WASHINGTON — Airlines should be required to limit how long passengers have to wait out travel delays inside an airplane on the ground before being allowed to get off, the Transportation Department inspector general recommended Tuesday.
On Dec. 29, lightning storms and a tornado warning shut down the Dallas-Fort Worth airport several times, causing American Airlines to divert more than 100 flights and stranding many of those passengers onboard aircraft waiting to take off for as long as nine hours.
On Feb. 14, snow and ice in the northeast led to JetBlue Airways stranding hundreds of passengers on its planes at New York’s Kennedy International for up to 10½ hours.
Inspector General Calvin Scovell studied onboard delays and found four other incidents in 2007 that stranded passengers on waiting planes for nine hours, four hours, six hours and 10 hours.
Children’s insurance passes House
The House voted Tuesday to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, by $35 billion over five years, but the Democratic-led victory may prove short-lived because the margin was too small to override President Bush’s promised veto. The Senate appears poised to pass the SCHIP expansion later this week.
Al-Qaida said training Europeans
Al-Qaida continues to recruit Europeans for explosives training in Pakistan because Europeans can more easily enter the United States without a visa, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said Tuesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Europeans are being recruited specifically because they generally do not need visas to enter the United States, he said.
Giuliani backer’s $9.11 fundraiser
The International Association of Fire Fighters accused Republican Rudy Giuliani of exploiting the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because supporter Abraham Sofaer is holding a $9.11-per-person fundraiser today in California for the presidential candidate. A Giuliani spokeswoman said the $9.11 idea was chosen without the campaign’s knowledge.
Conn.: Nooses for cadet, officer
Nooses were left in a black Coast Guard cadet’s bag and in the office of a white officer who conducted race relations training after the incident. A Coast Guard probe was unable to determine who left the nooses, said a spokesman for the Coast Guard Academy in New London. Rear Adm. J. Scott Burhoe, the academy’s superintendent, said he ordered the Coast Guard Investigative Service to look further into what he called “heinous acts.”
Calif.: Crystal Cathedral graffiti
A graffiti tagger struck the landmark Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, doing tens of thousands of dollars in damage, a church spokesman said Tuesday. The tagger etched the symbol “B1R” into 11 spots, damaging the base of the famous glass spire and other buildings at the church, a cathedral spokesman said. Police said they do not believe the crime is gang-related.
Louisiana: Gay bishop restraint
Episcopal leaders, pressured to roll back their support for gays to keep the world Anglican family from crumbling, affirmed Tuesday that they will “exercise restraint” in approving another gay bishop and will not authorize prayers to bless same-sex couples. The statement made in New Orleans mostly reiterated earlier pledges, and it will not be known for some time whether the bishops went far enough to help prevent an Anglican schism.
U.N.: Darfur spillover force OK’d
The United Nations Security Council authorized Tuesday a European Union force and U.N. police to help protect civilians in Chad and the Central African Republic caught in the spillover from the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region. The 4½-year conflict in Darfur has left more than 200,000 dead and has displaced 2.5 million. It has spilled over Sudan’s border into the northeast Central African Republic and eastern Chad.
Iraq: Cholera outbreak spreading
A cholera outbreak in Iraq is spreading, the World Health Organization said in Geneva on Tuesday, with new cases confirmed in the Iraq areas of Baghdad, Basra and for the first time three northern districts. The number of confirmed cases has now reached 2,116, WHO said.
Basra suicide attack kills police
A suicide car bomber Tuesday attacked a police headquarters in Basra, killing at least three policemen, wounding 20 people and raising fears about security in the oil-rich southern city now that British forces have withdrawn. Basra’s police chief blamed al-Qaida in Iraq for the attack, even though the terror movement was believed to have virtually no presence in the Basra area.
Japan: New prime minister
Yasuo Fukuda took office as Japan’s prime minister today, promising to use his skills as a negotiator to win approval for extending Tokyo’s contentious mission in support of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The 71-year-old cast himself as the steady hand Japan needs after the scandal-scarred one-year term of his youthful predecessor Shinzo Abe, who abruptly resigned two weeks ago.
From Herald news services
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
