Pakistan Supreme Court Orders Arrest of Prime Minister

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf in a corruption case on Tuesday afternoon, dramatically raising the stakes in a tense standoff between the government and its opponents.

The court order came as an enigmatic preacher turned politician, Muhammad Tahir ul Qadri, addressed thousands of supporters outside Parliament and repeated calls for the government’s ouster. In earlier speeches, he said that a caretaker administration led by technocrats should take its place.

The confluence of the two events stoked growing speculation that Pakistan’s powerful military was quietly supporting moves that would delay general elections that are due to take place this spring, most likely through the imposition of a military-backed caretaker administration.

“Victory, victory, victory. By the grace of God,” said Mr. Qadri at the conclusion of a speech to his supporters, who have vowed not to leave a public square outside Parliament until their demands are satisfied.

It was not certain that the events were linked. Some analysts said that in ordering the prime minister’s arrest, the court, which is led by the independent-minded chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was simply taking advantage of anti-government sentiment generated by Mr. Qadri to pursue its longstanding grudge against President Asif Ali Zardari.  

Whatever its motivations, the court’s actions added to the chaos in Pakistan, with the stock market dropping 3 percent after word of the court’s order came down.

In the order issued Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the National Accountability Bureau, a government body that investigates graft, to arrest Mr. Ashraf and 15 other senior current or former officials, including a former finance minister and a former finance secretary.

The case relates to longstanding allegations that Mr. Ashraf took millions of dollars in kickbacks as part of a deal to build two electricity plants while serving as minister for water and power between March 2008 and February 2011.

The order comes more than a year after two opposition figures filed a complaint in the Supreme Court against Mr. Ashraf. Three months later, in March 2012, the court ruled that the power plants were illegal, ordered their closure, and instituted proceedings against Mr. Ashraf.

The case has particular political resonance because Pakistan’s energy crisis, which has seen severe electricity rationing across the country, is the source of some of the main complaints against the government.

The information minister, Qamar Zaman Kaira, said the government had not received any official notification of the order to arrest Mr. Ashraf.

Fawad Chaudhry, a senior adviser to the prime minister, said that any such order would be "illegal and unconstitutional."

"Under the law, the court cannot arrest him," he said President Zardari called a meeting of senior advisers at his Karachi residence to discuss the crisis late Tuesday, Mr. Chaudhry added.

Mr. Zardari’s supporters have painted the prosecution as part of a politically-motivated drive by Justice Chaudhry to unseat Mr. Zardari. Mr. Ashraf came to power last June after the Supreme Court forced his predecessor, Yousaf Raza Gilani, to resign from office over another corruption-related case.

Whether there was any link between the court order and Mr. Qadri’s march on Islamabad – billed by the preacher as a “million man march” but in reality far smaller – the timing was certainly striking.

Mr. Qadri stormed onto the political scene in Pakistan after returning from a seven-year stint in Canada, where he also holds citizenship, armed with considerable funding that he has used for an intensive television advertising campaign and large rallies.

In his speech Tuesday, which was peppered with emotional Islamic references, he demanded the immediate resignation of the government and painted the country’s elected politicians as “criminals” who deserved to be prosecuted for corruption.

“There is no Parliament. There is a group of looters, thieves and dacoits!” he said in a  thundering voice, pointing to the building behind him. “Our lawmakers are the lawbreakers.”

In contrast, Mr. Qadri offered fulsome support for the military and the Supreme Court, both of which have been at odds with Mr. Zardari’s government at various points in recent years. “Now only two institutions are there – the judiciary and the armed forces,” he said.

Responding to the allegations that he is secretly supported by the military, Mr. Qadri said he was supported by Allah, the Prophet Muhammad and the 180 million people of Pakistan.

The government’s five-year term of office ends in mid-March. Under the constitution, elections are to take place within the following 60 days.

But Ayaz Amir, an opposition politician, said the crisis could actually benefit the government as it would enable it to play the “victim card.”

The developments raise doubts about the government’s ability to make headway in Pakistan’s efforts to achieve stability as a democracy. Should Mr. Ashraf’s administration complete its term and hold peaceful elections, it would be the first such transfer of power in Pakistan’s history.

But speculation that Mr. Qadri or the court could derail that transition grew steadily as events unfolded on Tuesday.

Theories about a link between the two players and the military are not easy to reconcile. Over the last year, Justice Chaudhry has openly clashed with top generals, as part of his court’s bid to carve out its independence from both civilian and military rulers.

Justice Chaudhry has stressed that his court will not act as a rubber stamp to military rule, as previous courts have, and earlier on Tuesday he reportedly stressed the importance of holding elections by mid-May.

Salman Masood contributed reporting.

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Verizon may be prepping a new mid-range Samsung smartphone with a 720p display

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Bachelor Sean Lowe: My Girl Must Love Dogs

For any of the 25 women looking to win over this season's Bachelor, Sean Lowe, here's a tip straight from the source: "The girl I'm dating must be into my dogs," he tells PEOPLE.

The proud pet parent to two pooches, a boxer named Lola and a chocolate Labrador named Ellie, Lowe says, "For so long it's just been me and my two dogs, and I'm certainly not going to replace them with any woman."

Having had both animals for the past six years, the hunk has developed a special bond with the duo – though he admits his quest for love has forced him to make some changes.

"For many years, my dogs would sleep in the bed with me," he says. "I'm a big guy and I've got two good-sized dogs, so it's a full bed. Then I just realized one day, 'Alright, if I get married and a woman's going to join me in the bed, there's not going to be enough room.' I had to break the dogs of the habit of sleeping in the bed."

Luckily for Lowe, the pair have taken to their new accommodations easily.

"They're very intelligent dogs; they pick up on things really quickly," he says. "They learn pretty fast."

To hear more from Sean Lowe – including how his dogs help him navigate the dating world – check out the video above.

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Hospitals crack down on workers refusing flu shots

CHICAGO (AP) — Patients can refuse a flu shot. Should doctors and nurses have that right, too? That is the thorny question surfacing as U.S. hospitals increasingly crack down on employees who won't get flu shots, with some workers losing their jobs over their refusal.

"Where does it say that I am no longer a patient if I'm a nurse," wondered Carrie Calhoun, a longtime critical care nurse in suburban Chicago who was fired last month after she refused a flu shot.

Hospitals' get-tougher measures coincide with an earlier-than-usual flu season hitting harder than in recent mild seasons. Flu is widespread in most states, and at least 20 children have died.

Most doctors and nurses do get flu shots. But in the past two months, at least 15 nurses and other hospital staffers in four states have been fired for refusing, and several others have resigned, according to affected workers, hospital authorities and published reports.

In Rhode Island, one of three states with tough penalties behind a mandatory vaccine policy for health care workers, more than 1,000 workers recently signed a petition opposing the policy, according to a labor union that has filed suit to end the regulation.

Why would people whose job is to protect sick patients refuse a flu shot? The reasons vary: allergies to flu vaccine, which are rare; religious objections; and skepticism about whether vaccinating health workers will prevent flu in patients.

Dr. Carolyn Bridges, associate director for adult immunization at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the strongest evidence is from studies in nursing homes, linking flu vaccination among health care workers with fewer patient deaths from all causes.

"We would all like to see stronger data," she said. But other evidence shows flu vaccination "significantly decreases" flu cases, she said. "It should work the same in a health care worker versus somebody out in the community."

Cancer nurse Joyce Gingerich is among the skeptics and says her decision to avoid the shot is mostly "a personal thing." She's among seven employees at IU Health Goshen Hospital in northern Indiana who were recently fired for refusing flu shots. Gingerich said she gets other vaccinations but thinks it should be a choice. She opposes "the injustice of being forced to put something in my body."

Medical ethicist Art Caplan says health care workers' ethical obligation to protect patients trumps their individual rights.

"If you don't want to do it, you shouldn't work in that environment," said Caplan, medical ethics chief at New York University's Langone Medical Center. "Patients should demand that their health care provider gets flu shots — and they should ask them."

For some people, flu causes only mild symptoms. But it can also lead to pneumonia, and there are thousands of hospitalizations and deaths each year. The number of deaths has varied in recent decades from about 3,000 to 49,000.

A survey by CDC researchers found that in 2011, more than 400 U.S. hospitals required flu vaccinations for their employees and 29 hospitals fired unvaccinated employees.

At Calhoun's hospital, Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, Ill., unvaccinated workers granted exemptions must wear masks and tell patients, "I'm wearing the mask for your safety," Calhoun says. She says that's discriminatory and may make patients want to avoid "the dirty nurse" with the mask.

The hospital justified its vaccination policy in an email, citing the CDC's warning that this year's flu outbreak was "expected to be among the worst in a decade" and noted that Illinois has already been hit especially hard. The mandatory vaccine policy "is consistent with our health system's mission to provide the safest environment possible."

The government recommends flu shots for nearly everyone, starting at age 6 months. Vaccination rates among the general public are generally lower than among health care workers.

According to the most recent federal data, about 63 percent of U.S. health care workers had flu shots as of November. That's up from previous years, but the government wants 90 percent coverage of health care workers by 2020.

The highest rate, about 88 percent, was among pharmacists, followed by doctors at 84 percent, and nurses, 82 percent. Fewer than half of nursing assistants and aides are vaccinated, Bridges said.

Some hospitals have achieved 90 percent but many fall short. A government health advisory panel has urged those below 90 percent to consider a mandatory program.

Also, the accreditation body over hospitals requires them to offer flu vaccines to workers, and those failing to do that and improve vaccination rates could lose accreditation.

Starting this year, the government's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is requiring hospitals to report employees' flu vaccination rates as a means to boost the rates, the CDC's Bridges said. Eventually the data will be posted on the agency's "Hospital Compare" website.

Several leading doctor groups support mandatory flu shots for workers. And the American Medical Association in November endorsed mandatory shots for those with direct patient contact in nursing homes; elderly patients are particularly vulnerable to flu-related complications. The American Nurses Association supports mandates if they're adopted at the state level and affect all hospitals, but also says exceptions should be allowed for medical or religious reasons.

Mandates for vaccinating health care workers against other diseases, including measles, mumps and hepatitis, are widely accepted. But some workers have less faith that flu shots work — partly because there are several types of flu virus that often differ each season and manufacturers must reformulate vaccines to try and match the circulating strains.

While not 100 percent effective, this year's vaccine is a good match, the CDC's Bridges said.

Several states have laws or regulations requiring flu vaccination for health care workers but only three — Arkansas, Maine and Rhode Island — spell out penalties for those who refuse, according to Alexandra Stewart, a George Washington University expert in immunization policy and co-author of a study appearing this month in the journal Vaccine.

Rhode Island's regulation, enacted in December, may be the toughest and is being challenged in court by a health workers union. The rule allows exemptions for religious or medical reasons, but requires unvaccinated workers in contact with patients to wear face masks during flu season. Employees who refuse the masks can be fined $100 and may face a complaint or reprimand for unprofessional conduct that could result in losing their professional license.

Some Rhode Island hospitals post signs announcing that workers wearing masks have not received flu shots. Opponents say the masks violate their health privacy.

"We really strongly support the goal of increasing vaccination rates among health care workers and among the population as a whole," but it should be voluntary, said SEIU Healthcare Employees Union spokesman Chas Walker.

Supporters of health care worker mandates note that to protect public health, courts have endorsed forced vaccination laws affecting the general population during disease outbreaks, and have upheld vaccination requirements for schoolchildren.

Cases involving flu vaccine mandates for health workers have had less success. A 2009 New York state regulation mandating health care worker vaccinations for swine flu and seasonal flu was challenged in court but was later rescinded because of a vaccine shortage. And labor unions have challenged individual hospital mandates enacted without collective bargaining; an appeals court upheld that argument in 2007 in a widely cited case involving Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle.

Calhoun, the Illinois nurse, says she is unsure of her options.

"Most of the hospitals in my area are all implementing these policies," she said. "This conflict could end the career I have dedicated myself to."

__

Online:

R.I. union lawsuit against mandatory vaccines: http://www.seiu1199ne.org/files/2013/01/FluLawsuitRI.pdf

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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Stock futures fall as earnings, data eyed

NEW YORK (Reuters) -

U.S. stock index futures slipped on Tuesday as investors faced what is expected to be a lackluster earnings season, while a batch of economic data was on tap for later in the morning, including retail sales and regional manufacturing.

Fiscal and monetary policy were also at the forefront of investors' minds. On Monday, President Barack Obama rejected any negotiations with Republicans over raising the U.S. borrowing limit. The United States could default on its debt if Congress does not increase the borrowing limit.

Speaking separately on Monday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling. The central bank chairman also gave a cautiously optimistic outlook for U.S. growth but no clear hints on when the Fed would curb its aggressive bond purchases.

Corporate earnings season picks up the pace this week and investors are bracing for disappointment. Analyst estimates for the quarter have fallen sharply since October. S&P 500 earnings growth is now seen up just 1.9 percent from a year ago, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Shares of Dell rose 3.8 percent to $12.76 in premarket trade the day after sources said the company is in talks with private equity firms on a potential buyout.

S&P 500 futures fell 4.8 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 16 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 6.75 points.

Homebuilder Lennar reported profit that beat expectations amid a jump in new home orders.

Reports on U.S. retail sales and producer prices for December, as well as manufacturing activity in New York state for January were due at 8:30 am ET (1330 GMT). Business inventories for November will be released at 10:00 am ET.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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Syria Launches Deadly Airstrikes in Damascus Suburbs

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Syrian government continued an intensifying campaign of airstrikes against rebels in the suburbs of Damascus, the capital, on Monday, with sharply contrasting accounts of the effects: the government reported progress against “armed terrorists,” while anti-government activists said that 15 children were among more than 30 people killed in the past two days.

A boy’s naked body, thickly coated in gray dust, lay prone amid rubble in a video that activists said was shot on Monday in Moadamiyeh, a suburb southwest of Damascus, on a street echoing with high-pitched wails and crammed with cinder blocks from collapsed facades. Upstairs, in a room that no longer had walls, a woman could briefly be seen carrying the motionless body of a child.

A second video showed the bodies of half a dozen children laid out on blood-soaked blankets, including one curly-headed toddler of no more than two. "Let the whole world observe, those are the victims," a narrator said on the video. "Those are the ones Bashar al-Assad is fighting,” he added, referring to the Syrian president. The origins of the video could not be independently verified.

The government’s SANA news service, however, said that airstrikes had killed scores of “armed terrorists” in the Damascus suburbs, including eight men it identified by name.

The government has mounted days of intense attacks to push rebels out of Daraya and neighboring Moadamiyeh, trying to increase the buffer zone around the nearby presidential palace and the neighborhood of Kafr Souseh, where some key security offices are.

The continued carnage is taking place against a backdrop of Syrian and international concern that the conflict could stretch out for months without a political settlement — and as Russia’s foreign minister urged the Syrian opposition to make a more serious effort to reach one by offering concrete proposals to the government.

Neither Mr. Assad nor his opponents have offered proposals that have any hope of being accepted by the other side.  Mr. Assad refuses to talk to his armed opponents and the opposition insists that Mr. Assad’s exit is a precondition for talks.

The airstrike in Moadamiyeh on Monday killed at least 13 people, including five women and eight children, and rescuers were trying to  recover more people from beneath rubble, according to the antigovernment Syrian Observatory for Human rights. The nearly two-year uprising  has killed more than 60,000 people, according to United Nations estimates. It began as a peaceful movement for democratic reforms and became a civil war after the government fired on unarmed protesters.

International groups have been increasingly sounding the alarm that the world is not responding sufficiently to Syria’s humanitarian crisis.

International humanitarian efforts need to be increased quickly to handle the unrelenting exodus of refugees from Syria, which has reached more than 600,000, as well as more than 2 million people displaced inside the country, the New York-based International Rescue Committee said in a report released Monday.

The committee urged nations to meet the United Nation’s call for $1.5 billion to help refugees. About 70 percent of Syrian refugees are living not in camps but dispersed in cities and towns, the report said, arguing that these “urban refugees” are “grossly underserved” because they are hard to locate and track. Desperate families end up in crushing debt, without money for food, rent or medical care, leading women to join the sex trade and parents to sell daughters for early marriage or place children in exploitative jobs, the report said.

 The report also emphasized a little-discussed issue, the threat of rape, which many families interviewed in Jordan and Lebanon cited as a primary reason for their flight.

 “Many women and girls relayed accounts of being attacked in public or in their homes, primarily by armed men,” the report said. “These rapes, sometimes by multiple perpetrators, often occur in front of family members.”

 The report said that rape and sexual assault have been underreported because of social stigma that can be directed at victims and their families.

Hania Mourtada contributed reporting.

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E-Ink on a Smartphone? This Android Phone Has 2 Displays

Times Up

You can use the rear of the YotaPhone as a clock, or to display wallpapers.

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: Hands On With Pebble, the Internet’s Favorite Smart Watch]

LAS VEGAS — What if your phone had two displays? Announced in mid-December, YotaPhone aims to change how people use their smartphones by bringing together a full-color LCD display on one side of the phone and an e-ink display on the other.

I caught up with Yota Device’s Vladislav Martynov at CES to give the phone a closer look.

[More from Mashable: 5 Chinese Tech Brands You’ll Be Hearing From in 2013]

In essence, the two displays on the handset each have their own unique purpose. The front display is used just as you might your traditional smartphone screen to run apps, browse the web or watch videos.

The rear display on the YotaPhone is what makes it stand out. An electronic paper display, it shows content you push to it from the front of the device. Less for interacting with and more for reference information, you can use the display for a map to your next destination, a clock, or a place to keep the boarding pass for your flight handy.

Martynov showed me a few applications designed specifically to use with the screen as well, including an app that shows low long you’ve kept a particular goal, such as not smoking. The company plans to release an API for other developers to make applications that take advantage of the dual-screen functionality as well.

Running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, Martynov says that he plans to keep Android as vanilla as possible, something he feels is very important. He also wants to make sure that the phone is on-par with high-end Android smartphones, spec-wise. The current iteration uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM 8960 platform, and Corning’s 3D Gorilla Glass. It’s also a multi-band LTE handset that can run on LTE networks anywhere in the world.

YotaPhone is expected to go one sale during the second half of 2013.

What uses do you see for an e-ink second screen? Let us know your thoughts in the comment.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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Justin Timberlake Returns with Hot New Single

By Kevin O'Donnell

01/14/2013 at 07:25 AM EST

What a comeback!

After announcing on Thursday his plans to return to music, Justin Timberlake has finally let fans hear what he's been cooking up in the studio: a new single titled "Suit & Tie," which he posted on his website Sunday night.

And if the news of his first song in years wasn't enough, the track – a funky, futuristic R&B number about hitting the dance floor with a special lady – also features a guest spot from Jay-Z.

Timberlake, 31, marked the release of "Suit & Tie" by posting an open letter to fans. And the singer says he'll release a new album this year – his first since 2006's FutureSex/Lovesounds. The title: The 20/20 Experience.

"Back in June of last year, I quietly started working on what is now, my next journey with the thing I love called MUSIC," he writes. "The inspiration for this really came out of the blue and to be honest, I didn't expect anything out of it."

"Suit & Tie" is available for download on iTunes now.

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Stock futures mixed as investors eye earnings, Apple

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures were mixed on Monday as investors faced a busy week of corporate earnings results, while Apple fell on concerns of decreased demand.

Shares of Apple slid more than 3 percent in premarket trade after a report that the tech giant has cut orders for LCD screens and other parts for the iPhone 5 this quarter due to weak demand. The stock was down 3.5 percent at $502.02.

Earnings season picks up the pace this week with reports expected from companies including Goldman Sachs , Bank of America , Intel and General Electric . Overall earnings are expected to grow by just 1.9 percent in this reporting period, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Transocean Ltd has disclosed that billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn has acquired a 1.56 percent stake in the offshore rig contractor and is looking to increase that holding. Its shares rose 3.2 percent to $55.80.

S&P 500 futures fell 0.9 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 3 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 9.25 points.

Boeing could come under renewed pressure after Japan's transport ministry launched an investigation into what caused two fuel leaks on a 787 Dreamliner jet owned by Japan Airlines Co 9201.

United Parcel Service Inc said it would drop its 5.2 billion euro ($7 billion) bid for Dutch delivery firm TNT Express on the expectation of an EU veto.

The U.S. economy is expected to grow by 2.5 percent in 2013, improving to 3.5 percent growth in 2014, top Fed official Charles Evans said on Monday.

Investors will also be watching a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, who will be speaking on monetary policy , recovery from the global financial crisis and long-term challenges facing the American economy at 4 p.m. (2100 GMT)

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)

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Thousands of Russians Rally Against Adoption Ban

MOSCOW – Thousands of Russians marched on Sunday in condemnation of the Russian Parliament’s move to ban adoption of Russian children by American families, an event dubbed a “March Against Scoundrels,” where participants chanted, “Take your hands off children,” and carried posters showing the faces of lawmakers stamped with the word “Shame.”

Marchers flooded tree-lined boulevards for many blocks on a bitterly cold day. The police estimated the turnout at 9,500; organizers said it was much larger, in the tens of thousands.

The sight gags and clever slogans of last year’s anti-government rallies were gone, and many participants had emotional answers for why they had come to march. Many questioned the moral principles of a ban on adoptions by Americans in a country with so many children in foster care or orphanages.

“Even I can’t afford to adopt, and I’m supposedly middle class,” Yekaterina Komissarova, 31, said, adding that perhaps this affected her so strongly because she is the mother of two children.

Marina Lukanova, a teacher, said many of her friends had tried to adopt children and found it nearly impossible. “What they found was endless bureaucracy – they fill out forms and nothing happens,” she said. “And now they have given up.”

President Vladimir V. Putin approved the adoption ban in late December, as part of a broader law retaliating against the United States for the so-called Magnitsky Act, an effort to punish Russian officials accused of human rights violations.

Russian leaders have complained bitterly for years about light sentences handed down in cases where American adoptive parents abused or neglected children adopted from Russia, and named the ban after Dmitri Yakovlev, a toddler who died of heatstroke in Virginia in 2008 after his adoptive father left him in a parked car for nine hours.

But the decision has proven divisive in Russia, even within government circles. More than 650,000 children live in foster care or orphanages in Russia, of whom about 120,000 are eligible for adoption. Many children in orphanages are sick or disabled, and most have little hope of finding permanent homes.

“The authorities thought we would do what we usually do – swallow it and be quiet. They did not expect such a reaction,” said Elena Rostova, 61, who attended the march. “But we had two weeks to consider what awaited these handicapped children.”

A series of high-ranking officials openly expressed their disagreement before the ban was enacted, and figures from the art and entertainment world have recorded emotional messages of dissent and published them on the Internet. Opposition groups have hoped that outrage sparked by the adoption ban would reinvigorate a Moscow-based protest movement that has sagged in recent months, as the government began to prosecute and impose tough sentences on street activists.

A poll released in December by the Public Opinion Foundation showed that 56 percent of Russians approved of the adoption ban. A top official from United Russia, Andrei Isayev, last week described Sunday’s protest as a “March of Child-Sellers,” and tried to refocus attention on the Magnitsky Act, which he described as a “public, demonstrative humiliation of the Russian Federation.”

“All the enemies of Russian sovereignty showed themselves the ardent supporters of American adoption,” Mr. Isayev wrote on a party Web site.

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