India rape victim's friend recalls brutal attack

NEW DELHI The companion of a woman who was gang-raped aboard a bus in New Delhi recounted in a television interview for the first time Friday how the pair was attacked for 2 1/2 hours before being thrown on the side of the road, where passers-by ignored them and police debated jurisdiction issues before helping them.




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Indian women protest brutality



The Dec. 16 attack has outraged Indians and led to calls for tougher rape laws and reforms of a police culture that often blames rape victims and refuses to file charges against accused attackers. The nation's top law enforcement official said the country needs to crack down on crimes against women with "an iron hand."

The 23-year-old woman died over the weekend from massive internal injuries suffered during the attack. Authorities charged five men with her murder and rape and were holding a sixth suspect believed to be a juvenile. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Saturday.

The woman and her male friend had just finished watching the movie "Life of Pi" at an upscale mall and were looking for a ride home. An autorickshaw driver declined to take them so they boarded the private bus with the six assailants inside, the companion told the Indian TV network Zee TV.

Authorities have not named the man because of the sensitivity of the case. The TV station also declined to give his name, although it did show his face during the interview. The man has a broken leg and was sitting in a wheelchair during the interview.




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Remembering an Indian gang rape victim



After a while, the men on the bus starting harassing and attacking the pair, he said.

"I gave a tough fight to three of them. I punched them hard. But then two others hit me with an iron rod," he said. The woman tried to call the police using her mobile phone, but the men took it away from her, he said. They then took her to the rear seats of the bus and raped her.

"The attack was so brutal I can't even tell you ... even animals don't behave like that," he said.

Afterward, he overheard some of the attackers saying she was dead, he said.

The men then dumped their bleeding and naked bodies under an overpass. He waved to passers-by on bikes, in autorickshaws and in cars for help.

"They slowed down, looked at our naked bodies and left," he said. After about 20 minutes, three police vans arrived and the officers began arguing over who had jurisdiction over the crime as the man pleaded for clothes and an ambulance, he said.




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Gang-rape sparks rage in India



The man said he was given no medical care. Instead, he spent four days at the police station helping them investigate the crime. He said he visited his friend in the hospital, told her the attackers were arrested and promised to fight for her.

"She has awakened us all by her courage," he said. "People should move ahead in the struggle to prevent a similar crime happening again as a tribute to her."

On Friday, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said crimes against women and marginalized sections of society are increasing, and it is the government's responsibility to stop them.

"This needs to be curbed by an iron hand," he told a conference of state officials from across India that was called to discuss how to protect women.

He called for changes in the law and the way police investigate cases so justice can be swiftly delivered. Many rape cases are bogged down in India's overburdened and sluggish court system for years.

"We need a reappraisal of the entire system," he said.

In the wake of the rape, several petitioners appealed to the Supreme Court to take an active role in the issue of women's safety.

On Friday, the court dismissed a petition asking it to suspend Indian lawmakers accused of crimes against women, saying it doesn't have jurisdiction, according to the Press Trust of India. The Association for Democratic Reforms, an organization that tracks officials' criminal records, said six state lawmakers are facing rape prosecutions and two national parliamentarians are facing charges of crimes against women that fall short of rape.

However, the court did agree to look into the widespread creation of more fast-track courts for accused rapists across the country.

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Cleaners Blamed in Deadly Meningitis Outbreak


Jan 4, 2013 11:41am







ap meningitis door vial nt 130104 wblog Meningitis Outbreak: NECC Blames Cleaners

Credit: Minnesota Department of Health/AP Photo


The pharmacy at the heart of the fungal meningitis outbreak says a cleaning company it hired should share the blame for the tainted steroid injections that caused more than 600 illnesses in 19 states, killing 39 people.


Click here to read about the road to recovery for fungal meningitis victims.


The New England Compounding Pharmacy, which made the fungus-tainted drugs, sent a letter to UniFirst Corp., which provided once-a month cleaning services to the Framingham, Mass., lab, “demanding” it indemnify NECC for the meningitis outbreak, according to a UniFirst filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.


“Based on its preliminary review of this matter, the company believes that NECC’s claims are without merit,” UniFirst wrote in its quarterly filing.


The New England Compounding Center recalled 17,000 vials of tainted steroid injections on Sept. 26 before recalling all drugs and shutting down on Oct. 6.


The Food and Drug Administration investigated NECC’s lab and found that a quarter of the steroid injections in one bin contained “greenish black foreign matter,” according to the report.  The FDA also identified several cleanrooms that had bacterial or mold overgrowths.


UniFirst’s UniClean business cleaned portions of the NECC cleanrooms to NECC’s specifications and using NECC’s cleansing solutions, UniFirst spokesman Adam Soreoff said in a statement. It provided two technicians once a month for about an hour and a half.


“UniClean was not in any way responsible for NECC’s day-to-day operations, its overall facility cleanliness, or the integrity of the products they produced,” Soreoff said. “Therefore, based on what we know, we believe any NECC claims against UniFirst or UniClean are unfounded and without merit. ”


Click here for our fungal meningitis outbreak timeline, “Anatomy of an Outbreak.”


NECC was not immediately available for comment.


The House of Representatives subpoenaed Barry Cadden, who owns NECC,  to a hearing in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 14. He declined to testify when members of Congress pressed him on his role in ensuring that the drugs his company produced were safe and sterile.


“On advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer on the basis of my constitutional rights and privileges including the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States,” he said at the hearing.


Members of Congress also questioned whether the FDA could have prevented the outbreak.


Compounding pharmacies, which are intended to tailor drugs to individuals with a single prescription from a single doctor, are typically overseen by state pharmacy boards rather than the FDA because they are so small. However, in 2006, the FDA issued a warning letter to NECC, accusing it of mass-producing a topical anesthetic cream, and jeopardizing another drug’s sterility by repackaging it.




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Why U.S. lives under the shadow of 'W'




Julian Zelizer says former President George W. Bush's key tax and homeland security policies survive in the age of Obama




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Julian Zelizer: For all the criticism Bush got, two key policies have survived

  • He says fiscal cliff pact perpetuates nearly all of Bush's tax cuts

  • Obama administration has largely followed Bush's homeland security policy, he says

  • Zelizer: By squeezing revenues, Bush tax cuts will put pressure on spending




Editor's note: Julian Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of "Jimmy Carter" and of "Governing America."


Princeton, New Jersey (CNN) -- Somewhere in Texas, former President George W. Bush is smiling.


Although some Democrats are pleased that taxes will now go up on the wealthiest Americans, the recent deal to avert the fiscal cliff entrenches, rather than dismantles, one of Bush's signature legacies -- income tax cuts. Ninety-nine percent of American households were protected from tax increases, aside from the expiration of the reduced rate for the payroll tax.



Julian Zelizer

Julian Zelizer



In the final deal, Congress and President Barack Obama agreed to preserve most of the Bush tax cuts, including exemptions on the estate tax.


When Bush started his term in 2001, many of his critics dismissed him as a lightweight, the son of a former president who won office as result of his family's political fortune and a controversial decision by the Supreme Court on the 2000 election.



But what has become clear in hindsight, regardless of what one thinks of Bush and his politics, is that his administration left behind a record that has had a huge impact on American politics, a record that will not easily be dismantled by future presidents.


The twin pillars of Bush's record were counterterrorism policies and tax cuts. During his first term, it became clear that Obama would not dismantle most of the homeland security apparatus put into place by his predecessor. Despite a campaign in 2008 that focused on flaws with the nation's response to 9/11, Obama has kept most of the counterterrorism program intact.


Opinion: The real issue is runaway spending


In some cases, the administration continues to aggressively use tactics his supporters once decried, such as relying on renditions to detain terrorist suspects who are overseas, as The Washington Post reported this week. In other areas, the administration has expanded the war on terrorism, including the broader use of drone strikes to kill terrorists.










Now come taxes and spending.


With regard to the Bush tax cuts, Obama had promised to overturn a policy that he saw as regressive. Although he always said that he would protect the middle class from tax increases, Obama criticized Bush for pushing through Congress policies that bled the federal government of needed revenue and benefited the wealthy.


In 2010, Obama agreed to temporarily extend all the tax cuts. Though many Democrats were furious, Obama concluded that he had little political chance to overturn them and he seemed to agree with Republicans that reversing them would hurt an economy limping along after a terrible recession.


Opinion: Time to toot horn for George H.W. Bush


With the fiscal cliff deal, Obama could certainly claim more victories than in 2010. Taxes for the wealthiest Americans will go up. Congress also agreed to extend unemployment compensation and continue higher payments to Medicare providers.


But beneath all the sound and fury is the fact that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, for most Americans, are now a permanent part of the legislative landscape. (In addition, middle class Americans will breathe a sigh of relief that Congress has permanently fixed the Alternative Minimum Tax, which would have hit many of them with a provision once designed to make sure that the wealthy paid their fair share.)


As Michigan Republican Rep. Dave Camp remarked, "After more than a decade of criticizing these tax cuts, Democrats are finally joining Republicans in making them permanent." Indeed, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the new legislation will increase the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 10 years.


The tax cuts have significant consequences on all of American policy.


Opinion: Christie drops bomb on GOP leaders


Most important, the fact that a Democratic president has now legitimated the moves of a Republican administration gives a bipartisan imprimatur to the legitimacy of the current tax rates.


Although some Republicans signed on to raising taxes for the first time in two decades, the fact is that Democrats have agreed to tax rates which, compared to much of the 20th century, are extraordinarily low. Public perception of a new status quo makes it harder for presidents to ever raise taxes on most Americans to satisfy the revenue needs for the federal government.


At the same time, the continuation of reduced taxes keeps the federal government in a fiscal straitjacket. As a result, politicians are left to focus on finding the money to pay for existing programs or making cuts wherever possible.


New innovations in federal policy that require substantial revenue are just about impossible. To be sure, there have been significant exceptions, such as the Affordable Care Act. But overall, bold policy departures that require significant amounts of general revenue are harder to come by than in the 1930s or 1960s.


Republicans thus succeed with what some have called the "starve the beast" strategy of cutting government by taking away its resources. Since the long-term deficit only becomes worse, Republicans will continue to have ample opportunity to pressure Democrats into accepting spending cuts and keep them on the defense with regards to new government programs.


Politics: Are the days of Congress 'going big' over?


With his income tax cuts enshrined, Bush can rest comfortably that much of the policy world he designed will remain intact and continue to define American politics. Obama has struggled to work within the world that Bush created, and with this legislation, even with his victories, he has demonstrated that the possibilities for change have been much more limited than he imagined when he ran in 2008 or even in 2012.


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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Julian Zelizer.






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Key personnel leave APB after Heineken takeover






SINGAPORE: A spate of resignations among top personnel has hit Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) following its complete takeover by Heineken of the Netherlands, the world's third-largest beer maker.

APB, which makes Tiger Beer, was the subject of a fierce takeover battle last year between Heineken and Thai Beverage, with the Dutch brewer eventually emerging victorious. Heineken forked out S$5.6 billion to buy the rest of APB from its joint venture partner Fraser and Neave to secure an asset which will help it exploit the fast growth in Asia's beer market.

Among those who have left or have given notice is Mr Christopher Kidd, APB's Regional Director for Indo-China, its most profitable division. He joined APB in 1994. Others include Mr Leslie Buckley, Regional Director for South-east Asia/Oceania excluding Singapore, who joined the company in 1995, and Group Finance Director Loy Juat Boey, who has been with APB since 1987. Also gone is public relations head Sarah Koh.

The first three were among the best-paid senior managers at APB, according to the company's annual report, along with Chief Executive Roland Pirmez, Mr Vivek Chhabra, Regional Director (South Asia)/Director (Group Business Development), and Mr Bennett Neo, Regional Director for the Singapore cluster and Cambodia. Mr Neo will soon take over Mr Chhabra's South Asia portfolio of Sri Lanka.

Mr Kidd and Mr Buckley earned between S$1.25 million and S$1.5 million in the company's last financial year, according to the annual report, while Ms Loy was in the S$1-million to S$1.25-million range.

While no official reason has been given for their departure, the talk among insiders is that there has been some unhappiness with the new management style since the takeover, with changes to reporting lines and final decisions being taken at Heineken's Netherlands headquarters.

"We appear to have lost our independence and creativity as reporting is now done on a functional basis to superiors in the Netherlands," remarked an ex-insider.

Mr Kidd, 55, is said by people familiar with the situation to have been miffed when Mr Pirmez took over his portfolio as Regional Director for Indo-China.

Heineken said in reply to queries from TODAY: "We would like to stress the fact that the business is strong and that the members of APB's leadership team, who we know well, are doing a good job." Heineken also said that those who left "are not the top four executives" but that they are members of a leadership team comprising 15 people.

"Ms Sarah Koh and Mr Chris Kidd have decided to leave the company and pursue their careers outside the company. We respect their decisions and highly value their long-standing contribution to build and grow the business. Yet it is not on us to comment on personal choices," Heineken told TODAY.

The company also said that Ms Loy has taken early retirement and her portfolio has been taken over by Mr Kenneth Choo, who is also Director, Regional Finance and Business Development, of Heineken Asia Pacific.

While a search for a new corporate relations director is on, Mr Michael Dickstein from Heineken HQ will do the job in the interim.

Asked if more management changes were on the way, Heineken said: "Management changes are part of the ongoing business in any operation and we usually treat such changes in a very sensitive way."

Meanwhile, the integration process which Heineken initiated upon taking over is expected to be completed by the end of next month. This includes Heineken giving up its office at Novena Square to move to either Alexandra Point, where APB's HQ is located, or to its brewery at Tuas.

- TODAY



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Boehner chokes up during speech





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FTC: Google does not violate antitrust laws

Google hasn't violated any antitrust laws, the Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday, but it has agreed to make some changes in how it treats its rivals as part of a settlement to end the 19-month investigation into its business practices.

The FTC's investigation focused on allegations that Google has been abusing its dominance in Internet search. Google's rivals say the company has been highlighting its own services on its influential results page while burying the links to competing sites.

Google Inc. has fiercely defended its right to recommend the websites that it believes are the most relevant.

The FTC said it voted unanimously to close the investigation on whether Google's algorithm unfairly favored itself because there was no evidence that Google violated antitrust laws.

"Although some evidence suggested that Google was trying to eliminate competition, Google's primary reason for changing the look and feel of its search results to highlight its own products was to improve the user experience," FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz said to reporters Thursday.

Google was also investigated for abusing patent protection against competitors like Apple. As part of the settlement, Google is agreeing to license patents deemed to be "essential" for rival mobile devices such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPad, regulators said.

Regulators say Google is also promising that upon request, it will exclude snippets copied from other websites in its summaries of key information, even though the company had insisted the practice is legal under the fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law.

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Sandy Hook Parents Cope With Students' Return













Sandy Hook parents put their children on school buses this morning and waved goodbye as the yellow bus rolled away, but this first day back since the pre-Christmas massacre is anything but normal for the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School.


Erin Milgram, the mother of a first grader and a fourth grader at Sandy Hook, told "Good Morning America" that she was going to drive behind the bus and stay with her 7-year-old Lauren for the entire school day.


"I haven't gotten that far yet, about not being with them," Milgram said. "I just need to stay with them for a while."


Today is "Opening Day" for Sandy Hook Elementary School, which is re-opening about six miles away in the former Chalk Hill school in Monroe, Conn.


Lauren was in teacher Kaitlin Roig's first grade class on Dec. 14 when gunman Adam Lanza forced his way into the school and killed 20 students and six staffers.


Roig has been hailed a hero for barricading her students in a classroom bathroom and refusing to open the door until authorities could find a key to open the door.








Sandy Hook Elementary School: Ready to Return Watch Video









Newtown, Conn. Students Return to New Sandy Hook Watch Video







The 20 students killed were first-graders and the Milgrams have struggled to explain to Lauren why so many of her friends will never return to school.


"She knows her friends and she'll also see on the bus... there will be some missing on the bus," Milgram said. "We look at yearbook pictures. We try to focus on the happy times because we really don't know what we're doing."


"How could someone be so angry?" Lauren's father Eric Milgram wondered before a long pause. "We don't know."


The school has a lecture room available for parents to stay as long as they wish and they are also allowed to accompany their children to the classroom to help them adjust. Counselors will be available throughout the day for parents, staff and students, according to the school's website.


The first few days will be a delicate balancing act between assessing the children's needs and trying to get them back to a normal routine.


"We don't want to avoid memories of a trauma," Dr. Jamie Howard told "Good Morning America." "And so by getting back to school and by engaging in your routines, we're helping kids to do that, we're helping them to have a natural, healthy recovery to a trauma."


Security is paramount in everyone's mind. There is a police presence on campus and drivers of every vehicle that comes onto campus are being interviewed.


"Our goal is to make it a safe and secure learning environment for these kids to return to, and the teachers also," Monroe police Lt. Keith White said at a news conference on Wednesday.


A "state-of-the-art" security system is in place, but authorities will not go into detail about the system saying only that the school will probably be "the safest school in America."


Every adult in the school who is not immediately recognizable will be required to wear a badge as identification, parent and school volunteer Karen Dryer told ABCNews.com.


"They want to know exactly who you are at sight, whether or not you should be there," Dryer said.


Despite the precautions and preparations, parents will still be coping with the anxiety of parting with their children.


"Rationally, something like this is a very improbable event, but that still doesn't change the emotional side of the way you feel," Eric Milgram said.



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Look beyond the fiscal cliff






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Dean Baker: Budget deficit is not the only top issue in our national economic policy

  • Baker: Fiscal cliff debate has been a distraction of the bigger problem of a downturn

  • He says fears of big deficits are preventing us from boosting the economy more

  • Baker: Given the economy's weakness, the government has to run big deficits




Editor's note: Dean Baker, an economist, is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a progressive economic policy organization. He is author of "The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive."


(CNN) -- We have just passed into the new year, and the distractions created by the debate over the fiscal cliff appear to be behind us. Maybe.


That debate has been part of a larger distraction -- the concern over budget deficits at a time when by far the country's most important problem remains the economic downturn caused by the collapse of the housing bubble. The obsession with budget deficits is especially absurd because the enormous deficits of recent years are entirely the result of the economic downturn.


In spite of this, the leadership of both parties has elevated the budget deficit to be the top and virtually only issue in national economic policy. This means ignoring the downturn that continues to cause enormous amount of unnecessary suffering for tens of millions of people.



Dean Baker

Dean Baker




But fears of big deficits are preventing us from giving the same sort of boost to the economy that got us out of the Great Depression. The explanation is simple: profits have returned to prerecession levels.


Opinion: Cliff deal hollow victory for American people


This means that from the standpoint of the people who own and run American businesses, everything is pretty much fine. Moreover, they see the deficits created by the downturn as providing an opportunity to go after Social Security and Medicare.


The Campaign to Fix the Debt, a nonpartisan organization involving many of the country's richest and most powerful CEOs, sets out to do just that. It has become standard practice in Washington for Wall Street types and other wealthy interests to finance groups to push their agenda.


The Campaign to Fix the Debt involves the CEOs themselves directly stepping up to the plate and pushing the case for cutting Social Security and Medicare as well as lowering the corporate income tax rate.


It's clear what's going on here. We don't need any conspiracy theories.


iReport: What's your message for Washington?








CEOs from both political parties have openly come together to demand cuts in Social Security and Medicare, two programs that enjoy massive political support across the political spectrum. The wealthy are joining hands without regard to political affiliation to cut benefits that enjoy broad bipartisan support among everyone who is not rich.


President Barack Obama has an opportunity to show real leadership. He should explain to the public the basic facts that all budget experts know: We do not have a chronic deficit problem. The big deficits are the result of collapsed economy. The priority of the president and Congress must be to put people back to work and bring the economy back up to speed.


Fiscal cliff deal: 5 things to know


When the housing bubble burst, annual spending on residential construction fell back by more than 4% of GDP, which is $600 billion in today's economy. Similarly, consumption plunged as people drastically curtailed their spending in response to the loss of $8 trillion in housing bubble generated equity.


There is no easy way for the private sector to replace this demand. Businesses don't invest unless they see demand for their products, regardless of how much love we might shower on the "job creators." In fact, if anything, investment is surprisingly strong give the large amount of excess capacity in the economy. Measured as a share of GDP, investment in equipment and software is almost back to its prerecession level. It is hard to envision investment getting much higher, absent a major boost in demand from some other sector.


This is why it is necessary for the government to run large deficits. Ideally, the money would be spent in areas that will make us richer in the future: Education, infrastructure, research and development in clean energy, etc. There is just no way around a large role for the government given the economy's current weakness.


Big issues still pending


Obama needs to explain this simple story to the country. The rich of both parties will hate him for going down this route. They will use their powers to denounce him. But the American people support Social Security and Medicare, and they support an economy that creates jobs for ordinary workers.


Obama needs the courage to tell the truth.


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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dean Baker.






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Al-Jazeera acquires Gore-founded TV group: report






SAN FRANCISCO: Al-Jazeera has acquired Current TV, a struggling cable channel that will give the Qatar-based broadcaster the access to millions of US homes it has long sought, it was confirmed Wednesday.

Terms of the deal for Current, which was founded by US former vice president Al Gore, were not immediately disclosed, but Forbes reported that a possible value of $400 million could net the former politician a tidy $100 million.

The acquisition should also give Al-Jazeera vastly broader visibility in US homes because although Current has been struggling of late it nonetheless is available in 60 million American households, according to its own figures.

"We are proud and pleased that Al-Jazeera, the award-winning international news organization, has bought Current TV," said Gore, the San Francisco-based channel's chairman, and Joel Hyatt, co-founder and CEO, in a statement.

Gore also said Current had proudly offered "thought-provoking commentary" and Emmy and Peabody award-winning programming "to give voice to those who are not typically heard" and "to speak truth to power."

The New York Times reported that Al-Jazeera was expected to create a new channel, "Al-Jazeera America," instead of using its existing English-language vehicle Al-Jazeera English, to capitalize on Current's audience reach.

Hyatt told staff in an email that "Al-Jazeera is planning to invest significantly in building 'Al-Jazeera America,' a network focused on international news for the American audience," the Times report said.

"Al (Gore) and I will both serve on the advisory board of Al-Jazeera America, and we look forward to helping build an important news network," he added, according to the report.

The plan could put the broadcaster financed by the Qatari government into closer competition with CNN and other US news channels, as Al-Jazeera is offered only by a handful of American cable and satellite distributors.

Current Media, founded in 2005, operates Current TV, and reaches households in Britain and the United States. It also operates a youth-focused website Current.com, where users can submit their own content.

The channel has won two Emmy Awards and other honors. It reaches 71 million households worldwide.

But The Times said a sale was considered because of low ratings, with an average of just 42,000 people watching the channel last year.

-AFP/ac



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Hillary Clinton discharged from New York hospital









From Jill Dougherty, CNN


updated 7:23 PM EST, Wed January 2, 2013









STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Clinton is "making good progress on all fronts" and has been discharged

  • She has been hospitalized since Sunday after doctors found a blood clot in her head

  • Clinton has been on the phone and talking with aides, a spokeswoman says

  • The 65-year-old secretary plans to step down once the Senate confirms a successor




(CNN) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was discharged from a New York hospital on Wednesday, three days after she was admitted for treatment of a blood clot in a vein between her skull and brain, the State Department announced.


"Her medical team advised her that she is making good progress on all fronts, and they are confident she will make a full recovery," Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines said in a statement announcing her release.


Clinton walked out of New York Presbyterian Hospital accompanied by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and daughter, Chelsea, for a brief period earlier Wednesday afternoon. The appearance led to speculation about her release, which was announced a couple hours later.


She had been admitted Sunday, after doctors found the clot during a medical test related to a concussion she suffered in December.


The secretary is being treated with blood thinners to dissolve the clot, which has not resulted in a stroke or any neurological damage. Doctors expect her to make a full recovery.











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Earlier, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters that Clinton was in communication with aides and there was nothing new on her condition or treatment.


Clinton "has been quite active on the phone with all of us, but she also made some calls on Saturday to a couple of foreign officials," Nuland said.


Those official calls came before the blood clot was disclosed Sunday. The first, to the joint special envoy on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, lasted a half hour. The second was to the prime minister of Qatar, who is also the foreign minister.


"She has begun to pick up her regular phone contact with some of her counterparts," Nuland added.


Clinton, 65, has not been publicly seen or heard from in more than three weeks since falling ill with severe stomach flu and a subsequent concussion that occurred when she fainted because of dehydration, officials said.


Questions also have been raised as to why there was almost a day's delay in explaining the precise location of the clot and why she was administered an MRI, which revealed the problem.


Nuland said officials have been "extremely forthcoming" about Clinton's health.


"We will continue to keep you updated as we have new information to share, as we've been doing all along," Nuland said. "I think that was eighth statement in some three weeks so please bear with us."


Asked how Clinton's illness might affect her plans to testify on Capitol Hill about the deadly September terror attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. Nuland did not directly say whether Clinton would appear.


"She has said that she is open to going up to the Hill. We are working with them now on their schedule because there's also a question of when they are going to be in and we will let you know when we have something to share," Nuland said.


Clinton, a former first lady, New York senator and presidential candidate, does not plan to stay on for President Barack Obama's second term, but prefers to remain until her replacement is in place.


Some senators have said they would delay confirmation hearings for her proposed successor, Sen. John Kerry, until Clinton has testified on the Libya attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.









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