FAA increases oversight of American Airlines

FAA increases oversight of American Airlines

FORT WORTH, Texas — The Federal Aviation Administration is increasing oversight of American Airlines after three mishaps during landings last month.

Jetliners’ wingtips touched the ground during two landings, one in Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 13, the other in Austin, Texas, on Dec. 24. And in Jamaica, a plane overshot the runway during heavy rain Dec. 22.

FAA officials said in a statement Friday they will conduct a review of the mishaps to see if there might be a larger issue.

The statement says that if needed, the FAA will work with American on corrective action.

Report warns Britons of costs of drinking culture

LONDON — Just as Britons brew black coffee to cope with holiday hangovers, they are also digesting a new report that warns the country’s notorious drinking culture is putting an unacceptable strain on hospitals and medical staff.

The cash-strapped National Health Service — the U.K.’s taxpayer-funded medical system — now spends $4.4 billion a year treating patients for drink-related problems, double the amount five years ago, the report said. Total funding for the health-care system is around $162 billion a year.

The report — published by the NHS Confederation, a health-care providers organization, and the Royal College of Physicians, which represents doctors — warns that about 10.5 million adults in Britain drink above sensible limits, and 1.1 million people have some form of alcohol addiction. The government recommends that men should not drink more than three or four units of alcohol a day, and women should not drink more than two or three. A small glass of wine or beer has just over one unit.

Music producer arrested on charge of murder

McDONOUGH, Ga. — Music producer Demetrius Lee Stewart, known as Shawty Redd, is being held in a suburban Atlanta jail on a murder charge.

Henry County Police Capt. Jason Bolton says Stewart was arrested Friday morning.

Stewart is accused of shooting 35-year-old Damon A. Martin of Detroit in an argument at Stewart’s home in Hampton, about 30 miles southeast of Atlanta.

The 28-year-old Stewart is charged with murder and was being held without bond in the Henry County jail Saturday. His first court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 12. Police didn’t know whether Stewart has a lawyer.

Stewart has worked with Young Jeezy, Snoop Dogg and other major artists.

Pakistanis committed to defying Taliban, elders say

SHAH HASAN KHEL, Pakistan — Tribal elders in a Pakistani village where a suicide car bomber killed nearly 100 people insisted Saturday that residents will keep defying the Taliban, even as the bloodshed laid bare the risks facing the citizens’ militias that make up a key piece of Pakistan’s arsenal against extremism.

The New Year’s Day attack on the northwest village of Shah Hasan Khel was one of the deadliest in a surge of bombings that has killed more than 600 across Pakistan since October. Police believe the attacker meant to detonate his 550 pounds of explosives at a meeting of tribesmen who supervise an anti-Taliban militia. Instead, the blast went off at a nearby outdoor volleyball court, killing at least 96 people.

14 die in bus accident

TIJUANA, Mexico — A bus carrying farm workers and their families home plunged off a cliff in northern Mexico on Saturday, killing 14 people and injuring 21.

The bus was traveling along a treacherously winding stretch of highway before dawn when it veered off at high speed over a cliff halfway between the border cities of Tijuana and Mexicali, according to reports from police and prosecutors. The cause of the crash was under investigation.

Survivor of 1906 quake in S.F. dies at age 107

SAN FRANCISCO — Jeanette Scola Trapani, one of the oldest survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, has died at age 107.

Dolores Legge told the San Francisco Chronicle that her mother had been suffering from pneumonia and passed away at her home in El Dorado Hills on Monday.

Trapani had clear memories of the disaster, even though she was only 4 years old at the time, Legge said.

Trapani was born on San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill on April 21, 1902, and she was raised in the city. She married Vincent Trapani in 1929, and they remained married until his death in 1996.

Associated Press