Thrill ride passengers stuck 300 feet in the air

Passengers on an amusement park attraction in California were trapped 300 feet in the air for more than three hours when the ride they were on malfunctioned. NBC's Diana Alvear reports.

By The Associated Press

BUENA PARK, Calif.???Twenty riders expecting a short thrill were left dangling at 300 feet for nearly four hours when the Windseeker ride at Southern California's Knott's Berry Farm amusement park stalled.

Knott's said in a statement that the ride, which lifts fun-seekers high over the park with their legs dangling and spins them in a circle, came to a stop when its security system activated at about 4 p.m. Wednesday.

"They didn't tell me that in the brochure," said Jimmy Garrison, a tourist from Baltimore who was stuck on the ride as he left the park hours later with a souvenir T-shirt that read "I SURVIVED WINDSEEKER."

TV cameras showed riders sitting calmly as they dangled and the sun set, some casually swinging their legs.

"They were on the PA system and they were telling us 'be patient with us,' and that sort of thing," Garrison told KTTV-TV. "I was looking over at the steel cables, they're about that thick," he said, holding his thumb and forefinger several inches apart, "there's a whole bunch of them so I know you can't fall."

Garrison's wife Donna said her husband kept her from having a totally traumatic experience.

"I have a fear of heights so that first half-hour was a little bit daunting," she said. "But he's a great coach. He talked me through it."

Maintenance workers brought all the riders safely to the ground between 7:30 and 8, long after the park had closed and night had fallen.

Knott's says the ride, which also left riders hanging on Sept. 7, will remain closed while the cause is investigated.

Donna Garrison said she and her husband were returning to the park on Friday. Asked if she'd try out the Windseeker again, she replied "Oh, no, no no."?

More in Overhead Bin

? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://overheadbin.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/20/13989731-knotts-berry-farm-visitors-stuck-on-thrill-ride-300-feet-in-the-air?lite

doobie brothers jennie garth peter facinelli marques colston golden state warriors free agents nfl 2012 milwaukee bucks bear grylls

Allies use power of purse against Syrian regime

SCHEVENINGEN, Netherlands (AP) ? A coalition including the United States, the European Union and the Arab League met Thursday to plot new ways of isolating the regime of Syria's President Bashar Assad, as a Syrian opposition leader warned that sanctions alone won't bring the regime down.

The group called "Friends of the Syrian People" was set up in February after the U.N. Security Council was unable to reach agreement on a resolution condemning Syria's government, due to opposition from Russia and China.

On Thursday, financial experts joined representatives of the group at their meeting in The Hague, Netherlands, to help member countries understand how Syria may be using dual-use technologies and front companies to get around the existing sanctions, which include an embargo on oil and arms trade with Syria by participating nations. Twelve more countries have joined the 60-member coalition, committing also to block Syrian financial transactions, and enforce a travel ban on the country's top leaders.

The uprising against the Syrian government began in March 2011 as part of Arab Spring protests, and intensified after Assad's government used the country's military in an attempt to end them with violence. The United Nations estimates that at least 18,000 people have been killed as a result of the fighting, most of them civilians. More than 1.5 million people have been displaced, many fleeing as refugees to neighboring countries such as Turkey and Jordan.

Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal said the sanctions are having an effect, despite non-participation by Russia, China and Iran, citing sharp fall in Syria's oil exports.

"The EU took 90 percent of Syria's oil," before the sanctions were applied, he said. "It turns out to be hard for the regime to sell oil elsewhere."

Abrahim Miro, a member of the Syrian Governing Council ? an umbrella organization of Syrian opposition groups cooperating to overthrow the government ? said that the sanctions alone will not bring Assad's regime down. He said the sanctions, together with armed resistance by the Syrian Free Army "will actually cause the economic heart attack and also the military heart attack of the regime."

Miro said that Syria's continued trade with Iraq and Iran ? which were not present at the Thursday meeting ? is a major source of concern for the opposition.

Abdo Hussameldin, a former official in Syria's oil ministry, who in March became the highest-ranking member of the government to defect, said that the economic sanctions were demoralizing and delegitimizing the regime in the eyes of the country's people. But he agreed with Miro that the sanctions alone won't force Assad from office as long as his regime continues to get financial support from countries such as Russia, Iraq, Iran, Venezuela and Lebanon.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/allies-power-purse-against-syrian-regime-131323466--finance.html

pulmonary embolism packages camila alves albrecht durer dan marino david lee roth joe bodolai