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Fatigue at airport towers cited<p></p>

 
Published June 14, 2014

Fatigue at airport towers cited

Chronic fatigue at airport towers and government radar facilities that direct planes is still a major threat to safety, three years after a "sleeping controllers" scandal spurred the Federal Aviation Administration to focus on evening out work schedules, a government report released Friday said.

The National Research Council set out to examine the methods the FAA uses to estimate how many controllers are needed to staff its airport towers, terminal approach radar facilities and en route centers that direct high-altitude traffic across the United States.

The council report emphasized concerns about controller schedules that contribute to fatigue, particularly the practice of working five eight-hour shifts over four consecutive days, with the last one being a midnight shift.

Phoenix

Police seek answers in church attack

Investigators searching for solid leads after one priest was killed and another critically injured at a Roman Catholic church in a gritty stretch of downtown Phoenix released what they acknowledge is little more than a "limited description" of the suspect on Friday.

Sgt. Steve Martos said the description of a male between the ages of 40 and 49 years old came from an interview with the Rev. Joseph Terra, who is hospitalized in critical condition with unspecified injuries.

There is a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Thailand

Junta lifts curfew throughout country

Thailand's military government announced Friday that it has fully lifted a nationwide curfew it imposed after seizing power last month, saying there is no threat of violence and that tourism needs to be revived.

Political protests and criticism of the coup, however, remain banned by the junta, which said a return to elected civilian rule cannot be expected for at least 15 months.

The curfew had earlier been reduced to four hours from seven hours, and had been lifted in several resort areas popular with tourists after complaints from the tourism industry over the financial damage it was causing.

Egypt

YouTube is asked to drop assault video

Egypt has asked YouTube to remove a video of a woman being sexually assaulted in Tahrir Square in Cairo during a rally supporting the country's newly elected president.

Presidential spokesman Ehab Badawy said that the Egyptian Embassy in Washington had made the request to YouTube, which is owned by Google Inc.

YouTube has removed copies of the video in which the woman can be identified, but is allowing other versions that blur her image to remain on the site because the company considers them to be newsworthy. Viewers who want to watch the blurred video also most vouch that they are at least 18 years old, according to YouTube.

Elsewhere

MADISON, Wis.: A federal judge on Friday put same-sex marriages in Wisconsin on hold, a week after she struck down the state's same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional, a move that allowed more than 500 couples to wed over the last eight days. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb's ruling means gay marriages will end while the appeal from Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is pending.

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SCIO, Ore.: Oregon State Police said about 200 sheep were killed Friday in the rollover crash of a livestock trailer that was hauling more than 300 of the animals.

Times wires