Suspect Tried to Flee Country Before Cop Shooting

The fired California cop who set off a region-wide manhunt after allegedly shooting three police officers this morning -- one fatally -- had initially gone to a yacht club near San Diego where police say he attempted to steal a boat and flee to Mexico.

Police say that former police officer Christopher Jordan Dorner, 33, who officials believe posted an online manifesto outlining his plan to "terminate" his former colleagues and their families, is armed with a long gun and might have several other guns and high-capacity magazines. He is also believed to have access to military uniforms because he has served in the Navy.

"We are considering him armed and dangerous," Lt. Julia Engen of the Irvine Police Department said.

Police allege that he went to the yacht club Wednesday night at Point Loma, Calif., near San Diego to steal the boat. He aborted the attempted theft when the boat's propeller became entangled in a rope, law enforcement officials said. It was at that point he is believed to have headed to Riverside, where he allegedly shot two police officers.

"He pointed a handgun at the victim [at the yacht club] and demanded the boat," Lt. David Rohowits of the San Diego Police Department said.

Police say the rifle marksman shot at four officers in two incidents overnight, hitting three of them: one in Corona, Calif., and the two in Riverside, Calif.

Sgt. Rudy Lopez of the LAPD said two LAPD officers were in Corona and headed out on special detail to check on one of the individuals named in Dorner's manifesto. Dorner allegedly grazed one of them but missed the other.

"[This is an] extremely tense situation," Lopez said. "We call this a manhunt. We approach it cautiously because of the propensity of what has already happened."

The Riverside Police Department said two of its officers were shot before one of them died, KABC-TV reported. The other is in stable condition with two gunshot wounds, police say.

"They were on routine patrol stopped at a stop light when they were ambushed," Lt. Guy Toussant of the Riverside police department said.

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In the manifesto Dorner published online, he threatened at least 12 people by name, along with their families.

"Your lack of ethics and conspiring to wrong a just individual are over. Suppressing the truth will leave to deadly consequences for you and your family," Dorner wrote in his manifesto.

A badge and identification belonging to Dorner have been found in San Diego, according to San Diego police Sgt. Ray Battrick. Dorner's LAPD badge and ID were found by someone near the city's airport, and turned in to police overnight, The Associated Press reported.

Police around Southern California are wearing tactical gear, including helmets and guns across their chests. The light-up signs along California highways show the license plate number of Dorner's car, and say to call 911 if it is seen. The problem, police say, is that they believe Dorner is switching license plates on his car, a 2005 charcoal-gray Nissan Titan pickup truck.

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck said today that 40 protective details have been deployed to protect officers and their families.

"We are taking all measures possible to ensure safety of our officers and their families," he said.

Dorner is also believed to be responsible for the weekend slayings of an assistant women's college basketball coach and her fiancé in what cops believe are acts of revenge against the LAPD, as suggested in his online manifesto.

Lawrence was found slumped behind the wheel of his white Kia in the parking lot of their upscale apartment complex in Irvine Sunday and Quan was in the passenger seat.

"A particular interest at this point in the investigation is a multi-page manifesto in which the suspect has implicated himself in the slayings," Maggard said.

Police said Dorner's manifesto included threats against members of the LAPD. Police say they are taking extra measures to ensure the safety of officers and their families.

The document, allegedly posted on an Internet message board this week, apparently blames Quan's father, retired LAPD Capt. Randy Quan, for his firing from the department.

One passage from the manifesto reads, "I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty."

"I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own," it reads. "I'm terminating yours."

Dorner was with the department from 2005 until 2008, when he was fired for making false statements.

Randy Quan, who became a lawyer in retirement, represented Dorner in front of the Board of Rights, a tribunal that ruled against Dorner at the time of his dismissal, LAPD Capt. William Hayes told The Associated Press Wednesday night.

According to documents from a court of appeals hearing in October 2011, Dorner was fired from the LAPD after he made a complaint against his field-training officer, Sgt. Teresa Evans, saying in the course of an arrest she had kicked a suspect who was a schizophrenic with severe dementia.

After an investigation, Dorner was fired for making false statements.

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Iran's Khamenei rebuffs U.S. offer of direct talks

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Thursday slapped down an offer of direct talks made by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden last week, saying they would not solve the problem between them.

"Some naive people like the idea of negotiating with America, however, negotiations will not solve the problem," Khamenei said in a speech to officials and members of Iran's air force carried on his official website.

"If some people want American rule to be established again in Iran, the nation will rise up to face them," he said.

"American policy in the Middle East has been destroyed and Americans now need to play a new card. That card is dragging Iran into negotiations."

Khamenei made his comments just days after Biden said the United States was prepared to meet bilaterally with the Iranian leadership. "That offer stands but it must be real and tangible," Biden said in Munich on Saturday.

With traditional fiery rhetoric, Khamenei lambasted Biden's offer, saying that since the 1979 revolution the United States had gravely insulted Iran and continued to do so with its threat of military action.

"You take up arms against the nation of Iran and say: 'negotiate or we fire'. But you should know that pressure and negotiations are not compatible and our nation will not be intimidated by these actions," he added.

Relations between Iran and the United States were severed after the overthrow of Iran's pro-Western monarchy in 1979 and diplomatic meetings between officials have since been very rare.

ALL OPTIONS STILL 'ON THE TABLE'

Currently U.S.-Iran contact is limited to talks between Tehran and a so-called P5+1 group of powers on Iran's disputed nuclear program which are to resume on February 26 in Kazakhstan.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland brushed off Khamenei's remarks and urged Iran to show up in Almaty "prepared to discuss real substance" either in a group setting or in bilateral talks.

"As the Iranians well know, the ball is in the Iranians' own court," she told reporters.

"We've always said that action on the Iranian side would be matched by action on our side, so it's really up to Iran to engage if it wants to see sanctions eased," said Nuland, adding that failure to address the nuclear concerns would bring more pressure on Tehran.

Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor said he was skeptical the negotiations in Almaty could yield a result, telling Israel Radio that the United States needed to demonstrate to Iran that "all options were still on the table".

Israel, widely recognized to be the only nuclear power in the Middle East, has warned it could mount a pre-emptive strike on Iranian atomic sites. Israel says the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran threatens its existence, given Tehran's refusal to recognize the Jewish state.

"The final option, this is the phrasing we have used, should remain in place and be serious," said Meridor.

"The fact that the Iranians have not yet come down from the path they are on means that talks ... are liable to bring about only a stalling for time," he said.

Iran maintains its nuclear program is entirely peaceful but Western powers are concerned it is intent on developing a weapons program.

Many believe a deal on settling the nuclear issue is impossible without a U.S.-Iranian thaw. But any rapprochement would require direct talks addressing many sources of mutual mistrust that have lingered since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent U.S. embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.

Moreover, although his November re-election may give President Barack Obama a freer hand to pursue direct negotiations, analysts say Iran's own presidential election in June may prove an additional obstacle to progress being made.

(Additional reporting by Dan Williams, and Paul Eckert in Washington; Editing by William Maclean, Jon Boyle and Mohammad Zargham)

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Football: Pedro's double sees Spain past Uruguay

DOHA: World and European champions Spain stretched their unbeaten run at senior international level to 17 games with a 3-1 win over Uruguay on Wednesday thanks to two goals from Pedro Rodriguez.

A goalkeeping error from Fernando Muslera gifted Spain the lead after just 16 minutes as he allowed Cesc Fabregas' long-range effort to slip through his grasp, but Uruguay were deservedly level before half-time as Cristian Rodriguez fired home after latching onto Martin Caceres' clever pass.

However, Pedro proved to be the match-winner in the second-half as he finished calmly from Barcelona teammate Gerard Pique's pass six minutes after the restart before tapping home Fabregas' cross to register his ninth goal in his last six internationals.

Vicente del Bosque's men were captained by Carles Puyol on his 100th international appearance in the absence of Iker Casillas who was out with a broken bone in his left hand.

Cesar Azpilicueta, meanwhile, was making his international debut.

The Chelsea defender was thankful for the experience shown by his skipper when he was late in stepping up to play Luis Suarez onside four minutes in but Puyol recovered well to disposes the Liverpool striker before he could get a shot off.

Spain went in front 12 minutes later thanks to a huge error from Muslera as he let Fabregas' swerving drive from 30 yards slip through his hands and into the net.

However, the South Americans responded well to going behind and Victor Valdes had to be quick off his line to prevent Edison Cavani having a clear run on goal from a long-ball over the top moments later.

Puyol then nearly marked his landmark appearance with just his fourth international goal but he was ruled to be just offside as he volleyed in a cross from the right.

Uruguay were level though just after the half-hour mark as a fine through ball from Caceres found Rodriguez free inside the area and the Atletico Madrid midfielder slotted the ball low past Valdes.

It took Spain just six minutes into the second period to restore their lead as Pique, who had replaced Puyol at the break, played in Pedro who drove the ball into Muslera's bottom right-hand corner.

Valdes had to make a stunning save to prevent Uruguay finding a second equaliser as he got an outstretched hand to Cavani's driven effort before David Villa could easily have had a third for Spain as his effort drifted just over.

Del Bosque then took the chance to also hand debuts to Isco and Mario Suarez as the game began to become stretched and it was no surprise when Spain broke with great efficiency to kill the game off 15 minutes from time.

Villa fed Fabregas and his cross to the back post was perfectly measured for Pedro to slide home.

International football friendly results:
Macedonia 3 Denmark 0
Turkey 0 Czech Republic 2
Israel 2 Finland 1

Albania 1 Georgia 2
Hungary 1 Belarus 1
Croatia 4 South Korea 0

Bosnia-Herzegovina 3 Slovenia 0
Norway 0 Ukraine 2
Spain 3 Uruguay 1

- AFP/de

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Microsoft's Surface Pro has room to grow

Wednesday's CNET Update wants the best of both worlds:

Microsoft's Surface Pro has room to grow

We're all hunting for the one device to rule them all: the perfect tablet-laptop hybrid. Microsoft's Surface Pro aims to do just that, but it's not quite a laptop-killer yet. Read CNET's full review here, and be sure to compare how the Pro measures up to the competition.

Also in today's tech news roundup:

- Rumor site SamMobile says the Galaxy S4 could be announced in March for an April release.

- BlackBerry's CEO says the Q10 may not hit the U.S. until May or June.

- Instagram is growing up and now lets users view a feed of photos on its website. (It only took two years.)

- Skylanders Swap Force will have players swapping out the tops and bottoms of collectable figurines. When it comes out this fall, the 16 new figurines can be mixed and matched to create up to 256 different playable characters.

Watch CNET Update in the video above, and subscribe to the podcast via the links below.

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Boy Scouts leaders make announcement on gay ban

Updated at 1:08 p.m. ET

IRVING, Texas The Boy Scouts of America said Wednesday it needed more time before deciding whether to move away from its divisive policy of excluding gays as scouts or adult leaders. A decision was pushed back to the group's annual meeting in May.

The scouting organization last week said it was considering allowing troops to decide whether to allow gay membership. It would be the latest step in the national debate over gay rights in the U.S., where some states allow gay marriage and the Supreme Court in March will consider questions over married gay couples' equal rights to federal benefits.

"After careful consideration and extensive dialogue within the Scouting family, along with comments from those outside the organization, the volunteer officers of the Boy Scouts of America's National Executive Board concluded that due to the complexity of this issue, the organization needs time for a more deliberate review of its membership policy," Deron Smith, the BSA director of public relations, said in a statement.

Play Video

Obama on women in combat, gay Boy Scouts

President Barack Obama - Scouting's honorary president - has spoken in favor of admitting gay scouts.

"My attitude is that gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everybody else does in every institution and walk of life," said Mr. Obama, who as U.S. president is the honorary president of BSA, in a Sunday interview with CBS News.

Others, including Texas Gov. Rick Perry, an Eagle Scout, opposed it. Concerns have been raised about addressing issues related to sexuality among groups of boys, some of whom haven't reached puberty.

The author of the book "On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For," Perry said in a speech Saturday that "to have popular culture impact 100 years of their standards is inappropriate."

Under intense pressure from both sides, the BSA board met behind closed doors Wednesday. It became clear that the proposed change would be unacceptable to large numbers of Scouting families and advocacy groups on the left and right.

Play Video

Boy Scouts to vote on ending ban on gays

Gay-rights supporters said no Scout units should be allowed to exclude gays, while some conservatives, including religious leaders whose churches sponsor troops, warned of mass defections if the ban was eased.

About 70 percent of all Scout units are sponsored by religious denominations, including many by conservative faiths that have supported the ban, such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Mormons' Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Michael Purdy, a Mormon church spokesman, said the BSA "acted wisely in delaying its decision until all voices can be heard on this important moral issue."

Shortly after the delay was announced, conservative supporters of the ban held a rally and prayer vigil Wednesday at the headquarters, carrying signs reading, "Don't Invite Sin Into the Camp," and "The only voice that matters is God!"

Early reaction to the delay from gay-rights supporters was harshly critical of the BSA.

"A Scout is supposed to be brave, and the Boy Scouts failed to be brave today," said Jennifer Tyrrell, a mother ousted from her post as a Cub Scout volunteer because she's a lesbian.

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FBI Releases Alaska Serial Killer's Handwritten Notes

Serial killer Israel Keyes' blood smeared suicide letter, obtained by ABCNews.com, is a creepy ode to murder in which he clearly enjoys killing his victims and expresses his disgust with peoples' everyday lives.

"You may have been free, you loved loving your lie, fate had its own scheme, crushed like a bug you still die," Keyes wrote.

At another point he writes about the "nervous laugh as it burst like a pulse of blood from your throat. There will be no more laughter here."

The arrest of Keyes, 34, on March 12, 2012 for the murder of Alaskan barista Samantha Koenig ended more than a decade of traveling around the country to find victims to kill or to prepare for future crimes by burying murder kits of weapons, cash and tools to dispose of bodies. Since March he had been slowly telling police about his hidden life and how he operated. But the tale abruptly ended when Keyes committed suicide in his jail cell on Dec. 1.

Police are now left trying to fill in the details of his vicious life. Police believe he killed between 8 and 12 people, including Koenig, but only three victims have been definitively tied to Keyes so far.

The FBI released Keyes' four-page document today describing it as "a combination of pencil and ink on yellow legal pad." The pages were discovered under Keyes' body, "illegible and covered in blood," the FBI said.

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Click here to see the original letter.

The papers were sent to an FBI laboratory in Virginia for processing and the FBI was able to restore the notes to a mostly legible condition for review and analysis.

"The FBI concluded there was no hidden code or message in the writings," the FBI said in a news release today. "Further, it was determined that the writings do not offer any investigative clues or leads as to the identity of other possible victims."

The FBI said it would not offer any commentary as the meaning of the writings, but the chillingly morbid writings speak for themselves.

Keyes seems to refer to his victim as a "pretty captive butterfly." He describes what appears to be the victim's final moments:

"Now that I have you held tight I will tell you a story, speak soft in your ear so you know that it's true. You're my love at first sight and though you're scared to be near me, my words penetrate your thoughts now in an intimate prelude.

"I looked in your eyes, they were so dark, warm and trusting, as though you had not a worry or care. The more guiless the game the better potential to fill up those pools with your fear.

"Your face framed in dark curls like a portrait, the sun shone through highlights of red. What color I wonder, and how straight will it turn plastered back with the sweat of your blood.

"Your wet lips were a promise of a secret unspoken, nervous laugh as it burst like a pulse of blood from your throat. There will be no more laughter here."

Keyes also criticized elements of daily life including waiting to die in retirement homes, watching reality television shows, vanity and going to a mindless job.

"Land of the free, land of the lie, land of scheme Americanize!" he wrote twice as a refrain. "Consume what you don't need, stars you idolize, pursue what you admit is a dream, then it's American die."

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Tunisian leader to form new government after activist shot

TUNIS (Reuters) - The killing of an outspoken critic of Tunisia's Islamist-led government on Wednesday sparked street protests by thousands who fear religious radicals are stifling freedoms won two years ago in the first of the Arab Spring uprisings.

Chokri Belaid was shot at close range as he left for work by a gunmen who fled on the back of a motorcycle; crowds poured on to the streets of Tunis and other cities, attacking offices of the main ruling party Ennahda, and by the end of the day the Islamist prime minister promised a national unity government.

There was no immediate local reaction to the plan by Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali of Ennahda to dissolve his coalition and bring in a wider range of political groups. After dark, hundreds of demonstrators were still fighting running battles with police in the capital, throwing rocks amid volleys of teargas.

Jebali, whose party has dismissed any suggestion it might be behind the assassination, said he would shortly announce the formation of a new government of non-partisan technocrats.

World powers, alarmed in recent months at the extent of radical Islamist influence and the bitterness of the political stalemate, urged Tunisians to reject violence and see through the move to democracy they began two years ago, when the Jasmine Revolution ended decades of dictatorship and inspired fellow Arabs in Egypt and across North Africa and the Middle East.

As in Egypt, the rise to power of political Islam through the ballot box has prompted a backlash among less organized, more secular minded political movements in Tunisia. Belaid, a 48-year-old left-wing lawyer who made a name challenging the old regime of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, led a party with little electoral support but his vocal opinions had a wide audience.

The day before his death he was publicly lambasting a "climate of systematic violence". He had blamed tolerance shown by Ennahda and its two, smaller secularist allies in the coalition government toward hardline Salafists for allowing the spread of groups hostile to international culture.

(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Writing by Alison Williams and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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Syria opposition talks offer suffers setbacks

DAMASCUS: An offer of talks by Syria's main opposition leader to President Bashar al-Assad suffered setbacks on Tuesday as state media said it was two years too late, and a principal opposing faction flatly rejected the idea.

Assad himself has yet to comment on the offer from Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib of the opposition National Coalition who says "the ball is now in the regime's court".

Khatib was following up on his surprise announcement last week that he was ready for talks with Assad's regime -- subject to conditions including the release of 160,000 detainees -- on ending the conflict that has ravaged Syria for nearly 23 months.

Khatib later elaborated, saying he was ready to meet Assad's deputy, Vice President Faruq al-Sharaa.

In the past the opposition has demanded Assad step down before talks can begin but analysts say Khatib's change in stance stems from a belief the population will be bled dry while the West fails to act.

Experts have also predicted Damascus would reject outright Khatib's overture, and hinting at this, the pro-regime Al-Watan newspaper said Khatib's offer came too late.

"Despite their importance, the statements of Sheikh Moaz al-Khatib are two years late. During that time, our finest young men have died, suffered wounds or been exiled, while we have lost our electricity and fuel infrastructure, alongside several military positions," the daily said.

"So the ball is not in the Syrian state's hands, as Khatib said."

The Syrian National Council, the main component of the Coalition, rejected the possibility of any talks, saying it was committed to ousting the regime, rejecting dialogue with it, and protecting the revolution.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi threw his weight behind Khatib's offer, however, and offered to play a role in any negotiations for a democratic transition.

The US strongly backed Khatib's dialogue call, with the State Department saying the regime "should sit down and talk," while stressing its position was unchanged on bringing to account those who have committed atrocities.

Assad last month announced he was ready for talks with the opposition but ruled out meeting groups such as the National Coalition, which backs rebels seeking to overthrow his regime.

Some regime opponents denounced Khatib's offer, while others welcomed it.

"To negotiate is difficult. They may be doomed and they may fail, but the attempt to stop the bloodbath with a proposal so humane may reap more fruits than merely waiting," prominent Kurdish activist Massoud Akko said on his Facebook page.

Hadi al-Abdallah, an activist in besieged Qusayr in the central province of Homs, told AFP he considered Khatib's proposal naive.

"We are not against the idea of negotiations per se. But we reject completely the idea of negotiating with this regime, which on previous occasions has taken advantage of opportunities for peace to gain time while it simply continued killing," he said.

Another activist Abu Nadim, speaking from Damascus province, said: "We trust Khatib as a person. But in politics, we here feel that good intentions are not enough.

"Everyone wants Khatib's wish to come true. But will it happen?"

President Shimon Peres of Israel, whose reported air strikes against Syrian targets last week triggered a threat of retaliation from Damascus, said it was time the world acted to end the Syrian "tragedy".

Fresh violence meanwhile erupted Tuesday in the northern city of Aleppo where rebels clashed with troops near an army barracks, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Army tanks also shelled the districts of Qadam and Assali on the outer edges of Damascus, the Britain-based watchdog said, adding 64 people were killed on Tuesday, including 20 civilians.

The UN says more than 60,000 people have been killed in violence across Syria since the outbreak of a revolt in March 2011 that morphed into an insurgency after the army launched a brutal crackdown on dissent.

-AFP/ac

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FCC holds first hearing on Sandy communications failures

A hardware store in the West Village offered power strips so that the thousands of people in the neighborhood who were without power after Hurricane Sandy could charge their cell phones and other gadgets.

(Credit:
Marguerite Reardon/CNET)

The Federal Communications Commission held the first of several planned field hearings on Tuesday in Hoboken, NJ to review what went wrong with the nation's communications network during Super Storm Sandy.

The storm, which was one of the worst to hit the East coast of the United States, knocked out about 25 percent of all cell sites and cable service in the 10-states affected by the storm. Of course, in certain regions where the storm hit the hardest, such as New York and New Jersey, these figures were much greater.

In Long Beach, NY on Long Island, every cell tower was knocked out by Sandy, Long Beach city manager, Jack Schirman told commissioners during the first panel discussion.

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, who convened the hearings as a fact-finding mission to help figure out what went wrong and how to improve it for future disasters, said that the industry must do better to ensure that wireless and Internet service remain operational during such disasters, especially as people rely on these services more and more.

"The inability to communicate with family and emergency personnel during a disaster is simply unacceptable," Genachowski said.

He acknowledged that the challenges exposed during Sandy are complex. Specifically, he pointed to the fact that many of the communications failures were due to "the interrelation of our electric grid and our communications networks."

"The fact is we rely on our electric grid to power individual devices, to power antenna towers and other elements of fixed and mobile communications networks, and to power the central offices, switches and other sophisticated equipment that connect it all together," he said.

Indeed, millions were without power from Maine to the Carolinas, with areas such as New York and New Jersey taking the brunt. Some people were without power for more than a week. And in many of those areas, Internet and wireless service were not operational without power.

The Edison Electric Institute's Ed Comer testified at the hearing and acknowledged the interdependence between the communications network and the nation's power grid. His organization represents shareholder-owned electric companies and its members consist of 70 percent of the U.S. electric power industry.

But he said that the issue is not a simple one to solve. He said there needs to be more and better coordination at the local and state level. He also said that consumer's expectations for keeping the power up and running and for restoring it in a timely fashion have increased over the recent past as more consumers rely on devices and services that require an always on power source.

"After Hurricane Katrina (in 2005), our companies in the South said customers lost patience after five days without power," he said. "Now customers in that region who are affected by storms, expect power restoration within three days."

Genachowski also emphasized the need for the communications industry to prepare better for such emergencies and account for power outages.

"Last month, the FCC issued a detailed report examining the failures of 911 communications after the derecho, which caused massive power outages across the mid-Atlantic this past summer," he said. "A key take-away from that report was that many of the problems encountered at that time could have been avoided if known best practices had been followed."

It will be interesting to see what the FCC will recommend once it has completed its field hearings.

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Gay marriage gets OK from British lawmakers

LONDON British lawmakers on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill to legalize same-sex marriage championed by Prime Minister David Cameron, despite strong opposition from within his Conservative Party.

In a first House of Commons vote, lawmakers voted 400 to 175 in support of the legislation. There was majority support from the left-leaning Labour Party and Liberal Democrats party, but around half of the Conservative lawmakers rejected the proposals or abstained.

The bill will have to go through more detailed parliamentary debates and a vote in the House of Lords, where a vote in favor is likely given the strong support Tuesday. If it becomes law, the proposed bill would enable same-sex couples to get married in both civil and religious ceremonies, provided that the religious institution consents.

The bill would also allow couples who had previously entered into civil partnerships to convert their relationship into a marriage.

Earlier, Cameron - who did not attend a Parliament debate ahead of the vote - said passing the bill is "an important step forward" for Britain.

"I am a strong believer in marriage. It helps people commit to each other and I think it is right that gay people should be able to get married too," he said. "This is, yes, about equality. But it is also about making our society stronger."

Officials have stressed that all religious organizations can decide for themselves if they want to "opt in" to holding gay weddings. However, the Church of England, the country's official faith, is barred from performing such ceremonies.

That provision aims to ensure that the Church, which opposes gay marriage, is protected from legal claims that as the official state religion it must marry anyone who requests it.

Currently same-sex couples only have the option of a civil partnership, which offers the same legal rights and protections on issues such as inheritance, pensions, and child maintenance.

Supporters say that gay relationships should be treated exactly the same way as heterosexual ones, but critics worry that the proposals would change long-standing views about the meaning of marriage. Some Conservatives also fear the proposals would cost the party a significant number of votes in the next election.

"Marriage is the union between a man and a woman, has been historically, remains so. It is Alice in Wonderland territory, Orwellian almost, for any government of any political persuasion to seek to come along and try to re-write the lexicon," Conservative lawmaker Roger Gale said.

If passed, the bill's provisions would come into effect in 2015. They apply only to England and Wales - there are no plans for similar legislation in Northern Ireland. Scotland is considering introducing a similar bill.

CBS Radio's Vicki Barker reports from London that Tony and Barry Drewett-Barlow have been in a civil partnership for seven years. They are devout Christians who want a Christian wedding.

"For Barry and I it's about being able to stand up in front of the altar in our local church and say our vows," Tony said, "not only to each other and in law, but also in the eyes of God -- and that's a really important step."

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