LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of the Church of England on Tuesday said a vote last month that struck down proposals to allow women to become bishops had been "deeply painful", but that Christianity was still relevant in Britain despite falling numbers of believers. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who leads the global 80-million-strong Anglican Communion, said in his Christmas day sermon that the answer to the question of whether Christianity had "had its day" was a "resounding no". The Church of England narrowly voted against allowing women bishops last month - to the dismay of Williams and Prime Minister David Cameron - in a move its leaders said risked undermining its role as the established church in society with clerics in parliament's upper chamber. The media, many politicians and some members of the public have criticised the Church of England for failing to allow women bishops and for failing to back government plans for gay marriage at a time when it is under pressure to modernise. In separate comments aired on Tuesday but recorded earlier, the Roman Catholic Church's leader in England and Wales, Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, said the government's plans to allow gay marriage were a "shambles" and had no mandate. No religious organisation or cleric will be forced to conduct gay weddings under the plans, but critics fear that clause could be challenged under European human rights laws. A census showed earlier this month that the number of people in England and Wales describing themselves as Christian has declined by 13 percent over the last decade, but Williams warned secularists not to become "too excited". "There are a lot more questions to ask before we could possibly assume that the census figures told us that faith was losing its hold on society," Williams said. "In the deeply painful aftermath of the synod's vote last month, what was startling was how many people who certainly wouldn't have said yes to the census question turned out to have a sort of investment in the church," he said. Williams, 62, is stepping down after 10 years in his post, and will be replaced next year by former oil executive Justin Welby. Williams has agonised over schisms in the Anglican Communion and has said he hopes his successor has "the constitution of an ox and the skin of a rhinoceros"

LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of the Church of England on Tuesday said a vote last month that struck down proposals to allow women to become bishops had been "deeply painful", but that Christianity was still relevant in Britain despite falling numbers of believers.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who leads the global 80-million-strong Anglican Communion, said in his Christmas day sermon that the answer to the question of whether Christianity had "had its day" was a "resounding no".
The Church of England narrowly voted against allowing women bishops last month - to the dismay of Williams and Prime Minister David Cameron - in a move its leaders said risked undermining its role as the established church in society with clerics in parliament's upper chamber.
The media, many politicians and some members of the public have criticised the Church of England for failing to allow women bishops and for failing to back government plans for gay marriage at a time when it is under pressure to modernise.
In separate comments aired on Tuesday but recorded earlier, the Roman Catholic Church's leader in England and Wales, Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, said the government's plans to allow gay marriage were a "shambles" and had no mandate.
No religious organisation or cleric will be forced to conduct gay weddings under the plans, but critics fear that clause could be challenged under European human rights laws.
A census showed earlier this month that the number of people in England and Wales describing themselves as Christian has declined by 13 percent over the last decade, but Williams warned secularists not to become "too excited".
"There are a lot more questions to ask before we could possibly assume that the census figures told us that faith was losing its hold on society," Williams said.
"In the deeply painful aftermath of the synod's vote last month, what was startling was how many people who certainly wouldn't have said yes to the census question turned out to have a sort of investment in the church," he said.
Williams, 62, is stepping down after 10 years in his post, and will be replaced next year by former oil executive Justin Welby.
Williams has agonised over schisms in the Anglican Communion and has said he hopes his successor has "the constitution of an ox and the skin of a rhinoceros"

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Archbishop of Canterbury says Anglican church wounded, not dead

LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of the Church of England on Tuesday said a vote last month that struck down proposals to allow women to become bishops had been "deeply painful", but that Christianity was still relevant in Britain despite falling numbers of believers.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who leads the global 80-million-strong Anglican Communion, said in his Christmas day sermon that the answer to the question of whether Christianity had "had its day" was a "resounding no".
The Church of England narrowly voted against allowing women bishops last month - to the dismay of Williams and Prime Minister David Cameron - in a move its leaders said risked undermining its role as the established church in society with clerics in parliament's upper chamber.
The media, many politicians and some members of the public have criticised the Church of England for failing to allow women bishops and for failing to back government plans for gay marriage at a time when it is under pressure to modernise.
In separate comments aired on Tuesday but recorded earlier, the Roman Catholic Church's leader in England and Wales, Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, said the government's plans to allow gay marriage were a "shambles" and had no mandate.
No religious organisation or cleric will be forced to conduct gay weddings under the plans, but critics fear that clause could be challenged under European human rights laws.
A census showed earlier this month that the number of people in England and Wales describing themselves as Christian has declined by 13 percent over the last decade, but Williams warned secularists not to become "too excited".
"There are a lot more questions to ask before we could possibly assume that the census figures told us that faith was losing its hold on society," Williams said.
"In the deeply painful aftermath of the synod's vote last month, what was startling was how many people who certainly wouldn't have said yes to the census question turned out to have a sort of investment in the church," he said.
Williams, 62, is stepping down after 10 years in his post, and will be replaced next year by former oil executive Justin Welby.
Williams has agonised over schisms in the Anglican Communion and has said he hopes his successor has "the constitution of an ox and the skin of a rhinoceros"

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Russian parliament considers anti-US adoption bill

 The upper chamber of Russia's parliament has unanimously voted in favor of a measure banning Americans from adopting Russian children.
It now goes to President Vladimir Putin to sign or turn down.
The bill is one part of a larger measure by lawmakers retaliating against a recently signed U.S. law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators.
Some top government officials, including the foreign minister, have spoken against the bill, arguing that it would be in violation of Russia's constitution and international obligations.
Several people protesting the bill were detained outside the Federation Council on Wednesday morning.
Critics of the bill say it victimizes orphans by depriving them of an opportunity to escape often-dismal Russian orphanages. There are about 740,000 children without parental custody in Russia.

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UK on track to hit 2020 green energy targets - DECC

The UK is on track to meet its 2020 renewable energy targets after low-carbon electricity generation grew more than a quarter in the year to end-June 2012, thanks largely to new solar and offshore wind projects, a government report said.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said renewable energy accounted for over 10 percent of total electricity supplied in the 12 months to end-June.
Renewable power output grew 27 percent from July 2011, according to the UK's latest Renewable Energy Roadmap status report released on Thursday.
"Renewable energy is increasingly powering the UK's grid, and the economy too," Energy Secretary Edward Davey, who heads DECC, said in a statement that accompanied the report.
"It's a fantastic achievement that more than 10 percent of our power now comes from renewables, given the point from which we started," he said.
Britain has a target to produce 15 percent of its energy, including electricity, heat and transport, from renewable sources by 2020 in a bid to cut climate-warming emissions.
This means that 30 percent of the UK's electricity must come from renewables by the end of the decade, the government said, with wind playing a leading role.
"Right now, getting new infrastructure investment into the economy is crucial to driving growth and supporting jobs across the country ... I am determined that we get ahead in the global race on renewables and build on the big-money investments we've seen this year," Davey said.
DECC has identified around 12.7 billion pounds ($20.6 billion) of confirmed and planned renewable investment by companies between April 1, 2011 and July 31, 2012, potentially creating around 22,800 jobs.
The department, which expects the growth in renewables to continue or accelerate, predicts the industry will support 400,000 direct jobs by 2020, up from around 110,000 jobs currently.
Government subsidies have played a key role in encouraging investment, however, and economic difficulties have put pressure on support schemes.
Government departments have reined in spending, though officials say the falling costs of the technology mean that less support is required to encourage take-up.
Offshore wind power capacity grew by 60 percent to 2.5 gigawatts (GW), while onshore wind grew by 24 percent to 5.3 GW, according to figures in the Renewable Energy Roadmap report.
Solar photovoltaics recorded the highest growth with an increase of five and a half times to 1.4 GW in capacity by the end of June 2012, the report said.
Industry group RenewableUK welcomed the findings of the report.
"The update is spot on. It highlights the sector's dynamic growth and the healthy pipeline of wind, wave and tidal projects to come," RenewableUK Deputy Chief Executive Maf Smith said.
"It's right to note that costs are falling steadily, so renewables will continue to offer even better value for money for all of us," he said, adding that it will help stabilise the price of energy.
In November, Britain set out plans to triple support for low-carbon power generation by 2020 in order to help replace ageing fossil fuel power plants with less polluting alternatives.
The outlay will be clawed back through higher energy bills.
Under the agreed Levy Control Framework, spending on low-carbon power generation will increase to 7.6 billion pounds a year in real terms by 2020, from the current 2.35 billion pounds, to reduce dependence on gas.

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Russian parliament endorses anti-US adoption bill

 Defying a storm of domestic and international criticism, Russia moved toward finalizing a ban on Americans adopting Russian children, as Parliament's upper house voted unanimously in favor of a measure that President Vladimir Putin has indicated he will sign into law.
The bill is widely seen as the Kremlin's retaliation against an American law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators. It comes as Putin takes an increasingly confrontational attitude toward the West, brushing aside concerns about a crackdown on dissent and democratic freedoms.
Dozens of Russian children close to being adopted by American families now will almost certainly be blocked from leaving the country. The law also cuts off the main international adoption route for Russian children stuck in often dismal orphanages: Tens of thousands of Russian youngsters have been adopted in the U.S. in the past 20 years. There are about 740,000 children without parental care in Russia, according to UNICEF.
All 143 members of the Federation Council present Wednesday voted to support the bill, which has sparked criticism from both the U.S. and Russian officials, activists and artists, who say it victimizes children by depriving them of the chance to escape the squalor of orphanage life. The vote comes days after Parliament's lower house overwhelmingly approved the ban.
The U.S. State Department said Wednesday it regretted the Russian parliament's decision.
"Since 1992, American families have welcomed more than 60,000 Russian children into their homes, providing them with an opportunity to grow up in a family environment," spokesman Patrick Ventrell said in a statement from Washington. "The bill passed by Russia's parliament would prevent many children from enjoying this opportunity ...
"It is misguided to link the fate of children to unrelated political considerations," he said.
Seven people with posters protesting the bill were detained outside the Council before Wednesday's vote. "Children get frozen in the Cold War," one poster read. Some 60 people rallied in St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city.
The bill is part of larger legislation by Putin-allied lawmakers retaliating against a recently signed U.S. law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators. Although Putin has not explicitly committed to signing the bill, he strongly defended it in a press conference last week as "a sufficient response" to the new U.S. law.
Originally Russia's lawmakers cobbled together a more or less a tit-for-tat response to the U.S. law, providing for travel sanctions and the seizure of financial assets in Russia of Americans determined to have violated the rights of Russians.
But it was expanded to include the adoption measure and call for a ban on any organizations that are engaged in political activities if they receive funding from U.S. citizens or are determined to be a threat to Russia's interests.
Russian children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov told the Interfax news agency that 46 children who were on the verge of being adopted by Americans would stay in Russia if the bill is approved — despite court rulings in some of these cases authorizing the adoptions.
The ombudsman supported the bill, saying that foreign adoptions discourage Russians from adopting children. "A foreigner who has paid for an adoption always gets a priority compared to potential Russian adoptive parents," Astakhov was quoted as saying. "A great country like Russia cannot sell its children."
Russian law allows foreigners to adopt only if a Russian family has not expressed interest in a child being considered for adoption.
Some top government officials, including the foreign minister, have spoken flatly against the adoption law, arguing that the measure would be in violation of Russia's constitution and international obligations.
But Senator Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the Council's foreign affairs committee, referred to the bill as "a natural and a long overdue response" to the U.S. legislation. "Children must be placed in Russian families, and this is a cornerstone issue for us," he said.
Margelov said that a bilateral Russian-U.S. agreement binds Russia to give notice of a halt to adoptions 12 months in advance. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies that the president would consider the bill within the next two weeks.
The measure has become one of the most debated topics in Russia.
By Tuesday, more than 100,000 Russians had signed an online petition urging the Kremlin to scrap the bill.
Over the weekend, dozens of Muscovites placed toys and lit candles in front of the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament after it approved the bill on Friday, but security guards promptly removed them. Opposition groups said they will rally against the bill on Jan. 13, and several popular artists publicly voiced their concern about the legislation.
While receiving a state award from Putin on Wednesday, film actor Konstantin Khabensky wore a badge saying "Children Are Beyond Politics." Veteran rock musician Andrey Makarevich called on Putin Monday to stop "killing children."
During a marathon Putin press conference Thursday, eight of the 60 questions the president answered focused on the bill. Responding angrily, Putin claimed that Americans routinely mistreat children from Russia.
The bill is named in honor of Dima Yakovlev, a Russian toddler who was adopted by Americans and then died in 2008 after his father left him in a car in broiling heat for hours. The father was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter. A Russian television report showed Yakovlev's blind grandmother who claimed that the U.S. family that adopted her grandson forged her signature on documents allowing them to take the boy outside Russia.
Russian lawmakers argue that by banning adoptions to the U.S. they would be protecting children and encouraging adoptions inside Russia.
In a measure of the virulent anti-U.S. sentiment that has gripped parts of Russian society, a few lawmakers went even further, claiming that some Russian children were adopted by Americans only to be used for organ transplants and become sex toys or cannon fodder for the U.S. Army.
Americans involved in adoption of Russian children find the new legislation upsetting.
Bill Blacquiere, president of New York City-based Bethany Christian Services, one of the largest adoption agencies in the U.S., said he hopes Putin won't sign the bill.
"It would be very sad for kids to grow up in orphanages," Blacquiere said. "And would hurt them socially, psychologically and mentally. We all know that caring for children in institutions is just not a very good thing."
Joyce Sterkel, who runs a Montana ranch for troubled children adopted abroad and has adopted three Russian children herself, said she is concerned for the estimated 700,000 children who live in state-run institutions in Russia.
"I would prefer that the Russians take care of their own children. I would prefer that people in the United States take care of their own children," Sterkel said Wednesday. "But if a suitable home cannot be found in that country, it seems reasonable that a child should be able to find a home outside.

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Modern Etiquette: A bit of netiquette will keep Christmas real

 Christmas is a convivial time of year when people get together for celebrations and conversation. It's all about human contact so it's important that you're discriminating about how you use your digital devices.
It's fine if they're used to facilitate get-togethers and spread seasonal cheer. But Christmas is a real, not a virtual event, so it's important to discard the phones, tablets and computers and enjoy festive celebrations in the real world.
Christmas cards are still an invaluable and personal way of keeping in touch with far-flung friends and relations.
In these straitened times, however, you might want to cut down the number of cards you send, so it's fine to explain to your nearest and dearest that you won't be sending them cards - a personalized seasonal message by text, phone call or email, sent out to individuals, is quite acceptable.
Avoid sending out generic e-cards. They're lazy and impersonal, and many people will find them lacking in Christmas spirit or just baffling.
If you're emailing instead of sending a Christmas card, make sure that you send out unique - and individual - messages to each of your recipients. Group emails, like round robins, are to be avoided.
It's fine to put general seasonal messages on social networking sites, but avoid posting compromising photos.
This is the time of year when we all let our hair down, but not everyone will appreciate the evidence being posted for all to see in cyberspace.
Don't get too carried away with seasonal cyber-cheer. Spamming your friends and followers with endless Christmas wishes and updates will soon get tedious.
Christmas Day is all about socializing with family and friends, and enjoying good food and good conversation. So don't spend the big day glued to your phone, rather than interacting with your family.
Ban all phones from the Christmas table.
Eating together is all about sociability and it's a real insult to the host and/or cook to be transfixed by your texts rather than the turkey and table talk.
Be a good digital host.
Technology is part of our everyday life and Christmas is no exception. If you have friends or family staying in your home, make sure that you have your WiFi password to hand. Offer them access to your network, and hope that everyone adheres to good festive netiquette.
Christmas is the perfect time to make a video call, but choose your timing carefully. Nobody wants to be talking to virtual visitors during lunch or present opening.
Remember the power of the written word.
If you are the lucky recipient of a generous present or lavish hospitality, then hand-writing a proper thank you letter is a much more elegant gesture than texting or emailing, and will be noted and appreciated. It is fine to email or text your thanks for small presents.
(This story has been refiled to fix dateline)
(Jo Bryant is an etiquette advisor and editor at Debrett's, the UK authority on etiquette and modern manners (www.debretts.com). Any opinions expressed are her own. Debrett's "Netiquette" is a definitive guide to digital dilemmas and outlines a code of manners for modern communication.)

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In Newtown, an anguished debate over gun rights, controls

Two days after a gunman opened fire in a Connecticut elementary school, killing 26 people, several dozen parents and children gathered in a circle at Newtown's public library to draw something positive from the town's sudden, tragic notoriety.
After several hours of anguished discussion about gun control, and of the responsibilities of parents and community members to prevent more bloodshed, Newtown United was born.
A Facebook and Twitter presence is on the way, and the group is already talking about meetings with elected officials and forming alliances with neighboring towns to push for such action as local automatic weapon bans.
"We have the benefit and the misfortune of being on the national stage right now," said Craig Mittleman, a 49-year-old father of four and an emergency physician. "In a week, everybody's going to be gone and Newtown is going to be just like Columbine, just like Virginia Tech. We're going to be on a list of towns victimized by this insanity."
The group's initial discussion took place as the emotional wounds from the massacre were still raw in this community. After 20-year-old Adam Lanza's mother was killed at their home, he drove 5 miles to Sandy Hook Elementary School, shot his way in and opened fire on staff and students, leaving 20 first-graders and six adults dead before killing himself.
Still, the purpose of the group is not entirely clear. More direct names like Newtown Against Guns and Act Now Newtown were rejected, and the group is also talking about simpler gestures, like building a memorial for the victims.
In Newtown, where it seems like everyone is connected in some way to Friday's massacre, an anguished debate has broken out: how to protect the rights of responsible gun owners, including hunters, while working to prevent another massacre.
Indeed, in this state with a long history of gun manufacturing but some of the strictest gun laws in the country, some residents say they are not ready to lay down their arms. Newtown itself has an active gun culture, residents say.
There is even a vocal minority that argues that if a school official had been armed, Friday's outcome might have been different.
"The gun is not the issue. If someone else there had a gun, maybe they could have stopped this," Benjamin Torres, owner of Betor Roofing in Danbury, said over breakfast at a Newtown diner. "The bad guys are going to get guns illegally anyway."
In the shooting's wake, the complexity of the issue was underscored by geography. Just up the street from Newtown's Reed Intermediate School, where volunteers had set up a grief counseling center, sits the headquarters of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, considered one of the nation's leading gun lobbies after the National Rifle Association.
A PLACE FOR RESTRICTIONS
New England, and specifically Connecticut, was once a center of gun-making. Colt's Patent Manufacturing Co was founded in Hartford, and Remington, Sturm Ruger and Co, and Savage Arms all have Connecticut roots.
The subject of guns took center stage almost immediately after the shooting. A local hunting club suspended outings to avoid tormenting grieving families with the sound of gunfire.
"We thought it would be rather disrespectful considering what they're going through," said Frank Hufner, president of the Newtown Fish and Game Club, which has some 300 members who fish and hunt in the heavily forested hills surrounding Newtown's Sandy Hook neighborhood, where the eponymous school sits.
At Shooters Pistol Range, a firing range in nearby New Milford, the owner said gun owners are being given a bad name, but he largely declined to answer questions.
"I live in that town. My children went to that school. This is not a time to make news," said the range's white-bearded owner, who declined to give his name. "Holiday season is a tough time to lose someone, especially kids, and I'm not going to add to their misery."
He also said he did not trust the press to accurately portray gun enthusiasts. "Many of us are college-educated. I myself have a masters' degree."
On Saturday afternoon at a Dick's Sporting Goods store in Danbury, shoppers milled about the hunting section.
One shopper, 19-year-old Peter Griffin from nearby Redding, said the shooting only strengthened his enthusiasm for guns because killers are more likely to go where there are no guns.
"Personally, I feel safer where there's guns. I don't want to go to any gun-free zones any more," said Griffin, an apprentice cabinet maker who owns three guns.
Newtown-area gun businesses say sales have picked up since President Barack Obama's election, as gun owners fear a crack-down.
"It's absolutely booming right now - anything about guns. People are scared out of their wildest dreams that the FBI is going to come and knock down their doors," said Sean Eldridge, owner of Parker Gunsmithing in nearby Bethel, who specializes in repairing and restoring guns.
TAKING LEADERSHIP
Len Strocchia, 46, who lives 10 houses down from the Lanzas, is no stranger to gun violence. His alma mater, Virginia Tech, was the site of a mass shooting in 2007. He also lost a high school classmate in the 1993 shooting on the Long Island Railroad in New York, which left six people dead and 19 others wounded.
"I'm disgusted that this mass murder took place with legally purchased firearms," said Strocchia, who attended the Newtown meeting with his daughter.
On Sunday, Tim Northrop, a 49-year-old Newtown resident whose next-door neighbor, Anne Marie Murphy, a mother of four, was among the teachers killed, sent letters to Connecticut's U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal and Senator-elect Chris Murphy.
"The people of your state have been assaulted and murdered. We demand that you take leadership in pursuing new gun control legislation," the letter said. "Be the leader that this country is sorely lacking. Have the courage to stand up for those kids that were murdered.

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Internet ayatollah: Iran's supreme leader "likes" Facebook

 Facebook - banned in Iran due to its use by activists to rally government opponents in 2009 - has an unlikely new member: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Launched a few days ago, the Facebook page "Khamenei.ir" displays photographs of the 73-year-old cleric alongside speeches and pronouncements by the man who wields ultimate power in the Islamic Republic.
While there are several other Facebook pages already devoted to Khamenei, the new one - whose number of "likes" quadrupled on Monday to over 1,000 - appeared to be officially authorized, rather than merely the work of admirers.
The page has been publicized by a Twitter account of the same name that Iran experts believe is run by Khamenei's office.
Both U.S-based social media sites are blocked in Iran by a wide-reaching government censor but they are still commonly used by millions of Iranians who use special software to get around the ban.
In 2009, social media were a vital tool for those Iranians who believed the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was rigged. Facebook was used to help organize street protests of a scale not seen since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
The protests - which the government said were fuelled by Iran's foreign enemies - were eventually stamped out by the security forces and their political figureheads remain under house arrest.
Khamenei's Facebook page has so far shared a picture of a young Khamenei alongside the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in the early 1960s.
It shares a similar tone, style and content with accounts devoted to disseminating Khamenei's message on Twitter and Instagram and to the website www.khamenei.ir, a sophisticated official website published in 13 languages.
Experts said the social media accounts showed that Iran, despite restricting access to such sites inside the country, was keen to use them to spread its world view to a global audience.
"Social media gives the regime leadership another medium of communication, one that can share their message with a younger and far more international demographic," said Afshon Ostovar, a Middle East analyst at CNA, a U.S.-based research organization.
Iran is locked in a decade-long dispute with the West over its nuclear program, which the U.S. and its allies suspect is aimed at developing a bomb, something Iran has repeatedly denied. Iran, the West and regional states are also often opposed on issues such as the violence raging in Syria and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Iranian authorities have said they are trying to build a national intranet, something skeptics say is a way to further control Iranians' access to the global web. Tehran tried to block Google Inc.'s email service this year but soon reopened access.

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Shine America, Jack Black's Electric Dynamite Producing Comedy Series for Yahoo

 Shine America and Jack Black's Electric Dynamite Productions have partnered to produce "Ghost Ghirls," a new comedy series that will debut in the Spring on Yahoo! Screen, the web giant's video portal.
Jeremy Konner, Amanda Lund and Maria Blasucci created the show, which stars Lund and Blasucci as a pair of hapless investigators on the hunt for paranormal activity. It has begun production on a first season of 12 episodes.
Konner, who directed Funny or Die's "Drunk History" videos, will direct and executive produce with Lund, Blasucci, Black and Priyanka Matoo of Electric Dynamite.
"‘Ghost Ghirls' is the funniest idea for a TV show that we've seen since I've been in the business," Black said in a statement. "Jeremy Konner is an electrifying director, and Amanda and Maria are dynamite comedic talents. I'm very proud to be associated with such a powerful project."
Konner, Lund and Blasucci pitched the show to Eletric Dyanmite, which then brought it to Shine America. Shine is funding it.
No numbers were disclosed, but it has "a very healty budget for a digital series," according to Vivi Zigler, president of Shine 360 and Digital for Shine America.
"This one is pretty broad comedy," Zigler told TheWrap. "There is physical comedy, there's some very funny situational comedy that occurs."
Yahoo also airs Shine's "Who Knew," a news-focused web series.
Black, whose production company is based in Shine America's office building, will make a cameo in the series. He has also recruited assorted friends and comedians like Molly Shannon and Jason Schwartzman to do the same.
"Once Jack starts calling his friends, we almost have a play happening at the set," Zigler said.

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As online voting begins, Oscars take extra steps not to leave voters behind

The Academy opened online voting for the first time in his history on Monday. But in the days leading up to the unprecedented move away from paper ballots, AMPAS also took measures to make sure that chunks of its membership aren't left on the sidelines by the digital revolution.
"We're trying to enfranchise as many members as possible," AMPAS COO Ric Robertson told TheWrap.
Months ago, the organization set up stations in the lobby of its Beverly Hills headquarters where members could register to vote electronically and also receive answers to questions about the process.
In November, the organization extended the deadline for voters to request paper ballots.
And in the week before that new December 14 deadline, AMPAS took an extra step that essentially made that deadline irrelevant. Academy officials, worried about the number of members who hadn't chosen either option, decided to mail paper ballots to every one of its 5,856 members whose dues were current but who hadn't signed up for the online-voting option.
"If you've paid your dues and you haven't registered to vote electronically, we're going to send you a paper ballot whether or not you've asked for one," said Robertson.
That final decision by AMPAS officials, he said, will make the percentage of potential nominating voters commensurate with what it has been in prior years, when all voters whose dues were paid automatically received paper ballots.
"Between those who registered to vote electronically and those who are receiving paper ballots, we're at a number that is similar to what we've had in the past," he said.
As for the breakdown in this first year of online voting, Robertson said that "the majority of voting members" have registered to cast their votes by computer.
The move to online voting, he added, is particularly important this year, when the deadline to return nominating ballots is January 3, two weeks earlier than usual.
"The voting period for nominations is essentially the holiday season," he said. "Whether you're vacationing in Hawaii or working in Mexico, it's now much easier to vote - and you don't have to worry about being out of town while your ballot is sitting in your mailbox back in West L.A."
Still, Robertson admits that not every AMPAS voter has embraced moving into the online age.
"We have some members who are not shy in any way about saying, 'I'm going to vote paper and I'm not changing,'" he said. "But I was really pleasantly surprised that the number of people who registered to vote electronically was higher than I anticipated."
Throughout the year, he added, the Academy has had focus groups with members to explain the online voting process. And though the Screen Actors Guild had its nominations leaked early last week through an error on its website, Robertson insists that the Academy is not worried.
"I am confident about it," he said. "We have taken extensive measures to make sure our system is secure and protected."
While in past years, PricewaterhouseCoopers partners have told TheWrap that a large number of members voted and returned their nominating ballots immediately after receiving them, Robertson said he doesn't expect a similar early rush this time.
"Most of our members are still trying to see the movies," he said. "I don't think too many people are going to be voting right away this year."

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Turkey lifts objection to NATO cooperation with Israel

Turkey has given approval for Israel to participate in non-military NATO activities in 2013, withdrawing an earlier objection driven by an ongoing dispute between the former regional allies, a Turkish official said on Monday.
Relations between Israel and what was once its only Muslim ally crumbled after Israeli marines stormed the Mavi Marmara aid ship in May 2010 to enforce a naval blockade of the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip and killed nine Turks in clashes with activists on board.
The rift has continued despite U.S. efforts to encourage a rapprochement between the two regional powers whose cooperation it needs to address changes sweeping the Middle East.
Turkey, a NATO member, refused to allow Israel to take part in an alliance summit last May because the Jewish state had not apologized for the 2010 killings and Ankara has objected to any increased cooperation.
While not a NATO member, Israel is part of the Mediterranean Dialogue, a NATO outreach program, along with six other non-NATO countries, and had previously participated in summits and training exercises.
Turkey will now agree to Israel taking part in some NATO activities next year but remains opposed to joint military exercises, the official said.
Once close allies, Israel and Turkey, which both border Syria, used to share intelligence information and conduct joint military exercises.
But after a U.N. report into the Mavi Marmara incident released in September last year largely exonerated the Jewish state, Turkey expelled Israel's ambassador and froze military cooperation.
That report was meant to foster a thaw between the countries but ultimately deepened the rift when it concluded Israel had used unreasonable force but that the blockade on Gaza was legal.
Turkey has demanded a formal apology, compensation for victims and the families of the dead and for the Gaza blockade to be lifted.
Israel has voiced "regret", short of the full apology demanded, and has offered to pay into what it called a "humanitarian fund" through which casualties and relatives could be compensated.

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Thousands sign U.S. petition to deport Piers Morgan over gun comments

 More than 48,000 people have signed a petition that they posted on the White House website demanding that British CNN talk show host Piers Morgan be deported over comments he made on air about gun control.
Morgan last week lambasted pro-gun guests on his show, after the December 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where a gunman shot dead 26 people, including 20 children.
"We demand that Mr. Morgan be deported immediately for his effort to undermine the Bill of Rights and for exploiting his position as a national network television host to stage attacks against the rights of American citizens," the petition said.
The petition, started on December 21 by a man identified as Kurt N. from Austin, Texas, accuses Morgan of subverting the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right to bear arms.
U.S. citizens can file a petition on the White House website, whitehouse.gov, if they collect at least 25,000 signatures within 30 days. The White House is then obliged to issue a response.
Morgan, 47, a former newspaper editor in London, shot back at his critics on Twitter. He repeated his past calls for the United States to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and conduct background checks on all gun purchases.
Five days after the Connecticut massacre, Morgan called a guest, Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners for America, an "idiot," "dangerous" and an "unbelievably stupid man" when Pratt argued that more guns were needed to combat crime in the United States.
"I don't care about a petition to deport me. I do care about poor NY firefighters murdered/injured with an assault weapon today. #GunControlNow," Morgan tweeted on Monday, referring to a shooting in New York that killed three people, including the gunman.
Christa Robinson, a CNN spokeswoman, said the network had no immediate comment on the petition.
Publicist Howard Bragman, vice chairman of Reputation.com, said the controversy will get Morgan attention that may translate into higher ratings and wouldn't harm his reputation.
"A lot of it comes from his being British, he's seen the differences between the U.S. and UK, he's passionate and authentic in taking this issue on, and it's probably only going to help him attract more people to his show," Bragman, told Reuters.

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Catholic Church urges Irish to oppose abortion law

The head of Ireland's Catholic Church urged followers in his Christmas Day message to lobby against government plans to legalize abortion.
Ireland, the only EU member state that currently outlaws the procedure, is preparing legislation that would allow limited access to abortion after the European Court of Human Rights criticized the current regime.
The death last month of an Indian woman who was denied an abortion of her dying foetus and later died of blood poisoning has intensified the debate around abortion, which remains a hugely divisive subject in the predominantly Catholic country.
"I hope that everyone who believes that the right to life is fundamental will make their voice heard in a reasonable, but forthright, way to their representatives," Cardinal Sean Brady said in a Christmas message on Tuesday.
"No government has the right to remove that right from an innocent person."
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, a regular Mass goer, is bringing in legislation that would allow a woman to have an abortion if her life was at risk from pregnancy.
The country's Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that abortion was permitted when a woman's life was at risk but successive governments have avoided legislating for it because it is so divisive.
The death of Savita Halappanavar, who repeatedly asked for an abortion while she was miscarrying in an Irish hospital, highlighted the lack of clarity in Irish law that leaves doctors in a legally risky position.
Halappanavar's death re-ignited the abortion debate and prompted large protests by groups both in favor of and against abortion.
Kenny and his conservative Fine Gael party have been criticized for tackling the abortion issue and some party members have indicated that they may not be able to back the law.
Relations between the Irish government and the once dominant Catholic Church are at an all-time low in the wake of years of clerical sex abuse scandals.
Kenny told parliament last year that the Vatican's handling of the scandals had been dominated by "elitism and narcissism" and accused it of trying to cover up the abuse. The speech prompted the Vatican to recall its ambassador, or nuncio, to Ireland.
Brady, who has faced calls this year to resign over accusations he failed to warn parents their children were being sexually abused, said in his Christmas message that he wanted relations with government to improve.
"My hope is that the year ahead will see the relationship between faith and public life in our country move beyond the sometimes negative, exaggerated caricatures of the past.

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Ambushed NY firemen shot dead; two police killed elsewhere

A gunman, who spent 17 years in prison for murder, ambushed and killed two volunteer firefighters and wounded two others on Monday near Rochester, New York, as they responded to a house fire he deliberately set, police said.
William Spengler, 62, shot and killed himself after a gunfight with a police officer in Webster, a Rochester suburb, Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering said.
"It was a trap set by Mr. Spengler, who laid in wait and shot first responders," Pickering told a news conference.
Separately, a police officer in Wisconsin and another in Texas were shot and killed on Monday, according to police and media reports.
The attacks on first responders came 10 days after one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history that left 20 students and six adults dead at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, and intensified the debate about gun control in the United States.
Spengler was convicted of manslaughter in 1981 for beating his 92-year-old grandmother to death with a hammer, according to New York State Department of Corrections records. After prison he spent eight years on parole.
"We don't have an easy reason" for the attack on the firefighters, Pickering said, "but just looking at the history ... obviously this was an individual with a lot of problems."
Spengler opened fire around 5:45 a.m. after two of the firefighters arrived at the house in a fire truck and two others responded in their own cars, Pickering said.
Pickering appeared to wipe tears from his eyes at an earlier news conference when he identified the dead firefighters as Lieutenant Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka. Chiapperini was also a police lieutenant.
The injured firefighters, one of whom was in critical condition, were identified as Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino. Off-duty Police Officer John Ritter was hit by gunfire as he drove past the scene.
Pickering said police had found several types of weapons, including a rifle used to shoot the firefighters. As a convicted felon it was illegal for Spengler to own guns.
Police had not had any contact with Spengler in the "recent past," Pickering said.
Four houses were destroyed by the fire and four were damaged, Pickering said.
COPS TARGETED
Police Officer Jennifer Sebena, 30, was found dead on Monday in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, suburb of Wauwatosa, police said.
Sebena was on patrol between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. and wearing body armor when she was shot several times, police said. She was found by another officer after she did not respond to calls from the police dispatcher.
In Houston, Texas, an officer with the Bellaire Police Department died after a shootout at around 9 a.m. and a bystander was also killed, according to local media reports.
A spokesperson for the Houston Police Department was not immediately available for comment. A police officer answering the telephone confirmed media reports but declined further comment. A suspect was in the hospital, according to reports.
Before Monday's killings, the Washington-based National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reported that 125 federal, state and local officers had died in the line of duty this year.
Forty-seven deaths were firearms-related, 50 were from traffic-related incidents, and 28 were from other causes, it said.

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Japan's policy veteran Motegi likely to serve as trade minister: media

Incoming Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is likely to pick policy veteran Toshimitsu Motegi as trade minister, who will also take charge of energy and other key economic policies, media reported on Tuesday.
Motegi, 57, a former policy affairs chief for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), will tackle energy problems after last year's Fukushima nuclear crisis, as well as issues such as the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pact, public broadcaster NHK said.
Motegi was a leading member of the LDP's panel tasked with drafting an economic revival plan aimed at tackling the strong yen, deflation and preventing Japanese firms from shifting overseas.
The LDP returned to power in the December 16 election for the lower house, calling for radical monetary easing and big spending on public works.
First elected to parliament in 1993 as a member of a small opposition party, Motegi joined the LDP shortly thereafter and has served posts including parliamentary vice-minister for the trade ministry and senior vice-minister for foreign affairs.
Motegi's formal appointment is likely to be made on December 26, when Abe is expected to be elected as prime minister in parliament and form a new cabinet.

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Analysis: Apple's swoon exposes risk lurking in mutual funds

The nearly 28 percent decline in shares of Apple Inc since mid-September isn't just painful to individual shareholders. It's also being felt by investors who chased hot mutual funds that loaded up on Apple as the stock raced to a record $705 per share.
Apple makes up 10 percent or more of assets in 117 out of the 1,119 funds that own its shares, according to data from Lipper, a Thomson Reuters company. Those big stakes have contributed positively to each fund's annual performance to date, with Apple still up about 32 percent for the year. It was trading at $527.73 soon after the opening on Friday.
But that year-to-date outcome may not accurately reflect the performance of the funds for individual investors. All told, approximately $4.5 billion has been added to funds with overweight stakes in Apple this year, according to Morningstar data. The majority of these dollars were invested after March and after Apple first exceeded $600 per share - meaning many investors have been riding down with the decline.
The $302 million Matthew 25 fund, for instance, holds 17.4 percent of its assets in Apple, according to Lipper. The fund's 31.9 percent gain through Thursday makes it one of the top performing funds for the year.
Most of its Apple shares were bought years ago at a bargain basement price of about $125 per share. But $158.9 million of the fund's assets - or 53 percent - were invested after the end of March, when Apple was trading near $615 per share, according to Morningstar data.
For those investors that bought after March, all that concentration in Apple hasn't led to a stellar gain but rather a drag on the portfolio. Someone who invested in Matthew 25 in early April has seen the value of the fund's Apple stake fall about 19 percent, while someone who invested at the beginning of September has watched that outsized Apple stake drop 27.2 percent.
In turn, the majority of the fund's investors have reaped a much more modest performance than its year-end numbers suggest. Since the end of March, the fund has gained 6.7 percent, according to Morningstar data, far less than its 31 percent year-to-date gain and about two percentage points more than the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index.
Since, September the fund is down nearly 3 percent through Thursday's close, compared with a 1.1 percent decline in the S&P 500 in that period.
The impact of Apple's falling stock price shows some of the drawbacks of portfolio concentration, experts say. These stakes can leave the funds overexposed to the ups and downs of one company - counter to what most mutual funds are supposed to do for investors.
"Any time you get over 10 percent of the portfolio in one company it's a red flag," said Michel Herbst, director of active fund research at Morningstar. Many fund managers do have risk management rules that prevent them from devoting more than 5 percent to 6 percent of their portfolio to any one stock, he said.
Then again, some funds purposely invest in just a few stocks. Mark Mulholland, the portfolio manager of the Matthew 25 fund, said that taking concentrated positions in companies is the only way to beat an index over longer periods of time.
'RIGHT-SIZING' PORTFOLIOS
Along with concerns about iPhone sales in China and tax-motivated selling among people who want to avoid potentially higher capital gains taxes in 2013, the wide fund ownership of Apple may be a factor in the size of the stock's recent declines, fund managers said. In addition, with so many funds already heavily invested in the high-priced stock, there may be fewer marginal buyers available to push prices up again when shares begin to dip.
"The stock didn't go from $700 to $520 because people didn't like the new iPad. It's become a favorite short of hedge funds because they know they can get in on this," said Mark Spellman, a portfolio manager of the $300 million Value Line Income and Growth fund with a small position in Apple.
Short interest in the stock rose to 20.6 million shares at the end of November from 15.1 million shares at the end of September, according to Nasdaq.
"Some of my competitors have 12 percent of their assets in Apple, which I think is ludicrous", said Spellman, who said the company is no longer trading on its fundamentals.
Sandy Villere, who has a 2.5 percent weighting of Apple in his $276 million Villere Balanced fund, said that some mutual fund managers are selling shares because of the over-weighting.
"Right now many people who did take huge overweight positions are right-sizing their portfolios to get it in line with their regular weightings," he said.
Still, some bullish investors see the stock's recent declines as a buying opportunity.
Mulholland, the Matthew 25 portfolio manager, continues to say that shares should be priced at over $1,000 per share based on his valuation of the company at 10 times enterprise value divided by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). Apple trades at about 7 times that figure now.
Wall Street analysts' average price target as of Thursday is $742.56, according to Thomson Reuters data. But Mulholland is happy to be more bullish than his peers.
"I'm glad that I'm able to get it at these prices," he said.

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EU charges Samsung with abusing vital telecoms patent

The European Commission charged Samsung Electronics on Friday with abusing its dominant position in seeking to bar rival Apple from using a patent deemed essential to mobile phone use.
The Commission sent a "statement of objections" to the South Korean group, with its preliminary view that Samsung was not acting fairly.
"Intellectual property rights are an important cornerstone of the single market. However, such rights should not be misused when they are essential to implement industry standards, which bring huge benefits to businesses and consumers alike," Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in statement.
Apple and Samsung, the world's top two smartphone makers, are locked in patent disputes in at least 10 countries as they vie to dominate the lucrative mobile market and win over customers with their latest gadgets.
The filing of competition objections is the latest step in the Commission's investigation. After notifying Samsung in writing, the company will have a chance to reply and request a hearing before regulators.
If the Commission then concludes that the firm has violated the rules, it could impose a fine of up to 10 percent of the electronics firm's total annual turnover.
Technology companies are increasingly turning to the European Commission as the European Union's competition authority, to resolve their disputes. The Commission is also investigating Google and Microsoft.
In the case of Samsung, its standard-essential patents (SEPs) relate to the EU's 3G UMTS standard. When this was adopted in Europe, Samsung committed to license the patents fairly to competitors, the Commission said.
However, it began seeking an injunction in 2011 in various EU member states against Apple's use of these patents. The Commission opened its investigation in January 2012.
Samsung said it was studying the Commission's statement. It said it would cooperate fully and "firmly defend ourselves against any misconceived allegations".
"Samsung is confident that, in due course, the Commission will conclude that we have acted in compliance with European Union competition laws

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Vatican says pope beats Justin Bieber on re-tweets

Pope Benedict, white-haired, 85, and a neophyte to social media site Twitter, has beaten out 18-year old heartthrob Justin Bieber to set a percentage record for re-tweeting by his followers, the Vatican said on Thursday.

The Vatican newspaper said that as of noon Italian time on Thursday the pope had 2.1 million followers on Twitter, eight days after his first tweet was sent.

While Canadian singer-songwriter Bieber has roughly 15 times as many followers - 31.7 million - the Vatican newspaper said Benedict had beaten Bieber on re-tweets.

It said about 50 percent of the pope's followers had re-tweeted his first tweet on December 12 while only 0.7 percent of Bieber's followers had re-tweeted one of the singer's most popular tweets on September 26, when he commented on the death by cancer of a six-year-old fan.

The Vatican said this was part of a wider trend in which people were looking for more spiritual content.

The pope already tweets in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Arabic. The newspaper said he will start tweeting in Latin and Chinese soon.

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Saudi website editor could face death for apostasy-rights group

The editor of a Saudi Arabian website could be sentenced to death after a judge cited him for apostasy and moved his case to a higher court, the monitoring group Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.
Raif Badawi, who started the Free Saudi Liberals website to discuss the role of religion in Saudi Arabia, was arrested in June, Human Rights Watch said.
Badawi had initially been charged with the less serious offence of insulting Islam through electronic channels, but at a December 17 hearing a judge referred him to a more senior court and recommended he be tried for apostasy, the monitoring group said.
Apostasy, the act of changing religious affiliation, carries an automatic death sentence in Saudi Arabia, along with crimes including blasphemy.
Badawi's website included articles that were critical of senior religious figures, the monitoring group said.
A spokesman for Saudi Arabia's Justice Ministry was not available to comment.
The world's top oil exporter follows the strict Wahhabi school of Islam and applies Islamic law, or sharia.
Judges base their decisions on their own interpretation of religious law rather than on a written legal code or on precedent.
King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's ruler, has pushed for reforms to the legal system, including improved training for judges and the introduction of precedent to standardize verdicts and make courts more transparent.
However, Saudi lawyers say that conservatives in the Justice Ministry and the judiciary have resisted implementing many of the changes that he announced in 2007.

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Sri Lanka arrests 100 Chinese for cyber fraud, police say

 Sri Lanka on Saturday arrested at least 100 Chinese nationals accused of an internet fraud scheme targeting people in their home country, a police spokesman said.
The accused, all in Sri Lanka on tourist visas, are suspected of hacking into computers in China and then demanding their owners transfer them money, police spokesman Prishantha Jayakodi told Reuters.
Chinese police requested help from Sri Lanka, he said.
Officials at the Chinese embassy in Colombo were not available for comment.
China has been the top lender to Sri Lanka since the end of a 25-year war in May 2009 and thousands of Chinese are working in the country on Chinese-funded infrastructure projects.

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Russia says it won't host Assad but others welcome

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's foreign minister says Moscow would welcome any country's offer of a safe haven to Syrian President Bashar Assad, but underlined that Moscow itself has no intention of giving him shelter if he steps down.
Russia has repeatedly used its veto right along with China at the U.N. Security Council to protect its old ally from international sanctions, but it has increasingly sought to distance itself from Assad.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters late Friday that countries in the region he wouldn't name publicly had asked Russia to convey their offer of a safe passage to Assad. He said that Russia responded by telling them to go directly to Assad: "We replied: 'What do we have to do with it? If you have such plans, you go straight to him.'"
Asked if Moscow could offer a refuge to Assad, Lavrov responded that "Russia has publicly said that it doesn't invite President Assad."
"If there is anyone willing to provide him guarantees, they are welcome!" Lavrov told reporters on board a plane returning from Brussels where he attended a Russia-EU summit. "We would be the first to cross ourselves and say: "Thank God, the carnage is over! If it indeed ends the carnage, which is far from certain."
Lavrov also said the Syrian government has pulled its chemical weapons together to one or two locations from several arsenals across the country to keep them safe amid the rebel onslaught.
"According to the information we have, as well as the data of the U.S. and European special services, the government is doing everything to secure it," he said. "The Syrian government has concentrated the stockpiles in one or two centers, unlike the past when they were scattered across the country."
U.S. intelligence says the regime may be readying chemical weapons and could be desperate enough to use them. Both Israel and the U.S. have also expressed concerns they could fall into militant hands if the regime crumbles.
Lavrov gave no indication that Moscow could change its opposition to sanctions against Assad. He assailed the West for failing to persuade the opposition to sit down for peace talks with the government, saying that "the Syrian president's head is more important for them than saving human lives."
Lavrov added that U.N. peace envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, would visit Moscow for talks before the year's end.
He said that Moscow has also invited the revamped Syrian opposition leadership to visit.
"We are ready to honestly explain that the emphasis on a military solution and the dismantling of the state institutions is disastrous for the country," he said. "Listen, there will be no winner in this war.

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Basic facts on Egypt's constitution referendum

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptians vote Saturday in the second round of a highly contentious referendum on a new constitution to replace the one suspended after the 2011 revolution. Here are some basic facts and figures on the vote.
— Saturday's vote takes place in 17 of Egypt's 27 provinces, with some 25 million people eligible to vote. Polls open at 8:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) and close at 7:00 p.m. (1700 GMT), although authorities often extend voting for several hours.
— Preliminary results will likely be known late Saturday or early Sunday, as observers compile results announced at each polling station. Official final results are not expected for several days afterward, but such preliminary results have proven accurate in past elections.
— In the first round, held on Dec. 15, preliminary results showed a low turnout of 32 percent, with 56 percent voting "yes" for the constitution in voting that took place in 10 provinces, including the two biggest cities Cairo and Alexandria.
— Among the areas voting is Cairo's twin city of Giza, capital of the province of the same name, Egypt's third most populated with nearly 4 million registered voters. Also voting will be Nile Delta provinces in which Islamists who back the charter enjoy large constituencies, such as Beheira with 3 million registered voters. The "no" vote could be stronger in the three Suez Canal cities — Port Said, Ismailia and Suez — and the Nile Delta province of Menoufia.
— The ballot paper has two options: "agree" in light blue circle or "don't agree" in brown circle.
— Rights groups and opposition filed complaints citing violations marring the vote, including attempts to suppress "no" voters. The main international group that monitored previous Egyptian votes, the Carter Center, is not deploying observers this time around. Egyptian law requires judges at each poll station to monitor. Despite a boycott by many judges, authorities say they have 7,000 judges to cover the 6,700 polling stations.

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Egyptian Islamists, opponents clash ahead of vote

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) — Violence erupted between Egypt's divided camps on Friday, the eve of the final round of a referendum on a constitution that has polarized the nation, as Islamists and their opponents pelted each other with stones while police fired tear gas in the streets of the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
The contentious referendum, which would bring a greater implementation of Islamic law to Egypt, is expected to be approved in Saturday's voting.
The new clashes — in which opponents of Islamists set fire to cars and dozens of people were hurt — illustrated how the new charter is unlikely to ease the violent conflict over the country's future. For a month, Egypt has been torn between Islamists and their opponents, who accuse President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood of trying to unilaterally impose their will on the country.
Meanwhile, Morsi was already gearing up for the next steps after the constitution's passage, making a last-minute appointment of 90 new members to the parliament's upper house, a third of its total membership. Current rules allow him to do so, but if he waited until the charter was passed he could only appoint 10.
The body is normally so toothless and ignored that few Egyptians bothered to vote in elections for it earlier this year, allowing an almost total sweep by the Brotherhood and other Islamists. But once the charter is passed, it will hold lawmaking powers until elections for a new lower house are held — not expected for several months.
Friday's appointments added to the tiny ranks of non-Islamists in the upper house, known as the Shura Council, but preserved the Islamists' overwhelming hold.
A spokesman for the main opposition umbrella National Salvation Front dismissed the appointments, accusing Morsi of setting up a token opposition much like ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak did.
"This council and this constitution will also fail as long as there is no real opposition and no real dialogue, and as long as Morsi is only serving his clan and taking orders from the head office of the Muslim Brotherhood," Hussein Abdel-Razek told The Associated Press.
For the past month, both sides have been bringing their supporters into the street for mass rallies sometimes numbering in the tens of thousands — and repeatedly erupting into clashes.
In part, Egypt's split has been over who will shape the country's path two years after Mubarak's ouster. An opposition made up of liberals, leftists, secular Egyptians and a swath of the public angered over Morsi's 6-month-old rule fear Islamists are creating a new Mubarak-style autocracy. They accuse the Brotherhood of monopolizing the levers of power and point to the draft charter, which Islamists on the Constituent Assembly rammed through despite a boycott by liberal and secular members.
Morsi's allies say the opposition is trying to use the streets to overturn their victories at the ballot box over the past two years. They also accuse the opposition of carrying out a conspiracy by former members of Mubarak's regime to regain power.
Intertwined with that is a fight over Islam's role in the state. Many Islamists vow to defend God's law, and clerics have depicted opponents as infidels. The constitution would give broad leeway for hard-liners to implement Islamic Shariah law, making civil liberties and rights of women subordinate to a more literal version of Islamic law. It also gives clerics a say in legislation for the first time to ensure parliament adheres to Shariah.
Passage of the charter will do little to resolve the confrontation — particularly if it is approved by a low margin with little turnout. The first round of voting took place Dec. 15 in 10 of Egypt's 27 provinces, and preliminary results showed a meager 32 percent turnout, leading to a 56 percent "yes" vote.
Voting Saturday will take place in the remaining 17 provinces. Preliminary results are likely to be known late Saturday or early Sunday.
Top opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei urged the public to vote "no," saying, "We know if this constitution is passed, there will be no stability."
"This is not the road for stability or democracy," he said in a speech aired Thursday night. "When 45 percent of people say 'no,' it is a strong indication. Some don't read or write, but they are conscious that they should not be tricked."
The violence in Alexandria was a sign of how the conflict has moved beyond the issue of the constitution, to the deep resentments between the two camps.
Riot police swung batons and fired volleys of tear gas to separate stone-throwing Brotherhood members and ultraconservative Salafis on one side, and youthful secular protesters on the other.
The clashes started when the two groups met just after Friday prayers at the city's main Qaed Ibrahim mosque, by the coastal promenade. Throngs of Salafi Islamists, most wearing the long beards favored by the movement, had gathered there for what they called "a rally to defend clerics and mosques." Waving black Islamic banners, some chanted "God is Great!" and warned opponents: "With blood and soul, we redeem Islam."
It was unclear who started the fight. During the battles, secular youths set fire to two buses and two cars belonging to Islamists, sending thick black smoke through the upscale city center. Under a heavy cloud of tear gas, the two sides pulled back, but then continued fighting for hours past dusk along the corniche, near the famed Alexandria Library.
At least 42 people were treated for injuries, with some rushed to the hospital, a city health official said.
The Islamists' rally was called in response to violence last week, when a well-known Salafi cleric in Alexandria, Sheik Ahmed el-Mahalawi, was trapped inside a mosque for 12 hours while his supporters battled stone-throwing opponents outside with swords and firebombs.
El-Mahalawi, 87, had stirred anger with a sermon in which he denounced opponents of the draft charter as "followers of heretics."
In a further sign of the tensions opened up by the crisis, the Brotherhood in Alexandria accused the security forces of conspiring with "thugs" loyal to ElBaradei's Dustour Party and other liberal groups that it claimed attacked the Islamists in Alexandria.
"There was clear collusion by the security forces, which did nothing (to stop the attackers)," said Anas al-Qadi, a Brotherhood spokesman in Alexandria, according to the website of the Brotherhood's political party.
"In whose interest are the Interior Ministry and the governorate's security director working?"
Egypt's security forces have been divided by the country's turmoil, with some police in the streets showing support for anti-Morsi protesters, while others are believed to be backing the president. The crisis' worst violence came on Dec. 5, when Brotherhood supporters attacked an opposition sit-in outside the presidential palace in Cairo, and the ensuing violence left at least 10 dead and hundreds injured on both sides.

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Key events in Egypt's revolution and transition

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptians are voting Saturday in the second round of a referendum on disputed draft constitution that has polarized the country and plunged it into its worst crisis since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in last year's uprising.
The referendum and draft charter have pitted supporters of the Islamist Morsi against liberal parties, youth groups, Christians and a large group of moderate Muslims who fear the new document enshrines too big a role for Islam and undermines freedoms of expression, gender equality and rights of minorities.
The new crisis means that the political instability that followed Mubarak's February 2011 overthrow will likely continue.
Here are some key events from 23 months of turmoil and transition.
Jan. 25, 2011 — Egyptians hold nationwide demonstrations against the authoritarian rule of Mubarak, who has led the country for nearly three decades, protesting against police brutality and demanding social justice.
Jan. 26 — A large security force moves into Cairo's Tahrir Square, beating and arresting protesters, using rubber bullets and tear gas. Three protesters are killed in similar protests outside of Cairo — among the first of what will become about 900 dead from clashes during the uprising.
Jan. 28 — Protesters burn down the ruling party's headquarters and the military is deployed. Police virtually vanish from Egypt's streets, leading to a wave of looting, robbery and arson. Protesters occupy Tahrir square for a prolonged sit-in.
Feb. 11 — Mubarak steps down and turns power over to the military. Two days later the body of top generals, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, dissolves parliament and suspends the constitution, meeting two key demands of protesters.
March 19 — Egyptians cast their first vote on constitutional amendments sponsored by the ruling military which set the timeline for the country's transition to democracy, including the first parliamentary and presidential elections.
Nov. 28 — Voting begins in Egypt's first parliamentary elections since Mubarak's ouster. The election is held over a period of several weeks and concludes in January with nearly half the seats won by the previously banned Muslim Brotherhood.
April 20, 2012 — The presidential campaign officially begins. A first round of voting on May 23-24 determines that Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under Mubarak, will face each other in a runoff.
June 14 — The Supreme Constitutional Court rules to dissolve the Islamist-dominated lower house of parliament on grounds that a third of the chamber members were elected illegally. The military swiftly closes down parliament.
June 16-17 — Egyptians vote in the runoff between Morsi and Shafiq. The generals issue a "constitutional declaration" giving them sweeping authority to maintain their grip on power and limiting the powers of the president.
June 24 — Election officials declare Morsi the winner of Egypt's first free election, with 51.7 percent of the vote.
June 29 — Morsi, now president-elect, delivers a rousing speech in Tahrir Square, vowing to fight on behalf of the people and to restore powers the generals have taken away from him.
June 30 — Morsi takes his formal oath before the Supreme Constitutional Court. A day earlier he had read a symbolic oath in Tahrir Square, the birthplace of the revolution.
July 8 — Morsi issues a surprise decree overruling the court's dissolution of parliament and challenging the generals.
July 9 — Parliament convenes in defiance of the court ruling disbanding it. In a short session it approves a new law that effectively places the panel tasked with writing the country's new constitution above judicial review.
Aug. 12 — In a bold move, Morsi orders the retirement of the head of the ruling military council, longtime defense minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and his chief of staff. He also cancels the military-declared constitutional amendments that gave the top generals wide powers and undermined his authority. The move was seen as way to curb the military's role in political affairs but it also gave Morsi the power to legislate in the absence of parliament.
Nov. 19 — Several members of liberal parties and representatives of Egypt's churches announce their withdrawal from the 100-member constituent assembly tasked with writing Egypt's constitution, protesting what they said were attempts to impose ultraconservative Islamist content.
Nov. 21- Morsi negotiates a cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel, after an 8-day conflict that threatened to widen into an Israeli ground operation into the Gaza Strip. It was a major diplomatic triumph for Morsi, establishing his role as a regional player with sway over the militant group Hamas, and influence with Israel and the U.S.
Nov. 22 — In a surprise move, Morsi unilaterally decreed greater authorities for himself, giving the presidency, the panel writing the constitution and the upper house of parliament, both dominated by Islamists, immunity from judicial oversight. The move came just ahead of court decisions that could have dissolved the bodies.
Nov. 23 — Days of protests follow Morsi's decrees, which were perceived as a power grab. Clashes between pro- and anti-Morsi supporters also erupted, and the offices of the Muslim Brotherhood were attacked in different governorates.
Nov. 24 — Judges push back against Morsi's decrees, calling them an "unprecedented assault." Many courts begin an open-ended strike.
Nov. 26 — Morsi meets with judges to tell them he doesn't intend to infringe on their authority. He does not back down from his decree, however.
Nov. 27 — The opposition holds the largest rally to date against Islamists in Tahrir square. More than 200,000 people pack the square, chanting that Morsi should "leave." Clashes between the president's supporters and opponents break out in other governorates.
Nov. 30 — In a marathon session overnight, the Islamist-dominated panel writing the constitution rushes the draft through, seeking to preempt the court ruling that could dissolve the panel. The move renewed mass protests.
Dec. 1 — Despite the protests, Morsi sets the referendum date for the disputed charter for Dec. 15. Hundreds of Islamist protesters besiege the Supreme Constitutional Court, a day before it is set to rule on the legality of the panel that drafted the constitution.
Dec. 2 — The Islamist protest outside the Supreme Constitutional Court leads it to cancel its ruling on the legality of the constitutional panel and declare an open-ended strike, calling it the "blackest day" in the history of Egypt's judiciary.
Dec. 4 — More than 100,000 protesters march on the presidential palace, demanding the cancellation of the referendum on the constitution and the writing of a new one.
Dec. 5 — Supporters of Morsi attack a sit-in outside the presidential palace in clashes that last through the night. At least 10 die in the fighting.
Dec. 6 — Morsi refuses to call off the referendum, calling for a national dialogue in an address to the nation. The opposition rejects the call, saying it was not serious since Morsi refused to rescind any of his recent moves.
Dec. 8 — Morsi cancels the decrees that gave him immunity from judicial oversight but keeps the referendum on time. Opposition vows to continue protests.
Dec. 12 — Opposition calls on its supporters to vote no in the referendum. Pro- and anti-constitution demonstrations continue.
Dec. 15 — Around a third of the 25 million voters eligible for the first leg of the constitutional referendum cast ballots, despite the judges' boycott. Unofficial results show that 56 percent voted "yes" for the draft constitution.
Dec. 16 — Egypt's rights groups say the constitutional referendum was marred by widespread violations.
Dec. 18 — Prosecutor General Talaat Abdullah submits his resignation just a month after Morsi appointed him, following a sit-in by fellow prosecutors who accused him of pressuring a judge not to release some 130 anti-Morsi protesters from detention.
Dec. 19 — Top elections official Zaghloul el-Balshi resigns, citing medical problem.
Dec. 20 — Prosecutor General Talaat Abdaullah withdraws his resignation.
Dec. 21 — Islamists hold massive rally in the country's second largest city of Alexandria to show solidarity with religious clerics.
Dec. 22 — More than 25 million Egyptians eligible to vote will head to polling stations in 17 provinces to cast their ballots in the second round.

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Syrian rebels step up attacks on strategic sites

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's rebels stepped up attacks on strategic sites including a sprawling military complex in the country's north on Friday, while reports emerged that President Bashar Assad's forces continued to fire Scud missiles at rebel areas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told European leaders that Russia does not seek to protect Assad but that only a negotiated solution can end the conflict — an outcome that looks unlikely as rebels make gains across the country.
While few observers expect Syria's 21-month-old conflict to end soon, most say steady rebel advances appear to be tipping the balance in favor of those fighting to topple Assad's regime.
Anti-regime activists reported rebel attacks on strategic government sites in northern Syria on Friday, showing rebel efforts to cut government supply lines, free up roads and seize arms from government bases.
Near the northern city of Aleppo, rebels clashed with government forces at a sprawling military complex by the town of Al-Safira, activists said.
An activist in the town said the complex contains military factories, a scientific research center that produces chemical weapons as well as an air defense and an artillery base.
Rebels seized the artillery base earlier this week and have been trying to seize the air defense base, said Hussein, who gave only his first name for fear of retribution.
The town's proximity to the facilities has cost it dearly, he said. Government airstrikes often target civilian areas, and more than two-thirds of the town's residents have fled, fearing the regime will use chemical weapons.
"We are scared that they will be blown up or that the regime will use them in revenge on the town," he added.
Bilal Saab, head of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, confirmed that the Al-Safira complex houses a chemical weapons production facility but said it is unclear if such weapons have been stored there ready for use, or if rebels would even be able to use such weapons.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said seven rebels were killed in clashes in the area on Friday. It said nearly two dozen more died in a government airstrike earlier this week after they captured a military warehouse.
Activists also said rebels had launched attacks on a number of military targets near the central city of Hama.
Activist Mousab Alhamadee said rebels had seized five army posts in the last two days near the town of Morek, which straddles the country's primary north-south highway north of Hama. Only one army tank battalion remains in the town's immediate area, he said, giving the area's rebels much more freedom to move.
"The regime is losing a complete geographic area," he said.
Syria's conflict started with political protests in March 2011 and has since evolved into a full-scale civil war, with rebel brigades across the country fighting Assad's troops.
The government says the rebels are terrorists backed by foreign powers that seek to destroy the country. It does not give death tolls, although anti-regime activists say more than 40,000 have been killed.
International diplomacy has failed to slow the conflict.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country does not seek to preserve Assad's rule but wants a "democratic regime in Syria based on the expression of people's will" — an outcome he said can only come through negotiations.
"We aren't a defender of the current Syrian leadership," Putin told European leaders in Brussels.
Throughout the conflict, Russia has been one of Assad's greatest backers, selling him arms and, along with China, protecting Syria from censure by the U.N. Security Council.
But Russian officials have recently distanced themselves from Assad's regime, suggesting they are resigned to his potential ouster.
Also Friday, NATO's top official said that Syria has continued to target rebel areas with Scud-type missiles.
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmusen called the attacks "acts of a desperate regime approaching collapse."
U.S. and NATO officials first reported Syria's use of Scud missiles one week ago, prompting a swift denial from the Syrian government.
NATO agreed earlier this month to deploy Patriot anti-missile systems along Syria's northern border with Turkey — a move Fogh Rasmussen said was justified by the new attacks.
One of the Scuds apparently hit the rebel town of Marea, near Aleppo.
An activist in the town who goes by the name Abu al-Hassan said Friday he was awoken the day before by the largest explosion he'd ever heard in the town, a frequent target of regime airstrikes.
"It shook the house and my kids came running in saying, 'Daddy, daddy!'" he said. "They were terrified."
Al-Hassan said the missile fell in a field, causing no casualties.
Videos purporting to show the impact site showed a crater some six meters (yards) deep in a green field. They appeared genuine and corresponded with other AP reporting on the incident.
Also Friday, a prominent news anchor from Syrian state TV said he had defected after being repeatedly interrogated by the country's intelligence services.
Speaking from an undisclosed location outside of Syria, Ahmad Fakhouri told Al-Arabiya TV that he'd fled the country eight months ago with rebel help.
"I look forward for the day when Syria will be free and I can return to my country to do my job," he said.
Syrian TV's head office in Damascus told The Associated Press that Fakhouri had left the station to work for state-run radio.
An official at the radio station said Fakhouri was on vacation.

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