Gay marriage gets OK from British lawmakers

LONDON British lawmakers on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill to legalize same-sex marriage championed by Prime Minister David Cameron, despite strong opposition from within his Conservative Party.

In a first House of Commons vote, lawmakers voted 400 to 175 in support of the legislation. There was majority support from the left-leaning Labour Party and Liberal Democrats party, but around half of the Conservative lawmakers rejected the proposals or abstained.

The bill will have to go through more detailed parliamentary debates and a vote in the House of Lords, where a vote in favor is likely given the strong support Tuesday. If it becomes law, the proposed bill would enable same-sex couples to get married in both civil and religious ceremonies, provided that the religious institution consents.

The bill would also allow couples who had previously entered into civil partnerships to convert their relationship into a marriage.

Earlier, Cameron - who did not attend a Parliament debate ahead of the vote - said passing the bill is "an important step forward" for Britain.

"I am a strong believer in marriage. It helps people commit to each other and I think it is right that gay people should be able to get married too," he said. "This is, yes, about equality. But it is also about making our society stronger."

Officials have stressed that all religious organizations can decide for themselves if they want to "opt in" to holding gay weddings. However, the Church of England, the country's official faith, is barred from performing such ceremonies.

That provision aims to ensure that the Church, which opposes gay marriage, is protected from legal claims that as the official state religion it must marry anyone who requests it.

Currently same-sex couples only have the option of a civil partnership, which offers the same legal rights and protections on issues such as inheritance, pensions, and child maintenance.

Supporters say that gay relationships should be treated exactly the same way as heterosexual ones, but critics worry that the proposals would change long-standing views about the meaning of marriage. Some Conservatives also fear the proposals would cost the party a significant number of votes in the next election.

"Marriage is the union between a man and a woman, has been historically, remains so. It is Alice in Wonderland territory, Orwellian almost, for any government of any political persuasion to seek to come along and try to re-write the lexicon," Conservative lawmaker Roger Gale said.

If passed, the bill's provisions would come into effect in 2015. They apply only to England and Wales - there are no plans for similar legislation in Northern Ireland. Scotland is considering introducing a similar bill.

CBS Radio's Vicki Barker reports from London that Tony and Barry Drewett-Barlow have been in a civil partnership for seven years. They are devout Christians who want a Christian wedding.

"For Barry and I it's about being able to stand up in front of the altar in our local church and say our vows," Tony said, "not only to each other and in law, but also in the eyes of God -- and that's a really important step."

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Jodi Arias Tried Wicca, Buddhism With Boyfriends

Accused murderer Jodi Arias testified over the last two days about a flurry of boyfriends and how she followed them into exploring a string of religions including witchcraft, Buddhism, Hinduism and eventually Mormonism.

Arias, 32, has yet to tell the jury about meeting Travis Alexander, the ex-boyfriend who baptized her into the Mormon religion and who she is charged with killling in a jealous rage in 2008. She is now on trial in Arizona for his murder and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Her odyssey through boyfriends and the spiritual world included a five year period from age 18 through age 22 when Arias said she became very interested in fundamentalist Christianity, Wicca, Buddhism, and Hinduism, all of which she explored as she dated men who practiced those beliefs.

Eventually Arias became interested in Mormonism through Alexander, and converted to Mormonism when she began a tumultuous sexual relationship with him in 2006.

Arias took the stand for the second time today to explain to the jury how she came to kill Alexander in what she claims was self defense. Her story started with other boyfriends.

"When I first met (Matt McCartney) I was a little bit leery about things he was into. I saw some books on witchcraft and went, 'oh', but he explained to me that he was just seeking," Arias said today. "He was looking at other religions, he was studying Wicca, and I didn't practice it myself, but he had practiced it and had moved onto studying eastern mysticism and Buddhism."

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Victim's Ex Testifies Watch Video

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Former Boyfriend Takes Stand Watch Video

"Our relationship took a lot of spiritual turns," she said.

Arias said that religion played a major role in her and McCartney's relationship, which lasted nearly two years and involved living together in Oregon.

"We sort of explored together, taking meditation seminars, new age type seminars, which sort of had roots in Hinduism or Buddhism, and were kind of like a modern version of transcendentalism," she said. "We would drive to Portland or the Bay Area often for them."

See Jodi Arias Trial Videos

Arias said she grew up as a non-denominational Christian. During her testimony on Monday Arias said that in high school, an acquaintance had told her that the second coming of Jesus Christ would be in 1997, and she took to warning close friends about it.

"It's kind of silly, but there was this older man who used to come into my parents' restaurant, and he had a small pocket version of the New Testament that he always carried. He was always quoting Bible stories to me, and this one time he told me he had done the math in the Bible and determined that he knew that the second coming was going to occur in September of 1997," Arias said.

Arias took the man's advice to heart and called her on-again, off-again boyfriend of the time to tell him the news.

"I was really naive and kind of believed him. It seemed important, so I thought Bobby (Juarez) should know about it. He wasn't religious, but I thought it was important that he at least hear that for himself," she said.

Through a string of boyfriends in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Arias continued to identify as a Christian who was into spirituality. When she met Alexander in 2006, she immediately became interested in Mormonism. She quickly converted and Alexander, a Mormon elder, baptized her into her new religion.

The two also maintained a torrid sexual affair, which is prohibited for unmarried people in the Mormon religion.

Other witnesses who have been called to the stand have noted her commitment to Mormonism, including Ryan Burns, a Mormon she began seeing after breaking up with Alexander. She also visited Burns the day after killing Alexander.

"Part of our conversations with each other were about her religious views, and my religious views," Burns testified. "She would often tell me about how she felt about her religious beliefs, the Book of Mormon. She was a convert, by Travis... She mentioned reading the scriptures."

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Iran's Ahmadinejad kissed and scolded in Egypt

CAIRO (Reuters) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was both kissed and scolded on Tuesday when he began the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian president since Tehran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

The trip was meant to underline a thaw in relations since Egyptians elected an Islamist head of state, President Mohamed Mursi, last June. But it also highlighted deep theological and geopolitical differences.

Mursi, a member of the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, kissed Ahmadinejad after he landed at Cairo airport and gave him a red carpet reception with military honors. Ahmadinejad beamed as he shook hands with waiting dignitaries.

But the Shi'ite Iranian leader received a stiff rebuke when he met Egypt's leading Sunni Muslim scholar later at Cairo's historic al-Azhar mosque and university.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, head of the 1,000-year-old seat of religious learning, urged Iran to refrain from interfering in Gulf Arab states, to recognize Bahrain as a "sisterly Arab nation" and rejected the extension of Shi'ite Muslim influence in Sunni countries, a statement from al-Azhar said.

Visiting Cairo to attend an Islamic summit that begins on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad told a news conference he hoped his trip would be "a new starting point in relations between us".

However, a senior cleric from the Egyptian seminary, Hassan al-Shafai, who appeared alongside him, said the meeting had degenerated into an exchange of theological differences.

"There ensued some misunderstandings on certain issues that could have an effect on the cultural, political and social climate of both countries," Shafai said.

"The issues were such that the grand sheikh saw that the meeting ... did not serve the desired purpose."

The visit would have been unthinkable during the rule of Hosni Mubarak, the military-backed autocrat who preserved Egypt's peace treaty with Israel during his 30 years in power and deepened ties between Cairo and the West.

"The political geography of the region will change if Iran and Egypt take a unified position on the Palestinian question," Ahmadinejad said in an interview with Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based TV station, on the eve of his trip.

He said he wanted to visit the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory which neighbors Egypt to the east and is run by the Islamist movement Hamas. "If they allow it, I would go to Gaza to visit the people," Ahmadinejad said.

Analysts doubt that the historic changes that brought Mursi to power will result in a full restoration of diplomatic ties between states whose relations were broken off after the conclusion of Egypt's peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

OBSTACLES TO FULL TIES

At the airport the two leaders discussed ways of improving relations and resolving the Syrian crisis "without resorting to military intervention", Egyptian state media reported.

Egypt is concerned by Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is trying to crush an uprising inspired by the revolt that swept Mubarak from power two years ago. Egypt's overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim population is broadly supportive of the uprising against Assad's Alawite-led administration.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr sought to reassure Gulf Arab allies - that are supporting Cairo's battered state finances and are deeply suspicious of Iran - that Egypt would not jeopardize their security.

"The security of the Gulf states is the security of Egypt," he said in remarks reported by the official MENA news agency.

Mursi wants to preserve ties with the United States, the source of $1.3 billion in aid each year to the influential Egyptian military.

"The restoration of full relations with Iran in this period is difficult, despite the warmth in ties ... because of many problems including the Syrian crisis and Cairo's links with the Gulf states, Israel and the United States," said one former Egyptian diplomat.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said he was optimistic that ties could grow closer.

"We are gradually improving. We have to be a little bit patient. I'm very hopeful about the expansion of the bilateral relationship," he told Reuters. Asked where he saw room for closer ties, he said: "Trade and economics."

Egypt and Iran have taken opposite courses since the late 1970s. Egypt, under Mubarak's predecessor Anwar Sadat, concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and became a close ally of the United States and Europe. Iran from 1979 turned into a center of opposition to Western influence in the Middle East.

Symbolically, Iran named a street in Tehran after the Islamist who led the 1981 assassination of Sadat.

Egypt gave asylum and a state funeral to Iran's exiled Shah Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the 1979 Iranian revolution. He is buried in a mosque beside Cairo's mediaeval Citadel alongside his ex-brother-in-law, Egypt's last king, Farouk.

(Additional reporting by Ayman Samir, Marwa Awad and Alexander Diadosz; Writing by Paul Taylor and Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Roche and Robin Pomeroy)

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Cycling: US attorney says no plan to prosecute Armstrong

WASHINGTON: US prosecutors said Tuesday they have no plans to press criminal charges against cycling cheat Lance Armstrong, despite his confession that he owes his Tour de France victories to illegal doping.

US Attorney Andre Birotte, who led a federal investigation into the disgraced rider, did not definitively rule out action, but said Armstrong's public admission had not yet changed the decision not to prosecute.

"We made a decision on that case, I believe, a little over a year ago," he said, when asked about the status of the federal inquiry into long-standing claims that Armstrong had run a doping program and had lied to federal agents.

"Obviously we've been well aware of the statements that have been made by Mr Armstrong and other media reports," he said, referring to Armstrong's bombshell confession to chat show legend Oprah Winfrey last month.

"That has not changed my view at this time. Obviously we'll consider -- we'll continue to look at the situation, but that hasn't changed our view as I stand here today," Birotte told a news conference in Washington.

The 41-year-old Texan was stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles last year after the US Anti-Doping Agency gathered compelling testimony that he had been the ring-leader of a large-scale doping conspiracy.

He had long angrily professed his innocence, including in questioning by US federal agents investigating the same allegations, but the mask fell away last month when he confessed his guilt to Winfrey in detail.

The admission threw up a number of legal questions, including whether the federal probe might be re-opened, whether he might be prosecuted for perjury and whether he might be sued to recover former payments and prize money.

Dallas insurance company SCA Promotions has already demanded the return of $12 million in bonuses it paid to Armstrong for multiple Tour titles.

SCA withheld a $5 million bonus due after Armstrong's sixth Tour de France win in 2004 because of doping allegations circulating in Europe, and Armstrong took them to court.

He won the case because SCA's original contract had no stipulations about doping, and Armstrong attorney Tim Herman told USA Today that the shamed cyclist doesn't intend to pay back any of the money.

"My only point is no athlete ever, to my understanding, has gone back and paid back his compensation," Herman told the newspaper in an article published Tuesday.

Herman cited New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton, who was suspended for a season by the NFL for the team's alleged pay-for-hits "bounty" scheme.

"They were suspended, but nobody said you've got to give your paycheck back," Herman said.

While Armstrong told Winfrey he would like to get his lifetime ban reduced, so that he could eventually compete in marathons, for example, by the time he's 50, Herman said the shamed cyclist was now prepared to cooperate with anti-doping authorities in a bid to clean up cycling even if is eligibility isn't restored.

"Whether it's a Truth and Reconciliation Commission or some comprehensive attempt to clean things up, it doesn't make any difference as long as something like that is convened," Herman said. "Lance will definitely cooperate."

Herman told the newspaper that Armstrong doesn't believe that USADA is best-placed to lead the battle against doping in cycling, since the sport is largely based in Europe.

Nor has USADA chief Travis Tygart's claim that Armstrong lied in some of his comments to Winfrey eased relations between the two parties.

"To hear Tygart tell it, Lance Armstrong is responsible for the culture he was dropped into on a team (that) was engaged in misconduct long before he got to the team," Herman said.

"He was a 19-year-old kid dropped in this culture, just like everybody else. He didn't create it."

-AFP/ac

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Why going private is a good thing for Dell

The Dell Inspiron 15z is one of Dell's latest PC offerings.

(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)

In October 2011, I managed to annoy Michael Dell.

It was shortly after Steve Jobs died, and I sat with Dell for a 30-minute talk at the company's home in Round Rock, Texas. I was a reporter for Dow Jones at the time.

The interview had nearly ended, and Dell was on his way out the door when I asked the question, "Michael, is there anything you learned from Steve Jobs and his time at Apple that you can apply to Dell?"

He paused thoughtfully and then said that he'd met Jobs while in college and that it left a big impression on him. I responded that that was great, but what about now? Was Dell trying to emulate Apple in any way or had he gained any insights from Apple's transformation?

Dell clearly didn't like the inquiry. He stopped for a moment, scowled, and then said, "I think we're done here," as he walked out of the room.

I'm still waiting for the answer to my query, and maybe now Dell can find it as a private company, unencumbered by the needs of public investors and the scrutiny of Wall Street.

Clearly, the tables have turned for Dell, and that's why I asked that question. During the dot-com boom, Dell was on top of the PC market, and Apple was still struggling to come back from its near-death moment. Michael Dell famously quipped in late 1997 that all that could be done for then-struggling Apple was to "shut it down and give the money back to shareholders."

It's easy to pass off Dell's predicament as an entertaining case of schadenfreude, but the company isn't a giant on the brink the way Apple was in the mid-1990s. While Dell's fiscal third-quarter net income tumbled 47 percent from the same quarter a year ago to $475 million and its revenue dropped 11 percent to $13.7 billion, it still generated $1.3 billion in cash flow from operations during the period ended Nov. 2. That brought its total cash and investments to $14.2 billion.

Michael Dell at the Web 2.0 Summit in October 2011.

(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)

In short, the glass is half full. Dell remains one of the world's biggest PC makers, though its market share has been falling to Asian rivals such as Lenovo. It's trying to emulate IBM by expanding in business technology like storage and services, but the operations haven't been showing results fast enough for investors.

And in high-growth markets like smartphones and
tablets, Dell's efforts could charitably be described as disappointing, pointing toward an alarming future of shrinking sales in low-growth or no-growth markets.

So how do you get this once-mighty but still huge company back on track? Dell ultimately decided the best way to do it was behind a curtain. Michael Dell and investment firm Silver Lake said today that they're partnering on a $24.4 billion leveraged buyout, and Microsoft is even kicking in a $2 billion loan to help fund the deal.

While going private may unsettle customers right now, it's the right thing to do. The company can do what it needs to without disclosing every move to regulators and public shareholders. For example, it can grow its enterprise business and figure out what it's going to do in mobile.

"I would describe Dell's last few years as in transition but lacking focus," Forrester analyst David Johnson said. "[As a private company], they could be more nimble and able to focus the organization and business faster."

(Note the Forrester analyst is not the David Johnson who previously oversaw Dell's M&A strategy.)

Dell played a key role in the PC revolution, but its traditional products are being left behind in the mobile boom. For Dell, that has meant shifting focus to providing data center technology instead of simply selling PCs. And it has had some success there. While overall fiscal third-quarter results were dismal, revenue in Dell's server and networking business climbed 11 percent from the previous year to $2.32 billion.

But building an enterprise business and attract new customers to replace consumers takes time. Dell has been expanding its offerings by making acquisitions, such as IT services provider Perot Systems and storage maker Compellent. But pulling all that together into one neat package -- a la IBM Global Services -- takes time.

And going private buys time. Dell apparently will stay the course with its current plans to diversify away from PCs, based on comments Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden made to several publications today.

In addition, Dell's closer relationship with Microsoft through the software giant's loan could end up being mutually beneficial. Microsoft has been trying to more tightly control the entire device making process. It not only builds its own tablets now but also has started exerting more say over its partners' products. An even closer relationship between Microsoft and Dell could result in devices with better integration between hardware and software in consumer devices. And it also could ensure Microsoft has a strong partner for its enterprise business.

How Microsoft became a control freak with tablet makers

Of course, there are risks with going private. Instead of quarterly check-ins with investors, Silver Lake could grow frustrated and demand faster improvements. And just because Dell doesn't have to answer to public shareholders doesn't mean its backers won't expect returns on their investments.

In addition, customers may be hesitant to buy many Dell products because they're afraid -- rightly or wrongly -- that Dell won't continue to support what they bought.

"While the company might come out of this transition stronger with a product lineup that better meets the needs of businesses and public sector organizations, there will be uncertainty as to what products and services stay, get [strengthened], or get eliminated," Carter Lusher, chief IT analyst at Ovum, said.

And even if Dell has more time and less scrutiny, the overall tech environment remains very competitive. IBM sure won't be waiting for Dell to figure out its strategy, and neither will HP, Lenovo, Apple, or various other rivals.

More than anything, Dell needs to start innovating, whether it's in PCs, mobile devices, or enterprise offerings. If there's anything Michael Dell should have learned from Jobs and Apple, it's this: It's not enough to simply build me-too products.

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Crashed bus owner failed one-third of safety inspections

YUCAIPA, Calif. The company linked to a tour bus involved in a deadly crash in Southern California failed more than a third of federal vehicle safety inspections in the last two years.

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Calif. tour bus crash kills at least 8

17 Photos

Tour bus crashes in Calif.

U.S. government records show that buses operated by the firm Scapadas Magicas of National City, Calif., flunked 36 percent of random inspections on their vehicles — in some cases for brake and tire problems.

That's higher than the national average for similar companies — a 21 percent failure rate.

Records also show the company had no crashes in the past two years.

The California company had an overall "satisfactory" rating from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, but records show three-quarters of similar companies had better safety records.

Lettering on the 1996 bus indicates it was operated by Scapadas Magicas.

At least eight people were killed in Sunday night's crash. More than three dozen people were injured, and at least 17 were still hospitalized, including at least five in critical condition. One is a girl.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation. The National Transportation Safety Board was sending a team to the scene.

CBS Station KCBS reports that the bus, carrying dozens of men, women and children from Tijuana, was on its way back to Mexico Sunday evening after a day in Big Bear when the driver lost control just after 6:30 p.m., about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

Investigators say the bus flipped and landed on a pickup truck towing a trailer. A black Saturn was also rear-ended.

The crash left State Route 38 littered with body parts and debris, and the bus sideways across both lanes with its windows blown out, front end crushed and part of the roof peeled back like a tin can.

One person in the pickup truck was injured. The fate of the passengers in the car was not clear, but at least two people were in the Saturn, said California Highway Patrol spokesman Mario Lopez.

Investigators will determine if mechanical failure or driver error was to blame. The bus driver, who survived but was injured, told investigators the vehicle had brake problems.

"It appears speed was a factor in this collision," said Lopez.

Crews worked through the night to recover the dead, but one body remained aboard the bus early Monday, said Rocky Shaw, a San Bernardino County coroner's investigator.

Officials hadn't been able to retrieve the body because the front end of the bus was dangling over the edge of the roadside.

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Jodi Arias Tells Jury She Killed Alexander

Jodi Arias took the stand today and quickly told the jury that she killed her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in a bloody attack in 2008.

And in a surprise, Arias told the jury that she planned to also kill herself.

"Did you kill Travis Alexander?" defense attorney Kirk Nurmi asked Arias immediately after she took the stand.

"Yes," Arias said softly, turning to look at the jury.

"Why?"

"The simple answer is that he attacked me and I defended myself," she said.

Arias also explained why she said in a news interview, "No jury would ever convict" her of murdering Alexander. At the time she said it was because she was innocent, but on the stand today she said she made that statement because she had plans to commit suicide after the interview. The interview took place in September 2008, three months after the killing.

"I was very confident that no jury would convict me because I was sure I'd be dead," she said. "Those are probably the most bitter words I'll ever eat."

Arias is on trial for murdering Alexander by stabbing him 27 times, slashing his throat, and shooting him in the head twice. She could face the death penalty if convicted.

Nurmi questioned Arias about her early childhood, eliciting statements from Arias that she was subjected to frequent, violent beatings from her mother and father, who used belts, spoons, and their hands to discipline her and her siblings.

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Victim's Ex Testifies Watch Video

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Former Boyfriend Takes Stand Watch Video

Earlier in the day, the defense continued their attempt to show that Alexander was controlling and abusive toward Arias during their yearlong relationship and the year after, during which they continued a sexual relationship.

A woman's T-shirt emblazoned with the possessive "Travis Alexander's" and a pair of pink panties with the word "Travis'" on the front hint at the controlling nature and abusive attitude that existed between Alexander and Jodi Arias in the months before she killed him, defense attorneys said today.

Defense attorneys also questioned porn on Travis Alexander's computer during today's testimony.

Arias is accused of murder for Alexander's death, but her defense attorneys claim she killed him in self defense because he was an abusive and controlling "sexual deviant." The pair dated for a year before breaking up, but continued to have a sexual relationship for another year until Alexander's death.

The photo of the T-shirt and panties were found on Arias' camera in July 2008, more than a month after Arias killed Alexander on June 4.

"The photo of 'Travis Alexander's' and 'Travis', both written in the possessive form, will be relied on by our experts discussing the controlling nature of the relationship (between Alexander and Arias), the possessive nature of the relationship, and what that does to a woman," defense attorney Jennifer Willmott said today after the prosecution objected to the photos.

Prosecutor Juan Martinez asked Dworkin whether he knew when the words were put on the shirt and panties. When Dworkin said he could not determine when they were created, Martinez suggested that could have been done after Alexander was killed.

The defense also showed items from Alexander's internet search history from the early morning hours before he was killed, showing that he watched YouTube videos of scantily-clad women dancing to pop music and visited a proxy server, which covers one's IP address while surfing the internet. The defense will try to prove that Alexander was obsessed with looking at sexual content on his computer.

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North Korea nuclear test would face "firm" U.N. action: South Korea

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council is united on North Korea's nuclear arms program and will undoubtedly approve tough measures against Pyongyang if it carries out a new atomic test as expected, South Korean U.N. Ambassador Kim Sook said on Monday.

"The North Korean nuclear test seems to be imminent," Kim, who is president of the Security Council this month, told reporters. "Obviously there are very busy activities going on at the (North Korean) nuclear test site, and everybody's watching."

"Everybody is unified and they are firm and resolute," he said. "I would expect very firm and strong measures to be taken ... once they go ahead with such provocation."

(Reporting By Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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Fidel Castro makes surprise appearance in Cuba

HAVANA: Stooped and using a cane, Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has taken the country by surprise by turning out to vote in legislative elections, after a three-month absence from public view.

The 86-year-old Castro cast his ballot at a school in Havana's El Vedado neighborhood on Sunday, engaging in an animated give-and-take with reporters at the polling station and voters for more than an hour.

The elections were to choose 612 members of the National Assembly as well as deputies of local legislatures, with the number of candidates equal to the number of available seats, so Castro easily stole the show.

His rare public appearances often have served to tamp down rumours about his own health, but Castro used this occasion to talk about improvements in the health of his good friend and ally Hugo Chavez, who is convalescing in Cuba.

The Venezuelan president is "much better, recovering," Castro said of the 58-year-old Chavez, who himself has not been seen or heard from since December 10, when he travelled to Havana for his fourth round of cancer surgery.

"It has been a tough struggle but he has been improving," Castro said in comments carried by the official Granma newspaper, adding: "We have to cure him. Chavez is very important for his country and for Latin America."

Castro said he gets daily reports on the health of Chavez, whose survival is also crucial to Cuba, which depends on Venezuela for cut-rate oil and trade as well as international political support.

Castro, who turned over the country's leadership to his brother Raul in 2006 after he fell ill, also took the opportunity to throw darts at the United States, his adversary of more than half a century.

"I am convinced that Cubans are really a revolutionary people," said Castro, who came to power in a 1959 revolution.

"I don't have to prove it. History has already proven it. And 50 years of the US blockade have not been -- nor will it be -- able to defeat us."

The United States slapped a commercial, economic, and financial embargo against Cuba in October 1960 after Castro's revolutionary government nationalised the properties of United States citizens and corporations.

It was broadened to become a near-total embargo in 1962 as Cuba's alliance with the Soviet bloc became apparent.

Images shown on Cuban TV as well as pictures in the newspaper Juventud Rebelde showed a slightly stooped Castro with a cane. He wore a dark shirt and a bomber jacket.

In his comments, the revolutionary leader also praised the creation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), whose presidency Cuba formally assumed last week at a summit in Santiago, Chile.

Set up in Caracas in December 2011 at the behest of Chavez, CELAC groups all nations from across the Americas except the United States and Canada.

The Cuban chairmanship of the group marked Havana's full regional reintegration and was seen as a major diplomatic coup for Communist-ruled Cuba.

"This was a step forward which we owe to the efforts of many people, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez," Castro said.

Castro had not been seen in public since October 21, when he accompanied Elias Jaua, who is now Venezuela's foreign minister, to the Hotel Nacional.

The Cuban leader's long absences from public view have fuelled rumours that his health has worsened, that he was dead or on his death bed.

He turned over the Cuban presidency to his brother Raul in 2008 two years after falling seriously ill and undergoing intestinal surgery.

Since then, he has kept his hand in by writing frequent editorials, publishing books about the revolution, and welcoming a few international leaders in private events.

On Thursday, according to state media reports, he hosted former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva.

About 8.5 million Cubans took part in the polls that featured no opposition candidates. Authorities billed the event as a celebration of Cuban democracy, "which is different" from those in other countries.

But Cuban dissidents blasted the vote.

"What strange elections, in which there is no choice and all the candidates think the same," wrote dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez. "It's an electoral farce."

- AFP/jc

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Verizon's HTC M7 could come to life as a Droid DNA refresh

Could Verizon be readying a Droid DNA refresh already?

(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)

Verizon may soon debut a refreshed version of the HTC Droid DNA smartphone, according to newly uncovered details leaked by software developer and HTC insider @LlabTooFeR.

Hardware specifications for a model known as DLXPLUS suggest that the nation's largest wireless provider could be readying a device with details that are not unlike the rumored HTC M7.

The hardware list points to an
Android Jelly Bean device with Sense 5.0, a 4.7-inch 1080p display, a 13-megapixel camera, and a quad-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 processor. Said to also have 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage, the DLXPLUS has all the makings of an M7.

The Droid DNA, for its part, was known by the code name of DLX in the months leading up to announcement.

Interestingly enough, Verizon is not thought to be one of the carrier getting ready to offer HTC's flagship smartphone. Perhaps Big Red wants some breathing room between the Droid DNA and the next big HTC thing.

Another explanation for this fork is that AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile will carry the M7 under a single name, while Verizon bucks the trend with its own version. Logic suggests that the DLXPLUS could be to the Droid DNA what the HTC One X+ is for AT&T's current model. In other words, a beefier, more powerful experience with the same outward appearance. But so soon?

Given just how new the Droid DNA is, I find the scenario of an upcoming M7 competitor potentially confusing to customers. One of the Droid DNA's key selling points is its 5-inch display, something that neither the M7 or DLXPLUS is expected to offer. Will buyers view this as an upgrade if it has a smaller screen? Will Verizon cannibalize sales of the HTC Droid DNA smartphone?

Let's hope that some of this is cleared up come February 19, when HTC takes the stage to unveil its next superphone.

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