Coffee spill diverts United Airlines flight, Transport Canada says

Don't underestimate the power of a spilled cup of coffee.
A United Airlines flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany, was diverted to Toronto this week after the pilot dumped a cup of coffee on the plane's communication's equipment. The unwanted liquid triggered a series of emergency codes, including one for a hijacking, according to Transport Canada, the agency that regulates transportation in Canada.
"With the help of their company dispatch staff, the flight crew was confirmed the problem to be a NAV(navigation)/communication issue and not a valid code 7500 (for a hijacking or unlawful interference)," Transport Canada said on its website.
Flight 940 initially was going to return to Chicago, but then diverted to Pearson International Airport in Toronto where it landed without incident around 10 p.m. Monday.
United had little to say about the coffee spill that led to the diversion, and did not acknowledge that the caffeinated beverage had anything to do with it.

Amid massive security, Egypt's Christians protest peacefully

Hundreds of security officers in riot gear herd supporters of Coptic Christians through Shubra, a Cairo suburb, on Tuesday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Tuesday night marks first peaceful protest since New Year's attack in Alexandria
• Death toll from blast has risen to 23 Coptic Christians
• Coptic Christians make up 9 percent of Egyptian population

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Hundreds of supporters of Egyptian Christians protesting a New Year's bombing that killed nearly two dozen of their members marched Tuesday night on a church in a Cairo suburb, where they were met by an equal number of security officers in riot gear.
For the first night since the car bomb, which detonated in front of a Coptic church in Alexandria, there were no reports of violence during the protests.
The car bombing death toll rose to 23, Egypt's state news agency MENA reported Tuesday.
Christians and Muslim supporters in the Shubra neighborhood of Cairo shouted their outrage over the Alexandria attack on Coptic Christians.
"With my blood and my soul I will defend the cross," chanted crowds of protesters, as they wended their way down Shubra Street toward a church. Some carried crosses -- up to 4 feet (1.22 meters) long -- emblazoned with messages of protest written in red ink to represent blood. Some protesters lay down on the street, prostrating themselves in the shape of a cross.

Southern Sudan returnees put a strain on limited resources

Tracking developments in Sudan

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• In the past three months, about 106,000 have returned from the north, aid group says
• Returnees are coming to a region already facing shortages of food, water, health care
• Nine of 10 people in the region live on less than $1 a day

An influx of people returning home to vote in Southern Sudan is straining communities suffering from lack of food and water in the remote region, aid groups said Wednesday.

Massive flooding in Australia could continue for weeks

Vast flooding covering much of eastern Australia could remain for weeks, as more than 1,200 residents remain out of deluged homes Wednesday.

As of late Wednesday night, the Fitzroy River was hovering around 9.2 meters (30 feet), CNN meteorologist Jennifer Delgado said.

Official: Warning signs missed ahead of governor's assassination

Islamabad, Pakistan -- A security guard accused of assassinating the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province was banned five months ago by a provincial police official from providing security detail to VIP personnel, authorities said Wednesday.
The director inspector general of Punjab Police labeled the guard as having extremist views and determined it was unsafe for him to guard important officials, the Pakistani president's Special Political Adviser Faisal Raza Abidi told CNN.
Despite the assessment, the Punjab Police employed Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri for security this week.
He is accused of killing Gov. Salman Taseer on Tuesday, apparently because the governor spoke out against the country's controversial blasphemy law.

 

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Imran Khan: Pakistan is 'going down'

Taseer was buried on Wednesday. He had been governor of Punjab province since May 2008.
The warning signs go back even further, said Rana Shahid Pervez, senior police official in Rawalpindi.
Pakistani Intelligence agencies warned officials in 2004 not to use Qadri after they uncovered connections between him and the religious group Dawat e Islami -- a Sunni group that claims it has a closer connection to the Prophet Mohammed than other Muslims.

Stocks poised to pull back

Click chart for pre-market action. By CNNMoney staffJanuary 5, 2011: 8:03 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks were poised to head lower Wednesday, taking cues from European markets, as investors await another round of economic reports.
Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were all lower ahead of the opening bell. Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance.

What's next? $100 oil and $1,500 gold What's next? $100 oil and $1,500 gold

Rising demand from emerging markets will boost prices. But don't expect the big gains of 2010 as the U.S. economic recovery will keep a lid on the advances.


Click above for more commodities prices.


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Commodity prices had a stellar 2010 and experts expect that momentum to carry over into this year, but at a more measured pace.
On average, investment strategists and money managers are predicting oil prices will rise 4% and gold will edge up just 1% by the end of 2011, according to an exclusive CNNMoney survey.