Nepal Maoists propose chief justice as new PM

KATHMANDU: Nepal's ruling Maoists on Thursday proposed that the chief justice be appointed prime minister and preside over parliamentary elections, calling it the only option to resolve a long-running political crisis.

The proposal was made by party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known by his nom de guerre Prachanda, at the Maoists' largest meeting since they toppled the monarchy in 2006 after a decade-long civil war and then took power in elections.

"In the meeting, chairman Prachanda proposed forming a government led by the chief justice of the supreme court," party spokesman Agni Sapkota told reporters.

"The proposed administration will hold the elections for Constituent Assembly. His proposal was approved by the delegates."

In-fighting, including a split in the party last year, has confounded efforts to draw up a post-war constitution spelling out how Nepal should be run as a modern, democratic republic.

An interim assembly elected for the task was dissolved in May last year and elections promised for November were shelved amid quarrelling among the main parties over who should lead a national unity government into the vote.

The Maoists now lead Nepal as the major partner in a fragile caretaker coalition that is carrying out the most essential tasks of government but has no popular mandate to make fundamental policy decisions.

Inaugurating the convention on Saturday, Dahal had said the Maoists would step down from the government and offered to give up leadership to an independent prime minister.

"We know that the constitution doesn't have a provision whereby a chief judge can lead such a government. But we are sure that the opposition parties will agree on this," Sapkota said.

"If this doesn't work, there's no other option. This is the last option. The opposition parties should come up with a better alternative. If there's none, we will launch a nationwide movement to sensitise people about the issue.

The introduction of a republican constitution and elections were key conditions of a deal that ended the civil war in which more than 16,000 died.

But the transition to democracy has been beset by the ethnic, caste, religious and ideological differences that have made agreement among the country's powerbrokers impossible.

While the Maoists want the creation of up to 14 states named after ethnic groups, their rivals say the plan would fuel unrest.

The convention in the southern industrial town of Hetauda is due to wrap up on Thursday night having gone a day over schedule.

-AFP/ac

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TV channels' creative teams to be sensitised on women depiction

NEW DELHI: Recognising the need to sensitise channels about issues related to depiction of women in TV programmes, the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) has decided to conduct interactive sessions with their creative and programming teams.

In a recent meeting, BCCC member Shabana Azmi had agreed to be a part of such sessions where she would discuss the subject with creative teams of various channels, sources said.

Sources said that the first such interactive session may be held in Mumbai sometime in March and the Indian Broadcasting Federation was also positively inclined towards the necessity of such a session.

The BCCC, which is the self regulatory body of the broadcasting industry, considers it to be a part of its obligation to impart insights and interact with the creative and content teams to ensure that they are aware of their social responsibilities, a well placed source said.

In its latest meeting held on January 23, council members held detailed discussions on the need to generate awareness among the creative teams about the need to create content which falls within acceptable levels of programming and is is in line with the Self Regulatory Content Guidelines.

The sources said that in the meeting which was headed by Justice A P Shah, members also felt that the advisory issued by the BCCC last year should be followed in letter and spirit and there should be consequences for broadcasters who violate it.

The council felt that, in some extraordinary cases, it could even pass stringent orders if the Advisory was violated, sources said. The BCCC had a year back issued an advisory expressing concern over the "tendency of some entertainment serials to use plotlines that focussed excessively on mistreatment of women."

"Often such mistreatment is portrayed in terms of assault, abuse and commodification of women. Sometimes such portrayals are sought to be justified on the grounds that the serials actually take a stand against the mistreatment of women even though the scenes are shot in a manner designed to appeal to salacious instincts and to demean women," the BCCC's advisory issued last year had said.

The sources said that there was a view within the BCCC that Broadcasters have to play a much greater role in creating awareness on this subject while avoiding trivialisation and denigration of women.

Officials said that the council felt that portrayal of women and girls on television is a serious matter and channels should exercise caution in this respect.

The Council is mostly concerned with issues like stereotyping of women, their indecent representation (sex, obscenity, nudity) and all kinds of violence against women, the sources said.

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New whooping cough strain in US raises questions

NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers have discovered the first U.S. cases of whooping cough caused by a germ that may be resistant to the vaccine.

Health officials are looking into whether cases like the dozen found in Philadelphia might be one reason the nation just had its worst year for whooping cough in six decades. The new bug was previously reported in Japan, France and Finland.

"It's quite intriguing. It's the first time we've seen this here," said Dr. Tom Clark of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The U.S. cases are detailed in a brief report from the CDC and other researchers in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Whooping cough is a highly contagious disease that can strike people of any age but is most dangerous to children. It was once common, but cases in the U.S. dropped after a vaccine was introduced in the 1940s.

An increase in illnesses in recent years has been partially blamed on a version of the vaccine used since the 1990s, which doesn't last as long. Last year, the CDC received reports of 41,880 cases, according to a preliminary count. That included 18 deaths.

The new study suggests that the new whooping cough strain may be why more people have been getting sick. Experts don't think it's more deadly, but the shots may not work as well against it.

In a small, soon-to-be published study, French researchers found the vaccine seemed to lower the risk of severe disease from the new strain in infants. But it didn't prevent illness completely, said Nicole Guiso of the Pasteur Institute, one of the researchers.

The new germ was first identified in France, where more extensive testing is routinely done for whooping cough. The strain now accounts for 14 percent of cases there, Guiso said.

In the United States, doctors usually rely on a rapid test to help make a diagnosis. The extra lab work isn't done often enough to give health officials a good idea how common the new type is here, experts said.

"We definitely need some more information about this before we can draw any conclusions," the CDC's Clark said.

The U.S. cases were found in the past two years in patients at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. One of the study's researchers works for a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, which makes a version of the old whooping cough vaccine that is sold in other countries.

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JournaL: http://www.nejm.org

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Armstrong May Testify Under Oath on Doping

Facing a federal criminal investigation and a deadline that originally was tonight to tell all under oath to anti-doping authorities or lose his last chance at reducing his lifetime sporting ban, Lance Armstrong now may cooperate.

His apparent 11th-hour about-face, according to the U.S. Anti Doping Agency (USADA), suggests he might testify under oath and give full details to USADA of how he cheated for so long.

"We have been in communication with Mr. Armstrong and his representatives and we understand that he does want to be part of the solution and assist in the effort to clean up the sport of cycling," USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart said in a written statement this evening. "We have agreed to his request for an additional two weeks to work on details to hopefully allow for this to happen."

Neither Armstrong nor his attorney responded to emails seeking comment on the USADA announcement.

The news of Armstrong's possible and unexpected cooperation came a day after ABC News reported he was in the crosshairs of federal criminal investigators. According to a high-level source, "agents are actively investigating Armstrong for obstruction, witness tampering and intimidation" for allegedly threatening people who dared tell the truth about his cheating.

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The case was re-ignited by Armstrong's confession last month to Oprah Winfrey that he doped his way to all seven of his Tour de France titles, telling Winfrey he used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career and then lied about it. He made the confession after years of vehement denials that he cheated.

READ MORE: Armstrong Admits to Doping

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WATCH: Armstrong's Many Denials Caught on Tape

If charges are ultimately filed, the consequences of "serious potential crimes" could be severe, ABC News legal analyst Dan Abrams said -- including "possible sentences up to five, 10 years."

Investigators are not concerned with the drug use, but Armstrong's behavior in trying to maintain his secret by allegedly threatening and interfering with potential witnesses.

Armstrong was previously under a separate federal investigation that reportedly looked at drug distribution, conspiracy and fraud allegations -- but that case was dropped without explanation a year ago. Sources at the time said that agents had recommended an indictment and could not understand why the case was suddenly dropped.

"There were plenty of people, even within federal law enforcement, who felt like he was getting preferential treatment," said T.J. Quinn, an investigative reporter with ESPN.

The pressures against Armstrong today are immense and include civil claims that could cost him tens of millions of dollars.

Armstrong is currently serving a lifetime ban in sport handed down by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, and today was the deadline he was given to cooperate under oath if he ever wanted the ban lifted.

READ MORE: 10 Scandalous Public Confessions

PHOTOS: Olympic Doping Scandals: Past and Present

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ABC News' Michael S. James contributed to this report.

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Tsunami kills at least five in Solomons after big Pacific quake

(Reuters) - A powerful 8.0 magnitude earthquake set off a tsunami that killed at least five people in a remote part of the Solomon Islands on Wednesday and triggered evacuations across the South Pacific as island nations issued tsunami alerts.

The quake struck 340 km (211 miles) east of Kira Kira in the Solomons, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said as it issued warnings for the Solomons and other South Pacific nations including Australia and New Zealand. It later canceled the warnings for the outlying regions.

A tsunami measuring 0.9 metres (three feet) hit near the town of Lata on the remote Santa Cruz island, swamping some villages and the town's main airport as people fled to safety on higher ground.

More than three dozen aftershocks up to magnitude 6.6 rocked the region in the hours after the quake, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Lata hospital's director of nursing, Augustine Pilve, told New Zealand television that five people had been killed, including a boy about 10 years old, adding that more casualties were possible as officials made their way to at least three villages that may have been hit.

"It's more likely that other villages along the coast of Santa Cruz may be affected," he said.

Disaster officials in the Solomon Islands capital Honiara told the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corp. that they believed six people were dead and that five villages had suffered damage.

Solomon Islands Police Commissioner John Lansley said it was too early to fully assess the damage or casualty numbers, and said authorities hoped to send aircraft to the region on Thursday to help determine the extent of the damage.

Luke Taula, a fisheries officer in Lata, said he watched the tsunami as it came in small tidal surges rather than as one large wave.

"We have small waves come in, then go out again, then come back in. The waves have reached the airport terminal," he told Reuters by telephone.

The worst damage was to villages on the western side of a point that protects the main township, he said.

"There are reports that some communities have been badly hit, their houses have been damaged by the waves."

About 5,000 people lived in and around the town, but the area was deserted as people fled to higher ground, Taula said.

HOT SPOT

The Solomons, perched on the geologically active "Pacific Ring of Fire", were hit by a devastating tsunami following an 8.1 magnitude quake in 2007. At least 50 people were killed then and dozens left missing and more than 13 villages destroyed.

"It's an area that is very prone to earthquakes," said Jonathan Bathgate, seismologist at Geoscience Australia. "We've had seven 6-plus magnitude earthquakes in this region since January 31, so it has been very active in the past week."

Initial signs were that the tremor was a thrust quake, in which vertical movement in the continental plates generates higher risk of tsunami, Bathgate added.

Authorities in the Solomons, Fiji, Guam and elsewhere had urged residents to higher ground before the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center canceled its alerts.

"The earthquake would have to be quite a bit bigger to make a much more sizeable tsunami," said Brian Shiro, geophysicist for the center in Hawaii.

(Reporting by James Grubel in CANBERRA,; Additional reporting by Michael Perry and Lincoln Feast in SYDNEY and Alex Dobuzinskis in LOS ANGELES)

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Multi-ministerial taskforce set up to tackle dengue

SINGAPORE: A multi-ministerial taskforce has been set up to tackle the dengue scourge in Singapore.

The National Environment Agency said it comprises representatives from the Ministry of National Development, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Defence.

The taskforce will be activated to investigate any outbreak of dengue cases which has seen a spike recently.

The Health Ministry reported six cases of the more serious dengue haemorrhagic fever this year.

For the first time, dengue cases will also be reported more specifically at the street level.

Previously, it was done based on cluster location only.

Ng Say Kiat, president of Singapore Pest Management Association, said: "I think this is a very good initiative in the sense that you will let people be alert to prevent mosquito breeding at home. And if you noticed there are cases around your neighbourhood, you will definitely be more alert."

- CNA/fa

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Protest outside Delhi University's SRCC over Narendra Modi's visit

NEW DELHI: A section of students protested outside Delhi University's Shri Ram College of Commerce ( SRCC) against Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. Meanwhile, the Gujarat chief minister has begun his speech at the college.

Some students crossed the barricade and shouted slogans against Modi outside the college.

Modi's talk is on the theme: "Emerging business models in the global scenario".

The Gujarat chief minister who is favoured by some BJP leaders to be the party's PM candidate, is delivering the first 'Shri Ram Memorial Oration', initiated by Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi University's North Campus in memory of its founder. The event will mark the conclusion of the Business Conclave 2013.

The college has invited Modi after a campus survey in which students overwhelmingly indicated their preference to hear him, said a statement issued by Gujarat government.

During his day-long visit to Delhi, Modi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the first time after becoming chief minister of Gujarat for the fourth time.

Modi will also visit Allahabad to participate in the Maha Kumbh on February 12. In recent weeks, there has been growing chorus in BJP for projecting Modi as party's prime ministerial candidate, arguing it will benefit the party in the next general elections.

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Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit

NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.

With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups have asked a judge to put it on hold at least until there's a ruling on their lawsuit seeking to block it altogether. The measure would bar many eateries from selling high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces.

"It would be a tremendous waste of expense, time, and effort for our members to incur all of the harm and costs associated with the ban if this court decides that the ban is illegal," Chong Sik Le, president of the New York Korean-American Grocers Association, said in court papers filed Friday.

City lawyers are fighting the lawsuit and oppose postponing the restriction, which the city Board of Health approved in September. They said Tuesday they expect to prevail.

"The obesity epidemic kills nearly 6,000 New Yorkers each year. We see no reason to delay the Board of Health's reasonable and legal actions to combat this major, growing problem," Mark Muschenheim, a city attorney, said in a statement.

Another city lawyer, Thomas Merrill, has said officials believe businesses have had enough time to get ready for the new rule. He has noted that the city doesn't plan to seek fines until June.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other city officials see the first-of-its-kind limit as a coup for public health. The city's obesity rate is rising, and studies have linked sugary drinks to weight gain, they note.

"This is the biggest step a city has taken to curb obesity," Bloomberg said when the measure passed.

Soda makers and other critics view the rule as an unwarranted intrusion into people's dietary choices and an unfair, uneven burden on business. The restriction won't apply at supermarkets and many convenience stores because the city doesn't regulate them.

While the dispute plays out in court, "the impacted businesses would like some more certainty on when and how they might need to adjust operations," American Beverage Industry spokesman Christopher Gindlesperger said Tuesday.

Those adjustments are expected to cost the association's members about $600,000 in labeling and other expenses for bottles, Vice President Mike Redman said in court papers. Reconfiguring "16-ounce" cups that are actually made slightly bigger, to leave room at the top, is expected to take cup manufacturers three months to a year and cost them anywhere from more than $100,000 to several millions of dollars, Foodservice Packaging Institute President Lynn Dyer said in court documents.

Movie theaters, meanwhile, are concerned because beverages account for more than 20 percent of their overall profits and about 98 percent of soda sales are in containers greater than 16 ounces, according to Robert Sunshine, executive director of the National Association of Theatre Owners of New York State.

___

Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz

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Lance Armstrong Under Criminal Investigation

Federal investigators are in the midst of an active criminal investigation of disgraced former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, ABC News has learned.

The revelation comes in stark contrast to statements made by the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, Andre Birotte, who addressed his own criminal inquiry of Armstrong for the first time publicly on Tuesday. Birotte's office spent nearly two years investigating Armstrong for crimes reportedly including drug distribution, fraud and conspiracy -- only to suddenly drop the case on the Friday before the Super Bowl last year.

Sources at the time said that agents had recommended an indictment and could not understand why the case was suddenly dropped.

Today, a high level source told ABC News, "Birotte does not speak for the federal government as a whole."

According to the source, who agreed to speak on the condition that his name and position were not used because of the sensitivity of the matter, "Agents are actively investigating Armstrong for obstruction, witness tampering and intimidation."

An email to an attorney for Armstrong was not immediately returned.

READ MORE: Lance Armstrong May Have Lied to Winfrey: Investigators

AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski, File

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Earlier Tuesday, during a Department of Justice news conference on another matter, Birotte was confronted with the Armstrong question unexpectedly. The following is a transcript of that exchange:

Q: Mr. Birotte, given the confession of Lance Armstrong to all the things --

Birotte: (Off mic.)

Q: -- to all thethings that you, in the end, decided you couldn't bring a case about, can you give us your thoughts on that case now and whether you might take another look at it?

Birotte: We made a decision on that case, I believe, a little over a year ago. Obviously we've been well-aware of the statements that have been made by Mr. Armstrong and other media reports. That has not changed my view at this time. Obviously, we'll consider, we'll continue to look at the situation, but that hasn't changed our view as I stand here today.

The source said that Birotte is not in the loop on the current criminal inquiry, which is being run out of another office.

Armstrong confessed to lying and using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

READ MORE: Armstrong Admits to Doping

WATCH: Armstrong's Many Denials Caught on Tape

READ MORE: 10 Scandalous Public Confessions

Investigators are not concerned with the drug use, but Armstrong's behavior in trying to maintain his secret by allegedly threatening and interfering with potential witnesses.

Armstrong is currently serving a lifetime ban in sport handed down by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. He has been given a Feb. 6 deadline to tell all under oath to investigators or lose his last chance at a possible break on the lifetime ban.

PHOTOS: Olympic Doping Scandals: Past and Present

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Iran's Ahmadinejad in Egypt on historic visit

CAIRO (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Egypt on Tuesday on the first trip by an Iranian head of state since the 1979 revolution, underlining the thaw in relations since Egyptians elected an Islamist head of state.

President Mohamed Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood politician elected in June, kissed Ahmadinejad as he disembarked from his plane at Cairo airport. The leaders walked down a red carpet, Ahmadinejad smiling as he shook hands with waiting dignitaries.

Visiting Cairo to attend an Islamic summit that begins on Wednesday, the president of the Shi'ite Islamist republic is due to meet later on Tuesday with the grand sheikh of al-Azhar, one of the oldest seats of learning in the Sunni world.

Such a visit would have been unthinkable during the rule of Hosni Mubarak, the military-backed autocrat who preserved Egypt's peace treaty with Israel during his 30 years in power and deepened ties between Cairo and the West.

"The political geography of the region will change if Iran and Egypt take a unified position on the Palestinian question," Ahmadinejad said in an interview with Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based TV station, on the eve of his visit.

He said he wanted to visit the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory which neighbors Egypt to the east and is run by the Islamist movement Hamas. "If they allow it, I would go to Gaza to visit the people," Ahmadinejad said.

Analysts doubt that the historic changes that brought Mursi to power in Egypt will result in a full restoration of diplomatic ties between states whose relations were broken off in 1980 - a year after the Iranian revolution and the conclusion of Egypt's peace treaty with Israel.

OBSTACLES TO FULL TIES

Egypt is concerned by Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is trying to crush an uprising inspired by the revolt that swept Mubarak from power two years ago. Egypt's overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim population is broadly supportive of the uprising against Assad's Alawite-led administration.

The Mursi administration also wants to safeguard relations with Gulf Arab states that are supporting Cairo's battered state finances and are deeply suspicious of Iran. Mursi wants to preserve ties with the United States, the source of $1.3 billion in aid each year to the influential Egyptian military.

Mursi's government has established close ties with Hamas, a movement backed by Iran and shunned by the West because of its hostility to Israel, but its priority is addressing Egypt's deep economic problems.

"The restoration of full relations with Iran in this period is difficult, despite the warmth in ties ... because of many problems including the Syrian crisis and Cairo's links with the Gulf states, Israel and the United States," said one former Egyptian diplomat.

Ahmadinejad's visit to Egypt follows Mursi's visit to Iran in August for a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, head of the 1,000-year-old al-Azhar mosque and university, will meet Ahmadinejad at his offices in mediaeval Islamic Cairo, al-Azhar's media office said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi stressed the importance of Muslim unity when he met Sheikh al-Tayeb at al-Azhar last month.

Egypt and Iran have taken opposite courses since the late 1970s. Egypt, under Mubarak's predecessor Anwar Sadat, concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and became a close ally of the United States and Europe. Iran from 1979 turned into a center of opposition to Western influence in the Middle East.

Symbolically, Iran named a street in Tehran after the Islamist who led the 1981 assassination of Sadat.

Egypt gave asylum and a state funeral to Iran's exiled Shah Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown by the 1979 Iranian revolution. He is buried in a medieval Cairo mosque alongside his ex-brother-in-law, Egypt's last king, Farouk.

(Additional reporting by Ayman Samir; Editing by Andrew Roche)

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