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From The Associated Press

Flat colon growths likely to harbor cancer

CHICAGO—Flat growths on the colon wall are more common in Americans than previously thought and more likely to be cancerous than the more familiar knobby masses known as polyps, a new study finds.

New techniques can locate and remove the flat growths, but many doctors aren’t aware of their cancer risk and may not know how to look for them. The findings are likely to change the practice of colonoscopy, experts said, and may explain some colon cancers that arise between colonoscopies.

The growths tend to be smaller when they are cancerous, the size of a nickel instead of a quarter, and are level with the colon wall or depressed like a pothole. They blend in with the surrounding tissue and are difficult to spot.

Researchers found the flat growths were nearly 10 times more likely to be cancerous than the polyps. They believe the growths represent a separate colon cancer pathway, rather than being precursors to knobby polyps. The study appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

Venezuela moves troops to Colombian border

BOGOTA, Colombia—Hundreds of Venezuelan troops moved Tuesday toward the border with Colombia, where trade was slowing amid heightening tension over Colombia’s cross-border strike on a rebel base in Ecuador.

The Organization of American States scheduled an emergency afternoon meeting in Washington to try to calm one of the region’s worst political showdowns in years, pitting U.S.-backed Colombia against Venezuela’s leftist President Hugo Chavez and his allies. Colombian and Ecuadorean officials, meanwhile, traded accusations in the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.

‘Plenty of time’ on Mideast, Bush says

WASHINGTON, D.C.—With only 10 months left in his term and Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed over renewed violence, President Bush said Tuesday there is “plenty of time” to get a Mideast peace deal before he leaves.

“This is a process that always has two steps forward and one step back,” Bush said after meeting at the White House with Jordan’s King Abdullah II. “We just need to make sure that it’s just one step back.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the region this week trying to rescue peace negotiations from a low point.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has suspended peace talks in protest of an Israeli military offensive that killed more than 100 Palestinians in Gaza.

Abbas on Tuesday called on the Israeli government “to halt its aggression so the necessary environment can be created to make negotiations succeed, for us and for them, to reach the shores of peace in 2008.”

Arizona Rep. Renzi pleads not guilty

TUCSON—Rep. Rick Renzi pleaded not guilty Tuesday to federal charges including insurance fraud, extortion and money laundering.

The three-term Republican congressman from Arizona’s sprawling 1st District made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court, where he was arraigned on charges stemming from a 35-count indictment issued Feb. 21. Two co-defendants also were named in the indictment.

Renzi, 49, entered pleas of not guilty to a range of other charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud.