Arias Had No Remorse: Prosecutor

Prosecutor Juan Martinez hammered alleged murderer Jodi Arias today with accusations that she felt no remorse when she lied over and over again about killing her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander.

"Ma'am you have a problem with telling the truth don't you?" Martinez asked as his first question today, the 11th day Arias has been on the stand explaining her role in Alexander's death.

"Not typically," Arias responded.

Martinez then took Arias through a series of lies she admittedly told in the days after she stabbed and shot Alexander to death on June 4, 2008, lying to friends, investigators and even Alexander's grandmother, going so far as to send a dozen irises to his grandmother expressing her sympathy.

See the Evidence in the Jodi Arias Murder Trial

Arias, 32, has testified that she killed Alexander in self-defense during a violent argument and lied about it out of "shame."

But prosecutors say that the 27 stab wounds, a slashed throat, and two bullets she fired at Alexander's head prove that she murdered him. She could face the death penalty if convicted.

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

Today Martinez tried to raise doubts about Arias' earlier testimony in which she depicted Alexander as an increasingly menacing and sexually demanding lover by grilling her about the lies she told after she killed Alexander.

Martinez pointed out that Arias lied to Detective Esteban Flores of the Mesa, Ariz., police department as he investigated Alexander's death. She initially denied to the detective that she was at Alexander's Mesa, Ariz., home when he was killed, and later said he was murdered by a pair of masked intruders.

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

"You told (Flores) you would help him, but that was a lie right? You weren't there to tell the truth. You were there for another purpose: to make sure he didn't get the truth.... You were hoping, ma'am, that (Flores) would believe what you were saying so you could walk out of jail," Martinez said.

Arias argued with Martinez, claiming that she lied to investigators out of shame, and lied to friends immediately after the death out of confusion.

"My mind wasn't right during all that period," Arias said referring to the hours immediately following the killing when she drove through the Arizona desert and made phone calls to ex-boyfriend Matthew McCartney and new love interest Ryan Burns.

"It's like I wasn't accepting it in my mind... because I never killed anyone before," she said.

Martinez also suggested that Arias tried to find out the status of the investigation into Alexander's death so that she could know if she were about to be arrested. When a friend of Alexander's called her to report the news about Alexander's death, Arias asked about details into the investigation, the prosecutor said. She also called Alexander's Mormon bishop and asked him what he knew about the case, and then asked friends and family members what they knew, according to Martinez.

"You needed to see what you needed to know to make sure you weren't charged. What purpose would there be for that information other than to benefit you?" Martinez asked. "You called [the bishop] at 3 a.m. You call him and spoke to him because you wanted to get the information about what he knew about the investigation. That was going to help you."

Timeline of the Jodi Arias Trial

Martinez also went over lies that Arias told to her friend, Leslie Udy, and Ryan Burns, both of whom she saw in Utah the day after killing Alexander. She talked to both about Alexander as if he were still alive. Martinez pointed out that Arias even made out with Burns in his bedroom during their visit.

But Arias claimed that it was Burns who lied about their encounter.

"And with Mr. Burns, didn't you get on top of him and grind on him?" Martinez asked.

Arias said she was on top of Burns at one point, but they did not "grind."

"Well, when you were romantic kissing, he did put his hand between your legs, didn't he?" Martinez said, referring to Burns' own testimony in court weeks earlier.

"No," Arias said. "It could be that he's full of crap...when he says he got near my vaginal area."

"This is the person who lied to him, to (friends), to Detective Flores, and yet you're telling us someone else is full of crap," Martinez asked incredulously.

"When it comes to that, yes," she said.

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Syrian opposition says captures former nuclear site

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels have captured the site of a suspected nuclear reactor near the Euphrates river which Israeli warplanes destroyed six years ago, opposition sources in eastern Syria said on Sunday.

Al-Kubar site, around 60 km (35 miles) west of the city of Deir al-Zor, became a focus of international attention when Israel raided it in 2007. The United States said the complex was a North Korean-designed nuclear reactor geared to making weapons-grade plutonium.

Omar Abu Laila a spokesman for the Eastern Joint Command of the Free Syrian Army said the only building rebels found at the site was a hangar containing at least one Scud missile.

"It appears that the site was turned into a Scud launch base. Whatever structures it had have been buried," he said, adding that three army helicopters airlifted the last loyalist troops before opposition fighters overran the area on Friday.

The Syrian military, which razed the site after the Israeli raid, said the complex was a regular military facility but refused to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency unrestrained access, after the agency said the complex could have been a nuclear site.

The U.N. investigation appears to have died down since the national revolt against Preident Bashar al-Assad broke out in 2011, with the armed opposition increasingly capturing military sites in rural areas and on the edges of cities.

U.N. inspectors examined the site in June 2008 but Syrian authorities has barred them access since.

Abu Laila said Scuds appear to have been fired from Kubar at rebel-held areas in the province of Homs to the west.

The complex, he said, had command and control links with loyalist troops in the city of Deir al-Zor, where Assad's forces have been on the retreat and are now based mainly in and around the airport in the south of the city.

Footage showed fighters inspecting the site and one large missile inside a hangar. One fighter pointed to what he said were explosives placed under the missile to destroy it before attacking forces got to it.

Abu Hamza, a commander in the Jafaar al-Tayyar brigade, said in a YouTube video taken at Kubar that various rebel groups, including the al Qaeda linked al-Nusra front, took part the operation and that U.N. inspectors were welcome to come and survey the site.

In the last few months, opposition fighters have captured large swathes of the province of Deir al-Zor, a Sunni Muslim desert oil producing region that borders Iraq, including most of a highway along Euphrates leading to Kubar.

The province is far from the Assad's main military supply bases on the coast and in Damascus. Long-time alliances between Assad, who belongs to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Islam, and Sunni tribes in Deir al-Zor have also largely collapsed since the revolt.

But Assad's forces remain entrenched in the south of the city of Deir al-Zor and armed convoys guarded by helicopters still reach the city from the city of Palmyra to the southwest, according to opposition sources.

(Editing by Stephen Powell)

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Football: Inter - Milan share spoils as Balotelli returns to derby

MILAN: AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli missed a handful of chances in his first derby in over three years as the Rossoneri shared the spoils in a 1-1 derby draw with hosts Inter Milan here Sunday.

Milan took a 21st minute lead through striker Stephan El Shaarawy and dominated throughout before ultimately lamenting their earlier misses when Inter midfielder Ezequiel Schelotto levelled in the 71st minute.

Inter were given a pre-match boost with the inclusion of central defender Andrea Ranocchia, who had been an injury doubt all week.

Yet despite Milan's 1-0 defeat to the Nerazzurri at the San Siro earlier in the campaign, the visitors started the second 'Derby della Madonnina' as firm favourites having stunned Barcelona 2-0 in their Champions League first leg here last week and climbed up to third place in the table.

Milan enjoyed the share of the early chances with Sulley Muntari and Mattia De Sciglio testing Samir Handanovic, while Inter striker Antonio Cassano saw a lame shot easily collected by Christian Abbiati.

However, the visitors spurned the first of several clear chances, Balotelli slipping in front of goal after Kevin Prince Boateng had left Mattia De Sciglio's cross from the left wing at his feet.

At the other end forward Rodrigo Palacio should have done better with an angled strike that went well side of Abbiati's far post.

Milan began to dictate play and were finding options down the left where De Sciglio's long runs were giving the hosts trouble.

When former Milan striker Cassano lost possession in midfield, Boateng collected and coolly sent El Shaarawy through to beat Handanvoic with an angled shot with the outside of his boot.

Milan threatened again when Balotelli rose to meet a corner from the right which had Handanovic scrambling for the ball on the goalline.

Balotelli's third clear chance followed moments later when he toe-poked a probing ball into the box only for it to be cleared.

Handanovic easily collected Balotelli's header from Ignazio Abbate's cross from the right but on 40 minutes the 'keeper was at full stretch to parry when Balotelli thumped a freekick from 30 metres out.

Milan threatened from the outset of the second half, Boateng flashing a header wide from Montolivo's freekick on the right after El Shaarawy had been hauled down.

Freddy Guarin gave Inter's fans hope when he first-timed Palacio's whipped cross in from the right only for Abbiati to pull off a superb save at full stretch.

On 57 minutes Balotelli flashed a header wide from a freekick but was left far more frustrated when Handanovic bravely blocked as the striker got in close to try and prod the ball home from a cross on the right.

Milan were still dominating, but the visitors were stunned in the 71st minute when Schelotto got on the end of Yuto Nagatomo's cross to stun Abbiati only two minutes after replacing Cambiasso.

Inter had the momentum and moments later Palacio's header to the right of Abbiati's goal had the keeper scrambling, although at the other end Muntari sent a looping shot just to the right of an outstretched Handanovic.

Milan regrouped to dominate the final quarter hour, with El Shaarawy's ambitious bicycle kick blocked and then M'Baye Niang, who replaced Boateng with 10 minutes to go, seeing his low strike meet traffic in the area.

However the Rossoneri were lucky not to suffer a late Inter goal against the run of play when Palacio saw a header go close.

- AFP/jc

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How Indian diplomacy ended crisis in Maldives

NEW DELHI: It was an "understanding" between India and Maldives that resolved an embarrassing political situation in the island country after former president Mohamed Nasheed took refuge inside the Indian high commission, drawing India into the heart of the ongoing political crisis there.

The resolution, which showcased Indian diplomacy at its most effective, confirmed India's position as the pre-eminent power in the Indian Ocean.

Both countries have denied there was a "deal", and there wasn't. Since the moment Nasheed became a refugee in the mission, India and Maldives and, after a while, even Nasheed himself, were looking for a way to end the agony.

On the Indian side, the initiative was led jointly by NSA Shivshankar Menon and foreign minister Salman Khurshid. Khurshid spoke with his counterpart Abdul Samad Abdulla several times in the past week to soften up the government there to the fact that a face-saving solution had to be found for all concerned.

Menon undertook the more complex job of directing the Indian effort, issuing instructions to the Indian team as well as keeping the larger picture of national interest in view. Foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai worked the phones with his counterpart and other leaders in Male from Washington DC where he was travelling. But it was the low-key actions of Harsh Vardhan Shringla, joint secretary in the ministry of external affairs, that finally won the day in Male.

Shringla and his team met an entire cross-section of the Maldives leadership — defence minister Mohamed Nazim, foreign minister Abdul Samad Abdulla, attorney general Aishath Azima Shakoor, even Abdulla Yamin, leader of the Progressive Party of Maldives (Gayoom's party), as well as acting foreign secretary Abdul Azeez Yoosuf, among others. The mission was two-fold — first to convince them that India had no role to play in the political crisis.

Second, to make sure that the election process in Maldives had the field open for all candidates.

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FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Pistorius' Brother Facing Own Homicide Trial

The attorney for Oscar Pistorius' family said today that the Olympian's brother is facing a culpable homicide charge relating to a 2008 road accident in which a motorcyclist was killed.

Carl Pistorius, who sat behind his younger brother, Oscar, every day at his bail hearing, will now face his own homicide trial for the accident five years ago, which his attorney, Kenny Oldwage, said he "deeply regrets."

Carl Pistorius is charged with culpable homicide, which refers to the unlawful negligent killing of another person. The charges were initially dropped, but were later reinstated, Oldwage said in a statement.

Full Coverage: Oscar Pistorius Case

Pistorius quietly appeared in court on Thursday, one day before his Paralympic gold-medalist brother was released on bail, Oldwage said. His next appearance is scheduled for the end of March.

Liza van Deventer/Foto24/Gallo Images/Getty Images

'Blade Runner' Murder Charges: Oscar Pistorius Out on Bail Watch Video

Oscar Pistorius Granted Bail in Murder Case Watch Video

It was the latest twist in a case that has drawn international attention, after 26-year-old Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who ran in both the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games, was charged with the premeditated murder of his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

On Saturday, Carl Pistorius' Twitter handle was hacked, according to a family spokeswoman, prompting the Pistorius family to cancel their social media accounts.

Steenkamp's parents speak about the Valentine's Day shooting that ended their daughter's life in a sit-down interview on South African television tonight.

On Saturday, the model's father, Barry Steenkamp, told the Afrikaans-language Beeld newspaper that Pistorius will have to "live with his conscience" and will "suffer" if his story that he shot Steenkamp because he believed she was an intruder is false.

RELATED: Oscar Pistorius Case: Key Elements to the Murder Investigation

After a four-day long bail hearing, Pistorius was granted bail Friday by a South African magistrate.

The court set bail at about $113,000 (1 million rand) and June 4 as the date for Pistorius' next court appearance.

Pistoriuis is believed to be staying at his uncle's house as he awaits trial. As part of his bail conditions, Pistorius must give up all his guns, he cannot drink alcohol or return to the home where the shooting occurred, and he must check in with a police department twice a week.

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Ecuador president vows to push large-scale mining

QUITO: Ecuador's re-elected President Rafael Correa said Saturday he will push large-scale mining projects during his next four years in office, despite opposition from some indigenous groups.

"The Ecuadoran people have voted to responsibly take advantage of non-renewable resources," said in a weekly address on his administration's activities.

Correa, a socialist, said his goal was to use the country's mining and oil wealth to eliminate poverty and said he was committed to "the Amazonian people and all the areas where there is mining or oil."

A year ago, Correa's government signed a contract with the Chinese company Ecuacorriente to mine copper in the Amazon basin province of Zamora-Chinchipe, in a major move to open the country to large-scale mining.

The country's largest indigenous organisation opposed the deal, however, and with the backing of opposition groups led a two-week-long protest march from the Amazon to Quito.

But Correa, who has been in power since 2007, won re-election last week in a landslide, with 56.77 per cent of the vote, and he used his speech Saturday to criticise opponents of big mining.

"To hurt the government, they are hurting the country, the poor, that Amazonian region," Correa said, adding that "we are not with the multinationals, we are with the poor."

"We cannot be beggars sitting in front of a bag of gold," he said.

- AFP/jc

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Plaint against Baba Ramdev for slamming Gandhis

BELGAUM: A complaint has been registered against yoga guru Baba Ramdev in the fourth JMF Court for allegedly making derogatory statements against AICC president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

Former KPCC member Shankar Munavalli filed the case. In a complaint, he alleged that Baba Ramdev, during his visit to Hubli on February 20, said that corruption had increased in the country because "AICC president Sonia Gandhi and his son Rahul were exporting money to Italy".

He also said that both should be expelled from the country, if the country has to become free from corruption. Munavalli claimed that Ramdev deliberately attempted to defame the image of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi without any evidence.

Besides, no complaint had been filed in any court on them as alleged by Ramdev. Munavalli urged action against the yoga guru, saying that his statement hurt the sentiments of Congress party workers.

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FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Fiery Last-Lap Daytona Crash Injures 15 Fans

A fiery last-lap crash at the Daytona International Speedway injured a number of spectators today, who were seen being carried away from the stands on stretchers.

Fifteen spectators were taken to the hospital, according to ESPN, with one on the way to surgery with head trauma.

The 12-car crash happened moments before the end of the Nationwide race, and on the eve of the Daytona 500, one of NASCAR's biggest events.

The crash was apparently triggered when driver Regan Smith's car, which was being tailed by Brad Keselowski on his back bumper, spun to the right and shot up the track. Smith had been in the lead and said after the crash he had been trying to throw a "block."

Rookie Kyle Larson's car slammed into the wall that separates the track from the grandstands, causing his No. 32 car to go airborne and erupt in flames.

When a haze of smoke cleared and Larson's car came to a stop, he jumped out uninjured.

His engine and one of his wheels were sitting in a walkway of the grandstand.

"I was getting pushed from behind," Larson told ESPN. "Before I could react, it was too late."

Driver Michael Annett was taken to the hospital after he slammed head-on into a barrier during the chaos. NASCAR officials told ESPN the driver was awake and alert.

Tony Stewart pulled out the win, but in victory lane, what would have been a celebratory mood was tempered by concern for the injured fans.

"We've always known this is a dangerous sport," Stewart said. 'But it's hard when the fans get caught up in it."

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