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Show DAILY HERALD Monday, January 3, 2005 A3 FAST FACT MORNIf wJRIEFING There is enough salt in the oceans to coat the continents 480 feet deep. Most of the salt used in industry and cooking in the West is mined from thick deposits left by evaporation of prehistoric seas. Micropsia otWorJd Facts Source: . Compiled from Daily Heralfl wire services The Nation With volunteer help, US Airways avoids second travel debacle PHILADELPHIA - California More than 100 US Airways execu- lives and other employees volunteered to serve coffee and snacks, sort and move bags and, help passengers find their way Sunday at Philadelphia International Airport to try to avoid a repeat of the bankrupt carrier's Christmas weekend lawmaker ; - , W- - far ' MM ? . i. ItiMTiii - SACRAMENTO, CaA San Francisco Bay Area lawmaker is lif. launching new legislation to raise the state's minimum wage and considering a ballot initiative if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger scuttles the proposal again. Assemblywoman Sally Christmas and Thanksgiving travel peaks. "It's been a very busy day. very heavily booked." said Lieber, Clara, said her new minimum-wag- e bill, AB 48, will be roughly similar in scope hike that to a $ was vetoed by Schwarzenegger in September.. Unlike her last bill, however, Lieber hopes to tie future increases to a index, so the state's minimum wage would rise automatically with inflation.' Lieber 's unsuccessful proposal, AB 2832, incalled for creases over a two-yea-r Chris Chiames, a vice presi- dent who flew in from US Air- ways headquarters in Arlington. Va., to help. "You want to start the day with operations running smoothly and keep that momentum up." Around Christmas, hundreds of flights were canceled and thousands of bags piled up in what the airline's chief executive. Bruce Lakefield. called an "operational melt: . down" that stranded holiday travelers and prompted a federal investigation. Airline management blamed the problems on unexpected numbers of flight attendants and baggage handlers calling in sick, while employees' unions blamed poor planning by management. The baggage pileup was cleared by the end of last week after the company took the unusual step of asking employees around the country if they would travel to Philadelphia to supplement the regular staff as unpaid volunteers. Aside from the volunteers, staffing levels appeared to be normal this weekend. New year presents Schwarzenegger with familiar challenges an unfriendly Legislature and uncertainty about his administration's direction. Little has changed as the Republican governor prepares to deliver his second State of the State speech Wednesday. California's budget shortfall is S8 billion and climbing, Democrats are still bristling over Schwarzenegger calling them "losers" following the Nov. 2 election and many in the Capitol are questioning the governor's priorities. Some political analysts say Schwarzenegger's speech will be critical to defining his agenda not just for this year, but for the rest of his term. "This is about the road to not just 2006 and beyond budget this getting an e year or the litany of programs he's going to propose," said fH urges wage increases debacle. The airline reported no problems by late Sunday afternoon, when about half the day 's expected 38,000 passengers had boarded their flights or claimed their bags. The volume was comparable with the SACRAMENTO, Calif. A year ago, newly elected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger-faca huge budget deficit, The WORLD ed . 50-ce- period, which would have hiked California's minimum wage to $7.75 by July 2006. The federal minimum wage, by comparison, is S5. 15 per hour. The Legislature split along party lines, with most Democrats supporting it but every Republican opposed. v':.,; l-- v;-.-- n- r'--;c " II While he closed part of the state's budget gap, estimated at one point at $17 billion, he did it with borrowed money, e fixes and accounting gimmicks that won't be availone-tim- able in 2005. BAGGAtfE SERVlfF OFFICE NU - V tTf c .Jrf -- V ... .:" V -- c HATEM MOUSSAAssociated Press An Israeli tank and an armored personnel carrier take positions next to houses during a military operation in the Palestinian town of Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, on Sunday. About 40 Israeli tanks and armored cars rumbled into agricultural areas outside the northern Gaza towns of Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya andJabaliya after a homemade rocket fired from Gaza lightly wounded a woman in the Israeli town ofSderot earlier Sunday. The army said the operation was meant to stop rocket attacks into Israel. DEIR Gaza Strip Mahmoud Abbas, the leading candidate for Palestinian president, called on militants Sunday to stop firing rockets at Israel, as Israeli tanks and troops massed in northern Gaza in response to the latest barrage. A poll released Sunday showed Abbas with the backs of his people, ing of three times the support of his nearest rival before a Jan. 9 election to replace Yasser Ara- ZAGREB, Croatia A peace accord ending Africa's NAIROBI, Kenya civil war requires Sudan's government to withdraw at least 91,000 troops from the south, a rebel official said Sunday, revealing new details of the deal longes- rebel-controll- signed last week. The forces must pull out within years, while a proposed government for the autonomous southern Sudan will field a separate army using its share of oil and tax revenues as well as international aid, rebel spokesman Samson Kwaje said. "It will be a legitimate department of the government of southern Sudan," Kwaje told The Associated Press, entailing the peace accord signed Friday to resolve a conflict that has contributed to the deaths of 2 million people in the past two decades. . The rebels, meanwhile, have eight months to withdraw their forces from northern Sudan. They must pull out 30 percent of their fighters within four months of a signing ceremony scheduled for Jan. 9 in Kenya, said Ad'Dirdeiry Hamed, deputy Sudanese ambassador to Kenya. The rebel pullout will cover the Nuba Mountains, land along the southern Blue Nile and Abyei, areas now held by the insurgents but which the government considers to be a traditional part of northern Sudan, Hamed said. The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army and governdeal signed in the Kement forces also agreed in a cease-fir- e allied paramilitary on that their Nairobi, Friday nyan capital, groups in southern Sudan must either be disarmed or join rebel and government forces in the next year, Kwaje said. lf ; most festive holiday weekends of the year. "Resign! Resign!" several hundred people shouted during a march late Saturday on the offices of Mayor Ani- bal Ibarra. The town hall was shielded by helmeted riot police behind iron gates, but no violence was reported. Protesters, in calling for Ibarra to step down, said city officials must toughen safety codes for concert halls and ' Cro- atia's t-running two-third- fat. Still, the candidate with the gray, bureaucratic image spent the day courting those who have disparaged him in the past young militants. With Israeli tanks gathering nearby, Abbas expressed his support for the gunmen viewed as resistance heroes by Palestinians and as terrorists at a campaign rally by Israel at a school in the northern Gaza town of Jebaliya. However, he also criticized the rocket fire. "Don't let your actions be used as an additional pretext and excuse for them (Israel) to fight us, because this is not the proper time for such actions," Abbas said. The Israelis sent forces into northern Gaza on Sunday after Palestinian militants fired mortars at the Erez industrial zone next to the main Gaza-Isracheckpoint and rockets at Sderot, a town just outside the Gaza fence, wounding several Israelis. The military said the goal was to stop the rocket and mortar fire. A Palestinian cameraman working for an Israeli TV station was shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza, Palestinians and local media said. The military had no immediate comment. , Croatian president forced into runoff as he seeks a second term Details on Sudan cease fire emerge mortar attack crisis. - - . Israel sends tcinks into northern Gaza after Allan Hoffenblum, a Republican consultant based in Los Angeles. "This is going to be about substantive changes." Expectations remain high for the governor, who most Calif ornians agree was able to generate some positive results during his first year in office. Buoyed by an improving economy, Schwarzenegger agenda pushed a and embarked on a trade mission to Japan to help change the state's image as unfriendly to commerce. Political gridlock at the Capitol has eased somew hat , t hanks to his efforts to reach out to Democrats. And polls show that most voters believe the state is headed in the right direction. Still, even Schwarzenegger's most ardent supporters acknowledge he faces tough decisions, including whether to raise taxes or cut programs to solve the state's economic ' rock clubs. They also demanded a full investigation of reports that emergency exits at the Croma-gno- n Republic club were locked as panicked crowds surged toward the doors, choking on thick black smoke and trampling each other in desperate efforts to get out. Authorities said the exits were either tied shut or padlocked to prevent people from entering without paying. president failed to win an outright majoron Sunday, ity for forcing him to face a runoff vote against the conservative government's candidate in two weeks. Mesic had 49.03 percent of the votes just short of the majority needed to give him a second term, the state-ru- n Electoral Commission said after more than 99 percent of the votes were counted. The incumbent, who was backed by most opposition parties, declared the results a "brilliant victory" and voiced confidence that he would win the runoff on Jan. 16. His opponent, Jadranka Kosor, a minister of families and war veterans in the ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union-leCabinet, was trailing far behind with 20.18 percent. Both Mesic and Kosor have pledged to maintain Croatia's course and cooperate with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherd lands. But Kosor is a close ally of Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, whose Croatian Democratic Union returned to power a year ago and has distanced itself from its nationalists to become Conservative a European-styl- e party. The president is elected to a r term and has limited powers, as the prime minister and parliament exercise most decision-makinand Croats five-yea- g apparently didn't see the vote as so crucial just over 50 percent of 4.4 million eligible voters cast their ballots. Funerals, protests follow Buenos Aires nightclub fire as deaths reach 188 BUENOS AIRES, Argentina Mourning families on Sunday buried victims of the night-- . club fire that killed at least 188 people and injured more than 700, while Buenos Aires' public security chief resigned in the furor following teVelations that some of thepacke'd club's emergency exfts were'locked. The funerals came before a protest as irate Buenos Aires residents demanded a full government accounting for Thursday's calam- 1 1 tTiIIv. ',y. t V 1 rfTj y ity, the worst ffyragedy in ,this country iriVecent memory. At one gravesite, a toddler stood dazed as relatives tearfully clutched at a coffin before it was laid into the earth. At JOSEPH KACZMAREKAssociated Press Travelers receive assistance at the US Airways Baggage Swvtce Office at Philadelphia International Airport on Sunday. More than 1 00 executives and other employees from the company volunteered to serve coffee and snacks, sort and move bags and help passengers find their way Sunday at Philadelphia International Airport to try to avoid a repeat of the bankrupt carrier's Christmas weekend debacle. another funeral, mourners clapped spontaneously for a man, bidding him fare- well as his remains were placed in a crypt on a Jiot summer day in South America. Elsewhere, anger was palpable on traditionally one of the LEONARDO Press Relatives and friends of one of the victims of d fire at a Bue;nos Aires nightclub grieve as they bury their loved one in a local cemetery on Sunday. At least 188 people were killed, and more than 700 injured, in the blaze that is the nation's worst in recent memory. |