ST. LOUIS (RNS) For 25 years, St. Louis University has been led by the Rev. Lawrence Biondi. And for nearly two centuries, it has been led by Biondi?s Roman Catholic order, the Jesuits.
Soon, it may be led by neither.
Biondi recently announced that he intends to retire, and university officials are saying little about the specifics surrounding his departure. But one thing its board of 50-plus trustees will have to consider is whether to replace Biondi with another Jesuit priest.
That is, if they can find one to take the job.
The ?biggest challenge? for a Jesuit institution selecting a new president is that the pool of Jesuits with the right resume is rapidly shrinking, said the Rev. Thomas Gaunt, executive director of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Jesuit-run Georgetown University.
?You?re looking at a pretty tiny group of guys,? he said. ?And the right one might not be available.?
SLU does not make its bylaws public. But the most recent version ? obtained and published online by the university?s faculty senate ? makes it clear that the next president can come from outside the order that founded the school.
The bylaws were amended either in 2006 or 2010 to eliminate the first sentence in Article III, Section 3: ?The President shall be a member of the Society of Jesus.?
Striking that requirement likely has a lot to do with simple math. The 1960s saw the peak of Jesuit membership in the U.S., with about 7,000 priests. By 1982, that number had diminished to 5,500. Today there are about 2,500 American Jesuits.
In 2001, trustees at Georgetown ? the country?s oldest Roman Catholic university ? selected John DeGioia, an alumnus, as its first lay president. He became the first lay person to lead any of the country?s 28 Jesuit colleges and universities.
As of July 1, seven of the 28 schools in the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities will have lay presidents.
Among the 194 U.S. Catholic colleges that belong to the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, 63 percent are led by lay people. That number is up from about 50 percent in 2001, and 30 percent in 1991.
A month after DeGioia?s selection at Georgetown, Marymount University in nearby Arlington, Va., hired a lay president, James Bundschuh, who previously served as dean of SLU?s College of Arts and Sciences. The four presidents preceding Bundschuh had been nuns.
Despite those daunting statistics, Jesuit universities are finding men of their own order to run them. Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia has had a lay president in recent years but will revert back to a Jesuit leader in July. The school did not conduct a search but promoted a member from its own board.
Regis University in Denver installed a new president last year ? a Jesuit its board recruited from Marquette University, another Jesuit school.
Tom Reynolds, Regis? vice president for mission and ministry, said the board?s process was split into two parts. Its initial phase focused on trying to find a Jesuit leader. ?If we couldn?t find a Jesuit, then we?d open up the search to anyone,? Reynolds said.
As SLU now launches its first presidential search in a quarter century, many at the university are hoping for a recruitment process that includes input from faculty, students and administrative staff.
Aside from saying the search process would begin ?in the fall,? officials have revealed no details publicly about what that search might look like, instead saying in a statement that specifics about the search process ?will be communicated to the University community in the weeks ahead.?
In the meantime, some faculty aren?t waiting to seek to insert themselves in the process.
Bonnie Wilson, an associate professor of economics, said the SLU faculty would immediately begin meeting to discuss what they?d like in Biondi?s successor.
?The community is not sitting back to wait for an invitation from the board,? she said. ?We presume we?ll be invited, and we need to get to work and help ourselves and the board transition for new leadership.?
(Tim Townsend writes for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.)
Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this product, free of charge, from fresh Produce Clothing, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.
Sometimes it is hard to find clothes that are cute in both regular and plus sizes, for the mom, who doesn't want 'mom' clothes, but doesn't want to look like she's 'trying' to be 24 again, you know? \
So when I found about Fresh Produce, I was intrigued!
Fresh Produce has just about every type of clothing you need, from shirts to tunics to pants to skirts, all with bright color, that just make you feel good to wear them! They offer the same styles in regular and plus sizes, and they work, because they are classically cut and proportioned correctly.They have been in business for almost 30 years, so they know their stuff! Besides being sold online, they have stores and retailers around the country! Their motto is LiveLife*EnjoyColor and it shows in their selections. Check out this video about them ((and NO laughing about the 80's hairstyles, they were brace enough to show them! LOL):
To me their line just screams SPRING/ SUMMER- the colors transport you- you want to be on a beach sipping a drink and relaxing. As we come out of a LONG winter, Fresh Produce can really wake up your wardrobe! I was asked to review an item, and I selected the Anyday Baja Top in Aquamarine. I did selected the plus size, as I like my tops to be on the roomier side, and thought it would be a better choice.
It looks like a solid color, but it isn't! It is aquamarine and white, in a floral type print. It is made of ?94% rayon and 6% lycra, so it hangs very well! It has a gathered elastic neckline, loose fit, hits at high hip, and raglan flutter sleeves.As you can see above, and now for some close ups"
As you can see, the sleeve is generously cut, to allow for lots of movement, and no pinching. The hem is double stitched down, meaning it won't roll!The elastic neckline also is well stitched and hasn't rolled or scrunched yet! I love the pattern and color- it is VERY complimentary! The only issue I had was I could have gotten away with a size SMALLER.Yup, when they say 'roomy' they mean it! And because I'm short, it is more tunic length on me (something to consider when ordering). So that just means instead of wearing with shorts, I'll wear it with capris or leggings. No problem! Plus I can wear it belted with white jean capris, and look very pulled together!
Fresh Produce even has kids' clothes! Miss Grace has already selected about 9 items she REALLY wants! When was the last time you could shop at the same clothing store as your kid, and both be very happy about it? Right! Fresh Produce is THE answer, to the question you didn't realize you had!
She likes this one the best:
Isn't it adorable? She said it looks like an aquarium!
I also found this dress and pair of shorts that are on my must have list!
Fresh Produce covers everyone, no matter their age. Check out their products and I know you will find at least 3 pieces you HAVE to have! AND their line makes perfect Mother's Day presents too!
Thanks Fresh Produce for putting some COLOR back into my wardrobe!
Saul Bass was behind some of the most indelible intro title sequences in movie history. Casino, North By Northwest, Vertigo. He died in 1996, and just a few days ago, Google broke out a Doodle for his birthday. And now here's a pretty damn great nerd tribute on top. Four movie posters for Game of Thrones, in Bass's signature style.
No-win situation for agricultural expansion in the AmazonPublic release date: 9-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Bishop michael.bishop@iop.org 01-179-301-032 Institute of Physics
The large-scale expansion of agriculture in the Amazon through deforestation will be a no-win scenario, according to a new study.
Published today, 10 May, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, it shows that deforestation will not only reduce the capacity of the Amazon's natural carbon sink, but will also inflict climate feedbacks that will decrease the productivity of pasture and soybeans.
The researchers used model simulations to assess how the agricultural yield of the Amazon would be affected under two different land-use scenarios: a business-as-usual scenario where recent deforestation trends continue and new protected areas are not created; and a governance scenario which assumes Brazilian environmental legislation is implemented.
They predict that by 2050, a decrease in precipitation caused by deforestation in the Amazon will reduce pasture productivity by 30 per cent in the governance scenario and by 34 per cent in the business-as-usual scenario.
Furthermore, increasing temperatures could cause a reduction in soybean yield by 24 per cent in a governance scenario and by 28 per cent under a business-as-usual scenario.
Through a combination of the forest biomass removal itself, and the resulting climate change, which feeds back on the ecosystem productivity, the researchers calculate that biomass on the ground could decline by up to 65 per cent for the period 2041-2060
Brazil faces a huge challenge as pressure mounts to convert forestlands to croplands and cattle pasturelands in the Amazon. A fine balance must be struck, however, as the natural ecosystems sustain food production, maintain water and forest resources, regulate climate and air quality, and ameliorate infectious diseases.
Lead author of the study, Dr Leydimere Oliveira, said: "We were initially interested in quantifying the environmental services provided by the Amazon and their replacement by agricultural output.
"We expected to see some kind of compensation or off put, but it was a surprise to us that high levels of deforestation could be a no-win scenario the loss of environmental services provided by the deforestation may not be offset by an increase in agriculture production."
The researchers, from the Federal University of Viosa, Federal University of Pampa, Federal University of Minas Gerais and the Woods Hole Research Center, show that the effects of deforestation will be felt most in the eastern Par and northern Maranho regions.
Here the local precipitation appears to depend strongly on forests and changes in land cover would drastically affect the local climate, possibly to a point where agriculture becomes unviable.
"There may be a limit for expansion of agriculture in Amazonia. Below this limit, there are not important economic consequences of this expansion. Beyond this limit, the feedbacks that we demonstrated start to introduce significant losses in the agriculture production," continued Dr Oliveira.
###
From Friday 10 May, the paper can be downloaded from http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024021/article
Notes to Editors
Contact
1. For further information, a full draft of the journal paper or contact with one of the researchers, contact IOP Press Officer, Michael Bishop:
Tel: 0117 930 1032
E-mail: Michael.bishop@iop.org
IOP Publishing Journalist Area
2. The IOP Publishing Journalist Area gives journalists access to embargoed press releases, advanced copies of papers, supplementary images and videos. In addition to this, a weekly news digest is uploaded into the Journalist Area every Friday, highlighting a selection of newsworthy papers set to be published in the following week.
Login details also give free access to IOPscience, IOP Publishing's journal platform.
To apply for a free subscription to this service, please email Michael Bishop, IOP Press Officer, michael.bishop@iop.org, with your name, organisation, address and a preferred username.
Large-scale expansion of agriculture in Amazonia may be a no-win scenario
3. The published version of the paper 'Large-scale expansion of agriculture in Amazonia may be a no-win scenario' (Leydimere J C Oliveira, Marcos H Costa, Britaldo S Soares-Filho and Michael T Coe 2013 Environ. Res. Lett. 8 024021) will be freely available online from Friday 10 May. It will be available at http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024021/article.
Environmental Research Letters
4. Environmental Research Letters is an open access journal that covers all of environmental science, providing a coherent and integrated approach including research articles, perspectives and editorials.
IOP Publishing
5. IOP Publishing provides a range of journals, magazines, websites and services that enable researchers and research organisations to reach the widest possible audience for their research.
We combine the culture of a learned society with global reach and highly efficient and effective publishing systems and processes. With offices in the UK, US, Germany, China and Japan, and staff in many other locations including Mexico and Russia, we serve researchers in the physical and related sciences in all parts of the world.
IOP Publishing is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Institute of Physics. The Institute is a leading scientific society promoting physics and bringing physicists together for the benefit of all. Any profits generated by IOP Publishing are used by the Institute to support science and scientists in both the developed and developing world. Go to ioppublishing.org.
The Institute of Physics
6. The Institute of Physics is a leading scientific society. We are a charitable organisation with a worldwide membership of more than 50,000, working together to advance physics education, research and application. We engage with policymakers and the general public to develop awareness and understanding of the value of physics and, through IOP Publishing, we are world leaders in professional scientific communications. Go to http://www.iop.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
No-win situation for agricultural expansion in the AmazonPublic release date: 9-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Bishop michael.bishop@iop.org 01-179-301-032 Institute of Physics
The large-scale expansion of agriculture in the Amazon through deforestation will be a no-win scenario, according to a new study.
Published today, 10 May, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, it shows that deforestation will not only reduce the capacity of the Amazon's natural carbon sink, but will also inflict climate feedbacks that will decrease the productivity of pasture and soybeans.
The researchers used model simulations to assess how the agricultural yield of the Amazon would be affected under two different land-use scenarios: a business-as-usual scenario where recent deforestation trends continue and new protected areas are not created; and a governance scenario which assumes Brazilian environmental legislation is implemented.
They predict that by 2050, a decrease in precipitation caused by deforestation in the Amazon will reduce pasture productivity by 30 per cent in the governance scenario and by 34 per cent in the business-as-usual scenario.
Furthermore, increasing temperatures could cause a reduction in soybean yield by 24 per cent in a governance scenario and by 28 per cent under a business-as-usual scenario.
Through a combination of the forest biomass removal itself, and the resulting climate change, which feeds back on the ecosystem productivity, the researchers calculate that biomass on the ground could decline by up to 65 per cent for the period 2041-2060
Brazil faces a huge challenge as pressure mounts to convert forestlands to croplands and cattle pasturelands in the Amazon. A fine balance must be struck, however, as the natural ecosystems sustain food production, maintain water and forest resources, regulate climate and air quality, and ameliorate infectious diseases.
Lead author of the study, Dr Leydimere Oliveira, said: "We were initially interested in quantifying the environmental services provided by the Amazon and their replacement by agricultural output.
"We expected to see some kind of compensation or off put, but it was a surprise to us that high levels of deforestation could be a no-win scenario the loss of environmental services provided by the deforestation may not be offset by an increase in agriculture production."
The researchers, from the Federal University of Viosa, Federal University of Pampa, Federal University of Minas Gerais and the Woods Hole Research Center, show that the effects of deforestation will be felt most in the eastern Par and northern Maranho regions.
Here the local precipitation appears to depend strongly on forests and changes in land cover would drastically affect the local climate, possibly to a point where agriculture becomes unviable.
"There may be a limit for expansion of agriculture in Amazonia. Below this limit, there are not important economic consequences of this expansion. Beyond this limit, the feedbacks that we demonstrated start to introduce significant losses in the agriculture production," continued Dr Oliveira.
###
From Friday 10 May, the paper can be downloaded from http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024021/article
Notes to Editors
Contact
1. For further information, a full draft of the journal paper or contact with one of the researchers, contact IOP Press Officer, Michael Bishop:
Tel: 0117 930 1032
E-mail: Michael.bishop@iop.org
IOP Publishing Journalist Area
2. The IOP Publishing Journalist Area gives journalists access to embargoed press releases, advanced copies of papers, supplementary images and videos. In addition to this, a weekly news digest is uploaded into the Journalist Area every Friday, highlighting a selection of newsworthy papers set to be published in the following week.
Login details also give free access to IOPscience, IOP Publishing's journal platform.
To apply for a free subscription to this service, please email Michael Bishop, IOP Press Officer, michael.bishop@iop.org, with your name, organisation, address and a preferred username.
Large-scale expansion of agriculture in Amazonia may be a no-win scenario
3. The published version of the paper 'Large-scale expansion of agriculture in Amazonia may be a no-win scenario' (Leydimere J C Oliveira, Marcos H Costa, Britaldo S Soares-Filho and Michael T Coe 2013 Environ. Res. Lett. 8 024021) will be freely available online from Friday 10 May. It will be available at http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024021/article.
Environmental Research Letters
4. Environmental Research Letters is an open access journal that covers all of environmental science, providing a coherent and integrated approach including research articles, perspectives and editorials.
IOP Publishing
5. IOP Publishing provides a range of journals, magazines, websites and services that enable researchers and research organisations to reach the widest possible audience for their research.
We combine the culture of a learned society with global reach and highly efficient and effective publishing systems and processes. With offices in the UK, US, Germany, China and Japan, and staff in many other locations including Mexico and Russia, we serve researchers in the physical and related sciences in all parts of the world.
IOP Publishing is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Institute of Physics. The Institute is a leading scientific society promoting physics and bringing physicists together for the benefit of all. Any profits generated by IOP Publishing are used by the Institute to support science and scientists in both the developed and developing world. Go to ioppublishing.org.
The Institute of Physics
6. The Institute of Physics is a leading scientific society. We are a charitable organisation with a worldwide membership of more than 50,000, working together to advance physics education, research and application. We engage with policymakers and the general public to develop awareness and understanding of the value of physics and, through IOP Publishing, we are world leaders in professional scientific communications. Go to http://www.iop.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
May 8, 2013 ? A carnivorous, cannibalistic tadpole may play a role in understanding the evolution and development of digestive organs, according to research from North Carolina State University. These findings may also shed light on universal rules of organ development that could lead to better diagnosis and prevention of intestinal birth defects.
NC State developmental biologist Nanette Nascone-Yoder, graduate student Stephanie Bloom and postdoc Cris Ledon-Rettig looked at Xenopus laevis (African clawed frog) and Lepidobatrachus laevis (Budgett's frog) tadpoles. These frog species differ in diet and last shared a common ancestor about 110 million years ago. Like most tadpoles, Xenopus exist primarily on a diet of algae, and their long, simple digestive tracts are not able to process insects or proteins until they become adult frogs. Budgett's is an aggressive species of frog which is carnivorous -- and cannibalistic -- in the tadpole stage.
Nascone-Yoder knew that Budgett's tadpoles had evolved shorter, more complex guts to digest protein much earlier in their development. She and her team exposed Xenopus embryos to molecules that inactivated a variety of genes to see if any might coax Xenopus to develop a more carnivore-like digestive tract. Remarkably, five molecules caused Xenopus tadpoles to develop guts that were closer in appearance to those of the Budgett's tadpoles. Taking it one step further, Nascone-Yoder exposed Budgett's frog embryos to molecules with opposite effects, and got tadpole guts that were closer to those of Xenopus.
"Essentially, these molecules are allowing us to tease apart the processes that play a key role in gut development," Nascone-Yoder says. "Understanding how and why the gut develops different shapes and lengths to adapt to different diets and environments during evolution gives us insight into what types of processes can be altered in the context of human birth defects, another scenario in which the gut also changes its shape and function."
The researchers' next steps include finding out whether the changes in these gut tubes were merely cosmetic, or if they also function (digest) differently.
The findings appear in Evolution and Development. James Hanken, Carlos Infante and Anne Everly from the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology contributed to the work. The research was funded in part by the National Science Foundation.
LONDON (Reuters) - Alex Ferguson, Britain's longest-serving and most successful football manager, will retire at the end of the season after more than 26 years spent decorating Manchester United's trophy room with silverware.
The 71-year-old Scot ended intense speculation about his future at Old Trafford by confirming he would step aside after champions United's last game of the season at West Bromwich Albion on May 19 - his 1,500th in charge.
His decision brings the curtain down on a glittering era for the country's best-supported club which included 13 English league titles, two European Cups, five FA Cups and four League Cups as well as the FIFA Club World Cup.
Everton boss David Moyes, a Glaswegian like Ferguson, is strongly tipped to be United's next manager with one British bookmaker offering odds of 20-1 ON.
Former Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho is also in the running to fill the void left by the retiring Scot and is priced at 10-1.
United chief executive David Gill told the club's in-house television channel MUTV they would move "relatively quickly" in naming a successor.
Ferguson arrived in Manchester in 1986 after Ron Atkinson was sacked and, after a difficult start, began building an empire that shows no sign of crumbling with the club recapturing the English title from Manchester City this season.
"The decision to retire is one that I have thought a great deal about and one that I have not taken lightly. It is the right time," Ferguson, who has won nearly 900 of his 1,498 matches in charge, said on United's website (www.manutd.com).
United said Ferguson, who is to undergo hip surgery during the off-season, would remain at the club as a director.
"It was important to me to leave an organisation in the strongest possible shape and I believe I have done so," added Ferguson who had announced he would retire after the 2001-02 season before changing his mind.
"Going forward, I am delighted to take on the roles of both director and ambassador for the club," he said.
"With these activities, along with my many other interests, I am looking forward to the future."
Ferguson, who in 2010 surpassed Matt Busby's as the longest-serving manager in United's history, had not hinted at retirement in his programme notes for Sunday's game against Chelsea, suggesting he was keen to continue.
Bobby Charlton, a member of Busby's side that won the European Cup in 1968 and still a director, said United's dominance of the English game was solely down to Ferguson.
"I am a director but I hardly do anything because we are winning all the time and it is all down to Alex Ferguson," Charlton said at a stamps launch at Wembley on Wednesday.
"He is such a fantastic manager. Everything he has done has been fantastic."
'MASSIVE SHOCK'
The suddenness of his decision left some who served under him in a state of disbelief.
"I'm shocked, it's a bombshell," said former United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who was part of the 1998-99 team who won the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.
"I'm disappointed and very, very sad. He had always said he would retire when something in his life wasn't right, and it must be something we don't know about."
Former Manchester United midfielder and current Blackpool boss Paul Ince told Sky Sports: "I'm totally shocked. What he's done is unbelievable. You'll never see anyone of his kind again.
"Two weeks ago he was talking about staying on for another two years, so it's a massive, massive shock."
Bryan Robson, Ferguson's first captain, added: "He will always be the boss to me, you don't think of him as Sir Alex it has always been the boss."
FIFA president Sepp Blatter reacted to the news by describing Ferguson as one of "the greats".
"Will his longevity at the top ever be repeated?" the Swiss said on his Twitter feed.
Ferguson's long service in English football's top tier, where managers are hired and fired on a whim by success-hungry owners, is testament to his enduring passion for the game and his ability to cope with the demands of dealing with the brash young millionaires who populate the changing rooms.
He has seen off seven Liverpool managers since his arrival and 15 at Chelsea and only Arsene Wenger, who has been at Arsenal since 1996, and Moyes, at Everton for 11 years, are in Ferguson's league when it comes to staying power.
Even after his 70th birthday he remains as animated as ever, celebrating goals with the same boyish enthusiasm he brought from Aberdeen with whom he won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1983.
Chastened by losing the title to Manchester City, whom he once famously dubbed "noisy neighbours", in the dying seconds of last season, Ferguson, as he has always managed to do, raised the bar again, signing Arsenal's Robin van Persie.
In what proved to be Ferguson's transfer masterstroke, the Dutchman's 25 league goals helped United to a record 20th league title, two more than the 18 won by Liverpool whom Ferguson vowed to "knock off their perch" when he arrived in 1986.
Chief executive Gill, a loyal ally of Ferguson's for the past 16 years, said Ferguson's legacy would live on, whoever is named as his successor and that the outgoing manager would have a say on the new appointment.
"The qualities (of the next manager) are the ones that have been inherent within Manchester United for many years," he told MUTV.
"If you look at what has happened with the two most successful eras - Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex - they are managers who got involved in the whole aspect of the club, whether it be from the youth team up to the first team.
"Clearly he has to have the requisite football experience, both in terms of domestic and European experience, so I think it's a small pool but we'll move forward."
Former chairman Martin Edwards, the man responsible for hiring Ferguson, said the club owed a debt of gratitude.
"The success in 1990 revived everything. It saved us really," he said. "He's a workaholic. He's got such a great knowledge of football. I don't think you'll ever see anyone managing Man United for 27 years again."
Ferguson, a horse-racing enthusiast and wine connoisseur, was not an overnight success, however, experiencing some difficult years before landing the FA Cup in 1990 and the Cup Winners' Cup the year after.
Ending United's 25-year wait for the English title in 1992-93 proved to be the catalyst for two decades of domination despite the challenges of Arsenal, then Chelsea and more recently Manchester City.
Famous for his so-called "hair dryer" outbursts of rage at high-profile players, his manic gum-chewing and unbridled joy at every goal scored, Ferguson established an attacking style fitting for the Theatre of Dreams.
His faith in young players launched the careers of David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs while his signings of players such as Eric Cantona, Rio Ferdinand, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney made sure that United, for the most part, remained ahead of their rivals.
Since the advent of the Premier League, United have never once finished outside the top three.
Off the field, Ferguson, who received a knighthood in 1999, proved himself the perfect ambassador and diplomat as the club controversially passed into the ownership of the American Glazer family in 2005.
"Alex has proven time and time again what a fantastic manager he is but he's also a wonderful person," co-chairman Joel Glazer, son of owner Malcolm, said in the club statement.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. called Thursday for North Korea to grant amnesty and immediately release a Korean-American sentenced to 15 years' hard labor for "hostile acts" against the state.
Kenneth Bae, 44, a Washington state man described by friends as a devout Christian and a tour operator, is at least the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. The others eventually were deported or released without serving out their terms, some after trips to Pyongyang by prominent Americans, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
Analysts say Bae's sentencing could be an effort by Pyongyang to win diplomatic concessions in the ongoing standoff over its nuclear program. But there was no immediate sign a high-profile envoy was about to make a clemency mission to the isolated nation which has taken an increasingly confrontational stance under its young leader Kim Jong Un.
State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the U.S. was still seeking to learn the facts of Bae's case. He said the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which handles consular matters there for the U.S., did not attend Tuesday's Supreme Court trial and that there hasn't been transparency in the legal proceedings.
"There's no greater priority for us than the welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad, and we urge the DPRK authorities to grant Mr. Bae amnesty and immediate release," Ventrell told a news conference, referencing the socialist country's formal title, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
North Korea has faced increasing international criticism over its weapons development. Six-nation disarmament talks involving the Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia fell apart in 2009. Several rounds of U.N. sanctions have not encouraged the North to give up its small cache of nuclear devices, which Pyongyang says it must not only keep but expand to protect itself from a hostile Washington. Tensions have escalated since it conducted its third nuclear test since 2006 in February.
Pyongyang's tone has softened somewhat recently, following weeks of violent rhetoric, including threats of nuclear war and missile strikes. There have been tentative signs of interest in diplomacy, and a major source of North Korean outrage ? annual U.S.-South Korean military drills ? ended Tuesday.
Patrick Cronin, a senior analyst with the Washington-based Center for a New American Security, called Bae's conviction "a hasty gambit to force a direct dialogue with the United States."
"While Washington will do everything possible to spare an innocent American from years of hard labor, U.S. officials are aware that in all likelihood the North Korean regime wants a meeting to demonstrate that the United States in effect confers legitimacy on the North's nuclear-weapon-state status," Cronin said in an email.
White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters traveling aboard Air Force One en route to Mexico that if North Korea is interested in discussion, they should live up to their obligations under the six-party talks.
"Thus far, as you know, they have flouted their obligations, engaged in provocative actions and rhetoric that brings them no closer to a situation where they can improve the lot of the North Korean people or re-enter the community of nations," Carney said.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency announcement of Bae's sentencing came just days after it reported Saturday that authorities would soon indict and try him. It referred to Bae as Pae Jun Ho, the North Korean spelling for his Korean name. The State Department had appealed Monday for his release on humanitarian grounds.
Bae, from Lynnwood, Wash., was arrested in early November in Rason, a special economic zone in North Korea's far northeastern region bordering China and Russia, state media said. The exact nature of Bae's alleged crimes has not been revealed.
"Kenneth Bae had no access to a lawyer. It is not even known what he was charged with," the human rights group Amnesty International said in a statement. "Kenneth Bae should be released, unless he is charged with an internationally recognizable criminal offense and retried by a competent, independent and impartial court."
Ventrell said the Swedish embassy's most recent access to Bae was last Friday. It has only had a handful of brief opportunities to see him since he was arrested in early November, according to U.S. officials.
Friends and colleagues say Bae was based in the Chinese border city of Dalian and traveled frequently to North Korea to feed orphans. Bae's mother in the United States did not answer calls seeking comment Thursday.
There are parallels to a case in 2009. After Pyongyang's launch of a long-range rocket and its second underground nuclear test that year, two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor after sneaking across the border from China.
They later were pardoned on humanitarian grounds and released to Clinton, who met with then-leader Kim Jong Il. U.S.-North Korea talks came later that year.
In 2011, Carter visited North Korea to win the release of imprisoned American Aijalon Gomes, who had been sentenced to eight years of hard labor for crossing illegally into the North from China.
On Thursday, Carter's press secretary, Deanna Congileo, said by email that the former president has not had an invitation to visit North Korea and has no plans to visit.
Korean-American Eddie Jun was released in 2011 after Robert King, the U.S. envoy on North Korean human rights, traveled to Pyongyang. Jun had been detained for half a year over an unspecified crime.
Jun and Gomes are also devout Christians. While the North Korean Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated by the government.
U.N. and U.S. officials accuse North Korea of treating opponents brutally. Foreign nationals have told varying stories about their detentions in North Korea.
The two journalists sentenced to hard labor in 2009 stayed in a guest house instead of a labor camp due to medical concerns.
Ali Lameda, a member of Venezuela's Communist Party and a poet invited to the North in 1966 to work as a Spanish translator, said that he was detained in a damp, filthy cell without trial the following year after facing espionage allegations that he denied. He later spent six years in prison after a one-day trial, he said.
___
Kim reported from Seoul. Associated Press writers Lou Kesten and Nedra Pickler in Washington contributed to this report.
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Public release date: 9-May-2013
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