Bangladesh official: Disaster not 'really serious'

A woman covers her nose to block out the smell of decomposing bodies as people in the background identify bodies at a makeshift morgue where victims of the collapse of a garment factory buildings are brought Friday, May 3, 2013 in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. Authorities suspended the mayor of the suburb of Savar, where the building was located, and arrested an engineer who called for the building?s evacuation last week but was also accused of helping the owner add three illegal floors to the eight-story structure. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

A woman covers her nose to block out the smell of decomposing bodies as people in the background identify bodies at a makeshift morgue where victims of the collapse of a garment factory buildings are brought Friday, May 3, 2013 in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. Authorities suspended the mayor of the suburb of Savar, where the building was located, and arrested an engineer who called for the building?s evacuation last week but was also accused of helping the owner add three illegal floors to the eight-story structure. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Women cover their noses as they look through body bags in hopes of identifying a family member, a victim of the garment factory building collapse, in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, May 3, 2013. More than 500 victims bodies have been recovered from the Bangladesh garment-factory building that collapsed last week, authorities said Friday. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

A Bangladeshi woman, holding a photo of her missing son, cries at a graveyard after a garments factory building collapse in Savar near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday May 3, 2013. Authorities suspended the mayor of the suburb of Savar, where the building was located, and arrested an engineer who called for the building?s evacuation last week but was also accused of helping the owner add three illegal floors to the eight-story structure. (AP Photo/Palash Khan)

A woman holds a photo of her missing sister after a garment factory building collapsed last week in Savar near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday May 3, 2013. Authorities suspended the mayor of the suburb of Savar, where the building was located, and arrested an engineer who called for the building?s evacuation last week but was also accused of helping the owner add three illegal floors to the eight-story structure. (AP Photo/Ismail Ferdous)

A woman is comforted by family members and others after she identified the body of her relative recovered from the rubble of the garment factory building which collapsed last week, in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, May 3, 2013. Authorities suspended the mayor of the suburb of Savar, where the building was located, and arrested an engineer who called for the building?s evacuation last week but was also accused of helping the owner add three illegal floors to the eight-story structure. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) ? Bangladesh's finance minister downplayed the impact of last week's factory-building collapse on his country's garment industry, saying Friday he didn't think it was "really serious" hours after the 500th body was pulled from the debris.

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith spoke as the government cracked down on those it blamed for the disaster in the Dhaka suburb of Savar. It suspended Savar's mayor and arrested an engineer who had called for the building's evacuation last week, but was also accused of helping the owner add three illegal floors to the eight-story structure. The building owner was arrested earlier.

The government appears to be attempting to fend off accusations that it is in part to blame for the tragedy because of weak oversight of the building's construction.

During a visit to the Indian capital, New Delhi, Muhith said the disaster would not harm Bangladesh's garment industry, which is by far the country's biggest source of export income.

"The present difficulties ... well, I don't think it is really serious ? it's an accident," he said. "And the steps that we have taken in order to make sure that it doesn't happen, they are quite elaborate and I believe that it will be appreciated by all."

The government made similar promises after a garment factory fire five months ago that killed 112, saying it would inspect factories for safety and pull the licenses of those that failed. However, that plan has yet to be implemented.

Asked if he was worried that foreign retailers might pull orders from his country, Muhith said he wasn't: "These are individual cases of ... accidents. It happens everywhere."

Muhith, a long-time government official from a prominent family, has been criticized for insensitive comments in the past ? even by his own party. Last year when thousands of small investors lost their savings and poured into the streets seeking government intervention, Muhith said it wasn't responsible and the investors were at fault.

The official death toll from the April 24 collapse reached 512 Friday and was expected to climb, making it likely the deadliest garment-factory accident in world history. It surpassed long-ago disasters such as New York's Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, which killed 146 workers in 1911, and more recent tragedies such as a 2012 fire that killed about 260 people in Pakistan and one in Bangladesh that same year that killed 112.

At the site of the collapse, workers carefully used cranes to remove the concrete rubble and continue the slow task of recovering bodies. The official number of missing has been 149 since Wednesday, though unofficial estimates are higher.

"We are still proceeding cautiously so that we get the bodies intact," said Maj. Gen. Chowdhury Hassan Suhwardy, the commander of the area's army garrison supervising the rescue operation.

A government investigator said Friday that substandard building materials, combined with the vibration of the heavy machines used by the five garment factories inside the Rana Plaza building, led to the horrific collapse.

Mainuddin Khandkar, the head of a government committee investigating the disaster, said substandard rods, cement, bricks and other weak materials were used in the building's construction.

About 15 minutes before the collapse, the building was hit by a power blackout, so its heavy generators were turned on, shaking the weakened structure, Khandkar said.

"The vibration created by machines and generators operating in the five garment factories contributed first to the cracks and then the collapse," he said, adding that a final report would be soon submitted to the government.

Police official Ohiduzzaman said Friday that engineer Abdur Razzak Khan was arrested a day earlier on a charge of negligence. He said Khan worked as a consultant to Rana Plaza owner Mohammed Sohel Rana when the illegal three-floor addition was made to the building.

Rana called Khan to inspect the building after it developed cracks on April 23, local media reported. That night Khan appeared on a private television station saying that after his inspection he told Rana to evacuate the building because it was not safe.

Khan, a former engineer at Jahangirnagar University near Savar, said he told government engineers the building needed to be examined further.

Police ordered the building evacuated, but witnesses say Rana told people gathered outside the next morning that the building was safe and that garment factory managers told their workers to go inside. It collapsed hours later.

Authorities also suspended the mayor of Savar, Mohammad Refatullah, for alleged negligence, said Abu Alam, a top official of the local government ministry.

Alam said an official investigation had found that the mayor ignored rules in approving the design and layout of the doomed building. The mayor is from the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which has criticized his suspension as politically motivated.

The government also effectively suspended Kabir Hossain Sardar, the top government administrator at Savar, following reports that he declared the building safe after inspecting the cracks a day before the collapse. Sardar had close links with Rana. Alam said the government was taking action against everyone involved with Rana and his building.

Rana was arrested earlier and is expected to be charged with negligence, illegal construction and forcing workers to join work, crimes punishable by a maximum of seven years in jail. Authorities have not said if more serious crimes will be added.

The Bangladesh High Court has ordered the government to confiscate Rana's property and freeze the assets of the owners of the factories in Rana Plaza so the money can be used to pay the salaries of their workers.

Among the garment makers in the building were Phantom Apparels, Phantom Tac, Ether Tex, New Wave Style and New Wave Bottoms.

___

AP Videojournalist Archana Thiyagarajan in New Delhi contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-03-Bangladesh-Building%20Collapse/id-22cf182d6600491da2433ed520fe34d6

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Start your day with a beautiful MMA behind-the-scenes video

There are plenty of fight highlight videos, but few give such a stark, behind-the-scenes look as this one. Some of the moments carry more weight when you know the story behind them. Melvin Guillard hugging Donald Cerrone and coach Greg Jackson is a beautiful moment on its own, but takes on more significance when you know Guillard once trained with Jackson and Cerrone. The run-up to their fight was tense, but afterwards they shared a hug.

But most of the images need no background. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva celebrating after he knocked out Alistair Overeem, Joe Benavidez giving a quick fist-bump through the curtain of the medical area, and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua not wanting to put a hat on his bruised, swollen head say enough.

Thanks to MMA Fighting.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/start-day-beautiful-mma-behind-scenes-video-132154458.html

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Police, politicians push surveillance post-Boston

File - This Jan. 8, 1997 file photo shows a remote camera for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation oversees the traffic flow on the corner of Wilshire and Veteran in the Westwood area of Los Angeles. In small towns and big cities, police and politicians are pointing to the surveillance video that was key to identifying the Boston Marathon bombing suspects as a reason to bolster their own networks and get more electronic eyes on their streets. In Los Angeles, a councilman wants police to broaden their network by giving them access to traffic cameras used to monitor the flow of cars on the road. (AP Photo/Michael Caulfield,File)

File - This Jan. 8, 1997 file photo shows a remote camera for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation oversees the traffic flow on the corner of Wilshire and Veteran in the Westwood area of Los Angeles. In small towns and big cities, police and politicians are pointing to the surveillance video that was key to identifying the Boston Marathon bombing suspects as a reason to bolster their own networks and get more electronic eyes on their streets. In Los Angeles, a councilman wants police to broaden their network by giving them access to traffic cameras used to monitor the flow of cars on the road. (AP Photo/Michael Caulfield,File)

This Wednesday, April 24,2013 photo shows transportation engineer associate Abeer Kliefe working at the Los Angeles Department of Transportation's Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control Center in downtown Los Angeles. In small towns and big cities, police and politicians are pointing to the surveillance video that was key to identifying the Boston Marathon bombing suspects as a reason to bolster their own networks and get more electronic eyes on their streets. In Los Angeles, a councilman wants police to broaden their network by giving them access to traffic cameras used to monitor the flow of cars on the road. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Police and politicians across the U.S. are pointing to the example of surveillance video that was used to help identify the Boston Marathon bombing suspects as a reason to get more electronic eyes on their streets.

From Los Angeles to Philadelphia, efforts include trying to gain police access to cameras used to monitor traffic, expanding surveillance networks in some major cities and enabling officers to get regular access to security footage at businesses.

Some in law enforcement, however, acknowledge that their plans may face an age-old obstacle: Americans' traditional reluctance to give the government more law enforcement powers out of fear that they will live in a society where there is little privacy.

"Look, we don't want an occupied state. We want to be able to walk the good balance between freedom and security," Los Angeles police Deputy Chief Michael Downing, who heads the department's counter-terrorism and special operations bureau.

"If this helps prevent, deter, but also detect and create clues to who did (a crime), I guess the question is can the American public tolerate that type of security," he said.

The proliferation of cameras ? both on street corners and on millions of smartphones ? have helped catch lawbreakers, but plans to expand surveillance networks could run up against the millions of dollars it can cost to install and run the networks, expert say.

Whatever Americans' attitudes or the costs, experts say, the use of cameras is likely to increase in the coming years, whether they are part of an always-on, government-run network or a disparate, disorganized web of citizens' smartphones and business security systems.

"One of the lessons coming out of Boston is it's not just going to be cameras operated by the city, but it's going to be cameras that are in businesses, cameras that citizens use," said Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum. "You'll see the use of cameras will skyrocket."

Part of the push among law enforcement agencies is for greater integration of surveillance systems. For decades, law enforcement has contacted businesses for video after a crime. An integrated network would make that easier, advocates say.

Since the Boston bombings, police officials have been making the case for such a network.

In Philadelphia, the police commissioner appealed last week to business owners with cameras in public spaces to register them with the department. In Chicago, the mayor wants to expand the city's already robust network of roughly 22,000 surveillance video.

And in Houston, officials want to add to their 450 cameras through more public and private partnerships. The city already has access to hundreds of additional cameras that monitor the water system, the rail system, freeways and public spaces such as Reliant Stadium, officials said.

"If they have a camera that films an area we're interested in, then why put up a separate camera?" said Dennis Storemski, director of the mayor's office of public safety and homeland security. "And we allow them to use ours too."

In Los Angeles, police have been working on building up a regional video camera system funded by about $10 million in federal grant dollars over the last several years that would allow their network to be shared with nearby cities at the flip of a switch, Downing said.

That effort is in addition to a recent request by an LA councilman who wants the city to examine allowing police access to cameras used to monitor traffic flow. If that happens, the LAPD's network of about 700 cameras would grow to more than 1,000.

"First, it's a deterrent and, second, it's evidence," Downing said, adding, "it helps us in the hunt and pursuit."

Law enforcement experts say police need these augmented systems because the bystander with a smartphone in hand is no substitute for a surveillance camera that is deliberately placed in a heavy crime area.

"The general public is not thinking about the kinds of critical factors in preventing and responding to crimes," said Brenda Bond, a professor who researches organizational effectiveness of police agencies at Suffolk University in Boston. "My being in a location is happenstance, and what's the likelihood of me capturing something on video?"

The U.S. lags behind other countries in building up surveillance. One reason is the more than 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies that each determines its own policy. Another reason is cost: A single high-definition camera can cost about $2,500 ? not including the installation, maintenance or monitoring costs.

Law enforcement budgets consist of up to 98 percent personnel costs, "so they don't necessarily have the funding for new technologies," Bond said.

There are also questions about their effectiveness. A 2011 Urban Institute study examined surveillance systems in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington, and found that crime decreased in some areas with cameras while it remained unchanged in others. The success or failure often depended on how the system was set up and monitored in each city.

While its deterrent effect remains debated, however, there's general agreement that the cameras can be useful after a crime to help identify suspects.

Cameras, for instance, allowed police in Britain to quickly identify the attackers behind the deadly 2005 suicide bombings in London. The country has more than 4.3 million surveillance cameras, primarily put in place after the IRA terror attacks.

Dozens are said to sit today around the house of George Orwell, the author of "1984," a story that foretold of a "Big Brother" society. Privacy advocates in the U.S. are concerned that the networks proposed by officials today could grow to realize Orwell's dystopic vision.

In recent years, traffic cameras used to catch scofflaw drivers running a red light or speeding have received widespread backlash across the country: An Ohio judge ordered a halt to speed camera citations, Arizona's Department of Public Safety ceased its program, and there have been efforts to ban such cameras in Iowa.

Amie Stepanovich, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Domestic Surveillance Project, said the most concerning was an integrated network of cameras that could allow authorities to track people's movements.

Such a network could allow be upgraded later with more "invasive" features like facial recognition, Stepanovich said, noting that the Boston surveillance footage was from a private security system at a department store that was not linked to law enforcement.

In many cases, the public may not be aware of the capabilities of the technology or what is being adopted by their local police department and its implications, said Peter Bibring, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

Unlike private security systems monitored by businesses or citizens' smartphones, Bibring said, a government-run network is a very different entity because those watching have "the power to investigate, prosecute and jail people."

___

Tami Abdollah can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/latams

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-05-02-Marathon%20Bombings-Electronic%20Eyes/id-fd89bfc7fc9c4de89e1552d229d10324

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One step closer to a blood test for Alzheimer's

Apr. 30, 2013 ? Australian scientists are much closer to developing a screening test for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease, the leading cause of dementia.

A quarter of a million Australians currently suffer from dementia and given our aging population, this is predicted to increase to one million by 2050.

Researchers identified blood-based biological markers that are associated with the build up of amyloid beta, a toxic protein in the brain, which occurs years before symptoms appear and irreversible brain damage has occurred.

"Early detection is critical, giving those at risk a much better chance of receiving treatment earlier, before it's too late to do much about it," said Dr Samantha Burnham from CSIRO's Preventative Health Flagship.

Early detection is critical to give those at risk of Alzheimer's disease a much better chance of receiving treatment.

This research is just one part of the Australian Imaging and Biomarkers Lifestyle Study of Aging (AIBL), a longitudinal study in conjunction with research partners from Austin Health, Edith Cowan University, the Florey Institute of Neurosciences and Mental Health and the National Aging Research Institute. The AIBL study aims to discover which biomarkers, cognitive characteristics and health and lifestyle factors are linked with the development of Alzheimer's disease.

"Another recent study from the AIBL team showed that amyloid beta levels become abnormal about 17 years before dementia symptoms appear," said Dr Burnham. "This gives us a much longer time to intervene to try to slow disease progression if we are able to detect cases early.

"We hope our continued research will lead to the development of a low cost, minimally invasive population based screening test for Alzheimer's in the next five to ten years. A blood test would be the ideal first stage to help identify many more people at risk before a diagnosis is confirmed more specialised testing."

The results have been published today in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by CSIRO Australia. The original article was written by Vanessa Hill.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. S C Burnham, N G Faux, W Wilson, S M Laws, D Ames, J Bedo, A I Bush, J D Doecke, K A Ellis, R Head, G Jones, H Kiiveri, R N Martins, A Rembach, C C Rowe, O Salvado, S L Macaulay, C L Masters, V L Villemagne. A blood-based predictor for neocortical A? burden in Alzheimer?s disease: results from the AIBL study. Molecular Psychiatry, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/mp.2013.40

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/most_popular/~3/l5oeh9DA568/130501101309.htm

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Scientists Are Making Oysters Safe to Eat With Electron Beams

You know what's a turn on? Oysters. You know what's a turn off? Vomit. Oysters might be a delicious aphrodisiac, but they have a tendency to be pretty unsanitary and they can make you sick. But researchers at Texas A&M University have found a way pasteurize the bivalves using electron beams, getting rid of some of the stuff that causes you to upchuck.

Some of the common pathogens found in oysters are Hepatitis A, Vibrio vulnificus, and norovirus, aka some of the common causes of food poisoning and the stomach bug. Oysters are usually cleaned by heating, freezing, or applying high pressure to combat the grime, but that's not always effective. That's where electron pasteurization comes in.

Lead researcher Dr. Suresh Pillai says a unpasteurized serving of 12 oysters could typically harbor around 100 Hepatitis A and noroviruses. When treated with a 5 kilogray electron beam dose, the Hepatitus A risk is reduced by 91 percent and the norovirus risk is lessened by about a quarter, Pillai says. A kilogray is a unit of absorbed energy of ionized radiation.

The use of electron beam technology to kill pathogens is FDA-approved, but it's not being used in commercial oyster processing. But considering how effective it was in this study, maybe we can count on cleaner oysters next time we're on the hunt for a hangover cure. [Discover via ArgriLife]

Image credit: Shutterstock/AVprophoto

Source: http://gizmodo.com/scientists-are-making-oysters-safe-to-eat-with-electron-486364916

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Illinois Senate Passes Gaming Expansion Bill | BloodHorse.com

Updated: Thursday, May 2, 2013 4:29 PM
Posted: Thursday, May 2, 2013 4:29 PM

The Illinois Senate has passed a gaming expansion bill that would allow slot machines at the state's racetracks.

Also to be allowed by the bill are five new casinos, including a land-based facility in downtown Chicago that is high on Mayor Rahm Emanuel's wish list.

The measure cleared the Senate late May 1 on a vote of 32-20 with three senators in the chamber not voting on the bill. At least one of those senators who did not vote said the new gaming revenue should do more for the black community, including funding programs to address mental health issues, youth violence, foreclosures, and job training.

The legislation now goes to the Illinois House, where its fate could depend on the resolution of a host of other contentious issues, including pension reform and a state budget.

Five new casinos and 1,200 slot games at the racetracks would generate about $1.2 billion in one-time revenue for the state from initial license and other fees, and about $269 million in recurring revenue once the bill is fully implemented, according to a legislative analysis.

The Illinois General Assembly has passed gaming expansion plans twice in the past two years only to have them vetoed by Gov. Pat Quinn. Sponsor Sen. Terry Link and racing industry officials said this year's version includes many of the "ethics" changes demanded by the governor. It also includes specific requests for how the new gaming revenue is to be spent?in depressed areas, on Latino issues, renovation of the State Fairgrounds, purses for American Quarter Horse racing, and other special interests.

Sponsors dropped from the bill provisions that would have authorized Internet gaming in Illinois. That provision fueled a dust-up between the owner of Arlington Park, Churchill Downs Inc., and the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. The ITHA charged that CDI wanted to freeze horsemen out of the revenue it would derive from its Internet gaming sites.

Illinois tracks for the past two seasons have been augmenting purses and operating costs with so-called "impact fees," money from the state's largest casinos. Earlier legislation mandated those payments and the tracks won a long court battle to actually get the money. Those funds, however, largely will be exhausted by the end of 2013 and, lacking a new revenue source such as slot machines, the industry would face economic crisis.

Emanuel took a more visible role in the debate over the current bill than he has in the past. After the Senate cleared the bill, he released a prepared video documenting how he intends to use proceeds from a Chicago casino to improve the city's schools.

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Source: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/78005/illinois-senate-passes-gaming-expansion-bill

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Microsoft?s Switch to Windows Phone Android app released on Google Play Store, bombarded by Android fans

It?s hard to tell if Microsoft is being genuine with their latest release to the Google Play Store this evening. ?Switch to Windows Phone? just went live moments ago and it?s an Android app that looks to ?help? users looking to make the switch to Windows Phone an easy one by locating apps (or similar apps) on WP8.

Given Google?s very open policy about app submissions in the Play Store, Microsoft is seemingly taking full advantage of this to stick it to Google on their home turf. Feels more like a low-blow to me. Unsurprisingly, the app is already getting pounded by Android fans who are keen to what Microsoft is up to. If you guys want to give it a download and see for yourself if Windows Phone 8 would make a good switch, it?s doubtful but I?ve provided the link for you anyway.

[Switch to Windows Phone on Google Play]

Source: http://phandroid.com/2013/04/30/switch-to-windows-phone-android-app/

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New Sirius XM CEO considering infotainment, in-car safety offerings

Satellite-based streaming is a successful enough enterprise for the time being, but even the most naive of executives must know that the momentum isn't sure to last. In-car LTE and cheap web-based solutions provide access to millions of tracks on demand, making other options less relevant. Doom and gloom aside, there's still an opportunity to remain afloat, and Sirius XM's new CEO, Jim Meyer, has a plan to diversify his company's portfolio of products.

The music would continue to flow, but OnStar-like options would become available as well, according to a Reuters interview with Meyer. Other services, such as weather, realtime gas prices, roadside assistance and stolen car tracking could be implemented with the company's existing satellite infrastructure, and might be offered on a subscription basis down the line. "This is going to take a while," according to the new chief executive, who said that the new products might be implemented in certain 2017 and 2018 vehicles, but likely not sooner. Sadly, he's not talking details just yet, but there may be more to share before the end of next year.

Filed under: Transportation, Wireless

Comments

Source: Reuters

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/01/sirius-xm-infotainment/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Detective details Jackson doctor's massive debts

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A police detective testified Wednesday about the depths of debt that Michael Jackson's doctor faced while giving the singer treatments of the powerful anesthetic that killed the pop superstar.

Los Angeles police Detective Orlando Martinez said in a case filed by Jackson's mother against concert giant AEG Live that Conrad Murray faced student loans, home loans, child support obligations and credit card payments that were in arrears in 2009. Plaintiff's attorney Brian Panish said the debts totaled nearly $1 million.

Martinez has said the debts may have led Murray to act inappropriately in his care of Jackson in order to ensure he received $150,000 a month payments from AEG Live to serve as the singer's tour doctor.

"He may break the rules, bend the rules, do whatever he needed to do to get paid," Martinez said Tuesday. "It might solve his money problems."

Murray's finances were not a factor in the criminal case that ended with his 2011 conviction for administering a fatal dose of propofol to Jackson.

The former cardiologist is not a party to Katherine Jackson's negligent hiring case against the concert promoter, but he is a key figure. The Jackson family matriarch contends AEG did not properly investigate Murray before allowing him to serve as Jackson's tour physician for the ill-fated "This Is It" shows planned for 2009.

Martinez testified he found most of the debts against Murray in public records.

Martinez's testimony Wednesday was bogged down by continuous objections from AEG attorneys and the detective spent most of an hour-long session authenticating public records. He testified briefly about Murray's phone records before court recessed for the day so that an alternate juror could attend a funeral.

AEG denies it hired Murray, and its attorney has noted that Jackson and his children had been treated by the doctor before the shows were planned.

Martinez is the second witness called in the case, which in its early stages will focus on Jackson's death. Potential witnesses later in the trial include stars such as Diana Ross, Quincy Jones and Spike Lee. Jackson's mother, several siblings and his two oldest children, Prince and Paris, are also listed as potential witnesses.

Millions and possibly billions of dollars are at stake in the trial, which may last 90 court days.

AEG attorneys said they intend to call Murray as a witness. He remains in a Los Angeles jail and is appealing his conviction.

___

Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/detective-details-jackson-doctors-massive-debts-184918822.html

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