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Sacramento, CA, United States (KaiserHealth) - In the first disclosure of individual health insurance premiums by the nation's largest state, California announced on Thursday a wide array of choices for the 5.3 million people expected to qualify to purchase coverage through its online marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act.

The premiums, which aimed at a "just right" Goldilocks range, surprised many consumer advocates and analysts who had been anticipating much higher prices.

"We've hit a home run for consumers," said Peter V. Lee, the executive director of the California exchange, known as Covered California.

The fear had been that shoppers in the individual insurance market would face severe "sticker shock" when the sweeping changes of the health law take effect beginning in January 2014. The law prohibits health plans from rejecting people with pre-existing conditions and doesn't allow insurers to charge women and sicker people higher premiums.

Nearly three dozen health plans submitted bids to sell their products in the competitive marketplace, and 13 were selected. But California exchange officials, authorized by state lawmakers to negotiate on behalf of consumers, rejected bids that were priced too high, they said, or failed to have robust networks of doctors and hospitals. "We held insurers' feet to the fire," said Lee of the negotiations.

From Bronze To Platinum

The companies approved to sell individual insurance on the exchange include the state's dominant commercial players, such as Anthem Blue Cross, Kaiser Permanente, HealthNet and Blue Shield of California, as well as a number of regional and quasi-public health plans that largely rely on public and university hospitals and community health centers to deliver medical care to low-wage workers.

The proposed premiums still must be approved by state insurance regulators. Three of the nation's largest players in the employer-sponsored insurance market -- UnitedHealthCare, Cigna, and Aetna -- are not going to be selling on the California exchange.

The proposed premium prices vary depending on the geographic region of California, the consumer's age and the richness of benefits, from catastrophic coverage for young adults to "Platinum" products. Under the premiums unveiled on Thursday, a 25-year-old in Los Angeles could choose a Health Net catastrophic plan for $117 a month or a more comprehensive "Bronze" plan for $147 a month from L.A. Care, the nation's largest public health plan. And if that individual makes less than about $45,600 per year, she would qualify for a subsidy that would bring the cost of the premium down further.

Good Reviews

Predicting the impact of the federal health care law on premium prices has become a cottage industry among health policy researchers and consumer advocates, and California was expected to be a key test case. On Thursday, the reaction by those groups was largely positive.

"I'm impressed," said Betsy Imholz, director of special projects for Consumers Union, a division of Consumer Reports. "I actually think they are good prices," she said, especially for those who will receive federal insurance subsidies.

More than half of Californians shopping for insurance through the state-run marketplace will be eligible for federal income tax credits. Those credits will offset the price of private insurance: A 40-year-old individual in Los Angeles, for example, who earns $1,915 a month, or 200 percent of the federal poverty level, would pay a monthly premium of $90 for a Health Net HMO "Silver" plan in 2014, according to the rates released by Covered California.

At a press conference in Sacramento, which had a celebratory air, exchange officials said the restrained premiums largely reflected deft negotiating by the health plans with thousands of doctors and hospitals, including powerful hospital chains whose market clout has been blamed for rising health care costs in California.

"We made the pitch that we can't sustain the current system with 7 million Californians not being insured," said Paul Markovich, president of Blue Shield of California. "We felt there was a rate at which they could still be financially viable, but it would make rates much more affordable for this population."

The rate for an individual plan offered by Blue Shield of California will increase an average of 13-percent for existing customers, said Markovich. But the benefits, he said, as mandated by federal and state regulators and uniform across all health insurance packages, will look more like the comprehensive insurance workers receive from employers.

For Some, 'Staggering Increases?'

Health care analysts said simply calculating how much an individual's premium might increase next year was an incomplete - and faulty - assessment of the competitive marketplaces the federal health law was meant to unleash in each state.

Caroline Pearson, a vice president at Avalere Health, a consulting company in Washington, said she judged California's performance by whether residents would have access to insurance products priced around $5,200 a year, the Congressional Budget Office's estimate for an average individual market premium. Indeed, each region in California, based on her analysis, will offer plans below $4,000 a year. The offerings "strike me as very competitive," said Pearson. "It speaks to the number of carriers that were attracted to the market, and that the exchange created competition to drive down prices."

Still, some remained cautious about the sticker shock some middle-upper income families are likely to experience. Federal tax credits phase out at 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $94,000 a year for a family of four. "For that small number of people," said Micah Weinberg, a senior policy adviser with the Bay Area Council, a business group representing large employers, "those premium increases are going to be staggering."

- Provided by Kaiser Health News.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Procter & Gamble Co. Chief Executive Bob McDonald will be replaced by his retired predecessor, A.G. Lafley, as the company works to revive growth at domestic and international markets.

P&G replaced Mr. McDonald on Thursday by the same person he succeeded for the job effective immediately, an indication of the urgency by world's biggest consumer products maker to rekindle sales growth and introduce new products to the market at a faster pace.

Last year, McDonald introduced a turnaround plan to save the company around $10bn in costs through 2016 and shift focus back to the company's leading businesses after losing market share to rivals like Unilever. McDonald's exit was pushed by activist investor Bill Ackman, who acquired a stake at the company in 2012 valued at $1.8bn.

P&G has shown some improvement in the past several quarters, but reported in late April that it started the year with weak sales growth, resulting to Mr. McDonald's abrupt exit on Thursday.

Lafley, who will immediately succeed McDonald, began working at P&G in 1977 and served as its president and chief executive officer from 2000 to 2009. He will receive an annual base salary of $2mn and plans to continue the turnaround plan McDonald started.

McDonald, who has been with the company for 33 years, will retire by end of June and will not receive any severance payments, according to the Cincinnati-based company.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - A U.S. Federal Appeals Court for the District of Columbia anonymously ruled that photos of the corpse of al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden can continued to be kept as classified, rejecting Judicial Watch's lawsuit to release them for public.

Judicial Watch, a watchdog group demanded the release of 52 bin Laden photos after Navy SEALs killed him in Pakistani town of Abottabad two years ago - a call the intelligence agency had out rightly rejected.

The CIA argued that the photos were classified top secret, but an unconvinced watchdog filed a lawsuit against the CIA.

In his decision, the court, however, said that the "CIA's declarations give reason to believe that releasing images of American military personnel burying the founder and leader of al Qaeda could cause exceptionally grave harm."

"It is undisputed that the government is withholding the images not to shield wrongdoing or avoid embarrassment, but rather to prevent the killing of Americans and violence against American interests," the court wrote in its decision.

Detroit, MI, United States (4E Sports) - Jimmy Howard stopped 28 shots as the Detroit Red Wings blanked the Chicago Blackhawks, 2-0, in Thursday's Game 4 for a commanding 3-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series at Joe Louis Arena.

The shutout was Howard's second in his postseason career, bringing the Red Wings to the brink of an improbable upset which they could complete with a victory over the Blackhawks in Saturday's Game 5 at United Center.

"Just stop the puck. Breathe and stop the puck. "That's basically it," Howard said after the game. "Guys have done a great job all series letting me get out and establish myself and try to make saves for the guys."

Jakub Kindl scored a power-play goal midway through the second period while Daniel Cleary added an empty-net goal with 38.2 seconds left to send the capacity crowd of 20,066 into a frenzy.

Corey Crawford stopped 25 shots for the Blackhawks, who lost three straight games in the best-of-seven series after taking the opening game.

Kindl put the Red Wings in front with a power-play goal at 10:03 of the second period. Johan Franzen shot the puck from the right wall and it was recovered by Justin Abdelkader, who left the puck to Pavel Datsyuk.

Datysuk then deked Marcus Kruger out of position in the process before passing it to Kindl, who shot it through a screen provided by Abdelkader.

It was Kindl's first career goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo, who issued a pass to Kindl, also collected his first point of this postseason.

The goal came with one second left on a penalty to Chicago captain Jonathan Toews -- the second of three straight penalties he took in the period. It also ended Chicago's perfect penalty killing streak -- the Blackhawks had erased 30 consecutive extra-man chances to start this postseason.

The Blackhawks created several great chances in the first period but Howard was simply outstanding, stopping all 14 shots he faced in the first, including top-level chances by Toews, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp.

The Blackhawks dominated Game 1 en route to a 4-1 victory, but the Red Wings returned the favor in Game 2 with a 4-1 triumph of their own. The Red Wings then took Game 3, 3-1, behind the heroics of Pavel Datsyuk.

Washington, United States (4E) - The United States Department of Treasury on Thursday imposed fresh sanctions on 20 Iranian individuals and entities over the Islamic state's continued defiance over its weapon and nuclear programs.

In a written statement, the Department slammed the individuals and enterprises for providing essential services and supplies to the country's nuclear and weapons programs.

Among the sanctioned individuals are Seifollah Jashnsaz, Chairman of Naftiran Intertrade Company and Director of Hong Kong Intertrade Company and Petro Suisse Intertrade Company SA.

Five more individuals holding leadership positions in the energy sector have also been targeted.

The sanctions means no Americans will be allowed to any kind of trading with these individuals and entities.

Green Bay, WI, United States (4E Sports) - Quarterback Aaron Rodgers hopes the Green Bay Packers retire Brett Favre's No. 4 before the latter is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Calling for a "healing process to begin", Rodgers said in a radio interview with "The Jim Rome Show" that he's "excited" about the prospect of Favre and the Packers reuniting in some way.

The relationship has been frayed since 2008 when the Packers traded Favre to the New York Jets after he came out of retirement, choosing to go with Rodgers as their quarterback. Favre signed with the Minnesota Vikings, the Packers' NFC North archrival, a season later, further weakening the bond between the star quarterback and the team.

Favre made a surprise joint appearance with Rodgers at the NFL Honors award ceremony earlier this year to present Peyton Manning with his Comeback Player of the Year honor.

Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy said earlier this month during the team's Tailgate Tour that he wanted Favre "back involved in the organization soon" and expressed his desire to retire Favre's number at "the right time for him and us."

Dallas, TX, United States (4E) - Majority of members of Boy Scouts of America (BSA) voted on Thursday to allow gay youths to join the organization but kept its ban on openly gay scout leaders.

More than 60 percent of 1,400 members of the BSA national council supported by secret voting a resolution "to remove the restriction denying membership to youth on the basis of sexual orientation alone" during their annual assembly at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine. The new policy takes effect in January 2014.

The BSA issued a statement saying it won't let the issue on gay members to affect its mission to serve young people and help them grow into good and strong citizens.

Supporters of the lifting of the ban on gay scouts cheered the new policy while opponents threatened to bolt from the group. The Mormon church, National Jewish Committee on Scouting, the Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist Association and Metropolitan Community Church had urged the repeal of the gay ban. Opposed to the lifting of the gay ban are Assemblies of God; 19,000 former Scouts, leaders and parents; and the Family Research Council.

Some are not fully satisfied with the new policy. Self-confessed lesbian Jennifer Tyrrell said it will take some time for the ban of scout leaders to also be lifted. The mother of an 8-year-old cub scout was ousted as den leader in April 2012 over her sexual orientation. Tyrrell said she will not allow her son to rejoin the BSA to prevent him from being exposed to the organization's message that same-sex families are not normal.

Former Eagle Scout James Dale, who sued BSA to lift the gay ban, said discrimination will continue as gay members will no longer be welcomed when they turn 18. Like Tyrrel, Dale, 42, was fired as an assistant scoutmaster for coming out of the closet in college.

Charlotte, NC, United States (4E Sports) - NASCAR announced the five-person group in its 2014 Hall of Fame consisting of Tim Flock, Jack Ingram, Dale Jarrett, Maurice Petty and Fireball Roberts.

Next year's Induction Day is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014, broadcast on Fox Sports 1 from Charlotte, N.C.

The 2014 class was determined by votes cast by the 54-member Voting Panel, which included representatives from NASCAR, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, track owners from major facilities and historic short tracks, media members, manufacturer representatives, retired competitors (drivers, owners, crew chiefs), recognized industry leaders and a nationwide fan vote conducted through NASCAR.com, which counted for the 55th and final vote.

The accounting firm of Ernst & Young presided over the tabulation of the votes, which showed Tim Flock garnering 76%, Maurice Petty with 67%, Dale Jarrett getting 56%, Jack Ingram having 53%, and Fireball Roberts with 51%.

The next top vote getters were Jerry Cook, Joe Weatherly and Wendell Scott.

Results for the NASCAR.com Fan Vote, in alphabetical order, were Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, Dale Jarrett, Benny Parsons and Fireball Roberts.

The five inductees came from a group of 25 nominees that included Red Byron, Richard Childress, Jerry Cook, H. Clay Earles, Tim Flock, Ray Fox, Anne Bledsoe France, Rick Hendrick, Jack Ingram, Bobby Isaac, Dale Jarrett, Fred Lorenzen, Raymond Parks, Benny Parsons, Maurice Petty, Larry Phillips, Les Richter, Fireball Roberts, T. Wayne Robertson, Wendell Scott, Ralph Seagraves, O. Bruton Smith, Curtis Turner, Joe Weatherly and Rex White.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Sears Holdings Corp. reported a loss in its fiscal first quarter as the company posted weak revenue and margins and due to huge gain on asset sales in the comparable period last year.

Sears Holdings Corp., controlled by hedge-fund titan Edward Lampert, recorded a quarterly loss of $279mn, dragged down by costs linked to discontinued store operations and severance costs.

The cold weather and the 2 percent rise in the payroll tax hurt sales in the latest quarter, according to Chief Financial Officer Robert Schriesheim in a conference call on Thursday. Sears chain saw same-store sales drop by 2.4 percent while discount store Kmart fell 4.6 percent.

The company's three-year-old rewards program, which has contributed to 60 per cent of revenue at Sears and Kmart, is becoming an important part of the company's strategy to boost sales, which have dropped for 25 consecutive quarterly periods.

In 2011, Sears announced plans to close more than 100 stores and sell a handful of others in a bid to end years of declining same-store sales.

Weakness in the domestic economy has hit demand for the retailer in recent quarters. Total U.S. same-store sales fell 3.6 percent as the nation had a cooler spring in the latest period than last year, according to the company's statement.

Cleveland, OH, United States (4E) - Several Ohio restaurants and one in Pennsylvania is offering free burger for life to Charles Ramsey, the man who helped a kidnapped woman and her daughter escape from a Cleveland home, where two other women missing for 10 years were also found.

The offer was in tribute to Ramsey's heroics that ended the 10-year ordeal of Amanda Berry, Gina De Jesus and Michelle Knight as sex slaves of their alleged abductor, Ariel Castro.

He apparently cut short his burger meal upon hearing the cries of help from Berry inside Castro's home and broke the door open on May 6. Berry then called 911 to report the kidnapping and police later rescued de Jesus and Knight from the house.

Castro has been jailed and charged with kidnapping the women from the time they were still teenagers and for raping them over the years.

Among the restaurants that reportedly offered the lifetime burger reward to Ramsey were AMP 150 at the Marriott Cleveland Airport; Washington Place Bistro and Inn in Little Italy; Fahrenheit in Tremont; Market Garden Brewery, Bier Markt, Bar Cento and Nano Brew in Ohio City; Welshfield Inn in Troy Township; Hodges and Pura Vida in downtown Cleveland; 87 West at Crocker Park in Westlake; Orchard House restaurant in Brunswick; Flour restaurant in Moreland Hills; and Allegheny Grille in Foxburg, Pennsylvania.

Hodges, where Ramsey works as a dishwasher, first honored Ramsey by creating and adding a Ramsey Burger in its menu, according to the restaurant's chef-co-owner Chris Hodgson. Hodgson's partner, Scott Kuhn of Driftwood Restaurant Group, then thought of a bigger tribute for Ramsey: he'll be given a "Chuck Card" which he can show at the said restaurants anytime to get a free burger meal.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) - Eva Longoria may have seemed extremely busy these past few years with her shows and all, but the actress made time to earn her master's degree in Chicano studies, evidenced by the photos of her graduation she posted via Twitter.

On Thursday, Longoria posted one of her graduation photos on Twitter, all smiles and in full graduation regalia, captioned, "Aaand here it is! Me and my diploma!"

Longoria graduated with a master's degree in Chicano Studies from Cal State University Northridge on Wednesday. The actress started taking classes three years ago and managed to find time to complete her requirements—even bringing schoolwork while on the set of "Desperate Housewives."

Before the event, the 38-year-old star posted on her Whosay account, "Big day today!!! Very excited to graduate for my Master's degree in Chicano Studies! You're never too old or too busy to continue your education!"

The newly-graduated star, who finished her bachelor's degree in kinesiology at the Texas A&M University in Kingsville, titled her master's dissertation "Success STEMS From Diversity: The Value of Latinas in STEM Careers," wherein STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math.

Meanwhile, after the graduation, Longoria celebrated with her family and friends.

Chicago, IL, United States (4E) - An Illinois non-profit group's delivery via courier DHL Express of 30,000 pizza to American troops in Afghanistan last summer has been recognized as a world record.

Pizza 4 Patriots sent the 12-inch Great Kitchens pizzas to service members in Kandahar, Bagram and Camp Bastion in celebration of Independence Day. The delivery was started June 21 and arrived on July 4, 2012. The U.S. Armed Forces distributed the pizza to the bases in Afghanistan.

Pizza 4 Patriots founder, retired Air Force master sergeant Mark Evans, said the Guinness Book of World Records officially recognized the delivery in April and notified him this month. But he said the record is secondary to the group's goal of taking care of soldiers.

The pizza delivery was funded through donations to Pizza 4 Patriots.

For this year, the group sent 21,000 pizzas to soldiers serving abroad during the Super Bowl.

Evans said they are raising enough money to send 125,000 pizzas to troops across the world for July's Independence Day.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) - "Glee" star Lea Michele has announced Thursday that she will be penning her first book, "Brunette Ambition" to be released in 2014.

"So excited to FINALLY get to share my exciting news with you all!!!" Michele wrote on her Twitter page, along with a link to the news.

Michele's upcoming "part memoir, part how-to and part style guide" would show the author's "behind-the-scenes perspective" from her humble beginnings as a Bronx-born schoolgirl to Broadway child star to television star.

"There wasn't a guidebook when I was growing up, that detailed everything I would need to do, and know, to get where I am today," the 26-year-old singer-actress said in a statement.

She continued, "But I believe I can write one of sorts: Not a how-to-make-it-in-show-business book, but a guide to harnessing tenacity, passion, enthusiasm, and hard work to make your dreams come true."

"Brunette Ambition," to be printed by Harmony Books, an imprint of Random House's Crown Publishing Group, will also include never-before-seen photos and tips from the actress, that she herself lived by.

Meanwhile, Michele joins the ranks of fellow "Glee" co-stars who have become published authors namely Jane Lynch ("Happy Accidents"), Chris Colfer ("Choosing Glee") and Jenna Ushkowitz ("The Land of Stories").

San Francisco, CA, United States (4E Sports) - America's Cup regatta director Iain Murray has presented a list of 37 recommendations to make 72-foot catamarans and their crews safer and avoid an earlier incident where a sailor was killed during a practice run.

Murray recommended structural reviews of AC72 boats and wings, a 10-knot lower wind limit (23 knots maximum) and enhanced sailor safety equipment, among other things.

Many of the recommendations are intended to increase the personal safety of the sailors and they include buoyancy aids, body armor, crew locator devices, hands-free breathing apparatus and high visibility helmets.

Other recommendations are specific to the AC72 yachts, additional support equipment and race management.

Murray presented his recommendations during a meeting with four competing teams and the America's Cup Event Authority in San Francisco.

These additional recommendations have been incorporated into the safety plan produced by the America's Cup, which was forwarded to the U.S. Coast Guard.

"All four competing America's Cup teams have cooperated in an open, helpful and constructive way," Murray said, "and the Review Committee noted there is a clear desire on the part of the teams to ensure the safety of the America's Cup as much as possible."

Murray will now form a number of task forces to bring in experts to define additional technical recommendations for specific safety items such as protective gear for sailors.

Two weeks ago, Sweden's Artemis Racing team lost crewman Andrew "Bart" Simpson when its boat capsized May 9 during a routine training session in San Francisco Bay. With the incident, the team is now having second thoughts about competing.

"We will only race if our sailing team believes they are safe racing AC72s," Artemis Racing CEO Paul Cayard said.

However, it was unclear whether the list of safety recommendations was enough to suffice Cayard.

Washington, DC, United States (4E Sports) - The father of Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III called on the team to revise its offensive plan and make his son pass more and run less to make him more effective and at the same time, avoid career-threatening injuries.

"I just know that based on what I know Robert can do, he doesn't have to be a runner as much as I saw last year," Robert Griffin Jr. told The Washington Post Wednesday.

"To me, you're paying these receivers a lot of money to catch the football. I'm his dad -- I want him throwing that football, a lot. A lot," he added.

Last season, Griffin III ran the ball 120 times for 815 yards in the Redskins' zone-read offense. He is currently recovering from surgery to repair torn ligaments in his right knee suffered in the Redskins' playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Griffin Jr. also told the newspaper that his son has talked to coach Mike Shanahan and his son, Kyle Shanahan, the team's offensive coordinator, about the Redskins' offense.

"I think he (Griffin III) likes some of the things that they do. And he feels any area where he had a concern, he addressed it. And I think the Shanahans have concerns, too," Griffin Jr. said.

"I don't have a leash on my parents," Griffin III said about his father's comments. "I told him, 'thank you' because that's what he's supposed to say as my father. Yeah he doesn't want to see me running out there. He wants me throwing the ball."

Despite his father's views, Griffin III said he must do what his coach orders.

New York, NY, United States (4E Sports) - The 73rd edition of the star-studded World Tournament of 14.1 - the most prestigious straight pool event in the world -- will be played from August 19-24, 2013 at Steinway Billiards in New York City.

Dragon Promotions, owned by multi-titled cue artist Charlie Williams, will spearhead the event for the 8th year since its revival in 2006 in partnership with Dr. Michael Fedak, the event's patron sponsor.

"Dragon Promotions resurrected this competition seven years ago and deserves our recognition and great appreciation for preserving the vitality and existence of this great game," Dr. Fedak said.

"Dragon has been a terrific caretaker of this prestigious championship and I am pleased to help them continue this effort," he added.

Five qualifying events will be held in key cities, starting July 6 at Red Shoes Billiards in Chicago, Illinois and July 20 at Slate Billiards in Boynton Beach, Florida.

On July 27, the qualifying event goes to Sandcastle Billiards in Edison, New Jersey and will end August 3 at Amsterdam Billiards in New York City.

The qualifying event will be a race to 100 points in a double elimination format with a $105 entry fee. The top two winners of the event will get a free entry and spot into the main round robin where each player will play a guaranteed five matches.

Some of the big names that won the event are Thorsten Hohmann of Germany, Oliver Ortmann, Stephan Cohen of France, Niels Feijen of Netherlands and John Schmidt of the United States.

"We anticipate this year's event to be most exciting and look forward to seeing the players from around the world and our fans there again", said Cindy Lee, CEO of Dragon Promotions.

The format for the event will be the same as the past six years with 64 players divided into eight groups of eight players in a round robin format playing races to 100. The top 32 players will advance to a double elimination tournament races to 150. The top 16 players will then advance to a single elimination race to 200 points.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - Sales of new homes jumped in April, while prices climb to record high, a signal that spring selling season is underway amid signs of a more robust housing market.

A new home's median price has reached a record-high $271,600 in April, while a new home's average price hit $330,800, which is also a record high, according to the report by the Commerce Department released on Thursday.

Data from the National Association of Realtors shows home re-sales or existing homes have a median price of $192,800 in April, which is the highest level since August 2008, although 16.3 percent below its peak in 2006.

The number of new homes listed for sale last month was 156,000, adjusted for seasonal factors, the biggest figure since October 2011. At current rate of sales, that supply would last 4.1 months.

The rise in price comes amid a spring selling season, which is traditionally the biggest time of the year for builders, as home buyers rush in to buy before the start of the next school year. The latest home sales report shows that builders are on target in April to sell 454,000 homes in 2013.

On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before Congress that the housing market has gained strength over the past year, boosted by low mortgage rates and improved consumer confidence.

New York, NY, United States (4E Sports) - Miami Heat superstar LeBron James, winner of four of previous five MVP awards, garnered 119 votes to lead four other superstars in the All-NBA First Team, the league announced Thursday.

James, the only player to receive all 119 first-team votes, was joined by Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs, Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers, and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers.

James led the Heat to a league-best and franchise-record 66-16 record and was the only player in the NBA to lead his team in scoring (26.8 points per game), rebounding (8.0 rpg) and assists (7.3 apg).

He shot a career high from the field (.565) and from three-point range (.406) and became the youngest player in NBA history to post eight different 2,000-point seasons and the youngest player to reach the 20,000-point plateau.

For Bryant, his 11th First Team selection tied him with Hall of Famer Karl Malone for the most recognition. He averaged 27.3 points this season and moved past Wilt Chamberlain for fourth on the NBA's all-time scoring list.

Also, Bryant surpassed the 2,000-point plateau in a single season for the eighth time in his 17-year NBA career, becoming the fourth player in NBA history to score 2,000 points in a season at age 34 or older, joining Alex English, Jordan and Malone.

Duncan was named to his 10th First Team selection and first since 2006-07. In his 16th season, Duncan averaged 17.8 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.65 blocks. He shot .502 from the floor and a career-best .817 from the free throw line.

Durant, who earned his fourth selection, averaged 28.1 points while shooting .510 from the field, .416 from distance and .905 from the free throw line.

Paul, an All-NBA First Team selection for the third time, averaged 16.9 points, ranked second in assists with 9.7 apg and paced the league in steals with 2.41 spg.

The All-NBA Second Team consists of guards Tony Parker of the Spurs and Russell Westbrook of the Thunder, forwards Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks and Blake Griffin of the Clippers, and center Marc Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies.

The All-NBA Third Team includes the Houston Rockets' James Harden and the Heat's Dwyane Wade at guard, the Indiana Pacers' Paul George and the Golden State Warriors' David Lee at forward, and the Lakers' Dwight Howard at center.

The All-NBA Teams were chosen by a panel of 119 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. The media voted for All-NBA First, Second and Third Teams by position with points awarded on a 5-3-1 basis.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) - Actors Ron Livingston and Rosemarie DeWitt are now proud parents to a baby girl.

The couple's representatives confirmed the baby news on Wednesday, saying the new parents are "thrilled to announce the arrival of their daughter, Gracie James Livingston."

Baby Gracie was born on April 29, and according to the couple's reps, "the whole family is happy and well."

Livingston, 38, and DeWitt, 38, met on the set of Fox's "Standoff" in 2006 and tied the knot in November 2009.

The new dad, who has also appeared in HBO's "Sex and the City" as Carrie Bradshaw's (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) writer-boyfriend Jack Berger, will next be seen in "The Conjuring," opening this July.

Meanwhile, De Witt, who starred in the film "Rachel Getting Married" in 2008, will be seen in "Touchy Feely," to hit theaters in September.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) - Actor Morgan Freeman has dozed off during an interview with the Q13 FOX News This Morning on Wednesday.

In a promotional interview for his new film "Now You See Me" along with co-star Sir Michael Caine, 75-year-old Freeman's head nodded a couple of times while chatting with anchors Kaci Aitchison and Bill Wixey.

Caine, 80, was talking about the film's characters performing magic tricks without the aid of computer effects when Morgan's head drooped forward, appearing to have fallen asleep.

Freeman, however, quickly recovered from his sleepiness and attended to some questions.

"Now You See Me" tells the story of an FBI agent and an Interpol detective hunting down a team of magicians who use their tricks to rob banks.

The film, directed by Louis Leterrier and also starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo and Woody Harrelson, is set to hit theaters on May 31.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - The number of Americans applying for new unemployment benefits dropped last week by more than expected, an indication that the labor market is slowly improving.

In the week ended May 18, jobless claims fell by 23,000 to 340,000, according to data from the Labor Department released Thursday in Washington. This is lower than the median estimate of 345,000 by 50 economists in a survey by Bloomberg News. A spokesman for the Labor Department said that there was nothing special in the data and there were no estimates for the states.

Falling dismissals also resulted for the broader measure of layoffs to hit its lowest level in five years. The four-week moving average of claims, which excludes the volatility of the week-to-week reading, fell by 500 to 339,500 from the revised figure of 340,000 in the previous week.

The decline in claims could lay the groundwork for the acceleration in hiring should the economy hurdle the automatic federal budget cuts that are seen to slow down growth. On Wednesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said there was still weakness in the labor market, which means policy makers will likely keep the Fed's asset purchase program aimed to keep borrowing costs low and boost growth.

For the week ended May 11, claims were revised upward from 360,000 to 363,000. Earlier this month, the Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate dropped to 7.5 per cent in April, the lowest rate since 2008.

San Francisco, CA, United States (4E) - After officially announcing the purchase of blog content website Tumblr, Yahoo continued its shopping spree. The online giant purchased gaming arena PlayerScale. The details of the purchase are still being finalized, but PlayerScale CEO Jesper Jensen officially announced the merger on the company's website.

"Our goal has always been to help developers build the best possible games, without having to worry about building and scaling the infrastructure required to operate today's biggest successes. In working with the folks at Yahoo, it has become clear that we share this passion," he said.

PlayerScale was founded in 2011 and it now serves 150 million users in the world. An estimated 400, 000 new users sign up daily.

Jensen believes that Yahoo will provide its products instant search and visibility online.

"With Yahoo's backing, we can crank out awesome products and improvements to our platform faster than ever before. We will continue to support our existing product and deliver new services to help you grow and manage your success in cross-platform gaming -- whether it's casual, social or mobile," PlayerScale's CEO Jensen added.

Aside from acquiring Tumblr and PlayerScale, Yahoo chief executive officer Marissa Mayer also bought news-summarizing app Summly, Stamped, and OnTheAir.

Miami, FL, United States (4E Sports) - LeBron James drove past defender Paul George in the final seconds of overtime to score and lift the Miami Heat over the Indiana Pacers 103-102 in game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Pacers coach Frank Vogel left their best shot-blocking option, Roy Hibbert, on the bench for the final play, out of concern to what the Heat would do with Chris Bosh in that scenario. But it just made James' game-winning layup uncontested. Vogel later acknowledged he would leave Hibbert in the final plays next time.

James finished with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, his ninth career playoff triple-double and the fifth-most in NBA history.

Dwyane Wade scored 19 points, Bosh had 17 and Chris Andersen had 16 on 7-for-7 shooting for the Heat.

There were 18 ties and 17 lead changes.

Trailing by two with 17.7 seconds left, the Pacers had to foul Allen, who missed one of the two free throws, to keep it a one-possession game. Indiana brought the ball into the frontcourt, called time, and had nothing working as the final seconds of regulation ticked away.

But Paul George saved the Pacers with a 32-footer with 0.7 seconds left to tie the game at 92.

In overtime, George almost saved the Pacers again when he made all three free throws after a foul by Dwyane Wade with 2.2 seconds remaining for a 102-101 lead. Then Vogel pulled out Hibbert and brought in Tyler Hansbrough before James made the winning basket.

George scored 27 for the Pacers, who got 26 from David West and 19 from Hibbert.

Brooklyn, NY, United States (ProPublica) - by Joaquin Sapien

Edwin Oliva, a 29-year-old petty thief and drug addict, says he was a wreck as he sat in a chair in the Brooklyn District Attorney's office in winter'95. A year earlier, he'd told police a lie that helped implicate a possibly innocent man in a murder. Now, prosecutors wanted him to repeat his story in court; he wanted to take it back.

Oliva says he had been on a crack and heroin binge at the time he'd made his initial claim, and that he told prosecutors he implicated the man only because of relentless pressure from police. A statement he had signed — asserting that he had heard a young man named Jabbar Collins discussing a murder plot days before a man wound up shot to death in a Brooklyn apartment building - was a fiction that detectives had fed him.

But the prosecutors, Oliva says, weren't having it. Collins, the man Oliva had fingered, had already been arraigned based in part on Oliva's word. Collins, then 21, was sitting in a Rikers Island jail cell awaiting trial, and the Brooklyn District Attorney's office was intent that he stay behind bars for a very long time. Oliva was going to be a critical witness, whether he liked it or not.

When Oliva refused to testify, the prosecutors, led by senior Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Michael Vecchione, threatened to charge him with conspiracy to commit murder, Oliva says. Prosecutors then held Oliva for several days at Lincoln Correctional Facility, a minimum-security prison in Harlem. But Oliva held firm.

"I refused to testify to a lie," he said in a sworn statement submitted years later in federal court.

Vecchione's team, Oliva says, finally found a way to leverage him: Oliva was out of prison on a work release program, so prosecutors got the privilege revoked, and on March 1,'95, Oliva was transferred to Ulster Correctional Facility, a maximum security state prison two hours north of New York City.

Oliva was brought back to the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office for a meeting with Vecchione's partner, Assistant District Attorney Charles Posner. According to Oliva, Posner told him that he could have his work release privileges restored if he'd testify against Collins.

"I felt trapped and desperate," Oliva said. "And so I agreed."

Oliva took the stand against Collins, insisting that his testimony was not a result of any agreement with prosecutors. And Vecchione, in a powerful closing argument, vouched for Oliva's credibility.

"He saw something. He heard something," Vecchione told the jury. "Someone asked him about it. And he is telling what he saw and he is telling what he heard. Nothing else."

- Provided by ProPublica.org

Orlando, FL, United States (4E) - A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent on Wednesday shot and killed a man linked to Boston bomb suspect during an interrogation in the US state of Florida.

The FBI said that the man under interrogation started a "violent confrontation" in which the agent suffered "non-life threatening injuries" during his questioning in Orlando, Florida.

The FBI did not formally reveal the man's identity but a local Orlando Sentinel newspaper said that he was 27-year-old Ibragim Todashev.

Todashev reportedly knew Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died in a police clash, days after the deadly blasts. He apparently shared common hobby of mixed martial-arts fighting with Tamerlan.

Washington, United States (4E) - Just hours before President Barack Obama's major speech on counter-terrorism policy, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday confessed that the administration deliberately killed four American citizens since 2009 drone strikes.

In a letter to Congressional leaders, Holder said that Samir Khan, radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, his son Abdulrahman and Jude Mohammed were killed in separate drone strikes.

He also defended the government's move to target Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen in September 2011, claiming that he was a "senior operational leader" of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

He added that the other three Americans, including cleric's 16-year-old son, were not specifically targeted. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The government had earlier denied its involvement in the cleric's death.

In the letter, Holder admitted that the government killed U.S. state of Mexico City-born al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, who was a naturalized American citizen, in the same strike. Samir used to produce an online magazine where he promoted the ideology of al-Qaeda.

Awlaki's son Colorado-born Abdulrahman was killed in Yemen in a separate strike a month later.

Holder added that North Carolina resident Jude Mohammad was arrested in Pakistan in 2008 and killed in a strike in Pakistan.

"These individuals were not specifically targeted by the United States," wrote Holder.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - An amended immigration reform bill allowing 11 million illegal immigrants to obtain citizenship passed the committee stage of the Senate Tuesday evening via a 13-5 vote.

The approval of the bill by the Senate Judiciary Committee sends it to the Senate floor for debate next month.

Ten Democrats and three Republicans voted in favor of the bill. The Republicans included Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, both members of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" that originally drafted the 844-page immigration legislation.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) also voted in favor of the bill after securing an amendment pertaining to provisions on hiring high-skilled foreign workers. Hatch sought to loosen restrictions on H-1B visas for high-skilled workers, amid a vigorous lobby from the high-tech industry.

Five Republicans who rejected the bill were Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn of Texas, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mike Lee of Utah and Jeff Sessions of Alabama. They argued that the bill does not adequately secure the border against illegal immigrants.

Among the main provisions of the bill are a 13-year path to citizenship for qualified undocumented immigrants, a new program for low-skilled temporary workers, new border security strategies and a nationwide employment verification system.

Detroit, MI, United States (4E Sports) - The Detroit Lions are in negotiations to create and operate a new annual bowl game with a Big Ten team at their Ford Field home starting 2014.

The Big Ten's opponent would most likely be a team from the ACC, but it is unknown which selection from the two leagues the new bowl would get.

The new bowl will eliminate the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl after this season.

This is the fourth and final year pairing the eighth selection from the Big Ten against a MAC team. Only three times in the past 11 years has a Big Ten team played in the bowl.

In the coming weeks the Big Ten and the other nine FBS conferences are expected to announce their new bowl affiliations for the next six seasons beginning after the 2014 regular season.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Former Democratic Brooklyn congressman Anthony Weiner, who resigned in 2011 over a sexting scandal, announced in a YouTube video Tuesday that he is running for mayor of New York City.

In the video posted on his campaign website, Weiner appealed for a second chance to work with the middle class. He mentioned one of his plans to revitalize the Big Apple's middle class and asked New Yorkers to give him feedback. His wife, Huma Abedin, appeared in the video supporting his candidacy by saying Weiner is the only one who will work harder to make the city better.

Weiner first indicated his interest in the mayorship in an April article on New York Times Magazine, where he admitted that his campaign committee conducted a polling research worth more than $100,000. He also revealed his "Keys to City" plan enumerating 64 ways to revitalize New York City's middle class.

Weiner's run will be his third attempt since 2005 and in 2009. He is expected to contest the Democratic nomination against frontrunning bet Christine Quinn, the city council president.

In a forum Wednesday, Quinn indicated her readiness and confidence in winning the nomination.

"Nobody has a better, stronger, clearer record of delivering for working class and middle class New Yorkers than I do, and nobody has the set of specific ideas, plans and visions like I do," Quinn said, according to Political Ticker.

Weiner was found sending lewd photos and messages to several women in 2011. He denied it at first claiming that his Twitter account was hacked, but later admitted to the indiscretions and resigned from the House of Representatives.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - The head of the tax-exempt organizations division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) appeared in Wednesday's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing first swearing innocence against allegations that her office targeted conservative groups and then declining to answer questions from congressmen.

Lois G. Lerner told the committee investigating the improper targeting of conservative groups by the IRS that she did not do anything wrong, broken any laws or violated IRS rules. Lerner then invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and told the panel she cannot answer questions.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the committee chairman, tried to convince Lerner to reverse her decision but to no avail. Issa then dismissed her and her attorney from the hearing. But Issa said she would be recalled to the hearing if the panel determines that she did not invoke her right properly as Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) claimed.

Gowdy said Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment right when she made an opening statement before the panel.

The hearing took six hours before Issa declared a recess for Lerner's refusal to answer questions. Douglas Shulman, the IRS commissioner during President Obama's first term; J. Russell George, the Department of Treasury's inspector general for tax administration; and Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin also appeared in the hearing.

The committee investigation was sparked by George's report last week that the IRS inappropriately targeted "tea party" and "patriot" groups applying for tax-exempt status and failed to inform Congress of his findings.

Chicago, IL, United States (4E Sports) - Jerry Reinsdorf will be honored with the 2013 SBJ/SBD Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sports Business Awards in New York Wednesday night.

Among the accomplishments of the owner and chairman of the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Bulls are six NBA titles and a World Series title with the 2005 -- the club's first in 88 years.

"It's a pretty short list of people who have accomplished what he has accomplished in sports -- not just a sport, but in sports," said Scott Reifert, the White Sox senior vice president of communications. "You look at that level of influence over three-plus decades now. People don't own sports teams for 33 years anymore."

But Reinsdorf, who has beeen credited for running the White Sox as a successful business while also maintaining a family atmosphere, requested that he not be deified, added Reifert.

First baseman Paul Konerko, who has forged a 15-year bond with Reinsdorf, noted that there are people who have worked with the White Sox since Reinsdorf took over the team in the early '80s, Konerko shared that Reinsdorf takes care of players and staff members it above and beyond what he has to do.

Reinsdorf's commitment has gone well beyond the field and into the community, but ultimately, he wants the focus to be on his teams and not himself, despite the many contributions that make him well deserving of this award.

Irving, TX, United States (4E Sports) - Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is eyeing a return to practice for the team's minicamp on June 11 to 13 after undergoing a minor procedure to remove a cyst on his back last month.

"I feel a lot better," said Romo, who will miss the organized team activities that started on Tuesday and will run the next three weeks.

He said he would get enough work in between the end of minicamp and the start of training camp on July 19 in Oxnard, California.

Cowboys owner and GM Jerry Jones downplays the need for Romo to participate in the OTAs, on a theory that quarterbacks are not supposed to throw during that period and instead should rest their arms. He added that he will not rush Romo to join the minicamp since it's not considered crucial.

Romo's back bothered him in early April, which led to the procedure in the middle of the month. He was not aware how big the cyst was but said it was not cancerous.

He said he has not been doing any sprinting in his rehab yet, but has worked on the stationary bike and elliptical machines as well as some weight lifting.

Romo, 33, uses the offseason to tinker with his mechanics, from altering his footwork to how he holds the ball. He has used the OTAs and minicamp as a test for how the changes would hold up under pressure and if he would continue with them.

He signed a six-year extension in March worth $108 million, including $55 million guaranteed.

With Romo on the sideline, Kyle Orton will work with the first-team offense while quarterbacks Nick Stephens and undrafted rookie Dalton Williams will receive more work in Romo's absence.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) - Actor and comedian Billy Crystal is all set to star in the pilot of the upcoming FX comedy titled "The Comedians."

"The Comedians" marks Crystal's comeback to the small screen since "Saturday Night Live" in the 80's.

To be directed by Larry Charles, "The Comedians" revolves around Crystal's character, a comedian who gets paired with a younger comedian for a late-night show.

According to Deadline, "The Comedians" is based on the 2004 Swedish Series "Ulveson And Herngren," which is about two comedians putting together a sketch show.

Of Crystal's involvement, FX president John Landgraf said in a statement, "It truly is an honor to be in business with Billy Crystal and Larry Charles, two of the all-time greats in comedy. We have also wanted for some time to be in business with Matt Nix, who has done such an amazing job creating and running 'Burn Notice.'"

The cast members and show schedules are yet to be announced, though filming is reportedly slated to start this summer.

San Francisco, CA, United States (4E Sports) - San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree is expected to miss six months after undergoing surgery for a torn Achillies, according to a league source.

The league source told ESPN.com that doctors believed Crabtree's torn Achilles would sideline him six months, despite it being a season-ending injury.

The 25-year-old Crabtree was the best receiver for the NFC West champion 49ers in last year's regular season with 85 receptions for 1,105 yards and nine touchdowns.

In the postseason, Crabtree had 28 receptions for 285 yards and three touchdowns, including one score in the 49ers' Super Bowl loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

The 49ers have veterans Anquan Boldin, Mario Manningham and Kyle Williams on their depth chart at receiver. San Francisco also selected receiver Quinton Patton in the fourth round of the 2013 draft.

Orlando, FL, United States (4E) - An FBI agent shot and killed a Chechen man in a Florida apartment on Wednesday when the latter attacked him and other officers with a knife during an interrogation about an unsolved triple murder case in Massachusetts in 2011 and the Boston Marathon bombings last month.

The fatality was identified as Ibragim Todashev, 27, of Kissimmee, according to FBI. An FBI team from Washington, D.C. has been dispatched to Orlando to investigate the shooting incident.

A summary of the shooting incident released by the FBI at 10:30 a.m. said Todashev was being questioned about the murders of Brendan H. Mess. 25; Rafael M. Teken, 37; and Erik Weissman, 31, in Waltham, Massachusetts in September 2011. The victims had slashed throats and their bodies sprinkled with marijuana.

Todashev was also being asked about his relationship with Tsarnaev, whom he allegedly met while living and training in mixed martial arts in Boston. It was at this point that he lunged at the interrogators, who included two Massachusetts State Police troopers and other law enforcement personnel investigating the triple murder and the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15. No officers were harmed in the attack.

A friend of Todashev, Khusen Taramov, 22, claimed that Todashev feared being framed by FBI agents to the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people and injured more than 200 others. Taramov was interviewed prior to Todashev and he was cleared from the bombings case.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) - Model Miranda Kerr accidentally bared both her breasts for all to see during a photo shoot for skin care products.

Kerr was shooting products for Kora, her personal line of skin care products in Miami Beach when her loose black sweater slid off her shoulders down to her waist, exposing her chest.

The cool model quickly covered herself with her arms, and the photo shoot went on like nothing happened.

The 30-year-old mom of one seems unfazed by the media frenzy surrounding her 'nip-slip' as, on Wednesday, she posted a photo of herself doing yoga, captioned, "Feels so good to stretch it out."

Sudden breast exposure and all, the former Victoria's Secret Angel is no stranger to baring skin as she has modeled the brand's lingerie in various media since 2007.

Durham, NC, United States (4E Sports) - Coach Mike Krzyzewski will return to guide the US men's basketball team to a third straight Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, according to a person familiar with his decision.

The person told USA Today that Krzyzewski will also coach the team at the 2014 FIBA World Cup of Basketball in Spain.

Krzyzewski's return could be announced during Thursday's news conference at Duke University where he coaches.

Krzyzewski has amassed a record of 62-1 as head coach of the US national team. He led the squad to victories at the FIBA Americas Championship 2007, 2008 Olympics, 2010 FIBA World Championship and the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Earlier, Krzyzewski said he would step down as coach after the 2012 London Olympics but USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo remained patient and gave Krzyzewski enough time to reconsider.

The two met last week in Las Vegas, and Colangelo had a good sense then that the Hall of Fame coach would return.

"He was already having some withdrawal symptoms. So, as I read it, it was just a matter of in due course and in due time, he'll come to a decision," Colangelo told USA Today. "It had to be a decision that was right for him and his family and the university as well as USA Basketball. That's why I've given him all the time he needed."

"What I've said along is, with what he has contributed to the USA Basketball program and what's he accomplished and what he means to it, he was entitled to be given the time to make a final decision. Time has worked to our mutual advantage," Colangelo added.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Target Corp. said its quarterly earnings declined by 29 percent, prompting it to lower its outlook because of weak sales in seasonal and weather-sensitive products.

The company reported a profit of $498mn, or 77 cents per share for the quarter ended May 4, which is lower compared to the $697mn, or $1.04 per share, profit a year ago.

Target also said the quarter included an earnings dilution of 24 cents a share linked to its Canadian operations, a net accounting gain of 36 cents a share related with the sale of credit-card receivables and losses of 41 cents a share on the early retirement of loans.

Target also lowered its full year outlook to a range of $4.70 to $4.90 a share, from $4.85 to $5.05. Revenue declined 1 per cent to $16.71bn, missing analysts' forecast of $16.78bn, while sales rose one percent.

Same-store sales for Target's U.S. retail segment declined 0.6 percent, stripping out revenue from credit cards, while gross margin increased from 30.2 per cent to 30.7 percent.

Excluding special items, the company's earnings per share was down from $1.11 to $1.05. In February, Target estimated an adjusted earnings range of $1.10 to $1.20, but warned in April that it will be slightly lower than its prior estimate, citing weak sales in seasonal and weather-related categories.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) - "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts is all set to pen a memoir recounting her battle against a rare blood disorder to be released in April 2014.

The 52-year-old breast cancer survivor will write about her fight against myelodysplastic syndrome, which cost her to take a leave off GMA to undergo a bone marrow transplant in September. She has since recovered from the surgery and come back to the show's set last February.

"I am humbled that many have an interest, and draw strength from my on-going journey," Roberts said in a statement. "I'm grateful for the prayers and well wishes of so many people. I'm thrilled that Jamie Raab and Grand Central Publishing will help me tell my story."

Meanwhile, Jamie Raab, president and publisher of Grand Central Publishing, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, said, "I have long admired Robin Roberts's career and courage and am so honored to be publishing her book. Her story is both dramatic and inspiring, and will capture the incredible spirit that has endeared her to all of us who have followed her remarkable career and life."

Roberts, who received a Peabody Award on Monday for "Robin's Journey," a chronicle of her journey during her battle with MDS, already has a bestselling book under her belt, "From the Heart: 7 Rules to Live By," published by Hyperion in 2007.

United States (ProPublica) - In the furious fallout from the revelation that the IRS flagged applications from conservative nonprofits for extra review because of their political activity, some points about the big picture -- and big donors -- have fallen through the cracks.

Consider this our Top 6 list of need-to-know facts on social welfare nonprofits, also known as dark money groups because they don't have to disclose their donors. The groups poured more than $256 million into the 2012 federal elections.

1. Social welfare nonprofits are supposed to have social welfare, and not politics, as their "exclusive" "primary" purpose.

A century ago, Congress created a tax exemption for social welfare nonprofits. The statute defining the groups says they are supposed to be "operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare." But in 1959, the regulators interpreted the "exclusively" part of the statute to mean groups had to be "primarily" engaged in enhancing social welfare. This later opened the door to political spending.

So what does "primarily" mean? It's not clear. The IRS has said it uses a "facts and circumstances" test to say whether a group mostly works to benefit the community or not. In short: If a group walks and talks like a social welfare nonprofit, then it's a social welfare nonprofit.

This deliberate vagueness has led some groups to say that "primarily" simply means they must spend 51 percent of their money on a social welfare idea -- say, on something as vague as "education," which could also include issue ads criticizing certain politicians. And then, the reasoning goes, a group can spend as much as 49 percent of its expenditures on ads directly advocating the election or defeat of a candidate for office.

Nowhere in tax regulations or rulings does it mention 49 percent, though. Some nonprofit lawyers have argued that the IRS should set hard limits for social welfare nonprofits -- setting out, for instance, that they cannot spend more than 20 percent of their money on election ads or even limiting spending to a fixed amount, like no more than $250,000.

So far, the IRS has avoided clarifying any limits.

2. Donors to social welfare nonprofits are anonymous for a reason.

Unlike donors who give directly to politicians or even to super PACs, donors who give to social welfare nonprofits can stay secret. In large part, this is because of an attempt by Alabama to force the NAACP, then a social welfare nonprofit, to disclose its donors in the'50s. In'58, the Supreme Court sided with the NAACP, saying that public identification of its members made them at risk of reprisal and threats.

The ACLU, which is itself a social welfare nonprofit, has long made similar arguments. So has Karl Rove, the GOP strategist and brains behind Crossroads GPS, which has spent more money on elections than any other social welfare nonprofit. In early April 2012, Rove invoked the NAACP in defending his organization against attempts to reveal donors.

The Federal Election Commission could in theory push for some disclosure from social welfare nonprofits -- for their election ads, at least. But the FEC has been paralyzed by a 3-3 partisan split, and its interpretations of older court decisions have given nonprofits wiggle room to avoid saying who donated money, as long as a donation wasn't specifically made for a political ad.

New rulings indicate that higher courts, including the Supreme Court, favor disclosure for political ads, and states are also stepping into the fray. During the 2012 elections, courts in two states -- Montana and Idaho -- ruled that two nonprofits engaged in state campaigns needed to disclose donors.

But sometimes, when nonprofits funnel donations, the answers raise more questions. It's the Russian nesting doll phenomenon. Last election, for instance, California's election agency pushed for an Arizona social welfare nonprofit to disclose donors for $11 million spent on two California ballot initiatives. The answer? Another social welfare nonprofit, which in turn got the money from a trade association, which also doesn't have to reveal its donors.

3. The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision meant that corporations could pay for political ads, anonymously, using social welfare nonprofits.

In January 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations and unions could spend money directly on election ads. A later court decision made possible super PACs, the political committees that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money from donors, as long as they don't coordinate with candidates and as long as they report their donors and spending.

Initially, campaign finance watchdogs believed corporations would give directly to super PACs. And in some cases, that happened. But not as much as anyone thought, and maybe for a reason: Disclosure isn't necessarily good for business. Target famously faced a consumer and shareholder backlash after it gave money in 2010 to a group backing a Minnesota candidate who opposed gay rights.

Many watchdogs now believe that large public corporations are giving money to support candidates through social welfare nonprofits and trade associations, partly to avoid disclosure. Although the tax-exempt groups were allowed to spend money on election ads before Citizens United, their spending skyrocketed in 2010 and again in 2012.

A New York Times article based on rare cases in which donors have been disclosed, sometimes accidentally, explored the issue of corporations giving to these groups last year. Insurance giant Aetna, for example, accidentally revealed it gave $3 million in 2011 to the American Action Network, a social welfare group founded by former Sen. Norm Coleman, a Republican, that runs election ads.

Groups that favor more disclosure have so far failed to force action by the FEC, the IRS, or Congress, although some corporations have voluntarily reported their political spending. Advocates have now turned to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is studying a proposal to require public companies to disclose political contributions.

The idea is already facing strong opposition from House Republicans.

4. Social welfare nonprofits do not actually have to apply to the IRS for recognition as tax-exempt organizations.

With all the furor over applications being flagged from conservative groups -- particularly groups with "Tea Party," "Patriot" or "9/12" in their names -- it's worth remembering that a social welfare nonprofit doesn't even have to apply to the IRS in the first place.

Unlike charities, which are supposed to apply for recognition, social welfare nonprofits can simply incorporate and start raising and spending money, without ever applying to the IRS.

The agency's nonprofit wing is mainly concerned about ferreting out bad charities, which are the biggest chunk of nonprofits and the biggest source of potential revenue. After all, the IRS's main job is to collect revenue. Charities allow donors to deduct donations, while social welfare nonprofits don't.

Most major social welfare nonprofits do apply, because being recognized is seen as insurance against later determination by the IRS that the group should have registered as a political committee and may face back taxes and disclosure of donors. A recognition letter is also essential to raise money from certain donors -- like, say, corporations.

But some of the new groups haven't applied.

The first time the IRS hears about these social welfare nonprofits is often when they file their first annual tax return, not due until sometimes more than a year after they've formed.

In many cases, the first time the IRS hears about these groups is a full year after an election.

5. Most of the money spent on elections by social welfare nonprofits supports Republicans.

Of the more than $256 million spent by social welfare nonprofits on ads in the 2012 elections, at least 80 percent came from conservative groups, according to FEC figures tallied by the Center for Responsive Politics.

None came from the Tea Party groups with applications flagged by the IRS. Instead, a few big conservative groups were largely responsible.

Crossroads GPS, which this week said it believes it is among the conservative groups "targeted" by the IRS, spent more than $70 million in federal races in 2012. Americans for Prosperity, the social welfare nonprofit launched by the conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, spent more than $36 million. American Future Fund spent more than $25 million. Americans for Tax Reform spent almost $16 million. American Action Network spent almost $12 million.

Besides Crossroads GPS, each of those groups has applied to the IRS and been recognized as tax-exempt. (You can look at their applications here.)

All of those groups spent more than the largest liberal social welfare nonprofit, the League of Conservation Voters, which spent about $11 million on 2012 federal races. The next biggest group, Patriot Majority USA, spent more than $7 million. Planned Parenthood spent $6.5 million. VoteVets.org spent more than $3 million.

None of those figures include the tens of millions of dollars spent by groups on certain ads that run months before an election that are not reported to the FEC.

6. Some social welfare groups promised in their applications, under penalty of perjury, that they wouldn't get involved in elections. Then they did just that.

Much of the attention when it comes to Tea Party nonprofits has focused on their applications and how the IRS determines whether a group qualifies for social welfare status.

As part of our reporting on dark money in 2012, ProPublica looked at more than 100 applications for IRS recognition. One thing we noted again and again: Groups sometimes tell the IRS that they are not going to spend money on elections, receive IRS recognition, and then turn around and spend money on elections

The application to be recognized as a social welfare nonprofit, known as a 1024 Form, explicitly asks a group whether it has spent or plans to spend "any money attempting to influence the selection, nomination, election, or appointment of any person to any Federal, state, or local public office or to an office in a political organization."

The American Future Fund, a conservative nonprofit that would go on to spend millions of dollars on campaign ads, checked "No"in answer to that question in 2008. The very same day the group submitted its application, it uploaded this ad to its YouTube account:

Even before mailing its application to the IRS saying it would not spend money on elections in 2010, the Alliance for America's Future was running TV ads supporting Republican candidates for governor in Nevada and Florida. It also had given $133,000 to two political committees directed by Mary Cheney, the daughter of the former vice president.

Another example of this is the Government Integrity Fund, a conservative nonprofit that ran ads in last year's U.S. Senate race in Ohio. Its application was approved after it told the IRS that it would not spend money on politics. The group went on to do just that.

by Kim Barker

and Justin Elliott

- Provided by ProPublica.org

Chicago, IL, United States (NewsBahn) - One of the NFL's all-time greats, Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, announced his retirement Wednesday.

He leaves the game he dominated after 13 seasons in the Windy City.

"After spending a lot of time this spring thinking about my NFL future, I have made a decision to retire," Urlacher said in a statement posted on Twitter. "Although I could continue playing, I'm not sure I would bring a level of performance or passion that's up to my standards. When considering this, along with the fact that I could retire after 13 year career wearing only one jersey for such a storied franchise, my decision became pretty clear.

"I want to thank all of the people in my life that have helped me along the way. I will miss my teammates, my coaches, and the great Bears fans. I'm proud to say that I gave all of you everything I had every time I took the field. I will miss this great game, but I leave it with no regrets."

Urlacher collected over 1,300 tackles to go along with 41.5 sacks and 22 interceptions, including two he returned for touchdowns. He was named to eight Pro Bowls and was selected NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2005.

United States (ProPublica) - States that impose the death penalty have been facing a crisis in recent years: They are short on the drugs used in executions.

In California, which has the country's largest death row population, the chief justice of the state supreme court has said there are unlikely to be any executions for three years, in part due to the shortage of appropriate lethal drugs. As a result, state prosecutors are calling for a return of the gas chamber.

Ohio, which is second only to Texas in the number of executions carried out since 2010, said it will run out of the drug it uses in executions, pentobarbital, on Sept. 30. The state has two men scheduled for execution in November, and eight more set to be killed after that. Every state's supply of pentotbarbital, which has been the principal execution drug, expires at the end of November.

The shortage has forced death penalty states to scramble on two fronts: They are hunting for new suppliers or different drugs to use, and enacting changes to public records laws to keep the names of suppliers and manufacturers of those alternative drugs secret.

The lack of lethal drugs, and the fight over keeping new ones secret, are partly the result of a remarkably effective campaign by opponents of the death penalty, who have, in effect, taken their efforts from the court room to the boardroom.

Each time a state has found a new source for a drug to use in executions, Reprieve, an anti-death penalty organization based in London, in collaboration with death penalty lawyers in the United States, has used freedom of information laws, the local news media and the powers of persuasion to compel the drug's manufacturer to cut off the supply.

"Who's easier to persuade? The Supreme Court or a corporation that has financial interests?" said Clive Stafford Smith, a British-American, who was a death penalty lawyer in the South for many years before founding Reprieve. "You can make it not worth their while to allow their drugs in executions."

The effectiveness of Reprieve's campaign might well be behind the action taken last year by the state of Texas, which leads the nation in executions.

When a reporter for the Austin American-Statesman, Mike Ward, using the state's Public Information Act, sought information about the drugs used in executions, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice fiercely resisted.

In one legal filing, Patricia Fleming, the agency's assistant general counsel, said revealing the information about the drugs and who made them would invite "financial intimidation and negative publicity," as well as "intensive lobbying" and "unrestrained harassment." Referring to death penalty opponents, Fleming asserted that "essential to their strategy is knowledge of the private companies" that supply the drugs used in lethal injections.

The state attorney general ruled against her, and the department disclosed that it had enough pentobarbital at the time for 23 executions, Ward reported.

Death penalty states are now taking measures to keep anti-death penalty activists, and journalists, from learning the identity of suppliers. A Georgia law enacted in March provides that any information about a "person or entity that manufactures, supplies, compounds, or prescribes the drugs, medical supplies or medical equipment" used in an execution shall be considered a "confidential state secret." Already this year, at least three other states — Arkansas, South Dakota and Tennessee — have amended their public records laws to exempt the names of suppliers from disclosure.

Lethal injection was first proposed as a method of execution in the'th century by a New York doctor who argued it would be cheaper than hanging. It took 100 years or so for it to be used, but every state that set out to execute people eventually adopted it as the chosen method.

Generally, states have used a three-drug protocol. The first was an anesthetic, sodium thiopental, intended to render the prisoner unconscious so that he or she does not experience the pain and suffering from the drugs to come. The second drug, pancuronium bromide, paralyzes the diaphragm and lungs, making it impossible for the condemned to breathe. Finally, potassium chloride is injected, causing death by cardiac arrest.

In 2008, the Supreme Court, in Baze v. Rees, held that lethal injection did not run afoul of the Eighth Amendment proscription on "cruel and unusual punishment."

But the Court recognized care had to be taken in the killing, so that it wasn't unconstitutionally "cruel." The most critical drug, it emphasized, is the anesthetic.

"It is uncontested that, failing a proper dose of sodium thiopental that would render the prisoner unconscious, there is substantial, unconstitutionally unacceptable risk of suffocation from the administration of pancuronium bromide and pain from the injection of potassium chloride," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.

The problems for death penalty states, and the opening for opponents of the death penalty arose when the only company that had governmental approval to make the anesthetic, Hospira, announced in 2011 that it was suspending production because of manufacturing problems at its plant in North Carolina.

Arizona, with two executions pending in late 2011, managed to find another source of sodium thiopental; but it didn't want the public to know what it was or where it came from.

When lawyers for Jeffrey Landrigan, one of the men facing death, sought the name of the supplier, Arizona's state attorney general refused to say. Ultimately, on the eve of Landrigan's execution, the attorney general disclosed that the drug had come from Britain. He did so, he said, to allay fears that the drugs had been made in a Third World country and might be contaminated and unsafe.

Tennessee also acknowledged that one of its execution drugs had been made in Britain but refused to divulge the company's name.

At Reprieve, Maya Foa, head of the lethal investigation project, searched through medical and pharmaceutical directories to identify British companies that made sodium thiopental.

The British company selling sodium thiopental to Arizona, Tennessee and other states turned out to be a tiny wholesaler that operated out of the back of a driving school in a working class neighborhood in West London.

It was called Dream Pharma, and it was basically a one-man operation. It also suddenly became more profitable, as states in America moved to improvise. Stafford Smith, Reprieve's director, wrote a letter to Dream Pharma.

"You have played a significant role and hold responsibility for the potential deaths of many people in the United States," he wrote.

Reprieve sent the letter, along with Dream Pharma's address and phone number, to journalists, and articles appeared in British newspapers and on the BBC. Dream Pharma shut down. The company has declined to comment on its battles with Reprieve or the sale of drugs to the U.S. for executions.

Reprieve then successfully lobbied the British government to ban exports of any drugs to the U.S. for executions. Capital punishment for murder was abolished in Britain in the early'60s even though polls showed the public supported it.

With Hospira out of the business, states had become fairly desperate. That urgency was captured in government emails and documents obtained by death penalty defense lawyers.

"I have been given a task to obtain some Sodium Pentothal by any means available," the director of the pharmacy in the Nebraska department of corrections wrote to her counterparts in several states. "Does anyone know where I might start looking?"

She eventually found a small wholesaler in Mumbai, India, which operated out of two rooms on the ground floor of an apartment building; it had no air conditioning, raising doubts about the safety and efficacy of any drugs stored there.

Reprieve again went to work, alerting local reporters and holding a news conference in Mumbai. Officials from India's food and drug administration raided the offices. The company was quickly out of business.

In California, prison officials turned to hospitals throughout the state in search of sodium thiopental, without success. The warden at San Quentin explored buying some in Pakistan.

In the end, Arizona officials solved California's problems, supplying 12 grams of sodium thiopental from its limited supply, a happy exchange according to government emails unearthed by death penalty opponents.

"You guys in AZ are life savers," a California corrections officer wrote to his Arizona counterpart. "Buy you a beer next time I get that way."

Some death penalty states, looking to solve their drug supply problems in a more reliable way, switched drugs — opting for pentobarbital, an anesthetic commonly used in putting animals to sleep. The first state to use it for an execution was Oklahoma, in December 2010, and it quickly became one of the execution drugs of choice.

This time, however, Reprieve was not up against a small entity. Only one company had government approval to sell pentobarbital in the U.S., and it was a major international pharmaceutical company, Lundbeck Inc. Headquartered in Denmark, it had some 6,000 employees worldwide; its American plant was in Kansas.

When Reprieve approached Lundbeck, in early 2011, the company said it was "adamantly opposed" to its drugs being used in executions — its primary use is in the treatment of epilepsy — but it said it had no control over what happened after its products were sold to wholesalers or distributors.

Reprieve ratcheted up the pressure. Every time Lundbeck's pentobarbital was used in an execution, it issued a press release.

Anti-death penalty activists campaigned against Lundbeck on Twitter and Facebook, shareholders raised questions at the company's annual meeting, a pension fund sold its shares, and the company's place on an annual ranking of Denmark's best companies fell from 17 to 40.

Lundbeck then did what it had said it couldn't do: It devised a distribution system that would keep its pentobarbital from the states that conducted executions.

Last month, Hospira announced that it was putting controls in place so that three of its drugs — pancuronium bromide, potassium chloride and propofol — would not be used in executions.

Once again, that has left states trying to figure out what to do. In Colorado, a man who killed three teenagers and their boss in a pizza restaurant in'93 is set to be executed in August. But the state does not have the proper drugs, causing the director of prisons to send an urgent plea to the state's compounding pharmacies. At "compounding pharmacies," pharmacists mix, or compound, the ingredients for drugs on site.

Last October, South Dakota became the first state to use a compound drug in an execution, and it did so twice.

Lawyers for one of the men to be executed, Robert Moeller, who had kidnapped, raped and murdered a 9-year-old girl, filed a lawsuit to obtain information about the supplying pharmacy. The state resisted, and a federal judge sided with the state.

South Dakota was among the states to recently pass a law exempting the names of suppliers of lethal injection drugs from its public records law. The change was necessary, said South Dakota State Sen. Jean Hunhoff, "because there's been harassment that has occurred against non-protected manufacturers and pharmacists, thereby causing difficulty for the state in obtaining the necessary chemicals for the lethal injection."

South Dakota's law passed in the state senate without opposition, and the house by a lopsided 60-8.

Raymond Bonner, a lawyer and former New York Times reporter, is the author of "Anatomy of Injustice: A Murder Case Gone Wrong."

by Raymond Bonner, Special to ProPublica

- Provided by ProPublica.org

Detroit, MI, United States (4E) - Ford Motor Co. is seeking to raise its manufacturing capacity in North American this year by 200,000 units by expanding its production lines and cutting its normal summer shutdown at some plants to one week from two.

The Detroit-based automaker is on an expansion drive after its addition of 400,000 vehicles to its North American capacity in 2012. The latest move added about 600,000 units to Ford's capacity over a two-year span, an increase of around 20 per cent, bringing its total capacity to about 3.4 million vehicles.

The increase in capacity is a stark contrast from 2009, when CEO Alan Mulally lowered production volume to its lowest level in 27 years at 1.86 million amid the slowdown in the U.S. economy, helping Ford return to black by pushing for a better match between production and demand levels.

Shortening its normal summer shutdown by a week could add 40,000 units of capacity, according to the second-largest U.S. automaker. Ford also said it plans to meet demand by boosting production at other plants.

The rebound in the U.S. auto market has put the company in a better position to gain market share compared to its rivals. Data from Autodata Corp. shows that Ford increased its share of the U.S. market by 0.8 percentage point through April. GM trails behind at second with an increase of 0.5 percentage point.

The company's first-quarter pretax earnings in North America stood at $2.44bn as sales grew 13 per cent in April from a year ago.

San Jose, CA, United States (4E Sports) - Joe Thornton set up Brent Burns' first-period goal and Logan Couture added a power-play goal early in the second to push San Jose Sharks past the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 Tuesday to tie their series at two games.

Led by Thornton, Burns and TJ Galiardi, the Sharks spent almost the entire first period in the Los Angeles zone, outshooting the Kings 15-3. Then Thornton came up with the loose puck and slid a perfect cross-ice pass to Burns, who beat Kings goalie Jonaathan Quick with a one-timer. Couture gave the Sharks a 2-0 lead early in the second period, deflecting a point shot by Boyle past Quick.

But the Sharks managed just four shots in the final 36:05.

The Kings got on the scoreboard in the third period when Mike Richards knocked in a rebound of Jeff Carter's shot. They outshot the Sharks 14-2, holding the Sharks without a shot for nearly 13 minutes, but couldn't get the equalizer against goalie Antti Niemi, who made 13 of his 22 saves in the third period.

Jonathan Quick made 21 saves for the Kings.

Game 5 is Thursday night in Los Angeles when the Sharks will look to end a streak of four straight wins by the home team in this series.

New York, NY, United States (4E Sports) - The Cleveland Cavaliers won the top pick in the 2013 NBA draft and a chance to acquire Kentucky center Nerlens Noel or Kansas guard Ben McLemore.

It is the second time in three years and the fifth time in its history that the Cavaliers won the first pick in the NBA draft lottery.

The Cavaliers entered with the third-worst record in the NBA and a 15.6 percent chance to win, but they jumped over Orlando with 25 percent and Charlotte with 19.9 percent.

The team with the worst record has won the lottery just three times, the last in 2004 by the Orlando Magic who took Dwight Howard. This was the seventh time since the lottery began in 1985 the team with the third-best chance ended up winning the lottery.

Nick Gilbert, the 16-year-old son of owner Dan Gilbert, represented the team again on stage Tuesday night at ABC's Disney Studios in Times Square.

Admitting there is no clear No. 1 pick, Dan Gilbert said he will use the draft in putting together a core players under 22 years old.

Noel has been projected as the top pick defensive presence in the middle despite a torn ACL that will keep him out until December. But McLemore may be the one player in the draft with the sort of star power and athleticism worthy of the No. 1 pick and Georgetown small forward Otto Porter Jr. would be a long-awaited upgrade at small forward.

The Cavaliers have four draft picks next month-- Nos. 1, 19, 31 and 33. If they decide against adding four rookies, general manager Chris Grant may package some of his picks in order to make a trade.

Ironically, after the Orlando Magic won the second pick, the Cavaliers also won the No. 3 pick but the rules prohibit a team from winning two spots in the lottery. The balls went back in the hopper and the Washington Wizards won the pick, jumping from No. 8 to No. 3.

San Antonio, TX, United States (4E Sports) - Tony Parker had 15 points and 18 assists while Tim Duncan made 17 points and nine rebounds including San Antonio Spurs' first six points in overtime to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 93-89 Tuesday.

The Spurs, who also got 14 points from Tiago Splitter, 12 from Kawhi Leonard and 11 from Danny Green, asserted control before halftime with a 13-0 run and went up 46-31 at the break.

With the Spurs going ahead 72-54 with 2:58 left in the third period, the Grizzlies mounted a 16-6 comeback while Parker was on the bench, getting as close as 78-70 after Zach Randolph scored inside following back-to-back Bayless jumpers.

Parker checked back in and soon had the lead growing again to 83-70 with 8:14 to play. But then Parker finally went cold, missing five straight shots down the stretch as the Grizzlies rallied back.

The Grizzlies stormed back with a 15-2 run and got the chance to pull even after Manu Ginobili was called for a flagrant foul on Tony Allen, who hit both free throws. With Grizzlies retaining possession, they set up Mike Conley's basket at the end of a string of seven points to tie it at 85.

Duncan took over in overtime, opening with a layup before making a tiebreaking putback on Parker's missed jumper. He then connected on a runner for a for a 91-87 lead with 1:08 to play.

The Grizzlies had a chance to tie after Jerryd Bayless hit a jumper and Parker missed one of two free throws with 14.6 seconds left, but Bayless' 3-pointer from the left wing was off-target.

Randolph had 15 points and 18 rebounds while Marc Gasol had 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Grizzlies. Bayless and Conley added 18 points each.

Game 3 is Saturday in Memphis.

New York, NY, United States (4E Sports) - Daniel Paille scored the game-winning tally with 3:31 left in the third to carry the Boston Bruins to a 2-1 victory and a commanding 3-0 lead over the New York Rangers Tuesday in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series at Madison Square Garden.

Paille recovered the loose puck in the slot from the right side and swatted it in past Henrik Lundqvist for his second goal of the series that moved the Bruins one win from sweep.

Paille also assisted on Johnny Boychuk's game-tying goal 3:10 into the third period while Tuukka Rask made 23 saves for the Bruins, who will go for a sweep Thursday also at Madison Square Garden.

"He made some great saves all game, and he keeps us in the game, and that's what we need from him," center Patrice Bergeron said of Rask. "I can't say enough about him. He gives us a chance to win every time he steps on the ice."

Lundqvist finished with 32 saves but his efforts weren't enough to keep the Rangers from falling into a 0-3 hole. Taylor Pyatt scored the lone goal for the Rangers, who suffered their first loss at Madison Square Garden in this year's playoff.

The Rangers grabbed a 1-0 lead on Pyatt's goal 3:53 into the second period. Ryan McDonagh was originally given credit for Pyatt's goal because it was his wrist shot from inside the left point that found a space through traffic.

However, the goal was later credited to Pyatt as the official scorekeepers ruled he got a piece of the shot.

Boychuk tied the game at 1-1 with a shot from the right point that found its way through traffic and past Lundqvist. He also scored the game-winner in Game 2 and now has four playoff goals after scoring just once in 44 games during the regular season.

After Paille put the Bruins ahead, the Rangers used their timeout with 1:36 remaining to give Lundqvist time to head to the bench for an extra skater.

The Rangers put six forwards on the ice but failed to get off a shot on goal in time to force overtime.

Bronx, NY, United States (4E) - Reseachers at New York's Yeshiva University have accidentally discovered that Vitamin C can kill multi-drug resistant TB bacteria in a laboratory experiment.

The findings by the research team led by Dr. William Jacobs Jr., a professor of microbiology, immunology and of genetics at the university's Albert Einstein College of Medicine, present a solution to the world's growing number of TB-infected people who are resistant to TB drugs. The World Health Organization estimates that 650,000 people worldwide now have multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and 9 percent of them have extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB).

Jacobs' team was trying to determine how TB bacteria become resistant to anti-TB drug isoniazid in a laboratory experiment. When the researchers added isoniazid and the amino acid cysteine to isoniazid-sensitive M. tuberculosis in culture, they expected the bacteria to develop resistance to the drug. However, the isoniazid and cysteine killed the bacteria culture.

The researchers suspected that cysteine, as a reducing agent, triggered the production of reactive oxygen species or so- called free radicals, which can damage DNA. They tested the hypothesis by using another reducing agent, Vitamin C, which sterilized drug-resistant TB bacteria.

Jacobs said they still need to test the method on human to see if Vitamin C will really work in treating drug-resistant TB.

Cleveland, OH, United States (4E Sports) - Max Scherzer tossed eight innings of one-run ball while Miguel Cabrera and Andy Dirks homered in the sixth as the Detroit Tigers opened a three-game set with a 5-1 win over the Cleveland Indians Tuesday at Progressive Field.

Scherzer (6-0) gave up just two hits with a walk and seven strikeouts to earn his sixth win as the Tigers (24-19) won for just the second time in last six games to move 1 ½ games behind the Indians for the AL Central lead.

Scherzer gave up a run in the first inning but recovered to retire 22 consecutive batters before closer Jose Valverde wrapped up the win with a scoreless ninth.

After hitting a three-run shot in a losing effort to the Texas Rangers Monday, Cabrera provided an encore with a two-run shot in the sixth to key the Tigers' breakaway.

Cabrera's 12th home run of the year -- and fourth in two games -- put him one off the AL lead, while extending his advantage in RBIs and batting average.

Cabrera's 195th home run as a Tiger moved him into a tie with Kirk Gibson for 10th place on the all-time franchise list.

The slugger's 28 home runs against Cleveland are the most he has hit against any opponent and his 14 at Progressive Field are the most for him anywhere on the road.

Corey Kluber surrendered three runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts for the Indians, who lost for the fifth time in 23 games.

Michael Brantley hit an RBI sacrifice in the first inning to give the Indians a 1-0 lead but that was the offense they could muster against Scherzer.

The Tigers were silenced by Kluber in the first five innings but found their mark in the sixth when Dirks and Cabrera hit back-to-back homers for a 3-1 lead.

In the ninth, Dirks and Prince Fielder knocked in RBI single apiece for a 5-1 advantage.

New York, NY, United States (4E Sports) - With the 16-year-old son of team owner Dan Gilbert on stage representing the team, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA draft lottery for the second time in three years Tuesday at ABC's Disney Studios in Times Square.

Nick Gilbert, wearing his traditional bowtie, pumped his fist and smiled at his father when it was announced that the Cavaliers edged the Orlando Magic and the Washington Wizards for the No. 1 overall pick.

"He's the happiest I've ever seen him," Gilbert said, referring to his son Nick. "He's happier than two years ago."

Gilbert is hoping that this latest No. 1 pick will bring the Cavaliers back into the playoffs after a three-year absence.

"There's a lot of great players up top, but there's no clear No. 1," Gilbert said. "For us to have the choice I think is tremendous. It will give us not only a boost this year, but we're going to put together a young core of guys that are all under 22 years old.

With Nick representing the team onstage, the Cavs won the lottery in 2011 which they used to pick taking Kyrie Irving. Last year, the Cavs ended up fourth, using it to acquire Dion Waiters.

Cavaliers coach Mike Brown, in his second stint with the team, celebrated the lottery win which could spell the difference in the Cavaliers' campaign next season.

"Great for the city and the organization," Brown said.

"With Mike Brown and the new staff, we can make a long run for Cleveland. All of us fans paid for it for three years here, and hopefully that pain will be rewarded," Dan Gilbert added.

The Cavs entered with the third-worst record in the NBA and a 15.6 percent chance to win, but they jumped over Orlando and Charlotte to earn the No. 1 spot for the fifth time in team history.

The Magic won the No. 2 pick with a 9-2-3-1 combination while the Wizards earned the No. 3 selection.

The Cavs could use the No. 1 pick to select Kentucky center Nerlens Noel but he's still recovering from a torn ACL and out of commission until Christmas.

Cleveland could also pick Kansas guard Ben McLemore or Georgetown small forward Otto Porter Jr.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - CIA photos and video of Osama bin Laden's corpse taken after he was killed in Pakistan in May 2011 will not be released to the public, according to a federal appeals court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued the decision Tuesday upholding a lower court's ruling dismissing the lawsuit from Judicial Watch.

The conservative watchdog invoked the Freedom of Information Act Request in its suit against the CIA in an attempt to expose 52 "top secret" photos of the dead bin Laden at his compound in Abbottabad and American military personnel burying him.

The founder and leader of al Qaeda was killed by Navy SEALs during a raid of his hideout in the Pakistani city. But the three-judge appeals court unanimously agreed with the CIA's argument that releasing the photos might incite Islamic radicals to harm American citizens abroad.

"It is undisputed that the government is withholding the images not to shield wrongdoing or avoid embarrassment, but rather to prevent the killing of Americans and violence against American interests," the three judges said in an opinion, according to reports.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) - Giuliana Rancic and Nick Jonas will be hosting this year's Miss USA pageant in June.

In a press release published Tuesday, the Miss Universe Organization president Paula Shugart said, "We are excited to announce a veteran and a newcomer as hosts for this year's Miss USA Competition."

"The diverse backgrounds of Rancic and Jonas in the entertainment industry will bring a new and exciting energy to the stage," she added.

The "E! News" anchor and "Fashion Police" host has been hosting the pageant for three years now, while this is the 20-year-old musician, writer and actor's first time do such.

Meanwhile, the Jonas Brothers composed of siblings Nick, Joe and Kevin, are to perform during the event. The group is set to embark on their North American tour in July.

The 2013 Miss USA competition will air live from the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on June 16.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) - Music stars Kelly Rowland and Paulina Rubio have been officially announced as the new judges of The X Factor U.S.A., sitting beside Simon Cowell and Demi Lovato.

Show creator and producer Cowell said in a statement on Sunday, "It's taken more than a decade but I'm delighted to finally be on a panel with three girls (I think!). Paulina and Kelly both have great taste and massive experience in the music industry and together with Demi, this is going to be a fun panel. It just feels like the time to do something different."

Rowland has been in the music industry since she was 16, rising to fame with the popular all-girl group Destiny's Child, alongside Beyonce and Michelle Williams. Since becoming a solo artist in 2002, the 32-year-old singer has won a Grammy award and sold albums that reached gold and platinum. Her newest album "Talk a Good Game" will be released in June.

Rubio, on the other hand, is an international Latina pop star who has sold over 20 million records worldwide from her 10 albums. She started her career in the 80's with Latina girl-group Timbriche, but went solo in 1992, releasing English and Spanish hits and gathering two Grammy nominations.

The newly named judges expressed their sentiments over their newest roles as well. Rowland said, "I am very excited to be reuniting with Simon Cowell and 'The X Factor' family. It feels great to be able to take this journey here at home in the states!"

Rubio had this to say, "I love 'The X Factor'! I can't wait to find the next big music star here in America. I'm so thrilled to be part of the show as a judge. Simon, be careful what you wish for, let's see if you are ready to handle me, empieza la fiesta, amigo!"

Auditions for The X Factor's next season will open on June 15.

Moore, OK, United States (4E) - Oklahoma's medical examiner has revised the death toll in Monday's catastrophic tornado to 24 from 51 as rescue teams continue to search for victims and survivors in hardest hit Moore and south Oklahoma City.

Amy Elliot said Tuesday some of the dead victims were counted twice on Monday resulting in the high death toll. She said the death toll may rise as rescuers sift through destroyed neighborhoods.

An Oklahoma City official said 20 of the fatalities were from Moore, which bore the brunt of what the National Weather Service (NWS) described as an EF-4 category tornado. Elliot said nine of the dead victims were children with seven found in the Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, 10 miles south of Oklahoma City.

At least 237 people were also injured across the state, according to the state's Office of Emergency Management. Kelly Wells, spokeswoman for Norman Regional Health System, said the injuries were mostly lacerations, broken bones, and head and neck injuries. A total 101 people have been rescued Tuesday, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said.

CNN quoted the NWS as saying that the tornado began 4.4 miles west of the city of Newcastle and ended 4.8 miles east of the city of Moore. The half-mile-wide twister with hail the size of golf balls was on the ground for about 40 minutes flattening homes and schools, downing power lines and uprooting trees in a 17-mile long and 2-mile wide area. The twister was one of 14 reported from Colorado to Kansas on Monday.

Briarwood Elementary School in Moore was destroyed by the tornado. Moore Medical Center was heavily damaged prompting the transfer of all its patients to other hospitals. Oklahoma Gas & Electric said more than 40,000 customers were without power as of Tuesday.

President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration for Oklahoma Monday night to allow federal emergency aid to supplement local recovery efforts.

Meanwhile, tornadoes, powerful thunderstorms and damaging hail threaten the Midwest on Tuesday, the U.S. Storm Prediction Center said. The NWS said Arkansas, northern Louisiana and northeastern Texas are vulnerable to the most damaging storms.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) - Actress Jessica Chastain is set to receive the Nova Award during the Maui Film Festival in June, the body announced Tuesday.

Upon the announcement, festival director Barry Rivers said, "Few film artists are as talented and versatile as Jessica Chastain. She has made this clear in the range of characters she has brought to life in her chameleon-like silver-screen performances. Jessica is one of a kind, and we couldn't be more pleased to honor her with the 2013 Maui Film Festival Nova Award."

Chastain, as well as other artists who have received the honor, will be honored for her "astonishingly original and seamless performances, and the way [she] consistently infuse[s] each character that [she] embod[ies] with insight, humanity and wisdom." Previous Nova Award recipients including Zooey Deschanel, Felicity Huffman and Claire Danes.

The 36-year-old actress has appeared in notable films such as "The Tree of Life," "The Help," "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Mama." She will next be seen on the big screen this year in "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby."

She has received several awards and nominations in numerous award giving bodies including the Oscars, Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics' Choice Awards.

Meanwhile, actresses Kirsten Dunst (Pathfinder Award) and Brie Larson (Rising Star Award) will also be honored at the festival, which runs from June 12-16 at the Wailea Gold & Emerald Golf Course in Maui, Hawaii.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) - Comedian Carol Burnett is this year's recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor given out by the Kennedy Center.

In a press release published Tuesday, Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein said, "From her television program and appearances, as well as her performances on Broadway and in film, Carol Burnett has entertained generations of fans with her vibrant wit and hilarious characters. We are delighted to pay tribute to this unique and beloved entertainer."

The 80-year-old winner, on the other hand, said about her new feat, "I can't believe I'm getting a humor prize from the Kennedy Center. It's almost impossible to be funnier than the people in Washington."

Carol Burnett, a screen and stage actress, is widely known for "The Carol Burnett Show," which ran for 11 years on television and won 25 Emmy Awards. Her show was named one of the "100 Best Television Shows of All Time" by TIME magazine in 2007. Aside from acting, Burnett has also authored several best-selling books including "One More Time," "This Time Together" and "Carrie and Me."

Burnett will receive her award on October 20. She joins the ranks of previous mark Twain Prize Winners including Steve Martin, Billy Cristal, George Carlin, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell and Ellen DeGeneres.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Home Depot Inc. announced an 18 percent rise in quarterly net profit as the company posted stronger sales amid a recovery in the U.S. housing market.

Home Depot said profit stood at $1.22bn, or 83 cents per share, for the quarter ended May 5, compared last year's profit of $1.04bn, or 68 cents per share. Meanwhile, sales jumped 7.4 per cent to $19.1bn during the period.

The Home Depot raised its guidance for the year after the stronger-than-expected figures. The home-improvement-products retailer increased its earnings outlook for 2013 to $3.52 per share on 2.8 percent revenue growth from its earlier estimate of $3.37 earnings per share on 2 per cent revenue growth.

Same-store sales in the U.S. for the period jumped 4.8 percent from the previous year, while the gain for all stores was 4.3 percent. The figures were adjusted by not including the figures in the 14th week in comparable quarter last year.

The company had to deal with less favorable weather in the quarter compared to the same period in 2012, but had a better-than-expected start to the year because of an improved housing market, according to Chief Executive Frank Blake.

Home Depot made changes earlier than its rivals because of the problems it had before the downturn in the housing market began, placing the company in a position to gain market share in an economy that is slowly bouncing back.

Far Hills, NJ, United States (4E Sports) - The United States Golf Association (USGA) has announced that anchoring the club while making a stroke will be prohibited starting Jan. 1, 2016 in accordance with the regular four-year cycle for changes to the Rules of Golf.

The USGA and R&A have approved Rule 14-1b, which was proposed on November 28, 2012, following an extensive review by both organizations.

The decision to adopt the new rule came after a comprehensive process in which comments and suggestions from across the golf community were collected and thoroughly considered.

According to Rule 14-1b, a player who uses a belly putter or long putter will no longer be able to hold the butt end of the club against their bodies while making a stroke, although the clubs will still be allowed provided they are not anchored.

USGA president Glen Nager said Rule 14-1b protects one of the important challenges in the game -- the free swing of the entire club.

"The traditional stroke involves swinging the club with both the club and gripping hands held away from the body, requiring the player to direct and control the movement of the entire club," Nager explained.

"Anchoring is different: Intentionally securing one end of the club against the body, and creating a point of physical attachment around which the club is swung, is a substantial departure from that traditional free swing," he added.

"We are disappointed with this outcome," PGA of America president Ted Bishop said in a statement, adding that the group does not believe Rule 14-lb is in the best interest of recreational golfers.

"We are concerned about the negative impact it may have on both the enjoyment and growth of the game. Growing the game is one of the fundamental purposes of The PGA of America," he added.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem echoed Bishop's sentiments, stressing there was not enough statistical evidence to suggest such putting styles were an advantage.

"Given the amount of time that anchoring has been in the game, and there was no overriding reason to go down that road," Finchem said.

The PGA Tour said it would review the rule change over the next month "to ascertain whether the various provisions of Rule 14-1b will be implemented in our competitions and, if so, examine the process for implementation."

PGA of America's Bishop said the board would meet in late June during the PGA Professional National Championship.

While the PGA Tour is against the rule change, the USGA has garnered support from the European Tour, LPGA Tour and numerous golf associations and players including Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Arnold Palmer and Graeme McDowell.

"I hope they go with the ban," Woods said Monday. "That's something that I've said, that anchoring should not be a part of the game. It should be mandatory to have to swing all 14 clubs."

New York, NY, United States (4E Sports) - Premier League powerhouse Manchester City and the NewYork Yankees joined hands to acquire Major League Soccer's 20th club, which will be named

New York City Football Club (NYCFC) and expected to begin play in 2015.

"We proudly welcome two of the most prestigious professional global sports organizations to Major League Soccer," MLS commissioner Don Garber said in a statement released by the league.

With the addition of another New York team, Garber expects fans to look forward to a crosstown rivalry between the New York City Football Club and the New York Red Bulls.

"New York is a legendary sports town, as well as a thriving global city with a rapidly expanding soccer fan-base," said Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano. "We are thrilled to contribute to the energy and growth of New York City Soccer."

The league said Manchester City will be the majority owner while the Yankees will play an active role in the ownership group, with Yankees President Randy Levine playing point for the ballclub.

"In the Yankees, we have found the absolute best partner for developing a world-class sports organization and a winning team that will carry the New York City Football Club name with pride," added Soriano.

"We are pleased to be associated with this major move by MLS to increase its presence in the New York market and to enhance the opportunity for New York soccer fans to enjoy high-level play in their own city," said Yankees' Hal Steinbrenner.

This is not the first time that the Yankees and Manchester City have pooled resources. They have an existing commercial relationship through Legends Hospitality, an international entertainment, hospitality and marketing organization.

Aside from that, Manchester City will play a friendly against fellow EPL giants Chelsea FC at Yankee Stadium Saturday.

"We look forward to the opportunity to work with Manchester City to create something very special for the soccer fans of New York -- and to bringing another terrific team to this city for all sports fans to enjoy," Steinbrenner added.

In order to begin play in 2015, NYCFC will arrange for an interim venue but will also seek a permanent home in New York. The club is planning to build a new stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park (FMCP) in Queens.

"Soccer is one of the world's most exciting and popular sports, and it should be played on the world's biggest stage - in New York City," New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in a statement.

"New Yorkers are the greatest sports fans in the world, and they will welcome a Major League Soccer franchise with the full-throated and loyal support they are famous for," he added.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Best Buy Co. reported a loss in its fiscal first quarter as the company was hit by falling revenue and a huge loss from discontinued operations.

For the quarter ended May 4, the 24 cents per share loss compares with last year's net income of $158mn, or 46 cents, according to the Richfield, Minnesota-based in a statement released on Tuesday. The company also recorded a 9.6 percent decline in revenue to $9.38bn. Input costs dropped by 7.4 percent, while gross margin narrowed to 23.1 percent from 24.9 per cent.

Best Buy said first-quarter profit stood at 32 cents per share, excluding special items. The result surpassed the 24 cents average estimate by 23 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

The company had previously warned that figures for the quarter would be impacted by the shift of this year's pre-Super Bowl sales into the fourth quarter and pressured by the lack of an extra week.

Stores that are open at least 14 months saw their sales dip by 1.3 per cent while gross margin decreased to 23.1 percent, missing analysts' estimate of 24.3 percent.

Last month, the Richfield, Minnesota-based retail chain sold its remaining stake in Best Buy Europe to Carphone Warehouse Group in a $775mn deal, a move aimed to streamline its business and improve its balance sheet.

New York, NY, United States (4E Sports) - The San Francisco/Santa Clara and Houston have been selected by NFL team owners as hosts of Super Bowl L in 2016 and Super Bowl LI in 2017, respectively, both edging heavy favorite Miami.

Miami, which has hosted 10 Super Bowls, was the favorite to host the 50th game a few weeks back but condition of stadiums was heavily considered by team owners in selecting venues.

The NFL has expressed dissatisfaction over Sun Life Stadium's condition as the Miami Dolphins failed to secure financing for renovations to make it competitive against state-of-the-art venues like the Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara and Reliant Stadium in Houston.

The NFL was hoping to put the 50th Super Bowl in Miami to celebrate the legacy of the game in a place that has hosted some of its most memorable moments.

However, Dolphins team owner Stephen Ross said he will not foot the entire $350 million needed to upgrade the stadium, which opened in 1987.

The Dolphins then asked help from the Florida's legislature but the latter refused to lift a finger since it has yet to recover from backlash after it approved public financing for the Miami Marlins ballpark.

With the development, the Bay Area will be hosting Super Bowl for the first time since 1985 while Houston will do it again since Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004.

The 2014 and 2015 Super Bowls will be held at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands and the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, respectively.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E Sports) - Despite leading the Los Angeles Clippers to one of the best seasons in franchise history, the team will not retain Vinny Del Negro as head coach.

According to sources, the Clippers opted not to offer a new contract to Del Negro, whose current deal will expire on June 30.

Del Negro steered the Clippers to a franchise-record 56 wins this season and the Pacific Division title.

However, the Clippers were eliminated by the Memphis Grizzlies in the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs, losing in six games after taking a 2-0 series lead.

In three seasons with the Clippers, Del Negro went 128-102. He has a 210-184 career record with Los Angeles and the Chicago Bulls.

Former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Byron Scott, a favorite of Clippers point guard Chris Paul, is a favorite to fill the post vacated by Del Negro.

Also, the Clippers could consider former Clippers and Suns coach Alvin Gentry, Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Malone, Indiana Pacers assistant Brian Shaw and Memphis Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins.

San Francisco, CA, United States (4E) - Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook faced the US senate on Tuesday to answer inquiries about the company's tax habits. Cook reassured the US Senate that Apple was one of the top companies in the country to pay taxes.

Cook defiantly declared that Apple paid more than $6 billion in cash to the United States Treasury. He added that Apple "has become the largest corporate income tax payer in America."

When the matter of tax malpractice was brought up by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee, Cook answered: "We don't stash money on some Caribbean island."

Apple is heavily criticized and accused of using tax loopholes by both Democrats and Republicans. Both parties accuse Apple of using its overseas subsidiaries to avoid paying billions in taxes.

During Cook's defense of Apple, he showed a little bit of emotion during the trial. Aside from his defense, Cook even recommended some changes the Senate can do to avoid such matters.

According to Cook, the U.S. tax code should be "revenue neutral, eliminate all corporate tax expenditures, a reasonable tax rate on moving foreign cash back to the U.S. We make this recommendation with eyes open, knowing it would probably raise our own tax payouts."

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E Sports) - Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard expressed frustration over coach Mike D'Antoni, saying he felt marginalized when the latter looked to Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash for leadership.

Howard voiced his disappointment during an exit interview with Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak, according to sources.

During the interview, every player was given a chance to talk with both Kupchak and D'Antoni. Every player was also given the opportunity to meet with Kupchak individually after D'Antoni left the room.

Kupchak left the meeting with Howard undeterred, telling reporters he was hopeful and optimistic that the center would be back with the Lakers next season and beyond.

Howard can sign a five-year, $118 million max-level extension to stay in Los Angeles come July 1. If he leaves the Lakers, the most he could receive is a four-year deal worth $87.6 million.

However, there have been several developments in the last couple weeks that could affect Howard's decision.

D'Antoni decided not to retain assistant coach Chuck Person, a Howard confidant, on his staff for next season.

Aside from that, Lakers assistant coach Steve Clifford, who was with Howard in Orlando for five seasons before they came to Los Angeles last year, could leave after receiving interest from Milwaukee and Charlotte.

A source called the potential departure of Clifford and the loss of Person "bad thing" as these could remove the buffers between Howard and D'Antoni.

Aside from the Lakers, the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, Cleveland Cavaliers and the Atlanta Hawks also expressed interest in Howard's services.

Washington, United States (4E) - A United States Senate committee on Tuesday accused Apple of being one of the largest tax evaders in America.

To avoid paying billions of dollars of income taxes, the committee alleged Apple of using "a complex web of offshore entities", however, added that the firm did not act illegally.

Responding to the allegations, Apple denied the claims, saying it did not use any tax gimmicks.

Apple's chief Tim Cook is to appear before a panel later on Tuesday where he is expected to set out proposals to simplify corporate tax laws.

Apple has three of its subsidiaries in the Irish Republic where it has paid little or nothing from its billions of dollars of profits.

"They are not issues that arise from the Irish taxation system," Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore told national broadcaster RTE when asked about the Senate committee report.

"They are issues that arise from the taxation systems in other jurisdictions and that is an issue that has to be addressed first of all in those jurisdictions," Gilmore said.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) - Seth McFarlane has confirmed it once and for all that he is not hosting the Oscars in 2014, but suggested Joaquin Phoenix to fill his shoes instead.

On Monday, in a couple of Twitter statuses, Seth McFarlane has announced, "Traumatized critics exhale: I'm unable to do the Oscars again. Tried to make it work schedule-wise, but I need sleep."

The 39-year-old comedian then proceeded to build up another Hollywood personality succeed his throne as last year's Oscars host. He wrote, "However, I highly recommend the job, as Zadan and Meron are two of the most talented producers in the business. My suggestion for host is Joaquin Phoenix."

The "Family Guy" creator raised brows last February for his Oscars hosting stint, highlighted by his controversial opening number titled "We Saw Your Boobs" and other talked-about bits.

McFarlane, however, has succeeded in raking in audiences by 34 percent compared with the previous year, which was hosted by Billy crystal, who has hosted the Annual Academy Awards for nine times in the past 25 years.

Oklahoma, United States (4E) - At least 91 people, including 20 children mostly below 12-year-yold, died in an Oklahoma City suburb when a strong tornado swept the region, destroying two schools and several residential blocks.

State medical examiner's office's Amy Elliott put the death toll at 91 after the leading media channel put the injured figure at 145.

Talking to reporters following a news conference, Oklahoma's Governor Mary Fallin said, "We've had a massive tornado, a huge one that has passed through this community. We know there are a lot of injuries. We know we've lost a tremendous amount of structures throughout this community and throughout the state.

The death toll is expected to climb up as rescue workers struggle to bring out survivors from their smashed homes. An elementary school in Moore, Oklahoma earlier collapsed following the disaster.

Moore police chief Jerry Sillings called on people to leave the affected area over safety issues. "There are a lot of safety issues, gas lines, power lines, things of that nature, that we have to take into consideration and there's just not much else that can be done there at this time," Sillings said.

The tornado also ripped Briarwood elementary school, however, no casualties have been reported from this site fortunately. The authorities in Moore sought National Guard's help after the city's Medical Center was forced evacuated following the tornado disaster.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama ordered federal aid to Oklahoma after declaring major disaster in the city.

The National Weather Service graded a preliminary rating of EF-4 to the tornado in a message on Twitter. It said that the 166-200 miles per hour winds were far more powerful than a category five hurricane.

Brownsville, TX, United States (KaiserHealth) - When the sun rises over the Rio Grande Valley, the cries of the urracas - black birds - perched on the tops of palm trees swell to an unavoidable cacophony.

That is also the strategy, it could be said, that local officials, health care providers and frustrated Valley residents are trying to use to convince Gov. Rick Perry and state Republican lawmakers to set aside their opposition and expand Medicaid, a key provision of the federal health law.

To the struggling counties that stretch along the border with Mexico, where unemployment hovers above 10 percent and the local tax base often cannot fund basic government services, the roll-out of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and its promise to open up Medicaid to all low-income adults is akin to eyeing a winning lottery ticket. In Cameron County, for example, where Brownsville is the county seat, it will mean $7 billion added to the local economy over a decade. In neighboring Hidalgo County where some 800,000 people live, the windfall is even more impressive: some $12.6 billion, according to an analysis by Ray Perryman, a Texas economist well-regarded by both political parties.

"It's a big number," said Carlos Cascos, a Republican judge in Cameron County elected to oversee the commissioners and budget in the county that is home to 414,000 people.

Texas has the highest rate of uninsured residents in the country - one in four Texans has no health coverage - and the rate in the Rio Grande Valley is even higher, at about 38 percent. Counties are required by state law to pay for basic health care for destitute residents, and last year Cameron County paid $6 million for so-called "indigent care." The program is closed to anyone earning more than $196 a month, leaving many working adults ineligible and without coverage. And since there are no public hospitals in the Valley, private hospitals end up with millions in unpaid bills when residents seek emergency care.

That has led a number of counties in the Rio Grande Valley, and elsewhere in Texas, to begin squawking, just like the black birds, by passing resolutions stating their support for the Medicaid expansion. It is an act of public defiance against a powerful, combative governor. Perry, who has been in the governor's office since George W. Bush left Austin for the White House in 2000, has been one of the most outspoken critics nationally of the federal health law.

All of which makes Cascos something of an unlikely - and cautious - rebel with a cause.

"It's contrary to what the leadership in Austin is recommending," said Cascos of his vote on the Cameron County board in support of the expansion. "But we thought it was important enough to take a position - just to show the governor and the administration that there is support out there from the local municipalities, the local county government and other officials."

Across the Border

It is easy to see why this struggling South Texas county would yearn for more dollars. In Brownsville, across the street from Casco's office in an ornate former courthouse are abandoned wooden buildings, their paint peeling from ceilings to cellars. And many of those who live here - including poor Latino immigrants, both legal and undocumented -- suffer from diabetes and lack of insurance. Some of those uninsured diabetics, including American citizens and others living here legally, used to go across the border to Matamoros, Mexico for insulin. But now with the fear of brutal drug violence and tougher border restrictions, families share their insulin shots rather than risking the crossings.

"People aren't going anymore," said Lupita Sanchez, a community health worker who does diabetes education at Proyecto Juan Diego, a health outreach program in downtown Brownsville and a short walk to the border.

Sanchez said that many of those who used to cross the border would qualify for Medicaid under the expansion offered by the health care law. And the state of Texas wouldn't have to pay for it, at least not initially: the law directs the federal government to pay the entire cost of expanding Medicaid for the first three years for newly eligible enrollees, and 90 percent in subsequent years.

But Perry has called the expansion "foolish" and has said he is leery of Obama and Congress, both eager to balance the federal budget, pushing more of the costs onto the states in the future. Whether that is likely is unclear: to change the funding formula, Congress would need to change the law. And there would be fierce Democratic opposition to doing that. As it stands, Texas would have to spend about $1 billion a year over the next three years, say Democrats, to receive $27 billion in federal matching funds.

Meanwhile, as health care providers in South Texas watch Republican governors in Arizona, Ohio and New Jersey moving to expand their state Medicaid programs, patience is running out.

Health care providers and community activists organized a 700-mile bus trip earlier this year for Valley residents to lobby lawmakers in Austin over the Medicaid expansion. Mike Siefert, a former Catholic priest who lives in Brownsville, rose at 3:25 a.m. to make the bus trip. He said the effort seemed fruitless, no matter how loudly Valley residents and local officials, Democrats and Republicans alike, make the case for expansion. "We are totally ignored," Siefert said. "It's not only speaking into the wind. It's speaking into a deep dark hole."

Looking For Buy In

"If Texas doesn't buy in in the next three months, shame on us," said Paula Gomez, the executive director of the Brownsville Community Health Center. "I think we're derelict in our responsibilities to our residents in this great state."

Sitting at her desk at the Brownsville Community Health Center, Gomez pulls up on her computer a list of some 4,000 uninsured patients seen at her clinic who would be eligible, based on their income, for the Medicaid expansion. Perry has argued that adding more people to the state's Medicaid program would be akin to adding people "to the Titantic," he said, since so few Texas physicians accept Medicaid because of the paltry reimbursement rate set by state lawmakers. But Gomez said for safety-net clinics like hers, those added Medicaid dollars would go a long way.

"You're talking huge bucks," said Gomez, who estimates that her clinic alone could receive up to $1 million per year in additional Medicaid payments under an expansion.

For now, those uninsured patients pay what they can for basic medical care at the clinic, but specialty care is a problem.

"Once you diagnose a cancer, then what?" said Dr. Henry Imperial, the clinic's medical director. "How are you going to give me chemotherapy or surgery or radiation therapy? It goes out of our hands."

Those complications can make for some intense arm-twisting among Brownsville's medical ranks. Imperial said he often plies fellow doctors in town with beer to see his uninsured patients. "When they see me approaching them, they start running away," he joked before turning somber. "It's just tough. I could not do an appendectomy. I cannot operate on gall bladders. I need a surgeon."

Most specialists, including surgeons, in Brownsville, accept Medicaid, said Imperial. "It does pay for services that otherwise the patient does not receive."

Perry's position that Texas will not expand Medicaid remains unchanged. According to his website, "Texas will continue saying 'no' to Medicaid." At a press conference at the state Capitol in April, Perry said, "Texas will not be held hostage by the Obama administration's attempt to force us into the fool's errand of adding more than a million Texans to a broken system."

Waiting For Care

Sitting in the clinic's waiting room as the energetic hosts of a Spanish-language morning show laugh and strut on the television, Mark Buitron, 22, is sweating and looks miserable. He suspects he has the flu, and he called in sick to his job tearing apart old cruise ships at the Port of Brownsville. "We take apart boats from the bottom, removing shelves, desks, beds," he said, his hands tucked into the pockets of a boiled-wool green varsity letter jacket from his days playing soccer at a local high school.

Buitron is fit, with a chiseled jawline and dark brown eyes, and he works full time with no sick pay or health insurance. His yearly income is less than $15,000 which is low enough to qualify for the expanded Medicaid should Texas lawmakers decide to expand the program.

He has been to the hospital only once since he became uninsured after he aged out of Medicaid for children. The hospital sent him a bill for $11,000. "I still have it," he said. For today's visit, he'll pay $25 in cash to see the doctor. But should he need medical care beyond basic services or if he gets sick in the future, he asks, "How much are they going to charge me then?"

Paula Gomez says the clinic often has to send patients with serious illnesses to the emergency room knowing they'll get bills they can't pay.

"I can blame Perry all day long, but he's just one man," Gomez said. "I think we've got a whole mess of other people who should be pushing. And he's not God in this state. He's just the governor."

- Provided by Kaiser Health News.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) - Following reports of a "temporary" split over the weekend, actor Robert Pattinson has reportedly moved out the Los Feliz home he shares with girlfriend Kristen Stewart.

On Sunday afternoon, the "Twilight" star was photographed driving his pickup truck, filled with what seems to be his belongings—suitcases, a bike and several filled trash bags—out of the property. On the passenger seat sits the actor's two dogs Bear and Bernie.

The couple, after four years of being together, has decided to spend some time apart. The couple are said to be having difficulties with their relationship of late, including constant fights and other concerns.

The "Twilight" couple's romance went on the rocks after Stewart got involved in a cheating scandal with "Snow White and the Huntsman" director Rupert Sanders last July.

Meanwhile, Stewart was seen going to a friend's house on Monday looking glum.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - President Barack Obama on Monday praised his Myanmarese counterpart Thein Sein for bringing series of political reforms in the Southeast Asian country and vowed to provide full political and economical support to his government.

However, he warned about the ongoing ethnic violence in the country.

Obama's comments came during President Thein Sein's landmark visit to Washington in nearly 50 years.

The president, speaking from the Oval Office, said that Thein Sein and his government made genuine efforts to resolve intricate ethnic violence.

Expressing deep concerns over communal violence, Obama said that plight of Rohingya Muslim minority needs to be addressed.

"The displacement of people, the violence directed towards them needs to stop," Obama said.

Talking to reporters through a translator, Thein Sein said that Myanmar faces many challenges and expressed gratitude to Obama and his government's policies that helped his country.

"For democracy to flourish in our country, we will have to move forward, and we will have to undertake political reforms and economic reforms," he added.

Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) - There is no free lunch. As more people buy high-deductible health plans, they're discovering that while premiums for such plans are more affordable, the trade-off can be high out-of-pocket costs before coverage kicks in.

However, some plans sold on the individual market offer a way for healthy people to shrink their deductibles. Under these so-called deductible-credit plans, the deductible diminishes year by year for policyholders who don't spend a lot on health care.

More From This Series Insuring Your Health

Supporters say these programs reward good health by helping customers reduce their costs. But consumer advocates say the programs may discriminate against sick people and run afoul of the Affordable Care Act.

On the individual market, high deductibles are commonplace. The average deductible for an individual policy was $3,079 in 2012, a 56 percent increase over the 2007 average, according to an analysis of policies purchased through eHealthInsurance.com.

In a plan with a deductible credit, if an enrollee's health claims don't exceed the deductible one year, the deductible drops by 20 percent the following year, then by the same amount the following year, until the deductible may eventually be reduced by half, the maximum reduction allowed.

So if someone has a plan with a $5,000 deductible, for example, the deductible could be reduced to $4,000 after the first year. The following year, it could drop another $1,000; after three years, it could be cut to $2,500. If at that point the policyholder had, say, a car accident with claims totaling $10,000, the person would receive credit for the $2,500 reduction and owe less out of pocket. The following year, the deductible would reset to the original $5,000 and the process would start all over again.

Deductible-credit health plans are available in 26 states through UnitedHealthcare's Golden Rule Insurance Co., according to Ellen Laden, a Golden Rule spokeswoman.

"Insurance companies want to keep healthy people on the books, and this is an incentive for them [to stay]," says Adam Hyers, president of Hyers & Associates in Columbus, Ohio. Hyers estimates that nearly half of his health insurance clients have deductible-credit plans.

These plans generally don't carry a higher premium than similar plans without that feature, according to Carrie McLean, a senior manager of customer care at eHealthInsurance.com. "We didn't see an increase in premiums" for this type of plan, she says.

Most people don't meet their deductible, of course. According to an analysis by eHealthInsurance.com of one large insurer's 2012 claims, just under 11 percent of people with a $2,500 deductible met the deductible for that year. For those with a $5,000 deductible plan, the figure dropped to just under 4 percent. Only 3 percent of people with a $7,500 deductible had that much in claims, and at the $10,000 deductible level the figure was just over 2 percent.

But some health-policy experts say that these plans won't pass muster under the health law's new requirements. Starting in January, plans will no longer be able to turn applicants down for coverage because of preexisting medical conditions. Nor will insurers selling new individual and small-group policies be able to charge healthy people less than sick ones.

"The Affordable Care Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of health status, and that's defined to include claims experience," says Timothy Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University. "[These programs are] obviously an attempt at favorable selection."

Others say they see a potential problem because under the law, coverage must be renewable.

"Anybody can sign up for it, but when it comes time to renew, the only people who are eligible for this program are healthy people who don't use enough health-care services to meet their deductible," says Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University's Center on Health Insurance Reforms.

Asked about such concerns, Laden said in a statement that the program is similar to others on the marketplace today. "We are currently reviewing the Affordable Care Act and its impact on the deductible credit feature to ensure that our products and practices remain in compliance with it and all other applicable laws."

Please send comments or ideas for future topics for the Insuring Your Health column to questions@kaiserhealthnews.org.

- Provided by Kaiser Health News.

Moore, OK, United States (4E) - A series of powerful tornadoes Monday hit Oklahoma City, leveling every thing that came into their way from elementary schools to residential apartments.

According to a local television station KFOR, rescue workers pulled out kids as young as nine-year-olds from a school in Moore in south of Oklahoma's state capital where tornadoes caused widespread destruction.

In a KFOR report, series of homes were seen being ripped of from their roofs while cars were piled atop each other.

Meanwhile, anxious parents are waiting outside the Plaza Towers elementary school as several students are feared trapped inside as rescue workers on their way to free them.

"We anticipate that these storms are going to continue to build around Oklahoma," a grim Governor Mary Fallin told CNN.

Local media also reported that the tornadoes hit the states of Kansas and Iowa on Sunday, causing widespread damage of several homes. Funnel clouds were also seen in Edmond and Shawnee, Oklahoma.

According to Fox News, one person was killed in Shawnee after a twister smashed a group of mobile homes. The counties in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri have been put on alert and residents are advised to stay indoors.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E Sports) - Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Matt Kemp promised to donate $1,000 for every home run he hits to victims of a devastating tornado that killed 51 people in Moore, Oklahoma.

Kemp, a former Midwest City star, already made a $1,000 donation after he homered against the Milwaukee Brewers. After that, he pledged to donate $1,000 for every homer that he hits before the mid-July All-Star break.

Aside from Kemp, other Major League players expressed condolences to the victims of the tornado.

"My thoughts and prayers are with everyone back home. I attended one of the schools that was hit. Wish I was there to help," Mets starting pitcher Jeremy Hafner tweeted.

Red Sox manager John Farrell, who played and coached at Oklahoma State, saw clips of what was going on while his team got ready for their game against the White Sox.

"Yeah, it's a tragedy when you see a national disaster like that take place," Farrell said. "People are certainly affected -- if not directly by injury or possibly by loss of life."

"We had a couple of them when I was at school. It's scary," said Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura, who played his college ball at Oklahoma State. "I think '99 was the last one and it hit the same area. It's scary and there's nothing you can do about it."

Diamondbacks top prospect, pitcher Archie Bradley offered his help to raise funds with an online auction.

"For those awake, over the next few days I'm going to be auctioning off game used items and donating the money to help families in Oklahoma," he said.

Oklahoma City Thunder players Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and former teammate James Harden took to Twitter to express condolences to the victims.

Kentucky coach John Calipari said the Calipari Foundation will donate $10,000 to the Red Cross for the families and victims affected by the tornado.

Detroit, MI, United States (4E Sports) - Jimmy Howard recorded 39 saves as the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-1, in Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series Monday at Joe Louis Arena.

Gustav Nyquist, Drew Miller and Pavel Datsyuk each tallied a goal to help the Red Wings seize control of the best-of-seven series, which will resume Thursday also at Joe Louis Arena.

Corey Crawford tallied 27 saves while Patrick Kane delivered the lone goal for the Blackhawks, who lost just for the ninth time in 56 regulation games this season.

Nyquist opened scoring at 7:49 of the second period. After a faceoff in the Red Wings' end, Damien Brunner chipped the puck over Chicago defenseman Nick Leddy and Nyquist tracked it down near the Blackhawks' blue line.

Nyquist then cut to the middle of the ice and past defenseman Brent Seabrook before smacking the puck past Crawford for his second goal of the postseason. Brunner now has four goals and eight points, second on the team to captain Henrik Zetterberg.

Miller made it 2-0 31 seconds later after Chicago defenseman Michal Rozsival turned the puck over when Cory Emmerton intercepted his outlet pass and passed it to Patrick Eaves, who put two shots on Crawford.

Blackhawks defenseman Jonny Oduya reached for the puck but Miller dove headfirst toward the net and was able to push it over the goal line for his first goal of the playoffs.

Chicago dominated the start of the third period and cut the lead by half when Patrick Kane scored on a breakaway at 4:35.

The Blackhawks thought they had tied the game 67 seconds later but referee Brad Watson immediately waived off a Viktor Stalberg goal because Andrew Shaw was in the crease, even though he did not appear to make significant contact with Howard.

Datsyuk then sealed the victory with an incredible shot at 6:46 to make it 3-1.

Raleigh, NC, United States (4E Sports) - Former Arkansas quarterback Brandon Mitchell announced Monday that he will enroll at NC State, saying he likes the university's culture, coaches and chemistry.

"I like the culture, coaches, expectations within the program starting all the way at the top, and most importantly chemistry," said Mitchell, who also considered Michigan, UAB, Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State.

"I felt I built it with players in just three days. Bottom line is I want to win, and I want to win now. They have the best opportunity there for success and just had one missing piece," he added.

A senior, Mitchell has one season of eligibility and will compete immediately for a starting position.

Mitchell is on track to graduate and be eligible to play this season. He competed with sophomore Brandon Allen throughout the spring at Arkansas but was listed as second team.

The 6-4, 239-pound Mitchell has appeared in 21 college games with three starts. He has caught 17 passes for 272 yards, is 25-of-43 passing for 332 yards and two touchdowns and has rushed 23 times for 75 yards and two touchdowns.

Washington, DC, United States (4E Sports) - Tiger Woods said he would not extend a hand of reconciliation to Sergio Garcia after their exchange of words during the Players Championship.

"No," Woods said when asked by reporters if he sought out to Garcia.

Woods made the reaction during media day activities for the June 27-30 AT&T National at the Congressional Country Club outside of Washington, D.C. Last year, Woods won the tournament that benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation.

The dispute stemmed after Garcia blamed Woods' move for a poor shot on the second hole of the third round.

Garcia was addressing his ball when Woods pulled a club from his bag, eliciting cheers from spectators. Garcia felt the resulting poor shot could have been avoided had Woods waited.

The spat continued the next day with Garcia saying he was glad to not be grouped with Woods in the final round. "He isn't the nicest guy on tour," Garcia said.

The dispute also created put tournament marshals in the spotlight after they contradicted each other on what happened between Woods and Garcia.

"Obviously the matter has been put behind me. The truth came out. As I was saying the entire time, I told people what I had heard and what had happened," Woods told USA Today.

"He doesn't make a difference to my life and I know I don't make a difference to his life," Garcia said. "This is not just one thing. This has been going on for a long time."

Aside from the AT&T National, Woods is also scheduled to play at the Memorial Tournament next week, where he is the defending champion, and then the U.S. Open (June 13-16) at Merion, a golf course he has never played.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Campbell Soup announced on Monday a better-than-predicted profit in the third quarter and upped its outlook for the full year that is higher than analysts' estimates as its core soup business posted a strong performance in its North American market.

The Camden, N.J.-based food company said its earnings grew 2.3 percent for the quarter ended April 28, which is once again in line with the company's long-term earnings target after missing its estimates for the last two years.

Campbell said net quarterly earnings reached $181mn, or 57 cents per share, higher than the $177mn, or 55 cents per share, a year ago. Campbell increased its guidance for its fiscal 2013 adjusted EPS to between $2.58 and $2.62, higher than the $2.56 per share estimate by analysts.

The strong quarterly earnings and the raised outlook estimate come as the company keeps growing its core soup business, which includes the ready-to-eat, condensed, and broth products that accelerated in double-digit pace.

Demand for soup was boosted by the colder weather in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. The company also cited its new offerings that have attracted a younger and wealthier market.

Campbell's V8 juice business, however, is pressured by intense competition and problems with the shelf-stable juice market.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) - Ray Manzarek, 74, keyboardist and one of the founding members of The Doors, died Monday afternoon at a hospital in Germany after a long battle with bile duct cancer.

In 1965, Manzarek formed The Doors with poet Jim Morrison after meeting him on Venice Beach. The band, composed of Manzarek, Morrison, Robby Krieger and John Densmore, then went on to be "one of the most controversial rock acts of the 1960s," selling over 100 million albums worldwide, popularizing hits like "Light My Fire" and "Hello, I Love You."

Regarding Manzarek's passing, long-time collaborator and The Doors guitarist Krieger said, "I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today. I'm just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him."

The Doors drummer Densmore released a statement on his official Facebook page saying, "There was no keyboard player on the planet more appropriate to support Jim Morrison's words. Ray, I felt totally in sync with you musically. It was like we were of one mind, holding down the foundation for Robby and Jim to float on top of. I will miss my musical brother."

Meanwhile, The Doors front man Jim Morrison passed away at 27 years old in 1971 due to drug overdose.

Aside from The Doors, Manzarek was also a best-selling author ("Light My Fire," 1998) and a Grammy-nominated recording artist.

Manzarek is survived by his wife Dorothy, son Pablo and his wife Sharmin together with their three children, and his brothers Rick and James.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - United Airlines launched its first commercial flight of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner on Monday, four months after the aircraft was grounded due to battery issues.

The flight between two of UAL's hubs in Houston and Chicago took two hours and twenty minutes and it saw UAL CEO Jeff Smisek and Boeing Chief Executive Jim McNerney flying in economy class.The flight also had 162 passengers, according to a report by Chicago Tribune.

United is the fifth of the eight airlines that currently use the modern plane to resume commercial flights.

The flight came four months after the Dreamliner was grounded due to overheating of lithium-ion batteries in the 787 planes by ANA and Japan Airlines. The grounding prompted Boeing to work round the clock to modify the plane's advanced battery systems.

United, the sole operator of the Dreamliner in the U.S., will fly more flights of the 787 from Houston to its other hubs across the country this week. The plane will have its first international flight on June 10 flying from Denver to Tokyo. In the summer, more routes will be added including Houston to London and Los Angeles to Shanghai routes.

The grounding of the 787 forced United to charge $11mn to its quarterly earnings because of lost revenue. Boeing is expected to deliver two more Dreamliners to United later this year.

United States (KaiserHealth) - When movie stars become unbankable, they're no longer a slam dunk at the box office. When investments become unbankable, they're relegated to the junk pile. For ordinary Americans deemed unbankable, those who don't have a traditional checking or savings account, it can be hard to simply pay bills. And that is about to become a big problem for those who also lack health coverage -- and for the health insurance companies trying to sell them coverage. After all, how do you sell a product to a customer who has no way to pay you?

One in five households in the United States, or about 51 million adults have only a tenuous relationship with a traditional bank, relying instead on check-cashing stores and money lenders, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The new federal health law which requires most Americans to carry health insurance starting in January presents a particular problem for those households, since most health plans accept a credit card for the first month's premium payment and then require customers to pay monthly with a check or an electronic funds transfer from a checking account.

Those options won't work for the so-called "unbankables" looking to purchase health coverage with federal subsidies through online insurance marketplaces, said Dan Schuyler, a director at Leavitt Partners, a firm that is advising private insurers and states on how to comply with the law. "You don't want to take these millions of unbankable people through the entire enrollment process and then at the end of line say, 'Ok the only way you can pay for your share of the premium is with a bank account number,'" he said.

The consequences could be severe: After all, when your cable gets turned off, you miss The Walking Dead or Pawn Stars. When your insurance is canceled, starting next year, you'll be breaking federal law and liable for any medical bills.

Researchers who study consumer financial behavior say people have good reasons to spurn banks. New immigrants, for example, may have distrusted the banks in their home country and brought that skepticism with them to the U.S., and moderate income earners on tight budgets have been stung, they say, by bounced checks when banks unknowingly re-order their transactions. The overdraft fees and checking account fees charged by traditional banks can upend the delicate, and often precarious, financial balance of these households.

"The bank account is extremely stressful when you don't have a job that's reliable," said Tran, a 25 year-old community organizer and Ivy League graduate who lives south of San Francisco, California.

Her current employer does not offer her health benefits, and she was turned down, she said, when she applied for health coverage on her own. Tran hopes to get hired to a full-time position and asked that we use just her last name so it didn't give her bosses a bad impression.

Tran said when she took her new job and no longer had direct deposit, Bank of America began charging her, up to $12 a month. "I was not happy with the charges," she said.

Consumers who will be required to purchase health coverage will need payment options that are simple, easy and affordable, say consumer advocates and health care experts.

"I think there is a dawning awareness that this is a large problem," said Brian Haile, senior vice president for health policy at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service. Up until last year, Haile was wrestling with this problem on behalf of the state of Tennessee where he served as director of the Insurance Exchange Planning Initiative. "We raised these issues with the federal government well over a year ago and in a series of about four or five letters." Haile said he did not get much of a response then.

Indeed, neither the Affordable Care Act, nor any other federal health laws, require health insurers to accept all forms of payment, including credit cards or the cash-loaded, pre-paid debit cards that people without bank accounts often rely on. Federal officials are wary of doing anything to discourage insurance companies from selling plans on the exchanges, say current and former state health officers who have pressed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for a ruling.

One of the largest players on the new exchanges is likely to be WellPoint, a Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee. In an email, a WellPoint spokesperson said the company was "evaluating expanded payment options to members." Other health plans, including Cigna and UnitedHealthCare, urged state officials in planning documents to allow companies to set their own payment policies.

Federal health officials issued a letter in April stating that all health plans selling coverage in the federally-run insurance marketplaces in 28 states will have to accept payments in ways that do not discriminate against their customers, but did not prescribe what those payments should be.

Insurance carriers are in a pickle since the transaction fees for credit cards and pre-paid debit cards can run as high as 4 percent. If only one company takes the plunge, its costs are likely to be higher, scaring away customers.

Pre-paid cards, popular with low-wage workers, come with other potential hazards. "If you accept re-loadable debit cards, are you in fact getting folks with lower health status?" said Haile. "That's a real risk when you're in the insurance business. So you can't be the only one picking up those risks."

Haile has called on federal official to set a uniform national standard requiring all insurers to accept all forms of payment, including credit cards, pre-paid cards and money orders.

Massachusetts, several years ahead of the rest of the country on health insurance reform, prohibited credit cards on its online marketplace because the fees were too high, said Jon Kingsdale, former executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector. Consumer advocates who want moderate-income families to have easy payment options are themselves wary of credit card late fees and high-interest charges for those who can't pay off their monthly balance.

For now, it is a problem with no elegant solution. Pre-paid debit cards and credit cards could be options if the federal government steps in to negotiate lower rates with the card companies as it did for tax payments to the Internal Revenue Service, say consumer advocates.

As for Tran, she pays her student loans with a money order, and figures she might do the same when she's required to buy health insurance starting in January. "I hope I'll get a permanent job with benefits by then," said Tran. "You hope for the best and plan for the worst."

- Provided by Kaiser Health News.