LAGOS, Nigeria – Nigeria grounded Boeing 737 planes across the country for safety checks, stranding thousands of travelers Sunday after two deadly accidents in two months.
All Boeing 737-100 and 200 series will be checked for stress cracks, in compliance with a U.S. air-worthiness directive, Folasade Odutola, head of the aviation panel overseeing the checks, said late Saturday.
The ruling by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration required all such models of aircraft to be inspected within 90 days of its August 2000 ruling. Many countries follow FAA directives. The Nigerian official did not explain why the measure was only being implemented now.
On Dec. 10, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 plane operated by Sosoliso Airlines crashed while approaching Port Harcourt, killing 107 people, most of them children going home for Christmas.
A Boeing 737-200 plane belonging to Bellview airlines crashed soon after takeoff from Lagos on Oct. 22, killing all 117 on board.
The causes of the crashes have not been determined.
Bolivia: Socialist leads in election
Bolivia’s Socialist presidential candidate Evo Morales, who has promised to become Washington’s “nightmare,” said his victory was assured in Sunday’s elections after two independent exit polls showed him with an unexpectedly strong lead over former President Jorge Quiroga. Morales, a coca farmer who has said he will end a U.S.-backed anti-drug campaign aimed at eradicating the crop used to make cocaine, will likely be declared president in January.
Canada: Terror-linked arrest
The eldest son of an accused al-Qaida financier was arrested Saturday in his family’s Toronto apartment on a U.S. warrant, weeks after returning to Canada from more than a year of detention in Pakistan, officials said Sunday. Abdullah Khadr, 24, faces extradition to the United States on charges of procuring weapons for the al-Qaida terror network for use against U.S. forces, said the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston, where the charges were filed. He faces a maximum of life imprisonment.
India: Stampede for aid kills 42
Thousands of flood victims waiting in line for relief vouchers Sunday stampeded into a government-run distribution center in Madras, in southern India, killing at least 42 people and injuring 37, police said.
Colombia: Rebels join to strike village
At least 500 fighters from three rebel armies united to attack a village in western Colombia, officials said Sunday, offering new details in the assault that killed at least five police officers. At least six police officers were kidnapped, and at least 27 others were missing. The pre-dawn assault Saturday in the village of San Marino reportedly included fighters from Colombia’s second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army, as well as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the lesser known Revolutionary Army of Guevara
Lebanon: Syrian border route closed
Lebanon closed a military route that crossed its border into Syria, ending nearly three decades of unmonitored flow of high-ranking officials and goods between the two countries, the official National News Agency reported Sunday.
Switzerland: Assisted suicide
Vaud University Hospital Center in Lausanne has agreed to let an assisted-suicide organization, Exit, help terminally ill patients take their own lives on its premises, starting in January.
Spain: Lottery reaches $2.4 billion
The Spanish Christmas lottery known as “El Gordo” – the Fat One – is even chubbier this year, with total prize money of $2.4 billion. The lottery will be held Thursday in a three-hour televised ceremony that brings Spain to a standstill. People holding $24 tickets bearing the first-prize number will receive $360,000. The lottery shuns jackpots in favor of a share-the-wealth system.
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