Egypt's Mursi holds crisis talks over power grab

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's president negotiated with judges on Monday to try to defuse a crisis over his seizure of extended powers which set off violent protests reminiscent of the uprising that thrust his Islamist movement into government.

The justice minister said he thought President Mohamed Mursi would agree with a proposal from the highest judicial authority to curb the scope of new powers. Mursi was "very optimistic Egyptians would overcome the crisis", his spokesman said.

But the protesters, some camped in Cairo's Tahrir Square, have said only retracting the decree will satisfy them, a sign of the deep rift between Islamists and their opponents that is destabilizing Egypt nearly two years after Hosni Mubarak fell.

"There is no use amending the decree," said Tarek Ahmed, 26, a protester who stayed the night in Tahrir, where tents covered the central traffic circle. "It must be scrapped."

One person has been killed and about 370 injured in clashes between police and protesters since Mursi issued a decree on Thursday shielding his decisions from judicial review, emboldened by international plaudits for brokering an end to eight days of violence between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Mursi's political opponents have accused him of behaving like a dictator and the West has voiced its concern, worried by more turbulence in a country that has a peace treaty with Israel and lies at the heart of the Arab Spring.

Mursi's administration has defended his decree as an effort to speed up reforms and complete a democratic transformation. Leftists, liberals, socialists and others say it has exposed the autocratic impulses of a man once jailed by Mubarak.

Mursi's opponents have called for a protest on Tuesday and leading leftist, Hamdeen Sabahy, vowed peaceful demonstrations would continue until the decree was "brought down", saying Tahrir would a model of an "Egypt that will not accept a new dictator because it brought down the old one".

In a bid to lower tensions, the Brotherhood delayed its rival protest in support of Mursi that it had planned for Tuesday, a spokesman for the group's party said. The Salafi al-Nour Party also said it would stay away from the streets.

"President Mursi is very optimistic that Egyptians will overcome this challenge as they have overcome other challenges," presidential spokesman Yasser Ali told reporters, shortly before the president held his meeting with members of Egypt's highest judicial authority, the Supreme Judicial Council.

COMPROMISE?

The Supreme Judicial Council has hinted at a compromise, saying Mursi's decree should apply only to "sovereign matters". That suggests it did not reject the declaration outright.

Justice Minister Ahmed Mekky, speaking about the council statement, said: "I believe President Mohamed Mursi wants that."

Legal experts said "sovereign matters" could be confined to issues such as declaring war or calling elections that are already beyond legal challenge. But they said Egypt's legal system had sometimes used the term more broadly, suggesting that any deal could leave wide room for interpretation.

And any deal with a judiciary dominated by Mubarak-era judges, which Mursi has pledged to reform, may not placate them.

Though both Islamists and their opponents broadly agree that the judiciary needs reform, his rivals oppose Mursi's methods.

The Supreme Constitutional Court was responsible for declaring the Islamist-dominated parliament void, leading to its dissolution this year. One presidential source said Mursi was looking for ways to reach a deal to restructure that court.

A group of lawyers and activists has also challenged Mursi's decree in an administrative court, which said it would hold its first hearing on December 4. Other decisions by Mursi have faced similar legal challenges brought to court by opponents.

The protesters are worried that Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood aims to dominate the post-Mubarak era after winning the first democratic parliamentary and presidential elections this year.

Banners in Tahrir called for dissolving the assembly drawing up a constitution, an Islamist-dominated body Mursi made immune from legal challenge. Many liberals and others have walked out of the assembly saying their voices were not being heard.

FURTHER ESCALATION?

Only once a constitution is written can a new parliamentary election be held. Until then, legislative and executive power remains in Mursi's hands, and Thursday's decree puts his decisions above judicial oversight.

One Muslim Brotherhood member was killed and 60 people were hurt on Sunday in an attack on the main office of the Brotherhood in the Egyptian Nile Delta town of Damanhour, the website of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party said.

The party's offices have also been attacked in other cities.

One politician said the scale of the crisis could push opponents towards a deal to avoid a further escalation.

"I am very cautiously optimistic because the consequences are quite, quite serious - the most serious they have been since the revolution," said Mona Makram Ebeid, a former member of parliament and prominent figure in Egyptian politics.

Mursi's office repeated assurances that the steps would be temporary, and said he wanted dialogue with political groups to find "common ground" over what should go into the constitution.

But though the presidency has called for dialogue, that has been rejected by members of the National Salvation Front, a new opposition coalition of liberals, leftists and other politicians and parties, who until Mursi's decree had been a fractious bunch struggling to unite.

The Front includes Sabahy, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei and former Arab League chief Amr Moussa.

The military has stayed out of the crisis after leading Egypt through a messy 16-month transition to a presidential election in June. Analysts say Mursi neutralized the army when he sacked top generals in August, appointing a new generation who now owe their advancement to the Islamist president.

Though the military still wields influence through business interests and a security role, it is out of frontline politics.

(Additional reporting by Tom Perry, Patrick Werr and Marwa Awad in Cairo; Editing by Philippa Fletcher, Giles Elgood and Alastair Macdonald)

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Google acquisition release was hoax

NEW YORK: A bogus news release prompted several websites to run incorrect articles about Google making a $400 million acquisition of a wireless company on Monday, the target company said.

"This was a hoax. We are investigating the source," said an emailed statement from George Strouthopoulos, chairman and chief executive of ICOA, the wireless firm Google purportedly was acquiring.

The reports began after the fake release was posted on the PRWeb site which is owned by the cloud software firm Vocus.

"This is NOT TRUE!!" Strouthopoulos said in an email. "Never had any discussions with any potential acquirers!! This is absolutely false!."

The executive added that "someone, I guess a stock promoter with a dubious interest, is disseminating wrong, false and misleading info in the PR circles."

He said ICOA "will report this to the proper authorities."

For several hours, reports were circulating that Google had made the purchase as part of an effort to moving into wireless communications. Google officials refused to confirm the news about an acquisition.

The Rhode Island-based ICOA saw a spike in price and volume in morning trade in over-the-counter "pink sheets" trades in stocks which are not listed on major exchanges.

- AFP/fa

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SP, BSP spar over quota bill, but unite on retail FDI

NEW DELHI: The Centre has again managed to balance Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party despite the UP outfits crossing swords over a discussion on promotion quota bill.

Sworn rivals SP and BSP were seated opposite each other at the all-party meeting called to discuss the logjam on FDI. In keeping with the seating arrangement, they took little time to clash over "promotion quota", a favourite with Mayawati but blocked by Mulayam Singh Yadav's men as "unconstitutional".

The faceoff between the UPA's "outside supporters", however, did not stop government managers from being all smiles as both UP parties showed surprising consensus on FDI. They said the issue of voting on FDI in multi-brand retail be left to the chair of the two Houses.

The stance taken by BSP chief Mayawati and Rajya Sabha leader Ramgopal Yadav brightened the chances of government managing a thin majority if a discussion on the policy to allow foreign retail marts is voted upon.

Mayawati struck a discordant note at the meeting by complaining that the blockade of Parliament was not allowing the constitutional amendment to restore "promotion quota". She said, "Last session, quota bill got stuck because of Coalgate and now it is because of FDI. Parliament should run since it is holding back many issues of importance."

The rivals clashed, with SP leader Naresh Aggarwal snubbing JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav who tried to broker peace by assuring support for the quota move at a later stage.

SP general secretary Rajesh Dixit said, "We will never allow promotion quota bill to be taken up. We made it clear to the government. But we are opposed to voting on any discussion on FDI in Parliament."

Consultations between SP and the government have picked up with Mulayam and Ramgopal meeting PM Manmohan Singh before the resumption of Parliament on Monday. Ramgopal is likely to become the chairman of the ethics committee in the upper House, another sign of the growing bonhomie between Congress and SP.

But the fury of the squabbling Uttar Pradesh players did not come in the way of government's comfort on FDI. Neither put the condition that it would support the Centre on FDI only if its view on promotion quota was accepted. In fact, government listed the quota bill in Rajya Sabha even if it risked provoking SP.

The Centre in September approved a constitutional amendment to ensure promotion quota after an adverse court order but failed to get it past Rajya Sabha owing to protests from SP.

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Bounce houses a party hit but kids' injuries soar

CHICAGO (AP) — They may be a big hit at kids' birthday parties, but inflatable bounce houses can be dangerous, with the number of injuries soaring in recent years, a nationwide study found.

Kids often crowd into bounce houses, and jumping up and down can send other children flying into the air, too.

The numbers suggest 30 U.S. children a day are treated in emergency rooms for broken bones, sprains, cuts and concussions from bounce house accidents. Most involve children falling inside or out of the inflated playthings, and many children get hurt when they collide with other bouncing kids.

The number of children aged 17 and younger who got emergency-room treatment for bounce house injuries has climbed along with the popularity of bounce houses — from fewer than 1,000 in 1995 to nearly 11,000 in 2010. That's a 15-fold increase, and a doubling just since 2008.

"I was surprised by the number, especially by the rapid increase in the number of injuries," said lead author Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

Amusement parks and fairs have bounce houses, and the playthings can also be rented or purchased for home use.

Smith and colleagues analyzed national surveillance data on ER treatment for nonfatal injuries linked with bounce houses, maintained by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Their study was published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

Only about 3 percent of children were hospitalized, mostly for broken bones.

More than one-third of the injuries were in children aged 5 and younger. The safety commission recommends against letting children younger than 6 use full-size trampolines, and Smith said barring kids that young from even smaller, home-use bounce houses would make sense.

"There is no evidence that the size or location of an inflatable bouncer affects the injury risk," he said.

Other recommendations, often listed in manufacturers' instruction pamphlets, include not overloading bounce houses with too many kids and not allowing young children to bounce with much older, heavier kids or adults, said Laura Woodburn, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials.

The study didn't include deaths, but some accidents are fatal. Separate data from the product safety commission show four bounce house deaths from 2003 to 2007, all involving children striking their heads on a hard surface.

Several nonfatal accidents occurred last year when bounce houses collapsed or were lifted by high winds.

A group that issues voluntary industry standards says bounce houses should be supervised by trained operators and recommends that bouncers be prohibited from doing flips and purposefully colliding with others, the study authors noted.

Bounce house injuries are similar to those linked with trampolines, and the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended against using trampolines at home. Policymakers should consider whether bounce houses warrant similar precautions, the authors said.

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Online:

Pediatrics: http://www.pediatrics.org

Trade group: http://www.naarso.com

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AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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'Innocence of Muslims' Filmmaker: I Have No Regrets

From behind bars, the maker of the anti-Islam movie "Innocence of Muslims" says he has no regrets.
Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a 55-year-old Egyptian-American Coptic Christian, told The New York Times that he stands by the incendiary movie, which portrays the religion'sbeloved Prophet Muhammad as a fraud and a pedophile.

"I thought, before I wrote this script," said Nakoula in his first public statement since his arrest, "that I should burn myself in a public square to let the American people and the people of the world know this message that I believe in." He said he didn't regret the film "at all" and wanted to communicate the "actual truth" about Muhammad.

Nakoula was sent to prison earlier this month for violating his probation on a prior federal fraud conviction. He admitted that he lied to his probation officer and used fake names, though prosecutors dropped other counts, which included the accusation that he had lied to authorities about the scope of his role in making "Innocence of Muslims."

While there is controversy over whether the video provoked the Benghazi terrorist attacks that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans this past September, the bizarre film undoubtedly provoked a series of deadly protests across the Muslim world.

After a clip was translated into Arabic and broadcast by TV networks in the Middle East, Egyptians stormed the U.S. embassy in Cairo and replaced the American flag with an Islamic banner. Protests spread even as details emerged that showed "Innocence of Muslims" was an amateurish, low-budget film shot in just over two weeks.

Gaza Cease-Fire: Celebrations in the Streets Watch Video

Nakoula, a former gas station manager and cancer survivor, was convicted of intent to manufacture methamphetamine in the 1990s. In 2010, he pleaded no contest to bank fraud. While in prison, said Nakoula, he closely followed the protests against the building of the Park 51 Islamic center near ground zero in New York and planned for his anti-Islam film.

"He said it might have been a blessing to go to prison because he had time to work on the script," his son told The New York Times. Nakoula also told the Times that he was motivated by violence against his fellow Copts in Egypt, as well as other violent acts by Muslims, including the Ft. Hood massacre of 2009, allegedly committed by U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan.

Many of the people involved in the production of "Innocence of Muslims," including cast and crew, say they were not aware of the film's controversial content.

"They put words in my mouth that were not in the script and I never said," Cindy Lee Garcia, an actress who starred in the film, told ABC News. She claims that after shooting, dialogue was dubbed over with inflammatory remarks about Islam that were not in the original script.

"Now, I'm sick that people died over this. I'm exhausted and really hurt and angry," she said.
Morris Sadek, an activist Copt from Virginia who helped publicize the trailer on the internet, said he thought the movie was created to raise awareness about the persecution of Copts in Egypt. Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih, the head of the non-profit organization "Media for Christ," which provided Nakoula with free studio space, echoed Sadek's sentiments and asserted that his group provided no cameras or other production assistance, according The Times.

Nakoula has used multiple aliases over the years. Though he was convicted under the name Nakoula Bassely Nakoula, he told the cast and crew of "Innocence of Muslims" that his name was Sam Bacile. He changed his name to Mark Bassely Youssef in 2002, and then to Ebrahem Fawzy Youssef in 2009.

Media for Christ and Nakoula's son did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Mursi to meet judges over power grab

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi will meet senior judges on Monday to try to ease a crisis over his seizure of new powers which has set off violent protests reminiscent of last year's revolution which brought him to power.

Egypt's stock market plunged on Sunday in its first day open since Mursi issued a decree late on Thursday temporarily widening his powers and shielding his decisions from judicial review, drawing accusations he was behaving like a new dictator.

More than 500 people have been injured in clashes between police and protesters worried Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood aims to dominate the post-Hosni Mubarak era after winning Egypt's first democratic parliamentary and presidential elections this year.

The country's highest judicial authority hinted at compromise to avert a further escalation, though Mursi's opponents want nothing less than the complete cancellation of a decree they see as a danger to democracy.

The Supreme Judicial Council said Mursi's decree should apply only to "sovereign matters", suggesting it did not reject the declaration outright, and called on judges and prosecutors, some of whom began a strike on Sunday, to return to work.

Mursi will meet the council on Monday, state media said.

Mursi's office repeated assurances that the measures would be temporary, and said he wanted dialogue with political groups to find "common ground" over what should go in Egypt's constitution, one of the issues at the heart of the crisis.

Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University, saw an effort by the presidency and judiciary to resolve the crisis, but added their statements were "vague". "The situation is heading towards more trouble," he said.

Sunday's stock market fall of nearly 10 percent - halted only by automatic curbs - was the worst since the uprising that toppled Mubarak in February, 2011.

Images of protesters clashing with riot police and tear gas wafting through Cairo's Tahrir Square were an unsettling reminder of that uprising. Activists were camped in the square for a third day, blocking traffic with makeshift barricades. Nearby, riot police and protesters clashed intermittently.

"BACK TO SQUARE ONE"

Mursi's supporters and opponents plan big demonstrations on Tuesday that could be a trigger for more street violence.

"We are back to square one, politically, socially," said Mohamed Radwan of Pharos Securities, an Egyptian brokerage firm.

Mursi's decree marks an effort to consolidate his influence after he successfully sidelined Mubarak-era generals in August. It reflects his suspicions of a judiciary little reformed since the Mubarak era.

Issued just a day after Mursi received glowing tributes from Washington for his work brokering a deal to end eight days of violence between Israel and Hamas, the decree drew warnings from the West to uphold democracy. Washington has leverage because of billions of dollars it sends in annual military aid.

"The United States should be saying this is unacceptable," former presidential nominee John McCain, leading Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Fox News.

"We thank Mr. Mursi for his efforts in brokering the ceasefire with Hamas.... But this is not what the United States of America's taxpayers expect. Our dollars will be directly related to progress toward democracy."

The Mursi administration has defended his decree as an effort to speed up reforms that will complete Egypt's democratic transformation. Yet leftists, liberals, socialists and others say it has exposed the autocratic impulses of a man once jailed by Mubarak.

"There is no room for dialogue when a dictator imposes the most oppressive, abhorrent measures and then says 'let us split the difference'," prominent opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said on Saturday.

WARNINGS FROM WEST

Investors had grown more confident in recent months that a legitimately elected government would help Egypt put its economic and political problems behind it. The stock market's main index had risen 35 percent since Mursi's victory. It closed on Sunday at its lowest level since July 31.

Political turmoil also raised the cost of government borrowing at a treasury bill auction on Sunday.

"Investors know that Mursi's decisions will not be accepted and that there will be clashes on the street," said Osama Mourad of Arab Financial Brokerage.

Just last week, investor confidence was helped by a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund over a $4.8 billion loan needed to shore up state finances.

Mursi's decree removes judicial review of decisions he takes until a new parliament is elected, expected early next year.

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

"I am really afraid that the two camps are paving the way for violence," said Nafaa. "Mursi has misjudged this, very much so. But forcing him again to relinquish what he has done will appear a defeat."

Many of Mursi's political opponents share the view that Egypt's judiciary needs reform, though they disagree with his methods. Mursi's new powers allowed him to sack the prosecutor general, a holdover from the Mubarak era who is unpopular among reformists of all stripes.

(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh and Marwa Awad in Cairo and Philip Barbara in Washington; editing by Peter Graff and Philippa Fletcher)

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Football: Freiburg rout Stuttgart as Bayern loom

BERLIN: Freiburg warmed up for the visit of league leaders Bayern Munich in midweek with an impressive 3-0 victory at home to VfB Stuttgart on Sunday to break into the Bundesliga's top six.

Bayern will be the visitors on Wednesday, with a round of Bundesliga matches being played midweek, and they can expect a tough match at Freiburg's Mage Solar Stadion ahead of next Saturday's showdown in Munich against champions Dortmund.

"We need to regenerate well. We have a tough match in Freiburg on Wednesday, and then we play Dortmund. That's a challenging week," admitted Bayern's France wing Franck Ribery who scored in Munich's 5-0 win over Hanover at the weekend.

Freiburg took the lead over Stuttgart when Jan Rosenthal fired home from just outside the penalty area on 22 minutes just moments after Stuttgart's Serbia midfielder Zdravko Kuzmanovic had slammed his shot off the post.

Freiburg turned the screw in the second-half as Czech Republic defender Pavel Krmas netted their second on 67 minutes, then midfielder Max Kruse netted the third just six minutes later.

The defeat left Stuttgart 12th in the league.

On Sunday night, Bayer Leverkusen stayed fifth with a 2-1 win at a Hoffenheim side without Germany goalkeeper Tim Wiese, who injured his right knee in the final training session.

Mid-table Borussia Moenchengladbach needed a late equaliser from Patrick Herrmann to rescue a point at bottom side Augsburg as it finished in a 1-1 draw.

On Saturday, Bayern ran riot at the Allianz Arena in their 5-0 victory at home to Hanover 96 which extended their lead at the top to nine points.

Bayern set another Bundesliga record of 34 points from the first 13 games, but defending champions Borussia Dortmund moved up to second after they came from behind to win 2-1 at Mainz and secure their third straight away win.

Schalke dropped to third after drawing 1-1 with Eintracht Frankfurt, who are fourth, in Gelsenkirchen.

Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who has been linked with a move to Arsenal in the winter break, opened the scoring on 11 minutes to claim his first Bundeliga goal in 580 minutes.

The lead lasted only 105 seconds as Stefan Aigner headed Frankfurt level, but Eintracht were reduced to 10 men when Karim Matmour was dismissed for a second yellow card on 87 minutes.

Wolfsburg held Werder Bremen to a 1-1 draw as Wolves' director of sport Klaus Allofs met the north German team he left earlier this month after 13 years.

It was goalless in the Bundesliga's first Franconian derby as Nuremberg were held by their neighbours Greuther Fuerth as both sides finished with 10 men.

On Friday, Hamburg's Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart looks to have been ruled out for the rest of this year after suffering a suspected hamstring tear in his team's 2-0 defeat at Fortuna Duesseldorf.

Hamburg are 10th in the league, while Duesseldorf, 14th, earned their first home win this season since their promotion -- their first home victory in the Bundesliga for 15 years.

-AFP/ac

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Ranjit Sinha was rejected for CBI director's post in 2010

NEW DELHI: The committee headed by the central vigilance commissioner, which cleared the name of Bihar cadre IPS officer Ranjit Sinha leading to his appointment as CBI director, had overlooked his candidature two years ago when it did not empanel him though he was senior to two persons among the three names suggested to the government then.

The apex vigilance body instead recommended two of his juniors — A P Singh and S C Sinha—in the panel of three names sent to the government. The third name was that of N R Das who was the senior-most but was pipped at the post by A P Singh who went on to become CBI director. After Ranjit Sinha's appointment, however, the government claimed that it went only by seniority.

"If he (Ranjit Sinha) was senior that time (in 2010), he should have figured in the panel of three names and if the committee did not find him fit to be included in the panel, it should give reasons why they have included him this time," said Sudhir Kumar, a former vigilance commissioner who was part of the selection process of the CBI director in 2008.

Sources said Sinha, a 1974 batch IPS officer, was earlier rejected by the CVC-headed committee given his controversial tenure as DIG of CBI in Patna. His handling of the fodder scam case had allegedly come in the way of his consideration for the top job.

The five-member CVC-headed panel involved in the selection of three names for the CBI director's post comprises two vigilance commissioners, DoPT secretary and the home secretary.

When A P Singh was appointed CBI director over N R Das and Ranjit Sinha, who was not even empanelled, the impression given by the government was that it went purely by merit and the officer's experience with the agency was given priority. At that time, Sinha was director general, Railway Protection Force. One of the factors that weighs in favour of a senior officer when he is being considered by the CVC for the post of CBI director is his experience with any anti-corruption organization or a vigilance body in the preceding two years.

A P Singh was appointed by the government in 2010 overlooking a senior N R Das (West Bengal 1973) who was also in the panel of three names as Singh had longer experience of working in vigilance and CBI and at the time of appointment he was working as No.2 in CBI.

In the present case, the CVC followed seniority criterion while it has always adopted seniority-cum-merit and suitability factor. The committee had recommended three names — Ranjit Sinha (Bihar 1974), S C Sinha (Haryana 1975) and Atul (UP 1976).

This was challenged by Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar (UT 1976) who had moved the Central Administrative Tribunal against the recommendation of his junior batch officer Atul. Kumar later retracted his plea after the government named Sinha as CBI chief and said seniority was the only criterion.

The CVC and the government had laid emphasis on overall merit and suitability when it appointed Ashwini Kumar as CBI chief in 2008. Kumar was a 1973 batch IPS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre and was empanelled by CVC overlooking more senior officers - J K Dutt (West Bengal 1971) and M L Kumawat (AP 1972. The two were ignored despite the fact that Dutt and Kumawat had long stints in the CBI and worked in the anti-corruption agency at senior levels. Dutt was later appointed DG of National Security Guard and Kumawat was made DG of Border Security Force.

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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No Powerball Winner; Jackpot Grows to $425 Million

Nov 25, 2012 10:37am

                                                                (Image Credit: Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo)

The Powerball jackpot has swelled to $425 million, the largest in the lottery’s history, after no tickets matched the winning numbers in a drawing Saturday night.

The Powerball numbers for Saturday were 22-32-37-44-50, and the Powerball was 34.

Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer said the jackpot could get even bigger before Wednesday, because sales tend to increase in the run-up to a big drawing.

The previous top windfall was $365 million. The jackpot was claimed by eight co-workers in Lincoln, Neb., in 2006.

PHOTOS: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners

While millions of Americans can have fun dreaming about how they’d spend the jackpot, the odds of winning are 1 in 175,000,000, according to lottery officials.

To put that in perspective, a ticket holder is 25 times less likely to win the jackpot then they are to win an Academy Award.

Even still, the old saying holds true: “You’ve got to be in it to win it.”

SHOWS: Good Morning America

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