Showing posts with label World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World. Show all posts

UPDATE 3-Cricket-South Africa leave NZ batting in disarray again

(Adds quotes)
* New Zealand close day two on 47 for six
* Hosts declare on 525 for eight
* We are being outclassed, says Kiwis coach
PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, Jan 12 (Reuters) - New Zealand collapsed again against South Africa's pace attack when they staggered to 47 for six in their first innings in reply to the hosts' 525 for eight declared on the second day of the second test at St. George's Park on Saturday.
The pace duo of Dale Steyn and Rory Kleinveldt ended the day with figures of two for 14 and two for 18 respectively, while left-arm spinner Robin Peterson claimed two wickets in two balls.
After South Africa had declared 25 minutes into the evening session, New Zealand, who were bowled out for 45 on the opening morning of the two-match series, were again in disarray.
New Zealand coach Mike Hesson made no excuses for his team.
"We prepared very well, we knew what we would be confronted with, but the most disappointing thing is that when we got under pressure we weren't able to cope," he told a news conference.
"We all share the load. I can't fault the work ethic. We have a support staff that works extremely hard and behind the scenes the players have put the work in, but in this test match and the last one we just haven't been up to it.
"All we can say to the people back home is that the players are trying their very best and at the moment we are just being outclassed."
Steyn, bowling with pace and aggression with the new ball, reduced the Kiwis to eight for two after he had Martin Guptill (1) and Kane Williamson (5) both caught in the slip cordon.
Kleinveldt then took over when he had Dean Brownlie (10) caught behind by keeper AB de Villiers and Daniel Flynn (0) lbw as New Zealand slumped to 27 for four inside 16 overs.
Captain Brendon McCullum battled his way to 13 off 61 balls before he edged a delivery from Peterson to Jacques Kallis playing an extravagant drive. Debutant Colin Munro was caught at short-leg from the next delivery.
South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis said the hosts could not have asked for much more over the first two days of the test.
"We've had two excellent days," he said. "Yesterday was hard-fought with the bat. Today was the same to a degree up until lunch, and then with the ball we did everything right so it was very close to the perfect day.
"There was a lot of swing on offer, and when Dale Steyn gets a bit of swing he's very hard to face, so I can understand that it was tough for New Zealand."
Hashim Amla, Du Plessis and Dean Elgar all reached three figures for the world No1 side.
Du Plessis, who began the day on 69, eventually scored 137 off 252 balls with 14 fours and two sixes before he became medium-pacer Munro's first test wicket when he was caught in the covers.
Elgar brought up his first ton, in his third test, off what turned out to be the last ball of South Africa's innings to end not out on 103 off 170 deliveries with 14 fours and a six.
Elgar and Du Plessis combined for a partnership of 131 off 38.5 overs, a South African sixth-wicket record stand against New Zealand, beating the previous best of 126 scored by Darryl Cullinan and Shaun Pollock at Auckland in 1998.
Amla added just four runs to his overnight total before he was caught down the leg-side by keeper Watling off a delivery from left-arm seamer Trent Boult.
He was out for 110 off 235 balls with his innings including eight fours while he and Du Plessis put on 113 runs for the fifth-wicket off 36.5 overs.
South Africa hold a 1-0 series lead.
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Tennis-Revised Australian Open men's singles draw

MELBOURNE, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Revised Australian Open men's
singles draw after final qualifying (prefix denotes seeding;
w-indicates wild card; q-denotes qualifier):
1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) v Paul-Henri Mathieu (France)
Ryan Harrison (U.S.) v Santiago Giraldo (Colombia)
q-Arnau Bruges-Davi (Spain) v Felciano Lopez (Spain)
Viktor Troicki (Serbia) v 31-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic)
20-Sam Querrey (U.S.) v q-Daniel Munoz-De La Nava (Spain)
q-Alex Bogomolov Jr. (Russia) v Brian Baker (U.S)
Tobias Kamke (Germany) v Flavio Cipolla (Italy)
q-Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (Germany) v 15-Stanislas Wawrinka
(Switzerland)
11-Juan Monaco (Argentina) v Andrey Kuznetsov (Russia)
Kevin Anderson (South Africa) v Paolo Lorenzi (Italy)
Xavier Malisse (Belgium) v Pablo Andujar (Spain)
David Goffin (Belgium) v 22-Fernando Verdasco (Spain)
26-Jurgen Melzer (Austria) v Mikhail Kukushkin (Kazakhstan)
Fabio Fognini (Italy) v Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain)
q-Julian Reister (Germany) v Guillaume Rufin (France)
Michael Russell (U.S.) v 5-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic)
4-David Ferrer (Spain) v Olivier Rochus (Belgium)
Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) v q-Tim Smyczek (U.S.)
w-John Millman (Australia) v Tatsuma Ito (Japan)
Albert Ramos (Spain) v 28-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyrpus)
23-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) v Matthew Ebden (Australia)
Evgeny Donskoy (Russia) v Adrian Ungur (Romania)
q-Maxime Authom (Belgium) v Carlos Berlocq (Argentina)
Victor Hanescu (Romania) v 16-Kei Nishikori (Japan)
10-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) v q-Steve Johnson (U.S.)
Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Spain) v Lukasz Kubot (Poland)
Bjorn Phau (Germany) v Somdev Devvarman (India)
Simone Bolelli (Italy) v 24-Jerzy Janowicz (Poland)
32-Julien Benneteau (France) v Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria)
Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France) v q-Ruben Bemelmans
(Belgium)
Lukas Lacko (Slovakia) v Gilles Muller (Luxembourg)
Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) v 8-Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia)
6-Juan Martin Del Potro v q-Adrian Mannarino (France)
Aljaz Bedene (Slovenia) v Benjamin Becker (Germany)
Jeremy Chardy (France) v q-Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (Spain)
Grega Zemlja (Slovenia) v 30-Marcel Granollers (Spain)
21-Andreas Seppi (Italy) v Horacio Zeballos (Argentina)
Igor Sijsling (Netherlands) v Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan)
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) v q-Rajeev Ram (U.S.)
Marinko Matosevic (Australia) v 12-Marin Cilic (Croatia)
14-Gilles Simon (France) v Filippo Volandri (Italy)
Tommy Robredo (Spain) v Jesse Levine (Canada)
Lu Yen-hsun (Taiwan) v Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Spain)
Gael Monfils (France) v 18-Alexander Dologopolov (Ukraine)
25-Florian Mayer (Germany) v w-Rhyne Williams (U.S.)
q-Ricardas Berankis (Lithuania) v Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine)
Joao Sousa (Portugal) v w-John-Patrick Smith (Australia)
Robin Haase (Netherlands) v 3-Andy Murray (Britain)
7-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) v Michael Llodra (France)
Go Soeda (Japan) v w-Luke Saville (Australia)
w-James Duckworth (Australia) v w-Benjamin Mitchell
(Australia)
Blaz Kavcic (Slovenia) v 29-Tomas Belluci (Brazil)
19-Tommy Haas (Germany) v Jarkko Nieminen (Finland)
Ivan Dodig (Croatia) v w-Wu Di (China)
w-Josselin Ouanna (France) v Alejandro Falla (Colombia)
Albert Montanes (Spain) v 9-Richard Gasquet (France)
13-Milos Raonic (Canada) Jan Hazek (Czech Republic)
q-Jamie Baker (Britain) v Lukas Rosol (Czech Republic)
q-Amir Weintraub (Israel) v Guido Pella (Argentina)
Steve Darcis (Belgium) v 17-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany)
27-Martin Klizan (Slovakia) v q-Daniel Brands (Germany)
Bernard Tomic (Australia) v Leonardo Mayer (Argentina)
q-Dudi Sela (Israel) v Nikolay Davydenko (Russia)
Benoit Paire (France) v 2-Roger Federer (Switzerland)
(Compiled by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by John O'Brien)
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Tennis-Revised Australian Open women's singles draw

MELBOURNE, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Revised Australian Open
women's singles draw after final qualifying (prefix denotes
seeding; w-indicates wild card; q-denotes qualifier):
1-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) v Monica Niculescu (Romania)
Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) v Karolina Pliskova (Czech
Republic)
q-Luksika Kumkhum (Thailand) v Sofia Arvidsson (Sweden)
Jamie Hampton (U.S.) v 31-Urszula Radwanska (Poland)
21-Varvara Lepchenko (U.S.) v Polona Hercog (Slovenia)
w-Caroline Garcia (France) v Elena Vesnina (Russia)
Mathilde Johansson (France) v q-Akgul Amanmuradova
(Uzbekistan)
Silvia Soler-Espinosa (Spain) v 16-Roberta Vinci (Italy)
10-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) v Sabine Lisicki (Germany)
Andrea Hlavackova (Czech Republic) v Donna Vekic (Croatia)
q-Daria Gavrilova (Russia) v Lauren Davis (U.S.)
q-Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) v 24-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
(Russia)
26-Hsieh Su-wei (Taiwan) v Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino (Spain)
Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) v Lourdes Dominguez Lino
(Spain)
Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan) v Christina McHale (U.S.)
Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) v 7-Sara Errani (Italy)
3-Serena Williams (U.S.) v Edina Gallovits-Hall (Romania)
Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) v Garbine Muguruza (Spain)
Ayumi Morita (Japan) v Anna Tatishvili (Georgia)
Annika Beck (Germany) v 28-Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan)
20-Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) v w-Jarmila Gajdosova (Australia)
q-Greta Arn (Hungary) v Jana Cepelova (Slovakia)
Rebecca Marino (Canada) v Peng Shuai (China)
14-Vania King (U.S.) v Maria Kirilenko (Russia)
12-Nadia Petrova (Russia) v Kimiko Date-Krumm (Japan)
Shahar Peer (Israel) v Alexandra Panova (Russia)
Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor (Spain) v Bojana Jovanovski (Serbia)
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Croatia) v 17-Lucie Safarova (Czech
Republic)
29-Sloane Stephens (U.S.) v Simona Halep (Romania)
Kristina Mladenovic (France) v Timea Babos (Hungary)
Melanie Oudin (U.S.) v Laura Robson (Britain)
Francesca Schiavone (Italy) v 8-Petra Kvitova (Czech
Republic)
6-Li Na (China) v Sesil Karatantcheva (Kazakhstan)
Pauline Parmentier (France) v Olga Govortsova (Belarus)
Kristyna Pliskova (Czech Republic) v w-Sacha Jones
(Australia)
Coco Vandeweghe (U.S.) v 27-Sorana Cirstea (Romania)
18-Julia Goerges (Germany) v q-Vera Dushevina (Russia)
Romina Oprandi (Switzerland) v Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria)
w-Zhang Yuxuan (China) v Zheng Jie (China)
Chang Kai-chen (Taiwan) v 9-Samantha Stosur (Australia)
13-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) v Melinda Czink (Hungary)
q-Chan Yung-jan (Taiwan) v Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia)
q-Maria Joao Koehler (Portugal) v q-Karin Knapp (Italy)
Johanna Larsson (Sweden) v22-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia)
32-Mona Barthel (Germany) v Ksenia Pervak (Kazakhstan)
Heather Watson (Britain) v Alexandra Cadantu (Romania)
Irina-Camelia Begu (Romania) v Arantxa Rus (Netherlands)
w-Bojana Bobusic (Australia) v 4-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland)
5-Angelique Kerber (Germany) v Elina Svitolina (Ukraine)
Lucie Hradecka (Czech Republic) v Kiki Bertens (Netherlands)
Casey Dellacqua (Australia) v w-Madison Keys (U.S.)
Stefanie Voegele (Switzerland) v 30-Tamira Paszek (Austria)
19-Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) v q-Michelle Larcher de Brito
(Portugal)
Camila Giorgi (Italy) v Stephanie Foretz Gacon (France)
q-Vesna Dolonc (Serbia) v w-Olivia Rogowska (Australia)
Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) v 11-Marion Bartoli (France)
15-Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) v w-Ashleigh Barty (Australia)
Mandy Minella (Luxembourg) v q-Valeria Savinykh (Russia)
Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) v Nina Bratchikova (Russia)
Chanelle Scheepers (South Africa) v 23-Klara Zakopalova
(Czech Republic)
25-Venus Williams (U.S.) v Galina Voskoboeva (Kazakhstan)
Alize Cornet (France) v Marina Erakovic (New Zealand)
Petra Martic (Croatia) v Misaki Doi (Japan)
Olga Puchkova (Russia) v 2-Maria Sharapova (Russia)
(Compiled by Ian Ransom/Greg Stutchbury; Editing by John
O'Brien)
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India's top cop calls for rape crackdown

nts and other AP reporting, Bikram Singh …more
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NEW DELHI (AP) — India's top law enforcement official said Friday that the country needs to crack down on crimes against women with "an iron hand" to prevent attacks such as the fatal gang rape of a student on a New Delhi bus last month.
That attack has sparked outrage across India and led to calls for tougher rape legislation and reforms of a police culture that often blames rape victims and refuses to file charges against accused attackers.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said crimes against women and marginalized sections of society are increasing, and it is the government's responsibility to stop them.
"This needs to be curbed by an iron hand," he told a conference of state officials from across India that was called to discuss how to protect women.
He called for changes in the law and the way police investigate cases so justice can be swiftly delivered. Many rape cases are bogged down in India's overburdened and sluggish court system for years.
"We need a reappraisal of the entire system," he said.
Five men were charged Thursday with murder, kidnapping and rape in the attack on a 23-year-old student who died over the weekend in a Singapore hospital from massive internal injuries. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Saturday at a new fast-track court inaugurated this week to deal with rape cases in the capital.
In the wake of the rape, several petitioners appealed to the Supreme Court to take an active role in the issue of women's safety.
On Friday, the court dismissed a petition asking it to suspend Indian lawmakers accused of crimes against women, saying it doesn't have jurisdiction, according to the Press Trust of India. The Association for Democratic Reforms, an organization that tracks officials' criminal records, said six state lawmakers are facing rape prosecutions and two national parliamentarians are facing charges of crimes against women that fall short of rape.
However, the court did agree to look into the widespread creation of more fast-track courts for accused rapists across the country.
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India rape victim's friend recounts ordeal

NEW DELHI (AP) — The companion of a woman who was gang-raped aboard a bus in New Delhi recounted in a television interview for the first time Friday how the pair was attacked for 2 1/2 hours before being thrown on the side of the road, where passersby ignored them and police debated jurisdiction issues before helping them.
The Dec. 16 attack has outraged Indians and led to calls for tougher rape laws and reforms of a police culture that often blames rape victims and refuses to file charges against accused attackers. The nation's top law enforcement official said the country needs to crack down on crimes against women with "an iron hand."
The 23-year-old woman died over the weekend from massive internal injuries suffered during the attack. Authorities charged five men with her murder and rape and were holding a sixth suspect believed to be a juvenile. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Saturday.
The woman and her male friend had just finished watching the movie "Life of Pi" at an upscale mall and were looking for a ride home. An autorickshaw driver declined to take them so they boarded the private bus with the six assailants inside, the companion told the Indian TV network Zee TV.
Authorities have not named the man because of the sensitivity of the case. The TV station also declined to give his name, although it did show his face during the interview. The man has a broken leg and was sitting in a wheelchair during the interview.
After a while, the men on the bus starting harassing and attacking the pair, he said.
"I gave a tough fight to three of them. I punched them hard. But then two others hit me with an iron rod," he said. The woman tried to call the police using her mobile phone, but the men took it away from her, he said. They then took her to the rear seats of the bus and raped her.
"The attack was so brutal I can't even tell you ... even animals don't behave like that," he said.
Afterward, he overheard some of the attackers saying she was dead, he said.
The men then dumped their bleeding and naked bodies under an overpass. He waved to passers-by on bikes, in autorickshaws and in cars for help.
"They slowed down, looked at our naked bodies and left," he said. After about 20 minutes, three police vans arrived and the officers began arguing over who had jurisdiction over the crime as the man pleaded for clothes and an ambulance, he said.
The man said he was given no medical care. Instead, he spent four days at the police station helping them investigate the crime. He said he visited his friend in the hospital, told her the attackers were arrested and promised to fight for her.
"She has awakened us all by her courage," he said. "People should move ahead in the struggle to prevent a similar crime happening again as a tribute to her."
On Friday, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said crimes against women and marginalized sections of society are increasing, and it is the government's responsibility to stop them.
"This needs to be curbed by an iron hand," he told a conference of state officials from across India that was called to discuss how to protect women.
He called for changes in the law and the way police investigate cases so justice can be swiftly delivered. Many rape cases are bogged down in India's overburdened and sluggish court system for years.
"We need a reappraisal of the entire system," he said.
In the wake of the rape, several petitioners appealed to the Supreme Court to take an active role in the issue of women's safety.
On Friday, the court dismissed a petition asking it to suspend Indian lawmakers accused of crimes against women, saying it doesn't have jurisdiction, according to the Press Trust of India. The Association for Democratic Reforms, an organization that tracks officials' criminal records, said six state lawmakers are facing rape prosecutions and two national parliamentarians are facing charges of crimes against women that fall short of rape.
However, the court did agree to look into the widespread creation of more fast-track courts for accused rapists across the country.
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India gang-rape victim's friend recounts attack

NEW DELHI (AP) — Passers-by refused to stop to help a naked, bleeding gang-rape victim after she was dumped from a bus onto a New Delhi street, and police delayed taking her to a hospital for 30 minutes, the woman's male companion said in an interview. It was his first public account of the gruesome attack that killed the 23-year-old student and prompted demands for reform of a law enforcement culture seen as lax in crimes against women.
The gang-rape victim's brother blamed a delay in medical treatment of nearly two hours for her death last week in a Singapore hospital.
The woman's male companion, who has not been named, sat in a wheelchair with a broken leg in his interview aired Friday on Indian TV station Zee News. He recounted the 2 ½ hour rape and beating by a group of men on a bus, which the pair had boarded as they were returning from seeing a movie together.
"I gave a tough fight to three of them. I punched them hard. But then two others hit me with an iron rod," he said. The woman tried to call the police using her mobile phone, but the men took it away from her, he said. They then took her to the rear seats of the bus and one-by-one began raping her, beating and violating her with an iron rod.
Afterward, he overheard some of the attackers saying the woman was dead before dumping both onto the street, he said.
On Saturday, police officer Vivek Gogia denied the companion's assertion that police officers debated jurisdiction for 30 minutes before taking the rape victim and her friend to a hospital.
In a statement, Gogia said police vans reached the spot where the rape victim and her friend were dumped within three minutes of receiving the alert. "Police vans left the spot for hospital with the victims within 12 minutes," he said.
That time was spent in borrowing bed sheets from a neighboring hotel to cover the naked rape victim and her friend, he said.
Also Saturday, a court asked police to produce five men accused of raping the student for pre-trial proceedings on Monday. Police have charged them with murder, rape and other crimes that could bring them the death penalty.
A sixth suspect, listed as a 17-year-old, was expected to be tried in a juvenile court, where the maximum sentence would be three years in a reform facility.
Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said the summary received from Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore said the rape victim's death was caused by septicemia and multiple-organ failure, the Press Trust of India news agency said.
He also told Magistrate Namrita Aggarwal that the DNA test confirmed that the blood of the victim tallied with the blood stains found on the clothes of all the accused.
Meanwhile, the rape victim's brother said the delay in providing medical treatment led to complications which perhaps caused her death.
"She told me that after the incident she had asked passers-by for help but to no avail, and it was only after the highway patrol alerted the police that she was rushed to hospital, but it had taken almost two hours," the Press Trust of India quoted the brother as saying in his ancestral village, Medawara Kala, in northern Uttar Pradesh state.
"By then a lot of blood was lost," he said.
The 23-year-old woman died last weekend from massive internal injuries suffered during the attack.
On the night of the attack, the woman and her companion had just finished watching the movie "Life of Pi" at an upscale mall and were looking for a ride home. An autorickshaw driver declined to take them, so they boarded the private bus with the six assailants inside, the companion told Zee News.
After the pair were on the bus for a while, the men started harassing and attacking them.
"The attack was so brutal I can't even tell you ... even animals don't behave like that," the man said.
The men dumped their bleeding and naked bodies under an overpass. The woman's companion waved to passersby on bikes, in autorickshaws and in cars for help, but no one stopped. "They slowed down, looked at our naked bodies and left," he said.
"My friend was grievously injured and bleeding profusely," he said. "Cars, autos and bikes slowed down and sped away. I kept waving for help. The ones who stopped stared at us, discussing what could have happened. Nobody did anything."
After about 20 minutes, three police vans arrived, but the officers argued over who had jurisdiction over the crime as the man pleaded for clothes and an ambulance, he said.
Finally, he said, they were taken to a hospital.
The man said he was given no medical care. He then spent four days at the police station helping police investigate the crime. He said he visited his friend in the hospital, told her the attackers were arrested and promised to fight for her.
Authorities have not named the man because of the sensitivity of the case. Zee News also declined to give his name, although it did show his face during the interview.
Indian law prohibits the disclosure of the identity of victims in rape cases, and police have opened an investigation into the TV station for broadcasting the interview, New Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said Saturday. Violators of the law can face up to two years in prison and a fine.
The woman's companion said he gave the TV interview because he hopes it will encourage rape victims to come forward and speak about their ordeals without shame.
He said his friend was determined to see that the attackers were punished. "She gave all details of the crime to the magistrate — things we can't even talk about," he said. "She told me that the culprits should be burnt alive."
He added, "People should move ahead in the struggle to prevent a similar crime happening again as a tribute to her."
Most people in India are reluctant to get involved in police business because once they become witnesses, they can be dragged into legal cases that can go on for years. Also, Indian police are often seen less as protectors and more as harassers.
On Friday, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde called for changes in the law and the way police investigate cases so justice can be swiftly delivered. Many rape cases are bogged down in India's overburdened and sluggish court system for years.
In the wake of the rape, several petitioners appealed to the Supreme Court to take an active role in the issue of women's safety.
On Friday, the court dismissed a petition asking it to suspend Indian lawmakers accused of crimes against women, saying it doesn't have jurisdiction, according to the Press Trust of India. The Association for Democratic Reforms, an organization that tracks officials' criminal records, said six state lawmakers are facing rape prosecutions and two national parliamentarians are facing charges of crimes against women that fall short of rape.
However, the court did agree to look into the widespread creation of more fast-track courts for accused rapists across the country.
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AP Photos: Falconers hunting on outskirts of Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Like his ancestors, Iraqi-born falcon trainer Abu Badr al-Anazi swings the carcass of a pigeon to attract a falcon released a few hundred meters (yards) away. The bird of prey arcs over the desert outskirts of Dubai before sinking its talons into the lure.
While the methods to develop top-quality hunting falcons date back to antiquity, its transition into a modern Middle Eastern passion has brought in microchip tagging and price tags that can run well over $10,000 for a prime bird.
The falconry season starts in November in the Persian Gulf states when the weather cools. In late afternoon and early mornings, the falconers — Emiratis, Syrians, Iraqis and others — drive into the desert outside Dubai in SUVs to train the birds for hunting and racing competitions organizing by the country's sheiks.
Each bird has a microchip inserted beneath its skin and a numbered ring fitted on its leg for identification.
Falconry has been part of the traditional life of the Arabian Peninsula for centuries. Bedouin have practiced it to hunt hare and houbara, a quail-like bird that is among the falcon's main prey in the wild. After the Gulf's oil boom, falconry turned into a more casual sport and hobby.
During the training session, one falconer removes the hood from the bird's eyes while another, in the distance, swings the lure — a dead pigeon or some meat — while calling the bird's name. If the bird catches the lure, it's rewarded with some meat. Later, the falconer uses a live pigeon to carry on the training.
This part is important for Islamic hunters as it teaches the falcon not to kill its prey immediately. In order for the hunters to be able to eat the prey in accordance with Muslim beliefs, it must still be alive when its throat is cut and blood is drained. Once properly trained, a falcon will hold a captured houbara without killing it.
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Syrian interior minister leaves Beirut hospital

 Syria's interior minister, wounded in a Damascus bombing, headed home on a private jet Wednesday after treatment in Beirut, airport officials said, despite calls from some Lebanese to put him on trial for Syrian actions in their country.
Mohammed al-Shaar's departure coincided with the defection of the commander of Syria's military police.
Officials at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport said al-Shaar left Beirut and was flying to Damascus. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Al-Shaar was wounded on Dec. 12 when a suicide bomber exploded his vehicle outside the Interior Ministry, killing five and wounding many, including the minister.
The Syrian government denied at first that al-Shaar was wounded. Then it emerged that he was brought to a Beirut hospital last week for treatment. The same minister was wounded when a bomb went off on July 18 during a high-level crisis meeting in Damascus, killing four top officials.
It was not clear if al-Shaar's treatment was completed or if he left because of political pressure. Lebanese are deeply divided over the Syria crisis.
The two neighbors have a long and bitter history.
Syrian forces moved into Lebanon in 1976 as peacekeepers after the country was swept in a civil war between Christian and Muslim militias. For nearly 30 years that followed, Lebanon lived under Syrian military and political domination.
That grip began to slip in 2005, when former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in Beirut. Widely accused of involvement — something it has always denied — Syria was forced to withdraw its troops. Even so, Damascus has maintained power and influence in Lebanon.
In the 1980s, al-Shaar was a top intelligence official in northern Lebanon when Syrian troops stormed the port city of Tripoli and crushed the Islamic Unification Movement. Hundreds of people were killed in the battles in 1986, and since then, many in northern Lebanon have referred to al-Shaar as "the butcher of Tripoli."
Shortly after he arrived in Beirut for treatment last week, anti-Syrian politicians, including legislators Jamal Jarrah and Mohammed Kabbara, called for al-Shaar's arrest. Another call came this week, when Lebanese lawyer Tarek Shandab filed a complaint to the country's prosecution accusing al-Shaar of "genocide and ethnic cleansing" in Tripoli.
In another development, the general who heads Syria's military police defected and joined the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime, one of the highest walkouts by a serving security chief during the country's 21-month uprising.
Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal appeared in a video aired on Al-Arabiya TV late Tuesday saying he is joining "the people's revolution."
Al-Shallal's defection comes as military pressure builds on the regime, with government bases falling to rebel assault near the capital Damascus and elsewhere across the country.
On Wednesday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government shelling in the northeastern province of Raqqa killed at least 20 people, including women and children.
Dozens of generals have defected since Syria's crisis began in March 2011. In July, Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass was the first member of Assad's inner circle to break ranks and join the opposition.
Al-Shallal is one of the most senior and held a top post at the time that he left. He said in the video that the "army has derailed from its basic mission of protecting the people and it has become a gang for killing and destruction." He accused the military of "destroying cities and villages and committing massacres against our innocent people who came out to demand freedom."
Thousands of Syrian soldiers have defected over the past 21 months and many of them are now fighting against government forces. Many have cited attacks on civilians as the reason they switched sides.
The Observatory said the shelling in an agricultural area of Raqqa province near the village of Qahtaniyeh killed 20, including eight children, three women and nine others.
An amateur video showed the bodies of a dozen people including children lying in a row inside a room. Some of them had blood on their clothes, while weeping could be heard in the background.
The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.
Also Wednesday, activists said rebels were attacking the Wadi Deif military base in the northern province of Idlib. The base, which is near the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan, has been under siege for weeks.
In October, rebels captured Maaret al-Numan, a town on the highway that links the capital Damascus with Aleppo, Syria's largest city and a major battleground in the civil war since July.
The attack on Wadi Deif comes a day after rebels captured the town of Harem near the Turkish border. The rebels have captured wide areas and military posts in northern Syria over the past weeks.
Syria's crisis began with protests demanding reforms but later turned into a civil war. Anti-regime activists estimate more than 40,000 have died in the past 21 months.
In Lebanon, airport officials in Beirut said Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and Assistant Foreign Minister Ahmad Arnous flew early Wednesday to Moscow.
Their visit to Moscow comes two days after Assad met in Damascus with Lakhdar Brahimi, the international envoy to Syria. Brahimi, who is scheduled to go to Moscow as well, gave no indication of progress toward a negotiated solution for the civil war.
Brahimi is still in Syria and met Tuesday with representatives of the opposition National Coordination Body, state-run news agency SANA said. The head of the group, Hassan Abdul-Azim, said Brahimi briefed them on his efforts to reach an "international consensus, especially between Russia and the United Stated to reach a solution."
NCB spokesman Rajaa al-Naser said his group said there must be an end to violence and formation of a "transitional government with full prerogatives.
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Iran ex-president's family sues radical critic

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Four children of an influential ex-Iranian president are suing a radical lawmaker for describing his family as a corrupt "octopus," heating up a struggle between hard-liners and moderates simmering since a contested 2009 election.
The latest salvo has rekindled the bitterness between backers of the current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and moderates headed by the former leader, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, just six months ahead of the next presidential election.
A lawyer filed the complaint for the family in the Special Clergy Court against the lawmaker, Hamid Rasai, an ally of Ahmadinejad. Rasai is also a cleric.
"Four children of Ayatollah Rafsanjani have registered their lawsuit against Rasai with the Special Clergy Court. I think Rasai will be summoned to the court within the next 10 days," said lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency.
In a speech broadcast on state radio, Rasai called one of the ex-president's sons, Mahdi Rafsanjani, a "corrupt monster who has always enjoyed ironclad immunity."
Rasai urged the judiciary to deal with him harshly, calling Rafsanjani and his relatives an "octopus family" that pressured judiciary and security bodies to free Mahdi.
Mahdi Rafsanjani was released from Evin prison on bail earlier this month.
Authorities arrested him in late September, a day after he returned to Iran from Britain, on charges of fomenting unrest in the aftermath of Iran's disputed 2009 presidential election. He has not been put on trial.
Rafsanjani's youngest daughter, Faezeh, is serving a six-month sentence on charges of distributing propaganda against Iran's ruling system.
Since Ahmadinejad's re-election in 2009, Rafsanjani's family has come under pressure from hard-liners. Rafsanjani supported Ahmadinejad's reformist challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Many analysts believe Ahmadinejad won the 2009 vote partly because he portrayed himself as a champion of the poor and called Rafsanjani a symbol of aristocracy. He also called Mousavi a protege of Rafsanjani.
In recent months, there are indications that the 78-year-old Rafsanjani, who favors a more moderate approach to the West, might try to make a political comeback.
Iran's judiciary rejected Rasai's statements, calling a large part of his remarks "sheer lies." In a statement, it said Rasai's remarks were "criminal" and must be dealt with by the court.
Several lawmakers responded Wednesday, claiming Rasai had parliamentary immunity. In the past, the judiciary has imprisoned lawmakers for making accusations against individuals who had not been convicted in court, saying parliamentary immunity doesn't allow a lawmaker to terrorize an innocent citizen.
Rafsanjani's family provided a written response to Rasai, which was posted on Rafsanjani's website Wednesday.
"It is expected that the respected Special Clergy Court, should it finds these remarks a kind of encroachment on the position of others, will take legal action ... because no one has the right to attribute crimes to a defendant who has not been sentenced in a competent court," the family said in its letter.
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Egypt's government sets priorities after charter

 Egypt's government set legislative priorities for parliament on Wednesday as it convened for the first time since a new constitution was passed, asking lawmakers to focus on setting rules for upcoming elections, regulating the media and fighting corruption.
The official confirmation Tuesday that the Islamist-drafted constitution passed in a referendum ushered in a new chapter in Egypt's two-year transition from authoritarian rule, likely to be characterized more by legal battles and less by street protests.
The dispute over the constitution deeply polarized the country, reigniting mass street protests that turned deadly at times.
"We have now moved from conflict in the streets between political forces and the regime to a new phase of legal disputes over legislation and control of state institutions," said Nasser Amin, the head of the Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession. "This is the most critical phase...and the battle won't be very clear to regular people."
The constitution's supporters, including Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and his government, had argued it would pave the way for more stability in Egypt and the building up of state institutions.
The largely secular and liberal opposition who opposed the constitution fear it enshrines a prominent role for Islamic law, or Shariah, in governing the country's affairs and reinforces Islamists' hold on power. They say it constitution restricts freedoms and ignores the rights of women and minorities.
The main opposition group has questioned the legitimacy of the charter itself, saying it was rushed through without national consensus.
"Egypt constitution (is) void as it conflicts (with) certain peremptory norms of international law," such as freedom of belief and expression, opposition leader Mohammed ElBaradei said on his Twitter account Wednesday.
Under the new constitution, the Islamist-dominated Shura Council, the traditionally toothless upper house, was granted temporary legislative powers and began its work a day after the official results of the referendum said the charter passed with nearly 64 percent. It will legislate until elections for a new lower house are held within two months.
"I congratulate the Egyptian people on behalf of the government for the passing of the constitution of the second republic, which establishes a modern democratic state where the people's voices are heard and where injustice, dictatorship, repression, nepotism and corruption take a back seat," Cabinet Minister Mohammed Mahsoub, who hails from the Islamist Wasat Party, told the session.
But the 270-member council is boycotted by the largely liberal and secular opposition groups —which has also rejected the presidential appointments to the upper house.
Morsi appointed 90 members to the council on the last day of the referendum on the constitution, in a bid to make it more representative. The other two-thirds of the members were elected last year with no more than seven percent of eligible voters.
But the new appointments maintained the hold of Islamists on the house.
Morsi has had legislative powers for months since a court dissolved the law-making lower house of parliament. He will address the nation later Wednesday to formally hand over legislative powers to the Shura Council.
In its first act, the Shura Council convened to swear in the 90 new members appointed by Morsi.
The government used the session to set its priorities for the coming period.
Speaking to the council, Mahsoub, the minister in charge of parliamentary affairs, said the government will prepare new legislation for parliament to discuss, including a law to regulate the upcoming parliamentary elections, anti-corruption laws, and laws to organize Egypt's efforts to recover money from corrupt officials from the era of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
Mahsoub said such bills can be ready as early as next week, when the council convenes again for its regular working session.
He said the government also wants to draft laws to revise maximum and minimum wages, expand social insurance coverage and regulate the media, as well as institute Egypt's first freedom of information act.
"At this critical time for the nation, this respected council is required to pass a set of laws for the state to complete building its institutions," he said.
Amin, the judicial expert, said the constitution will also reduce the number of judges sitting on the country's top court, the Supreme Constitutional Court, from 19 to 11. This was seen by some as a way to get rid of some of the most critical judges of Islamists. Some of them were appointed during the Mubarak era, and Morsi viewed them as holdovers who tried to undermine his authorities.
"The court now will constitute little danger to the legislation to be passed in the coming period," Nasser said. "After the end of the street battle, and after the constitution and new legislature, (the government) will make all the amendments it wants through the law."
The opposition also refused to attend a national dialogue hosted by Morsi's vice president, saying the agenda for the talks are not clear and the disputed constitution was already rushed through. Instead, it says it will contest the upcoming parliamentary elections and hopes to achieve a sizeable representation to challenge the constitution.
The opposition will be watching the Shura Council to see whether new legislation increases civil liberties and addresses poverty and social inequalities — or increases the ability of the state to crack down on its critics and impose an Islamist rule, as many fear.
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Syria minister leaves Beirut for fear of arrest

 Syria's wounded interior minister rushed home from a Beirut hospital on Wednesday for fear he would be arrested after some Lebanese called to put him on trial for his role in a 1986 crackdown by Syrian troops in Lebanon.
In another blow to President Bashar Assad, his commander of military police defected.
The defector, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal, is one of the most senior members of Assad's inner circle to join the opposition during the 21-month-old uprising against authoritarian rule. He appeared in a video aired on Al-Arabiya TV late Tuesday saying the army has been turned into a gang to kill and destroy.
Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar, wounded in a bombing of his ministry in Damascus, left a Beirut hospital before his treatment was finished and flew home to Damascus on a private jet, officials at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport said.
Al-Shaar was wounded on Dec. 12 when a suicide bomber exploded his vehicle outside the Interior Ministry, killing five and wounding many. He was brought to the hospital in neighboring Lebanon a week ago.
A top Lebanese security official told The Associated Press that al-Shaar was rushed out of Lebanon after authorities there received information that international arrest warrants could be issued against him because of his role in the crackdown against protesters in Syria.
Over the past week, some Lebanese officials and individuals have called for al-Shaar's arrest for his role in a 1986 crackdown in the northern city of Tripoli.
In the 1980s, al-Shaar was a top intelligence official in northern Lebanon when Syrian troops stormed Tripoli and crushed the Islamic Unification Movement — a Sunni Muslim group that then supported former Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasser Arafat. Hundreds of people were killed in the battles and since then, many in northern Lebanon have referred to al-Shaar as "the butcher of Tripoli."
The Lebanese security official said Lebanese citizens had also begun taking steps to sue al-Shaar for his role during Syria's military domination of Lebanon for decades. Lebanese are deeply divided over the Syria crisis.
Al-Shaar and other Syrian officials are also on a list of people subjected to European Union sanctions for violence against anti-regime protesters in Syria.
"Lebanese officials contacted Syrian authorities and that sped up his departure," said the security official, adding that a Lebanese medical team is expected to go to Damascus to continue al-Shaar's treatment there. "If such arrest warrants are issued, Lebanese judicial authorities will have to arrest him and this could be an embarrassment for the country," he said.
The airport and security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The Syrian government denied at first that al-Shaar was wounded. Then it emerged that he was brought to the Beirut hospital last week for treatment. It was the second time the minister was wounded in the civil war. He was also injured when a bomb went off on July 18 during a high-level crisis meeting in Damascus, killing four top security officials.
Lebanon and Syria have a long and bitter history.
Syrian forces moved into Lebanon in 1976 as peacekeepers after the country was swept into a civil war between Christian and Muslim militias. For nearly 30 years that followed, Lebanon lived under Syrian military and political domination.
That grip began to slip in 2005, when former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in Beirut. Syria was widely accused of involvement — something it has always denied — and Damascus was forced to withdraw its troops. Even so, Damascus has since maintained considerable power and influence in Lebanon.
Shortly after he arrived in Beirut for treatment last week, anti-Syrian politicians, including legislators Jamal Jarrah and Mohammed Kabbara, called for al-Shaar's arrest. Another call came this week, when Lebanese lawyer Tarek Shandab filed a complaint to the country's prosecution accusing al-Shaar of "genocide and ethnic cleansing" in Tripoli.
In another setback for the regime, the defection of the military police chief came as military pressure builds on the regime, with government bases falling to rebel assault near the capital Damascus and elsewhere across the country.
The defector al-Shallal appeared in a video aired on Al-Arabiya TV late Tuesday saying he is joining "the people's revolution."
Dozens of generals have defected since Syria's crisis began in March 2011. In July, Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass was the first member of Assad's inner circle to break ranks and join the opposition.
Al-Shallal is one of the most senior and held a top post at the time that he left. He said in the video that the "army has derailed from its basic mission of protecting the people and it has become a gang for killing and destruction." He accused the military of "destroying cities and villages and committing massacres against our innocent people who came out to demand freedom."
Thousands of Syrian soldiers have defected over the past 21 months and many of them are now fighting against government forces. Many have cited attacks on civilians as the reason they switched sides. Anti-regime activists estimate more than 40,000 have died in the past 21 months.
In violence on Wednesday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government shelling in the northeastern province of Raqqa killed at least 20 people, including eight children, three women and nine others. An agricultural area near the village of Qahtaniyeh was hit by the shelling.
An amateur video showed the bodies of a dozen people including children lying in a row inside a room. Some of them had blood on their clothes, while weeping could be heard in the background.
The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.
Also Wednesday, activists said rebels were attacking the Wadi Deif military base in the northern province of Idlib. The base, which is near the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan, has been under siege for weeks.
In October, rebels captured Maaret al-Numan, a town on the highway that links the capital Damascus with Aleppo, Syria's largest city and a major battleground in the civil war since July.
The attack on Wadi Deif comes a day after rebels captured the town of Harem near the Turkish border. The rebels have captured wide areas and military posts in northern Syria over the past weeks.
In Lebanon, airport officials in Beirut said Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and Assistant Foreign Minister Ahmad Arnous flew early Wednesday to Moscow.
Their visit to Moscow comes two days after Assad met in Damascus with Lakhdar Brahimi, the international envoy to Syria. Brahimi, who is scheduled to go to Moscow as well, gave no indication of progress toward a negotiated solution for the civil war.
Brahimi is still in Syria and met Tuesday with representatives of the opposition National Coordination Body, state-run news agency SANA said. The head of the group, Hassan Abdul-Azim, said Brahimi briefed them on his efforts to reach an "international consensus, especially between Russia and the United Stated to reach a solution."
NCB spokesman Rajaa al-Naser said his group said there must be an end to violence and formation of a "transitional government with full prerogatives.
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Venezuela VP hopes Chavez can be sworn in Jan. 10

 Venezuela's vice president said on Wednesday that the government is still aiming for President Hugo Chavez to be sworn in for a new term as scheduled next month, saying his condition has been improving after his cancer surgery in Cuba.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro declined to speculate when asked about scenarios if the ailing president is unable to take the oath of office on Jan. 10. He took the stance amid mounting concerns over the president's tough fight against complications following his fourth cancer-related operation, and a day after National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello floated the idea of postponing Chavez's inauguration if necessary.
"We're concentrating on prayer, on faith, on medical treatment that is among the best in the world, so that our commander in chief and president upholds his sacred duty on Jan. 10," Maduro said at a news conference. "Day after day ... he has been getting better, and he's the commander of a thousand victories, he's the commander of miracles."
Maduro, whom Chavez designated as his chosen successor before the surgery, also said that if Chavez isn't able to be sworn in as planned, "he left clear, public instructions about any scenario."
The 58-year-old president has not spoken publicly since his Dec. 11 surgery for pelvic cancer, and on Tuesday the government said he had a respiratory infection, though it was controlled. Chavez also suffered bleeding during the six-hour operation, which the government has said was promptly stanched.
Cabello raised the idea of postponing the inauguration on Tuesday, telling reporters it was simply his personal opinion and not an official proposal.
"You can't tie the will of the people to a date," Cabello said in remarks published by the newspaper El Nacional. "My idea is that we can't see the laws and the constitution from the restrictive point of view."
The constitution says the president should be sworn in for a new term on Jan. 10. Cabello expressed hope that Chavez could still be back for his swearing-in.
But Venezuelan analyst Edgar Gutierrez said that Cabello appeared to be sending a message that it might take longer, and that he believes pushing back the date is an option.
"It's the clearest signal that the president won't be in conditions to be sworn in," Gutierrez said. "Diosdado is preparing the field of opinion."
Cabello noted the constitution also says that if a president is unable to be sworn in by the National Assembly, he may be sworn in by the Supreme Court. "And it doesn't put a date" for that, he said, noting that there is no mention of a date in the article dealing with a swearing-in before the Supreme Court.
When Maduro was asked about the idea at Wednesday's news conference, he said: "We don't think it's favorable to enter into the field of speculation."
Cabello is one of the few government officials who have traveled to Cuba since Chavez's surgery, and his comments carry weight with the president's United Socialist Party of Venezuela, known as PSUV for its initials in Spanish. Cabello is an influential vice president of the party, and he was among the officials present at Maduro's news conference.
Asked about the possibility raised by Cabello, Maduro said that "any matter that has to be settled, we have our ... Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, which has shown a great ability to interpret any subject in the constitution that's necessary."
Venezuela's opposition coalition took issue with Cabello's proposal, saying in a statement that the president should appear and be sworn in on the scheduled date, and that "it can't be modified on the basis of personal opinions or political conveniences." If the president does not appear, the opposition statement said, the constitution is clear that he should be declared absent and a new election should be called.
Law professor Vicente Gonzalez de la Vega, however, agreed with Cabello, saying the constitution allows for the swearing-in to be before the Supreme Court at a later date, which it doesn't specify.
"The only thing that ends Jan. 10 is the current (presidential) term," said Gonzalez, a professor at Central University of Venezuela.
Gonzalez said that lawmakers can request a medical report "to see whether he's getting better, whether he can come or not." And if not, he said, a transition process should then begin, including the calling of a new election.
If a president-elect dies or is declared incapacitated before the swearing-in, the constitution says the National Assembly president would temporarily take charge of the government and a new presidential vote would have to be held within 30 days. Chavez has said that if such a vote is held, his supporters should elect Maduro to take his place.
Former Supreme Court magistrate Roman Duque Corredor has ruled out the possibility of authorities going to Cuba for a swearing-in, saying a president cannot take the oath of office outside Venezuela.
Diego Moya-Ocampos, an analyst with the consulting firm IHS Global Insight in London, said that given the control that Chavez's movement has over all state institutions, including the Supreme Court, "any arrangement that could suit the ruling PSUV party political strategies is possible.
"This could include postponing the date of the inauguration for the new term, if needed, or even taking advantage of any legal technicality that could see Chavez formally inaugurating his mandate from Cuba," Moya-Ocampos said. "This will all, of course, depend on Chavez's state of health and what is more strategically convenient to those making the decisions."
The Venezuelan leader underwent his latest operation after tests found his cancer had come back despite previous surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
He had said in July that tests showed he was cancer-free, and he was re-elected in October. But Chavez said later he had been suffering swelling and pain that he thought was due both to his exertion during the campaign and to his prior radiation treatments.
Independent medical experts consulted by The Associated Press said that given the government's account of the surgery and complications, they think it is unlikely Chavez would be able to stand up and take the oath of office as scheduled. They also said the vague information available makes it difficult to know the likely course of Chavez's recovery.
Dr. Gustavo Medrano, a lung specialist at the Centro Medico hospital in Caracas, said knowing whether Chavez is on a respirator and in an intensive care unit, and whether he is being given high doses of morphine for pain, would be important to judging where his recovery stands.
Based on the information provided about Chavez's condition, Medrano said that on his inauguration date "he shouldn't be on his feet."
Throughout his treatments, Chavez has kept secret several details about his illness, including the precise location of the tumors and the type of cancer.
Dr. Carlos Castro, scientific director of the Colombian League Against Cancer in Bogota, said much will depend on how Chavez's complications evolve, including the respiratory infection and other infections or bleeding that can develop after such surgery.
"Personally I don't think he can be sworn in on that scheduled date. I don't think Chavez is going to be in shape to," Castro told the AP in a telephone interview.
He said that recovering enough to function as president will probably take at least one or two months if all goes well. He noted that Chavez had mentioned being in serious pain before the operation.
"He still isn't out of danger, and he is still in what I'd call a critical phase in which anything can happen," Castro said.
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YPF, Chevron sign Argentina shale pact

Argentina's cash-strapped state energy company signed a partnership deal Wednesday with Chevron Corp. for a "massive development" of the South American country's vast nonconventional oil and gas resources.
YPF President Miguel Galuccio and Chevron's Latin America and Africa chief, Ali Moshiri, signed a letter of intent to start on a shale pilot project by drilling more than 100 wells within 12 months in the Vaca Muerta area of Patagonia. YPF hopes the effort will help it boost production to meet Argentina's growing energy demands.
The companies said the pilot project will cost a shared $1 billion, while it could take more than $15 billion for full development of the Vaca Muerta ("Dead Cow") formation that was discovered in Neuquen province in 2010.
Argentina expropriated a majority stake in YPF from Spain's Grupo Repsol in April after accusing the Spanish company of bleeding YPF dry and forcing Argentina to import record amounts of energy by failing to invest in Argentine operations.
Galuccio, who was picked by President Cristina Fernandez to lead YPF shortly after the company was nationalized, said he was delighted by the agreement with Chevron. Since taking charge, Galuccio had insisted on the need for YPF to find wealthy partners willing to make long-term bets on developing Argentina's energy potential.
The preliminary accord is key to YPF's plans to develop what experts believe are the third-largest shale resources in the world and boost the company's output, which dwindled under the control of Repsol.
Argentina needs billions of dollars to exploit its energy reserves, and until now major oil companies had failed to commit. Analysts blamed the government's heavy hand in the market and Repsol's threat to sue any partner for the $10 billion investment that Argentina seized when it took over YPF.
Repsol followed through on its threat by suing Chevron in New York earlier this month seeking to prevent the U.S. oil giant from developing energy assets in Argentina.
The Spanish company has asked a judge to block Chevron from partnering with YPF in developing Argentina's shale reserves as long as Argentine government officials are managing the company.
Moshiri said there is no legal basis for the lawsuit.
"What (Repsol) did is completely irrelevant and doesn't harm the relationship we've had with YPF," he told reporters in Buenos Aires via a teleconference from Houston, Texas. "Whatever happens, it won't block progress."
The federal lawsuit follows other legal claims that Repsol has filed in Madrid and Washington demanding compensation from Argentina.
An Argentine judge embargoed Chevron's assets in Argentina in November to carry out an Ecuadorean court order that awarded $19 billion to plaintiffs in an environmental damage lawsuit in the Amazon.
Moshiri said the embargo will not affect Chevron's partnership.
"It's a legal action of Ecuador's government against Chevron ... an issue between lawyers trying to sue everyone and not benefitting anyone," Moshiri said.
"We can continue our investments in Argentina. ... YPF is top-notch when it comes to technology and human resources," he said, adding that the companies plan to come up with a definitive agreement as soon as possible.
Chevron, based in San Ramon, California, has had a collaborative relationship with YPF since the early 1990s. The companies signed a memorandum of understanding in September to jointly develop Argentina's shale reserves, which trail only the U.S. and China in potential.
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Venezuela VP: Chavez conscious and recovering

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is conscious and progressively recovering more than a week after cancer surgery in Cuba, his vice president said Thursday.
In a televised address, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said Chavez was receiving treatment for a respiratory infection and has been with his family resting.
"He's well. He's conscious," Maduro said during the speech in central Guarico state. "He's fighting a great battle ... for his life, for his health."
Maduro reiterated that the president had undergone a complicated surgery.
The vice president's remarks, which varied little from other recent updates on Chavez's health, came as National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello defended his suggestion that Chavez's Jan. 10 inauguration could be postponed — a statement that has fed uncertainty about the his recovery.
Maduro, however, had said Wednesday that he didn't want to speculate about such a scenario and that the Supreme Court could settle any such question if needed.
"I only expressed my opinion, of which I'm absolutely convinced since it's in line with our constitution," Cabello said in a message on his Twitter account.
Speculation has grown about Chavez's condition more than a week after an operation in Cuba, his fourth in 18 months.
The 58-year-old Chavez has not spoken publicly since his Dec. 11 surgery for pelvic cancer, and on Tuesday the government said he had a respiratory infection, though it was controlled. Chavez also suffered bleeding during the six-hour operation, which the government said was promptly stanched.
Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin said Thursday she and other officials plan to attend Chavez's inauguration on Jan. 10 as planned. "We're going to see how the president's health evolves, and whether it's done on Jan. 10 or it's postponed," Holguin said in Bogota.
Venezuela's Constitution says the president should be sworn in for a new six-year term on Jan. 10 before the National Assembly.
Maduro, whom Chavez designated as his chosen successor before the surgery, said that if the president weren't able to be sworn in as planned, "he left clear, public instructions about any scenario."
Medical experts who aren't involved in the president's treatment say his recovery is likely to take a month or more if all goes well because he had undergone several surgeries, radiation treatment and chemotherapy.
State television on Wednesday night showed a documentary about Chavez's life, including his days selling sweets on the street as a boy in the rural town where he lived with his grandmother.
Maduro praised Chavez in his Thursday speech to supporters, calling the president a unique leader and echoing some of Chavez's battle cries.
"The unpatriotic oligarchy will never return to govern this country," Maduro said. "We're all Chavez! Chavez is a nation that's on its feet! And it will never, never be defeated!"
The crowd responded, chanting, "Chavez, friend, the people are with you.
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Venezuela court could decide on Chavez swearing-in

The president of Venezuela's Supreme Court said Thursday that it could decide whether it's constitutional to postpone the date of ailing President Hugo Chavez's swearing-in as he recovers from cancer surgery in Cuba.
Supreme Court President Luisa Estella Morales also said the matter has not yet been brought before the court. Chavez is due to be sworn in for another six-year term on Jan. 10, but complications after his Dec. 11 surgery and his silence after the procedure have thrown into doubt whether he will be capable of taking the oath of office.
"At this time, there is no constitutional question to resolve," Morales said at a news conference. "When the matter is brought up, if it's brought up, then it will be the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice that will decide."
The justice's remarks came after National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello suggested on Tuesday that Chavez's inauguration could be postponed — a statement that has fed uncertainty about the his prospects of recovery.
Cabello defended the idea in a message Thursday on his Twitter account, saying: "I only expressed my opinion, of which I'm absolutely convinced since it's in line with our constitution."
His stance conflicted with that of Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's chosen successor, who on Wednesday said he didn't want to speculate about such a scenario and that the Supreme Court could settle any such question if needed.
Venezuela's Constitution says the president should be sworn in on Jan. 10 before the National Assembly.
Maduro said in a televised speech Thursday that Chavez is conscious and progressively recovering. He also said Chavez has been with his family resting while receiving treatment for a respiratory infection.
"He's well. He's conscious," Maduro said during the speech in central Guarico state. "He's fighting a great battle ... for his life, for his health."
Maduro reiterated that the president had undergone a complicated surgery.
In addition to the infection, the 58-year-old Chavez also suffered bleeding during the operation, which the government said was promptly stanched.
It was his fourth cancer-related operation since June 2011.
Maduro said on Wednesday that the government is still hoping Chavez can return for the inauguration, and that if the president weren't able to be sworn in as planned, "he left clear, public instructions about any scenario."
Chavez said before leaving for Havana that his vice president should take his place if necessary and should be elected president if a new election is called.
The Supreme Court president's comments seemed to mirror those of Maduro. She said that for now, Chavez is out of the country after being granted permission to travel by lawmakers.
Morales noted that Chavez is a re-elected president rather than a new president, and said "continuity" is highly important. The constitution doesn't mention re-elected presidents, and only specifies with a president-elect should take office.
Former Supreme Court President Cecilia Sosa agreed with Morales' stance and also said that the constitution is quite clear that on Jan. 10 "one term ends and another begins."
"The one that ends can't be extended," Sosa told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Constitutional law professor Henrique Sanchez Falcon agreed, saying that extending the term "is absolutely impossible."
Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin said Thursday she and other officials plan to attend Chavez's inauguration on the scheduled date. "We're going to see how the president's health evolves, and whether it's done on Jan. 10 or it's postponed," Holguin said in Bogota.
Medical experts who aren't involved in the president's treatment say his recovery is likely to take a month or more if all goes well because he had undergone previous surgeries, radiation treatment and chemotherapy.
State television on Wednesday night showed a documentary about Chavez's life, including his days selling sweets on the street as a boy in the rural town where he lived with his grandmother.
Maduro praised Chavez in his Thursday speech to supporters, calling the president a unique leader and echoing some of Chavez's battle cries.
"The unpatriotic oligarchy will never return to govern this country," Maduro said. "We're all Chavez! Chavez is a nation that's on its feet! And it will never, never be defeated!"
The crowd responded, chanting, "Chavez, friend, the people are with you.
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Ecuador Central Bank president resigns over degree

 Ecuador's Central Bank president has resigned after acknowledging that he presented a fake academic degree 22 years ago — a scandal that prompted the country's leader to call for him to face justice.
Central Bank President Pedro Delgado, who is a cousin of Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, apologized to the nation, the government and his family on Wednesday at a news conference.
"With honesty, I should acknowledge that I made a very serious mistake 22 years ago," Delgado said. "I made a wrong decision to achieve my academic objective."
He acknowledged that he had given a Costa Rican business school "a document with no value (showing) a degree I didn't hold."
"I kept this act secret. I offer an apology to my wife, children, the Ecuadorean people, the government ... and above all to President Rafael Correa," Delgado said.
Correa called it a "very hard day" in a message on his Twitter account.
"We've verified that Pedro Delgado had presented a false degree," Correa said in the message, adding that it "has done serious damage to the revolution."
The scandal erupted after an investigation by opposition politician Enrique Herreria into Delgado's academic record at the Catholic University of Ecuador and the prestigious INCAE Business School in Costa Rica.
Herreria told reporters on Thursday that Delgado had left the country, possibly for the United States.
Correa later said that Delgado had traveled to Miami for a son's wedding and would be back after Christmas.
"Pedro hasn't fled the country. That trip was planned because tomorrow his oldest son is getting married," Correa said at a news conference. "He has to return to be responsible for his actions."
Correa said that a government official traveled this week to Costa Rica to investigate the claims about the fake degree, and once confirmed, "we asked for his resignation."
"He will have to assume his responsibility and respond before the justice system. Those behaviors aren't acceptable in our government, everything necessary will have to be investigated," Correa told reporters.
Delgado was appointed in November 2011. During his tenure, Delgado also faced questions from government critics about an $800,000 loan granted to an Argentine without going through proper procedures, and about his purchase of a house in Miami with a loan.
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Egyptians vote on Islamist-backed constitution

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptians voted on Saturday in the second and final phase of a referendum on an Islamist-backed constitution that has polarized the nation, with little indication that the expected passage of the charter will end the political crisis in which the country is mired.
Islamist President Mohammed Morsi is likely to emerge from a bruising month-long battle with a narrow victory for the constitution he and his Islamist allies sought. But it has been at the cost of alienating many who had backed him, leaving an administration he has long tried to depict as broad-based even more reliant on the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists.
The liberal and secular opposition, in turn, has ridden a wave of anger among a significant part of the population against Morsi and the Brotherhood, who many feel are establishing a lock on power. But it has been unable to block a charter critics fear will bring greater implementation of Islamic law and it now faces the question of how to confront Morsi now.
Morsi faced more bleeding from his administration. Hours before polls closed, Morsi's vice president, Mahmoud Mekki, announced his resignation.
Shortly afterward, state TV reported the resignation of Central Bank Governor Farouq el-Oqdah. But then it carried a denial by the Cabinet that he had stepped down. No explanation was given for the conflicting reports, which come after several days of media report that the administration was trying to convince el-Oqdah not to quit his post, at a time when Egypt's pound has been losing value and a crucial deal for a much needed IMF loan of $4.8 billion has been postponed.
Mekki's move was in part expected since the new charter would eliminate the vice presidency post. But Mekki hinted that the hurried departure could be linked to Morsi's policies.
"I have realized a while ago that the nature of politics don't suit my professional background as a judge," his resignation letter, read on state TV, said. He said he had first submitted his resignation last month but events forced him to stay on.
Over the past month, seven of Morsi's 17 top advisers and the one Christian among his top four aides resigned. Like Mekki, they said they had never been consulted in advance on any of the president's moves, including Nov. 22 decrees placing him above any oversight and granting himself near absolute powers.
Saturday's vote is taking place in 17 of Egypt's 27 provinces with about 25 million eligible voters. The first phase on Dec. 15 produced a "yes" majority of about 56 percent with a turnout of some 32 percent, according to preliminary results.
Preliminary results for the second round are expected late Saturday or early Sunday. The charter is expected to pass, but a low turnout or relatively low "yes" vote could undermine perceptions of its legitimacy. There was no immediate word on Saturday's turnout, but in some places lines were short or non-existent.
For some, the vote was effectively a referendum on Morsi himself, who opponents accuse of turning the government into a monopoly for the Muslim Brotherhood.
In the village of Ikhsas in the Giza countryside south of Cairo, buses ferried women voters to the polling centers in an effort villagers said was by the Muslim Brotherhood.
An elderly man who voted "no" screamed in the polling station that the charter is "a Brotherhood constitution."
"We want a constitution in the interest of Egypt. We want a constitution that serves everyone, not just the Brotherhood. They can't keep fooling the people," 68-year-old Ali Hassan, wearing traditional robes, said.
But others were drawn by the hope that a constitution would finally bring some stability after nearly two years of tumultuous transitional politics following Egypt's 2011 revolution that removed autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Though few fault-lines in Egypt are black and white, there appeared to be an economic split in voting, with many of the middle and upper classes rejecting the charter and the poor voting "yes."
In Ikhsas, Hassan Kamel, a 49-year-old day worker, said "We the poor will pay the price" of a no vote.
He dismissed the opposition leadership as elite and out of touch. "Show me an office for any of those parties that say no here in Ikhsas or south of Cairo. They are not connecting with people."
As was the case in last week's vote, opposition and rights activists reported numerous irregularities: polling stations opening later than scheduled, Islamists outside stations trying to influence voters to say "yes," and independent monitors denied access.
For the past four weeks, both the opposition and the Islamists have brought giant crowds out into the streets in rallies — first over Morsi's grab of new powers, though they were since revoked, and then over the charter itself, which was finalized by a Constituent Assembly made up almost entirely of Islamists amid a boycott by liberal and Christian members.
The rallies and protests repeatedly turned in to clashes, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 1,000. The most recent came on the eve of Saturday's voting, when Islamists and Morsi opponents battled each other for hours with stones in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
The promise of stability even drew one Christian woman in Fayoum, south of Cairo, to vote "yes" — a break with most Christians nationwide who oppose the draft. Hanaa Zaki said she wanted an end to Egypt's deepening economic woes.
"I have a son who didn't get paid for the past six months. We have been in this crisis for so long and we are fed up," said Zaki, waiting in line along with bearded Muslim men and Muslim women wearing headscarves in Fayoum, a province that is home to both a large Christian community and a strong Islamist movement.
In Giza's upscale Mohandiseen neighborhood, a group of 12 women speaking to each other in a mix of French, Arabic and English said they all intended to vote "no."
"My friends are Muslim and are voting 'no.' It's not about Christian versus Muslim, but it is Muslim Brotherhood versus everyone else," said one of them, Shahira Sadeq, a Christian physician.
Kamla el-Tantawi, 65, said she voted no "against what I'm seeing" — and she gestured at a woman nearby wearing the full-face veil known as niqab, a hallmark of ultraconservative Muslim women.
"I lose sleep thinking about my grandchildren and their future. They never saw the beautiful Egypt we did," she said, harkening back to a time decades ago when few women even wore headscarves covering their hair, much less the black niqab that blankets the entire body and leaves only the eyes visible.
In the neighboring, poorer district of Imbaba, Zeinab Khalil — a mother of three who wears the niqab — was backing the charter.
"Morsi, God willing, will be better than those who came before him," she said. "A 'yes' vote moves the country forward. We want things to calm down, more jobs and better education."
The voices reflected the multiple concerns that have been shaking Egypt for weeks. For some, the dispute has been about Shariah and greater religion in public life — whether to bring it about or block it. In many areas, clerics have been preaching in favor of the charter in their sermon.
But the dispute has also been about political power. An opposition made up of liberals, leftists, secular Egyptians and a swath of the public angered over Morsi's 5-month-old rule fear that Islamists are creating a new Mubarak-style autocracy.
Morsi's allies say the opposition is trying to use the streets to overturn their victories at the ballot box over the past two years. They also accuse the opposition of carrying out a conspiracy by former members of Mubarak's regime to regain power.
Many voters were under no illusions the turmoil would end.
"I don't trust the Brotherhood anymore and I don't trust the opposition either. We are forgotten, the most miserable and the first to suffer," said Azouz Ayesh, sitting with his neighbors as their cattle grazed in a nearby field in the Fayoum countryside.
He said a yes would bring stability and a no would mean no stability. But, he added, "I will vote against this constitution."
In Ikhsas village, Marianna Abdel-Messieh, a Christian, was the only woman not wearing a head scarf in the women's line outside a polling center. She was voting "no," but expected that whatever the result, Egypt would see more rule by Shariah.
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Russia welcomes any offer to give Assad refuge

BEIRUT (AP) — Russia would welcome any country's offer of safe haven for Syrian President Bashar Assad, but has no plans to make one of its own, Moscow's foreign minister said in the latest comments to suggest a growing distance between the two allies.
Sergey Lavrov's remarks on Friday night were among the clearest signs yet that Russia could be preparing for a Syria without Assad, as rebel pressure on the embattled leader intensifies. Over the past four weeks, fighting has reached Damascus, his seat of power, and rebels have captured a string of military bases.
Up to now, Russia has vetoed three Western-backed resolutions aimed at pressuring Syria's government to stop the violence that has killed more than 40,000 people over the past 21 months. While Russian leaders have given no concrete signs that stance has changed, their tone has shifted as rebels advance on the outskirts of the capital.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin distanced himself further than ever from the Syrian president, saying Russia does not seek to protect him and suggesting his regime is growing weaker.
Speaking to reporters late Friday, Lavrov reiterated Moscow's position that "it doesn't invite President Assad here," although he said other countries had asked Russia to convey their offer of safe passage to Assad.
While he would not name the countries, Lavrov said Russia had responded by telling them to go directly to the Syrian leader.
"If there is anyone willing to provide him guarantees, they are welcome!" Lavrov said on board a plane returning from Brussels, where he attended a Russia-EU summit.
"We would be the first to cross ourselves and say: "Thank God, the carnage is over! If it indeed ends the carnage, which is far from certain."
Syria's conflict started in March last year as an uprising against Assad, whose family has ruled the country for four decades. But the bloody crackdown that followed led rebels to take up arms, and the ensuing fighting transformed into a civil war.
The regime has come under added condemnation in recent weeks as Western officials raise concerns Assad might use chemical weapons against rebels in an act of desperation.
Syria refuses to confirm or deny if it has such weapons but is believed to have nerve agents as well as mustard gas. It also possesses Scud missiles capable of delivering them.
Lavrov said the Syrian government has pulled its chemical weapons together to one or two locations from several arsenals across the country to keep them safe amid the rebel onslaught.
"According to the information we have, as well as the data of the U.S. and European special services, the government is doing everything to secure it," he said. "The Syrian government has concentrated the stockpiles in one or two centers, unlike the past when they were scattered across the country."
Lavrov added that U.N.-Arab League peace envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, would visit Moscow for talks before the year's end.
The conflict's sectarian dimension looked set to deepen at the weekend, as rebels threated to storm two predominantly Christian towns in a central region if residents do not "evict" government troops they say are using the towns as a base to attack nearby areas.
A video released by rebels showed Rashid Abul-Fidaa, who identified himself as the commander of the Ansar Brigade for Hama province, calling on locals in Mahrada and Sqailbiyeh to rise up against Assad's forces or prepare for an assault.
"You should perform your duty by evicting Assad's gangs," said Abdul-Fidaa, who wore an Islamic headband and was surrounded by gunmen. "Otherwise our warriors will storm the hideouts of the Assad gangs."
He also accused regime forces of taking positions in the two towns in order to "incite sectarian strife" between Christians and the predominantly Sunni opposition. Assad belongs to the Alawite minority sect, an off-shoot of Shiite Islam.
The threat comes just two days after a U.N. team investigating human rights abuses in Syria accused anti-Assad militants of hiding among the civilian population, triggering strikes by government artillery and the air force.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the activist group which reported the rebel ultimatum on Saturday, said such an attack by rebels could force thousands of Christians from their homes.
Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Syria's population, say they are particularly vulnerable to the violence sweeping the country of 22 million people. They are fearful that Syria will become another Iraq, with Christians caught in the crossfire between rival Islamic groups.
Clashes between troops and rebels in the central city of Homs, Syria's third largest, have already displaced tens of thousands of Christians, most of whom either fled to the relatively safe coastal areas or to neighboring Lebanon.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said some Christians and Alawites have also left Hama province in the past several days to escape violence. He said some of them found shelter in the coastal city of Tartus.
In Damascus, the new head of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch said that Christians in Syria had deep roots in the country and were not part of the conflict. Speaking to reporters in Damascus, Patriarch John X. Yazigi urged rival factions to negotiate a settlement.
Violence continued unabated on Saturday, particularly in the capital.
The Observatory said a car bomb went off in the Damascus neighborhood of Qaboun, killing at least five people and wounding others. A Syrian official confirmed the blast but had no immediate comment regarding casualties.
Elsewhere, the Syrian army said in a statement carried on state-run TV that it had repelled a rebel attack on a military base that killed a regimental commander in the Damascus suburb of Chebaa.
Also in Damascus, the state-run news agency SANA said gunmen assassinated a cameraman for the government's TV station, the latest such killing in recent months.
In another development, 11 rebel groups said they have formed a new coalition, the Syrian Islamic Front.
A statement issued by the new group, dated Dec. 21 and posted on a militant website Saturday, described it as "a comprehensive Islamic front that adopts Islam as a religion, doctrine, approach and conduct."
Several rebel groups have declared their own coalitions in Syria, including one calling itself an "Islamic state" in the embattled northern city of Aleppo.
The statement said the new group will work to avoid differences or disputes with the other Islamic groups.
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Bombing kills 4, wounds 11 in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) — An explosion at a shop selling CDs killed 4 people in a town northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Saturday.
Police officials say a bomb hidden in a plastic bag exploded near the shop Saturday afternoon in the town of Qazaniyah. Eleven people were wounded in the attack, and the shop was completely destroyed. Qazaniyah is 180 kilometers (110 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
A medic in a nearby hospital confirmed the death toll. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief reporters.
Violence has ebbed in Iraq, but insurgent attacks are still frequent.
The attack comes in the midst of growing political uncertainty.
Iraq's president Jalal Talabani, who was working to ease tensions between Iraq's Shiite Arab-led government and the Kurdish minority, suffered a stroke earlier this week and was flown to Germany for treatment. And on Thursday, Iraqi security forces arrested at least 10 guards assigned to the finance ministry, angering the Sunni minister and his political allies.
In the northern Kurdish region, Sunni parliament speaker, Osama al-Nujaifi met with the leader of the self-ruled Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani in order to discuss their response to the growing crisis.
In a statement after their meeting, both sides expressed their discontent with the arrests, calling on the central government to take into consideration the "delicate period Iraq is going through."
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Egypt's disputed charter headed toward approval

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Islamist-backed constitution headed toward likely approval in a final round of voting on Saturday, but the deep divisions it has opened up threaten to fuel continued turmoil.
Passage is a victory for Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, but a costly one. The bruising battle over the past month stripped away hope that the long-awaited constitution would bring a national consensus on the path Egypt will take after shedding its autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak nearly two years ago.
Instead, Morsi disillusioned many non-Islamists who had once backed him and has become more reliant on his core support in the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists. Hard-liners in his camp are determined to implement provisions for stricter rule by Islamic law in the charter, which is likely to futher fuel divisions.
His liberal and secular opposition, in turn, faces the task of trying to organize the significant portion of the population angered by what they see as attempts by Morsi and the Brotherhood to gain a lock on political power. The main opposition group, the National Salvation Front, said it would now start rallying for elections for the next lawmaking, lower house of parliament, expected early next year.
"We feel more empowered because of the referendum. We proved that at least we are half of society (that) doesn't approve of all this. We will build on it," the Front's spokesman, Khaled Daoud, said. Still, he said, there was "no appetite" at the moment for further street protests.
Saturday's voting in 17 of Egypt's 27 provinces was the second and final round of the referendum. Though the constitution is widely expected to pass, the key questions will be over turnout and the margin of victory. Preliminary results from the first round a week ago showed only 32 percent turnout and a relatively low edge of 56 percent for the "yes" vote. Preliminary results from the second round are expected to emerge by early Sunday.
The new constitution would come into effect once official results are announced, expected in several days.
In a sign of disarray in Morsi's administration, his vice president and — possibly — the central bank governor resigned during Saturday's voting. Vice President Mahmoud Mekki's resignation had been expected since his post is eliminated under the new constitution. But its hasty submission even before the charter has been sealed and his own resignation statement suggested it was linked to Morsi's policies.
"I have realized a while ago that the nature of politics don't suit my professional background as a judge," his resignation letter, read on state TV, said. Mekki said he had first submitted his resignation last month but events forced him to stay on.
The status of Central Bank Governor Farouq el-Oqdah was murkier. State TV first reported his resignation, then soon after reported the Cabinet denied he has stepped down in a possible sing of confusion. El-Oqdah, in his post since 2003, has reportedly been seeking to step down but in recent weeks the administration was trying to convince him to stay on. The government is eager to show some stability in the economy as the Egyptian pound has been sliding and a much-needed $4.8 billion loan from the IMF has been postponed.
Over the past month, seven of Morsi's 17 top advisers and the one Christian among his top four aides resigned. Like Mekki, they said they had never been consulted in advance on any of the president's moves, including his Nov. 22 decrees, since rescinded, that granted himself near absolute powers.
Those decrees sparked large street protests by hundreds of thousands around the country, bringing counter-rallies by Islamists. The turmoil was further fueled with a Constituent Assembly almost entirely made up of Islamists finalized the constitution draft in the dead of night amid a boycott by liberals and Christians. Rallies turned violent. Brotherhood offices were attacked, and Islamists attacked an opposition sit-in outside the presidential palace in Cairo leading to clashes that left 10 dead.
The turmoil opened up a vein of bitterness that the polarizing constitution will do little to close. Morsi opponents accused him of seeking to create a new Mubarak-style autocracy. The Brotherhood accused his rivals of being former Mubarak officials trying to topple an elected president and return to power. Islamists branded opponents "infidels" and vowed they will never accept anything but "God's law" in Egypt.
Both rounds of voting saw claims by the opposition and rights groups of voting violations. On Saturday they said violations ranged from polling stations opening late to Islamists seeking to influence voters to say "yes." The official MENA news agency said at least two judges have been removed for coercing voters to cast "yes" ballots.
The opposition's talk of now taking the contest to the parliament elections represented a shift in the conflict — an implicit gamble that the opposition can try to compete under rules that the Islamists have set. The Brotherhood's electoral machine has been one of its strongest tools since Mubarak's fall, while liberal and secular parties have been divided and failed to create a grassroots network.
In the first post-Mubarak parliament elections last winter, the Brotherhood and ultraconservative Salafis won more than 70 percent of seats in the lower chamber, which was later dissolved by a court order. The opposition is now betting it can do better with the anger over Morsi's performance so far.
The schism in a country that has for decades seen its institutions function behind a facade of stability was on display in Saturday's lines of voters.
In the village of Ikhsas in the Giza countryside south of Cairo, an elderly man who voted "no" screamed in the polling station that the charter is "a Brotherhood constitution."
"We want a constitution in the interest of Egypt. We want a constitution that serves everyone, not just the Brotherhood. They can't keep fooling the people," Ali Hassan, a 68-year-old wearing traditional robes, said.
But others were drawn by the hope that a constitution would finally bring some stability after nearly two years of tumultuous transitional politics. There appeared to be a broad economic split, with many of the middle and upper classes rejecting the charter and the poor voting "yes" — though the division was not always clear-cut.
In Ikhsas, Hassan Kamel, a 49-year-old day worker, said "We the poor will pay the price" of a no vote.
He dismissed the opposition leadership as elite and out of touch. "Show me an office for any of those parties that say no here in Ikhsas or south of Cairo. They are not connecting with people."
In the industrial working class district of Shubra El-Kheima just north of Cairo, women argued while waiting in line over the draft charter.
Samira Saad, a 55 year old housewife, said she wanted her five boys to find jobs.
"We want to get on with things and we want things to be better," she said.
Nahed Nessim, a Christian, questioned the integrity of the process. "There is a lot of corruption. My vote won't count." She was taken to task by Muslim women wearing the niqab, which blankets the entire body and leaves only the eyes visible and is worn by ultraconservative women.
"We have a president who fears God and memorizes His words. Why are we not giving him a chance until he stands on his feet?" said one of the women, Faiza Mehana, 48.
The promise of stability even drew one Christian woman in Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, to vote "yes" — a break with most Christians nationwide who oppose the draft. Hanaa Zaki said she wanted an end to Egypt's deepening economic woes.
"I have a son who didn't get paid for the past six months. We have been in this crisis for so long and we are fed up," said Zaki, waiting in line along with bearded Muslim men and Muslim women wearing headscarves in Fayoum, a province that is home to both a large Christian community and a strong Islamist movement.
The scene In Giza's upscale Mohandiseen neighborhood was starkly different.
A group of 12 women speaking to each other in a mix of French, Arabic and English said they were all voting "no."
"It's not about Christian versus Muslim, it is Muslim Brotherhood versus everyone else," said one of them, Shahira Sadeq, a Christian physician.
Kamla el-Tantawi, 65, said she was voted "against what I'm seeing" — and she gestured at a woman nearby wearing the niqab.
"I lose sleep thinking about my grandchildren and their future. They never saw the beautiful Egypt we did," she said, harkening back to a time decades ago when few women even wore headscarves covering their hair, much less the black niqab.
Many voters were under no illusions the turmoil would end.
"I don't trust the Brotherhood anymore and I don't trust the opposition either. We are forgotten, the most miserable and the first to suffer," said Azouz Ayesh, sitting with his neighbors as their cattle grazed in a nearby field in the Fayoum countryside.
He said a "yes" would bring stability and a "no" would mean no stability. But, he added, "I will vote against this constitution."
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