COLUMBUS, Ohio — Low-cost carrier Skybus Airlines is shutting down today and plans to file for bankruptcy protection next week, becoming the latest of the nation’s airlines to fall because of rising fuel costs and a slowing economy. The financial situation of the airline, which announced the shutdown late Friday, has worsened in recent weeks, a Skybus spokesman said. “Skybus struggled to overcome the combination of rising jet fuel costs and a slowing economic environment,” he said. “These two issues proved to be insurmountable for a new carrier.” ATA and Aloha Airlines both stopped flying this week after filing for bankruptcy protection.
D.C.: Shorter combat tours
The Bush administration plans to announce next week that U.S. soldiers’ combat tours will be reduced from 15 months to 12 months in Iraq and Afghanistan beginning this summer, The Associated Press has learned. The decision, expected to get final, formal approval in the days ahead, comes as Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, prepares to deliver a progress report to Congress next week on the improved security situation there. He is also expected to make recommendations for future troop levels.
Tennessee: McCain’s protection
Sen. John McCain intends to meet with Secret Service officials in the next several days in preparation for accepting security protection for the final several months of his White House bid. McCain plans to meet with the Secret Service next week, he said in an interview for broadcast Sunday on Fox News. McCain aides said they did not know precisely when McCain would agree to accept the protection.
California: Brawl injures inmates
A dozen inmates in a barracks-style prison dormitory have been hurt in a brawl. Officials say some Hispanic prisoners in Chino attacked white inmates Friday. Guards used pepper spray and stopped the fighting within minutes at the California Institution for Men. None of the injuries is life-threatening. All prisoners had been confined to their dorms since Thursday, when a statewide prison lockdown was enacted after some guards were stabbed at another state prison.
New York: Rifles shipped loaded
A rifle manufacturer asked arms dealers nationwide to make extra safety inspections after discovering it had accidentally shipped four guns loaded with live ammunition. Henry Repeating Arms, a maker of lever-action rifles like ones used in the 1860s and 1870s, said a thorough round of inventory checks revealed no other loaded weapons. “We would never want anybody to get hurt,” the company’s president said this week. “We have since upgraded our system,” he said.
China: Tibetans shot, groups say
Hundreds of Tibetan monks and laypeople clashed with Chinese police Thursday night in a small mountain town in western China after government officials attempted to force monks to denounce their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and arrested two monks who were found with his picture, according to reports from Tibetan activist groups. Nearly 800 people marched on government offices in Tonkhor but were stopped by police who fired into the crowd, killing at least eight people, the reports said. The New China News Agency called the incident a “riot” and said “police were forced to fire warning shots to put down the violence.”
Russia: Three subs for Venezuela
Russia will sell three submarines to Venezuela in a deal to be inked when President Hugo Chavez visits next month, a Russian news agency reported Friday. Interfax cited a military-industrial official as saying the subs would be diesel-electric models, of the “Varshavyanka” class, known under NATO terms as a Kilo-class sub. During a visit to Russia last year, Chavez said his country needs submarines to protect itself against its enemies — foremost among them the United States.
Britain: Prince Philip, 86, ailing
Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, Prince Philip, was hospitalized with a chest infection and is undergoing tests, Buckingham Palace said Friday. Philip, 86, suffered from a bad cold that worsened in recent days, palace officials said. Doctors at London’s King Edward VII hospital were trying to determine the cause of the infection. Philip was strong enough to walk into the hospital without assistance and was able to read and answer letters from his bed, a spokeswoman said. Philip is a great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria.
Ontario: AIDS-assault sentence
A man convicted of aggravated sexual assault for exposing women to the virus that causes AIDS was sentenced in Windsor on Friday to 18 years in prison. Carl Leone, 32, pleaded guilty to 15 counts last April after failing to inform his sexual partners of his HIV status. Leone discovered he was HIV positive in 1997, seven years before he was arrested in June 2004. According to court records, five of the 15 women Leone assaulted have tested HIV positive.
From Herald news services
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