TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) – A federal grand jury in Arizona indicted Jared Lee Loughner on Wednesday on charges of attempting to assassinate Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the attempted murder of two of her staff members.

Loughner, 22, is accused of opening fire on Giffords and a crowd of bystanders outside a grocery store on January 8, killing six people, including a federal judge, and wounding 13 others. He is expected to face additional federal and state charges.

Authorities have said Giffords, who remains hospitalized with a bullet wound to the head, was the gunman's primary target.

"Today's charges are just the beginning of our legal action. We are working diligently to ensure that our investigation is thorough and that justice is done for the victims and their families," U.S. Attorney Dennis K. Burke said in a statement.

The indictment did not include any murder charges for two other federal employees who were slain -- Judge John Roll, the chief federal judge in Arizona who had stopped at the supermarket store to talk to Giffords, or Gabe Zimmerman, the lawmaker's director of community outreach.

A five-count criminal complaint filed the day after the shooting included two first-degree murder charges for the deaths of Roll and Zimmerman. But an indictment frees the government from the need to present its case to a judge in a preliminary hearing in order to proceed to trial.

Loughner, who is being held in a medium-security prison north of Phoenix, is due to next appear in court on Monday, according to Burke's office.

The initial charges in the indictment against Loughner carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. But if he is indicted later for murder and convicted, he could face the death penalty.

JUDGES RECUSE THEMSELVES

All federal judges in Arizona have recused themselves from hearing the case against Loughner, leading to the appointment of a federal judge from California, District Judge Larry Burns from San Diego, to handle the proceedings.

The shooting spree has sparked a national debate about whether stricter gun-control measures should be adopted, including a renewed ban on high-capacity ammunition clips, and whether vitriolic political discourse was encouraging violence against politicians.

Loughner had ammunition clips that held nearly three dozen bullets, whereas traditional clips hold far fewer, according to law enforcement officials.

During the congressional debate last year over healthcare reform legislation, several lawmakers received death threats, and prosecutors filed charges in several cases.

Despite suffering a gunshot wound to the head at point-blank range, Giffords' doctors have described her survival as nothing short of a miracle. She is in serious condition at Tucson's University Medical Center.

Her congressional office issued a statement on Wednesday saying she is expected to be moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility in Houston on Friday, so long as her health allows.

Her medical condition was upgraded on Sunday from critical to serious after doctors removed a breathing tube that went down her throat. They replaced it with a tube inserted through her neck and directly into her windpipe.

The tracheotomy and a feeding tube prevent her from speaking, and doctors described her over the weekend as largely incommunicative. But close relatives insist she is aware of her surroundings and socially interactive.

Giffords unfastened her husband's tie and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt after he had attended a memorial service for one of the other shooting victims, and she has begun reading cards sent by school children, CNN reported Wednesday, citing an email from Giffords' mother to family and friends.

(Writing by Jeremy Pelofsky, Editing by Steve Gorman and Philip Barbara)

CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. leaders took meaningful steps to reduce smoking over the past year, increasing treatment options and giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration new power to regulate tobacco, a major health group said on Thursday.

States, on the other hand, "failed miserably" at protecting citizens from the burden of tobacco use, according to the American Lung Association, which issued its annual report card on U.S. tobacco control efforts.

"President (Barack) Obama and our leaders in the 111th Congress enacted what will be regarded as the strongest tobacco control policies thus far in American history," Charles Connor, president and chief executive of the American Lung Association, said in a statement.

"While we still have a long way to go, for the first time, the administration and the Congress joined forces to squarely confront the tobacco epidemic."

But Connor said states are "failing miserably" at combating tobacco-caused disease.

"Despite collecting millions of dollars -- and in some cases billions -- in tobacco settlement dollars and excise taxes, most states are investing only pennies on the dollar to help smokers quit," he said.

The group praised work by the FDA to begin implementing tobacco control legislation, but wanted tougher action on marketing tactics being used by the tobacco industry, including the use of color-coded packaging to suggest their products are less harmful.

The American Lung Association praised the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' move to make smoking prevention and cessation efforts key elements of the government's health and wellness plans.

In contrast to progress on the federal level, states lagged well behind, with Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia getting failing marks.

And while no state got high marks, Arkansas, Montana, Maine, Oklahoma and Vermont did the best job at providing support to smokers trying to kick the habit, the group said.

The American Lung Association said states continue to raise taxes on cigarettes, but many fail to invest that money in smoking cessation programs.

"Most states are ducking the responsibility to help smokers quit," Connor said.

Each year, 443,000 people die from tobacco-related illnesses and secondhand smoke exposure, making tobacco the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Smoking costs more than $193 billion a year in health costs and lost productivity.

(Editing by Maggie Fox and Doina Chiacu)

LONDON (Reuters) – An American Christian preacher who caused global uproar by threatening to burn the Koran has been barred from visiting Britain, the British government said on Wednesday.

Florida Pastor Terry Jones, whose threat to burn Islam's holy book on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks last year provoked widespread condemnation, had been invited by a group that is critical of Islamic immigration into Britain.

"The government opposes extremism in all its forms which is why we have excluded Pastor Terry Jones from the UK. Numerous comments made by Pastor Jones are evidence of his unacceptable behavior," a spokesman for Britain's Home Office (interior ministry) said.

"Coming to the UK is a privilege, not a right, and we are not willing to allow entry to those whose presence is not conducive to the public good," he said. "The use of exclusion powers is very serious and no decision is taken lightly or as a method of stopping open debate."

Jones, who heads a tiny church called the Dove World Outreach Center, told Britain's Sky News he was "disappointed" by the ban.

"We would ask it be reconsidered and the ban lifted," Jones said.

"We feel this is against our human rights to travel and freedom of speech."

A group called "England Is Ours," on its website, said it had invited Jones to visit Britain and "join us in a series of demonstrations against the expansion of Islam and the construction of Mosques here in the UK."

Other groups had urged the British government to ban Jones.

Jones dropped his Koran-burning plan after it provoked outrage across the Muslim world and President Barack Obama said the action would have helped al Qaeda.

(Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Michael Roddy)