Italy's Monti unveils alliance, rules out minister role

By Catherine Hornby

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti on Friday unveiled the alliance he will lead into February's parliamentary election and said he was unlikely to agree to serve as a minister in another premier's cabinet after the vote.

The 69-year-old former European commissioner, who replaced Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister in November 2011 when Italy was scrambling to avert a financial crisis, announced last week that he would run for a second term.

Monti said on Friday the grouping would be called "With Monti for Italy", whose logo is a circular symbol with the colours of the Italian flag and his surname in the centre.

"I hope that (the new alliance) helps improve politics, and that it renews the interest of those Italians who had turned their back on politics, involving them actively again in public affairs," Monti said.

Opinion surveys have shown that up to 50 percent of the electorate plan to abstain or are undecided in the February 24-25 election that is a three-way battle between rightist Berlusconi, Monti and centre-left frontrunner Pier Luigi Bersani.

Focusing the campaign strongly around Monti could be a risky tactic, with his popularity dented by the tough tax hikes and spending cuts he has introduced over the past 13 months. Roughly 60 percent of Italians are against the idea of him standing for a second term, polls show.

A poll by the Tecne research institute released on SkyTG24 on Friday showed that Monti's grouping would likely attract slightly more than 12 percent of the vote.

That compares with 40 percent for his rivals on the left, Bersani's Democratic Party (PD) and its coalition ally Left, Ecology, Freedom; and 25 percent for the most likely centre-right coalition of Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) and the Northern League, the poll showed.

FUTURE ROLE

Monti, who wants to form a broad coalition of pro-Europe, pro-reform parties after the election, said on Friday that his goal was to continue as prime minister, and he was unlikely to accept a job in someone else's cabinet.

When asked if he would consider being, for example, the economy minister under another prime minister, he told La 7 television channel: "I believe not."

"I do not think I would have the motivation to commit myself to serve a government that did not agree with me on at least 98 percent of policy," he said.

He told La 7 he would be open to a three-way television debate with Berlusconi and Bersani.

Monti plans to lead a single alliance in the upper house, while three separate blocs would run as a coalition with the economics professor as their leader in the lower house.

One will be a list of candidates who have not before participated in politics, to be called "A Civic Choice: With Monti for Italy".

The other two will be already existing centrist parties, the Catholic UDC led by Pier Ferdinando Casini, and FLI led by Chamber of Deputies President Gianfranco Fini.

The different groupings in the two houses would maximise the alliance's political power while preserving the separate identities of the centrist parties that are backing Monti.

Monti said the names of parliamentary candidates running for his alliance were due to be unveiled by Tuesday. He added candidates would be closely scrutinised to rule out any conflicts of interest or ties to organised crime.

(Additional reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Alison Williams)

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Julia Roberts to star in HBO film on early AIDS epidemic

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Julia Roberts will star as a paraplegic physician treating patients early in the AIDS epidemic in the stage-to-screen adaptation of the Tony Award-winning drama "The Normal Heart," U.S. cable television network HBO said on Friday.

"The Normal Heart," set to air on HBO in 2014, tells the story of the dawning of the epidemic in 1980s New York.

Oscar-winner Roberts plays Dr. Emma Brookner, who treats several early patients infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS. Co-star Mark Ruffalo plays Ned Weeks, an eyewitness to how the disease ravaged the city's gay community.

The film will be directed by "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy and was adapted by the play's author, Larry Kramer, an early advocate for AIDS prevention and care.

"Ryan has assembled an extraordinary cast to bring Larry Kramer's landmark theatrical achievement to the screen for the first time, and we couldn't be more thrilled to bring this important film to HBO," Michael Lombardo, HBO's president of programming, said in a statement.

"The Normal Heart" debuted on stage in 1985 in New York and was revived on Broadway in 2011, winning the Tony Award for best revival.

The movie version was originally envisioned as big screen release before HBO took it up as a television film.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Will Dunham)

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Vice President Maduro back in Venezuela, no news on ailing Chavez

By Daniel Wallis and Diego Ore

CARACAS (Reuters) - Vice President Nicolas Maduro returned to Venezuela on Thursday after visiting Hugo Chavez in hospital in Cuba, but gave no new details on the cancer-stricken president as rumors grow about his condition.

Flanked by senior government figures including Diosdado Cabello, the head of the National Assembly, Maduro toured a coffee production plant in Caracas - the type of visit that the president made frequently before he fell ill.

Chavez, 58, has not been seen in public nor heard from in more than three weeks and officials say the socialist leader is in delicate condition after suffering complications following his fourth cancer operation in just 18 months. But they have offered very few details.

"In the last few hours we were with President Hugo Chavez, bringing him the encouragement and strength of the Venezuelan people," Maduro said on Thursday. He said Cabello, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez and Chavez's elder brother Adan, among others, had all been with the president in the Cuban hospital.

Venezuelan bonds rallied to 2008 highs on Thursday on rumors about Chavez's health.

In scenes that recalled Chavez's hours-long televised visits to building sites, hospitals and oil refineries, Maduro told workers at the nationalized Fama de America factory that there was no "transition" taking place in the country.

"The only transition in Venezuela is the transition to socialism," he said in comments carried live by state television.

"It began six years ago, ordered by Comandante Hugo Chavez as chief and president, elected, re-elected and ratified, much as it pains the bourgeois hucksters and the right, who have done so much damage to our fatherland."

Chavez's abrupt exit from the political scene would be a huge shock for the South American OPEC nation. His oil-financed socialism has made him a hero to the poor majority but critics call him a dictator.

He is still set to be sworn in on January 10, as spelled out in the constitution. If he were to die or had to step aside, new elections would be held within 30 days, with Maduro running as the ruling Socialist Party candidate.

Chavez's condition is being watched closely by Latin American allies that have benefited from his generous assistance, as well as Wall Street investors who are attracted to Venezuela's lucrative and widely traded debt.

Last year, Chavez staged what appeared to be remarkable comeback from the disease to win re-election to a new six-year term in October despite being weakened by radiation therapy. But he returned to Cuba for more treatment within weeks of his win.

Officials have said he suffered unexpected bleeding and then a respiratory infection after a six-hour operation on December 11.

Top Socialist Party officials have suggested that his inauguration could be postponed indefinitely to accommodate his recovery.

The opposition has insisted that the government should stick to the January 10 date, and on Thursday one opposition leader said they should form an official commission to visit Cuba and assess the president's condition for themselves.

(Editing by Kieran Murray and Lisa Shumaker)

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Geithner's planned departure puts Obama in tough spot

By Rachelle Younglai

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's plans to leave near the end of January put the White House in a tricky spot, depriving the Obama administration of its longest-serving economic adviser for its next fiscal showdown with Congress.

Geithner, who spent his years as Treasury secretary battling the financial crisis and then fighting with Republican lawmakers in 2011 over raising the U.S. debt ceiling, has wanted to leave government service for some time.

The Treasury Department said Geithner would stick to his previously announced schedule to stay until sometime around the January 21 inauguration. Bloomberg News reported that Geithner would leave at the end of January.

Obama chose Geithner to lead the just-ended negotiations with Congress to avert the December 31 fiscal cliff of spending cuts and tax hikes that threatened to push the economy back into recession.

But the deal, which preserved most of the Bush-era tax breaks for Americans, sets up a series of crucial fiscal deadlines by delaying automatic spending cuts until March 1 and not increasing the government's borrowing limit.

That puts Obama in the tough spot of nominating another Treasury secretary and asking the Senate to approve his choice when lawmakers are in the middle of another budget battle.

"The confirmation process will be nasty regardless as it will be a referendum on Obama's economic and deficit plans," said Chris Krueger, a policy analyst with Guggenheim Partners.

Geithner has already resorted to using emergency measures in order to give the Treasury Department the ability to pay government bills and avoid a damaging debt default.

The country hit its $16.4 trillion debt limit December 31, and the Treasury is on track to run out of funds in February. If Congress does not raise the debt ceiling on time, the United States would default on its debt payments and roil markets worldwide.

"From a confidence standpoint, you don't want to change the man at the top during a crisis," said Ward McCarthy, chief financial economist at Jefferies & Co in New York, adding that even Geithner could still provide guidance as an adviser after he leaves.

Lawmakers are at war with each other over the size of government, and Republicans plan to use the debt ceiling increase to extract massive spending cuts from Democrats. And Geithner had managed to win the respect of Republican lawmakers, especially in the volatile House of Representatives.

FILLING THE VOID

Geithner was instrumental in helping Republican President George W. Bush and then Obama fight the 2007-09 credit crisis, first as the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank and then as Obama's only Treasury secretary.

He survived calls for his resignation over how the Treasury handled the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program bank bailout fund. He fought with Republican lawmakers over raising the debt ceiling in 2011.

As he tried to resign, Obama asked him to stay through the November presidential election.

Obama's chief of staff, Jack Lew, is widely expected to be chosen to replace Geithner. But a number of key Republicans do not like working with Lew, the former budget director, which could potentially exacerbate the raw relations between the administration and Congress.

"Geithner's leadership and expertise would undoubtedly be a tremendous asset to the president and the country as we confront this next challenge," said Max Baucus, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which is in charge of vetting the next treasury secretary.

It is not clear who Obama would choose to lead negotiations for the next set of fiscal deadlines. Vice President Joe Biden, who helped broker the fiscal cliff deal, or Rob Nabors, the White House's main liaison to Congress, could fit that bill.

The Treasury Department said it did not plan to make any further announcements about the timing of Geithner's departure until after his successor is named.

"That is a lot of experience and steadiness that you would be getting rid of," said Steve Bell, a former Senate budget committee staff director who is now an economic policy director with the Bipartisan Policy Center. (Reporting By Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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Microsoft acquires start-up id8-source

By Alistair Barr

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp bought start-up id8 Group R2 Studios Inc as it looks to expand further in technology focused on the home and entertainment, a person familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

id8 Group R2 Studios was started in 2011 by Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor Blake Krikorian. It recently launched a Google Android application to allow users to control home heating and lighting systems from smartphones.

Krikorian's Sling Media - which was sold to EchoStar Communications in 2007 - made the "Slingbox" for watching TV on computers.

Krikorian will join Microsoft with a small team, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported the acquisition earlier on Wednesday. Microsoft also purchased some patents owned by the start-up related to controlling electronic devices, the newspaper added.

Krikorian and a Microsoft spokesman declined to comment.

Krikorian resigned from Amazon.com Inc's

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Senate panel to examine CIA contacts with 'Zero Dark Thirty' filmmakers

By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After the Senate Intelligence Committee's chairwoman expressed outrage over scenes that imply "enhanced interrogations" of CIA detainees produced a breakthrough in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the panel has begun a review of contacts between the makers of the film "Zero Dark Thirty" and CIA officials.

In the latest controversy surrounding the film, Reuters has learned that the committee will examine records charting contacts between intelligence officials and the film's director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal.

Investigators will examine whether the spy agency gave the filmmakers "inappropriate" access to secret material, said a person familiar with the matter. They will also probe whether CIA personnel are responsible for the portrayal of harsh interrogation practices, and in particular the suggestion that they were effective, the person said.

The intelligence committee's Democrats contend that is factually incorrect.

Zero Dark Thirty is a dramatized account of the hunt for al Qaeda leader bin Laden and the May 2011 U.S. Navy SEAL raid in which he was killed. Government e-mails and memoranda released to the conservative group Judicial Watch show that both the CIA and Pentagon gave the filmmakers extensive access.

But the film has also produced a series of awkward political headaches for President Barack Obama. Early on, Obama's Republican critics suggested it was a gimmick to boost his re-election campaign. But now, some of Obama's liberal supporters are attacking the film and officials who cooperated with its creators for allegedly promoting the effectiveness of torture.

The CIA had no comment on the latest congressional inquiry regarding the film.

One of the intelligence officials whom the documents show as having met with the filmmakers is Michael Morell, the CIA's deputy director at the time and now the agency's acting chief.

Current and former national security officials have said Morell, a highly regarded agency veteran, is a favorite to succeed retired Gen. David Petraeus as the agency's director.

CLOUD OVER MORELL?

But some of the same officials now say the controversy over the film's content has cast a cloud over Morell's prospects.

Last month, Intelligence Committee chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein joined Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and former Republican Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in sharply condemning what they described as "particularly graphic scenes of CIA officers torturing detainees" in Zero Dark Thirty.

The film has been screened in New York and Los Angeles but does not premiere nationwide until January 11.

In a December 19 letter to the chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which produced the film, the senators alleged it was "grossly inaccurate and misleading in its suggestion that torture resulted in information that led to the location" of bin Laden.

The three senators claim Zero Dark Thirty "clearly implies that the CIA's coercive interrogation techniques were effective in eliciting important information related to a courier" for bin Laden, who would unknowingly lead the agency to his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The senators assert, however, that their own review of CIA records proves that the story told in the film is "incorrect" and "the CIA learned of the existence of the courier, his true name and location through means unrelated to the CIA detention and interrogation program."

Sony, in response, released a statement from Bigelow and Boal, which said in part: "We depicted a variety of controversial practices and intelligence methods that were used in the name of finding bin Laden.

"The film shows that no single method was necessarily responsible for solving the manhunt, nor can any single scene taken in isolation fairly capture the totality of efforts the film dramatizes."

Boal said in an email that he was unaware of the Senate committee's interest and had had no contact with the panel.

The person familiar with the committee's plan to review administration dealings with the filmmakers said initially this would involve reviewing uncensored copies of CIA records regarding the film. The committee presently does not plan to contact the filmmakers directly, the source said.

A 'DRAMATIZATION'

Last year, the CIA and Pentagon, in response to a freedom of information request from Judicial Watch, released hundreds of pages of internal documents discussing the agencies' arrangements for dealing with Bigelow and Boal.

The documents, many heavily redacted, show that top CIA and Pentagon officials, including Morell and Michael Vickers, now the Pentagon's intelligence chief, talked to the filmmakers.

One Pentagon email exchange with Ben Rhodes, a senior White House national security aide, said Boal had been briefed by CIA officials "with the full knowledge and full approval/support" of Leon Panetta, who served as CIA director and then Secretary of Defense while the film was being prepared.

A second person familiar with the matter said the committee had acquired copies of the CIA records last year.

The committee originally obtained the uncensored records at the request of Republicans, who were looking for evidence that intelligence or Pentagon personnel inappropriately shared classified information with the filmmakers, this source said.

Other Congressional Republicans, most notably Representative Peter King, outgoing chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, complained loudly about dealings between the Obama administration and the filmmakers following reports it would be released shortly before the 2012 Presidential election. Ultimately, the film was not released until after the election.

Two days after the Senators made public their letter to Sony, the CIA released a statement by Morell, who said that Zero Dark Thirty was a "dramatization, not a realistic portrayal of the facts," and that while the agency had "interacted" with the filmmakers, it did not "control the final product."

Morell's statement was equivocal on whether "enhanced interrogations" had produced information critical to finding bin Laden.

"Whether enhanced interrogation techniques were the only timely and effective way to obtain information from those detainees, as the film suggests, is a matter of debate that cannot and never will be definitively resolved," Morell added. (Editing by Warren Strobel and Todd Eastham)

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Asia holds breath as U.S. fiscal talks go to the wire

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Markets were eerily quiet in Asia as trade resumed on Wednesday with investors anxiously waiting to see if the U.S. Congress could strike a last-minute deal to avoid triggering tax rises and spending cuts that could threaten the global economy.

The U.S. Senate early on Tuesday passed a bill that aims to avoid the "fiscal cliff" of $600 billion in automatic spending cuts and tax increases.

However, the package immediately ran into opposition from House Republicans, who were meeting to decide whether to reject or amend the bill.

"Frankly, we don't know what to make of it all. It's like a circus there," said one exasperated forex dealer at an Australian bank in Sydney.

"The markets have always assumed they would eventually strike a deal that would avoid the worst affects of the fiscal cliff, but it's getting harder and harder to stay optimistic."

He suspected equity markets would be on the defensive as they opened, with safe-haven bonds in demand. Getting a read on trends was tricky as U.S. Treasuries and stock futures were yet to trade, while Tokyo was off on holiday.

Currencies were trading, but the only major move was further weakness in the Japanese yen as investors wagered the Bank of Japan would have to take ever more aggressive easing steps to support the economy and satisfy the new government.

The dollar held firm on the yen at 86.75 yen, having touched its highest level since August 2010. The Japanese currency also dropped to depths not seen in over four years against the Australian and New Zealand dollars.

The euro was a shade firmer against the U.S. dollar at $1.3216, but turnover was extremely thin.

Spot gold gold was little changed at $1,674 an ounce, while oil futures dipped 20 cents to $91.62.

(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Eric Meijer)

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House Republicans seek $330 bln in spending cuts in fiscal cliff amendment

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are looking to add an amendment to the Senate-passed "fiscal cliff" legislation that would cut spending by $330 billion, Republican Representative Darrell Issa said on Tuesday.

Republicans are now weighing whether they will be able to get enough votes to pass such an amendment. If not, they will hold an up-or-down vote on the Senate-passed measure, a Republican aide said.

(Reporting By Rachelle Younglai; Writing by Kim Dixon; Editing by Peter Cooney.)

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Oscar nomination voting extended after online hitches

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Voting for Oscar nominations was extended by a day after some people reported problems with a new online voting system, organizers of the movie industry's coveted awards said Monday.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said the deadline for its 6,000 members to vote on nominations for the year's best films, performances, directors, screenplay and other achievements would be extended to Friday, January 4 - 24 hours after the original January 3 deadline.

"By extending the voting deadline we are providing every opportunity available to make the transition to online balloting as smooth as possible," Ric Robertson, chief operating officer of the academy, said in a statement.

"We're grateful to our global membership for joining us in this process," Robertson added.

Nominations for the 2013 Oscars will be announced on January 10, setting off weeks of speculation and campaigning by movie studios and industry pundits before the winners are announced in Hollywood on February 24.

The academy is using electronic balloting this year for the first time in its 85-year history but has also said any member can submit a paper ballot if preferred.

Monday's announcement follows reports of frustration on the part of some members in logging into the new online system, as well as some slowness in ballots being returned by both the new or old method.

A source close to the Academy acknowledged that some members had experienced problems with forgotten passwords or user names and that the extended deadline would help in resolving those issues in this first year.

The deadline to return nominating ballots was pushed forward by about two weeks this year, leaving the actors, directors, producers and other academy members less time to view the many movies opening in December that are vying for Oscar nominations.

Trade website The Hollywood Reporter, which spoke to at least 10 members of the academy last week, reported that some had been locked out of the website over password issues, others found the website confusing, and some were concerned about the website being hacked and results being leaked.

The academy in December sent all its paid-up members paper ballots in a precautionary move prompted by what entertainment website TheWrap.com said was concern about the number of people who, at that time, had not chosen whether to vote online or on paper.

Robertson told TheWrap when voting opened on December 17 that although some members were opposed to online voting, he was "pleasantly surprised" that more people than he had expected had registered to vote online.

In the past, Oscar ballots have been mailed around the world to academy members and the results have been tabulated by hand by the PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm.

The move to electronic voting was seen as speeding up the process and making it easier to swiftly reach members working or living overseas. It followed a lengthy consultation with academy members and officials, and the setting up of a 24-hour support center to help members use the online system. (Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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2012 marred by U.S. mass shooting casualties

By Brendan O'Brien

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - A single bullet hole.

Surrounded by peeling orange paint. Marked by a small plaque inscribed with "We Are One" and "8-5-12."

While diminutive, it is a powerful reminder to those who come now to pray here of the carnage that descended on this Sikh temple nearly five months ago. A white supremacist went on a rampage, killing six worshipers and wounding four, including a police officer, before being shot by police and then taking his own life.

"We left one bullet hole to remember them ... to honor them by," said Kanwardeep Singh Kaleka, 29, a nephew of one of the victims and a member of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, a suburb of Milwaukee.

"This is the one we wanted to keep to remember that day and what happened. For us, it was a very important day for all of us here. It changes our perspective on things," he said.

As they search for a way to cope with their loss, to remember and to honor the massacre's victims, Kaleka and his family and fellow congregants share a profoundly melancholic bond with hundreds of others from around the United States who survived or lost loved ones in one of the year's other shooting rampages.

In a country that averages nearly 11 shooting deaths per day -- more than 12,000 people were killed a year in gun-related homicides or accidents on average between 2008 and 2010, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence -- 2012's mass shootings have a distinct and tragic hue if for no other reason than the everyday nature of their locations.

In addition to the six dead in Oak Creek, the year's tally includes:

* Four killed in an Atlanta day spa in February

* Five killed at a Seattle coffee shop in May

* Six killed at a Minneapolis sign company in September

* Seven killed at an Oakland religious college in April

* Twelve killed and 58 wounded in a Denver-area movie theater in July

The most shattering of all, however, was also the year's last: Twenty six killed -- including 20 first graders and six adults -- at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

"Particularly schools, Sandy Hook, when you are talking about kindergartners or first-graders being mowed down, that is something that is almost unimaginable," said Robert Sampson, a professor of social sciences at Harvard University.

In all, 140 people were killed or wounded in seven mass shootings in 2012, making it the bloodiest year for these types of incidents in modern U.S. history, according to an accounting by Mother Jones, the liberal-leaning magazine.

But as the nation struggles to come to grips with these horrific episodes and continues to grapple with its gun-control policies, researchers say it is too early to say if 2012 marks a broader trend of increasing mass shootings in the United States.

"There have been some years when there have been spikes and other years when there have been low points, but you can't say because we had one year in 2012 of a number of high profile cases that this is a trend. It's not," said Northeastern University criminologist James Alan Fox, who writes a blog about crime and the justice system for the Boston Globe.

During the last 35 years, there has been an average of about 20 shooting rampages annually with about 100 casualties, according to Fox, who uses a broader definition of a mass shooting than Mother Jones.

"Some years we have several large ones and those are the times when people start talking (whether this) is a new thing, an epidemic. It's not. Because the following years, things are quieter," Fox said. (Editing by Dan Burns and Phil Berlowitz)

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"The Hobbit" trumps star-packed "Les Miserables"

REUTERS - The dwarfs and elves of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" prevailed at the North American box office again over the weekend, as its $32.9 million in ticket sales topped both the star-packed musical "Les Miserables" and the western "Django Unchained."

Despite surging past "The Hobbit" on Christmas day with an $18.1 million opening, "Les Miz" managed only third place in U.S. and Canadian sales with $28 million as Christmas shoppers returned from the malls to boost Hollywood's box office, according to studio estimates.

"The Hobbit," in its third week of release, has now grossed $222.7 million domestically, Warner Bros said.

Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained," a western starring Jamie Fox as a slave turned bounty hunter, took second with an impressive $30.7 million.

Tom Cruise's crime drama "Jack Reacher," a film that features author Lee Child's former military investigator solving a fatal sniper attack, landed in fifth with $14 million, outpaced by "Parental Guidance," the Billy Crystal-Bette Midler as grandparents comedy, which took in $14.8 million to nab the fourth spot.

(Reporting By Ronald Grover and Chris Michaud; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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Militants slit throats of 15 Christians in Nigeria

From Paul Ohia Abuja, Dec 30 (PTI) Suspected Islamic Boko Haram militants have killed 15 Christians by slitting their throats in a village in Nigeria's restive northeast, a relief official said today. The official, on condition of anonymity, said the militants forced their way into some homes identified to be inhabited by Christians in Musari community near Maiduguri city and slit the throat of 15 people. Earlier, Lt Col Sagir Musa, a spokesman of the military Joint Task Force deployed by the government to fight terrorism in the area, had given the number of those killed as five. But a resident confirmed the number of persons killed by the suspected militants as 15. Boko Haram says it is fighting to install Islamic Sharia rule in Africa's top oil producing country. The country though a secular state, has two major religions; Islam and Christianity. Christians are found mainly in the south while Muslims are predominant in the north but they share the 150 million population of the country on roughly equal proportion. PTI PO ZH

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Arab officials visit cash-strapped Palestinian territory

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Top Arab officials paid a rare visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Saturday to discuss a Palestinian financial crisis that President Mahmoud Abbas hopes will be eased by Arab donations.

Arab League Chief Nabil Elaraby and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr congratulated the Palestinians on a successful United Nations status upgrade last month, but stopped short of promising the badly-needed funds.

"Palestine is in need of material and political support," Elaraby told a news conference in the Palestinians' de facto capital of Ramallah.

"Arab countries agreed at their Baghdad summit (in March) for an Arab safety net of $100 million dollars each month, but unfortunately none of this has been achieved yet," he said.

Palestinian were cheered by a strong majority in the United Nations recognising them as an "observer state" on November 29 but have struggled to get Arab support to make up $100 million in shortfalls left by Israeli sanctions following the U.N. move.

Elaraby is the first Arab League Chief to visit Ramallah, but he and other prominent Arab and Islamic leaders, including the Egyptian prime minister, met Abbas's Palestinian Hamas rivals in Gaza during their brief war with Israel last month.

QATARI LEADER

Hamas, which split from the West Bank after it seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, also won a diplomatic coup by receiving Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, ruler of the oil-rich Gulf state of Qatar, who pledged $400 million in aid for the impoverished territory in October.

The emir postponed a visit to Ramallah he had announced this month, disappointing West Bank officials who had hoped he would arrive bearing gifts of cash.

The Gaza visits broke years of diplomatic quarantine for the Islamist Hamas group, which refuses to recognise Israel or relinquish its arms, and increased the isolation of the dovish, Western-backed Ramallah government.

West Bank officials have watched with worry as uprisings in the Arab world divert attention from their diplomatic strategy, which has failed to achieve an independent Palestinian state.

Hamas militants, by contrast, have been heartened as fellow-Islamists rise to power in Egypt and elsewhere.

Abbas has accused Israel of "piracy" after it withheld customs revenues it collects on the Palestinians' behalf, citing months of utilities bills Ramallah owes Israeli companies.

The financial crisis has forced the Palestinian Authority to delay salary payments to West Bank employees, who have gone on strike in protest. Abbas has responded by saying he might give up power and compel Israel to take on the Palestinians' affairs.

"Sit in the chair here instead of me, take the keys, and you will be responsible for the Palestinian Authority," Abbas warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview with the Israeli Haaretz newspaper this week.

"I won't do anything as long as there are diplomatic negotiations," he said. "But if the stalemate continues...what's left for us to do?"

(Reporting By Noah Browning and Ali Sawafta; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

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Major fire in oil tank at Ropar thermal plant

Sat, Dec 29, 2012 at 23:36

Major fire in oil tank at Ropar thermal plant

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Major fire in oil tank at Ropar thermal plant

Major fire in oil tank at Ropar thermal plant

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Major fire in oil tank at Ropar thermal plant

Major fire in oil tank at Ropar thermal plant

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Rupnagar (Punjab), Dec 29 (PTI) A major fire tonight broke out at the oil tank at Ropar thermal plant but all its units are running normally. A heavy fuel oil tank no 2 caught fire at 8pm reportedly after a blast, official sources said. HFO tank is away from the plant's main building and there is no danger to plant and machinery of units. Fire tenders have rushed to site and efforts are being made to control the fire. All the senior plant officials have reached the site, the sources said. PTI COR AKA PAL

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