NAGOYA, Japan: Singapore bowler Shayna Ng has added another title to her belt after winning the DHC International Bowling Championship in Nagoya, Japan.
The 23-year-old claimed the women's crown after a title match showdown with American pro bowler Kelly Kulick.
With the victory, Ng takes home close to S$82,000 in prize money.
This is the second year that a Singaporean has won the title at the International Bowling Championship, following Cherie Tan's victory last year.
- CNA/fa
This inside compartment lets you use your smartphone without removing it from the waterproof pocket.
A new line of men's suits from custom online menswear brand Indochino might not contain aloe vera and algae extracts like these new skin-pampering blue jeans, but they still join the denims in the fancy-futuristic-fabric category.
The Ultimate Tech Collection boasts nanotech suits that supposedly repel liquid and stains and resist odors and wrinkles, all while staying breathable and comfortable. If the suits live up to their promise, you should be able to run through a rainstorm while sweating profusely, then break a ballpoint pen over your leg -- and still show up at the board meeting looking no worse for the wear.
The wool suits not only sport a protective nanotech coating that ought to keep you relatively unscathed by the elements, they also include a detachable down "storm flap" that's designed to protect your neck and chest from the cold.
Available in navy, light blue, and look-over-here orange, the flap buttons into the inside of the jacket as a kind of scarf stand-in.
The jacket joins the growing list of gadget-compatible garments with a touch-responsive Smart Pocket that lets you operate your smartphone straight from the suit (from the look of the pocket's location, that could require some maneuvering). The jacket also comes with a metal earphone cable clip and rubber earphone hole under the lapel.
So how much will one of these weather-resistant, smartphone-loving getups run you? They fall in the mid to high range, at approximately $630. Again, that includes a storm flap but not aloe vera sleeves.
A rubber earphone hole under the suit's lapel helps the wearer stay untangled and hands-free.
Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te'o told ESPN that he "never, not ever" was involved in creating the hoax that had him touting what turned out to be a fictional girlfriend, "Lennay Kekua."
"When they hear the facts, they'll know," Te'o told ESPN's Jeremy Schaap in his first interview since the story broke. "They'll know that there is no way that I could be a part of this."
"I wasn't faking it," he said during a 2 1/2-hour interview, according to ESPN.com.
Te'o said he only learned for sure this week that he had been duped. On Wednesday, he received a Twitter message, allegedly from a man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, apologizing for the hoax, Te'o told Schaap.
The sports website Deadspin, which first revealed the hoax this week, has reported that Tuiasosopo, a 22-year-old of Samoan descent who lives in Antelope Valley, Calif., asked a woman he knew for her photo and that photo became the face of Kekua's Twitter account.
Te'o told Schaap that Tuiasosopo was represented to him as Kekua's cousin.
"I hope he learns," Te'o said of Tuiasosopo, according to coverage of the interview on ESPN.com. "I hope he understands what he's done. I don't wish an ill thing to somebody. I just hope he learns. I think embarrassment is big enough."
Click Here for a Who's Who in the Manti Te'o Case
AP Photo/ESPN Images, Ryan Jones
Te'o admitted to a few mistakes in his own conduct, including telling his father he met Kekua in Hawaii even though his attempt to meet her actually failed. Later retellings of that tale led to inconsistencies in media reports, Te'o said, adding that he never actually met Kekua in person.
Te'o added that he feared people would think it was crazy for him to be involved with someone that he never met, so, "I kind of tailored my stories to have people think that, yeah, he met her before she passed away."
The relationship got started on Facebook during his freshman year, Te'o said.
"My relationship with Lennay wasn't a four-year relationship," Te'o said, according to ESPN.com. "There were blocks and times and periods in which we would talk and then it would end."
He showed Schaap Facebook correspondence indicating that other people knew of Kekua -- though Te'o now believes they, too, were tricked.
The relationship became more intense, Te'o said, after he received a call that Kekua was in a coma following a car accident involving a drunk driver on April 28.
Soon, Te'o and Kekua became inseparable over the phone, he said, continuing their phone conversations through her recovery from the accident, and then during her alleged battle against leukemia.
Even so, Te'o never tried to visit Kekua at her hospital in California.
"It never really crossed my mind," he said, according to ESPN.com. "I don't know. I was in school."
But the communication between the two was intense. They even had ritual where they discussed scripture every day, Te'o said. His parents also participated via text message, and Te'o showed Schaap some of the texts.
On Sept. 12, a phone caller claiming to be Kekua's relative told Te'o that Kekua had died of leukemia, Te'o said. However, on Dec. 6, Te'o said he got a call allegedly from Kekua saying she was alive. He said he was utterly confused and did not know what to believe.
ESPN's 2 1/2-hour interview was conducted in Bradenton, Fla., with Te'o's lawyer present but without video cameras. Schaap said Te'o was composed, comfortable and in command, and that he said he didn't want to go on camera to keep the setting intimate and avoid a big production.
According to ABC News interviews and published reports, Te'o received phone calls, text messages and letters before every football game from his "girlfriend." He was in contact with her family, including a twin brother, a second brother, sister and parents. He called often to check in with them, just as he did with his own family. And "Kekua" kept in contact with Te'o's friends and family, and teammates spoke to her on the phone.
ALGIERS/IN AMENAS, Algeria (Reuters) - The Algerian army on Saturday carried out a "final assault" on al Qaeda-linked gunmen holed up in a desert gas plant, killing 11 of the Islamists after they took the lives of seven foreign hostages.
"It is over now, the assault is over, and the military are inside the plant clearing it of mines," a local source familiar with the operation told Reuters.
The state oil and gas company, Sonatrach, said the militants who attacked the plant on Wednesday and took a large number of hostages had booby-trapped the gas complex with explosives.
The exact death toll among the gunmen and the foreign and Algerian workers at the plant near the town of In Amenas close to the Libyan border remained unclear.
Earlier on Saturday, Algerian special forces found 15 burned bodies at the plant. Efforts were underway to identify the bodies, the source told Reuters, and it was not clear how they had died.
Sixteen foreign hostages were freed on Saturday, a source close to the crisis said. They included two Americans, two Germans and one Portuguese.
Britain said fewer than 10 of its nationals at the plant were unaccounted for.
The attack on the plant swiftly turned into the biggest international hostage crises in decades, pushing Saharan militancy to the top of the global agenda.
Reports earlier put the number of hostages killed at between 12 to 30, with many foreigners still unaccounted for, among them Norwegians, Japanese, Britons and Americans.
The U.S. State Department said on Friday one American, Frederick Buttaccio, had died but gave no further details. The French defense minister said he understood there were no more French workers among the hostages.
Two Norwegians were released overnight, leaving six unaccounted for, while Romania said three of its nationals had been freed. A number of Japanese engineering workers were still unaccounted for.
Scores of Westerners and hundreds of Algerian workers were inside the heavily fortified compound when it was seized before dawn on Wednesday by Islamist fighters who said they wanted a halt to a French military operation in neighboring Mali.
Hundreds escaped on Thursday when the army launched its operation, but many hostages were killed.
(Additional reporting by Ali Abdelatti in Cairo, Eamonn Mallie in Belfast, Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, Mohammed Abbas in London, Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries in Dublin, Andrew Quinn and David Alexander in Washington, Brian Love in Paris; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
JAKARTA: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has condemned the deaths of civilians in the Algerian hostage crisis.
He has also called on the Algerian government to prioritize the safety of hostages.
Mr Abe was speaking at a joint news conference in Jakarta after his meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
During their talks, both leaders agreed to strengthen their strategic partnership in political, security and economic relations.
Japan is involved in a maritime dispute with China over a group of islands in the East China Sea - a dispute that Mr Abe said should be resolved legally.
Mr Yudhoyono added that an open-sea policy should be enforced by law, and not by might.
He said: "All of us in Asia want to see a region that is stable, safe and peaceful. Therefore if there is a problem in the South China Sea or East Asia or anywhere in Asia, the solution should be peaceful, refrain from applying immediate military force and it must refer to international law. That is Indonesia's stance."
Prime Minister Abe's visit to Jakarta comes a day after the city was inundated with floodwaters. He expressed his sympathy towards the suffering of the flood victims in Greater Jakarta and vowed to help to restore and reconstruct damaged infrastructure.
Mr Abe also reaffirmed Japan's support for the development of Indonesia's railways, ports and sewage system, including the construction of the Cilamaya seaport and Jakarta's MRT.
- CNA/xq
Quad-core smartphones.
If the mobile phone giants are looking to strengthen their revenue streams in 2013, developing markets could be the best place to spot.
According to a new report from Nielsen Wire, smartphones still have "room to grow" in several top emerging markets.
Specifically, Nielsen found that feature phones, which researchers defined as "devices with no touchscreen, QWERTY keypad or operating system" are far more dominant in India and Russia, covering 80 percent and 51 percent of mobile users, respectively.
That's definitely not the case in the United States. For example, in another report from Nielsen in 2011, the research firm reported that nearly 60 percent of all new cell phones being sold at that time were smartphones.
Other analysts are already predicting big things for smartphones across emerging markets.
Canalys predicted on Thursday that developing markets will see smartphone growth of at least 22.5 percent this year -- particularly within the BRIIC group of Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, India and China.
China, incidentally, was the only emerging market listed in the Nielsen update where smartphones are now more dominant than feature phones.
That's not surprising as China continues to overtake the United States as a top tech market in a number of different ways. For instance, Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said that he expects China to be the iPhone maker's number one market at some point.
This story originally appeared at ZDNet's Between the Lines under the headline "Nielsen: Still room for smartphones to grow in emerging markets.
By Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Anthony Salvanto, Fred Backus and Leigh Ann Caldwell
As the president outlined sweeping new proposals aimed to reduce gun violence, a new CBS News/New York Times poll found that Americans back the central components of the president's proposals, including background checks, a national gun sale database, limits on high capacity magazines and a ban on semi-automatic weapons.
Asked if they generally back stricter gun laws, more than half of respondents - 54 percent - support stricter gun laws; 53 percent say it would deter gun violence. That is a jump from April - before the Newtown and Aurora shootings - when only 39 percent backed stricter gun laws but about the same as ten years ago.
Not all respondents, however, back stricter gun laws. The idea is more popular among Democrats and a slight majority of independents while only 31 percent of Republicans back stricter limits on guns. The ideological split is similar to the split among gun ownership. While 74 percent of people who don't keep guns in the house back stricter gun laws, 36 percent of gun owning households do and 26 percent of gun owners.
When asked about specific proposals, however, people were more inclined to back stricter gun laws. For instance, nine out of 10 respondents support background checks on all potential gun buyers, and nearly four-fifths of respondents are in favor of a national database to track gun sales. As for limiting access, 63 percent support a ban on high-capacity magazines and 53 percent back a ban on semi-automatic weapons.
The president proposed all of those ideas during a news conference Wednesday after receiving recommendations from a task force led by Vice President Joe Biden.
Gun owners, however, had a somewhat different take. While 70 percent back a national database, 64 percent oppose a ban on semi-automatic weapons and 51 percent oppose a ban of high-capacity magazines.
The least popular idea asked in the poll would drastically change the nature of gun ownership in many places around the country and was not proposed by the president. A national ban on carrying concealed firearms was opposed by two-thirds.
The president did propose expanded access to mental health records, which 82 percent of respondents say would at least somewhat help prevent gun violence. As for other preventative measures, 74 percent say that armed security guards would also help prevent mass shootings in public places, and 75 percent say gun violence in movies and video games are a contributing factor.
The major players around gun policy receive mixed ratings. Respondents said they trusted the president more than Republicans in Congress to deal with the issue by 47 to 39 percent. Vice President Joe Biden received a similar rating to the president, with 49 percent supporting his role, which has been a central to the gun debate. The National Rifle Association, the gun lobby opposed to gun restrictions and the president's proposals, have similar approval ratings to Republicans in Congress. Thirty-eight percent have a favorable view of the organization, 29 percent view it unfavorably and 31 percent are undecided.
For the full poll results, see next page.
This poll was conducted by telephone from January 11-15, 2013 among 1,110 adults nationwide.
Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups may be higher. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
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Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend "Lennay Kekua" may have hoaxed other unsuspecting suitors.
"Catfish" movie director and actor Ariel Schulman told "Good Morning America" today that he believes there may have been "a few other people duped by the fake Lennay character."
Schulman and his brother Nev Schulman have been looking into the elaborate scam and claim to be corresponding with various players involved. They have come to believe that there were "a lot of other people that she was corresponding with before and maybe even during her relationship [with Te'o]."
Nev Schulman was the subject of the 2010 movie "Catfish," which spawned the TV series, because he himself was sucked in by an Internet pretender -- or a "catfish" -- who built an elaborate fake life.
As questions mount about Te'o's possible role in the complex scam, the number one question is whether Te'o was unknowingly ensnared, as he says, or whether he was complicit in the scam.
"I stand by the guy. My heart goes out to him," Ariel Schulman said. His brother has reached out to Te'o, but has not heard back.
"He had his heart broken," Schulman said. "He was grieving for someone, whether she existed or not. Those were real feelings."
Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Click here for a who's who in the Manti Te'o case
Te'o has kept a low-profile since the news of the scandal broke. He released a statement calling the situation "incredibly embarrassing" and maintaining that he was a victim of the hoax.
He was captured briefly by news cameras on Thursday at a Florida training facility, but has not spoken publicly.
As for the woman whose photo was used as the face of Lennay Kekua, "Inside Edition" has identified her as Diane O'Meara who is very much alive. The show caught up with her on Thursday, but she declined to comment.
ABC News' legal analyst Dan Abrams said that O'Meara may be the one person in the scandal with the power to sue since her likeness was taken and used without her permission.
As for Te'o, even if he knew about the deception, it appears that he did not do anything illegal.
"He's allowed to lie to the public. He's allowed to lie to the media. He's not allowed to lie to the authorities," Abrams said on "Good Morning America."
Questions also remain about the timeline of events and when Te'o discovered that the "love of his life," as he called her, was nothing more than a fake Internet persona.
According to Notre Dame's timeline of events, Te'o learned his girlfriend didn't exist on Dec. 6.
But in a Dec. 8 interview with South Bend, Ind., TV station WSBT, Te'o said, "I really got hit with cancer. I lost both my grandparents an my girlfriend to cancer." And on Dec. 11, he talked about his girlfriend in a newspaper interview.
Te'o alerted Notre Dame on Dec. 26 about the scam, the university said.
Click here for more scandalous public confessions.
Skeptics have also cited comments by Te'o's father Brian Te'o who told a newspaper how Kekua used to visit his son in Hawaii.
Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said the university launched their own investigation.
"Our investigators, through their work, were able to discover online chatter between the perpetrators," Swarbrick said at a Wednesday news conference. "That was sort of the ultimate proof."
ALGIERS (Reuters) - About 60 foreigners were still being held hostage or missing inside a gas plant on Friday after Algerian forces stormed the desert complex to free hundreds of captives taken by Islamist militants, who threatened to attack other energy installations.
The attack, which plunged capitals around the world into crisis mode, is a serious escalation of unrest in northwestern Africa, where French forces have been in Mali since last week fighting an Islamist takeover of Timbuktu and other towns.
"We are still dealing with a fluid and dangerous situation where a part of the terrorist threat has been eliminated in one part of the site, but there still remains a threat in another part," British Prime Minister David Cameron told his parliament.
A local Algerian source said 60 foreigners were still in the facility and some were being held hostage, but it was unclear how many and how many might be in hiding elsewhere in the sprawling compound. It was also not known whether some might have been killed and the bodies not found.
Those still unaccounted for included 10 from Japan, eight Norwegians and a number of Britons put by Cameron at "less than 30". Washington has said a number of Americans were among the hostages, without giving details, and the local source said a U.S. aircraft landed nearby on Friday.
As Western leaders clamored for news of their nationals, several expressed anger they had not been consulted by the Algerian government about its decision to storm the facility.
Algeria's state news agency said earlier more than half of 132 foreign hostages were freed and that the army had rescued 650 hostages, 573 of whom were Algerians.
"(The army) is still trying to achieve a ‘peaceful outcome' before neutralizing the terrorist group that is holed up in the (facility) and freeing a group of hostages that is still being held," it said, quoting a security source.
Thirty hostages, including several Westerners, were killed during Thursday's assault, the source said, along with at least 18 of their captors, who said they had taken the site as retaliation for French intervention against Islamists in neighboring Mali.
(Additional reporting by Ali Abdelatti in Cairo, Eamonn Mallie in Belfast, Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, Mohammed Abbas in London and Padraic Halpin and Conor Humprhies in Dublin; Writing by Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
TOULOUSE, France - European group Airbus lost its top spot as the world's biggest maker of airliners to the US giant Boeing last year, but did better than expected and sees big sales this year, it said on Thursday.
Publishing results just as Boeing is hit by a crisis of confidence in its Dreamliner plane after a series of incidents, Airbus said that last year it delivered 588 aircraft to 89 customers, a record after 534 deliveries in 2011.
But sales of the flagship superjumbo A380, the biggest airliner in the world, disappointed, coming in at about one third of the target figure after a problem was discovered with the wings which the company says is now behind it.
Airbus sold a total of 833 aircraft last year, far more than the initial target figure of 650, chief executive Fabrice Bregier told a press conference near where Airbus is based at Toulouse, southern France.
However, the sales figure was far lower than the record of 1,419 sales in 2011.
Boeing delivered 601 airliners last year and took 1,203 orders.
For this year, Airbus expects to take 700 orders, excluding any cancellations, and to deliver more than 600 planes.
The order book now total 4,682 planes representing about eight years of production work.
Airbus said that it hoped that its new long-range A350 aircraft would make its maiden flight at the end of June or beginning of July.
Referring to the A350, Bregier said: "We have made reasonable good progress but I will keep cautious until the end.
"For the first flight, we expect it by mid of this year which is a big milestone, mid means end of June or early July...We are not optimistic nor pessimistic but realistic."
He added: "I'm very humble. Lots of risks are behind us but I'm interested in what is in front (of us)."
Of the 833 net orders last year, allowing for 81 cancellations, 739 were for medium-range A320-type airliners, popular with low-cost airlines, and of those 478 were for the "neo" version with new more fuel-efficient engines. The orders also comprised 58 long-haul A330 aircraft and 27 of the future A350.
Airbus booked orders for nine of its A380 superjumbo jetliners.
Bregier said that Airbus, the main part of the giant European EADS aerospace group, had exceeded its targets in terms of new orders booked and of completed aircraft delivered, even though sales of the superjumbo had underperformed.
Airbus had counted on selling 30 of the superjumbos but this target was knocked off course by the discovery of micro-cracks in the wings which cooled some customer interest.
Bregier said that this problem had been "resolved" and said he expected that this year the company would take 25 orders and would also deliver 25 of the enormous aircraft.
Referring to the position of Airbus in the global market and to the "neo" version, Bregier observed: "When we do better than expected we can be satisfied. When we see we are still in the leading position on neo market, we can be satisfied."
He said: "We started earlier with a good product. If we do the right job and I plan to do the right job, it's a huge advantage."
In view of the rapid growth, the airline has recruited a net number of 7,000 people in the last two years, hiring 10,000 while 3,000 have left for normal reasons.
The company cut 10,000 jobs between 2007 and 2009 as it restructured after a severe crisis over delays to the superjumbo programme which revealed weaknesses in the industrial workflow system.
The company now employs 59,000 people and expects to recruit 3,000 this year.
This is in contrast to many substantial employers in France which are restructuring with big job cuts, and the economy as a whole is struggling to boost its export performance and raise the niche speciality of its industrial products.
The Airbus aircraft are built mainly in Germany, Britain and Spain, and in France where they are assembled in Toulouse.
- AFP/ir
The XtremeMac Tango TRX can dock/charge your iDevice, but it also supports Bluetooth audio from just about any device.
When it comes to choosing a bookshelf speaker, you're often forced to decide between one with a dock and one that supports Bluetooth.
Thankfully, you can have the best of both worlds. Today only, and while supplies last, Tech.woot has the refurbished XtremeMac Tango TRX Bluetooth speaker with 30-pin dock for $39.99, plus $5 for shipping. It originally sold for $179.99, and the best price I've seen elsewhere (for a new unit) is $99.
As you can see in the photo, the Tango TRX sports a dock that can accommodate nearly any iPhone,
iPod, or even
iPad (exceptions being late models with the Lightning connector). That not only gives you the best possible audio quality from your iDevice, but also charges its battery.
If, on the other hand, you don't have a dock-compatible phone or
tablet (or simply don't feel like docking it), the speaker supports wireless music streaming via Bluetooth. Listen to your playlists, your Pandora, your movie audio, whatever. There's also a line-in jack if you want to connect an old-fangled audio source.
The Tango comes with a remote, but there's also a free Tango TRX app for iOS that gives you even more controls, including a five-band equalizer.
CNET hasn't reviewed this model, but it received a B+ rating over at iLounge, and 74 Amazon customers rated it 4.2 stars out of 5 on average.
Because it's a refurb, it comes with a 90-day warranty. But I wouldn't let that stop me from grabbing this versatile, slick-looking speaker.
Bonus deal: Game time! (Lots of incredible game deals of late, no?) Gamersgate has the following today-only offer: EA's blistering FPS Battlefield 3 (PC) for $9.99. Price if purchased directly from EA: $39.99. The only hitch is you'll need an Origin account to activate the game.
Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers.
Curious about what exactly The Cheapskate does and how it works? Read our FAQ.
Updated 11:20 p.m. ET
SOUTH BEND, Ind. Notre Dame said a story that star Manti Te'o's girlfriend had died of leukemia — a loss he said inspired him all season and helped him lead the Irish to the BCS title game — turned out to be a hoax apparently perpetrated against the linebacker.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick held a press conference late Wednesday about the apparent hoax Wednesday after Deadspin.com said it could find no record that Lennay Kekua ever existed.
"This was a very elaborate, very sophisticated hoax perpetrated for reasons we can't fully understand," Swarbrick said.
CBS News and its morning program, "CBS This Morning," were among the many news outlets that reported on the "hoax" girlfriend's death. "CBS This Morning" will have an update on the report Thursday.
The Notre Dame athletic director insisted "several things" led him to believe Te'o did not create the girlfriend himself after the university's investigation into the situation, led by a private investigative firm.
"Manti was the victim of that hoax. He has to carry that with him for a while. In many ways, Manti was the perfect mark because he's the guy who was so willing to believe in others," Swarbrick said. "The pain was real. The grieving was real. The affection was real."
By Te'o's own account, she was an "online" girlfriend.
"This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her," he said in statement.
"To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating."
"In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious. If anything good comes of this, I hope it is that others will be far more guarded when they engage with people online than I was."
The linebacker's father, Brian Te'o, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press in early October that he and his wife had never met Kekua, saying they were hoping to meet her at the Wake Forest game in November. The father said he believed the relationship was just beginning to get serious when she died.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick at a press conference on Jan. 16, 2013.
Swarbrick likened the situation to the 2010 movie "Catfish," in which "young filmmakers document their colleague's budding online friendship" with an allegedly young woman that turns out also to be a hoax.
The university said its coaches were informed by Te'o and his parents on Dec. 26 that Te'o had been the victim of what appeared to be a hoax.
Someone using a fictitious name "apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia," the school said.
Swarbrick said the investigation revealed "several" perpetrators, although the exact number is unclear. He said the university became convinced of the hoax based on "the joy they were taking...referring to what they accomplished and what they had done."
Te'o talked freely about the relationship after her supposed death and how much she meant to him.
In a story that appeared in the South Bend Tribune on Oct. 12, Manti's father, Brian, recounted a story about how his son and Kekua met after Notre Dame had played at Stanford in 2009. Brian Te'o also told the newspaper that Kekua had visited Hawaii and the met with his son. Brian Te'o told the AP in an interview in October that he and his wife had never met Manti's girlfriend but they had hoped to at the Wake Forest game in November. The father said he believed the relationship was just beginning to get serious when she died.
The Tribune released a statement saying: "At the Tribune, we are as stunned by these revelations as everyone else. Indeed, this season we reported the story of this fake girlfriend and her death as details were given to us by Te'o, members of his family and his coaches at Notre Dame."
The week before Notre Dame played Michigan State on Sept. 15, coach Brian Kelly told reporters when asked that Te'o's grandmother and a friend had died. Te'o didn't miss the game. He said Kekua had told him not to miss a game if she died. Te'o turned in one of his best performances of the season in the 20-3 victory in East Lansing, and his playing through heartache became a prominent theme during the Irish's undefeated regular season.
"My family and my girlfriend's family have received so much love and support from the Notre Dame family," he said after that game. "Michigan State fans showed some love. And it goes to show that people understand that football is just a game, and it's a game that we play, and we have fun doing it. But at the end of the day, what matters is the people who are around you, and family. I appreciate all the love and support that everybody's given my family and my girlfriend's family."
Manti Te'o #5 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish reacts after beating the Michigan State Spartans 20-3 at Spartan Stadium Stadium on September 15, 2012, in East Lansing, Michigan.
Te'o went on the become a Heisman Trophy finalist, finishing second in the voting, and leading Notre Dame to its first appearance in the BCS championship.
He was asked again about his girlfriend on Jan. 3 prior to the BCS title game, saying: "This team is very special to me, and the guys on it have always been there for me, through the good times and the bad times. I rarely have a quiet time to myself because I always have somebody calling me, asking, `Do you want to go to the movies?' Coach is always calling me asking me, `Are you OK? Do you need anything?'"
Te'o and the Irish lost the title game to Alabama, 42-14 on Jan. 7. He has graduated and was set to begin preparing for the NFL combine and draft at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., this week.
Four days ago Te'o posted on his Twitter account: "Can't wait to start training with the guys! Workin to be the best! The grind continues! (hash)Future"
Te'o's statement also said: "It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother's death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life.
"I am enormously grateful for the support of my family, friends and Notre Dame fans throughout this year. To think that I shared with them my happiness about my relationship and details that I thought to be true about her just makes me sick. I hope that people can understand how trying and confusing this whole experience has been.
"Fortunately, I have many wonderful things in my life, and I'm looking forward to putting this painful experience behind me as I focus on preparing for the NFL Draft."
Notre Dame's athletic director and the star of its near-championship football team said the widely-reported death of the star's girlfriend from leukemia during the 2012 football season was apparently a hoax, and the player said he was duped by it as well.
Manti Te'o, who led the Fighting Irish to the BCS championship game this year and finished second for the Heisman Trophy, said in a statement today that he fell in love with a girl online last year who turned out not to be real.
The university's athletic director, Jack Swarbrick, said it has been investigating the "cruel hoax" since Te'o approached officials in late December to say he believed he had been tricked.
Private investigators hired by the university subsequently monitored online chatter by the alleged perpetrators, Swarbrick said, adding that he was shocked by the "casual cruelty" it revealed.
"They enjoyed the joke," Swarbrick said, comparing the ruse to the popular film "Catfish," in which filmmakers revealed a person at the other end of an online relationship was not who they said they were.
"While we still don't know all of the dimensions of this ... there are certain things that I feel confident we do know," Swarbrick said. "The first is that this was a very elaborate, very sophisticated hoax, perpetrated for reasons we don't understand."
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Te'o said during the season that his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, died of leukemia in September on the same day Te'o's grandmother died, triggering an outpouring of support for Te'o at Notre Dame and in the media.
"While my grandma passed away and you take, you know, the love of my life [Kekua]. The last thing she said to me was, 'I love you,'" Te'o said at the time, noting that he had talked to Kekua on the phone and by text message until her death.
Now, responding to a story first reported by the sports website Deadspin, Te'o has acknowledged that Kekua never existed. The website reported today that there were no records of a woman named Lennay Kekua anywhere.
Te'o denied that he was in on the hoax.
"This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online," Te'o said in a statement released this afternoon. "We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her."
Swarbrick said he expected Te'o to give his version of events at a public event soon, perhaps Thursday, and that he believed Te'o's representatives were planning to disclose the truth next week until today's story broke.
Deadspin reported that the image attached to Kekua's social media profiles, through which the pair interacted, was of another woman who has said she did not even know Te'o or know that her picture was being used. The website reported that it traced the profiles to a California man who is an acquaintance of Te'o and of the woman whose photo was stolen.
"To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating," Te'o said.
ALGIERS (Reuters) - Four foreign hostages were freed on Thursday by Algeria's armed forces, the official APS news agency said, giving no further details.
A local source has told Reuters six hostages were killed when a vehicle was fired upon by the military. A separate source, in the security services, said earlier that 25 foreigners had escaped. Gunmen said they were initially holding 41 foreign hostages after they stormed a gas plant in the remote Algerian desert on Wednesday morning. (Reporting by Lamine Chikhi; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
SINGAPORE : Singaporeans planning to buy insurance products can look forward to paying lower costs.
This comes after the Financial Advisory Industry Review Panel made a slew of recommendations to raise the quality and efficiency of the financial advisory industry.
They include proposals aimed at lowering the distribution costs of insurance products.
The panel reviewing the financial advisory industry has recommended measures that include raising the minimum education qualification of new financial advisers.
They also propose that a website be set up to make it easier for consumers to shop for financial products.
Lee Chuan Teck, assistant managing director for Capital Markets at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said: "The panel recommends that MAS work with the industry to develop a web aggregator that allows consumers to easily compare pricing, benefits and other features of similar products offered by different insurers."
A survey by MAS found that 80 per cent of Singaporeans are not prepared to pay an upfront fee for financial advice.
This led the panel to focus on how to lower distribution costs for insurance-based products.
It has proposed the introduction of a direct channel for consumers to buy basic insurance products directly from the insurers.
Tan Hak Leh, president of the Life Insurance Association, Singapore, said: "Any measures that lead to greater transparency would increase competitiveness and each player would then need to find ways to stay competitive in the market."
However, the financial adviser's role will not be displaced.
A financial adviser's services would still be required to sell some products.
Augustine Lee, president of the Association of Financial Advisers (Singapore), said: "Insurance (products) normally are sold and not bought, so you still need to have independent financial advisers to help you in terms of decision making and choosing the right product."
The Consumers Association of Singapore has welcomed the latest recommendations.
It said the main beneficiaries would ultimately be the consumers.
Seah Seng Choon, executive director of the Consumers Association of Singapore, said: "The issue about under insurance for Singaporeans may be addressed, now that the distribution costs can be lowered through competition."
MAS said it will consult the public on these recommendations and then decide on their implementation.
- CNA/ms
Nintendo's current corporate structure separating consoles and handhelds will be replaced, according to a new report.
Japan-based news outlet Nikkei is reporting today that Japan plans to combine its handheld and console divisions by February 16. The combined team will have 280 employees, made up of 130 employees from the console side and 150 from handhelds.
According to IGN, which was able to access the entire story behind a paywall, the team members will be organized by their specialties, including circuits, design, and others. Engadget claims to have spoken to a Nintendo spokesperson, which confirmed the news.
Nintendo has faced some trouble over the last few years as its latest hardware launches -- the 3DS and the
Wii U -- have failed to generate the kind of interest and sales of its previous releases. During December, for example, Nintendo could only muster 460,000 Wii U unit sales in the U.S., according to the company. NPD DisplaySearch, which releases game sales data for the U.S., said "sales of the
Wii U were lower on a unit basis when compared to the original Wii in December 2006."
It was a similarly troubling launch for the 3DS in 2011, when that device proved too expensive for consumers. After slashing the handheld's price, sales started to creep up.
By combining its handheld and console divisions, Nintendo believes that it will be able to deliver better products, according to Nikkei. The news outlet said that the combined effort will help Nintendo build next-generation hardware "that will turn heads." It's not clear what that means for the Wii U, which only launched a couple of months ago.
CNET has contacted Nintendo for comment on the Nikkei report. We will update this story when we have more information.
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. A U.S. Marine was set to face court martial Wednesday for urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and then posing for photos with the corpses.
Staff Sgt. Edward W. Deptola is accused of the desecration of remains and posing for unofficial photographs with human casualties. He also is accused of failing to properly supervise junior Marines and not reporting the misconduct.
Deptola and another Marine based at Camp LeJeune, N.C., were charged last year after video surfaced showing four Marines in full combat gear urinating on the bodies of three dead Afghans in July 2011. In the video, one of the Marines looked down at the bodies and quipped, "Have a good day, buddy."
As CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reported after the video's disclosure last January, the Marines in the video were members of a 1,000-man battalion that had completed a combat tour in Afghanistan and returned to Camp Lejuene, where they apparently started showing the video around as a war trophy.
Staff Sgt. Joseph W. Chamblin pleaded guilty to similar charges last month. Chamblin was sentenced to 30 days confinement, reduced in rank, fined and ordered to forfeit part of his pay for six months. Three other Marines were given administrative punishments for their roles in the matter.
Marine's punishment scaled back in urination case
The urination video surfaced amid a string of embarrassing episodes for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. American troops were caught up in controversies over burning Muslim holy books, posing for photos with insurgents' bloodied remains and an alleged massacre of 16 Afghan villagers by a soldier.
The Marine Corps said the urination took place during a counterinsurgency operation in the Musa Qala district of Helmand province, located in the south of the country.
After the video garnered international attention on YouTube, senior military officials sternly condemned the behavior of the Marines involved.
The United States now has 66,000 troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. and its NATO allies agreed in November 2010 that they would withdraw all their combat troops by the end of 2014, but they haven't decided on the scope of future missions in the country and the size of any residual force remaining after that.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo
As the White House prepares to unveil a sweeping plan aimed at curbing gun violence, the National Rifle Association has launched a preemptive, personal attack on President Obama, calling him an “elitist hypocrite” who, the group claims, is putting American children at risk.
In 35-second video posted online Tuesday night, the NRA criticizes Obama for accepting armed Secret Service protection for his daughters, Sasha and Malia, at their private Washington, D.C., school while questioning the placement of similar security at other schools.
“Are the president’s kids more important than yours? Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools, when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school?” the narrator says.
“Mr. Obama demands the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, but he’s just another elitist hypocrite when it comes to a fair share of security,” it continues. “Protection for their kids and gun-free zones for ours.”
The immediate family members of U.S. presidents – generally considered potential targets – have long received Secret Service protection.
The ad appeared on a new website for a NRA advocacy campaign – “NRA Stand and Fight” — that the gun-rights group appears poised to launch in response to Obama’s package of gun control proposals that will be announced today.
An NRA spokesman said the video is airing on the Sportsman Channel and on the web for now but may appear in other broadcast markets at a later date.
The White House had no comment on the NRA ad.
In the wake of last month’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Obama administration has met with a cross-section of advocacy groups on all sides of the gun debate to formulate new policy proposals.
The NRA, which met with Vice President Joe Biden last week, has opposed any new legislative gun restrictions, including expanded background checks and limits on the sale of assault-style weapons, instead calling for armed guards at all American schools.
Obama publicly questioned that approach in an interview with “Meet the Press” earlier this month, saying, “I am skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools. And I think the vast majority of the American people are skeptical that that somehow is going to solve our problem.”
Still, the White House has been considering a call for increased funding for police officers at public schools and the proposal could be part of a broader Obama gun policy package.
Fifty-five percent of Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll say they support adding armed guards at schools across the country.
“The issue is, are there some sensible steps that we can take to make sure that somebody like the individual in Newtown can’t walk into a school and gun down a bunch of children in a shockingly rapid fashion. And surely, we can do something about that,” Obama said at a news conference on Monday.
“Responsible gun owners, people who have a gun for protection, for hunting, for sportsmanship, they don’t have anything to worry about,” he said.
ABC News’ Arlette Saenz, Mary Bruce and Jay Shaylor contributed reporting.
This post was updated at 9:32 am on Jan. 16 to reflect include comment from an NRA spokesman.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian armed forces launched a renewed offensive in the northern city of Aleppo on Wednesday, state media said, a day after 87 people were killed in explosions at the city's university.
The state news agency SANA said the military had killed dozens of "terrorists" - a term Damascus uses for rebels trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad - in the new fighting.
Reuters cannot independently verify reports due to media restrictions in Syria.
"The Armed Forces carried out several special operations against the mercenary terrorists in Aleppo and its countryside, inflicting heavy losses upon them in several areas," SANA said.
Aleppo is split roughly in half between government and rebel forces. SANA said dozens of "terrorists" were killed in the rebel strongholds of Sukari, Bab al-Hadeed and Bustan al-Qasr.
Government forces also killed militants in al-Laramon, a area of Aleppo from which Damascus says two rockets were fired into the University of Aleppo on Tuesday, it added.
If confirmed, the government's report of a rocket attack would suggest rebels in the area had been able to obtain and deploy more powerful weapons than previously used.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said 87 people were killed and dozens wounded in the explosions, but it could not identify the source of the blasts. It said the toll could rise to more than 100 as there were still body parts that were unaccounted for.
State television showed a body lying on the street and burning cars. An entire facade of a multi-story university building had crumbled and cars were overturned. An interior shot of a corridor showed that the ceiling had caved in.
Amateur video footage showed students carrying books out of the university after one of the explosions, walking quickly away from rising smoke. The camera then shakes to the sound of another explosion and people begin to run.
Syria has been plunged into bloodshed since a violent government crackdown in early 2011 on peaceful demonstrations for democratic reform which turned the unrest into an armed insurgency bent on overthrowing Assad.
Each side in the 22-month-old conflict blamed the other for Tuesday's blasts at the university, located in a government-held area of Syria's most populous city.
Some activists in Aleppo said a government air strike caused the explosions, while state television accused terrorists of firing two rockets at the university. A rebel fighter said the blasts appeared to have been caused by surface-to-surface missiles.
The nearest rebel-controlled area, Bustan al-Qasr, is more than a mile away from the university.
The Observatory said rebel sources on the ground reported they were fighting with government forces in the early hours of Wednesday around Bustan al-Qasr, implying a renewed push by government forces to expel the insurgents.
(Reporting by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Jon Boyle)
SINGAPORE: A corporate shoot out over Fraser & Neave is expected on January 21.
The Securities Industry Council (SIC) has said the final time by which TCC Assets or OUE Baytown can revise its offer is 5.30pm on January 21. Each party will either announce any revision to their current takeover bids or walkaway from the deal.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, SIC said that "given that neither TCC nor OUE Baytown has declared its offer final, the council considers that the company's shareholders should be provided with certainty to make their investment decisions in respect of the competing offers."
If either TCC or OUE makes a revised offer on January 21, then an "auction procedure" will kick-in.
TCC Assets on Tuesday extended its S$8.88 per share offer for F&N for the seventh time to January 21, the very same day that rival bidder OUE's offer expires. A consortium led by OUE made a S$9.08 per share bid for F&N in November 2012.
This, after a first bid by Thai tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi through his investment assets, TCC and Thai Beverage, in September.
But given that the tug-of-war has been ongoing for several months, some experts said that the Securities Industry Council will not allow for an indefinite period of market uncertainty.
Shares of F&N have been trading above the offers made by TCC Assets and OUE, indicating that shareholders are expecting higher bids.
Fraser & Neave shares ended Tuesday up 0.1 per cent at S$9.70.
-CNA/ac
The Milky Way galaxy barely takes up a single pixel in this representation of Huge-LQG.
You and I are really, really small. And we're even smaller than we thought we were last month, at least when compared with the size of the largest known item in the universe.
Last week, a team of astronomers based in the U.K. discovered the largest object in all of our observable existence: a celestial structure made up of 73 quasars that is up to 4 billion light years long.
How big is that exactly? Well, it would take tens of thousands of our own Milky Ways -- the big, galactic one, not the one that comes in a wrapper -- to equal the size of Huge-LQG (for Large Quasar Group), as it's become affectionately known.
Feel insignificant yet?
Yes, it does seem like something so inconceivably massive should have been noticed by now, and that's actually the most interesting part of the discovery.
The discovery of an astronomical body so large throws doubt upon one of the basic assumptions of the nature of the universe. That notion, known as the cosmological principle, assumes that the little corner of the universe we're able to observe from this particular rock is a reasonable sample of what the rest of the universe must also be like.
But Huge-LQG turns out to be so huge that it makes up a few percentage points of the observable universe on its own. It's a little bit like if we suddenly discovered a 51st state that consists entirely of a single building the size of Iowa.
So not only are we less than the most insignificant of specks in our universe, we apparently don't know nearly as much about that universe as we thought.
(Via The Atlantic.)
Police guard the entrance of Elmont Memorial High School, after reports of a suspicious person prompted a lockdown Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. / WCBS
ELMONT, N.Y. Elmont Memorial High School has been placed on lockdown after a report of a suspicious person, possibly with a weapon, in the area, CBS Station WCBS reports.
The lockdown was put into effect shortly after 8 a.m.
No injuries have been reported.
Nassau County Police are guarding the entrance of school.
A search of the school and the area is ongoing.
Oprah Winfrey said today that disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong came well prepared for their highly anticipated interview, although he "did not come clean in the manner [she] expected."
Winfrey, who discussed the interview on "CBS This Morning" today, said, "We were mesmerized and riveted by some of his answers. I feel that he answered the questions in a way that he was ready. … He certainly had prepared himself for this moment. … He brought it. He really did."
Armstrong had apologized to staffers at the Livestrong Foundation before the Monday interview with Winfrey at a hotel in Austin, Texas, and reportedly admitted to them that he used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his storied career.
Armstrong also confessed to Winfrey to using the drugs, sources have told ABC News. Winfrey said this morning that the entire interview, for which she had prepared 112 questions, was difficult.
"I would say there were a couple of times where he was emotional," she said. "But that doesn't describe the intensity at times."
As for the cyclist's sense of remorse, Winfrey said that will be for viewers to decide.
"I would rather people make their own decisions about whether he was contrite or not," she said.
The interview will air on the OWN network for two nights, starting at 9 p.m. ET Thursday and continuing Friday.
Meanwhile, the federal government is likely to join a whistle-blower lawsuit against Armstrong, originally filed by his former cycling teammate Floyd Landis, sources told ABC News.
The government is seeking to recoup millions of dollars from Armstrong after years of his denying that he used performance-enhancing drugs, the sources said. The U.S. Postal Service, which is an independent agency of the federal government, was a longtime sponsor of Armstrong's racing career.
Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images
The deadline for the government's potentially joining in the matter was a likely motivation for Armstrong's interview with Winfrey, sources told ABC News.
The lawsuit remains sealed in federal court.
Armstrong is now talking with authorities about possibly paying back some of the Postal Service sponsorship money, a government source told ABC News Monday.
The deadline for the department to join the case is Thursday, the same day Armstrong's much-anticipated interview with Winfrey is set to air.
Armstrong is also talking to authorities about confessing and naming names, giving up others involved in illegal doping. This could result in a reduction of his lifetime ban, according to a source, if Armstrong provides substantial and meaningful information.
As for the Winfrey interview, it was Armstrong's first since officials stripped him of his world cycling titles in response to doping allegations.
Word of Armstrong's admission comes after a Livestrong official said that Armstrong apologized Monday to the foundation's staff ahead of his interview.
The disgraced cyclist gathered with about 100 Livestrong Foundation staffers at their Austin headquarters for a meeting that included social workers who deal directly with patients as part of the group's mission to support cancer victims.
Armstrong's "sincere and heartfelt apology" generated lots of tears, spokeswoman Katherine McLane said, adding that he "took responsibility" for the trouble he has caused the foundation.
McLane declined to say whether Armstrong's comments included an admission of doping, just that the cyclist wanted the staff to hear from him in person rather than rely on second-hand accounts.
Armstrong then took questions from the staff.
Armstrong's story has never changed. In front of cameras, microphones, fans, sponsors, cancer survivors -- even under oath -- Lance Armstrong hasn't just denied ever using performance enhancing drugs, he has done so in an indignant, even threatening way.
Armstrong, 41, was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from the sport for life by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in October 2012, after allegations that he benefited from years of systematic doping, using banned substances and receiving illicit blood transfusions.
"Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling," Pat McQuaid, the president of the International Cycling Union, said at a news conference in Switzerland announcing the decision. "This is a landmark day for cycling."
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered the arrest of the prime minister on Tuesday on corruption allegations, ratcheting up pressure on a government that is also facing a massive street protest led by a cleric who has a history of ties to the army.
The combination of the arrest order and the mass protest in the capital Islamabad led by Muslim cleric Muhammad Tahirul Qadri raised fears among politicians that the military was working with the judiciary to force out a civilian leader.
"There is no doubt that Qadri's march and the Supreme Court's verdict were masterminded by the military establishment of Pakistan," Fawad Chaudhry, an aide to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, told Reuters.
"The military can intervene at this moment as the Supreme Court has opened a way for it."
However, the ruling coalition led by the Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) has a majority in parliament and lawmakers can simply elect another prime minister if Ashraf is ousted. In June, Ashraf replaced Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who was disqualified by the Supreme Court in a previous showdown between the government and the judiciary.
Also, elections are due in a few months and President Asif Ali Zardari hopes to lead the first civilian government in Pakistan's 65 years as an independent nation that will complete its full term.
But power struggles will distract the unpopular government from tackling an array of problems - a Taliban insurgency, economic stagnation and growing sectarian tensions triggered by bomb attacks and tit-for-tat shootings.
The military, which sees itself as the guarantor of Pakistan's stability, has long regarded the PPP-led government as corrupt, incompetent and unable to prevent the nuclear-armed country from falling apart.
Pakistan's powerful army has a long history of coups and intervening in politics. These days generals seem to have little appetite for a coup but many believe they still try to exert behind-the-scenes influence.
Some politicians believe the military will try to dominate the caretaker administration that will oversee the run-up to the polls after parliament is dissolved, which is due to happen in March. An election date has yet to be announced.
The protest by Qadri and his followers has also been seen by commentators as being orchestrated by the military to add to the pressure on Zardari's government, although the military has denied any involvement.
Thousands of followers of the populist cleric camped near the federal parliament cheered and waved Pakistani flags as television channels broadcast news of the Supreme Court's order to arrest Ashraf on charges of corruption.
"We don't want any of those old politicians. They just take all the people's money," said 19-year-old student Mohammed Wasim. "We congratulate the whole nation (on the Supreme Court's order). Now we have to take the rest of the thieves to court."
BAFFLED
Government officials said they were baffled by the arrest order, which came hours after Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said elections should go ahead as scheduled.
"This was totally unexpected," an official in Ashraf's office told Reuters. "The prime minister and two or three of his friends were watching Qadri speak on television and this suddenly happened."
Pakistan's stock exchange fell by more than 500 points, or nearly three percent, on news of the court order, due to fears over fresh political turmoil, which comes against a backdrop of militant bombings and tension on the border with India.
Qadri, who played a role in backing a military coup in 1999, threatened to remain camped out near the federal parliament with thousands of supporters until his demands for the resignation of the government were met.
The fiery orator returned home from Canada less than a month ago to lead a call for electoral reforms to bar corrupt politicians from office that has made him an instant hit among Pakistanis disillusioned with the state.
In a speech from behind a bullet-proof shield in front of parliament, Qadri praised the military and the judiciary, the country's two other power centers.
"(The government) has wasted and brought a bad end to our armed forces, those armed forces who are highly sincere, highly competent and highly capable and highly professional," he said, alternating between Urdu and English.
"Even they can't do anything because the political government isn't able to deliver anything from this land. Judgments are being passed by our great, independent judiciary but the government is not ready to implement them."
Qadri is demanding that the government dissolve the legislature and announce the formation of a caretaker government to oversee the run-up to elections.
He told Reuters on Friday that the military could play a possible role in the selection of the interim administration, a stance which has sharpened fears he may be working at the army's behest. The military denies any ties to him.
One senior military officer, who said he was speaking in a purely personal capacity, said there was no appetite in the military to repeat the coups seen in Pakistan's past, but added the stand-off could be resolved if the army played a role in the formation of a caretaker government as a "moderator".
"We should try as far as possible to abide by the constitution and law in looking for change. The army chief has made this clear," the officer told Reuters.
"But things seem to be moving beyond control," the officer added. "It is totally incorrect to say the army is behind Qadri. But if he brings thousands of people to the streets and things get worse, there may be very few options."
(Additional reporting by Matthew Green and Mubasher Bukhari in ISLAMABAD and Jibran Ahmad in PESHAWAR; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
PARIS: Children who frequently eat fast food are far more likely to have severe asthma compared to counterparts who tuck into fruit, a large international study published on Monday said.
Researchers asked nearly half a million teenagers aged 13-14 and children aged six and seven about their eating habits and whether in the previous year they had experienced wheezing, eczema or an itchy, blocked nose when they did not have cold or flu.
The questionnaires -- completed by a parent or guardian for the younger children -- were distributed in scores of countries.
It marks the latest phase in a long-running collaborative programme, the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC), which was launched in 1991.
The investigators filtered out factors that could skew results, such as maternal smoking during pregnancy, sedentary lifestyle and body-mass index, in order to focus purely on diet.
They found that fast food was the only food type that could be clearly linked to asthma severity.
Three or more weekly servings of fast food were associated with a 39-per cent increase in the risk of severe asthma among teens and a 27-per cent increase among younger children.
It also added to the risk of eczema and severe rhinitis.
In contrast, eating three or more weekly portions of fruit led to a reduction in symptom severity of between 11 and 14 per cent, respectively.
The study, which appears in the British Medical Association journal Thorax, noted that to prove an association is not to prove a cause -- but argued that a further inquiry was clearly needed.
"If the associations (are) causal, then the findings have major public health significance, owing to the rising consumption of fast foods globally," the authors said.
Previous research has found that the saturated and "trans" fatty acids trigger an inflammatory response from the immune system, the paper noted.
- AFP/xq
Samsung's Galaxy S series smartphones have crossed the threshold of 100 million sales.
According to Samsung's Tomorrow Flickr page, its flagship Galaxy S series has managed to surpass that mark in 2 years and 7 months since the launch of the first Galaxy smartphone in May 2010.
In addition, the firm says that the Galaxy S3 is selling "at [a] much faster rate," smashing through the 1 million barrier in 50 days. Sales of the flagship Galaxy S3 reached 30 million units in 5 months, and 40 million in 7 months, with average daily sales of about 190,000 units. The Galaxy S2 is described as a steady bet after recording sales of over 40 million in 20 months.
Samsung calls the Galaxy series "the driving force" behind the electronics maker's "rise to the top" in the global smartphone market. The firm has estimated that overall sales will reach 56 trillion won ($52.6 billion) in its fourth-quarter results, to be announced on January 25.
This news follows a number of announcements made by the South Korean company at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, including Youm flexible displays and a new eight-core processor for mobile devices.
CHICAGO A transportation agency plans to file a lawsuit Monday alleging that United Airlines is falsely claiming to buy huge amounts of jet fuel out of a small, rural Illinois office that doesn't even have a computer to avoid paying tens of millions of dollars in taxes in Chicago, where the purchases are allegedly being made.
The Regional Transportation Authority alleges United Aviation Fuels Corp., a subsidy of United Airlines, has operated a "sham" office in the DeKalb County community of Sycamore since 2001 after reaching an agreement to pay the town more than $300,000 a year -- a fraction of what it would have owed in sales taxes in Chicago and Cook County.
"The only reason that United Fuels has an office in Sycamore is to attempt to create a sham tax situs (location) for fuel sales in a lower taxing jurisdiction," reads a draft of the lawsuit obtained by The Associated Press.
United officials say they have not seen the lawsuit, but that the Sycamore operation is legal.
The RTA, which contends the office has no computer and is staffed by one person who only works part time, said consultants visited the site on a recent weekday and found it locked with nobody inside. The agency said judging from the few chairs and empty desks seen through a window, there is little, if any, business occurring in the office.
"Whoever is out there is not negotiating hundreds of millions of dollars worth of jet fuel," said Jordan Matyas, the RTA's chief of staff. He said any negotiations for fuel, as well as delivery scheduling, accounting, credit approval and administrative decisions, are being done in the Willis Tower in downtown Chicago, where United is headquartered.
The RTA alleges that American Airlines is engaged in a similar "sham" business out of an office it rents in Sycamore's City Hall. But Matyas said American was not included in the lawsuit because the airline remains in bankruptcy, and that suing American would require litigating the case both in federal bankruptcy court in New York and in Cook County Circuit Court, where the RTA plans to file its suit against United. He added that the RTA does plan to pursue legal action against American at some point.
The two airlines are spending a staggering amount of money on fuel. Based on sales taxes that were paid in Sycamore, the RTA estimates that in 2012 alone, the two airlines spent "approximately $1.2 billion on jet fuel the airlines" for jets at O'Hare, Matyas said in an email, adding that it is unclear how much of that was later sold to other airlines.
United officials said they have not received a copy of the complaint, but "believe that any such suit would be without merit."
"In fact, the operation of our fuel subsidiary in Sycamore has been examined by tax authorities in the past and has been determined to comply with all applicable laws," spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said in an email.
American spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan said in an email that the airline does not comment on pending litigation but added, "What American is doing is permitted under Illinois law."
Sycamore's city manager, Brian Gregory, declined comment.
The RTA said in a prepared statement that "sales tax dodges" have cost the city of Chicago $133 million in lost sales tax revenue since 2005. They have cost Cook County an additional $60 million and Metra, Pace and the Chicago Transit Authority another $96 million, according to the RTA, which oversees the three agencies and relies on sales tax revenue for much of its funding.
"CTA, Metra and Pace have had to work with constrained budgets and have needed to raise fares and reduce service because the money's just not there," RTA executive director Joe Costello said in the news release. "Now we know why."
The lawsuit is potentially embarrassing for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who earlier this year called United's decision to move its corporate headquarters to Chicago "great news for all Chicagoans."
When told of the lawsuit, Emanuel spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton said, "The City has been supportive of efforts in Springfield to ensure corporations pay their fair share, but we have not seen this specific lawsuit and therefore cannot comment on it."
According to the RTA, the total sales tax rate in Sycamore is 9.5 percent, compared to 8 percent in Chicago. But the RTA contends the airlines are getting an even better deal: The two companies have entered 25-year agreements that call for Sycamore to "kick back" most of its share of the sales tax on jet fuel, as much as $14 million a year, in exchange for payments of at least $300,000 a year from each airline.
A document provided by the RTA contends that the agreement with United calls for Sycamore to receive $360,000 to $556,000 between 2003 and 2026.
The lawsuit is part of a larger effort by the RTA to combat similar deals between various communities and companies.
The RTA, the city of Chicago and Cook County in 2011 filed lawsuits against Kankakee and the village of Channahon. They alleged that those communities' tax incentive programs are costing other government agencies millions of dollars, because they enable companies to avoid paying higher sales taxes by moving purchases through satellite offices in areas where the sales tax rates are lower.
According to the RTA's lawsuit against Kankakee and Channahon, the agency is owed at least $100 million in lost revenue. The communities contend their programs are legal.
Let's finally bury this idea that women can't be funny once and for all. Fey and Poehler were undeniably hilarious throughout the Globes, so much so that many fans on Twitter demanded more of them during the ceremony. From their opening bit -- Poehler: "Meryl Streep is not here tonight, she has the flu. And I hear she's amazing in it." -- to their pseudo drunk heckling of best TV comedy actress winner Lena Dunham, they were radiant, energetic, and above all, funny. More please.
Foster made her acceptance of the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award a coming out, of sorts. She first shocked the audience by leading them to think that she was about to make a huge public statement about her sexuality. Instead, she said she was single, adding "I already did my coming out in the stone age."
"Now, apparently, I'm told that every celebrity is expected to honor the details of their private life with a press conference ... You guys might be surprised, but I'm not Honey Boo Boo child," she said, to a flurry of laughter and applause.
"If you had been a public figure from the time that you were a toddler ... then maybe you too might value privacy above all else," she said. "Privacy."
But Foster did specifically thank her ex-partner Cydney Bernard, with whom she has two kids. Both boys gestured to her from the audience.
She also implied that she was retiring from acting when she said she would not be returning to the Globes stage or any stage. "It's just that from now on, I may be holding a different talking stick," Foster said, bringing many in the audience to tears.
But backstage, Foster clarified to reporters that she was not retiring from acting. "Oh that's so funny," she responded to reporters. "You couldn't drag me away. And I'd like to be directing tomorrow."
It takes a lot to make Hollywood star struck. Bill Clinton did it when he strutted on stage to introduce a clip of "Lincoln," which was up for best drama. He brought the crowd of A-listers to its feet and commended the 16th president. "We're all here tonight because he did it," he said of Lincoln's battle to end slavery.
If there was any doubt that Lena Dunham wasn't Hollywood's next big thing, it was obliterated Sunday night. The star and creator of HBO's "Girls" went home with two awards, best actress in a TV comedy and best TV comedy. Her heartfelt acceptance speech for best actress struck a chord: "This award is for everyone who feels like there wasn't a place for her," she said. "This show made a space for me."
Jessica Chastain won the Globe for best actress in a drama for "Zero Dark Thirty." She offered a moving tribute to director Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to win a best director Oscar who failed to get a nomination for that award this year, though "ZDT" was up for a slew of other awards, including best picture. "I can't help but compare my character of Maya to you," Chastain said to Bigelow. "When you make a film that allows your character to disobey the conventions of Hollywood, you've done more for women in cinema than you take credit for."
Blame it on nerves, the spirit of spontaneity, or the a-a-a-a-alcohol (apologies to Jamie Foxx), but Jennifer Lawrence's acceptance speech was a tad insulting to a Hollywood icon, if totally hilarious. "Oh what does it say?" she asked, looking at her trophy. "I beat Meryl." She meant Meryl Streep, who was also up for the award.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's civil war is unleashing a "staggering humanitarian crisis" on the Middle East as hundreds of thousands of refugees flee violence including gang rape, an international aid agency said on Monday.
Opposition activists said an air strike on rebel-held territory southwest of Damascus killed 20 people, including women and children, adding to the more than 60,000 people estimated to have been killed in the 21-month-old conflict.
Over 600,000 Syrians have fled abroad - many to neighboring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan - as violence has spread and international efforts to find a political solution have sagged.
Refugees interviewed by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) cited sexual violence as a major reason they fled the country, the New York-based organization said in a 23-page report on the crisis published on Monday.
Gang rapes often happened in front of family members and women had been kidnapped, raped, tortured and killed, it said.
"After decades of working in war and disaster zones, the IRC knows that women and girls suffer physical and sexual violence in every conflict. Syria is no exception," the group added.
Rebels and government forces have both been accused of human rights abuses during the conflict, which began with peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011.
The unrest turned violent after government forces fired on demonstrators and has since become a full-scale civil war.
Fierce winter weather has worsened the plight of hundreds of thousands of refugees. The IRC urged donors to step up planning and funding in the expectation that more Syrians will flee.
"Nearly two years into Syria's civil war, the region faces a staggering humanitarian disaster," the IRC report said.
AIR POWER
Despite advancing in Syria's north and east and winning support from regional powers like Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the Syrian rebels have been unable to break a military stalemate with government forces elsewhere.
They have struggled to counter government air power in particular, making it hard for them to take and hold territory crucial to Assad's grip on power, including major cities.
An activist in Moadamiyeh, a rebel-held town southwest of Damascus, said an air strike there killed 20 people on Monday.
Activist video footage showed images of the limp body of a boy being pulled out from broken concrete, his back covered in dust and his front in blood.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said at least 13 people had died in the air raid but the toll was likely to rise.
Syrian state television said "terrorists" - its word for rebels - had fired a mortar from the Damascus suburb of Daraya on a civilian building in Moadamiyeh, killing women and children.
The reports could not be independently verified because of government restrictions on independent media in Syria.
Syrian warplanes also bombarded the strategic Taftanaz air base that rebels seized last week, the Observatory said.
In another sign of escalating bloodshed, Human Rights Watch said it had evidence that government forces had used multi-barrel rocket launchers to deliver Egyptian-made cluster munitions in recent attacks.
"Syria is escalating and expanding its use of cluster munitions, despite international condemnation of its embrace of this banned weapon," it said.
DEADLOCK
Syria's rising death toll has brought international intervention no closer. The United States and Russia have been deadlocked over how to resolve the crisis.
Moscow - which has continued to back its long-standing ally and arms client Assad - urged the opposition on Sunday to make its own proposals in response to a speech by Assad a week ago.
The speech, which offered no concessions, was criticized by the United Nations and United States. Syrian rebels described it as a renewed declaration of war.
Talks between Russia and the United States in Geneva on Friday failed to produce a breakthrough.
As diplomatic efforts have stalled, the conflict has continued to draw in Syria's neighbors.
A mortar round apparently fired from Syria crashed in a field in Turkey overnight close to a refugee camp housing thousands of Syrians along the border, Turkish state media said.
NATO troops have begun deploying Patriot defense missiles in Turkey against a potential attack from its southern neighbor. The missiles are expected to be operational by the end of the month. Turkey is a strong supporter of the Syrian rebels.
NATO said Syrian government forces had launched a short-range, Scud-style ballistic missile on Sunday, bringing to more than 20 the number launched in the past month.
The missiles, apparently fired against opposition targets, landed in Syrian territory, mostly in northern Syria, a NATO spokeswoman said in Brussels, but some of the missiles landed "quite close" to the Turkish frontier.
(Additional reporting by Laila Bassam in Beirut and Adrian Croft in Brussels; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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