Decision on immunity for U.S. troops by year-end: Karzai

KABUL (Reuters) - A decision on immunity for U.S. troops staying in Afghanistan after the 2014 planned withdrawal will be made by the end of the year, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Monday.

"The issue of immunity is under discussion (and) it is going to take eight to nine months before we reach agreement," Karzai told a news conference in the capital, Kabul, after returning from meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington.

The Afghan government rejected an initial U.S. proposal regarding the question of immunity and a second round of negotiations will take place this year in Kabul, he said.

Those negotiations could involve Afghanistan's Loya Jirga, a "grand assembly" of political and community leaders convened for issues of national importance, he added.

When asked if security would deteriorate in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the NATO-led force, Karzai replied: "By no means... Afghanistan will be more secure and a better place."

The Obama administration has been considering a residual force of between 3,000 and 9,000 troops in Afghanistan to conduct counterterrorism operations while providing training and assistance for Afghan forces. But the administration said last week it did not rule out a complete withdrawal after 2014.

The United States is insisting on immunity from prosecution for any U.S. troops that remain.

(Reporting By Hamid Shalizi, writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman and Dylan Welch; Editng by Robert Birsel)

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Football: Ronaldo wants to see out contract at Real

MADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo says he wants to stay with Real Madrid until the end of his contract with the club.

The 27-year-old Portuguese striker's contract with Real runs out in June 2015 but Spanish media have reported that he is unhappy at the club and may leave at the end of the season.

The player has been linked to a move to Paris Saint-Germain or back to Manchester United.

"I want to see out my contract at Real Madrid: I'm very clear about that. After that, well, I don't know what will happen in the future," he said in an interview published on Fifa.com.

Ronaldo, who joined Real Madrid from Manchester United in 2009, said he still believes it is possible for the club to win La Liga despite falling 18 points behind leaders and arch-rivals Barcelona.

"We haven't started the championship very well for sure. We know that La Liga's an uphill struggle for us now, but nothing is impossible in football," he said.

"We're going to work hard, win games and see what happens. And of course, there's the Champions League and the Copa del Rey too. There's plenty for us to win this season."

Real Madrid are in third place in the Spanish league, four points behind second-placed Atletico Madrid and have dropped even further behind Barcelona after they were held to a 0-0 draw at lowly Osasuna on Saturday.

They looked a shadow of the team that romped to the Liga title last season.

Real Madrid will face Premier League leaders Manchester United in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 clash on February 13.

"No team's unbeatable, but when we're at our best we're a really good side. Manchester United have started the English championship race very well and are a long way ahead of the rest, but still, if we play the way we're capable of, we can beat them," Ronaldo said.

"To do that we need to pull together and play as a team, like we've done in so many matches before."

- AFP/fa

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Anonymous hacks MIT after Aaron Swartz's suicide

Anonymous' message on an MIT page (click for larger image).

(Credit:
Screenshot by Steven Musil/CNET)

Just hours after the Massachusetts Institute of Technology pledged an investigation into its role in events leading up to the suicide of Aaron Swartz, online hacktivist group Anonymous defaced the school's Web site.

Swartz, a Reddit cofounder who championed open access to documents on the Internet, committed suicide on Friday. The 26-year-old was arrested in July 2011 and accused of stealing 4 million documents from MIT and Jstor, an archive of scientific journals and academic papers. He faced $4 million in fines and more than 50 years in prison if convicted.

After MIT President L. Rafael Reif issued a statement this afternoon promising a "thorough analysis of MIT's involvement from the time that we first perceived unusual activity on our network in fall 2010 up to the present," Anonymous targeted at least two MIT Web sites. Lacking the loose-knit group's usual feisty language, the message posted on the Web site was a call for reform in the memory of the late Internet activist.

After calling the prosecution of Swartz "a grotesque miscarriage of justice" and "a distorted and perverse shadow of the justice that Aaron died fighting for," Anonymous outlined its list of goals under a section reservedly labeled "Our wishes:"

• We call for this tragedy to be a basis for reform of computer crime laws, and the overzealous prosecutors who use them.


• We call for this tragedy to be a basis for reform of copyright and intellectual property law, returning it to the proper principles of common good to the many, rather than private gain to the few.
  


• We call for this tragedy to be a basis for greater recognition of the oppression and injustices heaped daily by certain persons and institutions of authority upon anyone who dares to stand up and be counted for their beliefs, and for greater solidarity and mutual aid in response.


• We call for this tragedy to be a basis for a renewed and unwavering commitment to a free and unfettered internet, spared from censorship with equality of access and franchise for all.

CNET has contacted MIT for comment on the apparent hacking and will update this report when we learn more.

Critics of the prosecutors in the case say the feds were unfairly trying to make an example out of Swartz. "Aaron's death is not simply a personal tragedy," Swartz's family said in a statement released yesterday. "It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach. Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's office and at MIT contributed to his death."

CNET has also contacted the U.S. Attorney's office and will update this report when we hear back.

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Pittsburgh police shoot driver, mother during chase

PITTSBURGH Police say a man and woman are in serious condition after officers fired shots at their car during an early morning chase in Pittsburgh.

Police chief Nathan Harper told reporters Sunday that the driver ran a red light shortly after 1:30 a.m. Sunday in the Homestead neighborhood.

Pittsburgh told CBS Pittsburgh station KDKA officers tried to use road spikes to slow down the driver's vehicle, but he was able to avoid them

Harper said five off-duty officers shot at the car after it began driving into cars in the city's South Side area. He said the officers believed the use of deadly force was justified because the driver was using the vehicle as a weapon.

Harper said the car finally stopped when it rear-ended another vehicle. The 37-year-old driver and his passenger, identified as his mother, were hospitalized in serious condition.

Both were both hit by bullets, KDKA reports.

To see exclusive KDKA video of the incident, click at left.

Police told the station the scene was chaotic, since the incident happened around the time many of the South Side's bars were closing. Officers from several zones were called out to control the unruly crowd -- at one point, close to two dozen officers lined the perimeter of the scene.

One witness said he saw police officers shoot the driver through the window of the car after it crashed and claims police never told the driver to put his hands up or step out of the car.

"I had just left the bar on the South Side and I heard a car crash and I turn around and as I was turning, I heard two gun shots," the witness told KDKA. "And I looked and a police officer had ran and jumped right on top of a car and fired into the window of the vehicle that had just crashed four times, it was pop, pop, pop, pop and after that it was dead silence."

"All of a sudden, the cops came over, pushed everyone out of the way," he said. "There was lights, sirens coming from both directions. It was craziness, something I'd never seen before."

Harper said no weapons or drugs were found in the car.

Officials say the five officers who shot at the car are on administrative leave with pay.

The District Attorney is currently investigating the incident.

It's not clear where the man and his mother were hit, or what injuries they sustained.

However, one woman who witnessed the shooting from a nearby cafe says the man in the car was alive when authorities pulled him out, but was not moving his right arm. She also says the woman in the car was shot through the right eye. Police have yet to comment on the woman's account.

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Big Winners, Top Moments From the Golden Globes

Let's finally bury this idea that women can't be funny once and for all. Fey and Poehler were undeniably hilarious throughout the Globes, so much so that many fans on Twitter demanded more of them during the ceremony. From their opening bit -- Poehler: "Meryl Streep is not here tonight, she has the flu. And I hear she's amazing in it." -- to their pseudo drunk heckling of best TV comedy actress winner Lena Dunham, they were radiant, energetic, and above all, funny. More please.

Foster made her acceptance of the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award a coming out, of sorts. She first shocked the audience by leading them to think that she was about to make a huge public statement about her sexuality. Instead, she said she was single, adding "I already did my coming out in the stone age."

"Now, apparently, I'm told that every celebrity is expected to honor the details of their private life with a press conference ... You guys might be surprised, but I'm not Honey Boo Boo child," she said, to a flurry of laughter and applause.

"If you had been a public figure from the time that you were a toddler ... then maybe you too might value privacy above all else," she said. "Privacy."

But Foster did specifically thank her ex-partner Cydney Bernard, with whom she has two kids. Both boys gestured to her from the audience.

She also implied that she was retiring from acting when she said she would not be returning to the Globes stage or any stage. "It's just that from now on, I may be holding a different talking stick," Foster said, bringing many in the audience to tears.

But backstage, Foster clarified to reporters that she was not retiring from acting. "Oh that's so funny," she responded to reporters. "You couldn't drag me away. And I'd like to be directing tomorrow."

It takes a lot to make Hollywood star struck. Bill Clinton did it when he strutted on stage to introduce a clip of "Lincoln," which was up for best drama. He brought the crowd of A-listers to its feet and commended the 16th president. "We're all here tonight because he did it," he said of Lincoln's battle to end slavery.

If there was any doubt that Lena Dunham wasn't Hollywood's next big thing, it was obliterated Sunday night. The star and creator of HBO's "Girls" went home with two awards, best actress in a TV comedy and best TV comedy. Her heartfelt acceptance speech for best actress struck a chord: "This award is for everyone who feels like there wasn't a place for her," she said. "This show made a space for me."

Jessica Chastain won the Globe for best actress in a drama for "Zero Dark Thirty." She offered a moving tribute to director Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to win a best director Oscar who failed to get a nomination for that award this year, though "ZDT" was up for a slew of other awards, including best picture. "I can't help but compare my character of Maya to you," Chastain said to Bigelow. "When you make a film that allows your character to disobey the conventions of Hollywood, you've done more for women in cinema than you take credit for."

Blame it on nerves, the spirit of spontaneity, or the a-a-a-a-alcohol (apologies to Jamie Foxx), but Jennifer Lawrence's acceptance speech was a tad insulting to a Hollywood icon, if totally hilarious. "Oh what does it say?" she asked, looking at her trophy. "I beat Meryl." She meant Meryl Streep, who was also up for the award.

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France bombs Mali rebels as more troops arrive in Bamako

BAMAKO/PARIS (Reuters) - French fighter jets bombed Islamist rebels in Mali for a third day on Sunday as Paris poured more troops into the capital Bamako, awaiting the arrival of a West African force to dislodge al Qaeda-linked insurgents from the country's north.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France's dramatic intervention on Friday to bomb a convoy of heavily armed Islamist fighters sweeping southwards had stopped them from seizing Mali's capital Bamako within days.

Western countries fear Islamists could use Mali as a base for attacks on the West, forming a link with al Qaeda militants in Yemen, Somalia and North Africa.

Le Drian said former colonial power France was carrying out continuous bombing raids against the alliance of rebel groups, which seized the country's vast desert north in April.

"There are raids going on now: there were some last night, and there will be more tomorrow," Le Drian told French television. "The president is totally determined that we must eradicate these terrorists who threaten the security of Mali, our own country and Europe."

Residents said French aircraft bombed the northern town of Gao, and a Malian rebel spokesman said they bombed targets in the towns of Lere and Douentza.

Le Drian said France was deploying a further contingent of 80 soldiers to Mali on Sunday, bring the total to 550 soldiers , split between Bamako and the town of Mopti, some 500 km (300 miles) north. State-of-the-art Rafale fighter jets would be dispatched to reinforce the operation on Sunday, he said.

A Reuters cameraman reported seeing on Sunday more than 100 French troops disembarking from a military cargo plane at Bamako airport, just on the outskirts of the capital.

Bamako itself was calm on Sunday, with the sun streaking through the dust enveloping the city as the seasonal Harmattan wind blew from the Sahara. Some cars drove around with French flags draped from the windows to celebrate Paris's intervention.

Hours after opening one front against al Qaeda-linked Islamists, France mounted a commando raid to free a French hostage in Somalia held by al Shabaab militants allied to al Qaeda, but failed to stop him being killed along with a French commando.

A French pilot was killed on Friday when rebels in Mali shot down his helicopter.

President Francois Hollande has made it clear that France's aim in Mali is to support the deployment of a West African mission to retake the north, endorsed by the United Nations, the European Union and the United States.

The 15-nation West African bloc ECOWAS convened a summit for Saturday in Ivory Coast to discuss the military campaign.

With Paris pressing West African nations to deploy troops quickly, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, who holds the rotating ECOWAS chairmanship, has kick-started the operation to deploy some 3,300 African soldiers.

Ouattara was himself installed in power with French military backing in 2011 after a brief civil war triggered by former president Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to step aside after losing a late 2010 election.

"The troops will start arriving in Bamako today and tomorrow," Ali Coulibaly, Ivory Coast's African Integration Minister, said. "They will be convoyed to the front at Sevare."

HOUSE-TO-HOUSE SEARCHES

Under cover from French fighter planes and attack helicopters on Friday, Malian troops drove the Islamists out of the strategic central town of Konna, which they had seized a day earlier. A senior Malian army official said more than 100 rebel fighters had been killed.

Military analysts expressed doubt, however, that this was the start of a swift operation to retake the whole of northern Mali - a harsh, sparsely populated terrain the size of France - as neither equipment nor ground troops were ready.

In Nigeria, which will lead the ECOWAS force, a military official who asked not to be identified said it would take time to train and equip the troops.

In Konna, calm returned after three nights of combat.

"Soldiers are patrolling the streets and have encircled the town," one resident, Madame Coulibaly, told Reuters by phone. "They are searching houses for arms or hidden Islamists."

Another inhabitant said the army set up roadblocks along the route north from Sevare to Konna and was checking for rebels. President Diouncounda Traore declared a state of emergency on Friday giving the military sweeping powers to carry out searches and shut down parts of the country.

"The army is in Konna ... securing the town and to make sure it is safe," army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Diarran Kone said.

A resident in the northern city of Gao, one of the Islamists' strongholds, had reported scores of rebel fighters were retreating northward in pickup trucks on Saturday. In Bamako, some civilians tried to contribute to the war effort.

"We are very proud and relieved that the army was able to drive the jihadists out of Konna. We hope it will not end there that is why I'm helping in my own way," said civil servant Ibrahima Kalossi, 32, one of over 40 people who queued to donate blood for wounded soldiers.

Concerned about reprisals on French soil, Hollande instructed Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault to tighten security in France at public buildings and on public transport.

France advised its 6,000 citizens in Mali to leave. Thousands more French live across West Africa, particularly in Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Hollande's intervention in Mali could endanger eight French nationals being held by Islamists in the Sahara. A spokesman for one of Mali's rebel groups, Ansar Dine, said on Saturday there would be repercussions.

"There are consequences, not only for French hostages, but also for all French citizens, wherever they find themselves in the Muslim world," Sanda Ould Boumama told Reuters. "The hostages are facing death."

(Additional reporting Adama Diarra, Tiemoko Diallo and Rainer Schwenzfeier in Bamako, Joe Bavier in Abidjan and Leila Aboud in Paris; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Alison Williams)

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Greece 'past danger' but risks remain: PM

ATHENS: Greece has overcome the danger of an ignominious euro exit, but it must stay the course of tough reforms to avoid a "relapse", Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said on Sunday.

"I believe the great danger (of a euro exit) has passed," Samaras said in an interview with the To Vima weekly. "Drachmaphobia seems to have receded completely."

But Samaras, whose three-party government faces another reform hurdle in parliament next week, warned the nation: "There can be no letup in our effort, because there is the risk of a relapse."

The government last week pushed through parliament a tax bill introducing new annual income thresholds for salaried taxpayers and scrapping tax breaks for the self-employed, a category blamed for a large part of the tax evasion that has plagued state finances for decades.

On Monday, it will seek approval for another round of reform legislation tied to Greece's next slice of EU loans.

The opposition has condemned the measures as a new attack on the embattled middle class which is bearing the brunt of a fourth straight year of austerity.

Samaras' administration has been hit with several defections in the past few weeks in opposition to the continued austerity wave.

The coalition government has lost 16 deputies since coming to power in June, but still retains a nominal majority of 163 in the 300-seat parliament.

The latest umbrella bill introduces closer state budget monitoring and gives greater flexibility to banks to raise fresh capital. It also regulates civil service pay cuts and layoffs and finalises a state debt buyback.

European Union leaders last month agreed to hand out 49.1 billion euros ($65 billion) in aid in return for more austerity measures.

Athens has already received 34.3 billion euros of this package and is poised to get another 9.2 billion euros at the end of this month if key fiscal reforms are carried out, followed by two more slices of 2.8 billion euros in February and March.

European finance ministers are to meet on January 21 to decide whether to authorise the next payment.

The International Monetary Fund, which is participating in Greece's rescue, is also expected to decide this month whether to release its next share of the bailout, worth an additional 3.4 billion euros.

- AFP/fa

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JSTOR says it mourns `tragic loss' of Aaron Swartz

As the Internet exploded with anger over news that online activist Aaron Swartz had committed suicide on Friday, the subscription-only archive he was accused of hacking said late today that it "regretted" having been drawn to "this sad event."

Swartz, a celebrated computer activist and programming prodigy, was fighting two-year-old charges that he stole 4 million documents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and JSTOR, or Journal Storage, an archive of scientific journals and academic papers. If convicted, Swartz faced a maximum of $4 million in fines and more than 50 years in prison after the government increased the number of felony counts against Swartz to 13 from 4.

Federal authorities alleged that Swartz broke into computer networks at M.I.T. to illegally gain access to JSTOR's archive. But critics of the government said the Feds were unfairly trying to make an example out of Swartz. In a post today Prosecutor as bully legal scholar Larry Lessig wrote that "the government worked as hard as it could to characterize what Aaron did in the most extreme and absurd way."

Here is the text of the JSTOR release:

We are deeply saddened to hear the news about Aaron Swartz. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Aaron's family, friends, and everyone who loved, knew, and admired him. He was a truly gifted person who made important contributions to the development of the internet and the web from which we all benefit.

We have had inquiries about JSTOR's view of this sad event given the charges against Aaron and the trial scheduled for April. The case is one that we ourselves had regretted being drawn into from the outset, since JSTOR's mission is to foster widespread access to the world's body of scholarly knowledge. At the same time, as one of the largest archives of scholarly literature in the world, we must be careful stewards of the information entrusted to use by the owners and creators of that content. To that end.

Aaron returned the data he had in his possession and JSTOR settled any civil claims we might have had against him in June 2011. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service and a member of the internet community.l We will continue to work to distribute the content under our care as widely as possible while balancing the interests of researchers, students, libraries, and publishers as we pursue our commitment to the long-term preservation of this important scholarly literature. We join those who are mourning this tragic loss.

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Kaepernick delivers, 49ers beat Packers 45-31

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) runs for a 56-yard touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the third quarter of an NFC divisional playoff NFL football game in San Francisco, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. / AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

SAN FRANCISCO Colin Kaepernick ran for a quarterback playoff record 181 yards and two touchdowns and threw two scoring passes to Michael Crabtree in leading the San Francisco 49ers back to the NFC championship game with a 45-31 victory against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night.

Playoff first-timer Kaepernick outshined reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers, who never got in sync for the Packers (12-6) in finishing 26 of 39 for 257 yards with two touchdowns.

Kaepernick ran for scores of 20 and 56 yards on the way to topping the rushing mark of 119 yards held by Michael Vick. Crabtree caught TD passes of 12 and 20 yards in the second quarter and wound up with nine receptions and 119 yards for the Niners (12-4-1) in the NFC divisional matchup.

San Francisco had 579 total yards, 323 on the ground.

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious

Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right.

"He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and, the thing is: After he won the lottery and the next day later he passes away -- it's awkward. It raises some eyebrows."

The medical examiner initially ruled Urooj Khan, 46, an immigrant from India who owned dry-cleaning businesses in Chicago, died July 20, 2012, of natural causes. But after a family member demanded more tests, authorities in November found a lethal amount of cyanide in his blood, turning the case into a homicide investigation.

"When we found out there was cyanide in his blood after the extensive toxicology reports, we had to believe that ... somebody had to kill him," Minhaj Khan said. "It had to happen, because where can you get cyanide?"

In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners

Authorities could be one step closer to learning what happened to Urooj Khan. A judge Friday approved an order to exhume his body at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago as early as Thursday to perform further tests.

Lottery Winner Murdered: Widow Questioned By Police Watch Video

Moments after the court hearing, Urooj Khan's sister, Meraj Khan, remembered her brother as the kind of person who would've shared his jackpot with anyone. Speaking at the Cook County Courthouse, she hoped the exhumation would help the investigation.

"It's very hard because I wanted my brother to rest in peace, but then we have to have justice served," she said, according to ABC News station WLS in Chicago. "So if that's what it takes for him to bring justice and peace, then that's what needs to be done."

Khan reportedly did not have a will. With the investigation moving forward, his family is waging a legal fight against his widow, Shabana Ansari, 32, over more than $1 million, including Urooj Khan's lottery winnings, as well as his business and real estate holdings.

Khan's brother filed a petition Wednesday to a judge asking Citibank to release information about Khan's assets to "ultimately ensure" that [Khan's] minor daughter from a prior marriage "receives her proper share."

Ansari may have tried to cash the jackpot check after Khan's death, according to court documents, which also showed Urooj Khan's family is questioning if the couple was ever even legally married.

Ansari, Urooj Khan's second wife, who still works at the couple's dry cleaning business, has insisted they were married legally.

She has told reporters the night before her husband died, she cooked a traditional Indian meal for him and their family, including Khan's daughter and Ansari's father. Not feeling well, Khan retired early, Ansari told the Chicago Sun-Times, falling asleep in a chair, waking up in agony, then collapsing in the middle of the night. She said she called 911.

"It has been an incredibly hard time," she told ABC News earlier this week. "We went from being the happiest the day we got the check. It was the best sleep I've had. And then the next day, everything was gone.

"I am cooperating with the investigation," Ansari told ABC News. "I want the truth to come out."

Ansari has not been named a suspect, but her attorney, Steven Kozicki, said investigators did question her for more than four hours.

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