World

 LONDON (AP) - Two years after Japan's nuclear plant disaster, an international team of experts said Thursday that residents of areas hit by the highest doses of radiation face an increased cancer risk so small it probably won't be detectable. 

 

     In fact, experts calculated that increase at about 1 extra percentage point added to a Japanese infant's lifetime cancer risk. 

 

     "The additional risk is quite small and will probably be hidden by the noise of other (cancer) risks like people's lifestyle choices and statistical fluctuations," said Richard Wakeford of the University of Manchester, one of the authors of the report. "It's more important not to start smoking than having been in Fukushima." 

 

     The report was issued by the World Health Organization, which asked scientists to study the health effects of the disaster in Fukushima, a rural farming region. 

 

     On March 11, 2011, an earthquake and tsunami knocked out the Fukushima plant's power and cooling systems, causing meltdowns in three reactors and spewing radiation into the surrounding air, soil and water. The most exposed populations were directly under the plumes of radiation in the most affected communities in Fukushima, which is about 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Tokyo. 

 

     In the report, the highest increases in risk are for people exposed as babies to radiation in the most heavily affected areas. Normally in Japan, the lifetime risk of developing cancer of an organ is about 41 percent for men and 29 percent for women. The new report said that for infants in the most heavily exposed areas, the radiation from Fukushima would add about 1 percentage point to those numbers.

 

     Experts had been particularly worried about a spike in thyroid cancer, since radioactive iodine released in nuclear accidents is absorbed by the thyroid, especially in children. After the Chernobyl disaster, about 6,000 children exposed to radiation later developed thyroid cancer because many drank contaminated milk after the accident. 

 

     In Japan, dairy radiation levels were closely monitored, but children are not big milk drinkers there. 

 

     The WHO report estimated that women exposed as infants to the most radiation after the Fukushima accident would have a 70 percent higher chance of getting thyroid cancer in their lifetimes. But thyroid cancer is extremely rare and one of the most treatable cancers when caught early. A woman's normal lifetime risk of developing it is about 0.75 percent. That number would rise by 0.5 under the calculated increase for women who got the highest radiation doses as infants.  

 

     Wakeford said the increase may be so small it will probably not be observable.

 

     For people beyond the most directly affected areas of Fukushima, Wakeford said the projected cancer risk from the radiation dropped dramatically. "The risks to everyone else were just infinitesimal."  

 

     David Brenner of Columbia University in New York, an expert on radiation-induced cancers, said that although the risk to individuals is tiny outside the most contaminated areas, some cancers might still result, at least in theory. But they'd be too rare to be detectable in overall cancer rates, he said. 

 

     Brenner said the numerical risk estimates in the WHO report were not surprising. He also said they should be considered imprecise because of the difficulty in determining risk from low doses of radiation. He was not connected with the WHO report. 

 

     Some experts said it was surprising that any increase in cancer was even predicted. 

 

     "On the basis of the radiation doses people have received, there is no reason to think there would be an increase in cancer in the next 50 years," said Wade Allison, an emeritus professor of physics at Oxford University, who also had no role in developing the new report. "The very small increase in cancers means that it's even less than the risk of crossing the road," he said.

 

     WHO acknowledged in its report that it relied on some assumptions that may have resulted in an overestimate of the radiation dose in the general population.

 

     Gerry Thomas, a professor of molecular pathology at Imperial College London, accused the United Nations health agency of hyping the cancer risk. 

 

     "It's understandable that WHO wants to err on the side of caution, but telling the Japanese about a barely significant personal risk may not be helpful," she said. 

 

     Thomas said the WHO report used inflated estimates of radiation doses and didn't properly take into account Japan's quick evacuation of people from Fukushima.  

 

     "This will fuel fears in Japan that could be more dangerous than the physical effects of radiation," she said, noting that people living under stress have higher rates of heart problems, suicide and mental illness. 

 

     In Japan, Norio Kanno, the chief of Iitate village, in one of the regions hardest hit by the disaster, harshly criticized the WHO report on Japanese public television channel NHK, describing it as "totally hypothetical." 

 

     Many people who remain in Fukushima still fear long-term health risks from the radiation, and some refuse to let their children play outside or eat locally grown food. 

 

     Some restrictions have been lifted on a 12-mile (20-kilometer) zone around the nuclear plant. But large sections of land in the area remain off-limits. Many residents aren't expected to be able to return to their homes for years.

 

     Kanno accused the report's authors of exaggerating the cancer risk and stoking fear among residents. 

 

     "I'm enraged," he said.

 

  VATICAN CITY (AP) - There soon will be two pontiffs, each wearing white and each called "pope" living a few yards apart, with the same archbishop serving both.

 

     The Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI has decided that he will be known as "emeritus pope" in his retirement and will be called "Your Holiness" as an honorific and will continue to wear the white cassock associated with the papacy.

 

     There has been good reason why popes haven't retired in centuries past, given the possibility for divided allegiances and even schism. But the Vatican insists that while the situation created by Benedict's retirement is certainly unique, no major conflicts should result.

 

     Critics aren't so sure. Some Vatican-based cardinals say it will make it more difficult for the next pope with Benedict still around.

 

     Adding to the concern is that Benedict's trusted secretary will be serving both pontiffs - living with Benedict at the monastery being converted for him inside the Vatican while keeping his day job as prefect of the new pope's household.

 

 

 BERLIN (AP) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov discussed the civil war in Syria and other matters in their first meeting in Berlin.

 

     State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the two met for an hour and 45 minutes, spending more than half that time on Syria in what she called a "really serious and hardworking session."

 

     Kerry and Lavrov discussed how they could implement the so-called Geneva Agreement, which is designed to get the Syrian government and rebels to plan a transitional government for the time after President Bashar Assad leaves office.

 

 

  NEW YORK (AP) - An Australian billionaire says he wants to build a new version of the Titanic that could set sail in 2016.

 

     Clive Palmer unveiled blueprints for the famously doomed ship's namesake Tuesday at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York.

 

     Palmer said 40,000 people have expressed interest in tickets for the maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York, expected in 2016. He said construction is scheduled to start soon in China. 

 

     He said people are inspired by his quest to replicate one of the most famous vessels in history.

 

     The original Titanic was the world's largest and most luxurious ocean liner when it hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank on April 15, 1912. More than 1,500 people perished in the maiden voyage.

 

     

 

<VIDEO> Pope Benedict XVI bestowed his final Sunday blessing of his pontificate on a cheering crowd, explaining that his waning years and energy made him better suited to the life of private prayer he soon will spend in a secluded monastery.

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  BRUSSELS (AP) - Thieves have outwitted armed guards, alarm systems and even airport security over the years, making off with diamonds and other jewelry worth millions. In Brussels, thieves cut through an airport fence, drove to a Swiss-bound plane and snatched an estimated $50 million in diamonds late Monday.

 

     Here are some other spectacular heists in recent memory: 

 

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     2005: Thieves threaten the guards and hijack an armored car from Dutch carrier KLM's cargo ramp at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, making off with millions in diamonds and jewelry. Subsequent media reports put the value of the loot at up to $100 million. "It was a secured area of the airport, so it's a big question how those people could get there," an airline spokesman said at the time. 

 

     2003: Robbers tape over security cameras, disable the alarm system and break into the high-security underground vaults of the Diamond Center in Antwerp, the world capital of diamond-cutting, getting away with an estimated $100 million in goods. After prying open 123 of the 160 vaults, the thieves stood ankle-deep in a pile of diamonds, gold, jewelry, stocks, bonds, cash and lockboxes, police said. The bounty was so abundant they had to leave a lot behind. 

 

     2008:  While Christmas shoppers stroll outside the posh Harry Winston jewelry shop near Paris' famed Champs-Elysees, armed thieves - some dressed as women and wearing wigs - enter the store and steal gems and jeweled watches worth up to $85 million, according to French police.

 

     2009: Two elegantly dressed men rob the Graff Diamond Store in London's posh Mayfair district and carry away necklaces, watches, rings and bracelets worth more than 40 million pounds ($62 million at today's exchange rate), according to Scotland Yard.

 

     1994: Machine-gun-toting thieves steal $45 million in gems from the Carlton Hotel in Cannes on the French Riviera.

 

     2004: Twelve pieces of jewelry worth about $31.5 million, including the 125-carat "Comtesse de Vendome" diamond necklace, are stolen from a store in Tokyo's Ginza district.

 

     2007:  120,000 karats in diamonds, worth $28 million, are stolen from safe-deposit boxes in an ABN Amro bank in Antwerp, Belgium, according to police.

 

     2008: Masked thieves drill a tunnel into jeweler Damiani's showroom in Milan, Italy, making off with gold, diamonds and rubies worth an estimated $20 million. The company did not confirm the value of the items.

 

     2002: Thieves break into a Dutch science museum, where an exhibition promised to show visitors how to tell real diamonds from fakes, and made off with real necklaces, tiaras and precious gems on loan from other museums and collections estimated to be worth $12 million.  

 

     1993:  Robbers manage to open only five of the underground vaults at the Antwerp Diamond Center, yielding loot estimated at $4.55 million. 

 

 BERLIN (AP) - A meteor exploded in the sky above Russia's Ural Mountains on Friday, causing a shockwave that blew out countless windows and injured hundreds of people with flying glass. Here's a look at  those objects in the sky:

 

     ---

 

     Q. What's the difference between a meteor and a meteorite?

 

     A. Meteors are pieces of space rock, usually from larger comets or asteroids, which enter the Earth's atmosphere. Many are burned up by friction and the heat of the atmosphere, but those that survive and strike the Earth are called meteorites. They often hit the ground at tremendous speed - up to 30,000 kilometers an hour (18,650 mph) - releasing a huge amount of energy, according to the European Space Agency. 

 

     Q: How often do meteorites hit Earth?

 

     A: Experts say smaller strikes happen five to 10 times a year. Large meteors such as the one in Russia on Friday are rarer, but still occur about every five years, according to Addi Bischoff, a mineralogist at the University of Muenster in Germany. Most of them fall over uninhabited areas where they don't injure humans. 

 

     Q: How big was Friday's meteor and why did it cause so many injuries? 

 

     A: Before it entered the atmosphere, the meteor was about 15 meters (16 yards) in diameter and had a mass of about 7,000 tons, NASA says.

 

     The space agency also says the fireball from it, which was brighter than the sun, is the biggest reported in more than a century, since a 1908 event in Siberia. The blast released the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of tons of TNT. The huge release of energy shattered windows and sent loose objects flying.

 

     The U.S. bomb dropped over Hiroshima during World War II had an explosive force of about 15,000 tons of TNT, but it detonated just 2,000 feet above a densely populated city. The Russian fireball exploded miles above a sparsely populated area, causing less damage.   

 

     Q: Is there any link between this meteor and the larger asteroid that passed Earth later on Friday?

 

     A: No, it's just cosmic coincidence. According to NASA, the trajectory of the Russian meteorite was significantly different than that of asteroid 2012 DA14. "In videos of the meteor, it is seen to pass from left to right in front of the rising sun, which means it was traveling from north to south. Asteroid DA14's trajectory is in the opposite direction, from south to north," the U.S. space agency said.

 

     Q: When was the last event like this?

 

     A: In 2008, astronomers spotted a meteor similar to the one in Russia heading toward Earth about 20 hours before it entered the atmosphere. It exploded over the vast African nation of Sudan, causing no known injuries. 

 

     The largest known meteor in recent times caused the "Tunguska event" - flattening thousands of square miles of forest in remote Siberia in 1908. Nobody was injured by the meteor blast, or by the Sikhote-Alin meteorite that fell in eastern Siberia in 1947.

 

     Scientists believe that a far larger meteorite strike on what today is Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula may have been responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs about 66 million years ago. According to that theory, the impact would have thrown up vast amounts of dust that blanketed the sky for decades and altered the climate on Earth.

 

     Q: What can scientists learn from Friday's strike?

 

     A: Bischoff says scientists and treasure hunters are probably already racing to find pieces of the space rock. Some meteorites can be very valuable, selling for up to $670 per gram, depending on their origin and composition. Because meteors have remained largely unchanged for billions of years - unlike rocks on Earth affected by erosion and volcanic outbreaks - scientists will study the fragments to learn more about the early universe. 

 

     Alan Harris, a senior scientist at the German Aerospace Center in Berlin, says some meteorites are also believed to carry organic material and may have influenced the development of life on Earth.

 

     Q: What would happen if a sizable meteorite hit a city?

 

     A: A blast at low altitude or on the surface would result in many casualties and cause serious damage to buildings. The exact extent would depend on many factors, including the mass of the meteorite, its speed and composition, said Harris.

 

     Scientists have been discussing for several years how to prepare for such an event - however remote. European Space Agency spokesman Bernhard von Weyhe says experts from Europe, the U.S. and Russia are working on way to spot potential threats sooner and avert them. But don't expect a Hollywood-style mission to fly a nuclear bomb into space and blow up the asteroid, like the movie "Armageddon."

 

     "It's a global challenge and we need to find a solution together," he said. "But one thing's for sure, the Bruce Willis 'Armageddon' method won't work." 

 

 

 UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. Security Council is pledging further action against North Korea, calling today's nuclear test a "clear threat to international peace and security." 

 

     North Korea had earlier conducted tests in the weeks after it launched rockets in 2006 and 2009 -- and this third test followed a rocket launch in December. The council says it's a "grave violation" of U.N. resolutions aimed at limiting the North's nuclear program.

 

     North Korea is calling the atomic test its "first response" to what it describes as U.S. threats. It says it will continue with "second and third measures of greater intensity" if Washington maintains its hostility.

 

     The underground test, which set off powerful seismic waves, drew condemnation from around the world. Even North Korea's only major ally, China, is denouncing the test and demanding that North Korea return to "dialogue and negotiation." But it remains to be seen whether China will sign on to any new, binding global sanctions. 

 

     President Barack Obama, in a statement, says North Korea is further isolating itself and putting its people further into poverty.

 

 HAGATNA, Guam (AP) - A man accused of killing three people and injuring 11 after crashing his car and stabbing people in a major tourist district in Guam has been arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. 

 

     The Pacific Daily News reports (http://goo.gl/8qxzk) police have arrested 21-year-old Chad Ryan Desoto of Tamuning. 

 

     The wreck and alleged knife attack Tuesday night at a shopping area at the Outrigger Guam Resort sent frightened hotel guests fleeing for safety. 

 

     Fire officials say a total of 14 people were taken to Guam Memorial Hospital. 

 

     Guam Visitor Bureau spokesman Antonio Mura says the agency sent Japanese language interpreters to the hospital to help victims. 

 

 

  LONDON (AP) - When he became pope at age 78, Benedict XVI was already the oldest pontiff elected in nearly 300 years. He's now 85, and in recent years he has slowed down significantly, cutting back his foreign travel and limiting his audiences.

 

     The pope travels to the altar in St. Peter's Basilica on a moving platform to spare him the 100-yard (-meter) walk down the aisle. Occasionally he uses a cane. Late last year, people who were spending time with the pontiff emerged saying they found him weak and too tired to engage with what they were saying.

 

     The Vatican stressed on Monday that no specific medical condition prompted Benedict's decision to become the first pontiff to resign in 600 years.  Still, Benedict said his advanced age means he no longer has the necessary physical strength to lead the world's more than one billion Roman Catholics.

 

     That Benedict is tired would be a perfectly normal diagnosis for an 85-year-old pope, even someone with no known serious health problems and a still-agile mind.

 

     He has acknowledged having suffered a hemorrhagic stroke in 1991 that temporarily affected his vision, but he later made a full recovery.  In 2009, the pope fell and suffered minor injuries when he broke one of his wrists while vacationing in the Alps.

 

     A doctor familiar with the pope's medical team told The Associated Press on Monday that the pontiff has no grave or life-threatening illnesses. But, the doctor said, the pope - like many men his age - has suffered some prostate problems. Beyond that, the pope is simply old and tired, the doctor said on condition of anonymity.

 

     According to the pope's brother Georg Ratzinger, the pontiff was told by his doctor not to take any more trans-Atlantic trips. In fact, the pontiff's only foreign trip this year was scheduled to be a July visit to Brazil for the church's World Youth Day.

 

     Experts weren't surprised the pope's health problems were slowing him down.

 

     "In someone who's 85 and has arthritis, the activities of being a pope will be a struggle," said Dr. Alan Silman, the medical director of Arthritis Research U.K. He said Pope Benedict most likely has osteoarthritis, which causes people to lose the cartilage at the end of their joints, making it difficult to move around without pain.

 

     "It would be painful for him to kneel while he's praying and could be excruciating when he tries to get up again," Silman said, adding that for people with arthritis, even standing for long periods of time can be challenging.

 

     Silman said some drugs could help ease the pain, but most would come with side effects such as drowsiness or stomach problems, which would likely be more serious in the elderly.

 

     The doctor said it isn't clear whether the pope's arthritis would worsen with age. "It could be it's as bad as it's going to get," he said. "But it already sounds like he has it pretty bad and continuing with all the activities of being the pope won't help."

 

     Joe Korner, a spokesman for Britain's Stroke Association, said having a mild stroke also could be a warning of a possible major stroke in the future.  "I would imagine the pope has been warned this could happen and that he should make some changes to his lifestyle," Korner said, including reducing stress levels.

 

     When he became pope, Benedict replaced John Paul, who died in 2005 at the age of 84. He was the Vatican's most-traveled pontiff, visiting 129 countries during his nearly 27-year papacy and had captured the world's affection like no other pope.

 

     In the last year of his life, John Paul was forced to curtail his travels because of old age and illness, including trembling hands and slurred speech, an inability to walk or hold his head up, and other symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

 

<VIDEO>     VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he would resign Feb. 28 - the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years. The decision sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new pope before the end of March. 

 

     The 85-year-old pope announced his decision in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals on Monday morning.

 

     He emphasized that carrying out the duties of being pope - the leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide - requires "both strength of mind and body."

 

     "After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry," he told the cardinals. "I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only by words and deeds but no less with prayer and suffering.

 

     "However, in today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of St. Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary - strengths which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me."

 

     The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants.

 

     Benedict called his choice "a decision of great importance for the life of the church." 

 

     The move sets the stage for the Vatican to hold a conclave to elect a new pope by mid-March, since the traditional mourning time that would follow the death of a pope doesn't have to be observed.

 

     There are several papal contenders in the wings, but no obvious front-runner - the same situation when Benedict was elected pontiff in 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II.

 

 MEXICO CITY (AP) - The U.S. Embassy in Mexico says an American woman has been found dead in the central Mexico city of San Miguel de Allende.

 

     The Embassy lists the woman's name as Joyous Heart, but gives no information on her hometown or cause of death.

 

     Asked about the case, the prosecutors' office in northern Guanajuato state said Thursday that a woman was found stabbed to death in her home on Feb. 1. Her throat has been slashed.

 

     The prosecutors' statement did not name the victim, but gave a case file number that matched descriptions in local press reports of Heart's killing.  

 

     San Miguel de Allende is a colonial city located in Guanajuato state and is popular with American tourists and expats.

 

 CAIRO (AP) - An Egyptian security official says one of deposed leader Hosni Mubarak's most trusted men has been released from prison pending further investigation into corruption charges.

 

     Safwat el-Sherif, the country's former parliament speaker, has walked out of Torah prison late Thursday, the official says. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

 

     El-Sherif, who served also as information minister for two decades and headed the former ruling National Democratic Party, spent nearly 18 months in prison. He was one of Mubarak's strongmen.

 

     El-Sherif is among a long list of other former Mubarak associates - businessmen, ministers and others - who were tried and face trial over alleged corruption. 

 

     Popular complaints of endemic graft in government circles were behind 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak. 

 

 CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's foreign minister says Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will visit Cairo this week, marking the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian leader in decades.

 

     Even so, Mohammed Kamel Amr described Ahmadinejad's visit as routine, since he will be attending a summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference in Cairo.

 

     Officials in Cairo did not say Monday whether the Iranian leader would meet Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi during his visit. Morsi is from the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood.

 

     Iran and Egypt, both regional heavyweights, once had strong ties. Diplomatic relations deteriorated after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and Egypt's peace treaty with Israel. Relations remained cold until Egypt's 2011 uprising. 

 

     Soon after taking office last summer, Morsi made a historic visit to Tehran to attend a summit of nonaligned nations. 

 

<VIDEO>A fire broke out in a shantytown in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka on Sunday, destroying almost a hundred homes, authorities said. As panicked residents hurried to save their belongings, fire fighters battled to extinguish the blaze.