$1M Reward for Capture of Fugitive Ex-Cop Dorner

A $1 million reward was offered today for information leading to the arrest of Christopher Dorner, as authorities in Big Bear, Calif., scaled back their search for the disgruntled ex-cop, who is suspected in three revenge killings.

"This is the largest local reward ever offered, to our knowledge," Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said at a news conference today. "This is an act of domestic terrorism. This is a man who has targeted those that we entrust to protect the public. His actions cannot go unanswered."

The money for the reward was pooled by businesses, government, local law enforcement leaders and individual donors, Beck said.

PHOTOS: Former LAPD Officer Suspected in Shootings

The reward comes on the fourth day of a manhunt for Dorner, who has left Southern California on edge after he allegedly went on a killing spree last week to avenge his firing from the police force. Dorner outlined his grievances in a 6,000 word so-called "manifesto" and said he will keep killing until the truth is known about his case.

Dorner's threats have prompted the LAPD to provide more than 50 law enforcement families with security and surveillance detail, Beck said.

Authorities are chasing leads, however they declined to say where in order to not impede the investigation.

Dorner's burned-out truck was found Thursday near Big Bear Lake, a popular skiing destination located 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Irvine Police Department/AP Photo

Manhunt for Alleged Cop Killer Heads to California Mountains Watch Video

Christopher Dorner Search: Officials Search for Ex-officer in the Mountains Watch Video

Investigators found two AR-15 assault rifles in the burned-out truck Dorner abandoned, sources told ABC News.

The truck had a broken axle, which may be the reason he decided to set fire to it, the police sources said.

Full Coverage: Christopher Jordan Dorner

Officers have spent the past couple of days going door-to-door and searching vacant cabins. The manhunt was scaled back to 25 officers and one helicopter in the resort town today, according to the San Bernadino Sheriff's Office.

On Saturday, Beck announced he would reopen the investigation into Dorner's firing but said the decision was not made to "appease" the fugitive ex-cop.

"I feel we need to also publicly address Dorner's allegations regarding his termination of employment, and to do so I have directed our Professionals Standards Bureau and my Special Assistant for Constitutional Policing to completely review the Dorner complaint of 2007; To include a re-examination of all evidence and a re-interview of witnesses," Beck said. "We will also investigate any allegations made in his manifesto which were not included in his original complaint."

Dorner is suspected of killing Monica Quan and her fiancé Keith Lawrence last Sunday in their car in the parking lot of their Irvine, Calif., condominium complex. Both were struck with multiple gunshot wounds.

Quan's father, Randall Quan, was a retired captain with the LAPD and attorney who represented Dorner before a police review board that led to Dorner's dismissal from the force in 2008.

On Wednesday, after Dorner was identified as a suspect in the double murder, police believe he ambushed two Riverside police officers, killing one and wounding the other.

The next day, Randall Quan reported he received a taunting call from a man claiming to be Dorner who told him that he "should have done a better job of protecting his daughter," according to court documents documents.

Anyone with information leading to the arrest of Christopher Dorner is asked to call the LAPD task force at 213-486-6860.

ABC News' Dean Schabner, Jack Date, Pierre Thomas, Jason Ryan and Clayton Sandell contributed to this report.

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Panetta fighting to the end against proposed defense spending cuts

As he prepares to retire to his California walnut farm this month, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is still fighting the battle that has consumed his entire tenure at the Pentagon: an increasingly desperate campaign to persuade Congress not to whack defense spending.

In recent days, Panetta, 74, has uttered near-apocalyptic warnings about what will happen if Congress does not do something by March 1 to avert a “doomsday scenario” under which the Defense Department could be required to slash $43 billion in spending in the next seven months, and as much as $500 billion in the next decade.

Those cuts, he told lawmakers last week, would turn the mighty U.S. military “into a second-rate power” and would force the Obama administration to throw its entire national-security strategy “out the window.”

He has warned that naval operations in the Pacific would shrink by a third. All military training would slow to a crawl. And almost every civilian employee at Defense could be furloughed, as much as one day a week for the rest of the fiscal year.

At a farewell ceremony Friday at Fort Myer, President Obama praised Panetta, saying, “No one has raised their voice as firmly or as forcefully on behalf of our troops as you have.”

Obama also urged Congress to work out a new deal with him to avoid what he called “massive, indiscriminate cuts that could have a severe impact on our military preparedness.”

He added, “There is no reason, no reason for that to happen.”

It is the same message that Panetta has delivered, so far to no avail, almost every day since he took over as defense secretary in July 2011. The next month, he was saddled with the task of shrinking the military after Obama and Congress agreed to cut $487 billion in projected defense spending for the next 10 years.

But that was just the first swing of the ax. Under the rest of the deal, the Pentagon would be forced to cut $500 billion more in the same period if lawmakers and the White House could not come up with another, more palatable way to reduce the nation’s record deficits.

It appears highly unlikely that Congress and the White House will reach a deal to spare the Pentagon before Panetta retires. It will fall to his successor — Obama has nominated former senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) for the job — to manage any further cuts. But Panetta’s failure to prevent what he described as the worst-case scenario will mark the end of an otherwise influential and colorful career in Washington that has spanned four decades.

The high point came in May 2011 when, as CIA director, Panetta oversaw the successful and daring strike that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Along the way, he served as White House chief of staff during the Clinton administration and as chairman of the House Budget Committee, where he earned a reputation as a skillful negotiator on fiscal issues.

It was largely for his budget and legislative expertise that Obama tapped Panetta to lead the Pentagon, which now faces a wrenching consolidation after years of growth fueled by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Football: Ronaldo hat-trick eases Madrid past Sevilla

MADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 20th hat-trick as a Real Madrid player as the Spanish champions cruised to a 4-1 victory over Sevilla on Saturday.

Ronaldo was even involved in the goal he didn't score as he squared for Karim Benzema to open the scoring on 18 minutes before smashing in his first of the evening eight minutes later.

And the former Manchester United man warmed up for Wednesday's meeting with his old club in the Champions League in perfect fashion as he scored twice more from close range in the first 14 minutes of the second-half.

Madrid had to be play the final 24 minutes with 10 men though as Gonzalo Higuain saw a needless second yellow card for a late challenge on Fernando Navarro.

But despite a late consolation goal from Manu del Moral they comfortably held on to cut the gap on Barcelona at the top of the table to 13 points.

Jose Mourinho had taken the chance to rest a number of key players including Xabi Alonso, Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil with midweek's Champions League duties in mind and it was one of those who were handed a rare start in Kaka who shone early on.

The Brazilian had an early effort well held by Beto in the Sevilla goal before only another fine intervention by the keeper stopped Ronaldo converting Kaka's cut-back moments later.

Luka Modric then saw an effort curl just wide but, despite some nice play in possession by the visitors, the opening goal was coming for Madrid and it duly arrived when Benzema was left with the easiest finishes from a yard out after Ronaldo's driven cross had rebounded for the Frenchman off Fernando Navarro.

Kaka then had another shot saved by Beto before Ronaldo took centre-stage to double the hosts' advantage as he cut inside onto his left foot and thumped a rasping shot into the far corner of the net.

Sevilla refused to give in though and had a number of half-chances to pull one back before the break as Federico Fazio headed over when unmarked from a corner before Diego Lopez was forced into a sharp save low to his right by Jose Antonio Reyes.

If it hadn't been for Beto though the Andalusians could have gone in further behind at half-time as the Portuguese keeper just managed to keep out a swerving Ronaldo free-kick before getting down well to hold a Sergio Ramos header.

There was nothing Beto could do 38 seconds after the restart though as poor defending from Fazio allowed Ronaldo to latch onto a long ball and fire low into the corner.

The Portuguese captain soon had his 36th goal of the season as a classic counter-attack from Mourinho's men saw Ronaldo feed Higuain and the former converted the Argentine's low cross at the back post.

Alvaro Morata replaced Ronaldo as Mourinho decided to keep his star man fresh for Wednesday.

However, a fine evening for the champions was soured in the final quarter.

After Higuain had been sent-off, Sevilla had a number of chances and eventually got the goal their efforts deserved when Moral fired an angled drive into Lopez's bottom left-hand corner three minutes from time.

- AFP/jc

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Conspiracy theory at end of story: Was due process flouted to deny Afzal Guru a bid to escape hangman?

NEW DELHI: Although both have been executed in a hush-hush manner citing security reasons, the dilution of due process was greater in Mohammad Afzal Guru's hanging than in Ajmal Kasab's.

The denial of an opportunity to challenge the President's decision on the mercy petition was more likely to have affected Guru's fate for, unlike Kasab, he was not present at the crime scene when Parliament was attacked and he did not himself kill anybody.

In fact, after Kehar Singh's execution in the Indira Gandhi case, Guru was the only conspirator to have ever been hanged in connection with any high-profile crime. The three conspirators in the Rajiv Gandhi case, although awarded death penalty earlier than Guru, have so far been spared the noose because of a stay from the Madras high court on their execution. The stay came in 2011 on their plea that the death penalty be commuted to life sentence as the President had rejected their mercy petitions after an "inordinate and unexplained" delay.

Had he and his counsel been similarly given an advance notice of the rejection of his mercy petition, Guru too could have exercised his right to challenge the President's decision on the ground of delay, as he had filed his plea more than seven years ago.

Besides, Guru was better placed than Kasab to seek clemency on procedural and substantive grounds. Thanks to his oft-quoted grievance that he did not get a counsel of his choice during the trial, there has been much debate in legal and human rights circles on whether Guru had been given a fair trial.

Another controversial aspect of Guru's conviction is that successive courts had allegedly glossed over his claim that, as a surrendered militant, he had provided logistical support for the attack on Parliament on the instructions of security agencies in Kashmir.

The dilution of due process was also evident from the government's failure to comply with the stipulation of the jail manual to inform Guru's family about the date of the execution. The compromise is more evident in Guru's case because, unlike Kasab, his family members are Indians, who live in Kashmir. The rationale behind this stipulation is to provide the convict a chance to meet his family members for the last time.

In Kasab's case, the government claimed to have sent a communication to Pakistan to inform his family before his hanging. Despite the government's claim to have done the same in Guru's case, his family was in fact delivered with a fait accomppli.

This is the third mercy petition to have been rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee. Saibanna's case highlighted the deviation made in the cases of Kasab and Guru. For, the rejection of Saibanna's plea was made public, giving him scope to challenge it as also to meet his relatives.

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Mars Rover Curiosity Completes First Full Drill

For the first time in history, humans have drilled a hole into rock on Mars and are collecting the powdered results for analysis, NASA announced Saturday.

After weeks of intensive planning, the Mars rover Curiosity undertook its first full drill on Friday, with NASA receiving images on Saturday showing that the procedure was a success.

Curiosity drilled a hole that is a modest 2.5 inches (6.35 centimeters) deep and .6 inches (1.52 centimeters) wide but that holds the promise of potentially great discoveries. (Watch video of the Mars rover Curiosity.)

"The most advanced planetary robot ever designed now is a fully operating analytical laboratory on Mars," John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for the agency's Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement on Saturday.

"This is the biggest milestone accomplishment for the Curiosity team since the sky-crane landing last August."

Read: Asteroid to Make Closest Flyby in History

The site of the much-anticipated penetration is a flat section of Mars rock that shows signs of having been underwater in its past.

Called Yellowknife Bay, it's the kind of environment where organic materials—the building block of life—might have been deposited and preserved long ago, at a time when Mars was far wetter and warmer than it is today.

The contents of the drilling are now being transferred into the rover's internal collection system, where the samples will be sieved down to size and scoured to minimize the presence of contamination from Earth. (Watch video of Curiosity's "Seven Minutes of Terror.")

Then the sample will be distributed to the two instruments most capable of determining what the rocks contain.

The first is the Sample Analysis on Mars (SAM), which has two ovens that can heat the powdered rock to almost 2000°F (1093°C) and release the rock's elements and compounds in a gaseous form.

The gases will then be analyzed by instruments that can identify precisely what they are, and when they might have been deposited. Scientists are looking for carbon-based organics believed to be essential for any potentially past life on Mars.

Powder will also go to the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument for a related analysis that looks especially at the presence of minerals—especially those that can only be formed in the presence of water.

Louise Jandura, chief engineer for Curiosity's sample system at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said that designing and testing a drill that can grab hold of Martian rock and commence first a percussive shallow drilling and then dig a deeper hole was difficult.

The drill, which is at the end of a 7-foot arm, is capable of about 100 discrete maneuvers.

"To get to the point of making this hole in a rock on Mars, we made eight drills and bored more than 1,200 holes in 20 types of rock on Earth," Jandura said in a statement.

Results from the SAM and CheMin analyses are not expected for several days to weeks.

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After Blizzard, Northeast Begins to Dig Out

The Northeast began the arduous process of cleaning up after a fierce storm swept through the region leaving behind up to three feet of snow in some areas.

By early this morning, 650,000 homes and businesses were without power and at least five deaths were being blamed on the storm: three in Canada, one in New York and one in Connecticut, The Associated Press reported.

The storm dumped snow from New Jersey to Maine, affecting more than 25 million people, with more than two feet falling in areas of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. The Postal Service closed post offices and suspended mail delivery today in New England.

As the storm waned, officials in the hardest hit areas cautioned residents to remain indoors and off the roads to ease the clean-up.

Massachusetts was hard hit by the storm, with more than two feet of snow in Boston and even more in coastal areas. State police and national guard troops helped rescue more than 50 stranded motorists and even helped deliver a baby girl, according to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

Patrick enacted the first statewide driving ban since the 1978 blizzard, which left 27 inches of snow and killed dozens. The ban was to be lifted at 4 p.m. today, the governor said.

However, Patrick cautioned residents to act with extreme caution even after the ban is over.

"Stay inside and be patient," Patrick said.

In Massachusetts a boy reportedly died of carbon monoxide poisoning as he helped his father shovel snow on Saturday, according to ABCNews.com affiliate WCVB-TV in Boston.

For residents along the coast, the waning snowfall didn't mean the end of the storm. Storm surges along the Massachusetts coastline forced some residents out of their homes Saturday morning.

"We've got 20-foot waves crashing and flooding some homes," Bob Connors on Plum Island told WCVB. "We have power and heat and all that. We just have a very angry ocean. In my 33 years, I've never seen the seas this high."

Darren McCollester/Getty Images

Blizzard Shuts Down Parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts Watch Video

Blizzard 2013: Power Outages for Hundreds of Thousands of People Watch Video

Blizzard 2013: Northeast Transportation Network Shut Down Watch Video

FULL COVERAGE: Blizzard of 2013

In Connecticut, Gov. Dannel Malloy declared a state of emergency and closed all roads in the state. The state police responded to more than 1,600 calls over the last 24 hours and the governor called up an additional 270 National Guard members.

"If you're not an emergency personnel that's required to be somewhere, stay home," Malloy said.

Overnight, snow fell at a rate of up to five to six inches per hour in parts of Connecticut. In Milford, more than 38 inches of snow had fallen by this morning.

In Fairfield, Conn. firefighters and police officers on the day shift were unable to make it to work, so the overnight shift remained on duty.

PHOTOS: Blizzard Hits Northeast

The wind and snow started affecting the region during the Friday night commute.

In Cumberland, Maine, the conditions led to a 19-car pile-up and in New York, hundreds of commuters were stranded on the snowy Long Island Expressway. Police and firefighters were still working to free motorists early this morning.

"The biggest problem that we're having is that people are not staying on the main portion or the middle section of the roadway and veering to the shoulders, which are not plowed," said Lt. Daniel Meyer from the Suffolk County Police Highway Patrol.

In New York, authorities are digging out hundreds of cars that got stuck overnight on the Long Island Expressway.

Bob Griffith of Syosset, N.Y., said he tried leave early to escape the storm, but instead ended up stuck in the snow by the side of the road.

"I tried to play it smart in that I started early in the day, when it was raining," said Griffith. "But the weather beat us to the punch."

Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone said the snow had wreaked havoc on the roadways.

"I saw state plows stuck on the side of the road. I've never seen anything like this before," Bellone said.

However, some New York residents, who survived the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, were rattled by having to face another large and potentially dangerous storm system with hurricane force winds and flooding.

"How many storms of the century can you have in six months?" said Larry Racioppo, a resident of the hard hit Rockaway neighborhood in Queens, New York.

READ: Weather NYC: Blizzard Threatens Rockaways, Ravaged by Sandy

Snowfall Totals

In New York, a little more than 11 inches fell in the city.

By this morning, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said nearly all of the primary roads had been plowed and the department of sanitation anticipated that all roads would be plowed by the end of the day.

"It looks like we dodged a bullet, but keep in mind winter is not over," said Bloomberg.

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Lawmakers propose giving federal judges role in drone strikes, but hurdles await

A proposal to give federal judges a direct role in the nation’s drone campaign gained new momentum this week with a signal from senior lawmakers that they intend to consider creating a special court to oversee the selection of targets for lethal strikes.

But the idea, cited by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), among others, as a way to impose new accountability on the drone program, faces significant legal and logistical hurdles, according to U.S. officials and legal experts.

Among the main obstacles is almost certain opposition from the executive branch to a dilution of the president’s authority to protect the country against looming threats. Others include the difficulty of putting judges in a position to approve the killing of individuals — possibly including American citizens — even if they have not been convicted of a crime.

In more practical terms, U.S. officials expressed concern that a judicial review would lead to delays that might erode the country’s ability to preempt terrorist attacks.

The idea “is politically and practically difficult and therefore unlikely to happen in the end,” said Robert Chesney, an expert on national security law at the University of Texas. “But it seems more likely today than it did just a few weeks ago.”

That is largely because comments from Feinstein and others during a confirmation hearing Thursday on the nomination of John O. Brennan to serve as CIA director made clear that the idea of a special drone court has gained new backing on Capitol Hill.

Feinstein, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the panel would evaluate having judges review targeting decisions much like a special court scrutinizes certain U.S. wiretapping operations in the United States.

The drone panel, Feinstein said, would be “an analogue of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court,” a panel that meets in secret and rules on government requests to wiretap terrorism suspects inside the United States without traditional court warrants.

A congressional aide said that the Senate committee has not drafted any legislative language and has only begun to consult with legal experts.

The administration has been considering ways to establish an independent review of counterterrorism actions, “including a possible judicial review,” for more than a year, an administration official said on the condition of anonymity.

“We have identified a number of ways . . . some executive, some would require legislation,” the official said, adding that deliberations were ongoing.

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) endorsed the idea of a special court at Thursday’s hearing and cited growing discomfort with the way the Obama administration has carried out hundreds of strikes through a secret process sealed off from other branches of government.

“Having the executive being the prosecutor, the judge, the jury and the executioner all in one is very contrary to the traditions and the laws of this country,” King said.

Brennan, who served as Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser for the past four years, responded lukewarmly, saying that preempting a terrorist attack is fundamentally different from determining after the fact whether someone is guilty or innocent of a crime.

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Blizzard brings US northeast to a halt

NEW YORK: Planes, cars and trains came to a standstill across the densely populated US northeast Friday in the face of a blizzard raging from New York to Boston.

The storm was forecast to bring the heaviest snow so far this winter along the New England coast, threatening power and transport links for tens of millions of people.

By late Friday, New York, one of the world's busiest air travel hubs, was cut off from the skies as snow and wind led airlines to suspend all operations at LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and John F Kennedy International airports.

Tom Bosco, general manager of LaGuardia, told NY1 television that the airport was "battling" the storm and would strive to remain open even after the airlines shut down for the night.

He estimated that if a foot of snow fell -- the worst case scenario forecasted for New York -- flights would resume "probably by mid-morning."

The heaviest impact of the storm was expected overnight in and around Boston, and Governor Deval Patrick temporarily ordered all normal traffic off Massachusetts roads, with the threat of up to a year in jail for violators.

"There are a number of exemptions for... emergency workers and the like. Please exercise caution and use common sense," Patrick said at his emergency centre in Framingham.

In Connecticut, Governor Dannel Malloy issued a "ban on motor vehicle travel on limited access highways" to free up emergency services traffic.

Rhode Island, where some of America's most exclusive summer homes are located, also instituted driving restrictions.

In addition to the road and air snarl-ups, the rail service Amtrak said trains from New York northbound and also to the capital Washington, DC, were being suspended.

The storm came a little over three months after Hurricane Sandy devastated swathes of New York and New Jersey, killing 132 people and causing damage worth some $71.4 billion.

Snow began in light flurries across the region early Friday, but thickened and by Saturday was expected to leave depths of between half and one foot in New York and as much as two feet in Boston.

The National Weather Service warned that "in addition to the heavy snowfall, wind gusts of up to hurricane force are possible, especially near the coast. This will result in blizzard conditions with drifting and blowing snow."

On Friday night travel "will be extremely hazardous, if not impossible," the National Weather Service said.

Among the more glamorous victims of the travel upsets was designer Marc Jacobs, who said he had to reschedule his two shows at New York Fashion Week due to "the snow storm in the US and production problems."

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who came under withering criticism for the city's flat-footed response to a blizzard in 2010, said residents should stock up with vital supplies and prepare for the worst.

"Stay off the city streets, stay out of your cars," he said at a news conference. "Staying off the streets will make it easier for city workers to clear the streets of snow."

New York's four zoos also announced they were closing for the duration of the storm.

"You can't take nature too lightly. Hopefully it won't be anything too drastic," Bloomberg said.

The good news was that the storm's peak was due as the weekend began, meaning far fewer people would be on the roads. Forecasters said the system should blow through on Saturday, with milder temperatures to follow.

Locals were comparing the coming storm to the ferocious Blizzard of 1978, which killed 100 people and buried Boston in more than 27 inches (68 centimetres) of snow and Providence, Rhode Island in nearly 28 inches (71 centimetres).

During that storm, people were forced to abandon cars stuck on highways and made their way around Boston on cross-country skis and snowshoes.

- AFP/xq

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Delhi unsafe for child birth: Union health ministry

MAHABALIPURAM: The national capital may show various signs of urban development but it is not a safe place for child birth. This has been revealed in a performance score card prepared by the Union ministry of health and family welfare. Delhi has recorded a 'very low' performance against the crucial health indicator of child birth, besides scoring 'low' on indicators of pregnancy care and post-natal maternal and newborn care. Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and West Bengal are other states in the 'very low' category.

The score card was released by the ministry officials at the ongoing National Child Survival and Development Summit here on Friday.

The performance of the states was assessed on the basis of four broad categories viz reproductive age, pregnancy care, child birth and post-natal maternal and newborn care. Based on the results, the states were categorised as good, promising, low and very low.

For its unsatisfactory performance in three out of four categories, Uttar Pradesh, too, has been placed in 'low' category. As per the card, UP's performance was ranked 'very low' in the post-natal maternal and newborn care and 'low' in the pregnancy care and child birth. Reproductive age-group was the only criterion against which UP showed a redeeming performance. Other states in the 'low' category are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Mizoram and Rajasthan.

Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu were ranked as the best performing states while Andhra Pradesh Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttrakhand were grouped as promising states.

The gradings were based on 19 indicators like rate of neonatal mortality, infant mortality, and vaccination coverage among others.

The four main categories were further divided into a set of parameters. For example: the proportion of post natal (after birth) maternal and new born care includes ratio components like newborns breastfed within first hour to total live births, women discharged in less than 48 hours of delivery to total number of deliveries in the public institutions, newborns weighing less than 2.5 kg to newborns weighed at birth, infants between 0-11 months who received measles vaccine to report live births among others.

The methodology comprised analysis of data gathered through the health management and information system for a period between April and September 2012. It was retrieved in January and assessed over a period of several weeks. "All India average for respective indicator was used as a reference point. The state score has been determined keeping in mind its deviation from the national average. Positive scores were allotted to above the national average for positive indicators and to those below the national average for negative indicators. Similarly, the negative scores of -1 to -4 were awarded to those below national average (for positive indicators) and to those above the national average for negative indicators," explained Dr Ajay Khera, deputy commissioner, child health and immunisation, ministry of health and family welfare. "Points were awarded against each health parameter and in the end they were accrued to draw a final score," he added.

Managing director, National Rural Health Mission, India, Anuradha Gupta said the gradings were done to help states assess their performance so that they pull up their socks within time. The card, she said, will also instill a sense of competition among states which will rather compel them to score better the next time. "Time has come when we must think of state specific goals and targets. And states should also know that they will have to contribute their bit to improve the national picture," she said.

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From Our Vault: Busy Postman on Break, 1951

The United States Post Office announced this week that it intends to stop Saturday letter delivery beginning in August, 32 years after Congress mandated a sixth day of mail service.

First class mail volume has been dropping by about five billion pieces annually since 2007. And the USPS operated almost $16 billion dollars in the red in 2012.

In the 1950s, when this photo was taken, the federal agency was more flush with money. Five hundred thousand employees carried 54 billion items when National Geographic magazine published the article "Everyone's Servant, the Post Office" in July of 1954. Mail volume had doubled since the previous decade, and was growing at a rate of about seven percent a year.

This photo from 1951 didn't make it into that article, landing instead in the National Geographic image archive. Working during the postal boom years, this mailman delivering to houses in Hays, Kansas, likely didn't have time to notice the slight.

National Geographic photographer John E. Fletcher explained the mailman's decision to lunch in a mailbox in a note on the back of the photo.

"He told me that a new regulation from the Washington headquarters of the U.S. Post Office required that postmen while on delivery at noontime must stop and have their lunch at the spot, rather than taking time off to go home and eat," Fletcher wrote.

"This mailman told me that each day his wife would drive to this particular corner and meet him and hand him his lunch box," he continued. "The most convenient spot that he could find to eat his lunch was to open a storage mail box, get himself comfortably seated, and eat his lunch right on the street corner."

Editor's note: This is the first in a series of pieces that looks at the news through the lens of the National Geographic photo archives.

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