In brief: Engine problems ground planes

Sydney – Singapore Airlines grounded three of its Airbus A380 superjumbos today after tests uncovered problems with the planes’ Rolls-Royce engines less than a week after an engine on a Qantas A380 exploded shortly after take-off.

Tests revealed oil stains in three engines on three of the airline’s A380s, Singapore Airlines said. The planes, in Melbourne, Sydney and London, will be flown to Singapore, where they’ll be fitted with new engines.

Last week, Qantas grounded its fleet of A380s – the world’s newest and largest airliner – after one of the aircraft’s Rolls-Royce engines burst during a flight from Singapore to Sydney. The explosion showered debris over Indonesia’s Batam island. The plane made an emergency landing in Singapore.

On Monday, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said tests had uncovered oil leaks in the turbine area of three engines on three different A380s. All six of the Australian airline’s A380s remained grounded today.

Myanmar releases election results

Yangon, Myanmar – Myanmar’s military-backed party has so far captured 75 percent of the parliamentary seats contested in weekend elections, a senior party leader said today, following polling widely decried as manipulated and unfair.

The results point to an overwhelming victory.

But there is little doubt about the outcome because the junta proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party fielded candidates in nearly every district, whereas the largest opposition party was able to contest only 164 of the 1,159 parliamentary seats in Sunday’s elections.

The government says the elections, the country’s first in two decades, are a major step toward democracy, but critics including President Barack Obama have said they were neither free nor fair.

Negotiators end prison rebellion

Rio de Janeiro – Authorities negotiated an end to a rebellion in an overcrowded Brazilian prison Tuesday after fighting between rival gangs left 18 inmates dead – including six who were decapitated.

A prison employee who was overpowered and shot twice with his own weapon during the initial uprising was in a stable condition in a Sao Luis hospital, according to Ribamar Cunha, spokesman for the northeastern state of Maranhao. Five hostages, all prison workers, were released unharmed.

Inmates behind the 27-hour stand-off complained that the penitentiary, built to house 2,000 prisoners, was holding twice that number, Cunha said.