Veterinarians at the zoo estimate 15-year-old Lun Lun will deliver a cub in two to three weeks, Zoo Atlanta officials said in a news release. An ultrasound done Sunday shows the fetus is currently 1.08 centimeters long. Veterinarians based their birth window estimate on a similar ultrasound from Lun Lun's last pregnancy in 2010.

The cub would be the first giant panda born in the U.S. this year.

"We're thrilled about the possibility of a fourth cub for Lun Lun, but we remain cautiously optimistic at this point. Giant panda cubs are extremely fragile, and the chance remains that the fetus does not go to term," zoo president and CEO Raymond B. King said. "A birth would be another success for our giant panda program, and we share our optimism with our fellow U.S. zoos housing this iconic species and with our colleagues at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China."

Pandas sometimes act pregnant even when they are not, but the ultrasound has confirmed that Lun Lun is pregnant. Hormone tests done by Dr. Dave Kersey, an expert in giant panda endocrinology from Western University of Health Sciences, will allow the veterinary team to continue to monitor her condition.

Lun Lun was artificially inseminated in March. She and her 15-year-old mate Yang Yang have three previous offspring, also through artificial insemination: 6-year-old male Mei Lan, who now lives at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding; 4-year-old male Xi Lan; and 2-year-old male Po.

But police didn't know about his "flop house."

A tip from a friend of the former New England Patriots tight end led authorities to the apartment about 11 miles away. Subsequent searches turned up boxes of ammunition and clothing that police believe could help prove the murder case against Hernandez, according to court documents.

The items were found June 26, the day Hernandez was arrested for allegedly orchestrating the death of Odin Lloyd, according to search warrant records filed in Wrentham court.

Hernandez, 23, has pleaded not guilty. His attorneys have said the evidence against him is circumstantial and he's eager to clear his name. A message requesting comment on the documents was left Wednesday with a spokesman for Hernandez's legal team.

Hernandez's two-bedroom apartment, which went for $1,200 a month, was located in a three-story complex in Franklin, a few towns over from his North Attleborough house.

Police learned about it from Hernandez's friend, Carlos Ortiz. Prosecutors say Ortiz was with Hernandez and Ernest Wallace when they drove with Lloyd to an industrial park where Lloyd was shot. Police haven't said who shot Lloyd.

Ortiz, who lives in Hernandez's hometown of Bristol, Conn, has since been charged with carrying a firearm the day of the shooting. Wallace is charged with being an accessory after the fact in the slaying

According to the documents, Bristol police interviewed Ortiz the day before Hernandez was arrested. He told them "Hernandez has another address that not many people know about," and that he thought he'd left a cellphone there.

Police initially got the search warrant to look for Ortiz's phone. But as they spotted additional items in the apartment including a box of ammunition on an end table they applied for additional warrants for the residence, and for a Hummer parked outside.

In a bedroom, they found a white hooded sweatshirt, according to the documents. A cranberry-colored cap, with a light blue front panel and the word "society" spelled backward, was found on a kitchen table, the documents said.

Surveillance video showed Hernandez wearing a similar sweatshirt the night Lloyd was killed on June 17, the records said.

And he was wearing "this same unique hat" in a picture shown on a local news station taken outside a nightclub June 14, the Friday before the killing, according to the documents. Prosecutors say Hernandez arranged Lloyd's shooting because he was upset at him for talking to certain people at the club.

"The white sweatshirt could be used ... to assist in linking Hernandez to the scene of the crime," wrote Trooper Michael Bates, in an affidavit in support of one of the search warrants.

"The baseball hat could help provide the whereabouts of Hernandez on the Friday night before the homicide," Bates wrote. "This night in particular is a critical aspect in the timeline of events leading up to the homicide."

The searches also turned up a magazine loaded with .45-caliber ammunition and 11 boxes of ammunition, including .22-caliber, .45-caliber and 7.62 mm rounds.

Besides the Odin killing, Hernandez has been linked to the investigation of a double homicide in Boston.

Police in Bristol said Tuesday that, based on evidence developed through the investigation of Lloyd's slaying, Boston police asked for their help in their probe of the 2012 murders. Police have since searched a house in Bristol and seized a vehicle from that address.

Boston police have declined to comment on whether Hernandez is being looked at as a possible suspect in that case.

And over the weekend, a man who is reportedly married to Hernandez's cousin was killed in a car crash in Connecticut. Thaddeus Singleton III, 33, of Bristol, was driving the car when it went airborne early Sunday and crashed into the wall of the Farmington Country Club.

Farmington police said they had no knowledge that the crash was linked to the Hernandez case.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Melia in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this report.

Lyxumia is part of a new class of diabetes treatments called GLP-1 analogues which prompt the body to release insulin when a diabetic's blood sugar level climbs too high.

Lyxumia is now approved in Mexico, the European Union, Australia and Japan, Sanofi said in a statement on Friday. A new drug application for lixisenatide in the United States is currently being reviewed, it added.

(Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Dominique Vidalon)

[More from BGR: ]

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Tuesday passed legislation severely restricting abortions, a move that could alienate women from the conservative party.

The bill would ban abortions 20 weeks after fertilization occurs, a time when a fetus begins to feel pain, Republicans said. The legislation makes exceptions for victims of rape and incest as long as they first report the crime to authorities.

The bill has no chance of becoming law with Democrats controlling the Senate and the White House threatening to veto it. Still, passage of the bill highlighted the influence of ultra-conservative House Republicans, who have forced the chamber to adopt more conservative measures.

The legislation passed in 228-196 vote with a few Republicans dissenting and little Democratic support.

"The bill strengthens (Republicans) with their pro-life constituency, but that base is already secure," said Larry Sabato, politics professor at the University of Virginia. "This can't help the GOP broaden its appeal among women, independents, and the young."

Ultraconservatives contributed to Republican Senate race losses in the 2012 election after one candidate said women's bodies could ward off pregnancy in cases of "legitimate rape" and another said pregnancy resulting from rape was "something God intended to happen."

This year, Republicans said the grisly trial of Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell served as reminder of why this law was needed. In May, Gosnell was sent to prison for murdering three babies and for the involuntary manslaughter of a patient who died of a drug overdose after she went to Gosnell for an abortion. A clinic worker testified during the trial that Gosnell had delivered live babies during botched late-term abortions and cut their spinal cords.

Abortion rights groups said Republicans were seizing on the tragic circumstances of Gosnell's victims.

"Their relentless campaign to outlaw abortion will encourage more criminals like Kermit Gosnell," said NARAL Pro-Choice America president Ilyse Hogue. "They will not stop until they completely undermine the ability of women to make personal, private medical decisions with their doctors."

WOMEN'S ROLE

After being criticized because female House Republicans were not involved in writing or passing the legislation out of the House Judiciary Committee, Republican leaders went out of their way to include women.

Republican Representatives Virginia Foxx of North Carolina and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee helped manage debate on the bill. Foxx teared up as she urged her fellow lawmakers to pass it.

"We wanted to have as many women voices speaking to the bill," said Arizona Republican Trent Franks, who wrote the legislation and has said the incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy was very low.

Franks suggested that abortion rights advocates were trying to undermine efforts by diverting attention away from the substance of the bill.

"They have injected false issues. They have said it's all men... They haven't addressed the bill directly and the bill simply protects mothers and their unborn children," he told reporters before votes were cast.

Republican leaders inserted an amendment to the bill that allows rape or incest victims to get an abortion if they reported the crime - a change abortion rights advocates said would shame and judge victims who are often reluctant to report the crime.

The legislation, called the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, challenges the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion in 1973.

That ruling legalized abortion until a fetus could viably survive outside the womb. A fetus is generally considered viable at 22 to 24 weeks.

When asked whether the bill would affect the Republican party's relationship with women, House Speaker John Boehner pointed to the Gosnell trial. "I think the vast majority of the American people believe in the substance of the bill and so do I," he told reporters before the vote.

(Reporting by Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Will Dunham, Bill Trott and Lisa Shumaker)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - So who's going to win this weekend's box office showdown between openers "White House Down," with Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx, and "The Heat," with Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock?

Would you believe "Monsters University," with Mike and Sully?

Disney-Pixar's 3D animated family film is a good bet to top them both and repeat as box office champ, bringing in around $40 million, the analysts say. That would be a roughly 50 percent drop from its $82 million opening, and would be an accomplishment given the competition.

Both Sony's action epic and Fox's female cop comedy are projected to come in at around $35 million, and Paramount's zombie thriller "World War Z" will likely have a second weekend just under that. Those movies and Warner Bros.' Superman offering "Man of Steel" will compete for the same audiences, while Monsters U" will have the family field to itself, and that's what gives it the edge.

Both of the openers will debut in more than 3,000 theaters, and both are buddy films, at least to a degree.

Tatum and Foxx play a cop and the President, respectively, teaming up to fight a terrorist attack in "White House," while McCarthy and Bullock are reluctant and mismatched cop partners in pursuit of a drug lord, in "The Heat."

Both have directors with significant followings and both have the potential to break out.

"The Heat" is directed by Paul Feig of "Bridesmaids," and reviews indicate it has earned its R rating with loads of the raunchy humor that made his 2011 comedy a hit. "Bridesmaids," which also featured McCarthy, took in more than $170 million at the domestic box office.

"The Heat" is at 86 percent positive on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

"The Heat" is also the summer's first - and only - major movie with two female leads. McCarthy in particular is red-hot. Her January release "Identity Thief" is still the year's highest-grossing comedy with $135 million domestically, and many critics saw her supporting turn as the best part of "The Hangover Part 3."

Online ticket broker Fandango reported Thursday that sales for "The Heat" were pacing more than 50 percent ahead of sales for "Bridesmaids" and "Identity Thief."

Roland Emmerich, who blows things up with the best of them, is the director of the PG-13-rated "White House Down." He has a track record of opening action epics big, from 2009's "2012" ($65 million) and 2004's "The Day After Tomorrow" ($68 million) to 1996's "Independence Day" ($50 million). But he's had his misses as well, including 2011's "Anonymous."

An X factor for "White House Down" is the impact of "Olympus Has Fallen," a similarly themed president-in-peril movie that has taken in nearly $100 million since March for FilmDistrict. The Facebook numbers are encouraging for Sony; "White House Down" had nearly 294,000 "likes" three days prior to its release, as compared to the 159,000 that "Olympus Has Fallen" had.

The critics aren't impressed - it's a 44 percent positive on Rotten Tomatoes - but that's never been a big factor with Emmerich movies.

On the specialty front, IFC Films is opening "Byzantium," a creepy thriller directed by Neil Jordan (TVs "The Borgias"), in six theaters across the country. Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton star in the tale of two mysterious women who seek shelter at a small-town resort.

Writer-director Pedro Almodovar's R-rated comedy "I'm So Excited" will make its limited debut for Sony Classics. The Spanish import takes place almost entirely on an airplane, and stars Javier Camara, Cecilia Roth, Lola Duenas and Raul Arevalo. Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz and Paz Vega make cameo appearances.

Tribeca Films is opening Adrian Grenier's documentary "How to Make Money Selling Drugs" in five cities this weekend. It debuted earlier this month on iTunes and Demand, and on Wednesday at the IFC Center in New York.

Written and directed by Grenier's longtime collaborator and friend Matthew Cooke, the documentary is an insider's look at the drug industry, told from the perspective of former drug dealers. It features interviews with rappers 50 Cent, Rick Ross and Russell Simmons, as well as rights advocates and filmmakers Susan Sarandon and Woody Harrelson.

Most of my co-workers and I pull them out and properly dispose of them. Do people really not realize what our flag means, and how many men and women have given their lives for what it stands for? -- PATRIOT NAMED DANIEL

DEAR DANIEL: Your letter is timely. I'm sure the people you have described are not being intentionally disrespectful. I suspect the flags are thrown out because of ignorance.

Readers: When an American flag becomes soiled, faded and tattered, there are better ways to dispose of it than tossing it in the garbage. According to the U.S. Flag Code, "When a flag has served its useful purpose, it should be destroyed, preferably by burning."

The pamphlet "Flag Etiquette" published by the American Legion states: "For individual citizens this should be done discreetly, so that the act is not perceived as a protest or desecration."

Many American Legion posts conduct Disposal of Unserviceable Flag ceremonies on June 14, Flag Day, each year. The Boy and Girl Scouts of America also are able to conduct these ceremonies. When you are ready to dispose of yours, contact the local Boy or Girl Scout Council, or wait until the Girl Scout cookie sales start locally and offer the flag to the troop during a sale at a small business.

DEAR ABBY: I'm a 50ish, never-married bachelor with a question about engagement rings. Do you recommend that the man go out and purchase an engagement ring and then present it to the woman when he proposes, or do you think he should propose without a ring and then let her choose the ring she wants? -- OLD BACHELOR IN OHIO

DEAR BACHELOR: When a man is ready to propose, it would be prudent for him to visit a jeweler and ask that some rings -- or stones -- in his price range be set aside. Then he can pop the question, and if the woman says yes, take her to the jeweler to select something she would enjoy wearing. This will prevent an unpleasant and expensive surprise should the lady say no.

DEAR ABBY: Your response to "One-Way Ticket's" (5/11) question about his mother's final trip home got me thinking, and I found a loophole they may be able to use. If their mother's air miles can be used by someone else (like her grown kids), she would go as cargo, but her miles would pay for her escort to take her home.

If there are any miles left over after that, they could be donated to various causes, like the Shriners, who sometimes need to get a child flown to another part of the country for treatment. Or the military may have a stranded soldier waiting to go home for the holidays, etc. My oldest flies using my mom's air miles, and I flew my youngest with mine, so if the mother of "One-Way" would like to put her miles to use, this could be helpful. -- FORMER FREQUENT FLIER

DEAR FORMER FREQUENT FLIER: What great ideas! I love the suggestions my readers come up with, and yours are good ones.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby ator P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

Good advice for everyone -- teens to seniors -- is in "The Anger in All of Us and How to Deal With It." To order, send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $7 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Anger Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

A strong high-pressure system settling over the region Friday and through the weekend will bring extreme temperatures to the already blazing Southwest. Notoriously hot Death Valley, Calif., is forecast to reach 129 degrees, not far off its world-record high of 134 logged nearly a century ago.

"We came to this special place to experience it at its best," said Hermenn Muessner with a smile. Muessner, from the Alpine country of Lichtenstein, planned to continue his tour through the Southwest with a stop at Yosemite National Park, where temperatures were expected in the high-80s.

By 9:30 a.m., the temperature had already climbed to 110 in the shade outside a pro shop at a Death Valley golf course. Tourists appeared to move in slow motion in the intense heat. They took photos of the landscape or of themselves in front of national park signs, and then got back into their air-conditioned cars.

When he arrived the night before, Juergen Bausch saw that the car's thermometer said the temperature outside was at 118. He took a photo of the reading and sent it to his friends back home in Germany. And then he got out of the car.

"Wow what a surprise," he said.

The National Weather Service predicts Phoenix could reach 118 on Friday, while Las Vegas could see the same temperature over the weekend. Temperatures are expected to soar across Utah and into parts of Wyoming and Idaho, where forecasters are calling for triple-digit heat in the Boise area.

Cities in Washington state better known for cool, rainy weather should break the 90s next week, while northern Utah marketed as having "the greatest snow on Earth" is expected to hit triple digits.

"This is the hottest time of the year but the temperatures that we'll be looking at for Friday through Sunday, they'll be toward the top," said National Weather Service meteorologist Mark O'Malley, adding, "It's going to be baking hot across much of the entire West."

Jennifer Smith, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center based in Idaho, said crews are especially worried about wildfires igniting in the Four Corners region where the borders of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona intersect.

Some of the strongest parts of the high pressure system are expected to be parked over the area through the weekend, where forecasters are calling for lightning but little to no precipitation, Smith said.

Scientists say that the jet stream, the river of air that dictates weather patterns, has been more erratic in the past few years. It's responsible for weather systems getting stuck, like the current heat wave. Scientists disagree on whether global warming is the cause of the jet stream's behavior.

The hottest cities are taking precautions to protect vulnerable residents. Police are pleading with drivers not to leave children or pets in vehicles, and temporary cooling stations are being put up to shelter homeless people and the elderly on fixed incomes who hesitate to use air conditioning.

Officials said extra personnel have been added to the U.S. Border Patrol's Search, Trauma, and Rescue unit as people illegally crossing the border from Mexico into Arizona could succumb to exhaustion and dehydration. At least seven people have been found dead in the last week in Arizona after falling victim to the desert's brutal heat.

Even airlines are watching the mercury for any signs that temperatures could deter operations.

In June 1990, when Phoenix hit 122 degrees, several airlines, including America West, which later merged with US Airways, were forced to cease flights for several hours because the planes didn't have the data needed to know how they would fly in temperatures above 120 degrees.

US Airways spokesman Todd Lehmacher said the airline's fleet of Boeings can now fly up to 126 degrees, and up to 127 degrees for the Airbus fleet.

But the company's smaller express planes flying out of the Phoenix area may be delayed if the temperature tops 118 because as the air heats up, it becomes less dense and changes liftoff conditions.

"The hotter is it, your performance is degraded," Lehmacher said. "We're monitoring this very closely to see what the temperatures do."

Officials at Salt River Project, the Phoenix area's largest electricity provider, also are closely monitoring usage in order to redirect energy in case of a potential overload.

Company spokeswoman Scott Harelson said he doesn't expect usage to get anywhere near SRP's record 6,663 megawatts consumed in August 2011.

"While it's hot, people tend to leave town and some businesses aren't open, so that has a tendency to mitigate demand and is why we typically don't set records on weekends," Harelson said.

Meanwhile, over at the Phoenix Zoo, animals from elephants to warthogs will be doused with hoses and sprayed with sprinklers and misters throughout the weekend.

The tigers will get frozen fish snacks while the lions can lounge on concrete slabs cooled by internal water-filled pipes, said zoo spokeswoman Linda Hardwick.

"And they'll all have plenty of shade," she said. "The keepers will all just be very active looking for any behavior changes, anything that would tip them off that an animal is just getting too hot."

In Las Vegas, two Elvis impersonators and a performer costumed as the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign said they still planned to keep up their routine of working the tourist corridor in the broad daylight and turning in for the evenings, heat notwithstanding.

"We'd much rather fight with the sun than fight with the drunk people," Elvis impersonator Cristian Morales said.

___

Associated Press writers Chris Carlson in Death Valley, Calif., Robert Jablon in Los Angeles, Julie Jacobson and Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas, Michelle Price in Salt Lake City, and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque contributed to this report.

LONDON (Reuters) - Speculation about baby names, hair colour and hypnosis swirled around the Duchess of Cambridge on Thursday during her last solo public appearance before she gives birth to a royal heir.

British glossy magazine Grazia reported the duchess has considered using hypno-birth for a delivery expected next month in which women use a form of self-hypnosis to control pain by learning techniques to boost production of pain-relieving hormones.

Bookmakers said bets favoured the duchess joining the growing band of women dubbed "too posh to push" by opting for a caesarean rather than a natural birth.

The royal family has declined to give any details on plans for the first child of Prince William and Kate Middleton, 31, who have been officially known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge since their marriage in April 2011.

A royal spokeswoman said she was aware of rising speculation about the birth but declined to confirm or deny any details for the baby who will be the third in line to the British throne after Prince Charles and his oldest son William.

"This is a happy occasion and there is lot of speculation about what the duchess might and might not do but this really is a private matter," the spokeswoman said.

Royal watchers expect the baby to be born at St Mary's Hospital in central London where Princess Diana gave birth to William, who turns 31 next week, and his brother Prince Harry.

The duchess was under scrutiny for any hints about the baby during her last solo public engagement on Thursday when she launched Princess Cruises' new 3,600-passenger vessel Royal Princess in Southampton on England's south coast.

BABY TALK

Wearing a black hat and Dalmatian print coat, the duchess was careful to give nothing away after a slip in March when she accepted a teddy saying: "Thank you, I'll take this for my d.."

Rupert Adams from bookmaker William Hill said this dropped "d" led to such wide speculation that the baby was a girl that it suspended all bets on gender just weeks later while rival bookmaker Paddy Power paid out on bets that it was girl.

Bets on names have continued to roll in with Alexandra the clear favourite followed by Diana, after Prince William's mother who died in a car crash in 1997, and then Elizabeth.

Alexandra has a history in the royal family with Princess Alexandra, 76, a cousin of the Queen and Queen Victoria's son Edward VII married to Alexandra of Denmark in 1863.

The favourite boy's name is George and the favoured date for the birth is July 17.

"We are seeing lots of small bets from over 100 countries. The Aussies and Canadians particularly love this," said Adams.

Rory Scott from Paddy Power said people were also putting money on more obscure bets, such as the baby's future career, university, and hair colour with brown favoured over ginger.

"You combine the royal family with betting and you have two of the favourite pastimes in Britain," Scott said.

Both bookmakers found gamblers expected the duchess to opt for a caesarean instead of natural birth with one in four babies now delivered this way in the UK, up from 12 percent in 1990.

The focus on how the duchess gives birth has drawn her, unwittingly, into the complex web of childbirth politics where campaigners of different birthing methods battle for supremacy.

The Blissful Birth website which deals with hypno-birthing said a number of hypno-birthing practitioners have "spun" speculation about the duchess using hypno-birthing into suggestions that she was considering their particular approach.

But the website's founder Heidi Woodgate, urged these practitioners to stop the race for recognition.

"Quite frankly, whether my customers are royalty, celebrities or normal everyday women, the focus should be on their birth story, not the particular hypno-birthing programme they used," Woodgate wrote in a blog on the website.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The Oprah Winfrey Network has ordered an additional 16 episodes of Tyler Perry's drama series, "The Haves and the Have Nots," the network announced on Tuesday.

As a result, the first season will now consist of 32 episodes. The current cycle of the hit series will conclude on September 3, while the additional episodes will air early next year.

When the drama debuted on May 28, it became the highest-rated series premiere in network history with 1.77 million total viewers tuning in. Since its launch, the series has become Tuesday night's number one original cable series for women 25-54 and is averaging over 1.5 million total viewers.

"The Haves and the Have Nots" follows the complicated dynamic between the rich and powerful Cryer family, and the hired help who work in their opulent Savannah, Georgia mansion. From the outside, the Cryers are the enviable face of success and wealth, but behind the veil, the family's dysfunction threatens to destroy their world of privilege.

"Naturally, it is wonderful to have the network's first scripted series score so resoundingly," OWN president Sheri Salata said in a statement. "Tyler's fans and OWN viewers have responded to this guilty pleasure in record numbers, and we are happy to give them more of a good thing."