■ Norway
Plane catches fire
Rescuers pulled 13 people from a plane that caught fire and skidded off the runway at a western Norway airport yesterday, but three passengers were missing, rescue officials said. Einar Knutsen, of the Rescue Coordination Center for Southern Norway, said 13 of those aboard had been rescued alive, but their condition was not immediately known. Rescuers were searching for the three others. Police spokesman Reidar Faerstrand told Norway's TV2 the fire had been extinguished, but gave no other details. The plane was operated by Atlantic Airways of the Faeroe Islands. It had taken off from the southwestern Norway Sola Airport, near Stavanger, and caught fire upon landing at the Stord Airport.
■ United Kingdom
Prisoners paid to go home
A government plan to pay foreign prisoners nearly US$5,000 to leave the country in order to alleviate overcrowding was derided as bribery by opposition lawmakers and the press yesterday. Home Secretary John Reid on Monday announced a 12-month pilot scheme where foreign prisoners from outside the 28-member European Economic Area would be offered money for training and accommodation in to return home. Opposition Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said the plan was basically a "bribe."
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