Brazil Nightclub Fire: 232 Dead, Hundreds Injured

A blaze raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing 232 people as the air filled with deadly smoke and panicked party-goers stampeded toward the exits, police and witnesses said. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.

Witnesses said that a flare or firework lit by band members may have started the fire.

Police Maj. Cleberson Braida Bastianello said by telephone that officials counted 232 bodies that had been brought for identification to a gymnasium in the city of Santa Maria, at the southern tip of Brazil near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay.

Another 117 people were being treated at hospitals, he said, and President Dilma Roussef arrived to visit victims after cutting short participation at a Latin American-European summit in Chile.

Bastianello said the recount lowered the toll from 245 earlier believed killed.

Television images showed smoke pouring out of the Kiss nightclub as shirtless, young male partygoers joined firefighters in wielding axes and sledgehammers, pounding at windows and walls to break through to those trapped inside. Teenagers sprinted from the scene desperately trying to find help. Others carried injured and burned friends away in their arms.

"There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead," survivor Luana Santos Silva told the Globo TV network.

Germano Roratto/AFP/Getty Images

Silva added that firefighters and ambulances responded quickly after the fire broke out, but that it spread too fast inside the packed club for them to help.

Michele Pereira, another survivor, told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that she was near the stage and that the fire broke out after members of the band lit flares.

"The band that was onstage began to use flares and, suddenly, they stopped the show and pointed them upward. At that point the ceiling caught fire. It was really weak but in a matter of seconds it spread," Pereira said.

Most of the dead apparently suffocated, according to Dr. Paulo Afonso Beltrame, a professor at the medical school of the Federal University of Santa Maria who raced the city's Caridade Hospital to help victims.

He said survivors, police and firefighters told him a flare set off by a band member set the ceiling's soundproofing ablaze. "Large amounts of toxic smoke quickly filled the room and I would say that at least 90 percent of the victims died of asphyxiation," Beltrame told The Associated Press by telephone.

"The toxic smoke made people lose their sense of direction so they were unable to find their way to the exit. At least 50 bodies were found inside a bathroom. Apparently they confused the bathroom door with the exit door."

"In the hospital I saw desperate friends and relatives walking and running down the corridors looking for information. It was one of the saddest scenes I have ever witnessed," he added.

Rodrigo Moura, identified by the newspaper Diario de Santa Maria as a security guard at the club, said it was at its maximum capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000, and partygoers were pushing and shoving to escape.

Beltrame also said he was told the club was filled far past its capacity during a party for students at the university's department of agronomy. The event featured a group called Gurizada Fandangueira, which plays a driving mixture of local Brazilian country music styles. It was not immediately clear if the band members were among the victims.

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At least 26 die in Egyptian clashes over death sentences

PORT SAID, Egypt/CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 26 people died on Saturday when Egyptians rampaged in protest at the sentencing of 21 people to death over a soccer stadium disaster, adding to bloody street turmoil confronting Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.

Armored vehicles and military police fanned through the streets of Port Said after the violence. The state news agency quoted a general as saying the military aimed to "establish calm and stability in Port Said and to protect public institutions".

Unrest flared with nationwide rallies on Friday to mark the second anniversary of the overthrow of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, a democratic revolution that protesters now accuse Mursi of betraying by ramming through an Islamist-hued constitution.

While anniversary-related violence subsided, a new outbreak hit Port Said after a court sentenced 21 men to die for involvement in the deaths of 74 people after a local soccer match on February 1, 2012, many of them fans of the visiting team.

Residents ran wildly through the streets of Port Said, outraged that men from their city had been blamed for the stadium disaster, and gunshots were reported near the prison where most of the defendants were being held.

Security sources said 26 people, at least two of them policemen, had been killed in the Mediterranean coastal city. State television reported more than 200 people had been wounded.

Witnesses said some men stormed two police stations in Port Said, where protesters lit tires in the street, sending black smoke funneling into the air.

At least nine people were killed in clashes with police on Friday, mainly in the port of Suez where the army has also deployed. Hundreds were injured as police rained down tear gas on protesters armed with stones and some with petrol bombs.

The schism between Islamists and secular Egyptians is hurting efforts by Mursi, freely elected in June, to revive an economy in crisis - deprived of fresh investment and tourism due to political upheaval - and stem a slide in Egypt's currency.

The political strife and lack of security that has blighted the Arab world's most populous country over much of the post-Mubarak era is casting an ominous shadow over a parliamentary election expected to start in April.

DIVERSITY

Highlighting tensions, the opposition National Salvation Front coalition called for a government of national unity and an early presidential vote among other demands. It said it would call for more protests next Friday and could boycott the parliamentary election if its demands are not met.

Mursi's opponents say he has failed to deliver on economic pledges or be a president representing the full political and communal diversity of Egyptians, as he pledged.

His supporters say his critics do not respect the democracy that has given Egypt its first freely elected leader.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which propelled Mursi to office, said in a statement that "corrupt people" and media who were biased against the president had stirred up anger on the street and incited violence.

At the Port Said soccer stadium a year ago, many spectators were crushed and witnesses saw some thrown off balconies after the match between Cairo's Al Ahly and local team al-Masri.

Families of victims in court cheered and wept for joy when Judge Sobhy Abdel Maguid read a list of 21 names "referred to the Mufti", a phrase used to denote execution, as all death sentences must be reviewed by Egypt's top religious authority.

A total of 73 people have been standing trial. Other rulings will be issued on March 9, the judge said.

One relative in the court shouted: "God is greatest." Outside the Al Ahly club in Cairo, fans also cheered. They had threatened more violence unless the death penalty was meted out.

Thousands took to the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and other cities on Friday to protest against what they call the creeping authoritarianism of Mursi's rule. Protesters in Cairo were again hurling stones at police lines in Cairo on Saturday.

SEEKING CHANGE

"We want to change the president and the government. We are tired of this regime. Nothing has changed," said Mahmoud Suleiman, 22, in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the cauldron of the 2011 anti-Mubarak revolt and near where youths stoned police.

Ahmed Salama, 28, a protester camped out with dozens of others in Tahrir, said: "The protests will continue until we realize all the demands of the revolution - bread, freedom and social justice."

Ismailia and Suez, cities which like Port Said lie on the Suez Canal, witnessed some of the worst violence on Friday. But a canal official said the unrest on Friday and Saturday had not disrupted traffic in the waterway vital to international trade.

In a statement in response to Friday's violence, Mursi said the state would not hesitate in "pursuing the criminals and delivering them to justice". He urged Egyptians to respect the principles of the revolution by expressing views peacefully.

The president met on Saturday with the National Defence Council, which includes senior ministers and security officials, to discuss the spate of violence.

In a televised statement, the National Salvation Front said it was holding Mursi responsible for the disturbances.

The Front was formed from disparate groups last year when Mursi awarded himself extra powers and fast-tracked an Islamist-flavored constitution to a referendum, opposed by the Front although the document was passed in the popular vote.

"Egypt will not regain its balance except by a political solution that is transparent and credible, by a government of national salvation to restore order and heal the economy and with a constitution for all Egyptians," prominent opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei wrote on his Twitter account.

Until the Front was formed, the opposition had struggled to unite and their vote had been split at presidential and parliamentary polls, helping Islamists. The last parliament was dissolved based on court order, demanding a new vote this year.

Mustapha Kamal Al-Sayyid, a professor of political science at Cairo University, said the latest violence reflected the frustration of many liberal-minded Egyptians and others.

"The state of polarization between Islamists and others is most likely to continue and will have a very negative impact on the state's politics, security and economy," he said.

Inspired by the popular uprising in Tunisia, Egypt's revolution spurred further revolts across the Arab world. But the sense of common purpose among Egyptians two years ago has unraveled, triggering bloody street battles last month.

(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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10 police killed in Afghanistan suicide attack: official

KABUL: At least 10 policemen were killed and 18 others, mostly civilians, were wounded in a suicide attack Saturday in a crowded area of the northeast Afghan city of Kunduz, provincial authorities said.

The attacker, who was on foot, detonated his explosives next to a group of police officers, according to several sources.

"We have 10 dead, including the counter terrorism police chief and head of traffic police and their bodyguards," Sayed Sarwar Hussani, Kunduz police spokesman told AFP.

Thirteen civilians and five policemen were wounded in the blast, Hussani said, adding that the final death toll may rise.

The attack was "the work of the enemies of Afghanistan", he said, using a phrase common among Afghan officials to describe Taliban insurgents.

AFP could not immediately reach the Taliban for comment on the attack, which has so far not been claimed by any group.

Afghanistan's interior ministry and the provincial governor spokesman Enayatullah Khaleeq confirmed the toll.

According to the head of the Kunduz health department, Saad Mukhtar, 19 people in total were wounded in the attack, which police officials said took place around 5:20 pm, 12:50 GMT.

Such attacks have in the past been blamed on Taliban insurgents who are leading an 11-year insurgency against the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

Taliban militants have stepped up their fight against Afghan troops as the country's forces are increasingly taking over security responsibility from US-led NATO troops.

Earlier Saturday, a suicide attacker on a bicycle killed two civilians in southeastern Afghanistan's Ghazni province, and on Friday a suicide bomber in a car attacked a NATO convoy in Afghanistan's strategic Kapisa province, killing at least five civilians and wounding 15 others.

Also this week a squad of Taliban suicide bombers attacked Kabul traffic police headquarters in the heart of the city, killing three police officers and wounding dozens others.

The attacks come at a crucial juncture for Afghanistan as US-led NATO troops are preparing for their withdrawal from the country by the end of 2014. Afghan and international observers have predicted a civil war could grip the country once foreign troops have pulled out.

- AFP/jc

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At his Republic Day reception, President Pranab gives tradition a break

NEW DELHI: As a pleasant winter sun shone on the manicured lawns of the magnificent Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Pranab Mukherjee mingled with dignitaries at a reception he hosted here Saturday, and in a break from tradition, walked up to the guests and exchanged greetings with them.

At the traditional reception, or " At Home", the President hosts on the occasion of Republic Day, Mukherjee did away with protocol as he ambled along among the guests on the lawns of Rashtrapati Bhavan, exchanging "namastey" and even shaking hands with some.

"Sir, your speeches are really nice," the IANS correspondent told the President, to which he smiled, and said "Thank you!".

Many guests introduced themselves and their spouses to the President, who smilingly accepted the greetings from the excited gathering as his splendidly liveried guards tried politely to keep the people from coming too close.

In another break from tradition, the reception saw Bangla tunes being played by the band.

Two of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's compositions "Anondo Loke Mongola Loke" and "Gram Chara Oi Ranga Mati" formed a delightful background music as President Mukherjee chatted with his special guests — the King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and his young and beautiful wife Jetsun Pema.

Maroon dahlias, pansies and roses were in full bloom in the neat beds bordering the lawns, while gladioli were bunched together in bouquets in huge brass pots, adding colour to the serene surroundings as the President chatted with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur and former President APJ Abdul Kalam.

The President's wife, Suvra Mukherjee, who was brought in a wheel chair, appeared to enjoy the Bangla tunes, tapping her fingers to "Anondo Loke, Mongola Loke", and chatting with Gursharan Kaur.

Vice-President Hamid Ansari, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar and Bharatiya Janata Party leader LK Advani and his wife among others exchanged greetings with one another. They also went on to mingle with the dignitaries, including foreign envoys and their spouses.

President Mukherjee went up to Advani and spoke with him.

Matar aaloo samosas, chilli paneer, plum cake, patties, pastries, Caribbean delight made of fish were among the snacks on offer, as women, mostly attired in elegant saris, and men in suits, tucked in and watched the proceedings.

Red liveried Presidential guards, with their gold-red turbans brought tray loads of the snacks for the President and the other dignitaries, including the Bhutan king, who were seated under an umbrella-shaped marquee. All around the massive garden, snack stalls were set up for the other guests.

President Mukherjee, a few months after he was sworn in last July, had issued an order doing away with the colonial era of addressing the President as "His Excellency".

He had also directed authorities to organize government functions for him within Rashtrapati Bhavan premises in order to avoid inconveniencing the public.

Last month, in an effort to make Rashtrapati Bhavan more accessible to the public, Mukherjee directed that it be opened for public viewing on Sundays and for increased hours.

An online system of booking for tours of Rashtrapati Bhavan has also been launched.

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CDC: Flu seems to level off except in the West

New government figures show that flu cases seem to be leveling off nationwide. Flu activity is declining in most regions although still rising in the West.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hospitalizations and deaths spiked again last week, especially among the elderly. The CDC says quick treatment with antiviral medicines is important, in particular for the very young or old. The season's first flu case resistant to treatment with Tamiflu was reported Friday.

Eight more children have died from the flu, bringing this season's total pediatric deaths to 37. About 100 children die in an average flu season.

There is still vaccine available although it may be hard to find. The CDC has a website that can help.

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CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

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Cops Using More Private Cameras to Nab Suspects

Philadelphia detectives were able to quickly make an arrest in the murder and burning of a female pediatrician by viewing surveillance video of nearby stores and a hospital that captured the suspect entering the doctor's home and later getting into his truck.

In the hours after Dr. Melissa Ketunuti's body was found strangled and burning in her basement, city's Homicide Task Force collected surveillance footage from a coffee shop, drug store and hospital overlooking Ketunuti's block. It was footage taken from Ori Feibush's coffee shop that allowed cops to identify Smith.

The suspect, an exterminator named Jason Smith, soon confessed to detectives, police said.

Lately a range of crimes have been solved by the seemingly ubiquitous security videos maintained by private companies or citizens, and investigators have been able to quickly apprehend suspects by obtaining the video, deftly turning private cameras into effective police resources.

Philadelphia Police Arrest Suspect in Doctor's Killing Watch Video

Pa. Doctor Killing: Person of Interest in Custody Watch Video

Private surveillance cameras have become so pervasive that the face of a suspect who allegedly shot a Bronx, N.Y., cab driver in a botched robbery on Jan. 14 was splashed throughout the media within days because the cabbie had rigged his vehicle with a camera.

The New York Police Department arrested Salvatore Perrone after he was caught on surveillance video recorded near two of three shopkeeper slayings in Brooklyn, N.Y., in November. He has since been charged with murder.

And in Mesa, Ariz., surveillance footage taken in November by resident Mitch Drum showed a man rolling on the ground trying to extinguish flames that had engulfed his shirt, which had caught fire while he was allegedly siphoning gas from a car by Drum's house. The man was arrested.

Though surveillance cameras have been a staple of security since a network of government operated cameras dubbed the "ring of steel" was introduced in London in the early 1990s, police have recently launched programs to partner with more businesses.

In Philadelphia, police have launched a program for businesses to register private cameras with the department. According to the SafeCam website, businesses will only be contacted when there is a criminal incident in the vicinity of the security camera. At that point, police will request a copy of the footage for their investigation.

"Businesses are saying, 'I have a camera at this location, and it may or may not be of use to you. It's a registration to say, 'feel free to call me,'" Sgt. Joseph Green told ABCNews.com

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Violence flares on anniversary of Egypt uprising

CAIRO/ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Protesters clashed with police across Egypt on Friday on the second anniversary of the revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak, taking to the streets against the elected Islamist president who they accuse of betraying the revolution.

At least 91 civilians and 42 security personnel were hurt in violence across the country, officials said. Street battles erupted in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and Port Said, where the Muslim Brotherhood's political party offices were torched.

Thousands of opponents of President Mohamed Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood allies massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square - the cradle of the uprising against Mubarak - to revive the demands of a revolution they say has been hijacked by the Islamists.

The January 25 anniversary showcased the divide between the Islamists and their secular foes that is hindering Mursi's efforts to revive an economy in crisis and reverse a plunge in Egypt's currency by enticing back investors and tourists.

Inspired by Tunisia's ground-breaking popular uprising, Egypt's revolution spurred further revolts across the Arab world. But the sense of common purpose that united Egyptians two years ago has given way to internal strife that has only worsened and last month triggered lethal street battles.

"It's definitely tense on the ground, but so far there hasn't been anything out of the ordinary or anything that really threatens to fundamentally alter the political situation," said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center.

The Brotherhood decided against mobilizing for the anniversary, wary of the scope for more conflict after violence in December that was stoked by Mursi's decision to fast-track an Islamist-tinged constitution rejected by his opponents.

The Brotherhood fiercely denies accusations of trampling on democracy as part of a smear campaign by its rivals.

Before dawn on Friday, police battled protesters who threw petrol bombs and firecrackers as they tried to approach a wall blocking access to government buildings near Tahrir Square.

Clouds of tear gas filled the air. At one point, riot police used one of the incendiaries thrown at them to set ablaze at least two tents erected by the youths, a Reuters witness said.

Skirmishes between stone-throwing youths and the police continued in streets around the square into the day. Ambulances ferried away a steady stream of casualties.

"Our revolution is continuing. We reject the domination of any party over this state. We say no to the Brotherhood state," Hamdeen Sabahy, a popular leftist leader, told Reuters.

There were similar scenes in Suez and Alexandria, where protesters and riot police clashed near local government offices. Black smoke billowed from tyres set ablaze by youths.

Police also fired tear gas to disperse dozens of protesters who tried to scale barbed-wire barriers protecting the presidential palace in Cairo, witnesses said. Other protesters broke into offices of provincial governors in Ismailia, east of Cairo, and Kafr el-Sheikh in the Nile Delta.

In Tahrir Square, protesters echoed the chants of 2011's historic 18-day uprising. "The people want to bring down the regime," they chanted. "Leave! Leave! Leave!" chanted others as they marched towards the square.

"We are not here to celebrate but to force those in power to submit to the will of the people. Egypt now must never be like Egypt during Mubarak's rule," said Mohamed Fahmy, an activist.

BADIE CALLS FOR "PRACTICAL, SERIOUS COMPETITION"

With its eye firmly on forthcoming parliamentary elections, the Brotherhood marked the anniversary with a charity drive across the nation. It plans to deliver medical aid to one million people and distribute affordable basic foodstuffs.

Writing in Al-Ahram, Egypt's flagship state-run daily, Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie said the country was in need of "practical, serious competition" to reform the corrupt state left by the Mubarak era.

"The differences of opinion and vision that Egypt is passing through is a characteristic at the core of transitions from dictatorship to democracy, and clearly expresses the variety of Egyptian culture," he wrote.

Still, Mursi faces discontent on multiple fronts.

His opponents say he and his group are seeking to dominate the post-Mubarak order. They accuse him of showing some of the autocratic impulses of the deposed leader by, for example, driving through the new constitution last month.

"I am taking part in today's marches to reject the warped constitution, the 'Brotherhoodisation' of the state, the attack on the rule of law, and the disregard of the president and his government for the demands for social justice," Amr Hamzawy, a prominent liberal politician, wrote on his Twitter feed.

The Brotherhood dismisses many of the criticisms as unfair fabrications of their rivals, accusing them of failing to respect the rules of the new democracy that put the Islamists in the driving seat via free elections.

Six months into office, Mursi is also being held responsible for an economic crisis caused by two years of turmoil. The Egyptian pound has sunk to record lows against the dollar.

SOURCES OF FRICTION ABOUND

Other sources of friction abound. Little has been done to reform brutal Mubarak-era security agencies. A spate of transport disasters on roads and railways neglected for years is feeding discontent as well. Activists are impatient for justice for the victims of violence over the last two years.

These include hardcore soccer fans, or ultras, who have been rallying in recent days to press for justice for 74 people killed in a soccer stadium disaster a year ago in Port Said after a match between local side al-Masry and Cairo's Al Ahly.

The parties that called for Friday's protests listed demands including a complete overhaul of the constitution.

Critics say the constitution, which was approved in a referendum, offers inadequate protection for human rights, grants the president too many privileges and fails to curb the power of a military establishment supreme in the Mubarak era.

Mursi's supporters say that enacting the constitution quickly was crucial to restoring stability desperately needed for economic recovery, and that the opposition is making the situation worse by perpetuating unrest.

(Additional reporting by Ahmed el-Shemi, Ashraf Fahim, Marwa Awad and Shaimaa Fayed in Cairo and Yousri Mohamed in Ismailia; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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US scholar urges dramatic rethink on Taiwan

WASHINGTON: With Beijing growing in strength, a US scholar is calling for a major rethink on Taiwan in which the island would cut its troop numbers in half and rebrand its army as a self-defence force.

The proposal marks a rare break from the conventional view of American and Taiwanese policymakers that the island needs to close the military gap with Beijing, but its author said an opposite course could strengthen Taipei.

Scott Bates, president of the Washington-based Center for National Policy, said the balance was "irretrievably shifting" in China's favor and it was politically and economically unrealistic that Taiwan would commit enough to close the gap.

Instead, Taipei can take the lead by halving the size of its army, rebranding it as a Self-Defence Force in the style of Japan and renouncing any military action on mainland China's soil, he argued.

"If Taiwan were to take a bold step like this, that would change perceptions on the mainland and perhaps win some popular support for the Taiwanese position," said Bates, a former congressional aide.

"If there were a showdown, it might make (Beijing) think twice."

Taiwan should turn the new force into a disaster response team ready to deploy throughout Asia and also highlight the island's democracy through a major initiative that supports civil society across the continent, Bates said.

And instead of waging a battle to preserve a dwindling number of nations' recognition of Taipei instead of Beijing, Taiwan can use its diplomatic resources to seek solutions on Asia's bitter territorial disputes, he said.

The new Taiwanese approach would give the island the moral high ground, winning over global opinion and ensuring that China would appear to be the aggressor if it attacked, he argued.

"Mainland Chinese public opinion is beginning to matter more. The Chinese Communist Party cannot ignore its own people without repercussions," Bates said.

China considers Taiwan to be a territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary. China's defeated nationalists fled to Taiwan after defeat by the communists in 1949, with the island developing into a self-ruling democracy.

The United States switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 but at the same time Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act, which requires Washington to provide the island with means to defend itself.

Bates said that his proposal would complement efforts by Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, who has sought to ease tensions with China by expanding economic ties, though domestic critics accuse Ma of jeopardising the island's de facto independence.

Bates supported the continuation of the Taiwan Relations Act, saying the island needed a credible deterrent. While cutting its army, Bates called for Taiwan to launch a major upgrade of its air defences and navy to show that any effort to gain supremacy over the island would be costly.

The Taiwan Relations Act enjoys virtually unanimous support in the US Congress, where lawmakers have pressed President Barack Obama to sell to the island new F-16 jets - a step that China strongly opposes.

Bates' ideas, however, are unlikely to win quick support.

Joseph Bosco, a former Pentagon official, sharply criticised the proposal, saying it went against accepted concepts of deterrence and that Taiwan already had the moral high ground.

"Taiwan does not need to disarm unilaterally in order to prove its moral or political legitimacy," Bosco said on Wednesday at an event where Bates presented his proposal.

Bates, who spoke last year at Taiwan's National Defence University and wrote an opinion piece in the Taipei Times, said he wanted to start a debate.

"It doesn't have to be my plan, but there does have to be a strategic rethink," he said.

- AFP

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Now, NIA aiming to secure access to Rana

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), satisfied with the 35-year sentence handed out to LeT operative David Coleman Headley as it virtually rules out his coming out of the prison alive, will now step up efforts to gain access to his accomplice Tahawwur Hussain Rana to probe the case relating to the LeT's plot to target various Indian cities, including the national capital.

Rana, handed a 14-year jail term by the US court on January 17 for aiding a terror plot against a Danish newspaper office, was earlier acquitted on counts relating to abetting and providing material support for the Mumbai carnage. There is a realization here that the US may not grant India access to Rana for probing his role in the 26/11 attacks.

The NIA will rely on its investigations into activities of Headley during his several trips to India both before and after the Mumbai attacks. The Pakistani-American terror operative, whose videography of the 26/11 targets helped LeT plan and coordinate the terror assault, had in 2009 went around Chabad Houses across five cities, the National Defence College in New Delhi and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mantralaya and Air India building in Mumbai, scouting them for future terror attacks.

Rana, a Canadian-American, who ran an immigration business from Chicago, is alleged to have provided him funds for these reconnaissance trips. Though NIA has sought information from the US regarding Headley's bank accounts linked to the credit card used by him during his stay in India, the Americans are yet to share the same. The NIA believes Headley's bank statements may help probe whether Rana had been transferring money to the American LeT operative's account to take care of his credit card bills.

Incidentally, it was Rana, a Pakistani Army deserter, who had facilitated Headley's Indian visa by arranging forged documents containing false information relating to Headley's father's name and marital status, and offered him cover for his reconnaissance missions by opening a "dummy" office for his immigration business in Mumbai.

Rana is also under lens for having visited India just ahead of the 26/11 attacks. He stayed at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai for four days with his wife, and left India for the UAE six days before 10 LeT terrorists landed in Mumbai. During this stay, he also carried out "interviews" of Canadian visa-seekers across cities like Agra, Ahmedabad and Kochi, who he had invited through a newspaper advertisement. However, the Indian agencies suspect that the "interviews" may have been a cover for possible recruitment of young men for terror activities.

NIA sleuths investigating the larger conspiracy of LeT to organize terrorist attacks at places of iconic importance in India, hope to get more information regarding the trips by Headley and Rana, by questioning Rana. Given the bleak hope of laying hands on Headley and the condition agreed to by Indian investigators of not using Headley's disclosures against him, NIA is now counting on a statement by Rana to take forward its trial in the case that it had registered in 2009.

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Penalty could keep smokers out of health overhaul

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of smokers could be priced out of health insurance because of tobacco penalties in President Barack Obama's health care law, according to experts who are just now teasing out the potential impact of a little-noted provision in the massive legislation.

The Affordable Care Act — "Obamacare" to its detractors — allows health insurers to charge smokers buying individual policies up to 50 percent higher premiums starting next Jan. 1.

For a 55-year-old smoker, the penalty could reach nearly $4,250 a year. A 60-year-old could wind up paying nearly $5,100 on top of premiums.

Younger smokers could be charged lower penalties under rules proposed last fall by the Obama administration. But older smokers could face a heavy hit on their household budgets at a time in life when smoking-related illnesses tend to emerge.

Workers covered on the job would be able to avoid tobacco penalties by joining smoking cessation programs, because employer plans operate under different rules. But experts say that option is not guaranteed to smokers trying to purchase coverage individually.

Nearly one of every five U.S. adults smokes. That share is higher among lower-income people, who also are more likely to work in jobs that don't come with health insurance and would therefore depend on the new federal health care law. Smoking increases the risk of developing heart disease, lung problems and cancer, contributing to nearly 450,000 deaths a year.

Insurers won't be allowed to charge more under the overhaul for people who are overweight, or have a health condition like a bad back or a heart that skips beats — but they can charge more if a person smokes.

Starting next Jan. 1, the federal health care law will make it possible for people who can't get coverage now to buy private policies, providing tax credits to keep the premiums affordable. Although the law prohibits insurance companies from turning away the sick, the penalties for smokers could have the same effect in many cases, keeping out potentially costly patients.

"We don't want to create barriers for people to get health care coverage," said California state Assemblyman Richard Pan, who is working on a law in his state that would limit insurers' ability to charge smokers more. The federal law allows states to limit or change the smoking penalty.

"We want people who are smoking to get smoking cessation treatment," added Pan, a pediatrician who represents the Sacramento area.

Obama administration officials declined to be interviewed for this article, but a former consumer protection regulator for the government is raising questions.

"If you are an insurer and there is a group of smokers you don't want in your pool, the ones you really don't want are the ones who have been smoking for 20 or 30 years," said Karen Pollitz, an expert on individual health insurance markets with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. "You would have the flexibility to discourage them."

Several provisions in the federal health care law work together to leave older smokers with a bleak set of financial options, said Pollitz, formerly deputy director of the Office of Consumer Support in the federal Health and Human Services Department.

First, the law allows insurers to charge older adults up to three times as much as their youngest customers.

Second, the law allows insurers to levy the full 50 percent penalty on older smokers while charging less to younger ones.

And finally, government tax credits that will be available to help pay premiums cannot be used to offset the cost of penalties for smokers.

Here's how the math would work:

Take a hypothetical 60-year-old smoker making $35,000 a year. Estimated premiums for coverage in the new private health insurance markets under Obama's law would total $10,172. That person would be eligible for a tax credit that brings the cost down to $3,325.

But the smoking penalty could add $5,086 to the cost. And since federal tax credits can't be used to offset the penalty, the smoker's total cost for health insurance would be $8,411, or 24 percent of income. That's considered unaffordable under the federal law. The numbers were estimated using the online Kaiser Health Reform Subsidy Calculator.

"The effect of the smoking (penalty) allowed under the law would be that lower-income smokers could not afford health insurance," said Richard Curtis, president of the Institute for Health Policy Solutions, a nonpartisan research group that called attention to the issue with a study about the potential impact in California.

In today's world, insurers can simply turn down a smoker. Under Obama's overhaul, would they actually charge the full 50 percent? After all, workplace anti-smoking programs that use penalties usually charge far less, maybe $75 or $100 a month.

Robert Laszewski, a consultant who previously worked in the insurance industry, says there's a good reason to charge the maximum.

"If you don't charge the 50 percent, your competitor is going to do it, and you are going to get a disproportionate share of the less-healthy older smokers," said Laszewski. "They are going to have to play defense."

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Online:

Kaiser Health Reform Subsidy Calculator — http://healthreform.kff.org/subsidycalculator.aspx

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