About 1,000 youth per month were infected with HIV in 2010.

A disproportionate number of new HIV infections in youth (70 percent) occurred in gay and bisexual males, most of whom were African American.

About 60 percent of youth with HIV did not know they were infected and could unknowingly pass HIV to others. And without treatment, they increased their chances of sickness and early death.

The statistics above can make the problem seem overwhelming, but there are actions we can all take to fight HIV in our own lives and in our communities.

Learn More About HIV: Understanding basic HIV information is important for everyone. Learn about how HIV is and is not transmitted, why testing is important, and about advances in HIV care and treatment. By becoming informed and sharing that information each of us can help make a difference. For example, did you know that while there is no cure for HIV infection, it can be managed to help people live healthier and longer lives? In fact, there's strong evidence that starting powerful HIV drugs earlybefore symptoms appeargreatly reduces the risk of developing acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS, the final stage of HIV infection), having AIDS-related complications, or dying of AIDS. But, since HIV infection does not usually cause symptoms at the early stage, people need to be tested to learn whether they are infected.

Get Tested: Knowing whether one is positive or negative for HIV confers great benefits in healthy decision making. Someone who tests negative can take steps to stay that way.  Someone who tests positive can get linked to care and treatment which, in turn, benefits his/her own health and reduces the chances of passing HIV to someone else. HIV screening usually involves taking a blood sample (though there are also oral swab tests). The sample is tested to see whether it contains antibodies (disease-fighting proteins) that react specifically to HIV. These tests are very accurate. A well-respected, independent national panel recently . People at increased risk should be tested more often. You may be at increased risk if you are a man and have sex with men, if you engage in unsafe sex, or if you use injection drugs. You can get an HIV test in your doctors office. In addition, many health departments, clinics and community-based organizations offer free, anonymous, rapid HIV testing. You can search for an HIV testing location near you at . 

If Diagnosed with HIV, Get Treated, and Stay in Treatment: Getting yourself tested is the first step and serves as the pivotal entry point into the health care system for life-extending treatment and care. If you learn you are HIV-positive,near you. Linking to care and staying in treatment will help you learn about your own condition, understand what you need to do to help keep yourself well, and reduce the risk that you will transmit the infection to a partner. Many people now manage their HIV infection as a long-term, chronic disease. If you or someone you care about is HIV-positivecan help you prepare for seeing a health care provider who is an HIV specialist.

Learn the Connection between HIV and STDs: While sexually transmitted diseases affect individuals of all ages, STDs take a particularly heavy toll on young people. CDC estimates that while they make up just over one-quarter of the sexually active population, youth ages 15 to 24 account for half of the 20 million new sexually transmitted infections that occur in the United States each year. Whats this have to do with HIV, you may ask? Well, having an untreated STD increases the risk of HIV transmission regardless of whether it is the HIV-positive partner or the HIV-negative partner who has the STD.

Ready to Prevent HIV in Your Community? The Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) and our federal partners want to help programs that serve young people, especially those most at risk for HIV infection, succeed and reach those who need information the most. Theaddresses the specific needs of young people. This OAH-supported online source provides a central location for resources, professional literature, evidence-based programs and practices, and technical assistance. If your agency or organization is among the many across the country assessing what you can do new or differently to address the impact of HIV among youth, I hope you will visit the Resource Center. Keep up-to-date on HIV/AIDS awareness days and available campaign materials at .

Wondering About Health Care Coverage? The landscape of HIV care and treatment will change when more people gain access to health care services as key parts of the Affordable Care Act take effect in the coming year.  On October 1, 2013, your stateswill open online and you will be able to learn about health plans you are eligible for and if you will receive a break on the cost. If you do not have health coverage, it is time to think about signing up. Read more aboutand the Affordable Care Act.

What do you think would help lower the rate of HIV infection, particularly among young people?

Bartholomew Granger's courtroom rants against his daughter, prosecutors and the judge had intensified since he was convicted last week of capital murder in the death of 79-year-old Minnie Ray Sebolt, who was walking outside the courthouse in Beaumont when she was shot in March 2012.

Granger, 42, showed no remorse as he admitted opening fire on his daughter and running her over with his truck because she had testified against him in a sexual assault case, but he insisted he didn't kill Sebolt. His daughter and her mother were among three women wounded in the attack.

Even as his attorneys worked to convince the jury to sentence him to life in prison without parole, Granger instead focused on denying the sexual assault allegation, angrily insisting he was not a child molester and denigrating his daughter.

Those outbursts got him thrown out of court, and they culminated Tuesday as Sebolt's daughter began reading a statement after the jury announced its sentence following less than two hours of deliberations.

As Deborah Ray Holst stood in front on him and began reading her statement, Granger shouted, "I didn't kill your mother!" and that he didn't want to hear her statement. Holst then asked Judge Bob Wortham if Granger could be shocked.

"Tase me. Inject me with poison," Granger said.

"I would love to do it myself," Holst responded.

He was removed from the courtroom but returned minutes later with what officials later said was a spit mask made of cloth and nylon, and used to stop inmates from spitting on guards covering his mouth.

But he continued to interrupt Holst. At one point a bailiff put his hands over Granger's mouth in an effort to quiet him, but he became increasingly agitated. At least seven bailiffs and deputies were needed to subdue him as Holst finished her statement, saying her mother was a caring person who always had a smile on her face and calling Granger "an evil, evil non-human."

After Holst finished, Wortham told Granger, "I think you removed any doubt from the jury's mind about the correctness of their verdict."

Earlier Tuesday, Granger interrupted prosecutors during their closing arguments in the trial's punishment phase by laughing and saying he wasn't a child molester. Wortham warned Granger about not talking. When Granger held up in the direction of jurors a yellow legal pad with the word "DEATH" drawn on it, Wortham had Granger removed from court for the rest of the closing arguments.

As he testified on Monday, against the advice of attorneys, Granger called his case a "mockery of justice" and a "lynching." He was then restrained and temporarily removed from court.

Following the jury's sentence, Holst said outside the courthouse that she "couldn't be happier" with the decision.

Lead prosecutor Ed Shettle said it wasn't Granger's behavior in court but his actions during the courthouse shooting, his lack of remorse and his potential to hurt others that led jurors to their decision.

"Bartholomew Granger got the death penalty because he deserved the death penalty," Shettle said.

James Makin, one of Granger's attorneys, said he had hoped the jury would have decided against a death sentence, but added: "I'm a realist." Makin said he doesn't believe in the death penalty but acknowledged, "If I had a gun in that parking lot that day (of the courthouse shooting), I probably would have done something with it."

Granger testified during the trial that he emptied the 10-bullet magazine of his illegally purchased semi-automatic carbine, saying he fired toward his daughter. Then, when he saw his daughter was still moving while lying in the street, he ran over her with his pickup truck. The daughter spent three months in a coma.

The trial was moved 75 miles to Galveston, so jurors didn't have to walk past the crime scene each day.

Granger's daughter, now 22, was among the witnesses who testified against him.

Prosecutors said Granger parked outside the courthouse for hours, then ambushed the women when they appeared at the courthouse in the late morning. Sebolt also was outside at the time, accompanying a relative to the courthouse. She was shot twice and died in the revolving door at the courthouse entrance.

Granger subsequently came under fire from police, abandoned his bullet-riddled truck about three blocks away, walked inside a construction business and took several people hostage. At some point he was wounded and eventually overpowered by his captives, and police moved in to take him into custody.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano at http://www.twitter.com/juanlozano70.

Chaibou Massalatchi, the head of Niamey's airport, said the plane had taken off Monday to do a reconnaissance mission.

The Nigerian military is taking part in the regional effort to support France's operation in northern Mali.

Nigerian Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade said two pilots were killed when the Alpha jet fighter went down 37 miles (60 kilometers) west of Niamey.

France launched the military operation in January to oust al-Qaida-linked jihadists from power in northern Mali.

Some 6,000 troops from neighboring countries including Nigeria and Niger have been taking part, though Chad has said it's withdrawing its nearly 2,000 soldiers.

According to a criminal complaint, Lawrence Capener, 24, said he was going after the choir leader at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church because his "speech was different" and he was "99 percent sure he was a Mason."

He told the investigator that Masons are a group involved "in a conspiracy that is far more reaching than I could or would believe."

Capener said he stabbed the others who tried to subdue him because he thought they might be Masons, too.

The affidavit said Capener apologized for stabbing the others after he was read his rights and agreed to speak to police.

Masons are a fraternal group involved in charity and other community activities, but many of their rituals and symbols are secret.

The attack happened just before noon Sunday as the choir began its final hymn. Police and witnesses said Capener vaulted over pews and stabbed choir leader Adam Alvarez in the back.

Worshippers screamed as the shocking and chaotic scene unfolded Sunday with the attacker continuing the onslaught until he was tackled and held by church members for officers, police said.

In addition to Alvarez, three other parishioners were injured, including flutist Gerald Madrid, police spokesman Robert Gibbs said. All four were treated at hospitals and listed in stable condition.

Three other church members were evaluated by Albuquerque Fire Department on the scene and didn't go to the hospital, investigators said.

Capener was charged late Sunday on three counts of aggravated battery and ordered held on $75,000 bail.

St. Jude Thaddeus' pastor, the Rev. John Daniel, said Capener's mother was "very active" in the parish and serves as a Eucharistic minister there.

"He was here occasionally but not very often," Daniel said.

Daniel said that Capener had just graduated from a community college and appeared to be doing well after getting a job.

An off-duty firefighter and others at the church held Capener down until police arrived.

Madrid told KOB-TV that he tried to stop Capener by wrapping his arms around him but was stabbed in the neck and back.

"I bear-hugged him. We were chest on chest. I was wrapping about to take him down to ground, but I didn't have his arms. I had just my arms around his chest, so his arms were free. So that's when he started stabbing me," he said.

Madrid said he thought the suspect was punching him. It wasn't until other parishioners rushed the man that Madrid realized he had been stabbed five times.

The choir's pianist, Brenda Baca King, told KRQE-TV that the attacker was looking at the lead soloist. "I just remember seeing him hurdle over the pews, hurdle over people and run (toward) us and I thought, 'Oh my God, this is not good,'" Baca King said.

Daniel said he didn't see the attack because he had turned his back away from the congregation in order to return the sacrament in the tabernacle.

Archbishop of Santa Fe Michael Sheehan released a statement Sunday afternoon saying he was saddened by the attack.

"This is the first time in my 30 years serving as archbishop in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and as bishop of Lubbock, that anything like this has occurred," Sheehan said. "I pray for all who have been harmed, their families, the parishioners and that nothing like this will ever happen again," Sheehan said.

Daniel said Mass schedule has resumed. A 6 p.m. Monday Mass is scheduled at the 3,000 member church, he said.

___

Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras

LONDON (Reuters) - The euro zone's business downturn dragged on in April, suggesting the region may be falling deeper into recession this quarter, business surveys showed on Monday.

The purchasing managers indexes (PMIs) also showed that Germany is now suffering a contraction in business activity that has long dogged France, Italy and Spain.

Markit's Eurozone Composite PMI, which gauges activity across thousands of companies and is seen as a good gauge of economic conditions, edged up in April to 46.9 from 46.5 in March, marking an improvement on an initial reading of 46.5.

But the index has now been below the watershed 50 level that divides growth from contraction for over a year, and April's reading was far lower than those seen in January and February.

"The PMI suggests that, having eased in the first quarter of the year, the euro zone's economic downturn is likely to have gathered momentum again in the second quarter," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.

"The PMI is broadly consistent with GDP falling at a quarterly rate of 0.4-0.5 percent in April."

The euro zone economy chalked up its fifth straight quarter of contraction in the last three months of 2012, and a further downturn is predicted for the first quarter of 2013.

Economists expect only negligible growth this quarter, but the PMIs suggest even that view may be too optimistic.

Private industry makes up nearly two-thirds of the euro zone's economy.

The European Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate to a record low of 0.5 percent last week in its latest effort to support growth.

The central bank held out the possibility of further policy action to support the recession-hit bloc, something they may have to do.

"The ECB has responded to the crisis by cutting interest rates to their lowest ever, but it seems difficult to believe that a mere 25 basis point cut from an already low level will have a material impact on an economy that is contracting so sharply," Williamson said.

BIG FOUR FLOUNDERING

Germany, Europe's largest economy and the euro zone's paymaster, saw services activity contract for the first time in five months, although not as fast as previously estimated.

France, Italy and Spain - the bloc's biggest economies after Germany - all reported continued contractions in services business.

This kept the euro zone PMI for services firms, which make up almost half of the economy, below the 50-point breakeven line for the 15th month in a row, even though it rose to 47.0 from March's 46.4 and from an initial flash estimate of 46.6.

To drum up business, services firms slashed their prices at the fastest rate since late last year. The output price index slumped to 47.1 from March's 47.8.

Official figures released last week showed prices across the region rose just 1.2 percent in April - well below the central bank's 2 percent target ceiling - while unemployment hit a new high of 12.1 percent.

The PMI survey suggested the jobless rate might have further to rise, with the composite employment subindex coming in at 47.4, its 16th month in negative territory and down from March's 47.7.

- Detailed PMI data are only available under license from Markit and customers need to apply to Markit for a license.

To subscribe to the full data, click on the link below:

http://www/markit.com/information/register/reuters-pmi-subscriptions

For further information, please phone Markit on +44 20 7260 2454 or email economics@markit.com

(Editing by Hugh Lawson)

NEW YORK (AP) -- A decade ago, large investors in so-called clean technology had a straightforward goal: finance companies that would help eliminate the world's dependence on oil, natural gas and coal.

But as profits from wind, solar, biofuels and other alternatives consistently fell short of expectations and as the fossil fuel business boomed things got complicated. Venture capitalists and other investment funds started stretching the definition of clean technology almost beyond recognition in an effort to make money while clinging to their environmental ideals.

Today, clean technology investment funds are not trying to replace the fossil fuel industry, they're trying to help it by financing companies that can make mining and drilling less dirty. The people running these funds acknowledge the apparent hypocrisy, but defend a more liberal definition of clean technology.

"Oil and gas will be with us for a long time. If we can clean that up we will do the world a great service," says Wal van Lierop, CEO of Chrysalix, a Vancouver, Canada-based venture capital firm founded in 2001.

Chrysalix still backs companies that fit the more traditional definition of clean energy including Bridgelux, which makes more efficient light bulbs, and Agilyx, which turns plastic waste into fuel. But the firm, whose website boasts that it is "100 percent focused on clean energy" is a backer of MineSense, which helps miners operate more efficiently by assessing the quality of ore as it is being scooped. It also supports GlassPoint, which helps drillers extract more oil by using steam generated with solar power.

Environmentalists have mixed feelings. They welcome technologies that reduce the environmental footprint of oil and gas development. But they worry the newfound abundance of oil and natural gas and all the money that can be made helping drillers has distracted clean technology backers from what once seemed to be their main goal: to make oil and gas a thing of the past.

Mark Brownstein, who runs the energy and climate program at the Environmental Defense Fund, says "some don't have the stomach for that and are simply going with the flow."

The shift has made even those who are helping to drive it squirm.

"We've wrestled with it," says Alan Salzman, managing partner of VantagePoint Capital Partners, one of Silicon Valley's most prominent venture firms focused on clean technology. "If someone comes up with a more benign way of (exploiting fossil fuels), is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

If fossil fuels become more palatable to society, Salzman says, we may end up burning more of them.

Ten years ago it seemed as if the world was running out of oil, and what was left of it was in the Middle East. Oil and natural gas prices spiked to alarming highs. And scientists showed that fossil fuels were causing troubling changes to the climate. Pushing for an end of the fossil age made sense for economic, political and environmental reasons.

This had Silicon Valley venture capitalists drooling. "Cleantech" as they called it, would be the next big thing. And it was going to be very, very big. These firms saw a chance to profit from what many thought would be the biggest economic shift in history from fossil energy to renewable energy.

But the new energy technologies proved much harder to master than predicted. And oil and gas drillers, using technology advances of their own, learned how to unlock enormous new reserves of fossil fuels.

Dozens of solar, biofuels and battery companies failed, unable to show enough promise to go public or attract the attention of bigger companies. "Investors are still waiting for their cleantech investments to produce returns," says Dallas Kachan, who runs the San Francisco clean technology consulting firm Kachan & Co. "Nobody's seen the stellar home runs they were hoping for 5 years ago."

Even when clean energy companies have gone public, they haven't fared well. An index of clean energy companies is down 69 percent since it began in 2005. A similar index of traditional energy companies is up 75 percent over the same period.

The value of global clean technology deals fell 29 percent last year to $7 billion, from a record $9.9 billion in 2011, according to the Cleantech Group. But the portion of that sum focused on conventional fossil fuels nearly tripled, to a record $556 million.

A few clean technology investors have stayed away from oil and gas despite the temptation. Khosla Ventures, for example, has been a major backer of advanced biofuels even as most of these companies have failed to live up to their promise. The firm does not invest in companies that support fossil fuels.

But the drilling boom has led to countless investments in this gray area between clean and dirty.

Axine, which is backed by Chrysalix and Royal Dutch Shell, wants to make the drilling process known as fracking less dangerous by treating wastewater produced during drilling without chemicals.

Picarro, one of the cleantech investments of Greylock Partners, is attempting to make natural gas production less harmful to the climate with its leak-detection system.

Neos Geosciences is backed by a "greentech" fund at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, where Al Gore is a partner. The company helps oil and gas companies find the most promising places to drill for oil and gas and avoid drilling in ecologically sensitive locations using sensors mounted on helicopters.

In 2007, a Sunnyvale, California-based company called Liquid Robotics, Inc. began developing a seagoing drone that required no fuel. Its original purpose was to transmit live songs of humpback whales over the Internet.

VantagePoint's Alan Salzman thought Liquid Robotics' technology was great, and he had a good idea who might agree. He set up a meeting with Schlumberger, the giant oil and gas drilling services company. The two companies have since formed a joint venture.

Liquid Robotics' drones will likely be used to help detect leaks from drilling operations and make sure the water is free of whales when oil companies search for oil. But the robots will also help locate new deposits of oil and gas.

"We are not philosophical purists," Salzman says. "We're investors."

The defendants said in court papers on Wednesday that before the IPO last May 18, Facebook had no obligation to publicly disclose internal projections on how increased mobile usage and product decisions might affect future revenue, even if it had provided the projections to its underwriters' analysts.

They said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has "consistently" refused to require issuers to publicly disclose all "material nonpublic information" that they share with analysts before an IPO, because of its potential negative impact on a company's ability to raise money.

"Plaintiffs would have this court impose - retroactively - a rule which the SEC has for decades thoughtfully rejected," the defendants said in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. "This court should decline the invitation."

Among the defendants is Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter of the IPO.

"There is no reasonable basis for dismissal," Max Berger, a partner at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann representing pension fund and other investors that are collectively the lead plaintiffs, said in an email. "We will oppose the motion in due course."

The case before U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet consolidates 31 lawsuits over Facebook's IPO.

Sweet also oversees separate investor litigation against Nasdaq OMX Group Inc over allegations that orders to buy and sell Facebook shares were executed improperly on the first day of trading.

Facebook, based in Menlo Park, California, went public at $38 per share. Its share price rose as high as $45 on the first day, but quickly fell and remain below their offering price.

In Wednesday morning trading, Facebook shares were down 31 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $27.45 on the Nasdaq. Facebook is scheduled to report quarterly results after U.S. markets close on Wednesday.

The case is In re Facebook Inc IPO Securities and Derivative Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-md-02389.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Grant McCool)

Sawiris, one of Egypt's most prominent Coptic Christians and a critic of Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood, was greeted at Cairo airport by an envoy of the Islamist president who presented him with flowers.

Economists said his return was a boost to business sentiment which has been battered by political instability.

He came back days after officials cleared the firm run by one of his brothers of tax evasion. Authorities also lifted a travel ban against the brother, Nassef, chief executive of Orascom Construction Industries and their father Onsi, founder of the family's empire, Orascom Group.

OCI is Egypt's biggest listed company and the Orascom Group is the country's largest private employer.

Sawiris, who left Egypt last summer, is the executive chairman of another family firm, Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding.

He arrived on a private jet from France with his father and eight other family members, an airport official said.

Political upheaval and a decline in security has scared tourists and foreign investors from Egypt. Two weeks of talks with the International Monetary Fund last month failed to yield an agreement on a badly needed $4.8 billion loan.

Presidential spokesman Ehab Fahmy said Mursi's decision to send an envoy to receive Sawiris and his family was a "positive message" to "honorable businessmen", state news agency MENA reported.

The tycoon's return and the warm welcome he received from the presidency is a good sign that could have positive implications for the investment climate, Egypt-based economist Mona Mansour from CI Capital said.

Sawiris told Reuters he was "happy to be home" but declined further comment. He gave the president's envoy an envelope to deliver to Mursi, MENA reported.

His brother Nassef, Egypt's richest man, has not returned to Egypt although OCI said on Tuesday that it had agreed to pay 7.1 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.02 billion) to resolve the dispute.

Authorities issued the travel ban on Nassef and Onsi Sawiris in March as part of the tax evasion investigation into OCI.

At the time a friend of the family told Reuters it was issued when the men were out of the country. Under the order, they would have been detained on arrival if they returned.

Although Naguib was not included in the ban, he said in March that he had felt he had "no choice" but to leave Egypt due to the policies of Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood, according to state newspaper Al-Ahram.

Islamists have accused the Free Egyptians party that Sawiris helped to set up of funding anti-Mursi protests that frequently turned violent after the presidential election last June.

The party also took part in demonstrations last year over Mursi's seizure of extended powers.

($1 = 6.9414 Egyptian pounds)

(Reporting By Maggie Fick; Editing by Pravin Char)

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faced 16 hours of questioning before he was advised of his Miranda rights, and investigators say he told them of his role in the two bombings near the Boston Marathon finish line on April 15. He explained that he and his brother, Tamerlan, were angry about the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the killing of Muslims there, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the case with reporters.

He also described a spur-of-the-moment plan that the brothers hatched to drive to New York and set off their remaining explosives there, New York City officials said Thursday.

In Boston, federal agents invoked an exception to the Miranda warnings that allows for questioning when public safety may be threatened. But they knew their time with Tsarnaev in the absence of a lawyer would be limited.

On Sunday, prosecutors filed a criminal complaint charging Tsarnaev with a role in the bombings. That action led directly to the improvised court hearing in the hospital the following morning at which U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler told Tsarnaev he did not have to answer questions and could have a lawyer.

And he apparently did stop, though other cases in recent years suggest that silence won't necessarily last.

Could that first hearing on Monday have been delayed?

The hearing is supposed to take place "without unnecessary delay," according to the federal rules, sometimes within a matter of hours.

The rules governing such hearings, known as an initial appearance, require the judge to tell a defendant of his rights, Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said. "The prosecutors and FBI agents in Boston were advised of the scheduled initial appearance in advance of its occurrence."

Civil liberties advocates have said a suspect should rarely be questioned without a lawyer and without being told he doesn't have to respond.

"Miranda rights are an incredibly important civil liberties safeguard," said Hina Shamsi of the American Civil Liberties Union. "The public safety exception must be read narrowly, as it has been by the courts."

But California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, a former federal prosecutor, said he has questions about how the court proceeding came about.

"I would have thought the public safety exception would have allowed more time for the questioning of the suspect prior to the arraignment and/or advising of rights," Schiff said.

A fellow Democrat, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, agreed that some questions remain about when the judge arrived and whether she interrupted questioning. But, Levin said, " we do know there was 16 hours of questioning and that they got very detailed information."

Withholding a criminal suspect's Miranda rights becomes a legal issue only if authorities try to use what they learned during the questioning.

In fact, prosecutors probably will want to introduce Tsarnaev's confession as evidence against him.

"Prosecutors always prefer to have a confession," said Tamar Birckhead, a former federal defender in Boston who now teaches law at the University of North Carolina. She predicted there would be a protracted legal battle over Tsarnaev's statements, if his case comes to trial and prosecutors say they intend to use them.

But other legal experts said any controversy over those early statements should not obscure the rest of the government's case.

"When you read the affidavit, it lays out the evidence the FBI gathered wholly apart from any statements he made to law enforcement. Based on my experience, that's a pretty strong case, even without statements made by the defendant to law enforcement directly," said former federal prosecutor Juliet Sorensen, a Northwestern University law professor.

Tsarnaev apparently stopped talking to investigators once Bowler appointed the Federal Public Defender's office in Boston to represent him, said a U.S. law enforcement official and three congressional officials representing both political parties. The law enforcement official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to talk about the case with reporters. The congressional officials spoke on condition of anonymity because their information came from a confidential FBI briefing.

But that may not be final. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria, convicted of trying to blow up a packed jetliner using a bomb sewn into his underwear on Christmas Day 2009, also initially answered investigators' questions and then clammed up once he was read his rights, only to start cooperating again.

"This notion that they 'lawyer up' and that's the end of getting any information is just not true," said Miami defense lawyer Neal Sonnett.

David Cole, a Georgetown University law professor, said lawyers sometimes encourage their clients to cooperate. "The government generally has a lot of evidence against the individual. The criminal sentences are harsh and the likelihood of conviction is high. Defense counsel, seeing that, will often understand that cooperating is in his client's best interests," Cole said.

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia raised the possibility of a referendum on Thursday on an accord to end the ethnic partition of its former Kosovo province, a high-stakes gamble that could cost Belgrade talks on joining the European Union.

The April 19 deal between Serbia and its majority-Albanian former province won Belgrade a preliminary green light for accession talks this year, but the bloc wants progress on the ground before taking a final decision on the talks in late June.

The accession process would drive reform and help lure investors to Serbia's ailing economy. But the accord faces resistance from some 50,000 Serbs in northern Kosovo, a region bristling with guns and deep animosity.

Trying to mollify them, Serbia's government said it was prepared to hold a popular vote. The decision would depend on talks next week with Kosovo Serb leaders, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told a news conference.

"If they pledge on Tuesday to accept the results of a referendum, the decision of the majority of the people, then we will be ready in 15 days and we'll put an end to that story," Vucic said after meeting a delegation of Kosovo Serb mayors.

Under the accord, the northern Serb pocket will be integrated into Kosovo's legal system five years after the former province, which is 90 percent Albanian, declared independence from Serbia with the backing of the West.

Hardline nationalists and the Serbian Orthodox Church have accused the government of betrayal, but there has been little sign of a major backlash.

According to the results of an opinion poll released on Thursday, 57 percent of Serbian citizens support the accord. Twenty-nine percent of the 1,180 respondents oppose it, polling agency Faktor Plus said.

Serbia lost control of Kosovo in 1999 after 11 weeks of NATO air strikes to halt the massacre and expulsion of ethnic Albanian civilians by Serbian forces trying to crush a guerrilla insurgency.

But Belgrade retained a fragile grip on the northern pocket, where Serbs have lived largely as part of the Serbian state.

Desperate for the economic boost of closer EU ties, Serbia last week agreed to cede control over the north, and won a preliminary green light for the start of membership talks with the 27-nation bloc, probably later this year.

Kosovo Serb leaders pledged to resist.

"We will continue our peaceful battle, because we are in the right," said Slavisa Ristic, mayor of the northern Kosovo municipality of Zvecan.

"We cannot accept a change of identity by force," he said, according to the Tanjug state news agency.

(Additional reporting and writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Michael Roddy)