Myanmar welcomes Obama with graffiti

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — When Arker Kyaw heard President Barack Obama was coming to Myanmar, he gathered 15 cans of spray paint and headed for a blank brick wall under cover of darkness. Kyaw, whose passion is graffiti, labored from 3 a.m. until the sun came up. Passing taxi drivers and the occasional pedestrian gave him signs of encouragement as Obama's grinning, uplifted face took shape against a background of the American and Myanmar flags.

"I wanted to welcome him," said Kyaw, a 19-year-old with a sweep of styled hair and a penchant for skinny jeans.

The next day, someone — a rival graffiti artist, suspects Kyaw — scribbled over his handiwork with a can of black spray paint.

Before dawn Saturday, as he watched for cops between tea breaks, he painted another wall with an image of Obama scrawled with the words "hello again." He sees it as a shout out from the youth of Myanmar, and hopes Obama will glimpse it during his six-hour visit to the country, the first by a U.S. president.

Word of Obama's historic visit has spread quickly around Yangon, which is readying itself with legions of hunched workers painting fences and curbs, pulling weeds and scraping grime off old buildings in anticipation of the president's Monday arrival.

Some here read symbolic value into Obama's itinerary. Obama is scheduled to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as well as President Thein Sein, who is widely credited with driving the country's recent political and economic reforms. He will also deliver a speech at the University of Yangon, which has been a seat of opposition since colonial times.

Obama will not visit Naypyitaw, the muscular, desolate capital built in the middle of scrubland at great expense by the country's military leaders in 2006.

"I like that Obama will meet Aung San Suu Kyi. It's a very good point," said Than Lwin, a 47-year-old freelance teacher from Kachin state, where an armed insurgency continues.

"I'm glad he's not going to Naypyitaw," he added, laughing. "Naypyitaw is only the military."

Many hope that Myanmar's emerging friendship with the West will improve human rights in the country and help counterbalance the influence of neighboring China.

"I think America can work for the people. China only works for the government," said Wizaya, a 47-year-old monk from Mandalay who goes by one name. "This is our expectation, that they will help us. Whether they help us depends on them."

Others are less convinced and see in Obama's trip an attempt to further America's own economic and regional interests.

"This trip is not only for Burma," said Hla Shwe, 75, who fought with communist rebels and spent 25 years as a political prisoner. "America wants to balance power between China and Southeast Asian nations."

"For 50 years the American government did not help the Burmese people," he added. "American companies will do business and cooperate with Burmese tycoons and authorities and high officials. All the benefits and interests will be for the Burmese authorities and their community. Not for the Burmese people."

Among the many hungers in Myanmar is a desire for better stuff. One of the first things Paul Myathein, a 63-year-old English teacher, noticed after the military seized power in 1962 was a quick decline in the quality of toothpaste and soap. Many hope that warming ties with America will mean more and better things to buy.

Soe Wai Htun, a 21-year-old poet, said he had a lot of Chinese toys when he was a kid. "In our country, there are a lot of made-in-China toys," he said. "They don't have quality." But when he talks about the single toy car that friends of the family sent from Florida, his hands cup the air as if he could still caress it today. America, he said, has "quality items."

War War, a 34-year-old mother of two, said she'd really like to buy a car, a bed and a pillow from America.

"The products from America are better than the ones from China," she said. "Most American products are expensive. We can't afford to buy them."

For Myathein, the English teacher, Obama's visit is, he said, "a dream only."

In 1963, Myathein became a member of the American Center, a cultural outpost of the U.S. Embassy in Yangon with a well-stocked lending library, a popular book club and English-language classes. Gatherings of more than five people were once banned in Myanmar and during those years, the American Center was one of few safe places for public debate.

Myathein took refuge there, burying himself in books of English grammar and George Orwell novels.

He holds up American culture as a model of something he tasted in childhood, which was ground out of his society during half a century of military dictatorship — a drive to question, the boldness to say no, the space to speak freely, take initiative and connect with the world at large. Myanmar is changing many political and economic policies, but for Myathein the more important, deeper transformation has yet to take place.

"Superficially, you think it's quite OK, but if you penetrate deeper, you see the same thing. Everyone is the same. We don't want to raise questions," he said. "One thing I would like to say to Obama is give us a chance. Teach us to open up our mindset."

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Lady Gaga tweets some racy images before concert

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Lady Gaga's tweets were getting a lot of attention ahead of her Buenos Aires concert Friday night.

The Grammy-winning entertainer has more than 30 million followers on Twitter and that's where she shared a link this week to a short video showing her doing a striptease and fooling around in a bathtub with two other women.

She told her followers that it's a "surprise for you, almost ready for you to TASTE."

Then, in between concerts in Brazil and Argentina, she posted a picture Thursday on her Twitter page showing her wallowing in her underwear and impossibly high heels on top of the remains of what appears to be a strawberry shortcake.

"The real CAKE isn't HAVING what you want, it's DOING what you want," she tweeted.

Lady Gaga wore decidedly unglamorous baggy jeans and a blouse outside her Buenos Aires hotel Thursday as three burly bodyguards kept her fans at bay. Another pre-concert media event where she was supposed to be given "guest of honor" status by the city government Friday afternoon was cancelled.

After Argentina, she is scheduled to perform in Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; and Asuncion, Paraguay, before taking her "Born This Way Ball" tour to Africa, Europe and North America.

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EU drug regulator OKs Novartis' meningitis B shot

LONDON (AP) — Europe's top drug regulator has recommended approval for the first vaccine against meningitis B, made by Novartis AG.

There are five types of bacterial meningitis. While vaccines exist to protect against the other four, none has previously been licensed for type B meningitis. In Europe, type B is the most common, causing 3,000 to 5,000 cases every year.

Meningitis mainly affects infants and children. It kills about 8 percent of patients and leaves others with lifelong consequences such as brain damage.

In a statement on Friday, Andrin Oswald of Novartis said he is "proud of the major advance" the company has made in developing its vaccine Bexsero. It is aimed at children over two months of age, and Novartis is hoping countries will include the shot among the routine ones for childhood diseases such as measles.

Novartis said the immunization has had side effects such as fever and redness at the injection site.

Recommendations from the European Medicines Agency are usually adopted by the European Commission. Novartis also is seeking to test the vaccine in the U.S.

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Israel hits Hamas government buildings, reservists mobilized

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft bombed Hamas government buildings in Gaza on Saturday, including the prime minister's office, after Israel's cabinet authorized the mobilization of up to 75,000 reservists, preparing for a possible ground invasion.

Israeli planes shattered the office building of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh - where he had met on Friday with the Egyptian prime minister - and struck the Interior Ministry.

Loud explosions regularly rocked the densely populated Palestinian territory, sending plumes of smoke billowing into the sky. The occasional hiss of outgoing rocket fire showed Islamist militants were pursuing their defiance of the assault.

Despite the violence, Tunisia's foreign minister arrived in the coastal enclave on Saturday in a show of solidarity, denouncing the Israeli attacks as illegitimate and unacceptable.

Officials in Gaza said 41 Palestinians, among them 20 civilians including eight children and a pregnant woman, had been killed in Gaza since Israel began operations four days ago. Three Israeli civilians were killed by a rocket on Thursday.

Israel's military said its air force had hit at least 180 targets since midnight, including a police headquarters, government buildings, rocket launching squads and a Hamas training facility in the impoverished territory.

A three-storey house belonging to Hamas official Abu Hassan Salah was also hit and completely destroyed early on Saturday. Rescuers said at least 30 people were pulled from the rubble.

"What Israel is doing is not legitimate and is not acceptable at all," Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdesslem said as he visited Haniyeh's wrecked headquarters. "It does not have total immunity and is not above international law."

Israel launched a massive air campaign on Wednesday with the declared aim of deterring Hamas from launching cross-border rocket salvoes that have plagued southern Israel for years.

The Palestinians have fired hundreds of rockets out of Gaza, including one at Jerusalem and three at Tel Aviv - Israel's commercial centre. Jerusalem had not been targeted in such a way since 1970, and Tel Aviv since 1991.

Although there were no reports of casualties or damage in either city, the long-range attacks came as a shock and advanced the prospect of an Israeli ground invasion into Gaza

"This will last as long as is needed; we have not limited ourselves in means or in time," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israel's Channel One television on Saturday.

Hamas says it is committed to continued confrontation with Israel and is eager not to seem any less resolute than smaller, more radical groups that have emerged in Gaza in recent years.

The Islamist Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007. Israel pulled settlers out of Gaza in 2005 but has maintained a blockade of the territory.

EGYPTIAN PEACE EFFORTS

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a four-hour strategy session late on Friday with a clutch of senior ministers on widening the military campaign, while other cabinet members were polled by telephone on increasing mobilization.

Political sources said they decided to more than double the current reserve troop quota set for the Gaza offensive to 75,000. It did not necessarily mean all would be called up.

Three soldiers were lightly hurt by fire from the Gaza Strip on Saturday, the army said.

Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil paid a high-profile visit to Gaza on Friday, denouncing what he described as Israeli aggression and saying Cairo was prepared to mediate a ceasefire.

Egypt's Islamist government, which took power after free elections following an uprising that ousted veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak, is allied with Hamas but also party to a 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

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

A Palestinian official with knowledge of Cairo's mediation efforts said on Saturday that Egypt was pursuing a truce.

"Egyptian mediators are continuing their mediation efforts and these will intensify in the coming hours," he told Reuters.

In a further sign Netanyahu might be clearing the way for a ground operation, Israel's armed forces decreed a highway leading to the territory and two roads bordering the enclave of 1.7 million Palestinians off-limits to civilian traffic.

Tanks and self-propelled guns were seen near the sandy border zone on Saturday, and around 16,000 reservists have already been called to active duty.

The Israeli military said some 367 rockets fired from Gaza had hit Israel since Wednesday and at least 222 more were intercepted by its Iron Dome anti-missile system.

Four Iron Domes were deployed initially and a fifth was rushed into action on Saturday, weeks ahead of schedule. The army said it was placed in the Tel Aviv area, showing Israel's concern for the safety of its heavily populated coastline.

Netanyahu is favored to win a January election, but further rocket strikes against Tel Aviv, a free-wheeling city Israelis equate with New York, and Jerusalem, which Israel regards as its capital, could be political poison for the conservative leader.

OBAMA REGRET

U.S. President Barack Obama commended Egypt's efforts to help calm the Gaza violence in a call to Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi on Friday, the White House said, and underscored his hope of restoring stability.

In a call with Netanyahu, Obama discussed options for "de-escalating" the situation, the White House added.

Obama "reiterated U.S. support for Israel's right to defend itself, and expressed regret over the loss of Israeli and Palestinian civilian lives," a statement on the call said.

Israel Radio's military affairs correspondent said the army's Homefront Command had told municipal officials to make civil defense preparations for the possibility that fighting could drag on for seven weeks. An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.

The Gaza conflagration has stirred the pot of a Middle East already boiling from two years of Arab revolutions and a civil war in Syria that threatens to spread across borders.

"Israel should understand that many things have changed and that lots of water has run in the Arab river," Tunisia's Abdesslem told reporters in Gaza.

It is the stiffest challenge yet for Mursi, a veteran politician from the Muslim Brotherhood who was elected this year after protests ended Mubarak's 30-year rule in 2011.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood are spiritual mentors of Hamas, yet Mursi has also pledged to respect Cairo's peace accord with Israel, which is seen in the West as the foundation of regional security. Egypt and Israel both receive billions of dollars in U.S. military aid to underwrite their treaty.

Hamas fighters are no match for the Israeli military. The last Gaza war, involving a three-week long Israeli air blitz and ground invasion over the New Year period of 2008-2009, killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Thirteen Israelis died.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to visit Israel and Egypt next week to push for an end to the fighting in Gaza, U.N. diplomats said on Friday.

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

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

(Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Writing by Crispian Balmer and Jeffrey Heller; Editing by)

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Japan PM dissolves parliament; vote set for Dec 16

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda dissolved the lower house of parliament Friday, paving the way for elections in which his ruling party will likely give way to a weak coalition government divided over how to solve the nation's myriad problems.

Elections are set for Dec. 16. If Noda's center-left party loses, the economically sputtering country will get its seventh prime minister in six and a half years.

The opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which led Japan for most of the post-World War II era, is in the best position to take over. The timing of the election likely pre-empts moves by more conservative challengers, including former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, to build electoral support.

Campaigning is set to begin Dec. 4, but leaders were already switching into campaign mode.

"What's at stake in the upcoming elections is whether Japan's future is going to move forward or backward," Noda declared to fellow leaders of the Democratic Party of Japan. "It is going to be a crucial election to determine the fate of Japan."

The DPJ, in power for three years, has grown unpopular largely because of its handling of the Fukushima nuclear crisis and its recent doubling of the sales tax.

Noda's most likely successor is LDP head and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He resigned as Japan's leader in 2007 after a year in office, citing health problems he says are no longer an issue.

"I will do my utmost to end the political chaos and stalled economy," Abe told reporters. "I will take the lead to make that happen."

The path to elections was laid suddenly Wednesday during a debate between Abe and Noda. Noda abruptly said he would dissolve parliament if the opposition would agree to key reforms, including a deficit financing bill and electoral reforms, and Abe jumped at the chance.

Polls indicate that the conservative, business-friendly LDP will win the most seats in the 480-seat lower house but will fall far short of a majority. That would force it to cobble together a coalition of parties with differing policies and priorities.

"It's unlikely that the election will result in a clear mandate for anybody," said Koichi Nakano, a political science professor at Sophia University. "So in that sense, there's still going to be a lot of muddling through."

The election, and the divided government that is likely to follow, complicate efforts to extricate Japan from its two-decade economic slump and effectively handle the cleanup from its 2011 nuclear disaster.

Still, many saw the prospect of change as positive: Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index jumped 2.2 percent Friday to 9,024.16.

Japan's leaders urgently need to devise strategies for coping with a soaring national debt, now more than double the national GDP, and a rapidly aging population. Japan must also decide whether it will follow through with plans to phase out nuclear power by 2040 — a move that many in the LDP oppose.

Perhaps most pressing is Japan's festering territorial dispute with China, which has hammered Japanese exports to its biggest trading partner.

A staunch nationalist, Abe has railed against China in the dispute over a cluster of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan.

Japan is going through a messy political transition, with a merry-go-round of prime ministers and the emergence of various parties to challenge the long-dominant LDP.

The DPJ ousted the LDP in a 2009 landslide, raising hopes for change. But the DPJ's failure to keep campaign promises and the government's handling of the nuclear crisis triggered by a March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami left many disillusioned. Noda's centerpiece achievement during nearly 15 months in office was a highly unpopular bill doubling the 5 percent national sales tax by 2015.

Polls show public support for the DPJ in the low teens, while 25 to 30 percent of voters back the LDP. Several other parties have lower levels of support, and nearly half the electorate is undecided.

"There are so many lying politicians," said Tokyo resident Michiyo Komaki. "I just wish for a leader who would do his job properly."

Ishihara recently resigned as Tokyo governor to create the Sunrise Party. As governor, he helped instigate the territorial crisis with China by declaring that Tokyo would buy and develop the disputed islands controlled by Japan but long claimed by Beijing. The central government bought the islands itself, intending to thwart Ishihara's more extreme plans, but China was still enraged.

Ishihara has been courting Toru Hashimoto, the young, outspoken mayor of Osaka, Japan's second-biggest city, in hopes of tapping voter dismay. Both have formed their own national political parties, but may not have enough time to get organized for the election.

The two men are reportedly in discussions to merge their parties and form a so-called "third force" to counter the LDP and DPJ, but apparently are struggling to reconcile conflicting policy views, including on nuclear power.

"The era of one-party dominance is clearly over and behind us," said Nakano, the professor. "We know what we are transiting from, but we don't know where we are going."

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Associated Press writers Elaine Kurtenbach and Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.

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Jason Mraz to make historic appearance in Myanmar

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jason Mraz will make history next month when he performs in Myanmar to raise awareness about human trafficking.

Mraz will headline a free outdoor concert on Dec. 16 at People's Square in Yangon, at the base of Shwedagon Pagoda.

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter is believed to be the first international artist to perform an open-air concert in the country. The show includes local acts and is hosted by MTV EXIT, the music channel's initiative to raise awareness about human trafficking and exploitation.

"That's pretty exciting," Mraz said of the history involved, "and I'm going there with an enormous amount of gratitude and respect, and I hope we can actually make a difference. I hope it's also a testament to the songs. I've always wanted my songs to be about healing and self-empowerment, and if this is the way MTV is acknowledging that, then I am incredibly grateful."

The show, which will include local acts, will be broadcast on Myanmar national television and will air on MTV's international network in 2013. Mraz hosted a similar concert in the Philippines last year. He first became interested in the issue about four years ago when he attended the Freedom Awards, an annual salute to those working against human exploitation put on by the organization Free the Slaves.

"I thought this was something that was abolished when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, but all it did is become hidden from our view," Mraz said in a phone interview from Zurich, Switzerland. "There was a recent estimate that there are about 27 million people enslaved on the planet, certainly due to hard economic times not just in the Western world but certainly in Third World countries. Humans as a commodity is a great way to run your business. So I signed on, lent my voice, lent my music to the cause."

Myanmar is opening itself to the world since a military junta ceded power to a new elected government last year. President Thein Sein's government has pushed the country toward democracy, and this Monday Barack Obama is scheduled to become the first sitting U.S. president to visit the country.

Mraz says there is concern predators will prey on the vulnerable in this time of great flux. The concert offers an opportunity to "educate, empower and engage." The 35-year-old singer says he plans to tailor his show to the message.

"I do curate a set list that I feel is going to be part of that educate, empower and engage (theme)," he said. "Obviously songs like 'I'm Yours,' 'I Won't Give Up' are great examples. Or '93 Million Miles' is a new one where it's about believing in yourself. And a lot of my songs are about that, about believing in yourself and really going for your dreams. Those are the kinds of songs I'll be playing at that show."

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Online:

http://jasonmraz.com

http://mtvexit.org

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Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott .

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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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Egypt presses truce as violence escalates

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Egypt's prime minister rushed to the aid of the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers Friday in the midst of an Israeli offensive there, calling for an end to the operation. Palestinian militants took advantage of an Israeli halt in fire during the visit to rain rockets on Israel, including a strike on the bustling metropolis of Tel Aviv for a second straight day.

Three days of fierce fighting between Israel and Gaza militants has widened the instability gripping the region, straining already frayed Israel-Egypt relations. The Islamist Cairo government recalled its ambassador in protest and dispatched Prime Minister Hesham Kandil to the Palestinian territory Friday in a show of solidarity with Hamas.

Israel, meanwhile, showed signs it was preparing to widen the offensive. After days of battering militant targets with airstrikes, Israeli forces were massing along the border in preparation for a possible ground invasion.

The operation began Wednesday with the assassination of Hamas' military chief and dozens of airstrikes on rocket launching sites. While Israel claims to have inflicted heavy damage, militants have fired hundreds of rockets into southern Israel, bringing the entire region to a standstill. At least 21 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed, according to medical officials on both sides.

Israel, at Egypt's request, suspended its attacks during the Egyptian official's brief visit, but Palestinians brushed aside this first possible break in the escalating conflict with a wide-ranging rocket barrage. Hamas officials claimed Israel carried out several airstrikes during the visit — a claim that Israel rejected.

Israel promised to "hold its fire" during Kandil's visit "on the condition that during that period, there won't be hostile fire from Gaza into Israel," an Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose the decision. The official also said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained committed to maintaining the historic 1979 peace treaty with Egypt.

But militant factions rejected the gesture and the Israeli military said Gaza militants fired off 60 rockets after Kandil crossed into Gaza from Egypt, heavily guarded by Egyptian security personnel wearing flak jackets and carrying assault rifles.

Kandil was greeted by Gaza's Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, who was making his first public appearance since Israel launched the offensive. The two visited wounded Palestinians at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where medics had brought in the lifeless body of a 4-year-old boy.

Tears streaming from his eyes, Kandil claimed afterward that the boy was killed in an Israeli airstrike, and called for an end to the operation.

"What I saw today in the hospital, the wounded and the martyrs, the boy, the martyr Mohammad Yasser, whose blood is still on my hands and clothes, is something that we cannot keep silent about," he said.

Neighbors said the boy was killed in a blast around 8:30 am, around the time Kandil was entering the territory.

Israel, which ordinarily confirms strikes, vociferously denied carrying out any form of attack in the area since the previous night.

Kandil's visit came after a night of fierce exchanges and signals that Israel might be preparing to invade Gaza. Overnight, the military said it targeted about 150 of the sites Gaza gunmen use to fire rockets at Israel, as well as ammunition warehouses, bringing to 450 the number of sites struck since the operation began Wednesday.

Israeli troops, tanks and armored personnel carriers massed near the Palestinian territory, signaling a ground invasion might be imminent.

Militants unleashed dozens of rocket barrages overnight, setting off air-raid sirens throughout an area that is home to some 1 million Israelis.

One rocket, fired Friday afternoon, set off air raid sirens and an explosion in Tel Aviv, Israel's bustling cultural and commercial capital. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said no one was injured and it appears the rocket landed in the Mediterranean.

It was the second straight day that rockets have reached the Tel Aviv area, marking a significant improvement in the militants' capabilities. Gaza militants have never before managed to strike the city.

Israel considers an attack on the city to be a major escalation. The rocket attacks on Tel Aviv appear to be raising the likelihood of an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.

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Teibel reported from Jerusalem.

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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 slammed Ireland's abortion laws Thursday.

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.

"In an attempt to save a 4-month-old fetus they killed my 30-year-old daughter. How is that fair you tell me?" A. Mahadevi, Halappanavar's mother, told several Indian television stations. Her daughter actually was 31 when she died.

"How many more cases will there be? The rules should be changed as per the requirement of Hindus. We are Hindus, not Christians," she said.

Savita Halappanavar's father, Andanappa Yalagi, said the combination of medical negligence and Irish abortion laws led to his daughter's death.

The spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs, Syed Akbaruddin, said in a Twitter post that the Indian Embassy in Dublin was "following the matter."

Halappanavar's husband, Praveen, said doctors at University Hospital Galway in western Ireland determined that his wife was miscarrying within hours of her hospitalization for severe pain on Oct. 21. He said over the next three days, doctors refused their requests for an abortion to combat her searing pain and fading health.

It was only after the fetus died that its remains were surgically removed. Within hours, Savita was placed under sedation in intensive care with blood poisoning, her husband said. By Oct. 27, her heart, kidneys and liver had stopped working, and she was pronounced dead the next day.

Three separate investigations are looking into the cause of Halappanavar's death.

Ireland's constitution officially bans abortion, but a 1992 Supreme Court ruling said the procedure should be legalized for situations when the woman's life is at risk from continuing the pregnancy. Five governments since have refused to pass a law resolving the confusion, leaving Irish hospitals reluctant to terminate pregnancies except in the most obviously life-threatening circumstances.

An estimated 4,000 Irish women travel next door to England every year, where abortion has been legal on demand since 1967. But that option is difficult, if not impossible, if the woman's health is failing.

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'30 Rock' heroine Liz Lemon to wed this month

NEW YORK (AP) — NBC says Liz Lemon, the harried heroine of "30 Rock," will soon be getting married.

The network said Thursday the perennial bridesmaid played by Tina Fey will wed on the "30 Rock" episode that airs Nov. 29.

Who's the lucky groom? He's Criss Chros, played by guest star James Marsden. Criss, who arrived on the scene last season, is a would-be entrepreneur with a bright smile and a dim wit.

"30 Rock" is the saga of Lemon, the overextended producer of a fictitious comedy series. She is surrounded by kookie comrades like company boss Jack Donaghy, played by Alec Baldwin, and her boisterously unhinged star Tracy Jordan, played by Tracy Morgan.

"30 Rock" will conclude its seven-season run early next year.

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