FAA Accepts Blame for Air Traffic Errors

Anne Whiteman has had some particularly bad days on the job helping to man Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport's air traffic control system. Whiteman said she has seen air traffic controllers playing a game of chicken with airplanes. She even recalled one day when the system had a dozen or so operational errors in an hour's time frame -- so many that pilots calling to complain were being put on hold.

She said two colleagues once played a trick on her by putting two planes on a collision course. Distracted by the ruse, one of the men forgot to monitor his aircraft and the plane flew past the airport.

"I thought two aircraft were going to collide, and I didn't have anyone in my corner, and I was scared," Whiteman recalled Thursday. "I was scared not just for me but for everyone else."

Something happened every shift, she said, "where somebody would do something outside the boundaries of normalcy."

US alleges baby-selling in Vietnam

Vietnam has failed to police its adoption system, allowing corruption,
fraud and baby-selling to flourish, the U.S. Embassy says in a new
report obtained by The Associated Press.

The nine-page document describes brokers scouring villages for babies, hospitals selling infants whose mothers cannot pay their bills, and a grandmother giving away her grandchild — without telling the child's mother.

"I'm shocked and deeply troubled by the worst of the worst cases," said Jonathan Aloisi, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.

Vietnam's top adoption official called the concerns "groundless." Bribery of orphanage officials may occur, but serious offenses such as baby-selling or kidnapping are not a problem, said Vu Duc Long, director of the Department of International Adoptions.

The dispute comes amid a boom in adoptions from Vietnam. Americans — including actress Angelina Jolie — adopted more than 1,200 Vietnamese children over the 18 months ending March 31. In 2007, adoptions surged more than 400 percent from a year earlier, with 828 Vietnamese children adopted by American families.

While China remains the most popular overseas country for adoptions, a growing number of Americans are looking to Vietnam, which has fewer restrictions. The wait for adoption approval has also gotten longer in China after authorities there tightened rules.

U.S. adoption agencies active in Vietnam said that despite some cases of wrongdoing, most adoptions in the country are ethical.

"Our experience has been a good one," said Susan Cox, vice president of public policy with Holt International Children's Services, based in Eugene, Ore., which has operated in Vietnam since the 1970s. "We are concerned about any unethical practices, but I would not agree that these cases are indicative of adoptions in Vietnam."

Another adoption agency, Families Thru International Adoption, of Evansville, Ind., said that corruption exists everywhere and it is up to the adoption agencies to screen who they work with in Vietnam and other countries.

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