He puts back a missed jumper by Kobe Bryant to give L.A. a 103-101 win in Game 5 for a 3-2 lead in best-of-seven series. Bryant has 30 points and nine assists. Steve Nash leads Phoenix with 29 points and 11 assists.
It wasn't easy and it went down to the last second, but the Lakers took Game 5 of the Western Conference finals with a 103-101 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
In the end, it was Ron Artest's rebound and put back of a Kobe Bryant miss at the buzzer that gave the Lakers the win. For Artest it was an atonement for some bad clock management a minute earlier.
The Lakers lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 with Game 6 on Saturday in Phoenix.
Bryant was the high scorer with 30 points. Derek Fisher had 22 points and Pau Gasol added 21. Bryant led the Lakers with nine assists, while Lamar Odom had 13 rebounds.
Here's how the heart-stopping finish unfolded for the Lakers:
With about 2 1/2 minutes to play Channing Frye missed a three-pointer that could have tied the score. The Lakers rebounded and Gasol was fouled. He went to the line and hit both attempts to put the Lakers ahead by five.
But Steve Nash, who finished with 29 points and 11 assists, made a jumper on the move with less than two minutes to play. The Lakers answered as Odom scored from under the basket. Still the Suns weren't done as Nash hit another jumper with 1:21 to play.
Then Ron Artest, who rarely passes up a shot, missed a three and after Gasol got the rebound, Artest missed another three with 22 seconds left on the shot clock.
Suddenly, the Lakers were up by only three with 51.5 seconds to play. But the Lakers got lucky as Frye missed a three. But when Gasol missed a slam the Suns took two attempts at threes to tie the score before Jason Richardson banked in a 27-footer with 3.5 seconds to play.
L.A. takes 3-2 lead in Western Conference finals with 103-101 win.
LOS ANGELES - Ron Artest beat the buzzer with a wild bank shot after rebounding Kobe Bryant’s miss, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns 103-101 on Thursday night to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals.
Bryant had 30 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists for the Lakers, but Artest was the improbable hero with just his second basket of the night.
Jason Richardson banked in a straightaway 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left to tie it for the Suns, who rallied from an 18-point deficit in the second half.
Bryant missed a difficult shot from the corner, but Artest rolled into the lane, collected the rebound and threw up a hideous shot that somehow went in.
Move over, David After Dentist. The two-year-old smoking cigarettes is the Internet video sensation of the day.
It’s pretty scary to see a two-year-old smoking cigarettes like a pro. The image is so wrong it makes me want to shout at the screen.
Like most sensationally wrong things, though, this one is rare. There’s hardly an epidemic of toddler smokers out there. I’m not worried about my own two-year-old being offered her first cigarette by a delinquent preschooler at playgroup.
In ten years, though, I’ll have to deal with the much less sensational but more real dangers of my kids being pressured into smoking by peers. Most smokers start smoking in adolescence.
So while we’re all on the topic of kids and smoking, let’s talk about the more common phenomenon of older kids trying out cigarettes.
Smoking is on the decline here in the States, even as it continues to increase in Indonesia (where the smoking toddler lives). Twenty-five percent of Indonesian kids have tried smoking, and 3.2% are thought to be regular smokers. The numbers aren’t much better here: 22% of U.S. kids have tried smoking at least once by the end of 8th grade.
My kids will be bombarded with less child-centered cigarette advertising than I was as a kid, and I’m grateful for that. They’ll also see fewer smokers, and be exposed to less second hand smoke.
Hopefully, those factors will help them make better choices than I did about cigarettes. Here are some tips for parents to help their kids steer clear of smoking:
* Talk about it. Talking about smoking in a clear honest way will help your kids learn your values.
* Keep talking about it. Like most sensitive topics, this is one you’ll want to revisit over the years with age-appropriate information and dialog.
* Encourage healthy activities. Kids who are involved in sports or active in community activities that forbid smoking will be less likely to take it up themselves.
* Confront peer pressure. Acknowledge that friends may pressure your child to smoke, and try to give her tools to say no. Simply walking away can be extremely effective.
* Don’t smoke. This is so obvious it almost doesn’t need saying, but if you smoke your children are much more likely to.
How do you plan to keep smoking out of your child’s life?
US President Barack Obama thinks NBA superstar LeBron James would fit in 'pretty well' with the Chicago Bulls.
Obama said in an interview with TNT that his hometown Chicago seems like the perfect fit for 'King' James.
"You know, like I said, I don't want to meddle," Obama said.
"I will say this: [Derrick] Rose, Joakim Noah, it's a pretty good core. You know, you could see LeBron fitting in pretty well there."
"I think that the most important thing for LeBron right now is actually to find a structure where he's got a coach that he respects and is working hard with team-mates who care about him and if that's in Cleveland, then he should stay in Cleveland.
"If he doesn't feel like he can get it there, then someplace else."
Obama compared LeBron's situation to that of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, who didn't win an NBA title until their teams built great support around them.
"It wasn't until you got that framework around you that you could be a champion.
"Same thing happened with Kobe [Bryant]. You know, I think that, first with Shaq [O'Neal] then later with [Pau] Gasol, you know, he's gotten that sense of a team around him and I think LeBron hasn't quite been able to get that yet."
The premiere of "Lost" ended memorably with Charlie's plaintive question to his fellow island castaways: "Guys, where ARE we?"
Six seasons and some 120 episodes later, many viewers might be wondering the same thing as the much-awaited "Lost" finale brought the series to a rapturous close Sunday night.
Viewers, where are we? The answer: Almost anywhere we want to be.
(Spoiler alert for what follows.)
If ever a TV series could be likened to a journey, "Lost" is it, and as it came to the end of the road it left its audience with comfort and inspiration more than hard answers. There was also, not surprisingly, a sense of being lost in the maw of a show that henceforth will give up nothing more, a show whose sweep and ambiguity will fuel debate and theorizing from its viewers for years to come.
That, dear viewers, is where you are.
Led by a two-hour retrospective, ABC's Super Bowl Sunday-scale drama event was capped by the two-and-one-half-hour-long finale.
As they have all season, story lines overlapped between the characters on the island and in their parallel lives in the "normal" world back home in California.
On the island, Jack (Matthew Fox) has volunteered from among the designated candidates to take over from Jacob (Mark Pellegrino) as the island's protector.
The Smoke Monster, occupying the body of Locke (Terry O'Quinn), wants to stop the candidates, kill them, destroy the island and sail away.
Back in Los Angeles, Jack, by profession a surgeon, is about to operate on Locke, who (in this incarnation) is crippled.
"If I can fix you, Mr. Locke, that's all the peace I'll need," Jack says.
But then back on the island, Jack and the Monster-Who-Looks-Like-Locke have a tense confrontation.
"So it's you," says Monster-Locke, meaning the island's new protector. "I assume you're here to stop me."
"Can't stop you," Jack says, but promises instead, "I'm gonna kill you."
Well, he doesn't. But a bit later, Kate (Evangeline Lilly) somehow kills the monster-who-is-mortal-again with a single gunshot after a fierce cliffside fight between him and Jack.
Back in L.A., Locke's surgery is a success. From his bed, he gratefully tells Jack he has feeling back in his legs.
"Jack, I hope that somebody does for you what you just did for me," Locke says to a disturbed-looking Jack, who seems to be having flashes of memory of his alternate existence. It's the sort of memory bursts all the characters are having: island recollections invading their consciousness.
A few minutes later, Jack runs into Kate, his island love, as they, too, play the haven't-I-seen-you-somewhere-before game.
"What is happening to me?" says Jack, bewildered as she looks at him adoringly. "Who are you?"
"I know you don't understand, Jack," she says. "But if you come with me, you will."
Come with her where?
To a church where the former castaways are gathered for what seems a beatific funeral reception for themselves. At this reunion, everyone is smiling and embracing. The room floods with light.
And Jack reconciles with his dead father, whose body he had been bringing back from Sydney when Oceanic flight 815 crashed on the lost island at the start of the series.
Jack has a tender conversation with the man he had clashed with so often before.
"I don't understand," says Jack. "You died."
"Yes, I did."
"Then how are you here right now?"
"How are YOU here?" his father (John Terry) replies.
"I died, too," says Jack, beginning to weep.
"That's OK, son."
And yet it's all real, his father assures him.
"Everything that's ever happened to you is real. All those people in the church, they're all real, too."
"They're all dead?" Jack asks.
"Everyone dies sometime, kiddo," his father replies gently.
Through the run of the series, there was much talk among its characters of being on the island for a purpose. As it draws to a close, "Lost" has sustained the eerie feeling (eerie for TV, anyway) that it was on the air for a purpose — a special purpose beyond selling products and filling time, or even entertainment.
Its cast, producers, writers and the rest seemed drawn to create "Lost," and keep creating it year after year, thanks to fate as much as show-biz urgencies.
Deeper and wider than any TV series should dare to be, it has been thrilling, captivating, confounding (and, at times, pretty tedious), while it challenged its viewers to think, talk and feel.
The series ended where it began six seasons ago after the plane crash: with a close-up of Jack's eye opening as he lay on the ground. But this time, his eye was open and it shut.
That's where "Lost" leaves us viewers as it shuts down. Maybe not so clear about all we've seen, but challenged. Still a little lost, but reassured.
Congressman-elect and WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao was taken to a suburban hospital Sunday for stomach ailment. The Filipino boxer was confined but the attending doctor says Pacquiao is in no serious condition.
According to Pacquiao's lawyer Atty. Jing Gacal, the new legislator was admitted in a suburban hospital after complaining of stomach pain. Gacal said the doctor attending to Pacquiao told him there is nothing to worry.
"It was just his usual acid reflux. The doctor told me there is nothing to worry about," Gacal told AFP. "There was even no need for him to be confined but he wanted to take a rest after the (election) campaign," the lawyer added. He said Pacquiao had suffered from this stomach problem before.
The newly elected congressman of the lone district of Sarangani in southern Philippines is preparing for his new post as an elected official. Pacquiao will be sworn into office on June 30.
Cape Town - A massive air sea rescue operation is underway off South Africa’s Northern Cape province involving the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), police, the South Africa Air Force (SAAF) and other agencies to find two men missing in a fishing boat.
Ships from as far away as Cape Town (231 nautical miles) have been dispatched to the scene, while agencies including the Transnet National Ports Authority, Maritime Radio Services, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) and a vessel from a diamond mining company are involved. The SAAF’s 35 Squadron based at Ysterplaat in Cape Town has a turboprop-powered C-47TP Dakota maritime patrol craft in the search. In a phone interview, NSRI’s Craig Lambinon said, "The search is continuing." Earlier, fog had caused problems for the searchers, but Lambinon said the fog was no longer hampering their operations. He added: ”Two rescue craft from the NSRI and the diamond boat” were currently active in the search. He confirmed that the SAAF Dakota was continuing the search from the air. This search is now more effective as the ageing aircraft does not have equipment to see through fog, but added that the South African Navy had not been called in.
An NSRI news release said two small open fishing boats (called ”Crayfish Bakkies” locally) with two men on each boat were reported missing near Alexander Bay in the Northern Cape province in thick fog. The town is not far from South Africa's border with Namibia. The Northern Cape is an arid region with small coastal towns often relying on fishing-related activities. One of the boats succeeded in rowing ashore Thursday night, but reported the second boat had broken an oar and was adrift in the thick fog. The release said the two men, Pascale van Rooyen and Mannetjies had no red distress flares or other emergency equipment on board. The NSRI contacted them via cell-phone Thursday and instructed them to switch off their cell-phone at 10 P.M. to conserve their batteries. They were also told to hug each other for warmth during the night and to stay in their boat at all costs. The Maritime Radio Services also put out an all ships alert overnight to warn ships of the two missing men, although no ships were reported in the area.
East London - South Africa’s National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) says there is a ship in distress off the country’s Eastern Cape coast.
Two South African Air Force (SAAF) helicopters and an NSRI rescue craft were been sent on Tuesday to give aid to the ship. Independent Online says the vessel is likely 10 nautical miles offshore from a tourist destination, Hole in the Wall. The ship fired a red distress flare. NSRI spokesman Craig Lambinon said in a statement:
NSRI East London have launched their rescue craft and two Oryx helicopters from the SA Air Force in Durban are en-route to investigate.
The report quoted eyewitnesses who said the ship was drifting towards Coffee Bay on the same coast. The Eastern Cape coast has some of the rockiest coastal features in Southern Africa, with rocky bays and submerged rocks. It was on this coast that the worst sea disaster in South Africa’s recent history took place, with the sinking of the MVS Oceanos, an ocean liner, in 1991. The South African Navy and the SAAF succeeded in rescuing all 571 people on board.
Fabio Capello insists he will regard it as a failure if England do not make it to the World Cup final this summer.
The Three Lions are among a number of sides tipped for success in South Africa as the days tick by to the start of the world's showpiece tournament. Capello has named his provisional 30-man training squad for a camp in Austria, which he will trim down to 23 on 1st June.
The Italian coach also revealed the influence of the media in England, but believes he can deal with the pressure and hopes to take his side to the final stage of the competition.
"Every day the media here comes up with something new," he told Italian newspaper La Stampa. "And the media has a lot of clout, they really influence public opinion.
"But you have to recognise that, at the same time, they have the pulse of English society.
"It's part of the job and that's why I'm here. If we don't at least reach the final, we will have failed."
Capello had some critical words for the former regime under manager Steve McClaren, while he also spoke about his decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy
BP added another untested tool to its arsenal of spill containment options on Wednesday, a tube that engineers hope to slip into a break in a leaking pipe to intercept some of the 5,000 barrels of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico each day.
The new option, called a riser insertion tube, was unveiled as a possible alternative to a smaller containment dome introduced earlier this week for capturing oil escaping from the ruptured Macondo well.
The well, under a mile of water, has been spitting crude and natural gas since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank more than three weeks ago, killing 11 rig workers.
BP, which has amassed hundreds of engineers, scientists and operations experts at its Houston command center to work on the problem, says it is devising numerous methods to contain the spill and permanently cap the well, so that when one fails, the next can be quickly deployed.
The company said it was still evaluating which approach to try next — the insertion tube or the small containment dome referred to as a top hat. Both will be ready for use late today or early Friday, said Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer.
As hearings into the causes of the deadly Deepwater Horizon accident continued in Louisiana and Washington on Wednesday, attention in Houston remained focused on containing and stanching the well flow as quickly as possible.
At the BP command center in west Houston, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, in his third visit to Houston in a week, and Energy Secretary Steven Chu met with government and company workers who have been working on capping and containment efforts.
“The best minds in the world have been brought here,” Salazar said. “We are confident and resolute that we will solve this problem.”
BP's Suttles said industrial X-rays, which use gamma rays and radiography, are being used to look inside a 450-ton stack of valves, called a blowout preventer, that sits on top of the wellhead. The device, a last line of defense against a loss of well control, failed to operate properly when the Macondo well blew.
Engineers continue to study the possibility of clipping off a pipe that once connected the mechanism to the drilling rig and swinging in a new valve system to block the oil flow. Suttles said the company was trying to determine where the oil, believed to be flowing at only a fraction of its potential capacity, is being restricted. That will help it decide whether replacing the valves is feasible.
Also in the works are plans to plug up the blowout preventer with rubber cuttings and other refuse in a procedure called a junk shot. Suttles said a large manifold that will deliver the high-powered series of injections already has been installed on the seabed.
The process will later involve injecting heavy drilling fluids and cement into the well bore to permanently seal it. The system should be ready by late next week, Suttles said.
Fresh off the drawing board, the riser insertion tube will attempt to insert pipe tipped with rubber flaps into the leaking pipe, to capture the oil and funnel it to the surface for collection.
The flaps are designed to prevent seawater from entering the system and to keep methane hydrates from forming. The icelike hydrates, created when natural gas and water mix at certain temperatures and pressures, derailed an earlier attempt to curtail the leak with a 4-story containment box when the apparatus became plugged with slush.
Suttles said the new riser insertion tube was expected to arrive at the well site Wednesday evening.
The top hat, a separate 5-foot-tall containment dome resembling a large oil drum, is now sitting on the seabed. BP said it has received permission from the Environmental Protection Agency to flush the mini-dome with methanol, a kind of antifreeze.
While most of the spill still remained offshore on Wednesday, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said a 100- to 200-yard stretch of soft tar balls was confirmed near South Pass in Plaquemines Parish, La., and viscous oil matter had landed on Whiskey Island on the south end of the Chandeleur islands, though crews were able to clean that up.
Royals general manager Dayton Moore announced Thursday that manager Trey Hillman has been fired and Ned Yost will replace him.
Hillman, 47, was 151-207 in two-plus seasons with Kansas City. The Royals got off to a rough start this year and are 12-23 and in last place in the American League Central.
Yost, 55, managed the Milwaukee Brewers from 2003-2008, where he was 457-502 (.477 winning pct.) before being relieved of his duties on Sept. 15, 2008. He joined the Royals as a special advisor in January.
Moore announced the move after the Royals beat the Cleveland Indians 6-4 and Zack Greinke picked up his first victory of the season.
Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay is confident the vice presidency is within reach. It will take a certain amount of magic, he says, for his closest rival to catch up with his numbers in the race for the second highest post in the country.
The sudden rise of Binay, said to be the dark horse in the vice presidential race, has stunned a nation that had seen Sen. Manuel Roxas II as the front runner since the start of the campaign until a week ago, when pre-election surveys showed the two tying for the first time.
On Thursday, three days after the elections, GMA Network’s partial and unofficial results showed Binay and Roxas still in dead heat — with Binay getting 13,374,107 votes as against Roxas’ 12,587,596 votes, a difference of about 800,000 votes.
“I am confident that I will win ... I will be neck-and-neck [with Roxas], in the sense that there will be a one million [vote] gap or less between us," Binay told GMA News Tuesday. In a press conference Wednesday, Binay tells reporters the only way he can lose is if his rivals cheat the election results.
As "Twi-hards" await an official confirmation on whether or not the saga's final chapter, "Breaking Dawn," will be split into two films, a new report suggests it's all a done deal - if the studio could just get some of the stars to agree on financial terms.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Summit Entertainment is close to sealing the deal to split the fourth novel in Stephenie Meyer's vampire saga into two movies.
Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene - who play Emmet and Alice Cullen, respectively - are reportedly seeking a bigger payday for the final installment in the series, and according to The Hollywood Reporter's THR, Esq. blog, Summit is reportedly not willing to budge.
A source close to the situation confirmed to AccessHollywood.com that this is the first chance the actors have had to renegotiate their contracts since the film franchise launched with such tremendous success. However, the source shot down any rumors that the Cullen kids are looking to be paid on par with the big three -- Pattinson, Stewart and Lautner.
"They're not asking for anything near what the leads are getting," the source noted. "They just need to be compensated fairly."
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Russell Crowe rides into movie theaters on Friday with "Robin Hood," but "Iron Man 2" should score a second weekend as the top film in North America.
Marvel/Paramount's "Iron 2" will likely ring up $50 million-plus, while tracking surveys have Universal's "Robin Hood" bowing in the $40 million-$45 million range.
Crowe's last big movie, "American Gangster," opened to about $44 million in November 2007. He struck out subsequently with "Body of Lies" and "State of Play."
Universal insists that tax credits on the U.K. production kept its tab to $155 million despite reports of higher figures. In the wake of its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, "Robin" opens simultaneously around the world, with studio executives expecting a significantly foreign-weighted global bow.
Early reviews have been mostly positive though hardly fervid.
"The target audience is across the board, but the strongest interest is with older and younger males," Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco said.
Other wide openers Friday include Summit Entertainment's female-targeting "Letters to Juliet," a wannabe crowd-pleaser of a romantic drama -- provided it's a mostly female crowd.
Summit produced the picture for an estimated $30 million and presold foreign territories heavily to offset its cost exposure. "Letters," starring Amanda Seyfried and Vanessa Redgrave, should earn in the mid-teen millions through Sunday.
Fox Searchlight's romantic comedy "Just Wright," starring Queen Latifah, Common and Pam Grier, is tracking best with urban moviegoers and should open with $8 million-$10 million. The art-house studio spent slightly more than $12 million to produce the picture.
NEW YORK – Will the criminal justice system be alive on "Law & Order" next fall? It's down to the wire whether the venerable cop drama will be nabbing more bad guys in a history-making run.
With the official announcement of NBC's 2010-11 schedule due Sunday, the network on Thursday still wasn't handing down a verdict on the show.
NBC refused to confirm multiple reports that the show was being canceled after 20 seasons on the air, one year short of an all-time record.
Meanwhile, a person close to the production said talks are still going on. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because that person was not authorized to speak publicly about the negotiations.
The show's season (or series) finale airs May 24, with no official closure. It will mark the departure of S. Epatha Merkerson, a cast member since 1993, but her leave-taking is unrelated to the show's future.
The series' other current stars include Jeremy Sisto, Anthony Anderson, Linus Roache, Alana De La Garza and Sam Waterston.
Despite sagging ratings, "Law & Order" had been considered likely for renewal next season, when it would be poised to surpass "Gunsmoke" as TV's longest-running drama. That achievement has been an enduring dream of the series' powerful creator, Dick Wolf, who not only furnished NBC with this so-called "mother ship" but expanded it into two still-running "Law & Order" spinoffs.
Last September, a dozen past and present "Law & Order" stars gathered in the show's courtroom set to celebrate the start of the 20th year.
At the time, Wolf said he looked forward to the show continuing another year and beyond. Then he added, "I hope we'll see you here in 2013."
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Despite the recession, top models are raking in millions of dollars, with Brazilian Gisele Bundchen, German Heidi Klum and Briton Kate Moss the biggest earners.
Bundchen, the 29-year-old beauty who is married to football player Tom Brady is the world's highest-paid model, making $25 million last year, according to Forbes.com.
Klum, the 36-year-old mother of four and host of the television show Project Runway, came in second with $16 million in earnings, followed by fashionista Moss, also 36, who made earned $9 million, through modeling campaigns and the launch of her own fashion line and a new fragrance.
It is the second year the same three models topped the list, which is largely due to a risk-averse fashion industry that was not looking for new faces in the unstable economic climate, said Steve Bertoni, of Forbes.
"These contracts were written during the doldrums of the recession," Bertoni said. "So when companies decided on the faces of their campaigns, they wanted to play it safe," he said in an interview.
Another Brazilian, Adriana Lima, 28, came in fourth with a $7.5 million salary. Dutch model Doutzen Kroes, 25, who shot to fame in 2005 when selected "Model of the Year" by Vogue, placed fifth with $6 million.
"These are the tried and true supermodels of the last decade ... the household names of the industry," Bertoni said.
The only American on the list is 36-year-old Carolyn Murphy, who is the face of Estee Lauder, Roberto Cavalli and Anne Klein. She earned $3.5 million to grab the 10th spot.
MANILA, Philippines – The son of two Philippine democracy icons widened his lead Tuesday in presidential elections after campaigning on a promise to begin prosecuting corrupt officials to restore credibility to the country's graft-ridden government agencies.
Despite computerized counting machine glitches and violence that claimed at least nine lives, election officials hailed Monday's vote as a success in a country where poll fraud allegations have marred previous contests.
Sen. Benigno Aquino III _ whose father was assassinated while opposing a dictatorship and whose mother led the "people power" revolt that restored freedoms _ was leading the nine-candidate presidential race with 40.19 percent of the votes from about 78 percent of the precincts, while his closest rival, ousted President Joseph Estrada, had 25.46 percent.
There is no runoff in the Philippines, and whoever has the most votes is declared winner.
Aquino's sudden political rise has bolstered hopes among his supporters for a clean leadership after nine years of a scandal-tainted administration that was rocked by coup attempts and protests.
He campaigned on a strong anti-graft platform, promising to start prosecuting corrupt officials within weeks of his election and restore integrity to Congress and the judiciary.
It was only after former President Corazon Aquino died of cancer last August that her son, a quiet 50-year-old lawmaker and bachelor, decided to run, spurred by the massive outpouring of national grief for the leader who helped oust longtime dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the 1986 "people power" revolt that restored democracy to the Philippines. She had inherited the mantle of her husband, an opposition senator gunned down by soldiers at Manila's airport in 1983 upon return from U.S. exile to challenge Marcos.
Aquino's closest political lieutenant, former Education Secretary Florencio Abad, said he rode on the crest of a national yearning for an honest leader after corruption scandals under outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
"This means he really has to deal with the problem of corruption and deal with the people identified with nine years of corruption," Abad told The Associated Press.
"The other thing that he needs to do is to translate the dividends of good governance into direct benefits for the poor _ education, health, food, lower prices, jobs, basic services," he said.
Some of Aquino's opponents carried the taint of scandal, all too common in the Philippines. The popularity ratings of Sen. Manny Villar, a real estate developer-turned-politician who was neck-and-neck with Aquino in early surveys, plunged after rivals accused him of using his position to enrich himself and avoid a Senate ethics probe.
Estrada, who largely draws support from the poor, jumped to overtake Villar as No. 2. The former action movie star was removed from office in 2001 and subsequently convicted on corruption charges. He was later pardoned by Arroyo, and he said he decided to run again to clear his name.
Flamboyant former first lady Imelda Marcos also ran for a House seat, as did boxing star Manny Pacquiao in his second congressional bid. Results from those races were not available Tuesday morning.
Computer problems and campaign-related violence, which has killed more than 30 people in the past three months and an additional nine on election day, were the main concerns in the voting, which officials hope will set a new standard for the country's fragile democracy.
Turnout was 75 percent among about 50 million eligible voters, the Elections Commission said.
"The people came in droves, the turnout was very encouraging. The machines worked more than we expected," said commission Chairman Jose Melo. "I would say it was successful."
For the first time, optical scanning machines counted the votes in 76,000 precincts. A software glitch discovered a week ago nearly derailed the vote. Still, some machines malfunctioned in the tropical humidity, including in Aquino's hometown of Tarlac, north of Manila, where the senator had to wait nearly five hours to cast his ballot.
Election Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said that about 465 of 76,000 machines had problems but that most were replaced. The computerized machines mean that final results should be available late Tuesday or Wednesday vs. previous waits of weeks for results of manual counts.
A restive and politicized military, weak central government, private armies and political dynasties have stymied democratic institutions in the Philippines for generations. Elections often are marred by violence, and the latest vote was no different.
Among those killed Monday were a retired military officer and a navy enlisted man acting as a congressional candidate's bodyguards in Bacoor township in Cavite province, south of Manila, an AP photographer reported.
Troops and gunmen exchanged fire in southern Maguindanao province, where 57 people were massacred last year in the country's worst election-related attack, said army Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer. Two civilians also were killed in fighting between armed followers of rival candidates for vice mayor, Ferrer said.
About 130 deaths preceded the last vote in 2007.
The country's next leader will have no easy task. He will face multiple insurgencies. Muslim rebels and al-Qaida-linked militants have long staged terrorist attacks and hostage raids in the south, where U.S. troops have been training Filipino soldiers.
Fighting corruption and other irregularities will be a tough challenge. Arroyo was accused of vote-rigging in 2004 and implicated in several scandals that led to coup attempts and moves to impeach her. Calls for her prosecution have been an important campaign issue. She denies any wrongdoing and ran for a seat in the House of Representatives. Results of her race were not yet available.
More than 50 million people will today vote in Presidential, Congressional elections and local elections. Benigno Aquino III, son of the popular late President Corazon Aquino, has been leading opinion polls in the past couple of weeks. Former President Joseph Estrada, who was convicted of corruption but then pardoned, is running second, while the third presidential candidate is Manny Villar, one of the richest men in the Philippines.
MANILA, Philippines—Nearly a hundred people have been killed in violence linked to Monday's national elections in the Philippines, according to police statistics. However, violence also occurs regularly outside election campaigns. The following are some of the troubled country's most feared groups. New People's Army (NPA): The 5,000-strong armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, waging a 41-year Maoist rebellion, has been ambushing security patrols including units delivering election materials. The military say the NPA also extorts money from candidates and attacks those who refuse to pay. Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF): The 12,000-member group has been fighting a 32-year armed campaign for a separate Muslim state in the southern region of Mindanao that has left more than 150,000 people dead. The MILF has been observing a ceasefire amid talks hosted by neighboring Malaysia, but is balking at a proposed peace treaty and wants to deal with the new government after the vote instead. Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF): The rival to the MILF signed a peace treaty with the government in 1996 to end 24 years of separatist rebellion. Several hundred members were brought into the Philippine military and police, but the rest refused to disarm. Abu Sayyaf: Based in Mindanao and listed by the United States as a terrorist organization, its roughly 400 militants are blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks. These included the bombing of a ferry on Manila Bay that killed more than 100 people in 2004, as well as a string of kidnappings for ransom. Rajah Solaiman Group: An Abu Sayyaf offshoot of Filipino Christians who converted to Islam. Most of its senior leaders are in jail after the government foiled its supposed plot to amass large volumes of explosives with which to bomb the US embassy in Manila. Jemaah Islamiyah: Campaigning to set up an Islamic caliphate across Southeast Asia, the group maintains small cells in the country's south where they shelter and train with local armed groups such as the Abu Sayyaf and rogue units of the MILF and MNLF. Political warlords: The government says more than 100 Filipino politicians lead "private armed groups." The politicians say they use these private armies for protection, but they are also used to eliminate opponents and intimidate the electorate. The Ampatuan family, a Muslim warlord clan in Mindanao, is accused of being behind the November 2009 massacre of 57 people in the country's worst single election-related attack.
More than half the public -- including most women -- believes the birth control pill has been one of the most significant medical developments of the last half century, a new CBS News poll finds.
Most Americans say "the pill" has had an impact on American society and on women’s lives in particular, and credit it with helping women enter the work force.
The birth control pill was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1960. Today, 52 percent of Americans say it has been one of the most significant medical developments of the last 50 years, according to the poll, conducted on May 4th and 5th.
Four in five Americans think the birth control pill has had at least some effect on American society overall, including 41 percent who say it’s had a great deal of impact.
Even more, 54 percent, think the birth control pill has had a great deal of impact on women’s lives in particular.
Most Americans say women’s lives were changed for the better because of the birth control pill. Only a quarter think it made no difference, and even fewer say the pill made women’s lives worse.
Men (59 percent), women (54 percent), and women who have ever taken the pill (54 percent) say that women’s lives were improved as a result of the birth control pill.
More specifically, Americans think the birth control pill helped women enter the work force: 57 percent say the pill made it easier for women to have jobs and careers outside the home.
That number rises to 69 percent among Americans age 45 and over -- an age group more likely to have felt the impact of the pill when it was first developed and put on the market. Among women age 45 and older that figure is 64 percent.
By contrast, 53 percent of younger Americans say the birth control pill had no effect on the ability of women to work outside the home.
Among working women, 55 percent say the birth control poll has made it easier for women to enter the workforce
So was the purported scene left on the cutting-room floor, or was the whole thing a figment of a tabloid reporter's imagination?
"[There was] no dominatrix [scene]," Gwyneth Paltrow told MTV News, before adding with a laugh, "Not on film."
Nor was she entirely opposed to the idea of slipping into a black leather corset. "That would have been so fun!" she said.
Gwyneth Paltrow also did some rumor control related to another "Iron Man 2" suit. Some early gossip suggested that Potts, with an engineering assist from Tony Stark, might don a metallic suit of her own. This bit of hearsay wasn't so hard to believe, as Potts had suited up as Rescue in the "Invincible Iron Man" comic book series. Alas, Gwyneth Paltrow fans, no such scene was shot for "Iron Man 2." How disappointing, we wanted to be able to grab more shots of Gwyneth Paltrow's best assets:
Astronomers using the Herschel telescope have spotted a star in the Milky Way that challenges old ideas of star birth, and open new roads for future research. In this photo (taken by the Hubble Telescope) a large number of low-mass infant stars are coexisting with young massive stars.
New cosmic observations from the European-built Herschel infrared space observatory have revealed previously hidden details of star form tucked away in distant galaxies. One snapshot reveals what researchers called an 'impossible' star caught in the act of forming.
The new images show thousands of these galaxies and beautiful star-forming clouds draped across the Milky Way.
These images were part of the presentation of the first results from Herschel, which was launch on May 14 of last year, today during a major scientific symposium held at the European Space Agency (ESA), which runs the observatory, in Noordwijk, Netherlands. These results challenge old ideas of star birth, and open new roads for future research.
Perhaps no show could have lived up to expectations created for this week's Saturday Night Liveby the Facebook campaign that got Betty White her first hosting job after a 35-year wait. And in the grand scheme of things, 90 mediocre minutes with White is still preferable to time spent with most anyone else, if only because our collective affection for her makes even the worst material look a little better.
Yet in the end, Saturday's overhyped NBC broadcast mostly served to explain why SNL seemed so reluctant to bring White on board. Clearly, they didn't know what to do with her.
So they had her make some blue jokes, bear the brunt of multiple "isn't she old" jokes, and pump for the upcoming MacGruber movie — and then make a few more blue jokes. I realize White's juxtaposition of angelic manner and gutter language has proven to be a sure-fire laugh-getter — but 90 minutes of it? Surely after the first dozen times she says "lesbian" or makes some sexual reference or gets bleeped out for cursing, the routine begins to lose some of its punch.
On the plus side, you knew what you were in for pretty much from the start of this overcrowded installment, which backed White up with a slew of returning female stars, including Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon. As if to salute White's age, the show opened by recycling old skits: the Lawrence Welk/twisted-sisters bit, MacGruber, and a "muffin" variation on Alec Baldwin's far funnier "schweddy balls" routine. Watchable? Sure. Special? Decidedly not.
None of this was White's fault, who once again proved that she is both a pro and an extremely good sport. What laughs there were, outside of Weekend Update, were pretty much provided by her and her alone, and that's not something you can say about every host.
She just deserved better. And after a 35 year wait, so did we.
After Josh Koscheck dominated Paul Daley in the co-main event at UFC 113 in Montreal, Quebec, Daley landed a cheap shot punch to Koscheck's face after the final bell had been rung.
Koscheck won the fight and also will get to coach against George St. Pierre in the upcoming season of "The Ultimate Fighter". Koscheck should also get a title shot against GSP in an upcoming UFC event.
Foiled by the judges in his first crack at UFC gold months ago, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua put his fate in his own hands. Re-shifting his focus to a punch-heavy attack, Rua routed the previously unbeaten Lyoto Machida, needing just 3:35 in scoring a first-round knockout to capture the light-heavyweight championship at UFC 113. Considered possibly the best 205-pounder in the world after winning the PRIDE Grand Prix in 2005, Rua completed an epic second career act for himself after knee injuries threatened to steal his best days. Rua floored Machida with a right hand behind the ear and knocked the champion unconscious with ground-and-pound en route to the first round stoppage before 17,647 fans at the Bell Centre. "As athletes, we have problems and troubles we have to overcome," Rua said through his interpreter and manager Eduardo Alonso. "The toughest times fighters can face are injury times. My worst times in life were injuries two years ago. That was very tough, with people criticizing me a lot. I worked so hard. Going through criticism, I tried to think, 'Someone has to pay the bill for what I'm going through.' I tried to do that with this fight. It's payback for when I wasn't fighting." It was a completely different affair from their first meeting, when the two went the entire five-round distance in a razor-close fight at UFC 104 last October. While most onlookers thought Shogun victorious, all three ringside judges scored Machida the winner in the tactical affair. Because of the controversy, in a rare move UFC President Dana White granted Shogun an immediate rematch, which was delayed by Machida's hand surgery. Rua made one slight alteration to his game plan, which focused heavily on leg and body kicks the first time around. In the rematch, he went for the head. He said that in analyzing their first matchup, he realized Machida's hands were not always up after kicks, and that was exactly the opening he exploited to lead to the finish this time around.
Machida came into the rematch as the favorite, but the crowd exploded at Rua's stunning finish. His ground strikes knocked Machida out, and it was so obvious that Rua pulled away even before the referee could call a halt to the action. The previously unbeaten Machida left the cage with a badly swollen left eye, and the first blemish on his record.
"To go out and knock out Lyoto in the first round the way he did, to say it's impressive is stupid," Dana White said. "It was unbelievable, incredible."
Rua (19-4) won the $65,000 knockout of the night bonus to put a bow on his fantastic night.
"I never had any doubts on myself," Rua said. "Through hard moments I believed in myself and my dream, and now I achieved my dream of becoming the UFC world champion." Rua's win was the clear highlight of an otherwise entertaining but bizarre event, which concluded with two fighters on the TV portion of the card losing their jobs for entirely different reasons.
In a horrific display of sportsmanship, welterweight slugger Paul Daley sucker-punched Josh Koscheck well after the final bell of their co-main event fight, leading to White cutting him. Koscheck had just completed a systematic, three-round grinding win over Daley, taking him down repeatedly and stifling the Brit's renowned striking attack in the process. After the final bell, Koscheck got off the downed Daley, but Daley followed him a few steps and unleashed a left hook that landed. Koscheck did not retaliate, instead walking to his corner as ref Dan Miragliotta pulled Daley away. While Koscheck was announced the winner in an obvious decision, the only question that remained was what punishment Daley would receive as a result. White acted swiftly in saying Daley's days in the UFC were over forever. "He's done," White said. "I don't care if he's the best 170-pounder in the world, he'll never fight in the UFC again." Surprisingly, Koscheck did not seem bothered by the incident, revealing that he may have played a role in it by taunting Daley in the fight's final moments. "You're going to have to ask him what I said, but it wasn't very polite," he said. "He eye gouged me a couple times, I'm still having trouble seeing from his fingers. But he'll come back. He's still young in his MMA career. I think he'll be back and live to fight another day." The other fighter who no longer has a job after living the Bell Centre was Kimbo Slice, who was cut after losing via second-round TKO to Matt Mitrione. Slice perfomed relatively well in the first round with a pair of slam takedowns against Mitrione and escaping a pair of submission tries as well, but Mitrione turned the tide with vicious leg kicks that stole Slice's base. Mitrione took advantage of his wobbly opponent, eventually ending up on top and brutalizing Slice with ground and pound before the ref ended things at 4:24 of the round. "Kimbo's done. We're going to cut him," said White, who added that he gained a deep respect for Slice for the way he carried himself through his brief UFC run. In a key middleweight bout, Alan Belcher beat the returning Patrick Cote with a second round rear naked choke. The two fought a spirited first round and Cote had just landed a series of strikes in the second when they fought against the cage. With Cote bent over trying to secure Belcher's legs for a takedown try, Belcher picked Cote up and slammed him down. He then quickly transitioned to back control and locked in the submission for the win. Afterward, Belcher called out the division's champ. "I'm happy I finally started fighting to my potential," Belcher said. "No more goofing off. I know if I breathe right, I can pick anyone apart. You know who I'm talking about." When announcer Joe Rogan asked him who, Belcher didn't hesitate. "I'm talking about Anderson [Silva]. Everyone knows who can take it to him, who can stand with Anderson. I want that title fight. Give it to me." For his efforts, Belcher won the evening's Fight of the Night Award. In the final televised fight of the evening, Jeremy Stephens earned a mild upset over Sam Stout in a close, split decision. Stephens lived up to his reputation as a power puncher, dropping Stout and bloodying him early before Stout came back and made it close. "Sam Stout is a warrior," Stephens said afterward. "I was just more powerful." In preliminary bouts, Joe Doerksen submitted Tom Lawlor in the second round, Marcus Davis scored a second-round TKO over Jonathan Goulet and John Salter was awarded a TKO win after Jason MacDonald broke his leg in the first round of their middleweight bout. In fights that went the distance, Johny Hendricks won a majority decision over TJ Grant, Joey Beltran earned the judges' nod over Tim Hague, and Mike Guymon outpointed Yoshiyuki Yoshida.
