Washington, D.C.: Stun guns deemed suitable for deployment on planes

The Transportation Security Administration says nonlethal stun guns could be allowed on airplanes as another layer of security.

In a report to Congress, the agency said electronic shock devices could be an effective deterrent against hijackers. But it deferred a decision on whether to approve requests by United Airlines and Mesa Air Group to let their pilots carry the weapons.

United and Mesa are the only airlines that have asked the administration for permission to arm pilots with stun guns.

Chile: Powell seeks alliance against Cuba’s Castro

Facing an uphill fight, Secretary of State Colin Powell challenged the Organization of American States on Monday to help the United States find ways to “hasten the inevitable democratic transition in Cuba.”

Powell, speaking at the annual meeting of OAS foreign ministers in Santiago, said any such effort would be consistent with principles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, approved two years ago.

Powell’s message was the strongest pitch by the United States for OAS involvement in the Cuban issue since the government of President Fidel Castro was expelled from the OAS in the early 1960s because it espoused Marxist-Leninist principles.

Liberia: Americans, Europeans evacuate besieged capital

With rebel forces bearing down on the Liberian capital, French helicopters swooped in Monday to rescue more than 500 Americans, Europeans and other foreigners.

Insurgents battling President Charles Taylor’s weakened government on Monday pushed several miles inside Monrovia’s western outskirts.

Officials prepared for the evacuation over the weekend, when rebels fighting Taylor since 1999 made two pushes into the capital, the only part of the West African nation Taylor controls.