U.S. under pressure over CIA flights

THE United States come under increasing pressure from European governments yesterday to reply to charges that planes with alleged links to CIA prisoner transports have quietly touched down in their countries, including here in Palma. From Portugal to Iceland, reports of landings by private jets that have allegedly been used for the CIA's extraordinary renditions program have added fuel to already burning criticism of the treatment of prisoners in the U.S.-led war on terror. The reports of possible CIA flights in at least six European countries since 2001 come at a time when the Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog, is investigating allegations that the U.S. intelligence agency set up secret prisons at Soviet-era compounds in Eastern Europe. Most of the aircraft are small, private jets that are on a list of planes believed to be used by the CIA, according to American media reports.