Chicago gang violence shows no signs of stopping

(CBS News) CHICAGO - There is a war going on -- not overseas, but right here on the streets of America. A gang war has taken over parts of Chicago.

Over the weekend, 14 people were shot. Two were killed.

So far this year, there have been more than 2,364 shootings and 487 homicides.

CBS News National Correspondent Dean Reynolds rode along with Commander Leo Schmitz of Chicago Police Department's 7th district. The area is a gang-related swath of the city's South Side. They started to drive as children were leaving school for the day.

"When you have them coming out of school, and there's any kind of gang conflicts, you've got a mix like fire and gasoline," Schmitz said.

The gangs are fighting a war over turf, drugs and money.

"It's crazy," he said. "What used to be a fist fight now turns into, 'Let's go to the guns,'" Schmitz said.

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Shooting deaths are up 20 percent in the city this year, though in the 7th district Schmitz and his team have managed to cut homicides by 30 percent.

He credits better intelligence from informants, increased patrols and a citywide crime-tracking database.

"We use the knowledge," Schmitz said. "So, if there's a shooting right here, we know that the retaliation will be a block down."

The police gave us a bulletproof vest for the trip, and within minutes it because crystal clear why.

A block away, a man walking was a target. The suspect was fleeing the scene.

"He done shot at me right here!" the man said.

Police apprehended a Chicago suspect who allegedly shot another man. The shooting supposedly has roots in gang violence.

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The commander and his men ran down the suspected shooter, 21-year-old Julian Gayles. Police think the shooting was probably gang-related.

The police also received the weapon. Schmitz described it as a 9mm Beretta.

"If you can see the hammer's already (up)," he said. "That means he just shot it."

Chicago has seized more guns this year than New York and Los Angeles combined. The violence is so bad that the heavily armed police now attend gang funerals to prevent revenge killings. Schmitz said he doesn't just want to maintain a level of clam.

"I want to win," Schmitz said. "So, we're going to always try to do better than we did before."

It didn't get much better this weekend. Among the victims was an off-duty cop.

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Woman Gets Life for Lottery Winner's Murder

DeeDee Moore, the Tampa woman accused of swindling and then killing lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare, was found guilty today of first degree murder and other charges, after she declined to take the stand and the defense rested without calling a single witness.

In addition to the murder charge, Moore was also found guilty of possessing and discharging a firearm resulting in death. Prosecutors did not pursue the death penalty in the case, and Moore was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

"After trial and listening to all of this over two weeks, words that were said cool, calculated, manipulated. Abraham Shakespeare was your prey and victim. Money was the route of evil you brought to Abraham. You are sentenced to life in prison you shall not be elegible for parole," Judge Emmet Battles said.

Jurors deliberated for more than three hours Monday before delivering their verdict.

Prosecutors argued that Moore, 40, befriended Shakespeare before he vanished in April 2009 after he'd won $30 million in the Florida lottery. After Shakespeare had given away most of his money to people who simply asked for it, Moore agreed to manage the little he had left, but instead, prosecutors said, stole his winnings and killed him.

During a dramatic trial Moore has broken down in tears several times, and at one point said that she went into anaphylactic shock while in custody after taking the drug Bactrim when she was having problems with cuts on her ankles from being cuffed every day.

Early today the defense announced it would rest its case without calling any witnesses. Moore did not testify during her trial.

Jay Conner/The Tampa Tribune/AP Photo

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"There is no witness that can say she ever admitted to doing the killing or participating as a principle in helping anyone else do the killing," Moore's defense attorney Byron Hileman said today.

In the courtroom this morning, Moore's friend, former inmate Rose Condora was accused of threatening witnesses by Tampa Judge Emmett Battles, and was thrown out of the courtroom.

Authorities say Shakespeare, 47, was shot twice in the chest by a .38-caliber pistol sometime in April 2009. He wasn't reported missing until November 2009. His body was found under a slab of cement in a backyard in January 2010.

Polk County authorities claim Moore offered someone a $200,000 house in exchange for reporting a false sighting of Shakespeare. She also allegedly sent the victim's son $5,000 in cash for his birthday, and used the victim's cellphone to send text messages purportedly from him.

Shakespeare's mother, Elizabeth Walker, also testified that Moore tried to hide that her son was missing, and said that he had AIDS.

Sentorria Butler, Shakespeare's ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child, also testified. Butler told the court last week that Moore is a divisive and manipulative woman who told her Shakespeare "ran off with the lady from the bank."

During the trial, jurors also watched a Walmart surveillance video that the prosecution said links Moore to Shakespeare's killing. The footage shows Moore making a $104 cash purchase of gloves, duct tape, plastic sheeting and other items detectives later found close to where Shakespeare's body was buried.

Jurors hearing the case also heard a rambling two-page letter that witness Greg Smith, a police informant who was a former friend of Shakespeare and supposed friend of Moore, says Moore allegedly forged while at a Comfort Inn & Suites in Lakeland, Fla.

The letter was meant to appear to be from Shakespeare, prosecutors said. They say the letter was a ruse to convince Shakespeare's mother that he was still alive. Moore attempted to cover her tracks while it was written, according to prosecutors.

During the trial, jurors had to be accompanied by a security escort into the courtroom after they told the judge Smith and Shakespeare's family and friends were making them feel uncomfortable outside the courthouse. None of the jurors had to be excused by the judge.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Unknown attackers fire at Cairo protesters, nine hurt

CAIRO (Reuters) - Nine people were hurt when unknown attackers fired at protesters camping at Tahrir Square in central Cairo on Tuesday, according to witnesses and Egyptian media, as opponents and supporters of President Mohamed Mursi's plans to vote on a new constitution geared up for a day of street demonstrations.

Police cars surrounded the square, the first time they had appeared in the area since November 23, shortly after a decree by the Islamist president giving himself sweeping temporary powers touched off widespread protests.

The attackers also threw petrol bombs which started a small fire, witnesses said. Many of the protesters, awakened by the noise, chanted: "The people want the downfall of the regime." Recorded recitations of the Koran were played over speakers in the square.

Leftists, liberals and other opposition groups have called for marches to the presidential palace in the afternoon to protest against the hastily arranged referendum on a new constitution planned for Saturday, which they say is polarizing the country.

Islamists, who dominated the body that drew up the constitution, have urged their followers to turn out "in millions" the same day in a show of support for the president and for a referendum they feel sure of winning and that critics say could put Egypt in a religious straitjacket.

Seven people were killed and hundreds wounded last week in clashes between the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and opponents besieging Mursi's graffiti-daubed presidential palace.

The elite Republican Guard has yet to use force to keep protesters away from the palace, now ringed with tanks, barbed wire and concrete barricades, but a decree issued by Mursi late on Sunday gives the armed forces the power to arrest civilians during the referendum and until the announcement of the results.

OPPOSITION SAYS MURSI DESTROYING CONSENSUS

Leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahy, one of the most prominent members of the National Salvation Front opposition coalition, said Mursi was driving a wedge between Egyptians and destroying prospects for consensus.

As well as pushing the early referendum, Mursi has angered opponents by taking sweeping temporary powers he said were necessary to secure the country's transition to stability after a popular uprising overthrew autocratic former president Hosni Mubarak 22 months ago.

"The road Mohamed Mursi is taking now does not create the possibility for national consensus," said Sabahy.

If the constitution was passed, he said: "Egypt will continue in this really charged state. It is certain that this constitution is driving us to more political polarization."

The National Salvation Front also includes Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei and former Arab League chief Amr Moussa.

The opposition says the draft constitution fails to embrace the diversity of 83 million Egyptians, a tenth of whom are Christians, and invites Muslim clerics to influence lawmaking.

But debate over the details has largely given way to noisy street protests and megaphone politics, keeping Egypt off balance and ill equipped to deal with a looming economic crisis.

Lamia Kamel, a spokeswoman for Moussa, said the opposition factions were still discussing whether to boycott the referendum or call for a "no" vote.

"Both paths are unwelcome because they really don't want the referendum at all," she said, but predicted a clearer opposition line if the plebiscite went ahead as planned.

Mahmoud Ghozlan, the Muslim Brotherhood's spokesman, said the opposition could stage protests, but should keep the peace.

"They are free to boycott, participate or say no; they can do what they want. The important thing is that it remains in a peaceful context to preserve the country's safety and security."

The army stepped into the conflict on Saturday, telling all sides to resolve their disputes via dialogue and warning that it would not allow Egypt to enter a "dark tunnel".

The continuing disruption is also casting doubts on the government's ability to push through tough economic reforms that form part of a proposed $4.8 billion IMF loan agreement.

(Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Will Waterman, Mohammad Zargham and Jim Loney)

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Family & friends key to resilient marriages: survey

SINGAPORE: Family, friends and religious advisors are often the primary informal sources of help for couples facing marital issues, according to a study commissioned by Marriage Central which aims to identify resilience factors that can mitigate marriage crises.

Children are an important reason for couples to continue their relationship.

Those who have prior positive interactions with counsellors, such as in marriage preparation programmes, also stand a better chance at overcoming crisis.

The study conducted from February to May involved over 500 married individuals.

Marriage Central said all of those surveyed had remained in their marriages, even though nearly half of the respondents had at some point considered divorce.

The study revealed that some of the common stresses to a marriage in Singapore include infidelity and interference by in-laws.

Principal investigator Dr Mathew Mathews, a research fellow from the Institute of Policy Studies, said: "It shows that there are different agents which are acting in that process - family, the community, broader messages around and notions of commitment are all there, and I think these things help to keep couples wanting to walk through their relationship rather than giving up."

Marriage Central - a workgroup under the National Family Council - said the findings indicate that there is hope for troubled marriages in Singapore.

The workgroup intends to share the findings with voluntary welfare organisations and other stakeholders so that they may develop more resources and programmes for building resilient marriages in Singapore.

- CNA/ck

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Patent trolls now behind most patent infringement lawsuits

Patent trolls are for the first time behind the majority of patent infringement lawsuits filed in the United States, according to a study conducted by a patent law professor in California.

About 62 percent of all patent lawsuits filed this year up to December 1 were brought by patent assertion entities (PAEs), which are created to extract licensing fees from other companies rather than make products based on the patents, according to Colleen Chien, a law professor at Santa Clara University.

That's a dramatic increase over last year, when 45 percent of patent lawsuits were filed by trolls. In 2010, PAEs filed 29 percent of all patent infringement lawsuits, Chien found.

The study also found that 61 percent of defendants had been sued by a PAE that had sued eight or more times. Startups are a particularly popular target, with more than 20 percent of companies lacking any funding finding themselves on the receiving end of a patent lawsuit.

The report noted that most patent fights are not conducted in public, with the vast majority being settled under nondisclosure agreements before reaching the litigation stage. One factor might be the fact that legal costs exceeded the amount of settlement in the vast majority of cases.

The data was part of a presentation at a public workshop hosted today by the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to explore the impact patent trolls have on innovation and competition.

The FTC has been particularly concerned lately about the effects of threatened patent litigation, arguing in a recent court filing that Motorola's attempts to ban the sale of iPads and iPhones allegedly infringing on Motorola patents "risks harming competition, innovation, and consumers."

A study released earlier this year found that patent infringement lawsuits in general are on the rise, costing U.S. companies $29 billion in 2011. The explosion in patent lawsuits, especially in the software and pharmaceutical industries, led one judge presiding over high-profile cases to declare that "patent protection is on the whole excessive and that major reforms are necessary."

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Boehner and Obama meet on "fiscal cliff"

President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, met at the White House Sunday for their first face-to-face meeting on the "fiscal cliff" in weeks, indicating that negotiations are continuing despite a public stalemate over the requirements for a deal.

The two have spoken over the phone as recently as Wednesday but on Friday, Boehner held a news conference to announce that "no progress" had been made.

While details of today's discussion weren't disclosed both Mr. Obama's and Boehner's spokesmen released the same exact statement to reporters, revealing some coordination - even if it's just how to talk to the press.

"This afternoon, the President and Speaker Boehner met at the White House to discuss efforts to resolve the fiscal cliff. We're not reading out details of the conversation, but the lines of communication remain open," Boehner spokesma Brendan Buck and White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest separately emailed.

The "fiscal cliff" is a series of automatic spending cuts and tax increases that are set to go into affect at the beginning of the year unless Congress passes an alternative proposal. Most economists say the jolt to the economy would harm any recovery, and could throw the country back into recession.

Both sides have laid out their demands. Republicans are adamant that spending be greatly reduced, especially for entitlements. Democrats, however, are demanding that tax rates increase for the wealthy, something that some Republicans, including Boehner, have indicated is up for discussion.

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Fiscal Cliff Talks: Boehner, Obama Meet Face-to-Face

For the first time in more than three weeks, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met face-to-face today at the White House to talk about avoiding the fiscal cliff.

White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest would offer no details saying only, "The lines of communication remain open."

Erskine Bowles, the co-creator of a debt reducing plan, who was pessimistic a couple weeks ago, said he likes what he's hearing.

"Any time you have two guys in there tangoing, you have a chance to get it done," Bowles said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

The White House afternoon talks, conducted without cameras or any announcement until they were over, came as some Republicans were showing more flexibility about approving higher tax rates for the wealthy, one of the president's demands to keep the country from the so-called fiscal cliff -- a mixture of across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts that many economists say would send the country back into recession.

Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo; Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo

Fiscal Cliff Battle: President Obama vs. Speaker John Boehner Watch Video

"Let's face it. He does have the upper hand on taxes. You have to pass something to keep it from happening," Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee said on "FOX News Sunday."

This comes after the White House moderated one of its demands about tax rate increases for the wealthy.

The administration was demanding the rate return to its former level of 39.6 percent on income above $250,000. The so-called Bush tax cut set that rate at 35 percent. But Friday, Vice President Joe Biden signaled that rate could be negotiable, somewhere between the two.

"So will I accept a tax increase as a part of a deal to actually solve our problems? Yes," said Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn on ABC's "This Week."

The problems the senator was referring to are the country's entitlement programs. And there was some progress on that front, too.

A leading Democrat said means testing for Medicare recipients could be a way to cut costs to the government health insurance program. Those who make more money would be required to pay more for Medicare.

"I do believe there should be means testing, and those of us with higher income and retirement should pay more. That could be part of the solution," Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

But Durbin said he would not favor raising the eligibility age from 65 years old to 67 years old, as many Republicans have suggested.

The White House and the speaker's office released the exact same statement about the negotiating session. Some will see that as a sign of progress, that neither side is talking about what was said behind closed doors.

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Egypt's opposition rejects constitutional referendum

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's main opposition coalition rejected on Sunday Islamist President Mohamed Mursi's plan for a constitutional referendum this week, saying it risked dragging the country into "violent confrontation".

Mursi's decision on Saturday to retract a decree awarding himself wide powers failed to placate opponents who accused him of plunging Egypt deeper into crisis by refusing to postpone the vote on a constitution shaped by Islamists.

"We are against this process from start to finish," Hussein Abdel Ghani, spokesman of the National Salvation Front, told a news conference, calling for more street protests on Tuesday.

The Front's main leaders - Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, former Foreign Minister Amr Moussa and leftist Hamdeen Sabahy - did not attend the event.

Hundreds of protesters milled around Mursi's palace, despite tanks, barbed wire and other barriers installed last week after clashes between Islamists and their rivals killed seven people.

"Holding a referendum now in the absence of security reflects haste and an absence of a sense of responsibility on the part of the regime, which risks pushing the country towards violent confrontation," a statement from the Front said.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which propelled Mursi from obscurity to power, urged the opposition to accept the referendum's verdict.

Islamists say the vote will seal a democratic transition that began when a popular uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak 22 months ago after three decades of military-backed one-man rule.

Their liberal, leftist and Christian adversaries say the document being fast-tracked through could threaten freedoms and fails to embrace the diversity of Egypt's 83 million people.

"ACT OF WAR"

Mursi had given some ground on Saturday when he annulled the fiercely contested decree issued on November 22 that gave him extra powers and shielded his decisions from judicial review.

But some measures taken under the decree remain in force and the president has insisted the referendum go ahead on December 15.

Liberal opposition leader Ahmed Said earlier described the race to a referendum as an "act of war" against Egyptians.

Egypt is torn between Islamists, who were suppressed for decades, and their rivals, who fear religious conservatives want to squeeze out other voices and restrict social freedoms. Many Egyptians just crave stability and economic recovery.

Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said the scrapping of Mursi's decree had removed any reason for controversy.

"We ask others to announce their acceptance of the referendum result," he said on the group's Facebook page, asking whether the opposition would accept "the basics of democracy".

The cancellation of Mursi's decree, announced after a "national dialogue" on Saturday boycotted by almost all the president's critics, has not bridged a deep political divide.

Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, a technocrat with Islamist leanings, said the referendum was the best test of opinion.

"The people are the makers of the future as long as they have the freedom to resort to the ballot box in a democratic, free and fair vote," he said in a cabinet statement.

But opposition factions, uncertain of their ability to vote down the constitution against the Islamists' organizational muscle, want the document redrafted before any vote.

"A constitution without consensus can't go to a referendum," said Hermes Fawzi, 28, a protester outside the palace. "It's not logical that just one part of society makes the constitution."

DIALOGUE

Egypt tipped into turmoil after Mursi grabbed powers to stop any court action aimed at hindering the transition. An assembly led by the Brotherhood and other Islamists then swiftly approved the constitution it had spent six months drafting.

Opponents, including minority Christians, had already quit the assembly in dismay, saying their voices were being ignored.

After the dialogue hosted by Mursi, a spokesman announced that the president had issued a new decree whose first article "cancels the constitutional declaration" of November 22. He said the referendum could not be delayed for legal reasons.

The decree ignited more than two weeks of sometimes violent protests and counter-rallies in Egypt. Mursi's foes have chanted for his downfall. Islamists fear a plot to oust the most populous Arab nation's first freely-elected leader.

Islamists reckon they can win the referendum and, once the new constitution is in place, a parliamentary election about two months later. The Islamist-led lower house elected this year was dissolved after a few months by a court order.

Investors appeared relieved after Mursi rescinded his decree, sending Egyptian stocks 4.4 percent higher on Sunday. Markets are awaiting approval of a $4.8 billion IMF loan later this month designed to support the budget and economic reforms.

The military, which led Egypt's transition for 16 turbulent months after Mubarak fell, told feuding factions on Saturday that only dialogue could avert "catastrophe". But a military source said these remarks did not herald an army takeover.

(Additional reporting by Edmund Blair and Yasmine Saleh; editing by David Stamp)

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Xi's Shenzhen visit a sign of reform: Chinese media

BEIJING: China's new Communist Party chief Xi Jinping has signalled his commitment to push for economic reforms by visiting the city of Shenzhen, the historic hub of modernisation, state media said Monday.

Xi's trip, his first official one as ruling party leader, echoed a visit by then-leader Deng Xiaoping to the southern boomtown in 1992 to revive reforms.

Deng had launched China's economic modernisation more than three decades ago under the slogan "Reform and Opening".

According to analysts the pace of restructuring has slowed in the last decade under outgoing leader Hu Jintao, but Xi's choice of destination sent a clear signal.

"The party Central Committee's decision to undertake Reform and Opening was correct," Xi said, according to the Nanjing Daily.

"We will continue down this path, unswervingly continue down the path of enriching the country and the people, and will break new ground."

Authorities stressed their commitment to reform during the once-a-decade party leadership handover last month that put Xi in the top spot.

They face growing calls to realign the economy to ensure long-term growth, by reducing reliance on investment and exports and boosting domestic consumption.

Growth slowed to a three-year low of 7.4 per cent in the third quarter of this year, hit by the global economic slowdown. Leaders have warned that the past years of dramatic double-digit growth are unlikely to return.

"It is high time the Party stepped up reform and opening up," the Global Times quoted Huang Weiping, director of the Contemporary Chinese Politics Research Institute at Shenzhen University, as saying.

"And Xi chose to visit Shenzhen now because he is aware that China has just experienced a major crisis, and crisis always drives further reforms."

Xi is due to take over as national president in March.

Shenzhen served as an early "special economic zone" in the 1980s, a laboratory of sorts as the communist country began to seek foreign investment.

The experiment transformed it from a small village bordering Hong Kong to a bustling modern city and helped initiate years of roaring growth for the country.

During his trip late last week Xi visited a fishing village and an industrial park which is home to the IT giant Tencent Technology, the China Daily reported. He also laid flowers at a statue of Deng in a park.

- AFP/ck

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Australia police discourage use of Apple maps app after rescues

Apple knew its map app was bad enough that it suggested using a competing app, but the police in Australia suggest such a move might save the lives of motorists Down Under.

Police in Victoria, Australia, issued a warning Monday discouraging iPhone users from using Apple's map app after rescuing several people who became stranded in recent weeks in the wilderness following the app's directions -- some who were stranded 24 hours without adequate food and water.

Police said they rescued six motorists who were stranded following Apple's directions to reach an inland city were instead being directed to a national park -- some 43 miles from their desired destination.

"Tests on the mapping system by police confirm the mapping systems lists Mildura in the middle of the Murray Sunset National Park, approximately 70km away from the actual location of Mildura," police said in a statement. "Police are extremely concerned as there is no water supply within the Park and temperatures can reach as high as 46 degrees, making this a potentially life threatening issue.

"Anyone travelling to Mildura or other locations within Victoria should rely on other forms of mapping until this matter is rectified," the police concluded.

CNET has contacted Apple for comment and will update this report when we learn more.

Apple ignited consumer fervor in September when it opted to dump Google Maps from iOS6, forcing users to switch to Apple's app, which many users found to be underwhelming or inaccurate when compared with Google's offering.

The firestorm prompted Apple CEO Tim Cook to publicly apologize for the software and promise improvements. The ouster of iOS software chief Scott Forstall was said to be linked to Cook's apology and Forstall's unwillingness to sign it. Richard Williamson, who was in charge of the company's maps software for iOS, was also reportedly fired.

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