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"The unprovoked attack on Rabbi Stav by fellow Jews is both painful and inexcusable," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "Whatever differences may exist among factions supporting one or another candidate for the post of Israel's chief Ashkenazi rabbi, they should be debated and resolved with civility, not resort to violence."

The attack took place a day after Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of the Shas party, used his weekly sermon to call Rabbi Stav "a wicked man" who is "dangerous to Judaism." Yosef and others in the Orthodox community have openly opposed Stav's candidacy.

Rabbi Stav has drawn criticism from some quarters for advocating a more inclusive Judaism that would engage all Israeli Jews and diminish ultra-Orthodox control of the Chief Rabbinate.

At the wedding party, youths shouted epithets and shoved Rabbi Stav, who finally left the celebration to avoid further insult and harm.

Rabbi Stav visited AJC headquarters in New York in January, shortly after he declared his candidacy for Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi. Elections for both chief rabbis, Ashkenazi and Sephardi, are to take place in the coming weeks.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - NASCAR driver Jason Leffler died from injuries suffered when his car slammed into the wall of a dirt raceway in New Jersey, state police said.

The crash occurred during a race at the Bridgeport Speedway in Logan township in southern New Jersey, near Philadelphia, state police spokesman Sergeant Adam Grossman said.

Leffler, 37, of Huntersville, North Carolina, was rushed to the Crozier Hospital in Chester, Pennsylvania, where he was pronounced dead at 9:02 p.m., police said.

The raceway calls itself the "Fastest Dirt Track in the East." It consists of a spacious 5/8-mile high-banked dirt oval, where average speeds reach well over 100 miles per hour, according to the track's website.

Leffler was a two-time winner of the Nationwide Series. He had been racing for over a decade, with experience in so-called midget race cars as well as the Indianapolis 500, where he placed 17th in 2000, his website noted.

New Jersey State Police said in a Twitter posting that the accident was under investigation.

"NASCAR extends its thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies to the family of Jason Leffler who passed away earlier this evening," the organization said in a Twitter posting. "For more than a decade, Jason was a fierce competitor in our sport and he will be missed."

(Additional reporting by David Bailey; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Peter Cooney)

"The discovery of non-harvested, GE (genetically engineered) wheat should not be used by America's trading partners to erect spurious, protectionist trade barriers ... in the absence of scientific evidence indicating that Oregon exports contain this strain of wheat," Sen. Roy Wyden, a Democrat, wrote to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.

USDA could "co-ordinate closely" with the U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of State, among others, to "provide assurance and certainly to global wheat markets," Wyden said.

(Reporting by Ros Krasny; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares tumbled to fresh 2013 lows on Thursday as growing uncertainty on whether the U.S. Federal Reserve would roll back its stimulus this year kept markets on edge, while turbulence in Japanese equities led to choppy dollar-yen trade.

European stock markets looks set to stay under pressure, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX to open down as much as 0.2 percent. But a 0.3 percent rise in U.S. stock futures pointed to some stability on Wall Street after Wednesday's slide.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan extended losses to drop as much as 1.2 percent to its lowest since late November. It had just snapped a four-day losing streak on Tuesday.

Global equity markets have been hit recently by the Fed stimulus concerns, a string of weak data in China and further evidence of a deep slump in Europe. The fierce selloff in Japanese equities in the past two weeks has amplified the sour mood, as it threatened to undermine Japanese policymakers' ambitious efforts to revive the world's third-biggest economy.

Investors in Asia remained reluctant to plough money into equities.

Australian shares, tracking Wall Street's overnight fall, were off 0.8 percent after hitting a fresh 4-1/2-month low earlier. Hong Kong shares were headed for a sixth loss in seven days, with Shanghai shares also down. The fall in U.S. equities triggered by soft U.S. data spurred safe-haven bids into U.S. Treasuries on Wednesday.

The recent batch of mixed U.S. data has left investors caught between fears the Fed will reduce its stimulus and worry that the economy is still weak.

Wednesday's ADP private sector data showed companies had picked up the hiring pace in May, though job growth remained sluggish, while the Fed's Beige Book report provided a similarly sober reading on hiring.

The data suggested U.S. labour conditions may not yet prompt the Fed to trim its massive bond-buying programme. Still, it has sharpened the markets' focus on the more important monthly nonfarm payrolls data due on Friday.

"It means the Fed is between a rock and a hard place... There is not really much they can do," said Credit Suisse equity strategist Damien Boey in Sydney.

The U.S. central bank has made an improving jobs situation a precondition for softening its strong stimulus measures.

Japan's Nikkei stock average ended down 0.9 percent on a day of gyrations. The index shed as much as 1.2 percent to a two-month-low earlier, then rebounded to be up 1.7 percent before giving up all gains.

On Wednesday, the Nikkei skidded 3.8 percent, extending a selloff that began on May 23, a day after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested the U.S. central bank could start paring bond purchases as soon as the Fed's next few meetings if the economy improves further.

The Japanese equity market was undermined on Wednesday by disappointment that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's latest tranche of measures to revive the world's third-biggest economy had dodged some of the tough decisions.

"The recent fall in share prices may be a signal from market players that the government should remain committed to delivering effective policies and not be complacent about a weaker yen or a rising Nikkei," said Tetsuya Inoue, a senior researcher at Nomura Research Institute.

"But the Nikkei now offers a good value for long-term investors who missed the sharp and rapid rally into the May peak," Inoue said, referring to its 5-1/2-year high scaled just before the sell-off.

Currency markets have been taking their cues from the Nikkei and the volatility in Japanese equities spurred choppy trading in the dollar against the yen. The dollar was up 0.3 percent against the yen at 99.35, after suffering a one-percent fall overnight.

"The dollar's longer-term bullish outlook remains intact as the Fed will eventually start scaling down its stimulus if jobs continue to be added, while the Bank of Japan will expand its monetary base," said Yuji Saito, director of foreign exchange at Credit Agricole in Tokyo.

"Current market sentiment is very bearish, but it's hard to see a sharper dollar selling from here."

The euro was steady around $1.3092, showing resilience despite weak data and ahead of the European Central Bank's policy meeting later in the day.

The slump in stocks took a toll on Asian credit markets, with the spread on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment-grade index widening 7 basis points to around 129, its highest in about seven months.

Some analysts expect the credit markets to stabilize soon.

"I don't see any sustained weakness after the recent spread widening as it is debatable the U.S. economic numbers will show consistent strength. We have a neutral position on duration," said Thomas Kwan, head of fixed income at Harvest Global Investments Limited in Hong Kong.

U.S. crude futures rose 0.3 percent to $93.98 a barrel while Brent inched up 0.1 percent to $103.14.

(Additional reporting by Maggie Lu Yueyang in Sydney and Umesh Desai in Hong Kong; Editing by Richard Borsuk and Shri Navaratnam)

Also Thursday, al-Qaida's leader urged Sunni Muslims to spare no effort to join the battle in Syria, overthrow President Bashar Assad and set up Islamic rule in the country.

The call by Ayman al-Zawahri came a day after the Syrian army, backed by Shiite Hezbollah militants, captured a strategic town of Qusair near the border with Lebanon in a significant blow to the opposition fighters, who are predominantly Sunni.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in more the 2-year-old Syrian conflict that has taken increasingly sectarian overtones. The opposition fighters are mostly Sunnis and Assad's regime is dominated by the Alawite sect, an offshoot group of Shiite Islam.

Islamic groups, such as the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, are the most organized and most effective force fighting on the rebel side in Syria. The U.S. and its European allies, who have backed the opposition share Israel's concern that Islamic radical factions could take over the rebel ranks.

The crossing in the Quneitra area, which is patrolled by Austrian U.N. peacekeepers, was overrun and seized by the rebels early on Thursday, said Col. Michael Bauer of the Austrian defense ministry.

Bauer told The Associated Press in Vienna that the Austrian peacekeepers pulled back from the crossing earlier and were unharmed. The ministry's crisis committee was meeting to evaluate the situation, he said.

The Austrian contingent is part of a U.N. peacekeeping force that patrols the Golan, captured by Israel in the 1967 war. The Quneitra is the only crossing along the cease-fire line and primarily serves the U.N. peace keepers and Druse villagers moving between the Israeli- and Syrian-controlled Golan.

The Britain-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels attacked Syrian regime checkpoints and their armored vehicles, and took control of the crossing, located near the old city of Quneitra.

The activist group, which relies on a network on informants inside Syria, said there were intense clashes underway between regime forces and rebels in the area and that the control of the crossing shifted between the two sides during the day. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

From the Israeli side of the Golan, tanks and armored vehicles could be seen from about a kilometer (half mile) away in the Syrian-controlled part of the territory. Thick smoke and flames rose from the area and a large fire raged.

Syrian state-owned Al-Ikhbariyah TV denied that the rebels control the crossing, saying the army was pursuing "terrorists" a term the government uses for opposition fighters in the Golan.

The Israeli military did not confirm the crossing was overrun by Syrian rebels, but said the area had been declared a "closed military zone" and was off limits to journalists because of fighting nearby.

The Syrian conflict started in March 2011 as peaceful protests against Assad's regime, then turned into a civil war after some opposition supporters took up arms to fight a harsh government crackdown on dissent. Lately, the fighting has increasingly spilled over Syria's borders into neighboring countries, including Lebanon, where factions that support opposing sides in Syria have frequently clashed.

There have been previous incidents in the Golan, with gunfire and mortar shells striking the Israel-controlled zone in recent months. Israel believes most of the fire is incidental spillover but in some cases it has said the strikes were deliberate.

In one such incident last month, Syrian troops targeted an Israeli jeep they said had crossed the cease-fire line into the Syria-controlled sector. Syria said it launched two missiles in self-defense, accusing Israel of violating the cease-fire deal. After the 1967 capture of the strategic plateu, Israel later annexed the Golan Heights. Syria wants the territory back.

In the latest spillover in Lebanon, 10 rockets fired from Syria hit the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek shortly before midnight Wednesday, wounding one person and causing material damage, according to a Lebanese army statement.

The statement said troops clashed with gunmen near the border town of Arsal after gunmen fired at a military post in the area. It said two gunmen, one of them Syrian, were killed in the overnight fighting and the rest fled.

Al-Zawahri tapped into the deepening Sunni-Shiite rift, calling on Sunnis everywhere to devote their lives, money and expertise to the fight to overthrow the regime, set up Islamic rule in Syria and prevent a U.S.-allied government from taking over after Assad.

The al-Qaida leader also urged Sunnis to "rise above their differences" and fight expanding Shiite influence in Syria. The authenticity of al-Zawahri's message, which came in an audio recording on the Internet, could not be independently confirmed but it was posted on a militant website commonly used by al-Qaida.

Al-Zawahri has repeatedly called for holy war in Syria and has blasted Lebanese Hezbollah militants and Iran for supporting Assad.

Hezbollah has a vested interest in the survival of Assad's regime. It deepened its involvement in the civil war by sending fighters over the past month to battle rebels in Qusair, an overwhelmingly Sunni town and an opposition stronghold in western Syria.

After a grueling three-week battle, the Syrian army on Wednesday regained control of Qusair, which has served as a conduit for shipments of rebel weapons, fighters and supplies smuggled from Lebanon. For the regime, the town was equally important since it lies between Damascus, the seat of Assad's government, and the Alawite heartland near the Mediterranean coast.

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Associated Press writers George Jahn in Vienna and Aaron Heller in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Tucked away at a mansion with a private golf course on the edge of the Mojave Desert, Obama and Xi will search for the kind of personal chemistry that has eluded their predecessors for the past several decades. With the bilateral relationship growing ever more critical and complex, how well the leaders click matters even more now.

Distrust has grown between the world's sole superpower and the rising Asian giant. Beijing sees Washington as trying to thwart China's ascendancy. The U.S. accuses China of widespread computer hacking and unfair trade. Meanwhile, there's worry their militaries might be drawn into conflict as China tries to elbow aside U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines over disputed, remote islands.

"There are a lot of problems between China and the U.S. that aren't going to be easy to solve. The hope, therefore, is that a way can be established so that at the times of crisis, dialogue will prevail based on trust and the personal relationship between the two leaders," said Zhu Feng, deputy director of the Center for International and Strategic Studies at Peking University.

The June 7-8 get-together at the private Sunnylands estate of late publishing tycoon Walter Annenberg is the first face-to-face meeting between the presidents since Obama's re-election and Xi's promotion to Communist Party chief last November. Under China's dual party-government system, Xi didn't officially assume the title of president until March.

The summit comes months before the two leaders had been originally scheduled to meet, highlighting a perception on both sides that the leaders need to refocus on the U.S.-China relationship following their political transitions and amid myriad distractions at home and abroad.

The accelerated timing constitutes "a clear message that China wants to emphasize the importance of U.S.-China relations for the future," said Cheng Li, a Chinese politics expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

It's not clear yet how big the two delegations will be or whether Xi and Obama will meet one-on-one. Li said that's something Xi's stiff and formal predecessor, Hu Jintao, was unwilling to do.

But there are hopeful signs that the two men will gel. Xi already has a warm relationship with Vice President Joe Biden, whom he accompanied to western China on a visit in 2011. Xi also boasts a greater familiarity with the U.S. than any of his predecessors, having visited frequently and maintained his ties to families he stayed with in Muscatine, Iowa, while a visiting provincial official in 1985. He also sent his daughter to Harvard.

The two men share a love of sports: swimming and football on Xi's side, basketball and golf on Obama's. Both are married to glamorous, high-profile wives who have played a strong role in shaping their images.

Xi's wife, People's Liberation Army songstress Peng Liyuan, was for many years better known to the public than her husband. Chinese media and Internet users closely followed her activities during the couple's first formal state visits to Russia and three African countries earlier this year.

"It will be interesting to see how the chemistry will develop. It's important, because particularly in China, personal relationships always carry a lot of weight in state-to-state relations," said the Brookings Institution's Li.

Xi has already proved himself a different leader by his pragmatism. With relations edgy, he was willing to forgo the pomp of an official White House visit for the lower-key meeting in California.

Trust between the countries has dwindled over the decades. After U.S. planes bombed the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia in what Washington says was an accident during the Kosovo war in 1999, angry Chinese protesters nearly breached the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. In the discord, Chinese President Jiang Zemin refused a call from the White House. Two years later, when a Chinese fighter jet collided with a U.S. surveillance plane off southern China, Beijing held the American crew and waited for an acceptable apology from the U.S.

In 2009, the U.S. Navy accused Chinese sailors of harassing one of its ocean floor mapping vessels in a game of high-seas chicken.

The trust gap was further underscored by newly publicized claims Tuesday that China employed cyberattacks to access data from nearly 40 Pentagon weapons programs and almost 30 other defense technologies ranging from missile defense systems to the F-35 joint strike fighter.

The disclosure was included in a Defense Science Board report released earlier this year, meaning U.S. officials knew of it before planning for the summit began. The disclosure's public release allows U.S. officials to highlight an issue of concern without necessarily overshadowing the summit.

China's Defense Ministry on Thursday called the accusations faulty and said they underestimated both the Pentagon's ability to protect its secrets, and the capabilities of China's domestic defense industry.

"China is entirely capable of producing the weaponry needed for national defense," spokesman Geng Yansheng told reporters at a monthly briefing, pointing to recent domestic technological breakthroughs such as the country's first aircraft carrier, new generation fighter jets, large transport planes and the Beidou satellite system.

China has consistently denied claims its military is engaged in hacking, including those in a report by U.S. cybersecurity firm Mandiant that traced the hacking back to a People's Liberation Army unit based in Shanghai.

Other likely agenda items include the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs, conflict in Syria, climate change and expanding bilateral military ties. China will likely press its claims of business discrimination in the U.S. market, along with its deep discomfort over Washington's shifting of military assets to Asia and renewed emphasis on its regional alliances, moves seen by China as part of an effort to contain its rise.

The perception of U.S. decline and Chinese ascendancy forms much of the subtext to the current relationship, with Beijing seeking greater international influence commensurate with its status as the world's second-largest economy. Many in China see the U.S. as a waning power weakened by the economic crisis, partisan feuding and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In their latest contribution to diplomatic argot, Chinese leaders now say they are seeking a "new model of major country relations" in their dealings with Washington. Assistant Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang defined that Wednesday as "different from the old model featuring confrontation and conflict."

"We believe a new model of major country relations between China and the United States should be based on mutual trust, equality, inclusiveness, mutual learning and win-win cooperation," Zheng said at a Wednesday briefing.

Xi and Obama first met early last year when Xi, then China's vice president, visited the White House on a trip to meet key American political players and introduce himself to the American public. The visit afforded Xi a chance to show his human side, reconnecting with his old Iowa friends, chatting with students at a school in Los Angeles and even catching part of a Lakers basketball game.

Known primarily for his pedigree as the son of a communist elder, Xi is seen by many observers as a strong nationalist willing to press territorial claims and what Beijing broadly proclaims as the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."

Unlike former President Hu, who often seemed uncomfortable outside official settings and stuck closely to his official talking points, Xi appears at ease around foreign visitors and is known for speaking without notes and allowing sessions to run well over their scheduled time limits.

"On a personal level, he's confident, he's on top of his brief and you get a very distinct sense that he has a roadmap in his head in terms of where China needs to go. He's not only a very adroit political operator, but he's also a realist," said former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman.

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Pennington reported from Washington.

The fact has been revealed in a Parliamentary inquiry report into the broadcaster's financial performance.

According to the report Maori TV recorded a significant shortfall in advertising from the Rugby World Cup.

It says the broadcaster didn't have sole control over sponsorship packages, and sales were lower than expected.

Maori TV sparked a political controversy back in 2009 when it emerged it had put a taxpayer funded $3 million bid in to secure free-to-air broadcast rights for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Arias, 32, was found guilty earlier this month in the murder of Travis Alexander, whose body was found slumped in the shower of his Phoenix-area home in June 2008. He was stabbed 27 times, had his throat slashed and was shot in the face.

(Reporting by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Amid a series of recent positive economic reports, the GOP is revving up its portrayal of the Obama administration as scandal-ridden and inept, while largely abandoning the party's where-is-the-recovery criticism.

Republicans had little choice, given that the economy has gained considerable strength over the past 18 months. Today, the federal budget deficit is shrinking rapidly and tax receipts are rising. Consumer confidence and spending are up, as are auto and housing sales. Stocks are near all-time highs.

Such improvements give U.S. policymakers some rare breathing room, even if the nearly 12 million people still out of work don't discern the brighter picture.

While unemployment is at 7.5 percent, it's down from the 10 percent of October 2009. Also, recent job creation in the private sector has been relatively strong.

Republicans, who earlier stressed the weak recovery and what they depict as Obama's economic mismanagement, are now busy denouncing his administration on several fronts: for allowing the IRS to target conservative groups for extra tax scrutiny; for engaging in an alleged cover-up on the nature of a deadly terrorist attack on a U.S. post last September in Benghazi, Libya; and for secretly seizing records of journalists from The Associated Press and Fox News.

Obama and Democrats are trying to look beyond the ethics investigations to talk up the recent economic gains and the president's efforts to promote more jobs. He's been trying to draw attention to his job-creation ideas in a series of out-of-town events before audiences of workers.

As a result of fiscal improvements, the annual federal budget deficit will drop this year to $642 billion after four straight years of $1 trillion-plus annual shortfalls, the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office reported this past week.

The Treasury says it will pay down a small portion of the national debt this quarter for the first time in six years.

As the rebound gains steam, Republicans stand to lose what had been one of their strongest hands for the 2014 elections: asserting ineffective economic stewardship from the Democrat in the White House and those on Capitol Hill.

But they pick up another compelling issue, one that touches directly on Obama's core 2008 campaign promise to restore public confidence in the ability of government to produce results in an effective and evenhanded way.

There's "no question" that the alleged scandals are taking the attention of many politicians away from economic concerns, said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office and top economic adviser to Republican Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.

"What's more politically potent? Another round of complaining on the budget and the economy or the IRS, AP and Benghazi? I think it's the latter," said Holtz-Eakin, who now heads the American Action Forum, a conservative public-policy institute. Besides, "both sides were tired of the budget battle," he added.

Holtz-Eakin and many other economists emphasize that the improvements probably will be short-lived because Congress has yet to seriously address tax overhaul or fast-rising costs of programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicare. "It remains an OK recovery, not a sterling one," he said.

Part of the deficit decline comes from the higher tax rates that went into effect this year and from improving corporate profits. But some is due to temporary events such as bailout paybacks by government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and higher tax payments from wealthy people and corporations shifting income into 2012 to avoid paying higher 2013 taxes. Also, U.S. borrowing costs are at historic lows.

For now, the three controversies plaguing the administration are consuming most of the political oxygen in Washington.

"Congress basically can't walk and chew gum at the same time, so they'll focus on these scandal things for a while longer," said veteran budget analyst Stanley Collender.

With annual deficits shrinking, Republicans are more likely to focus more on the $16 trillion national debt, which is still going up, instead of deficits, which are going down, Collender said.

The declining deficit also means that another knock-down partisan fight in Congress over raising the government's borrowing limit now won't happen until October or November instead of early summer as originally envisioned.

The present dynamic, with Obama and his Democratic allies forced onto defense in three separate matters, is not lost on Republican leaders hoping to pick up seats in the House and regain control of the Senate next year.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, opened a news conference Thursday by asserting that "jobs continue to be our No. 1 priority" before he quickly moved to "the IRS scandal" and other alleged administration improprieties.

The matters now being investigated by multiple congressional committee "all feed and fuel the narrative of government intrusiveness and a government that is too large," said Thomas E. Cronin, a presidential historian at Colorado College.

"To some extent, the Obama administration has accidentally given Republicans a whole new line of attack," Cronin said.

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Follow Tom Raum on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum

Friday's draw for the clay-court Grand Slam tournament placed Nadal and Djokovic on the same half of the field, while Roger Federer could face David Ferrer in the other semifinal.

Federer, the owner of a record 17 major titles including the 2009 French Open, will face a qualifier in the first round and if he wins that, he'll play a qualifier in the second round, too.

Djokovic faces a far more intriguing start: The reigning Australian Open champion's first-round opponent is David Goffin, a 22-year-old Belgian who took a set off Federer in the fourth round in Paris last year after making it that far as a lucky loser.

No man has won the title at Roland Garros as many times as Nadal, who broke a tie with six-time champion Bjorn Borg by defeating Djokovic in last year's final and is 52-1 for his French Open career. Nadal also has reached the finals of all eight tournaments he's played in 2013.

But because the Spaniard missed about seven months with a left knee injury, his ranking slipped to No. 4, and the French Open decided not to bump him to a higher seeding.

If the tournament, which starts Sunday, had placed Nadal at No. 2, he and No. 1 Djokovic could have met only in the final; instead, a Nadal-Djokovic rematch for the championship can't happen in 2013.

"If you're not Nos. 1 and 2 of the world," Nadal said, "that can happen."

Jean Gachassin, president of the French tennis federation, said Friday his group has not yet discussed whether to switch to a seeding system similar to Wimbledon's, which takes into account past results on a specific surface rather than only the ATP rankings.

"That will be a debate that we will have after this French Open," Gachassin said.

Nadal has lost eight of his last 11 matches against Djokovic, including on clay at Monte Carlo last month.

"It definitely gave me the confidence boost," Djokovic said about that most recent encounter against the Spaniard. "Winning against Nadal on clay is not something that happens every day, you know. It's a big challenge."

Nadal is seeded No. 3 because second-ranked Andy Murray, the reigning U.S. Open champion, withdrew from the French Open with a back injury.

The possible men's quarterfinals are: Djokovic against No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic, his Davis Cup teammate for Serbia; Nadal against No. 7 Richard Gasquet of France; No. 2 Federer against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France; and No. 4 Ferrer against No. 5 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

Berdych was drawn to face Gael Monfils of France in the first round, drawing groans from some members of the audience.

The last man from France to win the French Open was Yannick Noah in 1983, a 30-year gap mentioned more than once at Friday's ceremony.

Serena Williams wants to end her own, shorter drought in Paris her lone French Open title came in 2002 and her bid for a second championship will begin against 83rd-ranked Anna Tatishvili in the first round.

A year ago in Paris, Williams lost her opening match to 111th-ranked Virginie Razzano, the American's only first-round loss in 50 career Grand Slam tournaments.

Williams is seeded No. 1 this year and is on a 24-match winning streak, the longest of her career.

Tatishvili, from the former Soviet republic of Georgia, is 2-10 this season. She's also 0-2 at Roland Garros and 6-8 overall at Grand Slam tournaments. Williams, in contrast, has won 15 major titles.

The possible women's quarterfinals are: Williams against No. 8 Angelique Kerber, defending champion Maria Sharapova against No. 7 Petra Kvitova, No. 3 Victoria Azarenka against 2011 champion Li Na, and No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska against 2012 runner-up Sara Errani.

"It's very meaningful to come back as a defending champion. It means you have done something pretty good, and you're coming back into that position and you're trying to defend it," said Sharapova, who completed a career Grand Slam by winning last year's French Open. "I think it's one of the best honors you can have as a tennis player."

One noteworthy first-round matchup is No. 10 Caroline Wozniacki, who used to be No. 1, against 35th-ranked Laura Robson, a British teenager who reached the fourth round at last year's U.S. Open.

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Associated Press Writer Trung Latieule contributed to this report.

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Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich