Rough landing scares fliers
Cool United pilot cheered after touchdown in Newark
NEWARK, N.J. — A United Airlines jetliner landed Sunday without one of its landing gears fully deployed, damaging its right wing after a frightening few moments for passengers, who were braced in the crash position before an “unbelievably smooth” touchdown that drew cheers.
All 53 people aboard got off the plane safely.
Flight 634 from Chicago was approaching Newark Liberty International Airport about 9 a.m. when the plane suddenly began ascending again, said passenger Paul Wasylyszyn of Chicago.
The plane then began circling the airport, said Jim Falk of Middletown, N.J., who was sitting near the front of the plane.
“Normally a big plane like that doesn’t do a bypass, so we knew something was wrong,” said Falk, 40.
The captain then came over the intercom, advising the 48 passengers that there was “an issue” with one of the landing gears on the Airbus 319 and they were trying to fix it.
The captain was composed about the announcements, several passengers said, commending the crew for it.
“They did a great job,” Falk said of the captain and crew. “There was no yelling, screaming, panicking or anything.”
Passengers cheered and sighed when the plane came to a stop, Wasylyszyn said.
Then they hurried out through the emergency exits, sliding down the chutes that had deployed and running as fast as they could toward Port Authority buses that were waiting to take them to the terminal, Falk said.
“I’ve had a lot of worse landings at Newark before,” said another passenger, Paul Lasiuk, a 46-year-old Chicago resident.
“It was unbelievably smooth,” he said.
Heavy weekend snows bury Europe
BERLIN — Cars are stuck by drifting snow in northern Germany on Sunday as heavy snowfall spread havoc in parts of Europe, causing hundreds of traffic accidents, downing power lines in Poland and halting flights out of southern France. More than 160 motorists were trapped overnight on the frozen highway in Germany until rescuers using snowplows and excavators pushed through 6-foot drifts to free them Sunday morning, police said.
NATION
Obama aide discusses tax on high-end health plans
WASHINGTON — White House economist Christina Romer is indicating a readiness to negotiate a proposed tax on high-cost health plans as a means of financing a health care overhaul.
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President Barack Obama supports the Senate approach to those “Cadillac” health insurance plans. The House measure would impose income taxes on high wage-earners.
Obama’s supporters in organized labor say taxing the health insurance plans would hit them hardest and is unfair. Obama is meeting with union leaders on Monday.
Romer said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that there could be exceptions made for older workers who rely more heavily on health insurance and those in dangerous jobs such as first-responders in law enforcement.
Some damage from quake
EUREKA, Calif. — Residents of Northern California communities gingerly cleaned up Sunday after the area dodged a catastrophe, escaping a 6.5 magnitude earthquake with little more than bumps, cuts and broken glass.
Area bridges suffered some bent rails, and local stores reported messy aisles where bottles and jars flew from shelves and shattered, authorities said.
The Saturday temblor was centered in the Pacific about 22 miles west of Ferndale.
WORLD
9 churches attacked in Malaysia in ‘Allah’ dispute
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Nine churches were attacked over four days amid a dispute over the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims, sparking fresh political instability that is denting Muslim-majority Malaysia’s image as moderate and stable.
The unprecedented attacks from Friday to Monday have set off a wave of disquiet among Malaysia’s minority Christians and strained their ties with the majority Malay Muslims.
The attacks are a blow to unity espoused by Prime Minister Najib Razak under his “1Malaysia” slogan since taking power in April.
The latest attack early Monday left the main entrance of the Borneo Evangelical Church in southern Negeri Sembilan state charred, said the Rev. Eddy Marson Yasir.
Arrest in acid attack
HONG KONG — Police arrested a man early Sunday after two bottles of corrosive liquid were hurled into a crowd at one of Hong Kong’s famous tourist spots, officials said. At least 30 people were injured, including children and tourists, and were all treated at local hospitals for burns and other injuries and released. The liquid was thrown on them Saturday night.
The suspect, described as a Chinese man in his 30s, was arrested after authorities found him on the roof of a nearby building along with caps to the bottles believed to have been used in the attack, a police spokeswoman said.
U.S. rips North Korea
SEOUL, South Korea — A U.S. envoy says that the human rights situation in North Korea must improve before the country can normalize relations with the United States.
President Barack Obama’s special envoy on North Korean human rights Robert King is visiting South Korea this week to discuss the issue with government officials.
King said of North Korea, “It’s one of the worst places in terms of lack of human rights. The situation is appalling.”
He also said that the situation is preventing the normalization of ties between Washington and Pyongyang.
King said, “Improved relations between the United States and North Korea will have to involve greater respect for human rights by North Korea.”
THE NUMBER: $290,000
Fine for a speeding ticket slapped late last year on a millionaire Ferrari driver in Switzerland. Advocates say pegging punishments to income gets the attention of wealthy repeat offenders who would otherwise ignore the message intended by standard fines. In Switzerland, judges called a man identified only as “Roland S.” a “traffic thug” in their verdict, taking into account his history of similar offenses, the high speed with which he drove through a small village (nearly twice the 30 mph limit), and his estimated personal wealth of over $20 million. Germany, France, Austria and the Nordic countries also issue fines based on a person’s wealth.