■UNITED STATES
Pilots’ licenses at risk
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Saturday that it might suspend the licenses of the two pilots of Northwest Flight 188 who flew 240km past their Minneapolis destination on Wednesday evening — remaining out of contact for nearly 90 minutes — while air traffic controllers repeatedly tried to reach them. Air traffic control centers from Denver to Minneapolis tried numerous times to reach the pilots by radio, e-mail, data text and cellphone before a flight attendant was finally able to contact the pilots, and they turned the plane around and landed it safely. A FAA spokeswoman said the agency had sent “letters of investigation” to Captain Timothy Cheney, and the first officer, Richard Cole, notifying them that the incident could lead to the emergency revocation or suspensions of their licenses within days. The two pilots have been suspended by Delta Airlines, which merged with Northwest last year and operates its flights.
■UNITED STATES
Town beads together
A record-setting strand of beads has helped the city of East Providence, Rhode Island, put its recent financial woes behind it, at least for a night. On Friday, the city smashed the Guinness world record for longest strand of beads with a 411.45m string of red and white beads. The previous record was 108.2m, set in February in the UK. Patti Streit led the effort by the East Providence Education Foundation. She told the Providence Journal it was a much-needed “fun, positive” moment. The city has been plagued by budget problems, police and fire layoffs and teacher disputes.
■ISRAEL
Police, worshippers clash
Police and Arab worshippers clashed near Jerusalem’s flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City yesterday and several people were arrested, a police spokesman and Palestinian officials said. The clashes came amid rising tensions in the past weeks over the area known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, site of the mosque and the Dome of the Rock, one of Islam’s holiest sites. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said youths threw stones and a gasoline bomb at police on patrol near the mosque. He said 12 arrests were made. Palestinian officials said police had closed off the compound to visitors, leaving hundreds of worshippers inside.
■SAUDI ARABIA
Flu deaths shut two schools
The government shut two schools in Qassim Province northwest of Riyadh after two students died from swine flu, the Arab News reported yesterday. The deaths took the country’s toll from A(H1N1) virus to 39, the daily said. The government has intensified its watch for swine flu outbreaks amid concern the disease could spread among some 2 million foreign visitors arriving over the next month for the annual hajj pilgrimage.
■CANADA
Tamil man released
The government is to release one of 76 Tamils arrested last week in a ship off its Pacific coast, local media reported on Saturday. The decision came after a custody hearing, lawyer Narinder Kang told the Globe and Mail newspaper. The released man was ordered to report regularly to authorities, Kang said. Federal police detained the 76 men on Friday, after the navy seized the Ocean Lady freighter off the west coast. The move came after it emerged a 26-year-old man is being sought by Sri Lankan authorities for an unspecified terror offense.
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