The AP (4/4, Lowy) reports, "The cargo of a United Parcel Service plane that caught fire and crashed last year included lithium batteries that should have been declared as hazardous cargo, but weren't, according to an accident report released Sunday by the Dubai government's civil aviation authority." The Boeing 747-400 carrying the batteries crashed last year. "The report, which doesn't identify the cause of the fire, is expected to raise questions about shipments of the batteries." The Department of Transportation has a proposal to treat the batteries as hazardous materials, a measure "opposed by a broad array of foreign and domestic companies" and which has been "effectively [blocked]" by a new bill passed by the House that make the US use "weaker" international rules.

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