Gyrocopter pilot frustrated as his message isn't getting through

RUSKIN (Florida): The letter carrier who caused a full-scale security review in Washington when he violated national airspace by landing his gyrocopter on Capitol USA News Hill expressed frustration on Sunday that his message wasn't getting through. 

Doug Hughes had hoped to raise awareness about the influence of big money in politics by deliberately breaking the law to deliver 535 letters, one for each member of Congress. Instead, the overwhelming focus of news coverage has been about the gaps he exposed in national security

"We've got bigger problems in this country than worrying about whether the security around DC is ironclad," Hughes told Associated Press. "We need to be worried about the piles of money that are going into Congress." 

Hughes, 61, spoke as he returned to his home in Florida to await prosecution on charges of violating national airspace and operating an unregistered aircraft. He said his house arrest begins on Monday, and he will wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet until a May 8 court hearing in Washington.

US offers Ukraine $17.7 million in humanitarian aid

WASHINGTON: US Vice President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko USA News on Monday about the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine and offered an additional $17.7 million in aid for essentials like food, shelter and water, the White House said.

New York Times wins Pulitzers for West Africa Ebola coverage

NEW YORK: The New York Times won two prestigious Pulitzer prizes on Monday for USA News coverage of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, described by the Pulitzer board as courageous and vivid journalism that engaged the public and held authorities accountable.

The Pulitzer for Public Service, announced at Columbia University, went to Charleston, South Carolina's Post and Courier for its series on domestic violence.

The Pulitzers honor extraordinary work in US journalism, literature, drama and other areas and bring welcome attention and recognition to newspapers and websites.

"Till Death Do Us Part" by the Post and Courier probed why South Carolina is among the deadliest states in the country for women. Doug Pardue, one of a four-person team that produced the series, said it pushed the state legislature to pursue greater protection for abused women.

"I'm glad to see that journalism is awarded for this type of reporting," said Pardue. "It's a story that touches so many people."

For its Ebola coverage, The New York Times staff won the prize for international reporting and freelancer Daniel Berehulak won for feature photography.

US warship heads to Yemeni waters; could block Iran weapons

WASHINGTON: The Navy aircraft carrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt is steaming toward USA News the waters off the country to beef up security and join other American ships that are prepared to intercept any Iranian vessels carrying weapons to the Houthi rebels. 

The deployment comes after a UN Security Council resolution approved last week imposed an arms embargo on the leaders of the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels. The resolution passed in a 14-0 vote with Russia abstaining. 

Navy officials said Monday that the Roosevelt was moving through the Arabian Sea. A massive ship that carries F/A-18 fighter jets, the Roosevelt is seen more of a deterrent and show of force in the region. 

The Navy has been beefing up its presence in the Gulf of Aden and the southern Arabian Sea in response to reports that a convoy of about eight Iranian ships is heading toward Yemen and possibly carrying arms for the Houthis. Navy officials said there are about nine US warships in the region, including cruisers and destroyers carrying teams that can board and search other vessels. 

Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, has been pushed to the brink of collapse by ground fighting and the Saudi-led airstrikes in support of current President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia. Observers say the fighting in the strategic Mideast nation is taking on the appearance of a proxy war between Iran, the Shiite powerhouse backing the Houthis, and Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia. 

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ship movement on the record. 

Saudi Arabia and several of its allies, mainly Gulf Arab countries, have been trying to drive back the rebels, who seized the capital of Sanaa in September and have overrun many other northern provinces with the help of security forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The US supports the Saudi campaign. 

Western governments and Sunni Arab countries say the Houthis get their arms from Iran. Tehran and the rebels deny that, although the Islamic Republic has provided political and humanitarian support to the Shiite group. 

The US has been providing logistical and intelligence support to the Saudi coalition launching airstrikes against the Houthis. That air campaign is now in its fourth week, and the US has also begun refueling coalition aircraft involved in the conflict. 

White House spokesman Josh Earnest would not comment specifically on any Navy movements in Yemeni waters, but said the US has concerns about Iran's ``continued support for the Houthis. 

"We have seen evidence that the Iranians are supplying weapons and other armed support to the Houthis in Yemen. That support will only contribute to greater violence in that country. These are exactly the kind of destabilizing activities that we have in mind when we raise concerns about Iran's destabilizing activities in the Middle East." 

He said "the Iranians are acutely aware of our concerns for their continued support of the Houthis by sending them large shipments of weapons." 

The expanded US Navy activity in the region comes at a sensitive time, as the US and six world powers have reached a framework deal with Iran to control its nuclear program. Since the preliminary deal with reached on April 2, Iran and the US have been disputing the details of the deal. And on Monday, a lawyer for Tehran-based Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian said Tehran had charged Rezaian with espionage and three other crimes. The Obama administration dismisses the charges as "absurd." 

Air Canada plane crash lands at Halifax airport, 23 injured

MONTREAL: Twenty-three USA News people were injured when an Air Canada jet struck an antenna and crash landed as it attempted to touch down in heavy snow at Halifax airport early Sunday. 

All but one of the injured were later released from hospital following the incident, which came just five days after a pilot killed himself and 149 others when he slammed his Germanwings plane into the French Alps. 

Like the doomed Germanwings flight, the Air Canada plane involved in Sunday's incident was an Airbus A320. 

Flight AC624 from Toronto "exited runway upon landing at Halifax," the airline said on Twitter, and pictures showed the nose of the plane sliced off, its landing gear collapsed and at least one engine badly mangled. 

Passengers said the plane had circled over the airport before coming in to land and had "bounced" upon impact, shortly after midnight. 

Investigators were probing what caused the incident, but heavy snow was falling in the eastern Canadian city and Environment Canada had issued a snowfall alert, warning of low visibility. 

Transportation Safety Board investigator Mike Cunningham told a press conference the plane had struck an antenna array approximately 350 meters (1,150 feet) before the start of the runway. 

The collision caused "significant damages to the aircraft," he said, ripping off the landing gear. 

Five crew and 133 passengers were on board the plane, according to Air Canada. 

TSB investigators have recovered the black box flight recorders for analysis of cockpit exchanges with air traffic control and flight data. 

Passengers described scenes of panic. "There was a couple people, all bloodied. Everybody was able to get out, but what was worse was that they left us for an hour outside in the blowing snow," Lianne Clark told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 

Some ran from the plane "because the fuel was coming out and we were scared," she said. 

Halifax airport spokesman Peter Spurway said passengers had appeared shaken as they left the plane, describing the incident as "scary." 

Power was out at the airport at the time of the incident, but it was unclear whether there was an impact on the situation. 

"We did lose power, we're not sure if the two incidents are connected. They may be but we're not sure," Spurway told AFP. 

Back-up generators were running when the flight landed and the runways were lit, he added. 

Both runways were closed overnight but the airport was slowly returning to normal early Sunday. 

Images showed the aircraft sitting on the airfield with its badly damaged nose as thick snow covered the ground. 

Spurway reported the damage as "extensive" and said at least one emergency chute had opened. 

Several counties in the eastern coastal province of Nova Scotia were affected by Saturday's winter weather alert. 

"We at Air Canada are greatly relieved that no one was critically injured," said Klaus Goersch, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Air Canada. 

"Yet we fully appreciate this has been a very unsettling experience for our customers and their families, as well as our employees, and we are focused on caring for all those affected." 

Two missing men likely found amid NYC gas explosion rubble: Fire official

NEW YORK: Two bodies found on USA News Sunday at the site of a gas explosion that destroyed three New York City apartment buildings last week, injuring 22 people, were believed to be those of two unaccounted for men, the city's top fire official said. 

The bodies were found about 20 feet apart of one of the buildings reduced to rubble by the blast and fire in Manhattan's East Village neighborhood on Thursday, Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro told reporters. 

While Nigro said a medical examiner had not officially determined that the remains belonged to the two people who remain unaccounted for, local broadcaster NY1 News said one of the missing men, 23-year-old Nicholas Figueroa, had been identified by his family as one of the bodies found on Sunday. Also missing was Moises Lucon. 

"Those were the two people that had been reported missing and we think we found those two," Nigro said, though he did not rule out the chance of a third victim. "The feeling is that everyone who had been reported missing has now been found." 

Figueroa and Lucon were believed to be in a sushi restaurant in the building where the explosion occurred, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has said. Lucon, 26, worked at the restaurant. 

On Sunday, rescue workers could be seen digging through the rubble backed by cranes hoisting debris and a front loader pushing twisted metal and bits of furniture into a pile on a street. Rescuers had been using used cadaver dogs to search for victims. 

At a nearby restaurant, Local 92, a sign read: "Our hearts [are] with people who got hurt and lost their homes."

In all, three buildings collapsed out of four that caught fire, and 11 buildings were evacuated, leaving residents of 144 apartments homeless. 

Investigators were looking into whether gas and plumbing work being done privately in one building led to the explosion, and utility Con Edison said that its utility crew found dangerous gas line connections that created a "hazardous situation" during a visit in August prompted by the smell of gas in the basement. 

The utility said it shut off the building's gas for about 10 days, until it was determined to be safe. 

The basement could hold the key to the cause of the devastation, police said. On Friday, de Blasio said the blast was possibly tied to someone inappropriately tapping into a gas line. 

Nigro also said workers had not reached the basement of the building and authorities had not reached any conclusions about the cause of the blast. 

An hour before the blast Con Edison inspectors had been at the scene and determined that pre-existing work was not satisfactory, but the problems were not safety-related, de Blasio said. 

Utility discovered 'hazardous situation' months before NYC blast

NEW YORK –  More than seven months before an explosion and fire leveled USA News three apartment buildings in Manhattan's East Village, utility workers discovered that the gas line to a restaurant in one of them had been illegally tapped, creating a hazardous situation, according to the company.

On Aug. 6, a meter reader at the restaurant detected the smell of gas and reported it, said Consolidated Edison spokesman Allan Drury. A gas crew dispatched to the site found multiple leaks in a gas line that had been tapped, Drury said, adding that the restaurant was the only customer in the building authorized to receive gas.

The discovery led Con Edison to shut down gas service to the building for about 10 days while the building owner made repairs. Gas service was restored after the utility deemed it safe, Drury said.

City officials suspect that leaking natural gas was the source of Thursday's explosion and fire, which sparked a raging blaze that took hundreds of firefighters to quell. De Blasio visited a firehouse Saturday to thank some of them.

Meanwhile, emergency workers painstakingly looked for signs of two missing people, scooping through piles of loose brick, wood and debris with their hands and using dogs to search the rubble. Authorities acknowledged the chances of finding either person alive were slim.

Officials estimated it could take a week of 24-hour-a-day work to sift through the heap. "It's going to be slow and arduous," Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.

Detectives issued posters seeking information on the whereabouts of the men believed to have been in the sushi restaurant on the ground floor of one of the collapsed buildings: 26-year-old Moises Lucon, who worked at the restaurant, and 23-year-old Nicholas Figueroa, a bowling alley worker who had been there on a date.

Their families showed photos of their loved ones and asked for help.

"We have just been walking down the streets, one by one," brother Zacarias Lucon told the Daily News of New York. "We are just so exhausted and upset."

Figueroa's relatives said they were holding out hope.

"My brother is strong," Neal Figueroa told reporters. "Even if he is still in the rubble, I know he would still be in a predicament to get himself out, and so I'm just praying for that."

But hope was dimming. When asked about whether anyone would have survived, city Emergency Management Commissioner Joseph Esposito said: "I would doubt that very seriously."

As some of the several evacuated buildings near the explosion site were declared safe for residents to return, Micha Gerland stood at a police barricade and surveyed the remains of his apartment.

"I still don't believe it," said Gerland, 37, who escaped with nothing but his wallet, phone, keys and the clothes he was wearing. "Who thinks that something like that happens?"

Inspectors from Con Ed had visited that building about an hour before the explosion and determined work to upgrade gas service didn't pass inspection, locking the line to ensure it wouldn't be used and then leaving, officials said.

Fifteen minutes later, the sushi restaurant's owner smelled gas and called the landlord, who called the general contractor, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. Nobody called 911 or Con Ed.

The contractor, Dilber Kukic, and the owner's son went into the basement and opened a door, and then the explosion happened, burning their faces, Boyce said. Kukic, who has pleaded not guilty to an unrelated charge of bribing a housing inspector, declined through his lawyer to comment on the circumstances surrounding the explosion.

The building had an existing gas line intended to serve the sushi restaurant; the work underway was to put in a bigger line to serve the entire building, Con Ed President Craig Ivey said.

The landlord didn't respond to calls and emails Friday and Saturday from The Associated Press seeking comment.