The company focused on how cloud computing will make games for its next-generation Xbox One console more immersive during its Monday presentation at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the gaming industry's annual trade show. Microsoft announced last week that the successor to the Xbox 360 must be connected to the Internet every 24 hours to operate, and the system would ideally always be online.

"The platform features and capabilities exclusive to Xbox One allow developers to push the boundaries of creativity and take gaming in completely new directions," Microsoft Vice President Phil Harrison told the crowd at University of Southern California's Galen Center.

The upcoming console's cloud computing capabilities were demonstrated by fleshing out dense environments in third-person open-world games like the zombie-fighting sequel "Dead Rising 3" and cartoony shooter "Sunset Overdrive." The racing simulator "Forza MotorSport 5" introduced a feature called "drivatar," which mimics players' driving styles and allows their "drivatars" to play for them offline.

"There's ability to put things in the cloud that you want to have computed, so you can take some of the computing capability that you might require locally or used to require locally and then have CPUs in the cloud that actually do some background work for the game," explained Phil Spencer, Microsoft Studios' vice president. "You're actually augmenting the power of the box that's sitting right in your living room."

Microsoft revealed the console, which it has billed as an "all-in-one" entertainment solution for living rooms, will be released in November and cost $499. The company debuted the console earlier this year at its headquarters in Redmond, Wash. The initial reactions to the device have been mixed.

Other games coming to Xbox One include the historical third-person game "Ryse: Son of Rome," hard-knuckled brawler "Killer Instinct," a bigger edition of "Minecraft," terra-forming simulator "Project Spark" and a new installment of the sci-fi shooter series "Halo."

Monday's flashy event concluded with the debut of the mech-heavy multiplayer shooter "Titanfall," the first game from Respawn Entertainment, which was founded by "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" creators Vince Zampella and Jason West.

The company said it was doing away with its Microsoft points system for online purchases with its Xbox Live online service, opting instead for local currency.

Microsoft didn't address concerns at Monday's event over connectivity, used games and privacy issues with the Xbox One, which will feature a new version of its camera-based Kinect sensor. In a blog post on Microsoft's site Thursday ahead of E3, the company outlined more details about the console, including restrictions on how previously played or used games could be shared and how frequently the Xbox One must be online.

"For people who are in a completely disconnected state, I think (Xbox) 360 is definitely a great content base for them and a great console, and we'll continue to invest in that," Spencer said after the event.

Microsoft Corp. kicked off Monday's presentation by revealing the Xbox 360 is getting a makeover with a design inspired by the Xbox One.

Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's vice president of marketing and strategy, said the updated Xbox 360 is "smaller, sleeker and as quiet as ever." He added it would be available beginning Monday.

The company boasted that hundreds of new games are still coming to Xbox 360, which was originally released eight years ago as the high-definition successor to the Xbox. Microsoft's Xbox 360 has outsold rivals like the Wii and PlayStation 3 from Nintendo Co. and Sony Corp. for the past two years. It has sold more than 76 million Xbox 360 units.

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AP Entertainment Writer Ryan Pearson contributed to this report. Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang .

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Online:

http://www.xbox.com

By Kieran Mulvaney

LAS VEGAS, May 4 (Reuters) - Floyd Mayweather showed little sign of ring-rust after a year out of the sport as he used sublime defense and a steady parade of right hands to dominate fellow American Robert Guerrero and retain his WBC welterweight championship on Saturday.

One day short of 12 months since his last bout, Mayweather, who also spent two months in jail in 2012 for a domestic abuse offence, landed an astonishing 60 percent of his power punches en route to a unanimous 12-round decision.

All three judges scored the fight 117-111 in favour of the undefeated Mayweather, who admitted that a damaged hand had prevented him from ending the fight early.

"I really was looking for a knockout, but I hurt my right hand," he revealed. "After that, I just had to box smart.

"Robert Guerrero was a tough warrior. He was trying to press the attack. But I got really good work in the gym and I felt comfortable in the ring. My defense was on point."

After an opening two rounds in which the southpaw Guerrero (31-2-1, 18 KOs) had some success, Mayweather (44-0, 26 KOs) seemed to slip into his comfort zone from the third.

Although the challenger's game plan seemed to be to back Mayweather to the ropes with his jab and then land punches to the body, the champion repeatedly slipped under his opponent's left, landed one or more right hands and moved out of danger.

After being hit with several rights in the third, Guerrero appeared more hesitant to commit to his attack, giving Mayweather yet more time to slip in and out of range and land his key punches.

"I thought Floyd did an excellent job tonight," said the 36-year-old's father and trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr.

"There was nothing he couldn't do in there tonight. I told him to steal it with the right hand. That was a punch (Guerrero) couldn't see and wasn't expecting each time he threw it."

By the eighth round, Mayweather was stepping up his assault, landing right hands with greater force and mixing in left hooks as he opened up a cut over a clearly hurt Guerrero's left eye.

At that stage, it appeared that Mayweather would stop Guerrero inside the distance and although he continued to paint his opponent with right hands and left hooks, the champion remained content to focus on coasting toward the finish.

"Floyd was tricky with his punches," Guerrero said in a post-fight interview. "He's a great fighter. He's slick and he's quick. He's better than I thought. He was definitely on his game tonight." (Editing by John O'Brien)

[More from BGR: ]

The remote play function is similar to a feature Sony showed off at itsevent this past February. The PlayStation 4 will include a feature that allows a friend to remotely take over a game to help get them through a rough spot. The system will also allow gamers to stream live gameplay video to friends and even let other players interact with gamers by dropping in-game items.

[More from BGR: ]

Polygonreported thatwill also be updated within the first few months of release to support Siri-like functions.is said to be working on bringing two-way conversations to the device that can be utilized in a number of ways. One example given was for the Kinect to ask new gamers to introduce themselves to the system after being detected by facial recognition, at which point it will welcome them and save their information to the console.

The Xbox One is scheduled to be released this holiday season. Microsoft will announce new details about the system at the E3 conference in June.

This article was

Tourists, many from the U.S. and Britain, gathered in the still morning under a brilliant spring sky to witness the flag-raising amid the neat rows of thousands of white marble crosses and stars of David marking the graves of U.S. servicemen and women fallen in the Allied invasion of Normandy that began June 6, 1944.

A full day of ceremonies including fireworks, concerts and marches is planned across Normandy Thursday in honor of the 150,000 troops, mainly US, British and Canadian, who risked or gave their lives in the liberation of German-occupied western Europe during World War II.

Cunningham, 71, was released from home confinement, said Chris Burke, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons who declined to say where or explain the circumstances, citing privacy and safety concerns. Typically authorities meet an inmate at home, work or mutually agreeable place to make the release official.

Cunningham told a federal judge last year that he planned to live near his mother and brother in a remote part of Arkansas, writing books in a small cabin. But in a brief interview with The Associated Press in April, he said he might settle with military friends in Florida, where he would write his memoirs.

"I'm like a tenderfoot in the forest," he said. "I'm just unsure where to find a branch to sit on."

Cunningham, an eight-term Republican congressman from San Diego, was sentenced to eight years, four months in prison in March 2006 after pleading guilty to accepting bribes from companies in exchange for steering government contracts their way. The bribes included a luxury house, yacht, Rolls-Royce, travel, lavish meals, $40,000 Persian rugs and antique furniture.

The bribes the largest known to be accepted by a member of Congress were one of several scandals afflicting Republicans at the time, allowing Democrats to portray a culture of corruption in midterm elections that made San Francisco Rep. Nancy Pelosi the first female Speaker of the House. Cunningham's downfall also fed controversy over congressional earmarks that allow lawmakers to direct money to pet projects.

When he tearfully announced his resignation outside San Diego's federal courthouse, Cunningham said he disgraced his office. At his sentencing, he told U.S. District Judge Larry Burns that he took "a very wrong turn" and that he would repent for the rest of his life.

The contrition didn't last. Cunningham told news organizations and others that he regretted his guilty plea and complained that the Internal Revenue Service was draining his savings.

"You can only push a man so far, your honor," Cunningham wrote the judge in 2010. He acknowledged mistakes but added in the same sentence that he was "one of the most highly decorated veterans in this nation" who gave a life of service.

His sentence required he pay $1.8 million for back taxes and forfeit an additional $1.85 million for bribes he received, plus proceeds from the sale of a home in the highly exclusive San Diego suburb of Rancho Santa Fe. He was ordered to pay $1,500 a month in prison and $1,000 monthly after his release.

Cunningham, who had his sentence cut 392 days for good behavior, wrote the judge last year that he would live on $1,700 a month after his release, saying the IRS "has me poor for the rest of my life." He portrayed the loss of his home and other property as an example of how veterans are mistreated.

"This dark period in my life is about to get a little lighter but do not think it will ever get sunny," he wrote.

In his letter, Cunningham pleaded for a gun permit, saying he longed to hunt in Arkansas. Burns denied the request as being beyond the scope of his authority.

"I flew aircraft that could disintegrate your building with a half second burst and now can't carry a 22 cal. Pls help me your honor," Cunningham wrote.

Cunningham, a former fighter pilot who invoked his war heroics throughout his career, took an interest in military affairs while in Congress. He also supported socially conservative positions but may have drawn most attention for his outbursts. During a floor debate in 1995, he attacked his adversaries as "the same ones that would put homos in the military."

Two people who bribed Cunningham also were convicted. Former contractor Brent Wilkes was convicted in 2007 and sentenced to 12 years for bribery and other charges for lavishing Cunningham with more than $700,000 in cash and other gifts in exchange for nearly $90 million in defense work. He is free while appealing the verdict.

Mitchell Wade was released from prison in 2011 after a 2-year sentence. He pleaded guilty to giving the congressman more than $1 million in gifts including a yacht that Cunningham named "Duke-Stir" in exchange for about $150 million in contracts.

Cunningham served nearly all his sentence at a minimum-security federal work camp in Tucson, Ariz., where inmates earn 12 to 40 cents an hour doing landscaping, maintenance work and food preparation. He moved to a New Orleans halfway house in December and, two months later, to a home where he lived under house arrest.

It was the longest prison sentence for a member of Congress for taking bribes until Louisiana Democrat William Jefferson got 13 years in 2009.

Cunningham, who has battled prostate cancer, said in April that he "did some things that I'm sorry for" but declined to address specific questions. He said he's done drawing attention to himself.

"What I'm trying to do is make a new start," he said. "It's like being reborn almost."

Manning, a 25-year-old private first class, is charged with providing more than 700,000 documents to WikiLeaks, an anti-secrecy website, in a case that has raised questions about the limits of secrecy and openness in the Internet era.

WikiLeaks began exposing the U.S. government secrets in 2010, stunning diplomats and U.S. officials, who accused Manning of endangering lives and damaging sensitive diplomacy. Manning has been in confinement since he was arrested in May 2010.

In opening arguments of the trial, which began on Monday, prosecutors argued that Manning had been driven by arrogance. But lawyers for Manning, a former intelligence analyst in Iraq, portrayed him as naive but well intentioned in wanting to show the American public the reality of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Manning could be sentenced to life in prison without parole if convicted. He faces 21 charges, including the most serious one of aiding the enemy, and prosecution under the Espionage Act of 1917.

Witnesses due to testify on Wednesday are enlisted personnel who oversaw Manning. The trial is expected to run until at least late August.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Edith Honan and David Brunnstrom)

* Takes 30 putts for third round in a row (Adds quotes, detail)

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

DUBLIN, Ohio, June 1 (Reuters) - A frustrated Tiger Woods matched the second worst score of his professional career as he battled to a seven-over-par 79 in Saturday's weather-delayed, wind-buffeted third round at the Memorial Tournament.

Woods, a five-times winner at Muirfield Village Golf Club where he is the defending champion, once again struggled with his putting on lightning-fast greens to finish well down the leaderboard at eight-over 224.

He recorded a bogey, two doubles and a triple to reach the turn in eight-over 44, his worst nine as a professional, and declined to speak to reporters after bogeying his final hole, the par-four ninth, to come home in one-under 35.

Woods's 79 matched his second round score at the 2010 Quail Hollow Championship and is eclipsed only by his 81 in brutal weather conditions during the third round of the 2002 British Open at Muirfield in Scotland.

"It was a rough day," world number one Woods later told a PGA Tour official after totalling 30 putts for the third successive round for his worst ever score at Muirfield Village. "It was tough out there from beginning to end.

"We didn't hit that many bad shots starting out the day and the next thing you know we are quite a few over par. It was a tough day. I tried to fight back on the back nine, just didn't quite materialise."

A distant 10 strokes off the pace when the second round was completed earlier on Saturday, Woods began his third round at the 10th as organisers tried to get the tournament back on track with a two-tee start.

FIRST SLIP

His first slip of the day came with a double-bogey at the par-three 12th where he found an awkward lie in a greenside bunker off the tee, splashed out sideways to the fringe and three-putted from long range.

Woods also doubled the par-five 15th, where his second shot sailed well left behind a treeline and he needed a further two strokes to reach the green before again three-putting.

He then bogeyed the 17th, after missing the green badly to the left with his approach, to slide to six over for the tournament.

Worse was to follow at the par-four 18th where his approach pitched just short of the elevated green before rolling back down the slope.

His third shot met with a similar fate, his ball spinning back off the front off the green and gathering pace before rolling down the hill, and he shook his head in disgust.

Woods then hit his fourth to five feet above the hole before three-putting for an ugly triple-bogey seven to reach the turn in an astonishing 44.

However, he immediately rebounded from his worst nine-hole score as a professional, sinking birdie putts from 10 feet at the first and 25 feet at the second.

Woods also birdied the par-five fifth but dropped another shot at the par-four sixth after finding the left rough off the tee and advancing the ball only 90 yards with his second shot.

The 14-times major champion ended his round with another bogey after finding the left rough off the tee at the ninth and missing the green to the left with his approach.

"It's just one of those things where I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggled out there," Woods said after finishing a staggering 16 strokes off the early third-round lead.

"The conditions were tough and when I missed it cost me. I caught the wrong gusts at the wrong time, made a couple bag swings and all in all it just went the wrong way." (Editing by Julian Linden)

With utilities, trade associations and state commissions, the coalition participated in three briefs filed on May 28 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. One brief addressed Order 1000's controversial cost-allocation provision. Another examined FERC's transmission planning requirements. The third provided a statement of facts and addressed standards of review. To view each of the briefs, please click

Coalition President and Chief Counselsaid the three filings share a common theme: "FERC's regulatory grasp exceeds its statutory reach."

On cost allocation, the coalition's brief stated that FERC acted outside its authority under the Federal Power Act (FPA) and contradicted Supreme Court precedent "by providing transmission developers with a mechanism to secure funding for their projects on a socialized basis, from entities with whom they have no business relationship and to whom they do not provide service."

"Whatever FERC's policy objectives, the FPA does not permit it to establish a tax socializing the cost of transmission development without respect to commercial relationships the Commission is not permitted to forge, but upon which its regulatory authority is premised," the brief said.

"As the Orders on this critical matter are outside FERC's authority, and no lawful revisions can be envisioned, Petitioners ask the Court to vacate the cost allocation provisions of the Rule," the brief concluded.

On transmission planning, the coalition's brief said FERC lacks the statutory authority to mandate transmission. FPA provisions "empower FERC to ensure that transactions involving voluntary planning arrangements are just, reasonable and non-discriminatory, but not to mandate transmission planning in the first instance," the brief said. The coalition also challenged FERC's ability to predicate its far-reaching requirements solely on FERC's "theory" that its mandates "might" lead to a more efficient transmission system.

The coalition noted the negative effects of FERC's transmission planning efforts. The orders "will harm, not facilitate, transmission planning and expansion by undermining reliability and the efficiencies provided by vertical integration and by making transmission planning more bureaucratic, contentious and litigious," the brief said.

FERC's transmission planning mandates also unlawfully infringe on the states' long-standing authority over transmission development, the brief said. FERC maintains that the states continue to retain their authority over siting and construction by refusing to site projects. "By mandating a regional transmission planning process (that will both select which facilities will be included in the plan and which facilities will construction those facilities), and controlling which projects receive cost allocation, FERC, not the states, effectively decides whether a project should be built," the brief stated.

For more information, visit the Coalition's website, .

SOURCE Coalition for Fair Transmission Policy

The company said it took an impairment charge of $100 million in May due to the aircraft retirement plan and said it expects an additional expense of $74 million in 2014.

"With the planned acquisition of new aircraft and projected slower economic growth than previously forecast, FedEx Express is lowering maintenance costs by aggressively parking and retiring aircraft," Chief Executive David Bronczek said.

FedEx last year unveiled a prolonged restructuring plan that includes updating and modernizing its air fleet.

The company also declared a dividend of 15 cents a share, an increase of one cent a share over the previous dividend payment.

(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Chicago; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Or at least that's what a team of researchers did in the summer of 2010. The scientists drove across the southern United States and measured levels of methane in the atmosphere along the many roads and highways upon which they traveled.

In many areas, they found higher concentrations of methane than had previously been measured. That's a cause for concern because, among other reasons, methane traps more heat than carbon dioxide, making it a more potent greenhouse gas and thus of concern for , according to a study detailing the trips findings and published recently in the journal Atmospheric Environment. (Although methane may be a more potent heat-trapper, carbon dioxide is still the main greenhouse gas of concern because there is much more of it in the atmosphere.)

The team attached a long hose to the front of their RV so their own exhaust fumes wouldnt contaminate the results. The gas chromatograph onboard then measured the levels of methane along the drive.

"We tried to pass through urban areas during nighttime hours, to avoid being stuck in traffic and sampling mostly exhaust fumes," said Ira Leifer, study co-author and researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in a statement from the university. "Someone was always monitoring the chromatograph, and when we would see a strong signal, we would look to see what potential sources were in the area and modify the survey to investigate and, if possible, circumnavigate potential sources."

The researchers traversed cities, swamps and rural areas. They found the highest levels of methane in areas with refineries. As they crossed the Southwest and approached Houston, gas levels gradually increased, the news release noted.

They compared their notes with those from researchers at Germany's University of Bremen, who took measurements using the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite that could also measure methane concentrations over broad areas on the ground. The satellite readings matched their on-the-ground measurements.

Previous studies focused on "large-scale airborne data, which were challenging to separate from local sources," the UC Santa Barbara statement said. The combination of on-the-ground and aerial measurements used in this study helped determine the identity of the methane sources.

The findings could have implications for dealing with global warming."Methane is the strongest human greenhouse gas on a political or short timescale, and also has more bang for the buck in terms of addressing ," said Leifer. "This research supports other recent findings suggesting that fugitive emissions from fossil-fuel industrial activity actually are the largest methane source. This clearly indicates a need for efforts to focus on reducing these methane emissions."

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