LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The union representing freelance technical employees who work on live sporting events for Pac-12 Networks went on strike Saturday.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees wants to establish area standard wages and benefits for the freelancers who work on the network's telecasts.

About 100 union members picketed outside Galen Center, where Southern California hosted No. 14 Minnesota in a men's basketball game. Picket lines also were set up at Arizona State, Oregon State, Oregon and Washington on Saturday where league games were being played. They carried signs reading, 'Pac 12 Networks Unfair.'

Fewer cameras were used on USC's game. Typically, there would be six, according to Steve Aredas, international representative for the IATSE. He said the union has no dispute with any of the Pac-12 schools or arenas.

Aredas said the union has tried to communicate with Pac-12 Networks executives, but they have not responded.

"We respect individuals' right to decide whether to be represented by a union," Pac-12 Networks said in a statement. "Regardless of how they decide, we will remain focused on creating an environment that is inclusive, respectful and allows us to have direct relationships with our staff and contractors."

Since going on the air in September 2012, Pac-12 Networks has employed technicians represented by the IATSE at 10 of the league's schools in the union's jurisdiction. But the union says the network has used non-union labor on many events in those markets or a combination of union and non-union labor working side-by-side.

The union said those technicians working without a contract receive lower wages, no benefits and no job protection.

The IATSE represents members employed in stagecraft, film and television production in the U.S. and Canada.

"A higher number than expected went through with the surgery, and it probably has to do with doctors in the community not having enough information on their patients' risk levels," said Dr. Gabriel Mannis, the study's lead author.

According to Mannis and his colleagues, who published their study in the Archives of Internal Medicine on Monday, the average woman's risk of developing ovarian cancer is about 2 percent, but women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations have a 40 percent and 20 percent risk, respectively.

For women that test positive for the gene mutations, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) says, if they choose to have their ovaries removed, it should be when they are done having children and near 40 years old.

There are no guidelines, however, on ovary removal and screening for women whose blood tests don't show the gene mutations but who may still be at an increased risk of cancer based on their family's medical history.

"We don't have a clear sense of what their risk level is, or what the role of screening should be," said Mannis, of the division of oncology at the University of California, San Francisco.

For the new study, the researchers surveyed women at two hospitals about 4 years after they were tested for the gene mutations to see if they decided to be screened or have their ovaries removed.

Of 1,077 women surveyed, about 19 percent tested positive for a BRCA mutation, about 10 percent had no mutation, and the rest had unclear results.

The researchers found that about 70 percent of the women who tested positive for a mutation had their ovaries removed by the time they took the survey.

But, despite a lack of evidence that they should have their ovaries removed, about 12 percent of the women with unclear results still had the surgery.

OVARIAN CANCER SCREENING

The researchers also found that despite the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommending against screening for ovarian cancer in women without the gene mutations, about 20 percent of women whose test results didn't clearly show the mutations still ended up getting screened in the year before taking the survey.

In a previously published study, women screened annually for ovarian cancer were no less likely to die from the disease than those who didn't get regular screening (see Reuters Health article of Sep. 10, 2012. http://reut.rs/QAmMdk).

Aside from not being shown to help, the tests are also imperfect, said Dr. Jed Delmore, chair the Gynecologic Oncology Sub-committee for ACOG.

"I can simply say that as of today we don't have a good screening," said Delmore, of the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita.

"At this point if doctors are going to proceed with screening in this group of women, there needs to be a conversation that we don't really know if this will prevent you from dying sooner of ovarian cancer or that it may come back as a false positive," said Mannis.

In that previous study, about one in ten screened women had a false positive result, and of those a third had one or both ovaries removed.

That means some women had both ovaries removed even though they were not at an increased risk for cancer, which needlessly put them in danger of a complication and forced them into menopause.

Plus, the removing an ovary can cost over $3,000.

Delmore told Reuters Health that it seems like an intermediate ground has been reached with a majority of BRCA-positive women having surgery to reduce their risk, and fewer BRCA-negative women having it.

He agreed with Mannis that doctors need to be honest with their patients about the limitations of today's screenings and treatments.

"We have pretty solid information for women who are BRCA positive and clearly BRCA negative," he said. "It's just that group in the middle."

Mannis told Reuters Health that the next step would be to identify that group's risk levels, but both he and Delmore said that won't be easy.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/WiwDtv Archives of Internal Medicine, online December 17, 2012.

The protesters - who were kept out of the square by police - were upset over a speech by the pontiff on Friday in which he appeared to include efforts to legalize gay marriage among the threats to peace in the world.

"We find intolerable the assertion that gay unions are dangerous to the world. Weapons are much more dangerous," Gianfranco Mascia, 52, an activist who organized the protest told Reuters. "No to arms, yes to rights for everyone,"

The group of about 15 people held up signs reading "Gay unions don't harm peace, weapons do" in various languages.

(Reporting by Naomi O'Leary; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

The Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church has been a sanctuary for people disturbed by the tragedy in the heavily Catholic town of Newtown, a wealthy suburb surrounded by wooded hills some 80 miles from New York City.

Eight of the funerals for the shooting victims have been scheduled at Saint Rose.

On the direction of police, Monsignor Robert Weiss asked people at the noon Mass service to quickly evacuate on Sunday, two days after the shooting.

The woman sitting next to Gary Zigman collapsed into sobs.

"It was a weirdo add-on to an already horrific weekend," said Zigman, a parishioner whose three grown children attended Sandy Hook, the elementary school where the shooting occurred. "It was too much."

Outside, parishioners stood in the cold, surrounded by journalists and police vehicles. Seven men from a SWAT team emerged from an armored vehicle in fatigues and body armor, carrying rifles and shields.

They searched the church and rectory, finding it was safe to re-enter, though the building would remain closed for the rest of the day, an officer at the scene said.

Police on Sunday also warned of threats and false representations on social media sites, and said they were investigating for possible criminal violations.

The church is about a mile from the Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 children and six adults were massacred, after which the shooter then took his own life.

From 7 a.m. on, the Masses were all standing room only. The pews were packed tight and the aisles were so thick with mourners they were nearly impassable.

Parishioners occasionally broke into sobs.

Weiss said he has been meeting with families since the day of the shooting, fielding many questions. "And," he said, "I don't have any answers."

(Reporting by Michelle Conlin; Editing by Daniel Trotta)

Eric Rosengren, in a speech to a chamber of commerce in the Boston suburb of Quincy, also said the U.S. economy was clearly in better shape than some developed peers internationally, but still not strong enough to bring the unemployment rate down more quickly.

(Reporting By Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Other countries are now watching to see if the Obama administration will back up post-election comments about climate change with renewed efforts to cut emissions at home, and pave the way for more ambitious targets as work proceeds to adopt a new global climate pact in 2015.

The two-week talks in Doha ended with an extension of the Kyoto Protocol, which was to expire this year, but which now will only cover 15 percent of global emissions since several developed countries, including Japan and Canada, have opted out. The U.S. never ratified the accord.

European Union Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said Sunday that the U.S. negotiators were "careful not to block" the negotiations, adding that it's "still difficult to know whether they will actually invest political capital in committing to a new international deal."

In an emailed comment to The Associated Press, Hedegaard said she hopes Obama "will present not only an enhanced domestic climate policy but also an enhanced U.S. engagement and willingness to commit more in an international climate context."

Both rich and poor countries have long accused the U.S. of hampering the global effort to fight climate change, which scientists say is raising sea levels, threatening low-lying areas and island nations, and shifting weather patterns with impacts on droughts, floods and the frequency of devastating storms.

Alone among industrialized nations, the U.S. rejected the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the only binding treaty to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases. The Bush administration said it would hurt the U.S. economy and that it was unfair because it didn't include emerging economies including China and India.

Hopes for stronger U.S. leadership in the U.N. talks under Obama were dashed when emissions-capping legislation stalled in Congress. But expectations rose anew this year after Hurricane Sandy pushed climate change back in the domestic political debate.

After his re-election, Obama talked about "the destructive power of a warming planet," and said he hoped to open a national conversation on the issue.

"I think what we saw from the U.S. in Doha was a mixed performance," said Alden Meyer, of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

He said the U.S. was a "major impediment" in negotiations to ramp up climate aid to help poor countries shift to clean energy and adapt to rising sea levels and other impacts of climate change.

On the other hand, the U.S. acknowledged that it has more work to do at home to meet its voluntary pledge of reducing emissions by 17 percent by 2020, compared to 2005 levels.

"Also, the lead U.S. negotiator, Todd Stern, expressed a newfound willingness to discuss how to equitably share responsibility amongst countries for making the substantial post-2020 emissions reductions needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change," Meyer said. "These were both positive signals in Doha."

Some were relieved that U.S. negotiators didn't block a proposal by small island nations to discuss "loss and damage," which relates to damages from climate-related disasters.

Small island nations under threat from rising sea levels have been pushing for some mechanism to help them cope with such natural catastrophes, but the U.S. had pushed back over concerns it might be held liable for the cleanup bill since it is the world's second-biggest emitter behind China.

The Doha deal doesn't establish that kind of mechanism, but says that countries agree to talk about it.

"It is a significant change in (the U.S.) stance and big unexpected outcome for Doha," said Iain Keith, senior campaigner with activist group Avaaz.

He said overall there was "subtle yet significant shift" in the U.S. position in the talks.

"Many parties will be disappointed that the U.S. didn't come here and offer more on finance," he said. "But with the fiscal cliff discussion in Washington, their hands are tied," he added, referring to the looming combination of automatic tax increases and U.S. government spending cuts early next year.

The Doha deal included vague language on how rich countries would scale up climate aid to $100 billion annually by 2020 a goal agreed to three years ago. With budgets under stress from financial turmoil, developed countries resisted calls by developing countries to make firm commitments.

"I think in general donor countries with some exceptions were not in a position to put hard numbers on table for all sorts of reasons among them fiscal challenges that we are facing in the U.S. and Europe is facing," said Stern, the U.S. climate envoy.

In news conferences in Doha, the U.S. delegates stressed what the administration has already done: increased fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks, worked to boost energy efficiency in buildings and invested in green energy.

Wael Hmaidan, a Lebanese activist and director of the Climate Action Network, said he was disappointed that the U.S. didn't offer more in Doha, especially on financing for poor countries.

"We were hoping there would be some kind of movement after the election," he said. "We knew there wouldn't be any major change but we hoped there would be more flexibility and room and this was not demonstrated."

Some may have overestimated how quickly Obama's comments on climate change would translate into action, said Jake Schmidt, of the Natural Resource Defense Council.

"Things take time to settle in the U.S.," he said. "But I think there's a growing sense that climate change is real, extreme weather is happening in the U.S. It shows up in all the polls."

Schmidt said the administration could achieve further emissions cuts with new standards on existing coal-fired power plants.

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AP Environment Writer Michael Casey contributed to this report.

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Ritter can be reached at www.twitter.com/karl_ritter and Casey can be reached at www.twitter.com/mcasey1

Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.

Ok, so not that funny, but it was all spelled right and we got blessed by a pope, so that's a good start. And the Pope . Pope Benedict appeared on Wednesday morning for his regular weekly address in front of throngs of media and worshipers, andhimself on his iPad. Vatican officials say that before the end of the day he will be answering three questions that were submitted to the #askpontifex hashtag earlier this month. Here's the first of those:

How can we celebrate the Year of Faith better in our daily lives?

By speaking with Jesus in prayer, listening to what he tells you in the Gospel and looking for him in those in need

He actually tweeted inItalianfirst and his otherweren't far behind. Follow for more 140 character sermons.