Several 'slight injuries' in Dreamliner evacuation: police

TOKYO: Several people were slightly injured during the evacuation of an All Nippon Airways Dreamliner that made an emergency landing in Japan on Wednesday, police said.

"We have reports that several people were slightly injured," said a spokesman at Kagawa police, which covers the Takamatsu area in western Japan.

"We heard they sustained injuries -- minor ones such as scratches -- when they were getting out of the plane," he said.

Broadcaster NHK quoted a passenger saying he had feared the plane was going to crash as it flew over Japan's fourth largest island of Shikoku.

"I smelled something strange when the plane was going into a cruising altitude after take-off," he told the broadcaster. "I didn't see smoke."

"The plane then started descending rapidly and I thought 'this could crash'. I was surprised as there was an announcement that it was making an emergency landing at Takamatsu airport."

- AFP/ck

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Pak FM Hina Rabbani Khar says India is 'war-mongering', maintains no beheading took place

WASHINGTON: Pakistan's foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar went on a strident diplomatic offensive in the US on Tuesday, accusing India of "war-mongering" and embarking on a "narrative of hostility," while presenting her country as a paragon of peace and amity in the context of border tensions between the two countries.

"I thought war-mongering was a thing of yesteryears and we had put it behind us," the foreign minister of a country that is recognized as having initiated three wars against India said at an Asia Society talk, artfully glossing over her country's well-chronicled record of hostilities to change status-quo. Pakistan, she said, was "deeply disappointed" with statements coming from the highest levels of the Indian government, but it would not give up on its "deep abiding commitment to pursue peace with India."

"I am happy we are not responding in kind either by word or by action," Khar added, speaking of the reaction (or non-reaction) in Pakistan, where national attention is focused on the shadow war between the feeble civilian government, an assertive judiciary, and the domestically powerful military. "We should not close the door. The dialogue should be uninterrupted and uninterruptible. That is what mature countries do."

Khar was ostensibly responding to the familiar story-line evident in a New York Times headline that cited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accusing Pakistan of restarting hostilities in Kashmir and amid reports of New Delhi once again considering downgrading ties. Singh is widely praised in the US for pursuing a peace agenda with Pakistan despite what even American interlocutors say is the country's unremitting use of terrorism as a state policy.

While her talk — and her earlier interview on the Charlie Rose show — was mainly centered on the domestic turmoil in Pakistan, Khar used the platforms to glibly portray Pakistan's civilian government as being committed to peace with India, although the country is widely seen to be run by its jihadist military whose chief has articulated ceaseless hostility toward India, insisting he sees it as Pakistan's principle enemy.

But Khar relentlessly beat the peace drum before a mainly western audience in New York City, insisting Pakistan was the one pressing for amity and it was India that was upping the ante. "We don't take political mileage through hostile narrative," she said, suggesting that the border spat had become fodder for domestic politics in India. "The doors to dialogue should remain open rather us speaking through public and the media."

While platitudes flowed thick and fast from the foreign minister of a country seen across the world as sponsoring terrorism against its neighbors, she also brushed aside charges relating to the beheading of an Indian soldier, saying Pakistan had "looked intensely" and "found no evidence of an incident like this."

"There is no question of anyone every authorizing any beheading. It goes against our commitment to the peace process," she said. Besides, she added, there were mechanisms and processes to look into such charges. Khar also skirted a question about whether the alleged beheading indicated the Pakistani military had been infiltrated by Taliban and al-Qaida elements for whom beheading so-called infidels and kaffirs is a trademark.

Between the homilies, there was some disingenuous dissembling about the actions Pakistan had supposedly taken "at great political risk" to normalize trade, although the ground reality is that Islamabad has again reneged on a signed commitment on this matter. Instead, Khar accused India of going back on recent visa agreements.

Some of the mendacity was called out by the audience during searching questions about the Pakistani military establishment's ties to Osama bin Laden and the Haqqani terrorist group. Backed into a corner by a question about her army chief Pervez Ashfaq Kayani describing the Haqqani group as a "strategic asset," Khar bailed out of it by saying, "that is not his view now." And even though Pakistan has done little to rewrite the national curriculum of hate that sees anyone other than Muslims (and lately only Sunnis) as "infidels" and "kafirs" leading to large scale murder of minorities, Khar insisted on presenting Pakistan as epitome of moderation.

When questions finally turned to the ongoing domestic turmoil in Pakistan, she dismissed the cleric Tahir-ul Qadri as a troublemaker who was making "preposterous demands" for which he could be arrested. When asked about corruption in Pakistan, her response was to point out there was corruption in all countries, particularly in India where there had been many scams.

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Mars Rover Finds Intriguing New Evidence of Water

The first drill sample ever collected on Mars will come from a rockbed shot through with unexpected veins of what appears to be the mineral gypsum.

Delighted members of the Curiosity science team announced Tuesday that the rover was now in a virtual "candy store" of scientific targets—the lowest point of Gale crater, called Yellowknife Bay, is filled with many different materials that could have been created only in the presence of water. (Related: "Mars Has 'Oceans' of Water Inside?")

Project scientist John Grotzinger, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said during a press conference that the drill area has turned out "to be jackpot unit. Every place we drive exposes fractures and vein fills."

Mission scientists initially decided to visit the depression, a third of a mile from Curiosity's landing site, on a brief detour before heading to the large mountain at the middle of Gale Crater. But because of the richness of their recent finds, Grotzinger said it may be some months before they begin their trek to Mount Sharp.

The drilling, expected to start this month, will dig five holes about two inches (five centimeters) into bedrock the size of a throw rug and then feed the powder created to the rover's two chemistry labs for analysis.

The drill is the most complex device on the rover and is the last instrument to be used. Project Manager Richard Cook, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said that operating it posed the biggest mechanical challenge since Curiosity's high-drama landing. (Watch video of Curiosity's "Seven Minutes of Terror.")

A Watery Past?

That now-desiccated Mars once had a significant amount of surface water is now generally accepted, but every new discovery of when and where water was present is considered highly significant. The presence of surface water in its many possible forms—as a running stream, as a still lake, as ground water soaked into the Martian soil—all add to an increased possibility that the planet was once habitable. (Watch a video about searching for life on Mars.)

And each piece of evidence supporting the presence of water brings the Curiosity mission closer to its formal goal—which is to determine whether Mars was once capable of supporting life.

Curiosity scientists have already concluded that a briskly moving river or stream once flowed near the Gale landing site.

The discovery of the mineral-filled veins within Yellowknife Bay rock fractures adds to the picture because those minerals can be deposited only in watery, underground conditions.

The Curiosity team has also examined Yellowknife Bay for sedimentary rocks with the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI).  Scientists have found sandstone with grains up to about the size of a peppercorn, including one shaped like a flower bud that appears to gleam. Other nearby rocks are siltstone, with grains finer than powdered sugar. These are quite different from the pebbles and conglomerate rocks found in the landing area, but all these rocks are evidence of a watery past. (Related: "A 2020 Rover Return to Mars?")

One of the primary reasons Curiosity scientists selected Gale crater as a landing site was because satellite images indicated that water-formed minerals were present near the base of Mount Sharp. Grotzinger said that the minerals' presence so close to the landing site, and some five miles from the mountain, is both a surprise and an opportunity.

The current site in Yellowknife Bay is so promising, Grotzinger said, that he would have been "thrilled" to find similar formations at the mission's prime destination at the base of Mount Sharp.  Now the mission can look forward to the surprises to come at the mountain base while already having struck gold.

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Sandy Aid Clears Huge Hurdle in Congress

(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Seventy-nine days after Hurricane Sandy slammed into the Northeast, the House of Representatives voted this evening to approve about $50 billion of additional relief for the region pounded by the storm.

The measure passed 241-180, mostly behind Democratic support, winning 49 votes from Republicans and 192 votes from Democrats. Just one Democrat opposed the legislation, while 179 Republicans voted against it.

The base bill, known as the Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Act, included about $17 billion to fund immediate and critical needs for Sandy victims and their communities. An amendment offered by New Jersey Republican Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen to provide an additional $33 billion for disaster relief also passed, bringing the total amount of relief closer to the Obama administration’s emergency supplemental request, which called for $60.4 billion in total relief.

The Senate still must approve the legislation before President Obama can sign it into law.

An amendment offered by South Carolina Republican Rep. Mick Mulvaney to require all funding in the disaster package to be offset fell well short of the votes required to change the bill, 162-258.

Democrats and Republicans from the storm-ravaged region shared a common frustration over members who opposed to the relief package.

“To use this funding as a political pawn in a game over the role of government and budgetary debates is shameful,” New York Democratic Rep. Elliot Engel wrote in a statement shortly after the vote. “The first order of business for the federal government is to protect our citizens, and helping them recover from the tragedy of a natural disaster is one of those times.”

“I am pleased that the House of Representatives has finally passed legislation to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy,” Rep. Jon Runyan, R-N.J., stated after the vote. “I am hopeful that the Senate will quickly debate and pass this bipartisan legislation so that families in New Jersey and New York will not have to continue to wait for the aid they need.”

The governors of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, the three states  hit hardest by the storm, had all angrily criticized Republicans in the House for deciding not to vote on an aid package passed by the Senate in December, but after the measure’s passage tonight issued a joint statement thanking the House.

“We are grateful to those members of Congress who today pulled together in a unified, bipartisan coalition to assist millions of their fellow Americans in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut at their greatest time of need,” Gov. Chris Christie, N.J.; Gov. Andrew Cuomo, N.Y.; and Gov. Dannel Molloy, Conn., wrote in the statement.

“The tradition of Congress being there and providing support for Americans during times of crisis, no matter where they live across this great country, lives on in today’s vote in the House of Representatives,” they wrote. “We anticipate smooth passage when this package moves back to the Senate for final approval and for this long-awaited relief to finally make its way to our residents.”

Nevertheless, there were still many lawmakers who opposed the package because they felt it contained non-emergency spending.

“The final version passed here tonight includes billions in pork and unrelated spending that we cannot afford while Americans are struggling to make ends meet,” Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., wrote in a statement. “Hurricane Sandy victims need a simple, responsible aid package, and nothing more.  Our nation is facing a debt crisis: it’s time for Washington to stop using important bills to fund its own political projects.”

Congress has already approved $9.7 billion for flood insurance on Jan. 4. The House also passed a separate bill without opposition Monday evening, the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act, to speed up and streamline federal disaster recovery programs.

After the House voted Jan. 1 on the “fiscal cliff” deal, House Speaker John Boehner decided not to vote on any relief during the 112^th Congress. Republicans and Democrats from the region revolted until Boehner held a private meeting with angry Republican members, during which he promised to make Sandy relief a priority in the 113^th Congress.

The legislation was opposed by numerous leading conservative interest groups, including Heritage Action, Americans for Tax Reform, and the Club for Growth, which all warned Republicans not to support the measure.

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On inaugural eve, Obama’s most virulent foes want the celebration stopped

Eldon Bell, a retired Air Force officer and physician, is making no plans to see Barack Obama’s second inauguration, in part because Bell considers the president arrogant and dishonest, but more so because Bell is not yet persuaded that the swearing-in will occur at all.

“Whether I watch depends on who’s being inaugurated,” says Bell, 78. “If it’s this guy, probably not, because I don’t pay much attention to illegitimate things.”

At this late date, Bell and his fellow believers in the notion that Obama was born overseas or is otherwise ineligible to be president still expect some court somewhere to buy into one of their theories. After more than 100 court cases, no judge has.

Even after Obama convincingly won reelection despite four years of low popularity ratings, a sluggish economy and a highly motivated opposition, advocates of various counterfactual theories about the president — he’s a foreigner, he’s a Marxist, he’s a Muslim — say they’re sticking to their fight.

“This inauguration is a mistake and those who permit it to happen will have to live with their own consciences,” says Bell, a former Washingtonian who retired to South Dakota.

Most Americans have moved on from earlier dalliances with denials of the president’s biography. National opinion polls have shown increases over the past three years in the percentage of Americans who agree that Obama was born in the United States and that he is a Christian. But a persistent minority — between a tenth and a fifth in most polls — still believe he is Muslim, foreign-born or a socialist.

Those voters tend to be vehement opponents of Obama, and on Inauguration Day, they will not be at the party — and they’re still searching for ways to have the president declared illegitimate.

“Let’s face it, this is a man very deep into an ideology that is not American,” says the Rev. Clenard Childress, a New Jersey minister and antiabortion activist who says black and white voters alike returned Obama to office “to feel better about ourselves and get the guilt of racism off us.”

Childress says it’s 50-50 that Obama is a Muslim who was born in Kenya: “But what I really care about is do we have the same values? Do you believe in the sanctity of life? Do you believe in marriage as being between man and woman? And this president does not.”

Just because the election is over doesn’t mean the confrontations of the first term will end, Childress says. In addition to the fiscal battles on Capitol Hill, the minister says, social issues will keep Obama opponents fired up, starting with next month’s antiabortion rally on the Mall and continuing with court and political battles over same-sex marriage.

“There will never be more contentiousness than in the next two years,” he says. “I told my congregation: Just strap yourselves down, it’s going to be nasty.”

Those who monitor anti-Obama movements say the inauguration will do nothing to quiet the rapids. “The rhetoric since the election has actually gotten more vicious,” says Kevin Davidson, better known as “Dr. Conspiracy,” his handle on his Web site, Obama Conspiracy Theories, which keeps tabs on those who declare Obama’s presidency illegitimate.

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Tilted jack-up rig in Jurong Shipyard restored

SINGAPORE: Jurong Shipyard has restored and floated the jack-up rig that tilted in 2012 to its original upright position.

Eighty-nine workers were injured in the incident at the shipyard on 3 December.

Sembcorp Marine said on Tuesday that with the rig now back to its upright position, Jurong Shipyard and the authorities will focus on investigations into what caused it to tilt.

Repairs and restoration work will start when the stop-work is lifted.

The three-legged rig was scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2013 but this has been rescheduled.

The rig is expected to be delivered by the end of third quarter of 2013.

Sembcorp Marine said the repairs and change in the delivery date are not expected to have any material impact on its net tangible assets and earnings per share for the year ending 31 December 2013.

- CNA/ck

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National Conference may induct Congress MLAs in J&K Cabinet

NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah can expand and reshuffle his ministry on Tuesday following a prod from AICC president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday evening. Congress leaders like Saifuddin Soz have been asking for more representation from their party in the Omar-led National Conference coalition government.

Abdullah had dropped two Congress ministers, G A Saroori and Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, on charges of corruption. Saroori, a Congress MLA from Kishtwar, was charged for an impersonation fraud in the medical entrance test that his daughter gave and Peerzada was accused of helping his step-son copy in Class X exams. They were exonerated by the CBI and a state-level investigation team.

Sonia asked for the inclusion of more Congress legislators in the J&K House. State governor NN Vohra rushed to Jammu from New Delhi to make arrangements for the oath ceremony of new ministers at 4pm on Tuesday. Soz and Ghulam Nabi Azad had briefed Sonia about the unrest in the Congress camp after berths meant for them were not filled.

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"Fantastic" New Flying Frog Found—Has Flappy Forearms

Scientists have stumbled across a new species of flying frog—on the ground.

While hiking a lowland forest in 2009, not far from Ho Chi Minh City (map), Vietnam, "we came across a huge green frog, sitting on a log," said Jodi Rowley, an amphibian biologist at the Australian Museum in Sydney and lead author of a new study on the frog.

Rowley later discovered that the 3.5-inch-long (9-centimeter-long) creature is a relatively large new type of flying frog, a group known for its ability to "parachute" from tree to tree thanks to special aerodynamic adaptations, such as webbed feet, Rowley said. (Also see "'Vampire Flying Frog' Found; Tadpoles Have Black Fangs.")

Rowley dubbed the new species Helen's flying frog, in honor of her mother, Helen Rowley, "who has steadfastly supported her only child trekking through the forests of Southeast Asia in search of frogs," according to a statement.

The newfound species—there are 80 types of flying frogs—is also "one of the most flying frogs of the flying frogs," Rowley said, "in that it's got huge hands and feet that are webbed all the way to the toepad."

"Females even have flappy skin on their forearms to glide," added Rowley, who has received funding from the National Geographic Committee on Research and Exploration. (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.) "The females are larger and heavier than males, so the little extra flaps probably don't make much of a difference," she said.

As Rowley wrote on her blog, "At first it may seem strange that such a fantastic and obvious frog could escape discovery until now—less than 100 kilometers [60 miles] from an urban centre with over nine million people."

Yet these tree dwellers can easily escape notice—they spend most of their time in the canopy, she said.

Flying Frog On the Edge

Even so, Helen's flying frog won't be able to hide from development near Ho Chi Minh City, which may encroach on its existing habitats.

So far, only five individuals have been found in two patches of lowland forest hemmed in by rice paddies in southern Vietnam, Rowley said. The animals can probably tolerate a little bit of disturbance as long as they have large trees and temporary pools, she added.

But lowland forests are among the most threatened habitats in the world, mostly because they're so accessible to people, and thus chosen for logging and development. (Get the facts on deforestation.)

"While Helen's flying frog has only just been discovered by biologists," Rowley wrote, "unfortunately this species, like many others, is under great threat from ongoing habitat loss and degradation."

The new flying frog study was published in December 2012 in the Journal of Herpetology.

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Armstrong Admits Doping in Tour, Sources Say

Lance Armstrong today admitted to Oprah Winfrey that he used performance enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France, sources told ABC News.

A goverment source tells ABC News that Armstrong is now talking with authorities about paying back some of the US Postal Service money from sponsoring his team. He is also talking to authorities about confessing and naming names, giving up others involved in illegal doping. This could result in a reduction of his lifetime ban, according to the source, if Armstrong provides substantial and meaningful information.

Armstrong made the admission in what sources describe as an emotional interview with Winfrey to air on "Oprah's Next Chapter" on Jan. 17.

The 90-minute interview at his home in Austin, Texas, was Armstrong's first since officials stripped him of his world cycling titles in response to doping allegations.

Word of Armstrong's admission comes after a Livestrong official said that Armstrong apologized today to the foundation's staff ahead of his interview.

The disgraced cyclist gathered with about 100 Livestrong Foundation staffers at their Austin headquarters for a meeting that included social workers who deal directly with patients as part of the group's mission to support cancer victims.

Armstrong's "sincere and heartfelt apology" generated lots of tears, spokeswoman Katherine McLane said, adding that he "took responsibility" for the trouble he has caused the foundation.

Riccardo S. Savi/Getty Images|Ray Tamarra/Getty Images

Lance Armstrong Stripped of Tour de France Titles Watch Video

Lance Armstrong Doping Charges: Secret Tapes Watch Video

McLane declined to say whether Armstrong's comments included an admission of doping, just that the cyclist wanted the staff to hear from him in person rather than rely on second-hand accounts.

Armstrong then took questions from the staff.

Armstrong's story has never changed. In front of cameras, microphones, fans, sponsors, cancer survivors -- even under oath -- Lance Armstrong hasn't just denied ever using performance enhancing drugs, he has done so in an indignant, even threatening way.

Armstrong, 41, was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from the sport for life by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in October 2012, after allegations that he benefited from years of systematic doping, using banned substances and receiving illicit blood transfusions.

"Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling," Pat McQuaid, the president of the International Cycling Union, said at a news conference in Switzerland announcing the decision. "This is a landmark day for cycling."

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency issued a 200-page report Oct. 10 after a wide-scale investigation into Armstrong's alleged use of performance-enhancing substances.

Armstrong won the Tour de France from 1999 to 2005.

According to a source, speaking to ABC News, a representative of Armstrong's once offered to make a donation estimated around $250,000 to the agency, as "60 Minutes Sports" on Showtime first reported.

Lance Armstrong's attorney Tim Herman denied it. "No truth to that story," Herman said. "First Lance heard of it was today. He never made any such contribution or suggestion."

Armstrong, who himself recovered from testicular cancer, created the Lance Armstrong Foundation (now known as the LIVESTRONG Foundation) to help people with cancer cope, as well as foster a community for cancer awareness. Armstrong resigned late last year as chairman of the LIVESTRONG Foundation, which raised millions of dollars in the fight against cancer.

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Bloomberg wants to change the GOP

NEW YORK — Michael Bloomberg, America’s most prominent and deep-pocketed advocate for gun control, would rather rehabilitate Republicans than oust them.

“Somebody got them the way they are now,” the mayor of New York said in a recent interview as he sat in the bullpen offices of City Hall, surrounded by a buzzing staff, blinking Bloomberg terminals and clocks telling the same time in each of the five boroughs. “Why can’t you change them?”

On Monday, Bloomberg will headline a summit on guns at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, another opportunity for the outspoken mayor to deliver an indictment of Washington’s failure to do anything meaningful on the issue. Although the Democrat-turned-Republican-


turned-indepen­dent says he practices a “noble and practical” brand of post-partisan politics, when it comes to gun laws, he is more aligned with one party than the other.

Democrats in the White House and in Congress are working closely with his advocacy group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, to enact his gun-control agenda. And Republicans, especially those in the House, don’t seem the least bit interested.

“Oh sure,” Bloomberg said, he would blame Republicans if they blocked new gun-control legislation in the House. “But having said that, I won’t let the Democrats off the hook.” He added that when Democrats “were in power, they didn’t do it,” and President Obama “campaigned on an ­assault-weapons ban and he didn’t do it, so spare me.”

It’s not clear how much longer the mayor’s idiosyncratic who-needs-political-parties approach will apply when it comes to gun control.

After the massacre of schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., a collection of progressive groups and Democratic lawmakers, including, most recently, former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, have aggressively entered the debate. (“And so we’re not going to be the star,” Bloomberg said. “My interest is in having this done. I don’t need to get credit for it.”) That still leaves Bloomberg with a significant distinction: He’s a multibillionaire who can immediately reshape the landscape of gun politics with his money. His hope is that he can break the GOP of what he sees as its National Rifle Association addiction by using his considerable resources to promote gun laws with which many NRA members will agree.

“I’m going to prove a counterweight” to the NRA, said Bloomberg, who spent about $10 million in five congressional and statewide races against NRA-
supported candidates last year, winning four of those contests. “It seemed effective, and I’m certainly going to take a good, hard look at next time. . . . You can organize people, I can write checks.”

Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the NRA, said that although there were “billions of reasons to take him seriously,” the organization viewed Bloomberg’s handpicked races as an attempt to “manufacture a story line.” The NRA, he said, “played in hundreds of races at the federal level and thousands of races at the state legislative level.” As far as Bloomberg’s effort to peel off Republicans, Arulanandam did not seem particularly worried. “He is free to spend his money or waste it however he sees fit,” the spokesman said.

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