Unity at N. Ireland funeral

Unity at N. Ireland funeral

BANBRIDGE, Northern Ireland — Thousands of Protestants and Catholics united with their political and security leaders Friday at the funeral of a policeman — shot by IRA dissidents in what mourners prayed would mark the end of Northern Ireland’s “troubles.”

Constable Stephen Carroll, 48, was shot through the back of the head Monday as he sat in his patrol car. He was the first policeman killed here since 1998, the year of Northern Ireland’s Good Friday peace accord. Just two days earlier, dissidents gunned down two unarmed soldiers outside their base, the first killing of British troops here since 1997.

Among the more than 500 mourners inside the Roman Catholic Church of St. Therese were politicians from Sinn Fein, the IRA-linked party that had never attended a police funeral before. The dissidents largely live in working-class Catholic districts.

Airlines offering deals

WASHINGTON — An airfare war has broken out in recent weeks — a boon for anyone with money to travel.

Airlines have rushed out coast-to-coast travel deals for as little as $99 each way for the spring and summer as the economic downturn has taken hold. Continental Airlines and United Airlines, fighting it out on routes between Washington and Los Angeles, have priced round-trip tickets under $200. Airlines in recent weeks have cut ticket prices as much as 50 percent from a year ago, travel analysts say.

The fare war comes as American companies scale back business travel and skittish consumers put off vacation plans, putting new pressure on airlines that only a year ago were fighting high fuel costs.

In addition to lower fares for domestic flights, international travel has suddenly become cheaper, with many round-trip tickets to Europe priced at less than $500 for trips in April and May.

Yet some travel analysts are skeptical that travelers will buy, even at those prices.

Condo buyers sue Trump

SAN DIEGO — Donald Trump is being sued by buyers who lost millions of dollars in deposits on a failed hotel-condo on Mexico’s Baja California shores.

Attorney Bart Ring said Friday that the 69 buyers he represents purchased 71 units in Trump Ocean Resort Baja. They paid deposits totaling between $18 million and $20 million.

Buyers were told last month that the project was being scrapped and that their deposits would not be returned. The hotel was to be built in Tijuana, just across the border from San Diego.

The complaint filed in Los Angeles seeks unspecified damages against Trump, his children Ivanka and Donald Jr. and others, including developer Irongate Capital Partners LLC.

The lawsuit accuses Trump of fraud, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty.

Support for Dalai Lama

UNITED NATIONS — Nobel laureates and celebrities have joined Archbishop Desmond Tutu in urging China to stop “verbally abusing” Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, according to a human-rights Web site.

The South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate expressed concern in a letter at what he called the deterioration of the human-rights situation in Tibet, and the apparent breakdown of talks between the Chinese government and emissaries of the Dalai Lama.

The letter — posted on TheCommunity.com, an Internet site for Nobel winners and dealing with human rights issues — was opened to the public for signatures Friday.

According to the site, several Nobel laureates have signed the letter including Elie Wiesel and Jody Williams as well as dozens of celebrities and rights activists such as Richard Gere, Mia Farrow and Harrison Ford.

Search for oil workers ends

ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland — Canadian rescuers ended a search Friday night for 16 oil workers aboard a helicopter that crashed in the Atlantic, saying there was no likelihood anyone could survive in the frigid waters for more than a day.

The Sikorsky S-92 carrying 18 people was headed to oil platforms off Newfoundland Thursday morning when it reported mechanical problems and ditched into the sea, about 30 miles from shore, officials said.

A rescue helicopter pulled one survivor from the water and recovered one body shortly after the accident. Two life rafts were also spotted but turned out to be empty.

Rescuers held out hope of finding more survivors since those aboard were believed to be wearing survival suits, which serve as life preservers and retain body warmth in frigid waters.

But officials said crews quit the search Friday night after about 34 hours, saying there was almost no chance of survival in the ocean’s near-freezing waters.

American hurt in protest

JERUSALEM — An American demonstrator was critically wounded Friday in a clash between protesters and Israeli troops over Israel’s West Bank separation barrier.

Peace activists with the International Solidarity Movement said Tristan Anderson, of the Oakland, Calif., area, was struck in the head with a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops. The military and the Tel Aviv hospital where Anderson was taken had no details on how he was hurt.

“He’s in critical condition, anesthetized and on a ventilator and undergoing imaging tests,” said Orly Levi, a spokeswoman at the Tel Hashomer hospital. She described Anderson’s condition as “life-threatening.”

Combined dispatches