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.

___

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

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Egypt Terror Leader Possibly Linked to Benghazi Attack Arrested

Dec 8, 2012 2:16pm

Mohammad Hannon/AP Photo

The leader of an Egyptian terrorist cell that planned attacks in Egypt and may be linked with the storming of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11 has been arrested by Egyptian intelligence officers, according to an official close to Egypt’s intelligence agency and a senior U.S. official.

Mohammad Jamal Abdo Ahmed had become one of Egypt’s most dangerous terrorists and led a small cell of Egyptians that collected suicide vests, bombs and grenades before their Cairo safe house was raided by intelligence officials in late October, according to the U.S. official.

PHOTOS: Benghazi: US Consulate Attack Aftermath

Most of the cell’s targets were Egyptian, but both the U.S. and Egyptian officials said Ahmed admitted to traveling to Libya and assisting Ansar al Sharia, which U.S. officials suspect organized the attack on the consulate that killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens.

READ: More on the Political Fallout From the Benghazi Attack

Until now, neither the United States nor Egypt has determined exactly what role Ahmed played in the attack in eastern Libya, according to both officials.

Ahmed may have also been planning attacks on U.S. targets in Egypt and neighboring countries, the U.S. official said, and had aspirations to join al Qaeda.

Ahmed, who is Egyptian, was arrested two weeks ago in eastern Egypt in the Sharqiyah province, the Egyptian official said.

Egyptian officials continue to question him and he will remain in custody for another 15 days, according to the Egyptian official.

His arrest was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

READ: Four Americans Slain in Libya ‘Come Home’

SHOWS: World News

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Charter enshrining Shariah at core of Egypt crisis

CAIRO (AP) — One of Egypt's most prominent ultraconservative Muslim clerics had high praise for the country's draft constitution. Speaking to fellow clerics, he said this was the charter they had long wanted, ensuring that laws and rights would be strictly subordinated to Islamic law.

"This constitution has more complete restraints on rights than ever existed before in any Egyptian constitution," Sheik Yasser Borhami assured the clerics. "This will not be a democracy that can allow what God forbids or forbid what God allows."

The draft constitution that is now at the center of worsening political turmoil would empower Islamists to carry out the most widespread and strictest implementation of Islamic law that modern Egypt has seen. That authority rests on the three articles that explicitly mention Shariah, as well as obscure legal language buried in a number of other articles that few noticed during the charter's drafting but that Islamists insisted on including.

According to both supporters and opponents of the draft, the charter not only makes Muslim clerics the arbiters for many civil rights, it also could give a constitutional basis for citizens to set up Saudi-style "religious police" to monitor morals and enforce segregation of the sexes, imposition of Islamic dress codes and even harsh punishments for adultery and theft — regardless of what laws on the books say.

The spiraling crisis is threatening to turn into an outright fight for the identity of post-revolutionary Egypt, splitting the nation between those who want an Islamic state and those who oppose it, two years after the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

For Islamists, the constitution is the keystone for their ambitions to bring Islamic rule, a goal they say is justified by their large victory in last winter's parliamentary elections. President Mohammed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, has rejected opposition demands that he cancel a Dec. 15 nationwide referendum on the draft.

"Egypt is Islamic, it will not be secular, it will not be liberal," thousands of Morsi supporters chanted Friday after the funeral of two men killed in clashes earlier this week. Witnesses say the violence began when Islamists attacked an anti-Morsi protest camp outside the presidential palace.

"Bottom line, this is a struggle between ideologies — the Islamic ideology moving with a clear plan with public support, and the secularists," said pro-Morsi demonstrator Khaled Omar, his head bandaged from Wednesday's fighting. "We are defending Islam, which people want."

The opposition is determined to stop the draft, and thousands marched for a third straight day Friday on the palace.

The Brotherhood is "unleashing its gang chanting jihadi slogans, as if they are in a holy war against the infidels," said businessman Magdi Ashri, who opposes Morsi. "Their agenda is to monopolize power in Egypt, whatever it takes."

Egypt's Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly debated the draft for months, until most liberal members — and all the Christian ones— walked out to protest what they called hard-liners' railroading of the process.

Islamists rammed through approval of the final draft in an all-night session Nov. 30. Of the 85 members who voted, 80 percent were members of the Muslim Brotherhood or the ultraconservative movement known as Salafis, or their allies.

Some Salafis had been reluctant about the draft because they wanted more explicit commitments to Shariah. But several days before the assembly session, Borhami — who is also an assembly member — assured them that what they sought was there, hidden in subtler language.

He said that by defining Egypt's political system as "democracy and Shura" — the Islamic term for "consultation" — the draft prevents what he called an "American or European" democracy that "gives the power of legislation to people and not to God."

Before liberals and Christians quit the panel, Islamists convinced them to allow a number of crucial clauses that solidified Shariah, either because of bargaining or because they didn't realize the articles' significance, he said.

"They didn't understand it well at first," he told the clerics, according to a full video of his speech posted on YouTube. "They only got it later and that's why they said it was disastrous."

How much some of the Shariah provisions in the constitution come into effect depends on who would be implementing it. And attempts to use some of its provisions would likely bring court battles over what the constitution really allows. But Borhami expressed confidence the courts would be obliged by the charter to allow a widespread implementation of Shariah.

Three articles of the more than 230-article draft mention Shariah directly.

Article 2 states that the "principles of Shariah" are the main source of legislation, the same phrasing as past constitutions. The vague term "principles" previously gave lawmakers so much leeway that they could almost ignore tenets of Islamic law. As a result, Islamic law largely only governed rules on marriage, divorce and inheritance.

But at the insistence of Salafis, Article 219 was added, defining the principles of Shariah for the first time. It says the principles are based on "general evidence, fundamental rules of jurisprudence, and credible sources accepted in Sunni doctrines and by the larger community."

The language is obscure, drawn from the terminology of religious scholars and largely incomprehensible to anyone else.

But "it is like a bombshell," says Mohammed Hassanein Abdel-Al, constitutional law professor at Cairo's Ain Shams University.

The article means that laws passed by parliament must adhere to specific tenets of Shariah that the four main schools of Sunni Islam agree on. That could include banning interest on loans, forbidding mixing of genders, requiring women to wear headscarves and allowing girls to marry when they reach puberty.

"The doors are wide open to restrict individuals' freedoms," Abdel-Al said.

Another new article says clerics from Al-Azhar, Egypt's most prominent Islamic institution, are "to be consulted on any matters related to Shariah," implicitly giving them oversight in legislation.

Other articles give sweeping powers for implementing Shariah, without directly mentioning it, often through subtle additions introduced by Islamists.

Article 10, for example, commits both the state and "society" to protecting "the moral values" of the "true Egyptian family."

The vague language empowers private citizens to enforce Islamic morals, Abdel-Al said. It could even give a constitutional justification for the creation of religious police, known as commissions "for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice."

"If I'm walking with my wife and her face is not covered or she's not wearing a headscarf, a man can come up and order me to cover her. I can't protest or object because the constitution instructs him to do so," Abdel-Al said.

Borhami pointed to Article 76, which he called "amazing." Originally the text said the only crimes and punishments can be those set by law. But Islamists amended the phase to "by law or by virtue of constitutional text."

As a result, punishments could be implemented based on the constitution's Shariah clauses even if they are not passed into law by parliament, such as bans on adultery and bank interest, Borhami said. Abdel-Al agreed on the article's effect.

The charter includes a section on personal rights, including guarantees of freedom of belief, creative and political expression and the press. The section also bans arrests and searches without court order and explicitly forbids torture for the first time. Many of the rights are more firmly worded than past constitutions under Mubarak and his predecessors.

But the section's final article says those rights cannot be implemented in a way contradicting the charter's articles on Shariah and protection of morals — giving a tool for Islamists to limit the freedoms. "These human rights are now restricted by Article 2," Borhami said.

The charter has a broad clause saying all citizens are equal, but an article specifying women have equal rights to men was dropped amid squabbles over the wording, and the article on children's rights is vague, experts say.

Overall, the draft leaves it unclear who is "the final authority in law and its interpretation — the elected parliament, the senior clerics or the judiciary," economist and former lawmaker Ziad Baha el-Din wrote in the independent El-Shorouk newspaper Wednesday.

The charter also limits the mandate of the Supreme Constitutional Court, which is seen as one of the strongest opponents of Islamists. Islamists also wrote in a last-minute article shrinking the court to 11 judges, from 18, eliminating its younger members.

That removes some of the fiercest anti-Islamist judges on the body, such as the court's only female judge, Tahani el-Gibali.

Youth activist Mahmoud Salem warned in his blog that "if this constitution is passed, Cairo will truly become Kandahar, with the blessing of the Egyptian president and the Muslim Brotherhood" —referring to the home city of Afghanistan's Taliban movement.

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Six more countries added to landmine-free list

GENEVA: Six more countries have been added to the list of nations that have eliminated "the scourge of landmines", organisers of a conference on the deadly weapons said Friday.

Congo, Denmark, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Jordan and Uganda have declared all mined areas in their territories cleared, said organisers at the end of a five-day meeting aimed at evaluating progress since the signing of the 1997 Ottawa Convention.

Gambia had been added to the list as late as Friday, after a country representative unexpectedly announced its mine-free status to the gathering, Laila Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the Geneva event, told AFP.

As for the perhaps most surprising name on the list of countries not considered landmine-free until this year, Denmark in July finished clearing minefields left over from World War II, when Nazis put about 1.4 million landmines along the Jutland peninsula to ward off an allied invasion.

Following the new additions, 36 signatory countries to the Mine Ban Treaty are still in the process of clearing mines, organisers said.

"Fifteen years after the opening of the Mine Ban treaty, we still see a high level of commitment... aimed at ending for all time the scourge of landmines," said Stephen Goose, chair of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), which oversees the implementation of the 1997 treaty.

Poland's announcement during the conference of its imminent ratification of the treaty was also grounds for celebration, ICBL said, pointing out that Polish participation will mean that all EU member states will be part of the pact as the 161st signatory country.

That will leave the United States as the only NATO member that has yet to ratify the treaty.

A US delegation nonetheless took part in the Geneva conference and announced that a domestic landmine policy review launched in 2009 would "soon" be complete, which could potentially open the way for a US ratification.

The Palestinians, who attended the conference for the first time, had meanwhile told the gathering they wanted to take advantage of the upgraded United Nations status they gained late last month to join the Mine Ban Treaty.

Conference organisers lamented that three signatory countries -- Belarus, Greece and Ukraine -- were still in violation of the treaty since they had missed deadlines for destroying their stockpiles.

The ICBL said that almost 4,300 people were killed by landmines worldwide last year -- or nearly 12 deaths a day, compared with 32 in 2001.

It said the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad was the only government in the world to lay new landmines in 2012.

- AFP/fa

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Haryana plans to buy hydel power from Arunachal Pradesh

CHANDIGARH: Haryana power minister, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav said on Friday that the visit of Haryana chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda to Bhutan in connection with the purchase of 2000 MW of hydel power is very significant step for making the state free of any power shortage in the coming times. Hooda would visit Bhutan from December 14 and 16 regarding purchase of 2000 MW hydel power from Bhutan.

Capt Ajay Singh Yadav said that he would not be able to become a part of this visit as he has to attend 'Vijay Divas Samaroh' pre-scheduled to be organized at Rewari on December 16 in the memory of martyrs of Rejangala on 50th anniversary of Indo-China war. He said that senior officers of Power Utilities would be part of this delegation.

He said that coal based power plants were operational in the State, but keeping in view the limited resources of coal and increasing rate of power, other alternatives of power generation needed to be sought to meet increasing future demands. He said that hydel power was available at cheaper rates as compared to coal based power plants. Also, nuclear power plant of 2800 MW was being set up at village Gorakhpur of district Fatehabad which would soon be operational and the state would not face power shortage anymore, said Yadav.

He said that senior officers of Power Utilities had already visited Bhutan and have interacted with them at official level. The rates of the power would be as per the MoU to be signed between the two countries. He said that the State Government was also exploring the possibilities of purchasing hydel power from Arunachal Pradesh in the future. He said that the power plants of Yamunanagar and Khedar had restarted power generation.

He said that with a view to provide uninterrupted power supply of 14 to 20 hours to the rural consumers, power utilities had already launched a campaign in the State. Uninterrupted power would be supplied to those villages where line losses would be less than 25%, each house equipped with power connection, the electricity meters installed outside the house and timely payment of electricity bills. He said that continuous efforts were being made to prevent power theft for which eight special police stations had been set up in the State and about 2000 such cases had been caught. He said that power utilities were also encouraging the people to pay off their electricity bills on time. Capt. Ajay Singh Yadav had appealed the people to join hands with the government to prevent power theft.

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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.

___

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

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Royal Hoaxers Pulled Off Air After Nurse's Death

The two Australian radio hosts who prank called the hospital where Kate Middleton was being treated have been pulled off the air "until further notice" after the hoaxed nurse was found dead today.

"Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) and 2Day FM are deeply saddened by the tragic news of the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha from King Edward VII's Hospital and we extend our deepest sympathies to her family and all that have been affected by this situation around the world," the radio station said in a statement posted on their Facebook page.

The station's chief executive spoke with the DJs, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, and "they are both deeply shocked," the statement said. The parties agreed that the hosts would not comment on the situation.

"SCA and the hosts have decided that they will not return to their radio show until further notice out of respect for what can only be described as a tragedy," the statement said.

In the Tuesday morning prank call, information about the duchess' condition was released by a nurse to Greig and Christian when they pretended to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles looking to speak to Middleton, who was being treated at the hospital for acute nausea related to her pregnancy.

Kate Middleton Leaves Hospital After Extreme Morning Sickness Watch Video

Kate Middleton Pregnant: Royal Couple Expecting Watch Video

When the royal impersonators called the hospital, Saldanha put through to a second nurse who told the royal impersonators that Kate was "quite stable" and hadn't "had any retching."

"It is with very deep sadness that we confirm the tragic death of a member of our nursing staff," the hospital said in a statement released today.

"We can confirm that Jacintha was recently the victim of a hoax call to the hospital," the statement said. "The hospital had been supporting her throughout this difficult time."

The hospital said that Saldanha worked at the hospital for more than four years. They called her a "first-class nurse" and "a well-respected and popular member of the staff."

The hospital extended their "deepest sympathies" to family and friends, saying that "everyone is shocked" at this "tragic event."

"She will be greatly missed," the hospital said.

"The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Jacintha Saldanha," a spokesman from St. James Palace said in a statement.

"Their Royal Highnesses were looked after so wonderfully well at all times by everybody at King Edward VII Hospital, and their thoughts and prayers are with Jacintha Saldanha's family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time," the statement said.

Police were called to an address near the hospital at about 9:35 a.m. GT today to "reports of a woman found unconscious," according to a statement from Scotland Yard.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. "Inquiries continue to establish the circumstances of the incident. Next of kin have been informed," the statement said.

Circumstances of the death being investigated, but are not suspicious at this stage, according to police.

The duchess spent three days at the hospital undergoing treatment for hyperemesis gravidarum, severe or debilitating nausea and vomiting. She was released from the hospital on Thursday morning.

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Military halts clashes as political crisis grips Egypt

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Republican Guard restored order around the presidential palace on Thursday after clashes killed seven people, but passions ran high in a contest over the country's future.

President Mohamed Mursi had been due to address the nation, but a presidential source said the Islamist leader, criticized by his opponents for his silence in the last few days, might speak on Friday instead. He did not explain the possible delay.

Mursi supporters withdrew before a mid-afternoon deadline set by the Republican Guard, an elite unit whose duties include protecting the palace. Opposition protesters remained, kept away by a barbed wire barricade guarded by tanks, and by evening their numbers had swelled to a few thousand.

The military played a big role in removing President Hosni Mubarak during last year's popular revolt, taking over to manage a transitional period, but had stayed out of the latest crisis.

Thousands of Mursi's Islamist partisans fought protesters well into Thursday's early hours during dueling demonstrations over the president's November 22 decree to expand his powers to help him push through a mostly Islamist-drafted constitution.

Officials said seven people were killed and 350 wounded in the violence, for which each side blamed the other. Six of the dead were Mursi supporters, the Muslim Brotherhood said.

The street clashes reflected a deep political divide in the most populous Arab nation, where contrasting visions of Islamists and their liberal rivals have complicated a struggle to embed democracy after Mubarak's 30 years of one-man rule.

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, has urged dialogue.

Prosecutors investigating the unrest said Brotherhood members had detained 49 wounded protesters and were refusing to release them to the authorities, the state news agency said.

"MILITIA REGIME"

The Brotherhood's spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan denied this, saying all "thugs" detained by members of the Islamist group had been handed over to the police or the Republican Guard.

Opposition factions called for mass 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 urged their supporters to protest against what they consider biased coverage of the crisis by some private Egyptian satellite television channels.

The commander of the Republican Guard said deployment of tanks and troop carriers around the presidential palace was intended to separate the adversaries, not to repress them.

"The armed forces, and at the forefront of them the Republican Guard, will not be used as a tool to oppress the demonstrators," General Mohamed Zaki told the state news agency.

Outside Cairo, supporters and opponents of Mursi clashed in his home town of Zagazig in the Nile Delta, state TV reported.

Egypt plunged into renewed turmoil after Mursi issued his November 22 decree and an Islamist-dominated assembly hastily approved a new constitution to go to a referendum on December 15.

Since then six of the president's advisers have resigned. Essam al-Amir, the director of state television, quit on Thursday, as did a Christian official working at the presidency.

The Supreme Guide of the Brotherhood, to which Mursi belonged before he was narrowly elected president in June, appealed for unity. Divisions among Egyptians "only serve the nation's enemies", Mohamed Badie said in a statement.

Rival factions used rocks, petrol bombs and guns in the clashes around the presidential palace.

"GRIP ON THE COUNTRY"

"We came here to support President Mursi and his decisions. He is the elected president of Egypt," said demonstrator Emad Abou Salem, 40. "He has legitimacy and nobody else does."

Opposition protester Ehab Nasser el-Din, 21, his head bandaged after being hit by a rock the day before, decried the Muslim Brotherhood's "grip on the country", which he said would only tighten if the new constitution is passed.

Mursi's opponents accuse him of seeking to create a new "dictatorship". The president says his actions were necessary to prevent courts still full of judges appointed by Mubarak from derailing a constitution vital for Egypt's political transition.

U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay urged the Egyptian authorities to protect peaceful protesters and prosecute anyone inciting violence, including politicians.

"The current government came to power on the back of similar protests and so should be particularly sensitive to the need to protect protesters' rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly," Pillay said in Geneva.

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

Mahmoud Hussein, the Brotherhood's secretary-general, said holding the plebiscite was the only way out of the crisis, dismissing the opposition as "remnants of the (Mubarak) regime, thugs and people working for foreign agendas".

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, after previously firming on hopes that a $4.8 billion IMF loan would stabilise the economy. The stock market fell 4.6 percent.

Foreign exchange reserves fell by nearly $450 million to $15 billion in November, indicating that the Central Bank was still spending heavily to bolster the pound. The reserves stood at about $36 billion before the anti-Mubarak uprising.

(Additional reporting by Tom Perry, Edmund Blair and Marwa Awad; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Peter Graff)

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Football: FIFA extend Mohamed Bin Hammam provisional ban

PARIS: FIFA have extended the provisional ban of former Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohamed Bin Hammam, world football's governing body said on Thursday.

The 63-year-old Qatari had a lifetime ban overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in July due to lack of evidence over corruption allegations, but was banned again provisionally by FIFA who launched a new probe by ethics committee investigator Michael Garcia.

The final report was completed on December 4 and submitted to the adjudicatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee for examination.

In it Garcia requested the imposition of provisional measures against Mohamed "given the extraordinarily complex nature and the considerable scope of the present case".

"Based on the report, the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber has decided to provisionally ban Mohamed given that a breach of the FCE (FIFA Code of Ethics) appears to have been committed and that a decision on the main substance of the case may not be taken early enough," FIFA said in a statement.

"Given the seriousness of the violations of the FCE as alleged in the final report, Garcia said in his letter to the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber that it was imperative that Mohamed remained banned from football during the pendency of any decision on these charges."

The ethics committee want to look for fresh evidence to relaunch the affair which saw Mohamed receive a lifetime ban.

Mohamed, who challenged Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency last year, was accused of trying to buy votes of Caribbean officials. He withdrew his candidacy and Blatter was re-elected unopposed for a fourth term as FIFA president.

Mohamed was then banned for life after being found guilty of breaking seven articles of FIFA's ethics code, including one on bribery.

-AFP/ac

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Cabinet approves amendments to Lokpal Bill

NEW DELHI: The government today gave ex post-facto approval to some official amendments to the Lokpal Bill moved in the Rajya Sabha earlier this year.

One of the amendments included applicability of Lokpal Bill to a state only upon passing a resolution by the state legislature.

These amendments were moved by the government on May 21 this year in Rajya Sabha before the bill was referred to a select committee.

After the select committee report was tabled last month, the official amendments have little meaning. But their approval by the Cabinet was necessary.

The other official amendments included: only government-funded NGOs to be under the ambit of the Lokpal and the appointment of Lokpal to be made by a more balanced body where the government has no upper hand.

The select committee has recommended delinking of creation of Lokayuktas in states from the central bill.

The controversial bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha last year, faced opposition hurdle in the Rajya Sabha on various provisions, including the one making it mandatory for states to set up Lokayuktas.

The Prime Minister has been exempted from the ambit of Lokpal on issues of external and internal security, atomic energy, international relations and public order.

The select committee has not recommended any change in the provision relating to "reservation". The original provision said not less than 50 per cent of the members of Lokpal would be from SC, ST, OBC, minorities and women.

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