Kurdish peace process in Turkey faces impasse over militant withdrawal

By Daren Butler

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's peace process with Kurdish militants faces a hurdle as the rebels demand legal protection to prevent any military attack on them during their planned withdrawal after decades of fighting, a call rejected by the government.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) declared a ceasefire with Turkey last month in response to an order from its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan after months of talks with Ankara to halt a conflict which has killed more than 40,000.

The next planned step is a withdrawal of PKK fighters from Turkish territory to their bases in the mountains of northern Iraq, but the militants say they could be vulnerable to attack from Turkish troops unless parliament gives them legal protection.

"The guerrillas cannot withdraw unless a legal foundation is prepared and measures are taken, because guerrillas suffered major attacks when they left in the past," PKK commander Cemil Bayik told Kurdish Nuce TV in an interview aired late on Monday.

Hundreds of PKK fighters are estimated to have been killed in clashes with security forces during a previous withdrawal in 1999 after Ocalan's capture and conviction for treason.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has said he guarantees there would be no repeat of such clashes but is against legislation, instead saying the rebels should disarm before withdrawing to remove the risk of firefights with Turkish forces.

"We don't care where those withdrawing leave their weapons or even whether they bury them. They must put them down and go. Because otherwise this situation is very open to provocation," Erdogan said in a television interview late on Friday.

Milliyet newspaper reported security sources as saying about 700 of 1,500 PKK militants believed to be in Turkey may be allowed to reintegrate into society rather than withdrawing as they have not taken part in armed attacks.

POLITICAL RISK

The PKK has rejected a withdrawal without legal protection.

"A withdrawal as called for by Erdogan is not on our movement's agenda," PKK leaders in northern Iraq said at the weekend, calling for government action to advance the peace process.

"It is essential for the lasting and healthy development of the process that some concrete, practical steps are taken in order to convince our forces," the group said in a statement.

Erdogan has taken a considerable political risk in allowing negotiations with Ocalan, reviled by most Turks, to unfold publicly. The government has said little about what reforms it would make to persuade the PKK to disarm.

The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union, launched its insurgency in 1984 with the aim of carving out an independent state in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey, but later moderated its goal to autonomy.

Pro-Kurdish politicians are focused on boosting minority rights and stronger local government for the Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of Turkey's population of 75 million people.

Erdogan said he would meet on Thursday members of a "wise people" commission who will prepare a report on the peace process for the government within one month. The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) is separately calling for a parliamentary commission to monitor the process.

Efforts to resolve the legal protection dispute are likely to top the agenda in planned talks between a BDP delegation and Ocalan in his jail on Imrali island, south of Istanbul. The visit is expected this weekend, a Justice Ministry official told Reuters.

The visit, which may bring an order from Ocalan for the withdrawal to begin, will follow celebrations by Ocalan's supporters to mark his birthday on April 4 at his birthplace in southeast Turkey.

(Additional reporting by Gulsen Solaker in Ankara; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Pravin Char)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kurdish-peace-process-turkey-faces-impasse-over-militant-105433651.html

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Refresh Roundup: week of March 25th, 2013

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/31/refresh-roundup/

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NY cardinal: Church can be more welcoming to gays

NEW YORK (AP) ? The archbishop of New York says the Roman Catholic Church has to make sure that its defense of marriage is not reduced to an attack on gays.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan says the church hasn't "been too good at that" and could work on being more welcoming to gays and lesbians.

He says the church tries its "darnedest to make sure we're not an anti-anybody."

Dolan made the remarks Sunday on the ABC News program "This Week."

His comments came days after the Supreme Court heard arguments in two same-sex marriage cases.

Dolan says he would tell gay men and lesbians that God loves them and they're entitled to friendship. But he says marriage is a union between a man and a woman "where children can come about naturally."

Dolan made similar comments on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ny-cardinal-church-more-welcoming-gays-105248031.html

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Mashaal re-elected as Hamas leader

CAIRO (AP) ? The Islamic militant group Hamas on Monday re-elected longtime leader Khaled Mashaal, officials said, choosing a relative pragmatist who has sparred with movement hardliners in the past over his attempt to reconcile with Western-backed Palestinian rivals.

The secretive Hamas did not issue an announcement, but Mashaal's re-election was confirmed by two Hamas officials. The vote late Monday capped a year of internal elections spread over several countries and shrouded in mystery.

The Qatar-based Mashaal, 56, has led Hamas since 1996 and won another four-year term. He ran unopposed and won the support of a majority in Hamas' Shura Council which has about 60 members, said the two Hamas officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to discuss the secret election with reporters.

Mashaal enjoys the backing of regional powers Turkey, Egypt and Qatar, countries where Hamas' parent movement, the region-wide Muslim Brotherhood, is influential.

It's not clear if his re-election will give him enough clout to pursue reconciliation or if hardliners, particularly those based in the Gaza Strip, will be able to veto a deal.

Hamas wrested Gaza from Mahmoud Abbas, the internationally backed Palestinian president, in 2007, leaving him with only parts of the West Bank. Since then, the rivals have established separate governments that have become increasingly entrenched in their respective territories.

Last year, Mashaal and Abbas, who have cordial relations, reached a deal whereby Abbas would head an interim government of technocrats in the West Bank and Gaza. This government would have paved the way for general elections.

However, the deal never got off the ground because of opposition from Hamas leaders in Gaza and senior figures in Abbas' Fatah movement. Hamas leaders in Gaza were particularly vehement in their objections, apparently fearing that a unity deal would give Abbas a new foothold in Gaza and weaken Hamas' grip on the territory.

Last week, the emir of Qatar proposed holding a reconciliation conference in Egypt in coming weeks to set up a timetable for forming the interim government and holding elections.

Mashaal's re-election could further distance Hamas from long-time patron Iran, which has supplied cash and weapons to the Hamas government in Gaza. Hamas broke with another long-time ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad, more than a year ago, over Assad's brutal crackdown on a popular revolt that turned into an armed insurgency.

Mashaal's relations with Iran cooled after he refused to back Assad, an Iranian ally, and Mashaal last visited Tehran in November 2011.

Other senior Hamas figures continue to visit Tehran and ties have not broken off, but Mashaal has found a new home in Qatar, one of Iran's regional rivals.

Hamas was founded in Gaza in 1987, as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. It has four components ? activists in Gaza, in the West Bank, in exile and those imprisoned by Israel. In the internal elections, each of the four groups chose local leaders as well as delegates to the Shura Council.

This council selects a decision-making political bureau and the head of that body ? the stage that was wrapped up in Cairo on Monday. Details about the composition of the political bureau were not available Monday.

Mashaal is seen as a member of the more pragmatic wing of Hamas, in connection with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He and others in Hamas insist the movement will not recognize Israel and renounce violence ? Western conditions for dealing with Hamas.

Mashaal has suggested he could accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel, though he has not said if such a state would end the conflict, or be an interim step to an Islamic state in all of historic Palestine, including what is now Israel.

Mashaal has also come out in support of so-called popular resistance against Israeli occupation, a term Palestinians use for marches and stone-throwing protests. In previous rounds of conflict, Hamas gunmen and suicide bombers have killed hundreds of Israelis in attacks.

___

Laub reported from Ramallah, West Bank.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hamas-elects-mashaal-leader-193105438.html

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India's top court to deliver Novartis judgment

FILE ? In this Jan. 29, 2007 file photo, Indian police officers block demonstrators protesting against Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG's case against the Indian government on drug patents in New Delhi, India. India's Supreme Court is to rule Monday, April 1, 2013, whether to deny a patent to Novartis AG for its cancer treatment in a landmark case that would allow Indian companies to continue producing cheaper versions of many lifesaving medicines. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das, File)

FILE ? In this Jan. 29, 2007 file photo, Indian police officers block demonstrators protesting against Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG's case against the Indian government on drug patents in New Delhi, India. India's Supreme Court is to rule Monday, April 1, 2013, whether to deny a patent to Novartis AG for its cancer treatment in a landmark case that would allow Indian companies to continue producing cheaper versions of many lifesaving medicines. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 21, 2012 file photo, an Indian activist from a health group holds a placard while participating in a protest against Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG outside their office in Mumbai, India. India's Supreme Court is to rule Monday, April 1, 2013, whether to deny a patent to Novartis AG for its cancer treatment in a landmark case that would allow Indian companies to continue producing cheaper versions of many lifesaving medicines. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade, File)

NEW DELHI (AP) ? India's Supreme Court is to rule Monday on a landmark patent case involving Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG that focuses on demands by major companies that their investments be protected, against Indian companies that say they should be allowed to continue producing cheaper generic versions of many lifesaving medicines.

A decision in the seven-year legal battle is keenly awaited by the two most interested parties? big pharma companies and health aid groups ? with both sides saying the outcome will set a precedent with far-reaching consequences for the future availability of the drugs.

"Across the world, people rely on India for supplies of affordable versions of expensive patented medicines," said Leena Menghaney of Doctors Without Borders. "This case will have fundamental consequences."

The case goes back to 2006 when Novartis' application for a fresh patent in India for its cancer drug imatinib mesylate was rejected by the Indian patent office.

The patent authority cited a legal provision in India's 2005 patent law aimed at preventing companies from getting fresh patents for making only minor changes to existing medicines ? a practice known as "evergreening."

The drugmaker has argued that its leukemia drug Gleevec, known in Europe and India as Glivec, was a newer, more easily absorbed version that qualified for a fresh patent.

The company filed an appeal, but India's patent appeals office turned it down in 2009 on the grounds the company was unable to show significant increase in efficacy of the drug.

Novartis then approached the Supreme Court in August 2009, which heard arguments seeking to challenge the interpretation and application of India's patent law in the case.

Gleevec, used in treating chronic myeloid leukemia and some other cancers, costs a patient about $2,600 a month. Its generic version was available in India for around $175 per month.

"The difference in price was huge. The generic version makes it affordable to so many more poor people, not just in India, but across the world," said Y.K. Sapru, of the Mumbai-based Cancer Patients Aid Association.

The case once again pits big pharmaceutical companies against health activists and aid groups with both sections arguing that the judgment would be an important milestone for the future of the pharmaceutical industry worldwide.

"The Novartis verdict is important because it will determine whether India gets to limit patents to genuine new drugs, or whether drug companies get to "evergreen" their patents until eternity, simply by re-patenting a slightly modified version of a known substance," said Ellen 't Hoen, a pharmaceutical law and policy consultant.

Western pharmaceutical companies have warned that a rejection of Novartis' application would discourage investment in research and innovation, and would hobble drugmakers' efforts to refine and improve their products.

The international drug majors have been pushing for stronger patent protection in India to regulate the country's $26 billion generic drug industry, which they say often flouts intellectual property rights.

In a statement sent to The Associated Press late last year, Novartis said patent protection was important to ensure effective protection for innovation.

"Knowing we can rely on patents in India benefits government, industry and patients because research-based organizations will know if investing in the development of better medicines for India is a viable long-term option," the company said.

Groups such as Doctors Without Borders say cheaply made Indian generics are a lifesaver for millions of patients in poor countries who cannot afford to pay Western prices to treat diseases such as cancer, malaria and HIV.

India, which has emerged as the world's pharmacy for the poor, has come under intense scrutiny from pharmaceutical giants who say India's 2005 Patent Act fails to guarantee the rights of investors who finance drug research and development.

The country's recent decision to allow a local manufacturer to produce a generic version of Bayer's patented cancer drug Nexavar, to make the drug available to the public at a reasonably affordable price, has also not gone down well with Western pharmaceutical companies.

Health and aid groups were clearly nervous before the top court rules on the Novartis case.

"Generic companies depend on the freedom to operate. If there are too many intellectual property-related challenges, then the companies very quickly withdraw from making that drug," said Menghaney.

The groups fear that a ruling in favor of Novartis would lead to a proliferation of patents ? some based on a minor tweaking of formulation and dosages ?on dozens of other generic medicines that Indian companies have been producing and supplying to needy nations at far lower costs than those charged by Western drug manufacturers.

And the fallout of the judgment will be felt across the world, says Menghaney. "It's not just about India."

"If generic competition on many crucial medicines ends, then prices for these medicines will increase, both in India and across the developing world. This would be devastating for millions who rely on India for affordable medicines."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-31-India-Patent%20Battle/id-9299251350894549ac0c2d134052ebb5

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GERD label makes parents more likely to want medicine

By Genevra Pittman

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Telling the parents of babies who spit up and cry frequently that their child has gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, makes them more likely to want medicine - even if they're also told it isn't likely to help much, a new study suggests.

Most babies who spit up don't have an acid reflux problem, researchers said, just a not-quite-developed upper stomach valve.

Still, an increasing number of those kids are being labeled as having GERD - even though a definitive diagnosis normally requires an invasive test.

"Roughly 50 percent of babies during the first six months are spitting up enough to bother their parents," said Dr. William Carey from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who wrote a commentary published Monday with the new study.

"I never offered medication for a kid who was just spitting up and gaining weight well and happy," he told Reuters Health. "I could confidently tell the mother, ?Look, it's going to be a nuisance until about six months, and then it's gradually going to get better.' It's an irritating variation of normal."

For their study, Laura Scherer from the University of Missouri in Columbia and her colleagues handed out surveys to 175 parents with a hypothetical scenario: their one-month-old infant was spitting up and crying a lot.

The researchers asked parents what they would do if the doctor diagnosed their child with GERD versus if the condition wasn't labeled, as well as what they would do if the doctor told them the medication to treat the condition was ineffective - as research suggests it is - or didn't say anything about its efficacy.

Survey participants were more likely to want medication if their hypothetical infant was given a GERD diagnosis. Even when parents were told the medicine probably wouldn't work, they rated their interest in treatment at about 2.5 out of 5.

However, with no disease label and with information about the medicine's lack of efficacy, parents rated their desire to treat below 1.5 out of 5, the researchers reported in Pediatrics.

"It shows how these kinds of labels can influence how people respond to symptoms," Scherer told Reuters Health. "Words can make an otherwise normal process seem like something that requires medical intervention."

She said current guidelines say the case of an irritable infant who cries and spits up frequently should probably not be treated as GERD - but that if doctors rule everything else out, they can try a two-week course of acid-reducing medication.

That caveat could further confuse doctors and parents into thinking medicine is likely to help, Scherer said.

"It's really becoming pretty clear that GERD in infants is overdiagnosed and overtreated. One reason for this could be that doctors' use of this GERD label could unintentionally increase people's (desire) for medications," she said.

Carey compared what's happening with GERD symptoms to the rising number of very active kids being diagnosed with and treated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

"Parents need to know that there are some annoying or insignificant variations of normal which one really needs to just put up with and not treat as a disease," he said.

"Be darn sure that there is an abnormality before treating it as such."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/jsoh2P Pediatrics, online April 1, 2013.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gerd-label-makes-parents-more-likely-want-medicine-041403187.html

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'G.I. Joe' commands No. 1 at box office with $41M

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? After a nine-month delay, "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" deployed to the top spot at the box office.

The action film starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum as the gun-toting military toys brought to life marched into the No. 1 position at the weekend box office, earning $41.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. "Retaliation" opened Wednesday at midnight, which helped bring its domestic total to $51.7 million.

Paramount postponed the sequel to 2009's "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra" last May from its original June opening date to convert the film to 3-D. The last-minute switcheroo came just weeks after "Battleship," another movie based on a Hasbro toy, sank at the box office. At that time, Paramount already began its advertising campaign for "Retaliation."

"It certainly vindicates the decision," said Don Harris, the studio's head of distribution. "Any time you make those sorts of moves, people always assume the worst. The truth is I'd seen this movie a long time ago in 2-D, and the movie worked in 2-D. It's not trying to be 'Schindler's List.' This movie is intended to be enjoyed as a big, action spectacle."

After debuting in the top spot last weekend, the 3-D animated prehistoric comedy "The Croods" from DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox slipped to the No. 2 spot with $26.5 million in its second weekend. The film features the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone and Catherine Keener as a cave family on the hunt for a new home.

Among the other new films this weekend, "Tyler Perry's Temptation" starring Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Lance Gross opened above expectations at No. 3 with $22.3 million, while the sci-fi adaptation "The Host" featuring Saoirse Ronan, Max Irons, and Jake Abel as characters from the Stephenie Meyer novel landed at No. 6 in its debut weekend with a modest $11 million.

Overall, the weekend box office was on par with last year when "The Hunger Games" continued to dominate in its second weekend of release with $58.5 million. After a slow start, Hollywood's year-to-date revenues are still 12 percent behind last year, heading into next month when summer movie season unofficially kicks off with "Iron Man 3" on May 3.

"It's getting us back on track after many weekends of down trending box office," said Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com. "Last weekend was a turning point with the strength of 'The Croods' and 'Olympus Has Fallen' doing better than expected. We're heading toward the summer movie season on solid footing. It's been a tough year so far."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" $41.2 million.

2. "The Croods," $26.5 million.

3. "Tyler Perry's Temptation," $22.3 million.

4. "Olympus Has Fallen," $14 million.

5. "Oz the Great and Powerful," $11.6 million.

6. "The Host," $11 million.

7. "The Call," $4.8 million.

8. "Admission," $3.2 million.

9. "Spring Breakers," $2.7 million.

10. "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone," $1.3 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-31-Box%20Office/id-9da4089ad0ce45f6a19475396541a202

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