Pilots’ union: Air France to replace sensors soon

Air France has agreed to replace within days sensors on all of its Airbus A330 and A340 airplanes, parts that are suspected of being involved in last week’s crash, a pilots’ union said Tuesday. Air France said Saturday that it had begun replacing the sensors throughout its fleet in April.

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Clues emerge in search for plane wreckage

The search for the wreckage of an Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean with 228 on board intensified Thursday after clues appeared to rule out a mid-air fire or explosion. As several ships trawled the crash site in the Atlantic, Brazil’s defense minister said a 20-kilometer (12-mile) oil slick near where the plane went down on Monday indicated it probably did not break up until it hit the water.

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Brazilian judge suspends order to reunite American boy and father

A Brazilian supreme court judge on Tuesday suspended a lower court’s order that would have given custody of a 9-year-old boy to the U.S. consulate in Rio de Janeiro, where he was to be reunited with his American father. Judge Marco Aurelio argued against taking Sean Richard Goldman from what has been his home for almost five years to the United States “in an abrupt manner.” Doing so, he wrote in his order published on the supreme court’s Web site, could subject the boy to psychological harm.

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Report: Kaka joining Real Madrid for $92M

Brazilian star Kaka has agreed to join Real Madrid from Italy’s AC Milan in a $92 million deal, the Spanish radio station Cadena Ser reported on Tuesday. Cadena Ser claimed that Real president Florentino Perez had thrashed out a deal with AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani and Bosco Leite, Kaka’s father and agent.

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Button wins Monaco as Brawn dominate again

Jenson Button earned himself a place in the Formula One history books with a pole-to-flag victory over Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix — the Briton’s five victory in six races so far this season. In achieving that feat, Button’s joins a pantheon F1 greats Alberto Ascari (1952), Juan Manuel Fangio (1954), Jim Clark (1965), Sir Jackie Stewart (1969), Nigel Mansell (1992) and Michael Schumacher (1994, 2002 and 2004). Button also spearheaded a third Brawn GP one-two of the season, stretching his convincing lead over Barrichello to 16 points, while putting the team over 40 points ahead of nearest rivals Red Bull in the constructor’s championship.

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The McConaughey Mystery: King of Hunks

The obligatory Matthew McConaughey scene — as crucial to his fans as a Miley Cyrus song or a Seth Rogen penis joke is to theirs — is the ritual removing of his shirt, to reveal a torso that could have been sculpted, or certainly caressed, by Michelangelo. The gesture is not so much an act of narcissism as a votive offering to his core constituency.

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