No Foul Play in Diana Crash

The Daily Mail said the interim report, to be published in May by former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens, will dismiss conspiracy theories about the deaths of Diana, her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and their chauffeur, Henri Paul, in a Paris tunnel.

Those theories include an allegation that Prince Charles was plotting to kill his former wife by staging a car accident. Fayed's father, Mohammed al Fayed, who owns Harrods department store in London, has said he suspects not only Charles, but also his father, Prince Philip.

The two-year investigation by 10 detectives will say that even a skilled racing driver would have had difficulty controlling the Mercedes carrying Diana as it hurtled through the Pont d'Alma tunnel in Paris, the Daily Mail reported. The newspaper cited "French judicial sources" at one point in its story but did not identify them further.

An official French inquiry concluded that Paul was drunk when he left the Ritz hotel with the couple and bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, who was seriously injured in the crash.

France's highest court dropped manslaughter charges in 2002 against nine photographers who pursued Diana's car before it crashed or who took photos at the site.

French officials have said all traffic cameras on the road that Diana's car took, and within the tunnel, were not working the night of the crash.

But Monday's Daily Express newspaper challenged that finding, saying a woman was caught speeding by a camera in the Pont d'Alma tunnel moments before Diana's crash.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman declined to comment about the Daily Mail report, saying the investigation was still under way and no date has been set for the interim report to be completed and given to the coroner. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, as the police officials always do as a matter of policy.

Low Cost Honda Hybrid

Honda Motor Company plans to sell a low-cost hybrid car, a version of its popular Fit subcompact, a Japanese daily reported, signalling the automaker's long-term commitment to the fuel-sipping powertrain.

Japan's third-biggest auto maker aims to sell the Fit hybrid as early as next year for around 1.4 million yen ($11,790), or about 200,000 yen more than the gasoline-only version, likely making it the world's first hybrid to cost less than 2 million yen ($16,840), the leading Japanese business daily said.

The model could be launched in the business year starting April 2007 and would be sold globally, the paper said.

A spokesman denied Honda had made any decision on whether to hybridise the Fit, but added it had the technological wherewithal to mount its hybrid system, which twins an electric motor and a conventional engine to save fuel, on most of its vehicles, said a report in the Gulf News.

Chief executive Takeo Fukui has long said the price premium for a hybrid over a gasoline-only car needs to fall below 200,000 yen ($1,680) for the powertrain to go mainstream.

With hybrid systems still costing automakers and customers thousands of dollars, Fukui has said Honda had not made a strategic decision yet to produce the gasoline-electric vehicles in big volumes, unlike rival Toyota Motor Corp.