BEIJING (AFP) – China yesterday unveiled what it billed as the fastest rail link in the world — a train connecting the modern cities of Guangzhou and Wuhan at an average speed of 350 kilometres (217 miles) an hour.

The super-high-speed train reduces the 1,069 kilometre journey to a three hour ride and cuts the previous journey time by more than seven and a half hours, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Work on the project began in 2005 as part of plans to expand a high-speed network aimed at eventually linking Guangzhou, a business hub in southern China near Hong Kong, with the capital Beijing, Xinhua added.

“The train can go 394.2 kilometres per hour, it’s the fastest train in operation in the world,” Zhang Shuguang, head of the transport bureau at the railways ministry, told Xinhua.

Test runs for the service began earlier in December and the link officially went into service when the first scheduled train left the eastern metropolis of Wuhan on Saturday.

By comparison, the average for high-speed trains in Japan was 243 kilometres per hour while in France it was 277 kilometres per hour, said Xu Fangliang, general engineer in charge of designing the link, according to Xinhua.

Beijing has an ambitious rail development programme aimed at increasing the national network from the current 86,000 kilometres to 120,000 kilometres, making it the most extensive rail system outside the United States.

China unveiled its first high-speed line at the time of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 — a service linking the capital with the port city of Tianjin.

In September, officials said they planned to build 42 high-speed lines by 2012 in a massive system overhaul as part of efforts to spur economic growth amid the global downturn.

The network uses technology developed in co-operation with foreign firms such as Siemens, Bombardier and Alstom.

A high-speed train travels on the new Wuhan-Guangzhou railway in Wuhan, Hubei province, yesterday. REUTERS/Stringer (CHINA

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U.S. plane suspect is from prominent Nigerian family

By Nick Tattersall

LAGOS (Reuters) – A Nigerian charged yesterday with trying to blow up a U.S. passenger plane is the son of a prominent former banker, a family member said yesterday, shocking the country’s wealthy elite.

The 23-year-old, named by U.S. officials as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was taken into custody after being overpowered by passengers and crew as the Christmas Day flight approached Detroit from Amsterdam.

Abdul Mutallab, son of prominent former banker Umaru Mutallab, told Reuters the suspect was his brother.

He declined to comment further ahead of an expected joint statement by the family and the Nigerian government today.

Vice President Goodluck Jonathan called a meeting of the country’s security chiefs for today to set up an investigative panel and try to find out more about the suspect’s background and any links to foreign groups, a presidency source said.

Investigators in the United States are trying to confirm the man’s claims that he has connections to al Qaeda.

“(Nigeria’s) National Intelligence Agency spoke with his father today (yesterday),” a family friend said on condition of anonymity.

The friend told Reuters Abdulmutallab had attended the British School in Lome, Togo — a boarding school mostly serving expatriates and students from around West Africa — before studying engineering at University College London (UCL).

UCL said it had enrolled a student by the name of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab between September 2005 and June 2008, but said it had no evidence that this was the same person.

The family friend said Abdulmutallab had made two trips to Yemen for short Arabic and Islamic courses.

Nigeria’s This Day newspaper cited family members as saying Umaru Mutallab had been uncomfortable with his son’s “extreme religious views” and had reported him to the U.S. embassy in the capital Abuja and to Nigerian security agencies six months ago.

The newspaper said the son had relocated to Egypt and then Dubai, where he cut family ties, after leaving London.

ELITE SHOCKED

Umaru Mutallab, who is from the northern state of Katsina, retired as chairman of Nigeria’s oldest bank, First Bank, earlier this month after a distinguished career in finance.

The news of his son’s detention stunned Nigeria’s elite.

“I’m very, very shocked. I’ve not met many perfect gentleman from the north like (Umaru Mutallab). He is a very respected man,” said one Nigerian finance professional in the commercial hub Lagos.

Many wealthy Nigerians send their children to boarding schools and universities in Britain or the United States. Those who return for the end-of-year holiday, packing Lagos bars, or to work are a close-knit community dubbed “re-pats.”

One friend who knew him in London said Abdulmutallab kept himself to himself and always wore a skullcap, relatively rare among young Nigerian Muslims who usually wear such caps only on religious occasions.

Abdulmutallab was thought to have lived in an apartment in a wealthy central London neighbourhood during his time in Britain. British police searched the premises yesterday, trying to establish details about his activities there.

Africa’s most populous nation is roughly equally divided between Christians and Muslims spread across more than 200 ethnic groups.

Nigeria arrested a group of Islamists with suspected links to al Qaeda in 2007 and some Western diplomats have expressed concern that with its huge population, widespread poverty and strategic importance as an oil supplier to the West and to China it could become a target for radical Islamic groups.

But there has been no conclusive evidence of an al Qaeda presence in Nigeria.

CAPTION ( Photo saved in Graphics as plane on runway )

This Dec. 25, 2009 file photo shows Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on the runway after arriving at Detroit Metropolitan Airport from Amsterdam. (AP Photo/J.P. Karas, File)

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Suspect identified in kidnapping of Phoenix girl

PHOENIX – Phoenix police have identified a suspect accused of kidnapping and molesting a five-year-old girl before a patrol officer spotted his car and helped rescue the child.

Forty-five-year-old Larry Jon Ladwig was booked into jail early Saturday on charges of kidnapping, sexual molestation of a child, aggravated assault of a police officer and felony flight. It’s unclear whether Ladwig has a lawyer.

The girl was rescued at about 9:30 p.m. Friday, more than seven hours after police believe Ladwig kidnapped her while she was playing outside a Phoenix apartment building.

Police say the girl is doing well. A patrol officer had spotted the suspected kidnapper’s car and aided in the rescue more than seven hours after the girl was scooped up by a stranger while playing with her sisters outside their Phoenix apartment building.

Police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill credited a “very alert” policeman with taking quick action after spotting what appeared to be the suspect’s vehicle driving on a west Phoenix avenue, even though the license plate differed from reports.

Officer Mike Burns pulled alongside and “saw a suspect that matched the description and thought he saw a small child,” Hill told The Associated Press.

He said the pickup sped off, and Burns gave chase and alerted the force. Officers put spike strips across the road several blocks away that punctured the suspect’s tires, causing him to crash on the roadside.

The man took off on foot but was caught and arrested a block away after a brief struggle.

“She is alive and well thanks to the timely diligence of officer Burns,” Hill said. “It is rare in stranger abduction cases so much time can pass without a tragic ending. This was truly a Christmas miracle.”

Police said the suspect is a 45-year-old man, but they haven’t released his name and or any other details.

Hill said the man was being questioned by police and held on charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault on a police officer and felony pursuit.

The sergeant said the girl appeared to be in good shape but was being examined by health officials.

Police received the call that Natalie had been taken at about 2:15 p.m. An Amber Alert was issued, and authorities began combing the area on foot, by car and with helicopters.

Hill said the child had been playing in a common area at the apartment complex with her two sisters, ages seven and nine, when a man parked his brown pickup in a nearby parking lot and walked over to them carrying a camera.

“He physically grabbed the seven-year-old girl and forcibly took a photo of her,” Hill said.

The man then forced the girl into the truck and drove away. Witnesses reported that as the man was fleeing, he hit a parked car before entering southbound 19th Avenue.

Natalie and her sisters had been staying at an apartment in the complex with an aunt who has legal custody of them, Hill said. The girls’ parents live separately out of state.

After the abduction, the girl’s older sister went to a neighbour’s apartment and pounded on the door, The Arizona Republic reported. The woman who answered, Donna Reed, said the girl was carrying a ball and appeared to be shaking.

“She said some man just took her little sister,” Reed told the newspaper. “She was a nervous wreck.”

Reed called 911.

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Obama’s Hawaii holiday may boost tourism

KAILUA, Hawaii – Tourism officials hope images of a president celebrating a warm Christmas in Hawaii will remind mainlanders that a sunny getaway awaits them if they’d just hop on a plane and leave the frigid temperatures and mounds of snow behind.

While officials don’t expect President Barack Obama’s visit to attract tourists immediately, they hope it will provide free advertising for a financially struggling state that relies on travelers to keep its economy afloat.

“Hawaii reaps the benefit of the spotlight he provides,” said Darlene Morikawa, a spokeswoman for the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, which has a Web page dedicated to Obama’s past visits. “The last time he was here in Hawaii, national news shows were going live every morning. We had our sunny coverage in the middle of CNN’s snow coverage.”

The snack shops, landmarks and beaches Obama previously visited continue to get a steady stream of visitors a year after his last visit to the island.

People remember the campaign photos of Obama sharing shave ice — a monster version of the snow cone — with his daughters at Island Snow Shave Ice in Kailua, near the family’s vacation house.

“It’s amazing how many people come in and ask about it,” said Kainoa Kaehu, an employee at the shave ice store. “There’s going to be a lot more people coming. People are saying, ‘Maybe we’ll see him this time.'”

A family of six from Spokane, Wash., visited Island Snow this week after they heard it was where Obama had eaten.

“If it’s good enough for Obama, it’s good enough for us, and I’m a Republican,” said family patriarch Steve Salvatori as he sipped a root beer shave ice. “Most people on the mainland wouldn’t know where Kailua is until you say, ‘It’s where Obama vacations.'”

Tourists frequently ask to see Kapiolani Medical Center where he was born, Punahou Circle apartments where he lived for much of his childhood and Punahou School where he graduated high school, said David Uchiyama, vice president of marketing for the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

But most efforts to capitalize on Obama’s fame haven’t proven successful, said Rob Kay, who highlights significant places from Obama’s childhood on his Web site “Obama’s Neighbourhood.”

“The nascent Obama tourism industry never really took off. There was some interest for a while, but for whatever reason it seemed to dissipate,” Kay said. “It’s hard to anticipate that his visit will bring any kind of boom, but it can’t hurt.”

People wishing to follow Obama’s activities while he’s in the islands can do so on the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau Web site, which has set up a page labeled “Barack Obama’s Hawaii.” Other businesses have incorporated Obama into their Pearl Harbour and Polynesian tours.

“People want to vacation where the president vacations,” said Anissa Gunther, operations manager for Kailua Sailboards & Kayaks, located in the same shopping center as Island Snow Shave Ice. “It’s cool to see him come back.”

This is Obama’s first visit back to Hawaii since he was sworn in as president.

He was previously in the islands for Christmas vacation last year and during a family vacation in August before he accepted the Democratic presidential nomination. He also returned to Honolulu last October to visit his ailing grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, who died just two nights before Election Day.

“People are sitting back home and saying, ‘Wow, look how beautiful it is. Let’s go to Hawaii,'” said hiking guide Mitch Berger. “It’s very slow this holiday season. Anything that gets us in the news doesn’t hurt.”

The number of visitors to Hawaii declined to about 5.4 million through the first 10 months of this year, a 5.5 percent decrease from the previous year, according to statistics from the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and daughters Sasha and Malia arrive at Hickam Air Force base for their holiday vacation in Honolulu, yesterday.(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

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New rules keep passengers in seats Airlines

WASHINGTON – Some airlines were telling passengers yesterday that new government security regulations prohibit them from leaving their seats beginning an hour before landing

The regulations are a response to a suspected terrorism incident on Christmas Day.

Air Canada said in a statement that new rules imposed by the Transportation Security Administration limit on-board activities by passengers and crew in U.S. airspace. The airline said that during the final hour of flight passengers must remain seated. They won’t be allowed access to carryon baggage or to have any items on their laps.

Flight attendants on some domestic flights are informing passengers of similar rules. Passengers on a flight from New York to Tampa yesterday morning were also told they must remain in their seats and couldn’t have items in their laps, including laptops and pillows.

The TSA issued a security directive for U.S.-bound flights from overseas, according to a transportation security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly.

The official said passengers travelling internationally could see increased security screening at gates and when they check their bags, as well as additional measures on flights such as stowing carryons and personal items before the plane lands.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement yesterday that passengers flying to the U.S. from overseas may notice extra security, but she said the measures “are designed to be unpredictable, so passengers should not expect to see the same thing everywhere.”

A Nigerian passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam allegedly attempted to start a fire as the plane prepared to land in Detroit on Friday, according to authorities. The incident has sparked a major international terrorism investigation.

Air Canada said it was limiting passengers to one carryon bag in response to a request from the U.S. and Canadian governments.

The airline advised U.S.-bound passengers to restrict their carryon item to “the absolute minimum” or to not carry any bag on board at all.

“Carriage of any carryon item will result in lengthy security delays for the customer,” the airline said.

U.S.-bound flights on all airlines are experiencing significant delays, said Duncan Dee, Air Canada’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.

A spokeswoman with Infraero, a Brazilian government agency that oversees airport infrastructure, said that airlines had been asked by federal authorities to add another layer of security for international flights originating in the country after the attempted attack in the U.S.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the matter, said that passengers would face an extra screening that would take place just before they boarded planes. She would give no more details, citing security concerns.

David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, said the domestic airline industry has been in close coordination with the security administration since Friday’s incident and there will be increased scrutiny of passengers. He declined to comment on whether new regulations have been put in place.

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Actor Charlie Sheen arrested in Colorado

ASPEN, Colo. – Charlie Sheen spent the better part of Christmas Day in a Colorado jail cell after being arrested on domestic violence allegations.

The 44-year-old actor was taken into custody Friday morning by officers responding to a 911 call from a house in this ski resort town about 200 miles west of Denver.

An ambulance went to the house, but the accuser was not taken to the hospital.

Sheen, the star of CBS’ “Two and a Half Men,” was taken to the Pitkin County jail and booked for investigation of second-degree assault and menacing, both felonies, along with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, Aspen police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro said.

He was released in the late afternoon after posting $8,500 bond and being advised by a county judge on the conditions of his release, she said.

Dasaro declined to name Sheen’s accuser, citing a department policy prohibiting the identification of potential victims in domestic violence cases.

Aspen attorney Richard Cummins said late Friday that he was representing Sheen in the case. He declined to name Sheen’s accuser or discuss details, but he cautioned against any rush to judgment.

Cummins said a court date was set for Feb. 8. “That may be to determine whether a case goes forward or not,” he said.

Sheen’s publicist Stan Rosenfield also warned against making assumptions.

Sheen is the son of actor Martin Sheen and brother of actor-director Emilio Estevez. He is married to Brooke Mueller Sheen, a real estate investor who gave birth to the couple’s first children, twin boys, in March.

They married in May 2008 following Sheen’s bitter divorce and custody battle with actress Denise Richards.

The star of “Platoon,” “Wall Street” and the “Hot Shots!” movies has had run-ins with the law before. In December 1996, he was arrested and charged with attacking a girlfriend at his Southern California home. He later pleaded no contest and was placed on two years’ probation.

In 1998, his father turned him in for violating his parole after a cocaine overdose sent him to the hospital. He was later ordered to undergo a rehabilitation programme.

Actor Charlie Sheen (AP Photo/Aspen Police Department)

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Dutch tourist says he stopped Detroit plane attack

DETROIT – A Dutch tourist said Saturday he heard a pop, saw smoke and climbed over seats to stop a man from trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight in Detroit.

“I didn’t think. I just went over there to try to save the plane,” Jasper Schuringa of Amsterdam told CNN.

As passengers on Flight 253 screamed “fire, fire” on Friday, Schuringa said he figured the suspect was “trying to blow up the plane.”

He said he jumped over seats and crossed the aisle before extinguishing the fire with his hands and searching Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab for explosives.

“When you hear a pop on a plane, you’re awake,” Schuringa said.

He said Mutallab didn’t struggle and was silent as other passengers and crew responded.

“We took him to first class … stripped him and contained him to make sure he had no more weapons, no more bombs,” said Schuringa, whose right wrist and fingertips were bandaged to protect burns. He spoke to CNN from Miami where he was on vacation.

The White House said it believed it was an attempted act of terrorism and stricter security measures were quickly imposed on airline travel.

Schuringa said until the pop, there was nothing about Muttalab’s behavioUr that stirred suspicions on the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight.

He praised flight attendants and fellow passengers — “they’re also heroes.”

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WORLD HIGHLIGHTS

* * * HONOLULU – The White House is asking journalists covering President Barack Obama’s vacation in Hawaii to respect the privacy of his 8- and 11-year-old daughters.

White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton and Michelle Obama’s press secretary Katie McCormick Lelyveld issued a joint statement on Saturday urging journalists not to photograph or film Sasha or Malia Obama when they are on excursions without their parents.

The White House made a similar request when journalists traveled with the Obamas for a summer vacation on Martha’s Vineyard. Then, the White House invited journalists to cover the first daughters only when they went for snacks, souvenirs and bike rides with their parents.

The daughters regularly join their parents at public events.

* * * OMAHA, Neb. – Drifting snow and cold rain that have plagued much of the country for days stranded drivers and airline passengers yesterday trying to get home after Christmas.

Storms from Texas to the Upper Midwest that dumped 23.9 inches of snow in Grand Forks, N.D., and 18 inches near Norfolk, Neb., began subsiding, but blowing and drifting snow hampered visibility in many areas.

Warmer temperatures and rains in the East began melting and washing away last week’s record-setting snowfalls, threatening the region with flooding.

In Chicago, one of the nation’s busiest travel hubs, snow and ice along with rain on the East Coast canceled or delayed more than 50 flights.

Flights also were delayed at the three major airports in the New York area, which was getting rain and patchy fog. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the area’s airports.

* * * EHRAN (Reuters) – Baton-wielding riot police clashed with opposition backers in Tehran who used a Shi’ite religious festival to stage new anti-government demonstrations yesterday, an opposition website and witnesses said.

The reformist Jaras website also said security forces fired tear gas and warning shots to disperse protesters and also attacked a building housing an Iranian news agency, ISNA, where it said some demonstrators had sought shelter during the unrest.

At least two people were injured as police chased after demonstrators into the downtown building, a witness said.

In a sign the protests were spreading, another Tehran resident later said supporters of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi, chanting “Death to the dictator,” clashed with police near a mosque in northern Tehran where reformist former president Mohammad Khatami had been due to speak.

* * * BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Airports and airlines across Europe moved rapidly to tighten security on U.S.-bound flights on Saturday after a man tried to set off explosives on a plane flying from Amsterdam to Detroit.

Authorities in Britain, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands either increased passenger checks or reinforced security measures already stepped up ahead of the busy Christmas and New Year travel period, officials said.

The measures follow a formal request from the U.S. Department of Transportation to airports worldwide to ratchet up security following the failed Christmas Day attack on a Delta Air Lines flight by a Nigerian suspect, officials said.

German authorities said they were considering increasing airport security but hadn’t done so yet.

British airports group BAA, which manages Heathrow — Europe’s busiest airport by passenger numbers — said airlines had strengthened security and travelers should expect delays during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

* * * BEIRUT (Reuters) – A bomb which exploded in the southern suburbs of Beirut yesterday targeted a car used by Hamas members and one person was wounded, security sources told Reuters.

A Reuters reporter said ambulances were at the scene of the blast and barricades shut off the area about 200 meters from where the bomb exploded in a Hezbollah neighbourhood.

* * * REYKJAVIK (Reuters) – A Lufthansa flight en route from Frankfurt to Detroit with about 200 passengers made an emergency landing in Iceland yesterday after it was found to be carrying luggage whose owner had not boarded the plane.

A bomb squad searched the Airbus 380-300 while the passengers remained on board, removing the luggage, said a spokesman at Keflavik International Airport near the Icelandic capital Reykjavik.

The scare followed an incident on a plane approaching Detroit on Friday in which a man was arrested after trying to ignite an explosive device, according to U.S. authorities.

A Lufthansa spokesman in Germany said of the two-hour stopover in Iceland: “The U.S. authorities have been informed about this. It was an unfortunate coincidence.”