The multipurpose stadium could cost as much as $1 billion, with team owner Arthur Blank committed to funding most of it.

Blank, speaking at the NFL's spring meetings, called the decision by the team owners an "important milestone" in moving the project forward.

"The NFL has supported new stadium construction through various means for decades," he said. "Our club owners understand that investments ... are important to the long-term strength of the league, and we thank them for their support."

The stadium also will be built with $200 million from public bonds.

Blank said the design and construction of the Falcons' new home will take place over the next four years and the team plans to open the 2017 season there. The Georgia Dome, which opened in 1992, will be demolished when the new stadium opens.

Later Tuesday, owners will vote on the sites of the 50th and 51st Super Bowls. The San Francisco Bay Area and Florida are bidding for the 2016 game. The loser for that game will face Houston for the righto hold the 2017 Super Bowl.

The ITC had said it would make a decision on Friday but delayed it until Tuesday, June 4. It gave no reason for the extension.

An administrative law judge at the ITC had said in a preliminary ruling in September that Apple was innocent of violating the patents. The next step is for the full commission to weigh in.

Apple has waged an international patent war since 2010 as it battles Google Inc's Android mobile-device operating system. The fight has embroiled Samsung, HTC Corp and others that use Android.

Samsung is the world's largest smartphone maker, while Apple is in third place, according to the research company Gartner. Many experts consider Samsung's Galaxy touchscreen tablets the main rival to the iPad, although they are currently a distant second to Apple's devices.

The case at the International Trade Commission is No. 337-794.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; editing by Matthew Lewis)

BOSTON (Reuters) - Paul Theroux said his literary goodbye to Africa at a train station in Luanda, Angola, five decades after he first visited the continent as a Peace Corps volunteer.

In his new book, "The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari," Theroux describes a journey through South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Angola that dead-ended at the depot when he felt no need to go further. The book, he says, represents a final chapter on his travels in Africa.

Theroux's first book on Africa was a novel. He became one of his era's most influential travel writers and chronicled his global journeys in books including "The Great Railway Bazaar," "The Old Patagonian Express," and "Dark Star Safari." His novels include "Saint Jack" and "Mosquito Coast."

Theroux, who lives in Hawaii and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, spoke to Reuters about the role of the travel writer, Africa's uncertain prospects, and how it would be to die doing what he loved.

Q: I wondered as I read your book whether you were done traveling.

A: It's quite a lot of trouble to take buses and trains and trucks and taxis and so forth overland in Africa. When I got to the point in Angola where I thought there really isn't a lot of value in suffering if you're not learning something, I thought well, this is the end of the line.

I'll always be traveling in Africa, but I think I've written all that I can possibly write of a useful kind.

Q: What is it about rail travel that makes you say you've seldom heard a train go by and not wished to be on it?

A: The pleasure of it is indescribable. You can sleep, you can write, you can walk around. It's very comforting, very reassuring, and for a writer, really wonderful.

Q: You wrote about squalid cities, but you also said you are not a pessimist about Africa.

A: I don't know what's going to happen to Africa. The infrastructure is very poor. It's a house of cards. The governments are fragile. In general, they're corrupt.

The cities are big and horrible, but the hinterland, the bush, is emptier than it's ever been. It's still full of possibility.

Q: How has travel evolved over your career?

A: When I first started traveling it was full of problems to solve. (Now) it's really not a lot of trouble to get on a plane.

The other is the Americanization of the world. Everyone dresses the same. People wear a T-shirt and shorts. The whole world wears baseball hats. Fifty years ago when I was traveling you didn't see baseball hats in India. You didn't seem them in Africa.

Q: Are travel writers still relevant?

A: The role of a travel writer is to discover the world, to verify what's out there. It's more necessary than ever, because the Internet makes people think they can just sit at home and know everything. But they don't realize what the world is really like: how poor it is, how wonderful it is in other places, and how much there is to discover.

Q: Do you have a preparation routine?

A: You need to be strong, optimistic and able to meet the demands of being alone.

I read practical things. I buy a lot of detailed maps. I talk to people. I try to be as widely read as possible on the place, not necessarily before I go, but afterwards. I want to make discoveries by myself.

I don't make lists of people to look up. I would rather stay in the simplest hotel. I don't like the social obligation that staying with people imposes on me.

Q: What do you read on the road?

A: Books completely unrelated to the place that I'm in.

Lately, I've been reading a lot of D.H. Lawrence. I make a little study of a writer - reading the books, stories, and then reading a biography, so that I know the author.

Q: Travel can seem courageous, but it's also an everyday occurrence for locals on the same roads.

A: They know where they are going. I'm going to a place that I'll have to figure out.

At my age, I take fewer and fewer risks. But it takes a certain confidence. The buses are old, the food is bad, the weather is horrible. Maybe you'll get to the other end and not find anything new.

Q: Three people you profiled in the book died soon after. What impact did that have?

A: (It was) a great shock. It made me examine my motives and think "Well, what if I died, am I doing what I love? Is what I am doing worth risking my life?"

Died doing what I loved would be having a Mai Tai on the beach in Hawaii and being overwhelmed by a wave. I'd be doing what I love then, with my wife just having a drink. It wouldn't be on a bus in Angola.

(Reporting by Randall Mikkelsen; editing by Patricia Reaney and Jackie Frank)

Bob Dole says he couldn't make it as a Republican today - and a tilt toward more conservative voters in the key Iowa Republican caucuses may bear him out.

"Could people like Bob Dole, even Ronald Reagan - could you make it in today's Republican Party?" host Chris Wallace asked Dole on "Fox News Sunday."

"I doubt it," Dole said. "Reagan wouldn't have made it. Certainly, Nixon couldn't have made it, because he had ideas and- We might have made it, but I doubt it."

The 1996 presidential nominee went further, saying his party should close up shop until it's figured things out.

"I think they ought to put a sign on the national committee doors that says 'closed for repairs' until New Year's Day next year and spend that time going over ideas and positive agendas," Dole said.

The Republican National Committee has advertised a broad-based retooling after some tough years for Republicans. Despite their gains in 2010, Republicans lost the 2012 presidential race along with nearly every competitive Senate campaign. All that came after another crushing loss in 2008.

Dole's comments reflected concerns of other centrist Republicans forced out of the party by primaries or the threats of primaries as conservatives gained influence over the GOP during President Obama's tenure in the White House.

Is Dole right? A look at the changed demographics of Iowa Republicans suggests he might have lost the 1996 Iowa caucuses had today's Republicans judged him then.

Dole topped the 1996 Iowa GOP field with 27 percent of the caucus vote. His coalition was broad: He won 30 percent of "somewhat conservative" caucus-goers and 29 percent of moderates, according to entrance polls. His worst showing came among "very conservative" caucus-goers, from whom he gathered 21 percent of votes.

Pat Buchanan, the conservative former Nixon aide, finished second with 23 percent. He was the favorite of the "very conservative" bloc: Buchanan raked in 37 percent of their votes, while trailing Dole badly among the other categories - 22 percent of "somewhat conservative" and only seven percent of "moderate" caucus goers.

Iowa Republicans leaned more to the middle in 1996. According to polls of Republicans entering GOP caucus sites in 1996, 34 percent of caucus-goers were "very conservative," 41 percent "somewhat conservative," and 25 percent "moderate" or "liberal."

In 2012, when Rick Santorum narrowly topped Mitt Romney in Iowa, "very conservative" had climbed to 47 percent, an increase of 13 percentage points. "Somewhat conservative" accounted for 37 percent, a four-point drop; liberal/moderate caucus goers accounted for 17 percent, eight percentage points fewer than in 1996.

An analysis of the changing demographics of Iowa suggests Buchanan may have edged out Dole if the caucuses were held today, assuming the candidates held on to the same percentage of each category of voter from 1996 to 2012.

According to national exit polls, Dole's general-election coalition was just a shade more moderate than Romney's in 2012. In 1996, 57 percent of Dole's supporters self-identified as "conservative" (as opposed to liberal or moderate); last year, 60 percent of Romney's voters said they were "conservative." Those data have their limits, as exit polls aren't conducted in every state.

Of course, there are too many factors to predict a re-writing of history. It's impossible for the Dole of then to run today, as it's impossible for the Iowa voters of today to caucus then. Caucuses are social events, and the formation and spread of political opinions depends on too many things to simply plug one candidate into another year and assume the numbers can predict what would have happened.

If the Bob Dole of 1996 ran today, he could very well find a new appeal to voters. Especially running against different candidates, Dole's percentage of votes from liberals, moderates, and conservatives could vary drastically in a different landscape.

But in the 1996 primaries, strictly looking at changing voter demographics, Dole's first victory may not have been, had today's Republicans caucused.

Thanks to the twists and turns of the rocky transition that followed Egypt's 2011 uprising, the Shura Council is now the sole law-making body in the land. The legislature found itself in this unexpected position after a court dissolved the lower house of parliament, prompting an Islamist-led panel that drafted the new constitution to include a clause handing the council legislative powers until a new parliament is elected.

Like the lower house before it, the Shura Council now finds its fate in the hands of the courts. On Sunday, Egypt's constitutional court is expected to rule on the legality of the legislature's election, which was conducted under the same law as the lower house that was disbanded on an electoral technicality.

It's well within the realm of possibility that the court could order the Shura Council to dissolve and may even render its works invalid, including the country's Islamist-backed constitution, bringing Egypt's political process back to square one. Such a move, while far from certain, would push Egypt into legal limbo and could trigger a new political crisis.

Much of the criticism of the council stems from its shaky popular foundations.

Of the legislature's 270 members, 180 are elected with the other 90 being appointed by the president a throwback to its days under Hosni Mubarak, the authoritarian leader ousted in 2011, when the legislature's seats were often sinecures for loyalists or favored members of the opposition. Today, five percent of its members are Christians about half the proportion of the population and four percent are women.

When elections were held in early 2012, not only did many voters stay away but so did many political parties especially several of the newborn liberal groups with smaller budgets. Over 70 percent of the seats were taken by Islamists.

The Freedom and Justice party, the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, holds 42 percent of the council's seats. Together with allies like the Wasat party and the ultraconservative Construction and Development party the political arm of the former militant Gamaa Islamiya group the Brotherhood can easily muster nearly 60 percent of the votes to pass favorable bills.

Liberals and critics say that Islamists have been using their majority to ram through their agenda a departure from pledges to postpone such issues until a new lower house of parliament, known as the People's Assembly, is elected.

They also allege the Islamists have used the council as a powerful tool to shake-up institutions perceived as bastions of Mubarak loyalists, to make cuts in the state budget that target among other things the arts and women's programs deemed by Islamists as unnecessary or immoral, and rush through laws rife with loopholes.

"The Shura Council, in its current form, has turned into a speedy machine to pass faulty laws that provoke argument and divisions rather than ... solve a problem," wrote political scientist Hassan Nafaa in a Saturday column in the Al-Masry Al-Youm daily.

Despite its disputed position, the council has taken on an ambitious agenda: a judiciary bill that has ignited a revolt among judges; a new bill for Islamic bonds that has sparked fears of opening a backdoor for foreigners to take over state-owned assets; and a bill to regulate civil society that rights groups complain will harden state control over non-governmental organizations through scrutinizing their funds.

It's the council's seemingly activist stance that rankles many of its critics, who feel that because of the legislature's shaky mandate it should shy away from contentious issues.

Mohammed Fouad Gadallah, a former top Morsi adviser who resigned to protest what he called the Brotherhood's monopolization of decision making, said the council should serve as a parliament only in "exceptional circumstances."

Liberal lawmaker Ihab el-Kharat from the Egyptian Socialist Democratic Party said he received personal assurances from "the head of the council that it will only tackle very limited issues related to the transitional period but defining what is important to this period is vague."

The council's supporters dismiss the criticism, and say the council's legislative role is enshrined in the constitution.

"The respectful members of the Shura Council ... alone have full legislative authority, assigned to them by the Egyptian people," said a statement by the Consciousness Front, a group composed primarily of Islamists who helped draft the constitution. "The constitution didn't talk about an exceptional, partial nature or give conditions of (legislating) only when necessary."

The statement said the Shura Council has been tasked with realizing "the dreams and ambitions of the citizens in achieving justice, righteousness, and equality."

One particularly divisive bill before the Shura Council aims to tackle judicial reform. Islamists say it is necessary to sweep away judges who support Mubarak and are undermining the transition to democratic rule. Many Egyptians, including Morsi's Islamist rivals, fear rushing the law that would lower retirement age for judges from 70 to 60 thus pushing thousands of veteran judges into retirement would neuter the one branch of the government that is not under Brotherhood control.

Morsi's allies describe Egypt's judiciary as a refuge for Mubarak loyalists bent on blocking their agenda. It was partially to prevent the court from dissolving the Shura Council that Morsi in November 2011 took what was possibly the most controversial move of his presidency, a wide-ranging decree that included putting his own decisions above court review and making the Shura Council "immune" from court dissolution.

Morsi's opponents saw that decree as a dictatorial power grab, and took to the streets for weeks of protests. Morsi ultimately backed down, but the bitterness and polarization it caused have become a constant in Egyptian politics.

Liberal lawmakers and their unlikely allies in the ultra-conservative Nour party, who also fear the Brotherhood's power complain that the head of the committee debating the judicial reform draft law rushed it through even though a majority of members voted to table debate. The committee head could not be reached for comment.

Now, all eyes are on the judicial decision Sunday.

"The ball is with the Constitutional Court. It could rule either way: disband or not disband," said Yousseri Abdel-Karim, a judge for one of Egypt's top courts. "This could mean calling for new elections, both parliamentary and presidential, and the formation of new constitutional panel to write a new constitution."

If that happens, Egypt's political transition already disrupted multiple times in the last two years will be thrown into limbo once again.

RELATED:

The iPad game doesn't provide a bigger board — the six-by-six square just sits in the middle of the much larger iPad screen — nor does it provide more time, but now Dots fanatics have the joy of space. Instead of having to cradle your iPhone in one hand, you can now make squares (the easiest way to get points) using two hands, resting the tablet on your lap or a table. Even better, maybe you can get a partner to help — though some Dots elitists might consider that cheating. The app doesn't offer "2X mode," which magnifies the size of the board, making it even easier to share the square, but Betaworks says that's on the way. 

RELATED:

For those sick of playing against themselves, Dots has added a multiplayer setting. Using one phone, two people can play the exact same board to see who gets the better score. So, even if the new iPad version doesn't help you get past that stubborn high score of yours, maybe you can cream some friends of yours on the subway. 

The coalition says in the east, insurgents killed one service member and the civilian, while a roadside bomb killed another service member.

NATO also says an improvised explosive device killed a service member in the south.

All the attacks took place on Saturday.

NATO gave no other details of the attacks, nor the nationalities of the dead.

The deaths bring to 66 the number of international troops killed in Afghanistan this year. Deaths of NATO personnel have gone down in recent months as international forces pull back to allow Afghan soldiers and police to take the lead in ensuring security.

After a month of impressive gains that brought the Dow within 200 points of a record, the markets have paused this week. Stocks started the day lower Wednesday after a report showed that the U.S. economy unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter. That decline extended after the Federal Reserve said that it would continue to try to boost growth through a bond-buying program designed to keep borrowing costs down.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 44 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 13,910.42, logging only its second decline in nine days. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 6 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,501.96, its biggest decline since Dec. 28. The Nasdaq composite fell 11 points to 3,142.31.

The U.S. economy shrank from October through December for the first time since the recession ended, hurt by the biggest cut in defense spending in 40 years, fewer exports and sluggish growth in company stockpiles, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

The Fed acknowledged that the economy is still struggling to regain momentum, in a statement it released after its two-day policy meeting. The central bank said that growth had "paused in recent months," and while it was taking no new action, it would keep buying $85 billion of bonds a month.

"The Fed didn't really say anything out of the ordinary, so you got the reaction you should've had in the morning," said Joe Saluzzi a co-founder at brokerage firm Themis Trading. "When you've spent this much money trying to prop up an economy and you still come up with a negative print, that's bad news."

Still, stocks remain on track for a great January.

The Dow Jones average has surged 6.2 percent since the start of the year, climbing close to 14,000 and within touching distance of its record level. The S&P 500 has gained 5.3 percent this month, close to its highest level in more than five years. Investors bought stocks after lawmakers reached a deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" and on optimism the U.S. housing market is recovering and the jobs market is slowly healing.

U.S. gross domestic product, the volume of all goods and services produced, contracted at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter. That's a sharp slowdown from the 3.1 percent growth rate in the July-September quarter.

"To ignore this is folly," said Doug Cote, chief market strategist at ING Investment Management. "Certainly, this market could continue to move forward, but ignoring the fundamentals is not something I'd counsel my clients to do."

Positive company earnings reports helped offset the disappointing news about the economy and stem a bigger decline.

Amazon jumped $12.41, or 4.8 percent, to $272.76 after the world's biggest online retailer showed improving profit margins when it posted fourth-quarter earnings late Tuesday. Boeing, currently scrambling to fix battery problems that have grounded its 787 Dreamliner planes, gained 94 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $74.59 after it reported earnings that beat analysts' expectations. Rising profits from commercial jets offset a smaller profit from defense work.

A private survey showed Wednesday that U.S. businesses increased hiring in January compared with a revised December reading. Payroll processor ADP said that employers added 192,000 jobs in January.

Traders and investors will now turn their focus back on to company earnings and Friday's nonfarm employment report.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, fell 1 basis point to 1.99 percent.

Among other stocks making big moves Wednesday:

Chesapeake Energy rose $1.14, or 6 percent, to $20.11 after the company said late Tuesday that its embattled CEO Aubrey McClendon will leave the company this spring.

Avery Dennison, a packing materials company, rose $2.30, or 6.4 percent, to $38.44 after it posted fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts' expectations and said it was selling two of its business units to CCL industries for $500 million. The company will use the proceeds of the sale to buy back stock and make additional pension contributions.

Copano Energy, a natural energy company, rose $4.90, or 14.8 percent, to $38.03 after the company said that it had agreed to be acquired by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners for about $3.2 billion in stock.

MeadWestvaco, a packaging company, fell $1.30, or 3.9 percent, to $31.63 after the company reported earnings that fell short of analysts' expectations.

The fast-talking American, who trails tournament leader Tiger Woods by seven shots, arrived at the course at 5:30 a.m. local for a scheduled tee time at 7:40 a.m., and left at around 4 p.m. without hitting a single competitive stroke after only five minutes of third-round action was possible.

Weather permitting, play will resume on Sunday at the picturesque Torrey Pines venue where the $6.1 million PGA Tour event is heading for a rare Monday finish.

"It's frustrating," Snedeker told Reuters after spending a couple of hours chatting with his fellow players, caddies and officials on the practice putting green. "Everyone's wants to play.

"I feel like on this golf course it would have been a lot of fun today. There's a great leader board lined up and a lot of action could have happened today. It's really frustrating when it doesn't happen.

"It has turned into a long day. I've been here since early this morning so you're a little tired and you want to get out there and play as much as you can."

Asked how he had managed to while away the time as a blanket of thick fog lingered at the coastal venue, Snedeker replied with a broad grin: "You tell a lot of stories. I've been catching up with some guys I haven't seen in a while.

"You eat four or five times and you try to pass the time as best as possible. You don't want to think too much about the golf course. You want to keep your mind fresh."

MONDAY FINISH

Snedeker is happy, though, that a Monday finish is on the cards as he needs to haul himself back into the tournament after following his superb opening round of seven-under-par 65 with a four-bogey 75.

"As long as we get 72 holes in, that's what I would like to have happen because I am so far back," said the 32-year-old.

"I need some help. I need to play as much golf as possible. It's kind of weird for us to be in a situation where there's no really bad weather, just a little bit of fog.

"For us not to be playing, it's tough, but we will rebound tomorrow and try to put on a good show."

Snedeker, who won last year's title in a playoff with compatriot Kyle Stanley, is regarded as one of the best putters in the game but he surprisingly battled on the greens during a rain-sodden second round.

"It was a struggle for me yesterday," FedExCup champion Snedeker said of a round on the challenging South course that included a total of 32 putts. "These greens are pretty hard if you aren't putting the way you want to.

"I rolled it really good the first day, then kind of struggled yesterday which was unfortunate.

"But I put a lot of work into it last night and this morning and feel like I kind of solved the problem. Hopefully and I can make a bunch of them (putts) these next two rounds."

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Gene Cherry)

The new video serves as a progress report through last November for the, a project by theDefense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to recycle space junk back into valuable satellite parts, or even completely new spacecraft. DARPA scientists began the project in July and are working toward launching the first demonstration mission in two years or so.

"Today, satellites are not built to be modified or repaired in space," Phoenix programmanager Dave Barnhart said in a statement unveiling the video Tuesday (Jan. 22). "Therefore, to enable an architecture that can reuse or repurpose on-orbit components requires us to create new technologies and new capabilities. This progress report gives the community a better sense of how we are doing on the challenges we may face and the technologies needed to help us meet our goals."

An animation of a Phoenix servicing spacecraft working on orbit runs in the background of the 2 1/2-minute video. The foreground, meanwhile, shows some of the progress that has been made in the lab to date.[]

This progress includes the development and testing of prototype satellite-grappling technology and tele-operations control software, among other gear, according to the video.

The Phoenix program plans to use a robot mechanic to grab still-working antennas from the many retired and dead satellites in geosynchronous orbit, about 22,000 miles (35,406 kilometers) above Earth. These large, bulky antennas would then be attached to small "satlets," or nanosatellites, launched from Earth, creating new space systems on the cheap.

The goal is to demonstrate a way to turn part of the ever-expanding cloud ofaround our planet into space resources, saving money in the process, DARPA officials have said. The first on-orbit demonstration mission is targeted for 2015.

"We have a long way to go, but we are laying the foundation for improving how we build space systems, with the goal of changing the economic model for space operations," Barnhart said.

Phoenix isn't the only satellite-servicing effort currently underway. NASA's(RRM), which was delivered to the International Space Station in July 2011, is testing out the technology necessary to repair and refuel satellites on orbit.

The latest round of RRM experiments is going on right now, with the space station's two-armed Dextre robot attempting to snip wires, unscrew caps and pump simulated fuel using the RRM test module, NASA officials have said.

Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter or SPACE.com . We're also on and.