Tobacco firms web impact probed

25 August 2010 Last updated at 22:35 ET By Jonathan Fildes Technology reporter, BBC News

The tobacco industry may be using websites such as YouTube to get around a ban on advertising cigarettes, a study says.

Researchers in New Zealand studied the video-sharing site and found a number of pro-tobacco videos "consistent with indirect marketing activity by tobacco companies or their proxies".

They say governments should consider regulating such content on the net.

Tobacco companies have always denied using the net to promote cigarettes.

"Tobacco companies stand to benefit greatly from the marketing potential of Web 2.0, without themselves being at significant risk of being implicated in violating any laws or advertising codes," the researchers wrote.

Amanda Sandford, research manager at anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health Ash said the studys findings were "disturbing but fairly typical of tobacco industry activity".

"As soon as one avenue of promotion is closed, companies will seek out alternative means of promoting their product and will do anything to get round advertising restrictions," she said.

"It indicates that their key audience is young people. There is a need for much stronger control over what appears on the internet."

But a spokesperson for British American Tobacco, one of the firms studied in the report, said it was "not our policy to use social networking sites such as Facebook or YouTube to promote our tobacco product brands".

"Not even the authors of this report claim we have done so," she said. "Using social media could breach local advertising laws and our own International Marketing Standards, which apply to our companies worldwide.

"Our employees, agencies and service providers should never use social media to promote our tobacco brands."

Several tobacco firms signed up to a voluntary agreement to restrict direct advertising on websites in 2002.

YouTube said that it does not "accept any paid-for tobacco advertising anywhere in the world".

Brand presence

The study, published in the journal Tobacco Control, focused on YouTube, the largest video-sharing site on the web. YouTube gets more than 1bn views a day.

The researchers searched for five tobacco brands and analysed the first 20 pages of video clips containing any reference to the firms. The content studied had been uploaded by users.

The authors analysed 163 clips, of which 20 appeared to be "very professionally made," they say.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

The arguments used to limit tobacco imagery in film and TV appear to apply to internet videos"

End Quote Study authors

"It is disturbing to note that some of the pro-tobacco videos appeared to be of a professional standard, many followed similar themes within a brand and large numbers contained images or music that maybe copyrighted to tobacco companies but have not been removed," the researchers said.

Firms who own copyright material posted on YouTube can request a video to be taken down. Users can aslo flag content to Google - the owners of YouTube - that they believe is "inappropriate".

"YouTube is a community site with clear policies that prohibit inappropriate content," said a spokesperson for the site.

"These policies dont allow any content that is illegal, as well as any material that depicts minors smoking. Our community understands the rules and polices the site for inappropriate material."

Film studies

Almost three-quarters of the content studied was classified as "pro-tobacco" with less than 4% classified as "anti-tobacco".

The dominant brand on YouTube was Marlboro, they said.

"The high presence of the Marlboro brand on YouTube could be because the Marlboro brand is being marketed more effectively than other brands and is therefore more popular, and/or because there is commercially driven placement of the videos on YouTube," the researchers wrote.

Ken Garcia, spokesman for Marlboro-makers Philip Morris USA, said the firm did not "post cigarette brand marketing on YouTube".

"We have communicated with YouTube in the past to ask them to remove YouTube material that we believe infringes on our intellectual property rights," he told BBC News.

Google were unable to confirm if they had been contacted by Philip Morris USA.

Most of the clips in the study contained images of people smoking branded tobacco products or images associated with the brand. Many also included the brand name in the title of the video.

The content featured a large proportion of archive material as well as videos featuring celebrities, films, sport and music.

"Videos featuring celebrities movies were mainly historic, and comprised videos from the 1950s and 1960s featuring The Flintstones, The Beverly Hillbillies or The Beatles," the researchers wrote.

They said their findings suggest governments should extend "current tobacco advertising restrictions to include Web 2.0".

"The arguments used to limit tobacco imagery in film and TV appear to apply to internet videos," the authors wrote.

The study was conducted by Lucy Elkin, George Thomson and Nick Wilson of the University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand.

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Drug cartel suspected in massacre of 72 migrants AP

MEXICO CITY A wounded migrant stumbled into a military checkpoint and led marines to a gruesome scene, what may be the biggest massacre so far in Mexicos bloody drug war: a room strewn with the bodies of 72 fellow travelers, some piled on top of each other, just 100 miles from their goal, the U.S. border.

The 58 men and 14 women were killed by the Zetas gang, the migrant told investigators Wednesday. The gang, started by former Mexican army special forces soldiers, is known to extort money from migrants who pass through its territory.

If authorities corroborate the story, it would be the most horrifying example yet of the plight of migrants trying to cross a country where drug cartels are increasingly scouting shelters and highways, hoping to extort cash or even recruit vulnerable immigrants.

"Its absolutely terrible and it demands the condemnation of all of our society," said government security spokesman Alejandro Poire.

The Ecuadorean migrant staggered to the checkpoint on Tuesday, with a bullet wound in his neck. He told the marines he had just escaped from gunmen at a ranch in San Fernando, a town in the northern state of Tamaulipas about 100 miles from Brownsville, Texas.

The Zetas so brutally control some parts of Tamaulipas that even many Mexicans do not dare to travel on the highways in the state. Many residents in the state tell of loved ones or friends who have disappeared traveling from one town to the next. Many of these kidnappings are never reported for fear that police are in league with the criminals.

The marines scrambled helicopters to raid the ranch, drawing gunfire from cartel gunmen. One marine and three gunmen died in a gunbattle. Then the marines discovered the bodies, some slumped in the chairs where they had been shot, one federal official said.

The migrant told authorities that his captors identified themselves as Zetas, and that the migrants were from Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador and Honduras.

Poire said the government was in contact with those countries to corroborate the identities of the migrants.

The Ecuadorean Embassy in Mexico said it was in contact with the surviving migrant, Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla, and was trying to find out if any of its citizens were among the dead.

Marcio Araujo, Brazils consul general in Mexico, said documents found at the scene indicated at least four of the dead were Brazilian. Consular officials for El Salvador said they had no immediate information on whether any Salvadorans were among the victims.

The marines seized 21 assault rifles, shotguns and rifles, and detained a minor, apparently part of the gang.

Authorities said they were trying to determine whether the victims were killed at the same time � and why. Poire noted migrants are frequently kidnapped by cartel gunmen demanding money, sometimes contacting relatives in the U.S. to demand ransoms.

Poire also said the government believes cartels are increasingly trying to recruit migrants as foot soldiers � a concern that has also been expressed by U.S. politicians demanding more security at the border.

The government has confirmed at least seven cases of cartels kidnapping groups of migrants so far this year, said Antonio Diaz, an official with the National Migration Institute, a think tank that studies immigration.

But other groups say migrant kidnappings are much more rampant. In its most recent study, the National Human Rights Commission said some 1,600 migrants are kidnapped in Mexico each month. It based its figures on the number of reports it received between September 2008 and February 2009.

Violence along the northeastern border with the U.S. has soared this year since the Zetas broke with their former employer, the Gulf cartel. Authorities say the Gulf cartel has joined forces with its once-bitter enemies, the Sinaloa and La Familia gangs, to destroy the Zetas, who have grown so powerful they now have reach into Central America.

Teresa Delagadillo, who works at the Casa San Juan Diego shelter in Matamoros just across from Brownsville, said she often hears stories about criminal gangs kidnapping and beating migrants to demand money � but never a horror story on the scale of this weeks massacre.

"There hadnt been reports that they had killed them," she said.

It was the third time this year that Mexican authorities have discovered large masses of corpses. In the other two cases, investigators believe the bodies were dumped at the sites over a long time.

In May, authorities discovered 55 bodies in an abandoned mine near Taxco, a colonial-era city south of Mexico City that is popular with tourists.

In July, investigators found 51 corpses in two days of digging in a field near a trash dump outside the northern metropolis of Monterrey. Many of those found were believed to have been rival traffickers. But cartels often dispose of the bodies of kidnap victims in such dumping grounds.

Authorities are still digging in a mine shaft where seven bodies were removed over the weekend in the central state of Hidalgo. Two more bodies have been pulled out since, officials said Wednesday.

The Rev. Alejandro Solalinde, who runs a shelter in the southern state of Oaxaca, where many migrants pass on their way to Tamaulipas, said the Zetas have put informants inside shelters to find out which migrants have relatives in the U.S. � the most lucrative targets for kidnap-extortion schemes.

He said he constantly hears horror stories, including people who "say their companions have been killed with baseball bats in front of the others."

Solalinde said he has been threatened by Zetas demanding access to his shelters.

He said the gangsters told him: "If we kill you, theyll close the shelter and well have to look all over for the migrants."

___

Associated Press Writer Alicia A. Caldwell in El Paso, Texas, contributed to this report.

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Carter lands in North Korea to bring home American AP

SEOUL, South Korea North Koreans welcomed Jimmy Carter back to Pyongyang with smiles, salutes and hearty handshakes as the former American president arrived on a mission to bring home a Boston man jailed in the communist country since January.

U.S. officials have billed Carters trip as a private humanitarian visit to try to negotiate the release of Aijalon Gomes, sentenced to eight years of hard labor in a North Korean prison for entering the country illegally from China.

However, visits like Carters � and the journey ex-President Bill Clinton made a year ago to secure the release of two American journalists � serve as more than just rescue missions. They also offer an opportunity for unofficial diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea, analysts say.

Communist North Korea and the capitalist U.S. fought on opposite sides of the Korean War. Three years of warfare ended in 1953 with a cease-fire but not a peace treaty, and the two Koreas remain divided by one of the worlds most fiercely fortified borders.

To this day, the U.S. stations 28,500 troops in South Korea to guard the longtime ally, a presence that chafes at Pyongyang, which cites the forces as a main reason behind its need for nuclear weapons.

For more than a year, relations have been particularly tense, with North Korea testing a nuclear weapon and long-range missile technology, and the U.S. leading the charge to punish Pyongyang for its defiance.

The March sinking of a South Korean warship, which killed 46 sailors, has provided fresh fodder for tensions. Seoul and Washington accuse Pyongyang of torpedoing the vessel; North Korea denies involvement and has threatened harsh retaliation if punished.

With all sides digging in, six-nation nuclear disarmament talks have remain stalled. North Korea wants a peace treaty; South Korea and the U.S. want an apology for the sinking of the warship.

Last year, it took Clintons visit to get the U.S. and North Korea talking again. Some five months after journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were seized near the Chinese border, Clinton � the last president to have had warm relations with North Korea � turned up in Pyongyang on a private jet.

Clinton was cordial but serious as he met with leader Kim Jong Il, who appeared giddy at being photographed next to the former president. North Korean state media paid little attention to the two journalists he had gone to retrieve, focusing instead on Clinton.

With relations again at a standstill, Carters mission to bring Gomes home could again provide another face-saving opening for contact, analysts said.

Paik Hak-soon, a North Korea analyst at the private Sejong Institute think tank near Seoul, predicted Carter would meet with Kim, and that Kim would ask him to relay a positive message to Washington on the resumption of nuclear disarmament talks.

He said the trip has a "positive" aspect, given Carters popularity and symbolic role in defusing the first nuclear crisis in 1994.

Carter made his first trip to Pyongyang when Clinton was president � a visit that resulted in a warm meeting with late President Kim Il Sung and led to a landmark nuclear disarmament deal.

"It was obvious to me when I was in North Korea that there is deep resentment of the past and genuine fear of pre-emptive military attacks in the future," Carter said in a speech in Seoul in March. He said sanctions were unproductive and urged "unrestrained direct talks" with North Korea.

Having Carter in North Korea "could certainly contribute to U.S.-North Korean relations, as well as the nuclear talks," said Kim Yong-hyun, an expert on North Korean affairs at Seouls Dongguk University. However, any diplomatic overtures would be small and unlikely to bring about drastic changes in position, he said.

Senior U.S. officials in Washington stressed that Carter was not representing the government but was on a private mission. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington that he could not give details of Carters mission.

"Its a mission to secure the release of Mr. Gomes. But we dont want to jeopardize the prospects for Mr. Gomes to be returned home by discussing any of the details," Toner said. "So Im not going to get into anymore details."

North Korea agreed to release Gomes to Carter if the ex-president paid Pyongyang a visit, one U.S. official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Carter landed in an unmarked plane Wednesday. A North Korean girl, a red scarf tied around her neck, handed him a bouquet of flowers, and Carter blew her a kiss before getting into a black Mercedes-Benz, video from TV news agency APTN showed.

He later sat down for talks with the No. 2 official, Kim Yong Nam, APTN said. The discussions were "cordial," the state-run Korean Central News Agency said. Top North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Kye Gwan and his deputy, Ri Gun, were among those on hand to welcome Carter with handshakes, APTN said.

Its not known whether Carter was to meet leader Kim Jong Il. Pyongyangs state media reported Wednesday that Kim made a field trip to a Pyongyang cornstarch factory with his top aides but didnt say exactly when the visit was made.

Carter was expected to return to the U.S. on Thursday with Gomes, the senior U.S. official in Washington said.

Gomes, who taught English in South Korea, was described by acquaintances as a devout Christian who may have followed a friend, Robert Park, into North Korea. Park has said he crossed into the country deliberately in January to call attention to North Koreas human rights record; he was expelled about 40 days later.

Last month, KCNA said Gomes, 31, attempted suicide, "driven by his strong guilty conscience, disappointment and despair at the U.S. government that has not taken any measure for his freedom."

U.S. officials have pressed for his release on humanitarian grounds, but State Department officials who made a quiet trip to North Korea earlier this month failed to secure his release. In the past, it has taken a high-profile envoy like Clinton or New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who took on diplomatic missions in the 1990s as a congressman and later became U.N. ambassador under Clinton.

Gomes family is hoping North Korea will grant him amnesty, family spokeswoman Thaleia Schlesinger said.

"They certainly continue to be grateful to the government of North Korea for the care he was given the last couple of months since his suicide attempt," she said.

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington and Kwang-tae Kim and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.

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Man shot in head felt bullet only 4 years later AP

BERLIN A 35-year-old man who walked around for five years with a bullet lodged in the back of his head says he suspected for a while something was there but only went to doctors after he started getting headaches.

Robert Chojecki was partying on New Years Eve five years ago in the German town of Herne when he was hit with the .22-caliber bullet. Doctors removed it this week from between his skin and skull.

The Polish-born Chojecki told RTL television Wednesday he thought hed been hit by fireworks, but later forgot about it.

He said at first he had "no pain, but approximately one year ago I started to get a headache."

Police say the bullet may have been fired in celebration. Doctors say he should have no problems now that it has been removed.

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Drug cartel suspected in massacre of 72 migrants AP

MEXICO CITY A wounded migrant stumbled into a military checkpoint and led marines to a gruesome scene, what may be the biggest massacre so far in Mexicos bloody drug war: a room strewn with the bodies of 72 fellow travelers, some piled on top of each other, just 100 miles from their goal, the U.S. border.

The 58 men and 14 women were killed by the Zetas gang, the migrant told investigators Wednesday. The gang, started by former Mexican army special forces soldiers, is known to extort money from migrants who pass through its territory.

If authorities corroborate the story, it would be the most horrifying example yet of the plight of migrants trying to cross a country where drug cartels are increasingly scouting shelters and highways, hoping to extort cash or even recruit vulnerable immigrants.

"Its absolutely terrible and it demands the condemnation of all of our society," said government security spokesman Alejandro Poire.

The Ecuadorean migrant staggered to the checkpoint on Tuesday, with a bullet wound in his neck. He told the marines he had just escaped from gunmen at a ranch in San Fernando, a town in the northern state of Tamaulipas about 100 miles from Brownsville, Texas.

The Zetas so brutally control some parts of Tamaulipas that even many Mexicans do not dare to travel on the highways in the state. Many residents in the state tell of loved ones or friends who have disappeared traveling from one town to the next. Many of these kidnappings are never reported for fear that police are in league with the criminals.

The marines scrambled helicopters to raid the ranch, drawing gunfire from cartel gunmen. One marine and three gunmen died in a gunbattle. Then the marines discovered the bodies, some slumped in the chairs where they had been shot, one federal official said.

The migrant told authorities that his captors identified themselves as Zetas, and that the migrants were from Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador and Honduras.

Poire said the government was in contact with those countries to corroborate the identities of the migrants.

The Ecuadorean Embassy in Mexico said it was in contact with the surviving migrant, Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla, and was trying to find out if any of its citizens were among the dead.

Marcio Araujo, Brazils consul general in Mexico, said documents found at the scene indicated at least four of the dead were Brazilian. Consular officials for El Salvador said they had no immediate information on whether any Salvadorans were among the victims.

The marines seized 21 assault rifles, shotguns and rifles, and detained a minor, apparently part of the gang.

Authorities said they were trying to determine whether the victims were killed at the same time � and why. Poire noted migrants are frequently kidnapped by cartel gunmen demanding money, sometimes contacting relatives in the U.S. to demand ransoms.

Poire also said the government believes cartels are increasingly trying to recruit migrants as foot soldiers � a concern that has also been expressed by U.S. politicians demanding more security at the border.

The government has confirmed at least seven cases of cartels kidnapping groups of migrants so far this year, said Antonio Diaz, an official with the National Migration Institute, a think tank that studies immigration.

But other groups say migrant kidnappings are much more rampant. In its most recent study, the National Human Rights Commission said some 1,600 migrants are kidnapped in Mexico each month. It based its figures on the number of reports it received between September 2008 and February 2009.

Violence along the northeastern border with the U.S. has soared this year since the Zetas broke with their former employer, the Gulf cartel. Authorities say the Gulf cartel has joined forces with its once-bitter enemies, the Sinaloa and La Familia gangs, to destroy the Zetas, who have grown so powerful they now have reach into Central America.

Teresa Delagadillo, who works at the Casa San Juan Diego shelter in Matamoros just across from Brownsville, said she often hears stories about criminal gangs kidnapping and beating migrants to demand money � but never a horror story on the scale of this weeks massacre.

"There hadnt been reports that they had killed them," she said.

It was the third time this year that Mexican authorities have discovered large masses of corpses. In the other two cases, investigators believe the bodies were dumped at the sites over a long time.

In May, authorities discovered 55 bodies in an abandoned mine near Taxco, a colonial-era city south of Mexico City that is popular with tourists.

In July, investigators found 51 corpses in two days of digging in a field near a trash dump outside the northern metropolis of Monterrey. Many of those found were believed to have been rival traffickers. But cartels often dispose of the bodies of kidnap victims in such dumping grounds.

Authorities are still digging in a mine shaft where seven bodies were removed over the weekend in the central state of Hidalgo. Two more bodies have been pulled out since, officials said Wednesday.

The Rev. Alejandro Solalinde, who runs a shelter in the southern state of Oaxaca, where many migrants pass on their way to Tamaulipas, said the Zetas have put informants inside shelters to find out which migrants have relatives in the U.S. � the most lucrative targets for kidnap-extortion schemes.

He said he constantly hears horror stories, including people who "say their companions have been killed with baseball bats in front of the others."

Solalinde said he has been threatened by Zetas demanding access to his shelters.

He said the gangsters told him: "If we kill you, theyll close the shelter and well have to look all over for the migrants."

___

Associated Press Writer Alicia A. Caldwell in El Paso, Texas, contributed to this report.

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Googles Gmail offers free calls

25 August 2010 Last updated at 20:26 ET By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

Google is taking on internet telephone companies like Skype by allowing users to call from its free web-based email service.

For the moment only users in the US will be able to make calls from inside their Gmail account.

Phoning anywhere in the US and Canada will be free until the end of the year, while calls to the UK, France, China and Germany will cost 2 cents a minute.

Until now Google offered computer-to-computer voice and video chat services.

"This is a real big deal because now hundreds of millions of Gmail users can make phone calls right from their Gmail page," Craig Walker, product manager for real-time communications told BBC News.

"They dont need to download an additional application or anything to start making really high-quality low-cost calls. For the user it means much more efficient and low-cost communications."

The product link will appear on the left hand of the Gmail page within the "chat" window. A "call phone" option will pop up along with a number pad to let you dial the number of the person you want to talk to.

Google said money raised from international calls will pay for the free US and Canadian calls.

"What surprised me was that they actually said they hope to make money off the calls," said Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of technology blog SearchEngineLand.

"Normally Google is like We dont know how we are going to make the money or We will make money down the way, dont worry about it and this stands out as a big benefit that they get actual revenue early on."

Competition

Skype, which is the most successful internet phone offering, claims to have over 560 million registered users. The firm said 124 million used the service at least one a month while 8.1 million were paying customers.

The company is planning to offer shares to the public later this year. But should it be worried that Google is putting a stake in the same ground as Skype?

"Skype is a well known company in this place and they are almost like a verb in the internet calling world in the way Google is with search. You Skype someone. So I think there is some inertia there to get over and I am interested to see how Gmail users respond," said Tom Krazit, senior writer with technology news site CNET.com.

"But you always have to worry when Google comes after what you do. They dont do things half way and bring a lot of resources to any problem they try to tackle. It doesnt mean you are doomed.

"Googles product wont work on your mobile browser so Skype has an advantage there but I dont think it is a stretch to assume Google will come out with a mobile version pretty soon," said Mr Krazit.

The company plans an eye catching way to get non-Gmail users to give the product a go. It is in negotiations with a number of university campuses and airports to install red telephone boxes around the country to give users the chance to dial and try.

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UN says Congo rapes not mentioned to patrols AP

UNITED NATIONS The top U.N. envoy in Congo said Wednesday that two peacekeeping patrols were not informed by villagers that mass rapes were taking place and the United Nations is now working to improve communications and prevent any recurrence.

Roger Meece, the new U.N. special representative, said peacekeepers didnt learn about the "horrific" rapes of at least 154 Congolese civilians for nearly two weeks, which showed that the forces actions to protect civilians were insufficient and need to be improved.

He said one idea being pursued was to have villages report to the U.N.s forward operating base at Kibua every day. If the force did not receive a report, he said, it would assume there was a problem and send a patrol to investigate.

Meece gave the most detailed account of the U.N.s actions since Mondays report that Rwandan and Congolese rebels gang-raped nearly 200 women and some baby boys over four days not far from Kibua in eastern Congos mining district. He spoke to reporters at U.N. headquarters by videoconference from Goma in eastern Congo.

Will F. Cragin of the International Medical Corps said Monday that aid and U.N. workers knew rebels had occupied Luvungi

town and surrounding villages the day after the attack began on July 30. He told The Associated Press his organization was only able to get into the town after rebels ended their brutal spree of raping and looting and withdrew of their own accord on Aug. 4.

The U.N. wasnt made aware of the attacks until more than a week later, despite the fact that U.N. patrols had been in Luvungi twice after the attacks began.

Pressed on why two U.N. patrols learned nothing about the mass rapes, Meece said he could only speculate, noting that communication is always a problem in Congo.

"There is, of course, a significant amount of cultural baggage ... associated with rapes in this area, as well as elsewhere." he said. "Is it conceivable that the local villagers were afraid of reprisals if they reported anything to MONUSCO? Possible. Is it conceivable that they were ashamed of what has happened in some form? Thats possible."

"I can only speculate as to what may have been the reasons, but I know that these can be very powerful in the local society and environment," he said.

According to an American aid worker and a Congolese doctor, the rebels gang-raped nearly 200 women and some baby boys.

Meece, a former U.S. ambassador to Congo, said the U.N. peacekeeping force, known as MONUSCO, first received information on July 31 that combatants from the Rwandan rebel FDLR group were in the area, but there was "no suggestion at this point of an attack, much less of ... the mass rape in the villages in the area."

The following day, the U.N. received information that Congolese Mai-Mai rebels were also moving to the area, probably to establish a roadblock of commercial traffic to get money, Meece said.

The U.N. learned later on Aug. 1 that a roadblock had been established, he said.

Early on Aug. 2, Meece said, a Congolese army patrol took off from its base at Mpofe toward Kibua and the U.N. later learned that the roadblock was removed, that Congolese soldiers and "remnants" of the rebel groups exchanged fire, and that the number of rebels in the area "dramatically decreased."

The U.N. had no direct contact with the Congolese patrol "nor was there any information to suggest that there was large-scale rape," he said.

A U.N. patrol also stopped in the village of Luvungi on Aug. 2, he said, "but the village people did not make any reports of what had happened in the preceding days."

Meece said another MONUSCO patrol stopped in Luvungi on Aug. 9 and "once against there was no information that rapes had taken place, no less mass rapes."

"The first reports that we got of the widespread rape ... was on Aug. 12" from the International Medical Corps, and the following day a U.N. Joint Human Rights and protection team went to the area to investigate.

Meece said the U.N. force is reviewing its patrol activities and considering holding meetings with local officials in the villages to increase contact.

He said about 80 peacekeepers based at Kibua are responsible for 300 square kilometers 115 square miles.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has sent Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Atul Khare to Congo to help investigate. He also sent his Special Representative for Sexual Violence in Conflict, Margot Wallstrom, to take charge of the U.N.s response and follow-up to the attacks.

Ban also urged the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to "seriously consider what more we can do" in Congo and elsewhere to protect civilians during peacekeeping operations.

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Miners deep motivation: Stay slim or stay in mine AP

COPIAPO, Chile Put on a show. Play cards. Sing. Get exercise. And whatever you do, dont get too fat to squeeze through the escape tunnel.

Chilean officials are offering lots of advice to help 33 miners trapped underground keep their health and sanity as they wait to be rescued. One thing theyre not sharing with the men is their estimate that it could take four months to drill them out of an emergency shelter nearly half a mile below the surface.

I hope that nobody commits the imprudence of telling them something like this. We have asked the families to be careful in the letters they write, Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter said Wednesday. Its going to be very hard. Were going to have to give them a great deal of attention, care and psychological support.

The miners were trapped by an Aug. 5 collapse, and rescuers established contact with them Sunday by drilling a 6-inch-wide hole to the shelter. That hole and two others are now lifelines, delivering supplies, communications and fresh air to the miners while they wait for the escape tunnel to be drilled.

The miners have a general idea that their rescue will take time but havent been given the details, Hinzpeter said.

Some mining experts believe it will take far less than four months to dig the tunnel.

Larry Grayson, a professor of mining engineering at Penn State University, said it could take just 25 to 30 days to reach the miners. Gustavo Lagos, a professor at the Catholic University of Chiles Center for Mining, estimated the job could be done in two months if all goes well and four months if it all bogs down.

Lilianett Gomez, whose father, Mario, is trapped in the mine, said she thinks the miners know their rescue wont be quick. They know how long it will take for them to be rescued. As miners they know the work very well, she said.

The rescue team isnt ready to let families talk directly with the miners yet, but Chilean President Sebastian Pinera asked their leader, Luis Urzua, in a call Tuesday what they needed.

That you rescue us as quickly as possible, and that you dont abandon us, the shift foreman responded. Dont leave us alone. ... We hope that all of Chile shows its strength to help us get out of this hell.

You will not be left alone. You have not been alone. The government is with you all. The entire country is with you all, Pinera said.

Urzua, 54, also described the collapse.

It was frightening. We felt like the mountain was coming down on us, without knowing what happened. Thanks to God, we still hadnt gathered together to go out to have lunch. ... At 20 minutes before 2 their usual lunch hour, the mountain came down on top of us.

For about four or five hours, we couldnt see a thing. After that we saw that we were trapped by an enormous rock that filled the entire passage of the tunnel.

The miners made a two-day emergency food supply last more than two weeks as they waited for contact from the outside world, and also conserved power from their headlamps before rescuers sent them LED lights.

They remain days away from being able to eat solid food because they went hungry for so long. Rescuers have sent down a high-energy glucose gel, and on Wednesday they gave the miners cans of a milk-like drink enriched with calories and protein.

Even though the miners have undoubtedly lost a significant amount of weight, Chilean officials are trying to ensure they dont bulk up before their rescue. They say the miners will have to be no more than 35 inches 90 centimeters around the waist to make it out of the tunnel.

The escape tunnel will be about 26 inches 66 centimeters wide � the diameter of a typical bike tire � and stretch for more than 2,200 feet 688 meters through solid rock. Thats more than 80 inches 207 centimeters in circumference, but rescuers also have to account for the space of the basket that will be used to pull the miners to safety.

Most Americans couldnt meet the 35-inch limit. The average U.S. waistline is 39.7 inches for men and 37 inches for women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chiles health minister, Dr. Jaime Manalich, said officials are planning exercise and other activities to keep the miners healthy and trim, using some of the passages that remain accessible to the miners.

We hope to define a secure area where they can establish various places � one for resting and sleeping, one for diversion, one for food, another for work, Manalich said.

Establishing a daily and nightly routine is important, the minister said, adding that having fun also will be critical. The rescue team is creating an entertainment program that includes singing, games of movement, playing cards. We want them to record songs, to make videos, to create works of theater for the family.

The Chilean government has asked NASA for advice on life sciences issues and technology that can help the miners, and the space agency will do what it can, said NASA spokesman Mike Curie.

The gold and copper mine runs like a corkscrew for more than 4 miles 7 kilometers under a barren mountain in northern Chiles Atacama Desert.

Outside, Chilean flags are everywhere � including the torn one that became a symbol of Chiles resistance when a young man was photographed holding it just after a massive earthquake rocked the South American nation last year. That flag was raised above 33 others that sit on a hill over the mine, each representing one of the trapped men.

The mood is optimistic among family members, many of whom are camped at the mine site.

All the guys with him have an experience of surviving. Their work is survival, Urzuas cousin, Jorge Barahona, said Wednesday as he warmed his hands at a campfire.

Some family members filed suit Wednesday against the mines owner, Compania Minera San Esteban. Attorney Remberto Valdes, representing the miner Raul Bustos, accused the company of fraud and serious injury based on the lack of safety measures like the escape tunnel that the state-owned Codelco copper company is now preparing to dig. Four municipal governments in the area are preparing a similar claim.

On Aug. 31, the men will have been trapped underground longer than any other miners in history. Last year, three miners survived 25 days trapped in a flooded mine in southern China. Few other rescues have taken more than two weeks.

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Associated Press writers Federico Quilodran in Copiapo, Seth Borenstein in Washington, D.C., and Michael Warren in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed to this report.

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Chavezs popularity down in Venezuela, polls finds AP

CARACAS, Venezuela President Hugo Chavezs allies launched their campaigns Wednesday for crucial congressional elections that come just as recession, crime and inflation have pushed the socialist leaders popularity to a seven-year low.

A survey by the Venezuelan polling firm Consultores 21 indicates just 36 percent of Venezuelans approve of Chavezs performance, the lowest figure since 2003, when Chavez survived an opposition-led strike that devastated the economy, pollster Saul Cabrera said.

The results suggest Chavez allies could face a difficult struggle to keep control of the National Assembly in the Sept. 26 election.

The survey of 1,500 people nationwide in late June and early July had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, said Cabrera, who is vice president of the polling firm. He said the poll was financed by a group of private businesses, which he declined to identify.

Chavezs popularity has suffered a decline of 12 percentage points over the past year and a half, Cabrera told The Associated Press.

Critics accuse Chavezs government of severe incompetence and corruption, and many people are unhappy that Venezuelas oil-driven economy remains in a recession while all other South American countries are seeing growth.

Venezuelas inflation rate, at more than 30 percent, is the highest in Latin America.

Cabrera said other problems such as unchecked violence also are contributing to disenchantment with the government.

The new poll indicates Chavez is still popular among the poorest segment of Venezuelans, garnering about 60 percent support in that group, but he no longer has a majority in the other four income categories, Cabrera said.

The pollster said that in spite of Chavezs low popularity level, the president remains a formidable political competitor against an opposition that � while it has made some gains � still has not shown sufficient strength to fully capitalize on the situation.

Chavez, who is up for re-election in 2012, has warned his supporters that opposition control of the National Assembly would undo some of the governments efforts toward socialism.

The National Assembly has been predominantly pro-Chavez since the opposition boycotted legislative elections in 2005.

Opposition parties they took to the steets along with Chavez supporters Wednesday as the election campaign officially began.

Several opposition candidates campaigning near the National Assembly building in downtown Caracas were scattered by National Guard troops who fired tear gas at them for purportedly causing a public disturbance. There were no injures or arrests reported.

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As GOP civil war rages, Democrats look to benefit AP

WASHINGTON A Republican civil war is raging, with righter-than-thou conservatives dominating ever more primaries in a fight for the partys soul. And the Democrats hope to benefit.

The latest examples of conservative insurgents clout came Tuesday at opposite ends of the country. In Florida, political newcomer Rick Scott beat longtime congressman and state Attorney General Bill McCollum for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. And in Alaska, tea party activists and Sarah Palin pushed Sen. Lisa Murkowski to the brink of defeat, depending on absentee ballot counts in her race against outsider Joe Miller.

The GOP is likely to survive its bitter intraparty battles in such states as Alaska and Utah, even if voters oust veteran senators in both. But tea party-backed candidates might be a godsend to desperate Democrats elsewhere � in Nevada, Florida and perhaps Kentucky, where the Democrats portray GOP nominees as too extreme for their states.

If Murkowski joins Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, as a victim of party activists who demand ideological purity, other Republicans are still likely to win in November, though Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., would have to deal with more maverick members who are loathe to compromise. And the conservative insurgency is hardly all-powerful, as Sen. John McCain proved by easily winning renomination in Arizona despite a challenge from the right by J.D. Hayworth.

The Republican Partys chief danger lies in battleground states such as Florida and Nevada, where great opportunities might slip away. President Barack Obama and his Democrats see a silver lining amid political troubles driven by high unemployment and a stubbornly slow economic recovery.

The White House has tried to link the Republican Party with the fledgling conservative-libertarian tea party coalition � and demonize the combination as too extreme for the country.

Thats the Republican tea party thats offering more of the past but on steroids and is out of step with where the American people are, Vice President Joe Biden told the partys rank and file last week.

Nevada Republicans nomination of tea party favorite Sharron Angle may save Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic leader. His popularity has fallen sharply among state voters, but Democrats say Angles comments are scaring voters away from her and back toward him.

In Florida, the conventional wisdom was that McCollum, who had won election statewide, would be a stronger candidate than Scott against Democrat Alex Sink in the governors race. Democrats are certain to assail at least one aspect of Scotts private-sector history: the $1.7 billion that Columbia/HCA hospital corporation paid to settle Medicare fraud charges when he was chief executive officer. In the Republican primary, Scott spent $39 million of his own money to promote his campaign and beat back such attacks.

In a sign of the Democratic Partys own relative calm this year, Floridas other insider-vs-outsider contest turned out much differently. Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek defeated millionaire newcomer Jeff Greene for the partys Senate nomination.

Even if GOP nominees make some rookie mistakes, general election voters might embrace them, said Republican strategist John Feehery. This is a big change election, Feehery said. If you are defending the establishment, you are in big trouble this time around.

Still, tea party activism could cause worries for Republicans in Floridas Senate race. Conservative Marco Rubio essentially chased Gov. Charlie Crist, then a Republican, out of the party. But a Meek-Rubio split of the vote on Nov. 2 could allow Crist to win the Senate seat as an independent, and he might caucus with Democrats in Washington.

In several other states, the likely impact of anti-establishment fervor and tea party activism is unclear.

Kentucky Senate nominee Rand Paul defied the GOP establishment and gave Democrats some ammunition with his strongly libertarian stands. But many expect him to defeat Democrat Jack Conway in November.

The dynamic is similar in Colorado. Senate nominee Ken Buck beat an establishment favorite in the Republican primary. And some polls show him ahead of Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet.

In Connecticut, the Senate race appears tight between millionaire Republican newcomer Linda McMahon and Democrat Richard Blumenthal, the states longtime attorney general.

A few more Republican intraparty battles will play out in primaries on Sept. 14.

In New Hampshire, party elders have urged Senate rivals Bill Binnie and Kelly Ayotte to soften their attacks on each other. A new ad by Binnie, a businessman, says Ayotte is an insider whose front-runner campaign is funded by lobbyists. Ayotte, a former attorney general, says Binnie also takes campaign cash from lobbyists, and is a liberal to boot.

The survivor will face Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes on Nov. 2.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said Republicans are hurting their chances this fall by nominating candidates well outside the mainstream.

But Washington-based Republican adviser Kevin Madden sees some good news in his partys intraparty clashes. Conservative voters are energized, he said, and they will remain so through November, when many Democrats are likely to be dispirited.

Polls show non-establishment candidates such as Angle, Paul and McMahon either ahead or in striking distance, Madden said. More importantly, he said, voters this fall wont care so much about libertarian-leaning comments about Social Security or other issues.

This election is about one big thing, Madden said. Its about the economy.

And that issue will play into the hands of GOP candidates, he said, whether they are establishment figures or not.

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Associated Press writers Liz Sidoti and Philip Elliott contributed to this report.

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Antimatter detector to catch last shuttle to space AP

GENEVA A $2 billion machine that will jump-start the search for antimatter and other phenomena was loaded onto a massive U.S. Air Force plane Wednesday for the final leg of its journey on Earth before it catches the last scheduled shuttle flight into space.

Airmen struggled to stow the 8.3-ton 7.5 metric ton Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer into a C-5M Super Galaxy at Geneva airport ahead of Thursdays takeoff to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The military planes are normally used to fly tanks and helicopters around the world, but scientists at the European Center for Nuclear Research, or CERN, had to ask the U.S. Air Force to help them out when they found their 8.3-ton 7.5 metric ton device wouldnt fit into a 747 jumbo jet.

Even then, workers had to saw off part of the giant shipping crate to squeeze the machine into the Galaxys hold.

Sam Ting, a Nobel laureate and professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer would be docked to the International Space Station to collect evidence of antimatter, dark matter and other elusive elements of the universe over the next 20 years.

The AMS detector will complement CERNs Large Hadron Collider, a massive atom smasher deep beneath the Swiss-French border that scientists are using to simulate conditions similar to those just after the Big Bang in the hope of better understanding the makeup of the universe.

Antimatter, which the device was primarily designed to find, is sometimes referred to as the evil twin of ordinary matter and scientists believe the Big Bang created both in roughly equal amounts � meaning that, in theory, there could be an identical universe to ours out there made entirely of antimatter.

But so far scientists have been unable to detect antimatter except in the lab. By searching outside the protective shell of Earths atmosphere they hope to find solid proof of the elusive particles existence � or reasons for its absence.

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which took about 15 years to build and was part-funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, will be one of two payloads carried to the space station on Endeavour STS-134, NASAs last shuttle mission scheduled for Feb. 26, 2011.

Separately, CERN staff protested Wednesday against proposed cuts to their next five-year budget, saying this could dangerously compromise the running of the organization they say helped develop scientific breakthroughs such as medical scanners, computer grids and the World Wide Web.

Member states have pressed CERN to sharply reduce its 5 billion Swiss francs $4.87 billion budget for the period from 2011 to 2015. The organization recently offered to cut back its funding demands by about 480 million Swiss francs $467 million � a move that will require all particle accelerators to be switched in 2012. The $10 billion Large Hadron Collider had already been scheduled to rest that year while technical upgrades take place.

I dont think this is going to have a major effect on our research program, CERN spokesman James Gillies said of the proposed budget cuts.

The AMS detector was funded separately and wouldnt be affected by any cuts that might be agreed when the organizations finance committee meets Sept. 16, he said.

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Wikileaks posts CIA terror memo

25 August 2010 Last updated at 15:40 ET

Whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has published a CIA memo examining the implications of the US being perceived as an exporter of terrorism.

The three-page report from February 2010 says the participation of US-based individuals in terrorism is not a recent phenomenon.

The memo cites several cases of alleged terrorist acts by US residents.

An official played down the report from the CIAs so-called Red Cell, saying it was not exactly a blockbuster paper.

The Red Cell was set up in the wake of the 9/11 attacks to offer an out-of-the-box approach and produce memos intended to provoke thought rather than to provide authoritative assessment, the CIA website says.

CIA spokesman George Little said: These sorts of analytic products - clearly identified as coming from the Agencys Red Cell - are designed simply to provoke thought and present different points of view.

The report, which highlights attacks by US-based or US-?nanced Jewish, Muslim and Irish-American terrorists, questions how foreign perceptions of the US could change with continued attacks.

Much attention has been paid recently to the increasing occurrence of American-grown Islamic terrorists conducting attacks against US targets, primarily in the homeland. Less attention has been paid to homegrown terrorism, not exclusively Muslim terrorists, exported overseas to target non-US persons, the report says.

The memo, titled What If Foreigners See the United States as an Exporter of Terrorism?, concludes that if the US is perceived by other nations as an exporter of terrorism, those countries may be less willing to co-operate with the US in the detention, transfer and interrogation of future suspects.

Wikileaks on 23 July published 76,000 secret US military logs detailing military actions in Afghanistan, an act the US authorities described as highly irresponsible.

The website now says it will release 15,000 further sensitive documents, once it has completed a review aimed at minimising the risk that their publication could put peoples lives in danger.

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Body of suspected British spy found AP

LONDON Detectives searching for a missing British spy said Wednesday they had launched a murder investigation after a body matching the mans description was discovered stuffed in a bag in his apartment near the headquarters of the MI6 spy agency.

An autopsy could not provide a cause of death for the man, identified as 30-year-old Gareth Williams, the Metropolitan Police said.

Police said they found Williams dead at a central London apartment Monday following reports that he had gone missing for some time. They said detectives are treating the case as a suspicious and unexplained death, but refused to say whether there were signs of a struggle or how the man may have been killed. Suicide had been ruled out.

Williams had been working for MI6 on temporary assignment from GCHQ, Britains eavesdropping agency, said several British officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the case.

They all declined to say exactly what work the man was doing or how long he had been employed with the government, but officials said initial indications did not suggest his death was related to his job, or national security issues.

Neighbor Rob Mills, a 35-year-old who lives two doors away from where the body was found, said people in the expensive London neighborhood of Pimlico knew little about the victim or his work.

Its not like youd tell your neighbors if you were a spy, he said.

Police cordoned off the area Wednesday and were restricting access to residents, some of whom said they were told by investigators that the man could have been killed two weeks ago. Scotland Yard refused to confirm.

His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed, said neighbor Laura Houghton, 30. I could never tell if anyone was in. It was strange that we never saw him come and go.

Houghton said the man was friendly and spoke with a Welsh accent.

Britain has been known as a den of spy activity since the Cold War. About 2,500 British intelligence specialists work for MI6, around 5,200 for GCHQ and 3,500 for the countrys domestic security agency, MI5.

The Russians are thought to have hundreds of agents in London.

In 2006, the world was gripped by the story of the poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who wasted away in a London hospital after ingesting a radioactive substance. On his deathbed, Litvinenko blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the poisoning.

His death harkened back to the notorious 1978 killing of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov who died of blood poisoning after he was stabbed with an umbrella at a London bus stop. The tip of the umbrella was said to contain poison.

The largest spy swap since the Cold War made headlines last month when four people convicted of betraying Moscow for the West were pardoned in exchange for 10 Russian agents who had infiltrated suburban America. Two of them were flown to Britain.

Last month, a 21-year-old was arrested in connection with a parcel bomb being sent to MI6s fortress-like headquarters near the River Thames but authorities said Wednesday it appeared that incident was unrelated to the discovery of the body.

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Associated Press writer David Stringer contributed to this report.

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3 arrested in Moldova in uranium smuggling plot AP

CHISINAU, Moldova Two former policemen and another person were arrested in Moldova on suspicion of trying to sell four pounds nearly two kilograms of uranium on the black market, authorities said Wednesday, although the amount was too small to be used in a nuclear warhead or a dirty bomb.

Officials identified the material as uranium-238 and said it had a value of euro9 million $11.35 million.

Uranium-238 can be enriched into the fissile material of nuclear warheads or converted into plutonium, also used to arm nuclear missiles. Both processes are complex and need much more of the material than the amount reported seized, which also was much too little to be used for a dirty bomb.

Interior Ministry officials said the traffickers were trying to sell the uranium, which was kept in the garage of a former policeman, to people from unspecified countries.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner congratulated Moldovas government for the break up of what he called a uranium smuggling ring and said an FBI team had assisted Moldovan authorities with technical analysis.

Moldovan authorities have sent the uranium to a German atomic center to establish the percentage of enrichment and country of origin.

The International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna declined immediate comment on the case.

We congratulate the Moldovan Ministry of Interior for its work in thwarting what was a serious smuggling attempt, Toner told reporters in Washington. Preventing nuclear smuggling is a priority for this administration, and the U.S. government continues to work with partners worldwide to thwart nuclear smuggling cases.

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AP writer Matt Lee contributed to this story from Washington.

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Susan Boyle to sing for the pope during UK tour AP

LONDON British singing sensation Susan Boyle said Wednesday she feels humbled and honored by the opportunity to sing for Pope Benedict XVI during his tour of Britain.

The unlikely pop star who shot to global fame after she sang on the TV show Britains Got Talent will perform hymns and sing with an 800-strong choir at an open-air papal Mass in Glasgows Bellahouston Park on Sept. 16, the Roman Catholic Church said.

Boyle, 49, will also sing I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables. Her rendition of the song on the talent show has been viewed millions of times on the Internet.

She told Scotlands The Daily Record newspaper on Wednesday that the invitation to sing for the pope is my greatest dream come true.

Ive always wanted to sing for His Holiness and I cant really put into words my happiness that this wish has come true at last, she told Scotlands Daily Record newspaper. I am humbled and honoured by this invitation and I hope I can do my best.

Benedicts four-day trip will be the first papal visit to Britain since Pope John Paul II in 1982.

His itinerary also includes an address in Parliament and the beatification of 19th-century Catholic convert Cardinal John Henry Newman.

Boyle will sing for the pope the hymn How Great Thou Art, as well as a farewell song when the pontiff leaves Glasgow for London.

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Nigeria: Cholera epidemic death toll rises to 352 AP

ABUJA, Nigeria All of Nigeria is at risk in a cholera epidemic that has killed 352 people in only three-months time, health officials warned Wednesday, as the countrys rainy season continues to spread the water-born infection.

The nations Health Ministry issued a statement saying Nigeria has had more than 6,400 cases of the disease since June. Doctors now have detected it in 12 of Nigerias 36 states.

Epidemiological evidence indicates that the entire country is at risk, the statement read.

Cholera is a fast-moving infection that causes diarrhea in victims, leading to severe dehydration and possible death. The infection is highly contagious yet easily preventable with clean water and sanitation.

The health ministry blamed the recent outbreak on heavy seasonal rains spreading the infection across rural communities without access to proper toilet facilities. In many areas, wells remain uncovered, allowing tainted water to flow into the communities drinking water supplies.

The Nigerian cases comes as an outbreak in neighboring Cameroon has killed 155 people out of 2,000 confirmed cases.

Meanwhile, the health ministry says a measles outbreak in four states has killed 83 and sickened more than 5,000 so far this year. Measles is usually characterized by coughing, rash and high fever, and is fatal in rare instances, though a vaccine exists to prevent the disease.

The outbreak comes after the World Health Organization warned in May that measles is making a rapid comeback in the world, as funding cuts for vaccination campaigns have allowed the disease to spread.

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Supercomputer clue to black holes

25 August 2010 Last updated at 14:20 ET

The colossal black holes at the centres of galaxies probably formed shortly after the Big Bang, a study suggests.

Some of these behemoths are billions of times more massive than our Sun.

Supercomputer simulations indicate the conditions for the birth and growth of these giants could have been set in play by the merger of galaxies when the cosmos was just a few hundred million years old.

The research, by Lucio Mayer and colleagues, is published in Nature.

The teams modelling found that the collision and union of two massive young galaxies could produce an enormous disc of rotating gas, and that this disc could become unstable and fall in on itself to make a truly colossal star tens of thousands of times more massive than our Sun.

When this star then collapses to form a black hole, it is big enough to go on consuming gas at the rate needed to achieve the supermassive sizes recognised to exist in the early Universe through to the present day.

Enormous black holes are thought to lie at the centres of most large galaxies. Understanding how they came into being and how they evolved is a major question in astrophysics.

There is an amazing correlation between black holes and their galaxies, observed Professor Marta Volonteri from the University of Michigan.

Every time you look in a galaxy for a [supermassive] black hole, you find it; and the mass of the black hole is typically a 1,000 times less than the mass of the galaxy.

How has such a great correlation been established? How is it possible they knew so well about each other throughout these past 13 billion years? So we really want to know how the black holes started and how they grew with time, she told BBC News.

Professor Volonteri was not part of the team which did the modelling but the originator of the theory tested by Professor Mayer at the University of Zurich.

Mayers group said the new research challenged the idea that galaxies grew in a hierarchical fashion - in small steps that sees gravity pull small masses together to form progressively larger structures.

Our result shows that big structures - both galaxies and massive black holes - build up quickly in the history of the Universe, said co-worker Dr Stelios Kazantzidis from Ohio State University.

If that is the case, it has important consequences.

For example, the standard idea, that a galaxys properties and the mass of its central black hole grow in parallel, will have to be revised, Dr Kazantzidis said.

In our model, the black hole grows much faster than the galaxy. So it could be that the black hole is not regulated at all by the growth of the galaxy. It could be that the galaxy is regulated by the growth of the black hole.

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Energy drinks to power gadgets

25 August 2010 Last updated at 14:17 ET

Battery-like biofuel cells could in the future run on an energy drink or even vegetable oil, says a researcher.

A prototype cell has been described at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in the US.

The idea makes use of mitochondria, the power stations that in most living cells turn food into energy.

While applications may be far in the future, the work is a milestone in the integration of parts of a living cell into an electronic device.

Shelley Minteer of St Louis University in Minnesota, US, said the devices could in the future replace disposable batteries in some applications.

Dr Minteer has been part of a wider research effort that is borrowing some of natures tricks for energy production.

Typically this involves the breaking down and rebuilding of molecules in a form that can be used by cells. That process unleashes electrons along the way - electrons that can be corralled and become electricity.

Until now, the efforts of Dr Minteer and her collaborators have focused on the use of enzymes, molecules that are expert at breaking down particular fuel molecules such as methanol or glucose.

But the new effort makes use of one of the living cells tiny constituent parts known as mitochondria.

Continue reading the main story

�Start Quote

It ultimately may lead to the introduction of a whole new domain of fuels that we would never otherwise be able to tap�

End Quote Plamen Atanassov University of New Mexico

These are a whole ensemble of enzymes working together to convert a range of fuel molecules into a form that cells can directly use.

In order to be able to completely consume a fuel... you need a whole series of enzymes, anywhere from three, for something simple, to 22 for something like glucose, and you need to get these enzymes to work together, Dr Minteer told BBC News. The mitochondria channel the fuel from enzyme one directly to enzyme two and so on; they do this metabolism far more efficiently than we do by putting a soup of enzymes down on the electrode.

The demonstration device has only been used with simple fuels made of a single type of molecule, as the enzyme approaches have required until now. But future efforts will aim to make the cells work with more familiar sources of energy.

Mitochondria can break down a wide variety of fuels, Dr Minteer explained.

That means it can handle fuel mixtures that you might see in, say, an energy drink or a protein shake.

New domain

The work remains firmly at the experimental stage, and the researchers are working to change the materials used in the biofuel cells to make them produce more power.

However, the biofuel cell application may not be the most relevant focus, said Plamen Atanassov, director of the Center for Emerging Energy Technologies at the University of New Mexico.

Whether it will have an immediate practical application remains to be seen, Professor Atanassov told BBC News, observing that it was a full 50 years between the first demonstration of a standard fuel cell and the Gemini space missions that first used them.

The main contribution for this work is in the fundamental bridging of biotechnology and nanotechnology, he explained.

It ultimately may lead to the introduction of a whole new domain of fuels that we would never otherwise be able to tap.

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Eggs from Iowa farms could come to table near you AP

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. The Iowa hens at the heart of a massive recall are still laying eggs that could end up on a table near you. And food safety experts say thats OK.

The eggs will first be pasteurized to rid them of any salmonella. Then they can be sold as liquid eggs or added to other products.

Officials from the two farms that have recalled more than a half-billion eggs say theres no reason not to use the eggs while federal officials investigate the outbreak. Wright Egg Farms and Hillandale Farms issued the recall after learning that salmonella may have sickened as many as 1,300 people.

Spokeswomen for the farms said their hens are still laying several million eggs a day. Those eggs are being sent to facilities where their shells are broken and the contents pasteurized.

Hillandale Farms spokeswoman Julie DeYoung said the operation has 2 million birds that lay an egg about every 26 hours.

Its close to 2 million eggs a day, she said.

But the pasteurization only affects eggs that are being laid now. Recalled eggs that had already been shipped to stores are destroyed.

Both companies say they are waiting to hear from the Food and Drug Administration before deciding what, if anything, to do with their hens.

The FDA cannot order the farms to kill hens that may be infected with salmonella, but the farms could decide to take that step on their own. Neither would discuss that possibility.

University of Illinois food science professor Bruce Chassy said theres no reason the eggs � even from infected hens � cannot be safely sold if they are pasteurized or cooked. Doing so raises the temperature of the eggs high enough to kill most if not all salmonella.

The bacteria are all going to be dead, and if theyre dead, theyre not going to hurt anybody, he said.

Food processors buy eggs that have been removed from their shells to make mayonnaise, ice cream, omelet mixes and other products.

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Official: 72 found dead in Mexico may be migrants AP

MEXICO CITY A survivor has told police that 72 people found dead at a ranch near the Mexican border with Texas were migrants kidnapped by an armed group, a federal official said Wednesday.

The bodies of 58 men and 14 women were discovered Tuesday when Marines manning a checkpoint on a highway in the northern state of Tamaulipas were approached by a wounded man who said he had been attacked by gang gunmen at a nearby ranch.

A federal official said that man had identified himself an illegal migrant. The man said he and other migrants had been kidnapped by an armed group and taken to the ranch in San Fernando, a town about 100 miles 160 kilometers south of Brownsville, Texas, according to the federal official, who had access to the investigation. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

The official said police believe the migrants were mostly from Central America � a population that has been increasingly targeted by drug gangs who demand money from U.S.-bound foreigners or who kidnap them to claim ransoms from relatives in the United States or their home countries.

The bodies were taken a a morgue in San Fernando, where officials were taking fingerprints.

Investigators have not determined who was behind the massacre, but the federal official noted that the area is controlled by the Zetas drug cartel, which has diversified into kidnapping migrants.

The scale of the massacre of migrants appeared to be unprecedented even by the gruesome standards of Mexican drug cartels.

It was unclear if all 72 were killed at the same time � or why. Another federal official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said investigators believe the victims were killed within recent days.

The newspaper Reforma, citing a police report, said that that the migrants were trying to reach the U.S. border and were killed when they refused to pay extortion fees demanded by the armed group. Reforma said the survivor was from Ecuador. The federal officials could not immediately confirm those details.

The Navy said it dispatched aircraft to check out the mans report and when the gunmen saw the marines, they opened fire and tried to flee in a convoy of vehicles. One marine and three of the suspects were killed in the shootout.

Navy personnel seized 21 assault rifles, shotguns and rifles, and detained a minor.

The youth, who was apparently part of the gang, was handed over to civilian prosecutors.

It was the third time this year that Mexican authorities have discovered large masses of corpses. In the other two cases, investigators believe the bodies were dumped at the sites over a long time.

In May, authorities discovered 55 bodies in an abandoned mine near Taxco, a colonial-era city south of Mexico City that is popular with tourists.

In July, investigators found 51 corpses in two days of digging in a field near a trash dump outside the northern metropolis of Monterrey. Many of those found were believed to have been rival traffickers. But cartels often dispose of the bodies of kidnap victims in such dumping grounds.

The region has been besieged by a turf battle between the Zetas and their former ally, the Gulf cartel.

Mexicos drug violence has surged since President Felipe Calderon dispatched soldiers and federal police to root out drug traffickers from their strongholds in northern Mexico and along the Pacific coast.

More than 28,000 people have been killed in drug-gang violence since the offensive began.

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Putin fires darts at gray whale from crossbow AP

MOSCOW Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin fired darts from a crossbow at a gray whale off Russias Far Eastern coast on Wednesday in the latest in a series of man-versus-nature stunts designed to cultivate the image of a macho leader.

Putin held his balance in a rubber boat that was being tossed around in choppy waters off the Kamchatka Peninsula, and eventually hit the whale with a special arrow designed to collect skin samples.

I hit it at the fourth try a beaming Putin, kitted out in black-and-orange waterproof suit and black beanie, yelled to a camera crew from the boat.

A biologist with him displayed the skin sample and said it would allow experts to determine where the whale came from.

When the boat skidded onto the beach, a bouyant Putin hopped off and made a beeline for waiting reporters. Clearly in his element, Putin replied jovially to a question as to whether the endeavor was dangerous.

Living in general is dangerous, he quipped. Asked why he got involved, he simply said, Because I like it. I love the nature.

But nature may be under threat by a seismic survey being conducted nearby by Russias top oil company, Rosneft. The International Fund for Animal Welfare released a statement on Wednesday condemning the 2-month, pre-drilling survey as potentially damaging to the gray whales. In the course of exploration, oil companies use seismic air guns and other sources to produce pulses of acoustic energy through the water. Scientists say this is damaging to much marine life, and the timing is bad for the whales, which are currently in a narrow feeding window to store fat for the entire year.

Putin, meanwhile, during his eight years as president and the past two as prime minister, has learned to use television to cultivate the image of a rugged leader beloved by the Russian people.

His mastery of the medium has been on full display in recent weeks as he has taken command of efforts to extinguish the wildfires that swept across much of western Russia and to help the thousands of people who lost their homes.

The message has been that it is Putin, rather than his junior co-leader President Dmitry Medvedev, who is equipped to look after Russia, its people and environment. Putin has been canny about his plans to run in the 2012 presidential election, but has excluded running against Medvedev, saying the two will come to an agreement. Whatever the decision, his action-man lifestyle shows he is not about to recede from public view.

He has been photographed fishing bare-chested in Russias Altai region, and was shown on television diving into an icy river and swimming the butterfly stroke.

In April he attached a satellite-tracking collar on a tranquilized polar bear. He also has shot a Siberian tiger with a tranquilizer gun and released leopards into a wildlife sanctuary.

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US military hit in cyber strike

25 August 2010 Last updated at 12:26 ET

A 2008 cyber attack launched from an infected flash drive in the Middle East penetrated secret US military computers, a Pentagon official says.

The attack by a foreign spy service was the most significant breach ever of US military networks, Deputy Defence Secretary William Lynn said.

Writing in Foreign Affairs magazine, Mr Lynn described it as a digital beachhead to steal military secrets.

He urged the US to speed up its cyber defence system procurement procedure.

Mr Lynn, the number two official in the Pentagon, wrote that the previously undisclosed 2008 attack began when an infected flash drive was inserted into a US military laptop at a base.

The computer code then spread stealthily through US military computer networks and readied itself to transfer military data to enemy hands, he wrote.

It is unclear whether the cyber spy effort succeeded in obtaining US secrets, and further details on the attack were unavailable.

In the article, Mr Lynn warned that US military dominance was threatened by the relatively low cost of cyber warfare.

Time lag

A dozen determined computer programmers can, if they find a vulnerability to exploit, threaten the United States global logistics network, steal its operational plans, blind its intelligence capabilities, or hinder its ability to deliver weapons on target, he wrote.

Mr Lynn, a former defence lobbyist and military budget official under former President Bill Clinton, warned the Pentagon had to speed up the process by which it develops and acquires cyber defence kit.

He noted that on average it took the Pentagon 81 months to get a new computer system online after its initial funding, while Apple developed the iPhone in 24 months, less time than it would take the Pentagon to prepare a budget and receive congressional approval for it.

The US military operates 15,000 networks and seven million computers across the world that are probed by attackers thousands of times a day, Mr Lynn said.

The Pentagon has consolidated its cyber defence operations into a single command structure, which began operations in May.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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You will not be left alone, Chile tells 33 trapped miners AP

COPIAPO, Chile Their self-imposed rations were meager: Two spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk, a bite of cracker and a morsel of peach every other day.

That iron discipline kept 33 miners trapped a half-mile underground alive for 17 days on just two days worth of emergency rations. And the same strength may be needed while they wait for rescuers to dig a tunnel wide enough to get them out � an operation that Chilean officials say may take until Christmas.

The way that they have rationed the food, just as theyve performed throughout this crisis, is an example for all of us, Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said Tuesday after talking with the miners at length the night before through an intercom system lowered into their underground refuge.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera vowed not to abandon the trapped miners in a telephone conversation Tuesday afternoon with Luis Urzua, the 54-year-old shift foreman who has been the miners leader.

You will not be left alone, you have not been alone. The government is with you all, the entire country is with you all, Pinera said.

The miners were plunged into darkness by the Aug. 5 collapse of the main shaft of a gold and copper mine that runs like a corkscrew for more than 4 miles 7 kilometers under a barren mountain in northern Chiles Atacama Desert. They gained contact with the outside world Sunday when rescuers drilled a narrow bore-hole down to their living-room-sized shelter after seven failed attempts.

Its been like a heart thats breaking, but were thankful theyre all alive, bore-hole driller Rodrigo Carreno told The Associated Press as he prepared to leave Tuesday. We did everything we could to save them, and in the end we succeeded.

The miners said they conserved the use of their helmet lamps, their only source of light other than a handful of vehicles whose engines contaminate the air supply. They fired up a bulldozer to carve into a natural water deposit, but otherwise minimized using the vehicles.

The miners can still reach many chambers and access ramps in the lower reaches of the mine, and have used a separate area some distance from their reinforced emergency refuge as their bathroom. But they have mostly stayed in the refuge, where they knew rescuers would try to reach them.

The room has become stiflingly hot and stuffy. Leaving it allows them to breathe better air, but wandering too far is risky in the unstable mine, which has suffered several rock collapses since the initial accident. Its also spooky, since headlamps can illuminate only small areas of the vast space.

Rescue efforts advanced considerably Tuesday as a third bore-hole prepared to break through to the miners, and a huge machine arrived from central Chile for carving a tunnel just wide enough for the miners to be pulled out one-by-one. That machine wont begin drilling for several days.

Andres Sougarret, the rescue efforts leader, estimated it would take three to four months to get the men out. But Davitt McAteer, a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, called that perhaps the most conservative model.

Twenty-five hundred feet is not a terribly, terribly big hole to drill, McAteer said. We ought to be able to get them out in a period of weeks, not months.

Meanwhile, three 6-inch-wide 15-centimeter shafts will serve as the miners umbilical cords � one for supplies, another for communications and a third to guarantee their air supply.

A steady flow of emergency supplies was sent down Tuesday in a rocket-shaped metal tube called a paloma, Spanish for dove. The paloma is 5 1/4 feet 1.6 meters long and takes a full hour to descend through the bore-hole.

The supplies included 33 small low-intensity and low-energy LED lights, so each miner can have a light source that wont bother his eyes in the murky depths. Also sent down was more nutritive food in the form of a vitamin-enriched gel, along with eye patches, aspirin and medicine for one miner who has diabetes and another who suffers from the respiratory disease silicosis, Health Minister Jaime Manalich said.

Family members who have maintained an anxious vigil outside the mine were encouraged to send down notes. First was Lila Ramirez, answering the Dear Lila letter from her husband, Mario Gomez, that thrilled the nation when the president read it aloud Sunday, providing the first details of the miners survival.

I wrote him just now and told him to be very patient, that were all camped out here, following his every heart beat. That he shouldnt become desperate, and that he try to be extremely tranquil, Ramirez told the AP.

With each passing day, the families have been praying for their trapped husbands, fathers, brothers and boyfriends in tents surrounding the mine entrance, where cold nights end in a chilly fog. Theres a bonfire to keep warm, and barbecue and other food donated by the local government in a common tent.

Were not going to abandon this camp until we go out with the last miner left, said Maria Segovia. There are 33 of them, and one is my brother.

In one more week, the men will have been trapped underground longer than any other miners in history. Last year, three miners survived 25 days trapped in a flooded mine in southern China. Few other rescues have taken more than two weeks.

___

Associated Press Writer Michael Warren in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed to this report.

This version CORRECTS in the 6th paragraph that the mine contains gold and copper, instead of gold and silver.

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Germany to prevent Facebook checks AP

BERLIN Ever thought twice about posting a party picture on Facebook, fearing it could someday hurt your chance at a dream job?

A new German law is supposed to solve the problem by making it illegal for prospective employers to spy on applicants private postings.

The draft law on employee data security presented by Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere on Wednesday is the governments latest attempt to address privacy concerns about online services including social networks and Google Street View.

It is also a reaction to corporations checking on employee e-mails and filming sales clerks during coffee breaks - which has triggered public outrage in Germany.

De Maiziere acknowledged that some of the new regulations - which have yet to be discussed and passed by parliament - might be complicated to enact.

For example, employers will still be allowed to run a search on the Web on their applicants, de Maiziere said. Anything out in public is fair game, as are postings on networks specifically created for business contacts, such as LinkedIn.

In contrast, it will be illegal to become a Facebook friend with an applicant in order to check out private details, he said, adding that some people seem to be indiscriminate about whom they accept as a friend.

If an employer turns down an application with another reasoning it might be difficult to prove that the negative answer was based on the Facebook postings, de Maiziere said.

A rejected job applicant who proves he or she was turned down based on violation of the new law could take the company to court and claim damages, he said.

The new law will also prevent clandestine video surveillance in the workplace, particularly in private spaces like lavatories or locker rooms, de Maiziere said. An employer ignoring the new rule could be charged fines of up to ?300,000 about $379,000.

However, cameras will be allowed in public spaces like supermarkets and some factories or warehouses, if employees know about them, he said.

Overall, the new rules passed by the cabinet keep a good balance between employees interests on the hand and companies interests on the other, de Maiziere said.

The BDA employers federation called the draft is too imprecise in some points, adding that it thinks some of de Maizieres proposals would hinder the fight against corruption and crime.

The retailers association HDE said some of the regulations go much too far, and outlawing clandestine video surveillance would be wrong.

Here we hope for changes in the government draft, HDE said in a press release.

Germanys data protection watchdog, Peter Schaar, applauded the governments effort, calling it long overdue.

It is a substantial improvement on the status quo in dealing with employees data, he said.

De Maiziere said he does not know yet when the law will go into effect.

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