Airliner catches fire
     MANCHESTER, England March 8, 1998 6:36 p.m. EST - A Continental
 Airlines DC-10 caught fire while taxiing on the runway Sunday,
 forcing passengers and crew to escape using emergency chutes.
     Firefighters poured foam on flames shooting from the back of
 Flight CO21, which was bound for Newark, N.J., with 234 passengers
 and 14 crew members.
    A member of the plane's cabin crew told the captain the plane was
 leaking fuel shortly before takeoff, said Stephen Willcock, assistant
 ground operations manager with Continental at Manchester Airport,
 170 miles northwest of London.
     Two passengers were slightly hurt using the emergency slide, one
 with neck injuries and the other with a sore back, airport officials
 said.
     Ron Fraser, a tourist returning to Connecticut, said the smell
 of fuel fumes got progressively worse as the plane taxied. Flight
 attendants then told passengers to exit the plane.
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
         Thick fog disrupts Hong Kong flights for second day
     HONG KONG - March 8, 1998 6:06 p.m. EST - Fog shrouded Hong Kong
 for a second day Sunday, disrupting flights and stranding thousands
 of people at the airport, the government reported.
     Poor visibility delayed 104 flights Sunday and forced 42 to be
 canceled. A spokesman said that since the fog rolled in Saturday,
 more than 300 flights had been delayed, canceled or diverted to
 other cities.
     Airport officials said about 8,000 people were waiting there,
 while other passengers were at nearby hotels.
     Trying to clear the backlog of flights, authorities lifted a ban
 on flying after 1 a.m. The government had imposed the curfew to curb
 noise.
     The Hong Kong Observatory said the fog was expected to continue
 for the next few days. It said visibility was as low as one-quarter
 mile.
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
          Algeria customs strike paralyzes ports, airports
     PARIS - March 8, 1998 08:54 a.m. EST - Customs agents have gone
 on strike in Algeria to protest at efforts by police to disarm them,
 causing paralysis at seaports and airports, customs union and other
 officials said on Sunday.
     The general strike started on Saturday and a customs union
 representative said it had paralyzed port and airport traffic.
     "The protest strike has brought traffic and business in Algiers
 to the ground, like many other ports and airports across the coun-
 try," said one senior customs official, speaking by telephone from
 Algiers.
 ===
--- DB 1.39/004487
---------------