Of course not

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DEAR ABBY: My daughter was repeatedly date-raped at the age of 16. Her predator threatened to kill her if she ever told, so she kept it to herself until she could get away from him. It was a very scary time in her life, but with the help of counseling she is working through it and moving on with her life.

The problem is, while visiting with my in-laws it was pointed out to us that my mother-in-law had made a collage of pictures and included in it the person who raped my daughter. In all, there are five pictures of him in group settings. When my husband asked her calmly to remove them, she refused. She says it would punish the other grandchildren if she removed the pictures, and it would "ruin her collage."

We have asked her three times, but she refuses to budge. She says we all need counseling and that the request is completely out of line. Do you think our request was out of line? -- APPALLED IN ILLINOIS

DEAR APPALLED: Of course not! Was your mother-in-law aware of what this person had done to her granddaughter when the collage was created? If so, her reaction is bizarre and unbelievably insensitive.

Approach her once more and ask if she would agree to take the collage to a photographer so your daughter's attacker can be digitally edited out of it. If that's not possible, perhaps she would agree to take down the collage when your family visits. However, if the response to that request is also negative, I wouldn't blame you if you went there very rarely, if ever.

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DEAR ABBY: What do you say to people when they tell you they will "pray for you" when you're dealing with an illness or other life tragedy if you are a nonbeliever? Statistics say that 34 percent of Americans are nonbelievers, so please address this to the 34 percent who share my feelings of appreciation for the sentiment, but feel like hypocrites for playing along to reciprocate their kindness. I wonder if any of your nonbeliever readers can share how they internally deal with this dilemma. -- NONBELIEVER, BUT GRATEFUL

DEAR NONBELIEVER: I'm sure they will, in droves. However, because nonbelievers physically resemble those who are believers, and nonbelievers don't usually wear symbols indicating their nonbelief, it's understandable that someone of faith would attempt to offer comfort that way. And most people battling a serious illness welcome a "blast of positivity," whether it is couched in religious terms or not.

When someone offers to pray for you, it's usually because the person cares about you, knows you are sick and feels helpless to offer anything more to help. Accept it for what it is, and say thank you rather than tell the person that what they offered is, in your eyes, worthless. That's called being gracious -- regardless of your religious or nonreligious convictions.

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DEAR ABBY: My husband of eight years will not resolve his foot odor problem. We live in a small apartment, and it's humiliating when we have company and half the apartment smells like stinky feet.

He refuses to wear socks, and his solution in winter is to open all the windows and turn on the fan as soon as he returns from work. The "airing out" never completely gets rid of the smell -- and I freeze! How can I get him to change? -- FED UP IN MANHATTAN

DEAR FED UP: You obviously can't change your husband, but you don't have to risk getting pneumonia, either. Shoe repair shops sell deodorizing products in the form of sprays and powders. Or buy a large container of baking soda, and when your husband removes his shoes, dump a cupful into each one. They next day the smell should be gone.

---

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

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Abby shares more than 100 of her favorite recipes in two booklets: "Abby's Favorite Recipes" and "More Favorite Recipes by Dear Abby." Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $14 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Cookbooklet Set, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will return to work next week

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Clinton (Gary Cameron/Reuters)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will return to work next week, her spokesman said, following a stomach virus that caused her to faint and suffer a concussion, which kept her from her official duties for three weeks.

"The Secretary continues to recuperate at home," spokesman Philippe Reines emailed reporters. "She had long planned to take this holiday week off, so she had no work schedule. She looks forward to getting back to the office next week and resuming her schedule."

The virus and subsequent concussion led Clinton to cancel her highly anticipated congressional testimony Dec. 20 on the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and 3 other diplomats. The administration has been roundly criticized by Republicans and others for how the attack was reported to the public and whether consulate security prior to the attack was adequate.

The politically charged subject matter of Clinton's testimony led some critics to accuse her of faking her illness.

"I’m not a doctor, but it seems as though that the secretary of state has come down with a case of Benghazi flu,” blunt-talking outgoing Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) said on Fox News last week. Other conservative media outlets and figures issued similar criticisms.

Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton referred to her illness as a "diplomatic illness" during a television interview, and the New York Post blasted her decision in an editorial.

Clinton is expected to testify in January. No details have been publicly released regarding scheduling.

CARSON CITY

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CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) -- Nearly 25,000 Nevadans are being notified that their jobless benefits will be cut off after this week unless Congress acts by Tuesday to extend federal emergency unemployment compensation.

State officials say another 1,000 people each week stand to lose their jobless benefits if the program implemented in 2008 at the height of the recession is not extended.

Still, state officials are urging people to continue filing their weekly claims so they can be paid if lawmakers do extend the program, as they've done in the past.

Nevada offers 26 weeks of unemployment compensation. With heavy job losses during the recession, the federal government extended the period to 99 weeks in states with record high unemployment.

The program has been scaled back to 73 weeks as the economy has improved.

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Map locates Edna, Texas

EDNA, Texas (AP) — Most of the time, the windowless building with the dome-shaped roof will be a typical high school gymnasium filled with cheering fans watching basketball and volleyball games.

But come hurricane season, the structure that resembles a miniature version of the famed Astrodome will double as a hurricane shelter, part of an ambitious storm-defense system that is taking shape along hundreds of miles of the Texas Gulf Coast.

Its brawny design — including double-layer cinder-block walls reinforced by heavy duty steel bars and cement piers that plunge 30 feet into the ground — should allow it to withstand winds up to 200 mph.

"There is nothing standard" about the building, said Bob Wells, superintendent of the Edna school district, as he stood inside the $2.5 million gym, which is set to be completed by March. "The only standard stuff is going to be the stuff we do inside."

The Edna dome is one of 28 such buildings planned to protect sick, elderly and special-needs residents who might be unable to evacuate ahead of a hurricane. First-responders and local leaders will also be able to take refuge in the domes, allowing them to begin recovery efforts faster after a storm has passed.

Storm-defense structures are getting increased attention in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which inflicted heavy damage on the East Coast in October. The city of New York, for instance, is considering a multi-billion-dollar system of sea barriers.

For Texas, a state always in danger during hurricane season, the domes offer the extra benefit of serving as recreation or community centers when not needed as shelters. They are being erected with help from the federal Emergency Management Agency.

"I think it's good for FEMA, and I think it's good for us. And I think it's good for the taxpayers," Wells said.

The gym in Edna, a town of 5,500 people about 100 miles southwest of Houston, is the second hurricane dome in Texas. The first was built in 2011 in Woodsboro, near Corpus Christi. Most of the domes will be around 20,000 square feet.

The plan calls for structures in 11 counties in the Rio Grande Valley, around Corpus Christi and along the coast from Victoria to Newton counties, said Tom Vinger, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

So far, $34.5 million has been awarded. This month, FEMA approved funds for a hurricane dome that will serve as a community center in Brownsville, one that will serve as a wellness center and physical rehabilitation facility in Bay City and two that will serve as multi-purpose training centers in Kingsville.

Inside the gym in Edna, Wells' voice echoed as he pointed to the ceiling, which has layers of sprayed-on concrete, insulation and rebar, all of which are under a heavy duty fabric that gives the structure its distinctive wind-resistant shape.

The doorways are covered by awnings of heavy gauge metal and supported by concrete girders that go 15 feet into the ground.

FEMA is paying for 75 percent of the dome structures, with local communities picking up the remaining cost.

The funding is part of the agency's initiative to help homeowners and communities build hardened shelters that provide protection from extreme weather.

Nationwide, more than $683 million has been awarded in 18 states, including Texas, Alabama, Michigan and South Carolina.

Walking around the gym, Wells said it reminded him of when, as a teenager, he first walked into the Astrodome after it opened in 1965 in Houston.

"It was like, 'Oh, wow, this is so cool,'" he said. "I'm still kind of in the 'oh, wow' stage with this."

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: www.twitter.com/juanlozano70

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cvjhskljffmekwlMore From

• Wall Street to D.C.: Get Serious About the Fiscal Cliff
• Chuck Hagel Broke Party Lines on Iraq. Is He Now Being Punished?
• What Happens If We Go Over the Fiscal Cliff?
• Cliff Diving Holds Perils for Obama's Second-Term Agenda

  Tragedies like the recent school shooting in Newtown, Conn., initiate conversations about access to mental health services nearly as consistently as they do discussions of gun control. And though it is not known whether the shooter, Adam Lanza, was mentally ill, public officials jumped on the opportunity to promote better and increased access to behavioral care as one effort to address the massacre.

  The Obama administration emphasized its own commitment to mental health care, highlighting the Affordable Care Act as evidence that it had taken steps to improve an ailing mental health system. " 'Obamacare,' if you will, has ensured that mental health services are a part of the services" available to the insured, White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

  Certainly the health reform law attempts to address the perpetual problems with the accessibility and availability of mental health services in the United States. But it is the states' decisions about whether and how to implement the law that will ultimately determine how much services improve. Nearly every aspect of the law that could improve mental health services is optional; states will decide themselves whether to improve their mental health offerings.

  "It's a big set of invitations. It's going to be taken up in different ways in different places," said David Mechanic, the director of Rutgers University's Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research. "Some places see this as a fantastic opportunity and are moving quite aggressively, and there will be some places that really don't do much for quite a while."

  The current mental health care system is hardly a system at all, according to Mechanic and other experts. Care is uncoordinated and often unavailable; where it is available, it is often poorly advertised or explained. About one in four adults suffers from a diagnosable mental illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, but millions of those who report needing mental health services don't receive care because of its cost or its negative stigma. States, moreover, have cut about $5 billion from public mental health spending in the past four years, at the same time that 10 percent more people have sought services, according to Joel Miller, a senior policy director at the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors.

  "If you talk to the families and caregivers about the mental health system in America, what they'll talk about is the amount of time it took them to find services. That can be years. Or the amount of time it took them to get a diagnosis--in many cases, that's many, many years," said Mike Fitzpatrick, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The primary health care system and the mental health system are so disconnected, he said, "they're like ships passing in the night."

  Carney is right that the Affordable Care Act requires basic insurance packages to include mental health services. All basic health plans--including those offered on exchanges to citizens who have heretofore remained uncovered--must offer behavioral care, according to the legislation. That alone should substantially improve access to mental health services for millions, Fitzpatrick said.

  Other provisions in the law offer even more promise for individuals with mental illness. An expansion of Medicaid could provide access to care for millions of Americans with mental illnesses, many of whom do not currently qualify because they do not meet strict disability requirements. In states that choose to expand their programs, the law eliminates those requirements for those with very low incomes. Millions of children and adults stand to gain access to mental health services on par with other medical services provided.

  The act also provides funding for innovative services for individuals with mental illness. It promotes prevention innovations, as well as home and community services that are often effective for people with mental illness or substance abuse, and eliminates some funding requirements that restricted their use in the past. It also allows for more coordinated care in health homes, where both medical and behavioral care will be provided in the same environment. Such coordinated services are especially useful for people with mental health issues, since they frequently suffer from more than one chronic condition.

  But substantial questions about specific requirements and processes linger for those working to implement the law. First, the type and scope of mental health services included in an essential package have not been fully defined. The administration has yet to clarify exactly what mental health benefits a typical plan should require, according to Jennifer Mathis, the deputy legal director for the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, and current proposed rules fall short for mental health services.

  "There are a lot of questions that [haven't been] answered," she said. "There's several significant issues that will determine how much is available to people in the way of mental health services, both in the Medicaid expansion and in the exchanges."

  Perhaps more importantly, it also remains to be seen whether the current system can meet the demand of the millions who will be eligible for services beginning in 2014. Even now, there exists a shortage of mental health care professionals who will accept Medicaid services, according to Embry Howell, a senior fellow in the health policy center at Urban Institute. While most experts agree that supply will eventually catch up with demand, the infrastructure to support substantially more individuals seeking mental health services will take time to develop.

  "A lot of psychiatrists don't participate in the Medicaid program, and there's a question of whether they will, after these new expansions happen," Howell said. "[A lot of people] are going to come onto the program in those states that expand without a good supply of providers for them, so they'll be entitled to benefits that they haven't had in the past, but there may not be people stepping forward to serve them."

  Discrepancies between different states' Medicaid programs are not new, but the Supreme Court's June decision regarding the Medicaid expansion prevented the law from standardizing at least some aspects of healthcare across the country. Allowing states to make such disparate decisions with regard to care, Mathis cautioned, could create a system just as difficult to manage and coordinate as the one that exists today.

  "As the federal government has now structured it, I think it's going to be 51 different packages, and that is going to be extraordinarily difficult for the federal government to monitor, evaluate, and keep track of, and to figure out now, in every state, what the gaps are."

  If history is any indication, however, the current confusion will iron itself out in time. When the Children's Health Insurance Program was first rolled out, for example, only a few states adopted the full provisions at first. Over time, every state eventually expanded their program. And since the federal funding for this expansion is matched at a very favorable rate, states have significant incentive to opt in, both Miller and Mechanic said.

  "It's like turning a battleship in a bathtub. Over the years, we've seen very slow progress in terms of expanding coverage, efforts to slow down the rate of increase in health care costs," Miller said. "Nobody expects this will happen overnight. But the way this has been addressed, through a comprehensive effort to increase coverage, slow down health care costs and improve care coordination and delivery of care, I think we'll begin to see significant progress even at the front door when this goes into effect in 2014."

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said on Friday it does not expect U.S. lawmakers' negotiations over the "fiscal cliff" to have an impact on the sovereign credit ratings of the U.S. federal government.

The credit ratings agency said it believes the same general conditions under which it downgraded the U.S. credit rating to AA-plus/A-1-plus from AAA in August 2011 continue to exist.

S&P said the additional tax revenues and lower government spending that will come into force if no deal is reached to avert the fiscal cliff "would likely result in the U.S. economy contracting by half a percent in 2013 and unemployment rising a percent to 9 percent by 2014."

Even if Democrats and Republicans were to reach a short-term agreement in the next several days, that agreement would be vulnerable to reversal, particularly in the next few weeks, S&P said.

The rating agency said it expects that any deal that might be reached this weekend would be in line with its previous assumptions that the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 are extended "and additional measures are insufficient to place the U.S. medium-term public finances on a sustainable footing.

"Our existing negative outlook on the U.S. rating speaks to the risk of a deliberate further loosening of fiscal policy, for example, through a material weakening of the Budget Control Act of 2011 without compensating measures," S&P said.

President Barack Obama and congressional leaders were set to meet on Friday in an effort to divert a fiscal crisis, although there were few signs of progress in resolving differences over the federal budget and expectations were low for a deal before a December 31 deadline.

Instead, members of Congress are increasingly looking at the period immediately after the deadline to come up with a retroactive fix to avoid steep tax hikes and sharp spending cuts that economists have said could plunge the country into another recession.

(Reporting by Chris Reese; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen killed five people in Nigeria on Friday, including a policeman, on the edge of the town of Maiduguri, a long-time stronghold of Islamist sect Boko Haram, the military said.

Boko Haram, which is loosely based on the Afghan Taliban, has killed hundreds this year in a campaign to impose sharia, Islamic law, in Nigeria, a country of more than 160 million split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.

The sect is the biggest threat to stability in Africa's biggest oil exporter.

"Five people have been killed by unidentified gunmen in Musari ... in the early hours," Sagir Musa, a spokesman for the military Joint Task Force (JTF), told Reuters.

"The JTF response team that went to the area between 1-3 a.m arrested three of the gunmen and recovered weapons."

Maiduguri, in the far northeast of Africa's most populous nation, has been a hotbed of violence, directed mostly at the security forces, since an uprising by Boko Haram in 2009.

Seven people were murdered by unidentified attackers on Wednesday in Maiduguri, the police said.

The army also said soldiers had killed five "suspected terrorists" and destroyed a bomb-making factory on Thursday in the northern city of Kaduna, where Boko Haram is active.

on Tuesday, gunmen killed six people at a church in the northeast town of Potiskum, the third year running that Christmas services have come under deadly attack.

However, the attacks have not been on the scale of the previous two Christmases when dozens were killed in bomb and gun strikes, and security has been tightened throughout the north of Nigeria.

Boko Haram's insurgency intensified after President Goodluck Jonathan, a southern Christian, won election in April last year.

Jonathan has been unable to stop the rebellion despite waves of military offensives in the northeast and other parts of northern and central Nigeria where Boko Haram has a strong presence.

Western governments are increasingly concerned about Islamists in northern Nigeria linking up with outside groups, including al Qaeda's north African wing.

Islamist group Ansaru, known to have ties with Boko Haram, appears to have become more active in recent weeks. It claimed an attack on a major police barracks in the capital Abuja last month, where it said hundreds of prisoners were released.

The group, which has been labeled a "terrorist group" by Britain, has also said it was behind the kidnapping of a French national last week.

(Reporting by Ibrahim Mshelizza; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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NEW YORK (AP) — The man who was shoved to his death in front of a subway train Thursday night was a 46-year-old from India who lived in New York City and worked for a printing business, police said.

Investigators on Friday searched for an unidentified woman who rose from a bench and suddenly pushed the man in the back with both hands, sending him flying onto the tracks as a train entered an elevated station in Queens.

Police released surveillance video of the woman fleeing the area and have been interviewing witnesses, including some who said she was mumbling and cursing to herself before the attack.

Some witnesses said the man had been shielding himself from the cold by waiting in a stairwell before he ventured out onto the platform to see if the train was coming. They also said he had no interaction with the woman, who immediately darted down the stairway after she pushed him.

One witness told police that the man had no time to try to save himself. The witness turned away to avoid seeing the man getting crushed on the tracks.

Investigators identified the victim, who lived alone in Queens, through a smartphone and a prescription pill bottle he was carrying. They delayed releasing his name while they worked to notify his relatives in India.

Detectives were following leads from the public generated by the video, and also checking area homeless shelters and psychiatric units in a bid to identify a suspect.

The woman was described as heavyset and in her 20s. It was unclear whether she and the man knew each other, or whether the attack was simply the act of a deranged stranger.

Commuters, meanwhile, absorbed the news of the second fatal subway shove in the city this month.

"It's just a really sad commentary on the world and on human beings, period," said Howard Roth, who takes the subway daily. He said the deadly push made him think about subway safety, "but I guess the best thing is what they tell you — don't stand near the edge and keep your eyes open."

Asked about the episode at the station on Queens Boulevard in the Sunnyside neighborhood, Mayor Michael Bloomberg pointed Friday to legal and policy changes that led to the release of many mentally ill people from psychiatric institutions from the 1960s through 1990s.

"The courts or the law have changed and said, no, you can't do that unless they're a danger to society; our laws protect you. That's fair enough," Bloomberg said on "The John Gambling Show with Mayor Mike" on WOR-AM.

There are no barriers separating the trains from the people on New York City's subway platforms, and many people fall or jump to their deaths in front of rushing trains each year.

Though shoving deaths are rare, Thursday night's killing was the second one this month. On Dec. 3, a 58-year-old man was pushed in front of a train in Times Square. A homeless man was charged with murder and is awaiting trial.

Other high-profile cases including the 1999 slaying of Kendra Webdale, an aspiring screenwriter, by a former psychiatric patient. That case led to a state law allowing for more supervision of mentally ill people living outside institutions.

Like many subway riders, Micah Siegel follows her own set of safety precautions during her daily commute: stand against a wall or pillar to keep someone from coming up behind you and watch out when navigating a crowded or narrow platform to avoid being knocked — even accidentally — onto the tracks.

"I do try to be aware of what's around me and who's around me, especially as a young woman," Siegel, a 21-year-old college student, said as she waited at Pennsylvania Station on Friday.

So does Roth, who is 60.

"It sounds a little wimpy if you're like, 'Who's going to push me?' But it's better to be safe than sorry," he said.

___

Associated Press Writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.

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Online:

Video: http://apne.ws/RWeSyO

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MILWAUKEE (AP) — An Iraq War veteran told detectives that he stalked his wife for several days while she was patrolling the streets of the Milwaukee suburb where she was a police officer, then ambushed her in the early hours of Christmas Eve and killed her, according to prosecutors.

Ben Gabriel Sebena, 30, was charged Thursday with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of his wife, Jennifer Sebena, who was found dead in front of Wauwatosa's fire station by her fellow officers before dawn on Monday. She had been shot five times in the head.

Ben Sebena made an initial court appearance Thursday, and a court commissioner ordered the decorated Marine Corps veteran held on $1 million cash bond. Sebena wasn't required to enter a plea, and his attorney, Michael Steinle, didn't immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.

Authorities say officers went to check on Jennifer Sebena when she didn't respond to radio calls. She joined the police force two years ago and had been patrolling alone on the night she was killed.

"She was everything I could hope for in a young police officer: intelligent, energetic, willing to be of service and wanting to be a great police officer," Wauwatosa police Chief Barry Weber said at a news conference.

Investigators said they found a number of details tying Ben Sebena to the killing. Surveillance video showed a vehicle that matches his in the area around the time of the shooting, and detectives who searched the couple's home found a gun in the attic that fires ammunition matching the bullet casings found at the scene. They also found Jennifer Sebena's service weapon hidden in the attic.

The investigation began when Ben Sebena called police Monday about 6:30 a.m. asking them to check on his wife's well-being. A police sergeant called him back five minutes later telling him to come to the station because his wife had been involved in an incident.

Ben Sebena didn't ask what happened, the complaint said. Later, when he was told at the station that his wife had been killed, he still didn't ask what happened to her.

During the interview, Ben Sebena "stated that he had been jealous of other men with regards to his wife," the complaint said.

Less than three weeks before she died, Jennifer Sebena told a colleague that her husband had acted violently toward her and put a gun to her head, prosecutors said.

The police chief said he wasn't aware of issues that would have been a cause for concern for Jennifer Sebena's safety.

The state Justice Department is assisting in the investigation. Dave Spakowicz, the director of the department's criminal-investigation operations, said authorities are not speculating on a motive.

While at the police station, officers used video equipment to monitor Ben Sebena as he sat in an empty room. A detective heard him talking to himself, saying something to the effect that his wife had been helping him, adding, "How could I do that to her."

Ben Sebena told investigators he had been stalking his wife for a few days. He said he waited a few hours near the fire department where officers often take breaks, and when he saw her squad car he opened fire. He said she reached for her weapon and he took it from her holster, and then shot her repeatedly in the face.

"Benjamin Sebena stated that he wanted to make sure she was dead so she wouldn't suffer," the complaint said.

Ben Sebena served two tours in Iraq with the Marine Corps. He was honorably discharged in 2005 after suffering severe arm and leg injuries in a mortar attack that year. Among the 10 medals or commendations he was awarded were a Purple Heart, a Good Conduct medal and a rifle expert badge.

In a 10-minute video for his church made in 2010, Ben Sebena describes his transformation into a decorated war veteran rediscovered a love of God.

"Before I went in I was pretty much a hippie. I was very laid back but the anger was there — it was just very hidden," he said.

He said he joined the military because he felt unloved and unimportant, and that the Marines helped him centralize the anger, but that the rage persisted even when he returned to the U.S. He said he would ignore red lights and tear down the freeway on his motorcycle at 150 mph.

He also discussed his blossoming relationship with Jennifer, whom he knew from high school and with whom he exchanged emails during his recovery.

"Our love flourished. We became actually infatuated with each other," he said in the video for Elmbrook Church in nearby Brookfield. The church's pastor, Scott Arbeiter, confirmed to The Associated Press that it was Ben Sebena in the video.

Jennifer Sebena's funeral is scheduled for Saturday.

___

Associated Press writer Carrie Antlfinger contributed to this report.

___

Dinesh Ramde can be reached at dramde(at)ap.org.

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- MagicJack VocalTec Ltd. shares jumped Friday after the internet phone company named a new CEO and issued a strong forecast.

THE SPARK: The company said Friday that it has named board member Gerald Vento as its president and CEO. The company's current CEO Daniel Borislow, who created magicJack, said it was time to hand over the reins to someone else to grow the business.

MagicJack also said that it expects fourth-quarter operating income of more than 70 cents per share and revenue of more than $39 million. It said its 2012 results will exceed expectations based on lower costs and improved sales.

The company previously said in September it expected fourth-quarter operating income of more than 50 cents per share.

THE BIG PICTURE: MagicJack inventor Borislow was appointed as CEO in 2010. He said in a call with analysts that he will continue to work with the company on certain product lines and marketing.

Vento will take on his new duties Jan. 1. He is the founder of the wireless services company TeleCorp PCS. He has been a director at magicJack since 2008 and became chairman of its board in April. Vento will take on his new duties Jan. 1. Board member Donald Burns, also an experienced public telecom company founder and CEO, will assume the role of chairman of the board.

Borislow said Vento and Burns are the best leaders to maximize shareholder value.

"I am more of a startup and invention guy; Jerry and Don have the ability and the track record running successful public companies," Borislow said in a statement. "The company is fortunate to have the perfect person for the CEO job, someone who has been part of our growth strategy since 2008."

MagicJack is headquartered in Israel with its U.S. offices in West Palm Beach, Fla.

SHARE ACTION: Shares jumped nearly 9 percent to $17.72 in afternoon trading. Its shares have traded between $12.98 and $28.22 in the past 52 weeks.

South Africa's Mandela to remain in hospital for Christmas

South Africa's Mandela to remain in hospital for Christmas

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African President Nelson Mandela continues to respond to treatment more than two weeks after being taken to hospital in Pretoria and will remain there for Christmas Day, the presidency said on Monday.

The 94-year-old anti-apartheid hero and Nobel Peace laureate has been treated for a lung infection and gallstones after being hospitalized on December 8.

President Jacob Zuma said in a statement that Mandela "will recover from this episode with all our support... We also humbly invite all freedom loving people around the world to pray for him."

It will be the first Christmas that Mandela has spent away from home since 1989, when he was still in prison. He was jailed for almost three decades for his role in the struggle against white minority rule.

He was released in 1990 and went on to use his prestige to push for reconciliation between whites and blacks as the bedrock of the post-apartheid "Rainbow Nation".

Mandela was elected South Africa's first black president in 1994. He stepped down five years later after one term in office and has been largely removed from public life for the last decade.

(Reporting and writing by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa and Tom Pfeiffer)

‘Dystextia': Gibberish texts sound stroke alarm

‘Dystextia': Gibberish texts sound stroke alarm

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Imagine you were a devoted husband, waiting to hear from your wife about her due date after a visit to the obstetrician, and you saw these on your phone:

"every where thinging days nighing"

"Some is where!"

That's what happened last December to a Boston-area man, who knew that autocorrect - known for its bizarre replacements - was turned off on his 11-week-pregnant wife's phone.

You'd probably be tempted to make sure your wife, 25, got to the emergency room. When she did, doctors noted several signs of a stroke, including disorientation, inability to use her right arm and leg properly and some difficulty speaking.

A magnetic resonance imaging scan - MRI - revealed that part of the woman's brain wasn't getting enough blood, clinching the diagnosis. Fortunately, her symptoms went away quickly, and the rest of the pregnancy went just fine after she went home from the hospital on low-dose blood thinners.

The case, say three doctors from Boston's Harvard Medical School who reported it online today in the Archives of Neurology, suggests that "the growing digital record will likely become an increasingly important means of identifying neurologic disease, particularly in patient populations that rely more heavily on written rather than spoken communication."

The authors describe the phenomenon as "dystextia," which is the word used by other doctors in an earlier case involving a migraine, and symptoms of a stroke diagnosed for other reasons.

"In her case, the first evidence of language difficulties came from her unintelligible texts," one of the report's authors, Dr. Joshua Klein, told Reuters Health by email.

Strokes are rare in women aged 15 to 34, with about 11,000 per year, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published last year.

Dr. Sean Savitz, who directs the stroke program at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, said he has seen a few patients who sent emails suggesting they were having difficulty with language, a condition known as aphasia.

Such clues usually come with other information however. In this case, for example, the patient's obstetrician's office later remembered that she had trouble filling out a form. And they might have caught the language difficulty earlier had the woman not had a weak voice, thanks to a recent upper respiratory infection.

"So, this case report per se does not indicate to me if dystextia is going to be more common to pick up strokes," Savitz told Reuters Health by email, "but I do think it will be a valuable addition to the collection of information that neurologists should obtain when taking a history."

"The main stroke warning signs with respect to texting would be unintelligible language output, or problems reading or comprehending texts," said Klein. "Many smartphones have an ‘autocorrect' function which can introduce erroneous word substitutions, giving the impression of a language disorder."

Autocorrect, said Savitz, a professor of neurology, can confuse matters - even for doctors.

"I have often joked with my colleagues when using the dictation of the smartphone, that it gives me an aphasia," he said. "Potential for lots of false positives!"

SOURCE: Archives of Neurology, online December 24, 2012.

How 'Doctor Who' Kept Its Big Christmas Secret Off Twitter

How 'Doctor Who' Kept Its Big Christmas Secret Off Twitter
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Doctor Who Returns

Tonight Doctor Who fans get to gorge on their annual Christmas fix -- a full-length special episode the series has produced every year for the holiday since 2005. This time, however, there's some extra spice in the form of a new regular cast member: Jenna-Louise Coleman debuts in "The Snowmen" as the Doctor's next companion.

Except it's not her debut. Coleman actually made her first appearance in the series premiere back in September. Actually, make that surprise appearance. In preseason interviews, Doctor Who's producers had explicitly told fans they'd have to wait until Christmas before they'd see Coleman in the show.

[More from Mashable: Top 10 Twitter Pics of the Week]

But there she was, fighting Daleks and making soufflés, way ahead of schedule. This was unheard of for the series, which has seen major plotlines leak online -- usually months before broadcast -- several times over the past few years. The show had gotten to the point where it would simply announce any major developments far in advance in order to get ahead of the spoiler hunters.

Yet somehow the show's producers kept Coleman's early debut a secret -- a feat made even more challenging since there were several preview screenings of the episode, each attended by hundreds of rabid fans, all carrying smartphones. How did Doctor Who keep every single one of them from tweeting about it?

[More from Mashable: How Music Ruled Twitter in 2012]

"I asked. That's it," says Steven Moffat, Doctor Who's current showrunner. "I don't think anyone thought it would work. I certainly didn't. At the London premiere, I just stood up and said, 'Please, nobody, no fan, no newspaper -- nobody at all -- mention that she's in it. And to my surprise it worked."

SEE ALSO: How 'Doctor Who' Won Over America

Moffat says the idea of misleading the audience about when Coleman would debut "grew" as he was writing the current series. But it almost didn't happen since others at the BBC wanted to get ahead of the news and announce her presence at the first preview screening. Moffat, however, was convinced (rightly, it turns out) that he could persuade the fans and journalists in attendance to guard the secret.

"They tried to talk me out of it at the last minute," he says. "And it did involve a lot of charming journalists and saying 'Please don't...' It was the polite embargo, really. We couldn't really embargo it. And I was always clear, 'There is no punishment here. You don't get blacklisted -- I'm just asking, and the show will be better if you keep this secret.' And they did."

But did really not a single person on fire off a quick tweet about Coleman being on the show? It appears so. Although Twitter doesn't offer a way to search tweets within a specific date range, searching the Twitter domain on Google during the month of August (the series premiered on Sept. 1) for her name reveals just regular promotion for the show.

"You can get a long way just by asking politely," says Moffat. "Who knew that's all you had to do? What's remarkable about it is not one single person broke. And I really didn't think that was going to work, because if any website had broken it -- if any forum had broken it -- the press would have just leapt in. They would have felt no further need for restraint. But they didn't."

Now Coleman makes her "proper" debut in the Christmas special, but is she playing the same character as before (who was -- spoiler alert -- abruptly killed off), or someone different? Moffat's already told fans not to expect any great explanations under the tree. What's going on with Coleman's character (characters?) won't be fully revealed until the series returns in the New Year.

But who knows? Maybe that's another mislead.

Will you be watching Doctor Who tonight? Does the show still surprise you? Share your thoughts in the comments.

BONUS: Doctor Who Series 7 Premiere

Doctor Who Returns

Matt Smith (The Doctor) and Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) attended a special screening of the premiere of Doctor Who Series 7 at New York City's Ziegfeld Theater. The episode, "Asylum of the Daleks," debuts on BBC America on Sept. 1.

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This story originally published on Mashable here.

Sweden: Foreigner angered over gray Santa outfit

Sweden: Foreigner angered over gray Santa outfit

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Police in Sweden had to intervene after a foreign visitor to a spa and conference center grew angry because a visiting Santa Claus was wearing a gray instead of red costume.

No one was arrested during the incident in Vallsta, some 300 kilometers (180 miles) north of Stockholm, early Tuesday.

But police said in a brief statement that the foreign guest grew agitated over the Santa outfit and argued with the center's staff. They did not say where the foreigner was from.

GOP willing to bend on issues after election

GOP willing to bend on issues after election

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — For years, Republicans have adhered fiercely to their bedrock conservative principles, resisting Democratic calls for tax hikes, comprehensive immigration reform and gun control. Now, seven weeks after an electoral drubbing, some party leaders and rank-and-file alike are signaling a willingness to bend on all three issues.

What long has been a nonstarter for Republicans — raising tax rates on wealthy Americans — is now backed by GOP House Speaker John Boehner in his negotiations with President Barack Obama to avert a potential fiscal crisis. Party luminaries, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, have started calling for a wholesale shift in the GOP's approach to immigration after Hispanic voters shunned Republican candidates. And some Republicans who previously championed gun rights now are opening the door to restrictions following a schoolhouse shooting spree earlier this month.

"Put guns on the table. Also, put video games on the table. Put mental health on the table," Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., said last week. Other prominent Republicans echoed him in calling for a sweeping review of how to prevent tragedies like the Newtown, Conn., massacre. Among those who were open to a re-evaluation of the nation's gun policies were Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

"You've got to take all these things into consideration," Grassley said.

And yet, the head of the National Rifle Association, silent for a week after the Newtown shootings, has proposed staffing schools with armed police, making clear the NRA, which tends to support the GOP, will continue pushing for fewer gun restrictions, not more.

Meanwhile, Boehner's attempt to get his own members on board with a deficit-reduction plan that would raise taxes on incomes of more than $1 million failed last week, exposing the reluctance of many in the Republican caucus to entertain more moderate fiscal positions.

With Republican leaders being pulled at once to the left and to the right, it's too soon to know whether the party that emerges from this identity crisis will be more or less conservative than the one that was once so confident about the 2012 elections. After all, less than two months have passed since the crushing defeat of GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who moved far to the right during the primary season and, some in the party say, lost the general election as a result.

But what's increasingly clear is that the party is now engaged in an uncomfortable and very public fight over whether its tenets, still firmly held within the party's most devout ranks, conflict with the views of Americans as a whole.

Many Republicans recognize that to remain relevant with voters whose views are changing, they too must change.

"We lost the election because we were out of touch with the American people," said John Weaver, a senior adviser to past presidential candidates John McCain, the GOP nominee in 2008, and Jon Huntsman, who ran for the nomination this year.

The polling suggests as much.

While Republican candidates for years have adamantly opposed tax increases on anyone, an Associated Press-GfK poll earlier this month found roughly half of all Americans supported allowing George W. Bush-era tax cuts to expire on those earning more than $250,000 a year.

Most GOP candidates — Romney among them — also long have opposed allowing people in the country illegally to get an eventual path to citizenship. But exit polls from the Nov. 6 election showed most voters favored allowing people working in the U.S. illegally to stay.

And gun control has for decades been anathema to Republicans. But a Washington Post/ABC News poll published last week, following the Connecticut shooting, showed 54 percent of Americans now favor stronger restrictions.

This is the backdrop as Republicans undergo a period of soul-searching after this fall's electoral shellacking. Romney became the fifth GOP nominee in six elections to lose the national popular vote to the Democratic candidate. Republicans also shed seats in their House majority and lost ground to majority Democrats in the Senate.

Of particular concern is the margin of loss among Hispanics, a group Obama won by about 70 percent to 30 percent.

It took only hours after the loss for national GOP leaders to blame Romney for shifting to the right on immigration — and signal that the party must change.

Jindal, a prospective 2016 presidential contender, was among the Republicans calling for a more measured approach by the GOP. And even previously hardline opponents of immigration reform — like conservative talk show host Sean Hannity — said the party needs to get over its immigration stance heavily favoring border security over other measures.

"What you have is agreement that we as a party need to spend a lot of time and effort on the Latino vote," veteran Republican strategist Charlie Black said.

When Congress returned to Washington after the election to start a debate over taxes and spending, a number of prominent Republicans, including Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, signaled they would be willing to abandon their pledges against raising taxes — as long as other conditions were met — as part of a package of proposals to avoid a catastrophic budget meltdown.

Leading the effort was Boehner, who has told Obama he would allow taxes to be increased on the wealthiest Americans, as well as on capital gains, estates and dividends, as part of a deal including spending cuts and provisions to slow the growth of entitlements. Obama, meanwhile, also has made concessions in the talks to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff by agreeing to a higher income threshold for tax rate increases, while insisting that Congress grant him the authority to raise the debt ceiling. Both sides have spent the past several weeks bickering over the terms.

While some Democrats quickly called for more stringent gun laws, most Republicans initially were silent. And their virtual absence from the debate suggested that some Republicans who champion gun rights at least may have been reconsidering their stances against firearms restrictions.

By the Monday after the Connecticut shooting, MSNBC talk show host Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, called for reinstating the ban on assault-style weapons, which he had opposed. The ban expired in 2004, despite support for the ban from Republican President George W. Bush. Referring to the shooting, Scarborough said: "I knew that day that the ideologies of my past career were no longer relevant to the future that I want, that I demand, for my children."

The next day, Grassley and Kingston were among the Republicans saying they were at least willing to discuss stronger gun laws.

"The party is at a point where it wants to have those discussions in public, where people feel comfortable differing from what is perceived as the party orthodoxy," Republican consultant Dan Hazelwood said.

If silence is a signal, shifts on other issues could be coming, chief among them gay marriage, which the GOP base long has opposed. Exit polls found half of all Americans say same-sex marriage should be legally recognized.

After three states — Washington, Maryland and Maine — voted to legalize gay marriage last month, the Republican leadership generally has remained quiet on the issue. And there has been no effort in the House or Senate to push major legislation, only narrower proposals, such as a move in the Armed Services Committee to bar gay marriages at military facilities.

But in a sign that the fight over gay marriage also may be waning within the GOP base, Newt Gingrich said it was time for Republicans to accept shifting public opinion.

The former House speaker, who oversaw passage of the Defense of Marriage Act in Congress and helped finance state campaigns to fight gay marriage in 2010, said in a Huffington Post interview that the party should work toward acceptance of rights for gay couples, while still distinguishing them from marriage.

"The momentum is clearly now in the direction in finding some way to . accommodate and deal with reality," Gingrich said.

___

Lederman reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Donna Cassata and Dennis Junius in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow Thomas Beaumont on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomBeaumont

Follow Josh Lederman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

VP says Chavez up, walking; doubts persist

VP says Chavez up, walking; doubts persist
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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Vice President Nicolas Maduro surprised Venezuelans with a Christmas Eve announcement that President Hugo Chavez is up and walking two weeks after cancer surgery in Cuba, but the news did little to ease uncertainty surrounding the leader's condition.

Sounding giddy, Maduro told state television Venezolana de Television that he had spoken by phone with Chavez for 20 minutes Monday night. It was the first time a top Venezuelan government official had confirmed talking personally with Chavez since the Dec. 11 operation, his fourth cancer surgery since 2011.

"He was in a good mood," Maduro said. "He was walking, he was exercising."

Chavez supporters reacted with relief, but the statement inspired more questions, given the sparse information the Venezuelan government has provided so far about the president's cancer. Chavez has kept secret various details about his illness, including the precise location of the tumors and the type of cancer. His long-term prognosis remains a mystery.

Dr. Michael Pishvaian, an oncologist at Georgetown University's Lombardi Cancer Center in Washington, said it was an encouraging sign that Chavez was walking, and it indicated he would be able to return to Venezuela relatively soon. But he said the long term outlook remained poor.

"It's definitely good news. It means that he is on the road to recover fully from the surgery," Pishvaian said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "The overall prognosis is still pretty poor. He likely has a terminal diagnosis with his cancer that has come back."

Pishvaian and other outside doctors have said that given the details Chavez has provided about his cancer, it is most likely a soft-tissue sarcoma.

Chavez first underwent surgery for an unspecified type of pelvic cancer in Cuba in June 2011 and went back this month after tests had found a return of malignant cells in the same area where tumors were previously removed.

Venezuelan officials said that, following the six-hour surgery two weeks ago, Chavez suffered internal bleeding that was stanched and a respiratory infection that was being treated.

Maduro's announcement came just hours after Information Minister Ernesto Villegas read a statement saying Chavez was showing "a slight improvement with a progressive trend."

Dr. Carlos Castro, director of the Colombian League against Cancer, an association that promotes cancer prevention, treatment and education, said Maduro's announcement was too vague to paint a clear picture of Chavez's condition.

"It's possible (that he is walking) because everything is possible," Castro told AP. "They probably had him sit in up in bed and take two steps."

"It's unclear what they mean by exercise. Was it four little steps?" he added. "I think he is still in critical condition."

Maduro's near-midnight announcement came just as Venezuelan families were gathering for traditional late Christmas Eve dinners and setting off the usual deafening fireworks that accompany the festivities. There was still little outward reaction on a quiet Christmas morning.

Danny Moreno, a software technician watching her 2-year-old son try out his new tricycle, was among the few people at a Caracas plaza who said she had heard Maduro's announcement. She said she saw a government Twitter message saying an announcement was coming and her mother rushed to turn on the TV.

"We all said, thank God, he's okay," she said, smiling.

Dr. Gustavo Medrano, a lung specialist at the Centro Medico hospital in Caracas, said if Chavez is talking, it suggests he is breathing on his own despite the respiratory infection and is not in intensive care. But Medrano said he remained skeptical about Maduro's comments and could deduce little from them about Chavez's prognosis for recovery.

"I have no idea because if it was such a serious, urgent, important operation, and that was 14 days ago, I don't think he could be walking and exercising after a surgery like that," Medrano said.

Over the weekend, Chavez's ally, Bolivian President Evo Morales, made a lightning visit to Cuba that only added to the uncertainty.

Journalists had been summoned to cover his arrival and departure in Havana, 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. He left Sunday without making any public comments.

For the second day in a row Tuesday, Morales made no mention of his trip to Cuba during public events in Bolivia.

Yet more questions surround Chavez's political future, with the surgery coming two months after he won re-election to a six-year term.

If he 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.

Venezuelan officials have said Chavez might 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 government officials have said 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.

___

Associated Press writers Peter Orsi in Havana, Vivian Sequera in Caracas, Camilo Hernandez in Bogota, Colombia, and Paola Flores in La Paz, Bolivia, contributed to this report.

Body found in burned home of killer of 2 firemen

Body found in burned home of killer of 2 firemen
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WEBSTER, N.Y. (AP) — Police have found human remains in the burned-out home of the Webster, N.Y., ex-con who killed two firefighters and believe the victim is the gunman's sister.

Police Chief Gerald Pickering said Tuesday the remains were found in the charred house that 62-year-old William Spengler shared with his 67-year-old sister, Cheryl. A medical examiner will need to determine the identity.

Police say Willliam Spengler armed himself with a revolver, shotgun and military-style rifle before he set his house afire to lure first responders into a pre-dawn death trap on Christmas Eve.

Pickering says Spengler "was equipped to go to war."

Spengler killed himself as seven houses burned around him. A friend said Spengler hated his sister but police say a motive hasn't been determined.

3 held without bond in fatal Ind. house explosion

3 held without bond in fatal Ind. house explosion
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Residents whose Indianapolis homes were battered by a gas explosion and relatives of a couple who were killed packed a court hearing Monday for the three suspects charged with rigging the blast.

The crowd watched in grim silence as a Marion County judge entered not guilty pleas for Monserrate Shirley, her boyfriend Mark Leonard, and his brother, Bob Leonard. They are charged with murder, arson and other counts in the Nov. 10 blast.

The three, who appeared in court in orange jail jumpsuits and handcuffs, were ordered held without bond. Prosecutors say Shirley and the Leonard brothers deliberately blew up her home so they could collect the insurance payout.

The fiery blast destroyed five homes, including Shirley's, and damaged dozens of others in the Richmond Hill subdivision in the far south side of the city. The explosion killed Shirley's next-door neighbors, John Dion Longworth, a 34-year-old electronics expert, and his 36-year-old wife, second-grade teacher Jennifer Longworth. Shirley and Mark Leonard told investigators they were at a southern Indiana casino at the time of the blast.

John Dion Longworth's aunt, Pam Mosser, a psychiatric nurse who attended the hearing on the back of a 16-hour shift, said it is important for people to know how her family suffered while the suspects apparently gave no thought for their neighbors' lives.

"Dion and Jennifer died suffering and screaming. It is unbelievable to me that someone could be gambling and drinking while their house blows up and people are dying," Mosser told reporters after the hearing.

"I cannot forgive that," she said.

Shirley, 47, was facing mounting financial woes, including $63,000 in credit card debt and bankruptcy proceedings, court documents say. And a friend of Mark Leonard's told investigators that Leonard said he had lost about $10,000 at a casino some three weeks before the explosion. The home's original loan was for $116,000 and a second mortgage was taken out on the home for $65,000, the affidavit says.

Mark Leonard told the judge he couldn't pay for an attorney because all his cash was inside Shirley's house when it blew up, leaving him with about $500 in a checking account.

"All my money, all of it, it's gone," he said. "I had money in the house and it's not there anymore."

The judge appointed public defenders for the Leonards. Those attorneys did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Randall Cable, Shirley's attorney, declined comment when reached by phone after the hearing.

Shirley and the Leonard brothers face two counts of murder as well as 33 counts of arson — one count for each of the homes damaged so badly that officials have ordered their demolition.

Shirley and Mark Leonard, 43, also face two counts of conspiracy to commit arson, while Bob Leonard, 54, faces a single count. The conspiracy charges stem from a failed explosion that prosecutors claim the trio had attempted the weekend before the successful timed blast.

Prosecutor Terry Curry has said he will consider seeking the death penalty. A trial for all three suspects was scheduled for March 4.

"I think they should die a horrible death," Mosser said. "And it's terrible to have these feelings."

Investigators believe the suspects removed a gas fireplace valve and a gas line regulator in Shirley's house that subsequently filled up with gas. They have said a microwave, apparently set to start on a timer, sparked the explosion.

Reporters were positioned in the jury box so that the small courtroom could accommodate the 30 or so members of the public who squeezed in to observe the initial hearing.

Richmond Hills resident Barry Chipman said neighbors remained fearful of loud noises more than a month after the blast. He said he was driving with his teenage daughter recently when he popped the gum he was chewing and it "made her jump." A few minutes later, he said, she did the same, startling him.

"Everybody's still jumpy," he said.

Convicted New Orleans police see opportunity in officials' errors

Convicted New Orleans police see opportunity in officials' errors

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors scored big victories over the past two years in a quest to pluck bad police officers from the streets of New Orleans. But legal issues and recent stumbles by the U.S. attorney raise questions about whether criminal convictions of officers will stick.

Convicted former police officer David Warren won a new trial last week in the fatal shooting of Henry Glover, whose body turned up in a burned-out car behind a river levee days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said Warren, who fired the shot that killed Glover, should have been tried separately from others charged in the case. The court also granted another of the defendants a re-trial based on new evidence.

The rulings will likely prompt appeals in other cases, including the 2011 convictions of five police officers in connection with a post-Katrina shooting on the city's Danziger Bridge that killed two unarmed civilians and wounded four others.

"Defense lawyers can smell blood in the water," said law professor Dane Ciolino of Loyola University New Orleans. "I wouldn't be surprised to see the Danziger defendants make an argument of improper failure to sever (their cases from others) as their appeals move forward."

Along with such legal issues, the city of New Orleans faces the possibility that more than a dozen post-Katrina convictions won by federal prosecutors and a big public corruption case still in the works may be endangered by revelations of possible misconduct in the U.S. attorney's office.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten resigned on December 6 in the throes of a scandal in which members of his inner circle admitted to posting online comments, under pseudonyms, on a public message board about cases the office was prosecuting. In addition to Letten, three members of his staff who were connected with the comments have left the office.

The Danziger Bridge defendants are already seeking new trials based on negative comments about police that they say prosecutors posted on the message boards.

In an unrelated case, a former high-ranking elected official from a suburban New Orleans jurisdiction who recently pleaded guilty to public corruption charges now is asking a federal judge to reconsider the plea in light of perceived prosecutorial misconduct.

'PUBLIC OFFICIAL A'

Among other cases that could be affected, federal prosecutors appear close to bringing charges against former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on suspicion he accepted bribes from business owners in exchange for funneling city contracts to the businesses.

Several Nagin associates have signed plea deals with the government and submitted affidavits detailing the arrangements they had with a high-ranking city official identified in filings as "Public Official A."

While Nagin is not named in the documents, attorneys for at least two of the businessmen have made it clear that Public Official A is Nagin.

How serious the misconduct issue may become for the government is a question of evidence, said former U.S. Attorney Harry Rosenberg. The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility is scrutinizing the matter and an independent investigation ordered by a judge was under way.

"The results will tell defense counsel whether they have reasonable opportunities to pursue new trials or dismissals of indictments," Rosenberg said.

He pointed to the success in the case of the late U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, whose lawyers contested his 2008 conviction for failing to report gifts from a well-connected business executive by showing that the government failed to disclose evidence. Ultimately, the U.S. attorney general asked that the charges against Stevens be dropped.

Still, Rosenberg said proving that prosecutorial misconduct occurred in New Orleans was a long shot. Defense lawyers in some federal cases were "feeling energized," he said, but the Justice Department's convictions nearly always stick.

"I suspect that the number of motions granted based upon prosecutorial misconduct are a fraction of a fraction of 1 percent," he said.

Metropolitan Crime Commission President Rafael Goyeneche said it was important to local citizens that the police officer convictions won by federal prosecutors in recent years stick.

"For too long the public has lost faith in the criminal justice system, and they're starting to see that faith restored," he said.

Noting that the civil rights cases brought by the Justice Department generally are too complex and expensive to be handled by local authorities, he said action by federal prosecutors is crucial to building support for local law enforcement.

"People need to see that if you betray the public trust, there will be a consequence," he said.

(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan, Vicki Allen and Xavier Briand)

Egypt ex-jihadi group: opposition used violence

Egypt ex-jihadi group: opposition used violence
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CAIRO (AP) — The leader of a former jihadist group who is now a member of Egyptian parliament accused the largely secular opposition on Monday of using violence in the country's political struggle.

Another member of the same group, who served 29 years in prison for his role as a conspirator in the 1981 assassination of President Sadat, charged that opponents of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi are trying to drag the country into a civil war.

The two — Safwat Abdel-Ghani and Tarek el-Zumor — are members of the Islamic Group, or Gamaa Islamiya, which was among militant groups behind one of the longest waves of violence against the Egyptian regime in the 1980s and 1990s. The group renounced violence while most of its leaders were imprisoned under Hosni Mubarak's regime.

Since Mubarak's ouster in February 2011 following a popular uprising, the group has formed an Islamist political party and its leaders have become important players in the new political scene, dominated by Islamists.

The accusations come amid a highly charged atmosphere in Egypt after a polarizing, monthlong fight over the Islamist-drafted constitution. The charter passed with 64 percent in a referendum, according to unofficial results.

Official results had been expected on Monday but did not come out. An official at the electoral commission said it is currently reviewing more than 400 complaints of fraud and violations by the opposition before announcing the results on Tuesday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Abdel-Ghani was speaking at a news conference to launch his group's initiative for a national dialogue aimed at bridging the deep rifts.

"There is no doubt that the opposition has failed miserably in achieving its goals. This failure has reasons," Abdel-Ghani told a news conference. "The first of these reasons is that it resorted to violence and used thugs to express its opinions."

Abdel-Ghani was detained in 1981 as a suspect in Sadat's assassination but was released a few years later and not charged. He served other prison sentences in a later assassination of the parliament speaker in the 1990s. President Mohammed Morsi appointed him over the weekend to the upper house of parliament, just days before the chamber assumes temporary legislative powers.

Islamist groups have risen to domination over Egypt's government in the wake of the uprising, and some of them have threatened to push their own vigilantes to protect them against violent clashes. Islamist groups also accuse former regime officials of using the charged political atmosphere to create chaos and undermine Morsi.

The opposition, made up of liberal and leftist groups, has accused Islamists of trying to clamp down on dissenting voices and spreading fear.

"We call on all political forces in Egypt ... to immediately give up all elements that almost led Egypt to civil war and for all those who participated in this to apologize," said el-Zumor of Gamaa Islamiya.

The recent flare-up of political tensions has turned deadly at times. On Dec. 5, clashes erupted between supporters and opponents of Morsi at the presidential palace, when Morsi supporters attacked the opposition. At least 10 people died, and the Brotherhood claims most of those who died were their supporters.

The offices of the Brotherhood and the liberal al-Wafd party were attacked.

Hossam Mounes, a member of the opposition National Salvation Front, said the accusations of using violence are "clumsy" and not based on evidence.

"The history of Islamist groups was based on bearing arms, and now they speak of democracy," he said. "Some of the Islamist groups are really feeling the tension against them and they can't understand that democracy is a practice and is not only a means to get to power."

Abdel-Ghani also said the opposition has failed because it campaigned against Islamic law, or Shariah, and relied on mobilization of Christians by the church to take part in protests.

With the referendum results expected on Tuesday, Morsi ordered parliament's upper chamber, the Shura Council, to convene on Wednesday.

The new constitution would give the council powers to legislate until the lower house is elected within the next two months. Morsi has held legislative powers for months now since a court disbanded the lower house of parliament.

Over the weekend, Morsi appointed 90 members to the Islamist-dominated Shura Council, in an attempt to make the body more representative. The 90 include at least 30 Islamists and a dozen minority Christians. The council now has a total of 270 members, two-thirds of them elected. Critics, however, say most of the representatives are either Islamists or their supporters.

The council was elected last winter in a vote with an extremely low turnout of less than 10 percent of Egypt's 51 million eligible voters.

Final goodbye: Roll call of some who died in 2012

Final goodbye: Roll call of some who died in 2012
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Neil Armstrong would always be taking that first step onto the moon, and Dick Clark was forever "the world's oldest teenager." Some of the notables who died in 2012 created images in our minds that remained unchanged over decades.

Sadly, for others an established image was shattered by a fall from grace. Whitney Houston ruled as a queen of pop music, but years of hard living harmed her voice while erratic behavior and a troubled marriage took a toll on her image. And Joe Paterno, Penn State's longtime coach, won more games than anyone in major college football, but was ultimately fired amid a molestation scandal involving an assistant coach that scarred his reputation.

Some whose deaths we noted weren't known by image or even name but by contributions that changed our lives — like Eugene Polley, inventor of the first wireless TV remote control, and Norman Joseph Woodland, co-inventor of the bar code that labels nearly every product in stores. Other scientists who died in 2012 included Lowell Randall, Martin Fleischmann, F. Sherwood Rowland, George Cowan and Bernard Lovell.

Among the political figures who died were George McGovern, Democrat presidential nominee who lost to Richard Nixon in a historic landslide, and ex-Sen. Arlen Specter, the outspoken Pennsylvania centrist. Others from the world of politics: Bill Janklow, Norodom Sihanouk, Charles "Chuck" Colson, Warren B. Rudman, Andrew Breitbart, Robert Bork and Miguel de la Madrid.

The year also saw the deaths of a number of TV stars including Larry Hagman, who played oil baron J.R. Ewing on "Dallas."

Others in entertainment and the arts who died included: Etta James, Andy Griffith, Ernest Borgnine, Sherman Hemsley, Maurice Sendak, Donna Summer, Robin Gibb, Doc Watson, Richard Dawson, Nora Ephron, Phyllis Diller, Michael Clarke Duncan, Don Cornelius, Jan Berenstain, Ravi Shankar and Dave Brubeck.

Here is a roll call of some of the people who died in 2012. (Cause of death cited for younger people if available.)

JANUARY:

Kiro Gligorov, 94. First democratically elected president of Macedonia who shepherded his nation through a bloodless secession from the former Yugoslavia and narrowly survived an assassination attempt. Jan. 1.

Bob Anderson, 89. Olympic fencer and movie sword master, he donned Darth Vader's black helmet and fought light saber battles in two "Star Wars" films. Jan. 1.

Keith Little, 87. One of the most recognizable of the remaining Navajo Code Talkers, whose code helped confound the Japanese duirng World War II. Jan. 3.

Lowell Randall, 96. Pioneer rocket scientist who helped launch the U.S. space program and tested intercontinental ballistic missiles. Jan. 3.

Jessica Joy Rees, 12. She became a nationally recognized face of child cancer with a blog that chronicled her fight against brain tumors. Jan. 5. Brain cancer.

Don Carter, 85. Bowling great who flourished as a genuine sports celebrity during the game's golden age on TV. Jan. 5.

Bill Janklow, 72. As South Dakota's attorney general, governor and congressman, he dominated the state's political landscape for more than 25 years. Jan. 12. Brain cancer.

Manuel Fraga Iribarne, 89. Blunt-talking politician who founded Spain's ruling conservative party and was the last surviving minister from Gen. Francisco Franco's right-wing regime. Jan. 15.

Hulett C. Smith, 93. Former West Virginia governor who signed bills in the 1960s that abolished the state's death penalty and implemented its first strip mining laws. Jan. 15.

Edward Derwinski, 85. He represented Chicago's south side and adjoining suburbs in Congress for nearly a quarter-century before becoming the nation's first secretary of veterans affairs. Jan 15.

Jimmy Castor, 71. Funk and soul saxophonist, singer and songwriter whose tune, "It's Just Begun," morphed into an anthem for generations of musical acts. Jan. 16.

Johnny Otis, 90. He wrote and recorded the R&B classic "Willie and the Hand Jive" and for decades evangelized black music to white audiences as a bandleader and radio host. Jan. 17.

Etta James, 73. Blues singer best known for her performance of the enduring classic "At Last." Jan. 20. Complications from leukemia.

Jonathan "Jack" Idema, 55. Former Green Beret convicted of running a private jail in Afghanistan. Jan. 21. AIDS.

Roy J. Britten, 92. Pioneering molecular biologist who discovered the crucial fact that humans and animals have multiple copies of some DNA segments. Jan. 21.

Joe Paterno, 85. Longtime Penn State coach who won more games than anyone in major college football but was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal that scarred his reputation for winning with integrity. Jan. 22.

Theo Angelopoulos, 76. Award-winning Greek filmmaker known for his slow and dreamlike style as a director. Jan. 24. Killed in a road accident.

Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans, 91. Heiress to a vast Gilded Age fortune built on tobacco and a member of the family that endowed Duke University. Jan. 25.

Robert Hegyes, 60. Actor best known for playing Jewish Puerto Rican student Juan Epstein on the 1970s TV show "Welcome Back Kotter." Jan. 26.

Kevin H. White, 82. Former Boston mayor who led the city for 16 years including during racially turbulent times in the 1970s and was credited with putting it on a path to prosperity. Jan. 27.

Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, 93. Past president of Italy who held the post during the sweeping corruption scandal of the early 1990s that reshaped the country's political landscape. Jan. 29.

Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, 88. Retired head of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and an uncharged central figure in a child sex-abuse case that involves the alleged shuffling of predator priests to unwitting parishes. Jan. 31.

FEBRUARY:

Don Cornelius, 75. As host of "Soul Train," he helped break down racial barriers and broaden the reach of black culture with funky music, groovy dance steps and cutting edge style. Feb. 1. Self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Angelo Dundee, 90. Trainer who helped groom Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard into world champions. Feb. 1.

Jimmie Begay, 86. Navajo Code Talker who in World War II transmitted messages in a code based on the then-unwritten Navajo language. Feb. 1.

Zalman King, 70. Actor and filmmaker who became known for his erotic work after writing and producing his breakthrough film "9 1/2 Weeks." Feb. 3.

Ben Gazzara, 81. Actor who brought intensity to roles in such iconic productions as the original "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" on Broadway and the film "The Big Lebowski." Feb. 3.

Florence Green, 110. Last known veteran of World War I. Feb. 4.

John Fairfax, 74. First known person to row alone across the Atlantic Ocean. Feb. 8.

Jill Kinmont Boothe, 75. Skiing champion who became a painter and a teacher after she was paralyzed during a race and was the subject of a book and two Hollywood films. Feb. 9.

Whitney Houston, 48. She ruled as pop music's queen until her majestic voice was ravaged by drug use and her regal image ruined by erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown. Feb. 11. Accidentally drowned in a bathtub.

Mohammed Lamari, 73. General who led Algeria's military during a decade of civil war that crushed Islamic rebel groups. Feb. 13.

Charles Anthony, 82. Character singer who set the record for most appearances at the Metropolitan Opera — 2,928 — during a career that spanned from 1954 to 2010. Feb. 15.

Gary Carter, 57. Star catcher whose single for the New York Mets in the 1986 World Series touched off one of the most improbable rallies in baseball. Feb. 16.

Katie Hall, 73. Former Indiana congresswoman who was a key sponsor of the 1983 legislation that established a national holiday for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Feb. 20.

Remi Ochlik, 28. Photojournalist who covered riots in Haiti and the upheaval sweeping across the Arab world. Feb. 22. Killed in a shelling attack in Syria.

Marie Colvin, 56. Journalist, recognizable for the eye patch that hid a shrapnel injury, who covered conflicts from Sri Lanka to Syria in her quest to bring stories about the world's most troubled places to light. Feb. 22. Killed in a shelling attack in Syria.

Jan Berenstain, 88. With her husband, Stan, she wrote and illustrated the Berenstain Bears books that have charmed preschoolers for 50 years. Feb. 24.

Dennis Gomes, 68. Co-owner of the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J., and a former mob-busting Las Vegas prosecutor whose exploits were chronicled in the movie "Casino." Feb. 24. Complications from kidney dialysis.

Erland Josephson, 88. Swedish actor who collaborated with legendary film director Ingmar Bergman in more than 40 films and plays. Feb. 25.

Lynn D. "Buck" Compton, 90. Veteran whose World War II exploits were depicted in the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers." Feb. 25.

Edna Milton Chadwell, 84. Last madam of the Chicken Ranch brothel, which inspired the movie and Broadway show "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." Feb. 25.

William Hamilton, 87. Theologian who was a member of the Death of God movement of the 1960s that reached its peak with a Time Magazine cover story. Feb. 28.

Davy Jones, 66. Actor turned singer who helped propel the TV rock band The Monkees to the top of the pop charts. Feb. 29. Heart attack.

MARCH:

Andrew Breitbart, 43. Conservative media publisher and activist who was behind investigations that led to the resignation of former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y. March 1.

James Q. Wilson, 80. Political scientist whose "broken windows" theory on crime-fighting helped launch a nationwide move toward community policing. March 2.

Ralph McQuarrie, 82. Artist who developed the look of the first "Star Wars" trilogy's signature characters, sets and spaceships. March 3.

William Heirens, 83. Dubbed the "Lipstick Killer" after three murders in Chicago in the 1940s, he became Illinois' longest-serving inmate. March 5.

Robert B. Sherman, 86. Songwriter who wrote "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" in "Mary Poppins" and other songs for Disney classics. March 5.

James T. "Jimmy" Ellis, 74. As frontman for The Trammps, he belted out the refrain "Burn, baby burn!" in the 1970s-era disco hit "Disco Inferno." March 8.

Minoru Mori, 77. Property tycoon who was one of Japan's most influential developers and built China's tallest building. March 8.

Harry Wendelstedt, 73. Longtime umpire who worked five World Series and made a call involving Don Drysdale that became one of baseball's most disputed plays in the late 1960s. March 9.

Jean Giraud, 73. French comics artist known by fans from Hollywood to Japan as Moebius and the creator of unsettling, eye-opening fantasy worlds in print and on film. March 10.

F. Sherwood Rowland, 84. Nobel prize-winning chemist who sounded the alarm on the thinning of the Earth's ozone layer and crusaded against the use of chemicals that were harming earth's atmospheric blanket. March 10.

Michael Hossack, 65. Longtime Doobie Brothers drummer whose work is heard on the hits "Listen To The Music" and "China Grove." March 12. Cancer.

Censu Tabone, 98. Former Malta president who hosted a U.S.-Soviet summit that declared an end to the Cold War. March 14.

John Demjanjuk, 91. He was convicted of being a low-ranking guard at the Sobibor death camp, but his 35-year fight to clear his name made him one of the best-known faces of Nazi prosecutions. March 17.

Pope Shenouda III, 88. Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church who led Egypt's Christian minority for 40 years during a time of increasing tensions with Muslims. March 17.

Chaleo Yoovidhya, in his 80s. Self-made Thai billionaire who introduced the world to "energy drinks" and co-founded the Red Bull brand. March 17.

King George Tupou V, 63. Tonga's king, who gave up most of his powers to bring a more democratic government to his Pacific island nation. March 18.

Lincoln Hall, 56. Mountaineer who was rescued a day after being given up for dead near the summit of Everest in 2006. March 21. Cancer.

Abdullahi Yusuf, 78. He rose from guerrilla warrior to president of Somalia only to watch his administration crumble under an Islamic insurgency. March 23. Complications from pneumonia.

Bert Sugar, 75. Iconic boxing writer and sports historian who was known for his trademark fedora and ever-present cigar. March 25.

Larry Stevenson, 81. Skateboard maker who helped take the pastime from an early 1960s kids' gimmick to a professional sport. March 25.

Earl Scruggs, 88. Bluegrass legend and banjo pioneer who profoundly influenced country music with Bill Monroe in the 1940s and later with guitarist Lester Flatt. March 28.

APRIL:

Miguel de la Madrid, 77. Former president of Mexico, who led his country from 1982 to 1988 during an economic crisis and a devastating earthquake. April 1.

Giorgio Chinaglia, 65. Italian soccer great and former New York Cosmos star. April 1. Complications from a heart attack.

Neslisah Osmanoglu, 91. Ottoman princess who married an Egyptian prince and was twice forced into exile when both royal households were abolished. April 2.

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, 76. He designed Porsche's classic 911 sports car, the sleek model that evokes power, wealth and envy among aficionados. April 5.

Bingu wa Mutharika, 78. Malawi's president who was hailed as an economic hero and decried as an autocrat.. April 5.

Thomas Kinkade, 54. Artist whose paintings of idyllic landscapes, cottages and churches have been big sellers for dealers across the U.S. April 6.

Mike Wallace, 93. Dogged CBS reporter who took on politicians and celebrities in a 60-year career highlighted by on-air confrontations that helped make "60 Minutes" the most successful prime-time television news program ever. April 7.

Raymond Aubrac, 97. One of the last major figures of the French Resistance who got away from the Nazis' grasp in a now-legendary escape. April 10.

Ahmed Ben Bella, 95. Algeria's first president and a historic leader of its bloody independence struggle from France. April 11.

Julio Aleman, 78. Mexican television and movie actor who starred in the first telenovela ever produced in the country. April 11.

Arnold Maersk Mc-Kinney Moeller, 98. Denmark's richest man who created the country's largest enterprise, a shipping and oil conglomerate. April 16.

Dick Clark, 82. Ever-youthful television entrepreneur who helped bring rock 'n' roll into the mainstream on "American Bandstand," and later produced and hosted game shows and the year-end countdown from Times Square. April 19.

Levon Helm, 71. Key member of the rock group The Band who lent his voice to classics like "The Weight" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." April 19.

George Cowan, 92. Manhattan Project scientist who also helped found the Santa Fe Institute. April 20.

Charles "Chuck" Colson, 80. Special counsel to President Richard Nixon who went to prison for his role in a Watergate-related case and became a Christian evangelical helping inmates. April 21.

George Rathmann, 84. As founding CEO he helped turn Amgen Inc. from a small company with an unclear mission in a strange new field into the world's largest biotech drugmaker. April 22.

George Vujnovich, 96. Intelligence agent who organized a World War II mission to rescue more than 500 U.S. bomber crew members shot down over Nazi-occupied Serbia. April 24.

Patricia Medina, 92. Actress who became a Hollywood leading lady in the 1950s opposite Glenn Ford, Alan Ladd, Karl Malden and Fernando Lamas. April 28.

Thomas Austin "Amarillo Slim" Preston Jr., 83. A poker champion whose brash style, fast talking and love of the spotlight helped broaden the professional game's appeal. April 29.

Tomas Borge Martinez, 81. Last surviving founder of the Sandinista guerrilla movement that overthrew Nicaragua's U.S.-backed right-wing dictatorship in 1979. April 30.

MAY:

Junior Seau, 43. Homegrown superstar who was the fist-pumping, emotional leader of the San Diego Chargers for 13 years. May 2. Apparent suicide.

Lloyd Brevett, 80. Renowned double bassist who helped carry ska music from Jamaica to the world as a founding member of the band The Skatalites. May 3.

Adam Yauch, 47. Also known as MCA, the gravelly voiced rapper helped make the Beastie Boys one of the seminal groups in hip-hop. May 4. Cancer.

George Lindsey, 83. He made a TV career as a grinning service station attendant named Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Hee Haw." May 6.

Dennis Fitch, 69. Airline pilot who helped save 184 people during a plane crash in Sioux City, Iowa. May 7. Brain cancer.

Maurice Sendak, 83. Children's book author and illustrator who saw the sometimes-dark side of childhood in books like "Where the Wild Things Are." May 8.

Vidal Sassoon, 84. Celebrity hairstylist whose 1960s wash-and-wear cuts freed women from endless teasing and hairspray. May 9.

Baby Andrei, 9 months. Romanian baby born with virtually no intestines who confounded doctors by tenaciously clinging to life and captured international attention and offers of medical help. May 10.

Gunnar Soensteby, 94. World War II resistance fighter who earned Norway's highest military decoration for daring raids against the Nazis. May 10.

Evelyn Bryan Johnson, 102. Known as "Mama Bird," she was a pioneering female pilot and Guinness world record holder. May 10.

Carroll Shelby, 89. Legendary car designer and champion auto racer who built the Shelby Cobra sports car and injected testosterone into Ford's Mustang and Chrysler's Viper. May 10.

Donald "Duck" Dunn, 70. Bassist who helped create the gritty Memphis soul sound at Stax Records in the 1960s as part of the legendary group Booker T. and the MGs. May 13.

Jim Abdnor, 89. Former Republican U.S. senator who ousted George McGovern from the Senate only to lose his seat after one term. May 16.

Chuck Brown, 75. Widely acclaimed as the "Godfather of go-go" for styling a unique mix of funk, soul and Latin party sounds. May 16.

Mary Richardson Kennedy, 52. Estranged wife of Robert Kennedy Jr.; her life's highlights and troubled moments played out publicly because of the famous political family she married into. May 16. Apparent suicide.

Doug Dillard, 75. Banjo player who helped shape rock 'n' roll and introduce the nation to bluegrass music during a run on "The Andy Griffith Show." May 16.

Donna Summer, 63. Disco queen whose pulsing anthems such as "Last Dance," ''Love to Love You Baby" and "Bad Girls" became the soundtrack for a glittery age of drugs, dance and flashy clothes. May 17.

Warda, 72. Algerian singer known by just one name whose sultry voice and range helped make her one of the giants of Arab song. May 17.

Frank Edward "Ed" Ray, 91. California school bus driver who was hailed as a hero for helping 26 students escape after three kidnappers buried them underground in 1976. May 17.

Katie Beckett, 34. Her struggles with disease and bureaucracy brought landmark changes to the federal-state Medicaid program allowing children with disabilities to live at home. May 18.

Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, 60. Libyan intelligence officer who was the only person ever convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. May 20.

Robin Gibb, 62. One of the three Bee Gees whose falsetto harmonies powered such hits as "Stayin' Alive" and "Night Fever" and defined the flashy disco era. May 20.

Eugene Polley, 96. Inventor of the first wireless TV remote control. May 20.

Eddie Blazonczyk, 70. Grammy Award-winning polka great who earned the nickname "Polka King" after starting his own band and label. May 21.

Wesley Brown, 85. First African-American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy. May 22.

Klaas Carel Faber, 90. Dutch native who fled to Germany after being convicted in the Netherlands of Nazi war crimes and subsequently lived in freedom despite attempts to try or extradite him. May 24.

Johnny Tapia, 45. Five-time boxing champion whose turbulent career was marked by cocaine addiction, alcohol, depression and run-ins with the law. May 27.

Doc Watson, 89. Grammy-award winning folk musician whose lightning-fast style of flatpicking influenced guitarists around the world. May 29.

JUNE:

Kathryn Joosten, 72. Character actress best known as Karen McCluskey on "Desperate Housewives" and the president's secretary on "The West Wing." June 2.

Adolfo Calero, 80. He led the largest force of U.S.-backed rebels against Nicaragua's Sandinista government in the 1980s and found himself entangled in the Iran-Contra scandal. June 2.

Richard Dawson, 79. Wisecracking British entertainer who was among the schemers in the 1960s TV comedy "Hogan's Heroes" and later the contestant-kissing host of the game show "Family Feud." June 2.

Herb Reed, 83. Last surviving original member of 1950s vocal group the Platters who sang on hits like "Only You" and "The Great Pretender." June 4.

Ray Bradbury, 91. Science fiction-fantasy master who transformed his childhood dreams and Cold War fears into telepathic Martians, lovesick sea monsters, and the high-tech, book-burning future of "Fahrenheit 451." May 5.

Bob Welch, 65. Former member of Fleetwood Mac who went on to write songs and record several hits during a solo career. June 7. Self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Ann Rutherford, 94. Actress who played the sweetheart in the long-running Andy Hardy series and Scarlett O'Hara's youngest sister in "Gone With the Wind." June 11.

Henry Hill, 69. Associate in New York's Lucchese crime family, a mobster and FBI informant whose life was the basis for the Martin Scorsese film "Goodfellas." June 12.

William S. Knowles, 95. Chemist who shared the Nobel Prize for discoveries that led to a treatment for Parkinson's disease and other medicines. June 13.

Crown Prince Nayef, late 70s. Interior minister who headed Saudi Arabia's fierce crackdown crushing al-Qaida's branch in the country after the 9/11 attacks and rose to become next in line to the throne. June 16.

Rodney King, 47. Black motorist whose 1991 videotaped beating by Los Angeles police officers was the spark for one of the most destructive U.S. race riots. June 17. Accidentally drowned.

Richard Adler, 90. Composer-lyricist who won Tony Awards for such Broadway musicals as "The Pajama Game" and "Damn Yankees" and who produced President John F. Kennedy's birthday celebration featuring a breathy Marilyn Monroe. June 21.

Barry Becher, 71. Infomercial pioneer best known for introducing American TV viewers to Ginsu knives, the miracle kitchen tool that sliced through tin cans and chopped wood. June 22.

George Randolph Hearst Jr., 84. Board chairman of Hearst Corp., oldest grandson of media titan William Randolph Hearst. June 25.

Nora Ephron, 71. Essayist, author and filmmaker who thrived in the male-dominated worlds of movies and journalism and was loved, respected and feared for her wit. June 26. Leukemia

Doris Singleton, 92. Actress who played Lucy and Ricky Ricardo's neighbor on "I Love Lucy." June 26.

Don Grady, 68. One of television's most beloved big brothers as Robbie Douglas on the 1960s hit "My Three Sons." June 27.

Norman Sas, 87. Mechanical engineer who created electric football, a tabletop game with a vibrating metal field and unpredictable plastic players that captivated children and grown-ups. June 28.

Doris Sams, 85. Pitcher and outfielder from Knoxville who helped inspire the movie "A League of Their Own." June 28.

Yitzhak Shamir, 96. Former Israeli prime minister who maintained that Israel should hold on to territory and never trust an Arab regime. June 30.

JULY:

Andy Griffith, 86. He made homespun Southern wisdom his trademark as a wise sheriff in "The Andy Griffith Show" and a rumpled defense lawyer in "Matlock." July 3.

Ernest Borgnine, 95. Beefy screen star known for blustery, often villainous roles, but who won the best-actor Oscar for playing against type as a lovesick butcher in "Marty" in 1955. July 8.

Eugenio de Araujo Sales, 91. Rio de Janeiro's former archbishop who provided shelter to thousands opposed to the military regimes that once ruled Brazil, Argentina and Chile. July 9.

Marion Cunningham, 90. Home-cooking champion whose legacy can be found in the food-spattered pages of "Fannie Farmer" cookbooks in kitchens across America. July 11.

Donald J. Sobol, 87. Author of the popular "Encyclopedia Brown" series of children's mysteries. July 11.

Dara Singh, 84. Bollywood action hero best known for his TV portrayal of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman. July 12.

Celeste Holm, 95. Versatile actress who soared to Broadway fame in "Oklahoma!" and won an Oscar for her portrayal of a lonely secretary in "Gentleman's Agreement." July 15.

Stephen R. Covey, 79. Author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" and three other books that have all sold more than a million copies. July 16. Complications from a bicycle accident.

Jon Lord, 71. British rocker and keyboardist whose driving tones helped turn Deep Purple and Whitesnake into two of the most popular hard rock acts in a generation. July 16.

Kitty Wells, 92. Singer whose hits such as "Making Believe" and "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" made her the first female superstar of country music. July 16.

William Raspberry, 76. He became the second black columnist to win a Pulitzer Prize for his widely read syndicated commentaries in The Washington Post. July 17.

Forrest McCartney, 81. Retired Air Force lieutenant general and former director of Kennedy Space Center who was crucial in getting NASA's shuttles flying again after the Challenger tragedy. July 17.

Rajesh Khanna, 69. His success as a romantic lead in scores of Indian movies made him Bollywood's first superstar. July 18.

Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, 102. He was revered by Jews worldwide as the top rabbinic authority of this generation for his scholarship and rulings on complex elements of Jewish law. July 18.

Oswaldo Paya, 60. Cuban activist who spent decades speaking out against the communist government of Fidel and Raul Castro and became one of the most powerful voices of dissent against their half-century rule. July 22. Car crash.

Sally Ride, 61. She blazed trails into orbit as the first American woman in space. July 23. Pancreatic cancer.

Sherman Hemsley, 74. Actor who made the irascible, bigoted George Jefferson of "The Jeffersons" one of TV's most memorable characters and a symbol for urban upward mobility. July 24.

John Atta Mills, 68. He was elected president in the closest vote in Ghana's history and then led the West African country amid newfound oil wealth. July 24.

Chad Everett, 75. Star of the 1970s TV series "Medical Center" who went on to appear in such films and TV shows as "Mulholland Drive" and "Melrose Place." July 24.

Suzy Gershman, 64. Her "Born to Shop" travel guides have helped readers find where to browse and buy from Paris to Hong Kong. July 25.

Gore Vidal, 86. Author, playwright, politician and commentator whose novels, essays, plays and opinions were stamped by his immodest wit and unconventional wisdom. July 31.

AUGUST:

John Keegan, 78. British academic whose studies of men at war are counted among the classic works of military history. Aug. 2.

Martin Fleischmann, 85. British chemist who stunned the world by announcing that he had achieved nuclear fusion in a glass bottle. Aug. 3.

Chavela Vargas, 93. She defied gender stereotypes to become one of the most legendary singers in Mexico. Aug. 5.

Ignacy Skowron, 97. Last known Polish survivor of the opening battle of World War II. Aug. 5.

Mark O'Donnell, 58. Tony Award-winning writer behind such quirky and clever Broadway shows as "Hairspray and "Cry-Baby." Aug. 6.

Bernard Lovell, 98. Pioneering British physicist and astronomer who developed one of the world's largest radio telescopes exploring particles in the universe. Aug. 6.

Judith Crist, 90. Blunt, popular film critic for the "Today" show, TV Guide and the New York Herald Tribune whose reviews were at times so harsh that director Otto Preminger labeled her "Judas Crist." Aug. 7.

Carlo Rambaldi, 86. Special-effects master and three-time Oscar winner known as the father of "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial." Aug. 10.

Joe Kubert, 85. Groundbreaking comic artist and educator best known for co-creating DC Comics' iconic Sgt. Rock character. Aug. 12.

Gregory Powell, 79. He was convicted of killing a Los Angeles police officer during an infamous kidnapping that inspired the true-crime book and movie "The Onion Field." Aug. 12.

Johnny Pesky, 92. Player who spent most of his 60-plus years in pro baseball with the Boston Red Sox and was beloved by the team's fans. Aug. 13.

Nellie Gray, 88. Founder and chief organizer of an annual anti-abortion march in Washington and a leader in efforts to overturn the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Aug. 13.

Ron Palillo, 63. Actor best known as the nerdy high school student Arnold Horshack on the 1970s sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter." Aug. 14.

Svetozar Gligoric, 89. Legendary Serbian and Yugoslav chess grandmaster who was the national champion 12 times and one of the world's top players in the 20th century. Aug. 14.

Tony Scott, 68. Director of such Hollywood blockbusters as "Top Gun," ''Days of Thunder" and "Beverly Hills Cop II." Aug. 19. Died after jumping from a bridge.

George Hickman, 88. One of the original Tuskegee airmen and a longtime usher at University of Washington and Seattle Seahawks games. Aug. 19.

Phyllis Diller, 95. Housewife-turned-humorist who aimed some of her sharpest barbs at herself, punctuating her jokes with her trademark cackle. Aug. 20.

Dom Mintoff, 96. Former prime minister of Malta who was in power when the island nation became a republic. Aug. 20.

Meles Zenawi, 57. Ethiopia's long-time ruler who held tight control over the country and was a major U.S counter-terrorism ally. Aug. 20. Undisclosed illness.

James Fogle, 75. He wrote "Drugstore Cowboy," an autobiographical crime novel that led to an acclaimed 1989 film starring Matt Dillon. Aug. 23.

Jerry Nelson, 78. Puppeteer behind a delightful menagerie of characters including Count von Count on "Sesame Street" and Gobo Fraggle on "Fraggle Rock." Aug. 23.

Neil Armstrong, 82. He became a global hero when as a steely-nerved astronaut he made "one giant leap for mankind" with a small step onto the moon. Aug. 25.

Juan Valdez, 74. Land grant activist who fired the first shot during a 1967 New Mexico courthouse raid that grabbed international attention and helped spark the Chicano Movement. Aug. 25.

Shulamith Firestone, 67. Feminist writer who published her influential "The Dialectic of Sex" at age 25 and then retreated into isolation and mental illness. Aug. 28.

Chris Lighty, 44. A hip-hop mogul who helped the likes of Sean "Diddy" Combs, 50 Cent and Mariah Carey attain hit records and lucrative careers outside music. Aug. 30. Apparent suicide.

SEPTEMER:

Hal David, 91. Stylish, heartfelt lyricist who teamed with Burt Bacharach on dozens of songs for movies, television and a variety of record