D'Antoni says Lakers need better starts, tighter defense

(Reuters) - Faster starts and a much improved defense are sorely needed by the Los Angeles Lakers if the 16-time NBA champions are to resurrect a bitterly disappointing campaign, according to their head coach Mike D'Antoni.
Lakers fans had lofty expectations for 2012-13 after Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol were joined by fellow All-Stars Dwight Howard and Steve Nash during the off-season but the once mighty franchise has failed to gel, slipping to a 15-17 record.
An ageing line-up has not been helped by a spate of injuries and three different head coaches, though the return of veteran point guard Nash from a leg fracture for the last six games certainly gave the team a much needed lift.
"We just have to get better starts," D'Antoni told reporters after Lakers team practice at their El Segundo training facility on Saturday. "Whatever we're doing isn't working right now.
"And defensively, we need to work harder. We lose our energy on defense sometimes because the offense sputters."
The Lakers lost a tense battle with their city rival Clippers 107-102 on Friday after clawing back from a 19-point deficit early in the fourth quarter at the Staples Center.
FALLING SHORT
In their previous game they also fell short, going down 103-99 on their home court against the struggling Philadelphia 76ers on New Year's Day after trailing by 11 points in the first quarter.
"We competed," D'Antoni said of his team's spirited revival against the Clippers when Bryant finished with a game-high 38 points. "We came back and we had a shot at the end to win.
"We're always shooting under pressure, down eight or 10, and the ball has to go in. Then you're down 15 or 17, and it's ‘Oh man'. We're struggling with that a little bit.
"So there are spots where we're really good and there are spots where we seem to dissolve a little bit as a team. We have to find guys that can make shots and we have to get back to that."
The Lakers have very little time to get back as they host the Denver Nuggets on Sunday and their three-time defensive player of the year Howard has billed himself a "game-day decision".
Center Howard put up 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers against the Clippers on Friday but hurt his shoulder in a tangle with Caron Butler and woke up on Saturday in some pain.
Howard skipped team practice on Saturday and received treatment from the Lakers' training staff but D'Antoni was not too worried, saying the center's chances of playing on Sunday were "good."
Bench player Jordan Hill, who sprained his right ankle against the Clippers, was listed as "probable" for Sunday's game against the Nuggets.
The Lakers, who have lost three of their last four games, have gone 10-12 since D'Antoni took over from interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff.

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UPDATE 1-NBA-Spurs smack Sixers to ride high in the West

* Spurs win 10th straight game at home
* Stay in contention for top spot in the West (adds quotes, detail)
Jan 5 (Reuters) - Tony Parker and the San Antonio Spurs maintained course with a swagger in their bid for supremacy in the hotly contested Western Conference with a 109-86 rout of the road-weary Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday.
Four-times All-Star guard Parker recorded 20 points and five assists while Manu Ginobili added 19 points and Tim Duncan 16 as the Spurs improved their record to 27-9 with a commanding display on home court.
Coming off their first loss in eight games, a 100-83 thrashing by the Knicks in New York on Thursday, San Antonio kept up the pressure on the pacesetting Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers for top spot in the West.
"Our guys played well tonight," Duncan told reporters after his 16-point tally lifted him into 24th place in the NBA's all-time scoring list, above Adrian Dantley. "We made shots and we took them out."
The Spurs outrebounded the Sixers 50-41 on the way to their 10th straight home victory.
Bench player Spencer Hawes led the way with 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting for Philadelphia, who slipped to 15-20 for the season with their third straight defeat.
"This would have been a tall order if we had eight days rest," 76ers coach Doug Collins said after his team's fourth game in five nights.
"This team (the Spurs) is as good as any team in the NBA."
ROAD RUN
Duncan was surprised to hear that Philadelphia had just ended a marathon eight-game run on the road, finishing with a 2-6 record.
"I didn't know they had been out on the road that long," he said. "That last game of that trip usually you try to give it your all, but you're usually dead out there. I can understand that."
With Danny Green and Ginobili each making two early three-pointers, the Spurs raced into a 31-21 lead after the opening quarter.
San Antonio continued to outshoot Philadelphia and with Duncan, Green and Ginobili all reaching double figures, they padded their advantage to 54-42 by halftime.
Parker exploded in the third, scoring 11 points with a dazzling array of step-back jump shots and driving layups as the Spurs forged ahead 81-63 and there was no way back from there for the Sixers.
"(Manu) was great to see," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of Ginobili, who has produced roller-coaster form this season.
"He's had to slowly get back his athleticism. His confidence is always there because he's such an experienced guy. But his body has caught up and he looks as good as he's looked in a while."

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Spurs smack Sixers to ride high in the West

(Reuters) - Tony Parker and the San Antonio Spurs maintained course with a swagger in their bid for supremacy in the hotly contested Western Conference with a 109-86 rout of the road-weary Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday.
Four-times All-Star guard Parker recorded 20 points and five assists while Manu Ginobili added 19 points and Tim Duncan 16 as the Spurs improved their record to 27-9 with a commanding display on home court.
Coming off their first loss in eight games, a 100-83 thrashing by the Knicks in New York on Thursday, San Antonio kept up the pressure on the pacesetting Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers for top spot in the West.
"Our guys played well tonight," Duncan told reporters after his 16-point tally lifted him into 24th place in the NBA's all-time scoring list, above Adrian Dantley. "We made shots and we took them out."
The Spurs outrebounded the Sixers 50-41 on the way to their 10th straight home victory.
Bench player Spencer Hawes led the way with 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting for Philadelphia, who slipped to 15-20 for the season with their third straight defeat.
"This would have been a tall order if we had eight days rest," 76ers coach Doug Collins said after his team's fourth game in five nights.
"This team (the Spurs) is as good as any team in the NBA."
ROAD RUN
Duncan was surprised to hear that Philadelphia had just ended a marathon eight-game run on the road, finishing with a 2-6 record.
"I didn't know they had been out on the road that long," he said. "That last game of that trip usually you try to give it your all, but you're usually dead out there. I can understand that."
With Danny Green and Ginobili each making two early three-pointers, the Spurs raced into a 31-21 lead after the opening quarter.
San Antonio continued to outshoot Philadelphia and with Duncan, Green and Ginobili all reaching double figures, they padded their advantage to 54-42 by halftime.
Parker exploded in the third, scoring 11 points with a dazzling array of step-back jump shots and driving layups as the Spurs forged ahead 81-63 and there was no way back from there for the Sixers.
"(Manu) was great to see," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of Ginobili, who has produced roller-coaster form this season.
"He's had to slowly get back his athleticism. His confidence is always there because he's such an experienced guy. But his body has caught up and he looks as good as he's looked in a while."
Six San Antonio players got into double figures on a night when the home team outshot their opponents by 48 percent to 42 from the field.

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Future of state estate taxes hangs on U.S. "fiscal cliff"

(Reuters) - Falling off the "fiscal cliff" is a bad thing, right?
Not necessarily for some state governments that could begin collecting more in estate taxes on wealth left to heirs if the United States goes over the "cliff," allowing sharp tax increases and federal spending cuts to take effect in January.
In an example of federal and state tax law interaction that gets little notice on Capitol Hill, 30 states next year could collect $3 billion more in estate taxes if Congress and President Barack Obama do not act soon, estimated the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank.
The reason? The federal estate tax would return with a vengeance and so would a federal credit system that shares a portion of it with the 30 states. They had been getting their cut of this tax revenue stream until the early 2000s. That was when the credit system for payment of state estate tax went away due to tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush.
With the return of the credit system next year as part of the "cliff," states such as Florida, Colorado and Texas - which have not collected estate tax since 2004 - could resume doing so. California Governor Jerry Brown has already begun to add the anticipated estate tax revenue into his plans, including $45 million of it in his 2012-2013 revised budget.
Brown may or may not be jumping the gun.
CLOUDY CLIFF AHEAD
The outlook on the "fiscal cliff" coming up at year-end is uncertain. Democratic President Barack Obama has said he hopes for a last-minute deal to avert it. That would need to get done soon, with Congress just now coming back from its holiday break.
Chances of an agreement became more remote last week after Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives fumbled their own legislative attempt to prevent the fiscal jolt that economists say could trigger a recession.
House Speaker John Boehner abruptly adjourned the chamber for the holidays after failing to gather the votes from within his own party to pass legislation he and other Republicans had drafted, after walking out of negotiations with Obama.
Weeks of inconclusive political drama over the "cliff" have focused largely on individual income tax rates and spending on federal programs such Medicare and Social Security, but many tax issues are also involved, including the estate tax.
At the moment, under laws signed a decade ago by Bush, the estate tax is applied to inherited assets at a rate of 35 percent after a $5 million exemption. That means a deceased person can pass on an inheritance of up to $5 million before any tax applies. Inherited wealth passed to a spouse or a federally recognized charity is generally not taxed.
Obama wants to raise the rate to 45 percent after a $3.5 million exemption. Republicans have called for complete repeal of the estate tax, which they call the "death tax," though Boehner earlier this month called for freezing the estate tax at its present level. It was difficult to determine what the Republicans want after last week's events in the House.
STATES STAND TO GAIN
If Congress and Obama do not act by December 31, numerous Bush-era tax laws will expire, including the one on estate taxes. That would mean the estate tax rate will shoot up next year to the pre-Bush levels of 55 percent after a $1 million exemption.
It would also mean that for the first time in years, a portion of that estate tax would go to the states, through the return of the credit system.
Under that old law, estates paying the tax could get a credit against their federal tax bill for state estate tax payments of up to 16 percent of the estate's value.
If the fiscal cliff were allowed to take hold unaltered by Washington, 30 states would again automatically begin getting their share of federal estate taxes. The state laws are generally written so the state estate tax amounts are calculated under a formula based on the amount of the federal credit.
This would help states that have struggled with lower tax revenues since the 2007-2009 financial crisis and resulting recession, according to research by the Pew Center on the States, though painful federal spending cut backs would also hurt the states.

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Exclusive: Profits up, but Britain gets less tax from big firms

LONDON (Reuters) - Big companies in Britain now pay less tax than they did 12 years ago despite a big jump in profitability, a Reuters analysis of official data shows. Tax campaigners say the trend is the clearest signal yet that tax avoidance has blossomed under a more business-friendly strategy at the UK tax authority Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Large companies' payments of corporation tax - the UK equivalent of corporate income tax - totaled 21 billion pounds ($34 billion) in 2011/12, HMRC data shows. That was down five billion pounds or 21 percent since 2000/01 when the government, then controlled by the Labour Party, took the first steps towards a more collaborative approach to big business.
At the same time, the gross operating surplus for all companies in the UK - a widely watched measure of companies' profitability compiled by the Office of National Statistics - has risen 65 percent, to 329 billion pounds. The economy has grown by 55 percent over the same period, and receipts of both personal income tax and small companies' income tax are higher.
HMRC and the finance ministry denied the figures showed an increase in tax avoidance - legal tactics used by multinationals such as Google, Amazon and Starbucks. They cited recent economic weakness and lower corporation tax rates. The UK's official corporation tax rate was steady at 30 percent between 2000 and 2007 but has been gradually cut. In the last tax year it was 26 percent.
Reuters calculations show the lower tax rate and the weak economy account for about half the fall, leaving around 2.6 billion pounds of the difference in the amount of corporate tax paid between 2000/01 and 2011/12 unaccounted for.
John Christensen of Tax Justice Network, a tax campaigningoogleg group, said the figures show successive governments' attempts to create a more business-friendly administration - which includes a policy known as "enhanced relationship" based on mutual trust - have encouraged companies to use such tactics.
"These figures tell a more powerful story than any figures I have seen so far," he said, adding that senior HMRC staff had told him in recent years that they were "alarmed" at the drop in payments from large companies. HMRC defines these as firms with annual profit of more than 1.5 million pounds.
The finance ministry declined to comment on the calculations.
"PARADOXICAL"
Prem Sikka, a professor of accounting at Essex University who has written extensively about tax avoidance, said that even allowing for the tax cut, the figures were "paradoxical".
"How are they managing to reconcile higher profits with lower taxes?" he said. "It can't be done ... unless they are booking these profits somewhere else." Companies reporting for tax purposes are increasingly diverting UK profits to lower-tax jurisdictions, he said.
Google, for example, channels $4 billion of UK sales through Ireland each year, most of which ends up in Bermuda. Google said it complies with tax law in every country in which it operates but that it also has an obligation to its shareholders "to run our business efficiently".
When shown the calculations, an HMRC spokesman said the downward trend may also have been emphasized by a shift in the way taxes were paid from 1999 which led to "elements of double counting" in 2000/01 and 2001/02. That could make revenues in those years look artificially high. He declined to quantify the impact of this.
Sikka dismissed the impact of this change.
"That wouldn't make any difference to the total tax liability," he said.
HMRC's own data does not point to a spike in corporation tax payments over the period the changes were initiated.
Total corporation tax payments were just 2 billion pounds higher in 2001-2002 than in 1998-1999, a rise of 7 percent, while GDP rose 16 percent over the period.
The government's tax minister, David Gauke, who has described corporation tax as one of "the most economically damaging taxes", called the tax authority's current approach "very successful" in a September speech. He declined requests for an interview.

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House sets Sunday session as "fiscal cliff" deadline nears

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives will return to Washington on Sunday night, just over a day before income tax rates are set to spike higher, in a last-ditch chance to avert the year-end "fiscal cliff."
Senior Republican aides confirmed that House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday told members to be back in Washington in time for a 6:30 p.m. EST (2330 GMT) legislative session on Sunday.
The House may then stay in session until January 2, the final day of the current Congress, according to a Twitter message from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
That is the day that another component of the "fiscal cliff" - $109 billion in automatic spending cuts to military and domestic programs - is set to start.
The House went on recess a week ago amid a deadlock over how to resolve ways to avoid the $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts that could throw the U.S. economy back into recession.
Some media outlets reported that Obama would meet with congressional leaders on Friday, but several congressional aides said no such meeting had yet been arranged.
If a meeting occurs, Obama is not expected to offer a new "fiscal cliff" solution and he is instead likely to stick to the outline he set out a week ago for a stop-gap fix, according to a senior Democratic aide.
That would include legislation to shield most Americans from any income tax increase starting on January 1, except for those households with net incomes above $250,000 a year. Obama also wants an extension of expiring benefits for the long-term unemployed.
So far, the Republicans who control the House have refused to go along with any measure that would raise income taxes on anyone.
Meanwhile, House Republican leaders held an approximately 35-minute telephone conference call with rank-and-file members on Thursday, according to one Republican aide.
"There were a lot of different members who spoke on the call. All had questions. All had comments," the aide said, refusing to elaborate.

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Indian police charge 5 in New Delhi gang rape

NEW DELHI (AP) — Authorities filed rape and murder charges Thursday against five men accused of the gang rape of a 23-year-old university student on a New Delhi bus, a crime that horrified Indians and provoked a national debate about the treatment of women.
Police said they plan to push for the death penalty in the case, as government officials promised new measures to protect women in the nation's capital.
Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan filed a case of rape, tampering with evidence, kidnapping, murder and other charges against the men in a new fast-track court in south Delhi inaugurated only the day before to deal specifically with crimes against women. Mohan asked for a closed trial, and a hearing was set for Saturday.
The men charged are Ram Singh, 33, the bus driver; his brother Mukesh Singh, 26, who cleans buses for the same company; Pavan Gupta, 19, a fruit vendor; Akshay Singh, 24, a bus washer; and Vinay Sharma, 20, a fitness trainer. They did not appear in court.
A sixth suspect was listed as 17 and was expected to be tried in a juvenile court, where the maximum sentence would be three years in a reform facility. Police also detained the owner of the bus on accusations that he used false documents to obtain permits to run the private bus service.
Media reports say police have gathered 30 witnesses, and the charges have been detailed in a document running more than 1,000 pages. The document was not released Thursday. The Bar Association said its lawyers would not defend the suspects because of the nature of the crime, but the court is expected to appoint attorneys to defend them.
"Strict, strict, strict punishment should be given to them," said Ashima Sharma, an 18-year-old student attending a protest Thursday. "A very strict punishment ... that all men of India should be aware that they are not going to treat the women like the way they treated her."
The woman, who died of her injuries in a Singapore hospital Saturday, was attacked Dec. 16 after boarding a bus with a male companion after watching an evening showing of the movie "Life of Pi" at an upscale mall. The vehicle was a charter bus that illegally picked up the two passengers, authorities said.
The pair were attacked for hours as the bus drove through the city, even passing through police checkpoints during the assault. They were eventually dumped naked on the side of the road. The woman, whose name was not released, was assaulted with an iron bar and suffered severe internal injuries that eventually proved fatal.
The attack caused outrage across India, sparking protests and demands for tough new rape laws, better police protection and a sustained campaign to change society's views about women. The government has set up a series of panels to look into the incident and make reform recommendations, and women's activists hope the assault will mark a turning point for the country.
Outside the court, about 50 woman lawyers held a protest, demanding wholesale changes in the criminal justice system to ensure justice for women. "Punish the police, sensitize judiciary, eradicate rape," read one protester's sign.
Indian Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said the accused should be tried swiftly, but cautioned that they needed to be given a fair trial and not be subjected to mob justice.
"Let us not lose sight of the fact that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty," he told reporters Wednesday, while inaugurating the new fast-track court. "Let us balance things. Let us not get carried away. Provide justice in a fair but swift manner so that faith of people is once again restored that the judiciary is there behind the common man."
The government is to set up four other such courts in the capital to hold timely trials in sexual assault cases, which often get bogged down for years in India's notoriously sluggish court system. The new courts will send the message "that these matters are going to be dealt with seriously," Kabir said.
Many cases never even get to court in a country where there is intense social pressure against families reporting sexual assaults and where women are often blamed for the attacks they suffer. When women do report rapes, police often refuse to file charges and pressure the victims to reach a compromise with their attackers.
In a sign that attitudes toward such behavior might be changing, and that even powerful men are being held accountable, police in the northeastern state of Assam arrested a leader of the ruling Congress party Thursday on accusations he raped a woman in a village in the early hours of the morning.
Footage on Indian television showed the extraordinary scene of local women surrounding the man, ripping off his shirt and repeatedly slapping him across the face.
Police said the man, Bikram Singh Brahma, was visiting the village of Santipur on the Bhutan border when he entered a woman's house and raped her at about 2 a.m. Amid the screams, villagers ran to the home and captured the man, said G.P. Singh, a senior police officer in the area.
"We are taking this issue very seriously," Singh said.

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Authorities charge 5 in New Delhi gang rape

NEW DELHI (AP) — Five men accused of raping a university student for hours on a bus as it drove through India's capital were charged Thursday with murder, rape and other crimes that could bring them the death penalty.
The attack on the 23-year-old woman, who died of severe internal injuries over the weekend, provoked a fierce debate across India about the routine mistreatment of females and triggered daily protests demanding action.
There have been signs of change since the attack. Rapes, often ignored, have become front-page news, politicians have called for tougher laws, including the death penalty and chemical castration for rapists, and the government is examining wide-scale reforms in the criminal justice system's handling of sexual assaults. Activists say the tragedy could mark a turning point for women's rights.
In a nation where court cases often linger for years, the government set up a special fast-track court Wednesday to deal with crimes against woman, and that is where the charges against the five men were filed Thursday evening. The government said it planned to open four more such courts in the city.
Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan filed a case of rape, tampering with evidence, kidnapping, murder and other charges against the men. The charge sheet was not released and he asked for a closed trial. A hearing was set for Saturday.
The men charged were Ram Singh, the bus driver; his brother Mukesh Singh, who cleans buses for the same company; Pavan Gupta, a fruit vendor; Akshay Singh, a bus washer; and Vinay Sharma, a fitness trainer. They did not appear in court. Authorities have said they would push for the death penalty for the men.
The victim's father said he supported the death penalty.
"The toughest and the harshest punishment should be given," he said, adding that he thought a new law should be named after his daughter.
A sixth suspect, listed as a 17-year-old, was expected to be tried in a juvenile court, where the maximum sentence would be three years in a reform facility. Police also detained the owner of the bus on accusations he used false documents to obtain permits to run the private bus service.
The Bar Association said its lawyers would not defend the suspects because of the nature of the crime, but the court was expected to appoint attorneys to defend them.
"Strict, strict, strict punishment should be given to them," said Ashima Sharma, an 18-year-old student attending a protest Thursday. "A very strict punishment ... that all men of India should be aware that they are not going to treat the women like the way they treated her."
The woman was attacked Dec. 16 after boarding the bus with a male companion after watching an evening showing of the movie "Life of Pi" at an upscale mall. The vehicle was a charter bus that illegally picked up the two passengers, authorities said.
The pair were attacked for hours as the bus drove through the city, even passing through police checkpoints during the assault. They were eventually dumped naked on the side of the road. The woman, whose name was not released, was assaulted with an iron bar and suffered severe internal injuries that eventually proved fatal.
The attack caused outrage across India, where women are routinely subject to everything from catcalls to assaults. Many say they fear being outside at night.
Outside the court, about 50 woman lawyers held a protest, demanding wholesale changes in the criminal justice system to ensure justice for women. "Punish the police, sensitize judiciary, eradicate rape," read one protester's sign.
Indian Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said the accused should be tried swiftly, but cautioned that they needed to be given a fair trial and not be subjected to mob justice.
"Let us not lose sight of the fact that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty," he told reporters Wednesday, while inaugurating the new fast-track court. "Let us balance things. Let us not get carried away. Provide justice in a fair but swift manner so that faith of people is once again restored that the judiciary is there behind the common man."
Many cases never even get to court because of intense social pressure against families reporting sexual assaults, which are often blamed on the female victims. When women do report rapes, police often refuse to file charges and pressure the victims to reach a compromise with their attackers.
To try to rectify that, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde announced a special recruitment drive for women police officers Thursday and ordered every police station in the capital to be staffed by at least nine female officers to make them more attentive to women's needs.
In a sign attitudes might be changing, and that even powerful men are being held accountable, police in the northeastern state of Assam arrested a leader of the ruling Congress party Thursday on accusations he raped a woman in a village in the early hours of the morning.
Footage on Indian television showed the extraordinary scene of local women surrounding the man, ripping off his shirt and repeatedly slapping him across the face.
Police said the man, Bikram Singh Brahma, was visiting the village of Santipur on the Bhutan border when he entered a woman's house and raped her at 2 a.m. Amid the screams, villagers ran to the home and captured the man, said G.P. Singh, a senior police officer in the area.
"We are taking this issue very seriously," Singh said.

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US drones kill senior Taliban figure in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — An American drone strike in Pakistan has killed a top Taliban commander who sent money and fighters to battle the U.S. in Afghanistan but had a truce with the Pakistani military, officials said Thursday.
While the death of Maulvi Nazir was likely to be seen in Washington as affirmation of the necessity of the controversial U.S. drone program, it could cause more friction in already tense relations with Pakistan because Nazir did not focus on Pakistani targets.
Nazir was killed when two missiles slammed into a house in a village in South Waziristan while he was meeting with supporters and fellow commanders. Eight other people were killed, according to five Pakistani security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
A U.S. official confirmed the death of Nazir, along with an unspecified number of "trusted deputies."
Nazir and those killed were "directly involved in planning and executing cross-border attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan, as well as providing protection for al-Qaida fighters in South Waziristan," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to describe casualties resulting from CIA counterterrorism actions.
Earlier, Pentagon spokesman George Little described Nazir as "someone who has a great deal of blood on his hands."
At least four people were killed in a separate drone strike Thursday in the North Waziristan tribal region.
America's use of drones against militants in Pakistan has increased substantially under President Barack Obama, and the program killed a number of top militants in the past year.
But the drone strikes infuriate many Pakistanis who see them as a violation of their country's sovereignty. Many Pakistanis complain that innocent civilians have also been killed, something the U.S. rejects.
A Pakistani official said while his government continues to object to the drone strikes, it does not object to removing Nazir from the battlefield, because despite his reported cooperation with the Pakistani government, he was suspected to have aided groups who attack Pakistani troops. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The official said a U.S.-Pakistani working group seeking to craft a drone policy acceptable to Pakistan has made little progress, but that intelligence cooperation with the U.S. military and CIA had been improving, warming further after December's high-level bilateral meeting of defense and intelligence officials in Peshawar cleared the way to release a long-delayed payment of $688 million in U.S. funds to the Pakistan military. The money is part of a regular program to reimburse some of Pakistan's financial outlays in fighting militants and patrolling the Afghan border.
The official said the U.S. had also shared some intelligence leading to successful operations against Pakistani terrorist targets, but the surveillance and raids against such targets are now done only by Pakistani security and intelligence operatives. The official said there has been no return to the joint Pakistani-CIA raids that took place before last year's deadly border incident in which the U.S. fired on Pakistani troops, a controversial shooting of two Pakistanis by a CIA contractor, and the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.
Nazir earned the enmity of the U.S. by sending fighters to attack American forces in neighboring Afghanistan. He's also believed to have given shelter to al-Qaida members fleeing Afghanistan after the U.S. invasion and has maintained close relations with Arab members of the militant group.
But in Pakistan, many members of the military had a more favorable view of Nazir and similar militant chiefs who focus their attacks in Afghanistan and don't strike Pakistani targets. Pakistan is believed to have reached a nonaggression pact with Nazir ahead of its 2009 military operation against militants in South Waziristan.
Still, Nazir outraged many Pakistanis in June when he announced that he would not allow any polio vaccinations in territory under his control until the U.S. stops drone attacks in the region.
Pakistan is one of three countries where polio is still endemic. Nine workers helping in anti-polio vaccination campaigns were killed last month, and the killings this week of five female teachers and two aid workers may also have been linked to the immunization campaigns.
As many as 10,000 people attended Nazir's funeral in the town of Angoor Adda, where the strike happened. One resident who was there, Ahmed Yar, said Nazir's body was badly burned and his face was unrecognizable.
Reports of individual deaths in such cases are often difficult to verify independently.
Nazir was active in many parts of Afghanistan and had close ties with the Afghan Taliban, said Mansur Mahsud, the head of the Islamabad-based FATA Research Centre, which studies the tribal regions.
"His death is a great blow to the Afghan Taliban," he said.
The Taliban is a widely diverse group. The Afghan Taliban is made up mostly of Afghans who fight against U.S. and NATO troops.
Within Pakistan, it's a bit more complex. The Tehrik-e-Taliban is an umbrella group consisting of militants who have been fighting for the overthrow of the Pakistani government because they believe it's too closely allied with the U.S. They would like to install a hard-line Islamist government and have been behind much of the violence tearing apart Pakistan in recent years.
Nazir and another senior Taliban commander, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, broke away from the TTP in 2009 and struck a truce with the Pakistani military. Instead they focus their fighters and money on battling U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
Nazir was believed to be about 40 years old, with three children and property in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. One of his brothers was also killed in a drone strike. Nazir used to be a member of Hizb-e-Islami, a powerful militant Islamist group in Afghanistan run by former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
Nazir had survived several assassination attempts, including at least two U.S. drone strikes.
In November, a suicide bomber wounded him in an attempted assassination in Wana.
No group claimed responsibility, but suspicion immediately fell on rival militants including the head of the TTP, Hakimullah Mehsud. He has been jockeying with Nazir for power ever since Nazir's nonaggression pact allowed the Pakistani military to launch a massive operation in South Waziristan that drove Mehsud from the region.
In retaliation for the assassination attempt, Nazir expelled members of Mehsud's tribe from Wana. Nazir was meeting with supporters to discuss how to deal with the TTP when the missiles struck Wednesday, according to the FATA center's Mahsud.
Nazir's group quickly appointed his close aide, Bawal Khan, as a replacement, according to one of Nazir's commanders. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
But it remains to be seen what the new leader's policies will be and whether the tension with the TTP could lead to a power struggle in the region.
The former chief of intelligence in northwest Pakistan, retired brigadier Asad Munir, said Nazir's killing will complicate the fight against militants in the tribal region and could prompt Nazir's group to carry out retaliatory attacks against the Pakistani army.
It will also raise questions among military commanders here who would like the U.S. to use its firepower against the Pakistani Taliban, which attacks domestic targets, and not against militants like Nazir who aren't seen as much of a threat to the state, Munir said.
He added that the risk now for Pakistan is that the remnants of Nazir's group could join ranks with the Pakistani Taliban in its war with the government and army.
Drone strikes have been on the rise under Obama.
According to the Long War Journal, which tracks such attacks, there were 35 strikes in Pakistan during 2008, the last year President George W. Bush was in office. That number grew to 117 in 2010, then fell to 64 in 2011 and 46 last year.
The program has killed a number of top militant commanders, including al-Qaida's then-No. 2, Abu Yahya al-Libi, who died in a drone strike in June.
Badruddin Haqqani, who has been described as the day-to-day operations commander of the Haqqani network, was killed by a drone attack in August. The Haqqani network has been blamed by the U.S. for carrying out some of the highest-profile attacks against American and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

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Pettersson: Golf on 'witch hunt' of long putters

KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) — Carl Pettersson says the proposed rule to ban the anchored stroke for long putters feels like a "witch hunt," and that golf's governing bodies were only reacting to three of the last five major champions using a belly putter.
"It seems silly to ban something that's been around for 40 years," Pettersson said in his first comments since the U.S. Golf Association and Royal & Ancient Golf Club announced plans Nov. 28 to outlaw anchored strokes. "It's unfortunate. I feel like I'm 16 years behind because I haven't putted with anything else for 16 years."
Pettersson, who qualified for the Tournament of Champions by winning at Hilton Head, began using a broom-handle putter that he anchors to his chest between his sophomore and junior year at North Carolina State.
Keegan Bradley (PGA Championship), Webb Simpson (U.S. Open) and Ernie Els (British Open) used a belly putter to win their majors.
Two more months of comment period remain before the rule becomes official, and then it does not take effect until the next Rules of Golf is published Jan. 1, 2016.
Even as the long putters were getting more attention, Pettersson made one of the most compelling cases to keep them. It is the only putting stroke he has used during his 10 years on the PGA Tour.
Pettersson long has argued that he has spent thousands of hours practicing the stroke, which did not come naturally to him, and that to start over would put him at an unfair disadvantage. He was said to be among those who might consider a lawsuit if the rule is adopted, though the easygoing Swede said he would see how this year unfolded.
"I don't know," he said when asked if he would challenge the rule. "I haven't made up my mind yet. I'm just going to sit back and see what happens."
In the meantime, he has no plans to change putters.
Simpson said he had been practicing on occasion with a short putter in case of a ban, and Bradley had some fun at the World Challenge last month when he grabbed a short putter on the practice green at Sherwood and made a 20-foot putt.
Both showed up at Kapalua with their belly putters.
"I'm not going to change," Bradley said. "I'm not even thinking about it, to be honest. I'm going to wait for the rule to pass first, and then I'll think about what to do."
Pettersson said he tinkered with a few grips during his month at home in North Carolina, though not to the point that he practiced on a real green. He also said he was not surprised by the decision, saying it became clear in the last few months that the USGA and R&A were leaning toward a ban.
"It feels a bit like a witch hunt to me," Pettersson said. "It was a pure reaction to Keegan and Ernie and Webb. They keep harping on the younger generation using them, but I think they're going to ban it because it looks bad. But you have strong arguments from other players, too."
Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker and Graeme McDowell are on a long list of players who use conventional putters and believe an anchored stroke should go away, saying it takes the skill out of putting because the top part of the club is anchored to the body.
What concerned golf's top officials is that players no longer were using an anchored stroke out of desperation to improve their putting, but as a way to putt better.
"There's no argument that it's a better way to putt because then everybody would be using it," Pettersson said. "If it was easy, everybody on the PGA Tour would be using it. So I don't know where they got that from. It's just a different way of putting."
The PGA Tour can set its own rules, and there has been speculation that when the rule passes, the tour would adopt it before 2016 to avoid the long putters getting too much attention over the next few years.
Bradley said a fan called him a cheater at the World Challenge, which prompted a statement from the USGA that reminded fans the putting stroke remains legal.
A spokesman said PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem would not comment until a players' meeting in two weeks at Torrey Pines. Pettersson won't be at the meeting because he does not plan to play the Farmers Insurance Open.
"There's so much speculation. I just wish people would say what's going on," Bradley said. "From what I've heard, the rule is not going in for three years. I haven't heard what the tour is going to do. I know it's a touchy subjection. I would prefer for it to go three years so we aren't rushed into it. I think that would be the fair way to do it."
Pettersson said he was surprised not to have heard from Finchem, and that his hope was that golf officials weren't talking only to those opposed to long putters. He did say, however, that USGA executive director Mike Davis tried to call him a few weeks ago.
"I didn't know it was him, so it went right to my voicemail," Pettersson said.
Did he call him back?
"No," Pettersson said. "I just didn't want to talk about it. And there's nothing I could do."
Davis said he has tried to call a number of players who use long putters before and after the announcement of the proposed rule.
"I've just reached out and said, 'If you want to talk about it, I'm happy to, but don't feel you need to call back,'" Davis said. "We realize there are two sides — many sides — to this issue and we just wanted to reach out. It's not so much to try to convince them of our point of view, it was more listening to theirs.

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