Nation digest 01/09/02

Asteroid passes Earth days after discovery

LOS ANGELES -- An asteroid large enough to wipe out France hurtled past the Earth at a distance of a half-million miles just days after scientists spotted it.

The asteroid, dubbed 2001 YB5, came within 520,000 miles of Earth on Monday.

Asteroid 2001 YB5, estimated to be 1,000 feet across, was traveling about 68,000 mph relative to the Earth when it zipped past.

"If it had hit us at that sort of speed, you would be taking out a medium-size country, France, I suppose, or Texas," said Jay Tate, director of the Spaceguard Centre in Wales.

Asteroid 2001 YB5 was discovered Dec. 26.

Vegas flight disrupted by man holding shoe

LOS ANGELES -- A passenger holding a shoe punched a flight attendant and opened the rear door of a Southwest Airlines jet as it was about to take off for Las Vegas, authorities said.

"His words were that everybody on the plane was going to hell," passenger Michael Fitzhugh said. "You could see the panic of the passengers."

Police at the Los Angeles airport arrested David Boone, 36, of New Orleans, on Monday for investigation of interfering with a flight crew. He was jailed without bail for a federal court appearance Tuesday.

GM will offer early retirement incentives

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. said Tuesday it plans to offer early-retirement incentives to thousands of white-collar workers in hopes of eliminating about 5,000 jobs.

The automaker wants to cut its U.S. white-collar work force of about 50,000 by 10 percent. GM employs more than 300,000 workers worldwide. GM spokesman Tom Wickham said the buyouts are the latest attempt by the automaker to cut costs.

The Detroit Free Press reported Tuesday that select groups of white-collar employees 50 and older will be given a lucrative early-retirement package effective April 1.

Consumer borrowing jumps by record amount

WASHINGTON -- Americans increased their borrowing in November by the largest amount on record. A big rise in auto loans spurred by zero-interest rate financing offers led the way.

Consumer credit soared by a seasonally adjusted $19.8 billion in November, or a 14.6 percent annual rate, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday.

The percentage increase was the biggest since November 1995.

Economists were expecting consumer borrowing to rise, but by a lot less -- around $3 billion to $4 billion during the month.

Audit shows 2,300 IRS computers missing

WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service is working to account for more than 2,300 computers that have gone missing over the past three years.

A recent Treasury Department audit was unable to determine whether the laptops and other small computers were lost, stolen or simply not properly documented. The IRS is reasonably sure that none contained sensitive taxpayer data or could provide a way for hackers to break into the tax agency's secure main computers.

-- From wire reports