Alamogordo commissioners decided last week that they will allow Fuel Industries to search the landfill for games, according to The Alamogordo Daily News (http://bit.ly/1aPRzKe). The company has offices in Ontario and Culver City, Calif.

One sought-after cartridge, the E.T. video game, is thought by some to be among the worst video games of all time. Atari paid Steven Spielberg tens of millions of dollars to license the wildly popular 1982 movie's name, and the dud of a game caused the troubled company's worth to sink even further at the time.

The game has since developed a cult following.

The rumored Atari graveyard has long been a fascination of some who consider the commercial flop a part of video game history. It is believed that nine semi-trucks dumped the E.T. game and other Atari toys in the southern New Mexico landfill in 1983.

Alamogordo Commissioner Jason Baldwin says he played the Extra-Terrestrial game and it was horrible. There are listings for the game on eBay that run from under a dollar to more than $30.

Fuel Industries, a multimedia company, has been given six months to search the landfill. The company hopes to document the search.

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Information from: Alamogordo Daily News, http://www.alamogordonews.com

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Floyd Mayweather showed little sign of ring-rust after a year out of the sport as he used sublime defense and a steady parade of right hands to dominate fellow American Robert Guerrero and retain his WBC welterweight championship on Saturday.

One day short of 12 months since his last bout, Mayweather, who also spent two months in jail in 2012 for a domestic abuse offence, landed an astonishing 60 percent of his power punches en route to a unanimous 12-round decision.

All three judges scored the fight 117-111 in favour of the undefeated Mayweather, who admitted that a damaged hand had prevented him from ending the fight early.

"I really was looking for a knockout, but I hurt my right hand," he revealed. "After that, I just had to box smart.

"Robert Guerrero was a tough warrior. He was trying to press the attack. But I got really good work in the gym and I felt comfortable in the ring. My defense was on point."

After an opening two rounds in which the southpaw Guerrero (31-2-1, 18 KOs) had some success, Mayweather (44-0, 26 KOs) seemed to slip into his comfort zone from the third.

Although the challenger's game plan seemed to be to back Mayweather to the ropes with his jab and then land punches to the body, the champion repeatedly slipped under his opponent's left, landed one or more right hands and moved out of danger.

After being hit with several rights in the third, Guerrero appeared more hesitant to commit to his attack, giving Mayweather yet more time to slip in and out of range and land his key punches.

"I thought Floyd did an excellent job tonight," said the 36-year-old's father and trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr.

"There was nothing he couldn't do in there tonight. I told him to steal it with the right hand. That was a punch (Guerrero) couldn't see and wasn't expecting each time he threw it."

By the eighth round, Mayweather was stepping up his assault, landing right hands with greater force and mixing in left hooks as he opened up a cut over a clearly hurt Guerrero's left eye.

At that stage, it appeared that Mayweather would stop Guerrero inside the distance and although he continued to paint his opponent with right hands and left hooks, the champion remained content to focus on coasting toward the finish.

"Floyd was tricky with his punches," Guerrero said in a post-fight interview. "He's a great fighter. He's slick and he's quick. He's better than I thought. He was definitely on his game tonight."

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mother-daughter therapy, nightly branzino dinners and pulls from a mimosa-filled water bottle at the gym.

Welcome to just some of the life of Betsey Johnson, the eccentric and frenetic fashion designer whose personality goes on display in a reality television series beginning on Sunday on U.S. cable network Style.

"XOX Betsey Johnson" casts an eye on Johnson, 70, best known for her bright, girly punk dresses, and her daughter Lulu as the inseparable duo look to relaunch their fashion careers after professional and personal setbacks.

The eight-episode series is as much a psychological trip through the pair's emotional high-wire act as it is about the nuts and bolts of the fashion industry.

"I think we were always content in our lives, so the joke is 'Why not do a reality TV show when our lives were completely falling apart?'" Lulu, 38, told Reuters in a joint interview with her mother.

For the mother and daughter, who live a few doors apart in the same apartment building on New York's Upper East Side, their lives were ripping at the inseams.

Johnson, who still ends her fashion shows with a trademark cartwheel and split, was forced to shutter her company's 65 retail stores and file for bankruptcy last year while selling off her brand to footwear giant Steve Madden.

"I felt I had lost what I had built and didn't know if I could continue and get it back," said Johnson, who is now the creative director behind her brand.

Meanwhile, Lulu, a divorced mother, is in the midst of launching her own fashion line.

In the first episode, viewers get a taste of a day in the life of the fun-seeking Johnson, whose exercise routine is more flirting with her personal trainer and sipping from her mimosa-filled water bottle than sit-ups and squats.

The designer also never misses her favorite meal: a daily dinner of branzino and a half bottle of white wine.

But Johnson's twitchy anxiety about her new gig takes center stage ahead of a big launch party for her Steve Madden brand.

'LIKE A REALLY BIG THERAPY SESSION'

"I've never had to answer to anyone else," Johnson admits before the party. "I never was controlled. What I'm most afraid of in terms of having people boss me is my pace; I'm very fast."

Never mind that Johnson is a hit at the party in a billowy, embellished gold lam gown because the series saves its drama for moments away from the boardroom and catwalk, when Johnson and Lulu butt heads as mother and daughter.

"I felt that I really unzipped my soul and kind of squeezed out every bit of who I am, and it was rather painful," Lulu said of the series. "It was like a really big therapy session."

And therapy sessions are what Johnson dislikes the most.

"It's like taking a shovel to cement to try and get this girl to talk about anything emotionally," Lulu said about her mother, even after a steady schedule of couples therapy.

"I don't like to talk about my feelings," Johnson said after one session on the show. "Sometimes Lulu is short with me and it hurts me ... Lulu really loves therapy, I just like to keep going like a race car. Vroom!"

Despite an appearance as playful and Pollyannaish as her designs, the show offers a peek into the dogged work ethic of a successful fashion designer who does not know how to stop.

"My work has driven my life," Johnson said. "I've gone through husbands and boyfriends and I can go through anything as long as I have my work."

In the end, Johnson said she found her therapy in an unexpected place: shooting the series over several months beginning last August.

"The filming was such a great, wonderful support system for me when I had kind of failed at the business," Johnson said. "I think I would have been really miserable if I didn't have the show because it kept me going and it kept me in the spotlight."

Style is part of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast Corp.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Vicki Allen)

"I really do feel that this team is just going to continue to improve through the year," the 2008 Formula One world champion said at a promotional media day for next month's British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

"Once we understand these tyres more, which we will eventually get to, then I think another win is definitely on the books," he told Sky Sports News television.

Mercedes won in Monaco with Germany's Nico Rosberg, who also secured the team's fourth successive pole position, while Hamilton finished fourth. The victory was Mercedes's first since China in April last year.

The victory was clouded, however, by the revelation that Mercedes had tested with Pirelli earlier in the month without telling other teams and seemingly in breach of the sporting regulations that ban teams from in-season testing.

After a protest by world champions Red Bull and Ferrari, the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) is now considering whether to send the matter to an international tribunal that could impose heavy sanctions.

Mercedes and Pirelli have both denied doing anything underhand or gaining any competitive advantage over rival teams from the Barcelona test.

"I think it's important that we just stay focused and don't be distracted by a lot of stuff that's around us," said Hamilton, who made his F1 debut in 2007 when McLaren were fined a record $100 million and excluded from the constructors' championship for a spying controversy involving Ferrari data.

"It's so easy to do that (be distracted), and especially for the drivers and the team when we are at the track," continued the Briton, who is in his first season with Mercedes after leaving McLaren.

"I think it's important we just keep our minds clear and just keep doing the job at hand." (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Clare Fallon)

Assad's comment on the arrival of the long-range S-300 air defense missiles in Syria, which was made in an interview with Lebanon's Hezbollah-owned TV station, could further ratchet up tensions in the region and undermine any efforts to hold any peace talks.

However, American officials said they have no evidence that the Assad regime has received a shipment of S-300s. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Israel's defense chief, Moshe Yaalon, said earlier this week that Russia's plan to supply Syria with the weapons was a threat and that Israel was prepared to use force to stop the delivery.

"Syria has received the first shipment of Russian anti-aircraft S-300 rockets," Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV quoted Assad as saying. The Syrian leader added: "All our agreements with Russia will be implemented and parts of them have already been implemented."

The station released Assad's comments on the Russian missiles in print, through its breaking news service Thursday morning. An official at Al-Manar confirmed to The Associated Press that the remarks were from the exclusive interview the TV was to air in full later Thursday.

The shipment of the missiles, if confirmed, comes just days after the European Union lifted an arms embargo on Syria, paving way for individual countries of the 27-member bloc to send weapons to rebels fighting to topple Assad's regime.

The developments raise fears of an arms race not just between Assad's forces and the opposition fighters battling to topple his regime, but also in the wider Middle East.

Israel has carried out several airstrikes in Syria in recent months that are believed to have destroyed weapon shipments bound for Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite group that along with Iran and Russia is a staunch Assad ally. It is not clear whether Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace in these attacks.

With the Russian missiles in Syria's possession, the Israeli air force's ability to strike inside the Arab country could be limited since the S-300s would expand Syria's capabilities, allowing it to counter airstrikes launched from foreign airspace as well.

The S-300s have a range of up to 200 kilometers (125 miles) and the capability to track and strike multiple targets simultaneously. Syria already possesses Russian-made air defenses, and Israel is believed to have used long-distance bombs fired from Israeli or Lebanese airspace.

When Israeli warplanes struck near the capital of Damascus, targeting purported Iranian missiles intended for Hezbollah earlier this month, Syria did not respond.

But on Wednesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told Lebanon's Al-Mayadeen TV that Damascus "will retaliate immediately" if Israel strikes Syrian soil again.

It was the regime's most serious warning to Israel since the beginning of the conflict in March 2011 but it was not clear if there was a link between al-Moallem's remark and the Russian shipment.

Israel had no immediate reaction on the Russian shipment but Silvan Shalom, a Cabinet minister from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party, told Israel Radio that the Jewish state will "take actions" to make sure advanced weapons don't reach rogue groups.

The air defense system could also make it harder for the international community to impose a no-fly zone to assist the Syrian rebels something it enforced in 2011 in Libya.

White House spokesman Jay Carney had said Wednesday that every option in Syria remains on the table, including that of a no-fly zone.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Washington's openness to a no-fly zone over Syria has raised doubts about the sincerity of U.S. support for a peace conference.

The ministry urged Washington to stick to its pledge to help broker a Syria peace conference together with Moscow. It cautioned the U.S. against a "bellicose agenda on Syria."

Meanwhile, the Syrian National Coalition's decision not to attend U.S.-Russian sponsored talks with representatives of the Assad regime torpedoes the only plan for trying to end Syria's two-year conflict that the international community had been able to agree on.

"The talk about the international conference and a political solution to the situation in Syria has no meaning in light of the massacres that are taking place," a spokesman for the Syrian National Coalition, Khalid Saleh, told reporters in Istanbul, where the opposition has been holding week-long deliberations on a strategy for the Geneva talks.

He said the group will not support any international peace efforts in light of Iran's and Hezbollah's "invasion" of Syria.

Saleh was referring to the increasingly prominent roles of Iran and the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group in backing Assad's forces on the ground.

"The National Coalition will not participate in an international conference and will not support any efforts in light of Iran's malicious invasion of Syria," he added.

The opposition's announcement came just a day after al-Moallem said the government would attend the planned peace conference in Geneva but laid out terms that made it difficult for the opposition to accept.

Al-Moallem said Assad will remain president at least until elections in 2014 and might seek another term, and that any deal reached in such talks would have to be put to a referendum.

Russian news agencies reported Thursday that U.S., Russian and U.N. diplomats will meet Wednesday in Geneva to discuss preparations for the Syria conference. The reports, citing an unnamed Russian Foreign Ministry official, were published before the coalition announced it would skip the talks.

The U.S. strategy has been to try to launch a dialogue between the regime and the opposition that would set a timetable for Assad's removal, said Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center. "That policy is now in tatters," he said.

In Syria, Assad's forces backed by Hezbollah fighters fought pockets of resistance in the strategic town of Qusair near the border with Lebanon. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the government controls most of Qusair following a fierce, 12-day battle with opposition forces.

Thursday's sporadic clashes came as government troops were mopping up in northern and western parts of Qusair, said the Observatory, which relies on information from a network of activists on the ground.

The Syrian army on Wednesday took control of nearby Dabaa air base, dealing a major blow to the rebels in Qusair, an overwhelmingly Sunni town in western part of the country that has been controlled by the opposition since early last year.

The government launched an offensive on Qusair on May 19 and Hezbollah militants joined the battle, drawing the Lebanese Shiite group deep into the civil war next door.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in the 26-month-old Syrian conflict that has had increasingly sectarian overtones. Members of Syria's Sunni Muslim majority dominate the rebel ranks and Assad's regime is mostly made up of Alawites, an offshoot sect of Shiite Islam.

Both sides in the conflict value Qusair, which lies along a land corridor linking two of Assad's strongholds, the capital Damascus and an area along the Mediterranean coast that is the Alawite heartland. For the rebels, holding the town means protecting their supply line to Lebanon, just 10 kilometers (six miles) away.

The Coalition on Thursday launched an urgent appeal for relief efforts to rescue what it said were over 1,000 wounded people in Qusair.

"It is not reasonable, it is not logical that people and civilians are getting killed minute by minute while the international community continues in a standstill," Saleh said, speaking to reporters in English.

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AP writers Albert Aji in Damascus and Karin Laub in Beirut contributed to this report.

CHICAGO (AP) -- Only six insurance carriers have told the state of Illinois they want to sell a combined 165 health policies on the state's online insurance marketplace under the nation's new health care law numbers far lower than expected, raising concerns the trend will hold true across the country.

Fewer health plans could mean less competition and possibly higher premium prices. Officials in President Barack Obama's home state had anticipated some 260 health plans would be offered by 16 different insurance carriers, based on a survey the Illinois Department of Insurance conducted last fall.

The Illinois numbers are an early indicator that insurance companies are backing away from full participation in the online marketplaces, said Robert Laszewski, a former insurance executive turned industry consultant.

"I'm hearing that from other carriers in other parts of the country as well," Laszewski said. "They are terribly fearful that if there's a poor launch (of the marketplaces) they're going to get blamed for a mess."

The carriers may participate in the marketplaces in their core customer states, bypassing other states in the first year, he said.

Insurers are concerned, in part, that people who have expensive medical conditions will sign up immediately for coverage through the exchanges, while healthier customers will wait. That could leave an insurer, at least initially, without enough premium revenue to handle the medical bills it receives. They're also concerned about how fees and coverage restrictions mandated by the law will affect the profitability of their plans.

But Gov. Pat Quinn expressed optimism in a statement released Wednesday, saying he's "very encouraged" multiple plans are being offered.

Mike Claffey, a Quinn spokesman on health care, said the prediction of higher numbers "included multiple subsidiaries of several different insurers" and plans "the federal government later ruled out for states not operating their own (marketplaces). The Department of Insurance is confident that the number of plans filed will allow for robust competition between insurers and broad choice for consumers across the State."

The national health law requires most Americans to have health insurance beginning Jan. 1. Many people who are now uninsured will buy health insurance through the government online marketplace because they'll be able to get tax credits to help pay for it. The online marketplaces one in every state are scheduled to be up and running by Oct. 1.

Fewer health plans on the exchanges could affect the cost of premiums people pay for coverage. Proponents of the Affordable Care Act say the online marketplaces will help hold down premium hikes because insurers will be competing against each other as customers compare several policies side by side to find the best match.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Aetna Inc. have told analysts that their involvement in the health insurance marketplaces across the country will depend on whether they're financially viable for the companies. On a conference call with investor analysts Tuesday, Aetna officials said they might pull their products from the online marketplaces at the last minute.

"We are entering these exchanges very carefully," Aetna Chairman and CEO Mark Bertolini told analysts Tuesday during a conference call to discuss earnings. UnitedHealth is the nation's largest health insurer, and Aetna is the third largest, based on enrollment.

In Illinois, one factor that could help competition on the health insurance marketplace is the nonprofit Land of Lincoln Health. The health law created a category of insurance carriers called Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans, or "co-ops." Land of Lincoln Health, the only co-op in Illinois to receive federal approval, received a $160 million federal loan to begin operations.

Dan Yunker, Land of Lincoln Health CEO, said Wednesday the organization hopes its premium prices will be the lowest on the marketplace. The company has submitted multiple health plans to the state.

Prices will be kept low, Yunker said, because consumers will govern the co-op, and "our executives are never going to take huge big paychecks."

While other carriers wouldn't say how many plans they submitted in Illinois, Chicago-based Health Care Service Corp. offered 35 plans to Illinois officials, said spokesman Greg Thompson. HCSC operates the Blue Cross Blue Shield health plan in Illinois.

"HCSC has filed its Qualified Health Plan (QHP) applications in each of the states in which it operates," Thompson said. "Our filings reflect our commitment to expanding access to care in our states and our intention to offer an array of competitively priced products and services to our existing and potential customers on and off the health insurance exchanges."

The 165 health plans submitted will be reviewed by the Illinois insurance department to see if they meet requirements set out in the national health law. The department will recommend whether or not the plan should be certified as a "qualified health plan" to federal Health and Human Services on or before July 31. The federal agency will make the final determination by Aug. 31.

"I am very encouraged that we have seen multiple plans being offered on the Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace," Quinn said in a statement. "This means that people and families that have been struggling to obtain health coverage will have many options to choose from when we begin the open enrollment process beginning in October of this year."

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AP Business Writer Tom Murphy contributed to this report from Indianapolis.

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AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/CarlaKJohnson

LONDON (Reuters) - Fashion media and analysts broadly welcomed Marks & Spencer'snew clothing strategy and a preview of autumn/winter fashion ranges, giving the firm's boss some respite from pressure over falling sales.

Britain's biggest clothing retailer said on Tuesday it would focus on better quality and styles in womenswear, deliver more compelling and clearer sub-brands, and make shopping easier in stores, as it tries to reverse nearly two years of declining sales.

On Wednesday, shares in the 129-year-old firm, up 20 percent over the past year after periodic bouts of bid speculation, rose up to 4 percent, hitting a five-year high of 438 pence.

However, bookmaker Ladbrokes still made Chief Executive Marc Bolland odds-on at 8/11 to have left his position by the end of the year.

"The changes outlined contained a variety of enhancements based on detailed customer feedback that even the bears will find hard to completely ignore," said analysts at N+1 Singer, arguing that investors should not underestimate the potential from the changes if they gained traction.

M&S will present the autumn/winter ranges to the bulk of Britain's fashion media on Wednesday and Thursday but some key fashion editors have already viewed the ranges and like them.

Lisa Armstrong of The Daily Telegraph called it "the most convincing effort I've seen for a long time," The Times' Laura Craik said "M&S is back in the game," and the Guardian's Jess Cartner-Morley said the collection "could be a high street game changer."

Liz Jones, the influential fashion columnist at the Daily Mail newspaper, had a sneak preview last week and said she was "pleasantly surprised", praising much improved quality.

UNDER PRESSURE

Bolland, CEO since May 2010, is under pressure from investors to revive M&S's clothing business, which has reported seven straight quarterly falls in underlying sales.

The autumn/winter ranges are widely seen as make-or-break for a new general merchandise team, assembled by Bolland and led by John Dixon, the former boss of M&S's food business, and Belinda Earl, the former CEO of Debenhamsand Jaeger.

Bolland has repeatedly said the new team will not make a major impact on sales until the ranges start hitting the shops in late July.

But on Tuesday, he cautioned the market not to expect too much too soon. "This is a step in the right direction. The one thing that we want to be very clear on is that it's a step by step approach," he said.

Independent retail analyst Nick Bubb remained skeptical, given M&S's recent history.

"We were disappointed about the dichotomy between Bolland's view that all major store revamp work will be completed this financial year and Dixon's evident frustration with the clutter and poor presentation standards of the stores," he said.

And while analysts at Credit Suisse said the strategy seemed mostly sensible, they questioned how reinvesting in quality would be paid for.

"As with last week's logistics presentation we are left thinking this may well be the right change in management and strategy, two, or more, years late," they said.

Next week Bolland will present M&S's 2012-13 results, with analysts on average forecasting a 7 percent fall in pretax profit to 658 million pounds ($1.0 billion), according to a poll on the company's website. That would be a second straight annual decline, although the dividend is expected to be maintained. ($1 = 0.6554 British pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)

Tyson, who recently toured his one-man autobiographical stage show, "Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth," will give voice to his cartoon character on the "Mike Tyson Mysteries" crime-solving series.

Tyson, 46, will be aided by a magical tattoo on his character's face and a foul-mouthed pigeon as a partner on the 15-minute show, Adult Swim said. Tyson in real life owns racing pigeons.

The network, which is known for its zany youth-oriented programs, did not say when the show would premiere.

Some plot lines include attempting to defeat a super computer at chess and why an author/werewolf cannot finish a novel, Adult Swim said.

Tyson, who became better known for his erratic behavior and 1992 rape conviction than for his skill in the ring, has seen his reputation rise following a cameo in the 2009 hit comedy "The Hangover."

Tyson retired from boxing in 2006 and began a second career in entertainment, including a 2011 television documentary series about his flock of racing pigeons.

Adult Swim is owned by Turner Broadcasting System Inc, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Philip Barbara)

PARIS (Reuters) - The recession-hit euro zone will fall further behind a generally improving United States and a rebounding Japan this year, the OECD said on Wednesday, cutting its global growth forecasts.

In its twice-yearly Economic Outlook, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development forecast the world economy would grow 3.1 percent this year before accelerating to 4 percent in 2014.

The estimates marked a slightly more pessimistic view after in November the Paris-based think tank forecast global growth of 3.4 percent this year and 4.2 percent next year.

The United States was seen driving global growth with the world's biggest economy projected to expand 1.9 percent this year and then accelerating to 2.8 percent in 2014, which would be the country's best rate since 2005.

In contrast, the euro zone was estimated to remain in recession for a second year. The OECD sees its economy contracting 0.6 percent in 2013 and then returning to growth next year with a rate of 1.1 percent.

However, the outlook diverged widely within the 17-nation bloc with regional powerhouse Germany seen achieving growth of 0.4 percent and rebounding to a rate of 1.9 percent in 2014.

After years of debt crisis testing the euro zone's capacity to hold together, OECD chief economist Pier Paolo Padoan said that risks to the economic outlook have finally begun to recede.

However, he warned that the easing in the euro zone's debt crisis may lead to reform fatigue.

"As far as Europe is considered, we are concerned that complacency could set in," Padoan told Reuters. "That is a new risk that is coming up in Europe."

Unlike the United States in the 2008-09 financial crisis, the euro zone still needed to tackle problems in its financial sector holding back the flow of credit, he said.

CENTRAL BANK STIMULUS

Lifting its estimate for Japan, the OECD said that the central bank's pledge to ramp up its monetary stimulus aggressively would help its economy grow 1.6 percent this year.

The OECD took a more pessimistic view on China, forecasting that its economy would grow 7.8 percent this year, down from a previous estimate of 8.5 percent.

With economies in most countries still in recovery mode, the OECD said central banks should keep monetary policies easy while the European Central Bank should even dramatically step up its efforts to get credit flowing to the economy.

The OECD called on the ECB to make banks pay for holding deposits with it and urged it to buy assets such as securitized loans from credit-starved small and medium-sized firms, two options ECB policymakers say they are currently considering.

In the case of the U.S. Federal Reserve, the OECD said it may soon be justified to begin curbing its purchases of government bonds and mortgage-backed securities

However, it warned that a slower pace of purchases would have to be carefully flagged to markets in order to avoid an abrupt sell-off by other investors that might cause yields to spike dangerously higher.

The OECD not only gave its blessing to the Bank of Japan's dramatic increase in monetary surplus but said further moves could be used to boost the economy.

It noted improvement in Britain's pace of fiscal consolidation in both 2013 and 2014, but repeated the concern mentioned by the International Monetary Fund last week that a Help to Buy program might end up pushing house prices up.

(This story has been refild to fix a date typo in the penultimate paragraph)

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An influential senator expressed strong concerns on Friday about Japanese company SoftBank Corp'splan to buy 70 percent of Sprint Nextel , warning it could expose the United States to Chinese cyber attacks.

"I have real concerns that this deal, if approved, could make American industry and government agencies far more susceptible to cyber attacks from China and the People's Liberation Army," Senator Charles Schumer of New York said in a statement.

"We must proceed with extreme caution before allowing something as vital as our communications and Internet infrastructure from falling into the hands of a foreign company with reported ties to China," said Schumer, the third-ranking Senate Democrat.

Schumer elaborated on his concerns in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and acting Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn.

SoftBank owns nearly a third of the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba and uses equipment manufactured by Chinese telecommunications companies Huawei and ZTE.

Both the FCC and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an interagency panel chaired by the U.S. Treasury, have to sign off on the proposed deal, which U.S.-based Dish Network Corphas been trying to stop because it wants to buy Sprint.

Dish ramped up a public relations offensive in Washington this week against SoftBank, meeting with staffers on Capitol Hill and taking out full-page ads in Washington newspapers.

The satellite company has been trying to draw parallels to the 2006 Dubai Ports World controversy, when a political storm disrupted a deal by the United Arab Emirates company to buy several U.S. ports even after it was approved by national security reviewers.

Schumer was also involved in bringing attention to that deal.

Matt House, a spokesman for Schumer, confirmed the senator had discussed the issue with Jessica Straus, his former campaign finance director who now works for Dish as its government relations manager.

But Schumer decided he had concerns about the SoftBank-Sprint deal before his conversation with Straus, House said.

'SIDESHOW'

Questions about Straus' ties to Schumer are "a sideshow that fails to address the serious national security concerns raised by a SoftBank-Sprint deal that have been recognized by a chorus of leaders on both sides of the aisle," Dish spokesman Bob Toevs said.

SoftBank bid $20.1 billion last October for a 70 percent stake in Sprint. Dish countered with its own $25.5 billion offer in April and quickly launched an offensive to undermine SoftBank's standing with regulators and the public.

In his letter to Lew and Clyburn, Schumer said the SoftBank-Sprint deal raised national security concerns because Sprint, together with its affiliate Clearwire Corp , controlled more broadband spectrum than any other company.

As part of the deal, SoftBank has promised to remove Huawei equipment from Clearwire's systems.

"Unlike Dish, SoftBank has publicly committed to removing equipment already located inside a U.S. network that the government has national security concerns about. SoftBank's proposal therefore, enhances U.S. national security," said Jim Barron, managing director of Sard Verbinnen & Co in New York, a public relations firm working for SoftBank.

"Dish has made no such commitment to remove this network equipment and to do so would require Dish to further increase the amount of debt it will need to complete any transaction," Barron said.

While Dish has not committed to removing Clearwire's Huawei equipment if it buys Sprint, Toevs, the Dish spokesman, pointed to a Dish statement on Thursday saying the satellite company was "committed to working with the appropriate agencies to meet national security goals."

(Reporting by Doug Palmer in Washington and Liana Baker in New York; Additional reporting by Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by Jackie Frank and Peter Cooney)