Tennis: Nadal braced for struggle on return to action

SANTIAGO: Rafael Nadal admits that he could find things tough on his return to competitive tennis next week after seven months on the sidelines.

The Spaniard arrived in Santiago on Friday amid great expectation and was received by Chilean president Sebastian Pinera at his residence, La Moneda Palace.

Nadal, an 11-time Grand Slam winner, is preparing to take part in the ATP event in Vina del Mar, 120 kilometres to the west, next week.

He will team up with Juan Monaco in the doubles on Tuesday, before his singles return on Wednesday.

Nadal is a wildcard entry into the singles event, and sought to play down talk of a winning comeback after such a long time on the sidelines.

"Undoubtedly the clay surface is a little less aggressive on my knee," he said, explaining why he chose to return in the first clay-court tournament of the calendar year.

"My aim is to compete courageously and hopefully the knee will stand up to it.

"There is always the possibility that I will lose in the first round after so many months without competing."

World number five Nadal won the last of his 11 Grand Slam titles to date at last year's French Open but has not played a competitive match since losing to Czech outsider Lukas Rosol in the second round at Wimbledon last June.

"Of course I still feel pain in the knee that sometimes stops me from playing, but you have to start sometime and I am here to try and give my best and hope that my knee comes through it," he added.

"The injury looks much better. There is no risk that I will suffer any setbacks here."

- AFP/jc

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Friday Poll: Will the Z10 save BlackBerry?

The release of the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone will be remembered as either a breath of new life for the company or a last gasp as it fell into irrelevance. By all accounts, the Z10 is a tremendous step forward in design and hardware over previous BlackBerrys, but it's coming at a time when the smartphone market is crowded with established contenders with massive app stores already in place.

CNET contributor Ben Parr says that the Z10 and its keyboard-wielding buddy Q10 face a major deficit on the app front. He argues that iOS and
Android have an insurmountable lead in the app race, meaning the Z10 will never attract the new customers BlackBerry needs to grow and survive.

Others suggest the smaller app store and lack of popular apps like Instagram don't matter for a company that specializes in the enterprise market. Some expect the BlackBerry app store to catch up over time.

No matter how you look at it, the Z10 faces fierce competition. Its security and management features make it an attractive buy for businesses, but some have already deserted the BlackBerry platform. CNET reader loose_screw writes, "My company, and many others that I know of, have already switched from BB to iPhone/Android. I don't think a new BB phone is going to make us switch back to BB."

The Z10 and its modern design has been a long time coming, but we'll have to wait and see if it and the Q10 can pull BlackBerry back from tottering on the brink. Is the Z10 the smartphone savior BlackBerry needs to save the company? Vote in our poll and talk it out in the comments.

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Cell users complain: Too many Amber Alerts

LOS ANGELES The next time a child is abducted near you, your cell phone may shriek to life with an alert message.

A new national Amber Alert system officially rolled out earlier this month to millions of cell phones, and because the alerts are automatically active on most newer phones, the messages have already taken tens of thousands of people by surprise.

The newly-expanded emergency alert system is an effort by FEMA to update the way it reaches people with new technologies, but local officials and others worry that the lack of public education and some initial stumbles may undermine the program's purpose, especially when people are startled and annoyed and choose to opt out.

Lisa Rott was jolted from her sleep at 1:44 a.m. earlier this month in her Sarasota, Fla. home. A high-pitched tone sounded in spurts for about 10 seconds while her phone buzzed multiple times.

Initially Roth, 50, was worried something had happened to her elderly mother. Then she saw the message: "Emergency Alert: Amber Alert. An Amber Alert has been issued in your area. Please check local media."

"I thought it was spam," said Rott, who works for AT&T as a process engineer. And because her cell phone has a New Jersey number, she wasn't sure exactly where the alert originated. The next morning Rott searched online for both New Jersey and Florida incidents yielding one likely possibility — hours away from her home.

"What are we supposed to do?" Roth said. "They're not telling us what to do, they're not even telling us what to look for in our area."

Later that morning Rott called AT&T, her service provider, and asked them how to make the "worthless" messages stop.

Dozens of people have similarly taken to Facebook and Twitter to comment on being startled awake, scared by their phone's activity, and frustrated by the lack of information.

FEMA officials said they are aware of the confusion the Amber Alerts have caused and are working with the U.S. Department of Justice to include more information in the text messages.

"There's a very delicate balance between how much is enough and how much (alerting) is too much," said Damon Penn, who oversees the FEMA emergency alerts system. "The big concern is over-alerting, and that's what we're focused on."

The federal agency requires people sending the alerts to be trained and to ensure that the alerts meet specific criteria. But officials are still working on trying to determine whether an alert should be sent out in the middle of the night, what information to provide, and how best to use the system, Penn said. The agency has started an education campaign, he said.

"My biggest concern is that people, if they don't understand what it means ... will opt out of the program," said Bob Hoever, a director at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. "And it's critical that we continue to have their participation."

The organization activates the messages seen on billboards and now cell phones once officials tell them an Amber Alert is necessary. Since the program's inception in 1996, Hoever said Amber Alerts have helped officials safely return at least 602 children.

So far, 19 Amber Alerts have been issued under this new system in 14 states including Texas, Ohio, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Arizona, according to figures kept by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

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Ala. Hostage Suspect Had Court Date Scheduled

The retired Alabama trucker who shot a school bus driver and is now holding a kindergarten student in an underground bunker was scheduled to be in court Wednesday to answer for allegedly shooting at his neighbors in a dispute over a damaged speed bump.

Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, has been holed up in a 6 by 8 foot bunker 4 feet underground with a 5-year-old autistic boy named Ethan since Tuesday, when he boarded a school bus and asked for two 6 to 8 year old boys. School bus driver Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, was shot several times by Dykes, and died trying to protect the children.

Police said that they do not think that Dykes had any connection to Ethan, and that SWAT teams and police are negotiating with Dykes.

"I could tell you that negotiators continue to communicate with the suspect and that there's no reason to believe the child has been harmed," Sheriff Wally Olson said late Thursday.

PHOTOS: Worst Hostage Situations

Dykes' neighbor Claudia Davis told The Associated Press that he had yelled at her and fired his gun at her, her son James Davis, Jr. and her baby grandson after he claimed their truck caused damage to a speed bump in the dirt road near his property. No one was hurt, but Davis, Jr. told the AP that he believes the shooting and kidnapping are connected to the scheduled court hearing.

Alabama Hostage Standoff: Boy, 5, Held Captive in Bunker Watch Video

Alabama 5-year-old Hostage: Negotiations Continue Watch Video

Alabama Child Hostage Situation: School Bus Driver Killed Watch Video

"I believe he thought I was going to be in court and he was going to get more charges than the menacing, which he deserved, and he had a bunch of stuff to hide and that's why he did it," he said.

This was not Dykes' only run-in with people in the neighborhood, where he had come to be known as a menacing figure. Neighbor Ronda Wilbur told the AP that Dykes beat her 120-pound dog with a lead pipe when it entered the side of the dirt rode his trailer sits on. Wilbur said her dog died a week later.

Early last year, two pit bulls belonging to neighbors Mike and Patricia Smith escaped and got into his yard. Patricia Smith said that Dykes threatened to shoot her children when they went to retrieve them.

Neighbor Ronda Wilbur said that Dykes would be seen on his property at all hours of the day.

"It could be 2 o'clock in the morning, it could be midnight. He was out there either digging or moving dirt," she said.

As the underground standoff moved into its fourth day, tensions grow in this small community near Midland City, Ala., which is now enveloped by SWAT teams and police.

"That's an innocent kid. Let him go back to his parents, he's crying for his parents and his grandparents and he does not know what's going on," Midland City Mayor Virgil Skipper told ABC News. "Let this kid go."

Neighbor Jimmy Davis said that he has seen the bunker where Dykes has been known to hunker down for up to eight days.

"He's got steps made out of cinder blocks going down to it, Davis said. "It's lined with those red bricks all in it."

Police say he may have enough supplies to last him weeks.

Former FBI profiler and ABC News consultant Brad Garrett said there's a distinct reason why authorities are keeping details about Dykes under wraps.

"One of reasons they are keeping negations closed and not releasing his picture, is to try to insulate the situation, so they don't have a situation where they don't have to deal with his anger and rage," he said.

Meanwhile, children are trying to understand why this happened to their friend

"He always comes up to my house to play," 10-year-old Trisha Beaty told ABC News. "I miss him. I miss him a lot."

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Syria protests Israel attack, warns of "surprise"

BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria warned on Thursday of a possible "surprise" response to Israel's attack on its territory and Russia condemned the air strike as an unprovoked violation of international law.

Damascus could take "a surprise decision to respond to the aggression of the Israeli warplanes", Syrian ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim Ali said a day after Israel struck against Syria.

"Syria is engaged in defending its sovereignty and its land," Ali told a website of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Syria and Israel have fought several wars and in 2007 Israeli jets bombed a suspected Syrian nuclear site, without a military response from Damascus.

Diplomats, Syrian rebels and regional security sources said on Wednesday that Israeli jets had bombed a convoy near the Lebanese border, apparently hitting weapons destined for Hezbollah. Syria denied the reports, saying the target had been a military research center northwest of Damascus.

Hezbollah, which has supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as he battles an armed uprising in which 60,000 people have been killed, said Israel was trying to thwart Arab military power and vowed to stand by its ally.

"Hezbollah expresses its full solidarity with Syria's leadership, army and people," said the group which fought an inconclusive 34-day war with Israel in 2006.

Israel has remained silent on the attack and there has been little reaction from its Western backers, but Syria's allies in Moscow and Tehran were quick to denounce the strike.

Russia, which has blocked Western efforts to put pressure on Syria at the United Nations, said that any Israeli air strike would amount to unacceptable military interference.

"If this information is confirmed, then we are dealing with unprovoked attacks on targets on the territory of a sovereign country, which blatantly violates the U.N. Charter and is unacceptable, no matter the motives to justify it," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Iranian deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian said the attack "demonstrates the shared goals of terrorists and the Zionist regime", Fars news agency reported. Assad portrays the rebels fighting him as foreign-backed, Islamist terrorists, with the same agenda as Israel.

"It is necessary for the sides which take tough stances on Syria to now take serious steps and decisive stances against this aggression by Tel Aviv and uphold criteria for security in the region," Abdullahian said.

An aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Iran would consider any attack on Syria as an attack on itself, but Abdullahian made no mention of retaliation.

Hezbollah said the attack showed that the conflict in Syria was part of a scheme "to destroy Syria and its army and foil its pivotal role in the resistance front (against Israel)".

BLASTS SHOOK DISTRICT

Details of Wednesday's strike remain sketchy and, in parts, contradictory. Syria said Israeli warplanes, flying low to avoid detection by radar, crossed into its airspace from Lebanon and struck the Jamraya military research centre.

But the diplomats and rebels said the jets hit a weapons convoy heading from Syria to Lebanon, apparently destined for Assad's ally Hezbollah, and the rebels said they - not Israel - hit Jamraya with mortars.

The force of the dawn attack shook the ground, waking nearby residents from their slumber with up to a dozen blasts, two sources in the area said.

"We were sleeping. Then we started hearing rockets hitting the complex and the ground started shaking and we ran into the basement," said a woman who lives adjacent to the Jamraya site.

The resident, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity over Israel's reported strike on Wednesday morning, said she could not tell whether the explosions which woke her were the result of an aerial strike.

Another source who has a relative working inside Jamraya reported that a building inside the complex had been cordoned off after the attack and that flames were seen rising from the area after the attack.

"It appears that there were about a dozen rockets that appeared to hit one building in the complex," the source, who also asked not to be identified, told Reuters. "The facility is closed today."

Israeli newspapers quoted foreign media on Thursday for reports on the attack. Journalists in Israel are required to submit articles on security and military issues to the censor, which has the power to block any publication of material it deems could compromise state security.

Syrian state television said two people were killed in the raid on Jamraya, which lies in the 25-km (15-mile) strip between Damascus and the Lebanese border. It described it as a scientific research centre "aimed at raising the level of resistance and self-defense".

Diplomatic sources from three countries told Reuters that chemical weapons were believed to be stored at Jamraya, and that it was possible that the convoy was near the large site when it came under attack. However, there was no suggestion that the vehicles themselves had been carrying chemical weapons.

"The target was a truck loaded with weapons, heading from Syria to Lebanon," said one Western diplomat, echoing others who said the convoy's load may have included anti-aircraft missiles or long-range rockets.

The raid followed warnings from Israel that it was ready to act to prevent the revolt against Assad leading to Syria's chemical weapons and modern rockets reaching either his Hezbollah allies or his Islamist enemies.

A regional security source said Israel's target was weaponry given by Assad's military to fellow Iranian ally Hezbollah.

"This episode boils down to a warning by Israel to Syria and Hezbollah not to engage in the transfer of sensitive weapons," the source said. "Assad knows his survival depends on his military capabilities and he would not want those capabilities neutralized by Israel - so the message is this kind of transfer is simply not worth it, neither for him nor Hezbollah."

Such a strike or strikes would fit Israel's policy of pre-emptive covert and overt action to curb Hezbollah and does not necessarily indicate a major escalation of the war in Syria. It does, however, indicate how the erosion of the Assad family's rule after 42 years is seen by Israel as posing a threat.

Israel this week echoed concerns in the United States about Syrian chemical weapons, but its officials say a more immediate worry is that the civil war could see weapons that are capable of denting its massive superiority in airpower and tanks reaching Hezbollah; the group fought Israel in 2006 and remains a more pressing threat than its Syrian and Iranian sponsors.

(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny and Oliver Holmes in Beirut, Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow and Marcus George in Dubai; editing by David Stamp)

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Biden to meet Russian FM, Syrian opposition leader

WASHINGTON: US Vice President Joe Biden will discuss the carnage in Syria in meetings on Saturday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Syrian opposition chief Moaz al-Khatib, the White House said.

Biden will hold the meetings, and also see UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi at the Munich Security Conference on a trip that will also include talks with leaders of Germany, France and Britain.

His initiative on Syria comes as fears mount that the sectarian war could spill over into other countries and after an Israeli raid on targets inside Syria, described by Damascus as a military research centre and in some reports as a convoy.

While not confirming the targets of the Israeli air raid, the White House warned on Thursday that Syria's government should not transfer arms to the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militia.

"We've been very clear that Syria should not further destabilise the region by transferring, for instance, weaponry to Hezbollah," said Ben Rhodes, a deputy US national security advisor.

"We also, of course, have been very clear beyond that that we're closely monitoring Syria's chemical weapons as well," he said.

Rhodes, asked about Iranian and Syrian threats to retaliate against Israel, said that such rhetoric from Tehran showed how concerned leaders there were about the prospect of President Bashar al-Assad's regime falling.

Officials said that Biden, in his meetings in Munich, would discuss getting more humanitarian aid into Syria where 60,000 people have now been killed in violence which sparked a refugee crisis.

"What we would like to see from other countries, including Russia, is an acknowledgment that Bashar al-Assad must go and that there needs to be a transition within Syria to a new government," said Rhodes.

Washington has denounced Russia's opposition to UN Security Council efforts to reach a global consensus on the need for Assad to leave.

The Obama administration has resisted calls for it to deploy military assets to help opposition forces in Syria, and has stopped short of arming forces fighting Assad's troops.

But it has provided non-lethal logistics, and medical and humanitarian support to rebels.

President Barack Obama this week announced US$155 million in new aid to Syria, taking the overall contribution of humanitarian supplies to US$365 million.

Biden's trip will take him to Germany, France and Britain.

He arrives in Berlin on Friday and hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, before heading to Munich, where he will deliver a speech to the conference on Saturday and hold his bilateral meetings.

On Monday, Biden will see French President Francois Hollande, before leaving for London, where he will meet British Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on Tuesday.

As well as security issues, Biden will also engage European leaders on the steps they have taken to stave off the EU's debt crisis and on the need to crank up the pace of economic growth, officials said.

- AFP/jc

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CES gives Dish Hopper with Sling 'Best of Show' award

The Consumer Electronics Association, a trade organization that represents 2,000 technology companies and runs the International Consumer Electronics Show, announced today that the Dish Hopper with Sling HD DVR is joining the Razer Edge gaming tablet as a co-winner of the 2013 Best of Show in the CES awards program. The CEA also designated the Dish Hopper a 2013 Design and Engineering Award Honoree at CES.

CNET, which produced the Best of Show awards program under contract with the CEA, originally voted the Dish Hopper with Sling as the winner. The Dish Hopper product was taken out of the competition owing to CNET's parent company CBS' ongoing litigation with Dish over its AutoHop ad-skipping technology, which allows customers to record the entire prime-time lineup and automatically skip commercials. After the Dish Hopper product was removed from consideration, CNET's editors voted to give the Best of Show award to the Razer Edge gaming
tablet.

CBS, as well as NBC (Comcast), Fox (News Corp.) and ABC (Disney), have filed suit against Dish Network over its AutoHop feature. The networks maintain that the ad-skipping feature will destroy the advertiser-supported ecosystem and that Dish doesn't have the right to tamper with advertising from broadcast replays for its own economic and commercial advantage.

"CNET is not going to give an award or any other validation to a product which CBS is challenging as illegal, other networks believe to be illegal and one court has already found to violate the copyright act in its application. Beyond that, CNET will cover every other product and service on the planet," a CBS spokesperson said.

CNET's product reviews policy states that its editors will not review any product or service that is currently involved in active litigation with CBS Corporation with respect to the legality of the product or service. The Dish Hopper and Aereo TV streaming service currently fall into that category.

The CEA filed an amicus brief supporting Dish's versus the broadcast networks last week before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals -- along with the Computer and Communications Industry Association and the Internet Association -- arguing: "In sum and substance, the Hopper merely enables the consumer to perform the same actions as the old VCRs or other DVRs, just more efficiently." The brief relies heavily on the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Sony v. Universal City Studios, saying that recording TV programming for personal use is legal and the devices that make the recordings are not liable for copyright infringement.

In a statement, CEA president Gary Shapiro said that "making television easier to watch is not against the law. It is simply pro-innovation and pro-consumer."

CEA said that it plans to issue a request for proposal (RFP) to identify a new partner to run the Best of
CES awards program.

"CES has enjoyed a long and productive partnership with CNET and the Best of CES awards," said Karen Chupka, senior vice president, events and conferences for CEA. "However, we are concerned the new review policy will have a negative impact on our brand should we continue the awards relationship as currently constructed. We look forward to receiving new ideas to recognize the 'best of the best' products introduced at the International CES."

"As the #1 tech news and reviews site in the world, CNET is committed to delivering in-depth coverage of consumer electronics. We look forward to covering CES and the latest developments from the show as we have for well over a decade," said CNET General Manager Mark Larkin.

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3 dead in mile-long Detroit freeway pile-up

A section of multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 75 is shown in Detroit, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. Snow squalls and slippery roads led to a series of accidents that left at least three people dead and 20 injured on a mile-long stretch of southbound I-75. More than two dozen vehicles, including tractor-trailers, were involved in the pileups. / AP Photo/Paul Sancya

DETROIT Snow squalls and slippery roads led to a series of accidents that left at least three people dead and 20 injured on a mile-long stretch of roadway in Detroit on Thursday.

More than two dozen vehicles, including tractor-trailers, were involved in the pileups on Interstate 75.

SUVs with smashed front ends and cars with doors hanging open sat scattered across the debris-littered highway between jackknifed tractor-trailers. Motorists and passengers who were able to a get out of their vehicles huddled together on the side of the road, some visibly distraught, others looking dazed.

A man and woman hugged under the gray, cloud-filled skies, a pair of suitcases next to them and what appeared to be a car bumper on the ground behind them.

Police said two people who died had been traveling in the same car. The injured, including children, were taken to local hospitals.

"We're not sure of the cause," Michigan State Police Lt. Michael Shaw told The Associated Press. "Some witnesses said there were white-out conditions."

A section of multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 75 is shown in Detroit, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013.

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AP Photo/Paul Sancya

Shaw said many people had to be pulled out of vehicles and that scores of vehicles not involved in crashes were stuck.

Numerous fire engines and ambulances were on the scene, which included smashed and dented vehicles. Shaw said it would be hours before the freeway reopened.

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Hagel, McCain Butt Heads at Confirmation Hearing

Facing a rocky confirmation process, Chuck Hagel today defended his record before his former Senate colleagues, including an openly impatient Sen. John McCain.

"I'm on the record on many issues, but no one individual vote, no one individual quote, no one individual statement defines me," Hagel said in his opening statement at his first confirmation hearing for secretary of defense.

"My overall worldview has never changed: that America has and must maintain the strongest military in the world, that we must lead in the international community to confront threats and challenges together," Hagel said.

Who Is Chuck Hagel? Obama's Nominee for Secretary of Defense

A Vietnam veteran and former Republican senator from Nebraska who left office in 2009, Hagel, 66, is president Obama's nominee to replace Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Despite his 12-year career in the Senate, Hagel faces opposition from many of his former Republican colleagues.

In the hearing's testiest exchange, McCain grilled Hagel on the former senator's opposition to the Iraq "surge," a stance that separated Hagel from most members of his party in 2007.

The Arizona senator championed the "surge" both as a senator and in his 2008 presidential campaign, while Hagel joined Democrats in vocally criticizing the strategy. McCain pressed Hagel at today's hearing to say whether he believes the surge was a mistake.

When Hagel declined to answer "yes" or "no," McCain told his former colleague, "I want to know if you were right or wrong. That's a direct question," repeatedly accusing Hagel of refusing to answer the question.

Obama Announces Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense Watch Video

Obama Taps Sen. Chuck Hagel for Defense Secretary Watch Video

Sen. Chuck Hagel's Defense Nomination Draws Criticism Watch Video

"You're on the wrong side of it, and your refusal to answer whether you were right or wrong on it is going to have an impact on my judgment on whether to vote for your confirmation," McCain concluded

Hagel also underwent some tough, testy questioning from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an ally of McCain's in the Senate. Graham pointed out Hagel's decision not to sign letters on Middle-East policy during his Senate career, at one point asking Hagel: "Do you think that the sum total of your record ... all that together, that the image you've created is one of sending the worst possible signal to our enemies and friends at one of the most critical times in world history?"

Hagel said he did not.

Senate Republicans and pro-Israel groups have voiced grievances with Hagel's record, including opposition to unilateral sanctions against Iran, support for talks with Hamas, opposition to deeming Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, and a reference to Israel-backing groups as the "Jewish lobby."

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., acknowledged such concerns as he opened the committee's hearing, referencing "troubling statements [Hagel] has made about Israel and its supporters in the United States."

Hagel defended himself under questioning from multiple senators.

"When I voted against some of those unilateral sanctions on Iran, it was a different time," Hagel said, referring to votes in the early 2000s. "We were in a different place with Iran at that time. As a matter of fact, the Bush administration did not want a five-year renewal of [the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act] at that time because they weren't sure of the effectiveness of the sanctions."

Hagel said his record of public statements shows he has consistently referred to Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist groups and Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism.

"The way I approached every vote I took in the Senate was what I thought would be the most effective," Hagel said, defending his vote against labeling Iran's guard corps as a terrorist group. "What was the situation at the time, how can we do this smarter and better?"

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., the committee's top Republican, said he will oppose Hagel's nomination.

"Senator Hagel is a good man who has a record of service," Inhofe said of his former GOP colleague, while concluding, "He is the wrong person to lead the Pentagon.

Hagel was introduced at the hearing by former Sens. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., and John Warner, R-Va., two respected former members of the Armed Services Committee, both of whom lavished praise on Obama's nominee.

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Egypt curfew scaled back as Mursi seeks end to bloodshed

CAIRO/BERLIN (Reuters) - Authorities in an Egyptian city scaled back a curfew imposed by President Mohamed Mursi, and the Islamist leader cut short a visit to Europe on Wednesday to deal with the deadliest violence in the seven months since he took power.

Two more protesters were shot dead before dawn near Cairo's central Tahrir Square on Wednesday, a day after the army chief warned that the state was on the brink of collapse if Mursi's opponents and supporters did not end street battles.

More than 50 people have been killed in the past seven days of protests by Mursi's opponents, raising global concern over whether the Islamist leader can restore stability to the most populous Arab country.

Mursi imposed a curfew and a state of emergency on three Suez Canal cities on Sunday but that only seemed to further provoke crowds in a week of unrest marking the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

The governor of Ismailia, one of the three canal cities, said on Wednesday he was scaling back the curfew, which would now take effect nightly from 2:00 a.m. instead of 9:00 p.m..

Mursi, speaking in Berlin before hurrying home to deal with the crisis, called for dialogue with opponents but would not commit to their demand that he first agree to include them in a unity government.

Asked about that proposal, he said the next government would be formed after parliamentary elections in April.

Egypt was on its way to becoming "a civilian state that is not a military state or a theocratic state", Mursi said.

The violence at home forced Mursi to scale back his European visit, billed as a chance to promote Egypt as a destination for foreign investment. He flew to Berlin but called off a trip to Paris and was due back home after only a few hours in Europe.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who met him, echoed other Western leaders who have called on him to give his opponents a voice.

"One thing that is important for us is that the line for dialogue is always open to all political forces in Egypt, that the different political forces can make their contribution, that human rights are adhered to in Egypt and that of course religious freedom can be experienced," she said at a joint news conference with Mursi.

SPIRIT OF REVOLUTION

Mursi's critics accuse him of betraying the spirit of the revolution by keeping too much power in his own hands and those of his Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement banned under Mubarak which won repeated elections since the 2011 uprising.

Mursi's supporters say the protesters want to overthrow Egypt's first democratically elected leader. The current unrest has deepened an economic crisis that saw the pound currency tumble in recent weeks.

Near Cairo's Tahrir Square on Wednesday morning, dozens of protesters threw stones at police who fired back teargas, although the scuffles were brief.

"Our demand is simply that Mursi goes, and leaves the country alone. He is just like Mubarak and his crowd who are now in prison," said Ahmed Mustafa, 28, a youth who had goggles on his head to protect his eyes from teargas.

Opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei called for a meeting of the president, ministers, the ruling party and the opposition to halt the violence. But he also restated the precondition that Mursi first commit to seeking a national unity government.

The worst violence has been in the Suez Canal city of Port Said, where rage was fuelled by death sentences passed against soccer fans for roles in deadly riots last year.

After decades in which the West backed Mubarak's military rule of Egypt, the emergence of an elected Islamist leader in Cairo is probably the single most important change brought about by the wave of Arab revolts over the past two years.

Mursi won backing from the West last year for his role in helping to establish a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinians that ended a conflict in Gaza. But he then followed that with an effort to fast-track a constitution that reignited dissent at home and raised global concern over Egypt's future.

Western countries were alarmed this month by video that emerged showing Mursi making vitriolic remarks against Jews and Zionists in 2010 when he was a senior Brotherhood official.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said ahead of Mursi's visit that the remarks, in which Mursi referred to Zionists as "descendants of apes and pigs" were "unacceptable".

"NOT AGAINST JEWS"

Asked about those remarks at the news conference with Merkel, Mursi repeated earlier explanations that they had been taken out of context.

"I am not against the Jewish faith," he said. "I was talking about the practices and behavior of believers of any religion who shed blood or who attack innocent people or civilians. That's behavior that I condemn."

"I am a Muslim. I'm a believer and my religion obliges me to believe in all prophets, to respect all religions and to respect the right of people to their own faith," he added.

Egypt's main liberal and secularist bloc, the National Salvation Front, has so far refused talks with Mursi unless he promises a unity government including opposition figures.

"Stopping the violence is the priority, and starting a serious dialogue requires committing to guarantees demanded by the National Salvation Front, at the forefront of which are a national salvation government and a committee to amend the constitution," ElBaradei said on Twitter.

Those calls have also been backed by the hardline Islamist Nour party - rivals of Mursi's Brotherhood. Nour and the Front were due to meet on Wednesday, signaling an unlikely alliance of Mursi's critics from opposite ends of the political spectrum.

Brotherhood leader Mohamed El-Beltagy dismissed the unity government proposal as a ploy for the Front to take power despite having lost elections. On his Facebook page he ridiculed "the leaders of the Salvation Front, who seem to know more about the people's interests than the people themselves".

In a sign of the toll the unrest is having on Egypt's economy, ratings agency Fitch downgraded its sovereign rating by one notch to B on Wednesday.

German industry leaders see potential in Egypt but are concerned about political instability.

"At the moment many firms are waiting on political developments and are cautious on any big investments," said Hans Heinrich Driftmann, head of Germany's Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh and Marwa Awad in Cairo, Stephen Brown and Gernot Heller in Berlin and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Peter Millership)

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