Benedict XVI First Pope to Resign in 600 Years

Pope Benedict XVI's unprecedented announcement today that he will resign Feb. 28 brings to a close one of the shortest papacies in history, for which the pontiff will leave a legacy as a leader with views in line with church tradition, but also as one who worked during a controversial reign to advance religious links cross the globe.

The pope's decision, which he announced in Latin today during a meeting of Vatican cardinals, makes him the first pontiff to resign in nearly 600 years. It was perhaps the most shocking moment of his nearly eight years as leader of the world's roughly 1 billion Catholics, years in which he worked on religious outreach.

"I think he deserves a lot of credit for advancing inter-religious links the world over between Judaism, Christianity and Islam," Israeli Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger's spokesman said today. "During his period, there were the best relations ever between the church and the chief rabbinate and we hope that this trend will continue."

FULL COVERAGE: Pope Benedict XVI Resignation

Horst Seehofer, minister-president of the German state of Bavaria, where Benedict was born as Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger 85 years ago, echoed the sentiments about his work for the greater good, adding that Benedict had a global reach.

"With his charisma and his tireless work for the good of the Church, the Pope from Bavaria has inspired people all over the world," he said.

Such global reach and efforts to reach the masses resulted recently in a new Twitter account, which the Vatican launched in late-2012. But true to his traditional worldview, he cautioned the world's Catholics at his Christmas 2012 Mass about the risk of technology's pushing God out of their lives.

"The faster we can move, the more efficient our time-saving appliances become, the less time we have. And God? The question of God never seems urgent. Our time is already completely full," he said.

RELATED: Pope Benedict XVI Resigns: The Statement

Benedict XVI was the oldest pope to be elected at age 78 on April 19, 2005. He was the first German pope since the 11th century and his reign will rank as one of the shortest in history at seven years, 10 months and three days.

The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415.

Vatican officials said they've noticed that he has been getting weaker, while Benedict said he is aware of the significance of his decision and made it freely.

Pope Benedict XVI Resignation: Who Will Be Next? Watch Video

He was widely seen as a Catholic conservative who was in line with the politics of his predecessor, Pope John Paul, and Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Dimitriy Sizonenko pointed out today that the Vatican is unlikely to move away from that tradition.

INTERACTIVE: Key Dates in the Life of Pope Benedict XVI

"There are no grounds to expect that there will be any drastic changes in the Vatican's policies," he said.
"In its relations with Orthodox Churches, the Roman Catholic Church has always ensured continuity between Popes."

Benedict did court controversy, memorably with his speech in September 2006 at the University of Regensburg, in which he quoted a remark about Islam by Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos that some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad are "evil and inhuman."

Pope Benedict XVI Never Aspired to Be Pope: Historian

A number of Islamic leaders around the world saw the remarks as an insult and mischaracterization of the religion. Mass protests ensued, notably in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Benedict soon apologized.

John Thavis, Rome bureau chief for the Catholic News Service, said Catholics will remember him as a gentle and very deep teacher.

"I think the outside world will probably have a different impression of this pope," he said. "I think they will remember him as someone who probably found it hard to govern the church in the face of the scandals that the church has experienced over the last several years."

During his papacy, Benedict was forced to address accusations that priests had sexually abused boys, a scandal that hit in the United States more than a decade ago and soon spread across Europe.

As the Catholic church was rattled by such allegations, the Vatican published "Criteria for the Discernment of Vocation for Persons with Homosexual Tendencies."

It was widely viewed as the church's response to the worldwide scandal, but was also criticized for drawing a connection between pedophilia and homosexuality.

In 2008, the pope said the clergy sex abuse scandal in the United States made him feel "deeply ashamed." In 2010, Benedict apologized directly to victims and their families in Ireland.

"You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry," he wrote to victims of child sex abuse by clergy in Ireland.

Benedict had plenty of critics during his papacy over what was perceived as archaic views on contraception. In March 2009, he commented that condoms are not the solution to the AIDS crisis, and can make the problem worse. He revised the comments in 2010, saying that male prostitutes who use condoms might be taking a first step toward a more responsible sexuality.

More controversy came in 2010, when, in what is seen as a gesture to traditional Catholics, Benedict removed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass. The old rites include a Good Friday prayer for the conversion of Jews.

The year 2012 brought the "Vatileaks" scandal in which Benedict's former butler Paolo Gabriele was convicted of stealing the pope's private papers from his apartments and leaking them to a journalist, who published them in a best-selling book. Gabriele was sentenced to 18 months in an Italian prison.

Speaking today, Cardinal Donald Wuerl Archbishop of Washington said the pope's willingness to step aside is a sign of character

"I think it's a sign of the great humility of this pope and his love of the church and his courage," he said.

The role Benedict will play in retirement, as well as any enduring legacy of his brief but busy papacy, might be his love for the church, his humility or his courage. Or, perhaps, it has yet to be clearly understood.

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Gunbattle rocks Gao after rebels surprise French, Malians

GAO, Mali (Reuters) - Islamist insurgents launched a surprise raid in the heart of the Malian town of Gao on Sunday, battling French and local troops in a blow to efforts to secure Mali's recaptured north.

Local residents hid in their homes or crouched behind walls as the crackle of gunfire from running street battles resounded through the sandy streets and mud-brick houses of the ancient Niger River town, retaken from Islamist rebels last month by a French-led offensive.

French helicopters clattered overhead and fired on al Qaeda-allied rebels armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades who had infiltrated the central market area and holed up in a police station, Malian and French officers said.

The fighting inside Gao was certain to raise fears that pockets of determined Islamists who have escaped the lightning four-week-old French intervention in Mali will strike back with guerrilla attacks and suicide bombings.

After driving the bulk of the insurgents from major northern towns such as Timbuktu and Gao, French forces are trying to search out their bases in the remote and rugged Adrar des Ifoghas mountains, far up in the northeast.

But with Mali's weak army unable to secure recaptured zones, and the deployment of a larger African security force slowed by delays and kit shortages, vast areas to the rear of the French forward lines now look vulnerable to guerrilla activity.

"They infiltrated the town via the river. We think there were about 10 of them. They were identified by the population and they went into the police station," said General Bernard Barrera, commander of French ground operations in Mali.

He told reporters in Gao that French helicopters had intervened to help Malian troops pinned down by the rebels, who threw grenades from rooftops.

Malian gendarme Colonel Saliou Maiga told Reuters the insurgents intended to carry out suicide attacks in the town.

SUICIDE BOMBERS

No casualty toll was immediately available. But a Reuters reporter in Gao saw one body crumpled over a motorcycle. Malian soldiers said some of the raiders may have come on motorbikes.

The gunfire in Gao erupted hours after French and Malian forces reinforced a checkpoint on the northern outskirts that had been attacked for the second time in two days by a suicide bomber.

Abdoul Abdoulaye Sidibe, a Malian parliamentarian from Gao, said the rebel infiltrators were from the MUJWA group that had held the town until French forces liberated it late last month.

MUJWA is a splinter faction of al Qaeda's North African wing AQIM which, in loose alliance with the home-grown Malian Islamist group Ansar Dine, held Mali's main northern urban areas for 10 months until the French offensive drove them out.

Late on Saturday, an army checkpoint in Gao's northern outskirts came under attack by a group of Islamist rebels who fired from a road and bridge that lead north through the desert scrub by the Niger River to Bourem, 80 km (50 miles) away.

"Our soldiers came under heavy gunfire from jihadists from the bridge ... At the same time, another one flanked round and jumped over the wall. He was able to set off his suicide belt," Malian Captain Sidiki Diarra told reporters.

The bomber died and one Malian soldier was lightly wounded, he added. In Friday's motorbike suicide bomber attack, a Malian soldier was also injured.

Diarra described Saturday's bomber as a bearded Arab.

Since Gao and the UNESCO World Heritage city of Timbuktu were retaken last month, several Malian soldiers have been killed in landmine explosions on a main road leading north.

French and Malian officers say pockets of rebels are still in the bush and desert between major towns and pose a threat of hit-and-run guerrilla raids and bombings.

"We are in a dangerous zone... we can't be everywhere," a French officer told reporters, asking not to be named.

One local resident reported seeing a group of 10 armed Islamist fighters at Batel, just 10 km (6 miles) from Gao.

OPERATIONS IN NORTHEAST

The French, who have around 4,000 troops in Mali, are now focusing their offensive operations several hundred kilometers (miles) north of Gao in a hunt for the Islamist insurgents.

On Friday, French special forces paratroopers seized the airstrip and town of Tessalit, near the Algerian border.

From here, the French, aided by around 1,000 Chadian troops in the northeast Kidal region, are expected to conduct combat patrols into the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains.

The remaining Islamists are believed to have hideouts and supply depots in a rugged, sun-blasted range of rocky gullies and caves, and are also thought to be holding at least seven French hostages previously seized in the Sahel.

The U.S. and European governments back the French-led operation as a defense against Islamist jihadists threatening wider attacks, but rule out sending their own combat troops.

To accompany the military offensive, France and its allies are urging Mali authorities to open a national reconciliation dialogue that addresses the pro-autonomy grievances of northern communities like the Tuaregs, and to hold democratic elections.

Interim President Dioncounda Traore, appointed after a military coup last year that plunged the West African state into chaos and led to the Islamist occupation of the north, has said he intends to hold elections by July 31.

But he faces splits within the divided Malian army, where rival units are still at loggerheads.

(Additional reporting by Tiemoko Diallo and Adama Diarra in Bamako; Writing by Joe Bavier and Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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Republican vows to block US defence, CIA picks

WASHINGTON: A Republican lawmaker threatened Sunday to block the confirmations of President Barack Obama's nominees for defence secretary and CIA director over the deadly attack on the US consulate in Libya.

Senator Lindsay Graham said he would put a "hold" on the nominations of Chuck Hagel and John Brennan until the White House provided more information about the president's actions during the September 11, 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya.

"I want to know what our president did. What did he do as commander in chief? Did he ever pick up the phone and call anybody? I think this is the stuff the country needs to know," Graham said on CBS' Face the Nation.

The US Senate has held hearings on the nominations of Hagel as defence secretary and Brennan as CIA director, but has yet to confirm them.

Under parliamentary rules, a single senator can stop their nomination from coming to a vote of the full Senate.

"I don't think we should allow Brennan to go forward to the CIA directorship, (or) Hagel to be confirmed for secretary of defence, until the White House gives us an accounting," Graham said.

Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat, said it was "unprecedented, unwarranted" to block a vote on the defence secretary nomination.

"The men and women of the Department of Defense need a secretary of defense," he said on the same CBS talk show.

"These are critical offices," he said. "To dwell on a tragic incident and use that to block people is not appropriate."

Four Americans were killed in the attack, including US ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens.

Graham and other Republicans have accused the administration of misleading the public by initially blaming it on a mob inflamed by an anti-Muslim video, rather than a terrorist attack.

Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, withdrew from consideration for secretary of state amid controversy over her account of the attack.

On Sunday, Graham turned the focus on Obama, questioning whether he made any phone calls to Libyan leaders during the crisis to try to clear the way for a rescue team that had been sent from Tripoli to Benghazi as reinforcements after the attack.

"This was incredibly mismanaged. And what we know now, it seems to be a very disengaged president," he said.

- AFP/jc

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Tourism boom may bust J&K stir

NEW DELHI: Will tourism save Kashmir from large scale unrest in the aftermath of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's hanging? A mix of strict but cautious policing and anticipation of a good tourist season ahead in the Valley has given government hope that the ongoing phase of unrest in Kashmir may pass off with minor hiccups.

While Saturday saw violent protests in the Valley, largely concentrated in areas around Sopore (Guru's hometown) and Baramulla, leading to 38 people getting injured, Sunday was quieter with only 16 injuries (including four security personnel). While seven people were injured in Guru's village Mazbugh in Sopore, five were injured in police firing in Watergam, Rasiyabad near Baramulla. One of the injured, who took a bullet in the abdomen, is reported to be serious.

Despite these gaps in exercise of restraint and aggressive statements from various quarters in the Valley, there is a sense that things may not spin out of control as long as there is no civilian casualty. One of the reasons being cited is the expectation of profit from the second consecutive bumper tourist season.

Over 1,300 tourists had reached the state since Guru's hanging and the volume is expected to surge once tulips start blooming. Last season, 13 lakh tourists visited the Valley. This was in addition to six lakh who were there for Amarnath yatra and a crore who visited Vaishno Devi. Administration believes that people are hoping for a repeat; an expectation that may help temper the intensity of protests which if stretched will affect inflow of tourists.

Another belief in the establishment is that Guru's hanging has not come as too big a shock for the Valley which was somewhat expecting it after the hanging of Ajmal Kasab.

The relative quiet -- which led Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah to admit that his government had feared far worse - following the initial unrest was significant as the protests on Sunday were more organized unlike the spontaneous ones on Saturday.

This was controlled further by strict and cautious policing. Security forces patrolled highways and main roads through the night to ensure that the protesters didn't get to block traffic by placing boulders or felling trees. It was a busy night for Jammu and Kashmir police, Army and paramilitary forces but it ensured that vehicles had no trouble moving.

Through Sunday, forces restricted movements even in the interior parts of Srinagar, which are generally not monitored closely. It was taking advantage of this that in 2010, stone-palters had gathered in alleys and then launched attacks on security forces.

Strict instructions have gone out from state DG Ashok Prasad to security men to not aim their guns on protesters above waist in case of mob violence as a casualty at this stage could throw things out of gear with secessionists using the issue to whip up passions. The instructions have been largely followed with exceptions like the Rasiyabad incident and one person receiving a bullet injury in the shoulder on Saturday when an Army unit, freshly deployed in the state and, hence, not fully steeped in the doctrine of maximum restraint, fired in self-defence at Handwara.

The arrival of 2,000 CRPF personnel also helped the administration. These troops were returning from leave and had reached Jammu but the administration decided against moving them on Friday evening lest it aroused suspicion that something was amiss.

Valley sources, however, said it may well be the lull before the Friday storm. "Unless Friday, when the Valley is expected to see intensified protests, passes off without much incident, nothing can be said. There is anger against the Omar Abdullah government and the Centre in the Valley, but no one wants long-drawn unrest. If this stage passes off, the protests may die down within 15 days," the source said.

Meanwhile, militant groups have started fishing in troubled waters. Both LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed have issued threats to stage attacks and conduct blasts both within and outside the Valley. While all states have been put on alert, there is no immediate threat, security agencies said. "There is as yet no specific intelligence on any terror attack," an intelligence official said.

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After early start, worst of flu season may be over

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.

The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.

The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks in much of the country. Flu and pneumonia deaths also dropped the last two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

"It's likely that the worst of the current flu season is over," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said.

But flu is hard to predict, he and others stressed, and there have been spikes late in the season in the past.

For now, states like Georgia and New York — where doctor's offices were jammed a few weeks ago — are reporting low flu activity. The hot spots are now the West Coast and the Southwest.

Among the places that have seen a drop: Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pa., which put up a tent outside its emergency room last month to help deal with the steady stream of patients. There were about 100 patients each day back then. Now it's down to 25 and the hospital may pack up its tent next week, said Terry Burger, director of infection control and prevention for the hospital.

"There's no question that we're seeing a decline," she said.

In early December, CDC officials announced flu season had arrived, a month earlier than usual. They were worried, saying it had been nine years since a winter flu season started like this one. That was 2003-04 — one of the deadliest seasons in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 deaths.

Like this year, the major flu strain was one that tends to make people sicker, especially the elderly, who are most vulnerable to flu and its complications

But back then, that year's flu vaccine wasn't made to protect against that bug, and fewer people got flu shots. The vaccine is reformulated almost every year, and the CDC has said this year's vaccine is a good match to the types that are circulating. A preliminary CDC study showed it is about 60 percent effective, which is close to the average.

So far, the season has been labeled moderately severe.

Like others, Lehigh Valley's Burger was cautious about making predictions. "I'm not certain we're completely out of the woods," with more wintry weather ahead and people likely to be packed indoors where flu can spread around, she said.

The government does not keep a running tally of flu-related deaths in adults, but has received reports of 59 deaths in children. The most — nine — were in Texas, where flu activity was still high last week. Roughly 100 children die in an average flu season, the CDC says

On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.

According to the CDC report, the number of states with intense activity is down to 19, from 24 the previous week, and flu is widespread in 38 states, down from 42.

Flu is now minimal in Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

___

Online:

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

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Paterno Family Fights 'Rush to Injustice'

The Paterno family is fighting to restore the legacy of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, flatly denying the allegations in the report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh that the legendary coach was complicit in a coverup of child sexual abuse by a former assistant coach.

"The Critique of the Freeh Report: The Rush to Injustice Regarding Joe Paterno," the report prepared by King & Spalding and released on paterno.com this morning, is described as an attempt to set the record straight with independent expert analysis examining the "most glaring errors on which the Freeh report is based."

"The Freeh report reflects an improper 'rush to injustice,'" the 238-page critique says. "There is no evidence that Joe Paterno deliberately covered up known incidents of child molestation by Jerry Sandusky to protect Penn State football or for any other reason; the contrary statements in the Freeh report are unsupported and unworthy of belief."

In their critique of the Freeh report, former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and experts Jim Clemente and Fred Berlin examined the Freeh report and found that the report is "deeply flawed and that key conclusions regarding Joe Paterno are unsubstantiated and unfair."

According to the critique, the Freeh report "uncovers little new factual information as to Joe Paterno and does very little to advance the truth regarding his knowledge, or more accurately lack of knowledge, of Jerry Sandusky's molestation of children."

Freeh called the critique a "self-serving report" that "does not change the facts."

Patrick Smith/Getty Images|Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo

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READ: Louis Freeh's Statement in Response to Critique

Penn State, which commissioned Freeh to conduct the investigation, stood by the report and said it is moving forward with the 119 recommendations Freeh made.

"To date, the University has implemented a majority of those recommendations, which are helping to make the University stronger and more accountable," the school said in a statement today. "The University intends to implement substantially all of the Freeh recommendations by the end of 2013."

Former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was sentenced last year to 30 to 60 years in prison after he was convicted of 45 criminal counts of sexually abusing young boys.

Some of the abuse occurred at the Penn State campus, and at least one incident was observed by a graduate assistant who said he reported it to Paterno. However, school officials did not report the allegations to law enforcement.

PHOTOS: Jerry Sandusky Gets 30 Years in Prison for Sex Abuse

In the wake of the Sandusky scandal, Joe Paterno, who coached the Nittany Lions for 46 years and became the winningest coach in Division 1 football history in 2011, was dismissed.

The allegations of Paterno's involvement in a coverup came as a shock that reverberated beyond the Penn State campus, because of his reputation as a coach who valued character and academic achievement as much as winning.

Following his dismissal, Paterno was diagnosed with lung cancer and broke his hip. He died on Jan. 22, 2012, at the age of 85.

Former Penn State University President Graham Spanier, along with Penn State athletic director Tim Curley, and school vice president Gary Schultz are awaiting a hearing after they were accused of lying and concealing the sex abuse allegations against Sandusky.

Freeh Report Critique

Released in July, the 267-page report by Freeh concluded that Joe Paterno and his superiors valued the football program and the image of Penn State more than they valued the safety of Sandusky's victims.

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Israel's Lieberman says Palestinian peace accord impossible

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has no chance of signing a permanent peace accord with the Palestinians and should instead seek a long-term interim deal, the most powerful political partner of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

The remarks by Avigdor Lieberman, an ultranationalist whose joint party list with Netanyahu narrowly won a January 22 election while centrist challengers made surprise gains, seemed designed to dampen expectations at home and abroad of fresh peacemaking.

A spring visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories by U.S. President Barack Obama, announced this week, has stirred speculation that foreign pressure for a diplomatic breakthrough could build - though Washington played down that possibility.

In a television interview, ex-foreign minister Lieberman linked the more than two-year-old impasse to pan-Arab political upheaval that has boosted Islamists hostile to the Jewish state.

These include Hamas, rivals of U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who control the Gaza Strip and spurn coexistence with Israel though they have mooted extended truces.

"Anyone who thinks that in the center of this socio-diplomatic ocean, this tsunami which is jarring the Arab world, it is possible to arrive at the magic solution of a comprehensive peace with the Palestinians does not understand," Lieberman told Israel's Channel Two.

"This is impossible. It is not possible to solve the conflict here. The conflict can be managed and it is important to manage the conflict ... to negotiate on a long-term interim agreement."

Abbas broke off talks in late 2010 in protest at Israel's settlement of the occupied West Bank. He angered Israel and the United States in November by securing a U.N. status upgrade that implicitly recognized Palestinian independence in all the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

Israel insists it will keep East Jerusalem and swathes of West Bank settlements under any eventual peace deal. Most world powers consider the settlements illegal because they take up land seized in the 1967 Middle East war.

Lieberman, himself a West Bank settler, said the ball was "in Abu Mazen's (Abbas') court" to revive diplomacy.

Abbas has demanded Israel first freeze all settlement construction. With two decades gone since Palestinians signed their first interim deal with Israel, he has ruled out any new negotiations that do not solemnize Palestinian statehood.

Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev noted that Lieberman, in the Channel Two interview, had said he was expressing his own opinion.

Asked how Netanyahu saw peace prospects for an accord with the Palestinians, Regev referred to a speech on Tuesday in which the conservative prime minister said that Israel, while addressing threats by its enemies, "must also pursue secure, stable and realistic peace with our neighbors".

Netanyahu has previously spoken in favor of a Palestinian state, though he has been cagey on its borders and whether he would be prepared to dismantle Israeli settlements.

Lieberman's role in the next coalition government is unclear as he faces trial for corruption. If convicted, he could be barred from the cabinet. Lieberman denies wrongdoing and has said he would like to regain the foreign portfolio, which he surrendered after his indictment was announced last year.

(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Stephen Powell)

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Tennis: Czechs eye Fed Cup semi-finals, US, Japan fight back

PARIS: Defending champions the Czech Republic, bidding to become the first country in 18 years to capture three successive Fed Cup titles, opened a 2-0 lead over Australia in their first round clash on Saturday.

Petra Kvitova gave the holders a convincing start in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava when the world number eight beat Australia's 168-ranked Jarmila Gajdosova 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.

Lucie Safarova, the world number 18, then snatched two tie-breaks for a 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4) win over ninth-ranked Samantha Stosur.

The other three World Group One ties were level after the first day.

Italy and the United States, Russia against Japan and the tie between Serbia and Slovakia were all heading for a dramatic conclusion on Sunday with two reverse singles and a doubles to play.

Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion, who led the Czechs to victory in 2011 and 2012, struggled for composure in the first set before dominating the second.

"It wasn't an easy match and she had moments when she played very well, but she also helped me a few times," said the 22-year-old.

Safarova then battled Stosur in a tight match, with each woman giving up five breaks.

"It was very hard, the matches with her are always tight. But I handled it very well," said the 26-year-old Safarova.

Stosur, 28, failed to convert five set points in the first set and then gave up a break as she served for the second set.

"Unfortunately for me, I guess she got all those important points to get it back even and then kick on and get each set," said the 2011 US Open champion.

Seventeen-time champions United States battled back on the Rimini clay courts against Italy, the 2006, 2009 and 2010 champions, to stand 1-1.

Italy had defeated the USA in the 2009 and 2010 finals and looked on course for another comfortable win when Sara Errani outclassed Jamie Hampton 6-2, 6-1.

But Varvara Lepchenko, the Americans' top player in the absence of Serena Williams and Sloane Stephens, marked her debut with a come-from-behind 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 win over Roberta Vinci.

In Moscow, Ayumi Morita drew Japan level 1-1 against Russia by dismantling Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-2.

Earlier, Maria Kirilenko, Russia's leading player after Maria Sharapova was not selected, put the home team in front with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 win over 42-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm.

"Katya (Makarova) is a very strong player, who is in the world's top 20, and I needed to perform my best tennis against her to win," said Morita.

In Nis, Serbia, last year's runners-up, and Slovakia were locked at 1-1 but the visitors suffered a heartbreaking end to the day when Dominika Cibulkova was serving for the match against Vesna Dolonc.

Cibulkova was 6-4, 5-4 ahead but had to concede the match after suffering cramps.

"The cramps started in her right calf muscle and although we gave her magnesium the pain soon spread to the rest of the body," said Slovakia team captain Matej Liptak.

"These things can happen and I feel really sorry for Dominika, but more importantly the first priority for us is that she recovers fully. We can't say now whether she will be fit to play on Sunday."

Daniela Hantuchova had earlier seen off Bojana Jovanovski 7-5, 6-2 to give Slovakia a 1-0 lead.

- AFP/jc

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Maoists plan to resurrect movement in Andhra Odisha Border

VISAKHAPATAM: CPI (Maoist ), the banned Naxalite outfit, is quietly working on a strategy to regain lost ground and resurrect the movement in Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts. Top Maoist leaders are learnt to be seriously chalking out plans to reclaim control over the AOB (Andhra Odisha Border) that acts as a bridge for Maoists moving from Chhattisgarh to Odisha and northern Andhra Pradesh.

Once a safe haven for Naxals, AOB has in the past three years become hostile terrain due to heavy combing by security forces that has resulted in their hideouts, arms dumps and medical centres being unearthed and shut down.

With hundreds of surrenders and arrests of cadres, mostly from the militia network (the backbone of the banned outfit), posing a threat to their survival, Maoist leaders are trying to revive old squads to counter the growing police clout in the region.

Sources said, initially they plan to revive old squads with five to six members and beef them up gradually with cadres from the other side of AOB to show their presence in every nook and corner of the East Division and counter government claims that the movement is flagging.

"Instead of carrying big weapons, the squads will be equipped with small arms and will try to divert the attention of security forces with small strikes to aid hassle-free movement of rebels," said a source from the Agency area.

These revived squads would also take up a 'war campaign' against security forces and their 'atrocities' against tribals. Maoists are also planning to revive bauxite area committees by giving active militia commanders charge of educating tribals and sparking off agitations against the proposed bauxite mining and for rights of tribals on coffee plantations, which are under the control of State Forest Development Corporation (APFDC).

According to reliable sources, though they have not been too visible in Visakhapatnam district for the past six months, the Reds have already started sending out messages to active members of the Revolutionary Peoples Committees (RPCs) in villages, militia network and sympathizers in the area to join their rank and file and have been quietly conducting meetings in several villages for the past three weeks.

They also held a meeting at Rachakota in the Visakha agency about five days ago to utilize their militia network to gather information about the present conditions in the tribal belt.

In the early 80's, Maoists, then the People's War Group, had entered East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts with small squads of five members led by the present Central Military Commission (CMC) chief Namballa Kesava Rao alias Ganganna alias Basava Raju and went on to build strong squads like Yallavaram, Tandava, Nagulakonda, Sabari, Maredmilli, and Gurtedu, before area committees were set up in early 2000.

But, after 2005, these squads vanished due to strong action by security forces, lack of proper recruitment from among the educated classes and a change in the mindset of the younger generation.

However, police authorities said though they had heard about the move, nothing concrete had happened so far. "We have no information about the revival of squads. They have drastically lost ground in Visakhapatnam and are operating with only one area committee in Korukonda.

With surrenders and arrests of hundreds of militia members, they have almost lost ground in Galikonda. People are now coming to police stations without fear. Even if they try to revive old squads, they will not get the expected results because of the lack of cadres and leaders," said Visakha Rural SP and anti-insurgency expert G Srinivas.

Cops have lately intensified efforts to penetrate Maoist strongholds and establish their intelligence network in interiors like Gunukurai, Budaralla, Gorrelametta, Annavaram and Kannavaram and have also embarked on a 'Sadhbavana Yatra' to reach out to people in the interiors and coax the families of underground cadres to give up arms even as the government has enhanced cash rewards for underground (UG) cadres.

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After early start, worst of flu season may be over

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.

The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.

The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks in much of the country. Flu and pneumonia deaths also dropped the last two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

"It's likely that the worst of the current flu season is over," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said.

But flu is hard to predict, he and others stressed, and there have been spikes late in the season in the past.

For now, states like Georgia and New York — where doctor's offices were jammed a few weeks ago — are reporting low flu activity. The hot spots are now the West Coast and the Southwest.

Among the places that have seen a drop: Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pa., which put up a tent outside its emergency room last month to help deal with the steady stream of patients. There were about 100 patients each day back then. Now it's down to 25 and the hospital may pack up its tent next week, said Terry Burger, director of infection control and prevention for the hospital.

"There's no question that we're seeing a decline," she said.

In early December, CDC officials announced flu season had arrived, a month earlier than usual. They were worried, saying it had been nine years since a winter flu season started like this one. That was 2003-04 — one of the deadliest seasons in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 deaths.

Like this year, the major flu strain was one that tends to make people sicker, especially the elderly, who are most vulnerable to flu and its complications

But back then, that year's flu vaccine wasn't made to protect against that bug, and fewer people got flu shots. The vaccine is reformulated almost every year, and the CDC has said this year's vaccine is a good match to the types that are circulating. A preliminary CDC study showed it is about 60 percent effective, which is close to the average.

So far, the season has been labeled moderately severe.

Like others, Lehigh Valley's Burger was cautious about making predictions. "I'm not certain we're completely out of the woods," with more wintry weather ahead and people likely to be packed indoors where flu can spread around, she said.

The government does not keep a running tally of flu-related deaths in adults, but has received reports of 59 deaths in children. The most — nine — were in Texas, where flu activity was still high last week. Roughly 100 children die in an average flu season, the CDC says

On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.

According to the CDC report, the number of states with intense activity is down to 19, from 24 the previous week, and flu is widespread in 38 states, down from 42.

Flu is now minimal in Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

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Online:

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

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