Bush, thought to be weighing a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, said that immigrants are particularly important to helping create more taxpayers to fund the safety net for the retiring baby boomer generation.

"Immigrants are more fertile, and they love families," Bush said and added, "Immigrants create far more businesses than native-born Americans over the last 20 years."

Bush's remark that immigrants are more fertile was met with silence by those attending his ballroom speech during the Faith and Freedom Coalition's annual conference. Former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed created the group.

A spokesman said that Bush meant that immigrants, Hispanics in particular, have larger families and more children.

Bush, a brother of former President George W. Bush, was among several potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates speaking this week at the conference.

Following painful election losses last fall driven by the Hispanic vote, Republican leaders have called on the GOP to embrace immigration reform. However, some conservatives have branded the effort "amnesty" and called for rejection of efforts to give immigrants in the U.S. illegally a pathway to citizenship.

Foreign-born mothers in the U.S. typically have more children than women born in the United States. The National Center for Health Statistics found that the birth rate for foreign-born women was nearly 50 percent higher.

Immigrants tend to be younger than the average American when they arrive in the U.S., helping to account for their higher birth rates. Higher birth rates among immigrants, particularly among Latinos, have been driving population increases in the U.S. nonwhite population.

Before being granted legal status, Bush said, immigrants in the country illegally should pay a fine, learn English and be blocked from receiving welfare benefits.

Bush, whose wife is Mexican, said the nation must allow more immigrants "to pursue their dreams in our country with a vengeance to create more opportunities for all of us."

"If we don't do it, we will be in decline," he said.

"They bring a younger population," Bush continued. "Immigrants create an engine of economic prosperity."

___

Associated Press writer Hope Yen contributed to this report.

The British rider responded to an attack from Alberto Contador to catch the two-time Tour champion for his first career stage win in the Dauphine.

Froome clocked 3 hours, 28 minutes, 39 seconds across the 86-mile trek from Gresy-sur-Aix to Valmorel, finishing four seconds ahead of Contador and American rider Matthew Busche.

Froome is 52 seconds ahead overall from Sky Procycling teammate Richie Porte and 54 ahead of overnight leader Rohan Dennis. Froome was runner-up to Bradley Wiggins at last year's Tour de France.

The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide.

Hardcover Fiction Last Week

1. "Inferno" by Dan Brown (Doubleday,

$29.95) 1

2. "And the Mountains Echoed" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead, $28.95) 2

3. "Zero Hour" by Clive Cussler/Graham Brown(Putnam, $28.95) -

4. "Deeply Odd" by Dean Koontz (Bantam, $28.00) -

5. "The 12th of Never" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown,

$27.99) 3

6. "Dead Ever After" by Charlaine Harris (Ace, $27.95) 4

7. "The Hit" by David Baldacci (Grand Central, $27.99) 6

8. "Silken Prey" by John Sandford (Putnam, $27.95) 5

9. "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn (Crown, $25.00) 9

10. "Whiskey Beach" by Nora Roberts (Putnam, $27.95) 8

Hardcover Non-fiction

1. "Happy, Happy, Happy" by Phil Robertson (Howard Books, $24.99) 1

2. "Lean In" bySheryl Sandberg (Knopf, $24.95) 3

3. "Eleven Rings" by Phil Jackson (Penguin, $27.95) 2

4. "Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls" by David Sedaris (Little, Brown, $27.00) 5

5. "The Duck Commander Family" by Willie & Korie Robertson (Howard Books, $23.99) 4

6. "Keep It Pithy" by Bill O'Reilly (Crown Archetype, $21.99) 6

7. "The Guns at Last Light" by Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt, $40) 7

8. "The 100" byJorge Cruise (William Morrow, $25.99) 8

9. "Life Code" by Dr. Phil McGraw (Bird Street Books, $26.00) 10

10. "My Greek Drama" by Gianna Angelopoulos (Greenleaf, $26.95) 9

Week that ended June 2, 2013, powered by Nielsen BookScan (c) 2013 The Nielsen Company.

(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Doina Chiacu)

The Basel-based pharmaceutical manufacturer is relying on new products like Gilenya to offset patent expiries of key drugs such as Diovan for high blood pressure.

Switching to Gilenya from interferon increased the proportion of patients disease free after one year of treatment, Novartis said on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Alice Baghdjian)

HONOLULU (Reuters) - A team of researchers seeking to solve the mystery of aviator Amelia Earhart's 1937 disappearance say a sonar image taken from just beyond the shore of a remote Pacific island could be a piece of wreckage from her plane.

A forensic imaging specialist for a research team that conducted a $2.2 million expedition to the island of Nikumaroro searching for Earhart's plane last year said the image could represent a wing or part of the fuselage from Earhart's aircraft.

Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, departed Papua New Guinea on July 2, 1937, during her quest to circumnavigate the globe along an equatorial route. But they disappeared that day and emergency searches did not locate them.

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) said it needs to send an expedition back to Nikumaroro, in the Republic of Kiribati, to verify that the image of something apparently lodged below an undersea cliff represents a piece of Earhart's plane.

TIGHAR released images last year from the July expedition to Nikumaroro, 800 miles southwest of Honolulu, that it said could be a field of man-made debris with remnants of Earhart's plane.

The latest sonar image was spotted in March by a member of TIGHAR's online community, said a post on the group's website.

"It looks unlike anything else in the sonar data, it's the right size, it's the right shape and it's in the right place," a statement on the TIGHAR website said this week.

"The resolution on the sonar does not suffice to conclusively determine what this is," Jeff Glickman, the forensic imaging specialist for TIGHAR, said in a phone interview.

"It is unique, and suggestive of being man made. It is in the right place, but whether it's a fuselage or a wing is difficult to say," Glickman said.

He added that "there is always the possibility" the image is of part of a boat that had nothing to do with Earhart.

Richard Gillespie, executive director of TIGHAR, has theorized that Earhart's plane was washed off the reef by surf after Earhart and her navigator landed on Nikumaroro.

Gillespie has said circumstantial evidence collected on previous trips to Nikumaroro makes a strong case for his theory that Earhart ended her days as a castaway, ultimately perishing in the island's harsh conditions.

Items that have been discovered include what appears to be a jar of a once-popular brand of anti-freckle cream from the 1930s, a clothing zipper from the same decade, a bone-handled pocket knife of the type Earhart carried, and piles of fish and bird bones indicative of a Westerner trying to survive.

TIGHAR did not say on its website when the group expects to be able to return to the island.

(Reporting by Malia Mattoch McManus; Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Beech)

With tears in her eyes, Walters, 83, announced her upcoming resignation on "The View," the all-woman show she created in 1997.

"I have been on television for over 50 years," she said as her co-hosts watched. "In the summer of 2014 I plan to retire from appearing on television."

Walters described her career as amazing, fascinating, and sometimes bumpy. She said she is healthy and it was her decision to retire.

"This is what I want to do," she said as the audience applauded. "I've had an amazing career."

Until her retirement she will anchor and report for ABC and continue to work on "The View." Walters will also host a "20 Years of the 10 Most Fascinating People" special in December, an Oscars special, and a May career retrospective.

ABC sources said in March that, after more than five decades on U.S. television, Walters planned to retire in May 2014.

"There's only one Barbara Walters," ABC News President Ben Sherwood said in a statement ahead of her official announcement.

"And we look forward to making her final year on television as remarkable, path-breaking and news-making as Barbara herself. Barbara will always have a home at ABC News and we look forward to a year befitting her brilliant career, filled with exclusive interviews, great adventures and indelible memories," he added.

Walters had open heart surgery in 2010. She fainted, hit her head and suffered a concussion in January, and was then diagnosed with chicken pox, causing her to miss more than a month of work.

During her long career Walters was a leader for women journalists and said she hoped that her career had inspired other women to make a career in television.

Walters is known for her interviews on U.S. television with world leaders including Cuba's Fidel Castro, Britain's Margaret Thatcher, Saddam Hussein of Iraq and every U.S. president since Richard Nixon.

Walters also interviewed celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, Angelina Jolie and Tom Cruise and hosted a yearly special TV show about the 10 most fascinating people of the year.

Walters, who has been with the ABC television network for 37 years, started her career in television journalism in 1961 as a writer on NBC's "Today." She later became the first woman to co-host.

In 1976, she became the first woman to co-anchor a television evening news broadcast on any U.S. network for "ABC Evening News." Walters has also worked as a producer and host of the ABC news magazine "20/20" and as a correspondent for ABC News.

ABC is a unit of Walt Disney Co.

(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Vicki Allen)

PARIS (Reuters) - Men's tennis is a dull affair between the same four players and the current seeding system is to blame, according to Switzerland's 1992 Olympic champion Marc Rosset.

"What tennis is becoming scares me," said Rosset, who reached a career high world number nine in 1995 and has 15 ATP titles to his name.

Rosset, now a pundit with a Swiss TV channel, added: "Everyone talks only about 'the Big Four, the Big Four'. It shows that tennis rests on only four players."

Since 2008, the same four players - Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray - have finished the season in the top four.

Rosset believes the problem stems from the fact that in the grand slam tournaments the number of seeded players has been doubled to 32 since Wimbledon 2001 while in the Masters events 16 are seeded instead of eight previously.

"The priority of tournament directors is to protect them (the seeded players) so they have a good match at the weekend.

"There used to be 10, 15, 20 star players. Now you only have four. Fifteen years ago, every player in the top 10 had won a grand slam or a Masters."

Rosset said that first-week action in the grand slams was often too dull.

"With 32 seeded players, there is no big match. You can't have Rafael Nadal v John Isner in the first round of Wimbledon," he said.

NO SHOCKS

"We used to say the women's tournaments would start in the quarter-finals. It's becoming the same with men's tournaments.

"One year, when I was world number 25, I played Andre Agassi in the first round at Roland Garros, Stefan Edberg at Wimbledon and (the following year) Goran Ivanisevic at the U.S. Open.

"This can't happen anymore. In these conditions, it's tough for the young players to oust the old players."

Rosset believes the standardization of surfaces is also part of the problem.

"If you take a final at Roland Garros or Wimbledon, it's almost the same. Grass got slower as clay got quicker - so you always see the same players.

"When you see Tommy Haas in the top 10 at 35, it's good for him but what does that mean? Well before that age, (Pete) Sampras and Agassi were out already. The young players had taken over."

Had tennis officials decided to have clearly different surfaces, said Rosset, the list of honors would not be quite the same.

"Wimbledon is not played on clay, sure, but Sampras would not win seven titles on today's surface and Nadal would not win Wimbledon on the previous grass," he added.

"Agassi who beat Ivanisevic at Wimbledon (1992) was brilliant but since then they slowed the surface down. What you get is a Lleyton Hewitt v David Nalbandian (2002) with no player going to the net once."

(Writing by Julien Pretot; Editing by Tony Goodson)

Speaking at theat the United States Military Academy at West Point, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told cadets that sexual harassment and sexual assault in the military are a "profound betrayal" and charged them with the responsibility to stamp out the sexual assault problem plaguing the military.

"You will need to not just deal with these debilitating, insidious and destructive forces but rather you must be the generation of leaders that stops it.This will require your complete commitment to building a culture of respect and dignity for every member of the military and society," Hagel said as he delivered the commencement address at West Point. "Sexual harassment and sexual assault in the military are a profound betrayal, a profound betrayal of sacred oaths and sacred trusts.This scourge must be stamped out."

"We are all accountable and responsible for ensuring that this happens.We cannot fail the Army or America.We cannot fail each other, and we cannot fail the men and women that we lead," he said.

Hagel's remarks at the esteemed military academy came during the same week as a U.S. Army sergeant was accused ofand videotaping naked female West Point cadets over five years.

President Obama addressed the issue of sexual assault in his speech at the commencement ceremonies for the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Friday, telling the graduates that there is "no place" for sexual assaults in the military.

"We must acknowledge that even here, even in our military, we've seen how the misconduct of some can have effects that ripple far and wide,"commencement ceremony Friday. "Those who commit sexual assault are not only committing a crime, they threaten the trust and discipline that make our military strong.That's why we have to be determined to stop these crimes, because they've got no place in the greatest military on Earth."

Over the past month, the military has dealt with a number of , causing military leaders and the president to speak out against the problem.

Earlier this month, the lieutenant colonel in charge of the Air Force's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office was arrested for alleged sexual battery, and the Armyannounced that the coordinator of a sexual assault prevention program at Fort Hood, Texas, was under investigation "for pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates."

The Pentagon reported this month that 26,000 sexual assaults occurred in the military in 2012, a 37 percent increase since last year.

The figure, coupled with the recent sexual assault cases involving those charged with leading programs to prevent such incidents, led Hagel to order the retraining, re-credentialing and re-screening of all sexual assault prevention coordinators and military recruiters.

Several members of Congress haveaiming to stop the sexual assaults occurring in the military.

Earlier this month, a bi-partisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill which would take the prosecution of sexual assaults in the military out of the chain of command, preventing commanders from handling the cases of their subordinates.

The Austrian parachutist known as "Fearless Felix" reached 843.6 mph, according to official numbers released Monday. That's equivalent to Mach 1.25, or 1.25 times the speed of sound.

His top speed initially was estimated at 10 mph slower at 834 mph, or Mach 1.24.

Either way, he became the first human to break the sound barrier with only his body. He wore a pressurized suit and hopped from a capsule hoisted by a giant helium balloon over New Mexico.

Baumgartner was supersonic for a half-minute "quite remarkable," according to Brian Utley, the record-keeping official who was present for the Oct. 14 feat.

The 43-year-old's heart rate remained below 185 beats a minute, and his breathing was fairly steady.

The leap was from an altitude of 127,852 feet. That's 248 feet lower than original estimates, but still stratospheric.

"He jumped from a little bit lower, but he actually went a little bit faster, which was pretty exciting," said Art Thompson, technical project director for the Red Bull-sponsored project.

"It's fun for us to see reaching Mach speeds and proving out a lot of the safety systems," Thompson said in a phone interview from his aerospace company in Lancaster, Calif.

Thompson said everything pretty much unfolded as anticipated, with no big surprises in the final report. The updated records were provided by Utley, official observer for the National Aeronautic Association's contest and records board. Utley was in Roswell, N.M., for Baumgartner's grand finale following two test jumps.

Based on all the data collected from sensors on Baumgartner's suit, Utley determined that Baumgartner was 34 seconds into his jump when he reached Mach 1. The speed for breaking the sound barrier depends on the temperature at a given altitude; for Baumgartner, that came together just shy of 110,000 feet.

He reached peak speed by the time he was at 91,300 feet, 50 seconds into the jump, and was back to subsonic by 75,300 feet, give or take, 64 seconds into his free fall.

His entire free fall lasted four minutes, 20 seconds. He used a parachute to cover the final 5,000 feet, landing on his feet in the desert outside Roswell.

Not everything went well.

Baumgartner went into a dreaded flat spin while still supersonic. He spun for 13 seconds at approximately 60 revolutions per minute, making 14 to 16 spins before using his body to regain control, Thompson said. The skydiver was well within safety limits the entire time, he noted. Baumgartner's brain remained under 2G, or two times the force of gravity, during the spin.

If the flat spin had lasted longer and been more severe exceeding six continuous seconds at 3.5 G Baumgartner's drogue, or stabilizing, parachute would have deployed automatically. Doctors worried about him blacking out and suffering a stroke or, in the case of a suit tear, his blood boiling at such an extreme altitude. The outside temperature registered as low as minus 96 Fahrenheit.

In the foreword of the 71-page report, Baumgartner said he never imagined how many people would share in his dream to make a supersonic free fall from so high.

Some 52 million people watched YouTube's live stream of the exploit.

The scientific and engineering experts who helped bring him back alive "broke boundaries in their own fields just as surely as I broke the sound barrier," Baumgartner wrote.

Baumgartner shattered the previous record set by Joe Kittinger, an Air Force officer, in 1960. Kittinger did not quite reach supersonic speed during his jump from 19.5 miles up.

Kittinger noted in the Red Bull Stratos report (Stratos for stratosphere) that future work is needed to test a stabilizing parachute for use at extreme altitudes.

The private project was aimed, from the start, at helping future space crews whether NASA or commercial survive high-altitude accidents.

If a highly trained jumper like Baumgartner with 2,500 jumps couldn't prevent a flat spin, "an astronaut, pilot or space tourist could not overcome this spinning probability," Kittinger wrote.

Thompson agreed, noting that given the right safety gear and the right conditions, there's "a remote possibility" a space crew could survive even under such harsh circumstances as were faced by the space shuttle Columbia astronauts.

All seven astronauts perished as Columbia returned to Earth on Feb. 1, 2003. One of the crew, Laurel Clark, was married to the former NASA flight surgeon who led Baumgartner's medical team, Dr. Jonathan Clark.

"You never know what the possibilities are ... that's the direction we need to look at," Thompson said.

___

Online:

http://www.redbullstratos.com/