In Gaza, new arsenals include “weaponized” social media

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – There have long been the tools of warfare associated with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: warplanes, mortars, Qassam rockets. Now that list includes Twitter, Facebook, YouTube.

This week the worldwide audience got a vivid look at conflict in the social media era as the Israeli military unfurled an extensive campaign across several Internet channels after conducting an air strike that killed a top Hamas military commander in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

The air strike, which came after several days of rocket attacks launched from Gaza toward targets in Israel, was confirmed by the Israel Defense Force’s Twitter account before the military held a press conference.

The public relations tug-of-war has long been understood as a central element of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinian leaders like Yasser Arafat were credited with skillfully courting international media during the first Intifada to highlight the Palestinian struggle and help sway public opinion.

But the newest technologies, including Twitter and YouTube, have been embraced particularly by the Israeli government, which has perhaps waged an unprecedented social media PR campaign as the conflict escalated this week.

The Israel Defense Force (IDF) has established a presence on nearly every platform available. It launched a Tumblr account Wednesday, posting infographics touting how Israeli forces minimize collateral damage to Palestinian civilians. It prepared Facebook pages in several languages, and even has a bare-bones Pinterest page with photos of troops deployed in humanitarian missions.

On Twitter, the @IDFspokesperson account issued a torrent of tweets that carried hashtags like #IsraelUnderFire and what it said were videos of rockets fired at Israel from Gaza, as well as pictures of wounded Israeli children.

“They are very conscious how things are going to be viewed, perhaps more so because they sense that they are more and more isolated in world opinion, and they are less shouldered by U.S. public opinion,” said James Noyes, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution.

The IDF also posted on Twitter a picture of Ahmed Al-Jaabari, the Hamas commander who was killed, with the word “eliminated” stamped over his face.

Meanwhile, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military group formerly led by Al-Jaabari, also took to Twitter to offer blow-by-blow updates of its fighters shelling Israeli military targets. It publicized deaths of Palestinian children due to Israeli attacks, and used hashtags like “#terrorism.”

HIGH STAKES

At certain points, the two sides clashed head-on.

“We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead,” tweeted @IDFspokesperson after Al-Jaabari was killed.

Al-Qassam (@AlqassamBrigade) shot back at @IDFSpokesperson, warning in a public tweet that the group’s “blessed hands will reach your leaders and soldiers wherever they are,” and that “You Opened Hell Gates on Yourselves” as a result of the air strike.

The exchange raised questions for the new media companies that have vowed to stand behind free speech but perhaps have never before played host to such high-stakes discourse.

Although Twitter regulates against “direct, specific threats of violence,” the two sides tweeted unchecked. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

But on Wednesday, YouTube briefly blocked a grainy IDF video that showed a missile striking Al-Jaabari’s car. The footage, uploaded shortly after the air strike, had drawn hundreds of thousands of views and was flagged by some users as objectionable.

YouTube’s parent Google Inc later reinstated the video and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said there was a lot of “back and forth” among senior executives at Google, including himself and Google Chief Executive Larry Page, over whether to block the footage.

In YouTube’s case, the general rule is that films that “encourage violence and depict violence are not allowed,” said Schmidt, speaking at a conference sponsored by the RAND corporation and Thomson Reuters entitled “Politics Aside,” in Los Angeles.

“The problem is, if we don’t host it, somebody else will. How do we get all of it down?” he added.

‘WEAPONIZED’ SOCIAL MEDIA

Observers say the Israeli military’s social media efforts are a far cry from the 2008 Gaza War, when the IDF launched a YouTube channel for the first time with videos that sought to justify sending troops into Palestinian territory.

“Operation Cast Lead marked the first time they weaponized social media,” said Rebecca Stein, a professor of anthropology at Duke University who has researched how Israeli military officials use social media. “But back then it was very improvisational,” she said.

In 2010, the government seemed to be caught off guard when activists on a humanitarian convoy bound for the Gaza Strip stirred up sympathy by tweeting and webcasting from their boats after they were boarded by Israeli troops.

That year, the Israeli foreign ministry invested more than $ 15 million to better grasp how the government could use social media in a broader campaign to burnish the nation’s image.

Last year, Israeli officials sent a letter to Facebook Inc asking the social network to remove a page calling for a third Palestinian uprising.

On Thursday, as Israel mobilized troops for a potential ground assault reminiscent of 2008, the PR machine that rolled out seemed nothing like the halting efforts of four years prior, Stein said.

“They’ve had to do a lot of learning between then and now and have invested a lot of resources and exponential manpower specifically for an event like this,” Stein said. “In some sense, they’ve been pioneers of social media statecraft.”

(Additional reporting by Tim Reid in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Jesse & Joy take 4 Latin Grammys, Juanes wins too

LAS VEGAS (AP) — As Colombian rockero Juanes took home the best album award, Mexican brother-sister duo Jesse & Joy and their pop hit "Corre!" ran away with four awards at the 13th Annual Latin Grammys.

Hosted by actors Cristian De La Fuente and Lucero, Thursday night's event attracted stars from across the world and from dozens of Latin musical genres to the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Just like at a big family party, new faces shared the spotlight with older generations, and traditional styles mixed with electronica and Vegas dancers on stage.

Traditional Mexico met Las Vegas in a colorful number featuring Oaxaca native Lila Downs, Afro-Colombian singer Toto la Momposina and dancers in regional costumes, Carnival masques and skeleton makeup.

"What a great joy. Thank God, and all the fans," Juanes said as he dragged Dominican mereguero Juan Luis Guerra, who produced "MTV Unplugged," to the stage to accept the mini-gramaphone for best album at the close of the ceremony.

The winner for best new artist, the Mexican DJ trio 3ball MTY, threw down beats with America Sierra and Sky Blu of LMFAO. Pitbull performed "Don't Stop the Party" with dancers in gold spangled bikinis and hot pants. Juanes jammed with legendary guitarist Carlos Santana.

Michel Telo, the Brazilian sertanejo or country music singer, performed his hit, "Ai si eu te pego,"with Blue Man Group. Bachata heartthrob Prince Royce sang with veteran Mexican singer-songwriter Joan Sebastian. But the applause was also strong for the 1980s hit, "Yo No Te Pido la Luna," a duet between Spaniard Sergio Dalma and Mexican singer Daniela Romo, sporting a short silver hairdo following her bout with breast cancer.

Jesse & Joy also won for best contemporary pop vocal album for "Con Quien se Queda el Perro" and best short video for "Me voy."

"Thanks to people like Juanes and Juan Luis Guerro who have inspired us. Love and peace," Jesse said.

Guerra, who came into the ceremony as the leading nominee with six bids, won producer of the year for Juanes' album "MTV Unplugged."

Guerra performed "En el Cielo No Hay Hospital," which brought the audience to its feet to dance, and for a standing ovation.

Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Don Omar and Uruguayan alt rockers Cuarteto de Nos won two Latin Grammys each.

Downs won best folkloric album for "Pecados y Milagros." Colombian singer Fonseca won for best tropical fusion album, and Los Tucanes de Tijuana won best norteno album for "365 Dias," the narco-corrido band's 32nd album.

Milly Quezada brought home two statuettes, including best contemporary tropical album for "Aqui estoy yo."

"Long live merengue! Long live the Dominican Republic!" she said as she accepted the award. She also thanked Guerra, who helped produce the album.

Cuban-American jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval won three Latin Grammys, two for "Dear Diz (Every Day I Think of You)," but said these awards was just exciting as his first.

"The emotion is the same because one puts the same effort into each recording and the fact that the work is received well and respected by the public is very satisfying," he said.

The Latin Grammy celebration kicked off Wednesday with a tribute to Person of the Year winner, Caetano Veloso, one of the founders of the Tropicalismo movement.

The Brazilian singer, composer and activist sang in Spanish and Portuguese before Pitbull and Sensato closed with "Crazy People."

The event was broadcast live on Univision.

Interactive: http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2012/latin-grammys/

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Migration officials say cholera in Haiti on rise

GENEVA (AP) — The world's largest agency that deals with global migration says cholera is again on the rise in Haiti.

The International Organization for Migration says Haitian officials have confirmed 3,593 cholera cases and another 837 suspected cases since Hurricane Sandy's passage.

IOM spokesman Jumbe Omari Jumbe told reporters Friday in Geneva "the numbers are going up" particularly in camps around the capital, Port-au-Prince.

He said his organization has responded by handing out about 10,000 cholera kits in 31 camps this week "badly hit by cholera in the area."

Cholera is a bacterial infection that spreads through water, and Haiti's lack of proper sanitation and sewage systems makes the country more vulnerable.

Haiti was spared a direct hit from Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 24, but received heavy rain for several days.

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Hopes for Israel, Gaza truce quickly dashed

GAZA (Reuters) - Egypt opened a tiny window to emergency peace diplomacy in Gaza on Friday, but hopes for even a brief ceasefire while its prime minister was inside the bombarded enclave to talk to leaders of the Islamist Hamas movement were immediately dashed.

Prime Minister Hisham Kandil visited the Gaza Strip on Friday officially to show solidarity with the Palestinian people after two days of relentless attacks by Israeli warplanes determined to end militant rocket fire at Israel.

But a Palestinian official close to Egypt's mediators told Reuters that Kandil's visit, which included members of Cairo's secret service, "was the beginning of a process to explore the possibility of reaching a truce. It is early to speak of any details or of how things will evolve".

Israel undertook to cease fire during the visit if Hamas did too. But it said rockets fired from Gaza had hit several sites in southern Israel as he was in the enclave.

According to a Hamas source, the Israeli air force launched an attack on the house of Hamas's commander for southern Gaza which resulted in the death of two civilians, one a child.

But Israel's military strongly denied carrying out any attacks from the time Kandil entered Gaza, and accused Hamas of violating the three-hour deal. "Israel has not attacked in Gaza for the past two hours," a spokesman said.

"Even though about 50 rockets have fallen in Israel over the past two hours, we chose not to attack in Gaza due to the visit of the Egyptian prime minister. Hamas is lying and reporting otherwise," the army said in a Twitter message.

Kandil said: "Egypt will spare no effort ... to stop the aggression and to achieve a truce."

At a Gaza hospital he saw the bloodied body of a child. He left the Gaza Strip after meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the enclave's prime minister.

Palestinian medics said two people were killed in the disputed explosion at the house, one of them a child. It raised the Palestinian death toll since Wednesday to 21. Three Israelis were killed by a rocket on Thursday.

Air raid sirens wailed over Tel Aviv on Thursday evening, sending residents rushing for shelter and two long-range rockets exploded just south of the metropolis. The location of the impacts was not disclosed.

They exploded harmlessly, police said. But they have shaken the 40 percent of Israelis who, until now, lived in safety beyond range of the southern rocket zone.

"Even Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu was rushed into a reinforced room," said cabinet minister Gilad Eldan.

Israel has started drafting 16,000 reserve troops, in what could be a precursor to invasion.

The 21 Palestinian dead include eight militants and 13 civilians, among them seven children and a pregnant woman. A Hamas rocket killed three Israeli civilians a town north of Gaza, men and women in their 30s.

The last Gaza war, a lopsided three-week long Israeli air blitz and ground invasion over the New Year period of 2008-2009 aimed at ending repeated rocket attacks, left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, mostly civilian, and killed 13 Israelis.

THE MESSAGE

"If Hamas says it understands the message and commits to a long ceasefire, via the Egyptians or anyone else, this is what we want. We want quiet in the south and a stronger deterrence," Israeli vice prime minister Moshe Yaalon said.

"The Egyptians have been a pipeline for passing messages. Hamas always turns (to them) to request a ceasefire. We are in contact with the Egyptian defence ministry. And it could be a channel in which a ceasefire is reached," he told Israeli radio.

At the same time, there were signs of possible preparations for a ground assault on Gaza. In pre-dawn strikes, warplanes bombed open land along the border zone with Israel, in what could be a softening-up stage to clear the way for tanks.

Self-propelled heavy artillery was seen near the border.

The United States has asked countries that have contact with Hamas to urge the Islamist movement to stop its recent rocket attacks from Gaza, a White House adviser said.

"We've ... urged those that have a degree of influence with Hamas, such as Turkey and Egypt and some of our European partners, to use that influence to urge Hamas to de-escalate," Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, said in a conference call with reporters.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in an interview with Voice of America: "I understand the reasons Israel is doing what they're doing. They've been the target of missiles coming in from Gaza ... ."

EGYPT ON THE SPOT

The Gaza conflagration has stoked the flames of a Middle East ablaze with two years of Arab revolution and a civil war in Syria that threatens to engulf the whole region.

Hamas refuses to recognise Israel's right to exist. By contrast, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who rules in the nearby West Bank, does recognise Israel, but peace talks between the two sides have been frozen since 2010.

Abbas's supporters say they will push ahead with their plan to become an "observer state" rather than a mere "entity" at the United Nations later this month.

Despite fierce opposition from both Israel and the United States, they look certain to win the vote in the General Assembly, where they have a built a majority of supporters.

Egypt's new Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, viewed by Hamas as a protector, led a chorus of denunciation of the Israeli strikes by allies of the Palestinians.

Mursi faces domestic pressure to act tough. But Egypt gets $1.3 billion a year in U.S. military aid and looks to Washington for help with its ailing economy, constraining Mursi despite his need to show Egyptians that his policies differ from those of his U.S.-backed predecessor, Hosni Mubarak.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Thursday urged Egypt to do more to help the Palestinians.

"We call upon the brothers in Egypt to take the measures that will deter this enemy," the Hamas prime minister said.

The appeal poses a test of Mursi's commitment to Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel, which the West views as the bedrock of Middle East peace.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which brought Mursi to power in an election after the downfall of pro-Western Hosni Mubarak, has called for a "Day of Rage" in Arab capitals on Friday. The Brotherhood is seen as the spiritual mentor of Hamas.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said they had targeted over 450 "terror activity sites" in the Gaza Strip since Operation Pillar of Defence began with the assassination of Hamas' top military commander on Wednesday by an Israeli missile.

Some 150 medium range rocket launching sites and ammunition dumps were targeted overnight, the IDF said.

"The sites that were targeted were positively identified by precise intelligence over the course of months," it said. "The Gaza strip has been turned into a frontal base for Iran, forcing Israeli citizens to live under unbearable circumstances."

Israeli bombing has not yet reached the saturation level seen before it last invaded Gaza in the first days of 2009, when armoured bulldozers and tanks flattened whole districts of the crowded enclave to make way for fire bases and open routes for infantry.

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Parents slam Irish abortion laws after woman dies

NEW DELHI (AP) — The parents of an Indian woman who suffered a miscarriage and died after being refused an abortion in an Irish hospital have slammed Ireland's abortion laws.

Savita Halappanavar was 17 weeks pregnant when she miscarried and died last month.

Ireland's government confirmed Wednesday that Halappanavar suffered from blood poisoning and died after being denied an abortion, reigniting the debate over legalizing abortion in the predominantly Catholic country.

A. Mahadevi, Halappanavar's mother, said Thursday that in trying to save a 4-month-old fetus doctors killed her 31-year-old daughter.

Halappanavar's husband, Praveen, said doctors knew his wife was miscarrying within hours of her hospitalization for severe pain Oct. 21. But he said for three days they refused requests for an abortion to combat her pain and fading health. She died a week later.

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Erdrich wins her first National Book Award

NEW YORK (AP) — The National Book Awards honored both longtime writers and new authors, from Louise Erdrich for "The Round House" to Katherine Boo for her debut work, "Beyond the Beautiful Forevers."

Erdrich, 58, has been a published and highly regarded author for nearly 30 years but had never won a National Book Award until being cited Wednesday for her story, the second of a planned trilogy, about an Ojibwe boy and his quest to avenge his mother's rape. A clearly delighted and surprised Erdrich, who's part Ojibwe, spoke in her tribal tongue and then switched to English as she dedicated her fiction award to "the grace and endurance of native people."

The works of two other winners also centered on young boys — Boo's for nonfiction, and William Alexander's fantasy "Goblin Secrets," for young people's literature. David Ferry won for poetry.

Boo's book, set in a Mumbai slum, is the story of a boy and his harsh and illuminating education in the consequences of crime or perceived crime. The author, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist currently on staff with The New Yorker, said she was grateful for the chance to live in a world she "didn't know" and for the chance to tell the stories of those otherwise ignored. She praised a fellow nominee and fellow Pulitzer-winning reporter, the late Anthony Shadid, for also believing in stories of those without fame or power.

Boo was chosen from one of the strongest lists of nonfiction books in memory, from the fourth volume of Robert Caro's Lyndon Johnson series to Shadid's memoir "House of Stone." Finalists in fiction, which in recent years favored lesser known writers, included such established names as Dave Eggers and Junot Diaz. Publishers have been concerned that the National Book Awards have become too insular and are considering changes, including expanding the pool of judges beyond writers.

Winners, chosen by panels of their peers, each will receive $10,000.Judges looked through nearly 1,300 books.

Ferry is a year older than one of the night's honorary recipients, Elmore Leonard. Ferry, 88, won for "Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations," a showcase for his versatile style. He fought back tears as he confided that he thought there was a chance for winning because he "was so much older" than the other nominees. Attempting to find poetry in victory, he called the award a "pre-posthumous" honor.

Alexander quoted fellow fantasy writer Ursula K. Le Guin in highlighting the importance of stories for shaping kids' imaginations and making the world a larger place than the one they live in.

"We have to remember that," Alexander said.

The ceremony was hosted by commentator-performer Faith Salie and went smoothly even though Superstorm Sandy badly damaged the offices of the award's organizer, the National Book Foundation, whose staffers had to work with limited telephone and mail access.

Honorary prizes were given to Leonard and New York Times publisher and chairman Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr.

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Booze calories nearly equal soda's for US adults

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans get too many calories from soda. But what about alcohol? It turns out adults get almost as many empty calories from booze as from soft drinks, a government study found.

Soda and other sweetened drinks — the focus of obesity-fighting public health campaigns — are the source of about 6 percent of the calories adults consume, on average. Alcoholic beverages account for about 5 percent, the new study found.

"We've been focusing on sugar-sweetened beverages. This is something new," said Cynthia Ogden, one of the study's authors. She's an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which released its findings Thursday.

The government researchers say the findings deserve attention because, like soda, alcohol contains few nutrients but plenty of calories.

The study is based on interviews with more than 11,000 U.S. adults from 2007 through 2010. Participants were asked extensive questions about what they ate and drank over the previous 24 hours.

The study found:

—On any given day, about one-third of men and one-fifth of women consumed calories from beer, wine or liquor.

—Averaged out to all adults, the average guy drinks 150 calories from alcohol each day, or the equivalent of a can of Budweiser.

—The average woman drinks about 50 calories, or roughly half a glass of wine.

—Men drink mostly beer. For women, there was no clear favorite among alcoholic beverages.

—There was no racial or ethnic difference in average calories consumed from alcoholic beverages. But there was an age difference, with younger adults putting more of it away.

For reference, a 12-ounce can of regular Coca-Cola has 140 calories, slightly less than a same-sized can of regular Bud. A 5-ounce glass of wine is around 100 calories.

In September, New York City approved an unprecedented measure cracking down on giant sodas, those bigger than 16 ounces, or half a liter. It will take effect in March and bans sales of drinks that large at restaurants, cafeterias and concession stands.

Should New York officials now start cracking down on tall-boy beers and monster margaritas?

There are no plans for that, city health department officials said, adding in a statement that while studies show that sugary drinks are "a key driver of the obesity epidemic," alcohol is not.

Health officials should think about enacting policies to limit alcoholic intake, but New York's focus on sodas is appropriate, said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a public health advocacy group.

Soda and sweetened beverages are the bigger problem, especially when it comes to kids — the No. 1 source of calories in the U.S. diet, she said.

"In New York City, it was smart to start with sugary drinks. Let's see how it goes and then think about next steps," she said.

However, she lamented that the Obama administration is planning to exempt alcoholic beverages from proposed federal regulations requiring calorie labeling on restaurant menus.

It could set up a confusing scenario in which, say, a raspberry iced tea may have a calorie count listed, while an alcohol-laden Long Island Iced Tea — with more than four times as many calories — doesn't. "It could give people the wrong idea," she said.

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Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/

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Sources: BP to pay record fine for Gulf Coast disaster

HOUSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - BP Plc is expected to pay a record U.S. criminal penalty and plead guilty to criminal misconduct in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster through a plea deal reached with the Department of Justice (DoJ) that may be announced as soon as Thursday, according to sources familiar with discussions.

Three sources, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said BP would plead guilty in exchange for a waiver of future prosecution on the charges.

BP confirmed it was in "advanced discussions" with the DoJ and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC).

The talks were about "proposed resolutions of all U.S. federal government criminal and SEC claims against BP in connection with the Deepwater Horizon incident," it said in a statement on Thursday, but added that no final agreements had been reached.

The discussion do not cover federal civil claims, both BP and the sources said.

London-based oil giant BP has been locked in months-long negotiations with the U.S. government and Gulf Coast states to settle billions of dollars of potential civil and criminal liability claims resulting from the April 20, 2010, explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig.

The sources did not disclose the amount of BP's payment, but one said it would be the largest criminal penalty in U.S. history. That record is now held by Pfizer Inc, which paid a $1.3 billion fine in 2009 for marketing fraud related to its Bextra pain medicine.

The DoJ declined to comment.

The deal could resolve a significant share of the liability that BP faces after the explosion killed 11 workers and fouled the shorelines of four Gulf Coast states in the worst offshore spill in U.S. history. BP, which saw its market value plummet and replaced its CEO in the aftermath of the spill, still faces economic and environmental damage claims sought by U.S. Gulf Coast states and other private plaintiffs.

The fine would far outstrip BP's last major settlement with the DoJ in 2007, when it payed about $373 million to resolve three separate probes into a deadly 2005 Texas refinery explosion, an Alaska oil pipeline leak and fraud for conspiring to corner the U.S. propane market.

The massive settlement, which comes a week after the U.S. presidential election, could ignite a debate in Congress about how funds would be shared with Gulf Coast states, depending on how the deal is structured. Congress passed a law last year that would earmark 80 percent of BP penalties paid under the Clean Water Act to the spill-hit states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas.

POTENTIAL LIABILITY

In an August filing, the DoJ said "reckless management" of the Macondo well "constituted gross negligence and willful misconduct" which it intended to prove at a civil trial set to begin in New Orleans in February 2013. The U.S. government has not yet filed any criminal charges in the case.

Given that the deal will not resolve any civil charges brought by the Justice Department, it is also unclear how large a financial penalty BP might pay to resolve the charges, or other punishments that BP might face.

Negligence is a central issue to BP's potential liability. A gross negligence finding could nearly quadruple the civil damages owed by BP under the Clean Water Act to $21 billion in a straight-line calculation.

Still unresolved is potential liability faced by Swiss-based Transocean Ltd, owner of the Deepwater Horizon vessel, and Halliburton Co, which provided cementing work on the well that U.S. investigators say was flawed. Both companies were not immediately available for comment.

According to the Justice Department, errors made by BP and Transocean in deciphering a pressure test of the Macondo well are a clear indication of gross negligence.

"That such a simple, yet fundamental and safety-critical test could have been so stunningly, blindingly botched in so many ways, by so many people, demonstrates gross negligence," the government said in its August filing.

Transocean in September disclosed it is in discussions with the Justice Department to pay $1.5 billion to resolve civil and criminal claims.

The mile-deep Macondo well spewed 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of 87 days. The torrent fouled shorelines from Texas to Florida and eclipsed in severity the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.

BP has already announced an uncapped class-action settlement with private plaintiffs that the company estimates will cost $7.8 billion to resolve litigation brought by over 100,000 individuals and businesses claiming economic and medical damages from the spill.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Callus in London; Editing by Edward Tobin and David Stamp)

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China's Hu clears way for Xi to take party helm

BEIJING (AP) — President Hu Jintao stepped aside as ruling party leader Wednesday to clear the way for Vice President Xi Jinping to take China's helm as part of only the second orderly transfer of power in 63 years of Communist rule.

In a possible break from tradition, Hu may also be giving up his post as head of the commission that oversees the military, which would give Xi greater leeway to consolidate his authority when he takes over. A top general indicated Hu would not stay on in the military post.

Hu and other senior leaders mostly in their late 60s are handing over power to leader-in-waiting Xi and other colleagues in their late 50s over the next several months. The new leadership faces daunting challenges including slowing growth in the world's No. 2 economy, rising unrest among increasingly assertive citizens and delicate relations with neighboring countries.

In keeping with the widely anticipated succession plans, Hu was not re-elected a member of the party's Central Committee on the final day of a pivotal party congress, showing that he's no longer in the political leadership.

Delegates said they cheered when the announced results of secret balloting showed that Xi had been unanimously chosen for the committee, a step toward being named to the topmost panel, the Politburo Standing Committee, and becoming party leader as expected on Thursday. Li Keqiang, designated as the next premier, also was elected to the Central Committee of 205 full members.

"We were very happy, and the whole assembly responded with warm applause," said delegate Si Zefu, president of the Dongfang Electric Corp. based in the central city of Chengdu.

Previous outgoing leaders, including former President Jiang Zemin, have held onto the military post for a transitional period to extend their grip on power. Asked by Hong Kong reporters if Hu would retain his chairmanship of the military commission, Zhang Qinsheng, deputy chief of general staff of the People's Liberation Army, said the central leadership "had no such arrangements."

Zhang Lifan, an independent scholar in Beijing, said relinquishing all posts would be Hu's contribution to China's political reform.

"It will be an important political legacy, as he will break the bad tradition of holding onto power by outgoing officials," he said.

As the final day of the secretive, weeklong congress drew to a close in the Great Hall of the People, and after reporters were invited in to watch the proceedings, Hu reminded party leaders of the "glorious mission and heavy responsibilities" entrusted to them.

"We must strive to be role models, bring out our best in working for the cause of the party and the country," he said.

Sitting on the dais of leaders next to Hu was his predecessor, the 86-year-old Jiang, who has emerged as a key power-broker, maneuvering his allies into the leadership at the expense of Hu. Jiang had to be helped up by attendants when congress members stood for the Communist anthem, the Internationale. Afterward, Jiang turned to Hu and shook hands before being escorted offstage.

Hu later picked up some papers, shook hands with people in the row behind him and walked off the stage.

The party's 2,200-plus delegates also rubber-stamped the report Hu delivered last week committing the party to continuing a pro-economic growth agenda while retaining firm political control. Hu urged stronger measures to rein in corruption and make the government more responsive to public demands, but offered little in the way of specifics.

The next lineup of China's most powerful body, the Politburo Standing Committee, will be announced on Thursday. Though congress and Central Committee delegates have some influence over leadership decisions, most of the lineup is decided among a core group of the most powerful party members and elders.

The congress votes are "fully democratic" but "there is a degree of inevitability," actor and party delegate Song Guofeng of Liaoning province said as he entered the hall Wednesday.

"We need to have continuity in leadership to carry on," Song said. "They are already in the leadership core. The stability of the party and of the country is important."

Xi and Li — part of a generation schooled at a time of more openness to the West than their predecessors — were inducted into the leadership five years ago and are shoo-ins for the Standing Committee. But other positions on the panel were believed up for grabs and the subject of intense jockeying ahead of the congress.

The committee currently has nine members but may be reduced to seven. Wang Qishan, another vice premier, was named to the party's disciplinary body in a sign he would likely be named to the top committee.

China's leadership transitions are always occasions for fractious backroom bargaining, but this one has been further complicated by scandals that have fed public cynicism that their leaders are more concerned with power and wealth than government.

In recent months, Bo Xilai, a senior politician seen as a rising star, was purged after his aide exposed that his wife had murdered a British businessman. An ally of Hu's was sidelined after his son died in the crash of a Ferrari he shouldn't have been able to afford. And foreign media recently reported that relatives of Xi and outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao have amassed vast wealth. The scandals have weakened Hu, on whose watch they occurred.

Hu took over as party boss in 2002 in the first power transfer that did not involve the death of a leader or the unseating of a designated successor.

He will remain in the largely ceremonial post of president until March. Whether or not he remains head of the military commission should be confirmed Thursday.

In a nod to Hu's 10 years in power, the congress upgraded his pet theory, the Scientific Outlook on Development, to rank alongside other key schools of thought in the party constitution such as Marxism-Leninsim and Mao Zedong Thought. Hu's program called for more balanced growth in an attempt to distribute benefits more fairly across society.

The congress is a largely ceremonial gathering of representatives — mostly carefully selected from the national and provincial political and military elite. The real deal-making for the top positions is done behind the scenes by the true power-holders. The newly selected Central Committee meets Thursday to select the next Politburo of about two dozen members and from that, the Politburo Standing Committee.

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Associated Press writers Chris Bodeen, Didi Tang and Charles Hutzler in Beijing contributed to this report.

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'Gangnam Style' star joins Madonna onstage at MSG

NEW YORK (AP) — Madonna has gone "Gangnam Style."

Korean pop star PSY joined the pop icon Tuesday night during her second show this week at Madison Square Garden. They danced to his pop culture anthem "Gangnam Style" and to her jam "Music" in front of nearly 20,000.

Madonna said PSY flew "all the way from Frankfurt, Germany this morning." She also said she was a big fan of the rapper and loved his suit, which was bright red.

He added that he's had a lot of experiences in the last few months, and that performing at MSG with Madonna topped his list.

Madonna also collected money for those affected by Superstorm Sandy. Fans threw money onstage while she sang "Like a Virgin." She said she collected $3,000 at Monday's show.

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