Letters To God: Kenyans appeal for peaceful election

Five years after a disputed presidential election unleashed interethnic violence that scarred this East African nation, Kenyans are bracing for a new election amid fears of a fresh outbreak of bloodletting.
But a growing number of Kenyans are challenging that fear with hope, with thousands taking up the call to “Write to God” with prayers that upcoming March 4 elections will be peaceful.
One of the best known Kenyans to join the effort is Sarah Onyango Obama, the US president’s step-grandmother. From her home in the western village of Nyang’oma Kogelo, Mrs. Obama wrote that Kenya had to take a path much different than that of Rwanda and its horrific 1994 genocide.
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"But when I see conflicts on TV, I keep wondering if Kenyans value peace," she said in her letter which was posted in English and a local dialect on a Facebook page created for the letter drive.
The participation of the 90-year-old Mrs. Obama, who is Muslim and is the third wife of President Obama’s grandfather, is seen as important for the effort, according to organizers, who include business leaders, nongovernmental organizations, and interfaith groups. Mrs. Obama is regarded as a minor celebrity in her home district for her relationship to the American president and for her charity work: a foundation to help children orphaned by AIDS has been started in her name.
As the elections approach, Kenyans face serious social and economic hardship. Unemployment in the country of 42 million is about 40 percent, up from 12.7 percent in 2006, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Prices for food and other staple commodities have skyrocketed: corn, for example, has doubled in price in recent years, rising to about 60 Kenyan shillings (about 70 cents) a kilogram.
As many as 55 percent of Kenyans are worried about the political environment and potential violence, according to a poll by Strategic Research and Communication Consultants for Africa. The Dec. 17-19 poll surveyed 1,500 Kenyans in face-to-face interviews. No margin of error was given.
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Hence the letter-writing campaign.
“Social studies show that writing is therapeutic, and when one writes to a higher power, a natural sense of peace is created in the person,” said Sr. Brahma Kumaris Vedanti, the regional director of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, which is helping to organize the campaign. She spoke to reporters in Nairobi on Dec. 1 at a news conference to launch the initiative.
The campaign is considered unusual for Kenya, where about 82 percent of the country considers itself Christian, while about 11 percent are Muslim: most church-going Kenyans make their appeals to God in prayer, not in written form. But organizers say this is a peace initiative for all religions and ethnic groups.
FIVE YEARS OF RECONCILIATION EFFORTS
The election violence of five years ago was sparked after incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the victor in 2007 and his challenger, Raila Odinga, now prime minister, rejected the results, saying they were rigged. The dispute triggered riots and clashes that resulted in more than 1,000 people being killed and tens of thousands displaced. The brutality dented Kenya’s image as a stable nation in East Africa and set back its economy.
Since that time, Kenyan and international organizations have undertaken numerous peace and reconciliation efforts, particularly in the Rift Valley and the Nyanza, Western, and Central provinces, which were the sites of the worst spasms of violence. More than 600,000 people who were displaced have returned, and for many villages, there is little outward sign of violence or strife.
Many of the initiatives have been led by the Roman Catholic Church in Kenya, as well as the Protestant National Council of Churches, especially in the Rift Valley. Church groups have helped to organize “peace committees,” getting people who stole property or burned houses during the violence to come forward and confess to their crimes, and offer repayment or compensation.
The government also set up a Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission in 2008 to investigate not only the violence, but larger, historical injustices and human rights violations. The TJRC, which has yet to give its final report, has been criticized as lacking credibility, due to a leadership struggle involving its chairman, Bethuel Kiplagat. He has been accused of being a member of a government team whose orders led to the notorious 1984 Wagalla Massacre, when Army and police troops rounded up members of the Somali community protesting against the government. Thousands were tortured and are believed to have died, according to human rights groups.
There have also been several criminal prosecutions stemming directly from the post-2007 election violence. The International Criminal Court in The Hague has charged four Kenyans, including Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, with crimes against humanity, and local prosecutors have charged several others for involvement in the violence. Many, however, believe that the main perpetrators and organizers have so far gone unpunished.
Serious tensions remain in other provinces. At least 39 people were killed when farmers raided a village of herders in southeastern part of the country early Friday in renewed fighting between two communities with a history of violent animosity, according to The Associated Press.
The tit-for-tat cycle of killings may be related to a redrawing of political boundaries and next year's general elections, the US humanitarian coordinator for Kenya, Aeneas C. Chuma, said in late August. On the surface, however, the violence seems driven by competition for water, pasture, and other resources, according to the Associated Press.
With fears of renewed violence, many citizens have welcomed efforts that can help sustain peace. By Friday, more than 6,000 letters had been written, with some coming from senior politicians, the clergy, and local businessmen. In addition to mailing them, participants are being encouraged to post them on Facebook or Twitter.
More than 14 million people have registered to vote, of an anticipated 18 million. President Kibaki, who is not standing for reelection, has tried to assure Kenyans that the March vote will be free, fair, and peaceful, as has Odinga, who is a front-runner in a growing field of at least four other candidates.

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Egypt finishes constitutional vote, but irregularities delay final results

Egyptian judges were investigating opposition accusations of voting irregularities today before declaring the result of a referendum set to show that a contentious new constitution has been approved.
President Mohamed Morsi sees the basic law, drawn up mostly by Islamists, as a vital step in Egypt's transition to democracy almost two years after the fall of military-backed strongman Hosni Mubarak.
The opposition, a loose alliance of liberals, moderate Muslims and Christians, says the document is too Islamist, ignores the rights of minorities and represents a recipe for more trouble in the Arab world's most populous nation.
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Critics have also said the vote, conducted over two stages in a process that ended on Dec. 22, was marred by a litany of irregularities, and have demanded a full inquiry.
"The committee is currently compiling results from the first and second phase and votes from Egyptians abroad, and is investigating complaints," Judge Mahmoud Abu Shousha, a member of the committee, told Reuters.
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He said no time had been set for an announcement of the final outcome, but it appeared unlikely to be today.
A tally by the Muslim Brotherhood, which lifted Mr. Morsi into the presidency, indicated a 64 percent "yes" vote, although only a third of the 51 million eligible Egyptians took part. An opposition count was similar, but they said the ballot had been marred by abuses in both rounds.
By forcing the pace on the constitution, Morsi risks squandering the opportunity to build consensus for the austerity measures desperately needed to kickstart an ailing economy.
Highlighting investor concerns, Standard and Poor's cut Egypt's longterm credit rating today and said another cut was possible if political turbulence worsened.
The low turnout also prompted some independent newspapers to question how much support the charter really had, with opponents saying Morsi had lost the vote in much of the capital.
"The referendum battle has ended, and the war over the constitution's legitimacy has begun," the newspaper Al-Shorouk wrote in a headline, while a headline in Al-Masry Al-Youm read: "Constitution of the minority."
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
If the "yes" vote is confirmed, a parliamentary election will follow in about two months, setting the stage for Islamists and their opponents to renew their battle.
Under the new constitution, legislative powers that have been temporarily held by Morsi move to the Islamist-dominated upper house of parliament until a new lower house is elected.
The make-up of the Supreme Constitutional Court, which Islamists say is filled with Mubarak-era appointees bent on throwing up legal challenges to Morsi's rule, will also change as its membership is cut to 11 from 18.
Those expected to leave include Tahani al-Gebali, who has described Morsi as an "illegitimate president."
The head of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, Saad al-Katatni, wrote on Facebook that the group's members were "extending our hands to all political parties and all national forces," adding: "We will all start a new page."
But the opposition National Salvation Front says the new basic law deepens a rift between the liberals and Islamists who combined to overthrow Mubarak, and will extend the turbulence that has taken a heavy toll on society and economy.
The opposition said they would continue to challenge the charter through protests and other democratic means.
"We do not consider this constitution legitimate," liberal politician Amr Hamzawy said yesterday, arguing that it violated personal freedoms. "We will continue to attempt to bring down the constitution peacefully and democratically."
The run-up to the referendum was marred by protests, originally sparked when Morsi awarded himself broad powers on Nov. 22. At least eight people were killed when rivals clashed in protests outside Morsi's official palace in Cairo. Violence also flared in the second city, Alexandria.

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Lebanese border means little in Syria's civil war

The four rain-filled bomb craters all visible within 100 yards of Mahmoud Ismael’s house starkly illustrate how Lebanon’s northern border has become an active frontline in Syria’s civil war, drawing in rival Lebanese Shiite and Sunni factions.
A fifth shell had struck the edge of the roof, knocking out chunks of concrete and sending heavy steel shrapnel scything into the cement parapet and the soft earth below.
“It was a terrifying night. We all thought we would be killed,” says Mr. Ismael, surveying the damage.
The Lebanese government, which follows a policy of neutrality towards the war in Syria, has found itself almost powerless to prevent pockets of north Lebanon becoming either bastions of support for the Syrian regime or de facto safe havens for the armed Syrian opposition.
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Tensions between Lebanon’s Sunni and Shiite communities have been running high for several years. But they have been aggravated further by the increasingly sectarian nature of the conflict in Syria, which has pitted the majority Sunni opposition against the Alawite minority, a subsect of Shiite Islam which forms the backbone of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Nourat al-Tahta, like other Sunni-populated villages along the border in the northern Akkar province, is deeply supportive of the Syrian revolution and shelters refugees and Free Syrian Army militants alike. The villages in the area have been subjected to Syrian artillery shelling on a near nightly basis since May. The shelling is intended to hit FSA members who slip across the border into Syria at night as well as to punish those Lebanese who provide assistance and a safe haven for the militants.
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Until recently, it was confined mainly to the scrubland outside the village, but in the past week, the bombardments have focused more closely on inhabited areas.
“If it carries on like this we will have to leave,” Ismael says.
According to a Lebanese member of the FSA who lives in the area, Nourat al-Tahta was the starting point three weeks ago for 20 Lebanese Sunni volunteers who set out to cross the border and join a rebel group. The volunteers fell into an ambush on the Syrian side of the border and 14 of them were killed, according to the militant. The shelling, he said, was the Syrian regime’s punishment on the village.
The Syrian shelling and clandestine FSA activities underline how little state control exists in the northern Akkar. The Lebanese Army has sent some additional reinforcements to the border, but its ability to contain the violence is limited. Returning artillery fire into Syria is politically impossible for the Lebanese army, while chasing after FSA militants operating in Lebanon risks incurring the anger of local Lebanese Sunnis.
Further east along the border, on the other side of 6,500-foot forested mountains that last week were lashed by torrential rain and capped in snow, lies the stony flatlands of the Shiite-populated northern Bekaa Valley, an area of strong support for the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, an ally of the Assad regime.
On a recent afternoon, the steady crump of artillery explosions and the sharp pop of outgoing mortar rounds just inside Syria reverberated through the border town of Qasr as Hezbollah vehicles – SUVs with tinted windows and no license plates – raced through the narrow potholed streets of the town.
Some 25 small villages populated by Lebanese Shiites lie just across the border from Qasr, in Syria. They have been the focus of repeated clashes in recent months, pitting the FSA against Syrian troops allegedly backed by Hezbollah militants.
The fighting is expected to grow more intense in the coming days because the FSA’s Omar al-Farouq brigade, one of the largest and most successful Syrian rebel units, has redeployed much of its manpower from the border area opposite north Lebanon to Damascus, according to Syrian opposition sources. Lebanese and Syrian FSA militants, who had been resting in the Bekaa, are said to be heading into Syria to reinforce the rebels’ depleted ranks.
The residents of Qasr believe that the Syrian rebels are seeking to empty the Shiite villages just over the border to create a corridor linking Sunni areas to facilitate movement across the top of north Lebanon.
“Those villages won’t go down easily. They will defend them to the last bullet. They are willing to fight to the end,” Abu Ali, a member of Qasr’s municipality, says.
The residents tell lurid tales of atrocities committed by the rebels whom they accuse of being Islamic extremists and many of whom they say are not even Syrians.
“There is no Free Syrian Army, they are all Salafists who are attacking us and robbing our homes,” says Minjad al-Haq, a resident of Safsafah, one of the Shiite villages inside Syria who moved across the border in September to escape the fighting. “They are decapitating their prisoners. They say Allahu Akhbar three times then cut off their heads.”
The emergence and growth of radical Islamist groups in Syria – such as Jabhat al-Nusra, which was recently proscribed by the US as a terrorist organization – and indications of Sunni radicalization in Lebanon have unnerved Lebanese Shiites who worry they could be targeted by triumphant Sunnis once the Assad regime falls. Some of those Sunni militants exist in the northeast corner of the Bekaa Valley, which has become a safe haven for the FSA and a conduit for militants to slip into Syria. All that separates Hezbollah and its Shiite supporters in the northwest pocket of the Bekaa from their Sunni FSA enemies in the northeast corner of the valley is a no-man's land of flat, stony earth.
Although Hezbollah has fought the FSA just north of the border inside Syria, a tense calm exists south of the frontier.
“The Shiites in Syria are in a defensive mode and the Sunnis are in attack mode,” says Abu Ali. “But if the Sunnis attack us here [inside Lebanon] we will attack them here.”
But the sense that the Assad regime’s days are numbered is emboldening some Sunnis to cast their mind toward the next conflict.
Khaled, a portly Lebanese Salafist from the Bekaa Valley who has fought with the FSA for 18 months, predicted that the Assad regime would collapse within eight weeks.
“When we are done there, we will come after Hezbollah here,” he says. “We are going to finish them completely. The Free Syrian Army will come and clean Lebanon of Hezbollah then leave, just like we helped them clean Syria of Assad.

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Could the US learn from Australia's gun-control laws?

Almost two weeks after a shooting spree stunned Australia in 1996, leaving 35 people dead at the Port Arthur tourist spot in Tasmania, the government issued sweeping reforms of the country’s gun laws. There hasn’t been a mass shooting since. Now, after the recent shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, Australia’s National Firearm Agreement (NFA), which saw hundreds of thousands of automatic and semi-automatic weapons bought back then destroyed, is being examined as a possible example for the US, to mixed reaction in Australia.
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Australians have been following the Connecticut tragedy closely, and many say the US solution lies in following Australia’s path, or at least reforming current laws. But a small but vocal number of Australia’s gun supporters are urging caution.
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Just 12 days after the 1996 shooting in Port Arthur, then-Prime Minister John Howard – a conservative who had just been elected with the help of gun owners – pushed through not only new gun control laws, but also the most ambitious gun buyback program Australia had ever seen. Some 650,000 automatic and semi-automatic rifles were handed in and destroyed under the program. Though gun-related deaths did not suddenly end in Australia, gun-related homicides dropped 59 percent between 1995 and 2006, with no corresponding increase in non-firearm-related homicides. Suicides by gun plummeted by 65 percent, and robberies at gunpoint also dropped significantly. Many said there was a close correlation between the sharp declines and the buyback program.
A paper for the American Law and Economics Review by Andrew Leigh of the Australian National University and Christine Neill of the Wilfrid Laurier University reports that the buyback led to a drop in the firearm suicide rates of almost 80 percent, "with no significant effect on non-firearm death rates. The effect on firearm homicides is of similar magnitude but is less precise.”
Perhaps the most convincing statistic for many, though, is that in the decade before the Port Arthur massacre, there were 11 mass shootings in the country. Since the new law, there hasn’t been one shooting spree. In the wake of the shooting, polls indicated that up to 85 percent of Australians supported the measures taken by the government.
In the wake of the Newtown shooting, several Australian politicians are now suggesting that the US adopt Australia’s gun laws. “I implore you to look at our experience,” Labor Member of Parliament Kelvin Thomson wrote in an open letter to US Congress that he also posted on his official website. “As the number of guns in Australia reduced, so too did gun violence. It is simply not true that owning a gun makes you safer.”
MIXED VIEWS
But the nation still has some steps to take before becoming the perfect example, cautions Queensland Member of Parliament Bob Katter.
“I think we are absolutely reprehensible, we have done nothing, not one single overt act, to separate the guns from the people who are mentally unhinged," he told reporters recently. Although the laws imposed strict licensing rules, critics here point out that Australia has yet to actually ban semi-automatic handguns completely – they are still available for police and hunters – and that there are other loopholes. They also note that most of the guns used in violent crimes, both before and after the 1996 law, were unregistered.
“There weren’t that many deaths in the first place,” says President of the Sport Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA) Bob Green, cautioning against taking the causal link many draw between the NFA and a steep drop in gun deaths at face value. “Gun deaths were declining for the past 30 years before they brought the laws in.”
Though many point to declining gun violence statistics as further evidence of the effectiveness of Australia's 1996 law, gun supporters also use it to support their case: In 1979, there were 689 gun related deaths in Australia, or about 4.71 per 100,000 Australians. That rate began to decline in the 1980s and reached 2.82 per 100,000 Australians in 1996, with 516 killed that year. The number of deaths by firearms and the rate per people continued to drop until 2010, when 231 died and the rate was 1.04 per 100,000 people, according to the University of Sydney’s GunPolicy.org.
Still, says Mr. Thomson who was “horrified and disgusted” by the killing of so many small children, an Australian-inspired solution might be workable.
“There have been always been great differences between the number of weapons that Australians and Americans own – that is precisely why there are so many more deaths, on a per capita basis, in the United States. It is also true that there are differences in the way Americans and Australians view weapons – nevertheless … our experience is relevant and potentially informative – we had massacres, we acted, we no longer have massacres.

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Doing the Lindy for fun and exercise in Moscow

As teenagers during the Soviet era, Sergey and Lyudmila Gubarev used to copy American-inspired songs onto cassette tapes that then made the rounds among their friends. The music on the tapes, spanning from the 1940s onward, offered them a peek through the Iron Curtain that closed off Western cultural imports.
Today, they still love the same American tunes, but it is not such a clandestine affair.
Sergey and Lyudmila, now both 40, dance swing and the Lindy Hop to keep “young and fit.” And they’re far from alone. Dance instructor Olga Moiseeva says she has seen a tenfold hike in the number of Muscovites wanting to twist and shake. Ten years ago, only three pupils would show up to one of her classes. Nowadays she arranges Lindy-Hop parties that draw hundreds of dancers.
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"The Lindy Hop is about freedom," Ms. Moiseeva says. "And the music is fantastic. But it's about more than the dance, it's about taking classes, competing and, for some, about the cars and the fashion." A burgundy skirt, discrete pumps, and a champagne-colored rose in her wavy hair sets the glamorous Moiseeva apart from her students during a weeknight beginners' class. But once dancers are ready to compete, they ramp it up in the style stakes.
MUSCOVITES GOING RETRO
It's Friday night. The air smells of hairspray. Gym bags line the room – a rehearsal space on the second floor of an anonymous theater just outside Moscow's city center – where about 50 dancers are getting ready. A group of women apply fake eyelashes by a floor-to-ceiling mirror while a young man adjusts a white tie over his black shirt. "A lot of people are inspired by American '40s and '50s culture and want to express that," says the evening's emcee, Nasdiya Murashko, clad in a navy-blue sailor dress with a wide A-line skirt.
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Upstairs, in the dance hall, Pavel Sotnikov is getting ready to compete in a getup of tight jeans and a checkered shirt. His passion is early rock 'n' roll, but tonight it is all about the boogie-woogie. "This music wasn't very popular before, but there are more and more people discovering it, and there's more of a general interest in retro culture than five years ago," Mr. Sotnikov says.
A few competitors have already performed when Sotnikov and his three partners enter the dance floor. The music starts, and the quartet doesn't have a single step out of beat. The audience rewards them with thunderous cheers as the music wraps up, and the dancers throw kisses in the air in all directions.
"Sure, we might win," says a sweaty and elated Sotnikov, "but it doesn't matter. These people are my friends, I want to feel that sense of community with the audience."
Act follows act as the competition continues, mixing high and low, but mostly the competitors stick to the swing and Lindy Hop.
TAKING IT ON THE ROAD
As the evening draws to a close, Sotnikov and his teammates are crowned winners. Yet their sights are already set on the next target – dance camps abroad.
"I'm in the habit of taking two weeks off every year to dance, usually a week in Sweden and the second week somewhere else. That's when I get to meet people from all over the world, which is the best thing about this scene," says Sotnikov.
He won't be going alone. The tiny town of Herräng in central Sweden is legendary in retro dance circles for its annual festival. "At this point we’re almost famous in Herräng," says one dancer, Oleg Rusakov. Like most middle-aged dancers in attendance, his fascination for Western pop culture began with furtive tape exchanges in the Soviet Union.
Roman Molkhanov, 24, is of another generation. He and his group of young dancers have traveled to Moscow from Tula, 120 miles south of the capital. Their eyes are also set on the Swedish dance camp. "We really want to go to Herräng. We don't have a lot of money but we're working hard to save up money to go."
Lindy-Hop instructor Moiseeva says Herräng is a nice change for Russian dancers. "It's a surprise for them, because we don't really have a dance culture in Russia – we sit and sing more than we get up and dance – so Herräng is light-hearted and fun for us. I try to copy Herräng here at my dance studio.

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Soccer: Real need rapid turnaround before United clash

Defeat at Malaga on Saturday has surely dashed any lingering hopes Real Madrid had of defending their La Liga title and they urgently need to find their form before Manchester United's Champions League visit on February 12.
Jose Mourinho's decision to drop goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas for the 3-2 reverse was still sending out shockwaves on Sunday and the defeat had left an "insurmountable" gap to make up on unbeaten leaders Barcelona, according to the Portuguese coach.
Real are 16 points behind Barca after 17 matches and seven adrift of second-placed Atletico Madrid.
When they return from the Christmas break they need to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit at home to Celta Vigo in the last 16 of the King's Cup and elimination would leave the Champions League as the only competition they can realistically hope to win this term.
Mourinho justified benching Casillas by suggesting inexperienced number two Antonio Adan was on better form than the 31-year-old Spain international, a fixture between the posts for more than a decade and hugely popular with the fans.
The sight of Spain's World Cup and European Championship hero watching nervously from the sidelines as Malaga beat Real at home for the first time in almost 30 years will have done little to alter the perception that all is not well off, as well as on, the pitch.
Mourinho dismissed a question about whether he feared for his job after the Malaga reverse which followed last weekend's 2-2 draw at home to Espanyol.
"If I sense that the players have lost their desire I am too honest to continue in a losing battle," he said.
"But the players have desire, they showed they still have desire. They played well enough to win against Espanyol, they played well enough to win today. They didn't have any luck and things turned out badly."
CALM WATERS
Appearing at a charity event on Sunday, Casillas attempted to calm the waters and said the team was more important than any individual player.
"The coach decides who plays," he told broadcaster La Sexta.
"During the week I could tell I wasn't going to play but it wasn't a setback," he added.
"Mourinho didn't say anything to me, he did not explain anything to me. He doesn't give me explanations when I play, so when I don't play he doesn't do so either.
"You have to respect the coach's decision and I have to train a lot more to try to win back confidence."
Sergio Ramos, another of Real's club captains, expressed surprise at the omission of his Spain team mate but urged unity among players and staff.
"It's not normal or usual to see him on the bench but we have nothing to say about it, it's a decision for the coach," he told reporters after the Malaga game.
"Iker is the captain of the team, a leader in the dressing room and a key component for us," he added.
"We are not going to get involved in any controversy. We all have to be in the same boat and row in the same direction.
"Enough seeking controversy where there is none. We all want the same thing."
Despite the calls for unity from the two club heavyweights, there remains a sense that Real and Mourinho are teetering on the edge and many coaches have been sacked for a lot less by the club's impatient presidents.
However, a morale-boosting Cup comeback against Celta and a decent run in La Liga would help set the team up for the United tie and a run at the 10th European title that has eluded them since 2002.

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Soccer-Norwich settle dispute with former manager Lambert

LONDON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Norwich City have come to an agreement with their former manager Paul Lambert and his new side Aston Villa to settle the dispute over his departure, the Premier League club said on Sunday.
Villa will pay Norwich the original amount agreed in Lambert's contract with the Norfolk club who will pay the former Scotland midfielder his bonus due after the 2011/12 season.
"This represents a final settlement of all claims and disputes between the parties," Norwich added in a short statement on their website (www.canaries.co.uk).
The settlement follows a bitter dispute between the parties in which Lambert and Norwich said they were suing each other following his Carrow Road exit at the end of last season.
Norwich chairman Alan Bowkett told a fans' forum in October that Lambert was seeking 2 million pounds ($3.24 million) in compensation for breach of contract and unfair dismissal.
Lambert, who said he was "extremely disappointed" that news of the dispute had been made public, told a news conference he was being sued over his move to Premier League rivals Villa.
"What Norwich haven't made public is that they are suing me. Am I concerned Norwich fans are only hearing one side of the story? Yes," he said at the time.

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UPDATE 2-Soccer-Ligue 1 top scorers

Dec 23 (Infostrada Sports) - Top scorers of the Ligue 1 on Sunday
18 Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris St Germain)
11 Bafetimbi Gomis (Olympique Lyon)
10 Dario Cvitanich (Nice)
9 Anthony Modeste (Bastia)
Wissam Ben Yedder (Toulouse)
8 Julien Feret (Stade Rennes)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (St Etienne)
7 Jeremie Aliadiere (FC Lorient)
Yoan Gouffran (Girondins Bordeaux)
Romain Alessandrini (Stade Rennes)
Eden Ben Basat (Stade Brest)
6 Benjamin Nivet (ES Troyes AC)
Cedric Barbosa (Evian Thonon Gaillard FC)
Saber Khlifa (Evian Thonon Gaillard FC)
Alain Traore (FC Lorient)
Dimitri Payet (Lille)
Nolan Roux (Lille)
Younes Belhanda (Montpellier HSC)
Souleymane Camara (Montpellier HSC)
Lisandro Lopez (Olympique Lyon)
Andre-Pierre Gignac (Olympique Marseille)
Mevlut Erding (Stade Rennes)
Jonathan Pitroipa (Stade Rennes)
Foued Kadir (Valenciennes)

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UPDATE 2-Soccer-Ligue 1 results and standings

Dec 23 (Infostrada Sports) - Results and standings from the Ligue 1 matches on Sunday
Sunday, December 23
Olympique Marseille 1 St Etienne 0
Toulouse 2 Sochaux 0
Valenciennes 2 Evian Thonon Gaillard FC 1
Saturday, December 22
Ajaccio 2 Stade Rennes 4
FC Lorient 2 Stade de Reims 2
Girondins Bordeaux 0 ES Troyes AC 0
Lille 4 Montpellier HSC 1
Olympique Lyon 3 Nice 0
Bastia 4 AS Nancy 2
Friday, December 21
Stade Brest 0 Paris St Germain 3
Standings P W D L F A Pts
1 Paris St Germain 19 11 5 3 36 12 38
2 Olympique Lyon 19 11 5 3 33 17 38
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3 Olympique Marseille 19 12 2 5 24 20 38
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4 Stade Rennes 19 10 2 7 29 24 32
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5 FC Lorient 19 8 7 4 32 29 31
6 Valenciennes 19 8 5 6 31 24 29
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7 Girondins Bordeaux 19 6 11 2 21 14 29
8 Lille 19 7 8 4 24 18 29
9 Nice 19 7 8 4 26 26 29
10 St Etienne 19 7 6 6 24 14 27
11 Montpellier HSC 19 7 5 7 29 24 26
12 Toulouse 19 7 5 7 25 20 26
13 Bastia 19 6 4 9 26 41 22
14 Stade Brest 19 6 3 10 20 28 21
15 Stade de Reims 19 4 7 8 16 20 19
16 Ajaccio 19 5 6 8 21 29 19
17 Evian Thonon Gaillard FC 19 5 4 10 22 32 19
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18 Sochaux 19 4 4 11 17 29 16
19 ES Troyes AC 19 2 7 10 20 37 13
20 AS Nancy 19 1 8 10 15 33 11
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Note: Ajaccio deducted 2 points.
1-2: Champions League / EC I
3: Champions League preliminary round
4: Europa League
5-6: Europa League depending on domestic cup
18-20: Relegation

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Soccer-Marseille cling on with leaders after beating St Etienne

 Andre Ayew struck just before the break to give Olympique Marseille a 1-0 home win against St Etienne on Sunday and keep them level on points with leaders Paris St Germain.
As Ligue 1 goes into a three-week break, OM are third with 38 points, behind pacesetters PSG and second-placed Olympique Lyon on goal difference.
St Etienne, who last beat OM at the Velodrome in 1979, are 10th with 27 points from 19 matches.
The game got off to a rather dull start with neither team creating chances and Marseille looking cautious having lost their last two home games.
Marseille, however, went ahead on the stroke of halftime when Ghana striker Ayew, who will play in the African Nations Cup with the Black Stars from Jan. 19 to Feb. 10, headed home from a Rod Fanni cross.
Josuha Guilavogui was set up by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but Steve Mandanda dived into the midfielder's feet to deny St Etienne an early opportunity to equalise two minutes into the second half.
Fanni cleared Aubameyang's strike off the goal line 15 minutes from time to keep his team ahead.
Andre Ayew then came close to doubling the tally in the 85th minute after being set up by his younger brother Jordan, only for his low shot to be blocked by Stephane Ruffier.
Earlier, Valenciennes moved up to sixth on 29 points after goals by Gregory Pujol and Jose Saez gave the Northerners a 2-1 win against visiting Evian Thonon Gaillard.
Toulouse, who had bagged only four points from their last eight games, beat Sochaux 2-0 courtesy of goals by Adrien Regattin and Emmanuel Riviere.
On Saturday, PSG claimed a 3-0 win at Stade Brest and Lyon beat Nice 3-0 at home.

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VP says he spoke with Chavez, who is up, walking

 Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro said late Monday night that he had spoken by telephone with President Hugo Chavez and that the leader is up and walking following cancer surgery in Cuba.
It was the first time a top Venezuelan government official had confirmed speaking personally with Chavez since the Dec. 11 operation. Venezuelan officials have given few specifics on Chavez's condition, and have yet to offer information on his long-term prognosis.
Maduro told state television station Venezolana de Television that the Christmas Eve conversation lasted about 20 minutes. He said the president was walking and doing some recovery exercises. He added that Chavez had given him guidance on budgetary matters for 2013.
"He was in a good mood," Maduro said. "He was walking, he was exercising."
"He wants to send a hug from the comandante to all the girls and boys in the country who will soon be receiving a visit from baby Jesus," he added. Venezuelan tradition has it that baby Jesus delivers gifts to children on Christmas, along with Santa Claus.
Maduro's surprise announcement came after Chavez's ally, Bolivian President Evo Morales, made a lightning visit to Cuba that had added to the uncertainty surrounding the Venezuelan leader's condition.
Morales was largely silent Monday on the details of his trip or even whether he met with the ailing Venezuelan leader.
Morales did not speak to the foreign media while in Havana. Journalists had been summoned to cover his arrival and departure, but hours later that invitation was canceled. No explanation was given, though it could have been due to confusion over Morales' itinerary as he apparently arrived later than initially scheduled.
Cuban state media published photos of President Raul Castro receiving Morales at the airport and said he came "to express his support" for Chavez, his close ally, but did not give further details.
At an event in southern Bolivia on Monday, Morales made no mention of his trip to Cuba, even though aides had told reporters that he might say something about Chavez's recovery. Later, Morales' communications minister did not respond directly to a question about whether the two South American presidents had met face-to-face, saying only that he "was with the people he wanted to be with" and had no plans to return to Cuba.
"The report that President Morales has given us is that Chavez is in a process of recovery after the terrible operation he underwent," Amanda Davila told The Associated Press.
Morales was the second Latin American leader to visit since Chavez announced two weeks ago that he would have the operation. Rafael Correa of Ecuador came calling the day of the surgery.
The visits underscore Chavez's importance to regional allies as a prominent voice of the Latin American left, as well as how seriously they are taking his latest bout with cancer.
Chavez underwent his fourth cancer-related operation of the last year-and-a-half on Dec. 11, two months after winning re-election to a six-year term. He was treated for a respiratory infection apparently due to the surgery.
If Chavez is unable to continue in office, the Venezuelan constitution calls for new elections to be held. Chavez has asked his followers to back Maduro, his hand-picked successor, in that event.
Earlier Monday, Venezuelan Information Minister Ernesto Villegas read a statement saying that Chavez is showing "a slight improvement with a progressive trend."
Luis Vicente Leon, a pollster who heads the Venezuelan firm Datanalisis, said that the government's daily but vague updates on the president's health seem designed to calm anxious Chavez supporters rather than keep the country fully informed. For government opponents, however, he said the updates likely raise more questions than they answer.
"It's more for the Chavez movement than the country in general," Leon said. "There's nothing that one can verify, and the credibility is almost nil."
Maduro and several Cabinet ministers attended a Christmas Eve Mass in Caracas on Monday afternoon to pray for the president.
The vice president and other officials continued to strongly suggest that Chavez would not return in time for his Jan. 10 inauguration.
Opposition leaders have argued that the constitution does not allow the president's swearing-in to be postponed, and say new elections should be called if Chavez is unable to take the oath on time.
But Attorney General Cilia Flores insisted the constitution lets the Supreme Court administer the oath of office at any time if the National Assembly is unable to do it Jan. 10 as scheduled.
"Those who are counting on that date, hoping to thwart the Revolution and the will of the people, will end up frustrated once again," Flores said. "What we have is a president who has been re-elected, he will take over, will be sworn in on that day, another day, that is a formality."

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Police Find Clothing Tied to Missing Yacht School Friends

lothing items believed to belong to two missing yacht school friends were found on the rocks of a small island off the coast of Maine, Kennebunkport police said today.
Zachary Wells, 21, and Prescott Wright, 23, were last seen hanging out at a home in the seaside community on Thursday, police chief Craig Sanford said.
The disappearance of the two friends baffled authorities, who have searched by air, water and in wooded areas for the men.
Today marked the first breakthrough in the case, when authorities discovered the clothing, including one item that was marked to indicate that it belonged to one of the men, Sanford said.
Wells and Wright are students at The Landing School in Arundel, Maine., where they were learning boat building and yacht design.
When the men failed to show up for classes on Thursday and Friday, administrators at the school contacted police.
Authorities found no signs of a disturbance at the home, Sanford said, and searches of the nearby area did not turn up any clues. Only one of the men owns a vehicle, and it remained parked in the driveway of the house.
"There's no one area to pinpoint because we don't know where they might have gone," Sanford said, calling it one of the strangest cases he has ever seen.
Both men were expected to head to their home states for the holidays.

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Man set trap and then shot and killed firefighters responding to Webster, N.Y. fire

A man with a criminal history shot and killed two West Webster, N.Y. firefighters and seriously injured two others as they responded to a fire at his home, police say.
William H. Spengler, Jr., 62, apparently started a 5:35 a.m. fire at his home on Lake Road  and then waited with an armament of weapons for first responders to arrive, Webster N.Y. Police Chief Gerald Pickering said at an afternoon news conference.
“He was shooting from high ground or a berm," Pickering said. "He was barricaded with weapons to shoot first responders."
After a brief exchange of gunfire with police, Spengler then shot and killed himself at the scene, Pickering said.
Spengler was convicted in 1981 in the death of his 92-year-old grandmother a year earlier. He served time in prison and was released in 1998, Pickering said.
Spengler beat Rose Spengler to death with a hammer 1980, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported. Rose Spengler had lived in the home next to William Spengler on Lake Road at the time of her death.
Local police had not noted any criminal activity in his recent past, Pickering said.
Pickering said they are looking into the apparent disappearance of Spengler's sister who is unaccounted for at this time.
Police and fire officials are continuing to gather evidence and will inspect the seven homes that were destroyed in the fire that spread to nearby houses in the small lakeside town located 10 miles east of Rochester.
The victims in the shooting are Mike Chiapperini, also a lieutenant and public information officer with the local police department, and Tomasz Kaczowka, Pickering said.
"These people get up in the middle of the night to fight fires. They don't expect to be shot and killed," a tearful Pickering said at the press conference.
Chiapperini was described by Pickering as a lifelong firefighter who started with the department's explorer program and had about 20 years of experience. Kaczowka was a younger firefighter who was on the force for about two years and was also a 911 dispatcher, he said.
West Webster firefighters Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino were seriously injured and are at Strong Memorial Hospital with gunshot wounds, a hospital spokeswoman said.  Scardino  has  injuries to his chest and lungs. Hofsetter was injured in the pelvis, the spokeswoman said at a media briefing. Both are in guarded condition, she said.
An off-duty police officer from nearby Greece, N.Y., John Ritter was also injured by shrapnel during the shooting, Pickering said.
Pickering said that one of the firefighters who survived made his way across a bridge to safety. The other three did not make it across, Pickering said. Police arrived and rescued the other three firefighters, but two were fatally shot, Pickering said.
The morning scene was described as chaotic as police and firefighters dealt with an immense blaze as well as gunshots,  local news station WHAM-TV  reports.
“I’m not aware of anything like this happening in Webster, obviously not a firefighter being fired upon,” Webster Fire Marshal Rob Boutillier told the Democrat and Chronicle.  Pickering described Webster as resort lakeside community that is quiet and usually peaceful.
WHAM reported that an outpouring of support has come through the Webster community. Black flags reportedly have been draped at some homes and offices to honor those killed and injured.

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Newspaper Publishes Gun Owners' Names and Addresses

A newspaper in New York has received a wave of criticism from its readers after publishing the names and addresses of all of the individuals with handgun or pistol permits in its coverage area.
Hundreds of residents in New York's Westchester and Rockland counties were surprised to find their names and addresses listed on a map posted by The Journal News on Sunday. Users can click any dot on the map to see which of their neighbors has a permit for a gun.
The map sparked more than 500 comments from readers within a day of its appearance on the website, many of them voicing outrage at the paper's decision to make the information public.
"This is CRAZY!! why in the world would you post every licensed gun owner information?? What do you hope to accomplish by doing this. This is the type of thing you do for sex offenders not law abiding gun owners. What next? should i hang a flag outside my house that says I own a gun? I am canceling my subscription with your paper today!!!" said commenter Curtis Maenza.
"How about a map of the editorial staff and publishers of Gannett and Journal News with names and addresses of their families…," wrote commenter George Thompson.
All of the names and addresses were compiled through public records. The paper also requested the information from Putnam County, which is still compiling the records for publication, according to The Journal News' website.
In a statement to ABC News, The Journal News said its readers "are understandably interested to know about guns in their neighborhoods," because of the conversation about gun control on its website after the shooting in Newtown, Conn., last week.
"We obtained the names and addresses of Westchester and Rockland residents who are licensed to own handguns through routine Freedom of Information law requests. We also requested information on the number and types of guns owned by permit holders, but officials in the county clerks offices in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties maintained that those specifics were not public record," the statement read.
"New York's top public-records expert, Robert Freeman, disagrees," it added.
The paper declined to answer further questions about the map.

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At Christmas Eve Mass, pope urges space for God

Pope Benedict XVI marked Christmas Eve with Mass in St. Peter's Basilica and a pressing question: Will people find room in their hectic, technology-driven lives for children, the poor and God?
The pontiff also prayed that Israelis and Palestinians live in peace and freedom, and asked the faithful to pray for strife-torn Syria as well as Lebanon and Iraq.
The ceremony began at 10 p.m. local time Monday with the blare of trumpets, meant to symbolize Christian joy over the news of Christ's birth in Bethlehem. As midnight neared, chuch bells tolled throughout Rome, while inside the basilica, the sweet voices of the Vatican's boys' choir resounded joyously.
Christmas Eve Mass at the Vatican traditionally began at midnight, but the start time was moved up years ago so as to give the 85-year-old pontiff more time to rest before his Christmas Day speech. That address is to be delivered at midday Tuesday from the basilica's central balcony.
A smiling Benedict, dressed in gold-colored vestments, waved to photo-snapping pilgrims and applauding church-goers as he glided up the center aisle toward the ornate main altar of the cavernous basilica on a wheeled platform guided by white-gloved aides. The platform saves him energy.
In his homily, Benedict cited the Gospel account of Mary and Joseph finding no room at an inn and ending up in a stable which sheltered the baby Jesus. He urged people to reflect upon what they find time for in their busy, technology-driven lives.
"The great moral question of our attitude toward the homeless, toward refugees and migrants takes on a deeper dimension: Do we really have room for God when he seeks to enter under our roof? Do we have time and space for him?" the pope said.
"The faster we can move, the more efficient our time-saving appliances become, the less time we have. And God? The question of God never seems urgent," Benedict lamented.
The pope worried that "we are so 'full' of ourselves that there is no room left for God." He added, "that means there is no room for others either — for children, for the poor, for the stranger."
With his voice a bit hoarse, and looking somewhat tired as the two-hour ceremony neared its end, Benedict decried that history has suffered through "misuse of religion," when belief in one God became a pretext for intolerance and violence. Still, he insisted that where God is "forgotten or even denied, there is no peace either."
"Let us pray that Israelis and Palestinians be able to live their lives in the peace of the one God and in freedom," the pope said.
Benedict also mentioned his hope for progress in Syria, which is mired in civil war, as well as Lebanon and Iraq.
Reflecting the Vatican's concern about the exodus of many fearful Christians from the Muslim-dominated Middle East, Benedict expressed hope that "Christians in those lands where our faith was born maybe be able to continue living there" and that Christians and Muslims "build up their countries side by side in God's peace."
Hours before the basilica Mass, Benedict lit a Christmas peace candle on the windowsill of his studio window overlooking St. Peter's Square.

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Windows already threatening iPhone in Southern Europe

Kantar Worldpanel’s report for November came out and much has been made of the iPhone market share surge in the United States. What I find interesting in the November numbers is just how ice cold the iPhone has gone in so many international markets, from Australia to Brazil to Southern Europe. The iOS market share showed hefty declines outside in many major markets: down 5.4 percentage points in Australia to 35.9% and down 1.6 points in Brazil to 1.6%. That’s right — the iPhone market share has halved in the most important South American market over the past year. And this happened while BlackBerry and Symbian market shares absolutely caved in. This should have been the period for Apple (AAPL) to pick up points while RIM (RIMM) and Nokia (NOK) floundered. Instead, the sky-high pricing of the iPhone models has effectively started reversing Apple’s market share gains across several major markets.
[More from BGR: Fan-made tweak gives Apple a blueprint for better multitasking in iOS 7 [video]]
In November, the burden of the stiff iPhone pricing was highlighted by how rapidly Windows has started closing the market share gap in Spain, Italy and France. Because Nokia has had trouble ramping up the production of the new Lumia 920 and 820 Windows models, it chose to crank out older Windows models like 800 and 610 for remarkably aggressive Christmas promotions. As European markets are now hitting 50% smartphone market penetration, consumer demand is shifting towards cheap models, and Apple cannot compete in the budget category. The new first-time smartphone buyers have a lot lower household income than the consumers who bought smartphones in 2010. In the recession-ravaged Europe, the upgrade cycle is lengthening and prepaid smartphones are a more important part of the overall product mix.
[More from BGR: RIM’s biggest problem: It’s still scrambling to catch yesterday’s hottest mobile app]
As a result, Windows market share in Italy hit a stunning 11.8% in November despite the razor thin availability of the Lumia 920. Windows has already erased most of the market share lead iPhone had in Italy. The iOS market share slipped to 20.6% during the last month. In Spain, Windows market share vaulted to 3% from 0.4% a year earlier while iOS share faded to 4.4%. As the affordable HTC (2498) 8S ramps up and the even cheaper Lumia 620 launches at the end of January, Windows may overtake iPhone in Spain already in February.
The strong performance Apple had in France and the United Kingdom kept its overall European market share climbing by 2.5 percentage points in November. But in Southern Europe, Latin America and parts of Asia, iPhone is slipping badly due to the lack of a low-end version. This is what is driving the Google (GOOG) Play revenue surge globally as Android apps now narrow the huge lead Apple built in the app market before the year 2012. Apple may well have to reconsider its iPhone pricing strategy in a fundamental way. Maintaining $620 ASP level globally could lead to a scenario where Android has 10-to-1 volume lead outside the United States and Northern Europe, and Windows actually has a shot at pulling well ahead of Apple in lower income countries from Spain to Brazil to South-East Asia.

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HTC upgrades Android devices faster than any of its rivals

The problem with Android has always been the erratic schedules manufacturers and carriers use to update devices. Due to custom user interfaces that are used to differentiate devices from the large pool of Android vendors, manufacturers often require more time to update devices than Google (GOOG) does for its own Nexus line of smartphones and tablets. Smartphone makers must then submit their update to the carriers for further testing, a process that can take months. This process leaves a majority of smartphones and tablets left running an old and outdated version of Android. ArsTechnica took an extensive look at the slow history of Android updates for smartphones from LG (006570), Motorola, Samsung (005930) and HTC (2498), on the networks of the four major U.S. carriers — Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T), Sprint (S) and T-Mobile. The results may surprise you.
[More from BGR: Fan-made tweak gives Apple a blueprint for better multitasking in iOS 7 [video]]
HTC fared the best when it came to updating its devices, with an average time of 4.8 months, although Samsung’s updating schedule dramatically improved with its Galaxy S III smartphone, which was updated in an average of four and a half months. Overall the company updated its devices in an average of 6.9 months, better than Motorola and LG, which averaged 8.6 months and 11.8 months, respectively. Motorola does not plan to update the DROID 3, Atrix 4G and Photon 4G, however, which is a reason for concern.
[More from BGR: Windows already threatening iPhone in Southern Europe]
On the carrier side of things, T-Mobile was found to be the most reliable with an average time of 5.8 months for updating devices. Sprint is the second best with an average of 6.5 months and unsurprisingly AT&T and Verizon are found at the bottom of the pack with average times of 7.8 months and 8 months, respectively.
In the end, if you are looking for a smartphone that will always be up-to-date with the latest version of Android, a Nexus device is your best bet. The unlocked version of the Galaxy Nexus receives its updates directly from Google, while the Sprint and Verizon variants experienced an average update time of only 2.5 months.
If you prefer a different device, an HTC or Samsung smartphone running on T-Mobile or Sprint will be updated in a timely manner, based on ArsTechnica’s findings.

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The Way the World Could Have Ended

We realize there's only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:
RELATED: What Happens When You Sing 'All Night Long' All Night Long
Knock, knock. You're still here, right? So are we. Like, whew, all that apocalyptic stuff — we can laugh about it now, right? So let's kick back with this music video from a group called Eclectic Method, which compiles, mixes, and mashes all the end-of-the-world scenes that Hollywood has ever created:
RELATED: The Only 'Kiss From a Rose' Cover You'll Ever Need
RELATED: Myspace Hopes Its Sexy New Video will Bring You Back
Happy holidays to you! And you! And you! But not to you, Henri, you existential cat:
RELATED: A 'Mad Men' Rickroll and the Man That Destroys Carnival Games
RELATED: A Video to Restore Our Faith in Humanity and a Glacier Tsunami
So, before we leave you for the holidays we have one piece of advice. Remember this and hold on to it when you are three glasses deep in a drunken egg-nog haze: never trust a "trust fall."
And, finally, here's an otter eating an invisible sandwich. Happy holidays!

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RIM shares dive as fee changes catch market off guard

Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd plunged more than 20 percent on Friday on fears that a new fee structure for its high-margin services segment could put pressure on the business that has set the company apart from its competitors.
It was the stock's biggest, single-day, percentage price drop since September 2008. But shares were still nearly 80 percent above the year's low, which was reached in September. They started to rally in November as investors began to bet that RIM's long-awaited new BlackBerry 10 phones, which will be unveiled in January, would turn the company around.
The services segment has long been RIM's most profitable and accounts for about a third of total revenue. Some analysts said there was a risk that the fee changes could endanger its service ecosystem and leave the Canadian company as just another handset maker.
The fee changes, which RIM announced on Thursday after market close, overshadowed stronger-than-expected quarterly results. The company said the new pricing structure would be introduced with the BlackBerry 10 launch, expected on January 30.
RIM said some subscribers would continue to pay for enhanced services such as advanced security. But under the new structure, some other services would account for less revenue, or even none at all.
Chief Executive Thorsten Heins tried to reassure investors in a television interview with CNBC on Friday, saying RIM's "service revenue isn't going away".
He added: "We're not stopping. We're not halting. We're transitioning."
Since taking over at RIM in January, Heins has focused on shrinking the company and getting it ready to introduce its new BB10 devices, which RIM says will help it claw back ground it has lost to competitors such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics.
But the new services pricing strategy came as a shock to markets, and some analysts cut their price targets on RIM stock.
RIM will not be able to sustain profitability by relying on its hardware business alone, said National Bank Financial analyst Kris Thompson, whom Thomson Reuters StarMine has rated the top RIM analyst based on the accuracy of his estimates of the company's earnings.
Thompson downgraded RIM's stock to "underperform" from "sector perform" and cut his price target to $10 from $15.
Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin said the move was likely about stabilizing market share: "At the moment, they need to stem the bleeding."
He said the tiered pricing might line up better with RIM's subscriber base as it expands in emerging economies.
RIM's Nasdaq-listed shares closed down 22.7 percent at $10.91 on Friday. The stock fell 22.2 percent to C$10.86 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
COUNTDOWN TO LAUNCH
The success of the BB10 will be crucial to the future of RIM, which on Thursday posted its first-ever decline in total subscribers. Heins said on CNBC that the company expected to ship millions of the new devices.
He cautioned that this will require heavy investment, which will reduce RIM's cash position in its fourth and first quarters from $2.9 billion in its fiscal third quarter. He said, however, it would not go below $2 billion.
Still, doubts remain about whether RIM can pull off the transformation. Needham analyst Charlie Wolf said the BB10 would have to look meaningfully superior to its competitors for RIM to stage a comeback.
Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley said it was highly unlikely that the market would support RIM's new mobile computing ecosystem, and he remained skeptical about the company's ability to survive on its own.
"We believe RIM will eventually need to sell the company," said Walkley, who cut his price target on RIM shares to $9 from $10.
Baird Equity Research analysts said BB10 faced a daunting uphill battle against products from Apple, as well as those using Google Inc's Android operating system, and, increasingly, phones with Microsoft Corp's Windows 8 operating system.
Baird maintained its "underperform" rating on the stock, while Paradigm Capital downgraded the shares to "hold" from "buy" on uncertainty around the services revenue model.
"RIM has gone from having one major aspect of uncertainty - BlackBerry 10 adoption - to two, given an uncertain floor on services revenue," William Blair analyst Anil Doradla said.
RIM will have to discount BB10 devices significantly to maintain demand, Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu said.
The BlackBerry, however, still offers the security features that helped it build its reputation with big business and government, a selling point with some key customers.
Credit Suisse maintained its "neutral" rating on the stock, but not because it expected BB10 to be a big success.
"Only the potential for an outright sale of the company or a breakup keeps us at a neutral," Credit Suisse analysts said.
Separately on Friday, ailing Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia said it had settled its patent dispute with RIM in return for payments.

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Facebook releases ‘Poke’ for the iPhone to compete with Snapchat

Facebook (FB) on Friday released a new free application for the iPhone called Poke that competes directly with Snapchat and allows users to send a messages, photos or videos that will self-destruct after a set time. With Poke you can send messages to individual friends or groups that are set to expire after one, three, five or ten seconds. The app is simple to use and only requires you to hold down a finger on a thread to activate the timer for a specific message. It was previously reported that an Android version would be released too, however Facebook did not reveal any such plans at this time. Poke is set to be available on the App Store later today.

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Egyptians vote on Islamist-backed constitution

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptians voted on Saturday in the second and final phase of a referendum on an Islamist-backed constitution that has polarized the nation, with little indication that the expected passage of the charter will end the political crisis in which the country is mired.
Islamist President Mohammed Morsi is likely to emerge from a bruising month-long battle with a narrow victory for the constitution he and his Islamist allies sought. But it has been at the cost of alienating many who had backed him, leaving an administration he has long tried to depict as broad-based even more reliant on the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists.
The liberal and secular opposition, in turn, has ridden a wave of anger among a significant part of the population against Morsi and the Brotherhood, who many feel are establishing a lock on power. But it has been unable to block a charter critics fear will bring greater implementation of Islamic law and it now faces the question of how to confront Morsi now.
Morsi faced more bleeding from his administration. Hours before polls closed, Morsi's vice president, Mahmoud Mekki, announced his resignation.
Shortly afterward, state TV reported the resignation of Central Bank Governor Farouq el-Oqdah. But then it carried a denial by the Cabinet that he had stepped down. No explanation was given for the conflicting reports, which come after several days of media report that the administration was trying to convince el-Oqdah not to quit his post, at a time when Egypt's pound has been losing value and a crucial deal for a much needed IMF loan of $4.8 billion has been postponed.
Mekki's move was in part expected since the new charter would eliminate the vice presidency post. But Mekki hinted that the hurried departure could be linked to Morsi's policies.
"I have realized a while ago that the nature of politics don't suit my professional background as a judge," his resignation letter, read on state TV, said. He said he had first submitted his resignation last month but events forced him to stay on.
Over the past month, seven of Morsi's 17 top advisers and the one Christian among his top four aides resigned. Like Mekki, they said they had never been consulted in advance on any of the president's moves, including Nov. 22 decrees placing him above any oversight and granting himself near absolute powers.
Saturday's vote is taking place in 17 of Egypt's 27 provinces with about 25 million eligible voters. The first phase on Dec. 15 produced a "yes" majority of about 56 percent with a turnout of some 32 percent, according to preliminary results.
Preliminary results for the second round are expected late Saturday or early Sunday. The charter is expected to pass, but a low turnout or relatively low "yes" vote could undermine perceptions of its legitimacy. There was no immediate word on Saturday's turnout, but in some places lines were short or non-existent.
For some, the vote was effectively a referendum on Morsi himself, who opponents accuse of turning the government into a monopoly for the Muslim Brotherhood.
In the village of Ikhsas in the Giza countryside south of Cairo, buses ferried women voters to the polling centers in an effort villagers said was by the Muslim Brotherhood.
An elderly man who voted "no" screamed in the polling station that the charter is "a Brotherhood constitution."
"We want a constitution in the interest of Egypt. We want a constitution that serves everyone, not just the Brotherhood. They can't keep fooling the people," 68-year-old Ali Hassan, wearing traditional robes, said.
But others were drawn by the hope that a constitution would finally bring some stability after nearly two years of tumultuous transitional politics following Egypt's 2011 revolution that removed autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Though few fault-lines in Egypt are black and white, there appeared to be an economic split in voting, with many of the middle and upper classes rejecting the charter and the poor voting "yes."
In Ikhsas, Hassan Kamel, a 49-year-old day worker, said "We the poor will pay the price" of a no vote.
He dismissed the opposition leadership as elite and out of touch. "Show me an office for any of those parties that say no here in Ikhsas or south of Cairo. They are not connecting with people."
As was the case in last week's vote, opposition and rights activists reported numerous irregularities: polling stations opening later than scheduled, Islamists outside stations trying to influence voters to say "yes," and independent monitors denied access.
For the past four weeks, both the opposition and the Islamists have brought giant crowds out into the streets in rallies — first over Morsi's grab of new powers, though they were since revoked, and then over the charter itself, which was finalized by a Constituent Assembly made up almost entirely of Islamists amid a boycott by liberal and Christian members.
The rallies and protests repeatedly turned in to clashes, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 1,000. The most recent came on the eve of Saturday's voting, when Islamists and Morsi opponents battled each other for hours with stones in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
The promise of stability even drew one Christian woman in Fayoum, south of Cairo, to vote "yes" — a break with most Christians nationwide who oppose the draft. Hanaa Zaki said she wanted an end to Egypt's deepening economic woes.
"I have a son who didn't get paid for the past six months. We have been in this crisis for so long and we are fed up," said Zaki, waiting in line along with bearded Muslim men and Muslim women wearing headscarves in Fayoum, a province that is home to both a large Christian community and a strong Islamist movement.
In Giza's upscale Mohandiseen neighborhood, a group of 12 women speaking to each other in a mix of French, Arabic and English said they all intended to vote "no."
"My friends are Muslim and are voting 'no.' It's not about Christian versus Muslim, but it is Muslim Brotherhood versus everyone else," said one of them, Shahira Sadeq, a Christian physician.
Kamla el-Tantawi, 65, said she voted no "against what I'm seeing" — and she gestured at a woman nearby wearing the full-face veil known as niqab, a hallmark of ultraconservative Muslim women.
"I lose sleep thinking about my grandchildren and their future. They never saw the beautiful Egypt we did," she said, harkening back to a time decades ago when few women even wore headscarves covering their hair, much less the black niqab that blankets the entire body and leaves only the eyes visible.
In the neighboring, poorer district of Imbaba, Zeinab Khalil — a mother of three who wears the niqab — was backing the charter.
"Morsi, God willing, will be better than those who came before him," she said. "A 'yes' vote moves the country forward. We want things to calm down, more jobs and better education."
The voices reflected the multiple concerns that have been shaking Egypt for weeks. For some, the dispute has been about Shariah and greater religion in public life — whether to bring it about or block it. In many areas, clerics have been preaching in favor of the charter in their sermon.
But the dispute has also been about political power. An opposition made up of liberals, leftists, secular Egyptians and a swath of the public angered over Morsi's 5-month-old rule fear that Islamists are creating a new Mubarak-style autocracy.
Morsi's allies say the opposition is trying to use the streets to overturn their victories at the ballot box over the past two years. They also accuse the opposition of carrying out a conspiracy by former members of Mubarak's regime to regain power.
Many voters were under no illusions the turmoil would end.
"I don't trust the Brotherhood anymore and I don't trust the opposition either. We are forgotten, the most miserable and the first to suffer," said Azouz Ayesh, sitting with his neighbors as their cattle grazed in a nearby field in the Fayoum countryside.
He said a yes would bring stability and a no would mean no stability. But, he added, "I will vote against this constitution."
In Ikhsas village, Marianna Abdel-Messieh, a Christian, was the only woman not wearing a head scarf in the women's line outside a polling center. She was voting "no," but expected that whatever the result, Egypt would see more rule by Shariah.

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Russia welcomes any offer to give Assad refuge

BEIRUT (AP) — Russia would welcome any country's offer of safe haven for Syrian President Bashar Assad, but has no plans to make one of its own, Moscow's foreign minister said in the latest comments to suggest a growing distance between the two allies.
Sergey Lavrov's remarks on Friday night were among the clearest signs yet that Russia could be preparing for a Syria without Assad, as rebel pressure on the embattled leader intensifies. Over the past four weeks, fighting has reached Damascus, his seat of power, and rebels have captured a string of military bases.
Up to now, Russia has vetoed three Western-backed resolutions aimed at pressuring Syria's government to stop the violence that has killed more than 40,000 people over the past 21 months. While Russian leaders have given no concrete signs that stance has changed, their tone has shifted as rebels advance on the outskirts of the capital.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin distanced himself further than ever from the Syrian president, saying Russia does not seek to protect him and suggesting his regime is growing weaker.
Speaking to reporters late Friday, Lavrov reiterated Moscow's position that "it doesn't invite President Assad here," although he said other countries had asked Russia to convey their offer of safe passage to Assad.
While he would not name the countries, Lavrov said Russia had responded by telling them to go directly to the Syrian leader.
"If there is anyone willing to provide him guarantees, they are welcome!" Lavrov said on board a plane returning from Brussels, where he attended a Russia-EU summit.
"We would be the first to cross ourselves and say: "Thank God, the carnage is over! If it indeed ends the carnage, which is far from certain."
Syria's conflict started in March last year as an uprising against Assad, whose family has ruled the country for four decades. But the bloody crackdown that followed led rebels to take up arms, and the ensuing fighting transformed into a civil war.
The regime has come under added condemnation in recent weeks as Western officials raise concerns Assad might use chemical weapons against rebels in an act of desperation.
Syria refuses to confirm or deny if it has such weapons but is believed to have nerve agents as well as mustard gas. It also possesses Scud missiles capable of delivering them.
Lavrov said the Syrian government has pulled its chemical weapons together to one or two locations from several arsenals across the country to keep them safe amid the rebel onslaught.
"According to the information we have, as well as the data of the U.S. and European special services, the government is doing everything to secure it," he said. "The Syrian government has concentrated the stockpiles in one or two centers, unlike the past when they were scattered across the country."
Lavrov added that U.N.-Arab League peace envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, would visit Moscow for talks before the year's end.
The conflict's sectarian dimension looked set to deepen at the weekend, as rebels threated to storm two predominantly Christian towns in a central region if residents do not "evict" government troops they say are using the towns as a base to attack nearby areas.
A video released by rebels showed Rashid Abul-Fidaa, who identified himself as the commander of the Ansar Brigade for Hama province, calling on locals in Mahrada and Sqailbiyeh to rise up against Assad's forces or prepare for an assault.
"You should perform your duty by evicting Assad's gangs," said Abdul-Fidaa, who wore an Islamic headband and was surrounded by gunmen. "Otherwise our warriors will storm the hideouts of the Assad gangs."
He also accused regime forces of taking positions in the two towns in order to "incite sectarian strife" between Christians and the predominantly Sunni opposition. Assad belongs to the Alawite minority sect, an off-shoot of Shiite Islam.
The threat comes just two days after a U.N. team investigating human rights abuses in Syria accused anti-Assad militants of hiding among the civilian population, triggering strikes by government artillery and the air force.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the activist group which reported the rebel ultimatum on Saturday, said such an attack by rebels could force thousands of Christians from their homes.
Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Syria's population, say they are particularly vulnerable to the violence sweeping the country of 22 million people. They are fearful that Syria will become another Iraq, with Christians caught in the crossfire between rival Islamic groups.
Clashes between troops and rebels in the central city of Homs, Syria's third largest, have already displaced tens of thousands of Christians, most of whom either fled to the relatively safe coastal areas or to neighboring Lebanon.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said some Christians and Alawites have also left Hama province in the past several days to escape violence. He said some of them found shelter in the coastal city of Tartus.
In Damascus, the new head of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch said that Christians in Syria had deep roots in the country and were not part of the conflict. Speaking to reporters in Damascus, Patriarch John X. Yazigi urged rival factions to negotiate a settlement.
Violence continued unabated on Saturday, particularly in the capital.
The Observatory said a car bomb went off in the Damascus neighborhood of Qaboun, killing at least five people and wounding others. A Syrian official confirmed the blast but had no immediate comment regarding casualties.
Elsewhere, the Syrian army said in a statement carried on state-run TV that it had repelled a rebel attack on a military base that killed a regimental commander in the Damascus suburb of Chebaa.
Also in Damascus, the state-run news agency SANA said gunmen assassinated a cameraman for the government's TV station, the latest such killing in recent months.
In another development, 11 rebel groups said they have formed a new coalition, the Syrian Islamic Front.
A statement issued by the new group, dated Dec. 21 and posted on a militant website Saturday, described it as "a comprehensive Islamic front that adopts Islam as a religion, doctrine, approach and conduct."
Several rebel groups have declared their own coalitions in Syria, including one calling itself an "Islamic state" in the embattled northern city of Aleppo.
The statement said the new group will work to avoid differences or disputes with the other Islamic groups.

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Bombing kills 4, wounds 11 in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) — An explosion at a shop selling CDs killed 4 people in a town northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Saturday.
Police officials say a bomb hidden in a plastic bag exploded near the shop Saturday afternoon in the town of Qazaniyah. Eleven people were wounded in the attack, and the shop was completely destroyed. Qazaniyah is 180 kilometers (110 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
A medic in a nearby hospital confirmed the death toll. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief reporters.
Violence has ebbed in Iraq, but insurgent attacks are still frequent.
The attack comes in the midst of growing political uncertainty.
Iraq's president Jalal Talabani, who was working to ease tensions between Iraq's Shiite Arab-led government and the Kurdish minority, suffered a stroke earlier this week and was flown to Germany for treatment. And on Thursday, Iraqi security forces arrested at least 10 guards assigned to the finance ministry, angering the Sunni minister and his political allies.
In the northern Kurdish region, Sunni parliament speaker, Osama al-Nujaifi met with the leader of the self-ruled Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani in order to discuss their response to the growing crisis.
In a statement after their meeting, both sides expressed their discontent with the arrests, calling on the central government to take into consideration the "delicate period Iraq is going through."

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Egypt's disputed charter headed toward approval

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Islamist-backed constitution headed toward likely approval in a final round of voting on Saturday, but the deep divisions it has opened up threaten to fuel continued turmoil.
Passage is a victory for Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, but a costly one. The bruising battle over the past month stripped away hope that the long-awaited constitution would bring a national consensus on the path Egypt will take after shedding its autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak nearly two years ago.
Instead, Morsi disillusioned many non-Islamists who had once backed him and has become more reliant on his core support in the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists. Hard-liners in his camp are determined to implement provisions for stricter rule by Islamic law in the charter, which is likely to futher fuel divisions.
His liberal and secular opposition, in turn, faces the task of trying to organize the significant portion of the population angered by what they see as attempts by Morsi and the Brotherhood to gain a lock on political power. The main opposition group, the National Salvation Front, said it would now start rallying for elections for the next lawmaking, lower house of parliament, expected early next year.
"We feel more empowered because of the referendum. We proved that at least we are half of society (that) doesn't approve of all this. We will build on it," the Front's spokesman, Khaled Daoud, said. Still, he said, there was "no appetite" at the moment for further street protests.
Saturday's voting in 17 of Egypt's 27 provinces was the second and final round of the referendum. Though the constitution is widely expected to pass, the key questions will be over turnout and the margin of victory. Preliminary results from the first round a week ago showed only 32 percent turnout and a relatively low edge of 56 percent for the "yes" vote. Preliminary results from the second round are expected to emerge by early Sunday.
The new constitution would come into effect once official results are announced, expected in several days.
In a sign of disarray in Morsi's administration, his vice president and — possibly — the central bank governor resigned during Saturday's voting. Vice President Mahmoud Mekki's resignation had been expected since his post is eliminated under the new constitution. But its hasty submission even before the charter has been sealed and his own resignation statement suggested it was linked to Morsi's policies.
"I have realized a while ago that the nature of politics don't suit my professional background as a judge," his resignation letter, read on state TV, said. Mekki said he had first submitted his resignation last month but events forced him to stay on.
The status of Central Bank Governor Farouq el-Oqdah was murkier. State TV first reported his resignation, then soon after reported the Cabinet denied he has stepped down in a possible sing of confusion. El-Oqdah, in his post since 2003, has reportedly been seeking to step down but in recent weeks the administration was trying to convince him to stay on. The government is eager to show some stability in the economy as the Egyptian pound has been sliding and a much-needed $4.8 billion loan from the IMF has been postponed.
Over the past month, seven of Morsi's 17 top advisers and the one Christian among his top four aides resigned. Like Mekki, they said they had never been consulted in advance on any of the president's moves, including his Nov. 22 decrees, since rescinded, that granted himself near absolute powers.
Those decrees sparked large street protests by hundreds of thousands around the country, bringing counter-rallies by Islamists. The turmoil was further fueled with a Constituent Assembly almost entirely made up of Islamists finalized the constitution draft in the dead of night amid a boycott by liberals and Christians. Rallies turned violent. Brotherhood offices were attacked, and Islamists attacked an opposition sit-in outside the presidential palace in Cairo leading to clashes that left 10 dead.
The turmoil opened up a vein of bitterness that the polarizing constitution will do little to close. Morsi opponents accused him of seeking to create a new Mubarak-style autocracy. The Brotherhood accused his rivals of being former Mubarak officials trying to topple an elected president and return to power. Islamists branded opponents "infidels" and vowed they will never accept anything but "God's law" in Egypt.
Both rounds of voting saw claims by the opposition and rights groups of voting violations. On Saturday they said violations ranged from polling stations opening late to Islamists seeking to influence voters to say "yes." The official MENA news agency said at least two judges have been removed for coercing voters to cast "yes" ballots.
The opposition's talk of now taking the contest to the parliament elections represented a shift in the conflict — an implicit gamble that the opposition can try to compete under rules that the Islamists have set. The Brotherhood's electoral machine has been one of its strongest tools since Mubarak's fall, while liberal and secular parties have been divided and failed to create a grassroots network.
In the first post-Mubarak parliament elections last winter, the Brotherhood and ultraconservative Salafis won more than 70 percent of seats in the lower chamber, which was later dissolved by a court order. The opposition is now betting it can do better with the anger over Morsi's performance so far.
The schism in a country that has for decades seen its institutions function behind a facade of stability was on display in Saturday's lines of voters.
In the village of Ikhsas in the Giza countryside south of Cairo, an elderly man who voted "no" screamed in the polling station that the charter is "a Brotherhood constitution."
"We want a constitution in the interest of Egypt. We want a constitution that serves everyone, not just the Brotherhood. They can't keep fooling the people," Ali Hassan, a 68-year-old wearing traditional robes, said.
But others were drawn by the hope that a constitution would finally bring some stability after nearly two years of tumultuous transitional politics. There appeared to be a broad economic split, with many of the middle and upper classes rejecting the charter and the poor voting "yes" — though the division was not always clear-cut.
In Ikhsas, Hassan Kamel, a 49-year-old day worker, said "We the poor will pay the price" of a no vote.
He dismissed the opposition leadership as elite and out of touch. "Show me an office for any of those parties that say no here in Ikhsas or south of Cairo. They are not connecting with people."
In the industrial working class district of Shubra El-Kheima just north of Cairo, women argued while waiting in line over the draft charter.
Samira Saad, a 55 year old housewife, said she wanted her five boys to find jobs.
"We want to get on with things and we want things to be better," she said.
Nahed Nessim, a Christian, questioned the integrity of the process. "There is a lot of corruption. My vote won't count." She was taken to task by Muslim women wearing the niqab, which blankets the entire body and leaves only the eyes visible and is worn by ultraconservative women.
"We have a president who fears God and memorizes His words. Why are we not giving him a chance until he stands on his feet?" said one of the women, Faiza Mehana, 48.
The promise of stability even drew one Christian woman in Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, to vote "yes" — a break with most Christians nationwide who oppose the draft. Hanaa Zaki said she wanted an end to Egypt's deepening economic woes.
"I have a son who didn't get paid for the past six months. We have been in this crisis for so long and we are fed up," said Zaki, waiting in line along with bearded Muslim men and Muslim women wearing headscarves in Fayoum, a province that is home to both a large Christian community and a strong Islamist movement.
The scene In Giza's upscale Mohandiseen neighborhood was starkly different.
A group of 12 women speaking to each other in a mix of French, Arabic and English said they were all voting "no."
"It's not about Christian versus Muslim, it is Muslim Brotherhood versus everyone else," said one of them, Shahira Sadeq, a Christian physician.
Kamla el-Tantawi, 65, said she was voted "against what I'm seeing" — and she gestured at a woman nearby wearing the niqab.
"I lose sleep thinking about my grandchildren and their future. They never saw the beautiful Egypt we did," she said, harkening back to a time decades ago when few women even wore headscarves covering their hair, much less the black niqab.
Many voters were under no illusions the turmoil would end.
"I don't trust the Brotherhood anymore and I don't trust the opposition either. We are forgotten, the most miserable and the first to suffer," said Azouz Ayesh, sitting with his neighbors as their cattle grazed in a nearby field in the Fayoum countryside.
He said a "yes" would bring stability and a "no" would mean no stability. But, he added, "I will vote against this constitution."

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Egypt's draft charter gets 'yes' majority in vote

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Islamist-backed constitution received a "yes" majority in a final round of voting on a referendum that saw a low voter turnout, but the deep divisions it has opened up threaten to fuel continued turmoil.
Passage is a victory for Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, but a costly one. The bruising battle over the past month stripped away hope that the long-awaited constitution would bring a national consensus on the path Egypt will take after shedding its autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak nearly two years ago.
Instead, Morsi disillusioned many non-Islamists who had once backed him and has become more reliant on his core support in the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists. Hard-liners in his camp are determined to implement provisions for stricter rule by Islamic law in the charter, which is likely to further fuel divisions.
Saturday's voting in 17 of Egypt's 27 provinces was the second and final round of the referendum. Preliminary results released early Sunday by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood showed that 71.4 percent of those who voted Saturday said "yes" after 95.5 percent of the ballots were counted. Only about eight million of the 25 million Egyptians eligible to vote — a turnout of about 30 percent — cast their ballots. The Brotherhood has accurately predicted election results in the past by tallying results provided by its representatives at polling centers.
In the first round of voting, about 56 percent said "yes" to the charter. The turnout then was about 32 percent.
The results of the two rounds mean the referendum was approved by about 63 percent.
Morsi's liberal and secular opposition now faces the task of trying to organize the significant portion of the population angered by what it sees as attempts by Morsi and the Brotherhood to gain a lock on political power. The main opposition group, the National Salvation Front, said it would now start rallying for elections for the lawmaking, lower house of parliament, expected early next year.
"We feel more empowered because of the referendum. We proved that at least we are half of society (that) doesn't approve of all this. We will build on it," the Front's spokesman, Khaled Daoud, said. Still, he said, there was "no appetite" at the moment for further street protests.
The new constitution would come into effect once official results are announced, expected in several days. When they are, Morsi is expected to call for the election of parliament's lawmaking, lower chamber no more than two months later.
In a sign of disarray in Morsi's administration, his vice president and — possibly — the central bank governor resigned during Saturday's voting. Vice President Mahmoud Mekki's resignation had been expected since his post is eliminated under the new constitution. But its hasty submission even before the charter has been sealed and his own resignation statement suggested it was linked to Morsi's policies.
"I have realized a while ago that the nature of politics don't suit my professional background as a judge," his resignation letter, read on state TV, said. Mekki said he had first submitted his resignation last month but events forced him to stay on.
The status of Central Bank Governor Farouq el-Oqdah was murkier. State TV first reported his resignation, then soon after reported the Cabinet denied he has stepped down in a possible sign of confusion. El-Oqdah, in his post since 2003, has reportedly been seeking to step down but the administration was trying to convince him to stay on.
The confusion over el-Oqdah's status comes at a time when the government is eager to show some stability in the economy as the Egyptian pound has been sliding and a much-needed $4.8 billion loan from the IMF has been postponed.
Over the past month, seven of Morsi's 17 top advisers and the one Christian among his top four aides resigned. Like Mekki, they said they had never been consulted in advance on any of the president's moves, including his Nov. 22 decrees, since rescinded, that granted himself near absolute powers.
Those decrees sparked large street protests by hundreds of thousands around the country, bringing counter-rallies by Islamists. The turmoil was further fueled with a Constituent Assembly almost entirely made up of Islamists finalized the constitution draft in the dead of night amid a boycott by liberals and Christians. Rallies turned violent. Brotherhood offices were attacked, and Islamists attacked an opposition sit-in outside the presidential palace in Cairo leading to clashes that left 10 dead.
The turmoil opened up a vein of bitterness that the polarizing constitution will do little to close. Morsi opponents accused him of seeking to create a new Mubarak-style autocracy. The Brotherhood accused his rivals of being former Mubarak officials trying to topple an elected president and return to power. Islamists branded opponents "infidels" and vowed they will never accept anything but "God's law" in Egypt.
Both rounds of voting saw claims by the opposition and rights groups of voting violations. On Saturday, they said violations ranged from polling stations opening late to Islamists seeking to influence voters to say "yes." The official MENA news agency said at least two judges have been removed for coercing voters to cast "yes" ballots.
The opposition's talk of now taking the contest to the parliamentary elections represented a shift in the conflict — an implicit gamble that the opposition can try to compete under rules that the Islamists have set. The Brotherhood's electoral machine has been one of its strongest tools since Mubarak's fall, while liberal and secular parties have been divided and failed to create a grassroots network.
In the first post-Mubarak parliamentary elections last winter, the Brotherhood and ultraconservative Salafis won more than 70 percent of seats in the lower chamber, which was later dissolved by a court order. The opposition is now betting it can do better with the anger over Morsi's performance so far.
The schism in a country that has for decades seen its institutions function behind a facade of stability was on display in Saturday's lines of voters.
In the village of Ikhsas in the Giza countryside south of Cairo, an elderly man who voted "no" screamed in the polling station that the charter is "a Brotherhood constitution."
"We want a constitution in the interest of Egypt. We want a constitution that serves everyone, not just the Brotherhood. They can't keep fooling the people," Ali Hassan, a 68-year-old wearing traditional robes, said.
But others were drawn by the hope that a constitution would finally bring some stability after nearly two years of tumultuous transitional politics. There appeared to be a broad economic split, with many of the middle and upper classes rejecting the charter and the poor voting "yes" — though the division was not always clear-cut.
In Ikhsas, Hassan Kamel, a 49-year-old day worker, said "We the poor will pay the price" of a no vote.
He dismissed the opposition leadership as elite and out of touch. "Show me an office for any of those parties that say no here in Ikhsas or south of Cairo. They are not connecting with people."
In the industrial working class district of Shubra El-Kheima just north of Cairo, women argued while waiting in line over the draft charter.
Samira Saad, a 55 year old housewife, said she wanted her five boys to find jobs.
"We want to get on with things and we want things to be better," she said.
Nahed Nessim, a Christian, questioned the integrity of the process. "There is a lot of corruption. My vote won't count." She was taken to task by Muslim women wearing the niqab, which blankets the entire body and leaves only the eyes visible and is worn by ultraconservative women.
"We have a president who fears God and memorizes His words. Why are we not giving him a chance until he stands on his feet?" said one of the women, Faiza Mehana, 48.
The promise of stability even drew one Christian woman in Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, to vote "yes" — a break with most Christians nationwide who oppose the draft. Hanaa Zaki said she wanted an end to Egypt's deepening economic woes.
"I have a son who didn't get paid for the past six months. We have been in this crisis for so long and we are fed up," said Zaki, waiting in line along with bearded Muslim men and Muslim women wearing headscarves in Fayoum, a province that is home to both a large Christian community and a strong Islamist movement.
The scene In Giza's upscale Mohandiseen neighborhood was starkly different.
A group of 12 women speaking to each other in a mix of French, Arabic and English said they were all voting "no."
"It's not about Christian versus Muslim, it is Muslim Brotherhood versus everyone else," said one of them, Shahira Sadeq, a Christian physician.
Kamla el-Tantawi, 65, said she was voting "against what I'm seeing" — and she gestured at a woman nearby wearing the niqab.
"I lose sleep thinking about my grandchildren and their future. They never saw the beautiful Egypt we did," she said, harkening back to a time decades ago when few women even wore headscarves covering their hair, much less the black niqab.
Many voters were under no illusions the turmoil would end.
"I don't trust the Brotherhood anymore and I don't trust the opposition either. We are forgotten, the most miserable and the first to suffer," said Azouz Ayesh, sitting with his neighbors as their cattle grazed in a nearby field in the Fayoum countryside.
He said a "yes" would bring stability and a "no" would mean no stability. But, he added, "I will vote against this constitution."

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Kan. agency posting tax guidance ahead of new law

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Department of Revenue is posting guidance regarding two provisions of the state income tax law ahead of changes that take effect in January.
Spokeswoman Jeannine Koranda said Tuesday that the guidance lets accountants, tax attorneys and residents know how the agency will be interpreting inconsistencies within the law. One of the items deals with how the taxpayers will be able to use itemized deductions to reduce their tax liability.
The state also sent out mailers earlier this year to 146,000 businesses to inform them about the new tax law and how it could apply to them.
"The reason for that is that they are the ones who really have to take any action before Jan. 1," Koranda said, such as changing how the business is organized for tax purposes. "Most people won't have to deal with the new law before next year when we send out the tax forms."
Koranda says the revenue department will ask the 2013 Legislature to make changes to the law to codify the guidance.
The state will reduce individual income tax rates, drop the top tax rate to 4.9 percent from 6.45 percent and increase the standard deductions claimed by married couples and heads-of-household. The state also will exempt the owners of 191,000 partnerships, sole proprietorships and other businesses from taxes.
Koranda said the impact will vary depending on each individual taxpayer and how they file their return, including marital status, number of children and how many other deductions or exemptions that are claimed. For example, a married head-of-household tax filer earning $52,000 a year should see about $12 more in a biweekly paycheck.
"One of the other places that people will see is the change in 2014 when they get the higher standard deduction that doubles to $9,000 for married and single head-of-household payers," she said.
Legislative researchers have estimated that the cuts will be worth $4.5 billion over the next six years. But the researchers also project that the cuts will create collective budget shortfalls approaching $2.5 billion during the same period. A group of state officials and economists estimate legislators will have to close a projected shortfall of more than $327 million next spring when they draft the state budget for fiscal year 2014.
Koranda didn't know how many existing businesses might be changing their classification to take advantage of the tax changes.
"Honestly, we won't know if businesses were changing their structures until they file their taxes in 2014 more than a year from now," she said.

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