SPIN METER: GOP debates nonexistent dust rule (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The issue may be dust in the wind, but Republicans are still moving to block it.

Environmental Protection Agency officials have said ? over and over again ? that they won't propose new regulations to limit dust kicked up by farm equipment. But anti-regulation sentiment is strong this year on the campaign trail, and real or not, House Republicans are planning to vote this week to prevent such regulations.

Republicans and even some Democrats have told farm-state audiences that the EPA is considering a crackdown on farms, despite the agency's public statement in October calling that a "myth."

Supporters say they are pushing the bill this week because they want more certainty for the agriculture industry. The House GOP has pushed a host of measures aimed at weakening, delaying or scrapping environmental regulations in recent months, saying they view them as job killers.

South Dakota Rep. Kristi Noem, the bill's sponsor, says the EPA's assertions don't "hold a lot of water" for wary farmers.

"The EPA has been so aggressive on a lot of its policies, so we just want to make sure they can't take any action that can hurt the farm industry right now," she said.

Democrats have scoffed at the bill and are calling it a waste of time.

Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, joked sarcastically on Tuesday that the bill is "critically important" since the EPA has said they have no intention of regulating farm dust.

"We are once again doing a bill that is not necessary and has no effect," Hoyer said at a news conference at the Capitol.

In letters to two senators in October, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the agency won't expand its current air quality standards to include dust created by agriculture. "We hope this action finally puts to rest the misinformation regarding dust regulation and eases the minds of farmers and ranchers across the country," Johnson said then.

That didn't stop the opponents' message machine. Just a few weeks later, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, who has since suspended his campaign, ran a television ad in Iowa that quoted a farmer saying "The EPA wants to regulate dust."

Though Republicans often blame the Democratic Obama administration for an overly aggressive EPA, the Republican Bush administration also had a hand in the matter. The Bush EPA proposed regulating rural and urban areas when it comes to "coarse particulate matter" ? or soot ? in the air, meaning farms could fall under tighter restrictions. Farm groups challenged that in court, and a federal appeals court ruled in February 2009 that the EPA had already provided the evidence necessary to determine farm dust "likely is not safe."

Obama's EPA initially defended that decision. An EPA spokeswoman said after the ruling that regardless of whether someone lives in a rural or urban area, the threshold for unsafe levels of dust in the air should remain consistent nationally. But later, Jackson said the agency was unlikely to single out farm dust.

Under current rules, states are tasked with making sure that their levels of particulate matter in the air are below certain levels. Farm groups worried, however, that their pollution ? dust kicked up behind a combine, for example ? would be targeted separately or would be vulnerable to additional lawsuits.

Environmentalists say the House bill, which is not likely to make it through the Senate, would prevent the EPA from even considering tighter regulations if that became necessary for public health.

"When it comes to stuff in the air that could harm your health, it would be nice if the government could at least do an honest assessment," says Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch. He says the bill is "totally detached from reality ? the kind of issue that makes people cynical about Congress."

___

Associated Press writer Jim Abrams contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111206/ap_on_go_co/us_farm_dust

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Afghanistan's allies pledge to stay for long haul (Reuters)

BONN (Reuters) ? The West used an Afghanistan meeting on Monday to signal enduring support for Kabul as allied troops go home, but economic turbulence in Europe and crises with Pakistan and Iran could stir doubts about Western resolve.

The goal is to leave behind an Afghan government strong enough to escape the fate of its Soviet-era predecessor, which collapsed in 1992 in a civil war. The country's allies are preparing increasingly for a scenario in which there is no peace settlement with the Taliban before most foreign combat troops leave in 2014.

"The United States intends to stay the course with our friends in Afghanistan," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the conference. "We will be there with you as you make the hard decisions that are necessary for your future."

She said the entire region had "much to lose if the country again becomes a source of terrorism and instability."

Hosts Germany sought to signal Western staying power in the country, a haven for al Qaeda's leadership in the years before the September 11 attacks, at the gathering of dozens of foreign ministers in the German city of Bonn.

"We send a clear message to the people of Afghanistan: We will not leave you on your own. We will not leave you in the lurch," said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

Ten years after a similar conference held to rebuild Afghanistan following the attacks of 2001, Western countries are under pressure to spend money reviving flagging economies at home rather than propping up a government in Kabul widely criticized for being corrupt and ineffective.

Brewing confrontations pitting Washington against Pakistan and Iran, two of Afghanistan's most influential neighbors, have added to despondency over the outlook for the war.

Pakistan boycotted the meeting after NATO aircraft killed 24 of its soldiers on the border with Afghanistan in a November 26 attack the alliance called a "tragic" accident.

FEARS OF CIVIL WAR

Some in the West are still hoping Pakistan will use its influence to deliver the Afghan Taliban, whose leadership Washington says is based in Pakistan, to peace talks.

Clinton said she expected Pakistan to play a constructive role in Afghanistan, even as she voiced disappointment that Islamabad chose not to attend the conference.

But foreign governments made clear they would press ahead in building up the Kabul government's ability to survive after 2014 even if Islamabad fails to bring insurgents into a settlement.

Embryonic contacts with the Taliban have so far yielded little, and with the government in Kabul unable to provide security and economic development, the risk is that the withdrawal of foreign troops will plunge Afghanistan back into civil war. Renewed strife might also stir more violence over the border in Pakistan, fighting its own Islamist insurgency.

Iran's growing confrontation with the West over its nuclear program could also bleed into the war in Afghanistan.

Tehran said on Sunday it shot down a U.S. spy drone in its airspace and threatened to respond. International forces in Kabul said the drone may have been one lost last week while flying over western Afghanistan.

Iran has been accused in the past of providing low-level backing to the Taliban insurgency, and diplomats and analysts have suggested Tehran could ratchet up this support if it wanted to put serious pressure on U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Monday reiterated Iran's opposition to the United States keeping some forces in Afghanistan after 2014.

"Certain Western countries seek to extend their military presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014 by maintaining their military bases there. We deem such an approach to be contradictory to efforts to sustain stability and security in Afghanistan," he told the conference.

"LAND OF OPPORTUNITY"

The foreign military presence in Afghanistan over the past 10 years had failed to uproot terrorism and had actually made the problem worse, Salehi said.

Foreign governments however were determined to try to dispel at least some of the pessimism seeping into the Afghan project.

Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna, whose country became the first to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Afghanistan - much to the irritation of Pakistan - pledged India would keep up its heavy investment in a country whose mineral wealth and trade routes made it "a land of opportunity."

In a rare positive development, Clinton said the United States would resume paying into a World Bank-administered Reconstruction Trust Fund for Afghanistan, a decision that U.S. officials said would allow for the disbursement of roughly $650 million to $700 million in suspended U.S. aid.

The United States and other big donors stopped paying into the fund in June, when the International Monetary Fund suspended its program with Afghanistan because of concerns about Afghanistan's troubled Kabul Bank.

The conference is not expected to produce new aid pledges; instead, U.S. officials say they hope it will mark a start to a process outlining future support to be pledged by mid-2012.

A European diplomat said his best estimate was that Afghanistan would need about $4 billion a year to fund its army and police "but it could be anywhere between 3 and 6 billion of which 1/3 would come from the Americans and the rest -- 2/3 -- would have to be pooled."

"But the bottom line is at the moment we don't have a reliable answer of exactly how much will be required."

"ONLY THE AFGHANS" CAN SOLVE THE POLITICS

The Taliban condemned the conference in a November 30 statement which reiterated a call for foreign occupation of the country.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the conference that reconciliation -- a term used to refer to talks among different Afghan groups as well as with insurgents -- remained an important part of efforts to stabilize Afghanistan.

"The political process will have great importance in future, this is the place where the questions of reconciliation and power sharing must be solved in a way that includes all parts and ethnic groups of the society," she said.

"We can help Afghanistan in this process, we can provide our experience, but we can't solve the problem, it is only the Afghans who can do this."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague reiterated that any settlement with insurgents would require them to renounce violence, sever ties with al Qaeda and respect the Afghan constitution -- "end conditions" which some argue effectively close the door to talks by determining the outcome in advance.

Afghanistan has blamed Pakistan for hindering peace talks. Pakistan says it is being used as a scapegoat for the failure of the United States and its allies to bring Afghan stability.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom, Hamid Shalizi, Arshad Mohammed, Sabine Siebold, Myra MacDonald, Missy Ryan and Hamid Khalizi; Writing by Myra MacDonald; Editing by William Maclean)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111205/ts_nm/us_afghanistan_conference

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AP source: Ramirez suspension to be 50 games (AP)

DALLAS ? Major League Baseball and the players' association are working on an agreement to cut Manny Ramirez's drug suspension from 100 games to 50 because he already sat out most of last season, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

The person spoke Sunday on condition of anonymity because the agreement was still being drafted.

Having already served a 50-game ban for violating baseball's drug agreement in 2009, Ramirez faced a 100-game suspension last spring for a second offense. But rather than serve the penalty, he told the commissioner's office he was quitting, and MLB announced his retirement on April 8 and said merely he was notified "of an issue" under the drug program.

If he signs with a big league team this offseason, he will in effect wind up serving a 206-game suspension ? the final 156 games of 2011 plus the first 50 of 2012.

Ramirez also is hiring new agents, Barry Praver and Scott Shapiro. Represented by Jeff Moorad when he signed a $160 million, eight-year contract with Boston before the 2001 season, Ramirez later used Scott Boras.

Fourteenth on the career list with 555 home runs, Ramirez is nearing his 40th birthday on May 30. He was just 1 for 17 (.059) in five games last season for the Tampa Bay Rays, who had signed him to a one-year deal worth $2.02 million.

After coming up to the majors with Cleveland in 1993, Ramirez helped the Red Sox end their title drought in 2004, when he was the World Series MVP, and he won a second championship with Boston in 2007. He was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in July 2008 and became a fan favorite, but was claimed off waivers by the Chicago White Sox in August 2010.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbo_mlb_ramirez

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Iran says it shot down unmanned US spy plane (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran ? Iran's armed forces have shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane that violated Iranian airspace along the country's eastern border, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday.

An unidentified military official quoted in the report warned of a strong and crushing response to any violations of the country's airspace by American drone aircraft.

"An advanced RQ-170 unmanned American spy plane was shot down by Iran's armed forces. It suffered minor damage and is now in possession of Iran's armed forces," IRNA quoted the official as saying.

No further details were published.

The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said in a statement the aircraft may be an American drone that its operators lost contact with last week while it was flying a mission over neighboring western Afghanistan.

A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the incident, said the U.S. HAD "absolutely no indication" that the drone was shot down.

Iran is locked in a dispute with the U.S. and its allies over Tehran's disputed nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies the accusations, saying its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and that it seeks to generate electricity and produce isotopes to treat medical patients.

The type of aircraft Iran says it downed, an RQ-170 Sentinel, is made by Lockheed Martin and was reportedly used to keep watch on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan as the raid that killed him was taking place earlier this year.

The surveillance aircraft is equipped with stealth technology, but the U.S. Air Force has not made public any specifics about the drone.

Iran said in January that two pilotless spy planes it had shot down over its airspace were operated by the United States and offered to put them on public display. In July, Iranian military officials showed Russian experts several U.S. drones they said were shot down in recent years.

Also in July, Iranian lawmaker Ali Aghazadeh Dafsari said Iran's Revolutionary Guard shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane that was trying to gather information on an underground uranium enrichment site.

Dafsari said the pilotless plane was flying over the Fordo facility near the holy city of Qom in central Iran but the Guard denied the report, saying its air defenses had only hit a test target.

Iran publicly confirmed for the first time in Feb. 2005 that the United States has been flying surveillance drones over its airspace to spy on its nuclear and military facilities.

The Islamic Republic holds frequent military drills, primarily to assert an ability to defend against a potential U.S. or Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities.

Tehran has focused part of its military strategy on producing drones for reconnaissance and attacking purposes.

Iran announced three years ago it had built an unmanned aircraft with a range of more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers), far enough to reach Israel.

Ahmadinejad unveiled Iran's first domestically built unmanned bomber aircraft in August 2010, calling it an "ambassador of death" to Iran's enemies.

___

Associated Press correspondent Anne Flaherty contributed to this report from Washington, DC.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111204/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_drone

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As Putin plans to stay, many Russians want out (AP)

MOSCOW ? Natalia Lepleiskaya is just the sort of person today's Russia needs ? a successful young IT manager who does charity work in her free time.

But frustrated by what she describes as the corruption and stagnation around her, she and her husband are packing their bags to start a new life in Canada.

"I don't see how I can change things ... and I don't want to waste my youth on it," said the 29-year-old, who moved to Moscow from a provincial city several years ago and rose to a senior position at a top technological company.

As Vladimir Putin's party prepares to dominate weekend parliamentary elections in a prelude to his planned return to the presidency in spring, an increasing number of Russians are contemplating leaving their homeland in search of a brighter future abroad. A March presidential election victory for Putin ? all but taken for granted ? raises the prospect of his being in the top job for 12 years.

Disenchantment with life in Russia was growing even before Prime Minister Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev agreed in September to swap jobs,

In a May poll by the respected Levada Center, 22 percent of respondents said they wanted to move abroad for good, compared to 13 percent in April 2009. The poll among 1,600 Russian adults across the country had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

Emigration statistics are hard to come by because few of those who leave for lengthy periods renounce Russian citizenship, while getting foreign residency may take years.

But demographer Mikhail Denisenko at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow estimates that at least a half million Russians moved abroad in 2002-2009 and more are on the way in what he describes as the fifth wave of emigration since the beginning of the 20th century.

"The level of frustration is higher ... it's a feeling of discomfort, an aversion to life in Russia," said Lev Gudkov, the head of the Levada Center.

"The prospect of another 12 years of stagnation or even a worsening of the situation is frightening them and they are beginning to think about moving to a different country or at least providing a future for their children" abroad.

Numerous recent websites and blogs offer advice on how to emigrate. One of them, "Time to Shove Off," offers commentaries and videos exposing alleged crime and corruption among top Russian officials. "Yet another governor buys himself yet another Mercedes for 7 million rubles ($233,000 or euro175,000)," reads one posting. "Corruption as a lifestyle," a headline says.

"The news that Putin is staying has spoiled people's mood and this talk (of emigration) started resonating more," said Anton Nossik, a popular blogger and Internet expert, who holds seminars on emigration.

The democratic reforms ushered in by the 1991 Soviet collapse generated hope that Russia could finally become a free and progressive nation. But Putin's 11 years in power, first as president and now as prime minister, have left many people disillusioned and gloomy about the future.

While an expanding economy has boosted living standards for many, corruption has become systemic and political competition has virtually disappeared. On a more day-to-day level, many Russians complain that education and health care continue to lag far behind. The draft-based army is plagued by vicious hazing, leaving many parents fearful for their sons. Few have faith that they can count on either the police or the courts to protect them or their property.

Russian emigration is by no means a new phenomenon. The 20th century alone witnessed waves of emigration, beginning with those who fled after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and during World War II. Over 290,000 Jews emigrated from the Soviet Union 1971 to 1988, and up to 1.6 million people left Russia in 1989-2002 as the Soviet Union disintegrated, according to demographers.

Today's departures are not nearly as traumatic as during the Soviet era, when would-be emigres spent years fighting to be allowed to leave, often losing jobs and friends in the process ? then bade farewell to their families forever, certain they would never return.

But the decision to leave Russia is still often painful. Many emigres leave behind elderly parents, a familiar culture and the ability to communicate in their native tongue.

Fifteen years ago, a teenage Lepleiskaya branded her cousin a traitor for moving to the United States rather than staying and working to change life in Russia for the better. As an adult, along with building a successful career, she volunteered at an orphanage and collected money and clothes for those in need.

In the early 2000s, she voted for Putin and his party, but as the years went by she became increasingly angered by what is happening in the country. Social inequality has worsened, corruption runs amok, opposition protests are violently dispersed and the television news often resembles Soviet propaganda.

"There came a moment when I stopped caring ... nothing will change substantially," Lepleiskaya said.

She said the final straw was when a singer she knew spent 10 days in jail in a southern Russian city after performing a song critical of the police. She came to the conclusion that citizens have no power to hold the government accountable or push for change, either through competitive elections or street protests.

"Have you seen what those protests look like? It's 50 people and 150 riot police and these young men and women are dragged into those detention trucks," Lepleiskaya said.

She realizes that Russia's emerging market provides opportunities for high profits and quick career advancement in some spheres, but she doesn't trust the government to protect her savings against inflation and economic turmoil. Her father, a college instructor for 40 years, recently retired and receives a pension equivalent to $270 (euro200) per month.

"I don't want to sit on top of a tinderbox. I would rather build my career slowly, step by step, work and know that eventually when I am 60 the government will not let me down," she said.

She and her husband, Alexander, a 27-year-old IT specialist are set to receive their Canadian entry visas in the coming days and plan to fly to Montreal in the spring. Lepleiskaya now has to vaccinate her cat, who has the French name Xavier, sell off their belongings and begin saying goodbye to loved ones.

They have never even visited Canada and know it will take a while to find jobs as interesting and well-paid as those they are leaving behind in Moscow, but they are looking to the future with hope for a better life for themselves and their children.

Denisenko, the demographer, said the departure of enterprising, educated Russians bodes ill for the country.

"Compensating for them will be hard," he said. "Russia would be better off if they stayed."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111203/ap_on_re_eu/eu_leaving_putin_s_russia

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Nation's food banks taxed by lingering joblessness

Philabundance

Philabundance's Community Food Center, which serves 450 cupboards and pantries throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, has seen a 26 percent spike in need this year and now serves food for about 65,000 people weekly.

By Eve Tahmincioglu

Bill Clark, executive director of food bank Philabundance, doesn?t put much credence in the unemployment rate?s monthly fluctuations because every day he sees how the long-term jobless are struggling to meet basic needs.?

The food bank, which serves 450 cupboards and pantries throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, has seen a 26 percent spike in need this year and now serves food for about 65,000 people weekly.?

?We?re seeing a lot more families, many who are running out of money and benefits because of long-term unemployment,? he explained. ?Since 2007, the changing face of hunger has been influenced a lot by unemployment.??

On Friday, the Labor Department will release employment data for November. In October, employers added 80,000 jobs, offering a glimmer of hope for the beleaguered employment market.?

Still, the labor market remains a big problem for the economic recovery;?14 million Americans are out of work.?

The millions of long-term jobless, a nagging trait of this anemic recovery, have been taxing the nation?s food banks that have seen a spike in usage and a decline in donations.?

?The emptying of food banks is another indicator of the depth of the recession and its long term impacts,? said Jerry McElroy, economics professor with Saint Mary?s College in Notre Dame, Ind., who has been watching the food bank crisis and blames a big part of it on long-term unemployment. ?I was astounded looking at the food bank situation. It?s a national phenomenon across almost every state in the union.??

As of October, there were nearly 6 million long-term unemployed, those jobless for 27 weeks or more, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,?and McElroy pointed to the growing number of individuals who are now food insecure as a by product of that.?

After declining in 2005 and remaining relatively stabile for several years, food insecurity among Americans rose in 2008 to 14.6 percent of households and has stayed at that level ever since, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The rise in long-term unemployment beginning in 2008 has closely mirrored the increase of participation in the SNAP program, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, previously known as food stamps,?according to Congress'?Joint Economic Committee.?

?These people have used all their resources, exhausted their savings, and their family and friends are worn out because many of them are beginning to feel pinched,? McElroy said, referring to?the long-term jobless.?

Indeed, food banks across the country are seeing large increases in the numbers of people looking for help. Last year food pantry usage nationally jumped 46 percent to 37 million people, according to hunger relief charity Feeding America. And the crowds haven?t let up.?

The Connecticut Food Bank, which serves 300,000 people annually and serves six of the state?s eight counties, saw usage jump 30 percent in 2008 and the increases never abated. ?It?s this constancy that is so disturbing, and we?re not seeing an end in sight,? said Nancy Carrington, CEO and president of the food bank.?

And the food bank clientele is also changing, she said, from people who?ve been teetering on poverty in low-wage jobs, to professionals who were solidly middle class. ?We have experienced many individuals for the first time --?people who never thought they?d need help," she said.

Carrington recalled one particular family from a suburban town in greater New Haven who came looking for assistance at a food pantry this past summer. The husband had a good-paying job in the financial sector but lost his job after companywide cutbacks.?

?His wife worked for the state but with two daughters in college and a son in high school it didn?t take long before they spent down their savings,? she said. ?So he found himself in position he never dreamt he?d be in and went to a pantry in a neighboring town because he was embarrassed of the situation and was afraid someone would know him if he went close to home.??

Families like this, she added, are often not eligible for food stamps or other assistance because they may have a home or other assets. ?Of the people who are food insecure in Connecticut, over half don?t qualify for federal assistance,? she said.

So many are turning to food pantries and cupboards, and that?s causing a strain on many food banks at a time when donations, especially from manufacturers and wholesalers, are on the decline and food prices are rising.?

?The food industry has become much more efficient in recent years, so they don?t have the excesses they used to or they?re selling it to secondary markets, like a dollar store,? she said. ?Many items used to be donated to use, such as a discontinued line of flavored soup, or items with not so many days left on it to sell to consumers.??

Individual donations have held steady, she added, but canned food?drives typically only make up 1 to 2 percent of the food they distribute.?

Increasingly, Philabundance has to rely more heavily on purchasing food and not just on donations from companies, said Clark. ?We?ve really begun in earnest in last two or three years of really having purchased food be a strategic part of our total food acquisition plan,? he noted.?

Clark said the food bank was going to do whatever it could to meet escalating demand, including opening up a cupboard for the first time instead of just being a distributor of food. ?A lot of areas most in need don?t have preexisting distribution points,? he said, and that?s why they opened the Community Food Center in North Philadelphia. ?Food banks across the country are trying to deal with this new reality,? he added.?

Mariann Sharp of Wallingford, Conn,, is facing her own new reality when it comes to pantry aid.?

Sharp, 57, lost her job as a computer assembler nearly two years ago and has been unable to find a job. She gets $388 a month in unemployment and recently lost her apartment and had to move in with a friend. Earlier this year, she made her first trip to a pantry and said the experience ?killed me. In my entire life I never had to ask for anything.??

In addition to being a client at Master?s Manna, a pantry in Wallingford, she?s also begun volunteering for the organization about 30 hours a week until she finds work. ?At my age a lot of places don?t even want to talk to me, especially with me being out of work for so long,? she said about perspective employers. ?But I?d be the best employee going.??

Food pantries have sprung up on campuses from California to New Hampshire, as rising college costs, shrinking financial aid and a tight job market make students' budgets even tighter than normal. NBC's John Yang reports.

?

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/30/9123979-nations-food-banks-taxed-by-lingering-joblessness

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Two men face hefty fine after flight diverts

VANCOUVER, British Columbia?? BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion suspended two employees on Thursday after their drunken rowdiness forced an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Beijing to be diverted to Vancouver and a court ordered them to pay US $70,699.49 (CA71,757) in restitution.

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George Campbell, 24, and Paul Alexander Wilson, 38, pleaded guilty to mischief on Thursday. They were also given suspended sentences and probation for a year.

"Based on the limited information available at this time, RIM has suspended the individuals involved pending further investigation," RIM spokesman Marisa Conway said in a statement.

Another passenger aboard the plane said Campbell and Wilson were fighting with the flight attendants and it took the entire crew to subdue the men, who were eventually handcuffed to seats on the plane on Monday.

After the jet diverted to Vancouver, the other passengers were put up in hotels overnight and the flight resumed the next day, 18 hours behind schedule.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45516401/ns/travel-news/

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