeing has determined – out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public of the aircraft’s safety – to recommend to the FAA the temporary suspension of operations of the entire global fleet of 371 737 Max aircraft."