The Department of Justice, in the latest development in a complex back-and-forth over access to the morning-after pill, notified U.S. District Judge Edward Korman it will submit a plan for compliance. If he approves it, the department will drop its appeal of his April ruling.

According to the department's letter to the judge, the Food and Drug Administration has told the maker of the pills to submit a new drug application with proposed labeling that would permit it to be sold "without a prescription and without age or point-of-sale prescriptions." The FDA said that once it receives the application it "intends to approve it promptly."

Last week, an appeals court dealt the government a setback by saying it would immediately permit unrestricted sales of the two-pill version of the emergency contraception until the appeal was decided. That order was met with praise from advocates for girls' and women's rights and with scorn from social conservatives and other opponents, who argue the drug's availability takes away the rights of parents of girls who could get it without their permission.

Advocates for girls' and women's rights said Monday the federal government's decision to comply with the judge's ruling could be a move forward for "reproductive justice" if the FDA acts quickly and puts emergency contraception over the counter without restriction.

Annie Tummino, lead plaintiff in a lawsuit over unrestricted access to the morning-after pill and coordinator of the National Women's Liberation, said women and girls should have "the absolute right to control our bodies without having to ask a doctor or a pharmacist for permission."

"It's about time that the administration stopped opposing women having access to safe and effective birth control," she said in an emailed statement.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America president Cecile Richards, in a statement, called the government's decision to drop the appeal "a huge breakthrough for access to birth control and a historic moment for women's health and equity."

But opponents of easy access to the morning-after pill, such as the anti-abortion Family Research Council, criticized the government for not sticking with its decision to appeal.

"We're very concerned and disappointed at the same time because what we see here is the government caving to political pressure instead of putting first the health and safety of girls (and) parental rights," said Anna Higgins, director of the council's Center for Human Dignity.

The government had appealed the judge's underlying April 5 ruling, which ordered emergency contraceptives based on the hormone levonorgestrel be made available without a prescription, over the counter and without point-of-sale or age restrictions.

It had asked the judge to suspend the effect of that ruling until the appeals court could decide the case. But the judge declined, saying the government's decision to restrict sales of the morning-after pill was "politically motivated, scientifically unjustified and contrary to agency precedent." He also said there was no basis to deny the request to make the drugs widely available.

The government had argued that "substantial market confusion" could result if the judge's ruling were enforced while appeals were pending, only to be later overturned.

The morning-after pill contains a higher dose of the female hormone progestin than is in regular birth control pills. Taking it within 72 hours of rape, condom failure or just forgetting regular contraception can cut the chances of pregnancy by up to 89 percent, but it works best within the first 24 hours. If a girl or woman already is pregnant, the pill, which prevents ovulation or fertilization of an egg, has no effect.

The FDA was preparing in 2011 to allow over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill with no limits when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled her own scientists in an unprecedented move.

The FDA announced in late April that Plan B One-Step, the newer version of emergency contraception, the same drug but combined into one pill instead of two, could be sold without a prescription to those age 15 or older. Its maker, Teva Women's Health, plans to begin those sales soon. Sales had previously been limited to those who were at least 17.

The judge later ridiculed the FDA changes, saying they established "nonsensical rules" that favored sales of the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill and were made "to sugarcoat" the government's appeal.

He also said they placed a disproportionate burden on blacks and the poor by requiring a prescription for less expensive generic versions of the drug bought by those under age 17 and by requiring those age 17 or over to show proof-of-age identification at pharmacies. He cited studies showing that blacks with low incomes are less likely than other people to have government-issued IDs.

The decision marks a sharp reversal for President Barack Obama's administration. His previous decision to appeal set off a storm of criticism from girls' and women's rights groups, who denounced it as politically motivated and a step backward for their health. Abortion rights advocates who had counted Obama as among their supporters angrily questioned why a Democratic president had sided with social conservatives in favor of limiting women's health care choices.

Reluctant to get drawn into a messy second-term spat over social issues, White House officials have consistently argued that the FDA and the Department of Justice were acting independently of the White House in deciding how to proceed. That approach continued Monday, with the White House referring all questions about the decision to Health and Human Services.

Still, Obama has made clear in the past that he feels strongly about the limits, and he said in 2011 he supported Sebelius' decision to impose them despite the advice of her scientists.

"As the father of two daughters, I think it is important for us to make sure that we apply some common sense to various rules when it comes to over-the-counter medicine," Obama said then.

___

Associated Press writer Josh Lederman contributed to this report from Washington.

The Post reported on Thursday that the U.S. National Security Agency and the FBI are "tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies" through a highly classified program known as PRISM, extracting audio, video, photographs, emails, documents and connection logs.

"We do not provide any government organization with direct access to Facebook servers," Facebook Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan said in a statement. "When Facebook is asked for data or information about specific individuals, we carefully scrutinize any such request for compliance with all applicable laws, and provide information only to the extent required by law."

(Reporting by Gerry Shih; Editing by Gary Hill)

This came as Syrian rebels battled Monday in a renewed push to capture a government air base in the north, while the regime was said to be preparing for a major offensive to retake opposition-held areas in the province of Aleppo.

The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV reported that al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged leaders of the Iraqi al-Qaida branch and the Nusra Front in Syria to end their disagreements and "stop any verbal or actual attacks against one another."

The TV said al-Zawahri's call came in a letter sent to the station and posted on its website late Sunday. The letter's authenticity could not be independently verified. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists on the ground in Syria, said it also acquired a copy of the letter but did not provide other details.

Al-Zawahri's call could also reflect a bid to carve out a more significant role for al-Qaida in the Syria civil war. Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front, is the most powerful rebel force fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.

In April, al-Qaida in Iraq said it had joined forces with the Nusra Front, forming a new alliance called the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

Hours after the announcement, Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani appeared to distance himself from the merger, saying he was not consulted. Instead, he pledged allegiance to al-Zawahiri.

In Sunday's letter, al-Zawahri chastises the head of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, saying he announced the merger without consulting al-Qaida's leadership. He also admonished al-Golani for publicly distancing himself from the merger.

"The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant will be abolished," al-Zawahri said, adding that Nusra Front will remain an independent branch of al-Qaida. Al-Baghdadi and al-Golani are to stay on as leaders of their respective branches for another year, after which the al-Qaida leadership will decide whether they will keep their posts or be replaced.

Assad's government in April seized upon the reported merger to back its assertion that it isn't facing a true popular uprising but a foreign-backed terrorist plot.

The merger had also caused friction among rebels on the battlefield who feared the announcement would further discourage Western powers discussing funneling weapons, training and aid toward rebel groups and army defectors.

On Monday, rebel forces advanced inside the sprawling air base of Mannagh near the border with Turkey, activists said. The Observatory said rebels captured a building inside the base, which has been under siege for months. The opposition's Aleppo Media Center said rebels destroyed several army vehicles and captured the observation tower.

Activists also reported clashes around the predominantly Shiite villages of Nubul and Zahra, besieged by rebels for a year. Aleppo-based activist Mohammed al-Khatib said military reinforcements, including Hezbollah fighters, have been sent to parts of Aleppo, including the two Shiite villages and north-western parts of the city. He said the government was using helicopters to reinforce its positions and resupply in those areas.

The Shiite military group has openly joined the fight in Syria and was key in assisting regime forces in recapturing the strategic town of Qusair last week.

Syrian state-run media and the Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar TV have said the regime is preparing an offensive reportedly named Operation Northern Storm to recapture Aleppo.

Moved by the Assad regime's rapid military advance, the Obama administration began discussing Monday whether to approve lethal aid for the beleaguered rebels, and U.S. officials said a decision could come later this week.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the intense preparation for a siege on Aleppo "reaffirms the urgent need for the international community to focus its efforts on doing all we can do to support the opposition as it works to change the balance on the ground."

Opposition leaders have warned Washington that their rebellion could face devastating and irreversible losses without greater support.

Also Monday, a roadside bomb lightly damaged a van that was heading from Lebanon to Syria, Lebanese security officials said. The van was hit by the bomb, detonated remotely, in the eastern Bekaa valley but kept driving toward the border, crossing into Syria, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. There appeared to be no casualties in the bombing.

Syria's conflict started with largely peaceful protests against Assad's regime in March 2011 but eventually turned into a civil war that has killed more than 80,000 people, according to the United Nations.

Lebanon is bitterly divided over the war next door, with gunmen from rival religious sects fighting on opposite sides of the conflict. Lebanese Sunnis mostly back the opposition while many Shiites in Lebanon support Assad. The Syrian regime is dominated by members of the president's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah forces have taken an increasingly prominent role in Syria's fighting and were key in helping Assad's troops capture the strategic town of Qusair near the border with Lebanon, following weeks of battles with rebels.

On Monday, Syria's Defense Minister Gen. Fahd Jassem al-Freij said Qusair's capture last week was a "main point toward restoring security and stability to every inch of our nation."

In apparent retaliation by the rebel side, scores of rockets have been fired from Syria into Hezbollah strongholds in northeastern Lebanon.

Senior Hezbollah official Sheik Nabil Kaouk said it will not change it position on Syria, regardless of "how much local, regional and international pressure increases" on the Lebanese group.

___

Associated Press writer Bradley Klapper contributed to this report from Washington.

SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday staunchly defended the sweeping U.S. government surveillance of Americans' phone and internet activity, calling it a "modest encroachment" on privacy that was necessary to defend the United States from attack.

"Nobody is listening to your telephone calls. That's not what this program is about," Obama told reporters during a visit to California's Silicon Valley. He emphasized that the secret surveillance programs were supervised by federal judges and authorized by Congress, which had been briefed on the details.

Obama's comments came after reports this week in Britain's Guardian newspaper and the Washington Post revealed that the National Security Agency and the FBI had secretly conducted surveillance of Americans' telephone and internet communications activities far beyond what had been made public.

The reports triggered a broad debate about privacy rights and the proper limits of government surveillance in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. They also sent White House officials and congressional leaders scrambling to explain why the government needs to collect information on trillions of phone calls and internet communications.

"In the abstract you can complain about Big Brother and how this is a potential program run amok, but when you actually look at the details, I think we've struck the right balance," Obama said, noting that a secret federal court reviews requests for surveillance and that Congress is briefed on such activity.

He acknowledged having "a healthy skepticism" about the programs before he was first elected in 2008, but that he had since come to the conclusion that such "modest encroachments on privacy" were worth it.

"You can't have 100 percent security and also then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience," Obama said. "We're going to have to make some choices as a society. ... There are trade-offs involved."

U.S. law enforcement and security officials said the government was likely to open a criminal investigation into the leaking of the highly classified documents on the programs to the Post and Guardian.

The officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said the agencies that normally conduct such investigations, including the FBI and Justice Department, were expecting a probe into the leaks.

Obama's administration was already embroiled in other privacy controversies involving the searches of telephone records for Associated Press reporters and the phone records and emails of a Fox News reporter as part of leak investigations.

Those controversies, along with a scandal over the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups for extra tax scrutiny and questions about the handling of last year's deadly attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, have cast a cloud over Obama's second term and his pursuit of budget and immigration reform deals with Republicans.

TAPPING INTERNET TRAFFIC

The Post reported late on Thursday that U.S. authorities had been tapping into the central servers of nine internet companies - including Google, Apple, Yahoo and Facebook - to gain access to emails, photographs and other documents and files that would allow analysts to track a person's movements and contacts.

Hours earlier, the Guardian reported that the NSA had been mining phone records from millions of customers of a subsidiary of Verizon Communications. The Wall Street Journal subsequently reported that the monitoring also included AT&T Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp customers, and that the agency also had cataloged credit-card transactions.

The relationship between the government's surveillance program and the internet companies remained murky on Friday.

Some of the companies named by the Post - Google, Apple, Yahoo and Facebook - denied that the government was able to tap directly into their central servers, as the newspaper reported.

Microsoft said it did not voluntarily participate in any government data collection and only complied "with orders for requests about specific accounts or identifiers.

Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg posted a statement saying: "We have never received a blanket request or court order from any government agency asking for information or metadata in bulk, like the one Verizon reportedly received. And if we did, we would fight it aggressively."

The statements from the technology companies seemed to suggest the government had gone to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain orders to force cooperation from some or all of the internet companies.

U.S. officials described the government's collection of trillions of pieces of "metadata" as an effort to build a giant database of communications that can be used as a research tool for investigators when they receive a tip that a foreign terrorism suspect is plotting to attack America.

Such data can be used to track suspects and their communications with others, analysts said. But if investigators want to track people more closely - such as by listening to their phone calls or reading their emails - another court warrant is required.

Obama emphasized that point in describing how his administration had instituted audits of the programs and expanded safeguards designed to ensure they did not overstep their authority.

The programs "do not involve listening to people's phone calls, do not involve reading the emails of U.S. citizens or U.S. residents, absent further action by a federal court that is entirely consistent with what we would do, for example, in a criminal investigation," he said.

The program to collect emails helped foil an Islamist militant plot to bomb the New York City subway system in 2009, U.S. government sources said. They said that was the plot cited by Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, on Thursday in defense of the surveillance effort.

'SPEAK UP'

Obama challenged members of Congress who did not agree with the effort to "speak up. We're happy to have that debate."

Congressional criticism has been muted, with some Republican and Democrats questioning the programs but most leaders in both parties defending them and saying Congress had been kept informed of their progress.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, defended on Friday the government's surveillance of phone and internet activity while acknowledging the public's concerns.

"This program, as imperfect as it might be, has done so much to keep America safe. We need to keep the program, so that it can move forward," Reid said in an interview with the Spanish-language network Univision that will air on Sunday.

Members of Congress are routinely briefed by the NSA on secret surveillance programs, but it is not clear how much they knew about the widespread surveillance of internet activity.

Representative Steve Israel, a New York Democrat, said there should be a review of the operations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts that oversee and approve the programs.

"Are they working? I think we have to open that process up a little bit more," he said on MSNBC.

Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, said he thought the administration had good intentions but that the program was "just too broad an overreach."

"I think there ought to be some connection to suspicion, otherwise we can say that any intrusion on all of our privacy is justified for the times that we will catch the few terrorists," Waxman told MSNBC.

'EXPONENTIAL GROWTH' UNDER OBAMA

Obama may have to broach the subject of surveillance during his meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a California summit on Friday. U.S. concerns about alleged Chinese hacking of American secrets were expected to be high on the agenda.

The Washington Post said the surveillance program involving internet firms, code-named PRISM and established under Republican President George W. Bush in 2007, had seen "exponential growth" under Obama, a Democrat. It said the NSA increasingly relied on PRISM as a source of raw material for daily intelligence reports to the president.

Erwin Chemerinsky, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, called the program "deeply disturbing" and beyond what should be constitutionally acceptable.

"It is a huge gathering of information by the federal government. The argument that it protects national security is unpersuasive," he said.

The surveillance disclosures have become a subject of humor on the internet. The Huffington Post, suggesting Obama's security policies had begun to mirror those of his much-criticized predecessor, Bush, greeted readers with a photoshop melding of their pictures with a headline: "George W. Obama."

On YouTube, there was a parody of Verizon's "Can you hear me now?" commercials, with Obama's voice answering in a refrain of his 2008 campaign slogan, "Yes, we can!"

(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball, Laura MacInnis, Roberta Rampton; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by David Lindsey, Peter Cooney and Paul Simao)

"Photograph," which will be released as an e-book on Apple's iBookstore on June 12, will coincide with a Grammy Museum exhibit on Starr, entitled "Ringo: Peace & Love," the book's publishers said on Wednesday.

A limited-edition hand-bound book signed by Starr will be available for purchase in December.

The book will include photographs from the musician's childhood in Liverpool, England, to his road to fame as part of the Fab Four, with Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison.

"These are shots that no one else could have," Starr, 72, said in a statement.

Highlights from the collection include behind-the-scenes candids of the Beatles in their daily lives and Starr's travel photography as the band toured the world.

Starr has also recorded videos featuring commentary to accompany the e-book.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Dina Mufti, a spokesman for the ministry, said that Egypt's ambassador to Ethiopia has been summoned to explain the "hostile remarks." The spokesman said Ethiopia is awaiting a response.

Ethiopia a week ago started diverting the flow of the Nile River to make way for its $4.2 billion hydroelectric plant, dubbed the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Egypt fears the dam will mean a diminished share of the Nile River.

Egyptian political leaders who met their president on Monday proposed aiding rebels against the Addis Ababa government. Sabotaging the dam itself was also mentioned by politicians who appeared not to know their meeting was being televised.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr, in a statement Thursday, said Egypt will seek to coordinate with Sudan and Ethiopia over the issue of the dam going forward. Amr also said Egypt's water security cannot be ignored or hurt.

"There is a large window for dialogue and discussion between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to arrive at the ideal form for the dam that ensures safeguarding Egypt's water interests, realizing the development objectives of all three nations and avoiding any negative effects that may hurt downstream nations," he said.

On Wednesday, a close aide of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi announced that work was under way to create a national commission to deal with the issue. She said demanding that Ethiopia halts work at the dam will be given priority, but added that the decision to make a formal request will rest with the proposed commission.

Another Morsi aide, Ayman Ali, said there was no proof that Monday's televised remarks have hurt Egypt's position.

"It may have actually served the Egyptian position because the views stated, while some were radical, have shown the extent of alarm felt by the Egyptians," Ali said.

Dina said Ethiopia's construction plans have been "vindicated" by a 10-man panel of experts who found after a year of study that the renaissance dam will not significantly affect Egypt or Sudan. The panel was composed of four international experts and two from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

Dina said Ethiopia is ready to negotiate with both Egypt and Sudan for "mutual benefits."

PARIS, June 7 (Reuters) - An unassuming Swede and his hammerhead forehand is starting to gain mythical status at Roland Garros because in nine years Robin Soderling remains the only man to have beaten Rafa Nadal at the French Open.

Over the seasons grand slam champions in the calibre of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Martin del Potro and Carlos Moya have all tried - and failed - to conquer the claycourt phenomenon.

Many have scrutinised the Soderling blueprint that first came to light in 2009 and tried to glean clues from it in order to crack the riddle of beating Nadal at the French Open.

If there is a solution lurking somewhere, Nadal has so far managed to keep it well hidden, as he illustrated on Friday when he delivered a soul-destroying five-set, four hour 37-minute, semi-final defeat to Djokovic.

The Serb had so wanted to win the Paris title to complete his collection of grand slam silverware and became only the third player to take at least two sets off the Spaniard in the French capital.

But two sets in a best-of-five match does not win matches.

The Parisian contest had more twists and turns than a Dan Brown thriller - including point penalties, a near tumble over the net, trick-shot mishaps, warnings for time wasting, angry outbursts and a fifth-set comeback from 4-2 down.

It is a match-up that had all the makings of a final but in the end, all an exhausted Djokovic could do was applaud Nadal's gutsy never-say-die attitude.

"It's been an unbelievable match to be part of but all I can feel now is disappointment. That's it," Djokovic, runner-up to the Spaniard 12 months ago, said following the 6-4 3-6 6-1 6-7(3) 9-7 defeat.

"I congratulate my opponent because he showed courage in the right moments and went for his shots. When he was break down in the fifth (set), he made some incredible shots from the baseline.

"That's why he's a champion. That's why he's been ruling Roland Garros for many years."

Nadal's fellow Spaniard David Ferrer is the only man left this year still with a chance of overthrowing the claycourt king.

ENJOY SUFFERING

But as the fourth seed has come off second best in their last 16 matches on red dirt, even Ferrer's nearest and dearest are unlikely bet against a man whose Roland Garros record now stands at 58-1, with a 7-0 record in the finals.

If there was anyone who could have stalled Nadal's relentless pursuit of capturing a record eighth Musketeers' Cup, it was Djokovic.

He is the only man to have won at least three grand slam matches against Nadal and he also knew how to beat the Spaniard in five sets having won an epic five-hour 53 minute battle in last year's Australian Open final.

But when it comes to sliding around for hour after hour on red clay, Nadal is an indefatigable force.

"I learned during all my career to enjoy suffering and these kind of matches are very special. You don't have the chance to play these kind of matches every day," said Nadal, who incredibly only came back to the tour in February after seven months out with a dodgy knee.

"So when these kind of matches happen, you suffer, but I really enjoy these moments, no? I really enjoy suffering."

Unfortunately for Djokovic, Nadal also thrived on making his opponents suffer.

Djokovic tried to rattle Nadal with forehand winners, the Spaniard held firm.

Djokovic tried to throw Nadal off balance by throwing in some dropshots, the Spaniard chased them down.

Djokovic tried to engage Nadal at the net, the Spaniard hit back acute angled volleys.

"I lost the match after five hours. I wanted this title so much, so I am disappointed. That's it," said the 26-year-old Djokovic, who ultimately paid the price for producing 75 unforced errors.

"Nothing comes easy to you, you've got to earn it.

"I will come back to Paris, to this grand slam, and I will keep on trying to win it."

But with Nadal having celebrated his 27th birthday earlier this week, Djokovic could be in for a very long wait. (Editing by Alison Wildey)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Guys Choice Awards will recognize "Man of Steel" with the honor of Most Manticipated Movie of the Year, Spike TV announced on Wednesday.

Director Zack Snyder will accept the manly honor with three key cast members - Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, and Russell Crowe - when the annual awards show tapes on Saturday at Sony Pictures Studios.

Cavill plays Superman in Warner Bros. highly-anticipated June 14 release, while Adams plays Lois Lane and Crowe plays Jor-El, Clark Kent's biological father from the planet Krypton.

The network also announced on Wednesday that "Smokey and the Bandit" star Burt Reynolds will be honored during the show, and Jennifer Aniston will present Jimmy Kimmel with this year's "Funniest M.F." award.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin will be presenting Felix Baumgartner witht he "Mankind" award. Last October, the daredevil set the world record for skydiving an estimated 24 miles while becoming the first person to break the sound barrier without vehicular power after reaching speeds up to 843.6 mph during his descent.

Spike has also added additional presenters, including Jake Gyllenhaal, Jessica Alba, Snoop Lion, Randy Couture, Quinton Rampage' Jackson and Jon Taffer.

The 2013 Guys Choice Awards premieres June 12 at 9:00 p.m., ET/PT on Spike TV.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Doctors should regularly screen babies and young children for delays in motor skill development - including trouble sitting, standing and speaking - at well-child visits, pediatricians said today.

In a clinical report, an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) panel said diagnosing and treating those problems early on may ultimately improve kids' outlook and help families gain additional support.

"Identifying children with delays and motor abnormalities, theoretically or hopefully would set them on a better trajectory," said Meghann Lloyd, who studies motor development at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, Canada.

Lloyd, who was not involved in the new report, called it "a really big step forward for the field."

Dr. Garey Noritz and colleagues on the AAP's neuromotor screening expert panel lay out the skills that a child should have developed by office visits at ages 9, 18, 30 and 48 months.

For example, a 9-month-old baby should be able to roll to both sides, sit well without support and grasp objects. At 18 months, that child should be able to walk, sit and stand on its own.

Pediatricians should also ask parents open-ended questions about their child's development and watch the child play for signs of delays or loss of motor skills at well-child visits, the panel said.

On a general exam, it recommended that doctors measure head size and look at children's muscle tone, reflexes and eye movements.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-backed expert panel, said in 2006 there wasn't enough evidence to recommend for or against screening instruments designed to detect speech and language delays in young kids. The task force does not have screening recommendations for motor delays in general.

"The AAP recognized that we as a profession weren't necessarily doing a good job screening for motor problems," Noritz, from Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, told Reuters Health.

Cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy are two of the most common motor-related diseases and could both be picked up and treated earlier than they typically are now, according to Noritz.

He said families often refer to the "diagnostic odyssey" involved in getting a definitive diagnosis for a sick child.

"We're hoping that people can get to a specialist more quickly and thus get diagnosed more quickly, but that primary care clinicians at the same time as they're looking for a diagnosis, will refer (kids) to therapy," he said.

PROMOTING MOVEMENT

There is normal variation in how kids develop, Lloyd said - so if a child is a couple of months late to walk, for example, parents shouldn't be overly concerned.

But longer delays, or combinations of multiple motor problems, are a good reason for a visit to the pediatrician, she told Reuters Health.

"Other types of movements that don't seem right, like a tremor or a rigidity or some sort of repetitive motor movement would be another red flag for me," Lloyd added.

Typical motor delays that aren't a result of more serious underlying conditions are treated with physical or occupational therapy.

Parents can bring their children to an early movement program such as Kindergym to promote development of motor skills, Lloyd said, regardless of other treatments and whether or not they are delayed.

Having poor motor skills in general "sets you on a trajectory for low levels of physical activity, which of course is related to obesity," she said.

"The prevention of these delays or the promotion of motor ability can actually impact your health for your lifespan."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/cxXOG Pediatrics, online May 27, 2013.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged a New York art dealer with tax fraud in connection with the sale of paintings she claimed to be the works of celebrated abstract expressionists, but some of which the government said were fakes.

Glafira Rosales, 56, faces three counts of filing false tax returns and five counts of concealing a Spanish bank account from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

"Rosales gave new meaning to the phrase 'artful dodger' by avoiding taxes on millions of dollars in income from dealing in fake art works for fake clients," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Rosales hid at least $12.5 million of income between 2006 and 2008. If convicted, the Mexican native faces up to five years in prison on each charge related to the bank account.

Tuesday's charges mark a turning point in an unusual case that, according to prosecutors and court papers, had its origins in the 1990s, when Rosales began selling dozens of previously unknown works by celebrated artists such as Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.

Many of these works were in fact counterfeit, according to art experts cited by the government and lawsuits against dealers that sold some works from Rosales. One dealer, M. Knoedler & Co, shut down in 2011 after 165 years in business.

Rosales was arrested on Tuesday at her home in Sandy Point, New York, and she made an initial court appearance in Manhattan federal court in the afternoon.

Her lawyer, Steven Kartagener, argued she was not a flight risk and could post her home as security for bail. He also said Rosales was willing to wear an electronic ankle bracelet.

"She is fully prepared to come before the district court and defend herself against these charges," he said.

But U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn disagreed and detained Rosales. "We have a defendant who has every incentive to flee," Netburn said. She set June 20 as Rosales' next court date.

Before being taken away, Rosales, who was wearing gray sweatpants and a blue sweatshirt, turned and smiled at her daughter, Isolina Bergantinos, 22, who was in the back of the courtroom.

"Obviously we're very disappointed," Kartagener said after the hearing. "But this is the first step in a long journey."

MULTIPLE LAWSUITS

According to the indictment, Rosales reaped $14.7 million by selling to Knoedler and another gallery about one dozen works she said were by artists such as de Kooning, Pollock and Rothko.

Prosecutors said Rosales claimed to represent a Swiss client or a Spanish collector, neither of whom existed, but instead kept most proceeds and transferred large sums to her boyfriend at the time.

"The artwork Rosales sold appears to be as fake as her story about the clients she claimed to represent," FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos said in a statement.

Rosales' boyfriend was not charged. The defendant's businesses included King's Fine Arts Inc and Glafira Rosales Fine Arts LLC, according to prosecutors and New York state records.

One gallery that bought works from Rosales, Julian Weissman Fine Art Inc, was sued in October by a trust affiliated with the children of Sheikha Paula Al-Sabah of Kuwait, which accused it of selling the sheikha a worthless painting that had been attributed to Robert Motherwell.

Knoedler has faced multiple lawsuits stemming from works procured from Rosales.

In one unusual case, it was sued in February by Canadian theater producer David Mirvish.

He claimed to have invested in some actual masterpieces by Pollock the gallery had obtained from Rosales and that Knoedler cost him millions of dollars by failing to sell them. Mirvish is seeking possession of the unsold paintings.

Both of these cases are pending in Manhattan federal court.

Lawyers for Knoedler and Mirvish noted that the criminal charges focus on tax fraud, not sales of forged artwork.

"Ms. Rosales' attorneys have consistently maintained one thing - and one thing only - throughout this case, that their client never knowingly sold fake art," Mirvish's lawyer Nicholas Gravante said in an email. "For that reason, the government's decision not to charge Ms. Rosales with that offense is notable."

Charles Schmerler, a lawyer for Knoedler, said in an email that his client will continue to assist authorities and that the case against Rosales "does not affect our core arguments" in the civil litigation.

Calls to lawyers for Weissman and the trust for the sheikha's children were not immediately returned.

David Mirvish is a son of "Honest" Ed Mirvish, the late Toronto businessman and theater impresario.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Additional reporting by Bernard Vaughan; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst, David Gregorio and Eric Beech)