Oracle beats outlook, shrugs off fiscal debate

BOSTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Technology giant Oracle Corp said software sales growth will stay strong into the new year despite fears that there could be big tax hikes and U.S. government spending cuts that could cause a slump in spending by customers.
Shares of the world's No. 3 software maker rose 1.3 percent after it reported fiscal second-quarter revenue and earnings that surpassed Wall Street forecasts.
Oracle President Safra Catz told investors that businesses were still looking to spend money already allocated to 2012 technology budgets.
"Folks want to close deals," she told analysts on a conference call following the earnings release on Tuesday. There has been "no negative impact on pricing. Pricing remains very good for us."
Oracle said software sales would grow 3 to 13 percent this quarter, which runs through February. It expects fiscal third-quarter hardware products sales to be flat to down 10 percent from a year ago.
The company's software and hardware forecasts were roughly in line with Wall Street expectations, according to FBR Markets analyst Daniel Ives.
Oracle reported that software sales and cloud software subscriptions rose 17 percent from a year earlier to $2.4 billion in its fiscal second quarter ended November 30.
It had forecast that new software sales would climb 5 to 15 percent from a year earlier, when it last reported earnings on September 20.
"I would call it an early Christmas present," Ives said. "It's a positive sign for the overall technology sector."
Investors pay close attention to new software sales because they generate high-margin, long-term maintenance contracts and are an important gauge of the company's future profits.
Oracle posted a second-quarter profit, excluding items, of 64 cents per share, beating the average analyst forecast of 61 cents according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Jefferies & Co analyst Ross MacMillan said Oracle's results are encouraging for other makers of business software, many of which end their quarter on December 31.
OFF A CLIFF
Some investors have worried that corporations would postpone spending on technology projects because of uncertainty over the year-end deadline for Congress and U.S. President Barack Obama to reach a compromise to thwart an automatic rise in tax rates and government spending cuts.
Failing to reach a deal, economists say, could lead to another U.S. recession. Catz said Oracle's customers are still spending on software.
"What's going on in Washington - I don't know who it's necessarily influencing today. But I can tell you, our customers have been spending money with us even here in December."
On Tuesday, Oracle forecast earnings per share in the current fiscal third quarter of 64 to 68 cents, excluding items. That was about level with an average forecast for 66 cents.
"It tells you that there's still money being spent by enterprises on software. It's not like the world has ground to a halt," MacMillan said.
The picture was not so bright for Oracle's troubled hardware division, which it acquired with its $5.6 billion purchase of Sun Microsystems in January 2010. The division's revenue has fallen every quarter since it closed that deal.
Hardware systems product sales fell 23 percent from a year earlier to $734 million. Oracle had forecast that hardware sales would drop between 8 and 18 percent.
Chief Executive Larry Ellison told analysts he expected hardware systems revenue to start growing in the fiscal fourth quarter which begins March 1.
Oracle shares rose to $33.30 in extended trade after closing at $32.88 on Nasdaq.

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BofA CEO: Fed wants bank to show consistent earnings

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp needs to show the U.S. Federal Reserve it can produce consistent earnings as part of the annual process to gain permission to return more capital to shareholders, CEO Brian Moynihan said in an interview.
The second-largest U.S. bank is turning a profit in most of its main businesses, but it inherited costly legal problems when it acquired companies during the financial crisis, including subprime mortgage lender Countrywide Financial.
In the third quarter, Bank of America reported only a nominal profit after reaching a $2.4 billion settlement with investors to resolve claims it hid crucial information from shareholders when it bought investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co.
Moynihan declined to comment on whether the bank's capital plan, which is due to the Fed by January 7, will include any proposed share buybacks or increases in dividends. Moynihan suffered a major embarrassment in 2011 when the Fed rejected the bank's request to increase its quarterly dividend, which has been stuck at just one penny per share since the financial crisis.
The Fed has been evaluating capital plans as part of its supervision of bank holding companies and under provisions in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. It is unclear whether the Fed would approve any request for an increased dividend or share buybacks next year. A Fed spokesperson declined to comment.
"The element that is sort of unique to us is the predictability of the earnings stream," Moynihan said in an interview in his Charlotte, North Carolina, office. "We are working to get through that."
Other banks have demonstrated their ability to earn money more consistently. JPMorgan Chase & Co's quarterly profit, for example, hasn't fallen below $3.7 billion in the past year, even as it has taken losses on disastrous credit derivative trades.
Investors and analysts are hopeful that Bank of America's legal problems will die down soon. Its stock price has more than doubled this year, partly on expectations that the bank will increase its dividend and buy back more stock after the Federal Reserve reviews its capital plans this spring.
Analysts at Atlantic Equities on Tuesday said they expect Bank of America to buy back $4 billion of its own shares in 2013 and $10 billion in 2014, which would be its first buybacks since 2007.
The bank has "made a lot of progress" on legal issues, Moynihan said, but he acknowledged that the company is still working through lawsuits and investor demands to buy back soured mortgages the bank sold off during the housing boom.
In recent weeks, the bank's dispute with insurer MBIA Inc over mortgage-related claims has heated up, with Bank of America filing a new lawsuit last week against the insurer. The legal tussle with MBIA has dragged on, even as Bank of America has worked out settlements with other insurers of mortgage-backed securities issued by Countrywide.
Moynihan said the bank will settle the MBIA dispute if it can reach an agreement that is reasonable for shareholders but otherwise it is ready to litigate the matter.
The bank's shares closed Tuesday at $11.35, up 3.2 percent for the day. The shares are the best performer in the Dow Jones industrial average this year, after falling the most in 2011.
HEALING
In an effort to improve earnings, Moynihan is aiming to cut costs by $8 billion annually by mid-2015 through a program called Project New BAC, including 30,000 layoffs that have been under way since September 2011. Bank of America had noninterest expenses of $76.5 billion in 2011.
In addition, Bank of America expects to eventually reduce costs in its unit that serves delinquent mortgage customers to about $500 million per quarter from about $3.4 billion in the third quarter. If delinquent mortgages continue to fall, that saving should be achieved in 2015, if not sooner, Moynihan said.

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Top UBS shareholder pins rebound hopes on private wealth

LONDON (Reuters) - UBS's wealth management business will help it bounce back from a $1.5 billion rap for rigging interest rates, one of its largest investors said, although fears of costly civil lawsuits could cast a pall over its shares for some time.
Paras Anand, European equities head at Fidelity Worldwide Investment, said legal action sparked by the Libor scandal posed an unpredictable threat to the bank's near-term earnings, even if its core private banking franchise escaped permanent harm.
"The big unknown factor is the civil litigation that could follow on as a result of this...That is one thing at the back of our minds that we have to be cognizant of," Anand said in an interview with Reuters.
"The issue for shareholders is the challenge of pricing that risk in. The potential costs are too unquantifiable and indeed, it's unclear as to whether they will actually manifest or not."
Switzerland's largest bank was hit with the fine on Wednesday after admitting to fraud, paying bribes to brokers and "pervasive" manipulation of global benchmark interest rates by dozens of its staff.
UBS shares were trading 1.3 percent higher at 9:01 a.m. ET, as investors looked forward to the end of a scandal-filled chapter in the bank's history and a renewed focus on managing cash on behalf of rich clients, rather than so-called 'casino' investment banking.
"There's clearly been a backlash against big faceless financial entities but a private bank has big personal relationships with its customers ... These kinds of institutions are surprisingly resilient," Anand said.
"We have seen some awful scandals in businesses much weaker than UBS and they manage to survive," he added.
Fidelity owns around 45 million shares in UBS, equivalent to around 1.2 percent of the bank, and is its fifth largest institutional owner excluding sovereign wealth funds, according to Thomson Reuters data.

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Poll: Spike in Palestinian support for military operations against Israel

Palestinian support for military operations against Israel has registered its most significant jump in 10 years, spurred by the recent Gaza conflict, ongoing Israeli settlement expansion, and frustration over a peace process that has been essentially deadlocked for more than four years.
The percentage of Palestinians supporting such operations has reached 50.9 percent, up from 29.3 percent in January 2011.
The change in sentiment, together with a resurgent Hamas and an uptick in Israeli-Palestinian clashes in recent weeks, underscores the risks of a continued stalemate both for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).
“I think if the situation continues the way it is … the Palestinian people might rise in rebellion, similar to the rebellion being waged in the rest of the Arab countries,” says Shireen Qawasmi, a mother of three in Hebron with manicured nails and a faux fur wrap. “I will carry arms and be the first one to go and fight…. We are not war lovers, but when you see your children getting killed, and your land confiscated, you are forced to fight.”
Recommended: Five largest Israeli settlements: who lives there, and why
As PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party today marks 48 years since the group’s founding – first as a guerrilla organization and later as a Western-backed political movement – Mr. Abbas has reaffirmed his party’s commitment to nonviolent means.
But in the wake of the November conflict between Israel and Hamas, he faces a serious challenge in persuading Palestinians that his model is better than Hamas’s militant approach. While Abbas got a boost from the recent United Nations vote, which recognized Palestine as a non-member state instead of just an observer, he is still seen as fighting an uphill battle.
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“There has been a shift from negotiations to struggle against the [Israeli] occupation,” says Hassan Khresheh, deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, who lives in the West Bank city of Tulkarem. “[Palestinians] believe that negotiating for many years has given them nothing except more settlements and more settlers.”
Indeed, after nearly 20 years of negotiation with Israel, during which Israeli settlement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem roughly doubled to more than 550,000, Palestinians are increasingly questioning the value of talking with Israel. By contrast, most Palestinians saw Hamas – which targeted Tel Aviv and Jerusalem with missiles for the first time – as victorious in the recent conflict, since Israel refrained from a ground invasion and made significant concessions in the cease-fire talks.
“The public is comparing the diplomatic, peaceful negotiation approach of [Abbas] that has been actually taking us from bad to worse … with the violent approach of Hamas and Gaza, and they seem to be more attracted to the Gaza model rather than the West Bank model,” says Ghassan Khatib, former PA spokesman and founder of the Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre, which conducted the recent poll showing an uptick in Palestinian support for military operations. (The poll was published Dec. 20 and can be found here.)
“This is a bigger fluctuation than anything we saw in the last 10 years,” Mr. Khatib says, though he adds that it’s too soon to tell whether it’s just a temporary spike or something more enduring.
ARMED, MASKED MEN AT FATAH RALLY
This week, undercover Israeli operations in Jenin and Tamoun sparked demonstrations in both places, injuring dozens of Palestinians. In addition, masked, armed men participated in a Fatah Day rally in Bethlehem’s Dheisheh refugee camp – something that hasn’t been seen in the West Bank for years. Their presence was reported by the Israeli news outlet YnetNews, which posted a video. Nasser al-Laham, editor of the Bethlehem-based Palestinian news agency Maan, confirmed the reports for the Monitor.
Mohammad Laham, a Fatah leader in Bethlehem, says he wasn’t present at the march but points to the tremendous economic pressure the PA is facing, particularly since Israel withheld tax revenues it collects on behalf of the PA, as one of the reasons for local discontent. Israel's move was seen as retaliation for Abbas’s UN bid, but Israel said the money was taken to offset PA debts for Israeli electricity services.
“There are a lot of crises coming together now – economic, political, and social, the financial crisis, the continuation of [Israeli] settlement and the absence of a horizon for the political process and of hope,” says Mr. Laham. “The continuation of this situation in Bethlehem, Nablus, or any other Palestinian city does not augur well.”
When asked whether this might translate into armed struggle, he replies simply: “All the possibilities are open.”
The JMCC poll distinguishes between military operations, such as Hamas’s campaign of firing missiles into Israel, with armed struggle, which would include things like suicide bombings. There was also an uptick in support for armed struggle, albeit to a more modest 32 percent.
GENERATION OF LIBERATION
Last month, the Israeli killing of a Palestinian teenager who reportedly had a fake gun sparked protests in Hebron, a Hamas stronghold and an area of particular friction with Israeli settlers. A previously unknown Palestinian militant group there, the National Unity Brigades, announced the start of a third intifada.
Prof. Mohammed Assad Ewaiwi, who teaches political science at Al Quds Open University in Hebron, dismisses it as an “unorganized, spontaneous group,” but says its existence expresses the level of upheaval and unrest following the Gaza conflict. “This group and others like it should be a message to the world that there is a readiness among Palestinians to engage in military conflict.”
His youngest students, at age 18, weren’t even alive when the historic Oslo peace accords were signed in 1993. The second intifada broke out when they were a mere six years old, and three more Israeli-Arab wars – Lebanon in 2006, Gaza in 2009, and 2012 – punctuated their youth.
Ali Najjar, an 18-year-old from a nearby refugee camp, advocates the two-pronged model espoused by the late Palestinian leader and Fatah founder Yasser Arafat, or Abu Ammar.
“There was an interest in the Palestinian issue during Arafat’s time – Abu Ammar carried a gun in one hand, an olive branch in the other hand,” he says, wearing only a thin jean jacket in the frigid classroom. “Therefore the whole world rose to help him.”
“In my view, what was taken by force will only be returned by force. Twenty years after Oslo, we haven’t gained one inch of Palestine,” he says, declaring his generation to be the one that will liberate Palestine. “Israel only understands the language of military language.”
'JEWS SHOULD GO BACK WHERE THEY CAME FROM'
Many of these students support armed struggle as a way of regaining all of historic Palestine, not just a state alongside Israel.
“When you say ‘two-state solution,’ what state are you talking about?” asks Ayman Jawabreh, who wants to return to his family’s village near Lod. “I do not see it acceptable in any way for a group of people who have come from different parts of the world and based themselves in this country and call it their own…. In my opinion there is no Israeli state.”
Classmate Mohamed Abu Shkhdem shares a similar sentiment. “Jews should go back to where they came from,” he says. “I wonder why the international community has not, since the establishment of the PA, worked hard or in any serious way toward peace.”
The deal former President Bill Clinton clinched at the 2000 Camp David talks doesn't even register – Mr. Abu Shkhdem doesn’t remember it; he was nine years old.
Some of the students leave open the possibility for a peaceful solution to the conflict if Israel will honor the dignity of Palestinians and their right to be here, even though they say they believe that their people deserve more than what they would be given under a two-state solution.
“Israel has acted aggressively and unfairly toward Palestinians …. Therefore I see it fair that we should be the rulers and owners of historical Palestine – the whole thing,” says Abdul Moatti Albab. “I don’t see us living side by side with Israel, because they don’t want it. However, if they accept the two-state solution, I accept them.”
Israel has blamed Abbas for the deadlock in negotiations, since he has refused to come back to the table while Israeli settlements continue to expand. But in recent days Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also expressed reservations about engaging in negotiations with the PA, since Palestinian reconciliation could give Hamas – considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the US – more of a role in Palestinian affairs.
Hamas and its secular rival, Fatah, took a big step toward reconciliation today, with as many as 1 million Palestinians turning out at a Fatah rally in Gaza today – the first such event since Hamas violently ousted Fatah from the coastal territory in 2007.
Abbas, for his part, vowed in an interview yesterday to remove what is seen by some as a fig leaf for Israeli occupation by giving Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu full responsibility for the West Bank.
"I'll tell him, 'My dear friend, Mr. Netanyahu, I am inviting you to the Muqata [the PA presidential headquarters in Ramallah],” he told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “Sit in the chair here instead of me, take the keys, and you will be responsible for the Palestinian Authority."

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Fatah rally in Gaza looks toward unity with Hamas

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Tens of thousands of Fatah supporters rallied in the Hamas stronghold of Gaza on Friday for the first time since they were routed from power in the territory by the Islamist militants in 2007.
The rally, approved by Gaza's Hamas rulers, marks a renewed attempt by the rival Palestinian factions to show unity following a fierce Hamas battle with Israel in November and Fatah's subsequent recognition bid at the United Nations.
But many obstacles still remain before the sides can settle their differences, chief among them how to deal with Israel. Several rounds of reconciliation talks over recent years centered on finding ways to share power have failed to yield results.
Still, both sides expressed optimism following Friday's unprecedented Fatah show of strength that included hours of waving their yellow flags, dancing in the streets and chanting party slogans. For years, Fatah loyalists in Gaza faced retribution from the Hamas regime, which banned them from gathering.
"We feel like birds freed from our cage today," said Fadwa Taleb, 46, who worked as a police officer for Fatah before the Hamas takeover and attended Friday's rally with her family. "We are happy and feel powerful again."
Top Fatah officials arrived in Gaza for the first time since they were violently ousted. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who rules the West Bank, did not attend the event, but he addressed the crowd on a large screen telling them "there is no substitute for national unity."
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh also expressed hope that the two factions could reconcile their differences, sending Fatah a message that he hoped they could work together as joint representatives of the Palestinian people, according to Fatah official Nabil Shaath. Hamas was not directly involved in the event.
Ihab al-Ghussian, the chief spokesman for the Hamas government in Gaza, said the sides would "work toward the consolidation of national unity." Egyptian officials say a first such meeting in months between the factions is scheduled for next week in Cairo.
After the rally, Haniyeh called Abbas to congratulate him and Abbas in turn thanked Haniyeh for letting it happen, said Haniyeh spokesman Taher al-Nunu. He added that both leaders expressed hope that the cooperation would lead to renewed reconciliation efforts.
The warmer tone is a result of recent gains by both factions.
Abbas has enjoyed a boost in his status since he led the Palestinians' successful bid to upgrade their status at the United Nations to a non-member observer state. On Friday, he signed a presidential decree officially changing the name of the Palestinian Authority to the "State of Palestine." All Palestinian stamps, signs and official letterhead will henceforth be changed to bear the new name, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
The move marked the first concrete, albeit symbolic, step the Palestinians have taken following the November decision by the United Nations. Abbas has hesitated to take more dramatic steps, like filing war crimes indictments against Israel at the International Criminal Court, a tactic that only a recognized state can carry out.
Hamas, meanwhile, has gained new support among Palestinians following eight days of fighting with Israel in November, during which Israel pounded the seaside strip from the air and sea, while Palestinians militants for the first time lobbed rockets toward Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Following the fighting, Fatah allowed Hamas to hold its first rally in the West Bank since the 2007 split. Hamas returned the favor Friday by allowing the Fatah rally to take place.
Still, the two sides have wide differences — over Israel and over the possibility of sharing power.
Fatah has held several rounds of peace talks with the Jewish state and says it is committed to a two-state solution. Hamas does not recognize Israel and is officially committed to its destruction. Hamas has carried out hundreds of deadly attacks against Israeli citizens and is regarded by the U.S. and Israel as a terrorist organization.
Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal, considered more pragmatic than the movement's Gaza-based hardline leaders, forged a reconciliation agreement with Abbas in 2011. But the Gaza-based leadership has held up implementing it and has blamed Fatah of doing the same.
Fatah enjoys Western support and has been pressured not to forge a unity agreement with the militant Hamas, facing a potential cutback in foreign aid if it does.
Friday's rally also served as a reminder of the conflicts within Fatah itself that continue to dog the movement: Officials cancelled the event halfway through after 20 people were injured due to overcrowding, and shoving matches erupted between separate Fatah factions.
Yahiya Rabah, a top Fatah official in Gaza, said the rally was cancelled "due to the huge number of participants and logistical failures."
But witnesses said one pushing match was between supporters of Abbas and partisans of Fatah's former Gaza security commander Mohammed Dahlan, who was expelled from the party because of conflicts with Abbas.
Another Fatah official, who spoke anonymously because he did not want to embarrass the party, said the rally was cancelled because hundreds of Dahlan supporters jumped up on the stage and clashed with Abbas supporters.
Fatah spokesman Fayez Abu Etta attributed the injuries to overcrowding and the excitement of the rally. Later, more Palestinians were injured when part of a stage collapsed. Youths also clashed and stabbings were reported. Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said overall 55 people were injured, including three critically.
There was one death during the rally: A 23-year-old Fatah activist was electrocuted while trying to hang a flag on an electric pole.
Overnight, throngs had camped out in a downtown Gaza square to ensure themselves a spot for the anniversary commemoration of Fatah's 1965 founding, and tens of thousands marched early Friday carrying Fatah banners. When the rally began, people stampeded to the stage to try to shake leaders' hands.

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Colombia firm makes armored clothes for kids

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A Colombian firm that makes bulletproof vests is now creating armored clothing for children.
Factory owner Miguel Caballero said he never thought about making protective clothes for kids until requests came in following the deadly attack on Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut last month.
"After the tragedy in Connecticut, we started getting emails from customers asking for protected (clothing) because they were afraid to take their kids to school," Caballero said.
"We have received messages from all over the United States," seeking the protective gear, added Giovanni Cordero, the company's marketing director.
Products include child-sized armored vests, protective undershirts and backpacks with ballistic protection that can be used as shields.
The products are designed for children ages 8-16 years old and cost $150-$600 depending on the complexity of their construction. Each piece weighs 2-4 pounds.
"The products were created with the American market in mind, not for the Latino market," said Caballero. "All the designs and colors, everything is thought out with them in mind."
Caballero performed a test on a pink-and-yellow striped bulletproof backpack attached to a pale blue protective vest, firing a 9mm pistol and a machine gun to show it could withstand a barrage of bullets.
He said the backpack-vest combo and other protective gear have already been ordered by a U.S. distributor, although he would not identify it.
About 250 people work at Caballero's factory, which has been making armored vests for adults for more than 20 years. Colombia suffers from an internal conflict that has killed thousands of people over the last half-century.
Outside Colombia, the vests for adults are sold in some 20 countries, including Ecuador, Costa Rica and Mexico. They are also marketed in parts of Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Twenty first-graders and six educators were killed in the Dec. 14 attack at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. The 20-year-old gunman, Adam Lanza, also shot and killed his mother inside their home before driving to the school and shooting his way inside. He committed suicide as police were closing in.
After the Newtown shooting, at least three American companies that were already making backpacks designed to shield children reported a spike in sales.
Massachusetts-based Bullet Blocker reported it was selling 50 to 100 bulletproof backpacks a day after the shooting, up from about 10 to 15 in an average week. The children's backpacks, which are designed to be used as shields, cost more than $200 each.
Most of the children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre were shot at close range and likely would not have been saved by armored backpacks. At any rate, children don't usually wear their backpacks at their desks or while walking around school.

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"Nobody helped us for an hour:" Indian rape witness

Passers-by left a gang-raped Indian student lying unclothed and bleeding in the street for almost an hour, a male friend who was assaulted with her said on Friday in his first public comments on the case that provoked a global outcry.
The 23-year-old student died in hospital two weeks after she was attacked on December 16 in a private bus in New Delhi, prompting street protests over the Indian authorities' failure to stem rampant violence against women.
The graphic account from the man in a television interview is likely to add fuel to public anger over the death in a country where official statistics show one rape is reported every 20 minutes.
The woman's friend told the Zee News television network he was beaten unconscious with a metal bar by her attackers before the pair were thrown off the bus.
They lay in the street for 45 minutes before a police van arrived and officers then spent a long time arguing about where to take them, the man said.
"We kept shouting at the police, 'please give us some clothes' but they were busy deciding which police station our case should be registered at," the man said in Hindi.
Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told Reuters GPS records show the first police van reached the scene four minutes after it was were called and took the man and the woman to hospital within 24 minutes.
Neither the woman nor her friend have been named. Five men were charged with her gang rape and murder on Thursday. A court is due to consider the charges on Saturday.
TWITTER ANGER
The man's comments caused an renewed outpouring of anger on Twitter. "After reading and watching the Zee News interview i'm absolutely shocked and ashamed of being an Indian," said @BarunKiBilli.
The man called on the protests to continue, but said he wished people had come to his friend's help when she needed it.
"You have to help people on the road when they need help."
The male friend said he and the woman were attacked after an evening out watching a film.
"From where we boarded the bus, they (the attackers) moved around for nearly two and a half hours. We were shouting, trying to make people hear us. But they switched off the lights of the bus," he said, according to a transcript of the interview.
When they were thrown out, they pleaded with passers-by for help, he added in the studio interview, a blue metal crutch leaning on his chair.
"There were a few people who had gathered round but nobody helped. Before the police came I screamed for help but the auto rickshaws, cars and others passing by did not stop," the man added.

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