Video: Cruise captain?s lawyer: He?s been abandoned

>> now to the latest on the doomed cruise ship off italy. the increasing allegations surfacing now against the captain. today his lawyer is speaking to nbc news in an exclusive interview and michelle kosinski has more on this. good morning.

>> reporter: hi, ann. captain francesco schettino is on house arrest . his attorney said he feels awful but unjustly demonized. he says he didn't abandon ship but fell into a lifeboat. now officials describe a night of downplaying and delays. and he tried to get a manager to to agree to a cover story blaming the accident on electrical failure. what exactly happened that night? [ screaming ]

>> reporter: two weeks ago. it's been coming out in testimony before italian senators. the port authority alleging captain schettino, quote, wasted a precious hour giving contradictory hours. time, an admiral said, that terrified passengers. to board lifeboats. the cruise's manager says schettino called him after the crash wanting him to agree to an explanation that an electrical blackout was the cause. schettino under house arrest is, his lawyer says, deeply distraught. [ speaking italian ]

>> translator: he's at a loss for the victims and cannot come to terms with what happened.

>> reporter: but by no means is willing to take all the blame. a scapegoat for the mega disaster

>> translator: he feels bitter. the company abandoned him. he understands there are some reasons to justify that.

>> reporter: why such a delayed response as the ship sharply listed? schettino needed to fully assess the situation and make a plan which took time.

>> translator: captains are trained to avoid panic which is dangerous.

>> reporter: now we see more pictures of what divers face deep within the so recently luxurious concordia. this was the dining room tilted entirely on its side in dark, filthy water. divers must feel their way, searching for signs of victims and finding everything else -- bottles, candles, a man's shoe. the captain's lawyer said he deeply feels these losses and won't avoid responsibility if he made a mistake. after 30 honorable years, he says, at sea. today costa cruises announced it will compensate every passenger on board who was not injured around $14,000. on top of that will pay their travel and trip expenses. that alone will cost the company more than $46 million. ann?

>> michelle kosinski keeping us up to date on the story that's still developing. thank you.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/46161314/

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This Day in Buffalo Sports History: Sorry to bring this up ...

?? January 27, 1991 -- I know, I know. It still hurts.

?? The Bills lost, 20-19, to the Giants in Super Bowl XXV in Tampa. You may remember some of the details.

?? For what it's worth, Scott Norwood got an instant "bad rap" for missing that field goal. A 47-yarder on natural grass was out of his range, and he shouldn't have been expected to have made it. Too bad the rest of the nation couldn't figure that out.

?? It was one of the great Super Bowls in history, as the lead went back and forth. New York kept the Buffalo offense off the field, about doubling the time of possession figures. The Giants erased a 19-17 Bills' lead?on a field goal by Matt Bahr with 7:20 left.

?? From there, the Bills had the ball twice but couldn't score the winning points. Buffalo drove down the field in the last two minutes, but didn't have enough time to get any closer. Norwood's kick was long enough but pushed just a little bit to the right.

??? "I hit it solid, but I guess I tried to kick it too hard," Norwood said. "I needed more follow-through; I should have brought my hips into it quicker to make the ball draw."

--- Budd Bailey

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/buffalonews/sports_ink/~3/4nTIDvK9ABA/this-day-in-buffalo-sports-history-sorry-to-bring-this-up-.html

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SEC charges trader with hacking into accounts (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Federal regulators have filed civil charges against a trader in Latvia whom they accuse of hacking into U.S. customers' online brokerage accounts and driving prices of more than 100 stocks up or down by making unauthorized trades.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges Thursday against Igors Nagaicevs, a 34-year old Latvian citizen. The SEC also accused four online trading firms and eight executives of the firms of enabling Nagaicevs' scheme by allowing him anonymous access to the markets. Nagaicevs couldn't be located for comment.

The SEC said the scheme, allegedly conducted from June 2009 to August 2010, caused customer losses of more than $2 million, which were reimbursed by the firms. It netted Nagaicevs about $850,000 in illegal profits, the agency said. It is seeking unspecified fines and restitution.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_bi_ge/us_sec_online_hacking_charges

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January 16-20, 2012: Social Media Win a Big One in Washington

In a powerful show of strength for social media and technology leaders, the online community derailed, at least temporarily, major legislation that had garnered significant support among Washington politicians and lobbyists.

Last week, Congress was scheduled to vote on two bills aimed at combating illegal downloading and streaming of movies and TV shows on the internet-the House's Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA). However, bloggers, Twitter users and social media giants like Google united against the bills because of fears the legislation would give media companies too much power and constitute internet censorship. The online pressure was so strong that despite efforts from 115 companies and organizations that had lobbyists working on the bills, both houses of Congress announced on January 20 they would postpone the legislation.

For the week of January 16-20, the protests over the piracy legislation was the No. 1 subject on both blogs and Twitter, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. And on both types of social media, there was overwhelming agreement that the bills would be detrimental to freedom on the web. In a related finding, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that nearly one-quarter (23%) of adults between the ages of 18 and 29 followed the SOPA battle more closely than any other topic last week, making it a bigger story among that youthful demographic than the presidential race.

That level of interest was in full display online. A massive online protest was staged on Wednesday, January 18, with Wikipedia taking its site down for the day and thousands of other sites following suit. At the same time, millions of individuals signed online petitions and voiced their opposition to the bills.

The relationship between the protests and the reaction by Congress was seen as a clear and crucial victory for online activism.

As Columbia Professor Tim Wu told the New York Times, "This is the first real test of the political strength of the Web, and regardless of how things go, they are no longer a pushover...The Web taking a stand against one of the most powerful lobbyers and seeming to get somewhere is definitely a first."

The Argument Against the Bills

Supporters of the SOPA and PIPA bills claimed the intent was to give media companies recourse against websites that host pirated material, even if the website was not responsible for producing or posting the content. On social media, however, there was widespread concern that the legislation would do more harm than good.

"The way it's written - which is not very well - makes it so that the people creating original content (the studios, etc.) have far-reaching, unbridled, free reign to take out anyone who they have a ?good faith belief' is stealing their stuff," explained Bobby Hundreds at Hype Beast. "The Internet, for all its benefits and burdens, is built upon freedom - free information, free thought, free expression - and...SOPA falls nothing short of censorship."

Many believed the bill would alter the nature of the internet forever.

"These two poorly worded bills are a futile attempt to crack down on piracy on the web in the US," wrote Amy E. Boyte. "If the legislation passes, it will ruin social sites. Can you imagine a world without Twitter, Google, Facebook and YouTube? There is no way that all these sites can successfully police their content 24/7. We will be forced into a world without free knowledge."

"SOPA basically means that anyone (read: Hollywood) can accuse anyone else (read: small businesses like yours and mine) of copyright violation, and punitive action will be taken (read: our sites will be taken down indefinitely) with no recourse, no chance for appeal, and with a ?guilty until proven innocent' mentality that is completely antithetical to Western democracy," warned Danny at Firepole Marketing in an email posted on Social Caffeine.

Online Activism

The January 18 protests were massive. Large sites such as Wikipedia, Reddit and Moveon.org went dark for the day.

"The freedom, innovation, and economic opportunity that the Internet enables is in jeopardy," read the Reddit blog explaining their move. "There are powerful forces trying to censor the Internet, and a few months ago many people thought this legislation would surely pass. However, there's a new hope that we can defeat this dangerous legislation."

"For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history," explained Wikipedia. "Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia."

Google organized an online petition that generated signatures from at least 4.5 million people.

"Members of Congress are trying to do the right thing by going after pirates and counterfeiters but SOPA and PIPA are the wrong way to do it," declared Google.

Many bloggers linked to editorials condemning the bills on sites such as Mashable and Gizmodo.

On Twitter, an informational page on Wikipedia which included talking points for opponents was widely disseminated.

According to a project called Fight for the Future, a non-profit organization leading opposition to the bill, the protests included more than 115,000 distinct sites, more than 2 million mentions on Twitter and 10 million petition signatures in total.

Calls to action for contacting representatives or signing petitions were ubiquitous.

"You may feel like you're one person with one vote, small and unheard. If these bills pass you will be unheard!" determined Itchin' Stitchin'. "These are some links with more information and some petitions."?

"You can't just complain about it.? If you just sit there and get outraged, discuss it with your friends and family, ?rally' behind all the sites going dark, and dedicate your Facebook for a day by making a meaningful post about it," pleaded Becky Bean at The Blog of Becky.

Even many people who usually stayed away from politics and technological advances got involved.

"While generally I do like to be political, I try to avoid all of that here. This is a beer blog. But on one particular issue I can no longer stay neutral," wrote the author of the blog I'll Have a Beer. "Today, in support of the protest of SOPA and PIPA, I'll Have a Beer will be blacked out for 24 hours. Please contact your Senator or Congressman to ensure that this attack on civil liberties is put to a stop."

And in an unusual moment of unanimity, even those questioning the form of the protests agreed the bills should be stopped.

"Quite a few sites...are ?going dark' in protest of the proposed SOPA and PIPA accts...I won't, because of my distaste for the sanctimonious political theater the Left is so fond of," described Public Secrets "However, this issue is one of those rare ones that brings both Right and Left together...So, while I won't be draping this site in black, today, I do urge you to contact your senator to urge the withdrawal or defeat of PIPA."

"I agree; SOPA and PIPA need to be stopped," shared Steve's Blogspot. "I'm unimpressed with the going dark thing, however. Seems a bit like giving up your guns to protest a gun ban."

Impact on the White House and Congress

Even prior to the January 18 protests, the White House responded to earlier online petitions by announcing on January 14 that it would oppose the SOPA and PIPA bills.

The focus of the online organizing became members of Congress-and the efforts to influence lawmakers were successful. On January 18 alone, 19 senators announced their opposition to the bill including seven who had initially co-sponsored it.

One co-sponsor, Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) published a tweet in response to the pressure: "Unfortunately, Sen Leader Reid disregarded those concerns & is pushing forward w/ a flawed bill that still needs much work."

By Friday January 20, the main sponsors of both the House version and the Senate version announced they would postpone further action on the bills. While the legislation was not completely dead, their passage had been thwarted for the time being.

On Twitter, many people followed the Congressional positions closely as numerous tweets linked to a tally on TechCrunch of the supporters and opponents of the bill and how the support had fallen due to the protests.

While the online community applauded the apparent victory, some warned the conflict was not over.

"While the activism got a lot of sponsors of the bills to switch positions or agree to rethink their strategy, the fight is not yet won. SOPA will be reintroduced next month," noted Corey Blake. "You can write Congress...I also highly encourage calling your representatives, as that type of input can make the biggest difference."

"Having tentatively won this first round, though, we can only hope that the Internet remains vigilant against similar legislation in the future," warned Shawn Musgrave at Dig Boston.

The Rest of the Week's News on Blogs

In addition to the controversy over internet legislation, most of the other top stories in blogs last week involved politics and technology.

The No. 2 subject involved Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the process aimed at improving the visibility and presence of a web page. Bloggers linked to two blog posts with recommendations of how to improve the visibility of one's website. This is the third straight week that the subject has been among the most popular in the blogosphere.

The presidential campaign was the third-biggest topic as bloggers focused mostly on news that Jon Huntsman had dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination and was endorsing Mitt Romney.

A blog post by the Public Editor for the New York Times, Arthur S. Brisbane, asking readers whether journalists should challenge questionable "facts" asserted by newsmakers was the fourth most popular link. Brisbane encouraged readers to weigh in on a philosophical question related to the role of modern-day journalism: can journalists be objective and fair when identifying falsehoods repeated by newsmakers? Many in the online community criticized Brisbane for asking a question-which they framed as: should journalists try and report the truth?-that they thought had a very obvious answer.

And speculation that Apple is going to announce new products related to digital textbooks which would expand the ease of receiving books on iPhones and iPads was the No. 5 topic.

The Rest of the Week's News on Twitter

Elsewhere on Twitter, the most popular subjects included pop culture references, internet attacks and a clip of a singing Commander-in-Chief.

The popular Korean boy band Super Junior continued to be a popular subject on Twitter as tweets from the group were the second most linked-to subject last week. This marks the fourth time in the last five weeks that the group has been among the most popular subjects on Twitter.

Viral Tweets from the feed @The90sLife showing pop culture items and characters from the 1990s were the third biggest subject.

In another story related to the question of internet freedom and online piracy, news of cyber attacks conducted by the group Anonymous was the No. 4 subject. Following the government's bust of the website Megaupload for hosting pirated media, Anonymous, a group of individuals who promote internet freedom by hacking public websites, protested by taking down a number of prominent pages including that of the U.S. Copyright Office and the Recording Industry Association of America.

And a minute-long YouTube clip of President Obama singing lines from an Al Green song at a January 19 fundraiser at the Apollo Theater in New York was the fifth most linked-to page online.

YouTube

For the second week in a row, the January 13 Costa Concordia cruise ship tragedy dominated the news videos on YouTube, as three of the top five videos were on the subject.

The luxury cruise liner, carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew members, ran aground off the Tuscan coast after the ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, made an unapproved deviation from the correct course. So far, 16 bodies have been recovered and about 16 remain missing.

Two videos posted by Russia Today that were among the top news videos for the previous week were still among the most popular. The video showing the Costa Concordia lying on its side with a 160-foot gash in its hull became the most viewed news video and the amateur video showing the dramatic evacuation of passengers on lifeboats remained at No. 5.

The No. 4 video, posted on January 17, was a scratchy audio recording of the conversation in Italian between Schettino and the captain of the Italian coast guard, Gregorio De Falco. The clip revealed that De Falco ordered Schettino to return to the ship multiple times after he had allegedly abandoned the people remaining on board.


About the New Media Index

The New Media Index is a weekly report that captures the news agenda of social media, with a focus on blogs, Twitter and YouTube. These platforms are an important part of today's news information narrative and shape the way Americans interact with the news. The expansion of blogs and other social media sites has allowed news-consumers and others outside the mainstream press to have more of a role in agenda setting, dissemination and interpretation. Through this New Media Index PEJ aims to find out what subjects in the national news the online sites focus on, and how that compares with the narrative in the traditional press.

A detailed description of the NMI methodology, which was recently modified in August 2011, is available here.

*For the sake of authenticity, PEJ has a policy of not correcting misspellings or grammatical errors that appear in direct quotes from online postings.

By Paul Hitlin and Sovini Tan, PEJ

Source: http://www.journalism.org/node/28189

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Cancer vaccine uses body's own immunity

Published: Jan. 27, 2012 at 1:59 AM

BUFFALO, N.Y., Jan. 27 (UPI) -- The Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., began a phase I clinical trial of a dendritic cell vaccine that uses the body's immunity to fight cancer.

The NY-ESO-1 dendritic cell vaccine, developed at Roswell Park, will be manufactured in the Institute's new Therapeutic Cell Production Facility, using a unique U.S. Food and drug Administration-approved process making Roswell park the first U.S. research facility to use a custom-made barrier isolator for vaccine cell production, the institute said.

Principal investigator Dr. Kunle Odunsi, director of Roswell Park's Center for Immunotherapy, said dendritic cells are the gatekeepers of the human immune system, defending against invaders like bacteria, viruses and cancer.

"Armed with this specialized protein, the treated cells are then given back to the patient as a vaccine designed to recruit an army of killer immune cells that seek out and destroy cancer," Odunsi said in a statement.

The study is the first to test a dendritic vaccine given in combination with rapamycin, a compound used to prevent rejection of solid-organ transplant, Odunsi said. The NY-ESO-1 dendritic cell vaccine is expected to show great promise in patients with bladder, brain, breast, esophageal, gastrointestinal, kidney, lung, melanoma, ovarian, prostate, sarcoma and uterine tumors, Odunsi said.

Odunsi led previous trials evaluating the vaccine's effectiveness in treating ovarian cancer. Christine Sable, of Lancaster, Pa., enrolled in February 2004, after undergoing surgery and chemotherapy for advanced-stage ovarian cancer. Although she faced a 75 percent to 80 percent chance the cancer would return, her immune system responded to the vaccine, and she is cancer-free seven years later, with no side effects, Odunsi said.

Source: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2012/01/27/Cancer-vaccine-uses-bodys-own-immunity/UPI-29611327647582/

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Morgellons: Unexplained skin condition is non-infectious, not linked to environmental cause: CDC report

ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2012) ? The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has completed a comprehensive study of an unexplained skin condition commonly referred to as Morgellons and found no infectious agent and no evidence to suggest an environmental link.

The full results are reported in the Jan. 25 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE.

In this study, investigators took an in-depth look at a skin condition characterized by unexplained lesions that contain fibers, threads, or other foreign material, accompanied by sensations of crawling, biting, or stinging. The condition is not currently recognized as a distinct clinical disorder with established diagnostic criteria. However, increasing inquiries to the CDC in 2006-2009 regarding the condition prompted the study in Northern California, where many of the persons who reported these symptoms lived.

The researchers found and enrolled 109 persons with symptoms of this condition by searching through the electronic medical record database of a large HMO. They conducted extensive testing to rule out infectious causes, and found no indication that the condition was attributed an infection. The researchers also determined that the fibers associated with the lesions were apparently fragments of cloth or other debris. The investigators showed that the condition is uncommon, estimating that it results in fewer than four out of 100,000 people seeking medical attention. About half of the study participants had evidence of other medical, most commonly psychiatric, illnesses.

The CDC suggests that people suffering with symptoms similar to those reported in the study should see their health care provider for a complete physical to ensure proper diagnosis of all illnesses, including psychiatric, and follow the recommended treatments.

"We found no evidence that this condition is contagious, or that suggests the need for additional testing for an infectious disease as a potential cause," says Dr. Mark Eberhard, Director of CDC's Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria and a lead study investigator. "This alleviates concerns about the condition being contagious between family members and others."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Public Library of Science.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Michele L. Pearson, Joseph V. Selby, Kenneth A. Katz, Virginia Cantrell, Christopher R. Braden, Monica E. Parise, Christopher D. Paddock, Michael R. Lewin-Smith, Victor F. Kalasinsky, Felicia C. Goldstein, Allen W. Hightower, Arthur Papier, Brian Lewis, Sarita Motipara, Mark L. Eberhard. Clinical, Epidemiologic, Histopathologic and Molecular Features of an Unexplained Dermopathy. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (1): e29908 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029908

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/KrJB1JsInKs/120125172321.htm

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Take care of business - NFL.com Blogs

Eli Manning isn?t a big talker, but when he does have something to say, his Giants teammates listen.

On Tuesday, Manning implored the Giants to take care of personal business early so they
can focus on preparing to play the New England Patriots in the
super sequel in Indianapolis on Feb. 5.

?I just told them a little bit how to prepare for this,? said
Manning, one of 15 Giants who played in the Super Bowl XLII win over
New England (he was the game?s MVP). ?Just handle your business with tickets and get that
stuff done, and just a few things on the mindset of this week. We
have to have great preparation. Prepare this week like you are
playing the game this week.?

Safety Antrel Rolle was receptive.

?He doesn?t say much and when he says something, he means it,?
Rolle said, according to The Associated Press. ?It?s about business and that?s basically what the
message was about. We?ve got to go out there and take care of
business. Everything else is for the spectators. Everything else is
for your family and for your friends. We?re going out there to take
care of business.?

Comments may be no longer than 2000 characters and will post to the site shortly after submitting.


Source: http://blogs.nfl.com/2012/01/25/manning-to-giants-take-care-of-business/

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Megan Fox Island Commercial

Megan Fox is back at it. Well, if consider making commercials back at it. Megan Fox Island is where it is at right now, so trust me you want to check out this video. Once compared to Angelina Jolie, Megan Fox was destined to have a mega career ahead of her. Well I am not sure what happened. Perhaps it was trashing her boss, comparing a legend to Hitler, acting like a diva on set, marrying a washed up 90201 star, over sexualizing everything she did, or just falling short in the acting department. Regardless, she still has acting like a raunchy famewhore. What better way to over sexualize yourself, then in a commercial for learning to speak English. Oy, she has come so far. Backwards. After failing to pull in the numbers at the box office in her starring roles, Jonah Hex and Jennifer?s Body, minute commercial slots is where you end up. But hey, at least she is making money. You can?t deny, she is gorgeous. But there are a lot of beautiful people in this world. Let?s hope she can do something note worthy sometime soon or I fear she will end up a washed up celeb, [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/IA1vd1rAPWw/

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Exclusive: YouTube hits 4 billion daily video views (Reuters)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) ? YouTube, Google Inc's video website, is streaming 4 billion online videos every day, a 25 percent increase in the past eight months, according to the company.

The jump in video views comes as Google pushes YouTube beyond the personal computer, with versions of the site that work on smartphones and televisions, and as the company steps up efforts to offer more professional-grade content on the site.

According to the company, roughly 60 hours of video is now uploaded to YouTube every minute, compared with the 48 hours of video uploaded per minute in May.

YouTube, which Google acquired for $1.65 billion in 2006, represents one of Google's key opportunities to generate new sources of revenue outside its traditional Internet search advertising business.

Last week, Google said that its business running graphical "display" ads - many of which are integrated alongside YouTube videos - was generating $5 billion in revenue on an annualized run rate basis.

Still, most of the 4 billion videos that YouTube now streams worldwide every day do not make money. Three billion YouTube videos a week are monetized, according to the company.

YouTube recently redesigned its website to more prominently showcase specialized "channels" organized around different types of content. In October, YouTube announced that it had struck 100 original video programming deals with media partners including Madonna and Jay-Z. Thomson Reuters and YouTube recently announced a partnership to create a Reuters TV channel for the website.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Gary Hill and Mark Porter)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/tc_nm/us_google_youtube

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Mexico authorities unravel child trafficking ring (AP)

ZAPOPAN, Mexico ? Life seemed to give Karla Zepeda a break when a woman came to her dusty neighborhood of cinderblock homes and dirt roads looking for babies to photograph in an anti-abortion ad campaign.

The woman asked to use the 15-year-old's baby girl in a two-week photo shoot for $755 ($10,000 pesos), a small fortune for a teen mother who earns $180 a month at a sandwich stand and shares a cramped, one-story house with her disabled mother, stepfather, and three brothers.

But 9-month-old Camila wasn't just posing for photographs when she was taken away.

Jalisco state investigators say the child was left for weeks at a time in the care of an Irish couple who had come to Ajijic, a town of cobblestone streets and gated communities 37 miles (60 kilometers) away, thinking they were adopting her.

Prosecutors say the baby was apparently part of an illegal adoption ring that ensnared destitute young Mexican women trying to earn more for their children and childless Irish couples desperate to become parents.

Camila and nine other children have been turned over to state officials who suspect they were being groomed for illegal adoptions. And authorities hint that far more children could be involved: Lead investigator Blanca Barron told reporters the ring may have been operating for 20 years, though she gave no details. Prosecutors also say four of the children show signs of sexual abuse, though they gave no details on how or by whom.

Nine people have been detained, including two suspected leaders of the ring, but no one has yet been charged.

At least 15 Irish citizens have been questioned, the Jalisco state attorney general's office said, but officials have not released their names and their lawyer says all have returned to Ireland after spending weeks or months in Ajijic trying to meet requirements for adopting a child. None was detained.

For Karla Zepeda, the story began in August, when she was approached by Guadalupe Bosquez and agreed to lend her daughter for an anti-abortion advertising campaign, she told The Associated Press. Bosquez later returned with another woman, Silvia Soto, and gave her half the money as they picked the child up. She got the rest two weeks later when they brought Camila home.

"They showed me a poster that showed my girl with other babies and said 'No To Abortion, Yes To Life,'" said Karla, a petite girl cleaning her house to loud norteno music. "I thought it was legal because everything seemed very normal."

Before long, the message spread to her neighbors. Seven other women, most between the ages of 15 and 22, agreed to let their babies be part of the ad campaign. Some already had several children. Some are single mothers. One of them doesn't know how to read or write. Five of them told they AP that they did not even have birth certificates for their babies when they came across Bosquez and Soto.

One said she needed money to pay for her child's medical care, another to finish building an extra room on her house.

All deny agreeing to give their children up for adoption.

"We're going through a nightmare," said Fernanda Montes, an 18-year-old housewife who said she took part to pay a $670 hospital bill from the birth of her 3-month-old. "How could we have trusted someone so evil?"

The women say that Bosquez and Soto persuaded three of them to register their children as single mothers so they could participate in the anti-abortion campaign, even though they live with the children's fathers.

Children's rights activists say that also could have made it easier to release the child for adoption: only the mother's signature would be needed.

The mothers were assured that the babies were being taken care of by several nannies and checked by doctors. The babies often returned home wearing new clothes.

Some of the mothers said they began having second thoughts. But when they declined to send their children back, they say, Bosquez and Soto insisted they would have to pay for the strollers, car seats, diaper bags and everything else they had bought for the babies.

Investigators say that Bosquez and Soto were taking the children to a hotel in Guadalajara, where they met with Irish couples who believed they were going to adopt them.

The plan began to unravel on Jan. 9, when local police detained 21-year-old Laura Carranza and accused her of trying to sell her 2-year-old daughter.

Investigators said Carranza denied that allegation, but acknowledged she was "renting" her 8-month-old son. She then led authorities to Bosquez and Soto.

Both are now being held on suspicion they ran the alleged anti-abortion ad campaign as a front for an illegal adoption ring. It was not clear if they have attorneys and they have not yet been brought before a judge to say if they accept or reject the allegations.

Carranza is also being held, as is Karla's mother, Cecilia Velazquez, who hasn't worked since she lost both legs in a traffic accident in 2010. Karla says her mother's only fault was agreeing to the ad campaign.

Seven of the mothers interviewed told the AP that the children had most recently been picked up by Bosquez and Soto between Dec. 27 and Dec. 30 for an alleged photo shoot. They returned the babies on Jan. 9 and 10, saying "there had been problems." The mothers said they didn't notice anything wrong with the babies or any signs of abuse.

Then state police investigators showed up at their homes and drove them and their children to the police department for questioning. The babies were taken from them and put into state protective custody. The women complained that only four of them have been allowed to see their babies since, and only once.

A statement from Jalisco state prosecutors' said authorities seized Carranza's two children from her and the other seven while they were with Irish couples. Prosecutors didn't respond to requests by the AP to clarify the discrepancy.

Residents of Ajijic, a town on the shore of Lake Chapala favored by American and Canadian retirees, say Irish citizens looking to adopt Mexican children began appearing there at least four years ago.

Jalisco state prosecutors' spokesman Lino Gonzalez wouldn't confirm the Irish had left, but said none had been charged with a crime.

Even if they had adopted the children, Ireland might not have accepted them because the adoptions were handled privately, said Frances FitzGerald, Ireland's minister for children.

"Obviously, for any couple caught up in this, it's a nightmare scenario," she said.

"What you can't have in Mexico is people going to local agencies or individuals doing private adoptions because when they come back, there is going to be a difficulty."

Prosecutors say they have been trying without success to reach the attorneys who were handling the adoption paperwork in the neighboring state of Colima.

Custody release statements signed by all of the mothers carry the logo of Lopez y Lopez Asociados, a firm owned by Carlos Lopez Valenzuela and his son, Carlos Lopez Castellanos. Authorities raided their home last week.

The release statements were shown to the AP by a local advocate for missing and stolen children, Juan Manuel Estrada of Fundacion FIND, who said they had been leaked to him by a state official. He said Lopez Valenzuela had separately sent him a lengthy statement by email declaring that he too may have been duped in the case and denying wrongdoing.

The 15 Irish citizens told authorities they found Lopez Valenzuela through a website advertising his services, according to their lawyer, Carlos Montoya.

He said that the Irish were charged $6,000 for the search for a baby, $13,600 to gain final custody and $5,000 in legal fees, as well as the biological mother's supposed prenatal care, hospital care and nanny services.

Montoya said the babies were living with the couples in Ajijic until what they thought would be the end of the roughly four-month legal process. Several of the couples had adopted Mexican children in the past with Lopez Valenzuela and hadn't had any problems, he said.

"They are innocent people who were swindled by the lawyer managing the adoptions," he said.

They all returned to Ireland last week on his advice, he said.

Lopez Valenzuela didn't respond to emailed interview requests from the AP.

Prosecutors wouldn't confirm the authenticity of his statement to Fundacion FIND, but it mirrors the stories of seven mothers who were interviewed by the AP.

According to the statement Lopez said he had handled adoptions in Colima state for 63 Irish couples since 2004. He said he first met Bosquez when she approached him in 2009 about giving her own unborn child up for adoption to an Irish couple, a process, he wrote, that was completed legally.

The statement said that Bosquez also introduced Lopez to a social worker and together they brought him the current case involving Zepeda and the other women from Zapopan, apparently hoping he could match the children to adopting couples.

It says Lopez was told the mothers wanted only to deal with the two women, and he agreed. The young mothers confirmed they never met Lopez.

Lopez didn't respond to emailed interview requests from the AP.

According to the statement, Lopez said he follows the stringent adoption laws set by the Hague Adoption Convention, which Mexico has signed.

Unlike Guatemala or China, Mexico has not been a popular destination for foreigners looking to adopt, perhaps because the process, done by law, is complicated.

"The legal adoption process in Mexico is difficult, but cheating in Mexico is very easy," Estrada said.

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Associated Press writer Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_child_trafficking

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