Honeymoon killing suspect's court date pushed back

A British businessman who is accused of having his wife killed during their honeymoon in South Africa was given two more weeks to prepare his defense against extradition, a judge ruled Thursday.

Shrien Dewani's next hearing will be February 8, the judge ruled. He is free on bail until that date, when the timing of the extradition hearing will be set.

Dewani is accused of hiring a crew of hitmen to kill his wife during a taxi ride in Cape Town, South Africa in November.

Dewani's wife, Anni Dewani, died in an apparent carjacking as the couple took a taxi ride in a crime-ridden neighborhood of Cape Town.

Dewani was allowed to leave South Africa, but prosecutors there later accused him of hiring the hitmen to kill Anni.

Dewani's lawyers say he is innocent and will fight extradition.

Granting him bail in December, British Judge Duncan Ousely rejected concerns from the South African government that Dewani would use his funds and international connections to flee before an extradition hearing.

Ben Watson, a lawyer for the South African government, cited hotel surveillance video that he said showed Dewani twice meeting with a cab driver as the sort of evidence indicating Dewani's involvement in a plot against his wife.

But Ousely ruled that Dewani, who did not attend the hearing, had a genuine interest in clearing his name and said he has cooperated with investigators from both England and South Africa.

Dewani's solicitor, Andrew Katzen, said he was "delighted" with the outcome but declined further comment following the court hearing.

In documents, prosecutors detail meetings that Dewani had with the taxicab driver during which he allegedly paid the driver 15,000 South African rand ($2,170) to have hitmen kill his wife and make it look like a carjacking.

"The alleged hijacking was in fact not a hijacking, but part of a plan of subterfuge which Shrien Dewani, the husband of the deceased and the accused, had designed to conceal the true facts ... that the deceased was murdered at the instance of the husband," South African prosecutors wrote in court documents.

The court documents do not say why Dewani allegedly wanted his wife dead.

The driver, Zola Tongo, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in South Africa after admitting to taking part in the killing.

At least 32 killed in attack on pilgrims in Iraq

At least 32 people were killed and 150 others wounded in two explosions targeting Shiite pilgrims Thursday in Karbala, about 60 miles (100 km) south of Baghdad, police officials said.

It was the latest of several terrorist attacks across Iraq this week that have killed at least 118 people and wounded 450 others.

The attack in Karbala came as tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims are making their way to the city for Arbaeen, a religious observation. It follows 40 days of mourning for Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed who was felled in a 7th century battle in the Iraqi city.

Another attack Thursday also targeted Shiite pilgrims: one pilgrim was killed and nine other people were wounded by a roadside bomb in southern Baghdad as they made their way to Karbala. On Tuesday, five Shiite pilgrims were wounded in an attack in Taji, just north of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, in a separate attack Thursday, a suicide car bomb targeting a police checkpoint in Baquba killed at least four people and wounded 33 others, police officials said. Two of the dead and nine of the wounded were police officers, according to authorities, who said the attack bears the hallmarks of al Qaeda in Iraq.

A suicide bomber rammed a minibus loaded with explosives into the main gate at Diyala police headquarters in central Baquba. The headquarters was preparing an exhibition of weapons and ammunition confiscated by Iraqi security forces from insurgents in 2010.

On Wednesday, suicide bombers hit a pair of locations in Diyala province, killing at least 16 people and wounding nearly 100 others, authorities said. A suicide bombing that targeted a recruitment center in Tikrit on Tuesday killed 65 and wounded 160.Diyala was an al Qaeda stronghold until 2008, when Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S. troops, conducted major military operations in the province to push the militants out.

Awakening Councils also played a major role in hunting down al Qaeda fighters in the province. Awakening Councils, whose members are predominantly Sunni, have been recruited by the U.S. military to work against al Qaeda in Iraq and other militias.

Key security ministry positions remain vacant in Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government amid political wrangling. Al-Maliki serves as acting defense, interior and national security minister.

China's economy grew 10.3% in 2010

The Chinese economy continued its breakneck growth in 2010, expanding by 10.3%, according to government figures released Thursday.

Last year China's economic output eclipsed Japan to become the world's second largest economy with just over $6 trillion, completing a decade long gallop that saw it jump the economies of France, the UK and Germany. China's growth in 2009 was 9.2%.

The U.S. is the world's largest economy with an estimated $14.6 trillion GDP for 2010.

Interactive: The world's 10 largest economies

The yearend figures come out as Chinese President Hu Jintao makes a high-profile visit to the U.S., being feted at a state dinner by U.S. President Barack Obama -- the first such dinner for China in more than 13 years.The summit has also highlighted a range of issues between the world's two largest economies, such as the global economic crisis, international security, the environment and human rights.

Obama administration officials used the president's meeting with Hu to highlight economic progress between the two countries, announcing Beijing's approval of $45 billion in new contracts for U.S. companies to export goods to China. The contracts will support an estimated 235,000 American jobs, according to the White House.

The Chinese economy grew 9.8% in the last quarter of 2010, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics.

Consumer prices grew 3.3% year-on-year, ahead of China's 3% target. But more troubling for Beijing is the price of food rose 7.2%.

As the economy expands, inflation is a growing concern for China's economic minders, said Professor Patrick Chovanec at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

China has implemented price controls on food "but whether that deal with the underlying inflationary pressure is an entirely different problem," Chovanec said. "Nothing China has done so far has really tackled that."

Two chief U.S. economic concerns are China's currency, which critics say is widely undervalued, and increased access to U.S. businesses in the burgeoning China market.

Obama dismissed a reporter's question about U.S. fear of China's rising power, saying that China's explosive economic growth is good for the world and, more specifically, American businesses.

We want to sell China "all kinds of stuff," he said.

"We welcome China's rise," Obama said. Washington just wants to ensure it "reinforces international norms and international rules, and enhances security and peace as opposed to ... being a source of conflict."

While the meeting dealt with a range of topics, U.S. officials continued to focus intensely on the fact that the government-controlled People's Bank of China is artificially undervaluing the yuan, bringing down the cost of Chinese exports, which would give it an advantage in the international market.

GPs face losing control of flu jabs programme

GPs face losing control of managing the flu vaccine programme following supply problems in England this winter, the UK's head of immunisation says.

There is a "pretty compelling" case for the government taking charge of ordering and supplying jabs, said Professor David Salisbury.

GPs ran out of seasonal flu jabs earlier this month, forcing ministers to use swine flu vaccine stockpiles.

The BMA said changing the "complex and intense" programme would not work.

Most vaccines, including the entire childhood immunisation programme, are ordered by the Department of Health for the whole of the UK.

Flu is one of the few exceptions, with GPs in England ordering jabs direct from manufacturers and similar systems operating elsewhere in the UK.

Prof Salisbury said this was a "historic hangover" that now needed addressing.

He is leading a review into what happened this winter with the shortages. Even though there is plenty of the 2009 pandemic vaccine left it does not protect patients against all the strains of flu circulating."We compare that with the routine childhood immunisation programme where we have not had to suspend part of the programme because of shortage of vaccine for at least a decade. This argues that we do need to look very carefully at whether flu vaccine supply can be done on a more dependable basis."

The government has set up a tailored IT system that allows officials to supply vaccines to the NHS within hours of orders coming in. Those vaccines can then be tracked and there is an up-to-date record of how many are left in the system.

But Prof Salisbury said any move to take ordering away from GPs would take time.Doctors get paid for running the vaccine programme and Prof Salisbury conceded the payment issues would need resolving. He said the government would be seeking talks soon.

He suggested as an interim measure for next winter, the government in England may purchase an emergency stockpile as happens in Scotland.

He also suggested the shortages that were reported could have been down to GPs giving the vaccine to those who were not in high risk groups.

However, he added it would be wrong to blame anyone at the moment as the issue needed looking at thoroughly.

But the British Medical Association rejected the suggestions.

Dr Richard Vautrey, deputy chairman of the BMA's GPs' committee, said he did not believe doctors had relaxed restrictions. He said the shortage was more likely to be caused by the late surge and the fact that healthy pregnant women had been added to the risk groups fairly late on.

On the issue of handing control of the vaccination campaign to the government, he said: "I don't think a wholesale change like this would work. The flu programme is complex and intense as we have a lot of people coming for immunisation at once.

"That does not happen with childhood vaccines and so I am not sure a central system could cope with the volume of vaccine GPs need almost all at once.

"What we need is for an emergency stock to be held, perhaps regionally, in case doctors do run out."

Prof Salisbury also re-entered the debate about vaccinating healthy children - there have been calls for this to happen after a number of children died or became seriously ill this winter.

Current vaccination policy is based on immunising those most at risk of getting seriously ill. But he said there was "merit" in also vaccinating those who were the most likely to spread the disease - children - as a way of curbing the scale of future outbreaks.

He said this was a matter for the government's independent expert body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, to consider and it needed to be proved cost-effective, but he said in his personal view it was an "attractive concept".

Prison sentence for US HIV sex airman David Gutierrez

A US Air Force sergeant has been sentenced to eight years in prison and dishonourable discharge for exposing sex partners to HIV at swinger parties.

David Gutierrez had been convicted of aggravated assault and of violating orders to notify partners of his status and to use a condom.

Gutierrez begged a Kansas military judge for a lower sentence, noting he had not infected anyone.

He feared he would be unable to afford HIV drugs without medical benefits.
Denials

But prosecutor Capt Sam Kidd argued on Wednesday he had risked his partners' lives: "The accused was not thinking about how his victims would pay for their medications."

Capt Kidd said Gutierrez was diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes Aids, in 2007 while stationed in Italy.The sentence came a day after several women who attended sex parties with Gutierrez and his wife testified they would not have had sex with him if they had known about his HIV status. None testified they had contracted the virus.

They testified he repeatedly denied he had contracted the virus.

Banned in Britain: Pastor Terry Jones

Britain has denied entry to the Florida pastor who said last year that he was "praying about" whether to burn Qurans to protest the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"The government opposes extremism in all its forms which is why we have excluded Pastor Terry Jones from the UK," a Home Office spokesperson said in a statement. "Numerous comments made by Pastor Jones are evidence of his unacceptable behaviour."

Jones vowed to take legal action to change the decision. "Just as a human being, I believe it is restrictive, against my right to travel, against my right to my opinion, to express my opinion, against basic principles of freedom of religion and freedom of speech," he said in a telephone interview.

He said he had planned to go to Britain February 9 and to spend a week to 10 days there with his church group. He has been invited to speak at several rallies in England and do book signings, he said.

Jones, the pastor of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, threatened last September to burn the Quran. "We have firmly made up our mind, but at the same time, we are definitely praying about it.But he changed his mind after his proposal drew sharp criticism from Muslims around the world and from U.S. officials. Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said the burning of Islam's holy books "could cause significant problems" for American troops overseas.

Hong Kong authorities seize 290 kilograms of cocaine

Some 290 kilograms (639 pounds) of "high-grade cocaine" was discovered in a shipping container at a Hong Kong terminal, the government said in a statement Wednesday.

The cocaine, worth some HK $260 million (U.S. $33 million) was found December 29 at the Kwai Chung Container Terminal, "in a container arriving from South America and destined for the mainland," Hong Kong's Information Services Department said.

Hong Kong's customs department has recently stepped up inspections of "suspicious consignments from South America" at the terminal, the statement said.

Customs officers intercepted two containers that purportedly contained "wood working products" from a container vessel from Chile, officials said. "Following inspection using the X-ray system and drug detector dogs, officers found a batch of cocaine in one of the containers, concealed inside 88 pieces of hollowed-out wood planks," the statement said.

The investigation was ongoing, authorities said, and no arrests have yet been made. Hong Kong is working closely with Chinese and overseas drug enforcement agencies, said John Lee, head of Hong Kong Customs' Drug Investigation Bureau, in the statement.

It was the largest seizure of drugs ever for the customs department. However, Hong Kong police last April had a larger bust, which saw the seizure of 372 kilograms (820 pounds) of cocaine with a value of HK $337 million, or U.S. $43.4 million. That seizure stemmed from a missing persons report that led to the discovery of the cocaine in a home. Eight people were arrested in that case, police said at the time.

Drug trafficking is a serious offense, the Hong Kong government statement said, with a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $5 million fine.