Jackson, who has been a judge on the show since its start in 2002, made the announcement amid falling ratings and rampant rumors about the future makeup of the celebrity panel.

"Yo! Yo! Yo! To put all of the speculation to the rest, after 12 years of judging on American Idol I have decided it is time to leave after this season," Jackson told entertainment news outlet E! News.

"I am very proud of how we forever changed television and the music industry. It's been a life changing opportunity but I am looking forward to focusing on my company Dream Merchant 21 and other business ventures," the record producer said.

Entertainment website TheWrap.com reported this week that producers were considering a major shake-up of the panel after the end of the season on May 16.

Citing unidentified sources, TheWrap said singers Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and country artist Keith Urban, who were brought in this year in a bid to refresh the show, would all be replaced as judges for the 2014 season.

Fox television declined to comment on the report.

Ratings have slumped this season for "American Idol," which last year lost its eight-year crown as the most-watched show on U.S. television.

Fox is a unit of NewsCorp.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Xavier Briand)

The jury must consider whether the cruelty, brutality, and depravity of her attack on Mr. Alexander deserves a sentence of death, a finding that would make Ms. Arias the fourth woman to be awaiting execution on Arizonas death row. (The state has not executed a woman since Eva Dugan, a cabaret dancer, was hanged in 1930.) Against that possibility, jurors will weigh potential mitigating circumstances, such as Arias's allegations of abuse, which she outlined at length during the trial.

Largely because of an unedited video stream from the Arizona courthouse, incessantchatter, and cable news coverage about the case, the Arias trial took on the air of a celebrity procedural, with enough characters, drama, gore, betrayal, and lies to compete as a daytime soap opera for millions of Americans. The sentencing phase could take weeks.

Thejury will deliberate against a backdrop of evolving societal views about female murderers. On one hand is a somewhat chivalrous sense that women are not capable of brutality at the same level as men and resort to it under extenuating circumstances such as sexual abuse that Arias claimed at the hand of her victim. On the other is a sense that women can indeed be cold-blooded killers who are every bit as deserving of execution as male murderers.

James Acker, a criminal justice professor at the , describes the competing theories" this way. One is that "this is about chivalry, where were all bending over backward to make sure no women, or members of the fairer sex, are treated this way, versus the less-sexist notion that women ... who do [commit capital murder] somehow tend to lose their identity as female and become a demonic killer that overwhelms the definition of a woman that to dispatch someone to execution you almost have to relegate them [to being] outside the human family." Still, he adds, "its more difficult to do that with a woman than a man.

The Arias case alone probably wont provide much of a guidepost to the direction of sentiment in theregarding executing women. But the sentencing phase comes at a peculiar time in the annals of death row chiefly that the share of women murderers entering death row has stayed constant even as the percentage of men sentenced to die has noticeably dropped.

From 1973 to 1999, the percentage of women murderers receiving death sentences sank to historic lows, but the rate since 2001 has rebounded to the historical average, says Victor Streib, a retiredlaw professor who published a periodic report about women on death rows in the US. Meanwhile, the rate at which men are being sentenced to death has notably decreased. The result: The percentage of female death sentences has jumped from 2 percent of the total, on average, to 6 percent, a peak, in 2011.

Even so, women killers remain underrepresented on death row. Women commit 10 percent of murders in the US, but they are 2 percent of people on death row. The list of convicted female killers sentenced to death since the late 1970s, when theended a capital-punishment moratorium, is fairly short: 178 women have been sentenced to death and 12 have actually been executed.

Women in America are increasingly in trouble with the law. Their arrest rates are up 5 percent since 2000, according tostatistics. Arrest rates for men have remained flat during that time.

Death penalty experts, however, dont correlate such statistics with a broader movement by US courts to end so-called positive discrimination regarding women suspects and convicts, such as a more lenient sentence than men receive for committing a similar crime. As the US Supreme Court wrote in the 1984 case ofv. Hogan, which found that a single-sex admissions policy violated the s equal protection clause: if the statutory objective is to exclude or protect members of one gender because they are presumed to suffer from an inherent handicap or to be innately inferior, the objective itself is illegitimate.

Still, Arias's lawyers had their reasons for putting their client on the stand for 18 days of testimony. One, Mr. Streib says, is to get the jury to see [her] as a human being, so they dont think theyre killing a monster or a faceless animal, but someone theyve actually gotten to know. In part of that testimony, Arias described Alexander as an abusive sexual deviant, but offered no proof.

One of the lines in the [1996 movie Last Dance] was where a defense attorney said, Now that women get rights and are treated equally, they can expect to get more death sentences the idea being that if these women want to be treated equally, by golly, well treat them equally, Streib continues.

He points out that the movie script was not particularly prescient. Instead, Streib says, My conclusion is that, for prosecutors, sentencing a woman to death is still like hitting a girl on a playground. In other words, hes not a tough guy for getting a death conviction, but a guy who hits girls.

But the sexual aspects of the trial including the playing of a taped raunchy phone conversation between Arias and the victim may undermine any sympathy for Arias among the jurors, Patricia Pearson, author of When She Was Bad: How and Why Women Get Away with Murder, writes in an e-mail to the Monitor.

She notes that women who commit "sexual murder" often do not fare well in sentencing. The sexual component to Arias' story," Ms. Pearson says, "makes her a more likely candidate for the death penalty, in terms of what kind of woman still gets that ultimate sentence.

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James received 120 first-place votes from the panel of 121 sports writers and broadcasters selected to choose the award. Oklahoma's Kevin Durant finished second overall and the New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony, who received the other first-place vote, placed third.

It was the fourth time in five years that the 28-year-old James had won the game's most prestigious individual award, elevating him among the sport's greatest players.

"When people ask me, I tell them I just try to be the best player on the court every night I step on the floor," James said.

Only four other players - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain - have won the trophy at least four times.

Abdul-Jabbar holds the record for six MVP wins, one ahead of Jordan and Russell and two in front of Chamberlain and now James.

James, who twice won the award with the Cleveland Cavaliers before moving to Miami, averaged 26.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 7.3 assists during the 2012-13 regular season, where the Heat finished with the best record in the NBA.

James was the only player in the NBA to lead his team in all three categories during the season.

He shot a career-high from the field (.565) and from three-point range (.406). He produced a record streak of six straight games with at least 30 points and a .600-or-better field goal percentage.

He received his award at a special presentation on Sunday, attended by his team mates, family and friends, and broadcast live on national television.

In an emotional and heartfelt acceptance speech, James extended his thanks to everyone who had supported him both as a person and as a player.

He turned to his team mates, who were wearing shorts and t-shirts, and said they deserved the award as much as he did,

"Nothing I receive individually is possible without those 14 guys, and the sacrifices they make," he said.

"This really doesn't mean much to me. I'm humbled and I'm happy about it but I wish it was 15 of these up here because what a great group of guys that allows me to be the MVP."

(Reporting by Julian Linden in New York; Editing by Gene Cherry)

That's what officials at an upstate New York college are asking after the men's crew team found the unusual object floating in the Hudson River.

Officials at Marist College in Poughkeepsie say the team was practicing earlier this week when the coach spotted a large object floating near the river's west bank. He hooked a rope to it and towed it to the team's dock on the east bank.

The object turned out to be a 7-foot-tall replica of a man's head made with Styrofoam and fiberglass. The head has the appearance of a Greek or Roman-style statue.

College officials believe it's a theater prop, but so far no one has come forward to claim the giant head.

"I am going there to see my son and bury my older one," Anzor Tsarnaev said in an emotional meeting with journalists. "I have no bad thoughts, I'm not planning any bombings, I don't want to do anything. I'm not offended by anyone. I want to know the truth, what happened. I want to work it out."

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a gun battle with police, while his 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, remains hospitalized with gunshot wounds.

Their parents returned last year to Dagestan, one of several predominantly Muslim provinces in southern Russia, where the family lived briefly before moving to the U.S. a decade ago.

The elder suspect spent the first half of 2012 in Russia's Caucasus, which has been ravaged for years by an insurgency led by religious extremists. Anzor Tsarnaev said his son stayed with him for at least three months in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, and spent one month with relatives, but he was unclear on where his son was for the remaining time.

U.S. investigators have been trying to determine whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev was radicalized during his stay in the Caucasus, where he regularly prayed at a Makhachkala mosque.

A team of investigators from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow has questioned both parents in Makhachkala this week, spending many hours with the mother in particular over the course of two days. Tsarnaev said the questions were mostly about their sons' activities and interests.

The father, who wore dark aviator sunglasses during Thursday's news conference, said he was leaving "today or tomorrow" for the United States. But the family later said his travel may be delayed because he was not feeling well.

The suspects' mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, who was charged with shoplifting in the U.S. last summer, said she has been assured by lawyers that she would not be arrested, but said she was still deciding whether to go.

Tsarnaeva, wearing a headscarf and dressed all in black, said she now regrets moving her family to the U.S. and believes they would have been better off in a village in her native Dagestan.

"You know, my kids would be with us, and we would be, like, fine," she said. "So, yes, I would prefer not to live in America now! Why did I even go there? Why? I thought America is going to, like, protect us, our kids, it's going to be safe."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the Boston bombings should spur stronger security cooperation between Moscow and Washington, adding that they also show that the West was wrong in supporting militants in Chechnya.

"This tragedy should push us closer in fending off common threats, including terrorism, which is one of the biggest and most dangerous of them all," Putin said during his annual call-in show on state television.

The Russian government contacted first the FBI and then the CIA in 2011 with concerns about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, U.S. officials said. The FBI said it had asked for more information from Russia, but none was provided.

Putin said Thursday that the Russian special services had no information to give because the Tsarnaevs had spent so little time in Russia.

Putin warned against trying to find the roots for the Boston tragedy in the suffering endured by the Chechen people, particularly in mass deportations of Chechens to Siberia and Central Asia on Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's orders. "The cause isn't in their ethnicity or religion, it's in their extremist sentiments," he said.

The suspects are ethnic Chechens and their father's family was deported to Central Asia in the 1940s. The Tsarnaev family moved back to Chechnya in the early 1990s, but soon fled back to Kyrgyzstan after fighting broke out between Chechen separatists and Russian troops, whose bombs and artillery pummeled Chechen cities and town.

Putin criticized the West for refusing to declare Chechen militants terrorists and for offering them political and financial assistance in the past.

"I always felt indignation when our Western partners and Western media were referring to terrorists who conducted brutal and bloody crimes on the territory of Russia as rebels," Putin said.

The U.S. urged the Kremlin to seek a political settlement in Chechnya and criticized rights abuses by Russian troops during the two separatist wars. It also provided humanitarian aid to the region during the fighting in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Russian officials have claimed that rebels in Chechnya have close links with al-Qaida.

Putin said the West should have cooperated more actively with Russia in combatting terror.

"We always have said that we shouldn't limit ourselves to declarations about terrorism being a common threat and engage in closer cooperation," he said. "Now these two criminals have proven the correctness of our thesis."

___

AP writers Vladimir Isachenkov and Lynn Berry in Moscow contributed to this report.

"Gangnam Style", which holds the YouTube record for most views ever with more than 1.5 billion, made the corpulent Korean a global star and one of the best-known faces to come out of the growing K-pop music scene.

The video to "Gentleman" racked up more than 20 million hits in the first 24 hours after its release on Saturday night. That easily outstripped the 8 million views for Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" in its first 24 hours.

"51 million views in 40 hours!!My God!!" Psy tweeted on Monday.

The song was also climbing music charts around the world, hitting 8th in Britain and 7th in Australia, according to the Apple store's iTunes ranking, and holding top place in most of Scandinavia. It ranked 21st for songs overall, compared with 90th place on Saturday before the video was released.

"He is good. I love his energy," one woman commented on YouTube. Others said the video was hilarious and the sunglass-wearing 35-year-old's dancing "smooth."

Some were less complimentary, with a few saying the video was arrogant and "too sexual". It shows Psy playing tricks on women such as splashing coffee in their faces and untying a bikini top.

"Meh. 'Gangnam Style' was better," one woman wrote.

"Gangnam Style" racked up digital sales of 3.59 million units in the United States and Canada last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen BDS, 9th in the best-selling list. It was third on Amazon's MP3 song bestseller list for 2012.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Paul Tait)

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- The lower house of Mexico's congress voted Tuesday to loosen longstanding restrictions on foreigners buying property along the coast and the nation's borders, a proposal that drew stiff criticism from some quarters.

The measure, which passed 356-119 in the Chamber of Deputies, still needs approval from the Senate and a majority of the country's 32 state legislatures to become law.

For decades, foreigners have had to use real-estate trusts or Mexican front companies to buy beachfront properties, because Article 27 of the constitution prohibits non-Mexicans from directly owning land within 31 miles (50 kilometers) of the coast and 62 miles (100 kilometers) of the nation's borders. The trusts and front companies have provided a lucrative income for banks, lawyers and notaries who are required to operate them, and the extensive paperwork has discouraged many foreigners from buying.

The change, sponsored by Congressman Manlio Fabio Beltrones of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, would allow foreigners to directly buy ocean-front property for residential use, but not for commercial projects.

Such proposals have been made before, but not by figures as influential as Beltrones, the PRI's congressional leader.

"This is about eliminating the middlemen who, through trusts, corporations and front men, have made a living off the constitutional ban," Beltrones' office said when he submitted the bill earlier this month. "It is a question of encouraging tourism investment and creating local jobs."

The Union of Indians and the Farmers' Force, a farmworkers group, criticized the proposal Tuesday, saying it would "give free rein to foreigners to legally buy up the best land, and encourage robbery and financial and real estate speculation."

"This would result in the foreign colonization of the country," the groups said in a statement.

Those are strong sentiments in a country frequently invaded by foreign powers in the 19th and early 20th century. Mexico set up the restrictions to ensure national security and avoid the creation of foreign enclaves like the one that grew up in a former Mexican province known as Texas, where the foreigners eventually rebelled and split from Mexico.

"For historical reasons, it was considered risky to allow foreigners to establish themselves permanently on the coast and the borders," according to Beltrones' proposal, but it says "the conditions that led the Constitution to limit such purchases have been overcome."

Arguing for the change Tuesday, Beltrones said, "Apart from ensuring legal certainty over property rights, this would financially benefit the coastal town government, given that it would make tax payments, like property taxes, easier to collect."

Kevin Graham, a Texan who runs the Costa Maya Living real estate firm in the Caribbean beach town of Mahahual, said some potential buyers are put off by the prospect of not being able to hold direct title to beach properties.

"I feel, with all the doubts they have, it's slowed the market down for foreign investment here," he said.

Federico Estevez, a political science professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico, also cited the benefits to foreign investment by simplifying ownership for foreigners.

"This is to bring the law up to date, because basically it's going on anyway, but with all these foul distortions of having to pay people off," he said.

Noting that Mexico has been seeking more foreign investors, Estevez added: "You want their money, keep them here."

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A bevy of beefy linemen are expected to command the spotlight usually reserved for quarterbacks when the National Football League (NFL) Draft kicks off with first-round selections on Thursday.

At the annual NFL Draft, the cornerstone of building winning teams in the enormously popular professional league, the last four No. 1 picks, and 12 of the last 15, have been quarterbacks.

Names that resonate with NFL fans such as Peyton Manning (1998), his brother Eli (2004), and last year's one-two punch of Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, have underlined the crucial role a top-flight quarterback means to a winning team.

But a less than inspiring crop of college quarterbacks this year has suddenly thrust the men who play in the trenches into the spotlight.

Offensive tackles Luke Joeckel of Texas A&M and Eric Fisher of Central Michigan are most often mentioned by pundits as the likely choice of the Kansas City Chiefs, who own the first pick after having the NFL's worst record (2-14) last season.

"It just so happens that this year it's not a sexy draft in terms of a lot of offensive skilled players that are evaluated as first-rounders," former NFL coach and NFL Network analyst Steve Mariucci told Reuters on Wednesday.

"Maybe one running back, maybe two receivers, maybe one or two quarterbacks, maybe one tight end. Usually there's more than that. There's more big guys, offensive linemen, defensive linemen, who are the cream of the crop this year."

SEVEN ROUNDS

The NFL's 32 teams pick in order from worst to first with ties broken by strength of schedule as clubs balance positional needs with the opportunity to take the best available player.

Following the Chiefs are the Jacksonville Jaguars, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns and all the way down to the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, with the 32nd pick of the first round.

There are seven rounds of the draft, which will be held at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. Rounds two and three will be on Friday and rounds four through seven on Saturday.

At least eight players from beyond the borders of the United States may be selected in the draft, including several who are likely to be chosen in the first round.

Top defensive end prospect Bjoern Werner, a native of Berlin, Germany, played football for the first time at age 15, but went on to become an All-America selection at Florida State.

After a brief basketball career at Marist College in New York, tackle Menelik Watson, a native of Manchester, England, tried football for the first time at Saddleback Junior College in California and also won football honors at Florida State.

Defensive end Ziggy Ansah, a Ghana native, was a walk on at Brigham Young and is now projected as a first-round pick.

ROSTER CONCERNS

While an offensive tackle lacks the star appeal of a quarterback, running back or receiver, left tackle is considered a key position as he protects against a pass rush from the 'blind side' of a right-handed quarterback.

Joeckel and Fisher make no bones about vying for the distinction and rewards of being picked No. 1.

"This is a competition," said Joeckel, after participating in a youth football program on Wednesday. "Football is always about competition and every one of the guys here ... are all working toward getting that number one pick."

Said Fisher: "Number one pick is a huge honor. I want to get drafted as high as possible. I've done all I can do. The hay's in the barn and we'll see what happens."

Mariucci said teams with specific needs will be tempted to trade up address roster concerns.

"It's a big man's draft for the most part but the interesting thing will be to see how many teams move up in the first round and grab that young quarterback to compete for the starting job or for depth," said Mariucci, who coached the San Francisco 49ers for six seasons and the Lions for three.

"I'm guessing we're going to see some trades. Move up and get the defensive lineman, move up to go get that running back, move up go get that tight end."

Quarterbacks available include Geno Smith of West Virginia, Ryan Nassib of Syracuse, E.J. Manuel of Florida State, Tyler Wilson of Arkansas and Matt Barkley of USC.

Smith said he was prepared for anything on draft night, even having to endure a long wait in the green room before hearing his name called.

"One of the best sat in that green room - Aaron Rodgers," Smith said of the Green Bay Packers' Super Bowl-winning quarterback who was taken 24th overall in 2005.

"Tom Brady wasn't even invited to the green room, so it's not that big of a deal."

(Editing by Frank Pingue)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - NBA scoring champion Carmelo Anthony led with 36 points but veterans Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin helped spark the New York Knicks to an 85-78 win over the Boston Celtics in Saturday's postseason opener.

Kidd, 40, and Martin, 35, former team mates on the old New Jersey Nets, made big rebounds, big steals and clutch plays as the second-seeded Knicks took a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series at Madison Square Garden.

Point guard Kidd made three steals and flung himself to the floor to recover a loose ball late in the fourth quarter to spur the Knicks' charge to victory.

He scored eight points, doled out three assists and hauled down five rebounds, playing more than 35 minutes.

Knicks coach Mike Woodson was not surprised by Kidd's inspirational effort.

"Jason been doing this all season," the Knicks coach said. "Loose balls, strips, keeping balls alive - he just seems to be in the right place at the right time."

Boston coach Doc Rivers could only shake his head in admiration at Kidd, who helped the Dallas Mavericks win the NBA crown two years ago.

"He's just great," said Rivers. "I love watching him. I didn't like watching him today.

"He knows how to play. He says it all the time, 'I'm 40 years old and half the league is faster ... I tell him, not half, 90 percent of the league is quicker and faster.

"He beats everyone with his brain. He beats them into the ground with his brain.

"If you think quicker than a guy can move, you're still quicker. That's why he's there first, because he thought what the guy was going to do before he did it."

Martin, who signed towards the end of the season to return to the NBA wars with the Knicks, supplied rugged defense and a presence down low to pick up the slack for center Tyson Chandler, who is struggling with a bulging disc in his neck.

He played more than 28 minutes, clearing nine rebounds and scoring 10 points, two coming after snaring a bullet pass from Anthony and laying it up and in late in the game.

"It felt like old times," Martin, who is aiming to win his first NBA title, said about teaming up again with Kidd.

"For us to be back here again, I couldn't write it any better, couldn't script it."

(Editing by Ian Ransom)

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A lawyer for an Oklahoma oral surgeon accused of using improper sterilization procedures and rusty surgical tools that may have exposed patients to HIV and hepatitis said on Wednesday his client had an impeccable record and provided dedicated care.

The attorney for Dr. Scott Harrington did not address the specific allegations of improper care that have been lodged by state regulators. Instead, Tulsa lawyer James Secrest II issued a statement that defended Harrington's professional history.

"For almost 35 years, Dr. Harrington has provided Oklahomans with dedicated oral surgical care," the statement said. "His previous record with the dental board is impeccable."

It continued: "He is taking the recent allegations very seriously and is fully cooperating with the Oklahoma Dental Board. At this time, out of respect for his patients and the sensitivity of the issues, Dr. Harrington will make no further comment on this matter."

Health authorities are contacting 7,000 of Harrington's patients by mail to recommend they have their blood drawn so it can be screened for hepatitis and HIV.

More than 1,200 patients have been tested since Saturday. Results should be available in about two weeks, health officials said.

In addition to a home in the Tulsa area, property records show that Harrington owns a 2,504-square-foot home in Arizona, tucked into the desert landscape near a posh resort in Carefree, Arizona.

A man who was at that Arizona property on Wednesday was asked by Reuters to respond to the Oklahoma allegations.

"I appreciate the opportunity, but I have no comment at this time," he said. He declined any additional comment, saying, "You are not authorized to be on this property."

Harrington is scheduled to appear April 19 at a hearing of the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry, which could revoke his license to practice. The board has filed 17 administrative complaints alleging Harrington provided unsafe care that may have exposed his patients to infectious diseases.

Harrington, 64, voluntarily surrendered his license after his offices were visited by investigators, who believe one of Harrington's patients contracted hepatitis at his office.

(Additional reporting by David Schwartz in Arizona; Editing by Corrie MacLaggan, Cynthia Johnston and Lisa Shumaker)