Experts: No link between Asperger's, violence


NEW YORK (AP) — While an official has said that the 20-year-old gunman in the Connecticut school shooting had Asperger's syndrome, experts say there is no connection between the disorder and violence.


Asperger's is a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness.


"There really is no clear association between Asperger's and violent behavior," said psychologist Elizabeth Laugeson, an assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.


Little is known about Adam Lanza, identified by police as the shooter in the Friday massacre at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. He fatally shot his mother before going to the school and killing 20 young children, six adults and himself, authorities said.


A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the unfolding investigation, said Lanza had been diagnosed with Asperger's.


High school classmates and others have described him as bright but painfully shy, anxious and a loner. Those kinds of symptoms are consistent with Asperger's, said psychologist Eric Butter of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who treats autism, including Asperger's, but has no knowledge of Lanza's case.


Research suggests people with autism do have a higher rate of aggressive behavior — outbursts, shoving or pushing or angry shouting — than the general population, he said.


"But we are not talking about the kind of planned and intentional type of violence we have seen at Newtown," he said in an email.


"These types of tragedies have occurred at the hands of individuals with many different types of personalities and psychological profiles," he added.


Autism is a developmental disorder that can range from mild to severe. Asperger's generally is thought of as a mild form. Both autism and Asperger's can be characterized by poor social skills, repetitive behavior or interests and problems communicating. Unlike classic autism, Asperger's does not typically involve delays in mental development or speech.


Experts say those with autism and related disorders are sometimes diagnosed with other mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder.


"I think it's far more likely that what happened may have more to do with some other kind of mental health condition like depression or anxiety rather than Asperger's," Laugeson said.


She said those with Asperger's tend to focus on rules and be very law-abiding.


"There's something more to this," she said. "We just don't know what that is yet."


After much debate, the term Asperger's is being dropped from the diagnostic manual used by the nation's psychiatrists. In changes approved earlier this month, Asperger's will be incorporated under the umbrella term "autism spectrum disorder" for all the ranges of autism.


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AP Writer Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report.


___


Online:


Asperger's information: http://1.usa.gov/3tGSp5


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Conn. Community Mourns Victims of Massacre













President Obama will visit Newtown, Conn. today to meet with the grieving families and thank the first responders from Friday's school shooting, as the community begins the long process of healing.


The pictures of the young victims killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School emerged Saturday, along with a remarkable story of survival.


Twenty children and six adults were killed at the school when shooter Adam Lanza went on a shooting rampage.


Later this evening, the community will gather for an interfaith vigil, where the president is scheduled to address mourners, some from out of state who came to offer help and others, who knew the young victims or their families.


Addressing the nation on Friday, Obama mourned the children who "had their entire lives ahead of them -- birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own."


Story of Survival


READ: Complete List of Sandy Hook Victims


The lone survivor of her class tricked the gunman by playing dead, the girl's pastor told ABC News, before running out of the school covered in the blood of her classmates.


"She ran out of the school building covered from head to toe with blood and the first thing she said to her mom was, 'Mommy, I'm OK but all my friends are dead,'" said Pastor Jim Solomon. "Somehow in that moment, by God's grace, [she] was able to act as she was already deceased."


Five first graders in another class were also killed, along with six staff members.










Connecticut Shooting: Churches Services Honor Victims Watch Video









Connecticut Shooting: Pastor Explains How Girl Played Dead to Survive Watch Video





"The mom told me, and I thought this was very insightful, that she was suffering from what she felt was survivor's guilt because so many of her friends no longer have their children but she has hers," the pastor said.


Click Here for full coverage of the tragedy at the elementary school.


Remembering the Victims of the Sandy Hook Shooting


There was Emilie Parker, the little girl with the blond hair and bright blue eyes, who would have been one of the first to comfort her classmates at Sandy Hook Elementary School, had a gunman's bullets not claimed her life, her father said.


Noah Pozner and his twin sister had just celebrated their sixth birthdays. His twin sister survived the shooting, but Noah did not.


Six-year-old Jesse Lewis went to school on Friday, excited to make gingerbread houses. He died, along with his teacher, Victoria Soto, 27, whose family said was shielding some of her first graders when she was hit by bullets.


As the community mourns and families bear the pain of planning 26 funerals before Christmas, school board members hope to get students back to a familiar routine.


"Well, all the mental health experts we've talked to...tell us that the best thing we can do is to get back to normal operations as soon as possible," said Bill Hart, a member of the Newtown Board of Education.


"We know some teachers won't be prepared to come back, he said. "We are going to be prepared with substitutes. We've got counseling for all. We're prepared to do whatever we have to do to help all of our community."


READ: Police Seek Motive in Shooting


Students who attend Sandy Hook Elementary School will be moved to another location that has yet to be announced, Hart said. He said officials did not yet know what would become of the building that was turned into a slaughterhouse on Friday.


"I think trying to understand what we are going to do with that is a long process and we're not in any way prepared to make those decisions now," he said.


ABC News' Lara Spencer and Dan Harris contributed reporting.



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Egyptians vote on divisive constitution


CAIRO/ALEXANDRIA (Reuters) - Egyptians queued in long lines on Saturday to vote on a constitution promoted by its Islamist backers as the way out of a political crisis and rejected by opponents as a recipe for further divisions in the Arab world's biggest nation.


Soldiers joined police to secure the referendum after deadly protests during the buildup. Street brawls erupted again on Friday in Alexandria, Egypt's second city, but voting proceeded quietly there, with no reports of violence elsewhere.


President Mohamed Mursi provoked angry demonstrations when he issued a decree last month expanding his powers and then fast-tracked the draft constitution through an assembly dominated by his Muslim Brotherhood group and its allies. At least eight people were killed in clashes last week outside the presidential palace.


His liberal, secular and Christian opponents says the constitution is too Islamist and tramples on minority rights. Mursi's supporters say the charter is needed if progress is to be made towards democracy nearly two years after the fall of military-backed strongman Hosni Mubarak.


"The sheikhs (preachers) told us to say 'yes' and I have read the constitution and I liked it," said Adel Imam, a 53-year-old queuing to vote in a Cairo suburb. "The country will move on."


Opposition politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei wrote on Twitter: "Adoption of (a) divisive draft constitution that violates universal values and freedoms is a sure way to institutionalize instability and turmoil."


Official results will not be announced until after a second round of voting next Saturday. But partial results and unofficial tallies are likely to emerge soon after the first round, giving some idea of the outcome.


In order to pass, the constitution must be approved by more than 50 percent of voters who cast ballots. A little more than half of Egypt's electorate of 51 million are eligible to vote in the first round in Cairo and other cities.


Rights groups reported some abuses, such as polling stations opening late, officials telling people to vote "yes", bribery and intimidation.


But Gamal Eid, head of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, which is monitoring the vote, said nothing reported so far was serious enough to invalidate the referendum.


"Until now, there is no talk of vote rigging," said Eid.


TRANSITION


Christians, making up about 10 percent of Egypt's 83 million people and who have long grumbled of discrimination, were among those waiting at a polling station in Alexandria to oppose the basic law. They fear Islamists, long repressed by Mubarak, will restrict social and other freedoms.


"I voted 'no' to the constitution out of patriotic duty," said Michael Nour, a 45-year-old Christian teacher in Alexandria. "The constitution does not represent all Egyptians."


Howaida Abdel Azeem, a post office employee, said: "I said 'yes' because I want the destruction the country is living through to be over and the crisis to pass, and then we can fix things later."


Islamists are counting on their disciplined ranks of supporters and the many Egyptians who may fall into line in the hope of ending turmoil that has hammered the economy and sent Egypt's pound to eight-year lows against the dollar.


Mursi was among the early voters after polls opened at 8 a.m. (1:00 a.m. Eastern Time). He was shown on television casting his ballot shielded by a screen and then dipping his finger in ink - a measure to prevent people voting twice.


Turnout was high enough for voting on Saturday to be extended by four hours to 11 p.m. (4 p.m. Eastern Time). One senior official on the committee overseeing the referendum said Saturday's vote could continue on Sunday if crowds were too heavy to allow everyone to cast ballots in one day. Voting for Egyptians abroad that began on Wednesday has been extended to Monday, the state news agency reported.


After weeks of turbulence, there has been limited public campaigning. Opposition politicians and parties, beaten in two elections since Mubarak's overthrow, only announced on Wednesday that they backed a "no" vote instead of a boycott.


TWO DAYS


The second round will be held in other regions on December 22 because there are not enough judges willing to monitor all polling stations after some said they would boycott the vote.


Egyptians are being asked to accept or reject a constitution that must be in place before a parliamentary election can be held next year to replace an Islamist-led parliament dissolved in June. Many hope this will lead Egypt towards stability.


If the constitution is voted down, a new assembly will have to be formed to draft a revised version, a process that could take up to nine months.


The army has deployed about 120,000 troops and 6,000 tanks and armored vehicles to protect polling stations and other government buildings. While the military backed Mubarak and his predecessors, it has not intervened in the present crisis.


(Writing by Edmund Blair and Giles Elgood; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)



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Football: Benteke rampant as Aston Villa curb Liverpool's revival






LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom: Christian Benteke scored twice and made another goal as Aston Villa checked Liverpool's recent resurgence with a 3-1 win at Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday.

Liverpool were bidding for a fourth consecutive win in all competitions but failed to convert a string of first-half chances and were punished when goals from Benteke and Andreas Weimann put Villa 2-0 up at half-time.

Benteke struck again early in the second half and although Steven Gerrard pulled one back, it was too late to prevent Paul Lambert's side - the youngest Villa team ever to start a Premier League game - from extending their unbeaten run to five league games.

Victory eased Villa's relegation fears by carrying them up to 14th place, four days after they beat Norwich City 4-1 to reach the League Cup semi-finals, while Liverpool slipped two places to 12th.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers had talked up his side's chances of a top-four finish in the build-up to the match and they certainly began the game with ambition.

Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan had to be alert after visiting defender Eric Lichaj diverted Stewart Downing's low cross towards his own goal, while Gerrard could only shoot straight at Guzan from just inside the penalty area.

Downing and Joe Allen fired narrowly wide for the hosts, before Nathan Baker had to produce a last-ditch challenge to thwart Jonjo Shelvey.

Luis Suarez returned to the Liverpool line-up after suspension and he spurned a fine chance in the 27th minute, placing a tame half-volley within Guzan's reach from Shelvey's lay-off.

The hosts were punished for their wastefulness two minutes later, when Benteke gathered possession in the inside-left channel before arrowing a low drive into the bottom-left corner from 25 yards.

It was almost 2-0 shortly afterwards, Weiman lobbing onto the roof of the net following a miscued header from Glen Johnson, but five minutes before the interval, the Austrian made no mistake.

A sweeping move culminated in Weimann rolling a pass into the box for Benteke, whose cute back-heel found Weimann rushing in to dispatch a crisp shot across Pepe Reina.

Rodgers introduced Joe Cole at half-time but he was to play an unwitting role in Villa's third goal in the 51st minute.

After the former England man was robbed in midfield, Benteke collected possession and the Belgian striker was allowed to advance deep into the Liverpool box before prodding the ball past Reina.

Johnson had a penalty appeal turned down when his header seemed to strike Baker's arm, before Gerrard stooped to head home Johnson's left-foot shot to give the hosts an 87th-minute consolation.

English Premier League results:

Liverpool 1 Aston Villa 3
Manchester Utd 3 Sunderland 1
Newcastle 1 Manchester City 3
Norwich 2 Wigan 1
QPR 2 Fulham 1
Stoke 1 Everton 1

- AFP/de



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Jundal is an Indian operative: Rehman Malik

NEW DELHI: A day after he offended his hosts by seeking to draw a comparison between Babri demolition and Mumbai terror attack, Rehman Malik was at it again on Saturday. The visiting interior minister festered India's 26/11 wound by saying that Abu Jundal, who had coordinated the terror strikes of Ajmal Kasab and nine other Laskhar terrorists from the Karachi control room, worked for an Indian intelligence agency.

"Abu Jundal is an Indian. We are also curious as to how he and others landed in Pakistan. He was a known criminal. He worked as a source of an Indian intelligence agency. I am not saying this. He himself has said so. I have seen records," Malik said in an exclusive conversation with the TOI.

The remark may outrage the Indian government, considering Pakistan went to great lengths to block Jundal's deportation from Saudi Arabia. Pakistan's diplomats had even told Saudi authorities that Jundal was a Pakistani, citing the passport and the national identity number issued to him.

In fact, while talking to TOI, Malik also underlined the involvement of two other Indians, including Ansari (Fahimuddin?) in the 26/11 attack, who had been to Pakistan. "We have to figure out all these...whether non-state actors from the two sides are acting at the instance of a third power. You are aware that things had taken an alarming turn, with both countries massing their troops on the border. Things would have been worse if the leadership on both sides had not shown maturity," said Malik, who is on a three-day official visit to India.

Denying the charge that Pakistan was reluctant to get to the bottom of the conspiracy behind 26/11 specifically when all evidence are there on Pakistani soil, Malik said that the trial would have been completed by now if a Judicial Commission from Pakistan had been allowed to cross-examine the four crucial Indian witnesses in the Mumbai attack case when it had visited India (in March, 2012). He also said that with the Indian government agreeing to let in the judicial commission visit Mumbai and cross-examine the witnesses "very soon", the trial in Pakistan (of Lashkar commander Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi and six other accused) in the 26/11 case would be concluded swiftly.

Responding to a question, Malik repeated his insistence that the two countries should let bygones and be bygones in order to have better ties: a pitch which is seen by here as code for saying that India should drop its insistence for punishment to 26/11 perpetrators as the pre-condition for discussing Jammu & Kashmir and other contentious issues.

However, he avoided a specific answer when asked the same "let's-move-on by forgetting the past" should require Pakistan to withdraw its claims over J&K. "We have to forget that India and Pakistan are enemies... We are converging on Kashmir issue. It is part of composite dialogue... we are not forgetting 26/11... I am not saying forget the incident. I am only saying that forget the feeling of animosity. Let us create an era of brightness".

Malik, who met PM Manmohan Singh on Saturday, sought to douse the controversy he triggered by drawing a parallel between the Babri demolition and the terror attack on Mumbai. "There is no comparison whatsoever between Babri Masjid demolition and the 26/11 attacks. Babri mosque (demolition) was actually an ethnic issue... It was actually a sectarian strife... My remarks should not be taken in a negative way. I have no intention to interfere with inter-faith matters," said the visiting minister, adding that Pakistan itself is a victim of sectarian strife among the Shias and the Sunnis.

The former police officer, who is known for his loyalty to the Bhutto clan, had on Friday hushed his host Indian home minister Sushilkumar Shinde by seeking to draw a parity between the 1992 demolition of Ayodhya mosque and the lethal assault on Mumbai in November, 2008.

Malik clarified that his intention was not to cause controversy or hurt anyone, claiming that he was merely trying to alert both countries to the consequences of sectarian violence. "Extremism is on the rise on both sides, and steps should be taken to check it," he said.

The Pakistani interior minister said he during his meetings with both the PM and national security advisor Shivshankar Menon pitched that Indian agencies should share the details of their investigations into 26/11 with Islamabad.

He claimed that the frostiness in ties post-26/11 has already thawed. "I have found great hope between people of the two countries... incidents are happening because we were not every close ... after Bombay (Mumbai) blats, how many things have happened?... Whenever India has said we suspect some area we have searched and even shared info... Intelligence to intelligence, government to government and ministry to ministry... everybody is interacting. With interaction comes friendship. All incidents happening can be averted with friendship... you are spending millions we are spending million (security)... we have to fight poverty and extremism. At government level, we have done many things...now people-to-people contact will clear the misunderstanding. We have created a situation for this now".

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Fewer health care options for illegal immigrants


ALAMO, Texas (AP) — For years, Sonia Limas would drag her daughters to the emergency room whenever they fell sick. As an illegal immigrant, she had no health insurance, and the only place she knew to seek treatment was the hospital — the most expensive setting for those covering the cost.


The family's options improved somewhat a decade ago with the expansion of community health clinics, which offered free or low-cost care with help from the federal government. But President Barack Obama's health care overhaul threatens to roll back some of those services if clinics and hospitals are overwhelmed with newly insured patients and can't afford to care for as many poor families.


To be clear, Obama's law was never intended to help Limas and an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants like her. Instead, it envisions that 32 million uninsured Americans will get access to coverage by 2019. Because that should mean fewer uninsured patients showing up at hospitals, the Obama program slashed the federal reimbursement for uncompensated care.


But in states with large illegal immigrant populations, the math may not work, especially if lawmakers don't expand Medicaid, the joint state-federal health program for the poor and disabled.


When the reform has been fully implemented, illegal immigrants will make up the nation's second-largest population of uninsured, or about 25 percent. The only larger group will be people who qualify for insurance but fail to enroll, according to a 2012 study by the Washington-based Urban Institute.


And since about two-thirds of illegal immigrants live in just eight states, those areas will have a disproportionate share of the uninsured to care for.


In communities "where the number of undocumented immigrants is greatest, the strain has reached the breaking point," Rich Umbdenstock, president of the American Hospital Association, wrote last year in a letter to Obama, asking him to keep in mind the uncompensated care hospitals gave to that group. "In response, many hospitals have had to curtail services, delay implementing services, or close beds."


The federal government has offered to expand Medicaid, but states must decide whether to take the deal. And in some of those eight states — including Texas, Florida and New Jersey — hospitals are scrambling to determine whether they will still have enough money to treat the remaining uninsured.


Without a Medicaid expansion, the influx of new patients and the looming cuts in federal funding could inflict "a double whammy" in Texas, said David Lopez, CEO of the Harris Health System in Houston, which spends 10 to 15 percent of its $1.2 billion annual budget to care for illegal immigrants.


Realistically, taxpayers are already paying for some of the treatment provided to illegal immigrants because hospitals are required by law to stabilize and treat any patients that arrive in an emergency room, regardless of their ability to pay. The money to cover the costs typically comes from federal, state and local taxes.


A solid accounting of money spent treating illegal immigrants is elusive because most hospitals do not ask for immigration status. But some states have tried.


California, which is home to the nation's largest population of illegal immigrants, spent an estimated $1.2 billion last year through Medicaid to care for 822,500 illegal immigrants.


The New Jersey Hospital Association in 2010 estimated that it cost between $600 million and $650 million annually to treat 550,000 illegal immigrants.


And in Texas, a 2010 analysis by the Health and Human Services Commission found that the agency had provided $96 million in benefits to illegal immigrants, up from $81 million two years earlier. The state's public hospital districts spent an additional $717 million in uncompensated care to treat that population.


If large states such as Florida and Texas make good on their intention to forgo federal money to expand Medicaid, the decision "basically eviscerates" the effects of the health care overhaul in those areas because of "who lives there and what they're eligible for," said Lisa Clemans-Cope, a senior researcher at the Urban Institute.


Seeking to curb expenses, hospitals might change what qualifies as an emergency or cap the number of uninsured patients they treat. And although it's believed states with the most illegal immigrants will face a smaller cut, they will still lose money.


The potential impacts of reform are a hot topic at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In addition to offering its own charity care, some MD Anderson oncologists volunteer at a county-funded clinic at Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital that largely treats the uninsured.


"In a sense we've been in the worst-case scenario in Texas for a long time," said Lewis Foxhall, MD Anderson's vice president of health policy in Houston. "The large number of uninsured and the large low-income population creates a very difficult problem for us."


Community clinics are a key part of the reform plan and were supposed to take up some of the slack for hospitals. Clinics received $11 billion in new funding over five years so they could expand to help care for a swell of newly insured who might otherwise overwhelm doctors' offices. But in the first year, $600 million was cut from the centers' usual allocation, leaving many to use the money to fill gaps rather than expand.


There is concern that clinics could themselves be inundated with newly insured patients, forcing many illegal immigrants back to emergency rooms.


Limas, 44, moved to the border town of Alamo 13 years ago with her husband and three daughters. Now single, she supports the family by teaching a citizenship class in Spanish at the local community center and selling cookies and cakes she whips up in her trailer. Soon, she hopes to seek a work permit of her own.


For now, the clinic helps with basic health care needs. If necessary, Limas will return to the emergency room, where the attendants help her fill out paperwork to ensure the government covers the bills she cannot afford.


"They always attended to me," she said, "even though it's slow."


___


Sherman can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/chrisshermanAP .


Plushnick-Masti can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RamitMastiAP .


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Conn. Shooter Adam Lanza: Quiet, Bright, Troubled













Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old who killed 20 kids and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school Friday, was very bright, say neighbors and former classmates, but he was also socially awkward and deeply troubled.


"[Adam] was not connected with the other kids," said family friend Barbara Frey. A relative told ABC News that Adam was "obviously not well."


READ full ABC News coverage of the Connecticut shootings.


On Friday morning, Lanza shot his mother Nancy in the face at the home they shared in Newtown, and then drove her car to Sandy Hook Elementary School. Dressed in black combat gear, he broke a window at the school, which had recently had a new security system installed, and within minutes had shot and killed six adults and 20 schoolchildren between the ages of five and 10.


The shooting stopped when Lanza put a bullet in his own head. Multiple weapons were found at the scene, including two semiautomatic handguns registered to his mother. A Bushmaster rifle registered to Nancy was discovered outside in the car.


Long before Lanza's spree, however, residents of Newtown had noticed that tall, pale boy was different, and believed he had some kind of unspecified personality disorder.


"Adam Lanza has been a weird kid since we were five years old," wrote aneighbor and former classmate Timothy Dalton on Twitter. "As horrible as this was, I can't say I am surprised."


In school, Lanza carried a black briefcase and spoke little. Every day, he wore a sort of uniform: khakis and a shirt buttoned up to the neck, with pens lined up in his shirt pocket.










Newtown School Massacre: 20 Children, 7 Adults Dead Watch Video









Newtown Teacher Kept 1st Graders Calm During Massacre Watch Video





A former classmate in his 10th grade honors English class, Olivia DeVivo, says he "was always very nervous and socially awkward."


She told ABC News that "he didn't really want to be spoken to" and that when teachers would call on him "it appeared physically difficult for him to speak."


Lanza avoided public attention and had few, if any, friends. He liked to sit near the door of the classroom to make a quick exit.


He even managed to avoid having his picture in his high school yearbook. Instead of his portrait, the space reserved for Adam Lanza says "Camera Shy." And unlike most in his age group, he seems to have left little imprint on the internet – no Facebook page, no Twitter account.


Lanza's parents Peter and Nancy Lanza married in New Hampshire in 1981, and had two sons, Adam and his older brother Ryan, who is now 24 and lives in New Jersey.


The Lanzas divorced in 2009 after 28 years of marriage due to "irreconcilable differences." When they first filed for divorce in 2008, a judge ordered that they participate in a "parenting education program."


Adam was 17 at the time of the divorce. He continued to live in Newtown with his mother. His father now lives in his Stamford, Connecticut with his second wife.


Peter Lanza, who drove to northern New Jersey to talk to police and the FBI, is a vice president at GE Capital and had been a partner at global accounting giant Ernst & Young.


Adam's older brother Ryan Lanza, 24, has worked at Ernst & Young for four years, apparently following in his father's footsteps and carving out a solid niche in the tax practice. He too was interviewed by the FBI. Neither he nor his father is under any suspicion.


"[Ryan] is a tax guy and he is clean as a whistle," a source familiar with his work said.


Police had initially identified Ryan as the killer. Ryan sent out a series of Facebook posts saying it wasn't him and that he was at work all day. Video records as well as card swipes at Ernst & Young verified his statement that he had been at the office.


Two federal sources told ABC News that identification belonging to Ryan Lanza was found at the scene of the mass shooting. They say that identification may have led to the confusion by authorities during the first hours after the shooting.


Click Here for the Blotter Homepage.



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U.S., rebels urge gloomy Moscow to help oust Assad


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's rebel leadership and the United States seized on Russian pessimism over President Bashar al-Assad's future to urge Moscow to help push its ally into ceding power and end the battles closing in around his capital.


"We want to commend the Russian government for finally waking up to the reality and acknowledging that the regime's days are numbered," the U.S. State Department spokeswoman said after a senior Kremlin envoy conceded publicly on Thursday that Assad's opponents could win the 20-month-old civil war.


"The question now is, will the Russian government join those of us in the international community who are working with the opposition to try to have a smooth democratic transition?" U.S. spokeswoman Victoria Nuland added in Washington.


In Marrakech, where his new coalition won recognition from other international powers as the legitimate leadership of Syria, rebel political leader Mouaz al-Khatib said he believed Russia, ally and arms supplier to the Assad dynasty since Soviet times, was looking for ways out of its support for a lost cause.


"I believe that the Russians have woken up and are sensing that they have implicated themselves with this regime, but they don't know how to get out," al-Khatib told Reuters. He held them "particularly responsible" for helping Assad with arms but said Moscow need not "lose everything" in Syria if it changed tack.


Under President Vladimir Putin, wary since last year's Libyan war of what Russia sees as a Western drive to use the United Nations to overthrow national leaders it dislikes, Russia has blocked U.N. efforts to squeeze Assad, who has also had strong support from his long-time sponsor Iran.


But Mikhail Bogdanov, a deputy foreign minister and the Kremlin's special envoy for Middle East affairs, was quoted as saying in Moscow: "One must look the facts in the face."


"Unfortunately, the victory of the Syrian opposition cannot be ruled out." The Syrian government, he said, was "losing control of more and more territory" and Moscow was preparing to evacuate Russian citizens if necessary.


Nuland said Bogdanov's comments demonstrated that Moscow now "sees the writing on the wall" on Syria and said Russia should now rally behind U.N. efforts to prevent a wider bloodbath.


"They can withdraw any residual support for the Assad regime, whether it is material support (or) financial support," she said. "They can also help us to identify people who might be willing, inside of Syria, to work on a transitional structure."


DIPLOMACY


International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who has met Russian and U.S. officials twice in the past week, is seeking a solution based on an agreement reached in Geneva in June that called for the creation of a transitional government in Syria.


But Russia has repeated warnings that recognition of al-Khatib's coalition, notably by the United States, is undermining diplomacy, and rejected U.S. contentions that the Geneva agreement sent a clear message that Assad should step down.


Nuland said the Brahimi meetings could lay the framework for a political structure to follow Assad:


"We've said all along to the Russians that we are concerned that the longer that this goes on, and the longer it takes us to get to an alternative political path for Syria, the only path is going to be the military one and that is just going to bring more violence.


"We all ought to be working together."


Bogdanov, whose government has suggested that Assad himself should be allowed to see through a transition he has promised, suggested the rebels and their allies were set on a military solution and he gave little hint of detente with Washington.


"The fighting will become even more intense and (Syria) will lose tens of thousands and, perhaps, hundreds of thousands of civilians," Bogdanov was quoted as saying. "If such a price for the removal of the president seems acceptable to you, what can we do? We, of course, consider it absolutely unacceptable."


The head of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said elsewhere: "I think the regime in Damascus is approaching collapse."


A U.S. official said: "Assad probably still believes that Syria is his and illusions can die hard. But Assad and those closest to him have got to be feeling the psychological strain of fighting a long war that is not going their way."


DAMASCUS BATTLES


But Al-Khatib, who played down Western concerns of sectarian Sunni Islamists in rebel ranks, warned that the fighting was far from over, even as it has begun to rattle the heart of Assad's power in Damascus. On Wednesday, a car bomb killed at least 16 people in a nearby town which is home to many military families.


"The noose is tightening around the regime," al-Khatib said.


"(But) the regime still has power. People think that the regime is finished, but it still has power left, but it is demoralized and however long it lasted its end is clear."


Day and night, Damascenes can hear the thunderous sound of bombardment aimed at rebel-held and contested neighborhoods.


The city's streets have now turned into a labyrinth of checkpoints and road blocks, with several major roads permanently closed off to traffic by concrete barriers.


"We escape from one place and trouble follows," said one grandmother, Um Hassan, as she described to Reuters her family's flight from one neighborhood to another as fighting seeps into the capital. "I don't know where we can keep running to."


Nonetheless, al-Khatib played down demands for their allies to provide heavier weaponry - a request long resisted by governments wary of anti-aircraft missiles and other hardware reaching Islamist rebels who might turn them against the West.


"The Syrian people ... no longer need international forces to protect them," he said, not specifying whether he meant a no-fly zone, arms supplies or other military support.


The opposition chief said he was willing to listen to proposals for Assad to escape with his life - "The best thing is that he steps down and stops drinking the blood of the Syrian people" - and outlined three scenarios for a change of power:


Al-Khatib ruled out the Russian proposal suggesting Assad hand over power to a transitional government while remaining president, saying it was "disgraceful for a slaughtered nation to accept to have a killer and criminal at its head".


The British-based Syrian Observatory said war planes bombed rebel-held eastern suburbs of Damascus on Thursday and artillery was hitting Daraya and Moadamiyeh, southwestern areas near the centre where rebels have been fighting for a foothold.


Syria has relied on war planes and helicopters to bombard rebel districts but Damascus denied accusations by U.S. and NATO officials that it had fired Scud missiles in recent days. The foreign ministry said the long-range missiles were not used against "terrorist groups," a term it uses for the rebels.


At least 40,000 people have been killed in Syria's uprising, which started in March 2011 with street protests which were met with gunfire by Assad's security forces, and which spiraled into the most enduring and destructive of the Arab revolts.


(Additional reporting by Steve Gutterman in Moscow and Andrew Quinn in Washington; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Michael Roddy) For an interactive look at the uprising in Syria, please click on http://link.reuters.com/rut37s



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I'll answer crime questions in neutral country: McAfee






MIAMI: Anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee said in a TV interview Friday that he was willing to answer questions about the murder of his neighbor in Belize in a neutral country.

McAfee, who insists he is innocent, also admitted that he was worth "less than" US$5 million -- a day after saying he was broke -- though it was unclear how he would access that money.

"I've said in any neutral country I will meet and answer any questions you want," McAfee told the CNBC business TV network.

"I'm certainly not going to turn myself into the authorities who have been trying to lay their hands on me for months now. I will not go back to Belize," he said.

Authorities in Belize want to question McAfee about the death of Gregory Faull, a 52-year-old Florida expatriate who was found by his housekeeper with a 9-mm bullet in his head, lying in a pool of his own blood.

McAfee fled Belize to Guatemala with his 20 year-old girlfriend, but was then deported to the United States. He says he went on the run because he feared for his life, claiming corruption among Belizean police and politicians.

Belize has an extradition treaty with the United States, so if murder charges are filed he could be sent back to the Central American nation.

McAfee, who is staying in a popular Miami Beach hotel, has become a local attraction. A cloud of reporters and TV news crews follow his every step.

"If I am charged, of course, I'll go through the process, but they are not going to charge me. Let me be clear: I had nothing to do with the murder of Gregory Faull," McAfee said.

McAfee was evasive when CNBC asked him about his fortune, which was once estimated at more than US$100 million.

"My accountant may know what I'm worth. I have not asked him recently ... I'm 67 years old. I eat well and have enough money for food. And clothes. I really don't have a clue, sir," McAfee said.

When further pressed, McAfee said he was worth "less than US$5 million, certainly."

And where is that money?

"I believe it's in the pockets of the politicians in Belize now. I think they're in the process of doing an acquisition of my resources," he said.

On Thursday, McAfee told ABC television in Miami that he has "nothing now" beyond some clothes, shoes, and cash a friend dropped off for him.

McAfee, who says a book and a movie is in the works as he sells his life story, earlier told AFP his immediate focus was getting his girlfriend Sam and another friend, Amy, into the United States.

- AFP/jc



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Turban pride restores as Sikhs wins school turban ban case against France in UN

AMRITSAR: The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has ruled that France's ban on the wearing of "conspicuous" religious symbols in schools - introduced in a law adopted in March 2004 - violated a Sikh student's right to manifest his religion, protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

"The UNHRC has made our nine year wait for justice worthwhile, since the French law was passed against religious signs in public schools in 2004. The UNHRC has once again proved to be the beacon of light for the freedom of thought, conscience and religion by upholding that the Article 18 right under the ICCPR to manifest ones religion, cannot be overridden merely by pleading secularity without producing any evidence that the Sikh Turban would affect the right of other students or would affect order in the school," said Legal Director, United Sikhs, a Sikh NGO, Mejindarpal Kaur while talking to TOI over phone from Paris on Friday.

She said that in a decision that was sent out this week to the United Sikhs legal team, in relation to a complaint made by Bikramjit Singh in 2008, the Committee accepted that the wearing of a turban was regarded as a religious duty for a Sikh and was also tied in with his identity; and that France had not justified the prohibition on the wearing of the turban.

She further informed that the Committee accepted that the France was entitled to uphold the principle of secularism (laicite), a means by which a state party might seek to protect the religious freedom of all its population.

She informed that the Committee went on to express that France had "not furnished compelling evidence that by wearing his keski (small turban),Bikramjit would have posed a threat to the rights and freedoms of other pupils or to order at the school.Kaur informed that less than a year ago, the UNHRC had also concluded that France had violated the religious freedom of 76 year old Ranjit Singh when he was asked to remove his turban for his ID photograph. "A UN decision is still awaited for Shingara Singh, whose passport has not been renewed by France because he refused to remove his turban for his ID photograph" said she.

Quotes President of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, Paramjit Singh Sarna said Bikramjit Singh is an Indian national and it should have been the responsibility of the Indian government to protect his religious freedom abroad so that he and other Sikhs were not banned from wearing the turban in French public schools:

"Religion and politics are two wheels that balance civil society. If one wheel comes off, society ceases to be stable. Laicite or secularity is the oil that ensures that the two wheels keep moving. Sikhs do not see laicite as the enemy. We see it as our friend to help us be good citizens. United Sikh's France Director Shingara Singh.

"Our stand for the turban will not only benefit France but the whole world Gurdial Singh of the Turban Action Committee of France, who has been defending campaign relentlessly.

The Turban is not a sign of oppression. It's a practice of freedom," said Mejinderpal Kaur quoting Bikramjit Singh, who after being expelled from school, completed his education privately and is now a project engineer with an engineering firm in Paris.

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