An airplane carrying an ailing worker from the US research station in the South Pole landed in Chile on an emergency rescue flight. The twin turboprop Twin Otter landed in Punta Arenas at the southern tip of Chile at 10:30pm Sunday after stopping at a British base on the coast of Antarctica. The plane took off from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station about 5am for the British Rothera Air Station, some 2,172km away, said Valerie Carroll of Raytheon Polar Services. The Denver-based company manages the polar station for the National Science Foundation. The ill employee was to be flown to the US from Chile on a charter.
■ United States
Reagan letters make print
A new book of personal letters written by Ronald Reagan lays out the former US president's views on topics from sex to communism and includes a discussion with Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner about free speech. Derided during his presidency as an actor playing a part, Reagan defends his training for the highest office and offers a straightforward view of the world in letters written before, during and after his 1981 to 1989 presidency. The 40th president of the US penned more than 5,000 letters, which were edited to produce Reagan: A Life in Letters, which will be released today.
■ Canada
Martin leads Liberals
Former finance minister Paul Martin on Sunday took a giant step toward becoming Canada's next prime minister when he easily won the race which will decide who becomes head of the ruling Liberal party, his aides said. Liberal party members voted this weekend to choose delegates to a convention in Toronto on Nov. 15 which will elect a new leader. Martin aides said that as of 9:45pm he had the support of 3,491 delegates, well over half the 5,800 delegates he needed for victory. Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, the only other candidate, had just 231 delegates.
■ United States
US regrets ban on novelist
US officials admitted that the entry ban on novelist Graham Greene because of his sometime Communist party membership tarnished the country's image, newly released documents show. They conceded that he had been a member of the British Communist party for only four weeks when a 19-year-old student, "as a joke." They admitted his writing clearly showed that he was anti-communist, according to documents obtained by the Guardian under the US Freedom of Information Act. It was revealed last year that the FBI kept close tabs on the novelist, at times opening his mail and recording his conversations.
■ United kingdom
Sunbed warning issued
Local authorities in the UK are being warned to remove sunbeds from every leisure center in the country amid accusations that they are profiting from treatments which endanger health. Members of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health will raise the alarm because they believe sunbeds contribute to the rise in the incidence of skin cancer. Proposals to be unveiled at the institute's annual conference starting today in Belfast would see "shade provision" become a requirement in big planning developments. School playgrounds would be required to provide children and teachers with shaded areas.
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