Experts: No link between Asperger's, violence

NEW YORK (AP) — While an official has said that the 20-year-old gunman in the Connecticut school shooting had Asperger's syndrome, experts say there is no connection between the disorder and violence.

Asperger's is a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness.

"There really is no clear association between Asperger's and violent behavior," said psychologist Elizabeth Laugeson, an assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Little is known about Adam Lanza, identified by police as the shooter in the Friday massacre at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. He fatally shot his mother before going to the school and killing 20 young children, six adults and himself, authorities said.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the unfolding investigation, said Lanza had been diagnosed with Asperger's.

High school classmates and others have described him as bright but painfully shy, anxious and a loner. Those kinds of symptoms are consistent with Asperger's, said psychologist Eric Butter of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who treats autism, including Asperger's, but has no knowledge of Lanza's case.

Research suggests people with autism do have a higher rate of aggressive behavior — outbursts, shoving or pushing or angry shouting — than the general population, he said.

"But we are not talking about the kind of planned and intentional type of violence we have seen at Newtown," he said in an email.

"These types of tragedies have occurred at the hands of individuals with many different types of personalities and psychological profiles," he added.

Autism is a developmental disorder that can range from mild to severe. Asperger's generally is thought of as a mild form. Both autism and Asperger's can be characterized by poor social skills, repetitive behavior or interests and problems communicating. Unlike classic autism, Asperger's does not typically involve delays in mental development or speech.

Experts say those with autism and related disorders are sometimes diagnosed with other mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"I think it's far more likely that what happened may have more to do with some other kind of mental health condition like depression or anxiety rather than Asperger's," Laugeson said.

She said those with Asperger's tend to focus on rules and be very law-abiding.

"There's something more to this," she said. "We just don't know what that is yet."

After much debate, the term Asperger's is being dropped from the diagnostic manual used by the nation's psychiatrists. In changes approved earlier this month, Asperger's will be incorporated under the umbrella term "autism spectrum disorder" for all the ranges of autism.

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AP Writer Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report.

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Online:

Asperger's information: http://1.usa.gov/3tGSp5

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Conn. Shooter Had Hundreds of Rounds

Adam Lanza had hundreds of rounds and used multiple high capacity magazines when he went on a rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School, killing 20 first graders and six adults, Connecticut State Police said today.

After shooting at victims in two classrooms and a hallway with a high-powered semi-automatic rifle, he put a bullet into his own head with a handgun.

"The weapon that was utilized most of the time during this horrific crime was identified as a Bushmaster AR-15 assault weapon," Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance said. "The trajectory of the shots and all of the ammunition used in the horrible crime will be examined."

Vance said three weapons were found at the scene, while a fourth, a shotgun, was recovered from Lanza's vehicle.

While the shattered community of Newtown awaits President Obama's visit this afternoon, plans for the first funerals were announced.

Noah Pozner, the first grader whose twin sister survived the massacre, and 6-year-old Jack Pinto, will be laid to rest in separate ceremonies Monday afternoon.

The funeral for Jessica Rekos, 6, will be held on Tuesday at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, where several of the victims' families attend mass.

The community faced a new shock today when parishioners attending the midday service at Rose of Lima were told to evacuate after a church official became aware of a credible threat.

About 1,000 people were gathered inside the church at the time observing one of four memorial services being held there.

Witnesses said police entered the church and told parishioners that a threat had been made against the church and the surrounding area and that everyone had to leave immediately.

More than a dozen state troopers armed with assault rifles entered the church's education center next to the church, but after a short time it was determined that threat was over.

Brian Wallace, director of communications for the Diocese of Bridgeport, said that after massacre on Friday, he felt evacuation was a vital precaution to take.

"I don't think any of us could be surprised about anything after what has happened," Wallace said.

Meanwhile, police are working to understand what set Lanza off on his rampage.

Connecticut Shooting: Churches Services Honor Victims Watch Video

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ABC News has learned that investigators have seized computers belonging to the 20-year-old from the home he shared with his mother Nancy, the same place he killed her before going to the Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he slaughtered students in two first-grade classes and teachers and staff.

CLICK HERE for full coverage of the tragedy at the elementary school.

Authorities are forensically investigating those computers and are also examining devices owned by Ryan Lanza, the gunman's older brother, to see if they can learn anything more about Adam and what caused him to snap.

Members of the community gathered today at churches across the small town, seeking comfort, clarity or just a cry.

With intermittent freezing rain falling, the bells tolled at St. Rose of Lima as parishioners came for the morning service.

Little more than a week before Christmas when congregants celebrate the birth of the savior, they instead were mourning the deaths of people they knew.

Many of the victims attended the church and the clergy is preparing for the funerals of eight of the children.

As parishioners arrived at the church for the morning service, many stopped at a makeshift memorial with flowers, teddy bears and candles. On large white boards, people wrote notes that express condolences, hope, and even forgiveness.

One says "Rest in Peace Sweet Angels."

After a man and woman knelt down at the memorial -- the woman overcome by grief crying into her husband's arms -- two police officers opened their cars with a delivery: bouquets of flowers and teddy bears stacked in the back of their vehicles. They delicately placed each one down and then both knelt down at the vigil.

The female officer began crying and her male partner put his arm around her to comfort her. She quickly got up, walking to her car while wiping away tears, and then they pulled away.

READ: Complete List of Sandy Hook Victims

A mother and two young daughters came next. She gripped one while she also wiped away tears. A father and his young daughter also came up, the father kneeling and talking to the girl before they slowly walked into the church.

A state police trooper was also among those dropping flowers at the memorial comprised of candles, stuffed toys and a sign that says "Sleep in heavenly peace."

Police Tracing Guns Used in Shooting

At a news conference this morning, Vance said there are many pieces missing in the investigation and investigators continue to work inside Sandy Hook Elementary School to collect evidence.

Key to the investigation will also be the four firearms found at or near the crime scene, he said.

"We are tracing them historically, all the way back to when they were on the workbench being assembled," Vance said.

Authorities are wrapping up their processing of the exterior crime scene, which included vehicles parked in the school's lot at the time of the shooting, Vance said, and have began to release the cars back to their owners.

Vance declined to say what evidence has or has not been collected.

"We can't take segments of an investigation and discuss that publicly because something taken out of context could be misinterpreted," he said, adding that in the end, the "goal is to answer every single question.

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Japan's next PM Abe must deliver on economy, cope with China

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's hawkish ex-premier Shinzo Abe will get a second chance to run the country after his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) surged to power in Sunday's election, but must swiftly move to bolster the sagging economy while managing strained ties with China.

Abe, whose party won by a landslide just three years after a crushing defeat, was expected on Monday to meet Natsuo Yamaguchi, the leader of the small New Komeito party, to cement their alliance and confirm economic steps to boost an economy now in its fourth recession since 2000.

The victory by the LDP, which had ruled Japan for most of the past 50 years before it was ousted in 2009, will usher in a government pledged to a tough stance in a territorial row with China, a pro-nuclear energy policy despite the 2011 Fukushima disaster and a potentially risky recipe for hyper-easy monetary policy and big fiscal spending to boost growth.

Projections by TV broadcasters showed that the LDP had won at least 291 seats in the 480-member lower house, while the New Komeito party took at least 29 seats.

That gives the two parties the two-thirds majority needed to overrule parliament's upper house in most matters, where they lack a majority and which can block bills. The "super majority" could help to break a policy deadlock that has plagued the world's third biggest economy since 2007.

Markets have already pushed the yen lower and share prices higher in anticipation of an LDP victory and Abe's economic stimulus. The two-thirds "super majority" could boost share prices and weaken the yen further.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) was crushed, forecast to win just about 56 seats - less than a fifth of its showing in 2009, when it swept to power promising to pay more heed to consumers than companies and pry control of policies from bureaucrats.

But voters deemed the pledges honored mostly in the breach and the party was hit by defections before the vote due to Noda's unpopular plan to raise the sales tax to curb public debt already more than twice the size of the economy.

"This was an overwhelming rejection of the DPJ," said Gerry Curtis, a professor at New York's Columbia University.

"Abe was smart to run the campaign saying 'It's the economy, stupid. His hawkish (security) views took second place to fiscal stimulus and getting a dovish Bank of Japan governor and getting the economy going. If he keeps that focus ... he has a chance of improving his standing."

Analyst Bruce Klingner of the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington said the return of Abe and LDP was foremost a rejection of the DPJ, but "also reflects an embrace of conservative views" after recent years of strained relations with Japan's close neighbors.

"Chinese assertiveness and North Korean provocations nudged the public from its usual post-war complacency toward a new desire to stand up for Japanese sovereignty," he said.

The Japanese favor moving toward "a more normal nation status" and are not embracing resurgent militarism, added Klingner, a former CIA analyst.

Abe, expected to be voted in by parliament on December 26, will also have to prove he has learned from the mistakes of his first administration, plagued by scandals and charges of incompetence.

Voter distaste for both major parties has spawned a clutch of new parties including the Japan Restoration Party, founded by popular Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, which took at least 52 seats, according to media projections.

But media estimates showed turnout at around 59 percent, which could match the previous post-war low.

LDP leader Abe, 58, who quit as premier in 2007 citing ill health, has been talking tough in a row with China over uninhabited isles in the East China Sea, although some experts say he may temper his hard line with pragmatism once in office.

The soft-spoken grandson of a prime minister, who will become Japan's seventh premier in six years, Abe also wants to loosen the limits of a 1947 pacifist constitution on the military, so Japan can play a bigger global security role.

President Barack Obama congratulated Abe and underlined U.S. interest in working with the longstanding American ally.

"The U.S-Japan Alliance serves as the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and I look forward to working closely with the next government and the people of Japan on a range of important bilateral, regional and global issues," he said in a statement.

The LDP, which promoted atomic energy during its decades-long reign, is expected to be friendly to nuclear utilities, although deep public concerns remain over safety.

Abe has called for "unlimited" monetary easing and big spending on public works to rescue the economy. Such policies, a centerpiece of the LDP's platform for decades, have been criticized by many as wasteful pork-barrel politics.

Many economists say that prescription for "Abenomics" could create temporary growth and enable the government to go ahead with a planned initial sales tax rise in 2014 to help curb a public debt now twice the size of gross domestic product.

But it looks unlikely to cure deeper ills or bring sustainable growth to Japan's ageing society, and risks triggering a market backlash if investors decide Japan has lost control of its finances.

(Additional reporting by Paul Eckert in Washington; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Eric Walsh)

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US police seek clues in school shooting

NEWTOWN, Connecticut: US police indicated on Saturday they are homing in on the mystery of what triggered the massacre of 20 children and six adults at a school by a young lone gunman.

Police have yet to make public the identities of the dead or almost any of the details of what happened inside Sandy Hook Elementary School just after classes started Friday.

The motives of the shooter, identified by US media as 20-year-old Adam Lanza, were the biggest mystery.

But Connecticut State Police spokesman Lieutenant Paul Vance said detectives in Newtown, a picturesque small town north-east of New York City, had begun to "peel back the onion."

Asked whether any suicide note, emails or other clues to the killer's mind had been found, he said the crime scene "did produce some very - very good evidence in our investigation."

"Investigators will be able to use (this) in hopefully painting the complete picture as to how and more importantly why this occurred," he told a news conference.

Bodies were removed from the blood-soaked school overnight Saturday and relatives were privately given formal identification of the dead.

In addition to the dead in the school, police found a woman's body in the house where Lanza and his mother were believed to have lived.

News reports quoted police saying she was Lanza's mother and that he'd shot her in the face before heading to the school, armed at least with two semi-automatic pistols and a military grade rifle - all registered in his mother's name.

At the school, where a black-clad Lanza concentrated his fire on just two rooms, the child victims were aged between five and 10. Among the dead adults were the school principal.

A new security system had been recently installed, but Vance said the shooter forced his way in to the school.

Police then entered from several points, breaking "many windows" as they frantically tried to get survivors out and to locate the gunman.

Mary Ann Jacob, who works in the school library, told reporters Saturday that she had sheltered 18 children during the mayhem.

"We were locked in our room," she said. "It was hard to keep them quiet. We told them it was a joke. I think they didn't really know what was going on."

Amid a flurry of rumours about how the murders played out, NBC reported that Lanza may have had an altercation earlier with four school staff, and that three of them were among the slain.

Late Friday, as darkness fell over the town, locals gathered for a church vigil, spilling onto the street in large numbers.

"This is a kind of community, when things like that happen, they really pull together," the priest, Robert Weiss, said during the Roman Catholic Mass.

A letter from Pope Benedict XVI was also read during the service.

The pope "has asked me to convey his heartfelt grief and the assurance of his closeness in prayer to the victims and their families, and to all affected by the shocking event," Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone said.

"Our faith is tested," state Governor Dan Malloy told the congregants. "Not just necessarily our faith in God, but our faith in community, and who we are, and what we collectively are."

President Barack Obama, wiping away tears and struggling to maintain his composure, said Friday he was aghast over the tragedy.

There were similar statements of grief and shock around the world.

The head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, spoke of his "deep shock and horror," Britain's Queen Elizabeth II sent a message to Obama in which she said she was "deeply shocked and saddened," and French President Francois Hollande expressed his condolences to Obama, saying the news "horrified me."

Of all US campus shootings, the toll was second only to the 32 murders in the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech university.

The latest number far exceeded the 15 killed in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, which triggered a fierce but inconclusive debate about the United States' relaxed gun control laws.

However, the White House on Friday scotched any suggestion that the politically explosive subject would be quickly reopened.

- AFP/de

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Why three Hurriyats are better than one

SRINAGAR: The winter winds blowing in Kashmir are at odds with the heat generated by the impending visit of Hurriyat leaders to Pakistan. To the average onlooker, it's the timing of the visit that inspires curiosity. The Zardari government is in its final lap, and the Hurriyat leaders are strangely at pains to emphasize that there is no agenda or roadmap they expect from their visit to Pakistan. But this rather insipid declaration of intent disguises a very significant development. The Hurriyat has split once again.

While Syed Ali Geelani-led hardline Hurriyat (G) has existed along with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led moderate Hurriyat (M), there is now a third faction, of "outcastes", which may be called Hurriyat (O). It comprises leaders like Yasin Malik, Nayeem Khan and Shabir Shah. Although not formally announced, the Pakistan visit is the first public display of a serious chasm in ideologies — only the Mirwaiz has confirmed his visit.

For mandarins in North Block, this marks another triumph in their policy to divide and weaken the political component of the separatist cause. For New Delhi, while militant violence is an irritant, the real challenge has always been the political force of the separatists. After the elections in 1996 that saw the return of National Conference to power, there was a realization that resentment over bijli-sadak-pani translated into support for the then United Hurriyat. Thus, it was with the generous financial support and encouragement from North Block that PDP was born. The mainstream now had two poles to even things out. That's when work began on the Hurriyat.

By 2004, Geelani was forced into a corner of Islamist 'Kashmir banega Pakistan' agenda. The moderates, in turn, were courted. Central funding, armed guards and prominent displays in newspapers upped their profiles and respectability, the aim being to encourage them to contest elections. The carrot was also accompanied with a subtle stick: both the NC and PDP were encouraged to air their own stream of soft separatism. Omar Abdullah's full autonomy and Mehbooba Mufti's self-rule are very similar to the deal Hurriyat moderates hoped to cut with New Delhi.

Sources say the strategy seems to be working. For the past two years, there have been intense efforts through track two to ease the moderates into contesting the 2014 elections. This time, though, the moderates' repeated diffidence in doing so openly has been factored in. The solution for them is to field proxy candidates from select constituencies. So, while the Lone brothers have patched up with Sajjad fronting for brother Bilal in their family backyard of North Kashmir, the Mirwaiz will place proxy candidates from his stronghold: downtown Srinagar.

The IB's plan focuses on steadily diluting the 50 shades of grey in the separatist spectrum until one reaches white. When a senior moderate leader recently accused Geelani of representing forces of darkness, he perhaps didn't realise how closely he was reflecting New Delhi's thinking.

This plan is the reason why since 2011 all these leaders are suddenly singing a different tune. Prof Abdul Ghani Bhatt set the ball rolling, saying openly what most Kashmiris knew: that militants murdered Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq, father of the current Mirwaiz, and advocate Ghani Lone of the People's Conference. Bhatt then questioned the relevance of UN resolutions, calling for a plebiscite. The Mirwaiz, too, suddenly discovered civic issues. From urging people to pay electricity bills on time to criticizing the Omar government for graft in central schemes like NREGA.

Meanwhile, the Lone brothers are on a recruiting spree in North Kashmir, trying to revive the old cadre of their father's People's conference. This year has also been marked with skirmishes between the two factions of moderates, culminating in an attack on Shabir Shah by Mirwaiz's supporters in the aftermath of the Dastgeer Shrine fire in Srinagar.

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Fewer health care options for illegal immigrants

ALAMO, Texas (AP) — For years, Sonia Limas would drag her daughters to the emergency room whenever they fell sick. As an illegal immigrant, she had no health insurance, and the only place she knew to seek treatment was the hospital — the most expensive setting for those covering the cost.

The family's options improved somewhat a decade ago with the expansion of community health clinics, which offered free or low-cost care with help from the federal government. But President Barack Obama's health care overhaul threatens to roll back some of those services if clinics and hospitals are overwhelmed with newly insured patients and can't afford to care for as many poor families.

To be clear, Obama's law was never intended to help Limas and an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants like her. Instead, it envisions that 32 million uninsured Americans will get access to coverage by 2019. Because that should mean fewer uninsured patients showing up at hospitals, the Obama program slashed the federal reimbursement for uncompensated care.

But in states with large illegal immigrant populations, the math may not work, especially if lawmakers don't expand Medicaid, the joint state-federal health program for the poor and disabled.

When the reform has been fully implemented, illegal immigrants will make up the nation's second-largest population of uninsured, or about 25 percent. The only larger group will be people who qualify for insurance but fail to enroll, according to a 2012 study by the Washington-based Urban Institute.

And since about two-thirds of illegal immigrants live in just eight states, those areas will have a disproportionate share of the uninsured to care for.

In communities "where the number of undocumented immigrants is greatest, the strain has reached the breaking point," Rich Umbdenstock, president of the American Hospital Association, wrote last year in a letter to Obama, asking him to keep in mind the uncompensated care hospitals gave to that group. "In response, many hospitals have had to curtail services, delay implementing services, or close beds."

The federal government has offered to expand Medicaid, but states must decide whether to take the deal. And in some of those eight states — including Texas, Florida and New Jersey — hospitals are scrambling to determine whether they will still have enough money to treat the remaining uninsured.

Without a Medicaid expansion, the influx of new patients and the looming cuts in federal funding could inflict "a double whammy" in Texas, said David Lopez, CEO of the Harris Health System in Houston, which spends 10 to 15 percent of its $1.2 billion annual budget to care for illegal immigrants.

Realistically, taxpayers are already paying for some of the treatment provided to illegal immigrants because hospitals are required by law to stabilize and treat any patients that arrive in an emergency room, regardless of their ability to pay. The money to cover the costs typically comes from federal, state and local taxes.

A solid accounting of money spent treating illegal immigrants is elusive because most hospitals do not ask for immigration status. But some states have tried.

California, which is home to the nation's largest population of illegal immigrants, spent an estimated $1.2 billion last year through Medicaid to care for 822,500 illegal immigrants.

The New Jersey Hospital Association in 2010 estimated that it cost between $600 million and $650 million annually to treat 550,000 illegal immigrants.

And in Texas, a 2010 analysis by the Health and Human Services Commission found that the agency had provided $96 million in benefits to illegal immigrants, up from $81 million two years earlier. The state's public hospital districts spent an additional $717 million in uncompensated care to treat that population.

If large states such as Florida and Texas make good on their intention to forgo federal money to expand Medicaid, the decision "basically eviscerates" the effects of the health care overhaul in those areas because of "who lives there and what they're eligible for," said Lisa Clemans-Cope, a senior researcher at the Urban Institute.

Seeking to curb expenses, hospitals might change what qualifies as an emergency or cap the number of uninsured patients they treat. And although it's believed states with the most illegal immigrants will face a smaller cut, they will still lose money.

The potential impacts of reform are a hot topic at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In addition to offering its own charity care, some MD Anderson oncologists volunteer at a county-funded clinic at Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital that largely treats the uninsured.

"In a sense we've been in the worst-case scenario in Texas for a long time," said Lewis Foxhall, MD Anderson's vice president of health policy in Houston. "The large number of uninsured and the large low-income population creates a very difficult problem for us."

Community clinics are a key part of the reform plan and were supposed to take up some of the slack for hospitals. Clinics received $11 billion in new funding over five years so they could expand to help care for a swell of newly insured who might otherwise overwhelm doctors' offices. But in the first year, $600 million was cut from the centers' usual allocation, leaving many to use the money to fill gaps rather than expand.

There is concern that clinics could themselves be inundated with newly insured patients, forcing many illegal immigrants back to emergency rooms.

Limas, 44, moved to the border town of Alamo 13 years ago with her husband and three daughters. Now single, she supports the family by teaching a citizenship class in Spanish at the local community center and selling cookies and cakes she whips up in her trailer. Soon, she hopes to seek a work permit of her own.

For now, the clinic helps with basic health care needs. If necessary, Limas will return to the emergency room, where the attendants help her fill out paperwork to ensure the government covers the bills she cannot afford.

"They always attended to me," she said, "even though it's slow."

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Sherman can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/chrisshermanAP .

Plushnick-Masti can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RamitMastiAP .

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Adam Lanza Shot Victims at Close Range with Rifle

Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster .223 semi-automatic rifle at close range to kill children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on Friday.

"I believe everybody was hit more than once," said Dr. H. Wayne Carver, the state of Connecticut's Chief Medical Examiner.

He said the bullets were uniquely damaging and that Lanza's victims died almost immediately.

"The bullets are designed in such a fashion the energy is deposited in the tissue so the bullet stays in," Carver said. He described the wounds as a "very devastating set of injuries."

Two handguns were also found at the scene, but Carver described the Bushmaster as the killer's primary weapon. A fourth weapon was found nearby. The weapons discovered at the school apparently belonged to a family member, possibly his mother, according to authorities.

Lanza, 20, forced his way into Sandy Hook on Friday morning and killed 20 children and six adults before committing suicide. He drove to the school after shooting his mother in the face at their home.

The weapons that police recovered from the scene included a Glock 9-mm handgun, a Sig Sauer 9-mm handgun and a Bushmaster rifle. Police also found .223 shell casings. Lanza was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

The shooter's mother, 52-year-old Nancy Lanza, had five weapons registered to her, including a Glock, a Sig Sauer, and a Bushmaster rifle.

Police said the Glock, the Sig Sauer and the Bushmaster at the school appeared to be registered to a family member. Authorities are currently completing their checks to see which weapons were used in the slayings, to whom they were registered and how they were obtained.

Federal agents are canvassing area gun ranges and gun stories to see if Adam Lanza had visited them for any reason.

The Glock and Sig Sauer are popular with law enforcement officers and the military, and are quickly and easily reloaded.

Click Here for the Blotter Homepage.

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Egyptians vote on divisive constitution

CAIRO/ALEXANDRIA (Reuters) - Egyptians queued in long lines on Saturday to vote on a constitution promoted by its Islamist backers as the way out of a political crisis and rejected by opponents as a recipe for further divisions in the Arab world's biggest nation.

Soldiers joined police to secure the referendum after deadly protests during the buildup. Street brawls erupted again on Friday in Alexandria, Egypt's second city, but voting proceeded quietly there, with no reports of violence elsewhere.

President Mohamed Mursi provoked angry demonstrations when he issued a decree last month expanding his powers and then fast-tracked the draft constitution through an assembly dominated by his Muslim Brotherhood group and its allies. At least eight people were killed in clashes last week outside the presidential palace.

His liberal, secular and Christian opponents says the constitution is too Islamist and tramples on minority rights. Mursi's supporters say the charter is needed if progress is to be made towards democracy nearly two years after the fall of military-backed strongman Hosni Mubarak.

"The sheikhs (preachers) told us to say 'yes' and I have read the constitution and I liked it," said Adel Imam, a 53-year-old queuing to vote in a Cairo suburb. "The country will move on."

Opposition politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei wrote on Twitter: "Adoption of (a) divisive draft constitution that violates universal values and freedoms is a sure way to institutionalize instability and turmoil."

Official results will not be announced until after a second round of voting next Saturday. But partial results and unofficial tallies are likely to emerge soon after the first round, giving some idea of the outcome.

In order to pass, the constitution must be approved by more than 50 percent of voters who cast ballots. A little more than half of Egypt's electorate of 51 million are eligible to vote in the first round in Cairo and other cities.

Rights groups reported some abuses, such as polling stations opening late, officials telling people to vote "yes", bribery and intimidation.

But Gamal Eid, head of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, which is monitoring the vote, said nothing reported so far was serious enough to invalidate the referendum.

"Until now, there is no talk of vote rigging," said Eid.

TRANSITION

Christians, making up about 10 percent of Egypt's 83 million people and who have long grumbled of discrimination, were among those waiting at a polling station in Alexandria to oppose the basic law. They fear Islamists, long repressed by Mubarak, will restrict social and other freedoms.

"I voted 'no' to the constitution out of patriotic duty," said Michael Nour, a 45-year-old Christian teacher in Alexandria. "The constitution does not represent all Egyptians."

Howaida Abdel Azeem, a post office employee, said: "I said 'yes' because I want the destruction the country is living through to be over and the crisis to pass, and then we can fix things later."

Islamists are counting on their disciplined ranks of supporters and the many Egyptians who may fall into line in the hope of ending turmoil that has hammered the economy and sent Egypt's pound to eight-year lows against the dollar.

Mursi was among the early voters after polls opened at 8 a.m. (1:00 a.m. Eastern Time). He was shown on television casting his ballot shielded by a screen and then dipping his finger in ink - a measure to prevent people voting twice.

Turnout was high enough for voting on Saturday to be extended by four hours to 11 p.m. (4 p.m. Eastern Time). One senior official on the committee overseeing the referendum said Saturday's vote could continue on Sunday if crowds were too heavy to allow everyone to cast ballots in one day. Voting for Egyptians abroad that began on Wednesday has been extended to Monday, the state news agency reported.

After weeks of turbulence, there has been limited public campaigning. Opposition politicians and parties, beaten in two elections since Mubarak's overthrow, only announced on Wednesday that they backed a "no" vote instead of a boycott.

TWO DAYS

The second round will be held in other regions on December 22 because there are not enough judges willing to monitor all polling stations after some said they would boycott the vote.

Egyptians are being asked to accept or reject a constitution that must be in place before a parliamentary election can be held next year to replace an Islamist-led parliament dissolved in June. Many hope this will lead Egypt towards stability.

If the constitution is voted down, a new assembly will have to be formed to draft a revised version, a process that could take up to nine months.

The army has deployed about 120,000 troops and 6,000 tanks and armored vehicles to protect polling stations and other government buildings. While the military backed Mubarak and his predecessors, it has not intervened in the present crisis.

(Writing by Edmund Blair and Giles Elgood; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

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Football: Runaway Bayern go 12 clear despite Gladbach draw

BERLIN: Runaway leaders Bayern Munich needed a second-half equaliser to snatch a point in a 1-1 draw at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday in their final Bundesliga match of 2012.

The draw left Bayern 12 points clear of the chasing pack, who are all in action during the rest of the weekend's programme, while 'Gladbach move up to sixth.

"The team fought hard, they gave everything and we're happy to take that point at home," said Bayern's director of sport Matthias Sammer.

Having already opened the season with a record eight straight wins, Bayern are hoping to finish the weekend with another achievement as they look to break Borussia Dortmund's record 10-point lead at the halfway stage.

Bayern hammered 'Gladbach's goal, enjoying 65 percent ball possession, and finished with 25 shots on goal, compared to their guests' five.

After Gladbach claimed a half-time lead through a Thorben Marx penalty, Bayern battered their visitors' goal and the torrent of chances finally paid off when Swiss star Xherdan Shaqiri equalised with half an hour left.

Gladbach took the lead when Bayern defender Jerome Boateng leapt to block a cross from midfielder Tolga Cigerci and the ball struck his hand.

Referee Tobias Welz immediately pointed to the spot, despite furious protestations from Germany star Boateng, and Marx slammed home the 21st-minute penalty.

"I don't know how the referee could class that as a penalty," fumed Boateng.

"I seriously don't think it was justified.

"I think we deserved to win."

The goal came against the run of play and took the wind out of Bayern's sails and it looked like history was about to repeat itself after Gladbach had poached a 1-0 win in Munich on their previous visit in August 2011.

Things refused to go the hosts' way in the first-half as defender Dante headed over while winger Franck Ribery had a shot saved.

Adding injury to insult, defensive midfielder Javi Martinez went off with a facial injury from a stray elbow as Gladbach goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen pulled off a string of superb saves.

Bayern attacked in waves in the first-half with 11 shots on target compared to the guests' single attempt.

Only another fine ter Stegen save denied Bastian Schweinsteiger early in the second-half, but the Gladbach defence was finally beaten following a mistake by Cigerci.

His badly-timed pass was snapped up by Shaqiri, who levelled on 59 minutes.

Bayern kept up the pressure as the minutes ticked down, but Gladbach's defence held firm, despite Bayern's 14 corners, to leave Lucien Favre's team unbeaten in their last seven games.

Leverkusen can trim Bayern's lead back to nine points if they win at home to Hamburg on Saturday.

-AFP/ac

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Indo-US `bonhomie’ strains bilateral ties with Iran

NEW DELHI: As Iran reached a deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA) for the next round of nuclear talks to be held on January 16, Tehran said India was leaning too close to the US for bilateral ties to remain untouched.

"We have long and friendly relations with India. We can continue to be friends. We can try to materialize this potential. But if India keeps moving towards Washington, then there will be some limitations for us," Mostafa Dolatyar, head of Iran's Institute of Political and International Studies and a member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, told journalists. However, he added that Tehran understood New Delhi's constraints and left it to India to define its relationship with Iran. "India is a developing country. We know their limitations. We are not living in Mars. We are living on earth."

Dolatyar was particularly critical of India not utilizing adequately the Iranian market, when even the US could do so despite its sanctions. "When American products can find their way into our markets, why can't India products. They (India) have to find a way. It is not the fault of the Iranian government because despite sanctions American products continue to be sold in Iran," he said.

Iran was also supportive of India's role in Afghanistan, but was clear that the US presence could be a negative. "If India wants to do something substantive we are fine with it because Afghanistan is in India's immediate neighborhood. But we have doubts as far as American involvement is concerned," he said.

On Thursday, foreign minister Salman Khurshid said India would "review" its oil imports from Iran in new year. India has substantially reduced its oil imports from Iran, which is down from 16% to 10% in a couple of years. New Delhi also recently got an extension of a waiver by the US administration.

"I think we are well within the structure of US waiver. The bottom line of the conditions of the waiver has been satisfied which is you should not increase dependency on it," the minister said on the sidelines of a CII seminar.

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