MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's Foreign Ministry says it has invited Syrian authorities and opposition for talks in Moscow.
The ministry said in a statement Monday that Syrian authorities have already agreed to come. The ministry is hoping that opposition leaders will send their reply in the coming days. The opposition has balked at holding talks with the regime, saying the violence must end first.
The U.N. estimates about 5,400 people have been killed in 10 months of violence.
The ministry said the Syria talks need to be conducted "as soon as possible" to stop violence in the country.
Russia, Syria's longtime ally has been backing the regime of President Bashar Assad although Moscow has also talked to Syrian opposition leaders in the past months.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) ? Iraq's Sunni-backed Iraqiya political bloc said Sunday it would end a boycott of parliament, easing the worst political crisis in Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's power-sharing government in a year.
The decision by Iraqiya clears the way for talks among fractious Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni blocs, but deep disputes over power-sharing remain unresolved, keeping alive the risk that Iraq could fall back into widespread sectarian violence.
The crisis erupted days after the last U.S. troops left Iraq in December, when Maliki's government sought the arrest of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and moved to sideline one of his Sunni deputies who branded Maliki a dictator.
The political blocs are planning a national conference to try to ease the turmoil.
"As a goodwill gesture, Iraqiya announces its return to parliament meetings to create a healthy atmosphere to help the national conference, and to ... defuse the political crisis," Iraqiya spokeswoman Maysoon al-Damluji told a news conference.
Damluji's announcement followed a meeting of Iraqiya's top officials including bloc leader Iyad Allawi, Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, Finance Minister Rafie al-Esawi and Saleh al-Mutlaq, the deputy prime minister Maliki had tried to oust.
She said the leaders would meet again to decide whether Iraqiya ministers would return to cabinet meetings.
Iraqiya's return to parliament could shore up Maliki's position for now, but the Sunni-backed bloc is deeply divided over whether to stay in the fragile power-sharing arrangement.
Maliki says his initiative against Hashemi was judicial and not political, but his moves against two key Iraqiya figures have compounded fears among Iraqi Sunnis that he wants to consolidate Shi'ite control and his own power.
Hashemi remains in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region where his immediate arrest is unlikely.
BIDEN CALLS
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has spoken to Allawi and Nujaifi by phone over the past days to discuss "the importance of resolving outstanding issues through the political process," Biden's office said.
Saleem al-Jubouri, an Iraqiya leader, said the bloc had come under international pressure to end the boycott, which he said had forced other countries to recognize the crisis in Iraq.
"The problem still exists and it could blow up again at any minute," Jubouri said.
A senior Iraqiya Sunni leader who asked not to be named said ending the boycott was the only way to keep the bloc together.
"Many factions within Iraqiya would split off if the leaders
insisted on going into opposition or continuing the boycott," the official said.
Since the U.S. invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, in 2003, the Shi'ite majority has ascended, leaving Sunni Muslims feeling sidelined from power. Kurdish political blocs have more often reached political deals with Shi'ite parties.
The power-sharing agreement took almost a year to cobble together and has struggled to work when considering key laws such as a national hydrocarbons bill.
The political turmoil has been accompanied by a string of attacks on Shi'ite targets that have stirred worries Iraq could slide back in the kind of sectarian slaughter that killed tens of thousands of Iraqis a few years after the invasion.
(Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Jim Loney and Alessandra Rizzo)
Samantha Garvey, a homeless teen from New York?s Long Island who inspired many as a semi-finalist in a prestigious science competition, and her family get the keys to an affordable home thanks to help from across the country. NBC?s Kate Snow reports.
>>>there is more good news to report tonight about the homeless teen from new york's long island whose story inspired so many people after she was named a semifinalist in a prestigious science competition. well, tonight, samantha garvey and her family are homeless no more. today, they received the keys to a new home through a program that helps families move out of shelters. the family had been flooded with an outpouring of support from folks all across the country.
A barge ferrying two Atlas 5 rockets to their Florida launch site crashed into a Kentucky bridge late Thursday (Jan. 26), but the rockets appear to be undamaged, officials say.
The 312-foot (95-meter) cargo ship Delta Mariner smashed into a bridge over the Tennessee River in southwest Kentucky at 9:15 p.m. EST Thursday (0215 GMT Friday), causing a portion of the span to collapse. Though several cars were crossing the bridge at the time, the accident caused no injuries.
The Delta Mariner was carrying two Atlas 5 rockets from the United Launch Alliance (ULA) factory in Decatur, Ala., to Cape Canaveral, Fla., said Sam Sacco, spokesman for Foss Marine, the company that owns and operates the boat.
"There's no damage to the cargo," Sacco told SPACE.com. "Based on what we know right now, there's no real damage to the vessel itself, either."
ULA officials confirmed that the launch vehicles appear to have survived intact. [The World's Tallest Rockets]
"Initial inspections have shown that the flight hardware being transported was not damaged," officials said in a statement today. "The Coast Guard is conducting an investigation."
Sacco said he wasn't sure when the two rockets are due to lift off from Cape Canaveral. In its statement, ULA referenced an "upcoming" launch, without providing specifics.
According to the ULA's launch schedule, an Atlas 5 rocket is scheduled to blast off from the Cape on Feb. 16, carrying a tactical satellite for the United States Navy. Another one is slated to lift off on April 27 with a new military communications satellite on board.
The Delta Mariner, which was commissioned in 2002, transports flight hardware from ULA's Decatur factory to Cape Canaveral and another launch site, California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. It's capable of carrying up to three common booster cores, which are each as long as a 737 jet's fuselage.
The ship can ply both rivers and the open ocean, and it can navigate waterways as shallow as 9 feet (3 m), according to ULA officials. The trip to Cape Canaveral covers about 2,100 miles (3,380 kilometers) and takes eight to 10 days.
Sacco said the cause of the accident ? which apparently did not result in any fuel spills or other obvious environmental problems ? remains a mystery for now.
"The company's been doing it for over 10 years. Exactly why this happened, I can't tell you," he said. "The Coast Guard will lead an investigation into the cause, and that will be the definitive explanation as to what happened."
The Atlas 5 rocket is an expendable booster that first launched in 2002. Since then, it has logged about two dozen liftoffs, with 100 percent mission success, according to ULA officials. NASA's Curiosity Mars rover blasted off atop an Atlas 5 this past November.
You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
NEW ORLEANS ? A federal judge declared a mistrial Friday in the case against a retired police sergeant charged with helping cover up deadly shootings on a New Orleans bridge after Hurricane Katrina, the last of 20 New Orleans police officers who were charged by the Justice Department's civil rights division to get his day in court.
Gerard Dugue was on trial for charges he wrote a false report on the shootings of unarmed residents on the Danziger Bridge, less than a week after the August 2005 hurricane. The case was expected to go to the jury early next week. Now it's up to prosecutors to decide whether to retry the case.
U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt ruled that Justice Department prosecutor Bobbi Bernstein may have unfairly influenced the jury hearing Dugue's trial by mentioning the name of a man who was beaten to death by a New Orleans police officer in a case unrelated to Dugue's.
Bernstein argued that merely mentioning Raymond Robair's last name couldn't amount to any prejudice against Dugue. The retired sergeant wasn't charged in the Robair case, but the judge said it's impossible to know if any jurors heard her remark and drew any negative conclusions.
"That's a chance that I'm not willing to take," he said, adding that a mistrial was "the last thing in the world I want to do."
Bernstein said she couldn't comment on the judge's ruling or prosecutors' plans.
The hurricane, which struck Louisiana and Mississippi on Aug. 29, 2005, drove a wall of water into the coast. Levees broke and flooded roughly 80 percent of New Orleans, plunging the city into chaos and subjecting police to harsh, dangerous conditions.
The storm also cast a spotlight on a troubled police department that has been plagued by corruption for decades. In Katrina's aftermath, federal authorities launched a new push to clean up the police force. The criminal probes were only part of the effort. The Justice Department also embarked on a top-to-bottom review of the department that produced a scathing report on its practices.
Before the trial started, Engelhardt barred prosecutors from introducing evidence related to Dugue's involvement in the department's probe of Robair's death. Defense attorney Claude Kelly asked for a mistrial after he heard Bernstein turn to a colleague and say, "Get me Robair," while cross-examining Dugue. Bernstein was asking for a file related to the Robair case.
Bernstein said she wanted to ask Dugue about his report in the Robair case to show he knows how to properly write a report and is capable of assessing whether witnesses are credible or not.
Kelly, however, said Bernstein's "outrageous behavior" could have left jurors with the impression that Dugue was suspected of wrongdoing in the Robair case. Engelhardt angrily scolded Bernstein, saying she should have privately discussed the matter with him at the bench if she thought she could broach the subject.
"My orders are my orders, and I expect them to be followed," he said.
Earlier Friday, on the fifth day of his trial, Dugue denied participating in a cover-up, claiming he didn't learn until years later that police shot innocent, unarmed people on the bridge.
Dugue said he now knows some of his former colleagues lied to him about their actions on the bridge less than a week after the 2005 storm. He said he didn't learn the truth ? that police shot six people, killing two, without justification ? until after other officers started cooperating with a federal probe of the shootings and pleaded guilty in 2010 to participating in a cover-up.
"If anybody says anything about me being involved in a cover-up, they're a liar," he said.
Prosecutors said Dugue rigged his investigation of the Sept. 4, 2005, shootings and submitted a false report to clear several officers who opened fire on the bridge as they responded to another officer's distress call.
During her cross-examination of Dugue, Bernstein pressed him to explain why he didn't do more to verify or challenge the officers' accounts of the shootings.
"Your job is not to just type out what people say and be done," Bernstein said.
Dugue said he didn't have the "supporting cast" to conduct a more thorough investigation because the police department was overwhelmed in Katrina's chaotic aftermath.
"I didn't have the tools, the resources, the people to do that teamwork," Dugue said. "It wasn't there."
He wasn't charged in the shootings and didn't get involved in the case until six weeks later, when he was assigned to take over the department's investigation. Prosecutors said the cover-up, which included a planted gun, phony witnesses and falsified reports, already was in motion when Dugue inherited the investigation from Sgt. Arthur Kaufman in October 2005.
Dugue said his "jaw dropped" when he learned Kaufman hadn't collected any shell casings or other physical evidence from the scene of the shootings. Dugue said he immediately dispatched a crime scene technician to comb over the bridge. Still, Dugue insisted he didn't have any reason to suspect that Kaufman or the shooters were lying.
"I did not know anything about any kind of cover-up," he said.
Kaufman is one of five current or former officers convicted in August of civil rights violations stemming from the shootings. They are scheduled to be sentenced April 3.
CHICAGO -- Dana White has his mind made up. You're never going to know what UFC fighters truly make and that's just the way it has to be.
"So just because you don't know everything, you don't have to know anything, and to be honest with you? It's none of your [expletive] business how much these guys are making. They're making a lot of money. [...] How much money is none of your business. I'm not asking how much money you're making," said White (3:10 mark).
White believes that the salary information, so readily available in the other pro sports has ruined things for the athletes. He pointed to the recent $214 million megadeal inked by Detroit Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder.
"His whole life is going to change. He thought it was bad before with the (expletive) he had going on in his life? Everybody and their mother is coming after that 214," White said (2:10 mark). "Believe me when I tell you. Mark my words, Prince Fielder talk to me in five years and tell me what it was like when the news put out there that you were making $214 million dollars. I'm not going to do that to my guys."
The UFC often gets a bad rap for fighter pay because the only numbers revealed are those given to state commissions. The promotion beefs up the pay with behind-the-scenes discretionary and pay-per-view bonuses. White is often asked if all the complaints about pay would go away if Zuffa simply revealed all the details.
"Even when we sat down and had that first FOX meeting, the guys at FOX were like, holy [expletive]! They're like, 'Why don't you plaster this everywhere? This is the thing that will put you guys over the top. This is the thing that people love to see and talk about. Look at Mike Tyson.' And I said, 'Yeah, look at Mike Tyson,'" White said. "I've had these conversations with Mike. Mike said that when his money was reported, his [expletive] life was miserable. I'm not doing it."
Some believe the UFC's reluctance to be more transparent prompted the Federal Trade Commission to open an anti-trust violation investigation to look into Zuffa's practices.
"My understanding is that yes [the FTC has] opened a non-public investigation based on the acquisition we made of Strikeforce," said UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta.
The FTC vs. the UFC? That's a heavyweight fight. That's Dana White's worst nightmare. The FTC looks for antitrust violations, picking apart monopolies as the unfair bullies they are -- and as far as I'm concerned, the UFC is guilty as charged.
The story set off White.
"There was guy yesterday, he wrote this story and you could tell this thing was like 'I want some attention. I want some attention. Maybe he'll get mad and say some [expletive].' [...] When we get stories written about us like that, I know it seems like I get crazy and come off too personal ... well, [expletive] yeah it's personal! What you're saying is untrue," said White (0:51 mark).
White said everything about the promotion is on the up and up.
"If the government wants to come in and look inside and take a peak and look around, they're more than welcome," White said. "Many of you have heard stories and all kinds of things ... mark my [expletive] words right here, right now, today ... we're not going anywhere. And everything we say is true."
As far as we know the FTC is still looking at Zuffa. White certainly came off sounding very confident nothing will come from the investigation.
White pointed out that there is no sport that has been more heavily scrutinized by governments all levels. The promotion has survived and thrived to become what White called the best sports story of the last 50 years.
BEIJING ? A young man posts his photo with a leaflet demanding freedom for Tibet and telling Chinese police, come and get me. Protesters rise up to defend him, and demonstrations break out in two other Tibetan areas of western China to support the same cause.
Each time, police respond with bullets.
The three clashes, all in the past week, killed several Tibetans and injured dozens. They mark an escalation of a protest movement that for months expressed itself mainly through scattered individual self-immolations.
It's the result of growing desperation among Tibetans and a harsh crackdown by security forces that scholars and pro-Tibet activists contend only breeds more rage and despair.
That leaves authorities with the stark choice of either cracking down even harder or meeting Tibetan demands for greater freedom and a return of their Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama ? something Beijing has shown zero willingness to do.
"By not responding constructively when it was faced with peaceful one-person protests, the (Communist) party has created the conditions for violent, large-scale protests," said Robbie Barnett, head of modern Tibetan studies at New York's Columbia University.
This is the region's most violent period since 2008, when deadly rioting in Tibet's capital Lhasa spread to Tibetan areas in adjoining provinces. China responded by flooding the area with troops and closing Tibetan regions entirely to foreigners for about a year. Special permission is still required for non-Chinese visitors to Tibet, and the Himalayan region remains closed off entirely for the weeks surrounding the March 14 anniversary of the riots that left 22 people dead.
Video smuggled out by activists shows paramilitary troops equipped with assault rifles and armored cars making pre-dawn arrests. Huge convoys of heavily armored troops are seen driving along mountain roads and monks accused of sedition being frog-marched to waiting trucks.
For the past year, self-immolations have become a striking form of protest in the region. At least 16 monks, nuns and former clergy set themselves on fire after chanting for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
China, fiercely critical of the Dalai Lama, says Tibet has been under its rule for centuries, but many Tibetans say the region was functionally independent for most of that time.
In a change from the individual protests, several thousand Tibetans marched to government offices Monday in Ganzi prefecture in Sichuan province. Police opened fire into the crowd, killing up to three people, witnesses and activist groups said.
On Tuesday, security forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters in another area of Ganzi, killing two Tibetans and wounding several more, according to the group Free Tibet.
On Thursday in southwestern Sichuan province's Aba prefecture, a youth named Tarpa posted a leaflet saying that self-immolations wouldn't stop until Tibet is free, the London-based International Campaign for Tibet said. He wrote his name on the leaflet and included a photo of himself, saying that Chinese authorities could come and arrest him if they wished, group spokeswoman Kate Saunders said in an email.
Security forces did so about two hours later. Area residents blocked their way, shouting slogans and warning of bigger protests if Tarpa wasn't released, Saunders said. Police then fired into the crowd, killing a a 20-year-old friend of Tarpa's, a student named Urgen, and wounding several others.
The incident, as with most reported clashes in Tibetan areas, could not be independently verified and exact numbers of casualties were unclear because of the heavy security presence and lack of access. The topic is so sensitive that even government-backed scholars claim ignorance of it and refuse to comment.
The government, however, acknowledged Tuesday's unrest, saying that a "mob" charged a police station and injured 14 officers, forcing police to open fire on them. The official Xinhua News Agency said police killed one rioter and injured another.
"The Chinese government will, as always, fight all crimes and be resolute in maintaining social order," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in comments on the incident.
The harsh response points to a deep anxiety about the self-immolations, said Youdon Aukatsang, a New Delhi-based member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile.
"They're worried that there is an underground movement in Tibet that is coming to the surface," she said.
Tibetan desperation has been fed both by the harsh crackdown ? security agents reportedly outnumber monks in some monasteries ? along with a deep fear that the Dalai Lama, probably the most potent symbol of Tibet's separate identity, will never return.
The 76-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate handed his political powers to an elected assembly last year. That was intended to ensure the Tibetan cause would live on after him, but was met with considerable anxiety among many Tibetans who saw it as a sign he was giving up his role as leader of their struggle.
Dibyesh Anand, a Tibet expert at London's University of Westminster, said resistance to Chinese rule is likely to grow more fierce.
"Protests will get more radicalized since the Tibetans in the region see no concession, no offer of compromise, no flexibility coming from the government," he said.
CAMPOS, Brazil (Reuters) ? A Brazilian prosecutor plans to file criminal charges against Chevron Corp and some of its local managers within weeks, adding the threat of prison sentences to an $11 billion civil lawsuit as punishment for a November offshore oil spill.
The filing in federal court in Campos, Brazil, will likely include a request for criminal indictment of George Buck, chief executive of Chevron's Brazil unit, as well as other staff, three Brazilian government officials involved in the case told Reuters.
Transocean Ltd, whose rig was used in the operation, and some of its employees in Brazil are also expected to be charged, according to the officials, who requested anonymity because the case has not been presented to a judge. It is up to a judge to determine whether to accept the charges and proceed with indictments.
The backlash against the Chevron spill has highlighted the risks that energy companies face as they rush to get a piece of Brazil's oil bonanza. Chevron's legal troubles come as new oil rules give Brazil's government more control over the country's vast oil wealth. The regulatory overhaul has also delayed investment projects and new drilling licenses.
Buck and Chevron acted in a "careless and irresponsible way," an official who investigated the 2,400-barrel spill told Reuters.
The official said it is unlikely that people facing charges will be arrested in the near term or be barred from leaving Brazil. As the case advances and more evidence is collected, however, such measures could be applied, the official added.
When Reuters informed Chevron that charges were pending, company spokesman Kurt Glaubitz said "Chevron believes that the charges are without merit."
"Chevron is confident that once all the facts are fully examined, they will demonstrate that Chevron responded appropriately and responsibly to the incident," he added.
Transocean spokesman R. Thaddeus Vayda declined to comment. Transocean is the world's biggest offshore oil rig operator.
Brazilian prosecutors have become more active in going after alleged polluters, sometimes bringing aggressive charges to encourage offenders to settle cases. They are moving far more swiftly than their U.S. counterparts: BP's 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 1,000 times larger in terms of oil, has not yet resulted in any criminal charges.
In Brazil, charges in cases such as these can take a decade before all appeals are exhausted. That could saddle Chevron and Transocean with years of costly litigation, said Paulo Augusto Silva Novaes, a lawyer with the Rio de Janeiro firm of Benjo, Garcia, Souto & Novaes.
The charges would come more than a month after a Federal Police investigator submitted a report saying Chevron and Transocean took "unacceptable" risks in the Frade oil field off Brazil's southern coast, and recommended that 17 individuals be indicted.
As many as 12 of those people are from Chevron, according to legal documents reviewed by Reuters.
Chevron is also fighting a separate 20-billion-real ($11 billion) lawsuit brought by the same Brazilian federal prosecutors. Chevron also is contesting an $18 billion judgment in Ecuador related to environmental contamination from 1964 to 1992 by Texaco, which Chevron bought in 2001.
PRESSURE KICK
On November 7, a well drilled by Chevron using a Transocean rig 107 kilometers (73 miles) from the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, experienced a pressure "kick" after tapping into an oil reservoir in Frade.
An emergency blow-out preventer was activated, plugging the well 1,200 meters (3,937 feet) below the ocean surface. But days later, Chevron discovered oil seeps from the seafloor hundreds of meters from the plugged well. Pressure caused a breach of the well wall far beneath the seabed, allowing oil to infiltrate surrounding rock and work its way into the ocean, Chevron said.
Police and prosecutors allege that Chevron knew it was drilling in a high pressure area and that rock structures above the reservoir were fragile, factors that resulted in the spill and should have prompted more caution.
"This well could not and should not have been drilled," the Federal Police said in a December 20 report.
Chevron denies taking any undue risk and says Brazilian authorities approved its drilling plans.
"The pressure was estimated using complex modeling and the data obtained from the 50 wellbores previously drilled at the Frade project," Chevron's Glaubitz said in a statement. "However, it is not uncommon to experience different conditions or pressures during drilling operations than those previously experienced."
Chevron said it acted quickly and correctly to stanch the leak from the seafloor within four days. Its operations and spill response adhered to the "best practices" of the oil industry, the company said.
Brazilian prosecutors have independence to file criminal and civil charges against companies and their employees for environmental damages, said Gustavo Trindade, who was chief legal advisor to Marina Silva, a former Brazilian Environment Minister and presidential candidate.
These cases rarely result in convictions, large fines or prison sentences, said Novaes, a corporate law expert.
For example, state-run oil company Petrobras, a partner with Chevron at Frade, is still appealing convictions and more than 100 million reais of damages resulting from an offshore oil platform accident in 2001 and a giant oil spill in Rio in 2000.
Oil from the recent Chevron leak did not reach shore and was less than 0.1 percent of BP's 4.9 million barrel Gulf of Mexico spill in 2010. The Frade leak was also much smaller than several previous spills in Brazil by Petrobras.
Petrobras owns 30 percent of Frade. Chevron own 52 percent and is responsible for field management. The rest is owned by Frade Japao, a unit of Japan's Inpex.
Brazil's oil regulator, the ANP, has suspended Chevron's drilling license at Frade. The ANP and Brazil's environmental protection agency Ibama have fined Chevron more than $50 million as a result of the spill.
Chevron says that there is no evidence the Frade leak, which prosecutors estimate was closer to 3,000 barrels, has had any impact on aquatic life or on humans.
Oil is still leaking from the sea floor, government officials said. The oil has leaked at an average rate of 1.4 liters a day for the last week and is being captured by undersea traps, Chevron said.
Recent flyovers have not detected oil on the ocean surface, Chevron added.
Brazil's newfound oil wealth - including at least 15 billion barrels of deepwater discoveries since 2007 - puts the country among the world's most promising oil frontiers. Since the new finds, the government has stopped auctions of oil concessions in its richest offshore areas.
Petrobras will be the operator and hold a minimum 30 percent stake in all future oil projects in those areas. Under a new system, oil producers must share their production with the government.
San Ramon, California-based Chevron has operated in Brazil for nearly 100 years. It has invested around $2 billion in the country and has plans to spend several billion more on future projects.
Chevron shares were up 0.37 percent at $108.10 on Thursday in New York. Transocean shares rose 3.62 percent to 44.39 Swiss francs ($46.73) in Switzerland.
(Editing by Todd Benson, Alix Freedman, Jonathan Leff and Bob Burgdorfer)
Notable moments from the GOP presidential debate Thursday night in Jacksonville, Fla.
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IMMIGRATION FIGHT
Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney had their sharpest exchange when Gingrich said Romney was the most anti-immigrant candidate in the GOP field. Romney responded indignantly, reminding Gingrich that Romney's father, George, was born in Mexico.
"The idea that I'm anti-immigrant is repulsive," Romney fired at Gingrich. "Don't use a term like that. You can say we disagree on certain policies, but to say that enforcing the U.S. law to protect our borders, to welcome people here legally, to expand legal immigration, as I have proved, that that's somehow anti anti-immigrant is simply the kind of over-the-top rhetoric that has characterized American politics too long."
Romney also asked Gingrich for an apology for an ad Gingrich recently pulled from airwaves that attacked Romney on immigration policy. Gingrich didn't offer one.
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MOON SHOTS
Gingrich's proposal for a permanent American colony on the moon was mocked by Romney, who said Gingrich is developing a pattern of pandering to local voters.
"If I had a business executive come to me and say I want to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I'd say, `You're fired,'" said Romney, a former businessman.
He then noted Gingrich's calls for a new interstate highway in South Carolina, a new VA hospital in northern New Hampshire, and widening the port of Jacksonville to accommodate the larger ships that will soon be able to transit the Panama Canal. Romney said promises like that were what had caused a massive budget deficit in the first place.
Gingrich defended himself saying he'd find plenty of things to cut and shouldn't be mocked for setting priorities.
"You don't just have to be cheap everywhere. You can actually have priorities to get things done," he said.
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MEDICAL RECORDS
The oldest candidate in the race, 76-year-old Rep. Ron Paul, said he'd be happy to share his medical records with the public if he were the nominee. Then he one-upped his fellow candidates by challenging them to a 25-mile bike ride.
He had no takers.
All of the candidates said they'd release their medical records for scrutiny. Paul, who would be the oldest president ever elected, said his records are short, about a page long.
Gingrich vouched for his competitor's fitness. "I'm confident that Dr. Paul is quite ready to serve if he's elected. Watching him campaign, he's in great shape," he said with a laugh.
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FIRST LADY CHATTER
Asked what their wives would bring to the position of first lady, the candidates were happy to gush about their better halves.
Paul, married for 54 years, says he's got an anniversary coming up next week. He also plugged his wife's work as an author ? of "The Ron Paul Cookbook."
Romney praised his wife for battling multiple sclerosis and breast cancer.
"She is a real champion and a fighter," he said.
Gingrich said he's met each of the candidates' wives and said they'd all be "terrific first ladies." He says his wife, Callista, would bring a tremendous artistic focus and would be a strong advocate for music and music education.
Rick Santorum says his wife is "my hero" because she gave up a successful career to help raise their seven children.
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MOM IN THE HOUSE
Santorum got a big applause line when he introduced his mom, 93-year-old Catherine Santorum. During the debate's introductions Santorum said he was glad to have his mother at the debate. And, it turns out, she can help turn out the vote for her son ? she is a north Florida resident. When she stood up to be recognized, the debate hall gave her loud applause.
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NO LOVE FOR TSA
Even before the debate started a rowdy, Paul-supporting crowd at the University of North Florida debate site shouted jeers toward the Transportation Security Administration. The anti-TSA chants came days after Paul's son, GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, was stopped by security at the Nashville airport when a scanner set off an alarm and Paul declined to allow a security officer to pat him down.
Police escorted Paul away, but allowed him to board a later flight.
Ron Paul has already used his son's experience to promote his "Plan to Restore America," which would cut $1 trillion of federal spending in a year and eliminate the TSA. He has said the incident reflects that the "police state in this country is growing out of control."
Diagnostic brain tumor test could revolutionize care of patients Public release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Debbie Bolles debbie.bolles@utsouthwestern.edu 214-648-3404 UT Southwestern Medical Center
DALLAS Jan. 26, 2012 Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have developed what they believe to be the first clinical application of a new imaging technique to diagnose brain tumors. The unique test could preclude the need for surgery in patients whose tumors are located in areas of the brain too dangerous to biopsy.
This new magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) technique provides a definitive diagnosis of cancer based on imaging of a protein associated with a mutated gene found in 80 percent of low- and intermediate-grade gliomas. Presence of the mutation also means a better prognosis.
"To our knowledge, this is the only direct metabolic consequence of a genetic mutation in a cancer cell that can be identified through noninvasive imaging," said Dr. Elizabeth Maher, associate professor of internal medicine and neurology at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study, available online in Nature Medicine. "This is a major breakthrough for brain tumor patients."
UT Southwestern researchers developed the test by modifying the settings of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to track the protein's levels. The data acquisition and analysis procedure was developed by study lead author Dr. Changho Choi, associate professor of the Advanced Imaging Research Center (AIRC) and radiology. Previous research linked high levels of this protein to the mutation, and UT Southwestern researchers already had been working on MRS of gliomas to find tumor biomarkers.
"Our next step is to make this testing procedure widely available as part of routine MRIs for brain tumors. It doesn't require any injections or special equipment," said Dr. Maher, medical director of UT Southwestern's neuro-oncology program.
To substantiate the test as a diagnostic tool, biopsy samples from 30 glioma patients enrolled in the UT Southwestern clinical trial were analyzed; half had the mutation and expected high levels of the protein. MRS imaging of these patients had been done before surgery and predicted, with 100 percent accuracy, which patients had the mutation.
For Thomas Smith of Grand Prairie, the test helped determine the best time to begin chemotherapy. When an MRS scan showed a sharp rise in the 25-year-old's protein levels, this indicated to his health care team that his tumor was moving from dormancy to rapid growth.
"We treated him with chemotherapy and his protein levels came down," Dr. Maher said.
Before participating in the study, Mr. Smith had tumor removal surgery in 2007. Because part of the tumor could not be safely removed, however, he continued to suffer seizures and had other neurological problems. Since chemotherapy, his symptoms have diminished.
"I did six rounds of chemo, every six weeks," Mr. Smith said. "My seizures stopped and all my symptoms improved. I am only on anti-seizure medication now."
###
Other UT Southwestern researchers involved in the study included Sandeep Ganji, a doctorate student in radiological sciences; Dr. Ralph DeBerardinis, assistant professor of pediatrics and with the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development; Dr. Kimmo Hatanpaa, associate professor of pathology; Dr. Dinesh Rakheja, assistant professor of pathology; Dr. Zoltan Kovacs, assistant professor in the AIRC; Drs. Xiao-Li Yang and Tomoyuki Mashimo, both senior research scientists in internal medicine; Dr. Jack Raisanen, professor of pathology; Dr. Isaac Marin-Valencia, resident in pediatrics; Dr. Juan Pascual, assistant professor of neurology and neurotherapeutics, pediatrics, and physiology; Dr. Christopher Madden, associate professor of neurological surgery; Dr. Bruce Mickey, professor of neurological surgery and otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, and radiation oncology; Dr. Craig Malloy, professor in the AIRC and of internal medicine and radiology; and Dr. Robert Bachoo, assistant professor in neurology and neurotherapeutics, and internal medicine.
The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and financial support from the Annette G. Strauss Center for Neuro-oncology at UT Southwestern.
This news release is available on our World Wide Web home page at
www.utsouthwestern.edu/home/news/index.html
To automatically receive news releases from UT Southwestern via email, subscribe at www.utsouthwestern.edu/receivenews
Dr. Elizabeth Maher -- http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/fis/faculty/80409/elizabeth-maher.html
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Diagnostic brain tumor test could revolutionize care of patients Public release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Debbie Bolles debbie.bolles@utsouthwestern.edu 214-648-3404 UT Southwestern Medical Center
DALLAS Jan. 26, 2012 Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have developed what they believe to be the first clinical application of a new imaging technique to diagnose brain tumors. The unique test could preclude the need for surgery in patients whose tumors are located in areas of the brain too dangerous to biopsy.
This new magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) technique provides a definitive diagnosis of cancer based on imaging of a protein associated with a mutated gene found in 80 percent of low- and intermediate-grade gliomas. Presence of the mutation also means a better prognosis.
"To our knowledge, this is the only direct metabolic consequence of a genetic mutation in a cancer cell that can be identified through noninvasive imaging," said Dr. Elizabeth Maher, associate professor of internal medicine and neurology at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study, available online in Nature Medicine. "This is a major breakthrough for brain tumor patients."
UT Southwestern researchers developed the test by modifying the settings of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to track the protein's levels. The data acquisition and analysis procedure was developed by study lead author Dr. Changho Choi, associate professor of the Advanced Imaging Research Center (AIRC) and radiology. Previous research linked high levels of this protein to the mutation, and UT Southwestern researchers already had been working on MRS of gliomas to find tumor biomarkers.
"Our next step is to make this testing procedure widely available as part of routine MRIs for brain tumors. It doesn't require any injections or special equipment," said Dr. Maher, medical director of UT Southwestern's neuro-oncology program.
To substantiate the test as a diagnostic tool, biopsy samples from 30 glioma patients enrolled in the UT Southwestern clinical trial were analyzed; half had the mutation and expected high levels of the protein. MRS imaging of these patients had been done before surgery and predicted, with 100 percent accuracy, which patients had the mutation.
For Thomas Smith of Grand Prairie, the test helped determine the best time to begin chemotherapy. When an MRS scan showed a sharp rise in the 25-year-old's protein levels, this indicated to his health care team that his tumor was moving from dormancy to rapid growth.
"We treated him with chemotherapy and his protein levels came down," Dr. Maher said.
Before participating in the study, Mr. Smith had tumor removal surgery in 2007. Because part of the tumor could not be safely removed, however, he continued to suffer seizures and had other neurological problems. Since chemotherapy, his symptoms have diminished.
"I did six rounds of chemo, every six weeks," Mr. Smith said. "My seizures stopped and all my symptoms improved. I am only on anti-seizure medication now."
###
Other UT Southwestern researchers involved in the study included Sandeep Ganji, a doctorate student in radiological sciences; Dr. Ralph DeBerardinis, assistant professor of pediatrics and with the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development; Dr. Kimmo Hatanpaa, associate professor of pathology; Dr. Dinesh Rakheja, assistant professor of pathology; Dr. Zoltan Kovacs, assistant professor in the AIRC; Drs. Xiao-Li Yang and Tomoyuki Mashimo, both senior research scientists in internal medicine; Dr. Jack Raisanen, professor of pathology; Dr. Isaac Marin-Valencia, resident in pediatrics; Dr. Juan Pascual, assistant professor of neurology and neurotherapeutics, pediatrics, and physiology; Dr. Christopher Madden, associate professor of neurological surgery; Dr. Bruce Mickey, professor of neurological surgery and otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, and radiation oncology; Dr. Craig Malloy, professor in the AIRC and of internal medicine and radiology; and Dr. Robert Bachoo, assistant professor in neurology and neurotherapeutics, and internal medicine.
The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and financial support from the Annette G. Strauss Center for Neuro-oncology at UT Southwestern.
This news release is available on our World Wide Web home page at
www.utsouthwestern.edu/home/news/index.html
To automatically receive news releases from UT Southwestern via email, subscribe at www.utsouthwestern.edu/receivenews
Dr. Elizabeth Maher -- http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/fis/faculty/80409/elizabeth-maher.html
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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.
Damage to parts of the penis vital for proper erections has been repaired for the first time with the help of stem cells. In rats, the treatment restored full erections, improved blood flow and accelerated healing.
Ultimately, the researchers hope to treat the 3 to 9 per cent of men who have Peyronie's disease, which damages the membrane surrounding the chambers within the penis that swell with blood during arousal. This makes it difficult to achieve a straight erection.
Wayne Hellstrom of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and colleagues, extracted stem cells from fat and placed them onto layers of tissue taken from the lining of pig intestine. This material, called small intestinal submucosa (SIS), is already used to replace damaged membrane in men with Peyronie's disease, but Hellstrom wanted to see whether adding stem cells would improve healing.
Two months after therapy, tissue analysis showed less scarring and higher levels of regenerative agents such as fibroblast growth factor ? which accelerate healing ? in rats treated with SIS plus stem cells compared with those treated with SIS alone. "The stem cells induced factors that enhanced blood supply, tissue restoration and erectile function," says Hellstrom.
Production of enzymes that make a blood vessel relaxant vital for erections was also higher in rats given the stem cells. Hellstrom hopes to be able to offer a similar treatment to men.
"The apparent mechanisms of action are consistent with other clinical studies showing that fat-derived stem cells are particularly good at improving blood supply and reducing scarring," says Marc Hedrick of regenerative medicine firm Cytori in San Diego, California.
Read more: "Stem cells turn into breast implants"
Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1113810109
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Adam Lashinsky’s Inside Apple, wish purports to go behind the scenes of Apple’s magic as the world’s biggest start up, and lay bare the secrets of their success, is
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. ? Erick Green scored 15 points, including the free throws with 1:52 remaining to give Virginia Tech the lead, and Dorenzo Hudson had six points over the final 2:12 as the Hokies beat No. 15 Virginia 47-45 on Sunday night, ending the Cavaliers' nine-game home winning streak.
Hudson, who finished with 12 points, hit a baby hook with 1:11 to go to give Virginia Tech a 44-41 lead. After a jumper by Jontel Evans pulled Virginia within a point, Hudson hit a 3-pointer from the left corner with 16.5 seconds left for the Hokies (12-7, 1-4 Atlantic Coast Conference).
Virginia (15-3, 2-2) needed several shots to score at the other end, and when Joe Harris finally banked in a putback, only 1 second remained. Virginia shot 32.6 percent overall and missed 13 of 14 3-point attempts.
Evans, Harris and Mike Scott all scored 10 points for the Cavaliers.
Virginia came in second in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 50.4 points, and the Hokies seemed determined to show they could be just as stout. They were more than that, hold the Cavaliers to a season-low in points.
A tip-in by Harris pulled Virginia even at 37 with 8:25 left, and neither team scored again for more than 3 minutes.
Sammy Zeglinski finally ended the drought for Virginia, hitting one free throw, and Scott made it 40-37 with a fast break dunk. On the play, Malcolm Brogdon came away with a long rebound and started the break, and then fed Scott flying down the land for the one-handed stuff.
Hokies freshman guard Marquis Rankin, in the game to give Green a rest, got the Hokies within 40-39 with a foul-line jumper.
Harris then made just 1 of 2 free throws, capping a second half in which Virginia missed 7 of 13 from the line.
Hudson made 1 of 2 for the Hokies, and Green made two free throws with 1:52 to go, giving the Hokies a 42-21 lead.
After a turnover, Hudson's baby hook stretched the lead to three, and the Cavaliers never caught up.
Virginia trailed 32-25 when Zeglinski tried his fifth 3-pointer and, like the others, missed. The crowd groaned, but Harris came up with the rebound underneath and muscled it in, causing the sellout crowd to erupt and giving the spark the Cavaliers desperately needed.
Almost immediately, Evans stole the ball near midcourt and drove in for a layup. After a miss by the Hokies, Brogdon made two free throws for Virginia, and Harris made one to tie it at 32.
Virginia Tech led 23-19 at halftime after closing on a 10-4 run fueled by Jarell Eddie, who ended consecutive possessions by barely beating the shot clock with long 3-pointers. Eddie came into the game shooting better than 50 percent from behind the arc.
Virginia shot just 25 percent in the opening half.
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Follow Hank on Twitter at http://twitter.com/hankkurzjr
WARSAW, Poland (AP) ? Poland's government went into defense mode on Monday after a network of online activists paralyzed government websites in opposition to Warsaw's plans to sign an international copyright treaty.
Poland had originally planned to sign the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, in Tokyo on Thursday. ACTA is a far-reaching international agreement that would fight copyright infringement and online piracy. Critics fear it could lead to censorship on the Internet.
A Twitter account using the name "AnonymousWiki" announced plans to attack government websites to protest the government's support for ACTA.
Within hours on Sunday, the websites of the prime minister, parliament and other government offices were unreachable or sluggish, the hallmarks of a denial of service attack. The technique works by directing streams of bogus traffic at a website, jamming it in the same way that a telephone line can be overwhelmed by hundreds of prank calls.
In an initial response, government spokesman Pawel Gras on Sunday suggested there hadn't been an attack at all on the sites. "This isn't an attack by hackers, but just the result of huge interest in the sites of the prime minister and parliament," he said, a comment that quickly became a source of ridicule on Facebook and other Internet sites.
By Monday, with the sites still paralyzed, the prime minister and other leaders were holding a meeting to reconsider their stance on the treaty.
"It was a velvet attack by hackers, but still it was an attack. Pawel Gras was wrong," said Slawomir Neumann, a lawmaker with the government Civic Platform party. Neumann said the situation showed that the Polish government is poorly prepared to handle such attacks.
And Michal Boni, the minister for administration and digitization, acknowledged in a radio interview Monday that the government had failed to hold enough consultations with the public on the matter.
An opposition party, the Democratic Left Alliance, also called on the government to not sign in it in a gesture of solidarity with those who warn it could hurt Internet freedom.
Anonymous, the group suspected of involvement in the attacks, made a number of threats before and during the Internet disruptions.
"Dear Polish government, we will continue to disrupt and interfere with your government official websites until the 26th. Do not pass ACTA," one tweet by AnonymousWiki said.
It also threatened more trouble should Poland sign ACTA.
"We have dox files and leaked documentations on many Poland officials, if ACTA is passed, we will release these documents," AnonymousWiki said in a separate tweet.
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The solvent tetrachloroethylene (PCE) widely used in industry and to dry clean clothes is a neurotoxin known to cause mood changes, anxiety, and depression in people who work with it. To date the long-term effect of this chemical on children exposed to PCE has been less clear, although there is some evidence that children of people who work in the dry cleaning industry have an increased risk of schizophrenia. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health found that exposure to PCE as a child was associated with an increased risk of bipolar disorder and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
From 1968, until the early 1980s, water companies in Massachusetts installed vinyl-lined (VL/AC) water pipes that were subsequently found to be leaching PCE into the drinking water supply. Researchers from Boston University followed the incidence of mental illness amongst adults from Cape Cod, born between 1969 and 1983, who were consequently exposed to PCE both before birth and during early childhood.
While there was no increase seen in the incidence of depression, regardless of PCE exposure, people with prenatal and early childhood exposure to PCE had almost twice the risk of bipolar disorder, compared to an unexposed group, and their risk of PTSD was raised by 50%.
Dr Ann Aschengrau from Boston University School of Public Health warned, "It is impossible to calculate the exact amount of PCE these people were exposed to - levels of PCE were recorded as high as 1,550 times the currently recommended safe limit. While the water companies flushed the pipes to address this problem, people are still being exposed to PCE in the dry cleaning and textile industries, and from consumer products, and so the potential for an increased risk of illness remains real."
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BioMed Central: http://www.biomedcentral.com
Thanks to BioMed Central for this article.
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GILBERT, S.C. ? Working to fend off a surging Newt Gingrich in what's become an unexpectedly tight race, presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday tried to change the subject from his unreleased tax returns to the ethics investigation Gingrich faced 15 years ago.
Romney's campaign appeared visibly rattled the day before the South Carolina primary, his standing in polls having tumbled after a week of constant attack ads and self-made problems. The former Massachusetts governor faced a potentially difficult day Saturday, and senior aides acknowledged they wouldn't be surprised if he lost the primary.
Romney came to South Carolina after twin victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, only to see his Iowa victory thrown into question because of problems with the count. He's spent a week trying to answer questions about his personal wealth and when he will release his tax returns.
Gingrich's House reprimand in 1997 presented an opportunity to talk about something else. When asked if Gingrich should release the Ethics Committee report that resulted in the first such action against a House speaker, Romney replied, "Of course he should."
"Nancy Pelosi has the full record of that ethics investigation," he said. "You know it's going to get out ahead of the general election."
In fact, the 1,280-page committee report on Gingrich is already public. Campaign officials said Romney was referring to other documents that Gingrich has referenced and that Pelosi has also mentioned.
"Given Speaker Gingrich's newfound interest in disclosure and transparency, and his concern about an `October surprise,' he should authorize the release of the complete record of the ethics proceedings against him," Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said.
Romney's campaign is calling South Carolina voters with a recording attacking Gingrich's ethics record and calling on him to release any documents related to the inquiry.
In December, Pelosi told Talking Points Memo that she had served on the committee that conducted the investigation and implied that more information about the investigation could come to light. At the time Gingrich said the House should retaliate against Pelosi if she released any additional information.
"We turned over 1 million pages of material," Gingrich said then. "We had a huge report."
Gingrich's campaign said Romney's criticism represented a "panic attack" on the part of his campaign.
Romney on Friday said again that he wouldn't release his tax returns until April, which would probably be after Republicans choose their nominee.
"I realize that I had a lot of ground to make up and Speaker Gingrich is from a neighboring state, well-known, popular in the state," Romney said as he campaigned in Gilbert. "Frankly, to be in a neck-and-neck race at this last moment is kind of exciting."
Romney's campaign has rolled out endorsement after endorsement this week as he has tried to build a case that he is the most electable nominee. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman joined him on Thursday and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell campaigned with him Friday.
McDonnell said Friday he had been in touch with Romney's campaign for several weeks as they discussed the timing for the endorsement ? and decided it was most needed now, even as Romney looks ahead to a long campaign.
"It's the first Southern primary. I'm a Southern governor. I thought I could help," McDonnell said.
But the campaign's attack message has jumped from rival to rival and topic to topic as Romney's fought to stay afloat here.
At the beginning of the week, Romney was attacking rival Rick Santorum over voting rights for felons. Then he went after Gingrich's claims that he created jobs under President Ronald Reagan, saying Gingrich was living in "fantasyland." Meanwhile, his surrogates held a series of conference calls attacking his rivals, first calling Gingrich an unreliable leader and then pivoting to attack his ethics record.
In Thursday night's GOP debate, Romney continued his string of off-message remarks about his wealth, saying he has lived "in the real streets of America." A multimillionaire, he has three homes, one each in Massachusetts, California and New Hampshire.
Romney held three campaign events Friday in his last-ditch push to stem Gingrich's momentum. After stopping in Gilbert, he held a rally in North Charleston and flew to Greenville in the conservative upstate for a nighttime rally and a stop at his campaign headquarters before an evening event in Columbia, the state capital.
On a plane between events Friday night, Romney was outwardly cheerful in spite of a difficult day ahead, gamely bantering with reporters as he served pastries from Panera Bread.
"Pain au chocolat, smart move!" he said to one, proferring the box and a pair of tongs to take the desserts.
As he moved farther back into the plane, though, he dispensed with the tongs.
"Just use your fingers," he said. "To heck with it!"
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Public release date: 26-Jan-2012
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