Around the World: United States

Plane crash kills 10

A small plane crashed and burned shortly after takeoff, killing everyone on board, including the pilot and nine people who had spent the day working at a skin cancer clinic in remote community.

The twin-engine Beech King Air A-100 crashed shortly after takeoff on Friday evening from Canyonlands Field airport, 29 km northwest of Moab. It hit the ground in nearby hills, flattened and exploded on impact, authorities said.

Storm Fay downgraded

Tropical Storm Fay was downgraded to a tropical depression on Saturday night, but cities along Florida's Gulf Coast were still bracing for heavy rain.

As a tropical storm, Fay set a record with four landfalls in Florida and was blamed for at least 11 deaths there and another in Georgia, emergency officials said.

Though the storm weakened as it traveled inland on Saturday, with maximum sustained winds of about 56 kph, cities from Pensacola to storm-wary New Orleans were still preparing for possible flooding.

(China Daily 08/25/2008 page14)