Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=b02cc71114307ce418a0eefd96ee5915
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
WATCH: David Beckham Strips Down for Sexy Super Bowl Ad
We know you're already planning to watch the Super Bowl, but here's some extra motivation: David Beckham stripping down in your living room! The 36-year-old soccer star and fashion icon shows off his famous body in this short but memorable teaser for a new ad, set to air during the big game. Watch the video below!
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Serb demands compensation from UN war crimes court (AP)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands ? A Serbian war crimes suspect has demanded euro2 million ($2.6 million) in compensation from a United Nations tribunal, accusing it of repeated breaches of his rights.
Vojislav Seselj, who has been in custody at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia since 2003, said in a written filing released Monday he should be compensated for issues including the tribunal attempting to prevent him representing himself and "deliberate delays" in his case.
Tribunal spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic declined comment, saying the issue was before the court's president.
Seselj is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes for allegedly recruiting Serb paramilitaries and inciting atrocities with hate-laced speeches. He denies the allegations.
His trial began in 2006 and has yet to reach a verdict. Before it got under way, Seselj launched a hunger strike to support his demand to be allowed to defend himself, a request the court eventually granted.
During his time in custody, Seselj also has twice been convicted of contempt of court for publishing the names of witnesses whose identities were shielded by the tribunal.
His filing, the latest in a stream of criticism Seselj has directed at the tribunal since his indictment, comes as the Serb nationalist political party he continues to lead from his Hague jail cell is preparing for elections in Serbia expected this spring.
What remains of his Serb Radical Party portrays Seselj as a martyr to the cause of Serb nationalism and has erected huge billboards carrying his image and the slogan "We want Seselj."
Seselj has been in and out of hospital in recent weeks with heart complaints and was recently fitted with a pacemaker.
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Fetal Armor: How the Placenta Shapes Brain Development (preview)
Feature Articles |
Mind & Brain
See Inside
See Inside
Scientists are finding that the placenta is far more than a passive filter
?| January 28, 2012?|
Image: Norman Barker
The placenta is unique among organs?critical to human life yet fleeting. In its short time of duty, it serves as a vital protective barrier to the fetus. The organ?s blood vessels?which resemble tree roots in this image by Norman Barker, associate professor of pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine?also deliver essential oxygen and nutrients from the mother to her developing baby. Still, the placenta has been vastly underappreciated. Scientists are taking a closer look and finding that it is much more than a simple conduit: it actively protects the fetus and shapes neurological development.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)
Claudia Kalb, a former senior writer for Newsweek, is a freelance science journalist based in Washington, D.C.
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Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=64f9d31331684688bf77e6b4b813834b
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
College presidents wary of Obama cost-control plan (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Illinois State University President Al Bowman says President Barack Obama's proposal to tie federal support to tuition controls is a product of "fuzzy math." His counterpart at the University of Washington calls it little more than "political theater."
Obama's plan to force colleges and universities to contain tuition or face losing federal dollars, spelled out Friday during a speech at the University of Michigan, concerned education leaders worried about the threat of government overreach. From presidents of public universities frustrated with ever-increasing state budget cuts affecting their schools' bottom line, it brought some particularly sharp words.
The reality, says Bowman, is that deficits in many public schools can't be easily overcome with simple modifications. He says he was happy to hear Obama call for state-level support of public universities, but given the decreases in state aid, tying federal support to tuition prices is a product of fuzzy math.
Illinois has decreased public support for higher education by about a third over the past decade when adjusted for inflation. Illinois State University, with 21,000 students, has raised tuition almost 47 percent since 2007 ? from $6,150 a year for an in-state undergraduate student to $9,030.
"Most people, including the president, assume if universities were simply more efficient they would be able to operate with much smaller state subsidies, and I believe there are certainly efficiency gains that can be realized," Bowman said. "But they pale in comparison to the loss in state support."
Bowman said the undergraduate experience can be made cheaper, but there are trade-offs.
"You could hire mostly part-time, adjunct faculty. You could teach in much larger lecture halls, but the things that would allow you achieve the greatest levels of efficiency would dilute the product and would make it something I wouldn't be willing to be part of," he said.
University of Washington President Mike Young said Obama showed he did not understand how the budgets of public universities work.
Young said the total cost to educate college students in Washington state, which is paid for by both tuition and state government dollars, has actually gone down because of efficiencies on campus. While universities are tightening costs, the state is cutting their subsidies and authorizing tuition increases to make up for the loss.
"They really should know better," Young said. "This really is political theater of the worst sort."
Obama's plan must be approved by Congress, where it could face a tough road to passage among gridlocked lawmakers.
Earlier in the week, during his State of the Union address, Obama described meeting with university presidents who told of ways some universities were curtailing costs through technology and redesigning courses to help students finish more quickly. He said more schools need to take such steps.
On Friday, Obama said higher education has become an imperative for success in America, but the cost has grown unrealistic for too many families and the debt burden unbearable. He said states should also properly fund colleges and universities.
"We are putting colleges on notice," Obama told an arena packed with cheering students. "You can't assume that you'll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can't stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down."
Obama is targeting only a small part of the financial aid picture ? the $3 billion known as campus-based aid that flows through college administrators to students. He is proposing to increase that amount to $10 billion and change how it is distributed to reward schools that hold down costs and ensure that more poor students complete their education.
The bulk of the more than $140 billion in federal grants and loans goes directly to students and would not be affected.
The average in-state tuition and fees at four-year public colleges this school year rose 8.3 percent and with room and board now exceed $17,000 a year, according to the College Board.
Rising tuition costs have been attributed to a variety of factors, among them a decline in state dollars and competition for the best facilities and professors. Critics say some higher education institutions are attempting to wait out the economic downturn and have been too reluctant to make large-scale changes that would cut costs such as offering three-year degree programs.
Washington's leverage to take on the rising cost of college is limited because American higher education is decentralized, with most student aid following the student.
The response to Obama's plan wasn't all negative. Many university presidents said they welcome a conversation about making college more affordable and efficient.
In Missouri, where Gov. Jay Nixon has proposed a 12.5 percent funding cut for higher education in the coming fiscal year, Obama's proposal could put even more pressure on public colleges and universities to limit tuition increases. By state law, schools must limit such increases to the annual inflation rate unless they receive permission for larger hikes. Nixon has warned schools that he doesn't want to see a tuition increase of more than 3 percent, the latest Consumer Price Index increase.
"The president's message isn't inconsistent with the agenda that we've been pursuing here in Missouri," said Paul Wagner, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Higher Education. "It's good to see him put the focus on the same things."
Obama also wants to create a "Race to the Top" competition in higher education similar to the one his administration used on lower grades. He wants to encourage states to make better use of higher education dollars in exchange for $1 billion in prize money.
Obama is also pushing for more tools to help students determine which colleges and universities have the best value.
___
Associated Press writers Ben Feller and Julie Pace in Washington, Jim Kuhnhenn and David Runk in Ann Arbor, Mich., David Mercer in Champaign, Ill., Alan Zagier in Columbia, Mo., Alex Dominguez in Baltimore, Dorie Turner in Atlanta, and Donna Gordon Blankinship in Seattle contributed to this report.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Animal Shelter Employees Abandon Pets, Leave Them Starving And ...
When the owners of the?Purple Hearted Puppies Animal Rescue Center in Summerdale, Alabama took a long vacation they hired outside help to care for nearly 200 animals. Unfortunately that hired help never arrived and an outside agency was forced to take over the operation.
Speaking to WKRG animal control expert?Deneen Balistere who has worked with rescue animals for 20 years said of the shelters conditions??They warned me what it was going to?be like.? It?s the worst I?ve ever seen.? ?Among the animals left to die were more than 200 dogs, various cats and two horses.
According to authorities at least 20 animals were found dead when the shelter was raided and Deneen says they are now in need of ?food, blankets, help, donations anything to save these dogs.?
The animals were left without food or water for nearly two weeks and authorities say some of the dogs resorted to cannibalism to stay alive.
At this time Roberta and Sharon Dueitt have been charged with 20 counts each of animal cruelty with dozens of more charges pending.
After hearing about the incident more that 50 volunteers arrived at the?Purple Hearted Puppies Animal Rescue Center to help care for the sick animals.
In the meantime animal adoptions are urgently needed at the center with officials ready to adopt out pets starting at 8 o?clock on Friday morning.
In the meantime police are still searching for other employees who work at the center with an ongoing investigation still underway.
Source: http://www.inquisitr.com/187276/animal-shelter-employees-abandon-pets-leave-them-starving-and-dead/
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Costa offers $14.5K/passenger for ruined cruise (AP)
ROME ? Costa Crociere SpA has offered passengers euro11,000 ($14,460) apiece to compensate them for their lost baggage and psychological trauma after its cruise ship ran aground and capsized off Tuscany when the captain deviated from his route.
Costa, a unit of the world's biggest cruise operator Carnival Corp., will also reimburse passengers the full costs of their cruise, travel expenses and any medical expenses sustained after the grounding.
The agreement was announced Friday after a day of negotiations between Costa representatives and Italian consumer groups representing 3,206 people from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the Costa Concordia hit a reef on Jan. 13.
Passengers and crew are free to pursue legal action if they aren't satisfied with the deal.
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Friday, January 27, 2012
SAG ensemble award: Casting a vote for perfect mix (AP)
LOS ANGELES ? Alexander Payne, director of "The Descendants," likens it to "inviting people to my home for dinner."
"Bridesmaids" helmer Paul Feig describes it as spending hundreds of hours waiting for that "one aha moment."
Tate Taylor, who wrote and directed "The Help," uses starker terms when describing the process of crafting the perfect acting ensemble: "One bad casting choice, one weak link, can spell death for your movie. That's why you see tons of people and you don't stop until it's right."
"The Help," "The Descendants" and "Bridesmaids," along with the silent movie "The Artist" and Woody Allen's "Midnight In Paris," are all vying for the Screen Actors Guild's ensemble trophy at Sunday night's 18th annual SAG Awards.
SAG began giving its movie ensemble award in 1994, after an equivalent trophy for favorite television cast proved popular in its inaugural awards show a year earlier. The honor, says SAG Awards producer Kathy Connell, originated with the guild and reflects its desire to "acknowledge the creativity of chemistry and the teamwork that actors do."
Which is fine by the directors of this year's nominees, many of whom spent more time casting their movies than making or editing them.
Payne began casting "The Descendants" nine months before filming began, starting with George Clooney, whom he had politely rejected for the lead role in his last movie, "Sideways." Payne takes a unique approach to building an ensemble, working with a single casting director, longtime associate John Jackson, for hiring the lead roles, the locals and the extras.
"I don't like the Hollywood system of hiring three different people for casting," Payne says. "I don't want to explain myself three times over. I think one person should be in charge of all the flesh in front of the camera and bring a single vision to that."
Critics frequently praise Payne's knack for placing actors in unlikely roles. (Think Kathy Bates' twice-divorced mother who enjoys a "white hot" sex life in "About Schmidt.") He and Jackson did that several times over in "The Descendants," starting with casting Clooney as a clueless father who wears, as the actor puts it, "khakis up to his armpits."
"If I cast against type, I do so unwittingly," Payne admits, "because in reality I don't see that many contemporary American films. So I don't know the actor's type to begin with."
That wasn't the case for Taylor, who, when adapting longtime friend Kathryn Stockett's best-seller, wrote the roles of Minny and Charlotte specifically for two other dear friends ? Octavia Spencer and Allison Janney, respectively. In fact, Taylor and Spencer were roommates in Los Angeles when Taylor wrote the screenplay.
Taylor also wanted Viola Davis for the lead role of maid Aibileen, and pushed the film's start date to accommodate her schedule. Determined not to "cast from the covers of magazines," Taylor threw the doors open for the rest of the movie's large ensemble, hiring, among others, Emma Stone and Jessica Chastain before they became in-demand actresses.
Three weeks before filming, Taylor brought the cast to Mississippi, rehearsing in the locations where they eventually filmed.
"Mississippi infiltrated the cast and a family dynamic formed," Taylor says.
Rehearsals were critical for the "Bridesmaids" ensemble as well, Feig says. The cast met two months prior to filming, reading through the script and then going through rigorous improv sessions so Feig and the movie's writers could tailor new material to the actresses' strengths and personalities.
During this revision process, the filmmakers expanded Melissa McCarthy's part, most notably, putting her in a key, emotionally layered scene opposite Kristen Wiig late in the movie. McCarthy wound up being the one individual "Bridesmaids" cast member nominated for a SAG Award.
"It's when you're rehearsing more and more, you start to think, `Wow. These girls together are strong," Feig says. "That's also when, as a director, you get nervous. You're thinking, `Oh boy. I'm the only thing that could throw this all off.' "
Since SAG began giving its ensemble awards, other groups, like the Broadcast Film Critics Association, have jumped on the bandwagon. Television's Emmy Awards added three casting categories in 2000 and some in the industry, like "Modern Family" co-creator Steve Levitan, believe an acting ensemble award should be added, too.
Meanwhile, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which added an animated film category in 2001, has no plans to supplement its four acting honors.
As it stands, members of popular ensembles, like Chastain and Spencer in "The Help," often find themselves in competition for a film's top accolade.
"If the actors give distinctly different performances, they stand on their own and don't cancel each other out," says Kristopher Tapley, executive editor of awards coverage website In Contention.
The beauty of SAG's ensemble award, says Taylor, is that, for one night at least, "everyone's on the same team."
"It's going to be a great reunion," Taylor adds. "It might get a little loud, though."
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No energy industry backing for the word 'fracking' (AP)
NEW YORK ? A different kind of F-word is stirring a linguistic and political debate as controversial as what it defines.
The word is "fracking" ? as in hydraulic fracturing, a technique long used by the oil and gas industry to free oil and gas from rock.
It's not in the dictionary, the industry hates it, and President Barack Obama didn't use it in his State of the Union speech ? even as he praised federal subsidies for it.
The word sounds nasty, and environmental advocates have been able to use it to generate opposition ? and revulsion ? to what they say is a nasty process that threatens water supplies.
"It obviously calls to mind other less socially polite terms, and folks have been able to take advantage of that," said Kate Sinding, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council who works on drilling issues.
One of the chants at an anti-drilling rally in Albany earlier this month was "No fracking way!"
Industry executives argue that the word is deliberately misspelled by environmental activists and that it has become a slur that should not be used by media outlets that strive for objectivity.
"It's a co-opted word and a co-opted spelling used to make it look as offensive as people can try to make it look," said Michael Kehs, vice president for Strategic Affairs at Chesapeake Energy, the nation's second-largest natural gas producer.
To the surviving humans of the sci-fi TV series "Battlestar Galactica," it has nothing to do with oil and gas. It is used as a substitute for the very down-to-Earth curse word.
Michael Weiss, a professor of linguistics at Cornell University, says the word originated as simple industry jargon, but has taken on a negative meaning over time ? much like the word "silly" once meant "holy."
But "frack" also happens to sound like "smack" and "whack," with more violent connotations.
"When you hear the word `fracking,' what lights up your brain is the profanity," says Deborah Mitchell, who teaches marketing at the University of Wisconsin's School of Business. "Negative things come to mind."
Obama did not use the word in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, when he said his administration will help ensure natural gas will be developed safely, suggesting it would support 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade.
In hydraulic fracturing, millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped into wells to break up underground rock formations and create escape routes for the oil and gas. In recent years, the industry has learned to combine the practice with the ability to drill horizontally into beds of shale, layers of fine-grained rock that in some cases have trapped ancient organic matter that has cooked into oil and gas.
By doing so, drillers have unlocked natural gas deposits across the East, South and Midwest that are large enough to supply the U.S. for decades. Natural gas prices have dipped to decade-low levels, reducing customer bills and prompting manufacturers who depend on the fuel to expand operations in the U.S.
Environmentalists worry that the fluid could leak into water supplies from cracked casings in wells. They are also concerned that wastewater from the process could contaminate water supplies if not properly treated or disposed of. And they worry the method allows too much methane, the main component of natural gas and an extraordinarily potent greenhouse gas, to escape.
Some want to ban the practice altogether, while others want tighter regulations.
The Environmental Protection Agency is studying the issue and may propose federal regulations. The industry prefers that states regulate the process.
Some states have banned it. A New York proposal to lift its ban drew about 40,000 public comments ? an unprecedented total ? inspired in part by slogans such as "Don't Frack With New York."
The drilling industry has generally spelled the word without a "K," using terms like "frac job" or "frac fluid."
Energy historian Daniel Yergin spells it "fraccing" in his book, "The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the Modern World." The glossary maintained by the oilfield services company Schlumberger includes only "frac" and "hydraulic fracturing."
The spelling of "fracking" began appearing in the media and in oil and gas company materials long before the process became controversial. It first was used in an Associated Press story in 1981. That same year, an oil and gas company called Velvet Exploration, based in British Columbia, issued a press release that detailed its plans to complete "fracking" a well.
The word was used in trade journals throughout the 1980s. In 1990, Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher announced U.S. oil engineers would travel to the Soviet Union to share drilling technology, including fracking.
The word does not appear in The Associated Press Stylebook, a guide for news organizations. David Minthorn, deputy standards editor at the AP, says there are tentative plans to include an entry in the 2012 edition.
He said the current standard is to avoid using the word except in direct quotes, and to instead use "hydraulic fracturing."
That won't stop activists ? sometimes called "fracktivists" ? from repeating the word as often as possible.
"It was created by the industry, and the industry is going to have to live with it," says the NRDC's Sinding.
Dave McCurdy, CEO of the American Gas Association, agrees, much to his dismay: "It's Madison Avenue hell," he says.
___
Jonathan Fahey can be reached at http://twitter.com/JonathanFahey.
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
O2 accidentally exposes customers' phone numbers (AP)
LONDON ? An untold number of U.K. residents may have unwittingly broadcast their numbers to sites across the Web while browsing the Internet with their cellphones during the past two weeks.
Mobile service provider O2 said Wednesday that a glitch had exposed the numbers of smartphone-toting customers who connected to the Internet over the company's network.
The company, a major subsidiary of Spain's Telefonica, S.A., has some 22 million customers in Britain. It was unclear how many of those may have been affected and a call seeking further comment from O2 was not immediately returned.
The glitch was "potentially very serious," said Matt Bath, the technology editor for British consumer watchdog Which?
"You are making private information available into the wilds of the Web," he said. "A lot of good websites won't do anything with that data at all (but) there's a potential for a rogue website to harvest the information. That is an open door when it comes to spam, which is annoying, but also outright scams."
O2 said in a blog post that the company routinely shares its customers' telephone numbers with what it described as "trusted partners" for purposes such as age-verification and billing for premium content. But because of a glitch introduced during a routine maintenance operation around January 10, "there has been the potential for disclosure of customers' mobile phone numbers to further website owners."
O2 said it had fixed the bug Wednesday and apologized for any concern caused. But Bath said the damage may already have been done.
"This genie is completely out of the bottle," he said. "Some unruly website may be rubbing their hands with glee at the data bounty that's landed on their laps."
The Information Commissioner's Office, Britain's data protection watchdog, said it was looking into the potential breach.
"When people visit a website via their mobile phone they would not expect their number to be made available to that website," the office said in a statement.
___
Online:
O2's blog: http://blog.o2.co.uk/
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Dan Kovalik: U.S. Fueling Human Rights Abuses in Colombia in Violation of Its Own Laws
As Noam Chomsky has often cautioned, when considering foreign relations, and especially military intervention, states should always heed the primary Hippocratic oath -- "First, do no harm." The U.S. has certainly disregarded this admonition with reckless abandon in Latin America, and Colombia is the foremost example of this, at least at the present time. Human Rights Watch appears to concur with this judgment.
Thus, Human Rights Watch (HRW) just released its annual human rights report on Colombia, and it is not pretty. The punch line of the report is most damning of the United States and its role in that country's abysmal practices -- undoubtedly, the very worst of this hemisphere.
As HRW concludes, after its litany of atrocities being committed by the Colombian state and its paramilitary (death squad) allies,
The U.S. remains the most influential foreign actor in Colombia. In 2011 it provided approximately US $562 million in aid, about 61 percent of which was military and police aid. Thirty percent of US military aid is subject to human rights conditions, which the US Department of State has not enforced. In September 2011 the State Department certified that Colombia was meeting human rights conditions.
In other words, the U.S. is acting in direct contravention of the Leahy Amendment, which forbids the funding of military units which fail to honor basic human rights norms. Sadly, the Leahy Amendment appears to be a dead letter.
HRW explains in detail that the human rights violations the U.S. is aiding and abetting in Colombia are indeed the worst imaginable. As HRW explains, in Colombia
paramilitary successor groups continue to grow, maintain extensive ties with public security force members and local officials, and commit widespread atrocities. There has also been ongoing violence against rights defenders, community leaders, and trade unionists.
According to the HRW report, the paramilitary death squads, whose power flows from "[t]oleration of the groups by public security forces," actively "engage in drug trafficking; actively recruit members, including children; and commit widespread abuses against civilians, including massacres, killings, rapes and other forms of sexual violence, threats and forced displacement." HRW notes that, "[i]n January 2011 Colombia's national police chief publicly stated that such groups are the largest source of violence in Colombia." This is a significant admission because the U.S., to justify its continued military support for Colombia, would have the public believe that it is the left-wing guerillas who are most responsible for the violence in Colombia. In fact, this is not true. Rather, it is the paramilitary death squads who bear this responsibility, and it is these death squads, allied as they are with the official Colombian security forces, which are being supported by the military aid the U.S. is sending to that country.
Moreover, while the U.S. attempts with a straight face to portray Colombia as a "democracy," contrasting this with countries such as Cuba or Venezuela which the U.S claims lack democratic values, the recent HRW report makes it clear that Colombia is not recognizable as a democracy in any real sense. Thus, HRW explains that
Candidates campaigning for the nationwide and local elections in October 2011 were also frequently killed amid reports of alleged links between candidates and armed groups. According to the Colombian NGO Mision de Observacion Electoral, 40 candidates were killed in 2011, representing a 48 percent increase in such crimes reported during the 2007 local elections.
If the murder of political candidates were not bad enough, HRW explains that there is "ongoing infiltration of the political system by paramilitaries and their successor groups. . . . Colombia's Ombudsman's Office reported that 119 municipalities faced a high risk of electoral violence or interference by paramilitary successor groups during the October 2011 local elections."
In addition, as HRW explains, the Colombian military has been guilty of more than 3,000 extrajudicial killings of civilians in what is known as the "false positive" scandal wherein "army personnel murdered civilians and reported them as combatants killed in action, apparently in response to pressure to boost body counts." This "pressure to boost body counts," moreover, is coming ultimately from the U.S. which is pursuing an aggressive anti-insurgency policy which rewards the Colombian military for its killing of guerillas.
Meanwhile, and of special concern to the labor movement in the U.S., HRW confirms that Colombia remains the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists with 28 unionists killed in 2011. And, this year has gotten off to a horrible start. Thus, in recent days, three (3) trade unionists have been killed in Colombia -- at least one (Victor Manuel Hilarion Palacios) by the Colombian armed forces themselves. In another instance, Mauricio Redondo, a leader of the USO union (the oil union of Colombia and that country's oldest union) was murdered along with his wife, leaving five children orphaned. Again, such killings do nothing to slow down U.S. aid to the Colombian regime.
Much is to be learned from the case of Colombia. For one, it puts a lie to the U.S.'s claim, often used to justify U.S. military intervention, of supporting democracy and human rights abroad. In the case of Colombia, the U.S. is indeed fueling massive human and labor rights abuses by supporting a regime that it is literally at war with its own people.
This brings us to the next and most important lesson -- violence is not working in Colombia to end the insurgency or to bring about positive change. And yet, it is violence that the U.S. is choosing to use ostensibly to advance such ends. Apparently, the U.S. (the proverbial hammer seeing nails everywhere) does so because violence has become the only tool the U.S. knows to solve problems, despite the fact that this violence almost invariably exacerbates these problems and indeed creates many others. It is clear that in Colombia the only viable solution for a lasting peace, and for real prosperity, is a negotiated settlement to the armed conflict. Tragically, it is such a settlement which the U.S. has refused to support over the years.
Indeed, as Colombia Reports explained, the U.S. has actually put out a call in recent days for countries throughout the region to step up concerted, violent assaults on the guerillas in Colombia. Meanwhile, as Colombia Reports also explained, it is Cuba which is hosting secret peace talks between insurgents and the Colombian government. As in the case of Haiti where the Cubans have sent doctors to fight cholera and the U.S. sent soldiers to fight the population, it is Cuba which is playing a positive, peaceful role in our hemisphere; not the U.S. This fact should be humbling to our leaders in the U.S. if they indeed know humility or shame.
?
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-kovalik/colombia-human-rights_b_1228349.html
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Turkey slams France over Armenian 'genocide' bill (AP)
ANKARA, Turkey ? Turkey warned the French president on Tuesday against signing a law that makes it a crime to deny that the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago constituted genocide, saying it will implement retaliatory measures against France.
France's parliament approved the bill late Monday, risking more sanctions from Turkey and complicating an already delicate relationship with the rising power. Officials in President Nicolas Sarkozy's government insisted the vote didn't directly target the country.
Turkey, which sees the allegations of genocide as a threat to its national honor, has already suspended military, economic and political ties, and briefly recalled its ambassador last month when the lower house of parliament approved the same bill.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday strongly condemned the decision, saying the law should not be finalized to "avoid this being recorded as part of France's political, legal and moral mistakes."
Sarkozy, whose party supported the bill, must sign it into law, but that is largely considered a formality.
If the law is signed, "we will not hesitate to implement, as we deem appropriate, the measures that we have considered in advance," Turkey's Foreign Ministry said. It did not elaborate on the measures.
The debate surrounding the measure comes in the highly charged run-up to France's presidential elections this spring, and critics have called the move a ploy by Sarkozy to garner the votes of the some 500,000 Armenians who live in France.
"It is further unfortunate that the historical ... relations between the Republic of Turkey and France have been sacrificed to considerations of political agenda," Turkey said. "It is quite clear where the responsibility for this lies."
Officials in Sarkozy's conservative government were in damage-control mode on Tuesday, appealing to Turkey's government to keep its calm.
"As foreign minister, I think this initiative was a bit inopportune. But the parliament has thus decided. What I'd like to do today is call on our Turkish friends to keep their composure," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Canal Plus TV. "After this wave that has been a little bit excessive, I have to say I'm convinced that we will return to constructive relations ? I extend my hand, I hope it will be taken one day."
Turkish media slammed Sarkozy: "(He) massacred democracy," read the banner headline of the leading Hurriyet newspaper while the Sozcu daily blasted "Sarkozy the Satan."
France's relations with Turkey are already strained, in large part because Sarkozy opposes Turkey's entry into the European Union. The law is likely to further sour relations with a NATO member that is playing an increasingly important role in the international community's response to the violence in Syria, the standoff over Iran's nuclear program and peace negotiations in the Middle East.
The Senate voted 127 to 86 to pass the bill late Monday. Twenty-four people abstained. The measure sets a punishment of up to one year in prison and a fine of euro45,000 ($59,000) for those who deny or "outrageously minimize" the killings.
For some in France, the bill is part of a tradition of legislation in some European countries, born of the agonies of the Holocaust, that criminalizes the denial of genocides. Denying the Holocaust is already a punishable crime in France.
Most historians contend that the 1915 killings of 1.5 million Armenians as the Ottoman Empire broke up was the 20th century's first genocide, and several European countries recognize the massacres as such. Switzerland has convicted people of racism for denying the genocide.
But Turkey says that there was no systematic campaign to kill Armenians and that many Turks also died during the chaotic disintegration of the empire. It also says that death toll is inflated.
Some Turks said Turkey should retaliate in kind. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the French of "genocide" during France's 132-year colonial rule in Algeria.
"I think our country should have retaliated in the same way after the French Bill has passed," Yilmaz Sesen, a chemist, told AP television in Ankara. "They have committed genocide in North Africa, and not too long ago either."
___
Associated Press writers Sarah DiLorenzo and Jamey Keaten in Paris contributed.
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Team: Giants reach deal with Tim Lincecum
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants have reached a verbal agreement on a two-year contract worth about $40 million.
Giants executive Bobby Evans announced the deal Tuesday. It is subject to a physical and avoids an arbitration hearing.
Lincecum had asked for a near-record $21.5 million in salary arbitration and had been offered $17 million by the club.
The 27-year-old, the winning pitcher in the Game 5 World Series clincher at Texas in 2010, earned $13.1 million last season when he completed a two-year deal worth $23.2 million.
Associated PressTuesday, January 24, 2012
Compounds in mate tea induce death in colon cancer cells
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Public release date: 23-Jan-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Phyllis Picklesimer
p-pickle@illinois.edu
217-244-2827
University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
URBANA Could preventing colon cancer be as simple as developing a taste for yerba mate tea? In a recent University of Illinois study, scientists showed that human colon cancer cells die when they are exposed to the approximate number of bioactive compounds present in one cup of this brew, which has long been consumed in South America for its medicinal properties.
"The caffeine derivatives in mate tea not only induced death in human colon cancer cells, they also reduced important markers of inflammation," said Elvira de Mejia, a U of I associate professor of food chemistry and food toxicology.
That's important because inflammation can trigger the steps of cancer progression, she said.
In the in vitro study, de Mejia and former graduate student Sirima Puangpraphant isolated, purified, and then treated human colon cancer cells with caffeoylquinic acid (CQA) derivatives from mate tea. As the scientists increased the CQA concentration, cancer cells died as a result of apoptosis.
"Put simply, the cancer cell self-destructs because its DNA has been damaged," she said.
The ability to induce apoptosis, or cell death, is a promising tactic for therapeutic interventions in all types of cancer, she said.
de Mejia said they were able to identify the mechanism that led to cell death. Certain CQA derivatives dramatically decreased several markers of inflammation, including NF-kappa-B, which regulates many genes that affect the process through the production of important enzymes. Ultimately cancer cells died with the induction of two specific enzymes, caspase-3 and caspase-8, de Mejia said.
"If we can reduce the activity of NF-kappa-B, the important marker that links inflammation and cancer, we'll be better able to control the transformation of normal cells to cancer cells," she added.
The results of the study strongly suggest that the caffeine derivatives in mate tea have potential as anti-cancer agents and could also be helpful in other diseases associated with inflammation, she said.
But, because the colon and its microflora play a major role in the absorption and metabolism of caffeine-related compounds, the anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects of mate tea may be most useful in the colon.
"We believe there's ample evidence to support drinking mate tea for its bioactive benefits, especially if you have reason to be concerned about colon cancer. Mate tea bags are available in health food stores and are increasingly available in large supermarkets," she added.
The scientists have already completed and will soon publish the results of a study that compares the development of colon cancer in rats that drank mate tea as their only source of water with a control group that drank only water.
This in vitro study was published in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, vol. 55, pp. 1509-1522, in 2011. Co-authors include Sirima Puangpraphant, now an assistant professor at Kasetsart University in Thailand; Greg Potts, an undergraduate student of the U of I; and Mark A. Berhow and Karl Vermillion of the USDA, ARS, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois. The work was funded by the U of I Research Board and Puangpraphant's Royal Thai Government Scholarship.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 23-Jan-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Phyllis Picklesimer
p-pickle@illinois.edu
217-244-2827
University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
URBANA Could preventing colon cancer be as simple as developing a taste for yerba mate tea? In a recent University of Illinois study, scientists showed that human colon cancer cells die when they are exposed to the approximate number of bioactive compounds present in one cup of this brew, which has long been consumed in South America for its medicinal properties.
"The caffeine derivatives in mate tea not only induced death in human colon cancer cells, they also reduced important markers of inflammation," said Elvira de Mejia, a U of I associate professor of food chemistry and food toxicology.
That's important because inflammation can trigger the steps of cancer progression, she said.
In the in vitro study, de Mejia and former graduate student Sirima Puangpraphant isolated, purified, and then treated human colon cancer cells with caffeoylquinic acid (CQA) derivatives from mate tea. As the scientists increased the CQA concentration, cancer cells died as a result of apoptosis.
"Put simply, the cancer cell self-destructs because its DNA has been damaged," she said.
The ability to induce apoptosis, or cell death, is a promising tactic for therapeutic interventions in all types of cancer, she said.
de Mejia said they were able to identify the mechanism that led to cell death. Certain CQA derivatives dramatically decreased several markers of inflammation, including NF-kappa-B, which regulates many genes that affect the process through the production of important enzymes. Ultimately cancer cells died with the induction of two specific enzymes, caspase-3 and caspase-8, de Mejia said.
"If we can reduce the activity of NF-kappa-B, the important marker that links inflammation and cancer, we'll be better able to control the transformation of normal cells to cancer cells," she added.
The results of the study strongly suggest that the caffeine derivatives in mate tea have potential as anti-cancer agents and could also be helpful in other diseases associated with inflammation, she said.
But, because the colon and its microflora play a major role in the absorption and metabolism of caffeine-related compounds, the anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects of mate tea may be most useful in the colon.
"We believe there's ample evidence to support drinking mate tea for its bioactive benefits, especially if you have reason to be concerned about colon cancer. Mate tea bags are available in health food stores and are increasingly available in large supermarkets," she added.
The scientists have already completed and will soon publish the results of a study that compares the development of colon cancer in rats that drank mate tea as their only source of water with a control group that drank only water.
This in vitro study was published in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, vol. 55, pp. 1509-1522, in 2011. Co-authors include Sirima Puangpraphant, now an assistant professor at Kasetsart University in Thailand; Greg Potts, an undergraduate student of the U of I; and Mark A. Berhow and Karl Vermillion of the USDA, ARS, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois. The work was funded by the U of I Research Board and Puangpraphant's Royal Thai Government Scholarship.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/uoic-cim012312.php
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Federer through to Australian Open quarterfinals
Roger Federer of Switzerland serves to Australia's Bernard Tomic during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill)
Roger Federer of Switzerland serves to Australia's Bernard Tomic during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill)
Australia's Bernard Tomic makes a forehand return to Switzerland's Roger Federer during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill)
Roger Federer of Switzerland chases down a ball as he plays Australia's Bernard Tomic during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/John Donegan)
Australia's Bernard Tomic makes a forehand return to Roger Federer of Switzerland during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) ? Roger Federer put on a tennis clinic against Bernard Tomic, using deft drops, lobs, booming backhands and 13 aces to beat the 19-year-old Australian 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 and advance to the Australian Open quarterfinals for the eighth straight year.
Tomic came into the match following an upset third-round win over 13th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov, using slices and a variety of offbeat shots from the back of the court to beat the Ukrainian player.
But four-time Australian champion Federer was having none of that on Sunday night before a packed house of 15,000 at Rod Laver Arena. He stepped up his game when he needed to, breaking the Australian at 4-4 in the opening set and again to open the third.
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Ukraine's Yanukovich refuses to relent in Tymoshenko case (Reuters)
KIEV (Reuters) ? Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich appeared on Sunday to rule out any prospect of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko being freed, saying those responsible for signing a 2009 gas deal with Russia on "enslaving" terms should be punished.
Tymoshenko, in a statement from prison where she is serving a seven-year jail sentence, called on all opposition forces to unite to defeat Yanukovich's Regions Party in a parliamentary election next October.
Her jailing last October for abuse of office, linked to the 2009 gas contract she brokered as prime minister, has led to a crisis in relations between the ex-Soviet republic and the West.
The United States and the European Union say the trial was politically motivated; in December the EU withheld completion of agreements on political association and a free trade zone with Ukraine in protest over her jailing.
Tymoshenko's trial and conviction are widely seen as a settling of scores between rival groups in the ex-Soviet republic.
Tymoshenko was a key player in the "Orange Revolution" street protests in 2004-2005 which overturned Yanukovich's first bid for the presidency. He made a comeback and narrowly defeated her in a run-off vote in February 2010.
Despite the EU pressure, justice officials have opened fresh criminal cases against Tymoshenko and she has been moved from police detention in the capital, Kiev, to a remote prison camp in Kharkiv, some 500 km (310 miles) to the east.
The Ukrainian leadership says the 2009 gas deal saddled the country with an exorbitant price for gas and committed it to importing volumes of Russian gas it does not need.
"Ukraine has become hostage to enslaving gas agreements ... which have caused the country huge losses, billions of losses. We have been left with a huge external debt. Those who, regardless of their office, pushed Ukraine to the abyss must bear responsibility before the Ukrainian people," Yanukovich told a ceremony on Sunday.
Several thousand opposition supporters used a rally in the centre of Kiev, marking the day when eastern Ukraine joined the west of the country, to protest at the government's policies and call for Tymoshenko to be freed.
In a statement read out to the crowd, Tymoshenko called on all opposition parties to unite in a single democratic opposition force. "One team - one victory - this is the only slogan with which the opposition should arm itself today," she said.
In what might prove to be a significant development in the coming months, several opposition parties later issued a statement saying they would unite to field a single candidate in single-mandate constituencies at next October's election.
These will account for half the seats in the Ukraine parliament, the other half coming from party list voting.
The popularity of Yanukovich's Regions Party is sagging at present, and a united opposition might make it difficult for the Regions Party to re-establish a stranglehold on parliament after the election.
Tymoshenko's daughter told Reuters last week that her mother's life was "at risk" in the Kharkiv jail where she is being held because of her deteriorating health.
She said her mother had been unable to get up unaided since early November because of recurring back pain.
(Writing By Richard Balmforth; editing by Tim Pearce)
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Monday, January 23, 2012
UK trial of 9 on US Embassy terror plot begins (AP)
LONDON ? Nine men suspected of plotting attacks on the U.S. Embassy and the London Stock Exchange are to go on trial in London.
Prosecutors say the men arrested in December 2010 in the largest British anti-terror raid in two years had planned to blow up several prominent buildings. All have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to cause explosions. Their trial is scheduled to begin at Woolwich Crown Court in south London on Monday.
The men are aged between 20 and 30 and were arrested in London, Cardiff and Stoke-on-Trent in central England.
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Cooley leads Irish to upset over No. 1 Syracuse
Notre Dame students rush the court following their 67-58 victory over Syracuse of an NCAA college basketball game Syracuse, Saturday Jan. 21, 2012, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)
Notre Dame students rush the court following their 67-58 victory over Syracuse of an NCAA college basketball game Syracuse, Saturday Jan. 21, 2012, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)
Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant throws the ball into the stands as fans rush the court following Notre Dame's 67-58 victory over Syracuse in an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday Jan. 21, 2012, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)
Notre Dame guard Pat Connaughton celebrates following their 67-58 victory over Syracuse in an NCAA college basketball game on Saturday Jan. 21, 2012, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)
Syracuse guard Scoop Jardine (11) drives the lane as Notre Dame guard Eric Atkins pursues during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday Jan. 21, 2012, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)
Syracuse forward CJ Fair (5)drives the lane between Notre Dame forward Scott Martin and Pat Connaughton during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) ? Mike Brey's viewing selection for his players the night before meeting top-ranked Syracuse was an easy choice. The Notre Dame coach showed a video of former Irish teams upsetting No. 1 teams over the years.
Brey and the current group of Irish now have their own spot in that collection.
Jack Cooley had 17 points and 10 rebounds against a Syracuse team missing its shot-blocking, rebounding center Fab Melo and the Irish surprised the top-ranked and previously unbeaten Orange 67-58 on Saturday night.
Fans stormed the court after the Irish's rousing victory, hoisting players on their shoulders in a wild scene at the Purcell Pavilion. It was the eighth time Notre Dame has beaten a No. 1 team ? that ties for fourth-most all-time, with North Carolina having the most with 12.
"Notre Dame has an unbelievable history against No. 1 teams," Irish forward Scott Martin said. "We saw a little video to just kind of pump us up a little bit."
Cooley was certainly inspired.
Without Melo in the middle, Notre Dame's 6-foot-9, 248-pound center was a major force as the Irish won the rebound battle 38-25.
"I can't even describe this right now. They were 20-0. I can't put it to words how amazing this is," Cooley said. "We came out with energy. This was a great opportunity and we didn't want to squander it."
Melo had started all 20 of the Orange's first games, was their leading rebounder with 5.7 a game, averaged 7.2 points and three blocks. School officials gave no explanation why the talented center did not make the trip. He will also miss Monday's game against Cincinnati.
"We had all week to prepare for Melo (not playing). We didn't know for sure (he would not play), but we were prepared for it," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said, without elaborating on the reasons.
"I don't know how he affected the game because he wasn't here."
Syracuse guard Scoop Jardine said Melo was definitely missed but his absence was no excuse for such a weak offensive performance in their lowest scoring game of the season.
"Fab is the key to our defense. He's an anchor. It wasn't that, though. Our offense wasn't going today," Jardine said. "Fab only averaged six points for us. That's not too much points."
James Southerland scored 15 points for Syracuse, which shot just 34 percent and was 7-for-23 on 3-pointers. Martin added 13 for Notre Dame, which hit 50 percent of its field-goal attempts.
Southerland's 3-pointer with 53.9 seconds left brought the Orange to within 62-56 before the Irish held on as Jerian Grant sank four free throws in the final 32 seconds.
It was the first time the Irish have beaten a top-ranked team since 1987 when they defeated North Carolina, also in South Bend. One of the Irish's most dramatic victories over a No. 1 came in 1974, when they stopped UCLA's 88-game winning streak by 71-70, also on the Irish's homecourt.
Hence the video selection from Brey.
"I just wanted them to see the history of our place against No. 1s," Brey said. "I mean, we were channeling all week as much as possible. In the midst of the videos, I had our guys doing good things and making big plays. It was only about five minutes, but it was really well done and we watched it last night in the team meeting.
"It is awesome that the players have said that they wanted to see me in some of them. ... This is a great memory for them. This is the kind of thing that will be talked about at the reunions when they come back in 10 years."
Boeheim was denied his 877th career victory, which would have put him in sole possession of fourth place among Division I men's coaches.
Notre Dame led in the first half by as many as 18 and was up 35-23 at the half, shooting 54.4 percent and holding the Orange to 2.6 (8-for-18). Syracuse was only 4-of-13 from the 3-point line and was beaten on the boards 20-13 as Notre Dame seemed to be half-step quicker.
"We knew that. It's been like that all year for us. We're the No. 1 team in the country and we're going to get everybody's best shots," Jardine said. "We knew Notre Dame was going to come out and make some shots. ... We didn't bounce back fast enough, and that's why we lost."
Syracuse got off to a better second-half start and whittled the lead to eight less than three minutes in. But Martin hit another 3-pointer for the Irish as the shot clock was winding down and Cooley ? benefiting from Melo's absence ? bulled his way in for a layup to restore the lead to 12. Cooley then dropped in two free throws and Martin again sank a 3-pointer and the Irish were rolling with a 17-point lead.
The Orange then went on a 9-2 run and Kris Joseph's 3-pointer made it a 10-point game with 7:43 to go. Syracuse again cut it to eight before Cooley roared down the court for a dunk with just over five minutes left.
Triche's three-point play with 2:24 left cut it to seven as the Orange made a final run.
Pat Connaughton, inserted into the Irish starting lineup, had a pair of 3s in the early going and Notre Dame bolted to an 11-2 lead.
Notre Dame kept up the long-range accuracy, making four of its first six attempts. And when Eric Atkins grabbed a rebound and went the length of the floor for a layup, the Irish were up 21-10 as the fans at Purcell Pavilion went wild.
And without Melo in the middle, the Irish were all over the boards with an early 13-4 advantage.
Atkins picked up his third foul with 9:04 left, but Jerian Grant's 3-pointer gave the Irish a two-touchdown lead at 28-14.
The Orange missed 14 of their first 19 field-goal attempts and nothing was falling. Tom Knight's left-handed shot in the lane doubled the score, putting the Irish up 32-16.
Alex Dragicevich's 3-pointer as the shot clock was running down put the Irish up 35-18 with 1:12 left in the half. Dion Waiters then responded with a pair of quick 3-pointers to get the Orange to within 12 at the end of a frustrating first half.
The 23 points represented the Orange's lowest-scoring half of the season.
Associated PressSunday, January 22, 2012
Congress Is Crawling out of the Woodwork to Oppose SOPA [Infographics]
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First edition Audubon book sells for $7.9 million (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters) ? A full-size, complete first edition of John James Audubon's "The Birds of America" sold for $7.9 million at auction on Friday in New York to a private American collector, Christie's said.
The four-volume, bound "Duke of Portland" set of 435 hand-colored engravings in excellent condition and more than 3 feet (1 meter) in height is considered one of the most prized books of ornithological art ever produced.
Francis Wahlgren, Christie's international head of books and manuscripts, said the $7.9 million sale was the third highest price for a printed book at auction.
"This strong result for Audubon's masterpiece confirms its iconic status and now holds the top three auction records for printed books," he added.
Christie's said the book was purchased by William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, the fourth Duke of Portland sometime after 1838.
"Audubon's masterpiece 'The Birds of America' is possibly the highest achievement in ornithological art today," according to Christie's.
Book experts estimate that the entire first edition consisted of just 200 completed copies produced during an 11-year period. Christie's said 120 complete sets are known to exist with 107 in institutions and 13 in private hands.
(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; Editing by Jill Serjeant)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/stage_nm/us_audubon
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Colo. girl escapes apparent kidnapper, calls 911 (AP)
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. ? A missing 9-year-old girl escaped an apparent kidnapper and called 911 herself from a convenience store in Colorado Springs on Friday, police said.
The Pueblo girl was reported missing Thursday night after she failed to return home from school.
The car of the man accused of kidnapping the girl broke down Friday morning in Colorado Springs, and a passerby gave them a ride to a Circle K, police said.
The girl ran into the store and asked to use the phone to call her uncle but instead called 911, which prompted the man to take off, authorities said.
Police identified the suspect as Jose Garcia, 29, but haven't said how they connected him to the kidnapping. Colorado Springs police spokeswoman Barbara Miller said he was in custody Friday afternoon.
Pueblo County court records said Garcia was wanted on suspicion of kidnapping and sex assault on a child. Pueblo police did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the potential charges.
Efren Vialpando told The Gazette ( http://bit.ly/Ao9LgD) he saw the girl come in the Circle K with two black eyes and a bruise on her lip and face. She had refused to leave the store with the man, saying, "I ain't going nowhere. I'm waiting for my momma." He said the suspect fled after that.
A Circle K employee declined to comment, citing store policy.
The girl was taken to a hospital Friday morning. Police spokeswoman Barbara Miller said details of the girl's condition won't be released because of her age.
The FBI helped with the investigation.
___
Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.com
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Costa CEO says captain misled company, crew
In this undated underwater photo released by Carabinieri (Italian paramilitary police) Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 two Carabinieri scuba divers swim next to the Costa Concordia cruise ship's bell, off the tiny Giglio island, Italy. The $450 million Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew when it slammed into well-marked rocks off the island of Giglio after the captain made an unauthorized diversion from his programmed route. The ship then keeled over on its side. (AP Photo/Carabinieri)
In this undated underwater photo released by Carabinieri (Italian paramilitary police) Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 two Carabinieri scuba divers swim next to the Costa Concordia cruise ship's bell, off the tiny Giglio island, Italy. The $450 million Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew when it slammed into well-marked rocks off the island of Giglio after the captain made an unauthorized diversion from his programmed route. The ship then keeled over on its side. (AP Photo/Carabinieri)
Rescuers approach the grounded Costa Concordia cruise ship off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The cruise ship grounded off Tuscany shifted again on its rocky perch Friday, forcing the suspension of diving search operations for the 21 people still missing and raising concerns about the stability of the ship's resting place. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
People take photographs of the grounded Costa Concordia cruise ship off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The cruise ship grounded off Tuscany shifted again on its rocky perch Friday, forcing the suspension of diving search operations for the 21 people still missing and raising concerns about the stability of the ship's resting place. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
People watch the Costa Concordia cruise liner off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The cruise ship grounded off Tuscany shifted again on its rocky perch Friday, forcing the suspension of diving search operations for the 21 people still missing and raising concerns about the stability of the ship's resting place. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
People look out toward the Costa Concordia cruise liner off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The cruise ship grounded off Tuscany shifted again on its rocky perch Friday, forcing the supension of diving search operations for the 21 people still missing and raising concerns about the stability of the ship's resting place. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
ROME (AP) ? The cruise captain who grounded the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast with 4,200 people on board did not relay correct information either to the company or crew after the ship hit rocks, the cruise ship owner's CEO said Friday as the search resumed for 21 missing passengers.
CEO Pierluigi Foschi told Italian state TV that the company spoke to the captain at 10:05 p.m. (2105 GMT; 4:05 p.m. EST), some 20 minutes after the ship ran aground on Jan. 13, but could not offer proper assistance because the captain's description "did not correspond to the truth."
Capt. Francesco Schettino said only that he had "problems" on board but did not mention hitting a reef.
Likewise, Foschi said crew members were not informed of the gravity of the situation.
Passenger video shown on Italian TV indicates crew members telling passengers to go to their cabins as late as 10:25 p.m. (2125 GMT; 4:25 p.m. EST). The abandon ship alarm sounded just before 11:00 p.m. (2200 GMT; 5:00 p.m. EST).
"That's because they also did not receive correct information on the gravity of the situation," Foschi said.
The $450 million Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew when it slammed into well-charted rocks off the island of Giglio a week ago. Eleven people have been confirmed dead.
The Concordia shifted again on its rocky perch Friday, forcing the suspension of diving search operations for the 21 people still missing and raising concerns about the stability of the ship's resting place. But the search in areas above the waterline resumed in the evening after the ship was deemed stable.
The remarks by Costa CEO Foschi are the latest to indicate a lack of proper communication with authorities on land as the emergency unfolded.
An audiotape of the Concordia's first contact with maritime authorities has a Concordia office repeatedly replying that the ship had experienced a blackout, even though it had hit the reef more than half an hour earlier.
Italian media reported the officer on the call was Schettino, but that could not be independently confirmed.
Costa Crociere SpA, which offered support to the captain in the hours after the emergency, has now turned its back on the man who is under investigation for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship. Schettino, who was jailed after he left the ship, is under house arrest near Naples.
Costa in recent days has suspended Schettino, announced it is no longer paying his legal fees and has signed on as a civil party in the prosecution, a move that positions it as an injured party and would allow it to seek damages in the case of a guilty verdict.
Coast Guard spokesman Cmdr. Cosimo Nicastro said crews will evaluate the ship's stability Saturday morning to see if the diving operation can resume, focusing on an area where passengers would have sought lifeboats, Nicastro said.
It was not clear if the slight movements registered by sensors placed on board the Costa Concordia were just vibrations as the ship settles on the rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio or if the massive ocean liner is slowly slipping off the reef. Salvage experts suggest it could be because of pockets of air gradually escaping.
The sensors detected that the ship's bow was moving about 15 millimeters (half an inch) an hour and the stern about 7 millimeters (one-quarter inch) an hour, said Nicola Casagli of the University of Florence, who was called in by Italian authorities to monitor the ship's stability.
The Concordia's movements are being watched since any significant shift could be dangerous for divers trying to locate those missing since the Concordia ran aground Jan. 13. An additional fear is that movement could damage tanks holding a 500,000 gallons of fuel oil and lead to leaks.
The sea floor drops off sharply a few meters (yards) from where the ship is resting, and Italy's environment minister has warned it risks sinking.
On Friday, relatives of some of the 21 missing were at Giglio's port getting briefings from rescue teams.
Casagli told Sky TG24 that some movement in the Concordia was only natural given the immense weight of the steel-hulled ship, which is being held in place by two huge rocks at bow and stern.
But the latest movements indicate it isn't stable, he said. "These are small, regular movements that are being monitored because they're going in the same direction," he told Sky.
Late Thursday, Carnival Corp., the U.S.-based company that owns Costa, announced it was conducting a comprehensive audit of all 10 of its cruise lines to review safety and emergency response procedures in the wake of the Costa disaster. The evacuation was chaotic and the alarm to abandon the ship was sounded after the Concordia had capsized too much to get many life boats down.
___
Colleen Barry reported from Milan. Andrea Foa contributed from Giglio, Italy.
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