UN experts urge Syria to free detained activists

GENEVA (AP) — United Nations human rights investigators urged Syria on Tuesday to free a group of at least 16 activists, bloggers and journalists who were arrested by authorities last week, saying they risked being tortured in detention.

"The Syrian authorities should end all acts of harassment against human rights defenders and release all those arbitrarily arrested and detained," the four U.N. human rights experts said in a statement from Geneva.

The U.N. experts said those detained Feb. 16 in a raid on the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression in Damascus included activist Mazen Darwish and U.S.-born blogger Razan Ghazzawi. They cited reports that the activists …

Alex not aiming at Gulf oil spill area _ for now

A tropical depression slamming into parts of Mexico isn't taking aim at the massive Gulf oil spill _ for now _ though any system can quickly change course and send cleanup efforts grinding to a halt.

The logistics of containing the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico are mind-boggling even in ideal conditions. Things become even more complicated with the approach of a storm system like Alex, which has pelted Belize, northern Guatemala and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula with heavy rain.

Any system with winds over 46 mph (74 kph) could force BP PLC to abandon efforts to contain the flow for up to two weeks and delay the drilling of two relief wells that are the best …

OFFSHORE RADIATION OBSERVATIONS FOR CLIMATE RESEARCH AT THE CERES OCEAN VALIDATION EXPERIMENT

A New "Laboratory" for Retrieval Algorithm Testing

NASA's Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System program is performing high-quality surface radiation monitoring in support of climate change research on an ocean platform off of Virginia's coast.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project is observing the radiant energy leaving the Earth's atmosphere. CERHS produces an archive of the radiation budget, from the bottom to the top of the atmosphere, with high temporal and spatial resolution for multiple years, with an accuracy necessary for climate change research (Wielicki et al. 1996). One …

Islanders Rally to Beat Bruins

Andy Hilbert and Richard Park, who came in with one goal between them this season, both scored Saturday night as the punchless New York Islanders pulled out a 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins.

One day after dropping a 2-1 decision in Boston, the Islanders returned the favor at home despite not scoring more than two goals for the eighth straight game. New York is 4-4 in that stretch with a total of 13 goals.

Hilbert tied it in the second with his first of the season, and Park put the Islanders ahead with his second at 7:30 of the third when he converted a rebound of Ruslan Fedotenko's shot past Tim Thomas, the winning goalie Friday.

Rick …

Turkish police detain 40 in coup plot probe

Turkey's police detained dozens of people in simultaneous raids Wednesday, widening a probe into an alleged plot by secularists to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government.

Deniz Baykal, the leader of the country's main opposition party, accused Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government of a "political vendetta" against retired generals, judicial authorities and others whom he said stood in opposition to the government.

"The detentions have turned into a revenge campaign," Baykal said. "These are respected people who defended the secular republic."

Baykal's harsh reaction underlined a widening divide between …

`Hairspray' star is hair apparent // Ricki Lake hopes to fill Divine's shoes

Ricki Lake is trying to ignore the pressure weighing on her likethe world's largest lacquered beehive. The cheerful, chubby,19-year-old actress is emerging as hair apparent to Divine, herscreen mother in the dance comedy "Hairspray" (playing at localtheaters).

When Harris Glenn Milstead, best known as the 300-pound femaleimpersonator Divine, died last month, only two weeks after the movieopened nationally, Lake was among the most shattered. "Time stopped.I was a mess. I still am. I'm not the same. I don't think I I everwill be," she said during a telephone interview from her WestchesterCounty, N.Y., home.

Some look to her as Divine's successor.

"I …

Kovalchuk Saves Thrashers in Shootout

TORONTO - Ilya Kovalchuk scored the winner in a shootout to give Atlanta a 5-4 over Toronto after the Thrashers gave up the tying to goal to the hometown Maple Leafs in the closing seconds of regulation Tuesday night.

Kovalchuk, Tobias Enstrom, with his first NHL goal, Eric Perrin and Todd White scored in regulation for the Thrashers (2-7), who are 2-1 since general manager Don Waddell took over as coach after firing Bob Hartley.

Mats Sundin, Hal Gill, Nik Antropov and Alex Ponikarovsky scored for Toronto (3-4-3).

Not only did the Thrashers have the NHL's worst record heading in, they were also playing without injured starting goalie Kari Lehtonen.

The …