Reloaded Camp

SAN DIEGO – Manny Ramirez returned to the big leagues as only he could.
Wearing sunglasses and with his famous dreadlocks in a ponytail, the Los Angeles Dodgers' slugger apologized to fans and teammates during a news conference Friday afternoon. He refused to answer questions about steroids, laying off them as if they were pitches in the dirt.
"I'm here. I'm excited. I can't wait to get into the field," Ramirez said as his 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug policy ended.
Ramirez also brought along a new catch phrase.
"Showtime tonight!" he said as he walked out of his pregame news conference.
It was for the Dodgers, who jumped to a 5-0 first-inning lead, but not for Ramirez, who looked like a guy who hadn't faced big league pitching since May 6.
With his dreads flowing from under his batting helmet, he walked in his first at-bat, then was forced at second. Padres right-hander Chad Gaudin brushed back Ramirez with the first pitch of the seven-pitch at-bat. Ramirez just smiled.
It was a loud at-bat, with Dodgers fans standing and cheering, and Padres fans trying to drown them out with boos. The sold-out crowd at Petco Park looked and sounded more like it belonged at Dodger Stadium.
Ramirez popped up to end the sixth, jogged to the dugout to get his glove and cap, then headed for the clubhouse, his night finished. He was 0 for 3 with a walk.
He was cheered by a hundred or so fans as he bounded up the dugout steps and onto the field two hours before the first pitch. There was a playoff atmosphere during batting practice, with dozens of photographers following Ramirez and extra security on the field.
Ramirez's ban was based on evidence he used human chorionic gonadotropin, a fertility drug that's banned by baseball, a person familiar with the suspension told The Associated Press after the suspension was announced on May 7, speaking on condition of anonymity because those details were not released.
HCG is popular among steroid users because it can mitigate the side effects of ending a cycle of the drugs.
Ramirez refused several times to talk about the reason for his suspension.
"First I want to say that God is good and good is God. I don't want to get into my medical records right now. I'm happy to be here. I missed the game. I'm ready to play. I was practicing in Triple-A and I can't wait to get into the field."
He did apologize.
"Well, I want to say I'm sorry to the fans, to my teammates that they're always there for me," Ramirez said. "I want to thank Frank McCourt for his support," he added, referring to the Dodgers' owner.
Asked what he was sorry for, he said: "Not being there for them. For not playing the game, because I'm a huge part of the Dodgers and I'm proud to wear that uniform. When I say I'm sorry, I let those fans down, that they go out there to see me."
Ramirez seemed relaxed yet said he felt "a lot" of anxiety. "But I'm pretty sure I can handle it. This is not my first rodeo. So I know I'm going to be fine. I know I can play this game. I'm going to enjoy it the most I can."

He also admitting being embarrassed by the whole episode.

"But we're humans. We learn from our mistake."

Teammate Andre Ethier was happy to see Ramirez back.

"It's nice. It's just a thing where I guess we got our team back to square one where we were when we started the year," Ethier said. "We got a little sidetracked with him getting suspended. But we're ready to go and in the same place or even a little better position than when we lost him."

Ramirez was suspended on May 7, and the Dodgers lost 11-9 that night to the Washington Nationals, leaving them with a 5 1/2-game lead atop the NL West. They entered Friday night's game with a 7 1/2-game lead.

"I'm not mad anymore," Ethier said. "He made a mistake. It was his choice. I guess I'd be more mad if we were sitting 10 games under .500 right now after his suspension and weren't in a good spot. But we came back and played well and are able to be a better team because of him.

"You can't expect too much out of any player after that long, but someone of his caliber, he can surprise you with the way he's ready," Ethier added.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre and general manager Ned Colletti listened to Ramirez's news conference. Agent Scott Boras sat at the slugger's side.

"I think he's very uncomfortable at this," Torre said. "When you weed all through the whole thing, he didn't deny doing something wrong and he apologized for it and he doesn't really want to talk about it.

"I think it's going to be uncomfortable for him for a while," the manager added. "Baseball is a great place to go and try to bury yourself, basically, as far as concentration and trying not to be distracted. But I think it's going to be a little time before he gets his legs under him."

Torre said he's not sure if Ramirez will play in all three games of this series.

___

AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.

ATLANTA – Colin Daymude was out of work last year after his business failed and eagerly filed his taxes in mid-January, figuring he'd get his refund sooner. He was wrong.
It took the 44-year-old entrepreneur more than six months to get his $1,300 check — money that he needed to pay living expenses while he worked a few side gigs.
Tax day — April 15 — has long since come and gone, but sharp budget cuts and falling revenues have forced many states to delay income tax returns for months — and left taxpayers longing for their money.
"I'm just trying to get my money back," said a frustrated Daymude. "It's my money anyways."
Some states say plummeting tax collections drove them to hold on to the money so they can make ends meet. Others complain of not being able to keep up because the economic downturn has forced staffing cuts in revenue departments.
But critics worry governments are withholding funds that rightly belong to taxpayers when they need the extra cash the most. And some of the tardy states are fast approaching a stiff deadline of their own: The longer they wait, the more likely they'll have to pony up interest from thinning state coffers.
That prospect could soon become a reality in Georgia and Alabama, where tax officials are racing to beat a mid-July deadline to send hundreds of thousands of tax refunds or risk racking up millions of dollars in interest.
"I know some of the taxpayers are wondering if the state is going to pay the refund," said Carla Snellgrove of the Department of Revenue in Alabama, where more than 120,000 taxpayers are waiting for at least $63 million in income tax refunds.
"You talk with them and assure them they'll get the refund, it's just much slower this year," she said. "And if we don't meet the July 15 deadline, then the state will pay interest — that provides them some assurance."
In Georgia, tax officials say that more than 320,000 returns still need to be processed. If they are not completed by July 16, the state may have to dish out 1 percent interest for each month it is late.
State tax officials say it's not an issue of money, but an issue of staffing. Georgia Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham said the department had to cut about 280 jobs since October, including more than 150 processors who helped file refunds.
The funding problems have become familiar in cash-squeezed states.
California, which faces a deficit that could top $24.3 billion, may have to issue about $3 billion worth of promissory notes this month to state contractors, college students and taxpayers owed refunds unless there is a budget-balancing agreement.
Smaller states have also had trouble. Freda Warfield of the Kansas Department of Revenue said tax officials are hoping to send out $31 million in refunds by next week — but she knows residents are getting anxious. The returns average $500 a person.
"The revenue receipts have just been down," she said. "There's not enough coming in to issue all of our refunds. Tough decisions needed to be made, and one of the things that we could do is to hold our refunds."
It quickly became a touchy subject there, where thousands of people still haven't gotten refunds. Republican state Sen. Jeff Colyer said he raised the alarm that the state may not be able to make the payments back in August.
"It's unfair to taxpayers," said Colyer, a surgeon from Overland Park. "It's creating a cash-flow concern for these people. They rely on tax refunds for a big purchase, or to make a house payment. People have already budgeted how that money will be spent."
Other states have had to be a bit more inventive.

Missouri, which delayed issuing income tax refunds earlier this year, ultimately used $250 million of federal economic stimulus money to pay hundreds of thousands of refunds.

And Maryland, which still has about 3,000 filings left, dipped into a $366 million reserve account that many lawmakers didn't even know existed. Legislators hope to pay it back in 10 years.

Meanwhile, analysts say the delays essentially rob the poor of what had become an extra paycheck.

"Low-income families rely on that money getting reimbursed to them in the spring," said Mike Herald, a lobbyist for the Western Center on Law and Poverty, a Los Angeles-based advocacy group for the poor. "They pay bills with that money, they buy furniture — a lot of people rely on that income."

GAFFNEY, S.C. – Terrified residents canceled Fourth of July plans and holed up in their homes Friday as investigators hunted a serial killer believed to have shot four people to death.
Tanya Phillips had been looking forward to a backyard barbecue at her brother's house but instead planned to stay home with her doors locked.
"I'm not taking any chances," said Phillips, 32, a mother of two who works in a day-care center. "I'll go out during the day, but not at night. I just don't feel safe."
Plenty of evidence links the killings, though officials have not yet determined how the victims are connected or if they knew whoever shot them, said Cherokee County Sheriff Bill Blanton.
"Yes, we have a serial killer," he said at a news conference in this rural community 50 miles south of Charlotte, N.C.
So far, all investigators have to go on is a sketch of a suspect and a description of a possible getaway vehicle, though police would not say who provided that information.
The latest victims were found in their family's small furniture and appliance shop near downtown Gaffney around closing time Thursday. Stephen Tyler, 45, was killed, and his 15-year-old daughter was shot and seriously injured. Tyler's wife, his older daughter and an employee found them in Tyler Home Center, County Coroner Dennis Fowler said.
A day earlier and about seven miles away, family members found the bodies of 83-year-old Hazel Linder and her 50-year-old daughter, Gena Linder Parker, bound and shot in Linder's home. Blanton would not say if Tyler and his daughter were also bound.
The killing spree began last Saturday about 10 miles from Tyler Home Center, where peach farmer Kline Cash, 63, was found shot in his living room. Blanton said the killer may have first spoken with Cash's wife about buying hay. She left and came home a few hours later to find her husband's body. Investigators said it appears he was robbed, but they have not determined if anything was taken in the other killings.
Cherokee County, home to about 54,000 people, had just six homicides in all of 2008, and half that the year before.
Residents have "their guard up and their gun handy," said state Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, who recalled the area being terrorized once before, in the 1960s, by a serial killer dubbed the Gaffney Strangler. Otherwise, Gaffney is most famous for a giant water tank shaped like a peach that can be seen from Interstate 85.
"There is no greater fear than the fear of the unknown and nobody knows. You can cut the tension with a knife," Peeler said. "People are locking their doors, even in broad daylight."
The Fourth of July is a busy weekend, with thousands of people expected to attend fireworks displays in several communities.
"You want to live a normal life," Phillips said as she stood outside a grocery store. "But you just can't."
Every available police officer will work the weekend, Blanton said, acknowledging that there is "real fear in the county." He urged people to take precautions such as going out in groups and calling 911 if their cars break down and they are stuck on the side of the road.
"If someone breaks into my house, I'm armed and ready," said Mike Daniels, 53, a retired Army sergeant. "And I won't hesitate to shoot first and ask questions later."
Hazel Smith, 47, said neighbors feel vulnerable.
"If he killed once, he'll kill again," she said sitting on the front porch with her friends. "Tonight, I'm going to stay inside and pray, pray a little harder that he gets caught."

The latest shootings happened less than a half-mile from the sheriff's office, where at least 30 investigators were already working on the case. Blanton said a profiler has suggested Tyler and his daughter might have been shot to taunt investigators, but he said his only concern is solving the case.

"We had a 15-year-old girl shot; he killed an 83-year-old woman," Blanton said. "The good people of this community don't deserve that."

The sheriff reminded people they have a right to protect themselves and advised salesmen and others to avoid knocking on strangers' doors with so many on heightened alert.

"People are going to start shooting at shadows," Blanton said.

___

Associated Press Writers Jim Davenport and Jeffrey Collins contributed to this report from Columbia.

SIRTE, Libya (AFP) –
The African Union refused to act on an international war crimes warrant for Sudan's president, at a summit that also yielded a deal on the powers of a new regional Authority.

The refusal to arrest Sudan President Omar al-Beshir granted a continent-wide reprieve to a leader accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

While the measure was backed by Libya and other nations that sympathise with Sudan, the text also voiced Africa's frustration at the UN Security Council's failure to consider a request to suspend the warrant for one year, delegates said.

"They are showing to the world community that if you don't want to listen to the continent, if you don't want to take into account our proposals... if you don't want to listen to the continent, as usual, we also are going to act unilaterally," the top AU official Jean Ping said.

Thirty African nations are party to the treaty that created the International Criminal Court, but even advocates of the ICC said they sensed a bias by the tribunal's prosecutor against Africa.

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have fled their homes since ethnic minority rebels in Darfur rose up against the Arab-dominated regime in Khartoum in February 2003.

Sudan's government says 10,000 have been killed.

Rights activists said the AU decision ignored the plight of the victims of the violence.

"This resolution, the result of unprecedented bullying by Libya, puts the AU on the side of a dictator accused of mass murder rather than on the side of his victims," said Reed Brody, a spokesman for Human Rights Watch.

"But it cannot erase the legal obligations undertaken by the 30 African countries which have ratified the ICC treaty," he added.

The summit proved contentious from the start as Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, the current AU chief hosting the summit in his hometown, extended a surprise invitation to Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to address the summit's opening Wednesday.

Tehran canceled the visit at the last minute without explanation, after it became clear not all the delegates knew about or welcomed his visit.

The 24 leaders at the summit then held marathon talks Thursday night to reach a pre-dawn deal on the powers of a new AU Authority that will be tasked with coordinating defense, foreign relations and trade policies.

Despite relentless pressure from Kadhafi to grant the Authority broad influence over policy, the summit left the new body toothless to act without an explicit mandate from the member states.

Kadhafi had hoped the AU's new executive authority would mark a major step toward his dreamed "United States of Africa," but the continent's biggest economy South Africa, as well as top oil producers Nigeria and Angola, won out with their insistence on a more gradual approach to integration.

"There are some small steps towards consultations and common African policy positions, but those who want to go slowly came out ahead," said one minister who participated in the talks.

The 53 member states still must ratify the changes, meaning the African Union still has a long wait to see the existing AU Commission transformed into the Authority.

The compromise settled the most contentious debate at the summit, which largely overshadowed talks on a raft of conflicts roiling the continent, most dramatically in Somalia, where Islamist insurgents launched an offensive against the internationally backed government nearly two months ago.

The African Union has 4,300 peacekeepers deployed in Somalia, its largest force on the continent. But their role is confined largely to protecting the president and ensuring that key sea and airports remain open.

Somalia and five of its neighbours want the AU to deploy a total of 8,000 peacekeepers, a contingent that has already been approved but not yet manned.

Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Malawi made new offers of troops, though their total contribution was not immediately clear, Ping said.

The summit also called on the UN Security Council to impose a no-fly zone and a sea blockage on Eritrea, accused of arming the insurgents in Somalia.

SEOUL, South Korea – A news report says North Korea has fired two mid-range missiles off it eastern coast.
Yonhap news agency's report says the launches Saturday appeared to be of Scud missiles. The agency quotes a South Korean government official it did not identify.
The official says the missiles fired were estimated to have a range of about 300 miles (500 kilometers).
North Korea fired four short-range missiles off the east coast on Thursday.
Speculation has been high that the communist country might launch more missiles in coming days.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) –
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican Party's vice presidential candidate in 2008, said on Friday she will resign this month, an unexpected move that could signal a run for higher office.

Palin took no questions after a brief news conference in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, members of her state Cabinet by her side. She gave no indication of her future plans.

"I'm not seeking re-election" in 2010, Palin said, adding she would transfer authority to Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell on July 26.

Palin, Arizona Sen. John McCain's surprise pick as his running-mate in the 2008 presidential race, rallied the party's conservative base but alienated others who believed she did not have the experience to be vice president.

She has been mentioned as one of the top three Republicans who could vie for the party's presidential nomination in 2012. Those mentioned most often include Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

"We are not retreating, we are advancing in a different direction," Palin said. "We know we can effect positive change outside government at this moment in time."

Palin, 45, said her decision came after much "prayer and consideration." She said she did not want to waste time on "political blood sport" and cited public criticism of her actions and her family since the 2008 campaign.

"You are naive if you don't see a full-court press right now on the national level picking apart a good point guard," Palin said, using a basketball analogy.

"She closed a chapter in Alaska politics on a very weird and bizarre note," said former Alaska Governor Tony Knowles, a Democrat who served two terms, in a telephone interview.

"Friends or foes alike would have never thought that she would be a quitter, but that's what she did today."

WHAT LIES AHEAD

The announcement at the beginning of a three-day holiday weekend, with little Washington news expected, gave Palin wide access to the airwaves and could make for a strong start at gaining public attention.

Republican strategist Sophia Nelson said in the online publication Huffington Post that Palin vowing to work for change "from outside government" was "code for 'I'm running for president.'"

Other analysts wondered if it was a smart political move.

Andrew Halcro, a Republican who ran against Palin in 2006, said he did not think resigning would help her chances.

"If she was trying to transition to the national stage, there was a much better way to do it," he said.

Princeton University professor Julian Zelizer said Palin's future in public life depends on the reason she stepped down.

"If there is any evidence that the decision was a result of political problems or looming scandals, she is done," he said.

"The Republican Party already feels to be in a moment of crisis," after losing the presidency and control of Congress to the Democrats. He noted that in 2008 "she revealed many weaknesses ... limited policy knowledge, association with fringe groups, weak performances on television and more."

Palin faced criticism and ridicule from Republicans and Democrats alike after embarrassing television interviews that raised questions about her knowledge and experience.

During the campaign, the mother of five revealed her unmarried 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, was pregnant but planned to marry the baby's father. The couple split in March.

Palin was cleared of wrongdoing in an abuse-of-power probe into the firing of Alaska's public safety commissioner.

In May, Palin signed a book deal to tell her own story, for an undisclosed sum, with News Corp's HarperCollins.

Palin established herself as a party outsider by promoting a natural gas pipeline project opposed by Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski. She ran against the governor in 2006, defeated him in the primary, and then won the general election.

The project to ship abundant North Slope gas reserves to U.S. markets has been dimmed by the economic recession and a sharp dip in natural gas prices.

(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York, Robert Campbell in Mexico, Andrea Shalal-Esa, Chris Wilson, Jeff Mason in Washington; writing by Doina Chiacu, editing by Jackie Frank and Todd Eastham)

LOS ANGELES – Madonna is paying tribute to Michael Jackson in the same arena where he was to stage his great comeback.
The superstar is preparing a special part of her concert Saturday at O2 arena. Madonna publicist Liz Rosenberg says she is going to unveil a special choreographed dance in honor of Jackson.
Michael Jackson was to perform his comeback concerts at O2 starting July 13. He died last week at 50. He had been rehearsing for those shows in his final days.

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee signaled anew Friday that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor will be questioned about lawsuits charging racial bias during her tenure on the board of a Latino legal advocacy group.

But her critics are likely to find little new ammunition in a batch of documents released Friday by LatinoJustice PRLDEF, the advocacy group known as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF) during Sotomayor's affiliation with it.

The 71 documents, totaling hundreds of pages, released by the Senate Judiciary Committee, cover the period between 1980 to 1992 when Sotomayor was a board member of PRLDEF.

The organization searched its files under a joint request of committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., and ranking Republican Jeff Sessions of Alabama.

Republicans made clear they still intend to make Sotomayor's involvement in PRLDEF a focus of their inquiry when her confirmation is scheduled to begin on July 13.

In particular, Republicans are seeking to tie lawsuits in which PRLDEF was involved to a Supreme Court decision this week overturning a reverse discrimination opinion Sotomayor participated in as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.

A Senate Judiciary GOP statement released Friday noted Sotomayor chaired PRLDEF's litigation committee in 1987, when it was involved in a trio of lawsuits against New York City agencies charging their promotion exams had a discriminatory impact on minority candidates.

Leahy said in a statement that the documents fulfill the committee's request for additional information.

"The receipt of these documents is timely, and appears to be complete and responsive to the request for additional information, materials not called for in the bipartisan committee questionnaire submitted by Judge Sotomayor," he said.

The documents released Friday include court filings and internal summaries of those cases but nothing Sotomayor wrote about them or other documents that indicated she played any role in the litigation.

The only documentation of her role as chairwoman of PRLDEF's litigation committee are minutes from board meetings in 1987 where she describes efforts to obtain access for the group's lawyers to the legal database Lexis Nexis and studying the legal department's structure.

After an earlier release of documents on July 1, committee Republicans suggested those were just the "tip of the iceberg" and show that she played "a substantive role" in the group.

But in a letter Thursday, White House counsel Gregory Craig told Sessions that Sotomayor has already provided the committee with all relevant documents related to her involvement with the group.

Craig said Republicans are seeking documents "that were not written, edited, reviewed or approved by Judge Sotomayor."

Beaulieu Carpet

In recent years, many economists have recognized that the lack of effective real estate laws can be a significant barrier to investment in many developing countries. In most societies, rich or poor, a significant fraction of the total wealth is in the form of land and buildings.

The price of housing is also an important factor. The price elasticity of the demand for housing services in North America is estimated as negative 0.7 by Polinsky and Ellwood (1979), and as negative 0.9 by Maisel, Burnham, and Austin (1971).

San Diego Short Sales

LONDON (AFP) –
The London stock market closed firmer on Wednesday as retailer Marks and Spencer reported strong sales and commodity prices spiked.

The FTSE 100 index added 2.15 percent to close at 4,340.71 points.

Vodafone was the most widely-traded stock, seeing 173 million units change hands, followed by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) which saw 133 million shares switch owners.

Miner Vedanta dominated the board closing up 127 pence -- or 6.62 percent -- at 253.75 followed by International Power, climbing 15.75 pence -- or 6.62 percent -- to stand at 253.75.

MAN Group led the fallers, shedding 15.50 pence -- or 5.59 percent -- to close at 262, followed by Lloyds which lost 1.68 pence -- or 2.40 percent -- to end at 68.25.

Elsewhere, the pound was up against the dollar but caved in to the euro.

Sterling was worth 1.6513 dollars at 15:58 BST, rising from 1.6461 at Tuesday's close, while it fell to 1.1681 euros from 1.1730 over the same period.

NEW YORK – Michael Jackson had a mountain of unreleased recordings in the vault when he died — music that is almost certain to be packaged and repackaged for his fans in the years to come. The material includes unused tracks from studio sessions of some of Jackson's best albums, as well as more recently recorded songs made with Senegalese R&B singer and producer Akon and Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am.
"There are dozens and dozens of songs that did not end up on his albums," said Tommy Mottola, who from 1998 to 2003 was chairman and CEO of Sony Music, which owns the distribution rights to Jackson's music. "People will be hearing a lot of that unreleased material for the first time ever. There's just some genius and brilliance in there."
The releases, Mottola said, "could go on for years and years — even more than Elvis."
Since Jackson's death Thursday, there has been an enormous, almost unprecedented demand for the King of Pop's music. Nielsen SoundScan said Wednesday that three of his records — "Number Ones," "Essential Michael Jackson" and "Thriller — were the best-selling albums of the week, and 2.3 million tracks of his have been downloaded in the U.S. alone.
When a music star of Jackson's stature dies, labels typically comb through their archives to pull out anything they can release. New compilations of recordings by performers such as Elvis, Tupac and Jeff Buckley are still released nearly every year.
Mottola, who has described himself as the "shepherd and gatekeeper" of Jackson's catalog and is familiar with it better than anyone, said that for every album Jackson made — including classics like 1979's "Off the Wall" and 1982's "Thriller" — he recorded several tracks that didn't make it onto the records.
(Mottola had only laudatory things to say about Jackson, who criticized Mottola in 2002 as a racist. Among those who defended Mottola at the time was the Rev. Al Sharpton.)
The details of who owns Jackson's unreleased music and concert footage are not entirely clear. Sony Music declined to comment. A person involved with the label who requested anonymity said no new projects or compilations are being planned yet.
The Jackson family has not publicly discussed plans for Jackson's catalog. In a 2002 will filed in court Wednesday, the pop star left his entire estate to a family trust, with his mother and his children named as beneficiaries.
Steve Gordon, an entertainment lawyer and author of "The Future of the Music Business," worked at Sony Music during the 1990s. He said he was at Sony when Jackson's last contract was negotiated, though he acknowledged it could have recently been updated.
Gordon said Jackson owns some of his master recordings, while others are owned in partnership with Sony. Regardless, he said, Sony retains exclusive distribution rights for anything Jackson produced during the term of their contract.
Gordon said he expects Sony's Legacy Recordings division to do something similar to what it did with Elvis and create a division purely for Jackson's catalog.
"They've done every kind of configuration to try to squeeze more money out of the catalog with Elvis and they'll do it with Michael Jackson — be sure of it," Gordon said. "I imagine that there's a ... load of concert recordings that may or may not have been released."
Jackson's last original album was 2001's "Invincible." His 2005 child molestation trial and other controversies distracted him from recording, but he was active in recent years.
He died just weeks before he was to perform 50 concerts at London's O2 arena in what was supposed to be his comeback. He had also begun working on new material.
Two weeks before he died, he wrapped up work on an elaborate production dubbed the "Dome Project," which could be the final finished video piece overseen by Jackson. Two people with knowledge of the project confirmed its existence Monday to The Associated Press on condition they not be identified because they signed confidentiality agreements.
Four sets were constructed for Jackson's production, including a cemetery recalling his famous "Thriller" video. Shooting for the project lasted from June 1 to June 9. Now in post-production, the project is expected to be completed next month.
Last year, Jackson released "Thriller 25," an album marking the 25th anniversary of the album. It included the new song "For All Time," as well as five remixes that involved will.i.am, Kanye West, Akon and Fergie.

The Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am has said he and Jackson recorded several songs together. He told the BBC on Monday that Jackson had possession of their demos, and that the songs "demanded all the people to the dance floor."

Akon had hoped to complete an album with Jackson once he finished his London concerts. The singer said they used to meet in Las Vegas whenever they had the time, and would talk on the phone constantly about ideas for the album.

Akon said they never actually completed a song except for "Hold My Hand," which leaked last year. "All the other songs were just ideas," Akon said.

He said he will keep the song fragments — a chorus here, a verse there — "locked up in the vault" until the Jackson family decides how to proceed. He said it could be worked into a tribute album.

"It was all positive records — songs to uplift people, songs to make people think about the problems in life," Akon said. "It was all about bringing people together."

Running a distance is the most basic form of racing, but races are often conducted in vehicles, such as boats, cars and aircraft, or with animals such as horses.

One-make, or single marque, championships often employ production-based cars from a single manufacturer or even a single model from a manufacturer's range. There are numerous notable one-make formulae from various countries and regions, some of which – such as the Porsche Supercup and, previously, IROC – have fostered many distinct national championships. Single marque series are often found at club level, to which the production-based cars, limited modifications, and close parity in performance are very well suited. There are also single-chassis single seater formulae, such as Formula Ford, Formula Saab, Formula BMW, and defunct Formula Vee, usually as "feeder" series for "senior" race formula (in the fashion of farm teams).

High Performance Driving

DALLAS – Mark Cuban wants to be first in line to talk to Jason Kidd.
Cuban posted Tuesday on Twitter, "Getting ready to fly up to NYC for Free Agent meeting at 12:01," and that free agent is Kidd, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because NBA rules prevent commenting on such things.
Cuban has made it clear he wants to keep Kidd, but it might not be that easy. The New York Knicks are believed to be interested, too, as could LeBron James and the Cavaliers or perhaps Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. Kidd has never won an NBA championship, but has won an Olympic gold medal alongside James and Bryant.
ESPN.com first reported Cuban's meeting with Kidd.

WASHINGTON – The last remaining bomb-grade uranium has been shipped out of Romania as part of a U.S.-Russian nuclear nonproliferation program, the Energy Department reported Tuesday.
Officials at the department's National Nuclear Security Administration said the highly enriched uranium was taken from two research reactors in Romania and flown to Russia for secure storage. The shipment weighed 118 pounds.
Russia had provided the uranium years ago. The NNSA, working with Romanian officials, moved all the highly enriched uranium, or HEU, of U.S. origin, out of Romania in 2008.
The effort in Romania is part of a broader program to return all of the HEU that had been provided to various countries by either the former Soviet Union or by the United States for civilian nuclear research back to the originating countries where the material can be kept in more secure locations.
A crude nuclear bomb can be made from as little as 33 pounds of highly enriched uranium. Nuclear nonproliferation watchdog groups say lax security is a problem at many of the research reactors around the world where HEU continues to be located.
Recently, a shipment of 52 pounds of HEU was taken from a research reactor in Magurele, Romania, and a shipment of 66 pounds was removed from a reactor in Pitesti, Romania. The uranium was shipped in special containers to two separate secure sites in Russia, the U.S. officials said.
"With these shipments, all HEU has been successfully removed from Romania," NNSA Administrator Thomas D'Agostino said in a statement released Tuesday. The shipments were completed this week, but the announcement was not more specific on a timetable.
President Barack Obama earlier this year outlined a U.S. commitment to speed up the movement of vulnerable nuclear material from research reactors around the world.
With the Romanian shipments, a total of 1,896 pounds of Russian-origin HEU has been returned to Russia, from 11 countries, the NNSA said.
But watchdog groups say there are still large amounts of uranium suitable for bomb making at research reactors in numerous countries.
While the pace of removing HEU from research reactors has stepped up there still exists "weak security at many of the roughly 130 research reactors worldwide still using HEU fuel," said a 2008 report by Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

WASHINGTON – On civil rights and campaign cash, the Supreme Court earned an "incomplete" grade in the term that just ended. There is a good chance the court will have a new member but the same right-of-center tilt when the justices return in late summer to deal with unfinished business.
The court suggested this week, but did not conclusively resolve, that it will be a conservative bulwark against both government and private efforts to promote diversity. Even parts of such iconic laws as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 could face a rocky road in the years ahead.
So could federal and state laws that seek to curtail the influence of money in elections.
The court's action Monday in a campaign finance case strongly hinted that its conservatives will be able to overturn longstanding limits on corporate and union money in federal elections. The justices scheduled a new round of arguments for Sept. 9 in a case they first heard in March concerning whether a movie critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy for president should be regulated as a campaign ad.
By that time, President Barack Obama hopes the Senate will have confirmed his high court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, so that she can take part in the case, although her vote is not likely to affect the outcome. Sotomayor was named to replace retiring Justice David Souter, and her votes would be expected to track his in many cases.
The justices decided 75 cases in the term that began last October, including 22 by 5-4 votes and 12 more in which the votes were 6-3. Many of those 5-4 decisions, like Monday's ruling finding that white firefighters in Connecticut suffered discrimination on the basis of race, came out in the usual conservative-liberal alignment.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion that held that voluntary efforts by governments and private employers to promote diversity can be vulnerable to reverse discrimination claims.
In several big, contentious cases, the court unexpectedly reached consensus by ruling very narrowly. The voting rights decision was one such example.
Eight justices signed onto an opinion that left intact a key component of the landmark civil rights law but also acknowledged that its continued existence poses "a difficult constitutional question" that they chose not to answer this time around.
But in expressing concern about aspects of the law, and Congress' actions in renewing it in 2006, the court laid down a marker that could lead to a "later decision invalidating the statute if it is not amended," said Tom Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who follows the court closely.
Similarly, Justice Antonin Scalia, in a separate opinion in the firefighters case, predicted that the court soon would have to wrestle with whether a portion of the 1964 civil rights law is at odds with the Constitution. The court avoided the constitutional issue in Monday's decision.
More generally, this term's divided rulings demonstrated once more that the law is whatever Kennedy — a moderate conservative — says it is.
Two cases illustrate Kennedy's influence as the man in the middle on the nine-member court.
In a dispute over judicial ethics, the issue was whether the Constitution requires a judge to step aside from a case when one party has contributed significantly to his election. In a DNA case, a convict was seeking the right to test evidence that would conclusively demonstrate his guilt or innocence.
Kennedy sided with the liberals in the judicial matter, saying elected judges cannot take part in cases when large campaign contributions from interested parties create the appearance of bias.
"Just as no man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, similar fears of bias can arise when — without the consent of the other parties — a man chooses the judge in his own cause," Kennedy said for the court.
Chief Justice John Roberts dissented, saying states should be allowed to make their own rules.
Roberts made essentially the same argument in the DNA case, refusing to grant defendants a constitutional right to test the evidence. And this time he had Kennedy's vote.

"There are a lot of these issues where Justice Kennedy's vote is absolutely critical," said Paul Clement, a lawyer with the Atlanta-based King & Spalding firm and a former solicitor general in the George W. Bush administration.

Another important area is executive authority, particularly concerning the power to detain terrorism suspects. There, the liberals, with Kennedy on their side, have held sway.

That is one reason, perhaps the main reason, the Obama administration moved terror suspect Ali al-Marri into the civilian criminal justice system after he had been held without charges for more than five years in a Navy brig. The court had agreed to hear al-Marri's case and the administration risked seeing the court imposing limits on presidential power.

This term, the justices also ruled against efforts by business interests to block state lawsuits and investigations by invoking federal laws and regulations. In two cases, the court ruled in favor of plaintiffs in civil lawsuits, including a woman who lost her arm as a result of a botched injection, and state attorneys general who wanted to investigate potential discrimination in lending by national banks.

In the latter case, Scalia joined with the liberal justices to form an unusual majority. The same alignment also prevailed in a case limiting searches of suspects' automobiles without warrants.

In more mundane cases with significant consequences to the legal system, the court's conservatives limited access to courthouses by making it harder for plaintiffs to file and win civil lawsuits. Those decisions went against environmentalists and a Pakistani Muslim man who sought to hold FBI director Robert Mueller and former Attorney General John Ashcroft to account for the harsh conditions of his detention in a federal jail cell following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Barack Obama is an accommodating and engaging fellow who aims to please. And this was important during the campaign, when likability counted for so much in courting voters. Now, however, it could actually be a problem for him as commander in chief. The question is whether his "politics of nice" is appropriate in a sharply divided capital and a dangerous world.

"There is part of America that wants an assertive president, a president who will be tough on adversaries and who can, at least in theory, be scary in dealing with threats from overseas," says Princeton historian Julian Zelizer. So far, Obama doesn't match up with that tough-guy profile, either at home or abroad.[See photos of the Obamas Abroad]

But Zelizer points out that there is another slice of the country that has an entirely different outlook, more in keeping with Obama's style. "There's part of America that wants a tempered president," someone who will reach out to adversaries, avoid seeing issues and people in absolute terms, and avoid confrontation, Zelizer says. "Both are part of the American psyche."

Some of the rising criticism of Obama as too much of a nice guy is familiar from last year's campaign. His opponents, including Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton (now secretary of state) and Republican nominee John McCain, wondered if candidate Obama was too naive and lacked the grit and passion to fight for what he believed in. Clinton even ran TV ads questioning whether Obama was up to handling a crisis, symbolized by a phone and an emergency call ringing in the White House at 3 a.m. McCain criticized Obama on similar grounds and emphasized the notion that the Democratic nominee wasn't strong or sure-footed enough to handle the challenges he would face in the Oval Office.[Read 10 Power Players and 5 Opponents in Obama's Washington]

Since taking over in January, Obama hasn't changed his tune. He has continued to extend his hand to adversaries at home and abroad, and he has expressed the hope that those adversaries will reward his goodwill with compromise and conciliation. At the same time, on some major decisions, he has shown the kind of backbone that his critics claimed wasn't there. White House aides point out that he sent 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan to root out terrorists, and he showed no qualms about authorizing Navy sharpshooters to kill Somali pirates who were holding an American captain hostage on the high seas. He also displayed considerable audacity by challenging conservative orthodoxy in undertaking the biggest surge of government activism since the 1960s.[Read Obama's 12 Most Important Decisions]

On domestic issues, Obama has effectively used his philosophy of accommodation to work his will by deferring to Democratic congressional leaders to push his agenda through Congress. It worked for at least a while as he won approval for his $787 billion economic stimulus package and major moves to bail out the financial industry that was approaching meltdown.

But lately, his can't-we-all-just-get-along approach has run into serious trouble. Last Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, blasted Obama's moderate response to the government crackdown after the disputed presidential election in Iran. "The president of the United States is supposed to lead the free world, not follow it," Graham said on ABC's This Week. "He has been timid and passive more than I would like."

Democrats in Congress would like him to take a stronger stand on his signature initiatives--specifically to clarify which provisions of an emerging health-care overhaul he will insist on and which ones he will refuse to accept. He is similarly faulted for letting fellow Democrats in Congress take the lead in fashioning energy legislation, immigration bills, spending priorities, and other high-priority measures without much clear direction from him, the critics say.

Obama has dealt with the criticism in typically genial fashion. At his White House news conference Tuesday, he denied that his response to the government crackdown in Iran was tepid. He said he has taken a balanced approach--between supporting reformers and, on the other hand, not meddling in Iranian affairs, which he fears could backfire and inflame anti-American sentiment in Iran and throughout the Mideast. But Obama did take a harder line by issuing his harshest criticism of the Tehran regime to date. He said he was "appalled and outraged" at the "threats, beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days," and added: "I strongly condemn these unjust actions."[Read Obama Walks a Fine Line on Iran]

On healthcare, his No. 1 priority, he declined to get specific about his bottom line and defended his approach of letting Congress work out the details. "We have not drawn lines in the sand other than that reform has to control costs and that it has to provide relief to people who don't have health insurance or are underinsured," he said.[Read Tallying the Bill for Healthcare Reform]

Just as important, it's unclear how much pressure Obama and his key aides are exerting on key members of Congress privately, which could make a big difference. Senior strategists of both parties say that even if a president tries to stay above the fray, he can still play hardball and inspire political fear if he authorizes his aides to do it on his behalf. George W. Bush did this through Vice President Dick Cheney and senior adviser Karl Rove. Ronald Reagan did it through White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan and, on personnel matters, via first lady Nancy Reagan.[Read Obama's Congressional Friends (and Foes)]

In Obama's case, much of the head-knocking could be left to key aides such as veteran Washington infighter Rahm Emanuel, a former congressman from Chicago and now White House chief of staff. "If Obama is too nice a guy, Rahm Emanuel certainly isn't," says a former Reagan adviser who has strong ties to the conservative movement. "Obama has some sharp elbows at his disposal if he wants them." They also include Defense Secretary Robert Gates, National Security Adviser James Jones, and counselor David Axelrod.[Learn About the Members of Obama's Inner Circle]

This above-the-battle approach might be a particularly effective gambit for Obama because he faces a split between liberals and centrists in the Democratic Party. "There is this underlying unrest about spending and whether he is spending too much and its effect on the economy," Zelizer says. White House advisers say that, for now, it's best for him to stay in the background rather than alienate either faction.

But they admit that he might have to ruffle some feathers at the end of the legislative process when he will need to make wrenching decisions on the fate of his major priorities. Then the challenge will be for Mr. Nice Guy to show that he can be a tough customer after all.

--See photos of the Obamas behind the scenes.

--See photos of the Obama family.

NEW YORK – Bernard Madoff, even as he faces the prospect of dying behind bars for his epic swindle, has never wavered on one point: He acted alone.
Federal investigators haven't budged either: They don't believe him.
The day after Madoff was given a 150-year term, a person close to the investigation said Tuesday the sentencing marked "the end of the beginning" of a far-reaching investigation expected to answer lingering questions about how the disgraced financier pulled off perhaps the largest financial fraud history — and who helped him.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, told The Associated Press on Monday that prosecutors expect to charge at least 10 more people in connection with the scheme. The person said Tuesday that no arrests were imminent.
The U.S. attorney's office refused to comment on the status of the investigation or potential suspects.
Madoff, 71, pleaded guilty in March to charges that his secretive investment advisory business was a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that wiped out thousands of investors and ruined charities.
Madoff admitted his own crimes, but has claimed members of his inner circle — including a brother and two sons who ran a brokerage operation under the same roof as his firm — were innocent bystanders. Lawyers for the family have vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
"How do you excuse deceiving 200 employees who have spent most of their working life working for me?" Madoff said at sentencing. "How do you excuse lying to your brother and two sons who spent their whole adult life helping to build a successful and respectful business?"
Ruth Madoff broke her silence Tuesday to suggest she was among the victims of Madoff's deceit. Her husband, she said in a statement, "stunned us all with his confession and is responsible for this terrible situation in which so many now find themselves."
But in the six months since the former Nasdaq chairman's arrest, the family has not escaped intense scrutiny by federal authorities and a court-appointed trustee overseeing liquidation of Madoff's assets. A judge's forfeiture order has stripped Ruth Madoff of $80 million in assets, including a penthouse apartment where she still lives.
Besides the family, there have been questions about the role of Frank DiPascali, chief financial officer of Madoff's money management business, and that of several large money managers who funneled billions of dollars of investments to the firm. The trustee, Irving Picard, has filed lawsuits against the managers, accusing them of being Madoff cronies who either knew, or should have known, about the fraud.
Former prosecutors said Madoff's sentencing wasn't a grand finale.
"Once the primary wrongdoer has been sentenced, it typically is a fact that will take the wind out of the sails of an investigation," said William Devaney, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice. "However, this is an atypical investigation."
Another former federal prosecutor, Christopher J. Steskal, said that heedlessly benefiting from the fraud wasn't enough to bring a criminal case against a potential suspect. Investigators need convincing proof that the person had criminal intent and participated in the scheme. It's likely authorities are cultivating cooperators to provide that proof, he said.
"If you're under investigation, you have two options: You either dig a foxhole and hide in it, or you conclude that you have no option except to try to earn points by cooperating," said Steskal, who's now in private practice in New York.
The list of possible cooperators include DiPascali, who reportedly has given investigators evidence against the so-called feeder fund managers. Also, an accountant charged as the only other defendant so far has signaled in court papers that he wants to negotiate a plea deal. Their attorneys have declined to comment.
Federal authorities also have spoken to several clerks who handled some of the voluminous paperwork Madoff admits he fabricated, including tens of thousands of fake account statements.
One of Madoff's burned clients, Phyllis Feiner of Great Neck, N.Y., said Tuesday that she looks forward to more arrests.

"I would like to see everybody else who was involved in this evil scheme to be brought to justice," she said. "There's absolutely no way he could have done this all by himself."

Investors shoved $18.31 billion into stock funds in May, surpassing April's $11.90 billion. Bond funds had record monthly inflow of $31.65 billion.
It was the third in the past five months of positive stock fund flow, according to the Investment Company Institute.
Signs pointed to further inflow this month.
May was the largest monthly stock fund inflow since February 2007. And it was the first back-to-back inflow since April-May 2008.
Funds that invest primarily in the U.S. took in $14.06 billion in new money in May. They took in $9.39 billion the month before. During the month, the S&P 500 rose 5.31%.
Stock funds that invest primarily overseas took in $4.25 billion from investors vs. $2.51 billion inflow in April.
During the month, the MSCI EAFE index rose 11.02%, while the dollar fell 6.30%.
Year to date, stock funds gave back $12.58 billion vs. $18.31 billion outflow in the year-earlier period.
ybrid funds, which invest in both stocks and bonds, had inflow of $2.80 billion in May vs. $2.07 billion inflow the previous month. For the year to date, hybrid funds surrendered $3.82 billion vs. $9.56 billion inflow a year earlier.
Bond funds' record $31.65 billion inflow in May was up from April's $28.53 billion inflow, also a record. May's inflow surpassed the $27 billion inflow for all of 2008.
Investors shifted to bonds as the yield curve steepened slightly. Rates on long-term Treasury bonds rose 0.31 percentage points to 3.47%, while three-month T-bill rates stayed flat at 0.14%.
Ballooning Bond Funds
For the year to date, bond funds had inflow of $113.62 billion vs. $78.10 billion inflow a year earlier.
Taxable bond funds took in $25.11 billion vs. $23.43 billion in April. Year to date, they had inflow of $90.30 billion vs. $63.34 billion a year earlier.
Investors put $6.54 billion into municipal bond funds vs. inflow of $5.09 billion the prior month. Year to date, inflow was $23.32 billion vs. $14.76 billion a year earlier.
Money market funds saw outflow of $25.80 billion in May vs. $23.23 billion in April, as investors shifted cash to stocks and bonds.
Institutional money fund inflow slowed to $7.19 billion from $27.71 billion inflow the month before. Money funds that cater to individuals had outflow of $32.99 billion vs. outflow of $50.95 billion the month before.
Fund assets rose by $373.8 billion, or 3.9%, to $10.074 trillion from $9.700 trillion the month before. They stood at $12.263 trillion a year earlier.

Stock fund assets rose $295.3 billion, or 8.0%, to $4.005 trillion from $3.709 trillion the prior month. They were $6.332 trillion a year earlier.

Hybrid fund assets rose $28.1 billion, or 5.7%, to $521.5 billion from $493.4 billion the month before and $719.3 billion a year earlier.

Bond fund assets rose $74.9 billion, or 4.4%, to $1.781 trillion from $1.706 trillion the month before and $1.765 trillion a year earlier.

Money market fund assets fell $24 billion, or 0.63%, to $3.767 trillion from $3.791 trillion the month before and $3.448 trillion a year ago.

June Jumps Too

Early indications were that inflow increased in June. The ICI's weekly estimates totaled $37.4 billion through June 17.

U.S. stock fund inflow was an estimated $6.8 billion. World equity funds took in $6.2 billion.

For the year through June 29, the S&P rose 0.88%, while the MSCI EAFE fell 0.40%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose 5 basis points as the Fed stood pat on credit conditions.

Vanguard said that investors continued to shift cash into stock funds from money market funds in June.

The fund giant said it had $11 billion inflow to its stock, bond and balanced funds in May. Shareholders pulled $3.7 billion from its money market funds.

WASHINGTON – A former CIA station chief charged with raping an unconscious Algerian woman last year surrendered to federal agents on Tuesday.
Andrew Warren, 41, was fired from the CIA earlier this year, according to agency spokesman George Little.
A grand jury issued a one-count indictment against Warren on June 18 that was unsealed on Tuesday. If convicted he faces up to life in prison, according the Justice Department.
Two Algerian women came forward separately in 2008 to say they had been sexually assaulted by Warren while at his home in Algiers, according to papers filed in federal court in January by a State Department investigator.
One of the Algerian women claimed that she was drinking at a party at Warren's home when something made her ill and she passed out, according to the State Department investigation. She awoke believing she had had intercourse, but with no memory of having done so.
The indictment says the alleged victim was not conscious at the time of the Feb. 18, 2008, assault.
Warren had been assigned to Algiers since 2007. He was removed in October.
The CIA station chief is the most senior intelligence officer in the country, overseeing operations and advising the ambassador.
The CIA would not confirm Warren's title. However, congressional and intelligence officials say he was the station chief. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the information.

MINSK, Belarus – U.S. lawyer imprisoned in Belarus on attempted espionage charge walks free after pardon.

BEIJING (Reuters) –
What do Johnny Depp, Garfield, Paris Hilton and roast pork have in common? In China, the answer is that a new government-mandated Internet filter rates some pictures of all four of them as bad for your moral health.

Beijing has ordered all personal computers sold in China from July 1 to be preinstalled with the Green Dam software, which it says is designed to block pornographic and violent images, and which critics fear will be used to extend censorship.

But a trial of the programme, which is available online for free download (http://www.skycn.com/soft/46657.html), suggested

its filters may be of limited use to worried parents.

When the software is installed, and an image scanner activated, it blocks even harmless images of a film poster for cartoon cat Garfield, dishes of flesh-colour cooked pork and on one search engine a close-up of film star Johnny Depp's face.

With the image filter off, even though searches with words like "nude" are blocked, a hunt for adult websites throws up links to soft and hardcore pornography sites including one with a video of full penetrative sex playing on its front page.

Green Dam has not detailed how it scans images for obscene content, but computer experts have said it likely uses colour and form recognition to zoom in on potential expanses of naked flesh.

Programme settings allow users to chose how tightly they want images scanned. When too much skin is detected, Green Dam closes all internet browsers with no warning, sometimes flashing up a notice that the viewer is looking at "harmful" content.

But the interpretation of obscene is apparently generous enough to include the orange hue of Garfield's fur and, on the highest security settings, prevent viewers clicking through to any illustrated story on one English language news website.

A programme to scan written content appears less sensitive, with a string of explicit words typed into a word document triggering no response, although some users have complained in online forums of shut-downs similar to those of web browsers.

SEX OR POLITICS?

The software also allows users to choose what they want to filter for, and besides adult websites and violence, categories include "gay" and "illegal activities."

Gay and health activists fear the blanket ban on "gay content," in a country where homosexuality is not criminalised, could damage projects including sexual health and AIDS education.

And government critics worry the "illegal activities" section will cover political and social activities Beijing objects to, tightening access to non-approved information, already filtered by censors and a firewall.

Another setting allows Green Dam to take regular snapshots of a user's screen and store them for up to two weeks -- ostensibly so parents can monitor computer use by minors.

But it could also potentially leave security officials a track of computer use by a suspected dissident, or be a gift to fraudsters hunting online bank details and private information.

Researchers in the U.S. have already said they are concerned Green Dam leaves users vulnerable to malicious sites that might steal personal data or install code on the personal computer.

Western governments and trade groups have also asked China to reconsider, based on concerns ranging from cyber-security and performance of the software to Internet freedoms.

"People say the software is not very stable and has many technological problems," said Joerg Wuttke, the president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, which has dubbed the introduction of Green Dam "hasty."

China's foreign ministry on Tuesday declined to respond to criticisms of the software.

(Additional reporting by Maxim Duncan, Kirby Chien and Alan Wheatley; Editing by Jerry Norton)

LONDON (Reuters) –
Having sex every day improves the quality of men's sperm and is recommended for couples trying to conceive, according to new research.

Until now doctors have debated whether or not men should refrain from sex for a few days before attempting to conceive with their partner to improve the chance of pregnancy.

But a new study by Dr David Greening of Sydney IVF, an Australian centre for infertility and in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment, suggests abstinence is not the right approach.

He studied 118 men with above-average sperm DNA damage and found the quality of their sperm increased significantly after they were told to ejaculate daily for seven days.

On average, their DNA fragmentation index -- a measure of sperm damage -- fell to 26 percent from 34 percent, Greening told the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam on Tuesday.

Frequent sex does decrease semen volume but for most men this is not a problem.

"It seems safe to conclude that couples with relatively normal semen parameters should have sex daily for up to a week before the ovulation date," he said in a statement.

"In the context of assisted reproduction, this simple treatment may assist in improving sperm quality and ultimately achieving a pregnancy."

Greening said it was likely frequent ejaculation improved the quality of sperm by reducing the length of time they were exposed to potentially damaging molecules called reactive oxygen species in the testicular ducts.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler, editing by Paul Casciato)

BEIJING – China's state media says the government will postpone enforcement of a new rule mandating all new computers be sold with a filtering software.
The rule was to go into effect starting Wednesday, but the official Xinhua News Agency said in a brief report late Tuesday that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had decided to delay the plan. It did not say why or give any other details.
Authorities say the filters is needed to shield children from online violence and pornography, but analysts who have examined the system say it also contains code to filter out political material the government dislikes.

The 2007 pet food recalls involved the massive recall of many brands of cat and dog foods beginning in March 2007. The recalls came in response to reports of renal failure in pets consuming mostly wet pet foods made with wheat gluten from a single Chinese company, beginning in February 2007. After more than three weeks of complaints from consumers, the recall began voluntarily with the Canadian company Menu Foods on March 16, 2007, when a company test showed sickness and death in some of the test animals. Soon after, there were numerous media reports of animal deaths as a result of kidney failure, and several other companies who received the contaminated wheat gluten also voluntarily recalled dozens of pet food brands.

By the end of March, veterinary organizations reported more than 100 pet deaths amongst nearly 500 cases of kidney failure, with one online database self-reporting as many as 3,600 deaths as of April 11. As of April 8, Menu Foods has confirmed only about 16 deaths. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration refuses to estimate the amount of sick or dead because there is no centralized government records database of animal sickness or death in the United States as there are with humans (such as the Centers for Disease Control). As a result, many sources speculate that the actual number of affected pets may never be known and experts are concerned that the actual death toll could potentially reach into the thousands.

Natural Cat Food

WIMBLEDON, England – The women's quarterfinals at Wimbledon are set for today. Due up first on Centre Court are top-ranked Dinara Safina against 19-year-old German Sabine Lisicki, followed by No. 2 Serena Williams vs. 19-year-old Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
On Court 1, five-time champion Venus Williams is matched against 20-year-old Agnieska Radwanska of Poland, with No. 4 Elena Dementieva against Francesca Schiavone.
The first match played entirely under Wimbledon's new retractable roof produced a five-set marathon yesterday that finished later than any previous Centre Court encounter in history.
They might as well have called it Wimbledon's first "night session."
What's more, it ended with a British winner celebrating in front of a raucous home crowd.
Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka battled for nearly four hours Monday under the translucent roof and stadium floodlights before the third-seeded Scot closed out a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 victory with a forehand winner at 10:39 p.m.
Murray sank to his knees and bowed his head on the grass. He then stood up and smacked a ball that hit the roof above.
"It was pretty special," said Murray, who is bidding to become the first British man to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936.
Previously, no Centre Court match had lasted later than 9:35 p.m.
And at a tournament that began in 1877, not a single point had been played indoors until earlier Monday, when a light sprinkle interrupted Dinara Safina's 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over champion Amelie Mauresmo — the first rain break of the tournament after a dry first week.
After the fifth game of the second set, the roof was closed, and Safina and Mauresmo finished up — even though by the time they resumed, the rain had stopped.
Organizers decided to keep the roof closed for the Murray-Wawrinka match in case of more rain. In the end, the rain stayed away but the roof allowed the match to reach its completion while it was dark outside.
Murray was surprised by the decision and found the playing conditions hard to get used to.
"We were warming up outside," he said. "It was dry. Was expecting to play without the roof, and then obviously it came. I had never played a grass court match indoors before and it made a difference."
"It's very, very heavy and very humid," he said. "Sweating so much. From the start I noticed it very early. ... When I finished, it was like I'd been in a bath."
The closed conditions helped magnify the partisan support from Murray's fans in the arena.
"At the end, that was probably the noisiest crowd I played in front of," he said.
Murray, who will face Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarters, could now enjoy an advantage over other players who haven't experienced the indoor conditions yet.

"Now I know how I'll have to change my game if I do play under the roof, and I'll know the way that the court plays," he said. "In my opinion, there's quite a big difference."

The pressure on Murray will continue to build as Britain's long-suffering fans wait for him to end the country's 73-year-old men's title drought.

"I believe I can win Wimbledon," he said. "That's not changed since the first match. But I'm going to have to play great tennis to do it. I had to play some great tennis tonight to come back, because Stan was playing some unbelievable tennis at the start."

The momentum swung back and forth, with Wawrinka seeming to grab the edge when he served an ace to close out the fourth set and send the match to a fifth-set decider.

Murray then ran out to a 3-0 lead, but Wawrinka responded by winning three straight games.

The match turned for good when Murray broke for 5-3 with a clean forehand winner down the line. He served out the match in the next game.

"I tried everything but it was not enough," Wawrinka said. "It was very special, a nice atmosphere. It was very nice to play with the roof closed."

The women's quarterfinals were set for Tuesday. Due up first on Centre Court was top-ranked Dinara Safina against 19-year-old German Sabine Lisicki, followed by No. 2 Serena Williams vs. 19-year-old Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

On Court 1, five-time champion Venus Williams was matched against 20-year-old Agnieska Radwanska of Poland, with No. 4 Elena Dementieva against Francesca Schiavone.

The men's quarterfinals are set for Wednesday. The other matchups are five-champion Roger Federer against 6-foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic; 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt vs. two-time finalist Andy Roddick; and No. 3 Novak Djokovic vs. Tommy Haas.

Djokovic and Murray are relative youngsters at 22 compared to the other quarterfinalists: Roddick (26), Federer (27), Hewitt (28), Ferrero (29), Karlovic (30) and Haas (31).

Roddick and Hewitt have met 11 times, including at the French Open, U.S. Open and Australian Open, but never at Wimbledon. Hewitt holds the overall edge of 6-5, but Roddick has won the past four, including a 7-6, 7-6 win in the third round at the Queen's Club grass-court Wimbledon warmup.

"I have loads of respect for Lleyton, what he's been able to accomplish," Roddick said. "Everyone knows he's certainly capable of playing very, very, very well on this surface. It will be a tough one."

Karlovic has won 128 straight service games dating to the Queen's tournament and has served 137 aces at Wimbledon.

"I mean maybe it's not the most fun match to go through," Federer said. "But I like to beat this guy because he makes it hard on us. He's become an excellent player. Not only just his serve, he's got to have something more or otherwise he wouldn't be ranked where he is and he wouldn't be beating all those good players. He's not to be underestimated."

Ferrero, a former No. 1-ranked player in 2003, is the first wild card to reach the Wimbledon quarters since Goran Ivanisevic won the title in 2001.

"I would like to repeat what he did," Ferrero said.

National central banks play an important role in the foreign exchange markets. They try to control the money supply, inflation, and/or interest rates and often have official or unofficial target rates for their currencies. They can use their often substantial foreign exchange reserves to stabilize the market.

In this view, countries may develop unsustainable financial bubbles or otherwise mishandle their national economies, and forex speculators allegedly made the inevitable collapse happen sooner. A relatively quick collapse might even be preferable to continued economic mishandling. Mahathir Mohamad and other critics of speculation are viewed as trying to deflect the blame from themselves for having caused the unsustainable economic conditions. Given that Malaysia recovered quickly after imposing currency controls directly against IMF advice, this view is open to doubt.

Forex Trading System

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
A woman who inherited some Chinese carved jade from her father has scored the first $1 million (601,557 pounds) appraisal from experts on the U.S. television program "Antiques Roadshow," the producers said on Monday.

In a record for the show, four pieces of Chinese carved jade and celadon from the Chien Lung Dynasty (1736-1795), including a large bowl crafted for the Emperor, were given a conservative auction estimate of up to $1.07 million.

"For 13 years, we've been hoping to feature a million-dollar appraisal on 'Antiques Roadshow;' it's been our 'Great White Whale,'" executive producer Marsha Bemko said.

"We're thrilled that, despite this year's slow economy, 'Roadshow' finally captured this elusive trophy," she said in a statement released by Boston-based production company WGBH, which licensed the format from the British show of the same name produced by the BBC.

On both shows, members of the public bring in items to be appraised by professionals in the hope of discovering that junk from the attic is actually a valuable treasure.

A spokeswoman said the appraisal was a record for the U.S. show, which is not affiliated with the BBC original. According to British media, the BBC's version had its first million pound appraisal ($1.655 million) last November -- a scale model of Anthony Gormley's artwork, "The Angel of the North."

The statement said the owner of the jade inherited the collection from her father, who bought the objects in the 1930s and 1940s, while stationed in China as a military liaison.

She brought them to an "Antiques Roadshow" event in Raleigh, North Carolina on Saturday.

Asian arts appraiser James Callahan said the fine quality of the pieces indicated they were not made for tourists.

"He was rewarded by finding a mark on the bottom of the jade bowl that translates as 'by Imperial order,'" the statement said.

The previous highest appraisal on the show was a 1937 painting by American Abstract Expressionist artist Clyfford Still, found in Palm Springs, California, in 2008. The painting had been given a retail estimate of $500,000.

The appraisal of the jade items will be shown in the next series of "Antiques Roadshow" starting January 4 on PBS, the producers said.

Bank robber John Dillinger might have thought he'd found the perfect hideout in Tucson, Ariz., in January 1934. The dusty city was a far cry from Chicago, where every law enforcer was looking for him.
"The Dillinger gang was the most notorious gang in America at that time," said Marshall Trimble, Arizona's official historian. "Tucson was considered kind of a quiet place in the boondocks."
But Tucson authorities soon apprehended the Dillinger gang without a single shot being fired, thanks to a fire at a hotel that led them to the outlaws in perhaps the most famous arrest in the city's history.
The hotel planned to commemorate the event Wednesday with a celebration that will coincide with the premiere of "Public Enemies," Hollywood's version of Dillinger's exploits featuring Johnny Depp as the Depression-era gangster. Christian Bale plays the FBI agent pursuing him.
The event was to include a 1930s-themed evening of cocktails and criminals with lectures about Dillinger and tours given by actors who'll stay in character.
For more than a decade, Hotel Congress has held an annual "Dillinger Days." During the third weekend of January, thousands converge on the hotel's outdoor carnival with games and contests and a show of cars from that era.
"We're celebrating the police department of Tucson and the capture of John Dillinger. Nobody could get their hands on Dillinger," said Todd Hanley, operations manager at Hotel Congress.
Jonathan Mincks, a professional entertainer, has played Dillinger at Hotel Congress events for more than 15 years and was to be in character again Wednesday.
"The characters are bigger than life and that's just fun stuff to play," Mincks said. "He's just a cool guy. People loved him. He was thought of as kind of a Robin hood at that time."
Dillinger rose to notoriety at a time when the national mood was similar to today's. Banks were closing. People lost their life savings. This disdain for the financial system coupled with Dillinger's humble origins only heightened his infamy.
In January 1934, while Dillinger was in Daytona Beach, Fla., two of his fellow outlaws, Russell Clark and Charles Makley, ventured to Tucson.
The men rented a home but also booked rooms at the Congress. When a fire broke out on Jan. 22, 1934, they got firefighters to salvage some of their baggage; the firefighters didn't realize the bags were so heavy because they were filled with guns.
The next day, those firefighters spotted one of the men's mug shots in an issue of True Detective magazine.
Tucson cops conducted their own sting operation. Within a few days, five members of Dillinger's gang were arrested. Dillinger and girlfriend Evelyn Frechette were cuffed almost as soon as they pulled up to the rented house.
Elliott J. Gorn, a history professor at Brown University and author of "Dillinger's Wild Ride: The Year That Made America's Public Enemy Number One," said the response in the media — and perhaps even among the gangsters themselves — was amazement that the Tucson Police Department had succeeded.
"It was sort of 'Damn, you guys got us,'" Gorn said. "The quick-drawing Western lawmen could do what the slick city cops in Chicago couldn't do."
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Hotel Congress: http://www.hotelcongress.com/

UNITED NATIONS – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will return to Myanmar later this week on a diplomatic bid to win the release of Aung San Suu Kyi just as the imprisoned pro-democracy leader's trial resumes, U.N. officials announced Monday.
The U.N. chief decided at the last minute to accept an invitation from Myanmar's military junta for a two-day visit on Friday and Saturday. He'll arrive in Yangon, the commercial capital, the same day that Suu Kyi's trial resumes.
He'll also try to meet with her, Ban's spokeswoman, Michele Montas, said at U.N. headquarters.
The Nobel Peace laureate is in Myanmar's Insein prison and being tried on charges of violating the terms of her house arrest after an uninvited American man swam to her closely guarded lakeside home last month and stayed two days.
Montas said the U.N. chief plans to raise "a broad range of issues" while meeting with the ruling generals, including Senior Gen. Than Shwe in Naypyitaw, the remote administrative capital the junta moved its government offices to in 2005.
Ban believes that "three of the most important issues for the future of Myanmar cannot be left unaddressed at this juncture of the country's political process." They are gaining the release of all political prisoners including Suu Kyi; resumption of dialogue between the military government and its opposition; and creating conditions for credible elections, Montas said.
He also wants to "consolidate and build on" humanitarian aid efforts that were the reason for his visit last year in the aftermath of devastating Cyclone Nargis.
To lay the groundwork for this visit, and to help him decide whether to go, Ban sent his envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, on his eighth such trip there since 2006. Gambari, who was welcomed Friday by Myanmar's opposition, has met with junta leaders and Suu Kyi before but with little effect in nudging the military regime toward talks with the pro-democracy movement.
Human Rights Watch and some governments have tried to dissuade Ban from visiting the nation also known as Burma, saying he could be exploited by the junta and his visit portrayed as somehow legitimizing Suu Kyi's trial.
British Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis said Monday his government and other nations' leaders had encouraged Ban to go "and expectations are understandably high" with Suu Kyi's trial underway.
Ban is uniquely well-placed to seek changes from Myanmar and "his personal engagement now offers the regime the opportunity to respond to the international community's demands," Lewis said.
"There is no doubt," he said, "that release of Aung San Suu Kyi and of the other 2,100 political prisoners, would begin a long-overdue transformation of Burma's relationship with the international community."