Tuesday, April 2, 2013

James Holmes: Death Penalty Sought in Aurora Massacre

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/james-holmes-death-penalty-sought-in-aurora-massacre/

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This Is Very Probably the Facebook Phone

As per usual, Google put out various, elaborate April Fools Day jokes, which only reminded everyone how much time and money the tech company has to spend on projects that aren't core products like, ahem, Google Reader.?For those too busy to follow along, The Next Web has a running list of the myriad pranks. And while some of the antics, like the pirate treasure map,?are harmless and cute, others hit too close to home.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/very-probably-facebook-phone-212910451.html

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Monday, April 1, 2013

Peace restored in stronghold of Kenya's election loser Odinga

By Hezron Ochiel

KISUMU, Kenya (Reuters) - Calm returned to the western Kenyan stronghold of defeated presidential candidate Raila Odinga on Monday after two days of running battles with police following the Supreme Court's confirmation of his rival Uhuru Kenyatta as president-elect.

Two people were shot dead in the unrest, but the violence was on a much smaller scale than the nationwide bloodshed that followed the 2007 election when the western city of Kisumu was one of the places worst affected places by deadly riots.

This year there was little sign of any violence beyond Kisumu, which strongly backs Odinga, reflecting a desire by Kenyans to avoid a repeat of the bloodshed that badly damaged their economy, east Africa's biggest, five years ago.

A busy bus station that had been deserted since the rioting began on Saturday was once again bustling as passengers scrambled to board minibuses as they disgorged dozens returning from rural areas where they had fled for fear of violence.

"Business is booming today. The demand has gone up and fares doubled since many are returning from home and others leaving for various places," said Bonny Otieno, 32, transporter.

"Politics is over and we've embarked on nation building."

Shops and houses were broken into and goods looted during the rioting. But attempts to set fire to some houses belonging to rival communities were thwarted by police. The regional police chief said the volatile situation had been contained.

Kenyatta is expected to be sworn in on April 9.

"So far we have arrested 23 culprits but the number could go up since we are pursuing more elements that broke into people's properties and looted," said police commander Joseph Ole Tito.

"During the violence we lost business forcing us to partially open our shops only when a customer approached. But today we have fully opened since peace has prevailed," said Ishmael George, 26, a dealer in electronics. "We expect good sales since calm has returned."

The comparatively peaceful election has helped restore Kenya's image as one of Africa's most stable democracies.

KENYATTA VOWS TO WORK FOR ALL KENYANS

The Kisumu unrest appeared to reflect spontaneous anger by Odinga supporters, worried by the prospect of marginalization in a country where governments have traditionally rewarded their own ethnic support base with investment and new infrastructure.

Kenyatta is the son of Kenya's founding president whose family controls vast property and a business empire. But he promised in a televised address after the court ruling to work for all Kenyans, including those who challenged his election.

Kenyatta's indictment by the International Criminal Court for allegedly organizing violent gangs after the least election will however complicate relations with Western states because of their policy of having only "essential contacts" with indictees.

But diplomats said there could be latitude in how to define that if Kenyatta and his deputy, who also faces charges of crimes against humanity, continue to cooperate with the court.

Along the coast, where Odinga also received strong support, peace prevailed, but the banned Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) called on Kenyatta to heed its demand for secession from Kenya. Nairobi has flatly rejected the call.

The MRC feeds off local discontent largely based on long-held grievances over land and frustration at the perceived economic marginalization of the coast by the central government.

Police have given MRC members seven days to give themselves up after blaming the group for a series of attacks in and around Mombasa, the country's main port.

(Additional reporting by Joseph Akwiri; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/peace-restored-stronghold-kenyas-election-loser-odinga-152105397.html

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PFT: Pats 'don't need Ed Reed' with Wilson

dt.common.streams.StreamServerAP

From time to time over the past few years, former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison has explained that his former teams needs to add a player like, well, him.

Finally, he thinks they have in Adrian Wilson, who was signed by New England after being cut by the Cardinals.

?Adding him, the veteran leadership, the presence, the respect factor, he?s a guy that?s a terrific blitzer, and a physical presence,? Harrison told Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald.? ?I think he can come in especially during nickel and dime situations, and come down [close to the line] and play that second linebacker position like I did.? He?s physical enough to help out in the run game, but he can also cover tight ends. So he can be that guy next to [Jerod] Mayo who can come in and really make a difference in that nickel and dime package. .?.?. It?s a fantastic move.? I think he?ll help the Patriots immediately.? I think he?ll hold people accountable.?

But what about Ed Reed?? Many believed that Pats coach Bill Belichick would make a beeline for the now-former Raven, who signed with the Texans.?For what the Patriots need, they don?t need Ed Reed.? They need an Adrian Wilson,? Harrison said.? ?They don?t need a free safety that can intercept balls.? They have that.? Devin McCourty is that Ed Reed [role].? He doesn?t have that name behind him.? But he is developing into a young safety.? They need a guy like Adrian Wilson who can really give them versatility in those nickel and dime packages.? He?ll help that secondary right away.?

Harrison recognizes that Wilson has lost a step, but he?s at a point in his career where every player loses a step.

?The one question he?ll have to answer, will he be a full-time, every down safety?? Harrison said.? ?Can he cover in open space?? Will he be able to cover the deep half of the field?? That?s a lot of questions.? But I?ll say it again, I think this is a good move for the Patriots.?

For a team with an offense that has been good enough in recent years to win another Super Bowl, Wilson could be the guy who helps make the difference on the defensive side of the ball.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/31/rodney-harrison-thinks-pats-got-it-right-with-adrian-wilson/related

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No iMore show tonight, check back tomorrow!

No iMore show tonight because I just got back from GDC, and it's easter, and we couldn't get it together. So we'll be recording tomorrow sometime. I'll let you know precisely when as soon as we figure out precisely when.

Sorry for the delay, but we'll make it up to you!



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/1Ys6vrSlTL4/story01.htm

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New clues about how amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) develops

Mar. 31, 2013 ? Johns Hopkins scientists say they have evidence from animal studies that a type of central nervous system cell other than motor neurons plays a fundamental role in the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal degenerative disease. The discovery holds promise, they say, for identifying new targets for interrupting the disease's progress.

In a study described online in Nature Neuroscience, the researchers found that, in mice bred with a gene mutation that causes human ALS, dramatic changes occurred in oligodendrocytes -- cells that create insulation for the nerves of the central nervous system -- long before the first physical symptoms of the disease appeared. Oligodendrocytes located near motor neurons -- cells that govern movement -- died off at very high rates, and new ones regenerated in their place were inferior and unhealthy.

The researchers also found, to their surprise, that suppressing an ALS-causing gene in oligodendrocytes of mice bred with the disease -- while still allowing the gene to remain in the motor neurons -- profoundly delayed the onset of ALS. It also prolonged survival of these mice by more than three months, a long time in the life span of a mouse. These observations suggest that oligodendrocytes play a very significant role in the early stage of the disease.

"The abnormalities in oligodendrocytes appear to be having a negative impact on the survival of motor neurons," says Dwight E. Bergles, Ph.D., a co-author and a professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "The motor neurons seem to be dependent on healthy oligodendrocytes for survival, something we didn't appreciate before."

"These findings teach us that cells we never thought had a role in ALS not only are involved but also clearly contribute to the onset of the disease," says co-author Jeffrey D. Rothstein, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins and director of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Brain Science Institute.

Scientists have long believed that oligodendrocytes functioned only as structural elements of the central nervous system. They wrap around nerves, making up the myelin sheath that provides the "insulation" that allows nerve signals to be transmitted rapidly and efficiently. However, Rothstein and others recently discovered that oligodendrocytes also deliver essential nutrients to neurons, and that most neurons need this support to survive.

The Johns Hopkins team of Bergles and Rothstein published a paper in 2010 that described in mice with ALS an unexpected massive proliferation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells in the spinal cord's motor neurons, and that these progenitors were being mobilized to make new oligodendrocytes. The researchers believed that these cells were multiplying because of an injury to oligodendrocytes, but they weren't sure what was happening. Using a genetic method of tracking the fate of oligodendrocytes, in the new study, the researchers found that cells present in young mice with ALS were dying off at an increasing rate in concert with advancing disease. Moreover, the development of the newly formed oligodendrocytes was stalled and they were not able to provide motor neurons with a needed source of cell nutrients.

To determine whether the changes to the oligodendrocytes were just a side effect of the death of motor neurons, the scientists used a poison to kill motor neurons in the ALS mice and found no response from the progenitors, suggesting, says Rothstein, that it is the mutant ALS gene that is damaging oligodendrocytes directly.

Meanwhile, in separate experiments, the researchers found similar changes in samples of tissues from the brains of 35 people who died of ALS. Rothstein says it may be possible to see those changes early on in the disease and use MRI technology to follow progression.

"If our research is confirmed, perhaps we can start looking at ALS patients in a different way, looking for damage to oligodendrocytes as a marker for disease progression," Rothstein says. "This could not only lead to new treatment targets but also help us to monitor whether the treatments we offer are actually working."

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, named for the Yankee baseball great who died from it, affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. The nerve cells waste away or die, and can no longer send messages to muscles, eventually leading to muscle weakening, twitching and an inability to move the arms, legs and body. Onset is typically around age 50 and death often occurs within three to five years of diagnosis. Some 10 percent of cases are hereditary.

There is no cure for ALS and there is only one FDA-approved drug treatment, which has just a small effect in slowing disease progression and increasing survival.

Even though myelin loss has not previously been thought to occur in the gray matter, a region in the brain where neurons process information, the researchers in the new study found in ALS patients a significant loss of myelin in one of every three samples of human tissue taken from the brain's gray matter, suggesting that the oligodendrocytes were abnormal. It isn't clear if the oligodendrocytes that form this myelin in the gray matter play a different role than in white matter -- the region in the brain where signals are relayed.

The findings further suggest that clues to the treatment of other diseases long believed to be focused in the brain's gray matter -- such as Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease and Parkinson's disease -- may be informed by studies of diseases of the white matter, such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Bergles says ALS and MS researchers never really thought their diseases had much in common before.

Oligodendrocytes have been under intense scrutiny in MS, Bergles says. In MS, the disease over time can transform from a remitting-relapsing form -- in which myelin is attacked but then is regenerated when existing progenitors create new oligodendrocytes to re-form myelin -- to a more chronic stage in which oligodendrocytes are no longer regenerated. MS researchers are working to identify new ways to induce the creation of new oligodendrocytes and improve their survival. "It's possible that we may be able to dovetail with some of the same therapeutics to slow the progression of ALS," Bergles says.

Other Johns Hopkins researchers involved in the study include Shin H. Kang, Ph.D.; Ying Li, Ph.D.; Ileana Lorenzini, M.S.; and Lyle Ostrow, M.D., Ph.D.

This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS 051509), the ALS Association, P2ALS, the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins and the Brain Science Institute.

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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/most_popular/~3/oRzxChOcUuo/130331165048.htm

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AP IMPACT: Cartels dispatch agents deep inside US

FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2009 file photo, weapons and drugs seized in special joint operation conducted with the Drug Enforecement Administration against the La Familia drug cartel based out of Michoacan, Mexico and operating in San Bernardino and surrounding counties, are on display at a news conference at sheriff's headquarters in San Bernardino, Calif. Drug cartels have long been the nation?s No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2009 file photo, weapons and drugs seized in special joint operation conducted with the Drug Enforecement Administration against the La Familia drug cartel based out of Michoacan, Mexico and operating in San Bernardino and surrounding counties, are on display at a news conference at sheriff's headquarters in San Bernardino, Calif. Drug cartels have long been the nation?s No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

This 2009 photo provided by the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department in Lawrenceville, Ga., shows reputed cartel operative Socorro Hernandez-Rodriguez after his arrest in a suburb of Atlanta. Hernandez-Rodriguez was later convicted of sweeping drug trafficking charges. Prosecutors said he was a high-ranking figure in the La Familia cartel, sent to the U.S. to run a drug cell. His defense lawyers denied he was a major figure in the cartel. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Gwinnett County Sheriff?s Department)

In this Feb. 14, 2013 photo, Art Bilek, executive vice president of the Chicago Crime Commission, left, announces that Joaquin ``El Chapo'' Guzman, a drug kingpin in Mexico, has been named Chicago's Public Enemy No. 1, during a news conference in Chicago. Looking on is Jack Riley, right, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Chicago and Peter Bensinger, former Administrator of the United States DEA. Ruthless drug cartels have long been the nation?s No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

In this Dec. 11, 2012 file photo, Jack Riley, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Chicago, points out local Mexican drug cartel problem areas on a map in the new interagency Strike Force office in Chicago. Looking on is DEA agent Vince Balbo. The ruthless syndicates have long been the nation?s No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

FILE - This Feb. 14, 2013 file photo, shows a poster displayed at a Chicago Crime Commission news conference in Chicago, where Joaquin ``El Chapo'' Guzman, a drug kingpin in Mexico, was named as Chicago's Public Enemy No. 1, It is first time since prohibition, when the label was created for Al Capone, that anyone else has been named Public Enemy No. 1. Ruthless drug cartels have long been the nation?s No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

CHICAGO (AP) ? Mexican drug cartels whose operatives once rarely ventured beyond the U.S. border are dispatching some of their most trusted agents to live and work deep inside the United States ? an emboldened presence that experts believe is meant to tighten their grip on the world's most lucrative narcotics market and maximize profits.

If left unchecked, authorities say, the cartels' move into the American interior could render the syndicates harder than ever to dislodge and pave the way for them to expand into other criminal enterprises such as prostitution, kidnapping-and-extortion rackets and money laundering.

Cartel activity in the U.S. is certainly not new. Starting in the 1990s, the ruthless syndicates became the nation's No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, using unaffiliated middlemen to smuggle cocaine, marijuana and heroin beyond the border or even to grow pot here.

But a wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. Cartel operatives are suspected of running drug-distribution networks in at least nine non-border states, often in middle-class suburbs in the Midwest, South and Northeast.

"It's probably the most serious threat the United States has faced from organized crime," said Jack Riley, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Chicago office.

The cartel threat looms so large that one of Mexico's most notorious drug kingpins ? a man who has never set foot in Chicago ? was recently named the city's Public Enemy No. 1, the same notorious label once assigned to Al Capone.

The Chicago Crime Commission, a non-government agency that tracks crime trends in the region, said it considers Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman even more menacing than Capone because Guzman leads the deadly Sinaloa cartel, which supplies most of the narcotics sold in Chicago and in many cities across the U.S.

Years ago, Mexico faced the same problem ? of then-nascent cartels expanding their power ? "and didn't nip the problem in the bud," said Jack Killorin, head of an anti-trafficking program in Atlanta for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. "And see where they are now."

Riley sounds a similar alarm: "People think, 'The border's 1,700 miles away. This isn't our problem.' Well, it is. These days, we operate as if Chicago is on the border."

Border states from Texas to California have long grappled with a cartel presence. But cases involving cartel members have now emerged in the suburbs of Chicago and Atlanta, as well as Columbus, Ohio, Louisville, Ky., and rural North Carolina. Suspects have also surfaced in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.

Mexican drug cartels "are taking over our neighborhoods," Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane warned a legislative committee in February. State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan disputed her claim, saying cartels are primarily drug suppliers, not the ones trafficking drugs on the ground.

For years, cartels were more inclined to make deals in Mexico with American traffickers, who would then handle transportation to and distribution within major cities, said Art Bilek, a former organized crime investigator who is now executive vice president of the crime commission.

As their organizations grew more sophisticated, the cartels began scheming to keep more profits for themselves. So leaders sought to cut out middlemen and assume more direct control, pushing aside American traffickers, he said.

Beginning two or three years ago, authorities noticed that cartels were putting "deputies on the ground here," Bilek said. "Chicago became such a massive market ... it was critical that they had firm control."

To help fight the syndicates, Chicago recently opened a first-of-its-kind facility at a secret location where 70 federal agents work side-by-side with police and prosecutors. Their primary focus is the point of contact between suburban-based cartel operatives and city street gangs who act as retail salesmen. That is when both sides are most vulnerable to detection, when they are most likely to meet in the open or use cellphones that can be wiretapped.

Others are skeptical about claims cartels are expanding their presence, saying law-enforcement agencies are prone to exaggerating threats to justify bigger budgets.

David Shirk, of the University of San Diego's Trans-Border Institute, said there is a dearth of reliable intelligence that cartels are dispatching operatives from Mexico on a large scale.

"We know astonishingly little about the structure and dynamics of cartels north of the border," Shirk said. "We need to be very cautious about the assumptions we make."

Statistics from the DEA suggest a heightened cartel presence in more U.S. cities. In 2008, around 230 American communities reported some level of cartel presence. That number climbed to more than 1,200 in 2011, the most recent year for which information is available, though the increase is partly due to better reporting.

Dozens of federal agents and local police interviewed by the AP said they have identified cartel members or operatives using wiretapped conversations, informants or confessions. Hundreds of court documents reviewed by the AP appear to support those statements.

"This is the first time we've been seeing it ? cartels who have their operatives actually sent here," said Richard Pearson, a lieutenant with the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department, which arrested four alleged operatives of the Zetas cartel in November in the suburb of Okolona.

People who live on the tree-lined street where authorities seized more than 2,400 pounds of marijuana and more than $1 million in cash were shocked to learn their low-key neighbors were accused of working for one of Mexico's most violent drug syndicates, Pearson said.

One of the best documented cases is Jose Gonzalez-Zavala, who was dispatched to the U.S. by the La Familia cartel, according to court filings.

In 2008, the former taxi driver and father of five moved into a spacious home at 1416 Brookfield Drive in a middle-class neighborhood of Joliet, southwest of Chicago. From there, court papers indicate, he oversaw wholesale shipments of cocaine in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana.

Wiretap transcripts reveal he called an unidentified cartel boss in Mexico almost every day, displaying the deference any midlevel executive might show to someone higher up the corporate ladder. Once he stammered as he explained that one customer would not pay a debt until after a trip.

"No," snaps the boss. "What we need is for him to pay."

The same cartel assigned Jorge Guadalupe Ayala-German to guard a Chicago-area stash house for $300 a week, plus a promised $35,000 lump-sum payment once he returned to Mexico after a year or two, according to court documents.

Ayala-German brought his wife and child to help give the house the appearance of an ordinary family residence. But he was arrested before he could return home and pleaded guilty to multiple trafficking charges. He will be sentenced later this year.

Socorro Hernandez-Rodriguez was convicted in 2011 of heading a massive drug operation in suburban Atlanta's Gwinnett County. The chief prosecutor said he and his associates were high-ranking figures in the La Familia cartel ? an allegation defense lawyers denied.

And at the end of February outside Columbus, Ohio, authorities arrested 34-year-old Isaac Eli Perez Neri, who allegedly told investigators he was a debt collector for the Sinaloa cartel.

An Atlanta attorney who has represented reputed cartel members says authorities sometimes overstate the threat such men pose.

"Often, you have a kid whose first time leaving Mexico is sleeping on a mattress at a stash house playing Game Boy, eating Burger King, just checking drugs or money in and out," said Bruce Harvey. "Then he's arrested and gets a gargantuan sentence. It's sad."

Because cartels accumulate houses full of cash, they run the constant risk associates will skim off the top. That points to the main reason cartels prefer their own people: Trust is hard to come by in their cutthroat world. There's also a fear factor. Cartels can exert more control on their operatives than on middlemen, often by threatening to torture or kill loved ones back home.

Danny Porter, chief prosecutor in Gwinnett County, Ga., said he has tried to entice dozens of suspected cartel members to cooperate with American authorities. Nearly all declined. Some laughed in his face.

"They say, 'We are more scared of them (the cartels) than we are of you. We talk and they'll boil our family in acid,'" Porter said. "Their families are essentially hostages."

Citing the safety of his own family, Gonzalez-Zavala declined to cooperate with authorities in exchange for years being shaved off his 40-year sentence.

In other cases, cartel brass send their own family members to the U.S.

"They're sometimes married or related to people in the cartels," Porter said. "They don't hire casual labor." So meticulous have cartels become that some even have operatives fill out job applications before being dispatched to the U.S., Riley added.

In Mexico, the cartels are known for a staggering number of killings ? more than 50,000, according to one tally. Beheadings are sometimes a signature.

So far, cartels don't appear to be directly responsible for large numbers of slayings in the United States, though the Texas Department of Public Safety reported 22 killings and five kidnappings in Texas at the hands of Mexican cartels from 2010 through mid- 2011.

Still, police worry that increased cartel activity could fuel heightened violence.

In Chicago, the police commander who oversees narcotics investigations, James O'Grady, said street-gang disputes over turf account for most of the city's uptick in murders last year, when slayings topped 500 for the first time since 2008. Although the cartels aren't dictating the territorial wars, they are the source of drugs.

Riley's assessment is stark: He argues that the cartels should be seen as an underlying cause of Chicago's disturbingly high murder rate.

"They are the puppeteers," he said. "Maybe the shooter didn't know and maybe the victim didn't know that. But if you follow it down the line, the cartels are ultimately responsible."

___

Follow Michael Tarm at www.twitter.com/mtarm .

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-01-Cartels-Coming%20to%20America/id-998f008ad32d4358b10a691b3ddf6e30

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