Egyptian-brokered Hamas-Israel ceasefire takes hold

CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) - Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip agreed on Wednesday to an Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire to halt an eight-day conflict that killed 162 Palestinians and five Israelis.

Both sides fought right up to 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) when hostilities were due to stop, with several explosions shaking Gaza City and rockets hitting the Israeli city of Beersheba.

Even after the deadline passed, a dozen rockets from Gaza landed in Israel, all in open areas, a police spokesman said.

If it holds, the truce will give 1.7 million Gazans respite from days of ferocious air strikes and halt rocket salvoes from militants that unnerved a million people in southern Israel and reached Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for the first time.

"Allahu akbar, (God is greatest), dear people of Gaza you won," blared mosque loudspeakers in the enclave as the truce took effect. "You have broken the arrogance of the Jews."

Fifteen minutes later, wild celebratory gunfire echoed across the darkened streets of Gaza, which gradually filled with crowds waving Palestinian flags. Ululating women leaned out of windows and fireworks lit up the sky.

Hamas leaders welcomed the agreement, calling it a triumph for armed resistance, and thanking Egypt for its role.

Some Israelis staged protests against the deal, notably in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi, where three Israelis were killed by a Gaza rocket during the conflict, army radio said.

Announcing the agreement in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said mediation had "resulted in understandings to cease fire, restore calm and halt the bloodshed".

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, standing beside Amr, thanked Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Mursi for peace efforts that showed "responsibility, leadership" in the region.

"SEVERE MILITARY ACTION"

The Gaza conflict erupted in a Middle East already shaken by last year's Arab uprisings that toppled several veteran U.S.-backed leaders, including Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, and by a civil war in Syria, where Bashar al-Assad is fighting for survival.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had agreed to "exhaust this opportunity for an extended truce", but told his people a tougher approach might be required in the future.

"I know there are citizens expecting a more severe military action, and perhaps we shall need to do so," he said.

The Israeli leader, who faces a parliamentary election in January, delivered a similar message earlier in a telephone call with U.S. President Barack Obama, his office said.

Obama in turn reiterated his country's commitment to Israel's security and promised to seek funds for a joint missile defense program, the White House said.

Hamas leaders taunted Israel, with the movement's exiled chief Khaled Meshaal saying in Cairo that the Jewish state had failed in its military "adventure". But he pledged to uphold the truce if the Israelis complied with it.

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's chief in Gaza and its prime minister there, said: "We are satisfied and proud of this agreement and at the steadfastness of our people and their resistance."

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.

BUS BOMBING

The deal also provides for easing Israeli restrictions on Gaza's residents, who live in what British Prime Minister David Cameron has called an "open prison".

The text said procedures for implementing this would be "dealt with after 24 hours from the start of the ceasefire".

Israeli sources said Israel would not lift a blockade of the enclave it enforced after Hamas, which rejects the Jewish state's right to exist, won a Palestinian election in 2006.

The ceasefire was forged despite a bus bomb explosion that wounded 15 Israelis in Tel Aviv earlier in the day and despite more Israeli air strikes that killed 10 Gazans.

The Tel Aviv blast, near the Israeli Defence Ministry, touched off celebratory gunfire from militants in Gaza and had threatened to complicate truce efforts. It was the first serious bombing in Israel's commercial capital since 2006.

In Gaza, Israeli warplanes struck more than 100 targets, including a cluster of Hamas government buildings. Medical officials said a two-year-old boy was among the dead.

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

Gaza medical officials said 162 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, including 37 children and 11 women, were killed in Israel's assault. Nearly 1,400 rockets were fired into Israel, killing four civilians and a soldier, the military said.

Egypt, an important U.S. ally now under Islamist leadership, took centre stage in diplomacy to halt the bloodshed, using its privileged ability to speak directly to both sides.

"CRITICAL MOMENT"

Israel, the United States and the European Union designate Hamas as a terrorist organization. It seized the Gaza Strip from the Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007 in a brief but bloody war with his Fatah movement.

"This is a critical moment for the region," Clinton said. "Egypt's new government is assuming the responsibility and leadership that has long made this country a cornerstone for regional stability and peace."

She also promised to work with partners in the region "to consolidate this progress, improve conditions for the people of Gaza, provide security for the people of Israel".

Egypt has walked a fine line between its sympathies for Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood to which Mursi belongs, and its need to preserve its 1979 peace treaty with Israel and its ties with Washington, its main aid donor.

"Egypt calls on all to monitor the implementation of what has been agreed under Egypt's sponsorship and to guarantee the commitment of all the parties to what has been agreed," its foreign minister said at the news conference in Cairo.

Israel, the top recipient of U.S. assistance, agreed to stop fighting after having gathered troops and armor on the border with Gaza in preparation for a high-risk ground assault.

In Amman, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged both sides to stick to their ceasefire pledges. "There may be challenges implementing this agreement," he said, urging "maximum restraint".

Israel withdrew unilaterally from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but maintained control over its borders. The United Nations says it remains an occupied territory, along with the West Bank.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation, led by Abbas, wants the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem for an independent state.

(Additional reporting by Noah Browning in Gaza, Ori Lewis, Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Crispian Balmer in Jerusalem, Yasmine Saleh, Shaimaa Fayed and Tom Perry in Cairo, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman and Margaret Chadbourn in Washington; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and David Stamp)

Read More..

6.1 magnitude quake rocks Chile

SANTIAGO: A 6.1 magnitude quake rocked central Chile on Wednesday but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, authorities said.

The earthquake occurred at 2136 GMT, 35 kilometres (22 miles) west of Navidad, Chile, in the O'Higgins region south of Santiago, the University of Chile's Seismology Service reported.

The government's National Emergency Office issued a preliminary report saying there were "no reports of injuries to people, or alteration of basic services or infrastructure."

The Chilean navy's hydrographic and oceanographic service said there was no threat of a tsunami to the country's coast.

- AFP/fa

Read More..

Major among four indicted for DR Congo sex scandal

NEW DELHI: Four soldiers, including a major and a junior commissioned officer, have been indicted by the Army court of inquiry (CoI) into the sexual misconduct allegations levelled against Indian troops while deployed in a UN peace-keeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2007-2008.

Incidentally, a group of retired military officers and civil activists earlier this year had tried to unsuccessfully use the infamous case to scuttle the appointment of General Bikram Singh as the new Army chief after General V K Singh on May 31.

They had accused Gen Bikram Singh of "command failure" since he was the UN deputy force commander in the Democratic Republic of Congo when the Indian troops deployed in the North Kivu province of the Central African nation were accused of the sexual exploitation of women, including four minors. The government, however, had given Gen Bikram Singh a clean chit.

On Wednesday, Gen Bikram Singh said the CoI into the case had recommended disciplinary action (court martial) against only one jawan, whose DNA sample had matched with one of the children fathered by Indian soldiers in Congo.

The other three indicted by the CoI, including the major and the JCO from the 6 Sikh regiment, will face the much milder administrative action for "command and control failure". The Army had ordered the CoI in May, 2011, only after the UN had communicated to the Indian government that a thorough probe was required in the matter.

Read More..

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

Read More..

Rockets Fall Silent in Israel-Hamas Cease-Fire

The rockets and missiles fell silent over Gaza for the first time in eight days today, but gunfire erupted in the crowded streets of the Palestinian enclave to celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire in the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The two sides fired final salvos at one another up until the final moments before the 2 p.m. ET cease-fire deadline. At least one Israeli missile landed at 1:57 p.m. ET in Gaza, and four rockets were launched toward the Israeli province of Beer Sheva at 1:59 p.m. ET.

After 2 p.m. ET, however, the sky was finally empty of munitions.

The eight days of fighting left 130 Palestinans and five Israelis dead, and badly damaged many of Gaza's buildings. A bomb that exploded on a bus in Tel Aviv earlier today left an additional 10 Israelis wounded.

The fighting came to an end after a meeting between Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"This is a critical moment for the region," Clinton said after the meeting, standing next to Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr to announce the deal.

Israel Bus Bombing Injures 10 Amid Peace Talks Watch Video

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

"The people of this region deserve a chance to live free of fear and violence and today's agreement is a step" in that direction, Clinton said. "Now we have to focus on reaching a durable outcome."

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," she said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the cease-fire from Tel Aviv after Clinton's announcement.

"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.

He reiterated that it was vital to Israel's security to "prevent smuggling of arms to terrorist organizations" in the future.

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

"Who knows if the ceasefire will even last two minutes," the official said. The official said that any possible agreement on borders and blockades on the Gaza/Israel border would come only after a period of quiet.

Clinton and Morsi met for three hours in Cairo today to discuss an end to the violence. The secretary of state met with Netanyahu Tuesday night for more than two hours, saying she sought to "de-escalate the situation in Gaza."

The fighting dragged on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning despite Hamas officials declaring publicly Tuesday afternoon that they expected a cease-fire would be announced Tuesday night, after Clinton and Netanyahu's talks.

The airstrikes by the Israeli Defense Forces overnight hit government ministries, underground tunnels, a banker's empty villa and a Hamas-linked media office. 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. Gaza health officials said there were no deaths or injuries.

Read More..

Clinton meets Netanyahu to seek Gaza truce

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday and pledged to work for a truce in the Gaza Strip "in the days ahead".

As the two began late-night talks in Jerusalem, Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli air strikes continued. Netanyahu said he would prefer a "long-term" diplomatic solution but repeated his readiness to step up an offensive against Gaza's rocket crews.

Clinton's outline of further days of negotiation, notably in Cairo with Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, may dampen talk of an immediate end to a week of violence that has killed over 140 people, most Palestinians but including two Israelis on Tuesday.

Officials from Egypt and from Gaza's ruling Hamas movement had talked up the chances of an end to hostilities, at least in some interim form, by the end of the day. But a Hamas leader in Cairo later told Reuters there would be no announcement before Wednesday. He blamed Israel for not responding to proposals.

Netanyahu, who faces a general election in two months and had mobilized army reserves for threatened ground invasion of the enclave, stressed his interest in a "long-term" deal to end rocket fire on Israel - a kind of deal that has eluded him and his predecessors in four years since Israel's last offensive.

Clinton, too, who broke off from an Asian tour with President Barack Obama and assured Netanyahu of "rock-solid" U.S. support for Israel's security, spoke of seeking a "durable outcome" and of the "responsibility" for contributing to peace borne by Egypt, Gaza's other neighbor, whose new leaders hail from the Muslim Brotherhood that inspired Hamas's founders.

"In the days ahead, the United States will work with our partners here in Israel and across the region toward an outcome that bolsters security for the people of Israel, improves conditions for the people of Gaza and moves toward a comprehensive peace for all people of the region," Clinton said.

"It is essential to de-escalate the situation in Gaza. The rocket attacks from terrorist organizations inside Gaza on Israeli cities and towns must end and a broader calm restored.

"The goal must be a durable outcome that promotes regional stability and advances the security and legitimate aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians alike."

Netanyahu, who has seemed in no immediate rush to repeat the invasion of winter 2008-09 in which over 1,400 Palestinians died, said: "If there is a possibility of achieving a long-term solution to this problem with diplomatic means, we prefer that.

"But if not, I'm sure you understand that Israel will have to take whatever action is necessary to defend its people."

AIMS

The Jewish state launched the campaign last week with the declared aim of halting the rocketing of its towns from the Palestinian enclave, ruled by the Hamas militant group that does not recognize Israel's right to exist.

Medical officials in Gaza said 31 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday. An Israeli soldier and a civilian died when rockets exploded near the Gaza frontier, police and the army said.

Gaza medical officials say 138 people have died in Israeli strikes, mostly civilians, including 34 children. In all, five Israelis have died, including three civilians killed last week.

Khaled Meshaal, exile leader of Hamas, said on Monday that Israel must halt its military action and lift its blockade of the Palestinian coastal enclave in exchange for a truce.

Obama, whose relations with the hawkish Netanyahu have long been strained, has said he want a diplomatic solution, rather than a possible Israeli ground operation in the densely populated territory, home to 1.7 million Palestinians.

Israel's military on Tuesday targeted more than 130 sites in Gaza, including ammunition stores and the Gaza headquarters of the National Islamic Bank. Israeli police said more than 150 rockets were fired from Gaza by the evening.

"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.

JERUSALEM

After nightfall, Israel stepped up its Gaza bombardment. Artillery shells and missiles fired from naval gunboats slammed into the territory and air strikes came at a frequency of about one every 10 minutes.

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.

The rocket, which fell harmlessly in the occupied West Bank, triggered warning sirens in the holy city about the time Ban arrived for truce discussions. Another rocket damaged an apartment building in Rishon Lezion, near Tel Aviv.

Rockets fired at the two big cities over the past week were the first to reach them in decades, a sign of what Israel says is an increasing threat from Gaza militants.

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

Militants on a motorcycle dragged the body of one of the men through the streets.

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.

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.

Egypt 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 2008-09. Egypt has a 1979 peace treaty with Israel seen by the West as the cornerstone of Middle East peace, but that has been tested as never before by the removal of U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak as president last year in the Arab Spring uprisings.

Mursi, elected Egyptian president this year, is a veteran of the Muslim Brotherhood, spiritual mentors of Hamas, but says he is committed to Egypt's treaty with Israel.

Mursi has warned Netanyahu of serious consequences from an invasion of the kind into Gaza four years ago. But he has been careful so far not to alienate Israel, or Washington, a major aid donor to Egypt.

(Additional reporting by Cairo bureau; Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Alison Williams)

Read More..

HP woes deepen with bad deal writedown

SAN FRANCISCO: Hewlett-Packard's woes deepened Tuesday as the US tech giant reported a massive loss, blaming deliberate financial misstatements from a British software firm it bought last year.

HP called for a probe by US and British authorities of software maker Autonomy, saying "accounting improprieties" before the acquisition led to an "overvalued" acquisition price, which forced HP to take a huge writedown in value.

HP's share price tumbled 11.95 percent to close at $11.71, as the new woes weighed on the US computer giant already struggling with a changing technology landscape.

The bombshell came when HP said it was taking a writedown of $8.8 billion, largely because of the reduced value of the software company acquired just over a year ago.

While writedowns under accounting rules are not unusual for slumping firms, HP said this was a case of deliberately misleading statements by Autonomy that went unnoticed until now.

"HP has referred this matter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission's Enforcement Division and the UK's Serious Fraud Office for civil and criminal investigation," HP said, as it announced a big hit to earnings.

The California firm said it was also "preparing to seek redress against various parties in the appropriate civil courts" over the losses.

HP announced the news as it reported a $6.9 billion quarterly loss. The company was pushed into the red by the writedown, of which $5.5 billion was linked to Autonomy and the rest to the slumping value of HP's own share price.

The announcement triggered stunned reactions from people involved in the Autonomy deal, and sceptical comments from analysts about HP's future.

HP chief executive Meg Whitman, who took over after the acquisition, said "the two people that should have been held responsible are gone" but noted that board members and others were not alerted by financial reviews from well-respected auditors.

"The board relied on audited financials, audited by Deloitte, not brand X accounting firm but Deloitte," she said.

"We hired KPMG to audit Deloitte, and neither of them saw what we now see."

An HP statement said "some former members of Autonomy's management team used accounting improprieties, misrepresentations and disclosure failures to inflate the underlying financial metrics of the company."

"These efforts appear to have been a willful effort to mislead investors and potential buyers."

HP said it launched an internal investigation "after a senior member of Autonomy's leadership team came forward," prompting a fresh review by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

As a result, HP said it "now believes that Autonomy was substantially overvalued at the time of its acquisition."

Former HP chief Leo Apotheker, who spearheaded the Autonomy deal in 2011 before being forced out, said he was "stunned and disappointed" by the allegations, and claimed there was a "meticulous and thorough" review before the deal closed.

Mike Lynch, founder of Autonomy, told The Wall Street Journal the allegations were "completely and utterly wrong."

The news added to woes at HP, which remains one of the world's biggest PC makers but has been struggling to keep pace with a shift to mobile computing and tablets.

The US computer giant closed its the fiscal year with a $12.65 billion loss.

Revenues fell seven percent to a worse-than-expected $30 billion in the quarter and were down five percent to $120.4 billion for the year.

"We expected bad but got worse," said analyst Peter Misek at Jefferies.

Misek said that even putting aside the Autonomy problems, HP forecasts are "too optimistic."

Chris Whitmore at Deutsche Bank issued a "sell" recommendation for HP, saying the latest write-down "could raise concerns around HP's internal controls... and potential for other negative surprises under the prior CEO's tenure."

Brian White at Topeka Capital Markets said HP would need "heroic improvements" to turn itself around and noted that the stock is down 80 percent from 2010 highs.

"HP remains a 'show me' stock and investors' patience is already running very thin," he said.

"In our view, the solution is simple, make bigger and bolder decisions to right the ship, starting with divesting the PC business and cleaning up the board of directors."

- AFP/fa

Read More..

Parkash Singh Badal wants Rs 5,000 crore to diversify crop

CHANDIGARH: Punjab government has asked the Centre to help the state in promoting farm diversification and demanded a technology mission for the same with an allocation of Rs 5,000 crore for green revolution areas in the 12th Five Year Plan.

Batting for the state's case before a high-level delegation of experts from agriculture, animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries led by Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal said that the procurement of alternative crops, especially maize, through Food Corporation of India at MSP should be ensured to help the beleaguered farmers to shift from paddy.

He also reiterated that livestock sector could play a major role in improving the income of the small and landless farmers in the rural areas. However, for this purpose, it must be brought at par with agriculture for the purpose of funding, interest on loans as well as income tax exemptions, the CM pointed out.

Demanding a slew of incentives to promote dairying in a big way, Badal urged Pawar to grant exemption from custom duty for import of machinery relating to dairy, poultry, feed and fodder, besides additional allocation under various dairy development schemes.

Punjab government has also asked the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to revise the quality norms with regard to cow milk. In Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, this milk is required to have 4% fat. For all other parts of the country, these standards vary and the requirement of fat was only 3.5%. The milk of high yielding cross bred cows contain about 3.5% fat and there is dire need to rationalize the standards, said the CM.

Read More..

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

Read More..

Clinton Pledges to 'De-Escalate' Gaza Conflict

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would seek to "de-escalate the situation in Gaza" today during a closed-door meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.

Clinton, who flew to Israel today, appeared with Netanyahu ahead of their 4 p.m. ET meeting to discuss a possible ceasefire to the fighting between Israel and Islamic militants in Gaza.

The meeting came amid statements from Hamas earlier today 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.

"One of the things that we are doing is trying to resist and counter a terrorist barrage which is aimed directly at our civilians," Netanyahu said. "No country can tolerate a wanton attack on its civilians."

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

The Israel-Gaza Conflict in Pictures

"American's commitment to Israel's security is rock solid and unwavering. That is why we believe it is essential to de-escalate the situation in Gaza," Clinton said.

Clinton also said that she would reiterate her message to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi during a meeting on Wednesday.

Matty Stern/U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv/Getty Images

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Families Pray for Ceasefire Watch Video

Middle East on the Brink: Israel Prepared to Invade Gaza Watch Video

"President Obama has emphasized the same points in his multiple conversations with president Morsi of Egypt and we appreciate President Morsi's personal leadership and Egypt's efforts thus far," she said. "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."

Clinton expressed her condolences for the Palestinian and Israeli civilians who have been killed in the violent outbreak.

The rocket fire between Israel and Hamas, which began six days ago, has claimed 126 Palestinian lives and three Israeli lives. A ceasefire, if reached, would bring a halt to the worst violence between Gaza and Israel in four years.

Israeli officials told ABC News earlier today that a final deal had not been brokered between Israel and Hamas, and that if a pact were reached, it would not be announced until after midnight local time, or 5 p.m. ET.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told ABC News the news would be announced at a press conference in Cairo where Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has been trying to broker an end to the fighting.

An Islamic Jihad website also reported that the ceasefire would go into effect tonight.

Clinton will also meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about the fighting.

In the meantime, however, Abu Zuhri called on all militant groups to continue firing rockets on Israel "in retaliation for the Israeli massacres."

Israeli missiles also continued to explode in Gaza while sirens sounded in Israel, signalling incoming rocket fire from Gaza.

Hamas said three Palestinian journalists were killed by an Israeli missile today and Israel said one of its soldiers was killed in by a Palestinian rocket today.

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.

ABC News' Matt Gutman contributed to this report

Read More..