World briefs

Skybus Airlines Inc, a low-cost US carrier, has shut down its operations due to rising jet fuel costs and the weak economy, the company said.

The shutdown began yesterday and comes less than a year after the Columbus, Ohio-based company began flying. Skybus, which operated flights to 15 US cities, announced its decision to shut down on its website.

The company became the third US airline to shut down its operations last week, following similar moves by ATA Airlines Inc and Hawaii-based Aloha Airlines.

Seven dead in boat accident

At least seven people died and another 24 were missing after an overloaded canoe capsized in Democratic Republic of Congo, UN radio reported yesterday.

Six other passengers swam to shore and survived after the wooden dugout overturned on the Lubilanji River some 45 km south of Mbuji Mayi, the capital of central Eastern Kasai province.

The boat was built to carry about 25 people, witnesses said.

Opposition in wedding march

Russian police detained more than 40 people yesterday who demonstrated near the Kremlin in central Moscow after they used a wedding procession to reach the restricted area, witnesses said.

They said about 50 cheering members of the far-left National Bolshevik Party distracted police guarding the area by escorting a couple on a wedding procession.

Once near old Execution Place next to St Basil's cathedral, the group stunned the police by burning signal flares, holding up placards demanding 'freedom to political prisoners' and chanting: 'We need another Russia!' before police attacked them.

"The action lasted for about 10 or 15 minutes," said Lyudmila Mamina, spokeswoman for the Other Russia opposition movement, which unites both neo-Bolsheviks and market liberals.

"Then riot police arrived and threw some 40 people into buses. They were beating some of the protesters. One of the demonstrators was beaten unconscious while on the bus."

Le Monde daily faces job cuts

The new management team at France's establishment newspaper, Le Monde, has proposed shedding 130 staff, including a quarter of its journalists, in an effort to stem heavy losses.

Eric Fottorino, who was recently appointed chief executive of the Le Monde group, told staff the tough restructuring plan was needed to keep the paper afloat.

"To reject it would surely deny us any chance of success and would put the future of the group in danger," Fottorino and his deputy, David Guiraud, said in a statement published on the website.

Unions said the proposed cuts were unacceptable.

Le Monde has announced losses of €20 million for 2007, after registering a loss of €14.3 million in 2006. Its debt mountain stands at €150 million.

$253 million court verdict

A Miami jury has awarded almost $253 million in a wrongful death case against Cuba, the biggest such penalty to date against the communist government, local media reported yesterday.

The Miami Herald newspaper said the Miami-Dade circuit court jury delivered its verdict on Friday after a civil trial that began on Wednesday. The decision was not available on the court's website yesterday.

The Cuban government chose not to be represented in the courtroom, the Miami Herald said.

The case involved Rafael del Pino Siero, a US citizen who was a friend of Fidel Castro but turned against him after the bearded revolutionary took power in 1959, the Herald said.

Computer glitch causes problems

London Heathrow's showpiece Terminal 5, beset by baggage chaos since its opening last month, hit more problems yesterday as a luggage software glitch forced British Airways to cancel seven flights.

Airport operator BAA, owned by Spain's Ferrovial, issued an apology to BA and its passengers as it tried to fix the problem with the baggage reconciliation system that matches passengers' luggage to their flight.

BA has been forced to cancel hundreds of flights from the state-of-the-art, £4.3 billion terminal since it opened on March 27, hitting the airline's share price and becoming a national embarrassment.

"We're now having to manually reconcile bags for each flight which takes considerably more time than using the automated system," BA said in a statement.

Tens of thousands of bags have gone missing, costing BA about £16 million since the terminal's opening last month.