Nation & World Digest

Heathrow airport reopens to flights

LONDON

Europe’s busiest airport reopened Tuesday as air traffic across the continent lurched back to life. But the gridlock created by Iceland’s volcanic ash plume was far from over: Officials said it would be weeks before all stranded travelers could be brought home.

Passengers wept with relief as flights took off from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, Amsterdam and elsewhere. A jetliner from Vancouver, British Columbia, was the first to land at London’s Heathrow airport, the continent’s busiest, since the volcano erupted last week.

British Airways said it expected about two dozen flights from the United States, Africa and Asia to land by early today.

Ohio man executed

LUCASVILLE, Ohio

A serial rapist who strangled a 16-year-old girl in 1988 and who had argued he might be violently allergic to the state’s execution drug was put to death Tuesday with no apparent complications.

As the lethal injection began, Darryl Durr clenched his fists, grimaced and held his head up for about 10 seconds before gently putting it down. It wasn’t clear if he was in pain or emotionally reacting to the moment.

Durr, 46, was pronounced dead at 10:36 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

Shuttle returns

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.

Shuttle Discovery and its astronauts returned safely to Earth on Tuesday after making a rare flyover of America’s heartland to wrap up their 15-day, 6 million-mile journey to the International Space Station.

This was Discovery’s next-to-last flight. Only one more mission remains for NASA’s oldest surviving shuttle. Once removed from the runway, it was going to start undergoing preparations for a fall launch.

Man loses part of finger in iPad theft

DENVER

A thief’s thirst for a brand-new iPad cost a Colorado man not only a much- coveted device but also two-thirds of a pinky finger.

Doctors had to amputate part of Bill Jordan’s left pinky after a man yanked away a bag containing an iPad that Jordan had just purchased at a Denver mall Thursday.

Jordan, 59, had the cord of the bag wrapped around his left hand when the thief “completely blindsided” him and jerked the bag off his hand, stripping the flesh off Jordan’s finger down to the bone.

Denver police have security footage from the scene and have obtained the serial number of the iPad from the Apple store.

Michael Douglas’ son gets five years

NEW YORK

A judge sentenced Michael Douglas’ son to five years in prison Tuesday for dealing methamphetamine from a trendy Manhattan hotel, calling it his “last chance to make it.”

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman announced the sentence after hearing 31-year-old Cameron Douglas ask for mercy as his Academy Award-winning father and mother, Diandra, listened behind him in a packed courtroom.

The Hollywood scion and admitted heroin addict also was ordered to forfeit $300,000.

Source: Airlines talk possible deal

DALLAS

United Airlines and Continental Airlines are in the early stages of exchanging financial information that could lead to a deal to combine and create the world’s biggest airline, people briefed on the talks said Tuesday.

United had been talking with US Airways about a combination, but speculation has increased that United is more interested in the larger Continental.

Associated Press