IEC decision on old voting cards faces backlash

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Kabul, Feb 6 : Afghan political parties strongly rejected the decision of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to use the old registration system for the 2014 presidential election, warning of a political crisis if the election is fraudulent.

Political groups said that the government's intervention in the IEC's work is a cause of serious concern.

"The government illegally intervened in the commission's affairs and the commission is not capable of working independently without government intervening, so it is a concern for us," National Coalition spokesman Sayed Aqa Fazil Sancharaki said, adding that the coalition will fight the decision.

The IEC announced that it will support the government stance that registration cards from the last presidential  election will be valid for 2014, despite it previously pushing for a new registration of all voters countrywide citing fraud concerns.

The excuse given by President Hamid Karzai himself for the government unwillingness to have a new registration process was because there was insufficient budget.

"The issue of money is not a reason," National Front spokesman Faizullah Zaki said. "It is a deceiving line from the government. The government's aim is an election with fraud."

The Right & Justice party said there can be no hope of a transparent election if the old voting system and cards are used.

"The last statement by the election commission on the use of the old cards is an indicator of the government's influence that it cannot guarantee a fair and transparent election," party spokesman Abass Noyan said.

Meanwhile, the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan called for the IEC to clearly explain how it will ensure a fair election with the use of the old cards, given that until recently the IEC said it was not possible.

FEFA Executive Director Jandad Spinghar said the IEC should be summoned by Parliament on this matter because the current system allows people to vote at least twice.

The IEC retreated from its previous demands of a new registration for all Afghan voters after its previous drafts on how this will to happen were rejected by the government, twice.

New registration and electronic cards will only be issued to those citizens who are not already registered and who have qualified to vote since the last election.

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America's non-committal relationship with Afghanistan

Kabul, Feb 6 : "A decgade of war is now ending," the president announced in his inaugural address, even as soldiers continue to prepare for nine-month deployments to destinations including Uruzgan and Kandahar.

The White House has long talked in the abstract about bringing a ‘responsible' end to the war President Obama once called the fight ‘we have to win.' What has been less clear is what the U.S. government has in mind regarding the very critical details concerning its commitment to Afghanistan post-2014. Among the central questions: how many U.S. troops will remain on in Afghanistan, and what size Afghan force will the U.S. push for and fund?

"I can't, sitting here, tell you whether I believe that this administration is actually committed to trying to make the Afghan Army as good as it can be in the next two years or whether we're simply trying to look for a decent interval while we dump that," former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann recently said at the Brookings Institution.

"The fact is we have a policy. What we are not clear about is whether we're serious about that policy and what the policy requires," Neumann said. "We need a discussion that is more articulated about missions, both military missions and others, and one can take different positions on whether you should advise in the field or not, or whether you're going to provide air support and some other key things, at least for a limited period while the Afghans finish development of those."

The American people, for their part, seem to have amnesia when it comes to recent conflicts. Iraq is a faint though bloody memory, and only for a fighting sliver of our country is Afghanistan a war that is still being fought.

Even as the battle in Afghanistan begins its slow wind down, America and its leaders still struggle to engage with it in a serious way.

That is why it is not terribly surprising to see Zero Dark Thirty disturb so many. It was not a glorification of torture, or a justification of its horrors and the consequences of it. Instead the film offered a well-lit snapshot of a fight and a war that few in this country have acknowledged more than momentarily, let alone debated. The film reminds viewers of battles most have not wanted to see or speak of beyond perfunctory praise for America's troops fighting and dying in places their countrymen will never know.

When war does not intrude on Americans' daily life, even in news headlines, it is easy to understand why colliding with the brutality of its reality is shocking. America has forcefully avoided engaging with a war fought by less than one percent of its population, and its leaders have shrunk at explaining either the stakes or the mission at hand in Afghanistan. The closest that many have come to reading about the Afghanistan war of late is probably coverage of the scandal surrounding former Gen. David Petraeus' resignation.

With Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to Washington earlier this month comes another step on the path to closing out this war with which Americans long ago grew tired. Multiple U.S. troop deployments, deadly ‘green on blue' attacks on American soldiers, and Afghan government corruption account for much of the exhaustion. But a lack of leadership from Washington is also worth noting.

In his book tour interviews former Gen. Stanley McChrystal nearly pleaded with the American public to care about its longest-ever war. He also argued that not all is lost.

"I believe Afghanistan can be stable," McChrystal said on CBS. "I think they must take responsibility for their security, the vast lion's share, but I think the strategic partnership that President Obama offered to President Karzai is critical. Not just physically. It's not how many troops and how much money, it's the idea in the minds of Afghans that they have a reliable partner."

And as former Sen. Chuck Hagel seeks to become Defense Secretary Hagel the details and durability of that partnership is on the minds of others who have served in Afghanistan on the diplomatic side.

"We have the structures in place, both bilaterally, through our strategic partnership agreement that carries on to 2024, and internationally, through the Chicago agreements to fund Afghan security forces into the out years, as well as the Tokyo ministerial from July that pledged the international community to something like $16 billion in economic support on terms of conditionality, again over the next three to four years. So the architecture is there," said former Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker last month. "What is critical is American will -- because again, let me tell you something learned through hard experience: If we don't lead, others are going to wander away too, and those pledges will vanish like smoke. Absolutely guarantee it."

Crocker argued for an American wallet that remains open to support Afghan forces and a fledgling civil society.

"We will wind up paying about $2.5 billion a year to support -- as our share of support for Afghan security forces totaling 230,000. That sounds like a lot of money until you consider that we're paying about $110 billion a year now. So this is pretty cheap insurance," Crocker said. "And I have argued and will argue, that support for Afghan women, for civil society, for social and economic development is also pretty cheap insurance to prevent a spirit of hopelessness from taking hold among the general population that makes it easy for the Taliban."

Unfortunately, a spirit of hopelessness already has taken hold among the American public.

Whether the country's leaders decide to challenge that despair and dig into the details of and the rationale behind America's involvement in Afghanistan after next year remains an unanswered question. But the past few years leave little reason to think that Washington will soon open up and start talking about the war and its goals. And an exhausted American public is unlikely to push them to do so.

For America the war may be over, but men and women in uniform continue to fight it.


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Chicago woman loses 4th child to gun violence

Chicago, Feb 6: At least five people were gunned down in Chicago, including a 34-year-old man whose mother had already lost her three other children to shootings.

Ronnie Chambers, who was his mother Shirley's youngest child, was shot in the head while sitting in a parked car on the city's West Side. A 21-year-old man who was also in the car was wounded, police said.

Shirley Chambers, whose two other sons and daughter were shot in separate attacks more than a decade ago, was left grieving again.

"Right now, I'm totally lost because Ronnie was my only surviving son," Chambers said.

Shirley Chambers' first child, Carlos, was shot and killed by a high school classmate in 1995 after an argument. He was 18. Her daughter Latoya, then 15, and her other son Jerome were shot and killed within months of one another in 2000.

"What did I do wrong? I was there for them. We didn't have everything we wanted but we had what we needed," she asked.

Chambers said despite this latest tragic chapter in her life, she's not bitter or angry.

"They took my only child. I have nobody right now. That's my only baby," she said.

A few hours after Ronnie Chambers was killed, a gunman opened fire on three men near a South Side eatery, killing two of them and wounding the third, police said.

Detectives were called to the scene of another shooting in which a man in his 30s and a teenager were shot to death. There had been no arrests.

Chicago's homicide count eclipsed 500 last year for the first time since 2008. As grim as it is, Chicago's homicide rate was almost double in the early 1990s — averaging around 900 — before violent crime began dropping in cities across America.

Last year's increase, though, stood in sharp contrast to New York, where homicides fell 21 percent from 2011, as of early December.

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Afghanistan's new generation: Modern, ambitious ... naive

Kabul, Feb 6 : Behind the thick walls of one of Kabul's newest districts, Tooba Hotak practices driving her parents' Mercedes in a parking lot lined with cream-colored apartment buildings.

The car lurches as she tries shifting gears, but the 16-year-old drives on, past a cluster of stores and a playground full of children chasing one another in the snow.

Later, she slips into a pair of fluffy slippers for a chemistry class in her family's plush living room.

Tooba is being home-schooled in the British education system. She hopes to go to college and become an engineer. Marriage, children — "that's not so important," she says.

Like many middle-class Kabul residents of her generation, Tooba lived most of her life abroad. She wasn't born yet when Soviet forces pulled out of the country in 1989, unleashing a civil war that eventually gave rise to the Taliban and drove her family into exile in China.

They returned after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 to a city that had shaken off the most rigid strictures of the Islamic militants' rule, which denied girls an education and kept them largely confined to their homes.

Although large parts of the population still struggle to survive in overcrowded slums, these teens and young adults live in modern apartments, shop at Western-style malls and supermarkets, swap text messages on their cellphones, celebrate weddings at neon-decked halls and are connected to the world through television, movies and the Internet.

Tooba doesn't worry about what her life might look like after the departure of most U.S. and allied foreign troops next year.

"It will be the same," she says, nibbling a date. "This is a dangerous place for Americans, but not for Afghans."

Her tutor, Naela, looks up from her laptop. "You think you will be driving after the Taliban come?" snaps the teacher, who, like many Afghans, uses one name.

"They will kill you," she says, running a finger across her neck.

Young Afghans such as Tooba belong to a small but growing class of professionals, business owners and civil servants, a manifestation, in part, of the influx of foreign aid, investment and personnel that has accompanied Western military intervention.

Educated and ambitious, they may represent their nation's best hope for a stable future.

Those too young to remember the Taliban may exhibit a blithe confidence, but others are worried, some to the point of making plans to leave, all too aware of the dangers that lie ahead.

Aria City, the north Kabul district where Tooba lives with her parents and two sisters, is one of several gated communities catering to white-collar Afghans, offering such prized amenities as central heating and air conditioning, round-the-clock running water and private guards.

Beyond the quiet, tree-lined lanes where Tooba practices driving, honking cars jostle for space on rutted, muddy streets with armored convoys, rickety bicycles, donkey carts and vendors. Designed to be largely self-sufficient, the housing development has its own playground, school, stores, restaurant and mosque.

Hazhir Hoshan, 17, and his high school pals escape the fray and settle into the men's section of the Aria City restaurant. They order a round of chicken burgers and Mountain Dew.

The boys laugh off any thought of another all-out civil war.

"There are many modern men here in Afghanistan," Hazhir says, "so I don't think the war will begin again."

His friend Abdullah Hakimi, also 17, nods. "The Taliban just come with big turbans and long beards," he says between bites. "I think they look funny. They are not as strong as people think."

Abdullah admires the NATO-trained Afghan army and wants to be a military doctor.

"He likes guns!" Hazhir teases.

No, Abdullah says, "the military needs doctors. The civilian doctors are fleeing from the war zones."

The afternoon stretches before them. They think they might drive over to Gulbahar Center, a downtown shopping mall where young men in skinny jeans and gel-sculpted hair go to catch a movie, play video games or challenge one another on a bucking bronco machine.

Afghanistan is "like a new child," Hazhir says. "It's good now. We go to school, play football. We can have fun together."

The mall, which opened four years ago, is a mash-up of brash Western styles and more conservative Afghan tastes. Fashion-conscious customers browse through aisles of short, strappy dresses, expensive cosmetics and the latest high-tech gadgetry. There is even a tattoo parlor.

Tucked into a corner on the third floor are two new shops, one selling modest black robes and head scarves, the other lingerie in delicate floral and camouflage prints.

Omid Mesrabi, 23, opened the businesses last month with money he saved while working at an embassy for six years. He runs the Islamic dress store, and his sister Muzhda, 18, takes care of customers in search of more intimate apparel.

Both shops are doing well, he says, and he is already thinking of expanding. "My plan is to be a really successful businessman, not [just] a shopkeeper."

His family never left Afghanistan and he remembers all too well the days when rival Islamic militias rained rockets down on Kabul's neighborhoods. Mesrabi is excited about the changes.

"Things are getting better day by day," he says. "We didn't have good roads, buildings or centers like these. But now we have them."

He adds with a sardonic smile: "Even the suicide bombers are improving. They are killing more people."

An ambulance packed with explosives was detonated outside the mall during a high-profile assault on the city center in 2010. Visitors are asked to check their guns at the entrance and submit to a thorough search.

"We suffered 40 years of war, and after this, maybe war will come back," Mesrabi says. "But it's not something to worry about. We are used to it."

He is more concerned about the economic fallout from the departure of foreign forces and their consultants and contractors. Mesrabi says his best customers are people who work for foreign businesses and nonprofits, many of which are already scaling back.

But he says he won't be joining any rush for the exits.

"Afghanistan needs me," he says. "I want to be an example. I brought my sister here to work. Brothers never accept that. We are the people to change others' minds."

With her spiky heels, can-do attitude and successful television career, Zarlasht Baiza, 23, would seem to epitomize the opportunities that have become available to urban Afghan women in the last decade. But she is the first to point out her special circumstances.

"Most families are not allowing girls to work for a TV station," she says over a smoothie at one of the city's smart new cafes. "My parents died [of cancer] when I was little. I have a brother and a sister. But they are younger than me, so they can't stop me."

Baiza was just 16 when she started working at the private Ariana Television Network. It was several years before the station agreed to put her on the air. She has made enough money to pay off the debt on her parents' house and provide for her siblings.

She has a loyal following among Afghan homemakers because of a regular feature she does on the latest trends in decor, fashion and cosmetics. But she has also attracted the attention of anonymous callers who tell her that women have no business being on television.

"Instead of showing yourself on camera, go beg in the streets. It's better," one menacing voice told her.

Several times the callers informed her they were outside her home. Then the siblings would hear loud banging at the gate.

"All three of us would cover ourselves with blankets, so we wouldn't hear the banging," Baiza says.

She reported the calls to the police, but no arrests were made.

"We will talk after 2014," the threatening voice on the phone told her.

There has even been pressure from the current government, which last year asked female TV presenters to wear head scarves and avoid heavy makeup.

"Sometimes I wonder what will happen if the Taliban take over again," Baiza says. "Although we say there has been a lot of progress in the last 12 years, as we move closer to 2014, the situation is getting more restrictive for women because they are worried about what is going to happen."

She says she knows several women who have quit their TV jobs because of family and public pressure.

"I love my job as a producer and reporter," she says. "But maybe before the end of 2014, I will leave [Afghanistan] for a few months and see what happens."

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1 officer killed, 2 wounded near La. casino

New Orleans, Feb 6 : Police arrested a man suspected of fatally shooting a police officer and critically wounding two sheriff's deputies after allegedly setting fire to a mobile home in south Louisiana, where an elderly man's body was found.

A Chitimacha tribal officer was pronounced dead at the scene of the shootings in Charenton, while two St. Mary Parish sheriff's deputies were critically wounded and taken to local hospitals, said Louisiana State Police Trooper Stephen Hammons.

Hammons said the officers were responding to a report of an armed man walking down a road near the Cypress Bayou Casino when Wilbert Thibodeaux, 48, of Charenton allegedly shot them.

"Thibodeaux fired at the Chitimacha Officer, fatally wounding him," state police said in a news release. "As two St. Mary Deputies, who were in the same car, arrived at the scene Thibodeaux fired multiple shots hitting the deputies. During the encounter, Thibodeaux was shot."

Investigators found the burned remains of a man after extinguishing a fire at a mobile home that Thibodeaux is suspected of setting before the officers confronted him, Hammons said.

Police identified the deceased man in the mobile home as Eddie Lyons, 78, of Charenton. "Detectives suspect Lyons was shot by Thibodeaux before the fire," state police said in a news release.

Thibodeaux was treated at a hospital for a gunshot wound that wasn't considered life-threatening and released, according to Hammons, who said investigators were questioning him. Charges against him are pending.

The state Fire Marshal's office is investigating the fire.

"Today is a difficult day for our partners in St. Mary Parish," Col. Mike Edmonson, the State Police superintendent, said in a statement. "My thoughts and prayers are with the deputies and the officer's families tonight. I know the coming days and weeks will be difficult ones for the men and women of the Chitimacha Police Department and the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office. We will assist their agencies in any way we can during these trying times."

The casino is run by the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana and is less than a quarter-mile from the scene of the shootings. Hammons said the shootings occurred near but not on tribal land.

"Everybody is just in shock. It's small-town America," said Jacqueline Junca, the tribe's secretary and treasurer.

Police didn't immediately release the names of the officers. Authorities said they will do so at a news conference.

Tribe councilman Toby Darden said the slain officer was married and had two grown children, but he declined to give his name.

"He's a real great guy. Extremely dedicated to his job. Very brave," Darden said.

He was one of seven full-time officers who patrol a 260-acre reservation that has roughly 150 homes, a grocery store, a small school and government offices.

"Everybody knows the officers personally," Darden said. "It's devastating."

Junca said the tribe has around 1,200 members, roughly half of whom live on the reservation.

Access to and from the casino was restricted for roughly 90 minutes as a precautionary measure while police responded to the shooting, said casino spokeswoman Nancy Herrington. Charenton is located about 45 miles southeast of Lafayette.

"We are very much in business and have been," Herrington said. "We have events tonight. All of those are taking place."

A spokeswoman for the sheriff's office and a tribal police dispatcher referred questions about the shootings to the State Police.

"We've got a lot of unanswered questions," State Police Capt. Doug Cain said.

One of the injured deputies was taken to a hospital in New Orleans and the other was taken to a Lafayette hospital. Both were listed in critical but stable condition, Hammons said.


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Trying to unlock secrets of dead serial killer

Anchorage, Feb 6 : The suspect, hands and feet shackled, fidgeted in his chair, chuckling at times as he confessed to a brutal killing.

Israel Keyes showed no remorse as he described in merciless detail how he'd abducted and strangled an 18-year-old woman, then demanded ransom, pretending she was alive. As the two prosecutors questioned him, they were struck by his demeanor: He seemed pumped up, as if he were reliving the crime. His body shook, they said, and he rubbed his muscular arms on the chair rests so vigorously his handcuffs scraped off the wood finish.

The prosecutors had acceded to Keyes' requests: a cup of Americano coffee, a peanut butter Snickers and a cigar (for later). Then they showed him surveillance photos, looked him in the eye and declared: We know you kidnapped Samantha Koenig. We're going to convict you.

They aimed to solve a disappearance, and they did. But they soon realized there was much more here: a kind of evil they'd never anticipated.

Confessing to Koenig's killing, Keyes used a Google map to point to a spot on a lake where he'd disposed of her dismembered body and gone ice fishing at the same time. He wasn't done talking, though. He declared he'd been "two different people" for 14 years. He had stories to tell, stories he said he'd never shared. He made seemingly plural references and chilling remarks such as, "It takes a long time to strangle someone."

As prosecutors Kevin Feldis and Frank Russo and investigators from the FBI and Anchorage police listened that day in early 2012, they came to a consensus:

Israel Keyes wasn't talking just about Samantha Koenig. He'd killed before.

In 40 hours of interviews over eight months, Keyes talked of many killings; authorities believe there were nearly a dozen. He traveled from Vermont to Alaska hunting for victims. He said he buried "murder kits" around the country so they would be readily accessible. These caches — containing guns, zip ties and other supplies used to dispose of bodies — were found in Alaska and New York.

At the same time, incredibly, Keyes was an under-the-radar everyday citizen — a father, a live-in boyfriend, a respected handyman who had no trouble finding jobs in the community.

Keyes claimed he killed four people in Washington state, dumped another body in New York and raped a teen in Oregon. He said he robbed banks to help finance his crimes; authorities corroborated two robberies in New York and Texas. He confessed to burning down a house in Texas, contentedly watching the flames from a distance.

Though sometimes specific, he was often frustratingly vague. Only once — other than Koenig — did he identify by name his victims: a married couple in Vermont.

Israel Keyes wanted to be in control. Of his crimes. Of how much he revealed. And, ultimately, of his fate.

In December, he slashed his left wrist and strangled himself with a sheet in his jail cell. He left two pages of bloodstained writings. And many questions.

Investigators are now left searching for answers, but they face a daunting task: They're convinced the 34-year-old Keyes was a serial killer; they've verified many details he provided. But they have a puzzle that spans the U.S. and dips into Mexico and Canada — and the one person who held the missing pieces is dead. FBI agents on opposite ends of the country, joined by others, are working the case, hoping a timeline will offer clues to his grisly odyssey.

But they know, too, that Israel Keyes' secrets are buried with him — and may never be unearthed.

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Friar accused of abuse in 2 states kills self

Philadelphia, Feb 6: A Franciscan friar accused of sexually abusing students at Catholic high schools in Ohio and Pennsylvania killed himself at a western Pennsylvania monastery, police said.

Brother Stephen Baker, 62, was found dead of a self-inflicted knife wound at the St. Bernardine Monastery in Hollidaysburg, Blair Township Police Chief Roger White said. He declined to say whether a note was found.

Baker was named in legal settlements last week involving 11 men who alleged that he sexually abused them at a Catholic high school in northeast Ohio three decades ago. The undisclosed financial settlements announced Jan. 16 involved his contact with students at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio from 1986-90.

The Youngstown diocese previously said it was unaware of the allegations until nearly 20 years after the alleged abuse.

"Let us continue to pray for all victims of abuse, for Brother Baker's family and the repose of his soul," Youngstown Bishop George Murry said in a statement.

After the settlements were announced, the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese in central Pennsylvania said it received complaints in 2011 of possible abuse by Baker at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh.

Bishop McCort High School hired an attorney to investigate after several former students alleged they were molested by Baker in the 1990s. Attorney Susan Williams said three former students had talked to her in detail about the alleged abuse.

Baker taught and coached at John F. Kennedy High School in the late 1980's and early 1990's and was at Bishop McCort from 1992-2000.

Bishop Mark Bartchak of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese said in a statement that he was saddened by the news of Baker's death, but declined further comment citing pending legal action involving the diocese.

A message left for Father Patrick Quinn, the head of Baker's order, the Third Order Regular Franciscans, was not immediately returned.

Judy Jones, assistant Midwest director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the organization still hopes people who know about other abuse allegations against Baker will continue to come forward.

"We feel sad for Br. Baker's family but even sadder for the dozens of boys who Baker assaulted," she said in a statement.

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Pa. man gets drive-thru send-off after funeral

York, Feb 6 : Mourners at a Pennsylvania fast-food fan's funeral wanted him to have it his way, so they arranged for his hearse — and the rest of the procession — to make one last drive-thru visit before reaching the cemetery.

David Kime Jr. "lived by his own rules," daughter Linda Phiel said. He considered the lettuce on a burger his version of healthy eating, she said.

To give him a whopper of a send-off, the funeral procession stopped at a Burger King where each mourner got a sandwich for the road.

Kime got one last burger too, the York Daily Record reported. It was placed atop his flag-draped coffin at the cemetery.

Phiel said the display wasn't a joke, rather a happy way of honoring her father and the things that brought him  joy.

"He lived a wonderful life and on his own terms," she said. Kime, 88, a World War II veteran, died Jan. 20.

Restaurant manager Margaret Hess said she knew his face and his order. She and her crew made 40 burgers for the funeral procession.

"It's nice to know he was a loyal customer up until the end — the very end," she said.

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EU, Mercosur to unblock trade talks, hurdles remain

Santiago, Feb 6: EU leaders won a promise from Argentina and Brazil to revive stalled talks on a free-trade deal that would be a major prize for Europe as it emerges from crisis, but disputes over key issues mean a breakthrough appears distant.

At a summit in Santiago, German Chancellor Angela Merkel led the Europeans in a new push in the negotiations with the South American trade bloc Mercosur that is made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Venezuela and Uruguay.

In a region whose economies are in markedly better shape than Europe's, Merkel's persistence appeared to pay off after she met her Brazilian and Argentina counterparts and warned them not to revert to the kind of protectionism of the 1930s that deepened the Great Depression.

"A tremendous effort has been made to install new momentum into the discussions," the EU's Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said during the summit. Asked if there had been a breakthrough, he said: "I think we have to be careful with that word. It's moving on the political front."

Five years after the global financial crisis and with the euro zone in its second recession since 2009, the European Union needs Latin America's buoyant economies. But it is frustrated by Brazil and Argentina's policies to protect local industry.

Both sides have now agreed to exchange offers by the end of the year on how far they are willing to go in opening up sectors ranging from services to agriculture and De Gucht said the European Union will reciprocate Mercosur's offers.

"We need to have open markets in terms of free trade and not protectionism," Merkel told a meeting of business leaders. "History taught us that in the '20s and '30s," she said, flanked by the pro-free trade presidents of Mexico and Chile.

Negotiations on a trade pact with Mercosur began in the 1990s and were relaunched in 2010. If successful, the accord would encompass 750 million people and $130 billion of annual trade.

But talks have yet to make real progress due to disputes over European farm subsidies and moves by Brazil and Argentina to shield local industry from cheaper, foreign-made imports.

In a further complication, Venezuela became a member of the bloc last year. Its president, Hugo Chavez, is an outspoken critic of free trade.

In the meantime, Brussels has signed free-trade deals with a number of Latin American countries, including Mexico, Peru and Chile, exposing a split between the free-trade advocates on the Pacific side and the more closed economies, such as Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela, on the other side of the continent.

Standing out in orange among other leaders' dark suits, Merkel shared a joke with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Argentina's Cristina Fernandez as about 60 leaders posed for a summit photo.

"Within Mercosur, those in favor of this agreement have won the battle," said Gianni Pittella, vice president of the European Parliament, which has to approve the EU's trade pacts.

Europe wants to retain its influence in a region it conquered 500 years ago and where it remains the biggest foreign investor as China steps up its investment in mining and energy.

After decades of hyperinflation and financial crises, Latin America's economic fortunes are now better than Europe's. Latin America's economic output is expected to grow almost 4 percent this year, while the 17-nation euro zone will probably contract.

Latin America's per capita gross domestic product could double by 2030, according to the InterAmerican Development Bank, meaning Europe will have more potential buyers of its cars, luxury goods, banking services and pharmaceuticals.

Gathered at a luxury hotel in a part of the Chilean capital dotted with newly built glass skyscrapers, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos declared it was "Latin America's decade."

But differences with Argentina and Brazil represent a new hurdle to a Mercosur deal, one that Germany as Europe's top exporter is especially keen to see resolved.

Argentina's fiery, left-leaning Fernandez, slapped sweeping controls on imports in February 2012 in a bid to prop up the trade surplus and keep industry competitive as labor costs soar.

According to Global Trade Alert, an independent body monitoring commerce, Argentina is the world's worst offender when it comes to protectionist measures because the policies affect so many industries and sectors all over the world.

Neighboring Brazil - Latin America's largest economy - has also raised import barriers on goods ranging from European steel to powdered milk. In the first 10 months of 2012, Brazil opened 47 trade defense cases, more than double the number in all of 2011.

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Casey Anthony Files for Bankruptcy in Florida

Tampa, Feb 6: Casey Anthony filed for bankruptcy in Florida, claiming about $1,100 in assets and $792,000 in liabilities.

Court records show that Anthony, who was acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2011, sought Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in federal court in Tampa.

Her listed debts include $500,000 for attorney fees and costs for her criminal defense lawyer during the trial, Jose Baez; $145,660 for the Orange County Sheriff's office for a judgment covering investigative fees and costs related to the case; $68,540 for the Internal Revenue Service for taxes, interest and penalties; and $61,505 for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for court costs.

The filling also states that she is a defendant in several civil suits, including one brought by Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez for defamation in Orange County Circuit Court.

Fernandez-Gonzalez claims her reputation was damaged by Anthony telling detectives that a baby sitter by the same name kidnapped Caylee. The detectives were investigating the 2008 disappearance of the girl, who later was found dead. Anthony's attorney said details offered by Anthony did not match Fernandez-Gonzalez and clearly showed Anthony wasn't talking about her.

An attorney for Anthony, David Schrader, did not immediately respond to messages.

Anthony lists about 80 creditors in the 60-page court filing. The claims largely cover fees for legal, medical, psychiatric and forensics consulting or services. But one claim covers a debt for scuba diving services.

According to the courts, the aim of seeking Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection is to be discharged of most existing debts — essentially to obtain a fresh financial start. A trustee may have the right to take possession of and sell non-exempt property and use the sale proceeds to pay creditors, but Anthony lists little in the way of assets. A debtor may still be held responsible for some obligations, such as taxes and student loans.

The filing came on the same day that a Florida appellate court set aside two of the four convictions she faced for lying to detectives during the investigation into her missing daughter.

Though Anthony was acquitted of killing Caylee, jurors convicted her of four counts of lying to detectives, and her attorneys appealed those convictions. Anthony was sentenced to time served for the misdemeanors.

She was sentenced to a year of probation after her release from jail for an unrelated case. For her protection, her whereabouts have been kept secret since she was released from state supervision last year.

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China December industrial profits up 17.3 percent on year

Beijing, Feb 6: Profits earned by China's industrial companies rose 17.3 percent in December from a year earlier to 895.2 billion yuan ($143.91 billion), official data showed, as a fourth-quarter recovery helped offset poorer corporate results in the third.

The data from the National Bureau of Statistics is the latest sign of a gathering rebound in activity in the world's second-largest economy. The December rise moderated from November's 22.8 percent increase but still marked the third-fastest growth last year.

Industrial profits totaled 5.56 trillion yuan in 2012, up 5.3 percent from a year earlier, China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on its website, strengthening from a 3.0 percent increase in profits in the first 11 months of 2012 versus 2011.

China's economy grew at 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter, snapping a streak of seven consecutive quarters of slowdown.

Among 41 sectors surveyed by the bureau, 29 reported rising profits last year, led by a 69 percent jump for power generation firms, a nearly 21 percent rise for food processing firms and an 8 percent rise for electric equipment makers.

But some sectors are still struggling. Profits at steel firms tumbled 37 percent, while earnings for chemical companies fell 6 percent.

According to a poll, analysts predict China's annual economic growth would rebound a shade to 8.1 percent this year.

The HSBC flash purchasing managers' index (PMI), the earliest indicator of China's industrial activity, saw growth in China's giant factory sector accelerated to a two-year high in January.

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ECB's Asmussen warns against unilateral forex moves

Frankfurt, Feb 6: European Central Bank Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen called for international cooperation to address the current debate about competitive currency devaluation, saying central banks are not the ones to solve structural problems.

Policymakers in advanced countries, particularly Japan and the United States, have been acting aggressively to reflate their economies, which has the effect of weakening their currencies.

Central bankers and politicians have warned against the risk of competitive devaluations and Asmussen said the issue was best tackled in international groupings.

"We have well-established fora of economic governance like the G7 or the G20 and we should use them," he told Greek newspaper Kathimerini in an interview.

"We should not fall back to a situation where everyone is looking after his own interests," Asmussen said, adding that when the underlying problems were structural, asking the central bank to do more would not help.

"The mere appearance of political dominance threatens to undermine market confidence," he said.

Asmussen said he was "clearly against" a higher inflation target for the ECB, because merely debating one could upset inflation expectations. The bank has a mandate to pursue price stability, defined as an inflation rate of just below 2 percent.

He said there was no room for complacency, even though the ECB's new bond purchase program, which he called a game-changer, has taken some of the heat out of the euro zone crisis.

"The biggest risk this year for the euro area is doing nothing. The reduction of the pressure that came from elevated spreads may lead to complacency regarding reforms. This would be wrong. This is a year to show perseverance, to stay the course, in all member-countries," Asmussen said.

He said Greece was in the final stretch of its fiscal adjustment and could cut debt to sustainable levels without  further debt relief if it carried out reforms prescribed by foreign lenders.

"The marathon was invented in Greece. As a country, you have now been through two-thirds of it, but everyone knows the last third is the hardest part," Asmussen said.

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Afghanistan's oldest woman passes away

Kabul, Jan 26: Afghanistan's oldest woman Khanum Hasno has passed away, a local newspaper Daily Mandegar reported.

Khanum Hasno, having 465 grandchildren and far grandchildren, died at age 136. According to the newspaper she was also possibly the oldest woman of the world.

She died in a village of Nangarhar province 120 km east of Afghan capital Kabul, according to Daily Mandegar.

However, her name has not been registered as oldest woman of the world in the Guinness Book of world record, the newspaper added.

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Afghan Air Force Complete by 2016: Isaf

Kabul, Jan 26 : The Afghan air force is expected to be complete by 2016 in both equipment and staff training, Isaf spokesman Gen. Gunter Katz said.

"Isaf will continue its enduring support [for the Afghan National Security Forces]. I can give you one area which is well known to you – it's the air force. We had to start from zero and it takes just a while to build the air force. It's not the weakness of Afghan National Security Forces, it's normal," Katz said.

"We need to train those guys in particular in English language and it takes very long, you know, to train them on technical issues and pilot training takes a while. We expect the air force to be ready by 2016."

He also said Isaf and Nato welcomes the government's decision to soon move into the fifth tranche of the security transition.

"Mr. Karzai is in a position to announce the fifth tranche earlier, that means in spring. I think this what has been said and because of the progress ANSF has made, this is something Isaf and Nato welcomes,"

Katz's comments come on the same day that President Hamid Karzai revealed that the US will purchase four cargo planes, 20 Mi-17 helicopters and intelligence-gathering drones for the Afghan air force by end of this year.

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Afghanistan in 2015

Kabul, Jan 26 : Almost two years remain before a NATO-led international military force in Afghanistan is supposed to turn over full security responsibility to the Afghan military.

But the Obama administration and its critics are already sparring over the size of the residual U.S. presence that will stay on after 2014.

The administration indicates that it will amount to only a few thousand troops — some officials have even floated the notion that none would remain after 2014 — while its critics, including Republicans in Congress, have insisted that at least 10,000 and perhaps three times that number will be necessary to prevent Afghanistan from backsliding into instability.

We don't presume to know the precise number of troops that will be necessary in 2015 to ensure that Al Qaeda and associated groups can't use Afghan territory to launch further attacks on Americans, the rationale for the U.S. invasion after 9/11.

But The Times' David S. Cloud and Alexandra Zavis report that the administration believes it could meet that objective with a "light footprint" strategy — similar to the one it has pursued in Pakistan — emphasizing commando raids and drone missile strikes against Al Qaeda fighters.

Both the president and advocates of a large residual force insist that Afghan forces are improving their effectiveness. Ideally that process will continue so that in 2015, the Afghan army can competently prosecute the war against Taliban insurgents without significant support from the U.S. military. Meanwhile, it is to be hoped, the Afghan government will root out the corruption that has undermined its authority.

But if that doesn't occur, as many believe it will not, and the U.S. is still able to mount an effective counter-terrorism effort without many boots on the ground, the light footprint strategy should be implemented. A large residual force might be justifiable if it functioned effectively as a deterrent, as the 28,000 U.S. forces in South Korea do. But U.S. troops in Afghanistan are daily in harm's way. As Obama pointed out in his weekend address, more than 2,000 Americans have given their lives in Afghanistan. More will die this year and next, even if the administration accelerates its withdrawal.

When it invaded Afghanistan in 2011 to overthrow the Taliban regime that had harbored Osama bin Laden, the United States — perhaps unintentionally — assumed a moral obligation to assist that country in its political and economic reconstruction. It is discharging that responsibility and will continue to do so even after Afghans take complete charge of their security. But as Obama also said, "after more than a decade of war, the nation we need to rebuild is our own."

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Mindy McCready's boyfriend commits suicide

London, Jan 26 : David Wilson, the boyfriend of country singer Mindy McCready, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, The New York Daily News reports.

See celebrities we've lost this year

The record producer was found at his home in Heber Springs, Ark., before being taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead.

McCready and Wilson had been together two years and have a 9-month-old child, Zayne.

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"David was my soulmate," McCready said in a statement to People. "He was a precious gift from God to all of us and, he returned home and is now with his mother and father. David loved and was loved. Those who knew and loved him will miss him; those who did know know David missed the opportunity to know a truly loving and gifted man."

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2 killed, 1 injured in shooting in parking lot of Kentucky college

Louisville, Jan 26 : A gunman firing into a vehicle killed two people and wounded a juvenile as they sat in the parking lot of an eastern Kentucky community college.

The campus was locked down for more than an hour while police searched the two buildings of Hazard Community and Technical College in Hazard, Ky., to ensure there was no further danger before allowing students to leave, police told a news conference broadcast live on WYMT-TV's website.

College President Stephen Greiner said that at the time of the shooting, there were probably about 30 students on campus, which is based 90 miles southeast of Lexington, Ky.

Police recovered the weapon, a semiautomatic pistol, at the scene, and a man who walked into an office of the Kentucky State Police in Hazard and said he knew something about the shooting was being questioned as a suspect, Hazard Police Chief Minor Allen said. No charges had been filed and no other suspects had been identified at the time of the news conference, which was held about three hours after the shooting.

A male and female were already dead when police arrived about 6 p.m., Allen said. The wounded juvenile, a female, was taken to University of Kentucky Hospital, he said.

A hospital spokeswoman said she could not provide any information about the juvenile's condition without a name, which police did not release.

Allen said police believe the shooting may have been the result of a domestic dispute. He didn't know the relationship between the victims and the shooter.

Conor Duff, the college's evening co-ordinator, said the outbreak of violence was startling.

"Everybody here's been pretty shook up," he said. "This is definitely something people around here are not used to. We have our fair share of problems, but normally this isn't one of them."

Classes had resumed at the campus after the holiday break, according to the college's website, which also posted that there had been an incident and asked students to stay away from the main campus. The school called off classes.

The college's academic programs range from associate's degrees in arts and sciences to career-focused training in mining technology and heavy-equipment operation.

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Tennessee declares state of emergency over ice storm

Nashville, Jan 26 : Tennessee officials declared a state of emergency as ice storms hit a swathe of territory in the mid-south of the United States and concerns grew about flooding and dangerous road conditions.

Freezing rain across the region from about mid-morning had caused ice accumulation of up to half an inch (12.7 mm) in Arkansas just southwest of Memphis, according to the National Weather Service.

As much as a quarter inch to half inch of ice could coat roadways and power lines across Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, leading to the state of emergency.

"When you start putting that much ice on roadways and power lines, it's not going to be good," said Jeremy Heidt, a spokesman for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

The most treacherous spots from accumulated ice were on bridges and overpasses, said Corey Chaskelson, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Nashville.

Tennessee transportation officials have ordered all workers to stay on duty through the night because of the forecasts for icing, which would include 1,200 people and 250 trucks. The rain in eastern Tennessee is leading to flooding issues, Heidt said.

"We are not letting any crews go home," said Beth Emmons, Tennessee Transportation Department spokeswoman. "All the trucks are loaded and they'll start laying the salt as needed."

Memphis Police spokeswoman Alyssa Moore said the city began to see rain, sleet and freezing rain just as the evening rush hour was starting. "The roads are beginning to get really slick," Moore said.

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Human heads held by Chicago airport customs no mystery after all, were used for research

Chicago, Jan 26 : It sounded ghoulish enough: a shipment of 18 frozen human heads discovered and seized by customs officials during routine X-ray screening of cargo arriving at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.

Turns out the heads were used for medical research in Italy and were being returned for cremation in Illinois. The holdup was due to a paperwork problem.

It just so happens such shipments are commonplace, and heads — quite a few of them — crisscross the globe via airplane and delivery truck.

"Just last week, we transported eight heads, unembalmed, to Rush University Medical Center for an ophthalmology program," said Paul Dudek, vice-president of the Anatomical Gift Association of Illinois, which supplies cadavers and body parts to medical schools in the state for training students.

His association sends about 450 whole cadavers to medical schools each year and also ships individual body parts, including about a dozen shipments of heads annually.

The heads are used for training in fields such as dentistry, ophthalmology and neurology, where they are used for Alzheimer's research. They are also used to train plastic surgeons and by students learning to perform facial reconstructions on accident and trauma victims, Dudek said.

Most cadavers are obtained through voluntary donation by people who designate a willingness to have their bodies benefit science upon their death, Dudek said. A much smaller proportion are the bodies of people whose families could not afford their burial and so agree to allow the state to release them for research.

The shipment to O'Hare was properly preserved, wrapped and labeled "human specimens," said Mary Paleologos, a spokeswoman for the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, which took hold of the shipment for storage in its morgue cooler while authorities continued to investigate the paperwork.

With little information initially, news of the shipment's discovery fueled headlines and raised questions about where the shipment came from, where it was headed and why.

In the end, it turned out the shipment of three containers, which arrived in mid-December, was held up because of a mix-up with the paperwork and there was nothing suspicious about it or its destination.

The heads were originally sent from Illinois to a medical research facility in Rome and were returned to the Chicago area for disposal as part of the agreement for the order, Paleologos said.

A cremation service arrived at the Medical Examiner's Office with paperwork for the specimens. Once federal authorities confirm the paperwork, the specimens will be turned over to the cremation service, she said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection could not discuss the specific case because of privacy laws, but it said shipments of human remains into the U.S. "are not without precedent," are lawful with the right documentation and fall within the agency's "low-risk" category.

Dudek said such shipments require thorough documentation, in part because the scarcity of bodies donated to science means there is a black market for them.

"It does go on," he said of the illegal trade.

Besides medical schools, many corporations making medical instruments and appliances use cadavers for their training and research programs.

"We receive about 600 whole-body donations a year. I could easily place 750, 800," he said, explaining the short supply.

Some shipments go by air, but others end up in delivery trucks just like any other package.

"In fact, we sent out a shipment of brains to the University of Texas at Austin last week via UPS," Dudek said.

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Pa. girl snatched at school found barefoot in park

Philadelphia, Jan 26  : A passer-by found an abducted 5-year-old girl huddled beneath a playground slide in the pre-dawn cold, nearly 20 hours after a stranger claiming to be her mother signed her out of her Philadelphia elementary school under the guise of taking her to breakfast.

Nelson Mandela Myers said he found the freezing girl barefoot, wearing only a damp adult-sized T-shirt. He was drawn to the park in Upper Darby by her cries for help.

"She was just mainly shivering and saying that she was cold," he said at a news conference. Myers, 27, wrapped her in his jacket and called police from his cellphone. "I'm just glad I was there at the right time."

The girl was taken from the William C. Bryant School, in West Philadelphia. Authorities released surveillance video showing a woman wearing a full-length, black Muslim garment, her face covered by a black veil, taking the girl out of the school.

After being discovered, the girl was taken to the hospital to be checked out, but police said she didn't appear to be hurt. Capt. John Darby of the Philadelphia police department said officials are screening the girl to determine if she may have been sexually assaulted.

"There were no overt signs of physical injuries to the child," Darby said at a news conference, adding that police have had only preliminary interviews with the girl. "We have a fragile victim here."

According to Darby, she told her rescuer: "I've been stolen."

District officials said school policy wasn't followed in releasing the girl into her abductor's custody.

The girl's mother had appeared on local media, tearfully pleading for her safe return, and explaining how she also wears the traditional chador and niqab.

Darby said the suspect went into the school a short time after the girl's mother had dropped her off there. The woman signed in with a hall monitor — using an illegible signature — and then went straight to the girl's classroom. "She indicated that she was the child's mother," Darby said. "And that she was going to take the child to breakfast."

The suspect apparently knew and targeted the girl, Darby said, but the girl didn't know her. However, she appeared to go willingly.

Police are looking for the suspect and trying to track down more information. Upper Darby police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said it appears the girl was driven or walked to the playground. Investigators are trying to track down surveillance footage from the area.

"We believe that the little girl was dumped here," Chitwood said.

Fernando Gallard, a spokesman for the school district, said the district is investigating. Under the school's policy, he said, the woman should have signed in at the door and then gone straight to the office — not the classroom. "The exchange does not happen at the classroom level," he said.

The district is investigating and reviewing its policies with school employees, Gallard said.

Myers, the rescuer, was on his way to work when he heard the girl's cries, and his thoughts turned to his own 5-year-old daughter.

"I just wanted to do the same thing someone would do for my child," he said.

Mayoral spokesman Mark McDonald said in a Twitter post that Myers would receive the full $10,000 reward posted for information leading to the girl's return.

McDonald said Mayor Michael Nutter praised Myers for his "sharp eye" and "quick thinking" when he discovered the girl in the park.

"Community policing is doing right when (you) see something wrong," McDonald said.

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Calif. teacher with past in porn loses appeal

Oxnard, Jan 26 : A middle school teacher who was fired after students learned she had appeared in pornography has lost her appeal to return to the classroom, her lawyer said.

A three-judge panel unanimously decided Stacie Halas, 32, was unfit for the classroom. Halas was fired in April from her job as a science teacher at Haydock Intermediate School in Oxnard after online videos of her in porn were discovered by students and teachers.

"Although (Halas') pornography career has concluded, the ongoing availability of her pornographic materials on the Internet will continue to impede her from being an effective teacher and respected colleague," Judge Julie Cabos-Owen wrote in a 46-page decision issued by the Commission on Professional Competence.

Halas was continually deceitful about her nine-month career in porn before she went to work at the school, the decision said.

Her lawyer Richard Schwab said Halas had tried to be honest but was embarrassed by her previous experience in the adult industry.

"Miss Halas is more than just an individual fighting for her job as a teacher," he said. "I think she's representative of a lot of people who may have a past that may not involve anything illegal or anything that hurts anybody."

Halas has been on administrative leave since the video surfaced in March.

Student claims that the teacher was moonlighting as a porn star were initially dismissed after school officials said they couldn't find any images of her on the Internet — but they were using the school's computers, which don't allow access to porn.

Teachers then showed administrators downloads of Halas' sex videos from their smartphones.

In hearings, former assistant principal Wayne Saddler testified that at the start of a sex video, Halas talked about being a teacher and he felt her effectiveness in the classroom had been compromised.

After rumors of her performance surfaced, profanity was etched on Halas' classroom window, a teacher testified.

Schwab has said Halas did not star in pornographic movies while teaching in any district. He said she took parts only during an eight-month period from 2005 to 2006 because of financial problems after her boyfriend abandoned her.

District superintendent Jeff Chancer applauded the commission's ruling.

Halas' decision to "engage in pornography was incompatible with her responsibilities as a role model for students and would present an insurmountable, recurring disruption to our schools should she be allowed to remain as a teacher," Chancer said in a statement.

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Wal-Mart plans $50 billion "buy American" push

New York, Jan 26 : Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT) will buy an additional $50 billion in U.S.-made products over the next decade in areas like sporting goods and high-end appliances in what the world's largest retailer called a bid to help boost the U.S. economy.

Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the United States, also said it plans to hire 100,000 newly discharged veterans over the next five years, at a time when the U.S. unemployment rate is at 7.8 percent.

Wal-Mart said the plan to buy more U.S.-made goods is an effort to create U.S. jobs and spur economic growth. Critics countered that the company and other retailers could help the economy by paying better wages and offering workers more regular hours.

The moves come as the U.S. economy continues to grow slowly 3-1/2 years after the end of a severe recession. An average of $5 billion a year in spending is a drop in the bucket for the $15 trillion U.S. economy, and the question is how many other retailers could do the same.

Terry Lundgren, chief executive of Macy's Inc (NYS:M) and until this month the chairman of the National Retail Federation, said that Wal-Mart's plans to buy American were good but that cost would still be an issue.

"We would all love to do that, the customer will not pay more," Lundgren said on the sidelines of an NRF event where Wal-Mart presented its plans.

The moves received a cool reception from critics who claimed Wal-Mart does not pay its workers enough and slammed the retailer for selling too many goods made in lower-cost countries like China. The company is also under pressure over its sourcing practices, particularly after a deadly fire at a Bangladesh factory that made Wal-Mart clothes.

Wal-Mart's U.S. unit says about two-thirds of the goods it buys for its stores are made, sourced from or grown in the United States, citing data from its suppliers. It did not give a dollar amount for how much it pays for those goods, or what percentage the increased domestic sourcing would bring.

The company has previously run "Made in America" campaigns, and in the early 1990s it was criticized for promoting foreign goods as domestically made.

Last year, 55 percent of Walmart U.S. sales came from groceries like food and drinks as well as other products that are typically sourced locally. Only 7 percent of Walmart U.S. sales were of apparel, jewelry and accessories, which retailers typically get from lower-cost countries.

To the extent Wal-Mart buys more U.S.-made goods the company would have otherwise imported, it would reflect the recent shift in the U.S. commercial relationship with the rest of the world.

Both economic output and net imports declined sharply during the 2007-09 recession. While gross domestic product has rebounded, net imports have not, a sign the United States is meeting more demand for goods and services domestically.

The company said its Walmart U.S. and Sam's Club warehouse chain will increase what they already buy in the United States in categories like sporting goods, basic apparel, storage containers, games and paper products.

Wal-Mart is not a member of the NRF, a major industry trade association that has promoted the importance of retail jobs in the United States. The NRF asserts that 25 percent of American jobs are supported by the retail industry.

Along that line, the company said starting on Memorial Day in May, it plans to hire 100,000 U.S. veterans over five years, a move supported by First Lady Michelle Obama.

"We've developed a national paralysis that's driven by all of us waiting for someone else to do something," Walmart U.S. Chief Executive Bill Simon said in prepared remarks for the NRF. "But if we're waiting on government, we're waiting on a process that can't act with the same speed as business."

Veterans' issues are of personal interest to Simon, who served 25 years in the U.S. Navy and Navy Reserve. The company said it will offer a job to any honorably discharged veteran in the first year after active duty.

Depending on the time of year, there are anywhere from 15,000 to 50,000 job postings at Walmart. The company said it promotes about 170,000 people each year to jobs with more responsibility and higher pay.

About 75 percent of its store management started as hourly associates, and now earn an average of $50,000 to $170,000 a year. The highest earning store manager last year made more than $250,000. Wal-Mart has repeatedly claimed its pay and benefits are in the top half of the retail industry.

Starting wages for Walmart U.S. store employees vary by market. Simon noted that in his first job as a dishwasher in a restaurant, he made $2.10 an hour.

Walmart U.S. also said it would give part-time workers the first shot at full-time positions. It also plans to make scheduling more transparent, giving part-time workers the ability to choose more of their own hours.

Simon had barely finished speaking at the NRF event before critics responded to the new spending and hiring plan.

"Retailers like Walmart could provide the nation with a much needed economic boost by paying higher wages and providing stable scheduling - while still remaining profitable and continuing to offer low prices," Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said in a statement. "By part-timing their workforce, they're hurting both workers and our economy by fueling underemployment."

Sales for Walmart U.S. rose 1.5 percent to $264.19 billion in fiscal 2012, which ended in February 2012, and accounted for 59.5 percent of the company's total sales.

One issue Simon did not discuss was the retailer's position on guns, a hot topic since the massacre at a Newtown, Connecticut elementary school last month. Wal-Mart is the nation's largest gun retailer.

Gun-control advocates rallied outside a store just eight miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 children and six educators were killed on December 14.

The retailer canceled a series of media interviews with Simon after his NRF speech. Some media outlets claimed the cancellation was due to his reluctance to discuss the gun issue. A spokesman declined to give a reason.

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Bank of America capital markets co-head to lead commercial banking

New York, Jan 26 : Bank of America Corp has named capital markets co-head Alastair Borthwick as its head of commercial banking, in a shuffling of veteran executives.

Borthwick, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc executive who joined the bank in 2005, replaces Laura Whitley, who will take a position in consumer banking, according to a memo sent to employees. Commercial banking has been a bright spot for Bank of America, whose profits have been dragged down by mortgage-related losses since the financial crisis.

Borthwick will report to Tom Montag, the co-chief operating officer who runs global banking and markets operations. Lisa Carnoy remains the head of global capital markets.

Whitley, who has been with the bank more than 25 years, will become head of consumer services, operations and unsecured credit, reporting to David Darnell, the bank's co-chief operating officer who focuses on consumer and wealth management businesses. She will preside over call centers, consumer product operations, unsecured credit and collections, according to the memo.

Bank of America is under pressure to increase revenue in its signature consumer banking business, which is grappling with low interest rates and new regulations that have cut into income from fees. Revenue in consumer and business banking through the first nine months of 2012 fell 14 percent to $21.8 billion from the same period in 2011.

The bank is also recovering from a flap in late 2011 over a proposed $5 monthly debit card fee that it later canceled. Bank of America last month received the lowest customer satisfaction score among four big U.S. banks in the latest report by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which interviewed customers across the United States.

Whitley's new role includes duties that were previously handled by two other executives. Long-time consumer banking executive Susan Faulkner has become the bank's enterprise risk executive, reporting to chief risk officer Terry Laughlin, and Tim Huval left the company to become chief human resources officer at insurance company Humana Inc.

Borthwick will be the bank's third head of commercial banking since the fall of 2011, when Darnell was promoted out of the spot to become co-chief operating officer, and Whitley took over the position.

Bank of America reports fourth-quarter earnings. The bank's shares turned in the best performance in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 2012, rising 109 percent. They are down 0.5 percent so far in 2013.

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Singapore, Hong Kong look to cool not kill property markets

Singapore, Jan 26 : Singapore and Hong Kong now have identical 15 percent levies to slow the foreign money that has added fuel to their overheated property markets - measures that will help first-time buyers but throw the spotlight on investors' next targets.

The curbs on residential real estate purchases could shift demand to retail and industrial spaces, diverting billions of dollars to those sectors as well as to housing markets in the United States, Canada, Australia and Malaysia.

Even if the pace of buying slows, analysts said, the appetite for homes in Hong Kong and Singapore is so strong that prices are expected to stay firm or ease only marginally.

"Singapore is like the London of Asia. Many people are not here to flip their properties or sell out in two to three years," said Knight Frank's head of consultancy and research Png Poh Soon. "There are lots of non-monetary reasons for buying Singapore and also Hong Kong property."

The two Asian cities are fierce rivals as financial and wealth centers but share the issues of strong demand, limited space and low mortgage rates that have driven housing prices beyond the reach of many locals.

Shallow capital markets, a cultural tendency towards property as an investment and concerns among mainland Chinese buyers about their home market have also played their parts.

After targeting speculators with previous steps, Singapore moved last week to discourage investors by slapping a stamp duty on locals buying a second home, an attempt to keep prices affordable for most first-time buyers.

In Singapore and Hong Kong, which brought in similar measures in October, both governments want to cool but not collapse the market and avoid driving investment elsewhere.

Hong Kong's embattled leader Leung Chun-ying announced in his maiden policy address a series of measures to increase land supply, as expected, though analysts said the moves would have little immediate price impact.

In power for less than a year, the former property surveyor is under mounting pressure to step down over an illegal construction scandal and is grappling to salvage his reputation and shore up his political future.

Leung shied away from further tightening while he gauges the impact of previous steps to rein in prices in one of the world's costliest property markets.

Those moves, including a 15 percent tax on foreign buyers, had a big impact on sales in November and December, when some agents reported a drop of more than 40 percent in transactions.

As Hong Kong felt the squeeze, private home sales in Singapore jumped nearly 30 percent in December from November.

Prices in Singapore rose 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months and have soared almost 60 percent to record highs since mid-2009 despite the government's repeated attempts to subdue them.

Hong Kong's transaction volumes have recovered in January and the duration of the measures' impact is getting shorter each time, said Wong Leung Sing of Centaline Property.

"It's like using a miracle drug," he said. "The first time it is very effective. The second time its effectiveness is largely decreased. The third time there might be no effect at all."

Hong Kong's government is ready to step in on the demand side if prices keep rising.

"Those demand-side measures will be largely focused on the two tax structures," said Andrew Lawrence, head of Hong Kong property research at Barclays Capital, referring to stamp duty and a levy on foreign buyers.

Already there is evidence of more Asians buying properties in Australia, the United States, Canada and Britain, he said.

Citigroup estimated 90 percent of recent transactions in Hong Kong were by people intending to live in the properties. That contrasts with 2010, when an estimated 50 percent were end-users, 20 percent speculators, 20 percent long-term investors and 10 percent non-local buyers.

The steps Singapore took included a higher stamp duty of 15 percent for foreign buyers, a new levy on sellers of industrial property and a limit on loan sizes.

Overseas buyers had already started to look away from Singapore after its previous round of cooling measures. As a percentage of home sales, buying by foreigners in Singapore dropped to just over 6 percent last year from 18 percent in 2011, Citigroup said in a report.

The bank said it expects "foreigner participation to moderate slightly" since the Singapore stamp duty was aligned with Hong Kong.

Despite the drop in foreign demand, private home sales in Singapore rose to 24,568 last year from 21,097 in 2011.

Investors who stop buying apartments and houses are almost certain to seek other assets.

Data from CBRE shows industrial properties in Singapore offer a net yield of 4.3 percent and prime retail properties offer 4.6 percent. Banks now pay around 0.1 percent interest on Singapore dollar savings accounts.

"One thing we can be sure of," said Joseph Tan, executive director of residential at CBRE. "Because interest rates are so low, the money will not be sitting in the bank for too long."

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Insight: How cleantech tarnished Kleiner and VC star John Doerr

San Francisco, Jan 26 : In the spring of last year, John Doerr received some bad news: Miasole, the solar-panel maker backed by his famed venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, was on the verge of bankruptcy.

If Miasole went under, it would be a dramatic collapse for a once-promising startup that in its heyday had been valued at $1 billion. It would also be a failure for Doerr, who for years had argued passionately that clean technology could be the biggest business opportunity of this century.

So Doerr, best known for making billions from backing the likes of Google, Netscape and Amazon in their infancy, dipped into his own pocket for the roughly $2.5 million that Miasole needed to make payroll, according to two people familiar with the situation. The highly unusual personal loan allowed Miasole to stay afloat long enough to be sold to a Chinese renewable energy company for $30 million.

The quiet fix shows the lengths to which Doerr was willing to go to avoid the embarrassment that would have come with a collapse. It also underscores U.S. cleantech's dramatic turn for the worse after the financial crisis, due in part to competition from China and a surge in the production of abundant and cheap natural gas at home.

The market changes have left Kleiner, the most active venture capital firm in cleantech, with dozens of investments that may never pay off, threatening its image as the gold standard of venture capital.

Doerr, 61, remains bullish on cleantech and in an email called Miasole a well-run company that "was caught in a perfect storm." He did not respond to questions about his personal investment.

"Certainly the cleantech sector has challenges, but it would be a mistake to underestimate the size of the opportunity," Doerr said in the email, adding revenues in Kleiner's cleantech portfolio rose 70 percent over 2011, to $2.4 billion in 2012.

Kleiner's financial performance, measured by the returns its funds have delivered to investors, is not known. VCs, though, are often judged by their ability to successfully exit startup investments through initial public offerings or through sales to other companies.

Of the 38 "greentech" investments listed on Kleiner's website, only Miasole has been sold. Three others have gone public - biofuels maker Amyris Inc, microinverter maker Enphase Energy Inc and Chinese inverter maker Sungrow Power Supply Co Ltd - but all are trading far below their IPO prices.

Some Silicon Valley entrepreneurs say Kleiner, while well-regarded, is no longer at the very top of the VC heap. Such impressions matter when VC firms compete to fund the most promising startups, and getting in on the best deals is in turn key to future success.

At the annual AlwaysOn Venture Summit in December, Kleiner Perkins did not make the list of top 10 venture capital firms. Conference organizer Tony Perkins said he worked with Morgan Stanley and the 451 Group, a research firm, to draw up the list based on successful venture "exits."

Kleiner partners "are not in the top of founders' minds when they think about VCs," said Paul Graham, founder of the prestigious Y Combinator technology incubator.

Media spoke to more than a dozen entrepreneurs and venture capitalists about the top VC firms, and they more commonly cited Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, Greylock Partners and Andreessen Horowitz than Kleiner. Kleiner's last knockout success was Google's IPO in 2004.

"Every firm has cycles," Amanda Duckworth, a spokeswoman for Kleiner, said in an email when asked to comment on the perceived decline in the firm's reputation. She said that Kleiner has made many high-profile investments outside cleantech and beefed up its Internet team in recent years, and that its partners and portfolio companies regularly win awards and remain highly regarded.

Indeed, several Kleiner investors and entrepreneurs said they were pleased with the firm, which successfully raised a new $525 million fund last year.

"The firm remains very vibrant and very energized and very engaged," said Amy Falls, chief investment officer at Rockefeller University. "We are very happy to be invested with them." Over the decades, Kleiner has made Rockefeller many millions, she said.

Some believe Kleiner could yet have the last laugh, and applaud Doerr for jumping into the sector early and smoothing the path for others.

"Five years from now, mark my words, a cleantech revival," said Scott Sandell, a partner at NEA, a large venture firm that co-invests with Kleiner in many companies.

The alternative energy business looked highly promising in the mid-2000s. Gasoline prices were rising, and then-President George W. Bush signed into law a renewable-energy loan-guarantee program that would funnel billions of dollars to alternative energy programs.

Former Vice President Al Gore's effort to educate the public about climate change was also making a mark: His movie "An Inconvenient Truth" won two Oscars in 2007. Gore joined Kleiner as an adviser later that year.

Doerr emerged as cleantech's biggest cheerleader, with a commitment that was personal and political as well as financial.

"Green is the new red, white and blue," he told a gathering at Silicon Valley business forum the Churchill Club in early 2006, tying green investing to U.S. energy independence.

Influenced by Gore's work on climate change, Doerr said his teenage daughter, Mary, had spurred him to tackle the issue.

In a 2007 talk, Doerr quoted his daughter as saying: "Dad, your generation created this problem. You had better fix it."

With an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion, Doerr is an active philanthropist. But he has repeatedly stressed that cleantech is good business, not a charitable endeavor. "Going green is bigger than the Internet. It could be the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century," he said in 2007.

Kleiner announced in 2006 that it would dedicate $100 million of its latest fund to greentech — and then doubled that commitment to $200 million. Two years later, it launched the $500 million Green Growth Fund. Kleiner poured the cash into dozens of solar, wind, geothermal, energy efficiency and renewable fuels startups.

Further greening seemed inevitable with the 2008 election of President Barack Obama, who at the time was a strong proponent of a national market to limit and trade carbon emissions. The outlook brightened further with passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, which provided $27.2 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

But things changed fast. The financial crisis stifled investment in solar and wind projects, while efforts to pass cap-and-trade legislation collapsed in Congress. The explosion in natural gas development made possible by "fracking" undermined the economics of many renewable energy projects.

Then came the bankruptcy of solar-panel maker Solyndra, which had received more than half a billion dollars of federal support. That unleashed a storm of criticism, which made it even harder for green companies to secure financing to grow.

The sudden shift in market conditions and investor sentiment hit some of the Kleiner-backed firms hard.

Amonix Inc, a solar company, was forced to close a Nevada factory last year. Luca Technologies Inc, which uses biotechnology to produce natural gas, canceled IPO plans at the eleventh hour last April due to difficult market conditions.

Silver Spring Networks Inc, a smart-grid company, and biofuels maker Mascoma Corp have yet to follow through on mid-2011 plans to go public. AltaRock Energy Inc, a geothermal energy startup, was forced to abandon its first project in 2009 due to drilling problems. Another project to demonstrate its technology is underway in Oregon.

Fisker Automotive Inc, an electric car maker, has been plagued by production delays and hasn't built a car in more than six months. It is currently seeking a partner.

The companies did not respond to requests for comment on their relationships with Kleiner or their current situation.

While Kleiner focused on cleantech, which has accounted for more than a quarter of all its investment dollars since 2007, its competitors were lavishing money and attention on the consumer Internet. Accel Partners bet on social networking site Facebook Inc in 2005 when it was worth about $100 million. Firms like Charles River Ventures and Spark Capital first jumped into microblogging service Twitter Inc in 2007, when it was worth around $25 million.

When Kleiner tried belatedly to catch the social media wave, prices had exploded. In early 2011, Kleiner invested in Twitter at a $3.7 billion valuation, Facebook at a $52 billion valuation, and Groupon Inc at a $5 billion valuation, according to published reports of valuations from the time.

Kleiner said it did not agree with the reported valuations. Based on its cost, the firm said, its investment in Facebook is up 39 percent; Twitter, up 111 percent; and Groupon down 38 percent.

Meanwhile, Kleiner's other earlier-stage consumer Internet investments, including the social network Path Inc and reputation-measurement service Klout Inc, have yet to make a splash. One that did, social games developer Zynga Inc, was less of a victory than it might have been because Kleiner held on to all its shares post-IPO, only to see the stock plunge from an initial offering price of $12 to trade below $3, where it is trading these days.

Kleiner faces other questions, too, including who might replace Doerr as de facto leader of the firm should he retire. Doerr said in the email that the firm has developed many leaders, including technology-focused partners Ted Schlein and Randy Komisar, and healthcare partner Beth Seidenberg.

And it's wrestling with the bad publicity - and possible financial liability - from a much-discussed sexual harassment and retaliation suit filed by Ellen Pao, a former partner. Kleiner has said the allegations are without merit.

The firm has made a concerted effort over the past several years to burnish its credentials as an Internet VC, hiring Mary Meeker, the highly regarded former Internet analyst at Morgan Stanley, along with up-and-coming stars such as Twitter's former engineering vice president Mike Abbott and Square's former products director Megan Quinn.

At the same time Kleiner has scaled back its cleantech activity, though even last year it was the most active VC firm in the cleantech sector, according to research firm the Cleantech Group, participating in more than 20 funding rounds.

On the sidelines of a Kleiner party in November, Doerr said that the firm has more profitable cleantech portfolio companies than any other venture firm. When asked if he regretted pushing so hard into cleantech so early, Doerr gave a qualified no. "I wish," he said, "we'd known then what we know now."

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AMR pilot contract would cover US Air pilots in merger: memo

New York, Jan 26 : If American Airlines and US Airways Group (LCC) merge, pilots of the carriers would initially be governed by the contract currently in place with American's pilots, according to terms of a memorandum disclosed.

The so-called memorandum of understanding has been approved by the leadership of the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American's pilots, and the US Airline Pilots Association, the union for US Airways pilots, as well as by the two carriers.

American parent AMR Corp (AAMRQ.PK), which filed for bankruptcy in November 2011, is weighing merging with US Airways against exiting Chapter 11 as a stand-alone company. A combined carrier's revenues would be on a par with the revenues of United Continental Holdings (UAL), which became the world's largest airline in 2010.

In a statement, American Airlines stressed that the memo of understanding would only become effective should a merger be approved, and added it outlines the process to reach a joint collective bargaining agreement for pilots.

The memorandum of understanding "was negotiated to give the parties greater clarity on both the costs and the pilot integration processes associated with a potential merger, as American reviews its strategic alternatives," spokesman Bruce Hicks stated.

In a message to members, the Allied Pilots Association said its 2012 collective bargaining agreement reached with American would be the "baseline contract for all pilots" should a merger take place.

The MOU would allow the pilots union to make $522 million in contractual improvements, or $87 million a year over six years, the APA said.

Additionally, the memo includes procedures for integrating pilot seniority lists and specifies that current American pilots would fly existing American aircraft, while US Airways pilots would fly that carrier's planes.

"We recognize the prospect for substantial improvements this potential merger holds for both pilot groups, APA President Keith Wilson and US Airline Pilots Association President Gary Hummel said in a joint statement.

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Analysis: Once reliable technology sector drags down earnings

New York, Jan 26 : This earnings season, the U.S. technology industry is in an unusual position - dragging corporate America down, rather than lifting it up.

Wall Street expects the tech sector's fourth-quarter earnings to be down 1.1 percent from a year ago, the first drop since the third quarter of 2009, even though overall S&P 500 profits are still forecast to show growth.

Chip companies are expected to be among the worst performers because of softer-than-expected personal computer sales. Weak overseas demand and worries about the U.S. fiscal crisis have also likely caused corporations to put off IT spending.

"The lack of economic growth we've seen in Europe, the deceleration of emerging markets - that has put a significant amount of pressure, particularly on technology," said Omar Aguilar, chief investment officer for equities at Charles Schwab Corp, in San Francisco.

Tech stocks have struggled recently and further weakness could dent the bullish 2013 forecasts many strategists have for the U.S. stock market. But some investors and analysts say weak fourth-quarter numbers have already been baked into many tech stock prices and valuations are attractive.

Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch wrote in a note this week that tech stocks are undervalued by about 32 percent, more than any other sector, based on current forward price-to-earnings ratios. Every tech industry except IT services is trading well below historical levels, the note said.

Within tech, "you're finding a lot of cash-rich companies trading at reasonably cheap multiples. So to value investors like us ... it starts to seem intriguing," said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at North Star Investment Management Corp in Chicago, whose firm owns Microsoft Corp and Intel Corp.

It is unusual for tech, the largest of the Standard & Poor's 500 index's 10 industry sectors and accounting for nearly 23 percent of earnings, to underperform. Tech has been in the top half of S&P sectors for the last four earnings periods and it has posted stronger profit growth than the overall market 83 percent of the time in the last 10 years.

Apple Inc usually provides one of the biggest boosts to U.S. corporate earnings, but this time its December quarter profit is forecast to fall 3.8 percent year on year, compared with the S&P 500's overall 1.8 percent profit growth.

Apple has only missed analyst earnings expectations four times in the last 10 years, two of those in the most recent reporting periods. Its shares are down again this week after reports the company is ordering fewer components because of lower-than-expected demand for its iPhone5.

But even Apple stock, which fell below $500 a share for the first time since February, is looking more attractive to value investors, Kuby said.

The bulk of technology companies do not start to report results until next week, but Intel is due out.

Among tech's sub-industries, 13 semiconductor companies are expected to report an aggregate 28.4 percent fall in quarterly profit and four semiconductor equipment makers are expected to see a 50.7 percent drop.

Texas Instruments Inc was among top chip companies that have warned on the fourth quarter, along with Applied Materials Inc. Texas Instruments, which last cut its profit target in December, cited restructuring charges. The stock closed at $32.28, off its $34.24 high in March.

Others warnings have come from Cisco Systems Inc, Hewlett Packard Co and Qualcomm Inc.

The S&P 500 tech sector rose 13.2 percent in 2012, about the same as the S&P 500's 13.4 percent gain, but tech stocks by at least one measure have been underperforming since September. The SPDR XLK technology fund ETF ended last quarter with a loss of 6.1 percent, while the S&P 500 was down just 1 percent.

"The S&P 500 peaked in mid-September, had a pullback and it's already pretty close to that September high. Contrasting that, the XLK hasn't even come close to getting back to where it was in September," said Chris Burba, co-founder and chief technical strategist at miAnalysis Inc in New York.

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Boy goes missing at Karfali Mohalla

Srinagar, Jan 26 : A boy of Karfali Mohalla  in Shaher-e-Khaas went missing  today after he left for private tuitions.

Police said 11-year-old Aman Ahmad Hazim son of Farooq Ahmad Hazim of Karfali Mohalla Srinagar went missing near Mirza Masjid.

“After he did not return till evening, we approached police. Hazim was wearing pheran at the time of his disappearance. He used to daily go for the tuitions but today his teacher had gone to attend a condolence meeting and nobody was present there,” Hazim's relatives said.

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Boy goes missing at Karfali Mohalla

Srinagar, Jan 26 : A boy of Karfali Mohalla  in Shaher-e-Khaas went missing  today after he left for private tuitions.

Police said 11-year-old Aman Ahmad Hazim son of Farooq Ahmad Hazim of Karfali Mohalla Srinagar went missing near Mirza Masjid.

“After he did not return till evening, we approached police. Hazim was wearing pheran at the time of his disappearance. He used to daily go for the tuitions but today his teacher had gone to attend a condolence meeting and nobody was present there,” Hazim's relatives said.

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Boy goes missing at Karfali Mohalla

Srinagar, Jan 26 : A boy of Karfali Mohalla  in Shaher-e-Khaas went missing  today after he left for private tuitions.

Police said 11-year-old Aman Ahmad Hazim son of Farooq Ahmad Hazim of Karfali Mohalla Srinagar went missing near Mirza Masjid.

“After he did not return till evening, we approached police. Hazim was wearing pheran at the time of his disappearance. He used to daily go for the tuitions but today his teacher had gone to attend a condolence meeting and nobody was present there,” Hazim's relatives said.

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Gas agency at Bohri Kadal takes consumers for a ride

Srinagar, Jan 26  : Many LPG consumers of Old City today accused Zargar Gas Agency at Bohri Kadal, here of hoodwinking them.

“I had submitted all the documents to get the gas connection. After submitting the documents the gas agency management told me to visit after 15 days. Despite passing of more than one month they use dilly dallying tactics,” an aggrieved consumer said.

Meanwhile a delegation of consumers of the gas agency also accused its management of behaving “rudely” with them.
 The consumers appealed Divisional Commissioner, Dr Asgar Samoon and Director CAPD to look into the matter and take strict action against the gas agency.

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Candidate applies as female, appears ‘male’

Srinagar, Jan 26: The recently held written test for appointment of Junior Assistants at the University of Kashmir has triggered a lot of suspense after a candidate applied as female but appeared as ‘male’ in the examination.

According to officials, the candidate had applied for the JA post in March 2011 mentioning sex as ‘male’ in the application form.

However, when the examination was conducted, the candidate claimed to have changed the sex to ‘female’ and sought permission to sit in the exam—something which reportedly sent the University authorities into tizzy.

The candidate, according to official sources, was allotted to sit in the examination. “The candidate had the medical authentication on sex change,” confirmed the KU’s Controller of Examination, Prof AS Bhat, when asked about the case details. “The candidate was the same who had applied in March 2011, albeit this time with the Medical Board’s certificate on sex change from male to female.”

Bhat said they allowed the candidate to sit in the examination because ‘nomenclature or sex-change cannot bar anyone from the same.’

According to sources, the candidate appeared at a centre at the varsity’s Kashmiri department. “We were surprised to see the case because it seemed to be a unique one in the given circumstances,” they said.

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