FBI: 3 removed backpack from Boston suspect's room

This photo released May 1, 2013 by the U.S. Attorney's office in a federal criminal complaint, shows fireworks, which the complaint said federal agents recovered from inside a backpack belonging to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaeva, found in a landfill in New Bedford, Mass. Three men who attended the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth with Tsarnaeva, were charged Wednesday, May 1, 2013, in connection with the case. (AP Photo/U.S. Attorney's Office)

This photo released May 1, 2013 by the U.S. Attorney's office in a federal criminal complaint, shows fireworks, which the complaint said federal agents recovered from inside a backpack belonging to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaeva, found in a landfill in New Bedford, Mass. Three men who attended the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth with Tsarnaeva, were charged Wednesday, May 1, 2013, in connection with the case. (AP Photo/U.S. Attorney's Office)

A Department of Homeland Security police officer patrols with his dog outside the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston, Mass., Wednesday, May 1, 2013. Three suspects were taken into custody in the Boston Marathon bombing case including two college friends of Dzhokhar Tsarneav, according to officials. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

FILE - In this April 15, 2013 file photo, medical workers aid injured people at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following a bomb explosion in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. In addition to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died after a gunfight with police, and his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was captured and lies in a hospital prison, three more suspects in the bombings were taken into custody, Boston police said Wednesday, May 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

FILE - This combination of undated file photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The FBI says the two brothers are the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, and are also responsible for killing an MIT police officer, critically injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left Tamerlan dead and Dzhokhar captured, late Friday, April 19, 2013. The ethnic Chechen brothers lived in Dagestan, which borders the Chechnya region in southern Russia. They lived near Boston and had been in the U.S. for about a decade, one of their uncles reported said. Since Monday, Boston has experienced five days of fear, beginning with the marathon bombing attack, an intense manhunt and much uncertainty ending in the death of one suspect and the capture of the other. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young, File)

BOSTON (AP) ? Three college friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were arrested and accused Wednesday of removing a backpack containing hollowed-out fireworks from Tsarnaev's dorm room three days after the attack to keep him from getting into trouble.

In court papers, the FBI said one of them threw the backpack in the garbage ? it was later found in a landfill by law enforcement officers ? after the young men concluded from news reports that Tsarnaev was one of the bombers.

Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, both 19-year-olds from Kazakhstan, were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice by concealing and destroying evidence. Robel Phillipos, 19, who graduated from the prestigious Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School with Tsarnaev, was charged with lying to investigators about the visit to Tsarnaev's room.

The three were not accused of any involvement in the bombing itself. But in a footnote in the court papers outlining the charges, the FBI said that about a month before the bombing, Tsarnaev told Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev that he knew how to make a bomb.

The lawyers for the Kazakh students said their clients had nothing to do with the bombing and were just as shocked by the crime as everyone else. Phillipos' attorney, Derege Demissie, said outside court: "The only allegation is he made a misrepresentation."

At a court appearance in the afternoon, the Kazakh students did not request bail and will be held for another hearing May 14. Phillipos was held for a hearing on Monday.

Three people were killed and more than 260 injured on April 15 when two bombs exploded near the finish line. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after a gunfight with police days later. His younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, was captured and lies in a prison hospital.

Investigators have not said whether the pressure cooker bombs used in the attacks were made with gunpowder extracted from fireworks.

Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev have been held in jail for more than a week on allegations they violated their student visas by not regularly going to class at UMass. All three men charged Wednesday began attending UMass with Tsarnaev in 2011, according to the FBI.

If convicted, Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov could get up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Phillipos faces a maximum of eight years behind bars and a $250,000 fine.

Authorities allege that on the night of April 18, after the FBI released surveillance-camera photos of the bombing suspects and the three men suspected their friend was one of them, they went to Tsarnaev's dorm room.

Before Tsarnaev's roommate let them in, Kadyrbayev showed Tazhayakov a text message from Tsarnaev that read: "I'm about to leave if you need something in my room take it," according to the FBI. When Tazhayakov learned of the message, "he believed he would never see Tsarnaev alive again," the FBI said in the affidavit.

It was not clear from the court papers whether authorities believe that was an instruction from Tsarnaev to his friends to destroy evidence.

Once inside Tsarnaev's room, the men noticed a backpack containing fireworks, which had been opened and emptied of powder, the FBI said.

The FBI said that Kadyrbayev knew when he saw the empty fireworks that Tsarnaev was involved in the bombings and decided to remove the backpack from the room "in order to help his friend Tsarnaev avoid trouble."

Kadyrbayev also decided to remove Tsarnaev's laptop "because he did not want Tsarnaev's roommate to think he was stealing or behaving suspiciously by just taking the backpack," the FBI said in court papers.

After the three men returned to Kadyrbayev's and Tazhayakov's apartment with the backpack and computer, they watched news reports featuring photographs of Tsarnaev.

The FBI affidavit said Kadyrbayev told authorities the three men then "collectively decided to throw the backpack and fireworks into the trash because they did not want Tsarnaev to get into trouble."

Kadyrbayev said he placed the backpack and fireworks along with trash from the apartment into a large trash bag and threw it into a garbage bin near the men's apartment.

When the backpack was later found in a landfill last week, inside it was a UMass-Dartmouth homework assignment sheet from a class Tsarnaev was taking, the FBI said.

Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov lived at an off-campus apartment in New Bedford, about 60 miles south of Boston, and got around in a car registered to Kadyrbayev with a souvenir plate that read "Terrorista (hash)1." The car was pictured on Tsarnaev's Twitter feed in March.

The plate was a gag gift from some of Kadyrbayev's friends, meant to invoke his penchant for late-night partying rather than his political sentiments, a lawyer for Kadyrbayev said last week.

Michael McKeown, 20, went to high school with Dzhokjar and Phillipos and served with Phillipos on the Cambridge Kids' Council.

"He wasn't a stupid kid," the Boston University sophomore said of Phillipos. "I'm surprised he would do something this foolish."

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed in Raleigh, N.C., Michelle R. Smith in Providence, R.I.; and Rodrique Ngowi in Boston.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-05-01-US-Boston-Marathon-Explosions/id-7fac50e9d9084914a0ccf3e2c5483d2d

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Women's groups decry appeal on morning-after pill

This undated image made available by Teva Women's Health shows the packaging for their Plan B One-Step (levonorgestrel) tablet, one of the brands known as the "morning-after pill." The Plan B morning-after pill is moving over-the-counter, a decision announced by the Food and Drug Administration just days before a court-imposed deadline. On April 30, 2013, the FDA lowered to 15 the age at which girls and women can buy the emergency contraceptive without a prescription ? and said it no longer has to be kept behind pharmacy counters. Instead, the pill can sit on drugstore shelves just like condoms, but that buyers would have to prove their age at the cash register. (AP Photo/Teva Women's Health)

This undated image made available by Teva Women's Health shows the packaging for their Plan B One-Step (levonorgestrel) tablet, one of the brands known as the "morning-after pill." The Plan B morning-after pill is moving over-the-counter, a decision announced by the Food and Drug Administration just days before a court-imposed deadline. On April 30, 2013, the FDA lowered to 15 the age at which girls and women can buy the emergency contraceptive without a prescription ? and said it no longer has to be kept behind pharmacy counters. Instead, the pill can sit on drugstore shelves just like condoms, but that buyers would have to prove their age at the cash register. (AP Photo/Teva Women's Health)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration's decision to appeal a court order lifting age limits on purchasers of the morning-after pill set off a storm of criticism from reproductive rights groups, who denounced it as politically motivated and a step backward for women's health.

"We are profoundly disappointed. This appeal takes away the promise of all women having timely access to emergency contraception," Susannah Baruch, Interim President & CEO of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project, said in a statement late Wednesday.

"It is especially troubling in light of the Food and Drug Administration's move yesterday to continue age restrictions and ID requirements, despite a court order to make emergency contraception accessible for women of all ages. Both announcements, particularly in tandem, highlight the administration's corner-cutting on women's health," Baruch said. "It's a sad day for women's health when politics prevails."

The FDA on Tuesday had lowered the age at which people can buy the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill without a prescription to 15 ? younger than the current limit of 17 ? and decided that the pill could be sold on drugstore shelves near the condoms, instead of locked behind pharmacy counters. It appeared to be a stab at compromise that just made both sides angrier.

After the appeal was announced late Wednesday, Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, said, "The prevention of unwanted pregnancy, particularly in adolescents, should not be obstructed by politicians." She called it a "step backwards for women's health."

Last week, O'Neill noted, President Barack Obama was applauded when he addressed members of Planned Parenthood and spoke of the organization's "core principle" that women should be allowed to make their own decisions about their health.

"President Obama should practice what he preaches," O'Neill said.

In appealing the ruling Wednesday, the administration recommitted itself to a position Obama took during his re-election campaign that younger teens shouldn't have unabated access to emergency contraceptives, despite the insistence by physicians groups and much of his Democratic base that the pill should be readily available.

The Justice Department's appeal responded to an order by U.S. District Judge Edward Korman in New York that would allow girls and women of any age to buy not only Plan B but its cheaper generic competition as easily as they can buy aspirin. Korman gave the FDA 30 days to comply, and the Monday deadline was approaching fast.

In its filing, the Justice Department said that Korman exceeded his authority and that his decision should be suspended while that appeal is under way, meaning only Plan B One-Step would appear on drugstore shelves until the case is finally settled. If Korman's order isn't suspended during the appeals process, the result would be "substantial market confusion, harming FDA's and the public's interest" as drugstores receive conflicting orders about who's allowed to buy what, the Justice Department concluded.

Reluctant to get drawn into a messy second-term spat over social issues, White House officials insisted Wednesday that both the FDA and the Justice Department were acting independently of the White House in deciding how to proceed. But the decision to appeal was certain to irk abortion-rights advocates who say they can't understand why a Democratic president is siding with social conservatives in favor of limiting women's reproductive choices.

Current and former White House aides said Obama's approach to the issue has been heavily influenced by his experience as the father of two school-age daughters. Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius have also questioned whether there's enough data available to show the morning-after pill is safe and appropriate for younger girls, even though physicians groups insist that it is.

Rather than take matters into his own hands, the Justice Department argued to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Korman should have ordered the FDA to reconsider its options for regulating emergency contraception. The court cannot overturn the rules and processes that federal agencies must follow "by instead mandating a particular substantive outcome," the appeal states.

The FDA actually had been poised to lift all age limits and let Plan B sell over the counter in late 2011, when Sebelius overruled her own scientists. Sebelius said some girls as young as 11 were physically capable of bearing children but shouldn't be able to buy the pregnancy-preventing pill on their own.

Sebelius' move was unprecedented, and Korman had blasted it as election-year politics ? meaning he was overruling not just a government agency but a Cabinet secretary.

More than a year later, neither side in the contraception debate was happy with the FDA's surprise twist, which many perceived as an attempt to find a palatable middle ground between imposing an age limit of 17 and imposing no limit at all.

Any over-the-counter access marks a long-awaited change, but it's not enough, said Dr. Cora Breuner of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which supports nonprescription sale of the morning-after pill for all ages.

"We still have the major issue, which is our teen pregnancy rate is still too high," Breuner said.

Even though few young girls likely would use Plan B, which costs about $50 for a single pill, "we know that it is safe for those under 15," she said.

Most 17- to 19-year-olds are sexually active, and 30 percent of 15- and 16-year-olds have had sex, according to a study published last month by the journal Pediatrics. Sex is much rarer among younger teens. Likewise, older teens have a higher pregnancy rate, but that study also counted more than 110,000 pregnancies among 15- and 16-year-olds in 2008 alone.

Social conservatives were outraged by the FDA's move to lower the age limits for Plan B ? as well as the possibility that Korman's ruling might take effect and lift age restrictions altogether.

"This decision undermines the right of parents to make important health decisions for their young daughters," said Anna Higgins of the Family Research Council.

If a woman already is pregnant, the morning-after pill has no effect. It prevents ovulation or fertilization of an egg. According to the medical definition, pregnancy doesn't begin until a fertilized egg implants itself into the wall of the uterus. Still, some critics say Plan B is the equivalent of an abortion pill because it may also be able to prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus, a contention that many scientists ? and Korman, in his ruling ? said has been discredited.

___

Associated Press writer Pete Yost contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-05-02-Morning-After%20Pill/id-e34cccd4536f40caa0772a34fa1673d9

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Leopold Engleitner, oldest concentration camp survivor, dies

VIENNA (Reuters) - Leopold Engleitner, the oldest known survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, has died at the age of 107, his biographer said.

Engleitner, a conscientious objector whose life was documented in the book and film "Unbroken Will", was imprisoned in the Buchenwald, Niederhagen and Ravensbrueck camps between 1939 and 1943.

He refused to renounce his Jehovah's Witness faith to win his freedom but was eventually released, weighing just 28 kilograms (62 pounds), on condition that he agree to spend the rest of his life working as a slave agricultural laborer.

He returned to work on a farm near his home town of Bad Ischl in Austria and was released from forced labor by U.S. troops in 1946 after a period in hiding in the mountains to escape a call-up to the German army.

Engleitner carried on his missionary work after the war while working jobs including a spell as a night watchman in a soap factory.

He became a public figure when Austrian author and film producer Bernhard Rammerstorfer published his biography and a documentary film about his life in 1999, which were translated into English in 2004.

He went on speaking tours in Europe and the United States and talked to students about his experiences through his last years, attending the U.S. premiere of a new Rammerstorfer documentary film about his life in November 2012.

"It's very hard for me to announce the painful news of the passing away of my best friend," Rammerstorfer wrote on his website.

The author said Engleitner had died peacefully in the company of Rammerstorfer's family on April 21.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/leopold-engleitner-oldest-concentration-camp-survivor-dies-101613248.html

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Goldwater Institute: States Can Fix the National Debt

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Source: http://patriotpost.us/headlines/20003

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Eyes-on with Ninja Blocks 'home automation for hackers' (video)

Yet another Kickstarter success story is here on the Hardware Alley Floor at TechCrunch Disrupt. Ninja Blocks look a fair bit different than they used to, however -- the 3D-printed case has been traded up for something that looks a lot more like a final, saleable product. In fact, it looks a little like a router or an external hard drive, albeit one with color-changing ninja eyes. The company was also talking up the home automation possibilities of its platform a bit more than the straightforward sensor pitch. In a buzz phrase, the company is calling this "home automation for hackers."

Using the Ninja Rules app, you can turn lights and appliances on and off, get alerts for things like your wash and monitor your home, without writing code -- of course, knowing how helps. The whole platform is extremely open to users, and inside the case, you'll find a Beagle Bone and Arduino board, both accessible by pulling at the handy "Hack Me" tag that hangs on its side. The base system will run you $199. More information can be found in a video after the break.

Gallery: Ninja Blocks 'home automation for hackers' eyes-on

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Asia stocks up after S&P hits record; Nikkei slips

BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets rose Tuesday, brushing off tepid Japanese manufacturing data after the Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at another all-time high.

Better-than-expected pending homes sales for March renewed faith in the U.S. economic recovery. The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes reached the highest level in three years. Wages and spending in the U.S. also rose last month. European shares finished higher Monday after Italy formed a new coalition government.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.9 percent to 22,774.96. South Korea's Kospi advanced 1.3 percent to 1,966.27. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1.1 percent to 5,183.10. Benchmarks in Taiwan, Singapore, New Zealand and the Philippines also advanced.

"The U.S. is hitting new highs almost every day now and improved sentiment in the eurozone is helping overall markets across the board," said Jackson Wong, vice president of Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong.

However, Japanese data showing only modest improvement in manufacturing dampened sentiment there. Factory output rose 0.2 percent in March, its fourth straight monthly increase. The number fell short of expectations and analysts continue to believe the country's economic recovery remains relatively weak. Japan's Nikkei 225 index was nearly unchanged at 13,887.97.

"While export revenues have been boosted strongly by yen depreciation and consumers' confidence has also jumped, the recovery in export volumes and actual consumer spending remained comparatively slow," analysts at DBS Bank Ltd. in Singapore said in a commentary.

Among individual stocks, Australia's ANZ Banking Group Ltd. rose 5.2 percent after the company announced a rise in half-year profit.

Sentiment has been boosted in recent days by expectations that the European Central Bank will reduce interest rates on Thursday.

The Federal Reserve concludes a policy meeting Wednesday and is not expected to make changes in its super-loose monetary policy. On Friday, U.S. nonfarm payrolls data for April will be published, a key gauge of employment in the world's No. 1 economy.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.7 percent to close at 14,818.75 on Monday. The S&P 500 rose 0.7 percent to 1,593.61, a record high. The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.9 percent to 3,307.02.

Benchmark oil for June delivery was down 9 cents to $94.41 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.50 to finish at $94.50 on the Nymex on Monday.

In currencies, the euro fell slightly to $1.3094 from $1.3097. The dollar fell to 97.92 yen from 98.01 yen.

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asia-stocks-p-hits-record-nikkei-slips-030846247.html

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Pfizer 1Q profit up, but drugmaker cuts outlook

FILE - This Friday, March 2, 2012 file photo shows the exterior of Pfizer in Groton, Conn. Pfizer Inc. Pfizer Inc. reports quarterly financial results before the market opens on Tuesday, April 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

FILE - This Friday, March 2, 2012 file photo shows the exterior of Pfizer in Groton, Conn. Pfizer Inc. Pfizer Inc. reports quarterly financial results before the market opens on Tuesday, April 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Pfizer Inc.'s first-quarter net income rose 53 percent despite falling sales, mainly because the world's second-largest drugmaker took big charges a year ago. Pfizer's results fell short of Wall Street's expectations, and the company lowered its profit and sales forecasts for the year, blaming sudden worsening of currency exchange rates.

Pfizer is struggling because generic competition is reducing revenue for two-thirds of its drugs, more than a dozen of which are former blockbusters that had brought in $1 billion or more annually. When drug patents expire, cheaper generic versions flood the market, and most patients quickly switch to them.

The biggest hit has been copycat versions of Pfizer's cholesterol fighter Lipitor, which was the world's best-selling drug for nearly a decade until it lost exclusivity in the U.S. in 2011 and in much of Europe last year. Revenue from Lipitor, which once brought in about $13 billion a year, dropped 55 percent to $626 million in the first quarter.

Like other drugmakers, New York-based Pfizer has been cutting costs to boost profit, developing very expensive drugs for rare disorders and expanding sales in emerging markets such as China. Pfizer also has been divesting assets other than its prescription drugs to repurchase shares and increase its dividend to appease shareholders.

"They're having trouble hitting their sales goals so they need to make up for it with financial moves, like buying back shares, that help prop up the stock price," Erik Gordon, an analyst and professor at University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, wrote in an email.

For the first quarter, Pfizer reported net income of $2.75 billion, or 38 cents per share, up from $1.79 billion, or 28 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, adjusted income was 54 cents per share, a penny less than the forecast of analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Results were boosted by a $490 million gain from the transfer of some product rights to its joint venture in China. In the year-ago quarter, Pfizer took charges totaling $1.66 billion, for litigation, acquisition and other costs.

Overall, revenue was $13.5 billion, down 9 percent from $14.89 billion a year earlier and below analysts' expectations of $13.99 billion.

Besides the loss in revenue from many off-patent drugs, Pfizer posted lower revenue of some big sellers protected by patents, including erectile-dysfunction drug Viagra, which was down 7 percent at $461 million.

Revenue from Prevnar 13, a vaccine for ear infections, meningitis and other pneumococcal infections, fell 10 percent to $846 million. Prevnar is the biggest-selling vaccine in history, with nearly $4 billion in yearly revenue. Pfizer blamed the vaccine's quarterly revenue drop on shifts in buying patterns in some countries.

The bright spots during the quarter were Lyrica, for fibromyalgia and other pain, up 12 percent at $1.07 billion, and anti-inflammatory pain reliever Celebrex, up 3 percent at $653 million.

In addition, revenue from consumer health products, such as Centrum vitamins, jumped 12 percent to $811 million. Revenue rose 5 percent to $2.42 billion in emerging markets such as China ? a key growth target for the industry as U.S. and European health programs try to hold down costs.

Chief Financial Officer Frank D'Amelio said the steady weakening of the yen, euro and other currencies versus the dollar since January is expected to cut revenue by a whopping $900 million over the course of the year. As a result, Pfizer cut its revenue forecast by that amount, to $55.3 billion to $57.3 billion.

Pfizer also reduced its profit forecast excluding one-time items by 6 cents, to $2.14 to $2.24 per share, due to the lower revenue forecast and its Feb. 6 initial public offering of about 20 percent of its animal health business, now called Zoetis. Revenue and costs associated with Zoetis will still be included in Pfizer's results, but only the profit from the 80 percent Pfizer still owns will be included in its earnings-per-share figures.

Pfizer, which recently was dethroned after years as the world's top drugmaker by Switzerland's Novartis AG after selling off some of its businesses, is positioning itself for growth.

Pfizer recently launched two drugs that could become blockbusters ? Xeljanz for rheumatoid arthritis and Eliquis for preventing strokes ? and initial sales look promising, the company said. The company also is planning to soon begin ads targeting consumers.

Additionally, Pfizer recently jumped into the huge market for Type 2 diabetes medicines with a development partnership with longtime rival Merck & Co. And it's looking to become a major player in vaccines, testing a few against deadly staph and other infections.

That could be why after what they called the "earnings disappointment," analysts Judson Clark of Edward Jones and Timothy Anderson of Bernstein Research maintained their "Buy" recommendations.

Meanwhile, CEO Ian Read struck a cautiously optimistic balance during a conference call with analysts on Tuesday.

"Within our pipeline, we have shown steady improvement in the quality of compounds and in the rate of advancement" from testing toward approval, he said.

Then, Read added: "Our operating environment continues to be volatile."

Pfizer shares fell 4.5 percent, or $1.36, to close at $29.07 on Tuesday.

___

Linda A. Johnson can be followed at http://twitter.com/LindaJ_onPharma

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-30-Earns-Pfizer/id-405a1b3ae97b4a879c46c3b8ae62fdf4

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