Football: Benitez focused on short-term in Chelsea role

LONDON: Rafael Benitez said he was focused on the job in hand, rather than worrying about being a stop-gap appointment, after being presented to the media as Chelsea's new interim manager on Thursday.

The former Liverpool coach, 52, is under contract until the end of the current season and replaces Roberto Di Matteo, who was sacked on Wednesday after Chelsea lost 3-0 at Juventus in the Champions League.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who has fired seven managers during his nine-year tenure, has reportedly made repeated overtures to former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, but Benitez said the speculation would not distract him.

"I have a very good relationship with Guardiola. He's a great manager," said Benitez, who had been out of work since leaving Inter Milan in December 2010.

"What will happen in the future, you never know. We have a massive game at the weekend (against Manchester City) and five trophies to fight for.

"When you analyse why you want to go to a top side, it's to win trophies. For one and a half years, two years, I was waiting for the right opportunity.

"I will fight from day one, and we will see what happens."

Guardiola's appeal to Abramovich is said to stem from the passing philosophy he helped instil at Barcelona, but Benitez rejected suggestions he will be judged on the quality of football that Chelsea produce.

"I'm not sure what he (Abramovich) is looking for in terms of Barcelona-style passing and playing good football," said Benitez, who admitted he was yet to meet the club's owner.

"My thinking is that he'll be happy with the team winning and playing well. I don't think there's only one way to play -- whether it's a passing game, or looking for a long pass."

Benitez is expected to help Fernando Torres rediscover his best form, having overseen the Spaniard's development into one of the game's most feared and prolific strikers during their time together at Liverpool.

Torres, 28, scored 81 goals in 142 appearances at Anfield but has found the net just 19 times since joining Chelsea in January 2011, but Benitez suggested he would not get special attention.

"I talked with him, like the others players," said Benitez, who held a training session with his new charges on Thursday afternoon.

"He's one of the important players of this team and I will try to improve him as I improve the others."

Benitez arrived for his introductory press conference just as the Football Association announced that referee Mark Clattenburg had been cleared over allegations he racially abused Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel.

Benitez did not wish to discuss the affair, but when asked about Chelsea's recent record of attracting unwanted headlines, he said he "didn't see any problems".

Benitez also addressed suggestions he had criticised Chelsea during his time at Liverpool, amid reports of supporter discontent at his appointment.

"I don't remember some of the comments (attributed to him)," he said.

"To be really honest, we (Liverpool) were playing against Chelsea, a top team, in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

"I don't see this as a lack of respect, more a manager defending his team against a top side."

Benitez confirmed that he will be assisted by former Dutch international Boudewijn Zenden, who spent three years at Chelsea before working under Benitez at Liverpool.

Chelsea's loss at Juventus left the defending champions on the brink of elimination from the Champions League, while they trail leaders Manchester City by four points in the Premier League.

Under Benitez, Liverpool missed out on the 2008-09 Premier League title by only four points, and he said he did not feel a need to defend his achievements.

"Have you seen my CV?" he said.

"I have all the trophies you can win at club level."

Asked about the absence of a Premier League winners' medal from his trophy cabinet, he retorted: "I won the league twice in Spain (with Valencia). Even Barcelona can't win the Premier League!"

-AFP/ac

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ITBP DG Ranjit Sinha to be new CBI chief

NEW DELHI: Senior IPS officer and present Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) director-general (DG) Ranjit Sinha will be the new CBI chief after retirement of the incumbent A P Singh on November 30.

An order to this effect was issued by the ministry of personnel on Thursday, with the government fast tracking the process to dodge any possibility of a setback during the hearing of Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar's protest petition in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on Friday.

Kumar was one of the contenders for this coveted job before a government panel kept him out of the shortlist of three IPS officers for the top CBI job on the basis of a complaint from an accused in a case of disproportionate assets being probed by the agency.

Sinha is a 1974 batch officer of Bihar cadre, whereas Kumar, who is two batches junior to him, belongs to the Union Territory cadre.

Sinha's name for the post of CBI chief was approved by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Besides the ITBP DG, the present National Investigation Agency chief S C Sinha (1975 batch officer of Haryana cadre) and former DGP of Uttar Pradesh Atul (1976 batch officer of UP cadre) were the other two in the list whose names went to the ACC for final decision.

Anguished by the exclusion, Kumar had recently moved the CAT questioning the procedure for selecting the three officers. He has protested that the government panel, led by the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, benched him on the basis of a complaint from an accused in a CBI case: a position that many in the government seem to be sympathetic to.

In his complaint, Vijay Agarwal, brother of a controversial officer of Enforcement Directorate Ashok Agarwal who faces serious allegations himself, alleged that a CBI inspector intimidated him at the instance of Kumar, who was at the time a joint director with the CBI. The complaint raised eyebrows because of the assertion that the inspector called up Kumar in the presence of the complainant to inform him that his instructions had been carried out.

Justice R C Jain of the Delhi High Court ordered an investigation into Agarwal's charge. The directive passed on Justice Agarwal's last day on the bench was stayed by a division bench of the HC: something which is cited by Kumar's sympathizers to argue, contrary to the reasoning of the panel that shortlisted the three top contenders for CBI director, that there was no case pending against Kumar when he was excluded from the list.

Many in the government fault the committee for failing to factor in the fact that many accused routinely level allegations against police officers investigating them, and that protection against such tactics are built in both the Cr PC and the Delhi Police Special Establishment Act which governs the CBI.

In his nine-year-long stint with the CBI, Kumar investigated and solved several cases: from Mumbai serial blasts and Beant Singh murder case to match-fixing and deportation of dreaded criminal Babloo Srivastava.

His exclusion from the list had paved the way for inclusion of the fourth senior-most officer in the list of six, Atul, in the select panel of three top contenders - prompting Kumar to move the CAT.

Sinha will assume the charge of CBI director at the time when the investigating agency is probing a number of high-profile cases including 2G spectrum scam, CWG scam, coalgate and NRHM scandals among others. He will have two-year fixed tenure as the agency chief.

Sinha had earlier served the CBI on deputation as DIG in Patna and also served as Joint Director (Anti-corruption) and Joint Director (Administration) in Delhi.

Before joining as DG, ITBP, Sinha headed Railway Protection Force (RPF) as DG and made significant contribution in implementing integrated security scheme at various Railway Stations in the wake of terrorist attack at Mumbai's CST Railway Station.

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Study finds mammograms lead to unneeded treatment

Mammograms have done surprisingly little to catch deadly breast cancers before they spread, a big U.S. study finds. At the same time, more than a million women have been treated for cancers that never would have threatened their lives, researchers estimate.

Up to one-third of breast cancers, or 50,000 to 70,000 cases a year, don't need treatment, the study suggests.

It's the most detailed look yet at overtreatment of breast cancer, and it adds fresh evidence that screening is not as helpful as many women believe. Mammograms are still worthwhile, because they do catch some deadly cancers and save lives, doctors stress. And some of them disagree with conclusions the new study reached.

But it spotlights a reality that is tough for many Americans to accept: Some abnormalities that doctors call "cancer" are not a health threat or truly malignant. There is no good way to tell which ones are, so many women wind up getting treatments like surgery and chemotherapy that they don't really need.

Men have heard a similar message about PSA tests to screen for slow-growing prostate cancer, but it's relatively new to the debate over breast cancer screening.

"We're coming to learn that some cancers — many cancers, depending on the organ — weren't destined to cause death," said Dr. Barnett Kramer, a National Cancer Institute screening expert. However, "once a woman is diagnosed, it's hard to say treatment is not necessary."

He had no role in the study, which was led by Dr. H. Gilbert Welch of Dartmouth Medical School and Dr. Archie Bleyer of St. Charles Health System and Oregon Health & Science University. Results are in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Breast cancer is the leading type of cancer and cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. Nearly 1.4 million new cases are diagnosed each year. Other countries screen less aggressively than the U.S. does. In Britain, for example, mammograms are usually offered only every three years and a recent review there found similar signs of overtreatment.

The dogma has been that screening finds cancer early, when it's most curable. But screening is only worthwhile if it finds cancers destined to cause death, and if treating them early improves survival versus treating when or if they cause symptoms.

Mammograms also are an imperfect screening tool — they often give false alarms, spurring biopsies and other tests that ultimately show no cancer was present. The new study looks at a different risk: Overdiagnosis, or finding cancer that is present but does not need treatment.

Researchers used federal surveys on mammography and cancer registry statistics from 1976 through 2008 to track how many cancers were found early, while still confined to the breast, versus later, when they had spread to lymph nodes or more widely.

The scientists assumed that the actual amount of disease — how many true cases exist — did not change or grew only a little during those three decades. Yet they found a big difference in the number and stage of cases discovered over time, as mammograms came into wide use.

Mammograms more than doubled the number of early-stage cancers detected — from 112 to 234 cases per 100,000 women. But late-stage cancers dropped just 8 percent, from 102 to 94 cases per 100,000 women.

The imbalance suggests a lot of overdiagnosis from mammograms, which now account for 60 percent of cases that are found, Bleyer said. If screening were working, there should be one less patient diagnosed with late-stage cancer for every additional patient whose cancer was found at an earlier stage, he explained.

"Instead, we're diagnosing a lot of something else — not cancer" in that early stage, Bleyer said. "And the worst cancer is still going on, just like it always was."

Researchers also looked at death rates for breast cancer, which declined 28 percent during that time in women 40 and older — the group targeted for screening. Mortality dropped even more — 41 percent — in women under 40, who presumably were not getting mammograms.

"We are left to conclude, as others have, that the good news in breast cancer — decreasing mortality — must largely be the result of improved treatment, not screening," the authors write.

The study was paid for by the study authors' universities.

"This study is important because what it really highlights is that the biology of the cancer is what we need to understand" in order to know which ones to treat and how, said Dr. Julia A. Smith, director of breast cancer screening at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York. Doctors already are debating whether DCIS, a type of early tumor confined to a milk duct, should even be called cancer, she said.

Another expert, Dr. Linda Vahdat, director of the breast cancer research program at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, said the study's leaders made many assumptions to reach a conclusion about overdiagnosis that "may or may not be correct."

"I don't think it will change how we view screening mammography," she said.

A government-appointed task force that gives screening advice calls for mammograms every other year starting at age 50 and stopping at 75. The American Cancer Society recommends them every year starting at age 40.

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, the cancer society's deputy chief medical officer, said the study should not be taken as "a referendum on mammography," and noted that other high-quality studies have affirmed its value. Still, he said overdiagnosis is a problem, and it's not possible to tell an individual woman whether her cancer needs treated.

"Our technology has brought us to the place where we can find a lot of cancer. Our science has to bring us to the point where we can define what treatment people really need," he said.

___

Online:

Study: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1206809

Screening advice: http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/uspsbrca.htm

___

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

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Jesse Jackson Jr. to Resign From Congress

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., the embattled Democrat from Illinois who has been on medical leave from Capitol Hill for months undergoing treatment for bipolar disorder, resigned from the House of Representatives Wednesday.

Aides to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said they had received a letter of resignation from Jackson Jr.

The news was first reported by ABC News' Chicago station WLS and two Chicago newspapers.

"For seventeen years I have given 100 percent of my time, energy and life to public service. However, over the past several months, as my health has deteriorated, my ability to serve the constituents of my district has continued to diminish," the letter reads. "Against the recommendations of my doctors, I had hoped and tried to return to Washington and continue working on the issues that matter most to the people of the Second District. I know now that will not be possible."

Jackson has faced a slew of problems in recent months, most recently a probe by federal investigators into his finances. The federal probe was trying to get to the bottom of "suspicious activity" connected to Jackson's House seat and potentially inappropriate expenditures.

Charles Dharapak/AP Photo

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Being Treated for Bipolar Disorder Watch Video

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There are no developments expected in the ongoing investigation and plea negotiations in the near term, according to federal officials familiar with the investigation. Jackson has been in talks with the Justice Department about a possible deal regarding allegations of campaign finance violations.

Part of the investigation's focus is on whether Jackson improperly used campaign funds for personal purchases, including furnishings for his Washington, D.C., home. Investigators are also looking at allegations that Jackson bought a female friend a $40,000 Rolex watch. The investigation is being run by the FBI's Washington Field Office.

Jackson's problems began in June when the son of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson suddenly left Congress. His office said he was seeking treatment for "exhaustion."

Two weeks later, his office noted that his condition was "more serious" than initially thought.

Jackson, whose district includes a large portion of Chicago's South Side and southeast suburbs, then spent some time at a treatment facility in Arizona before later moving to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

Finally, in August, the clinic said Jackson was being treated for bipolar disorder, "responding well" and "regaining his strength."

In early September, Jackson returned home to his family in the nation's capital. A source told ABC News that day that Jackson "sounded good." However, despite the Congressional summer recess ending a week later, Jackson did not return to work.

Jackson has missed 230 votes in the House this year. He last voted on June 8.

Despite all his troubles, Jackson still managed to win re-election in a landslide earlier this month. But now, he will leave Congress shrouded by personal problems and professional probes.

According to state law, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn will declare Jackson's seat vacant once the congressman gives official notice of his resignation, and there will be a special election to fill the seat.

One Chicago-based Democratic strategist told ABC News he expects to see a real "food fight" for this heavily Democratic seat.

The list of possible Democratic candidates for the seat includes State Sen. Napoleon Harris, a former NFL linebacker; Will Burns, Alderman of the Fourth Ward; Robin Kelly, former State Rep. and 2010 candidate for State Treasurer; and State Sen. Toi Hutchinson.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi met with Jackson and his father today.

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Egyptian-brokered Hamas-Israel ceasefire takes hold

CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) - Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip agreed on Wednesday to an Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire to halt an eight-day conflict that killed 162 Palestinians and five Israelis.

Both sides fought right up to 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) when hostilities were due to stop, with several explosions shaking Gaza City and rockets hitting the Israeli city of Beersheba.

Even after the deadline passed, a dozen rockets from Gaza landed in Israel, all in open areas, a police spokesman said.

If it holds, the truce will give 1.7 million Gazans respite from days of ferocious air strikes and halt rocket salvoes from militants that unnerved a million people in southern Israel and reached Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for the first time.

"Allahu akbar, (God is greatest), dear people of Gaza you won," blared mosque loudspeakers in the enclave as the truce took effect. "You have broken the arrogance of the Jews."

Fifteen minutes later, wild celebratory gunfire echoed across the darkened streets of Gaza, which gradually filled with crowds waving Palestinian flags. Ululating women leaned out of windows and fireworks lit up the sky.

Hamas leaders welcomed the agreement, calling it a triumph for armed resistance, and thanking Egypt for its role.

Some Israelis staged protests against the deal, notably in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi, where three Israelis were killed by a Gaza rocket during the conflict, army radio said.

Announcing the agreement in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said mediation had "resulted in understandings to cease fire, restore calm and halt the bloodshed".

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, standing beside Amr, thanked Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Mursi for peace efforts that showed "responsibility, leadership" in the region.

"SEVERE MILITARY ACTION"

The Gaza conflict erupted in a Middle East already shaken by last year's Arab uprisings that toppled several veteran U.S.-backed leaders, including Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, and by a civil war in Syria, where Bashar al-Assad is fighting for survival.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had agreed to "exhaust this opportunity for an extended truce", but told his people a tougher approach might be required in the future.

"I know there are citizens expecting a more severe military action, and perhaps we shall need to do so," he said.

The Israeli leader, who faces a parliamentary election in January, delivered a similar message earlier in a telephone call with U.S. President Barack Obama, his office said.

Obama in turn reiterated his country's commitment to Israel's security and promised to seek funds for a joint missile defense program, the White House said.

Hamas leaders taunted Israel, with the movement's exiled chief Khaled Meshaal saying in Cairo that the Jewish state had failed in its military "adventure". But he pledged to uphold the truce if the Israelis complied with it.

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's chief in Gaza and its prime minister there, said: "We are satisfied and proud of this agreement and at the steadfastness of our people and their resistance."

According to a text of the agreement seen by Reuters, both sides should halt all hostilities, with Israel desisting from incursions and targeting of individuals, while all Palestinian factions should cease rocket fire and cross-border attacks.

BUS BOMBING

The deal also provides for easing Israeli restrictions on Gaza's residents, who live in what British Prime Minister David Cameron has called an "open prison".

The text said procedures for implementing this would be "dealt with after 24 hours from the start of the ceasefire".

Israeli sources said Israel would not lift a blockade of the enclave it enforced after Hamas, which rejects the Jewish state's right to exist, won a Palestinian election in 2006.

The ceasefire was forged despite a bus bomb explosion that wounded 15 Israelis in Tel Aviv earlier in the day and despite more Israeli air strikes that killed 10 Gazans.

The Tel Aviv blast, near the Israeli Defence Ministry, touched off celebratory gunfire from militants in Gaza and had threatened to complicate truce efforts. It was the first serious bombing in Israel's commercial capital since 2006.

In Gaza, Israeli warplanes struck more than 100 targets, including a cluster of Hamas government buildings. Medical officials said a two-year-old boy was among the dead.

Israel has carried out more than 1,500 strikes since the offensive began with the killing of a top Hamas commander and with the declared aim of deterring Hamas from launching rocket attacks that have long disrupted life in southern Israeli towns.

Gaza medical officials said 162 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, including 37 children and 11 women, were killed in Israel's assault. Nearly 1,400 rockets were fired into Israel, killing four civilians and a soldier, the military said.

Egypt, an important U.S. ally now under Islamist leadership, took centre stage in diplomacy to halt the bloodshed, using its privileged ability to speak directly to both sides.

"CRITICAL MOMENT"

Israel, the United States and the European Union designate Hamas as a terrorist organization. It seized the Gaza Strip from the Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007 in a brief but bloody war with his Fatah movement.

"This is a critical moment for the region," Clinton said. "Egypt's new government is assuming the responsibility and leadership that has long made this country a cornerstone for regional stability and peace."

She also promised to work with partners in the region "to consolidate this progress, improve conditions for the people of Gaza, provide security for the people of Israel".

Egypt has walked a fine line between its sympathies for Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood to which Mursi belongs, and its need to preserve its 1979 peace treaty with Israel and its ties with Washington, its main aid donor.

"Egypt calls on all to monitor the implementation of what has been agreed under Egypt's sponsorship and to guarantee the commitment of all the parties to what has been agreed," its foreign minister said at the news conference in Cairo.

Israel, the top recipient of U.S. assistance, agreed to stop fighting after having gathered troops and armor on the border with Gaza in preparation for a high-risk ground assault.

In Amman, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged both sides to stick to their ceasefire pledges. "There may be challenges implementing this agreement," he said, urging "maximum restraint".

Israel withdrew unilaterally from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but maintained control over its borders. The United Nations says it remains an occupied territory, along with the West Bank.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation, led by Abbas, wants the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem for an independent state.

(Additional reporting by Noah Browning in Gaza, Ori Lewis, Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Crispian Balmer in Jerusalem, Yasmine Saleh, Shaimaa Fayed and Tom Perry in Cairo, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman and Margaret Chadbourn in Washington; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and David Stamp)

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Smartphone shoppers: watch for online tricks

WASHINGTON: Attention smartphone shoppers: watch for cyber criminals using phony apps or messages in an effort to hijack your device or steal your data.

Law enforcement and security experts say that as more people use their mobile devices in stores and on open Wi-Fi networks, the risks are increasing as well.

The FBI-backed Internet Crime Complaint Centre is warning consumers to be on the lookout for fraudulent apps, messages and Wi-Fi networks which can trick users of mobile devices to divulge passwords, personal data or credit card numbers.

"Many times, e-mails, texts or phone calls will look or sound like they are coming from a well-known retailer, stating a need to 'verify' the full credit card number you used for a purchase or ask you to click a link to update personal account information," the centre said.

The centre said Android devices are often targeted by spyware, including one system called FinFisher, capable of taking a mobile device, or Loozfon, "an information-stealing piece of malware."

Security firm McAfee's Gary Davis said that as the popularity of apps surges, "so have the chances that you could download a malicious application designed to steal your information or even send out premium-rate text messages without your knowledge."

Davis said some fraudsters are using Twitter ads offering special discounts for popular gifts, linking to malicious software.

"Criminals are getting more savvy with authentic-looking social ads and deals that take consumers to legitimate looking websites," Davis said.

"In order to take advantage of the deals or contests, they ask them for personal information that can obtain a shopper's credit card number, email address, phone number or home address."

Lookout, a security firm offering free apps for Android and iPhone, also urges prudence.

"Be careful what you do on public Wi-Fi networks especially when you're shopping. Do not expose passwords, account numbers or credit card information unless you are certain that you are on a secure connection," a company statement said.

"Use discretion when downloading apps. Even the most innocent-looking shopping app can contain software designed to steal personal data, make fraudulent charges or even hijack your phone. Only download apps from sites you trust."

- AFP/fa

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Kasab execution: Mostly ‘thumbs-up’ on foreign sites

NEW DELHI: A foreign news agency story headlined 'Mumbai attacks gunman Ajmal Kasab hanged' drew over 150 comments by 7pm on Wednesday on the web site of prominent Pakistan daily Dawn. Interestingly, several of the comments were posted by Indians, or so they claimed. Most, cutting across borders, appeared to be on the same page on the hanging. Many felt a terrorist deserved the harshest punishment.

One Maulana Arshad Khan posted the following comment, "All terrorists must face the same treatment whether in Pakistan or India. The world is for peace. No religion teaches terrorism. It is a few dirty-minded individuals who enjoy killing innocent people. Such people must be hanged in public view. All Pakistanis should expose terror minds living in Pakistan soil." It got 91 approvals and only one disapproval, till 7pm.

Another comment by one Divya drew a huge response. She wrote, "This is sad and tragic, to be very honest! Kasab was just a misguided young boy who never got an opportunity to have education, never got an opportunity to live life with dignity. Worst is, the country, the land, the people he fought and died for, didn't even acknowledge his being, didn't mourn his death and didn't even bother to give him a burial. Instead, the land he waged the war against, gave him a place to rest in peace, forever! I am proud of my country, I am proud of India, at least we're human!" It got 209 thumbs-up and 25 thumbs-down.

Several comments were anti-Kasab, prompting one Mohit to write, "I must say of course after reading the comments here, terrorists are not supported by Pakistani mass. Good for subcontinent. Kasab got what he deserved."

On most Pakistani news sites, the Quetta blast that killed five got a more prominent display. On The News International web site, the hanging did not even feature among the five hot topics of the day, at 4.30pm.

The home page had only one story—Pakistan ignored message on Kasab's execution. It was the seventh most viewed story on The Nation site.

The web site of Frontier Post, published from Peshwar, highlighted the comments made by LeT and Tehrik-i-Taliban. A local Taliban spokesperson had said, "There is no doubt that it's very shocking news and a big loss that a Muslim has been hanged on Indian soil."

An article by Gardiner Harris put out on The New York Times web site said analysts in both India and Pakistan are of the view that it was unlikely to derail improving ties. The report quoted Tariq Fatemi, a retired Pakistani senior diplomat, saying some extremist groups would be angered by the hanging but that many other Pakistanis, including senior government officials, had been "deeply embarrassed" by Kasab and the Mumbai attacks. Fatemi further said, "There is a virtual consensus among Pakistan's mainstream political parties on the importance of keeping the process on the rails and even promoting it."

A Washington Post article quoted Meenakshi Ganguly, south Asia director of Human Rights Watch, as saying, "The hanging of Ajmal Kasab marks a concerning end to the country's moratorium on capital punishment. Instead of resorting to the use of execution to address heinous crime, India should join the rising ranks of nations that have taken the decision to remove the death penalty from their legal frameworks."

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US abortions fall 5 pct, biggest drop in a decade

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. abortions fell 5 percent during the recession and its aftermath in the biggest one-year decrease in at least a decade, perhaps because women are more careful to use birth control when times are tough, researchers say.

The decline, detailed on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, came in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Both the number of abortions and the abortion rate dropped by the same percentage.

Some experts theorize that some women believed they couldn't afford to get pregnant.

"They stick to straight and narrow ... and they are more careful about birth control," said Elizabeth Ananat, a Duke University assistant professor of public policy and economics who has researched abortions.

While many states have aggressively restricted access to abortion, most of those laws were adopted in the past two years and are not believed to have played a role in the decline.

Abortions have been dropping slightly over much of the past decade. But before this latest report, they seemed to have pretty much leveled off.

Nearly all states report abortion numbers to the federal government, but it's voluntary. A few states — including California, which has the largest population and largest number of abortion providers — don't send in data. While experts estimate there are more than 1 million abortions nationwide each year, the CDC counted about 785,000 in 2009 because of incomplete reporting.

To come up with reliable year-to-year comparisons, the CDC used the numbers from 43 states and two cities — those that have been sending in data consistently for at least 10 years. The researchers found that abortions per 1,000 women of child-bearing age fell from about 16 in 2008 to roughly 15 in 2009. That translates to nearly 38,000 fewer abortions in one year.

Mississippi had the lowest abortion rate, at 4 per 1,000 women of child-bearing age. The state also had only a couple of abortion providers and has the nation's highest teen birth rate. New York, second to California in number of abortion providers, had the highest abortion rate, roughly eight times Mississippi's.

Nationally since 2000, the number of reported abortions has dropped overall by about 6 percent and the abortion rate has fallen 7 percent.

By all accounts, contraception is playing a role in lowering the numbers.

Some experts cite a government study released earlier this year suggesting that about 60 percent of teenage girls who have sex use the most effective kinds of contraception, including the pill and patch. That's up from the mid-1990s, when fewer than half were using the best kinds.

Experts also pointed to the growing use of IUDs, or intrauterine devices, T-shaped plastic sperm-killers that a doctor inserts into the uterus. A study released earlier this year by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization that does research on reproductive health, showed that IUD use among sexually active women on birth control rose from less than 3 percent in 2002 to more than 8 percent in 2009.

IUDs essentially prevent "user error," said Rachel Jones, a Guttmacher researcher.

Ananat said another factor may be the growing use of the morning-after pill, a form of emergency contraception that has been increasingly easier to get. It came onto the market in 1999 and in 2006 was approved for non-prescription sale to women 18 and older. In 2009 that was lowered to 17.

Underlying all this may be the economy, which was in recession from December 2007 until June 2009. Even well afterward, polls showed most Americans remained worried about anemic hiring, a depressed housing market and other problems.

You might think a bad economy would lead to more abortions by women who are struggling. However, John Santelli, a Columbia University professor of population and family health, said: "The economy seems to be having a fundamental effect on pregnancies, not abortions."

More findings from the CDC:

— The majority of abortions are performed by the eighth week of pregnancy, when the fetus is about the size of a lima bean.

— White women had the lowest abortion rate, at about 8.5 per 1,000 women of child-bearing age; the rate for black women was about four times that. The rate for Hispanic women was about 19 per 1,000.

— About 85 percent of those who got abortions were unmarried.

— The CDC identified 12 abortion-related deaths in 2009.

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Hopes Rise for Gaza Ceasefire

Hopes for a ceasefire between between Israel and Islamic militants in Gaza rose today as Hamas declared that a ceasefire would be announced and Israel indicated that a deal was possible.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told ABC News the news would be announced at a press conference in Cairo where Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has been trying to broker an end to the fighting.

An Islamic Jihad website also reported that the ceasefire would go into effect tonight.

The Israel-Gaza Conflict in Pictures

Israeli officials, however, told ABC News that a final deal had not been concluded and if there was a pact it would be announced after midnight local time, or 5 p.m ET, following a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Families Pray for Ceasefire Watch Video

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Clinton flew to the region today to meet with Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about the fighting.

A ceasefire, if it can be reached, would bring a halt to the worst violence between Gaza and Israel in four years. In the meantime, however, Abu Zuhri called on all militant groups to continue firing rockets on Israel "in retaliation for the Israeli massacres."

Israeli missiles also continued to explode in Gaza while sirens sounded in Israel, signalling incoming rocket fire from Gaza.

Hamas said three Palestinian journalists were killed by an Israeli missile today and Israel said one of its soldiers was killed in by a Palestinian rocket today.

Gazans streamed out of northern neighborhoods during the afternoon after the Israel Defense Forces dropped leaflets telling residents to evacuate before dark. Scared Palestinians poured into Gaza City, cars and trucks piled high with belongings, many heading to schools for shelter.

There have been 126 Palestinian deaths in six days of fighting, just under half were civilians. Three Israelis were killed last Thursday when a rocket slammed into their apartment.

ABC News' Matt Gutman contributed to this report

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Clinton in Jerusalem as Gaza truce still elusive

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Jerusalem for talks on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as expectations rose of a ceasefire soon to end a week of fighting around the Gaza Strip.

However, Gaza's rulers, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, revised a statement that a truce would start overnight, saying it was still waiting for an Israeli response to proposals and did not now expect an announcement until Wednesday.

An official in the Egyptian government, whose new, Islamist leadership has been playing peace broker in Cairo, had also said a ceasefire could begin on Tuesday. But Israeli officials continued to say that discussions were still continuing.

Israel pressed on with its strikes in the coastal enclave on the seventh day of its offensive and Palestinian rockets still flashed across the border as Clinton arrived in Jerusalem. She was due to meet Netanyahu around 11 p.m. (17:00 EDT).

One Hamas official had said a truce might start at 9 p.m. But after that moment passed, a senior figure in the movement, Ezzat al-Rishq, told Reuters in Cairo: "The truce is now held up because we are waiting for the Israeli side to respond.

"We ... must wait until tomorrow."

The Jewish state launched the campaign last week with the declared aim of halting the rocketing of its towns from the Palestinian enclave, ruled by the Hamas militant group that does not recognize Israel's right to exist.

Medical officials in Gaza said 27 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday. An Israeli soldier and a civilian died when rockets exploded near the Gaza frontier, police and the army said.

Gaza medical officials say 134 people have died in Israeli strikes, mostly civilians, including 34 children. In all, five Israelis have died, including three civilians killed last week.

Netanyahu said earlier on Tuesday that Israel was open to a long-term deal aimed at ending Palestinian rocket attacks that have plagued its southern region for years.

Khaled Meshaal, exile leader of Hamas, said on Monday that Israel must halt its military action and lift its blockade of the Palestinian coastal enclave in exchange for a truce.

Both Netanyahu, favored to win a January national election, and U.S. President Barack Obama have said they want a diplomatic solution, rather than a possible Israeli ground operation in the densely populated territory, home to 1.7 million Palestinians.

Israel's military on Tuesday targeted more than 130 sites in Gaza, including ammunition stores and the Gaza headquarters of the National Islamic Bank. Israeli police said more than 150 rockets were fired from Gaza by the evening.

"No country would tolerate rocket attacks against its cities and against its civilians. Israel cannot tolerate such attacks," Netanyahu said with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who arrived in Jerusalem from talks in Cairo, at his side.

"If a long-term solution can be put in place through diplomatic means, then Israel would be a willing partner to such a solution," he said. "But if stronger military action proves necessary to stop the constant barrage of rockets, Israel will do what is necessary to defend our people."

HAMAS TARGETS JERUSALEM AGAIN

After nightfall, Israel stepped up its Gaza bombardment. Artillery shells and missiles fired from naval gunboats slammed into the territory and air strikes came at a frequency of about one every 10 minutes.

In an attack claimed in Gaza by Hamas's armed wing, a longer-range rocket targeted Jerusalem on Tuesday for the second time since Israel launched the air offensive.

The rocket, which fell harmlessly in the occupied West Bank, triggered warning sirens in the holy city about the time Ban arrived for truce discussions. Another rocket damaged an apartment building in Rishon Lezion, near Tel Aviv.

Rockets fired at the two big cities over the past week were the first to reach them in decades, a sign of what Israel says is an increasing threat from Gaza militants.

In the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Hamas executed six alleged collaborators, whom a security source quoted by the Hamas Aqsa radio said "were caught red-handed" with "filming equipment to take footage of positions". The radio said they were shot.

Militants on a motorcycle dragged the body of one of the men through the streets.

Along Israel's sandy, fenced-off border with the Gaza Strip, tanks, artillery and infantry massed in field encampments awaiting any orders to go in. Some 45,000 reserve troops have been called up since the offensive was launched.

A delegation of nine Arab ministers, led by the Egyptian foreign minister, visited Gaza in a further signal of heightened Arab solidarity with the Palestinians.

Egypt has been a key player in efforts to end the most serious fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants since a three-week Israeli invasion of the enclave in the winter of 2008-9. Egypt has a 1979 peace treaty with Israel seen by the West as the cornerstone of Middle East peace, but that has been tested as never before by the removal of U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak as president last year in the Arab Spring uprisings.

Mohamed Mursi, elected Egyptian president this year, is a veteran of the Muslim Brotherhood, spiritual mentors of Hamas, but says he is committed to Egypt's treaty with Israel.

Mursi has warned Netanyahu of serious consequences from an invasion of the kind that killed more than 1,400 people in Gaza four years ago. But he has been careful so far not to alienate Israel, or Washington, a major aid donor to Egypt.

(Additional reporting by Cairo bureau; Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Alastair Macdonald)

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