2 suspended in collision

2 suspended in collision

WASHINGTON — Authorities have suspended an air-traffic controller who was talking on the phone during last week’s deadly midair collision over New York’s Hudson River, along with a supervisor who was out of the building at the time.

The Federal Aviation Administration said that although there was no reason to believe thus far that the employees’ actions contributed to the accident, which killed nine people, such “conduct is unacceptable.” Air-traffic controllers are expected to be alert at all times while on duty and are given regular breaks for that reason.

The two employees, who were not identified by the FAA, were placed on administrative leave. The FAA said it has begun disciplinary proceedings against the controller, who was handling the small plane that collided with a tour helicopter, and against the supervisor on duty at the time.

Daring rescues in Taiwan

SINFA, Taiwan — Barefoot and helmeted, the frightened survivors of deadly Typhoon Morakot dangled high over jagged rocks and a raging river Thursday as soldiers hauled them to safety one by one along a 100-foot-long cable.

The perilous rescue was part of a massive military effort to save hundreds of stranded villagers after the worst flooding to hit Taiwan in 50 years. Some 14,000 villagers have been rescued since the typhoon struck five days ago; hundreds more are feared missing or dead.

As criticism mounted Thursday over Taiwan’s response to the disaster, the government dispatched 4,000 more troops to work with the 14,000 already deployed.

Cafe bombings kill 21

BAGHDAD — A double suicide bombing devastated a cafe packed with young people in northwestern Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 21 people, officials said, in the latest attack against a minority community.

The blast capped a deadly week in which nearly 150 people have been killed in bombings concentrated near the volatile northern city of Mosul and Baghdad, heightening fears that Sunni insurgents are stepping up efforts to stoke ethnic and sectarian tensions.

Woman sets self on fire

MIAMI — A woman set herself on fire at a Miami mall Thursday, then walked around engulfed in flames as shocked shoppers watched, authorities said.

Two men and a woman who tried to help her were hurt but not badly.

The 43-year-old woman, whose name was not released, doused herself with a flammable liquid at the Mall of the Americas, said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesman Arnold Piedrahita. She had third-degree burns over 75 percent of her body and was found conscious in a parking lot. Authorities do not know why she set herself on fire.

She was air-lifted to a hospital.

Witnesses said she was in a clothing store called Savage Boutique when it happened. Jose Morales, 24, said he was about to pay for earrings for his girlfriend at a nearby kiosk when he heard screams and thought someone had fallen.

When he turned around, he saw the blaze and realized someone was within it.

After the fire was out, Morales said, the woman walked out of the mall and into the parking lot.

S. Korea worker freed

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea freed a South Korean worker Thursday it had detained for months for purportedly denouncing its political system — an apparent goodwill gesture toward Seoul and Washington amid the standoff over the regime’s nuclear-weapons program.

On Thursday, Pyongyang deported Yoo Seong-jin, a 44-year-old technician who worked at a joint industrial park in the North, where about 110 South Korean-run factories employ about 40,000 North Korean workers. Yoo has been held for purportedly denouncing the North’s government and attempting to persuade a North Korean worker to defect.

Penny has new design

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Abraham Lincoln got a present Thursday for his 200th birthday — or, technically, 319 million presents.

The U.S. Mint released a redesigned penny to mark the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. The Mint plans to start out by producing 319 million of the new coins.

The front of the redesigned penny is the familiar image of Lincoln in profile. The back shows him delivering a speech outside Illinois’ Old State Capitol, where he served as a legislator, delivered a famous speech on slavery and ran his transition office after being elected president.

This is the third of four new pennies honoring Lincoln this year. His birthday was Feb. 12, but the event is being celebrated all year long.

Associated Press