Karzai leaves Afghanistan for US talks

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KABUL: President Hamid Karzai on Monday left Afghanistan for talks with Barack Obama in Washington to focus on security in his war-torn country after NATO combat troops withdraw in 2014, his office said.

During his three-day official visit, a decision could be made on how many US troops will stay in Afghanistan after 2014, officials have said.

"President Karzai will hold separate meetings with President Barack Obama and other high-ranking US officials to discuss various key issues," Karzai's office said after his departure.

Talks will focus on security, economic and political transition, equipping and strengthening Afghan forces, efforts to negotiate peace with Taliban-led insurgents and a security agreement with the United States, it said.

Karzai has expressed support for keeping US troops in Afghanistan but sensitive details -- including immunity for American soldiers and the transfer of detainees into Afghan custody -- are still under negotiation.

The US Defense Department has reportedly prepared plans to leave roughly 3,000, 6,000 or 9,000 US troops in Afghanistan.

General John Allen, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, had earlier suggested leaving 6,000 to 20,000 US troops, US media reported.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said the force would focus on preventing Al-Qaeda, which was sheltered by the 1996-2001 Taliban government, from regaining a foothold in Afghanistan.

According to The Wall Street Journal, a smaller US troop presence would force the State Department to cut plans for large-scale diplomatic outposts across Afghanistan.

-AFP/ac



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Low intensity earthquake felt in Arunachal Pradesh

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NEW DELHI: A slight intensity earthquake shook Arunachal Pradesh on Monday.

The quake, which hit the state at 11:03am, measured 4.5 on the Richter scale, the MeT department said.

The epicentre of the quake was located at Latitude 28.1 degrees North and Longitude 94.3 degrees, it said.

A slight intensity quake had jolted Churachandpur region of Manipur on Thursday last.

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Best Pictures: 2012 Nat Geo Photo Contest Winners

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Pastor Accused of Killing Wives Faces Trial

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Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday for Pastor Arthur Schirmer, who is accused of killing his second wife and then staging a car accident to hide it.


Schirmer, 64, also faces a second trial at a later date for the death of his first wife. He has said he is innocent of all charges.


In 2008, the pastor and his wife, Betty, were involved in what appeared at the time to be a car crash. Schirmer told police at the time that he had been driving 55 mph and swerved to miss a deer, causing him to drive off the road, according to a police affidavit obtained by ABC News.


Schirmer also said at the time that his wife's head had come forward and struck the windshield, according to the affidavit. Betty died a day later and her body was cremated at the request of Schirmer.


It wasn't until a grisly suicide in 2010 inside Schirmer's office that authorities decided to revisit the case of Betty Schirmer's death and arrest the pastor.


The man who broke in and shot himself at the desk in Schirmer's office at the Reeders United Methodist Church, Joseph Mustante, was the husband of the pastor's secretary, Cynthia Mustante, Poconos Township Police Detective James Wagner said.






Pocono Record, David Kidwell/AP Photo











Mustante's suicide was prompted by the discovery that his wife and the pastor had apparently been having an affair, Wagner said. He was alone at the time of his death.


Investigators looking into the suicide say that several church parishioners had concerns about the deaths of Schirmer's two wives.


"That suicide eventually exposed the affair publicly and subsequent to that, questions arose about the loss of [Schirmer's] wives and his character became questionable," Wagner said.


Relaunching the investigation into the two deaths, Wagner said he quickly suspected that "foul play existed, and the car crash was staged," allegedly, by Schirmer. Wagner said investigators also believed there was something "suspicious" about the first wife's death, a marriage that investigators had not known about prior to the suicide.

Investigators Look Into Deaths of Rev. Arthur Schirmer's Wives



Schirmer's first wife, Jewel, died in April 1999 from a traumatic brain injury after she purportedly fell down a flight of stairs in Lebanon, Pa., Wagner said.


Lebanon is about 100 miles southwest of Reeders, where Schrimer later moved with his second wife.


At the time of Jewel's death, Wagner said, a relative told police that he suspected Schirmer may have had a hand in his wife's death but that the investigation was "never completed."


On Dec. 11, 2012 -- more than 13 years after Jewel died, a Lebanon County judge ruled Schirmer would be tried for her murder.


When investigators looked at the death of Betty Schirmer, they saw inconsistencies, Wagner said.


"There was no airbag deployment and it simply looked like a car that had driven off the road at a very low speed," Wagner said. "It didn't match the injuries to [Betty's head].


"I know there are people out there who probably know him and feel like there is absolutely no way he would be capable of doing this," Wagner of Schirmer. "But they clearly don't know him."



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After ‘fiscal cliff,’ Obama finishes recharging on Hawaiian holiday

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HONOLULU — The place where President Obama vacations each winter is farther from Washington than almost any other place in the United States. So, it is not terribly surprising that less than 45 minutes after Congress passed a bill averting the “fiscal cliff” on Jan. 1, Obama was racing back here.


The president’s vacation with his family and friends had already been cut short by the protracted, painful negotiations in Washington over taxes and spending. Obama was eager to get away from it all and enjoy a few final days of rest before the next round of legislative battles begins.


“I think Hawaii for him is a place where he gets to recharge both physically and emotionally. The schedule is one that’s relaxing. The climate is warm like he likes it. And he’s surrounded constantly by family and the friends he grew up with,” said Robert Gibbs, Obama’s former press secretary and a longtime adviser. “It’s the perfect elixir for having had a long and busy year in national politics.”

The president was scheduled to leave Hawaii late Saturday, returning to Washington on Sunday a little before noon. He will have spent a total of nine days here, over two separate trips, and roughly 40 hours in the air going back and forth.

“Like any parent, the president enjoyed spending as much time with his family over the holidays as he could,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

The president first flew here Dec. 21, urging lawmakers to drink some eggnog and cool off over the Christmas holiday. Obama, his wife, Michelle, and their daughters, Malia, 14, and Sasha, 11, rented a house overlooking the beach in the town of Kailua, on the east side of Oahu, Hawaii’s most-populous island, where Obama was born and spent much of his youth.

As has become his custom, Obama spent his time eating at Hawaii hot spots with family and friends, golfing with buddies for six-hour stretches and hanging out at home and around Oahu with his girls. He spent his first night in Hawaii out until 11:30, dining at Morimoto Restaurant Waikiki, owned by Masaharu Morimoto of “Iron Chef” fame.

The next day began with a memorial service for Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), whom Obama had previously called his “earliest political inspiration.” Following the service, which was at a veterans cemetery known as the Punchbowl, for the topographical imprint left by volcanic eruptions tens of thousands of years ago, Obama and his wife walked about a half-mile southeast to visit the grave of his grandfather Stanley Dunham, who served in World War II.

Obama went for a hike with his family later that day and then spent part of Dec. 24 with his family at the beach. Many of the president’s activities were confined to the Marine Corps base here, about a 10-minute drive from his rental home.

The Obamas’ Christmas activities are an established routine. On Christmas Eve, Obama calls members of the armed forces and his wife calls children tracking Santa’s whereabouts, before the family sits down for dinner. The next morning, they open Christmas gifts, eat breakfast and sing carols. Later in the day, the president and his wife meet with a few hundred service members at the Marine Corps base.

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Suu Kyi says any peace bid is up to Myanmar govt

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YANGON: Myanmar democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi on Sunday said she would not step in to help end worsening conflict between the army and ethnic Kachin rebels without government approval.

"It is up to the government. This case is being handled by the government at the moment," Suu Kyi told AFP when asked if she would get involved in efforts to resolve the fighting, after the army's use of air strikes drew international concern.

The Nobel laureate said she would need an official invitation to join peace negotiations aimed at quelling the raging civil war, which has overshadowed Myanmar's widely-praised political reforms.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the conflict in the far north since June 2011, when a 17-year ceasefire between the government and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) broke down.

Myanmar's quasi-civilian regime, which took power in 2011 at the end of junta rule, has reached tentative peace deals with other major ethnic rebel groups, but an agreement with the Kachin has proved elusive.

President Thein Sein, a former general, in December 2011 ordered an end to military offensives against the rebels and continued hostilities have led to doubts over his ability to control the powerful armed forces.

According to the English language state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Sunday, the Myanmar leader has instructed the military not to attack unless in "self-defence".

The report said Thein Sein urged "mutual trust" and "continued dialogue" in order to bring about peace.

Civil war has plagued parts of the country formerly known as Burma since it won independence from Britain in 1948.

Yup Zaw Hkaung, a local businessman and peace negotiator in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina, on Saturday appealed for Suu Kyi's involvement in ending the fighting, which has intensified in recent weeks.

He said the democracy activist had a "responsibility" to work for ethnic peace.

Suu Kyi, a former political prisoner turned lawmaker, used her maiden speech to parliament in July last year to call for greater protection of ethnic minority rights.

But the veteran activist has disappointed rights campaigners by not speaking out more vocally in support of another minority group, the Rohingya, in the violence-torn western state of Rakhine.

- AFP/fa



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BJP's Anurag Thakur denies making scathing remark on Congress president Sonia Gandhi

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NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) youth wing chief Anurag Thakur on Sunday denied having made a scathing remark on Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Facebook.

Thakur said the Facebook account in question was not his.

"I have made no comments on anyone. The newspaper which did this story, never, tried to find out if it is a fake account. They didn't even bother to ask me. I have never commented on any woman or, on any individual. It is all false," he said.

"On my Facebook account, there isn't anything like this. I think they should have asked me. Just to make a story, they have printed it. I have never said anything like that. I request the electronic and print media not to run any story that is false. I have never made any such comment in the past, nor will I make any such comments in the future," he added.

According to television reports, Thakur, in a post on his official Facebook account, had also made obscene remarks about a number of celebrities, including Mahesh Bhatt, Sherlyn Chopra, Sunny Leone and Poonam Pandey.

"The difference between India and Bharat is that India is the place where The Dirty Picture gets a national award. India is the place where Mahesh Bhatt talks about sex with his daughter. India is the place where Sherlyn Chopra gets her picture clicked for the cover of Playboy and says had my father been alive, he would have been extremely proud of me. India is the place where the media celebrates the birthday of a foreign porn star. India is the place where a woman like Poonam Pandey openly speaks about stripping herself naked," read the post.

The last line of the post read: "India is the place where the top leaders of the country are puppets in the hands of a (dayan) witch," referring to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

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Best Pictures: 2012 Nat Geo Photo Contest Winners

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Gun Show Near Newtown Goes on Despite Anger

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A little more than 40 miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School, where last month 20 first graders and six staff members were massacred, gun dealers and collectors alike ignored calls to cancel a gun show, and gathered for business in Stamford, Conn.


Four other gun shows with an hour of Newtown, Conn., recently cancelled their events in the wake of the shootings, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza broke in to the elementary school with a semi-automatic assault rifle and three other guns.


The organizers in Stamford emphasized their show only displayed antique and collectible guns, not military style assault weapons like the one used by Lanza in Sandy Hook.


Still, Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia had called for the show to close its doors, calling it "insensitive" to hold so close to the murders.


Gun show participant Sandy Batchelor said he wasn't sure about whether going ahead with the show was "insensitive," but said the shooter should be blamed, not the weapons he used.


"I don't have a solid opinion on [whether it is insensitive]," Batchelor said. "I'm not for or against it. I would defend it by saying it wasnt the gun."


In nearby Waterbury, the community cancelled a show scheduled for this weekend.


"I felt that the timing of the gun show so close to that tragic event would be in bad taste," Waterbury Police Chief Chief Michael J. Gugliotti said.












National Rifle Association News Conference Interrupted by Protesters Watch Video





Gugliotti has halted permits for gun shows, saying he was concerned about firearms changing hands that might one day be used in a mass shooting.


Across the state line in White Plains, N.Y, Executive Rob Astorino also canceled a show, three years after ending a had that had been in place since the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Colorado. He said he felt the show would be inappropriate now.


But across the country, farther away from Connecticut, attendance at gun shows is spiking, and some stores report they can hardly keep weapons on their shelves with some buyers fearful of that the federal government will soon increase restrictions on gun sales and possibly ban assault weapons altogether.


"We sold 50-some rifles in days," said Jonathan O'Connor, store manager of Gun Envy in Minnesota.


President Obama said after the Sandy Hook shooting that addressing gun violence would be one of his priorities and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she would introduce an assault weapons ban this month.


But it is not just traditional advocates of gun control that have said their need to be changes in gun laws since the horrific school shooting.


Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat but a long-time opponent of gun control who like Hutchison has received an A rating from the NRA, have both come out in support of strengthening gun laws.


In Stamford, gun dealer Stuart English said participants at the gun show there are doing nothing wrong.


"I have to make a living. Life goes on," gun dealer Stuart English said.


ABC News asked English, what he thought about the mayor of Stamford calling the show "insensitive."


"He's wrong," English said. "This is a private thing he shouldn't be expressing his opinion on."


If you have a comment on this story or have a story idea, you can tweet this correspondent @greenblattmark.


The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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Al Gore stands to gain about $70 million after selling Current TV to al-Jazeera

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Al Gore, who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his fight against global warming, may gross about $70 million from the sale of his Current TV network to al-Jazeera, the cable channel funded in part by oil-rich Qatar.


Al-Jazeera will pay about $500 million for Current TV, including the stake held by Gore, 64, according to two people with knowledge of the deal. The network is one of dozens of investments made by the former vice president since he lost the 2000 presidential race by a slim margin.


“It’s reeking with irony,” said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean at the Yale School of Management, who studies corporate governance. “It seems to be at least a paradox in terms of his positions on sustainability and geopolitics.”

The deal highlights Gore’s makeover from career politician to successful businessman. His take from the Current TV sale is many times the maximum net worth of $1.7 million he reported while running for president in 1999. Besides investing in start-ups, Gore is on the board of Apple, an adviser to Google and a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, according to his Web site biography.

“The green of money knows no political boundaries,” said Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. “When you are running investments, your priority needs to be maximizing return.”

Gore’s holdings also include investments in Amazon.com, eBay and Procter & Gamble through his Generation Investment Management.

Gore holds a 20 percent stake in Current TV, according to those with knowledge of the deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the sale terms are not public. His proceeds are difficult to pin down because the company had $41.4 million in debt, as well as preferred stock entitled to $99.5 million in the event of a sale or liquidation, according to a 2008 regulatory filing.

The Current TV price represents a sevenfold increase from the $71 million that Gore and his partners paid for the predecessor company in 2004, according to the filing. Gore, chairman, and Joel Hyatt, a co-founder and chief executive officer, announced the sale on Wednesday, without providing financial terms.

Kalee Kreider, a spokeswoman for Gore, didn’t respond to a phone call or e-mail request for comment.

The network’s investors included funds controlled by Los Angeles billionaire Ron Burkle and San Francisco money manager Richard Blum, according to the 2008 filing, when the company unsuccessfully sought to sell stock to the public. Blum is married to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

The Raine Group advised Current TV on the sale. The owners introduced Current TV in 2005 after purchasing the network from Vivendi.

Al-Jazeera is closely held and receives some funding from the government of Qatar, a small country on the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula that gets almost half of its gross domestic product from oil and gas, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

“Under Qatari law, Al Jazeera Media Network is incorporated as a private, non-profit company,” Charlotte Fouch, a spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. “Al Jazeera receives funding from the State of Qatar, much like other publicly funded broadcast networks.”

Last February, Gore said investors in oil and gas companies that ignore the cost of carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases are making a mistake similar to those who invested in subprime mortgages.

Most of Gore’s investments are made through Generation Investment Management, which he co-founded with former Goldman Sachs Group executive David Blood. The most recent regulatory filing lists about $3.6 billion under management in 29 publicly traded companies.

In addition, Generation Investment Management also has stakes in private ventures such as Nest Labs, a company formed by Apple alumni to create a thermostat that adapts to user behavior and saves money. The fund also backed Elon Musk’s SolarCity, a developer of rooftop solar power systems that went public last month.

In April, Gore’s fund was part of $110 million in venture capital invested in Harvest Power, a closely held company that produces renewable energy from waste such as food scraps.

He is also the author of the climate-change-focused best-sellers “Earth in the Balance,” “An Inconvenient Truth,” “The Assault on Reason” and “Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis.” Gore was the co-recipient, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for “informing the world of the dangers posed by climate change,” according to his official biography.

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