PILOT ADMITS BEING ALMOST 10 TIMES OVER ALCOHOL LIMIT

LONDON» A Japan Airlines copilot arrested after failing a breath test shortly before a LondontoTokyo flight pleaded guilty Thursday to being almost 10 times over the legal limit for alcohol.

London’s Metropolitan Police said Katsutoshi Jitsukawa appeared in court and admitted exceeding the alcohol limit.

The airline said the copilot was arrested Sunday at Heathrow Airport for violating British aviation law. The driver of a crew bus at Heathrow smelled alcohol on Jitsukawa and reported it to police, Japan’s NHK public television said.

Divers recover jet flight recorder from seafloor.

NDONESIA» Di

JA K A RT A , I vers in Indonesia recovered one of the crashed Lion Air jet’s flight recorders from the seafloor on Thursday, a crucial development in the investigation into what caused the 2monthold plane to plunge into the ocean this week, killing 189 people. Relatives, meanwhile, buried the first victim to be identified and prayed at her flowercovered grave.

TV showed footage of two divers after they surfaced, swimming to an inflatable vessel and placing the bright orange device into a large container that was transferred to a searchandrescue ship.

Racial bias probed at Coast Guard Academy.

The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general is investigating allega tions of racial discrimination at the Coast Guard Academy and inadequate followup by the school’s leadership, the agency said Thursday. The investigation will bring a new layer of scrutiny to the service academy, which is under pressure from Congress to address concerns about racial insensitivity, disparities in discipline and the administration’s handling of complaints.

Russia blames rocket failure on mistake during assembly.

MOSCO W

A Russian space investigation has found that a sensor that was damaged during assembly forced a Russian rocket to abort its trip two minutes after it was launched, a top Russian official said Thursday.

The SoyuzFG rocket carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin failed shortly into the Oct. 11 flight, sending their capsule into a sharp fall back to Earth. The two men landed safely on the steppes of Kazakhstan despite the failed launch, the first of its kind for Russia’s manned program in over three decades.

Hurricane Florence caused more damage than Matthew and Floyd combined, governor says.

R A LEIGH,

N.C.» The state now estimates Hurricane Florence caused nearly $17 billion damage to homes, businesses, farms and governments in the state and that as much as half of that may not be covered by private insurance or government aid.

The state initially estimated $13 billion in damages as a result of the storm, which made landfall Sept. 14 and dumped record amounts of rain.