Ireland probes death of ill abortion-seeker

DUBLIN (AP) — The debate over legalizing abortion in Ireland flared Wednesday after the government confirmed a miscarrying woman suffering from blood poisoning was refused a quick termination of her pregnancy and died in an Irish hospital.

Prime Minister Enda Kenny said he was awaiting findings from three investigations into the death of Savita Halappanavar, an Indian living in Galway since 2008 who was 17 weeks along in her pregnancy. The 31-year-old's case highlights the bizarre legal limbo in which pregnant women facing severe health problems in predominantly Catholic Ireland can find themselves.

Ireland's constitution officially bans abortion, but a 1992 Supreme Court ruling found it should be legalized for situations when the woman's life is at risk from continuing the pregnancy. Five governments since have refused to pass a law resolving the confusion, leaving Irish hospitals reluctant to terminate pregnancies except in the most obviously life-threatening circumstances.

University Hospital Galway in western Ireland declined to say whether doctors believed Halappanavar's blood poisoning could have been reversed had she received an abortion rather than wait for the fetus to die on its own. In a statement it described its own investigation into the death, and a parallel probe by the national government's Health Service Executive, as "standard practice" whenever a pregnant woman dies in a hospital. The Galway coroner also planned a public inquest.

Savita Halappanavar's husband, Praveen, said doctors determined that she was miscarrying within hours of her hospitalization for severe pain on Sunday, Oct. 21. He said that over the next three days doctors refused their requests for a termination of her fetus to combat her own surging pain and fading health.

"Savita was really in agony. She was very upset, but she accepted she was losing the baby," he told The Irish Times in a telephone interview from Belgaum, southwest India. "When the consultant came on the ward rounds on Monday morning, Savita asked: 'If they could not save the baby, could they induce to end the pregnancy?' The consultant said: 'As long as there is a fetal heartbeat, we can't do anything.'"

"Again on Tuesday morning ... the consultant said it was the law, that this is a Catholic country. Savita said: "I am neither Irish nor Catholic," but they said there was nothing they could do," Praveen Halappanavar was quoted as saying.

He said his wife vomited repeatedly and collapsed in a restroom that night, but doctors wouldn't terminate the fetus because its heart was still beating.

The fetus died the following day and its remains were surgically removed. Within hours, Praveen Halappanavar said, his wife was placed under sedation in intensive care with systemic blood poisoning and he was never able to speak with her again. By Saturday her heart, kidneys and liver had stopped working and she was pronounced dead early Sunday, Oct. 28.

Praveen Halappanavar said he took his wife's remains back to India for a Hindu funeral and cremation Nov. 3. News of the circumstances that led to her death emerged Tuesday in Galway after the Indian community canceled the city's annual Diwali festival. Savita Halappanavar, a dentist, had been one of the festival's main organizers.

Opposition politicians appealed Wednesday for Kenny's government to introduce legislation immediately to make the 1992 Supreme Court judgment part of statutory law. Barring any such bill, the only legislation defining the illegality of abortion in Ireland dates to 1861 when the entire island was part of the United Kingdom. That British law, still valid here due to Irish inaction on the matter, states it is a crime to "procure a miscarriage."

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2 LAPD officers guilty of perjury in drug case

Two Los Angeles Police Department officers lied under oath during a drug possession case four years ago, a Los Angeles County jury decided Tuesday.

The trial revolved around competing interpretations of a grainy, black and white video that the prosecution argued sharply contradicted sworn testimony from three officers regarding the discovery of cocaine. The video, the prosecution argued, showed the officers conspired to convict Guillermo Alarcon Jr. on drug charges.

"It's always tragic when police officers throw away their freedom and careers." LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said after the jury's verdict. "They lost sight of the fact that the ends never justify the means and that they must always police constitutionally… That is the great slippery slope of policing. It always has been and likely always will be."

As the verdict was read, former Officer Evan Samuel and suspended Officer Richard Amio showed no reaction. After the jury left the downtown Los Angeles courtroom, Samuel's mother blew her nose into a white tissue, her eyes filled with tears.

The jury found the two officers guilty on one count of conspiracy each and multiple counts of perjury. Samuel faces a maximum prison sentence of more than five years, while Amio faces more than four years.

Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 12.

The jury deadlocked on conspiracy and perjury charges against a third officer, Manuel Ortiz, voting 11 to 1 for a guilty verdict. Judge Kathleen A. Kennedy declared a mistrial on those charges. Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to retry Ortiz, who has also been suspended.

Amio and Samuel testified in 2008 that while on patrol the previous year, they recognized Alarcon, a suspected gang member, in front of his East Hollywood apartment. The two officers said they chased him into the building's carport, where he threw a small black box against a trash bin. When it hit the ground, they said, the object cracked open and Samuel picked it up. Inside, they testified, they found rock and powder cocaine.

But in the video — which begins after Alarcon is in custody — officers search for more than 20 minutes before finding an object that prosecutors contended held the cocaine.

After the prolonged search, officers also appear to discuss opening the object and later say it contains cocaine.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Geoffrey Rendon told jurors during closing arguments that the officers conspired to deliver Alarcon to the court system "based on a set of lies."

The prosecution's key evidence was the video. At one point in the video, an officer tells another to "be creative in your writing," after the box was recovered, apparently alluding to an arrest report that would be written.

"Oh yeah, don't worry, sin duda ('no doubt')," comes the reply from another officer.

"The video," Rendon said, "doesn't lie."

Defense attorneys for the officers disputed that notion, saying the video didn't capture the entire story.

Attorney Ira Salzman, who represents Samuel, told jurors last week that the officers had already recovered the drugs when the video begins. The tape came from a security camera at the building managed by Alarcon's mother.

In the video, the officers were simply looking for additional evidence and the object recovered in the video was a piece broken off the black box that was recovered earlier, the defense argued.

Outside court Tuesday, Salzman said the video was either started too late or intentionally edited to obscure the portion where he said his client recovered the drugs.

But jurors rejected that argument.

"It just shows the power of video," Salzman said.

Outside of court, Alarcon's civil attorney Luis Carrillo hailed the verdict and said his client was not a gang member.

"It's a good day for justice all around the country," he said. "This verdict upholds the principle of equal justice under the law for everybody."

andrew.khouri@latimes.com

Times staff writer Joel Rubin contributed to this report.

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Afghan Warlord Ismail Khan’s Call to Arms Rattles Kabul

Bryan Denton for The New York Times

Mujahedeen commanders at a gathering in Herat, Afghanistan, to address the threat to security posed by the Taliban.

HERAT, Afghanistan — One of the most powerful mujahedeen commanders in Afghanistan, Ismail Khan, is calling on his followers to reorganize and defend the country against the Taliban as Western militaries withdraw, in a public demonstration of faltering confidence in the national government and the Western-built Afghan National Army.

Mr. Khan is one of the strongest of a group of warlords who defined the country’s recent history in battling the Soviets, the Taliban and one another, and who then were brought into President Hamid Karzai’s cabinet as a symbol of unity. Now, in announcing that he is remobilizing his forces, Mr. Khan has rankled Afghan officials and stoked fears that other regional and factional leaders will follow suit and rearm, weakening support for the government and increasing the likelihood of civil war.

This month, Mr. Khan rallied thousands of his supporters in the desert outside Herat, the cultured western provincial capital and the center of his power base, urging them to coordinate and reactivate their networks. And he has begun enlisting new recruits and organizing district command structures.

“We are responsible for maintaining security in our country and not letting Afghanistan be destroyed again,” Mr. Khan, the minister of energy and water, said at a news conference over the weekend at his office in Kabul. But after facing criticism, he took care not to frame his action as defying the government: “There are parts of the country where the government forces cannot operate, and in such areas the locals should step forward, take arms and defend the country.”

President Karzai and his aides, however, were not greeting it as an altruistic gesture. The governor of Herat Province called Mr. Khan’s reorganization an illegal challenge to the national security forces. And Mr. Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi, tersely criticized Mr. Khan.

“The remarks by Ismail Khan do not reflect the policies of the Afghan government,” Mr. Faizi said. “The government of Afghanistan and the Afghan people do not want any irresponsible armed grouping outside the legitimate security forces structures.”

In Kabul, Mr. Khan’s provocative actions have played out in the news media and brought a fierce reaction from some members of Parliament, who said the warlords were preparing to take advantage of the American troop withdrawal set for 2014.

“People like Ismail Khan smell blood,” Belqis Roshan, a senator from Farah Province, said in an interview. “They think that as soon as foreign forces leave Afghanistan, once again they will get the chance to start a civil war, and achieve their ominous goals of getting rich and terminating their local rivals.”

Indeed, Mr. Khan’s is not the only voice calling for a renewed alliance of the mujahedeen against the Taliban, and some of the others are just as familiar.

Marshal Muhammad Qasim Fahim, an ethnic Tajik commander who is President Karzai’s first vice president, said in a speech in September, “If the Afghan security forces are not able to wage this war, then call upon the mujahedeen.”

Another prominent mujahedeen fighter, Ahmad Zia Massoud, said in an interview at his home in Kabul that people were worried about what was going to happen after 2014, and he was telling his own followers to make preliminary preparations.

“They don’t want to be disgraced again,” Mr. Massoud said. “Everyone tries to have some sort of Plan B. Some people are on the verge of rearming.”

He pointed out that it was significant that the going market price of Kalashnikov assault rifles had risen to about $1,000, driven up by demand from a price of $300 a decade ago. “Every household wants to have an AK-47 at home,” he said.

“The mujahedeen come here to meet me,” Mr. Massoud added. “They tell me they are preparing. They are trying to find weapons. They come from villages, from the north of Afghanistan, even some people from the suburbs of Kabul, and say they are taking responsibility for providing private security in their neighborhood.”

Habib Zahori and Jawad Sukhanyar contributed reporting from Herat, Afghanistan, and an employee of The New York Times from Kabul.

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RIM to introduce new BlackBerry 10 devices on January 30

(Reuters) – Research In Motion Ltd plans to introduce its new line of BlackBerry 10 smartphones on January 30, the company said on Monday, giving investors a measure of confidence the long-awaited devices are approaching the finish line.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company, a one-time pioneer in the smartphone industry, is betting its future on the new line of products, which will be powered by its new BlackBerry 10 operating system.

RIM has struggled over the last two years as its devices lost ground to snazzier and faster smartphones such as Apple Inc’s iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd‘s Galaxy line.

In a brief statement, RIM said the twice-delayed devices will be launched simultaneously in multiple countries. It will introduce two BlackBerry 10 smartphones, along with the platform that powers them at the event.

“While it is clearly an uphill battle for RIM given the recent launch of the iPhone 5 device and the aggressive marketing dollars being pushed toward Windows 8, we view it as a modest positive that a date is now officially set for the launch of the new BB10 devices,” Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche wrote in a note to clients.

RIM has said it plans initially to roll-out touchscreen devices. Phones with the mini QWERTY keyboards that many long-time BlackBerry users rave about will come a few weeks later, while lower-end versions of both devices will be launched later in the year.

The company did not say when the devices will be available in stores. That will be announced at the event.

Evercore Partners analyst Mark McKechnie believes the BB 10 devices will be available within two to four weeks of the launch event, but some such as Peter Misek of Jefferies expect the devices to go on sale only in March.

RIM’s Nasdaq-listed shares were up 3.2 percent at $ 8.82 in late afternoon trading on Monday. Its Toronto-listed shares rose nearly 3 percent to C$ 8.81.

ALL OR NOTHING

RIM says its new devices will be faster and smoother and have a large catalog of applications that are now crucial to the success of any new line of smartphones.

Last week, the new platform and devices won U.S. government security clearance, potentially allowing both U.S. and Canadian government agencies to deploy the new smartphones as soon as they are available.

These were the first BlackBerry products to win Federal Information Processing Standard 140-2 certifications ahead of their introduction, the company said.

RIM began carrier tests on the BB10 devices last month. The Canadian company hopes they will help it win back some of the market share it lost to the iPhone and devices that run on Google Inc’s Android operating system.

RIM’s stock has fallen more than 90 percent from a peak of over $ 148 in 2008. But at Friday’s close, the shares were up about 20 percent over the last two months on signs that the BlackBerry 10 devices are finally likely to make it to market.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Janet Guttsman and Andre Grenon)

Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Selena Gomez Is All Smiles at Glamour's Women of the Year Awards

By Michelle Ward and Tim Nudd

11/13/2012 at 08:55 AM EST

Justin who?

Looking stylish and happy, Selena Gomez hardly seemed like someone who's just gone through a breakup as she lit up New York's Carnegie Hall on Monday night at Glamour's 2012 Women of the Year Awards.

Bieber, 18, was performing just across the East River in Brooklyn. But he seemed a world away, as a radiant Gomez, 20, gave a speech thanking Glamour for including her among its honorees, which also included Lena Dunham, Annie Leibovitz and the U.S. women's gymnastics team.

"I'm so honored to be in a room full of women I can only aspire to be as good as one day," Gomez said. "I feel so lucky that every day I get to work with interesting people that are way smarter than me and have taught me so much."

The actress-singer also thanked her mom, who was in the audience.

"I just want to share this with all the girls out there," she said. "You have a voice. You have a chance to just do what you love, whether that's acting or singing and just being true to who you are. And the person that's taught me that is my mom."

Bieber, meanwhile, blazed through a 20-song show at the Barclays Center. But unlike Saturday in Boston, he didn't sing Justin Timberlake's hit "Cry Me a River," which some thought may have been a dig at his ex.

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British medical journal slams Roche on Tamiflu

LONDON (AP) — A leading British medical journal is asking the drug maker Roche to release all its data on Tamiflu, claiming there is no evidence the drug can actually stop the flu.

The drug has been stockpiled by dozens of governments worldwide in case of a global flu outbreak and was widely used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic.

On Monday, one of the researchers linked to the BMJ journal called for European governments to sue Roche.

"I suggest we boycott Roche's products until they publish missing Tamiflu data," wrote Peter Gotzsche, leader of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen. He said governments should take legal action against Roche to get the money back that was "needlessly" spent on stockpiling Tamiflu.

Last year, Tamiflu was included in a list of "essential medicines" by the World Health Organization, a list that often prompts governments or donor agencies to buy the drug.

Tamiflu is used to treat both seasonal flu and new flu viruses like bird flu or swine flu. WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said the agency had enough proof to warrant its use for unusual influenza viruses, like bird flu.

"We do have substantive evidence it can stop or hinder progression to severe disease like pneumonia," he said.

In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Tamiflu as one of two medications for treating regular flu. The other is GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza. The CDC says such antivirals can shorten the duration of symptoms and reduce the risk of complications and hospitalization.

In 2009, the BMJ and researchers at the Nordic Cochrane Centre asked Roche to make all its Tamiflu data available. At the time, Cochrane Centre scientists were commissioned by Britain to evaluate flu drugs. They found no proof that Tamiflu reduced the number of complications in people with influenza.

"Despite a public promise to release (internal company reports) for each (Tamiflu) trial...Roche has stonewalled," BMJ editor Fiona Godlee wrote in an editorial last month.

In a statement, Roche said it had complied with all legal requirements on publishing data and provided Gotzsche and his colleagues with 3,200 pages of information to answer their questions.

"Roche has made full clinical study data ... available to national health authorities according to their various requirements, so they can conduct their own analyses," the company said.

Roche says it doesn't usually release patient-level data available due to legal or confidentiality constraints. It said it did not provide the requested data to the scientists because they refused to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Roche is also being investigated by the European Medicines Agency for not properly reporting side effects, including possible deaths, for 19 drugs including Tamiflu that were used in about 80,000 patients in the U.S.

____

Online:

www.bmj.com.tamiflu/

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Secret donation hindered campaigns, GOP advisors say

SACRAMENTO — An $11-million campaign donation that was secretly routed through an obscure Arizona group might have hurt the conservative effort in California on election day more than it helped, Republican operatives say.

The money went to oppose Gov. Jerry Brown's tax hikes, Proposition 30, and push a ballot measure to curb unions' political fundraising, Proposition 32. Voters approved the governor's tax plan and rejected the proposal to reduce labor's influence in California politics.

Some people behind the conservative campaigns now have second thoughts about the money's effect.

"At the end of the day, it was a significant distraction that took us off our campaign message," said Beth Miller, a spokeswoman for the Small Business Action Committee, which received the controversial $11 million.

Brown attacked the donation during many of his stump speeches, accusing "shadowy forces" of trying to undermine California's schools. If his tax plan failed, nearly $6 billion would have been cut from the budget, mostly from public schools.

Members of Brown's campaign team said the donation was something of a political gift. "They gave us the issue while hitting us in the nose," said Sean Clegg, a campaign advisor.

The furor over the money became one of the most closely watched sideshows in the final days before the Nov. 6 election.

State authorities sued the Arizona group, Americans for Responsible Leadership. The nonprofit group eventually named its contributors, but the mystery only deepened — the contributors were identified only as other nonprofits, which keep their donors secret.

Aaron McLear, a Republican strategist who worked against the tax plan, said Brown was successful in turning the controversy into a campaign issue.

"He was able to create a bigger boogeyman than Sacramento politicians, which is hard to do," he said.

Despite the $11-million cash infusion, conservatives still didn't have the money to match the Democrats and labor unions. Brown's campaign outspent its opponents, and unions flooded the airwaves to help sink Proposition 32.

Americans for Responsible Leadership did not admit any wrongdoing when it disclosed its contributors as other nonprofits. One of them, also located in Arizona, has been tied to Charles and David Koch, billionaire energy executives and Republican donors.

California officials are pushing forward with an investigation into who gave the money and are considering civil and criminal penalties for what they called "campaign money laundering."

"It ain't over," state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris said in a recent speech. "It wasn't over on election day and we're going to keep pushing it through."

chris.megerian@latimes.com

Times staff writer Ken Bensinger contributed to this report.

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Syrian Jet Strikes Close to Border With Turkey

Murad Sezer/Reuters

Syrians fled from Ras al-Ain after an airstrike by Syrian forces on Monday.

GAZIANTEP, Turkey — A Syrian MIG-25 jet bombed the rebel-held town of Ras al-Ain a few yards from the Turkish border on Monday, Syrian witnesses said.

Veli Gurgah/Anadolu Agency, via European Pressphoto Agency

Smoke rose from Ras al-Ain as it was bombed.

Murad Sezer/Reuters

Syrians crossed into Turkey after the airstrike.

Murad Sezer/Reuters

A boy was wounded in the attack.

The attack demolished at least 15 buildings and killed many civilians, Nezir Alan, a doctor who witnessed the bombing, said. Local officials, quoted by The Associated Press, said at least six people were killed, but Dr. Alan said the toll was higher.

“We pulled bodies of 12 people from the rubble and are now trying to reach bodies of 8 others,” he said in a telephone interview. “There are around 70 injured, 50 of whom were in critical condition, and they are being transferred to Turkish hospitals across the border.”

Turkish fighter jets were seen in Turkish airspace shortly after the explosion, and a Syrian helicopter hovered above Ras al-Ain, which is only few yards from Ceylanpinar, a Turkish border town, Syrian witnesses said. “The plane appeared in seconds, dropped a bomb and killed children. Here is total chaos,” Dr. Alan said.

Ambulances were rushed to Ceylanpinar, Haber Turk, a private news television station, reported.

Windows of shops and houses in Ceylanpinar were shattered, and people on both sides of the border were seen running in panic, while military vehicles raced down streets as a huge cloud of smoke hung over the area, Haber Turk footage showed minutes after the explosion.

There were no immediate reports of any deaths or injuries on the Turkish side of the border.

Clashes in Ras al-Ain have intensified in recent days, prompting thousands of Syrians to seek refuge in Turkey.

Civilians in Ceylanpinar and other nearby towns were advised not to travel in areas close to the border.

Five Turkish civilians were killed in October when a Syrian shell landed in Akcakale, another border town about 75 miles west of Ceylanpinar, an act that prompted the Turkish Parliament to revise engagement rules and allow the military to retaliate in case of a direct threat from the border region.

The Turkish Army has increased its deployment along the 550-mile border with Syria since June, after Syria shot down a Turkish military jet, straining already tense relations between Ankara and Damascus.

The Turkish government is also considering asking NATO to station Patriot missiles in its border region to counter potential attacks from Syria.

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Labels maintain new music spend despite sales slump

LONDON (Reuters) – Record labels say they have maintained high levels of investment in new music despite sweeping changes to their business in the digital age and a decade of falling revenues caused by sliding album sales and online piracy.

According to a new study from industry body IFPI published on Monday, record companies invested $ 4.5 billion in A&R (artists and repertoire) and marketing in 2011.

That was down from $ 5 billion in 2008, partly due to a significant drop in the amount record labels were willing to spend on marketing up-and-coming talent at a time of shrinking income.

But the A&R side fell less sharply to $ 2.7 billion last year versus $ 2.8 billion in 2008 despite a decline of 16 percent in the trade value of the industry globally over the same period.

Presenting the report in London, Max Hole, COO of Universal Music Group International, said he was cautiously optimistic that the music business would return to growth soon, helped by the proliferation of digital platforms.

“The stats are getting better, the rate of decline is slowing,” he told reporters.

“There’s every reason to hope that in the next couple of years we’ll reach the low point and start to go back to growth.”

According to the IFPI, in the first nine months of 2012, global recorded music sales had fallen by around one percent year-on-year after a fall of three percent in 2011.

The industry peaked in 1999 when sales were $ 28.6 billion, but has shrunk every year since, reaching $ 16.6 billion in 2011.

“I just feel that we are at a tipping point of lots and lots of services coming on, and services that really are in touch with the consumer,” Hole said, adding that, crucially, the platforms were more attractive than illegal pirate sites.

BANDS WANT LABELS

The report showed that more than 70 percent of unsigned acts in Britain and Germany wanted a record deal, despite the perception that many artists are keen to go it alone with the help of social networking.

Major labels have been accused of being slow to adjust to the challenges posed by digital music and illegal downloads, and relying too heavily on older, established acts to make money.

But the IFPI report sought to underline their role in unearthing new talent in a notoriously risky business.

Revenues invested in A&R represent around 16 percent of industry turnover, compared with 15.3 percent in the pharmaceuticals and biotech sector and 9.6 percent in software and computing.

The IFPI estimated breaking a pop act in a major market typically costs from $ 750,000 to $ 1.4 million, including a $ 200,000 advance, $ 200-300,000 on recording, $ 50-300,000 on videos, $ 100,000 on touring and $ 200-500,000 on marketing.

The Internet has revolutionized the way record labels go about their business, the report said.

A&R representatives today rely on the Internet as much as they do on attending gigs up and down the country to discover the next best thing, although most still want to see an act live before making up their minds.

According to the report, record labels are providing far more digital content as part of their marketing and promotion, and tend to sign deals with artists which go well beyond the shrinking recorded music business.

Brand partnerships, offering songs for use on television, in film and in commercials, and linking up singers from different regions to generate cross-over interest are just some of the ways they can help establish a new act, the IFPI added.

Hole said the recent merger between Universal, already the world’s largest music label, and EMI, would not lead to less A&R spending, but more.

“We have stated quite categorically that our intention is to reinvest in EMI and boost it and we think it will result in more investment in A&R,” he said.

“We operate a multi-label structure and that was something that had declined at EMI,” he added. “We’re going to reverse that.”

(Editing by Steve Addison)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Justin Bieber & Selena Gomez: How They Spent the Weekend Apart

By Andrea Billups

11/12/2012 at 09:35 AM EST

Selena Gomez and a friend

Ken Katz/Startraks

Is there a message in the music?

One day after PEOPLE confirmed the news that Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber ended their relationship, the singer performed one of pop music's most iconic break-up songs.

At his concert in Boston on Saturday, Bieber played an acoustic guitar and sang Justin Timberlake's hit, "Cry Me A River," a song with lyrics that describe the feeling of finding out a partner has been cheating.

It's unclear whether or not Bieber's song choice deliberately referred to Gomez, 20, who ended the relationship more than a week ago, a source told PEOPLE. Bieber has reportedly played the song before.

Bieber, 18, hasn't addressed the breakup directly. "I don't know what to say," he told John Garabedian on his Open House Party radio show on Saturday. "I don't know really what's even going on in my life, so ... to even assess that doesn't make sense 'cause I've not made any comment."

Meanwhile, Gomez stepped out for a promotional event at Kmart in White Plains, N.Y., on Sunday, and was photographed holding hands with a female friend.

"Thank you everyone who came out to Kmart today," she Tweeted. "Such a warm welcome to my first visit to White Plains. Love you all."

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