Iberia Airlines has suspended all domestic and international flights last night after 99 pilots resigned. Iberia Airlines has suspended all domestic and international flights last night after 99 pilots resigned.
Announcing the action Xabier de Irala, president of the Spanish carrier, estimated 80,000 passengers would be affected by the action, which began at 10pm.He said operations would be suspended until the airline was restructured. The 99 pilots belong to the Sepla trade union.The suspension came after the pilots called for one-day strikes during what is normally one of the company’s busiest periods, with millions of holidaymakers visiting Spain. Pilots are demanding improved pensions and wage increases, which Iberia says would add 20 per cent to its costs. The pilots had called strikes for each Tuesday in July and each Monday in August.On Tuesday, the striking pilots forced Iberia to cancel 230 flights worldwide.

At the time, the airline appeared to harden its position by refusing to discuss salary and pension improvements “under blackmail” of further threatened stoppages.Iberia’s 1,875 pilots accuse the airline of reneging on a 1995 agreement on wage moderation during privatisation and are demanding a 20 per cent raise as well as better pensions (AP). Federal authorities have started a criminal investigation into the married US congressman at the centre of the mystery over the missing Washington intern Chandra Levy. Federal authorities have started a criminal investigation into the married US congressman at the centre of the mystery over the missing Washington intern Chandra Levy.Prosecutors from the US Attorney’s office are investigating whether Gary Condit obstructed justice or encouraged perjury in the investigation into the missing 24-year-old, with whom he was having an affair.In a separate development, it was reported that police who searched Mr Condit’s apartment in Washington took samples from a drop of blood found in his bathroom as well from specks detected with special equipment in the living room. One source said the apartment seemed to have been “cleaned all over and was pretty neat”.Meanwhile, in a twist that has added to the frenzy in Washington, a Pentecostal minister claimed his daughter had an affair with Mr Condit when she was 18. When they broke up he apparently asked her to keep the relationship secret.The criminal inquiry into Mr Condit, 53, centres on allegations made by an airline hostess, Anne Marie Smith, who has claimed she was also having an affair with the Democratic Representative from California. Ms Smith, who was interviewed by FBI officials for the second time yesterday, says Mr Condit asked her to sign an affidavit denying that they had a 10-month affair.

Mr Condit denies doing so.A law enforcement official involved in the inquiry said: “It is in the preliminary stages, talking to witnesses and trying to determine if we should proceed further. What is on the plate is perjury and obstructing justice, and we must decide if these allegations have merit.”Media interest in the case of the missing intern – who was last seen 10 weeks ago – has become increasingly aggressive, focusing more on Mr Condit’s private life than the search for a missing person. The congressman’s lawyers and public relations staff have accused some of America’s most respected titles of “tabloid tactics”.Meanwhile the actual search for Ms Levy proceeded on several fronts yesterday, including a search of abandoned buildings. “We have to explore the possibility that she may be dead,” said Terrance Gainer, the city’s deputy police chief.Police are also still negotiating with Mr Condit’s lawyer, Abe Lowell, about conditions under which the congressman would take a lie detector test. Police said they would only proceed with the test if Mr Condit will agree to answer a full range of questions..

The mystery of the missing Washington intern took on further shades of the Clinton-Lewinsky saga when a Pentecostal minister claimed Congressman Gary Condit had enjoyed an affair with his 18-year-old daughter and urged her to hush it up. The mystery of the missing Washington intern took on further shades of the Clinton-Lewinsky saga when a Pentecostal minister claimed Congressman Gary Condit had enjoyed an affair with his 18-year-old daughter and urged her to hush it up.Otis Thomas has told FBI investigators that Mr Condit, now 53, had an affair with his daughter Jennifer seven years ago. He decided to speak out when he learned that Mr Condit and the missing intern, Chandra Levy, had discussed the congressman’s previous relationship just weeks before she disappeared. Mr Thomas worked as a gardener for the parents of Ms Levy, who vanished 10 weeks ago.”Mrs Levy asked me if I knew Gary Condit and asked me what I thought about him,” Mr Thomas told The Washington Post. “She said she was asking about him because her daughter was friends with him in Washington.”This latest salacious twist has moved a puzzling tale into the area previously occupied by the Clinton saga. Details of the California congressman’s apparent penchant for women other than his wife have engrossed Washington – even if the developments are little help in the search for the missing 24-year-old.The Post reported that Mr Thomas spoke with Mrs Levy last April, apparently as he tended her roses. He revealed that his daughter had an affair with the congressman seven years ago but that he had advised his daughter to break it off.