Flu shot did poor job against worst bug in seniors

ATLANTA (AP) — For those 65 and older, this season's flu shot is only 9 percent effective against the most common and dangerous flu bug, according to a startling new government report.

Flu vaccine tends to protect younger people better than older ones and never works as well as other kinds of vaccines. But experts say the preliminary results for seniors are disappointing and highlight the need for a better vaccine.

For all age groups, the vaccine's effectiveness is moderate at 56 percent, which is nearly as well as other flu seasons, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

For those 65 and older, it is 27 percent effective against the three strains in the vaccine, the lowest in about a decade but not far below from what's expected. But the vaccine did a particularly poor job of protecting older people against the harshest flu strain, which is causing most of the illnesses this year. CDC officials say it's not clear why.

Vaccinations are now recommended for anyone over 6 months, and health officials stress that some vaccine protection is better than none at all. While it's likely that older people who were vaccinated are still getting sick, many of them may be getting less severe symptoms.

"Year in and year out, the vaccine is the best protection we have," said CDC flu expert Dr. Joseph Bresee.

To be sure, the preliminary data for seniors is less than definitive. It is based on fewer than 300 people scattered among five states.

But it will no doubt surprise many people that the effectiveness is that low, said Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota infectious disease expert who has tried to draw attention to the need for a more effective flu vaccine.

Among infectious diseases, flu is considered one of the nation's leading killers. On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.

This flu season started in early December, a month earlier than usual, and peaked by the end of year. Older people are most vulnerable to flu and its complications, and the nation has seen some of the highest hospitalization rates for people 65 and older in a decade.

Flu viruses tend to mutate more quickly than others, and it's not unusual for multiple strains to be spreading at the same time. A new vaccine is formulated each year targeting the three strains expected to be the major threats. But that involves guesswork.

Because of these challenges, scientists tend to set a lower bar for flu vaccine. While childhood vaccines against diseases like measles are expected to be 90 or 95 percent effective, a flu vaccine that's 60 to 70 percent effective in the U.S. is considered pretty good.

By that standard, this year's vaccine is OK. The 56 percent effectiveness figure means people have a 56 percent lower chance of winding up at the doctor for treatment of flu symptoms.

For seniors, a flu vaccine is considered pretty good if it's in the 30 to 40 percent range, said Dr. Arnold Monto, a University of Michigan flu expert.

Older people have weaker immune systems that don't respond as well to flu shots. That's why a high-dose version was recently made available for those 65 and older. The new study was too small to show whether that made a difference this year.

The CDC estimates are based on about 2,700 people who got sick in December and January. The researchers traced back to see who had gotten flu shots and who hadn't. An earlier study put the vaccine's overall effectiveness slightly higher, at 62 percent.

The CDC's Bresee said there's a danger in providing preliminary results because it may result in people doubting — or skipping — flu shots. But the data was released to warn older people who got shots that they may still get sick and shouldn't ignore any serious flu-like symptoms, he said.

The new data highlights an evolution in how experts are evaluating flu vaccine effectiveness. For years, it was believed that if the viruses in the vaccine matched the ones spreading around the country, then the vaccine would be effective. This year's shot was a good match to the bugs going around this winter, including the harsher H3N2 that tends to make people sicker.

But the season proved to be a moderately severe one, with many illnesses occurring in people who'd been vaccinated.

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Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

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Las Vegas Strip Shooting Leads to 3 Dead

A drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas strip early this morning by the occupants of a Range Rover SUV, who shot at the occupants of a Maserati, caused a multi-car accident and car explosion that left three dead.

Police said that they believe a group of men riding in a black Range Rover Sport SUV pulled up alongside a Maserati around 4:20 a.m. today and fired shots into the car, striking the driver and passenger, according to Officer Jose Hernandez of the Las Vegas Metropolitan police department.

The Maserati then swerved through an intersection, hitting at least four other cars. One car that was struck, a taxi with a driver and passenger in it, caught on fire and burst into flames, trapping both occupants, Hernandez said.

Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun/AP Photo

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The SUV then fled the scene, according to cops.

The driver of the Maserati died from his gunshot wounds at University Medical Center shortly after the shooting, according to Sgt. John Sheahan.

The driver and passenger of the taxi both died in the car fire.

At least three individuals, including the passenger of the Maserati, were injured during the shooting and car crashes and are being treated at UMC hospital.

Police are scouring surveillance video from the area, including from the strip's major casinos, to try and identify the Range Rover and its occupants, according to police.

They do not yet know why the Range Rovers' occupants fired shots at the Maserati or whether the cars had local plates or were from out of state.

No bystanders were hit by gunfire, Hernandez said.

"We're currently looking for a black Range Rover Sport, with large black rims and some sort of dealership advertising or advertisement plates," Hernandez said. "This is an armed and dangerous vehicle."

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority had no immediate comment about the safety of tourists in the wake of the shooting today.

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Bulgarian government resigns amid growing protests

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's government resigned on Wednesday after mass protests against high power prices and falling living standards, joining a long list of European administrations felled by austerity during four years of debt crisis.

Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, an ex-bodyguard who took power in 2009 on pledges to root out graft and raise incomes in the European Union's poorest member, faces a tough task of propping up eroding support ahead of an expected early election.

Wage and pension freezes and tax hikes have bitten deep in a country where earnings are less than half the EU average and tens of thousands of Bulgarians have rallied in protests that have turned violent, chanting "Mafia" and "Resign".

Moves by Borisov on Tuesday to blame foreign utility companies for the rise in the cost of heating homes was to no avail and an eleventh day of marches saw 15 people hospitalized and 25 arrested in clashes with police.

"My decision to resign will not be changed under any circumstances. I do not build roads so that blood is shed on them," said Borisov, who began his career guarding the Black Sea state's communist dictator Todor Zhivkov.

A karate black belt, Borisov has cultivated a Putin-like "can-do" image since he entered politics as Sofia mayor in 2005 and would connect with voters by showing up on the capital's rutted streets to oversee the repair of pot-holes.

But critics say he has often skirted due process, sometimes to the benefit of those close to him, and his swift policy U-turns have wounded the public's trust.

The spark for the protests was high electricity bills, after the government raised prices by 13 percent last July. But it quickly spilled over into wider frustration with Borisov and political elites with perceived links to shadowy businesses.

"He made my day," said student Borislav Hadzhiev in central Sofia, commenting on Borisov's resignation. "The truth is that we're living in an extremely poor country."

POLLS, PRICES

The prime minister's final desperate moves on Tuesday included cutting power prices and risking a diplomatic row with the Czech Republic by punishing companies including CEZ, moves which conflicted with EU norms on protection of investors and due process.

CEZ officials were hopeful on Wednesday that it would be able to avoid losing its distribution license after all and officials from the Bulgarian regulator said the company would not be punished if it dealt with breaches of procedure.

But shares in what is central Europe's largest publicly-listed company fell another 1 percent on Wednesday.

If pushed through, the fines for CEZ and two other foreign-owned firms will not encourage other investors in Bulgaria, who already have to navigate complicated bureaucracy and widespread corruption and organized crime to take advantage of Bulgaria's 10-percent flat tax rate.

Financial markets reacted negatively to the turbulence on Wednesday. The cost of insuring Bulgaria's debt rose to a three-month high and debt yields rose some 15 basis points, though the country's low deficit of 0.5 percent of gross domestic product means there is little risk to the lev currency's peg against the euro.

Borisov's interior minister indicated that elections originally planned for July would probably be pulled forward by saying that his rightist GERB party would not take part in talks to form a new government.

MILLIONS GONE

GERB's woes have echoes in another ex-communist EU member, Slovenia, where demonstrators have taken to the streets and added pressure to a crumbling conservative government.

A small crowd gathered in support of Borisov outside Sofia's parliament, which is expected to approve his resignation on Thursday, while bigger demonstrations against the premier were expected in the evening.

Unemployment in the country of 7.3 million is far from the highs hit in the decade after the end of communism but remains at 11.9 percent. Average salaries are stuck at around 800 levs ($550) a month and millions have emigrated, leaving swathes of the country depopulated and little hope for those who remain.

GERB's popularity has held up well and it still led in the latest polls before protests grew in size last weekend, but analysts say the opposition Socialists should draw strength from the demonstrations.

The leftists, successors to Bulgaria's communist party, have proposed tax cuts and wage hikes and are likely to raise questions about public finances if elected.

(Additional reporting by Angel Krasimirov; editing by Patrick Graham)

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EU nears national budget oversight

BRUSSELS: The EU moved closer Wednesday to centralised oversight on national budgets, negotiators said, an increasingly sensitive topic as Brussels readies to issue new economic forecasts with France in the firing line over puny growth and a probable deficit overshoot.

Long-contested tweaks to a package of laws designed to harmonise economic governance especially across the eurozone met with a breakthrough, participants said.

The talks included European Parliament, the European Commission and the current Irish chair of the council of European Union governments.

The idea is that national spending decisions not only are proofed by Brussels before parliamentary approval is sought, but also that priority -- and leeway if excessive deficits return -- is given to spending towards growth and jobs, the new EU mantra amid dogged recession.

The deal has still to pass a full vote in the EU legislature, but talks co-sponsor, Portuguese Socialist MEP Elisa Ferreira, said that with austerity "not delivering ... we need to adapt the medicine."

She underlined: "We need to rebalance our short-term objectives to better address growth and the vicious spiral of high debt-financing interest rates.

"Countries now making superhuman sacrifices need to know that their efforts are recognised and will be rewarded."

EU economy and euro commissioner Olli Rehn, whose forecasts on Friday morning will mainly be watched for their likely effect on French leaders' promises to meet treaty-agreed deficit targets, also hailed the agreement.

-AFP/ac

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Delhi airport Metro link operator got 'undue benefits': CAG

NEW DELHI: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said that there were serious irregularities, flouting of government norms and undue financial benefits to the private player in the Delhi airport Metro link.

The country's first Metro rail project under the public-private partnership (PPP) model - Delhi Airport Metro Express Line (DAMPEL) - has been riddled with concessions to DAMPEL, the joint venture between Reliance Infrastructure and Construccionesy Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, SA (CAF) of Spain, CAG has said in a draft report.

Financially, the two most serious charges raised in the CAG report pertain to alleged "undue benefits" on waived customs duty and investment of funds from an escrow account for the project to various Reliance ADAG group mutual funds without proper disclosure.

The CAG has revealed that DAMEPL got customs duty concessions on imports of capital goods worth Rs 990 crore on the basis of a recommendation letter from DMRC. According to CAG, this waiver should not have been extended to DAMEPL and was applicable only if the items were imported for DMRC itself and would ultimately be owned by it. This undue benefit, CAG estimates, amounted to Rs 29.56 crore.

The report also says that the concessionaire released Rs 285.43 crore from the escrow account to "various subsidiaries of M/s Reliance Infra Limited" and DAMEPL had not given any disclosure about any of these transactions being with a "related party".

The report says that the company should have been penalized for the non-completion of two of its proposed stations - Dhaula Kuan and Aero City, before the scheduled deadline. According to the agreement, the company had to finish the undertaken project within 90 days of the provisional completion certificate. For this also, the company has not been asked to pay penalty which would amount to Rs 1.66 crore. Delhi Metro has, on the other hand, incurred losses of Rs 2.25 crore due to the unfinished project.

The violations, according to CAG, started from the very genesis of the project. According to the report, while the Centre had mandated that all infrastructure projects on PPP mode costing over Rs 100 crore would have to be appraised by the PPP Appraisal Committee (PPPAC), this project was not routed through the committee despite an estimated cost of over Rs 3,000 crore.

Pointing out another "violation of its own guidelines" by the government, CAG has found that the project was approved with DAMEPL having to contribute only 46.17% of the project cost through its equity and debt and the government funding the rest. This despite the fact that norms set by the finance ministry allowed for only 40% government assistance to make a project viable.

The report points out that though the PPP route was chosen for the project on the grounds that this would enable it to be completed before the Commonwealth Games in 2010, the line actually became operational upto the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) five months after the Games.

The report goes on to point out that while the Union urban development ministry had approved a debt -equity ratio of 7:3 for the concessionaire, between 2009 and 2012 the ratio was 4,3218:1, 230,907:1 and 275,205:1 for the three financial years. Strangely, when this was pointed out, DMRC argued that it was for the senior lender to monitor these details, according to CAG.

Asked for comments on the draft report, a DAMEPL spokesperson said it should be more appropriate for DMRC and the urban development ministry to respond since "the said draft report is available with them and not with us" and also that things should be seen in the context of the fact that this was a project awarded through competitive bidding and not on a cost-plus basis.

The spokesperson, however, did respond to some of the specific charges by CAG. For instance, on the customs duty issue, he said the imports were under a project import licence registration which was "a perfectly bonafide and legitimate way to import items required for certain specified project, which includes MRTS and urban monorail projects". He pointed out that for registration under this scheme, a recommendation letter from the appropriate sponsoring ministry/department is needed, which in this case happened to be DMRC.

"We fail to even understand what is the contention! Even for our Mumbai Metro Project, MMRDA has issued such a recommendation letter, and we are importing necessary equipment under project import scheme. There are hundreds of qualifying projects in the country which are availing of such project import duties, which are only slightly lower than merit duty," he said.

On the investments from the escrow account, DAMEPL said that under the agreement, investments into MFS investing in debt instruments with Crisil Rating of AA or higher were allowed and that the funds specified in the CAG report all met this requirement.

As for disclosing that investments were made in "related party" funds, the spokesperson said, "we most emphatically state that the company in question is neither a subsidiary of Reliance Infra, nor a subsidiary of DAMEPL, and we also confirm that no 'related party disclosures' are mandated in this case".

On the debt-equity norms, he said, "the concession agreement does not specify debt-equity ratio, and the lenders' documentation recognises sub-debt also as promoters' contribution. The funding structure of the project has been fully compliant with both the concession agreement and the lenders' documentation."

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Obama admin. tackles colonoscopy confusion

WASHINGTON (AP) — The new health law requires that most insurance plans cover all costs for preventive care, including colon cancer screening.

But it didn't turn out to be that simple.

Many patients ended up with a bill when the doctor performing the colonoscopy removed precancerous growths known as polyps. Why the bill? Because a preventive screening had turned into a procedure.

Now the Obama administration is trying to straighten out the confusion: Polyp removal is part of preventive care, and therefore free of charge to the patient.

Health plans also must cover an expensive genetic test for breast cancer if a woman's doctor orders it. And the lowly aspirin for heart trouble is covered too, if prescribed.

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Arias Can't Remember Gory Death of Ex-Boyfriend

Accused murderer Jodi Arias told an Arizona jury today that her ex-boyfriend became enraged when she dropped his new camera, body slammed her to a tile floor and threatened to kill her, and in the frantic struggle that followed she remembers a gun being fired accidentally but does not remember stabbing him.

Her version of Travis Alexander's death was the culmination of more than a week of testimony in which Arias, 32, has tried to convince the jury she killed Alexander, 27, in self-defense during a violent episode in what she has described as an increasingly abusive relationship. She is on trial for murder and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Arias said that Alexander lost his temper when she dropped his camera on his bathroom floor while taking nude photos of him. Enraged, he picked her up and body slammed her onto the floor, screaming at her, she told the jury.

She ran to his closet to get away from him, and then exited through the closet's second door into Alexander's office where she grabbed a gun that she knew he kept on a top shelf.

She tried to keep running, but as Alexander came after her she said she pointed the gun at him in an attempt to ward him off.

"I pointed it at him with both of my hands. I thought that would stop him, but he just kept running. He got like a linebacker, he got low and grabbed my waist, and as he was lunging at me the gun went off. I didn't mean to shoot. I didn't even think I was holding the trigger," she said.

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"But he lunged at me and we fell really hard toward the tile wall, so at this point I didn't even know if he had been shot. I didn't see anything different. We were struggling, wrestling, he's a wrestler.

"So he's grabbing at my clothes and I got up, and he's screaming angry, and after I broke away from him. He said 'f***ing kill you bitch,'" she testified.

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Asked by her lawyer whether she was convicted Alexander intended to kill her, Arias answered, "For sure. He'd almost killed me once before and now he's saying he was going to." Arias had earlier testified that Alexander had once choked her.

Arias said that she has no memory of stabbing or slashing Alexander whose body was later found with 27 stab wounds, a slit throat and two bullets in his head. She said she only remembered standing in the bathroom, dropping the knife on the tile floor, realizing the "horror" of what had happened, and screaming.

"I have no memory of stabbing him," she said. "There's a huge gap. I don't know if I blacked out or what, but there's a huge gap. The most clear memory I have after that point is driving in the desert."

Arias said that she remembered driving away from Mesa, Ariz., where she had killed Alexander, and realizing that he was likely dead. She said she threw the gun she used out of her window and into the desert and kept driving to Utah, where she was supposed to meet up with friends and a new romantic interest.

"I don't remember anything else after that. I just couldn't believe what had happened, that I couldn't take anything back that had happened, I couldn't rewind the clock," she said.

Arias' defense rests heavily on the description of Alexander's death, as her attorneys have argued she was forced to kill Alexander in self-defense. She has described what she said were Alexander's increasingly abusive and rage-filled outbursts toward her in the weeks leading up his death.

The prosecution alleges that Arias murdered Alexander in a jealous rage, and has attempted to prove that the killing was pre-meditated. They will cross-examine Arias after she is done testifying for the defense.

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Syria "Scud-type" missile said to kill 20 in Aleppo

AMMAN (Reuters) - A Syrian missile killed at least 20 people in a rebel-held district of Aleppo on Tuesday, opposition activists said, as the army turns to longer-range weapons after losing bases in the country's second-largest city.

The use of what opposition activists said was a large missile of the same type as Russian-made Scuds against an Aleppo residential district came after rebels overran army bases over the past two months from which troops had fired artillery.

As the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, now a civil war, nears its two-year mark, rebels also landed three mortar bombs in the rarely-used presidential palace compound in the capital Damascus, opposition activists said on Tuesday.

The United Nations estimates 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict between largely Sunni Muslim rebels and Assad's supporters among his minority Alawite sect. An international diplomatic deadlock has prevented intervention, as the war worsens sectarian tensions throughout the Middle East.

A Russian official said on Tuesday that Moscow, which is a long-time ally of Damascus, would not immediately back U.N. investigators' calls for some Syrian leaders to face the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

Moscow has blocked three U.N. Security Council resolutions that would have increased pressure on Assad.

Casualties are not only being caused directly by fighting, but also by disruption to infrastructure and Syria's economy.

An estimated 2,500 people in a rebel-held area of northeastern Deir al-Zor province have been infected with typhoid, which causes diarrhea and can be fatal, due to drinking contaminated water from the Euphrates River, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

"There is not enough fuel or electricity to run the pumps so people drink water from the Euphrates which is contaminated, probably with sewage," the WHO representative in Syria, Elisabeth Hoff, told Reuters by telephone.

The WHO had no confirmed reports of deaths so far.

BURIED UNDER RUBBLE

In northern Aleppo, opposition activists said 25 people were missing under rubble of three buildings hit by a several-meter-long missile. They said remains of the weapon showed it to be a Scud-type missile of the type government forces increasingly use in Aleppo and in Deir a-Zor.

NATO said in December Assad's forces fired Scud-type missiles. It did not specify where they landed but said their deployment was an act of desperation.

Bodies were being gradually dug up, Mohammad Nour, an activist, said by phone from Aleppo.

"Some, including children, have died in hospitals," he said.

Video footage showed dozens of people scouring for victims and inspecting damage. A body was pulled from under collapsed concrete. At a nearby hospital, a baby said to have been dug out from wreckage was shown dying in the hands of doctors.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

Opposition activists also reported fighting near the town of Nabak on the Damascus-Homs highway, another route vital for supplying forces in the capital loyal to Assad, whose family has ruled Syria since the 1960s.

Rebels moved anti-aircraft guns into the eastern Damascus district of Jobar, adjacent to the city centre, as they seek to secure recent gains, an activist said.

"The rebels moved truck-mounted anti-aircraft guns to Jobar and are now firing at warplanes rocketing the district," said Damascus activist Moaz al-Shami.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told a news conference a U.N. war crimes report, which accuses military leaders and rebels of terrorizing civilians, was "not the path we should follow ... at this stage it would be untimely and unconstructive."

Syria is not party to the Rome Statute that established the ICC and the only way the court can investigate the situation is if it receives a referral from the Security Council, where Moscow is a permanent member.

(Writing by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Jason Webb)

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Pistorius says "no intention" to kill girlfriend

PRETORIA: South African Olympic hero Oscar Pistorius on Tuesday tearfully denied the premeditated murder of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, telling a court he shot at her through a locked bathroom door believing she was an intruder.

"I am absolutely mortified by the events and the devastating loss of my beloved Reeva," Pistorius said in an affidavit at a court hearing in the capital Pretoria, his first public comments on the Valentine's Day killing.

The 26-year-old double amputee track star broke down in tears repeatedly as his own words filled the court: "We were deeply in love and couldn't be more happy."

"I had no intention to kill my girlfriend," he said in the statement, read out by his lawyer as Pistorius sat in the dock, struggling to hold his composure.

At one point the court was forced to break so the track star could get himself together.

"He's definitely been broken," his public relations manager Stuart Higgins said.

As the court hearing was under way, Steenkamp was being laid to rest at an emotional private ceremony at a crematorium in her hometown of Port Elizabeth.

The "Blade Runner" became an inspiration to millions when he became the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympics.

He now faces a charge of premeditated murder, which will likely result in remand without bail and, if convicted, a life sentence behind bars.

Pistorius said the couple, who had been dating since late last year, had spent the evening at his upscale Pretoria home watching television and with the 29-year-old Steenkamp doing yoga.

He awoke in the dead of night to bring in a fan from the balcony when he heard a noise.

"Filled with horror and fear" that someone was in the bathroom, he said he felt "very vulnerable" because he did not have his prosthetic legs on.

"I fired shots at the toilet door and shouted to Reeva to phone the police.

"Reeva was not responding. When I reached the bed, I realised that Reeva was not in bed.

"That is when it dawned on me that it could have been Reeva who was in the toilet."

After smashing the door with a cricket bat, Pistorius said "Reeva was slumped over but alive"

"I tried to render the assistance to Reeva that I could, but she died in my arms."

He said he kept a firearm, a 9 mm Parabellum, under his bed at night because he had been a "victim of violence and burglaries before."

He was not only acutely aware of intruders intending to commit violent crime but that "I have received death threats before."

Prosecutors argued that far from being an accident, Steenkamp's death was a premeditated act of murder.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the court Pistorius had armed himself, put on his prosthetic legs, walked seven metres and fired four shots into the bathroom door, hitting a terrified Steenkamp three times and fatally wounding her.

"She could go nowhere," Nel said. "She locked the door for a purpose. We will get to that purpose."

There was no decision on bail Tuesday, with court proceedings adjourned until Wednesday.

Prosecution spokesman Medupe S'Maiku said the hearings could take all week.

Magistrate Desmond Nair said he could not rule out that there was some planning involved in the killing, which may be considered as a premeditated murder for the purposes of bail.

But Pistorius's legal team rejected the claims as he sought to argue he was not a flight risk.

Pistorius revealed he earned 5.6 million rand ($640,000) a year and owned the $570,000 house in the gated estate where the killing took place and two other homes.

Lawyers submitted affidavits from friends of both Pistorius and Steenkamp, which spoke of the couple's close relationship.

Pistorius, who off the track has a rocky private life of rash behaviour, beautiful women, guns and fast cars, has built up a powerful team of lawyers, medical specialists and public relations experts for his defence.

In 2009 Pistorius -- who once admitted to a newspaper that he slept with a pistol, machine gun, cricket bat and baseball bat for fear of burglars -- spent a night in jail after allegedly assaulting a 19-year-old woman at a party.

Meanwhile in Port Elizabeth, tearful friends and family said goodbye to Steenkamp, whose cloth-draped coffin with white flowers laid on top was carried into a chapel in the southeastern coastal city where she grew up.

"There's a space missing inside all of the people that she knew that can't be filled again," her brother Adam, who gave the eulogy, said after the ceremony. "We'll miss her."

A funeral programme simply entitled "Reeva" bore the dates of her birth and death, and a black-and-white portrait of Steenkamp with the words "God's Gift, A Child" written on the back.

Pistorius, a Paralympian gold-medallist, became the first double amputee to run against able-bodied athletes at last year's Olympics in London on the carbon-fibre running blades that inspired his nickname.

But his career has been put on hold since the shooting, forcing him to cancel races in Australia, Brazil, Britain and the United States between March and May.

The case has shocked South Africa, where Pistorius is still considered by many to be a shining example of how individuals can triumph over adversity.

South Africa's sports minister on Tuesday expressed shock and disbelief that the star has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend as the country battles epidemic levels of violence against women.

"None of our sporting heroes and heroines should be associated with such acts of violence against women and children," said Fikile Mbalula.

-AFP/ac

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Bihar records 11.95% growth, highest among states

PATNA: Despite global economic slowdown and sagging domestic demand, Bihar has managed to record 11.95% annual growth rate, the highest among all the states, during the 11th Plan period.

According to the Economic Survey 2012-13 tabled by deputy CM and finance minister Sushil Kumar Modi in the state legislature on Tuesday, Bihar almost remained untouched by the overall global slowdown but for some side effects in 2012-13.

But the state's per capita income of Rs 25,653 at current prices is still far behind the national average of Rs 60,972 in 2011-12. "Our gross state domestic product (GSDP) at 2004-05 prices is Rs 1.52 lakh crore which is estimated to rise to Rs 2.53 lakh crore at current prices in 2011-12," Modi said.

The problem of low income in Bihar is accentuated by considerable disparity across the districts in terms of their per capita income. In 2009-10, Patna, with per capita income of Rs 55,539, Munger with Rs18,669 and Bhagalpur with Rs14,396 have been the most prosperous districts whereas Sheohar has Rs 5,552, Madhepura (Rs 7.161) and Supaul (Rs 7,213) remained at the bottom.

Modi said the state government had an outstanding debt of Rs 44,475 crore in 2007-08, which is 39% of its GSDP. By 2011-12, it declined substantially to 24% even though the outstanding debt increased to Rs 60,551 crore. Incidentally, it was 53% in 2001-02.

Bihar's gross fiscal deficit (GFD) was only Rs 3,971 crore in 2010-11 but it sharply increased to Rs 5,915 crore in the subsequent year. In 2012-13, it is projected to rise further to Rs 7,569 crore due to higher capital investment.

The survey claimed growth in the state's own tax revenue, increasing from Rs 5,086 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 12,612 crore in 2011-12. The non-tax revenue has jumped from Rs 526 crore to Rs 890 crore during the same period. "The state's own tax revenue has increased to 4.99% of the GSDP," said principal finance secretary Rameshwar Singh.

"The image of Bihar has undergone a change in recent years, thanks to high growth rate of its economy and accompanying developments in social sectors. This was made possible primarily through the efforts of the state government which utilized its limited resources in a prudent manner," said Modi.

The state, according to the survey, has been showing a continuous revenue surplus since 2004-05. This surplus had reached to Rs 6,316 crore in 2010-11, the highest ever level, before falling to Rs 4,821 crore in 2011-12.

In agriculture sector, the production of cereals in 2011-12 was 172 lakh tonnes, compared to 104 lakh tonnes in previous fiscal. The production of rice increased to a new high of 8.2 million tonnes against 3.1 million tonnes in 2010-11. The use of 'Sri' technique was an important factor in the bumper rice production.

The survey states that Bihar has a total of 1.92 lakh registered units under micro, small and medium enterprises involving a total investment of Rs 1,941 crore and employing 6.30 lakh persons in 2012. Altogether 11 sugar mills were operational in 2011-12 and a total of 488.30 lakh quintals of sugarcane were crushed and produced 45.10 lakh quintals of sugar.

Up to September 2012, the State Investment Promotion Bureau has approved total 939 proposals for setting up industrial units involving an investment of Rs 3.19 lakh crore with employment potential of 2.27 lakh persons.

To a query about CM Nitish Kumar's assertion that Bihar will take another 25 years to come on a par with developed states at this pace of development and the kind of investment required, ADRI's member secretary Shaibal Gupta said as per a rough estimate, an yearly investment of Rs 40,000 crore is needed to reach the national average of growth. But he hastened to add that it was not very accurate estimate.

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