A security fiasco at JFK Airport, and more

A security fiasco at JFK Airport

A terminal at JFK Airport in New York was closed and hundreds of cleared passengers were marched back through security after a TSA officer realized his metal detector was unplugged. The government screener used the unplugged detector for hours, says the New York Post, before superiors discovered his mistake. Two jumbo jets were recalled to the gate so that everyone on board could be rescreened. Ten flights suffered long delays. “This is a failure of the most basic level of diligence,” a law-enforcement official said.

Madonna's fear of DNA theft

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Madonna is worried that someone might steal her DNA, says The Daily Mirror (U.K.). Álvaro Ramos, the concert promoter overseeing the Portuguese leg of her current tour, says Madonna, 53, has set up an unprecedented “sterilization team” whose job it is to remove all traces of her hair, skin, and saliva from her dressing room after each show. “We can only enter after her sterilization team has left the room,” said Ramos. “There will not be any of Madonna’s DNA. I do understand it, but it is taken to extremes.”

On the plane with a dead seatmate

A Swedish woman spent eight hours of a plane flight sitting next to a dead body. Lena Pettersson says the Kenya Airways flight from Amsterdam to Tanzania took off even though the passenger next to her was having convulsions; he died two hours into the flight. “Of course it was unpleasant,” said Pettersson of having to sit next to the corpse, “but I am not a person who makes a fuss.” Upon landing, Pettersson did file a complaint with Kenya Airways, which refunded her $713—about half the cost of her ticket.