Tens of thousands mourn slain Tunisia opposition leader

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Tunisians took to the streets amid scattered violence on Friday to mourn secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid, whose assassination has plunged Tunisia deeper into political crisis.

Braving chilly rain, at least 50,000 people turned out for Belaid's funeral in his home district of Jebel al-Jaloud in the capital, chanting anti-Islamist and anti-government slogans.

It was Tunisia's biggest funeral since the death of Habib Bourguiba, independence leader and first president, in 2000.

Tunisia, cradle of the Arab uprisings, is riven by tensions between dominant Islamists and their secular opponents, and by frustration at the lack of social and economic progress since President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in January 2011.

"The people want a new revolution," shouted mourners in Tunis, who also sang the national anthem.

Crowds surged around an open army truck carrying Belaid's coffin, draped in a red and white Tunisian flag, from a cultural center in Jebel al-Jaloud towards the leafy Jallaz cemetery, as a security forces helicopter flew overhead.

Police fired teargas and shots in the air to disperse youths who were smashing cars near the cemetery, forcing some mourners to run from the choking clouds. Police also used teargas against demonstrators outside the Interior Ministry.

"Belaid, rest in peace, we will continue the struggle," mourners chanted, holding portraits of the politician killed near his home on Wednesday by a gunman who fled on a motorcycle.

Some demonstrators denounced Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party. "Ghannouchi, assassin, criminal," they chanted. "Tunisia is free, terrorism out."

Police fired teargas to disperse anti-government protesters throwing stones and petrol bombs in the southern mining town of Gafsa, a stronghold of support for Belaid, witnesses said.

Crowds there had chanted "The people want the fall of the regime", a slogan first used against Ben Ali.

CRADLE OF REVOLT

In Sidi Bouzid, the southern town where the revolt against the ousted strongman began, about 10,000 marched to mourn Belaid and shout slogans against Ennahda and the government.

Banks, factories and some shops were closed in Tunis and other cities in response to a strike called by unions in protest at Belaid's killing, but buses were running normally.

Tunis Air suspended all its flights because of the strikes, a spokesman for the national airline said, adding that flights operated by other airlines were not affected.

However, airport sources in Cairo said Egypt's national airline EgyptAir had canceled two flights to Tunisia after staff at Tunis airport joined the general strike.

After Belaid's assassination, Prime Minister Hamdi Jebali, an Islamist, said he would dissolve the government and form a cabinet of technocrats to rule until elections could be held.

But his own Ennahda party and its secular coalition partners complained they had not been consulted, casting doubt over the status of the government and compounding political uncertainty.

No one has claimed responsibility for the killing of Belaid, a lawyer and secular opposition figure.

His family have blamed Ennahda but the party has denied any hand in the shooting. Crowds have attacked several Ennahda party offices in Tunis and other cities in the past two days.

"Hope still exist in Tunisia," Fatma Saidan, a noted Tunisian actor, told Reuters at Belaid's funeral. "We will continue to struggle against extremism and political violence."

She called for national unity, saying: "We are ready to accept Islamists, but they don't accept us."

SECULAR SYMBOL

While Belaid had only a modest political following, his criticism of Ennahda policies spoke for many Tunisians who fear religious radicals are bent on snuffing out freedoms won in the first of the revolts that rippled through the Arab world.

Secular groups have accused the Islamist-led government of a lax response to attacks by ultra-orthodox Salafi Islamists on cinemas, theatres and bars in recent months.

The economic effect of political uncertainty and street unrest could be serious in a country which has yet to draft a new constitution and which relies heavily on the tourist trade.

Mohamed Ali Toumi, president of the Tunisian Federation of Travel Agencies, described the week's events as a catastrophe that would have a negative impact on tourism, but he told the national news agency TAP no cancellations had been reported yet.

France, which had already announced the closure of its schools in Tunis on Friday and Saturday, urged its nationals to stay clear of potential flashpoints in the capital.

"Unless unavoidable, it is best to stay away from the city center today, and steer clear of demonstrations and major road crossings or sensitive buildings," said Helene Conway-Mouret, minister in charge of French people living abroad.

The Austrian foreign ministry issued a similar warning.

The cost of insuring Tunisian government bonds against default rose to its highest level in more than four years on Thursday and ratings agency Fitch said it could further downgrade Tunisia if political instability continues or worsens.

(For an interactive look at Tunisia please click on http://link.reuters.com/tub85t )

(Additional reporting by Alexander Dziadosz in Cairo, Brian Love in Paris and Michael Shields in Vienna; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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54 SAF servicemen awarded Overseas Service Medal

SINGAPORE: Fifty-four servicemen from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) were awarded the Overseas Service Medal at Pasir Laba Camp on Friday.

The award was given in recognition of the servicemen's contributions to the SAF's overseas operations in Afghanistan and Timor-Leste.

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, who presented the medals, praised the men for demonstrating a high level of skill, professionalism and resilience while carrying out their duties.

Dr Ng said the servicemen helped establish the SAF's reputation as an operationally-ready, reliable and professional partner among the international community.

He added that SAF will be concluding its deployments in Afghanistan in June this year.

- CNA/al

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Narendra Modi told us 2002 riots were unfortunate: EU envoys

NEW DELHI: European Union, which has ended over a decade-old boycott of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, has been told by him that the 2002 riots in the state were unfortunate.

Modi took the unusual step of driving to Germany embassy here to a luncheon meeting with envoys and representatives of several European Union member countries that was hosted by German ambassador Michael Steiner. The meeting remained undisclosed for one month till EU ambassador Joao Cravinho went public on Thursday.

Steiner told reporters on Friday that he had always maintained that Germany had no intention of interfering in Gujarat assembly elections and that it will take a "fresh look" after the election results.

"That is exactly what we were doing and part of it is to talk directly to chief minister Modi. India is a democracy. We respect democratic institutions. We respect election results in India and we have full trust in its judicial system. Because of this respect and trust, we are now in a new phase," the German ambassador said.

However, he refused to give further details of the meeting but other sources in the know said, during the January 7 meeting with EU delegation, Modi said he will abide by the judicial verdict and that these events were unfortunate.

Modi is also understood to have said that everything should be done to avoid such events.

Asked if the EU, which has boycotted Modi for over 10 years after the riots, was softening up, Cravinho said, "The accountability of what happened in 2002, I think is the matter that is of interest to Indians and is of interest for people around the world."

He said that in India, there is a certain amount of emotion attached to what happened in 2002.

"And it is a matter that we will follow with great interest ..." he said.

Referring to last year's verdict by a Gujarat court convicting BJP legislator Maya Kodnani and Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi along with 30 others for their role in the Naroda Patia riots, the ambassador said, Indian justice might be slow but delivers.

"Some months ago, there was end of one part of judicial process which shows that justice in India may be slow but it produces results. And that has helped to look towards closure of what everybody agrees is very very terrible set of events," he told a select group of journalists.

According to the sources, EU countries feel this is the right time to engage with Modi, who has been elected third time and has no judicial verdict against him. There is also a feeling among these countries that he is a player at the national level.

Last October, Britain, a member of the EU, had ended its decade-long boycott of Gujarat when its high commissioner to India James Bevan met Modi to mark a "cordial beginning" to fresh ties, with the two discussing opportunities for greater economic cooperation.

In the first engagement with Gujarat in 10 years after it snapped all ties with the state in the aftermath of the 2002 communal riots, the British high commissioner met Modi for about 50 minutes, discussing a range of issues, including climate change and investments.

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Southern diet, fried foods, may raise stroke risk

Deep-fried foods may be causing trouble in the Deep South. People whose diets are heavy on them and sugary drinks like sweet tea and soda were more likely to suffer a stroke, a new study finds.

It's the first big look at diet and strokes, and researchers say it might help explain why blacks in the Southeast — the nation's "stroke belt" — suffer more of them.

Blacks were five times more likely than whites to have the Southern dietary pattern linked with the highest stroke risk. And blacks and whites who live in the South were more likely to eat this way than people in other parts of the country were. Diet might explain as much as two-thirds of the excess stroke risk seen in blacks versus whites, researchers concluded.

"We're talking about fried foods, french fries, hamburgers, processed meats, hot dogs," bacon, ham, liver, gizzards and sugary drinks, said the study's leader, Suzanne Judd of the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

People who ate about six meals a week featuring these sorts of foods had a 41 percent higher stroke risk than people who ate that way about once a month, researchers found.

In contrast, people whose diets were high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish had a 29 percent lower stroke risk.

"It's a very big difference," Judd said. "The message for people in the middle is there's a graded risk" — the likelihood of suffering a stroke rises in proportion to each Southern meal in a week.

Results were reported Thursday at an American Stroke Association conference in Honolulu.

The federally funded study was launched in 2002 to explore regional variations in stroke risks and reasons for them. More than 20,000 people 45 or older — half of them black — from all 48 mainland states filled out food surveys and were sorted into one of five diet styles:

—Southern: Fried foods, processed meats (lunchmeat, jerky), red meat, eggs, sweet drinks and whole milk.

—Convenience: Mexican and Chinese food, pizza, pasta.

—Plant-based: Fruits, vegetables, juice, cereal, fish, poultry, yogurt, nuts and whole-grain bread.

—Sweets: Added fats, breads, chocolate, desserts, sweet breakfast foods.

—Alcohol: Beer, wine, liquor, green leafy vegetables, salad dressings, nuts and seeds, coffee.

"They're not mutually exclusive" — for example, hamburgers fall into both convenience and Southern diets, Judd said. Each person got a score for each diet, depending on how many meals leaned that way.

Over more than five years of follow-up, nearly 500 strokes occurred. Researchers saw clear patterns with the Southern and plant-based diets; the other three didn't seem to affect stroke risk.

There were 138 strokes among the 4,977 who ate the most Southern food, compared to 109 strokes among the 5,156 people eating the least of it.

There were 122 strokes among the 5,076 who ate the most plant-based meals, compared to 135 strokes among the 5,056 people who seldom ate that way.

The trends held up after researchers took into account other factors such as age, income, smoking, education, exercise and total calories consumed.

Fried foods tend to be eaten with lots of salt, which raises blood pressure — a known stroke risk factor, Judd said. And sweet drinks can contribute to diabetes, the disease that celebrity chef Paula Deen — the queen of Southern cuisine — revealed she had a year ago.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, drugmaker Amgen Inc. and General Mills Inc. funded the study.

"This study does strongly suggest that food does have an influence and people should be trying to avoid these kinds of fatty foods and high sugar content," said an independent expert, Dr. Brian Silver, a Brown University neurologist and stroke center director at Rhode Island Hospital.

"I don't mean to sound like an ogre. I know when I'm in New Orleans I certainly enjoy the food there. But you don't have to make a regular habit of eating all this stuff."

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Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

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Ex-LA Cop Sought in Shootings of 3 Cops, 2 Slayings

Police in Southern California say they suspect that a fired cop is connected to the shootings -- one fatal -- of three police officers this morning, as well as the weekend slayings of an assistant women's college basketball coach and her fiancé in what cops believe are acts of revenge against the LAPD, as suggested in the suspect's online manifesto.

Former police officer Christopher Jordan Dorner, 33, who's a U.S. Navy reservist, has been publically named as a suspect in the killings of Monica Quan, 28, and her 27-year-old fiancé, Keith Lawrence, Irvine police Chief David L. Maggard said at a news conference Wednesday night.

"We are considering him armed and dangerous," Lieutenant Julia Engen with the Irvine Police Department said.

Police said three police officers were shot early this morning: one in Corona, Calif., and two in Riverside, Calif. The Riverside Police Department said one of its officers was killed, KABC-TV reported. The conditions of the two other officers were not immediately released. Police reportedly suspect a connection to Dorner.

Police around Southern California are wearing tactical gear, including helmets and guns across their chests. The light-up signs along California highways show the license plate number of Dorner's car, and say to call 911 if it is seen. The problem, police say, is that they believe Dorner is switching license plates on his car, a 2005 charcoal gray Nissan Titan pickup truck.

Lawrence was found slumped behind the wheel of his white Kia in the parking lot of their upscale apartment complex Sunday and Quan was in the passenger seat.

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"A particular interest at this point in the investigation is a multi-page manifesto in which the suspect has implicated himself in the slayings," Maggard said.

Police said Dorner's manifesto included threats against members of the LAPD. Police say they are taking extra measures to ensure the safety of officers and their families.

The document, allegedly posted on an Internet message board this week, apparently blames Quan's father, retired LAPD Capt. Randy Quan, for his firing from the department.

"Your lack of ethics and conspiring to wrong a just individual are over," he allegedly wrote.

One passage from the manifesto reads, "I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty."

"I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own," it reads. "I'm terminating yours."

Dorner was with the department from 2005 until 2008, when he was fired for making false statements.

Randy Quan, who became a lawyer in retirement, represented Dorner in front of the Board of Rights, a tribunal that ruled against Dorner at the time of his dismissal, LAPD Capt. William Hayes told The Associated Press Wednesday night.

According to documents from a court of appeals hearing in October 2011, Dorner was fired from the LAPD after he made a complaint against his field-training officer, Sgt. Teresa Evans, saying in the course of an arrest she had kicked a suspect who was a schizophrenic with severe dementia.

After an investigation, Dorner was fired for making false statements.

"We have strong cause to believe Dorner is armed and dangerous," Maggard said.

Police say Dorner is 6-feet tall, and weighs 270 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes.

Meanwhile, Cal State-Fullerton is still mourning the loss of their beloved assistant coach.

"There are really no words to convey the sadness that our program feels, that the young women who have had the privilege of working with such a bright and passionate woman," head coach Marcia Foster said earlier this week. "I want to especially send out condolences to Randal and Sylvia Quan, and her brother Ryan."

After college, Quan coached at Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks and has spent the past two years as an assistant coach at Cal State-Fullerton. The university has posted a memorial page on its sports website dedicated to Quan.

Lawrence was a business graduate who recently started working as a public-safety officer at USC.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Khamenei rebuffs U.S. offer of direct talks

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Thursday slapped down an offer of direct talks made by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden this week, saying they would not solve the problem between them.

"Some naive people like the idea of negotiating with America, however, negotiations will not solve the problem," Khamenei said in a speech to officials and members of Iran's air force carried on his official website.

"If some people want American rule to be established again in Iran, the nation will rise up to face them," he said.

"American policy in the Middle East has been destroyed and Americans now need to play a new card. That card is dragging Iran into negotiations."

Khamenei made his comments just days after Joe Biden said the United States was prepared to meet bilaterally with the Iranian leadership. "That offer stands but it must be real and tangible," Biden said in a speech in Munich.

With traditional fiery rhetoric, Khamenei lambasted Biden's offer, saying that since the 1979 revolution the United States had gravely insulted Iran and continued to do so with its threat of military action.

"You take up arms against the nation of Iran and say: 'negotiate or we fire'. But you should know that pressure and negotiations are not compatible and our nation will not be intimidated by these actions," he added.

Relations between Iran and the United States were severed in 1979 after the overthrow of Iran's pro-western monarchy and diplomatic meetings between officials have since been very rare.

ALL OPTIONS STILL "ON THE TABLE"

Currently U.S.-Iran contact is limited to talks between Tehran and a so-called P5+1 group of powers on Iran's disputed nuclear program which are to resume on February 26 in Kazakhstan.

Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor said he was skeptical the negotiations in Almaty could yield a result, telling Israel Radio that the United States needed to demonstrate to Iran that "all options were still on the table".

Israel, widely recognized to be the only nuclear power in the Middle East, has warned it could mount a pre-emptive strike on Iranian atomic sites. Israel sees its existence as directly threatened by the prospect of an nuclear-armed Iran, given Tehran's refusal to recognize the existence of the Jewish state.

"The final option, this is the phrasing we have used, should remain in place and be serious," said Meridor.

"The fact that the Iranians have not yet come down from the path they are on means that talks ...are liable to bring about only a stalling for time," he said.

Iran maintains its nuclear program is entirely peaceful but Western powers are concerned it is intent on developing a weapons program.

Many believe a deal on settling the nuclear issue is impossible without a U.S.-Iranian thaw. But any rapprochement would require direct talks addressing many sources of mutual mistrust that have lingered since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent U.S. embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.

Moreover, although his re-election last November may give President Barack Obama a freer hand to pursue direct negotiations, analysts say Iran's own presidential election in June may prove an additional obstacle to progress being made.

(Additional reporting by Dan Williams; Editing by William Maclean and Jon Boyle)

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Bank of England holds record-low rates despite recession threat

LONDON - The Bank of England voted on Thursday to freeze its key interest rate at a record low 0.50 per cent and maintain the level of its quantitative easing cash stimulus, despite the threat of a triple-dip recession in Britain.

The central bank said in an unexpectedly long statement that its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had voted to maintain its emergency QE stimulus at £375 billion ($589 billion, 434 billion euros).

The BoE added that overall economic activity in Britain had been "broadly flat" over the past year, despite worries that the economy could be heading for the third recession in five years.

The stimulus has been used to try and help boost economic output, which unexpectedly shrank by 0.3 per cent in the final quarter of 2012. However, the economy flatlined over the entire year with zero growth.

Across in Frankfurt, the European Central Bank also opted to maintain its main interest rate at a record-low level of 0.75 per cent, amid ongoing debt strains in the crisis-hit eurozone.

"Over the past year, there has been considerable volatility in quarterly output growth," the Bank of England said in Thursday's statement.

"Looking through the influence of temporary factors, overall output appears to have been broadly flat. In large part that reflects sharp falls in particular sectors of the economy that are unlikely to be repeated in 2013.

"In contrast, the combined output of the manufacturing and services sectors has grown modestly. Business surveys suggest the pace of expansion is likely to remain muted in the near term," the BoE added.

The central bank said 12-month inflation would rise further in the near-term and could remain above its 2.0-per cent target for the next two years. However, it was then forecast to return to "around" the target as price pressures fade.

Policymakers also mulled withdrawing QE stimulus, in order to pull inflation lower, but decided that it would risk endangering any recovery. QE can risk stoking inflation as it is tantamount to printing money.

"The Committee discussed the appropriate policy response to the combination of the weakness in the economy and the prospect of a further prolonged period of above-target inflation," it said, adding it was necessary to look beyond the period of above-target inflation.

"Attempting to bring inflation back to target sooner by removing the current policy stimulus more quickly than currently anticipated by financial markets would risk derailing the recovery and undershooting the inflation target in the medium term."

Thursday's decisions were in line with expectations and came as incoming BoE governor Mark Carney called for the bank to ready plans for a smooth eventual withdrawal of QE stimulus to avoid major disruption on markets.

Canadian central bank chief Carney -- who takes the helm from current BoE boss Mervyn King in July -- set out his views on QE before a group of cross-party lawmakers on parliament's Treasury Select Committee.

"The bank will need to design, implement and ultimately (manage an) exit from unconventional monetary policy measure in a manner that reinforces public confidence," Carney said in written testimony to the committee.

"The exit needs to be achieved without disrupting the gilts (bonds) market," he added ahead of the latest decision.

Quantitative easing (QE) involves a central bank creating cash to buy assets like government and corporate bonds, with the aim of boosting lending by retail banks and stimulating economic activity.

The BoE's main lending rate has stood at the record-low 0.50 per cent since March 2009, when it also embarked upon its radical stimulus policy.

- AFP/ck

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PM, Sonia, Rahul to campaign in Meghalaya

SHILLONG: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi will campaign in Meghalaya later this month for the February 23 assembly elections in the state.

Meghalaya Pradesh Congress president D D Lapang said today that the Prime Minister would arrive on February 15 and address an election rally in the state capital.

Sonia Gandhi would arrive here on February 19 to address a public rally at Jowai in the East Jaintia Hills district and in Tura in West Garo Hills district, considered a stronghold of former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma.

Rahul Gandhi would address a rally at Khliehriat in east Jaintia Hills district and Nongpoh in Ri-Bhoi district the following day, Lapang said.

Union Ministers P Chidambaram, A K Anthony and Sushil Kumar Shinde would also campaign here besides a host of Congress MPs, a statement from Congress Bhavan said.

Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi would campaign for two days in the Garo Hills beginning February 14.

Security has been strenghtened in the areas to be visited by th VVIPs, police sources said.

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New whooping cough strain in US raises questions

NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers have discovered the first U.S. cases of whooping cough caused by a germ that may be resistant to the vaccine.

Health officials are looking into whether cases like the dozen found in Philadelphia might be one reason the nation just had its worst year for whooping cough in six decades. The new bug was previously reported in Japan, France and Finland.

"It's quite intriguing. It's the first time we've seen this here," said Dr. Tom Clark of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The U.S. cases are detailed in a brief report from the CDC and other researchers in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Whooping cough is a highly contagious disease that can strike people of any age but is most dangerous to children. It was once common, but cases in the U.S. dropped after a vaccine was introduced in the 1940s.

An increase in illnesses in recent years has been partially blamed on a version of the vaccine used since the 1990s, which doesn't last as long. Last year, the CDC received reports of 41,880 cases, according to a preliminary count. That included 18 deaths.

The new study suggests that the new whooping cough strain may be why more people have been getting sick. Experts don't think it's more deadly, but the shots may not work as well against it.

In a small, soon-to-be published study, French researchers found the vaccine seemed to lower the risk of severe disease from the new strain in infants. But it didn't prevent illness completely, said Nicole Guiso of the Pasteur Institute, one of the researchers.

The new germ was first identified in France, where more extensive testing is routinely done for whooping cough. The strain now accounts for 14 percent of cases there, Guiso said.

In the United States, doctors usually rely on a rapid test to help make a diagnosis. The extra lab work isn't done often enough to give health officials a good idea how common the new type is here, experts said.

"We definitely need some more information about this before we can draw any conclusions," the CDC's Clark said.

The U.S. cases were found in the past two years in patients at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. One of the study's researchers works for a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, which makes a version of the old whooping cough vaccine that is sold in other countries.

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JournaL: http://www.nejm.org

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Hostage Taker Waged Firefight With SWAT Agents

Jimmy Lee Dykes, the man who held a 5-year-old boy hostage for nearly a week in an underground bunker in Alabama, had two homemade explosive devices on his property and engaged in a firefight with SWAT agents before they stormed the bunker and killed him, according to the FBI.

One explosive device was found inside the bunker and another was located in the PVC pipe negotiators used to communicate with Dykes, the FBI said Tuesday night. Both devices were "disrupted," according to the FBI.
The search for hazards is expected to continue through today.

Preliminary investigation reports indicate that Dykes engaged in a firefight with the SWAT agents who made entry, according to the FBI.

Officials were able to insert a high-tech camera into the 6-by-8-foot bunker to monitor Dykes' movements, and they became increasingly concerned that he might act out, a law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the case told ABC News Monday.

FBI special agents were positioned near the entrance of the bunker and negotiators were able to convince Dykes to approach the bunker door. FBI agents used two explosions to gain entry into the bunker. It also appears that Dykes reinforced the bunker against any attempted entry by law enforcement, according to the FBI.

ABC News has learned that Dykes first opened fired on the agents during the bunker raid. Moments later, the agents returned fire, killing Dykes.

The shooting review team continues to gather facts regarding the incident, the FBI said.

Ala. Hostage Standoff Over: Kidnapper Dead, Child Safe Watch Video

The boy, only identified as Ethan, was rescued from the scene by a waiting ambulance. The bunker raid came six days after Dykes boarded a school bus, fatally shot the driver and abducted the boy, who suffered no physical injuries.

Click here for a look at what's next for Ethan.

"It's all about timing that is why you practice. You practice blowing the door in split seconds, flash bang, shoot before Mr. Dykes would even have an opportunity to react," Brad Garrett, former FBI agent and ABC News consultant, said.

Meanwhile, Ethan is set to celebrate his 6th birthday today, happily reunited with his family.

Ethan's thrilled relatives told "Good Morning America" Tuesday that he seemed "normal as a child could be" after what he went through and has been happily playing with his toy dinosaur.

"He's happy to be home," Ethan's great uncle Berlin Enfinger told "GMA." "He's very excited and he looks good."

"For the first time in almost a week, I woke up this morning to the most beautiful sight...my sweet boy. I can't describe how incredible it is to hold him again," Ethan's' mother wrote in a statement released by the FBI Tuesday.

Ethan is "running around the hospital room, putting sticky notes on everyone that was in there, eating a turkey sandwich and watching SpongeBob," Dale County Schools Superintendent Donny Bynum said at a news conference Tuesday.

When asked about a birthday party for Ethan, Bynum said, "We are still in the planning stages. Our time frame is that we are waiting for Ethan, waiting on that process, but we are going to have it at a school facility, most likely the football stadium at Dale County High School."

He said many "tears of celebration" were shed Monday night when Ethan was reunited with his family.

"If I could, I would do cartwheels all the way down the road," Ethan's aunt Debra Cook told "GMA." "I was ecstatic. Everything just seemed like it was so much clearer. You know, we had all been walking around in a fog and everyone was just excited. There's no words to put how we felt and how relieved we were."

Cook said that Ethan has not yet told them anything about what happened in the bunker and they know very little about Dykes.

What the family does know is that they are overjoyed to have their "little buddy" back.

"He's a special child, 90 miles per hour all the time," Cook said. "[He's] a very, very loving child. When he walks in the room, he just lights it up."

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