Berlusconi slams Europe's 'lords of austerity'

ROME: Italy's Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday said Europe's "lords of austerity" had tried to get rid of him, speaking in apparent breach of rules for candidates to stay silent the day before elections.

"I contradicted the lords of austerity who are now trying to get rid of me," Berlusconi was quoted by the ANSA news agency as saying in Milan in an interview with Greek television.

Leftist candidate Antonio Ingroia asked for sanctions against the billionaire tycoon but Berlusconi's office said the interview had been given only with the explicit agreement that it be released on Monday after polls close.

The comments were then widely quoted by Italian media.

In the interview, the scandal-tainted Berlusconi said outgoing prime minister Mario Monti was "subservient and always on his knees in front of Mrs Merkel (German Chancellor Angela Merkel) and now she does not want to lose him".

"The same thing would happen with (centre left leader and poll favourite Pier Luigi) Bersani. But I would give her a run for her money," he said.

"Austerity increases the public debt and lead to a recessionary spiral that pushes up unemployment and can result in the loss of social calm," he added.

Berlusconi, who is currently a defendant in two trials for tax fraud and for having sex with an underage prostitute, also said prosecutors were "a worse mafia than the Sicilian mafia".

Italians take to the polls on Sunday and Monday, Berlusconi expected to come a close second after Bersani.

- AFP/jc

Read More..

Stuck to rubber, terrorists let go of gun

AGARTALA: Ranjit Debbarma still remembers the day 11 years ago when, as an area commander with banned terrorist group NLFT, he trekked for two months -- from the Jampui hills to Rangamurra and then to border areas of Bangladesh before finally reaching Burma -- to carry back Ak 47, 56, M 16 and SK guns for the insurgency back home in Tripura.

Today, though, the 37-year-old can be seen going from one rubber tree to another, collecting latex and talking to his labourers in the plantation at Jarul Bachai, about 13 km from Agartala. His daughter is in an English school and he now wants to buy a motorbike so that it's easier for him to drop her to class every day.

"We were safe in the camps of both Bangladesh and Burma then," the National Liberation Front of Tripura guerrilla says, squinting under an unusually bright February sun. "But I now realize that we were misled. I spent six years of my life carrying arms and collecting protection money from terrified people. We were told Tripura should be for its indigenous people and that even our king has been dispossessed by the Bengalis who came here much after we did. We had taken this falsehood as religion. Rubber is the only thing that matters to me now, my only god."

Tripura's burgeoning rubber trade, which has grown from a cultivable area of just 3500 hectares in 1982 to a massive 57,620 hectares in 2012, has changed the life of Debbarma and hundreds of other former militants like him in Tripura. A senior Rubber Board official puts the number at 754. "I have personally trained 60 of them," he says. "This has been a major rehabilitation effort, and I would go to the extent of saying it helped curb insurgency. People like Debbarma will always be grateful to the CPM government for this, if nothing else."

A state done in by lack of connectivity with the rest of the country and an even greater absence of industry, Tripura has been quick to latch on to rubber, spreading fear in many that the way things are going no one will be cultivating anything else in the near future. "Now it is second only to Kerala in terms of production," says Madhu Chatterjee, who has around 100 kanis (6.25 kanis make a hectare) devoted to the crop. "More than 50,000 farmers are involved in this these days as the returns are very high - a kg goes for Rs 210 on an average and profits can be more than Rs 100 - and the state has just the kind of weather that suits this thing. Even those with very little money can invest in it."

A rubber board official, who doesn't want to be named, says that the government is still reluctant to come clean regarding the names or numbers of former rebels who have either been given money to invest in rubber or have been provided small patches of land. "Most of those who came for training used their nom de guerre and went away leaving behind their nom de guerre," he says, adding, "I think we are better off not knowing who they really were, how many they killed and how many lives they ruined. That was the quid pro quo - give us a new life and we'll leave you in peace."

Back in Debbarma's field, he says he knows at least ten others like him who are leading normal lives, stuck to latex, and working as farmers and plantation managers. "If every government helps terrorists in this way, few will pick up the gun,'' he says. "After all, it is only us poor who because of hunger and penury are easy targets for recruitment. You can brainwash easily a man with no food on his table."

Read More..

FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.

The drug Kadcyla from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a potent dose of anti-tumor poison.

Cancer researchers say the drug is an important step forward because it delivers more medication while reducing the unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy.

"This antibody goes seeking out the tumor cells, gets internalized and then explodes them from within. So it's very kind and gentle on the patients — there's no hair loss, no nausea, no vomiting," said Dr. Melody Cobleigh of Rush University Medical Center. "It's a revolutionary way of treating cancer."

Cobleigh helped conduct the key studies of the drug at the Chicago facility.

The FDA approved the new treatment for about 20 percent of breast cancer patients with a form of the disease that is typically more aggressive and less responsive to hormone therapy. These patients have tumors that overproduce a protein known as HER-2. Breast cancer is the second most deadly form of cancer in U.S. women, and is expected to kill more than 39,000 Americans this year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The approval will help Roche's Genentech unit build on the blockbuster success of Herceptin, which has long dominated the breast cancer marketplace. The drug had sales of roughly $6 billion last year.

Genentech said Friday that Kadcyla will cost $9,800 per month, compared to $4,500 per month for regular Herceptin. The company estimates a full course of Kadcyla, about nine months of medicine, will cost $94,000.

FDA scientists said they approved the drug based on company studies showing Kadcyla delayed the progression of breast cancer by several months. Researchers reported last year that patients treated with the drug lived 9.6 months before death or the spread of their disease, compared with a little more than six months for patients treated with two other standard drugs, Tykerb and Xeloda.

Overall, patients taking Kadcyla lived about 2.6 years, compared with 2 years for patients taking the other drugs.

FDA specifically approved the drug for patients with advanced breast cancer who have already been treated with Herceptin and taxane, a widely used chemotherapy drug. Doctors are not required to follow FDA prescribing guidelines, and cancer researchers say the drug could have great potential in patients with earlier forms of breast cancer

Kadcyla will carry a boxed warning, the most severe type, alerting doctors and patients that the drug can cause liver toxicity, heart problems and potentially death. The drug can also cause severe birth defects and should not be used by pregnant women.

Kadcyla was developed by South San Francisco-based Genentech using drug-binding technology licensed from Waltham, Mass.-based ImmunoGen. The company developed the chemical that keeps the drug cocktail together and is scheduled to receive a $10.5 million payment from Genentech on the FDA decision. The company will also receive additional royalties on the drug's sales.

Shares of ImmunoGen Inc. rose 2 cents to $14.32 in afternoon trading. The stock has ttraded in a 52-wek range of $10.85 to $18.10.

Read More..

Jodi Arias' Friends Believe in Her Innocence

Accused murderer Jodi Arias believes she should be punished, but hopes she will not be sentenced to death, two of her closest friends told ABC News in an exclusive interview.

Ann Campbell and Donavan Bering have been a constant presence for Arias wth at least one of them sitting in the Phoenix, Ariz., courtroom along with Arias' family for almost every day of her murder trial. They befriended Arias after she first arrived in jail and believe in her innocence.

Arias admits killing her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander and lying for nearly two years about it, but insists she killed Alexander in self defense. She could face the death penalty if convicted of murder.

Jodi Arias Testimony: Prosecution's Cross-Examination Watch Video

Jodi Arias Remains Calm Under Cross-Examination Watch Video

Jodi Arias Doesn't Remember Stabbing Ex-Boyfriend Watch Video

Nevertheless, she is aware of the seriousness of her lies and deceitful behavior.

The women told ABC News that they understand that Arias needs to be punished and Arias understands that too.

"She does know that, you know, she does need to pay for the crime," Campbell said. "But I don't want her to die, and I know that she has so much to give back."

Catching Up on the Trial? Check Out ABC News' Jodi Arias Trial Coverage

The lies that Arias admits she told to police and her family have been devastating to her, Bering said.

""She said to me, 'I wish I didn't have to have lied. That destroyed me,'" Donovan said earlier this week. "Because now when it's so important for her to be believed, she has that doubt. But as she told me on the phone yesterday, she goes, 'I have nothing to lose.' So all she can do is go out there and tell the truth."

During Arias' nine days on the stand she has described in detail the oral, anal and phone sex that she and Alexander allegedly engaged in, despite being Mormons and trying to practice chastity. She also spelled out in excruciating detail what she claimed was Alexander's growing demands for sex, loyalty and subservience along with an increasingly violent temper.

Besides her two friends, Arias' mother and sometimes her father have been sitting in the front row of the courtroom during the testimony. It's been humiliating, Bering said.

"She's horrified. There's not one ounce of her life that's not out there, that's not open to the public. She's ashamed," she said.

Read More..

Rockets hit Aleppo, killing at least 29: monitor

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rockets struck eastern districts of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city, on Friday, killing at least 29 people and trapping a family of 10 in the ruins of their home, activists in the city said.

"There are families buried under the rubble," said an activist called Baraa al-Youssef, speaking by Skype after visiting the scene in his Ard al-Hamra neighborhood.

"Nothing can describe it, it's a horrible sight."

Video footage posted by several activists showed a burning building and people carrying the wounded to cars to be ferried to hospital. It was hard to gauge the scale of the damage in the night-time footage but rubble was clearly visible on the ground.

Rami Abdulrahman of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three explosions shook Aleppo and reported at least 29 people had been killed. Another 150 were wounded, he said, and the final death toll was likely to be higher.

Youssef said 30 houses were destroyed by a single rocket.

On Tuesday activists said at least 20 people were killed when a large missile of the same type as Russian-made Scuds hit the rebel-held district of Jabal Badro.

(Reporting by Mariam Karouny and Dominic Evans; Editing by Stephen Powell)

Read More..

Pope to quit Twitter after stepping down: Vatican Radio

VATICAN CITY: The pope's official Twitter account, which has more than two million followers in nine languages, will close next week when Benedict XVI leaves office, Vatican Radio said Friday.

After a high-profile launch on December 12 under the name @pontifex, the pontiff's online musings quickly attracted over 1.5 million followers in English. Around a million other users of the site subscribe to his feeds in Italian, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Polish, Arab and even Latin and a Chinese account had been planned.

"It seemed unimaginable one could continue to use a communication tool that is so popular and powerful during the Sede Vacante (Vacant Seat) period," Vatican Radio said.

The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics is expected to post his final tweet on February 27, when he will bid a farewell to ordinary Catholics at a general audience in St Peter's Square.

The account will then be closed on February 28 when Benedict formally steps down as pope, according to Vatican Radio.

No clear favourite has emerged yet to succeed Benedict but several cardinals tipped as possible candidates, including American Timothy Dolan, Odilo Scherer from Brazil and Gianfranco Ravasi and Angelo Scola from Italy, who are active Twitter users within the Church.

Benedict's bold move to become the first pope to join the Twittersphere sparked heated debate at the Vatican and within the Church. Supporters said it was a useful way to reach a younger generation, but some observers were dismayed to see that his pious posts invited a stream of mockery.

- AFP/jc

Read More..

Hyderabad, hotbed of home-grown terror, under lens

NEW DELHI: For the veterans of security establishment the bomb blasts have revived concerns about the critical nature of Hyderabad and surroundings in the growth of home-grown terrorism in India.

Officials point out that Hyderabad has been intricately linked to the growth of the present phase of domestic terrorism. When the first definite information about Muslim youth going to Pakistan for terror camps emerged more than a decade ago, with Hyderabad resident Shahid Bilal as a key figure, the government was alarmed at the highest levels. Once India confirmed that over 60 youth have gone across to Pakistan from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in 2005-06 the issue was taken up with Bangladeshi and Nepalese governments because most of them were going via either of these countries.

"Even if the bombers are from outside, they have received local logistical support," says one official. "There is a history here," he says about Hyderabad's brush with blasts as well as with fringe sympathisers.

A day before the twin blasts, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had, in fact, filed its first charge sheet in the case of Bangalore-Hubli-Nanded terror module run from Saudi Arabia by LeT-HuJI handlers. One name among the 12 accused stood out: Obaidur Rehman. The 26-year-old Hyderabad resident is the nephew of Maulana Mohammed Naseeruddin, a radical preacher presently languishing in a Gujarat jail in connection with the murder of Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya.

The charge sheet also mentioned the man handling the group from Saudi Arabia as Farhatullah Ghori, maternal uncle of slain HuJI operative Shahid Bilal. Both belong to Hyderabad.

The blasts that followed the charge sheet have only come as a grim reminder of the Andhra Pradesh capital having become a favourite recruiting ground for terror groups. In fact, the city has been in terror crosshairs for close to a decade and a half providing strong base to both LeT and HuJI.

According to intelligence agencies, Hyderabad first came on terror radar in late '90s with several radical religious organizations becoming a springboard to youth taking to terror. While there was an entrenched sense of victimhood and injustice post Babri masjid demolition among Muslims in the state, their anger was first organized and harnessed by Mohammed Abdul Shahid alias Shahid Bilal under aegis of HuJI.

The first effects of this endeavor manifested itself in the terror attack on the office of Hyderabad Special Task Force in 2003. Bilal's maternal uncle Farhatullah Ghori's name prominently cropped up in the investigations. He was also a suspect in the Akshardham Temple attack in Gujarat in 2002.

Following this, Bilal was found to be instrumental in conducting several blasts across south India between 2004 and 2007. During this period he also helped 26/11 accused and LeT operative Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal escape to Pakistan via Bangladesh along with his associate Fayyaz Kagzi after the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul in Maharashtra. In October 2007, Bilal was himself killed in Karachi along with his brother Samad. However, sources say, he has five more brothers who are in Pakistan and elsewhere. And the network he has left behind across India, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia keeps recruiting people for Jihadi activities.

In 2008, Maulana Naseeruddin's son, Riyazuddin Nasir, was arrested in Dharwad, Karnataka for planning to carry out terror strikes in the state. In 2012, with Obaidur Rehman's arrest in the Bangalore terror module, the city again struggled to shake off the terror tag.

Read More..

APNewsBreak: Governors to hear health care plan

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Gov. John Kitzhaber will pitch his overhaul of Oregon's Medicaid system to other governors in a private session in Washington this weekend.

Kitzhaber says he's hoping to get a handful of governors from each party on board. He wants to make a bipartisan push to change the way doctors are paid and patients are treated.

The governor has been talking for two years about expanding his health care initiative beyond Oregon, and his effort may be picking up steam.

President Barack Obama highlighted the concept in his State of the Union as a potential deficit-reducing option for Medicare. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday it's giving Oregon a $45 million grant help spread the changes beyond the Medicaid population and share information with other states.

Read More..

Las Vegas Shooting Launches Multi-State Manhunt

An argument in the valet area of a Las Vegas hotel led to a deadly drive-by shooting on the occupants of a Maserati on Vegas' glitzy strip, initiating a multi-state manhunt for the black Range Rover from which the shots were fired.

Three people were left dead in the attack, including two who died when their taxi was struck by the careening sports car and exploded into flames.

"What happened is not just tragic, but underscores the level of violence we see sometimes here in Las Vegas as well as across America," Las Vegas Metropolitan Sheriff Doug Gillespie said at a news conference today. "Clearly, the suspects in this shooting have no regard for the lives and safety of others."

The altercation took place in the valet area of the Aria resort and casino. Gillespie said there is currently "no indication" what the squabble was about.

Gillespie said that authorities do not know how many people are in the SUV, but that they are considered armed and dangerous. He warned members of the public to stay away from it.

"You should not take action," he said. "Instead, call your local police department and alert them to the whereabouts of the suspect vehicle."

Authorities in Nevada, Utah, Arizona and California are all on alert for the car.

"These individuals will be found," Gillespie said. "They will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun/AP Photo

California Man's Carjacking Spree Takes 3 Victims Watch Video

Chicago Teen Killed Day of Obama's Anti-Violence Speech Watch Video

Dallas Courthouse Shooting Manhunt Intensify Watch Video

The Range Rover SUV shot at two people in the Maserati, which caused a multi-car crash. Police have not released the model of the Maserati, but the price of a new Maserati ranges from $123,000 to $142,000.

Police said that they believe a group of men riding in a black Range Rover Sport SUV pulled up alongside the Maserati around 4:20 a.m. today and fired shots into the car, striking the driver and passenger, according to Officer Jose Hernandez of the Las Vegas Metropolitan police department.

The Maserati then swerved through an intersection, hitting at least four other cars. One car that was struck, a taxi with a driver and passenger in it, caught on fire and burst into flames, trapping both occupants, Hernandez said.

The SUV then fled the scene, according to cops.

Gillespie said investigators are in the process of gathering video footage from hotels, casinos and the taxi cabs that were at the intersection.

The driver of the Maserati died from his gunshot wounds at University Medical Center shortly after the shooting, according to Sgt. John Sheahan.

The driver and passenger of the taxi both died in the car fire.

At least three individuals, including the passenger of the Maserati, were injured during the shooting and car crashes and taken to UMC hospital for treatment.

Authorities said the Maserati passenger, identified only as a man, sustained only a minor injury to his arm. He is speaking to and cooperating with police.

They do not yet know whether the cars had local plates or were from out of state.

No bystanders were hit by gunfire, Hernandez said.

"We're currently looking for a black Range Rover Sport, with large black rims and some sort of dealership advertising or advertisement plates," Hernandez said. "This is an armed and dangerous vehicle."

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority had no immediate comment about the safety of tourists in the wake of the shooting today.

Read More..

Football: Laudrup tells Swansea to take initiative in final

LONDON: Swansea City coach Michael Laudrup said his side should have no concerns about being branded favourites ahead of their meeting with fourth-tier Bradford City in Sunday's English League Cup final.

Swansea will be appearing in their first major cup final, but their achievement pales in comparison to that of Bradford, who have eliminated three Premier League sides en route to Wembley Stadium.

League Two Bradford are the first team from the English fourth division to reach the League Cup final since Rochdale in 1962 and Laudrup said Swansea must be prepared to shake off their own underdog mindset as a result.

"I would think if you go back, it's very rare to see a major final between a small team in the top flight and a team from the lower leagues," said the Dane.

"When teams from lower down get to the final, it is normally against Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham or Liverpool -- like when Birmingham played Arsenal (in 2011).

"This is different because although we are one of the lower teams, we have to accept we are favourites and we must take the initiative in the game.

"We have no problem with that and we accept the majority of people will want Bradford to win as they are the underdogs.

"We have seen what they have done to Wigan, Arsenal and especially to Aston Villa over two legs.

"It is fantastic. If you say what we have done is a fairytale, then the fact Bradford are there is a huge fairytale."

Laudrup also confirmed that Spanish centre-back Chico Flores will not be available to play at Wembley after he ruptured ankle ligaments in the 4-1 league win over Queens Park Rangers on February 9.

"Chico tried today (Thursday) to go out and train, but it was much too early, we all knew that," said Laudrup.

"It is an injury you would normally estimate to be out for four to eight weeks and this Saturday would be two weeks.

"It is such an important game, but today he realised it is much too soon and he has to accept the fact."

In Flores' absence, Kyle Bartley and club captain Garry Monk will vie for the right to partner Ashley Williams in central defence.

Laudrup also revealed that German second-choice goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel will continue between the posts, having been preferred to first-choice custodian Michel Vorm in Swansea's previous games in the competition.

- AFP/fa

Read More..