Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : The Donkey's Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (8235)	1/4/2004 1:24:03 AM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 15516

Delayed flight arrives in US news.bbc.co.uk Saturday's British Airways flight 223 to Washington DC - cancelled two days running amid security fears - has finally arrived in the US capital. The scheduled 1505 GMT departure on Saturday was delayed while all 225 passengers were searched, checked and escorted onto the plane one at a time. It took off more than three hours late and landed at Dulles Airport shortly after 0210 GMT on Sunday. It had been feared terrorists posed a "specific threat" against the flight. Relief Passengers gave a round of applause when the plane finally landed and they reached the terminal area an hour later. BBC correspondent Andy Tighe, who was aboard the plane, said the atmosphere had been calm and there were few complaints about the delay. "A lot of people probably put to the back of their minds the very real fear - that people at senior levels of the American Government must have had - that this plane could have been a target for a 11 September-style attack. "So relief was the predominant emotion on behalf of most of the people on that flight." A BA spokeswoman said the plane had been delayed "due to a request from the security authorities in the US to supply them with information about the flight". Security fears also grounded BA flight 263 to the Saudi capital Riyadh on Saturday, plus its return on Sunday. Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said the flights to Washington and Saudi Arabia had been cancelled due to "specific information". He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he would not give a "running commentary on specific threats" but the UK Government had access to similar intelligence as the US and acted upon it. BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said his sources believed the flight was cancelled on Thursday and Friday because of fears a terrorist suspect was planning to hijack the aircraft and crash it into a target in Washington. An official with the US homeland security department confirmed there had been "very specific and credible concerns" about the flights. Passports However, there were separate reports in the New York Times, quoting an American official, that the BA flights had been grounded because of pilots' reservations about flying with air marshals on board. And on Sunday, the Observer newspaper said an internal BA memo showed deep opposition among executives to the government initiative. BA's operations director, Mike Street, had hinted the airline would refuse to fly with air marshals on board because it would mean there was a threat to passengers, the paper said. The Observer also reports there are fears that terror suspects thought to be planning an attack on BA flights may hold legitimate UK, US or other European passports. It claims new evidence suggests extremists are trying to recruit suicide bombers from educated classes in the UK, because they can more easily penetrate tight security. On New Year's Eve flight 223 was kept on the runway for three hours after landing at Washington Dulles International Airport to allow security officials to board and question passengers. BA is considering this weekend whether to resume flights to Riyadh on Monday. Mr Darling warned the terrorist threat was likely to continue for the foreseeable future and may inconvenience for air passengers.

To: Mephisto who wrote (8235)	1/4/2004 1:59:23 AM
From: Raymond Duray	Respond to of 15516

I think Bush may have gone over the edge over the commercial airlines Bush went over the edge when he snorted a few kilos of cocaine while on his infamous whiskey drunks.