Koop, who transformed surgeon general post, dies


With his striking beard and starched uniform, former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop became one of the most recognizable figures of the Reagan era — and one of the most unexpectedly enduring.


His nomination in 1981 met a wall of opposition from women's groups and liberal politicians, who complained President Ronald Reagan selected Koop, a pediatric surgeon and evangelical Christian from Philadelphia, only because of his conservative views, especially his staunch opposition to abortion.


Soon, though, he was a hero to AIDS activists, who chanted "Koop, Koop" at his appearances but booed other officials. And when he left his post in 1989, he left behind a landscape where AIDS was a top research and educational priority, smoking was considered a public health hazard, and access to abortion remained largely intact.


Koop, who turned his once-obscure post into a bully pulpit for seven years during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and who surprised both ends of the political spectrum by setting aside his conservative personal views on issues such as homosexuality and abortion to keep his focus sharply medical, died Monday at his home in Hanover, N.H. He was 96.


An assistant at Koop's Dartmouth College institute, Susan Wills, confirmed his death but didn't disclose its cause.


Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as surgeon general a decade ago under President George W. Bush, said Koop was a mentor to him and preached the importance of staying true to the science even if it made politicians uncomfortable.


"He set the bar high for all who followed in his footsteps," Carmona said.


Although the surgeon general has no real authority to set government policy, Koop described himself as "the health conscience of the country" and said modestly just before leaving his post that "my only influence was through moral suasion."


A former pipe smoker, Koop carried out a crusade to end smoking in the United States; his goal had been to do so by 2000. He said cigarettes were as addictive as heroin and cocaine. And he shocked his conservative supporters when he endorsed condoms and sex education to stop the spread of AIDS.


Chris Collins, a vice president of amFAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, said many people don't realize what an important role Koop played in the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.


"At the time, he really changed the national conversation, and he showed real courage in pursuing the duties of his job," Collins said.


Even after leaving office, Koop continued to promote public health causes, from preventing childhood accidents to better training for doctors.


"I will use the written word, the spoken word and whatever I can in the electronic media to deliver health messages to this country as long as people will listen," he promised.


In 1996, he rapped Republican presidential hopeful Bob Dole for suggesting that tobacco was not invariably addictive, saying Dole's comments "either exposed his abysmal lack of knowledge of nicotine addiction or his blind support of the tobacco industry."


Although Koop eventually won wide respect with his blend of old-fashioned values, pragmatism and empathy, his nomination met staunch opposition.


Foes noted that Koop traveled the country in 1979 and 1980 giving speeches that predicted a progression "from liberalized abortion to infanticide to passive euthanasia to active euthanasia, indeed to the very beginnings of the political climate that led to Auschwitz, Dachau and Belsen."


But Koop, a devout Presbyterian, was confirmed after he told a Senate panel he would not use the surgeon general's post to promote his religious ideology. He kept his word.


In 1986, he issued a frank report on AIDS, urging the use of condoms for "safe sex" and advocating sex education as early as third grade.


He also maneuvered around uncooperative Reagan administration officials in 1988 to send an educational AIDS pamphlet to more than 100 million U.S. households, the largest public health mailing ever.


Koop personally opposed homosexuality and believed sex should be saved for marriage. But he insisted that Americans, especially young people, must not die because they were deprived of explicit information about how HIV was transmitted.


Koop further angered conservatives by refusing to issue a report requested by the Reagan White House, saying he could not find enough scientific evidence to determine whether abortion has harmful psychological effects on women.


Koop maintained his personal opposition to abortion, however. After he left office, he told medical students it violated their Hippocratic oath. In 2009, he wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, urging that health care legislation include a provision to ensure doctors and medical students would not be forced to perform abortions. The letter briefly set off a security scare because it was hand delivered.


Koop served as chairman of the National Safe Kids Campaign and as an adviser to President Bill Clinton's health care reform plan.


At a congressional hearing in 2007, Koop spoke about political pressure on the surgeon general post. He said Reagan was pressed to fire him every day, but Reagan would not interfere.


Koop, worried that medicine had lost old-fashioned caring and personal relationships between doctors and patients, opened his institute at Dartmouth to teach medical students basic values and ethics. He also was a part-owner of a short-lived venture, drkoop.com, to provide consumer health care information via the Internet.


Koop was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, the only son of a Manhattan banker and the nephew of a doctor. He said by age 5 he knew he wanted to be a surgeon and at age 13 he practiced his skills on neighborhood cats.


He attended Dartmouth, where he received the nickname Chick, short for "chicken Koop." It stuck for life.


Koop received his medical degree at Cornell Medical College, choosing pediatric surgery because so few surgeons practiced it.


In 1938, he married Elizabeth Flanagan, the daughter of a Connecticut doctor. They had four children, one of whom died in a mountain climbing accident when he was 20.


Koop was appointed surgeon-in-chief at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia and served as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.


He pioneered surgery on newborns and successfully separated three sets of conjoined twins. He won national acclaim by reconstructing the chest of a baby born with the heart outside the body.


Although raised as a Baptist, he was drawn to a Presbyterian church near the hospital, where he developed an abiding faith. He began praying at the bedside of his young patients — ignoring the snickers of some of his colleagues.


Koop's wife died in 2007, and he married Cora Hogue in 2010.


He was by far the best-known surgeon general and for decades afterward was still a recognized personality.


"I was walking down the street with him one time" about five years ago, recalled Dr. George Wohlreich, director of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, a medical society with which Koop had longstanding ties. "People were yelling out, 'There goes Dr. Koop!' You'd have thought he was a rock star."


___


Ring reported from Montpelier, Vt. Cass reported from Washington. AP Medical Writers Lauran Neergaard in Washington and Mike Stobbe in New York contributed to this report.


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Huge protest vote pushes Italy towards deadlock


ROME (Reuters) - A huge protest vote by Italians enraged by economic hardship and political corruption pushed the country towards deadlock after an election on Monday, with voting projections showing no coalition strong enough to form a government.


With more than two thirds of the vote counted, the projections suggested the center left could have a slim lead in the race for the lower house of parliament.


But no party or likely coalition appeared likely to be able to form a majority in the upper house or Senate, creating a deadlocked parliament - the opposite of the stable result that Italy desperately needs to tackle a deep recession, rising unemployment and a massive public debt.


Such an outcome has the potential to revive fears over the euro zone debt crisis, with prospects of a long period of uncertainty in the zone's third largest economy.


Italian financial markets took fright after rising earlier on hopes for a stable and strong center-left led government, probably backed by outgoing technocrat premier Mario Monti.


The projected result was a stunning success for Genoese comic Beppe Grillo, leader of the populist 5-Star Movement, who toured the country in his first national election campaign hurling obscenity-laced insults against a discredited political class.


With vague election promises and a team of almost totally unknown candidates, the shaggy haired comedian channeled pure public anger against what many see as a sclerotic and useless political system.


The likely result was also a humiliating slap in the face for colorless center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, who appeared to have thrown away a 10-point opinion poll lead less than two months ago against Silvio Berlusconi's center right.


Berlusconi, 76, who staged an extraordinary comeback from sex and corruption scandals since diving into the campaign in December, appeared to be leading in the Senate race, but Grillo's projected bloc of Senators would leave him well short of a majority.


Projections gave Bersani's center-left alliance a lead of less than one percentage point in the lower house. If confirmed, that would be enough to control the chamber because of election laws that guarantee a 54 percent majority to the party with the largest share of the vote.


In the Senate the picture was different. The latest projection from RAI state television showed Berlusconi's bloc winning 112 Senate seats, the center-left 105 and Grillo 64, with Monti languishing on only 20 after a failed campaign which never took off. The Senate majority is 158.


Berlusconi, a master politician and communicator, wooed voters with a blitz of television appearances and promises to refund a hated housing tax despite accusations from opponents that this was an impossible vote buying trick.


Grillo has attacked all sides in the campaign and ruled out a formal alliance with any group although it was not immediately known how he would react to his stunning success or how his supporters would behave in parliament.


DANGER OF NEW ELECTION


A bitter campaign, fought largely over economic issues, made some investors fear a return of the kind of debt crisis that took the euro zone close to disaster and brought the technocrat Monti to office, replacing Berlusconi, in 2011.


The projected results showed more than half of Italians had voted for the anti-euro platforms of Berlusconi and Grillo.


Officials from both center and left warned that the looming deadlock could make Italy ungovernable and force new elections.


A center-left government either alone or ruling with Monti had been seen by investors as the best guarantee of measures to combat a deep recession and stagnant growth in Italy, which is pivotal to stability in the currency union.


The benchmark spread between Italian 10-year bonds and their German equivalent widened from below 260 basis points to above 300 and the Italian share index lost all its previous gains after projections of the Senate result.


"These projections suggest that we are heading for an ungovernable situation", said Mario Secchi, a candidate for Monti's centrist movement.


Stefano Fassina, chief economic official for Bersani's center-left, said: "The scenario from the projections we have seen so far suggests there will be no stable government and we would need to return to the polls."


If the results are confirmed the only possibility looks like a "grand coalition" combining right and left, like the one Monti led for a year. But politicians said before the vote this could not work for long and would struggle to work decisively.


Monti helped save Italy from a debt crisis when Rome's borrowing costs were spiraling out of control, but few Italians now see him as the savior of the country, in its longest recession for 20 years.


Grillo's movement rode a huge wave of voter anger about both the pain of Monti's austerity program and a string of political and corporate scandals. It had particular appeal for a frustrated younger generation shut out of full-time jobs.


"I'm sick of the scandals and the stealing," said Paolo Gentile, a 49-year-old Rome lawyer who voted for 5-Star.


"We need some young, new people in parliament, not the old parties that are totally discredited."


Berlusconi, a billionaire media tycoon, exploited anger against Monti's austerity program, accusing him of being a puppet of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but in many areas Grillo was a bigger beneficiary of public discontent.


Italy desperately needs a strong, reform-minded government to revive growth after two decades of stagnation and address problems ranging from record youth unemployment to a dysfunctional justice system and a bloated public sector.


Italians wrung their hands at prospects of an inconclusive result that will mean more delays to these reforms.


"It's a classic result. Typically Italian. It means the country is not united. It is an expression of a country that does not work. I knew this would happen," said 36-year-old Rome office worker Roberta Federica.


Another office worker, Elisabetta Carlotta, 46, shook her head in disbelief. "We can't go on like this," she said.


(Additional reporting by Stefano Bernabei, Steve Scherer, Gavin Jones, Naomi O'Leary and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome and Lisa Jucca in Milan; Writing by Barry Moody; Editing by Peter Graff)



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NY Times to rebrand Herald Tribune in its own image






NEW YORK: For a decade the International Herald Tribune has been the global edition of the New York Times in all but name. On Monday, the parent company made it official.

In a statement, the New York Times Company said the 125-year-old offshoot of the defunct New York Herald Tribune will be rechristened sometime this fall as the International New York Times.

"The digital revolution has turned the New York Times from being a great American newspaper to becoming one of the world's best-known news providers," said New York Times Company chief executive Mark Thompson.

"We want to exploit that opportunity," said the former BBC boss, adding that a new website for international readers is also in the pipeline.

The International Herald Tribune (IHT) was co-owned by the New York Times and the Washington Post from 1967 until 2003, when the Times became its sole proprietor and restyled it as "the global edition of the New York Times."

It almost exclusively showcased New York Times content in a bid to appeal to high-earning anglophone globe-trotters in competition with global editions of the Wall Street Journal and Britain's Financial Times.

Sold in more than 160 countries and territories, it has a daily circulation of more than 226,000, an IHT spokeswoman told AFP by email.

Prior to 1967 the IHT was known as the Paris edition of the New York Herald Tribune -- immortalized in Jean-Luc Godard's New Wave classic "Breathless" by Jean Seberg in a tight yellow T-shirt hawking copies on the Champs-Elysees.

The New York Times published an international edition under its own name from 1946 until it bought into "the Trib" and helped oversee its development as a global media brand through the use of satellite printing plants.

"I have to say I'm sorry to see the Herald Tribune go," said Charles Robertson, author of "The International Herald Tribune: The First 100 Years" and an IHT reader since his childhood in Switzerland.

"I suppose, once the Times pushed out the Washington Post, it was probably inevitable," Robertson, a professor emeritus at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, told AFP.

News of the rebranding came less than three weeks after the New York Times Company posted a 2012 group profit of $133 million, compared with a loss of $39.7 million in 2011.

It gave no breakdown of profit or loss figures for its newspapers, but earlier this month it said it was putting the Boston Globe and other New England assets up for sale to focus on its eponymous core product.

"The New York Times is a very strong brand in the United States (and) there are enough people globally who still read it," said Joscelyn MacKay, senior securities analyst at Morningstar in Chicago.

"The content itself will have to become a bit more global ... but I think it is a definite feasible target for them," she told AFP.

"Whether or not it's going to move the needle over the long run remains to be seen, given the challenges that print media faces."

The International New York Times "will be edited from Hong Kong, Paris, London and New York," according to Monday's statement, and new investments will be made "in print, web and mobile platforms."

IHT spokeswoman Vicky Taylor, in an email from London, said there are "currently no plans to cut staff numbers or offer buyouts."

Half of those on the IHT payroll are in France, where labor costs are higher than the United States or Britain.

"In many ways it will be business as usual at the IHT because as an organization we've already taken significant steps to align with the New York Times to the benefit of readers and advertisers," Taylor said.

"Making the full transition to a multi-platform International New York Times is the next logical step."

-AFP/ac



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94% women feel unsafe travelling alone in India, survey finds

NEW DELHI: The Delhi gang-rape incident has not just bruised the image of the national Capital, but the country as well. A travel survey has found that 94% women feel unsafe traveling alone, while 84% voted for Delhi as the most unsafe metro. The findings come at a time when an increasing number of women admitted that they preferred to travel alone both for work and leisure.

TripAdvisor, a leading travel site, surveyed 500 women to find that 84% women claimed to have travelled alone for leisure, business or both. The respondents were a mix of working women, including a number of self employed, as well as homemakers.

The survey also brings to light the disturbing fact that 94% women worry about their safety — always or at least sometimes — when they travel alone within India. Among women who said they travel alone on work, 37% agreed that they don't mind travelling alone but worry about their safety.

Even more dismal is the fact that more women travelers have a better sense of safety overseas than in India. Around 24% respondents said they worry when they travel within India but not when they travel to international destinations, while only 6% suggested otherwise.

Despite the fear and worry, only 33% women said they carry any item for self defense when travelling to a new or unfamiliar city.

Due to the recent spate of crime against women, Delhi has gained notoriety with 84% women claiming it to be the most unsafe metro in the country. Mumbai came out on top as the city considered safest by 34% women. Ahmedabad and Bangalore were tied at a distant second with 12% each.

Among the states, Delhi NCR again topped the hall of shame with 60% women voting it as the most unsafe. At a distant second is Bihar (18%), followed by Uttar Pradesh (8%). A majority of 27% respondents said they considered Maharashtra to be the safest state, followed by Gujarat (15%) and Karnataka (10%).

According to TripAdvisor country manager Nikhil Ganju, "The rise in women travelling alone on business is understandable fallout of the increase in the number of working women. The real surprise is the significant number of Indian women who are choosing to travel solo on vacation. Another interesting insight that highlights a latent opportunity for the hospitality sector is that 78% respondents said they would prefer to stay in an all women's hotel or on a women exclusive floor in a hotel, when travelling alone."

In a break from tradition, Indian women enjoy traveling alone for leisure. Among women who travel alone, 41% respondents said they actually enjoyed travelling alone for work. In addition, 76% said they enjoy going solo on holidays.

And lack of company is definitely not a complaint. In fact, majority (58%) said their biggest incentive for solo vacations was that they could do all the things they want without having to worry about what someone else wants. Around 34% women indicated they loved travelling alone as it was adventurous and exciting. Another 32% claimed the thrill of managing everything by themselves was a motivator as well.

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Arias Had No Remorse: Prosecutor












Accused murderer Jodi Arias was confronted today with a barrage of lies she told after she killed her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander, but she twice defiantly declared that she was innocent of first degree murder.


"It's the truth. I'm innocent of that charge," Arias said to prosecutor Juan Martinez, referring to the criminal charge that could carry the threat of the death sentence if she is found guilty.


Arias admitted on the stand that she lied for months and years after killing her ex-boyfriend, telling investigators and friends that she had nothing to do with Alexander's grisly death, in which he was stabbed 27 times, his throat was slashed, and he was shot in the head.


Eventually, Arias confessed to the killing, but claims it was in self-defense.


Today, prosecutors hammered Arias about her lying, getting her to admit to lies she told and playing video of her police interrogation and a TV interview in which she told stories that she has since conceded were not true.



See the Evidence in the Jodi Arias Murder Trial


In an interview with NBC's "48 Hours," Arias said she smiled for her mug shot partly because she knew she was innocent.


"You truly believe that you didn't do anything wrong here?" the prosecutor asked incredulously.








Jodi Arias Testimony: Prosecution's Cross-Examination Watch Video









Jodi Arias Remains Calm Under Cross-Examination Watch Video









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





"I believed that I knew that I was not guilty of first-degree murder and I did plan to be dead," she replied, a reference to her claim that she planned to commit suicide.


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


During a day of contentious questions and answers between Martinez and Arias, the prosecutor used Arias' own diary entries and text messages to show contradictions of her claims that Alexander was abusive toward her, that he hit her and tried to choke her.


Arias said that in early 2008, Alexander hit her in the neck while they were riding in his car. Martinez showed a diary entry describing the day they rode in the car, and there was no mention of physical violence.


"This entry does not corroborate what you told us happened in the car," he said. "With regard to the (choking incident) you didn't call police. You didn't tell anyone about it. There is no corroboration anywhere in your journal. All we have is your word. Are there photos? Any other writings? Is there a police report? Is there a medical report?"


Arias said there was no evidence that the alleged abuse happened, except for her testimony in court.


"There's no evidence because it didn't happen, did it ma'am?" Martinez yelled.


Arias said that she had told one person about the abuse she claims she suffered at the hands of Alexander, and that it was another ex-boyfriend, Matthew McCartney. But when pressed for details about the conversation in which she told him, Arias became confused and changed her answers.


"I saw (Matt) a few days later, and he called me out on the bruises," Arias testified.


"Where?"


"Over the phone, just days after I think," she said.


"Isn't it true he wouldn't have been able to see your injuries because you were talking over the telephone?"


"No, I was in Yreka (California) by then. I stopped to see Matt after I left Arizona. Let's see, I believe it was two or three days after. I'm not saying there was no telephone call, (but) it was at his house. I went and saw Matt, and some make-up wore off, and he confronted me on (the bruises)."


Martinez said that McCartney has denied the conversation ever took place.






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FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Cuban leader Raul Castro announces he will retire in 2018


HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban leader Raul Castro announced on Sunday he would step down from power after his second term as president ends in 2018, and the new parliament named a 52-year-old rising star to become his first vice president and most visible successor.


Castro, 81, made the announcement in a nationally broadcast speech shortly after the Cuban National Assembly elected him to a second five-year term in the opening session of the new parliament.


"This will be my last term," Castro said.


In a surprise move, the new parliament named as his first vice president Miguel Diaz-Canel, a member of the political bureau who rose through the party ranks in the provinces to become the most visible possible successor to Castro. Diaz-Canel would succeed Castro if he cannot serve his full term.


The new government will almost certainly be the last headed up by the Castro brothers and their followers who have ruled Cuba since they swept down from the mountains in the 1959 revolution.


Raul Castro starts his second term immediately, leaving him free to retire in 2018, aged 86.


Former president Fidel Castro joined the meeting, in a rare public appearance. Since falling ill in 2006 and ceding the presidency to his brother, the elder Castro, 86, has given up official positions except as a deputy in the National Assembly.


Governments, Cuba watchers and Cubans were keenly observing to see if any new, and younger, faces might appear among the Council of State members, in particular its first vice president and five vice presidents.


Their hopes were partially fulfilled with Diaz-Canel's ascension. He replaces former first vice president, Jose Machado Ventura, 82, who will continue on as one of five vice presidents. Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdes, 80, and Gladys Bejerano, 66, the comptroller general were also re-elected as vice presidents.


Two other newcomers, Mercedes López Acea, 48, first secretary of the Havana communist party, and Salvador Valdes Mesa, 64, head of the official labor federation, also earned vice presidential slots.


Former vice president Esteban Lazo, member of the political bureau of the Communist Party, 68, left his post upon being named parliament president on Sunday, replacing Ricardo Alarcon, who served for 20 years.


Six of the Council's top seven members sit on the party's political bureau which is also lead by Castro.


The National Assembly meets for just a few weeks each year and delegates its legislative powers between sessions to the 31-member Council of State, which also functions as the nation's executive through the Council of Ministers it appoints.


Eighty percent of the 612 deputies, who were elected in an uncontested vote February 3 and with an average age under 50, were born after the Revolution.


(Editing by David Adams, Stacey Joyce and Vicki Allen)



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Golf: Kuchar downs Mahan to win WGC Match Play crown






MARANA: Matt Kuchar denied Hunter Mahan a World Golf Championships Match Play Championship title repeat, triumphing over his fellow American 2 and 1 in Sunday's final at Dove Mountain.

Kuchar, eliminated by Mahan in the quarter-finals of the elite 64-man event last year, avenged that defeat as he prevented Mahan from joining Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back winners of the title.

Mahan was the first defending champion to return to the final since 2006 winner Geoff Ogilvy of Australia was runner-up in 2007.

Kuchar never trailed in the championship match, and in fact trailed for just three holes the entire week. The victory was his first in a WGC event and his fifth on the US PGA Tour.

Australian Jason Day was third, defeating former champion Ian Poulter of England in the consolation final 1-up.

Kuchar's triumph capped a wild week in the Arizona desert, where a snowstorm that halted first-round play on Wednesday was just the first surprise.

When the first round was finally completed on Thursday, the top two players in the world, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, were on their way home, and the second round saw the next four seeds -- Luke Donald, Louis Oosthuizen and Justin Rose -- eliminated as well.

The delays, which also included some morning frost delays, made for long days. But after the third round and quarter-finals were contested on Saturday, Poulter was looking a good bet to challenge for the title.

But Poulter, whose match play credentials include an unblemished Ryder Cup singles record as well as a triumph in this event in 2010 and in the World Match Play Championship in Spain in 2011, fell to Mahan in the semi-finals on Sunday morning, when a biting wind made for tough going.

"It was tricky," the Englishman said. "It was a lot windier today. Hunter never gave me too many opportunities. A couple of chip shots weren't quite right, couple of bunker shots weren't quite right. I'm a bit disappointed I didn't press him more."

Mahan never trailed en route to a 4 and 3 victory over Poulter. He went 1-up at the second hole, and after Poulter squared the match with a par at the fourth, the American immediately regained the advantage with a birdie at the fifth and from there never relinquished the lead.

Kuchar rolled in a five-footer for birdie at the 15th to close out a 4 and 3 semi-final win over Day, who was unable to make his 22-footer to extend the match.

- AFP/jc



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BJP eyes votes with Rs 500cr largesse to mutts in Karnataka

BANGALORE: In the past five years, the BJP has doled out several goodies to mutts — totalling over Rs 500 crore. The party may be expecting sweet returns in the forthcoming elections but the mutt heads are singing a different tune: that of being apolitical.

The largesse has come under severe criticism from the opposition, but the beneficiaries defend the largesse and dispute the claim that government money is intended to create a vote-bank among devotees.

"What's wrong in the government giving money to mutts? But the government should ensure the money is spent on social causes. People may follow and abide by mutt diktats on various social issues, but it is foolish to think mutts direct people to vote for a particular party,'' said Sri Channabasava Shivacharya Swamiji of the 600-year-old Harkud mutt in Bidar district.

Discarding the theory that mutts have their own vote-bank, the seer said: "Most mutts are aloof from politics. Followers of a particular mutt may revolt against a particular politician if he or she acts against the mutt's interests. But this should not be generalized or construed as political influence of a mutt,'' he explained.

Shivananda Shivacharya Swamiji of Sonna mutt in Gulbarga district endorses the Harkud seer. "There are many mutts in the state which are involved in the social and educational uplift of the people. If the government gives some money, it adds to the cause.'' He detailed how his mutt is involved in imparting education and protecting traditional vocations in villages which are on the verge of extinction.

Asked if mutts influence voters, the seer said: "It's not true. No mutt is involved in politics. These days, who listens to religious heads when it comes to politics?''

Jayamrutnjaya Swamiji of Kudalasangama Panchamashali mutt believes they should primarily depend on followers for funds. However, he prefers giving money for the mutts' social activities and renovation of temples.

Over Rs 500 crore in 5 years

Former CM BS Yeddyurappa was generous in giving donations to mutts and temples. An RTI query has revealed that he had granted close to Rs 300 crore in his 34-month tenure. His predecessors continued the practice.

In the 2012-13 budget, D V Sadananda Gowda released Rs 75 crore in grants to mutts and different communities. With elections around the corner, this year, Jagadish Shettar donned the role of Santa Claus and earmarked more than Rs 200 crore for religious institutions. Initially, he had earmarked Rs 182.5 crore for various caste denominations, including the Lingayat mutts. Before getting the budget passed in legislature, he doled out more goodies.

Earmarking funds for mutts is not the CM's initiative, most legislators support it. It was no secret that legislators, especially those belonging to the BJP, made a representation to the CM and got funds allocated to mutts and organizations in their constituencies. The CM cited a few legislators and said he had made the allocations based on their request.

However, some opposition leaders are against giving money to mutts. "How can you call a budget good if it offers goodies to mutts? If we come to power in the next elections, we will present a new budget and discontinue the practice,'' said a senior Congress leader.

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Oscars 2013: Live Blog of the Academy Awards


Feb 24, 2013 1:13pm


7: 52 p.m. ET: “Les Mis” star and Best Actor nominee Hugh Jackman just picked up pre-show host Kristin Chenoweth on the red carpet and said she weighs less than an Oscar. Not really though…Each nearly 14-inch-high statue weighs 8.5 pounds and costs $500 to make. Get more Oscar trivia here.


7:40 p.m. ET: If there’s one star you can count on to look fabulous, it’s Jennifer Aniston.  She’s in a Valentino red strapless gown and has fiance Justin Theroux at her side. They’re in the running for Hollywood’s hottest couple on the red carpet.


7:38 p.m. ET: Bradley Cooper brought his mom as his date. She’s rocking a shrug with serious feathers and what look like sneakers with her gown. Cooper is up for Best Actor in “Silver Linings Playbook.”


7:34 p.m. ET: Reese Witherspoon is in head to toe Louis Vuitton. The presenter’s black and royal blue gown with side-swept hairdo scream old Hollywood glamor. Click here.


7: 28 p.m. ET: Fashion miss: Jane Fonda is slightly blinding in bright yellow.


7: 24 p.m. ET: Best actress nominee Naomi Watts is in a gunmetal Giorgio Armani gown in grey sequins. Does she make your best dressed list? See more arrivals here.


7:20 p.m. ET: Anne Hathaway’s dress may raise eyebrows tonight. The “Les Miserables” star is in a backless, halter dress that appears slightly sheer on the red carpet.


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Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images


7:18 p.m. ET: We can’t get enough of Quvenzhane Wallis. The “Beasts of the Southern Wild” star has her mom’s permission to stay out a little bit later tonight, she told Lara Spencer on the red carpet.


7:15 p.m. ET: “I feel super tucked in,” Amanda Seyfried said of the corset in her Alexander McQueen gown. “I can’t sit down.” The “Les Miserables” star is performing tonight. Hope she can breathe on stage.


7:07 p.m. ET: Another star goes strapless. Jennifer Lawrence, who’s up for Best Actress in “Silver Linings Playbook,” is in a blush Dior Haute Couture gown with a full skirt.


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Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images



7:01 p.m. ET:
ABC’s pre-show is kicking off! “Red carpet is 500 feet long. That’s about 2,000 of me,” Chenoweth joked. Tune into ABC now and get a behind-the-scenes look via Backstage Pass on the Oscar App.


6:56 p.m. ET: The red carpet is packed, but not everyone is making it through the notorious L.A. traffic. Mark Ruffalo is running late. The actor, who’s presenting tonight, tweeted to the Academy: “Dear @TheAcademy. We are running a good deal behind would you mind starting a little later this year? Mark and Sunrise Ruffalo.”



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Credit: ABC News



6:49 p.m. ET: Presenter Kerry Washington is in Miu Miu. The “Django Unchained” and star “Scandal” star always keeps us guessing and never fails to impress.

The Best Apps for Hollywood’s Big Night


6:44 p.m. ET: Who are you most excited to see on the red carpet? What will be the meme of the night? Angelia Jolie’s right leg stole the show last year and Twitter is reminding us. “1 year ago today you met the glorious thing that is ME #neverforget,” @Angelina Jolie’sLeg posted.  


6:35 p.m. ET: The reigning “Sexiest Man Alive” Channing Tatum and a pregnant Jenna Dewan are both glowing on the red carpet. See them canoodling here.


6:25 p.m. ET: Amy Adams looks ethereal in a seafoam green Oscar de la Renta strapless dress. She’s up for Best Supporting Actress for “The Master.”


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Credit: Instagram/TheAcademy


PHOTOS: Oscar Red Carpet Arrivals


6:22 p.m. ET: Cutest moment of the red carpet so far, as captured by the Academy. Nine-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis, nominated for “Beasts of the Southern Wild” shows off her puppy-shaped purse to fellow Best Actress nominee Jessica Chastain. It’s reportedly named Sammy after her dog at home.


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Credit: @TheAcademy/Twitter


6:10 p.m. ET: The winners have arrived, WABC’s Sandy Kenyon reports! In these briefcases are the top secret ballots from the Academy. Read more here.


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Credit: Twitter/SandyKenyon7



5:56 p.m. ET:
“GMA” anchors Robin Roberts and Lara Spencer smile backstage before the red carpet heats up.



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Credit: ABC


5:42 p.m. ET: ABC pre-show hosts Kristin Chenoweth and Kelly Rowland have arrived on the red carpet and are looking fabulous in black and white.


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Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images


5:30 p.m. ET: See what the stars see as they walk down the grand staircase to the red carpet at the Dolby Theatre. This cool 360 view is courtesy of the Academy.


5:15 p.m. ET: Get your Oscar party on. Impress your friends with these movie-themed recipes and cocktails. We could go for some Spinach “Argo-choke Dip” right about now…


Oscar 2013: Movie-Themed Recipes
9 Cocktails for Your Oscar Party


5:00 p.m. ET: “GMA” anchor Robin Roberts is back and looking better than ever! Roberts, who returned to the morning show Wednesday after undergoing a bone marrow transplant to treat MDS, will be on the red carpet tonight. “To my wonderful, beloved #TeamRobin … This one’s for you. XO,” she tweeted. She’s in a cobalt blue velvet halter gown from designer Marc Bouwer.


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Credit: Twitter/RobinRoberts


4:44 p.m. ET: We’re less than an hour away from red carpet arrivals. “Good Morning America” anchor Lara Spencer is getting red-carpet ready to host the Oscar pre-show.  “Hair + Make-up = Butterflies!” @LaraSpencer tweeted. Spencer, actress Kristin Chenoweth, Entertainment Weekly’s Jess Cagle and singer Kelly Rowland will have interviews with all of the stars, starting at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ABC.


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Credit: Twitter/LaraSpencer



1:15 p.m. ET: Hollywood’s biggest night of the year is officially here: the Oscars. Funnyman Seth MacFarlane is hosting the 85th Annual Academy Awards and we’ll be covering all of the big winners, best moments, surprises, and all-important red carpet arrivals. Refresh for the latest updates all night long.


We are just hours away from seeing the gorgeous gowns and finding out who’s going home with those coveted statuettes. It’s not too late to make your picks and predictions on our interactive Oscar ballot. To get up to speed before the festivities begin, check out our complete Oscars coverage.


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Credit: Bob D'Amico/ABC


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7 Things to Know About Seth MacFarlane


PHOTOS: The Best Oscar Dresses of All Time


TRIVIA: 15 Things You Don’t Know About the Oscars


PHOTOS: Top 30 Worst Oscar Looks Ever


Backstage Pass: Download the Oscars App for insider views from the red carpet and behind the scenes. Click here to learn how!

Read More..