European air safety agency orders Airbus part checked

A small part that tells computers on some highly-automated Airbus aircraft how fast the plane is flying became a concern again Wednesday. European aviation authorities ordered airlines to check “pitot tubes” that have come under suspicion since the crash of Air France Flight 447 in the Atlantic Ocean in June

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Hofstra student recants gang rape allegations

Charges have been dropped against four men accused of raping an 18-year-old student at Hofstra University after the woman recanted her allegations, prosecutors said. A judge dismissed all charges Wednesday night and ordered the release of the four men — Jesus Ortiz, 19; Stalin Felipe, 19; Kevin Taveras, 20; and Rondell Bedward, 21; all of the New York metropolitan area, according to Nassau County, New York, District Attorney Kathleen Rice

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Chinese mine explosion deaths climb

Rescue operations unfolded at a mine in eastern China on Wednesday, a day after a gas explosion killed at least 37 people and left dozens missing, state-run media reported. Search teams were looking for 42 miners who remain trapped after Tuesday’s accident, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing a spokesman for the Henan Provincial Bureau of Work Safety.

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2 George Washington Bridge guards fired for sleeping on job

Two George Washington Bridge security guards photographed sleeping on the job have been fired, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. A bicycle tour operator who commutes daily over the bridge from New Jersey to New York snapped photos of the two guards on different occasions, and the photos were published on a New Jersey local news Web site. In one set of photographs by commuter Joey Lepore, taken during a Wednesday rush hour at 7:15 a.m., a guard tilts his head downward and dozes

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FIA to probe Singapore crash

Formula One’s governing body has launched an investigation into "alleged incidents at a previous Formula One event". Although the FIA haven’t yet formally disclosed the race in question, it has been reported by several new agencies that the race in question is the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix held in September last year. The investigation is believed to relate to a crash by Renault’s Nelson Piquet.

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Documents: Marijuana found in search of Jackson’s bedroom

The first search of Michael Jackson’s bedroom a day after his death found marijuana, skin-bleaching and hair-growing ointments, anti-insomnia pills and empty bottles of several anti-anxiety drugs, according to court documents unsealed Thursday. A substance initially suspected to be tar heroin proved not to be a narcotic, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. An affidavit, written by Los Angeles Detective Orlando Martinez, was used to outline probable cause for a warrant to search Jackson’s Holmby Hills, California, home on June 26.

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Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food

Correction Appended: Aug. 20, 2009 Somewhere in Iowa, a pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed in so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped off so they won’t bite one another. To prevent him from getting sick in such close quarters, he is dosed with antibiotics.

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