Royal Hoax: DJs 'Shattered' After Nurse's Suicide

The two Australian radio DJs who prank-called the London hospital where Kate Middleton was being treated last week said they were "shattered" and "gutted" after the nurse who answered their call apparently killed herself.

Shock jocks Mel Greig, 30, and Michael Christian, 25, cried as they spoke to Australia's Channel 9 overnight in their first public interview since Jacintha Saldanha, 46, the nurse who last week connected the pair to the duchess' room, was found dead Friday morning.

"I'm shattered, gutted, heartbroken," Christian said. "Mel and myself are incredibly sorry for the situation and what's happened. I had the idea. … It was just a simple harmless phone call. It was going to go on for 30 seconds. We were going to get hung up on."

FULL COVERAGE: Royal Baby

The host of the "2Day" FM radio show pretended to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles, asking for an update on Middleton's condition when they called up King Edward VII Hospital in central London. With no receptionist on duty overnight, Saldanha answered the prank call and put it through.

"It was just something that was fun and light-hearted and a tragic turn of events that I don't think anyone had expected," Christian said.

A Current Affair/ABC News

Jacintha Saldanha Dead: Could DJs Face Charges? Watch Video

Jacintha Saldanha Outrage: DJs Responsible for Prank Are in Hiding Watch Video

Saldanha was found dead Friday morning after police were called to an address near the hospital to "reports of a woman found unconscious," according to a statement from Scotland Yard.

Investigators have not said how she might have killed herself.

Greig cried today when asked about the moment she heard of the death of Saldanha, a mother of two.

"It was the worst phone call I've ever had in my life," she said through tears. "There's not a minute that goes by that we don't think about her family and the thought that we may have played a part in that is gut-wrenching."

The DJs said they never expected to get through to Middleton's nurse and assumed "the same phone calls had been made 100 times that morning," Christian said.

Grieg said, "We wanted to be hung up on with our silly voices and wanted a 20-second segment to air of us doing stupid voice. … Not for a second did we expect to even speak to Kate or even have a conversation with anyone at the hospital. We wanted to be hung up on."

The global backlash against the duo has been fierce, from online death threats to calls for prison time. Their radio station has announced it is banning phony phone calls altogether, and suspending advertising indefinitely.

Max Moore-Wilton, the chairman of Southern Cross Austereo, said in a letter Sunday to Lord Glenarthur, chairman of King Edward VII's Hospital, that the company is reviewing the station's broadcast policies, the AP reported.

"I can assure you we are taking immediate action and reviewing the broadcast and processes involved," Moore-Wilton said in the letter. "As we have said in our own statements on the matter, the outcome was unforeseeable and very regrettable."

Greig and Michael have been taken off the air, silenced indefinitely.

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Egypt army gets temporary power to arrest civilians

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's government has temporarily given the military the authority to arrest civilians to help safeguard a constitutional referendum planned for Saturday, the official gazette said.

The order, gazetted late on Sunday, said the military would support police and liaise with them to protect "vital institutions" until the referendum result is declared.

The decree gave army officers the right to make arrests and transfer detainees to prosecutors.

Despite its limited nature, the edict will revive memories of Hosni Mubarak's emergency law, also introduced as a temporary expedient, under which military or state security courts tried thousands of political dissidents and Islamist militants.

But a military source stressed that the measure, introduced by a civilian government, would have a short shelf-life.

"The latest law giving the armed forces the right to arrest anyone involved in illegal actions such as burning buildings or damaging public sites is to ensure security during the referendum only," the military source said.

"The armed forces secured polling stations during previous elections when it was in charge of the country," the source said, referring to 16 months of army rule after Mubarak fell.

"Now the president is in charge. In order for the armed forces to be involved in securing the referendum, a law had to be issued saying so," the source added.

Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said the committee overseeing the vote had requested the army's assistance.

"The armed forces will work within a legal framework to secure the referendum and will return (to barracks) as soon as the referendum is over," Ali said.

On Saturday, the military urged rival political forces to solve their disputes via dialogue and said the opposite would drag the country into a "dark tunnel", which it would not allow.

A statement issued by the military spokesman and read on state radio and television made no mention of President Mohamed Mursi, but said a solution to the political crisis should not contradict "legitimacy and the rules of democracy".

A military source close to top officers said the statement "does not indicate any future intervention in politics".

A military council took over after a popular revolt ended Mubarak's 30 years of army-backed rule last year. It then handed power to Mursi, who became Egypt's first freely elected leader in June. The military has not intervened in the latest crisis.

The army statement said the military's duty was to protect national interests and secure vital state institutions.

"The armed forces affirm that dialogue is the best and only way to reach consensus," it added. "The opposite of that will bring us to a dark tunnel that will result in catastrophe and that is something we will not allow."

Hassan Abu Taleb of the Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies said Saturday's army statement suggested the military wanted both sides to talk out their differences, but discounted the chance of direct military intervention.

"They realize that interfering again in a situation of civil combat will squeeze them between two rocks," he said.

(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Writing by Alistair Lyon; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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More stepping forward for anonymous HIV testing: AfA

SINGAPORE: Advocacy group Action for AIDS (AfA) says more people are coming forward to be tested anonymously for HIV.

The group said 1,368 people have been tested anonymously for HIV at its mobile van for the past 11 months.

The mobile van started conducting such tests in December 2011. Seven have tested positive for HIV so far.

It added that its Anonymous Test Site, located in a clinic run by the Department of Sexually Transmitted Infections Control in Kelantan Lane, tested an average of 540 individuals a month for 2012.

More comprehensive blood tests are conducted at this clinic.

A total of 385 new HIV cases were reported among Singapore residents in the first 10 months of 2012.

Of these, only 14 per cent were diagnosed by voluntary HIV screening. Half of these cases were already at a late stage of infection.

A total of 5,521 Singapore residents have been diagnosed with HIV.

"Stigma and discrimination create an unnecessary barrier to the early detection and treatment of at-risk individuals," said Minister of State for Health Dr Amy Khor.

"Concerned that they may be shunned by their family, rejected by friends, or lose their jobs if they were found to be HIV positive, individuals who practise risky sexual behaviours are afraid of getting a HIV test - to the detriment of their health and to the risk of their sexual partners," she added.

To tackle these issues, Tan Tock Seng Hospital became the first public hospital to launch a HIV stigma and discrimination campaign called 'The Power To Change Is Within You'.

"We feel that there are probably more patients but they haven't been diagnosed yet. And what this means is a delay in diagnosis. The earlier you come for testing, the earlier you are diagnosed… the (earlier) you get your treatment, the better is your prognosis." said Dr Arlene Chua, head of Tan Tock Seng Hospital's HIV programme.

Large banners, posters and stickers will be displayed around Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the Communicable Disease Centre and clinics. They will include stories and positive experiences of HIV patients and healthcare workers who have worked with these patients.

The aim is to help HIV patients adopt a positive mindset and to highlight to members of the public that HIV patients continue to live normal lives.

The campaign aims to target people living with HIV, healthcare workers and the public.

- CNA/jc

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Iran launches own YouTube-like video-sharing Web site

Mehr, Iran's alternative to YouTube.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Steven Musil/CNET)

Iran has launched a video-sharing site in its latest effort to provide alternative government-sanctioned Internet services.

Dubbed "Mehr," the Farsi word for affection, the site aims to attract Persian-speaking users and promote Iranian culture, according to the About Us page reviewed by the Agence France-Press.

"From now on, people can upload their short films on the Web site and access [IRIB] produced material," said Lotfollah Siahkali, deputy chief of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

The Iranian government has been waging a battle against what it calls "inappropriate" content on the Internet. The government announced in September that it would block its people's access to Google's search engine and Gmail in September, an apparent retaliation for an anti-Islamic film posted on the company's YouTube site that caused outrage throughout the Muslim world.

At the same time, a government deputy minister announced that the government was moving ahead with much-rumored plans to create a domestic Internet as a way to improve cybersecurity. All government agencies and offices have already been connected to the "national information network," according to a Reuters report at the time that indicated the next step was to connect citizens to the network.

The country has reportedly been developing a national interanet in an effort to create "a clean Internet." The Iranian government denied those reports, but the Iranian media say the domestic system would be fully implemented by March 2013, Reuters reported. Still unclear whether access to the World Wide Web would be cut once the Iranian system is rolled out.

Iranian Internet users have grown accustomed to censorship. The country's government cut off access to the Internet a few times earlier this year, the latest of which blocked access to all encrypted international sites outside the country that operate on Secure Sockets Layer protocol. Many Iranians use proxy servers over Virtual Private Networks to circumvent government efforts to block access to foreign news sites and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

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Bruno Mars: Singing is all I ever wanted to do

(CBS News) All told, Bruno Mars' music videos have been viewed a staggering one BILLION times on YouTube. Not bad for a singer who was dumped by a big record label once upon a time. This morning, Bruno Mars talks to Lee Cowan For The Record:

By his own definition Bruno Mars is a musical melting pot.

He can spin from Pop to R & B to Reggae at the drop of that signature fedora.

"So, what would you say your style is?" asked Cowan.

"What's my style? I'm a singer. I'm just a singer," he replied.

And it's the way he sings his love songs that put Mars into orbit just two years ago. "Grenade," and "Just the Way You Are" both reached Number One on the Billboard charts, becoming two of the bestselling digital singles of all time.

His debut album, "Doo-Wops & Hooligans," sold more than 5 million copies. He was Billboard's top male artist last year. And this week he'll release his second album, called fittingly enough, "Unorthodox Jukebox."

At 27 the boy from Hawaii seems to have it all.

Mars was asked if it was precarious, being on top of the peak.

"I'm a happy dude, Lee," he laughed. "The fact that I even get to feel this, at this moment is enough. Enough."

WEB EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Bruno Mars talks about playing at Pickwick's Pub in the San Fernando Valley when he was struggling to make it after being dropped by Motown. (Click on the video player below.)

He was born Peter Jean Hernandez on the island of Oahu, to a Puerto Rican father and a Filipino mother.

His dad nicknamed him Bruno after a popular wrestler. Bruno then added Mars years later.

For him and his five siblings music was always the family business.

"My dad had this 1950s review show, very Las Vegas-style, and my uncle impersonated Elvis, and that was my favorite part of the show," Mars chuckled.

Even at age two, Mars said he was taken with how girls were screaming for "Elvis." "And as a young kid, you're like, 'I want that.'"

So when his dad put Bruno on stage he did the only thing he knew. His Mini-Elvis was an instant hit, becoming so popular that little Bruno was given a cameo in the movie "Honeymoon in Vegas."

"I became a real, real attention whore after that!" Mars laughed.

At 18 he moved to Los Angeles. He and his brother started a cover band jokingly called Sex Panther, and he began performing anyplace that would have them. Places like Pickwick's Pub, in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley.

He also wrote his own music. "I had a couple tunes that we would try out," he said. Good ones? "No! Not at all!"

But soon he had inked a deal with Motown Records, and left Pickwick's for bigger gigs - or so he thought. Turns out Pickwick's actually left Bruno first. Within a few months Motown had left him, too, releasing him from his contract without ever putting out an album.

"How much of a blow was that when they dropped you?" Cowan asked.

"The biggest blow. That was a hard phone call, to call my mom and dad and say, 'I'm no longer a signed artist and I gotta rethink this whole thing.'"

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Colorado Springs Doctor Rescued from Taliban

Dec 9, 2012 6:34am

ABC

The American doctor rescued from the Taliban in Afghanistan Saturday by U.S. Special Operations Forces is the medical adviser for a Colorado Springs NGO, his employer confirmed today.

Dr. Dilip Joseph and two colleagues were kidnapped by a group of armed men while returning from a visit to a rural medical clinic in eastern Kabul Province, according to a statement from their employer, Colorado Springs-based Morning Star Development. The statement said the three were eventually taken to a mountainous area about 50 miles from the border with Pakistan.

Morning Star’s crisis management team in Colorado Springs was in contact with the hostages and their captors almost immediately, the statement said.

On Saturday evening in Afghanistan, two of the three hostages were released. Morning Star did not release their names in order to protect their identities. Dr. Joseph remained in captivity.

Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, ordered the mission to rescue Joseph when “intelligence showed that Joseph was in imminent danger of injury or death”, according to a military press release.

Morning Star said Joseph was in good condition and will probably return home to Colorado Springs in the next few days.

A Defense Department official told ABC’s Luis Martinez that Joseph can walk, but was beaten up by his captors.

Joseph has worked for Morning Star Development for three years, the organization said, and travels frequently to Afghanistan.

“Morning Star Development does state categorically that we paid no ransom, money or other consideration to the captors or anyone else to secure the release of these hostages,” the organization said.

Joseph can be seen here in a Morning Star Development video:

“Due to security concerns, some cannot be named but their help will never be forgotten. Among these who cannot be named we include all of the courageous members of the U.S. military who successfully rescued Mr. Joseph as they risked their own lives doing so,” the statement said.

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Egypt's Mursi scraps decree, fails to appease opponents

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's president scrapped a decree that gave him extra powers and ignited violent protests, but irate opponents said on Sunday he had deepened the conflict by pressing on with a vote on a constitution shaped by Islamists.

President Mohamed Mursi and his Islamist partisans have insisted the referendum go ahead on December 15 to seal a democratic transition that began when a popular uprising felled Hosni Mubarak 22 months ago after three decades of one-man rule.

The retraction of Mursi's November 22 decree, announced around midnight after a "national dialogue" boycotted by almost all the president's opponents, has failed to calm a war of words.

Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, a technocrat with Islamist leanings, said the referendum was the best test of opinion.

"The people are the makers of the future as long as they have the freedom to resort to the ballot box in a democratic, free and fair vote," he said in a cabinet statement.

But opposition factions, uncertain of their ability to vote down the constitution against the Islamists' organizational muscle, want the document redrafted before any vote.

Ahmed Said, a liberal leader of the main opposition National Salvation Front, said Mursi's withdrawal of his November 22 decree had not annulled its consequences, describing the race to a referendum as "shocking" and an "act of war" against Egyptians.

The Front has promised a formal response later on Sunday.

Egypt tipped into turmoil after Mursi grabbed powers to stop any court action to hinder the transition. An assembly led by Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists then swiftly approved the constitution it had spent six months drafting.

Liberals, leftists, Christians and others had already quit the assembly in dismay, saying their voices were being ignored.

The April 6 movement, prominent in the anti-Mubarak revolt, derided the result of Saturday's talks as "manipulation and a continuation of deception in the name of law and legitimacy".

A leftist group led by defeated presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy demanded the referendum be deferred until a consensus could be reached on a new draft, saying there could be "no dialogue while blood is being spilled in the streets".

But Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said scrapping Mursi's decree had removed any cause for controversy.

"We ask others to announce their acceptance of the referendum result," he said on the group's Facebook page, asking whether the opposition would accept "the basics of democracy".

"NOT LOGICAL"

More protests were planned near Mursi's palace, despite tanks, barbed wire and other barriers installed last week after clashes between Islamists and their rivals killed seven people.

"A constitution without consensus can't go to a referendum," said Hermes Fawzi, 28, a protester outside the palace. "It's not logical that just one part of society makes the constitution."

After the dialogue hosted by Mursi, a spokesman announced that the president had issued a new decree whose first article "cancels the constitutional declaration" of November 22. He said the referendum could not be delayed for legal reasons.

Egypt is torn between Islamists, who were suppressed for decades, and their rivals, who fear religious conservatives want to squeeze out other voices and restrict social freedoms. Many Egyptians just crave stability and economic recovery.

Each side has mobilized tens of thousands of supporters in rival rallies in Cairo and other cities. Mursi's foes have chanted for his downfall. Islamists fear a plot to oust the most populous Arab nation's first freely elected president.

Islamists reckon they can win the referendum and, once the new constitution is in place, an election for a new parliament about two months later. The Islamist-led lower house elected this year was dissolved after a few months by a court order.

Investors appeared relieved at Mursi's retraction of his decree, sending Egyptian stocks 4.4 percent higher on Sunday. Markets are awaiting approval of a $4.8 billion IMF loan later this month designed to support the budget and economic reforms.

The new decree removed some parts of the old one that had angered the opposition, including an article that had given Mursi broad powers to confront threats to the revolution or the nation - wording that critics said gave him arbitrary authority.

It also dropped an article that had shielded Mursi's actions from the courts until a new parliament was elected, reflecting his distrust of a judiciary largely unreformed from Mubarak's era. But the new decree said "constitutional declarations including this declaration" remained beyond judicial review.

The new decree also set procedures to form an assembly to write a new constitution if Egyptians vote this draft down.

The military, which led Egypt's transition for 16 turbulent months after Mubarak fell, told feuding factions on Saturday that only dialogue could avert "catastrophe". But a military source said these remarks did not herald an army takeover.

(Additional reporting by Tamim Elyan and Yasmine Saleh; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Supply of Indonesian maids expected to fall next year

SINGAPORE: Maid agencies expect the number of Indonesian maids coming to work in Singapore to drop by 30 per cent, once the minimum wage for all Indonesians kicks in next month.

With the minimum wage, salaries for those working in Jakarta can go up to S$300 per month.

This may cause the maids to choose to work in Jakarta instead of Singapore.

Some domestic helpers from Indonesia say they enjoy better labour benefits there.

Besides, it is closer to their hometown and the cost of living there is not as high as in Singapore.

Maid agencies say Singaporeans should pay their maids more to make it more attractive for them to come here to work.

From January, all foreign maids in Singapore will be getting one mandatory day off per week instead of having no days off.

Some employers say they would rather pay more to their maids - to get them to work on their rest days.

"The employers themselves are working. So we do know, due to some feedback, they would like to have their own rest day during the weekend," said Carene Chin, executive director of Homekeeper Maid Agency.

"So (employers) don't mind paying extra to compensate the maid to have their rest day."

Many maids welcome the chance to earn more money.

"I prefer to work. One day (off), one time in one month is ok for me already. So I can send more money to my family," said a maid working in Singapore.

- CNA/xq

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Nook Simple Touch e-reader drops to $80

Barnes & Noble is dropping the price of its Nook Simple Touch e-reader by $20 starting tomorrow, with a new price tag of $80, the company said today.

Not a full-blown
tablet, the Simple Touch relies on a touch screen for flipping e-ink pages, navigating menus, and so on. CNET Reviews gave it four out of five stars and called it a "major advancement" over its predecessor.

As CNET's Rick Broida noted recently in his Cheapskate blog, though full-feature tablets like Amazon's Kindle Fire can be had for as low as $160, many people prefer an e-ink screen to one that's backlit -- it's easier on the eyes and better for outdoor reading. And with just books and other reading matter on the gadget, you can't be tempted to stray from "War and Peace" for Facebook, Angry Birds, or whatever else.

Walmart was recently selling refurbished models of the Simple Touch for $50, but those seem to be out of stock. Earlier, on Black Friday, B&N sold the device for $60.

The Simple Touch is available at B&N retail stores; B&N College Bookstores; third-party retailers such as Walmart, Target, and Best Buy; and online at www.nook.com.

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Typhoon Bopha threatens Philippines again

NEW BATAAN, Philippines A typhoon that killed nearly 600 people and left hundreds more missing in the southern Philippines has made a U-turn and is now threatening the country's northwest, officials said Saturday.

The weather bureau raised storm warnings over parts of the main northern island of Luzon after Typhoon Bopha veered northeast. There was a strong possibility the disastrous storm would make a second landfall Sunday, but it might also make a loop and remain in the South China Sea, forecasters said.

39 Photos

Powerful typhoon hits Philippines

In either case, it was moving close to shore and disaster officials warned of heavy rains and winds and possible landslides in the mountainous region.

Tens of thousands already have been left homeless by the storm, reports CBS News' Barnaby Lo, with the situation still very dire - shortages of food and drinking water, and other health and sanitation problems.

Bopha was forecast to leave the Philippine area tomorrow but is now expected to make landfall in the Northern Philippines on Sunday.

Storm signal warnings have been raised in several provinces, as the typhoon brings heavy rainfall and gusty winds, threatening to inflict more destruction upon the country.

Another calamity in the north would stretch recovery efforts thin. Most government resources, including army and police, are currently focused on the south, where Bopha hit Tuesday.

With many survivors there still in shock, soldiers, police and outside volunteers formed most of the teams searching for bodies or signs of life under tons of fallen trees and boulders swept down from steep hills surrounding the worst-hit town of New Bataan, municipal spokesman Marlon Esperanza said.

"We are having a hard time finding guides," he told The Associated Press. "Entire families were killed and the survivors ... appear dazed. They can't move."

Rescuers continue to retrieve bodies of flash flood victims three days after powerful Typhoon Bopha, in the remote New Bataan township, Compostela Valley in southern Philippines Friday, Dec. 7, 2012.

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AP Photo/Bullit Marquez

He said the rocks, mud, tree trunks and other rubble that litter the town have destroyed landmarks, making it doubly difficult to search places where houses once stood.

On Friday, bodies found jammed under fallen trees that could not be retrieved were marked with makeshift flags made of torn cloth so they could be easily spotted by properly equipped teams.

Authorities decided to bury unidentified bodies in a common grave after forensic officials process them for future identification by relatives, Esperanza said.

The town's damaged public market has been converted into a temporary funeral parlor. A few residents milled around two dozen white wooden coffins, some containing unidentified remains.

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