Hopes for Israel, Gaza truce quickly dashed

GAZA (Reuters) - Egypt opened a tiny window to emergency peace diplomacy in Gaza on Friday, but hopes for even a brief ceasefire while its prime minister was inside the bombarded enclave to talk to leaders of the Islamist Hamas movement were immediately dashed.

Prime Minister Hisham Kandil visited the Gaza Strip on Friday officially to show solidarity with the Palestinian people after two days of relentless attacks by Israeli warplanes determined to end militant rocket fire at Israel.

But a Palestinian official close to Egypt's mediators told Reuters that Kandil's visit, which included members of Cairo's secret service, "was the beginning of a process to explore the possibility of reaching a truce. It is early to speak of any details or of how things will evolve".

Israel undertook to cease fire during the visit if Hamas did too. But it said rockets fired from Gaza had hit several sites in southern Israel as he was in the enclave.

According to a Hamas source, the Israeli air force launched an attack on the house of Hamas's commander for southern Gaza which resulted in the death of two civilians, one a child.

But Israel's military strongly denied carrying out any attacks from the time Kandil entered Gaza, and accused Hamas of violating the three-hour deal. "Israel has not attacked in Gaza for the past two hours," a spokesman said.

"Even though about 50 rockets have fallen in Israel over the past two hours, we chose not to attack in Gaza due to the visit of the Egyptian prime minister. Hamas is lying and reporting otherwise," the army said in a Twitter message.

Kandil said: "Egypt will spare no effort ... to stop the aggression and to achieve a truce."

At a Gaza hospital he saw the bloodied body of a child. He left the Gaza Strip after meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the enclave's prime minister.

Palestinian medics said two people were killed in the disputed explosion at the house, one of them a child. It raised the Palestinian death toll since Wednesday to 21. Three Israelis were killed by a rocket on Thursday.

Air raid sirens wailed over Tel Aviv on Thursday evening, sending residents rushing for shelter and two long-range rockets exploded just south of the metropolis. The location of the impacts was not disclosed.

They exploded harmlessly, police said. But they have shaken the 40 percent of Israelis who, until now, lived in safety beyond range of the southern rocket zone.

"Even Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu was rushed into a reinforced room," said cabinet minister Gilad Eldan.

Israel has started drafting 16,000 reserve troops, in what could be a precursor to invasion.

The 21 Palestinian dead include eight militants and 13 civilians, among them seven children and a pregnant woman. A Hamas rocket killed three Israeli civilians a town north of Gaza, men and women in their 30s.

The last Gaza war, a lopsided three-week long Israeli air blitz and ground invasion over the New Year period of 2008-2009 aimed at ending repeated rocket attacks, left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, mostly civilian, and killed 13 Israelis.

THE MESSAGE

"If Hamas says it understands the message and commits to a long ceasefire, via the Egyptians or anyone else, this is what we want. We want quiet in the south and a stronger deterrence," Israeli vice prime minister Moshe Yaalon said.

"The Egyptians have been a pipeline for passing messages. Hamas always turns (to them) to request a ceasefire. We are in contact with the Egyptian defence ministry. And it could be a channel in which a ceasefire is reached," he told Israeli radio.

At the same time, there were signs of possible preparations for a ground assault on Gaza. In pre-dawn strikes, warplanes bombed open land along the border zone with Israel, in what could be a softening-up stage to clear the way for tanks.

Self-propelled heavy artillery was seen near the border.

The United States has asked countries that have contact with Hamas to urge the Islamist movement to stop its recent rocket attacks from Gaza, a White House adviser said.

"We've ... urged those that have a degree of influence with Hamas, such as Turkey and Egypt and some of our European partners, to use that influence to urge Hamas to de-escalate," Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, said in a conference call with reporters.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in an interview with Voice of America: "I understand the reasons Israel is doing what they're doing. They've been the target of missiles coming in from Gaza ... ."

EGYPT ON THE SPOT

The Gaza conflagration has stoked the flames of a Middle East ablaze with two years of Arab revolution and a civil war in Syria that threatens to engulf the whole region.

Hamas refuses to recognise Israel's right to exist. By contrast, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who rules in the nearby West Bank, does recognise Israel, but peace talks between the two sides have been frozen since 2010.

Abbas's supporters say they will push ahead with their plan to become an "observer state" rather than a mere "entity" at the United Nations later this month.

Despite fierce opposition from both Israel and the United States, they look certain to win the vote in the General Assembly, where they have a built a majority of supporters.

Egypt's new Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, viewed by Hamas as a protector, led a chorus of denunciation of the Israeli strikes by allies of the Palestinians.

Mursi faces domestic pressure to act tough. But Egypt gets $1.3 billion a year in U.S. military aid and looks to Washington for help with its ailing economy, constraining Mursi despite his need to show Egyptians that his policies differ from those of his U.S.-backed predecessor, Hosni Mubarak.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Thursday urged Egypt to do more to help the Palestinians.

"We call upon the brothers in Egypt to take the measures that will deter this enemy," the Hamas prime minister said.

The appeal poses a test of Mursi's commitment to Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel, which the West views as the bedrock of Middle East peace.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which brought Mursi to power in an election after the downfall of pro-Western Hosni Mubarak, has called for a "Day of Rage" in Arab capitals on Friday. The Brotherhood is seen as the spiritual mentor of Hamas.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said they had targeted over 450 "terror activity sites" in the Gaza Strip since Operation Pillar of Defence began with the assassination of Hamas' top military commander on Wednesday by an Israeli missile.

Some 150 medium range rocket launching sites and ammunition dumps were targeted overnight, the IDF said.

"The sites that were targeted were positively identified by precise intelligence over the course of months," it said. "The Gaza strip has been turned into a frontal base for Iran, forcing Israeli citizens to live under unbearable circumstances."

Israeli bombing has not yet reached the saturation level seen before it last invaded Gaza in the first days of 2009, when armoured bulldozers and tanks flattened whole districts of the crowded enclave to make way for fire bases and open routes for infantry.

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Japan PM dissolves parliament; vote set for Dec 16

TOKYO (AP) — Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda dissolved the lower house of parliament Friday, paving the way for elections in which his ruling party will likely give way to a weak coalition government divided over how to solve Japan's myriad problems.

Elections were set for Dec. 16. If Noda's center-left party loses, the economically sputtering country will get its seventh prime minister in seven years.

"Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!" shouted the 480-some lawmakers in the lower house, raising their arms each time in celebration, after the house speaker read a proclamation approved by Emperor Akihito, delivered wrapped in a cloth of imperial violet.

The opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which led Japan for most of the post-World War II era, is in the best position to take over. The timing of the election likely pre-empts moves by more conservative challengers, including former Tokyo Mayor Shintaro Ishihara, to build up electoral support.

Campaigning is set to begin Dec. 4, but leaders were already switching into campaign mode.

"What's at stake in the upcoming elections is whether Japan's future is going to move forward or backward," Noda declared to fellow leaders of the Democratic Party of Japan. "It is going to be a crucial election to determine the fate of Japan."

The DPJ, in power for three years, has grown unpopular thanks largely to its handling of the Fukushima nuclear crisis and especially its recent doubling of the sales tax.

Noda's most likely successor is LDP head and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He resigned as Japan's leader in 2007 after a year in office, citing health problems he says are no longer an issue.

"I will do my utmost to end the political chaos and stalled economy," Abe told reporters Friday. "I will take the lead to make that happen."

The path to elections was laid suddenly Wednesday during a debate between Abe and Noda. Noda abruptly said he would dissolve parliament if the opposition would agree to key reforms, including a deficit financing bill and electoral reforms, and Abe jumped at the chance.

Polls indicate that the conservative, business-friendly LDP will win the most seats in the 480-seat lower house but will fall far short of a majority. That would force it to cobble together a coalition of parties with differing policies and priorities.

"It's unlikely that the election will result in a clear mandate for anybody," said Koichi Nakano, a political science professor at Sophia University. "So in that sense, there's still going to be a lot of muddling through."

The election, and the divided government that will follow, complicate efforts to extricate Japan from its two-decade economic slump and effectively handle the cleanup from its 2011 nuclear disaster.

Still, many saw the prospect of change as positive: Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index jumped 2.2 percent Friday to close at 9,024.16.

Japan's leaders urgently need to devise strategies for coping with a soaring national debt, now more than double the national GDP, and a rapidly aging population. Japan must also decide whether it will follow through with plans to phase out nuclear power by 2040 — a move that many in the LDP oppose.

Perhaps most pressing is Japan's festering territorial dispute with China, which has hammered exports to its biggest trading partner.

A staunch nationalist, Abe has railed against China in the dispute over a cluster of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan.

Japan is going through a messy political transition, with a merry-go-round of prime ministers and the emergence of various parties to challenge the long-dominant LDP.

The Democratic Party of Japan's ousted the LDP in a 2009 landslide, raising hopes for change. But the DPJ's failure to keep campaign promises and the government's handling of the Fukushima nuclear crisis triggered by the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami have left many disillusioned. Noda's centerpiece achievement during nearly 15 months in office was a highly unpopular bill doubling the 5 percent national sales tax by 2015.

Polls show support for the DPJ in the low teens, while 25 to 30 percent of voters back the LDP. Several other parties have lower levels of support, and nearly half the electorate is undecided.

"There are so many lying politicians," said Tokyo resident Michiyo Komaki. "I just wish for a leader who would do his job properly."

Ishihara recently resigned as Tokyo mayor to create the Sunrise Party. As mayor, he helped instigate the territorial crisis with China by declaring that Tokyo would buy and develop the disputed islands controlled by Japan but long claimed by Beijing. The central government bought the islands itself, intending to thwart Ishihara's more extreme plans, but China was still enraged.

Ishihara has been courting Toru Hashimoto, the young, outspoken mayor of Osaka, Japan's second biggest-city, in hopes of tapping voter dismay. Both have formed their own national political parties, but they may not have enough time to get organized for the election.

The two men are reportedly in discussions to merge their parties and form a so-called "third force" to counter the LDP and DPJ, but apparently are struggling to reconcile conflicting policy views, including on nuclear power.

"The era of one-party dominance is clearly over and behind us," said Nakano, the professor. "We know what we are transiting from, but we don't know where we are going."

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Associated Press writers Elaine Kurtenbach and Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.

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Jesse & Joy take 4 Latin Grammys, Juanes wins too

LAS VEGAS (AP) — As Colombian rockero Juanes took home the best album award, Mexican brother-sister duo Jesse & Joy and their pop hit "Corre!" ran away with four awards at the 13th Annual Latin Grammys.

Hosted by actors Cristian De La Fuente and Lucero, Thursday night's event attracted stars from across the world and from dozens of Latin musical genres to the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Just like at a big family party, new faces shared the spotlight with older generations, and traditional styles mixed with electronica and Vegas dancers on stage.

Traditional Mexico met Las Vegas in a colorful number featuring Oaxaca native Lila Downs, Afro-Colombian singer Toto la Momposina and dancers in regional costumes, Carnival masques and skeleton makeup.

"What a great joy. Thank God, and all the fans," Juanes said as he dragged Dominican mereguero Juan Luis Guerra, who produced "MTV Unplugged," to the stage to accept the mini-gramaphone for best album at the close of the ceremony.

The winner for best new artist, the Mexican DJ trio 3ball MTY, threw down beats with America Sierra and Sky Blu of LMFAO. Pitbull performed "Don't Stop the Party" with dancers in gold spangled bikinis and hot pants. Juanes jammed with legendary guitarist Carlos Santana.

Michel Telo, the Brazilian sertanejo or country music singer, performed his hit, "Ai si eu te pego,"with Blue Man Group. Bachata heartthrob Prince Royce sang with veteran Mexican singer-songwriter Joan Sebastian. But the applause was also strong for the 1980s hit, "Yo No Te Pido la Luna," a duet between Spaniard Sergio Dalma and Mexican singer Daniela Romo, sporting a short silver hairdo following her bout with breast cancer.

Jesse & Joy also won for best contemporary pop vocal album for "Con Quien se Queda el Perro" and best short video for "Me voy."

"Thanks to people like Juanes and Juan Luis Guerro who have inspired us. Love and peace," Jesse said.

Guerra, who came into the ceremony as the leading nominee with six bids, won producer of the year for Juanes' album "MTV Unplugged."

Guerra performed "En el Cielo No Hay Hospital," which brought the audience to its feet to dance, and for a standing ovation.

Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Don Omar and Uruguayan alt rockers Cuarteto de Nos won two Latin Grammys each.

Downs won best folkloric album for "Pecados y Milagros." Colombian singer Fonseca won for best tropical fusion album, and Los Tucanes de Tijuana won best norteno album for "365 Dias," the narco-corrido band's 32nd album.

Milly Quezada brought home two statuettes, including best contemporary tropical album for "Aqui estoy yo."

"Long live merengue! Long live the Dominican Republic!" she said as she accepted the award. She also thanked Guerra, who helped produce the album.

Cuban-American jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval won three Latin Grammys, two for "Dear Diz (Every Day I Think of You)," but said these awards was just exciting as his first.

"The emotion is the same because one puts the same effort into each recording and the fact that the work is received well and respected by the public is very satisfying," he said.

The Latin Grammy celebration kicked off Wednesday with a tribute to Person of the Year winner, Caetano Veloso, one of the founders of the Tropicalismo movement.

The Brazilian singer, composer and activist sang in Spanish and Portuguese before Pitbull and Sensato closed with "Crazy People."

The event was broadcast live on Univision.

Interactive: http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2012/latin-grammys/

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Diabetes rates rocket in Oklahoma, South

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's diabetes problem is getting worse, and the biggest jump over 15 years was in Oklahoma, according to a new federal report issued Thursday.

The diabetes rate in Oklahoma more than tripled, and Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama also saw dramatic increases since 1995, the study showed.

The South's growing weight problem is the main explanation, said Linda Geiss, lead author of the report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.

"The rise in diabetes has really gone hand in hand with the rise in obesity," she said.

Bolstering the numbers is the fact that more people with diabetes are living longer because better treatments are available.

The disease exploded in the United States in the last 50 years, with the vast majority from obesity-related Type 2 diabetes. In 1958, fewer than 1 in 100 Americans had been diagnosed with diabetes. In 2010, it was about 1 in 14.

Most of the increase has happened since 1990.

Diabetes is a disease in which the body has trouble processing sugar; it's the nation's seventh leading cause of death. Complications include poor circulation, heart and kidney problems and nerve damage.

The new study is the CDC's first in more than a decade to look at how the nationwide boom has played out in different states.

It's based on telephone surveys of at least 1,000 adults in each state in 1995 and 2010. Participants were asked if a doctor had ever told them they have diabetes.

Not surprisingly, Mississippi — the state with the largest proportion of residents who are obese — has the highest diabetes rate. Nearly 12 percent of Mississippians say they have diabetes, compared to the national average of 7 percent.

But the most dramatic increases in diabetes occurred largely elsewhere in the South and in the Southwest, where rates tripled or more than doubled. Oklahoma's rate rose to about 10 percent, Kentucky went to more than 9 percent, Georgia to 10 percent and Alabama surpassed 11 percent.

An official with Oklahoma State Department of Health said the solution is healthier eating, more exercise and no smoking.

"And that's it in a nutshell," said Rita Reeves, diabetes prevention coordinator.

Several Northern states saw rates more than double, too, including Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Maine.

The study was published in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

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Associated Press writer Ken Miller in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

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Online:

CDC report: http://tinyurl.com/cdcdiabetesreport

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Sources: BP to pay record fine for Gulf Coast disaster

HOUSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - BP Plc is expected to pay a record U.S. criminal penalty and plead guilty to criminal misconduct in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster through a plea deal reached with the Department of Justice (DoJ) that may be announced as soon as Thursday, according to sources familiar with discussions.

Three sources, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said BP would plead guilty in exchange for a waiver of future prosecution on the charges.

BP confirmed it was in "advanced discussions" with the DoJ and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC).

The talks were about "proposed resolutions of all U.S. federal government criminal and SEC claims against BP in connection with the Deepwater Horizon incident," it said in a statement on Thursday, but added that no final agreements had been reached.

The discussion do not cover federal civil claims, both BP and the sources said.

London-based oil giant BP has been locked in months-long negotiations with the U.S. government and Gulf Coast states to settle billions of dollars of potential civil and criminal liability claims resulting from the April 20, 2010, explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig.

The sources did not disclose the amount of BP's payment, but one said it would be the largest criminal penalty in U.S. history. That record is now held by Pfizer Inc, which paid a $1.3 billion fine in 2009 for marketing fraud related to its Bextra pain medicine.

The DoJ declined to comment.

The deal could resolve a significant share of the liability that BP faces after the explosion killed 11 workers and fouled the shorelines of four Gulf Coast states in the worst offshore spill in U.S. history. BP, which saw its market value plummet and replaced its CEO in the aftermath of the spill, still faces economic and environmental damage claims sought by U.S. Gulf Coast states and other private plaintiffs.

The fine would far outstrip BP's last major settlement with the DoJ in 2007, when it payed about $373 million to resolve three separate probes into a deadly 2005 Texas refinery explosion, an Alaska oil pipeline leak and fraud for conspiring to corner the U.S. propane market.

The massive settlement, which comes a week after the U.S. presidential election, could ignite a debate in Congress about how funds would be shared with Gulf Coast states, depending on how the deal is structured. Congress passed a law last year that would earmark 80 percent of BP penalties paid under the Clean Water Act to the spill-hit states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas.

POTENTIAL LIABILITY

In an August filing, the DoJ said "reckless management" of the Macondo well "constituted gross negligence and willful misconduct" which it intended to prove at a civil trial set to begin in New Orleans in February 2013. The U.S. government has not yet filed any criminal charges in the case.

Given that the deal will not resolve any civil charges brought by the Justice Department, it is also unclear how large a financial penalty BP might pay to resolve the charges, or other punishments that BP might face.

Negligence is a central issue to BP's potential liability. A gross negligence finding could nearly quadruple the civil damages owed by BP under the Clean Water Act to $21 billion in a straight-line calculation.

Still unresolved is potential liability faced by Swiss-based Transocean Ltd, owner of the Deepwater Horizon vessel, and Halliburton Co, which provided cementing work on the well that U.S. investigators say was flawed. Both companies were not immediately available for comment.

According to the Justice Department, errors made by BP and Transocean in deciphering a pressure test of the Macondo well are a clear indication of gross negligence.

"That such a simple, yet fundamental and safety-critical test could have been so stunningly, blindingly botched in so many ways, by so many people, demonstrates gross negligence," the government said in its August filing.

Transocean in September disclosed it is in discussions with the Justice Department to pay $1.5 billion to resolve civil and criminal claims.

The mile-deep Macondo well spewed 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of 87 days. The torrent fouled shorelines from Texas to Florida and eclipsed in severity the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.

BP has already announced an uncapped class-action settlement with private plaintiffs that the company estimates will cost $7.8 billion to resolve litigation brought by over 100,000 individuals and businesses claiming economic and medical damages from the spill.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Callus in London; Editing by Edward Tobin and David Stamp)

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Panetta unaware of any more names in Petraeus case

BANGKOK (AP) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday he knows of no other senior U.S. military officers being linked to the David Petraeus investigation that has ensnared the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen.

Speaking at a Bangkok news conference, Panetta said he retains "tremendous confidence" in Allen.

"I am not aware of any others that could be involved in this issue at the present time," he said, adding that he wanted the American public to understand that the vast majority of military officers serve ethically and with distinction.

"One thing I do demand," he said, "is that those who seek to protect this country operate by the highest ethical standards."

Panetta declined to describe the nature of the emails and other correspondence between Allen and Florida socialite Jill Kelley, which others have called flirtatious and potentially problematic for the Marine four-star general.

Asked whether any of those emails are sexually explicit, Panetta said, "What I don't want to do is to try to characterize those communications because I don't want to do anything" to limit the ability of the Pentagon inspector general to conduct an objective review of the Allen matter.

Panetta ordered the investigation Monday after the FBI referred the matter to the Pentagon's top lawyer. Allen issued a statement through his lawyer saying he is committed to cooperating fully with the investigation.

Panetta also told reporters he could not rule out the possibility that the Taliban in Afghanistan would try to use Petraeus' admission of an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, for propaganda purposes. Petraeus, who resigned Friday from his post as CIA director, was Allen's predecessor as top commander in Afghanistan, leaving in summer 2011.

"You're never quite sure what the Taliban may or may not use for propaganda purposes to try to advance their cause, and obviously this is a possible area for them to explore," Panetta said, adding that "if they want to have an impact" there are other issues they could try to exploit.

Panetta spoke at a joint news conference with his Thai counterpart, Sukampol Suwannathat, after the two signed an update to a 1962 U.S.-Thai statement framing their security relationship. The United States and Thailand are treaty allies — a relationship that Washington sees as a cornerstone of its security interests in Asia.

Panetta's talks were intended to lay some of the groundwork for President Barack Obama's visit here Sunday.

Panetta is the first U.S. defense secretary to visit Thailand since 2008. The U.S. has no troops permanently stationed in Thailand but it conducts regular exercises with the Thai military and has numerous other forms of cooperation.

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Erdrich wins her first National Book Award

NEW YORK (AP) — The National Book Awards honored both longtime writers and new authors, from Louise Erdrich for "The Round House" to Katherine Boo for her debut work, "Beyond the Beautiful Forevers."

Erdrich, 58, has been a published and highly regarded author for nearly 30 years but had never won a National Book Award until being cited Wednesday for her story, the second of a planned trilogy, about an Ojibwe boy and his quest to avenge his mother's rape. A clearly delighted and surprised Erdrich, who's part Ojibwe, spoke in her tribal tongue and then switched to English as she dedicated her fiction award to "the grace and endurance of native people."

The works of two other winners also centered on young boys — Boo's for nonfiction, and William Alexander's fantasy "Goblin Secrets," for young people's literature. David Ferry won for poetry.

Boo's book, set in a Mumbai slum, is the story of a boy and his harsh and illuminating education in the consequences of crime or perceived crime. The author, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist currently on staff with The New Yorker, said she was grateful for the chance to live in a world she "didn't know" and for the chance to tell the stories of those otherwise ignored. She praised a fellow nominee and fellow Pulitzer-winning reporter, the late Anthony Shadid, for also believing in stories of those without fame or power.

Boo was chosen from one of the strongest lists of nonfiction books in memory, from the fourth volume of Robert Caro's Lyndon Johnson series to Shadid's memoir "House of Stone." Finalists in fiction, which in recent years favored lesser known writers, included such established names as Dave Eggers and Junot Diaz. Publishers have been concerned that the National Book Awards have become too insular and are considering changes, including expanding the pool of judges beyond writers.

Winners, chosen by panels of their peers, each will receive $10,000.Judges looked through nearly 1,300 books.

Ferry is a year older than one of the night's honorary recipients, Elmore Leonard. Ferry, 88, won for "Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations," a showcase for his versatile style. He fought back tears as he confided that he thought there was a chance for winning because he "was so much older" than the other nominees. Attempting to find poetry in victory, he called the award a "pre-posthumous" honor.

Alexander quoted fellow fantasy writer Ursula K. Le Guin in highlighting the importance of stories for shaping kids' imaginations and making the world a larger place than the one they live in.

"We have to remember that," Alexander said.

The ceremony was hosted by commentator-performer Faith Salie and went smoothly even though Superstorm Sandy badly damaged the offices of the award's organizer, the National Book Foundation, whose staffers had to work with limited telephone and mail access.

Honorary prizes were given to Leonard and New York Times publisher and chairman Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr.

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Booze calories nearly equal soda's for US adults

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans get too many calories from soda. But what about alcohol? It turns out adults get almost as many empty calories from booze as from soft drinks, a government study found.

Soda and other sweetened drinks — the focus of obesity-fighting public health campaigns — are the source of about 6 percent of the calories adults consume, on average. Alcoholic beverages account for about 5 percent, the new study found.

"We've been focusing on sugar-sweetened beverages. This is something new," said Cynthia Ogden, one of the study's authors. She's an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which released its findings Thursday.

The government researchers say the findings deserve attention because, like soda, alcohol contains few nutrients but plenty of calories.

The study is based on interviews with more than 11,000 U.S. adults from 2007 through 2010. Participants were asked extensive questions about what they ate and drank over the previous 24 hours.

The study found:

—On any given day, about one-third of men and one-fifth of women consumed calories from beer, wine or liquor.

—Averaged out to all adults, the average guy drinks 150 calories from alcohol each day, or the equivalent of a can of Budweiser.

—The average woman drinks about 50 calories, or roughly half a glass of wine.

—Men drink mostly beer. For women, there was no clear favorite among alcoholic beverages.

—There was no racial or ethnic difference in average calories consumed from alcoholic beverages. But there was an age difference, with younger adults putting more of it away.

For reference, a 12-ounce can of regular Coca-Cola has 140 calories, slightly less than a same-sized can of regular Bud. A 5-ounce glass of wine is around 100 calories.

In September, New York City approved an unprecedented measure cracking down on giant sodas, those bigger than 16 ounces, or half a liter. It will take effect in March and bans sales of drinks that large at restaurants, cafeterias and concession stands.

Should New York officials now start cracking down on tall-boy beers and monster margaritas?

There are no plans for that, city health department officials said, adding in a statement that while studies show that sugary drinks are "a key driver of the obesity epidemic," alcohol is not.

Health officials should think about enacting policies to limit alcoholic intake, but New York's focus on sodas is appropriate, said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a public health advocacy group.

Soda and sweetened beverages are the bigger problem, especially when it comes to kids — the No. 1 source of calories in the U.S. diet, she said.

"In New York City, it was smart to start with sugary drinks. Let's see how it goes and then think about next steps," she said.

However, she lamented that the Obama administration is planning to exempt alcoholic beverages from proposed federal regulations requiring calorie labeling on restaurant menus.

It could set up a confusing scenario in which, say, a raspberry iced tea may have a calorie count listed, while an alcohol-laden Long Island Iced Tea — with more than four times as many calories — doesn't. "It could give people the wrong idea," she said.

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Online:

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

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'Warrior monk' at center of growing scandal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Marine Corps General John Allen, the soberly formal, spit-and-polish head of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, is not a military leader whose image immediately conjures up the word "flirtatious."

The four-star general, who succeeded General David Petraeus last year as head of the International Security Assistance Force, is known for his ability to work with tribal sheikhs, a skill that helped him turn the tide against al Qaeda in Anbar Province in Iraq five years ago and has served him well in Afghanistan.

So the news that Allen, a 36-year veteran of the Marine Corps, had been snared in the same investigation that prompted the resignation of Petraeus as CIA director last week was greeted with surprise at the Pentagon and elsewhere in Washington.

John Ullyot, who served under Allen at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina in 1993, said he was all about "setting the example" for those under him and it was "hard for anyone who ever served under Allen" to believe he had been pulled into the probe.

Allen, who is married and has two daughters, "was known as a kind of warrior monk," said Ullyot, who was a spokesman for former U.S. Senator John Warner, a Republican who chaired the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Allen's connection to the probe that snared Petraeus was revealed early on Tuesday when Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced he was putting Allen's nomination as head of U.S. European Command on hold pending an investigation.

A senior U.S. defense official said Panetta had asked the Defense Department's inspector general to investigate what the Pentagon called "inappropriate communication" between Allen and Jill Kelley, a Tampa, Florida socialite who is involved in volunteer causes that support the military.

Kelley is the woman who told the FBI she had received anonymous harassing emails about Petraeus. The FBI investigation into the emails uncovered an extramarital affair between Petraeus and his biographer, Paula Broadwell, who was found to be the source of the emails to Kelley, officials have said.

The FBI investigation also uncovered 20,000 to 30,000 pages of emails between or copied to Allen and Kelley. While defense officials were unable to say exactly how many emails there were between the two, the volume in pages raised concerns, they said.

A senior defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the emails were "flirtatious" in nature, but did not deal with security or military business. The official said he had not seen the emails and could not say whether they were merely friendly or sexually explicit.

The investigation came just two days before Allen, the first Marine to serve as Commandant of Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, was to testify at a confirmation hearing naming him to replace Admiral James Stavridis as head of the U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

RECOMMENDED BY PETRAEUS

Allen and Petraeus have long known one another and served together. Allen was Petraeus' deputy at U.S. Central Command, based in Tampa.

Petraeus personally recommended Allen for the ISAF command. During Allen's confirmation hearing for the job, Senator John McCain told Allen he could "think of no higher compliment to pay a military officer" than to have the kind of support Petraeus had given him.

Allen has served as the head of ISAF since July 2011, managing the drawdown of U.S. forces following a surge that helped push Taliban insurgents out of major cities across the country.

His time in Afghanistan also has been marked by a spate of incidents that have enraged Afghans. They include video images of troops urinating on Taliban corpses and the burning of Korans and religious texts taken from a prison library. There also has been a surge in attacks on international forces by their Afghan partners.

Allen has handled the incidents with sensitivity, even as tensions have increased, his supporters say.

"I think General Allen has done a good job under very difficult circumstances in Afghanistan," said Senator Susan Collins, a member of the Armed Services Committee.

McCain, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he was surprised by the probe of Allen's emails and urged people to withhold judgment until the inspector general had finished his investigation.

"I have great respect and appreciation for the work that General Allen has done," he said. "If we fail in Afghanistan, which we are, it's because of decisions that were made by the president, not by General Allen."

"General Allen has said that he is not guilty of any improper behavior," McCain added. "He deserves to have us withhold judgment until the investigation is completed."

Allen, a 1976 Naval Academy graduate, served from 2008 to 2011 as deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military dealings with countries from Egypt to Kazakhstan, including Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He was a deputy commanding general of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq from 2006 to 2008.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell. Editing by Warren Strobel and Christopher Wilson)

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Panetta: Don't jump to conclusions about Allen

PERTH, Australia (AP) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta cautioned Wednesday against reaching early conclusions about the veracity of allegations against the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, who is under investigation for what Pentagon officials have said may be "inappropriate" correspondence with a Florida woman linked to the David Petraeus sex scandal.

At a news conference in Australia's Indian Ocean coastal city of Perth, Panetta sought to tamp down a wave of speculation about the nature of Allen's actions, which have added a new dimension to the Petraeus matter.

"No one should leap to any conclusions here," Panetta said in his first public comments on the matter when a reporter asked what Allen might have done wrong. Panetta declined to characterize Allen's actions in any way.

Panetta said he supports Allen, who has been in command in Kabul since July 2011. He took over that summer for Petraeus, who retired from the Army to head the CIA.

"He certainly has my continued confidence to lead our forces and to continue the fight," Panetta said.

The Pentagon chief declined to explain the nature of Allen's correspondence with Jill Kelley, the Florida socialite connected to the scandal that led to Petraeus' resignation last week as director of the CIA.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who appeared with Panetta and their Australian counterparts at Wednesday's news conference, declined to comment on the Allen case except to suggest it has not harmed the war effort.

She said U.S. officials have discussed the matter with allied officials.

"There has been a lot of conversation, as you might expect, but no concern whatsoever being expressed to us because the mission has been set forth and it's being carried out," Clinton said.

Panetta announced Tuesday while flying to Australia that he had ordered the Defense Department's inspector general to investigate Allen based on material referred to the Pentagon on Sunday by the FBI. Pentagon officials said the material included at least 20,000 pages of Allen correspondence.

Allen told Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that he is innocent of misconduct, according to Col. David Lapan, Dempsey's spokesman.

Lapan said Wednesday that Dempsey called Allen on Tuesday from Perth, where Dempsey attended meetings with Panetta. Dempsey has not commented publicly.

Panetta had also announced Tuesday that the Obama administration put on hold Allen's nomination to be the next commander of U.S. European Command and the top NATO general. Allen's Senate confirmation hearing was to have been held Thursday.

Panetta said in Perth that putting a hold on the nomination was the "prudent" thing to do.

Allen, who was in Washington when Panetta announced the investigation and has not yet returned to his headquarters in Kabul, has not publicly commented on the matter.

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Cellphones may get smaller Holiday lift: Gartner

(Reuters) – The pre-Christmas shopping season is likely to boost cellphone sales less that usual this year as a weaker global economy forces consumers to cut back, research firm Gartner said on Wednesday.

“It will be a cautious quarter. Consumers are either cautious with their spending or finding new gadgets like tablets, as more attractive presents,” Gartner analysts said.

Gartner said sales of cellphones declined 3 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, falling for the third quarter in a row, while sales of smartphones grew 47 percent.

Smartphone growth this year is boosted by strong demand in China, where annual sales will grow to 165-170 million from 78 million a year earlier, it said.

“There is huge growth coming from the Chinese market,” said Gartner analyst Anshul Gupta.

This is helping local players to climb in global cellphone rankings, with ZTE, Huawei and TCL now among the seven largest cellphone vendors globally, Gartner said.

Samsung Electronics continues to lead the global cellphone sales ranking, ahead of Nokia and Apple. In smartphone sales Nokia, which still lead the market early last year, dropped to No 7, Gartner said.

(Reporting By Tarmo Virki)

Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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'Gangnam Style' star joins Madonna onstage at MSG

NEW YORK (AP) — Madonna has gone "Gangnam Style."

Korean pop star PSY joined the pop icon Tuesday night during her second show this week at Madison Square Garden. They danced to his pop culture anthem "Gangnam Style" and to her jam "Music" in front of nearly 20,000.

Madonna said PSY flew "all the way from Frankfurt, Germany this morning." She also said she was a big fan of the rapper and loved his suit, which was bright red.

He added that he's had a lot of experiences in the last few months, and that performing at MSG with Madonna topped his list.

Madonna also collected money for those affected by Superstorm Sandy. Fans threw money onstage while she sang "Like a Virgin." She said she collected $3,000 at Monday's show.

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Report: FDA wanted to close Mass pharmacy in 2003

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly a decade ago, federal health inspectors wanted to shut down the pharmacy linked to a recent deadly meningitis outbreak until it cleaned up its operations, according to congressional investigators.

About 440 people have been sickened by contaminated steroid shots distributed by New England Compounding Center, and more than 32 deaths have been reported since the outbreak began in September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That has put the Framingham, Mass.-based pharmacy at the center of congressional scrutiny and calls for greater regulation of compounding pharmacies, which make individualized medications for patients and have long operated in a legal gray area between state and federal laws.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee released a detailed history of NECC's regulatory troubles on Monday, ahead of a meeting Wednesday meeting to examine how the outbreak could have been prevented. The 25-page report summarizes and quotes from FDA and state inspection memos, though the committee declined to release the original documents.

The report shows that after several problematic incidents, Food and Drug Administration officials in 2003 suggested that the compounding pharmacy be "prohibited from manufacturing" until it improved its operations. But FDA regulators deferred to their counterparts in Massachusetts, who ultimately reached an agreement with the pharmacy to settle concerns about the quality of its prescription injections.

The congressional report also shows that in 2003 the FDA considered the company a pharmacy. That's significant because in recent weeks public health officials have charged that NECC was operating more as a manufacturer than a pharmacy, shipping thousands of doses of drugs to all 50 states instead of small batches of drugs to individual patients. Manufacturers are regulated by the FDA and are subject to stricter quality standards than pharmacies.

The report offers the most detailed account yet of the numerous regulatory complaints against the pharmacy, which nearly date back to its founding in 1998. Less than a year later, the company was cited by the state pharmacy board for providing doctors with blank prescription pads with NECC's information. Such promotional items are illegal in Massachusetts and the pharmacy's owner and director, Barry Cadden, received an informal reprimand, according to documents summarized by the committee.

Cadden was subject to several other complaints involving unprofessional conduct in coming years, but first came to the FDA's attention in 2002. Here are some key events from the report highlighting the company's early troubles with state and federal authorities:

__ In March of 2002 the FDA began investigating reports that five patients had become dizzy and short of breath after receiving NECC's compounded betamethasone repository injection, a steroid used to treat joint pain and arthritis that's different from the one linked to the current meningitis outbreak.

FDA inspectors visited NECC on April 9 and said Cadden was initially cooperative in turning over records about production of the drug. But during a second day of inspections, Cadden told officials "that he was no longer willing to provide us with any additional records," according to an FDA report cited by congressional investigators. The inspectors ultimately issued a report citing NECC for poor sterility and record-keeping practices but said that "this FDA investigation could not proceed to any definitive resolution," because of "problems/barriers that were encountered throughout the inspection."

__ In October of 2002, the FDA received new reports that two patients at a Rochester, N.Y., hospital came down with symptoms of bacterial meningitis after receiving a different NECC injection. The steroid, methylprednisolone acetate, is the same injectable linked to the current outbreak and is typically is used to treat back pain. Both patients were treated with antibiotics and eventually recovered, according to FDA documents cited by the committee.

When officials from the FDA and Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy visited NECC later in the month, Cadden said vials of the steroid returned by the hospital had tested negative for bacterial contamination. But when FDA scientists tested samples of the drug collected in New York they found bacterial contamination in four out of 14 vials sampled. It is not entirely clear whether FDA tested the same lot shipped to the Rochester hospital.

__ At a February 2003 meeting between state and federal officials, FDA staff emphasized "the potential for serious public consequences if NECC's compounding practices, in particular those relating to sterile products, are not improved." The agency issued a list of problems uncovered in its inspection to NECC, including a failure to verify if sterile drugs met safety standards.

But the agency decided to let Massachusetts officials take the lead in regulating the company, since pharmacies are typically regulated at the state level. It was decided that "the state would be in a better position to gain compliance or take regulatory action against NECC as necessary," according to a summary of the meeting quoted by investigators.

The FDA recommended the state subject NECC to a consent agreement, which would require the company to pass certain quality tests to continue operating. But congressional investigators say Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy did not take any action until "well over a year later."

__ In October 2004, the board sent a proposed consent agreement to Cadden, which would have included a formal reprimand and a three-year probationary period for the company's registration. The case ended without disciplinary action in 2006, when NECC agreed to a less severe consent decree with the state.

Massachusetts officials indicated Tuesday they are still investigating why NECC escaped the more severe penalty.

"I will not be satisfied until we know the full story behind this decision," the state's interim health commissioner Lauren Smith said in a transcript of her prepared testimony released a day ahead of delivery. Smith is one of several witnesses scheduled to testify Wednesday, including FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.

The committee will also hear from the widow of 78-year-old Eddie C. Lovelace, a longtime circuit court judge in southern Kentucky. Autopsy results confirmed Lovelace received fungus-contaminated steroid injections that led to his death Sept. 17.

Joyce Lovelace will urge lawmakers to work together on legislation to stop future outbreaks caused by compounded drugs, according to a draft of her testimony.

"We now know that New England Compounding Pharmacy, Inc. killed Eddie. I have lost my soulmate and life's partner with whom I worked side by side, day after day for more than fifty years," Lovelace states.

Barry Cadden is also scheduled to appear at the hearing, after lawmakers issued a subpoena to compel him to attend.

The NECC has been closed since early last month, and Massachusetts officials have taken steps to permanently revoke its license. The pharmacy has recalled all the products it makes, including 17,700 single-dose vials of a steroid that tested positive for the fungus tied to the outbreak.

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Petraeus probe ensnares top U.S. commander in Afghanistan

PERTH, Australia (AP) — In a new twist to the Gen. David Petraeus sex scandal, the Pentagon said Tuesday that the top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, is under investigation for alleged "inappropriate communications" with a woman who is said to have received threatening emails from Paula Broadwell, the woman with whom Petraeus had an extramarital affair.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in a written statement issued to reporters aboard his aircraft, en route from Honolulu to Perth, Australia, that the FBI referred the matter to the Pentagon on Sunday.

Panetta said that he ordered a Pentagon investigation of Allen on Monday.

A senior defense official traveling with Panetta said Allen's communications were with Jill Kelley, who has been described as an unpaid social liaison at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., which is headquarters to the U.S. Central Command. She is not a U.S. government employee.

Kelley is said to have received threatening emails from Broadwell, who is Petraeus' biographer and who had an extramarital affair with Petraeus that reportedly began after he became CIA director in September 2011.

Petraeus resigned as CIA director on Friday.

Allen, a four-star Marine general, succeeded Petraeus as the top American commander in Afghanistan in July 2011.

The senior official, who discussed the matter only on condition of anonymity because it is under investigation, said Panetta believed it was prudent to launch a Pentagon investigation, although the official would not explain the nature of Allen's problematic communications.

The official said 20,000 to 30,000 pages of emails and other documents from Allen's communications with Kelley between 2010 and 2012 are under review. He would not say whether they involved sexual matters or whether they are thought to include unauthorized disclosures of classified information. He said he did not know whether Petraeus is mentioned in the emails.

"Gen. Allen disputes that he has engaged in any wrongdoing in this matter," the official said. If Allen was found to have had an affair with Kelley, he could face charges of adultery, which is a crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Panetta said that while the matter is being investigated by the Defense Department Inspector General, Allen will remain in his post as commander of the International Security Assistance Force, based in Kabul. He praised Allen as having been instrumental in making progress in the war.

But the Allen investigation adds a new complication to an Afghan war effort that is at a particularly difficult juncture. Allen had just provided Panetta with options for how many U.S. troops to keep in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led coalition's combat mission ends in 2014. And he was due to give Panetta a recommendation soon on the pace of U.S. troop withdrawals in 2013.

The war has been largely stalemated, with little prospect of serious peace negotiations with the Taliban and questions about the Afghan government's ability to handle its own security after 2014.

At a photo session with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard shortly after he arrived in Perth, Panetta was asked by a reporter whether Allen could remain an effective commander in Kabul while under investigation. Panetta did not respond.

The FBI's decision to refer the Allen matter to the Pentagon rather than keep it itself, combined with Panetta's decision to allow Allen to continue as Afghanistan commander without a suspension, suggested strongly that officials viewed whatever happened as a possible infraction of military rules rather than a violation of federal criminal law.

Allen was Deputy Commander of Central Command, based in Tampa, prior to taking over in Afghanistan. He also is a veteran of the Iraq war.

In the meantime, Panetta said, Allen's nomination to be the next commander of U.S. European Command and the commander of NATO forces in Europe has been put on hold "until the relevant facts are determined." He had been expected to take that new post in early 2013, if confirmed by the Senate, as had been widely expected.

The military official said Allen is in Washington, where he was to testify at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. Panetta said he asked committee leaders to delay that hearing.

The senior defense official said Panetta has not talked to Allen about the investigation, nor has he discussed the matter with President Barack Obama, although he consulted with unspecified White House officials before making the decision to seek a postponement of Allen's confirmation hearing.

Panetta did talk about the Allen matter with Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who happens to also be in Perth for a meeting of American and Australian diplomatic and defense officials. Those talks were starting Tuesday with an official dinner.

With a cloud over Allen's head, it was unclear Tuesday whether he would return to Kabul, even though Panetta said Allen would remain in command. The second-ranking American general in Afghanistan is Army Lt. Gen. James Terry.

NATO officials had no comment about the delay in Allen's appointment.

"We have seen Secretary Panetta's statement," NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said in Brussels. "It is a U.S. investigation."

Panetta also said he wants the Senate Armed Services Committee to act promptly on Obama's nomination of Gen. Joseph Dunford to succeed Allen as commander in Afghanistan. That nomination was made several weeks ago. Dunford's hearing is also scheduled for Thursday.

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Associated Press writer Slobodan Lekic in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.

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Afghan killings case testing military system

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. (AP) — The U.S. military has been criticized for its spotty record on convicting troops of killing civilians, but a hearing against Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales involving a massacre in Afghanistan has shown that it isn't like most cases.

Government prosecutors have built a strong eyewitness case against the veteran soldier, with troops recounting how they saw Bales return to the base covered in blood. And in unusual testimony in a military court, Afghan civilians questioned via a video link described the horror of seeing 16 people killed, mostly children, in their villages.

Law experts say the case could test whether the military, aided by technology, is able to embark on a new era of accountability.

Bales faces 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder. The preliminary hearing, which began Nov. 5 and is scheduled to end with closing arguments Tuesday, will determine whether he faces a court-martial. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

The U.S. military system's record has shown it is slow to convict service members of alleged war crimes.

A range of factors make prosecuting troops for civilian deaths in foreign lands difficult, including gathering eyewitness testimony and collecting evidence at a crime scene in the midst of a war.

At Bales' preliminary hearing, the prosecution accommodated the Afghan witnesses, including children, by providing the video link and holding the sessions at night. The military said it intends to fly the witnesses from Afghanistan to Joint Base Lewis-McChord if there is a court martial.

"I think it shows they're going to prosecute this case no matter what it takes," said Greg Rinckey, a former Army prosecutor from 1999-2004 who is now in private practice. "This was an atrocity. This is not the fog of war. It's not like we were calling in artillery and an artillery shell landed in a village."

Prosecutors say Bales, 39, slipped away from remote Camp Belambay to attack two villages early on March 11, killing 16 civilians, including nine children. The slayings drew such angry protests that the U.S. temporarily halted combat operations in Afghanistan, and it was three weeks before American investigators could reach the crime scenes.

Through a video monitor in a military courtroom near Seattle, Bales saw young Afghan girls smile beneath bright head coverings before they described the bloodbath he's accused of committing. He saw boys fidget as they remembered how they hid behind curtains when a gunman killed people in their village and one other.

And he saw dignified, thick-bearded men who spoke of unspeakable carnage — the piled, burned bodies of children and parents alike.

From the other side of that video link, in Afghanistan, one of the men saw something else — signs that justice will be done.

"I saw the person who killed my brother sitting there, head down with guilt," Haji Mullah Baraan said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press. "He didn't look up toward the camera."

Baraan was one of many Afghan witnesses who testified in Bales' case by live video link over the weekend.

"We got great hope from this and we are sure that we will get justice," Baraan said.

Throughout history, troops have been accused of heinous crimes involving civilians in countries where wars are waged. But rarely have villagers who witnessed the horror testified in a U.S. military court — often because of the costs and logistics of bringing them to the United States.

Villagers may be leery to leave their homeland to go to a foreign country and confront members of one of the mightiest militaries in the world. And as foreign nationals, they cannot be subpoenaed.

While there have been cases of troops being sentenced to life in prison for committing atrocities, the vast majority of those convicted for extrajudicial killings have been let off with little to no jail time for crimes that in civilian courts could carry hefty sentences, legal experts say.

Former U.N. Special Rapporteur Philip Alston — who was invited by the United States to examine extrajudicial killings in Iraq and Afghanistan — pointed out the January 2006 sentencing of Chief Warrant Officer Lewis E. Welshofer Jr.

He was given two months confinement to his base, a fine of $6,000, and a letter of reprimand after being found guilty of negligent homicide and negligent dereliction of duty for the death of an Iraqi general who had turned himself in to military authorities.

"Military records released in Freedom of Information Act litigation make clear that the Welshofer sentence is not an anomaly," Alston wrote in a 2010 report.

The military hasn't executed a service member since 1961, when an Army ammunition handler was hanged for raping an 11-year-old girl in Austria.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said the death penalty is possible if Bales is found guilty.

Afghan witnesses recounted the villagers who lived in the attacked compounds and listed the names of those killed. The bodies were buried quickly under Islamic custom, and no forensic evidence was available to prove the number of victims.

The witnesses included Zardana, 8, who sipped from a pink juice box before she testified. She suffered a gunshot wound to the top of her head, but after two months at a military hospital in Afghanistan and three more at a Navy hospital in San Diego, she can walk and talk again.

None of the Afghan witnesses were able to identify Bales as the shooter, but other evidence, including tests of the blood on his clothes, implicated him, according to testimony from a DNA expert.

Several soldiers testified that Bales returned to the base alone just before dawn the morning of the attacks, covered in blood, and that he made incriminating statements such as, "I thought I was doing the right thing."

Prosecutors say he also made a mid-massacre confession, returning to the base to wake another soldier and report his activities before heading out to the other village. The soldier testified that he didn't believe Bales and went back to sleep.

Bales, an Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., has not entered a plea and was not expected to testify at the preliminary hearing. His attorneys say he has post-traumatic stress disorder and suffered a concussive head injury while serving in Iraq.

___

Watson contributed from San Diego. Associated Press Writer Mirwais Khan in Kandahar also contributed to this report.

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Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

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Belize wants to quiz anti-computer virus guru McAfee in murder probe

BELIZE CITY (Reuters) – Police in Belize want to question U.S. anti-computer virus software pioneer John McAfee in connection with the murder of a neighbor he had been quarrelling with, but they say he remains a person of interest at this time and is not a suspect.

McAfee, who invented the anti-virus software that bears his name, has homes and businesses in Belize, and is believed to have settled in the country sometime around 2010.

“He is a person of interest at this time,” said Marco Vidal, head of Belize’s police Gang Suppression Unit. “It goes a bit beyond that, not just being a neighbor.”

Police officers were looking for the software engineer, said Miguel Segura, the assistant commissioner of police.

Asked if McAfee was a suspect, he said: “At this point, no. Our job … is to get all the evidence beyond reasonable doubt that Mr A is the one that killed Mr B.”

“He (McAfee) … can assist the investigation, so there is no arrest warrant for the fellow,” added Segura, who heads the Criminal Investigation Branch.

McAfee’s neighbor, Gregory Viant Faull, a 52-year-old American, was found on Sunday lying dead in a pool of blood after apparently being shot in the head.

McAfee has been embroiled in controversy in Belize before.

His premises were raided in May after he was accused of holding firearms, though most were found to be licensed. The final outcome of the case is pending.

McAfee also owns a security company in Belize as well as several properties and an ecological enterprise.

Reuters was unable to contact McAfee on Monday.

Segura said McAfee had been at odds with Faull for some time. He accused his neighbor of poisoning his dogs earlier this year and filed an official complaint.

“There was some conflict there between (them) … prior to the death of the gentleman,” Segura said. “But those dogs didn’t have a post mortem to see if the toxicology would confirm what type of poison, if any.”

McAfee previously accused the police Gang Suppression Unit of killing his dogs during the May raid.

McAfee was one of Silicon Valley’s first entrepreneurs to amass a fortune by building a business off the Internet.

The former Lockheed systems consultant started McAfee Associates in 1989, initially distributing its anti-virus software as “shareware” on Internet bulletin boards.

He took the company public in 1992 and left two years later following accusations that he had hyped the arrival of a virus known as Michelango, which turned out to be a dud, to scare computer users into buying his company’s products.

(Reporting by Simon Gardner and Gabriel Stargardter in Mexico City and Jim Finkle; Editing by Kieran Murray and Todd Eastham)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Storm volunteers mingle with stars at Glamour fest

NEW YORK (AP) — Sandra Kyong Bradbury was star struck. She had just spied Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg a few feet away.

"How can you top that?" asked Bradbury, a New York City neonatal nurse who had helped evacuate infants from a hospital that lost power during the height of Superstorm Sandy. She was amazed that she was being honored at the same event as a Supreme Court justice — the annual Glamour Women of the Year awards, where stars of film, TV, fashion and sports share the stage with lesser-known women who have equally impressive achievements to their name.

Few events bring together such an eclectic group of honorees, not to mention presenters. At the Carnegie Hall ceremony Monday night, HBO star Lena Dunham, creator of "Girls" and a heroine to a younger generation, was introduced by Chelsea Handler and paid tribute in her speech to Nora Ephron, who died earlier this year. Ethel Kennedy was praised by her daughter, Rory, who has made a film about her famous mother. Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas, 17, was honored along with swimming phenom Missy Franklin, also 17, and other Olympic athletes, introduced by singer Mary J. Blige and serenaded by American Idol winner Phillip Phillips. Singer-actress Selena Gomez was lauded by her friend, the actor Ethan Hawke.

But the most moving moments of the Glamour awards, now in their 22nd year, are often those involving people of whom the audience hasn't heard. This year, the most touching moment came when one honoree, Pakistani activist and filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, brought onstage a woman who'd been the victim of an acid attack in her native Pakistan. Obaid-Chinoy won this year's documentary short Oscar for a film about disfiguring acid attacks on Pakistani women by the men in their lives.

The evening carried reminders of Superstorm Sandy, with Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker introducing some 20 women who'd been heavily involved in storm relief work. "They held us together when Sandy tried to blow us apart," Booker said. The women worked for organizations like the American Red Cross, but also smaller volunteer groups like Jersey City Sandy Recovery, an impromptu group formed by three women in Jersey City, N.J., who wanted a way to help storm-ravaged communities.

Singer-rapper Pharrell Williams introduced one of his favorite architects, the Iraqi-born Zaha Hadid, 62, who designed the aquatic center for the London Olympics and is now at work on 43 projects around the world.

Activist Erin Merryn was honored for her work increasing awareness of child sex abuse — a horror she had endured during her own childhood. A law urging schools to educate children about sex abuse prevention, Erin's Law, has now passed in four states. "I won't stop until I get it passed in all 50 states," Merryn insisted in her speech.

Vogue editor Anna Wintour saluted a fellow fashion luminary, honoree Annie Leibovitz, the creator of so many iconic photographs over the years. Jenna Lyons, the president of J. Crew, got kind words from her presenter, former supermodel Lauren Hutton. Chelsea Clinton brought up a stageful of women from across the country who had been involved in politics this year, noting that, while there is still a long way to go, progress was made in 2012.

The lifetime achievement award went to Ginsburg, 79, who made a few quips about being honored by a fashion magazine. "The judiciary is not a profession that ranks very high among the glamorously attired," the justice said. She also noted that although she was only the second female Supreme Court justice (Sandra Day O'Connor came first), she was the first justice to be honored by Glamour.

An affectionate tribute to the late Ephron followed, with three actresses — Cynthia Nixon, and two Meryl Steep daughters, Mamie and Grace Gummer, reading from a graduation speech she had given at Wellesley College.

Actress Dunham, in her speech, touched on politics and expressed her own relief that President Barack Obama had won re-election, saying she felt it was crucial for reproductive freedom and other issues of women's rights. "I wanted control of my womb before I really knew what my womb was," she quipped.

After the ceremony, which was presided over by Glamour editor in chief Cindi Leive, honorees and presenters headed to a private dinner. There, Sandy volunteers mingled with the stars. One woman, Lynier Harper, had spent six nights during Sandy at the Brooklyn YMCA where she works, taking care of other people. "When I finally went back home, my house was totally destroyed," she said. She has moved in with her sister while she seeks a new home.

A group of seven nurses came from New York University's Langone Medical Center, which lost power during the storm. The neonatal intensive care nurses had to carry the babies down nine flights of stairs, in the dark, squeezing oxygen into their lungs, to get them to safety.

And there were the three women from Jersey City Sandy Recovery, sinking in the proximity to the so many impressive people.

"I just shook Ruth Bader Ginsburg's hand," exulted one of them, Candice Osborne. "How awesome!"

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British medical journal slams Roche on Tamiflu

LONDON (AP) — A leading British medical journal is asking the drug maker Roche to release all its data on Tamiflu, claiming there is no evidence the drug can actually stop the flu.

The drug has been stockpiled by dozens of governments worldwide in case of a global flu outbreak and was widely used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic.

On Monday, one of the researchers linked to the BMJ journal called for European governments to sue Roche.

"I suggest we boycott Roche's products until they publish missing Tamiflu data," wrote Peter Gotzsche, leader of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen. He said governments should take legal action against Roche to get the money back that was "needlessly" spent on stockpiling Tamiflu.

Last year, Tamiflu was included in a list of "essential medicines" by the World Health Organization, a list that often prompts governments or donor agencies to buy the drug.

Tamiflu is used to treat both seasonal flu and new flu viruses like bird flu or swine flu. WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said the agency had enough proof to warrant its use for unusual influenza viruses, like bird flu.

"We do have substantive evidence it can stop or hinder progression to severe disease like pneumonia," he said.

In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Tamiflu as one of two medications for treating regular flu. The other is GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza. The CDC says such antivirals can shorten the duration of symptoms and reduce the risk of complications and hospitalization.

In 2009, the BMJ and researchers at the Nordic Cochrane Centre asked Roche to make all its Tamiflu data available. At the time, Cochrane Centre scientists were commissioned by Britain to evaluate flu drugs. They found no proof that Tamiflu reduced the number of complications in people with influenza.

"Despite a public promise to release (internal company reports) for each (Tamiflu) trial...Roche has stonewalled," BMJ editor Fiona Godlee wrote in an editorial last month.

In a statement, Roche said it had complied with all legal requirements on publishing data and provided Gotzsche and his colleagues with 3,200 pages of information to answer their questions.

"Roche has made full clinical study data ... available to national health authorities according to their various requirements, so they can conduct their own analyses," the company said.

Roche says it doesn't usually release patient-level data available due to legal or confidentiality constraints. It said it did not provide the requested data to the scientists because they refused to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Roche is also being investigated by the European Medicines Agency for not properly reporting side effects, including possible deaths, for 19 drugs including Tamiflu that were used in about 80,000 patients in the U.S.

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Online:

www.bmj.com.tamiflu/

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Congress wants answers on F.B.I. investigation into Petraeus affair

WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of Congress said Sunday they want to know more details about the FBI investigation that revealed an extramarital affair between ex-CIA Director David Petraeus and his biographer, questioning when the retired general popped up in the FBI inquiry, whether national security was compromised and why they weren't told sooner.

"We received no advanced notice. It was like a lightning bolt," said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The FBI was investigating harassing emails sent by Petraeus biographer and girlfriend Paula Broadwell to a second woman. That probe of Broadwell's emails revealed the affair between Broadwell and Petraeus. The FBI contacted Petraeus and other intelligence officials, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper asked Petraeus to resign.

A senior U.S. military official identified the second woman as Jill Kelley, 37, who lives in Tampa, Fla., and serves as an unpaid social liaison to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, where the military's Central Command and Special Operations Command are located.

Staffers for Petraeus said Kelley and her husband were regular guests at events he held at Central Command headquarters.

In a statement Sunday evening, Kelley and her husband, Scott, said: "We and our family have been friends with Gen. Petraeus and his family for over five years. We respect his and his family's privacy and want the same for us and our three children."

A U.S. official said the coalition countries represented at Central Command gave Kelley an appreciation certificate on which she was referred to as an "honorary ambassador" to the coalition, but she has no official status and is not employed by the U.S. government.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the case publicly, said Kelley is known to drop the "honorary" part and refer to herself as an ambassador.

The military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation, said Kelley had received harassing emails from Broadwell, which led the FBI to examine her email account and eventually discover her relationship with Petraeus.

A former associate of Petraeus confirmed the target of the emails was Kelley, but said there was no affair between the two, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the retired general's private life. The associate, who has been in touch with Petraeus since his resignation, says Kelley and her husband were longtime friends of Petraeus and wife, Holly.

Attempts to reach Kelley were not immediately successful. Broadwell did not return phone calls or emails.

Petraeus resigned while lawmakers still had questions about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate and CIA base in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. Lawmakers said it's possible that Petraeus will still be asked to appear on Capitol Hill to testify about what he knew about the U.S. response to that incident.

Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the circumstances of the FBI probe smacked of a cover-up by the White House.

"It seems this (the investigation) has been going on for several months and, yet, now it appears that they're saying that the FBI didn't realize until Election Day that General Petraeus was involved. It just doesn't add up," said King, R-N.Y.

Petraeus, 60, quit Friday after acknowledging an extramarital relationship. He has been married 38 years to Holly Petraeus, with whom he has two adult children, including a son who led an infantry platoon in Afghanistan as an Army lieutenant.

Broadwell, a 40-year-old graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and an Army Reserve officer, is married with two young sons.

Petraeus' affair with Broadwell will be the subject of meetings Wednesday involving congressional intelligence committee leaders, FBI deputy director Sean Joyce and CIA deputy director Michael Morell.

Petraeus had been scheduled to appear before the committees on Thursday to testify on the attack in Benghazi. Republicans and some Democrats have questioned the U.S. response and protection of diplomats stationed overseas.

Morell was expected to testify in place of Petraeus, and lawmakers said he should have the answers to their questions. But Feinstein and others didn't rule out the possibility that Congress will compel Petraeus to testify about Benghazi at a later date, even though he's relinquished his job.

"I don't see how in the world you can find out what happened in Benghazi before, during and after the attack if General Petraeus doesn't testify," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Graham, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wants to create a joint congressional committee to investigate the U.S. response to that attack.

Feinstein said she first learned of Petraeus' affair from the media late last week, and confirmed it in a phone call Friday with Petraeus. She eventually was briefed by the FBI and said so far there was no indication that national security was breached.

Still, Feinstein called the news "a heartbreak" for her personally and U.S. intelligence operations, and said she didn't understand why the FBI didn't give her a heads up as soon as Petraeus' name emerged in the investigation.

"We are very much able to keep things in a classified setting," she said. "At least if you know, you can begin to think and then to plan. And, of course, we have not had that opportunity."

Clapper was told by the Justice Department of the Petraeus investigation at about 5 p.m. on Election Day, and then called Petraeus and urged him to resign, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

FBI officials say the committees weren't informed until Friday, one official said, because the matter started as a criminal investigation into harassing emails sent by Broadwell to another woman.

Concerned that the emails he exchanged with Broadwell raised the possibility of a security breach, the FBI brought the matter up with Petraeus directly, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

Petraeus decided to quit, though he was breaking no laws by having an affair, officials said.

Feinstein said she has not been told the precise relationship between Petraeus and the woman who reported the harassing emails to the FBI.

Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, called Petraeus "a great leader" who did right by stepping down and still deserves the nation's gratitude. He also didn't rule out calling Petraeus to testify on Benghazi at some point.

"He's trying to put his life back together right now and that's what he needs to focus on," Chambliss said.

King appeared on CNN's "State of the Union." Feinstein was on "Fox News Sunday," Graham spoke on CBS' "Face the Nation," and Chambliss was interviewed on ABC's "This Week."

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Associated Press writers Michele Salcedo, Pete Yost and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

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China delegates swoon at their proximity to power

BEIJING (AP) — Tears welled in Li Jian's eyes whenever President Hu Jintao mentioned the environment in his speech to Communist Party delegates gathered in the Great Hall of the People during China's most important political event of the decade.

Hu's exhortation last week to create a "beautiful China" and to "cherish and love nature" spoke to the 55-year-old bioengineer's dearest concerns. Hours later, still brimming with emotion, she stood up during a staid discussion among fellow delegates, to underline the good news.

This is coming directly from party leader Hu, she told them. "This is not from some TV anchor or some youth group speech," she said at the meeting, open to reporters. "This means there's no doubt we will have a beautiful China. That is absolutely certain!"

Li is one of the rank-and-file delegates attending the Communist Party congress running through Wednesday that will start to install a new generation of leaders to run the world's No. 2 economy.

Delegates like Li have no real political clout. They ratify decisions made by a few dozen party insiders in backroom deals. There were brought to Beijing largely to make the roughly 2,300-member congress more representative, but they believe in the cause and swoon at the prestige of being chosen to be a delegate.

"This is a high honor, especially for those of us who are not government officials," Li said. "Any one of us who gets elected is the cream of the crop from each and every industry."

Along with senior party figures, government officials, managers of state industries and military commanders, delegates like Li include migrant workers, peasants, factory technicians, teachers, doctors, artists and Olympic gold medalists.

There's China's "most beautiful mother" — who shot to national fame when she caught someone else's 2-year-old daughter with her bare arms when the toddler fell from a 10th-floor window. Wu Juping became a symbol of selflessness after the July 2011 rescue crushed her left arm.

"I did what every mom would do," said Wu, who was then a quality control employee at the e-commerce giant Alibaba in eastern China's Hangzhou city.

Wu had a rose-red blazer tailored at her own expense for the congress. A fellow delegate, Yu Fuling, said she spent more than 3,000 yuan ($475) for a hot-pink jacket with green embroidery.

"You see a lot of bright hues of red, yellow and green from the delegates," Wu said in an interview. "This is such an important meeting that we want to host it in a happy, joyful mood, as the Chinese tradition goes."

Even if their power is limited, the delegates are successful and influential in their fields or communities. They typically know little about China's politics. Communists all, they are nominated by local party offices. Party personnel officers vet their qualifications and sound out colleagues to evaluate their reputations.

Delegates are tasked with studying Hu's speech — a long-prepared report summarizing progress and outlining an agenda — so they can share it with local party members. They attend presentations showcasing China's achievements under the party's leadership, and hold sessions by region to air suggestions. There is no voice of opposition.

Li, like other delegates, received early drafts of Hu's report. She made suggestions for the section on ecological development and was overjoyed to see even stronger wording in the final version that Hu delivered Thursday.

"The report is truly a collective work of the whole party's wisdom," Li said.

After the congress, the delegates help spread the message from the top leadership, known as Zhongyang, or "party central."

"We are engaged with the masses," Wu said. "We are the bridge between the party central and the grassroots."

Most significantly, the delegates will select the Central Committee, the party's policy-setting body of around 350 full and non-voting alternate members. Usually there are a few more candidates than seats. At the last congress in 2007, there were about 108 candidates for every 100 seats, so votes can affect the outcome slightly.

The Central Committee then chooses the leadership, though the real lineup is largely fixed through back-channel negotiations.

"The rank-and-file delegates are welcome to air their views, but they are also skillfully guided by the top echelons of the party to make the right decisions and elect the appropriate Central Committee members," said Steve Tsang of the University of Nottingham in Britain. "Party discipline means that there is no real scope for them to make what will be deemed by the party central as inappropriate choices."

Still, Li said she was taking her vote seriously. As one of the 2,268 national delegates for more than 82 million party members, Li technically is voting on behalf of 35,000 party members.

"It's very weighty," she said. Work experience, word of mouth, gender and region of origin will factor into how she votes, she said.

She brushed aside reports that two top slots are already settled: Vice President Xi Jinping is all but certain to replace Hu as party chief, and Li Keqiang will become premier. But she said she would support their election.

"They are super great," Li said. "They have been elected up through many levels, and they are accepted and recognized by the masses."

Li, 55, has an authoritative voice but the look of a college student, with blue jeans, bangs and cascading black hair. Her backpack has two frog pendants, which she equates with a healthy ecology.

She develops drought-resistant varieties of plants meant to hold back the Gobi Desert in Ningxia province, to protect the farmland China needs to feed its large population. She heads a national laboratory of seedling bioengineering, and her projects have won numerous awards, including from the Hong Kong-based Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation.

Li joined the party as a teenager even though she lived through some of its radical excesses. Her father had been condemned as a rightist and banished to one of China's poorest regions, Ningxia province, where she joined him in the 1960s. She later was sent to another community in Ningxia where she worked alongside farmers by day and taught girls to read by night.

"To join the party at 18 was more glorious than being a pop star today," she said.

She went to college in 1978 and was assigned upon graduation to the Ningxia Forestry Institute. After a two-year research stint in Oslo, Norway, she became the head of the institute in 1995.

"I love the Chinese Communist Party. There is no reason not to love it," Li said. "It gives you space and lets you grow."

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