Football: Madrid slump at Betis as title hopes suffer

MADRID: Real Madrid suffered a major setback to their Spanish title hopes when they slumped to a 1-0 defeat at Real Betis on Saturday, handing Barcelona the opportunity to open an 11-point gap over their bitter rivals on Sunday.

Jose Mourinho's side remain eight points behind leaders Barcelona and five off city rivals Atletico who they host in the Madrid derby next Saturday.

Betis midfielder Benat Etxebarria's third goal of the season decided the game on Saturday.

All of his goals have been hit from outside the area, and he proved once again why Vicente del Bosque has been including him in recent Spain squads.

For Betis, the result comes on the back of a disappointing 5-1 defeat to their local rivals Sevilla last Sunday and puts them four points behind Madrid in fifth.

"I try to be fair when my team lose and not look for excuses but it's obvious that the side that plays Wednesday (in the Champions League) should not play on Saturday," said Mourinho.

"It's true that other sides have a control over the calendar that we do not have, but I congratulate Betis who played a great game from start to finish."

Cristiano Ronaldo fired in two shots in the opening exchanges.

However, neither side had taken charge of the game when Benat hit what was to be the winner on 17 minutes.

Betis had played the ball into the corner only for Angel Di Maria to badly hook a clearance that the little midfielder controlled before evading the challenge of Sami Khedira to fire a drive past Iker Casillas.

Madrid continued to enjoy more of the possession and Di Maria twice went close to making amends for his mistake.

When Ronaldo crossed from the left the Argentinian was inches from levelling the game and moments later a Chechu Dorado block looped his goal bound shot over the bar.

Mourinho made two changes at half-time, as he has done on a number of occasions this season.

Luka Modric and Kaka replaced Khedira and Mesut Ozil as the Portuguese coach searched for more urgency going forward.

They started brightly with more purpose and Ronaldo and Kaka forced good saves from Adrian in the Betis goal.

At the other end Juan Carlos hit a venomous free-kick just over the bar.

Then Mourinho made an early last throw of the dice, replacing Di Maria with Jose Callejon on 62 minutes.

Madrid pressed in search of an equaliser leaving spaces that Betis were clever enough to expose and Salva Sevilla and Ruben Castro went close for the home side.

Adrian stood firm again to tip over a whipped free-kick from Ronaldo as Madrid's challenge uncharacteristically fizzled out on a night to forget for Mourinho's side.

Malaga thrashed rivals Valencia 4-0 to move behind Madrid into fourth, level on 22 points with Betis.

Francisco Portillo fired the Costa del Sol side into an early lead on eight minutes and Javier Saviola should have doubled the lead before half-time when put through on goal only to slice his shot wide.

The Argentine made up for that miss by doubling the lead on 75 minutes. Roque Santa Cruz hit a third 10 minutes from time before Isco rounded off a brilliant Malaga performance with a crisply struck shot.

Both teams qualified for the knock-out stages of the Champions League in midweek, but this win puts Malaga four points ahead of Valencia in the fight to qualify for next season's competition.

Also on Saturday there were home wins for Rayo Vallecano and Valladolid over Mallorca and Granada respectively.

Brazilian striker Leo Baptistao was the star for Rayo breaking the deadlock with a low drive on 87 minutes before turning provider two minutes later for Andrija Delibasic.

Former Manchester United striker Manucho powered home his fourth goal of the season with a second-half winner for Valladolid, making it four league goals for the Angolan this season.

On Sunday, Barcelona travel to Levante while Atletico Madrid welcome Sevilla.

-AFP/ac

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia (AP) — They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.

Many patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk Ruit. During eight days, more than 1,400 cataracts were removed.

The patients camped out, sleeping side-by-side on military cots, eating donated food while fire trucks supplied water for showers and toilets. Many who had given up hope of seeing again left smiling after their bandages were removed.

"I've been blind for three years, and it's really bad," said Arlita Tobing, 65, whose sight was restored after the surgery. "I worked on someone's farm, but I couldn't work anymore."

Indonesia has one of the highest rates of blindness in the world, making it a target country for Ruit who travels throughout the developing world holding free mass eye camps while training doctors to perform the simple, stitch-free procedure he pioneered. He often visits hard-to-reach remote areas where health care is scarce and patients are poor. He believes that by teaching doctors how to perform his method of cataract removal, the rate of blindness can be reduced worldwide.

Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness globally, affecting about 20 million people who mostly live in poor countries, according to the World Health Organization.

"We get only one life, and that life is very short. I am blessed by God to have this opportunity," said Ruit, who runs the Tilganga Eye Center in Katmandu, Nepal. "The most important of that is training, taking the idea to other people."

During the recent camps, Ruit trained six doctors from Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.

Here, in images, are scenes from the mobile eye camps:

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Sandy-Hit Stores Seek Small Business Saturday Boost

Nov 24, 2012 3:35pm

                                                                                      (Image Credit: Associated Press)

Superstorm Sandy delivered a one-two punch on small businesses, creating millions of dollars in damage and in turn, delivering a debilitating blow to their revenue.

But on Small Business Saturday, when  shoppers are encouraged to support local businesses,  those mom-and-pop stores are hoping for a rebound.

Donna Scofield and her family have sold toys at their Manhattan shop, called Stationery & Toy World, for the past 25 years. Although the store is located on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where the storm did little damage, $500,000 of Scofield’s inventory, which she kept in her home and three Staten Island warehouses, was destroyed.

“Some days are easier than others,” she told ABC New York station WABC-TV last week. “We’re taking each day at a time.”

PHOTOS: Superstorm Sandy’s Wide Swath of Destruction

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today that more than $45 million in loans, grants and financial assistance would be made available to businesses like Scofield’s that were hurt by the storm.

“Getting New York City small businesses back on their feet is key to helping our economy recover from Sandy,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “The capital provided through this program will help businesses purchase supplies, make repairs, and get back up and running.”

Small Business Saturday, which is going on its third year, is being celebrated nationwide.

Andrea Evans, the owner of Pink Boutique in Phoenix, said stores like hers don’t stand a chance with shoppers on Black Friday.

“Everyone’s up so early, and they’re going more for, you know, appliances and TVs and stuff like that, and I think by the time noon hits, they’re done,” she told ABC News Radio.

Over the past two decades, small and new businesses have created two out of every three net new jobs in the United States, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

It is estimated that half of all working Americans either own a small business or are employed by one.

SHOWS: World News

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Egypt's Mursi faces judicial revolt over decree

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi faced a rebellion from judges who accused him on Saturday of expanding his powers at their expense, deepening a crisis that has triggered violence in the street and exposed the country's deep divisions.

The Judges' Club, a body representing judges across Egypt, called for a strike during a meeting interrupted with chants demanding the "downfall of the regime" - the rallying cry in the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak last year.

Mursi's political opponents and supporters, representing the divide between newly empowered Islamists and their critics, called for rival demonstrations on Tuesday over a decree that has triggered concern in the West.

Issued late on Thursday, it marks an effort by Mursi to consolidate his influence after he successfully sidelined Mubarak-era generals in August. The decree defends from judicial review decisions taken by Mursi until a new parliament is elected in a vote expected early next year.

It also shields the Islamist-dominated assembly writing Egypt's new constitution from a raft of legal challenges that have threatened the body with dissolution, and offers the same protection to the Islamist-controlled upper house of parliament.

Egypt's highest judicial authority, the Supreme Judicial Council, said the decree was an "unprecedented attack" on the independence of the judiciary. The Judges' Club, meeting in Cairo, called on Mursi to rescind it.

That demand was echoed by prominent opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei. "There is no room for dialogue when a dictator imposes the most oppressive, abhorrent measures and then says 'let us split the difference'," he said.

"I am waiting to see, I hope soon, a very strong statement of condemnation by the U.S., by Europe and by everybody who really cares about human dignity," he said in an interview with Reuters and the Associated Press.

More than 300 people were injured on Friday as protests against the decree turned violent. There were attacks on at least three offices belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement that propelled Mursi to power.

POLARISATION

Liberal, leftist and socialist parties called a big protest for Tuesday to force Mursi to row back on a move they say has exposed the autocratic impulses of a man once jailed by Mubarak.

In a sign of the polarization in the country, the Muslim Brotherhood called its own protests that day to support the president's decree.

Mursi also assigned himself new authority to sack the prosecutor general, who was appointed during the Mubarak era, and appoint a new one. The dismissed prosecutor general, Abdel Maguid Mahmoud, was given a hero's welcome at the Judges' Club.

In open defiance of Mursi, Ahmed al-Zind, head of the club, introduced Mahmoud by his old title.

The Mursi administration has defended the decree on the grounds that it aims to speed up a protracted transition from Mubarak's rule to a new system of democratic government.

Analysts say it reflects the Brotherhood's suspicion towards sections of a judiciary unreformed from Mubarak's days.

"It aims to sideline Mursi's enemies in the judiciary and ultimately to impose and head off any legal challenges to the constitution," said Elijah Zarwan, a fellow with The European Council on Foreign Relations.

"We are in a situation now where both sides are escalating and its getting harder and harder to see how either side can gracefully climb down."

ADVISOR TO MURSI QUITS

Following a day of violence in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and Suez, the smell of tear gas hung over the capital's Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the uprising that toppled Mubarak in 2011 and the stage for more protests on Friday.

Youths clashed sporadically with police near the square, where activists camped out for a second day on Saturday, setting up makeshift barricades to keep out traffic.

Al-Masry Al-Youm, one of Egypt's most widely read dailies, hailed Friday's protest as "The November 23 Intifada", invoking the Arabic word for uprising.

But the ultra-orthodox Salafi Islamist groups that have been pushing for tighter application of Islamic law in the new constitution have rallied behind Mursi's decree.

The Nour Party, one such group, stated its support for the Mursi decree. Al-Gama'a al-Islamiya, which carried arms against the state in the 1990s, said it would save the revolution from what it described as remnants of the Mubarak regime.

Samir Morkos, a Christian assistant to Mursi, had told the president he wanted to resign, said Yasser Ali, Mursi's spokesman. Speaking to the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Morkos said: "I refuse to continue in the shadow of republican decisions that obstruct the democratic transition".

Mursi's decree has been criticized by Western states that earlier this week were full of praise for his role in mediating an end to the eight-day war between Israel and Palestinians.

"The decisions and declarations announced on November 22 raise concerns for many Egyptians and for the international community," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

The European Union urged Mursi to respect the democratic process.

(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy, Marwa Awad, Edmund Blair and Shaimaa Fayed and Reuters TV; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Large explosion reported in Massachusetts city

WASHINGTON: An explosion thought to have been triggered by a gas leak levelled a bar in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts on Friday, moments after dancers were warned to flee, local media reported.

WWLP TV quoted police as saying several people were taken to local hospitals by ambulance after the Friday afternoon explosion, which blew out windows two blocks away and knocked people to the ground.

The building housing the Scores Gentlemen's Club was flattened by the blast, the Republican newspaper said on its website. WWLP said two buildings were destroyed in the explosion.

Dancers at Scores told the newspaper they were warned by a manager to clear out of the building, and were having a drink in a bar across the street when their workplace blew up.

A dancer who identified herself only as Deb said she was on stage dancing when a "house mom" told everyone to evacuate, according to the newspaper.

She said she saw smoke in the upstairs floor of the building as she was gathering her clothes.

At that point, she said, the manager told everyone: "I don't care if you're (expletive) naked or not, get out."

She said there had been a smell of gas all week, and that the gas company had been called in but had found nothing.

- AFP/xq

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Cash transfer: PM to play UPA-2's trump card on Monday

NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister is expected to formally kick off cash transfer of subsidies and entitlements, one of the most ambitious policy initiatives of UPA-2, on Monday. The scheme for cash transfers is visualized as a game-changer for UPA-2, like NREGA was for UPA-1, and is expected to give rich dividends at the elections.

Manmohan Singh is expected to set January 1, 2013 as the launch date for the rollout when he meets his ministerial colleagues on Monday. The plan to transfer cash directly into bank accounts of beneficiaries instead of handing over subsidised foodgrains, fertilizer or fuel is aimed to not only check leakages from the system, but also empower consumers with the choices and ensure big savings for the cash-strapped government.

Compared to NREGA, the size and scale of the cash-transfer programme is several times the rural job guarantee scheme, with the government planning to transfer over Rs 4 lakh crore annually to the public, with each BPL (below poverty line) family getting over Rs 3,000 a month.

Sources said the PM is also planning to address the nation on the scheme in the coming days, explaining the ambitious plan that would be bigger than similar programmes around the world. The government, which accords high importance to the scheme, proposes to appoint a national coordinator to oversee the programme. It will also ensure its rapid scalability.

Singh on Monday will address a meeting of ministers in-charge of subsidies, pension and scholarships and there he will disclose the government intent to formally launch the programme on January 1. The programme would begin by covering 51 districts where the Aadhar card has a high penetration. By April 1 next year, 18 states will be covered.

A senior official said the Planning Commission has identified seven flagship programmes, including pensions and 22 scholarship schemes given by nine central ministries, for cash transfers, excluding those related to subsidies on food, fertilizer and fuel.

Ministries are being asked to digitize their databases of beneficiaries and link them with Aadhar, so that Aadhar-enabled bank accounts and Aadhar-enabled payment systems can function through what's being called the Aadhar Payment Bridge - essentially, a mechanism for giving cash cards to beneficiaries who don't have bank accounts.

According to latest estimates provided by the Department of Financial Services, by March 31, 2012 all banks will migrate to the core banking platform which will facilitate direct cash transfers. The plan is to cover all villages with a population of more than 5,000 with branches, and those with population of more than 2,000 with business correspondents. Seven states have committed to make electronic payments.

Times View

The government clearly believes that cash transfers can be a game-changer. In theory, they would indeed appear to be justified in this view. However, whether the practice lives up to the theory is what will ultimately determine how much of a game-changer this move is and whether the change is for the better or for worse. That is why it is important that the government acts as soon as possible to even out the more obvious glitches to smooth implementation of cash transfers, like a large proportion of the population having neither identification documents nor bank accounts. This is particularly true of the poorest sections, who really ought to be the main beneficiaries of the government's welfare programmes.

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia (AP) — They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.

Many patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk Ruit. During eight days, more than 1,400 cataracts were removed.

The patients camped out, sleeping side-by-side on military cots, eating donated food while fire trucks supplied water for showers and toilets. Many who had given up hope of seeing again left smiling after their bandages were removed.

"I've been blind for three years, and it's really bad," said Arlita Tobing, 65, whose sight was restored after the surgery. "I worked on someone's farm, but I couldn't work anymore."

Indonesia has one of the highest rates of blindness in the world, making it a target country for Ruit who travels throughout the developing world holding free mass eye camps while training doctors to perform the simple, stitch-free procedure he pioneered. He often visits hard-to-reach remote areas where health care is scarce and patients are poor. He believes that by teaching doctors how to perform his method of cataract removal, the rate of blindness can be reduced worldwide.

Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness globally, affecting about 20 million people who mostly live in poor countries, according to the World Health Organization.

"We get only one life, and that life is very short. I am blessed by God to have this opportunity," said Ruit, who runs the Tilganga Eye Center in Katmandu, Nepal. "The most important of that is training, taking the idea to other people."

During the recent camps, Ruit trained six doctors from Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.

Here, in images, are scenes from the mobile eye camps:

Read More..

Black Friday: Bargains, Brawls and Gunfire

Two people were shot outside a Walmart in Florida today, one of a rash of fights, robberies and other incidents that have cropped up on one of the most ballyhooed shopping days of the year.

The shooting took place at a Walmart in Tallahassee about 12:30 p.m., said Dave Northway, public information officer for the Tallahassee Police Department.

Investigators believe a scuffle over a parking space outside the store escalated into gunplay leaving two people shot.

The two victims, whose names and genders have not been released, were taken to a hospital with what are believed to be non-life threatening injuries.

Police are looking for a dark green Toyota Camry in connection with this case.

At a Walmart parking lot on Thanksgiving night in Covington, Wash., two people were run down by a driver police suspected of being intoxicated.

The 71-year-old driver was arrested on a vehicular assault charge after the incident, spokeswoman Sgt. Cindi West of the Kings County Sheriff's Office said.

The female victim, whose identity has yet to be released, was pinned beneath the driver's Mercury SUV until being rescued by the fire department. She was flown to Harborview Medical Center, where she was listed in serious condition, West said.

The male victim was also taken to Harborview Medical Center, where, West said, he was listed in good condition.

Shoppers Descend on Black Friday Deals

Black Friday Holiday Shopping Bargains and Pitfalls Watch Video

Black Friday Shoppers Brave Long Lines, Short Tempers Watch Video

Tensions were high at the entrances as people lined up outside stores, waiting for the doors to open.

At a San Antonio, Texas, Sears, one man argued with customers and even punched one in order to get to the front of the line, prompting a man with a concealed carry permit to pull a gun, said Matthew Porter, public information officer of the San Antonio Police Department.

"It was a little chaotic. People were exiting the store," Porter said. "Fortunately for us, officers responded quickly and were able to ease the commotion."

The man who allegedly caused the altercation fled the scene and remains at large, Porter said. The shopper who pulled the gun will not face charges, he said, because of his concealed carry permit.

One man was treated at the scene for injuries sustained when people rushed out of the store, Porter said.

PHOTOS: Black Friday Shoppers Hit Stores

The crush of shoppers in the middle of the night were prey once again this year for thieves, who hid out in parking lots.

In Myrtle Beach, S.C., a woman said a man pulled a gun on her just as she exited her car to go inside a Best Buy store. The thief made off with $200, according to a police report.

In Maryland, 14-year-old boy told police he was robbed of his Thanksgiving night purchases by five men in the parking lot of a Bed Bath and Beyond store early this morning, the Baltimore Sun reported.

And in Massachusetts, Kmart employees tried to locate a shopper over the intercom after a 2-year-old was reported to be alone in a car, ABC News affiliate WCVB-TV reported.

Police arrived to break into the car and remove the child. The boy's caretaker, his mother's boyfriend, denied the incident took place, according to the station, and was not arrested.

ABC News' Candace Smith contributed to this report

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Japanese police rescue bank hostages

TOKYO: Japanese police rescued four hostages from a bank on Friday and arrested the knife-wielding man who had held them captive for more than 12 hours while demanding the prime minister resign, officials said.

In a televised news conference, a police spokesman said the hostage-taker, identified as Koji Nagakubo, was arrested on suspicion of taking a total of five people captive, including one person whom he had released earlier.

All the hostages were safe and in protective custody following the pre-dawn police raid, the spokesman said, though local media reported one of them -- a 19-year-old female bank employee -- was slightly injured.

The 32-year-old man began the siege on Thursday afternoon at the Zoshi branch of the Toyokawa Shinkin Bank in the otherwise quiet residential area of Toyokawa city in central Aichi prefecture.

Wielding a survival knife, he took four employees and a female customer captive and demanded the cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda step down, local media said. Noda last week called an election for December 16, which he is expected to lose.

In initial questioning by police, the suspect admitted the allegations but had yet to give details about his motive, public broadcaster NHK reported.

About 13 hours after the incident began, police wearing protective gear and carrying shields rushed the office before dawn, overpowered the man and escorted out the remaining four hostages.

"It was difficult to check inside, but we took action placing top priority on the safety of the hostages," an investigator told NHK. "We believe we took the best possible way."

Television footage showed a dozen police breaking the window on the second floor before moving to the ground floor, where the man pointed his knife at the hostages.

The man, who also held another knife, handcuffed at least one of the hostages, NHK said, adding that all police involved in the rescue operation were also unhurt.

"I was so relieved because no one was (seriously) injured," one neighbour told Tokyo Broadcasting System Television.

Television footage earlier showed a man who appeared to be a police officer carrying a megaphone and a plastic bag to a side door of the building guarded by police. The building's shutters were down but lights could be seen inside.

Shortly before the incident, a man police believe was the hostage-taker had attempted to break in another bank just 150 metres (yards) away from the site, NHK reported.

- AFP/xq

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Congress withdraws second list of candidates in Gujarat after protests

NEW DELHI: Resentment in Congress ranks over ticket distribution for Gujarat elections broke out in the open, forcing the party to withdraw its second list of 46 candidates released late on Wednesday night.

The anger in Congress was evident when party MPs engaged heir apparent Rahul Gandhi in animated discussion in Parliament in the presence of the head of the screening committee and Union minister C P Joshi.

The discontent was evident with a Union minister from the state saying early in the day that the party had put the list on hold. The decision was announced only in the evening. He said the names of candidates may undergo serious changes after the protests.

Congress is locked in a lopsided battle with BJP headed by Narendra Modi in Gujarat and protests over nominations do no augur well for the party. Even the first list of 52 candidates led to protests and resignations in Ahmedabad.

Congress leaders conceded that the party had failed to build momentum despite favourable factors like rebellion by BJP veteran Keshubhai Patel. The selection of candidates was said to have been the final weapon to rally opinion in its favour but the initial reaction has disappointed the party.

An agitated Congress MP threatened to walk out of the party and even "expose" senior leaders for doing the bidding of an industrial house by "planting" candidates.

He said the partnership with NCP was being used to settle scores with in-house aspirants. NCP general secretary D P Tripathi said the junior partner was allocated nine of the 182 seats in the state.

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