ARLINGTON, Virginia (Reuters) - Hundreds of U.S. air traffic controllers have taken temporary second jobs as they missed their first full pay check on Tuesday, putting more pressure on the strained aviation safety system, a union official said Tuesday. National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels told reporters at Reagan Washington National Airport that the number would rise as more controllers look for ways to pay bills. “It’s quickly going to be 1,000,” Daniels said, calling on the government to end the standoff. “We want the shutdown to end today... Whatever way that it gets done, that’s what the American people deserve.”

 

*** 

CARACAS (Reuters) -- Venezuelan authorities have arrested three individuals allegedly linked to the CIA, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello Rondon said. During the arrests, authorities reportedly seized mobile phones and CIA operational manuals, Cabello said. The minister said the suspects were involved in a suspected false-flag operation in the Caribbean Sea as the United States undertakes military exercises with Trinidad and Tobago. The plan aimed to fabricate an incident that could justify aggression against Venezuela, Cabello added. Venezuela’s government has information that they intend to “attack a U.S. military ship stationed on that island and then blame Venezuela to justify an attack” on the South American country, Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil said in a post on social media.

 

*** 

NAIROBI (AFP) - A light aircraft carrying foreign tourists from Hungary and Germany crashed in Kenya on Tuesday, killing the 11 people on board. The airline, Mombasa Air Safari, said the plane was carrying 10 passengers: eight Hungarians and two Germans. The captain was Kenyan. “Sadly, there are no survivors,” Mombasa Air Safari said in a statement. The Civil Aviation Authority said the accident happened at Kwale, near the Indian Ocean coast, at about 0830 local time (0530 GMT).

 

*** 

LONDON (Reuters) - King Charles was heckled by a protester over his brother Prince Andrew’s ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein while greeting royal fans during a cathedral visit in Britain. “How long have you known about Andrew and Epstein?,” the man could be heard shouting as the monarch went on a walkabout outside Lichfield Cathedral in northwest England close to Birmingham. Although Andrew, 65, said this month that he would give up using his title of Duke of York after years of scrutiny over his behavior and connections to Epstein, questions about the prince - and what the royals knew of events - have intensified since. The contents of a posthumous memoir by Virginia Giuffre, who accused the prince of sexually abusing her as a teenager, have triggered renewed backlash over the issue this month.

 

***

KING Stone (AFP) - Jamaican officials urged people to get to higher ground and shelters ahead of Hurricane Melissa’s expected landfall Tuesday, with the prime minister warning it could bring massive devastation. The Category 5 storm -- which could be the island’s most violent on record -- is charting a painstakingly slow path through the Caribbean, and has already been blamed for three deaths in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported on early Tuesday that Melissa was about 115 miles (185 kilometers) from the capital Kingston, and reaching maximum wind speed of 175 miles (280 kilometers) per hour.