'Mini-trial' expected at hearing for suspect in Colorado movie theatre shootings

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - A suspect appears in court Monday, nearly six months after a bloody rampage in a Colorado movie theatre left 12 people dead, for a hearing that might be the closest thing to a trial the victims and their families will get to see.
James Holmes, a former neuroscience graduate student, is charged with killing 12 people and injuring 70 by opening fire in a darkened theatre showing the new Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises" in the Denver suburb of Aurora last July.
At a weeklong preliminary hearing starting Monday, prosecutors will outline their case against Holmes, the first official public disclosure of their evidence. The judge will then determine whether to send the case to trial.
Legal analysts say that the evidence appears to be so strong that Holmes may well accept a plea agreement before trial. In such cases, the preliminary hearing can set the stage for a deal by letting each side assess the other's strengths and weaknesses, said Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and now a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
Preliminary hearings "are often the first step to resolving the case, a mini-trial so both sides can see the writing on the wall," Levenson said.
Judges rarely throw out a case at this stage because prosecutors must only meet a "probable cause" standard — much lower than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard for a guilty verdict at trial, said Mimi Wesson, a professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School.
Holmes, who faces more than 160 counts including first-degree murder and attempted murder, could have waived his right to a preliminary hearing, allowing lawyers on both sides to prepare for trial. But defence lawyers sometimes go through with the hearing because it gives them a clearer picture of the prosecution's evidence.
"In this case, I think it likely that the genuine purpose of the hearing would be information-gathering by the defence," Wesson said.
Court officials expect many survivors and family members of the dead to attend the preliminary hearing, along with scores of spectators and reporters. At least two overflow rooms are being prepared where the hearing can be observed by video and audio feeds.
District Judge William B. Sylvester has imposed a gag order on attorneys and investigators, and many court documents have been filed under seal, so little is known about Holmes' path from promising graduate student to suspect in a mass murder.
The few details that have been made public suggest a disturbing descent.
Holmes enrolled in the University of Colorado, Denver Ph.D. program in neuroscience in 2011. In the spring of 2012, authorities say, he began buying weapons, high-capacity magazines, ammunition, explosives and combat gear. At some point in the school year, he began seeing a university psychiatrist. He failed an oral exam on June 7 and withdrew from the university three days later.
He was arrested outside the theatre shortly after the July 20 shootings. Federal authorities have said he entered the theatre with a ticket and is believed to have propped open a door, slipped out to his car and returned with his weapons.
Hours later, investigators found his apartment booby-trapped with potentially deadly explosives, police said.
In previous hearings — many witnessed by victims and survivors — Holmes' appearance and behaviour ranged from bizarre to unremarkable. On his first day in court, his hair was a shocking orange-red, his face was covered with stubble and he seemed to be in a daze.
By last week, his hair was a natural-looking brown and he wore a full beard. He sat quietly and seemed to be aware of the proceedings.
Holmes could get the death penalty or life in prison without parole if he goes to trial and is convicted of murder. He could avoid the death penalty if his lawyers argue he is mentally ill or innocent by reason of insanity.
Holmes' mental health is expected to be a major factor whether his case ends in a plea agreement or goes to trial.
His lawyers have told the judge that Holmes was mentally ill, and court records indicate they may call witnesses in the preliminary hearing to testify about his mental health. The defence team has not said whether Holmes would enter an insanity plea.
An insanity plea is different from the competency argument used for Jared Loughner, who pleaded guilty to killing six people and wounding 13, including then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, in Arizona in 2011.
A judge ruled in May 2011 that Loughner was mentally incompetent to stand trial and ordered him to undergo psychiatric treatment. After Loughner spent more than a year in treatment, the judge ruled he had become competent, and Loughner accepted a plea agreement that carried a sentence of life in prison without parole instead of execution.
The decision on whether to seek the death penalty will be up to the new district attorney for Arapahoe County, George Brauchler, who was elected in November and takes office Tuesday, after the preliminary hearing begins. Brauchler has not indicated what he will do.
A spokeswoman for outgoing District Attorney Carol Chambers, who oversaw the filing of charges against Holmes, declined to comment.
If prosecutors do not seek the death penalty, and if Holmes is convicted of or pleads guilty to first-degree murder charges, he would face a mandatory sentence of life without parole.

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Lawmakers dig in heels on debt crisis, McConnell suggests crippling US default possible

WASHINGTON - Congressional leaders showed no signs of giving ground to resolve the next step in the financial crisis, with Democrats still talking about higher taxes on the wealthy and the Senate's top Republican suggesting that a crippling default on U.S. loans was possible unless there were significant cuts in government spending.
"It's a shame we have to use whatever leverage we have in Congress to get the president to deal with the biggest problem confronting our future, and that's our excessive spending," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday.
Last week's deal to avert the combination of end-of-year tax increases and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff" held income tax rates steady for 99 per cent of Americans but left some other major pieces of business unresolved.
By late February or early March, the Treasury Department will run out of options to cover the nation's debts and could begin defaulting on government loans unless Congress raises the legal borrowing limit, or debt ceiling. Economists warn that a default could trigger a global recession.
Also looming are deep automatic spending cuts that are now scheduled to take effect at the beginning of March that could further erase fragile gains in the U.S. economy. Then on March 27, the temporary measure that funds government activities expires, and congressional approval will be needed to keep the government running. It's one more chance to fight over spending
Lawmakers said debt talks will consume Congress in the coming weeks, likely delaying any consideration of an expected White House proposal on gun restrictions in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting.
Republicans say they are willing to raise the debt ceiling but insist any increase must be paired with significant savings from Medicare, Medicaid and other government benefit programs. Democrats are reluctant to make deep cuts to Medicare, the government program that provides health care coverage for the elderly, and Medicaid, which covers the poor.
President Barack Obama has said he's willing to consider spending cuts separately but won't bargain over the government's borrowing authority.
"One thing I will not compromise over is whether or not Congress should pay the tab for a bill they've already racked up," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.
Democrats said further tax increases for the wealthiest Americans were still possible as Congress looks to close the gap between revenues and expenditures. Democrats point out that Obama has already agreed to significant spending cuts, and that the latest deal only gets the nation to about half of the revenue it needs to resolve the red ink.
"Trust me, there are plenty of things within that tax code — these loopholes where people can park their money in some island offshore and not pay taxes. These are things that need to be closed. We can do that and use the money to reduce the deficit," said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said she, too, wants to put "everything on the table from the standpoint of closing loopholes."
But McConnell bluntly declared that the "tax issue is over" after last week's agreement.
"We don't have this problem because we tax too little; we have it because we spend too much," McConnell said.
Making the rounds on the Sunday talk shows, McConnell was asked repeatedly whether Republicans were prepared to see the nation default on its spending obligations. McConnell said that wouldn't be necessary, so long as Obama agrees to the spending cuts.
But at one point, when asked by NBC's David Gregory whether the Republican strategy will be to hold the debt ceiling "ransom" in exchange for spending cuts, McConnell said it was a "shame we have to use whatever leverage we have" to get the president's attention.
"None of us like using situations like the sequester (automatic across-the-board spending cuts) or the debt ceiling or the operation of government to try to engage the president to deal with this," McConnell said.
Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina didn't dismiss the idea of allowing a partial shutdown of government until an agreement can be reached. Texas Sen. John Cornyn and other Republicans have floated the idea of a shutdown as a way of winning deeper spending cuts.
"I believe we need to raise the debt ceiling, but if we don't raise it without a plan to get out of debt, all of us should be fired," Graham said.
Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said the Republican strategy amounted to: "Give us what we want ... or we're going to tank the United States economy."
Pelosi said she believes the president has enough authority under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to raise the debt ceiling without Congress' blessing. But the White House has said previously that it does not believe that the amendment — which says the "validity" of public debt shouldn't be questioned — gives the president that power.
McConnell spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press," ABC "This Week" and CBS "Face the Nation." Pelosi was on CBS. Durbin and Graham appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" and Van Hollen was interviewed on "Fox News Sunday.

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Asian shares slip, Basel ruling supports banks

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian stocks drifted down on Monday as investors booked profits from a New Year rally that had pushed markets to multi-month highs, although financial stocks gained after global regulators decided to relax draft plans for tough new bank liquidity rules.
Commodity prices mostly held steady, supported by data showing the U.S. economy continuing on a path of slow but steady recovery that propelled Wall Street stocks to a five-year high.
Financial bookmakers called Europe's main share indexes to open flat or slightly lower, while S&P 500 index futures traded in Asia eased 0.2 percent, pointing to a weaker start in New York.
"It just seems like markets are entering a consolidation phase after recent gains and with most markets trading at fresh 12-month highs," said Stan Shamu, market strategist at financial spreadbetting firm IG in Melbourne.
The dollar fell against the yen, coming off a two-and-a-half year peak it had logged against the Japanese currency as investors adjusted to the possibility of more monetary stimulus in 2013 from the Bank of Japan and less from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus>, which had reached its highest level since August 2011 on Thursday, eased 0.1 percent, while Tokyo's Nikkei share average <.n225> retreated after touching a 23-month high in early trade to close down 0.8 percent. <.t>
CASH BUFFERS
The MSCI benchmark's financial sector sub-index <.miapjfn00pus> firmed after the Basel Committee of banking supervisors agreed on Sunday to give banks four more years and greater flexibility to build up cash buffers so they can use some of their reserves to help struggling economies.
HSBC Holdings Hong Kong shares rose 1 percent, while Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd gained 0.6 percent. <.hk><.ax>
Shares in Japanese exporters were supported by the trend of a weakening yen, which traded around 87.85 to the dollar, up 0.3 percent on the day, after the U.S. currency rose as far as 88.40 yen, its highest in nearly two-and-a-half years, on Friday.
The dollar posted a gain of around 2.7 percent against the yen last week, its biggest weekly rise in more than a year. Its gains had accelerated after minutes from the Federal Reserve's December meeting showed some policymakers had considered ending the Fed's bond-buying program as early as this year.
By contrast, many investors are now betting that Japan's new government, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will push to weaken the yen and drive through aggressive fiscal stimulus, and pressure the Bank of Japan to do the same on the monetary side.
Although the dollar may pull back against the yen given the speed of its rise over the past month, its uptrend seems likely to remain intact, said Hiroshi Maeba, head of FX trading Japan for UBS in Tokyo.
"My sense is that the market could still head much higher," Maeba said. "I think 90 yen might be reached pretty soon."
The dollar firmed against the euro, which traded around $1.3035.
The U.S. stock benchmark S&P 500 index <.spx> closed at its highest level since December 2007 on Friday after data showed a steady pace of jobs growth and brisk expansion of the services sector in the world's biggest economy.
That offered support to growth-sensitive commodities, with copper little changed just below $8,100 a tonne, while Brent crude oil eased a little to around $111.20.
Spot gold firmed 0.3 percent to around $1,660 an ounce.

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UK 'plebgate' scandal becomes police crisis

The "plebgate" scandal started with an angry exchange over a bicycle in front of Downing Street. The controversy over what a senior politician did or didn't say to officers guarding the prime minister's official residence has now grown into a full-blown crisis which is raising new questions about the ethics of Britain's largest police force.
Scotland Yard's reputation has already been battered over its failure to curb law-breaking journalists and police corruption exposed in the phone hacking scandal which exploded last year.
The force faces renewed scrutiny after Andrew Mitchell, formerly the Conservative Party's chief whip, said a police report quoting him as abusing officers as "morons" and "plebs" — a term of abuse for working-class people — was based on lies.
"For the next three weeks, these awful phrases were hung round my neck in a concerted attempt to toxify the Conservative party and destroy my political career," Mitchell wrote in The Sunday Times, describing the period which followed the leak of a police report into the incident.
"I never uttered those phrases; they are completely untrue."
Mitchell has long acknowledged losing his temper and swearing as he tried to maneuver his bike into Downing Street on the evening of Sept. 19. He was running late and officers were refusing to open the main gate, he said. But he has long denied using the term "pleb" or telling officers to "learn your place," words which he described on Sunday as "a bad caricature of what an ill-mannered 1930s upper-class lout might say."
In Britain, a country very sensitive to issues of social class, the story dominated the headlines for weeks. Some police constables, or PCs, walked around with T-shirts bearing the words "PC Pleb." Political opponents called for Mitchell to lose his job. When an email from what appeared to be an independent witness emerged to corroborate the police account, Mitchell found himself with little choice but to resign in October.
The police account, however, has now been challenged; the independent witness was allegedly a policeman who wasn't even at the scene. Security camera footage taken from Downing Street and broadcast by Britain's Channel 4 didn't seem to line up with the officers' accounts. Two people have been arrested as Scotland Yard has pledged to get to the bottom of what happened.
"The allegations in relation to this case are extremely serious," Scotland Yard chief Bernard Hogan-Howe said in a statement Sunday. "For the avoidance of doubt, I am determined there will be a ruthless search for the truth — no matter where the truth takes us."
If it turned out that officers conspired to frame Mitchell, it would be another dark chapter for the respected force, which has already seen several high-profile resignations and arrests and a wrenching police corruption probe spawned by the phone hacking scandal. Politicians are already talking of the need for reform.
Britain's former policing minister, Nick Herbert, said journalists and public servants might reflect on whether they jumped to conclusions about Mitchell, but added that "it is the police service which above all must take stock and examine its own culture."
The scandal, meanwhile, has revived Mitchell's political fortunes, with many calling for him to be reinstated to Prime Minister David Cameron's Cabinet.

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UK household finances worsen sharply in December - Markit

- Britons suffered the biggest deterioration in their finances in seven months in December and turned more downbeat about 2013, a survey showed on Monday.
The Markit Household Finance Index fell to 36.8 - the lowest since May - from November's near two-year high of 39.3, sinking further below the 50 level that would mark no change in the financial situation compared with a month ago.
Around a third of respondents said their finances had worsened in December, while only 6 percent reported an improvement. Overall, households also felt less secure in their jobs than in November.
"The latest survey suggests that domestic consumer demand will remain under pressure in the near term, especially since inflation perceptions remain elevated and job insecurities are prevalent across the UK," said Markit economist Tim Moore.
Three quarters of respondents expected their finances to worsen or to show no improvement next year.
In a further worrying sign for policymakers, inflation expectations for the year ahead picked up slightly from the three-month low posted in November.
The survey of around 1,500 people was conducted between December 13 and December 17.

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Russian opposition leader faces new probe

A prominent Russian opposition leader faces his third investigation in five months as authorities intensify pressure on the opposition.
The Investigative Committee said in a statement on Monday that they launched a new probe against Alexei Navalny, who was already charged with theft and with fraud and money laundering in two separate cases.
Investigators now say they also suspect Navalny of defrauding the Union of the Right Forces, a now defunct liberal party, of 100 million rubles ($3.2 million) in 2007.
Navalny, a charismatic 36-year-old lawyer, made his name exposing corruption in state-controlled companies. Last winter, he spearheaded a series of street rallies in Moscow that drew up to 100,000 people before March's vote that handed Putin a third presidential term.
In July, the lawyer was charged with the theft of half a million dollars from a state-owned timber company. Earlier this month, Navalny and his brother were charged with defrauding a transportation company of about $1.8 million.
The opposition leader dismissed the accusations as politically motivated, and pointed to the fact that there was no injured party in either of the cases.
Leonid Gozman, a former senior figure at the Union of the Right Forces, was quoted by the Interfax news agency, as denying reports of fraud at his party.
"This is another provocation, total nonsense," he said.
Navalny tweeted "that's enough," referring to the slew of criminal cases against him.

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Pope lights Christmas candle in his Vatican window

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has lit a Christmas peace candle set on the windowsill of his private studio.
Pilgrims, tourists and Romans gathered below in St. Peter's Square for the inauguration Monday evening of a Nativity scene and cheered when the flame was lit.
Later, he will appear in St. Peter's Basilica to lead Christmas Eve Mass. The ceremony begins at 10 p.m. (2100 GMT) instead of the midnight start time, which was changed at the Vatican years ago to let the pontiff rest before a Christmas Day speech to be delivered from the basilica's central balcony.

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Pope leads a packed Christmas Eve Mass

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Heralded by the blare of trumpets, Pope Benedict XVI is presiding over Christmas Eve Mass in a St. Peter's Basilica packed with tourists, Italians and other faithful.
The ceremony began at 10 p.m. (2100 GMT) Monday night instead of the traditional midnight start time. The schedule was changed at the Vatican years ago to let the pontiff rest before he is to deliver a Christmas Day speech hours later from the basilica's central balcony.
A smiling Benedict, dressed in gold-colored vestments, waved to photo-snapping pilgrims and applauding church-goers as he glided up the center aisle toward the ornate main altar of the cavernous basilica on a wheeled platform guided by white-gloved aides. The platform is employed to save the 85-year-old pontiff's energy.
As a men's choir chanted, Benedict sprinkled incense around the altar, and wished the faithful "peace" in Latin.
A few hours before Mass, Benedict lit a Christmas peace candle and set it upon the windowsill of his studio window overlooking St. Peter's Square.

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Margaret Thatcher in hospital after operation

LONDON (Reuters) - Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the country's first woman elective leader, is in hospital recovering from surgery to remove a growth on her bladder, a source close to the family said on Friday.
After experiencing pain in her bladder earlier in the week, he 87-year-old went to hospital where she underwent a minimally invasive operation, Tim Bell, a public relations executive who once served as image maker to Thatcher, said.
"The operation was completely satisfactory. She's now recovering in hospital and as soon as she's recovered she'll go home," Bell said.
Known as the "Iron Lady," Thatcher, who stepped down in 1990, embraced free market policies, challenged trade unions and privatised many state-owned companies during her 11 years in power, polarising British voters.
Britain's only woman prime minister, who led her country in a war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands in 1982 and was close to the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan, was forced to step down by her own party.
Thatcher suffered a series of mild strokes in late 2001 and 2002, after which she cut back on public appearances and later cancelled her speaking schedule.
She was hospitalised in 2010 for tests relating to a flu illness.

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Margaret Thatcher in UK hospital after operation

LONDON (AP) — Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is recuperating at a hospital after an operation to remove a bladder growth, a friend said Friday.
The 87-year-old Thatcher went to see her doctor after experiencing some discomfort and subsequently had the growth removed, according to longtime adviser Tim Bell.
The operation was "completely satisfactory," Bell said. He said he couldn't go into detail as to the nature of the growth and declined to name the hospital, saying he did not want it to be inundated with calls.
Thatcher, Britain's first female prime minister, has been in fragile health since she suffered a series of small strokes more than a decade ago. Although she has occasionally appeared at private functions, she has not made public statements for some time.
Thatcher was not well enough to join Britain's queen for a lunch with former and serving prime ministers earlier this year, and two years ago she missed an 85th birthday party thrown for her by Prime Minister David Cameron at his official residence at No. 10 Downing Street. But in October she was well enough to mark her birthday with a lunch out in London with her son Mark and his wife.
Thatcher's declining health was a focus of Oscar-winning biopic "The Iron Lady," which premiered last year.
Thatcher served as prime minister from May 1979 until her resignation in November 1990. She was the first leader to win three consecutive elections, dominating British politics throughout the 1980s.
She was a firm supporter of her American ideological peer, President Ronald Reagan, but is a divisive figure in Britain, where the fruits of her legacy are still debated.

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Pope stresses family values as gay marriage gains

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The pope pressed his opposition to gay marriage Friday, denouncing what he described as people eschewing their God-given gender identities to suit their sexual choices — and destroying the very "essence of the human creature" in the process.
Benedict XVI made the comments in his annual Christmas address to the Vatican bureaucracy, one of his most important speeches of the year. He dedicated it this year to promoting traditional family values in the face of gains by same-sex marriage proponents in the U.S. and Europe and efforts to legalize gay marriage in places like France and Britain.
In his remarks, Benedict quoted the chief rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, in saying the campaign for granting gays the right to marry and adopt children was an "attack" on the traditional family made up of a father, mother and children.
"People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given to them by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being," he said. "They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves."
"The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes man's fundamental choice where he himself is concerned," he said.
It was the second time in a week that Benedict has taken on the question of gay marriage, which is currently dividing France, and which scored big electoral wins in the United States last month. In his recently released annual peace message, Benedict said gay marriage, like abortion and euthanasia, was a threat to world peace. The Vatican went on a similar anti-gay marriage media blitz last month after three U.S. states approved gay marriage by popular vote.
After the peace message was released last week, gay activists staged a small protest in St. Peter's Square. On Friday, gay activists sharply criticized the pope's take on gender theory and insisted that where gay marriage has been legalized, families are no worse off.
Italy's main gay rights group Arcigay called the pope's comments "absurd, dangerous and totally out of synch with reality." And a coalition of four U.S. Catholic organizations representing gay, lesbian and transgender people said the pope had an "outmoded" view of what it means to be man and woman.
"Increasingly Catholics in the United States and around the world see what we see. Catholics, following their own well-formed consciences, are voting to support equal rights for LGBT people because in their churches and communities they see a far healthier, godly and realistic vision of the human family than the one offered by the pope," according to a statement from the groups Call To Action, DignityUSA, Fortunate Families, and New Ways Ministry.
Church teaching holds that homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered," though it stresses that gays should be treated with compassion and dignity. As pope and as head of the Vatican's orthodoxy watchdog before that, Benedict has been a strong enforcer of that teaching: One of the first major documents released during his pontificate said men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies shouldn't be ordained priests.
For the Vatican, though, the gay marriage issue goes beyond questions of homosexuality, threatening what the church considers to be the bedrock of society: a family based on a man, woman and their children.
In his speech, the pope cited Bernheim as lamenting how a new philosophy of sexuality has taken hold, whereby sex and gender are "no longer a given element of nature that man has to accept and personally make sense of: it is a social role that we choose for ourselves, while in the past it was chosen for us by society."
He said God had created man and woman as a specific "duality" — "an essential aspect of what being human is all about."
Now, though, "Man and woman as created realities, as the nature of the human being, no longer exist. Man calls his own nature into question. From now on he is merely spirit and will."
The Vatican's opposition to gay marriage has been falling largely on deaf ears. In addition to the U.S. election gains, the Constitutional Court in largely Roman Catholic Spain upheld the law legalizing gay marriage last month. Earlier this month, the British government announced it will introduce a bill next year legalizing gay marriage, though it would ban the Church of England from conducting same-sex ceremonies.
In France, President Francois Hollande has said he would enact his "marriage for everyone" plan within a year of taking office last May. The text will go to parliament next month. But the country has been divided by vocal opposition from religious leaders, prime among them Bernheim, as well as some politicians and parts of rural France.
The Socialist government's plan also envisions legalizing same-sex adoptions. Benedict quoted Bernheim as denouncing the plan, saying that it would mean a child would essentially be considered an object people have a right to obtain.
"When freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God," Benedict said.

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Pardon for pope's butler who stole papers expected

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has summoned journalists for a briefing on what Italian news reports say is an expected pardon for Pope Benedict XVI'S former butler, who stole the pontiff's personal papers and leaked them in a bid to expose the "evil and corruption" in the Catholic Church.
Paolo Gabriele was arrested May 23 after Vatican police found heaps of papal documents in his Vatican City apartment. He was convicted of aggravated theft by a Vatican tribunal on Oct. 6 and has been serving his 18-month sentence in the Vatican police barracks.
The Vatican has made no secret that the pope would pardon Gabriele. The only question was when. A pre-Christmas pardon was widely expected.
Veteran Vatican journalists reported the announcement would come Saturday, and the Vatican press office scheduled a last-minute briefing.

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Russia: Syrian chemical weapons under control

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's foreign minister says the Syrian government has consolidated its chemical weapons in one or two locations amid a rebel onslaught.
Sergey Lavrov says Russia, which has military advisers training Syria's military, has kept close watch over its chemical arsenal. He says the Syrian government has moved them from many arsenals to just "one or two centers" to properly safeguard them.
U.S. intelligence says the regime may be readying chemical weapons and could be desperate enough to use them. Both Israel and the U.S. have also expressed concerns they could fall into militant hands if the regime crumbles.
Lavrov also told reporters on a flight from an EU summit late Friday that countries in the region had asked Russia to convey an offer of safe passage to President Bashar Assad.

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Golf-Wind stops play at Australian Open

SYDNEY, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Play was suspended during the final round of the Australian Open on Sunday when high winds resulted in balls moving on the greens at The Lakes Golf Club.

Organisers announced the suspension at 11:45 a.m. local time (0045 GMT), some 35 minutes before the leading group were scheduled to tee off.

John Senden and Britain's world number four Justin Rose will be the last players to take to the course with the Australian holding a two-shot lead as he bids for a second title at his home Open.

Eight-times major winner Tom Watson, already well out of contention, was an early starter and scored an impressive three-under-par 69.

The American said the conditions could make the final round a lottery.

"A good score is even par," he said. "It will be interesting to see what happens. It's a really strong wind. Yesterday it blew like hell.

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Cricket-New Zealand coach Hesson's advice 'laughable' - Taylor

WELLINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Disgruntled former captain Ross Taylor has slammed New Zealand's team management, dismissing head coach Mike Hesson's advice as "laughable" and claiming he was not given enough support in his 18-month stint as skipper.

Taylor was stripped of the Twenty20 and one-day captaincy last week on Hesson's recommendation, and rejected an offer to stay on as test skipper in the wake of New Zealand's drawn test series away to Sri Lanka.

Opener Brendon McCullum will take on all three roles and faces a baptism of fire as he leads New Zealand on tour to South Africa later this month.

"I knew it'd be tough from the outset (with Hesson)," Taylor said in comments published on the New Zealand Herald's website (www.nzherald.co.nz) on Sunday.

"I gave him as much support as I could but it wasn't reciprocated.

"We liaised during the Champions League," added the 28-year-old, who played with the Delhi Daredevils at the T20 tournament in South Africa in October.

"He wrote down a few things for me to improve on, which were laughable, frankly."

Hesson, a career coach with no experience as a player at senior level, was appointed in July.

A former coach of New Zealand A sides and provincial side Otago, he also had a short stint as assistant coach to John Bracewell at English county side Gloucester and was head coach of Kenya last year.

Taylor, New Zealand's top test batsman, has opted out of the tour to South Africa in a blow for the tourists' hopes of upsetting the number one-ranked test nation in their two-match series.

He has flagged a return to the team in time for their three-test home series against England in March, but said he still felt "raw" after his demotion.

"I knew I had areas to work on, like in communication, but I didn't get much support," he said of his captaincy, during which New Zealand struggled in all three formats of the game.

"Instead, I organised a number of things myself, like chatting to (psychologist) Gilbert Enoka. I thought that indicated I was trying to be a better captain.

"I'm more disappointed in the process to be told four days before the test series began (in Sri Lanka) that they didn't want me as captain.

"I also wasn't consulted in the tour review process by (New Zealand Cricket chairman Chris) Moller or (NZC chief executive David) White. No one got hold of me."

New Zealand play three T20 matches against the Proteas before the first test at Newlands in Cape Town from Jan. 2, 2013.

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UPDATE 1-Golf-Play resumes at windy Australian Open

 SYDNEY, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Play resumed in the final round of the Australian Open on Sunday after a three-hour delay forced by gale-force winds at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney.

Organisers announced the suspension of play at 11:45 a.m. local time (0045 GMT) after the 80 kilometre per hour winds resulted in balls moving on the greens and a TV tower collapsing at the 18th.

"It got to 80 kilometres, which was when that tower fell over," Trevor Herden, Golf Australia director of operations, told reporters.

"There is nothing we can do to protect people but to get them out of danger. We have an obligation to the public and the players. And then there is the golf course, which at that point became unplayable."

Play resumed at 2:50 p.m. (0350 GMT) with the wind still high and the added complication of a rainstorm approaching the south Sydney area.

John Senden and Britain's world number four Justin Rose will be the last players to take to the course in the leading group with the Australian holding a two-shot lead as he bids for a second title at his home Open.

Eight-times major winner Tom Watson, already well out of contention, was an early starter and scored an impressive three-under-par 69.

The American said the conditions could make the final round a lottery.

"A good score is even par," he said. "It will be interesting to see what happens. It's a really strong wind. Yesterday it blew like hell."

Herden said they would play as much golf as possible on Sunday but a Monday finish could not be ruled out.

"The leader is nearly off," he added. "We would want to finish this championship and if it means tomorrow morning, then it's tomorrow morning."

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Play resumes at windy Australian Open

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Play resumed in the final round of the Australian Open on Sunday after a three-hour delay forced by gale-force winds at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney.

Organizers announced the suspension of play at 11:45 a.m. local time (0045 GMT) after the 80 kilometer per hour winds resulted in balls moving on the greens and a TV tower collapsing at the 18th.

"It got to 80 kilometers, which was when that tower fell over," Trevor Herden, Golf Australia director of operations, told reporters.

"There is nothing we can do to protect people but to get them out of danger. We have an obligation to the public and the players. And then there is the golf course, which at that point became unplayable."

Play resumed at 2:50 p.m. (0350 GMT) with the wind still high and the added complication of a rainstorm approaching the south Sydney area.

John Senden and Britain's world number four Justin Rose will be the last players to take to the course in the leading group with the Australian holding a two-shot lead as he bids for a second title at his home Open.

Eight-times major winner Tom Watson, already well out of contention, was an early starter and scored an impressive three-under-par 69.

The American said the conditions could make the final round a lottery.

"A good score is even par," he said. "It will be interesting to see what happens. It's a really strong wind. Yesterday it blew like hell."

Herden said they would play as much golf as possible on Sunday but a Monday finish could not be ruled out.

"The leader is nearly off," he added. "We would want to finish this championship and if it means tomorrow morning, then it's tomorrow morning."

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UPDATE 1-Golf-Senior masters Sydney gale to win Australian Open

* Senior oldest winner of his national Open

* Wind dominates final round

* Rose fades to share of fourth (Adds detail, quotes)

SYDNEY, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Peter Senior drew on all his experience from 34 years as a professional golfer to master galeforce winds and win the Australian Open by a shot on Sunday, 23 years after he first held aloft the Stonehaven Cup.

Gusting winds of up to 80 kilometres an hour whipped across The Lakes Golf Club all day, knocking over a TV tower on the 18th green and forcing the suspension of play for three hours.

The 53-year-old ground out a final round of par 72 in fading light to finish four-under for the tournament and become the oldest man to win the title in the event's 108-year history.

Brendan Jones finished second after a 71, while his fellow Australian Cameron Percy was third, a shot further back on two under, after carding a 73.

Britain's world number four Justin Rose dropped a shot at the last to finish with a 76 for a share of fourth.

"It was probably one of the toughest days I've ever seen on a golf course," Senior, who first won the title in 1989 and won the last of his four European Tour titles two decades ago.

"I really thought these days were over but golf is a funny game. The key to today's round was that I never put any pressure on myself.

"If the conditions had been better, the better players would have won. But these are conditions I thrive in, where I just battle it out."

On a day when the conditions meant only six players would finish under par, Senior started three shots off the pace and dropped two shots on the front nine.

The Singapore-born Australian won them back, however, with two birdies in three shots after the turn, curling a 20-foot putt into the hole at the 12th to move two shots clear of the field.

It was a lead he would never relinquish and, with his son and caddie Mitch watching on, he drained a three-foot putt at the 18th before waiting for the final group of Rose and John Senden to finish.

Rose had started the day in second, two shots off the pace, but three-putted at the third for the first of two dropped shots on the front nine.

The Englishman went bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie just after the turn and looked to be building up for a charging finish but two bogeys in the last three holes put paid to his chances.

Overnight leader Senden suffered a meltdown in the trying conditions, losing his overnight lead with a double bogey after an errant drive at the first and ending up with an 82.

World number seven Adam Scott started the day five shots off the pace but never looked like making a charge and a chip-in for an eagle at the 17th was too little, too late and he finished with a 76 for a share of 14th.

Eight-times major champion Tom Watson continued his Jekyll and Hyde week, turning in three birdies in a flawless round in the relative calm of the morning to end up with a card reading 78-68-78-69 in joint 28th.

Senior is 10 years younger and has enjoyed nowhere near as much success as the American, but he was just as popular with those who braved the weather to populate the galleries.

"It was a really nasty day and I had a lot of support," Senior said.

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