UPDATE

Here are excerpts from a report Friday from McClatchy Newspapers, a news organization that seems to be reflecting a quality that I find dying in much of the mainstream media:

Curiosity.

Incidentally, all of this information you will have read here before in previous posts on this blog.

McClatchy Newspapers

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian air traffic has been paralyzed for almost a week as flight controllers across the country have taken unauthorized safety measures following the nation's worst air accident, a September collision that killed 154 people.

Flight controllers, who say they are working with too little manpower, have taken it upon themselves to make changes. They have reduced the maximum number of flights they monitor at one time from as many as 20 planes to 14, and they have lengthened the time between takeoffs from three to as much as 20 minutes, creating enormous backups on runways. ... dozens of flights have been canceled daily, and airports have become campsites for weary travelers ...

Controller Vinicius Araujo said he and colleagues had launched the measures in response to the Sept. 29 midair collision between a Brazilian airliner and an executive jet piloted by two Americans. He said the accident highlighted the system's dangers.

"We've been working at the limits for years, and this situation is a gamble and could cause accidents, which is what we're trying to avoid," Araujo said. "It's safer to keep these planes on the ground."