Super Bowl XLVII Live Blog: Ravens Draw First Blood

7:05  p.m. ET: Flacco sacked with 12 seconds left in quarter.

7:04  p.m. ET: Incomplete throw by Flacco with 17 seconds left in the 1st quarter.

7:03  p.m. ET: Unbelievable throw and catch by Boldin for 31-yards.

7:02  p.m. ET: 3rd and 7 for Ravens after incomplete pass by Flacco.

7:00  p.m. ET: 9-yard gain for the Ravens. Ed Reed in locker room for evaluation.

6:57  p.m. ET: Jacoby Jones returns kick to the 22-yard line. Ravens’ Ed Reed and 49ers’ Vernon Davis both apparently being checked out after Reed hit Davis on previous drive.

6:55  p.m. ET: And to the relief of 49ers fans, David Akers field goal attempt is good. 7-3 Ravens.

6:54  p.m. ET: Kaepernick sacked. 49ers going for field goal.

6:53  p.m. ET: Davis out and being worked on by trainers. Second and goal, incomplete in the end zone, off of Crabtree’s hands.

6:52  p.m. ET: Vernon Davis, a super speedy tight end, with another first down on a 24-yard reception from Kaepernick. 1st and goal.

6:51 p.m. ET: And Gore with another first down.

6:50 p.m. ET: Kaepernick scrambles for a gain of seven, 2nd and 3.

6:50 p.m. ET: Kaepernick, who shocked the league with his legs when he took over from Alex Smith, gets a 1st down and then some.

6:49 p.m. ET: Gore gains nine, after having a rough few carries early.

6:48 p.m. ET: Huge, 19-yard game for Michael Crabtree, who broke out this season once Kaepernick took over the starting QB job.

6:46 p.m. ET: Already looking to be a really physical game as scuffle between players breaks out after 49ers loss of two yards.

6:45 p.m. ET: And here’s the GoDaddy commercial everybody has already been talking about – supermodel makes out with Hollywood’s favorite extra.

6:44 p.m. ET: Penalties already hurting the 49ers – big game jitters?

6:41 p.m. ET: And the extra point is good. 7-0 Ravens

6:40 p.m. ET: TOUCHDOWN BALTIMORE. Ravens take an early lead with a reception by Anquan Boldin.

6:39 p.m. ET: On 3rd and 9, same thing happens, but flag is down for defensive offsides – five yard penalty and replay of 3rd down.

6:39 p.m. ET: Given some time, Flacco throws ball beyond end zone for an incompletion on 2nd and 9.

6:38 p.m. ET: Ravens QB, Joe Flacco, known for his exceptionally strong arm, gets the ball to Torrey Jones at the SF 19.

6:37 p.m. ET: And a first down for the Ravens from SF 39.

6:36 p.m. ET: Better start for the Ravens, who pick up eight yards on their first down of the game.

6:36 p.m. ET: And the first drive of the game goes nowhere; Andy Lee punts on 4th down, and Jacoby Jones returns to near the 50-yard line.

6:34 p.m. ET: On first and 15, no gain for 49ers all-time leading rusher, Frank Gore.

6:33 p.m. ET: Five yard penalty for the 49ers for illegal formation.

6:32 p.m. ET: Kaepernick connects with Vernon Davis for a gain of 20, but a flag is down.

6:31 p.m. ET: Here we go – 49ers start the first drive at the 20-yard line.

6:28 p.m. ET: Ravens chose heads, and elected to defer their choice until the second half. 49ers to receive at kickoff.

6:27 p.m. ET: Newest members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame join the team captains for the coin toss.

6:22 p.m. ET: Alicia Keys performs the Star Spangled Banner, wearing a red dress and playing a white piano at the 50-yard line.

6:21 p.m. ET: Joint Armed Forces Color Guard present the flags.

6:20 p.m. ET: Hudson wearing a green ribbon in honor of the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting while performing with the students.

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

6:19 p.m. ET: In a touching performance, Sandy Hook Elementary School students perform “America the Beautiful,” with Jennifer Hudson.

6:18 p.m. ET: Jason Witten wins the 2012 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.

6:12 p.m. ET: And out come the 49ers.

6:11 p.m. ET: The Ravens players are introduced in the stadium to a raucous crowd.

6:09 p.m. ET: And another historic first tonight – the two head coaches are brothers, born just 15 months apart. John Harbaugh, 50, is in his fifth season as the Baltimore Ravens head coach, and has won playoff games in each of his previous seasons. Jim Harbaugh, 49, is in his second season as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, leading his team to the playoffs both seasons.

6:05 p.m. ET: The San Francisco 49ers are going for their 6th Lombardi trophy, which would tie them for the most championships ever with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Baltimore Ravens are trying for their second Super Bowl victory. Neither team has ever lost a Super Bowl game – and at the end of the night, there will only be one team left in the NFL to have never lost a Super Bowl game.

6:00 p.m. ET: It’s here – the biggest spectacle in American sports, the Super Bowl. We’ll be covering the game, performances and, of course, the commercials right here.

It’s been an incredible season so far, and everything has led up to tonight’s game in New Orleans, where the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers face the AFC Champion Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII. Keep refreshing for the latest updates throughout what promises to be a great game.

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Iran hedges on nuclear talks with six powers or U.S.

MUNICH (Reuters) - Iran said on Sunday it was open to a U.S. offer of direct talks on its nuclear program and that six world powers had suggested a new round of nuclear negotiations this month, but without committing itself to either proposal.

Diplomatic efforts to resolve a dispute over Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran says is peaceful but the West suspects is intended to give Iran the capability to build a nuclear bomb, have been all but deadlocked for years, while Iran has continued to announce advances in the program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said a suggestion on Saturday by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden that Washington was ready for direct talks with Iran if Tehran was serious about negotiations was a "step forward".

"We take these statements with positive consideration. I think this is a step forward but ... each time we have come and negotiated it was the other side unfortunately who did not heed ... its commitment," Salehi said at the Munich Security Conference where Biden made his overture a day earlier.

He also complained to Iran's English-language Press TV of "other contradictory signals", pointing to the rhetoric of "keeping all options on the table" used by U.S. officials to indicate they are willing to use force to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

"This does not go along with this gesture (of talks) so we will have to wait a little bit longer and see if they are really faithful this time," Salehi said.

Iran is under a tightening web of sanctions. Israel has also hinted it may strike if diplomacy and international sanctions fail to curb Iran's nuclear drive.

In Washington, Army General Martin Dempsey, the top U.S. military officer, said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that the United States has the capability to stop any Iranian effort to build nuclear weapons, but Iranian "intentions have to be influenced through other means."

Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made his comments on NBC's program "Meet the Press," speaking alongside outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

Panetta said current U.S. intelligence indicated that Iranian leaders have not made a decision to proceed with the development of a nuclear weapon.

"But every indication is they want to continue to increase their nuclear capability," he said. "And that's a concern. And that's what we're asking them to stop doing."

The new U.S. secretary of state, John Kerry, has said he will give diplomacy every chance of solving the Iran standoff.

THE BEST CHANCE

With six-power talks making little progress, some experts say talks between Tehran and Washington could be the best chance, perhaps after Iran has elected a new president in June.

Negotiations between Iran and the six powers - Russia, China, the United States, Britain, France and Germany - have been deadlocked since a meeting last June.

EU officials have accused Iran of dragging its feet in weeks of haggling over the date and venue for new talks.

Salehi said he had "good news", having heard that the six powers would meet in Kazakhstan on February 25.

A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who coordinates the efforts of the six powers, confirmed that she had proposed talks in the week of February 25 but noted that Iran had not yet accepted.

Kazakhstan said it was ready to host the talks in either Astana or Almaty.

Salehi said Iran had "never pulled back" from the stuttering negotiations with the six powers. "We still are very hopeful. There are two packages, one package from Iran with five steps and the other package from the (six powers) with three steps."

Iran raised international concern last week by announcing plans to install and operate advanced uranium enrichment machines. The EU said the move, potentially shortening the path to weapons-grade material, could deepen doubts about the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel's mission to stop its arch-enemy from acquiring nuclear weapons was "becoming more complex, since the Iranians are equipping themselves with cutting-edge centrifuges that shorten the time of (uranium) enrichment".

"We must not accept this process," said Netanyahu, who is trying to form a new government after winning an election last month. Israel is generally believed to be the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons.

(Additional reporting by Myra MacDonald and Stephen Brown in Munich, Dmitry Solovyov in Almaty, Yeganeh Torbati in Dubai and Jim Wolf in Washington; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Will Dunham)

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Football: Gerrard is England player of year

LONDON: Steven Gerrard was on Sunday named as England's player of the year for 2012 after winning over 40 per cent of a fans' vote, the Football Association announced.

The 32-year-old Liverpool star edged out Danny Welbeck and Ashley Cole to clinch the award.

England captain Gerrard became his country's sixth cap centurion in November when he chalked up his 100th appearance in the meeting with Sweden.

"I still feel fresh, looking forward to the next game as much as my debut. Every time you put the England shirt on, it is a proud moment," said the Liverpool midfielder.

- AFP/jc

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Ramgopal Yadav named Rajya Sabha ethics panel chairman

NEW DELHI: Veteran Karan Singh has paved way for Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav as chairman of the ethics committee in Rajya Sabha, marking the growing bond between Congress and the UP outfit that has bailed out the Centre at critical junctures.

The chairmanship of a key Rajya Sabha panel, that commands respect on bipartisan lines, is seen as the Centre's 'thank you' message to Samajwadi Party. Karan Singh resigned as chairman of the ethics panel after the winter session of Parliament, having headed it for eight long years, and has since assumed charge of another committee. He was replaced by Yadav.

The swap has been in the works ever since SP refused to join the government but continued to help the UPA. The ruling party's dilemma revolved around how it could be seen as returning the favour. Recently, Mulayam Singh Yadav directed his party to walk out of the two Houses of Parliament on the FDI policy to help the government that stared at serious embarrassment.

Congress appeared to oblige the UP outfit when it did not press hard for 'reservation in promotions' measure in Lok Sabha. The constitutional amendment is the pet issue of BSP chief Mayawati but is a red rag to Samajwadis. The half-hearted attempts to promulgate 'promotion quota' drew strong allegations from the Bahujan supremo who accused the government of compromising the interests of dalits and tribals.

Samajwadi Party has shared a complex relationship with Congress, siding with UPA-2 despite the bitter falling out in 2009 elections. It continued to help the Centre in Parliament despite Congress leading a vitriolic campaign against the party in the state. The equations were expected to change after SP stormed to power in March 2012, with calculations that the groundswell in its favour would also help it in early Lok Sabha polls.

However, UPA pre-empted Mulayam's possible adventurism by ensuring that it would survive a pullout by SP. The evidence came after the withdrawal of support by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee over the issue of petrol price hike and FDI in retail in September 2012. With BSP and the Left reluctant to pull the plug, Samajwadis too were compelled to maintain the status quo.

Congress has been careful in not provoking SP, keeping silent against the Akhilesh Yadav government and even catering to its interests at the Centre.

According to observers, the big test for the relationship will come in the budget session when the UPA will need to keep allies on its side to push through the finance bill. A section of SP argues that an impression of being aligned with the Centre, especially its tough economic reforms, would hurt the party if anti-incumbency is strong in the elections.

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New rules aim to get rid of junk foods in schools

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most candy, high-calorie drinks and greasy meals could soon be on a food blacklist in the nation's schools.

For the first time, the government is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful.

Under the new rules the Agriculture Department proposed Friday, foods like fatty chips, snack cakes, nachos and mozzarella sticks would be taken out of lunch lines and vending machines. In their place would be foods like baked chips, trail mix, diet sodas, lower-calorie sports drinks and low-fat hamburgers.

The rules, required under a child nutrition law passed by Congress in 2010, are part of the government's effort to combat childhood obesity. While many schools already have improved their lunch menus and vending machine choices, others still are selling high-fat, high-calorie foods.

Under the proposal, the Agriculture Department would set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on almost all foods sold in schools. Current standards already regulate the nutritional content of school breakfasts and lunches that are subsidized by the federal government, but most lunchrooms also have "a la carte" lines that sell other foods. Food sold through vending machines and in other ways outside the lunchroom has never before been federally regulated.

"Parents and teachers work hard to instill healthy eating habits in our kids, and these efforts should be supported when kids walk through the schoolhouse door," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

Most snacks sold in school would have to have less than 200 calories. Elementary and middle schools could sell only water, low-fat milk or 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice. High schools could sell some sports drinks, diet sodas and iced teas, but the calories would be limited. Drinks would be limited to 12-ounce portions in middle schools and to 8-ounce portions in elementary schools.

The standards will cover vending machines, the "a la carte" lunch lines, snack bars and any other foods regularly sold around school. They would not apply to in-school fundraisers or bake sales, though states have the power to regulate them. The new guidelines also would not apply to after-school concessions at school games or theater events, goodies brought from home for classroom celebrations, or anything students bring for their own personal consumption.

The new rules are the latest in a long list of changes designed to make foods served in schools more healthful and accessible. Nutritional guidelines for the subsidized lunches were revised last year and put in place last fall. The 2010 child nutrition law also provided more money for schools to serve free and reduced-cost lunches and required more meals to be served to hungry kids.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has been working for two decades to take junk foods out of schools. He calls the availability of unhealthful foods around campus a "loophole" that undermines the taxpayer money that helps pay for the healthier subsidized lunches.

"USDA's proposed nutrition standards are a critical step in closing that loophole and in ensuring that our schools are places that nurture not just the minds of American children but their bodies as well," Harkin said.

Last year's rules faced criticism from some conservatives, including some Republicans in Congress, who said the government shouldn't be telling kids what to eat. Mindful of that backlash, the Agriculture Department exempted in-school fundraisers from federal regulation and proposed different options for some parts of the rule, including the calorie limits for drinks in high schools, which would be limited to either 60 calories or 75 calories in a 12-ounce portion.

The department also has shown a willingness to work with schools to resolve complaints that some new requirements are hard to meet. Last year, for example, the government relaxed some limits on meats and grains in subsidized lunches after school nutritionists said they weren't working.

Schools, the food industry, interest groups and other critics or supporters of the new proposal will have 60 days to comment and suggest changes. A final rule could be in place as soon as the 2014 school year.

Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said surveys by her organization show that most parents want changes in the lunchroom.

"Parents aren't going to have to worry that kids are using their lunch money to buy candy bars and a Gatorade instead of a healthy school lunch," she said.

The food industry has been onboard with many of the changes, and several companies worked with Congress on the child nutrition law two years ago. Major beverage companies have already agreed to take the most caloric sodas out of schools. But those same companies, including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, also sell many of the non-soda options, like sports drinks, and have lobbied to keep them in vending machines.

A spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association, which represents the soda companies, says they already have greatly reduced the number of calories that kids are consuming at school by pulling out the high-calorie sodas.

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Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

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Body of Missing Mom Reportedly Found in Turkey

The body of an American woman who went missing while on a solo trip to Turkey has been pulled from a bay in Istanbul, and nine people have been held for questioning, according to local media.

Sarai Sierra, 33, was last heard from on Jan. 21, the day she was due to board a flight home to New York City.

The state-run Andolu Agency reported that residents found a woman's body today near the ruins of some ancient city walls in a low-income district, and police identified the body as Sierra.

Rep. Michael Grimm, R-NY, who with his staff had been assisting the Sierra family in the search, said he was "deeply saddened" to hear the news of her death.

"I urge Turkish officials to move quickly to identify whomever is responsible for her tragic death and ensure that any guilty parties are punished to the fullest extent of the law," he said in a statement.

Courtesy Sarai Sierra's family

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The New York City mother, who has two young boys, traveled to Turkey alone on Jan. 7 after a friend had to cancel. Sierra, who is an avid photographer with a popular Instagram stream, planned to document her dream vacation with her camera.

"It was her first time outside of the United States, and every day while she was there she pretty much kept in contact with us, letting us know what she was up to, where she was going, whether it be through texting or whether it be through video chat, she was touching base with us," Steven Sierra told ABC News before he departed for Istanbul last Sunday to aid in the search.

Steven Sierra has been in the country, meeting with U.S. officials and local authorities, as they searched for his wife.

On Friday, Turkish authorities detained a man who had spoken with Sierra online before her disappearance. The identity of the man and the details of his arrest were not disclosed, The Associated Press reported.

The family said it is completely out of character for the happily married mother, who met her husband in church youth group, to disappear.

She took two side trips, to Amsterdam and Munich, before returning to Turkey, but kept in contact with her family the entire time, a family friend told ABC News.

Further investigation revealed she had left her passport, clothes, phone chargers and medical cards in her room at a hostel in Beyoglu, Turkey.

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Turkey says tests confirm leftist bombed U.S. embassy

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A member of a Turkish leftist group that accuses Washington of using Turkey as its "slave" carried out a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. embassy, the Ankara governor's office cited DNA tests as showing on Saturday.

Ecevit Sanli, a member of the leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C), blew himself up in a perimeter gatehouse on Friday as he tried to enter the embassy, also killing a Turkish security guard.

The DHKP-C, virulently anti-American and listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and Turkey, claimed responsibility in a statement on the internet in which it said Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was a U.S. "puppet".

"Murderer America! You will not run away from people's rage," the statement on "The People's Cry" website said, next to a picture of Sanli wearing a black beret and military-style clothes and with an explosives belt around his waist.

It warned Erdogan that he too was a target.

Turkey is an important U.S. ally in the Middle East with common interests ranging from energy security to counter-terrorism. Leftist groups including the DHKP-C strongly oppose what they see as imperialist U.S. influence over their nation.

DNA tests confirmed that Sanli was the bomber, the Ankara governor's office said. It said he had fled Turkey a decade ago and was wanted by the authorities.

Born in 1973 in the Black Sea port city of Ordu, Sanli was jailed in 1997 for attacks on a police station and a military staff college in Istanbul, but his sentence was deferred after he fell sick during a hunger strike. He was never re-jailed.

Condemned to life in prison in 2002, he fled the country a year later, officials said. Interior Minister Muammer Guler said he had re-entered Turkey using false documents.

Erdogan, who said hours after the attack that the DHKP-C were responsible, met his interior and foreign ministers as well as the head of the army and state security service in Istanbul on Saturday to discuss the bombing.

Three people were detained in Istanbul and Ankara in connection with the attack, state broadcaster TRT said.

The White House condemned the bombing as an "act of terror", while the U.N. Security Council described it as a heinous act. U.S. officials said on Friday the DHKP-C were the main suspects but did not exclude other possibilities.

Islamist radicals, extreme left-wing groups, ultra-nationalists and Kurdish militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past.

SYRIA

The DHKP-C statement called on Washington to remove Patriot missiles, due to go operational on Monday as part of a NATO defense system, from Turkish soil.

The missiles are being deployed alongside systems from Germany and the Netherlands to guard Turkey, a NATO member, against a spillover of the war in neighboring Syria.

"Our action is for the independence of our country, which has become a new slave of America," the statement said.

Turkey has been one of the leading advocates of foreign intervention to end the civil war in Syria and has become one of President Bashar al-Assad's harshest critics, a stance groups such as the DHKP-C view as submission to an imperialist agenda.

"Organizations of the sectarian sort like the DHKP-C have been gaining ground as a result of circumstances surrounding the Syrian civil war," security analyst Nihat Ali Ozcan wrote in a column in Turkey's Daily News.

The Ankara attack was the second on a U.S. mission in four months. On September 11, 2012, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three American personnel were killed in an Islamist militant attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The DHKP-C was responsible for the assassination of two U.S. military contractors in the early 1990s in protest against the first Gulf War, and it fired rockets at the U.S. consulate in Istanbul in 1992, according to the U.S. State Department.

It has been blamed for previous suicide attacks, including one in 2001 that killed two police officers and a tourist in Istanbul's central Taksim Square. It has carried out a series of deadly attacks on police stations in the last six months.

Friday's attack may have come in retaliation for an operation against the DHKP-C last month in which Turkish police detained 85 people. A court subsequently remanded 38 of them in custody over links to the group.

(Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Football: Ronaldo's own goal condemns Real Madrid to defeat

MADRID: Real Madrid's dismal season went from bad to worse when Cristiano Ronaldo scored an own goal to hand relegation-threatened Granada a shock 1-0 win on Saturday.

Real coach Jose Mourinho announced he had already given up winning the league before Christmas and this latest blow means that Barcelona can increase their lead over them to 18 points if they win away to Valencia on Sunday.

There were doubts over whether or not Ronaldo would play as he is struggling with an ankle injury and his mood didn't improve when he headed a Granada corner into his own goal after 22 minutes.

Real had scored nine goals in their last two league games but they lacked the necessary drive perhaps as a result of a draining El Clasico in midweek where they scraped a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their King's Cup tie with Barcelona.

With Iker Casillas injured, Mourinho once again put his confidence in Diego Lopez in goal rather than youth product Antonio Adan while Raphael Varane also kept his place after an inspirational performance against Barca.

It was a baptism of fire for Granada coach Lucas Alcaraz who only had a few training sessions with the team after being appointed this week with the side only a place above the relegation zone.

He decided against making sweeping changes but did play new signing Nolito from Benfica on the left wing, with Dani Benitez injured, while Diego Buonanotte, who moved from Malaga, waited his chance on the bench.

Madrid started with plenty of the ball but they were sluggish in their passing and with Granada defending in numbers they were able to close them down without any alarms.

The home side set out their stall to allow Madrid to keep possession in the middle of the pitch while Ronaldo and Angel Di Maria struggled to make any inroads down the wings and they lacked the in-form Mesut Ozil through suspension.

Inigo Lopez headed over for Granada from a corner after 13 minutes and they looked dangerous on several breaks but they lacked a quality final ball.

Eventually Carlos Aranda sent over a telling cross with the Madrid defence stretched after 20 minutes and Alvaro Arbeloa arrived just before Nolito at the far post to knock it behind.

From the resulting corner Granada took the lead as Nolito's cross was flicked into his own net by Ronaldo jumping at the near post.

Madrid offered little in response with shots from distance from Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso.

After the break a 25-yard strike from Ronaldo forced a good save from Tono Rodriguez and they gradually raised the pace of their game in the final half hour.

Substitute Karim Benzema had a glaring miss from a few yards out in the final minutes.

Earlier bottom side Deportivo La Coruna's plight got worse as they lost 3-1 away to Getafe despite going ahead through a Luis Pizzi penalty after eleven minutes and having a man extra with the dismissal of keeper Miguel Moya.

Getafe responded with a penalty of their own through Diego Costa and scored further goals from Alvaro Vazquez and Adrian Colunga while Depor's Abel Aguilar was also sent off in the second half.

Osasuna moved out of the relegation zone with a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo and Espanyol continued their improvement under coach Javier Aguirre with a 3-2 victory over Levante.

- AFP/de

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Taunts start at home for the obese: Study

MUMBAI: Parvati Sharma will never forget her engagement. Just as the traditional puja for Lord Ganapati was about to begin, a relative seated at the far end of the hall started chanting loudly, "Parvati Ganapati, Parvati Ganapati." Relatives tittered as Parvati, the bride-to-be who weighed 127kg, wanted to cry. "It was clear they were comparing my shape with Ganapati's and were laughing about it," says Parvati, who hasn't forgotten the humiliation even after losing 50kg through bariatric surgery.

Families are one's ultimate support system, but this may not always be the case with obese individuals. Families, especially extended families, apparently play a key role in "weight-based victimization" — the politically correct term for Parvati's experience.

Overweight people have always complained of bullying or victimization from peers and friends, but new research from the US shows families and teachers too contribute to the victim's tears. A research paper based on a survey of 360 teenagers at weight-loss camps found that 92% said their peers taunted them, 70% blamed friends, 42% pointed to sports teachers, 38% to parents and 27% to teachers.

A funny observation at the dinner table or the sports teacher's insensitive remark about sluggishness could start an overweight or obese person's descent into depression.

Indian doctors say the findings of the paper, published in the January edition of Pediatrics, the medical journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, hold true here as well. "Indians don't acknowledge that victimization exists within their homes, but what do you call it when a parent asks his or her overweight teenager to look for a shop that sells clothes of larger size?" says Ramen Goel, a bariatric surgeon.

The Pediatrics paper says: "Even well-intentioned parents may inadvertently criticize or tease their overweight children in ways that are extremely damaging."

Consider the case of Pratik Desai. He was 21 and weighed over 120kg when he decided to undergo bariatric surgery. But just when the medical staff trooped into Pratik's room to wheel him to the operation theatre, he decided he didn't want his stomach cut down to a tenth of its size. But his father couldn't stand this last-minute turnaround and loudly admonished his son. "Doctor, tell my son he is very fat," the father went on in front of strangers. "Tell him he doesn't look good." Pratik didn't say anything to his father but managed to get discharged without surgery.

A counsellor says parents accompanying obese children invariably say things like: "Isse gym nahin hota (He cannot maintain a gym routine)." "The youngster invariably starts crying after that," says the counsellor.

Delhi-based endocrinologist Anoop Misra, who has conducted extensive surveys on obesity in schoolchildren, says: "Obesity continues to be a social stigma globally, and particularly in India. Many such children suffer from depression because of victimization." He says weight-based victimization is so prevalent that during school-based health programmes his team counsels obese children separately (not in front of others) and in the presence of their parents.

Goel says people find it easy to be judgmental because in the case of obese people "the diagnosis is written on the body". "People feel you will lose weight if you stop eating, not realizing that the obese person has a medical condition," he says.

Psychiatrist Harish Shetty says: "In India, weight and skin colour are considered important. Sarcasm, though unintentional, begins within the family. Grandmothers will call their dark-skinned grandchildren 'kali', while uncles and aunt will rib someone about the inability to lose weight." These barbs, he says, worsen the child's self-image and result in humiliation.

The Pediatrics study says weight-based victimization has many negative consequences: ranging from weight gain because of binge eating to low self-esteem, depression and poor academic performance.

Goel says the general population should be sensitized about weight-based victimization. "Our society is getting mature," he says. "Now is the time to bring about a sensitization in our people about such subtle victimization."

But Dr Sanjay Borude, bariatric surgeon at Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai, judges Indian parents more generously, saying they are not guilty of weight-based victimization. "Indian parents are protective about their overweight children," he says. "They learn about nutrition and try to help their children. They are most supportive parents."

(Names of patients have been changed to protect identities)

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Healthier schools: Goodbye candy and greasy snacks

WASHINGTON (AP) — Goodbye candy bars and sugary cookies. Hello baked chips and diet sodas.

The government for the first time is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful, a change that would ban the sale of almost all candy, high-calorie sports drinks and greasy foods on campus.

Under new rules the Department of Agriculture proposed Friday, school vending machines would start selling water, lower-calorie sports drinks, diet sodas and baked chips instead. Lunchrooms that now sell fatty "a la carte" items like mozzarella sticks and nachos would have to switch to healthier pizzas, low-fat hamburgers, fruit cups and yogurt.

The rules, required under a child nutrition law passed by Congress in 2010, are part of the government's effort to combat childhood obesity. While many schools already have made improvements in their lunch menus and vending machine choices, others still are selling high-fat, high-calorie foods.

Under the proposal, the Agriculture Department would set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on almost all foods sold in schools. Current standards already regulate the nutritional content of school breakfasts and lunches that are subsidized by the federal government, but most lunch rooms also have "a la carte" lines that sell other foods. And food sold through vending machines and in other ways outside the lunchroom has not been federally regulated.

"Parents and teachers work hard to instill healthy eating habits in our kids, and these efforts should be supported when kids walk through the schoolhouse door," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Most snacks sold in school would have to have less than 200 calories. Elementary and middle schools could sell only water, low-fat milk or 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice. High schools could sell some sports drinks, diet sodas and iced teas, but the calories would be limited. Drinks would be limited to 12-ounce portions in middle schools, and 8-ounce portions in elementary schools.

The standards will cover vending machines, the "a la carte" lunch lines, snack bars and any other foods regularly sold around school. They would not apply to in-school fundraisers or bake sales, though states have the power to regulate them. The new guidelines also would not apply to after-school concessions at school games or theater events, goodies brought from home for classroom celebrations, or anything students bring for their own personal consumption.

The new rules are the latest in a long list of changes designed to make foods served in schools more healthful and accessible. Nutritional guidelines for the subsidized lunches were revised last year and put in place last fall. The 2010 child nutrition law also provided more money for schools to serve free and reduced-cost lunches and required more meals to be served to hungry kids.

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat, has been working for two decades to take junk foods out of schools. He calls the availability of unhealthful foods around campus a "loophole" that undermines the taxpayer money that helps pay for the healthier subsidized lunches.

"USDA's proposed nutrition standards are a critical step in closing that loophole and in ensuring that our schools are places that nurture not just the minds of American children but their bodies as well," Harkin said.

Last year's rules faced criticism from some conservatives, including some Republicans in Congress, who said the government shouldn't be telling kids what to eat. Mindful of that backlash, the Agriculture Department exempted in-school fundraisers from federal regulation and proposed different options for some parts of the rule, including the calorie limits for drinks in high schools, which would be limited to either 60 calories or 75 calories in a 12-ounce portion.

The department also has shown a willingness to work with schools to resolve complaints that some new requirements are hard to meet. Last year, for example, the government relaxed some limits on meats and grains in subsidized lunches after school nutritionists said they weren't working.

Schools, the food industry, interest groups and other critics or supporters of the new proposal will have 60 days to comment and suggest changes. A final rule could be in place as soon as the 2014 school year.

Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, says surveys done by her organization show that most parents want changes in the lunchroom.

"Parents aren't going to have to worry that kids are using their lunch money to buy candy bars and a Gatorade instead of a healthy school lunch," she said.

The food industry has been onboard with many of the changes, and several companies worked with Congress on the child nutrition law two years ago. Major beverage companies have already agreed to take the most caloric sodas out of schools. But those same companies, including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, also sell many of the non-soda options, like sports drinks, and have lobbied to keep them in vending machines.

A spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association, which represents the soda companies, says they already have greatly reduced the number of calories kids are consuming at school by pulling out the high-calorie sodas.

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Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

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