Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Digest

Brazil crash points to pilots, sources say

By TIMES WIRES
Published August 1, 2007

WASHINGTON

Authorities investigating the TAM airlines crash that killed 199 people in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last month believe pilot error caused the tragedy, sources who are familiar with the inquiry told the Washington Post for an article in today's editions. The finding, if confirmed, would cast doubt on speculation that poor runway conditions were to blame and could lessen pressure on a government that many Brazilians still fault for the country's worst air disaster. The sources said investigators believe the pilots incorrectly adjusted the plane's engine settings upon landing. A failure to correctly set thrust levels for one of the two engines would explain why the plane veered off the wet runway before crashing into a fuel depot and catching fire.

PAKISTAN

15 militants killed in raid on military

Army helicopter gunships and troops repelled a guerrilla raid on a military checkpoint Tuesday, killing at least 15 Islamic militants amid escalated fighting in Pakistan's tribal belt. With anger still fresh over the government's deadly assault last month on Islamabad's Red Mosque, 2,000 women and hundreds of men from a hard-line Islamic group rallied to declare the "blood of martyrs" will not be wasted. Militants have since stepped up attacks, particularly at the northwestern frontier.

JAPAN

Prime minister rejects resolution

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday that a U.S. resolution demanding Japan's formal apology for forcing thousands of Asian women into sex slavery during World War II was regrettable because Japan has already made amends. The House of Representatives approved a resolution Monday urging Japan to "formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner" for the suffering of so-called comfort women.

Elsewhere

Jordan: The Islamist main opposition group withdrew from Jordan's first mayoral elections Tuesday and accused the government of fraud, marring a vote that the key American Mideast ally had described as an important democratic reform.

Israel: An Israeli government offer of a new $20 monthly stipend for Holocaust survivors provoked outrage Tuesday, with survivors charging the meager allowance will do nothing to make up for years of neglect of the 240,000 Israelis who lived through Nazi horrors.

Nicaragua: President Daniel Ortega offered Tuesday to hand over 651 Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles to the United States in exchange for military helicopters, surgical supplies and medicine. A U.S. official said the offer would be considered.

[Last modified August 1, 2007, 01:43:32]