Pope celebrates Mass for Mexicans looking for hope

SILAO, Mexico (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI urged Mexicans to wield their faith against poverty and drug violence, telling hundreds of thousands of worshippers in an open-air Mass on Sunday that they would find hope if they purify their hearts.

Benedict delivered his message in the shadow of the Christ the King monument, one of the most important symbols of Mexican Christianity, which recalls the 1920s Roman Catholic uprising against the anti-clerical laws that forbade public worship services such as the one Benedict celebrated.

The pope flew over the monument in a Mexican military Superpuma helicopter en route to the Mass at Bicentennial Park, where he rode in the popemobile through an enthusiastic crowd estimated at 350,000.

Often seen as austere and reserved, Benedict charmed a country that adored his charismatic predecessor, John Paul II, by donning a broad-brimmed Mexican sombrero as he was driven to the altar at the sun-drenched park.

"Some young people rejected the pope, saying he has an angry face. But now they see him like a beloved grandfather," said Cristian Roberto Cerda Reynoso, 17, a seminarian from Leon.

Before the ceremony, the vast field was filled with noise, as people took pictures with their cell phones and passed around food.

As the Mass started, all fell silent, some dropping to their knees in the dirt and gazing at the altar or giant video screens.

In his homily, Benedict encouraged Mexicans to purify their hearts to confront the sufferings, difficulties and evils of daily life. It has been a common theme in his first visit to Mexico as pope: On Saturday he urged the young to be messengers of peace in a country that has witnessed the deaths of more than 47,000 people in a drug war that has escalated during a government offensive against cartels.

"At this time when so many families are separated or forced to emigrate, when so many are suffering due to poverty, corruption, domestic violence, drug trafficking, the crisis of values and increased crime, we come to Mary in search of consolation, strength and hope," Benedict said in a prayer at the end of Mass.

"She is the mother of the true God, who invites us to stay with faith and charity beneath her mantle, so as to overcome in this way all evil and to establish a more just and fraternal society."

The reference to Mary is particularly important for Mexicans, who revere the Virgin of Guadalupe as their patron saint. His reference to immigration resonated in Guanajuato, which is among the Mexican states sending the most migrant workers north.

Many said the pope showed a deep understanding of the challenges Mexico faces. While they said things may not change as a result, at least the pontiff gave them hope.

"It was really gratifying," industrial engineer Juan Jose Ruiz Moreno, 39, said after the Mass. "In his words there was a great understanding of us, the Mexican people."

Some in the crowd wore white tunics with images of Benedict, the monument and Mexico's beloved Virgin of Guadalupe, and reading: "The entire church asks for peace in Mexico."

"People leave for the good of their families," said Jose Porfirio Garcia Martinez, 56, an indigenous farmworker who came to the mass with 35 others from Puebla. "For us it's difficult, not seeing them for 10 years, communicating by phone and by Internet."

The Vatican said Benedict wanted to come to Guanajuato to see and bless the Christ the King statue, something that John Paul II had wanted, but was never able to do.

With its outstretched arms, the 72-foot (22-meter) bronze monument of Christ "expresses an identity of the Mexican people that contains a whole history in relation to the testimony of faith and those who fought for religious freedom at the time," said Monsignor Victor Rene Rodriguez, secretary general of the Mexican bishops conference.

Before the Mass, the pope presented Mexico with a gift of a mosaic of Jesus Christ that will be placed at the monument.

After nightfall Sunday, the pope will remotely inaugurate its new lighting system.

Guanajuato state was the site of some of the key battles of the Cristero War, so-called because its protagonists said they were fighting for Christ the King. Historians say about 90,000 people died before peace was restored. The region remains Mexico's most conservatively Catholic.

With roads closed, pilgrims walked for miles to the Mass with plastic lawn chairs, water and backpacks. Old women walked with canes. Some Mass-goers wrapped themselves in blankets or beach towel-sized Vatican flags, trekking past vendors selling sun hats, flags, potato chips and bottles of juice.

Hundreds of young priests in white and black cassocks, waiting to pass through the metal detectors, shouted "Christ Lives!" and "Long Live Christ the King!" — the battle cry of the Cristeros.

The 84-year-old pope will be going to Cuba on Monday.

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Associated Press writer Michael Weissenstein reported this story in Silao and Nicole Winfield reported in Leon. AP writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Guanajuato and E. Eduardo Castillo in Leon contributed to this report.

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With win in hand from La., Santorum eyes Wis.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Another victory in hand but still badly trailing rival Mitt Romney, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum vowed to continue his campaign despite an increasingly steep climb to the nomination.

Santorum, buoyed by Saturday's win in Louisiana's primary that boosted his spirit but did little to narrow the delegate gap, urged his supporters to stick with him even as much of the GOP establishment has coalesced around Romney's increasingly inevitable coronation. Even in the face of the political headwinds, the former Pennsylvania senator seemed unwilling to acknowledge it would take a dramatic change in momentum to deny Romney his turn as the GOP nominee.

"Even though a lot of folks are saying this race is over, the people in Louisiana said, 'No, it's not.' They still want to see someone who they can trust, someone who's not running an Etch a Sketch campaign, but one who has their principals written on their heart, not on an erasable tablet," Santorum said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation". "And I think that's what helped us deliver the win in Louisiana, and I think we're going to do very well up here in Wisconsin, too."

But it's going to be a tough fight, for sure.

Romney remains far ahead with 568 delegates to Santorum's 273, according to an Associated Press tally. Newt Gingrich follows with 135 and Ron Paul has 50.

Short the 1,144 delegates it will take to clinch the nomination ahead of the convention this summer in Tampa, Fla., Romney enjoys an organizational and fundraising advantage over his closest rival. For instance, Santorum isn't even on the ballot for the primary in the District of Columbia, for its April 3 primary — the latest illustration of how the under-funded underdog struggles to keep pace with Romney's years-in-the-making campaign.

Earlier Saturday, Santorum said he wanted to debate Romney without trailing competitors former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas on stage.

"This race has clearly gotten down to two candidates that can win the nomination," Santorum told reporters in Milwaukee. "I'd love to have a one-on-one debate."

Romney's team, increasingly confident, dismissed the idea and the win.

"Rick Santorum is like a football team celebrating a field goal when they are losing by seven touchdowns with less than a minute left in the game," said Romney spokesman Ryan Williams, who crashed Santorum's victory party here.

On Sunday, Santorum shot back, saying the comments came from "a desperate campaign that has no message."

Santorum said voters are "looking for someone who's going to win the election because they have better ideas, not because they've been able to pound their opponent into the ground with overwhelming negative ads. That's why we won Louisiana last night and that's why we're going to do well in Wisconsin."

Neither Santorum nor Romney, who took a day off from campaigning, was in the state as Louisiana Republicans weighed in. Both men were looking ahead at the upcoming contests, although the topsy-turvy race has proved unpredictable.

"This race is long and far from over, and to the people of Wisconsin, I just say to you: On, Wisconsin! Let's get it done!" Santorum told a sparsely attended victory celebration, his 11th win.

Santorum badly needed a rebound after a decisive Illinois loss to Romney earlier in the week that moved party stalwarts to rally around the front-runner. Many urged Santorum and Gingrich to drop out of the race.

Both refused, and campaigned aggressively in Louisiana in hopes that a victory there would justify them staying in despite Republican worries that the long nomination fight could hurt the party's chances against President Barack Obama. The Democratic incumbent faces no serious primary challenge and his re-election campaign already is well under way.

Santorum's improbable campaign was continuing Sunday, with a busy day of campaigning in Wisconsin. Aides are looking ahead at the state as a bright spot, as well as Pennsylvania, the delegate-rich state Santorum represented in Congress.

But Romney's campaign is airing TV ads in the state, and his super PAC allies have plowed more than $2 million into TV advertising here. A crush of advertising — mostly negative — eroded Santorum's strength in states such as Michigan, Ohio and Illinois as he simply couldn't keep pace.

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Hunt reported from Washington, D.C.

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Mom's Vogue article on 7-year-old's weight draws fire

Dara-Lynn Weiss with daughter, Bea (Vogue)

An article by a woman who is "fighting" her 7-year-old daughter's "childhood obesity" at home--published in the April issue of Vogue--is causing a big backlash online among readers critical of the magazine and its author.

Dara-Lynn Weiss, the author, wrote about her response to a pediatrician who suggested that her daughter, Bea, should be put on a diet because--at 4'4" and 93 pounds--she was clinically obese and could be at risk for high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes.

It wasn't the diagnosis that readers railed against, but Weiss' management of Bea's subsequent year-long diet.

"Sometimes Bea's after-school snack was a slice of pizza or a gyro from the snack vendor," Weiss wrote. "Other days I forced her to choose a low fat vegetable soup or a single hard-boiled egg. Occasionally I'd give in to her pleas for a square of coffee cake, mainly because I wanted to eat half of it. When she was given access to cupcakes at a party, I alternated between saying, 'Let's not eat that, it's not good for you'; 'Okay, fine, go ahead, but just one'; and 'Bea, you have to stop eating crap like that, you're getting too heavy,' depending on my mood. Then I'd secretly eat two when she wasn't looking."

Weiss continued:

I once reproachfully deprived Bea of her dinner after learning that her observation of French Heritage Day at school involved nearly 800 calories of Brie, filet mignon, baguette, and chocolate. I stopped letting her enjoy Pizza Fridays when she admitted to adding a corn salad as a side dish one week. I dressed down a Starbucks barista when he professed ignorance of the nutrition content of the kids' hot chocolate whose calories are listed as "120-210" on the menu board: Well, which is it? When he couldn't provide an answer, I dramatically grabbed the drink out of my daughter's hands, poured it into the garbage, and stormed out.

After Bea lost 16 pounds--meeting her mom's weight-loss goal for her before a Vogue photoshoot--Weiss wrote about her daughter's reaction:

"That's still me," she says of her former self. "I'm not a different person just because I lost sixteen pounds." I protest that indeed she is different. At this moment, that fat girl is a thing of the past. A tear rolls down her beautiful cheek, past the glued-in feather. "Just because it's in the past," she says, "doesn't mean it didn't happen."

"I have not ingested any food, looked at a restaurant menu, or been sick to the point of vomiting without silently launching a complicated mental algorithm about how it will affect my weight," Weiss admitted. "Who was I to teach a little girl how to maintain a healthy weight and body image?"

"The socialites who write personal essays for Vogue aren't known for their kindness and humility," Katie Baker wrote on Jezebel.com. But Weiss "has to go down in history as the one of the most f---ed up, selfish women to ever grace the magazine's pages."

Weiss "comes across as obsessive and the fact that she made such an issue of her daughter's weight, both in public and in Vogue—seems wrong," Dhani Mau wrote on Fashionista.com.

An anonymous blogger for New York magazine added: "I'm pretty sure Weiss just handed her daughter the road map to all her future eating disorders."

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Shell scrambles to pay huge bill for Iran oil

By Richard Mably and Peg Mackey

LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell is struggling to pay off $1 billion that it owes Iran for crude oil because European Union and U.S. financial sanctions now make it almost impossible to process payments, industry sources said.

Four sources said the oil major owes a large sum to the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) for deliveries of crude, with one putting the figure at close to $1 billion. A debt of that size would equate to roughly four large tanker loads of Iranian crude or about 8 million barrels.

"Shell is working hard to figure out a way to pay NIOC," said an industry source, who requested anonymity. "It's very sensitive and very difficult. They want to stay on good terms with Iran, while abiding by sanctions."

A Shell spokesman declined to comment.

The European Union toughened financial sanctions and placed a ban on Iranian oil imports on January 23, but gave companies until July 1 to wind down their existing business.

With daily contract volumes of 100,000 barrels, Shell ranked as Iran's second biggest corporate client - along with France's Total - behind Turkey's Tupras.

Shell CEO Peter Voser said on March 7 the company would take its final deliveries of Iranian crude "within a matter of weeks".

Rigorous U.S. and European financial measures, aimed at punishing Iran for its nuclear program have already come into force, making it increasingly difficult to pay for and ship crude from Iran, say oil executives.

"There are big frustrations with the payment route - the U.S. pressure is really working," said a senior oil source. "It's now nearly impossible to use the banking system."

Such financial restrictions were in part behind Total's decision to stop purchasing Iranian crude at the end of last year, industry sources say. Total also bought about 100,000 barrels per day from Tehran.

Industry sources say some of Iran's big customers may have been using the Dubai-based Noor Islamic Bank to channel payments to Iran. It is not known whether Shell was processing payments via Noor Islamic Bank.

Diplomats say the bank bowed to pressure from Washington and cut ties with Iranian banks in the United Arab Emirates at the end of last year.

Given the outstanding amount owed in the face of sanctions, senior oil executives say the only way forward is for Shell to ask the British government to help settle the account with Iran.

An approach was made by Shell, sources say, but the company was rebuffed.

A small portion of the Shell debt could be written off through an outstanding payment NIOC owes the company for development of the offshore Soroush/Nowrooz oilfields, say industry sources.

Shell and European rivals such as Total and Italy's Eni have built longstanding relationships with Iran, OPEC's second largest exporter, through their work at the country's oilfields and years of crude oil purchases.

But while they are loath to burn bridges with Tehran, they also cannot afford to put business in the United States and elsewhere in the West at risk.

(Reporting by Peg Mackey; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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‘Reason Rally’ in D.C. draws thousands, lacks passion

WASHINGTON, D.C.--No thunderbolts fell on the atheists gathered on the National Mall Saturday afternoon for the Reason Rally--just scattered showers that probably kept some otherwise loud-and-proud non-believers home. The thousands who did brave the drizzle were enough to loosely pack an area of the mall the size of a city block, where they were treated to the full range of what you might call the free-thinker movement: a poet delivered an obscenity-laced polemic that he wrote "in a fever dream, in all caps"; a former pastor played a few Mr. Rogers-style songs about how atheists are friendly; and biologist Richard Dawkins headlined. There was also a video tribute to the late Christopher Hitchens.

The crux of the message was similar to that of any disenfranchised group--that atheists are here, they vote, and they want respect. Many of the speakers borrowed language and ideas from the gay rights movement, describing how "coming out" as a non-believer can alienate one from one's family and provoke discrimination. One attendee even held a colorful a sign that read, "Atheism: It's like being gay in the 80's."

But the rally seemed to lack energy as an often incongruous procession of activists--with the Washington Monument as their backdrop--tried to fire up a sea of umbrellas. "Sometimes it's tough, since these are calm, reasonable people," observed Isaac Bowen, a freshman at the University of Michigan who had arrived by bus that morning with a few dozen other members of the secular student alliance.

But those speakers who did take a more aggressive, impassioned approach ("Welcome to Rick Santorum's worst God-damn nightmare," one speaker declared) rubbed other attendees the wrong way.

"We're not all vulgar," said Rachel Jaffe, a librarian at the University of Binghamton in town for a conference. Jaffe said she was pleased to see so many families in attendance, but was surprised some parents were letting their children listen.

Organizers had cordoned off a wide triangular area for protesters, but by 1 p.m., the only person in the protest pen was a young man promising that heretics would be devoured by Cthulhu, a fictional deity in H.P. Lovecraft novels.

Closer to the stage, a small group of Christian activists held a largely cordial counter-rally. Mark Sasse, a member of Buffalo's Bible Believer Baptist Church, carried a sign that read, "The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God." He soon found himself debating the meaning of a passage in Luke with one of the attendees. (Full disclosure: In a brief violation of reporting ethics, a Yahoo News reporter held Sasse's sign stable for him while he got his Bible out of his backpack.)

"Most people have been quite courteous," Sasse said. "I just want to let people know there's hope."

While organizers claimed a crowd of at least 20,000, it was difficult to estimate as people came and went, sometimes dipping into a museum or retreating to the long lines at the concession stand. For all the emphasis on free inquiry, few seemed to notice that the line across the Mall, by the Merry-Go-Round, was much shorter.

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British police seek driver of shot Russian banker

British detectives investigating the shooting of a Russian banker in London said Sunday they were trying to track down the taxi driver who transported the victim to his apartment block.

German Gorbuntsov remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital after he was gunned down on Tuesday evening as he entered his apartment complex in London's east end.

A male wearing a hooded top was seen running away from the scene of the shooting. Police believe the taxi driver may have still been in the area when the incident took place.

Moldovan prosecutors have opened several criminal probes into Gorbuntsov after a bank he owned, Universalbank, closed down in February, Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda reported on Saturday.

According to the Kommersant business daily, Gorbuntsov said he was the victim of a raider attack that caused him to lose his stake of more than 70 percent in the bank.

It also cited his Moldovan lawyer who said the attack was more likely to do with Gorbuntsov's affairs in Russia.

Vadim Vedenin said Gorbuntsov had told him: "If I return to Russia, they will bury me."

Kommersant said the banker's lawyer believes the attack was connected to an assassination attempt on Gorbuntsov's partner and co-owner of the Konvers Group, Alexander Antonov, in 2009.

Gorbuntsov, 45, from Moscow, started out as a businessman in the 1990s and has founded around 40 companies in spheres including security, property, construction and finance, Kommersant wrote.

In 2010, along with his partner Pyotr Chuvilin, he sued two interior ministry employees over extortion. The pair were convicted and jailed.

He left Russia the same year, accusing two other partners of taking over his Russian assets and causing him losses of $2.5 billion, Kommersant wrote.

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Syrian forces on offensive, Moscow says peace takes time

MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia offered "full support" for peace envoy Kofi Annan's efforts to end fighting in Syria on Sunday but said his mission would need more time as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad attacked Homs and other rebel strongholds.

Moscow also suggested foreign support for the Syrian opposition was the main obstacle to peace while U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan discussed how to get non-lethal aid to the opposition.

Western and Arab states have urged Assad to step aside to end violence which the U.N. says has cost 8,000 lives. Russia, a close ally of Assad, said he is ready to talk to his foes on reform and it is the rebels who must be pressed to negotiate.

With the Syrian army on the offensive around the country and the deeply divided opposition fearing Assad would use any talks to strengthen his forces' position and crack down harder, the prospect of a negotiated peace seemed more remote than ever.

Syrian activists said 27 people had been killed on Sunday, including 15 civilians, and a U.S.-based human rights group accused Assad's forces of using human shields in their efforts to crush the rebellion, which began more than a year ago.

"Syrian government forces have endangered local residents by forcing them to march in front of the army during recent arrest operations, troop movements, and attacks on towns and villages in northern Syria," Human Rights Watch said, quoting residents from Syria's northwestern province of Idlib.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who will join Obama for a nuclear security summit in South Korea on Monday, told Annan, the Syria envoy for the United Nations and Arab League, he appreciated his efforts to end the violence.

"This may be the last chance for Syria to avoid a long-lasting and bloody civil war. Therefore we will offer you our full support at any level and in various ways in those areas, of course, in which Russia is capable of providing support."

It was not clear whether Moscow would increase pressure on Assad to comply with Annan's peace plan, which includes demands for a ceasefire, the immediate withdrawal of heavy armor from residential areas and access for humanitarian aid.

Russia has shielded Assad from U.N. Security Council condemnation by vetoing two Western-backed resolutions over the bloodshed, but has criticized the Syrian leader recently and approved a Security Council statement this week endorsing Annan's mission.

The former U.N. chief is due to fly to China, which joined Russia in the vetoes, after his talks in Russia.

"Syria has an opportunity today to work with me and this mediation process to put an end to the conflict, to the fighting, allow access to those in need of humanitarian assistance as well as embark on a political process that will lead to a peaceful settlement," Annan said at the start of his talks with Medvedev at a Moscow airport.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Annan's mission must be given more time before the Security Council considers further action. The Security Council statement this week threatened Syria with unspecified "further steps" if it failed to comply with Annan's plan.

"There are no deadlines, we need to see how the situation develops," the Interfax news agency quoted Gatilov as saying.

Annan's spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, said he had "very candid and comprehensive discussions" in Moscow. Annan was "grateful for Russia's firm support for his mediation efforts in order to reach a swift and peaceful solution to this bloody conflict" and asked Russia to continue providing support.

Moscow has accused the West and Gulf Arab nations of being too one-sided, arguing that foreign political support for the opposition and contraband weapons supplies to rebels fuel the fighting in Syria, which hosts a Russian naval base.

Western and Arab leaders are due to meet in Istanbul next week to back the revolt against Assad and the Arab League and Turkey were pressing the opposition to unite beforehand.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged Annan to work with both government and opposition and said his mission needed full international support, the Foreign Ministry said.

"This entails non-interference in Syria's internal affairs and inadmissibility of supporting one side in the conflict," the ministry said in a statement after their meeting.

In the Korean capital Seoul, Obama and Erdogan discussed providing medical supplies and communications support to the Syrian opposition but there was no talk of providing lethal aid to the rebels.

"We worked on a common agenda in terms of how we can support both humanitarian efforts ... (and) the efforts of Kofi Annan to bring about much needed change (in Syria)," Obama said after his meeting with Erdogan, a sharp critic of Assad.

New York-based Human Rights Watch published videos, obtained from opposition activists, in which people in civilian clothes walk in front of several armed soldiers and infantry fighting vehicles. Activists say the army had compelled the men to walk in front to protect the soldiers.

The statement said that residents reported government forces placing children on tanks and inside security buses.

"The Syrian army's use of human shields is yet another reason why the UN Security Council should refer Syria to the International Criminal Court," said Ole Solvang, a HRW emergencies researcher.

It was impossible to verify reports independently because Syrian authorities have prevented foreign journalists and human rights workers from entering affected areas.

HEAVY SHELLING

Syria says rebels have killed about 3,000 members of the security forces and blames the violence on "terrorist" gangs.

Syrian troops have repeatedly targeted Homs, Syria's third largest city, and said last month they had regained control of Baba Amr, a neighborhood held by rebels for several months.

However, a surge in violence in other neighborhoods this week suggested the army was struggling to keep control.

Waleed al-Faris, an opposition activist from Homs, told Reuters that Sunday's shelling, using tank and mortar fire, was the worst he had seen.

"There are ten dead and hundreds wounded," he said. "I have not experienced shelling this heavy since Baba Amr."

In the southern province of Deraa, birthplace of the revolt, government forces and rebels clashed on Sunday.

"Thousands of soldiers and over a hundred military vehicles are attempting to enter the area of Lahat in Deraa province today, but they are clashing with rebels," said Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding that at least five soldiers and three rebels had been killed.

The Syrian state news agency SANA said six "terrorists" had been killed on during dawn raid on a hideout in Deraa.

The SOHR said 27 were killed around Syria on Sunday, 15 of them civilians, during heavy shelling in the central city of Homs and northwestern province of Idlib.

In the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, Syrian troops conducted house-to-house raids in search of dissidents, SOHR said.

(Additional reporting by Alexei Anishchuk; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Giles Elgood)

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Apple's New iPad Also Has Wi-Fi Problems? - Yahoo Finance

The risk of being an early adopter has been well-documented . While the thrill of being the first on your block with a highly anticipated, widely celebrated device can be addictive, it's often worth it to wait two to three months for the company to release a patch that fixes all the bugs and glitches it missed prior to release.

I know I felt that regret when I jumped aboard the Motorola (MMI) Droid Bionic train, only to find the Android (GOOG) device emitted a high-pitched squeal which every other review had missed. It was an agonizing wait before that bug was patched.

And it would seem that some owners of Apple's (AAPL) new iPad are going through a similar bit of buyer's remorse.

This week, it was revealed that the new device can get uncomfortably hot under certain conditions. Making matters worse, new testimonials are pouring in relating the tablet's Wi-Fi connectivity problems -- echoing an issue with the original iPad which Apple confirmed .

Gizmodo's Jesus Diaz has collected forums posts from users who discovered the new iPad has Wi-Fi reception issues. According to a growing number of owners, the new iPad will register a much weaker signal than earlier models. A thread on AppleCare's support forums began with:

"I am in a hotel with my laptop and new ipad3. The laptop wifi reception is as strong as it gets, but the iPad only registers a weak signal. Anyone else having similar problems? Any suggestions?"

Others began chiming in:

"Same here ipad2 has twice the wifi range with the same settings as the ipad3. The screens nice but I may return mine if this is the way they all are."

"Same here! Will not hold WIFI for more than a few minutes. Two MacBooks and iPhone working fine from same router. Ready to return iPad!!!!!"

After Diaz reported the issue, two readers wrote in to Gizmodo to follow up on the story, one of whom confirmed the issue with Apple Geniuses during a visit to a retail location:

"I spent 90 min in the store. We compared the speed on the 3 and my 2. Wasn't a dramatic difference (because we were in the back of the store, closer to the router mothership!) But still there was a difference.

They did an exchange—but we all decided to test the new iPad 3.

We tested it, and still there was a difference - about 2/3 the strength. It wasn't that big.

Then the clerk suggested we try another machine to compare two 3's—and my 2.

When we went to the front of the store—at the entryway to the mall—I was vindicated! Because the signal was weaker—the the 2 was flying—getting 12 or 15—while the 3 was lagging at 3 or 4.

So the manager was called over. It was decided to swap it for yet another 3.

Tested it again and it was still the same problem.

But now everyone was aware that there is a problem with the 3.

Bottom line: I returned it, got my money back - and am back to the 2. It's not as sharp, but it's fast! So, I'll wait a month or so, and see if they manage to improve the wifi issue."

As with the original iPad, it's very likely that Apple will patch the issue with an update. However, it'll be an agonizing wait until a fix is delivered.

But as any early adopter can tell you, it comes with the territory. Even with Apple.

More From Minyanville

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Afghan president: Pact with US will be scrutinized - Denver Post

KABUL, Afghanistan—Afghanistan's president said Thursday that his government is "taking a magnifying glass" to proposals for the country's strategic partnership deal with the United States and scrutinizing every detail.

In a speech at the graduation ceremony for Afghanistan's military academy, Hamid Karzai also reiterated a pledge that any deal reached will respect Afghan sovereignty.

Talks on the pact, which will set the rules for U.S. troops who stay on after the majority of combat forces leave in 2014, have stalled on several occasions in recent months as Karzai has demanded more control over how American forces operate in the country.

Afghan and U.S. officials both say they want to sign the deal by a NATO summit in May. However, Karzai vowed Thursday that no detail will be overlooked in the push to get a deal inked.

"We are taking a magnifying glass in our hand and looking at even the tiniest items," Karzai said.

He applauded recent progress on two issues that had threatened to derail an agreement: U.S. detainees and night raids by international forces.

The two governments signed a deal earlier this month on how to hand over control of the some 3,000 Afghan detainees held by the United States. Karzai also said progress is being made toward an agreement on how night raids would be conducted. The Afghan president has called for international forces to be barred from taking part in night raids, a proposal that NATO strongly objects to, saying the raids are essential to capturing insurgent leaders.

U.S. officials have said that one compromise being discussed would involve getting a warrant from an Afghan judge to conduct the raids jointly.

The key issue for Karzai is national sovereignty—that Kabul will control how forces operate in the country.

"The security of Afghanistan will come from the sons of Afghanistan, according to the Afghan constitution," he told the assembled graduates.

The negotiations are taking place as Afghan-U.S. relations have grown increasingly strained this year. Even before this month's killings of at least 16 Afghan villagers allegedly carried out by a U.S. soldier, there were deadly riots and attacks over the burning of copies of the Quran at a U.S. base and outrage sparked by an Internet video showing Marines urinating on supposed Taliban corpses.

But most Afghans still say they want international forces in the country helping to keep the peace and that it is just a matter of figuring out what rules they should govern their operations.

As the political wrangling has continued, so have the violent attacks. On Thursday, a suicide car bomber blew himself up at a security checkpoint outside a police station in southern Afghanistan, killing two children, officials said.

The attacker detonated his explosives just outside the station in Kandahar, the main city in southern Afghanistan, said provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Razaq. Two police officers and six civilians were wounded, Razaq said.

Another assailant tried to enter the police station just after the blast and was shot dead by police, Razaq said.

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Supreme Court Prepares to Tackle Affordable Care Act - YAHOO!

THURSDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- The most ambitious government health-care initiative since the Medicare and Medicaid programs of the 1960s, and the legislative landmark of President Barack Obama's presidency, is about to face its biggest challenge.

Starting Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an unprecedented six hours of arguments over three days on the constitutionality of the controversial and massive health-reform initiative known as the Affordable Care Act.

The law -- the first national legislative effort to rein in health-care costs -- aims to extend insurance coverage to more than 30 million Americans through an expansion of Medicaid and a provision that people buy health insurance starting in 2014 or face a penalty.

"There are 50 million people in this country who don't have health insurance. The Affordable Care Act will probably extend coverage to an estimated 30 to 32 million of those people," said Renee Landers, a professor at Suffolk University Law School in Boston.

The key sticking point in the legal showdown is whether Congress exceeded its authority with the law's so-called "individual mandate," which requires almost all adult Americans to maintain health insurance or risk a penalty in the form of a tax.

The individual mandate -- scheduled to take effect in January 2014 -- is the pivotal piece of the law.

"The requirement that people purchase insurance is the key to having health insurance be there for everyone when they need it," said John Rother, president of the National Coalition on Health Care, which works to achieve reform of the U.S. health-care system.

Opponents call the mandate a stunning government intrusion into the private lives of Americans and argue that Congress has no right to tell an individual to buy a certain product.

Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute, a conservative public policy group, and a critic of the new law, is thrilled that the High Court has agreed to hear challenges to the legislation.

"This case is before the Supreme Court in record time. Two years from the law being enacted to the case being heard is really remarkable," Turner said. "And you have 26 states -- the majority of states -- challenging the law."

The Supreme Court will also hear arguments on whether the law is unconstitutional in requiring states to either comply with an expansion of Medicaid to cover more lower-income people without health insurance, or lose federal matching funding. At issue is the concept of "federalism," the division of powers between the federal and state governments.

Finally, the court will address "severability" -- that is, whether the individual mandate can be struck down while leaving the rest of the law intact.

In a recent New England Journal of Medicine commentary, Landers described arguments for and against severability.

Opponents have said that provisions of the legislation are too intertwined for the law to stand without the individual mandate. The Obama administration has said the law can still work without the mandate, but provisions such as prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions would be greatly compromised without the mandate.

Budget office sees savings; opponents skeptical

Here's how the health-reform law is designed to provide health insurance to uninsured Americans:

Individual mandate. It requires most adults to purchase health insurance or pay a tax penalty. By 2016, the phased-in penalty will reach either $695 or 2.5 percent of yearly taxable income, whichever is greater. People with incomes below tax-filing thresholds will be exempt from the provision. Up to 16 million people are projected to join the rolls of the insured under the mandate.Medicaid expansion. This would increase eligibility to all people under age 65 with annual incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level -- about $14,850 for a single adult and $30,650 for a family of four in 2012. Non-disabled adults under 65 without dependent children were previously ineligible. Another 16 million people are estimated to gain insurance under the expansion.State-run insurance exchanges. They will be created to help small businesses and individuals purchase insurance through a more organized and competitive market.

In February 2011, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that savings from the Affordable Care Act would cut the federal deficit by $210 billion during the next decade.

But opponents say that the cost-cutting provisions probably won't work.

Devon Herrick, a health economist at the free-market National Center for Policy Analysis, said the law sets up a "slippery slope" that will increase costs, not lower them.

"If Congress and company have the legal authority to decide the minimum coverage you must have, all manner of lobbyists and special interests and providers for specific diseases will descend on Washington and state capitals, as they always have, to make sure that their respective services are covered by that mandate," Herrick said.

The law's supporters argue that without the requirement that people have insurance coverage while they're healthy, there won't be enough money in the risk pool to pay to take care of them when the need for health care eventually -- and inevitably -- arises.

"If people don't feel like paying, then get sick and go to the emergency room or the hospital, those people's costs will be added on to our insurance bills as they are today, which makes it much more expensive," Rother said.

Lower courts, different interpretations

The legal trail of challenges leading up to the Supreme Court has involved more than two dozen lawsuits and appeals.

Last June, the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the individual mandate was valid because of the Constitution's Commerce Clause, which allows Congress to regulate commerce that takes place among states.

In August, a district judge in Florida ruled that the individual mandate was unconstitutional. However, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which reviewed his decision, rejected that argument and found that the Affordable Care Act could stand even if the individual mandate provision were removed, Landers said.

Then in November, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia also upheld the individual mandate based on the Commerce Clause.

The U.S. Supreme Court chose to review the Florida case, which now includes 25 other states as plaintiffs, along with the National Federation of Independent Business.

The law has been controversial since it was passed by Congress and signed by Obama in March 2010. Poll after poll has found that Americans don't like the individual mandate. But a recent Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll revealed that people are starting to warm up to certain key provisions of the law -- such as the ban on insurance companies turning away applicants with preexisting health problems.

Some popular provisions -- including allowing children to stay on their parents' health plans until age 26 -- are already in place.

Other provisions meant to help older Americans began in 2011, with changes to continue through 2020.

Medicaid expansion a vital component of the law

States must comply with the Medicaid expansion no later than 2014. But some worry that a big influx of new enrollees could strain medical specialties such as obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics and family practice.

Dr. Peter Carmel, president of the American Medical Association, called the expansion "an important step in the right direction," even though many "physicians are currently unable to accept Medicaid patients due to low reimbursement rates."

Added Dr. Glen Stream, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians: "For the time being, [the new law] seems like the best option to get everyone covered with health insurance. Otherwise, people are carved out from good primary-care services, good preventive care and wellness services, and care of their chronic illnesses until sometimes it's too late."

The Supreme Court ruling is expected in June. The court could go one of several ways:

It could rule the individual mandate is unconstitutional and the entire law invalid.It could rule the mandate is constitutional and the entire law can stand.It could reach a middle ground: that the individual mandate is unconstitutional but the rest of the law can stand.It could decline to rule on the case and the health reforms would proceed.

The decision may pivot on the vote of Justice Antonin Scalia, a court conservative. Suffolk University's Landers said that in a previous case that centered on the Commerce Clause, "Scalia wrote a concurrence in which he took a very broad view of Congress' authority. So I think he has a lot of work to do to get himself out from under that concurrence."

She said it's also possible -- though unlikely -- that the court could decide to delay ruling on the case altogether.

That would be a major setback for opponents, said Turner at the Galen Institute. "By 2017, 'Obamacare' would have such deep roots that it would be hard to overturn," she said.

Whatever the court decides, it will provide plenty of fodder for the 2012 elections. And even if the Affordable Care Act survives the legal challenge, Landers said, "with upcoming elections -- a new Congress -- it doesn't mean that everything is set for all time."

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India Vote Against Sri Lanka May Herald New Activism - Wall Street Journal

Ishara S. Kodikara/ /Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesSupporters of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa during a protest against a UN human rights proposal, February 27.

India has voted Thursday in favor of a U.S.-backed resolution to pressure Sri Lanka to look into human rights abuses carried out by government forces during its 26-year civil war – a move that could spell a newfound activist policy by New Delhi in its neighborhood.

For months, India has been saying it would not back the resolution at the U.N. Human Rights Council for fear of alienating Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government. But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said India was going to vote for the motion, in a move that sparked anger in Sri Lanka.

Partly, India’s hand has been forced. Mr. Singh relies on Indian Tamil parties for a majority in Parliament. Tamil politicians, angered by what they say is the continued poor treatment of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka, threatened to walk out of the governing coalition if India failed to back the U.S. motion.

But India could also be looking to take a more assertive role in the South Asian region, one which the U.S. has been urging it to play. India is the world’s largest democracy and by far the superpower in South Asia. Yet it more often than not has hewn closely to a policy of non-alignment, which in practice means rejecting interference in other countries’ internal affairs.

China, Russia and other countries opposed the U.S. motion Thursday on these grounds. India’s decision to support the resolution, if it does indeed show a desire to take a stand in its neighborhood, will be welcomed by Washington.

A U.S. official this week said India could play an important role on Sri Lanka in the months ahead. That’s because the  U.N. resolution is not legally-binding and the U.S. is betting on New Delhi to play a front-and-center role in getting Colombo to take action.

The U.S. doesn’t want to go down the road of targeted sanctions against individual Sri Lankan officials or to take this matter to the International  Criminal Court in The Hague. Instead, it would like India to play a role in pushing Sri Lanka to allow an independent probe into human rights allegations.

These include claims that government troops shelled civilian targets at the war’s climax in 2009, killing thousands of people, and that Tamil Tiger separatists used civilians as human shields.

The Sri Lankan government’s own commission that investigated the abuses, which published its report in December, largely exonerated government troops, while blaming the Tamil Tigers for most of the atrocities. It did however publish some recommendations applauded by the U.S., such as urging the government to quickly demilitarize Tamil areas. But the government has so far taken no action on the recommendations, the U.S. says.

The U.N. resolution calls on Sri Lanka to allow a credible investigation into the abuses and also to implement the recommendations of its own commission.

You can follow Tom and India Real Time on Twitter @TomWrightAsia and @indiarealtime.

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Wall Street opens lower on China, euro zone data - Yahoo Finance

By Angela Moon

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street fell for a third straight day on Thursday after continued contraction in manufacturing in both the euro zone and China fueled worries about the global economy.

The market has shown resilience recently, able to rebound off sluggish starts to the session, but Thursday's trading could represent the first significant test for the S&P 500 to hold the 1,400 support level.

China's manufacturing sector activity shrank in March for a fifth successive month, and in Europe, manufacturing in the euro zone contracted further, led by a decline in French and German factory activity, data showed.

Shares of FedEx Corp, the world's No. 2 package delivery company, slumped more than 4 percent and helped drag down the Dow Jones Transportation average after the company warned of a lowered outlook due to Europe's weak economy.

"The stock market has been residing in this fantasy land, ignoring the bad data and only looking at the good ones, but it is now clear that Europe is entering a recession with Germany probably joining, and China could have a hard landing," said James Dailey, portfolio manager at TEAM Asset Strategy Fund in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

"We are not going to have a collapse like the '08, but there is a good chance that we have experienced the new highs and the market is starting to roll over to what may be the start of a bear market," Dailey said.

Thursday's data greatly reduced hopes the euro zone could sidestep a recession, and indicated China's slowdown has yet to wane.

The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI:DJI) was down 90.36 points, or 0.69 percent, at 13,034.26. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (MXP:SPX) was down 12.11 points, or 0.86 percent, at 1,390.78. The Nasdaq Composite Index (NAS:COMP) was down 19.65 points, or 0.64 percent, at 3,055.67.

FedEx Corp (NYS:FDX - News) shares fell 4.2 percent to $91.77. The Dow Jones Transportation average (DJI:DJT) lost 2 percent.

European equity markets weakened for a fourth straight session, heading for their longest down run in four months.<.EU>

Evidence of an improving U.S. jobs market failed to lift sentiment. The U.S. Labor Department reported new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to 348,000, the lowest level in four years.

Dollar General Corp (NYS:DG - News) advanced 3.4 percent to $46.29 after the discount retailer posted higher holiday-quarter earnings and sales.

McDonald's Corp's (NYS:MCD - News) fell 1 percent to $95.83 after the world's biggest hamburger chain said Chief Executive Jim Skinner is retiring after more than seven years at the helm.

(Editing by Leslie Adler)

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Manning wanted to protect Broncos if neck issues return - USA Today

Give Peyton Manning credit for transparency.

In an interview with The Denver Post, he downplayed his recent performances in throwing sessions for NFL teams and wanted to ensure the Broncos were both comfortable with his physical progress and financially insured against future setbacks to his neck and throwing arm before he signed his five-year, $96 million contract in Denver on Tuesday.

"John said it was great," Manning said of his workout at Duke University last Friday. "It wasn't great throwing. It's not supposed to be great because I'm not where I want to be. I just said: 'Here it is, guys. If you're not interested, you're not hurting my feelings. You've got to tell me.' It bothers me that I don't feel the way I want to feel.

"I have a lot of work to do. I'm not where I need to be."

Manning provided each of his suitors a disc containing his full medical history. He'll make $18 million in 2012 (less than 70% of what he got from the Colts while sidelined in 2011) and $20 million each of the following two years, but the Broncos are off the hook financially if his neck problems resurface and prevent him from playing.

"I'll say this, Peyton was great about giving us protection against his neck," VP of football operations John Elway said.

GEAR UP:  Get your Manning/Broncos merchandise

Manning said Tuesday that he planned to remain in Colorado for the remainder of the week to continue his rehabilitation with the Broncos training staff.

"They've got to be protected," Manning said. "That's why the whole medical -- I was as open a book as I could be. I told them exactly how I feel, what I was working on. They have to know everything to make their decision.

"Even (Tuesday), at the last minute, I said, 'John, put (the contract) the way you want it.' He and I talked about that from the get-go, on that first visit. You don't want to start off on a bad foot. I kind of argued with them a little bit, on their side. Nobody believes that when you say that. But it's got to be what they're comfortable with."

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Army reviewing traumatic stress diagnostic practices

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Army has started a system-wide review to ensure its mental healthcare facilities are not engaging in the "unacceptable" practice of considering treatment costs in making a diagnosis, Army Secretary John McHugh told a U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday.

Lieutenant General Patricia Horoho, the Army surgeon general, initiated the review in response to the discovery that hundreds of soldiers being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder had their diagnoses reversed after being seen by psychiatrists at the Madigan Army Medical Center in Washington state.

The medical center is located at Joint Base Lewis McChord, the home base of Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, who is suspected of killing 16 people, including nine children, in a shooting rampage in Afghanistan this month.

Bales was on his fourth deployment to a war zone in the past 10 years. His civilian lawyer told Reuters last week that PTSD would likely be part of the defense.

PTSD is a huge issue for the Defense Department. A recent Army study estimated as many as 20 percent of the more than 2 million U.S. troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan could suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Cost of care could range between $4 billion and $6.2 billion, it said.

The Army is looking at whether doctors at the medical center were influenced by the cost of PTSD diagnosis in terms of pensions and other benefits. One psychiatrist said the cost to taxpayers was $1.5 million over the lifetime of a soldier on medical retirement, the Seattle Times reported.

The review being carried out by the Army inspector general aims to ensure that standardized diagnostic procedures are followed by all psychiatrists "and equally important that fiscal considerations are not in any way a part of the evaluations," McHugh said. "It's simply unacceptable."

Referring to Bales, Representative Bill Pascrell, founder of a U.S. congressional task force on brain injuries, told reporters he wanted to "cradle this soldier in our arms" while condemning his actions until it could be determined what happened to him and whether he was properly tested and treated.

Bales had received a traumatic head injury and lost part of a foot during previous deployments in Iraq. The incident raised questions about the stress of repeated deployments, but McHugh said four was not uncommon.

"We have in the military writ large over 50,000 folks in uniform who have had at least four deployments," McHugh told members of the defense panel of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

'VERY CONCERNING'

Patty Murray, a U.S. senator from Washington state, told McHugh it was "very concerning" that 40 percent of the service members with PTSD who were seen by psychiatrists at Madigan "had their diagnosis changed to something else or overturned entirely."

"What it says is that over four in 10 of our service members - many of whom were already being treated for PTSD - and were due the benefits and care that comes with that diagnosis had it taken away by this unit," she said. "They were then sent back into the force or the local community."

General Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, said the Army wanted doctors and psychiatrists to have the attitude they were "patient advocates."

"That's the mindset that we're going to work on changing - to make sure that everybody understands that," Odierno said. "We are patient advocates. We are trying to get the best for what is right for our soldiers."

But Murray said senior military leaders had been saying that since the start of the war a decade ago.

"It's really disconcerting after 10 years to find now that that has not been the case," she said.

Murray said it was important to focus on the issue system-wide to make clear that "it isn't the cost of PTSD or any mental health evaluation that is of concern to the Army. ... It is making sure that those men and women get the care."

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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Love letters reveal Nazi commander Rommel's romantic side

BERLIN (Reuters) - Adolf Hitler's favorite commander Erwin Rommel, the "Desert Fox" who relentlessly fought allied forces across North Africa in World War Two, was a hopeless romantic, extracts from love letters published in a German newspaper reveal.

The wily Desert Fox fell in love with 18-year-old Walburga Stemmer from Weingarten in southern Germany in 1910, when he was a young man and a low-ranking soldier.

The future general wooed her with love letters after work commitments forced him to move away.

"I'm in such good spirits, darling, so full of life, so happy, because you care for me too," Rommel wrote in one of the letters, quoted in Bild newspaper on Thursday.

"I'll probably have time off at the beginning of July... I could come to Weingarten for eight days. Tender kisses and greetings, your eternally loving Erwin," he wrote.

Rommel earned the respect of allied forces during the North African military campaigns of World War Two for his skilful command of his troops and his daring in warfare, earning him the nickname of Desert Fox.

The letters belong to Rommel's grandson, Josef Pan, whose mother Gertrud was the illegitimate daughter of the soldier's romance with Walburga.

At the time of Gertrud's birth, Rommel already had another woman in his life, Lucie Mollin, whom he later married.

Walburga killed herself in 1928, the year Rommel's legitimate son with Lucie was born. But the Desert Fox remained in contact with his first child, Gertrud.

"He lovingly took care of my mother. He often took her on official trips with him, and invited her to his home," said Pan, who works as a greengrocer in Bavaria.

Rommel was forced to commit suicide by Hitler in 1944 after he was linked to a plot to kill the Nazi leader.

(Reporting by Alice Baghdjian, editing by Gareth Jones and Paul Casciato)

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Romney faces 'Etch A Sketch' fallout - CNN

Ann Romney on the Etch A Sketch commentvar cnnWindowParams=window.location.toString().toQueryParams();if(typeof cnnWindowParams.video!="undefined"){if(cnnWindowParams.video){cnnLoadStoryPlayer('bestoftv/2012/03/22/pmt-ann-romney-etch-a-sketch.cnn','cnnCVP1', '640x384_start_art' ,playerOverRide,T1);}} else {$('cnnCVP2').onclick=function(){if ($$('.box-opened').length){$$('.box-opened').each(function(val){Element.fireEvent(val,'click');});}cnnLoadStoryPlayer('bestoftv/2012/03/22/pmt-ann-romney-etch-a-sketch.cnn','cnnCVP1','640x384_start_art',playerOverRide,T1);};$('cnnCVP2').onmouseover=function(){$('cnnCVP2').className='cnn_mtt1plybttn cnn_mtt1plybttnon';};$('cnnCVP2').onmouseout=function(){$('cnnCVP2').className='cnn_mtt1plybttn';};}Mitt Romney raises funds in the Washington, D.C., area ThursdayRick Santorum talks health care in Texas, while Newt Gingrich campaigns in LouisianaRivals jump on Romney aide's remark that his campaign can reset like an Etch A SketchThe Louisiana primary Saturday is the next contest in the Republican presidential race

Washington (CNN) -- Mitt Romney headed to the nation's capital Thursday to raise money for his front-running Republican presidential campaign, buoyed by recent primary wins and a key endorsement but also facing fallout from a top adviser's gaffe.

A Wednesday comment on CNN by Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney's senior campaign adviser, provided top rivals Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich with new ammunition to attack the former Massachusetts governor over shifting stances on issues such as health care and abortion during his career.

Fehrnstrom said the campaign will "hit a reset button" to take on President Barack Obama in the fall if Romney wins the GOP nomination, adding "it's almost like an Etch A Sketch -- you can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again."

The comment, in response to a question about whether Romney had to adopt conservative stances in the Republican campaign that could hurt him with moderates in November, brought immediate attacks from Romney's two main conservative rivals.

A new website unveiled Thursday by the Gingrich campaign features the Fehrnstrom quote above an Etch A Sketch that highlights Romney's policy shifts when viewers hit a prompt labeled "shake." Written on the drawing toy is "Mitt's Etch A Sketch Principles."

"You could not have found a more perfect illustration of why people distrust Romney than to have his (adviser) say that the Etch A Sketch allows you to erase everything in the general election," Gingrich said Wednesday. "You have to read the guy's quote to realize -- if he had set out to highlight for everybody why we distrust Romney, I think he couldn't have done a better job."

Santorum also jumped at the opportunity. His campaign posted a photo on Twitter of the candidate using an Etch A Sketch, saying it showed him "studying up on (Romney's) policy positions."

"You can give all the speeches you want ... about freedom but you've got to have your policies match your rhetoric," Santorum said in an interview Thursday morning on WWL radio in New Orleans ahead of the next Republican primary on Saturday in Louisiana.

On the Tea Party Nation website, blogger Judson Phillips wrote Thursday that the Etch A Sketch image "is what conservatives have been warning about for months with Romney."

"He is a liberal. He has no core convictions and as soon as he becomes the nominee, he will move far to the left," Phillips continued.

The caricature of Romney as a politically motivated flip-flopper extends far beyond the campaign and right-wing blogosphere. Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle joked about Romney at a dinner Wednesday night honoring fellow former Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole and Howard Baker for their legacies of bipartisanship.

"Tonight we are here to honor two distinct, different Republicans -- and no, I'm not talking about Mitt Romney," Daschle said.

Romney had no public events scheduled Thursday while he attended fundraising events in the Washington, D.C., area after what should have been a triumphant Wednesday -- his 43rd wedding anniversary -- in which he picked up the prized endorsement of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and celebrated his solid victory in the Illinois primary the night before.

Instead, he had to try damage control over Fehrnstrom's comment by taking one question from reporters about the Etch A Sketch snafu.

"Organizationally, a general election campaign takes on a different profile," Romney said. "The issues I am running on will be exactly the same. I am running as a conservative Republican. I was a conservative Republican governor. I will be running as a conservative Republican nominee, at that point hopefully, for president. The policies and positions are the same."

In a new campaign ad in Wisconsin, which holds its primary on April 3, Romney turned his focus to the ever increasing federal deficit.

The ad highlights Romney's tenure as governor of Massachusetts, making the case his background as a corporate executive prepared him to run a fiscally sound government.

Romney's message of cutting deficits comes after the candidate acknowledged an economy on the rebound, telling a crowd in Illinois this week that "I believe the economy is coming back, by the way. We'll see what happens, it's had ups and downs. I think it's finally coming back."

Gingrich campaigned Thursday in Louisiana, while Santorum headed to Texas to talk about health care at an insurance company. Texas Rep. Ron Paul, the libertarian champion running well behind, had no campaign events scheduled.

Both Gingrich and Santorum scoffed away the Jeb Bush endorsement for Romney, saying the son of one Republican president and brother of another represents the GOP establishment rather than the conservative soul of the party.

"It's a completion of the establishment trifecta," Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said in reference to endorsements for Romney by former President George H.W. Bush, former Sen. Bob Dole and now Jeb Bush.

After Romney's victory in the Illinois primary, analysts sounded like the Republican campaign was essentially over.

"The writing's on the wall" for the rest of the field, said CNN analyst Erick Erickson, a longtime Romney critic.

"This comes down to Mitt Romney," Erickson said. "Not only is he the front-runner but the nominee. This is a clear win for Mitt Romney tonight in a state with blue-collar voters, with industrial voters and suburban voters."

The Illinois result gave Romney at least 41 of the 54 delegates at stake in the primary, increasing his total to 562, according to CNN's estimate. Santorum is second with 249, Gingrich third with 137 and Paul last with 69.

A total of 1,144 delegates is needed to clinch the GOP nomination.

Santorum said he expects to do better in coming primaries and caucuses, adding: "We are feeling very, very good about winning Louisiana on Saturday."

The former Pennsylvania senator has made a strong showing in traditionally conservative Southern states, winning Alabama and Mississippi a week ago while Romney finished third.

"This is the last chance, in a sense, for the conservative area of the country to plant their flag, and we felt very good about what Alabama and Mississippi did," Santorum said in the Thursday radio interview. "They restarted this race again."

Another Santorum victory in Louisiana would continue the pattern of the race, while a Romney win would signal growing support from the conservative base that he needs to finish off his rivals.

Gingrich, who appears increasingly unlikely to mount another comeback after two previous campaign surges, said Thursday he is used to fighting from behind.

"Almost everywhere I've campaigned, because of the way of the money, we start behind and then we gain ground," Gingrich told about 100 supporters in Lafayette, Louisiana..

CNN's Kevin Liptak, Shawna Shepherd and Chris Welch contributed to this report.

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Jobless claims fall to four year low

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans claiming new unemployment benefits dropped to a four-year low last week, offering further evidence the jobs market recovery was gaining traction.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, the lowest level since February 2008, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 354,000 last week.

A separate report showed a gauge of future U.S. economic activity rose solidly in February, pointing to strengthening growth even as China slows. Some euro zone economies are already in recession.

"The economy is entering a phase where more of the gains from growth accrue to labor rather than capital and we believe that stronger job creation will be sustained throughout 2012," said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York.

The four-week moving average for new claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends, declined 1,250 to 355,000. The data covered the survey week for March nonfarm payrolls. Initial claims dropped 5,000 between the February and March survey periods, suggesting another month of solid job gains.

Employers added 227,000 jobs to their payrolls in February, taking the tally for the past three months to 734,000. The unemployment rate currently is at 8.3 percent, having dropped 0.8 percentage point since August.

The Federal Reserve has said it expects the jobless rate to "gradually" decline.

The data had little impact on U.S. financial markets as investors worried about the global economy after reports showed Chinese manufacturing slumped for a fifth month in March. Factory activity in France and Germany declined sharply this month, suggesting the euro zone was probably back in recession.

SIGNIFICANT HEADWINDS

While U.S. economic data remains relatively upbeat, analysts worry slowing global growth could hamper the domestic economy and dampen employment creation.

"With much of Europe already slipping into recession, the U.S. economy will be pushing against significant external headwinds to accelerate in the quarters ahead," said Jim Baird, chief investment Strategist at Plante Moran Financial Advisors in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Firming labor market conditions helped to lift the Conference Board's Leading Economic Index 0.7 percent last month.

In the claims report, the number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid fell to its lowest level since August 2008, in the week ended March 10.

Despite the improving labor market picture, long-term unemployment remains a major problem and about 43 percent of the 12.8 million out of work Americans in February had been jobless for more than six months.

A total of 7.28 million people were claiming unemployment benefits under all programs, during the week ended March 3, the latest week for which data is available, down 142,499 from the prior week.

(Editing by Andrea Ricci)

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Messi's footwork part of anti-Syria conspiracy: TV

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Barcelona footballers don't just have a slick passing game, they can also secretly indicate arms smuggling routes to Syria, a pro-government Syrian television channel claimed this week.

Without a hint of irony, Addounia TV superimposed a map of Syria on a screen to show how Lionel Messi and his team-mates, representing smugglers, had kicked a ball, representing a weapons shipment, into Syria from Lebanon.

The subtle signals to rebels were transmitted when Barcelona played Real Madrid in December, said the channel, which is owned by a cousin of President Bashar al-Assad. It did not trouble viewers by revealing Barcelona's motives for the exploit.

"First we see how the guns are brought from Lebanon," the presenter comments as one player passes the ball. "Then they cross into Homs and give the weapons to other terrorists in Abu Kamal," he added, referring to rebel strongholds in Syria.

Messi's final flick indicates the successful handover of the weapons to their destination in eastern Syria, he said.

Bizarre it may be, but paranoid conspiracy theories are common coin in the deeply divided and conflict-ridden state.

Take a documentary aired by Addounia in December on how French and American film directors had purportedly helped build mock-up Syrian city squares in Qatar to enable Doha-based Al Jazeera TV to film actors staging phony anti-Assad protests.

Such fantasies feed into Assad's narrative that the year-long unrest against him is all a foreign-orchestrated plot.

"We will defeat this conspiracy," he declared in January, pledging to crush what he has cast as terrorism and sabotage.

"Regional and international sides have tried to destabilize the country," the former ophthalmologist said. "We will not be lenient with those who work with outsiders against the country."

Assad, 46, has indeed earned himself some foreign enemies.

Western powers and the Arab League have told him to step aside in a peaceful transition, while Saudi Arabia and Qatar have gone further by calling for Syrian rebels to be armed.

Syria expert Joshua Landis of Oklahoma University says conspiracy theories reflect the mistrust between ruling minority Alawites and majority Sunni Muslims who spearhead the revolt.

"How can you expect them to be any less conspiratorial? The sectarian lines of hatred are growing and (Assad) thinks that everyone is a traitor," he said. "This has plagued the country since it was created."

MEDIA WAR

The United Nations says more than 8,000 people have been killed in the uprising, which started peacefully but has turned violent with daily clashes between rebels and security forces.

Paranoia is compounded by the media environment in which Syrians can watch Al Jazeera, which often shows graphic footage of casualties inflicted by security forces, or state-sponsored television, which portrays rebels as blood-crazed terrorists.

In the old city of Damascus, Assad loyalists have laid a poster with the hated Al Jazeera emblem on it along a main walkway for shoppers to trample on.

The uprising has spawned a media war, with both sides fighting to sway public sentiment through online propaganda and conspiracy theories, consigning truth to an ever greyer area.

Britain's Guardian newspaper said last week it had obtained a trove of emails, via anti-Assad activists, in which the president takes advice from Iran on countering the revolt and his wife Asma spends tens of thousands of dollars on internet shopping sprees while Syria descends into bloodletting.

Within hours, Assad loyalists had uploaded videos on YouTube saying that the emails were faked by revolutionaries.

"So these are supposed 'leaks' from the President & First Lady?" a group calling itself the Syrian Truth Network sneered in one video. "Try again later, Guardian."

The government and its opponents traded blame when dozens of people were found dead with their hands tied behind their backs in the city of Homs on March 10. Each side lit up Twitter and Facebook with detailed theories. The facts remain unclear.

Syria's state news agency website SANA said terrorists had killed civilians and then mutilated their corpses, staging a government massacre to vilify Assad's forces. Opposition activists accused Assad loyalists of carrying out the killings.

Independent journalists have repeatedly been denied access into Syria, making it hard to assess conflicting reports.

Many Syrians are befuddled by the claims and counter-claims. "We might not believe pro-government television, but we don't trust the satellite channels either," a Damascus resident said.

(Editing by Alistair Lyon)

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French gunmen dead as Toulouse siege ends: media - Orlando Sentinel

TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - A 23-year-old gunman who said al Qaeda inspired him to kill seven people in France died in a hail of bullets on Thursday as he scrambled out of a ground-floor window during a gunbattle with elite police commandos.

Mohamed Merah, a Frenchman of Algerian origin, died from a gunshot wound to his head at the end of a 30-hour standoff with police at his apartment in southern France and after confessing to killing three soldiers, three Jewish children and a rabbi.

He was firing frantically at police from a Colt 45 pistol as he climbed through his apartment window onto a verandah and toppled to the ground some 5 feet below, in a suburb of the city of Toulouse, according to prosecutors and police.

Two police commandos were injured in the operation - a dramatic climax to a siege which riveted the world after the killings shook France a month before a presidential election.

"At the moment when a video probe was sent into the bathroom, the killer came out of the bathroom, firing with extreme violence," Interior Minister Claude Gueant told reporters at the scene.

"In the end, Mohamed Merah jumped from the window with his gun in his hand, continuing to fire. He was found dead on the ground."

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Merah had taken refuge in his bathroom, wearing a bullet-proof vest under his traditional black djellaba robe, as elite police blasted his flat through the night with flash grenades.

Police investigators were working to establish whether Merah had worked alone or with accomplices, Molins said, adding that Merah had filmed his three shooting attacks with a camera hung from his body and had indicated that he had posted clips online.

The most disturbing image of the attacks showed him grabbing a young girl at a Jewish school on Monday by the hair and shooting her in the head before escaping on a scooter.

The killings have raised questions about whether there were intelligence failures, what the attacks mean for social cohesion and race relations in France and how the aftermath will affect PresidentNicolas Sarkozy's slim chances of re-election.

Sarkozy called Merah's killings terrorist attacks and announced a crackdown on people following extremist websites.

"From now on, any person who habitually consults websites that advocate terrorism or that call for hate and violence will be punished," he said in a statement. "France will not tolerate ideological indoctrination on its soil."

Elite RAID commandos had been in a standoff since the early hours of Wednesday with Merah, periodically firing shots or deploying small explosives until mid-morning on Thursday to try and tire out the gunman so he could be captured.

Surrounded by some 300 police, Merah had been silent and motionless for 12 hours when the commandos opted to go inside.

Initially, he had fired through his front door at police when they swooped on his flat on Wednesday morning, but later he negotiated with police, promising to give himself up and saying he did not want to die.

By late Wednesday evening, he changed tack again, telling negotiators he wanted to die "like a Mujahideen", weapon in hand, and would not go to prison, Molins said.

"If it's me (who dies), too bad, I will go to paradise. If it's you, too bad for you," Molins quoted Merah as saying.

IF YOU KILL MY BROTHERS

Merah told negotiators he was trained by al Qaeda inPakistan and killed three soldiers last week and four people at a Jewish school on Monday to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children and because of French army involvement in Afghanistan.

In his video recording of his shooting of the soldiers, Merah cried: "If you kill my brothers, I kill you", Molins said.

Merah had staked out the first soldier he killed after replying to an advert about a scooter, investigators said on Wednesday, and had identified another soldier and two police officers he wanted to kill.

His use of his mother's computer to lure his first victim, a French soldier of North African heritage like himself, gave police a vital clue, but not in time to prevent the other killings, even though he had taken the scooter to a mechanic for a respray before the final attack on Monday.

Sarkozy's handling of the crisis could well impact an election race where for months he has lagged behind Socialist challenger Francois Hollande in opinion polls.

Early on Thursday, the first opinion poll since the school shooting showed Sarkozy two points ahead of Hollande in the first-round vote on April 22, although Hollande still led by eight points for a May 6 runoff.

Three years of economic gloom, and a personal style many see as brash and impulsive, have made Sarkozy highly unpopular in France, but his proven strong hand in a crisis gives him an edge over a rival who has no ministerial experience.

Sarkozy said an inquiry would be launched into whether French prisons were being used to propagate extremism and urged people not to seek revenge for acts he described as terrorism.

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French school shooter dead after jumping out window in shootout

Mohammed Merah, the 23-year-old French gunman who confessed to killing seven people in the city of Toulouse in southwest France, is dead after being shot in the head by a police sniper during a final dramatic shoot-out with French police. It was the culmination of a 31-hour standoff with hundreds of French anti-terror police who had surrounded the building where Merah had barricaded himself.

French Interior Minister Claude Gueant told reporters Thursday that Merah had ceased communicating with negotiators around midnight, after discussing a possible surrender, giving rise to speculation he might have committed suicide. "But when heavily armed paramilitary police entered the apartment through the door and several windows about 10:30 a.m., Gueant said, Merah burst out of the bathroom, blasting away with several weapons," the Washington Post's Edward Cody reported. Gueant said Mareh had fired at police before jumping out of the window where "he was found dead on the ground below."

The Interior Minister wouldn't answer whether Merah had died in the fall or was shot by police, though France 24 commentators noted that the jump from the 1st floor window was unlikely to have killed him. French prosecutors later clarified in a news conference Thursday that Merah was shot in the head by a police sniper after he tried to flee.

French prosecutor Francois Molins also confirmed Thursday that they had found video in Mareh's apartment, apparently of his perpetrating the killings. A France 24 senior news editor, Ebba Kolondo, said Mareh claimed in a phone call this week that he had filmed all of the shootings. Kolonda also remarked that Mareh was exceptionally composed in their 11-minute call, which came shortly before police closed in on his building Wednesday.

Earlier, Molins told journalists that Merah had claimed responsibility for killing three young children and their teacher at a Jewish school in Toulouse and three French paratroopers, who like he, were of North African descent. Merah cited the death of Palestinian children in Gaza and opposition to France's role in the NATO peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan as the reason for targeting French troops and Jewish school children.

Merah also reportedly claimed sympathies for al-Qaida and to have trained in jihadi camps on at least two previous trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan, most recently in 2011.

Update: This post was updated at 10:40 AM EST with information from French prosecutors that Mohammed Mareh died from a shot to the head by a police sniper.

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Cat survives 19-story plunge from Boston high rise

BOSTON (AP) — A veterinarian says acting like a flying squirrel may have saved a cat from serious injury in a 19-story plunge from a Boston high rise.

Sugar the cat had no broken bones or cuts, just some bruising on her lungs after the fall from a window owner Brittany Kirk had opened to enjoy the recent unseasonably warm weather.

The Animal Rescue League estimates Sugar fell between 150 and 200 feet.

Kirk tells WBZ-TV (http://cbsloc.al/GLkYuk) she thinks Sugar used up "one or two or maybe eight" of her nine lives.

Veterinarian Hugh Davis says in falls from high places, cats splay their legs in a "flying squirrel position" which slows their descent.

Kirk calls Sugar's survival a "miracle" and says building management has since installed a screen in her window.

___

Information from: WBZ-TV, http://www.wbz4.com

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Clashes rage across Syria despite UN statement - Denver Post

BEIRUT—Syrian troops shelled and raided opposition areas and clashed with rebel fighters around the country Thursday despite U.N. efforts to stop the bloodshed so aid could reach suffering civilians.

Activists cited the fresh violence in dismissing a U.N. Security Council statement calling for a cease-fire to allow for dialogue between all sides on a political solution. The government of President Bashar Assad also played down the statement, saying Damascus is under no threats or ultimatums.

Mounting international condemnation of Assad's regime and high-level diplomacy have failed to ease the year-old Syria conflict, which the U.N. says has killed more than 8,000 people. Activists reported dozens of people killed Thursday including at least 12 government soldiers.

The Syrian uprising began last March with protests calling for political reforms. Unrest spread as Assad's forces violently tried to quash dissent, and many in the opposition took up arms to defend their towns and attack government troops.

"Civil strife of the sort we are seeing in Syria can destroy whole societies," U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Malaysia Thursday. Ban reiterated the statement approved by the U.N. Security Council's 15 members the day before, which sought to send a unified message on the conflict.

The statement endorsed a six-point plan by joint U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, which includes a cease-fire by Syrian forces, a daily two-hour halt to fighting to evacuate injured people and provide humanitarian aid and inclusive talks about a political solution.

Western countries have been pushing for Security Council action for months, but Russia and China have twice vetoed stronger resolutions that criticized the regime. Wednesday's presidential statement becomes part of the council's permanent record but is not legally binding.

To gain Russian and Chinese support, France watered down the text, removing clauses that could be seen as opening the door for sanctions or military action.

Russia and China have called previous resolutions unbalanced for blaming the conflict solely on the government, and Russian officials worry a strongly worded resolution could allow for military intervention against Assad, as happened in Libya last year.

Russia's deputy foreign minister said Thursday that Annan will visit Moscow in the coming days. Mikhail Bogdanov also said Russia will receive a delegation from the National Coordination Committee, a Syrian opposition group.

The U.S. and Europe have called on Assad to step down but have said they will not intervene militarily. While Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Libya have spoken positively of arming the rebels, no country is openly doing so.

Syria's state-run news agency played down the U.N. statement Thursday, saying there are no threats or ultimatums against Damascus. This echoed an earlier statement by Russia.

Activists in Syria dismissed the statement as too late and impossible to implement since Syrian forces have surrounded entire towns and villages and regularly shell civilian areas.

"Is there any way the army will remove its checkpoints for two hours?" said Fadi al-Yassin via satellite phone from the northern province of Idlib. "All of that is empty talk, politics, and we've gotten fed up with all of these decisions."

Many activists say they've grown frustrated with what they see as international resistance to act.

Activist groups said Syrian forces were stepping up their assaults on opposition areas around the country Thursday, often sparking clashes with local rebels.

Regime forces shelled the Arbaeen neighborhood in the central city of Hama and clashed with rebels while trying to enter the northern town of Sarmeen.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 people, half of them women and children, were killed when troops fired on a bus taking them from the town. Another group, the Local Coordination Committees, said 13 died in the attack on a bus taking the group to a refugee camp in across the border in Turkey. It also reported deaths in government attacks in the central cities of Homs and Hama, putting the nationwide toll at 59.

The Syrian government has barred most media from working in the country and activist claims could not be independently verified.

The Observatory said troops shot dead three civilians in the town of al-Qusair near the border with Lebanon.

Human Rights Watch accused the government of serious abuses against the town's civilian population in recent weeks, saying its forces had shelled residential neighborhoods, posted snipers of rooftops and attacked residents as they fled.

The New York-based group said Thursday that the town lacks food, water, medical services and suffers a near blackout of its communications.

Reflecting the growing militarization of the conflict, rebels killed at least 12 soldiers in attacks on checkpoints and convoys Thursday, the Observatory said.

Syria's rebels are outgunned by Assad's large, professional army but have opted for insurgent attacks on military targets.

The Syrian government cites the rise in such attacks to boost its argument that the uprising is being carried out by terrorist groups acting out a foreign conspiracy.

———

Associated Press writer Eileen Ng in Putrajaya, Malaysia, contributed to this report.

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Dramatic military helicopter crash from Afghanistan caught on camera

Dramatic new video gives a rare, up-close view of an American military attack chopper apparently losing control and crashing hard at a remote, mountainous outpost in Afghanistan.

The video, which appeared online recently, shows an Apache helicopter coming into view before swooping down low over the coalition outpost. The person shooting the video, who has not been identified, shouts in apparent fear as the helicopter narrowly misses a building and then chuckles in relief after it pulls back up. But after coming back around, the chopper drops down low again and slams its belly onto the snowy ground just feet from the camera.

The helicopter skids towards another group of people, but comes off the ground briefly before crashing again in the distance.

A spokesperson for the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force told ABC News the video was taken Feb. 6 in the Paktika province in Afghanistan. Remarkably, no one on the ground was injured and the aircrew survived, the spokesperson said.

There was no enemy activity in the area and Army is currently investigating the incident, he said.

While the cause of the crash is unknown, former Marine Corps pilot and current ABC News consultant Steve Ganyard said it appears the pilot was performing dangerous low-level maneuvers for spectators and then lost control.

Click here to watch the video at Military.com.

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NCAA Tournament: Kentucky still dominating odds going into Sweet 16

Once again, we're taking a break from politics to discuss the most pressing upcoming contest in American: March Madness. Kentucky heads into the Sweet Sixteen in the same place it was a week ago, the overwhelming favorite to win the championship at a 29.9 percent likelihood of victory. Mitt Romney is slightly more likely to win the Presidency than Kentucky is to win the NCAA crown, but let's be fair: Kentucky has four rounds left, while Romney only has two.

Thursday: East and West Regions

Even though all four top seeds having survived the first two rounds, our second most likely team to take the tourney is the second seed in the East, Ohio State, with 12.8 percent likelihood. This is a sign of how weak top-seeded Syracuse has looked without its star player, Fab Melo, who did not qualify for the tournament. (They came dangerously close to being the first top seed ever to lose a first-round game in their battle against UNC Asheville.) In their next game, we have top-seeded Syracuse at just 65.3 percent against No. 4 Wisconsin, our second tightest game. Ohio State is heavily favored at 77.2 percent likelihood over No. 6 Cincinnati.

The West continues to look like the weakest region. Michigan State is 66.5 percent likely to defeat No. 4 Louisville in the Sweet Sixteen. The other matchup is our closest game with No. 3 Marquette slightly favored at 54.8 percent over No. 7 Florida.

Friday: South and Midwest Regions

In the South, the loss of second-ranked Duke opened up the field for the top-ranked Kentucky team, but this loss did not move up Kentucky's likelihood of victory much; we already had Duke as the least likely second ranked to make it through to the Final Four. Kentucky is 81.7 percent likely to beat No. 4 Indiana, the most lopsided prediction we have in the Sweet Sixteen. No. 3 Baylor is 71.5 percent likely against No. 10 Xavier.

The Midwest continues to look like a preordained collision course between top-seeded North Carolina and second-seeded Kansas. They continue to jockey for third and fourth most likely to win it all with 11.1 percent and 10.2 percent respectively. Their paths are wide open to the Elite Eight; North Carolina is 80.8 percent likely to prevail over No. 13 Ohio and Kanas is 78.5 percent likely to defeat No. 11 North Carolina State.

Follow along live with PredictWise's real-time likelihood of winning each game and real-time likelihood of winning the tourney.

David Rothschild is an economist at Yahoo! Research. He has a Ph.D. in applied economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Follow him on Twitter @DavMicRot and email him at thesignal@yahoo-inc.com.

Want more? Visit The Signal blog, connect with us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter. Handy with a camera? Join the Yahoo! News Election 2012 Flickr group to submit your photos of the campaign in action.

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