Egyptians vote on Islamist-inspired constitution


CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians voted on Saturday in the second round of a referendum expected to approve an Islamist-drafted constitution that lays foundations for a transition to democracy but is criticized as divisive by the opposition.


Queues formed at some polling stations around the country and voting was extended by four hours to 11 p.m. (2100 GMT). Last week's first round of voting, which an opposition leader said was marred by "serious violations", gave a 57 percent vote in favor of the constitution, according to unofficial figures.


Islamist supporters of President Mohamed Mursi say the constitution is vital to move towards democracy, nearly two years after an Arab Spring revolt overthrew authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak. It will help provide stability needed to fix a struggling economy, they say.


But the opposition accuses Mursi of pushing through a text that favors Islamists and ignores the rights of Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population, as well as women.


"I'm voting 'no' because Egypt can't be ruled by one faction," said Karim Nahas, 35, a stockbroker, heading to a polling station in Giza, a province included in this second, decisive round of voting which covers parts of greater Cairo.


At another polling station, some voters said they were more interested in ending Egypt's long period of political instability than in the Islamist aspects of the charter.


"We have to extend our hands to Mursi to help fix the country," said Hisham Kamal, an accountant.


Just hours before polls closed, Vice President Mahmoud Mekky announced his resignation, saying he wanted to quit last month but stayed on to help Mursi tackle a crisis that blew up when the Islamist leader assumed wide powers.


Mekky, a prominent judge who said he was uncomfortable in politics, disclosed earlier he had not been informed of Mursi's power grab. However, the timing of Mekky's resignation appeared linked to the fact there is no vice-presidential post under the draft constitution.


Unofficial tallies may emerge within hours of the close of voting, but the referendum committee may not declare an official result for the two rounds until Monday, after hearing appeals.


CHEATING ALLEGED


As polling opened on Saturday, a coalition of Egyptian rights groups reported a number of alleged irregularities.


They said some polling stations had opened late, that Islamists urging a "yes" vote had illegally campaigned at some stations, and complained of irregularities in voter registration, including the listing of one dead person.


Analysts expect another "yes" on Saturday because the vote covers rural and other areas seen as having more Islamist sympathizers. Islamists may also be able to count on many Egyptians who are simply exhausted by two years of upheaval.


Among provisions of the new basic law are a limit of two four-year presidential terms. It says principles of sharia law remain the main source of legislation but adds an article to explain this further. It also says Islamic authorities will be consulted on sharia - a source of concern to Christians and other non-Muslims.


If the constitution is passed, a parliamentary election will be held in about two months. If not, an assembly will have to be set up to draft a new one.


After the first round of voting, the opposition said alleged abuses meant the first stage of the referendum should be re-run.


But the committee overseeing the two-stage vote said its investigations showed no major irregularities in voting on December 15, which covered about half of Egypt's 51 million voters.


MORE UNREST


If the charter is approved, the opposition say it is a recipe for trouble since it has not received sufficiently broad backing from the population. They say the result may go in Mursi's favor but it will not be a fair vote.


"I see more unrest," said Ahmed Said, head of the liberal Free Egyptians Party and a member of the National Salvation Front, an opposition coalition formed after Mursi expanded his powers on November 22 and then pushed the constitution to a vote.


Protesters accused the president of acting like a pharaoh, and he was forced to issue a second decree two weeks ago that amended a provision putting his decisions above legal challenge.


Said cited "serious violations" on the first day of voting, and said anger against Mursi and his Islamist allies was growing. "People are not going to accept the way they are dealing with the situation."


At least eight people were killed in protests outside the presidential palace in Cairo this month. Islamists and rivals clashed on Friday in the second biggest city of Alexandria, hurling stones at each other. Two buses were torched.


The head of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that represents Mursi's power base, said the vote was an opportunity for Egypt to move on.


"After the constitution is settled by the people, the wheels in all areas will turn, even if there are differences here and there," the Brotherhood's supreme guide, Mohamed Badie, said as he went to vote in Beni Suef, south of Cairo.


"After choosing a constitution, all Egyptians will be moving in the same direction," he said.


The vote was staggered after many judges refused to supervise the ballot, meaning there were not enough to hold the referendum on a single day nationwide.


Islamists, who have won successive ballots since Mubarak's overthrow, albeit by narrowing margins, dismiss charges that they are exploiting religion and say the document reflects the will of a majority in the country where most people are Muslim.


Also on Saturday, the cabinet spokesman denied a report on state television that the central bank governor, Farouk El-Okdah, had resigned.


In his resignation letter, Mekky said that although he had held on in the post he had "realized for some time that the nature of political work did not suit my professional background as a judge".


(Additional reporting by Tamim Elyan; Writing by Edmund Blair and Giles Elgood; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Jason Webb)



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Football: Downing ends drought as Liverpool thrash Fulham






LIVERPOOL: Liverpool winger Stewart Downing finally ended his Premier League goal drought as the Reds swept to a 4-0 victory over Fulham at Anfield on Saturday.

Downing had gone 44 league matches without a goal since joining from Aston Villa in a £20 million deal in 2011 that has been widely ridiculed as a major mistake by then Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish.

Brendan Rodgers, who replaced Dalglish at Anfield in the close-season, had fared no better with the under-achieving England international and Downing last week revealed he has been told he can leave the club.

But the 28-year-old started against Fulham and seized the chance to put himself in the shop window.

After Martin Skrtel lashed in Liverpool's opener early in the first half, Downing set up England captain Steven Gerrard for the second goal with a fine pass and then bagged the third himself after the break.

It was just his fifth goal for Liverpool, the others coming in the FA Cup and Europa League, and his first in the top-flight since he scored for Villa against his current club in May 2011.

"I'm just trying to enjoy it, do the best I can and give the manager a problem," Downing said.

Liverpool's biggest victory of the season was the ideal response to last weekend's dismal 3-1 home defeat against Aston Villa and lifted the Reds to eighth place, five points behind fourth-placed local rivals Everton.

"Every level of our game was fantastic," Rodgers said. "The quality of our football was terrific. I knew we would get a reaction today because of the honesty of the group.

"I thought Stewart Downing was brilliant. We had a conversation about six weeks ago and said if he is not a regular then we will look at it January."

It helped that Fulham, notoriously bad travellers, came bearing gifts in the form of a wide-open defence that Liverpool exploited time and again.

The hosts needed only eight minutes to take the lead when a Gerrard corner picked out Skrtel, and with former Reds full-back John Arne Riise slow to close down the Slovakia defender he brought the ball down and smashed a volley past Mark Schwarzer.

Daniel Agger was unable to emulate his central defensive partner as the Dane fired over from Suarez's cross.

But Downing's first significant intervention helped Liverpool take total control in the 36th minute.

Downing's superb reverse pass from the edge of the penalty area deceived everyone except Gerrard and the Liverpool captain ran clear to clip a shot across Schwarzer and just inside the far post.

Any doubts about the result were erased in the 51st minute when Gerrard picked out Downing on the right flank and the winger cut inside before blasting home a shot which appeared to release months of pent-up frustration.

Downing played like a man with a point to prove at times and saw another blistering drive sail just over the angle of crossbar and post.

Rodgers' side sealed only their fourth home league win of the season when Uruguay forward Luis Suarez side-footed home in stoppage-time for his 11th league goal of the season.

- AFP/jc



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Sonia’s stand on dalit promotion quota bill is pure drama, Mayawati says

NEW DELHI: Dalit czarina Mayawati ridiculed as "drama" Sonia Gandhi's pursuit of the Samajwadi Party MP, who tore up the 'promotion quota' bill in the Lok Sabha.

In an interview with TOI, she said that the Congress took up the quota issue six years too late after the Supreme Court order in Nagaraj case and lacked the sincerity that it displayed on women's reservation bill in the Rajya Sabha in March, 2010.

"There was similar situation on women's quota bill but government asked the chair to call the marshals. The women's bill reached fruition when marshals were used. If the Centre was sincere on dalit quota bill, they should have done the same," Mayawati told TOI.

Asked if Sonia's pursuit of the SP MP, who snatched the bill from the minister, did not show commitment, Mayawati remarked, "That was pure theatre."

The BSP leader's assault on the Congress president has set the stage for war of credits between the women chieftains. A livid Mayawati is making no bones about her belief that Congress was the villain of the quota piece, while ignoring the voice of dissent from the BJP.

The bitterness seems rooted in hard-nosed political calculations. Mayawati views the Congress as bigger threat among all rivals since they share overlapping vote banks like dalits and Muslims. With hostilities over reservations unlikely to abate till the legislation is passed, the BSP chief can be trusted to raise the pitch against the Centre.

However, she said the BSP would not withdraw support to the Congress-led Centre even as she trashed the UPA tenure as a failure. "The Centre has failed on all fronts. But we do not want to withdraw and give them chance to tell people that had BSP backed us for one year more, we would have done amazing things for them," she said.

Mayawati rubbished the notion she was supporting UPA despite visible unhappiness because she cannot face the elections at the moment, having been ousted from Uttar Pradesh only nine months ago. "I would prefer elections today over tomorrow," she said, adding the SP government's misrule already has people pining for her regime.

'Samajwadi Party behind stir'

In her trademark acerbic tone, she said Mulayam Singh's bid to use 'promotion quota' bill to instigate upper castes and OBCs against BSP would come a cropper. She said the protest strike by employees in UP was orchestrated by SP, which distributed money to incite people and by the state government which shut down offices to force employees to come out on the streets. "Why are there no protests outside UP? Are there no uppercastes in other states? It is because they know that reservation in promotion is given to dalits since 1995 and is nothing new," she said.

Playing her own strategy to box Mulayam in narrower identity prism, the BSP chief asked, "Yadavs are occupying all top posts today. What have non-Yadav OBCs, upper castes and Muslims got in last nine months?" She said people of UP would not be misled by Mulayam's propaganda because they know that Samajwadi Party is only the "well-wisher of criminals and mafia".

Excerpts of the interview with Mayawati:

Who is responsible for stalling the bill?

What we saw in the Lok Sabha on December 19-20, it seems the Congress is not sincere in passing the bill. Some SP MPs tore up the bill when it was tabled. There was a similar situation in the Rajya Sabha (in 2010) when women's reservation bill came and government asked the chair to call the marshals to evict the protesting MPs. Women's bill reached fruition when marshals were used. Should not Congress have asked for marshals now? If the Centre was sincere, they would have done the same.

Sonia Gandhi took personal interest and even tried to stop the MP who snatched the bill from minister?

That was pure theatre. If Congress's high command was sincere, they would have asked the chair to call the marshals. This was just a drama.

SP thinks its protest against the quota bill would unite upper castes and OBCs in its favour?

People of UP are very aware. They know SP is not a well-wisher of anyone but goons and mafia. Even among OBCs, its focus is only on Yadavs. Mulayam Singh Yadav had barred the appointment of upper castes in government jobs, 35 lakh appointments were stalled. I removed the ban. In nine months of SP rule, how many upper castes have got the jobs? But see, Yadavs are occupying all the top posts. Where are other OBCs, Muslims? Mulayam Singh shouts a lot about Muslims but SP should look within. SP promised in its election manifesto to give 18% quota to Muslims. After nine months, it has done nothing.

How will the quota issue play out in UP?

It would have been dangerous if upper castes felt new reservation was being given to dalits. Upper castes in UP are very aware and intelligent, they know SC/STs have been getting quota in promotions since 1955. Why is the protest limited to UP? Upper castes live outside UP too? Because they know this quota is old and the bill is only to remove some obstacles put in its way. SP has used some retired employees, pumped in crores of rupees, locked the offices and told employees to agitate. The employees did not want to go on strike but were forced to.

You really think Congress was not sincere?

If Congress really wished well for dalits, the bill would have come six years ago. The Centre was party before the constitution bench of Supreme Court whose Nagaraj judgement neutralized the quota in promotions. If the Centre had put the correct facts before the court, I am confident the SC would have given a different order. Our agitation forced the government to pass the bill in the Rajya Sabha but it was kept hanging in the Lok Sabha...because they do not want it.

Then why are you supporting UPA?

We backed UPA to ensure that communal forces did not gain. The Congress keeps saying we want to do something for the weaker sections. Our people have been testing them for years. In 3.5 years, they have only got assurances. There is disappointment all around. We speak against the Centre in and outside Parliament. But after 3.5 years, why should we give them chance to tell people that if the BSP continued support for one more year, we would have done amazing things.

It is said BSP cannot face elections now and is forced to support UPA.

Over 20 lakh people came for our rally in Lucknow on October 9. We have never seen such crowds, especially when we are not in power. When people are so enthusiastic, why should BSP be scared? I want elections be held today than tomorrow.

Will the quota bill be passed in budget session?

Going by their attitude till now, I don't think the government is serious.

BSP had backed the Mandal report in 1980s, led agitation for OBC reservations. But now, the Mandal parties are opposing dalit quota?

Except Mulayam, nobody from the backward classes is opposing it. OBCs know that SC/STs are getting promotion quota since 1955. We led the agitation for Mandal report for months at the Boat Club. We fought for them. OBCs also know the reservation they got under Mandal report is not because of Mulayam, BJP or Congress, but because of Ambedkar. So, OBCs can never go against us. They are very intelligent.

So, only Yadavs are against it?

I don't think Yadavs are against it. Only SP is and people of Mulayam's mindset are. The educated among Yadavs are not against it. JD (U) chief Sharad Yadav is for it. Nitish Kumar has implemented it in Bihar. Lalu Prasad Yadav is also for it.

While BJP voted for the bill in Rajya Sabha, it is facing dissent now?

If the government had restored order in the Lok Sabha on December 20, we would have known where does BJP stand? How can I say BJP is against the bill when it voted for it in Rajya Sabha?

How do you assess SP regime's performance in UP?

There is no development in UP, there is corruption at every level, extortion for petty issues. Inquiries are ordered against decisions of my government to extort (from officials). Law and order is absent. Every kind of crime has shot up. Women are not safe. In nine months, there have been over 1.5 lakh rapes, over 100 riots and over 18 big riots. This has never happened since Independence, the situation is grim. People are terrorized, scared and sad. Barring mafia, all have started to remember and praise my government. People say it is not Uttar Pradesh but Crime Pradesh.

Congress again failed to dislodge Narendra Modi in Gujarat.

It appeared since the beginning that other parties were lax. If they had paid more attention, the result could have been different because BJP has not gained as much as it expected. There has been a dip. If other parties had focused more, its tally would have fallen more.

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'Fiscal Cliff' Leaves Boehner a Wounded Speaker













John Boehner is a bloodied House speaker following the startling setback that his own fractious Republican troops dealt him in their "fiscal cliff" struggle against President Barack Obama.



There's plenty of internal grumbling about the Ohio Republican, especially among conservatives, and lots of buzzing about whether his leadership post is in jeopardy. But it's uncertain whether any other House Republican has the broad appeal to seize the job from Boehner or whether his embarrassing inability to pass his own bill preventing tax increases on everyone but millionaires is enough to topple him.



"No one will be challenging John Boehner as speaker," predicted John Feehery, a consultant and former aide to House GOP leaders. "No one else can right now do the job of bringing everyone together" and unifying House Republicans.



The morning after he yanked the tax-cutting bill from the House floor to prevent certain defeat, Boehner told reporters he wasn't worried about losing his job when the new Congress convenes Jan. 3.



"They weren't taking that out on me," he said Friday of rank-and-file GOP lawmakers, who despite pleading from Boehner and his lieutenants were shy of providing the 217 votes needed for passage. "They were dealing with the perception that somebody might accuse them of raising taxes."






Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo











Cliffhanger: Congress Heads Home after 'Plan B' Vote Pulled from House Floor Watch Video









President Obama on Fiscal Cliff: 'Nobody Gets 100 Percent of What They Want' Watch Video









Next Steps for Fiscal Cliff? 'God Only Knows,' Says Boehner Watch Video






That "somebody" was a number of outside conservative groups such as the Club for Growth and Heritage Action for America, which openly pressured lawmakers to reject Boehner's bill. Such organizations often oppose GOP lawmakers they consider too moderate and have been headaches for Boehner in the past.



This time, his retreat on the tax measure was an unmistakable blow to the clout of the 22-year House veteran known for an amiable style, a willingness to make deals and a perpetual tan.



Congressional leaders amass power partly by their ability to command votes, especially in showdowns. His failure to do so Thursday stands to weaken his muscle with Obama and among House Republicans.



"It's very hard for him to negotiate now," said Sarah Binder, a George Washington University political scientist, adding that it's premature to judge if Boehner's hold on the speakership is in peril. "No one can trust him because it's very hard for him to produce votes."



She said the loss weakens his ability to summon support in the future because "you know the last time he came to you like this, others didn't step in line."



Boehner, 63, faces unvarnished hostility from some conservatives.



"We clearly can't have a speaker operate well outside" what Republicans want to do, said freshman Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan.



Huelskamp is one of four GOP lawmakers who lost prized committee assignments following previous clashes with party leaders. That punishment was an anomaly for Boehner, who is known more for friendly persuasion than arm-twisting.



He said Boehner's job would depend on whether the speaker is "willing to sit and listen to Republicans first, or march off" and negotiate with Obama.



Conservative Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said one of the tea party's lasting impacts would be if Boehner struggled to retain his speakership due to the fight over the fiscal cliff, which is the combination of deep tax increases and spending cuts that start in early January without a bipartisan deal to avert them.



"If there's a major defeat delivered here, it could make it tough on him," King said. "He's in a tough spot."





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Italy PM Monti resigns, elections likely in February


ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti tendered his resignation to the president on Friday after 13 months in office, opening the way to a highly uncertain national election in February.


The former European commissioner, appointed to lead an unelected government to save Italy from financial crisis a year ago, has kept his own political plans a closely guarded secret but he has faced growing pressure to seek a second term.


President Giorgio Napolitano is expected to dissolve parliament in the next few days and has already indicated that the most likely date for the election is February 24.


In an unexpected move, Napolitano said he would hold consultations with political leaders from all the main parties on Saturday to discuss the next steps. In the meantime Monti will continue in a caretaker capacity.


European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso have called for Monti's economic reform agenda to continue but Italy's two main parties have said he should stay out of the race.


Monti, who handed in his resignation during a brief meeting at the presidential palace shortly after parliament approved his government's 2013 budget, will hold a news conference on Sunday at which he is expected clarify his intentions.


Ordinary Italians are weary of repeated tax hikes and spending cuts and opinion polls offer little evidence that they are ready to give Monti a second term. A survey this week showed 61 percent saying he should not stand.


Whether he runs or not, his legacy will loom over an election which will be fought out over the painful measures he has introduced to try to rein in Italy's huge public debt and revive its stagnant economy.


His resignation came a couple of months before the end of his term, after his technocrat government lost the support of Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party in parliament earlier this month.


Speculation is swirling over Monti's next moves. These could include outlining policy recommendations, endorsing a centrist alliance committed to his reform agenda or even standing as a candidate in the election himself.


The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) has held a strong lead in the polls for months but a centrist alliance led by Monti could gain enough support in the Senate to force the PD to seek a coalition deal which could help shape the economic agenda.


BERLUSCONI IN WINGS


Senior figures from the alliance, including both the UDC party, which is close to the Roman Catholic Church, and a new group founded by Ferrari sports car chairman Luca di Montezemolo, have been hoping to gain Monti's backing.


He has not said clearly whether he intends to run, but he has dropped heavy hints he will continue to push a reform agenda that has the backing of both Italy's business community and its European partners.


The PD has promised to stick to the deficit reduction targets Monti has agreed with the European Union and says it will maintain the broad course he has set while putting more emphasis on reviving growth.


Berlusconi's return to the political arena has added to the already considerable uncertainty about the centre-right's intentions and increased the likelihood of a messy and potentially bitter election campaign.


The billionaire media tycoon has fluctuated between attacking the government's "Germano-centric" austerity policies and promising to stand aside if Monti agrees to lead the centre right, but now appears to have settled on an anti-Monti line.


He has pledged to cut taxes and scrap a hated housing tax which Monti imposed. He has also sounded a stridently anti-German line which has at times echoed the tone of the populist 5-Star Movement headed by maverick comic Beppe Grillo.


The PD and the PDL, both of which supported Monti's technocrat government in parliament, have made it clear they would not be happy if he ran against them and there have been foretastes of the kind of attacks he can expect.


Former centre-left prime minister Massimo D'Alema said in an interview last week that it would be "morally questionable" for Monti to run against the PD, which backed all of his reforms and which has pledged to maintain his pledges to European partners.


Berlusconi who has mounted an intensive media campaign in the past few days, echoed that criticism this week, saying Monti risked losing the credibility he has won over the past year and becoming a "little political figure".


(Additional reporting by Gavin Jones, Massimiliano Di Giorgio and Paolo Biondi; Writing by Gavin Jones and James Mackenzie; Editing by Michael Roddy)



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Cricket: New Zealand trounced in first match






DURBAN: South Africa sent New Zealand crashing to an eight-wicket defeat with 47 balls to spare in the first Twenty20 international at Kingsmead on Friday.

Fast bowler Rory Kleinveldt took two early wickets to start a slide from which New Zealand never recovered. They were bowled out for 86 after winning the toss.

Kleinveldt took the key wickets of Rob Nicol and captain Brendon McCullum and finished with three for 18 to capture the man-of-the-match award.

South Africa romped home in 12.1 overs with new captain Faf du Plessis making 38 not out, while Quinton de Kock, making his debut four days after his 20th birthday, slammed a quick 28 not out.

It was a disappointing start for New Zealand, who arrived as underdogs but were expected to put up a reasonable fight in the Twenty20 internationals.

They were missing several key players, including former captain Ross Taylor, who was unavailable for the tour, and suffered another blow when experienced batsman Martin Guptill could not play at Kingsmead because of a stomach ailment.

Fast bowler Trent Boult was also unavailable because of a similar complaint.

On a pitch with pace and bounce, the tourists lost three wickets inside the first five overs. Nicol charged Kleinveldt and was caught behind, while McCullum top-edged a hook and was caught at fine leg. In between Peter Fulton drove Dale Steyn to mid-on.

It did not get much better for the Black Caps although left-handed newcomer Colin Munro, who was born in Durban and did his early schooling in the city before his family moved to New Zealand, made 23. Doug Bracewell hit 21 not out.

Steyn, newcomer Chris Morris and left-arm spinner Robin Peterson all took two wickets.

New Zealand newcomer Mitchell McClenaghan had Richard Levi caught at slip for a duck, bowling a wicket maiden at the start of the South African innings. But Henry Davids and Du Plessis put on 45 before Du Plessis and De Kock finished the match.

- AFP/jc



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Parliament shows some improvement, passes seven bills

NEW DELHI: In a modest improvement on sessions of Parliament since the winter of 2011, both Houses passed seven bills, including important legislations relating to economic reform and law enforcement.

Although the just concluded winter session was marred by disruptions and days were lost due to differences on FDI in multi-brand retail and the quota in promotions bill, Parliament managed to pass amendments to money laundering and unlawful activities laws.

Bills relating to pension and insurance reforms could not make it, but the finance minister had a silver lining by way of the amended banking laws and the security interest and debt recovery bill. Rajya Sabha functioning on Thursday saw the banking amendments being legislated.

However, there is not much to boast of beyond these bills as other business that was passed related to a constitutional amendment granting special status to Hyderabad-Karnataka and the north-east reorganization amendment bill. These were bills that received unanimous support. Passage of the supplementary grants was the other business.

Samajwadi Party's blockading of Lok Sabha over the quota in promotions bill put paid to the possibility of legislations like amendments to the motor vehicles Act and the land acquisition bill being considered.

According to PRS Legislative Research, Rajya Sabha functioned for 58% of its allotted time and Lok Sabha for 53%.

In Lok Sabha, the motion on FDI in retail was discussed for about 11 hours over two days. In Lok Sabha, three calling attentions were held on dengue and chikengunia, plight of coconut growers in Tamil Nadu and dilution of jute packaging material. In Rajya Sabha, one calling attention was held on the suspension of Indian Olympic Association by International Olympic Committee.

Eight bills introduced during the winter session remain pending. There were 102 bills pending before the start of the session and this number is now 104.

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AP IMPACT: Big Pharma cashes in on HGH abuse


A federal crackdown on illicit foreign supplies of human growth hormone has failed to stop rampant misuse, and instead has driven record sales of the drug by some of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies, an Associated Press investigation shows.


The crackdown, which began in 2006, reduced the illegal flow of unregulated supplies from China, India and Mexico.


But since then, Big Pharma has been satisfying the steady desires of U.S. users and abusers, including many who take the drug in the false hope of delaying the effects of aging.


From 2005 to 2011, inflation-adjusted sales of HGH were up 69 percent, according to an AP analysis of pharmaceutical company data collected by the research firm IMS Health. Sales of the average prescription drug rose just 12 percent in that same period.


___


EDITOR'S NOTE — Whether for athletics or age, Americans from teenagers to baby boomers are trying to get an edge by illegally using anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, despite well-documented risks. This is the second of a two-part series.


___


Unlike other prescription drugs, HGH may be prescribed only for specific uses. U.S. sales are limited by law to treat a rare growth defect in children and a handful of uncommon conditions like short bowel syndrome or Prader-Willi syndrome, a congenital disease that causes reduced muscle tone and a lack of hormones in sex glands.


The AP analysis, supplemented by interviews with experts, shows too many sales and too many prescriptions for the number of people known to be suffering from those ailments. At least half of last year's sales likely went to patients not legally allowed to get the drug. And U.S. pharmacies processed nearly double the expected number of prescriptions.


Peddled as an elixir of life capable of turning middle-aged bodies into lean machines, HGH — a synthesized form of the growth hormone made naturally by the human pituitary gland — winds up in the eager hands of affluent, aging users who hope to slow or even reverse the aging process.


Experts say these folks don't need the drug, and may be harmed by it. The supposed fountain-of-youth medicine can cause enlargement of breast tissue, carpal tunnel syndrome and swelling of hands and feet. Ironically, it also can contribute to aging ailments like heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.


Others in the medical establishment also are taking a fat piece of the profits — doctors who fudge prescriptions, as well as pharmacists and distributors who are content to look the other way. HGH also is sold directly without prescriptions, as new-age snake oil, to patients at anti-aging clinics that operate more like automated drug mills.


Years of raids, sports scandals and media attention haven't stopped major drugmakers from selling a whopping $1.4 billion worth of HGH in the U.S. last year. That's more than industry-wide annual gross sales for penicillin or prescription allergy medicine. Anti-aging HGH regimens vary greatly, with a yearly cost typically ranging from $6,000 to $12,000 for three to six self-injections per week.


Across the U.S., the medication is often dispensed through prescriptions based on improper diagnoses, carefully crafted to exploit wiggle room in the law restricting use of HGH, the AP found.


HGH is often promoted on the Internet with the same kind of before-and-after photos found in miracle diet ads, along with wildly hyped claims of rapid muscle growth, loss of fat, greater vigor, and other exaggerated benefits to adults far beyond their physical prime. Sales also are driven by the personal endorsement of celebrities such as actress Suzanne Somers.


Pharmacies that once risked prosecution for using unauthorized, foreign HGH — improperly labeled as raw pharmaceutical ingredients and smuggled across the border — now simply dispense name brands, often for the same banned uses. And usually with impunity.


Eight companies have been granted permission to market HGH by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which reviews the benefits and risks of new drug products. By contrast, three companies are approved for the diabetes drug insulin.


The No. 1 maker, Roche subsidiary Genentech, had nearly $400 million in HGH sales in the U.S. last year, up an inflation-adjusted two-thirds from 2005. Pfizer and Eli Lilly were second and third with $300 million and $220 million in sales, respectively, according to IMS Health. Pfizer now gets more revenue from its HGH brand, Genotropin, than from Zoloft, its well-known depression medicine that lost patent protection.


On their face, the numbers make no sense to the recognized hormone doctors known as endocrinologists who provide legitimate HGH treatment to a small number of patients.


Endocrinologists estimate there are fewer than 45,000 U.S. patients who might legitimately take HGH. They would be expected to use roughly 180,000 prescriptions or refills each year, given that typical patients get three months' worth of HGH at a time, according to doctors and distributors.


Yet U.S. pharmacies last year supplied almost twice that much HGH — 340,000 orders — according to AP's analysis of IMS Health data.


While doctors say more than 90 percent of legitimate patients are children with stunted growth, 40 percent of 442 U.S. side-effect cases tied to HGH over the last year involved people age 18 or older, according to an AP analysis of FDA data. The average adult's age in those cases was 53, far beyond the prime age for sports. The oldest patients were in their 80s.


Some of these medical records even give explicit hints of use to combat aging, justifying treatment with reasons like fatigue, bone thinning and "off-label," which means treatment of an unapproved condition


Even Medicare, the government health program for older Americans, allowed 22,169 HGH prescriptions in 2010, a five-year increase of 78 percent, according to data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in response to an AP public records request.


"There's no question: a lot gets out," said hormone specialist Dr. Mark Molitch of Northwestern University, who helped write medical standards meant to limit HGH treatment to legitimate patients.


And those figures don't include HGH sold directly by doctors without prescriptions at scores of anti-aging medical practices and clinics around the country. Those numbers could only be tallied by drug makers, who have declined to say how many patients they supply and for what conditions.


First marketed in 1985 for children with stunted growth, HGH was soon misappropriated by adults intent on exploiting its modest muscle- and bone-building qualities. Congress limited HGH distribution to the handful of rare conditions in an extraordinary 1990 law, overriding the generally unrestricted right of doctors to prescribe medicines as they see fit.


Despite the law, illicit HGH spread around the sports world in the 1990s, making deep inroads into bodybuilding, college athletics, and professional leagues from baseball to cycling. The even larger banned market among older adults has flourished more recently.


FDA regulations ban the sale of HGH as an anti-aging drug. In fact, since 1990, prescribing it for things like weight loss and strength conditioning has been punishable by 5 to 10 years in prison.


Steve Kleppe, of Scottsdale, Ariz., a restaurant entrepreneur who has taken HGH for almost 15 years to keep feeling young, said he noticed a price jump of about 25 percent after the block on imports. He now buys HGH directly from a doctor at an annual cost of about $8,000 for himself and the same amount for his wife.


Many older patients go for HGH treatment to scores of anti-aging practices and clinics heavily concentrated in retirement states like Florida, Nevada, Arizona and California.


These sites are affiliated with hundreds of doctors who are rarely endocrinologists. Instead, many tout certification by the American Board of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine, though the medical establishment does not recognize the group's bona fides.


The clinics offer personalized programs of "age management" to business executives, affluent retirees, and other patients of means, sometimes coupled with the amenities of a vacation resort. The operations insist there are few, if any, side effects from HGH. Mainstream medical authorities say otherwise.


A 2007 review of 31 medical studies showed swelling in half of HGH patients, with joint pain or diabetes in more than a fifth. A French study of about 7,000 people who took HGH as children found a 30 percent higher risk of death from causes like bone tumors and stroke, stirring a health advisory from U.S. authorities.


For proof that the drug works, marketers turn to images like the memorable one of pot-bellied septuagenarian Dr. Jeffry Life, supposedly transformed into a ripped hulk of himself by his own program available at the upscale Las Vegas-based Cenegenics Elite Health. (He declined to be interviewed.)


These promoters of HGH say there is a connection between the drop-off in growth hormone levels through adulthood and the physical decline that begins in late middle age. Replace the hormone, they say, and the aging process slows.


"It's an easy ruse. People equate hormones with youth," said Dr. Tom Perls, a leading industry critic who does aging research at Boston University. "It's a marketing dream come true."


___


Associated Press Writer David B. Caruso reported from New York and AP National Writer Jeff Donn reported from Plymouth, Mass. AP Writer Troy Thibodeaux provided data analysis assistance from New Orleans.


___


AP's interactive on the HGH investigation: http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2012/hgh


___


The AP National Investigative Team can be reached at investigate(at)ap.org


EDITOR'S NOTE _ Whether for athletics or age, Americans from teenagers to baby boomers are trying to get an edge by illegally using anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, despite well-documented risks. This is the second of a two-part series.


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Boehner's Take on Fiscal Cliff Deal: 'God Only Knows'


Dec 21, 2012 11:00am







Speaker of the House John Boehner bluntly acknowledged Friday morning he did not have the votes to pass his “Plan B” and said the only real solution is a broad agreement to cut spending and reform the tax code. Then he added these words:


“How we get there, God only knows.”


That about sums up the whole “fiscal cliff” situation after a chaotic Thursday night when Republicans had to abandon “Plan B” – their proposal to raise taxes only on people making more than $1 million.


Boehner said he is not giving up on talks to pursue a bipartisan agreement with the President, who wants taxes to be raised on people making more than $250,000. But Boehner made it clear nothing is going on right now.  Instead he said it was up to Senate Democrats and the White House to make the next move.


Read more  about “Plan B” and the dramatic action in the House on Thursday.





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Syrian rebels fight for strategic town in Hama province


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels began to push into a strategic town in Syria's central Hama province on Thursday and laid siege to at least one town dominated by President Bashar al-Assad's minority sect, activists said.


The operation risks inflaming already raw sectarian tensions as the 21-month-old revolt against four decades of Assad family rule - during which the president's Alawite sect has dominated leadership of the Sunni Muslim majority - rumbles on.


Opposition sources said rebels had won some territory in the strategic southern town of Morek and were surrounding the Alawite town of al-Tleisia.


They were also planning to take the town of Maan, arguing that the army was present there and in al-Tleisia and was hindering their advance on nearby Morek, a town on the highway that runs from Damascus north to Aleppo, Syria's largest city and another battleground in the conflict.


"The rockets are being fired from there, they are being fired from Maan and al-Tleisia, we have taken two checkpoints in the southern town of Morek. If we want to control it then we need to take Maan," said a rebel captain in Hama rural area, who asked not to be named.


Activists said heavy army shelling had targeted the town of Halfaya, captured by rebels two days earlier. Seven people were killed, 30 were wounded, and dozens of homes were destroyed, said activist Safi al-Hamawi.


Hama is home to dozens of Alawite and Christian villages among Sunni towns, and activists said it may be necessary to lay siege to many minority areas to seize Morek. Rebels want to capture Morek to cut off army supply lines into northern Idlib, a province on the northern border with Turkey where rebels hold swathes of territory.


From an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, Alawites have largely stood behind Assad, many out of fear of revenge attacks. Christians and some other minorities have claimed neutrality, with a few joining the rebels and a more sizeable portion of them supporting the government out of fear of hardline Islamism that has taken root in some rebel groups.


Activists in Hama said rebels were also surrounding the Christian town of al-Suqeilabiya and might enter the city to take out army positions as well as those of "shabbiha" - pro-Assad militias, the bulk of whom are usually Alawite but can also include Christians and even Sunnis.


"We have been in touch with Christian opposition activists in al-Suqeilabiya and we have told them to stay downstairs or on the lowest floor of their building as possible, and not to go outside. The rebels have promised not to hurt anyone who stays at home," said activist Mousab al-Hamdee, speaking by Skype.


He said he was optimistic that potential sectarian tensions with Christians could be resolved but that Sunni-Alawite strife may be harder to suppress.


SECTARIAN FEARS


U.N. human rights investigators said on Thursday that Syria's conflict was becoming more "overtly sectarian", with more civilians seeking to arm themselves and foreign fighters - mostly Sunnis - flocking in from 29 countries.


"They come from all over, Europe and America, and especially the neighboring countries," said Karen Abuzayd, one of the U.N. investigators, told a news conference in Brussels.


Deeper sectarian divisions may diminish prospects for post-conflict reconciliation even if Assad is ousted, and the influx of foreigners raises the risk of fighting spilling into neighboring countries riven by similar communal fault lines.


Some activists privately voiced concerns of sectarian violence, but the rebel commander in Hama said fighters had been told "violations" would not be tolerated and argued that the move to attack the towns was purely strategic.


"If we are fired at from a Sunni village that is loyal to the regime we go in and we liberate it and clean it," he said. "So should we not do the same when it comes to an Alawite village just because there is a fear of an all-out sectarian war? We respond to the source of fire."


President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Assad's main ally and arms supplier, warned that any solution to the conflict must ensure government and rebel forces do not merely swap roles and fight on forever. It appeared to be his first direct comment on the possibility of a post-Assad Syria.


The West and some Arab states accuse Russia of shielding Assad after Moscow blocked three U.N. Security Council resolutions intended to increase pressure on Damascus to end the violence, which has killed more than 40,000 people. Putin said the Syrian people would ultimately decide their own fate.


Assad's forces have been hitting back at rebel advances with heavy shelling, particularly along the eastern ring of suburbs outside Damascus, where rebels are dominant.


A Syrian security source said the army was planning heavy offensives in northern and central Syria to stem rebel advances, but there was no clear sign of such operations yet.


Rebels seized the Palestinian refugee district of Yarmouk earlier this week, which put them within 3 km (2 miles) of downtown Damascus. Heavy shelling and fighting forced thousands of Palestinian and Syrian residents to flee the Yarmouk area.


Rebels said on Thursday they had negotiated to put the camp - actually a densely packed urban district - back into the hands of pro-opposition Palestinian fighters. There are some 500,000 Palestinian refugees and their descendants living in Syria, and they have been divided by the uprising.


Palestinian factions, some backed by the government and others by the rebels, had begun fighting last week, a development that allowed Syrian insurgents to take the camp.


A resident in Damascus said dozens of families were returning to the camp but that the army had erected checkpoints. Many families were still hesitant to return.


LEBANON BORDER POST TAKEN


Elsewhere, Syrian insurgents took over an isolated border post on the western frontier with Lebanon earlier this week, local residents told Reuters on Thursday.


The rebels already hold much of the terrain along Syria's northern and eastern borders with Turkey and Iraq respectively.


They said around 20 rebels from the Qadissiyah Brigade overran the post at Rankus, which is linked by road to the remote Lebanese village of Tufail.


Video footage downloaded on the Internet on Thursday, dated December 16, showed a handful of fighters dressed in khaki fatigues and wielding rifles as they kicked down a stone barricade around a small, single-storey army checkpoint.


Syrian Interior Minister Ibrahim al-Shaar arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday for treatment of wounds sustained in a bomb attack on his ministry in Damascus a week ago.


Lebanese medical sources said Shaar had shrapnel wounds in his shoulder, stomach and legs but they were not critical.


The Syrian opposition has tried to peel off defectors from the government as well as from the army, though only a handful of high-ranking officials have abandoned Assad.


The conflict has divided many Syrian families. Security forces on Thursday arrested an opposition activist who is also the relative of Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa, the Syrian Observatory said. The man was arrested along with five other activists who are considered pacifists, it said.


Sharaa, a Sunni Muslim who has few powers in Assad's Alawite-dominated power structure, said earlier this week that neither side could win the war in Syria. He called for the formation of a national unity government.


(Reporting by Erika Solomon; Editing by Andrew Osborn)



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Ex-IMF head Rato in Spain fraud hearing






MADRID: A Spanish judge questioned former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato Thursday over fraud charges linked to ruined Spanish lender Bankia, a symbol of Spain's financial calamity.

Furious yells of "Thief! Rato, go to jail!" met the high-flying financier outside court as demonstrators vented rage at the nationalisation of the bank in which many say they lost savings.

He was questioned by a judge at Spain's National Court in a case against him and 32 other officials from the bailed-out bank.

Court papers listed criminal charges including fraud, embezzlement, falsifying accounts and price manipulation.

A source present at the hearing told reporters afterwards: "He was calm, but not as calm as he had been in Congress" during an appearance in parliament in July when he defended himself.

The source said Rato reiterated his claims that Spanish authorities held responsibility for events at Bankia including the timing of its ill-fated stock listing.

Bankia was created by merging seven regional savings banks, part of a financial sector shake-up brought on by the collapse of a construction boom that has dragged Spain into recession.

Rato said that when he took over at the bank he found "a very complex economic situation and a very big challenge: modernising the savings banks," the source said.

Rato arrived at court in the mid-afternoon and left several hours later without commenting, his car sweeping past a large crowd that bellowed and insulted him from behind a line of police.

The 63-year-old resigned from Bankia in May just before the lender was nationalised and bailed out for 23.5 billion euros ($29.5 billion), marking a new phase in Spain's banking crisis.

The bailout drove Spain to seek up to 100 billion euros in eurozone rescue funds for its banking sector.

Protestors say Bankia sold them risky preference shares that lost their value after its collapse.

"They swindled me," said one demonstrator outside court, 40-year-old Clemence Cohen.

"They offered me shares and they knew what a hole there was" in the bank's balance sheet, she added. "It's right that justice should do its work."

Rato is one of the most prominent financial figures in Spain and a hero of the Spanish right. He served as economy minister between 1996 and 2004 and as managing director of the International Monetary Fund until 2007.

On July 20, 2011, the day Bankia shares began trading on the Madrid stock exchange, Rato seemed to be riding high as he gave the thumbs up, smiling broadly.

"It was certainly a very emotional day for him because he comes from a family of bankers," said Carmen Gurruchaga, journalist and author of a book of interviews with Rato.

But his moment of triumph was brief.

A descendant of northern Spanish industrialists, born into a wealthy family, Rato has become a target of popular anger, seen as a symbol of a financial system too closely linked to politics.

Often described as brilliant and as a fine orator, but also sometimes as pretentious and even rude, his career had seemed faultless until he entered the world of Spanish banking.

A law graduate with an MBA from Berkley, he was praised as an excellent economy minister, a post he held under conservative Popular Party prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, who ruled from 1996-2004.

Aznar said recently he had viewed Rato as his "natural successor" to lead the party and, perhaps, the country.

But Rato later turned away from politics and secured the top job in the Caja Madrid bank before presiding over a series of mergers and the Bankia listing.

"The whole process was controlled by the regulator," he told parliament in July. "The process was transparent and rigorous."

- AFP/fa



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Narendra Modi addresses nation after winning Gujarat assembly election

AHMEDABAD: Fresh from the hat-trick in the assembly polls, chief minister Narendra Modi gave women and youth voters the credit for the BJP's thumping win. Addressing a 'vijay sabha' outside BJP headquarters in Khanpur on Thursday, he said if he had committed any 'mistake', he seeks forgiveness from the people.

"If there has been a mistake somewhere. If I have erred somewhere, I seek apology from you, the six crore Gujaratis," Modi said in the victory speech in Hindi, aiming to reach out to a wider audience.

Modi, who has always been under attack following the 2002 post-Godhra violence, made no mention of it in his 45-minute speech.

"You have given me power. Now you also give me your blessings so that I do not commit any mistake, no one is hurt, and there is no mistake committed by me even unknowingly. When people, who are in fact God, give their blessings, there is no possibility of a mistake," he said.

Analysts said that by choosing to speak in Hindi when he had stuck to Gujarati during his entire election campaign, Modi may be signalling his national ambitions.

Taking potshots at his detractors, Modi said he did not need a certificate from anyone after people had given him "the biggest medal."

As the cheering crowd shouted "PM-PM," Modi said he would visit Delhi on December 27 for a day. "Gujarat is a role model for the elections," he said. "The entire election was fought here on the plank of development. Gujarat has endorsed the plank of development and has voted accordingly."

He went on to say: "This victory is not the victory of Narendra Modi, but of the six crore Gujaratis and those Indians who aspire to prosperity and development. This is a victory of all those who wish for the country's good."

During his speech, he mostly tried to address the masses outside the state. "People of India want development. Whether it is Assam, Kerala or Jammu and Kashmir or any corner of the country, this victory belongs to all those who want development."

Modi also promised to fulfill the dreams and aspirations of people of Gujarat and work more rigorously over the next five years.

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AP IMPACT: Steroids loom in major-college football


WASHINGTON (AP) — With steroids easy to buy, testing weak and punishments inconsistent, college football players are packing on significant weight — 30 pounds or more in a single year, sometimes — without drawing much attention from their schools or the NCAA in a sport that earns tens of billions of dollars for teams.


Rules vary so widely that, on any given game day, a team with a strict no-steroid policy can face a team whose players have repeatedly tested positive.


An investigation by The Associated Press — based on interviews with players, testers, dealers and experts and an analysis of weight records for more than 61,000 players — revealed that while those running the multibillion-dollar sport say they believe the problem is under control, that control is hardly evident.


The sport's near-zero rate of positive steroids tests isn't an accurate gauge among college athletes. Random tests provide weak deterrence and, by design, fail to catch every player using steroids. Colleges also are reluctant to spend money on expensive steroid testing when cheaper ones for drugs like marijuana allow them to say they're doing everything they can to keep drugs out of football.


"It's nothing like what's going on in reality," said Don Catlin, an anti-doping pioneer who spent years conducting the NCAA's laboratory tests at UCLA. He became so frustrated with the college system that it was part of the reason he left the testing industry to focus on anti-doping research.


___


EDITOR'S NOTE — Whether for athletics or age, Americans from teenagers to baby boomers are trying to get an edge by illegally using anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, despite well-documented risks. This is the first of a two-part series.


___


While other major sports have been beset by revelations of steroid use, college football has operated with barely a whiff of scandal. Between 1996 and 2010 — the era of Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Marion Jones and Lance Armstrong — the failure rate for NCAA steroid tests fell even closer to zero from an already low rate of less than 1 percent.


The AP's investigation, drawing upon more than a decade of official rosters from all 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, found thousands of players quickly putting on significant weight, even more than their fellow players. The information compiled by the AP included players who appeared for multiple years on the same teams.


For decades, scientific studies have shown that anabolic steroid use leads to an increase in body weight. Weight gain alone doesn't prove steroid use, but very rapid weight gain is one factor that would be deemed suspicious, said Kathy Turpin, senior director of sport drug testing for the National Center for Drug Free Sport, which conducts tests for the NCAA and more than 300 schools.


Yet the NCAA has never studied weight gain or considered it in regard to its steroid testing policies, said Mary Wilfert, the NCAA's associate director of health and safety.


The NCAA attributes the decline in positive tests to its year-round drug testing program, combined with anti-drug education and testing conducted by schools.


The AP's analysis found that, regardless of school, conference and won-loss record, many players gained weight at exceptional rates compared with their fellow athletes and while accounting for their heights.


Adding more than 20 or 25 pounds of lean muscle in a year is nearly impossible through diet and exercise alone, said Dan Benardot, director of the Laboratory for Elite Athlete Performance at Georgia State University.


In nearly all the rarest cases of weight gain in the AP study, players were offensive or defensive linemen, hulking giants who tower above 6-foot-3 and weigh 300 pounds or more. Four of those players interviewed by the AP said that they never used steroids and gained weight through dramatic increases in eating, up to six meals a day. Two said they were aware of other players using steroids.


"I ate 5-6 times a day," said Clint Oldenburg, who played for Colorado State starting in 2002 and for five years in the NFL. Oldenburg's weight increased over four years from 212 to 290.


Oldenburg told the AP he was surprised at the scope of steroid use in college football, even in Colorado State's locker room. "There were a lot of guys even on my team that were using." He declined to identify any of them.


The AP found more than 4,700 players — or about 7 percent of all players — who gained more than 20 pounds overall in a single year. It was common for the athletes to gain 10, 15 and up to 20 pounds in their first year under a rigorous regimen of weightlifting and diet. Others gained 25, 35 and 40 pounds in a season. In roughly 100 cases, players packed on as much 80 pounds in a single year.


In at least 11 instances, players that AP identified as packing on significant weight in college went on to fail NFL drug tests. But pro football's confidentiality rules make it impossible to know for certain which drugs were used and how many others failed tests that never became public.


Even though testers consider rapid weight gain suspicious, in practice it doesn't result in testing. Ben Lamaak, who arrived at Iowa State in 2006, said he weighed 225 pounds in high school. He graduated as a 320-pound offensive lineman and said he did it all naturally.


"I was just a young kid at that time, and I was still growing into my body," he said. "It really wasn't that hard for me to gain the weight. I love to eat."


In addition to random drug testing, Iowa State is one of many schools that have "reasonable suspicion" testing. That means players can be tested when their behavior or physical symptoms suggest drug use. Despite gaining 81 pounds in a year, Lamaak said he was never singled out for testing.


The associate athletics director for athletic training at Iowa State, Mark Coberley, said coaches and trainers use body composition, strength data and other factors to spot suspected cheaters. Lamaak, he said, was not suspicious because he gained a lot of "non-lean" weight.


But looking solely at the most significant weight gainers also ignores players like Bryan Maneafaiga.


In the summer of 2004, Bryan Maneafaiga was an undersized 180-pound running back trying to make the University of Hawaii football team. Twice — once in pre-season and once in the fall — he failed school drug tests, showing up positive for marijuana use but not steroids.


He'd started injecting stanozolol, a steroid, in the summer to help bulk up to a roster weight of 200 pounds. Once on the team, he'd occasionally inject the milky liquid into his buttocks the day before games.


"Food and good training will only get you so far," he told the AP recently.


Maneafaiga's former coach, June Jones, said it was news to him that one of his players had used steroids. Jones, who now coaches at Southern Methodist University, believes the NCAA does a good job rooting out steroid use.


On paper, college football has a strong drug policy. The NCAA conducts random, unannounced drug testing and the penalties for failure are severe. Players lose an entire year of eligibility after a first positive test. A second offense means permanent ineligibility for sports.


In practice, though, the NCAA's roughly 11,000 annual tests amount to a fraction of all athletes in Division I and II schools. Exactly how many tests are conducted each year on football players is unclear because the NCAA hasn't published its data for two years. And when it did, it periodically changed the formats, making it impossible to compare one year of football to the next.


Even when players are tested by the NCAA, experts like Catlin say it's easy enough to anticipate the test and develop a doping routine that results in a clean test by the time it occurs. NCAA rules say players can be notified up to two days in advance of a test, which Catlin says is plenty of time to beat a test if players have designed the right doping regimen. By comparison, Olympic athletes are given no notice.


Most schools that use Drug Free Sport do not test for anabolic steroids, Turpin said. Some are worried about the cost. Others don't think they have a problem. And others believe that since the NCAA tests for steroids their money is best spent testing for street drugs, she said.


Doping is a bigger deal at some schools than others.


At Notre Dame and Alabama, the teams that will soon compete for the national championship, players don't automatically miss games for testing positive for steroids. At Alabama, coaches have wide discretion. Notre Dame's student-athlete handbook says a player who fails a test can return to the field once the steroids are out of his system.


The University of North Carolina kicks players off the team after a single positive test for steroids. Auburn's student-athlete handbook calls for a half-season suspension for any athlete caught using performance-enhancing drugs.


At UCLA, home of the laboratory that for years set the standard for cutting-edge steroid testing, athletes can fail three drug tests before being suspended. At Bowling Green, testing is voluntary.


At the University of Maryland, students must get counseling after testing positive, but school officials are prohibited from disciplining first-time steroid users.


Only about half the student athletes in a 2009 NCAA survey said they believed school testing deterred drug use. As an association of colleges and universities, the NCAA could not unilaterally force schools to institute uniform testing policies and sanctions, Wilfert said.


"We can't tell them what to do, but if went through a membership process where they determined that this is what should be done, then it could happen," she said.


___


Associated Press writers Ryan Foley in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; David Brandt in Jackson, Miss.; David Skretta in Lawrence, Kan.; Don Thompson in Sacramento, Calif., and Alexa Olesen in Shanghai, China, and researchers Susan James in New York and Monika Mathur in Washington contributed to this report.


___


Contact the Washington investigative team at DCinvestigations (at) ap.org.


Whether for athletics or age, Americans from teenagers to baby boomers are trying to get an edge by illegally using anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, despite well-documented risks. This is the first of a two-part series.


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Merry 'Cliffmas'! Chances for a Deficit Deal Dim













The outlook for a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" by Christmas is increasingly grim, though lawmakers and the White House still have hope for a deficit-reduction compromise by the end of the year.


Republicans will move forward tonight with a vote to pass House Speaker John Boehner's so-called "Plan B option" – an extension of current tax rates for Americans making up to $1 million a year while replacing some pending automatic cuts to defense and domestic programs with other measures.


The step seeks to show Republicans acting to avoid an income tax hike on 99 percent of Americans in 2013, and leverage new pressure on President Obama in the ongoing talks for a broader "cliff" deal.


"Absent a balanced offer from the president, this is our nation's best option and Senate Democrats should take up both of these measures immediately," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said today.


Obama has threatened to veto the legislation, calling it counterproductive and the cuts burdensome for the middle class. If the Senate were to consider the bill to stave off a looming tax hike, Democrats would surely amend it to enact more amicable terms.


"'Plan B'... is a multiday exercise in futility at a time when we do not have the luxury of exercises in futility," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.






Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo













Outgoing Sen. Joe Lieberman Criticizes Colleagues for Putting Party Above Country Watch Video









President Obama Promises Action to Reduce Gun Violence Watch Video





The posturing on "plan B" has drawn focus away from a broader bargain on taxes, spending, entitlement reforms and other measures that had begun coming into focus earlier this week.


Obama and Boehner have not spoken since Monday, though staff-level talks have continued behind the scenes.


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said lawmakers would break for the Christmas holiday but return to Washington one week from today.


"If you look at Speaker Boehner's proposal and you look at my proposal, they're actually pretty close," Obama said Wednesday, appealing for a big "fair deal."


"It is a deal that can get done," he said. "But it cannot be done if every side wants 100 percent. And part of what voters were looking for is some compromise up here."


The latest offers exchanged by Obama and Boehner are roughly $450 billion apart, largely differing on where to draw the line for an income tax hike at the end of the year.


Obama wants to see rates rise on incomes above $400,000 a year, a concession from his earlier insistence on a $250,000 threshold. Boehner, who had opposed any tax rate increase, now says he could agree to a rate hike on earners of $1 million or more.


Both sides also disagree about the size of spending cuts and changes to entitlement programs.


Obama's plan would trim spending by $800 billion over a decade with half coming from Medicare and Medicaid. He has also agreed to limits on future cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries, something anathema to many Democrats.


But Boehner has said the cuts are insufficient. He seeks $1 trillion or more in spending reductions, citing entitlement programs as the primary drivers of U.S. deficits and debt.


"For weeks the White House said that if I moved on [tax] rates that they would make substantial concessions on spending cuts and entitlement reforms. I did my part. They've done nothing," Boehner said today.


"The real issue here, as we all know, is spending," he said. "I don't think that the White House has gotten serious about the big spending problem that our country faces."



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Clinton not responsible for Benghazi shortcomings: inquiry


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leaders of an official inquiry into the fatal attack on a U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, did not find Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responsible for security lapses even as they outlined widespread failings within her department.


The unclassified version of the report, released late Tuesday by the State Department, concluded that the mission was completely unprepared to deal with a September 11 attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.


Responsibility for security shortcomings in Benghazi lay farther down the State Department command chain, said Retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering, who lead the inquiry.


"We fixed (responsibility) at the assistant secretary level, which is, in our view, the appropriate place to look for where the decision-making in fact takes place, where - if you like - the rubber hits the road," Pickering said after closed-door meetings with congressional committees.


A deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern affairs resigned after the report, a Capitol Hill source said. Media outlets reported other resignations, including Eric Boswell, the assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, one of his deputies and another official.


State Department officials declined to comment.


The report by the Accountability Review Board probing the attack and comments by its two lead authors suggested that Clinton, who accepted responsibility for the incident, would not be held personally culpable.


"The secretary of state has been very clear about taking responsibility here, it was from my perspective not reasonable in terms of her having a specific level of knowledge," said retired Admiral Michael Mullen, the former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the other inquiry leader.


Pickering and Mullen spoke to the media after briefing members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee behind closed doors on classified elements of their report.


Clinton had been expected to appear at an open hearing on Benghazi on Thursday, but is recuperating after suffering a concussion, dehydration and a stomach bug last week and will instead be represented by her top two deputies.


"GROSSLY INADEQUATE"


The unclassified version of the report cited "leadership and management" deficiencies, poor coordination among officials and "real confusion" in Washington and in the field over who had the authority to make decisions on policy and security concerns.


The scathing report could tarnish Clinton's four-year tenure as secretary of state, which has seen her consistently rated as the most popular member of President Barack Obama's Cabinet.


Clinton, who intends to step down in January, said in a letter accompanying the review that she would adopt all of its recommendations, which include stepping up security staffing and requesting more money to fortify U.S. facilities.


The National Defense Authorization Act for 2013, which is expected to go to Congress for final approval this week, includes directing the Pentagon increase the Marine Corps presence at diplomatic facilities by up to 1,000 Marines.


Some Capitol Hill Republicans who had criticized the Obama administration's handling of the Benghazi attacks said they were impressed by the report.


"It was very thorough," said Senator Johnny Isakson. Another Republican, Senator John Barrasso said: "It was very, very critical of major failures at the State Department at very high levels." Both spoke after the closed-door briefing.


But Republicans continued to call for Clinton to testify as soon as she is able.


Senator Bob Corker, who will be the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when the new Congress is seated early next year, said Clinton should testify about Benghazi before her replacement is confirmed by the Senate.


"I do think it's imperative for all concerned that she testify in an open session prior to any changing of the regime," Corker said.


Republicans have focused much of their firepower on U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, who appeared on television talk shows after the attack and suggested it was the result of a spontaneous protest rather than a premeditated attack.


The report concluded that there was no such protest.


Rice, widely seen as President Barack Obama's top pick for the State job, withdrew her name from consideration last week.


(Additional reporting by Toby Zakaria; Editing by Doina Chiacu)



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Tennis: Levine drops US to represent Canada






MONTREAL: Jesse Levine, ranked 104th on the ATP Tour, will represent his native Canada and no longer compete for the United States, Tennis Canada announced on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old left-hander was born in Ottawa and spent the first 13 years of his life growing up in Canada's capital city before moving with his family to Florida.

Levine reached a career-high of 69th in the rankings last October and has won 25 ATP matches, seven of them in Grand Slam events. His lone ATP final came in doubles with Ryan Sweeting in 2009 on clay at Houston.

"We are pleased that Jesse has decided to play for Canada," Tennis Canada president Michael Downey said. "We believe he can strengthen our Davis Cup team and add depth to our roster when he is eligible to play."

It was not certain whether or not the International Tennis Federation would approve the nationality switch in time for Levine to represent Canada in the first-round Davis Cup tie against Spain in February at Vancouver.

Levine woukld become the No. 2 Canadian in the world rankings behind No. 13 Milos Raonic.

- AFP/de



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Presidential pardon saved rapists the noose

NEW DELHI: The rising chorus to make rape an offence punishable by death penalty could be a fraught proposition. There have been at least four cases in the recent past where rapists awarded death penalty managed to escape the noose after the President commuted their sentence to life imprisonment.

These include a convict who raped and killed a five-year-old and another who tried to rape a teenager and killed her family in revenge when she resisted.

In most cases, courts follow the "rarest of rare" principle of criminal law giving death sentence to convicts who have committed murder. These four convicts were found guilty of not just rape but murder as well.

The most recent case was that of Uttar Pradesh's Bantu who was convicted of raping and killing a five-year-old girl. The trial court awarded him death which was confirmed by the HC and the apex court. On death row since June 2008, his mercy petition was accepted by President Pratibha Patil in June 2012.

Another convict Satish raped and murdered a six-year-old girl, Visakha, in Uttar Pradesh in 2001. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by President Patil in May 2012.

The last accused hanged was Dhananjoy Chatterjee who was found guilty of rape and murder of a 14-year-old.

At present, there is one death row convict whose case has been pending since 1999. Dharam Pal from Haryana murdered five members of the family of a girl he had raped, helped by his brother. The trial court awarded them death and the Punjab and Haryana HC upheld the decision.

However, in March 1999, the apex court, while upholding Dharam Pal's death sentence, converted the sentence of the second accused into a life term. Pal's plea, filed in 1999, was rejected by the home ministry in 2000. The case was resubmitted to the President in 2005. The case came back to the home ministry after Pranab Mukherjee took over as President.

Rapists who escaped the noose:

Bantu raped and killed a five-year-old girl — June 2012

Satish raped and murdered a six-year-old girl — May 2012

Molai Ram & Santosh Yadav gang raped and murdered the 10-year-old daughter of a jailor — February 2011

Dharmender Singh and Narendra Yadav tried to rape a girl, then killed her family — June 2010

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Experts: Kids are resilient in coping with trauma


WASHINGTON (AP) — They might not want to talk about the gunshots or the screams. But their toys might start getting into imaginary shootouts.


Last week's school shooting in Connecticut raises the question: What will be the psychological fallout for the children who survived?


For people of any age, regaining a sense of security after surviving violence can take a long time. They're at risk for lingering anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder.


But after the grief and fear fades, psychiatrists say most of Newtown's young survivors probably will cope without long-term emotional problems.


"Kids do tend to be highly resilient," said Dr. Matthew Biel, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.


And one way that younger children try to make sense of trauma is through play. Youngsters may pull out action figures or stuffed animals and re-enact what they witnessed, perhaps multiple times.


"That's the way they gain mastery over a situation that's overwhelming," Biel explained, saying it becomes a concern only if the child is clearly distressed while playing.


Nor is it unusual for children to chase each other playing cops-and-robbers, but now parents might see some also pretending they're dead, added Dr. Melissa Brymer of the UCLA-Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.


Among the challenges will be spotting which children are struggling enough that they may need professional help.


Newtown's tragedy is particularly heart-wrenching because of what such young children grappled with — like the six first-graders who apparently had to run past their teacher's body to escape to safety.


There's little scientific research specifically on PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, in children exposed to a burst of violence, and even less to tell if a younger child will have a harder time healing than an older one.


Overall, scientists say studies of natural disasters and wars suggest most children eventually recover from traumatic experiences while a smaller proportion develop long-term disorders such as PTSD. Brymer says in her studies of school shootings, that fraction can range from 10 percent to a quarter of survivors, depending on what they actually experienced. A broader 2007 study found 13 percent of U.S. children exposed to different types of trauma reported some symptoms of PTSD, although less than 1 percent had enough for an official diagnosis.


Violence isn't all that rare in childhood. In many parts of the world — and in inner-city neighborhoods in the U.S., too — children witness it repeatedly. They don't become inured to it, Biel said, and more exposure means a greater chance of lasting psychological harm.


In Newtown, most at risk for longer-term problems are those who saw someone killed, said Dr. Carol North of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who has researched survivors of mass shootings.


Friday's shootings were mostly in two classrooms of Sandy Hook Elementary School, which has about 450 students through fourth-grade.


But those who weren't as close to the danger may be at extra risk, too, if this wasn't their first trauma or they already had problems such as anxiety disorders that increase their vulnerability, she said.


Right after a traumatic event, it's normal to have nightmares or trouble sleeping, to stick close to loved ones, and to be nervous or moody, Biel said.


To help, parents will have to follow their child's lead. Grilling a child about a traumatic experience isn't good, he stressed. Some children will ask a lot of questions, seeking reassurance, he said. Others will be quiet, thinking about the experience and maybe drawing or writing about it, or acting it out at playtime. Younger children may regress, becoming clingy or having tantrums.


Before second grade, their brains also are at a developmental stage some refer to as magical thinking, when it's difficult to distinguish reality and fantasy. Parents may have to help them understand that a friend who died isn't in pain or lonely but also isn't coming back, Brymer said.


When problem behaviors or signs of distress continue for several weeks, Brymer says it's time for an evaluation by a counselor or pediatrician.


Besides a supportive family, what helps? North advises getting children back into routines, together with their friends, and easing them back into a school setting. Studies of survivors of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks found "the power of the support of the people who went through it with you is huge," she said.


Children as young as first-graders can benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapy, Georgetown's Biel said. They can calm themselves with breathing techniques. They also can learn to identify and label their feelings — anger, frustration, worry — and how to balance, say, a worried thought with a brave one.


Finally, avoid watching TV coverage of the shooting, as children may think it's happening all over again, Biel added. He found that children who watched the 9/11 clips of planes hitting the World Trade Center thought they were seeing dozens of separate attacks.


___


EDITOR'S NOTE — Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.


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Inside One School's Extraordinary Security Measures



While schools across America reassess their security measures in the wake of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., one school outside of Chicago takes safety to a whole new level.


The security measures at Middleton Elementary School start the moment you set foot on campus, with a camera-equipped doorbell. When you ring the doorbell, school employees inside are immediately able to see you, both through a window and on a security camera.


“They can assess your demeanor,” Kate Donegan, the superintendent of Skokie School District 73 ½, said in an interview with ABC News.


Once the employees let you through the first set of doors, you are only able to go as far as a vestibule. There you hand over your ID so the school can run a quick background check using a visitor management system devised by Raptor Technologies. According to the company’s CEO, Jim Vesterman, only 8,000 schools in the country are using that system, while more than 100,000 continue to use the old-fashioned pen-and-paper system, which do not do as much to drive away unwanted intruders.


“Each element that you add is a deterrent,” Vesterman said.


In the wake of the Newtown shooting, Vesterman told ABC News his company has been “flooded” with calls to put in place the new system. Back at Middleton, if you pass the background check, you are given a new photo ID — attached to a bright orange lanyard — to wear the entire time you are inside the school. Even parents who come to the school on a daily basis still have to wear the lanyard.


“The rules apply to everyone,” Donegan said.


The security measures don’t end there. Once you don your lanyard and pass through a second set of locked doors, you enter the school’s main hallway, while security cameras continue to feed live video back into the front office.


It all comes at a cost. Donegan’s school district — with the help of security consultant Paul Timm of RETA Security — has spent more than $175,000 on the system in the last two years. For a district of only three schools and 1100 students, that is a lot of money, but it is all worth it, she said.


“I don’t know that there’s too big a pricetag to put on kids being as safe as they can be,” Donegan said.


“So often we hear we can’t afford it, but what we can’t afford is another terrible incident,” Timm said.


Classroom doors open inward — not outward — and lock from the inside, providing teachers and students security if an intruder is in the hallway. Some employees carry digital two-way radios, enabling them to communicate at all times with the push of a button. Administrators such as Donegan are able to watch the school’s security video on their mobile devices. Barricades line the edge of the school’s parking lot, keeping cars from pulling up close to the entrance.


Teachers say all the security makes them feel safe inside the school.


“I think the most important thing is just keeping the kids safe,” fourth-grade teacher Dara Sacher said.


Parents like Charlene Abraham, whose son Matthew attends Middleton, say they feel better about dropping off their kids knowing the school has such substantial security measures in place.


“We’re sending our kids to school to learn, not to worry about whether they’re going to come home or not,” she said.


In the wake of the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook last Friday, Donegan’s district is now even looking into installing bullet-resistant glass for the school building. While Middleton’s security measures continue to put administrators, teachers, parents and students at ease, Sacher said she thinks that more extreme measures — such as arming teachers, an idea pushed by Oregon state Rep. Dennis Richardson — are a step too far.


“I wouldn’t feel comfortable being armed,” Sacher said. “Even if you trained people, I think it’d be better to keep the guns out of school rather than arm teachers.”

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Egypt opposition protests against constitution


CAIRO (Reuters) - Opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi staged protests in Cairo on Tuesday against an Islamist-backed draft constitution that has divided Egypt but looks set to be approved in the second half of a referendum this weekend.


Several hundred protesters outside the presidential palace chanted "Revolution, revolution, for the sake of the constitution" and called on Mursi to "Leave, leave, you coward!". While the protest was noisy, numbers were down on previous demonstrations.


Mursi obtained a 57 percent "yes" vote for the constitution in the first part of the referendum last weekend, state media said, less than he had hoped for.


The opposition, which says the law is too Islamist, will be encouraged by the result but is unlikely to win the second part this Saturday, which is to be held in districts seen as even more sympathetic towards Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood.


The National Salvation Front opposition coalition said there were widespread voting violations last Saturday and called for protests to "bring down the invalid draft constitution".


The Ministry of Justice said it was appointing judges to investigate complaints of voting irregularities.


Opposition marchers converged on Tahrir Square, cradle of the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak almost two years ago, and Mursi's presidential palace, still ringed with tanks after earlier protests.


A protester at the presidential palace, Mohamed Adel, 30, said: "I have been camping here for weeks and will continue to do so until the constitution that divided the nation, and for which people died, gets scrapped."


The build up to the first day of voting saw clashes between supporters and opponents of Mursi in which eight people died. Recent demonstrations in Cairo have been more peaceful, although rival factions clashed on Friday in Alexandria, Egypt's second biggest city.


RESIGNATION


Egypt's public prosecutor resigned under pressure from his opponents in the judiciary, dealing a blow to Mursi and drawing an angry response from his supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood.


In a statement on its Facebook page, the Islamist group that propelled Mursi to power in an election in June, said the enforced departure of public prosecutor Talaat Ibrahim was a "crime" and authorities should not accept the resignation.


Further signs of opposition to Mursi emerged when a judges' club urged its members not to supervise Saturday's vote. But the call is not binding and balloting is expected to go ahead.


If the constitution is passed, national elections can take place early next year, something many hope will help end the turmoil that has gripped Egypt since the fall of Mubarak.


The closeness of the first referendum vote and low turnout give Mursi scant comfort as he seeks to assemble support for difficult economic reforms.


"This percentage ... will strengthen the hand of the National Salvation Front and the leaders of this Front have declared they are going to continue this fight to discredit the constitution," said Mustapha Kamal Al-Sayyid, a professor of political science at Cairo University.


Mursi is likely to become more unpopular with the introduction of planned austerity measures, Sayyid told Reuters.


To tackle the budget deficit, the government needs to raise taxes and cut fuel subsidies. Uncertainty surrounding economic reform plans has already forced the postponement of a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. The Egyptian pound has fallen to eight-year lows against the dollar.


Mursi and his backers say the constitution is needed to move Egypt's democratic transition forward. Opponents say the document is too Islamist and ignores the rights of women and of minorities, including Christians who make up 10 percent of the population.


Demonstrations erupted when Mursi awarded himself extra powers on November 22 and then fast-tracked the constitution through an assembly dominated by his Islamist allies and boycotted by many liberals.


The referendum has had to be held over two days because many of the judges needed to oversee polling staged a boycott in protest. In order to pass, the constitution must be approved by more than 50 percent of those voting.


(Additional reporting by Tamim Elyan and Edmund Blair; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Alison Williams)



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