Mexican truckers want to suspend pilot program

Mexican truckers want
to suspend pilot program

MEXICO CITY — U.S. truckers aren’t the only ones upset with a cross-border pilot program allowing long-haul Mexican tractor-trailers into the United States.

Truckers south of the border aren’t thrilled with it either.

The private organization representing the majority of Mexico’s freight haulers on Thursday demanded the government suspend the program, saying it leaves Mexican truckers at a competitive disadvantage with their U.S. counterparts.

Until last week, Mexican trucks were restricted to a narrow commercial zone along the border.

But after a more than decade-long dispute over the NAFTA provision opening up the roadways far across the border, the pilot program is gradually allowing up to 100 Mexican carriers to send their trucks on U.S. roadways for delivery and pickup.

Airstrike raises tensions
between Israel and Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria and Israel last turned their guns on each other in all-out war a quarter century ago, but tensions are sky high after a mysterious Israeli airstrike deep into Syrian territory last week.

America says the target was Iranian missiles, while others have raised questions of possible North Korean links. Israel, however, hasn’t even acknowledged anything happened, and Syria has said very little beyond announcing the incursion and complaining to the United Nations.

Still, neither side appears eager for an escalation. Israel put its troops on high alert along the Golan Heights frontier, and Syria discreetly called up some air defense reservists, but the crisis has seemed more a war of nerves than preparation for hostilities.

“The picture is still foggy,” said Christopher Pang, head of the Middle East and North Africa program at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

Most information has come from outside: A U.S. official confirmed this week that Israeli warplanes had staged a strike. The official, who would not speak publicly, said the target was Iranian-made weapons stored in northeastern Syria and destined for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

Authorities dismiss
theories about Fossett

RENO, Nev. — Authorities investigating the disappearance of millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett said Thursday they’ve ruled out some of the more unlikely explanations for why they haven’t found his plane, including the possibility he wanted to vanish.

No trace has been found of his single-engine plane despite a small air force that has scoured the canyons and hillsides along the Sierra Nevada’s eastern front for 11 days, raising the prospect that he’s just not there.

Rich, famous and apparently happy in his pursuits of adventure, Fossett had been flying on a scouting mission for a dry lake bed to attempt to break the land speed record.

Could he have grown tired of the limelight and wanted to start a new life? Could he have fled some personal or financial problems?

“We have looked at that,” Lyon County Undersheriff Joe Sanford told The Associated Press on Thursday.

“With his notoriety, we believe he couldn’t walk away from this type of event,” he said. “People would recognize him.”

Gunman kills officer,
wounds three others

CUTLER BAY, Fla. — A gunman killed a police officer and injured three others during a traffic stop Thursday, triggering a manhunt in a suburban Miami neighborhood, officials said.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez confirmed that an officer died. The three survivors were in serious condition, police spokeswoman Linda O’Brien said.

The officers were conducting burglary surveillance when they stopped the man because he was driving a car erratically, said O’Brien. The man opened fire with a high-powered weapon and fled. It was not immediately clear whether the officers returned fire.

TV footage showed several officers briefly surrounding a house, guns drawn, before moving on. Others swept through a grassy area on foot and picked through a garbage truck.

Blood banks closed after
4 people infected with HIV

LIMA, Peru — Peruvian officials have closed the country’s 240 blood banks after at least four people were infected with HIV from blood transfusions in a public hospital.

Health Minister Carlos Vallejos said Thursday the blood banks will be inspected by a commission that will include officials from the World Health Organization.

“This situation cannot continue,” Vallejos told a news conference. “All of Peru’s blood banks are being reviewed.”

Associated Press