Boeing Dreamliner to make special one-time flight

WASHINGTON: A Boeing 787 Dreamliner will fly for the first time in three weeks in a so-called ferry flight after the company won permission on Wednesday from US regulators.

In the special one-time flight, the plane -- with no passengers and just the minimum crew needed to fly it -- will travel on Thursday from Forth Worth, Texas, where it was being painted, back to Boeing's assembly plant in Everett in the northwestern state of Washington.

The 50-strong fleet of Boeing's newest plane was grounded January 16 because of repeated problems with its lithium-ion battery. One of them caught fire on an All Nippon Airways flight in Boston a week earlier.

The Federal Aviation Administration said that before the ferry flight, the crew must carry out a number of inspections to be sure the batteries and cables show no signs of damage.

"The pre-flight checklist will include a mandatory check for specific status messages that could indicate possible battery problems," the FAA said.

"While airborne, the crew must continuously monitor the flight computer for battery-related messages, and land immediately if one occurs."

- AFP/xq

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Harish Rawat asks Uttarakhand CM for CBI probe into 2010 Mahakumbh scam

DEHRADUN: Union minister for water resources Harish Rawat on Wednesday asked chief minister of Uttarakhand Vijay Bahuguna to recommend a CBI probe into the alleged misappropriation of Rs.500 crores released by the previous BJP state government for preparations of the 2010 Mahakumbh in Haridwar.

Talking to reporters in Haridwar, Rawat said an impartial probe by CBI will help bring the culprits to light.

Rawat also accused senior office-bearers of VHP of reviving the Ayodhya temple issue for political mileage in view of upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"But as voters are fully aware of such political tricks, they no longer can not be misled," Rawat said.

He also asked Bahuguna to ensure Roorkee and Udham Singh Nagar civic bodies are upgraded from municipal board to municipal corporations at the earliest.

Rawat said timely upgradation of these civic bodies will help boost industrial and other development activities considerably in the two tarai districts.

"It is always good for a chief minister to announce sops for development but these announcements should be implemented in a right spirits," Rawat said.

Referring to Bahuguna's announcement to convert Piran Kaliyar in Roorkee into a tourist destination, Rawat asked him to ensure that an order is issued at the earliest. Rawat said once an order is issued, development activities will pick up.

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New whooping cough strain in US raises questions

NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers have discovered the first U.S. cases of whooping cough caused by a germ that may be resistant to the vaccine.

Health officials are looking into whether cases like the dozen found in Philadelphia might be one reason the nation just had its worst year for whooping cough in six decades. The new bug was previously reported in Japan, France and Finland.

"It's quite intriguing. It's the first time we've seen this here," said Dr. Tom Clark of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The U.S. cases are detailed in a brief report from the CDC and other researchers in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Whooping cough is a highly contagious disease that can strike people of any age but is most dangerous to children. It was once common, but cases in the U.S. dropped after a vaccine was introduced in the 1940s.

An increase in illnesses in recent years has been partially blamed on a version of the vaccine used since the 1990s, which doesn't last as long. Last year, the CDC received reports of 41,880 cases, according to a preliminary count. That included 18 deaths.

The new study suggests that the new whooping cough strain may be why more people have been getting sick. Experts don't think it's more deadly, but the shots may not work as well against it.

In a small, soon-to-be published study, French researchers found the vaccine seemed to lower the risk of severe disease from the new strain in infants. But it didn't prevent illness completely, said Nicole Guiso of the Pasteur Institute, one of the researchers.

The new germ was first identified in France, where more extensive testing is routinely done for whooping cough. The strain now accounts for 14 percent of cases there, Guiso said.

In the United States, doctors usually rely on a rapid test to help make a diagnosis. The extra lab work isn't done often enough to give health officials a good idea how common the new type is here, experts said.

"We definitely need some more information about this before we can draw any conclusions," the CDC's Clark said.

The U.S. cases were found in the past two years in patients at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. One of the study's researchers works for a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, which makes a version of the old whooping cough vaccine that is sold in other countries.

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JournaL: http://www.nejm.org

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Lance Armstrong Under Criminal Investigation

Federal investigators are in the midst of an active criminal investigation of disgraced Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, ABC News has learned.

The revelation comes in stark contrast to statements made by the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, Andre Birotte, who addressed his own criminal inquiry of Armstrong for the first time publicly on Tuesday. Birotte's office spent nearly two years investigating Armstrong for crimes reportedly including drug distribution, fraud and conspiracy -- only to suddenly drop the case on the Friday before the Super Bowl last year.

Sources at the time said that agents had recommended an indictment and could not understand why the case was suddenly dropped.

Today, a high level source told ABC News, "Birotte does not speak for the federal government as a whole."

According to the source, who agreed to speak on the condition that his name and position were not used because of the sensitivity of the matter, "Agents are actively investigating Armstrong for obstruction, witness tampering and intimidation."

AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski, File

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An email to an attorney for Armstrong was not immediately returned.

Earlier Tuesday, during a Department of Justice news conference on another matter, Birotte was confronted with the Armstrong question unexpectedly. The following is a transcript of that exchange:

Q: Mr. Birotte, given the confession of Lance Armstrong to all the things --

Birotte: (Off mic.)

Q: -- to all thethings that you, in the end, decided you couldn't bring a case about, can you give us your thoughts on that case now and whether you might take another look at it?

Birotte: We made a decision on that case, I believe, a little over a year ago. Obviously we've been well-aware of the statements that have been made by Mr. Armstrong and other media reports. That has not changed my view at this time. Obviously, we'll consider, we'll continue to look at the situation, but that hasn't changed our view as I stand here today.

The source said that Birotte is not in the loop on the current criminal inquiry, which is being run out of another office.

Armstrong confessed to lying and using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Investigators are not concerned with the drug use, but Armstrong's behavior in trying to maintain his secret by allegedly threatening and interfering with potential witnesses.

Armstrong is currently serving a lifetime ban in sport handed down by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. He has been given a Feb. 6 deadline to tell all under oath to investigators or lose his last chance at a possible break on the lifetime ban.

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Stabbing at Ecuador campaign rally not politically motivated: Correa

QUITO (Reuters) - A knife attack in Ecuador that killed two government supporters was perpetrated by a man under the influence of drugs and alcohol and was not politically motivated, President Rafael Correa said on Tuesday.

The man killed two Correa supporters and injured five more at a campaign rally on Monday, about two weeks before a presidential election that the leftist leader is expected to win comfortably.

"There is no indication that this attack may have been politically motivated. It was a person who was temporarily insane and stabbed the people that he found in his way," Correa said at a press conference in Quito. "This person was under the influence of drugs and alcohol."

A 40-year-old man with a criminal record who had spent time at a drug rehab center was detained shortly after the attack and is in police custody.

Correa said that five people were injured, one more than the number previously given by authorities.

Such incidents are exceedingly rare in Ecuadorean political campaigns despite historically volatile politics in which presidents have been toppled during street protests.

It was the first significant act of violence in a presidential race that officially started on January 4.

In a chilling video broadcast on local TV networks, a man could be seen breaking through a rally of a few hundred Correa sympathizers and attacking them with a large knife. Dozens ran for their lives while some men tried to stop the attacker.

Correa said police at the event were caught off guard. He said the attack lasted less than 20 seconds.

The incident occurred ahead of a campaign rally in Quininde, a town in the western Esmeraldas province. The event was canceled following the attack and Correa suspended his campaign on Tuesday in solidarity with the victims.

Correa, an ally of socialist Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, is expected to win the February 17 vote. Polls give him between 50 percent and 60 percent of votes, at least 30 percentage points ahead of his nearest rival, Guillermo Lasso, a former banker.

The president is very popular in urban shanty towns and rural areas, where millions have seen their livelihoods improved thanks to record spending in roads, hospitals and schools.

(Writing By Eduardo Garcia; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

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China radar-lock on Japan ship 'dangerous': PM Abe

TOKYO: The radar-lock that a Chinese frigate put on a Japanese warship was "dangerous" and "provocative", Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday, as tensions in a territorial row ratcheted up.

"It was a dangerous act that could have led to an unpredictable situation," Abe told parliament. "It is extremely regrettable. We strongly ask for their self-restraint in order to avoid an unnecessary escalation."

The hawkish prime minister, who took office late December following a landslide win in elections, described the radar-locking as "unilateral provocative action by the Chinese side".

Abe's comments come a day after Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera announced weapon-targeting radar had been directed at the Japanese vessel in international waters of the East China Sea last week.

The move marks the first time the two nations' navies have locked horns in a dispute that has some commentators warning about a possible armed conflict.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington was "concerned" over the incident.

"With regard to the reports of this particular lock-on incident, actions such as this escalate tensions and increase the risk of an incident or a miscalculation, and they could undermine peace, stability and economic growth in this vital region," she said.

Onodera said a Japanese military helicopter was also locked with a similar radar on January 19.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a news conference that Tokyo lodged a protest against Beijing over the radar-locking on Tuesday and asked for an explanation, but was yet to receive any reply.

Radar is used to precisely determine a target's distance, direction, speed and altitude. Weapon systems linked to the radar can be fired immediately, Japan's government said.

The move is a ratcheting-up of an already tense situation in the East China Sea, where Asia's two largest economies are at loggerheads over the sovereignty of an uninhabited island chain.

On Tuesday Tokyo summoned China's envoy in protest at the presence a day earlier of Chinese government -- but not military -- ships in the waters around the Tokyo-controlled Senkakus, which Beijing claims as the Diaoyus.

Beijing has repeatedly sent ships to the area since Japan nationalised some islands in the chain in September. The move triggered a diplomatic dispute and huge anti-Japan demonstrations across China.

Beijing has also sent air patrols to the archipelago and recently both Beijing and Tokyo have scrambled fighter jets, though there have been no clashes.

- AFP/ck

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15 dip hands in hot oil to prove loyalty in Gujarat

SABARKANTHA (Gujarat): Fifteen persons received burn injuries after they dipped their hands in hot oil to convince a candidate, who lost in panchayat elections, that they had voted for him, police said.

The candidate, identified as Girish Parmar, has been detained, police said.

The incident took place at Derai village of Bayad taluka this evening after counting of votes for the district panchayat, gram panchayat and nagarpalika elections got over.

"Fifteen persons received injuries after they dipped their hands in hot oil to prove to the lost candidate of their community that they had voted for him. We have already nabbed the candidate," Sabarkantha superintendent of police Chirag Koradiya told PTI.

"We will lodge a complaint against the candidate though none of the persons, who received injuries, is coming forward to register the complaint as they all belong to one community," he said.

"This is a superstition followed in the village to convince a candidate of their community that they voted for him," he added.

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Sarai Sierra's 2 Young Boys Don't Know Mom's Dead

The two young sons of slain New York mom Sarai Sierra are under the impression that their father has gone to Turkey to bring their mother home - alive.

Sierra, whose battered body was found near a highway in Istanbul over the weekend, was the mother of two boys aged 9 and 11.

Steven Sierra, who went to Istanbul in search of his wife after she disappeared nearly two weeks ago, told his children that he was going to Turkey to bring their mom home.

"The father will be speaking to them and it's something that's going to be hard and he's going to be talking to them when he comes back," Betsy Jimenez, the mother of Sarai Sierra, said today during a family news conference.

State Representative Michael Grimm said Steven Sierra's biggest concern is telling his children that mom's not coming home.

"It's going to be the hardest thing he's ever going to have to do in his life," said Grimm, who added that the Staten Island family isn't sure when Steven Sierra will be able to bring home his wife's body.

An autopsy was completed Sunday on Sarai Sierra, 33, but results aren't expected for three months. Turkish officials however said she was killed by at least one fatal blow to her head.

A casket holding the Staten Island mother was carried through alleyways lined with spice and food stalls to a church, where the casket remained on Monday.

Turkish police hope DNA samples from 21 people being questioned in the case will be key to finding the perpetrators, the Associated Press reported, according to state run media.

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Earlier this week, it was also reported that Turkish police are speaking to a local man who was supposed to meet Sierra the day she disappeared, but he said she never showed.

After an intense search for Sierra that lasted nearly two weeks, her body was found Saturday near the ruins of some ancient city walls and a highway. Sierra was wearing the same outfit she was seen wearing on surveillance footage taken at a food court and on a street the day she vanished, Istanbul Police Chief Huseyin Capkin said.

Sierra's body was taken to a morgue, Capkin said, and was identified by her husband.

It did not appear she had been raped or was involved in any espionage or trafficking, Capkin said.

Betsy Jimenez said Monday that her family has many unanswered questions such as what happened to her daughter after she left her hotel room to go and take photographs of a famous bridge.

"They're still investigating so they might think it might be a robbery, but they're not sure," said Jimenez.

Sierra, who had traveled to Istanbul on Jan. 7 to practice her photography hobby, was last heard from on Jan. 21, the day she was due to board a flight home to New York City.

Dennis Jimenez, Sierra's father, told reporters Monday that he didn't want her to go on the trip.

"I didn't want her to go. But, she wanted to go because this was an opportunity for her to sightsee and pursue her photography hobby because Turkey was a land rich with culture and ancient history and she was fascinated with that," said Jimenez.

While in Istanbul, Sierra would Skype with her family and friends daily, telling them about how amazing the culture was.

Sierra's best friend Maggie Rodriguez told ABC News that she was forced to pull out of the trip at the last minute because she couldn't afford it. That's why Sierra traveled alone.

Her husband, Steven Sierra, and brother, David Jimenez, traveled to Istanbul last Sunday to meet with American and Turkish officials and push the search forward.

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Mexico oil firm blast caused by gas build-up: official

MEXICO CITY: The explosion that killed 37 people at the headquarters of Mexico's state-owned oil firm was caused by a gas build-up, officials said Monday, ruling out a bomb attack.

The announcement ended a four-day-long mystery that had sparked a wave of speculation about the cause of the blast at the complex that houses the offices of Pemex in the heart of Mexico City.

The explosion tore through an annex of the company's skyscraper in the capital last Thursday, injuring more than 120 people.

"We were able to determine that the explosion was caused by an accumulation of gas in the basement" of the annex, Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam told a news conference.

The blast caused floors to collapse, killing 37 people, he said.

"We confirmed that there are no traces of explosives," he said, adding that the blast did not leave a crater and that the victims did not have the type of dismemberment caused by bombs.

-AFP/fl

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CPM urges Prime Minister to restore diesel subsidy for bulk consumers

NEW DELHI: The CPM urged the Congress-led UPA government to restore the subsidy on diesel to bulk consumers like state transport companies and railways to ease the fare hike burden on the aam aadmi using public transport.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat called the decision to charge the market rate of diesel for these bulk consumers retrograde and causing a financial crisis. "There are reports of State Transport Corporations curtailing their services and reducing the routes on which buses ply. Steps are being taken to increase the bus fares," Karat wrote expressing concern about the move crippling public transport.

Karat stressed on the need to subsidize diesel for bulk consumers in order to strengthen public transport. "The sharp increase in private vehicles and traffic is causing pollution and a major environmental problem. The only way out is to restrict the expansion of private vehicles and to strengthen public transport," wrote Karat.

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