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Putin leads young Siberian cranes in flight

  LYNN BERRYVLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- Vladimir Putin flew on a motorized hang glider to lead a flock of young Siberian white cranes in flight, a characteristic stunt for Russia's action-man, animal-loving president that was tarnished by reports that endangered chicks had died while scientists were setting up the trip.

Dressed in a white costume meant to imitate an adult crane, Putin was taking part in a project to teach the endangered birds who were raised in captivity to follow the aircraft on their southern migration to Central Asia.

Putin has charmed many Russians while disgusting others with his feats, starting from 2000 when he flew into Chechnya in the back seat of a fighter jet. Over the years, he has ridden a horse bare-chested through the mountains, driven a Formula One race car and taken the controls of a firefighting plane to dump water on wildfires.

The flight in the hang glider proved to be a test of Putin's leadership skills. Only one crane followed Putin on his first flight, which he attributed to high winds that caused the hang glider to travel faster than usual, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. On the second flight, five birds followed Putin, but after a few circles only two had stuck with him for the full 15-minute flight.

Putin stopped off at the Kushavet ornithological research station on the Yamal Peninsula in the Russian Arctic on Wednesday en route to an international summit in Vladivostok, on Russia's Pacific coast. Once at the station, he paired up with a pilot, who sat behind him on the hang glider as they took the birds for a spin.

It was a scene reminiscent of the 1996 movie "Fly Away Home," in which an estranged father and daughter use an ultralight plane to help a flock of geese migrate. The movie was based on a real-life Canadian, who spent a decade teaching orphaned geese how to fly south.

Putin's moment dimmed, however, when a biology student at the station claimed online that two chick cranes died and several others were hurt in the hurry to be ready for Putin's arrival.

"One of the chicks got into a hang glider's propeller while training and waiting for" Putin, Mariya Goncharova wrote on her page on the Russian social netwroking website, vk.ru. "One more broke a beak and stripped its claws off on bad netting, and many simply flayed themselves" while being transported in boxes to the flight venue.

Goncharova deleted the post several hours after posting it, but it remained available on Russian search engines.

A researcher confirmed the death of a three-month-old chick before it was transported to the research station.

"An autopsy will give us the exact cause of death," Tatyana Kashentseva told The Associated Press. She said other birds arrived safely, although it was not clear how many there were.

Russian biologists say there are less than 20 Western Siberian white cranes left in the wild worldwide.

Putin's flight, given many minutes of airtime on Russian television, provoked an array of contemptuous jokes on the Internet, one of the most popular being "So Putin is off to wintering with cranes. Does this mean he's not going to be back before spring?"

Some of Putin's adventures have purported scientific connections, such as when he fired a crossbow at a gray whale while being tossed around in choppy seas to collect tissue samples.

He also once shot a Siberian tigress with a tranquilizer gun so he could place a tracking collar around her neck. He patted the sleeping tiger's cheek affectionately as if she were a pet. A Russian environmentalist claimed later that the tigress died because Putin's security insisted on increasing the dose of the tranquilizer.

After leading the cranes, Putin said he didn't know what he would do next with animals. "That's for the specialists to decide," he said. "It shouldn't be just for fun, but should have some use."

Last year, Putin was caught short when one of his scientific events was revealed to be a set-up. He was shown scuba diving and bringing up fragments of ancient Greek amphorae, but his spokesman Dmitry Peskov later admitted the artifacts had been planted on the sea floor for Putin to grab.

The stunts irritate Putin's opponents, who regard them not as benign political entertainment but as part of an establishment of a cult of personality lionizing an authoritarian leader.

Marat Guelman, one of Russia's most well-known art gallery operators, wrote in a blog on the Ekho Moskvy radio station website that the flight shows Putin "has lost faith in us. He sees our treachery, greed, cowardice and cruelty. There's nothing to love in us anymore. Dolphins, cranes, horses - that's a different thing."

Masha Gessen, author of a book critical of Putin, left her post as editor of the travel and science magazine Vokrug Sveta (Around the World) this week, saying she was fired for refusing to send a reporter to the Yamal Peninsula, 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, to cover Putin's flight with the cranes.

A statement from the magazine Tuesday said Gessen left by agreement with management because of "differences" on the separation of editorial and publishing powers.

Vokrug Sveta works closely with the Russian Geographical Society, whose board of trustees is chaired by Putin.

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Mansur Mirovalev contributed to this report from Moscow.

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North Korean heir leads funeral of Kim Jong Il

  PYONGYANG, North Korea -- Wailing and clutching at their hearts, tens of thousands of North Koreans lined the snowy streets of Pyongyang on Wednesday as the hearse carrying late leader Kim Jong Il's body wound its way through the capital for a final farewell.

Son and successor Kim Jong Un led the procession, his head bowed against the wind and right arm raised in a salute, from Kumsusan Memorial Palace where his father's body had lain in state. Top military and party officials, including uncle Jang Song Thaek, were also part of the lead group.

The procession was expected to head to the city's main plaza, Kim Il Sung Square, where hundreds of thousands of North Koreans have been paying their respects over the past 10 days. Sobs and wails filled the air as mourners in the front rows, bareheaded in the cold and snow, stamped their feet and cried as the hearse passed by.

Kim Jong Il, who led the nation with an iron fist following his father Kim Il Sung's death in 1994, died of a heart attack Dec. 17 at age 69, according to state media.

Even as North Koreans mourned the loss of the second leader the nation has known, the transition of power to Kim Jong Un was already under way. The young man, who is in late 20s, is already being hailed by state media as the "supreme leader" of the party, state and army.

State media declared the country in the "warm care" of his young son as it extended the Kim family's hold on power to a third generation. Over the past week, state media has bestowed him with new titles, including "great successor," "supreme leader" and "sagacious leader."

He is believed to have led a private ceremony earlier Wednesday in the inner sanctum of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace with top military and party officials. A national memorial service will take place at noon Thursday, state media said.

Like his father's in 1994, Kim Jong Il's coffin was wrapped in a red flag. A limousine carrying a huge portrait of a smiling Kim led the procession, and soldiers followed the hearse and lined the streets.

The footage was accompanied by rousing military music. The procession passed by a signboard with a slogan that praised the "revolutionary ideas of Comrade Kim Il Sung," Kim's father and the country's revered founder. North Korean state media said the memorial route was about 25 miles (40 kilometers) long, though top officials did not walk the entire route.

Walking behind Kim Jong Un was Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Il's brother-in-law and a vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission who is expected to play a crucial role in helping Kim Jong Un take power.

Kim's two other sons, Kim Jong Nam and Kim Jong Chol, have not been spotted.

The young Kim made his public debut just last year with a promotion to four-star general and an appointment as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party.

Heavy snow was falling in Pyongyang, which state media characterized in the early days of mourning as proof that the skies were "grieving" for Kim as well. Footage on state TV showed images of swirling snow, the log cabin in far northern Mount Paektu where Kim is said to have been born and the mountain named after Kim Jong Il, where his name is carved into the rocky face in red.

Earlier, state television also replayed images of missiles being fired and the April 2009 long-range rocket launch that earned North Korea strengthened U.N. sanctions. The U.S., South Korea and other nations called it a test for a missile designed to strike the United States; North Korea said the rocket sent a communications satellite into space.

Even as they mourned his father with dramatic displays of grief at memorials and at Kumsusan, North Korea's officials have pledged their loyalty to his son.

In an essay paying homage to Kim Jong Il on Wednesday, Workers' Party mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun said North Korea under his leadership had been "dignified as a country that manufactured and launched artificial satellites and accessed nukes," referring to the country's nuclear program.

"Thanks to these legacies, we do not worry about the destiny of ourselves and posterity at this time of national mourning," the essay said, carried in English by the Korean Central News Agency.

"Supreme leader of our party and people Kim Jong Un takes warm care of the people left by Kim Jong Il. Every moment of Kim Jong Un's life is replete with loving care and solicitude for the people," the essay said.

Wednesday's procession had a stronger military presence than in 1994.

Kim Jong Il, who ushered in a "military first" era when he took power, celebrated major occasions with lavish, meticulously choreographed parades designed to show off the nation's military might, such as the October 2010 display when he introduced his son to the world.

In the Chinese border city of Dandong, across the Yalu River from North Korea, dozens of people crowded into North Korea's consular offices and into a North Korean restaurant across the street hoping to watch the funeral on television. Many were dressed in black and wore the Kim Il Sung badges common among North Koreans.

--- Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and AP Korea bureau chief Jean H. Lee in Seoul, South Korea, and Eugene Hoshiko in Dandong, China, contributed to this report. Follow Jean H. Lee at twitter.com/newsjean.

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India: No leads or suspects yet in Mumbai bombings

Wreckage of motorbikes lie at the site of a bomb explosion outside Opera House in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, July 13, 2011. Three explosions rocked India's busy financial capital at rush-hour Wednesday, killing at least eight people and injuring 70 in what officials described as another terror strike on the city hit by militants nearly three years ago. (AP Photo)

  By NIRMALA GEORGEMUMBAI, India -- No terror group has claimed responsibility for the triple bombings that killed 17 people in India's financial capital, and investigators had no immediate suspects in the attacks that came without warning, the country's top security official said Thursday.

Angry residents of Mumbai blamed the government for an apparent intelligence breakdown that left the city vulnerable, but Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the latest attack did not represent a failure of the country's anti-terror network.

"Whoever has perpetrated this attack has worked in a very, very clandestine manner," Chidambaram said at a news conference after an emergency security meeting.

The bombings shook three separate neighborhoods within minutes during Wednesday's busy evening rush and were the country's worst terror strike since the siege of Mumbai that killed 166 people nearly three years ago. After that, India enacted sweeping security reforms and has avoided another major attack in the nearly three years since.

That did little to reassure residents who questioned how the attack could happen despite massive security measures taken in recent years.

"After the 2008 blast and all the media hype (about safety), we thought we were safe," said Anita Ramaswami, a 33-year-old accountant. "But things still are the same and people in Mumbai continue to feel vulnerable."

Top Indian officials said the government may never be able to guarantee a terror-free nation in a region so plagued by extremist groups.

"We live in the most troubled neighborhood in the world.

Pakistan-Afghanistan is the epicenter of terror ... every part of India is vulnerable," Chidambaram said.

"It's very difficult to stop every single terror attack," agreed Rahul Gandhi, a senior leader of the ruling Congress Party. "The steps taken by our government over the last couple of years are quite profound steps."

News reports said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was expected to visit Mumbai later Thursday evening.

Indian officials have refused to speculate on who might be behind the attack.

"We are not pointing a finger at this stage," Chidambaram said. "We have to look at every possible hostile group and find out whether they are behind the blast."

Indian officials have accused Pakistan's powerful spy agency of helping to coordinate and fund earlier attacks, including the 2008 Mumbai siege. Peace talks between the countries were suspended after that attack and resumed only recently.

Chidambaram did not rule out that the blasts might have been aimed at derailing a new round of peace talks still expected to start in a few days.

The Hindu nationalist opposition called Pakistan the hotbed of terror in the region, called for its spy agency to be declared a terror outfit and criticized the Indian government for not dealing more sternly with Islamabad.

"The government of India must shed its ambivalent attitude to terrorism. The total policy of India toward terrorism should be of zero tolerance," said L.K. Advani, a senior leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. "Our message to Pakistan should be that you must dismantle the infrastructure for terrorism that you have created."

Soon after the blasts, Pakistan's government expressed distress about the loss of lives and injuries.

A steady drizzle Thursday washed away bloodstains and threatened evidence at the scenes of the bombings, which ripped off storefronts, shredded a bus stop and left bodies strewn in the dirt of Mumbai's crowded neighborhoods and market. Investigators covered the blast sites with plastic sheets to protect the evidence.

Investigators were viewing closed circuit television footage and speaking to wounded witnesses to try and put together a picture of what happened at each location, Rakesh Maria, the head of Mumbai's Anti-Terror Squad, told reporters.

The bomb in the Dadar area in central Mumbai was placed on a bus shelter; in the Opera House business district in southern Mumbai it was hidden under some garbage on the road; in the Jhaveri Bazaar jewelry market a few miles (kilometers) away it was hidden under an umbrella, near a motorcycle, officials said.

All three were improvised explosive devices made of ammonium nitrate with electric detonators, authorities said.

"The IEDs were not crude and showed some amount of sophistication and training," said R.K. Singh, India's home secretary.

Surveillance cameras were in place at all three blast sites, Chidambaram said, but he did not reveal if any information was gleaned from them.

Meanwhile, families raced to find word about their relatives.

One man described hunting for information about his brother, who was in the jewelry market when the bomb went off.

"We are in that market every day from morning to night," he told NDTV news channel, as he held back tears. "We went from hospital to hospital and finally found his body in the morgue."

Kaushik Adhikari, 18, said his father, a goldsmith, was wounded in the same blast.

"He was hit by a shrapnel in the stomach and operated on. Doctors say he is stable," he said. "This has come as a big shock. We realize how uncertain life has become."

Press Trust of India reported the federal government had announced families of those killed in the blasts would be compensated 200,000 rupees ($4,500). The local government announced a compensation of 500,000 rupees ($11,200).

Chidambaram lowered the casualty toll to 17 confirmed deaths. He said a severed head was found that could be an 18th casualty. He did not explain the discrepancy from an earlier government statement that listed 21 deaths. Additionally, 131 were injured, 23 of them seriously.

The blasts marked the first major attack on Mumbai since 10 militants laid siege to the city for 60 hours in November 2008.

That attack targeted two luxury hotels, a Jewish center and a busy train station.

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Associated Press writers Muneeza Naqvi, Ashok Sharma and Ravi Nessman in New Delhi contributed to this report.

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