Nation & World Digest
Flight diverted
AUGUSTA, Maine
The former Air Force member who was detained Tuesday on a trans-Atlantic flight after reportedly claiming he had explosives in his luggage and a fake passport lives a “squeaky clean” life and has never been in trouble before, his father told The Associated Press.
Richard Stansberry said government officials told him the man who was detained after the Paris-to-Atlanta flight was diverted to Maine is his son, 26-year-old Derek Stansberry of Riverview, Fla.
There were 235 passengers and 13 crew aboard Delta Air Lines Flight 273. The flight landed safely at Bangor International Airport.
According to U.S. officials who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing, the man claimed to have explosives in his luggage and a fake passport. They said his passport was authentic.
Ex-dictator Noriega jailed in France
PARIS
Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, fresh out of a Miami prison where he spent two decades, was sent back behind bars in France on Tuesday to await a new legal battle — this time on charges he laundered cocaine profits by buying luxury apartments in Paris.
Hours after Noriega arrived in Paris after his extradition from the United States, a judge deemed him a flight risk and dispatched him to La Sante, a grim brick prison in southern Paris.
Malcolm X killer released on parole
NEW YORK
The only man to admit shooting Malcolm X was freed on parole Tuesday, 45 years after he assassinated the civil-rights leader.
Thomas Hagan, the last man still serving time in the 1965 killing, was freed from a Manhattan prison where he spent two days a week under a work-release program, state Department of Correctional Services spokeswoman Linda Foglia said.
Hagan, 69, has said he was one of three gunmen who shot Malcolm X as he began a speech at Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom on Feb. 21, 1965. But Hagan has said the two men convicted with him were not involved.
Car bomber kills 4
PESHAWAR, Pakistan
A suicide car bomber rammed into an armored police vehicle in northwest Pakistan’s main city this morning, killing four officers and wounding 11 other people, police said.
The attack underscored the persistent threat of militancy to U.S.-allied Pakistan, despite army offensives in the tribal regions along the border designed to clear out Taliban and al-Qaida havens.
Delays in coverage
WASHINGTON
Many parents breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that health-insurance companies were opening up coverage to young-adult children under the new health- care law. However, lots of others probably won’t be able to get that coverage until next year.
The federal employee health-insurance program has announced that it’s unlikely this year to offer young adults the ability to remain on their parents’ policies until age 26. That means the government, which is the largest employer in the nation, won’t follow the lead of some private insurance companies that will begin offering such coverage to young adults by June 1.
Mexico warns of travel to Arizona
MEXICO CITY
The Mexican government warned its citizens Tuesday to use extreme caution if visiting Arizona because of a tough new law that requires all immigrants and visitors to carry U.S.-issued documents or risk arrest.
President Barack Obama also criticized the law, saying it could lead to harassment of Hispanics. Two senior officials in his government said the Arizona law may face a legal challenge by federal authorities.
Combined dispatches