DALLAS: Report: Saudi wanted flight guided by male controllers

Aides to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah asked that only male air traffic controllers guide his flights during his visit in Texas, airport officials said.

Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister and a member of Abdullah’s entourage traveling around Texas, called the reports “absolute nonsense.”

Ruben Gonzalez, a manager for the company that operates the control tower at the Waco airport, said a group of Saudis made the request to the airport manager.

The Dallas Morning news reported Saturday that a Federal Aviation Administration employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Saudis’ request was granted on portions of the prince’s flights.

On Saturday, FAA spokesman Roland Herwig said he was unaware of any such request.

BEIJING: Chinese police detain U.S.-based dissident

Police have detained a U.S.-based dissident who had been traveling through China on a false passport while researching a wave of recent labor protests, according to his wife.

Yang Jianli entered China on April 16, using a friend’s passport, but was stopped by police Friday trying to board an airplane in the southwestern city of Kunming. Police have confined him to a room in a hotel since.

A former doctoral student in mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, Yang returned to China in 1989 to participate in the democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. He later obtained a doctorate from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

HONOLULU: Chinese vice president begins official U.S. visit

Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao, expected to become its next leader, called Saturday for the U.S.-China friendship to “last forever.”

As Hu began his first official visit to the United States, leaders from Hawaii Chinese organizations waved U.S. and Chinese flags to greet him.

Following February talks between Chinese President Jiang Zemin and President Bush in Beijing, Hu said his visit was aimed at “strengthening the high-level contact between China and the United States, enhancing mutual understanding and pushing forward the Sino-U.S. constructive and cooperative relationship.”

Hu is expected to replace Jiang as Communist Party chief this year and as China’s president next spring.

LONDON: ‘Millionaire’ fraud probe brings a fourth arrest

A fourth person has been arrested as part of an investigation into alleged deception on the television game show “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?”, police said Saturday.

The 35-year-old man, whose name was not released, was taken into custody Wednesday by police in western England, Scotland Yard said.

Police have arrested three others as part of the investigation into a segment of the popular show in which Major Charles Ingram, 38, won 1 million pounds, or $1.45 million.

News reports suggested investigators believed someone in the audience relayed correct answers to him.