Phoenix Gunman Shoots Three at Office Complex

A gunman shot and wounded three people at an office building in Phoenix, Ariz., today and police are now searching for the shooter, authorities told ABC News.

One of the victims is in critical condition, the others received non-life threatening injuries, according to police.

Police are clearing the office complex in the in the 7310 block of 16th Street, near Glendale Avenue.

Officials say there was only one gunman, who remains at large.

A witness told ABC News she heard several shots, and took cover in an IT closet with several other women. Another witness heard between six and 10 shots fired.

Michael Schennum/The Arizona Republic/AP Photo

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Police believe the suspect entered the building looking for a specific individual, but was confronted and an altercation ensued, Phoenix police Sgt. Tommy Thompson told ABC News affiliate KNXV-TV.

Cops know the name of the suspect and are at his home.

In addition to the office complex, and the suspect's home, police are also investigating a third scene, according to KNXV-TV. It's not clear how it's related to the office shooting.

The shooting took place moments after former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the victim of a shooting in Phoenix in 2011, testified before Congress on gun control.

In the weeks since 20 students were gunned down at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school on Dec. 14, 2012, several mass shootings have garnered public attention as the nation debates its relationship to firearms.

Five days ago, two men were wounded during a shooting at Lone Star College in Houston, Texas. Earlier this month, a 16-year-old student was arrested after shooting a classmate in Taft, Calif.

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British paper sorry for 'inexcusable' Israel cartoon

LONDON: The acting editor of Britain's Sunday Times newspaper apologised Tuesday for a "grotesque" cartoon that sparked accusations of anti-Semitism when it was printed on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Martin Ivens met with representatives of the Jewish community to say sorry for last Sunday's image by veteran cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, which showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu building a wall with Palestinian bodies.

"The Sunday Times abhors anti-Semitism and would never set out to cause offence to the Jewish people -- or any other ethnic or religious group," Ivens said.

"That was not the intention last Sunday. Everyone knows that Gerald Scarfe is consistently brutal and bloody in his depictions, but last weekend -- by his own admission -- he crossed a line."

The newspaper's owner, media baron Rupert Murdoch, had apologised on Monday, tweeting: "Gerald Scarfe has never reflected the opinions of The Sunday Times. Nevertheless, we owe major apology for grotesque, offensive cartoon."

The cartoon showed a scowling Netanyahu waving a blood-covered trowel, laying bricks in a wall in which Palestinian men, women and children were trapped. Underneath were the words, "Israeli elections -- will cementing peace continue?"

It sparked condemnation in Britain and Israel, particularly as it appeared on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews lodged a formal complaint to Britain's media regulators, calling the cartoon "shockingly reminiscent of the blood libel imagery more usually found in parts of the virulently anti-Semitic Arab press".

Ivens said the timing of the publication was "inexcusable".

"The associations on this occasion were grotesque and on behalf of the paper I'd like to apologise unreservedly for the offence we clearly caused," he added.

Scarfe has been a political cartoonist with The Sunday Times since 1967 and has also worked for The New Yorker magazine. He worked on the Disney film "Hercules" as well as the movie of Pink Floyd's rock opera "The Wall".

- AFP/jc

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Mamata, Gurung in war of words over Gorkhaland

DARJEELING: Mamata Banerjee got a cold welcome in Darjeeling on Tuesday.

In a clear sign of the bonhomie being put on ice, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung and the chief minister crossed swords at a public meeting at Darjeeling Mall. While Gurung expressed his annoyance over the state government's stepping on new Hills council's toes, Mamata was irked by the display of Gorkhaland posters and warned that "she can be rough and tough".

Mamata made it clear that she won't let Bengal be carved up. Later in the evening, Gurung said the CM "gives pain whenever she visits the Hills". But he quickly toned down his stand and said the Morcha was cooperating with the government.

Gone was the euphoria of 2011 in the wake of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) accord. It took five hours for the CM to cover 50-odd km of winding hill roads to Darjeeling, as huge crowds swarmed the convoy every now and then and showered her with flowers and welcome banners. This time, a cold silence greeted her. And hundreds of banners saying: "We want Gorkhaland."

Mamata smiled and waved at the crowds, but they didn't wave back. On the dais, there was a hardening of stance between the state and its own creation — GTA. And when Mamata started distributing land pattas to 10 beneficiaries, Gurung could not conceal his anger at not being consulted or even informed about it. "It is a historic day. In fact, I am feeling ashamed to even extend a welcome to the chief minister on behalf of the GTA," he said.

The underlying tension came out in the open soon after Mamata ended her 10-minute speech, listing the upcoming government projects in the Hills. Some GJM supporters waved Gorkhaland placards right in front of the CM and she was getting restless.

Sensing her mood, Gurung appealed to the crowd to maintain calm. But then, the CM took over and warned GJM supporters: "Stop shouting slogans. I can be rough and tough in this regard. This is a government programme. You can raise such slogans at a party programme." Mamata pointed out that tourism was booming again. "The GTA is in place and things are moving smoothly. We don't need any confusion."

"I am hearing disturbing things from the Hills recently. But let me tell you that Bengal will not be carved. I have not come to the hills to 'capture' it, but to work together with the GTA for prosperity. Let us remain together," she said, urging Morcha supporters to look at development rather than harp on the Gorkha identity. "We need to develop the Hills and for this I will come here every time as it is my right," the CM added. Morcha supporters shouted back: "We don't want development. We want Gorkhaland."

Gurung then spoke up: "Land comes under GTA jurisdiction. But we were bypassed (on the pattas). The list of beneficiaries was not given to us. What was the need for such a high profile person to undertake such a small initiative that could have been done by GTA members," Gurung asked. "Interference on the jurisdictions of GTA cannot be tolerated," he warned, adding that such mistakes can lead to "big problems in future".

Later, at a press conference, Gurung said: "Whenever she (Mamata) comes to Darjeeling she gives small pain. She may have her political benefits but she must understand when and where to say things." He asserted that the Gorkhaland issue would be raised automatically along with the Telangana demand. "Gorkhaland is our sentimental demand. It is obvious that people will get upset when she comes to the Hills and says Bengal will not be divided."

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Soldier looks forward to driving with new arms

BALTIMORE (AP) — A soldier who lost all four limbs in a roadside bombing in Iraq says he's looking forward to driving and swimming with new arms after undergoing a double-arm transplant.

"I just want to get the most out of these arms, and just as goals come up, knock them down and take it absolutely as far as I can," Brendan Marrocco said Tuesday.

The 26-year-old New Yorker spoke at a news conference at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was joined by surgeons who performed the operation.

After he was wounded, Marrocco said, he felt fine using prosthetic legs, but he hated not having arms.

"You talk with your hands, you do everything with your hands, basically, and when you don't have that, you're kind of lost for a while," he said.

Marrocco said his chief desire is to drive the black Dodge Charger that's been sitting in his garage for three years.

"I used to love to drive," he said. "I'm really looking forward to just getting back to that, and just becoming an athlete again."

Although he doesn't expect to excel at soccer, his favorite sport, Marrocco said he'd like to swim and compete in a marathon using a handcycle.

Marrocco joked that military service members sometimes regard themselves as poorly paid professional athletes. His good humor and optimism are among the qualities doctors cited as signs he will recover much of his arm and hand use in two to three years.

"He's a young man with a tremendous amount of hope, and he's stubborn — stubborn in a good way," said Dr. Jaimie Shores, the hospital's clinical director of hand transplantation. "I think the sky's the limit."

Shores said Marrocco has already been trying to use his hands, although he lacks feeling in the fingers, and he's eager to do more as the slow-growing nerves and muscles mend.

"I suspect that he will be using his hands for just about everything as we let him start trying to do more and more. Right now, we're the ones really kind of holding him back at this point," Shores said.

The procedure was only the seventh double-hand or double-arm transplant ever done in the United States.

The infantryman was injured by a roadside bomb in 2009. He is the first soldier to survive losing all four limbs in the Iraq War.

Marrocco also received bone marrow from the same donor to minimize the medicine needed to prevent rejection. He said he didn't know much about the donor but "I'm humbled by their gift."

The 13-hour operation on Dec. 18 was led by Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, plastic surgery chief at Hopkins.

Marrocco was being released from the hospital Tuesday but will receive intensive therapy for two years at Hopkins and then at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda.

After a major surgery, human nerves regenerate at a rate of an inch per month, Lee said.

"The progress will be slow, but the outcome will be rewarding," he added.

___

Associated Press Writer David Dishneau contributed to this story from Hagerstown, Md.

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Palin and Fox Part Ways, but Is She Really Over?

Sarah Palin's break up with Fox News should not have been, well, breaking news, as she had publicly complained in August on Facebook that the network had canceled her appearances at the Republican National Convention. And going back even further, Palin didn't give Fox the scoop in October 2011 when she announced she wasn't going to run for president. Still, the news of the Fox split overtook Twitter and the news cycle by storm.

One thing I've learned in my years covering Palin, which began on Aug. 29, 2008, when Sen. John McCain stunned the country by selecting her as his running mate: Everyone has an opinion on whatever she does, and she can get clicks and coverage like no one else.

The prevailing theory now is that since Palin no longer has a megaphone like Fox News through which she can blast her opinions, her moment is now officially over.

The 'Ends' of Sarah Palin

It might be true, but there have been so many "ends of Sarah Palin" that it's almost too hard to keep track of them all. She was over when she lost the 2008 campaign, she was over when she quit the Alaska governorship, she was over when she decided to do a reality show, she was over when she decided not to run for president, and now again, she's over because her appearances on Fox News are over.

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I, for one, did think Palin would lose her relevancy when she quit the Alaska governorship, and also when she didn't run for president. But in both cases, people who both love her and hate her just couldn't get enough information about her, and she still got an incredible amount of news coverage. Her voice was heard loud and clear, even if it blasted only from her Facebook posts. That's just another example of what she's been able to pull off that others who've come before or after just haven't. Palin's been written off from Day One, but like a boomerang, she just keeps coming back.

Yes, she wasn't really helpful to Mitt Romney's campaign, but she also never really explicitly backed him. And what an odd pair they would have made if she had. In her interview last weekend with Steve Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News who made "The Undefeated," the positive 2011 movie about her, she said, "The problem is that some on the right are now skittish because of the lost 2012 election. They shouldn't be. Conservatism didn't lose. A moderate Republican candidate lost after he was perceived to alienate working-class Reagan Democrats and independent voters." Not a sign that she wants to rethink some of her policy points, or that she will retreat into the shadows.

Another Possible TV Home

I think more likely than her fading away (we all still cover every eyebrow-raising Facebook post of hers) is that she will possibly find an on-air home elsewhere, at somewhere like CNN. She told Breitbart.com that she "encourages others to step out in faith, jump out of the comfort zone, and broaden our reach as believers in American exceptionalism. That means broadening our audience. I'm taking my own advice here as I free up opportunities to share more broadly the message of the beauty of freedom and the imperative of defending our republic and restoring this most exceptional nation. We can't just preach to the choir; the message of liberty and true hope must be understood by a larger audience."

Later in the interview, she added, "I know the country needs more truth-telling in the media, and I'm willing to do that. So, we shall see."

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Sixty-five found executed in Syria's Aleppo: activists

BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least 65 people were found shot dead with their hands bound in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday in a "new massacre" in the near two-year revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, activists said.

Opposition campaigners blamed the government but it was impossible to confirm who was responsible. Assad's forces and rebels have been battling in Syria's commercial hub since July and both have been accused of carrying out summary executions.

More than 60,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the Syrian war, the longest and deadliest of the revolts that began throughout the Arab world two years ago.

The U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday the fighting had forced more than 700,000 people to flee. World powers fear the conflict could increasingly envelop Syria's neighbors including Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, further destabilizing an already explosive region.

Opposition activists posted a video of a man filming at least 51 muddied male bodies alongside what they said was the Queiq River in Aleppo's rebel-held Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood.

The bodies had bullet wounds in their heads and some of the victims appeared to be young, possibly teenagers, dressed in jeans, shirts and trainers.

Aleppo-based opposition activists who asked not to be named for security reasons blamed pro-Assad militia fighters.

They said the men had been executed and dumped in the river before floating downstream into the rebel area. State media did not mention the incident.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which says it provides objective information about casualties on both sides of Syria's war from a network of monitors, said the footage was evidence of a new massacre and the death toll could rise as high as 80.

"They were killed only because they are Muslims," said a bearded man in another video said to have been filmed in central Bustan al-Qasr after the bodies were removed from the river. A pickup truck with a pile of corpses was parked behind him.

STALEMATE

It is hard for Reuters to verify such reports from inside Syria because of restrictions on independent media.

Rebels are stuck in a stalemate with government forces in Aleppo - Syria's most populous city which is divided roughly in half between the two sides.

The revolt started as a peaceful protest movement against more than four decades of rule by Assad and his family, but turned into an armed rebellion after a government crackdown.

About 712,000 Syrian refugees have registered in other countries in the region or are awaiting processing as of Tuesday, the U.N. refugee agency Said on Tuesday.

"We have seen an unrelenting flow of refugees across all borders. We are running double shifts to register people," Sybella Wilkes, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told Reuters in Geneva.

On Monday, the United Nations warned it would not be able to help millions of Syrians affected by the fighting without more money and appealed for donations at an aid conference this week in Kuwait to meet its $1.5 billion target.

Speaking ahead of that conference, Kuwait's foreign minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khaled al-Sabah said on Tuesday there was concern Syria could turn into a failed state and put the entire region at risk.

Aid group Médecins Sans Frontières said the bulk of the current aid was going to government-controlled areas and called on donors in Kuwait to make sure they were even-handed.

MISSILES

In the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, insurgents including al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters captured a security agency after days of heavy fighting, according to an activist video issued on Tuesday.

Some of the fighters were shown carrying a black flag with the Islamic declaration of faith and the name of the al-Nusra Front, which has ties to al Qaeda in neighboring Iraq.

The war has become heavily sectarian, with rebels who mostly come from the Sunni Muslim majority fighting an army whose top generals are mostly from Assad's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. Assad has framed the revolt as a foreign-backed conspiracy and blames the West and Sunni Gulf states.

Fighting also took place in the northern town of Ras al-Ain, on the border with Turkey, between rebels and Kurdish militants, the Observatory said.

In Turkey, a second pair of Patriot missile batteries being sent by NATO countries are now operational, a German security official said on Tuesday.

The United States, Germany and the Netherlands each committed to sending two batteries and up to 400 soldiers to operate them after Ankara asked for help to bolster its air defenses against possible missile attack from Syria.

(Additional reporting by Sylvia Westall in Kuwait, Sabine Siebold in Berlin and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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IMF grants Mali US$18m emergency loan

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund agreed Monday to provide an US$18.4 million emergency loan to Mali, a move likely to lead other donors to release more funds after having cut off aid following the March 2012 coup.

The IMF executive board approved the loan under the Rapid Credit Facility aiming to help the government bridge a huge budget hole as its fights off an Islamist insurgency with French help.

Mali mission chief Christian Josz said the fund was confident that the country, battered by drought, the March coup and a rebellion by Islamist militants in the north, would stick to efforts at reducing its fiscal deficit and implementing economic reforms.

"We decided to go ahead with the board meeting (to decide the loan) in spite of the foreign military intervention because we could see that the authorities were still committed and eager to implement their program of fiscal prudence."

"At the same time we could also see that donors were prepared to re-engage in Mali and considered this operation of the IMF with Mali a precondition to re-engage."

Other donors include the World Bank, the European Union, the African Development Bank and individual countries.

The IMF board said the government's economic program was well-founded and called a resumption of aid from all donors "critical to Mali's economic recovery."

"The authorities' 2013 program appropriately reflects near-term priorities. It aims to maintain macroeconomic and financial stability by keeping spending in line with available revenues and avoiding the emergence of new arrears."

Josz told reporters in a briefing that after the Malian economy contracted by 1.5 per cent last year, growth could hit 4-5 per cent in 2013 if conditions, like the weather, stay positive.

The insurgency, which has drawn the intervention of French troops to help protect the government, remains focused in the north of Mali, while 95 per cent of the economy, heavily dependent on cotton farming and mining, is in the stable south.

"Of course there are many uncertainties. But we expect a recovery" this year, Josz said.

The success of the military intervention has reduced uncertainty in the south, he added, allowing a new gold mine to go ahead as well as an important investment by a third mobile carrier in the country.

Josz said the government had set a "minimalist" budget for 2013 that had not banked on foreign donors resuming aid.

The budget includes around US$300 million for security spending -- up 37 per cent in two years -- that leaves it with a large shortfall of US$110 million.

"With this approval by the IMF board... there is hope that these donors will together cover at least the US$110 million" fiscal gap, Josz said.

- AFP/jc

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SC commutes rapist-killer father's death

NEW DELHI: A man, released on parole after being arrested on wife's FIR accusing him of raping his minor daughter, came home and hacked to death his wife and daughter, but the Supreme Court on Monday found it not to be a "rarest of rare" crime and commuted his death penalty to imprisonment for entire life.

To deviate from the concurrent view of the trial court and the Punjab & Haryana high court to award death penalty to Mohinder Singh, the apex court bench of Justices P Sathasivam and F M I Kalifulla found a "significant factor": the man did not harm his other daughter who was present in the house during the incident on January 8, 2006.

It was probably more brutal than the Nirbhaya case. Singh was convicted for raping minor daughter and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. The wife, who had lodged the rape case against her husband, had driven him out of the house. After being released on parole in January 2005, he had once attacked the wife.

But a year later, he came to his wife's house in a village near Ludhiana armed with a axe and hacked both her and the rape victim daughter in front of his other daughter. The prosecution narrated the sequence of events, recounting, "When the wife came to the lobby of the house, the accused hit her on the head with an axe. She fell on the ground and, thereafter, he gave two more blows on her neck and hand. Then, he attacked the daughter and gave three repeated blows on her head. Both of them died on the spot."

The prosecution said, "When he approached towards the other daughter, she went into a room and bolted it from inside. The accused fled the scene leaving behind the axe at the spot. After some time, the surviving daughter came out of the room and raised a hue and cry." The accused was arrested on the same day.

In converting the death penalty into imprisonment for entire life, the bench of Justices Sathasivam and Kalifulla said, " "One significant factor in this case, which we should not lose sight of is that he did not harm his other daughter even though he had a good chance for the same."

Justice Sathasivam, writing the judgment for the bench, said, "It was highlighted that he being a poor man and unable to earn his livelihood since he was driven out of his house by his deceased wife. It is also his claim that if he was allowed to live in the house, he could easily meet both his ends and means, as the money which he was spending by paying rent would have been saved. It is his further grievance that his deceased wife was adamant and he should live outside and should not lead happy married life and that was the reason that their relations were strained."

After taking note of Singh's plea, the apex court said, "This shows that the accused was feeling frustrated because of the attitude of his wife and children. Moreover, the probability of the offender's rehabilitation and reformation is not foreclosed in this case."

The court also relied on an affidavit filed by Singh's sister reflecting that the family had not entirely renounced him and concluded, "Hence, there is a possibility for reformation in the present appellant. Keeping in mind all these materials, we do not think that the present case warrants the award of death penalty."

"The appellant accused, therefore, instead of being awarded death penalty, is sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life, meaning thereby, the end of his life but subject to any remission granted by the appropriate government satisfying the conditions prescribed in law," the court added.

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Soldier who lost 4 limbs has double-arm transplant

The first soldier to survive after losing all four limbs in the Iraq war has received a double-arm transplant.

Brendan Marrocco had the operation on Dec. 18 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, his father said Monday. The 26-year-old Marrocco, who is from New York City, was injured by a roadside bomb in 2009.

He also received bone marrow from the same dead donor who supplied his new arms. That novel approach is aimed at helping his body accept the new limbs with minimal medication to prevent rejection.

The military is sponsoring operations like these to help wounded troops. About 300 have lost arms or hands in the wars.

"He was the first quad amputee to survive" from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there have been four others since then, said Brendan Marrocco's father, Alex Marrocco. "He was really excited to get new arms."

The Marroccos want to thank the donor's family for "making a selfless decision ... making a difference in Brendan's life," the father said.

Surgeons plan to discuss the transplant at a news conference with the patient on Tuesday.

The 13-hour operation was led by Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, plastic surgery chief at Johns Hopkins, and is the seventh double-hand or double-arm transplant done in the United States. Lee led three of those earlier operations when he previously worked at the University of Pittsburgh, including the only above-elbow transplant that had been done at the time, in 2010.

Marrocco's "was the most complicated one" so far, Lee said in an interview Monday. It will take more than a year to know how fully Marrocco will be able to use the new arms, Lee said.

"The maximum speed is an inch a month for nerve regeneration," he explained. "We're easily looking at a couple years" until the full extent of recovery is known.

While at Pittsburgh, Lee pioneered the novel immune suppression approach used for Marrocco. The surgeon led hand transplant operations on five patients, giving them marrow from their donors in addition to the new limbs. All five recipients have done well and four have been able to take just one anti-rejection drug instead of combination treatments most transplant patients receive.

Minimizing anti-rejection drugs is important because they have side effects and raise the risk of cancer over the long term. Those risks have limited the willingness of surgeons and patients to do more hand, arm and even face transplants. Unlike a life-saving heart or liver transplant, limb transplants are aimed at improving quality of life, not extending it.

Quality of life is a key concern for people missing arms and hands — prosthetics for those limbs are not as advanced as those for feet and legs.

Lee has received funding for his work from AFIRM, the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, a cooperative research network of top hospitals and universities around the country that the government formed about five years ago. With government money, he and several other plastic surgeons around the country are preparing to do more face transplants, possibly using the new minimal immune suppression approach.

Marrocco expects to spend three to four months at Hopkins, then return to a military hospital to continue physical therapy, his father said. Before the operation, he had been living with his older brother in a handicapped-accessible home on New York's Staten Island built with the help of several charities.

The home was heavily damaged by Superstorm Sandy last fall.

Despite being in a lot of pain for some time after the operation, Marrocco showed a sense of humor, his father said. He had a hoarse voice from a tube in his throat during the long surgery, decided that he sounded like Al Pacino, and started doing movie lines.

"He was making the nurses laugh," Alex Marrocco said.

___

AP writer Alex Dominguez contributed to this report.

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Boy Scouts to Discuss Lifting National Gay Ban

The Boy Scouts of America, under growing pressure from troops across the country to end its 100-year-old ban on gay leaders and members, said today it is "discussing" ending its national discrimination policy, leaving such decisions to the discretion of individual troops.

"Currently, the BSA is discussing potentially removing the national membership restriction regarding sexual orientation," BSA spokesman Deron Smith said in a prepared statement.
"This would mean there would no longer be any national policy regarding sexual orientation, and the chartered organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting would accept membership and select leaders consistent with each organization's mission, principles, or religious beliefs."

Individual members and parents would be able to set policy guidelines as they see fit when organizing their troops and leadership, according to the statement.

The BSA will review the matter at its regularly scheduled board meeting next week, Smith said.

Rich Ferraro, a spokesman for the gay advocacy group GLAAD, pointed to two factors upon hearing the announcement today.

"I think it was a mix of the change.org petitions and the corporate sponsors that had dropped out," Ferraro said.

Last September, the Intel Foundation announced it would end $700,000 in annual donations to the Boys Scouts. The Merck Foundation also severed its ties in December.

"UPS adopted a new policy that stated that grantees had to follow their nondiscrimination policy," Ferraro said. "There were also more in the coming weeks that were dropping their support of Scouts."

Several U.S. councils have tried to buck the longtime ban, putting the issue to a vote with their local parents in recent months, including a Boy Scout troop in California and a Cub troop in Maryland.

"I am extraordinarily excited," said Eagle Scout Zach Wahls, who has spent the past seven months heading up Scouts for Equality, which advocates for ending the ban. "It's a positive step, and big change.

"This is absolutely a step in the right direction, but we have a long way to go," Wahls, 21, said today. "Discrimination has no place in scouting."

Wahls, whose parents are lesbians, was a YouTube sensation two years ago when he testified before the Iowa legislature on same-sex marriage.

He delivered a petition in June from change.org with more than 1 million signatures, demanding that the Boy Scouts end the ban on openly gay membership.

"Once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout," Wahls said at the time. "I am unwilling to quit because of a single policy. They do so many things right."

The policy change under discussion would allow individual groups -- religious, civic or educational ones -- to determine their own rules.

"The national organization has to make it clear to all units that being anti-gay is unacceptable," said Wahls, who identifies as straight. "What happens next is little unclear, but it seems the Boy Scouts of America is starting to thaw on this issue."

BSA's Smith said, "The Boy Scouts would not, under any circumstances, dictate a position to units, members, or parents. Under this proposed policy, the BSA would not require any chartered organization to act in ways inconsistent with that organization's mission, principles or religious beliefs."

In October, California Boy Scout
Ryan Andresen of Moraga, Calif., was denied the coveted Eagle Scout award, even though he had completed all the requirements because he is gay.

His mom, Karen Andresen, was so upset by the troop's decision that she posted a petition on change.org.

A local troop committee approved his award, but the council did not send it on to the national organization because of the gay ban.

Advocacy groups have been vocal on the issue.

"The Boy Scouts of America have heard from scouts, corporations and millions of Americans that discriminating against gay scouts and scout leaders is wrong," GLAAD President Herndon Graddick said. "Scouting is a valuable institution and this change will only strengthen its core principles of fairness and respect."

Until now, the Boy Scouts have stood firm on the issue, even taking it to the highest court.

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