The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We’re still in search-and-rescue mode.”

Sgt. Jason Reyes of the Texas Department of Public Safety, as authorities continued to sift the debris of a fertilizer plant that exploded Wednesday night Article, this page

Solar-powered plane takes test flight

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - A solar-powered plane that has wowed aviation fans in Europe took to the skies Friday over the San Francisco Bay Area in a successful test flight.

Considered the world’s most advanced sun-powered plane, the Solar Impulse took off from Moffett Field in Mountain View at first light for a two-hour practice run in advance of a planned multicity, cross-country tour.

“That’s a mythical step in aviation,” Andre Borschberg, one of the plane’s pilots and creators, said about flying cross-country. “We are something like between 1915 and 1920, compared to traditional aviation, when pioneers tried these nonstop flights.”

Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard, Solar Impulse co-founder and chairman, said the plane should be ready for the cross-country journey on May 1, depending on the weather.

Waiting vets go to front of claims line

WASHINGTON - Veterans waiting more than a year for a decision on their disability claims are moving to the front of the line under a new program announced Friday.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is responding to criticism about the soaring number of claims that have been pending for longer than 125 days. The VA said that of the nearly 900,000 claims pending in the system, some 250,000 are from veterans who have been waiting at least a year for a decision.

Veterans receive disability compensation for injuries and illness incurred or aggravated during their active military service. The amount of the compensation is based on a rating assigned by the VA.

Allison Hickey, the VA undersecretary who oversees the Veterans Benefits Administration, says provisional decisions will be made on the oldest cases based on the evidence currently in the veteran’s file. In some cases, medical exams will be required, and those will be expedited.

The VA projected that it will take up to six months to complete the 250,000 claims being targeted.

Israel, 2 Arab nations closer to U.S. arms

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department is working out final details of $10 billion in sales of warplanes, transport aircraft and advanced missiles to Israel and two Arab nations amid concerns about the growing threat from Iran and its disputed nuclear weapons program, Pentagon and congressional officials said Friday.

The U.S. has spent the past year negotiating with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on the deals, which come ahead of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s visit to the Middle East starting Sunday.

The officials said the United States will sell to Israel an undisclosed number of KC-135 aerial refueling planes and V-22 Osprey aircraft, the tilt-rotor hybrid that can take off and land like a helicopter and then fly like an airplane, as well as precision-guided missiles and advanced radar for Israeli fighter aircraft. It would be the first sale of the V-22 to a foreign nation.

The Pentagon and congressional officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the deals publicly.

U.S. report hits Russia, Iran on rights

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration warned Friday that nations such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela are turning up pressure on human-rights and other activists, decrying what it described as a global crackdown on the “lifeblood of democratic societies.”

In its annual human-rights report, the State Department criticized a host of new restrictions on advocacy groups including laws banning free speech, assembly and religion. Even worse, it noted that human rights, political and labor leaders in more countries were facing harassment, arrest and even assassination.

“Civil society is the lifeblood of democratic societies,” the report said. “Countries succeed or fail based on the choices of their people and leaders - whether they sit in a government ministry, a corporate boardroom, an independent union or a cramped NGO office. When individuals have the ability to come together, air their views and put forward their own proposals, they challenge and support their governments in reaching higher standards of progress and prosperity.”

At a briefing, Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters he considered canceling the release of the report because of the intensity of the manhunt for the suspect in the Boston marathon bombing but said he decided to release it because “people have the right to run in a marathon without violence.”

“And people have a right to enjoy a holiday without terror,” Kerry added.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 04/20/2013

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