Arias Had No Remorse: Prosecutor

Prosecutor Juan Martinez hammered alleged murderer Jodi Arias today with accusations that she felt no remorse when she lied over and over again about killing her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander.

"Ma'am you have a problem with telling the truth don't you?" Martinez asked as his first question today, the 11th day Arias has been on the stand explaining her role in Alexander's death.

"Not typically," Arias responded.

Martinez then took Arias through a series of lies she admittedly told in the days after she stabbed and shot Alexander to death on June 4, 2008, lying to friends, investigators and even Alexander's grandmother, going so far as to send a dozen irises to his grandmother expressing her sympathy.

See the Evidence in the Jodi Arias Murder Trial

Arias, 32, has testified that she killed Alexander in self-defense during a violent argument and lied about it out of "shame."

But prosecutors say that the 27 stab wounds, a slashed throat, and two bullets she fired at Alexander's head prove that she murdered him. She could face the death penalty if convicted.

Catching Up on the Trial? Check Out ABC News' Jodi Arias Trial Coverage

Today Martinez tried to raise doubts about Arias' earlier testimony in which she depicted Alexander as an increasingly menacing and sexually demanding lover by grilling her about the lies she told after she killed Alexander.

Martinez pointed out that Arias lied to Detective Esteban Flores of the Mesa, Ariz., police department as he investigated Alexander's death. She initially denied to the detective that she was at Alexander's Mesa, Ariz., home when he was killed, and later said he was murdered by a pair of masked intruders.

Jodi Arias Testimony: Prosecution's Cross-Examination Watch Video

Jodi Arias Remains Calm Under Cross-Examination Watch Video

Jodi Arias Doesn't Remember Stabbing Ex-Boyfriend Watch Video

"You told (Flores) you would help him, but that was a lie right? You weren't there to tell the truth. You were there for another purpose: to make sure he didn't get the truth.... You were hoping, ma'am, that (Flores) would believe what you were saying so you could walk out of jail," Martinez said.

Arias argued with Martinez, claiming that she lied to investigators out of shame, and lied to friends immediately after the death out of confusion.

"My mind wasn't right during all that period," Arias said referring to the hours immediately following the killing when she drove through the Arizona desert and made phone calls to ex-boyfriend Matthew McCartney and new love interest Ryan Burns.

"It's like I wasn't accepting it in my mind... because I never killed anyone before," she said.

Martinez also suggested that Arias tried to find out the status of the investigation into Alexander's death so that she could know if she were about to be arrested. When a friend of Alexander's called her to report the news about Alexander's death, Arias asked about details into the investigation, the prosecutor said. She also called Alexander's Mormon bishop and asked him what he knew about the case, and then asked friends and family members what they knew, according to Martinez.

"You needed to see what you needed to know to make sure you weren't charged. What purpose would there be for that information other than to benefit you?" Martinez asked. "You called [the bishop] at 3 a.m. You call him and spoke to him because you wanted to get the information about what he knew about the investigation. That was going to help you."

Timeline of the Jodi Arias Trial

Martinez also went over lies that Arias told to her friend, Leslie Udy, and Ryan Burns, both of whom she saw in Utah the day after killing Alexander. She talked to both about Alexander as if he were still alive. Martinez pointed out that Arias even made out with Burns in his bedroom during their visit.

But Arias claimed that it was Burns who lied about their encounter.

"And with Mr. Burns, didn't you get on top of him and grind on him?" Martinez asked.

Arias said she was on top of Burns at one point, but they did not "grind."

"Well, when you were romantic kissing, he did put his hand between your legs, didn't he?" Martinez said, referring to Burns' own testimony in court weeks earlier.

"No," Arias said. "It could be that he's full of crap...when he says he got near my vaginal area."

"This is the person who lied to him, to (friends), to Detective Flores, and yet you're telling us someone else is full of crap," Martinez asked incredulously.

"When it comes to that, yes," she said.

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Huge protest vote pushes Italy towards deadlock

ROME (Reuters) - A huge protest vote by Italians enraged by economic hardship and political corruption pushed the country towards deadlock after an election on Monday, with voting projections showing no coalition strong enough to form a government.

With more than two thirds of the vote counted, the projections suggested the center left could have a slim lead in the race for the lower house of parliament.

But no party or likely coalition appeared likely to be able to form a majority in the upper house or Senate, creating a deadlocked parliament - the opposite of the stable result that Italy desperately needs to tackle a deep recession, rising unemployment and a massive public debt.

Such an outcome has the potential to revive fears over the euro zone debt crisis, with prospects of a long period of uncertainty in the zone's third largest economy.

Italian financial markets took fright after rising earlier on hopes for a stable and strong center-left led government, probably backed by outgoing technocrat premier Mario Monti.

The projected result was a stunning success for Genoese comic Beppe Grillo, leader of the populist 5-Star Movement, who toured the country in his first national election campaign hurling obscenity-laced insults against a discredited political class.

With vague election promises and a team of almost totally unknown candidates, the shaggy haired comedian channeled pure public anger against what many see as a sclerotic and useless political system.

The likely result was also a humiliating slap in the face for colorless center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, who appeared to have thrown away a 10-point opinion poll lead less than two months ago against Silvio Berlusconi's center right.

Berlusconi, 76, who staged an extraordinary comeback from sex and corruption scandals since diving into the campaign in December, appeared to be leading in the Senate race, but Grillo's projected bloc of Senators would leave him well short of a majority.

Projections gave Bersani's center-left alliance a lead of less than one percentage point in the lower house. If confirmed, that would be enough to control the chamber because of election laws that guarantee a 54 percent majority to the party with the largest share of the vote.

In the Senate the picture was different. The latest projection from RAI state television showed Berlusconi's bloc winning 112 Senate seats, the center-left 105 and Grillo 64, with Monti languishing on only 20 after a failed campaign which never took off. The Senate majority is 158.

Berlusconi, a master politician and communicator, wooed voters with a blitz of television appearances and promises to refund a hated housing tax despite accusations from opponents that this was an impossible vote buying trick.

Grillo has attacked all sides in the campaign and ruled out a formal alliance with any group although it was not immediately known how he would react to his stunning success or how his supporters would behave in parliament.

DANGER OF NEW ELECTION

A bitter campaign, fought largely over economic issues, made some investors fear a return of the kind of debt crisis that took the euro zone close to disaster and brought the technocrat Monti to office, replacing Berlusconi, in 2011.

The projected results showed more than half of Italians had voted for the anti-euro platforms of Berlusconi and Grillo.

Officials from both center and left warned that the looming deadlock could make Italy ungovernable and force new elections.

A center-left government either alone or ruling with Monti had been seen by investors as the best guarantee of measures to combat a deep recession and stagnant growth in Italy, which is pivotal to stability in the currency union.

The benchmark spread between Italian 10-year bonds and their German equivalent widened from below 260 basis points to above 300 and the Italian share index lost all its previous gains after projections of the Senate result.

"These projections suggest that we are heading for an ungovernable situation", said Mario Secchi, a candidate for Monti's centrist movement.

Stefano Fassina, chief economic official for Bersani's center-left, said: "The scenario from the projections we have seen so far suggests there will be no stable government and we would need to return to the polls."

If the results are confirmed the only possibility looks like a "grand coalition" combining right and left, like the one Monti led for a year. But politicians said before the vote this could not work for long and would struggle to work decisively.

Monti helped save Italy from a debt crisis when Rome's borrowing costs were spiraling out of control, but few Italians now see him as the savior of the country, in its longest recession for 20 years.

Grillo's movement rode a huge wave of voter anger about both the pain of Monti's austerity program and a string of political and corporate scandals. It had particular appeal for a frustrated younger generation shut out of full-time jobs.

"I'm sick of the scandals and the stealing," said Paolo Gentile, a 49-year-old Rome lawyer who voted for 5-Star.

"We need some young, new people in parliament, not the old parties that are totally discredited."

Berlusconi, a billionaire media tycoon, exploited anger against Monti's austerity program, accusing him of being a puppet of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but in many areas Grillo was a bigger beneficiary of public discontent.

Italy desperately needs a strong, reform-minded government to revive growth after two decades of stagnation and address problems ranging from record youth unemployment to a dysfunctional justice system and a bloated public sector.

Italians wrung their hands at prospects of an inconclusive result that will mean more delays to these reforms.

"It's a classic result. Typically Italian. It means the country is not united. It is an expression of a country that does not work. I knew this would happen," said 36-year-old Rome office worker Roberta Federica.

Another office worker, Elisabetta Carlotta, 46, shook her head in disbelief. "We can't go on like this," she said.

(Additional reporting by Stefano Bernabei, Steve Scherer, Gavin Jones, Naomi O'Leary and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome and Lisa Jucca in Milan; Writing by Barry Moody; Editing by Peter Graff)

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UN 'deeply concerned' by Darfur tribal fighting

KHARTOUM: The UN on Sunday expressed deep concern over the latest deadly tribal violence in Sudan's Darfur region, which has hampered assistance for tens of thousands of people forced to flee earlier fighting.

Residents in the town of El Sireaf said an Arab militia firing heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades burned houses and killed more than 50 people on Saturday.

The North Darfur state governor, Osman Kbir, said 51 people died and 62 were wounded, the official SUNA news agency reported.

"We are deeply concerned by the violence," Damian Rance of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told AFP.

"It's affected our ability to run a humanitarian operation."

About 100,000 people had already been displaced or severely affected by battles since early January between the Rezeigat tribe and rival Arabs from the Beni Hussein group in the Jebel Amir gold mining area of North Darfur.

The violence caused the largest uprooting of Darfur's population in years, aid workers said.

People were displaced across a wide area but most ended up in El Sireaf town, where Saturday's fighting occurred.

Aid convoys are still moving in the surrounding area but "we don't have access to El Sireaf town" because of the fighting, Rance said.

He added that the violence had forced some people from the town into the surrounding district while others had moved over the nearby border to West Darfur state.

A local resident told AFP that displaced people who had sought shelter on the outskirts of El Sireaf, where the heaviest fighting occurred, had moved into the town centre.

Some were simply staying in the street or under trees, he said, adding that people feared further attacks although on Sunday there were no reports of fighting.

Residents said the attackers wore uniforms and belonged to a militia of the Rezeigat tribe.

A Rezeigat source could not be reached on Sunday.

Governor Kbir confirmed that Rezeigat were responsible for the latest attack but said they had come from West and Central Darfur states.

Speaking in El Sireaf, he said security forces will "intervene strongly" to ensure peace between the two tribes.

"The situation will improve within two days. There is communication between both sides," Kbir said.

"The government will review the humanitarian situation so as to let the NGOs do their job of delivering aid to affected people."

On Thursday, OCHA reported that about 65,000 displaced had been given soap, chlorine and other sanitation supplies.

"Water is trucked in daily, hand pumps have been repaired, and submersible water pumps and bladders to increase access to safe water have been installed," OCHA said in its weekly bulletin.

In late January Amnesty International said the fighting began when a Rezeigat leader, who is an officer in Sudan's Border Guard force, apparently laid claim to a gold-rich area in Beni Hussein territory.

The violence illustrates the changed nature of Darfur's conflict, where 10 years ago on Tuesday rebels from black tribes began an insurrection against the Arab-dominated Khartoum regime.

Darfur's top official, Eltigani Seisi, told AFP last week "the major issue" now is not rebel attacks but "ethnic violence" such as that in Jebel Amir.

He admitted that government-linked militia in North Darfur have "committed atrocities against innocent civilians" but he said the armed groups are to be disbanded.

The UN said 1.4 million people were already living in camps for the displaced before the Jebel Amir violence.

- AFP/jc

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Sunil Joshi murder accused possessed a foreign pistol: NIA

BHOPAL: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had seized a 7.65mm automatic pistol, a Webley & Scott Ltd. London & Birmingham make, from the possession of an accused arrested in connection with the murder of RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi. This was revealed after the federal agency handed over the list of seized articles to defence counsel before a special court on Saturday.

"We have got the list after a long wait. We would examine it," said Pramod Saxena, lawyer for Pragya Thakur—the key accused in Joshi murder case. Defence had moved an application before the special NIA court seeking list of seized articles during the last hearing.

NIA informed that the pistol inscribed 'Webley & Scott Ltd. London & Birmingham' was seized from the residence of Dilip Jagtap at Suman Colony in Indore. Other seizures included one magazine of the pistol, four live cartridges of 7.65mm inscribed "KF 7.65", one 12-bore double barrel country made rifle, five 12 bore cartridges, pass books and other documents.

The NIA however failed to mention the actual owner of the foreign weapon, said sources. In January the NIA had recovered one of the weapons, which they claimed was used to kill Joshi from Balbir Singh, his alleged accomplice who was arrested recently from Mandalwada in Indore district.

NIA also claimed that two of the accused Lokendra Sharma and Rajendra Chaudhary, the accused in the case, had stayed at Balbir Singh's house after Joshi's murder on December 29, 2007.

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FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.

The drug Kadcyla from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a potent dose of anti-tumor poison.

Cancer researchers say the drug is an important step forward because it delivers more medication while reducing the unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy.

"This antibody goes seeking out the tumor cells, gets internalized and then explodes them from within. So it's very kind and gentle on the patients — there's no hair loss, no nausea, no vomiting," said Dr. Melody Cobleigh of Rush University Medical Center. "It's a revolutionary way of treating cancer."

Cobleigh helped conduct the key studies of the drug at the Chicago facility.

The FDA approved the new treatment for about 20 percent of breast cancer patients with a form of the disease that is typically more aggressive and less responsive to hormone therapy. These patients have tumors that overproduce a protein known as HER-2. Breast cancer is the second most deadly form of cancer in U.S. women, and is expected to kill more than 39,000 Americans this year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The approval will help Roche's Genentech unit build on the blockbuster success of Herceptin, which has long dominated the breast cancer marketplace. The drug had sales of roughly $6 billion last year.

Genentech said Friday that Kadcyla will cost $9,800 per month, compared to $4,500 per month for regular Herceptin. The company estimates a full course of Kadcyla, about nine months of medicine, will cost $94,000.

FDA scientists said they approved the drug based on company studies showing Kadcyla delayed the progression of breast cancer by several months. Researchers reported last year that patients treated with the drug lived 9.6 months before death or the spread of their disease, compared with a little more than six months for patients treated with two other standard drugs, Tykerb and Xeloda.

Overall, patients taking Kadcyla lived about 2.6 years, compared with 2 years for patients taking the other drugs.

FDA specifically approved the drug for patients with advanced breast cancer who have already been treated with Herceptin and taxane, a widely used chemotherapy drug. Doctors are not required to follow FDA prescribing guidelines, and cancer researchers say the drug could have great potential in patients with earlier forms of breast cancer

Kadcyla will carry a boxed warning, the most severe type, alerting doctors and patients that the drug can cause liver toxicity, heart problems and potentially death. The drug can also cause severe birth defects and should not be used by pregnant women.

Kadcyla was developed by South San Francisco-based Genentech using drug-binding technology licensed from Waltham, Mass.-based ImmunoGen. The company developed the chemical that keeps the drug cocktail together and is scheduled to receive a $10.5 million payment from Genentech on the FDA decision. The company will also receive additional royalties on the drug's sales.

Shares of ImmunoGen Inc. rose 2 cents to $14.32 in afternoon trading. The stock has ttraded in a 52-wek range of $10.85 to $18.10.

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Pistorius' Brother Facing Own Homicide Trial

The attorney for Oscar Pistorius' family said today that the Olympian's brother is facing a culpable homicide charge relating to a 2008 road accident in which a motorcyclist was killed.

Carl Pistorius, who sat behind his younger brother, Oscar, every day at his bail hearing, will now face his own homicide trial for the accident five years ago, which his attorney, Kenny Oldwage, said he "deeply regrets."

Carl Pistorius is charged with culpable homicide, which refers to the unlawful negligent killing of another person. The charges were initially dropped, but were later reinstated, Oldwage said in a statement.

Full Coverage: Oscar Pistorius Case

Pistorius quietly appeared in court on Thursday, one day before his Paralympic gold-medalist brother was released on bail, Oldwage said. His next appearance is scheduled for the end of March.

Liza van Deventer/Foto24/Gallo Images/Getty Images

'Blade Runner' Murder Charges: Oscar Pistorius Out on Bail Watch Video

Oscar Pistorius Granted Bail in Murder Case Watch Video

It was the latest twist in a case that has drawn international attention, after 26-year-old Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who ran in both the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games, was charged with the premeditated murder of his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

On Saturday, Carl Pistorius' Twitter handle was hacked, according to a family spokeswoman, prompting the Pistorius family to cancel their social media accounts.

Steenkamp's parents speak about the Valentine's Day shooting that ended their daughter's life in a sit-down interview on South African television tonight.

On Saturday, the model's father, Barry Steenkamp, told the Afrikaans-language Beeld newspaper that Pistorius will have to "live with his conscience" and will "suffer" if his story that he shot Steenkamp because he believed she was an intruder is false.

RELATED: Oscar Pistorius Case: Key Elements to the Murder Investigation

After a four-day long bail hearing, Pistorius was granted bail Friday by a South African magistrate.

The court set bail at about $113,000 (1 million rand) and June 4 as the date for Pistorius' next court appearance.

Pistoriuis is believed to be staying at his uncle's house as he awaits trial. As part of his bail conditions, Pistorius must give up all his guns, he cannot drink alcohol or return to the home where the shooting occurred, and he must check in with a police department twice a week.

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Gloomy Italians vote in election crucial for euro zone

ROME (Reuters) - Italy voted on Sunday in one of the most unpredictable elections in years, with many voters expressing rage against a discredited elite and doubt that a government will emerge strong enough to combat a severe economic crisis.

"I am pessimistic. Nothing will change," said Luciana Li Mandri, 37, as she cast a ballot in the Sicilian capital Palermo on the first of two days of voting that continues on Monday.

"The usual thieves will be in government."

Her gloom reflected the mood across Italy, where many voters said they thought the new administration would not last long, just the opposite of what Italy needs to combat the longest slump in 20 years, mounting unemployment and a huge public debt.

The election is being closely watched by investors whose memories are fresh of a debt crisis which forced out scandal-plagued conservative premier Silvio Berlusconi 15 months ago and saw him replaced by economics professor Mario Monti.

"I'm not confident that the government that emerges from the election will be able to solve any of our problems," said Attilio Bianchetti, a 55-year-old building tradesman in Milan.

Underlining his disilluion with the established parties, he voted for the 5-Star Movement of comic Beppe Grillo.

An iconclastic, 64-year-old Genoese, Grillo has screamed himself hoarse with obscenity-laced attacks on politicians that have channeled the anger of Italians, especially a frustrated young generation hit by record unemployment.

"He's the only real new element in a political landscape where we've been seeing the same faces for too long," said Vincenzo Cannizzaro, 48, in Palermo.

Opinion polls give the centre-left coalition of Pier Luigi Bersani a narrow lead but the result has been thrown open by the prospect of a huge protest vote against Monti's painful austerity measures and rage at a wave of corruption scandals.

A weak government could usher in new instability in the euro zone's third largest economy and cause another crisis of confidence in the European Union's single currency.

Television tycoon Berlusconi, showing off unrivalled media skills and displaying extraordinary energy for a man of 76, has increased uncertainty over the past couple of months by halving the gap between his centre-right and Bersani.

"I am pessimistic. There is such political fragmentation that we will again have the problem of ungovernability" said Marta, a lawyer voting in Rome who did not want to give her family name. "I fear the new government won't last long."

Another Roman voter, lab technician Manila Luce, 34, said: "I am voting Grillo and I hope a lot of people do. Because it's the only way to show how sick to the back teeth we are with the old parties."

Voting continues until 10 p.m. (4 p.m. EST) and resumes on Monday at 7 a.m. Exit polls will be published shortly after polls close at 3 p.m. on Monday. Full official results are expected by early Tuesday.

Snow in the north was expected to last into Monday and could discourage some of the 47 million eligible voters. Authorities said they were prepared for the weather and in the central city of Bologna roads were cleared of snow before voting started.

TOPLESS FEMINISTS

Several bare-breasted women protested against Berlusconi when he voted in Milan. They were bundled away by police.

The four-time premier, known for off-color jokes and a constant target of feminists, is on trial for having sex with an underage prostitute during "bunga bunga" parties at his villa.

Most experts expect a coalition between Bersani and Monti to form the next administration, but whatever government emerges will have to try to reverse years of failure to revitalize one of the most sluggish economies in the developed world.

The widespread despair over the state of the country, where a series of corruption scandals has highlighted the stark divide between a privileged political elite and millions of ordinary Italians struggling to make ends meet, has left deep scars.

"It's our fault, Italian citizens. It's our closed mentality. We're just not Europeans," said voter Li Mandri in Palermo.

"We're all about getting favors when we study, getting a protected job when we work," she said. "That's the way we are and we can only be represented by people like that as well."

ECONOMIC AGENDA

Even if Bersani wins as expected, Analysts are divided over whether he will be able to form a stable majority that can force through sweeping economic reforms.

His centre-left is expected to have firm control of the lower house, thanks to rules that give a strong majority to whichever party wins the most votes nationally.

But a much closer battle will be fought for the Senate which is elected on a regional basis and which has equal law making powers to the chamber.

Berlusconi has clawed back support by promising to repeal Monti's hated new housing tax, the IMU, and to refund the money. He relentlessly attacked what he called the "Germano-centric" policies of the former European Union commissioner.

Think-tank consultant Mario, 60, said on his way to vote in Bologna that Bersani's Democratic Party was the only group serious enough to repair the economy: "They're not perfect," he said. "But they've got the organization and the union backing that will help them push through structural reforms."

Despite Berlusconi's success, Grillo has tapped into the same public frustration as the conservative tycoon and pollsters say his 5-Star Movement of political novices could overtake the centre-right to take second place in the vote.

Rivals have branded Grillo a threat to democracy - a vivid image in a country ruled by fascists for two decades until World War Two. Several voters who spoke to Reuters said Grillo was not the answer because of his lack of concrete policies and the inexperience of those who will sit in parliament for 5-Star.

"Grillo is a populist and populism doesn't work in a democracy," said retired notary Pasquale Lebanon, 76, as he voted for Bersani's Democratic Party in Milan.

"I'm very worried. There seems to be no way out from a political point of view, or for being able to govern," said Calogero Giallanza, a 45-year-old musician in Rome as he also voted for Bersani.

"There's bound to be a mess in the Senate because, as far as I can see the 5-Star Movement is unstoppable."

(Additional reporting by Cristiano Corvino, Lisa Jucca, Jennifer Clark, Matthias Baehr, Jennifer Clark and Sara Rossi in Milan, Stephen Jewkes in Bologna, Wladimir Pantaleone in Palermo, Stefano Bernabei and Massimiliano Di Giorgio in Rome; Writing by James Mackenzie and Barry Moody; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

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'Citizen tide' of protests swamps Spain

MADRID: Fuming Spaniards massed in cities across the country on Saturday in a "citizens' tide" of protests.

Tens of thousands converged in Madrid, Barcelona and other cities to the din of drums and whistles and yells of "Resign!" directed at Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his government.

"We have come because of it all -- unemployment, corrupt politicians, the young people who have no future -- it's a combination of everything," said Luis Mora, 55, a construction worker in Madrid.

He joined a multitude of nurses, doctors, teachers, firemen, miners with lamps on their helmets and numerous other groups.

The grouping of civil associations that called the protests chose February 23 for the anniversary of an attempted coup in 1981 by officers who tried to restore military rule six years after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco.

The protestors' manifesto said the demonstrations targeted the "coup of the financial markets" which they largely blame for the crisis brought on by the collapse of the housing market.

Thousands of people also rallied in cities such as Valencia, Seville and A Coruna and the movement called demonstrations in scores of other towns.

Spain has been seeing weekly protests against the spending cuts and tax hikes imposed by Rajoy's conservative government to slash the public deficit.

The cuts are squeezing the public sector, while the current recession that started in late 2011 has shut down companies and thrown millions out of work, driving the unemployment rate above 26 per cent.

"Rajoy get out," and "No to bank dictatorship," read some of the signs in the sea of banners, plus placards reading "No" with scissors representing the cuts.

"We have been struggling all our lives and now with one snip they take away everything," said Mora, dressed in a white shirt with envelopes pinned on it marked "20,000 euros" -- a reference to political corruption.

Public anger has been fanned over recent weeks by a corruption scandal in Rajoy's conservative Popular Party.

Newspapers alleged that Rajoy and other party members received irregular payments, which he and the party have denied.

A separate corruption case being investigated on the island of Majorca has implicated the royal palace. King Juan Carlos's son-in-law Inaki Urdangarin and a palace official were questioned by an investigating judge in that affair on Saturday.

Many protestors in Saturday's demonstrations waved or wrapped themselves in the red, yellow and purple Spanish Republican flag -- a symbol of a pre-Franco, non-monarchical Spain.

Rajoy defended his government's record during a state of the nation address in parliament on Wednesday, saying that his austere measures had saved Spain from financial disaster.

"We have left behind us the constant threat of imminent disaster and we are starting to see the path for the future," he said.

In Madrid on Saturday, demonstrators converged on Plaza de Neptuno near the lower house of the Spanish parliament -- scene of a huge protest in September that led to clashes with riot police.

A crowd stood angrily shouting in front of a police barrier blocking access to the parliament before most of them dispersed.

"We're fed up," said Luis Miguel Herranz, 38, a hospital doctor in the Madrid demonstration.

"In any other country this would be of some use, but here it is not," he added. "The government is not listening to us."

- AFP/jc

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'Dabas is not the only rotten apple'

NEW DELHI: The illegal attempt to procure the call details of BJP leader Arun Jaitley has brought to fore the unholy nexus among police, detectives and city's bigwigs, including politicians and industrialists.

The subversion of official procedure to procure Jaitely's CDR (call details records) has attracted an angry response from the BJP, and led many to marvel at conspirators' audacity to target an A-list politician. The scam has also reinforced fears of invasion of privacy. But sources in the police say that obtaining a person's CDR was never a big deal and that the arrested policeman Arvind Dabas is probably just one of the many in the department who do this for making a fast buck. It is only that they had so far managed to remain under the radar.

They say sneaking in that one extra number into a bundle of numbers being sent officially will never be a difficult task for the policemen and will go undetected even by the designated officer of the rank of ACP sending the official request. The list has only numbers, and no names are mentioned. In the current instance, the alleged conspirators were not caught until they put Jaitley's name against his number: a mistake that alerted the nodal officer of the cellphone service provider and resulted in the unraveling of the crime.

What helps such snooping is the unstated liaison of police personnel with private detectives like Anurag Singh, who is emerging as the key protagonist in Jaitley CDR saga. Sources confirmed that Delhi Police and central intelligence agencies had in the past engaged services of Singh, a trained doctor who graduated from a reputed medical college in the city but never practiced medicine because of his fascination for technology. It is recognized that the association, which started more than a decade ago because Delhi Police had lacked sophisticated know-how to track information technology-savvy criminals at the time, may have helped the detective familiarize himself with the loopholes in the official procedures, besides providing him the opportunity to befriend officers.

Sources say that the serious risk of assault on privacy of unsuspecting citizen is aggravated by the trend among some intelligence officials to outsource the dirty part of the job, including illicit surveillance on political opponents of the government and others, to private detectives whose inventory of espionage equipment, sourced from Israel and other places, can match official capabilities.

This is why there is skepticism that the Jaitley CDR scam will put an end the menace. Sources say that the adverse publicity may at best lead to a break until the police 'complete' their probe. After that it will be business as usual though possibly with one big difference: the private players and their collaborators in police may hike their rates citing heightened risk. "A job which could be done for Rs 2,000-Rs 5,000 could escalate to Rs 20,000? It can fluctuate depending on how stringent the process is made. But if they are saying they will put an end to this, they must be kidding. If they make the process difficult, it's their probe which will get hampered," says a source.

Officially, private detectives cannot access call records of any person. It's only the owner of a number who can access the call details of his number by asking the service provider. Otherwise, police are the only authority who can do so, that too for the limited purpose of an ongoing investigation..

However, the reality is different. Call details, being an important tool for investigation, used as much by police as private detectives. In fact, the first thing that a private detective does after landing a case is, just like a policeman, is to seek CDR. These are in great demand also among businessmen who either hire private detectives or rely on 'contacts' among police to track their rivals.

And the process is simple. That one number that the client is interested in is sneaked in amid various numbers which are officially sent to the mobile company from the e-mail id of the nodal officer, an officer of the rank of ACP. The ACP, however, seldom uses the email-himself, leaving the job for head constables and juniors like, as Jaitley case showed, Dabas.

The CDR of a number is an elaborate list divided into several columns like, the calling number, the called number, time of call, duration of call, location at the time of call, the instrument used to make the call and etc.

However, there are no names. Even the investigators probing a particular case are not aware about who owns the number. And that's the catch. "We get the CDR and then begin investigations. Each number is analyzed and a person is assigned to go through each and every number on the CDR list and call up the suspicious. Sometimes all the numbers on the list may get called up. They speak to the person; ask him about his identity and other questions. Those who emerge as "persons of interest" are summoned for detailed questioning. The CDR of those who may evoke more suspicions are obtained and that yields investigators further leads," a source says.

An officer says that the fact that identity of persons whose CDR are sought remains unknown until the first stage, leaves a big gap in the procedure to be exploited by the nexus of resourceful private detectives and cops, greedy, compromised as well as regime-loyalists. For example, on November 20, two offices — the Special Staff (November 20) and Vasant Vihar police Station (November 29) — sought call details of Jaitley's number's during the Ponty Chadha case as his number had figured in Hardeep's call records. Neither knew that the number belonged to the BJP leader: On December 3, even the crime branch asked for the number's details. The CDR were scrapped as soon as the identity was ascertained.

Private detectives argue it's not all about money making, but it comes along with it. "If a businessman approaches me to find out the details/activities and friend circle about a man who is going to get married to his daughter, we will use his CDR to check his antecedents. It is crucial for us. And since we don't have access to it, , it s obvious we will need to seek help from our friends in the police. And why not? After all, they seek our help too. What do you think Anurag, who has been arrested by the special cell, did in the past? He has helped the sleuths in the cell so much and so many times but he is paying for it now," says a south Delhi-based detective.

The private players also remain confident that the illegal practice will continue. "Do you really think the cops can end this? Everybody will be back in business in a couple of months. The ACP will have jobs other than asking his men about explanation and requirement of each and every number whose call details are being procured," says a source.

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FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.

The drug Kadcyla from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a potent dose of anti-tumor poison.

Cancer researchers say the drug is an important step forward because it delivers more medication while reducing the unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy.

"This antibody goes seeking out the tumor cells, gets internalized and then explodes them from within. So it's very kind and gentle on the patients — there's no hair loss, no nausea, no vomiting," said Dr. Melody Cobleigh of Rush University Medical Center. "It's a revolutionary way of treating cancer."

Cobleigh helped conduct the key studies of the drug at the Chicago facility.

The FDA approved the new treatment for about 20 percent of breast cancer patients with a form of the disease that is typically more aggressive and less responsive to hormone therapy. These patients have tumors that overproduce a protein known as HER-2. Breast cancer is the second most deadly form of cancer in U.S. women, and is expected to kill more than 39,000 Americans this year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The approval will help Roche's Genentech unit build on the blockbuster success of Herceptin, which has long dominated the breast cancer marketplace. The drug had sales of roughly $6 billion last year.

Genentech said Friday that Kadcyla will cost $9,800 per month, compared to $4,500 per month for regular Herceptin. The company estimates a full course of Kadcyla, about nine months of medicine, will cost $94,000.

FDA scientists said they approved the drug based on company studies showing Kadcyla delayed the progression of breast cancer by several months. Researchers reported last year that patients treated with the drug lived 9.6 months before death or the spread of their disease, compared with a little more than six months for patients treated with two other standard drugs, Tykerb and Xeloda.

Overall, patients taking Kadcyla lived about 2.6 years, compared with 2 years for patients taking the other drugs.

FDA specifically approved the drug for patients with advanced breast cancer who have already been treated with Herceptin and taxane, a widely used chemotherapy drug. Doctors are not required to follow FDA prescribing guidelines, and cancer researchers say the drug could have great potential in patients with earlier forms of breast cancer

Kadcyla will carry a boxed warning, the most severe type, alerting doctors and patients that the drug can cause liver toxicity, heart problems and potentially death. The drug can also cause severe birth defects and should not be used by pregnant women.

Kadcyla was developed by South San Francisco-based Genentech using drug-binding technology licensed from Waltham, Mass.-based ImmunoGen. The company developed the chemical that keeps the drug cocktail together and is scheduled to receive a $10.5 million payment from Genentech on the FDA decision. The company will also receive additional royalties on the drug's sales.

Shares of ImmunoGen Inc. rose 2 cents to $14.32 in afternoon trading. The stock has ttraded in a 52-wek range of $10.85 to $18.10.

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