Cricket-New Zealand 121 all out v South Africa

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, Jan 13 (Reuters) - New Zealand were bowled out for 121 in their first innings before lunch on the third day of the second test against South Africa at St. George's Park in Port Elizabeth on Sunday.
Scores
South Africa first innings 525 for eight declared (Graeme Smith 54, Hashim Amla 110, AB de Villiers 51, Faf du Plessis 137, Dean Elgar 103 not out)
New Zealand first innings 121 all out (BJ Watling 63; Dale Steyn five for 17) (Jason Humphries in Durban; Editing by Alastair Himmer)

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Cricket-New Zealand three without loss v South Africa - lunch

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, Jan 13 (Reuters) - New Zealand reached three without loss in their second innings at lunch on the third day of the second test against South Africa at St. George's Park in Port Elizabeth on Sunday.
Scores
South Africa first innings 525 for eight declared (Graeme Smith 54, Hashim Amla 110, AB de Villiers 51, Faf du Plessis 137, Dean Elgar 103 not out)
New Zealand first innings 121 all out (BJ Watling 63; Dale Steyn five for 17)

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Cricket-South Africa v New Zealand - second test lunch

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Scoreboard at lunch on the third day of the second test South Africa and New Zealand at St. George's Park in Port Elizabeth on Sunday.
South Africa won the toss and elected to bat
South Africa first innings 525 for eight declared (F. Du Plessis 137, H. Amla 110, D. Elgar 103 not out) New Zealand first innings 121 all out (BJ Watling 63; D. Steyn five for 17)
New Zealand innings M. Guptill not out 1 B. McCullum not out 1
Extras (lb 1) 1 Total (for no wickets; 4 overs) 3
Still to bat: K. Williamson, D. Brownlie, D. Flynn, BJ Watling, C. Munro, D. Bracewell, N. Wagner, J. Patel, T. Boult.

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Indonesian anti-terror squad criticized for deaths

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's U.S.-funded police anti-terror squad has killed seven suspected militants recently, reviving allegations that the force is not trying to take suspects alive — a trend that appears to be fueling the very extremism the predominantly Muslim country is trying to counter.
Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said Sunday that no shots were fired against officers during three related raids Friday and Saturday in eastern Indonesia, but that the suspects in at least one of the locations had explosives that were "ready" to be detonated. He said that officers from the anti-terror squad, known as Densus 88, had followed procedures because the suspects were endangering their lives, but gave few details.
Haris Azhar, chairman of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, an independent human rights group, said it appeared that the suspected militants were victims of "extrajudicial killings" and called for an independent investigation. He said Densus 88's tactics were driving militancy because they added to feelings among some Muslims that they were under siege.
"I'm worried about the deteriorating public sympathy for police who continue to use violence," he said, alleging that some suspects in the past have been shot in front of their children. "There has never been any evaluation of Densus' actions. It seems the police brutality has contributed to the growing of terrorism."
Indonesia has struggled against militants seeking a Muslim state since its independence from Dutch colonial rule in 1945.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, some of the militants came under the influence of al-Qaida while waging jihad in Afghanistan. On their return to Indonesia, they carried out four major bombings against foreign targets between 2002 and 2009.
Densus 88 was established after the first of those attacks — the 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists — with American and Australian financial and technical assistance, which it still receives. It has been instrumental in the arrests of hundreds of militants over the last 10 years and is credited with reducing the threat of further attacks on Western interests in the country. Small groups of militants, however, have continued to attack police officers and Christians.
Since the squad's establishment, Densus officers have killed more than 70 suspects. Like in other countries, some Indonesian militants have blown themselves up when police officers have approached them and show a willingness to go down fighting, making apprehending them especially dangerous. Police figures show that militants killed 10 officers in 2012 around the country.
"They are different to conventional criminals," Amar said. "We can't take any risks because they will show no hesitation to kill law enforcers."
Taufik Andrie, research director for the Institute for International Peace Building, said it appeared that police officers hunting down militants suspected of being involved in the murder of their colleagues were not interested in taking prisoners.
"It is a cycle of violence, with each side looking for revenge," Andrie said. "There is a suspicion that some policemen are of the mind that the best kind of de-radicalization is through killing people."
Indonesia has won praise for arresting and convicting terrorists through its legal system. It executed three militants convicted in the Bali bombings and sentenced many others to long prison sentences. But there has been a high level of recidivism, and the country's counter-extremism and de-radicalization programs have been patchily carried out with limited success.
The way in which the killings by Densus 88 are used to rally support for extremism was on display Sunday at a public meeting of radicals in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital. While those present didn't need fresh reasons to despise or distrust the state, speakers held up the killings of the seven suspects as just the latest example of police brutality.
"Oh, Allah, they have killed your servants, so destroy them," said Son Hadi, from Jama'ah Ansharut Tauhid, a radical group whose members have been accused of supporting terrorism but remain free to organize. "Beware of this war on Islam."

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Police among 13 suspects slain in Philippine clash

ATIMONAN, Philippines (AP) — At least three police personnel were among 13 suspected criminals who were gunned down in a shootout with Philippine security forces at a highway checkpoint, officials said Monday.
Gunmen riding in three black SUVs opened fire on more than 50 army and police troopers who flagged down the vehicles late Sunday in the coastal town of Atimonan in Quezon province, about 140 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of Manila.
Eleven suspects died on the spot, including a police colonel who was a regional commander and two other officers, said police spokesman Erwin Obal. Authorities were checking the identities of two other victims on suspicion they were either former or current members of the intelligence service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Obal said.
Two gunmen jumped out of one of the cars and fired from a roadside canal, said Lt. Col. Monico Abang, who led an army platoon in the clash. The rest stayed in two vehicles, which troops raked with gunfire on a sparsely populated stretch of the highway.
More gunmen fired from a third vehicle, which turned around and fled, Abang said. Authorities didn't say how many suspects were believed to have escaped.
Security personnel sometimes collude with criminal syndicates to rob banks or traffic narcotics in an underworld that often includes corrupt politicians. Abang said an initial investigation showed that the gunmen were likely members of a gun-for-hire group operating in provinces south of Manila.
"They rolled down their windows and started firing, so we had to retaliate," Abang said by cellphone from the scene of the clash. "They were clearly outnumbered and outgunned."
On the side of the security forces, a police colonel was shot in the hand and foot and taken to a hospital.
Abang said the army and police had set up the checkpoint after an informant told police that gunmen involved in illegal drugs, gambling and kidnapping for ransom would pass through Atimonan in mountainous Quezon, where communist guerrillas have a presence.
The latest violence followed two other deadly shootings that have revived calls for tighter gun control in the Philippines, where there are more than half a million unlicensed firearms, according to police estimates.
A man who reportedly was drunk and high on drugs killed eight people before being gunned down by police on Friday in Kawit town in Cavite province, 16 kilometers (10 miles) south of Manila.
A 7-year-old girl died a day after being hit in the head by a stray bullet while watching fireworks with her family on New Year's Eve outside their home in Caloocan city, near Manila, despite a high-profile government campaign against powerful firecrackers and celebratory gunfire by Filipinos to welcome 2013.
Earlier Sunday, before the shootout, presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte told reporters that President Benigno Aquino III, a known gun enthusiast, would study gun-control proposals with other officials. Among the proposals is a call by anti-gun groups to ban the carrying of firearms by civilians outside their homes.
The proliferation of firearms has long fueled crime, political violence and Muslim and communist rebellions that have raged for decades in parts of the Philippines. Previous attempts by authorities to clamp down on unregistered weapons have yielded few results in a country where several politically powerful clans and families control private armed groups in provincial strongholds outside Manila.

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Officials search for casualties in Australia fires

HOBART, Australia (AP) — Officials are searching for bodies among the charred ruins of more than 100 homes and other buildings destroyed by wildfires in the island state of Tasmania.
Acting Police Commissioner Scott Tilyard said Monday no casualties had yet been reported. But it would take time before officials were certain that no one had died in the blazes that have razed 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) of forests and farmland across southern Tasmania since Friday.
Police have concerns for about 100 people reported missing. Tilyard said 11 teams were searching ruins in places including the small town of Dunalley, east of the state capital of Hobart, where around 70 homes were destroyed.
"Until we've had the opportunity to do all the screening that we need to do at each of those premises, we can't say for certain that there hasn't been a human life or more than one human life lost as a result of these fires," Tilyard told reporters.
Three fires continued to burn out of control in southern Tasmania and in the northwest Monday.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who flew to Tasmania on Monday, warned that New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, was about to move into a period of extreme heat Tuesday when the wildfire risk would be high.
"We live in a country that is hot and dry and where we sustain very destructive fire periodically," Gillard told reporters. "Whilst you would not put any one event down to climate change ... we do know over time that as a result of climate change we are going to see more extreme weather events and conditions."
New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said more than 90 wildfires were blazing across the state Monday and warned that conditions would worsen on Tuesday. No homes were currently under threat.
"It is going to be very hot and very dry. Couple that with the dryness of the vegetation, the grassland fuels, the forest fuels and those strong winds that are expected tomorrow," he said.
The temperate across much the state was expected to reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) while winds were expected as high as 80 kilometers an hour ( 50 miles an hour).
Wildfires are common during the Australian summer. In February 2009, hundreds of fires across Victoria state killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

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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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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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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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