A round-up of today's other world news in short ...
Schiphol crash blamed on turbulence
ISTANBUL – Turbulence created by a large aircraft landing at Amsterdam just ahead of a Turkish Airlines passenger jet may be the most likely reason it crashed, a Turkish pilots' association said yesterday.
Five Turks and four Americans were killed when the Boeing 737-800 plane plunged into a field short of the runway at Schiphol airport on Wednesday.
A Boeing 757 heavy aircraft appeared to have landed on the same runway just two minutes before the Turkish Airlines plane, the association said. “Wake turbulence,” created by a pair of vortices trailing in the wake of an aircraft’s wing tips, could have hit the descending Turkish plane, preventing it from continuing to fly, the group said.
– (Reuters)
No immunity for himself – Zuma
JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s ruling ANC leader Jacob Zuma said yesterday he would not try to grant himself immunity from graft charges if he becomes president after elections in April and would respect any court ruling. – (Reuters)
Russian bomber ‘intercepted’
OTTAWA – Canadian fighters scrambled to intercept an approaching Russian bomber less than 24 hours before US president Barack Obama’s visit to Ottawa last week, Canadian defence minister Peter MacKay said yesterday.
The long-range Bear bomber did not enter Canada’s Arctic airspace but the two Canadian CF-18 fighters had to order the plane to “back off”, Mr MacKay said. He also said Russia had not warned Canada that the flight was coming, which a Russian government source in Moscow dismissed as farcical. – (Reuters)