MEXICO CITY (AP) ? A Mexican army general and 29 soldiers under his command in a town on the border with Texas are being tried on charges of torture, homicide, drug trafficking and other crimes, a top government official confirmed Tuesday.
Interior Secretary Alejandro Poire said that the crimes charged in the case are "deplorable and reprehensible" and that the troops are being tried in a military court.
Details about Gen. Manuel Moreno Avina and his subordinates' alleged reign of terror in the town of Ojinaga, across from Presidio, Texas, were first reported by the newspaper Reforma, which had access to some of the soldiers' testimony.
Shortly after Moreno arrived in Ojinaga in spring 2008, the troops under his command began kidnapping, torturing and killing suspects and stealing cars, computers, TV sets and even mattresses during raids on suspects' homes, according to the testimony reported by Reforma. They allegedly resold the stolen items as well as marijuana and cocaine they seized.
Poire did not confirm the allegations contained in Reforma's story, and the Defense Department didn't respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
According to the newspaper, prosecutors say at least 10 civilians were killed by soldiers or by hit men under the orders of Moreno in 2008 and 2009.
At least three of those slain were described as suspects in the custody of soldiers, including a man in his 20s who was detained in July 2008 and taken to the military garrison and given electroshocks until he died of a heart attack. His body allegedly was taken to a ranch, soaked in diesel and burned.
Seven other people were killed on the orders of Moreno by two hit men working for La Linea, a gang of assassins and corrupt police officers who act as enforcers for the Juarez Cartel, according to the testimony reported by Reforma.
Among the alleged victims were a secretary at the federal prosecutors' office in Ojinaga, a state police officer, a local police officer who stopped Moreno for speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol, and a businessman who filed a complaint with federal prosecutors and human rights officials after soldiers raided his house and stole money.
Soldiers also reportedly testified that Moreno often kept cars seized in legal and illegal raids and had them painted in military green.
Poire said the general and other soldiers are being tried in a military court in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa and are all being held at a military prison in the state of Jalisco, it said.
Military investigators were first alerted to the soldiers' crimes in August 2009 by an anonymous complaint that they were collaborating with a criminal group, Defense Department officials told Reforma.
President Felipe Calderon deployed 50,000 soldiers and other military personnel to fight organized crime shortly after taking office in December 2006. More than 47,000 people have been killed in drug violence since Calderon launched his offensive, according to government figures.
The Inter-American Court on Human Rights and Mexico's own Supreme Court have ruled that soldiers who commit human rights violations against civilians should be tried in civilian courts. Calderon has said his government will comply with rulings, but so far it has not made the transition or agreed to give civilian courts military cases of murder.
A Human Rights Watch report on Mexico released in November said only 15 soldiers had been convicted following 3,671 investigations by military prosecutors into alleged human rights violations by soldiers against civilians from 2007 to June 2011. No soldier or state official had been convicted in any of more than 200 cases that the New York-based rights group documented in the report.
LOS ANGELES ? Christopher Plummer has won the supporting-actor honor at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for his role as an elderly dad who comes out as gay in "Beginners," firming up his Academy Awards prospects next month.
Plummer would become the oldest actor ever to win an Oscar at age 82, two years older than Jessica Tandy when she won best actress for "Driving Miss Daisy."
Nominees for lead-acting honors include George Clooney for "The Descendants," Meryl Streep for "The Iron Lady," Michelle Williams for "My Week with Marilyn" and Jean Dujardin for "The Artist."
Before the official ceremony, the Screen Actors Guild presented its honor for best film stunt ensemble to "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2." The TV stunt award went to "Game of Thrones."
SKOPJE, Macedonia ? Muslim leaders in Macedonia appealed for calm on Monday among community members outraged over a carnival in which Orthodox Christian men mocked Muslims by dressing as Burqa-clad women.
The incident at the Jan. 13 Vevcani festival has prompted angry, sometimes violent demonstrations by Muslims, who make up 33 percent of the country's 2.1 million population and accuse the majority of stoking hatred against them.
On Saturday, some protesters attacked buses and defaced a Macedonian flag and replaced it with a green flag to represent Islam. On the same day, a church was attacked by unknown perpetrators in the nearby village of Labunista.
In a statement Monday, Macedonian Muslim leaders called for restraint but also accused the government of promoting Islamophobia.
"The behavior of Muslims should be restrained, but, unfortunately, we are concerned that Islamophobia in Macedonia is often combined with government propaganda," they said. "Such is the case with this carnival that the government annually subsidizes with...the money of all citizens, including Muslims."
The carnival, said to have been held for some 1,400 years, attracts thousands of visitors. Local resident traditionally wear elaborate, frequently sarcastic masks, with some of the most common costumes including devils and demons.
Muslims in Macedonia are almost all ethnic Albanians. Albanians, in Macedonia and elsewhere, have traditionally been secular, but conservative Islamic schools, especially Wahhabism, have taken a foothold in the years following a brief ethnic Albanian uprising in Macedonia in 2001. This spread has been mainly financed from Saudi Arabia.
From George Clooney to Meryl Streep, we tally up actors' big wins and nominations to see who's primed for Oscar gold. See our gallery of this awards season's acting all-stars!
In the wake of the ?Leo Nunez? and ?Fausto Carmona? identity fraud incidents, the New York Times has a story in which people around baseball talk about how widespread the problem is feared to be:
Few in baseball were surprised that two well-established players had misrepresented themselves. The fear is that the problem could be much more widespread. One agent said more than a dozen players could soon lose their contracts because of age and identity issues.
?These are like time bombs,? Mark Newman, the Yankees? senior vice president for baseball operations, said by telephone from the Dominican Republic while scouting there last week.
For his part Newman, as well as others in baseball, believe that the problem will get better. Still: as long as there are millions to be gained by an 18 or 19 year-old passing himself off as 16, this problem is going to persist.
Cancer sequencing initiative discovers mutations tied to aggressive childhood brain tumorsPublic release date: 29-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Summer Freeman summer.freeman@stjude.org 901-595-3061 St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project provides first evidence linking cancer to mutations in genes involved in DNA organization
Researchers studying a rare, lethal childhood tumor of the brainstem discovered that nearly 80 percent of the tumors have mutations in genes not previously tied to cancer. Early evidence suggests the alterations play a unique role in other aggressive pediatric brain tumors as well.
The findings from the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project (PCGP) offer important insight into a poorly understood tumor that kills more than 90 percent of patients within two years. The tumor, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), is found almost exclusively in children and accounts for 10 to 15 percent of pediatric tumors of the brain and central nervous system.
"We are hopeful that identifying these mutations will lead us to new selective therapeutic targets, which are particularly important since this tumor cannot be treated surgically and still lacks effective therapies," said Suzanne Baker, Ph.D., co-leader of the St. Jude Neurobiology and Brain Tumor Program and a member of the St. Jude Department of Developmental Neurobiology. She is a corresponding author of the study published in the January 29 online edition of the scientific journal Nature Genetics.
DIPG is an extremely invasive tumor that occurs in the brainstem, which is at the base of the skull and controls such vital functions as breathing and heart rate. DIPG cannot be cured by surgery and is accurately diagnosed by non-invasive imaging. As a result, DIPG is rarely biopsied in the U.S. and little is known about it.
Cancer occurs when normal gene activity is disrupted, allowing for the unchecked cell growth and spread that makes cancer so lethal. In this study, investigators found 78 percent of the DIPG tumors had alterations in one of two genes that carry instructions for making proteins that play similar roles in packaging DNA inside cells. Both belong to the histone H3 family of proteins. DNA must be wrapped around histones so that it is compact enough to fit into the nucleus. The packaging of DNA by histones influences which genes are switched on or off, as well as the repair of mutations in DNA and the stability of DNA. Disruption of any of these processes can contribute to cancer.
Researchers said that the mutations seem unique to aggressive childhood brain tumors.
"It is amazing to see that this particular tumor type appears to be characterized by a molecular 'smoking gun' and that these mutations are unique to fast-growing pediatric cancers in the brain," said Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D., director of The Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and one of the study's corresponding authors. "This is exactly the type of result one hopes to find when studying the genomes of cancer patients."
The results are the latest from the PCGP, an ambitious three-year effort to sequence the complete normal and cancer genomes of 600 children with some of the most poorly understood and aggressive pediatric cancers. The human genome includes the complete set of instructions needed to assemble and sustain human life. The goal is to identify differences that explain why cancer develops, spreads and kills. Researchers believe the findings will provide the foundation for new tools to diagnose, treat or prevent the disease.
For this study, researchers sequenced the complete normal and cancer genomes of seven patients with DIPG. "The mutations were found at such high frequency in the cancer genomes of those seven patients that we immediately checked for the same alterations in a larger group of DIPGs," Baker said. When researchers sequenced all 16 of the related genes that make closely related variants of histone H3 proteins in an additional 43 DIPGs, they found many of the tumors contained the same mistakes in only two of these genes.
Of the 50 DIPG tumors included in this study, 60 percent had a single alteration in the makeup of the H3F3A gene. When the mutated gene was translated into a protein, the point mutation led to the substitution of methionine for lysine as the 27th amino acid in this variant of histone H3 protein. Another 18 percent of the DIPG patients carried the same mistake in a different gene, HIST1H3B.
Researchers are now working to understand how mutations in H3F3A and HIST1H3B impact cell function and contribute to cancer. Earlier research provides some clues. The lysine that is mutated is normally targeted by enzymes that attach other molecules to histone H3, influencing how it interacts with other proteins that regulate gene expression, Baker said. Mutations in the enzymes that target histone H3 have been identified in other cancers, but this is the first report showing a specific alteration of histones in cancer.
H3F3A and HIST1H3B were also mutated in other aggressive childhood brain tumors, glioblastoma, that develop outside the brain stem. Of 36 such tumors included in this study, 36 percent carried one of three distinct point mutations in the genes. The alterations included another single change in the makeup of H3F3A not found in DIPGs.
The histone H3 genes, however, were not mutated in any of the 252 other childhood tumors researchers checked for this study. The list included the brain tumors known as low-grade gliomas, medulloblastomas and ependymomas plus other cancers outside the brain and nervous system. The H3 changes have not been reported in any other cancers, including adult glioblastoma. "This suggests these particular mutations give a very important selective advantage, particularly in the developing brainstem and to a lesser degree in the developing brain, which leads to a terribly aggressive brain tumor in children, but not in adults," Baker said.
"This discovery would not have been possible without the unbiased approach taken by the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project," Baker said. "The mutations had not been reported in any other tumor, so we would not have searched for them in DIPGs. Yet the alterations clearly play an important role in generating this particular tumor."
###
The study's first authors are Gang Wu, Alberto Broniscer and Troy McEachron, all of St. Jude. The study's other corresponding authors are Jinghui Zhang and James Downing, both of St. Jude. The other study authors are Charles Lu, Li Ding and Elaine Mardis, all of Washington University; and Barbara Paugh, Jared Becksfort, Chunxu Qu, Robert Huether, Matthew Parker, Junyuan Zhang, Amar Gajjar, Michael Dyer, Charles Mullighan, Richard Gilbertson and David Ellison, all of St. Jude.
The research was funded in part by the PCGP, including Kay Jewelers, a lead project sponsor; the National Institutes of Health, the Sydney Schlobohm Chair of Research from the National Brain Tumor Society; the Cure Starts Now Foundation, Smile for Sophie Forever Foundation, Tyler's Treehouse Foundation, Musicians Against Childhood Cancer, the Noyes Brain Tumor Foundation and ALSAC.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Since opening 50 years ago, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has changed the way the world treats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. No family ever pays St. Jude for the care their child receives and, for every child treated here, thousands more has been saved worldwide through St. Jude discoveries. The hospital has played a pivotal role in pushing U.S. pediatric cancer survival rates from 20 to 80 percent overall, and is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted to children. It is also a leader in the research and treatment of blood disorders and infectious diseases in children. St. Jude was founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, who believed that no child should die in the dawn of life. Join that mission by visiting http://www.stjude.org or following us on http://www.facebook.com/stjude and Twitter@StJudeResearch.
Washington University School of Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
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.
Cancer sequencing initiative discovers mutations tied to aggressive childhood brain tumorsPublic release date: 29-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Summer Freeman summer.freeman@stjude.org 901-595-3061 St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project provides first evidence linking cancer to mutations in genes involved in DNA organization
Researchers studying a rare, lethal childhood tumor of the brainstem discovered that nearly 80 percent of the tumors have mutations in genes not previously tied to cancer. Early evidence suggests the alterations play a unique role in other aggressive pediatric brain tumors as well.
The findings from the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project (PCGP) offer important insight into a poorly understood tumor that kills more than 90 percent of patients within two years. The tumor, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), is found almost exclusively in children and accounts for 10 to 15 percent of pediatric tumors of the brain and central nervous system.
"We are hopeful that identifying these mutations will lead us to new selective therapeutic targets, which are particularly important since this tumor cannot be treated surgically and still lacks effective therapies," said Suzanne Baker, Ph.D., co-leader of the St. Jude Neurobiology and Brain Tumor Program and a member of the St. Jude Department of Developmental Neurobiology. She is a corresponding author of the study published in the January 29 online edition of the scientific journal Nature Genetics.
DIPG is an extremely invasive tumor that occurs in the brainstem, which is at the base of the skull and controls such vital functions as breathing and heart rate. DIPG cannot be cured by surgery and is accurately diagnosed by non-invasive imaging. As a result, DIPG is rarely biopsied in the U.S. and little is known about it.
Cancer occurs when normal gene activity is disrupted, allowing for the unchecked cell growth and spread that makes cancer so lethal. In this study, investigators found 78 percent of the DIPG tumors had alterations in one of two genes that carry instructions for making proteins that play similar roles in packaging DNA inside cells. Both belong to the histone H3 family of proteins. DNA must be wrapped around histones so that it is compact enough to fit into the nucleus. The packaging of DNA by histones influences which genes are switched on or off, as well as the repair of mutations in DNA and the stability of DNA. Disruption of any of these processes can contribute to cancer.
Researchers said that the mutations seem unique to aggressive childhood brain tumors.
"It is amazing to see that this particular tumor type appears to be characterized by a molecular 'smoking gun' and that these mutations are unique to fast-growing pediatric cancers in the brain," said Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D., director of The Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and one of the study's corresponding authors. "This is exactly the type of result one hopes to find when studying the genomes of cancer patients."
The results are the latest from the PCGP, an ambitious three-year effort to sequence the complete normal and cancer genomes of 600 children with some of the most poorly understood and aggressive pediatric cancers. The human genome includes the complete set of instructions needed to assemble and sustain human life. The goal is to identify differences that explain why cancer develops, spreads and kills. Researchers believe the findings will provide the foundation for new tools to diagnose, treat or prevent the disease.
For this study, researchers sequenced the complete normal and cancer genomes of seven patients with DIPG. "The mutations were found at such high frequency in the cancer genomes of those seven patients that we immediately checked for the same alterations in a larger group of DIPGs," Baker said. When researchers sequenced all 16 of the related genes that make closely related variants of histone H3 proteins in an additional 43 DIPGs, they found many of the tumors contained the same mistakes in only two of these genes.
Of the 50 DIPG tumors included in this study, 60 percent had a single alteration in the makeup of the H3F3A gene. When the mutated gene was translated into a protein, the point mutation led to the substitution of methionine for lysine as the 27th amino acid in this variant of histone H3 protein. Another 18 percent of the DIPG patients carried the same mistake in a different gene, HIST1H3B.
Researchers are now working to understand how mutations in H3F3A and HIST1H3B impact cell function and contribute to cancer. Earlier research provides some clues. The lysine that is mutated is normally targeted by enzymes that attach other molecules to histone H3, influencing how it interacts with other proteins that regulate gene expression, Baker said. Mutations in the enzymes that target histone H3 have been identified in other cancers, but this is the first report showing a specific alteration of histones in cancer.
H3F3A and HIST1H3B were also mutated in other aggressive childhood brain tumors, glioblastoma, that develop outside the brain stem. Of 36 such tumors included in this study, 36 percent carried one of three distinct point mutations in the genes. The alterations included another single change in the makeup of H3F3A not found in DIPGs.
The histone H3 genes, however, were not mutated in any of the 252 other childhood tumors researchers checked for this study. The list included the brain tumors known as low-grade gliomas, medulloblastomas and ependymomas plus other cancers outside the brain and nervous system. The H3 changes have not been reported in any other cancers, including adult glioblastoma. "This suggests these particular mutations give a very important selective advantage, particularly in the developing brainstem and to a lesser degree in the developing brain, which leads to a terribly aggressive brain tumor in children, but not in adults," Baker said.
"This discovery would not have been possible without the unbiased approach taken by the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project," Baker said. "The mutations had not been reported in any other tumor, so we would not have searched for them in DIPGs. Yet the alterations clearly play an important role in generating this particular tumor."
###
The study's first authors are Gang Wu, Alberto Broniscer and Troy McEachron, all of St. Jude. The study's other corresponding authors are Jinghui Zhang and James Downing, both of St. Jude. The other study authors are Charles Lu, Li Ding and Elaine Mardis, all of Washington University; and Barbara Paugh, Jared Becksfort, Chunxu Qu, Robert Huether, Matthew Parker, Junyuan Zhang, Amar Gajjar, Michael Dyer, Charles Mullighan, Richard Gilbertson and David Ellison, all of St. Jude.
The research was funded in part by the PCGP, including Kay Jewelers, a lead project sponsor; the National Institutes of Health, the Sydney Schlobohm Chair of Research from the National Brain Tumor Society; the Cure Starts Now Foundation, Smile for Sophie Forever Foundation, Tyler's Treehouse Foundation, Musicians Against Childhood Cancer, the Noyes Brain Tumor Foundation and ALSAC.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Since opening 50 years ago, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has changed the way the world treats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. No family ever pays St. Jude for the care their child receives and, for every child treated here, thousands more has been saved worldwide through St. Jude discoveries. The hospital has played a pivotal role in pushing U.S. pediatric cancer survival rates from 20 to 80 percent overall, and is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted to children. It is also a leader in the research and treatment of blood disorders and infectious diseases in children. St. Jude was founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, who believed that no child should die in the dawn of life. Join that mission by visiting http://www.stjude.org or following us on http://www.facebook.com/stjude and Twitter@StJudeResearch.
Washington University School of Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
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.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Republican lawmakers will try to force the Obama administration to approve the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline by attaching it to a highway bill that Congress will consider next month, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday.
President Barack Obama earlier this month denied TransCanada's application for the oil sands pipeline, citing lack of time to review an alternative route within a 60-day window for action set by Congress.
Republicans have since been looking for a vehicle to resurrect the $7 billion project, and Boehner said that would be a House Republican energy and highway bill.
"If (Keystone) is not enacted before we take up the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, it will be part of it," Boehner said on ABC's "This Week" news program.
Environmentalists and some Democrats oppose Keystone, citing higher greenhouse gas emissions, while most Republicans say it would create needed jobs.
Republicans in the Senate also plan to introduce a Keystone bill. Some Senate Democrats back the pipeline, but its passage is not guaranteed in the body.
Parts of the House Republican plan, such as opening up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, stand little chance of passing the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate.
Attaching Keystone to a pending deal to extend payroll tax cuts for workers, which has greater bipartisan backing than the highway bills, is another vehicle Republicans are considering.
One suspect in the Utah high school bomb plot interviewed the Columbine principal in December. Police were tipped off by a friend of the suspect who received a suspicious message.?
An apparent school bombing plot foiled this week in Utah illustrates how much the Columbine massacre still resonates more than 10 years later.
Skip to next paragraph
One of the Utah suspects was so fascinated by the 1999 mass shootings at Colorado?s Columbine High School that he visited the school in December and interviewed the principal.
But the lessons of Columbine, including the importance of encouraging students to come forward about anything that might indicate a threat of school violence ? also appear to have borne fruit in this case.
The 16-year-old suspect?s friend and classmate, Bailey Gerhardt, reported a suspicious text message to an administrator at Roy High School: ?If I told you to stay home on a certain day, would you?? the text read, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
The minor boy, as well as 18-year-old Roy High School student Dallin Morgan, were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit mass destruction. Police say months of planning went into their plot to set off a bomb during an assembly at the 1,500-student school and then try to escape by stealing an airplane.
No school assemblies were imminent, but had Bailey not come forward, ?it could have been a disaster,? Roy police spokeswoman Anna Bond said Thursday. The minor had previously made a pipe bomb, and both students had information about school security cameras and had been using flight simulator software, police said.
The Columbine connection in this case is the most extreme example seen by several school safety experts interviewed by the Monitor. It?s not uncommon for students to joke about Columbine or to refer to it when making real threats, they say.
But ?to go as far as to interview the principal and physically go there ? sends a message that they were extremely committed to doing something,? says Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services in Cleveland.
Columbine Principal Frank DeAngelis told the Associated Press that the student in question, who is not being named because he is a minor, asked to interview him for a story for his school newspaper. Mr. DeAngelis often fields such requests, he said, but in light of the arrests in Utah, he won?t do such interviews without first clearing it with security officials, the AP reports.
Wanting to emulate, or outdo, an incident like Columbine doesn?t happen in a vacuum, triggered by the Columbine massacre alone, notes William Pollack, a Harvard psychiatry professor and school-violence expert. It?s more like a ?gating phenomenon,? he says, where people might study it to do harm and feel encouraged by it to go through that gate, ?but they won?t do that if they?re not already there? ? motivated and committed for other reasons, he says.
While more information is likely to emerge about possible motives for the alleged plot, Bailey commented to investigators that the suspect had been angry after a former girlfriend broke up with him. Both teens wanted ?revenge on the world,? according to quotes in court documents as reported by the Salt Lake Tribune.
Bailey?s willingness to come forward ?says something for the school environment,? says Dr. Pollack, who was involved in post-Columbine studies on school shooters and the reasons why bystanders do or don?t report suspicious information.
More and more school administrators have taken the lessons of such reports to heart and ?see safe school climates as essential,? Pollack says. And whether it?s about bullying or a bomb plot, ?kids are more willing to come forward in general to talk about difficulties, or fears they have that someone may be hurt.?
In too many schools, safety training for staff is on the decline because of budget cuts, Mr. Trump cautions. He says calls for consulting are increasing from lawyers who are suing because of negligence and lack of safety in schools, and decreasing from from schools trying to be proactive.
But some of the most important steps aren?t very dependent on school budgets, says William Modzeleski, a school-safety consultant to the US Department of Education. It?s about being willing to put in the time to open up lines of communication between kids and adults, he says. ?Kids want to be talked with and feel they can go to someone.?
Associated Press material was used in this report.
SAN FRANCISCO -- State regulators plan to fine Pacific Gas & Electric Co. $16.8 million for failing to perform gas leak surveys in the wake of a deadly pipeline explosion in a San Francisco suburb in 2010.
The California Public Utilities Commission announced the fine Friday, as part of a new citation program that gives its staff oversight muscle to fine natural gas companies for safety problems spotted on their lines.
The Sept. 9, 2010 blast on the transmission line in San Bruno ignited a fireball that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes.
Last year, PG&E self-reported to the commission that the company did not perform pipeline leak surveys in several locations, in violation of state regulations. PG&E has 10 days to pay the fine using shareholder dollars, or appeal.
CAIRO ? Muslim Brotherhood supporters and secular protesters hurled bottles and rocks at each other and got into fistfights in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday as their political differences boiled over at a rally by tens of thousands marking an anniversary in the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
The scuffles, in which there were no reports of injury, were the first time the two sides have come to blows over resentments that have been rising between them since they worked together during the 18 days of protests against Mubarak a year ago.
Now they are locked in a competition to shape the transition. The differences do not focus on the Brotherhood's religious agenda ? though it worries many in the other camp. Instead, the divisions are over the military, which have ruled since Mubarak's fall, and ultimately whether dramatic change will be brought to Egypt's long autocratic system.
The "revolutionaries," the leftist and secular activists who launched the anti-Mubarak revolt, now demand the ruling generals quit power immediately and have vowed protests to force them out. The Brotherhood, meanwhile, has vaulted to political domination by winning the largest bloc in the new parliament and has been willing to let the military follow its own timetable for stepping down.
The revolutionaries suspect the Brotherhood will strike a deal with the ruling generals ? giving them a future say in politics to ensure the Brotherhood's hold on authority and influence on the writing of a new constitution, effective shelving serious reform. They also bristle over what they see as the Brotherhood's attempts to monopolize the political scene.
Nevertheless, the two sides have been uneasily trying to share Tahrir Square this week since a giant rally Wednesday marking the Jan. 25 start of the anti-Mubarak protests. But on a new rally Friday, tempers broke.
"Out, out, out!" revolutionaries chanted at the Brotherhood's main stage in the square, holding their shoes in the air in a sign of contempt at a line of Brothers forming a human chain in front of the podium.
"Dogs of the military council," others chanted at the Brothers.
The political differences have translated into a dispute over the very meaning of the anniversary. The Brotherhood has presented this week as a celebration of the revolution's successes ? particularly their own parliament victory. The secular groups say there is nothing to celebrate when so many demands of the revolution are left unachieved and killings of protesters have gone unpunished.
The fights erupted over the Brotherhood's giant stage in the square, bristling with loudspeakers. Some protesters complain the Brotherhood sought to drown out other protesters by blaring religious anthems, Quranic recitations and music.
Others were angered a celebratory banner on the stage proclaiming, "Holiday of the Revolution." Another note of triumphalism that irritated many was a song played repeatedly celebrating the military's victories in the 1973 war with Israel and proclaiming "may the victory be bigger" in the revolution.
Arguments about the stage turned into pushing and shoving then fistfights and exchanges of hurled bottles and rocks.
The scuffles reflect both the frustrations and the growing confidence of the revolutionary groups. The military has been seeking to isolate them from a public tiring of turmoil, and the Brotherhood's election victories left them with little say in parliament. But on Wednesday and Friday, they succeeded in bringing out numbers of protesters that rivaled or even surpassed the Islamists' presence, raising their hopes that they can push the Brotherhood to a firmer line on the military.
The leftists and secular groups accuse the military of being as dictatorial as Mubarak and of intending to preserve their power even after a handover to civilians. There is widespread resentment that little has been done to dismantle Mubarak's regime and prosecute security officers for the deaths of hundreds of protesters during the past year in crackdowns by both Mubarak and the military. The Brotherhood insists it wants the military to leave power, but it is willing to let it stay until late June when the generals have promised to hand over rule to a civilian president.
In Tahrir, Ahmed Kamal, a 39 year old engineer who voted for the Brotherhood in recent parliament elections but is not a member, said he hopes the movement takes a stronger tone. "Their rhetoric has been too soft" on the military, he said. "In the end, the military council won't hand over power unless the Square and the parliament are on the same wavelength."
The day's protests, which included mass rallies in other Egyptian cities, commemorated the first anniversary of the "Friday of Rage," one of the bloodiest days of the 18-day protests that led to Mubarak's Feb. 11 ouster.
In last year's "Friday of Rage," Mubarak's security forces fired on protesters marching toward Tahrir from around the capital, killing and wounding hundreds. Protesters battled back for hours until the police collapsed and withdrew from the streets.
"This is a day of mourning, not celebration," said Abdel-Hady el-Ninny, the father of a slain protester, Alaa Abdel-Hady. He and his family carried large posters of his son around Tahrir.
In Friday's rally, large marches organized by the leftist and secular groups streamed from mosques around Cairo to join the tens of thousands in Tahrir. "We want civilian, not military," they chanted in the marches, and some young men shaved the words "down with military rule" in their hair cuts. One protester, carried on his comrades' shoulders, portrayed a slain protester.
Several thousand also protested in front of the state television building, near Tahrir ? a focus of anger because state media have served as a mouthpiece for the military and its denunciations of protesters, just as it did under Mubarak.
A march to the Defense Ministry was confronted by dozens of supporters of the military. The two sides chanted slogans outside the building, guarded by barbed wire and armored vehicles, until a series of loud booms went off. The protesters scattered, and several said they saw military supporters throw homemade bombs and that one protester was injured.
"We delivered a message to the military that we are not scared," Milad Daniel, whose brother Mina was killed in a military crackdown on protesters in October, said after the ministry protest. "They have tanks and armored vehicles but we have God."
Amid the crowds in Tahrir, a Muslim cleric delivered a boisterous Friday sermon, proclaiming protesters must determine the country's course.
"Our right is to dictate the decisions of the revolution," said the cleric, Muzhar Shahine, speaking from the "revolutionaries" stage, as the crowd cried, "God is great."
He gave a litany of the unrealized changes sought by the revolution.
State media must be purged, a constitution must be written that is "shared by all political parties and that gives rights for all of Egypt's children," and Christians must be given the same rights as Muslims, he said.
"A year later, has State Security really been dissolved," he said, referring to Mubarak's feared internal security force that was the backbone of his police state. "Has our land been freed?"
SAN JOSE, Calif. ? In Silicon Valley's white-hot competition for tech talent, programmers can face a daily barrage of calls from recruiters seeking to woo them to rival companies with offers of better pay and perks.
But workers for some of the biggest names in the business claim their phones fell silent because of a conspiracy among their employers. And they claim the world's biggest tech icon was at the center.
A lawsuit filed in federal court in San Jose claims senior executives at Google Inc., Intel Corp., Adobe Systems Inc., Intuit Inc., Lucasfilm Ltd., Pixar and Apple Inc. violated antitrust laws by entering into secret anti-poaching agreements not to hire each other's best workers. In doing so, the suit contends the companies were able to keep wages artificially low by preventing bidding wars for the best employees.
The plaintiffs also claim that company e-mails show Steve Jobs himself sought and orchestrated at least some of the so-called "gentlemen's agreements" while Apple's CEO.
"I believe we have a policy of no recruiting from Apple," then-Google chief executive Eric Schmidt wrote in a 2007 email cited by the plaintiffs. The email was originally furnished to the U.S. Justice Department, which investigated similar allegations in 2010. The same email included a forwarded message from Jobs complaining that Google's recruiting department was trying to lure away an Apple engineer.
"Can you get this stopped and let me know why this is happening?" Schmidt wrote. Google's director of staffing replied that the recruiter "will be terminated within the hour."
The companies' attorneys said the facts even as presented by the plaintiffs show no evidence of a conspiracy.
Rather, they said in court filings that some companies had separate one-to-one pacts among themselves as they worked together on various business ventures.
"The obvious explanation for the existence of these agreements were the collaborations," said Apple defense attorney George Riley, as the two sides squared off Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Jose. Riley told Judge Lucy Koh that such arrangements were common.
The case hinges on a practice described in court documents as "cold-calling." Under the practice, recruiters from one company will call an employee at another company who has the skills the company needs. The practice can lead to bidding wars as workers play the companies off one another to get the highest pay.
Cold-calling, the suit contends, helps workers get a sense of what they're worth in a free market for employment in which all the companies are competing against one another for top employees. When the cold-calling stops, workers lose the knowledge and the leverage they could otherwise use to demand higher pay.
The Justice Department's 2010 investigation included all the same companies except Lucasfilm, and the plaintiffs in some ways mimic the language from the department's original case. The companies settled without admitting any wrongdoing but agreed not to enter into future agreements preventing them from cold-calling each other's employees to recruit them.
Because the Justice Department's case was settled quietly without any public dispute, court records contain little detail about any specific alleged agreements among companies.
Some of those details did come to light, however, in a recent filing by the plaintiffs, which quotes emails they obtained from the companies that had previously been given to the Justice Department.
In a 2005 email describing a purported agreement between former Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen and his then-counterpart at Apple, an Adobe human resources executive wrote: "Bruce and Steve Jobs have an agreement that we are not to solicit ANY Apple employees, and vice versa," according to court documents.
Ex-Palm Inc. CEO Ed Colligan wrote to Jobs in 2007: "Your proposal that we agree that neither company will hire the other's employees, regardless of the individual's desires, is not only wrong, it is likely illegal," the plaintiffs' filing said.
In internal company communications, Intel CEO and Google board member Paul Otellini described a gentleman's agreement between the two companies: "Let me clarify. We have nothing signed. We have a handshake `no recruit'" between himself and then-Google CEO Schmidt. "I would not like this broadly known."
Defense attorneys contend the emails are being distorted by the plaintiffs and show nothing beyond legitimate one-to-one agreements. Apple declined to comment.
"Intel disagrees with the allegations contained in the private litigation related to recruiting practices and plans to conduct a vigorous defense," said Sumner Lemon, an Intel spokesman.
Adobe said the company does not comment on pending litigation.
The other companies named in the suit did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.
Whichever side prevails, the case underscores the high wages talented tech workers can command in Silicon Valley, where the tech industry added thousands of jobs last year. According to federal labor statistics, mid-level tech workers in the region such as computer security specialists, web developers and network architects earn more money than anywhere else in the country, with average annual salaries topping $110,000.
Many of those workers could get thousands more if the case goes their way, lead plaintiff's attorney Joseph Saveri said. Given the potentially tens of thousands of workers affected if the plaintiffs succeed in turning the suit into a class-action case, Saveri said the combined damages for the companies could reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars if decided at trial.
Such penalties would sink many companies. But Apple recently reported cash reserves of more than $97 billion. Google also has billions in cash on hand.
One anti-trust attorney not involved in the case doubts the companies have much to worry about anyway.
Antitrust cases that revolve around hiring practices are difficult to win, said David Balto, a Washington, D.C.-based antitrust lawyer who investigated Microsoft as a staff attorney for the Federal Trade Commission in the 1990s. Among the legal challenges they face is defining who exactly makes up the class of workers harmed by the alleged violations, since people with different jobs have different employment options, he said.
"I don't think anybody at these companies is losing a nanosecond of sleep because of this lawsuit," Balto said.
___
Marcus Wohlsen can be reached on Twitter: http://twitter.com/marcuswohlsen
Back in the 1990s, there was a small software company in Iowa that produced a tax preparation program called Personal TaxEdge. It was an also-ran, competing with the big financial companies that created the Big Two: Intuit (TurboTax) and Kiplinger (originally TaxCut, now H&R Block At Home). The company was eventually sold and the product discontinued, but a small group of employees took it on and turned it into what is today TaxACT.
In several ways, 2nd Story Software has built TaxACT up to the point where it's a strong competitor for TurboTax's Editor's Choice award. The product accommodates complex tax returns, though it lacks some of TurboTax's investment chops. Its help is easily accessible and nearly as plentiful and understandable. And it's fast.?
Maybe most important to some, it's significantly less expensive. You'd pay $17.95 to prepare and e-file your federal and state returns, plus $7.95 for unlimited phone support with a tax expert, for a total of $25.90. Intuit would charge you $86.90 for the same combination of services. I reviewed the $17.95 Ultimate Bundle, which offers preparation and filing for both federal and state using the Deluxe product.
TaxACT has also gone mobile this year, like its competitors, with an iPad version and a smartphone app.
When Free Really Means Free Like it competitors, 2nd Story doesn't charge you until you're ready to file, which means you can do some comparison among the sites on your own.
You aren't charged at all if you opt for the Free Federal Edition (optional state is $14.95). Competitors offer free versions, but these do not contain the prep tools offered by their paid editions. TaxACT's gratis offering lacks a few of the extras found in the paid Deluxe Edition, like J.K. Lasser's Tax Tutor Guidance and import of W-2 and investment data.
But the free version gives you access to the same forms and schedules, and you could prepare the same return, no matter how complex, on either Free or Deluxe. This is not the case with the other sites reviewed here: Their free versions do not offer the preparation prowess of their paid editions.
A Standard Navigational System All of these sites use a similar navigational scheme?pioneered back in the early 1990s by Intuit?to get at all relevant 1040 data. TaxACT greets you by asking for your name, address, Social Security number, etc. and asks for information about dependents and your filing status. As you begin the Federal Q&A, you're asked whether you want Step-by-Step Guidance (expanded, more comprehensive exploration of topics) or would rather just choose topics to visit on your own. Which you use depends on your confidence level and the complexity of your return. ?
Starting here and continuing throughout, the site displays questions and asks you to either fill in blank fields or make selections from lists. TaxACT takes your entries and deposits them?in the background?on the correct lines of the 1040 and related forms and schedules (if you've paid for your product, you can view the actual IRS documents as you go along). You just continue to click on the Continue and Back buttons to advance to the next screen.
Unlike H&R Block At Home, TaxACT lets you view screens and enter data out of sequence. Though it's recommended that you follow the site's linear path, you can click on Jump to Forms & Topics to get an interactive list of the forms and schedules included. Select one to either add a new copy of that page or edit/delete an existing one. Got a document in the mail (like the 1099-SA) but you don't know where it goes? There's another list containing such paperwork that links to the appropriate screens.
You can also navigate to other topics by clicking on tabs and sub-tabs at the top of the working area; these divide the 1040 into related content, like Life Events (changes that will affect the path that TaxACT establishes for you, with extra tips), Federal Q&A (Income, Deductions, etc.) and Review (final pre-filing stages that help ensure that you haven't made any errors or omissions). Click the Forms tab in the vertical pane on the right to see graphical representations of forms and schedules in progress as well as documents you've received. Links here take you to instructions, display the number of copies entered, and let you create new ones.
PORTLAND, Ore. ? Eugene Police Officer Dan Baker drove a blue SUV and set off sirens to clear cars in front of him at traffic lights. He pulled over motorists ? though it's unclear if he ever gave out tickets. And when he stopped by a youth shelter as a volunteer, he came in full uniform.
There's just one problem: There has never been an Officer Dan Baker in the Eugene Police Department.
Police in Oregon's second-largest city say the man with the badge was Daniel S. Alloway, and investigators are now trying to piece together at least a year of his alleged exploits while posing under the guise of an officer of the law.
"In one respect, I think he considers himself a public servant," said Eugene police Sgt. Scott McKee. "There's admissions by him, in his own mind, that he was doing a service."
McKee said Alloway acknowledged the impersonations under questioning Thursday night. He was arraigned Friday on one count of criminal impersonation, and police said they expect to file at least two dozen more charges.
Alloway was assigned a public defender and didn't enter a plea Friday. The Public Defender Services of Lane County did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Authorities fear the victims of Alloway's alleged transgressions could go beyond the department's reputation. McKee said Alloway's uniform, badge, handcuffs and radio could have easily convinced anyone, including the 15- to 20-year-old boys at the youth shelter, that he had the power to arrest and charge them.
"People get automatic credential with the public," McKee said. "Somebody could use that to isolate a person, a 16-year-old, and that is dangerous."
Alloway, 39, was no stranger to being an authority figure. He is an active-duty member of the Oregon Army National Guard's Alpha Company, 2-162 Infantry Battalion, headquartered in Cottage Grove, Ore.
He was deployed three times to Iraq, in 2004, 2007 and 2009, serving a year tour each time. An Oregon Military Department spokesman said Alloway received service awards for each tour.
He also works a day job as a security guard. That job may have given him access to authentic-looking badges and a utility belt that included a Taser, handgun, pepper spray, radio and handcuffs, said Eugene police spokeswoman Melinda McLaughlin.
Police said they started receiving information from people in the community that something about "Officer Baker" wasn't right. That led to Alloway's arrest Thursday afternoon, which was not without drama.
No one answered the door when local police and Federal Protective Service officers arrived at Alloway's Eugene apartment. They later said they heard a gun being loaded from behind a locked door, but when they broke out a window, Alloway was missing.
He was on a county bus and out of cellphone range but returned calls from the police and was arrested a short while later in downtown Eugene.
Inside the apartment, McKee said police found several shoulder patches from various law enforcement agencies, framed like artwork.
One complication to the investigation was pure happenstance. Baker is a common name for Willamette Valley police officers: One family featured two Eugene police officers and one longtime Springfield officer.
___
Nigel Duara can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/nigelduara.
MARSEILLE, France ? French authorities have filed preliminary charges against the former head of a now-defunct company accused of supplying potentially faulty breast implants affecting thousands of women.
A judge in the southeastern city of Marseille placed Jean-Claude Mas, the founder and former chief of Poly Implant Prothese, under investigation for "involuntary injury," defense lawyer Yves Haddad said Friday.
The judge's decision to release him on euro100,000 ($130,000) bail caused indignation among women who regard themselves as his victims.
"It's an upteenth insult to the victims that he's still free," Alexandra Blachere, who heads an association of PIP implant recipients, said on BFM-TV.
Mas was arrested Thursday. He was ordered by investigating judge Annaick Le Goff to stay in France and not meet with any other former PIP executives, the lawyer said.
The suspect PIP implants have been removed from the marketplace in several countries in and beyond Europe amid fears that they could rupture and leak silicone into the body.
The preliminary charges mean investigating magistrates have strong reason to believe a crime was committed but give them more time to probe to decide whether to recommend it go to trial.
Mas, 72, was arrested at his residence in a Mediterranean coastal resort town as part of a judicial investigation into manslaughter and involuntary injury. PIP's former No. 2, Claude Couty, was also detained.
Police investigators searched the Mas residence and held him for questioning for seven hours before he was transferred to Marseille to meet with the investigating judge.
Mas did not speak to reporters after being released on bail.
"Mr. Mas was finally able to express himself before the judge. He is relieved to have been able to do so," Haddad said. "The magistrate judged that for now there's no reason to charge him for manslaughter because for the moment, there's no sign of evidence of this crime."
"Calm must return to this case," he added.
On the sole charge of involuntary injury, Mas risks a maximum one year in prison if convicted. That isn't sufficient to allow Le Goff to order him held in custody before trial.
In an Oct. 13 transcript of his accounts to investigators in Marseille ? a copy of which was viewed earlier this month by The Associated Press ? Mas claimed the victims were after money.
According to the account, Mas insisted the silicone gel presented no health risk and said the victims "were filing complaints just to receive money ... they are fragile people or people who are only in it for the money."
A lawyer representing some 50 French women said Friday his clients are horrified at the idea that Mas may end up enjoying the Rivera sun.
They "don't see Jean-Claude Mas in a villa, his feet in the water, on the French Riviera," Laurent Gaudon said.
The arrests ended weeks of speculation about whether investigators would be able to assemble enough evidence to detain Mas ? whose location was known to authorities ? or any other possible suspects on legal grounds.
Mas had run PIP until the company was closed in March 2010.
France's Health Safety Agency has said the suspect implants ? just one type of implants made by PIP ? appear to be more rupture-prone than other types. Investigators say PIP sought to save money by using industrial silicone, whose potential health risks are not yet clear.
PIP's website said the company had exported to more than 60 countries and was one of the world's leading implant makers. The silicone-gel implants in question are not sold in the United States.
According to estimates by national authorities, more than 42,000 women in Britain received the implants, more than 30,000 in France, 9,000 in Australia and 4,000 in Italy. Nearly 25,000 of the implants were sold in Brazil.
FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2011 file photo, actress Demi Moore attends the premiere of "Margin Call" in New York. A spokeswoman for Moore on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 said the actress is seeking professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2011 file photo, actress Demi Moore attends the premiere of "Margin Call" in New York. A spokeswoman for Moore on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 said the actress is seeking professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Demi Moore smoked something before she was rushed to the hospital on Monday night and was convulsing and "semi-conscious, barely," according to a caller on a frantic emergency call recording released Friday by Los Angeles fire officials.
The woman tells emergency operators that Moore, 49, had been "having issues lately."
"Is she breathing normal?" the operator asks.
"No, not so normal. More kind of shaking, convulsing, burning up," the friend says as she hurries to Moore's side, on the edge of panic.
The recording captures the 10 minutes it took paramedics to arrive as friends gather around the collapsed star and try to comfort her as she trembles and shakes.
Another woman is next to Moore as the dispatcher asks if she's responsive.
"Demi, can you hear me?" she asks. "Yes, she's squeezing hands. ... She can't speak."
When the operator asks what Moore ingested or smoked, the friend replies, but the answer was redacted.
"Some form of ... and then she smoked something. I didn't really see. She's been having some issues lately with some other stuff. So I don't know what she's been taking or not," the friend says.
The city attorney's office advised the fire department to redact details about medical conditions and substances to comply with federal medical privacy rules.
Asked if Moore took the substance intentionally or not, the woman says Moore ingested it on purpose but the reaction was accidental.
"Whatever she took, make sure you have it out for the paramedics," the operator says.
The operator asks the friend if this has happened before.
"I don't know," she says. "There's been some stuff recently that we're all just finding out."
Moore's publicist, Carrie Gordon, said previously that the actress sought professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health. She would not comment further on the emergency call or provide details about the nature or location of Moore's treatment.
The past few months have been rocky for Moore.
She released a statement in November announcing she had decided to end her marriage to fellow actor Ashton Kutcher, 33, following news of alleged infidelity. The two were known to publicly share their affection for one another via Twitter.
Moore still has a Twitter account under the name mrskutcher but has not posted any messages since Jan. 7.
During the call, the woman caller says the group of friends had turned Moore's head to the side and were holding her down. The dispatcher tells her not to hold her down but to wipe her mouth and nose and watch her closely until paramedics arrive.
"Make sure that we keep an airway open," the dispatcher says. "Even if she passes out completely, that's OK. Stay right with her."
The phone is passed around by four people, including a woman who gives directions to the gate and another who recounts details about what Moore smoked or ingested. Finally, the phone is given to a man named James, so one of the women can hold Moore's head.
There was some confusion at the beginning of the call. The emergency response was delayed by nearly two minutes as Los Angeles and Beverly Hills dispatchers sorted out which city had jurisdiction over the street where Moore lives.
As the call is transferred to Beverly Hills, the frantic woman at Moore's house raises her voice and said, "Why is an ambulance not on its way right now?"
"Ma'am, instead of arguing with me why an ambulance is not on the way, can you spell (the street name) for me?" the Beverly Hills dispatcher says.
Although the estate is located in the 90210 ZIP code above Benedict Canyon, the response was eventually handled by the Los Angeles Fire Department.
By the end of the call, Moore has improved.
"She seems to have calmed down now. She's speaking," the male caller told the operator.
Moore and Kutcher were wed in September 2005.
Kutcher became a stepfather to Moore's three daughters ? Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Belle ? from her 13-year marriage to actor Bruce Willis. Moore and Willis divorced in 2000 but remained friendly.
Moore and Kutcher created the DNA Foundation, also known as the Demi and Ashton Foundation, in 2010 to combat the organized sexual exploitation of girls around the globe. They later lent their support to the United Nations' efforts to fight human trafficking, a scourge the international organization estimates affects about 2.5 million people worldwide.
Moore can be seen on screen in the recent films "Margin Call" and "Another Happy Day." Kutcher replaced Charlie Sheen on TV's "Two and a Half Men" and is part of the ensemble film "New Year's Eve."
MTV News speculates on which Marvel Comics baddie will be joining forces with Loki when 'Marvel's The Avengers' assembles this summer. By Josh Wigler
Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth in "The Avengers" Photo: Paramount
"Marvel's The Avengers" promises to pit Earth's Mightiest Heroes — Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, in case you've somehow forgotten — against the trickster god Loki, as well as another nemesis that remains unidentified. Popular theories have long pegged the Skrulls, Marvel's shape-shifting alien menace, as the likeliest group to join forces with the disenfranchised Asgardian prince. Many fans are also expecting to see another possible foe, "Captain America" villain Red Skull, based on his inclusion in an upcoming "Avengers" action figure line.
But leave it to Kevin Feige, head of Marvel Studios, to bust both rumors. Speaking with Empire magazine last week, he revealed that the still-unknown secondary baddies are "not Skrulls." Additionally, while it would be nice to see Hugo Weaving's villainous visage at some point down the line, "he's not in this one."
So, no Skrulls. No Red Skull. It's Loki, and it's ... someone or something else. But who or what?
Feige promised that while Marvel wants to hide the identity of "the alien race" that's confronting our favorite superheroes, their identity is "not impactful," even though they exist in the comic books. One imagines, then, that the Kree are out along with the Skrulls. Perhaps it's as simple as a return of the Jotunheim, last seen in 2011's "Thor." Maybe it's just arbitrary and the identity of these aliens truly does not matter.
That doesn't mean the mystery isn't important. And that doesn't mean the aliens are the mystery villain, either.
The < i>Latino Review once put forth a report — one that's unverified by all accounts — stating that Thanos, the hulking purple-skinned alien that's frequently dusted up with the Avengers and other Marvel heroes, is the secret villain we've all been wondering about. It's a rumor to be sure, but it's one I'm inclined to believe for a couple of reasons ... and it all goes back to Comic-Con.
In July 2010, the Marvel booth at Comic-Con featured a display case filled with items from the studio's upcoming comic book movies. Among them: Thor's hammer Mjolnir, Captain America's mighty shield and the bejeweled Infinity Gauntlet. The Gauntlet is one of the more prominent items in the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe, one that's virtually synonymous with Thanos. Indeed, its inclusion in the Marvel display case felt like an unspoken promise that Thanos would someday have a part to play in the company's cinematic future.
Cut to "Thor" almost a year later, and the Gauntlet appeared as a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Easter egg that came and went when Jotunheim thieves infiltrated Asgard to reclaim their long-lost prize, the Casket of Ancient Winters. Could it be that the Gauntlet only existed as a wink and nod to the fans back home? Entirely possible. But what if Loki, who clearly knows the history and value of the Casket, has information on the other items contained in Asgard — including what the Gauntlet is, and who would do anything to have it? For someone mightily pissed off at his brother and the Earth-dwellers he's become so fond of, that's very powerful information indeed.
Consider also that Feige, the same man who kiboshed the Skrulls and Skull, has long said that the cosmic side of Marvel is a big priority for him. In fact, just a few months ago, he revealed that movies based on the "Inhumans" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" were on the docket at Marvel Studios. Fantastic reads both of them, no question, but obscure beyond belief to the non-comic book reader. If Feige is looking ahead at "phase two" of the Marvel plan, as he's called it in the past, are "Inhumans" and "Guardians" really the best places to start?
Perhaps they are ... if someone huge, someone massive, someone like Thanos, makes his first appearance in "Avengers," and lives on to stalk the stars (and the screen) another day.
It's not the meatiest theory out there. It's based on a rumor, on a taste of what Marvel has given us both on and off the screen, and on a desire to see someone important occupy this oh-so-secretive role. For Feige to come out and say the movie's second villainous force is not the Skrulls and not Red Skull, and that Loki's alien army is "not impactful" in identity ... either he's not telling the full story on who or what this unseen enemy represents, or the big reveal is going to be a massive letdown. Given how Marvel has operated in recent years, and given the importance of "Avengers" to their brand and plans, I just don't see it being the latter option.
Here's what I do see. Loki aside, "The Avengers" will have another deeply meaningful foe to fight come May 4, 2012. And my considerably sized gut tells me it's going to be Thanos.
Who do you think the secret "Avengers" villain will be? Tell us in the comments section.
MINSK, Belarus ? The wife of a jailed former presidential candidate in Belarus says her husband is seeking a pardon from the country's authoritarian leader because he fears for his life.
Andrei Sannikov is serving a five-year prison term on a conviction of organizing riots following the presidential election in December 2010. He was one of seven candidates arrested at or following a massive demonstration on election night protesting alleged vote fraud.
Sannikov's wife Irina Khalip spoke to reporters Wednesday in Minsk.
She says that she saw Sannikov on Tuesday, their first visit in three months. He looked frail and held up a message to the glass in the visiting area saying "They could kill me at any moment."
He applied to President Alexander Lukashenko for a pardon in November, she said.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 29-Jan-2012
Share ] 
