Badminton: Lee, Chen in Hong Kong Open men's final

HONG KONG: Lee Chong Wei will meet Chinese second seed Chen Long in the final of the Hong Kong Open after the Malaysian world number one breezed past Japan's Kenichi Tago on Saturday.

The top-seed and Olympic silver medallist saw off sixth seeded Tago 21-19, 21-15 in 45 minutes, with the Malaysian smashing his way to the $350,000 Badminton World Federation Super Series tournament final.

Lee will face Chen after the latter beat unseeded Tommy Sugiarto from Indonesia 21-18, 21-10.

In the women's draw, China's top seed Wang Yihan overcame Germany's Juliane Schenk 21-8, 19-21, 21-15, to set up an all-Chinese final after her compatriot Li Xuerui defeated another Chinese player Wang Ling 21-12, 21-13.

In the men's doubles China's second seed Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng fended off a fierce challenge from compatriots Liu Xiaolong and Qiu Zihan 18-21, 21-17, 21-16 in a 62-minute encounter.

They will meet Malaysia's top pair Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong after they advanced to the finals beating Taipei's unseeded Lee Sheng-mu and Tsai Chia-hsin 22-20, 21-13.

In the women's doubles, it will be another all-Chinese finals between top seed Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei and the controversial duo Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang, who were disqualified during this summer's Olympic Games for playing to lose.

Yu, who along with Wang, raised eyebrows when she won last week's China Open, after apparently announcing her retirement a day after her expulsion in August.

But Yu on Tuesday denied she was quitting and said she now wants to focus on the sport.

-AFP/ac

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1,534 candidates in fray for phase one of Gujarat polls

AHMEDABAD: A total of 1,534 candidates have filed their nomination papers for the 87 constituencies in the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections on December 13, the officials said.

It was the last day today for filing nomination papers for the first phase of the polls. The scrutiny of nomination forms will take place on November 26.

"We have received nomination forms of 1,534 candidates for the first phase. 988 candidates filed their nominations today. The scrutiny of the nominations will take place on November 26," Additional chief electoral officer Ashok Manek told reporters here.

Last date of withdrawal of forms is November 28, he said. Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Arjun Modhwadia filed his nomination papers from Porbandar assembly seat today where the BJP has fielded Babubhai Bokhiriya.

There was heavy rush to file nominations on the last day as parties like Congress and Gujarat Parivartan Party finalised their candidates last night.

About 1.81 crore electors from Saurashtra, South Gujarat and four talukas - Sanand, Viramgam, Dholka and Dhandhuka - in western part of Ahmedabad will exercise their franchise in the first phase of voting on December 13.

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia (AP) — They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.

Many patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk Ruit. During eight days, more than 1,400 cataracts were removed.

The patients camped out, sleeping side-by-side on military cots, eating donated food while fire trucks supplied water for showers and toilets. Many who had given up hope of seeing again left smiling after their bandages were removed.

"I've been blind for three years, and it's really bad," said Arlita Tobing, 65, whose sight was restored after the surgery. "I worked on someone's farm, but I couldn't work anymore."

Indonesia has one of the highest rates of blindness in the world, making it a target country for Ruit who travels throughout the developing world holding free mass eye camps while training doctors to perform the simple, stitch-free procedure he pioneered. He often visits hard-to-reach remote areas where health care is scarce and patients are poor. He believes that by teaching doctors how to perform his method of cataract removal, the rate of blindness can be reduced worldwide.

Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness globally, affecting about 20 million people who mostly live in poor countries, according to the World Health Organization.

"We get only one life, and that life is very short. I am blessed by God to have this opportunity," said Ruit, who runs the Tilganga Eye Center in Katmandu, Nepal. "The most important of that is training, taking the idea to other people."

During the recent camps, Ruit trained six doctors from Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.

Here, in images, are scenes from the mobile eye camps:

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Egypt's Top Judges Slam President's New Powers

Egypt's highest body of judges slammed on Saturday a recent decision by the president to grant himself near-absolute power, calling the move an "unprecedented assault" on the judiciary.

The statement from the Supreme Judicial Council came as hundreds protested outside a downtown courthouse against Thursday's declaration by President Mohammed Morsi. The president's decision means that courts cannot overrule his decrees until a new constitution and parliament is in place, several months if not more in the future.

The judges' condemnation of the president's edicts are the latest blow to Morsi, whose decision set off a firestorm of controversy and prompted tens of thousands of people to take to the streets in nationwide protests on Friday.

Through their statement, carried by the official MENA agency, the judges join a widening list of leaders and activists from Egypt's political factions, including some Islamists, who have denounced the decree.

The Supreme Judicial Council is packed with judges appointed by former President Hosni Mubarak. It regulates judicial promotions and is chaired by the head of the Court of Cassation.

Their move reflects a broader sense of anger within the judiciary against the president. Some judges' groups and prosecutors have already announced partial strikes to protest Morsi's decree.

AP Photo/Egyptian Presidency

Morsi has accused pro-Mubarak elements in the judiciary of blocking political progress. In the last year, courts have dissolved the lower house of parliament as well as the first panel drafting the constitution, both led by his Muslim Brotherhood group.

The edicts Morsi issued mean that no judicial body can dissolve the upper house of parliament or the current assembly writing the new constitution, which are also both led by the Brotherhood. Supporters of Morsi feared that courts reviewing cases against these bodies might have dissolved them, further postponing Egypt's transition under the aegis of a new constitution.

They say Morsi has a mandate to guide this process as Egypt's first freely elected president, having defeated one of Mubarak's former prime ministers this summer in a closely contested election.

The judges' council's stand against the president sets the ground for an uneasy alliance between former regime officials and activist groups that helped topple Mubarak's regime and have in the past derided those officials as "felool," or remnants.

The presidents' opponents nonetheless see the judiciary as the only remaining civilian branch of government with a degree of independence, since Morsi already holds executive power and as well as legislative authority due to the dissolution of parliament.

The judges released their statement following an emergency meeting Saturday. They said Morsi's decision is an "unprecedented assault on the judiciary and it rulings" and called on the president to "distance himself from the declaration and all things that touch judicial authority, its specifications or interference in its members or its rulings."

The primary court in Alexandria and the judges' club there announced Saturday they and public prosecutors have suspended all work until the declaration is withdrawn, according to the state news agency MENA.

One of the most controversial edicts states that the president has the right to take any steps to prevent "threats to the revolution," wording that activists say is vague and harkens back to the type of language employed by Mubarak to clamp down on dissent.

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Crisis over president's powers exposes Egypt divisions

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi faces a rebellion from judges who accused him on Saturday of expanding his powers at their expense, deepening a crisis that has triggered calls for more protests following a day of violence across Egypt.

Judges in Alexandria, Egypt's second city, threatened to go on strike until it was revoked, and there were calls for the "downfall of the regime" - the rallying cry in the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak - during a meeting of judges in Cairo.

Mursi's opponents and supports - representing the divide between newly empowered Islamists and a more secular-minded opposition - have called rival demonstrations on Tuesday over his decree that has triggered concern in the West.

Issued late on Thursday, it marks an effort by Mursi to consolidate his influence after he successfully sidelined Mubarak-era generals in August. It defends from judicial review decisions taken by Mursi until a new parliament is elected in a vote expected early next year.

It also shields the Islamist-dominated assembly writing Egypt's new constitution from a raft of legal challenges that have threatened the body with dissolution, and offers the same protection to the Islamist-controlled upper house of parliament.

Egypt's highest judicial authority, the Supreme Judicial Council, said the decree was an "unprecedented attack" on the independence of the judiciary.

Youths clashed sporadically with police near Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the uprising that toppled Mubarak in 2011, following Friday's violence in which more than 300 people were injured across Egypt. Activists camped out for a second day in the square, setting up makeshift barricades to keep out traffic.

POLARISATION

Liberal, leftist and socialist parties called a big protest for Tuesday to force Mursi to row back on a decree they say has exposed the autocratic impulses of a man once jailed by Mubarak.

In a sign of the polarization in the country, the Muslim Brotherhood - the group that propelled Mursi to power - called its own protests that day to support the president's decree.

At least three Brotherhood offices were attacked on Friday.

"We are facing a historic moment in which we either complete our revolution or we abandon it to become prey for a group that has put its narrow party interests above the national interest," the liberal Dustour Party said in a statement.

Mursi also assigned himself new authority to sack the prosecutor general - a Mubarak hold over - and appoint a new one. The dismissed prosecutor general, Abdel Maguid Mahmoud, was given a hero's welcome by several thousand judges who attended the session of Egypt's Judges' Club in Cairo on Saturday.

Ahmed al-Zind, head of the Judges' Club, introduced Mahmoud by his old title, in open defiance of Mursi's decree.

The Mursi administration has defended the decree on the grounds that it aims to speed up a protracted transition from Mubarak's rule to a new system of democratic government.

Analysts say it reflects the Brotherhood's suspicion towards sections of a judiciary unreformed from Mubarak's days.

"It aims to sideline Mursi's enemies in the judiciary and ultimately to impose and head off any legal challenges to the constitution," said Elijah Zarwan, a fellow with The European Council on Foreign Relations.

"We are in a situation now where both sides are escalating and its getting harder and harder to see how either side can gracefully climb down."

RIOT POLICE

Following a day of violence in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and Suez, the smell of teargas hung over Tahrir Square.

A handful of hardcore activists hurling rocks battled riot police in the streets near the square, where several thousand protesters massed on Friday to demonstrate against the decree that has rallied opposition ranks against Mursi.

Al-Masry Al-Youm, one of Egypt's most widely read dailies, hailed Friday's protest as "The November 23 Intifada", invoking the Arabic word for uprising. "The people support the president's decisions," declared Freedom and Justice, the newspaper run by the Brotherhood's political party.

The ultraorthodox Salafi Islamist groups that have been pushing for tighter application of Islamic law in the new constitution have rallied behind the decree.

The Nour Party, one such group, stated its support for the Mursi decree. Al-Gama'a al-Islamiya, which carried arms against the state in the 1990s, said it would save the revolution from what it described as remnants of the Mubarak regime.

Mursi is facing the biggest storm of criticism since he won the presidential election in June.

Samir Morkos, a Christian assistant to Mursi, had told the president he wanted to resign," said Yasser Ali, Mursi's spokesman. "The president has spoken to him today but the decision to resign is yet to be taken," Ali told Reuters.

Mursi addressed his supporters outside the presidential palace on Friday. He said opposition did not worry him, but it had to be "real and strong".

Mursi is now confronted with a domestic crisis just as his administration won international praise for mediating an end to the eight-day war between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

"The decisions and declarations announced on November 22 raise concerns for many Egyptians and for the international community," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

The European Union urged Mursi to respect the democratic process, while the United Nations expressed fears about human rights.

(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy, Marwa Awad and Reuters TV; Editing by Alison Williams)

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Gaza ceasefire holds but mistrust runs deep

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas held firm on Thursday with scenes of joy among the ruins in Gaza over what Palestinians hailed as a victory, and both sides saying their fingers were still on the trigger.

In the sudden calm, Palestinians who had been under Israeli bombs for eight days poured into Gaza streets for a celebratory rally, walking past wrecked houses and government buildings.

But as a precaution, schools stayed closed in southern Israel, where nerves were jangled by warning sirens - a false alarm, the army said - after a constant rain of rockets during the most serious Israeli-Palestinian fighting in four years.

Israel had launched its strikes last week with a declared aim of ending rocket attacks on its territory from Gaza, ruled by the Islamist militant group Hamas, which denies Israel's right to exist. Hamas had responded with more rockets.

The truce brokered by Egypt's new Islamist leaders, working with the United States, headed off an Israeli invasion of Gaza.

It was the fruit of intensive diplomacy spurred by U.S. President Barack Obama, who sent his secretary of state to Cairo and backed her up with phone calls to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi.

Mursi's role in cajoling his Islamist soulmates in Gaza into the U.S.-backed deal with Israel suggested that Washington can find ways to cooperate with the Muslim Brotherhood leader whom Egyptians elected after toppling former U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak, a bulwark of American policy in the Middle East for 30 years.

Mursi, preoccupied with Egypt's economic crisis, cannot afford to tamper with a 1979 peace treaty with Israel, despite its unpopularity with Egyptians, and needs U.S. financial aid.

MORE DEATHS

Despite the quiet on the battlefield, the death toll from the Gaza conflict crept up on both sides.

The body of Mohammed al-Dalu, 25, was recovered from the rubble of a house where nine of his relatives - four children and five women - were killed by an Israeli bomb this week.

That raised to 163 the number of Palestinians killed, more than half of them civilians, including 37 children, during the Israeli onslaught, according to Gaza medical officials.

Nearly 1,400 rockets struck Israel, killing four civilians and two soldiers, including an officer who died on Thursday of wounds sustained the day before, the Israeli army said.

Israel dropped 1,000 times as much explosive on the Gaza Strip as landed on its soil, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.

Municipal workers in Gaza began cleaning streets and removing the rubble of bombed buildings. Stores opened and people flocked to markets to buy food.

Jubilant crowds celebrated, with most people waving green Hamas flags but some carrying the yellow emblems of the rival Fatah group, led by Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas.

That marked a rare show of unity five years after Hamas, which won a Palestinian poll in 2006, forcibly wrested Gaza from Fatah, still dominant in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israel began ferrying tanks northwards, away from the border, on transporters. It plans to discharge gradually tens of thousands of reservists called up for a possible Gaza invasion.

But trust between Israel and Hamas remains in short supply and both said they might well have to fight again.

"The battle with the enemy has not ended yet," Abu Ubaida, spokesman of Hamas's armed wing Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades, said at an event to mourn its acting military chief Ahmed al-Jaabari, whose killing by Israel on November 14 set off this round.

"HANDS ON TRIGGER"

The exiled leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, said in Cairo his Islamist movement would respect the truce, but warned that if Israel violated it "our hands are on the trigger".

Netanyahu said he had agreed to "exhaust this opportunity for an extended truce", but told Israelis a tougher approach might be required in the future.

Facing a national election in two months, he swiftly came under fire from opposition politicians who had rallied to his side during the fighting but now contend he emerged from the conflict with no real gains for Israel.

"You don't settle with terrorism, you defeat it. And unfortunately, a decisive victory has not been achieved and we did not recharge our deterrence," Shaul Mofaz, leader of the main opposition Kadima party, wrote on his Facebook page.

In a speech, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's prime minister in Gaza, urged all Palestinian factions to respect the ceasefire and said his government and security services would monitor compliance.

According to a text of the agreement seen by Reuters, both sides should halt all hostilities, with Israel desisting from incursions and targeting of individuals, while all Palestinian factions should cease rocket fire and cross-border attacks.

The deal also provides for easing Israeli curbs on Gaza's residents, but the two sides disagreed on what this meant.

Israeli sources said Israel would not lift a blockade of the enclave it enforced after Hamas won a Palestinian election in 2006, but Meshaal said the deal covered the opening of all of the territory's border crossings with Israel and Egypt.

Israel let dozens of trucks carry supplies into the Palestinian enclave during the fighting. Residents there have long complained that Israeli restrictions blight their economy.

Barak said Hamas, which declared November 22 a national holiday to mark its "victory", had suffered heavy military blows.

"A large part of the mid-range rockets were destroyed. Hamas managed to hit Israel's built-up areas with around a metric tone of explosives, and Gaza targets got around 1,000 metric tonnes," he said.

He dismissed a ceasefire text published by Hamas, saying: "The right to self-defense trumps any piece of paper."

He appeared to confirm, however, a Hamas claim that the Israelis would no longer enforce a no-go zone on the Gaza side of the frontier that the army says has prevented Hamas raids.

(Additional reporting by Noah Browning in Gaza, Ori Lewis, Crispian Balmer and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Alistair Lyon; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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Cyprus says bailout deal close

NICOSIA: President Demetris Christofias said on Thursday Cyprus is close to agreeing a bailout with international lenders, with the finance minister confirming that some 17 billion euros ($21.8 billion) is needed.

"After tough negotiations with the troika (of lenders), and keeping in mind the difficult circumstances this country is going through, we are very close to signing the memorandum with the troika," Christofias said in a statement after marathon talks on deep spending cuts and reforms to save its teetering economy.

"With the issues that remain, which are very limited, there is a possibility that very soon we can bridge those differences."

The statement, the president's first on the matter since the latest talks began on November 9, appeared to dismiss criticism he was not ready to agree to harsh terms.

Christofias sought to allay fears that officials from the troika of the European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund would leave the island empty-handed after more than two weeks.

The troika is expected to wrap up the talks on Thursday over what is needed to secure an agreement for EU financial aid.

Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly confirmed that reform of index-linked salaries, privatising the telecommunications authority and managing revenues from a major natural gas find were the remaining sticking points.

"We are on a very good road, and very soon we expect to make the final arrangement. There are only a few issues left, which we expect to cover very soon," he told reporters in Nicosia.

He said the memorandum could be ready for Eurogroup approval at its scheduled December 3 meeting.

Until Thursday, no official figure had been given, but it was widely reported to total 17.5 billion euros -- 10 billion euros for the banks, 6.0 billion euros for maturing state debt and 1.5 billion euros for public finances.

Shiarly said "the amount comes at around 17 billion euros ($21.8 billion). It's what we said in the past on the proviso the banks need 10 billion, which isn't our figure."

An independent audit of the banks' requirements is still underway, so the final figure for aid to the banks has not yet been announced.

The country's entire GDP in 2011 was only 17.97 billion euros.

The talks, which started in July, are the longest the troika has been involved in before agreeing terms, mainly because Cyprus is uneasy with the level of cuts and reforms.

Nicosia applied for bailout in June after its biggest lenders, Cyprus Popular Bank and Bank of Cyprus, could not meet new capital reserve limits because of exposure to Greece.

A document leaked to the media shows the government apparently proposing tax hikes and fewer cutbacks over a longer period than proposed by the troika.

Cyprus reportedly hopes to cut the debt gap by about 975 million euros by the end of 2016 rather than the 1.2 billion euros in mostly public finance cuts by 2015, as sought by the troika.

The troika's proposal is 80 percent through expenditure cuts and 20 percent from tax hikes.

It reportedly wants to slash the state payroll by 15 percent, shave 10 percent off welfare benefits, scrap the inflation-linked cost-of-living allowance and tax pension payments.

But the government has resisted, saying that would undermine an economy already in recession.

Cyprus proposes a two percentage point hike in value-added tax to 19 percent by 2014, a five-cent rise in excise duty on petrol and 150 million euros slashed off state benefits.

It has been unable to borrow on international markets since last year when credit rating agencies lowered its sovereign rating to junk status.

On Wednesday, Fitch downgraded debt issued by Cyprus by two notches, from "BB+" to "BB-" and said the outlook was negative, which means it could be cut further.

"A delay in negotiating official support has contributed to the deteriorating economic conditions and raised uncertainties about public sector reform and the correction of macroeconomic imbalances."

-AFP/ac

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26/11 hero claims govt didn't pay dues, Army denies claims

NEW DELHI: A former National Security Guard (NSG) commando, who fought terrorists in the 26/11 attack and was invalidated from service after he became medically unfit, on Thursday claimed he has not got any financial benefits or pension and the money "gifted" to him and his colleagues.

Flanked by India Against Corruption (IAC) activist-politician Arvind Kejriwal and his associates, the 34-year-old former elite NSG commando Surender Singh told a news conference that he has so far received just Rs 4 lakh, including Rs 2.5 lakh from the Centre, as financial benefits.

However, the government rejected his claim with information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari saying that the commando has been paid Rs 31 lakh in the form of ex-gratia payment by the governments of India and Maharashtra.

Interestingly, the government's rejection first came on PIB's twitter handle even as the press conference was on.

Narating his story, Singh said he was severely injured in the operation to flush out terrorists from the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai and was invalidated from service in October, 2011.

Since last year, he alleged, he has not received "even a single paise" from the government.

Singh claimed that NSG commandos, who were injured in the 26/11 operation, received a "number of gifts in the form of cheques" but the force had not dispersed them to the people concerned.

"I saw a file in which the photocopy of a cheque of Rs 2 lakh each from Rohan Motors Pvt Ltd and another firm were received in my name. I never got the money. Not just me but none of my colleagues got the money which came in their name. I want to know who en-cashed them and where are they now?" he asked.

'White lies'

Meanwhile, raising Surender Singh's cause, IAC on Thursday rebutted Army's claims that it paid dues to a former NSG commando, who fought terrorists in the 26/11 attack and was invalidated from service after he became medically unfit, saying these are "white lies".

In a statement on behalf of Surender Singh, IAC claimed that army and government were only talking about sanctioning his pension and not actually given it to him.

The IAC said the government did not give it in writing to Singh that he has been sanctioned pension.

"Surender Singh has termed the claims of Army as white lies," the statement said.

On Twitter, Arvind Kejriwal said army accepted all their allegations. "Pension has been sanctioned just now. So he was not getting it till now," he said.

He also claimed, "Army accepts that medical card was made in Oct 2012. This means he was getting treated from his own money so far."

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Study finds mammograms lead to unneeded treatment

Mammograms have done surprisingly little to catch deadly breast cancers before they spread, a big U.S. study finds. At the same time, more than a million women have been treated for cancers that never would have threatened their lives, researchers estimate.

Up to one-third of breast cancers, or 50,000 to 70,000 cases a year, don't need treatment, the study suggests.

It's the most detailed look yet at overtreatment of breast cancer, and it adds fresh evidence that screening is not as helpful as many women believe. Mammograms are still worthwhile, because they do catch some deadly cancers and save lives, doctors stress. And some of them disagree with conclusions the new study reached.

But it spotlights a reality that is tough for many Americans to accept: Some abnormalities that doctors call "cancer" are not a health threat or truly malignant. There is no good way to tell which ones are, so many women wind up getting treatments like surgery and chemotherapy that they don't really need.

Men have heard a similar message about PSA tests to screen for slow-growing prostate cancer, but it's relatively new to the debate over breast cancer screening.

"We're coming to learn that some cancers — many cancers, depending on the organ — weren't destined to cause death," said Dr. Barnett Kramer, a National Cancer Institute screening expert. However, "once a woman is diagnosed, it's hard to say treatment is not necessary."

He had no role in the study, which was led by Dr. H. Gilbert Welch of Dartmouth Medical School and Dr. Archie Bleyer of St. Charles Health System and Oregon Health & Science University. Results are in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Breast cancer is the leading type of cancer and cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. Nearly 1.4 million new cases are diagnosed each year. Other countries screen less aggressively than the U.S. does. In Britain, for example, mammograms are usually offered only every three years and a recent review there found similar signs of overtreatment.

The dogma has been that screening finds cancer early, when it's most curable. But screening is only worthwhile if it finds cancers destined to cause death, and if treating them early improves survival versus treating when or if they cause symptoms.

Mammograms also are an imperfect screening tool — they often give false alarms, spurring biopsies and other tests that ultimately show no cancer was present. The new study looks at a different risk: Overdiagnosis, or finding cancer that is present but does not need treatment.

Researchers used federal surveys on mammography and cancer registry statistics from 1976 through 2008 to track how many cancers were found early, while still confined to the breast, versus later, when they had spread to lymph nodes or more widely.

The scientists assumed that the actual amount of disease — how many true cases exist — did not change or grew only a little during those three decades. Yet they found a big difference in the number and stage of cases discovered over time, as mammograms came into wide use.

Mammograms more than doubled the number of early-stage cancers detected — from 112 to 234 cases per 100,000 women. But late-stage cancers dropped just 8 percent, from 102 to 94 cases per 100,000 women.

The imbalance suggests a lot of overdiagnosis from mammograms, which now account for 60 percent of cases that are found, Bleyer said. If screening were working, there should be one less patient diagnosed with late-stage cancer for every additional patient whose cancer was found at an earlier stage, he explained.

"Instead, we're diagnosing a lot of something else — not cancer" in that early stage, Bleyer said. "And the worst cancer is still going on, just like it always was."

Researchers also looked at death rates for breast cancer, which declined 28 percent during that time in women 40 and older — the group targeted for screening. Mortality dropped even more — 41 percent — in women under 40, who presumably were not getting mammograms.

"We are left to conclude, as others have, that the good news in breast cancer — decreasing mortality — must largely be the result of improved treatment, not screening," the authors write.

The study was paid for by the study authors' universities.

"This study is important because what it really highlights is that the biology of the cancer is what we need to understand" in order to know which ones to treat and how, said Dr. Julia A. Smith, director of breast cancer screening at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York. Doctors already are debating whether DCIS, a type of early tumor confined to a milk duct, should even be called cancer, she said.

Another expert, Dr. Linda Vahdat, director of the breast cancer research program at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, said the study's leaders made many assumptions to reach a conclusion about overdiagnosis that "may or may not be correct."

"I don't think it will change how we view screening mammography," she said.

A government-appointed task force that gives screening advice calls for mammograms every other year starting at age 50 and stopping at 75. The American Cancer Society recommends them every year starting at age 40.

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, the cancer society's deputy chief medical officer, said the study should not be taken as "a referendum on mammography," and noted that other high-quality studies have affirmed its value. Still, he said overdiagnosis is a problem, and it's not possible to tell an individual woman whether her cancer needs treated.

"Our technology has brought us to the place where we can find a lot of cancer. Our science has to bring us to the point where we can define what treatment people really need," he said.

___

Online:

Study: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1206809

Screening advice: http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/uspsbrca.htm

___

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

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Cease-Fire Holds Between Hamas and Israel

With a tenuous cease-fire in place and no rocket fire between Israel and Hamas for the first time in more than a week, Palestinians have begun to clean up rubble and damage inflicted by Israeli missiles.

People in Gaza filled the streets Thursday morning, inspecting damage to homes and businesses. Overnight, gunfire erupted in the crowded streets of the Palestinian enclave to celebrate the announcement of a cease-fire in the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant political group that essentially controlsl the Gaza Strip.

FULL COVERAGE: Israel-Gaza Conflict

"It's a nice message from Palestinians - don't mess with Palestinians," said Jalal Marzen Wednesday night during a celebration outside Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital. He and others pointed to the targeting of Tel Aviv by Hamas rockets as a shifting in the balance of power, arguing Israel's calculations would be forced to change ahead of the next flare-up. "It's huge, it's huge for us!" Marzen exclaimed.

Later, however, Israeli officials said several missiles from Gaza flew into Israel after the cease-fire. Israel did not respond with the air srikes that have blanketed Gaza in the past week.

Hamas has declared Nov. 22 a national holiday and said it would be celebrated every year.

"We call on everyone to celebrate, visit the families of martyrs, the wounded, those who lost homes," Hamas said.

Hillary Clinton Announces Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Watch Video

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A sense of normalcy returned to Gaza Thursday morning, with traffic again clogging busy intersections and stores opening for business.

PHOTOS: Israel, Hamas Fight Over Gaza

"For first time, the Israeli people felt what bombs mean, what rockets mean, what war means, what killing people means," said clothing store owner Bassem Diazeda, who said he only became a supporter of Hamas since the escalation.

The fighting came to an end after a meeting between Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary. Clinton, who said Egypt and the U.S. would help support the peace process going forward.
The eight days of fighting left more than 160 Palestinians and five Israelis dead.

The concern now among top diplomats is whether the cease-fire will hold while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders work on a long term solution for peace. Israel is demanding an end to rocket fire from Gaza, while Hamas wants an end to Israel's blockade of Gaza and targeted assassinations, the kind that launched Israel's operation "Pillar of Defense."

Hamas was not the only group firing rockets from Gaza into Israel. Other militant groups in Gaza, such as Islamic Jihad, fired rockets during the eight-day assault. A splinter Palestinian group took responsibility for Wednesday's bus bombing in Tel Aviv that wounded 23 people.

So the question is whether Hamas can control the more rogue groups in Gaza and stake out a real leadership role.

Clinton said that Egypt and the U.S. would help support the peace process going forward.

"Ultimately, every step must move us toward a comprehensive peace for people of the region," Clinton said.

An Israeli official told ABC News that the cease-fire would mean a "quiet for quiet" deal in which both sides stop shooting and "wait and see what happens."

"I agree that that it was a good idea to give an opportunity to the cease-fire ... in order to enable Israeli citizens to return to their day-to-day lives," Netanyahu said.

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Gaza ceasefire holds but mistrust runs deep

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas held firm on Thursday with scenes of joy among the ruins in Gaza over what Palestinians hailed as a victory, and both sides saying their fingers were still on the trigger.

In the sudden calm, Palestinians who had been under Israeli bombs for eight days poured into Gaza streets for a celebratory rally, walking past wrecked houses and government buildings.

But as a precaution, schools stayed closed in southern Israel, where nerves were jangled by warning sirens - a false alarm, the army said - after a constant rain of rockets during the most serious Israeli-Palestinian fighting in four years.

Israel had launched its strikes last week with a declared aim of ending rocket attacks on its territory from Gaza, ruled by the Islamist militant group Hamas, which denies Israel's right to exist. Hamas had responded with more rockets.

The truce brokered by Egypt's new Islamist leaders, working with the United States, headed off an Israeli invasion of Gaza.

It was the fruit of intensive diplomacy spurred by U.S. President Barack Obama, who sent his secretary of state to Cairo and backed her up with phone calls to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi.

Mursi's role in cajoling his Islamist soulmates in Gaza into the U.S.-backed deal with Israel suggested that Washington can find ways to cooperate with the Muslim Brotherhood leader whom Egyptians elected after toppling former U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak, a bulwark of American policy in the Middle East for 30 years.

Mursi, preoccupied with Egypt's economic crisis, cannot afford to tamper with a 1979 peace treaty with Israel, despite its unpopularity with Egyptians, and needs U.S. financial aid.

MORE DEATHS

Despite the quiet on the battlefield, the death toll from the Gaza conflict crept up on both sides.

The body of Mohammed al-Dalu, 25, was recovered from the rubble of a house where nine of his relatives - four children and five women - were killed by an Israeli bomb this week.

That raised to 163 the number of Palestinians killed, more than half of them civilians, including 37 children, during the Israeli onslaught, according to Gaza medical officials.

Nearly 1,400 rockets struck Israel, killing four civilians and two soldiers, including an officer who died on Thursday of wounds sustained the day before, the Israeli army said.

Israel dropped 1,000 times as much explosive on the Gaza Strip as landed on its soil, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.

Municipal workers in Gaza began cleaning streets and removing the rubble of bombed buildings. Stores opened and people flocked to markets to buy food.

Jubilant crowds celebrated, with most people waving green Hamas flags but some carrying the yellow emblems of the rival Fatah group, led by Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas.

That marked a rare show of unity five years after Hamas, which won a Palestinian poll in 2006, forcibly wrested Gaza from Fatah, still dominant in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israel began ferrying tanks northwards, away from the border, on transporters. It plans to discharge gradually tens of thousands of reservists called up for a possible Gaza invasion.

But trust between Israel and Hamas remains in short supply and both said they might well have to fight again.

"The battle with the enemy has not ended yet," Abu Ubaida, spokesman of Hamas's armed wing Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades, said at an event to mourn its acting military chief Ahmed al-Jaabari, whose killing by Israel on November 14 set off this round.

"HANDS ON TRIGGER"

The exiled leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, said in Cairo his Islamist movement would respect the truce, but warned that if Israel violated it "our hands are on the trigger".

Netanyahu said he had agreed to "exhaust this opportunity for an extended truce", but told Israelis a tougher approach might be required in the future.

Facing a national election in two months, he swiftly came under fire from opposition politicians who had rallied to his side during the fighting but now contend he emerged from the conflict with no real gains for Israel.

"You don't settle with terrorism, you defeat it. And unfortunately, a decisive victory has not been achieved and we did not recharge our deterrence," Shaul Mofaz, leader of the main opposition Kadima party, wrote on his Facebook page.

In a speech, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's prime minister in Gaza, urged all Palestinian factions to respect the ceasefire and said his government and security services would monitor compliance.

According to a text of the agreement seen by Reuters, both sides should halt all hostilities, with Israel desisting from incursions and targeting of individuals, while all Palestinian factions should cease rocket fire and cross-border attacks.

The deal also provides for easing Israeli curbs on Gaza's residents, but the two sides disagreed on what this meant.

Israeli sources said Israel would not lift a blockade of the enclave it enforced after Hamas won a Palestinian election in 2006, but Meshaal said the deal covered the opening of all of the territory's border crossings with Israel and Egypt.

Israel let dozens of trucks carry supplies into the Palestinian enclave during the fighting. Residents there have long complained that Israeli restrictions blight their economy.

Barak said Hamas, which declared November 22 a national holiday to mark its "victory", had suffered heavy military blows.

"A large part of the mid-range rockets were destroyed. Hamas managed to hit Israel's built-up areas with around a metric tone of explosives, and Gaza targets got around 1,000 metric tonnes," he said.

He dismissed a ceasefire text published by Hamas, saying: "The right to self-defense trumps any piece of paper."

He appeared to confirm, however, a Hamas claim that the Israelis would no longer enforce a no-go zone on the Gaza side of the frontier that the army says has prevented Hamas raids.

(Additional reporting by Noah Browning in Gaza, Ori Lewis, Crispian Balmer and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Alistair Lyon; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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Giant penguin fossils found in Antarctica

BUENOS AIRES: Argentine experts have discovered the fossils of a two-metre (6.5 foot) tall penguin that lived in Antarctica 34 million years ago.

Palaeontologists with the Natural Sciences Museum of La Plata province, where the capital Buenos Aires is located, said the remains were found on the icy southern continent.

"This is the largest penguin known to date in terms of height and body mass," said researcher Carolina Acosta, who noted that the record had been held by emperor penguins, which reach heights of 1.2 metres (4 feet) tall.

Lead researcher Marcelo Reguero added that the find, announced Tuesday, will "allow for a more intensive and complex study of the ancestors of modern penguins."

In its next expedition to Antarctica, during the region's summer, the team will seek additional fossils of the newly discovered species, as well as information about its anatomy and how the giant penguin might have moved.

Previous finds from prehistoric penguins indicated they did not sport the iconic black and white feathers the birds are known for today, but had reddish-brown and gray plumage.

- AFP/fa

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Manmohan, Cabinet learned of Kasab hanging through TV, Shinde says

NEW DELHI: No one from the Union Cabinet or even United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi were kept in the loop about Ajmal Kasab's scheduled hanging on Wednesday morning. Only President Pranab Mukherjee and the home ministry knew of the decision, according to home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.

Shinde told NDTV that the UPA chairperson "was not part of the decision" and his Cabinet colleagues learnt of the event through television.

Terming the decision to hang 26/11 terrorist Kasab "a routine" job for him, Shinde said "only the home ministry and the president of India knew of it ... it has nothing to do with the cabinet".

Asked if his Cabinet colleagues, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, were aware that the hanging was being held at 7.30am in Pune's Yerawada Jail, Shinde said, "No, no ... it appeared through television".

"It is my routine work, my nature is to keep secrecy in such things, I am trained in police," added the minister, who took over his job in August.

Relating the events leading to the hanging, Shinde said that he signed the file on Kasab, and sent it to the president with the note that mercy should not be considered. The President signed the file on November 5 and returned it the same day.

However, Shinde was away in Rome attending an Interpol meeting and returned after two days. He returned and "saw the top secret file which said that the President had refused the request for mercy petition".

He also denied that the entire hush-hush operation was known as "Operation X". "I don't call it Operation X," he said.

He told the news channel that the high level of secrecy was required so that petitions in courts and human rights activists could be "avoided".

To a question on the impact of the hanging in Pakistan, Shinde said that he was in touch with the Pakistan government and his counterpart.

"He has promised he will cooperate ... Pakistan is also suffering from terrorism and infiltration ... and it is time that both of us consult each other," Shinde said.

Asked if his ministry had taken a decision on parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Shinde said he would deal with the file when it comes to him.

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OB/GYNs back over-the-counter birth control pills

WASHINGTON (AP) — No prescription or doctor's exam needed: The nation's largest group of obstetricians and gynecologists says birth control pills should be sold over the counter, like condoms.

Tuesday's surprise opinion from these gatekeepers of contraception could boost longtime efforts by women's advocates to make the pill more accessible.

But no one expects the pill to be sold without a prescription any time soon: A company would have to seek government permission first, and it's not clear if any are considering it. Plus there are big questions about what such a move would mean for many women's wallets if it were no longer covered by insurance.

Still, momentum may be building.

Already, anyone 17 or older doesn't need to see a doctor before buying the morning-after pill — a higher-dose version of regular birth control that can prevent pregnancy if taken shortly after unprotected sex. Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration held a meeting to gather ideas about how to sell regular oral contraceptives without a prescription, too.

Now the influential American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is declaring it's safe to sell the pill that way.

Wait, why would doctors who make money from women's yearly visits for a birth-control prescription advocate giving that up?

Half of the nation's pregnancies every year are unintended, a rate that hasn't changed in 20 years — and easier access to birth control pills could help, said Dr. Kavita Nanda, an OB/GYN who co-authored the opinion for the doctors group.

"It's unfortunate that in this country where we have all these contraceptive methods available, unintended pregnancy is still a major public health problem," said Nanda, a scientist with the North Carolina nonprofit FHI 360, formerly known as Family Health International.

Many women have trouble affording a doctor's visit, or getting an appointment in time when their pills are running low — which can lead to skipped doses, Nanda added.

If the pill didn't require a prescription, women could "pick it up in the middle of the night if they run out," she said. "It removes those types of barriers."

Tuesday, the FDA said it was willing to meet with any company interested in making the pill nonprescription, to discuss what if any studies would be needed.

Then there's the price question. The Obama administration's new health care law requires FDA-approved contraceptives to be available without copays for women enrolled in most workplace health plans.

If the pill were sold without a prescription, it wouldn't be covered under that provision, just as condoms aren't, said Health and Human Services spokesman Tait Sye.

ACOG's opinion, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, says any move toward making the pill nonprescription should address that cost issue. Not all women are eligible for the free birth control provision, it noted, citing a recent survey that found young women and the uninsured pay an average of $16 per month's supply.

The doctors group made clear that:

—Birth control pills are very safe. Blood clots, the main serious side effect, happen very rarely, and are a bigger threat during pregnancy and right after giving birth.

—Women can easily tell if they have risk factors, such as smoking or having a previous clot, and should avoid the pill.

—Other over-the-counter drugs are sold despite rare but serious side effects, such as stomach bleeding from aspirin and liver damage from acetaminophen.

—And there's no need for a Pap smear or pelvic exam before using birth control pills. But women should be told to continue getting check-ups as needed, or if they'd like to discuss other forms of birth control such as implantable contraceptives that do require a physician's involvement.

The group didn't address teen use of contraception. Despite protests from reproductive health specialists, current U.S. policy requires girls younger than 17 to produce a prescription for the morning-after pill, meaning pharmacists must check customers' ages. Presumably regular birth control pills would be treated the same way.

Prescription-only oral contraceptives have long been the rule in the U.S., Canada, Western Europe, Australia and a few other places, but many countries don't require a prescription.

Switching isn't a new idea. In Washington state a few years ago, a pilot project concluded that pharmacists successfully supplied women with a variety of hormonal contraceptives, including birth control pills, without a doctor's involvement. The question was how to pay for it.

Some pharmacies in parts of London have a similar project under way, and a recent report from that country's health officials concluded the program is working well enough that it should be expanded.

And in El Paso, Texas, researchers studied 500 women who regularly crossed the border into Mexico to buy birth control pills, where some U.S. brands sell over the counter for a few dollars a pack. Over nine months, the women who bought in Mexico stuck with their contraception better than another 500 women who received the pill from public clinics in El Paso, possibly because the clinic users had to wait for appointments, said Dr. Dan Grossman of the University of California, San Francisco, and the nonprofit research group Ibis Reproductive Health.

"Being able to easily get the pill when you need it makes a difference," he said.

___

Online:

OB/GYN group: http://www.acog.org

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Bus Explodes in Tel Aviv Amid Truce Talks

A bomb exploded on an Israeli bus near the nation's military headquarters in Tel Aviv, wounding at least 10 people, Israeli officials said today.

The bus exploded about noon local time Wednesday in one of the city's busiest areas, near the Tel Aviv museum. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said authorities were investigating whether the bomb had been planted and left on the bus or whether it was the work of a suicide bomber. This is the first terror attack in Israel since 2006.

Upon landing in Cairo to meet with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement condemning the attack.

"The United States strongly condemns this terrorist attack and our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and the people of Israel. As I arrive in Cairo, I am closely monitoring reports from Tel Aviv, and we will stay in close contact with Prime Minister Netanyahu's team. The United States stands ready to provide any assistance that Israel requires," she said.

Overnight, the violence between Israel and the neighboring Gaza Strip continued as Israeli aircraft pounded Gaza with dozens of strikes, hitting government ministries, underground tunnels, a banker's empty villa and a Hamas-linked media office. Gaza health officials said there were no deaths or injuries.

Clinton on Mideast Ceasefire: 'America's Commitment to Israel's Security Is Rock Solid' Watch Video

The Israeli Defense Force said they've now destroyed 50 underground rocket launching sites in Gaza. The IDF also said that two rockets were fired from Gaza toward densely populated areas in Israel, but were intercepted by the "Iron Dome" missile shield.

In Gaza at least four strikes within seconds of each other pulverized a complex of government ministries the size of a city block, rattling nearby buildings and shattering windows. Hours later, clouds of acrid dust still hung over the area and smoke still rose from the rubble.

In downtown Gaza City, another strike leveled the empty, two-story home of a well-known banker and buried a police car parked nearby in rubble.

Clinton met with Palestinian President Abbas in Ramallah early Wednesday to try to help broker a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip to end a week of tit-for-tat missile and rocket fire.

Israel and the Hamas militant group seemed to edge closer to a ceasefire Tuesday to end a weeklong Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, but after a day of furious diplomatic efforts, a deal remained elusive and fighting raged on both sides of the border.

Israeli officials told ABC News that a window of opportunity for a deal could close, if Hamas refuses to agree to a long-term ceasefire. That ceasefire would be measured in years, not months. Hamas is demanding that Israel loosen its iron grip on Gaza's borders and ease its maritime blockade.

On Tuesday, Clinton met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for more than two hours behind closed doors, saying she sought to "de-escalate the situation in Gaza." Clinton hinted it would take some time to finally reach an agreement.

The meeting came amid statements from Hamas earlier in the day that a ceasefire would soon be announced.
Netanyahu said he would prefer to use "diplomatic means" to find a solution to the fighting, but that Israel would take "whatever actions necessary" to defend its people.

Clinton relayed a message from President Obama, reinforcing America's commitment to Israel's security and calling for an end to the rockets coming from "terrorist organizations in Gaza."

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Tel Aviv bus blast shakes Gaza truce efforts

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A bomb exploded on a bus in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, potentially complicating efforts by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to pursue an elusive truce between Israel and Hamas, as Israeli air strikes shook the Gaza Strip.

After talks in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Clinton held a second meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before travelling to Egypt for discussions with President Mohamed Mursi, whose country is the main broker in efforts to end eight days of fighting.

In Tel Aviv, targeted by rockets from Gaza that either did not hit the city or were shot down by Israel's Iron Dome interceptor system, 15 people were wounded when a commuter bus was blown up near the Defence Ministry and military headquarters.

Israel and the United States branded it a terrorist attack, and a White House statement reaffirmed Washington's "unshakeable commitment to Israel's security".

The explosion, which police said was caused by a bomb placed on the vehicle, touched off celebratory gunfire from militants in Gaza and threatened to complicate truce efforts. It was the first serious bombing in Israel's commercial capital since 2006

In Gaza, Israel struck more than 100 targets, including a cluster of Hamas government buildings, in attacks that medical officials said killed 10 people, among them a 2-year-old boy.

Israel's best-selling Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said an emerging outline of a ceasefire agreement called for Egypt to announce a 72-hour ceasefire followed by further talks on long-term understandings.

Under the proposed document, which the newspaper said neither party would be required to sign, Israel would hold its fire, end attacks against top militants and promise to examine ways to ease its blockade of Gaza, controlled by Hamas Islamists who do not recognize the Jewish state's right to exist.

Hamas, the report said, would pledge not to strike any Israeli target and ensure other Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip also stop their attacks.

GAZA BLOCKADE

An Israeli political source said differences holding up a deal centered on a Hamas demand to lift the Gaza blockade completely and the kind of activity that would be allowed along the frontier, where Israeli troops often fire into the enclave to keep Palestinians away from an area near a border fence.

Hamas official Ezzat al-Rishq said the main stumbling block was "the temporary timeframe for a ceasefire that the Israelis want us to agree to".

While diplomatic efforts intensified, Palestinians militants fired more than 30 rockets at Israel, causing no casualties, and the Iron Dome interceptor system shot down 14 of them, police said.

Israel has carried out more than 1,500 strikes since the offensive began with the killing of a top Hamas commander and with declared aim of deterring Hamas from launching rocket attacks that have long disrupted life in its southern towns.

Medical officials in Gaza said 146 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, including 36 children, have been killed in Israel's offensive. Nearly 1,400 rockets have been fired into Israel, killing four civilians and a soldier, the military said.

"GOOD INTENTIONS"

The London-based Al Hayat newspaper, citing sources in Hamas and Islamic Jihad, said Israel wanted a 90-day period to determine "good intentions" before discussing Palestinian demands, a position the report said the groups have rejected.

Rishq said a short-term truce, whose proposed duration he did not disclose, "would only buy (Israel) time" until a general election in January and "we would have accomplished nothing in the way of a long-term truce".

Hamas sources said the group was also demanding control over Gaza's Rafah borders with Egypt, so that Palestinians could cross easily, and Israeli guarantees to stop assassinating Hamas leaders.

Israel, one of the Hamas sources said, wanted a commitment from the group to stop smuggling through tunnels that run into Gaza under the Egyptian border. The tunnel network is a conduit for weapons and commercial goods.

News of the Tel Aviv bus bombing caused oil prices to rise by more than $1 per barrel on concerns the Gaza crisis could lead to wider regional conflict that would disrupt oil flows.

But sources close to Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, speaking after the bus blast, said he was quietly confident a ceasefire deal could still be reached.

Clinton, who flew to the region from an Asian summit, said after Tuesday's meeting with Netanyahu that it was "essential to de-escalate the situation".

"The rocket attacks from terrorist organizations inside Gaza on Israeli cities and towns must end and a broader calm restored," she said.

Clinton earlier assured Netanyahu of "rock-solid" U.S. support for Israel's security, and praised Mursi's "personal leadership and Egypt's efforts thus far" to end the Gaza conflict and promote regional stability.

"As a regional leader and neighbor, Egypt has the opportunity and responsibility to continue playing a crucial and constructive role in this process. I will carry this message to Cairo tomorrow (Wednesday)," she said, pledging to work for a truce "in the days ahead".

"LONG-TERM" SOLUTION

Netanyahu told Clinton he wanted a "long-term" solution. Failing that, Netanyahu made clear, that he stood ready to step up the military campaign to silence Hamas' rockets.

"A band-aid solution will only cause another round of violence," said Ofir Gendelman, a Netanyahu spokesman.

Along the Gaza border, Israeli tanks, artillery and infantry remained poised for a possible ground offensive in the densely populated enclave of 1.7 million Palestinians.

But an invasion, likely to entail heavy casualties, would be a major political risk for Netanyahu, who is currently favored to win the upcoming Israeli election. More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed in Israel's three-week war in the Gaza Strip in 2008-9, prompting international criticism of Israel.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Clinton held talks with Palestinian President Abbas, reiterating U.S. opposition to his bid to upgrade the Palestinians' status at the United Nations. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington believed "the best way to achieve statehood is through direct bilateral negotiations". Those talks collapsed in 2010 in a dispute over Israeli settlement building in the West Bank.

"Secretary Clinton informed the president that the U.S. administration is exerting every possible effort to reach an immediate ceasefire and the president expressed his full support for this endeavor," said Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat.

"Once the Israelis accept to stop their bombardments, their assassinations, there will be a comprehensive ceasefire sustained from all parties," Erekat said.

A Palestinian official with knowledge of Cairo's mediation told Reuters that Egyptian intelligence officials would hold further discussions on Wednesday with leaders of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group.

(Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem and Cairo bureau; Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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Aung San Suu Kyi becomes UNAIDS ambassador

GENEVA: Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has been appointed an ambassador of the UN's programme on HIV and AIDS and has been tasked with fighting discrimination against people living with the disease, the agency said Tuesday.

"It is a great honour to be chosen as a champion for people who live on the fringes of society and struggle every day to maintain their dignity and basic human rights," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said in a statement.

"I would like to be the voice of the voiceless," she added.

UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe said the agency was honoured she had accepted the task.

"From small villages to big cities, from Africa to Asia, people are talking about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.... She is inspirational," he said in the statement.

Suu Kyi, who has been named UNAIDS Global Advocate for Zero Discrimination, will work to "eliminate stigma and discrimination", which she fears can "create an environment of fear that prevents people from accessing life-saving HIV services," the agency said.

"It is important that everyone who suspects they may be at risk seeks an HIV test and knows their HIV status early, so they can prevent new infections and can access life-saving treatment when needed," she said.

- AFP/fa

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P Chidambaram feels Congress has advantage in Karnataka

BANGALORE: Union finance minister P Chidambaram feels Congress has a great opportunity to capture power in the forthcoming assembly elections in Karnataka.

Addressing the party office-bearers at KPCC office here on Tuesday, he said the split in the BJP (former CM B S Yeddyurappa's decision to quit the BJP) and other problems had provided a perfect platform for the Congress to emerge victorious.

He asked the Congress leaders to focus on the SCs, STs, minorities, OBCs and women, the traditional vote bank of the party. This was former PM Indira Gandhi's message. Our party represents all sections of the society,'' he said.

Directing the party men to prepare for the polls, he said: The BJP government has no moral right to continue in office, which they assumed through 'Operation Lotus.''

Chidambaram urged Congress leaders to concentrate more on ensuring that credit flow reaches the neglected sections, including the minorities. In case of minorities, the credit flow is just 7.5 per cent, though the national average is 13.87 per cent.

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New push for most in US to get at least 1 HIV test

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's a new push to make testing for the AIDS virus as common as cholesterol checks.

Americans ages 15 to 64 should get an HIV test at least once — not just people considered at high risk for the virus, an independent panel that sets screening guidelines proposed Monday.

The draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are the latest recommendations that aim to make HIV screening simply a routine part of a check-up, something a doctor can order with as little fuss as a cholesterol test or a mammogram. Since 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has pushed for widespread, routine HIV screening.

Yet not nearly enough people have heeded that call: Of the more than 1.1 million Americans living with HIV, nearly 1 in 5 — almost 240,000 people — don't know it. Not only is their own health at risk without treatment, they could unwittingly be spreading the virus to others.

The updated guidelines will bring this long-simmering issue before doctors and their patients again — emphasizing that public health experts agree on how important it is to test even people who don't think they're at risk, because they could be.

"It allows you to say, 'This is a recommended test that we believe everybody should have. We're not singling you out in any way,'" said task force member Dr. Douglas Owens of Stanford University and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.

And if finalized, the task force guidelines could extend the number of people eligible for an HIV screening without a copay in their doctor's office, as part of free preventive care under the Obama administration's health care law. Under the task force's previous guidelines, only people at increased risk for HIV — which includes gay and bisexual men and injecting drug users — were eligible for that no-copay screening.

There are a number of ways to get tested. If you're having blood drawn for other exams, the doctor can merely add HIV to the list, no extra pokes or swabs needed. Today's rapid tests can cost less than $20 and require just rubbing a swab over the gums, with results ready in as little as 20 minutes. Last summer, the government approved a do-it-yourself at-home version that's selling for about $40.

Free testing is available through various community programs around the country, including a CDC pilot program in drugstores in 24 cities and rural sites.

Monday's proposal also recommends:

—Testing people older and younger than 15-64 if they are at increased risk of HIV infection,

—People at very high risk for HIV infection should be tested at least annually.

—It's not clear how often to retest people at somewhat increased risk, but perhaps every three to five years.

—Women should be tested during each pregnancy, something the task force has long recommended.

The draft guidelines are open for public comment through Dec. 17.

Most of the 50,000 new HIV infections in the U.S. every year are among gay and bisexual men, followed by heterosexual black women.

"We are not doing as well in America with HIV testing as we would like," Dr. Jonathan Mermin, CDC's HIV prevention chief, said Monday.

The CDC recommends at least one routine test for everyone ages 13 to 64, starting two years younger than the task force recommended. That small difference aside, CDC data suggests fewer than half of adults under 65 have been tested.

"It can sometimes be awkward to ask your doctor for an HIV test," Mermin said — the reason that making it routine during any health care encounter could help.

But even though nearly three-fourths of gay and bisexual men with undiagnosed HIV had visited some sort of health provider in the previous year, 48 percent weren't tested for HIV, a recent CDC survey found. Emergency rooms are considered a good spot to catch the undiagnosed, after their illnesses and injuries have been treated, but Mermin said only about 2 percent of ER patients known to be at increased risk were tested while there.

Mermin calls that "a tragedy. It's a missed opportunity."

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Spokesman: Gaza Ceasefire to Be Announced

A ceasefire between Hamas and Israel will be announced tonight, almost a week after the assassination of Hamas' top military commander led to the worst violence between Gaza and Israel in four years.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told ABC News the news would be announced at 8 p.m. in Cairo (1 p.m. ET), where Egypt has been trying to broker a peace deal. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Egyptian mediator would make the announcement, Barhoum said. Earlier, an Islamic Jihad website reported that the ceasefire would go into effect at 9 p.m. local time.

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Families Pray for Ceasefire Watch Video

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State Department Spokesperson Grilled on Gaza Watch Video

Israeli newspaper Haaretz also reported that a ceasefire would begin tonight, citing senior Israeli officials.

The news comes just hours before American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lands in Israel for discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about the fighting.

As the news broke, Israeli missiles continued to explode in Gaza while sirens sounded in Israel, signalling incoming rocket fire from Gaza.

Gazans streamed out of northern neighborhoods during the afternoon after the Israel Defense Forces dropped leaflets telling residents to evacuate before dark. Scared Palestinians poured into Gaza City, cars and trucks piled high with belongings, many heading to schools for shelter.

There have been 126 Palestinian deaths in six days of fighting, just under half were civilians. Three Israelis were killed last Thursday when a rocket slammed into their apartment.

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Gaza truce agreed, Hamas says, to take effect in hours

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Egyptian-brokered ceasefire in the Gaza conflict will go into effect later on Tuesday, a Hamas official said.

There was no immediate Israeli comment. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier he was open to a long-term deal to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on his country.

"An agreement for calm has been reached. It will be declared at 9 o'clock (1900 GMT) and go into effect at midnight (2200 GMT)," Hamas official Ayman Taha told Reuters from Cairo, where efforts have been under way to end seven days of hostilities.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was heading to the region from Asia and was expected in Jerusalem late on Tuesday for talks with Netanyahu on Wednesday.

Earlier, Egypt's state media quoted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi as announcing "that the farce of Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip will end on Tuesday"

Mursi said, according to the reports, that "efforts to conclude a truce between the Palestinian and Israeli sides will produce positive results in the next few hours".

Amid international efforts mounted to stop the fighting and avert a possible Israeli ground invasion of the densely populated Gaza Strip, Israel pressed on with air strikes and Palestinian rockets flashed across the border on Tuesday.

"No country would tolerate rocket attacks against its cities and against its civilians. Israel cannot tolerate such attacks," Netanyahu said with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who arrived in Jerusalem from talks in Cairo, at his side.

"If a long-term solution can be put in place through diplomatic means, then Israel would be a willing partner to such a solution," he said.

"But if stronger military action proves necessary to stop the constant barrage of rockets, Israel will not necessary to do what is necessary to defend our people," said Netanyahu, who is favored to win a January general election.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said on Monday that Israel must halt its military action in the Gaza Strip and lift the blockade of the Palestinian territory in exchange for a truce.

Israel's military on Tuesday targeted about 100 sites in Gaza, including ammunition stores and the Gaza headquarters of the National Islamic Bank. Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said six Palestinians were killed.

Israeli police said more than 150 rockets were fired from Gaza by late afternoon, many of them intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome system. Ten people were wounded in Israel, the military and an ambulance service said.

Medical officials in Gaza said 126 Palestinians have died in a week of fighting, the majority of them civilians, including 27 children.

Three Israelis died last week when a rocket from Gaza struck their house.

In an attack claimed in Gaza by Hamas's armed wing, a longer-range rocket targeted Jerusalem on Tuesday for the second time since Israel launched the air offensive with the declared aim of deterring Palestinian militants from launching rocket salvoes that have plagued its south for years.

The rocket, which fell harmlessly in the occupied West Bank, triggered warning sirens in the holy city about the time Ban arrived in Jerusalem for truce discussions.

In the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Hamas executed six alleged collaborators, whom a security source quoted by the Hamas Aqsa radio "were caught red-handed" with "filming equipment to take footage of positions". The radio said they were shot. Militants chained one body to

A delegation of nine Arab ministers, led by the Egyptian foreign minister, visited Gaza in a further signal of heightened Arab solidarity with the Palestinians.

Fortified by the ascendancy of fellow Islamists in Egypt and elsewhere, and courted by Sunni Arab leaders in the Gulf keen to draw the Palestinian group away from old ties to Shi'ite Iran, Hamas has tested its room for maneuver, as well as longer-range rockets that have also reached the Tel Aviv metropolis.

Egypt, Gaza's other neighbor and the biggest Arab nation, has been a key player in efforts to end the most serious fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants since a three-week Israeli invasion of the enclave in the winter of 2008-9.

The ousting of U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak and the election of Mursi is part of a dramatic reshaping of the Middle East wrought by Arab uprisings and now affecting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Mursi, whose Muslim Brotherhood was mentor to the founders of Hamas, on Monday took a call from Obama, who told him Hamas must stop rocket fire into Israel - effectively endorsing Israel's stated aim in launching the offensive last week. Obama also said he regretted civilian deaths - which have been predominantly among the Palestinians.

Mursi has warned Netanyahu of serious consequences from an invasion of the kind that killed more than 1,400 people in Gaza four years ago. But he has been careful not to alienate Israel, with whom Egypt's former military rulers signed a peace treaty in 1979, or Washington, a major aid donor to Egypt.

Addressing troops training in southern Israel, Defence Minister Ehud Barak said: "Hamas will not disappear but the memory of this experience will remain with it for a very long time and this is what will restore deterrence."

But he said: "Quiet has not yet been achieved and so we are continuing (the offensive) ... there are also diplomatic contacts -- ignore that, you are here so that if the order for action must be given - you will act."

Hamas said four-year-old twin boys had died with their father when their house in the town of Beit Lahiya was struck from the air during the night. The children's mother was critically wounded, and neighbors said the occupants were not involved with militant groups.

Israel had no immediate comment on that attack. It says it takes extreme care to avoid civilians and accuses Hamas and other militant groups of deliberately placing Gaza's 1.7 million people in harm's way by placing rocket launchers among them.

Nonetheless, fighting Israel, whose right to exist Hamas refuses to recognize, is popular with many Palestinians and has kept the movement competitive with the secular Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who remains in the West Bank after losing Gaza to Hamas in a civil war five years ago.

"Hamas and the others, they're our sons and our brothers, we're fingers on the same hand," said 55-year-old Faraj al-Sawafir, whose home was blasted by Israeli forces. "They fight for us and are martyred, they take losses and we sacrifice too."

Along Israel's sandy, fenced-off border with the Gaza Strip, tanks, artillery and infantry massed in field encampments awaiting any orders to go in. Some 45,000 reserve troops have been called up since the offensive was launched.

Israel's shekel rose on Tuesday for a second straight session while Tel Aviv shares gained for a third day in a row on what dealers attributed to investor expectations that a ceasefire deal was imminent.

(Additional reporting by Marwa Awad in Cairo, Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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Motor Racing: Ferrari tactics leave rivals unruffled in title battle

AUSTIN, Texas: Ferrari's chief opponents in this year's fight for the Formula One drivers' world championship on Monday said they had no serious objections to the Italians' pragmatic decision to conjure up a deliberate gearbox penalty for Felipe Massa ahead of Sunday's United States Grand Prix.

Briton Lewis Hamilton won the race for McLaren ahead of defending champion and current series leader German Sebatian Vettel of Red Bull with Spaniard Fernando Alonso finishing third for Ferrari, thanks largely to starting from seventh on the grid after qualifying ninth.

His promotion was due to the five-place grid penalties given to both Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Lotus and, on Sunday morning, Brazilian Massa for gearbox irregularities -- in the latter's case a deliberate breaking of his gearbox seal to incur a penalty.

But as many paddock observers argued about the ethics of the Ferrari decision which was fiercely defended by the team, both Red Bull and McLaren avoided any direct criticism of their strategy.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: "It is within the regulations, and it was a tactical move. They obviously made that decision to get Fernando on to the right hand side of the grid and it worked well for them.

"It was within the rules, and while it was hard on Felipe, their priority is Fernando."

When asked if Red Bull considered doing something similar for Australian Mark Webber, which would have put Alonso back on to the dirty side of the grid, Horner replied: "Well then someone else would do it, and before you know it Fernando would start on the front row. We never considered it."

The Maranello-based outfit was concerned about having Alonso start on the dirty left side of the grid for the race.

Their decision enabled the switch of Alonso to the clean side and cruise round the outside of the field at the start to take fourth place in the first corner.

His podium finish finally kept alive his dream of a third drivers title and took the championship down to the wire in Brazil this weekend (Nov 25) when he has to overhaul a 13-points deficit.

The strategic move led to some questions about sporting ethics, but their main rivals were unruffled.

McLaren team chief Martin Whitmarsh said that Ferrari's tactic was exactly the kind of policy that his outfit was reluctant to use -- and which was the cause of Alonso's displeasure during their ill-fated 2007 season together.

But he declined to attack Ferrari for their tactics.

He said: "Teams and team principals can decide how they run their programmes. It was tough, but it is very clear that they are very focused on Fernando. It worked, as it worked for Fernando, and unless we forget, Fernando was with us - and it was not doing those things that meant that Fernando left us.

"I am not criticising anyone. I think we have to go racing as we see a good way to go racing."

He added: "I think the toughest thing is that it put a number of people onto the slow side of the grid. It didn't impact on us - we were on the slow side of the grid and we stayed on it.

But if I had qualified on to the right side of the grid and that had put me on to the slow side I would have been very pissed off."

Ferrari team chief Stefano Domenicali had no doubts they made the right decision when asked if it was within the spirit of the sport.

He said: "Yes, otherwise we wouldn't have done it. I prefer to be totally transparent, because with something like that you can easily simulate something if you want, but I felt it was more correct to say the truth. This is our style, my style.

"It is something that is our responsibility to do and retrospectively we knew that the difference in grip level on the two sides was very high. And we knew that if we were thinking of trying to be in the fight in Brazil it was very important to have the first car in front in the first couple of laps, otherwise the race would have been almost finished.

"At the end of the day, retrospectively, I think that was the right thing to do. When you work for the Ferrari team you know that the team is the centre of the decisions and the drivers respect it. I have to thank Felipe for that."

He added: "I think he understood. I explained to him the decision. I have to say that if another team principal is saying that we didn't make the right choice he's lying to you."

- AFP/fa

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Consult experts on CAG rejig: Karunanidhi

CHENNAI: DMK president M Karunanidhi on Monday urged the central government to consult experts before a decision to make the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) a multi-member body.

In a statement issued here, Karunanidhi said: "Having the recent problem in mind, the central government should consult senior experts in the country and take an appropriate decision on the issue."

According to Karunanidhi the opposition to the views on making CAG a multi-member body should be viewed in the wake of the of poor revenue to the government in the recent spectrum auction.

He said the recent auctioning of second generation (2G) telecom spectrum had proved wrong the CAG's estimation of loss of Rs.1.76 lakh crore in the allocation of spectrum by the central government earlier.

Karunanidhi said the justification of opposition parties' views on making the CAG a multi-member body should be looked at from two angles.

What was wrong in proposing to make the CAG a multi-member body when the multi-member Election Commission that held free and fair elections in India, Karunanidhi said.

DMK MP and former telecom minister A Raja is the prime accused in the 2G case and Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi was charged as an accused in a Delhi trial court by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

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EU drug regulator OKs Novartis' meningitis B shot

LONDON (AP) — Europe's top drug regulator has recommended approval for the first vaccine against meningitis B, made by Novartis AG.

There are five types of bacterial meningitis. While vaccines exist to protect against the other four, none has previously been licensed for type B meningitis. In Europe, type B is the most common, causing 3,000 to 5,000 cases every year.

Meningitis mainly affects infants and children. It kills about 8 percent of patients and leaves others with lifelong consequences such as brain damage.

In a statement on Friday, Andrin Oswald of Novartis said he is "proud of the major advance" the company has made in developing its vaccine Bexsero. It is aimed at children over two months of age, and Novartis is hoping countries will include the shot among the routine ones for childhood diseases such as measles.

Novartis said the immunization has had side effects such as fever and redness at the injection site.

Recommendations from the European Medicines Agency are usually adopted by the European Commission. Novartis also is seeking to test the vaccine in the U.S.

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