(Logo: )

"Hezbollah relishes the use of violence and terrorism," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "The true essence and mission of Hezbollah are absolutely clear, Sheikh Nasrallah has once again reminded the world. Much firmer actions are needed in response, starting with the European Union, which should not dither or delay any longer in designating Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, as the U.S. and Canada have already done."

In a televised speech that the Beirut-based Daily Star described as "fiery," Nasrallah declared that Syria will provide Hezbollah with "sophisticated weapons" which his group has not possessed before. "We mean game-changing," the terrorist leader added.

Nasrallah, reviewing the historically close alliance of Hezbollah and Syria, pledged "moral, financial and logistical support, cooperation and coordination for the liberation of the Syrian Golan." The strategic territory, which Syria used for decades to threaten communities in Israel, was seized during the 1967 war, in which Israel was threatened with extinction by Syria and Egypt. Syria, unlike Jordan and Egypt, has since remained in a state of war against Israel, supporting, in alliance with Iran, terrorist groups such as Hezbollah.

Nasrallah spoke on the 25th anniversary of Hezbollah's Al-Nour radio station, one of the terrorist organization's media outlets for disseminating its propaganda. Hezbollah, founded by Iran more than 30 years ago, is committed to Israel's destruction, and has carried its brand of terrorism, with Iranian support, to downtown Beirut, Buenos Aires, and Europe. A Cypriot court recently convicted a Hezbollah operative for plotting attacks in Nicosia that were eerily reminiscent of the terror attack last July in Bulgaria, for which the Sofia government has also blamed Hezbollah.

Nasrallah confirmed this month that Hezbollah has been active inside Syria, engaged in the civil war to boost the Assad regime. The war, now in its third year, has cost the lives of well over 70,000 Syrians, and produced millions of refugees inside Syria as well as in neighboring Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

"What more does it take to convince those democratic countries still on the sidelines that Hezbollah warrants designation as a terrorist group?" Harris asked. "How many more innocent people in the Middle East, Europe and Latin America have to be targeted until action is taken?"

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 87.31 points, or 0.58 percent, to end unofficially at 15,056.20. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 8.46 points, or 0.52 percent, to close unofficially at 1,625.95. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 3.66 points, or 0.11 percent, to finish unofficially at 3,396.63. (Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Zuckerberg's alleged crime? Supporting conservative policies.

Nine major liberal organizations — including MoveOn.org, the League of Conservation Voters, and Progressives United — said they had jointly decided to suspend their paid ads for at least two weeks, and to cancel future ad buys.

Zuckerberg and several other prominent Silicon Valley entrepreneurs founded FWD.us in April todear to the tech community. Chief among those priorities is immigration reform, specifically an expansion of a skilled worker visa program, which led the group to roll out ads promoting the bipartisan immigration deal crafted by the Senate's so-called Gang of Eight.

Yet those ads did not all focus on immigration. Rather, they touted the conservative credentials of vulnerable lawmakers who, given enough political cover, could be instrumental in pushing through legislation that provides a path to citizenship to 11 million undocumented workers — a long-held goal of liberals.

One ad praises Sen. Mark Begich's (D-Alaska) support for expanded domestic oil drilling. Another showcases Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) bashing President Obama's health care law and his handling of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The counterintuitive messaging has rubbed the boycotting groups the wrong way, even though they support FWD.us' ultimate goal.

"Leaders in the technology community have every right to talk about how immigration reform will benefit their businesses," said Progressives United founder Russ Feingold, a liberal stalwart who is also the former senator from Wisconsin. "But instead, FWD.us has chosen a strategy that's condescending to voters and counterproductive to the cause of reform."

A MoveOn spokesman reiterated that point to , calling the ads "deeply disturbing," and saying, "Unlike FWD.us, we don't support throwing other important issues like access to health care and action to combat climate change under the bus to" pass immigration reform.

The ads, part of a seven-figure buy, ran on television for only one week, according to FWD.us. In hopes of generating more bipartisan support, those ads were funded by two FWD.us subsidiaries — one liberal, one conservative.

"Fwd.us is committed to showing support for elected officials who promote the policy changes needed to build the knowledge economy," a FWD.us spokeswoman, Kate Hansen, . "Maintaining two separate entities, Americans for a Conservative Direction and the Council for American Job Growth, to support elected officials across the political spectrum — separately — means that we can more effectively communicate with targeted audiences of their constituents."

The boycott is the latest in an ongoing campaign progressive groups have waged against Facebook's approach to the immigration debate.

Last week, dozens of liberal demonstrators gathered outside Facebook's California headquarters to , chanting, "Keystone, take a hike. Facebook dislike." 

Also last week, Facebookan ad sponsored by progressive phone company CREDO that opposed the Keystone Pipeline and criticized FWD.us' ads. Facebook reportedly nixed the ad because it included an image of Zuckerberg, a violation of the site's policies.

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As a result of this accident we will conduct a thorough review of this discipline and adopt any appropriate changes to future X Games.

For 18 years we have worked closely on safety issues with athletes, course designers and other experts. Still, when the world's best compete at the highest level in any sport, risks remain. Caleb was a four-time X Games medalist attempting a move he has landed several times previously.

Moore initially walked away from the crash seemingly intact, but he was hospitalized later with a concussion and bleeding around his heart. Following surgery, he sufferedand family members began to expect the worst. "The prognosis is not good at all," his grandfather told The Denver Post. "It's almost certain he's not going to make it." 

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Coach Rick Pitino added this title to the one he won at Kentucky in 1996 and is the first coach to win a championship at two schools. Earlier in the day, Pitino was elected to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.

Hancock scored 22 points and Peyton Siva had 18 for the Cardinals (35-5), who trailed by 12 late in the first half before rallying for the school's third national title.

Trey Burke had 24 points for Michigan (31-8), which was in the final for the first time since the Fab Five led the Wolverines there in 1993. Little-used freshman Spike Albrecht added 17 points.

But the celebration belonged to the Cardinals, who added this to a Sugar Bowl victory this year and also have their women's team in Tuesday's national final against Connecticut.

Chane Behanan scored nine quick points early in the second half to help Louisville take the lead after trailing by double digits.

Behanan finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass.

Albrecht came in for Burke and made his first four 3-point attempts, scoring all his points in the opening half. Albrecht finally missed with a little more than 11 minutes left; he was still 9 for 10 from long range for the tournament.

Hancock made all four of his 3-pointers to start a 14-1 run for Louisville that briefly gave the Cardinals a one-point lead late in the first half after they trailed by 12. Michigan's Glenn Robinson III made two free throws with 2 seconds left to give the Wolverines the lead at the half but Louisville led by as many as five early in the second.

The Cardinals came in having won six games this season after trailing by 10 or more, including Saturday night's semifinals, when they beat Wichita State 72-68 after also falling behind by 12.

It was a scintillating final act of a season that has been more of a grind, with scoring at its lowest (67.49 points per team) since 1951-52 and shooting at its worst (43.3 percent) since 1964-65.

The 131.2-points-per-game average during March Madness is the lowest since the 3-point line was brought to the game in 1987, though the teams had surpassed that with 5:30 left.

Sitting on the bench with the Cardinals was sophomore guard Kevin Ware, the team's inspiration since snapping his tibia in the regional final last weekend.

Needing a pickup without Ware, Hancock led the scoring against Wichita State. And rarely used walk-on Tim Henderson made two key 3-pointers during the comeback.

Pitino, meanwhile, was working the sideline hours after being chosen for the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.

Russ Smith, the Louisville team leader who Pitino has nicknamed "Russdiculous" for some of his wild and wildly effective antics on the court, finished with nine points on 3-of-16 shooting.

Michigan topped Syracuse 61-56 on Saturday despite an off night from Burke, who finished with only seven points on 1-for-8 shooting.

Burke, a sophomore, seriously considered leaving for the NBA after last season but decided he had unfinished business left in Ann Arbor. He picked up the AP Player of the Year award, among others, and is now one victory away from the ultimate prize in college hoops.

"Before this began, I thought I knew what it would be like. But you can't imagine what it is. There's the muscle and the brain, but also the spirit and the heart. And it's fun, if fun also incorporates a huge amount of fear." Tom Hanks, best actor in a play nominee for "Lucky Guy."

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"It's an amazing collaborative experience. That was enough for me. Then to be recognized by a Broadway community I'm so proud to be part of is mind-blowing." Patina Miller, best actress in a musical nominee for "Pippin."

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"What a wonderful honor it is to be nominated. A special thanks to my incredible ensemble and amazing director. You make me grateful to be a part of this Broadway company and community." Judith Light, best featured actress in a play nominee for "The Assembled Parties."

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"It's great to show I'm not just this one thing. Just as actors like to show off their versatility, writers like to do it, too." Playwright Douglas Carter Beane, who had two shows on Broadway this season, the big musical "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella" and the intimate play "The Nance." Both earned nominations.

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I'm so proud of everyone involved and grateful that audiences have responded so positively to the play." Nathan Lane, best actor nominee for "The Nance."

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"I'm going to have a coffee with my agent today. That's about as crazy as I'm going to get. We're a low-key bunch of people. We all just get on with it." Tim Minchin, who wrote the songs and lyrics to "Matilda: The Musical."

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"When a show closes earlier, you say, 'Ah, who knows if they'll remember?' So I'm beyond thrilled that they remembered our show." Scott Ellis, who directed "The Mystery of Edwin Drood."

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"Audiences will tell you when you've got it right and when you've got it wrong. I'm thrilled to say that there seems to be a happy marriage between what I like to talk about in the theater and what my audience wants to hear." Harvey Fierstein, the Tony-nominated book writer for "Kinky Boots."

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"I feel relieved. When you get to my age, you just get to a point where you stop listening to the Tonys and you just assume you're not going to be nominated." Nicholas Martin, director of "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike." He turns 75 soon.

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"The thing about acting in the theater is that it's a long distance race. You just have to put your head down every night. You can't ever rest on your laurels because, by and large, people only see that one performance." Bertie Carvel, best leading actor in a musical nominee for "Matilda: The Musical."

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"It's the biggest band I was ever in. The saddest thing for me was when the show opened. What are you gonna do? You can't sit there every night and hang with them." Songwriter Cyndi Lauper on the company of "Kinky Boots."

By Alonso Duralde

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - As Criticwire recently pointed out, the years after 1988 were littered with "Die Hard" knock-offs, set in or on buses ("Speed"), aircraft carriers ("Under Siege"), hockey arenas ("Sudden Death") and Air Force One ("Air Force One").

A quarter-century later, "Die Hard" finally comes to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. with "Olympus Has Fallen," a thrilling but dopey action flick that keeps things moving even while it defies logic and slavishly follows the barefoot-Bruce-Willis formula.

This time around, the Lone Renegade Who's Our Only Hope is Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), a high-ranking Secret Service agent who got bounced to Treasury a year and a half earlier after he made the tough choice to save the life of President Asher (Aaron Eckhart) in a car accident even though it meant losing the First Lady (Ashley Judd).

During a White House visit by the South Korean premier, a well-orchestrated attack on Washington, D.C., sees a plane fly into the Washington Monument while terrorists take the president and his advisors hostage in the bunker beneath the White House. Banning sneaks in during a firefight and winds up being the only link with the outside world, communicating via the president's satellite phone with the head of the Secret Service (Angela Bassett), a blustery general (Robert Forster) at the Pentagon and the Speaker of the House (Morgan Freeman).

The latter is acting chief executive while the prez and VPOTUS are being held hostage but relax everyone, it's Morgan Freeman. (The cool-headed Freeman and Bassett essentially play Reginald VelJohnson to Butler's Bruce Willis, while Forster is the Paul Gleason.)

The villainous plot leads, inevitably, to the bright red countdown clock that features in so many action movies, and the terrorists' scheme has so many holes that it's best not to ask questions. Subsequently, director Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day") provides explosions and gun battles (R-rated, blood-splattery gun battles, it's worth noting) with enough frequency to paper over the gaps in the script by first-timers Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt.

With all this rushing about and blowing things up, however, the movie skirts past some potentially interesting subplots; for example, it's established early on that the president's young son (Finley Jacobsen) knows all the secret ins and outs of the White House after hanging out with Mike and the rest of the security detail.

He's set up as a character akin to Eric Shea's in "The Poseidon Adventure," and we figure he'll outfox the bad guys and maybe even help save the day, but no - he's found by Mike and rescued in fairly short order.

Of course, this is a movie where national monuments are blown up and soldiers and innocent civilians get killed by bullets and debris as though 9/11 never happened, so it's no surprise that so much of the movie feels like it was chucked onto the screen without much forethought.

"Olympus Has Fallen" ranks among the best movies that Butler has ever made, but that's damning with faint praise.

He occasionally slips into his native Scottish brogue, and no one apparently felt like ADR-ing over it. (Another minor mistake that no one bothered to fix was the TV news lower-third that reads, "Terrorist Attack The Whitehouse.")

There are tons of talented actors slumming here, including Melissa Leo, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser and Dylan McDermott, but they're not called upon to do much. (Many of them spend the film literally phoning it in, or at least shouting into a walkie-talkie.)

Yes, you'll guess who the secret turncoat is within the first five minutes of the movie, and you'll roll your eyes over some of the script's lazier ideas and moments of "America, Fk Yeah!" jingoism. But you won't be bored by "Olympus Has Fallen," and if you're in the mood for some trashy adventure, the movie makes up in adrenaline what it lacks in brains.

Most of the viewers, actor Alan Alda concedes, had no idea he was talking about removing a damaged piece of intestine and reconnecting the healthy pieces.

Today, the award-winning film and television star is on a mission to teach physicians, physicists and scientists of all types to ditch the jargon and get their points across in clear, simple language.

The former host of the long-running PBS series "Scientific American Frontiers" is a founder and visiting professor of journalism at the Stony Brook University Center for Communicating Science, which has just been named in his honor.

"There's no reason for the jargon when you're trying to communicate the essence of the science to the public because you're talking what amounts to gibberish to them," Alda said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

A better understanding of science, Alda said, can benefit society in ways great and small. Physicians can more clearly explain treatments to patients. Consumers can decipher what chemicals may be in their food. And lawmakers can make better decisions on funding scientific research.

"They're not going to ask the right questions if science doesn't explain to them what's going on in the most honest and objective way," said Alda, 77. "You can't blame them for not knowing the jargon it's not their job. Why would anybody put up money for something they don't understand?"

Alda, who lives in New York City and has a home on eastern Long Island, said that as his 12-year tenure as host of "Scientific American Frontiers" was ending in 2005, he began seeking out a university interested in his idea for a center for communicating science. He described himself as a "Johnny Appleseed" going from university to university shopping his idea.

Stony Brook, a 24,000-student state university about 70 miles east of Manhattan, "was the only place that understood what I was trying to say and thought it was possible," he said.

The center launched in 2009. At a gala last week, the Long Island school officially renamed it the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science.

"Alan did not casually lend his celebrity to this effort," said Stony Brook President Dr. Samuel Stanley. "He has been a tireless and full partner in the center since its inception. During the past four years, he has traveled thousands of miles championing its activities. ... He has helped train our faculty and develop our curriculum, and he personally teaches some workshops."

Alda has also helped publicize a contest the center sponsored the past two years asking students and scientists around the country to find simple ways to explain such concepts as "What is a flame?" or "What is time?"

Among the courses taught by the center is an improvisational acting class that teaches scientists ways of communicating their thoughts clearly to others.

"We've learned it's important to set up vivid analogies," said Lyle Tomlinson, a 24-year-old neuroscience graduate student from Brooklyn who's working as a teaching assistant, noting he used the effects of caffeine in a morning cup of coffee to begin a discussion on the nervous system.

Rep. Steven Israel, whose district includes the Stony Brook campus, said educating people on the importance of science is key to America's competitiveness in the 21st century economy.

He recalled watching a congressional hearing on climate change in which, he said, "a bunch of scientists were trying to teach congressmen about the science of climate change and the congressmen were trying to teach the scientists about politics. It was as if both sides were speaking alien languages."

Alda shared what he called his best examples of clear communication with Tomlinson and his fellow teaching assistants.

About a decade ago, Alda said, he was in Chile filming a segment for "Scientific American Frontiers" when he was stricken with sharp stomach pains. He was evacuated from an 8,000-foot observatory and taken in an old rickety ambulance to a small, dimly lit clinic, where a doctor examined him and said he would require life-saving surgery.

"Some of your intestine has gone bad, and we have to cut out the bad part and sew the two good ends together," the physician explained.

"And I said, 'You're going to do an end-to-end anastamosis.' He said, 'How do you know that?' And I said, 'Oh I did many of them on 'M.A.S.H.' That was the first operation I learned about on M.A.S.H.'"

After the classroom erupted in laughter, Alda concluded:

"He didn't waste any time on me trying to figure what he was talking about. He said it in the clearest terms possible. He didn't sacrifice any accuracy by making it clear."

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Vera Wang, the queen of bridal couture, is abolishing the nearly $500 fee she charged Chinese brides-to-be to try on a garment at her new Shanghai bridal boutique after the move, meant to deter counterfeiters, set off a global outcry.

Local and global media had criticized the surcharge as being discriminatory because it was applied only in China, at the company's Shanghai store, which staged a "soft opening" in January as the company's first bridal salon in the country, a vast potential market as the numbers of wealthy grow.

A Vera Wang spokeswoman told Reuters that the 3,000 yuan ($480) charge was being scrapped as of Wednesday.

"Please kindly be informed that Vera Wang has abolished appointment fees at her bridal salons worldwide starting from March 27, 2013," the spokeswoman said in an email, without elaborating.

A company spokeswoman told local media earlier this year that the charge was imposed to fend off copying of the elaborate dresses, which fetch thousands of dollars in the original.

Despite the move, though, Vera Wang's ivory tulle trains and pinched bodice gowns had already found fans in the world of pirates, with knockoffs widely available on Chinese e-commerce sites for a fraction of the price.

Li, one seller of "Vera Wang style" dresses on Taobao Marketplace, China's largest e-commerce site, says he can achieve up to 90 percent similarity to the namesake garments without even seeing the originals.

A Vera Wang original can range anywhere from $2,000 to over $10,000, but on Taobao some imitations go for as little as $100.

"For the experts you don't need to try on the dress to figure out how to copy it, you just need to see it or feel it at the shop," said Li, who declined to give his full name.

Li's factory, based in Suzhou, a city near Shanghai, makes Vera Wang knockoffs from photos of her creations, then sells them online for between 600 yuan ($97) to 1,700 yuan ($270).

The Taobao sellers who hawk the look-alikes use organza, satin and lace to recreate the ethereal bridal trains and three-dimensional floral whorls on Wang's dresses.

Most of the sellers online said they could achieve near 100 percent similarity to Vera Wang dresses but the complicated hand stitching and high quality materials that go into an original dress is something they can't replicate.

"There will be slight changes... If you want 100 percent you should buy the original," said one seller of mid-range copies.

In 2012, China was the top source country for counterfeit goods entering the United States and the European Union (EU) with more than 70 percent originating from China, according to the latest customs seizure reports from the U.S. and the EU.

Alibaba Group, which owns Taobao Marketplace, said in a statement to Reuters the company works with intellectual property rights holders to take down counterfeit listings and will penalize stores caught.

($1 = 6.2107 Chinese yuan)

(Editing by Kazunori Takada, Elaine Lies and Michael Perry)

"Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop" by Reginald Bakeley and Clint Marsh attracted 38 percent of 1,225 online votes to beat craft manual "How Tea Cosies Changed the World" with 31 percent to win the 35th annual Diagram Prize.

Third place went to a book by Tom Hickman titled "God's Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis".

Also shortlisted for the award this year was a study of Adolf Hitler's health titled "Was Hitler Ill?", "Lofts of North America: Pigeon Lofts", and a guidebook titled "How to Sharpen Pencils".

Philip Stone, coordinator of the prize run by industry publication the Bookseller, said the award might seem just fun but publishers and booksellers were well aware that a title can make all the difference to the sales of a book.

"It spotlights an undervalued art that can make or break a work of literature," Stone said in a statement.

He cited books such as "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian", "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" as owing part of their success to odd titles.

"The kind of niche, off-beat publications that often appear on the Diagram Prize shortlist might not make their writers or publishers rich beyond their wildest dreams, but the fact writers still passionately write such works and publishers are still willing to invest in them is a marvelous thing that deserves to be celebrated," Stone added.

The Diagram Prize was founded at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1978, and past winners include "Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice" and last year's "Cooking with Poo", a Thai cookbook by Bangkok resident Saiyuud Diwong whose nickname is Poo.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith)