Nation, World Briefs: U.S., Japan reach airline agreement
Published 3:17 pm Saturday, December 11, 2010
WASHINGTON — The U.S. and Japan reached an agreement Friday to relax limits on flights between the two countries, opening up the possibility of broader cross-border airline alliances and more options for air travelers. Under the agreement, which still must be finalized by both governments, airlines from both countries would be allowed to select routes and destinations based on consumer demand for both passenger and cargo services without limitations on the number of U.S. or Japanese carriers that can fly between the two countries or the number of flights they can operate. The agreement likely will prompt Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways to seek joint ventures with U.S. airlines.
Hawaii: Abercrombie to quit
U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii said he’s resigning from Congress. The longtime Democratic congressman, who has been planning to run for governor, said Friday the decision was a difficult one for him. But he said he concluded a resignation will “allow someone to be elected who will carry on the work of this office.” Abercrombie has represented Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District continuously since 1991.
New York: Snowbound cars
About 100 people spent most of the night in snowbound cars on the New York State Thruway southwest of Buffalo and are finally being freed. Troopers used all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles to keep in touch with motorists who got stuck when blowing snow shut down a stretch of Interstate 90 from Dunkirk, N.Y., to Erie, Pa., at about 1:30 a.m. Emergency crews topped off gas tanks and checked on people by cell phone during the night before starting to turn drivers around and guide them off the closed roadway Friday morning.
S. Carolina: Soldier shots
Thousands of Army recruits in training must line up at least once more before heading home for the holidays, this time for mass inoculations by the hundreds against swine flu. The Army’s largest training camp, just outside Columbia, S.C., and other posts are hurrying to finish the shots before the year-end break. More than 40,000 soldiers in advanced and basic training across the country head home over the next two weeks in a massive troop movement known as “block leave,” Army officials said.
California: Larry Flynt wins
When it comes to adult entertainment, the Flynt name is not to be messed with — even by other family members, a federal jury concluded. A four-man, four-woman panel in Los Angeles sided with Hustler publisher Larry Flynt on Friday in the pornography mogul’s trademark infringement and false endorsement claims against his nephews, who had attempted to launch their own line of adult films under the family name. Larry Flynt had contended in the trial that his nephews were unfairly trying to take advantage of his fame and muddying the quality he built up over the years in the business.
Huge pipe slams into cab
The California Highway Patrol said two people escaped serious injury when a 5,000-pound steel pipe rolled off a big-rig trailer and smashed into a taxi. An officer said the truck was hauling the 50-foot-long pipe on an elevated freeway ramp in La Mesa, northeast of San Diego, at about 9 a.m. Friday when the driver lost control. The truck hit a barrier wall and the 8-foot-diameter pipe broke its chains and plunged 75 feet from the bridge. It crushed the side of a taxi and sheared off a passenger door.
Massachusetts: Elder slaying
A 98-year-old woman was indicted Friday on a second-degree murder charge that alleges she strangled her 100-year-old nursing home roommate after making the victim’s life “a living hell” because she thought the woman was “taking over the room.” Laura Lundquist was sent to a state mental hospital for a competency evaluation before her arraignment. Her defense attorney said she has a “long-standing diagnosis of dementia, as well as issues of cognitive impairment.”
Belgium: Afghan weapons
NATO plans to ask Russia to contribute more to the escalating Afghan war by donating AK-47 assault rifles, grenade launchers, artillery, armored vehicles and other weapons to the expanding Afghan army, officials said Friday. Last month, Moscow sold four Mi-17 medium-lift transport helicopters to the Afghan air force — the first new planes delivered to Afghanistan in two decades. The Russians have complained that some of their small arms have ended up in rebel hands.
From Herald news services
