NATION IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Airline Offers to Pay Crash Victims

Avianca Airlines announced it was willing to pay $75,000 each to survivors or relatives of victims of the crash of Flight 52 without requiring them to relinquish their rights to further claims. Seventy-three people died and 85 were injured in the Jan. 25 crash of the Boeing 707 on Long Island during an approach to Kennedy Airport after a flight from Colombia. Under the Avianca proposal, made during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Thomas C. Platt on civil lawsuits filed against the airline, the company also would continue to pay survivors’ medical expenses at least until the end of the year. Subtracted from the lump sum would be payments already made to the families.