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The biggest issue appears to bedesire to shutterIsrael-base research and development center and transfer several key Waze employees to Facebooks U.S. headquarters. ,Waze CEO Noam Bardin and companyfounders Ehud Shabtai, Uri Levine and Amir Shinarinsist that the firms main R&D center should remain operational and they want to keep all of their employees in Israel.

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Talks surrounding the issue have reportedly been going on for weeks, but no agreement has been reached at this point.

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LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Robert Downey Jr. may be striking a blow for good old-fashioned star power as he prepares to square off against Disney and Marvel over his slice of the pie on "The Avengers 2" and "Iron Man 4."

If the two sides don't reach a new contract agreement it could rob the studio of the charismatic center of its two highest grossing superhero franchises, potentially jeopardizing Disney and Marvel's plans to continue expanding its comic-book universe beyond Tony Stark and Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

Disney will continue making Iron Man movies with or without Downey's participation, but box office analysts agree that they are unlikely to achieve the same record-breaking numbers without his name above the title. That makes him the rare star who can essentially hold a studio hostage to his whims and salary demands.

"In today's age of moviemaking, concept is king, but there are a few performers who are an exception to that and Robert Downey Jr. is on the top of that list," Jeff Bock, a box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations, told TheWrap. "Iron Man is a costume and a man in costume can be replaced, but that said, the franchise without him won't achieve these kind of heights. I guarantee that."

In an interesting twist, a Deadline report Tuesday claiming that Downey and Marvel may be far apart on finding a figure hit just as Disney Chairman Bob Iger was bouyantly discussing the company's bright future on a conference call with investors. According to that report, Downey has already netted about $35 million from "Iron Man 3," based on its huge global opening, and has pocketed $50 million for the last "Avengers" hit.

"The Avengers franchise is certainly strong today but we have a lot more to come," Iger enthused, evidently before checking the account of the salary standoff.

Spokespeople for Downey and Marvel declined to comment, but an individual with knowledge of the talks confirmed to TheWrap that no deal is in place for Downey to reprise his Iron Man role in future films. Even without a deal for Downey in place, Disney plans to release "The Avengers 2" in 2015.

It's ironic that this display of the residual power of an A-list star centers on a comic book film. After all, the glut of superhero films cropping up in movie theaters these days have taken a toll on the Hollywood star system. Gone are the back-end deals that once elevated Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts to mega-rich status. In fact, none of those actors has the kind of greenlight power they did a decade ago and few new movie stars have cropped up to replace them.

In place of romantic comedies or action movies, the comic book movie is king. When it comes to these big screen adaptations of fanboy favorites, who really cares if the vigilante behind the mask is played by Chris Evans, Andrew Garfield or Tobey Maguire, to name just a few of the fresh-faced hunks who routinely populate tentpole films?

Marvel bloodlessly kicked Terrence Howard to the curb when he demanded salary increases, replacing him with Don Cheadle with no perceptible damage to "Iron Man 2" or "Iron Man 3"s' box office. Likewise, Garfield subbed in for Maguire in a rebooted "Spider-Man" last year, and though the "The Amazing Spider-Man" made roughly $130 million less than "Spider-Man 3," it performed well enough to justify another sequel.

From Bourne to Batman to Bond, studios have proved indefatigable in their attempts to reboot popular franchises even after original stars hang up the cape, the cowl or the Walther PPK. So it's no surprise that those are the models that Marvel President of Production Kevin Feige has cited when asked if Iron Man can endure if Downey leaves.

"I hope Downey makes a lot of movies for us as Stark. If and when he doesn't, and I'm still here making these movies, we don't take him to Afghanistan and have him wounded again," Feige told Badass Digest. "I think we James Bond it."

Yet the same principle may not apply in the case of Downey. His characterization of Stark as a wiseacre billionaire playboy has become indispensable to the franchise. It's a portrayal so rich, so idiosyncratic and so tied to Downey's well-publicized struggles to overcome his addictions and emerge as a major star that it is nearly impossible to imagine another actor stepping into Iron Man's suit.

The only other example of a movie star with similar power over the fate of a multi-billion franchise is Johnny Depp. Without his fey, mincing, perpetually soused Capt. Jack Sparrow, it's doubtful Disney would be launching a fifth "Pirates of the Caribbean" film.

The leverage in this case would seem to be with Downey, giving him the power to demand and exact not only a richer deal for himself, but sweeter contracts for his fellow "Avengers" stars.

So will he walk?

To say that Downey is in the driver's seat is not to imply that he has nothing to lose beyond profit-participation. Iron Man and, to a lesser extent, Sherlock Holmes are what make him in demand by studios. If he wants to fund riskier passion projects and return to the kind of envelope-pushing roles that defined his earlier and less commercially successful period as "The Greatest Actor of his Generation," the promise of future sequels can insure those movies get made and seen.

Doing one for them and one for you gets a lot harder when you don't honor your end of the bargain.

The Reds shrugged off the absence of injured captain James Horwill and a disappointing draw to the lowly Western Force a week ago, notching up four tries and a bonus point six minutes before halftime at Lang Park.

Winger Rod Davies scored a brace of tries, with the Faingaa twins, hooker Saia and inside centre Anthony, scoring one each for the 2011 champion Reds.

The shell-shocked Sharks restored some pride with second-half tries for winger Piet Lindeque and replacement flanker Derick Minnie, but the Reds coasted home to give outgoing coach Ewen McKenzie his first win over the Durban-based South Africans.

The five-point victory also ensured the Reds kept the heat on the rival ACT Brumbies who lead the Australian conference in the southern hemisphere competition with seven rounds left before the playoffs.

"Very happy, we spoke all week a bit more about playing a bit more expansive rugby, a bit more creative rugby," scrumhalf and stand-in skipper Will Genia said in a pitchside interview.

"We weren't too disciplined in our structures in the second half... All credit to them for forcing their way back into the game."

Reds flyhalf Quade Cooper boosted his chances of selection in the Wallabies squad for the upcoming tour against the British and Irish Lions, booting three conversions and two penalty goals and having a hand in all of the Reds' tries.

The New Zealand-born pivot set up Saia Faingaa for the Reds' first try in the sixth minute and was the first link in a magical second to Davies 10 minutes later.

Starting behind the Reds try-line, Cooper ran the ball out of defence rather than booting it to safety, setting up a blistering run down the left wing by centre Chris Feauai-Sautia.

Feauai-Sautia gave the ball off to livewire winger Digby Ioane, who cut back inside and sent it to Genia.

Rather than risk passing the ball forward to Davies, who was streaming down the right wing, the pint-sized scrumhalf grubbed a kick along the ground that bounced up perfectly for the winger to gather and carry across the line.

Cooper then set up Anthony Faingaa for the Reds' third try five minutes later, dispatching a flat pass to put the inside centre over at the left corner.

The Reds had their fourth try and a bonus point six minutes before the break with Cooper dribbling a kick behind the Sharks' 22-metre line, and Davies enjoying the spoils of a ruthless clean-out by his team mates.

The bamboozled Sharks headed for the sheds trailing 29-3, but emerged a different side after halftime.

They had their first try within five minutes of the break when flyhalf Patrick Lambie fed Lindeque at the right corner.

Minnie gave the Sharks faint hope of snatching victory when he sneaked away from a line-out drive to cross for his team's second try, trimming the lead to 12 with 14 minutes left.

Cooper, however, calmly slotted home his second penalty kick to release the pressure in the 73rd minute, allowing his team to coast to a confidence-building win ahead of their tough road trip to South Africa.

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In early 2012, a number of groups affiliated with the Tea Party complained that the IRS was requesting an enormous amount of detailed information as it considered their tax exempt status. In February of that year, .

"Some of what they (the IRS) asked was reasonable, but there were some requests on there that were strange," Toby Marie Walker, president of the Waco Tea Party told FoxNews.com. "It makes you wonder if they do this to groups like ACORN or other left-leaning groups.”

Apparently not. During a conference earlier today, Lois Lerner, the IRS staffer in charge of non-profit designations, apologized for the unusual request, . Lerner said that "low-level workers" in Cincinnati began additional reviews of organizations that included "tea party" or "patriot" in their names.

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At the time of the groups' initial complaints, some lawyers .

As the AP notes in its brief story on the apology, non-profits can engage in a limited amount of political activity.

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the IRS asked of a group in Ohio, as detailed by the group.

A search ofindicates that at least three organizations did receive tax exempt status: Chestertown Tea Party Festival Inc. in Maryland, Tea Party Magazine in San Francisco, and Ellas Tea Party in Phoenix.

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Members of the Tea Party — the name of which is often said to be an acronym for "taxed enough already" — embrace the principle that the size of government should be reduced. Today's developments are unlikely to weaken that belief.

It's possible, suggests a new study, which finds that as climates warm around the world, plants may respond by releasing more aerosol particles into the atmosphere.

The research, published online April 28 in the journal Nature Geoscience, finds that these natural aerosols can fuel cloud formation, which may help cool a warming climate. []

Aerosols are fine particles of solid or liquid matter, suspended in air. Most of the aerosol particles in Earth's atmosphere come from human activities such as vehicle exhaust, according to the environmental blog . Volcanic eruptions also contribute some aerosols to the atmosphere.

But a small percentage of atmospheric aerosols come from living plants, according to a news release from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), which co-sponsored the study.

Plants release gases such as water vapor and oxygen; these combine with the aerosols released from plants to form larger airborne particles that reflect sunlight and form cloud droplets.

"Everyone knows the scent of the forest," Ari Asmi, University of Helsinki researcher and co-author of the study, said in a statement. "That scent is made up of these gases."

To measure the cooling effect, researchers collected data from 11 sites around the world, measuring aerosol particle concentrations, plant gases and temperatures.

In warmer temperatures, it was revealed, plants emit more of the gases that stick to aerosol particles. These can lead to cloud formation and, as a result of cloud cover, cooler temperatures.

Other natural phenomenon may help to cool the planet: Some researchers believe that microscopic plants that drift on ocean currents may reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and lower the atmosphere's temperature.

Other research finds that , which also absorb massive amounts of carbon dioxide and release water vapor that forms clouds, are critical to stabilizing atmospheric temperatures.

It's unclear how much cooling might actually occur as a result of so-called "biogenic" aerosols.

"This does not save us from climate warming," Pauli Paasonen, lead author of the study, said in the release.

Though in some areas, such as the forests of Finland and Canada, the cooling effect can be as large as 30 percent, the overall global effect is very small, offsetting only about 1 percent of global warming, according to the study.

Nonetheless, the impact of plant-based aerosol formation is an important element in fine-tuning climate forecast models, the researchers believe.

"Aerosol effects on climate are one of the main uncertainties in climate models," Paasonen said in the release. "Understanding this mechanism could help us reduce those uncertainties and make the models better."

Follow Marc Lallanilla onand . Follow us ,& . Original article on .

The plan would encourage banks to compete and lend more, create incentives for mid-size companies to list shares on the stock market, and modify bankruptcy laws to make it easier for lenders to seize debtors' assets.

Critics warned it could launch a wave of foreclosures like those seen in Spain and the United States, while supporters said it is needed to spur banks to lend to Mexico's credit-starved businesses.

The plan has been submitted to Congress, where the country's three major parties are supporting it.

The proposal is intended to pull Mexico out of the long shadow of its 1995 financial crisis, which threw the country's banks into near-bankruptcy, forcing authorities to rescue them and later sell most of the biggest banks to big foreign financial groups.

Lawmakers presenting the plan criticized the foreign banks, like BBVA, Citigroup and HSBC, saying they have made few loans to businesses, concentrating their loans instead on high-interest credit cards and money market investments.

"We don't have a real banking system," said Jesus Zambrano, whose leftist Democratic Revolution Party supports the reforms. "We have a system of bank usury, that doesn't take risks, that doesn't bet on development."

While banks have largely expanded credit and debit-card use, sometimes charging annual interest rates of 70 percent or more, they have largely ignored the small- and medium-size business that provide the bulk of Mexico's jobs. With five big banks dominating more than 90 percent of the credit market, the sector also lacks healthy competition.

"When the banking sector was opened to foreign firms, they thought it would increase competition, but they didn't compete," said economic analyst Rogelio Ramirez."What we need is a reform to have them compete more, and make the market more attractive, but the banks are happy to just issue credit cards."

"The key challenge today is for regulators to break the perverse equilibrium in which the balance is inclined against loans to businesses and toward consumer lending," Ramirez said.

The proposal would require regulators to carry out an anti-monopoly investigation of the banking sector, and would make future operating permits dependent in part on how much the banks lend and to whom.

According to the World Bank, loans to the private sector were only 18.7 percent of Mexico's gross domestic product, compared to 202 percent of GDP in the United States.Even many of the poorer, smaller countries of Central America have a higher percentage of loans, such as Guatemala's 23.4 percent and El Salvador's 41 percent.

That translates into a lack of growth for businesses that can't expand because they can't get loans.

"The object is ... for banks to lend more, and more cheaply," said President Enrique Pena Nieto. "Credit is a key input for growth in any economy."

The Mexican Bankers Association said in a statement that it agreed with the goals of the proposal as long as changes carried out "through market measures," but said it would study the specifics of the plan.

Jonathan Heath, an independent Mexico City-based economist, said few banks in Mexican have been willing to lend to small businesses that often fold within a couple of years, because the country's laws make it difficult to seize collateral pledges or assets put up in return for loans.

"How do you lend to a company and have the guarantee they're going to pay you back? No financial system is going to work if you don't have clear property rights," Heath said."Why would a bank prefer to lend money with a much higher risk rate, when it can just buy the government bonds and just live comfortably off that."

The overhaul would change Mexico's antiquated and length bankruptcy proceedings, and ease the way for banks to seize debtors' assets. That has raised fears in a country where millions of people faced the prospect of losing their homes in the 1995 crisis, when interest rates on their mortgages suddenly shot up to 100 percent.

That spurred big demonstrations against foreclosures in Mexico like those currently seen in Spain, following the bursting of that country's housing bubble.

Alfonso Ramirez Cuellar of the El Barzon debtors' advocacy group said he feared the proposed changes could spur a Spanish-style wave of foreclosures.

"We could find ourselves in an accelerated foreclosure situation as serious as that which occurred in Spain or in other countries, like the United States ... the kind of crisis that is caused by accelerated trials where the process of seizing assets is just too rapid," Ramirez Cuellar said.

AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. mobile service provider, said the price cut took effect on Wednesday. The company is the exclusive U.S. wireless carrier for the phone, made by Taiwan's HTC Corp and launched on April 12.

An AT&T spokeswoman said price-cutting promotions are not unusual. But operators typically wait longer than a few weeks after a launch before discounting phones.

Richard Windsor, an independent analyst, said in his Radio Free Mobile blog that the price cut was a worrying sign for social network Facebook and its future in mobile.

"The final verdict on Facebook Home was brutally handed down yesterday with AT&T slashing the price of the HTC First from $99 to $0.99," Windsor said.

(Reporting By Sinead Carew; editing by John Wallace)

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I am probably the least informed person in our industry, by choice. When I wake up, I open the email app called , which has this thing with gestures that you can use to clean up junk. You can very quickly swipe right to archive, to the left to put into a list. It's cool. Emails that aren't time sensitive I'll just snooze them for later in the day, tomorrow, or next week, so I am just left with stuff starred for action.

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Then I get up. Maybe I'll surf—I usually wake up around 6 a.m. so I can do that. Sooner or later I get to my computer and I head to my inbox. But before that I go toand I see if there is anything going on. I'm basically just seeing if there is some major news thing. Three swipes going down Twitter on the iPhone and you'll know if there's a Boston Marathon level thing happening. Otherwise, 95 percent of the day what's happening in the news I find completely irrelevant. I just don't give a shit. 

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I try not to open Twitter too often. Some editors, I don't know how they're getting any work done. On the other hand, there are the magazine feature writers who only tweet when they have to promote a story.  [of The Atlantic] is good. He's a good combination of dropping links and curating and conversational stuff.  [of Wired] is one of my good friends but I will go on record saying he is horrible on Twitter, he is always trolling people.  [the new Valleywag] is atrocious on Twitter. He is like emotionally vomiting.  [of Pacific Standard] is the worst person on Twitter that I still can't unfollow. He just gets drunk and talks about the media.

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I usually check , for which I have a full digital subscription. I usually do that on my iPad. On Twitter, I'm just starring stuff for later, usually for night-time, and I'm also putting stuff into . Generally if it's not news and it's an interesting longform article it goes straight to Pocket and I read that twice a week or three times a week. I'll grab stuff from , , , , and . I also subscribe to , , , , andon my iPad.

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I read  [of The New Yorker] and Alexis Madrigal pretty regularly. I usually look more for information than I do prose, but they have really beautiful ways of describing something. I should also admit that even though I've subscribed to The New Yorker for five years I've read probably about 2 percent of what they put out. That's kind of the beauty of it: To have something that's not optimized for the masses, that's not a Michael Bay version of a magazine article. 

I just like getting away from blogs almost entirely—any place with a clicking agenda. I just know they're trying to make noise to make traffic. I don't want to use up my time getting involved in that. The same thing goes almost for some newspapers. I really don't like the . I feel like there is a lot of CEO worship, a lot of consumerism, and capitalist thinking. I've never met a WSJ reporter that I like personally. I'll go ahead and throw out any chance of WSJ jobs right now.  and  have a way of tickling your mind. That's integrity: When you give up money to do what you think is right. That's the only test for editorial integrity. 

I don't subscribe to much in print because I dont really stay in one place. I moved from this house in California, where I thought I would maybe be in a position to start a family. My whole life blew up. So I ended up being this single guy, dating really not seriously, in a huge house for one person. It was just too much. I moved to Hawaii and got a small place. I got rid of almost all my gadgets: I just have a WiFi router, a computer, an iPhone, and I have a camera for underwater.

I even got rid of 80 percent of my print books and kept the ones I really care about. I have a print subscription for the . It's just like people going places and doing field science. I also subscribe to . It's an amazing, not really ad supported, really expensive subscription. Surf trade magazines are pretty much the worst thing in the world. But this is all travel-based and not surf profiles and contests. It's like: "Get lost in Mexico and have your car break down and be stranded and hitchhike to California" kind of stories, which have no commercial value at all. I also get , because I just moved here and I have no friends so I have to know what's going on. 

I dont have any media diet from 9 to 5. I turn off Twitter and I dont answer emails except in bulk. I try to do all my emails once or twice a day. Right now I have 400 messages that are starred. I won't get to a lot of them for another day or two. 

As far as my own professional work, I need to know if new gadgets are coming out. I don't read gadget blogs and reviews sites, I have someone do that for me. There is this old computer website that is so fucking amazing if you're getting into the hardcore computer shit. It's called , it's super high quality. Then there is —my first editor used to work at Ars, so I've got Ars DNA.is doing a good job;  is doing a good job. I thinkhad a bunch of kids writing their reviews. But it's getting better because the kids are getting older. That was hard to watch, so I don't watch it. 

Here's a really fucking weird secret: , , andare amazing. If they did a tech site, it would be fucking unreal. They would probably beat everyone. They do a much better job about telling the journey they go on to figure out stuff. I really, really worship those guys. Consumer Reports has been really fascinating. Often we do research on existing data out there. What we find is Consumer Reports has the best stuff—but not from reading their articles. When you go talk to them they'll tell you some crazy shit.

I work pretty late because I take a break in the middle of the day for a couple of hours. I work back up after dinner and I use this app called . The screen on your computer is a blue-ish tint that approximates sunlight and keeps you up. F.lux turns the hue of your screen more like a candle, or a halogen light bulb. You can feel it not keeping your eyes as perked up so your computer won't keep you up. When I use it I actually have an easier time falling asleep.

Then from there I usually grab an iPad and play a couple of rounds ofand then I'll read some magazine or I'll watch a movie on my iPad, once in awhile. I don't have cable. I don't have a TV. I'm just getting a projector for movies. I don't even watch that many movies because the more time you use watching the less time you have to create. 

I broke up with a girl I've been really in love with lately, it was mutual. Whenever that happens I start reading a lot of old philosophy books. I'm readingby Hermann Hesse; I'm reading this crazy book . It's really gnarly. I'm also reading the , , which is about treasure, and the Ted Kaczynski book, . You can kind of see what he's getting at when you read it.

The other weirdo thing I do is I'm obsessively checking surf cameras and surf reports. There's always a monitor of what the beach looks like propped up. Surf conditions change really quickly, like within 20 minutes. The wind, the tide, and the swell all have to coincide and the wind can change the quickest. The wind is, like, very fickle. 

The FDA said the results of a recent study showed that children exposed to valproate products in the womb had lower IQ at the age of six than children who were exposed to other antiepileptics.

Drugs containing valproate are used to prevent migraine headaches, treat epileptic seizures and manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder.

Abbott Laboratories' Depacon, Depakote, Depakote CP, Depakote ER and Depakene, and Noven Therapeutics LLC's Stavzor and their generics contain valproate. (http://r.reuters.com/nej87t)

Drugs containing valproate already carry a boxed warning for birth defects.

"Valproate medications should never be used in pregnant women for the prevention of migraine headaches because we have even more data now that shows the risks to the children outweigh any treatment benefits for this use," FDA's Director of the Division of Neurology Products, Russell Katz said.

This is the second time the FDA has warned on drugs containing valproate. In a June 2011 press release, the regulator had issued interim results of a study showing reduced cognitive functions in three-year-old children exposed to valproate.

(Reporting By Pallavi Ail in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)

But the eight men and four women on the panel didn't buy it, convicting Arias of first-degree murder after only about 15 hours of deliberations. Jurors will return to court Thursday to begin the next phase of the trial that could set the stage for Arias receiving a death sentence.

It's a punishment that Arias herself says she wants, telling a TV station minutes after her conviction that she would "prefer to die sooner than later."

"Longevity runs in my family, and I don't want to spend the rest of my natural life in one place," a tearful Arias told Fox affiliate KSAZ. "I believe death is the ultimate freedom and I'd rather have my freedom as soon as I can get it."

The case elevated the unknown waitress and aspiring photographer to a household name, with a real-life story of love, betrayal and murder far more alluring than any made-for-TV movie. The crime itself was enough to grab headlines: Arias, a 32-year-old high school dropout, shot Travis Alexander in the forehead, stabbed him nearly 30 times and slit his throat from ear to ear, leaving the motivational speaker and businessman nearly decapitated.

She claimed he attacked her and she fought for her life. Prosecutors said she killed out of jealous rage after Alexander wanted to end their affair and planned to take a trip to Mexico with another woman.

Arias' four-month trial quickly became a media sensation ratings gold for cable networks that could broadcast from inside the courtroom and feed an insatiable public appetite for true-crime drama delivered live and up-close. It was, for many, the horrible train wreck they just couldn't turn away from, even though they know they should.

Arias fought back tears as the verdict was announced Wednesday in the hushed, packed courtroom, while Alexander's family members wept and hugged each other. They wore blue ribbons and wristbands with the words "Justice For Travis." The family thanked prosecutor Juan Martinez and a key witness and said it appreciated the outpouring of support from the public.

Outside, a huge crowd that had gathered on the courthouse steps screamed, whistled and cheered the news in a case that has attracted fans from across the country who traveled to Phoenix to be close to the proceedings.

Alexander's friend Chris Hughes said he was happy with the verdict, pointing out a bold proclamation that Arias made in one of her jailhouse interviews that she wouldn't be found guilty.

"She said, 'No jury would convict me. Mark my words.' This jury convicted her," Hughes said. "Luckily we had 12 smart jurors. They nailed it."

When asked about Alexander's family, Arias told the station (http://bit.ly/15qG7aP), "I just hope that now that a verdict has been rendered, that they'll be able to find peace."

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said no more media interviews with Arias would be granted. She has been placed on suicide watch.

Testimony in Arias' trial began in early January. The trial quickly snowballed into a made-for-the-tabloids drama, garnering daily coverage from cable news networks and spawning a virtual cottage industry for talk shows, legal experts and even Arias, who used her notoriety to sell artwork she made in jail.

The trial now moves into the so-called aggravation phase during which prosecutors will argue the killing was committed in an especially cruel, heinous and depraved manner that should allow jurors to consider the death penalty. Both sides may call witnesses and show evidence. If the panel finds the aggravating factors exist, the trial then moves into the final penalty phase during which jurors will recommend either life in prison or death.

Authorities said Alexander fought for his life as Arias attacked him in a blitz, but he soon grew too weak to defend himself.

"Mr. Alexander did not die calmly," Martinez told jurors in opening statements.

Arias said she recalled Alexander attacking her in a fury after a day of sex. She said Alexander came at her "like a linebacker," body-slamming her to the tile floor. She managed to wriggle free and ran into his closet to retrieve a gun he kept on a shelf. She said she fired in self-defense but had no memory of stabbing him.

She acknowledged trying to clean the scene of the killing, dumping the gun in the desert and working on an alibi to avoid suspicion. She said she was too scared and ashamed to tell the truth. However, none of Arias' allegations that Alexander had physically abused her in the months before his death, that he owned a gun and had sexual desires for young boys, were corroborated by witnesses or evidence during the trial. She acknowledged lying repeatedly before and after her arrest but insisted she was telling the truth in court.

Arias spent 18 days on the witness stand describing an abusive childhood, cheating boyfriends, dead-end jobs, a shocking sexual relationship with Alexander, and her contention that he had grown physically violent.

A defense expert later testified that Arias suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and dissociative amnesia, which explained why she couldn't recall much from the day of the killing. Another defense witness concluded that Arias was a battered woman.

Martinez worked feverishly to attack the credibility of the defense experts, accusing them of having sympathy for Arias and offering biased opinions.

Aside from her lies, Arias had another formidable obstacle to overcome.

Her grandparents had reported a .25-caliber handgun stolen from their Northern California home about a week before Alexander's death the same caliber used to shoot him but Arias insisted she didn't take it. Authorities believe she brought it with her to kill him. The coincidence of the same caliber gun stolen from the home also being used to shoot Alexander was never resolved.

Meanwhile, the entire case devolved into a circus-like spectacle attracting dozens of enthusiast each day to the courthouse as they lined up for a chance to score just a few open public seats in the gallery. One trial regular sold her spot in line to another person for $200. Both got reprimands from the court, and the money was returned.

Many people also gathered outside after trial for a chance to see Martinez, who had gained celebrity-like status for his firebrand tactics and unapologetically intimidating style of cross-examining defense witnesses.

The case grew into a worldwide sensation as thousands followed the trial via a live, unedited Web feed. Twitter filled with comments as spectators expressed their opinions on everything from Arias' wardrobe to Martinez's angry demeanor. For its fans, the Arias trial became a live daytime soap opera.

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Associated Press Writer Cristina Silva contributed to this report.

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Brian Skoloff can be followed at https://twitter.com/bskoloff