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AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- An airport spokeswoman says Dutch F-16s have escorted a Northwest Airlines flight back to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.

Neolithic stone carving of Big Dipper discovered in northwest China A neolithic stone carving of the Big Dipper star formation has been found on Baimiaozi Mountain near Chifeng City in northwest China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to experts. The stone carving was discovered by Wu Jiacai, a 50-year-old researcher in literature and history with Wongniute Banner of Inner Mongolia. Wu found a large yam-shaped stone, 310 centimeters long, onto which 19 stars had been carved. The representation of the Big Dipper is on the north face of the stone. The stars are represented by indentations in the stone. The...

Negotiations between Northwest Airlines (NWACQ:OTC BB) and its pilots reached a critical point Thursday as a bankruptcy court deadline for a deal expired. Meanwhile, talks between Delta Air Lines (DALRQ:OTC BB) and its pilots are headed for arbitration. In the Northwest case, it's unclear when U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Allan Gropper will issue a ruling on whether the airline can impose contract terms on its pilots, a move that would likely lead to a strike. Gropper didn't say when he would rule, according to a Wednesday night posting on the Web site for the Northwest chapter of the Air Line...

Came across this and thought I'd pass it along. If it's happening here, there are probably similar organizations in other states and areas. This is from their Web site: "Report Right Wing Signature Gathering Activity - Add A Button to Your Site Yesterday, I wrote the following: Progressive activists should be on the lookout for signature gatherers collecting signatures for Initiative 917 and other right wing initiatives. If you see petitioners collecting signatures for any right wing initiative, please use Permanent Defense's new reporting tool to tell us about it so we can more efficiently organize and mobilize. Permanent Defense...

The Northwest Regional Control Center will stabilize and control electricity by Polli Barnes Keller Gulf Region North U.S. Army Corps of Engineers One of many substations that allow monitoring and control of power production and transmission in the Northern Region providing a more stable electrical system. (GRD photo by by Polli Barnes Keller) Mosul, Iraq—There is no totally functioning system in Iraq designed to tie all the elements and control functions of the National Electrical Network together. The Northwest Regional Control Center, or NRCC—a $4.9M system developed to improve the reliability of the country-wide automatic monitoring and control system—is...

TWIN FALLS -- Carlos Benavides works hard every day as a maintenance man at a local hotel. He brings home about $650 every two weeks and one of his checks goes entirely to rent. His wife, Minerva, peeled so many potatoes during her 23 years at the old Simplot plant that she ended up with carpal tunnel syndrome. Other health problems rendered her disabled and brought her working days to an end. She gets a $500 disability check, but with two of their three children still living at home, their combined income doesn't go far. "Sometimes we have to go...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 2005 – Coalition forces today transferred command of northwest Iraq, and U.S. troops killed two terrorists Dec. 28, Multinational Force Iraq officials reported today. Command of northwest Iraq transferred from Task Force Freedom to Task Force Band of Brothers during a ceremony in Mosul. The transfer consolidates operational areas into a single multinational division under the command of Task Force Band of Brothers, military officials said. With its new command responsibilities, Task Force Band of Brothers includes the 1st and 3rd Brigade Combat Teams from the 101st Airborne Division, 1st and 3rd Brigade Combat Teams from the...

Northwest Airlines Corp. said it has nearly finished replacing its striking mechanics. The company has hired nearly all of the 880 in-house mechanics it needs, spokesman Bill Mellon said Wednesday. He said the majority of those are new hires, although some are returning members of the striking Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) and some are mechanics who were laid off before the strike.

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Fish advocates see the plan to demolish Condit Dam on the White Salmon River as good news for salmon everywhere, but the state Ecology Department says the project could hurt fish downstream and might violate the federal Endangered Species Act. Demolition of the 125-foot-high hydroelectric dam, owned by Portland-based PacifiCorp, is proposed for October 2008. The project would open 33 miles of steelhead habitat and 14 miles of salmon habitat in the area of the river blocked by the dam since 1913. The river forms a portion of the boundary between Klickitat and Skamania counties along the...

NEAPOLIS -- Union leaders said late Friday that they would let striking Northwest Airlines mechanics vote on the carrier's latest offer, which would save the jobs of only a fraction of those who walked out nearly two months ago. As it now stands, the offer might preserve 500 of the 4,100 jobs that members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association held when they went on strike Aug. 20, the union said.

Mechanics Union At Northwest To Allow a Vote By SUSAN CAREY Staff Reporter October 17, 2005; Page A9 The union representing striking Northwest Airlines mechanics on Friday said it decided to let its members vote on the airline's current contract offer, which would let only about 500 of the 4,400 union members return to work. If the terms are accepted in a two-week membership ratification process, the rest would receive four weeks of severance pay. The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association members struck on Aug. 20 after rejecting a contract offer that would have preserved 2,750 union jobs and given up...

Yesterday, October 10, 2005, a flight from one of the Chicago area airports to a NYC airport, alerted passengers just before landing that they had lost one of their engines. The flight landed okay, but fire trucks were on the runway as the plane landed. One of the passengers heard a sound when the engine was lost (apparently when the aircraft was at least 20,000 feet in altitude). The passenger decribed the sound as a "whiz" not as a bang or "pop". Apparently a Freeper exclusive -- no other reports of this incident. The flight number was 1082.

AP Inspections at Northwest Raise Questions Sunday October 2, 4:19 pm ET Inspections During Northwest Strike Challenge Assertions That Operations Are Running Smoothly MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Reports filed by federal aviation inspectors during the first month of a strike by Northwest Airlines Corp.'s mechanics challenge assertions by executives that operations are running smoothly, according to a newspaper's review of the records. In a story for Sunday's editions, the Star Tribune newspaper reported that the inspection records -- which were reviewed by two independent aviation experts -- describe training deficiencies among replacement workers, thin staffing, maintenance blunders and mistakes in recording...

Delta and Northwest Airlines' bankruptcy filings are the latest consequences of the troubles afflicting the long-established, or "legacy," airlines. Inflexible work rules, above-market wage rates, under-funded fixed benefit pension plans, huge debt burdens, outdated business practices and high fuel costs burden the legacy carriers with enormous disadvantages relative to newer carriers who are flying by different rules. To deal with these burdens, the legacy carriers have made dramatic changes.... Sky-high fuel prices have recently made things worse, but lower fuel prices will not solve the industry's problems. In most industries, producers are able to pass on raw material price increases...

...The immediate causes of the Northwest and Delta filings are failed labor negotiations and bad luck. Northwest is struggling with striking mechanics who refused to join other unions in negotiating $1.4 billion in annual savings to prevent bankruptcy. Delta has its own high-cost union contracts and has long been bleeding cash. Hurricane Katrina and sky-high fuel costs were the tipping point. But the root of the problem for these "legacy" carriers is the burden of pension costs. And one tantalizing option is to use bankruptcy to pass them off to the taxpayer via the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC)....

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Northwest Airlines Corp.(NWAC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, according to court documents. Delta, the No. 3 U.S. airline, which earlier this year said it did not have enough cash to meet its liquidity needs in 2005, filed for protection in U.S. bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York. "The action we have taken is a necessary and responsible step to preserve Delta's value for our creditors, customers, employees, business partners and other stakeholders," said Delta Chief Executive Gerald Grinstein...

CHICAGO, Sept 13 (Reuters) - The board of Northwest Airlines (NWAC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) will meet on Wednesday to decide whether the company will file for bankruptcy protection, the airline's pilots association said on Tuesday evening. The scheduled board meeting will follow a more than 50 percent plunge in Northwest's stock to an all-time low on bankruptcy fears on Tuesday, after the company missed several payments and a newspaper report said both Northwest and Delta Air Lines (DAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) might file for Chapter 11 as early as Wednesday. At the meeting, Northwest's board will "decide whether or not...

A union spokesman for striking Northwest Airlines mechanics said Saturday he doubts a deal will be reached anytime soon to end the three-week walkout. "I think it would be a miracle for us to reach an agreement during this round of bargaining," said Steve MacFarlane, assistant national director of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association. Andy Roberts, Northwest vice president for operations, said no new proposals were exchanged Saturday. The two sides still expected to hold face-to-face talks sometime later in the day. Northwest is seeking $1.1 billion in annual labor cost savings and has said rising fuel prices mean it...

Alarmed by Northwest Airlines' worsening financial situation, leaders of the pilots' union -- which already joined managers last year in agreeing to $300 million in givebacks -- voted yesterday to reopen contract negotiations soon with the airline... In a filing late yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the airline said it expects its fuel costs this year to increase 50% over 2004, rising to $3.3 billion. Earlier this summer, Northwest forecast that its fuel expenses would be about $3 billion for the year. Now, the carrier says it likely will spend more than $900 million on fuel in the...

More than a week into the first major carrier strike in the U.S. in seven years, Northwest Airlines is showing every sign of surviving. At this point, some 4,400 mechanics and aircraft cleaners ought to be asking some hard questions of the union leadership that handed them their picket signs. By the end of last week, Northwest had announced that its flight-cancellation rates and number of planes out of service had recovered to acceptable levels. Northwest's replacement workers allowed the airline to complete 98% of its scheduled flights on Friday, and the carrier is in a position to begin permanently...