French commando killed in Somalia hostage raid

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A raid to free a French intelligence agent held captive in Somalia for three years went horribly wrong, leaving 17 Islamists and at least one French commando dead in a mud-caked farming town deep in militant territory.

In the chaotic aftermath of the firefight, the hostage’s fate was unclear Saturday. The Islamists denied French claims that he was killed and said they had a new prisoner — a wounded French soldier.

The botched rescue in East Africa came the same day French airstrikes in the West African nation of Mali targeted resurgent rebel Islamists. French officials said the two operations were unrelated, but stepped up domestic counter-terror measures to protect public places and transportation networks.

Confusion surrounded early reports of the failed rescue of the French agent, known by his code-name Denis Allex. He was captured in Somalia on July 14, 2009 — Bastille Day — and last seen in a video released in October pleading for the French president to help him.

But it was clear that a dangerous raid the French defense minister said was planned with the utmost of care had gone horribly wrong from the moment the helicopters swooped in.

“This operation could not be achieved despite the sacrifice of two of our soldiers and doubtless the murder of our hostage,” French President Francois Hollande said in a grim nationwide broadcast. “But this operation confirms the determination of France not to give into blackmail by terrorists.”

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Allex was killed by his captors and that one French soldier was missing and one dead, along with 17 Islamists. The Defense Ministry earlier said two commandos were killed in the fighting in the Somali town of Bulomarer, a small farming community under Islamist control for four years.

“It was an extremely dangerous mission,” Le Drian said. “Everything indicates Denis Allex was killed.”

The militant Islamist group al-Shabab, which held Allex for more than three years, said Saturday that he remained alive and in its custody, as was a new captive — a French commando wounded in fighting. There are also seven French hostages in Mali.

Residents of Bulomarer described hearing explosions and gunfire from what they called an al-Shabab base. An al-Shabab official said that fighting began after helicopters dropped off French soldiers.

“Five helicopters attacked a house in the town. They dropped soldiers off on the ground so that they could reach their destination,” he said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The French attack was swift and loud, residents said.

“We heard a series of explosions followed by gunfire just seconds after a helicopter flew over the town,” Mohamed Ali, a resident of Bulomarer, told The Associated Press by telephone. “We don’t know exactly what happened, but the place was an al-Shabab base and checkpoint.”

An elder in the town, Hussein Yasin, said the French troops shot dead two residents who turned on flashlights after hearing movement. As the soldiers walked away, they encountered an al-Shabab checkpoint and the gunfire began.

As the Islamists retreated, the helicopters returned to retrieve the commandos, he said.

The al-Shabab official said some soldiers were killed, but the group held only one dead French soldier. Later, the Islamist group released a statement saying that Allex “remains safe and far from the location of the battle.” It said there would be a verdict in his case in two days.

The chief of staff of the French army, Edouard Guillaud, said France had exhausted any other way to free Allex.

“When you get to the point of launching an assault, it means the other options had failed,” Guillaud said.

Allex was kidnapped from a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, on July 14, 2009 with a colleague who later escaped. They were in Somalia to train government forces, which are fighting Islamist militiamen.

In October, Hollande pledged to “use all means” to contact “anyone who can help free our hostages.”

In 2009, a Frenchman held hostage by pirates off the Somali coast was killed in the crossfire during a commando rescue on his captive sailboat. The man’s family was rescued.

And in 2011, two French hostages kidnapped in Niger were killed by their captors as French troops closed in for a rescue.

___

Jamey Keaten reported from Paris.

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RIM shares climb as investors bet on new BlackBerry

TORONTO (Reuters) – Shares of Research In Motion rallied on Friday as investors positioned themselves ahead of the launch of its new make-or-break BlackBerry 10 smartphones at the end of the month.

Morningstar analyst Brian Colello did not see any one news story driving the stock, which climbed steadily through much of the day. The new phones are to be formally unveiled on January 30.

“The stock has been extremely volatile, based on BlackBerry 10 rumors and the potential for success in the market,” said Colello.

Several blog posts published on Friday showed purportedly leaked photos of what could be the new phones, and a number of tech sites confirmed that Sprint Nextel Corp would carry BlackBerry 10.

“Sprint plans to bring BlackBerry 10 to our customers later this year. We will share more details soon,” Mark Elliot, a spokesman for the U.S. carrier, said in an email.

Earlier this week, executives at Verizon Communications, AT&T Inc and T-Mobile USA all confirmed they would carry the smartphones, and said they are looking forward to the new devices.

“There are, I think, good indications that they’re going to get a seat at all the tables that matter,” said IDC analyst John Jackson, who called carrier support “necessary, but not sufficient” to ensure the success of BlackBerry 10.

Throughout the autumn of 2012, RIM’s stock rose as investors grew more optimistic about BlackBerry 10. Morningstar’s Colello said the market went from pricing in no chance of success, to betting on at least some chance of success for the new products.

But the rally broke off after RIM reported earnings in December, revealing that it would roll out a new fee structure for its services segment which some fear could put pressure on the high-margin business.

The new line’s success is crucial to the future of RIM, which has lost ground to competitors such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics, and in December reported its first-ever decline in total subscribers.

BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis said the news that all four major U.S. carriers would offer BlackBerry 10 was likely lifting the stock, along with Nokia’s stronger-than-expected quarterly results — a sign that Google Inc’s Android smartphones have not completely taken over its market.

“The smartphone market is one of the most robust, largest markets in the world … it’s also dynamic,” said Gillis. “The winners and losers are going to be shifting. That said, it’s a difficult road the company is facing.”

RIM’s Nasdaq-listed shares were up 13.2 percent at $ 13.49. Shares jumped 12.6 percent to C$ 13.27 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. That more than doubled the price since the low of C$ 6.10 it touched in September. By late afternoon, RIM was the day’s most heavily-traded stock on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

(Additional reporting by Nicola Leske in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Alden Bentley)

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Sony Pictures executive: “Zero Dark Thirty” “does not advocate torture”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Sony Pictures executive Amy Pascal lashed out on Friday at a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) who accused Osama bin Laden film “Zero Dark Thirty” of promoting torture and urged fellow Academy members not to vote for it in the Oscars race.

In a strongly worded statement, Pascal said the “attempt to censure one of the great films of our time should be opposed.”

“We are outraged that any responsible member of the Academy would use their voting status in AMPAS as a platform to advance their own political agenda,” said Pascal, who is co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and chairman of its Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group.

“This film should be judged free of partisanship,” she said, adding that the film “does not advocate torture.”

Pascal’s comments came in response to Academy member David Clennon’s remarks at a rally against the torture of terror suspects in Los Angeles on Friday.

“I believe that the film clearly promotes a tolerance for torture,” Clennon told local ABC TV news affiliate KABC, adding “I hope that my fellow members of the Academy will consider the morality of each nominee.”

Clennon, an actor who appeared in 1980s TV series “thirtysomething,” also wrote an opinion piece earlier this week criticizing the film.

“At the risk of being expelled for disclosing my intentions, I will not be voting for ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ – in any Academy Awards category,” Clennon wrote on progressive news website Truth-out.org in a January 9 posting.

“‘Zero’ never acknowledges that torture is immoral and criminal. It does portray torture as getting results,” he added.

The 6,000 members of the Academy are urged not to reveal who they cast their votes for. Academy Award winners are revealed at a ceremony in February, the highlight of Hollywood’s award season.

The Academy on Friday declined to comment on Clennon’s remarks.

“Zero Dark Thirty” won five Oscar nominations, including a nod for best picture, despite coming under attack in Washington over its source material and claims by politicians that it depicts torture as helping the United States find and kill the al Qaeda leader in May 2011.

Among the film’s nominees were actress Jessica Chastain and screenwriter Mark Boal, but director Kathyrn Bigelow surprisingly failed to make the Oscar best director shortlist.

Sony Pictures Entertainment is a unit of Sony Corp.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Walsh)

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Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez not in coma, brother says

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela‘s cancer-stricken president, Hugo Chavez, is recovering in Cuba and is not in a coma as some have rumored a month after surgery, his brother, Adan Chavez, said after a visit to Havana.

The 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen or heard from since his December 11 cancer surgery – his fourth such operation after the disease was detected in his pelvic area in mid-2011 – leaving Venezuela in a state of suspense.

But older brother Adan Chavez, who is governor of the family’s home state of Barinas, said the president was improving daily, according to a news release on Saturday from his office.

“The head of state continues to assimilate treatment well and his recovery is advancing daily,” the statement read.

“Information on social networks and in other places, saying the president is in a coma and his family are discussing the supposed disconnection of life support equipment, are totally false,” it added.

Chavez missed his own inauguration for a new, six-year term last week, although Venezuela’s top court ruled that he remained in power and Vice President Nicolas Maduro could deputize until there was clarity over the president’s condition.

The rumors were stoked when Chavez did not send a message to Thursday’s pro-government rally, the day he was supposed to be sworn in. Unlike past trips to Cuba for medical treatment, no images have been released of him.

The saga has enormous stakes for Venezuela, a nation of 29 million people with the world’s largest oil reserves, as well as for the wider region. Cuba and a handful of other leftist-ruled nations depend on Chavez’s economic aid.

Peruvian and Argentine Presidents Ollanta Humala and Cristina Fernandez, both friends of Chavez, visited Cuba this week. There was no sign either of them saw him.

Finishing her visit on Saturday, Fernandez said it was “inappropriate” for her to talk about Chavez’s condition, which was a matter for his family. “I ask you to show a lot of respect and solidarity,” she told reporters in Havana.

‘DEAD OR ALIVE?’

Adan Chavez, a physicist by profession who has been a political mentor to his brother and is viewed by Venezuelans as a hard-liner, said foreign media were in league with local opposition activists to promote lies about the president.

“We know this is part of a dirty war by the necrophilic opposition,” he was quoted as saying in the news release. “We are sure that with the support of God, science and the people, our president will triumph in this new battle.”

Venezuela’s opposition leaders are furious at what they see as a Cuban-inspired manipulation of the constitution by Maduro and other top “Chavista” figures aimed at preventing the naming of a caretaker president due to Chavez’s absence.

Should Chavez die or have to step down, a new election would be called and would likely pit Maduro against opposition leader Henrique Capriles, the 40-year-old governor of Miranda state, who lost to Chavez in last year’s presidential election.

He and other mainstream opposition leaders have criticized secrecy over Chavez’s condition, but have taken a wait-and-see attitude, preferring to prepare behind the scenes for a possible new vote.

There have been small protests by students, none numbering more than several hundred people. A handful of people were injured in Tachira state on Friday, local media said, when protesting students clashed with police.

“Who knows if Chavez is alive or dead? They don’t say clearly if he is breathing, if he can talk or not,” 22-year-old university student Daniella Contreras said at a protest meeting in Caracas on Saturday.

“They should send a medical committee to Havana to confirm if the president is still capable of governing.”

The government has been giving regular but terse updates on Chavez’s condition, the latest being that he is struggling with a severe lung infection after the operation.

The silence from the normally garrulous leader famous for his lengthy speeches has led many Venezuelans to conclude his 14-year rule is ending.

Venezuela’s most prominent female opposition activist, right-wing legislator Maria Corina Machado, told Saturday’s gathering of about 400 protesters that the government was now illegitimate.

“We are in the terrible situation of having to acknowledge there is today no government in Venezuela. Government is in Cuba, led by the Cubans, deciding what we do and what happens with our country,” Machado said.

Information Minister Ernesto Villegas urged Venezuelans to avoid being drawn into trouble. “An irresponsible minority are causing provocations to create a macabre show,” he said.

The Chavez years have been turbulent ones, particularly during a short coup against him and a national oil strike in 2002 and 2003, and many Venezuelans are praying that whatever happens next, it will be non-violent.

(Additional reporting by Girish Gupta in Caracas, Rosa Tania Valdes in Havana; Editing by Jackie Frank and Peter Cooney)

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Dreamliner plane review ordered

11 January 2013 Last updated at 10:32 ET

FAA administrator Michael Huerta: “We are confident about the safety of this aircraft”

US regulators have ordered a review of the 787 Dreamliner plane after a series of incidents put a question mark over the safety of Boeing’s flagship plane.

The review by the Federal Aviation Administration will look at the design and manufacture of the planes.

The planes will not be grounded while the safety review is carried out.

An electrical fire, a brake problem, a fuel spill and cracks in the cockpit’s windshield have affected Dreamliner flights in the past week.

FAA administrator Michael Huerta told a news conference that nothing in the data the agency had seen suggested the plane was not safe, thought it still felt the review was necessary.

In a statement, Boeing said: “Boeing is confident in the design and performance of the 787. It is a safe and efficient airplane.

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

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is one of the most advanced aeroplanes ever created. Much of it is made from very strong, light carbon-fibre composite material.

However, a spate of technical issues has hurt its image. On Friday, two new problems were found, adding to Boeing’s woes.

Continue reading the main story

Getting the Dreamliner to market was a slow and painful process.

Although it completed its first test flight back in December 2009, it was the autumn of 2011 before the plane was delivered to launch customer All Nippon Airways – more than four years late.

Conflicts with Boeing’s suppliers contributed to the delay in making the world’s first carbon-composite aircraft, but there were also plenty of technological hurdles.

Now it seems many of them have not yet been overcome, with ever more airline customers questioning whether the planes are sufficiently reliable, and indeed, whether they are even safe.

Boeing insists the latest hiccups are mere teething problems, though it is clear that even in a best-case scenario the aerospace giant’s reputation will have suffered a serious setback.

• On Friday, All Nippon Airways reported a crack in the window on the pilot’s side of the cockpit. It caused no problems for the 237 passengers and nine crew on a flight from Tokyo’s Haneda airport to Matsuyama, but the return flight was cancelled


• The same airline said another Dreamliner flight, shuttling between Haneda and the southern Miyazaki prefecture, experienced a delay due to an oil leak from a generator inside an engine


• On Wednesday, ANA cancelled a 787 flight from Yamaguchi to Tokyo because of a brake problem


• On Tuesday, Japan Airlines cancelled a Boston to Tokyo flight after about 40 gallons (151 litres) of fuel spilled


• An electrical fire broke out on board a Japan Airlines Dreamliner on Monday shortly after it landed in Boston, following a flight from Tokyo


• Last year, a United Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing because of an electrical problem


• In December, Qatar Airways grounded one of its 787 Dreamliners after several manufacturing faults caused electrical problems similar to those that affected the United plane.

Last month, the head of Qatar Airways criticised Boeing in an interview with the BBC over several manufacturing faults that have resulted in the grounding of one of its three 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

Boeing has delivered 50 of the 787s, starting in late 2011, and has orders for nearly 800 more. To get through the backlog, Boeing is increasing production to build 10 of the planes per month by the end of the year.

By comparison, it builds more than one 737, Boeing’s best seller, every day.

BBC News – Business

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Pakistani Shiites protest after attack kills 86

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Shiite Muslims hit by a twin bombing that killed 86 people refused to bury their dead Friday, demanding the Pakistani government do more to protect them from increasing violence against the minority sect.

The attack on a billiards hall Thursday night in the southwestern city of Quetta marked a bloody start to the new year after a human rights group said 2012 was the deadliest ever for Shiites in the majority Sunni Muslim country.

Many of the attacks last year were carried out by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a militant group allied with al-Qaida and the Taliban that also claimed responsibility for the bombing of the billiards hall. The attack was one of three that took place across Pakistan on Thursday, killing 120 people in the country’s deadliest day in five years.

The billiards hall was located in a predominantly Shiite area, and most of the dead and wounded were from the sect. Members of the beleaguered Shiite community laid about 50 of their dead on the street Friday, saying they would not bury them until the government improves security in the area. Islamic custom dictates the dead should be buried as soon possible.

Young Shiite men also set tires on fire and blocked a nearby road in protest.

“We want safety for all our sects, and all security measures should be taken for our safety, said Fida Hussain, a relative of one of the victims. “We will not bury them until the government fulfills all our demands.”

The Shiites finally ended their protest and agreed to bury the dead late Friday after hours of negotiation with police and government officials, who promised to provide greater protection and arrest the killers, said senior police officer Hamid Shakeel.

Rights groups have also accused the government of not doing enough to protect Shiites in the country. Human Rights Watch on Thursday accused the Pakistani military and other security agencies of “callousness and indifference” when it came to the killing of Shiites.

Pakistan’s intelligence agencies helped nurture Sunni militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in the 1980s and 1990s to counter a perceived threat from neighboring Iran, which is mostly Shiite. Pakistan banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in 2001, but the group continues to operate fairly freely.

The billiards hall bombing started with a suicide attack followed by a car blast minutes later. Militants often use such staggered bombings to maximize the body count by targeting rescuers and others who rush to the scene after the first explosion.

On Friday, Shiite volunteers erected tents to keep bystanders away from the severely damaged building, where the pool hall once occupied the basement.

Nearby resident Jan Ali described it as a neighborhood gathering spot where young and old often waited in line to play on its six tables.

After the attack, “it was a scene like hell on Earth,” said Ali. “Rescue people were carrying out dead and injured, people bleeding and crying, and rushing them toward ambulances. I have never seen such a horrifying situation in my life.”

One of those killed was a young human rights activist named Irfan Ali.

“He was a very active, energetic activist,” said Tahir Hussain, a lawyer and vice chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Baluchistan chapter. He said Ali was associated with the HRCP for the last 10 years, often writing about social issues and oppression of the Shiite Hazara community. Ethnic Hazaras migrated from Afghanistan more than a century ago and have been the targets of dozens of attacks over the past year, but Thursday’s was by far the bloodiest.

Ali appeared to have been killed during the second explosion after he rushed to the scene to help, said Hussain. On his Twitter feed before the attack, Ali wrote about Hazara families who were leaving the area in fear.

Many residents railed at the government over the repeated acts of violence.

“This government has totally failed in protecting us,” said Abbas Ali, who was collecting items from the rubble of his nearby shop, also destroyed in the blast. “Somehow we will get compensation for our losses but those who have gone away will not come back.”

Five victims of the billiards hall attack died of their wounds overnight, said Shakeel, who put the death toll at 86.

The strike was the worst of three deadly bombings targeting Shiites and soldiers in Quetta and worshippers at a Sunni mosque in the northwest on the same day.

It appeared to be Pakistan’s worst day of violence since October 2007, when 150 were killed in a bombing aimed at Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto. She survived the blast but was assassinated two months later.

Last year was the bloodiest year for Pakistan’s Shiite community, with over 400 members of the sect killed in targeted attacks throughout the country, according to Human Rights Watch.

Violence has been especially intense in southwest Baluchistan province, where Quetta is the capital and the country’s largest concentration of Shiites live. More than 120 Shiites were killed in targeted attacks in Baluchistan in 2012.

In Quetta on Friday, suspected militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at a terminal where trucks carrying supplies to NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan were parked, said Shakeel, the senior police officer. The attack killed two people, wounded another and set 10 trucks ablaze.

___

Abbot reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Zarar Khan and Rebecca Santana in Islamabad contributed to this report.

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In gun debate, video game industry defends itself

WASHINGTON (AP) — The video game industry, blamed by some for fostering a culture of violence, defended its practices Friday at a White House meeting exploring how to prevent horrific shootings like the recent Connecticut elementary school massacre.

Vice President Joe Biden, wrapping up three days of wide-ranging talks on gun violence prevention, said the meeting was an effort to understand whether the U.S. was undergoing a “coarsening of our culture.”

“I come to this meeting with no judgment. You all know the judgments other people have made,” Biden said at the opening of a two-hour discussion. “We’re looking for help.”

The gaming industry says that violent crime, particularly among the young, has fallen since the early 1990s while video games have increased in popularity.

There are conflicting studies on the impact of video games and other screen violence. Some conclude that video games can desensitize people to real-world violence or temporarily quiet part of the brain that governs impulse control. Other studies have concluded there is no lasting effect.

Cheryl Olson, a participant in Biden’s meeting and a researcher of the effect of violent video games, said there was concern among industry representatives that they would be made into a scapegoat in the wake of the Connecticut shooting.

“The vice president made clear that he did not want to do that,” Olson said.

Biden is expected to suggest ways to address violence in video games, movies and on television when he sends President Barack Obama a package of recommendations for curbing gun violence Tuesday. The proposals are expected to include calls for universal background checks and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Obama appointed Biden to lead a gun violence task force after last month’s shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school that left 20 children and six educators dead.

Gun-safety activists were coalescing around expanded background checks as a key goal for the vice president’s task force. Some advocates said it may be more politically realistic — and even more effective as policy — than reinstating a ban on assault weapons.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said some 40 percent of gun sales happen with no background checks, such as at gun shows and by private sellers over the Internet or through classified ads.

“Our top policy priority is closing the massive hole in the background check system,” the group said.

While not backing off support for an assault weapons ban, some advocates said there could be broader political support for increasing background checks, in part because that could actually increase business for retailers and licensed gun dealers who have access to the federal background check system.

“The truth is that an assault weapons ban is a very important part of the solution — and it is also much tougher to pass,” said Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Restrictions on high-capacity ammunition magazines are also seen by some as an easier lift politically than banning assault weapons.

The National Rifle Association adamantly opposes universal background checks, as well as bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines — all measures that would require congressional approval. The NRA and other pro-gun groups contend that a culture that glamorizes violence bears more responsibility for mass shootings than access to a wide range of weapons and ammunition.

In a 2009 report, the American Academy of Pediatrics declared, “The evidence is now clear and convincing: Media violence is one of the causal factors of real-life violence and aggression.”

The report focused on all types of media violence. But for video games in particular, the pediatricians cited studies that found high exposure to violent ones increased physical aggression at least in the short term, and warned that they allow people to rehearse violent acts. On the other hand, it said friendly video games could promote good behavior.

A wide spectrum of the video game industry was represented at the meeting with the vice president, including the makers of violent war video games like “Call of Duty” and “Medal of Honor” and a representative from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, which sets age ratings that on every video game package released in the United States.

The vice president met Thursday with representatives from the entertainment industry, including Motion Picture Association of America and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. In a joint statement after the meeting, a half-dozen said they “look forward to doing our part to seek meaningful solutions” but offered no specifics.

Biden, hinting at other possible recommendations to the president, said he is interested in technology that would keep a gun from being fired by anyone other than the person who bought it. He said such technology may have curtailed what happened last month in Connecticut, where the shooter used guns purchased by his mother.

The vice president has also discussed making gun trafficking a felony, a step Obama can take through executive action. And he is expected to make recommendations for improving mental health care and school safety.

“We know this is a complex problem,” Biden said. “We know there’s no single answer.”

The president plans to push for the new measures in his State of the Union address, scheduled for Feb. 12.

___

Associated Press writers Lauran Neergaard and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

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Evan Rachel Wood expecting first child with actor Jamie Bell

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actress Evan Rachel Wood said on Friday that she and her husband, British actor Jamie Bell, are expecting their first child.

“Thanks for all your warm wishes,” Wood, 25, wrote on her Twitter account. “We are very happy. I’m gonna be a mama!”

Moments earlier, Wood posted a picture of the pregnancy book “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” on the social media site.

It will be the first child for both Wood and Bell, who wed in October.

Wood rose to Hollywood stardom for her roles in 2008′s “The Wrestler” and the 2003 coming-of-age drama “Thirteen.” She was nominated for an Emmy award for the 2011 television mini-series “Mildred Pierce.”

Bell, 26, found fame as the teen star of “Billy Elliot,” about a ballet dancer growing up in a tough coal mining town in northern England. He won a British BAFTA award for the role and has since appeared in adventure movies such as “The Eagle.”

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; editing by Philip Barbara)

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U.S. launches safety review of 787 after recent issues

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. government ordered a wide-ranging review of Boeing’s latest passenger jet, the 787 Dreamliner, citing concern over a fire and other recent problems but insisting the plane was still safe to fly.

It was unclear how long the review will take or how much it will ultimately cost Boeing, but the company was concerned enough that it sent a top executive to a Washington press conference on the problem. Boeing shares fell 3 percent.

The 787 represented a leap in the way planes are designed and built, but the project was plagued by cost overruns and years of delays. Some have suggested Boeing’s rush to get planes built after those delays resulted in the recent problems, a charge the company strenuously denies.

Either way, regulators said a thorough examination was needed to identify the root cause of the problems, including a fire on a parked 787 on Monday.

“There are concerns about recent events involving the Boeing 787. That is why today we are conducting a comprehensive review,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told a news conference followed by more than 100 reporters around the world.

Those concerns notwithstanding, though, LaHood also maintained the plane was still airworthy.

“I believe this plane is safe and I would have absolutely no reservations about boarding one of these planes and taking a flight,” he said.

While the FAA launched its review, Boeing customer All Nippon Airways had a launch of its own, initiating Dreamliner service between Tokyo and the Silicon Valley hub of San Jose. Passengers preparing to board shook off any suggestion they might be worried.

“Whenever there’s a new plane there’s some breaking in that comes with it. If the pilot’s willing to get behind the stick and ride the plane, I have a great deal of confidence in the worthiness of the plane,” said Marc Casto, 37, who runs a San Jose-based travel company.

Boeing shares fell 2.7 percent to $ 75 in late trading. Since December 4, when the first of the recent incidents took place, the stock is up 1.5 percent, underperforming a 4.3 percent gain in the S&P 500.

Much like the company’s customers, who have generally stood behind it, analysts give the company good marks for its early response to the crisis.

“Boeing is doing a good job getting in front (as much as a company can) of the FAA situation. My view is that if the FAA deems this as a non-design issue, Boeing will be fine. If this is a design issue, it will be more troublesome because we need to pause the production to fix the design and then proceed,” said Morningstar analyst Neal Dihora.

CHALLENGE FOR BOEING’S COMMERCIAL CHIEF

The review will focus on the 787′s advanced electrical systems and cover their design, manufacture and assembly, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The move comes on top of a separate probe by U.S. safety investigators into a battery fire that caused “serious damage” to an empty Japan Airlines 787 jet at Boston airport on Monday. Early findings of that probe are due next week.

The 787, the world’s first mainly carbon-composite airliner, is Boeing’s boldest effort to revolutionize commercial aviation by using new technology to cut fuel costs by 20 percent. Each lightweight jet has a list price of $ 207 million.

Airlines are pleased with the savings, and have so far given the plane their approval, both by ordering more than 800 jets and mostly sticking by it through the current spate of troubles.

After roughly 10 incidents on 787s in six weeks, one jet suffered a cracked cockpit window on Friday, while another had an oil leak.

“We also stand 100 percent behind the integrity of the 787 and the rigorous process that led to its successful certification and entry into service,” Boeing CEO Jim McNerney said in a statement on Friday.

The review is a significant test for the recently appointed chief executive of Boeing’s commercial airplanes division, Ray Conner, who attended Friday’s news conference.

“The redundancies that we have put into this machine are phenomenal and the airplane performed perfectly in that respect. Now, we’d like to make sure that none of these happen again, and that’s what we’re going to try to do,” Conner said.

Those complex systems that Conner referred to are among the advantages of the 787, but also complicate finding and solving problems, according to the director of MIT’s Aeronautical Systems Laboratory.

“You now have the interdependencies that you didn’t have before. The systems are much better when they work but they’re harder to guarantee that they will work all the time and it’s harder to predict what will happen when something fails,” said R. John Hansman in an interview.

BOEING CONFIDENCE

As Boeing’s 787 comes under review, the company is involved in difficult labor contract negotiations with its engineering union, which represents the workers who would be called upon to solve any problems with the Dreamliner.

On Friday, Boeing made a revised offer that it said would increase the pool of money available for raises.

Ray Goforth, executive director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), declined to comment on the FAA review. He said Boeing’s latest offer still included drastic cuts from the contract that expired in November.

The media storm about the 787 glitches echoes global publicity a year ago over wing cracks on the A380 superjumbo, built by Boeing’s European rival Airbus.

The A380 has also been deemed safe to fly and few airlines have reported a dip in bookings, but the problems are expected to end up costing Airbus up to 500 million euros in repairs.

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. It now has 50 in service.

(Reporting by Kentaro Sugiyama, James Topham, Mari Saito, Mayumi Negishi and Maki Shiraki in TOKYO, Anurag Kotoky in NEW DELHI, Tim Hepher in PARIS, Deborah Charles and Alina Selyukh in WASHINGTON, Ernest Scheyder and Alwyn Scott in NEW YORK, Karen Jacobs in ATLANTA, Malathi Nayak in SAN JOSE and Aman Shah in Bangalore; Writing by Ian Geoghegan, Tim Hepher and Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Alex Richardson, Nick Zieminski, David Gregorio, Gary Hill)

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Wind shift may have freed whales trapped off Quebec

(Reuters) – A group of killer whales trapped under the ice of Hudson Bay and taking turns breathing from a small hole may have been freed by a shift in the winds, Canadian media reported on Thursday.

The 11 whales, who sometimes appeared to be panicking as they fought for air, created a worldwide sensation as news and a video about their plight spread.

The mammals, which likely included two adults and several younger ones, were first spotted by a local Inuit hunter on Tuesday.

Residents from the nearby Inuit community of Inukjuak in northern Quebec had planned to widen the hole. But the whales were gone when they arrived at the site on Thursday morning, according to The Globe and Mail newspaper.

One resident, Johnny Williams, told the paper that the ice likely broke up from the shifting winds, allowing the creatures to swim to freedom.

The community’s mayor had asked for an ice breaker and other assistance from the Canadian government. Experts from Canada’s fisheries and oceans department were dispatched to the area.

(Reporting By Russ Blinch; Editing by Xavier Briand)

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