FDI in retail to safeguard international market mafias' interest: BJP

NEW DELHI: India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today said retail reform is a step taken by the Congress led-federal government to safeguard the interests of the international market mafias at the cost of national interest.

BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday that voting inside the parliament would decide as to who is in favour of national interest and who is working for international interests.

"The government feels that their responsibility is to safeguard the interest of international market mafias instead of national interest and for saving the interest of international market mafias, the government is ready to compromise with national interests. Now, the parliament will decide as to who is in support of international market mafias and who are supporting national interests," said Naqvi.

The government's decision to allow foreign supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart had triggered protest not only from opposition parties but also from some of its allies.

BJP had sought debate on the issue of allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector, under the rule that entails voting after discussions.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister Office (PMO), V Narayanaswamy said the government would answer all the queries raised by the opposition parties in the parliament and will explain the benefits of allowing FDI in retail sector.

The lower house of parliament has set December 04 and 05 as the date to vote and debate on FDI. The dates for the upper house are yet to be decided.

Narayanaswamy said the government is confident of becoming victorious in the debate.

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South Africa makes progress in HIV, AIDS fight

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — In the early '90s when South Africa's Themba Lethu clinic could only treat HIV/AIDS patients for opportunistic diseases, many would come in on wheelchairs and keep coming to the health center until they died.

Two decades later the clinic is the biggest anti-retroviral, or ARV, treatment center in the country and sees between 600 to 800 patients a day from all over southern Africa. Those who are brought in on wheelchairs, sometimes on the brink of death, get the crucial drugs and often become healthy and are walking within weeks.

"The ARVs are called the 'Lazarus drug' because people rise up and walk," said Sue Roberts who has been a nurse at the clinic , run by Right to Care in Johannesburg's Helen Joseph Hospital, since it opened its doors in 1992. She said they recently treated a woman who was pushed in a wheelchair for 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) to avoid a taxi fare and who was so sick it was touch and go. Two weeks later, the woman walked to the clinic, Roberts said.

Such stories of hope and progress are readily available on World AIDS Day 2012 in sub-Saharan Africa where deaths from AIDS-related causes have declined by 32 percent from 1.8 million in 2005 to 1.2 million in 2011, according to the latest UNAIDS report.

As people around the world celebrate a reduction in the rate of HIV infections, the growth of the clinic, which was one of only a few to open its doors 20 years ago, reflects how changes in treatment and attitude toward HIV and AIDS have moved South Africa forward. The nation, which has the most people living with HIV in the world at 5.6 million, still faces stigma and high rates of infection.

"You have no idea what a beautiful time we're living in right now," said one of the doctors at the clinic, Dr. Kay Mahomed, over the chatter of a crowd of patients outside her door.

President Jacob Zuma's government decided to give the best care, including TB screening and care at the clinic, and not to look at the cost, she said. South Africa has increased the numbers treated for HIV by 75 percent in the last two years, UNAIDS said, and new HIV infections have fallen by more than 50,000 in those two years. South Africa has also increased its domestic expenditure on AIDS to $1.6 billion, the highest by any low-and middle-income country, the group said.

Themba Lethu clinic, with funding from the government, the United States Agency for International Development and the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, is now among some 2,500 anti-retroviral therapy facilities in the country that treat approximately 1.9 million people.

"Now, you can't not get better. It's just one of these win-win situations. You test, you treat and you get better, end of story," Mahomed said.

But it hasn't always been that way.

In the 1990s South Africa's problem was compounded by years of misinformation by President Thabo Mbeki, who questioned the link between HIV and AIDS, and his health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who promoted a "treatment" of beets and garlic.

Christinah Motsoahae first found out she was HIV positive in 1996, and said she felt nothing could be done about it.

"I didn't understand it at that time because I was only 24, and I said, 'What the hell is that?'" she said.

Sixteen years after her first diagnosis, she is now on anti-retroviral drugs and her life has turned around. She says the clinic has been instrumental. To handle the flow of patients, they're electronically checked in at reception, several nursing stations with partitions are set up to check vital signs and a new machine even helps dispense medicine to the pharmacists.

"My status has changed my life, I have learned to accept people the way they are. I have learned not to be judgmental. And I have learned that it is God's purpose that I have this," the 40-year-old said.

She works with a support group of "positive ladies" in her hometown near Krugersdorp. She travels to the clinic as often as needed and her optimism shines through her gold eye shadow and wide smile. "I love the way I'm living now."

Motsoahae credits Nelson Mandela's family for inspiring her to face up to her status. The anti-apartheid icon galvanized the AIDS community in 2005 when he publicly acknowledged his son died of AIDS.

Motsoahae is among about a hundred people waiting in a room to see one of about 10 doctors or to collect medications. A woman there rises up, slings her baby behind her back in a green fleece blanket, and tries to leave by zigzagging through the intercrossing legs of those seated.

None of Motsoahae's children was born with HIV. The number of children newly infected with HIV has declined significantly. In six countries in sub-Saharan Africa — South Africa, Burundi, Kenya, Namibia, Togo and Zambia —the number of children with HIV declined by 40 to 59 percent between 2009 and 2011, the UNAIDS report said.

But the situation remains dire for those over the age of 15, who make up the 5.3 million of those infected in South Africa. Fear and denial lend to the high prevalence of HIV for that age group in South Africa, said the clinic's Kay Mahomed.

About 3.5 million South Africans still are not getting therapy, and many wait too long to come in to clinics or don't stay on the drugs, said Dr. Dave Spencer, who works at the clinic .

"People are still afraid of a stigma related to HIV," he said, adding that education and communication are key to controlling the disease.

Themba Lethu clinic reaches out to the younger generation with a teen program.

Tshepo Hoato, 21, who helps run the program found out he was HIV positive after his mother died in 2000. He said he has been helped by the program in which teens meet one day a month.

"What I've seen is a lot people around our ages, some commit suicide as soon as they find out they are HIV. That's a very hard stage for them so we came up with this program to help one another," he said. "We tell them our stories so they can understand and progress and see that no, man, it's not the end of the world."

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KC Chiefs Player Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide

A Kansas City Chiefs football player committed suicide today in front of his coaches and police outside of the team's stadium, just as officers investigating the shooting of the player's girlfriend arrived on the scene, police said.

The name of the 25-year-old player has not yet been released.

Kansas City Police were first alerted something was wrong by the girlfriend's mother.

"The individual that called, the mother of the victim, stated that her daughter's boyfriend is the one who shot her and he is a Chiefs player," Kansas City Police spokesman Darin Snapp told ABC News Radio.

Visions of America/UIG via Getty Images

Idaho Teacher Accused of Locking Boy, 5, in Dark Closet Watch Video

Shortly thereafter, Snapp said the player drove to Arrowhead Stadium and police were called.

"When the officers arrived, when they were pulling up, they actually observed a black male who had a gun to his head and he was talking to a couple of coaches out in the parking lot," Snapp said. "As officers pulled up, and began to park, that's when they heard the gunshot and it appears the individual took his own life."

Kansas City is scheduled to host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. It was not yet determined whether the game would be postponed.

In a statement issued to ESPN, the Kansas City Chiefs said they are "cooperating with authorities in their investigation."

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Islamists rally behind Mursi as Egypt's rifts widen

CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 200,000 Islamists demonstrated in Cairo on Saturday in support of President Mohamed Mursi, who is rushing through a constitution to try to defuse opposition fury over his newly expanded powers.

"The people want the implementation of God's law," chanted flag-waving demonstrators, many of them bused in from the countryside, who choked streets leading to Cairo University, where Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood had called the protest.

The numbers swelled through the afternoon, peaking in the early evening at at least 200,000, said Reuters witnesses, basing their estimates on previous Cairo rallies. The authorities declined to give an estimate for the crowd size.

Mursi was expected later in the day to set a date for a referendum on the constitution hastily approved by an Islamist-dominated drafting assembly on Friday after a 19-hour session.

"We will certainly present the constitution to the president tonight," Mohamed al-Beltagy, a Muslim Brotherhood leader and a member of the constituent assembly, told Reuters.

Mursi plunged Egypt into a new crisis last week when he gave himself extensive powers and put his decisions beyond judicial challenge, saying this was a temporary measure to speed Egypt's democratic transition until the new constitution is in place.

His assertion of authority in a decree issued on November 22, a day after he won world praise for brokering a Gaza truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, dismayed his opponents and widened divisions among Egypt's 83 million people.

Two people have been killed and hundreds wounded in protests by disparate opposition forces drawn together and re-energized by a decree they see as a dictatorial power grab.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians had protested against Mursi on Friday. "The people want to bring down the regime," they chanted in Cairo's Tahrir Square, echoing the trademark slogan of the revolts against Hosni Mubarak and Arab leaders elsewhere.

Rival demonstrators threw stones after dark in the northern city of Alexandria and a town in the Nile Delta. Similar clashes erupted again briefly in Alexandria on Saturday, state TV said.

"COMPLETE DEFEAT"

Mohamed Noshi, 23, a pharmacist from Mansoura, north of Cairo, said he had joined the rally in Cairo to support Mursi and his decree. "Those in Tahrir don't represent everyone. Most people support Mursi and aren't against the decree," he said.

Mohamed Ibrahim, a hardline Salafi Islamist scholar and a member of the constituent assembly, said secular-minded Egyptians had been in a losing battle from the start.

"They will be sure of complete popular defeat today in a mass Egyptian protest that says 'no to the conspiratorial minority, no to destructive directions and yes for stability and sharia (Islamic law)'," he told Reuters.

Mursi has alienated many of the judges who must supervise the referendum. His decree nullified the ability of the courts, many of them staffed by Mubarak-era appointees, to strike down his measures, although says he respects judicial independence.

A source at the presidency said Mursi might rely on the minority of judges who support him to supervise the vote.

"Oh Mursi, go ahead and cleanse the judiciary, we are behind you," shouted Islamist demonstrators in Cairo.

Mursi, once a senior Muslim Brotherhood figure, has put his liberal, leftist, Christian and other opponents in a bind. If they boycott the referendum, the constitution would pass anyway.

If they secured a "no" vote to defeat the draft, the president could retain the powers he has unilaterally assumed.

And Egypt's quest to replace the basic law that underpinned Mubarak's 30 years of army-backed one-man rule would also return to square one, creating more uncertainty in a nation in dire economic straits and seeking a $4.8 billion loan from the IMF.

"NO PLACE FOR DICTATORSHIP"

Mursi's well-organized Muslim Brotherhood and its ultra-orthodox Salafi allies, however, are convinced they can win the referendum by mobilizing their own supporters and the millions of Egyptians weary of political turmoil and disruption.

"There is no place for dictatorship," the president said on Thursday while the constituent assembly was still voting on a constitution which Islamists say enshrines Egypt's new freedoms.

Human rights groups have voiced misgivings, especially about articles related to women's rights and freedom of speech.

The text limits the president to two four-year terms, requires him to secure parliamentary approval for his choice of prime minister, and introduces a degree of civilian oversight over the military - though not enough for critics.

The draft constitution also contains vague, Islamist-flavored language that its opponents say could be used to whittle away human rights and stifle criticism.

For example, it forbids blasphemy and "insults to any person", does not explicitly uphold women's rights and demands respect for "religion, traditions and family values".

The draft injects new Islamic references into Egypt's system of government but retains the previous constitution's reference to "the principles of sharia" as the main source of legislation.

"We fundamentally reject the referendum and constituent assembly because the assembly does not represent all sections of society," said Sayed el-Erian, 43, a protester in Tahrir and member of a party set up by opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei.

Several independent newspapers said they would not publish on Tuesday in protest. One of the papers also said three private satellite channels would halt broadcasts on Wednesday.

Egypt cannot hold a new parliamentary election until a new constitution is passed. The country has been without an elected legislature since the Supreme Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the Islamist-dominated lower house in June.

The court is due to meet on Sunday to discuss the legality of parliament's upper house.

"We want stability. Every time, the constitutional court tears down institutions we elect," said Yasser Taha, a 30-year-old demonstrator at the Islamist rally in Cairo.

(Additional reporting by Marwa Awad and Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Myra MacDonald and Jason Webb)

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Football: Defoe double fires Spurs into fourth

LONDON: Jermain Defoe bagged a brace as Tottenham cruised to a 3-0 win against Fulham that lifted the north London club into fourth place in the Premier League on Saturday.

Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas this week claimed Defoe is as good as Colombia star Radamel Falcao, the Atletico Madrid striker regarded as one of the world's best forwards, and the England international repaid that compliment with a clinical display at Craven Cottage.

Defoe, 30, took his goal tally for the season to 12 with a pair of cool finishes in the second half after Brazilian midfielder Sandro broke the deadlock soon after the break.

Tottenham's third successive win means Villas-Boas' team are level with third-placed Chelsea, but injuries to Gareth Bale and Michael Dawson may have taken some of the gloss off the win for the former Chelsea coach.

Steve Sidwell threatened for Fulham in the early stages, but French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris charged off his lane to collect before the midfielder had a chance to shoot.

Ashkan Dejagah set up Kerim Frei as the hosts pressed again, but the opportunity was squandered by a poor finish.

Villas-Boas was forced into an early change when Dawson was injured while clearing a cross, then, not for the first time this season, Wales winger Bale was booked for diving.

Mladen Petric muscled Sandro off the ball and found Sidwell as Fulham pushed for an opener just after the break, but he dragged his shot wide.

After a slow start, Spurs took the lead in the 55th minute when Sandro collected Mousa Dembele's pass and carried the ball forward before unleashing a powerful 30-yard drive that beat Mark Schwarzer via a post.

Bale surged onto Defoe's pass moments later, but Australian goalkeeper Schwarzer saved well.

That proved to be Bale's last contribution as he hobbled off with a hamstring problem. Fortunately for Spurs, Defoe was able to ensure Bale wasn't missed.

In the 72nd minute, he took Gylfi Sigurdsson's pass in stride and he made no mistake with a close range finish.

Five minutes later, former Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey's defence-splitting pass allowed Defoe to race through and fire beyond Schwarzer to complete the win.

- AFP/fa

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Rajasthan referendum to recall corporator

JAIPUR: For the first time in Rajasthan, an election for recalling an elected chairman of a municipal body will be held in Baran district on December 12 in accordance with the amendment to the Rajasthan Municipalities Act passed by the state assembly in March last year. If more than half the total number of voters in the district's Manglore Nagar Palika (municipality) favours the recall, the elected position of chairman - Ashok Jain -will be nullified. The move has been initiated allegedly due to Jain's highhandedness and non-performance.

When TOI contacted Jain, who was elected as an independent candidate in November 2009, he accused Congress legislator from Anta constituency in Baran district Pramod Jain Bhaya of conspiring to remove him from his elected position.

The voting for the recall is being held after the no-confidence motion that was passed by over three-fourth of the elected members of the municipality board on January 4 got clearance at the levels of district election officer, state's local self government department and state election commission.

The municipality board has 20 elected members of which 17 voted against Jain during the no-confidence motion. Of the 17, 10 members were from Congress, five from BJP and one independent.

Rajasthan's state election commissioner A K Pandey said that as per the amendment carried out by the state assembly to the Rajasthan Municipalities Act in March last year, voting for the recall of Ashok Jain will be held on December 12.

A no confidence motion against Jain had been proposed by the members of the municipality board on January 4.

"The members passed the no-confidence motion on January 4. The proposal to recall Jain was submitted to the district election officer. On receiving the intimation, a meeting of the board members was convened in presence of the presiding officer appointed by then district election officer Shravan Kumar on January 12. As 17 members voted against Jain, the district election officer referred the proposal to the local self government department," said the district election officer Sumati Lal Bohra over phone

Meanwhile, Jain approached the Rajasthan high court against the proposal saying that as the councilors of Manglore Nagar Palika had brought a no-confidence motion in the absence of any rules, re-voting for the same position was not possible. However, the state government put into enforcement the amendment to the Rajasthan Municipalities Act in September last year.

State election commissioner A K Pandey said, "the counting of votes will take place on December 14. If over 50% of voters favour the recall, the chairman's position will be nullified," said the officer. He added that the provision to recall a mayor or a chairman of a municipal body also exists in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states.

Sources said that Jain had associations with the Congress party, however, he chose to fight as independent candidate when he did not get a Congress ticket.

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Kenya village pairs AIDS orphans with grandparents

NYUMBANI, Kenya (AP) — There are no middle-aged people in Nyumbani. They all died years ago, before this village of hope in Kenya began. Only the young and old live here.

Nyumbani was born of the AIDS crisis. The 938 children here all saw their parents die. The 97 grandparents — eight grandfathers among them — saw their middle-aged children die. But put together, the bookend generations take care of one another.

Saturday is World AIDS Day, but the executive director of the aid group Nyumbani, which oversees the village of the same name, hates the name which is given to the day because for her the word AIDS is so freighted with doom and death. These days, it doesn't necessarily mean a death sentence. Millions live with the virus with the help of anti-retroviral drugs, or ARVs. And the village she runs is an example of that.

"AIDS is not a word that we should be using. At the beginning when we came up against HIV, it was a terminal disease and people were presenting at the last phase, which we call AIDS," said Sister Mary Owens. "There is no known limit to the lifespan now so that word AIDS should not be used. So I hate World AIDS Day, follow? Because we have moved beyond talking about AIDS, the terminal stage. None of our children are in the terminal stage."

In the village, each grandparent is charged with caring for about a dozen "grandchildren," one or two of whom will be biological family. That responsibility has been a life-changer for Janet Kitheka, who lost one daughter to AIDS in 2003. Another daughter died from cancer in 2004. A son died in a tree-cutting accident in 2006 and the 63-year-old lost two grandchildren in 2007, including one from AIDS.

"When I came here I was released from the grief because I am always busy instead of thinking about the dead," said Kitheka. "Now I am thinking about building a new house with 12 children. They are orphans. I said to myself, 'Think about the living ones now.' I'm very happy because of the children."

As she walks around Nyumbani, which is three hours' drive east of Nairobi, 73-year-old Sister Mary is greeted like a rock star by little girls in matching colorful school uniforms. Children run and play, and sleep in bunk beds inside mud-brick homes. High schoolers study carpentry or tailoring. But before 2006, this village did not exist, not until a Catholic charity petitioned the Kenyan government for land on which to house orphans.

Everyone here has been touched by HIV or AIDS. But only 80 children have HIV and thanks to anti-retroviral drugs, none of them has AIDS.

"They can dream their dreams and live a long life," Owens said.

Nyumbani relies heavily on U.S. funds but it is aiming to be self-sustaining.

The kids' bunk beds are made in the technical school's shop. A small aquaponics project is trying to grow edible fish. The mud bricks are made on site. Each grandparent has a plot of land for farming.

The biggest chunk of aid comes from the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which has given the village $2.5 million since 2006. A British couple gives $50,000 a year. A tree-growing project in the village begun by an American, John Noel, now stands six years from its first harvest. Some 120,000 trees have already been planted and thousands more were being planted last week.

"My wife and I got married as teenagers and started out being very poor. Lived in a trailer. And we found out what it was like to be in a situation where you can't support yourself," he said. "As an entrepreneur I looked to my enterprise skills to see what we could do to sustain the village forever, because we are in our 60s and we wanted to make sure that the thousand babies and children, all the little ones, were taken care of."

He hopes that after a decade the timber profits from the trees will make the village totally self-sustaining.

But while the future is looking brighter, the losses the orphans' suffered can resurface, particularly when class lessons are about family or medicine, said Winnie Joseph, the deputy headmaster at the village's elementary school. Kitheka says she tries to teach the kids how to love one another and how to cook and clean. But older kids sometimes will threaten to hit her after accusing her of favoring her biological grandchildren, she said.

For the most part, though, the children in Nyumbani appear to know how lucky they are, having landed in a village where they are cared for. An estimated 23.5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have HIV as of 2011, representing 69 percent of the global HIV population, according to UNAIDS. Eastern and southern Africa are the hardest-hit regions. Millions of people — many of them parents — have died.

Kitheka noted that children just outside the village frequently go to bed hungry. And ARVs are harder to come by outside the village. The World Health Organization says about 61 percent of Kenyans with HIV are covered by ARVs across the country.

Paul Lgina, 14, contrasted the difference between life in Nyumbani, which in Swahili means simply "home," and his earlier life.

"In the village I get support. At my mother's home I did not have enough food, and I had to go to the river to fetch water," said Lina, who, like all the children in the village, has neither a mother or a father.

When Sister Mary first began caring for AIDS orphans in the early 1990s, she said her group was often told not to bother.

"At the beginning nobody knew what to do with them. In 1992 we were told these children are going to die anyway," she said. "But that wasn't our spirit. Today, kids we were told would die have graduated from high school."

___

On the Internet:

http://www.trees4children.org/

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Mo. Couple Wins Half of Powerball Jackpot

The lucky winners of half of the record $587.5 million Powerball jackpot have been identified as Mark and Cindy Hill of Dearborn, Mo., their working-class lives suddenly taking a turn to the financial stratosphere.

Cindy Hill, who with her husband has three adult sons and a 6-year-old daughter adopted from China, purchased the ticket at a Trex Mart gas station in Dearborn.

"I called my husband and told him, 'I think I am having a heart attack,'" Cindy Hill, 51, said, according to the Missouri Lottery. "I think we just won the lottery!"

Cindy, who worked as an office manager but was laid off in 2010, said that when she learned that a winning ticket was sold in Missouri, she dropped her daughter off at school, went to a convenience store for a winning numbers report, and checked her tickets in her car, according to the Missouri State Lottery.

"I was just telling my daughter the night before, 'Honey, that probably never happens (people winning)," Cindy said. "It's really going to be nice to spend time – not have to work – and be able to take trips with our family."

Cindy did mention that her husband has mentioned one extravagance -- a red Camaro, but today he said that he plans on keeping his same old pick-up truck.

The winning ticket was one of five Cindy purchased, for a total of $10. She let the computer quick-pick choose the numbers, according to the Missouri Lottery. As soon as she saw that she had a winning ticket, Cindy had her mother-in-law and husband double check it.

"You know it's the Show Me State, so he said, 'Show me,'" she said.

Appearing at a press conference today in Dearborn along with their three sons, aged 28, 30, 31, and their 6-year-old daughter, the Hills appeared overjoyed.

"We were blessed before we ever won this," Cindy said. "We want to go back to China, Ireland of course -- we're Irish, and wherever the win takes us."

Cindy said that she bought the winning ticket Wednesday at about 4:45 p.m.

"I stuck it in my car, and it stayed there all night," she said. "Now that I know that it was a winner I wouldn't have done that!"

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The Hills will take home $193,750,000 in lump sum payout -- which works out to $396,000 for each person in Dearborn, a town of 496.

The couple say that they will remain in Dearborn, and plan on launching a scholarship at the local high school.

Speculation began running wild in the small town when 52-year-old Hill, a factory worker, updated his Facebook account late Thursday, writing, "We are truly blessed, we are lucky winners of the Powerball."

Within hours, his family began celebrating, telling ABC News Hill is one of the two big winners.

"Just shocked. I mean, I thought we were all going to have heart attacks," Hill's mother, Shirley, said Thursday.

Hill's mother says her son and his wife have been struggling financially. Hill works in a hot dog and deli packaging factory, but it was unclear whether he showed up for work Thursday night.

"I'm very happy for him. He's worked hard in his life; well, not anymore," Hill's son Jason said. "Well, I hope we all stay very grounded, stay humble and don't forget who we are."

Missouri Lottery official Susan Goedde confirmed to ABC News Thursday that one of the winning tickets was purchased at a Trex Mart in Dearborn, about 30 miles north of Kansas City.

The winning numbers were 5, 23, 16, 22 and 29; Powerball was 6.

Hill did not respond to ABC News' requests for comment.
Meanwhile, employees and customers at Marlboro Village Exxon in Upper Marlboro, Md., said a tall, black, bald man held the winning ticket purchased in Arizona, according to ABC News affiliate WJLA-TV.

Surveillance cameras at the Upper Marlboro gas station captured the apparent winner walking into the store Thursday afternoon, digging into his chest pocket for his lottery tickets. After a few seconds of scanning the wad of tickets, the man began jumping up and down, pumping his arms.

The man gave the tickets to store manager Nagassi Ghebre, who says the six Powerball numbers were on the ticket, which the apparent winner said he bought in Arizona.

"And then he said, 'I got to get out of here,'" employee Freddie Lopez told WJLA.

But before leaving, the possible winner felt the need to check again to see whether he really had the ticket that millions of Americans dreamed of having.

"He says, 'Is this the right number? I don't know.' And I said, 'Yeah that's the numbers. You got them all,'" customer Paul Gaug told WJLA.

Employees and customers said the main stuck around for a few more seconds shouting, "I won," before leaving.

"He came back a minute later and said, 'I forgot to get my gas. What am I thinking?'" Lopez said.

The man drove out of the gas station in a black car and on a full tank of gas with a cash payout of $192.5 million coming his way.

"He said he lives in Maryland. I'm pretty sure," Gaug said.

The possible jackpot winner was wearing bright neon clothing and store employees told WJLA that he appeared to be a highway or construction worker.

Arizona lottery officials told WJLA that if the man does have the winning ticket, it needs to be redeemed within 180 days of the drawing in Arizona.

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Palestinians win de facto U.N. recognition of sovereign state

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the world body to issue its long overdue "birth certificate."

The U.N. victory for the Palestinians was a diplomatic setback for the United States and Israel, which were joined by only a handful of countries in voting against the move to upgrade the Palestinian Authority's observer status at the United Nations to "non-member state" from "entity," like the Vatican.

Britain called on the United States to use its influence to help break the long impasse in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Washington also called for a revival of direct negotiations.

There were 138 votes in favor, nine against and 41 abstentions. Three countries did not take part in the vote, held on the 65th anniversary of the adoption of U.N. resolution 181 that partitioned Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.

Thousands of flag-waving Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip set off fireworks and danced in the streets to celebrate the vote.

The assembly approved the upgrade despite threats by the United States and Israel to punish the Palestinians by withholding funds for the West Bank government. U.N. envoys said Israel might not retaliate harshly against the Palestinians over the vote as long as they do not seek to join the International Criminal Court.

If the Palestinians were to join the ICC, they could file complaints with the court accusing Israel of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious crimes.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the vote "unfortunate and counterproductive," while the Vatican praised the move and called for an internationally guaranteed special status for Jerusalem, something bound to irritate Israel.

The much-anticipated vote came after Abbas denounced Israel from the U.N. podium for its "aggressive policies and the perpetration of war crimes," remarks that elicited a furious response from the Jewish state.

"Sixty-five years ago on this day, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 181, which partitioned the land of historic Palestine into two states and became the birth certificate for Israel," Abbas told the assembly after receiving a standing ovation.

"The General Assembly is called upon today to issue a birth certificate of the reality of the State of Palestine," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded quickly, condemning Abbas' critique of Israel as "hostile and poisonous," and full of "false propaganda.

"These are not the words of a man who wants peace," Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office. He reiterated Israeli calls for direct talks with the Palestinians, dismissing Thursday's resolution as "meaningless."

ICC THREAT

A number of Western delegations noted that Thursday's vote should not be interpreted as formal legal recognition of a Palestinian state. Formal recognition of statehood is something that is done bilaterally, not by the United Nations.

Granting Palestinians the title of "non-member observer state" falls short of full U.N. membership - something the Palestinians failed to achieve last year. But it does have important legal implications - it would allow them access to the ICC and other international bodies, should they choose to join.

Abbas did not mention the ICC in his speech. But Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told reporters after the vote that if Israel continued to build illegal settlements, the Palestinians might pursue the ICC route.

"As long as the Israelis are not committing atrocities, are not building settlements, are not violating international law, then we don't see any reason to go anywhere," he said.

"If the Israelis continue with such policy - aggression, settlements, assassinations, attacks, confiscations, building walls - violating international law, then we have no other remedy but really to knock those to other places," Maliki said.

In Washington, a group of four Republican and Democratic senators announced legislation that would close the Palestinian office in Washington unless the Palestinians enter "meaningful negotiations" with Israel, and eliminate all U.S. assistance to the Palestinian Authority if it turns to the ICC.

"I fear the Palestinian Authority will now be able to use the United Nations as a political club against Israel," said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the sponsors.

Abbas led the campaign to win support for the resolution, which followed an eight-day conflict this month between Israel and Islamists in the Gaza Strip, who are pledged to Israel's destruction and oppose a negotiated peace.

The vote highlighted how deeply divided Europe is on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

At least 17 European nations voted in favor of the Palestinian resolution, including Austria, France, Italy, Norway and Spain. Abbas had focused his lobbying efforts on Europe, which supplies much of the aid the Palestinian Authority relies on. Britain, Germany and many others chose to abstain.

The traditionally pro-Israel Czech Republic was unique in Europe, joining the United States, Israel, Canada, Panama and the tiny Pacific Island states Nauru, Palau, Marshall Islands and Micronesia in voting against the move.

'HOPE SOME REASON WILL PREVAIL'

Peace talks have been stalled for two years, mainly over Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which have expanded despite being deemed illegal by most of the world. There are 4.3 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

After the vote, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice called for the immediate resumption of peace talks.

"The Palestinian people will wake up tomorrow and find that little about their lives has changed save that the prospects of a durable peace have only receded," she said.

She added that both parties should "avoid any further provocative actions in the region, in New York or elsewhere."

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said he hoped all sides would use the vote to push for new breakthroughs in the peace process.

"I hope there will be no punitive measures," Fayyad told Reuters in Washington, where he was attending a conference.

"I hope that some reason will prevail and the opportunity will be taken to take advantage of what happened today in favor of getting a political process moving," he said.

Britain's U.N. ambassador, Mark Lyall Grant, told reporters it was time for recently re-elected U.S. President Barack Obama to make a new push for peace.

"We believe the window for the two-state solution is closing," he said. "That is why we are encouraging the United States and other key international actors to grasp this opportunity and use the next 12 months as a way to really break through this impasse."

(Additional reporting by Andrew Quinn in Washington, Noah Browning in Ramallah, Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, Robert Mueller in Prague, Gabriela Baczynska and Reuters bureaux in Europe and elsewhere; Editing by Eric Beech and Peter Cooney)

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Football: Del Bosque says Brazil the team to beat

SAO PAULO: The coach of Spain's world champions on Friday insisted hosts Brazil are the team to beat at next year's Confederations Cup, the testbed for a World Cup also on Brazilian soil in 2014.

"They are the team to beat," said Vicente del Bosque, who masterminded Spain's World Cup success in 2010 in South Africa and then led the Furia Roja to glory at Euro 2012, making his star-studded side the first national team to land three straight international tournaments having also won Euro 2008.

"Friendlies or competitive matches - we will always look to perform at the highest level," said former Real Madrid coach del Bosque, who said he would be aiming to field his strongest side in Brazil next June even though the tournament is a chance to blood some new faces before the World Cup.

"This is a big challenge after our World Cup and Euro successes - we find ourselves in a historic period for Spanish football and we want to continue in this vein at the Confederations Cup and also qualifiers thereafter for 2014," said del Bosque at a press conference in Sao Paulo.

Del Bosque said the Spanish recipe was nothing out of the ordinary but rather "a balance between talent, technique and tactics."

The 61-year-old is on a personal mission next June to do better than the 2009 Confederations Cup which saw Spain take a disappointing third place in South Africa before they returned a year later to win the world title.

"That left a bad taste - so we shall come here next year as well prepared as possible."

Brazil's newly-reappointed coach Luiz Felipe Scolari meanwhile said he would use the tournament to "prepare 90 to 100 percent of the squad" for the World Cup.

The 2002 World Cup winner added: "The Confederations Cup will give us a good indication of the tactical changes we need to make, the changes we need to make on the playing side."

Answering fears in the media that the side bequeathed him by the sacked Mano Menezes lacks experience Scolari was sanguine.

"Young players such as Neymar do not have experience of a World Cup but the young players can surmount this lack of (tournament) experience. We shall have more after the Confederations Cup," where Brazil are the defending champions.

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli said he wants to blood young players at the World Cup dress rehearsal.

But he must take into account the requirements of the Under-21 side.

"We have interesting young players, (and) we must decide who we take with us to the Confederations Cup, given that the Under-21 European Championships are also on next summer," said Prandelli.

Euro 2012 finalists Italy are in the Confederations event as European representatives with Spain also present by dint of their world champion status.

Italy already know they will face the hosts as they cannot face Spain and the Brazilians cannot face South American champions Uruguay.

Also competing are Asian champions Japan and Oceania champions - and ultra minnows - Tahiti, as well as Mexico and whoever wins the January 19-February 10 Africa Cup of Nations.

Japan are coached by Italian Alberto Zaccheroni, who led the Blue Samurai to a fourth Asian Cup title in Qatar last year.

"We have faced off with Asian teams on our continent and we understand where our strengths and weaknesses are. Now we hope to show the power of Asian football," said Zaccheroni, 59.

Japan's best showing at the Confederations Cup in four appearances was when they finished runners-up to France in 2001 at Yokohama.

Tahiti coach Eddy Etaeta says his side will look to acquit themselves respectably.

"We are just a small country going up against seven world names," said Etaeta, who confessed: "I think our players are now not really quite aware what we face" as they take on the cream of the international game.

The draw for the 2013 competition takes place in Sao Paulo on Saturday.

-AFP/ac

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Govt will miss Tendulkar in retail FDI test

NEW DELHI: As Congress managers do their arithmetic — counting UPA's vote in the Rajya Sabha — they would dearly wish cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar sits out the Kolkata test beginning next week.

Having conceded a floor test on FDI in multi-brand retail, Congress strategists are aware the vote in the Rajya Sabha is set to go down to the wire and the ruling coalition will need to pull off a few surprises to pip the Opposition to the post.

As it banks on 10 nominated MPs to press the button in its favour, the government will eye Tendulkar's seat number 103 wistfully, perhaps hoping the batting maestro scores in the Upper House rather than at Eden Gardens.

The problem for the government is that even if the full complement of nominated MPs, including film star Rekha and businesswoman Anu Aga, vote for the FDI motion, it may still find it difficult to conjure a majority.

Crunching numbers in the Rajya Sabha is hardly a Rubik's cube exercise. UPA with "inside supporters" has 90 MPs. Its "outside" supporters add up to 31. But as of now BSP with 15 and SP with nine are threatening not to vote for the government. So the total adds up to 97.

Now, if we toss the 10 nominated MPs and BJD rebel Pyarimohan Mohapatra into the broth, UPA numbers inch up to 108. This is still short of what the government needs because even if SP and BSP abstain, the half way mark is 111.

Not willing to cut things so fine, the government managers will use the breathing space they gain before the vote comes up later next week to persuade SP and BSP to do the rescue act. It may find the going easier with BSP and this could see UPA through.

SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav continues to tantalize the Congress, saying politics cannot be foretold and much depends on the evolving situation, though he remains opposed to FDI in retail. In doing so he seems to be over ridding his cousin Ramgopal Yadav's earlier statement that SP will vote against the FDI proposal.

BSP is insistent on the government moving a Bill, providing quotas in promotions for scheduled castes and tribes. The government is hoping to bring BSP chief Mayawati around, pointing out that the Bill has been listed.

The Rajya Sabha is a lot trickier than Lok Sabha where the FDI vote will go its way even without SP and BSP voting in favour of the government. In the Upper House, the Opposition is also expected to work on votes like those of independent MP Rajeev Chandrashekar. Unattached MP Amar Singh may suddenly find both camps wooing him.

A crucial vote always throws up the unexpected and as Congress managers are no rookies in rustling up support, some MPs can go missing or fall ill as was seen when the contentious Lokpal Bill was hotly debated last December.

This time, the government will have to pull out all stops to get some of the committed one-MP parties to switch sides even as the role of its former ally Trinamool Congress can prove to be important. If Trinamool abstains along with SP and BSP, the effective strength of the House becomes 212; the halfway mark is 106.

This can help the Congress, but it will need quite a remarkable alignment of constellations to ensure that BSP, SP and Trinamool act in concert.

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Clinton releases road map for AIDS-free generation

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an ambitious road map for slashing the global spread of AIDS, the Obama administration says treating people sooner and more rapid expansion of other proven tools could help even the hardest-hit countries begin turning the tide of the epidemic over the next three to five years.

"An AIDS-free generation is not just a rallying cry — it is a goal that is within our reach," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who ordered the blueprint, said in the report.

"Make no mistake about it, HIV may well be with us into the future but the disease that it causes need not be," she said at the State Department Thursday.

President Barack Obama echoed that promise.

"We stand at a tipping point in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and working together, we can realize our historic opportunity to bring that fight to an end," Obama said in a proclamation to mark World AIDS Day on Saturday.

Some 34 million people worldwide are living with HIV, and despite a decline in new infections over the last decade, 2.5 million people were infected last year.

Given those staggering figures, what does an AIDS-free generation mean? That virtually no babies are born infected, young people have a much lower risk than today of becoming infected, and that people who already have HIV would receive life-saving treatment.

That last step is key: Treating people early in their infection, before they get sick, not only helps them survive but also dramatically cuts the chances that they'll infect others. Yet only about 8 million HIV patients in developing countries are getting treatment. The United Nations aims to have 15 million treated by 2015.

Other important steps include: Treating more pregnant women, and keeping them on treatment after their babies are born; increasing male circumcision to lower men's risk of heterosexual infection; increasing access to both male and female condoms; and more HIV testing.

The world spent $16.8 billion fighting AIDS in poor countries last year. The U.S. government is the leading donor, spending about $5.6 billion.

Thursday's report from PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, outlines how progress could continue at current spending levels — something far from certain as Congress and Obama struggle to avert looming budget cuts at year's end — or how faster progress is possible with stepped-up commitments from hard-hit countries themselves.

Clinton warned Thursday that the U.S. must continue doing its share: "In the fight against HIV/AIDS, failure to live up to our commitments isn't just disappointing, it's deadly."

The report highlighted Zambia, which already is seeing some declines in new cases of HIV. It will have to treat only about 145,000 more patients over the next four years to meet its share of the U.N. goal, a move that could prevent more than 126,000 new infections in that same time period. But if Zambia could go further and treat nearly 198,000 more people, the benefit would be even greater — 179,000 new infections prevented, the report estimates.

In contrast, if Zambia had to stick with 2011 levels of HIV prevention, new infections could level off or even rise again over the next four years, the report found.

Advocacy groups said the blueprint offers a much-needed set of practical steps to achieve an AIDS-free generation — and makes clear that maintaining momentum is crucial despite economic difficulties here and abroad.

"The blueprint lays out the stark choices we have: To stick with the baseline and see an epidemic flatline or grow, or ramp up" to continue progress, said Chris Collins of amFAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research.

His group has estimated that more than 276,000 people would miss out on HIV treatment if U.S. dollars for the global AIDS fight are part of across-the-board spending cuts set to begin in January.

Thursday's report also urges targeting the populations at highest risk, including gay men, injecting drug users and sex workers, especially in countries where stigma and discrimination has denied them access to HIV prevention services.

"We have to go where the virus is," Clinton said.

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Petraeus Tells Friend He 'Screwed Up Royally'

One of David Petraeus' closest friends says the former CIA director admitted that he "screwed up royally" by having an affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell.

Retired Brigadier Gen. James Shelton has been friends with Petraeus for more than three decades and reached to out to him after he resigned from the CIA. Shelton told ABC News that the former four-star general wrote him a letter recently confessing to the affair.

Petraeus, 60, writes in the letter, "Team Petraeus will survive…. though [I] have obviously created enormous difficulty for us," according to Shelton.

A former spokesman for Petraeus told ABC News that fury was an inadequate description for Holly Petraeus after learning her husband of 38 years had an affair.

But in the letter, Petraeus writes that his wife is "…once again demonstrating how incredibly fortunate I was to marry her."

Shelton said he has shocked when news of the affair broke. Shelton says he has never met Broadwell but talked to her on the phone as she worked on the Petraeus biography, "All In." Broadwell thanked Shelton in the book's acknowledgments as "being wonderfully helpful."

Shelton says he found Broadwell engaging.

David Petraeus Affair: Woman Who Blew the Whistle Watch Video

David Petraeus Affair: Paula Broadwell in Hiding Watch Video

"I don't think she wove a web around Dave and dragged him in, I don't think that at all. I think it was mutual," Shelton told ABC News.

The disgraced general also stuck by his decision to step down as head of the CIA, writing, "I paid the price (appropriately) and I sought to do the right thing, at the end of the day."

Neither Broadwell nor Petraeus would comment when ABC News tried to reach them overnight.

However, there are many in Washington who now wonder if Shelton's talking about this letter is the beginning of a carefully choreographed campaign by Petraeus to rehabilitate his image.

Shelton says while he was disappointed in Petraeus' actions, he thinks it was a one-time mistake.

"I believe that Dave Petraeus was that kind of guy. He wasn't looking for it, it happened," he said.

While it is unclear who may have initiated the affair, what is clear is the scope of their relationship. An FBI investigation has uncovered hundreds if not thousands of emails exchanged between the two.

The 40-year-old author was stripped of her military security clearance after a federal probe alleged she was storing classified military material at her home.

The FBI found classified material on a computer voluntarily handed over by Broadwell earlier in the investigation.

Prosecutors will now have to determine how important the classified material is before making a final decision on how to proceed. Authorities could decide to seek disciplinary action against her rather than pursue charges.

Since announcing his resignation from the CIA last month, Petraeus has kept a low profile only appearing in closed door hearings before the House and Senate intelligence committees to testify about what he learned first-hand about the Sept. 11 attack in the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

ABC News' Mosheh Gains contributed to this report.

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Palestinians turn to U.N. for state recognition

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly is set to approve an implicit recognition of Palestinian statehood on Thursday despite threats by the United States and Israel to punish the Palestinian Authority by withholding funds for the West Bank government.

A resolution that would lift the Palestinian Authority's U.N. observer status from "entity" to "non-member state," like the Vatican, is expected to pass easily in the 193-nation General Assembly. At least 15 European states plan to vote for it.

Israel, the United States and a handful of other members are set to vote against what they see as a largely symbolic and counterproductive move by the Palestinians, which takes place on the 65th anniversary of the assembly's adoption of resolution 181 on the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been leading the campaign to win support for the resolution, which follows an eight-day conflict this month between Israel and Islamists in the Gaza Strip, who are pledged to Israel's destruction and oppose his efforts toward a negotiated peace.

The U.S. State Department made a last-ditch effort to get Abbas to reconsider, but the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, gave no sign that it was turning back.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeated to reporters in Washington on Wednesday the U.S. view that the Palestinian move was misguided and efforts should focus instead on reviving the stalled Middle East peace process.

"The path to a two-state solution that fulfills the aspirations of the Palestinian people is through Jerusalem and Ramallah, not New York," she said. "The only way to get a lasting solution is to commence direct negotiations."

Speaking at an annual U.N. event in support of the Palestinians, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki appealed to U.N. member states to support Thursday's U.N. resolution. He also repeated his support for peace with Israel.

"Despite diminishing hopes and the decline of the situation on the ground due to Israel violations, we remain committed to the two-state solution and our hand remains extended in peace," he said at U.N. headquarters in New York.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland reiterated U.S. warnings that the move could cause a reduction of U.S. economic support for the Palestinians. The Israelis have also warned they might take significant deductions out of monthly transfers of duties that Israel collects on the Palestinians' behalf.

PALESTINIANS RALLY IN WEST BANK, GAZA

Despite its fierce opposition, Israel seems concerned not to find itself diplomatically isolated. It has recently toned down threats of retaliation in the face of wide international support for the initiative, notably among its European allies.

"The decision at the United Nations will change nothing on the ground," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Jerusalem. "It will not advance the establishment of a Palestinian state. It will delay it further.

But U.N. diplomats say that Israel's reaction might not be so measured if the Palestinians seek ICC action against Israel on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity or other crimes the court would have jurisdiction over.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as calling on Washington and Israel to avoid "any hasty and destructive decisions."

"Supporting the Palestinian authorities is not only in the interest of the Palestinian side, but also of Israel and the whole international community that is longing for a peaceful political settlement," he said.

The European Union, a key donor for the Palestinians, has made clear it will not curtail aid after Thursday's vote.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also called for a revival of the peace process: "Israelis and Palestinians must break out of a zero-sum mentality, and embrace a peaceful path forward."

Granting Palestinians the title of "non-member observer state" falls short of full U.N. membership - something the Palestinians failed to achieve last year. But it would allow them access to the International Criminal Court and other international bodies, should they choose to join them.

Flag-waving Palestinians thronged the squares of the West Bank and Gaza Strip before Thursday's vote. In a rare show of unity, Abbas's Islamist rivals Hamas, who have ruled Gaza since a brief civil war in 2007, let backers of the president's Fatah movement hold demonstrations there.

Peace talks have been stalled for two years, mainly over Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which have expanded despite being deemed illegal by most of the world. There are 4.3 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

In the draft resolution, the Palestinians have pledged to relaunch the peace process immediately following the U.N. vote, expected sometime after 3 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Thursday.

With strong support from the developing world that makes up the majority of U.N. members, it is virtually assured of securing more than the requisite simple majority. Palestinian officials hope for more than 130 yes votes.

Abbas has focused on securing as many votes as possible from Europe, and his efforts appear to have paid off.

Austria, Denmark, Norway, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland all pledged to support the resolution. Britain said it was prepared to vote yes, but only if the Palestinians fulfilled certain conditions.

The fiercely pro-Israel Czech Republic was planning to vote against the move, dashing European hopes of avoiding any no votes that would create a three-way split on the continent into supporters, abstainers and opposers.

It was unclear whether some of the many undecided Europeans would join the Czechs. Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Estonia and Lithuania plan to abstain.

(Andrew Quinn in Washington, Noah Browning in Ramallah, Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, Michelle Nichols in New York, Robert Mueller in Prague, Gabriela Baczynska and Reuters bureau in Europe and elsewhere; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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British inquiry urges new laws for "outrageous" press

LONDON: A British inquiry called Thursday for a tougher watchdog underpinned by new laws to curb the country's press in a damning verdict that sets up Prime Minister David Cameron for a political battle.

Senior judge Brian Leveson, who led an eight-month inquiry sparked by the phone-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid, said there should be an independent self-regulatory body, underpinned by legislation.

But Cameron voiced concerns about any statutory change, putting him on a collision course with his junior coalition partners the Liberal Democrats, the Labour opposition and many hacking victims.

Lord Justice Leveson said in his report that the British newspaper industry had for decades "wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people" and ignored the codes that it had itself set up.

He said that while the press served the country "very well for the vast majority of the time", its behaviour "at times, can only be described as outrageous."

The prime minister commissioned the Leveson Inquiry in July 2011 in the wake of revelations that the News of the World had hacked the voicemails of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler as well as dozens of public figures.

Murdoch was forced to shut down the 168-year-old newspaper over the scandal.

Victims of phone hacking and press harassment welcomed the inquiry's findings and called on Cameron to implement them in full.

But Cameron told parliament that while he backed the creation of a new newspaper regulator, he feared that bringing in new laws risked curbing the freedom of the British press.

"I have some serious concerns and misgivings on this recommendation," he said.

"We will have crossed the rubicon of writing elements of press regulation into the law of the land... we should think very, very carefully before crossing this line."

Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, taking the unusual step of making a separate statement after Cameron's, said that he backed Leveson's call for new legislation.

"Changing the law is the only way to give us all the assurance that the new regulator isn't just independent for a few months or years, but is independent for good," he said.

Opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband also said Leveson's proposals, which are now likely to go to a vote in the House of Commons, or lower chamber of parliament, should be implemented.

"No more last chance saloons," he said, referring to repeated warnings over the last two decades that the British press has had enough warnings.

Parliament will debate Leveson's recommendations next Monday.

The British press, already suffering huge losses of readers and advertisers, currently regulates itself through the Press Complaints Commission, a body staffed by editors. Its critics say it is toothless.

Leveson said in his report that a new watchdog would have independent members, except for one editor. It would have the power to fine offenders up to £1 million ($1.6 million, 1.23 million euros) and to order the publication of apologies and corrections.

Those powers would be backed by new laws, he said. He summed up his plans as "independent regulation of the press organised by the press, with a statutory verification process".

Leveson also criticised the relationship between the press, police and politicians, which he said was "too close".

Hacked Off, a victims' campaign group featuring Hollywood star Hugh Grant, said they were disappointed by Cameron's opposition.

Mark Lewis, lawyer for the Dowler family and other phone-hacking victims, said: "There wasn't much point in a judicial inquiry unless it's implemented."

But Tom Mockridge, chief executive of Murdoch's newspaper wing News International, welcomed Cameron's "rejection" of the proposal to introduce statutory regulation.

Over eight months of hearings, the Leveson Inquiry heard from victims of press intrusion including actor Hugh Grant and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, politicians, journalists, police and newspaper executives.

Their testimony revealed embarrassing text messages from Cameron to Murdoch newspaper executive Rebekah Brooks, left a minister fighting for his career, and shone a light on the sometimes murky workings of the British establishment.

Police have arrested dozens of people under three linked probes into alleged crimes by newspapers.

Brooks, who was Mockridge's predecessor at News International, and Cameron's former spokesman Andy Coulson both appeared in court earlier Thursday on bribery charges.

-AFP/ac

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Editors' arrests recall Emergency, Zee says

NEW DELHI: Even as the Zee group called it a move to gag the media "without an official declaration of emergency", the two arrested editors of the group were remanded to two days of police custody on Wednesday and chairman Subhas Chandra called by the police to join investigations.

In a clear sign that the crime branch was ready to dig its heels in the case, top officials confirmed that they had served notice to Chandra, who owns the Zee group, on two successive days.

"We had asked him to join the investigation on Tuesday, but he had communicated his inability to do so on that day. We have sent him another notice on Wednesday evening," a top police officer told TOI.

As the Zee group launched a major defence of its arrested editors, a trial court sent two - Sudhir Chaudhary and Samir Ahluwalia - to police custody after Delhi police said it needed to unearth the conspiracy. The arrests were made on basis of a complaint by Congress MP Naveen Jindal's group that the two tried to extort Rs 100 crore for not broadcasting news reports linking the firm to the coal scam.

Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha also rejected the bail plea of Chaudhary, head of Zee News and Samir Ahluwalia, head of Zee Business.

Appearing before the court, Delhi Police told the court that Subhash Chandra and Punit Goenka, MD of the channel, were also accused in the case. It said Chandra was complicit in the demand of money.

A police source, however, clarified that Goenka had not been send a notice yet. The cops have also now charged Chaudhary and Ahluwalia with cheating, claiming that they also need to examine how the CAG report - which was at the centre of the acrimony between Zee News and the Jindal Group - was accessed by the media organization.

Going on the offensive, the Zee group called the arrests "illegal" and said "intimidating the media may further boomerang (on UPA 2)."

The media house it raised three points for the police. First, it asked what was the sudden provocation for the arrests when both editors were always available for questioning. Second, it pointed out that an interaction of around six hours (meetings between the editors and Jindal officals took place on September 10, 13, 17 and 19) was edited into 14 minutes of "distorted" conversation. And third, the group claimed Jindal himself offered the money to them, a fact that the cops were overlooking.

In a statement, Zee News CEO Alok Agarwal said, "In 65 years of democracy in independent India, this is only the second time the media has been censored without putting an official stamp of emergency".

Agarwal accused Jindal of misusing the official machinery, saying the steel tycoon had earlier tried to influence Zee News by offering money. "The fact is that Jindal is the one who offered money first to the editors, and then, to the company. He also tried to influence various senior functionaries in Zee News, not only directly, but also through various other people, including his elder brother, uncle and some political leaders...," he added.

Asked if his statement could be backed with proof, Agarwal said, "Proof will be produced as and when required."

Police sources, however, said they had proof of a conversation between Ahluwalia and Subhas Chandra immediately after the meeting between the editors and Jindal group. "The call lasted 286 seconds and the call location is inside the hotel, which was the venue of the meeting. We believe the call was made to inform Chandra about the meeting. We need to question Chandra on this aspect," the source said.

Naveen Jindal on Wednesday avoided commenting on the fresh allegations levelled against him by Zee News channel, saying all efforts were directed to ensure that the truth comes out. "I would like to repeat that I have a lot of respect for the media. This matter is under investigation by the Delhi Police. Also, it matter is sub judice. So, I think, it is best that we leave it at that," said Jindal.

Meanwhile, the Jindal group said in a statement that the law was taking its own course. "Zee TV's comment that the arrest of its editors is a Black Day for the media is unfortunate. The arrest of the two journalists being termed Black Day is rather demeaning the credibility of the media. Instead, Black Day was the day when these editors tried to extort Rs 100 crore from the Jindal group," the statement said.

The crime branch maintained that the arrests had been made according to the law, after the CFSL reports reached them confirming that the CD was not doctored. The cops claimed they have enough prima facie evidence, including extensive call record details to build their case.

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Simple measures cut infections caught in hospitals

CHICAGO (AP) — Preventing infections from surgery is a major concern for hospitals and it turns out some simple measures can make a big difference.

A project at seven big hospitals reduced infections after colorectal surgeries by nearly one-third. It prevented an estimated 135 infections, saving almost $4 million.

The measures included having patients shower with special germ-fighting soap before surgery, and having surgery teams change gowns, gloves and instruments during operations to prevent spreading germs picked up during the procedures.

Practices were standardized at the seven hospitals.

The Joint Commission hospital regulating group and the American College of Surgeons directed the project. They announced results on Wednesday.

___

Online:

Joint Commission: http://www.jointcommission.org

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Obama Taps Twitter for Tax-Cut Push

President Obama today sought to inject a dose of public pressure into the "fiscal cliff" debate, urging Americans who face an across-the-board tax hike in 34 days to lobby lawmakers by phone, email and Twitter.

"If there's one thing I've learned; when the American people speak loudly enough, lo and behold, Congress listens," Obama said from a White House auditorium.

He was flanked by middle-income earners who wrote to the administration about the importance of keeping tax rates low.

Obama branded the effort "#My2K" for social media users, reflecting White House estimates that the average family of four faces a more than $2,000 income tax increase in 2013, unless Congress extends existing rates as part of a debt- and deficit-reduction deal.

The hashtag rose to a top U.S. trend on Twitter by the conclusion of Obama's remarks. But it's unclear what impact the messaging would have on the broader debate, which hinges on whether to raise tax rates on individuals earning more than $200,000 a year and families earning more than $250,000 a year.

Republicans remain largely opposed to any tax rate increases, even though some have in recent days expressed openness to raising revenue through other means -- breaking a longstanding anti-tax pledge -- or even voting to extend lower rates for the middle class now and debating rates for upper-income earners later.

Jewl Samad/AFP/Getty Images

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Are Republicans Willing to Bend on No New Tax Pledge? Watch Video

Tax Pledge Mutiny as Fiscal Cliff Approaches Watch Video

Obama today pushed for certainty on tax rates for 98 percent of Americans. "If both parties agreed we should not raise taxes on middle-class families, let's begin our work where we agree," he said, voicing optimism that a "framework" for a broader deal can be achieved in the coming weeks with hopes for a final bill by Christmas.

Notably absent from the White House's campaign on "fiscal cliff," however, is any effort to rally public support for corresponding changes in entitlement programs aimed at curbing government spending, something Republicans and leaders of Obama's fiscal commission have called essential to any debt- and deficit-reduction deal.

Administration officials will not say whether an openness to means-testing Medicare, for example, remains on the table even though Obama and his campaign had previously expressed support for asking wealthier seniors to pay higher premiums as part of a deal.

Some top Democrats have even suggested separating entitlement overhaul from the "fiscal cliff" negotiations altogether, focusing only on taxes and other smaller-bore spending reduction measures before the end of the year.

White House spokesman Jay Carney suggested Tuesday that entitlement savings already included in Obama's budget could be sufficient as part of a balanced deal to avert the "cliff," rather than agreeing to potentially more controversial structural changes such as raising the Medicare and Social Security eligibility age.

"It is the president's position that when we're talking about a broad, balanced approach to dealing with our fiscal challenges, that that includes dealing with entitlements," Carney said. "And the president's budget, as you know, includes $340 billion in savings from our entitlement health-care program. So he has demonstrated yet again his commitment to the principle that we need to include as part of our balance approach savings from entitlements."

Republicans and some Democrats, including former Clinton chief of staff and fiscal commission co-chair Erskine Bowles, insist that more sweeping changes must be considered.

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Egypt assembly seeks to wrap up constitution

CAIRO (Reuters) - The assembly writing Egypt's constitution said it could wrap up a final draft later on Wednesday, a move the Muslim Brotherhood sees as a way out of a crisis over a decree by President Mohamed Mursi that protesters say gives him dictatorial powers.

But as Mursi's opponents staged a sixth day of protests in Tahrir Square, critics said the Islamist-dominated assembly's bid to finish the constitution quickly could make matters worse.

Two people have been killed and hundreds injured in countrywide protest set off by Mursi's decree.

The Brotherhood hopes to end the crisis by replacing Mursi's controversial decree with an entirely new constitution that would need to be approved in a popular referendum, a Brotherhood official told Reuters.

It is a gamble based on the Islamists' belief that they can mobilize enough voters to win the referendum: they have won all elections held since Hosni Mubarak was toppled from power.

But the move seemed likely to deepen divisions that are being exposed in the street.

The Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies called for protests on Saturday in Tahrir Square, setting the stage for more confrontation with their opponents, who staged a mass rally there on Tuesday.

The constitution is one of the main reasons Mursi is at loggerheads with non-Islamist opponents. They are boycotting the 100-member constitutional assembly, saying the Islamists have tried to impose their vision for Egypt's future.

The assembly's legal legitimacy has been called into question by a series of court cases demanding its dissolution. Its popular legitimacy has been hit by the withdrawal of members including church representatives and liberals.

"We will start now and finish today, God willing," Hossam el-Gheriyani, the assembly speaker, said at the start of its latest session in Cairo, saying Thursday would be "a great day".

"If you are upset by the decree, nothing will stop it except a new constitution issued immediately," he said. Three other members of the assembly told Reuters there were plans to put the document to a vote on Thursday.

ENTRENCHING AUTHORITARIANISM

Just down the road from the meeting convened at the Shura Council, protesters were again clashing with riot police in Tahrir Square. Members of the assembly watched on television as they waited to go into session.

"The constitution is in its last phases and will be put to a referendum soon and God willing it will solve a lot of the problems in the street," said Talaat Marzouk, an assembly member from the Salafi Nour Party, as he watched the images.

But Wael Ghonim, a prominent activist whose online blogging helped ignite the anti-Mubarak uprising, said a constitution passed in such circumstances would "entrench authoritarianism".

The constitution is supposed to be the cornerstone of a new, democratic Egypt following Mubarak's three decades of autocratic rule. The assembly has been at work for six months. Mursi had extended its December 12 deadline by two months - extra time that Gheriyani said was not needed.

The constitution will determine the powers of the president and parliament and define the roles of the judiciary and a military establishment that had been at the heart of power for decades until Mubarak was toppled. It will also set out the role of Islamic law, or sharia.

The effort to conclude the text quickly marked an escalation, said Nathan Brown, a professor of political science at George Washington University in the United States.

"It may be regarded with hostility by a lot of state actors too, including the judiciary," he said.

Leading opposition and former Arab League chief figure Amr Moussa slammed the move. He walked out of the assembly earlier this month. "This is nonsensical and one of the steps that shouldn't be taken, given the background of anger and resentment to the current constitutional assembly," he told Reuters.

Once drafted, the constitution will go to Mursi for approval, and he must then put it to a referendum within 15 days, which could mean the vote would be held by mid-December.

COURTS DECLARE STRIKE

Deepening the crisis further on Wednesday, Egypt's Cassation and Appeals courts said they would suspend their work until the constitutional court rules on the decree.

The judiciary, largely unreformed since the popular uprising that unseated Mubarak, was seen as a major target in the decree issued last Thursday, which extended his powers and put his decisions temporarily beyond legal challenge.

"The president wants to create a new dictatorship," said 38-year-old Mohamed Sayyed Ahmed, an unemployed man, in Tahrir.

Showing the depth of distrust of Mursi in parts of the judiciary, a spokesman for the Supreme Constitutional Court, which earlier this year declared void the Islamist-led parliament, said it felt under attack by the president.

In a speech on Friday, Mursi praised the judiciary as a whole but referred to corrupt elements he aimed to weed out.

"The really sad thing that has pained the members of this court is when the president of the republic joined, in a painful surprise, the campaign of continuous attack on the Constitutional Court," said the spokesman Maher Samy.

Senior judges have been negotiating with Mursi about how to restrict his new powers.

Mursi's administration insists that his actions were aimed at breaking a political logjam to push Egypt more swiftly towards democracy, an assertion his opponents dismiss.

The West worries about turbulence in a nation that has a peace treaty with Israel and is now ruled by Islamists they long kept at arms length.

Trying to ease tensions with judges, Mursi said elements of his decree giving his decisions immunity applied only to matters of "sovereign" importance, a compromise suggested by the judges.

A constitution must be in place before a new parliament can be elected, and until that time Mursi holds both executive and legislative powers. An election could take place in early 2013.

(Additional reporting by Tom Perry and Marwa Awad; Writing by Edmund Blair and Tom Perry; Editing by Will Waterman and Giles Elgood)

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Indian minister in strong attack on microfinance

NEW DELHI: Microfinance is a "discredited model" and to believe that poverty alleviation in India is possible through such methods is "c**p", Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said Wednesday.

"Nothing can stop an idea whose time has gone," Ramesh told a microfinance conference in New Delhi, according to the Press Trust of India.

"It is a discredited model," he said, referring to the system in which small loans are made to people who do not have access to the mainstream banking system.

Ramesh, known for being outspoken, conceded that "there are many advantages when it comes to delivery of finance through the microfinance route".

"But one should be somehow more modest in the expectation of microfinance and microfinance institutions," he went on.

"To think that we are going alleviate poverty is a tall, tall claim. Poverty alleviation through microfinance -- it is c**p."

The multi-billion-dollar industry in India, once seen as a saviour of the poor, has been in crisis since a backlash against alleged abusive practices by debt collectors and extremely high interest rates for loans.

The sector has also under been fire in neighbouring Bangladesh where the micro-lending model was pioneered, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina accusing the industry of "sucking blood from the poor" due to high lending rates.

-AFP/ac

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Two Zee editors arrested for 'Rs 100-crore extortion bid'

NEW DELHI: The crime branch of Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested two editors of Zee group on charges of extortion based on a complaint filed by Congress MP Naveen Jindal. They are Sudhir Chaudhary, business head and editor of Zee News and Sameer Ahluwalia, head of Zee business, a senior police officer said.

S B S Tyagi, DCP (Crime Branch), said: "Prima facie evidence of criminal conspiracy and extortion has been found against the two leading to their arrest." The Zee editors had earlier denied charges levelled against them.

The police said the arrests came after forensic experts submitted a report stating the CD containing the audio and video recording of the conversation between Zee editors and Jindal's officials was "not doctored". The inter-state cell of crime branch has found other conclusive evidence against the duo, it is claimed.

"The two editors were called for questioning on Tuesday during which they could not give satisfactory answers to our questions. They were informed around 8.30pm about their arrests after four hours of questioning. They will be produced in Saket court at 2pm on Wednesday," a senior police officer said.

Earlier, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) had provided the police with audio recordings of telephonic conversation and video recording of three meetings held on September 13, 17 and 19 between Zee and JSPL officials at Hyatt Regency hotel in Delhi.

In their FIR, Naveen Jindal's company JSPL had also named Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra and his son Punit Goenka as co-accused, alleging criminal conspiracy, extortion, criminal intimidation and defamation by Zee News and its officials, police said.

In mid-October, the Broadcast Editors' Association (BEA) had removed Sudhir Chaudhary from the post of treasurer and primary membership of the body.

The crime branch of Delhi Police had registered an FIR against the two office bearers and others for allegedly trying to extort Rs 100 crore from the Naveen Jindal. The FIR was lodged under sections of extortion after the HR head of Jindal's company gave a written complaint to the police against the duo and others levelling allegations of extortion in form of advertisements to drop certain stories regarding the coal mine allocations.

The complainant had alleged that the duo reportedly met officials of Jindal group and told them that reports against them could be dropped if the amount was paid.

As per the complainant, several phone calls were exchanged. The complainant alleged that when they declined to pay up the money, the channel ran a series of malicious news items targeting them.

Reacting to the move, Sudhir Chauhary had earlier told TOI that the allegations were baseless, false and fabricated. "Jindals were the biggest beneficiaries in the coal block allocation scam and we had exposed them. If they are targeting us, they are targeting investigative journalism. It's an attempt to malign us and seems a result of their frustration after being exposed," he had said.

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CDC: HIV spread high in young gay males

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say 1 in 5 new HIV infections occur in a tiny segment of the population — young men who are gay or bisexual.

The government on Tuesday released new numbers that spotlight how the spread of the AIDS virus is heavily concentrated in young males who have sex with other males. Only about a quarter of new infections in the 13-to-24 age group are from injecting drugs or heterosexual sex.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said blacks represented more than half of new infections in youths. The estimates are based on 2010 figures.

Overall, new U.S. HIV infections have held steady at around 50,000 annually. About 12,000 are in teens and young adults, and most youth with HIV haven't been tested.

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Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns

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GOP Senators More Troubled After Rice Meeting

United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice's attempts to make nice with a trio of Republican senators who have criticized her response to the Sept. 11 terror attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, seem to have backfired.

The senators said they left their face-to-face meeting with Rice this morning "more concerned" and "significantly troubled."

The three Republicans, Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, said not only did Rice, who was joined by Acting CIA Director Mike Morell, not answer all their questions about the attack but did little to assuage their overall worries.

"We are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got, and some that we didn't get concerning evidence that was overwhelming leading up to the attack on the consulate," McCain said.

"The concerns I have are greater today than before, and we're not even close to getting the basic answers," Graham said.

Today's meeting was seen as part of Rice's Capitol Hill "charm offensive," as her possible nomination to become the next secretary of state has met with some vocal opposition – especially from McCain, Graham and Ayotte, who still seemed to steer clear of questions about whether they would stand in the way if Rice was nominated.

"Before anybody can make an intelligent decision about promoting someone involved in Benghazi, we need to do a lot more," Graham said. "To this date, we don't have the FBI interviews of the survivors conducted one or two days after the attack. We don't have the basic information about what was said the night of the attack ... as of this date."

Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Dick Durbin on 'This Week' Watch Video

Graham compared the situation to 2006, when Senate Democrats blocked the nomination of John Bolton, President Bush's choice for U.N. ambassador.

What the senators seemed to find most problematic was Rice's statement on the Sunday morning news shows days after the attack. At first, she said it was a "spontaneous" attack and not a terrorist attack.

Ayotte said that in today's meeting Rice called the information she first gave to the American people wrong.

"It's certainly clear from the beginning that we knew that those with ties to al Qaeda were involved in the attack on the embassy, and clearly the impression that was given, the information given to the American people, was wrong," Ayotte said,

Ayotte said that as the U.N. ambassador should have stepped up and said that she couldn't go on the Sunday morning news shows and talk about the attack if that was the case.

In her defense, Rice said in a statement following the meeting: "We explained that the talking points provided by the intelligence community, and the initial assessment upon which they were based, were incorrect in a key respect: There was no protest or demonstration in Benghazi. While, we certainly wish that we had had perfect information just days after the terrorist attack, as is often the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved. We stressed that neither I nor anyone else in the administration intended to mislead the American people at any stage in this process, and the administration updated Congress and the American people as our assessments evolved."

Graham, like Ayotte, said it would have been better not to give any information at all.

"If you can give nothing but bad information, isn't it better to give no information at all? It was unjustified to give the scenarios as presented by Ambassador Rice and President Obama three weeks before an election."

Rice is expected to meet with Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., later today. A close ally of McCain (Lieberman endorsed McCain for president in 2008), Lieberman has not been as quick to criticize Rice.

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