Teenager rescued after 28 days adrift at sea in a small boat

AP

Adrian Vasquez, left, an 18-year-old Panamanian who worked in a seaside resort hotel, receives medical attention aboard an Ecuadorean navy ship on Sunday.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

Updated at 6:01 a.m. ET: A teen has apparently survived 28 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean after going on a fishing trip with two friends, according to reports. Adrian Vasquez, who was rescued by the Ecuadorean navy on Sunday, said he stayed alive by drinking rainwater and eating raw fish, the BBC reported.

Vasquez said neither of his friends survived, but that he had always held onto the hope he would be rescued.

AP

Adrian Vasquez receives medical attention on Sunday.

The 18-year-old was found drifting alone near the Galapagos Islands on his friends' 10-foot fishing boat more than 600 miles from where they had set out.

He was first found by a commercial fishing vessel then handed over to Ecuador's coast guard. The trio had been missing since February 24.

The Associated Press reported the three were heading back to his home port of Rio Hato when the boat's motor failed.

Rainstorm
Vasquez told the Ecuadorean navy crew he likely owed his survival to a sudden rainstorm that replenished his water supply.

The young Panamanian recounted his story to Hugo Espinosa, captain of the navy vessel, after being treated for malnutrition and severe dehydration. He recalled they had caught a lot of fish, and had a big jug of water.

The AP quoted Espinosa as saying Vasquez had identified his dead friends as Oropeces Betancourt, 24, and Fernano Osorio, 16.

Arnulfo Franco / AP

Rescued castaway Adrian Vasquez is surrounded by family members upon his arrival to Tocumen international airport in Panama City on Tuesday.

Panamanian navy boats began to search for the vessel but did not find it. Espinosa said the ice melted and the fish rotted, leaving the trio to live off what they could catch with their net.

"The spirits of the survivors began to wane with the passing of days," Espinosa told The Associated Press.

The report said Betancourt stopped eating and drinking after two weeks and died on March 10. Three days later, his body began to decompose and Vasquez threw it over the side.

AP

Adrian Vasquez, center, poses with Ecuadorean sailors onboard a navy ship on Monday.

Osorio died on March 15, also apparently of dehydration, sunburn and heat stroke. After three days, Vasquez pushed his other friend's body into the ocean, the AP said.

"When he was nearly dead, on March 19, it rained, and Vasquez was able to fill up with four gallons of water," said Espinosa. He spent the next five days eating raw fish before being spotted by commercial fishermen working on a skiff from a mother ship, the Duarte V.

'He was quiet'
Once aboard, Vasquez asked for a telephone so he could make two calls, the AP reported. The first was to his mother. The second was to the hotel manager to explain why he had missed so many days of work.

"He didn't know what was happening. He was quiet, looking lost," Espinosa said.

Vasquez was flown on Monday to Guayaquil on the Ecuadorean mainland before flying to Panama City on Tuesday where he was greeted by a crowd including family and friends.

The AP report said the teenager shed some tears as his relatives hugged him but he didn't talk to reporters.

The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

Syrian authorities are detaining and torturing children, the United Nations' human rights chief, Navi Pillay said, according to a report.

"They've gone for the children -- for whatever purposes -- in large numbers," the BBC quoted her as saying. "Hundreds detained and tortured... it's just horrendous.

---

"Children shot in the knees, held together with adults in really inhumane conditions, denied medical treatment for their injuries, either held as hostages or as sources of information."

Ms Pillay, a lawyer, said she believed that the UN Security Council had enough reliable information to warrant referring Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"I feel that investigation and prosecution is a crucial element to deter and call a stop to these violations," she told the BBC.

Ms Pillay said she believed that the UN Security Council had enough reliable information to warrant referring Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Syria accepts Annan peace plan, but clashes continue

Meanwhile, the United States has urged the Syrian opposition to unite and pledge to respect minority rights in a future Syria should President Bashar Assad be driven from power, and warned armed rebels and government forces against committing human rights abuses.

Disunity among the Syrian opposition to Assad has fed fears that Syria could slide into sectarian and ethnic conflict, much as Iraq did after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Skeptical of peace plan
This has worried some governments, including the United States which would otherwise be glad to see Assad's downfall, after a year in which Assad has been using the army to crush efforts to end his political dominance in Syria.

Slideshow: Struggle in Syria

Str / AP

Anti-government clashes continue as Western and Arab nations launch a diplomatic offensive to halt the violence.

Launch slideshow

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the Syrian opposition to lay out a vision of an inclusive Syria in which minority rights are respected.

"They must be able to clearly demonstrate a commitment to including all Syrians and protecting the rights of all Syrians," Clinton told reporters.

"We are going to be pushing them very hard to present such a vision in Istanbul," she said ahead of a gathering of Western and Arab nations in Istanbul on Sunday to discuss a political transition in Syria.

Earlier on Tuesday, the New York Times reported that a meeting of Syrian opposition groups in Istanbul was marred when a veteran dissident and Kurdish delegates walked out, saying their views were not heard.

U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said on Tuesday in Washington that he had received reports that armed Syrian opposition groups had engaged in human rights abuses. He said he had warned the rebels, as well as Assad, against committing such abuses.

Both Clinton and Ford were skeptical of reports that Syria's government had accepted the peace plan of U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

"Given Assad's history of over-promising and under-delivering, that commitment must now be matched by immediate actions," Clinton said.

Ford left Syria last month because of the violence but remains the U.S. ambassador. At a hearing on Capitol Hill, he was asked about statements by the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch that armed opposition groups in Syria had committed abuses including kidnapping, detention and torture of security force members and government supporters.

Murad Sezer / Reuters

Syrian National Council President Burhan Ghalioun is greeted by council members during a news conference after their meeting in Istanbul on Tuesday.

"We had reports like that last year, when some of the fighting in Homs became really serious," Ford said. "We raised it even in Syria when my embassy was still open.

"We discussed it with some of the local revolution council representatives -- who are themselves not members of armed groups, but certainly are in contact with them -- and emphasized that they would be held to a standard on this if they wanted support from western countries."

The United States had also raised the matter with the Syrian National Council, the main opposition umbrella group, Ford said.

He added there was a danger that more hard-liners who ignored human rights would gain influence on both sides in Syria the longer the conflict goes on.

Assad's government, Ford said, had committed "massive human rights violations that may amount to crimes against humanity."

The United Nations says more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria's year-old uprising against Assad. Syria says rebels have killed some 3,000 security force members and blames the violence on "terrorist" gangs.

Human Rights Watch also has accused Assad's forces of human rights abuses, including using human shields in northern Syria in their efforts to crush the rebellion.

Assad on Tuesday was filmed taking a tour of Baba Amr, the district of Homs recently bombarded by his forces.

Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

The 7 worst smartphone injustices and how to fight them

Via Gadgetbox

News and reviews about hardware you want and software you need.

“Injustice in the end produces independence,” Voltaire wrote. For their part, smartphone users must endure a litany of injustices, ranging from endless contracts that tie them to outdated hardware to phones that run out of juice by noon.

 

Courtesy of laptop

Unfortunately, we've become so injured to the injuries that we hardly notice when phone vendors and carries hit us with yet another body blow. Fortunately you don't have to be a mobile martyr. Have the seven (7) most malicious forms of phone tyranny and the best ways to fight them.

1. Sealed batteries, weak battery life

If you love being infantilized, some of today’s top smartphone vendors are waiting for you with a pair of high-definition diapers and an LTE pacifier. Rather than giving you the choice of whether or not to replace their low-capacity batteries with slightly-thicker, high-capacity units, more and more smartphone manufacturers are using sealed, non-removable batteries.

Even worse, most of the non-removable batteries have very pedestrian battery lives. The Droid 4 might be the world’s best keyboarded phone, but its 1785 mAH battery limits it to just 5 and half hours of continuous use and, if you don’t like that, Motorola has a message for you: “tough touch screens.” HTC must feel the same way, because all three of its upcoming “One” series phones have sealed in batteries, even though none exceeds the pedestrian 1800 mAH capacity.

The Droid RAZR Maxx has a sealed battery, but gets more than 8 hours of endurance because that battery is an impressive 3300 mAH. However, should the RAZR Maxx’s battery lose its ability to hold a full charge, you’re out of luck. On the flip side, Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus lasts under 4 hours on a charge, but you can replace its battery with one that’s double the capacity.

The excuse for this paternalistic practice is that providing a battery door and the space to stick your finger in and pop the existing battery might add a millimeter or two to the phone chassis. How many millimeters is your freedom worth?

How to fight the sealed battery injustice: Only buy phones with user-removable batteries.  If you already own a sealed-battery phone, you’ll need an external battery like the New Trent iFuel.

2. 20-month wait between phone upgrade
To get a good smartphone at a decent price, you usually need to agree to a two-year contract, but what happens 6 months into that contract when your phone is eons out of date and you want to upgrade it? In spring 2011, the HTC Thunderbolt was Verizon’s hottest phone, because it was the first with LTE. By fall, the single-core, low-res screened handset looked like a joke next to high-res speed demons like the Droid RAZR and HTC Rezound.

The three largest U.S. carriers each make you wait 20 months to get a replacement at subsidized prices (less than $500 or so) by which time your current phone will be ready to take its place in a museum. T-Mobile offers “early upgrade pricing” after 12 months that’s not as favorable as a subsidized rate but gives you some discount off of the retail price. After 22 months, T-Mobile subscribers on two-year contracts are eligible for a fully subsidized upgrade.

How to fight the 20-month upgrade Injustice: It’s hard to get a phone at the two-year subsidized price sooner than 20 months into your contract, but there are ways to save. First, try calling your carrier and see if you can negotiate for an early upgrade, because occasionally company reps will give long-time customers a break. T-Mobile users can take advantage of early upgrade pricing, and anyone can buy an unlocked phone through a third-party vendor that offers a bit lower retail pricing than the carrier.

3. Pay extra for tethering
It’s not enough for carriers to charge you $30 or more for a smartphone data plan. They make you pay another $30 or so to share that data with your notebook or tablet. What the heck? If major home ISPs like Time Warner Cable or Comcast tried to charge you separately for every device that connects to your router, there’d be an “occupy the customer service department” movement.

How to fight the tethering premium injustice: Fortunately, there are ways around the fees, if you’re willing to cheat a bit and use a wired tethering app like PdaNet or a wireless hotspot app like Barnicle WiFi Tether, the latter of which requires you to root your phone.

4. Lose your smartphone, lose your shirt
Yesterday, you bought a new smartphone for $99, but this morning you left it in a cab. Buying a replacement will cost a hefty $550 and you don’t have much choice in the matter, because you’re under contract for the next 24 months and the early termination fees are too expensive to let you walk away.

Your carrier may offer you a phone insurance plan at the time of purchase, but it probably won’t be a good deal. For example, Verizon’s Total Equipment Coverage plan promises only a “comparable model” to your phone, says that the replacement device may be refurbished, and charges a $99 deductible on any claims in addition to a $6.99 monthly fee ($168 over 24 months). Unless you’ve had a psychic vision of yourself dropping the phone into a sewer, you’d be better off not buying this kind of half-hearted but full-priced protection.

It’s understandable that carriers would charge you a somewhat higher price to replace a lost phone, because they take a loss on every handset they sell at subsidized prices. However, I can’t help but think that the full retail prices they charge you are jacked up, because they know you have no choice but to pay them. Unfortunately, wholesale pricing for smartphones isn’t normally made public, but it’s hard to believe Verizon pays anywhere close to $649 for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

How to fight the lost phone pricing injustice: As I suggested in the “early upgrades” section above, you can try to negotiate with your carrier for a discount or turn to third-party sellers on sites like eBay. For example, on eBay, you can buy an unlocked Samsung Galaxy Nexus for $500, $150 less than Verizon’s $640 retail price.  You can also get a used model for as little as $350.

5. Disinterested carriers, vendors don't issue OS updates
Imagine depending on Best Buy, where you bought your Pavilion dm4 notebook in 2011, rather than Microsoft to issue all your Windows updates. That’s the kind of lunacy Android and Windows Phone users have to face today, because they’re dependent on the kindness of their carriers for critical OS updates, even if they involve security breaches.

So, if Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has a bad day and decides that HTC Evo 4G users shouldn’t get Ice Cream Sandwich or AT&T’s Ralph De La Vega doesn’t want Windows Phone users to get the coming update that allows them to attach multiple photos to the same SMS message (therefore sending fewer texts), that’s their prerogative.

Unfortunately, there’s no strong business incentive for the carriers or manufacturers to issue such upgrades. The carriers already have your money and a two-year commitment for you to keep paying them every month, with or without updates. Smartphone vendors consider the carriers — not you — to be their clients. And the carriers couldn’t care less about spending money to support people who already bought their products.

When your phone is still running Android 2.1 while the latest handsets have 4.0, you might swear under your breath and vow to change wireless services or phone brands when your contract is up, but since they all do the same thing and churn rates are very low, they know you’ll be back.

Apple issues its iOS updates directly to all of its phones at the same time. Why can’t Google and Microsoft follow its example?

How to fight the slow OS update / no OS update injustice: If you have an Android smartphone, you can probably find instructions on how to root it and install a custom ROM with the latest OS (Ice Cream Sandwich) at the XDA Developer’s Forum or a tutorial site like The Unlockr.

6. Out-of-control texting rates
Most carriers charge $30 for 2 or 3GB of data, but 20 cents for each tiny, 160-character text message if you go over your allotment or aren’t on a pricey unlimited SMS plan. Different experts estimate this 20-cent price is a markup of 4,900 to 7,300 percent on something that has almost no cost to the provider. After all, the amount of data per message is so tiny. The worst part of paying per message is that anyone can spam you with SMS messages and make you pay for them against your will.

How to fight the outrageous SMS fee injustice: Users can log in to instant messaging apps like Google Voice to avoid paying SMS fees, but then they have to give out a second phone number just for texting. Instant messaging apps like Google Talk or eBuddy also fit the bill but gulp battery like there’s no tomorrow and require your friends to also be logged in for you to talk to them.

7. Surfing web in a foreign country costs more than flying there
Though many U.S. carriers offer phones that are capable of getting a signal when you travel abroad, the price of such service is nuts, frequently costing as much as $20 per megabyte of data. Even so-called “affordable” packages like AT&T’s $24.99 for 50MB of monthly global data (with $1 per MB overage) are incredible rip-offs. Download a PowerPoint presentation to show a client in Europe or view the last day’s worth of email and you may end up paying hundreds of dollars before you even know what hit you.

Meanwhile, the cost of buying a local prepaid data plan in many countries is far less than you pay in the U.S. When I visited Spain earlier this year, I was able to purchase a prepaid SIM card on the Orange network with a week’s worth of unlimited data for just 9 Euros (around $12). Are you telling me that U.S. carriers can’t get a similar deal on data for its customers? No doubt AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon are paying foreign carriers even less than I paid on my own, but they’re marking up the cost per megabyte to unfathomable rates.

How to fight the outrageous data roaming rate injustice: Unfortunately for consumers, it’s not always easy to get your carrier to unlock your smartphone so you can buy a SIM from a local carrier. The best bet for frequent travelers may be to buy an unlocked phone.

If you don’t need to make voice calls on your smartphone, renting a mobile hotspot from Xcom Global might be your ideal solution. The company charges just $15 a day for a portable 3G MiFi that comes with unlimited Internet access on a leading network in whatever country you’re visiting. When carrying the MiFi in your bag, you can use it to get the Internet on your phone, laptop and tablet, all at the same time.

US paid close to $50,000 per shooting spree death, American official tells NBC

By NBC News and news services

Updated at 11 a.m. ET: KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- The United States paid close to $50,000 in compensation for each Afghan killed in the shooting spree attributed to a U.S. soldier in southern Afghanistan, a U.S. official told NBC News on Sunday.

The official, who asked not to be named, would not say exactly how much was paid to the families, but added the amount was close to the $50,000 reported by Afghan officials.

"The amount reflects the extraordinarily devastating nature of the incident," he said.

Average annual income in Afghanistan is $425, according to the BBC.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is accused of sneaking out of his base before dawn on March 11 then creeping into the houses of two nearby villages and opening fire on sleeping families within. The U.S. military has charged Bales with 17 murders.

Bales charged with 17 counts of murder in Afghanistan massacre

The 38-year-old soldier is accused of using his 9mm pistol and M-4 rifle, which was outfitted with a grenade launcher, to kill four men, four women, two boys and seven girls, then burning some of the bodies.

The defense attorney for Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the soldier charged Friday with 17 counts of murder, has said the military lacks much of the physical evidence necessary to establish a solid case against his client. But prosecutors say there is ample evidence: surveillance video, shell casings and more. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.

The Associated Press earlier reported that the families of the dead received $50,000 for each person killed on Saturday at the governor's office, citing Kandahar provincial council member Agha Lalai.

Agha Lalai told the AP that each wounded person has received $11,000 and that they were told the money was from U.S. President Barack Obama. Community elder Jan Agha has confirmed the same figures.

US officials: Soldier split Afghan massacre in two

The American official who handed over the money said it was not compensation, but the U.S. government offering to help the victims and their families, Kandahar provincial council member Haji Nyamat Khan said.

But a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, Col. Gary Kolb, said the money was compensation.

NBC's Atia Abawi, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Obama: N. Korean rocket test would isolate regime

By NBC News, msnbc.com and news services

Updated at 7:50 a.m. ET: SEOUL, South Korea -- Warning North Korea from its doorstep, President Barack Obama said Pyongyang risks deepening its isolation in the international community if it proceeds with a planned long-range rocket launch.

"North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or provocations," Obama said during a news conference Sunday in Seoul, South Korea, where he was to attend a nuclear security summit.

Earlier on Sunday, South Korea said North Korea had moved a long-range ballistic rocket to its northwestern launch site in preparation for a launch, The Associated Press reported. North Korea has said it will launch a satellite into space on a long-range rocket next month as part of its peaceful space program.

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Officials from the South Korean Defense Ministry and Joint Chiefs of Staff officials told the AP the information on the rocket came from the South Korean and U.S. militaries. They provided no further details and spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.

Obama tells US troops at Korean DMZ: 'You guys are at freedom's frontier'

A White House official in South Korea told NBC News he could not confirm the rocket movement, saying he had not seen any U.S. intelligence reports on issue. Nobody would be surprised by such a provocation, however, the official added.

Obama spoke fresh off his first visit to the tense Demilitarized Zone, the heavily patrolled no-man's land between North and South Korea, where he peered long and hard at the isolated North.

"It's like you're in a time warp," Obama said. "It's like you're looking across 50 years into a country that has missed 40 years or 50 years of progress."

From the DMZ, Obama returned to Seoul for a private meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. Both leaders warned there would be consequences if North Korea proceeds with its plans to launch the long-range rocket next month, a move the U.S. and other powers say would violate a U.N. ban on nuclear and missile activity because the same technology could be used for long-range missiles.

During his trip to South Korea for a summit to discuss keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists, President Obama will visit the heavily guarded area along the North Korean border. NBC's Kristen Welker reports.

Obama said the launch would jeopardize a deal for the U.S. to resume stalled food aid to North Korea and may result in the tightening of harsh economic sanctions on the already-impoverished nation.

"Bad behavior will not be rewarded," Obama said. "There had been a pattern, I think, for decades in which North Korea thought if they had acted provocatively, then somehow they would be bribed into ceasing and desisting acting provocatively."

The planned rocket launch is yet another setback for the United States in years of on-again, off-again attempts to launch real negotiations. The announcement also played into Republican criticism that Obama had been too quick to jump at a new chance for talks with the North Koreans.

'Strong and prosperous nation'
North Korea wants to use the celebrations around Kim Il Sung's birthday on April 15 to showcase its emergence as a "strong and prosperous nation," even as millions go hungry and it begs for international aid. The North has planned a series of events to mark the centenary of the birth of the state's founder, including a rare ruling party conference and the controversial launch of the ballistic rocket.

Its vow to fire the rocket has put in jeopardy a deal struck in February with the United States to get food aid in return for a moratorium on long-range missile and nuclear tests.

The North's Foreign Ministry warned that it was "intolerable double standards" for some countries to assert that the North was the only nation not allowed to launch satellites while for the same countries, satellite launches were commonplace.

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Analysis: Why N. Korea's planned rocket test matters

"If there will be any sinister attempt to deprive the (North) of its independent and legitimate right and put the unreasonable double standards upon it, this will inevitably compel the (North) to take countermeasures," the ministry said in a statement late on Friday.

North Korea has conducted two similar launches. The last one, in 2009, provoked outrage in Tokyo because the rocket flew over Japan. As it did three years ago, Japan says it is prepared to shoot the rocket down if it threatens its territory.

The rocket launch, which the United States and other countries say is the same as a ballistic missile test, is banned under U.N. resolutions.

Even China, North Korea's main ally, has expressed its worry over the launch, scheduled for between April 12 and April 16, and has urged the North to "stay calm and exercise restraint and avoid escalation."

The secretive North has twice tested a nuclear device, but experts doubt whether it yet has the ability to miniaturize an atomic bomb to fit inside a warhead.

NBC News, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.