Canadian native chief will continue hunger strike

TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian aboriginal chief will continue her hunger strike despite meetings on Friday between native leaders and government officials, as a Canada-wide protest movement gets ready for more demonstrations and a day of action later this month.
A spokesman said chief Theresa Spence would continue her strike in an effort to force new meetings to discuss Indian rights.
Spence, from the remote northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat, has been surviving on a diet of tea and fish soup since early December as one of the most visible faces of a protest movement called Idle No More that wants more money from resource development and better living conditions.
She refused to participate in a meeting on Friday with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other native leaders, arguing that Governor General David Johnston should also participate.
Johnston, who hosted a later ceremonial meeting with native leaders including Spence, is the representative of Queen Elizabeth in Canada.
"The meeting with the Governor General ... was not a triumph, it was simply a time to send a strong message to the powers that be," Spence's spokesman Danny Metatawabin said in an email.
"The hunger strike continues."
Harper agreed on Friday to pay more attention to native demands and to work more closely with them. But he made no promise about their demands.
Many of Canada's 1.2 million natives live on reserves with unsafe drinking water, inadequate housing, addiction and high suicide rates.
But the aboriginal movement is far from united, and it includes chiefs who say they are prepared to damage the economy unless Ottawa acts, and others who are ready to keep talking.
Native groups complain that Canada has ignored treaties signed with British settlers and explorers that they say granted them significant rights over their territory.
They want Ottawa to rescind parts of recent legislation that reduce environmental protection for lakes and rivers. One law makes it easier to lease lands on the reserves where many natives live, a change some natives see as a way to spur development and other eye with suspicion.
There have been many small demonstrations, including short-lived blockades of railway lines and major intersections. Idle No more plans a day of action on January 28.

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EU to plot telecom reforms this year: FT

LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union will set out reforms for a pan-European telecommunications market this year to support competition and investment in the sector, the bloc's telecoms chief, Neelie Kroes, said in an interview with the Financial Times.
"We're working on a range of measures to create common and stable conditions across the EU for telecoms competition, investment and growth, which should also make cross-border consolidation more attractive," the European commissioner for digital agenda said in comments published on the paper's website on Sunday.
Kroes said she was not seeking a single regulator, but greater cooperation between the European Commission and national regulators, as well as asset-sharing between companies to promote investment.
The comments followed a report in the Financial Times on Wednesday that EU competition chief Joaquin Almunia had met with the heads of Europe's big telecoms groups to discuss a pan-European infrastructure network.
However, industry sources later played down the idea of a single network, saying the November meeting had focused on whether the large number of operators could be consolidated through takeovers.
Executives from Deutsche Telekom , France Telecom , Telecom Italia , Telefonica , KPN and Belgacom attended the meeting with Almunia.

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Avis' buy of tiny Zipcar could be in antitrust fast lane

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When car rental giant Avis announced in early January that it planned to buy Zipcar, hipsters across the United States gnashed their teeth in unison.
But an informal poll by Reuters of nine antitrust experts, many of whom lamented the deal privately for the feared loss of a lively upstart, found that eight of the nine expect U.S. regulators to approve the deal.
The quirky Zipcar is admired for its new approach to car rental. Young, monied professionals who have decided to live car-free and broke college students can join and then rent a car for $11.25 an hour, often without leaving their neighborhood.
Beyond convenience and attentiveness to customers, there are the whimsical elements, like nicknaming the cars. There is, for example, a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck in Berkeley, California dubbed "Thaddeus."
Avis Budget Group Inc said on January 2 that it would pay about $500 million in cash, a 49 percent premium, for Zipcar Inc , thereby taking the top spot in the fast-growing U.S. car-sharing market.
With Zipcar in its stable Avis is poised to zoom past larger rivals Hertz Global Holdings Inc and Enterprise Holdings Inc .
"My first reaction was concern because I have been very excited to see the significant growth of startups (like Zipcar and other car-sharing companies)," said Ilana Preuss, 40, a Washington community development advocate who uses Zipcar.
"One nightmare would be they ruin the customer service of Zipcar, the friendliness of Zipcar," she said. "I'm hopeful that Avis will be able to add to what Zipcar does. I would hate to see it change for the worse."
The 12-year-old Zipcar charges more than traditional rental car companies for longer rentals but makes up for the high price with convenience for its members, who now number more than 760,000 in 37 U.S. states after the company's start in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Its niche - and one which it more or less created - is in rentals as short as an hour for users who, for example, may want to run a few errands, drive to business meetings or deal with an emergency.
Once signed up for Zipcar, members who reserve a car find it waiting for them in a designated parking spot with no need to wait in a slow-moving line at a car rental counter to fill out lengthy forms.
And no need for city slickers to trek to the airport: Zipcar has vehicles stashed in spots around many city and inner suburban areas. It also has a strong presence in college towns like Bloomington, Indiana, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Its fleet is stocked with premium cars like BMWs or Audis, fun cars such as the Mini Cooper, and larger vehicles like the Ford E-150 cargo van for that weekend apartment moving project.
Each vehicle is returned back to its designated spot at the end of the rental. Availability of each car is shown online, and renters can specify a block of time - say, from 10am to 2pm.
Avis, which declined to be interviewed for this story, has said it expects the deal to close in the spring of 2013. Zipcar will operate as a unit of Avis and Scott Griffith will remain the unit's chief executive officer, Avis said this month.
Hertz and Avis have made small efforts to get into the car-sharing business but neither have come close to challenging Zipcar's lead in this market.
In the rapidly consolidating world of car rentals, Avis has been relegated to No. 3 in the $22 billion U.S. industry. Hertz vaulted into the No. 2 spot with its acquisition of Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, with Enterprise atop the pack.
While travelers landing at major airports see a profusion of car rental counters, at this point there are three giant nationwide rental companies. Avis previously bought Budget Rent a Car, Hertz owns the brands Dollar and Thrifty, and Enterprise owns Alamo and National.
Zipcar did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
FTC'S BRIEF TO CONSIDER IMPACT ON INNOVATION
The Federal Trade Commission is likely to review the Zipcar deal for antitrust concerns since it also looked at the Hertz acquisition of Dollar.
It could decide to challenge the proposed transaction under 2010 guidelines which allow regulators to oppose a deal if it would hurt competition in innovating, said Herbert Hovenkamp, who teaches antitrust at the University of Iowa College of Law.
"The government has said that it will challenge a merger on those grounds. It seems to me to fit with the Zipcar story. That's what I'm suspecting is going to emerge in this," said Hovenkamp.
But most other antitrust experts did not expect Avis to face stiff regulatory headwinds.
"I don't think there's any barriers to entry here," said David Balto, a veteran of the FTC and Justice Department now in private practice.
In order to stop a proposed merger the FTC and Justice Department usually show that prices will go up because of the deal. They must also show that if prices go up that there is little likelihood that newcomers will move into the business.
Peter Carstensen, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin Law School, believes the merger will be approved, and it angers him.
"It's the decline and fall of merger law," he said. "It's on top of a lot of other consolidation in the auto rental business. If it (the deal) has any economic effect, it will be an adverse one but there's no way we can prove an immediate substantial probability of an effect on price. I don't like it."
Still, Zipcar member Mike Bennett, a 35-year-old contractor who works on projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development, is a prime example of why the deal may win approval.
Bennett, who lives in Washington, uses Zipcar about once a month to visit family in the Maryland suburbs. He likes the service but if it deteriorates on Avis' watch, would happily switch to an upstart that is challenging Zipcar.

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3 Philippine police officers among 13 killed in gunbattle

ATIMONAN, Philippines - At least three police personnel were among 13 suspected criminals who were gunned down in a shootout with Philippine security forces at a highway checkpoint, officials said Monday.
Gunmen riding in three black SUVs opened fire on more than 50 army and police troopers who flagged down the vehicles late Sunday in the coastal town of Atimonan in Quezon province, about 140 kilometres southeast of Manila.
Eleven suspects died on the spot, including a police colonel who was a regional commander and two other officers, said police spokesman Erwin Obal. Authorities were checking the identities of two other victims on suspicion they were either former or current members of the intelligence service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Obal said.
Two gunmen jumped out of one of the cars and fired from a roadside canal, said Lt.-Col. Monico Abang, who led an army platoon in the clash. The rest stayed in two vehicles, which troops raked with gunfire on a sparsely populated stretch of the highway.
More gunmen fired from a third vehicle, which turned around and fled, Abang said. Authorities didn't say how many suspects were believed to have escaped.
Security personnel sometimes collude with criminal syndicates to rob banks or traffic narcotics in an underworld that often includes corrupt politicians. Abang said an initial investigation showed that the gunmen were likely members of a gun-for-hire group operating in provinces south of Manila.
"They rolled down their windows and started firing, so we had to retaliate," Abang said by cellphone from the scene of the clash. "They were clearly outnumbered and outgunned."
On the side of the security forces, a police colonel was shot in the hand and foot and taken to a hospital.
Abang said the army and police had set up the checkpoint after an informant told police that gunmen involved in illegal drugs, gambling and kidnapping for ransom would pass through Atimonan in mountainous Quezon, where communist guerrillas have a presence.
The latest violence followed two other deadly shootings that have revived calls for tighter gun control in the Philippines, where there are more than half a million unlicensed firearms, according to police estimates.
A man who reportedly was drunk and high on drugs killed eight people before being gunned down by police on Friday in Kawit town in Cavite province, 16 kilometres south of Manila.
A seven-year-old girl died a day after being hit in the head by a stray bullet while watching fireworks with her family on New Year's Eve outside their home in Caloocan city, near Manila, despite a high-profile government campaign against powerful firecrackers and celebratory gunfire by Filipinos to welcome 2013.
Earlier Sunday, before the shootout, presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte told reporters that President Benigno Aquino, a known gun enthusiast, would study gun-control proposals with other officials. Among the proposals is a call by anti-gun groups to ban the carrying of firearms by civilians outside their homes.
The proliferation of firearms has long fueled crime, political violence and Muslim and communist rebellions that have raged for decades in parts of the Philippines. Previous attempts by authorities to clamp down on unregistered weapons have yielded few results in a country where several politically powerful clans and families control private armed groups in provincial strongholds outside Manila.

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Officials can't rule out casualties after Australian wildfires destroy 100 homes and buildings

HOBART, Australia - Officials are searching for bodies among the charred ruins of more than 100 homes and other buildings destroyed by wildfires in the island state of Tasmania.
Acting Police Commissioner Scott Tilyard said Monday no casualties had yet been reported. But it would take time before officials were certain that no one had died in the blazes that have razed 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) of forests and farmland across southern Tasmania since Friday.
Police have concerns for about 100 people reported missing. Tilyard said 11 teams were searching ruins in places including the small town of Dunalley, east of the state capital of Hobart, where around 70 homes were destroyed.
"Until we've had the opportunity to do all the screening that we need to do at each of those premises, we can't say for certain that there hasn't been a human life or more than one human life lost as a result of these fires," Tilyard told reporters.
Three fires continued to burn out of control in southern Tasmania and in the northwest Monday.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who flew to Tasmania on Monday, warned that New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, was about to move into a period of extreme heat Tuesday when the wildfire risk would be high.
"We live in a country that is hot and dry and where we sustain very destructive fire periodically," Gillard told reporters. "Whilst you would not put any one event down to climate change ... we do know over time that as a result of climate change we are going to see more extreme weather events and conditions."
New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said more than 90 wildfires were blazing across the state Monday and warned that conditions would worsen on Tuesday. No homes were currently under threat.
"It is going to be very hot and very dry. Couple that with the dryness of the vegetation, the grassland fuels, the forest fuels and those strong winds that are expected tomorrow," he said.
The temperate across much the state was expected to reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) while winds were expected as high as 80 kilometres an hour ( 50 miles an hour).
Wildfires are common during the Australian summer. In February 2009, hundreds of fires across Victoria state killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

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Sunday's Scoreboard

Sunday's Games
NFL
AFC Wild Card Game
Baltimore 24 Indianapolis 9
NFC Wild Card Game
Seattle 24 Washington 14
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U.S. College football
GoDaddy.com Bowl at Mobile, Alabama
Arkansas State 17 Kent State 13
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NBA
Oklahoma City 104 Toronto 92
Miami 99 Washington 71
Charlotte 108 Detroit 101 (OT)
Memphis 92 Phoenix 81
Denver 112 L.A. Lakers 105
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AHL
Charlotte 2 Norfolk 1
Connecticut 2 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 0
Springfield 4 Providence 1
Albany 5 Binghamton 2
Grand Rapids 3 Milwaukee 2 (SO)
San Antonio 5 Peoria 2
Chicago 6 Oklahoma City 3
Worcester 2 Hershey 1
Texas 4 Houston 3 (OT)

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Sources: Obama to nominate ex-Sen. Chuck Hagel as defence secretary; bumpy path in Senate?

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will nominate Chuck Hagel as his next defence secretary, a senior administration official said Sunday, choosing a former Senate colleague and a decorated Vietnam veteran and signalling he's ready for a contentious confirmation fight likely dominated by questions about Hagel's stands on Israel and Iran.
Obama, who avoided a Capitol Hill battle by deciding not to nominate U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as his first choice for secretary of state, went ahead with Hagel, 66, even as leading Republicans announced their opposition — though they stopped short of saying they might try to block Hagel.
Seeking to soften the ground, the White House was alerting Senate Democrats that Hagel's selection as the successor to Defence Secretary Leon Panetta in Obama's second-term Cabinet was imminent, according to a congressional official.
Obama, who returned to Washington on Sunday from his Hawaiian vacation, was expected to nominate Hagel on Monday. Congress is on break this coming week.
The officials requested anonymity in order to discuss Hagel's nomination ahead of Obama.
Hagel, a moderate Republican, built a strong relationship with Obama during their travel as senators. But the former Nebraska lawmaker has faced withering criticism from Congress since emerging as the front-runner for the Pentagon post.
Hagel is the second straight Obama favourite for a top national security post to face criticism from Capitol Hill even before being nominated. Rice withdrew her name from consideration for secretary of state amid charges from Republican senators that she misled the public in her initial accounting of the attacks on Americans at a diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
After Rice withdrew, Obama named Democratic Sen. John Kerry to lead the State Department. Kerry is expected to be easily confirmed by his longtime Senate colleagues.
If confirmed, Hagel would take over a Pentagon that faces budget cuts and a scaling back of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to meet with Obama in Washington this week to discuss the U.S. presence in Afghanistan after the war formally concludes at the end of 2014.
Hagel is likely to support a more rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican, said earlier Sunday that he was reserving judgment on whether to support Hagel. But he predicted the former Nebraska senator would face serious questions about his stands on Iran and Israel.
Any nominee must have "a full understanding of our close relationship with out Israeli allies, the Iranian threat and the importance of having a robust military," McConnell said on ABC's "This Week."
Hagel has criticized discussion of a military strike by either the U.S. or Israel against Iran. He has also backed efforts to bring Iran to the table for talks on future peace in Afghanistan. Some lawmakers have been troubled by his comments and actions on Israel, including his reference to the "Jewish lobby" in the United States.
"This is a controversial pick," Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told CNN. "He is an antagonistic figure when it comes to the state of Israel. It's a signal you're sending to Iran at the worst possible time and to our allies."
Republican McConnell said Hagel, who left the Senate in 2009, has "certainly been outspoken in foreign policy and defence over the years. The question we will be answering, if he's the nominee, is do his views make sense for that particular job?"
McConnell said he would "wait and see how the hearings go and see whether Chuck's views square with the job he would be nominated to do." He added, "I'm going to take a look at all the things that Chuck has said over the years and review that, and in terms of his qualifications to lead our nation's military."
The second-ranking Senate Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, said in a statement that making Hagel defence secretary would be "the worst possible message we could send to our friend Israel and the rest of our allies in the Middle East." Cornyn did not say he would try to block a Hagel nomination.
Obama, in an interview that aired last week on NBC's "Meet the Press," called Hagel "a patriot" who "has done extraordinary work" in the Senate and on an intelligence advisory board.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, told CNN's "State of the Union" that Hagel "is a serious candidate if the president chooses to name him.

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Italy's Monti turns down Berlusconi offer to run

Italian Premier Mario Monti is spurning Silvio Berlusconi's offer to run on a center-right ticket backed by the media mogul in February elections.
Monti told a news conference in Rome on Sunday that his predecessor's flipping back and forth between condemning the government's economic policies and then praising the premier convinced him that "I couldn't accept his offer."
Monti didn't immediately say if he might run on his own ticket 13 months after his non-elected government was appointed to save Italy from the eurozone debt crisis.

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Monti says he won't run for Italian premier

After keeping Italians, and the rest of Europe, in suspense for weeks, caretaker Premier Mario Monti on Sunday ruled out running in February elections but said he would consider leading the next government if political forces sharing his reform-focused economic agenda requested it.
The decision by Monti positions him to take the helm again without having to get into the nitty-gritty of campaigning — thus preserving his image as someone above the political fray who can make tough decisions imposing austerity measures. His previous such measures have boosted confidence in Italy's finances, and fellow European leaders have made it no secret that they want his policies to stay in place.
Silvio Berlusconi, the scandal-tainted ex-premier considering another run, commented scathingly on Monti's openness to another term.
"I had a nightmare — still a government with Monti," the media mogul said in an interview on state TV. He has said in the past that he would run again if Monti did not, but made no commitment Sunday about his own political future.
Monti, who after his resignation Friday is continuing in a caretaker role in charge of a non-elected government tasked with rescuing Italy from economy, ruled out heading any ticket — even a center-right grouping that Berlusconi said he would be willing to back. But the 69-year-old economist made it clear he was willing to take another turn in power.
"If one or more political forces is credibly backing (my) agenda or even has a better one, I'd evaluate the offer," Monti said during a news conference.
"To those forces who demonstrate convincing and credible adherence to the Monti agenda, I am ready to give my appreciation, encouragement, and if requested, leadership, and I am ready to assume, one day, if the circumstances require it, the responsibility that would be entrusted to me by Parliament."
Monti ruled out heading any ticket himself, saying "I have no sympathy for 'personal' parties."
Italy is struggling to shore up its finances and emerge from recession, a challenge made harder by its volatile politics, which saw dozens of governments over the years that let tax evasion spread, avoided unpopular reforms like raising the retirement age, and allowed public spending to balloon.
Monti was appointed in November 2011 to head a non-elected government with the goal of saving Italy from a Greece-style debt debacle after financial markets lost faith in his populist predecessor, Berlusconi.
Berlusconi triggered Monti's resignation last week, a few months ahead of the term's end, when he yanked his Freedom Party's support in Parliament for the government. Parliament was then sent packing last week by Italy's president, and elections scheduled for Feb. 24-25.
Monti's announcement Sunday pleased some parties but irked others.
"Yet again, Monti shows himself to be arrogant and (Pontius) Pilate-like," said Antonio Borghesi, a leader of the small center-left party that refused to back him during Monti's 13 months at the head of a non-elected government. "He won't directly commit himself, but he doesn't rule out that his name be used by others who share his agenda and he gives his willingness, if asked, to again leader the country."
The tiny centrist Italy Future party, meanwhile, hailed Monti as a "great political leader and international statesman," and said in a statement: "We reiterate our willingness to back with pride the agenda of Premier Monti."
Monti said he was spurning Berlusconi's offer not to run himself but instead support a center-right ticket headed by Monti. The premier expressed bewilderment that Berlusconi alternated sharp condemnation of the government's economic policies, with the seemingly contradictory offer to back another Monti-led government.
"Yesterday, we read that he assessed the work of the (Monti) government to be a complete disaster. A few days earlier I read flattering things," Monti said of his predecessor. The logic of Berlusconi's positions "escapes me" Monti said, drawing chuckles.
Berlusconi has said he would try for a fourth term as premier if Monti doesn't run, even though he continues to face several legal and sex-related scandals.
Monti praised Parliament for backing his government's recipe of spending cuts, new taxes and pension reform, which he said saved Italy from the debt crisis.
"Italians as citizens can hold their heads up high in Europe," Monti said, noting Italy had avoided the bailouts that Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus have had to take.
"We have always been convinced that Italy had, in itself, the resources" to succeed, Monti said. "And that's what happened."
Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved Parliament after Monti resigned Friday following approval of the country's national budget law. Monti noted that as a senator-for-life, he remains in Parliament and thus doesn't need to run for a seat in the legislature.
Voter opinion polls indicate a centrist ticket backing Monti would take about 15 percent of the vote, meaning any government headed by him would need support from either of Italy's two largest political groupings: the center-right, led by Berlusconi, or the center-left, led by Pier Luigi Bersani.
After Monti's announcement Sunday, Bersani vowed to "preserve" the premier's anti-crisis efforts. But Bersani, whose forces lead in opinion polls, expressed equal determination to avoid what Monti calls the "strange majority" of center-left, centrists, and center-right in Parliament.
That grouping until earlier this month largely set aside differences to back reforms such as raising the retirement age.
Bersani's forces turned out to be Monti's staunchest proponent this past year. By declining to directly campaign for February's balloting, Monti avoids a direct clash with him. On Sunday, Monti would only would say that Bersani is a highly "legitimate candidate for premier of a coalition."
In an interview on state TV later Sunday, Monti declined to say if he thought his agenda would get more backing from Bersani's or from Berlusconi's forces.
Some had speculated that Monti had his sights set on the Italian presidency, since Napolitano's term ends this spring. But Monti ruled that out at the news conference.

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British paper to sue Armstrong

 The Sunday Times is suing disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong for around one million pounds over his libel action against the British newspaper in 2004.
Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles from 1999-2005 in October, received 300,000 pounds from the Sunday Times as payment towards his legal fees after the paper raised questions about the American's success following his recovery from testicular cancer.
"It is clear that the proceedings were baseless and fraudulent. Your representations that you had never taken performance enhancing drugs were deliberately false," read the letter to Armstrong's lawyers in the Sunday Times.
The paper is demanding the return of the 300,000 pounds payment plus interest, as well as costs accrued in defending the case, which was settled in 2006.
A report by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in October said the now-retired Armstrong had been involved in the "most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping program the sport has ever seen."
Armstrong has always denied using performance-enhancing drugs but chose not to contest the USADA charges.

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Monti says he is open to leading next government

ROME (AP) — After keeping Italians, and the rest of Europe, in suspense for weeks, caretaker Premier Mario Monti on Sunday ruled out campaigning in February elections, but said he would consider leading the next government if politicians who share his focus on reform request it.
The decision positions him to take the helm again without having to get into the political nitty-gritty of an election — preserving his image as someone above the fray who can make tough decisions on imposing austerity. His previous measures have boosted confidence in Italy's finances, and fellow European leaders have made no secret they want to keep them in place.
Silvio Berlusconi, the scandal-tainted ex-premier considering another run, commented scathingly on Monti's openness to another term.
"I had a nightmare — still having a government with Monti," the media mogul said in an interview on state TV. He has said in the past that he would run again if Monti did not, but made no commitment Sunday about his own political future.
Monti, who after his resignation Friday is continuing in a caretaker role, ruled out heading any ticket — even a center-right grouping that Berlusconi said he would be willing to back.
But the 69-year-old economist made it clear he was willing to take another turn in power.
"If one or more political forces is credibly backing (my) agenda or even has a better one, I'd evaluate the offer," Monti said during a news conference.
"To those forces who demonstrate convincing and credible adherence to the Monti agenda, I am ready to give my appreciation, encouragement, and if requested, leadership, and I am ready to assume, one day, if the circumstances require it, the responsibility that would be entrusted to me by Parliament."
Monti refused to head any ticket himself, saying "I have no sympathy for 'personal' parties."
Italy is struggling to shore up its finances and emerge from recession, a challenge made harder by its volatile politics. The country has had dozens of governments over the years that let tax evasion spread, avoided unpopular reforms like raising the retirement age, and allowed public spending to balloon.
Monti was appointed in November 2011 to head a non-elected government with the goal of saving Italy from a Greece-style debt debacle after financial markets lost faith in his populist predecessor, Berlusconi.
Berlusconi triggered Monti's resignation last week, a few months ahead of the term's end, when he yanked his Freedom Party's support in Parliament for the government. Parliament was then sent packing last week by Italy's president, and elections scheduled for Feb. 24-25.
Monti's announcement Sunday pleased some parties but irked others.
"Yet again, Monti shows himself to be arrogant and (Pontius) Pilate-like," said Antonio Borghesi, a leader of the small center-left party that refused to back him during Monti's 13 months at the head of a non-elected government. "He won't directly commit himself, but he doesn't rule out that his name be used by others who share his agenda and he gives his willingness, if asked, to again be leader the country."
The tiny centrist Italy Future party, meanwhile, hailed Monti as a "great political leader and international statesman," and said in a statement: "We reiterate our willingness to back with pride the agenda of Premier Monti."
The party's leaders include pro-Vatican politicians and industrialists, notably Luca di Montezemolo, president of Ferrari, the Italian Formula One racing team.
Monti said he was spurning Berlusconi's offer to sit out the election if Monti would head a center-right ticket. He expressed bewilderment at Berlusconi's sharp condemnation of his economic policies and his seemingly contradictory offer to back another Monti-led government.
"Yesterday, we read that he assessed the work of the (Monti) government to be a complete disaster. A few days earlier I read flattering things," Monti said of his predecessor. The logic "escapes me" Monti said, drawing chuckles.
Berlusconi has said he would try for a fourth term as premier if Monti doesn't run, even though he continues to face several legal and sex-related scandals.
Monti praised Parliament for backing his government's recipe of spending cuts, new taxes and pension reform, which he said saved Italy from the debt crisis.
"Italians as citizens can hold their heads up high in Europe," Monti said, noting Italy had avoided the bailouts that Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus have had to take.
Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved Parliament after Monti resigned Friday following approval of the country's national budget law. Monti noted that as a senator-for-life, he remains in Parliament and doesn't need to run for a seat in the legislature.
Voter opinion polls indicate a centrist ticket backing Monti would take about 15 percent of the vote, meaning any government he heads would need support from either of Italy's two largest political groupings: the center-right, led by Berlusconi, or the center-left, led by Pier Luigi Bersani.
After Monti's announcement Sunday, Bersani, whose forces turned out to be Monti's staunchest proponent this past year, vowed to keep up the premier's anti-crisis efforts.
By declining to directly campaign for February's balloting, Monti avoids a direct clash with him. On Sunday, Monti would only would say that Bersani is a highly "legitimate candidate for premier of a coalition."
In an interview on state TV later Sunday, Monti declined to say if he thought his agenda would get more backing from Bersani's or from Berlusconi's supporters.
Some had speculated that Monti had his sights set on the Italian presidency, since Napolitano's term ends this spring. But Monti ruled that out.

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NATO: Syria using Scud-type rockets again

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Syrian military has continued to fire Scud-type missiles, NATO's top official said Friday, describing the move as an act of desperation of a regime nearing its end.
Although none of the Syrian rockets hit Turkish territory, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmusen said the use of the medium-range ballistic rockets showed that NATO was justified in deploying six batteries of Patriot anti-missile systems in neighboring Turkey.
The United States, Germany and the Netherlands will each provide two batteries of the U.S.-built air defense systems to Turkey. More than 1,000 American, German and Dutch troops will man the batteries, likely from sites well inland in Turkey.
Syria's use of missiles are "acts of a desperate regime approaching collapse," Fogh Rasmussen told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
A week ago, U.S. and NATO officials said the Syrians had used the ground-to-ground rockets for the first time in the nearly two-year conflict. Damascus immediately denied the claims.
Syria is reported to have an array of artillery rockets, as well as medium-range missiles — some capable of carrying chemical warheads. These include Soviet-built SS-21 Scarabs and Scud-B missiles, originally designed to deliver nuclear warheads.
On Thursday, NATO's supreme commander U.S. Adm. James Stavridis said the Patriot batteries will be shipped to Turkey within the next few days. He said he expected them to achieve initial operational capability next month.
Stavridis said the chain of command starts with himself as the operational commander, through NATO's air component command in Ramstein, Germany, and down to the commanders of the Patriot batteries at their locations in southern Turkey.
The operation will be closely coordinated with the Turkish air defense system, he said.

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Mother loses legal fight to stop son's cancer radiotherapy

LONDON (Reuters) - A mother in Britain, who was so desperate to stop her cancer-stricken son having to undergo conventional medical treatment that she went into hiding with him, lost a court battle on Friday to prevent him receiving radiotherapy.
The case of Sally Roberts, 37, a New Zealander living in Brighton, southern England, and the plight of her seven-year-old son has made headlines in Britain.
Roberts wants to try alternative treatments first, including immunotherapy and photodynamic therapy for her son Neon. She has been told the boy needs treatment fast but fears the side-effects of conventional medicine.
Doctors treating the boy had warned that without radiotherapy he could die within three months
Judge David Bodey told the High Court in London the life-saving radiotherapy treatment could start against the mother's wishes, the Press Association reported.
"The mother has been through a terrible time. This sort of thing is every parent's nightmare," the judge said.
"But I am worried that her judgment has gone awry on the question of the seriousness of the threat which Neon faces."
The story of the sick blue-eyed blonde boy came to public attention earlier this month when Roberts prompted a nationwide police hunt by going into hiding with Neon for four days to stop him from undergoing the treatment.
The mother's relentless battle in court also cast a light on the dilemmas parents can face when dealing with the illness of a loved one, considering the short-term and long-term risks of a treatment and handling conflicting medical information available at the click of a mouse.
Roberts said in court she had researched on the Internet her son's condition - a fast-growing, high-grade brain tumour called medulloblastoma - and sought advice from specialists around the world because she did not trust British experts.
She feared radiotherapy would stunt the boy's growth, reduce his IQ, damage his thyroid and potentially leave him infertile.
Earlier this week, a judge ruled that Neon could undergo emergency surgery to remove a tumour which had resisted an initial operation in October, despite opposition from his mother, who found he appeared to be recovering after what she said was a "heartbreaking" stay in hospital.
"EXPERIMENTAL AND UNPROVEN"
Surgeons said Neon's operation on Wednesday had been successful but that radiotherapy was needed to ensure no residual tumour was left behind.
Neon's father Ben, who lives in London and is separated from Roberts, has sided with his son's doctors.
But his wife suggested exploring several alternative treatments, including immunotherapy, which mainly consists of stimulating the body's immune system to fight cancerous cells, and photodynamic therapy, which uses a photosensitizing agent and a source of light to kill malignant cells.
The hospital treating Neon slammed "experimental and unproven" methods which entered "unchartered territory". The hospital, which cannot be named, also questioned the credentials of some of the private specialists contacted by Roberts's team.
The court heard that at least one of these could not even correctly spell medulloblastoma.
Radiotherapy is used to prevent cancer from spreading or striking back after surgery but it can damage nerve tissue and healthy brain cells.
Long-term side effects tend to be more common in children, whose nervous systems are still developing.

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Instant View - Third quarter GDP revised down, public finances worsen

LONDON (Reuters) - The Office for National Statistics released revised third-quarter GDP figures and November public sector finances data on Friday.
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KEY POINTS
- Biggest quarterly increase in GDP since Q3 2007
- Biggest quarterly increase in industrial output since Q2 2010
- Biggest quarterly increase in services output since Q3 2007
- Biggest quarterly increase in gross operating surplus of corporations since Q3 2010
- Highest household savings ratio since Q3 2009
- Highest level on record of public sector net debt excluding financial sector interventions as a share of GDP, at 68.5 percent
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ECONOMISTS' VIEWS
HOWARD ARCHER, IHS GLOBAL INSIGHT
"The modest revisions to the GDP data do not fundamentally change the story of an economy that is likely to have been essentially flat overall in 2012, with the quarterly performances distorted since the second quarter by a number of factors, notably including the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.
"It currently looks touch and go as to whether the economy can avoid renewed contraction in the fourth quarter as it faces the unwinding of the Olympics boost.
"News that service sector output only edged up 0.1 percent month-on-month in October reinforces (the) belief that the economy is having a difficult fourth quarter, but at least services output was marginally positive and that gives a small boost to hopes that the economy will avoid renewed contraction.
"While it really makes little difference whether the economy grows marginally in the fourth quarter, is flat or contracts marginally, it would be good for confidence if the economy could avoid a GDP decline and avert headlines of a 'triple dip'.
"With economic recovery likely to remain fragile and limited, we believe there is still a very real possibility that the Bank of England will ultimately decide to give the economy a further helping hand with a final 50 billion pounds of QE (quantitative easing)during the first half of 2013. However, this seems unlikely to happen before the second quarter, if at all."
ROSS WALKER, RBS
"We had 0.9, it looked quite a close call between 0.9 and 1.0. But, with the monthly industrial production numbers showing small downward revisions, we thought it would probably be trimmed. I suppose the Q3 number reinforces the weakness.
"The more significant figure is the October services sector output number. This is the first official estimate we have for any Q4 month. It is not a great number but it is positive and it is better than the decline that had been expected.
"On the basis of all the published data it looks like the fourth quarter will be broadly flat, rather than negative - based on the published data.
"I think the Bank of England's policy is on hold in terms of QE, probably the focus is more on the Funding for Lending Scheme.
"They could easily come back to it, but I think it is probably a second half of next year story once Mr Carney is in place, and his nine member committee. You could get a slight change in emphasis or focus when he comes in. We don't expect more QE, but if it comes it is a second half of next year story."
TOM VOSA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK
On GDP: "Not entirely surprised, that was our forecast. The partials that we'd had from retail sales, from industrial production, all pointed to this. To some degree this is old news and 0.9 or 1.0 percent doesn't really matter, it's still very strong growth."
On public finances: "It does make us wonder how the Chancellor is going to meet his borrowing targets when in reality borrowing tends to be running now a little bit above where we were last year.
"They must be hoping for a very big increase in revenues in January, which given the weakness of corporation tax and the reduction in financial sector pay I find very difficult."
PHILIP SHAW, INVESTEC
"There's a lot of data being released and there's no single overriding trend. We're not surprised to see GDP revised down a touch but what matters a lot more are prospects for the fourth quarter and because of last week's construction data, we're more optimistic that a decline will be avoided.
"Current account again, it's reassuring to see that there's been a narrowing of the deficit over the third quarter. Effectively, as earnings from direct investment have bounced back after two quarters of weakness. Nonetheless, one would still reach the conclusion that imbalances in the economy remain."
Public finances: "It's another month of disappointing deficit data and it's pretty clear now that barring unexpected positive developments, that the underlying deficit will widen this year, compared with 2011-12.
"We wouldn't say that the releases as a whole have that many implications for economic prospects.
"Although we suspect that the GDP figures will be a bit better than expected over the next quarter, perhaps next couple of quarters, it is clear that the underlying pace of growth will remain weak for some time to come.
"I think what's important here is whether the Bank of England's Funding for Lending Scheme has a positive effect on credit flows that the housing market picks up and that we see a sustained recovery in business investment as well."
DAVID TINSLEY, BNP PARIBAS
"The headline GDP figure is a shade disappointing, but 0.1 percentage point is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. The fact that the service sector output rose in October is at least as important.
"It does suggest that, while some of the production data has been weak in the fourth quarter, the service sector momentum looks, at the outset of the quarter, to be holding up."
Public finances: "The data continue to show a worrying slippage against the government forecasts.
(To achieve the OBR forecasts) there has got to be either some improvement in the numbers or back revisions, or at the end of the financial year the under spends of government departments needs to be quite significant. All that we will see in due course but for now the figures still look like they are worse than OBR was expecting."
JAMES KNIGHTLEY, ING
"All in all, the UK appears to be ending 2012 not in particularly great shape and as such we suspect the Bank of England has more work to do with further policy stimulus likely in early 2013, especially if the worst fears over the U.S. fiscal cliff materialise."
Public finances: "For the financial year to date (2012/13), income tax revenues, corporation tax revenues and VAT revenues are all down on the same period for financial year 2011/12.
"This highlights the weak state of the UK economy and the fact that austerity measures are failing to generate the improvement in government finances that were hoped for.
"Government cash outlays are down as well, but this is purely down to lower interest costs resulting from the plunge in yields, helped by BoE purchases and the UK's relative safe haven status."
ALAN CLARKE, SCOTIABANK
"I actually think the monthly services (figure) was the most important one. That makes it all the more likely that the UK did not slip into a triple dip recession at the end of the year.
"The chances are that we could grow by 0.3 percent, maybe even more, because we had stonkingly good construction data and some growth in services, although clearly that could change in November and December.
"Notwithstanding the drop in industrial production, I think we probably grew. So it has been a great end to the year."
Public finances: "The public finances are going in the wrong direction. But we know that there is all sorts of jiggery pokery going on with the transfer of coupons by the ONS (Office for National Statistics), probably next month. So, it is very hard to read too much into that data."

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Budget deficit worsens, credit rating at risk

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's budget deficit worsened in November, data showed on Friday, increasing the risk it will lose its top-notch credit rating and overshoot this year's borrowing forecast.
The data - which showed public sector net borrowing, excluding financial sector interventions, hit 17.5 billion pounds last month - is gloomy news for Britain's coalition government.
Deficit reduction and preserving Britain's credit rating have been top goals for the coalition of Conservatives and Lib Dems, which came to power in June 2010, just after the country's budget deficit peaked at 11.2 percent of GDP.
Last year, the budget deficit totalled 8 percent of GDP, and the government's own budget watchdog forecasts it will take until 2017 before it falls below 3 percent and the government manages to run a surplus on cyclically-adjusted non-investment spending.
Chancellor George Osborne had originally planned to meet this goal by the next election in 2015, but far weaker than expected growth since 2010 now makes that look impossible.
While other official data released on Friday showed Britain's economy may avoid a forecast contraction in the last three months of 2012, analysts say the borrowing numbers could see the country's credit rating revised early next year.
"The disappointing November public finance data fuel mounting expectations that at least one of the credit rating agencies will strip the UK of its AAA rating in 2013," said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight.
Standard & Poor's last week joined Fitch and Moody's and put a negative outlook on its triple-A rating for Britain. The latter two agencies - which have had a negative outlook since early this year - will review their ratings in early 2013.
Last month's public sector net borrowing figure of 17.5 billion pounds exceeded economists' expectations. They had forecast it would come in just below the 16.3 billion pounds reached in November 2011.
Borrowing since the start of the tax year in April is now nearly 10 percent higher than at the same point in 2011.
This calls into question forecasts issued earlier this month by the government's budget watchdog which estimated borrowing will fall 11 percent to total 108.5 billion pounds in the 2012-13 tax year.
Some of the fall in borrowing forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was due to money expected from the auction of next-generation mobile phone frequencies and a deal with the Bank of England to return interest paid on its bond holdings - cash that will not boot the public finances until early 2013.
But even disregarding this, some economists think Osborne, the finance minister, may struggle to hit the OBR's targets.
Archer expects an overshoot of some 14 billion pounds, while economists at Barclays see an overshoot of 6.5 billion pounds, assuming the radio spectrum auction brings in the 3.5 billion pounds pencilled in by the OBR.
WEAKER GROWTH
Britain's economy shrank for nine months between late 2011 and mid-2012, but revised figures from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday that growth rebounded by 0.9 percent in the third quarter of 2012, a little less than the 1.0 percent first estimated.
There was slightly brighter news from Britain's dominant services sector, which grew 0.1 percent in October after a 0.6 percent decline in September.
This was better than many economists had expected, and raises the prospect that the economy will avoid a return to contraction that the OBR and the Bank of England have predicted.
"It's not a great number but it is positive," said Ross Walker, an economist at Royal Bank of Scotland. "On the basis of all the published data it looks like the fourth quarter will be broadly flat, rather than negative."
Another bright spot was third-quarter current account data, which showed Britain's deficit with the rest of the world narrowed more than expected to 12.8 billion pounds, equivalent to 3.3 percent of GDP, from 17.4 billion in the second quarter.
However, economic growth will need to translate into stronger tax revenues and lower spending on social benefits if the government is to meet its budget goals.
November's budget overshoot was driven by a 6.3 percent year-on-year rise in central government spending, while tax revenues grew just 0.6 percent.
The closure of a North Sea oil field earlier this year has done major damage to corporation tax revenues, but Barclays economist Blerina Uruci said she was more concerned about signs that spending by government departments was rising more than expected.
"It could suggest difficulties with delivering efficiency savings as austerity fatigue sets in," she said.
The OBR said it expected to see underspending by government departments towards the end of the fiscal year, as well as stronger future growth in income tax and sales tax revenues.
Business minister Vince Cable sought to play down worries about the state of public finances, saying more austerity than planned could tip the economy back into recession.
"The fact that there has been a temporary increase in borrowing I don't think is a matter for criticism," he told BBC radio. "The government ... have been flexible, just accepting that when the economy slows down you are going to get bigger deficits (and) the government has to borrow to cover them."
However, the Labour Party said Friday's data showed there had already been too much austerity.
"By squeezing families and businesses too hard, choking off the recovery and so pushing borrowing up, not down, (Prime Minister) David Cameron and George Osborne's economic plan has completely backfired," said Labour legislator Rachel Reeves.

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Stalin's birthday marked in Russia and beyond

apital, Tbilisi, Friday, Dec. 21, …more
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TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — People across the vast territory where Josef Stalin once imposed his terror have marked the 133rd anniversary of the dictator's birth, some in hatred but others in reverence.
In Moscow, several hundred Russian Communists led by their leader Gennady Zuyganov laid flowers at Stalin's grave at the Red Square Friday, while smaller rallies were held across Russia and several former Soviet republics.
Leftists in neighboring Belarus said they found a Stalin statue that was buried after denunciation of his personality cult in 1956, but refused to specify its whereabouts because they fear authorities will order its destruction. Authorities in Stalin's hometown of Gori, Georgia, they will reinstall his statue that was removed in 2010.
In southern Ukraine, several ethnic Crimean Tatars trashed a small street exhibition on Stalin. The entire Crimean Tatar population of Ukraine was hastily deported in cattle trains on Stalin's orders in 1944 for their alleged collaboration with Nazi Germans during World War II. Of the 200,000 Crimean Tatars, almost a fifth died of starvation and diseases, and the survivors were allowed to return only in the late 1980s.
According to the prominent Russian right group Memorial, Stalin ordered the deaths of at least 724,000 people during the purges and repression of the 1930s, while millions died as a result of the forced labor system in Gulags, the Soviet prison system.
But, some people believe he was a strong and valiant leader whose grip on the nation was needed for security and his popularity in Russia has been climbing amid Kremlin-backed efforts to defend his image.

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Senior masters Sydney gale to win Australian Open

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Peter Senior  drew on all his experience from 34 years as a professional golfer to master galeforce winds and win the Australian Open by a shot on Sunday, 23 years after he first held aloft the Stonehaven Cup.

Gusting winds of up to 80 kilometers an hour whipped across The Lakes Golf Club all day, knocking over a TV tower on the 18th green and forcing the suspension of play for three hours.

The 53-year-old ground out a final round of par 72 in fading light to finish four-under for the tournament and become the oldest man to win the title in the event's 108-year history.

Brendan Jones finished second after a 71, while his fellow Australian Cameron Percy was third, a shot further back on two under, after carding a 73.

Britain's world number four Justin Rose dropped a shot at the last to finish with a 76 for a share of fourth.

"It was probably one of the toughest days I've ever seen on a golf course," Senior, who first won the title in 1989 and won the last of his four European Tour titles two decades ago.

"I really thought these days were over but golf is a funny game. The key to today's round was that I never put any pressure on myself.

"If the conditions had been better, the better players would have won. But these are conditions I thrive in, where I just battle it out."

On a day when the conditions meant only six players would finish under par, Senior started three shots off the pace and dropped two shots on the front nine.

The Singapore-born Australian won them back, however, with two birdies in three shots after the turn, curling a 20-foot putt into the hole at the 12th to move two shots clear of the field.

It was a lead he would never relinquish and, with his son and caddie Mitch watching on, he drained a three-foot putt at the 18th before waiting for the final group of Rose and John Senden to finish.

Rose had started the day in second, two shots off the pace, but three-putted at the third for the first of two dropped shots on the front nine.

The Englishman went bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie just after the turn and looked to be building up for a charging finish but two bogeys in the last three holes put paid to his chances.

Overnight leader Senden suffered a meltdown in the trying conditions, losing his overnight lead with a double bogey after an errant drive at the first and ending up with an 82.

World number seven Adam Scott started the day five shots off the pace but never looked like making a charge and a chip-in for an eagle at the 17th was too little, too late and he finished with a 76 for a share of 14th.

Eight-times major champion Tom Watson continued his Jekyll and Hyde week, turning in three birdies in a flawless round in the relative calm of the morning to end up with a card reading 78-68-78-69 in joint 28th.

Senior is 10 years younger and has enjoyed nowhere near as much success as the American, but he was just as popular with those who braved the weather to populate the galleries.

"It was a really nasty day and I had a lot of support," Senior said.

"I can't believe how many people stayed around, I would have been home in bed by now."

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New Zealand coach Hesson's advice 'laughable' - Taylor

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Disgruntled former captain Ross Taylor has slammed New Zealand's team management, dismissing head coach Mike Hesson's advice as "laughable" and claiming he was not given enough support in his 18-month stint as skipper.

Taylor was stripped of the Twenty20 and one-day captaincy last week on Hesson's recommendation, and rejected an offer to stay on as test skipper in the wake of New Zealand's drawn test series away to Sri Lanka.

Opener Brendon McCullum will take on all three roles and faces a baptism of fire as he leads New Zealand on tour to South Africa later this month.

"I knew it'd be tough from the outset (with Hesson)," Taylor said in comments published on the New Zealand Herald's website (www.nzherald.co.nz) on Sunday.

"I gave him as much support as I could but it wasn't reciprocated.

"We liaised during the Champions League," added the 28-year-old, who played with the Delhi Daredevils at the T20 tournament in South Africa in October.

"He wrote down a few things for me to improve on, which were laughable, frankly."

Hesson, a career coach with no experience as a player at senior level, was appointed in July.

A former coach of New Zealand A sides and provincial side Otago, he also had a short stint as assistant coach to John Bracewell at English county side Gloucester and was head coach of Kenya last year.

Taylor, New Zealand's top test batsman, has opted out of the tour to South Africa in a blow for the tourists' hopes of upsetting the number one-ranked test nation in their two-match series.

He has flagged a return to the team in time for their three-test home series against England in March, but said he still felt "raw" after his demotion.

"I knew I had areas to work on, like in communication, but I didn't get much support," he said of his captaincy, during which New Zealand struggled in all three formats of the game.

"Instead, I organised a number of things myself, like chatting to (psychologist) Gilbert Enoka. I thought that indicated I was trying to be a better captain.

"I'm more disappointed in the process to be told four days before the test series began (in Sri Lanka) that they didn't want me as captain.

"I also wasn't consulted in the tour review process by (New Zealand Cricket chairman Chris) Moller or (NZC chief executive David) White. No one got hold of me."

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British police contact Australian police over hoax

LONDON (AP) — British police say they have contacted Australian authorities about a possible investigation into an Australian radio station's hoax call to a U.K. hospital.

The callers impersonated Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles and received confidential details about the former Kate Middleton's medical information. The call was recorded and broadcast.

The prank took an ugly twist Friday with the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha, a 46-year-old mother of two, three days after she took the hoax call.

Police have not yet determined Saldanha's cause of death, but people from London to Sydney have been making the assumption that she died because of stress from the call.

The disk jockeys involved have been suspended indefinitely.

Australian police Sunday confirmed they had been contacted by London police and said they would cooperate.

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British police contact Australian police over radio station's hoax call impersonating queen

LONDON - British police say they have contacted Australian authorities about a possible investigation into an Australian radio station's hoax call to a U.K. hospital.

The callers impersonated Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles and received confidential details about the former Kate Middleton's medical information. The call was recorded and broadcast.

The prank took an ugly twist Friday with the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha, a 46-year-old mother of two, three days after she took the hoax call.

Police have not yet determined Saldanha's cause of death, but people from London to Sydney have been making the assumption that she died because of stress from the call.

The disk jockeys involved have been suspended indefinitely.

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