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6B – Daily News – Wednesday, December 29, 2010 WORLD BRIEFING Several injured as ski lift derails CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine (AP) — A 35-year-old chair lift set for improvements failed Tues- day at a popular Maine resort, sending skiers — some of them children — plummeting into ungroomed snow far below that fell with the Northeast’s recent blizzard and softened the landing. At least eight people, the children among them, were taken to a hospital after the double-chair lift at Sugar- loaf derailed during a busy vacation week at the resort 120 miles north of Portland. The resort said the lift, which went into service in 1975 and recently passed an inspection, was set for upgrades or repairs but declined to specify when. About five chairs fell 25 to 30 feet onto a ski trail below, officials said. Rebecca London, one of the skiers who tumbled to the snow, told The Associat- ed Press that her face hit a retaining bar, but that her goggles spared her from serious injury. She credited new snow underneath the lift with a soft landing; the resort said it got 20 to 22 inches in Monday’s storm. NYC digs out from blizzard NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of airline pas- sengers were stranded for up to 10 hours on the tar- mac at overworked Kennedy Airport. Ambu- lances struggled to get patients through unplowed streets. City buses sat abandoned in the snow. The Christmas weekend blizzard proved to be the curse that keeps on giving Tuesday, as confusion and frustration snowballed in New York and the rest of the coun- try. Officials warned it could take until New Year’s to rebook all pas- sengers and straighten out the transportation mess created by the storm, which shut down all three of New York’s major air- ports for 24 hours and caused a ripple effect across the U.S. A high school band from Pennsylvania faced the prospect of marching in the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena, Calif., with only half its musicians after the storm stranded the rest in Philadelphia. European tourists who planned to fly into New York found themselves in Chicago when their flights were diverted. Travelers as far away as San Francisco were marooned, even though they were headed nowhere near the North- east. New York’s airports struggled to get planes in and out. But some jetlin- ers couldn’t even get to the gate. At Kennedy, a British Airways plane from Lon- don carrying 300 passen- gers waited five hours for an open gate, and then two more hours for cus- toms to open, said John Gayle’s 50% to 80% Off Going out of Business Sale Final day December 29, 2010 649 Main Street Downtown Red Bluff Lampl, a spokesman for the airline. A Cathay Pacific flight that had been diverted to Toronto spent 10 hours on the tar- mac, and a second Cathay Pacific plane with 250 people was still on the runway after eight hours as of Tuesday afternoon. Commander: No way to seal Afghan border WASHINGTON (AP) — There’s no practical way for U.S. troops to seal Afghanistan’s vast border with Pakistan and stop all Taliban fighters from slipping through, so they are focusing on defending vulnerable towns and fighting insur- gents on Afghan soil, a U.S. military commander said Tuesday. Army Col. Viet Luong said that ‘‘to secure the border in the traditional sense’’ would ‘‘take an inordinate amount of resources.’’ He said it also would require far more cooperation from the tribes inside Pakistan who often provide Taliban fighters safe passage. Other senior U.S. mili- tary officials have said they hope the Pakistan military does more to shut down Taliban hideouts. But the U.S. has denied reports that American forces are pushing to expand special operations raids inside Pakistan’s tribal areas to target mili- tants. ‘‘It’s naive to say that we can stop . . . forces coming through the bor- der,’’ said Luong, who oversees troops in a part K W I K K U T S Family Hair Salon $300 REGULAR HAIRCUT off with coupon Not good with other offers 1064 South Main St., Red Bluff • 529-3540 Reg. $13.95 Expires 12/31/10 Party Packages (3 to choose from) Contact us about our 527-2720 365 S. Main St. Red Bluff or visit our website @ www.lariatbowl.com Join Us For BOOK BARN - Jan. 3rd We will be closed Dec. 24th for our annual holiday vacation. Reopen Jan 4th Happy Holidays Jack & Linda 619 Oak St., Red Bluff of eastern Afghanistan that includes the volatile Khost province and 261 kilometers of border. Instead, Luong said, he is choosing to fight insur- gents outside Afghan vil- lages where they are more vulnerable anyway. All new first- class stamps forever stamps WASHINGTON (AP) — Rummaging around for 1- and 2-cent postage stamps when postal rates go up is heading the way of the Pony Express. Beginning in January, all new stamps good for 1 ounce of first-class mail will be marked as ‘‘forev- er.’’ The move is designed to help customers cope with postage increases, a U.S. Postal Service offi- cial told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The official requested anonymity to discuss a policy that hasn’t been announced formally. Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe plans to announce the new poli- cy Jan. 14, the official said. ‘‘I think that’s a great idea,’’ Sean Swilling, a research analyst for com- mercial property, said inside a downtown Wash- ington post office during a mail run. ‘‘For me, a guy who uses snail-mail regu- larly, it’s a hassle to get 1- or 2-cent stamps. Stream- line things — that would be perfect.’’ When the Postal Ser- vice unveiled its first- class commemorative stamps for 2011 on Tues- day, all were marked ‘‘forever’’ instead of the current rate of 44 cents. Tehama District Jr. Livestock Annual Meeting Wed., Jan 12th 6pm held in the Tehama Room @ Tehama District Fairgrounds