Mom Fears Dad in Boy's Disappearance

The mother of 13-year-old boy Dylan Redwine, who disappeared a week ago during a court ordered visit to his father, fears that the dad may have done something to "remove Dylan from the situation."

Dylan Redwine was last seen at the home of his father, Mark Redwine, when he vanished seven days ago.

"I was married to Mark for a lot of years, and I know the way he reacts to things," Elaine Redwine told ABC News. "If Dylan maybe did or said something that wasn't what Mark wanted to hear, I'm just afraid of how Mark would have reacted."

Elaine and Mark were divorced and live about five hours away from each other, ABC News affiliate KMGH reports. Dylan was staying at his father's home because of a court order granting his father visitation rights for Thanksgiving.

Elaine Redwine told ABC News she believes her ex-husband was upset that she was the court-mandated primary custodian of their son.

"I don't think Mark treats him very well," Elaine Redwine said. "I would not put it past Mark to have done something to remove Dylan from the situation. You know, like 'if I can't have him, nobody will.'"

Dylan had been with his dad in Vallecito, Colo., for just one day before he went missing. Mark Redwine told police that his son was in his home when he left to run some errands at 7:30 a.m. When he returned four hours later, the boy was missing.

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Elaine Redwine told ABC News she was having a difficult time getting in touch with her ex-husband about their son.

"He hasn't had any contact with us. [My older son] tried to get a hold of him by texting him, and he wouldn't respond," she said. "I just find it odd that at a time like this, he would be so evasive."

Mark Redwine declined to speak to ABC News.

Police say they are considering a number of possibilities, including abduction and the possibility that Dylan ran away.

"Foul play is definitely something we are looking at, but we're hoping it's a runaway case and that Dylan will show up and will be fine," La Plata Sheriff's Office spokesman Dan Bender said. "Because we don't have any clues that point in any particular direction, we have to consider every possibility."

Dylan's mother and older brother both insist Dylan wouldn't run away without contacting them, or if he did run away from his dad's home, he would have gone to them.

"When he was afraid in any situation, he knew he could call me and I would drop everything and go out there, first thing," Dylan's brother, Cory Redwine, 21, told ABC News. "He knew that me, my mom, my step-dad, any of us, if he called us and said, 'I need your help,' he knew we'd be there."

Hundreds of people have turned up to help search for Dylan, but so far police say they are no closer to finding him.

"We had people in the air, on horseback, on ATVs, search dogs, and we got no clues from any of that," Bender said.

Dive teams are searching nearby Vallecito Lake using a high-powered sonar gun, after searches this weekend revealed nothing, according to KMGH. Search teams are also combing the shoreline around the lake.

Elaine Redwine told ABC News she thinks somebody must know something, and she hopes they come forward.

"Vallecito is a small community. If anybody has seen anything or knows anything, no matter how big or small it seems, please tell us," Redwine said. "Everything right now is crucial to bringing my little boy home."

Redwine is described as 5 feet tall, 105 pounds, blond hair, blue eyes and fair complexion. He was last seen wearing a black Nike shirt, black basketball nylon shorts, black Jordan tennis shoes and a two-tone blue and white Duke Blue Devils baseball hat.

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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.

___

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

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Egypt's 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.

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.

Egypt'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 would 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 who took his job during the Mubarak era and 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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Australia to apologise for sex abuse in military

SYDNEY: The Australian government said Monday it would make a parliamentary apology to victims of abuse in the military and set up a compensation fund after allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith will also establish an independent taskforce to individually assess the hundreds of claims of abuse uncovered by a report commissioned by the government last year.

The taskforce will be able to refer appropriate matters to police for formal criminal investigation and assessment for prosecution, while offering help to access counselling, health, and other services.

"I will say sorry to those people who have been subject to inappropriate abuse over their time in the Australian Defence Force," Smith told reporters ahead of the apology to be made in parliament later Monday.

"There will be no more turning a blind eye to inappropriate conduct."

He added that a capped compensation fund would be set up with the taskforce, headed by former West Australian Supreme Court judge Len Roberts-Smith, deciding who qualifies for payouts of up to A$50,000 (US$52,000).

The move follows an independent report that was sparked by the so-called Skype scandal, when footage of a young male recruit having sex with a female classmate was streamed online to cadets in another room without her knowledge.

The report detailed 24 allegations of rape that never went to trial, among more than 1,000 claims of sexual or other abuse dating back to the 1950s, involving both men and women.

As well as the rape claims, it said that "from the 1950s through to the early 1980s, many boys aged 13, 14, 15 and 16 years of age in the defence force suffered abuse including serious sexual and other physical abuse".

Until the 1960s, boys as young as 13 were recruited into the Navy, while 15-year-olds were accepted into the Army, Navy and Air Force up until the early 1980s. The minimum enlisting age is now 17.

Smith said the Defence Force would bear the financial burden of the compensation.

Defence Force chief General David Hurley has vowed the military will cooperate fully with the government and warned that any serving personnel found guilty of abuse will be brought to justice.

- AFP/ck

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26/11 anniversary: Experts doubt netas’ claim of safe Mumbai

MUMBAI: Senior police officers and politicians declared on Sunday that Mumbai is prepared to repel any attack of the magnitude of 26/11 but their words were met with disbelief and scepticism.

On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the bloody assault, home minister R R Patil admitted that law-enforcement agencies were unequipped to fend off the 10 Pakistani terrorists who landed in Mumbai by sea on November 26, 2008, and wreaked terror on the city.

"We have learnt our lessons. In the past four years, we have stepped up security not only in Mumbai but also in entire Maharashtra. We now have state-of-the-art weapons and adequate manpower. I am confident that we are prepared to take on terror attacks of any magnitude," claimed the home minister.

Patil argued that the Democratic Front government had implemented in letter and spirit the recommendations of the Ram Pradhan committee, which was set up in the wake of the 26/11 attack to examine the preparedness of Mumbai police.

Anti-terrorism squad chief Rakesh Maria echoed Patil: "In November 2008, we were taken aback owing to the magnitude of the attack. We were not prepared at all. In the last four years, we have redrafted our strategy. We now have a standard operation procedure in place. Everyone from a constable to the DG today knows his task in the event of an attack."

Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh too said the force had learnt from the past. "I do not say that there is no threat. But the force is prepared and confident," added Singh.

The contentions were, however, decried by a former DGP who asserted that Mumbai police was still grossly unprepared. "A large number of the Pradhan committee recommendations, particularly on manpower deployment, weapons and coordination, have not been implemented," he told TOI on condition of anonymity. "Even today, police personnel do not have adequate ammunition for training and practice." The former DGP's declaration, other ex-policemen said, was borne out by evidence on the ground.

The state government's ambitious Rs 800-crore plan to install 6,000 CCTV cameras around Mumbai was still in tendering stage after a sputtering start. The city's coastal security was still wanting: patrol boats and amphibian vehicles were either out of order or without fuel; policemen required to protect the coastline did not even know how to swim.

Furthermore, the state's elite Force One, which was created along the lines of the National Security Guard, did not have a home of its own in the city for training.

Still, Patil said the only matter of concern was the delay in the installation of the CCTV camera network. "We were in the final stages of allotting the contract but it had to be cancelled after a member of the chosen consortium was found to have been blacklisted earlier. As a result, we initiated the entire process afresh. I am sure that in the next one year, we will have a CCTV network for the metropolis," Patil said.

(With inputs from V Narayan)

26/11 CLAIMS AND THE REALITY

While the ATS chief and home minister claim the city is prepared for another terror attack, the evidence on the ground suggests otherwise. For example, the plan to install CCTV cameras is yet to be implemented, coastal security is in tatters and disaster management is beset by poor cooperation.

INTELLIGENCE SHARING AND COORDINATION

As Ajmal Kasab and his cohorts went on the rampage, several security agencies came together and worked as a team to terminate the carnage . The result was the death of nine terrorists and Kasab's arrest . But that was in 2008. Since then, ignoring national interest, most security agencies have scrapped with each other to bag credit for passing victories against terror groups. The dearth of intelligence-sharing and coordination was evidenced by the escape of terror principal Yasin Bhatkal earlier this year. Although Delhi police's Special Cell was on his tail, it did not inform Maharashtra ATS, which was working on the same case. In the confusion, Bhatkal slipped away. Similarly, reports said, Special Cell did not keep the ATS in the loop when getting 26/11 co-conspirator Abu Jundal extradited from Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, efforts to bolster intelligence gathering too have only just edged forward. The Maharashtra government set up an intelligence academy to recruit and train specialists. But, of the 200 recruits, 75 soon left for better opportunities in the private sector.

BULLETPROOF JACKETS

Joint police commissioner Hemant Karkare's death in 26/11 raised alarming questions about the quality of the bulletproof jacket he wore during the attack. It was said that the jackets the state had acquired were of poor standard . Had Karkare's jacket been better, many argued, perhaps his life could have been saved. The widespread ire aimed at the state prompted it to begin the process of procuring high-quality bulletproof jackets a week after the attack. However, because of technical reservations, no company was awarded the contract for three years. Finally, the state got the right jackets from the agencies that supply such protective wear to the NSG and CRPF. In the last one year, it has procured over 3,000 bulletproof jackets.

COASTAL SECURITY

The ease with which 26/11 gunmen landed by sea in Mumbai exposed a glaring chink in the city's armour. Eager to be seen as rectifying the fault, the state vowed to beef up coastal security. Yet, its promises scarcely translated into lasting work. Set up to protect the coastline, Sagari police station even today operates from rooms in governmental quarters at Mahim. It still cannot register an FIR, for which it has to depend on the Yellow Gate police station. Together, the two stations are reportedly short of 1,180 policemen. Five of their 14 amphibian vehicles and 13 of their 27 patrol boats are in repair yards. Lacking a jetty, Sagari police park boats at Malad or near the Gateway of India. Worst of all, most personnel at the two stations neither have the expertise to run the patrol boats nor basic swimming skills.

MEDICAL CARE

Every time a disaster rocks Mumbai, causing mass casualties, the inadequacies of trauma care facilities at public hospitals get highlighted. During 26/11, most victims were rushed to the state-run St George and GT hospitals but soon they had to be shifted to bigger centres like JJ Hospital. Four years on, no lessons have been learnt. Sion Hospital till date is the only civic-run facility to have a dedicated trauma care centre. Hospitals such as JJ and KEM have the capacity to care for 500 casualty patients, but, as JJ Hospital dean Dr T P Lahane points out, it is not the same as having a hub where doctors from neurosurgery, orthopaedics, surgery and anaesthesia are available round-the-clock .

STATE OF SURVEILLANCE

The state's ambitious Rs 800 crore plan to install 6,000 CCTV cameras around Mumbai has sputtered forward ever since 26/11. To give the plan a boost, home minister R R Patil set up a high-level committee and led a delegation to the UK to study the CCTV surveillance grid there. But just as the contract was to be granted, it turned out that one of the firms in the chosen consortium had been blacklisted earlier . As a result, a fresh tendering process was initiated. Till now, only Raj Bhavan, CM residence Varsha and Patil's residence Chitrakut are guarded by CCTV networks. The city will likely have to wait for at least another year for its surveillance system.

ARMS & AMMO

Mumbai police received sophisticated arms, ammunition and communication gadgets in the wake of the 2008 attack. While rifles are still used for local policing, police now have AK-47 s and MP5 submachine guns to ward off an assault as big as 26/11. In addition, each office of regional police commissioner is equipped with a bulletproof vehicle.

BOMB SUITS

In the last four years, there has been no dearth of alert citizens calling the bomb detection and disposal squad, alerting it of suspicious objects on the city's streets. What has been lacking is bomb-disposal suits and sniffer dogs. The squad urgently needs more suits, but the procedure has been held up on account of an alleged scam. The economic offences wing this August arrested a businessman for allegedly cheating the state out of Rs 6.25 crore by providing low-quality bomb disposal suits.

RAILWAY SECURITY

Post-26 /11, electronic surveillance was made a priority for securing railway stations. According to the Government Railway Police, there are about 1,500 closed-circuit television cameras at 90 of the 136 stations on the suburban network. The Integrated Security System—to be implemented on CR—will bring in advanced CCTVs, vehicle scanners and baggage scanners. The GRP has also stepped up visibility on stations and introduced random checking of passengers and baggage on platforms, foot overbridges and subways. Armed riot control policemen are deployed at stations like CST and Dadar to handle any situation. Furthermore, city police are frequently roped in for anti-sabotage checks. More AK47s and SLRs with ammunition have been procured.

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Fire Kills 112 Workers Making Clothes for US Brands

The 100-plus workers who died in a fire late Saturday at a high-rise garment factory in Bangladesh were working overtime making clothes for major American retailers, including Wal-Mart, according to workers' rights groups.

Officials in Bangladesh said the flames at the Tazreen Fashions factory outside Dhaka spread rapidly on the ground floor, trapping those on the higher floors of the nine-story building. There were no exterior fire escapes, according to officials, and many died after jumping from upper floors to escape the flames.

As firemen continued to remove bodies Sunday, officials said at least 112 people had died but that the number of fatalities could go higher.

The Tazreen fire is the latest in a series of deadly blazes at garment factories in Bangladesh, where more than 700 workers, many making clothes for U.S. consumers, have died in factory fires in the past five years. As previously reported by ABC News, Bangladesh has some of the cheapest labor in the world and some of the most deplorable working conditions.

READ the original ABC News report.

Worker Deaths at Factory for Hilfiger Clothes Watch Video

"The industry and parent brands in the U.S. have been warned again and again about the extreme danger to workers in Bangladesh and they have not taken action," said Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, an American group working to improve conditions at factories abroad that make clothes for U.S. companies. Nova said the fire was the most deadly in the history of the Bangladesh apparel industry, and "one of the worst in any country."

WATCH the 'Nightline' report on deadly factories.

Workers' activists went into the burned-out remains today to document which major retailers were using the Tazreen factory.

They say they found labels for Faded Glory, a Wal-Mart private label, along with labels they said traced back to Sears and a clothing company owned by music impresario Sean "Diddy" Combs.

"There's no question that Wal-Mart and the other customers at this factory bear some blame for what happened in this factory," Nova said.

Nova also said that Wal-Mart "knew exactly what's going on at these facilities. They have staff on site in Bangladesh."

Wal-Mart actually warned of dangerous conditions at the Tazreen factory last year, in a letter posted online by the factory owner.

Wal-Mart told ABC News that the company has not yet been able to confirm that it was still making clothes at the factory.

In a statement, Wal-Mart told ABC News, "Our thoughts are with the families of the victims of this tragedy. ... [F]ire safety is a critically important area of Wal-Mart's factory audit program and we have been working across the apparel industry to improve fire safety education and training in Bangladesh.

"As part of this effort, we partnered with several independent organizations to develop and roll out fire safety training tools for factory management and workers. Continued engagement is critical to ensure that reliable, proactive measures are in place to reduce the chance of factory fires. "

Spokespeople for Combs and Sears did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Egypt's Mursi faces judicial revolt over decree

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi faced a rebellion from judges who accused him on Saturday of expanding his powers at their expense, deepening a crisis that has triggered violence in the street and exposed the country's deep divisions.

The Judges' Club, a body representing judges across Egypt, called for a strike during a meeting interrupted with chants demanding the "downfall of the regime" - the rallying cry in the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak last year.

Mursi's political opponents and supporters, representing the divide between newly empowered Islamists and their critics, called for rival demonstrations on Tuesday over a decree that has triggered concern in the West.

Issued late on Thursday, it marks an effort by Mursi to consolidate his influence after he successfully sidelined Mubarak-era generals in August. The decree defends from judicial review decisions taken by Mursi until a new parliament is elected in a vote 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 the body with dissolution, and offers the same protection to the Islamist-controlled upper house of parliament.

Egypt's highest judicial authority, the Supreme Judicial Council, said the decree was an "unprecedented attack" on the independence of the judiciary. The Judges' Club, meeting in Cairo, called on Mursi to rescind it.

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

"I am waiting to see, I hope soon, a very strong statement of condemnation by the U.S., by Europe and by everybody who really cares about human dignity," he said in an interview with Reuters and the Associated Press.

More than 300 people were injured on Friday as protests against the decree turned violent. There were attacks on at least three offices belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement that propelled Mursi to power.

POLARISATION

Liberal, leftist and socialist parties called a big protest for Tuesday to force Mursi to row back on a move they say has exposed the autocratic impulses of a man once jailed by Mubarak.

In a sign of the polarization in the country, the Muslim Brotherhood called its own protests that day to support the president's decree.

Mursi also assigned himself new authority to sack the prosecutor general, who was appointed during the Mubarak era, and appoint a new one. The dismissed prosecutor general, Abdel Maguid Mahmoud, was given a hero's welcome at the Judges' Club.

In open defiance of Mursi, Ahmed al-Zind, head of the club, introduced Mahmoud by his old title.

The Mursi administration has defended the decree on the grounds that it aims to speed up a protracted transition from Mubarak's rule to a new system of democratic government.

Analysts say it reflects the Brotherhood's suspicion towards sections of a judiciary unreformed from Mubarak's days.

"It aims to sideline Mursi's enemies in the judiciary and ultimately to impose and head off any legal challenges to the constitution," said Elijah Zarwan, a fellow with The European Council on Foreign Relations.

"We are in a situation now where both sides are escalating and its getting harder and harder to see how either side can gracefully climb down."

ADVISOR TO MURSI QUITS

Following a day of violence in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and Suez, the smell of tear gas hung over the capital's Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the uprising that toppled Mubarak in 2011 and the stage for more protests on Friday.

Youths clashed sporadically with police near the square, where activists camped out for a second day on Saturday, setting up makeshift barricades to keep out traffic.

Al-Masry Al-Youm, one of Egypt's most widely read dailies, hailed Friday's protest as "The November 23 Intifada", invoking the Arabic word for uprising.

But the ultra-orthodox Salafi Islamist groups that have been pushing for tighter application of Islamic law in the new constitution have rallied behind Mursi's decree.

The Nour Party, one such group, stated its support for the Mursi decree. Al-Gama'a al-Islamiya, which carried arms against the state in the 1990s, said it would save the revolution from what it described as remnants of the Mubarak regime.

Samir Morkos, a Christian assistant to Mursi, had told the president he wanted to resign, said Yasser Ali, Mursi's spokesman. Speaking to the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Morkos said: "I refuse to continue in the shadow of republican decisions that obstruct the democratic transition".

Mursi's decree has been criticized by Western states that earlier this week were full of praise for his role in mediating an end to the eight-day war between Israel and Palestinians.

"The decisions and declarations announced on November 22 raise concerns for many Egyptians and for the international community," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

The European Union urged Mursi to respect the democratic process.

(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy, Marwa Awad, Edmund Blair and Shaimaa Fayed and Reuters TV; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Football: Madrid slump at Betis as title hopes suffer

MADRID: Real Madrid suffered a major setback to their Spanish title hopes when they slumped to a 1-0 defeat at Real Betis on Saturday, handing Barcelona the opportunity to open an 11-point gap over their bitter rivals on Sunday.

Jose Mourinho's side remain eight points behind leaders Barcelona and five off city rivals Atletico who they host in the Madrid derby next Saturday.

Betis midfielder Benat Etxebarria's third goal of the season decided the game on Saturday.

All of his goals have been hit from outside the area, and he proved once again why Vicente del Bosque has been including him in recent Spain squads.

For Betis, the result comes on the back of a disappointing 5-1 defeat to their local rivals Sevilla last Sunday and puts them four points behind Madrid in fifth.

"I try to be fair when my team lose and not look for excuses but it's obvious that the side that plays Wednesday (in the Champions League) should not play on Saturday," said Mourinho.

"It's true that other sides have a control over the calendar that we do not have, but I congratulate Betis who played a great game from start to finish."

Cristiano Ronaldo fired in two shots in the opening exchanges.

However, neither side had taken charge of the game when Benat hit what was to be the winner on 17 minutes.

Betis had played the ball into the corner only for Angel Di Maria to badly hook a clearance that the little midfielder controlled before evading the challenge of Sami Khedira to fire a drive past Iker Casillas.

Madrid continued to enjoy more of the possession and Di Maria twice went close to making amends for his mistake.

When Ronaldo crossed from the left the Argentinian was inches from levelling the game and moments later a Chechu Dorado block looped his goal bound shot over the bar.

Mourinho made two changes at half-time, as he has done on a number of occasions this season.

Luka Modric and Kaka replaced Khedira and Mesut Ozil as the Portuguese coach searched for more urgency going forward.

They started brightly with more purpose and Ronaldo and Kaka forced good saves from Adrian in the Betis goal.

At the other end Juan Carlos hit a venomous free-kick just over the bar.

Then Mourinho made an early last throw of the dice, replacing Di Maria with Jose Callejon on 62 minutes.

Madrid pressed in search of an equaliser leaving spaces that Betis were clever enough to expose and Salva Sevilla and Ruben Castro went close for the home side.

Adrian stood firm again to tip over a whipped free-kick from Ronaldo as Madrid's challenge uncharacteristically fizzled out on a night to forget for Mourinho's side.

Malaga thrashed rivals Valencia 4-0 to move behind Madrid into fourth, level on 22 points with Betis.

Francisco Portillo fired the Costa del Sol side into an early lead on eight minutes and Javier Saviola should have doubled the lead before half-time when put through on goal only to slice his shot wide.

The Argentine made up for that miss by doubling the lead on 75 minutes. Roque Santa Cruz hit a third 10 minutes from time before Isco rounded off a brilliant Malaga performance with a crisply struck shot.

Both teams qualified for the knock-out stages of the Champions League in midweek, but this win puts Malaga four points ahead of Valencia in the fight to qualify for next season's competition.

Also on Saturday there were home wins for Rayo Vallecano and Valladolid over Mallorca and Granada respectively.

Brazilian striker Leo Baptistao was the star for Rayo breaking the deadlock with a low drive on 87 minutes before turning provider two minutes later for Andrija Delibasic.

Former Manchester United striker Manucho powered home his fourth goal of the season with a second-half winner for Valladolid, making it four league goals for the Angolan this season.

On Sunday, Barcelona travel to Levante while Atletico Madrid welcome Sevilla.

-AFP/ac

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Sandy-Hit Stores Seek Small Business Saturday Boost

Nov 24, 2012 3:35pm

                                                                                      (Image Credit: Associated Press)

Superstorm Sandy delivered a one-two punch on small businesses, creating millions of dollars in damage and in turn, delivering a debilitating blow to their revenue.

But on Small Business Saturday, when  shoppers are encouraged to support local businesses,  those mom-and-pop stores are hoping for a rebound.

Donna Scofield and her family have sold toys at their Manhattan shop, called Stationery & Toy World, for the past 25 years. Although the store is located on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where the storm did little damage, $500,000 of Scofield’s inventory, which she kept in her home and three Staten Island warehouses, was destroyed.

“Some days are easier than others,” she told ABC New York station WABC-TV last week. “We’re taking each day at a time.”

PHOTOS: Superstorm Sandy’s Wide Swath of Destruction

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today that more than $45 million in loans, grants and financial assistance would be made available to businesses like Scofield’s that were hurt by the storm.

“Getting New York City small businesses back on their feet is key to helping our economy recover from Sandy,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “The capital provided through this program will help businesses purchase supplies, make repairs, and get back up and running.”

Small Business Saturday, which is going on its third year, is being celebrated nationwide.

Andrea Evans, the owner of Pink Boutique in Phoenix, said stores like hers don’t stand a chance with shoppers on Black Friday.

“Everyone’s up so early, and they’re going more for, you know, appliances and TVs and stuff like that, and I think by the time noon hits, they’re done,” she told ABC News Radio.

Over the past two decades, small and new businesses have created two out of every three net new jobs in the United States, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

It is estimated that half of all working Americans either own a small business or are employed by one.

SHOWS: World News

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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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