LOS ANGELES, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Two U.S. fighter jets were
scrambled on Thursday to escort a commercial airliner to Seattle
after the FBI received an anonymous tip, apparently unfounded,
that a hijacker was aboard, officials said.

The plane, which originated in Hawaii, landed safely at
about 7 p.m. local time at the Seattle-Tacoma International
Airport, where it was met by local law enforcement and FBI
agents who interviewed the passenger in question, authorities
said.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Lawyers for a Southern California man arrested in Afghanistan on charges he plotted to help al Qaeda militants say he was severely beaten when captured, and they are expected to raise questions about his injuries at a hearing set for Tuesday.

The defendant, U.S. Army veteran Sohiel Omar Kabir, 35, suffered a fractured facial bone, lacerations to his face and head and an eye injury from the beating, his attorneys said in an eight-page memorandum filed in federal court last week.

LOS ANGELES, Dec 5 (Reuters) – The largest U.S. cargo
shipping complex resumed full operations on Wednesday after
harbor clerks and management settled an eight-day strike that
left two Southern California ports mostly idle, sapping the
region’s economy of an estimated $8 billion.

The strike at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach ended
when clerks in the International Longshore and Warehouse Workers
Local 63 reached a tentative contract deal with a group of
shippers and terminal operators late Tuesday. Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa, a onetime labor activist, had joined in to
prod the two sides into an agreement.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The United States’ largest cargo shipping complex was set to resume full operations on Wednesday after harbor clerks and management settled an eight-day strike that left the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach mostly idle, sapping the region’s economy of an estimated $8 billion.

The striking clerks reached a tentative contract deal with a group of shippers and terminal operators late Tuesday, with prodding from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a onetime labor activist.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Striking harbor clerks agreed with management at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to federal mediation on Tuesday in a bid to end a week-old labor clash that has idled most of America’s biggest cargo-shipping complex.

The agreement to mediation, announced by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, came after an all-night bargaining session that a spokesman for the Harbor Employers Association, representing shippers and terminal operators, said had left the parties “still far apart.”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Union and management negotiators agreed on Tuesday to the intervention of a federal mediator in a bid to settle a week-old strike by clerical workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach that has idled most of America’s biggest container port complex.

The agreement to mediation, announced by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, came after an all-night bargaining session that a spokesman for the Harbor Employers Association, representing shippers and terminal operators, said had left the parties “still far apart.”

LOS ANGELES, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Freighters with no place to
unload cargo lined up at anchorages off Los Angeles and Long
Beach for a seventh day on Monday as shippers and striking
clerks resumed talks to end a labor dispute that has idled most
of America’s biggest container port complex.

With mounting economic losses estimated at several billion
dollars, the strike marks the largest cargo traffic disruption
at the twin Southern California harbor facilities since a 10-day
lockout of longshoremen at several West Coast ports in 2002.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Freighters with no place to unload their cargo lined up at anchorages off Los Angeles and Long Beach for a seventh day on Monday as shippers and striking clerks resumed talks to end a labor dispute that has idled most of America’s biggest container port complex.

The two sides remained at loggerheads over the future of union representation for clerical jobs after individuals retire from those jobs, but the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 has so far resisted calls for outside mediation.

Dec 2 (Reuters) – A national coalition of U.S. business
groups is urging an end to a strike at the twin California ports
of Los Angeles and Long Beach amid fears that a prolonged
stand-off will cost the American economy many billions of
dollars, and could even spread to the east coast.

Trade groups led by the National Retail Federation have sent
letters to U.S. President Barack Obama and leading members of
Congress asking them to intervene and help end the strike at
America’s two busiest container harbor facilities. Those
industry groups say the strike, which entered its sixth day on
Sunday, is already costing $1 billion a day.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A strike by clerical workers at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach idled most of the busiest U.S. cargo shipping complex for a fifth day on Saturday as container-laden vessels waited to be unloaded and marathon contract talks stretched into the night.

Some 10,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 were refusing to cross picket lines of some 500 striking clerical workers, effectively shutting down 10 of the two ports’ combined 14 container terminals.