PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - Lee Westwood believes patience is a virtue, and the former world number one who turned 40 last month believes the best years of his golfing career could be yet to come.

The Englishman put his faith into practice at this week's Players Championship, biding his time before a late surge in the first round and a six-under 66 in Friday's second round that put him within two shots of the lead.

He said he was looking forward to weekend play at the TPC Sawgrass layout, home to what is widely regarded as golf's unofficial fifth major, which he expects will get firmer and more difficult to score on.

"A lot of patience is involved there. It will be sort of like a major championship-style mentality to go out there and play disciplined golf and not attack flags when they shouldn't be attacked and try to hit a lot of fairways, so you have to have a lot of control on your second shot," said Westwood.

"I enjoy that kind of golf. It's very rewarding if you play well."

Westwood, a brilliant ball-striker, has been one of world's most consistent big tournament players but has yet to win a major championship despite frequently contending.

He has three top 10s in the U.S. Open the last five years, including two third-place finishes and three top 10s in the last four Masters, including a tie for third and a runner-up showing.

Westwood has also been runner-up (2010) and tied for third (2009) in the last four British Opens and tied for third (2009) and eighth (2011) in the PGA Championship.

Often his short game has held him back.

That is why he took special pleasure in kick-starting his second round on the Stadium Course by pitching in for eagle on the par-five 11th, his second hole of the day.

He followed that with two birdies and was on his way.

"It's a big momentum thing if you pitch in. That's what's been missing from my game over the last couple years almost, having a few breaks," said Westwood.

"But I've worked hard on my short game, and I'm obviously getting it on line a little bit more than I used to do."

Westwood began his first round with 14 pars, patiently waiting for his chances despite a course record-tying 63 posted in the morning by little-known American Roberto Castro.

"Obviously you're under a little bit of pressure when you see nine-under on the board and you haven't shot yet," Westwood said. "But then again, you know there are good scores out there.

"So I played well through the first 14 holes, it just wouldn't happen for me.

"It's just a case of being patient. I was rewarded, a couple of nice shots at 15. I made birdie. Made a birdie at 16, and made a nice birdie at the last into 18 from about six feet."

He maintained the same approach on Friday and got better results.

"I played pretty much how I played yesterday, very solid, hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens. I haven't made a bogey yet this week," said Westwood.

Westwood, who showed his more daring side by deciding to grow a goatee after going a week without shaving after cutting his nose, lip and chin after diving into his swimming pool, said the success of other mature golfers had boosted his confidence.

"It's just a number, I don't feel any different," he said. "I'm prepared to keep working as hard as I've always worked.

"So many people play well now in their 40s. It's not just one person, there are loads of people. Phil (Mickelson) still plays great, (Angel) Cabrera nearly won the Masters, Darren (Clarke) and Ernie (Els) won the last two Opens after 40, too.

"I think the way that players look after themselves a little bit more now with probably the exception of Darren - he'll like me for that - we can play a lot longer."

(Editing by Frank Pingue)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A shortage of properties could take some edge off home sales during the spring selling season, but the housing market recovery should remain intact.

The stock of houses for sale has declined rapidly in recent months as both investors and ordinary Americans rush to take advantage of near record low mortgage rates.

The surge in demand for houses, thanks to an improving labor market and the Federal Reserve's very accommodative monetary policy, is putting a firmer foundation under the economy as it deals with the headwinds from belt tightening in Washington.

In February, there were 1.94 million previously owned homes on the market, representing 4.7 months of supply. The inventory of new single-family homes available for sale during the same period was about 150,000, or 4.4 months' worth.

A six months' supply is normally considered as a healthy balance between supply and demand. With the busy spring selling season around the corner, realtors and economists are worried about the supply squeeze.

"If we don't see more people listing their properties, I don't think we will see the home sales volume increase that we are accustomed to seeing," said Glenn Kelman, chief executive officer of online real estate group Redfin, based in Seattle.

"There are far more buyers than there are sellers on the market. We would have a huge boom spurred by low interest rates if there were more inventory on the market."

The National Association of realtors expects existing home sales to rise between 7-8 percent this spring from a year ago. For the full year it forecasts sales advancing 7 percent to an annual pace of about 5 million units. Sales are currently running at a 4.98 million-unit pace.

The flow of foreclosed homes coming on to the market, which had been both a source of supply and a key obstacle to the sector's recovery, has dropped significantly in recent months.

According to Kelman, supply was now mostly coming from homeowners and that was not much, as most of the homes were still worth less than what their owners owed banks.

Data from CoreLogic last week showed so-called shadow inventory - homes either in foreclosure or being held from the market by banks - dropped 15.4 percent to 2.2 million in January from a year ago. That was well below the cycle peak of 3 million units in January 2010.

Economists said while homes were still falling into foreclosure, delays with the paper work meant those homes were not coming onto the market. Even where they had been repossessed by the banks, they were also not hitting the market.

"Banks tend to remember the experience of 2008 when they rushed to sell off properties all at once and that caused a downward spiral in house prices," said Andres Carbacho-Burgos, an associate director at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

"They are trying to be cautious about selling off too many properties all at once."

HOMES SELLING IN HOURS

The inventory crunch is most acute in areas like Washington D.C., New York, and the coastal California cities where, according to Kelman, "homes are selling in hours."

The months of supply in coastal California has dropped to 30 days from between six and eight months last year. Even in places like Atlanta and Philadelphia, where the housing market has been slow to recover, inventory is also tightening.

"The demand for properties is insane. The bidding wars that are going on, there is not enough inventory and it has become truly a seller's market again," said Neil Garfinkel, real estate attorney at Abrams Garfinkel Margolis Bergson in New York.

But in cities like Detroit, where the population is declining and vacant houses are everywhere, the housing recovery will probably not happen this year or even next year.

Despite expectations of a relatively quiet spring season, the housing recovery is not expected to step back, largely thanks to investors, who make up roughly a fifth of home sales and account for most of the cash sales.

Cash sales account for about a third of transactions. Wall Street investors, who were very active in the housing market over the past 1-1/2 years, are now competing with ordinary people looking to make money from real estate.

"They are buying whatever they can get their hands on. Before they were more selective," said Kelman.

The properties are repaired and rented out. While some of the big money has started to leave areas like Phoenix, Arizona as the foreclosure inventory gets depleted, Atlanta is seeing a jump in sales and prices because of the Wall Street investors.

"Investors will start to exit only after either foreclosure inventories are significantly depleted or sale discounts have fallen off so much that it's like buying a regularly priced home," said Moody's Analytics' Carbacho-Burgos.

Analysts and realtors saw little chance of a repeat of the housing market collapse.

"Back in 2007 we had very leveraged investors. They were buying a home that they would sell for a higher price in six months," said Redfin's Kelman. "That's not happening now, the investors we see now are coming in with cash."

(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chris Reese)

And at the conclusion of a two-day meeting of leading financial representatives from the G-7 countries the U.S., Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and the U.K. there appeared to be a formal acknowledgement that each member needed to secure their own countries' growth by balancing economically restraining austerity measures with growth-enhancing policies.

"The will is still there to reduce the deficits but there is certainly a change of tone," said Pierre Moscovici, France's finance minister at the conclusion of the two-day summit at a country house around 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of London.

The global recovery from recession over the past few years has been patchy. While the U.S. economy, the world's largest, appears to be gaining traction, many European countries are in recession as they try to get a grip on their public finances through deep spending cuts and tax increases.

Japan, the world's number 3 economy has been in focus over recent months as the new government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has embarked on a radical policy of aggressive monetary stimulus to restart the country's postwar boom, which effectively ground to a halt in the early 1990s.

One of the offshoots of the pumping more money into the Japanese economy has been a dramatic fall in the value of the yen. On Thursday, the dollar rose above 100 yen for the first time in over four years. At the time of December's general election in Japan, the dollar was trading around the 80 yen mark.

As well as potentially boosting economic growth by making its exports more competitive, the flipside of a lower yen is that it can also stoke inflation by increasing the price of imports. For a country that's seen prices fall for much of the past 15 years, that's important.

So far, the argument presented by Japanese officials that it has been targeting monetary stimulus and not its exchange rate has been accepted by Japan's G-7 partners.

British finance minister George Osborne, who hosted the two days of informal discussions, said the G-7 countries all agreed to make sure that "policies are oriented towards domestic objectives."

In a rare development, the G-7 didn't actually issue a communique at the conclusion of its deliberations. However, Osborne said the previous communique "was a successful statement and one that has been held to" a clear reference to Japan.

In February, when markets were particularly roiled by developments in Japan, the G-7 said their respective fiscal and monetary policies were oriented towards meeting domestic requirements and that exchange rates were not a target of policy.

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Justin Bieber is once again airing his thoughts on history-making figures. With about as much success as he did last time.

"Boyfriend" singer Bieber, who caught heat last month when he wondered whether Anne Frank would have been a fan of his, has now turned his gaze toward anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela.

Bieber's deep thoughts on Mandela? He's "the man."

Bieber, who played a show in the South African city of Cape Town on Wednesday, fired up his Twitter account on Thursday to say how impressed he was with the population -- and, in particular, Mandela, who became the president of South Africa after decades of battling the country's racist apartheid system.

"Love to the Capetown fans," Bieber wrote in one tweet, along with a series of photos in which he poses with fans.

Shortly thereafter, Bieber shot off another tweet, this one reading, "Nelson Mandela is the man!"

Actually, it could be argued that Mandela has spent the majority of his life fighting the man...

That tweet was accompanied by the hashtag #BELIEVE, which is the name of his latest album and tour. Because what's the point of awkwardly praising a person who altered the course of history, if you can't work a little self-promotion in?

Bieber, 19, drew fire in April, when he visited the Anne Frank House museum in Amsterdam and wrote in the guestbook that he hoped Frank, who died in a Nazi concentration camp, "would have been a Belieber" - a slang term for fans of the singer.

"Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a Belieber," Bieber wrote. News of Bieber's Anne Frank comment sparked widespread criticism online in forums such as Facebook and, yes, Twitter.

Target said its new program relies on shoppers using their Facebook accounts. However, shoppers can only redeem the offers they choose in Target's U.S. stores, not online.

With Cartwheel, shoppers select the deals they want online and then bring a barcode - either on paper or on a mobile phone - to a Target store to get the discounts. Shoppers can see what offers their Facebook friends have chosen, and earn more offers by having their Facebook friends sign up.

This service comes as traditional retailers try to keep shoppers buying from them rather than from Amazon.com Inc and other online-only retailers, especially as shoppers use their smartphones to compare prices.

Twenty percent of cellphone owners research products using their phones before they buy, and 18 percent of them compare prices on their phones before making a purchase, according to Bill Tancer, general manager of global research for Experian Marketing Services.

Cartwheel follows efforts such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc letting shoppers in some of its U.S. stores scan their goods with their iPhones while they shop and then more quickly proceed through a self-checkout lane. Sears Holdings Corp's "Member Assist" program gives its loyal shoppers the ability to get personalized shopping advice from in-store personnel without even stepping foot in a Sears or Kmart store.

"It is very fascinating to see the very different approaches that retailers are taking to achieve the same goals," said Carol Spieckerman, president of newmarketbuilders, a retail strategy firm.

Retailers are using digital tools to better cater to shoppers who love to comparison shop while in their stores. Target and other retailers offer free WiFi, and at one of its Minnesota stores Best Buy Co Inc has tested its "Page a Blue Shirt" service that lets customers summon a store associate with a click on a store iPad.

For chains such as Kmart, Target and Walmart, such issues are increasingly important as their businesses have evolved since each opened its doors in 1962. Their stores used to be one-stop shops for everything from books and movies to photo developing. As such services have waned in popularity with the rise of digital books, movies and photo sharing sites, the chains are doing what they can to figure out new ways to make their stores more attractive to shoppers and, ultimately, more profitable.

CARTWHEEL'S BETA ROLLOUT

Starting on May 8, Target is opening Cartwheel to the public in a beta test, and asking for feedback as it makes changes. The service will initially be advertised on Target's website, through Facebook and in emails to Target's best shoppers and card holders.

Target did not rule out the possibility of allowing Cartwheel offers to be redeemed on its website someday.

Target said it worked in a close partnership with Facebook Inc for about a year. While Facebook has worked on the project, Cartwheel is owned by Target. For now, Target has no plans to extend it to other social sites such as Pinterest.

Linking offers through Facebook will let the retailer know exactly what Facebook can or cannot accomplish for it. While Twitter can be useful to promote timely, limited offers, Facebook is "the dominant platform" for connecting with shoppers and, in turn, with their connections, Spieckerman said.

Target sees the program as a way to extend the trips shoppers take into parts of the store they might normally skip, in order to pick up a promoted item. An app coming in June will let shoppers scan a photo of an item's barcode to quickly see if an offer is available on that item.

Shoppers using Cartwheel can choose from hundreds of deals on items such as Target's own Threshold home goods and name brand goods such as M&Ms candy and Coca-Cola soft drinks. The weekly, monthly and quarterly deals include discounts from 5 percent off to as much as 40 percent off of certain goods, and differ from other Target offers in circulars or coupon booklets.

Shoppers can share the deals they are picking with their Facebook friends, but offers on more discreet items - from bras to Tums - will not be visible to others.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago, additional reporting by Dhanya Skariachan in New York; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

Polls opened Saturday morning across the nation in what is a closely watched race to determine the fate of this nuclear-armed country crucial to stability in the region.

The vote marks the first time in Pakistan's 65-year history that a civilian government has completed its full term and handed over power in democratic elections. Previous governments have been toppled by military coups or sacked by presidents allied with the powerful army.

As Pakistanis streamed to the polls across the country, there was a sense of excitement among an electorate aware of the historical significance of their vote and the risk they were taking.

"Bombs or terrorist attacks must not stop voters from using their right of vote," said 70-year-old Humayon Qaiser. "People will have to decide what kind of Pakistan they want. If they vote for the wrong party, they will suffer for another five years."

Deadly violence struck again Friday, with a pair of bombings against election offices in northwest Pakistan that killed three people and a shooting that killed a candidate in the southern city of Karachi. More than 130 people have been killed in the run-up to the vote, mostly secular party candidates and workers. Most attacks have been traced to Taliban militants, who have vowed to disrupt a democratic process they say runs counter to Islam.

The vote is being watched closely by Washington since the U.S. relies on the country of 180 million people for help in fighting Islamic militants and negotiating an end to the war in neighboring Afghanistan.

The rise of former cricket star Imran Khan, who has almost mythical status in Pakistan, has challenged the dominance of the country's two main political parties, making the outcome of the election very hard to call.

"I think it is the most unpredictable election Pakistan has ever had," said Moeed Yusuf, South Asia adviser at the United States Institute of Peace. "The two-party dominance has broken down, and now you have a real third force challenging these parties."

The election of both the national and provincial assemblies comes at a time of widespread despair in Pakistan, as the country suffers from weak economic growth, rampant electricity and gas shortages, and a deadly Taliban insurgency.

There is concern that the violence could benefit Islamist parties and those who take a softer line toward the militants, including Khan and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, because they were able to campaign more freely. The government said it would deploy 600,000 security personnel on election day.

After more than a decade in the political wilderness, the Oxford-educated Khan has emerged as a force in the last two years with the simple message of "change." He has tapped into the frustrations of millions of Pakistanis especially urban middle class youth who believe the traditional politicians have been more interested in enriching themselves through corruption than governing.

The two main parties that have dominated politics the Pakistan People's Party, which led the most recent government, and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N have ruled the country a total of five times in the past 25 years.

Khan has also struck a chord by criticizing Pakistan's unpopular alliance with the U.S. and controversial American drone attacks against Islamic militants in the country's northwest tribal region.

"I am happy to vote for the person of my choice," said Mohammed Ayub, who was the first man to vote at a polling station in Islamabad. "I am voting for Imran as he is a strong voice against wrongs."

Support for the 60-year-old Khan may have increased out of sympathy following a freak accident this week at a political rally in which he fell 15 feet (4.5 meters) off a forklift, fracturing three vertebrae and a rib. He is expected to make a full recovery and seems to be making the most of the accident. The party has repeatedly aired an interview he did from his hospital bed hours after the fall as a paid advertisement on TV.

Nobody is sure how effective he will be in translating his widespread popularity into votes, especially considering he boycotted the 2008 election and only got one seat in 2002. Turnout will be critical, especially among the youth. Almost half of Pakistan's more than 80 million registered voters are under the age of 35, but young people have often stayed away from the polls in the past.

Khan faces a stiff challenge from the two main parties, which have spent decades honing vote-getting systems based on feudal ties and political patronage, such as granting supporters government jobs.

Because of the strength of this old-style politics and unhappiness with the outgoing government, many analysts see the Pakistan Muslim League-N as the front-runner in the election. Sharif has twice served as prime minister and is best known for testing Pakistan's first nuclear weapon in 1998.

Sharif was toppled in a military coup by then-army chief Gen. Pervez Musharraf in 1999 and spent years in exile in Saudi Arabia before returning to the country in 2007. His party, known for its pro-business policies, came in second in the 2008 elections and is seen as more religiously conservative than the Pakistan People's Party.

On the campaign trail, Sharif pointed out how much more experience he has than Khan and touted key projects he completed while in office, including a highway between the capital Islamabad and his hometown of Lahore.

In the eastern city of Lahore, where Sharif has his power base, that experience was a selling point for many prospective voters.

"It is easy to criticize and make promises," said one voter, Awais Ahmad. "It's very difficult to deliver."

He said he was voting for Sharif in order to fix the country's economy.

"A better economy can give us what we all need: electricity, peace, jobs, education and health," he said.

He's also credited with refraining from attacking the outgoing government and allowing it to finish its full term as a way of strengthening civilian government control.

A poll released this week by a Pakistani political magazine, Herald, showed the two parties led by Sharif and Khan as basically tied, with about 25 percent support each. The Pakistan People's Party was third with about 18 percent. The margin of error was less than three percentage points. But national polls like this do not necessarily reflect election results because seats are granted to whoever gets the most votes per constituency, rather than proportionally across the parties.

Even if the Pakistan Muslim League-N wins the most national assembly seats, many analysts doubt it will have a majority, meaning it would have to cobble together a ruling coalition that could be quite weak.

The performance of the Pakistan Muslim League-N could be heavily influenced by how well Khan's party does.

Both parties appeal to conservative middle class voters in cities in Pakistan's most populous province, Punjab, which will be the main battleground of the election. The province contains over half of the 272 directly elected seats in the national assembly. The Herald poll showed about 39 percent support for Sharif's party in Punjab and close to 31 percent for Khan.

If Khan's party can steal enough votes away from Sharif, it might open the way for the Pakistan People's Party to once again form the government. Despite widespread unhappiness with the party's performance over the past five years, it does have a loyal following in rural areas of southern Sindh province and southern Punjab.

A less likely scenario is that the "political tsunami" Khan has promised does really sweep the country, leaving his party to form the next government.

Given the likelihood of a weak coalition no matter who emerges on top, the new government could have trouble tackling the country' major problems. Two of the most immediate are the electricity crisis, with some parts of the country experiencing blackouts for up to 18 hours a day, and the government's shaky financial situation. The caretaker government is already in discussions with the International Monetary Fund about another unpopular bailout to shore up the country's finances.

The next government will also face the tricky task of managing the relationship with the country's army, which is still considered the strongest institution in Pakistan.

The previous government was able to complete its term largely because the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, held off from directly intervening in politics. However, he is believed to play a dominant role in the background, especially when it comes to foreign policy issues such as the relationship with the U.S. and the country's stance toward the Afghan war. Sharif has a particularly complicated history with the army since he was toppled in a coup.

Given the views of Sharif and Khan, the next government is expected to be more nationalistic and protective of the country's sovereignty when it comes to ties with the U.S. than its predecessor. Sharif likes to recount how he tested Pakistan's first nuclear weapon despite intense U.S. pressure. Khan has been even more critical of Pakistan's alliance with the U.S. and has even threatened to shoot down American drones if he came to power.

But the impact of their views will likely be tempered by the role of the Pakistani army, which values its relationship with the U.S. because of the billions of dollars it has received in military aid.

The army is expected to play a similarly predominant role when it comes to Pakistan's stance toward domestic Taliban militants at war with the state. Both Sharif and Khan have backed negotiations with the Taliban, and Khan has even said he would pull troops out from the tribal region who are battling the militants.

His nickname "Taliban Khan" reflects sentiments among some Pakistanis that he's too soft on the Taliban. Kayani, the army chief, has said the Taliban must accept the country's constitution if it wants peace something the militants have rejected.

In what appeared to be a show of support for democracy in Pakistan, Kayani went himself to the voting booth shown live on Pakistani television instead of mailing in his ballot.

___

Associated Press writers Asif Shahzad in Lahore, Atif Raza in Karachi and Rasool Dawar in Miran Shah, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

___

Sebastian Abbot can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sebabbot

Over the weekend, the Syrian Electronic Army, a mysterious collection of hackers who support embattled President Bashar al-Assad, took control of several Twitter accounts belonging to The Guardian and its staffers.

— The Guardian (@guardian)

"We will keep hacking #Twitter accounts and cause for you problems if you keep suspending our accounts #SEA," one tweet from a Guardian account, since deleted, .

The BBC, NPR, CBS, and the Associated Press have all been  in recent weeks. Most notably, the SAE claimed credit for sending alast week that claimed President Obama had been wounded in an attack on the White House. That tweet sent stock markets tumbling, albeit briefly, as investors scrambled to verify whether bombs had, in fact, erupted in the White House.

Formed in 2011, the SAE has a nebulous relationship with the Assad regime. The SAEas "a group of enthusiastic Syrian youths who could not stay passive towards the massive distortion of facts about the recent uprising in Syria."

However, there's little hard evidence to tie the group directly to Assad. One researcher who has followed the SAE since its inceptionit clearly seemed like the two had some link, though he cautioned that the relationship was mostly one of "tacit support." 

While social media has increasingly played a role as unrest continues in the Middle East, the SAE is unique in that it is working to defend the government, not to topple it.

From the :

But unlike Tunisia, Egypt and Libya — whose former regimes were caught badly off guard — Assad's government has been fighting back. It has created an increasingly rambunctious group of counter-revolutionary hackers. These hackers have a twin function: To punish western news organizations seen as critical of Syria's regime, and to spread Damascus's alternative narrative. This says that the war in Syria isn't a popular uprising against a brutal, despotic family-military dynasty but rather an attempt by Islamist terrorists to turn Syria into a crazy al Qaeda fiefdom. []

And as The Guardian itselfin acknowledging it had been hacked, reporters there have frequently covered alleged crimes committed by the Assad regime, and even published leaked e-mails from his close advisers.

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Still, she spends most of her time on her cellphone checking email, Facebook, Pinterest and watching Netflix. At bedtime, she stays on her phone or laptop until after I have gone to bed. When she comes to bed, she ignores me and goes straight to sleep, even if I have been lying there awake in the dark waiting for her.

Has she fallen in love with her cellphone? Even if we don't have sex all the time, I would just like to be able to talk to her or hold her for a minute before we go to sleep. Any suggestions other than throwing her phone out the window? -- ABANDONED HUSBAND IN UTAH

DEAR ABANDONED: You say your wife has responded and things are hopeful. That means she is at least receptive to working on your marital relationship.

The problems that cellphones cause in relationships is something I am hearing about with increasing frequency. People have become so dependent upon their digital companions that in some cases it's impossible to turn them off because people have become literally addicted.

In cases like this, a licensed therapist should be consulted. Of course, like any addiction the sufferer must be willing to admit there is a problem and want to do something about it. I wish there was a 12-step program to which I could refer you, but I was unable to locate one. In the future I'm willing to bet that they'll sprout up like mushrooms.

DEAR ABBY: Six months ago, I realized I had a drinking problem and decided to go through a chemical dependence program as an outpatient. I'm sober now and attend meetings a few times a week. My problem is someone I was barely acquainted with was also in the same program. I didn't regard it as a problem at first, but now I'm concerned.

At a meeting a few months ago, I mentioned to the group that I also attend a meeting in another town closer to my home. Next thing I know, this man is attending the same meeting. He always makes a point of telling me about what's going on with the people we went through treatment with.

I am active in service work and plan to attend a regional meeting at a resort over a weekend. Guess who has suddenly decided to do the same?

I'm nervous about being around this man. I don't want to compromise his sobriety, but I can't stand seeing him at every meeting and event I attend. My husband is also bothered by it, and I'm considering not attending any meetings at all because he's creeping me out. How should I handle this? -- SOBER AND CREEPED OUT

DEAR CREEPED OUT: If there is a group moderator or contact, discuss this with that person. Because you want less contact with your "admirer," look around for another group. Even if you will have to travel a bit farther, it will be worth the effort.

If you do happen to run into him in the future and he tries to engage you in conversation about other patients from your program, cut the conversation short by telling him you are not interested in hearing about them. One of the hallmarks of 12-step programs is anonymity -- and it should be respected.

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

What teens need to know about sex, drugs, AIDS and getting along with peers and parents is in "What Every Teen Should Know." Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $7 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Teen Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

Factory orders dropped 4 percent in March, reflecting a big plunge in the volatile category of commercial aircraft, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Orders had been up 1.9 percent in February.

Orders in a category considered a proxy for business investment plans rose 0.9 percent, a modest gain but an improvement from a preliminary report last week that had shown a decline.

Weaker economies overseas and the impact of across-the-board government spending cuts have made businesses more cautious, dampening demand for manufactured goods. But even with the March decline, total orders stood at $467.3 billion, 43 percent above the recession low hit in March 2009.

Demand for durable goods, items expected to last at least three years, fell 5.8 percent in March, after a 4.3 percent February increase. Orders for nondurable goods, items such as chemicals, petroleum and paper, were down 2.4 percent following a 0.1 percent dip in February. This weakness partly reflects falling prices for energy products.

The 0.9 percent rise in core capital goods, the category watched for business investment, followed a 4.8 percent decline in February and a 6.7 percent surge in January.

In the durable goods area, orders for commercial aircraft plunged 48.3 percent. And demand for autos and auto parts fell 0.4 percent, although the drop is expected to be reversed in coming months given recent strong auto sales.

Orders for machinery dipped 0.8 percent. Demand for primary metals such as steel fell 3.2 percent. Orders for computers rose 2.9 percent. Orders for electric turbines and communications equipment also showed strength.

A separate report Friday showed U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in April, helping to push the unemployment rate down to a four-year low of 7.5 percent. Economists were also encouraged because Friday's report revised the past two months to show hiring was much stronger than previously thought.

The Institute for Supply Management reported this week that factory activity expanded at a slower pace in April, held back by weaker hiring and less company stockpiling.

The ISM manufacturing index slipped to 50.7, down from 51.3 in March. A reading above 50 indicates expansion but it was the weakest reading this year.

However, there are areas of strength. Last month, U.S. auto sales reached their highest level for any April since 2007. Sales grew 8.5 percent to nearly 1.3 million. And on Thursday, Ford Motor Co. said it will add 2,000 workers to a Missouri plant that makes the F-150 pickup because of surging demand for trucks.

But overseas demand has been weak, in part because of a recession among the 17 European countries that use the euro as their currency.

Factories may also see slower sales this spring because consumers are starting to feel the impact of higher Social Security taxes. Americans increased their spending from January through March at the fastest pace in more than two years. But spending on goods fell in March, a possible sign that the tax increase may be catching up with consumers. Some economists believe that lower gas prices will help offset the higher Social Security payroll tax.

The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent from January through March, the government said last week. While that was an improvement from the anemic growth of 0.4 percent in the final three months of last year, many economists expect growth will slow in the current quarter and remain subpar for most of the year.

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ACTIVISION ANNOUNCES THE NEXT GENERATION OF CALL OF DUTY WITH CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS

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Call of Duty: Ghosts will set a new Benchmark for the Next Generation

All-New World, Story, Characters and Experience, All Powered by New, Next Gen Call of Duty Engine from the Developer that started it all, Infinity Ward

For an Exclusive First Look at the Game, Tune in to Xbox: The New Generation Revealed, May 21 at 10AM PDT on Xbox.com, Xbox Live or SPIKE TV

Groundbreaking Title Lands on November 5

Santa Monica, CA May 1, 2013 Prepare for the next generation of Call of Duty. The franchise that has defined a generation of gaming is set to raise the bar once again with the all-new Call of Duty: Ghosts. Published by Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI), and developed by Infinity Ward, the studio that created the original Call of Duty and the seminal Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series, Call of Duty: Ghosts ushers in the next generation of the franchise. The new title delivers a riveting all-new gameplay experience built on an entirely new story, setting and cast of characters, all powered by a new, next generation Call of Duty engine that redefines the series for the next generation.

Infinity Ward set the gold standard for first-person action for a generation, and theyre going to do it again with Call of Duty: Ghosts, said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, Inc. Ghosts delivers an all-new story, all-new characters, an all-new Call of Duty world, all powered by a next generation Call of Duty engine, which is a leap forward for the franchise. Infinity Ward is going all-in to create the next generation of Call of Duty worthy of the worlds greatest fans.

Everyone was expecting us to make Modern Warfare 4, which would have been the safe thing to do. But were not resting on our laurels, said Mark Rubin, executive producer of developer Infinity Ward. We saw the console transition as the perfect opportunity to start a new chapter for Call of Duty. So were building a new sub-brand, a new engine, and a lot of new ideas and experiences for our players. We cant wait to share them with our community.

To see an exclusive first look at Call of Duty: Ghosts tune in to Xbox: the Next Generation Revealed on May 21 at 10AM PDT on Xbox.com, Xbox LIVE or SPIKE TV for the debut of the all-new game from Infinity Ward.

We are consistently thrilled with the overwhelming response received from critics and consumers alike to the Call of Duty series, which has firmly established its home on the Xbox 360 with the games largest and most engaged community, said Don Mattrick, president of the interactive entertainment business at Microsoft. With Call of Duty: Ghosts, we have no doubt that our longtime partners, Activision and Infinity Ward, will raise the bar higher than ever before for this incredible franchise.

Starting today, fans can begin pre-ordering their copy of Call of Duty: Ghosts at retail outlets worldwide.

Theres no other video game property like Call of Duty. Its the biggest game franchise on the planet that has had some of the biggest game entertainment launches in history, said Tony Bartel, president of GameStop. We are very excited for the launch of Call of Duty: Ghosts, as we transition to next generation consoles.

Call of Duty: Ghosts will release on Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and PC on November 5. Call of Duty: Ghosts will also be available for next generation platforms. For the latest intel, check out: , , or follow on Twitter @InfinityWard. Call of Duty: Ghosts is not yet rated.

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