Obama, Karzai accelerate end of U.S. combat role in Afghanistan


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed on Friday to speed up the handover of combat operations in Afghanistan to Afghan forces, raising the prospect of an accelerated U.S. withdrawal from the country and underscoring Obama's determination to wind down a long, unpopular war.


Signaling a narrowing of differences, Karzai appeared to give ground in talks at the White House on U.S. demands for immunity from prosecution for any American troops who stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014, a concession that could allow Obama to keep at least a small residual force there.


Both leaders also threw their support behind tentative Afghan reconciliation efforts with Taliban insurgents, endorsing the establishment of a Taliban political office in Qatar in hopes of bringing insurgents to inter-Afghan talks.


Outwardly, at least, the meeting appeared to be something of a success for both men, who need to show their vastly different publics they are making progress in their goals for Afghanistan. There were no signs of the friction that has frequently marked Obama's relations with Karzai.


Karzai's visit came amid stepped-up deliberations in Washington over the size and scope of the U.S. military role in Afghanistan once the NATO-led combat mission concludes at the end of 2014.


"By the end of next year, 2014, the transition will be complete," Obama said at a news conference with Karzai standing at his side. "Afghans will have full responsibility for their security, and this war will come to a responsible end."


The Obama administration has been considering a residual force of between 3,000 and 9,000 troops - far fewer than some U.S. commanders propose - to conduct counterterrorism operations and to train and assist Afghan forces.


A top Obama aide said this week that the administration does not rule out a complete withdrawal after 2014, a move that some experts say would be disastrous for the weak Afghan central government and its fledgling security apparatus.


Obama on Friday left open the possibility of that so-called "zero option" when he several times used the word "if" to suggest that a post-2014 U.S. presence was far from guaranteed.


Insisting that Afghan forces were "stepping up" faster than expected, Obama said Afghan troops would take over the lead in combat missions across the country this spring, rather than waiting until the summer as originally planned. NATO troops will then assume a "support role," he said.


"It will be a historic moment and another step toward full Afghan sovereignty," Obama said.


Obama said final decisions on this year's troop cuts and the post-2014 U.S. military role were still months away, but his comments suggested he favors a stepped-up withdrawal timetable.


There are some 66,000 U.S. troops currently in Afghanistan. Washington's NATO allies have been steadily reducing their troop numbers as well despite doubts about the ability of Afghan forces to shoulder full responsibility for security.


'WAR OF NECESSITY'


Karzai voiced satisfaction over Obama's agreement to turn over control of detention centers to Afghan authorities, a source of dispute between their countries, although the White House released no details of the accord on that subject.


Obama once called Afghanistan a "war of necessity." But he is heading into a second term looking for an orderly way out of the conflict, which was sparked by the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States by an al Qaeda network harbored by Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.


He faces the challenge of pressing ahead with his re-election pledge to continue winding down the war while preparing the Afghan government to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence once most NATO forces are gone.


Former Senator Chuck Hagel, Obama's nominee to become defense secretary, is likely to favor a sizable troop reduction.


Karzai, meanwhile, is eager to show he is working to ensure Afghans regain full control of their territory after a foreign military presence of more than 11 years.


Asked whether the cost of the war in lives and money was worth it, Obama said: "We achieved our central goal ... or have come very close to achieving our central goal, which is to de-capacitate al Qaeda, to dismantle them, to make sure that they can't attack us again."


He added: "Have we achieved everything that some might have imagined us achieving in the best of scenarios? Probably not. This is a human enterprise, and you fall short of the ideal."


Obama made clear that unless the Afghan government agrees to legal immunity for U.S. troops, he would withdraw them all after 2014 - as happened in Iraq at the end of 2011.


Karzai, who criticized NATO over civilian deaths, said that with Obama's agreement to transfer detention centers and the planned withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghan villages, "I can go to the Afghan people and argue for immunity" in a bilateral security pact being negotiated.


Addressing students at Georgetown University later in the day, the Afghan leader predicted with certainty that the United States would keep a limited number of troops in Afghanistan after 2014, in part to battle al Qaeda and its affiliates.


"One of the reasons the United States will continue a limited presence in Afghanistan after 2014 in certain facilities in Afghanistan is because we have decided together to continue to fight against al Qaeda," Karzai said. "So there will be no respite in that."


Many of Obama's Republican opponents have criticized him for setting a withdrawal timetable and accuse him of undercutting the U.S. mission by reducing troop numbers too quickly.


Karzai and his U.S. partners have not always seen eye to eye, even though the American military has been crucial to preventing insurgent attempts to oust him.


In October, Karzai accused Washington of playing a double game by fighting the war in Afghan villages instead of going after insurgents who cross the border from neighboring Pakistan.


In Friday's news conference, Karzai did not back down from his previous comments that foreigners were responsible for some of the official corruption critics say is rampant in Afghanistan. But he acknowledged: "There is corruption in the Afghan government that we are fighting against."


Adding to tensions has been a rash of deadly "insider" attacks by Afghan soldiers and police against NATO-led troops training or working with them. U.S. forces have also been involved in a series of incidents that enraged Afghans, including burning Korans, which touched off days of rioting.


(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Mark Felsenthal, Jeff Mason, Phil Stewart, Tabassum Zakaria, David Alexander; Editing by Warren Strobel and Will Dunham)



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Football: Spurs draw a blank as QPR inch towards safety






LONDON - Tottenham Hotspur failed to tighten their grip on third place in the Premier League on Saturday after being held to a 0-0 draw at Queens Park Rangers, who moved off the foot of the table.

The game at Loftus Road marked Emmanuel Adebayor's last game for Spurs before he joins up with the Togo squad at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Ryan Nelsen played for the hosts despite having this week agreed to become player-coach of Major League Soccer club FC Toronto.

Spurs striker Jermain Defoe came closest to opening the scoring in the first half with a dipping 20-yard strike that crashed back off the post, with QPR goalkeeper Julio Cesar reacting brilliantly to save Adebayor's follow-up.

The hosts' best chances both fell to Shaun Wright-Phillips, but he could not find the target on either occasion.

Julio Cesar also thwarted Defoe in the second period, while Tottenham full-back Kyle Walker whipped a free-kick inches over the crossbar.

Following the shock 1-0 win at Chelsea in their previous outing, QPR have clawed themselves above Reading and are now four points from safety with 16 games to play.

Chelsea will hope to capitalise on the points dropped by Spurs later on Saturday when they visit Stoke City, where victory will take them above Andre Villas-Boas' side into third place.

Everton, meanwhile, can close to within a point of Tottenham if they win at home to Swansea City, who stunned Chelsea 2-0 in the away leg of their League Cup semi-final at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

The top two are both in action on Sunday, with leaders Manchester United hosting Liverpool and second-place Manchester City visiting Arsenal.

Elsewhere on Saturday, two teams hovering nervously above the relegation zone, Aston Villa and Southampton, meet at Villa Park.

Reading welcome West Bromwich Albion to the Madejski Stadium, Newcastle United visit Norwich City, Sunderland are at home to West Ham United and third from bottom Wigan are away at Fulham.

- AFP/ir



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Accused in 'Hindu terror blasts' took part in 2002 Gujarat riots?

NEW DELHI: The accused in the series of blasts linked to Hindu terror had also participated in the 2002 Gujarat riots that claimed over 1,600 lives. Investigations by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) have found that some of those accused in blasts such as the Samjhauta Express, Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid, Ajmer Dargah and Malegaon had gone to Gujarat during the 2002 riots on the instructions of slain RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi.

The new revelation shows that the radicalized group's tilt towards violence had begun much before they started exploding bombs in Muslim-dominated places like Malegaon and Hyderabad.

Sources said, Lokesh Sharma, who has been arrested in connection with the Samjhauta Express and 2006 Malegaon blasts, has revealed during interrogations that following the burning of 59 kar sevaks in a train near Godhra in February, 2002, by Muslim fundamentalists, there was lot of pent-up anger among right-wing Hindu groups even in Madhya Pradesh. As the riots broke out in Gujarat, Joshi asked Lokesh to head to Gujarat and participate in the riots, sources said.

"Lokesh has said that he duly followed the orders and also killed several people during the riots as part of a mob," said an official privy to the interrogation. Lokesh, however, is not aware if Joshi himself or others in the group also took part in the riots.

NIA, however, suspects that if Joshi had sent Lokesh, he could have asked others close to him to carry out a similar task. Other accused in NIA's custody, however, have not revealed any information as yet on this. Rajender Chaudhary, Manohar Singh, Dhan Singh and Lokesh Sharma are in NIA custody in connection with several blasts.

"Initially, however, there actions were not well organized or coordinated and most acted independently. Although, their extreme radicalization had begun after the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition," said the official.

However, the first recorded anti-minority crime against the group members traces back to 2001, when they had shot a nun in the face from a running bike on Ujjain-Dewas road in MP. This was followed by participation in Gujarat riots, and then lobbing a grenade at a mosque in Jammu in 2004 that led to death of two persons and 15 others getting injured.

It was in 2004 that the group first got organized under the leadership of Pragya Singh Thakur, who had called the accused to Ujjain Kumbh Mela and discussed carrying out coordinated attacks on minority religious places and gatherings. What followed was a series of attacks and blasts ranging from 2005 bid on the life of acquitted accused in 2001 Parliament attack case S A R Geelani in Delhi, blasts in Malegaon in 2006, Samjhauta Express, Ajmer Dargah and Mecca Masjid in 2007, and again in Malegaon in 2008.

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Flu season puts businesses and employees in a bind


WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly half the 70 employees at a Ford dealership in Clarksville, Ind., have been out sick at some point in the past month. It didn't have to be that way, the boss says.


"If people had stayed home in the first place, a lot of times that spread wouldn't have happened," says Marty Book, a vice president at Carriage Ford. "But people really want to get out and do their jobs, and sometimes that's a detriment."


The flu season that has struck early and hard across the U.S. is putting businesses and employees alike in a bind. In this shaky economy, many Americans are reluctant to call in sick, something that can backfire for their employers.


Flu was widespread in 47 states last week, up from 41 the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. The only states without widespread flu were California, Mississippi and Hawaii. And the main strain of the virus circulating tends to make people sicker than usual.


Blake Fleetwood, president of Cook Travel in New York, says his agency is operating with less than 40 percent of its staff of 35 because of the flu and other ailments.


"The people here are working longer hours and it puts a lot of strain on everyone," Fleetwood says. "You don't know whether to ask people with the flu to come in or not." He says the flu is also taking its toll on business as customers cancel their travel plans: "People are getting the flu and they're reduced to a shriveling little mess and don't feel like going anywhere."


Many workers go to the office even when they're sick because they are worried about losing their jobs, says John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an employer consulting firm. Other employees report for work out of financial necessity, since roughly 40 percent of U.S. workers don't get paid if they are out sick. Some simply have a strong work ethic and feel obligated to show up.


Flu season typically costs employers $10.4 billion for hospitalization and doctor's office visits, according to the CDC. That does not include the costs of lost productivity from absences.


At Carriage Ford, Book says the company plans to make flu shots mandatory for all employees.


Linda Doyle, CEO of the Northcrest Community retirement home in Ames, Iowa, says the company took that step this year for its 120 employees, providing the shots at no cost. It is also supplying face masks for all staff.


And no one is expected to come into work if sick, she says.


So far, the company hasn't seen an outbreak of flu cases.


"You keep your fingers crossed and hope it continues this way," Doyle says. "You see the news and it's frightening. We just want to make sure that we're doing everything possible to keep everyone healthy. Cleanliness is really the key to it. Washing your hands. Wash, wash, wash."


Among other steps employers can take to reduce the spread of the flu on the job: holding meetings via conference calls, staggering shifts so that fewer people are on the job at the same time, and avoiding handshaking.


Newspaper editor Rob Blackwell says he had taken only two sick days in the last two years before coming down with the flu and then pneumonia in the past two weeks. He missed several days the first week of January and has been working from home the past week.


"I kept trying to push myself to get back to work because, generally speaking, when I'm sick I just push through it," says Blackwell, the Washington bureau chief for the daily trade paper American Banker.


Connecticut is the only state that requires some businesses to pay employees when they are out sick. Cities such as San Francisco and Washington have similar laws.


Challenger and others say attitudes are changing, and many companies are rethinking their sick policies to avoid officewide outbreaks of the flu and other infectious diseases.


"I think companies are waking up to the fact right now that you might get a little bit of gain from a person coming into work sick, but especially when you have an epidemic, if 10 or 20 people then get sick, in fact you've lost productivity," Challenger says.


___


Associated Press writers Mike Stobbe in Atlanta, Eileen A.J. Connelly in New York, Paul Wiseman in Washington, Barbara Rodriguez in Des Moines, Iowa, and Jim Salter in St. Louis contributed to this report.


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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious













Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right.


"He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan said. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and, the thing is: After he won the lottery and the next day later he passes away -- it's awkward. It raises some eyebrows."


The medical examiner initially ruled Urooj Khan, 46, an immigrant from India who owned dry-cleaning businesses in Chicago, died July 20, 2012, of natural causes. But after a family member demanded more tests, authorities in November found a lethal amount of cyanide in his blood, turning the case into a homicide investigation.


"When we found out there was cyanide in his blood after the extensive toxicology reports, we had to believe that ... somebody had to kill him," Minhaj Khan said. "It had to happen, because where can you get cyanide?"


In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners


Authorities could be one step closer to learning what happened to Urooj Khan. A judge Friday approved an order to exhume his body at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago as early as Thursday to perform further tests.








Lottery Winner Murdered: Widow Questioned By Police Watch Video









Moments after the court hearing, Urooj Khan's sister, Meraj Khan, remembered her brother as the kind of person who would've shared his jackpot with anyone. Speaking at the Cook County Courthouse, she hoped the exhumation would help the investigation.


"It's very hard because I wanted my brother to rest in peace, but then we have to have justice served," she said, according to ABC News station WLS in Chicago. "So if that's what it takes for him to bring justice and peace, then that's what needs to be done."


Khan reportedly did not have a will. With the investigation moving forward, his family is waging a legal fight against his widow, Shabana Ansari, 32, over more than $1 million, including Urooj Khan's lottery winnings, as well as his business and real estate holdings.


Khan's brother filed a petition Wednesday to a judge asking Citibank to release information about Khan's assets to "ultimately ensure" that [Khan's] minor daughter from a prior marriage "receives her proper share."


Ansari may have tried to cash the jackpot check after Khan's death, according to court documents, which also showed Urooj Khan's family is questioning if the couple was ever even legally married.


Ansari, Urooj Khan's second wife, who still works at the couple's dry cleaning business, has insisted they were married legally.


She has told reporters the night before her husband died, she cooked a traditional Indian meal for him and their family, including Khan's daughter and Ansari's father. Not feeling well, Khan retired early, Ansari told the Chicago Sun-Times, falling asleep in a chair, waking up in agony, then collapsing in the middle of the night. She said she called 911.


"It has been an incredibly hard time," she told ABC News earlier this week. "We went from being the happiest the day we got the check. It was the best sleep I've had. And then the next day, everything was gone.


"I am cooperating with the investigation," Ansari told ABC News. "I want the truth to come out."


Ansari has not been named a suspect, but her attorney, Steven Kozicki, said investigators did question her for more than four hours.






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Syria rebels seize base as envoy holds talks


BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) - Rebels seized control of one of Syria's largest helicopter bases on Friday, opposition sources said, in their first capture of a military airfield used by President Bashar al-Assad's forces.


Fighting raged across the country as international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi sought a political solution to Syria's civil war, meeting senior U.S. and Russian officials in Geneva.


But the two world powers are still deadlocked over Assad's fate in any transition.


The United States, which backs the 21-month-old revolt, says Assad can play no future role, while Syria's main arms supplier Russia said before the talks that his exit should not be a precondition for negotiations.


Syria is mired in bloodshed that has cost more than 60,000 lives and displaced millions of people. Severe winter weather is compounding their misery. The U.N. children's agency UNICEF says more than 2 million children are struggling to stay warm.


The capture of Taftanaz air base, after months of sporadic fighting, could help rebels solidify their hold on northern Syria, according to Rami Abdelrahman, head of the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.


TACTICAL, NOT STRATEGIC GAIN


But Yezid Sayigh, at the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, said it was not a game-changer, noting that it had taken months for the rebels to overrun a base whose usefulness to the military was already compromised by the clashes around it.


"This is a tactical rather than a strategic gain," he said.


In Geneva, U.N.-Arab League envoy Brahimi's closed-door talks began with individual meetings with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov. He later held talks with both sides together.


A U.S. official said negotiations would focus on "creating the conditions to advance a political solution - specifically a transitional governing body".


Six months ago, world powers meeting in Geneva proposed a transitional government but left open Assad's role. Brahimi told Reuters on Wednesday that the Syrian leader could play no part in such a transition and suggested it was time he quit.


Responding a day later, Syria's foreign ministry berated the veteran Algerian diplomat as "flagrantly biased toward those who are conspiring against Syria and its people".


Russia has argued that outside powers should not decide who should take part in any transitional government.


"Only the Syrians themselves can agree on a model or the further development of their country," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.


REFUGEE MISERY


But Syrians seem too divided for any such agreement.


The umbrella opposition group abroad, the Syrian National Coalition, said on Friday it had proposed a transition plan that would kept government institutions intact at a meeting with diplomats in London this week. But the plan has received no public endorsement from the opposition's foreign backers.


With no end to fighting in sight, the misery of Syrian civilians has rapidly increased, especially with the advent of some of the worst winter conditions in years.


Saudi Arabia said it would send $10 million worth of aid to help Syrian refugees in Jordan, where torrential rain has flooded hundreds of tents in the Zaatari refugee camp.


A fierce storm that swept the region has raised concerns for 600,000 Syrian refugees who have fled to neighboring countries, as well as more than 2.5 million displaced inside Syria, many of whom live in flimsy tents at unofficial border camps.


Opposition activists report dozens of weather-related deaths in Syria in the last four days. UNICEF said refugee children are at risk because conditions have hampered access to services.


Earlier this week, another United Nations agency said around one million Syrians were going hungry. The World Food Programme cited difficulties entering conflict zones and said that the few government-approved aid agencies allowed to distribute aid were stretched to the limit.


The WFP said it supplying rations to about 1.5 million people in Syria each month, far short of the 2.5 million deemed to be in need.


(Additional reporting by Alexander Dzsiadosz in Beirut and Raissa Kasolowsky in Abu Dhabi; Editing by Alistair Lyon)



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Chinese shipping companies switching to RMB for transactions






SINGAPORE: More Chinese shipping companies are asking for renminbi (RMB) to be used as the settlement currency for shipping freight rates.

The shipping sector is seeing growing usage of the Chinese currency.

To help Chinese shippers manage their exposure, major shipping broker, Freight Investor Services, has even launched a freight derivative in Chinese Yuan last month.

A forward freight agreement (FFA) allows ship owners, charterers and speculators to hedge against the volatility of freight rates.

It gives contract owners the right to buy and sell the price of freight for future dates.

FFAs are built on an index composed of a shipping route for tanker (ship) or a basket of routes for dry bulk, contracts are traded "over the counter" on a principal-to-principal basis and can be cleared through a clearing house.

International settlements in renminbi have been on the rise.

Beijing has been promoting the wider use of its currency globally through bilateral currency swaps and trade settlement deals.

Global transaction services organisation SWIFT noted a 24 per cent surge in yuan settlement in November 2012 as compared to a month before.

Shipowners like First Ship Lease Trust Management said it is a natural development for charter rates to shift from US dollars to renminbi as a significant volume of goods being transported is also priced in Chinese Yuan.

Guy Broadley, director at Freight Investor Services said: "China's involvement in the commodity story over the last 10 years is obviously been very great... last year, China's dry bulk commodity imports were equivalent to about 44 per cent of global seaborne trade. We feel that it is important for Chinese traders to be able to hedge that price risk by having a RMB-denominated contract."

But shipping analysts believe this trend is limited to small and medium-sized Chinese shipping companies, which transact the bulk of their trades domestically.

Jayendu Krishna, senior manager at Drewry said: "China has a lot of restrictions in terms of foreign currencies and because of the restrictions they are not really able to trade in what exists today is the US-denominated transactions. So, with the introduction of this RMB-denominated FFA, probably more Chinese players will be interested because they are able to hedge against the risk of the freight volatility."

Currently, most shipping chartering is settled in US dollars.

Shekaran Krishnan, partner at Ernst & Young said: "It would make a lot of sense for them to have the revenue which is the freight revenue in local RMB because it is a natural arbitrage against the cost they have to pay locally and if they have it in local currency, they can avoid the currency fluctuation that they are exposed to."

Given the limited supply of the Chinese yuan, analysts do not see the renminbi replacing the US dollar anytime soon, as the shipping industry is still very much a US dollar-dominated business.

- CNA/xq



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We only fired back, India tells Pak as LoC remains tense

JAMMU/NEW DELHI: Pakistani troops fired at Indian posts in Jammu and Kashmir again on Friday, leading to an exchange of fire between Indian and Pakistani army across the Line of Control (LoC).

Army sources said Pakistan opened fire at posts close to the Line of Control (LoC) in the Krishna Ghati sector, around 250 km from here, in the afternoon.

"The Army offered a calibrated response to silence Pakistani guns," said the source. The firing lasted for half an hour.

"There were no casualties on this (Indian) side," the source said.

Pakistan has been firing on Indian positions daily violating a ceasefire agreement after its troops killed two Indian soldiers near LoC on Tuesday.

We only fired back, India tells Pakistan

The Indian envoy told the Pakistan government on Friday that the Indian Army gave a "controlled response" to "unprovoked" firing by Pakistani troops along the Jammu and Kashmir border.

Indian high commissioner Sharat Sabharwal conveyed this to Pakistan foreign secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani in Islamabad, the external affairs ministry spokesman said here.

Sabharwal was on Friday served a "note verbale" after Pakistan alleged that Indian firing and shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir killed a Pakistani soldier.

"As we understand it, there has been unprovoked firing by Pakistan in the Mandher sector and there was controlled response from our side," the spokesman said.

The Indian high commissioner also told the Pakistanis that the sanctity of the LoC "is the most important confidence building measure between India and Pakistan".

The two countries agreed to a ceasefire along the winding LoC, which divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, in 2003. The truce has largely held on in the past decade.

The spokesman also reiterated India's refusal to involve any third party to probe the allegations and counter allegations from the two countries on the LoC.

India and Pakistan "have a mechanism to bilaterally solve such issues", the official said.

He said the Director Generals Military Operation of both countries were in contact. "We are fully capable of handling all these matters without involving the UN or any other third party."

Tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated in Kashmir since January 6 when a Pakistani solider was killed allegedly by Indian troops.

Two days later, two Indian soldiers were killed and beheaded near the LoC. Indian officials blamed Pakistani troops for the horror.

India summoned the Pakistani envoy on Thursday to lodge a strong protest.

The spokesman added that New Delhi and Islamabad were also discussing Pakistan's decision to prevent trucks from Jammu and Kashmir from entering Pakistani Kashmir.

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Lung cancer scans backed for older, heavy smokers


The American Cancer Society says there now is enough evidence to recommend screening certain older, heavy smokers for lung cancer.


The society is releasing new guidelines Friday for annual CT lung scans. But they are only recommended for people ages 55 to 74 who have smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 30 years or the equivalent, such as two packs a day for 15 years. Research shows that screening these people can cut the risk of dying of lung cancer by 20 percent.


Whether screening would help others is not known, so scans are not recommended for them.


Before patients decide whether to be screened, the guidelines say they should have a frank talk about risks and benefits with their doctors.


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Teen to Hero Teacher: 'I Don't Want to Shoot You'













A California teacher'sbrave conversation with a 16-year-old gunman who had opened fire on his classroom bullies allowed 28 other students to quickly escape what could have been a massacre.


Science teacher Ryan Heber calmly confronted the teenager after he shot and critically wounded a classmate, whom authorities say had bullied the boy for more than year at Taft Union High School.


"I don't want to shoot you," the teen gunman told Heber, who convinced the teen gunman to drop his weapon, a high power shotgun.


Responding to calls of shots fired, campus supervisor Kim Lee Fields arrived at the classroom and helped Heber talk the boy into giving up the weapon.


"This teacher and this counselor stood there face-to-face not knowing if he was going to shoot them," said Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood. "They probably expected the worst and hoped for the best, but they gave the students a chance to escape."


One student, who police say the shooter had targeted, was shot. He was airlifted to a hospital and remains in critical, but stable condition, Youngblood said. He is expected to undergo surgery today.


Two other students received minor injuries. One suffered hearing loss and another fell over a table while evacuating. Heber received a wound to his head from a stray pellet, police said.






Taft Midway Driller/Doug Keeler/AP Photo













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Police said the teen, whose name has not been made public because he is a minor, began plotting on Wednesday night to kill two students he felt had bullied him.


Authorities believe the suspect found his older brother's gun and brought it into the just before 9 a.m. on Thursday and went to Heber's second-floor classroom where a first period science class with 20 students was taking place.


"He planned the event," Youngblood said. "Certainly he believed that the two people he targeted had bullied him, in his mind. Whether that occurred or not we don't know yet."


The gunman entered the classroom and shot one of his classmates. Heber immediately began trying to talk him into handing over the gun, and evacuating the other students through the classroom's backdoor.


"The heroics of these two people goes without saying. ... They could have just as easily ... tried to get out of the classroom and left students, and they didn't," the sheriff said. "They knew not to let him leave the classroom with that shotgun."


The gunman was found with several rounds of additional ammunition in his pockets.


Within one minute of the shooting, a 911 call was placed and police arrived on the scene. An announcement was made placing the school on lockdown and warning teachers and students that the precautions were "not a drill."


The school had recently announced new safety procedures following last month's deadly shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school in which 20 young children were killed. Six school staffers, including the principal, were killed as they tried to protect the children from gunman Adam Lanza.


The school employs an armed security guard, but he was not on campus Thursday morning.


Youngblood said the student would be charged with attempted murder, but the district attorney would decide if he was to be tried as an adult.


Some 900 students attend Taft Union High School, located in Taft, Calif., a rural community in southern California.



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Syria denounces peace envoy who hinted Assad must go


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria denounced international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi as "flagrantly biased" on Thursday, casting doubt on how long the U.N.-Arab League mediator can pursue his peace mission.


The Syrian Foreign Ministry was responding to remarks by Brahimi a day earlier in which he ruled out a role for President Bashar al-Assad in a transitional government and effectively called for the Baathist leader to quit.


"In Syria...what people are saying is that a family ruling for 40 years is a little bit too long," Brahimi told the BBC, referring to Assad, who inherited his post from his father Hafez al-Assad, who seized power in 1970 and ruled for 30 years.


"President Assad could take the lead in responding to the aspiration of his people rather than resisting it," the veteran Algerian diplomat said, hinting the Syrian leader should go.


The Foreign Ministry in Damascus said it was very surprised at Brahimi's comments, which showed "he is flagrantly biased for those who are conspiring against Syria and its people".


Brahimi has had no more success than his predecessor Kofi Annan in his quest for a political solution to a 21-month-old conflict in which more than 60,000 people have been killed.


British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned that violence in Syria might worsen and said the international community must "step up" its response if it does.


So far regional rivalries and divisions among big powers have stymied any concerted approach to the upheaval, one of the bloodiest to emerge from a series of revolts in the Arab world.


Russian and U.S. diplomats, who back opposing sides of the war, will meet Brahimi in Geneva on Friday.


"MASK OF IMPARTIALITY"


Syria's al-Watan newspaper daily said Brahimi had removed his "mask of impartiality" to reveal his true face as a "a tool for the implementation of the policy of some Western countries".


On Sunday Assad, making his first public speech in six months, offered no concessions and he said he would never talk to foes he branded terrorists and Western puppets.


As peace efforts floundered, rebels battled for a strategic air base for a second day, pursuing a civil war that had briefly receded for some Damascus residents who set aside their differences to play in a rare snowfall that blanketed the city.


For a few hours, people in the capital dropped their weapons for snowballs and traded hatred for giggles.


"Last night, for the first time in months, I heard laughter instead of shelling. Even the security forces put down their guns and helped us make a snowman," Iman, a resident of the central Shaalan neighborhood, said by Skype.


There was no respite on other battlefronts, with heavy fighting around the Taftanaz base in northwestern Syria, which insurgents are trying to capture to extend their grip on Idlib province and weaken Assad's control of the skies.


Rebels assaulted the airport's main buildings and armory using heavy guns, tanks and other weapons and appeared to have overrun half the area of the base, said Rami Abdelrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition group that monitors the conflict from abroad.


"Now, it's serious," he said.


The air base has been used to launch helicopter attacks in the region, and its loss would be a blow to the government's ability to defend its positions there, Abdelrahman said.


MISSILE LAUNCH


Insurgents have tried to take the base for months, but have been bolstered by the recent arrival of Islamist fighters including the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, he added.


There was no immediate government account of the fighting, which could not be confirmed independently.


Opposition forces have seized swathes of territory in northern Syria in recent months, but remain vulnerable to attack by the military's planes and helicopters - hence their strategy of trying to capture air bases such as the one at Taftanaz.


There was no word on whether the firing of a short-range ballistic missile inside Syria on Wednesday, reported by a NATO official, was linked to the fighting at Taftanaz.


NATO could not confirm the type of missile used, but the description fit the Scuds that are in the Syrian military's armory, the official added, describing the latest launch and similar ones last week as "reckless".


A NATO official said that since the start of December 2012, the alliance had detected at least 15 launches of unguided, short-range ballistic missile inside Syria.


Neither side has gained a clear military advantage in the war pitting mostly Sunni Muslim rebels against security forces dominated by Assad's minority, Shi'ite-linked Alawite sect.


The Observatory also reported fighting between rebels and troops in the Sayyida Zeinab area of Damascus, and air raids were reported in the capital's Maleiha area and eastern suburbs.


Despite some support from Sunni regional powers including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the rebels remain largely disorganized, fragmented and ill-equipped. Poor discipline, looting and insecurity in some insurgent-held areas have also eroded their support from civilians.


Gloom has gripped Damascus for months, as the rebellion edges closer to the capital, but the snowfall offered a rare break from gunfire and shelling echoing from its outskirts.


"We felt a smile that has been missing from our faces for almost two years and we were all just Syrians," said Amin, a resident of central Damascus, speaking on the internet.


"For a few hours our hearts were as pure as the snow."


(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes and Erika Solomon in Beirut and Mohammed Abbas in London; Editing by Alistair Lyon)



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Football: Adebayor included as Africa Cup squads named






JOHANNESBURG: Emmanuel Adebayor will play at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations after he was included in Togo's squad as the 16 sides finalised their 23-man squads.

Mahamadou Diarra will meanwhile miss the tournament, and a late-minute change left Brown Ideye thrilled and Nigeria team-mate Raheem Lawal devastated.

It was all part of the drama ahead of the January 19-February 10 tournament that will be played in five South African cities.

Tottenham striker and Togo captain Adebayor said last year he would shun the competition, citing security concerns after being part of the squad attacked in Angola ahead of the 2010 finals.

A player and an official were killed by separatists seeking independence for the oil-rich Cabinda enclave and Adebayor escaped injury by cowering under a bus seat.

As Tottenham, the Togo president and national football officials became involved in the saga, Adebayor refused to reveal his plans, and his inclusion became official only when the 23-man squad was named by coach Didier Six.

Perennial underachievers Togo are in the Rustenburg-based 'group of death' with title favourites Ivory Coast and other former champions Algeria and Tunisia and are given little hope of survival.

Mali, third last year and considered likely quarter-finalists after being drawn with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana and Niger, suffered a late setback when Fulham midfielder Diarra pulled out injured.

A recurring knee injury failed to heal, meaning the veteran will miss a second consecutive Cup of Nations, although the blow was cushioned by the return of another experienced midfielder, Mohamed Lamine Sissoko.

Turkey-based midfielder Lawal was included in a Nigerian squad leaked to the media a day before the final-squad deadline, only to be replaced by striker Ideye when it was officially announced.

Home-based players have traditionally been ignored by Super Eagles coaches, but Stephen Keshi has chosen six, including goalkeeper Chigozie Agbim and strikers Sunday Mba and Ejike Uzoenyi from Enugu Rangers.

Shock absentees from the 2012 tournament, Nigeria face defending champions Zambia and outsiders Burkina Faso and Ethiopia in Group C and are expected to make the knock-out phase at least.

Debutants Cape Verde made a couple of last-minute changes with injured midfielder Odair Fortes and unavailable striker Ze Luis replaced by Portugal-based pair Platini and Rambe.

Cape Verde face hosts South Africa in the January 19 opening fixture at the 90,000-seat Soccer City stadium in Soweto and also confront former champions Morocco and Angola in the first round.

- AFP/de



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Cold wave claims 23 more lives in north India

NEW DELHI: At least 23 people lost their lives due to cold wave in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand even as temperature in parts of north India soared, a trend that weatherman said will persist.

People in the national capital today woke up to a pleasant morning as the minimum temperature rose more than a degree from yesterday to settle at 5.8 degrees Celsius.

Delhi has been witnessing cold wave conditions for the past one week with both minimum and maximum remaining five degrees below normal, but there has been a welcome respite since yesterday.

"The temperature will rise in the coming days," the Met said.

However, in the plains of Uttar Pradesh, the biting cold wave conditions snuffed out 16 more lives during the last 24 hours as death toll due to the harsh weather touched 249 this winter.

Five persons died in Gorakhpur district which was the coldest place in the state yesterday, followed by four each in Farrukhabad and Barabanki, two in Sant Kabirnagar and one in Bijnore.

Met office said that Lucknow along with Najibabad in Bijnore were coldest in the state recording 0.5 (-6) degrees Celsius followed by Kheri with 1 deg C, Sultanpur 1.2 (-7) deg C and Gorakhpur 1.8 (-7) deg C.

In Uttarakhand, seven persons died due to cold wave even as temperature soared in most parts of the hill state giving respite to people.

All the casualties were reported from Roorkee and Haridwar districts where icy northwesterly winds continued to blow amid dense fog.

Mercury rose marginally in most places with Dehradun recording a minimum of 3.5 deg C, Pantnagar 0.2 deg C, Mukteshwar 0.2 deg C, Tehri 1.0 Pithoragarh 2.3 and Nainital 4.0 degree C, the MeT office said.

"The rising temperature at most places shows that the downtrend has finally come to an end," a MeT official said adding it was a pointer towards more pleasant days ahead.

Cold wave sweeps Jharkhand

Chilly conditions prevailed in Jharkhand with Kanke on the outskirts of Ranchi recording a minimum of 3.4 degree Celsius and Ranchi's low temperature being 8 degree Celsius today.

"Freezing conditions in North-Western areas of the country and chilly winds have brought down temperatures," an official with Meteorological department said here.

The minimum temperatures recorded in Jamshedpur and Palamau are 5.1 degree and 6.4 degree Celsius respectively, the sources said adding chill also prevailed in other parts of the state.

The minimum temperature in Kanke, which recorded zero degree Celsius yesterday for the second time this winter, improved with the mercury recording 3.4 degree Celsius, A Wadood, a Weather Scientist with Birsa Agriculture University here said.

The maximum temperatures at many places, however, remained about 20 degree Celsius, sources said.

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Retooling Pap test to spot more kinds of cancer


WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, doctors have lamented that there's no Pap test for deadly ovarian cancer. Wednesday, scientists reported encouraging signs that one day, there might be.


Researchers are trying to retool the Pap, a test for cervical cancer that millions of women get, so that it could spot early signs of other gynecologic cancers, too.


How? It turns out that cells can flake off of tumors in the ovaries or the lining of the uterus, and float down to rest in the cervix, where Pap tests are performed. These cells are too rare to recognize under the microscope. But researchers from Johns Hopkins University used some sophisticated DNA testing on the Pap samples to uncover the evidence — gene mutations that show cancer is present.


In a pilot study, they analyzed Pap smears from 46 women who already were diagnosed with either ovarian or endometrial cancer. The new technique found all the endometrial cancers and 41 percent of the ovarian tumors, the team reported Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.


This is very early-stage research, and women shouldn't expect any change in their routine Paps. It will take years of additional testing to prove if the so-called PapGene technique really could work as a screening tool, used to spot cancer in women who thought they were healthy.


"Now the hard work begins," said Hopkins oncologist Dr. Luis Diaz, whose team is collecting hundreds of additional Pap samples for more study and is exploring ways to enhance the detection of ovarian cancer.


But if it ultimately pans out, "the neat part about this is, the patient won't feel anything different," and the Pap wouldn't be performed differently, Diaz added. The extra work would come in a lab.


The gene-based technique marks a new approach toward cancer screening, and specialists are watching closely.


"This is very encouraging, and it shows great potential," said American Cancer Society genetics expert Michael Melner.


"We are a long way from being able to see any impact on our patients," cautioned Dr. Shannon Westin of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She reviewed the research in an accompanying editorial, and said the ovarian cancer detection would need improvement if the test is to work.


But she noted that ovarian cancer has poor survival rates because it's rarely caught early. "If this screening test could identify ovarian cancer at an early stage, there would be a profound impact on patient outcomes and mortality," Westin said.


More than 22,000 U.S. women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, and more than 15,000 die. Symptoms such as pain and bloating seldom are obvious until the cancer is more advanced, and numerous attempts at screening tests have failed.


Endometrial cancer affects about 47,000 women a year, and kills about 8,000. There is no screening test for it either, but most women are diagnosed early because of postmenopausal bleeding.


The Hopkins research piggybacks on one of the most successful cancer screening tools, the Pap, and a newer technology used along with it. With a standard Pap, a little brush scrapes off cells from the cervix, which are stored in a vial to examine for signs of cervical cancer. Today, many women's Paps undergo an additional DNA-based test to see if they harbor the HPV virus, which can spur cervical cancer.


So the Hopkins team, funded largely by cancer advocacy groups, decided to look for DNA evidence of other gynecologic tumors. It developed a method to rapidly screen the Pap samples for those mutations using standard genetics equipment that Diaz said wouldn't add much to the cost of a Pap-plus-HPV test. He said the technique could detect both early-stage and more advanced tumors. Importantly, tests of Paps from 14 healthy women turned up no false alarms.


The endometrial cancers may have been easier to find because cells from those tumors don't have as far to travel as ovarian cancer cells, Diaz said. Researchers will study whether inserting the Pap brush deeper, testing during different times of the menstrual cycle, or other factors might improve detection of ovarian cancer.


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Oscar Nominations 2013: Full List













"Lincoln" is leading the way to the 2013 Oscars. This morning, the biopic about the 16th president picked up 12 Academy Award nominations, including best director for Steven Spielberg and best actor for Daniel Day-Lewis.


Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" followed close behind with 11 nominations. "Les Miserables" and "Silver Linings Playbook" tied for third place, with eight nominations each.


The Academy also named its eldest and youngest best actress nominees ever. "Beasts of the Southern Wild" star Quvenzhané Wallis, 9, is up for best actress along with "Amour" lead Emmanuelle Riva, 85.


See who made the cut below, and weigh in on who you want to win with Oscar.com's My Picks, an interactive and social Oscar ballot that allows you to pick who you think will win in each category. You can compete with your Facebook friends when the Academy Awards air on Feb. 24.


FULL COVERAGE: The 85th Annual Academy Awards


Best Picture:


"Beasts of the Southern Wild"


"Silver Linings Playbook"


"Zero Dark Thirty"


"Lincoln"


"Les Miserables"


"Life of Pi"


"Amour"


"Django Unchained"


"Argo"


My Picks: Create an Oscar Ballot and Play With Friends


Best Supporting Actor:


Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained"


Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"


Robert De Niro, "Silver Linings Playbook"


Alan Arkin, "Argo"


Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln"


PHOTOS: 2013 Oscar Nominees


Best Supporting Actress:


Sally Field, "Lincoln"


Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"






David James/Dreamworks/AP











Seth MacFarlane, Emma Stone Discuss Oscar Nominations Watch Video









Jacki Weaver, "Silver Linings Playbook"


Helen Hunt, "The Sessions"


Amy Adams, "The Master"


RELATED: Oscar's Likely Winners


Best Director:


David O. Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook"


Ang Lee, "Life of Pi"


Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln"


Michael Haneke, "Amour"


Benh Zeitlin, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"


Best Actor:


Daniel Day Lewis, "Lincoln"


Denzel Washington, "Flight"


Hugh Jackman, "Les Miserables"


Bradley Cooper, "Silver Linings Playbook"


Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"


Best Actress:


Naomi Watts, "The Impossible"


Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"


Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"


Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"


Quvenzhané Wallis, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"


Best Original Screenplay:


"Zero Dark Thirty"


"Django Unchained"


"Moonrise Kingdom"


"Amour"


"Flight"


Best Adapted Screenplay:


"Lincoln"


"Silver Linings Playbook"


"Argo"


"Life of Pi"


"Beasts of the Southern Wild"


Best Animated Feature:


"Frankenweenie"


"The Pirates! Band of Misfits"


"Wreck-It Ralph"


"Paranorman"


"Brave"


Best Foreign Feature:


"Amour"


"A Royal Affair"


"Kon-Tiki"


"No"


"War Witch"


Best Visual Effects:


"Life of Pi"


"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"


"The Avengers"


"Prometheus"


"Snow White and the Huntsman"


Best Cinematography:


"Skyfall"


"Anna Karenina"


"Django Unchained"


"Life of Pi"


"Lincoln"


Best Costume Design:


"Anna Karenina"


"Les Miserables"


"Lincoln"


"Mirror Mirror"


"Snow White and the Huntsman"


Best Documentary Feature:


"Searching for Sugar Man"


"How to Survive a Plague"


"The Gatekeepers"


"5 Broken Cameras"


"The Invisible War"


Best Documentary Short:


"Open Heart"


"Inocente"


"Redemption"


"Kings Point"


"Mondays at Racine"


"Snow White and the Huntsman"


Best Film Editing:


"Lincoln"


"Silver Linings Playbook"


"Life of Pi"


"Argo"


"Zero Dark Thirty"


Best Makeup and Hairstyling:


"Hitchcock"


"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"


"Les Miserables"


Best Music (Original Score):


"Anna Karenina"


"Argo"


"Life of Pi"


"Lincoln"


"Skyfall"


Best Music (Original Song):





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Freed Iranians arrive in Damascus after prisoner swap


DAMASCUS/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Forty-eight Iranians freed by Syrian rebels in exchange for more than 2,000 civilian prisoners held by the Syrian government arrived in central Damascus on Wednesday, a Reuters witness reported.


The Syrian government has not referred to the prisoner swap and the whereabouts of the civilian prisoners was not immediately known.


Opposition groups accuse it of detaining tens of thousands of political prisoners during his 12 years in office and say those numbers have spiked sharply during the 21-month-old civil war.


The Syrian rebel al-Baraa brigade seized the Iranians in early August and initially threatened to kill them, saying they were members of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sent to fight for President Bashar al-Assad.


The Islamic Republic, one of his staunchest allies, denied this, saying they were Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims visiting shrines, and it asked Turkey and Qatar to use their connections with Syrian insurgents to help secure their release.


The freed Iranians arrived at a Damascus hotel in six small buses, looking tired but in good health, each carrying a white flower, and they were welcomed by Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Reza Sheibani. They did not speak to reporters.


Bulent Yildirim, head of the Turkish humanitarian aid agency IHH which helped broker the deal, told Reuters by telephone from Damascus shortly beforehand that the reciprocal release of 2,130 civilian prisoners - most of them Syrian but also including Turks and other foreign citizens - had begun.


Syrian government forces have struck local deals with rebel groups to trade prisoners but the release announced on Wednesday was the first time non-Syrians were freed in an exchange.


The Damascus government has periodically freed hundreds of prisoners during the conflict but always stressed such detainees "do not have blood on their hands."


Given the number of political prisoners held during the course of Assad's rule, missing persons became a key issue when street protests against him first erupted in March 2011.


Turkey is one of Assad's fiercest critics, a strong backer of his opponents and proponent of international intervention. It has denounced Iran's stance during the Syrian uprising, which has killed around 60,000 people according to a U.N. estimate.


Turkey, Gulf Arab states, the United States and European allies support the mainly Sunni Muslim Syrian rebels, while Shi'ite Iran supports Assad, whose Alawite minority is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.


A pro-government newspaper said on December 31 that Syrian forces arrested four Turkish fighter pilots who were trying to sneak into a military airport with an armed group in the northern province of Aleppo.


The Damascus-based al-Watan newspaper said the arrests at the Koers military base, 24 km (15 miles) east of Aleppo city, proved "scandalous Turkish involvement" in Syria's crisis.


TURKEY, QATAR INTERVENE


The al-Baraa brigade, part of the umbrella rebel organization, the Free Syrian Army, said in October it would start killing the Iranians unless Assad freed Syrian opposition detainees and stopped shelling civilian areas.


But Qatar, following a request from Iran, urged the rebels not to carry out the threat.


Insurgents fighting to topple Assad accuse Iran of sending fighters from the Revolutionary Guards to help his forces crush the revolt, a charge the Islamic Republic denies.


The rebels now control wide areas of northern and eastern Syria, most of its border crossings with Turkey and a crescent of suburbs around the capital Damascus.


But Assad's government is still firmly entrenched in the capital and controls most of the densely populated southwest, the Mediterranean coast and the main north-south highway.


The IHH has been involved in previous negotiations in recent months to release prisoners, including two Turkish journalists and Syrian citizens, held in Syria.


The humanitarian group came to prominence in May 2010 when Israeli marines stormed its Mavi Marmara aid ship to enforce a naval blockade of the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip and killed nine Turks in clashes with activists on board.


(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut and Marcus George in Dubai; Writing by Nick Tattersall)



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Hong Kong leader survives impeachment bid






HONG KONG: Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers failed in an unprecedented bid on Wednesday to impeach the city's embattled Beijing-backed leader, after they accused him of breaking housing laws and urged him to quit.

The city's first impeachment motion, which accused Leung Chun-ying of lying, dereliction of duty and serious breaches of the law in a row stemming from illegal structures at his luxury home, was denied after eight hours of debate.

The 27 pro-democracy lawmakers who signed the joint motion -- which they said was a symbolic move -- voted in favour, while 37 voted against in the 70-seat legislature which is dominated by pro-Beijing members.

Wednesday's vote followed a protest on New Year's Day in which tens of thousands took to the streets to urge Leung to quit and to press for greater democracy, 15 years after the city returned to Chinese rule.

The former British colony maintains a semi-autonomous status, with its own legal and judicial system, but cannot choose its leader through the popular vote.

Leung took office in July after he was picked by a 1,200-strong election committee dominated by pro-Beijing elites, amid rising anger over what many perceive to be China's meddling in local affairs.

China has said the chief executive could be directly elected in 2017 at the earliest, with the legislature following by 2020.

Unauthorised structures are a politically sensitive issue in the space-starved city of seven million and demonstrators have used the scandal to press for universal suffrage in choosing Hong Kong's leader.

Leung secured the chief executive role after criticising his rival Henry Tang over illegal structures at Tang's home.

But he has since acknowledged and apologised for structures at his own home which were built without planning permission.

Maverick lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, wearing a T-shirt reading "We topple a tyrant", accused the new leader of lying about his own structures during campaigning when he presented the impeachment motion earlier on Wednesday.

"He has used dishonest ways to win the election," he said.

Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, second in command in Leung's administration, said the motion was unnecessary and urged lawmakers to work together on policy and livelihood issues.

But Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau said the motion was a symbolic gesture to show the deepening public mistrust toward Leung, claiming the leader had "cheated his way to power".

"This is the first time we have a motion in the legislature to impeach a cheating chief executive," she said.

If the motion had been passed, the city's highest court would have had to initiate an investigation. At least two-thirds of the legislature would need to endorse a guilty finding before Leung could be removed from office.

Earlier, rival protesters traded barbs outside the legislature and security personnel had to step in at one point when an angry pro-government supporter charged towards the rival group, TV footage showed.

Leung's popularity ratings have fallen since the controversy, with discontent over issues including sky-high property prices and anti-Beijing sentiment remaining high.

- AFP/xq



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Severed head of Indian soldier yet to be found: Army

RAJOURI/NEW DELHI: The Indian Army on Wednesday said both the soldiers killed during an attack by Pakistani troops across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir were decapitated and that one severed head was yet to be recovered.

"The bodies of two soldiers were brutalised — one head was severed and another body was beheaded... It (the head of one of jawan) has not being recovered — probably they have taken it along with them", deputy commander of the 25 Division Brigadier J K Tiwari told reporters in Rajouri.

The Army had not been able to recover the head of Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh, he said. Singh was killed along with Lance Naik Hemraj in Tuesday's unprovoked attack in Medhar area in Poonch sector.

The Army on Tuesday said one of the two bodies was mutilated while other sources said the heads of both the Indian soldiers have been chopped off and that one was taken away by Pakistani intruders.

According to Army sources in Delhi, the Pakistan army regulars who were involved in the attack wore black uniforms and they had slit the throats of both the soldiers in a brutal manner and that the bodies were badly mutilated.

Giving details about the incident, Tiwari said eight soldiers belonging to the 13 Rajputana Rifles were carrying out area domination patrolling (ADP) in two escort parties including 6 jawans on back side and two on the front about 600 metres inside the LoC.

Army officials said the fence on the LoC in that particular area in Krishna Ghati is built 2 Kms inside Indian territory and the Pakistani troops did not have to cross the obstacle to enter Indian territory.

Then men wearing black clothes, suspected to be from the Pakistani special forces, took benefit of the thick fog and dense forests and laid ambush, Tiwari said, adding that they fired on patrol party and fire fight continued for 30 minutes. There were also reports that the Pakistani troops belonged to 29 Baloch regiment.

"After the firing stopped, patrol parties moved ahead and came acoss the two dead jawans in a mutilated condition", he said. The incident took place near the Sona Gali area close to the LoC.

The Mendhar area has been the hub of ceasefire violations and cross-border firings in the last one year with close to 90 such incidents.

The area is known as the Barasingha battalion area and is under the overall command of the 10 brigade of the Indian Army.

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Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down


WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.


Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer.


"There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer advocacy groups.


But bad diets, lack of physical activity and obesity together wield "incredible forces against this decline in mortality," Brawley said. He warned that over the next decade, that trio could surpass tobacco as the leading cause of cancer in the U.S.


Overall, deaths from cancer began slowly dropping in the 1990s, and Monday's report shows the trend holding. Among men, cancer death rates dropped by 1.8 percent a year between 2000 and 2009, and by 1.4 percent a year among women. The drops are thanks mostly to gains against some of the leading types — lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers — because of treatment advances and better screening.


The news isn't all good. Deaths still are rising for certain cancer types including liver, pancreatic and, among men, melanoma, the most serious kind of skin cancer.


Preventing cancer is better than treating it, but when it comes to new cases of cancer, the picture is more complicated.


Cancer incidence is dropping slightly among men, by just over half a percent a year, said the report published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Prostate, lung and colorectal cancers all saw declines.


But for women, earlier drops have leveled off, the report found. That may be due in part to breast cancer. There were decreases in new breast cancer cases about a decade ago, as many women quit using hormone therapy after menopause. Since then, overall breast cancer incidence has plateaued, and rates have increased among black women.


Another problem area: Oral and anal cancers caused by HPV, the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, are on the rise among both genders. HPV is better known for causing cervical cancer, and a protective vaccine is available. Government figures show just 32 percent of teen girls have received all three doses, fewer than in Canada, Britain and Australia. The vaccine was recommended for U.S. boys about a year ago.


Among children, overall cancer death rates are dropping by 1.8 percent a year, but incidence is continuing to increase by just over half a percent a year. Brawley said it's not clear why.


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Hospitals Flooded With Flu Patients













U.S. emergency rooms have been overwhelmed with flu patients, turning away some of them and others with non-life-threatening conditions for lack of space.


Forty-one states are battling widespread influenza outbreaks, including Illinois, where six people -- all older than 50 -- have died, according to the state's Department of Public Health.


At least 18 children in the country have died during this flu season, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


The proportion of people seeing their doctor for flu-like symptoms jumped to 5.6 percent from 2.8 percent in the past month, according to the CDC.


Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago reported a 20 percent increase in flu patients every day. Northwestern Memorial was one of eight hospitals on bypass Monday and Tuesday, meaning it asked ambulances to take patients elsewhere if they could do so safely.


Dr. Besser's Tips to Protect Yourself From the Flu








Earliest Flu Season in a Decade: 80 Percent of Country Reports Severe Symptoms Watch Video











Flu Season Hits Country Hard, 18 States Reach Epidemic Levels Watch Video





Most of the hospitals have resumed normal operations, but could return to the bypass status if the influx of patients becomes too great.


"Northwestern Memorial Hospital is an extraordinarily busy hospital, and oftentimes during our busier months, in the summer, we will sometimes have to go on bypass," Northwestern Memorial's Dr. David Zich said. "We don't like it, the community doesn't like it, but sometimes it is necessary."


A tent outside Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township, Pa., was set up to tend to the overflowing number of flu cases.


A hospital in Ohio is requiring patients with the flu to wear masks to protect those who are not infected.


State health officials in Indiana have reported seven deaths. Five of the deaths occurred in people older than 65 and two younger than 18. The state will release another report later today.


Doctors are especially concerned about the elderly and children, where the flu can be deadly.


"Our office in the last two weeks has exploded with children," Dr. Gayle Smith, a pediatrician in Richmond, Va., said


It is the earliest flu season in a decade and, ABC News Chief Medical Editor Dr. Besser says, it's not too late to protect yourself from the outbreak.


"You have to think about an anti-viral, especially if you're elderly, a young child, a pregnant woman," Besser said.


"They're the people that are going to die from this. Tens of thousands of people die in a bad flu season. We're not taking it serious enough."



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Tunisia frees man held over attack on U.S. consulate in Libya


Tunis (Reuters) - Tunisia has freed, for lack of evidence, a Tunisian man who had been suspected of involvement in an Islamist militant attack in Libya last year in which the U.S. ambassador was killed, his lawyer said on Tuesday.


Ali Harzi was one of two Tunisians named in October by the Daily Beast website as having been detained in Turkey over the violence in which Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other American officials were killed.


"The judge decided to free Harzi and he is free now," lawyer Anouar Awled Ali told Reuters. "The release came in response to our request to free him for lack of evidence and after he underwent the hearing with American investigators as a witness in the case."


A Tunisian justice ministry spokesman confirmed the release of Harzi but declined to elaborate.


A month ago, Harzi refused to be interviewed by visiting U.S. FBI investigators over the September 11 assault on the U.S. consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.


The Daily Beast reported that shortly after the attacks began, Harzi posted an update on an unspecified social media site about the fighting.


It said Harzi was on his way to Syria when he was detained in Turkey at the behest of U.S. authorities, and that he was affiliated with a militant group in North Africa.


(Reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by Mark Heinrich)



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India says two soldiers killed in clash with Pakistan troops






SRINAGAR, India: Pakistani troops killed two Indian soldiers on Tuesday near the tense disputed border between the nuclear-armed neighbours in Kashmir and one of the bodies was badly mutilated, the Indian army said.

The firefight broke out at about noon on Tuesday (0630 GMT) after an Indian patrol discovered Pakistani troops about half a kilometre (1,600 feet) inside Indian territory, an army spokesman told AFP.

A ceasefire has been in place along the Line of Control that divides the countries since 2003, but it is periodically violated by both sides and Pakistan said Indian troops killed a Pakistani soldier on Sunday.

Relations had been slowly improving over the last few years following a rupture in their slow-moving peace process after the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, which were blamed by India on Pakistan-based militants.

"There was a firefight with Pakistani troops," army spokesman Rajesh Kalia told AFP from the mountainous Himalayan region.

"We lost two soldiers and one of them has been badly mutilated," he added, declining to give more details on the injuries.

"The intruders were regular (Pakistani) soldiers and they were 400-500 metres (1,300-1,600 feet) inside our territory," he said of the clash in Mendhar sector, 173 kilometres (107 miles) west by road from the city of Jammu.

In Islamabad, a Pakistan military spokesman denied what he called an "Indian allegation of unprovoked firing". He declined to elaborate.

On Sunday, Pakistan said Indian troops had crossed the Line of Control and stormed a military post. It said one Pakistani soldier was killed and another injured.

It lodged a formal protest with India on Monday over what it called an unprovoked attack.

India denied crossing the line, saying it had retaliated with small arms fire after Pakistani mortars hit a village home.

A foreign ministry spokesman said Indian troops had undertaken "controlled retaliation" on Sunday after "unprovoked firing" which damaged a civilian home.

The deaths are set to undermine recent efforts to improve relations, such as opening up trade and offering more lenient visa regimes which have been a feature of talks between senior political leaders from both sides.

Muslim-majority Kashmir is a Himalayan region which India and Pakistan both claim in full but rule in part. It was the cause of two of three wars between the neighbours since independence from Britain in 1947.

- AFP/fa



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CPM, Trinamool workers clash in West Bengal

KOLKATA: A number of people were injured on Tuesday in firing and stone-pelting in clashes between the workers of ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition CPM in West Bengal, leaders from rival parties claimed.

The clashes took place in South 24-Parganas district, about 30 km from here, in which over a dozen cars were reportedly torched.

When contacted, superintendent of police Pravin Tripathi conceded that there was a law and order issue, but could not provide any figures or details. "I don't have any data right now," Tripathi said.

CPM leaders alleged that 15 of their cadres were attacked with firearms at Bamanghata by Trinamool leader Arabul Islam and his men. The activists were among a large number of workers and leaders coming in a convoy of 60 vehicles to join a proposed demonstration at district headquarters Alipore against the attack on former minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah, party leaders said.

"Fifteen of our workers were injured. Three of them have bullet injuries. Two were hit by stones. Several are serious," said Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) Bhangar zonal committee secretary Sattar Mollah.

On the other hand, Arabul Islam alleged that his car came under fire from the convoy carrying CPM workers.

"I have chest and leg injury. When they started firing, I fell under the car. They continued to fire. Then my workers rescued me," said Arabul, who was taken to a hospital.

Trouble flared up at Bhangar since late last week as one party office each of the CPM and Trinamool were damaged and set afire respectively.

When CPM legislator Mollah went to the area, he was allegedly attacked by Trinamool workers, led by former Trinamool lawmaker Arabul.

Mollah has been admitted to a private hospital with multiple injuries, and the incident has triggered a political uproar.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who was indisposed and earlier cancelled all her programmes, rushed to the state secretariat Writers' Buildings and held a high-level meeting with senior administrative and police officials to take stock of the situation.

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Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down


WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.


Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer.


"There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer advocacy groups.


But bad diets, lack of physical activity and obesity together wield "incredible forces against this decline in mortality," Brawley said. He warned that over the next decade, that trio could surpass tobacco as the leading cause of cancer in the U.S.


Overall, deaths from cancer began slowly dropping in the 1990s, and Monday's report shows the trend holding. Among men, cancer death rates dropped by 1.8 percent a year between 2000 and 2009, and by 1.4 percent a year among women. The drops are thanks mostly to gains against some of the leading types — lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers — because of treatment advances and better screening.


The news isn't all good. Deaths still are rising for certain cancer types including liver, pancreatic and, among men, melanoma, the most serious kind of skin cancer.


Preventing cancer is better than treating it, but when it comes to new cases of cancer, the picture is more complicated.


Cancer incidence is dropping slightly among men, by just over half a percent a year, said the report published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Prostate, lung and colorectal cancers all saw declines.


But for women, earlier drops have leveled off, the report found. That may be due in part to breast cancer. There were decreases in new breast cancer cases about a decade ago, as many women quit using hormone therapy after menopause. Since then, overall breast cancer incidence has plateaued, and rates have increased among black women.


Another problem area: Oral and anal cancers caused by HPV, the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, are on the rise among both genders. HPV is better known for causing cervical cancer, and a protective vaccine is available. Government figures show just 32 percent of teen girls have received all three doses, fewer than in Canada, Britain and Australia. The vaccine was recommended for U.S. boys about a year ago.


Among children, overall cancer death rates are dropping by 1.8 percent a year, but incidence is continuing to increase by just over half a percent a year. Brawley said it's not clear why.


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Jodi Arias: Who Is the Admitted Killer?













Jodi Arias is a woman that many can't keep their eyes off of--a soft-spoken, small-framed 32-year-old who last year won a jailhouse Christmas caroling contest. But she is also an admitted killer who is now on trial in Arizona for the 2008 murder of her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander.


Sitting in a Maricopa County court, Arias, whose trial resumes today, cries every time prosecutors describe what she admits she did -- stab her one-time boyfriend Travis Alexander 27 times, slit his throat and shoot him in the head.


Arias grew up in the small city of Yreka, Calif. She dropped out of high school, but received her GED while in jail a few years ago. She was an aspiring photographer; her MySpace page includes several albums of pictures, one of which was called "In loving memory of Travis Alexander."


FULL COVERAGE: Jodi Arias Murder Trial








Woman Facing Death Penalty Called Jealous by Prosecutors Watch Video











Ariz. Woman Faces Death Penalty in Boyfriend's Slaying Watch Video





"Jodi wanted nothing but to please Travis," defense attorney Jennifer Wilmot said in her opening statements, but added that there was another reality – that Arias was Alexander's "dirty little secret."


Arias' attorneys want the jury to believe she killed Alexander in June of 2008 in self defense, that he abused her, and she feared for her life when she attacked him in the shower of his Mesa, Ariz., home.


Alexander's family and friends say Arias was a stalker who killed him in cold blood. They say the 30-year-old was a successful businessman who overcame all the odds. His parents were drug addicts, and he grew up occasionally homeless until he converted to Mormonism and turned his life around.


Jodi Arias Trial: A Timeline of Events in the Arizona Murder Case


"He actually had everything going for him," said Dave Hall, one of Alexander's friends. "A beautiful home, a beautiful car, a great income."


Alexander kept a blog, and in a haunting last entry, just two weeks before his murder, he wrote about trying to find a wife.


"This type of dating to me is like a very long job interview," he wrote. "Desperately trying to find out if my date has an axe murderer penned up inside of her."


Alexander did date a killer. It's now up to the jury to decide if she killed in self defense.



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Five accused of rape in India appear in court for charges


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Five men accused of the rape and murder of an Indian student appeared in court on Monday to hear charges against them after two of them offered evidence possibly in return for a lighter sentence in the case that has provoked widespread anger.


The five men, along with a teenager, are accused of raping the 23-year-old physiotherapy student after she boarded their bus on the way home from a movie in New Delhi on December 16. She died two weeks later in a Singapore hospital.


The attack on the student has ignited protests against the government and anger towards the police for their perceived failure to protect women. It has also provoked a rare national debate about rising violence against women.


A police guard said the men had their faces covered when they entered the courtroom, which had been closed to the public minutes earlier.


The five had already been charged with murder, rape and abduction along with other offences and the magistrate gave them copies of the charges, a prosecutor in the case told Reuters.


The court has yet to assign them defense lawyers or legal aid, said public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan. Most lawyers are unwilling to defend them because of the brutality of the crime.


Reuters video images showed the men stepping out of a blue police van that brought them from Tihar jail, and walking through a metal detector into the South Delhi court, across the street from the cinema where the victim watched a film before boarding the bus with a male friend on December 16.


Following shouting and angry scenes in the packed court, the magistrate, Namrita Aggarwal, closed the hearing to the media and the public. The court was cleared and police were posted at its doors before the accused were brought in.


"Keeping in view the sensitivity of this case that has risen, the proceedings including the inquiry and trial are to be held in camera," Aggarwal said, before ordering people not connected with the case out of the courtroom.


Aggarwal said the next hearing would be on January 10. She did not say when the case would go to trial in a separate, fast-track court, set up after the attack on the woman.


Two of the accused, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta, moved an application on Saturday requesting they be made "approvers", or informers, against the other accused, Mukesh Kumar, Ram Singh and Akshay Thakura, prosecutor Mohan said.


Mohan said he was seeking the death sentence given the "heinous" crime.


"The five accused persons deserve not less than the death penalty," he said, echoing public sentiment and calls from the victim's family.


Most members of the bar association in Saket district, where the case is being heard, have vowed not to represent the accused.


GROUNDS FOR APPEAL?


But on Monday, lawyers Manohar Lal Sharma and V. K. Anand stood up to offer representation to the men. They were heckled by other lawyers who said the accused did not deserve representation.


"We are living in a modern society. We all are educated. Every accused, including those in brutal offences like this, has the legal right to represent his or her case to defend themselves," Lal Sharma said.


The court asked Anand to get the approval of the accused to represent them. If the men, most of them from a slum neighborhood, cannot arrange their own lawyers, the court will offer them legal aid before the trial begins.


Police have conducted extensive interrogations and say they have recorded confessions, even though the five have no lawyers.


Legal experts say their lack of representation could give grounds for appeal should they be found guilty. Similar cases have resulted in acquittals years after convictions.


Last week, chief justice Altamas Kabir inaugurated six fast-track courts to help reduce a backlog of sex crime cases in Delhi.


But some legal experts have warned that previous attempts to fast-track justice in India in some cases led to imperfect convictions that were later challenged.


The sixth member of the gang that lured the student and a male friend into the private bus is under 18 and will be tried in a separate juvenile court.


The government is aiming to lower the age teenagers can be tried as an adult, given widespread public anger that the boy will face a maximum three-year sentence.


The victim, who died on December 29 in hospital in Singapore, where she had been taken for treatment, was identified by a British newspaper on the weekend but Reuters has opted not to name her.


Indian law generally prohibits the identification of victims of sex crimes. The law is intended to protect victims' privacy and keep them from the media glare in a country where the social stigma associated with rape can be devastating.


But her father repeated on Monday his wish that she be identified and said he would be happy to release a photograph of her.


"We don't want to hide her identity, there is no reason for that. The only condition is it should not be misused," he told Reuters.


He said he was confident the trial would be quick and reiterated a call that those responsible be hanged.


(Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Robert Birsel)



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