1996 Kerala rape case: Protests intensify against RS deputy chairman Kurien

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A massive protest was on outside the Kerala state assembly here on Friday against Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P J Kurien over his alleged involvement in the 1996 Suryanelli rape case.

The angry protesters, who are firm on their demands for Kurien's resignation, have demanded a reinvestigation into the entire case. The protesters also burnt Kurien's effigy outside the Kerala assembly to vent their ire over the entire incident.

Scores of police personnel, who have been deployed outside the Kerala assembly here to avoid any untoward incident, used water canons to disperse the angry protestors.

Demanding a reinvestigation into the 1996 Suryanelli rape case in view of a charge levelled against Kurien by the victim, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Brinda Karat had earlier on Wednesday said the former should step down from his post, and demanded that there must be a reinvestigation since there is fresh evidence in the case.

"And, while the reinvestigation is going on, I think that Professor Kurien should step down from his post. He should resign from his post. And I appeal to all the women MPs to look at this case not through a party lens, but through the issue of a dignity of a woman. The Rajya Sabha is going to discuss the ordinance against sexual assault. Can you have in the chair a person who has been accused for the last 17 years by a victim? So, let there be a reinvestigation into the case," she told media in New Delhi.

Karat said the victim has from the beginning recognised one of the persons as being Professor Kurien.

"Now, there is no political axe for that girl to have ever used his name unless she was absolutely convinced who he was. And she has spoken to me and I am absolutely convinced that a reinvestigating is required. Professor Kurien is now claiming that he has been exonerated by all the courts; that is actually misleading this country because the three witnesses who said that they had seen him in that vicinity were never questioned by anybody. And Professor Kurien came straight to the Supreme Court to quash it and the Supreme Court why they did it, we don't know," said Karat.

"But the Supreme Court heard Kurien, they never heard the girl, they never heard the victim, they never asked the victim to come and question her as to why she had given his name. So, in those circumstances since today there is fresh evidence since two of the important witnesses have stated that the timing, which had been earlier stated, was quite wrong," she added.

Kurien had earlier on Tuesday rubbished all the allegations being levelled against him in connection with this case, and alleged that the CPI-M had raised it to gain political mileage in the upcoming polls as they had done in the past.

"There is political conspiracy from the left parties because parliament election is there and they can use it. When they first raised the allegations, it was 1996 elections, immediately before the elections. After the inquiry, they dropped it and again it was raised immediately before the 1999 elections as a private complaint," said Kurien.

"All the witnesses have been questioned thrice by three inquires. They have given their statements. If they have changed you better go and ask them why they changed it today after 17 years," he added, while claiming his innocence.

Kurien's name figured again in connection with this case after the victim wrote to her advocate in Delhi to explore the possibility of filing a review petition, seeking a fresh probe against the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman.

The girl has also written a letter to Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy and Leader of the Opposition, VS Achuthanandan, demanding the probe against Kurien be reopened.

Chandy had earlier urged the media to refrain from linking Kurien to the Suryanelli sex scandal, saying he has been exonerated by two previous state governments and the Supreme Court from the charges. Achuthanandan has, however, demanded Kurien's resignation in the wake of statements from the victim.

A total of 42 men were accused of raping the 16-year-old girl, who hailed from Suryanelli in Kerala's Idukki District. Brutally raped for 45 days, she was then told by the perpetrators to return home and keep mum.

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Southern diet, fried foods, may raise stroke risk

Deep-fried foods may be causing trouble in the Deep South. People whose diets are heavy on them and sugary drinks like sweet tea and soda were more likely to suffer a stroke, a new study finds.

It's the first big look at diet and strokes, and researchers say it might help explain why blacks in the Southeast — the nation's "stroke belt" — suffer more of them.

Blacks were five times more likely than whites to have the Southern dietary pattern linked with the highest stroke risk. And blacks and whites who live in the South were more likely to eat this way than people in other parts of the country were. Diet might explain as much as two-thirds of the excess stroke risk seen in blacks versus whites, researchers concluded.

"We're talking about fried foods, french fries, hamburgers, processed meats, hot dogs," bacon, ham, liver, gizzards and sugary drinks, said the study's leader, Suzanne Judd of the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

People who ate about six meals a week featuring these sorts of foods had a 41 percent higher stroke risk than people who ate that way about once a month, researchers found.

In contrast, people whose diets were high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish had a 29 percent lower stroke risk.

"It's a very big difference," Judd said. "The message for people in the middle is there's a graded risk" — the likelihood of suffering a stroke rises in proportion to each Southern meal in a week.

Results were reported Thursday at an American Stroke Association conference in Honolulu.

The federally funded study was launched in 2002 to explore regional variations in stroke risks and reasons for them. More than 20,000 people 45 or older — half of them black — from all 48 mainland states filled out food surveys and were sorted into one of five diet styles:

—Southern: Fried foods, processed meats (lunchmeat, jerky), red meat, eggs, sweet drinks and whole milk.

—Convenience: Mexican and Chinese food, pizza, pasta.

—Plant-based: Fruits, vegetables, juice, cereal, fish, poultry, yogurt, nuts and whole-grain bread.

—Sweets: Added fats, breads, chocolate, desserts, sweet breakfast foods.

—Alcohol: Beer, wine, liquor, green leafy vegetables, salad dressings, nuts and seeds, coffee.

"They're not mutually exclusive" — for example, hamburgers fall into both convenience and Southern diets, Judd said. Each person got a score for each diet, depending on how many meals leaned that way.

Over more than five years of follow-up, nearly 500 strokes occurred. Researchers saw clear patterns with the Southern and plant-based diets; the other three didn't seem to affect stroke risk.

There were 138 strokes among the 4,977 who ate the most Southern food, compared to 109 strokes among the 5,156 people eating the least of it.

There were 122 strokes among the 5,076 who ate the most plant-based meals, compared to 135 strokes among the 5,056 people who seldom ate that way.

The trends held up after researchers took into account other factors such as age, income, smoking, education, exercise and total calories consumed.

Fried foods tend to be eaten with lots of salt, which raises blood pressure — a known stroke risk factor, Judd said. And sweet drinks can contribute to diabetes, the disease that celebrity chef Paula Deen — the queen of Southern cuisine — revealed she had a year ago.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, drugmaker Amgen Inc. and General Mills Inc. funded the study.

"This study does strongly suggest that food does have an influence and people should be trying to avoid these kinds of fatty foods and high sugar content," said an independent expert, Dr. Brian Silver, a Brown University neurologist and stroke center director at Rhode Island Hospital.

"I don't mean to sound like an ogre. I know when I'm in New Orleans I certainly enjoy the food there. But you don't have to make a regular habit of eating all this stuff."

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

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Door-to-Door Search for Suspected Cop Killer

More than 100 police officers were going door-to-door and searching for new tracks in the snow in the hopes of catching suspected cop killer Christopher Dorner overnight in Big Bear Lake, Calif., before he strikes again as laid out in his chilling online manifesto.

Police held a news conference late Thursday, alerting the residents near Big Bear Lake that Dorner was still on the loose after finding his truck burning around 12:45 p.m. local time.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said the authorities can't say for certain he's not in the area. More than half of the 400 homes in the area have been searched by police, who are traveling in two-man teams. Bachman urged people in the area to not answer the door, unless you know the person or law enforcement in uniform.

After discovering Dorner's burning truck near a Bear Mountain ski resort, police discovered tracks in the snow leading away from the vehicle. The truck has been taken to the San Bernardino County Sheriffs' crime lab.

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Bachman would not comment on Dorner's motive for leaving the car or its contents, citing the ongoing investigation. Police are no aware of Dorner having any ties to others in the area.

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She added that the search in the area would continue as long as the weather cooperates. About three choppers were being used overnight, but weather conditions were deteriorating, according to Bachman.

"He could be anywhere at this point," said San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon, who is expected to address the media later this morning.

Dorner, a former Los Angeles police officer and Navy reservist, is suspected of killing one police officer and injured two others Thursday morning in Riverside, Calif. He was also accused of killing two civilians on Sunday. And he allegedly released an angry "manifesto" airing grievances against police and warning of coming violence toward cops.

In the manifesto Dorner published online, he threatened at least 12 people by name, along with their families.
"Your lack of ethics and conspiring to wrong a just individual are over. Suppressing the truth will leave to deadly consequences for you and your family," Dorner wrote in his manifesto.

One passage from the manifesto read, "I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty."

"I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own," it read. "I'm terminating yours."

Hours after the extensive manhunt dragged police to Big Bear Lake, CNN's Anderson Cooper said Dorner had sent him a package at his New York office that arrived on Feb. 1, though Cooper said he never knew about the package until Thursday. It contained a DVD of court testimony, with a Post-It note signed by Dorner claiming, "I never lied! Here is my vindication."

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It also contained a keepsake coin bearing the name of former Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton that came wrapped in duct tape, Cooper said. The duct tape bore the note, "Thanks, but no thanks Will Bratton."

Bratton told Cooper on his program, "Anderson Cooper 360," that he believed he gave Dorner the coin as he was headed overseas for the Navy, Bratton's practice when officers got deployed abroad. Though a picture has surfaced of Bratton, in uniform, and Dorner, in fatigues, shaking hands, Bratton told Cooper he didn't recall Dorner or the meeting.

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Khamenei rejects offer of direct talks with U.S.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Thursday rejected an offer of direct talks made by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden this week, saying they would not solve the problems between them, Iranian media reported.

"Some naive people like the idea of negotiating with America, however, negotiations will not solve the problems," Khamenei said in a speech to officials and members of Iran's aerospace force, IRIB reported.

"If some people want American rule to be established again in Iran, the nation will rise up to face them," he said.

"American policy in the Middle East has been destroyed and Americans now need to play a new card. That card is dragging Iran into negotiations."

Khamenei made his comments just days after Joe Biden said the United States was prepared to meet bilaterally with the Iranian leadership. "That offer stands but it must be real and tangible," Biden said in a speech in Munich.

Relations between Iran and the United States were severed in 1979 after the overthrow of Iran's pro-western monarchy and diplomatic meetings between officials have since been very rare.

Currently U.S.-Iran contact is limited to talks between Tehran and a so-called P5+1 group of powers on Iran's disputed nuclear program which are to resume on February 26 in Kazakhstan.

Many believe no deal on settling the nuclear issue is possible without a U.S.-Iranian thaw. But any rapprochement would require direct talks addressing many sources of mutual mistrust that have lingered since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent U.S. embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.

Moreover, although his re-election last November may give President Barack Obama a freer hand to pursue direct negotiations, analysts say Iran's own presidential election in June may prove an additional obstacle to progress being made.

(Reporting By Marcus George; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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