LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“If we don’t win today, it’s straight to communism.”
Cristian Jaaniorg,
a critic of Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez, as he waited to vote at a Caracas polling station Sunday Article, this page
Pakistani plane arrives after scare
KARACHI, Pakistan - Relatives thronged an airport in southern Pakistan on Sunday to greet passengers whose flight from Canada was diverted to Sweden after a baseless report that a man aboard had explosives. Canadian officials investigated whether someone with a grudge called in the threat.
Passengers were told there was a technical problem with the aircraft - a Boeing 777 operated by Pakistan International Airlines - and didn’t find out the real reason until they were on the ground.
The plane was diverted after an anonymous woman in Canada tipped off authorities that a Canadian man on the flight was carrying explosives, said Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman Sgt. Marc LaPorte. The tip proved false, and police are now investigating whether the episode was a “terrorism hoax,” he said.
A prosecutor decided to release the man after questioning, and police were trying to help him continue his journey to Karachi either late Saturday or Sunday, police spokesman Erik Widstrand said, adding the man had cooperated with investigators.
Tour bus crashes in Germany; 12 die
BERLIN - At least 12 people were killed and dozens injured Sunday when a bus carrying Polish tourists crashed on a highway southeast of Berlin, police said.
Arne Feuring, president of police in Frankfurt an der Oder, told the news agency DAPD that seven of the injured were in critical condition, while another 27 suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.
Feuring said authorities believe the bus, carrying 49 Poles on their way home from a vacation in Spain, crashed into a car that was merging onto the highway and then slammed into a pylon of an overpass.
The merging car’s 37-year old driver was among the injured, he said. An investigation into the accident has been launched.
German officials said they were organizing an information point for Polish relatives of the victims.
Matthew’s rains
menace Mexico
GUATEMALA CITY - The remnants of Tropical Storm Matthew drenched parts of Central America and southern Mexico on Sunday, a day after it weakened to a tropical depression.
The storm’s forward movement slowed to a crawl and top wind speeds fell to about 25 mph. On Sunday afternoon, its center was near latitude 17.4 north and longitude 92.9 west, or about 40 miles southeast of the Gulf coast city of Villahermosa - an area already hit by severe flooding in recent months. It was headed west at about 9 mph.
Forecasters at the U.S.
National Hurricane Center in Miami said the system’s slow movement means it could produce rainfall totals of 6 to 10 inches over parts of Mexico and Guatemala, threatening deadly flash floods and mudslides.
Mexico’s National Water Commission said it was working to widen and deepen channels below dams in preparation.
Meanwhile, far from land in the open Atlantic, Lisa weakened to a tropical depression early Sunday with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph. Further weakening is expected.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 09/27/2010