THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) ? International Criminal Court judges delayed a decision Monday on whether to put former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo on trial for alleged involvement in deadly post-election violence, telling prosecutors to beef up their case.
The ruling in the case of the first former head of state taken into custody by the court was another blow to prosecutors, who in recent months have seen a Congolese suspect acquitted and had to drop charges against a senior Kenyan official due to lack of evidence.
Judges criticized evidence presented by prosecutors at a hearing earlier this year to establish whether their case was strong enough to merit putting Gbagbo on trial.
In a majority decision, the three-judge panel said prosecutors "relied heavily on NGO reports and press articles" to underpin parts of their case and noted that such evidence "cannot in any way be presented as the fruits of a full and proper investigation by the Prosecutor."
The written ruling said the majority considered that the evidence, "although apparently insufficient, does not appear to be so lacking in relevance and probative value that it leaves the Chamber with no choice but to decline to confirm the charges."
The ruling underscored how hard it is for prosecutors to gather evidence in African nations thousands of kilometers (miles) from the court's headquarters in The Hague and that the court's judges will not send cases to trial unless they believe there is enough evidence to support the charges.
"The judges' request for additional evidence is a reminder that the confirmation of charges is not just a rubber-stamp of the ICC prosecutor's case," Param-Preet Singh, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch, said in a written statement. "This highlights the urgent need for the prosecutor's office to improve the way it builds its cases."
Pascal Turlan, of the court's prosecution office, said prosecutors were studying the ruling and were considering whether to appeal or to provide more information as requested.
Gbagbo is the first former head of state to appear at ICC and prosecutors charge that he is responsible for murders, rapes and arbitrary detention of supporters of his political rival ? and now president ? Alassane Ouattara in the aftermath of 2010 elections.
Gbagbo, who is charged as an "indirect co-perpetrator" in the violence, insists he is innocent. His lawyer told judges at a hearing in February that prosecutors want to make him a scapegoat for the post-election violence.
Lawyer Emmanuel Altit claimed that prosecutors are focused solely on Gbagbo and ignoring the role of his rival, President Ouattara.
Prosecutors say some 3,000 people died in violence by supporters of both Ouattara and Gbagbo in five months of violence after the 2010 Ivory Coast election and a tense standoff that ensued when Gbagbo refused to accept defeat.
He was arrested in Ivory Coast in April 2011 by forces loyal to Ouattara and extradited to The Hague eight months later. Prosecutors also have filed similar charges against Gbagbo's wife, Simone Gbagbo, who has not yet been surrendered to the court.
Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front political party called for him to be granted provisional release in light of the decision, which sets back the case by months. Defense lawyers were given until Feb. 7 next year to file their final written comments before judges reconsider whether to send Gbagbo to trial.
Seri Gouagnon, the party's national secretary for liberty and justice, said the finding confirmed suspicions the party had all along about the quality of the evidence.
"We have long said the charges were not sufficient. We think the prosecutor and the court must respect the consequences of this decision," he said. "If they keep him in detention, then it means the justice process is not following a logical path. If you don't have sufficient proof against someone, then you need to let him free."
____
AP writer Robbie Corey-Boulet in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, contributed to this story.
Looks like Sprint really is prepping a 5-inch Android flagship of its own: the Vital. Thanks to an anonymous source, Engadget's received a motherlode of details on the upcoming, white-labeled device, giving us a glimpse at everything from renders to a slickly produced promo video. Based on the information at hand, the ZTE-made Vital should rep an HD display (resolution unspecified) of the 5-inch variety, an unnamed dual-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz and paired with 1GB RAM, 13-megapixel rear camera, 8GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD), NFC and a healthy 2,500mAh battery. As you can see from the image above, the Vital will also be running what appears to be an unskinned version of Android Jelly Bean -- version 4.1, according to the documents -- and will run on Sprint's 4G LTE network. We're not so sure the Vital's going to sway consumer interest away from its more bold-faced rivals (i.e., HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S 4). But competition's always a good thing and if Sprint can price this one right, it might even have a fighting chance. Hit the break for the promo video.
Internet service providers (ISPs) have criticised a new attempt to automatically block online pornography.
The proposed Online Safety Bill in the UK would require people to opt in and prove they were over 18 to view adult content.
Although unlikely to become law, a government advisor said the bill should keep the pressure on internet service providers.
Companies providing broadband services warned that the approach was ?not a silver bullet?.
Conservative MP Claire Perry said ISPs should act without regulation but warned if they didn?t or wouldn?t ?then we will have to step in?.
Good or bad idea? ?Should the government be allowed to filter Internet usage in this way? ?Or should the regulation be more like Google?s ?Safe Search??an opt-in filter for those who want protection on their service?
JCI early table of contents for June 3, 2013Public release date: 3-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jillian Hurst press_releases@the-jci.org Journal of Clinical Investigation
Preventing an immune over-reaction
The immune system can run awry in many ways. Some examples of undesirable immune responses include those directed against the host (autoimmunity), transplanted organs (transplant rejection), or a harmless substance (allergies). In each case, the immune system is reacting to the presence of a molecule known as an antigen. Currently, the best treatment options involve broad spectrum suppression of the immune system, which increases susceptibility to infection. A preferable solution would be to specifically turn off the immune cells that respond to non-threatening objects. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Dr. James Paulson and colleagues at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California used antigen-decorated nanoparticles to block the development of antibodies to a immune response-inducing antigens in mice. In an accompanying commentary, Edward Clark of the University of Washington discusses how this finding could lead to therapeutic agents capable of precisely controlling our immune system, allowing favorable responses and inhibiting unfavorable responses.
AUTHOR CONTACT:
James C Paulson
The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
Phone: 858-784-9634; Fax: 858-784-9690; E-mail: jpaulson@scripps.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/69187?key=d3ac5675f0e4224288c1
ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY
TITLE: STALing B cell responses with CD22
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Edward A Clark
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Phone: 206 543-8706; E-mail: Eclark@wanprc.org
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/69670?key=0b5f09cda9a91d9896b6
A potential gene therapy for Mucopolysaccharidosis Type IIIA
Mucopolysaccharidosis Type IIIA (MPSIIIA) is a metabolic disorder in which the body is missing an enzyme that is required to break down long chains of sugars known as glycosaminoglycans. Over time, the glycosaminoglycans collect in the body and cause damage, particularly in the brain. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Ftima Bosch and colleagues at Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona in Spain developed a form of gene therapy to replace the enzyme that is missing in MPSIIIA. By injecting the replacement gene into the the cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, Bosch and colleagues found that they could successfully deliver a replacement gene to the brain in mice and dogs. This study demonstrates that gene therapy can be delivered to the brain through the cerebrospinal fluid and suggests that this approach could potentially be used as a therapy for MPSIIIA.
TITLE: Whole body correction of Mucopolysaccharidosis IIIA by intra-cerebrospinal fluid gene therapy
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/66778?key=d24b37bc3364f9761834
A new target in castration-resistant prostate cancer
The prostate gland requires male hormones, known as androgens, in order to function. Androgens act through cell surface receptors (androgen receptors) that initiate changes in prostate cells. In prostate cancer, androgens promote the growth and spread of cancer cells; consequently, therapeutics that block androgen receptors are effective in many prostate cancer patients. Unfortunately, the disease frequently recurs in a lethal, androgen-independent form (CRPC) that is associated with mutations in androgen receptors. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Marianne Sadar and colleagues at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver, British Columbia, investigated a drug, EPI-001, which blocks the activity of the mutant androgen receptors through interaction with a region of the receptor known as the N-terminal domain. Using a mouse model of prostate cancer, Sadar and colleagues found that EPI-001 reduced the growth of prostate cancer. These findings suggest that drugs similar to EPI-001 could potentially be used to treat androgen-independent forms of prostate cancer.
TITLE: An androgen receptor N-terminal domain antagonist for treating prostate cancer
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Marianne Sadar
BC CANCER AGENCY, VANCOUVER, BC, CAN
Phone: 604 675 8157; E-mail: msadar@bcgsc.ca
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/66398?key=b9daf88e2e1a4c7dfa50
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
TITLE: Immune cells control skin lymphatic electrolyte homeostasis and blood pressure
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Jens Titze
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Erlangen, DEU
Phone: +1 615 8009458; E-mail: jens.m.titze@vanderbilt.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/60113?key=927cad5d868db1fc7de5
TITLE: 11?-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase blockade prevents age-induced skin structure and function defects
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Ana Tiganescu
UCSF-NCIRE, San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone: +1 415-750-6954; E-mail: ana.tiganescu@ncire.org
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/64162?key=dc085d4622b4d3c6c54a
TITLE: Transcription factor NRF2 regulates miR-1 and miR-206 to drive tumorigenesis
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/66353?key=92077a338c57eb874662
TITLE: Dominant protein interactions that influence the pathogenesis of conformational diseases
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Peter Arvan
University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Phone: 734 936-5505; Fax: 734 936-6684; E-mail: parvan@umich.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67260?key=7a6c724c37397f2c5343
TITLE: PRKDC mutations in a SCID patient with profound neurological abnormalities
AUTHOR CONTACT:
PA Jeggo
GDSC University of Sussex, Sussex, GBR
Phone: 00441273678482; Fax: 00441273678121; E-mail: p.a.jeggo@sussex.ac.uk
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67349?key=951c51809f3c321f2247
TITLE: Peptidylarginine deiminase inhibition is immunomodulatory and vasculoprotective in murine lupus
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Mariana Kaplan
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Phone: 734-763-3031; Fax: 734-763-4151; E-mail: makaplan@umich.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67390?key=74450c3b6d9bf942d817
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
JCI early table of contents for June 3, 2013Public release date: 3-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jillian Hurst press_releases@the-jci.org Journal of Clinical Investigation
Preventing an immune over-reaction
The immune system can run awry in many ways. Some examples of undesirable immune responses include those directed against the host (autoimmunity), transplanted organs (transplant rejection), or a harmless substance (allergies). In each case, the immune system is reacting to the presence of a molecule known as an antigen. Currently, the best treatment options involve broad spectrum suppression of the immune system, which increases susceptibility to infection. A preferable solution would be to specifically turn off the immune cells that respond to non-threatening objects. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Dr. James Paulson and colleagues at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California used antigen-decorated nanoparticles to block the development of antibodies to a immune response-inducing antigens in mice. In an accompanying commentary, Edward Clark of the University of Washington discusses how this finding could lead to therapeutic agents capable of precisely controlling our immune system, allowing favorable responses and inhibiting unfavorable responses.
AUTHOR CONTACT:
James C Paulson
The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
Phone: 858-784-9634; Fax: 858-784-9690; E-mail: jpaulson@scripps.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/69187?key=d3ac5675f0e4224288c1
ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY
TITLE: STALing B cell responses with CD22
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Edward A Clark
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Phone: 206 543-8706; E-mail: Eclark@wanprc.org
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/69670?key=0b5f09cda9a91d9896b6
A potential gene therapy for Mucopolysaccharidosis Type IIIA
Mucopolysaccharidosis Type IIIA (MPSIIIA) is a metabolic disorder in which the body is missing an enzyme that is required to break down long chains of sugars known as glycosaminoglycans. Over time, the glycosaminoglycans collect in the body and cause damage, particularly in the brain. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Ftima Bosch and colleagues at Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona in Spain developed a form of gene therapy to replace the enzyme that is missing in MPSIIIA. By injecting the replacement gene into the the cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, Bosch and colleagues found that they could successfully deliver a replacement gene to the brain in mice and dogs. This study demonstrates that gene therapy can be delivered to the brain through the cerebrospinal fluid and suggests that this approach could potentially be used as a therapy for MPSIIIA.
TITLE: Whole body correction of Mucopolysaccharidosis IIIA by intra-cerebrospinal fluid gene therapy
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/66778?key=d24b37bc3364f9761834
A new target in castration-resistant prostate cancer
The prostate gland requires male hormones, known as androgens, in order to function. Androgens act through cell surface receptors (androgen receptors) that initiate changes in prostate cells. In prostate cancer, androgens promote the growth and spread of cancer cells; consequently, therapeutics that block androgen receptors are effective in many prostate cancer patients. Unfortunately, the disease frequently recurs in a lethal, androgen-independent form (CRPC) that is associated with mutations in androgen receptors. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Marianne Sadar and colleagues at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver, British Columbia, investigated a drug, EPI-001, which blocks the activity of the mutant androgen receptors through interaction with a region of the receptor known as the N-terminal domain. Using a mouse model of prostate cancer, Sadar and colleagues found that EPI-001 reduced the growth of prostate cancer. These findings suggest that drugs similar to EPI-001 could potentially be used to treat androgen-independent forms of prostate cancer.
TITLE: An androgen receptor N-terminal domain antagonist for treating prostate cancer
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Marianne Sadar
BC CANCER AGENCY, VANCOUVER, BC, CAN
Phone: 604 675 8157; E-mail: msadar@bcgsc.ca
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/66398?key=b9daf88e2e1a4c7dfa50
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
TITLE: Immune cells control skin lymphatic electrolyte homeostasis and blood pressure
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Jens Titze
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Erlangen, DEU
Phone: +1 615 8009458; E-mail: jens.m.titze@vanderbilt.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/60113?key=927cad5d868db1fc7de5
TITLE: 11?-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase blockade prevents age-induced skin structure and function defects
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Ana Tiganescu
UCSF-NCIRE, San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone: +1 415-750-6954; E-mail: ana.tiganescu@ncire.org
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/64162?key=dc085d4622b4d3c6c54a
TITLE: Transcription factor NRF2 regulates miR-1 and miR-206 to drive tumorigenesis
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/66353?key=92077a338c57eb874662
TITLE: Dominant protein interactions that influence the pathogenesis of conformational diseases
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Peter Arvan
University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Phone: 734 936-5505; Fax: 734 936-6684; E-mail: parvan@umich.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67260?key=7a6c724c37397f2c5343
TITLE: PRKDC mutations in a SCID patient with profound neurological abnormalities
AUTHOR CONTACT:
PA Jeggo
GDSC University of Sussex, Sussex, GBR
Phone: 00441273678482; Fax: 00441273678121; E-mail: p.a.jeggo@sussex.ac.uk
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67349?key=951c51809f3c321f2247
TITLE: Peptidylarginine deiminase inhibition is immunomodulatory and vasculoprotective in murine lupus
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Mariana Kaplan
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Phone: 734-763-3031; Fax: 734-763-4151; E-mail: makaplan@umich.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67390?key=74450c3b6d9bf942d817
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Had a long week? Pull up a chair and unwind with a nice, ice-cold glass of the weeks best stories. We've got some naturally sweetened next gen game console talk, low-cal Pinterest Porn, a side of celebrity-photoshopped Instagram pictures, all served with an icing of Google fixing the worst part of Android and AIDS-fighting supercomputers. Chow down!
It's much easier to assign a bogeyman to explain away why you can't own something than it is to simply say you can't afford it. And this natural human tendency might explain why the backlash against Microsoft's reported treatment of Xbox One used games has become a moral imperative, instead of one about how goddamn expensive the platonic ideal of an Xbox One experience will be.
Last November, the FBI raided a bulletin board-style site that was known to be a home of child pornography. But rather than shutting it down, they decided to keep it running?and see just how many users they could identify.
Dave Dombrow, Under Armour's senior creative director of footwear, is tucked away in a random conference room in Chelsea Piers. It's the second time we've spoken to each other but this time it's a little different. Dave isn't showing me what shoes the Baltimore-based sportswear company already has in the market. No, this time he's promised to show me something new, something the company hinted at back in February at the launch of Armour39, its performance heart rate monitor. It's a shoe, unlike any you've ever seen.
In an ever increasing world of connected smart things, the most important home appliance, the front door lock, is just now getting automated. August, co-founded by Yves Behar and Jason Johnson, today announced the company's first product, a $200 lock aptly named Smart Lock. Now you never have to pull out your key or even your phone when your hands are full. You don't even need extra copies to dole out to friends and family.
What do you Instagram? Food. Cupcakes. The beach. The beach with your sandy feet. Clouds. Dogs. Beer. Selfies. High heels. Forgotten Nights. TBTs. And maybe on some off chance, a blurry photo of a celebrity you saw on the street. Or on a magazine. Or in a movie. You're certainly not as hilarious as Peeje T.
We've all seen our fair share of rocks, and most of them aren't that pretty. The ones that are though, can be totally mind-blowing. Ryoji Tanaka, a Japanese photographer and chemist, likes to capture some of the most striking elements, minerals, and compounds in close-up (like the Uranium-containing cuprosklodowskite you see above) and the results are crazy awesome.
A little over a year ago, everybody started freaking out about Pinterest's new porn problem. "Officially, there is no porn on Pinterest," Business Insider's Jim Edwards declared at the time. "But there is porn on Pinterest, and it appears to be a growing problem." Oh noes! There's porn on the Internet?!
There's no easy answer for HIV; the sly virus uses our own immune cells to its advantage and mutates readily to shrug off round after round of anti-retrovirals. But thanks to the efforts researchers from the University of Illinois and some heavy-duty number crunching from one of the world's fastest petaflop supercomputers, we may be able to stop HIV right in its tracks.
While the nitty gritty details about Xbox One are all out in the open the PS4 is still largely a mystery despite technically bursting on to the scene months ago. Here are just a handful of the unanswered questions surrounding Sony's next-generation console?and how we hope and think they'll be answered.
This year, for the first time since it was built in 1968, Madison Square Garden?s operation permit is up for renewal. Which means that the fate of New York?s most-loathed transit clusterfuck, Penn Station, is also suddenly up for discussion. This week, four architecture firms presented sparkling, well-rendered concepts for the Penn Station of the future. But are they doomed to repeat history?
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Americans cut back on spending in April after their income failed to grow, a sign economic growth may be slowing.
The Commerce Department said Friday that consumer spending dropped a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent in April, the first decline since last May. That follows a 0.1 percent increase in March and a 0.8 percent jump in February.
Adjusted for inflation, spending ticked up 0.1 percent last month. A drop in gas prices likely lowered overall spending.
But income was unchanged last month, after a 0.3 percent rise in March and 1.2 percent gain in February.
The retrenchment in spending suggests consumers may be starting to feel the impact of higher taxes.
An increase in Social Security has reduced take-home pay for nearly all consumers who draw a paycheck. A person earning $50,000 a year has about $1,000 less to spend this year because of the increase in Social Security taxes. A household with two high-paid workers has up to $4,500 less.
Consumer spending drives 70 percent of economic activity. The fastest growth in spending in more than two years helped the economy expand at a 2.4 percent annual rate in the first quarter, much faster than the 0.4 percent rate from October through December.
But many economists now believe growth is slowing to a pace of around 2 percent.
Still, a decline in gas prices may have played a part in reducing spending in April because the figures aren't adjusted for inflation. Gas prices tumbled in March and April after peaking in late February.
Improvement in hiring, rising home prices and strong stock gains could make consumers more willing to spend later this year.
Home prices, meanwhile, have surged nearly 11 percent in the past year. Rising prices tend to make homeowners feel wealthier and more likely to shop. Some economists estimate that for every dollar increase in home values, consumer spending can rise as much as 10 cents.
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Public release date: 3-Jun-2013
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