Dreamliner Safety And Design Review Ordered

America's aviation watchdog has ordered a comprehensive review of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner after a spate of incidents involving the aircraft.

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said he is confident the Boeing 787 is safe, but he remains concerned about recent events, including a fire and a fuel leak earlier this week.

Michael Huerta, the FAA administrator, said there is nothing in the data the agency has seen to suggest the plane is not safe.

The watchdog announced it is undertaking a comprehensive review of the 787 to include "critical systems, including design, manufacture and assembly".

The manufacturer responded to fears over the plane and said: "Boeing is confident in the design and performance of the 787. It is a safe and efficient airplane that brings tremendous value to our customers and an improved flying experience to their passengers.

"The airplane has logged 50,000 hours of flight and there are more than 150 flights occurring daily."

Boston fire crews attend the JAL plane after it filled with smoke

The move by the US aviation authority was prompted after a fifth Dreamliner fault this week was reported on Friday morning.

Oil was discovered leaking from the left engine of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA).

An ANA spokeswoman said the leak was found after the domestic flight landed safely at Miyazaki airport in southern Japan.

It came on the same day another Japanese 787 suffered a cracked cockpit window while in flight on a domestic route.

ANA said crew noticed a spider web-like crack in a window in front of the pilot's seat about 70 minutes into Friday's flight, which was close to its destination.

The Dreamliner, the world's first carbon-composite airliner, which has a list price of $207m (£128m), has been beset by problems this week.

The plane was designed to use power plants made by General Electric and Britain's Rolls-Royce.

On Wednesday, a domestic flight was halted by ANA because brake parts to the rear left undercarriage needed replacing, a spokesman at Yamaguchi Ube Airport said.

An investigator in the US examines a Boeing 787

A Japan Air Lines (JAL) jet was also grounded at Boston Logan International airport in the US following an engine fuel leak.

About 40 gallons of fuel spilled from the jet that was supposed to be bound for Tokyo.

That event followed the first incident of the week, which also occurred at Boston, on Monday.

Emergency services had been called after another JAL 787 filled with smoke shortly after passengers and crew had disembarked.

Firefighters used infrared cameras to locate the fire in a battery pack in the belly of a different Boeing 787 and extinguished the blaze within 20 minutes.

Sky sources revealed that if the battery fire had occurred during a transocean flight the aircraft may have been brought down.

The 787 Dreamliner made its first commercial flight in late 2011, after a series of production delays put deliveries more than three years behind schedule.

By the end of last year, Boeing had sold 848 Dreamliners, and delivered 49. JAL and ANA operate 24 of the planes.

After the Boston events, British carriers including BA, Virgin Atlantic and Thomson Airways reaffirmed their plans to integrate 787s into fleets this year and next.

In India - where state-owned Air India has taken delivery of six Dreamliners and has more on order - a senior official at the aviation regulator said there was concern at the recent spate of 787 glitches.

Meanwhile, an Air India spokesman said the airline's debut Dreamliner flight from India to Paris on Thursday went without a hitch.

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Syria: Rebels Capture Key Military Base

Rebels have taken control of a key military base in northern Syria after weeks of fighting with Government forces.

Rebels were pictured celebrating inside Taftanaz airport, close to helicopters and tanks which had been used to attack them.

"The fighting at Taftanaz military airport ended at 11:00 am (0900 GMT) and the base is entirely in rebel hands," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Soon afterwards, it was raided by government jets, the Britain-based Observatory said.

"Warplanes are bombing Taftanaz military airport in an attempt to destroy it," a statement said.

Capturing the base is an important gain for the rebels who control vast swathes of Syria's north and east.

They are battling President Bashar al Assad's forces in most major cities and on the outskirts of Damascus.

"This is the largest airbase to be seized since the revolt began nearly 22 months ago," Abdel Rahman said.

The rebels had previously taken the relatively small Hamdan airport in Albu Kamal on the border with Iraq in the east.

They had also taken Marj al Sultan military airport in Damascus province.

The news came as UN-Arab League special envoy on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, met Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov and US undersecretary of state William Burns in Geneva.

After more than five hours of talks, Brahimi expressed an urgent need to end the conflict, but reported no major progress.

"We all stressed the need for a speedy end to the bloodshed and the destruction and all forms of violence in Syria," he told reporters.

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Eleven Killed In Hugo Chavez Rally Coach Crash

At least 11 people have been killed and more than 75 injured when two buses crashed into a lorry in western Venezuela on their way to a rally in support of cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez.

Police said a fatal crash occurred on a highway in the western Venezuelan state of Zulia in the early hours of the morning.

Yonder Polo, a relative of one of those injured in the accident, told local media the buses were "heading to Caracas to supposedly support the Chavez rally".

The aftermath of the bus crash

Survivor Erwin Carrasquero could not hold back his tears as he recalled the horror of the collision that killed two of his friends.

"Sadly he lost his life, and another youngster that was with us, but thankfully we are here and we must be thankful to God because we are alive," he said.

Footage from the scene showed the mangled wreckage of the buses with rescue workers and Venezuela's highway patrol at the scene of the accident.

Tens of thousands of supporters rallied in honour of their beloved 58-year-old leader on the day he should have been sworn in as president for a new six-year term, but was too ill to attend.

President Chavez was too ill to attend his own inauguration

President Chavez remained on his sickbed in Cuba while his supporters staged the massive gathering.

The crowd chanted: "We are all Chavez!" Some wore paper cut-outs of the yellow, blue and red presidential sash to show they were symbolically swearing in themselves in, in their leader's place.

Mr Chavez is reported to be suffering complications from a fourth cancer operation in his pelvic area.

As well as the operations, the leader has undergone weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatment since being diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer in June 2011.

Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro speaks during Thursday's rally

He looked to have staged a remarkable recovery last year, winning a new presidential term in October. But within weeks of his victory he returned to Havana for more treatment.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro - a former bus driver who shares Mr Chavez's radical socialist views and is his designated successor - is in charge of day-to-day government until there is clarity over whether he will recover.

Addressing Thursday's rally, Mr Maduro, shouted "Viva Chavez!" and called for a round of applause for the president's Cabinet ministers, saying they were starting a new term.

Of the president himself, he said he is "in a battle".

A clutch of foreign friends, including the presidents of Uruguay, Bolivia, and Nicaragua, all joined the rally.

Venezuela's Supreme Court has ruled that President Chavez's inauguration date of 10 January could be postponed until he was well enough to attend.

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Colorado Cinema Massacre Suspect To Face Trial

A judge has ordered that the man suspected of killing 12 people in a cinema shooting in Aurora, Colorado, should stand trial.

Judge William Sylvester found that prosecutors had established there was "probable cause" to believe James Holmes committed the crimes.

"Therefore the court orders that Defendant shall be bound over for trial on all counts," he wrote in a 61-page ruling posted online.

The 25-year-old has been charged with 166 offences following the shooting during a showing of The Dark Knight Rises last July.

Holmes will appear in court later for an arraignment hearing.

He could face the death penalty if convicted.

A promising neuroscience student, Holmes began to stock up on weapons, ammunition, explosives and combat gear in the spring of last year.

He began to see a university psychiatrist and then dropped out of his course.

The Aurora rampage was one of a number of mass shootings in the US last year, culminating with the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, which have raised the issue of gun control.

A review ordered by President Barack Obama is due to report back within weeks, but the gun lobby has signalled it will oppose new restrictions.

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New York Ferry Crash Leaves Dozens Injured

A commuter ferry has crashed into the dockside in Lower Manhattan, New York, during the morning rush hour, leaving a reported 57 people with injuries.

The Seastreak Ferry, which provides daily services from Atlantic Highlands in New Jersey, struck Pier 11 in the East River not far from Wall Street at about 8.45am ET (1.45pm GMT).

Officials say 11 people suffered serious injuries.

The vessel apparently had a hard landing as it was trying to dock. Images showed a corner of the ferry ripped open. Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the crash. 

"There was a jolt when that occurred, throwing the people forward into their seats and the walls," Seastreak President James Barker told NBC 4 New York.

A corner of the ferry appeared to have been ripped open by the impact

Passenger Ellen Foran said people tumbled on top of each other, hysterical and crying.

"All of a sudden, the boat felt like it smashed into a wall," Richard Correra told WCBS-TV.

"Dozens of passengers got thrown out of their seats, got thrown forward," he said.

"Some were heading downstairs and just flew down the stairs and hit their heads on various poles and walls."

Many were helped off the ferry by emergency workers

A spokesman from the city's Office of Emergency Management said 326 passengers and crew were aboard the ferry. Many were taken off on backboards for medical evaluation, their heads and necks immobilised.

"People were milling about preparing to get off" when they were thrown from their feet, said OEM spokesman Chris Miller.

Television pictures showed more than a dozen people on stretchers spread across the dockside, surrounded by emergency workers and firefighters.

Dee Wertz saw the impact from the shore, where she was waiting for the ferry to arrive. She said she had been talking to a ferry employee about recent complaints about the boat's manoeuvrability.

"He was telling me that none of these guys like this boat," Ms Wertz said. 

In 2003, 11 people were killed when a Staten Island Ferry crashed into a city pier after its pilot passed out at the wheel.

Three people were badly hurt and about 40 injured when the same ferry hit the same pier in 2010 because of a mechanical problem.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday it had dispatched investigators to the scene from Washington.

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Saudi Arabia Beheads Young Sri Lankan Maid

A young Sri Lankan housemaid has been beheaded in Saudi Arabia for killing a baby who was in her care.

Rizana Nafeek had denied strangling the 4-month-old baby in 2005 and the execution came despite global appeals to call it off because she was only 17 at the time.

Rights groups said the death sentence was a violation of international codes governing the rights of minors.

Appeals by the Sri Lankan government were also rejected and Nafeek was executed in the town of Dawadmy, near the capital Riyadh, on Wednesday morning.

A Sri Lankan woman protesting against the death sentence

In a statement the Saudi interior ministry said the maid had been found guilty of smothering the infant to death after an argument with the child's mother, her employer.

Sri Lanka's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, had made a series of personal appeals to try to stop the execution and grant a pardon to the maid.

Afterwards, the president said he and his government "deplored" the beheading.

Saudi households are highly dependent on housemaids from African and South Asian countries. There have been reported cases of domestic abuse in which families mistreat their maids, who have then attacked the children of their employers.

Condemning the execution, Human Rights Watch senior women's rights researcher Nisha Varia said: "Saudi Arabia is one of just three countries that executes people for crimes they committed as children.

"In executing Rizana Nafeek, Saudi authorities demonstrated callous disregard for basic humanity as well as Saudi Arabia's international legal obligations."

Saudi is an absolute monarchy that follows the strict Wahhabi school of Islam and applies Sharia (Islamic) law. Judges base decisions on their own interpretation of Sharia rather than on a written legal code or on precedent.

Amnesty International, in a statement before the execution, said that it appeared Nafeek had no access to lawyers either during her pre-trial interrogation or at her trial in 2007.

This is the second execution of the year in Saudi Arabia after a Syrian was beheaded on Tuesday for drug trafficking.

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Chavez To Miss Inauguration In Venezuela

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is too ill to attend his planned inauguration on Thursday, and will be sworn in for a new term at a later date.

The announcement came in a letter from Venezuela's vice president Nicolas Maduro to the country's legislature, and was later approved by the country's National Assembly.

Mr Maduro wrote that, upon his medical team's recommendations, the 58-year-old socialist leader's illness would keep him in a Cuban hospital past the key date.

President Chavez, who has dominated the South American nation since 1999, has not been heard from since he underwent surgery on December 11 in Havana - his fourth operation since he was diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer in June 2011.

The unprecedented silence by the president - famous for regularly speaking for hours in meandering broadcasts - has left many convinced he could be in his last days.

A rally in support of the Venezuelan president's recovery

Mr Maduro, who is Mr Chavez's chosen successor, said the president was invoking a provision in the constitution allowing him to be sworn in before the Supreme Court at a "later date".

The letter added that the former soldier's condition was an "irrefutable unexpected reason" that made it impossible for him to attend the scheduled inauguration ceremony in Caracas.

The delay has outraged opposition leaders who insist that Mr Chavez must be sworn in before the National Assembly on January 10 as laid out in the constitution, or temporarily step aside and leave an ally in power.

But Government leaders insist Mr Chavez is completely fulfilling his duties as head of state, even though official medical bulletins say he has a severe pulmonary infection and has had trouble breathing.

President Chavez's resignation or death would upend politics in the oil-rich nation, where he enjoys a deity-like status among poor supporters thankful for his social largesse.

Chavez has instructed his supporters to back vice president Nicolas Maduro

His critics call him a fledgling dictator who has squandered billions of dollars from crude sales while dashing the independence of state institutions.

While leaders of both pro- and anti-Chavez camps say they do not expect violence to break out immediately, the dispute could lead to opposition questions about the legitimacy of government officials serving past the scheduled inauguration date.

The United States said it hoped the Venezuelan president would get better soon.

"Obviously we are, as we would be for anybody suffering what he is suffering, concerned for his health, and wishing a speedy recovery," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

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Lance Armstrong To Speak On Drug Scandal

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong will discuss the drug scandal that wrecked his career in a "no-holds-barred" interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The programme will be aired on Thursday, January 17.

The announcement comes just days after it was reported that Armstrong was ready to admit the charges against him.

The New York Times cited anonymous sources as saying the 41-year-old was considering a confession so he could return to competing in triathlons and running events.

His lawyer Tim Herman said he had no knowledge of any possible confession, and added: "When, and if, Lance has something to say, there won't be any secret about it."

Armstrong has been stripped of his Tour de France titles

And those wanting to hear Armstrong's side of the story will not have long to wait.

The interview, the first since he was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, will be held at his home in Austin, Texas.

A statement on Oprah Winfrey's website said the discussion will cover "the alleged doping scandal, years of accusations of cheating, and charges of lying about the use of performance-enhancing drugs".

Armstrong won the Tour de France from 1999-2005 after recovering from testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain.

He has steadfastly denied doping charges but his career has crumbled anyway after a report by the USADA detailed allegations of widespread drug use by Armstrong and his US Postal Service teammates.

Armstrong has lost most of his corporate sponsors and stepped down from the board of his cancer-fighting charity Livestrong.

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College Shooting Suspect 'Unfit For Trial'

A man accused of killing seven people at a California Christian college has been deemed mentally unfit for trial.

Former nursing student One Goh is also charged with three counts of attempted murder during a shooting rampage at Oikos University in Oakland in April.

He has pleaded not guilty.

But a Californian judge has ruled that the South Korean national is not mentally fit to stand trial after two doctors determined that he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

A public prosecutor representing Goh said the condition dated back several years and it caused him not to trust people, including those trying to help him.

The authorities have said Goh, 43, planned the killing spree at the school that caters for Korean immigrants after becoming angry with school officials over a tuition dispute. He previously decided to drop out of the school's nursing course.

Goh must return to court on January 28. Meantime he must undergo an assessment to see where he should be treated for his mental illness.

If a judge determines at a later point that Goh has regained his mental competency, he would be ordered to stand trial in the high-profile case.

The shootings were the deadliest at an American college since 2007, when a Virginia Tech University student killed 32 people and wounded 25.

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Illinois Lottery: $1m Winner Poisoned To Death

A man who died after winning $1m (£620,000) in the Illinois Lottery was poisoned with cyanide, a medical examiner has ruled.

Urooj Khan, who scooped the bumper prize in the summer, was initially found to have died of natural causes but a full toxicology test, demanded by a relative, has now revealed he had ingested a deadly amount of cyanide.

A murder investigation has been launched by Chicago Police Department, and it is likely that his body will be exhumed as part of the inquiry.

Cook County medical examiner Stephen Cina said such cases of cyanide poisoning were "pretty unusual".

"I've had one, maybe two cases out of 4,500 autopsies I've done," he added.

The next step in the probe could be to exhume Mr Kahn's body

Mr Khan died on July 20, 2012, a day after the $425,000 (£264,000) cheque from his lottery win was issued.

Instead of taking the full $1m (£620,000) over installments, Mr Khan opted to take his winnings in a lump sum of just over $600,000 (£372,000). After taxes, the winnings amounted to about $425,000 (£264,000).

Mr Khan's cheque was cashed on August 15. If a lottery winner dies, the money typically goes to his or her estate.

The 46-year-old, who owned a number of dry cleaners, bought the winning scratchcard at a 7-Eleven near his home in West Rogers Park, Chicago.

He recalled the win days later during a ceremony in which Illinois Lottery officials presented him with an oversized check, explaining how he jumped up and down and repeatedly shouted, "I hit a million!".

The 7-Eleven store where Mr Khan purchased his winning ticket

He said he was so overjoyed he ran back into the store and tipped the salesman $100 (£62).

"Winning the lottery means everything to me," Mr Khan added at the June 26 ceremony, also attended by his wife, their daughter, and several friends.

He said he would put some of his winnings into his businesses and donate some to a children's hospital.

At the time of Mr Khan's death, no signs of trauma were found during external checks and no post mortem was done because they were not automatically performed on those aged 45 and older unless the death was suspicious. The cut-off has since been raised to 50.

A basic toxicology screening for opiates, cocaine and carbon monoxide came back negative, and the death was ruled a result of the narrowing and hardening of coronary arteries.

But a family member, who has not been identified, came forward and asked the authorities to look into the case further.

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