Missing 13-year-old-boy found






SINGAPORE: The 13-year-old boy who went missing on Friday has been reunited with his parents.

Aminiasi Tiritabuanira Shaw, a student of the Singapore American School (SAS), was found on Sunday night.

The school had earlier said that it's believed the boy had left on his own accord after a disagreement with his parents.

In its update on Monday, the school said: "The Shaw family would like to extend their sincere gratitude to the many, many people from the SAS community, the larger Singapore community, and other organizations, schools and groups, who have tirelessly supported the search efforts for Tiri over the past couple of days.

"Please help pass the word that Tiri has been found and is safely in the arms of his family."

- CNA/ir



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Death toll in Allahabad railway station stampede rises to 36

ALLAHABAD: The death toll in the stampede at Allahabad railway station reached 36 today, with 14 more people succumbing to their injuries.

The incident occurred near the foot overbridge on platform number 6. On Sunday, the railway authorities, had refused to confirm the deaths till the filing of the report. The stampede, which took place at around 8.00pm, also left many persons severely injured. Sources said majority of victims killed were elderly persons.

The tragic incident, reports said, took place when more than 1.5 lakh devotees thronged Allahabad junction to board return trains for their respective destinations after Mauni Amavasya Snan. The massive rush of devotees resulted in the breaking of railing on foot overbridge and subsequently the stampede.

NCR chief public relation officer Sandeep Mathur said due to sudden rush of passengers at Allahabad junction the railing of the foot overbridge near platform number 6 broke and in the process many passengers fell from the staircase of the foot overbridge, leading to stampede. He, however, refused to confirm the number of death or critically injured.

Allahabad distict magistrate Raj Shekhar said assured all possible help and treatment to injured persons. Principal, MLN Medical College, Dr SP Singh said seven out of 13 critically injured persons who were earlier admitted at railway hospital were shifted to SRN hospital. He added that 17 injured persons were already undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Eyewitnesses told TOI that none of the senior railway police authorities nor NCR officials came to the spot even as victims cried for help.

Rohit, a passenger, told TOI that the incident was caused by mismanagement. He added that the railway police used light force to manage the crowd but it left an adverse impact and resulted in commotion.

"There was none to hear our grievances and aged people and children were the worst hit when the over-crowding resulted in commotion," said Gayatri, a native of Banda. She added that, "We kept urging GRP and railway authorities for help but none came."

Some angry passengers at the platform misbehaved with reporters when the latter reached the station. Following the incident, railway authorities restricted the entry of passengers at Allahabad Junction.

Rajesh Gupta, a native of Haryana, who lost his sister Babita, 37, in the stampede and himself sustained injuries, told TOI that there was a sudden push of passengers from behind which forced me and others fellow passengers on the staircase. Many fell and got trampled.

Beta Lal, whose wife suffered grave injuries and was shifted to SRN hospital, said, "Due to massive rush of passengers on the foot overbridge, police started chasing away passenger and that led to commotion on the bridge leading to stampede." He added that after the incident, railway authorities did not come to rescue the injured persons.

Another victim, Sunita Jha of Delhi, undergoing treatment at SRN hospital, said, "All of a sudden there was a heavy rush of passengers at the foot overbridge after which things went out of control leading to stampede."

(With inputs from PTI)

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Year of the Snake: The Serpent Behind the Horoscope


On February 10, people all around the world will ring in the Lunar New Year with paper lanterns and firecrackers. At the heart of it all sits the snake, a slithery reptile feared for its sharp fangs and revered for its undeniable charm. (Watch videos of some of the world's deadliest snakes.)

Those born in the Year of the Snake are said to be intelligent and quick thinking, but they can also be dishonest and prone to show off. Though based on Chinese astrology, some of these traits are similar to characteristics of the actual serpent.

Snakes are known to be great at outsmarting their predators and prey. Their colorful, patterned skin makes them some of the best tricksters in the animal kingdom. And despite a bad rap as frightening creatures, snakes never fail to fascinate scientists, explorers, and zoo-goers. (See pictures of snakes.)

With more than 3,400 recognized species, snakes exhibit incredible diversity in everything from behavior and habitats to skin colors and patterns.

"As a vertebrate lacking in limbs, all snakes look largely like other snakes, yet they succeed in tremendous diversity in multiple directions," said Andrew Campbell, herpetology collections manager at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute.

To usher in the Year of the Snake, Campbell and herpetologist Dennis Ferraro at University of Nebraska-Lincoln weigh in on some of the snake's qualities that the Chinese zodiac predicts people born this year will have.

Horoscope: Snakes have an innately elegant personality but can also be ostentatious at times.

In Nature: Snakes come in all different colors, patterns, and textures, making them some of nature's most visually stunning creatures.

According to Campbell, the utility of their coloring falls into two main categories: to use as camouflage and to warn predators to stay away.

Among the most beautiful are the emerald tree boa (Corallus caninus)—whose vibrant green body is decorated with white stripes resembling lightning bolts—and the Brazilian rainbow boa (Epicrates cenchria), characterized by its iridescent skin and the large black rings down its back.

For some snakes, the diversity in color occurs within the same species, which is why Ferraro tells his student not to identify snakes by colors. For example, the polymorphic bush viper (Atheris squamigera), many of which are green, also come in shades of yellow, orange, red, and blue, as captured in photographer Guido Mocafico's "Serpent Still Life" photo series.

Horoscope: The snake is known to be the master seducer of the Chinese zodiac.

In Nature: Female garter snakes (Thamnophis) have all the luck with the gentlemen.

When a female garter snake is ready to mate, she announces it by producing chemicals called pheromones. Males, upon encountering the scent, immediately come crawling out and gather around the female in a large, wriggling "mating ball."

The competition intensifies when a male passing by the ball tries to fool the others by producing a scent that mimics that of the female, said Ferraro.

As soon as his rivals are led off in the wrong direction, the trickster slides right in. In areas with smaller populations of garter snakes, each ball consists of about 12 males and one female.

But in places like Manitoba, Canada, where garter snakes travel to certain areas to mate after coming out of hibernation, a mating ball can have thousands of males and only a hundred females.

Horoscope: Though snakes don't often tell lies, they will use deception when they feel it's necessary and they think they can get away with it.

In Nature: When it comes to using trickery to catch dinner, or to hide from predators, snakes are no amateurs.

Their sneaky techniques range from tricking fish to swim right into their mouths, to playing dead when threatened, to using their wormlike tails to lure in prey.

The most cunning of them all is the two-headed snake. To protect against a sneak attack from behind, the two-headed snake's tail looks just like its head. While the business end looks for food, the snake coils up its body and rests its tail on top to look like it is on guard.

The tail can even mimic the behavior of a retreating snake to trick predators into thinking they're going face-to-face with their opponent.

Horoscope: When snakes get down to work, they are organized and highly efficient, and they work quickly and quietly.

In Nature: While snakes are often perceived as lazy, Campbell said people are mistaken. "What we perceive as shy, lazy, or inactive is really efficiency," he said.

"On average, they are bigger than other lizards and can build a lot of body mass. They do that by being efficient in feeding and traveling." In other words, snakes don't move very much because they don't have to.

When it comes to food, snakes catch prey that are significantly larger than them so they can eat less frequently. This reduces the time they spend hunting and thus makes them less vulnerable to falling victim to a predator themselves.

For Campbell, the most impressive hunter is the eastern diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus Adamanteus), which is able to hunt and kill its prey very quickly using venom, so it doesn't have to travel far. "Because they don't have to do that, they can become relatively large and heavy, being able to build up body mass and not having to spend that energy hunting."

Horoscope: Snakes are charming, with excellent communication skills.

In Nturea: For snakes, their visual and auditory senses don't mean much when it comes to communicating with each other.

Instead, they use their sense of smell and the chemicals produced by their musk glands. Unlike mammals, a snake picks up scent through the forks of its tongue.

When the snake retracts its tongue, it inserts the forks into grooves in an olfactory organ located at the roof of its mouth. Depending on which fork picks up a stronger scent, the snake knows in which direction to go when looking for prey or a mate.

It's when snakes are threatened that they use sight and sound, said Ferraro. Rattlesnakes, for example, shake their tails, making a loud rattling noise to ward off predators.


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Possible Dorner Sighting Leads to Store Evacuation













A Northridge, Calif., home improvement store was evacuated tonight because of a possible sighting of suspected cop-killer Christopher Dorner, just hours after police announced a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest.


As helicopters hovered overhead and a command center was established, police searched the Lowe's store and eventually told shoppers they could leave, but could not take their cars out of the parking lot.


LAPD spokesman Gus Villanueva said the major response to the possible sighting was a precaution, but couldn't say whether Dorner was in the area.


The announcement of the $1 million reward today came as authorities in Big Bear, Calif., scaled back their search for Dorner, the disgruntled ex-cop who is suspected in three revenge killings.


"This is the largest local reward ever offered, to our knowledge," Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said at a news conference today. "This is an act of domestic terrorism. This is a man who has targeted those that we entrust to protect the public. His actions cannot go unanswered."


The money for the reward was pooled by businesses, government, local law enforcement leaders and individual donors, Beck said.



PHOTOS: Former LAPD Officer Suspected in Shootings


The reward comes on the fourth day of a manhunt for Dorner, who has left Southern California on edge after he allegedly went on a killing spree last week to avenge his firing from the police force. Dorner outlined his grievances in a 6,000 word so-called "manifesto" and said he will keep killing until the truth is known about his case.






Irvine Police Department/AP Photo











Manhunt for Alleged Cop Killer Heads to California Mountains Watch Video









Christopher Dorner Search: Officials Search for Ex-officer in the Mountains Watch Video







Dorner's threats have prompted the LAPD to provide more than 50 law enforcement families with security and surveillance detail, Beck said.


Authorities are chasing leads, however they declined to say where in order to not impede the investigation.


Dorner's burned-out truck was found Thursday near Big Bear Lake, a popular skiing destination located 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles.


Investigators found two AR-15 assault rifles in the burned-out truck Dorner abandoned, sources told ABC News.


The truck had a broken axle, which may be the reason he decided to set fire to it, the police sources said.


Full Coverage: Christopher Jordan Dorner


Officers have spent the past couple of days going door-to-door and searching vacant cabins. The manhunt was scaled back to 25 officers and one helicopter in the resort town today, according to the San Bernadino Sheriff's Office.


On Saturday, Beck announced he would reopen the investigation into Dorner's firing but said the decision was not made to "appease" the fugitive ex-cop.


"I feel we need to also publicly address Dorner's allegations regarding his termination of employment, and to do so I have directed our Professionals Standards Bureau and my Special Assistant for Constitutional Policing to completely review the Dorner complaint of 2007; To include a re-examination of all evidence and a re-interview of witnesses," Beck said. "We will also investigate any allegations made in his manifesto which were not included in his original complaint."


Dorner is suspected of killing Monica Quan and her fiancé Keith Lawrence last Sunday in their car in the parking lot of their Irvine, Calif., condominium complex. Both were struck with multiple gunshot wounds.


Quan's father, Randal Quan, was a retired captain with the LAPD and attorney who represented Dorner before a police review board that led to Dorner's dismissal from the force in 2008.


On Wednesday, after Dorner was identified as a suspect in the double murder, police believe he ambushed two Riverside police officers, killing one and wounding the other.


The next day, Randal Quan reported he received a taunting call from a man claiming to be Dorner who told him that he "should have done a better job of protecting his daughter," according to court documents documents.


Anyone with information leading to the arrest of Christopher Dorner is asked to call the LAPD task force at 213-486-6860.


ABC News' Dean Schabner, Jack Date, Pierre Thomas, Jason Ryan and Clayton Sandell and The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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Many 2011 federal budget cuts had little real-world effect



“The largest annual spending cut in our history,” President Obama called it in a televised speech. To prevent a government shutdown, the parties had agreed to slash $37.8 billion: more than the budgets of the Labor and Commerce departments, combined.


At the Capitol, Republicans savored a win for austerity. There would be “deep, but responsible, reductions in virtually all areas of government,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers (R-Ky.)
promised a few days later, before the deal passed.

Nearly two years later, however, these landmark budget cuts have fallen far short of their promises.

In some areas, they did bring significant cutbacks in federal spending. Grants for clean water dried up. Cities got less money for affordable housing.

But the bill also turned out to be an epic kind of Washington illusion. It was stuffed with gimmicks that made the cuts seem far bigger — and the politicians far bolder — than they actually were.

In the real world, in fact, many of their “cuts” cut nothing at all. The Transportation Department got credit for “cutting” a $280 million tunnel that had been canceled six months earlier. It also “cut” a $375,000 road project that had been created by a legislative typo, on a road that did not exist.

At the Census Bureau, officials got credit for a whopping $6 billion cut, simply for obeying the calendar. They promised not to hold the expensive 2010 census again in 2011.

Today, an examination of 12 of the largest cuts shows that, thanks in part to these gimmicks, federal agencies absorbed $23 billion in reductions without losing a single employee.

“Many of the cuts we put in were smoke and mirrors,” said Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), a hard-line conservative now in his second term. “That’s the lesson from April 2011: that when Washington says it cuts spending, it doesn’t mean the same thing that normal people mean.”

Now the failures of that 2011 bill have come back to haunt the leaders who crafted it. Disillusionment with that bill has persuaded many conservatives to reject a line-by-line, program-by-program approach to cutting the budget.

Instead, many have embraced the sequester, a looming $85 billion across-the-board cut set to take effect March 1. Obama and GOP leaders have said they don’t like the idea: the sequester is a “dumb cut,” in Washington parlance, which would cut the government’s best ideas along with its worst without regard to merit.

But at least, conservatives say, you can trust that this one is for real.

“There has been a shift in resolve. They have been burned in these fictional cuts. And so the sequester is like real cuts,” said Chris Chocola, a former congressman who now heads the Club for Growth, a conservative advocacy group. “So I think that there is a willingness to say, ‘We’ve really got to cut stuff, and [the cuts] have got to be real.”

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US S&P suit points to ratings industry's role in crisis






NEW YORK: The US government's $5 billion lawsuit against Standard & Poor's for exaggerating mortgage bond ratings in 2007 has cast a pall over the ratings industry and exposed its role in the financial crisis.

S&P competitors Moody's and Fitch find themselves potentially facing penalties after the Justice Department alleged S&P knowingly kept ratings on high-risk mortgage securities high in order to win revenues from issuers.

The Justice Department has not said whether it has the other two ratings agencies in its sights, but Moody's spent much of the week fending off questions about whether it faces similar action following the S&P suit.

The New York Attorney General has meanwhile launched an investigation into all three companies over their ratings prior to the 2008 crisis, sources close to the matter told AFP.

S&P parent McGraw-Hill's shares plunged 27 percent after the suit was filed, and Moody's dropped 22 percent for the week, underscoring the market's worry that the crackdown on S&P may be just the tip of the iceberg.

"Investors have been selling those stocks aggressively this week and keep doing so out of fear that the situation with the Department of Justice could get a lot worse in the future," said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael James.

"They think there is probably more bad news to come."

The government's case argues that S&P knowingly placed triple-A ratings on billions of dollars worth of mortgage-based financial securities even as the US housing market collapsed, misrepresenting their true credit risk.

Many of the top-rated issues cited in the suit were in default within one year or less.

S&P exaggerated the ratings in part to please clients and keep issuer revenues high, the suit alleges.

US Attorney General Eric Holder called S&P's conduct "egregious", saying "it goes to the very heart of the recent financial crisis".

S&P has dismissed the lawsuit as "meritless" and said it plans to vigorously contest the claims.

The litigation, which reportedly came after settlement talks failed, poses a huge financial challenge to S&P and McGraw-Hill.

Justice Department officials said they intend to press for at least $5 billion in civil penalties to match the losses suffered by investors on the securities.

S&P is also being sued by 13 states, adding to the potential damages.

The attorney general of California cited two large institutional investors, the California Public Employees Retirement System and the California State Teachers Retirement System, which lost approximately $1 billion on the high-rated mortgage bonds.

A California statement said the suit claims triple damages.

To put those figures in context, McGraw-Hill earned $911 million in all of 2011.

Many were wondering if or when the government will take action against Moody's. A multi-billion dollar suit could devastate that company as well: on Friday, Moody's reported 2012 earnings of $690 million.

Jacob Frenkel, a former federal criminal prosecutor now in private practice with Shulman Rogers, said S&P could possibly settle the case in the range of "hundreds of millions of dollars".

But he said that the terms of a settlement -- what the company admits to, in addition to paying fines -- are crucial.

A key question concerns whether the government insists on S&P admitting liability, which could expose the firm to additional suits by investors in the securities it rated, Frenkel said.

Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance, thinks the government could have a hard time proving its case against S&P.

"Unless you can show the opinion was reached in an intentionally reckless way, it's pretty hard to prove," Elson said.

Frenkel said the language in the complaint suggests the government could have pursued a criminal case against S&P.

That would raise the stakes: the 2002 US criminal conviction of former accounting giant Arthur Andersen in the aftermath of the Enron scandal eventually led to the firm's demise.

But Frenkel said the government is mainly focused on "integrity in the ratings process".

"The government would prefer to win a civil case than lose a criminal case," he said, "particularly where there is a concern about vaporizing the company."

- AFP/al



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Conspiracy theory: Was due process flouted to deny Afzal Guru a bid to escape hangman?

NEW DELHI: Although both have been executed in a hush-hush manner citing security reasons, the dilution of due process was greater in Mohammad Afzal Guru's hanging than in Ajmal Kasab's.

The denial of an opportunity to challenge the President's decision on the mercy petition was more likely to have affected Guru's fate for, unlike Kasab, he was not present at the crime scene when Parliament was attacked and he did not himself kill anybody.

In fact, after Kehar Singh's execution in the Indira Gandhi case, Guru was the only conspirator to have ever been hanged in connection with any high-profile crime. The three conspirators in the Rajiv Gandhi case, although awarded death penalty earlier than Guru, have so far been spared the noose because of a stay from the Madras high court on their execution. The stay came in 2011 on their plea that the death penalty be commuted to life sentence as the President had rejected their mercy petitions after an "inordinate and unexplained" delay.

Had he and his counsel been similarly given an advance notice of the rejection of his mercy petition, Guru too could have exercised his right to challenge the President's decision on the ground of delay, as he had filed his plea more than seven years ago.

Besides, Guru was better placed than Kasab to seek clemency on procedural and substantive grounds. Thanks to his oft-quoted grievance that he did not get a counsel of his choice during the trial, there has been much debate in legal and human rights circles on whether Guru had been given a fair trial.

Another controversial aspect of Guru's conviction is that successive courts had allegedly glossed over his claim that, as a surrendered militant, he had provided logistical support for the attack on Parliament on the instructions of security agencies in Kashmir.

The dilution of due process was also evident from the government's failure to comply with the stipulation of the jail manual to inform Guru's family about the date of the execution. The compromise is more evident in Guru's case because, unlike Kasab, his family members are Indians, who live in Kashmir. The rationale behind this stipulation is to provide the convict a chance to meet his family members for the last time.

In Kasab's case, the government claimed to have sent a communication to Pakistan to inform his family before his hanging. Despite the government's claim to have done the same in Guru's case, his family was in fact delivered with a fait accomppli.

This is the third mercy petition to have been rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee. Saibanna's case highlighted the deviation made in the cases of Kasab and Guru. For, the rejection of Saibanna's plea was made public, giving him scope to challenge it as also to meet his relatives.

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Mars Rover Curiosity Completes First Full Drill


For the first time in history, humans have drilled a hole into rock on Mars and are collecting the powdered results for analysis, NASA announced Saturday.

After weeks of intensive planning, the Mars rover Curiosity undertook its first full drill on Friday, with NASA receiving images on Saturday showing that the procedure was a success.

Curiosity drilled a hole that is a modest 2.5 inches (6.35 centimeters) deep and .6 inches (1.52 centimeters) wide but that holds the promise of potentially great discoveries. (Watch video of the Mars rover Curiosity.)

"The most advanced planetary robot ever designed now is a fully operating analytical laboratory on Mars," John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for the agency's Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement on Saturday.

"This is the biggest milestone accomplishment for the Curiosity team since the sky-crane landing last August."

Read: Asteroid to Make Closest Flyby in History

The site of the much-anticipated penetration is a flat section of Mars rock that shows signs of having been underwater in its past.

Called Yellowknife Bay, it's the kind of environment where organic materials—the building block of life—might have been deposited and preserved long ago, at a time when Mars was far wetter and warmer than it is today.

The contents of the drilling are now being transferred into the rover's internal collection system, where the samples will be sieved down to size and scoured to minimize the presence of contamination from Earth. (Watch video of Curiosity's "Seven Minutes of Terror.")

Then the sample will be distributed to the two instruments most capable of determining what the rocks contain.

The first is the Sample Analysis on Mars (SAM), which has two ovens that can heat the powdered rock to almost 2000°F (1093°C) and release the rock's elements and compounds in a gaseous form.

The gases will then be analyzed by instruments that can identify precisely what they are, and when they might have been deposited. Scientists are looking for carbon-based organics believed to be essential for any potentially past life on Mars.

Powder will also go to the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument for a related analysis that looks especially at the presence of minerals—especially those that can only be formed in the presence of water.

Louise Jandura, chief engineer for Curiosity's sample system at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said that designing and testing a drill that can grab hold of Martian rock and commence first a percussive shallow drilling and then dig a deeper hole was difficult.

The drill, which is at the end of a 7-foot arm, is capable of about 100 discrete maneuvers.

"To get to the point of making this hole in a rock on Mars, we made eight drills and bored more than 1,200 holes in 20 types of rock on Earth," Jandura said in a statement.

Results from the SAM and CheMin analyses are not expected for several days to weeks.


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LAPD Reopens Case of Suspected Cop-Killer's Firing













The Los Angeles Police Department announced today it will reopen the case of the firing of Christopher Dorner, but said the decision was not made to "appease" the fugitive former cop suspected of killing three people.


Dorner, a fired and disgruntled former Los Angeles police officer, said in the so-called "manifesto" he released that he was targeting LAPD officials and their families and will keep killing until the truth is known about his case.


"I have no doubt that the law enforcement community will bring to an end the reign of terror perpetrated on our region by Christopher Jordan Dorner and he will be held accountable for his evil actions," LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said in a statement released tonight.


He spoke of the "tremendous strides" the LAPD has made in regaining public trust after numerous scandals, but added: "I am aware of the ghosts of the LAPD's past and one of my biggest concerns is that they will be resurrected by Dorner's allegations of racism within the Department."


To do that, he said, full re-investigation of the case that led to Dorner's firing is necessary.


"I feel we need to also publicly address Dorner's allegations regarding his termination of employment, and to do so I have directed our Professionals Standards Bureau and my Special Assistant for Constitutional Policing to completely review the Dorner complaint of 2007; To include a re-examination of all evidence and a re-interview of witnesses," he said. "We will also investigate any allegations made in his manifesto which were not included in his original complaint.






Irvine Police Department/AP Photo











Hundreds of Officers on Hunt for Alleged Cop Killer Watch Video











Christopher Dorner Manhunt: Ex-Cop Suspected in Killings Watch Video





"I do this not to appease a murderer. I do it to reassure the public that their police department is transparent and fair in all the things we do."


PHOTOS: Former LAPD Officer Suspected in Shootings


As police searched for Dorner today in the San Bernardino Mountains, sources told ABC News that investigators found two AR-15 assault rifles in the burned-out truck Dorner abandoned.


The truck had a broken axle, which may be the reason he decided to set fire to it, the police sources said.


A man identifying himself as Dorner taunted the father of Monica Quan four days after the former LAPD officer allegedly killed her and just 11 hours after he allegedly killed a police officer in Riverside, Calif., according to court documents obtained by ABC News


A man claiming to be Dorner called Randall Quan and told him that that he "should have done a better job of protecting his daughter," according to the documents.


In his 6,000-word "manifesto," Dorner named Randal Quan, a retired LAPD captain and attorney who represented him before a police review board that led to Dorner's dismissal from the force.


"I never had an opportunity to have a family of my own, I'm terminating yours," Dorner wrote, and directed Quan and other officials to "[l]ook your wives/husbands and surviving children directly in the face and tell them the truth as to why your children are dead."


Monica Quan and her fiancé Keith Lawrence were gunned down last Sunday in their car in the parking of their Irvine, Calif., condominium complex. Both were struck with multiple gunshot wounds.


The call, according to court records, was traced to Vancouver, Wash., but law enforcement officials do not believe Dorner was there at the time at the call.


Dorner is believed to have made the call early Thursday afternoon, less than half a day after he is suspected of killing a police officer and wounding two others early that morning, sparking an unprecedented man hunt involving more than a thousand police officers and federal agents spanning hundreds of miles.


FULL COVERAGE: Christopher Jordan Dorner






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Japan mulls disclosing evidence on China radar lock






TOKYO: Japan said on Saturday it was considering disclosing evidence to bolster its claim that a Chinese frigate locked its weapon-targeting radar on a Japanese ship, after Beijing rejected the charge.

The incident, which Japan said happened last week, marked the first time the two nations' navies have locked horns in a territorial dispute that has some commentators warning about possible armed conflict.

The neighbours -- also the world's second and third-largest economies -- have seen ties sour over uninhabited Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea known as Senkaku in Tokyo and Diaoyu by Beijing, which claims them.

"The government is considering the extent of what can be disclosed," Japan's Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said on a television programme Saturday.

The comment came a day after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe demanded that Beijing apologise and admit the incident had happened.

Tokyo also charges that in the middle of last month a Chinese frigate's radar locked on to a helicopter, in a procedure known as "painting" that is a precursor to firing weaponry.

On both January 19 and January 30, China's defence ministry said in a statement faxed to AFP, the Chinese ship-board radar maintained normal operations and "fire-control radar was not used".

Japan hit back, with Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida saying he "cannot accept" the explanation and Prime Minister Abe demanding an apology from Beijing.

The Japanese premier on Thursday called the radar incident "extremely regrettable", "dangerous" and "provocative" but also said that dialogue must remain an option.

- AFP/xq



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