■UNITED STATES
Life’s better on death row
A white supremacist gang member convicted of murder has told the Southern California jury deciding his penalty that he wants capital punishment because prison amenities are better on death row. Billy Joe Johnson is already serving a 45-year sentence for a different killing and is locked down most of the day. He testified on Tuesday in Orange County that he had heard death row isn’t so bad, especially compared with his current conditions. His attorney says the 46-year-old figures that by the time his death sentence appeals run out, he’ll be 65 or 70 years old and won’t want to live longer anyway. To try to convince the jury that he deserves death, Johnson testified he’s killed two other people and never been caught.
■UNITED STATES
FAA revokes pilots’ licenses
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday revoked the licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots who overshot their Minneapolis destination by 240km. The pilots — Timothy Cheney of Washington state, the captain, and Richard Cole of Oregon, the first officer — told safety investigators they were working on their personal laptop computers and lost track of time and place. The pilots, who were out of communications with air traffic controllers for 91 minutes, violated numerous federal safety regulations in the incident on Wednesday last week, the FAA said in a statement. The violations included failing to comply with air traffic control instructions and clearances and operating carelessly and recklessly, the agency said.
■UNITED STATES
Obama daughters get shots
The daughters of US President Barack Obama have gotten their swine flu shots. The White House has been weighing how to address public interest in whether the first family has been vaccinated against A(H1N1), or swine flu. The administration posted the answer on its Web site on Tuesday: Obama and his wife, Michelle, will “wait until the needs of the priority groups” — including young people under 24, pregnant women and people with underlying illnesses — have been met.
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