Mexico’s Cabo San Lucas braces for John
Mexico’s Cabo San Lucas braces for John — Hurricane John strengthened Friday as it took aim at Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, where authorities threatened to forcibly evacuate people from their homes and thousands of tourists sheltered in hotel ballrooms. (AP)
Chertoff seeks more air travelers data — The government needs broader access to airline passenger information to identify potential hijackers, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in an article published Tuesday. “How do we thwart a terrorist who has not yet been identified?” Chertoff wrote in an op-ed article in Tuesday’s editions of The Washington Post. (AP)
Ernesto soaks N.C. coast, heads north — Tropical Storm Ernesto slogged into North Carolina just shy of hurricane strength, flooding roadways, forcing evacuations and promising more of the same Friday as it moved northward. (AP)
For Iranian native, trip to space her lifelong dream — This month, Anousheh Ansari will rocket into outer space as the first woman to pay for a trip in orbit. Her 11-day journey will include flights on a Russian spaceship and accommodations aboard the International Space Station, a laboratory circling 220 miles above the Earth. (USA Today)
Jet’s landing gear catches fire in Miami — A jet’s landing gear caught fire on the runway at Miami International Airport after two tires blew out during landing, officials said. No one was injured, and the fire was quickly extinguished. (AP)
Passenger plane catches fire in Iran — A plane with 147 people on board caught fire as it was landing Friday in Mashhad in northeastern Iran, killing 80 people, state TV reported. A tire blew out as the Russian-made TU-154 was landing, sparking the blaze, the report said. No crew members died in the fire, and the other passengers were evacuated. (AP)
NWA in July: $101 million in the black — Northwest Airlines, the Eagan-based carrier in bankruptcy protection, reported net income of $101 million in July. Northwest had revenue of $1.2 billion, and finished the month with $1.74 billion in cash and short-term investments, the airline said Thursday in a bankruptcy court filing. (Bloomberg News)
Famed Myrtle Beach pavilion to close — After nearly a century, the Myrtle Beach Pavilion is closing, and along with it the amusement park that has been part of the fabric of this oceanside resort for more than 50 years. (AP)
Carrie Charney, Christopher Elliott, John Frenaye, Charles Leocha, Marge Purnell, Valerie Schneider, Mary Staley, Stephanus Surjaputra, Richard Wong.