'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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Was a texting pilot behind JFK runway fail?

Texting? Or just trouble getting a signal?

We all know that we shouldn't use our cell phones while driving.

Yes, of course we do it anyway, but always with a tinge of guilt.

Surely, though, few would take that same cavalier attitude if they were piloting a plane. Somehow, one imagines that this task requires a little more concentration, amid the prospect of even more serious danger.

Yet it seems that one pilot of a small charter plane may have needed -- or perhaps merely wanted -- to use his cell phone while he was taxiing toward takeoff on Thursday evening.

As it happens, he wasn't wafting along the slipways of some tiny regional airport in Alberta. No, he was at JFK.

More Technically Incorrect

As NYC Aviation reports, its information suggests he was taxiing across the active Runway 31R on taxiway Echo.

He was at the controls of a Swearingen SA226-AT Merlin IV.

The result, one suspects, incited a little swearing. For he plowed into ground lights, damaging the plane's propellers. (NYC Aviation has the pictures.)

The FAA is reportedly investigating the incident, which allegedly caused the runway to be closed for two hours.

I confess I've never heard of a pilot being involved in an accident while using a cell phone.

In this case, it isn't clear whether he was allegedly talking or texting.

Some small part of me hopes that he was texting, as this would prove that no one is immune from the peculiar temptation of typing and chatting while you're supposed to be doing something far more important.

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LaHood: Time for GOP to "wake up" to avoid "calamity" at airports

Updated at 3:10 p.m. ET

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today warned of the "enormous impact" the looming sequester budget cuts will have on air travel in America, given that his department will have to cut nearly $1 billion from its budget, with more than $600 million coming from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

As the one former Republican congressman in President Obama's cabinet, LaHood put the responsibility squarely on Republicans to step up and work with Democrats to find a way to avert the cuts, slated to kick in on March 1.

"What I'm trying to do is to wake up members of the Congress on the Republican side to the idea that they need to come to the table... so we don't have this kind of calamity in air service in America," he said. "So that we're not just taking a meat axe to one part of FAA."

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LaHood: GOP must "step up" on sequester to prevent air traffic "calamity"

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LaHood warns travel delays will anger Americans

Cutting $1 billion from the Transportation Department would affect dozens of programs, LaHood said. For instance, the vast majority of the FAA's nearly 47,000 employees will face furloughs, he said -- and the largest number of FAA employees are air traffic controllers.

The Transportation Department is beginning discussions with unions today to close more than 100 air towers with fewer than 150,000 flight operations a year, such as towers in Hilton Head, S.C., and San Marcos, Texas. It's also discussing eliminating overnight shifts in more than 60 towers.

"We're going to reduce the number of controllers, which will reduce their ability to guide planes in and out of airports," LaHood explained.

Flights to major cities like New York and Chicago could experience delays up to 90 minutes during peak hours, he said. Furthermore, with fewer employees on staff to efficiently deal with issues such as runway repairs, there could be even more delays. Customers would likely see these impacts around April 1 -- 30 days after the cuts go into effect.

"These are harmful cuts with real-world consequences that'll cost jobs and hurt our economy," LaHood said.

Following LaHood's remarks, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association released a statement with even more ominous predictions.

"Once towers are closed, the airports they serve may be next," NATCA president Paul Rinaldi said. "Additionally, we believe the delay estimates provided by the FAA are conservative and the potential for disruptions could be much higher. Every one of these actions by the FAA will have an impact far beyond inconveniencing travelers. Local economies will be diminished, military exercises will be cancelled and jobs will be lost. There's no telling how long these effects will be felt because many of these service reductions may not be reversed."

LaHood stressed today that "obviously, as always safety, is our top priority." That said, he added that he expects customers to be very angry.

"Nobody likes a delay. Nobody likes waiting in line," he said. "If we can't get our hamburger within five minutes... you know what happens. They start calling their member of Congress."

Most members of Congress agree the sequester cuts should be averted, but they've been incapable of agreeing how to do so. Democrats want to replace the cuts with a plan that includes some new tax revenue and spending cuts. Republicans, however, say they refuse to raise any new tax revenue, after agreeing to some new revenues during the "fiscal cliff" debate.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said it's "factually incorrect" to say both parties are unwilling to compromise -- Democrats, he pointed out, are willing to make significant spending cuts while the GOP is obstinately against any new tax revenue.

LaHood, who repeatedly pointed out he served as a Republican in Congress for 14 years, said, "I think Republicans need to step up here... I'm telling them to come to the table and start talking to Democrats to figure out how do we solve this."

He said he's talked to about half a dozen Republican congressional offices about the impact the sequester will have on the Transportation Department, and their response is "not good. They get it."

The secretary said it was "nonsense" to suggest he was exaggerating the impact of the sequester.

"It's going to be very painful for the flying public," he said.

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Jodi Arias' Friends Believe in Her Innocence

Accused murderer Jodi Arias believes she should be punished, but hopes she will not be sentenced to death, two of her closest friends told ABC News in an exclusive interview.

Ann Campbell and Donavan Bering have been a constant presence for Arias wth at least one of them sitting in the Phoenix, Ariz., courtroom along with Arias' family for almost every day of her murder trial. They befriended Arias after she first arrived in jail and believe in her innocence.

Arias admits killing her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander and lying for nearly two years about it, but insists she killed Alexander in self defense. She could face the death penalty if convicted of murder.

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

Nevertheless, she is aware of the seriousness of her lies and deceitful behavior.

The women told ABC News that they understand that Arias needs to be punished and Arias understands that too.

"She does know that, you know, she does need to pay for the crime," Campbell said. "But I don't want her to die, and I know that she has so much to give back."

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

The lies that Arias admits she told to police and her family have been devastating to her, Bering said.

""She said to me, 'I wish I didn't have to have lied. That destroyed me,'" Donovan said earlier this week. "Because now when it's so important for her to be believed, she has that doubt. But as she told me on the phone yesterday, she goes, 'I have nothing to lose.' So all she can do is go out there and tell the truth."

During Arias' nine days on the stand she has described in detail the oral, anal and phone sex that she and Alexander allegedly engaged in, despite being Mormons and trying to practice chastity. She also spelled out in excruciating detail what she claimed was Alexander's growing demands for sex, loyalty and subservience along with an increasingly violent temper.

Besides her two friends, Arias' mother and sometimes her father have been sitting in the front row of the courtroom during the testimony. It's been humiliating, Bering said.

"She's horrified. There's not one ounce of her life that's not out there, that's not open to the public. She's ashamed," she said.

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Tennis: Kvitova beats another champion to reach Dubai final

DUBAI: Former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, showing her best form for more than a year, beat her second champion in a row to reach the Dubai Open final here on Friday.

Kvitova, who ended the title defence of Agnieszka Radwanska on Thursday, beat the 2011 titleholder Caroline Wozniacki, breaking serve in the opening game and rarely looking back in a 6-3, 6-4 win.

In her first final in six months, she now meets fifth seed Sara Errani of Italy, the French Open finalist, who beat her best friend and doubles partner Roberta Vihnci 6-3, 6-3.

The Czech's win over the Dane was full of characteristically fierce ground strokes, struck flat and hard to read, as well as a rising buoyancy which has not been evident over the past year.

Kvitova was delighted to have beaten three top 12 opponents in a row and, beaming at her success, said she was hopeful about her strengthened physical condition despite claiming that her "body was confused".

Asked for an explanation, she said: "I'm trying to be stronger in my legs and to have like stronger muscles, so I can be quicker and stay quite low for the fast shots.

"That's something I didn't like doing in the past. But I'm still thinking about the bad position I had before, and I'm trying to have the good position - that's why I'm, like, quite confused."

Nevertheless there was definite improvement in her movement, which helped her to break Wozniacki's serve in the opening game, to keep up a fierce attack, and to hold right through to the penultimate game of the first set when she broke Wozniacki again.

Wozniacki often moved superbly, but in the second set she also tried to serve harder, play faster, and generate more pressure of her own.

This helped her break for 3-2, and save break points in the eighth game. In between these two moments of resistance however Kvitova's attack was still too forceful, and she broke back for 3-3, and then broke again to win the match.

There was a frustrating end for Wozniacki, whose final shot, a backhand drive, was questionably called out - but she could do nothing about it because she had used up all her challenges.

"I don't know (if it was out) but it would have been nice to be able to challenge it," she admitted. "It was close, but, you know, I just have to believe it was out."

If Errani and Vinci thought that by taking a break from doubles to play singles only, they would spend time apart it was not entirely successful.

Instead Errani and Vinci found themselves battling against each other for an hour and 23 minutes of old-style rallies in which slice and accurate placement played a bigger part than power and flailing topspin.

Errani prevailed because she imposed her busy approach on the rallies. However it was noticeable that she toned down her some of her grunts, suggesting that comradeship may occasionally have vied with competitiveness for priority.

"It's tough to play against one person who knows what you're going to do with every shot," she admitted of the partner with whom she says she spends 300 days a year, while Vinci described it as like "playing against a sister."

The match finished with a symbolic moment as Errani's drive landed near the baseline, with Vinci surprisingly stopping the rally and calling for a computer review. On seeing that the shot was shown to be in, Vinci discovered that she had inadvertently ended the contest without striking the ball back against her friend.

- AFP/jc

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Google Glass expected to arrive in 2013

Google's augmented reality headpiece could go on sale by the holidays, Mobile World Congress gears up for new smartphones, and Nevada legalizes online gambling.

Bridget Carey

Bridget Carey is host of CNET Update, a daily tech news show. She's now in New York, but she started in Miami, covering tech trends, reviewing gadgets and authoring the nation's first social media etiquette column. Why journalism? She was born 150 years too early to join Starfleet.

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Movement in budget cuts battle?

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Sequestration poses threat to government agency budgets

For the first time since the waning days of the "fiscal cliff" battle in late December, President Obama reached out to congressional Republican leaders to talk about next week's impending budget cuts known as the sequester.

"He placed calls earlier today to [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell and [House] Speaker [John] Boehner," White House spokesman Jay Carney announced today. "Had good conversations, but I have no further readout of those calls for you."

Both Boehner's and McConnell's offices confirmed the calls took place but neither would give details about what was discussed. An aide to Boehner said "the last substantive conversation" he had with the president was on Dec. 28; McConnell's office told CBS News it was Mr. Obama's first outreach to McConnell since New Year's Eve.

Today on Rev. Al Sharpton's radio show, Mr. Obama said, "We continue to reach out to the Republicans and say 'this is not going to be good for the economy and it's not going to be good for ordinary people,' but I don't know if they're going to move. And that's what we're going to have to try to keep pushing over the next seven, eight days."

"Whether or not we can move Republicans at this point to do the right thing is what we're still trying to gauge," Mr. Obama said.

The calls come a day after Boehner wrote an op-ed criticizing the president charging that the public "might not realize from Mr. Obama's statements is that [the sequester] is a product of the president's own failed leadership."

The $1.2 trillion sequester cuts, which were initially set to kick in on Jan. 1, emerged out of Congress' 2011 budget negotiations. Congress agreed that if a congressional "supercommittee" couldn't come up with an acceptable deficit reduction plan, Congress would just slash $1.2 trillion from the budget over 10 years -- half coming from defense spending and half from non-defense. Nearly everyone in Washington agrees that indiscriminately slashing $1.2 trillion would damage the economy, but lawmakers can't agree on a deficit reduction package with which to replace the cuts.

Given the economic damage the sequester would inflict, Congress this year stalled the cuts for two months -- which is why they're set to go into effect on March 1. Unless Congress acts before then, $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will kick in this year.

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Peterson Sentenced to 38 Years for 3rd Wife's Murder

Former Illinois cop Drew Peterson yelled, "I did not kill Kathleen!" during the sentencing phase of his trial today -- and then a judge sentenced him to 38 years in jail for killing her.

The sentence came after Will County Judge Edward Burmila denied Peterson a re-trial in the killing of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2004.

Peterson had faced as many as 60 years in prison.

At his sentencing, after Peterson shouted that he did not kill his wife, someone in the courtroom yelled in reply, "Yes you did!" according to ABC News Chicago station WLS. Burmila then ordered that person to leave the courtroom.

Peterson went on to claim that police "altered evidence" in his case and "intimidated witnesses and scared my children."

"I love Kathy," he said. "She was a good mom. ... She didn't deserve to die."

He added that he was planning to get a tattoo on his back that would say, "No good deed goes unpunished."

Peterson's defense team had requested a re-trial after he was found guilty in September of killing Savio and making it look like an accident.

READ MORE: Drew Peterson Found Guilty of Killing Wife, Making It Look Like Accident

M. Spencer Green/AP Photo

The re-trial, Peterson's attorneys claimed, was warranted because his former lead trial counsel, Joel Brodsky, had "single-handedly" lost the trial last fall, according to attorney Steve Greenberg. Greenberg is a former colleague of Brodsky's, but the two have recently been embroiled in a bitter public feud.

Burmila today rejected all of the motions for a new trial and, as he said he would do, moved on to sentencing immediately.

It is the latest development in the bizarre story of Peterson, a former suburban Chicago police officer. In 2004, Peterson's third wife, Savio, was found dead in her bathtub, a death that was initially ruled an accident. But when his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared in 2007, Savio's body was exhumed and her death ruled a homicide.

Drew Peterson has never been charged in connection with Stacy Peterson's case.

Drew Peterson's murder trial last fall was marred by legal battles between his attorneys and prosecutors over what evidence was allowed in court. On three separate occasions, Peterson's defense team asked for a mistrial, but it was rebuffed every time by Burmila.

A large part of the testimony in that trial was hearsay, based on comments that Savio and Stacy Peterson made to friends that portrayed Peterson as a violent and threatening husband.

Peterson said at his sentencing today that hearsay was "a scary thing" because people are not accountable for the truth, according to WLS. An emotional Peterson, his voice shaking at times, blamed the media for portraying him as a monster.

Ultimately, the jury convicted Peterson, noting that it had reached a decision it believed was "just."

READ MORE: Drew Peterson Jury Says Hearsay Convinced Them to Convict

Savio's nephew Michael Lisak said afterwards that his aunt "can finally rest in peace."

"Today is a day for battered women, not just Kathleen Savio," Lisak said. "Your voice will be heard. My aunt's voice was heard through the grave. She would not stop. They will listen to you now."

Peterson's sister Cassandra Cales had a blunt message for the newly convicted murderer.

"Game over, Drew," she said. "He can wipe the smirk off his face. It's time to pay."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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French, Malian forces fight Islamist rebels in Gao

GAO, Mali (Reuters) - French and Malian troops fought Islamists on the streets of Gao and a car bomb exploded in Kidal on Thursday, as fighting showed little sign of abating weeks before France plans to start withdrawing some forces.

Reuters reporters in Gao in the country's desert north said French and Malian forces fired at the mayor's office with heavy machineguns after Islamists were reported to have infiltrated the Niger River town during a night of explosions and gunfire.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told a news conference in Brussels that Gao was back under control after clashes earlier in the day.

"Malian troops supported by French soldiers killed five jihadists and the situation is back to normal," he said.

In Kidal, a remote far north town where the French are hunting Islamists, residents said a car bomb killed two. A French defense ministry source reported no French casualties.

French troops dispatched to root out rebels with links to al Qaeda swiftly retook northern towns last month. But they now risk being bogged down in a guerrilla conflict as they try to help Mali's weak army counter bombings and raids.

"There was an infiltration by Islamists overnight and there is shooting all over the place," Sadou Harouna Diallo, Gao's mayor, told Reuters by telephone earlier in the day, saying he was not in his office at the time.

Gao is a French hub for operations in the Kidal region, about 300 km (190 miles) northeast, where many Islamist leaders are thought to have retreated and foreign hostages may be held.

"They are black and two were disguised as women," a Malian soldier in Gao who gave his name only as Sergeant Assak told Reuters during a pause in heavy gunfire around Independence Square.

Six Malian military pickups were deployed in the square and opened fire on the mayor's office with the heavy machineguns. Two injured soldiers were taken away in an ambulance.

French troops in armored vehicles later joined the battle as it spilled out into the warren of sandy streets, where, two weeks ago, they also fought for hours against Islamists who had infiltrated the town via the nearby river.

Helicopters clattered over the mayor's office, while a nearby local government office and petrol station was on fire.

A Gao resident said he heard an explosion and then saw a Malian military vehicle on fire in a nearby street.

Paris has said it plans to start withdrawing some of its 4,000 troops from Mali next month. But rebels have fought back against Mali's weak and divided army, and African forces due to take over the French role are not yet in place.

Islamists abandoned the main towns they held but French and Malian forces have said there are pockets of Islamist resistance across the north, which is about the size of France.

CAR BOMB

Residents reported a bomb in the east of Kidal on Thursday.

"It was a car bomb that exploded in a garage," said one resident who went to the scene but asked not to be named.

"The driver and another man were killed. Two other people were injured," he added.

A French defense ministry official confirmed there had been a car bomb but said it did not appear that French troops, based at the town's airport, had been targeted.

Earlier this week, a French soldier was killed in heavy fighting north of Kidal, where French and Chadian troops are hunting Islamists in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains, which border Algeria.

Operations there are further complicated by the presence of separatist Tuareg rebels, whose rebellion triggered the fighting in northern Mali last year but were sidelined by the better-armed Islamists.

Having dispatched its forces to prevent an Islamist advance south in January, Paris is eager not to become bogged down in a long-term conflict in Mali. But their Malian and African allies have urged French troops not to pull out too soon.

(Additional reporting by Emanuel Braun in Gao, Adama Diarra in Bamako, David Lewis and John Irish in Dakar and Adrian Croft in Brussels; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Jason Webb and Roger Atwood)

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Tennis: Anger drives Wozniacki into Dubai semi-finals

DUBAI: Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki reached the Dubai Open semi-finals on Thursday with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over Marion Bartoli, shrugging off a code violation in the process.

Wozniacki was warned for illegal coaching as the match boiled up to a thrilling finish, apparently because she was talking to her father Piotr.

"I'm not sure if it's coaching if I talk to the coach, but apparently that's new rules, so I guess that I can't say anything nowadays," commented Wozniacki.

"I was telling him things, and all of a sudden I hear I get a code violation. I'm like, okay."

Then she turned the aggravation into laughter.

"I was telling him what I was doing wrong. There's not much he can say because he knows that if he says yes, then he's in trouble, and if he says no, he's in trouble too."

Wozniacki will tackle Petra Kvitova for a place in the final after the 2011 Wimbledon champion underlined her new status as the unofficial tournament favourite by ending the title defence of Agnieszka Radwanska.

The Czech Republic player again showed that she is in her best form since winning her only Grand Slam title 19 months ago, out-hitting and out-serving the third-seeded Pole, 6-2, 6-4.

It followed her victory over former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic on Wednesday -- and her near-success against Serena Williams last week in Qatar -- and was her best win in 15 months.

"I've played three great matches so far," said Kvitova, who believes that more fitness work with a new trainer has made an important difference to her least impressive area, her movement.

"And that's something I really need -- to play more matches this season. I hope this will help me for the rest of the year."

Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani, the world's top doubles pair, will put their lifelong friendship to one side on Friday when they clash in the other semi-final.

Vinci, who had accounted for one former Grand Slam winner and one seeded player already, beat the seventh-seeded former US Open champion, Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-4 to reach the last four.

Errani, who had played one long three-set match already, had another, beating Nadia Petrova, the former world number three from Russia, 6-4, 0-6, 6-3.

Vinci said it would be like "playing my sister," and Errani pointed out how strange it might feel as they spend about 300 days together during the year.

"I'm number one in the world in doubles, so it's incredible for me," said Vinci who is ranked 17 in singles.

"I'm probably playing singles in a more relaxed way, and so I'm playing better."

She added: "It was a great match for me, great performance. I played a good game today like yesterday," she said, referring to her straight sets win over Angelique Kerber, the fourth seed from Germany.

- AFP/fa

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