MONTE CARLO (Reuters) - Relaxed and rested after a break following his successful return to the ATP Tour, Rafa Nadal said he no longer felt burdened by expectation and pressure heading into the European claycourt season.

The Spaniard put the problems with his injured left knee, which sidelined him for seven months, behind him by winning three of four events on his return to the circuit, including the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells last month.

World number five Nadal seeks a ninth consecutive Monte Carlo Masters title this week and has arrived in good shape for his European campaign leading up to next month's French Open.

"I played four fantastic weeks in Latin America and Indian Wells. After seven months, playing that much is never easy so I tried to recover well and do the right things to be here," Nadal told reporters on Tuesday.

"I don't feel the pressure that I've felt in the past."

The 11-times grand slam singles champion spent his month off since his Indian Wells triumph by strengthening his left leg on the advice of his doctors.

He would, however, much rather talk about tennis than his knee.

"There has been a lot of talk about the knee for the last year. It's not good to talk about it anymore for me because I'm here, I'm competing so I prefer to be focused on the tennis," he said.

Despite his eight Monte Carlo titles, and with world number one Novak Djokovic doubtful with an ankle sprain and Swiss Roger Federer having opted against participating in the event, Nadal does not believe a ninth crown is inevitable.

"I don't feel like I am the biggest favourite to win this tournament this year. I think I'm a candidate," Nadal said.

"It's probably not easy to understand after eight years, but I don't have to lose the perspective; it's not possible to win every year, and someday that's going to stop.

"I will try my best not to make that happen easily but that's the sport, nothing lasts forever and you have to accept that."

Asked who might take his title from him, the Mallorcan replied: "You don't need to know who are my favourites because you'd say the same as me. If you follow tennis, everybody knows who are the favourites."

Carabinieri paramilitary police in Milan said the 21-year-old attacker was taken into custody shortly after the attacks in a residential area on the northern outskirts of the city.

People working in cafes and other businesses near the attack told Sky TG24 TV that the man wildly swung a pickaxe, running down streets and ferociously striking passersby, mainly on the head. Pools of blood stained the streets.

A 40-year-old man died after being struck on the head with the pickaxe and suffering further blows to the abdomen while he lay on the ground, police said. The victim was described as an unemployed man who was heading to a cafe near his home.

Among those wounded was a man in his 20s who was helping his father deliver newspapers to newsstands; another was a man walking his dog.

At first it appeared five people had been wounded, but police later said the sixth person the attacker swung at darted into a doorway in the nick of time and escaped injury.

Two of the wounded were in critical condition.

Police said the motive was unclear.

"Police blocked him with difficulty. He was in an evident state of marked psychological stress," Col. Biagio Storniolo told reporters. Asked about the motive, Storniolo said the suspect "was not being cooperative. He says only that he is hungry and has no home."

The man, identified as Mada Kabobo, 21, was jailed while he is investigated for murder and two counts of attempted murder for the two persons who were most critically wounded, police said.

First media reports said the man had ignored a 2011 expulsion order because he was not legally in the country, but police later clarified that the expulsion papers had not yet been issued because legal proceedings in southern Italy were pending. Police said they identified the suspect, who had no documents on him, from fingerprints.

Police said he was in the country illegally, and had previously been arrested in the Puglia region for alleged, theft, robbery, property damage and resisting public authorities.

Milan Mayor Giuliano Pisapia said the entire city was shocked that a man would go on such a rampage, "killing one and wounding several, even gravely, just because he ran into them on his path."

Col. Philip Aguer on Wednesday confirmed the fall of part of the town of Boma to rebels led by David Yau Yau.

The rebels claim they killed 50 soldiers, but Aguer denied that was true. He said he did not have casualty figures, however.

South Sudan accuses Sudan of supporting Yau Yau's rebellion, a strategy meant to block Juba's plans to build an oil pipeline into Ethiopia. South Sudan currently can only export oil through Sudanese pipelines.

Khartoum has repeatedly denied having ties to Yau Yau's rebels. A Swiss based research group, Small Arms Survey, said recently that Sudan has supplied weapons and ammunition to the rebels.

The company expects operating profit to rise to 250 billion yen ($2.52 billion) in the current business year from last year's 160.9 billion yen. That compares with an average 241 billion yen forecast from 18 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S before the company released its latest earnings figures on Friday.

Panasonic's CEO, Kazuhiko Tsuga has promised to weed out within two years any loss-making or low-profitability units that fall short of a 5 percent annual operating margin threshold. Further restructuring, however, could add to costs and squeeze its bottom line.

Panasonic's strategy to pull away from consumer electronics contrasts with domestic rival Sony Corp, which is doubling down on mobile phones, cameras and game consoles in a bid to revive the fortunes of its core consumer electronics business, which still accounts for more than half of revenue.

At Tsuga's company, TVs, DVD players and other home entertainment gadgets represent less than one-fifth of sales, leaving it more options to pursue profits elsewhere. Panasonic's biggest earning segments are appliances, such as washing machines and refrigerators, and the division it dubs "eco solutions", which makes light fixtures, toilets, ceiling fans and other household fittings that hark back to the company's beginnings in 1908 making electrical extension sockets.

In October, Tsuga bit the bullet on non-performing businesses by writing down billions of yen in tax-deferred assets and goodwill related to its businesses making mobile phones, solar panels and small lithium batteries. The result was a net loss of 754.25 billion yen last business year, nearly matching the prior year's record 772.17 billion yen loss.

Like Sony, however, the company is relying on asset sales to underpin its finances as it tries to revive profit growth, pledging to keep annual free cashflow above 200 billion yen. Its disposals have included a Tokyo office building and $1 billion worth of stocks in companies such as Toyota Motor Corp.

The value of the company's assets fell to 5.4 trillion yen at the end of the latest business year from 6.6 trillion a year earlier, as a result of asset disposals and writeoffs.

Over the next two years, Panasonic, which has seen its sales shrink by one-fifth from a peak of $92 billion six years ago, plans to spend $2.5 billion to revamp its businesses.

It has yet to announce additional staff cuts, after shedding 40,000 jobs over the past two years. With 300,000 workers it remains one of Japan's biggest employers.

Since the start of the year, the company's shares have gained 43 percent, keeping pace with a 40 percent rally in the benchmark Nikkei average as weakness in the yen boosted the outlook for exporters. Panasonic's shares rose 3.7 percent on Friday to close at 749 yen before it released its latest earnings figures.

($1 = 99.3050 Japanese yen)

(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

(Reuters) - Patent expirations on big-name drugs such as Lipitor and Plavix has resulted in modestly less spending on medicines in the United States for the first time in at least 55 years, according to a report released on Thursday.

Overall U.S. spending on medicines totaled $325.8 billion in 2012, down 1 percent from 2011, according to the report from the IMS Institute of Healthcare Informatics. Adjusting for population, per capita spending fell 3.5 percent to $898.

The drop - the first since IMS began tracking drug prices in 1957 - marks the beginning of what is expected to be several years in which U.S. spending on prescription drugs will grow more slowly than overall healthcare costs, said Michael Kleinrock, director of research development at IMS.

The shift is being made at the same time the Affordable Care Act, designed to improve access to healthcare insurance, gets set to take effect next year.

The biggest factor behind the drop was the availability of lower-cost generic versions of drugs such as Pfizer Inc's cholesterol-lowering Lipitor. New generics contributed $28.9 billion to last year's reduction in medicine spending.

The pharmaceutical industry has been grappling with an unprecedented "patent cliff" that ratings agency Fitch has estimated will mean the loss of more than $70 billion in revenue from brand-name medicines between the second half of 2011 and the end of 2015.

Last year's patent expiries also included Sanofi SA and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co heart drug Plavix, and AstraZeneca Plc's antipsychotic, Seroquel.

Higher health costs and a weak economy have led many Americans to cut back on visits to the doctor. Admissions to hospitals also remained on the wane and the flu season in early 2012 was relatively mild.

"Patients are being influenced by higher out-of-pocket costs as employers seek to rein in insurance costs," Kleinrock said.

IMS also found that visits to emergency rooms increased 5.8 percent last year.

"Some choices that people are making may not be in everyone's best interest," Kleinrock said, noting that some emergency room visits could be by people putting off needed care.

U.S. healthcare costs remain heavily concentrated among relatively few patients suffering from multiple chronic conditions, cancer or other serious diseases.

Within the population of commercially insured people under the age of 65, 5 percent of them incurred 51 percent of total healthcare costs - or $15,684 per person in 2012.

(Reporting By Deena Beasley. Editing by Andre Grenon)

MIAMI, May 6 (Reuters) - A depleted Chicago Bulls dug deep for another impressive display of character and collective strength as they stunned defending NBA champions Miami Heat 93-86 in the opening game of their Eastern Conference semi-final series on Monday.

On the night when LeBron James was presented with his fourth Most Valuable Player award from league commissioner David Stern, it was instead the more modest but seemingly tireless talent of Chicago's Jimmy Butler which proved decisive.

Butler played all 48 minutes for the third straight game and scored 21 points, while grabbing 14 rebounds and three assists.

On top of that, in the absence of the ailing Luol Deng, Butler guarded James, restricting him to just two points in the first half, a post-season career low for the Miami forward.

Although James stepped it up after the break, finishing with 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting, Butler inspired the Bulls to a fourth quarter rally as they roared back from a seven-point deficit to grab the early advantage in the best-of-seven series.

"I like the mental toughness of this team," said Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau, who was also unable to call on the services of injured Kirk Henrich and long-term absentee Derrick Rose.

"When you are facing adversity, you have to be mentally tough. But this is just one game. We are going to have to play much better in the next one," he added.

Butler, who came into the contest after playing every minute in Game Six and Saturday's Game Seven series decider against the Brooklyn Nets, epitomised that spirit.

"He is a tough kid," Thibodeau said. "He is mentally tough and that is what we need him to do right now. We're short-handed. We have a number of guys playing big minutes and that is what we need."

RUSTY HEAT

Miami's Dwyane Wade, returning from a knee injury which kept him out of Game Four of the series sweep over Milwaukee was impressed with the 23-year-old Butler, who is playing like a veteran in just his second year in the league.

"Jimmy is turning out to be a really good NBA player earlier in his career than some people expected. I think he is better than a lot of people think," he said.

Despite being the most dominant team in the NBA this season, the Heat suffered from what their fans had feared after seven full days of rest - rustiness.

Sweeping the Bucks earned the Heat that week off, while the Bulls were fighting past Brooklyn, and the unusually long break carried the danger of Miami losing their edge.

That certainly looked the case in the first half with Miami failing to make the most of their opportunities, but coach Erik Spoelstra was more concerned with the way his team lost the fourth quarter 35-24.

"We are not making any excuses for time off or anything else. With 35 points in the fourth quarter you are not going to win games in the playoffs giving that amount. We didn't close out the game in the way we are capable of," he said.

"This is going to be about who is going to impose their identity on the other team. They imposed their identity in this first game, no question. We did not," he added.

The defeat ended the Heat's franchise record-tying eight game post-season winning streak and was their second loss to Chicago at home this season.

Nate Robinson top scored for the Bulls with 27 points and the former New York Knicks and Boston Celtics guard said there was a unique team spirit to the current Chicago team.

"There is something special about this group. I don't know what it is but it just feels like we have been playing together for ten years - we just love to play for each other," he said.

The series continues with Game Two in Miami on Wednesday. (Editing by John O'Brien)

“Let me help clear up some confusion based on my observations. It's all about innovation and a maturing marketplace. I have been asked why AT&T and Verizon have different earnings when the two companies on a similar track. If you pull the camera back and look at the maturing and changing industry things look much clearer. I see growth in wireless changing, but continuing. That goes for AT&T as well as Verizon, Sprint and others," saysJeff Kagan.

“AT&T and Verizon are actually on the same general track, but they are not on the track at the same time. AT&T moved into the smartphone market very early. This gave them strong growth years ago before competitors jumped into the same space. There were years when a visit to an AT&T store was much different than a visit to a Verizon or Sprint store. AT&T was loaded with smartphones while Verizon and Sprint were still mostly plain handsets. Then AT&T got the Apple iPhone and they took off like a bullet ahead of competitors," saysJeff Kagan.

“This is the part that many are not thinking about when comparing AT&T and Verizon. Having an early start in this smartphone market means more of their customer base would be smartphone users, earlier. And that was the case. Simply compare AT&T smartphone customers with Verizon or Sprint. The AT&T percentage is much further ahead," says Kagan.

That means AT&T would reach smartphone saturation ahead of Verizon and Sprint. That is what is happening. Kagan sees no general weakness from AT&T or strength from Verizon. They are on the same growth track, it's just that AT&T's growth track started years ahead of Verizon.

Kagan says, “Going forward, I see growth in the wireless industry coming from two different areas. One is more traditional. That means getting existing users to do more with their smartphones and therefore spend more. Two is helping other industries transform to the wireless model. This is already starting to happen in some industries like automotive, health care and retail as an example.”

Automotive gives drivers the ability to access the Internet from their dashboard or let riders surf the web as well as get information like weather, traffic directions and so on.

Also, the vehicle stays in touch with the manufacturer, and recommends service when it is time. And, this is going further and faster all the time.

Health care lets users track their vitals, like their diabetes numbers or blood pressure and have them instantly transmitted to the doctor's office. Better care and fewer actual doctor visits.

Retail recognizes users when they walk into the store, greets them, then sends personalized coupons depending where they are in the store and based on past purchases.

Plus every other industry will also move toward this wireless model as well. The potential for the wireless industry here is enormous. That means carriers like AT&T and Verizon, and handset makers.

So, growth in wireless will change, but will continue. That goes for AT&T as well as Verizon, Sprint and other carriers.

About Jeff Kagan

Jeff Kagan is an Industry Analyst who is regularly quoted by the media over 25 years.

He offers comment on wireless, telecom and tech news stories to reporters and journalists.

He is also known as a Tech Analyst, Wireless Analyst, Telecom Analyst and Principal Analyst depending on the focus of the story.

He follows wireless, telecom, Internet, cable television and IPTV. He also follows the wider and more general consumer electronics and technology space.

Visit his website: at jeffKAGAN.com to learn more and for disclosures.

Reporters: Jeff Kagan sends comments by email to reporters and the media. If you would like to be added to this email list please send request by email.

Clients: Call or email Jeff Kagan to discuss becoming a client. Kagan has worked with many companies over 25 years as consulting clients.

Contact: Jeff Kagan by email at jeff(at)jeffKAGAN(dot)com or by phone at 770-579-5810.

Kagan is an analyst, consultant, columnist and speaker.

Twitter: @jeffkagan

Jeff KAGANJeff Kagan, Tech Analyst, Industry Analyst770-579-5810

(Reuters) - Times are changing for gays in American sports and National Basketball Association (NBA) player Jason Collins' decision to come out will encourage others in the top leagues to be open about their sexuality.

Two years ago, NBA great Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 for using an anti-gay slur against a referee and on Monday the five-time NBA champion applauded Collins for coming out as the first gay man in a major North American professional sports league.

Bryant's reaction illustrates, at the very least, the shift in what is considered acceptable language and behavior in U.S. professional sports, the days when insulting others by using a reference to homosexuality are coming to a close.

Indeed Collins's very public coming out via the front cover of Sports Illustrated magazine was greeted with a stream of supportive comments from within professional sports in the United States with only the slightest hint of any dissent.

Mike Wallace, a wide receiver with the National Football League's Miami Dolphins, tweeted his incomprehension that any male could prefer to be in a relationship with a man rather than a woman but was soon on the back foot.

"All these beautiful women in the world and guys wanna mess with other guys, SMH (Shaking My Head)," Wallace tweeted before deleting the message and apologizing for any offense caused.

Wallace's reaction was not dissimilar to that of San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver who made headlines before this year's Super Bowl by saying he would not welcome a gay player into the team's locker room.

Culliver spent a pre-Super Bowl media session with scores of television cameras pointed in his face as he repeated his apology for an hour.

Whether it is a genuine change of attitude towards gays, reflected in several surveys of U.S. public attitudes, or a an understanding that homophobia is no longer acceptable, there is no doubt that professional sports are turning away from intolerance of gays.

In many ways, sports are simply catching up with so much of American society where homophobic comments are unacceptable in the workplace and no one would even think to ask if gays would be accepted in the office.

'MOVEMENT COMING'

The question now is whether Collins's move - and the widespread support for him - will lead to athletes from other leagues following suit.

"I feel a movement coming," Robbie Rogers, the former U.S. national team soccer player who came out in February, tweeted on Monday shortly after Collins's announcement.

Gay rights and anti-discrimination groups certainly believe that Collins is making things easier for those who will come.

"All of us have huge admiration for what Jason is doing," said Patrick Burke, co-founder of equal rights advocacy group You Can Play.

"Jason's courage in stepping forward with his personal story will provide athletes and fans with a new role model."

Campaigners hope that Collins's move will help break down any fear that non-open gays may still have.

"We hope his actions inspire confidence in others who might have been afraid to live their lives openly until now - both on and off the court," said NOH8 Campaign co-founders Adam Bouska and Jeff Parshley.

Collins, in his Sports Illustrated article on Monday, cited his frustration at not being able to participate openly in the debate about same-sex marriage and that is a reminder that the issue of homosexuality in the sports arena does not exist in a vacuum.

Sociologist Brian Powell at Indiana University Bloomington believes that what follows in sport now may follow a similar pattern to how the debate on marriage has unfolded.

"I don't think there will be a huge number of people coming out but there will be a probably a steady stream of people coming out, not unlike what happened last month when politicians came out in favor of same-sex marriage," he told Reuters.

"One day one person did and the next day another. I think the same will happen - it will be slower but there will be an increased number of players coming out."

The next generation of professional athletes in the United States are currently playing in college sports and Powell believes they will bring with them a fresh attitude.

"What I hear, with college athletes, is the real question for them is whether or not their team mates do their job. Competence and ability to play comes before anything else," he said.

"The more athletes publicly come out, the more other athletes are going to be comfortable with this, simply because they can then stop thinking of it in terms of the person's sexuality and focus on their performance."

(Reporting by Simon Evans in Miami; Editing by Frank Pingue)

(This story was refiled to correct Culliver's position in the seventh paragraph)

Despite their respective injury concerns, they will meet for the 16th time in a championship. Nadal leads 8-7 in their finals.

"I am not the kind of player who is stupid and says, 'I want to play against the best,'" Nadal said joking, added he would rather face an easier opponent on Sunday.

Nadal can improve upon his formidable record on the Monte Carlo red clay winner of the last eight titles and 46 consecutive match victories. He defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 7-6 (3) in the semifinals on Saturday to set up a rematch with Djokovic.

The Spaniard has reached five successive finals since returning from a seven-month layoff for a left knee injury. He will go for his fourth title of the season against Djokovic, who cruised past unseeded Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-2, 6-1.

The No. 1 player showed no sign his right ankle was bothering him, two weeks after twisting it during a Davis Cup match against the United States.

"At the start of the week, the way I felt in the first match, if somebody told me I'd be playing finals, I'd be very happy to hear that," Djokovic said. "I'm handling it much better than I was at the start of the week. It has been improving and the pain has been decreasing. It's much, much less than before."

Djokovic and Nadal have not played against each other since last year's French Open final, which Nadal won. He has won their last three encounters, after Djokovic took the previous seven all of which were tournament finals. Nadal leads their head-to-head contests 19-14.

"I need to have a very optimistic mindset," Djokovic said. "I'm not going out there to play my best; I'm going out there to win. That's how I'm going to feel tomorrow."

Nadal has been on a winning roll at Monte Carlo since 2005. His last loss here was to former French Open champ Guillermo Coria in 2003, and he missed the following year because of injury.

He insists he's still some way from full fitness, despite dropping only one set so far.

"I know I need time to be 100 percent fit," said Nadal, adding he thinks Djokovic's injury was tame by comparison. "He stopped for, what, a few days for his ankle?"

Their finals have gone in cycles: Nadal won the first five; Djokovic the next seven; Nadal the following three.

"I know what I need to do," Djokovic said. "Of course, it's easier said than done."

In Grand Slam finals, Djokovic leads 3-2.

The sixth-seeded Tsonga saved four match points and he rallied back from 5-1 down to force a second-set tiebreaker before Nadal clinched the victory with a forehand winner.

"My feeling was I played a solid first set without doing anything special, but with no mistakes," said Nadal, adding that he was hampered by the windy conditions. "It's true that for me it's better if we see a little bit more sunshine."

Tsonga started strong but missed three break chances in the fourth game including one which left him shaking his head in disbelief after Nadal scooped the ball off his ankles and whipped it back down the line. The flustered Frenchman made 17 unforced errors in the first set compared to four for Nadal.

"I always try to be aggressive when I play him. It's the only way for me. If I stay back, there's no way I can win," Tsonga said. "But I can't rush to the net either because otherwise he hits a passing shot, and 90 percent of the time I lose the point. So I have to have the right mix between patience and aggressiveness."

Fognini made 26 unforced errors against Djokovic and was jeered off the court after losing his first Masters semifinal in 52 minutes.

The Italian called for a trainer at 4-1.

But he looked demoralized and at the next changeover he called for the trainer again, pointing to his left shin as the trainer sprayed and taped it. He said he hurt it playing football tennis with his coach.

LONDON (Reuters) - African diva Angelique Kidjo was named Best Artist in Songlines magazine's annual world music awards on Friday, lauded for her high-energy shows and her championing of social causes.

French veterans Lo'jo, who mix French folk with African and Arabic sounds, picked up the Best Group award and the young Zimbabwean band Mokoomba was chosen as top Newcomer.

The Best Cross Cultural-Collaboration went to Dub Colossus for the blend of Ethiopian roots, reggae and dub beats on their latest album "Dub Me Tender Vol. 1+2".

Kidjo, originally from Benin, is one of Africa's biggest singing stars. Over the years she has worked with Prince, sang at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and sold out New York's Carnegie Hall.

The Best Artist award was given for her live "Spirit Rising" album but was also recognition of her career achievements, Songlines editor-in-chief Simon Broughton told Reuters.

"She's been around a long time but she's always inspiring," he said. "What clinched it was a concert she gave in London in March for Women's Day. It was breathtaking. I've never seen her so exuberant. She bonds people and really makes it special."

Kidjo, 52, has adopted the mantle of the late South African singer Miriam Makeba as a political voice and campaigns for women's rights and education in Africa.

"The award is also for what she stands for," Broughton said.

Lo'jo, from southwest France, has also been around a long time and the band's latest album, "Cinema el Mundo", showed them to be as strong as ever.

"They are much better known in the Francophone world than elsewhere. They've not been tempted to become more mainstream," Broughton said.

"They are a quality act, an unusual, interesting group, especially in their connections with West and North Africa."

YOUNG BANDS AND FANS

The Newcomer winner, Mokoomba, is a young group from Zimbabwe but the horn-driven music is pan-African, bringing in the sounds of Congo, South Africa and other countries. Its "Rising Tide" album sealed the award.

Dub Colossus' award was recognition of its work over the past 10 years in popularizing Ethiopian music and blending it with modern beats.

"It's risen from being unknown to something hip and really getting an audience. There's a lot of people fusing Ethiopian and Western sounds so they represent a wide movement and are bringing in a lot of young people," Broughton said.

World music has had mixed fortunes in the past year.

The live scene was still healthy, with a host of performers filling venues in London and elsewhere, Songlines publisher Paul Geoghegan said.

But the recording scene was very difficult for artists, record labels and distributors due to the closure of record stores and declining CD sales. The collapse of British chain HMV, whose shops stocked a wide variety of world music, was a big blow, he said.

(Editing by Louise Ireland)