Smokers celebrate as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — The crowds of happy people lighting joints under Seattle's Space Needle early Thursday morning with nary a police officer in sight bespoke the new reality: Marijuana is legal under Washington state law.

Hundreds gathered at Seattle Center for a New Year's Eve-style countdown to 12 a.m., when the legalization measure passed by voters last month took effect. When the clock struck, they cheered and sparked up in unison.

A few dozen people gathered on a sidewalk outside the north Seattle headquarters of the annual Hempfest celebration and did the same, offering joints to reporters and blowing smoke into television news cameras.

"I feel like a kid in a candy store!" shouted Hempfest volunteer Darby Hageman. "It's all becoming real now!"

Washington and Colorado became the first states to vote to decriminalize and regulate the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana by adults over 21. Both measures call for setting up state licensing schemes for pot growers, processors and retail stores. Colorado's law is set to take effect by Jan. 5.

Technically, Washington's new marijuana law still forbids smoking pot in public, which remains punishable by a fine, like drinking in public. But pot fans wanted a party, and Seattle police weren't about to write them any tickets.

In another sweeping change for Washington, Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday signed into law a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage. The state joins several others that allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.

The mood was festive in Seattle as dozens of gay and lesbian couples got in line to pick up marriage licenses at the King County auditor's office early Thursday.

King County and Thurston County announced they would open their auditors' offices shortly after midnight Wednesday to accommodate those who wanted to be among the first to get their licenses.

Kelly Middleton and her partner Amanda Dollente got in line at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Hours later, as the line grew, volunteers distributed roses and a group of men and women serenaded the waiting line to the tune of "Chapel of Love."

Because the state has a three-day waiting period, the earliest that weddings can take place is Sunday.

In dealing with marijuana, the Seattle Police Department told its 1,300 officers on Wednesday, just before legalization took hold, that until further notice they shall not issue citations for public marijuana use.

Officers will be advising people not to smoke in public, police spokesman Jonah Spangenthal-Lee wrote on the SPD Blotter. "The police department believes that, under state law, you may responsibly get baked, order some pizzas and enjoy a 'Lord of the Rings' marathon in the privacy of your own home, if you want to."

He offered a catchy new directive referring to the film "The Big Lebowski," popular with many marijuana fans: "The Dude abides, and says 'take it inside!'"

"This is a big day because all our lives we've been living under the iron curtain of prohibition," said Hempfest director Vivian McPeak. "The whole world sees that prohibition just took a body blow."

Washington's new law decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce for those over 21, but for now selling marijuana remains illegal. I-502 gives the state a year to come up with a system of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores, with the marijuana taxed 25 percent at each stage. Analysts have estimated that a legal pot market could bring Washington hundreds of millions of dollars a year in new tax revenue for schools, health care and basic government functions.

But marijuana remains illegal under federal law. That means federal agents can still arrest people for it, and it's banned from federal properties, including military bases and national parks.

The Justice Department has not said whether it will sue to try to block the regulatory schemes in Washington and Colorado from taking effect.

"The department's responsibility to enforce the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged," said a statement issued Wednesday by the Seattle U.S. attorney's office. "Neither states nor the executive branch can nullify a statute passed by Congress."

The legal question is whether the establishment of a regulated marijuana market would "frustrate the purpose" of the federal pot prohibition, and many constitutional law scholars say it very likely would.

That leaves the political question of whether the administration wants to try to block the regulatory system, even though it would remain legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

Alison Holcomb is the drug policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and served as the campaign manager for New Approach Washington, which led the legalization drive. She said the voters clearly showed they're done with marijuana prohibition.

"New Approach Washington sponsors and the ACLU look forward to working with state and federal officials and to ensure the law is fully and fairly implemented," she said.

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Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

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Supreme Court to Take Up Gay Marriage Cases

The Supreme Court today decided to take up two major cases regarding gay marriage, one of which could ultimately lead the court to decide whether there is a fundamental right to same-sex marriage.

The justices announced that the court would hear a challenge to Proposition 8, the controversial California ballot initiative that passed in 2008 that restricted marriage to opposite-sex couples, as well as a challenge to a federal law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

Check Out Same-Sex Marriage Status in the U.S. State By State

A divided three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down "Prop 8" in February, ruling that it "serves no purpose , and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California and to officially reclassify their relationship and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples."

It was a narrow ruling, specific to California and its history with Prop 8. The court did not reach the broader question of whether there was a fundamental right to gay marriage.

Supporters of Prop 8 are asking the Supreme Court to hear an appeal of that ruling. Gay marriages have been put on hold in California until the Supreme Court decides the issue. The cases will likely be argued in March.

David Paul Morris/Getty Images

Opponents of Prop 8 are represented by David Boies and Theodore Olson, two lawyers who argued on opposite sides in the historic Bush v. Gore case that resulted in Bush's election as president.

Get more pure politics at ABCNews.com/Politics and a lighter take on the news at OTUSNews.com

They contend in court briefs that the question about whether the states might discriminate against gay men and lesbians in the provision of marriage licenses could be the "defining civil rights issue of our time."

The court will also hear a challenge to a key section of a federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. At issue in this case is not whether there is a fundamental right to gay marriage, because the same-sex couples are legally married in states that allow gay marriage, but that the gay couples alone are denied federal benefits such as the Social Security survivor assistance.

There were eight DOMA petitions filed with the court. One involved Edith Windsor, who, in 2007, married Thea Spyer, her partner of more than 40 years. The couple were married in Canada, but resided in New York until Spyer died in 2009.

Windsor was forced to pay $363,000 in federal estate taxes. She applied for a refund believing she was entitled to a marital deduction, but she was denied the claim on the grounds that she was not a "spouse" within the meaning of DOMA.

In briefs filed with the court, Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. writes, "Although Section 3 of DOMA does not purport to invalidate same-sex marriages in those States that permit them it excludes marriage from recognition for purposes of more than 1,000 federal statutes and programs whose administration turns in part on individuals' marital status."

Recent ABC News-Washington Post polls say that 51 percent of Americans support gay marriage, which is legal in nine states and the District of Columbia.

ABC News' Sarah Parnass contributed to this report.

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Egypt demonstrators reject Mursi call for dialogue

CAIRO (Reuters) - Demonstrators rejected a call from Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Mursi for a national dialogue after deadly clashes around his palace, demanding the "downfall of the regime" - the chant that brought down Hosni Mubarak.

Mursi said in a televised speech late on Thursday that plans were on track for a referendum on a new constitution on December 15 despite clashes that killed seven people. He proposed a meeting on Saturday with political leaders, "revolutionary youth" and legal figures to discuss the way forward after that.

But a leading activist group rejected the offer, and fresh demonstrations were called for Friday.

The "April 6" movement, which played a prominent role in igniting the revolt against Mubarak said on its Facebook page that Friday's protests would deliver a "red card" to Mursi.

Egypt has been plunged into turmoil since Mursi issued a decree on November 22 awarding himself wide powers and shielding his decisions from judicial review.

His Islamist supporters say the decree was necessary to prevent Mubarak-era judges from interfering with reforms. A constitution drawn up by a body dominated by Islamists is due to be put to a referendum next week.

The opposition has demanded that Mursi scrap his decree, postpone the referendum and redraft the constitution.

In his address, Mursi said: "I call for a full, productive dialogue with all figures and heads of parties, revolutionary youth and senior legal figures to meet this Saturday."

Several thousand opposition protesters near the palace waved their shoes in derision after his speech and shouted "Killer, killer" and "We won't go, he will go" - another of the slogans used against Mubarak in last year's revolt.

The Cairo headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the group that propelled Mursi to victory in a June election, was set ablaze. Other offices of its political party were attacked.

TENTATIVE CONCESSION

The United States, worried about the stability of an Arab partner which has a peace deal with Israel and which receives $1.3 billion a year in U.S. military aid, had urged dialogue.

Mursi said his entire decree would lapse after the constitutional referendum, regardless of its result.

He said a new constituent assembly would be formed to redraft the constitution if Egyptians rejected the one written in the past six months.

The Republican Guard, an elite unit whose duties include protecting the presidential palace, restored peace on Thursday after a night of violence outside the palace, ordering rival demonstrators to leave by mid-afternoon.

Mursi supporters withdrew, but opposition protesters remained, kept away by a barbed wire barricade guarded by tanks. By evening their numbers had swelled to several thousand.

Thousands of supporters and opponents of Mursi had fought well into Thursday's early hours, using rocks, petrol bombs and guns. Officials said 350 were wounded in the violence. Six of the dead were Mursi supporters, the Muslim Brotherhood said.

Opposition groups have called for protests after Friday prayers aimed at "the downfall of the militia regime", a dig at what they see as the Brotherhood's organized street muscle.

A communique from a leftist group urged protesters to gather at mosques and squares across Egypt, and to stage marches in Cairo and its sister city Giza, converging on the presidential palace. "Egyptian blood is a red line," the communique said.

Hardline Islamist Salafis also summoned their supporters to protest against what they consider biased coverage of the crisis by some private Egyptian satellite television channels.

Since Mursi issued his decree, six of his advisers have resigned. Essam al-Amir, the director of state television, quit on Thursday, as did a Christian official at the presidency.

The Brotherhood's supreme guide, Mohamed Badie, called for unity, saying divisions "only serve the nation's enemies".

The Islamists, who have won presidential and parliamentary elections since Mubarak was overthrown, are confident they can win the referendum and the parliamentary election to follow.

As well as relying on his Brotherhood power base, Mursi may also tap into a popular yearning for stability and economic revival after almost two years of political turmoil.

Egypt's pound hit an eight-year low on Thursday, reversing gains made on hopes that a $4.8 billion IMF loan would stabilize the economy. The stock market fell 4.6 percent.

(Additional reporting by Edmund Blair and Marwa Awad; Writing by Alistair Lyon and Peter Graff; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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Sandy, cliff point to bleak November US jobs data

WASHINGTON: The powerful storm that landed a blow to the US economy last month and worries over the fast-approaching "fiscal cliff" point to a bleak November reading from the Labor Department on Friday.

Superstorm Sandy, which pummeled the northeastern coast in late October and early November, shutting down New York and other major cities, was expected to slash job creation in half.

"The November payrolls data will be distorted by the effects of Superstorm Sandy," said Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.

On Thursday, the Labor Department's weekly report on unemployment insurance claims showed first-time claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, fell back to a more normal 370,000 last week after three weeks of elevated readings in the aftermath of Sandy.

The latest week's claims data does not feed into the Labor Department's November report, which is based on numbers collected earlier in the month.

The prior claims had climbed almost by 100,000 within two weeks of Sandy's landfall, said Lindsey Piegza of FTN Financial.

"There will likely be a profound, negative impact on November payroll creation shaving up to 50 percent off last month's gains," Piegza said.

In October, the US economy added 171,000 jobs, still below the 10-month average of 157,000, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent in September due to an increase in the labor force.

For November, analysts on average are forecasting 90,000 net new jobs and the jobless rate at 8.0 percent.

The fast-approaching "fiscal cliff," the combination of sharp federal government tax increases and spending cuts due in January, has also kept businesses cautious about adding jobs.

Concerns are rampant that politicians will fail to find a compromise on longer term budget-deficit reduction to avoid the fiscal shock that economists say will jolt the economy back into recession.

According to a private-sector survey by Challenger, Gray & Christmas released Thursday, job cuts increased for the third consecutive month in November as corporate employers announced plans to lay off more than 57,000 workers worldwide.

That included the 18,500 employees of Twinkie-maker Hostess Brands, the national bakery which filed for bankruptcy.

The Challenger data suggests that announced corporate layoffs are rising and rising faster than any seasonal pattern can account for, warned Robert Brusca at FAO Economics.

On Wednesday, payrolls firm ADP reported business hiring slowed to 118,000 jobs in November from 157,000 in October, estimating Superstorm Sandy had sliced 86,000 jobs off payrolls.

Earlier in the week, the Institute for Supply Management reported employment in the manufacturing and services sectors took a hit in November.

"The lack of meaningful progress on the jobs front means the Fed will likely announce new stimulus measures at next week's meeting," said Sal Guatieri of BMO Capital Markets.

The central bank will hold its last policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee meeting of the year on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has highlighted that the unemployment rate remains "well above" what Fed officials want to see, justifying maintaining a loose monetary policy.

With the jobs market still weak, the FOMC is expected to push ahead with more outright bond purchases to push down long-term interest rates when it meets.

-AFP/ac

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Farmers’ body calls off toll plaza protest

NEW DELHI/GHAZIABAD: In a big relief to the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government, Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) on Thursday suspended its plan to take over more toll plazas in the state. The decision came after the Ghaziabad administration slapped a Rs 15 lakh notice on the organization for toll loss at Dasna plaza due to its protests.

The Meerut DM and police chief forwarded CM Akhilesh Yadav's letter to BKU representatives assuring the farmers that their grievances would be addressed. BKU first called off the takeover of DND toll plaza in Noida and later announced withdrawal of its men from all toll plazas across the state from Thursday night.

BKU's Rakesh Tikait claimed the protest had generated awareness on how tolling practices were wrong. "The protest can be revived at any time," he said. He said the authorities had agreed to expedite disbursement of Rs 200 crore compensation to farmers for land acquisition, providing adequate over and underpasses across highways for local traffic and construction of service roads so that local traffic was not forced to take the toll road. tnn

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Celebrations planned as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — Legal marijuana possession becomes a reality under Washington state law on Thursday, and some people planned to celebrate the new law by breaking it.

Voters in Washington and Colorado last month made those the first states to decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. Washington's law takes effect Thursday and allows adults to have up to an ounce of pot — but it bans public use of marijuana, which is punishable by a fine, just like drinking in public.

Nevertheless, some people planned to gather at 12:01 a.m. PST Thursday to smoke in public beneath Seattle's Space Needle. Others planned a midnight party outside the Seattle headquarters of Hempfest, the 21-year-old festival that attracts tens of thousands of pot fans every summer.

"This is a big day because all our lives we've been living under the iron curtain of prohibition," said Hempfest director Vivian McPeak. "The whole world sees that prohibition just took a body blow."

In another sweeping change for Washington, Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday signed into law a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage. The state joins several others that allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.

That law also takes effect Thursday, when gay and lesbian couples can start picking up their wedding certificates and licenses at county auditors' offices. Those offices in King County, the state's largest and home to Seattle, and Thurston County, home to the state capital of Olympia, planned to open the earliest, at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, to start issuing marriage licenses. Because the state has a three-day waiting period, the earliest that weddings can take place is Sunday.

The Seattle Police Department provided this public marijuana use enforcement guidance to its officers via email Wednesday night: "Until further notice, officers shall not take any enforcement action — other than to issue a verbal warning — for a violation of Initiative 502."

Thanks to a 2003 law, marijuana enforcement remains the department's lowest priority. Even before I-502 passed on Nov. 6, police rarely busted people at Hempfest, despite widespread pot use, and the city attorney here doesn't prosecute people for having small amounts of marijuana.

Officers will be advising people to take their weed inside, police spokesman Jonah Spangenthal-Lee wrote on the SPD Blotter. "The police department believes that, under state law, you may responsibly get baked, order some pizzas and enjoy a 'Lord of the Rings' marathon in the privacy of your own home, if you want to."

Washington's new law decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce for those over 21, but for now selling marijuana remains illegal. I-502 gives the state a year to come up with a system of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores, with the marijuana taxed 25 percent at each stage. Analysts have estimated that a legal pot market could bring Washington hundreds of millions of dollars a year in new tax revenue for schools, health care and basic government functions.

But marijuana remains illegal under federal law. That means federal agents can still arrest people for it, and it's banned from federal properties, including military bases and national parks.

The Justice Department has not said whether it will sue to try to block the regulatory schemes in Washington and Colorado from taking effect.

"The department's responsibility to enforce the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged," said a statement issued Wednesday by the Seattle U.S. attorney's office. "Neither states nor the executive branch can nullify a statute passed by Congress" — a non-issue, since the measures passed in Washington and Colorado don't "nullify" federal law, which federal agents remain free to enforce.

The legal question is whether the establishment of a regulated marijuana market would "frustrate the purpose" of the federal pot prohibition, and many constitutional law scholars say it very likely would.

That leaves the political question of whether the administration wants to try to block the regulatory system, even though it would remain legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

Colorado's measure, as far as decriminalizing possession goes, is set to take effect by Jan. 5. That state's regulatory scheme is due to be up and running by October 2013.

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Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

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McAfee Mystery Deepens With Possible Heart Attack

Software millionaire John McAfee has been taken to a Guatemala City hospital via ambulance after suffering a possible heart attack at the detention center where he is being held.

McAfee, 67 -- who may soon be deported back to Belize, where authorities want to question him about the shooting death of his neighbor -- was reportedly prostrate on the floor of his cell and unresponsive. He was wheeled into the hospital on a gurney, but when nurses began removing his suit, he became responsive and said, "Please, not in front of the press."

Earlier today, McAfee had complained of chest pains.

McAfee was scheduled to be deported to Belize later this morning, ABC News has learned. But a judge could stay the ruling if it is determined that McAfee's life is threatened by being in Belizean custody, as McAfee has claimed in the past several weeks.

Raphael Martinez, a spokesman for the Belize government, said that if McAfee is deported to Belize, he would immediately be handed over to police and detained for up to 48 hours unless charges are brought against him.

"There is more that we know about the investigation, but that remains part of the police work," he said, hinting at possible charges.

He added that a handover by Guatemala would be "the neighborly thing to do."

A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Guatemala said that "due to privacy considerations," the embassy would "have no comment on the specifics of this situation," but that, "U.S. citizens are subject to the laws of the countries in which they are traveling or residing, and must work within the host countries' legal framework."

Just hours before McAfee's arrest, he told ABC News in an exclusive interview Wednesday he would be seeking asylum in Guatemala. McAfee was arrested by the Central American country's immigration police and not the national police, said his attorney, who was confident his client would be released within hours.

Guatemala's National Police/AP Photo

Software Founder Breaks Silence: McAfee Speaks on Murder Allegations Watch Video

John McAfee Interview: Software Mogul Leaves Belize Watch Video

"Thank God I am in a place where there is some sanity," said McAfee before his arrest. "I chose Guatemala carefully."

McAfee said that in Guatemala, the locals aren't surprised when he says the Belizean government is out to kill him.

"Instead of going, 'You're crazy,' they go, 'Yeah, of course they are,'" he said. "It's like, finally, I understand people who understand the system here."

But McAfee added he has not ruled out moving back to the United States, where he made his fortune as the inventor of anti-virus software, and that despite losing much of his fortune he still has more money than he could ever spend.

In his interview with ABC News, a jittery, animated but candid McAfee called the media's representation of him a "nightmare that is about to explode," and said he's prepared to prove his sanity.

McAfee has been on the run from police in Belize since the Nov. 10 murder of his neighbor, fellow American expatriate Greg Faull.

During his three-week journey, said McAfee, he disguised himself as handicapped, dyed his hair seven times and hid in many different places during his three-week journey.

He dismissed accounts of erratic behavior and reports that he had been using the synthetic drug bath salts. He said he had never used the drug, and said statements that he had were part of an elaborate prank.

Investigators said that McAfee was not a suspect in the death of the former developer, who was found shot in the head in his house on the resort island of San Pedro, but that they wanted to question him.

McAfee told ABC News that the poisoning death of his dogs and the murder just hours later of Faull, who had complained about his dogs, was a coincidence.

McAfee has been hiding from police ever since Faull's death -- but Telesforo Guerra, McAfee's lawyer in Guatemala, said the tactic was born out of necessity, not guilt.

"You don't have to believe what the police say," Guerra told ABC News. "Even though they say he is not a suspect they were trying to capture him."

Guerra, who is a former attorney general of Guatemala, said it would take two to three weeks to secure asylum for his client.

According to McAfee, Guerra is also the uncle of McAfee's 20-year-old girlfriend, Samantha. McAfee said the government raided his beachfront home and threatened Samantha's family.

"Fifteen armed soldiers come in and personally kidnap my housekeeper, threaten Sam's father with torture and haul away half a million dollars of my s***," claimed McAfee. "If they're not after me, then why all these raids? There've been eight raids!"

Before his arrest, McAfee said he would hold a press conference on Thursday in Guatemala City to announce his asylum bid. He has offered to answer questions from Belizean law enforcement over the phone, and denied any involvement in Faull's death.

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Rivals clash as Mursi's deputy seeks end to Egypt crisis

CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamists battled with protesters outside Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's palace on Thursday, after his vice president suggested amendments could be agreed to the draft constitution that has divided the nation.

Fires burned in the streets near the palace perimeter where opponents and supporters of Mursi threw stones and petrol bombs. Riot police tried to separate the two sides, but failed to halt fighting that extended from Wednesday into the early morning.

Residents, frustrated that police had not calmed the streets, set up makeshift road blocks nearby to check passers-by, scenes reminiscent of the popular uprising that toppled Mursi's autocratic predecessor Hosni Mubarak.

Medical sources said 211 people were wounded, some with gunshot wounds.

"No to dictatorship," Mursi's opponents chanted, while their rivals chanted: "Defending Mursi is defending Islam."

Mursi's opponents accused him of creating a new autocracy by awarding himself extraordinary powers in a decree on November 22 and were further angered when an Islamist-dominated assembly pushed through a draft constitution that opponents said did not properly represent the aspirations of the whole nation.

The United States, worried about the stability of a state that has a peace deal with Israel and to which it gives $1.3 billion in military aid each year, called for dialogue.

Bidding to end the worst crisis since Mursi took office less than six months ago, Vice President Mahmoud Mekky said amendments to disputed articles in the constitution could be agreed with the opposition. A written agreement could then go to parliament, to be elected after a referendum on the constitution on December 15.

"There must be consensus," he told a news conference inside the presidential palace as fighting raged outside on Wednesday evening, saying opposition demands had to be respected.

PROTESTS SPREAD

Prime Minister Hisham Kandil called for calm to "give the opportunity" for efforts underway to start a national dialogue.

Protests spread to other cities, and offices of the Muslim Brotherhood's political party in Ismailia and Suez were torched.

But Mursi has shown no sign of buckling under pressure from protestors, confident that the Islamists, who have dominated both elections since Mubarak was overthrown in February 2011, can win the referendum and parliamentary election to follow.

On top of the support of the Brotherhood, which backed him for the presidency in the June election, Mursi may also be able to rely on a popular yearning for stability and economic revival after almost two years of political turmoil.

Egypt's opposition coalition blamed Mursi for the violence and said it was ready for dialogue if the Islamist leader scrapped the decree that gave him wide powers and shielded his decisions from judicial review.

"Today what is happening in the Egyptian street, polarization and division, is something that could and is actually drawing us to violence and could draw us to something worse," opposition coordinator Mohamed ElBaradei said on Wednesday.

"We are ready for dialogue if the constitutional decree is canceled ... and the referendum on this constitution is postponed," he told a news conference.

But liberals, leftists, Christians, ex-Mubarak followers and others opposed to Mursi have yet to generate a mass movement or a grassroots base to challenge the Brotherhood.

'REAL DANGER'

Opposition leaders have previously urged Mursi to retract the decree, defer the referendum and agree to revise the constitution, but have not echoed calls from street protesters for his overthrow and the "downfall of the regime".

Mursi has said his decree was needed to prevent courts still full of judges appointed by Mubarak from derailing a constitution vital for Egypt's political transition.

Mekky said street mobilization by both sides posed a "real danger" to Egypt. "If we do not put a stop to this phenomenon right away ... where are we headed? We must calm down."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton weighed into Egypt's political debate, saying dialogue was urgently needed on the new constitution, which should "respect the rights of all citizens".

Clinton and Mursi worked together last month to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague called for restraint on all sides. He said Egypt's authorities had to make progress on the transition in an "inclusive manner" and urged dialogue.

Both Islamists and their opponents have staged big shows of strength on the streets since Mursi's controversial decree, each bringing out tens of thousands of people.

State institutions, with the partial exception of the judiciary, have mostly fallen in behind Mursi.

The army, the muscle behind all previous Egyptian presidents in the republic's six-decade history, has gone back to barracks, having apparently lost its appetite to intervene in politics.

(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh and Marwa Awad; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Will Waterman)

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Football: Champions League holders Chelsea out despite rout

LONDON: Chelsea became the first Champions League holders to go out in the group phase despite a resounding 6-1 win at home to FC Nordsjaelland in their final Group E game on Wednesday.

The much-maligned Fernando Torres scored twice, with David Luiz, Gary Cahill, Juan Mata and Oscar also on target, but Juventus' 1-0 win at Shakhtar Donetsk in the other group game put the Italians in the last 16 at Chelsea's expense.

Chelsea finished their group campaign with 10 points -- level with Shakhtar, but below the Ukrainian champions by virtue of an inferior head-to-head record.

The result gave interim coach Rafael Benitez his first win in four games at the Stamford Bridge helm, but Chelsea's only hope of securing silverware in Europe for a second successive season now lies in the Europa League.

"The other game was out of our hands, so we couldn't do anything about it," said Benitez.

"I said before that we just had to do our job. As a manager, you have to be really pleased with the performance of your team.

"Thirty-two attempts at goal, 18 on target, six goals, a lot of clear chances. You have to think about the positives, even though we're disappointed we can't progress in the Champions League.

"People ask about the Europa League. Every competition is important for us. We will try to challenge and win where we can."

Ashley Cole was making his 100th Champions League appearance and he crafted the game's first opportunity by teeing up Victor Moses for a volley that visiting goalkeeper Jesper Hansen blocked at his near post.

Hansen also saved from Torres, twice, and Eden Hazard, although the chants of 'Come on Shakhtar!' from the home support suggested Chelsea's fans were keeping half an eye on events 1,700 miles away in Ukraine.

Chelsea came within inches of taking the lead in the 26th minute, with Nicolai Stokholm slicing an attempted clearance against his own crossbar from Moses' low centre.

In reply, Kasper Lorentzen and Enoch Adu chanced their arm from range for Nordsjaelland, before a curious seven-minute spell that saw three penalties awarded for handball, but only one converted.

Chelsea were incensed when referee Bas Nijhuis awarded a penalty against them after Cahill appeared to handle Anders Christiansen's shot outside the area, but Stokholm's penalty was saved by Petr Cech.

Three minutes later, Hazard fluffed his lines from 12 yards after a handball by substitute Mikkel Beckmann, before Luiz showed him how it was done by confidently scoring from the spot following yet another handball by Joshua John.

Torres' previous goal, in the 3-2 home win over Shakhtar, owed much to a fortunate ricochet and there was a touch of luck about his first goal in first-half injury time.

After racing onto Moses' through ball, the Spaniard saw his shot blocked by Hansen but the ball rebounded against him and he steadied himself before finding the empty net.

Chelsea were on course to complete their side of the bargain in comfortable fashion but they allowed their opponents to pull a goal back within 21 seconds of kick-off in the second period.

Lorentzen picked out John's run with a lofted pass and the on-loan FC Twente forward held off Branislav Ivanovic before hoisting the ball past Cech.

It took barely five minutes for Chelsea to restore their two-goal cushion, however, as Cahill met Mata's deep free-kick with a strong header that looped over the despairing Hansen.

It was Chelsea's 200th European Cup goal, and Torres poked in Hazard's low cross in the 56th minute to make it 4-1, but by that stage Juve were ahead in Donetsk.

Mata added a fifth, following in after Hansen saved his first attempt, and the former Valencia man then teed up substitute Oscar to score Chelsea's sixth.

The celebrations, though, were subdued -- 200 days on from their historic triumph on penalties against Bayern Munich in last season's final, this was a very different kind of Chelsea victory.

UEFA Champions League results

Chelsea 6 Nordsjaelland 1
Shakhtar Donetsk 0 Juventus 1
Bayern Munich 4 BATE Borisov 1
Lille 0 Valencia 1
Barcelona 0 Benfica 0
Celtic 2 Spartak Moscow 1
Braga 1 Galatasaray 2
Manchester Utd 0 CFR Cluj 1

-AFP/ac

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A midnight raid that changed course of history

NEW DELHI: On the night of December 22-23, 1949, an idol of Ram Lalla "mysteriously" appeared inside Ayodhya's Babri Masjid, setting in motion a chain of events that was to change the course of Indian politics in later decades. Little is known about what happened on that fateful night. But a new book now reveals how the events unfolded and claims those who pulled the strings of the Ayodhya strategy were also those accused in the Mahatma Gandhi murder case.

Authors Krishna Jha and Dhirendra K Jha interviewed a number of surviving eyewitnesses and accessed archival material to uncover the buried story of how the mosque turned into a temple overnight — a tale that describes the motivations of local players, the administrative collusion and the grand plan of a nationwide rightwing political mobilization intended to pitchfork Hindu Mahasabha as a major political player in post-independent India.

Central to the cast of local characters was Baba Abhiram Das, a well-built, 6-foot-tall local sadhu of the Nirvani akhara, who led three others into the mosque with the idol. Abhiram, later known as 'Ramjanmabhoomi Uddharak' (liberator) or simply as Uddharak Baba, died in 1981.

The researchers pieced together events of that night through extensive interviews with Abhiram's brother and cousins, who were all in Ayodhya in 1949. Two of his cousins —Indushekhar Jha and Yugal Kishore Jha — claim to have followed Abhiram into the mosque.

But that was not the original plan. According to the researchers, Abhiram was to have been accompanied by Baba Ramchandra Das Paramhans, who later became a central figure in the Ayodhya movement. Another sadhu, Vrindavan Das, was to join the two with an idol of Lord Ram. The trio was supposed to go inside the 16th-century mosque around 11pm — with a sympathetic guard looking the other way — plant the idol below its central dome and keep the deserted place of worship under their control till the next morning, when a large band of sadhus would pour in for support.

But that night, Paramhans "went missing", surfacing again in Ayodhya a few days later, the researchers claim. Forty-two years later, Paramhans had his own version of the event, telling The New York Times he was "the very man who put the idol inside the masjid".

According to the book, Ayodhya: The Dark Night (HarperCollins), to be released later this month, Abhiram went ahead with the plan regardless. The lone occupant of the mosque, muezzin Muhammad Ismael, was beaten up and made to flee. As the intruders sat inside the mosque waiting for dawn, Gopal Singh Visharad, Faizabad unit president of the All India Hindu Mahasabha, was at a printing press, readying posters and pamphlets announcing the 'miracle' of Rama Lalla 'reclaiming' the Babri Masjid.

That morning, Ayodhya woke up to cries of 'Ram Lalla' from inside the mosque. Significantly, say the authors, one of the first persons to reach the spot was Faizabad DM, K K K Nair, a Malayalee known for his rightwing Hindu leanings. Though he was at the spot at 4am, the DM did not inform his superiors in Lucknow about the takeover till 9am, allowing time for Ram bhakts to gain complete control of the mosque. According to the book, on December 21, a day before the surreptitious planting of the idols, Nair had met a group of sadhus at a low-profile Ayodhya temple, Jambwant Quila, where the plan was given final shape.

Many of local Mahasabha leaders involved in the plan were the acolytes of Mahant Digvijai Nath, head of the Gorakshapeeth in Gorakhpur and president of the UP unit of Mahasabha. A day after the Ayodhya event, he became all-India general secretary of the party.

The book claims Digvijai Nath — a main accused in the Gandhi murder case but later let off — was the master strategist of the Ayodhya takeover. His old association with DM Nair helped the plan immensely. The larger design, the authors argue, was to make Ayodhya the fulcrum of a right-wing mobilization. The effort failed then, but later became the basis of major political movement culminating in the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.

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