'Twilight' finale tops anti-Oscar Razzies shortlist






LOS ANGELES: The last installment of the blockbuster "Twilight" franchise has won the dubious honor of being nominated in every category for Hollywood's anti-Oscar Razzie awards.

"Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" topped the shortlist of the Golden Raspberries, handed out each year as an alternative to Tinseltown's annual back-slapping awards season, which moves into top gear this week.

Others tipped for Razzie shame include veteran diva Barbra Streisand for worst actress in mother-son road movie "The Guilt Trip," while Nicolas Cage, Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler are all up for worst actor.

"Twilight" stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are nominated for worst actor and actress, while the film's director Bill Condon was tipped for worst filmmaker, in shortlists for all 10 Razzie categories unveiled Tuesday.

The tongue-in-cheek dishonor award will not matter much to the makers of the "Twilight" films -- the fifth and final installment of the wildly-popular franchise has taken nearly $800 million at the box office worldwide, according to the IMDb movie industry website.

The other films shortlisted for worst movie of 2012 were "Battleship," family movie "The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure," Adam Sandler comedy "That's My Boy" and "A Thousand Words" starring comedy veteran Murphy.

The Razzie winners will be announced on February 23, the day before the Academy Awards. Nominations for the Oscars are due to be announced early Thursday in Beverly Hills.

Here are the full shortlists in the main Razzie categories:

Worst director: Sean Anders, "That's My Boy"; Peter Berg, "Battleship"; Bill Condon, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2"; Tyler Perry, "Good Deeds"/"Madea's Witness Protection"; and John Putch, "Atlas Shrugged II."

Worst Actress: Katherine Heigl, "One for the Money"; Milla Jovovich, "Resident Evil: Retribution"; Tyler Perry, "Madea's Witness Protection"; Kristen Stewart, "The Twilight Saga"/"Snow White and the Huntsman."

Worst Actor: Nicolas Cage, "Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance"/"Seeking Justice"; Eddie Murphy, "A Thousand Words"; Robert Pattinson, "The Twilight Saga"; Tyler Perry, "Alex Cross"/"Good Deeds"; Adam Sandler, "That's My Boy."

Worst Supporting Actress: Jessica Biel, "Playing For Keeps"/"Total Recall"; Brooklyn Decker, "Battleship"/"What to Expect When You're Expecting"; Ashley Greene, "The Twilight Saga"; Jennifer Lopez, "What to Expect When You're Expecting"; Rihanna, "Battleship."

Worst Supporting Actor: David Hasselhoff, "Piranha 3-DD"; Taylor Lautner, "The Twilight Saga"; Liam Neeson, "Battleship"/"Wrath of the Titans"; Nick Swardson, "That's My Boy"; Vanilla Ice, "That's My Boy."

- AFP/ck



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Kin bid tearful adieu to soldier killed by Pakistan troops

MATHURA: Hundreds of villagers joined family in bidding adieu on late Wednesday evening to deceased Lance Naik Hemraj Singh, who was killed by Pakistan troops during a ceasefire violation in Jammu and Kashmir.

In Singh's native village of Shernagar under Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, scores of locals flocked to the soldier's residence to honour him.

The inconsolable family of the soldier comprising an ageing mother, his wife, two daughters and a toddler son was seen being pacified by local women.

Army officials who escorted Singh's coffin from New Delhi participated in the last rite and also gave a rifle salute by firing several rounds in the air in honour of the soldier who died at the hands of the enemy at the Line of Control (LoC).

Lance Naik Hemraj, one of the two Indian soldiers killed by Pakistani troops in a violation of truce on the Kashmir border, was the family's sole breadwinner.

Hemraj, who joined the Army in 2001, was the second of three brothers and the sole earning member of his family after the death of his father.

Pakistani troops crossed the territory's heavily militarised LoC on Tuesday (January 08) and fired at an Indian army patrol.

The body of one of the soldiers was found "badly mutilated" in a forested area on the side controlled by India, Indian military officials said. Pakistan has denied the allegation.

The army had said that in a separate incident later on Tuesday, both sides shot at each other for more than an hour across the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Jammu and Kashmir.

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Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down


WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.


Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer.


"There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer advocacy groups.


But bad diets, lack of physical activity and obesity together wield "incredible forces against this decline in mortality," Brawley said. He warned that over the next decade, that trio could surpass tobacco as the leading cause of cancer in the U.S.


Overall, deaths from cancer began slowly dropping in the 1990s, and Monday's report shows the trend holding. Among men, cancer death rates dropped by 1.8 percent a year between 2000 and 2009, and by 1.4 percent a year among women. The drops are thanks mostly to gains against some of the leading types — lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers — because of treatment advances and better screening.


The news isn't all good. Deaths still are rising for certain cancer types including liver, pancreatic and, among men, melanoma, the most serious kind of skin cancer.


Preventing cancer is better than treating it, but when it comes to new cases of cancer, the picture is more complicated.


Cancer incidence is dropping slightly among men, by just over half a percent a year, said the report published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Prostate, lung and colorectal cancers all saw declines.


But for women, earlier drops have leveled off, the report found. That may be due in part to breast cancer. There were decreases in new breast cancer cases about a decade ago, as many women quit using hormone therapy after menopause. Since then, overall breast cancer incidence has plateaued, and rates have increased among black women.


Another problem area: Oral and anal cancers caused by HPV, the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, are on the rise among both genders. HPV is better known for causing cervical cancer, and a protective vaccine is available. Government figures show just 32 percent of teen girls have received all three doses, fewer than in Canada, Britain and Australia. The vaccine was recommended for U.S. boys about a year ago.


Among children, overall cancer death rates are dropping by 1.8 percent a year, but incidence is continuing to increase by just over half a percent a year. Brawley said it's not clear why.


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Dead Lotto Winner's Wife Seeks 'Truth'













The wife of a $1 million Chicago lottery winner who died of cyanide poisoning told ABC News that she was shocked to learn the true cause of his death and is cooperating with an ongoing homicide investigation.


"I want the truth to come out in the investigation, the sooner the better," said Shabana Ansari, 32, the wife of Urooj Khan, 46. "Who could be that person who hurt him?


"It has been incredibly hard time," she added. "We went from being the happiest the day we got the check. It was the best sleep I've had. And then the next day, everything was gone."


Ansari, Khan's second wife, told the Chicago Sun-Times that she prepared what would be her husband's last meal the night before Khan died unexpectedly on July 20. It was a traditional beef-curry dinner attended by the married couple and their family, including Khan's 17-year-old daughter from a prior marriage, Jasmeen, and Ansari's father. Not feeling well, Khan retired early, Ansari told the paper, falling asleep in a chair, waking up in agony, then collapsing in the middle of the night. She called 911.


Khan, an immigrant from India who owned three dry-cleaning businesses in Chicago, won $1 million in a scratch-off Illinois Lottery game in June and said he planned to use the money to pay off his bills and mortgage, and make a contribution to St. Jude Children's Research Center.


"Him winning the lottery was just his luck," Ansari told ABC News. "He had already worked hard to be a millionaire before it."






Illinois Lottery/AP Photo











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Jimmy Goreel, who worked at the 7-Eleven store where Khan bought the winning ticket, described him to The Associated Press as a "regular customer ... very friendly, good sense of humor, working type of guy."


In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners


Khan's unexpected death the month after his lottery win raised the suspicions of the Cook County medical examiner. There were no signs of foul play or trauma so the death initially was attributed to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, which covers heart attacks, stroke or ruptured aneurysms. The medical examiner based the conclusion on an external exam -- not an autopsy -- and toxicology reports that indicated no presence of drugs or carbon monoxide.


Khan was buried at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.


However, several days after a death certificate was issued, a family member requested that the medical examiner's office look further into Khan's death, Cook County Medical Examiner Stephen Cina said. The office did so by retesting fluid samples that had been taken from Khan's body, including tests for cyanide and strychnine.


When the final toxicology results came back in late November, they showed a lethal level of cyanide, which led to the homicide investigation, Cina said. His office planned to exhume Khan's body within the next two weeks as part of the investigation.


Melissa Stratton, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department, confirmed it has been working closely with the medical examiner's office. The police have not said whether or not they believe Khan's lottery winnings played a part in the homicide.


Khan had elected to receive the lump sum payout of $425,000, but had not yet received it when he died, Ansari told the AP, adding that the winnings now are tied up as a probate matter.


"I am cooperating with the investigation," Ansari told ABC News. "I want the truth to come out."


Authorities also have not revealed the identity of the relative who suggested the deeper look into Khan's death. Ansari said it was not her, though she told the AP she has subsequently spoken with investigators.


"This is been a shock for me," she told ABC News. "This has been an utter shock for me, and my husband was such a goodhearted person who would do anything for anyone. Who would do something like this to him?


"We were married 12 years [and] he treated me like a princess," she said. "He showered his love on me and now it's gone."



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Venezuela postpones inauguration for cancer-stricken Chavez


CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela will postpone the inauguration of President Hugo Chavez for a new term due to health problems, the government said on Tuesday, another sign the socialist leader's cancer may be bringing an end to his 14 years in power.


The 58-year-old former soldier who has dominated the South American OPEC nation since 1999 has not been heard from since surgery on December 11 in Cuba - his fourth operation since he was diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer in June 2011.


The announcement outraged opposition leaders who insist that Chavez must be sworn in before the National Assembly on January 10 as laid out in the constitution, or temporarily step aside and leave an ally in power.


"The commander president wants us to inform that, based on his medical team's recommendations, the post-operative recovery should extend past January 10," said Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's chosen successor, in a letter read to the legislature.


"As a result, he will not be able to be present at the National Assembly on that date."


The letter said authorities would seek another date for the inauguration ceremony but did not say when it would take place or give a time frame for Chavez's return from Havana.


Rather than being sworn in by the legislature, he would take his oath at a later date before the Supreme Court, the letter said, as allowed by the constitution.


Government leaders insist Chavez is completely fulfilling his duties as head of state, even though official medical bulletins say he has a severe pulmonary infection and has had trouble breathing.


The government has called for a massive rally outside the presidential palace on Thursday, and allied presidents including Uruguay's Jose Mujica and Bolivia's Evo Morales have confirmed they will visit Venezuela this week despite Chavez's absence.


Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has announced plans to visit Chavez in Havana on Friday.


But the unprecedented silence by the president - famous for regularly speaking for hours in meandering broadcasts - has left many convinced he could be in his last days.


His resignation or death would upend politics in the oil-rich nation, where he enjoys a deity-like status among poor supporters thankful for his social largesse.


His critics call him a fledgling dictator who has squandered billions of dollars from crude sales while dashing the independence of state institutions.


CONSTITUTION DISPUTE


The constitution does not specify what happens if the president does not take office on January 10.


The Supreme Court, controlled by Chavez allies, called a news conference for Wednesday. It is widely expected to announce an interpretation of the constitution that will give Chavez leeway to take office when he is fit to do so.


If he dies or steps aside, new elections would be called within 30 days. Before leaving for Havana in December, the president instructed his supporters to back Maduro in that vote if he were unable to continue.


Opposition leaders argue that Congress chief and Chavez ally Diosdado Cabello should take over, as mandated by the constitution if the president's absence is formally declared.


Cabello has ruled that out, saying the president continues to be in charge.


"Who could have believed the opposition would be screaming for Diosdado Cabello to be given the presidency of the republic?" he said during a rambunctious session of Congress. "That's crazy, the opposition is losing it."


Meanwhile opposition deputies accused the Socialist Party of failing to follow Chavez's instructions - a scene that would have been unimaginable before Chavez's prolonged absence.


"President Chavez is the only one among you who has spoken clearly," said opposition leader Julio Borges.


He was drowned out by pro-Chavez deputies clapping and chanting the socialist leader's name and rebuffed by Cabello, who had long been considered a potential successor to Chavez until he was passed over for Maduro.


"It's not my fault you weren't chosen, don't take your frustration out on me," Borges quipped.


Another opposition deputy complained that during the debate a copy of the constitution was thrown across the chamber from the direction of the Socialist Party's deputies.


Chavez's supporters have held near-daily vigils for his recovery, while opposition activists accuse the president's allies of a Cuban-inspired manipulation of the situation.


Maduro has taken over the day-to-day running of the government and looks set to continue in the role past Thursday.


The mustachioed former bus driver lacks Chavez's charisma, but he has sought to imitate the president's style with vituperative attacks on the opposition and televised ribbon-cutting ceremonies.


With the micro-managing Chavez away, major policy decisions in Venezuela, such as a widely expected devaluation of the bolivar currency, appear to be on hold.


Venezuelan bond prices, which had soared in recent weeks on Chavez's health woes, dipped on Monday and Tuesday as investors' expectations of a quick government change apparently dimmed.


"The 'regime change' euphoria seems excessive taking into account the unclear legal transition and perhaps, more importantly, the risk that regime change does not allow for policy change," New York-based Jefferies' managing director Siobhan Morden said in a note on the bonds.


(Editing by Daniel Wallis and Eric Beech)



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Malaysian manhunt on as escape drama spices up






KUALA LUMPUR: Seven Malaysians who escaped police custody this week did so by temporarily blinding a guard with chilli powder hidden in one of the escapee's underpants, police and press reports said Wednesday.

The escape Monday of the seven men -- whom police have called "dangerous criminals" -- has prompted a large-scale manhunt in the northern Malaysian state of Penang.

But the seven escapees remained at large after their daring break-out from a police van as they were being transported to a local court.

The detainees had staged a fight in the vehicle, prompting its driver to pull over, police said.

When the police opened the rear door to investigate, "they threw chilli powder on a policeman", Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, a local police official, told AFP, as other detainees attacked and injured his fellow guards.

Abdul Rahman declined to elaborate on the use of the spices, but press reports have said one of the men had concealed the chilli powder in his underwear.

Chilli powder is ubiquitous in Malaysia, which is known for its spicy cuisine.

The seven fugitives then sped off in the police van, which was later found abandoned in a nearby village, police have said.

Some 250 police officers aided by tracker dogs and a police helicopter were scouring the area near where the van was discarded, said Abdul Rahim Hanafi, Penang's state police chief.

"The escapees are dangerous criminals who have been charged with serious offences, including murder, gang robbery and causing grievous hurt," he was quoted as saying by The Star newspaper.

Police were investigating how the detainees had obtained the chilli powder.

The Star quoted an unnamed source saying the powder could have been from the spicy seasoning sachets found in instant noodle packets that are sometimes provided to detainees by family members during visits.

- AFP/al



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Guns fall silent on LoC

JAMMU: The Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir was calm on Wednesday morning after overnight clashes between Indian and Pakistan troops, military officials said.

Pakistani guns fell silent in Krishnaghati sector in Poonch district, even as the Indian Army stepped up vigil all along the ​Line of Control (LoC) after Pakistani troops entered Indian territory and killed two Indian soldiers Tuesday.

On Tuesday evening, the Pakistani army opened fire on Indian posts in Krishnaghati sector, about 230 km from Jammu. The losses, if any, were not immediately known.

Indian officials accused the Pakistani soldiers of mutilating one of the two dead soldiers besides wounding a third Tuesday.

Islamabad says it was not involved in the attack, suggesting it could be the work of separatist militants.

Military sources said the Indian Army was prepared to give a "calibrated response" to any further provocation from Pakistan.

"There was heavy firing from the Pakistani side last night. We offered calibrated response and the guns fell silent by midnight," an army officer told IANS Wednesday morning.

"At the moment the LoC is calm," he added.

The LoC divides the Kashmir region between India and Pakistan. New Delhi controls the southern two-third of Kashmir and Islamabad the northern third.

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Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down


WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.


Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer.


"There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer advocacy groups.


But bad diets, lack of physical activity and obesity together wield "incredible forces against this decline in mortality," Brawley said. He warned that over the next decade, that trio could surpass tobacco as the leading cause of cancer in the U.S.


Overall, deaths from cancer began slowly dropping in the 1990s, and Monday's report shows the trend holding. Among men, cancer death rates dropped by 1.8 percent a year between 2000 and 2009, and by 1.4 percent a year among women. The drops are thanks mostly to gains against some of the leading types — lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers — because of treatment advances and better screening.


The news isn't all good. Deaths still are rising for certain cancer types including liver, pancreatic and, among men, melanoma, the most serious kind of skin cancer.


Preventing cancer is better than treating it, but when it comes to new cases of cancer, the picture is more complicated.


Cancer incidence is dropping slightly among men, by just over half a percent a year, said the report published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Prostate, lung and colorectal cancers all saw declines.


But for women, earlier drops have leveled off, the report found. That may be due in part to breast cancer. There were decreases in new breast cancer cases about a decade ago, as many women quit using hormone therapy after menopause. Since then, overall breast cancer incidence has plateaued, and rates have increased among black women.


Another problem area: Oral and anal cancers caused by HPV, the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, are on the rise among both genders. HPV is better known for causing cervical cancer, and a protective vaccine is available. Government figures show just 32 percent of teen girls have received all three doses, fewer than in Canada, Britain and Australia. The vaccine was recommended for U.S. boys about a year ago.


Among children, overall cancer death rates are dropping by 1.8 percent a year, but incidence is continuing to increase by just over half a percent a year. Brawley said it's not clear why.


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Meet Obama's Defense Secretary Nominee













President Obama nominated former Senator Chuck Hagel as the next U.S. secretary of defense. To those who haven't followed the Senate closely in the past decade, he's probably not a household name.


Hagel is a former GOP senator from Nebraska and Purple-Heart-decorated Vietnam veteran, but he wouldn't necessarily be a popular pick with Republicans in Congress.


At age 21, Hagel and his brother Tom became the next in the family to serve in the United States Army. They joined the masses of Americans fighting an unfamiliar enemy in Vietnam.


In his book, he describes finding himself "pinned down by Viet Cong rifle fire, badly burned, with my wounded brother in my arms."


"Mr. President, I'm grateful for this opportunity to serve our country again," Hagel said after Obama announced his nomination Monday.


In 1971, Hagel took his first job in politics as chief of staff to Congressman John Y. McCollister, a position he held for six years. After that, he moved to Washington for the first time, where he went on to work for a tire company's government affairs office, the 1982 World's Fair and in 1981, as Ronald Reagan's Deputy Administrator of the Veterans Administration.








Obama Taps Sen. Chuck Hagel for Defense Secretary Watch Video









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Obama's Defense Nominee Chuck Hagel Stirs Washington Lawmakers Watch Video





He worked in the private sector for most of the 80s and 90s before his first election to the Senate in 1997.
Since the turn of the century, Hagel has followed a curvy path of political alliances that puts his endorsements all over the map. Hagel's record of picking politically unpopular positions could be a large part of why Obama is naming him for the job, as Slate's Fred Kaplan surmises the next Defense secretary will be faced with tough choices.


In 2000, he was one of few Republican senators to back Sen. John McCain over then-presidential-candidate George W. Bush.


After that election, Hagel fiercely criticized Bush for adding 30,000 surge troops to Iraq, in place of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group's proposal of a draw-down and regional diplomacy, which Hagel preferred. When Bush instead announced that more troops would go to Iraq, Hagel co-sponsored a nonbinding resolution to oppose it, along with then-Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.


"The president says, 'I don't care.' He's not accountable anymore," Hagel told Esquire in June 2007. "He's not accountable anymore, which isn't totally true. You can impeach him, and before this is over, you might see calls for his impeachment. I don't know. It depends how this goes."


Hagel's fierce opposition to America's involvement in Iraq – he called it one of the five monumental blunders of history, on par with the Trojan War – will be of substantial importance as the Obama administration charts our course out of Afghanistan, deciding how to withdraw the last of the troops in 2014 and how much of a presence to leave behind.


Hagel's support for McCain, which was substantial in his competition against Bush, disappeared in the 2008 election. Hagel toured Iraq and Afghanistan with Obama during his first campaign for the presidency.


In October 2008, Hagel's wife, Lillibet, announced her support for the Obama team, after the Washington Post reported on her donations to his campaign. She donated again in 2012.


Before the 2008 election, Hagel wrote: "The next president of the United States will face one of the most difficult national security decisions of modern times: what to do about an Iran that may be at the threshold of acquiring nuclear weapons."






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In India, questions over decision to treat rape victim overseas


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The decision to fly the victim of a gang rape that outraged India for treatment in Singapore made little medical sense as the woman was so severely injured that her death was all but inevitable, doctors say.


The government, on the back foot after furious street protests and stinging criticism of authorities over the December 16 rape in the capital, New Delhi, has struggled to defend its decision to send the 23-year-old physiotherapy student overseas. She died 48 hours later.


With a deadly infection seeping into her blood from damage done to her intestines during the assault, complicated by a cardiac arrest and damage to the brain, she was just clinging to life when she was flown 2,500 miles from New Delhi to Singapore late on December 26, doctors said.


"It was ethically and morally wrong to have taken her out, given that she was sinking and her chances of survival were next to zero at that stage," said a doctor at New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), which was advising the team treating the woman at a sister hospital across the street.


"Such a thing raises false hopes in the minds of the family, the community. No doctor in his right mind would do this, unless you want to get the patient off your back," said the doctor, who declined to be identified, saying colleagues at the government-run hospital who had spoken out had been warned of consequences in what has become a politically explosive case.


The woman, who was assaulted by five men and a teenager on a moving bus after a male companion was beaten unconscious, cannot be named under an Indian law that prohibits identifying victims of rape.


Another doctor who was consulted during the woman's care at New Delhi's Safdarjang hospital, where she was taken following the assault, said she had been getting the best possible treatment in India and the question of why she was shifted should be answered by the government.


Many security officials have said they feared the protests would escalate if the woman had died in New Delhi, but the government has said the only consideration was her wellbeing.


"The idea was to give her the best possible treatment," said Harish Rawat, a government minister who attended a cabinet meeting on the woman's condition and the efforts to save her.


"I don't think the idea was to run away from the problem. Death here or death abroad would still have the same impact," he said. "We felt if there was a chance to save her, it should be tried. Take her to a transplant facility abroad."


At the time of the transfer, authorities at Safdarjang said her condition was critical which was why they decided to move her to Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital, which specialized in multi-organ transplant.


But a transplant for her damaged intestine, if at all possible, was months away, doctors said. At the time of her transfer, the woman, unconscious since a heart attack the previous night, was in no condition to go through such an operation.


"One cannot think about intestinal transplant at this moment," Samiran Nundy, the head of surgical gastroenterology and organ transplantation at the Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi, was quoted as saying in newspapers.


"First, the infection spreading in her should be stopped, then one can think about transplant."


Within 40 hours of her arrival in Singapore, doctors called her family and told them the end was near, even as millions prayed at home in the hope that she would pull through.


"Sepsis followed by cardiac arrest is a terminal event in 99 percent of cases," said the doctor at AIIMS, referring to blood infection.


"Doctors will have anecdotal evidence about one or two cases in their whole career of somebody who survived. I had one case, a woman, but she too died within a month. Yes, miracles happen, but you were not looking at one in this case. It was clear to everyone, especially after the cardiac arrest."


PROTESTS AND PANIC


Piecing together the events leading up to her death tells a tale of authorities in Delhi trying to defuse public anger over the attack by initially insisting that she was getting the best possible treatment, and then, as things began to go wrong, getting increasingly worried that the protests that tapped a deep vein of frustration, could spin out of control.


The alarm bells for the government rang late on Christmas night when the woman suffered the cardiac arrest. That was nine days after she was brought in to Safdarjang hospital in a life-threatening condition after the brutal assault - she was assessed then as 5 on a scale in which 6 is rated as no chance of survival.


After the heart attack, her pulse rate became critically low. Doctors resuscitated her after three to four minutes but by then she had become unconscious, caused by lack of blood to the brain. She never regained consciousness from that point on.


Equally worrisome, the infection from her injured intestines had seeped into her blood and was spreading to her vital organs.


For the government, shaken by the scale and intensity of the protests that focused on the lack of safety in the capital for women, the deterioration in her health was cause for concern.


Even as the federal cabinet met the next morning, arrangements to fly the woman for treatment in Singapore were being put in place.


One official said the public mood was so fragile that the government felt that if she died in India, some people would have blamed the government for not sending her abroad for treatment.


"You can argue this the other way. They would have said 'if Sonia can go abroad, why not this girl'," the official said, referring to the head of the ruling Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, who travels abroad for treatment of an undisclosed condition.


Outside the prime minister's office where the cabinet met, thousands of baton-wielding police including crack members of Rapid Action Force kept the area under a lockdown. Days earlier, pitched battles broke out between hundreds of protesters and police at the scene, in which a policeman was killed.


Protesters had climbed the walls of South and North Block, the high-security seat of government, while others swarmed towards the iron gates of the presidential palace. They carried placards such as "The only two women safe in Delhi are Sonia Gandhi and Sheila Dikshit". Dikshit is the chief minister, the top elected official of the local government of Delhi.


A government official privy to the handling of the protests said the administration had not anticipated that so many students would come out onto the streets and that the protests would last for so many days.


But when protesters showed up at the presidential palace, the line had been crossed in the security agencies' mind.


"It was a near-breach of security at the presidential palace. The officials tasked with security didn't know how to control the protesters, if they had jumped over its gates. Would you fire at the students, the housewives?" the official asked.


The Intelligence Bureau, which coordinates all domestic intelligence, had been warning that the public mood may turn uglier, the official said.


NO PASSPORTS


At Safdarjung on the morning of December 26, a team of doctors arrived from Medanta Medicity, a private medical centre which runs an air ambulance service. Their mandate was to assess whether she could survive the airlift, said Dr Yatin Mehta, head of critical care at Medicity.


"The decision was to take her out of the country. Our job was to determine whether she could take the airlift, not whether she should be going or not," said Mehta, who accompanied the woman on the flight.


He said the option of sending her to Cambridge in Britain to a hospital that specializes in transplants, was considered but dropped because it would have involved a refueling stop for the aircraft and a two-hour road trip upon landing in London.


Flying her to the Canadian city of Toronto, which also has a specialized organ transplant centre, was also vetoed. They zeroed in on Singapore, six hours flying time away.


It is highly unusual for someone to be flown out of India for critical care. If anything, the traffic is the reverse, with people travelling to the country for treatment.


In the event, the transfer to Singapore was successful, Mehta said, although the woman suffered a drop in blood pressure during the flight. "We were prepared for that. We handed her over to Mount E in the same condition she left the hospital in Delhi," he said, referring to the Singapore hospital.


The woman's family first got wind of the plan to transfer her at hospital in Delhi, when her brother noticed a flurry of activity and a staff member said that doctors were considering moving her.


"We accepted the decision. We were not interfering in the treatment. The doctors said it was in the best interest of our sister, we accepted it. Our only condition was to save her," the brother told Reuters.


Shortly afterwards, officials from the foreign ministry arrived and issued the family travel documents, since none of them had a passport. Their pictures were taken at the hospital.


Three ambulances arrived at the hospital. One of the ambulances headed into the interior of the city and another took the route to the Medanta centre, followed by a convoy of television crews.


A third, carrying the woman, sped away to a special section of Delhi airport, giving everyone the slip.


After she was taken to Singapore, authorities in the city-state's Mount Elizabeth Hospital were frank about her bleak chances for survival.


"The patient is currently struggling against the odds, and fighting for her life," Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Loh said in a statement a day after she was admitted.


"Our medical team's investigations upon her arrival at the hospital yesterday showed that in addition to her prior cardiac arrest, she also had infection of her lungs and abdomen as well as significant brain injury."


Later that day, Soh said her condition was deteriorating.


Her family was told the end was near.


"We didn't expect her to go so quickly," said her brother, who was with her when she died. "At 9:30 p.m., the doctors called us in and said they were sorry, they couldn't do anything more. Her vital organs were failing."


"We went inside and stayed with her the whole night. We saw her heart beat slowing down on the machine. It kept dropping and then dropped to zero. The time was 4:05 a.m."


(Additional reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh in New Delhi and Kevin Lim in Singapore; Editing by Robert Birsel and Raju Gopalakrishnan)



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