Protests after "pharaoh" Mursi assumes powers in Egypt

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's decision to assume sweeping powers caused fury amongst his opponents and prompted violent clashes in central Cairo and other cities on Friday.

Police fired tear gas near Cairo's Tahrir Square, heart of the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, where thousands demanded Mursi quit and accused him of launching a "coup". There were violent protests in Alexandria, Port Said and Suez.

Opponents accused Mursi, who has issued a decree that puts his decisions above legal challenge until a new parliament is elected, of being the new Mubarak and hijacking the revolution.

"The people want to bring down the regime," shouted protesters in Tahrir, echoing a chant used in the uprising that forced Mubarak to step down. "Get out, Mursi," they chanted, along with "Mubarak tell Mursi, jail comes after the throne."

The United States, the European Union and the United Nations expressed concern at Mursi's move.

Mursi's aides said the presidential decree was intended to speed up a protracted transition that has been hindered by legal obstacles but Mursi's rivals condemned him as an autocratic pharaoh who wanted to impose his Islamist vision on Egypt.

"I am for all Egyptians. I will not be biased against any son of Egypt," Mursi said on a stage outside the presidential palace, adding that he was working for social and economic stability and the rotation of power.

"Opposition in Egypt does not worry me, but it has to be real and strong," he said, seeking to placate his critics and telling Egyptians that he was committed to the revolution. "Go forward, always forward ... to a new Egypt."

Buoyed by accolades from around the world for mediating a truce between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip, Mursi on Thursday ordered that an Islamist-dominated assembly writing the new constitution could not be dissolved by legal challenges.

"Mursi a 'temporary' dictator," was the headline in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm.

Mursi, an Islamist whose roots are in the Muslim Brotherhood, also gave himself wide powers that allowed him to sack the unpopular general prosecutor and opened the door for a retrial for Mubarak and his aides.

The president's decree aimed to end the logjam and push Egypt, the Arab world's most populous nation, more quickly along its democratic path, the presidential spokesman said.

"President Mursi said we must go out of the bottleneck without breaking the bottle," Yasser Ali told Reuters.

TURBULENCE AND TURMOIL

The president's decree said any decrees he issued while no parliament sat could not be challenged, moves that consolidated his power but look set to polarize Egypt further, threatening more turbulence in a nation at the heart of the Arab Spring.

The turmoil has weighed heavily on Egypt's faltering economy that was thrown a lifeline this week when a preliminary deal was reached with the International Monetary Fund for a $4.8 billion loan. But it also means unpopular economic measures.

In Alexandria, north of Cairo, protesters ransacked an office of the Brotherhood's political party, burning books and chairs in the street. Supporters of Mursi and opponents clashed elsewhere in the city, leaving 12 injured.

A party building was also attacked by stone-throwing protesters in Port Said, and demonstrators in Suez threw petrol bombs that burned banners outside the party building.

Although Washington praised Egypt for its part in bringing Israelis and Palestinians to a ceasefire on Wednesday, it expressed concern about Mursi's move.

"The decisions and declarations announced on November 22 raise concerns for many Egyptians and for the international community," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.

The United States has been concerned about the fate of what was once a close ally under Mubarak, who preserved Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

The European Union urged Mursi to respect the democratic process, while the United Nations expressed fears about human rights.

"We are very concerned about the possible huge ramifications of this declaration on human rights and the rule of law in Egypt," Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay, said at the United Nations in Geneva.

"ANOTHER DICTATOR"

"The decree is basically a coup on state institutions and the rule of law that is likely to undermine the revolution and the transition to democracy," said Mervat Ahmed, an independent activist in Tahrir protesting against the decree. "I worry Mursi will be another dictator like the one before him."

Leading liberal Mohamed ElBaradei, who joined other politicians on Thursday night to demand the decree was withdrawn, wrote on his Twitter account that Mursi had "usurped all state powers and appointed himself Egypt's new pharaoh".

Almost two years after Mubarak was toppled and about five months since Mursi took office, propelled to the post by the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt has no permanent constitution, which must be in place before new parliamentary elections are held.

The last parliament, which sat for the first time earlier this year, was dissolved after a court declared it void. It was dominated by the Brotherhood's political party.

An assembly drawing up the constitution has yet to complete its work. Many liberals, Christians and others have walked out accusing the Islamists who dominate it of ignoring their voices over the extent that Islam should be enshrined in the new state.

Opponents call for the assembly to be scrapped and remade. Mursi's decree protects the existing one and extends the deadline for drafting a document by two months, pushing it back to February, further delaying a new parliamentary election.

Explaining the rationale behind the moves, the presidential spokesman said: "This means ending the period of constitutional instability to arrive at a state with a written constitution, an elected president and parliament."

"THIS IS NOT THE REMEDY"

Analyst Seif El Din Abdel Fatah said the decree targeted the judiciary which had reversed, for example, an earlier Mursi decision to remove the prosecutor.

Mursi, who is now protected by his new decree from judicial reversals, said the judiciary contained honorable men but said he would uncover corrupt elements. He also said he would ensure independence for the judicial, executive and legislative powers.

Although many of Mursi's opponents also opposed the sacked prosecutor, whom they blamed for shortcomings in prosecuting Mubarak and his aides, and also want judicial reform, they say a draconian presidential decree was not the way to do it.

"There was a disease but this is not the remedy," said Hassan Nafaa, a liberal-minded political science professor and activist at Cairo University.

(Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva and Sebastian Moffett in Brussels; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Peter Millership and Giles Elgood)

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Britain's Cameron wins new allies in EU budget battle

BRUSSELS: British Prime Minister David Cameron has ended his European isolation, for the time being at least, after Germany and other nations backed his call for cuts to the troubled EU budget.

Nearly a year ago Cameron was the outcast of Europe, finding himself shunned by angry counterparts when he vetoed a crucial fiscal pact that was aimed at tackling the crisis in the eurozone.

But this time there were few of the same recriminations and Cameron named Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, Finland and Denmark as having backed his position.

By marshalling an austerity-supporting "northern European" bloc he will also please eurosceptics in his party back home who are threatening to rebel if he does not loosen Britain's ties with the EU.

"This was not Britain as some sort of lone actor," Cameron told a press conference.

"At this council a lot of people said, 'Well, Britain will just be isolated and standing alone in standing up for a better deal.' But we had strong allies."

Cameron engaged in frantic pre-summit diplomacy to win allies, meeting twice with Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel and once with French President Francois Hollande during the two-day Brussels summit.

But a clearly frustrated Cameron still had choice words for the EU, saying the budget deal it offered was "just not good enough", and insisting there should be cuts to the perks, pay and pensions of "eurocrats".

"Brussels continues to exist as if it is in a parallel universe," Cameron said.

"Last night the Commission didn't offer a single euro in savings, not one euro, and I just don't think that is good enough."

A British source criticised a lack of preparation by EU President Herman Van Rompuy for the summit, saying it made negotiations more difficult.

Cameron did not escape unscathed from criticism on Friday.

Italian premier Mario Monti blamed him for the breakdown of the budget talks and accused him of "demagoguery".

Hollande meanwhile said the British premier had come to the summit with a "set priority" to protect Britain's cherished EU rebate.

Britain has claimed that right since then prime minister Margaret Thatcher obtained one in 1984 on the grounds that London was paying too much into the bloc's coffers.

But Cameron's diplomatic efforts appeared to bear fruit with overt support from Sweden and The Netherlands.

A British official said the German chancellor was "sympathetic" towards their position. Reports of an "axis" between London and Berlin quickly led to Cameron and Merkel being dubbed "Merkeron" or "Camerkel".

Meanwhile an EU source said that while the rest of the bloc appeared unwilling to move towards the British position, it would not be sensible to send any country home to face voters without any concessions.

At home, Cameron is walking a political tightrope on the European issue.

He leads a fragile coalition government with the pro-Europe Liberal Democrats and faces elections in 2015 during which he will try to win a majority, for which he will need the "eurosceptic" wing of his Conservative party on-side.

The eurosceptics subjected Cameron to a humiliating parliamentary defeat on the budget issue last month and they have public opinion behind them, with many Britons seeing the EU as a meddling gravy train.

Europe has been a toxic issue for the party for decades, having helped to bring down Thatcher and hobbling her successor John Major.

But Cameron must also avoid burning all his bridges in Europe ahead of a summit in December focusing on banking, where he will be trying to protect London's vital financial services industry.

For all the talk of a possible "Brixit" from the EU, Europe remains by far Britain's largest trading partner, while Britain is the EU's third largest economy.

British commentators said Cameron had "played a blinder" for now.

"Game, set and match to David Cameron," John Rentoul, a political commentator for The Independent on Sunday newspaper, wrote on Twitter.

But the issue will not go away, and Cameron is expected to set out before Christmas his plans to reclaim powers from Europe and then put those measures to a vote.

"I support our membership of the EU, but I don't support the status quo. I believe we need a new settlement," he said.

-AFP/ac

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No question of putting CBI chief's appointment on hold: PM Manmohan Singh

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh emphatically rejected the BJP's demand that the appointment of Ranjit Sinha as the next CBI chief be put on hold, saying the "question of keeping the new appointment in abeyance does not arise".

Singh also dismissed the BJP's allegation that the appointment was made to preempt the procedure recommended by the select committee looking into the Lokpal bill, saying the charge was "wholly unwarranted and devoid of any merit".

"I also refute the suggestion that the appointments to this post in the past by the UPA government were motivated by collateral considerations," the PM said in his reply to leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley. Earlier on Friday, Jaitley and his counterpart in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj had written to the PM asking that the appointment be put on hold.

Singh argued that the CBI director was retiring on November 30 and the premier investigating agency could not be left headless till the time the new system was put in place. "Under the circumstances, the government has, in public interest, made the appointment in accordance with the provisions of the CVC Act as presently applicable and the extant procedures, which had been set in motion much earlier," he said.

The PM was reacting to the BJP's demand that the new CBI director should be appointed by a collegium comprising the PM, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha and Chief Justice of India as recommended by the select committee.

Earlier in the day, minister of state for personnel V Narayanasamy strongly defended the government's decision, saying the selection of the CBI chief was done "in a fair manner following the due process".

He said Sinha was the senior-most officer among the three names suggested by the central vigilance commissioner and the prime minister decided his name. "The prime minister in his wisdom considered Ranjit Sinha who is the senior-most officer. The prime minister decided the name of Sinha in a fair manner following the due process in which CVC recommended three names. Where is the question of unfairness in this," he added.

"May be they (select committee) have proposed a new mechanism. That's not part of the law today. There is no Act in Parliament today. There is no notification of an Act today. The government must function in accordance with the law as it exists. And that's how we move forward," Narayanasamy said.

Echoing Narayanasamy's comments, telecom minister Kapil Sibal said, "The government decision-making cannot stop just because there is some legislation awaited... This means, the logic would be any standing committee report which has to be translated into a legislation, such time the translation takes, there should be no decision of the government. I do not see any logic in any of this."

Meanwhile, Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar, who had filed a petition in the Central Administrative Tribunal against his non-inclusion in the shortlist, withdrew his plea amid indications that he may be considered for an extended tenure as Delhi Police chief beyond July 2013 when he is supposed to retire.

Sources indicated that the home ministry may consider making the Delhi Police chief a fixed two-year tenure post as per a Supreme Court order. "If it happens before July next year, Neeraj Kumar will automatically get an extended tenure till June 2014," said a source.

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia (AP) — They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.

Many patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk Ruit. During eight days, more than 1,400 cataracts were removed.

The patients camped out, sleeping side-by-side on military cots, eating donated food while fire trucks supplied water for showers and toilets. Many who had given up hope of seeing again left smiling after their bandages were removed.

"I've been blind for three years, and it's really bad," said Arlita Tobing, 65, whose sight was restored after the surgery. "I worked on someone's farm, but I couldn't work anymore."

Indonesia has one of the highest rates of blindness in the world, making it a target country for Ruit who travels throughout the developing world holding free mass eye camps while training doctors to perform the simple, stitch-free procedure he pioneered. He often visits hard-to-reach remote areas where health care is scarce and patients are poor. He believes that by teaching doctors how to perform his method of cataract removal, the rate of blindness can be reduced worldwide.

Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness globally, affecting about 20 million people who mostly live in poor countries, according to the World Health Organization.

"We get only one life, and that life is very short. I am blessed by God to have this opportunity," said Ruit, who runs the Tilganga Eye Center in Katmandu, Nepal. "The most important of that is training, taking the idea to other people."

During the recent camps, Ruit trained six doctors from Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.

Here, in images, are scenes from the mobile eye camps:

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Black Friday Frenzy Brings Fights, Injuries

Black Friday, one of the most ballyhooed shopping days of the year, has also proven to be hazardous, with incidents including fights between frenzied shoppers and parking-lot robberies.

Two people were run down Thanksgiving night in the parking lot of a Covington, Wash., Walmart by a man police suspected of being intoxicated.

Shoppers Descend on Black Friday Deals

The 71-year-old driver was arrested on a vehicular assault charge after the Thanksgiving incident, spokeswoman Sgt. Cindi West of the Kings County Sheriff's Office said.

The female victim, whose identity has yet to be released, was pinned beneath the driver's Mercury SUV until being rescued by the fire department. She was flown to Harborview Medical Center, where she was listed in serious condition, West said.

The male victim was also taken to Harborview Medical Center, where, West said, he was listed in good condition.

High tension was at the entrances as people lined up outside stores, waiting for the doors to open.

Black Friday Holiday Shopping Bargains and Pitfalls Watch Video

Black Friday Shoppers Brave Long Lines, Short Tempers Watch Video

At a San Antonio, Texas, Sears, one man argued with customers and even punched one in order to get to the front of the line, prompting a man with a concealed carry permit to pull a gun, said Matthew Porter, public information officer of the San Antonio Police Department.

"It was a little chaotic. People were exiting the store," Porter said. "Fortunately for us, officers responded quickly and were able to ease the commotion."

The man who allegedly caused the altercation fled the scene and remains at large, Porter said. The shopper who pulled the gun will not face charges, he said, because of his concealed carry permit.

One man was treated at the scene for injuries sustained when people rushed out of the store, Porter said.

PHOTOS: Black Friday Shoppers Hit Stores

In Maryland, there has been at least one report of a parking lot robbery.

A 14-year-old boy told police he was robbed of his Thanksgiving night purchases by five men in the parking lot of a Bed Bath and Beyond store early this morning, the Baltimore Sun reported.

And in Massachusetts, Kmart employees tried to locate a shopper over the intercom after a 2-year-old was reported to be alone in a car, ABC News affiliate WCVB-TV reported.

Police arrived to break into the car and remove the child. The boy's caretaker, his mother's boyfriend, denied the incident took place, according to the station, and was not arrested.

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Gaza ceasefire holds but mistrust runs deep

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas held firm on Thursday with scenes of joy among the ruins in Gaza over what Palestinians hailed as a victory, and both sides saying their fingers were still on the trigger.

In the sudden calm, Palestinians who had been under Israeli bombs for eight days poured into Gaza streets for a celebratory rally, walking past wrecked houses and government buildings.

But as a precaution, schools stayed closed in southern Israel, where nerves were jangled by warning sirens - a false alarm, the army said - after a constant rain of rockets during the most serious Israeli-Palestinian fighting in four years.

Israel had launched its strikes last week with a declared aim of ending rocket attacks on its territory from Gaza, ruled by the Islamist militant group Hamas, which denies Israel's right to exist. Hamas had responded with more rockets.

The truce brokered by Egypt's new Islamist leaders, working with the United States, headed off an Israeli invasion of Gaza.

It was the fruit of intensive diplomacy spurred by U.S. President Barack Obama, who sent his secretary of state to Cairo and backed her up with phone calls to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi.

Mursi's role in cajoling his Islamist soulmates in Gaza into the U.S.-backed deal with Israel suggested that Washington can find ways to cooperate with the Muslim Brotherhood leader whom Egyptians elected after toppling former U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak, a bulwark of American policy in the Middle East for 30 years.

Mursi, preoccupied with Egypt's economic crisis, cannot afford to tamper with a 1979 peace treaty with Israel, despite its unpopularity with Egyptians, and needs U.S. financial aid.

MORE DEATHS

Despite the quiet on the battlefield, the death toll from the Gaza conflict crept up on both sides.

The body of Mohammed al-Dalu, 25, was recovered from the rubble of a house where nine of his relatives - four children and five women - were killed by an Israeli bomb this week.

That raised to 163 the number of Palestinians killed, more than half of them civilians, including 37 children, during the Israeli onslaught, according to Gaza medical officials.

Nearly 1,400 rockets struck Israel, killing four civilians and two soldiers, including an officer who died on Thursday of wounds sustained the day before, the Israeli army said.

Israel dropped 1,000 times as much explosive on the Gaza Strip as landed on its soil, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.

Municipal workers in Gaza began cleaning streets and removing the rubble of bombed buildings. Stores opened and people flocked to markets to buy food.

Jubilant crowds celebrated, with most people waving green Hamas flags but some carrying the yellow emblems of the rival Fatah group, led by Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas.

That marked a rare show of unity five years after Hamas, which won a Palestinian poll in 2006, forcibly wrested Gaza from Fatah, still dominant in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israel began ferrying tanks northwards, away from the border, on transporters. It plans to discharge gradually tens of thousands of reservists called up for a possible Gaza invasion.

But trust between Israel and Hamas remains in short supply and both said they might well have to fight again.

"The battle with the enemy has not ended yet," Abu Ubaida, spokesman of Hamas's armed wing Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades, said at an event to mourn its acting military chief Ahmed al-Jaabari, whose killing by Israel on November 14 set off this round.

"HANDS ON TRIGGER"

The exiled leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, said in Cairo his Islamist movement would respect the truce, but warned that if Israel violated it "our hands are on the trigger".

Netanyahu said he had agreed to "exhaust this opportunity for an extended truce", but told Israelis a tougher approach might be required in the future.

Facing a national election in two months, he swiftly came under fire from opposition politicians who had rallied to his side during the fighting but now contend he emerged from the conflict with no real gains for Israel.

"You don't settle with terrorism, you defeat it. And unfortunately, a decisive victory has not been achieved and we did not recharge our deterrence," Shaul Mofaz, leader of the main opposition Kadima party, wrote on his Facebook page.

In a speech, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's prime minister in Gaza, urged all Palestinian factions to respect the ceasefire and said his government and security services would monitor compliance.

According to a text of the agreement seen by Reuters, both sides should halt all hostilities, with Israel desisting from incursions and targeting of individuals, while all Palestinian factions should cease rocket fire and cross-border attacks.

The deal also provides for easing Israeli curbs on Gaza's residents, but the two sides disagreed on what this meant.

Israeli sources said Israel would not lift a blockade of the enclave it enforced after Hamas won a Palestinian election in 2006, but Meshaal said the deal covered the opening of all of the territory's border crossings with Israel and Egypt.

Israel let dozens of trucks carry supplies into the Palestinian enclave during the fighting. Residents there have long complained that Israeli restrictions blight their economy.

Barak said Hamas, which declared November 22 a national holiday to mark its "victory", had suffered heavy military blows.

"A large part of the mid-range rockets were destroyed. Hamas managed to hit Israel's built-up areas with around a metric tone of explosives, and Gaza targets got around 1,000 metric tonnes," he said.

He dismissed a ceasefire text published by Hamas, saying: "The right to self-defense trumps any piece of paper."

He appeared to confirm, however, a Hamas claim that the Israelis would no longer enforce a no-go zone on the Gaza side of the frontier that the army says has prevented Hamas raids.

(Additional reporting by Noah Browning in Gaza, Ori Lewis, Crispian Balmer and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Alistair Lyon; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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Football: Benitez focused on short-term in Chelsea role

LONDON: Rafael Benitez said he was focused on the job in hand, rather than worrying about being a stop-gap appointment, after being presented to the media as Chelsea's new interim manager on Thursday.

The former Liverpool coach, 52, is under contract until the end of the current season and replaces Roberto Di Matteo, who was sacked on Wednesday after Chelsea lost 3-0 at Juventus in the Champions League.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who has fired seven managers during his nine-year tenure, has reportedly made repeated overtures to former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, but Benitez said the speculation would not distract him.

"I have a very good relationship with Guardiola. He's a great manager," said Benitez, who had been out of work since leaving Inter Milan in December 2010.

"What will happen in the future, you never know. We have a massive game at the weekend (against Manchester City) and five trophies to fight for.

"When you analyse why you want to go to a top side, it's to win trophies. For one and a half years, two years, I was waiting for the right opportunity.

"I will fight from day one, and we will see what happens."

Guardiola's appeal to Abramovich is said to stem from the passing philosophy he helped instil at Barcelona, but Benitez rejected suggestions he will be judged on the quality of football that Chelsea produce.

"I'm not sure what he (Abramovich) is looking for in terms of Barcelona-style passing and playing good football," said Benitez, who admitted he was yet to meet the club's owner.

"My thinking is that he'll be happy with the team winning and playing well. I don't think there's only one way to play -- whether it's a passing game, or looking for a long pass."

Benitez is expected to help Fernando Torres rediscover his best form, having overseen the Spaniard's development into one of the game's most feared and prolific strikers during their time together at Liverpool.

Torres, 28, scored 81 goals in 142 appearances at Anfield but has found the net just 19 times since joining Chelsea in January 2011, but Benitez suggested he would not get special attention.

"I talked with him, like the others players," said Benitez, who held a training session with his new charges on Thursday afternoon.

"He's one of the important players of this team and I will try to improve him as I improve the others."

Benitez arrived for his introductory press conference just as the Football Association announced that referee Mark Clattenburg had been cleared over allegations he racially abused Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel.

Benitez did not wish to discuss the affair, but when asked about Chelsea's recent record of attracting unwanted headlines, he said he "didn't see any problems".

Benitez also addressed suggestions he had criticised Chelsea during his time at Liverpool, amid reports of supporter discontent at his appointment.

"I don't remember some of the comments (attributed to him)," he said.

"To be really honest, we (Liverpool) were playing against Chelsea, a top team, in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

"I don't see this as a lack of respect, more a manager defending his team against a top side."

Benitez confirmed that he will be assisted by former Dutch international Boudewijn Zenden, who spent three years at Chelsea before working under Benitez at Liverpool.

Chelsea's loss at Juventus left the defending champions on the brink of elimination from the Champions League, while they trail leaders Manchester City by four points in the Premier League.

Under Benitez, Liverpool missed out on the 2008-09 Premier League title by only four points, and he said he did not feel a need to defend his achievements.

"Have you seen my CV?" he said.

"I have all the trophies you can win at club level."

Asked about the absence of a Premier League winners' medal from his trophy cabinet, he retorted: "I won the league twice in Spain (with Valencia). Even Barcelona can't win the Premier League!"

-AFP/ac

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ITBP DG Ranjit Sinha to be new CBI chief

NEW DELHI: Senior IPS officer and present Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) director-general (DG) Ranjit Sinha will be the new CBI chief after retirement of the incumbent A P Singh on November 30.

An order to this effect was issued by the ministry of personnel on Thursday, with the government fast tracking the process to dodge any possibility of a setback during the hearing of Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar's protest petition in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on Friday.

Kumar was one of the contenders for this coveted job before a government panel kept him out of the shortlist of three IPS officers for the top CBI job on the basis of a complaint from an accused in a case of disproportionate assets being probed by the agency.

Sinha is a 1974 batch officer of Bihar cadre, whereas Kumar, who is two batches junior to him, belongs to the Union Territory cadre.

Sinha's name for the post of CBI chief was approved by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Besides the ITBP DG, the present National Investigation Agency chief S C Sinha (1975 batch officer of Haryana cadre) and former DGP of Uttar Pradesh Atul (1976 batch officer of UP cadre) were the other two in the list whose names went to the ACC for final decision.

Anguished by the exclusion, Kumar had recently moved the CAT questioning the procedure for selecting the three officers. He has protested that the government panel, led by the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, benched him on the basis of a complaint from an accused in a CBI case: a position that many in the government seem to be sympathetic to.

In his complaint, Vijay Agarwal, brother of a controversial officer of Enforcement Directorate Ashok Agarwal who faces serious allegations himself, alleged that a CBI inspector intimidated him at the instance of Kumar, who was at the time a joint director with the CBI. The complaint raised eyebrows because of the assertion that the inspector called up Kumar in the presence of the complainant to inform him that his instructions had been carried out.

Justice R C Jain of the Delhi High Court ordered an investigation into Agarwal's charge. The directive passed on Justice Agarwal's last day on the bench was stayed by a division bench of the HC: something which is cited by Kumar's sympathizers to argue, contrary to the reasoning of the panel that shortlisted the three top contenders for CBI director, that there was no case pending against Kumar when he was excluded from the list.

Many in the government fault the committee for failing to factor in the fact that many accused routinely level allegations against police officers investigating them, and that protection against such tactics are built in both the Cr PC and the Delhi Police Special Establishment Act which governs the CBI.

In his nine-year-long stint with the CBI, Kumar investigated and solved several cases: from Mumbai serial blasts and Beant Singh murder case to match-fixing and deportation of dreaded criminal Babloo Srivastava.

His exclusion from the list had paved the way for inclusion of the fourth senior-most officer in the list of six, Atul, in the select panel of three top contenders - prompting Kumar to move the CAT.

Sinha will assume the charge of CBI director at the time when the investigating agency is probing a number of high-profile cases including 2G spectrum scam, CWG scam, coalgate and NRHM scandals among others. He will have two-year fixed tenure as the agency chief.

Sinha had earlier served the CBI on deputation as DIG in Patna and also served as Joint Director (Anti-corruption) and Joint Director (Administration) in Delhi.

Before joining as DG, ITBP, Sinha headed Railway Protection Force (RPF) as DG and made significant contribution in implementing integrated security scheme at various Railway Stations in the wake of terrorist attack at Mumbai's CST Railway Station.

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Study finds mammograms lead to unneeded treatment

Mammograms have done surprisingly little to catch deadly breast cancers before they spread, a big U.S. study finds. At the same time, more than a million women have been treated for cancers that never would have threatened their lives, researchers estimate.

Up to one-third of breast cancers, or 50,000 to 70,000 cases a year, don't need treatment, the study suggests.

It's the most detailed look yet at overtreatment of breast cancer, and it adds fresh evidence that screening is not as helpful as many women believe. Mammograms are still worthwhile, because they do catch some deadly cancers and save lives, doctors stress. And some of them disagree with conclusions the new study reached.

But it spotlights a reality that is tough for many Americans to accept: Some abnormalities that doctors call "cancer" are not a health threat or truly malignant. There is no good way to tell which ones are, so many women wind up getting treatments like surgery and chemotherapy that they don't really need.

Men have heard a similar message about PSA tests to screen for slow-growing prostate cancer, but it's relatively new to the debate over breast cancer screening.

"We're coming to learn that some cancers — many cancers, depending on the organ — weren't destined to cause death," said Dr. Barnett Kramer, a National Cancer Institute screening expert. However, "once a woman is diagnosed, it's hard to say treatment is not necessary."

He had no role in the study, which was led by Dr. H. Gilbert Welch of Dartmouth Medical School and Dr. Archie Bleyer of St. Charles Health System and Oregon Health & Science University. Results are in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Breast cancer is the leading type of cancer and cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. Nearly 1.4 million new cases are diagnosed each year. Other countries screen less aggressively than the U.S. does. In Britain, for example, mammograms are usually offered only every three years and a recent review there found similar signs of overtreatment.

The dogma has been that screening finds cancer early, when it's most curable. But screening is only worthwhile if it finds cancers destined to cause death, and if treating them early improves survival versus treating when or if they cause symptoms.

Mammograms also are an imperfect screening tool — they often give false alarms, spurring biopsies and other tests that ultimately show no cancer was present. The new study looks at a different risk: Overdiagnosis, or finding cancer that is present but does not need treatment.

Researchers used federal surveys on mammography and cancer registry statistics from 1976 through 2008 to track how many cancers were found early, while still confined to the breast, versus later, when they had spread to lymph nodes or more widely.

The scientists assumed that the actual amount of disease — how many true cases exist — did not change or grew only a little during those three decades. Yet they found a big difference in the number and stage of cases discovered over time, as mammograms came into wide use.

Mammograms more than doubled the number of early-stage cancers detected — from 112 to 234 cases per 100,000 women. But late-stage cancers dropped just 8 percent, from 102 to 94 cases per 100,000 women.

The imbalance suggests a lot of overdiagnosis from mammograms, which now account for 60 percent of cases that are found, Bleyer said. If screening were working, there should be one less patient diagnosed with late-stage cancer for every additional patient whose cancer was found at an earlier stage, he explained.

"Instead, we're diagnosing a lot of something else — not cancer" in that early stage, Bleyer said. "And the worst cancer is still going on, just like it always was."

Researchers also looked at death rates for breast cancer, which declined 28 percent during that time in women 40 and older — the group targeted for screening. Mortality dropped even more — 41 percent — in women under 40, who presumably were not getting mammograms.

"We are left to conclude, as others have, that the good news in breast cancer — decreasing mortality — must largely be the result of improved treatment, not screening," the authors write.

The study was paid for by the study authors' universities.

"This study is important because what it really highlights is that the biology of the cancer is what we need to understand" in order to know which ones to treat and how, said Dr. Julia A. Smith, director of breast cancer screening at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York. Doctors already are debating whether DCIS, a type of early tumor confined to a milk duct, should even be called cancer, she said.

Another expert, Dr. Linda Vahdat, director of the breast cancer research program at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, said the study's leaders made many assumptions to reach a conclusion about overdiagnosis that "may or may not be correct."

"I don't think it will change how we view screening mammography," she said.

A government-appointed task force that gives screening advice calls for mammograms every other year starting at age 50 and stopping at 75. The American Cancer Society recommends them every year starting at age 40.

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, the cancer society's deputy chief medical officer, said the study should not be taken as "a referendum on mammography," and noted that other high-quality studies have affirmed its value. Still, he said overdiagnosis is a problem, and it's not possible to tell an individual woman whether her cancer needs treated.

"Our technology has brought us to the place where we can find a lot of cancer. Our science has to bring us to the point where we can define what treatment people really need," he said.

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Online:

Study: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1206809

Screening advice: http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/uspsbrca.htm

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Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

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Black Friday Deals Kick Off on 'Gray Thursday'

Black Friday is the Super Bowl of retail, but some of the nation's largest big-box stores can't wait until the day after Thanksgiving to open their doors to shoppers eager to grab great deals the same day as their turkey dinners.

Traditional Black Friday door-busting deals now start tonight, on what's been dubbed Gray Thursday. Major retail stores such as Kmart, Toys R Us, Walmart and Sears will open their doors beginning at 8 p.m. Target will join the party an hour later.

"It's traditionally been the day after Thanksgiving when the stores go into the black, where they make all their money. But that's not true anymore," retail expert Michelle Madhock said.

With Black Friday sales starting Thursday, that means lines started forming Wednesday, or in some extreme cases a week before as bargain hunters tried to get a turkey leg up on their competition.

READ: The Best Black Friday Freebies 2012

Joy Lewis/Abilene Reporter-News/AP Photo

4 Steps to Get the Best Holiday Shopping Deals Watch Video

Top Tips for Thanksgiving Day Door-Buster Deals Watch Video

Luciana Pendleton pitched a tent outside a Deptford Township, N.J., Best Buy Monday fully equipped with all she needed to spend the next few days away from home so she could be first in line when the doors open.

"I am just happy I beat my competition. They pulled up here around 3 p.m., and we were already here so I was happy," she said Monday.

READ: How to Beat Black Friday Stress

Last year, some sale seekers became a little too excited and turned holiday shopping into a contact sport. In one ugly incident, a woman was accused of unleashing pepper spray on other shoppers in a dash for electronics at Walmart in Los Angeles.

This year, stores are beefing up security, and Best Buy even participated in training drills to handle the large crowds. More than 147 million people plan to shop this weekend, according to the National Retail Federation.

The hottest deals that are up for grabs this year include a 46-inch Samsung LED flat screen TV at Walmart with $200 off the original price. If that's not good enough, Sears has knocked $500 off the price of a 50-inch Toshiba flat screen. Target is offering the Nook Simple Touch at half price.

Black Friday officially kicks off at midnight for Best Buy, Sports Authority and Macy's.

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