Hawaii TSA screeners suspended in probe
Hawaii TSA screeners suspended in luggage theft probe — Four screeners with the federal Transportation Security Administration were put on leave yesterday on suspicion of stealing money and other items from the suitcases of Japanese tourists, a TSA official said. The official declined to be identified because Department of Homeland Security policy calls for all media inquiries to be forwarded to Washington.
Two cleared in Air India bombing — Two Sikh militants were acquitted yesterday of involvement in the 1985 sabotage of an Air India plane off the coast of Ireland, the deadliest airline bombing in history, which killed 329 people. A Canadian judge also cleared Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri of a plot to plant a bomb on another Air India plane in Japan at the same time.
World’s most expensive hotel opens — At roughly $3 billion, the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, which just opened to the public, is said to be the most expensive hotel ever built. A billion won’t buy what it used to, of course, but three seems to do just fine. Although it has fewer than 400 rooms, the hotel features 128 kitchens and pantries, 1,002 custom-made Swarovski crystal chandeliers (requiring a full-time staff of 10 just to keep them clean) and what Willy Optekamp, the hotel’s general manager, says is the world’s largest dome over the lobby.
Dallas wants even more hotel, car rental taxes — A state Senator wants to pay for additional Dallas police officers by placing another tax on rental cars and hotel rooms in Dallas. The proposed bill from Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, would add 3 percent to the hotel occupancy tax. The additional percentage would make the total hotel tax 18 percent, which would be the highest occupancy tax in the United States. The bill also would add 6 percent to the car rental tax, which would result in a 21 percent total tax on rental vehicles.
Did accounting fraud topple Tower Air? — Ernst & Young defrauded creditors of bankrupt airline Tower Air by helping the airline inflate profits and understate losses, a lawsuit claims. The creditors, who are seeking more than $380 million in damages, allege that the auditors hid the airline’s debts and improper business practices, formed a too-close relationship with the CEO and destroyed evidence in the case, the Baltimore Business Journal reported.
YVR is not for the birds — The number of birds deliberately killed by workers at Vancouver International Airport increased 155 per cent to 1,196 over the past two years as part of an effort to reduce the risk to aircraft. During the same period and despite staff efforts to keep birds away from the airport’s three runways, the number of birds accidentally killed in collisions with aircraft still increased by 75 per cent to 199 last year.