Taiwan ebullient over Ang Lee's Oscar

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Ang Lee's name beamed on building in Taiwan after Oscar win


• Lee, born in Taiwan, won award for best director for "Life of Pi"


• Lee's win created excitement in Taiwan and China, both claimed him as their own


• Ryan: "In some ways it feels like 'Linsanity' all over again"

Editor's note: Andrew Ryan is a host and producer at Radio Taiwan International, a government-owned station that broadcasts in several languages and countries. He first came to Taiwan in 1996 as a Fulbright scholar and has spent the last 16 years as a translator and observer of politics and culture.

Taipei (CNN) -- It's not every territory in the world that puts an Oscar-winning director's name up in lights on a towering building. But that's just the sort of thing that happens in Taiwan -- and it did on Monday night after Ang Lee picked up his second "Best Director" Oscar, this time for "Life of Pi."

The moment wasn't just celebrated in grand statements, but in small scenes played out in front of televisions across Taiwan when his name was announced.

I was at a TV station in Taipei that was broadcasting live coverage of the Oscars, working with a team of translators that was creating the subtitles for the rebroadcast. When Lee's name was announced the office erupted in applause. Down the hallway, more cheering could be heard.

READ: Oscar winners: Analysis of who won

I couldn't help but think back to the Athens Games in 2004, when Chen Shih-hsin won Taiwan's first ever Olympic gold medal (under the team name "Chinese Taipei"). Even veteran news anchors shed tears when the young taekwondo star defeated her Cuban rival.

It would be reductive to suggest that these displays of patriotism are simply the response of a small country that just doesn't crank out that many Oscar winners or Olympic golds. It also speaks of a place that has been largely marginalized in the international community.

Today, Taiwan has just 23 official diplomatic allies -- mostly other marginalized nations, in Central America and Africa. That's because China still sees Taiwan as part of its territory more than 60 years after the Chinese Nationalists retreated to the island at the end of a Civil War against the Communists. The Nationalists -- or Kuomintang -- are now the ruling party in a democratic Taiwan, which is officially called the Republic of China (ROC) -- not to be confused with the People's Republic of China on the Mainland.

Having lost its seat at the United Nations to the PRC in 1971, the ROC found itself with a diminished voice in the international community. It turned to manufacturing and technology in the 1980s, spurring on what is now referred to as an "economic miracle." Today, with its economy struggling to move past the global economic downturn, Taiwan has added the arts, sports, and even baking to its repertoire.

READ: Oscars 2013: Hollywood gets political

What's striking about Lee's win is that it's not just people in Taiwan who were quick to claim him as one of their own. In China, the state-run Xinhua news agency referred to him as "Chinese-American." While Taiwanese media latched onto the portion of Lee's acceptance speech when he thanked Taiwan and the central city of Taichung where much of the movie was filmed, Xinhua's main story included Lee's line of thanks to the 3,000 people who worked on the film for "believing this story and sharing this incredible journey with me."

In some ways it feels like "Linsanity" all over again, when Taiwan and China both claimed basketball star Jeremy Lin as their own, leaving the international media struggling to chart the dangerous waters of identity politics to correctly describe him.

VIEW: Photos from the red carpet

A very small voice at the fringe of the discussion wonders why it's important for people to know that Lin's paternal grandmother lives in Taiwan and referred to him as "a real Taiwanese," or that Lee grew up in Tainan and still loves to visit his favorite noodle shop there. Others in Taiwan question why a nation's confidence should be based on its success in the international community.

When Ang Lee's name was announced, the office erupted in applause. Down the hallway, more cheering could be heard.
Andrew Ryan

With China looming to the north, now the world's second biggest economy and wielding an influence that's verging on "superpower" status, the metaphor of Jonah and the whale comes to mind. The Taiwanese electorate is sharply divided on how it feels about the way ties with China have warmed ever since President Ma Ying-jeou first took office in 2008. The benefits are obvious, considering China is Taiwan's largest trade partner, but some worry that it could lead to a loss in autonomy.

INTERACTIVE: Oscars by numbers

The Ma administration has been mindful of the nationalistic rhetoric of the opposition, and although the president was born in Hong Kong, he has referred to himself in the past as "Taiwanese as well as Chinese." Ma was also quick to congratulate Lee following the Oscars, and to urge others to follow in the director's footsteps and "work hard at promoting Taiwan to the world."

Lee is just one name on a growing list of national heroes that both the government and the private sector have celebrated in recent years for putting Taiwan on the map: people like fashion designer Jason Wu, who moved to Canada from Taiwan and has created garments for U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama; master baker Wu Pao-chun, who beat the French patissiers at their own competition -- Les Masters de la Boulangerie in 2010; Yani Tseng, the world's number one female golfer; and even the humble vegetable seller-turned-philanthropist Chen Shu-chu, who was selected by Time Magazine as one of its heroes of 2010.

So what are people saying when they embrace these heroes as Taiwanese? They are saying "Taiwan may be small and diplomatically isolated, but it deserves to have a voice in the international community." While Lee may not speak about politics and no longer creates movies about Taiwan, he does have a voice and people do listen. And that's worth spreading in lights across the world's second-tallest building.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Andrew Ryan.

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Japan scrambles fighters to meet China plane

TOKYO: Japan scrambled fighter jets on Thursday to head off a Chinese government plane flying towards disputed islands in the East China Sea, the defence ministry said.

It said the Y-12 propeller plane did not enter airspace around the Tokyo-controlled islands known as the Senkakus, which Beijing claims as the Diaoyus.

The aircraft headed back towards China after Japan's military planes became airborne, defence officials said, declining to give further details.

The incident came as three Chinese government ships sailed into territorial waters around the islands, Japan's coastguard said.

The three marine surveillance ships entered the 12-nautical-mile territorial zone off Uotsuri island shortly after 7:00 am (2200 GMT Wednesday), the coastguard said in a statement.

It said the trio left the zone after just over two hours.

Thursday's moves were the latest in a series by Chinese government ships since Tokyo nationalised three islands in the chain last September, reigniting the dispute.

They also came the day Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking about the islands dispute, cited British former premier Margaret Thatcher and her thoughts on a 1982 war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands.

-AFP/fl

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Medicare paid billions to sub-par nursing homes: HHS

SAN FRANCISCO Medicare paid billions in taxpayer dollars to nursing homes nationwide that were not meeting basic requirements to look after their residents, government investigators have found.

The report, released Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general, said Medicare paid about $5.1 billion for patients to stay in skilled nursing facilities that failed to meet federal quality of care rules in 2009, in some cases resulting in dangerous and neglectful conditions.

One out of every three times patients wound up in nursing homes that year, they landed in facilities that failed to follow basic care requirements laid out by the federal agency that administers Medicare, investigators estimated.

By law, nursing homes need to write up care plans specially tailored for each resident, so doctors, nurses, therapists and all other caregivers are on the same page about how to help residents reach the highest possible levels of physical, mental and psychological well-being.

Not only are residents often going without the crucial help they need, but the government could be spending taxpayer money on facilities that could endanger people's health, the report concluded. The findings come as concerns about health care quality and costs are garnering heightened attention as the Obama administration implements the nation's sweeping health care overhaul.

"These findings raise concerns about what Medicare is paying for," the report said.

Investigators estimate that in one out of five stays, patients' health problems weren't addressed in the care plans, falling far short of government directives. For example, one home made no plans to monitor a patient's use of two anti-psychotic drugs and one depression medication, even though the drugs could have serious side effects.

In other cases, residents got therapy they didn't need, which the report said was in the nursing homes' financial interest because they would be reimbursed at a higher rate by Medicare.

In one example, a patient kept getting physical and occupational therapy even though the care plan said all the health goals had been met, the report said.

The Office of Inspector General's report was based on medical records from 190 patient visits to nursing homes in 42 states that lasted at least three weeks, which investigators said gave them a statistically valid sample of Medicare beneficiaries' experiences in skilled nursing facilities.

That sample represents about 1.1 million patient visits to nursing homes nationwide in 2009, the most recent year for which data was available, according to the review.

Overall, the review raises questions about whether the system is allowing homes to get paid for poor quality services that may be harming residents, investigators said, and recommended that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services tie payments to homes' abilities to meet basic care requirements. The report also recommended that the agency strengthen its regulations and ramp up its oversight. The review did not name individual homes, nor did it estimate the number of patients who had been mistreated, but instead looked at the overall number of stays in which problems arose.

In response, the agency agreed that it should consider tying Medicare reimbursements to homes' provision of good care. CMS also said in written comments that it is reviewing its own regulations to improve enforcement at the homes.

"Medicare has made significant changes to the way we pay providers thanks to the health care law, to reward better quality care," Medicare spokesman Brian Cook said in a statement to The Associated Press. "We are taking steps to make sure these facilities have the resources to improve the quality of their care, and make sure Medicare is paying for the quality of care that beneficiaries are entitled to."

CMS hires state-level agencies to survey the homes and make sure they are complying with federal law, and can require correction plans, deny payment or end a contract with a home if major deficiencies come to light. The agency also said it would follow up on potential enforcement at the homes featured in the report.

Greg Crist, a Washington-based spokeswoman for the American Health Care Association, which represents the largest share of skilled nursing facilities nationwide, said overall, nursing home operators are well regulated and follow federal guidelines, but added that he could not fully comment on the report's conclusions without having had the chance to read it.

"Our members begin every treatment with the individual's personal health needs at the forefront. This is a hands-on process, involving doctors and even family members in an effort to enhance the health outcome of the patient," Crist said.

Virginia Fichera, who has relatives in two nursing homes in New York, said she would welcome a greater push for accountability at skilled nursing facilities.

"Once you're in a nursing home, if things don't go right, you're really a prisoner," said Fichera, a retired professor in Sterling, N.Y. "As a concerned relative, you just want to know the care is good, and if there are problems, why they are happening and when they'll be fixed."

Once residents are ready to go back home or transfer to another facility, federal law also requires that the homes write special plans to make sure patients are safely discharged.

Investigators found the homes didn't always do what was needed to ensure a smooth transition.

In nearly one-third of cases, facilities also did not provide enough information when the patient moved to another setting, the report found.

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Benedict XVI Begins Final Day as Pope

Pope Benedict XVI, the first pontiff to resign in 600 years, will step down today to lead a secluded life of prayer, far from the grueling demands of the papacy and the scandals that have recently plagued the church.

Benedict, 85, will spend a quiet final day as pope bidding farewell to his colleagues that have gathered in Vatican City to see him depart. His first order of business this morning is a meeting with the College of Cardinals in the Clementine Hall, a room in the Apostolic Palace, where Angelo Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals, is set to speak, but not Benedict.

Pope Benedict XVI Delivers Farewell Address

Despite the historical nature of Benedict's resignation, not all cardinals are expected to attend the event. With their first working meeting not until Monday, only around 100 cardinals are set to be in Vatican City Thursday, the Vatican press office said. Those who are there for Benedict's departure will be greeted by seniority.

In the evening, at 5:00 p.m. local time, Benedict will leave the Vatican palace for the last time to head to Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence outside of Rome. Before his departure the German-born theologian will say some goodbyes in the Courtyard of San Damaso, inside the Vatican, first to his Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and then to the Swiss Guards who have protected him as pontiff.

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From there it is a short drive to a heliport for the 15-minute flight via helicopter to Castel Gandolfo, just south of the city. Benedict will not be alone on his journey, accompanied by members of the Pontifical Household such as two private secretaries, the head of protocol, his personal physician and his butler.

Once Benedict lands in the gardens at Castel Gandolfo, a group of dignitaries, such as the governor of the Vatican City state Giovanni Bertello, two bishops, the director of the pontifical villas, and the mayor and parish priest. Off the helicopter and into a car, Benedict will head to the palace that he will call home for the coming months. From a window of the palace, Benedict will make one final wave to the crowd at the papal retreat.

It is there, at 8:00 p.m., that Benedict's resignation will take effect once and for all. Once the gates to the residence close, the Swiss Guards will leave Benedict's side for the last time, their time protecting the pontiff completed.

Pope Benedict's Last Sunday Prayer Service

For some American Catholics in Rome for the historic occasion, Benedict's departure is bittersweet. Christopher Kerzich, a Chicago resident studying at the Pontifical North American College of Rome, said Wednesday he is sad to see Benedict leave, but excited to see what comes next.

"Many Catholics have come to love this pontiff, this very humble man," Kerzich said. "He is a man who's really fought this and prayed this through and has peace in his heart. I take comfort in that and I think a lot of Catholics should take comfort in that."

In his final address to the faithful as leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Benedict on Wednesday said his decision to resign was "the fruit of a serene trust in God's will and a deep love of Christ's Church." Before a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square, Benedict said he was "deeply grateful for the understanding, support, and prayers of so many of you, not only here in Rome, but also throughout the world."

The date of the conclave to determine Benedict's successor has yet to be determined. In one of his last moves as pope, Benedict issued a decree permitting the cardinals to convene the conclave before the March 15 date that would have been required under the old rules.

Benedict is eventually planning to move to a monastery inside Vatican City once work there is finished, but until then he will call home the palace at Castel Gandolfo. He will be known as "pope emeritus" and don brown shoes given to him on his trip to Mexico, rather than the red ones he wore as pontiff.

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Yahoo CEO right to cut remote work

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Raymond Fisman: Marissa Mayer needs to revive Yahoo, and face time at the office is key


• Fisman: Granted, this goes against Utopian vision of everyone working from cafes


• Fisman: In-person work means innovations, avoids misunderstood directives


• He says more jobs will get done and it'll encourage those who work in a half-empty office

Editor's note: Raymond Fisman is the Lambert Family professor of social enterprise at the Columbia Business School. He is the co-author, with Tim Sullivan, of "The Org: The Underlying Logic of the Office."

(CNN) -- When Yahoo's relatively new CEO Marissa Mayer decreed that workers would be required to show up at the office rather than work remotely, the immediate backlash from outsiders was mostly on the side of the angry Yahoo employees who were losing the comfort and convenience of telecommuting. Inside the company, reactions were mixed.

It struck a deep chord, contrary as it was to the techno-utopian impulse that has helped define Silicon Valley: the idea that someday soon we'll all be working in coffee shops or at kitchen tables, with broadband connections replacing in-person interactions.

Mayer may have been extreme in her demands for face time at the office, but it's the right call for a leader who is working to turn around one of the Internet's laggards.

Raymond Fisman

First, let's consider what's at stake for the company and what Mayer is hoping to accomplish. Yahoo is famous for having bungled its position as a one-time Internet leader. Mayer was brought on specifically to revitalize the benighted company after the departure of Jerry Yang; the firing of Carol Bartz, and the departures of another CEO who inflated his resume and an interim director. All the while, Yahoo has been a company in search of a direction.

What does the end of telecommuting have to do with giving the company a sound footing? The reasons go well beyond the obvious issue of reining in slackers who have taken advantage of Yahoo's reportedly lax monitoring of work done from home.

Talk Back: Is Yahoo wrong to end telecommuting?

Jackie Reses, Yahoo's head of human relations, has it exactly right in the memo she wrote to employees about the policy: Personal interaction is still the most effective way of conveying a company's direction, and keeping tabs on what different parts of the organization are up to. And that's what Mayer has to do with all of Yahoo's 11,500 employees to succeed.

What do in-person meetings accomplish that e-mail can't? Part of the answer lies in time use surveys of CEOs that go back nearly 40 years.

Management scholar Henry Mintzberg was among the first to track how top managers spend their time in the early 1970s. Much to his surprise, he found that around 80% of their time was spent in face-to-face meetings; the subjects of his study had few stretches of more than 10 minutes at a time to themselves.

More recent time use studies by researchers at Harvard, the London School of Economics and Columbia have found that little has changed. Despite the IT revolution, business leaders still spend 80% of their time in face-to-face meetings.

The reason is that there's only so much that one can glean from a written report or a spreadsheet. To cut through the hidden agendas, and office politics, most of the time you need to look someone in the eye and ask them, "Really? How exactly would that work?" It is this probing and questioning that allows effective managers to gather the scraps of information needed to understand what's really going on.

Similarly, all the way down the organizational chart, person-to-person interactions are crucial to ensure that an organization's change of direction isn't misrepresented or garbled in its retelling.

The bland proclamations made in reports and e-mails are given clearer meaning through the way they're communicated in the "high fidelity" that only personal interaction will allow. In-person meetings can also help teams avoid misunderstandings: As one of our friends who runs a virtual workplace puts it, with e-mail exchanges alone, everyone starts to get a bit paranoid.

Finally, the Yahoo memo notes that it's hard to innovate via e-mail exchanges or the occasional agenda-filled meeting. New ideas spring up through chance encounters in the cafeteria line and impromptu office meetings. It's an assertion that's backed up by academic research highlighting the importance of physical proximity in driving scientific progress.

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Yet there are rarely benefits without cost. Lots of tasks are easily managed from a distance. A large number of the affected Yahoo employees are customer-service representatives who aren't going to be driving innovation at the company anyway.

In one study of telecommuting at a Chinese online travel agency, customer-service reps were both happier and more productive when working from home -- probably Yahoo service reps aren't any different from their Chinese counterparts in this regard. And every Yahoo employee surely has some aspects of their jobs that could be done just as well at the kitchen table as in an office cubicle.

But it's hard to create a norm of "physically together" if the office is always half-empty. And once it becomes that way, the half that have been showing up will be less and less inclined to bother. Finally, such a shocking and provocative directive will most certainly have the effect of imbuing the organization with the sense of urgency it needs to get the job done.

Will Yahoo employees come around to appreciating the change? Not necessarily the ones that liked to sleep in or work on a startup on Yahoo's dime, but it may be welcomed by the ones already showing up. Will it be damaging to morale? Possibly, though it may help Yahoo employees to remember that, if they're successful, the change is likely to be temporary.

But the job of the CEO isn't to maximize worker happiness. It's to make sure they get their jobs done. And in driving change at Yahoo, Mayer thinks they need to show up at the office.

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The opinions in this commentary are solely those of Raymond Fisman.

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Hong Kong unveils budget, warns on global risks

HONG KONG: Hong Kong's finance chief on Wednesday unveiled a budget to kickstart growth in the city and temper property prices but warned the world economy could face headwinds from possible trade and currency battles.

During a speech interrupted by protests, Financial Secretary John Tsang also set out a series of measures to support the middle class and alleviate poverty in the first budget under an increasingly unpopular leader Leung Chun-ying.

The announcement came as data showed the southern Chinese financial hub saw growth of just 1.4 per cent in 2012 and was tipped to expand only 1.5-3.5 per cent this year.

In unveiling measures to boost the city's financial sector and private equity industry he warned: "The whole world will have to face wars on three fronts, namely 'currency', 'trade' and 'geopolitics'.

"As a highly open and small economy, Hong Kong will be impacted by the development of these wars to a certain extent."

His comment come after a sharp drop in the value of the yen sparked accusations of government meddling and concerns about a possible global war in which nations weaken their currencies to gains give a jolt to softening exports.

Tsang outlined plans to boost the city's financial sector, including extending profits tax exemption for offshore private equity funds, with an eye on regional rival Singapore.

He also unveiled a string of populist measures aimed at supporting the middle class and poor, while looking to address the city's chronically high property prices, which have doubled since 2009, squeezing average citizens.

Tsang vowed to increase land-supply to allow the building of more houses while quarterly rates amounting to HK$11.6 billion and covering 75 per cent of properties will be waived. That follows Friday's decision to double stamp duty on second homes to 8.5 per cent.

Also on Wednesday, Tsang said there will be a 75-per cent cut in salaries tax to a ceiling of HK$10,000.

However analysts said the budget would do little to improve the lot of the middle-class or poor or give a lift to the popularity of Leung, whose government has been rocked by a series of protests since he came to power in July.

Leung, who was chosen by a committee dominated by pro-Beijing elites, has seen his support rating drop after scandals involving illegal structures at his home, and last year came close to facing impeachment proceedings.

"For the middle class there is very minimal. If the middle class is renting property -- those rates are nothing to do with him," said Philip Hung, President of the The Taxation Institute of Hong Kong.

Hung added the level of some of one off measures, such as the salary-tax cut, was lower than last year.

Despite announcing a budget surplus of HK$64.9 billion ($8.4 billion) this year -- which swelled reserves to HK$734 billion -- the new measures totalled only HK$33 billion, down from the HK$80 billion-worth introduced last year.

In a sign of the dissatisfaction with the administration, dozens of people, some dressed as the Chinese "wealth god", waved banners and shouted slogans outside government headquarters demanding handouts of HK$10,000 and more welfare spending.

"The government should give money directly to the general public so that they can make ends meet," activist Tam Kwok-kiu told AFP, adding that the government is sitting on a fiscal surplus.

Two lawmakers including radical Leung Kwok-hung were escorted out of the chambers after interrupting Tsang's speech and calling him a "liar".

Tsang said he had had been listening to the concerns of the middle class, who are faced with rising bills for rent, medical care, and supporting their parents and children.

"I agree that middle-class families should be given some support. However, as one may appreciate, it is impracticable for the government to respond to each and every demand," he said.

- AFP/xq

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Peru: 'Missing' U.S. couple found, but family wants proof

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Peru's tourism minister say Jamie Neal and Garrett Hand were found in the Amazon


• Hand's mother says she won't believe the news until she hears directly from her son


• Family and friends have not been able to reach the couple since January


• Some areas they planned to visit are out of cell phone and Internet reach

(CNN) -- An American couple that went missing on a bike trek through Peru has been spotted "safe and sound," the South American country's top tourism official said Tuesday.

Jamie Neal and Garrett Hand are heading upstream in a small boat on a jungle river, said Jose Luis Silva, Peru's minister of tourism and commerce.

"They're currently in a remote, paradise-like region of the Peruvian Amazon, which is difficult to access," he told CNN.

But even as authorities trumpeted the news, Hand's mother said in a statement that she won't believe it until she hears directly from her son.

"We have not heard from them since January 25, nor have they accessed bank accounts since that time," mother Francine Fitzgerald said. "We have only the worst to consider as to why."

The couple, who hail from the San Francisco area, left last November and began a series of social media posts chronicling the trip of their dreams -- a four-month bike adventure through South America.

"Will be riding my bike in other countries and out of contact for 4 months!" Neal wrote in a November Facebook post before flying with Hand to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

But for weeks, the couple shared photos online from their trek through Argentina, Chile and Peru, showing themselves posing beside their bikes on remote mountain roads, camping out in tents and smiling at the beach.

In late January, however, their Internet postings stopped and calls to their cell phones went unanswered. Family members say no one has been able to get in touch with them since then.

Fitzgerald said both the U.S. Embassy in Peru and the country's interior ministry have called to say that Neal and Hand were spotted.

But that's not enough, she said.

"Let me reiterate, until we have PROOF OF LIFE, we cannot celebrate these rumors and sightings," she wrote on a Facebook page set up to facilitate a search for the couple. "Proof of life is my son's voice on the phone and a picture of him holding the missing poster."

Silva told CNN that the tourism ministry learned of the couple's location from police, who received a report from a clinic in the town of Angoteros after sending out a nationwide alert about the missing couple.

The ministry will send a hydroplane tomorrow to shoot video of the couple and provide proof they're doing OK, he said.

"They have no idea of the commotion they have caused in the media," he said, "because they simply can't communicate with family from where they currently are."

Neal and Hand, both 25, according to a family flyer, were last seen in Lima, the Peruvian capital. But some of the areas they planned to visit are out of cell phone and Internet reach.

The Peruvian National Police earlier told CNN that the manager of a hostel in Pucallpa, where the couple stayed, confirmed to a police investigator they reached the jungle city in early February.

The manager of Arco Iris Amazonica, a small hotel in the rain forest city of Iquitos, told police the couple stayed there on February 16 and told him they planned to travel to the town of Naplo, a 15-day trek.

Peru is known for the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu, located in the Cusco region, which attract hundreds of thousands of international travelers each year.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. Embassy in Lima issued a security message warning Americans of "a potential kidnapping threat in the Cusco area."

"The Embassy has received information that members of a criminal organization may be planning to kidnap U.S. citizen tourists in the Cusco and Machu Picchu area," the message said.

But it also clarified that "thousands of U.S. citizens routinely travel to the Cusco region without undue incident. The U.S. Embassy remains confident of the Peruvian government's efforts to ensure the safety of all tourists in the region."

Peru's tourism minister said Tuesday that he was "deeply concerned" about the negative impact of reports of the missing American couple.

The reason the couple has been out of touch for so long has nothing to do with any crime, he said.

"These two young people have fallen in love with Peru," Silva said. "They have visited off-the-beaten-path places and it seems like they're having a blast -- so much so that they have forgotten to communicate with their families."

CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet and Tom Watkins contributed to this report.

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Two cops, suspect dead in Calif. shootings

Updated 1:50 a.m. EST

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. Two police officers were shot and killed Tuesday while investigating a sexual assault, and a suspect was also fatally shot, authorities said.

Santa Cruz police Chief Kevin Vogel says Sgt. Loren Butch Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler were gunned down in mid-afternoon Tuesday as they followed up on a sexual assault investigation. He says Baker was a 28-year veteran of the department and Butler had been with the department 10 years. Vogel says Baker was married and the father of two daughters, while Butler leaves behind two young sons.

A suspect, identified as 35-year-old Jeremy Goulet, was shot and killed a short time later while authorities were pursuing the gunman, the Santa Cruz County sheriff's office said.

Residents on the adjoining streets where the shootings occurred received an automatic police call warning them to stay locked inside. About half an hour later, more than a dozen semi-automatic shots echoed down the streets in a brief shootout that killed the suspect.

Witnesses described hearing a "multitude of gunfire" - with 20 or more shots fired during that gun battle between the suspect and law enforcement, reports CBS San Francisco station station KPIX-TV.

Police were going door-to-door in the neighborhood, searching homes, garages, even closets, although the sheriff said authorities didn't know if another suspect remained at large.

Police, sheriff's deputies and FBI agents filled intersections, some with guns drawn, in what is ordinarily a quiet, residential neighborhood in the community about 60 miles south of San Francisco.

A store clerk a few buildings away from the shooting said the barrage of gunfire was "terrifying."

"We ducked. We have big desks, so under the desks we went," said the clerk, who spoke on condition of anonymity and asked that her store not be identified because she feared for her safety.

She said she remained locked in her store hours after the shooting and was still scared.

Two schools were locked down during the shooting. The students were later evacuated by bus to the County Government Center about half a mile away.

As darkness fell, helicopters and light aircraft patrolled above the neighborhood, which is about a mile from downtown Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The campus of University of California, Santa Cruz, is about five miles away.

The city's mayor, Hilary Bryant, said in a statement that the city was shocked over the shootings.

"Tonight we are heartbroken at the loss of two of our finest police officers who were killed in the line of duty, protecting the community we love," the statement said. "This is an exceptionally shocking and sad day for Santa Cruz and our Police Department."

Santa Cruz has faced a recent spate of violence, and community leaders had scheduled a downtown rally Tuesday to speak out against shootings. That and a city council meeting were canceled after teary-eyed city leaders learned of the deaths.

Those shootings include the killing of Pauly Silva, a 32-year-old martial arts instructor who was shot outside a popular downtown bar and restaurant on Feb. 9.

Two days later, a UC Santa Cruz student waiting at a bus stop was shot in the head during a robbery. She is recovering from her injuries.

Then on Feb. 17, a 21-year-old woman was raped and beaten on the UC Santa Cruz campus. Four days later, a Santa Cruz couple fought off two men who came in their home before dawn and threatened them with a sword.

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What's Next for Pope Benedict XVI?

The party for the world's most prominent soon-to-be retiree began today when Pope Benedict XVI hosted his final audience as pontiff in St. Peter's Square.

More than 50,000 tickets were requested for the event, according to the Vatican, while the city of Rome planned for 250,000 people to flood the streets.

FULL COVERAGE: Pope Benedict XVI Resignation

With his belongings packed up, Pope Benedict XVI will spend the night, his final one as pope, in the Apostolic Palace.

The pontiff, 85, who is an avid writer, will be able to take his personal notes with him. However, all official documents relating to his papacy will be sent to the Vatican archives.

On Thursday, Pope Benedict XVI will take his last meeting as pontiff with various dignitaries and the cardinals, said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican Press Office.

INTERACTIVE: Key Dates in the Life of Pope Benedict XVI

While not all of the cardinals are in Rome, it is possible that among the princes of the church saying farewell to the pope could be the man who will succeed him.

"I think the overall tone is going to be gratitude. From the cardinals' perspective, it'll be like the retirement party for your favorite professor," said Christopher Bellitto, a professor at Kean University in New Jersey who has written nine books on the history of the church.

AP Photo/Andrew Medichini

Papal Appearance: Faithful Flock to Saint Peter's Square Watch Video

RELATED: Cardinal Resigns Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Pope Benedict XVI will depart the Vatican walls in the afternoon, taking a 15-minute helicopter ride to Castel Gandolfo, the papal retreat just outside of Rome, where he will live while his new Vatican quarters undergo a renovation.

Around sunset, the pontiff is expected to greet the public from his window in the palace, which overlooks the small town square, for the last time as pope.

At 8 p.m. local time, the papal throne will be vacated. The man known as Pope Benedict XVI for the past eight years will take on a new title: Pope Emeritus.

What Lies Ahead for the Pope Emeritus

The announcement that Benedict XVI would be the first pope to resign in 600 years shocked the world and left the Vatican with the task of creating new rules for an event that was unprecedented in the modern church.

"Even for the historical life of the church, some of this is brand new territory," said Matthew Bunson, general editor of the "Catholic Almanac" and author of "We Have a Pope! Benedict XVI."

"The Vatican took a great deal of care in sorting through this," he said. "This is establishing a precedent."

Along with Benedict's new title, he will still be allowed to wear white, a color traditionally reserved for the pope.

He'll still be called Your Holiness. However, the Swiss Guards, who are tasked with protecting the pope, will symbolically leave his side at 8 p.m. Thursday.

His Ring of the Fisherman, kissed by thousands of the faithful over the years, will be crushed, according to tradition.

Not much is known about the pope's health.

In his resignation statement, the pontiff said his physical strength has deteriorated in the past few months because of "an advanced age."

He also mentioned the "strength of mind and body" necessary to lead the more-than-1-billion Catholics worldwide.

If he is able to, Bellitto believes the pope will keep writing, perhaps on the Holy Trinity, a topic of great interest to him.

RELATED: Papal Conclave 2013 Not Politics as Usual

As the pope emeritus settles into the final chapter of his life, experts have said it is likely he will stay out of the public realm.

"[Pope Benedict XVI] has moved very deliberately in this process," Bunson said, "with an eye toward making the transition as smooth, as regal, as careful as possible for the election of his successor."

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Vatican 'Gay lobby'? Probably not

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Benedict XVI not stepping down under pressure from 'gay lobby,' Allen says


• Allen: Benedict is a man who prefers the life of the mind to the nuts and bolts of government


• However, he says, much of the pope's time has been spent putting out fires

Editor's note: John L. Allen Jr. is CNN's senior Vatican analyst and senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter.

(CNN) -- Suffice it to say that of all possible storylines to emerge, heading into the election of a new pope, sensational charges of a shadowy "gay lobby" (possibly linked to blackmail), whose occult influence may have been behind the resignation of Benedict XVI, would be right at the bottom of the Vatican's wish list.

Proof of the Vatican's irritation came with a blistering statement Saturday complaining of "unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories," even suggesting the media is trying to influence the papal election.

Two basic questions have to be asked about all this. First, is there really a secret dossier about a network of people inside the Vatican who are linked by their sexual orientation, as Italian newspaper reports have alleged? Second, is this really why Benedict XVI quit?

John L. Allen Jr.

The best answers, respectively, are "maybe" and "probably not."

It's a matter of record that at the peak of last year's massive Vatican leaks crisis, Benedict XVI created a commission of three cardinals to investigate the leaks. They submitted an eyes-only report to the pope in mid-December, which has not been made public.

It's impossible to confirm whether that report looked into the possibility that people protecting secrets about their sex lives were involved with the leaks, but frankly, it would be surprising if it didn't.

There are certainly compelling reasons to consider the hypothesis. In 2007, a Vatican official was caught by an Italian TV network on hidden camera arranging a date through a gay-oriented chat room, and then taking the young man back to his Vatican apartment. In 2010, a papal ceremonial officer was caught on a wiretap arranging liaisons through a Nigerian member of a Vatican choir. Both episodes played out in full public view, and gave the Vatican a black eye.

Pope Benedict XVI

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In that context, it would be a little odd if the cardinals didn't at least consider the possibility that insiders leading a double life might be vulnerable to pressure to betray the pope's confidence. That would apply not just to sex, but also potential conflicts of other sorts too, such as financial interests.

Vatican officials have said Benedict may authorize giving the report to the 116 cardinals who will elect his successor, so they can factor it into their deliberations. The most immediate fallout is that the affair is likely to strengthen the conviction among many cardinals that the next pope has to lead a serious house-cleaning inside the Vatican's bureaucracy.

It seems a stretch, however, to suggest this is the real reason Benedict is leaving. For the most part, one should probably take the pope at his word, that old age and fatigue are the motives for his decision.

That said, it's hard not to suspect that the meltdowns and controversies that have dogged Benedict XVI for the last eight years are in the background of why he's so tired. In 2009, at the height of another frenzy surrounding the lifting of the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying traditionalist bishop, Benedict dispatched a plaintive letter to the bishops of the world, voicing hurt for the way he'd been attacked and apologizing for the Vatican's mishandling of the situation.

Even if Benedict didn't resign because of any specific crisis, including this latest one, such anguish must have taken its toll. Benedict is a teaching pope, a man who prefers the life of the mind to the nuts and bolts of government, yet an enormous share of his time and energy has been consumed trying to put out internal fires.

It's hard to know why Benedict XVI is stepping off the stage, but I doubt it is because of a "gay lobby."

Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John L. Allen Jr.

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GIC raises US$1.25b by selling shares in Global Logistic Properties

SINGAPORE: The Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) has raised US$1.25 billion by selling about 596 million shares in warehouse operator Global Logistic Properties (GLP).

GIC sold the shares at S$2.60 each, which is a 4.8 per cent discount to Monday's closing price.

Following the share sale, it now holds a 37 per cent stake in GLP, down from 49 per cent.

GIC said the move is part of the fund's portfolio rebalancing and it will remain a substantial shareholder for the long run.

- CNA/ms

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Family fights $474K hospital bill

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At least 19 tourists die in hot air balloon crash in Egypt

Updated 4:30 a.m. EST

LUXOR, Egypt A hot air balloon flying over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field on Tuesday, killing at least 18 foreign tourists, a security official said.

It was one of the worst accidents involving tourists in Egypt and is likely to push the key tourism industry deeper into recession. The casualties included French, British, Japanese nationals and nine tourists from Hong Kong, the official said.

Three survivors of the crash -- two tourists and one Egyptian -- were taken to a local hospital. Local media reports say the pilot was among the survivors.

According to the Egyptian security official, the balloon carrying at least 20 tourists was flying over Luxor when it caught fire, which triggered an explosion in its gas canister, then plunged at least 1,000 feet from the sky.

It crashed into a sugar cane field outside al-Dhabaa village just west of Luxor, 320 miles south of Cairo, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Bodies of the dead tourists were scattered across the field around the remnants of the balloon. An Associated Press reporter at the crash site counted eight bodies as they were put into body bags and taken away. The security official said all 18 bodies have been recovered.

The official said foul play has been ruled out. He also said initial reports of 19 dead were revised to 18 as confusion is common in the aftermath of such accidents.

In Hong Kong, a travel agency said nine of the tourists that were aboard the balloon were natives of the semiautonomous Chinese city. It did not say whether all nine were killed. The information was posted on the agency's website.

In Paris, a diplomatic official said French tourists were among those involved in the accident, but would give no details on how many, or whether French citizens were among those killed.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to be publicly named according to government policy, the official said French authorities were working with their Egyptian counterparts to clarify what happened. French media reports said 2 French tourists were among the dead but the official wouldn't confirm that.

Hot air ballooning, usually at sunrise over the famed Karnak and Luxor temples as well as the Valley of the Kings, is a popular pastime for tourists visiting Luxor.

The site of the accident has seen past crashes. In 2009, 16 tourists were injured when their balloon struck a cell phone transmission tower. A year earlier, seven tourists were injured in a similar crash.

Egypt's tourism industry has been decimated since the 18-day uprising in 2011 against autocrat leader Hosni Mubarak and the political turmoil that followed and continues to this day.

Luxor's hotels are currently about 25 percent full in what is supposed to be the peak of the winter season.

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Americans Targeted for Allegedly Running Underage Prostitution in Philippines

Arthur Benjamin is sitting at the edge of a small stage, wearing a lavender Hawaiian shirt and nursing a bottle of San Miguel Light beer. The 6-foot-6 mustachioed Texan lazily watches the half dozen or so girls dancing rather unenergetically around the stage's pole.

"I forgot your gift again, it's in the car," Benjamin says to one of the girls on stage, shouting above the pop music blaring from the speaker system.

The small, dingy bar, which Benjamin says he owns, is called Crow Bar. It's in a rundown part of the picturesque Subic Bay in the western Philippines, about a three hour drive from the capital, Manila. Home for 50 years to a United States naval base, Subic Bay has become synonymous with foreigners looking for sex in the long string of bars that line the main road along the coast.

Watch the full story on "Nightline" TONIGHT at 12:35 a.m. ET

The bars in this area are often packed with older foreign men ogling the young Filipina women available for the night for a "bar fine" of around 1,500 Filipino pesos, or just over $35. Many of the bars are owned and operated by Americans, often former military servicemen who either served on the base or whose ships docked here until the base was shuttered under political pressure in 1992.

Alleged Underage Prostitution in Philippines Watch Video

Authorities Raid Philippines Bar Suspected of Underage Prostitution Watch Video

Innocence for Sale: US Dollars Fund Philippines Sex Trade Watch Video

Most of the prostitutes working in the bars are indeed 18 or older. But in the Philippines, just a small scratch to the surface can reveal a layer of young, underage girls who have mostly come from impoverished rural provinces to sell their bodies to help support their families.

Benjamin, 49, is, according to his own statements, one of the countless foreigners who has moved beyond just having sex with underage girls to owning and operating a bar where girls in scantily-clad outfits flaunt their bodies for patrons.

"My wife recently found out that I have this place," he tells an ABC News "Nightline" team, unaware they are journalists and recording the conversation on tiny hidden cameras disguised as shirt buttons.

Benjamin said that a "disgruntled waitress" had written his wife on Facebook, detailing his activities in Subic Bay.

"She sent her this thing saying that I have underage girls who stayed with me, that I [have anal sex with them], I own a bar, I've got other girls that I'm putting through high school, all this other crap," he said.

"All of which is true," he laughed. "However, I have to deny."

He sends a text message summoning his current girlfriend, a petite dark-skinned girl called Jade, who he said is just 16 years old. Benjamin says he bought the bar for her about a year ago and while most still call it Crow Bar, he officially re-named it with her last name.

"She needed a place to stay, I needed a place to do her. I bought a bar for her," he says, explaining that she lives in a house out back by the beach.

"You're not going to find anything like this in the States, not as a guy my age," he said as he looked down at Jade. "Ain't going to happen."

Benjamin is the latest target of Father Shay Cullen, a Catholic priest with a thick Irish brogue and fluency in the local language, Tagalog. Through his non-profit center called Preda, he's been crusading against underage sex trafficking in the Philippines for 40 years.

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Budget 2013: Personal income tax rebates for taxpayers

SINGAPORE: The government has introduced a slew of measures to help Singaporeans cope with the rising cost of living.

These measures include income tax rebates, extra GST voucher and Service & Conservancy Charges rebates.

Taxpayers who are 60 years and above will enjoy a higher income tax rebate of 50 per cent, capped at S$1,500.

Those who are below 60 years old will get a rebate of 30 per cent, which is also capped at S$1,500.

These measures were announced by Deputy Prime Minister in his Budget Statement on Monday.

Singaporeans will also get an extra one-off GST voucher on top of the permanent voucher.

The government will give rebates of one to three months for Service & Conservancy Charges.

One- and two-room HDB households will receive three months of rebates for 2013, while three- and four-room households will get two months of rebates.

The concessionary foreign domestic worker levy will be lowered for families with young children, elderly dependents and persons with disabilities.

The levy will be reduced from S$170 to S$120 per month.

- CNA/fa

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'Crippling' winter storm belts Great Plains region (again)

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Flights in and out of Amarillo International Airport have been canceled


• NEW: Portions of I-40 and U.S. Highways 87 and 187 in Texas are closed


• Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is calling on drivers to stay off the road


• "This storm has the potential to be more dangerous than last week's storm," he says

(CNN) -- Call it winter weather, part two.

Just days after a storm walloped the Great Plains, a second one, bringing with it heavy snow and strong winds, was slamming the region early Monday, forcing airline cancellations and school closures from Colorado to Texas.

National Weather Service forecasters warned the storm was bringing potentially "life threatening" and "crippling" blizzard conditions with freezing temperatures to portions of southeast Kansas, northwest Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle overnight.

All flights in and out of Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport in Texas were canceled until noon on Monday.

"Nothing coming in or out until then at the earliest," airport spokesman Daryl Ware said.

A number of schools districts, senior centers and churches were closed in Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle until at least Tuesday, while some state and local offices were also being temporarily shuttered.

Fearing a repeat of last week's storm that brought more than 22 inches of snow to some places in Kansas, forcing the closure of airports and schools, the governor on Sunday extended a state of emergency declaration to include the new storm.

Kansas City is expecting 9 to 15 inches of snow Monday night into Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service, and officials are calling for residents to stay off the roads.

"This storm has the potential to be more dangerous than last week's storm," Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said late Sunday. "So, we ask you to stay off the road unless it's absolutely critical. If you have to be out, be prepared with a charged cell phone, an emergency kit with food, water, blankets, flares and a shovel."

'Call it a win'

Such forecasts raised alarms throughout the Plains, leading to crowded stores as residents prepared for the storm.

Amanda Roberts, an entrepreneur and blogger in Warrensburg, Missouri, hit the stores ahead of the storm that is expected to start hitting the state by late Monday.

"The snow has everyone stocking up on groceries," she said in a Twitter post. "Fresh produce is basically gone but I got the last gallon of chocolate milk. I call it a win."

Forecasters have upped their predictions for the amount of snow expected in northwest Oklahoma to 8 to 10 inches, with 15 inches in spots. This may be a shock to some, given that temperatures in places reached the mid-60s on Sunday.

"May see 4-6 foot drifts!" wrote National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Smith on Twitter. "Traveling is beyond discouraged!"

In Texas, the Department of Transportation closed portions of westbound I-40 from outside from Amarillo to Albuquerque, New Mexico, because of blizzard conditions.

The Texas Department of Public Safety, meanwhile, closed portions of U.S. Highways 87 and 187 due to overnight white out conditions expected to continue through Monday afternoon.

Salt truck drivers were on standby overnight in Oklahoma City.

"Well, we're pretty well prepared right now. We have 28 trucks loaded, plows on," Oklahoma City Emergency Management's Mike Love told CNN affiliate KWTV.

"We run our emergency snow route. We'll run that until it's free and clear. And if this stuff comes in like they're saying tomorrow, with these high winds, look forward to some drifting."

By early Monday, with more than 9 inches of snow reported in some areas of Denver, airline operations in the Colorado capital were working to return to normal a day after more than 200 of 1,500 flights had been canceled and hundreds more flights were delayed because of the weather, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Up to 19 inches of snow was reported in Jefferson, about 70 miles southwest of Denver.

Rain, flooding the issue in Southeast

While millions will see snow -- including Chicago, where 3 to 5 inches of snow and sleet are expected Tuesday -- rain may rule for the next few days in parts of the Southeast.

In Mobile, Alabama, on the Gulf Coast, residents prepared for the possibility of heavy rains and wind gusts as strong as 30 mph by Monday night.

The rain is part of a band affecting five Southeastern states where flash flood watches are in effect from Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning.

Some areas from Louisiana to South Carolina could see up to 4 inches of rain.

Record-setting February

Kansas City International Airport set a February 21 record of 9 inches of snow, 4 more inches than the amount that fell the same date in 2010. Monday might bring 6 to 10 more inches, forecasters said.

Kansas City is approaching its February snowfall record of 20.7 inches, set in 1960.

The state of Kansas is also still digging out in many places.

Wichita saw its second-highest storm snowfall total on record last week with 14.2 inches over two days, the National Weather Service said.

The town of Russell in the state's middle lay under a 22-inch layer of white by the time the storm roared by.

CNN's AnneClaire Stapleton and Judson Jones contributed to this report.

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Michelle Obama makes surprise Oscars appearance

First lady Michelle Obama, on a video screen, announces the winner for best picture along with actor Jack Nicholson at the 85th annual Academy Awards on Feb. 24, 2013, in Hollywood, Calif. / Getty

First lady Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance at the Oscars, opening the envelope that contained the name of the best-picture winner, "Argo."

51 Photos

Oscars 2013: Show highlights

Appearing via streaming video from the White House, Mrs. Obama said all of the nominees demonstrated that "we can overcome any obstacle."

15 Photos

Oscars 2013: Press room

She said that message is "especially important for our young people" and thanked Hollywood for encouraging children "to open their imaginations."

The first lady was introduced by Jack Nicholson, who noted that the best picture trophy is usually announced solo.

Mrs. Obama wore a silver, art deco-inspired gown by Indian-born American fashion designer Naeem Khan. It was the same dress she wore for the Obamas' dinner with the nation's governors at the White House on Sunday night.

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Oscars 2013: 'Argo' Wins Best Picture

"Argo" took home the top prize as best picture at the Oscars Sunday night, with first lady Michelle Obama announcing the winner from the White House.

"You directed a hell of a film," co-producer Grant Heslov told director and fellow producer Ben Affleck. "I couldn't be more proud of the film and more proud of our director."

Affleck was snubbed in the directing category but humbly accepted the best picture Oscar as one of the three producers on the film. George Clooney was the third.

Affleck thanked Steven Spielberg and the other best picture nominees and his wife Jennifer Garner for "working on our marriage."

"It's good, it's work," he said, adding, "but there's no one I'd rather work with."

For Full List of Winners

Acknowledging his last Oscar win, as a screenwriter for "Good Will Hunting," Affleck said, "I was really just a kid. I never thought I would be back here."

In the acting categories, Daniel Day-Lewis won the Oscar for best actor, being the first actor to three-peat in that category. As he accepted the award from Hollywood's greatest actress, Meryl Streep, he joked, "I had actually been committed to play Margaret Thatcher. ... Meryl was Stephen's first choice for Lincoln."

He also thanked his wife, Rebecca Miller, for "living with some very strange men," with each new role that he takes on.

"She's the versatile one in the family and she's been the perfect companion to all of them," he said.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Daniel Day-Lewis Gets Laughs With Oscars Speech Watch Video

Jennifer Lawrence won the award for best actress. She tripped on the stairs on her way to accepting her award but picked herself up and made her way to the stage, earning a standing ovation.

"You're just standing up because you feel bad that I fell and that's embarrassing," she said, before rattling off a list of thank-yous and leaving the stage looking slightly stunned.

Watch Jennifer Lawrence's Oscar Tumble

"Life of Pi," which had a total of 11 nominations, was another big winner of the night. Director Ang Lee took home the Oscar for best director over Steven Spielberg and David O. Russell.

"Thank you, movie god," Lee said, accepting his award.

As expected, the film took home the first technical awards of the night for cinematography and visual effects. "Life of Pi" also won for best original score.

The first big acting awards of the night went to Christoph Waltz and Anne Hathaway in the supporting actor categories.

In one of the biggest tossups, Waltz claimed the award for supporting actor for his role in "Django Unchained." It was his second Oscar for a Quentin Tarantino film; his first was for Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds."

PHOTOS: Stars on the Red Carpet

As expected, Hathaway took home the award for best supporting actress for her role as Fantine in "Les Miserables."

"It came true," she said, launching into a breathy speech, in which she thanked the cast and crew, her team and her husband. "The greatest moment of my life was when you walked into it," she said.

Tarantino won the Oscar for best original screenplay for his slave revenge western "Django Unchained." He thanked his cast.

"I have to cast the right people," he said. "And boy this time did I do it."

Chris Terrio won the award for best adapted screenplay for "Argo," which also won for film editing.

For only the sixth time in Academy history, there was a tie at the Oscars. "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Skyfall" tied for sound editing.

See Other Ties in Academy History

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The Oscars just don't matter

Best: Billy Crystal

Best: Johnny Carson

Best: Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin

Best: Bob Hope

Best: Whoopi Goldberg

Honorable mention: Jon Stewart

Worst: David Letterman

Worst: Chris Rock

Worst: Chevy Chase

Worst: Jerry Lewis

Worst: Anne Hathaway and James Franco

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Dean Obeidallah would love an Oscar, but thinks they mostly don't matter in long run


• He says telecast not the draw it once was, and winning doesn't mean bigger box office


• He says for stars win often doesn't mean work; award season makes Oscars anticlimatic


• Obeidallah: Why not give Oscar awards first, then follow with smaller awards later?

Editor's note: Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is a political comedian and frequent commentator on various TV networks including CNN. He is the editor of the politics blog "The Dean's Report" and co-director of the upcoming documentary, "The Muslims Are Coming!" Follow him on Twitter: @deanofcomedy.

(CNN) -- If I won an Oscar, I'd carry it around it with me everywhere. I'd start every conversation with, "Well, as an Oscar winner..." I'd wear a pin that says, "Ask me about my Oscar." I might even get a tattoo on my neck of the golden figurine.

But that's just me. Because beyond the personal thrill of winning, the Oscars don't matter. The golden statue is increasingly becoming nothing more than a shiny paperweight.

Dean Obeidallah

And I say this as someone who loves movies, appreciates the talented people who make them and has long watched the awards show. But in three categories the Academy Awards have lost their luster: the TV telecast, the box office impact of the awards on movies and their effect on people's acting careers.

Are viewers particularly interested in watching the Oscars? Not so much. TV ratings show pretty clearly that percentage of people watching the Academy Awards has trended downward over the years. For example, in 2000, nearly 47% of the people watching TV on Oscar night watched the Academy Awards. It has not been that high since, and in 2012, the number had fallen to 34%. In fact, the 2012 Grammy awards had higher overall ratings than that year's Oscar telecast.

Why? There's almost no surprise left. Viewers have a fairly good idea of who will win every big award after the parade of award shows that queue up in the weeks before the Oscars. There are so many! The Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, Director's Guild, Producers Guild, the guys who run the deli by my apartment award show, etc. Oscar night feels more like a coronation than an actual awards show.

The only Oscar surprise this year -- and it's not one that will help the TV ratings -- is the Academy voters' bizarre snub of Ben Affleck for a Best Director nomination for his film "Argo." Affleck won Best Director honors at this year's Golden Globes, as well as at the Director's Guild, SAG and Producer's Guild awards. He even won the best director prize at the British Academy Awards. Apparently, the Academy voters still won't forgive Affleck for the stinker "Gigli."

Bergen: 'Zero Dark Thirty': Did torture really net bin Laden?

In the category of how much does an Oscar help your film at the box office, the envelope says: Not much. Sure, there's an "Oscar bump," but look at the 2009 Best Picture winner, "The Hurt Locker." It ended up grossing only $17 million in the United States. Keep in mind that $100 million in domestic box office receipts is generally considered a hit. $17 million is a bomb.

Also last year's Oscar winner for Best Picture, "The Artist," ended up earning approximately $45 million in U.S. theaters. No boffo hit there.

Cullen: With 'Lincoln', a new frontier for Day-Lewis

And here's something that the Academy Awards hate to hear: Winning a Golden Globe has proven to be much more profitable for a movie than winning an Oscar. That is at least according to a recent analysis that looked at award-wining films over the past 12 years. Edmund Helmer, a statistician whose website, BoxOfficeQuant.com, analyzes film industry statistics found that movies that won an Academy Award had on average a $3 million bump in box office sales. However, Golden Globe winners saw on average a pop of $14 million. Pretty big dollar difference.

And in the category of how much does an Oscar help your acting career, there's no denying it can help. But Oscar gold doesn't always translate into personal gold. Many talented actors and actress have won this coveted award only to find themselves with little film work a few years later. I'm talking Oscar winners like Mira Sorvino, Joe Pesci, Louis Gossett Jr. and Kim Basinger.

Williams: Django, in chains

Perhaps the most glaring example of this is actress/comedian Mo'Nique, who won the 2009 Best Supporting Actress award for her role in "Precious." According to the Internet Movie Date Base (IMDb), her only movie since her Oscar triumph went straight to video.

Conversely, there's a long list of amazingly talented actors and actresses who have yet to win an Oscar. A partial list includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, Gary Oldman, Johnny Depp and Annette Benning.

Obviously, Academy Awards organizers have little impact on some of these issues. But one change they can consider is moving the Oscars up to take place before the other award shows -- like states in the presidential primaries. At least then the Academy Awards will provide real drama as to winners and losers.

Despite knowing the likely winners, I'm still looking forward to watching Sunday's Oscars. This year's host is the very funny Seth Macfarlane. Although I think the funniest moment of the awards' show may be when Russell Crowe sings a song from "Les Misérables."

Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.

Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dean Obeidallah.

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Indian PM calls for calm after deadly Hyderabad blasts

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday appealed for calm as he flew to Hyderabad and visited some of the 117 people wounded in twin bombings last week which killed 16 people.

Singh also visited the blast site in Dilsukh Nagar, where two bicycle bombs exploded within a few minutes of each other outside a cinema and near a bus stand on Thursday evening.

The prime minister met with some of the blast survivors and medical staff in two city hospitals and expressed his condolences.

"It is most important that in this hour of grief the people should maintain calm," he said.

"I am happy that the people of Hyderabad have refused to be provoked by this nefarious incident," the prime minister told reporters.

"I pray for the speedy recovery of those who have been injured, to those who have died I send my condolences to all the bereaved families," Singh added.

His spokesman Pankaj Pachauri told AFP Singh was scheduled to be briefed by N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, chief minister of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, on the incident.

Hyderabad, one of the major hubs of India's booming software industry, is the capital of coastal Andhra Pradesh.

The premier has vowed to bring to justice the perpetrators of what he called a "dastardly" attack, the first major bombings in India since 2011.

His Congress Party-led government was criticised in parliament on Friday by the opposition, which said the bombings had exposed systemic security failures at a time when India is on heightened alert.

India's main opposition BJP party mocked the premier's one-day trip to Hyderabad saying the blasts were a result of the Indian government's failure to tackle terrorism.

"The prime minister's visit to Hyderabad is a non-event," BJP leader Balbir Punj told reporters in New Delhi.

"In fact, if he and his government had been sensitive to the issue of terrorism in this country... this attack would not have taken place," he said.

Andhra Pradesh Home Minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy has said investigators have found "vital clues" but gave no details.

Newspapers have pointed the finger at the Indian Mujahideen, a banned militant outfit which has claimed responsibility for previous attacks.

The fitting of the explosive devices to bicycles was similar to other attacks by the outfit, local media reports quoted investigators as saying.

The homegrown group has links to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based militant outfit blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that claimed 166 lives, according to Indian intelligence officials.

New Delhi has long accused its neighbour of aiding and abetting the militant groups who have carried out attacks on Indian soil -- a charge that Pakistan rejects.

- AFP/fa

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Fans seriously injured in NASCAR crash at Daytona

Fiery finish in Daytona

Fiery finish in Daytona

Fiery finish in Daytona

Fiery finish in Daytona

Fiery finish in Daytona

Fiery finish in Daytona

Fiery finish in Daytona

Fiery finish in Daytona

Fiery finish in Daytona

Fiery finish in Daytona

Fiery finish in Daytona

Fiery finish in Daytona

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The Daytona 500 will go ahead Sunday as scheduled


• A dramatic pile up accident flung debris into the stands of a race Saturday


• Wreckage, including an engine, went airborne -- some reaching the stands' second level


• Two spectators sustained serious injuries

Were you at the speedway during the crash? If you were recording video of the crash or took photos, upload them to CNN iReport.

(CNN) -- The Daytona 500 will take place as scheduled Sunday despite a jaw-dropping crash a day earlier that flung debris into the stands at the Daytona International Speedway.

At least 28 fans were injured, including two critically, when more than a dozen cars piled up in the final curve of the Nationwide Series Drive4COPD 300 in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Saturday. The Daytona 500 will run on the same track.

"First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with our race fans," the speedway said in a statement released Saturday. "We are in the process of repairing the facility, and we will be ready to go racing tomorrow."

Saturday's race had to be restarted after an earlier wreck put driver Michael Annett in the hospital with a bruised chest, according to Richard Petty Motorsports.

The second wreck occurred when several closely-packed cars were jostling for position at top speeds of about 175 mph. They got tangled up, setting off a dangerous chain reaction that ensnared a number of vehicles.

Reigning Sprint Cup champ Brad Keselowski -- who later told CNN he and others were simply "going for the win" -- was among those involved, while Tony Stewart somehow emerged unscathed and finished by winning the race.

Driver Kyle Larson's vehicle ended up flying into a fence that separates the track from spectators. It broke into pieces -- including tires and a fiery engine.

Larson walked away from the crash, even after the front part of his No. 32 car was completely gone. He and the other nine drivers involved told reporters that they were checked at a medical tent on the Daytona infield and released.

Some pieces of the shredded debris flew into the barrier, while others got into the stands -- some of it reaching the second level about 20 feet up.

A video posted on YouTube shows a cloud of debris flying into stands and one man gasping, "Oh, my God." A tire rests on one seat, as a man frantically waves and yells to get the attention of paramedics.

Afterward, several spectators could be seen lying down after apparently suffering injuries. A line of about 10 ambulances lined up on the track, with some first responders carrying stretchers.

Fourteen fans were treated at an on-site medical facility, while 14 others were transported to area hospitals, speedway president Joie Chitwood told reporters.

"I'm just hoping everyone is OK," said Keselowski. "As drivers, we assume the risk. But fans do not."

NASCAR president Mike Helton earlier told ESPN, which was broadcasting the race, some people were taken to Halifax Health Medical Center. He said the protective fence did its job in preventing potentially more injuries and possibly deaths.

Byron Cogdell, a spokesman for the hospital, told CNN that his facility was treating 12 patients. Two of those -- one of them a child -- are in critical but stable condition.

"Everybody appears to be in stable condition," Cogdell said.

Staff at Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center were treating one person and expecting three more, spokeswoman Lindsay Rew said Saturday evening.

The injured include Eddie Huckaby, a 53-year-old Krum, Texas, resident who suffered a leg gash when a large piece of metal hit him as he was watching the race, his brother Terry Huckaby told CNN affiliate WKMG. He described the motor landing in the stands, as well as a wheel "and everything flying over your head and debris everywhere."

"He's doing fine," Terry Huckaby said of his brother, who underwent surgery at Halifax Health Medical Center. "The first thing he said, 'I don't want to miss that (Daytona 500) race, but I have to watch on TV.'"

Accidents are nothing new to NASCAR, where cars often cruise at speeds topping 190 mph, nor to the Daytona track. One of the sport's most horrific, and well-known, wrecks happened in the 2001 Daytona 500, when famed driver Dale Earnhardt Sr. was killed -- also, on that race's final lap.

Still, injuries and fatalities to spectators are much rarer.

With the stands having been quickly evacuated, crews worked to repair the damaged fence. Chitwood expressed confidence the 55th edition of the Daytona 500 would go on as planned, with spectators even sitting in the same seats struck by debris Saturday.

"With the fence being prepared tonight to our safety protocols, we expect to go racing tomorrow with no changes," Chitwood said.

CNN's John Newsome and Joe Carter reported from Daytona Beach, and Greg Botelho wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Ben Brumfield, Phil Gast, Dan Moriarty, Scott Thompson and Janet DiGiacomo contributed to this report.

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