Dias Kadyrbayev was a university friend of bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. He and another 19-year-old student from oil-rich Kazakhstan, Azamat Tazhayakov, have been charged with trying to destroy evidence by disposing of a backpack and laptop computer taken from Tsarnaev's dorm room after learning he was a suspect in the attack.

At the Kazakh school Kadyrbayev attended when he was 14 and 15, deputy principal Yuri Dovgal said Friday: "He wasn't a star student, but he wasn't a hooligan. He was a normal teenager."

The video game publisher announced Wednesday that the next installment in its successful "Call of Duty" franchise will be titled "Call of Duty: Ghosts" and feature a new story and characters.

Activision Blizzard Inc. said "Ghosts" will be released Nov. 5 for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and next-generation consoles.

The game is being developed by Infinity Ward, the Encino, Calif., studio that created the original "Call of Duty" and reignited the military first-person shooter franchise with 2007's "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" and its two sequels.

"'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," Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg said in a statement. "Infinity Ward is going all-in to create the next generation of 'Call of Duty' worthy of the world's greatest fans."

For more than five years, the action-packed "Call of Duty" franchise has garnered unprecedented success.

The previous "Call of Duty" game, Treyarch's futuristic "Call of Duty: Black Ops II," crossed the $1 billion mark in worldwide retail sales 15 days after its release last year. Infinity Ward's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" hit the $1 billion mark in 16 days after its 2011 debut.

Activision said more details about "Ghosts" will be revealed May 21 at a Seattle presentation where Microsoft is expected to unveil the next Xbox.

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang .

___

Online:

http://www.callofduty.com/ghosts

The Dow was up 42 points at 15,011 shortly after the opening bell Tuesday, an increase of 0.3 percent. The Dow first crossed above 15,000 on Friday after the government reported a strong pickup in hiring last month.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up five points at 1,622, a gain of 0.3 percent. Nine of the 10 industry groups in the index rose, except for health care. Energy companies rose the most.

The Nasdaq composite rose four points, or 0.1 percent, to 3,396.

Fossil, a maker of watches and handbags, rose 8 percent, or $7.70, to $106.53 after reporting that its first-quarter earnings jumped 24 percent.

Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, the central figure in the trial, was given a one-year prison term for endangering public health and the judge also ordered the evidence, including bags of blood possibly belonging to athletes from sports other than cycling, to be destroyed.

Her decision not to release evidence to anti-doping authorities for further investigation damaged hopes that the case would unmask other athletes involved in illegal doping, and prompted widespread condemnation.

"WADA has carefully considered the decision rendered by the Criminal Court in Madrid in relation with the Operation Puerto," the agency's director general, David Howman, said in a statement on the agency's website (playtrue.wada-ama.org).

"The decision to order the destruction of all the blood bags is particularly disappointing and unsatisfactory for WADA, and the whole anti-doping community," Howman added.

"Access to this evidence motivated WADA's involvement in this case.

"This would ensure appropriate sports sanction processes against the cheats who used Dr Fuentes's services."

The Spanish anti-doping agency (AEA) has already said it will appeal against the judge's ruling to destroy the evidence and Howman said WADA might follow suit.

"WADA is currently fully reviewing the decision and any possible appeal or other action with its Spanish legal advisors, and the Spanish National Anti-Doping Organization (AEA)," he said, adding that the appeal deadline was May 17.

WADA, the AEA, the Spanish cycling federation (RFEC), the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) were all represented in the three-month trial in Madrid.

Fuentes, who denied doping, said in his opening testimony that he had clients in cycling but also in sports including soccer, tennis, athletics and boxing.

Spain has been hoping the trial will help to dispel the impression that the nation was soft on doping and boost Madrid's bid to win the right to host the 2020 Olympic Games.

The country is pushing updated anti-doping legislation through parliament which the government says will bring Spain into line with international norms.

(Reporting by Iain Rogers, editing by Clare Fallon)

272 Brett Rumford (Australia)68 67 69 68

276 Mikko Ilonen (Finland) 69 63 73 71

277 Victor Dubuisson (France)71 72 66 68

278 Robert-Jan Derksen (Netherlands) 66 70 73 69

279 Ricardo Santos (Portugal)70 72 68 69

Pablo Larrazabal (Spain) 71 66 69 73

280 Andreas Harto (Denmark)72 71 70 67

281 Felipe Aguilar (Chile) 71 73 68 69

Paul Casey (Britain) 71 68 72 70

Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 70 73 68 70

Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 73 67 68 73

282 Ricardo Gonzalez (Argentina) 73 71 67 71

Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Thailand)68 67 72 75

283 Raphael Jacquelin (France) 68 72 75 68

Jeev Milkha Singh (India)72 69 73 69

Andy Sullivan (Britain)74 68 72 69

Aaron Townsend (Australia) 69 70 74 70

Gregory Havret (France)72 70 71 70

Lee Slattery (Britain) 69 68 74 72

Paul Lawrie (Britain)69 72 70 72

284 Emiliano Grillo (Argentina)73 71 70 70

Paul Waring (Britain)72 68 73 71

Steve Webster (Britain)73 67 71 73

285 Johan Edfors (Sweden)73 69 73 70

Mark Foster (Britain)70 69 75 71

Stephen Gallacher (Britain)70 71 71 73

Matthew Baldwin (Britain)70 71 70 74

Park Sang-Hyun (South Korea) 69 70 71 75

286 Soren Hansen (Denmark) 72 69 72 73

Tommy Fleetwood (Britain)71 70 72 73

Damien McGrane (Ireland) 73 66 73 74

Richie Ramsay (Britain)71 68 73 74

287 An Byeong-Hun (South Korea)73 68 74 72

Markus Brier (Austria) 71 71 73 72

Moritz Lampert (Germany) 72 72 71 72

Matthew Griffin (Australia)70 68 76 73

Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 72 68 74 73

Dou Zecheng (China)70 72 72 73

Branden Grace (South Africa) 74 67 72 74

Graeme Storm (Britain) 70 68 74 75

288 Nick Cullen (Australia)72 69 78 69

Eddie Pepperell (Britain)75 68 75 70

Richard Bland (Britain)72 71 75 70

Estanislao Goya (Argentina)70 74 74 70

Kristoffer Broberg (Sweden)74 67 75 72

Edoardo Molinari (Italy) 75 68 73 72

Gaganjeet Bhullar (India)74 69 72 73

Alexander Noren (Sweden) 70 73 71 74

289 Andrew Dodt (Australia)72 71 77 69

Magnus Carlsson (Sweden) 71 73 72 73

290 Prom Meesawat (Thailand) 76 68 76 70

Liang Wenchong (China) 74 70 75 71

Fabrizio Zanotti (Paraguay)71 69 77 73

Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spain) 72 70 72 76

291 Michael Hendry (New Zealand) 74 67 75 75

Richard Finch (Britain)71 70 75 75

Terry Pilkadaris (Australia) 69 73 74 75

Joachim Hansen (Denmark) 73 69 71 78

292 Niclas Fasth (Sweden)73 68 78 73

Garrett Sapp (U.S.)70 74 74 74

293 Joel Sjoeholm (Sweden) 74 65 76 78

Peter Whiteford (Britain)73 69 73 78

294 Phillip Price (Britain)76 68 73 77

295 Lee Hyung-Joon (South Korea) 70 70 75 80

296 Chris Lloyd (Britain)71 72 73 80

304 Scott Jamieson (Britain) 73 71 77 83

305 Huang Wenyi (China)74 69 80 82

The event comes amid rapid growth in the number of people who access Facebook from smartphones and tablet computers. More Android integration could help Facebook Inc. attract more mobile advertisers. Though mobile ads were a big concern for Facebook's investors even before the company's initial public offering last May, some of the worry has subsided as the company muscles its way into the market.

Last year, Facebook began showing ads to its mobile audience by shoehorning corporate-sponsored content into users' news feeds, which also include updates from friends and brands they follow. Facebook now faces the challenge of showing people mobile ads without annoying or alienating them.

Facebook's event was being held at its headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.

Here's a running account of Facebook's event, presented in reverse chronological order. All times are PDT. Presenters include CEO Mark Zuckerberg; Adam Mosseri, director of products; Joey Flynn, product designer. Also appearing were HTC's CEO and AT&T's head of wireless. A question-and-answer session followed the main presentation, which lasted about 45 minutes.

___

11:30 a.m.

Here's a list of phones that will be able to run Home at first: HTC's One X and One X Plus and Samsung's Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note 2. The upcoming HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S IV will also be able to run Home. HTC's First will have it already installed.

Facebook says it hopes to extend that to other phones later.

Gartner analyst Brian Blau says he's impressed with Facebook's commitment to update Home once a month with additional features. He says Home "could be a game changer if you are a heavy Facebook user."

___

11:15 a.m.

More details are emerging on the new HTC phone. Called First, it will run on Android 4.1, also known as Jelly Bean. It will come with the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app Instagram already installed. Cost is $100 with a two-year service agreement. The new device will have a screen that measures 4.3 inches diagonally.

The April 12 sale date happens to be when the iPhone 5 becomes available through T-Mobile.

___

11:05 a.m.

Home will be limited to phones running the Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean versions of Android. That's version 4.0 and later. That covers phones made or updated over the past year or so.

Initially, the app will be limited to specific Android models about a half-dozen of them, including Samsung Electronic Co.'s Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note 2. It will also work on the upcoming Galaxy S IV. In addition, HTC Corp.'s upcoming First phone will come with Home.

It's not immediately clear what happens if you have Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean but not one of the models listed.

___

11 a.m.

Mosseri says ads will eventually come to this new service. It will be interspersed among the items displayed on the home screen, the way Facebook now injects ads into the main news feed showing friends' photos, links and other posts. But in this case, the ads will take up the entire display.

___

10:55 a.m.

The new Home service won't be available on Apple's iPhone and iPad devices. Apple's iOS and Mac operating systems include features that integrate Facebook's services, but Zuckerberg says doing something like Home would require a closer partnership.

By contrast, Google makes its Android operating system available on an open-source basis, free for anyone to modify, so it's easier to make changes. That said, Facebook makes it clear it's not making a new version of Android, a practice known as forking. Home is being built on top of Android.

___

10:50 a.m.

Minutes after the event ends, Facebook's stock is up 74 cents, or 2.8 percent, at $26.99.

___

10:45 a.m.

Zuckerberg closes the event by expressing his vision of the future, one where people have smartphones and tablet computers rather than desktops and laptops. He says there will be people who have never seen what we call computers these days.

He says Home feeds into that vision.

___

10:40 a.m.

While people will be able to install Home themselves, some phone makers will build Home into the phones. HTC Corp. is releasing a phone called First. It will come in four colors red, light blue, white and black. It will run on AT&T Inc.'s 4G LTE cellular network and go on sale April 12 for $100, with advance orders to begin Thursday. A two-year service agreement is required.

___

10:35 a.m.

To get Home, simply go to Google's online Play store when it's available. Those with Facebook apps on the phone already will get a prompt to download it. The software will be updated with new features monthly.

It will be available April 12 on certain phones initially.

Facebook isn't making Home for tablet devices for several months, though.

Zuckerberg tells the audience, "We are really proud of Home and we are excited to get (it) into your hands. We think this is the best version of Facebook there is."

___

10:30 a.m.

Flynn unveils a feature called chat heads. The idea is to let you communicate with your friends from that home screen, without needing to open an app. You can chat with multiple people at once that way.

___

10:25 a.m.

Mosseri describes one of the main features of the new service. It's called cover feed.

He notes that when people look at their phones now, they typically see a clock and perhaps the snippet of an email. That will change if you have the Home service activated. As soon as you turn on your phone, you'll see photos. You can swipe from one to the next from the home screen.

___

10:20 a.m.

The new service is called Home. Pictures from your Facebook news feed would take up the entire display screen. Zuckerberg says you'll be seeing the world through people rather than apps.

He gives an example of standing in line at a store and looking down at the phone to see photos of friends and family. It'll be possible to flip through the items. If there's something you like, just double tap on it to "like" it. You can also add comments from the home screen.

With this, Facebook doesn't believe you'll need to go to the Facebook app any more.

___

10:15 a.m.

Zuckerberg says Facebook isn't building a Facebook phone, saying a Facebook-centered device might sell 10 million to 20 million units at best. Rather, it's building on the existing Android system to bring this experience to a wider group of Android users.

___

10:10 a.m.

Zuckerberg talks about a new way to approach Facebook on phones.

He asks, "Why do we need to go into all the apps in the first place to see what is going on with the people we care about?" Better, he says, is to have that experience come right to the home screen, so you're always knowing what is going on around you.

He makes a comparison to the company's news feed feature, which brought friends' posts to a centralized place and reduced the need for people to check their friends' profile pages one by one.

___

10:05 a.m.

Zuckerberg walks on stage and addresses the rumors head on: "Today, we're finally going to talk about that Facebook phone."

He then adds that more specifically, Facebook will talk about turning the Android phone into a simple, social device.

LONDON (Reuters) - Human cases of a deadly new strain of bird flu that has killed 27 people in China are likely to crop up in Europe and around the world but that should not cause undue alarm, Europe's leading flu expert said on Thursday.

In his first media interview since returning from an international scientific mission to China last week, Professor Angus Nicoll said the H7N9 flu outbreak in humans was one that should be taken extremely seriously and watched closely.

"We are at the start of a very long haul with H7N9," Nicoll told Reuters in a telephone interview from the Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), where he is head of the influenza and respiratory viruses program.

He said there were many scientific questions to be answered about the new flu strain, which was first detected in patients in China in March having been previously unknown in humans.

The flu has so far infected at least 127 people in China and killed 27 of them, according to latest data from Chinese health authorities and the World Health Organization.

Scientific studies of the virus have established it is being transmitted from birds - probably mostly chickens - to people, making it a so-called zoonotic disease that humans catch from animals rather than from other humans.

Nicoll, who visited Beijing and Shanghai last week with a team of international scientific experts, confirmed what the WHO has repeatedly said - that there is no evidence yet of the virus efficiently passing from person to person - a factor that would make H7N9 a serious pandemic flu threat if it were to evolve.

Nicoll said the "most pressing public health question" for now was to identify the source of the circulating virus - the so-called "reservoir" - that is leading to chickens contracting it and sporadically passing it on to humans. This is likely to take time, with any results unlikely for several months.

"IMPORTED CASES"

In the meantime, Nicoll said the ECDC, which monitors disease in the European Union, and health authorities around the world should expect that "imported cases" of H7N9 flu may well begin to crop up elsewhere.

Just as Taiwan reported its first case on April 24, other countries should expect that business travelers and tourists may occasionally return from China having picked up the infection, he said.

"I'm not sure when that will happen. But the case in Taiwan shows that it can. If that person had got on a different flight and ended up in Paris, then we would have had a scenario that we would expect people to be alarmed at," he said.

"But again we should stress that this thing doesn't seem to be transmissible from human to human, so if we get some sporadic cases appearing in Europe, that doesn't change anything."

Nicoll noted that genetic analysis studies of H7N9 samples taken from patients in China showed the virus had already acquired two genetic mutations that made it more likely to be able to become transmissible between people.

Flu experts speaking at a briefing in London on Wednesday said those mutations, together with evidence that H7N9 is still mutating rapidly and probably spreading almost invisibly among birds because it does not make them obviously sick, meant this new flu was a "serious threat" to world health.

"You can never predict anything about flu, but it is concerning to see those mutations there, Nicoll said. "That's why it's important Europe should take this very seriously."

Nicoll added that he thought the Chinese were doing an "impressive job" handling, reporting, investigating and seeking to contain the outbreak.

(Editing by Alison Williams)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks climbed on Tuesday in a broad rally, recovering from sharp declines sparked by a "bogus" Associated Press tweet about explosions at the White House.

A false tweet by hackers of two explosions at the White House that injured U.S. President Barack Obama provoked a steep drop in stocks, before they quickly recovered minutes later.

Thomson Reuters data showed the benchmark S&P 500 index fell 14.6 points, or 0.93 percent, in the space of 3 minutes when the tweet hit the market. With the S&P 500 valued at about $14.6 trillion at the time of the false tweet, the plunge briefly wiped out $136.5 billion of the index's value.

"If that was true that had happened, that's a justified selloff, but because people suffer from information overload, people tend to overreact and don't wait to substantiate things - that is the downside to a 24-7 news cycle," said Jason Weisberg, managing director of Seaport Securities Corp in New York.

"You want instantaneous pricing, you want all the advantages of the technology, well then, you have to live by the negatives that the speed and expediency provide."

The move was a reminder of the May 6, 2010, tumble in markets now known as the "flash crash," when the Dow industrials dropped more than 600 points, eventually piling up a loss of about 1,000 points, in a few minutes before recovering.

Stocks had seen a solid advance before the tweet, lifted by a host of strong corporate earnings, including Travelers Cos Inc , Netflix Incand Coach Inc .

After the closing bell, Apple Incclimbed 4.9 percent to $425.95 after the iPad and iPhone maker reported second-quarter earnings and unveiled plans to double the amount of capital it returns to shareholders.

The Dow Jones industrial averagerose 152.29 points, or 1.05 percent, to close at 14,719.46. The Standard & Poor's 500 Indexgained 16.28 points, or 1.04 percent, to finish at 1,578.78. The Nasdaq Composite Indexadvanced 35.78 points, or 1.11 percent, to end at 3,269.33.

Netflix Inc shares jumped 24.4 percent to $216.99 while Coach shot up 9.8 percent to $55.55. They were the S&P 500's two biggest percentage gainers.

Shares of Netflix shot higher after the movie streaming service reported earnings that beat expectations and strong subscriber growth. Coach stock leaped after the upscale leather goods maker and retailer reported higher-than-expected quarterly sales.

Travelers Coshelped lift the Dow, up 2.1 percent at $86.35 after the insurer posted earnings that topped expectations and boosted its dividend.

Earnings season has been largely positive, with more than 68.9 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far beating expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data. Since 1994, 63 percent have surpassed estimates on average, while the beat rate is 67 percent for the past four quarters.

"We are encouraged to see the market focusing on fundamentals, because we had been in a period where the macro trade was pretty much driving things - whatever the global macro event was or political event was seemed to be affecting the movement of the markets for a period of time," said Paul Mangus, head of equity research and strategy at Wells Fargo Private Bank in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The benchmark S&P 500 index has risen 2.4 percent over the past three sessions.

Analysts see earnings growth of 2.3 percent this quarter, up from expectations of 1.5 percent at the start of the month.

Housing stocks ranked among the best performers, after Barclays raised its rating on the homebuilding sector to "positive" from "neutral." The sector also got a lift from encouraging housing data, with U.S. new home sales up 1.5 percent in March.

The PHLX housing sector indexrose 3.8 percent, led by a 9.3 percent gain in Toll Brothersto $34.13. Barclays raised its recommendation on Toll Brothers' stock to an "overweight" rating as part of the firm's broader sector call.

Volume was active, with about 6.39 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE MKT and Nasdaq, slightly above the daily average of 6.38 billion. Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of 4 to 1, while on the Nasdaq, more than three stocks rose for every one that fell.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

LONDON (Reuters) - Liverpool striker Luis Suarez was handed a 10-match suspension by the Football Association (FA) on Wednesday following his bite on Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic at the weekend.

Suarez accepted a charge of violent conduct after the incident in the 2-2 Premier League draw at Anfield on Sunday but disputed the FA view that it merited more than a three-game ban.

An Independent Regulatory Commission met in London on Wednesday to decide the Uruguayan international's fate and added seven games to the usual ban for violent conduct.

The suspension begins immediately, meaning Liverpool's leading scorer will miss his side's last four games of the season and the first six at the beginning of next term.

Liverpool, who expressed their shock at the Commission's decision, have until Friday (1100 GMT) to appeal.

"Both the club and player are shocked and disappointed at the severity of today's Independent Regulatory Commission decision," Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre said in a statement on the club's website (www.liverpoolfc.com).

"We await the written reasons tomorrow (Thursday) before making any further comment."

Suarez's bite on Ivanovic's arm at Anfield was missed by referee Kevin Friend but television replays showed him sinking his teeth into the Serbian.

WIDELY CONDEMNED

The 26-year-old Suarez, who was banned for biting an opponent while with Dutch club Ajax before joining Liverpool in 2011, apologized after the game and was fined a reported 200,000 pounds ($305,700) by the club.

However, he was widely condemned for his behavior with some reports suggesting he was in danger of being sacked by the club, although Liverpool said this week that they wanted the Uruguayan to see out his four-year contract.

The FA said a three-match ban was "clearly insufficient" for the serious nature of the offence.

There was widespread support for the length of the punishment imposed with former Liverpool player Graeme Souness telling Sky Sports News: "I think 10 games is about right.

"What he did on Sunday is something I've never seen in a game anywhere before."

Former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp agreed.

"I think you have to accept that the crime that he committed probably warranted a 10-game ban," he said.

"It was an awful act of brutality really what he did and now he won't play for such a long time - it's is going to hit him where it hurts because he wants to play football."

Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) chief executive Gordon Taylor said the length of the sanction sent out a "strong message" but that it was important that the player received counseling to make sure it did not happen again.

Not everyone backed the FA's decision.

"Players who break peoples' legs, who do horrible tackles, get a three-game ban," former Liverpool striker John Aldridge told Sky Sports News.

"It's inconsistent. For me, it's not right, it's over the top."

Controversy has followed Suarez since he joined Liverpool, with his antics often overshadowing his impact on the pitch.

He served an eight-match ban for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra last season and later angered United manager Alex Ferguson by failing to shake the French defender's hand before their league match in February last year.

He has also been regularly accused of diving to win penalties and free kicks, while in an FA Cup tie this season against minor league Mansfield Town he was again criticized for scoring a goal despite a blatant handball.

Until Manchester United forward Robin Van Persie's hat-trick against Aston Villa on Monday that secured the title, Suarez was leading scorer in the league with 23 goals and he is included on a six-player shortlist for PFA Player of the Year.

($1 = 0.6542 British pounds)

(Reporting by Martyn Herman and Sonia Oxley; Editing by Ed Osmond)

(Reuters) - Seven years after Congress passed a new whistleblower law for the Internal Revenue Service, the tax-collecting agency stands accused of not doing enough, or of not acting swiftly enough, to reward informants who expose tax improprieties.

On Wednesday, under growing pressure from the senator who spearheaded the 2006 legislation, the IRS holds a hearing on proposals it has crafted only now for implementing elements of the law.

Separately, come June, in the first hearing of its kind, the Tax Court is demanding that the IRS explain whether it has made a decision on the claims of a former banker who asserts that six years on, he still is waiting for the IRS to tell him the status of his whistleblower claims against a former employer.

The new proposals to be debated on Wednesday include rules for submitting information to the IRS and the criteria for determining the size of an informant award, among others. In a nod to delays, the new rules include allowing whistleblowers, should they die during the process, to leave any award recovery to heirs. After the hearing, the IRS will weigh the feedback it received before putting in place final regulations.

The senator who pushed for the 2006 law, Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, complains the IRS risks alienating informants by taking years to process claims and then keeping them in the dark. He takes issue with provisions in the regulations which he feels wrongly limit potential whistleblower awards.

The IRS declined to comment, but in a February 11 letter to the senator, Acting Commissioner Steven Miller said the IRS had "made significant progress in implementing the law" and that while the number of awards made is "relatively small," he expects the pace of award grants to increase.

The 2006 law required the IRS to pay awards of 15 to 30 percent for information leading to additional tax collection on disputes involving $2 million or more, and establishing a new whistleblower office reporting directly to the IRS commissioner. Prior to the 2006 law whistleblowers were rewarded but awards to informants were at the IRS's discretion, and generally small.

MIXED PERFORMANCE

In broad terms, the IRS whistleblower program has brought in more tax revenue under the new rules than it had prior to 2006, but its performance has been mixed.

Whistleblower tips last year led to $592 million in additional IRS tax collections, nearly four times as much as the $156 million collected in 2008, according to the agency.

The IRS does not disclose how many whistleblower awards it has made based on the 2006 rules, arguing that to do so could jeopardize taxpayer privacy. Lawyers who represent whistleblowers estimated that the number of awards has been 10 or fewer.

The IRS's only public whistleblower award was September's record-setting $104-million payment to former UBS AG banker Bradley Birkenfeld. A convicted felon, Birkenfeld turned in clients he had formerly helped to stash money in secret Swiss accounts. His work helped the IRS collect hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.

New whistleblower tips to the IRS fell to 332 last year from a 2009 high of 472, according to the IRS, at a time when whistleblowing tips at other agencies have been on the rise.

For instance, a newly relaunched SEC whistleblower program got more than 3,000 tips in 2012, alleging securities and other types of frauds. At the Justice Department, new whistleblower cases rose 71 percent to 647 in 2012, from 379 in 2008. The IRS declined comment on the comparison.

Compared to programs at the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the IRS program offers the fewest protections for whistleblowers, said Tom Devine, of the Government Accountability Project, a non-profit group that advocates for whistleblowers.

IRS whistleblowers have no legal protection against retaliation by former employers, something the proposed regulations don't take on. Unlike other programs, there are no deadlines by which the IRS must decide a case, and no requirement that it communicate with the whistleblower after submission of a tip.

TAX COURT CASE

In the case of the whistleblower whose complaint will be heard in Tax Court, Joe Insinga, 62, alleges that his former employer Rabobank Group, a Dutch financial concern, helped a number of large corporate clients lower their taxes inappropriately. To support the case, which he brought to the IRS in 2007, he says he provided the tax agency with loan applications, an internal audit report and other documents.

Frustrated for not knowing the status of his case or whether he will ever get the monetary reward he had hoped for, Insinga went to Tax Court in March 2012.

He asked the court to compel the IRS to indicate whether a reward would be forthcoming or not. The IRS responded by arguing that the Tax Court had no jurisdiction in the case. But the court rejected this and last month set a hearing for June 18.

In his order calling for the hearing, Tax Court Judge David Gustafson wrote that could include trying to find out whether the IRS has completed its consideration of Insinga's claim, and if not, what it is still doing on the claim and what it plans to do in the future.

Insinga's case could have wide implications if the Tax Court upholds his position and forces the IRS to be more forthcoming with the more than 1,000 informants the IRS says are actively involved in its program.

The validity of Insinga's claims about Rabobank could not be determined. Rabobank declined a request for an interview, but a spokeswoman said in a statement that Insinga's assertions mischaracterize the facts.

Rabobank does not engage in activities to mislead tax authorities and has always cooperated with all government requests, she said. It is unknown whether the IRS has acted on Insinga's information against Rabobank or any other party.

Some former IRS staffers said it was not surprising that some cases stretch out as long as seven years, given that time-consuming audits can be involved.

After seeing companies he had identified settling tax issues with the IRS for hundreds of millions of dollars, Insinga says the long wait has caused regrets. "If I knew in 2007 what I know today, I would never do it again," he said in an interview.

(Additional reporting by Patrick Temple-West in Washington; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Howard Goller and Phil Berlowitz)