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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) –
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station used a pair of robot arms to install a pallet of equipment on Sunday, but when break-time came they may have found long lines at the bathrooms.
With a record 13 people aboard the station, the main toilet broke down, sending astronauts scrambling to the use backup commodes on the Russian side of the station and aboard the visiting U.S. shuttle Endeavour.
“Put an 'Out-of-Service' note on the WHC (waste and hygiene compartment),” Mission Control's Hal Getselman told a crewmember after a fruitless attempt at repairs.
The commode, which is connected to the station's wastewater-recycling system, had been the crew's main bathroom. NASA was limiting shuttle toilet use because it cannot dump the wastewater overboard, as is customary during flight.
Wastewater dumps could contaminate the station's newly installed platform for science experiments.
The porch-like facility was mounted on the front of the station's Kibo laboratory during a spacewalk Saturday. It will be used to hold experiments that need to be exposed to the open environment of space.
“For right now, having all (shuttle crewmembers) using the shuttle toilet is not going to be an issue,” station flight director Brian Smith said.
If the toilet cannot be repaired within about six days, it could become a more serious matter, Smith added. “We don't yet know the extent of the problem,” he said.
FUEL TANK FOAM
No experiments are aboard the new platform yet. Those will be installed later during Endeavour's planned 11-day stay. The crew Sunday transferred a pallet of spare parts over to the station, using robot arms aboard both the shuttle and station.
NASA also laid out plans on Sunday to test the foam on the external fuel tank earmarked for shuttle Discovery's launch next month to the space station. NASA has seven missions after Endeavour's to complete construction of the $100 billion orbital outpost and retire the shuttle fleet.
Endeavour's tank shed an unusually large amount of the insulating foam in a way not previously seen during shuttle launches.
NASA redesigned the tanks and implemented inspections after losing shuttle Columbia in 2003 from a foam debris impact during launch. The resulting damage to the heat shield caused the shuttle to break apart as it re-entered the atmosphere for landing. All seven astronauts aboard died in the accident.
Shuttle program manager John Shannon told Reuters the pieces of foam lost from Endeavour's tank were tiny compared to the 2.2-pound (1 kg) chunk that impacted Columbia's wing.
Endeavour's tank also is believed to have shed most of its debris late during ascent, when aerodynamic forces were too weak to slam the foam into the ship and cause damage.
“It looks like this foam, and the way it came off, would not have been an issue. We are still doing the reconstruction,” Shannon told Reuters in an e-mail.
Before Discovery is cleared to launch, NASA will need to be sure it understands why Endeavour's tank shed foam and be convinced that a similar event would not occur earlier during ascent when it could do harm.
(Editing by Tom Brown)

NEW YORK – Paula Abdul’s (ab-DOOL’) new manager says she may not be returning to “American Idol.”
According to a Los Angeles Times report, David Sonenberg says he doesn’t have a proposal for a new contract for Abdul. He says it doesn’t appear she’ll be back.
Sonenberg began representing Abdul a few weeks ago.
Auditions for the ninth season of the highly rated Fox talent competition begin next month.
Abdul said recently she’d been invited to remain as an “American Idol” judge and was optimistic about negotiating a new contract.
Earlier this year, Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly called Abdul “an integral part of the show.”
The other “American Idol” judges are Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and newcomer Kara DioGuardi (KA’-ruh dee-oh-GWAHR’-dee).

SAN JOSE, Costa RicaNegotiations to resolve Honduras’ political crisis failed Sunday after representatives of its interim government and ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya were unable to reach a consensus.
Jose Manuel Zelaya was ousted from the Honduran presidency on June 28.
The interim Honduran government of Roberto Micheletti on Sunday rejected a proposal advanced by a mediator to resolve the crisis by reinstating Zelaya. “I’m very sorry, but the proposal you presented [is] unacceptable by the government of Honduras that I represent,” Carlos Lopez, who was representing Micheletti at weekend negotiations, said of the proposal advanced by the mediator, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. Zelaya’s representatives said this marked the end of talks with Honduras’ interim government. Zelaya had accepted the proposal presented by Arias, who was hosting the negotiations at his home in Costa Rica. The proposal, presented by Arias to both sides on Saturday, would have returned Zelaya to the Honduran presidency. It would also have compelled Zelaya to abandon efforts to modify the country’s presidential term limits. Zelaya was removed from office June 28 in a military-led coup that has drawn international condemnation. Congressional leader Micheletti was sworn in hours later as provisional president.
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Micheletti and his supporters, including the Honduran supreme court, congress and the military, argue that the action was not a coup, but a constitutional transfer of power. Other steps proposed by Arias included moving up elections scheduled for late November, establishing a national unity government, providing amnesty for all political crimes and setting up an international commission to oversee implementation of the accord. Under Arias’ proposal, oversight of the Honduran military would have switched from the executive branch of government to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal one month before the elections. Delegations representing Zelaya and Micheletti also met at Arias’ home in Costa Rica last week but did not reach an accord. Zelaya, a leftist who took office in 2006 on a narrow victory, had been at odds with Honduran lawmakers, the country’s supreme court and the military over his attempts for a referendum on whether to establish a constitutional assembly. He sought the referendum, which he planned to hold last month, to see if voters wanted a measure on November’s ballot to establish a constitutional assembly to study whether a president could run for re-election. Under the current charter, a president can serve only one four-year term. Congress had forbidden the referendum and the supreme court ruled it illegal. The military declined to participate in its usual role of safeguarding the vote, saying it could not take part in an illegal act. Zelaya vowed to hold the vote anyway, but was toppled before the voting started.
Source:CNN

Best-selling author McCourt dies
Frank McCourt, author of best-seller Angela’s Ashes, has died in a New York hospice, his brother has said.The 78-year-old Irish-American writer was suffering from meningitis and had recently been treated for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Angela’s Ashes, a memoir of McCourt’s childhood in Ireland, sold millions of copies and won the Pulitzer Prize. Before the book’s 1996 publication, McCourt was a New York high school teacher for 30 years. Born in New York, McCourt travelled to Ireland during the Great Depression with his parents at an early age. Angela’s Ashes provides a graphic description of his childhood in abject poverty in the slums of the Irish city of Limerick. Described by its author as an “epic of woe”, the book was made into a Hollywood film in 1999 starring Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle. His other works include ‘Tis and Teacher Man, which both draw on his later life in New York.

Source:BBC

Best-selling author McCourt dies
Frank McCourt, author of best-seller Angela’s Ashes, has died in a New York hospice, his brother has said.The 78-year-old Irish-American writer was suffering from meningitis and had recently been treated for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Angela’s Ashes, a memoir of McCourt’s childhood in Ireland, sold millions of copies and won the Pulitzer Prize. Before the book’s 1996 publication, McCourt was a New York high school teacher for 30 years.

Source:BBC

LOS ANGELES – Harry Potter continues to work box-office alchemy, turning his latest movie adventure into an overnight blockbuster.
The sixth installment, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” took in 79.5 million domestically over opening weekend and 159.7 million since debuting last Wednesday, according to estimates from distributor Warner Bros. on Sunday.
The movie also took in 237 million overseas since Wednesday in 54 countries, bringing its worldwide total to 396.7 million.
With some of the best reviews of any “Harry Potter” movie, “Half-Blood Prince” was off to the fastest overall start in franchise history.
The sixth movie about the young wizard came in 20 million ahead of the last movie, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” which grossed 139.7 million domestically in its first five days two years ago.
The new film had the second-highest start ever for a movie premiering on Wednesday, trailing the 200 million five-day opening for last month’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”
“Half-Blood Prince” already has surpassed the 157.3 million “Order of the Phoenix” pulled in during its entire first week. By the end of its seventh day Tuesday, “Half-Blood Prince” will be in the 180 million range on its way to becoming the franchise’s first 300 million domestic smash since the original movie, 2001′s “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” said Dan Fellman, Warner head of distribution.
The audience was a bit older for the new movie, with more elder teens turning out to see Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and pals Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) as they deal with adult concerns such as heartache, jealousy and romantic triangles.
Fans have grown up with the franchise, from young readers whose parents had to debate whether the early movies might be too intense for their children to see.
“When the first movie came out, they fought to go. The mother was like, well, should I take them, should I not take them?” Fellman said. “Now they’re driving themselves to this and going to the midnight show.”
Sacha Baron Cohen’s mock documentary “Bruno” plummeted after its No. 1 debut the previous weekend. The Universal Pictures comedy fell to fourth-place with 8.4 million, down a whopping 73 percent from its 30.6 million opening.
Crowd-pleasing movies typically dip 50 percent or less in their second weekends. But “Bruno” has had mixed reviews and failed to earn the audience buzz that made a 128 million hit out of Baron Cohen’s 2006 comedy “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”
After 10 days in release, “Bruno” has climbed to 49.6 million and will finish far below 100 million domestically.
While “Harry Potter” had a healthy start, the overall box office plunged compared to the same weekend last year, when the Batman juggernaut “The Dark Knight” had its record opening weekend of 158.4 million.
The top-12 movies this weekend combined for less than that, taking in 153.9 million, down 39 percent from a year ago.
“We got kind of slaughtered even with the ‘Potter’ movie, but we knew that was going to happen,” said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. “When one movie last year makes more than what the top-12 movies did this year, you’re going to have a down weekend.”
Fox Searchlight’s romantic comedy “500 Days of Summer,” starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, got off to a big start in limited release with 837,588 in 27 theaters. That amounted to an average of 31,022 a cinema, compared to 18,376 in 4,325 theaters for “Half-Blood Prince.”
A hit with critics, “500 Days of Summer” expands gradually into wide release over the next few weekends.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” 79.5 million.
2. “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” 17.7 million.
3. “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” 13.8 million.
4. “Bruno,” 8.4 million.
5. “The Hangover,” 8.32 million.
6. “The Proposal,” 8.3 million.
7. “Public Enemies,” 7.6 million.
8. “Up,” 3.1 million.
9. “My Sister’s Keeper,” 2.8 million.
10. “I Love You, Beth Cooper,” 2.7 million.
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On the Net:

http://www.hollywood.com/boxoffice

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Universal Pictures and Focus Features are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co.; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount and Paramount Vantage are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney’s parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue Pictures is owned by Relativity Media LLC; Overture Films is a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corp.

SAN JOSE, Costa RicaNegotiations to resolve Honduras’ political crisis failed Sunday after representatives of its interim government and ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya were unable to reach a consensus.
Jose Manuel Zelaya was ousted from the Honduran presidency on June 28.
The interim Honduran government of Roberto Micheletti on Sunday rejected a proposal advanced by a mediator to resolve the crisis by reinstating Zelaya. “I’m very sorry, but the proposal you presented [is] unacceptable by the government of Honduras that I represent,” Carlos Lopez, who was representing Micheletti at weekend negotiations, said of the proposal advanced by the mediator, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. Zelaya’s representatives said this marked the end of talks with Honduras’ interim government. Zelaya had accepted the proposal presented by Arias, who was hosting the negotiations at his home in Costa Rica. The proposal, presented by Arias to both sides on Saturday, would have returned Zelaya to the Honduran presidency. It would also have compelled Zelaya to abandon efforts to modify the country’s presidential term limits. Zelaya was removed from office June 28 in a military-led coup that has drawn international condemnation. Congressional leader Micheletti was sworn in hours later as provisional president.
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Conditions of Zelaya’s return key for weekend talks
Resignation a possibility, interim Honduran leader says
Ousted Honduran president gives ultimatum
Micheletti and his supporters, including the Honduran supreme court, congress and the military, argue that the action was not a coup, but a constitutional transfer of power. Other steps proposed by Arias included moving up elections scheduled for late November, establishing a national unity government, providing amnesty for all political crimes and setting up an international commission to oversee implementation of the accord. Under Arias’ proposal, oversight of the Honduran military would have switched from the executive branch of government to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal one month before the elections. Delegations representing Zelaya and Micheletti also met at Arias’ home in Costa Rica last week but did not reach an accord. Zelaya, a leftist who took office in 2006 on a narrow victory, had been at odds with Honduran lawmakers, the country’s supreme court and the military over his attempts for a referendum on whether to establish a constitutional assembly. He sought the referendum, which he planned to hold last month, to see if voters wanted a measure on November’s ballot to establish a constitutional assembly to study whether a president could run for re-election. Under the current charter, a president can serve only one four-year term. Congress had forbidden the referendum and the supreme court ruled it illegal. The military declined to participate in its usual role of safeguarding the vote, saying it could not take part in an illegal act. Zelaya vowed to hold the vote anyway, but was toppled before the voting started.
Source:CNN

Electric car to save Nissan jobs
Nissan is expected to announce a major investment in its car-making plant in Sunderland later, which could secure the future of at least 4,000 jobs.The Wearside facility has beaten off competition from other Nissan factories in Europe to build a brand new generation of electric cars. The 380m project will be supported by the European Investment Bank and aided in part by government grants. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson plans a “green revolution” in the north east. He will visit the Sunderland plant and address some of the company’s 4,000 workers about plans to create a “low-carbon economic area” in the region, including a research and development centre and technology park. Rival decisionEarlier this year, the government set aside 2.3bn to support Britain’s ailing car industry – but not a penny has been paid out. However, Japanese car giant Nissan could be one of the first beneficiaries as it announces the new type of electric car is to be made at its existing Sunderland premises, which opened in 1986. The plant saw off competition from a rival Nissan factory in Barcelona to build a car based on a prototype called Nuvu. The expected announcement from Nissan will come only days after its Japanese rival Toyota said it would be manufacturing the new Auris hybrid petrol-electric vehicle at its plant in in Burnaston, Derbyshire.

Source:BBC

NEW YORK – Paula Abdul’s (ab-DOOL’) new manager says she may not be returning to “American Idol.”
According to a Los Angeles Times report, David Sonenberg says he doesn’t have a proposal for a new contract for Abdul. He says it doesn’t appear she’ll be back.
Sonenberg began representing Abdul a few weeks ago.
Auditions for the ninth season of the highly rated Fox talent competition begin next month.
Abdul said recently she’d been invited to remain as an “American Idol” judge and was optimistic about negotiating a new contract.
Earlier this year, Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly called Abdul “an integral part of the show.”
The other “American Idol” judges are Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and newcomer Kara DioGuardi (KA’-ruh dee-oh-GWAHR’-dee).

Surtees dies after F2 race crash
The son of motorsport legend John Surtees has died after being hit on the head by a wheel during a Formula 2 (F2) race at Brands Hatch in Kent.Henry Surtees, 18, was airlifted to the Royal London Hospital after he was struck by a wheel which flew off Jack Clarke’s car. Sunday’s race was red flagged while Surtees was removed from the scene. His father won the Formula 1 World Championship in 1964 having previously won seven motorcycle world titles. The accident happened between the circuit’s Westfield Bend and Sheene Curve.
Clarke’s car hit a tyre wall and a wheel came off, hitting Henry Surtees on the head, knocking him unconscious. The teenager’s car then collided with the trackside barriers. A spokeswoman for South East Coast Ambulance Service said Surtees was taken from the scene by helicopter. On Saturday, Surtees claimed his first F2 podium finish, coming third in the opening race of the Brands Hatch weekend. No-one from Brands Hatch was available for comment.

Source:BBC

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) –
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station used a pair of robot arms to install a pallet of equipment on Sunday, but when break-time came they may have found long lines at the bathrooms.
With a record 13 people aboard the station, the main toilet broke down, sending astronauts scrambling to the use backup commodes on the Russian side of the station and aboard the visiting U.S. shuttle Endeavour.
“Put an 'Out-of-Service' note on the WHC (waste and hygiene compartment),” Mission Control's Hal Getselman told a crewmember after a fruitless attempt at repairs.
The commode, which is connected to the station's wastewater-recycling system, had been the crew's main bathroom. NASA was limiting shuttle toilet use because it cannot dump the wastewater overboard, as is customary during flight.
Wastewater dumps could contaminate the station's newly installed platform for science experiments.
The porch-like facility was mounted on the front of the station's Kibo laboratory during a spacewalk Saturday. It will be used to hold experiments that need to be exposed to the open environment of space.
“For right now, having all (shuttle crewmembers) using the shuttle toilet is not going to be an issue,” station flight director Brian Smith said.
If the toilet cannot be repaired within about six days, it could become a more serious matter, Smith added. “We don't yet know the extent of the problem,” he said.
FUEL TANK FOAM
No experiments are aboard the new platform yet. Those will be installed later during Endeavour's planned 11-day stay. The crew Sunday transferred a pallet of spare parts over to the station, using robot arms aboard both the shuttle and station.
NASA also laid out plans on Sunday to test the foam on the external fuel tank earmarked for shuttle Discovery's launch next month to the space station. NASA has seven missions after Endeavour's to complete construction of the $100 billion orbital outpost and retire the shuttle fleet.
Endeavour's tank shed an unusually large amount of the insulating foam in a way not previously seen during shuttle launches.
NASA redesigned the tanks and implemented inspections after losing shuttle Columbia in 2003 from a foam debris impact during launch. The resulting damage to the heat shield caused the shuttle to break apart as it re-entered the atmosphere for landing. All seven astronauts aboard died in the accident.
Shuttle program manager John Shannon told Reuters the pieces of foam lost from Endeavour's tank were tiny compared to the 2.2-pound (1 kg) chunk that impacted Columbia's wing.
Endeavour's tank also is believed to have shed most of its debris late during ascent, when aerodynamic forces were too weak to slam the foam into the ship and cause damage.
“It looks like this foam, and the way it came off, would not have been an issue. We are still doing the reconstruction,” Shannon told Reuters in an e-mail.
Before Discovery is cleared to launch, NASA will need to be sure it understands why Endeavour's tank shed foam and be convinced that a similar event would not occur earlier during ascent when it could do harm.
(Editing by Tom Brown)

HAILEY, Idaho – Friends and family of an Idaho soldier who was captured in Afghanistan prayed for his safe return Sunday, shaken by the image of the frightened young private in a Taliban video posted online.
Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, was serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment earlier this month when he vanished, just five months after arriving in Afghanistan. He was serving at a base near the border with Pakistan in an area known to be a Taliban stronghold.
Bergdahl is from Hailey, a town of about 7,000 people in central Idaho where he worked as a barista and was active in ballet. A sign hangs in the window of Zaney’s River Street Coffee House says “Get Bowe Back,” and a message inside asked customers to “Join all of us at Zaney’s holding light for our friend.”
Bergdahl’s family issued a statement asking people to keep the soldier in their thoughts and prayers, but told The Associated Press that the family was requesting media respect their privacy.
Neighbors and others in the community have known for weeks that Bergdahl had been captured, but said the family urged them not to talk about the kidnapping out of fear that publicity would compromise his safety. Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter told the AP that he had been working to keep the soldier’s name quiet until it was officially released.
In the video posted Saturday on a Web site pointed out by the Taliban, Bergdahl says his name and his hometown. The Pentagon confirmed his identity Sunday.
“We hope and pray for our son’s safe return to his comrades and then to our family, and we appreciate all the support and expressions of sympathy shown to us by our family members, our friends and others across the nation,” Bob Bergdahl, the soldier’s father, said in a statement issued through the Department of Defense.
The family, described by neighbors as deeply private, lives six miles west of Hailey on a remote gravel county road. The humble home has a metal roof and several outbuildings, and vehicles parked in front. The family has chained and locked the front gate, and a small cardboard sign says: “No visitors.”
Neighbors are abiding by the family’s wishes not to comment on the record about Bergdahl’s capture, but described the 23-year-old as an “adventurous” soul who was educated at home, danced ballet and took part in a sport fencing club, the Sun Valley Swords.
One of the directors of the Sun Valley Ballet School in Ketchum said Bergdahl performed with the group for four or five years until about 2008.
“He’s athletic,” Jill Brennan said. “He just had a knack for it. He’s a wonderful young man.”
In the 28-minute video, Bergdahl said he was “scared I won’t be able to go home.” He said he was lagging behind a patrol when he was captured, which conflicts with earlier military accounts that indicated he walked off the base with three Afghans.
It wasn’t clear who initially captured Bergdahl, but the U.S. command in Afghanistan said he was being held by the Taliban and condemned the video as a violation of international law.
“I’m glad to see he appears unharmed, but again, this is a Taliban propaganda video,” spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker said. “They are exploiting the soldier in violation of international law.”
With a shaved head and dressed in a nondescript, gray outfit, Bergdahl was shown eating at one point and sitting cross-legged. He choked up when discussing his family and his hope to marry his girlfriend.
“I have a very, very good family that I love back home in America,” Bergdahl said.
The Pentagon identified his hometown as Ketchum, which is about half the size of Hailey and about 12 miles north. His family says he grew up in Blaine County, closer to Hailey.
Hailey is a mix of a working-class community and resort town, just down the road from upscale Sun Valley, a ski resort that’s home to celebrities including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Hanks and Sen. John Kerry. Bruce Willis maintains a vacation home in the area and owns local businesses.
Bergdahl is a member of 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Richardson, Alaska.
He entered the Army in June 2008 and was trained in Fort Benning, Ga., said Lt. Col. Jonathan Allen, spokesman for Fort Richardson. Bergdahl reported for duty in Alaska in October, and deployed to Afghanistan in February.
In the video, Bergdahl said the date was July 14; it’s clear the video was made no earlier because Bergdahl repeated an exaggerated Taliban claim about a Ukrainian helicopter that was shot down that day.
He was interviewed in English and asked his views on the war, which he called extremely hard; his desire to learn more about Islam; and the morale of American soldiers, which he said was low. He was prompted by his interrogators to give a message to the American people.
“Please, please bring us home so that we can be back where we belong and not over here, wasting our time and our lives and our precious life that we could be using back in our own country,” he said.
The circumstances of Bergdahl’s capture weren’t clear.
On July 2, two U.S. officials told the AP the soldier had “just walked off” his base with three Afghans after his shift. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
On July 6, the Taliban claimed on their Web site that five days earlier “a drunken American soldier had come out of his garrison” and was captured by mujahedeen.
Details of such incidents are routinely held very tightly by the military as it works to retrieve a missing or captured soldier without giving away any information to captors.
Afghans in contact with the Taliban told the AP that the soldier was held by a Taliban group led by a commander called Maulvi Sangin. They said the fighters decided to move him north into Taliban-controlled areas of Ghazni province.
The Afghans spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of arrest or reprisal. It was impossible to independently confirm their information.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the militants holding the soldier haven’t yet set any conditions for his release.
___
Associated Press writers contributing to this report include: Pamela Hess, Lolita Baldor and Christine Simmons in Washington; Robert H. Reid, Kathy Gannon and Jason Straziuso in Kabul; Rebecca Boone and Keith Ridler in Boise; and Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska.

Honduran crisis talks break down
The interim government of Honduras has rejected a proposal put forward at talks in Costa Rica aimed at solving the country’s political crisis.The head of the delegation said the Costa Rican mediators’ proposal, which would see Mr Zelaya return to Honduras, was “absolutely unacceptable”. Representatives of ousted President Manuel Zelaya have said they will no longer negotiate with their rivals. Mr Zelaya was forced into exile from Honduras on 28 June. The interim government says he will be arrested if he comes back. It prevented an earlier attempted homecoming on 5 July. Mr Zelaya said nothing would stop him from returning to Honduras but that he had not decided when this would be, Reuters news agency reported. “I’m very sorry, but the proposals that you have presented are unacceptable to the constitutional government of Honduras,” said Carlos Lopez, the head of the interim government led by Roberto Micheletti. He said Mr Micheletti’s side objected in particular to the first point of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias’s proposal. That proposes “the legitimate restitution” of Mr Zelaya as the head of a reconciliation government, until early elections are held in October. Mr Arias also proposed an amnesty for political crimes committed before and after the 28 June coup. Mr Zelaya’s representatives said earlier that if the interim government rejected the plans, the talks are “over”. Aristides Mejia, who is representing Mr Zelaya at the talks, said the team had accepted the proposal for reinstating the deposed leader and were “willing to discuss all the other points”. He said if the interim government accepted Mr Arias’s proposal they would “work around the clock eternally to discuss each point”. “If it rejects it, it’s over,” he said. But the delegation said it had not ruled out future talks with the coup leaders. ‘No return’
But Mr Zelaya, speaking to the BBC in Nicaragua on Saturday, said he would not agree to anything that gave concessions to the people who ousted him from office. Arturo Corrales, representing Mr Micheletti, accused Mr Zelaya of bad faith. “The whole world heard the statements of Mr Manuel Zelaya Rosales, saying that he cannot stop calling for a constitutional national assembly,” he said. “That strips yesterday’s commission of any authority and negates the spirit of the conversations that have been taking place here, and reaffirms a wish in Honduras to keep violating our constitution and our laws.” Assistant Foreign Minister Martha Lorena Alvarado said on Saturday that the reinstatement of Mr Zelaya was “not negotiable”. “There is no possibility of him returning to Honduras as president,” she said. Mr Micheletti heads a military-backed government, which ousted Mr Zelaya amid a dispute with Congress and the courts. Mr Zelaya had planned to hold a non-binding public consultation to ask people whether they supported moves to change the constitution. His critics said the move was unconstitutional and aimed to remove the current one-term limit on serving as president and pave the way for his possible re-election.

Source:BBC

NEW YORK – Paula Abdul’s (ab-DOOL’) new manager says she may not be returning to “American Idol.”
According to a Los Angeles Times report, David Sonenberg says he doesn’t have a proposal for a new contract for Abdul. He says it doesn’t appear she’ll be back.
Sonenberg began representing Abdul a few weeks ago.
Auditions for the ninth season of the highly rated Fox talent competition begin next month.
Abdul said recently she’d been invited to remain as an “American Idol” judge and was optimistic about negotiating a new contract.
Earlier this year, Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly called Abdul “an integral part of the show.”
The other “American Idol” judges are Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and newcomer Kara DioGuardi (KA’-ruh dee-oh-GWAHR’-dee).

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) –
A court hearing over who will raise Michael Jackson's three children was postponed again on Friday in an apparent bid to settle the issue behind closed doors.
Los Angeles Superior Court officials said a guardianship hearing scheduled for Monday had been rescheduled to August 3 — the second delay in the decision over who would get permanent custody of the children.
Jackson's mother, Katherine, 79, was granted temporary custody by the courts of Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11 and Prince Michael II, 7, after Jackson's death on June 25.
But lawyers for Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe have been in talks with representatives of Jackson's parents, and one report this week said the “Thriller” singer's sister, Janet, was also interested in raising them.
Jackson left his estate, valued at $500 million in an attachment to his will, to a family trust that benefits his children, his mother and charities.
Jackson said in his 2002 will he wanted his mother to care for the children if he died.
Rowe is the mother of the two eldest children, and she has made ambiguous comments to the media about seeking custody of the children after years of having minimal contact with them.
Her lawyers this week sued a woman who claimed Rowe was willing to accept millions of dollars in exchange for giving up her parental rights.
The biological parents of Jackson's third child, Prince Michael II, also known as Blanket, have never been revealed.
The August 3 hearing on the children will coincide with another hearing on Jackson's complex estate.
The coroner's report on the cause of the singer's death is still awaiting toxicology and other test results. His burial arrangements have not been announced.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant)
(To read more about our entertainment news, visit our blog “Fan Fare” online at http://blogs.reuters.com/fanfare/)

Giant jellyfish descend on the Sea of Japan, causing untold devastation to coastal villages and leaving a trail of destruction and human misery behind.
A diver attaches a sensor to a Nomura’s jellyfish off the coast of northern Japan in October 2005.
Sounds like a great sci-fi flick. But it’s not. It’s real and it’s a nightmare for Japanese fishermen. The massive sea creatures, called Nomura’s jellyfish, can grow 6 feet in diameter and weigh more than 450 pounds. Scientists think they originate in the Yellow Sea and in Chinese waters. For the third year since 2005, ocean currents are transporting them into the Sea of Japan. Monty Williams, a marine biologist at Alabama’s Dauphin Island Sea Lab, said the jellyfish grow to an enormous size as they are transported by ocean currents. He said they stay together in packs and as they drift northward, they get caught in fishermen’s nets. The giant jellyfish are one of about 200 species of coastal jellyfish or large jellyfish that exist around the world. But Nomura’s stands out because of its enormous size. “The sheer size of them, individually, makes them fairly spectacular,” Williams said.
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Spectacular, perhaps, to scientists, but perilous to villagers along the Japanese coast who have seen the destructive habits of these colossal creatures in the past. They had giant-jellyfish invasions in 2005 and 2007, and because they’ve recently been spotted in the Sea of Japan, they’re bracing for another, potentially harmful wave this summer. The jellyfish destroy fishermen’s nets, getting trapped in them, tearing holes and ruining catches. Fishermen often use expensive mazelike nets that stretch for hundreds of kilometers. When swarms of giant jellyfish tear them, the result is devastating. “Communities of fishermen and these fishing villages own these nets,” Williams said. “When these nets get wiped out, it actually has this economic devastation for an entire community.” The good news is that previous attacks have prompted Japan to put in place a warning system for fishermen. While they still risk losing a big catch, they can, at least, save their pricey nets from the invasion of the giant jellyfish. It’s not clear why waves of Nomura’s jellyfish have made it to the Sea of Japan in recent years. Some have speculated that overfishing, pollution or rising ocean temperatures may have depleted the kinds of fish that prey on Nomura’s jellyfish in the polyp stage. However, no one is certain, Williams said.
Source:CNN

WASHINGTON – Administration officials defended President Barack Obama’s broad health care proposals on Sunday and urged a skeptical public not to judge the Democrats’ overhaul until Congress writes a final version.
Facing independent budget predictions that contradict the White House’s rhetoric, officials sought to refute Republican objections to massive changes in how Americans receive health care. They emphasized that Congress has not yet settled on an outline for health care legislation and reiterated Obama’s desire for a bipartisan approach.
“This is a work in progress,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said, trying to calm nervous lawmakers whose re-elections could hinge on the legislation. “More will be done. The House and the Senate are committed to working with the president to get this done.”
The United States is the only developed nation that does not have a comprehensive national health care plan for all its citizens, and Obama campaigned on a promise to offer affordable health care to all Americans. However, the recession and a deepening budget deficit have made it difficult to win support for costly new programs.
“The House has one approach. We put forward a different approach. The Senate is considering yet more options,” White House budget director Peter Orszag said. “The key thing is we need to get there in a way that is deficit neutral.”
Paying for the health care plan remains the major challenge, underscored by a nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office report that emerging House legislation would increase deficits by 239 billion over a decade.
“I don’t follow why we’ve got to spend another 1.5 trillion to 2 trillion, most people estimate, on top of the 2.5 trillion we’re already spending in this country and yet still have, under one estimate, at least 33 million people without health insurance,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. “I mean, these are things that are real serious problems.”
Democrats insisted the budget analysis ignores savings and Obama’s pledge not to add red ink to the federal ledger.
“It’s clear that they’re working with different assumptions than the White House and the Congress is,” said Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House tax-writing committee.
Even so, the politics of adding to the deficit or raising taxes is tricky. Obama officials have refused to rule out a tax on the wealthiest Americans and oppose a tax on employer-provided health care benefits. They also want the Senate and the House to pass separate bills before an August recess, leaving reconciliation of their differences for September or later. White House officials grudgingly accept that such a timetable might force them into policy compromises.
“What we have said is this bill has to be deficit neutral,” said Orszag, a former top budget chief for Congress. “We think there are better ways of obtaining additional revenue, and we have to let this legislative process play out.”
But it won’t come cheap. That means increased taxes and political opposition.
Republicans paint Obama’s proposals as a massive tax that would leave small businesses wounded, employers shifting away from private plans toward a government-based system, and workers without coverage. Some GOP members have also cautioned that the legislation could fund abortions, a fear crucial to the social conservatives who hold sway inside the Republican Party and a proposition Orszag would not rule out.
A key Republican, however, warned his party not to scuttle health care legislation over abortion.
“No matter what your views are on abortion, you shouldn’t ask people to use their tax dollars if they think that abortion is taking a life,” said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. “I would hate to see the health care debate go down over that issue. … Hopefully we won’t get ourselves wrapped around the wheel of abortion in this debate.”
Obama’s advisers have argued that overhauling health care is vital to the nation’s long-term economic recovery.
About 50 million of America’s 300 million people are without health insurance. The government provides coverage for the poor and elderly, but most Americans rely on private insurance, usually received through their employers. However, not all employers provide insurance and not everyone can afford to buy it. With unemployment rising, many Americans are losing their health insurance when they lose their jobs.
Seeking to prod colleagues, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy wrote an essay for Newsweek magazine about the policy that has guided his decades in the Senate.
“Unless we act now, within a few years, 55 million Americans could be left without coverage even as the economy recovers,” wrote the Massachusetts Democrat, who is being treated for brain cancer. “All Americans should be required to have insurance. For those who can’t afford the premiums, we can provide subsidies.”
Sebelius appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Orszag spoke with “Fox News Sunday” and CNN’s “State of the Union.” Hatch and Rangel appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Gregg also appeared on the Fox News program.

KABUL (Reuters) –
The U.S. military denounced on Sunday the release of a video showing a soldier captured in Afghanistan, describing the images as Taliban propaganda that violated international law.
The video shows Private Bowe Bergdahl in traditional Afghan dress, being prompted in English by his captors to call for U.S. forces to be withdrawn from Afghanistan.
The U.S. military confirmed the identity of the Ketchum, Idaho native, saying he served with the 1st Battalion of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment. His identifying dog tags are displayed to the camera by his captors in the video.
“We condemn the use of this video and the public humiliation of prisoners. It is against international law,” U.S. military spokesman Colonel Greg Julian said. “We are doing everything we can to return this soldier to safety.”
The U.S. military has been distributing leaflets this week seeking the release of Bergdahl, missing since late June.
Military spokeswoman Captain Elizabeth Matthias said it was the first case she was aware of in which a U.S. service member was held captive by the enemy in Afghanistan, although there have been similar cases in Iraq.
In the video, portions of which were posted on the internet video sharing site YouTube (http://www.YouTube.com), Bergdahl appeared with his head shaven and a slight beard, wearing traditional grey, loose-fitting Afghan shalwar kameez clothing.
He appears to be in good health and is shown drinking tea and eating bread and rice.
“I am scared. I'm scared I won't be able to go home. It is very unnerving to be a prisoner,” he says. “I have my girlfriend who is hoping to marry. I have my grandma and grandpas. I have a very, very good family that I love back home in America.”
A voice off camera prompts: “Miss them.”
The soldier continues: “And I miss them every day that I'm gone. I miss them and I'm afraid that I might never see them again and that I'll never be able to tell them that I love them again. I'll never be able to hug them.”
“BRING US HOME”
Later, the voice prompts: “Any message to your people?”
“Yes. To my fellow Americans who have loved ones over here, who know what it's like to miss them: you have the power to make our government bring them home,” Bergdahl says.
Military spokesman Julian said Washington would not give in to the captors' demands: “Basically they would like us to go home. That is just simply not going to happen. We are here to support the Afghan government to improve security and we will stay as long as the Afghan people want us here.”
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman reached by telephone at an undisclosed location, gave Reuters the address of another file sharing website displaying the video. He said the footage was proof of the captive's health.
“He is fine and healthy as you saw in the video tape. We will decide in future as to what needs to be done with him.”
Mawlavi Sangin, a senior Taliban commander in Paktika province, the southeastern area where the soldier went missing, told Reuters on Thursday his men were holding the soldier and would kill him if the military applied pressure to find him.
Cases of U.S. troops going missing have been rare during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In Iraq, three soldiers were captured by insurgents after a firefight in 2007 in an area south of Baghdad known as the triangle of death. One was killed shortly after his capture, while the other two were found dead nearly two months later.
In 2005, Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell was rescued after being cared for by Afghan villagers for five days. He was the only survivor of an ambushed four-man patrol. Sixteen special forces troops died when their helicopter was shot down in a failed initial rescue bid, the war's deadliest incident for U.S. troops.
(Additional reporting by Jonathon Burch in KABUL and Andrew Hammond in DUBAI; Editing by Paul Tait)

Man dies after resort sea rescue
A man has died and a young boy has been airlifted to hospital after the pair were pulled from the sea at Cornwall’s Fistral beach in Newquay.Two inshore lifeboats, coastguard rescue teams, paramedics and police were called to the scene when the alarm was raised just after 1900 BST. The casualties were flown to Treliske Hospital in Truro by a rescue helicopter from RNAS Culdrose. The coastguard said they were not local and believed to have been holiday.

Source:BBC

Cink revels in ‘surreal’ Open win

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American Stewart Cink has described his first major triumph in the 138th Open at Turnberry as “surreal”, whilst also paying tribute to rival Tom Watson.Cink triumphed over Watson by six shots in a play-off after the two had both finished the tournament two under. “It’s been a surreal experience,” said Cink. “Playing against Tom Watson, this stuff just does not happen. “I grew up watching him – he has turned back the clock and I feel so happy just being part of it.” Cink had only ever claimed one top-10 finish at an Open Championship – in 2007 at Carnoustie – and has just five PGA Tour victories to his name since turning professional in 1995.
“I stand here a little intimidated by this piece of hardware I have in my hand,” admitted Cink at the presentation ceremony. “There are a lot of emotions running through my mind and my heart and I’m so proud to be here with this. “I’ve waited a while for this and I don’t have a great record at the Open but that’s all gone now.” It could so easily have been a different story had 59-year-old Watson not missed a 10-foot putt for par on the final hole of Sunday’s final round that would have given him a historic sixth Open victory. On the very same hole Cink had earlier sunk a 14-foot birdie putt to seal a round of 69 and take him to a two-under par clubhouse lead.
In the resulting play-off Cink claimed a par in the first and second holes and birdied the third and fourth, whilst Watson bogeyed the first and fourth and double-bogeyed the third. The world number 33 cited the importance of his putt on the 18th but also highlighted the preparation he had put in beforehand as the keys to his success. “It is the most crucial putt I’ve ever struck,” he said. “Nothing even comes close. It’s just such a sweet feeling to hole one at that moment. “I felt calm all week about the course, and I played some links in Ireland. “I found my swing before the tournament started and that helped me hit the ball solid and my putting was right on target all week.”

Watson was bitterly disappointed that he allowed the chance to become golf’s oldest-ever major champion by 11 years to slip through his grasp on a course where he claimed the fourth of his five Open championships 32 years ago. “It would have been a hell of a story, wouldn’t it?” said Watson. “It tears out your gut like it’s always torn out my gut. It’s not easy to take. I put myself in position to win and didn’t do it. “I hit a lousy putt and the play-off was one bad shot after another. Stewart did what he had to do and I didn’t give him much competition. “But what I take from this week is a lot of warmth – the crowds were just wonderful to me all week – and a lot of spirituality. And it was good fun.”

Source:BBC

Space station toilet breaks down
The main toilet has broken down on the International Space Station (ISS), currently home to a record 13 astronauts, Nasa said.Mission Control told the crew to hang an “out of service” sign until the toilet can be fixed. The crew of the shuttle Endeavour is confined to using the craft’s loo. ISS residents are using a back-up toilet in the Russian part of the station. If repairs fails, Apollo-era urine collection bags are on hand, Nasa said. “We don’t yet know the extent of the problem,” flight director Brian Smith told reporters, adding that the toilet troubles were “not going to be an issue” for now. Bad plumbing?The main toilet, a multi-million-dollar Russian-built unit, was flown up and installed on the US side of the space station last year.
It had broken down once before, requiring a rush delivery of a replacement pump by the shuttle Discovery in 2008. And another toilet-related row broke out earlier this year, when a Russian cosmonaut complained that he was no longer allowed to use the US toilet because of billing and cost issues. Despite the latest housekeeping setback, astronauts managed to transfer spare parts from the shuttle Endeavour to the ISS on Sunday, the second day of a planned 11-day mission. Nasa was also investigating why Endeavour’s tank shed an unusually large amount of insulating foam during its launch.

Source:BBC

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) –
A court hearing over who will raise Michael Jackson's three children was postponed again on Friday in an apparent bid to settle the issue behind closed doors.
Los Angeles Superior Court officials said a guardianship hearing scheduled for Monday had been rescheduled to August 3 — the second delay in the decision over who would get permanent custody of the children.
Jackson's mother, Katherine, 79, was granted temporary custody by the courts of Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11 and Prince Michael II, 7, after Jackson's death on June 25.
But lawyers for Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe have been in talks with representatives of Jackson's parents, and one report this week said the “Thriller” singer's sister, Janet, was also interested in raising them.
Jackson left his estate, valued at $500 million in an attachment to his will, to a family trust that benefits his children, his mother and charities.
Jackson said in his 2002 will he wanted his mother to care for the children if he died.
Rowe is the mother of the two eldest children, and she has made ambiguous comments to the media about seeking custody of the children after years of having minimal contact with them.
Her lawyers this week sued a woman who claimed Rowe was willing to accept millions of dollars in exchange for giving up her parental rights.
The biological parents of Jackson's third child, Prince Michael II, also known as Blanket, have never been revealed.
The August 3 hearing on the children will coincide with another hearing on Jackson's complex estate.
The coroner's report on the cause of the singer's death is still awaiting toxicology and other test results. His burial arrangements have not been announced.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant)
(To read more about our entertainment news, visit our blog “Fan Fare” online at http://blogs.reuters.com/fanfare/)

Creators Syndicate –
Was that a 5,000 VBH alligator clutch that Michelle Obama was carrying in Italy? So the company bragged, absolutely certain it was theirs, until the White House responded that it was not the alligator but the patent, an 875 VBH clutch and not the more expensive model.
To be honest, I didn't even know what VBH was until I saw the headlines about the 5,000 one Michelle wasn't carrying. I love handbags as much as the next girl, but I could never get my head around the idea of spending that kind of money on something that is bound to end up with ink stains. But if Michelle wants to spend hers, more power to her. If she wants to wear 540 sneakers (Lanvin, a “cult” item that is bound to end up in one of my local resale stores), I say go for it.
She is not going to solve the recession by wearing Keds. She wears enough clothes from Gap and J.Crew to make the point that looking great doesn't have to be uber-expensive (although the things she manages to find at those places never seem to be there when I am), and that half the fun of fashion is figuring out how to copy high-style for less.
What Michelle Obama projects, with her bright colors, body-conscious clothes and keen sense of style, is a woman at her best, looking great, feeling great, being great, full of life, celebrating her country and her family and, yes, herself. The White House was quick to say the bag didn't cost 5,000, but it was still what my mother would have called a very, very good bag, and the first lady didn't apologize for that. Why should she?
She's not 22. She's a grown woman who hasn't faded to beige or placed herself in the background, who isn't embarrassed that she doesn't look 17, who (by all reports) doesn't hate her hips or hide her rear or ask whether the dress makes her look fat before she lets herself like it.
If that isn't a role model, what is?
The other day, I ran into a woman I know who has done very well professionally. I hadn't seen her in a while, and somehow I was taken aback. She looked the way she always had, only worse. I laugh when I see young women trying so (too) hard, because the truth is that when you're young, it's easy. The woman I ran into got to where she is, at least in part, by not getting trapped by the beauty thing.
On the other hand, she was long past the point where she needed to use or hide her sexuality. Now middle-aged, she's become one of those women that other women can't look at for five minutes without wanting to do a makeover and wondering why she hasn't. Is she really happy this way? More power to her, but I want younger women to know it doesn't have to be that way.
Michelle is middle-aged, too. You can be powerful and beautiful. You can be passionate about politics and clutch bags; you can do your best for your country and look your best while you do. You deserve the sneakers — if not the Lanvin ones, then ones that make you feel just as good. And we should all ditch black for yellow. Especially in a recession. Go Michelle.
To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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