Man Killed After Being Pushed in Front of NY Subway

Detectives in New York are searching for a female suspect who fled a subway station after a man was fatally pushed in front of a train on an elevated platform in Queens, N.Y.

At 8:04 p.m. on Thursday an unnamed man was standing on the northbound platform at 40th Street and Queens Blvd., waiting for the 7 train. Witnesses told police that a woman was walking back and forth on the platform and talking to herself before she took a seat on a wooden bench on the platform.

As the 7 train approached the station, witnesses said the woman rose from the bench and pushed the man onto the tracks, who was standing with his back to her.

Witnesses told police that the victim did not notice the woman behind him. He was struck by the first of the 11-car train, with his body pinned under the front of the second car as the train came to a stop, according to a statement from Deputy Commissioner Paul Brown.

New York City Subway Pusher Charged With Murder Watch Video

After pushing the man onto the platform the woman then fled down the stairs to Queens Blvd. She was described as wearing a blue, white and grey ski jacket, and grey and red Nike sneakers.

It is unclear if the two knew each other, or whether anyone attempted to help the man to the platform before he was struck by the train.

Overnight the NYPD released surveillance video of the woman believed to be the suspect, Detectives were also canvassing locations along Queens Blvd for other witnesses and surveillance video.

On Friday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was asked whether the incident might be related to the increase of mentally ill people on the streets following closures of institutions over the past four decades.

"The courts or the law have changed and said, no, you can't do that unless they're a danger to society; our laws protect you. That's fair enough," Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show.

Thursday's incident marks the second straphanger death this month--a man was killed in midtown after being pushed onto the subway tracks under an oncoming train.

On Dec. 3, 58-year-old Ki-Suck Han was tossed onto the subway track at 49th Street and Seventh Avenue around 12:30 p.m. after an altercation with a man who was later identified as 30-year-old Naeem Davis. Davis has been charged with murder in Han's death and was ordered held without bail.

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Syria envoy calls for political change to end conflict

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The international envoy seeking a solution to Syria's 21-month-old conflict said on Thursday political change was needed to end the violence which has killed 44,000 people, and called for a transitional government to rule until elections.

Speaking in Damascus at the end of a five-day trip during which he met President Bashar al-Assad, Lakhdar Brahimi did not spell out detailed proposals but said that only substantial change would meet the demands of ordinary Syrians.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov added to the envoy's call for a peaceful solution when he told a senior Syrian diplomat that only a "broad inter-Syria dialogue and political process" could end the crisis.

Brahimi's push for a transitional government suggested he was trying to build on an international agreement in Geneva six months ago which said a provisional body - which might include members of Assad's government as well as the opposition - should lead the country into a new election.

But the mainly Sunni Muslim Syrian rebels have seized the military initiative since the Geneva meeting in June and the political opposition has ruled out any transitional government in which Assad, from Syria's Alawite minority, plays a role.

Rebel fighters resumed attacks on Thursday against the military base of Wadi Deif, which lies next to Syria's main north-south highway linking Aleppo with Damascus. Around the capital itself, Assad's forces have tried for weeks to dislodge rebels from suburbs which ring the east and south of the city.

"Certainly it was clear in Geneva, and it's even clearer now that the change which is needed is not cosmetic or superficial," Brahimi told a news conference in Damascus before leaving Syria.

"I believe the Syrian people need, want and aspire to genuine change and everyone knows what this means," he said.

"A government must be created ... with all the powers of the state," Brahimi added. He said it should hold power for a transitional period until elections - either for a new president or a new parliament - are held.

"This transitional process must not lead to the ... collapse of state institutions. All Syrians, and those who support them, must cooperate to preserve those institutions and strengthen them," he said.

Radwan Ziadeh of the opposition Syrian National Council dismissed Brahimi's proposal as "unrealistic and fanciful" and said a transitional government could not be built on the same "security and intelligence structure as the existing regime".

TOO SOON FOR COMPLETE PLAN

Russia's Lavrov met Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Makdad in Moscow on Thursday and underscored "the lack of an alternative to a peaceful resolution of (Syria's) internal conflict through a broad inter-Syria dialogue and political process," a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said. But it made no mention of ways to achieve those goals.

Syrian and Lebanese sources said Makdad had been sent to Moscow to discuss details of a peace plan proposed by Brahimi.

Brahimi is due in Moscow on Saturday and said he also expected to have a third joint meeting with U.S. and Russian officials soon following two rounds of talks earlier this month. But he denied the existence of a U.S.-Russian plan to end the crisis and said it was too soon to present a "complete plan".

"What is preferred is that we don't present such a plan until we feel that all sides have agreed to it. That way, implementing it is easy. If that doesn't happen, the other solution could be to go to the (United Nations) Security Council to issue a binding resolution for everyone," he said.

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman also denied any joint initiative between Moscow and Washington.

World powers remain divided over what has become an increasingly sectarian struggle, with Sunni Muslim states such as Turkey and the Gulf Arab countries supporting the rebels while Shi'ite Iran and Hezbollah have backed Assad, whose Alawite community has its roots in Shi'ite Islam.

Syria's struggle "has taken a vicious form of sectarian confrontation," Brahimi said. "Syrian officials foremost, as well as the international community, must not let Syria slide down this very dangerous path which threatens the future of Syria."

Deep differences between Western powers opposed to Assad - led by the United States - and Russia and China which have supported his government, have left the U.N. Security Council paralyzed and largely sidelined throughout the conflict.

The political stalemate has helped transform a once-peaceful uprising into a civil war in which rebels have grown in military strength and taken control of swathes of territory in the north, leaving Assad increasingly reliant on air power to curb them.

Activists in the central province of Hama, where rebels launched an offensive last week to extend their control southwards towards the capital, reported on Thursday that rebels shot down a MiG jet near the town of Morek.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence across Syria, said air force jets launched three raids on rebel forces around Wadi Deif. The British-based group also reported fierce clashes in the area.

The violence has been accompanied by an escalation in apparently sectarian attacks between the Sunni Muslim majority and minorities such as Assad's Alawite sect, which has largely supported the president.

Activists in Hama uploaded a video of what appeared to be Assad soldiers and shabbiha militia members stabbing the body of a dead man and setting it on fire. The man looked as if he had been beaten to death.

"This is a terrorist, a brother of a whore, one of those trying to destroy the country," one of the men shouted. Two men in camouflage uniforms and army helmets stood by watching. Samer al-Hamawi, an activist from Hama, said rebels in his area found the video on the phone of a soldier they captured this week.

The video emerged a day after Islamist rebel units released footage showing the bodies of dozens of Assad's fighters along a highway near an Alawite town in Hama.

(Additional reporting by Marwan Makdesi in Damascus and Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Editing by Pravin Char)

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Egypt prosecutor orders probe into opposition "incitement"

CAIRO: Egypt's public prosecutor on Thursday ordered a probe into the top three leaders of the opposition on suspicion of trying to incite followers to overthrow President Mohamed Morsi, a legal source said.

The prosecutor, Taalat Ibrahim Abdallah, who was appointed by Morsi late last month, signed the order against the leaders of the opposition National Salvation Front, which led protests against Morsi's drive to have a new constitution adopted.

The probe targets Mohammed ElBaradei, a Nobel peace prize laureate, Amr Moussa, former chief of the Arab League, and Hamdeen Sabbahi, the leader of the nationalist left wing. Moussa and Sabbahi were presidential candidates in June elections that Morsi won.

The National Salvation Front alleged frauds and irregularities in the December 15 and 22 split referendum on the new charter, which Morsi signed into law this week.

It accuses Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood of wanting to use the constitution to introduce sharia law.

Abdallah called on Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki to name an investigating magistrate for the probe, which would examine suspicions of "inciting for the overthrow of the regime".

Morsi on Wednesday hailed the adoption of the new constitution with 64 percent of the votes in the referendum, though turnout was a low 33 percent.

Within two months, Egypt has to hold legislative elections to choose a parliament to succeed the one dissolved by the constitutional court in June. The opposition parties in the National Salvation Front coalition are considering competing in the elections on the same ticket.

- AFP/xq

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Internet on the TV? Meh, say consumers

The new Google TV interface

(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)

Your TV may be smart, but you're not making the most of that talent.

Facebook, Twitter, online shopping, Web browsing -- they're simply not getting much screen time on Internet-enabled TVs, according to a new report from NPD. It seems consumers prefer to engage in those activities on other devices.

"In general, these have failed to resonate with the audience, not least because there are better platforms, such as the PC,
tablet, or smartphone, for such services," NPD's John Buffone wrote in a blog post today. "The one saving grace to date has been music services, where the location of the TV and the availability of key music streaming apps such as Pandora has driven reasonable consumer uptake (roughly 15 percent)."

The big draw by far on those smart TVs is over-the-top video, services such as Netflix and Hulu that supplement pay-TV subscriptions. Those services are in use on just under 60 percent of Internet-connected TVs.

A big part of the problem with getting smart TVs to be more than just television sets, says Buffone, is "a complex user experience" in which consumers have too many alternative devices from which to choose in order to bring the Internet to their HDTVs -- the TV itself, video game consoles like the Xbox, Blu-ray Disc players, streaming media set-top boxes, TiVo, and some audio/video receivers.

Just 15 percent of HDTV displays are connected directly to the Internet, but when you factor in those other devices, the number jumps to 29 percent, according to NPD.

Even Internet powerhouse Google has so far failed to convince consumers of the potential wonders of accessing the Internet via TV, but it is continuing to work on making its Google TV services more appealing.

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Former President Bush stays in ICU, fever lingers

(CBS News) Former President George H.W. Bush remains in the intensive care unit of Houston's Methodist Hospital on Thursday, after battling a bronchitis-like cough and fever for over a month.

Doctors say his condition is improving since he suffered a setback on Christmas Day but also say they are having trouble keeping the former president's fever under control. He was reportedly put on a liquid diet on Wednesday.

After a family spokesman referenced Bush's "stubborn fever" and "guarded condition," his office released a statement saying doctors remain "cautiously optimistic" about the 41st president's prognosis. CBS News' Anna Werner reports that he has been able to receive visits from his wife, children, and grandchildren and to join them in a Christmas day takeout meal.

Thursday, Dr. Lori Mosca of Columbia University Medical Center and New York Presbyterian Hospital explained that "guarded condition" "is somewhere in between being stable and critical," a state that requires constant careful monitoring by doctors.

Dr. Mosca added that while the fever could be due to bronchitis, "any fever in an elderly person is serious," and that doctors should continue to look for the source of the fever -- which could range from an allergic reaction, to a drug reaction, to an immune system issue.

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Newtown Shooter's DNA to Be Studied

Geneticists have been asked to study the DNA of Adam Lanza, the Connecticut man whose shooting rampage killed 27 people, including an entire first grade class.

The study, which experts believe may be the first of its kind, is expected to be looking for abnormalities or mutations in Lanza's DNA.

Connecticut Medical Examiner H. Wayne Carver has reached out to University of Connecticut's geneticists to conduct the study.

University of Connecticut spokesperson Tom Green says Carver "has asked for help from our department of genetics" and they are "willing to give any assistance they can."

Green said he could not provide details on the project, but said it has not begun and they are "standing by waiting to assist in any way we can."

Lanza, 20, carried out the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., just days before Christmas. His motives for the slaughter remain a mystery.

Geneticists not directly involved in the study said they are likely looking at Lanza's DNA to detect a mutation or abnormality that could increase the risk of aggressive or violent behavior. They could analyze Lanza's entire genome in great detail and try to find unexpected mutations.

This seems to be the first time a study of this nature has been conducted, but it raises concerns in some geneticists and others in the field that there could be a stigma attached to people with these genetic characteristics if they are able to be narrowed down.

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Arthur Beaudet, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, said the University of Connecticut geneticists are most likely trying to "detect clear abnormalities of what we would call a mutation in a gene…or gene abnormalities and there are some abnormalities that are related to aggressive behavior."

"They might look for mutations that might be associated with mental illnesses and ones that might also increase the risk for violence," said Beaudet, who is also the chairman of Baylor College of Medicine's department of molecular and human genetics.

Beaudet believes geneticists should be doing this type of research because there are "some mutations that are known to be associated with at least aggressive behavior if not violent behavior."

"I don't think any one of these mutations would explain all of (the mass shooters), but some of them would have mutations that might be causing both schizophrenia and related schizophrenia violent behavior," Beaudet said. "I think we could learn more about it and we should learn more about it."

Beaudet noted that studying the genes of murderers is controversial because there is a risk that those with similar genetic characteristics could possibly be discriminated against or stigmatized, but he still thinks the research would be helpful even if only a "fraction" may have the abnormality or mutation.

"Not all of these people will have identifiable genetic abnormalities," Beaudet said, adding that even if a genetic abnormality is found it may not be related to a "specific risk."

"By studying genetic abnormalities we can learn more about conditions better and who is at risk and what might be dramatic treatments," Beaudet said, adding if the gene abnormality is defined the "treatment to stop" other mass shootings or "decrease the risk is much approved."

Others in the field aren't so sure.

Dr. Harold Bursztajn, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, is a leader in his field on this issue writing extensively on genetic discrimination. He questions what the University of Connecticut researchers could "even be looking for at this point."

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Syria to discuss Brahimi peace proposals with Russia

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent a senior diplomat to Moscow on Wednesday to discuss proposals to end the conflict convulsing his country made by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Syrian and Lebanese sources said.

Brahimi, who saw Assad on Monday and is planning to hold a series of meetings with Syrian officials and dissidents in Damascus this week, is trying to broker a peaceful transfer of power, but has disclosed little about how this might be done.

More than 44,000 Syrians have been killed in a revolt against four decades of Assad family rule, a conflict that began with peaceful protests but which has descended into civil war.

Past peace efforts have floundered, with world powers divided over what has become an increasingly sectarian struggle between mostly Sunni Muslim rebels and Assad's security forces, drawn primarily from his Shi'ite-rooted Alawite minority.

Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Makdad flew to Moscow to discuss the details of the talks with Brahimi, said a Syrian security source, who would not say if a deal was in the works.

However, a Lebanese official close to Damascus said Makdad had been sent to seek Russian advice on a possible agreement.

He said Syrian officials were upbeat after talks with Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab League envoy, who met Foreign Minister Walid Moualem on Tuesday a day after his session with Assad, but who has not outlined his ideas in public.

"There is a new mood now and something good is happening," the official said, asking not to be named. He gave no details.

Russia, which has given Assad diplomatic and military aid to help him weather the 21-month-old uprising, has said it is not protecting him, but has fiercely criticized any foreign backing for rebels and, with China, has blocked U.N. Security Council action on Syria.

"ASSAD CANNOT STAY"

A Russian Foreign Ministry source said Makdad and an aide would meet Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Mikhail Bogdanov, the Kremlin's special envoy for Middle East affairs, on Thursday, but did not disclose the nature of the talks.

On Saturday, Lavrov said Syria's civil war had reached a stalemate, saying international efforts to get Assad to quit would fail. Bogdanov had earlier acknowledged that Syrian rebels were gaining ground and might win.

Given the scale of the bloodshed and destruction, Assad's opponents insist the Syrian president must go.

Moaz Alkhatib, head of the internationally-recognized Syrian National Coalition opposition, has criticized any notion of a transitional government in which Assad would stay on as a figurehead president stripped of real powers.

Comments on Alkhatib's Facebook page on Monday suggested that the opposition believed this was one of Brahimi's ideas.

"The government and its president cannot stay in power, with or without their powers," Alkhatib wrote, saying his Coalition had told Brahimi it rejected any such solution.

While Brahimi was working to bridge the vast gaps between Assad and his foes, fighting raged across the country and a senior Syrian military officer defected to the rebels.

Syrian army shelling killed about 20 people, at least eight of them children, in the northern province of Raqqa, a video posted by opposition campaigners showed.

The video, published by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, showed rows of blood-stained bodies laid out on blankets. The sound of crying relatives could be heard in the background.

The shelling hit the province's al-Qahtania village, but it was unclear when the attack had occurred.

STRATEGIC BASE

Rebels relaunched their assault on the Wadi Deif military base in the northwestern province of Idlib, in a battle for a major army compound and fuel storage and distribution point.

Activist Ahmed Kaddour said rebels were firing mortars and had attacked the base with a vehicle rigged with explosives.

The British-based Observatory, which uses a network of contacts in Syria to monitor the conflict, said a rebel commander was among several people killed in Wednesday's fighting, which it said was among the heaviest for months.

The military used artillery and air strikes to try to hold back rebels assaulting Wadi Deif and the town of Morek in Hama province further south. In one air raid, several rockets fell near a field hospital in the town of Saraqeb, in Idlib province, wounding several people, the Observatory said.

As violence has intensified in recent weeks, daily death tolls have climbed. The Observatory reported at least 190 had been killed across the country on Tuesday alone.

The head of Syria's military police changed sides and declared allegiance to the anti-Assad revolt.

"I am General Abdelaziz Jassim al-Shalal, head of the military police. I have defected because of the deviation of the army from its primary duty of protecting the country and its transformation into gangs of killing and destruction," the officer said in a video published on YouTube.

A Syrian security source confirmed the defection, but said Shalal was near retirement and had only defected to "play hero".

Syrian Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar left Lebanon for Damascus after being treated in Beirut for wounds sustained in a rebel bomb attack this month.

(Additional reporting by Laila Bassam; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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US home prices up in October from year earlier

WASHINGTON: US home prices rose 4.3 percent in October as compared with last year, the fastest 12-month increase since May 2010, according to S&P/Case-Shiller statistics released on Wednesday.

The 20-city price index declined 0.1 percent from September, according to data not adjusted for seasonal variations, but the group emphasized the strong year-on-year figures.

On a seasonally-adjusted basis, the index climbed 0.7 percent between September and October.

"It is clear that the housing recovery is gathering strength," said David Blitzer, head of the index committee.

"Higher year-over-year price gains plus strong performances in the southwest and California, regions that suffered during the housing bust, confirm that housing is now contributing to the economy."

According to Barclays Research, the 4.3 percent year-on-year rise represented the "fastest pace of increase since May 2010 when the home buyer tax credit was boosting sales and prices."

While Phoenix home prices rose for the 13th month in a row, San Diego posted nine consecutive monthly gains. Only Chicago and New York saw negative annual returns in October.

Twelve cities saw a drop in prices last month according to non-seasonally adjusted data, compared to seven in September. Chicago saw a decline of 1.5 percent while prices in Boston dipped 1.4 percent.

- AFP/de

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HTC's global One S gets Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean

Android 4.1.1, also known as Jelly Bean, will finally make its way to some global version of the HTC One S.

It's still unclear when the U.S. version of the
One S, sold by T-Mobile USA, will get the update. PocketNow was the first to pick up on the new software release.

HTC phones have been slow to get the latest version of Android, partly because the company has chosen to heavily customize their products with the Sense skin, which adds a layer of complexity to future software upgrades. In addition, the updates must be approved by the carriers, further slowing the process down.

HTC had promised an update as early as July, but has only now sent out the update.

The update also brings Sense 4+, a enhanced version of its skin seen in newer flagship devices such as the Droid DNA.

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Obama cuts Hawaii trip short to address "fiscal cliff"

KAILUA, Hawaii President Barack Obama is cutting short his traditional Christmas holiday in Hawaii to return to Washington as lawmakers consider how to prevent the economy from going over the so-called fiscal cliff, the White House said Tuesday.

Obama will fly back to the nation's capital Wednesday night, just five days after arriving in Hawaii, White House officials said. In the past, the president's end-of-the-year holiday in his native state has stretched into the new year.

Congress is expected to return to Washington on Thursday. Automatic budget cuts and tax increases are set to begin in January. So far, the president and congressional Republicans have been unable to reach agreement on any alternatives.

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Seven days 'til the "fiscal cliff"

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The Obamas in Hawaii

CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reported earlier Tuesday that the president will likely put pressure on Congress to pass a Democratic plan being drafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

"There still have been no conversations between Democrats and Republicans Tuesday on how to avert the fiscal cliff," Cordes reported from Hawaii. "That's a sure sign that Reid is working on crafting legislation on his own, which he'd essentially dare Republicans in the House and Senate to pass just before the deadline."

Cordes notes that Reid's bill would likely extend the Bush-era tax cuts for households making less than $250,000 a year. It may also include enough short-term spending cuts to temporarily offset, for about six to eight months, the across-the-board spending cuts set to go into effect on January 1, 2013.

Lawmakers have expressed little but pessimism for the prospect of an agreement coming before Jan. 1. On Sunday, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said she expects any action in the waning days of the year to be "a patch because in four days we can't solve everything."

The Obamas were spending the holiday at a rented home near Honolulu. On Christmas Day, the president and first lady Michelle Obama visited with Marines to express thanks for their service.

"One of my favorite things is always coming to base on Christmas Day just to meet you and say thank you," the president said. He called being commander in chief his greatest honor as president.

Obama took photos with individual service members and their families.

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