Haas took advantage Tuesday night, beating three-time champion Novak Djokovic in the fourth round of the Sony Open, 6-2, 6-4. The upset snapped Djokovic's 14-match winning streak at Key Biscayne, where he won the tournament the past two years.

Eight days shy of his 35th birthday, Haas became the oldest man in 30 years to beat a No. 1 player.

"Playing against someone like Novak and coming out on top at this time of my career, it's unbelievable," Haas said. "This is what I play for."

Haas improved to 2-14 versus No. 1 players. His only other win came against Andre Agassi in 1999.

The top-ranked Djokovic has lost two of his past four matches after winning 22 in a row, including the Australian Open for his sixth Grand Slam title.

"All the credit to Tommy," Djokovic said. "He played a great match and he was the better player, no question about it."

The oldest player in the top 50, Haas is making his 13th appearance at Key Biscayne and advanced to the tournament's quarterfinals for the first time. His opponent Wednesday night will be No. 11 Gilles Simon, who rallied past No. 7 Janko Tipsarevic, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

With Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer skipping the tournament, Djokovic's defeat clears a path for Andy Murray, the 2009 champion and 2012 runner-up.

He beat No. 16 Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-4 and was to play Wednesday against No. 9 Marin Cilic, who defeated No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 7-6 (4).

No. 3 David Ferrer will play unseeded Jurgen Melzer on Wednesday. No. 4 Tomas Berdych will face No. 8 Richard Gasquet on Thursday.

Sam Querrey lasted only 50 minutes in the fourth round and lost to Berdych, 6-1, 6-1. Querrey was playing his first tournament as the No. 1 American on the ATP Tour, and his elimination means that for the first time, the 28-year-old tournament will have no U.S. men in the quarterfinals.

The shutout is the latest sign of declining fortunes for American tennis.

"I guess you could say it's been somewhat of the norm the last couple of years," Querrey said. "It's not like we had guys in the quarters week in, week out."

American results on the women's side have been better lately, thanks mostly to No. 1-ranked Serena Williams. The five-time Key Biscayne champion advanced to Thursday's semifinals and tied the women's record for career victories in the tournament by beating No. 5-seeded Li Na 6-3, 7-6 (5).

Williams' opponent in the semifinals Thursday will be defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska, who hit a desperation shot behind her back for a winner en route to a win over No. 30 Kirsten Flipkens, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

With temperatures in the 50s for the final match of the night, Djokovic appeared out of sorts from the start. During his second service game he became annoyed at fans shouting as he was about to serve.

"It's definitely the worst match I have played in a long time," Djokovic said. "I just didn't feel good on the court. Conditions were really much, much different from what I have played in previous matches. Balls didn't bounce at all."

For the final few games, Haas wore a lavender shirt, a red sweatband, black shoes with lime trim and a blue cap. In other words, he won ugly.

"Yeah, I'm pretty pathetic I think when it comes to color matching," he said. "Sometimes I look at myself in the mirror before I go out and I'm like, 'Geez, what was I thinking?' I guess if I maybe had a clothing contract it would be different."

Haas, who is ranked 18th, has been as high as No. 2 way back in 2002. He tumbled to No. 373 at the beginning of 2011 after requiring hip and elbow surgery.

The German closed out the victory with a forehand winner, then shared a warm exchange at the net with a gracious Djokovic, who gave the crowd a wave as he left the court.

"I was fighting," Djokovic said. "I was trying, all the way up to the last ball. There are days where you just don't feel good on the court. Nothing really goes your way. This is one of those days. But all the credit to him for making me play this bad."

LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - Paul Di Resta has urged his Force India team to go the extra mile to help him secure his first Formula One podium after another near-miss in Bahrain on Sunday.

The Briton equalled his career best with fourth place at Sakhir, leading the race for three laps and tantalisingly close to a top three finish before being caught by Lotus's Romain Grosjean in the closing laps.

"We've got to take a great amount of credit and positives from the first four grands prix," the Scot, who was fourth in Singapore last year, told reporters.

"But the team needs to work hard to bring updates because if they want this podium, they're going to have to work for it - probably more than we are at the moment," he added.

"They want a podium. I said give me a faster car and they'll get a podium. If they work a bit harder in the design office and essentially get a bit more resource in there, there's no reason why we can't do it."

Force India beat two McLarens, two Ferraris, two Mercedes and one Red Bull on Sunday and are now fifth overall and three points ahead of mighty McLaren in the constructors' table.

Team co-owner Vijay Mallya, delighted to see his cars filling the third row on the starting grid before the race, did not expect McLaren to stay behind for long but savoured the moment anyway.

The liquor and spirits baron, whose heavily loss-making Kingfisher airline has been grounded for months, held up Bahrain as proof that progress was being made anyway and said he wanted success as much as anyone.

"I am doing my damnedest to get there. I think that we missed out on at least three podium chances last year," he told Reuters. "It isn't as if approaching the podium is something that has only happened now.

"I have not said no to any technical request. (Technical director) Andy Green is fully aware that while I am willing to support him 110 percent he has to be responsible enough not to waste money. We don't have money to waste.

"If tomorrow I put another 100 million into this team, it's not going to guarantee me any performance," added Mallya.

Di Resta, who headed off to Bangalore after Sunday's race for promotional work, looked forward to the next race at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya in May which marks the start of the European season.

The team looked quick there in pre-season testing and, with a car that likes hot conditions, should be fast again at the Spanish Grand Prix if the sun shines.

"I think we've performed to the 100 percent maximum we could have done," said Di Resta of Sunday's race. "To go away with all those boxes ticked, credit to all the boys who are working hard."

The Scot's form tailed away last season, perhaps due to disappointment at missing out on a move to McLaren when Lewis Hamilton left, and he recognised that he had let his head drop.

"I kind of convinced myself that nothing was going right," he said. "(This year) was a fresh start and I think we've performed to what we could have... We just keep rolling on.

"We've got some new bits coming that are quite exciting for Barcelona. If they work, it could turn us round. But not all the teams are sleeping and I'm not going to get myself carried away," he added. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

A medical exodus is taking place in the Caribbean territory as doctors and nurses flee for the U.S. mainland, seeking higher salaries and better reimbursement from insurers. Many of their patients, frustrated by long waits and a scarcity of specialists, are finding they have no choice but to follow them off the island.

Among them is Marilu Flores, a 60-year-old rural mail carrier who is battling advanced rheumatoid arthritis.

She not only is flying to the U.S. mainland to receive treatment; she's moving to Texas.

"The best doctors left a long time ago," she said.

In the last five years, the number of doctors in Puerto Rico has dropped by 13 percent, from 11,397 to 9,950, according to the island's Medical Licensing and Studies Board. The biggest losses are primary care physicians and specialists within a specialty, such as thoracic oncologists.

Of the roughly 400 cardiologists who practiced in Puerto Rico about five years ago, only about 150 remain. The number of anesthesiologists has dropped from roughly 300 to about 100 in roughly the same time period, said Dr. Eduardo Ibarra, president of the island's Association of Surgeons.

"Same with the neurosurgeons. They don't even number 20 now," Ibarra said. "There are no specialized surgeons in certain areas."

Those seeking a thoracic oncologist, for example, have to go to Florida, if they can afford it.

"It's truly catastrophic," he said.

The exodus of doctors is part of a larger wave of professionals who have left the U.S. island territory in recent years, settling in states such as Florida and New York, where there is a big demand for bilingual workers, especially police and nurses. Many Puerto Ricans also seek to escape a wave of violent crime and higher cost of living. Almost a million more Puerto Ricans now live on the mainland than on the island.

Medical professionals say they expect the situation will worsen.

President Barack Obama's new health care law means U.S. states will soon seek more doctors amid an influx of patients, said Dr. Guillermo Tirado, an internal medicine specialist in Puerto Rico.

"All states are preparing to cull a lot of doctors from Puerto Rico," he said. "If we have a big exodus now, we're going to see it get worse ... There hasn't been a revolution yet because the escape valve is to buy a plane ticket to Orlando," referring to the many patients who fly to the U.S. for treatment if they can afford it.

Puerto Rico currently does not meet federal recommendations on the number and types of doctors needed per capita, Tirado said.

The island of 3.7 million people has no more than two pediatric neurosurgeons, even though guidelines state there should be at least one pediatric neurosurgeon per roughly 80,000 people, he said.

Puerto Rico also lacks 93 full-time primary care physicians to adequately cover the medical needs of the population, according to statistics from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, which tracks areas suffering from a shortage of health professionals. Of the island's 78 municipalities, 37 need more health care professionals, including the capital of San Juan and Ponce, the island's second largest city. The island has roughly 7,000 primary care physicians, Ibarra said.

At the same time, the island's medical tourism industry is growing, with two new hospitals being built in Manati and Bayamon, catering mostly to foreigners from elsewhere in the Caribbean, and even some from the U.S. mainland, said Pedro Pierluisi, the island's representative in Congress who has limited voting powers. "In a way, it's inconsistent," he said.

Tirado said U.S. patients seek mostly cosmetic procedures, while Caribbean patients often seek specialists not available on their islands, such as endocrinologists.

"It's a paradox," he said, noting that U.S. tourists who need other medical services while on vacation often choose to go back to the mainland in an air ambulance.

To prevent doctors from leaving, one legislator has introduced a bill that would require medical students to stay and practice in Puerto Rico the amount of time it took to complete their residency if the government paid for it.

"We're being left without specialists," said Jose Aponte, former president of the House of Representatives.

The government pays for the residencies of at least 95 percent of all Puerto Rican medical students, investing $35,000-$45,000 a year for each, Aponte said. Puerto Rico has four medical schools, and roughly 400 medical students graduate a year.

If the bill is approved, students would have to reimburse the government the cost of their residency if they leave before practicing medicine for the required time.

"Currently, they are disappearing from the scene because they go to the U.S., where they have received incredible offers," he said.

Tirado agreed: "Job offers rain down every day," he said. "It's a huge bombardment."

Family and general practitioners in Puerto Rico earn about $72,000 a year, while in the U.S. they earn about $180,000, according to 2012 statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor.

That's partly due to the lower standard of wages on the island, where the median wage is less than $28,000 a year, far below mainland income. Ibarra and Tirado say peculiarities in the island's health insurance system also force doctors to accept less income or to leave.

Puerto Rican health care providers also get less reimbursement from Medicare for particular services than do those in any other U.S. state or territory, Pierluisi said. They get about 20 percent less than those on the U.S. Virgin Islands and the base rate for hospital patients is 14 percent less than on the U.S. mainland, he said.

Currently, more than 670,000 people in Puerto Rico use Medicare.

"It's a huge number of patients for doctors," said Pierluisi. "It's the best plan we have. It serves as the top plan. If Medicare is not paying our physicians well, the commercial insurers in the private sector will do the same."

While the U.S. government is scheduled to revise how Medicare reimbursements are determined next year, that won't stop doctors from leaving, Tirado said.

A recent study commissioned by the island's Association of Surgeons found the problem is aggravated by retiring doctors, and by the fact that fewer doctors are studying allergy, endocrinology, geriatrics and urology. The study also warned about a scarcity of specialists including cardiologists, anesthesiologists and orthopedic surgeons.

Flores said she is looking forward to not having to worry about scarcity of doctors once she moves to the U.S.

"I've already taken the decision to quit my job," she said. "It pays well, but my health is more important."

“The future has never been as bright for entrepreneurs developing products, services, and solutions to satisfy the growing demand in the longevity marketplace,” said Mary Furlong, Ed.D, event producer and Dean's Executive Professor of Entrepreneurship at SCU. "This Summit has a proven track record of connectingbusiness plan competitors with outstanding sources of capital, industry partners, and world class service providers who can provide their fledgling teams with the elements required to launch a successful startup company.”

Entrepreneurs with a business plan or startup venture that show significant business potential for the baby boomer market are invited to apply. Submissions deadline is 5 p.m. PST, Tuesday, May 28. To enter the competition, participants must submit a 10-slide deck business plan with financials and an executive summary. Submission of a 2-minute video or YouTube clip which includes the entrepreneur’s business idea, team, and organization is encouraged but not required.

Business plans should be focused on one or more of the following areas:bio-design, medical devices, geriatrics and gerontology, or "aging in place" technology.Winners will be selected on June 26 at the Summit.

The judges for business plan competition finalists include Jody Holtzman, AARP senior vice president of thought leadership; Gavin Teo, Comcast Ventures senior associate; Scott Collins, Link-Age president and CEO ; and Jeff Shoemate,United HealthCare vice president of innovation and business .

The annual Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit & Business Plan Competition is a venue for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to share information about serving or investing in companies catering to consumers age 50 and older. The event is produced by Mary Furlong & Associates, the nation’s premiere strategic consulting firm for businesses targeting the boomer and senior marketplace, and co-produced by Susan Ann Davis, CEO and chairman of Susan Davis International, a full service public relations agency headquartered in Washington, D.C. Leading venture capitalists will discuss why they are investing heavily in this market, company executives will discuss their business plans, and analysts will explain how they segment the market and evaluate business opportunities.

Sponsors of the 2013 Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit & Business Plan Competition include , , GreatCall, InnovateLTC, Link-age, SilverRide,iMediaSalesTeam, Cadence Biomedical, and Smart Monitor.

Registration is now open.More details about the Summit can be found at svboomerventure.com.     Entries may be sent to: boomerventurecompetition(at)gmail(dot)com. For detailed instructions, visit: svboomerventure.com/competitions/b-plans.

About Mary Furlong & Associates

Mary Furlong & Associates is the nation’s foremost consultancy to organizations seeking to capitalize on new business and investment opportunities in the boomer market. The company provides business development, financing strategy and integrated marketing solutions to entrepreneurs, corporations and non-profit organizations serving the 50+ market.Dr. Furlong has raised over $130 million in venture financing and corporate sponsorships aimed at the 50+ market.She is the Dean's Executive Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University and founder of SeniorNet (1986), Third Age Media (1996), and Mary Furlong and Associates (2002).

For more information, visit .

Michelle BauerCommon Language727-510-2524

The first meeting comes on Wednesday (April 24), when Earth's nearest neighbor passes close to the bright star Spica in the constellation Virgo. Then, on Thursday night (April 25), the moon will pass the ringed wonder of the solar system, the planet .

The Wednesday pairing will be interesting, because it will look a bit different depending on where youre located. []

For those in the eastern part of North America, about an hour after sunset when it will be reasonably dark, youll see the nearlyrising in the east-southeast, with bluish Spica twinkling just over one degree above it. (Your clenched fist held at arm's length measures about 10 degrees across.)

and Spica actually appeared even closer together less than 0.5 degrees, which is the apparent width of the moon in our sky only a couple of hours earlier. Unfortunately, it was still daylight and neither the moon nor Spica was above the horizon at that time.

So when you first see the pair on Wednesday evening, they will be in the process of gradually drawing farther apart. This will be especially evident later on in the night as they get higher in the sky. By around 1 a.m. local daylight time, the moon will have noticeably moved well off to the left of Spica. (As it moves in its orbit around the Earth, the moon shifts to the east at roughly its own width per hour).

And thats also why those living in the western part of North America will see a much wider gap between Spica and the moon as darkness falls compared to those living farther east it is, after all, three hours later.

Although Spica is one of the 21 brightest stars in the sky, it will appear a bit overwhelmed by the brilliant light of the moon, which is just one day from full phase. Yet as the moon slowly moves away to the east during the night, Spica may appear to become a bit more prominent.

Even more interesting is the sight that youll have if you live in the Caribbean, the northern part of South America, southern Africa or Madagascar. For observers in those regions, the moon will pass directly in front of Spica an occultation, as astronomers call it. To see a map depicting the zone of visibility of this event, along with predictions for nearly 400 locations, see

Thursday, its Saturns turn

On Thursday evening, as the full moon rises in the east-southeast sky, it will be accompanied by a very bright yellowish-white star shining about 4 degrees to its upper left.

That will be the planet Saturn, just a few days from opposition and shining at a brilliant magnitude of -0.1. That makes Saturn nearly three times brighter than Spica and equal to the star Arcturus in brightness.

There is a distinct difference between Saturn and Arcturus, though: Although both are of the same brightness, Arcturus twinkles and glimmers with an orange hue compared to Saturn, which shines with a steady and sedate yellowish-white color.

So despite its relative close proximity to the moon, Saturn will stand out better than Spica did on the previous night.

Saturn reaches opposition (180 degrees from the sun) next Sunday (April 28) and will then be visible from dusk until dawn.Awill show the rings tilted 18 degrees with their northern face in view.The rings are continuing to open toward a maximum of almost 27 degrees in 2017.

Mark your calendars

A final note: Some hours before the moon rises for North America on Thursday, a very slight partialwill take place, visible to those in Europe, Africa and much of Asia.

But less than a year from now, on the night of April 14-15, 2014, the moon will undergo a total eclipse, and North Americans will have a ringside seat for that event, as it will occur high in the sky in the middle of the night.

And whats more, the totally eclipsed moon will be very close to the star Spica, making an eye-catching celestial scene even more spectacular.

Editor's note:If you have an amazing picture of the moon or any other night sky view thatyou'd like to share for a possible story or imagegallery, send photos, comments and your name and location to managing editor Tariq Malik at.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for TheNew York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York.Follow us,and. Original article on

A new poll examined how people 40 and over are preparing for this difficult and often pricey reality of aging and found two-thirds say they've done little to no planning.

In fact, 3 in 10 would rather not think about getting older at all. Only a quarter predict it's very likely that they'll personally need help getting around or caring for themselves during their senior years, according to the poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

That's a surprise considering the poll found more than half of the 40-plus crowd already have been caregivers for an impaired relative or friend seeing from the other side the kind of assistance they, too, are likely to need later on.

"I didn't think I was old. I still don't think I'm old," explained retired schoolteacher Malinda Bowman, 60, of Laura, Ohio.

Bowman has been a caregiver twice, first for her grandmother. Then after her father died in 2006, Bowman moved in with her mother, caring for her until her death in January. Yet Bowman has made few plans for herself.

"I guess I was focused on caring for my grandmother and mom and dad, so I didn't really think about myself," she said. "Everything we had was devoted to taking care of them."

The poll found most people expect family to step up if they need long-term care even though 6 in 10 haven't talked with loved ones about the possibility and how they'd like it to work.

Bowman said she's healthy now but expects to need help someday from her two grown sons. Last month, prompted by a brother's fall and blood clot, she began the conversation by telling her youngest son about her living will and life insurance policy.

"I need to plan eventually," she acknowledged.

Those family conversations are crucial: Even if they want to help, do your relatives have the time, money and knowhow? What starts as driving Dad to the doctor or picking up his groceries gradually can turn into feeding and bathing him, maybe even doing tasks once left to nurses such as giving injections or cleaning open wounds. If loved ones can't do all that, can they afford to hire help? What if you no longer can live alone?

"The expectation that your family is going to be there when you need them often doesn't mean they understand the full extent of what the job of caregiving will be," Susan Reinhard, a nurse who directs AARP's Public Policy Institute, said. "Your survey is pointing out a problem for not just people approaching the need for long-term care, but for family members who will be expected to take on the huge responsibility of providing care."

Most people who have been caregivers called the work both worthwhile and stressful. And on the other end, those who have received care are less apt to say they can rely on their families in times of need, the poll found.

With a rapidly aging population, more families will be facing those responsibilities. Government figures show nearly 7 in 10 Americans will need long-term care at some point after they reach age 65, whether it's from a relative, a home health aide, assisted living or a nursing home. On average, they'll need that care for three years.

Despite the "it won't happen to me" reaction, the AP-NORC Center poll found half of those surveyed think just about everyone will need some assistance at some point. There are widespread misperceptions about how much care costs and who will pay for it. Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed underestimated the cost of a nursing home, which averages more than $6,700 a month.

Medicare doesn't pay for the most common types of long-term care. Yet 37 percent of those surveyed mistakenly think it will pay for a nursing home and even more expect it to cover a home health aide when that's only approved under certain conditions.

The harsh reality: Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor, is the main payer of long-term care in the U.S., and to qualify seniors must have spent most of their savings and assets. But fewer than half of those polled think they'll ever need Medicaid even though only a third are setting aside money for later care, and just 27 percent are confident they'll have the financial resources they'llneed.

In Cottage Grove, Ore., Police Chief Mike Grover, 64, says his retirement plan means he could afford a nursing home. And like 47 percent of those polled, he's created an advance directive, a legal document outlining what medical care he'd want if he couldn't communicate.

Otherwise, Grover said he hasn't thought much about his future care needs. He knows caregiving is difficult, as he and his brother are caring for their 85-year-old mother.

Still, "until I cross that bridge, I don't know what I would do. I hope that my kids and wife will pick the right thing," he said. "It depends on my physical condition, because I do not want to be a burden to my children."

The AP-NORC Center poll found widespread support for tax breaks to encourage saving for long-term care, and about half favor the government establishing a voluntary long-term care insurance program. An Obama administration attempt to create such a program ended in 2011 because it was too costly.

The older they get, the more preparations people take. Just 8 percent of 40- to 54-year-olds have done much planning for long-term care, compared with 30 percent of those 65 or older, the poll found.

Mary Pastrano, 74, of Port Orchard, Wash., has planned extensively for her future health care. She has lupus, heart problems and other conditions, and now uses a wheelchair. She also remembers her family's financial struggles after her own father died when she was a child.

"I don't want people to stand around and wring their hands and wonder, 'What would Mom think was the best?'" said Pastrano, who has discussed her insurance policies, living will and care preferences with her husband and children.

Still, Pastrano wishes she and her husband had started saving earlier, during their working years.

"You never know how soon you're going to be down," she said. "That's what older people have a problem understanding: You can be in your 60s and then next flat on your back. You think you're invincible, until you can't walk."

The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey was conducted Feb. 21 through March 27, with funding from the SCAN Foundation. The SCAN Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization that supports research and other initiatives on aging and health care. The nationally representative poll involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,019 Americans age 40 or older. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

___

Associated Press writer Stacy A. Anderson and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

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Online:

Government long-term care primer:http://longtermcare.gov

AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research: http://www.apnorc.org

Aging America is a joint AP-APME project examining the aging of the baby boomers and the effect that this so-called silver tsunami is having on the communities in which they live.

The latest in a string of celebrities to put their stamp on a prepaid card, Orman will likely avoid the criticism about high fees lobbed at earlier offerings, such as those of hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and reality show stars the Kardashians. Orman's card costs $3 to obtain, and then just $3 a month, rivaling the hugely popular Walmart MoneyCard.

Although some will question how Orman will recoup the more than $1 million she has invested in the card when charging that little, the real twist isn't the low fee structure. Orman is working with credit reporting agency TransUnion to create a new kind of credit score for users of "The Approved" prepaid MasterCard, one that's based on their spending habits.

Right now, using debit cards both the prepaid kind and those tied to bank accounts does not influence an individual's credit score, which is calculated with data related to borrowing. If Orman's experiment is successful, this new type of score could be a game-changer for the estimated 60 million Americans who do most or all of their personal business in cash or with cash alternatives like prepaid cards.

The TV adviser said she approached several companies, urging them to agree to develop such a score, and TransUnion ultimately agreed to gather spending data for 18 to 24 months. It will use that data to try to come up with a formula that works as a way to predict whether the user is a good risk for lenders.

"This is truthfully a work in progress," said Orman.

Banks and other lenders are interested in creating ways to measure how prepaid cards are used, because of the huge market they represent. Consumers loaded an estimated $70.7 billion onto prepaid cards in 2011, up from $2.7 billion in 2005, according to consultancy Mercator Advisory Group.

Mercator projects the market will top $120 billion this year if adoption continues at the same pace.

In general, users can be divided into three groups. The first subset is those caught up in the economy people who had good credit until it was damaged by events like unemployment or foreclosure. Second are those who have not yet built credit histories, mainly the young and recent immigrants. The third group avoids banks, often because of negative experiences, such as racking up high overdraft fees.

"Wouldn't it be fabulous if, for the first time in history, people are literally rewarded for spending cash, versus penalized, in my opinion, for doing so?" Orman said.

The problem with traditional credit scores from FICO Inc. and its competitors is that they measure how well individuals keep up with their payments, but don't pay any attention to their overall financial health, she said. "Scoring doesn't question where the money is coming from to make payments."

Prepaid cards have already filled some of the void for those who don't use banks, especially because they can be used to receive paychecks via direct deposit. But because they don't contribute to credit scores, the cards can't help users get a mortgage, a car loan or a credit card.

Not having a credit score, or having a low one, also drives up the cost of living in other ways. Lower scores can mean higher car insurance rates, higher rent, difficulty getting a job and paying higher interest rates for any credit available. People with little credit history known as a "thin file" in the industry are also the most likely to use alternative services like payday lenders, check cashing stores and bill pay services. These are expensive options when compared with credit cards and banks.

FICO Inc. and other companies use data tied to borrowing to determine a score meant to measure the likelihood an individual will pay back future loans. FICO's 300-to-850 scale is based on an individual's history making payments on loans, the percentage of available credit that is being used and how long the individual has used credit, among other data.

Those with thin credit files have a better chance of having their creditworthiness reflected by FICO's "expansion score," which factors in data like utility bill payments and rent payments. FICO CEO Mark Greene said the expansion scores have shown that the population without traditional scores mirrors to the larger population in terms of credit risk. Other credit score providers are beginning to provide measures based on utility payments and other nontraditional data.

One big difference for developing a prepaid score, however, is that these alternatives still measure how well individuals meet obligations, not how they spend the rest of their income.

"Spending is not actually a great indicator of the thing that we're trying to measure, which is the likelihood you're going to pay your bill," Greene said. "We need to be careful about how we approach that issue."

Another issue a prepaid-linked score must address is the fact that the typical reloadable card is used for just three to four months, said Brian Riley, who analyzes the card market for the consultant The Tower Group.

That timeframe is likely to expand, however, because more users are beginning to have their paychecks deposited to reload prepaid cards. Adding rewards and services, and cutting fees, may also increase customer loyalty.

Orman is adamant that her card will carry only a $3-per-month fee for users who load at least $20 per month onto it. Fees will rise only if the user uses ATMs outside the network it is linked to when withdrawing cash. Consumers who use The Approved Card will also get daily text messages updating their balance, along with one after each purchase, and other free services like ID theft monitoring, credit monitoring and free credit reports from TransUnion.

The media star, whose new show on the Oprah Winfrey Network premieres Monday, said she knows creating the score will be an uphill battle, but believes that if successful, it will help both lenders and borrowers. "You've got to start it somewhere, and this is the beginning of that process."

The 20-year-old gunman, identified by law enforcement sources as Adam Lanza, fired what witnesses described as dozens of shots in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which serves children from ages 5 to 10. Lanza attended the school himself as a youngster.

Authorities found 18 children and seven adults, including the gunman, dead at the school, and two children were pronounced dead later after being taken to a hospital.

Another adult was found dead at a related crime scene in Newtown, bringing the toll to 28, state police Lieutenant Paul Vance said. Police would not confirm or deny media reports that the person was Lanza's mother, Nancy.

As reports of the shooting spread, panicked parents rushed to the school searching for their children as students covered in blood were being carried out of the building.

President Barack Obama, wiping away tears and pausing to collect his emotions in an address to the nation, mourned the "beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old" who were killed.

"Our hearts are broken today, for the parents, and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children and for the families of the adults who were lost," Obama said, his voice cracking.

Hundreds of Newtown residents gathered to mourn on Friday night at St. Rose of Lima, the Catholic church just a couple of miles (km) from the school.

"(The) important thing is that we're here for the families, and it won't be just tonight. It will be as long as is necessary for them to grieve, for them to come out of their grievance and come back to normal, although I don't see how you can actually come back to normal after something like this," said Kenneth Adams, 81, as he entered the church with his wife, Amelia.

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy and Richard Blumenthal, a U.S. senator from the state, spoke at the service, although the crowd appeared most moved by Monsignor Robert Weiss, who had spent the day at a firehouse consoling victims' families.

"Life has changed forever in Newtown," Weiss said. "We have 20 new saints today. We have 20 beautiful angels."

The holiday season tragedy was the second shooting rampage in the United States this week and the latest in a series of mass killings this year, and was certain to revive a debate about U.S. gun laws.

SHY, INTELLIGENT

Two former classmates recalled Lanza as a shy and unusually intelligent student.

In Newtown High School, he dressed more formally than other students, often wearing khaki pants, button-down shirts and at times, a pocket protector, said Tim Arnone who first met Lanza at Sandy Hook Elementary.

The two of them joined the high school's audio-visual club, also known as a tech club, and spent free periods playing video games at the school's television station studio.

"It was definitely the nerdiest club in the school, Arnone, 20, told Reuters.

He said Lanza was "driven hard" to succeed academically by his parents, particularly his mother. "She pushed him really hard to be smarter and work harder in school," Arnone said.

State police refused to confirm any details about the Lanzas, saying they hoped to have more information on Saturday.

The New York Times reported Lanza used a Sig Sauer and a Glock, both handguns, and said police also found at the scene a Bushmaster .223 M4 carbine, a rifle, that they believe belonged to him.

His brother, Ryan Lanza, was "either in custody or being questioned," a law enforcement source said.

DOZENS OF SHOTS

The chaos struck as children gathered in their classrooms for morning sessions at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, a wealthy, wooded suburb of 27,000 in Fairfield County, about 80 miles northeast of New York City.

A state police spokesman said the shootings took place in two rooms, which the Hartford Courant described as first-grade classrooms. Witnesses reported hearing dozens of shots; some said as many as 100 rounds.

Melissa Murphy, who lives near the school, monitored events on a police scanner.

"I kept hearing them call for the mass casualty kit and scream, Send everybody! Send everybody!'" she said. "It doesn't seem like it can be really happening. I feel like I'm in shock."

A girl described to NBC Connecticut hearing seven loud "booms" while she was in gym class. Other children began crying and teachers moved the students to an office, she said.

"A police officer came in and told us to run outside and so we did," the unidentified girl said on camera.

Images from the scene showed children being led away in single file, each child's hands clutching the shoulders of the one in front. Police wearing body armor and carrying rifles swarmed the scene and locked down the school.

NBC News reported that police finally began removing the children's bodies from the school late on Friday, more than 12 hours after the shootings, and that parents were being called in to identify them.

'MEANINGFUL ACTION'

Obama ordered flags flown at half-staff at U.S. public buildings.

"As a country, we have been through this too many times," Obama said, ticking off a list of recent shootings.

"We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics," Obama said in apparent reference to the influence of the National Rifle Association over members of Congress.

Obama remains committed to trying to renew a ban on assault weapons, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder of the advocacy group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, said it was "almost impossible to believe that a mass shooting in a kindergarten class could happen.

"We need immediate action. We have heard all the rhetoric before. What we have not seen is leadership - not from the White House and not from Congress," he said. "That must end today."

Outside the White House gates, about 200 people rallied on a cold evening in favor of gun restrictions.

The toll in Newtown exceeded that of one of the most notorious U.S. school shootings, the 1999 rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, where two teenagers killed 13 students and staff before killing themselves.

The United States has seen a number of shooting rampages this year, most recently in Oregon, where a gunman killed two people and then himself at a shopping mall on Tuesday. The deadliest came in July at a midnight screening of a Batman film in Colorado that killed 12 people and wounded 58.

In 2007, 32 people were killed at Virginia Tech university in the deadliest act of criminal gun violence in U.S. history.

(Additional reporting by Rob Cox, Dan Burns, Chris Kaufman, Edith Honan, Chris Francescani, Peter Rudegeair, Ellen Wulfhorst and Erin Geiger Smith; Writing by Daniel Trotta, Jim Loney and Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Ban, addressing delegates at the annual U.N. climate talks, said time is running out for governments to act, citing recent reports showing rising emissions of greenhouse gases, which most scientists say are causing the warming trend.

"The abnormal is the new normal," Ban told environment ministers and climate officials from nearly 200 countries. "This year we have seen Manhattan and Beijing under water, hundreds of thousands of people washed from their homes in Colombia, Peru, the Philippines, Australia."

"The danger signs are all around," he said, noting that ice caps are melting, permafrost thawing and sea levels rising.

Delegates at the two-week talks that are set to end Friday are discussing future emissions cuts and climate aid to poor countries, issues that rich nations and the developing world have struggled to agree on for years.

In Doha, developing countries have criticized richer nations for not promising higher emissions cuts and not giving any firm commitments on how they plan to scale up climate aid to $100 billion by 2020, a pledge they made three years ago.

Ban told reporters after his speech that richer countries, including the U.S., "should take leadership" on climate change because they have the resources and technology to address the problem.

On Tuesday, Britain announced two initiatives to support renewable energy in Africa and a water management program that it said would help 18 million poor people become more resilient to climate change. The initiatives, totaling 133 million pounds ($214 million) over the next three years, were welcomed by climate activists.

"At last, a developed country has finally made a pledge for future climate finance here in Doha," Oxfam Climate Change Policy Advisor Tracy Carty said, but noted that the details remain "hazy."

At a side event earlier Tuesday, Ban said the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean and the U.S. east coast should be a wake-up call, showing "that before it's too late, we have to take action."

Climate scientists say it's difficult to link a single weather event to global warming but some say the damage caused by Sandy was worse because of rising sea levels.

A small minority of scientists still question whether the warming seen in recent decades is due to human activities, such as the carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.

"Let us avoid all the skepticism. Let us prove wrong all these doubts on climate change," Ban said.

Climate scientists have already observed changes including melting Arctic ice and permafrost, rising sea levels and acidification of the ocean, shifting rainfall patterns with impacts on floods and droughts.

Low-lying Pacific island states, in particular, are losing shoreline to rising seas, expanding from heat and the runoff of melting land ice.

Governments represented at the Doha conference have started talks on crafting a new global climate treaty that would take effect in 2020. They are also discussing how to rein in greenhouse gas emissions before then, partly by extending the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty limiting the emissions of most industrialized countries that expires this year.

The U.S. never joined Kyoto, because it didn't cover emerging economies such as India and China, which now has the world's highest carbon emissions.

With only a few days remaining to agree on the Kyoto extension and other issues, the head of the U.N. climate change secretariat, Christiana Figueres, reminded the delegates that the "eyes of the world" are upon them.

"Present and future generations are counting on you," she said.

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Karl Ritter can be reached at www.twitter.com/karl_ritter