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)

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Wednesday condemned the conditions of workers who died in the Bangladesh factory collapse as "slave labor," saying unjust salaries and the unbridled quest for profits were "against God".

His words were his toughest yet on workers' rights since his election on March 13, and another indication that the former archbishop of Buenos Aires was intent on making social justice a major plank of his pontificate.

"Living on 38 euros ($50) a month - that was the pay of these people who died. That is called slave labor," Francis said in a private impromptu sermon at his personal morning Mass in his residence, Vatican Radio reported.

The death toll from the collapse last week of the illegally built Rana Plaza in Dhaka's commercial suburb of Savar rose to 411 on Wednesday and about 40 unidentified victims were buried.

The pope, speaking on May Day, the international labor day, said: "Not paying a just wage, not giving work, only because one is looking at the bottom line, at the budget of the company, seeking only profit - that is against God".

Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, said there were many people in the world living in conditions of slave labor.

"Today in the world there is this slavery that is perpetrated with the most beautiful thing that God has given man: the capacity to create, to work, to make his own dignity," he said.

"How many brothers and sisters in the world are in this situation because of these economic, social and political policies?"

In his native Argentina, Francis was often on the side of the poor, the downtrodden and the unemployed, clashing with the government on economic policy and defending the dignity of the weakest members of society.

"Dignity is not bestowed by power, by money, by culture - no! Dignity is bestowed by work. Social, political and economic systems have made a choice that signifies exploiting the individual," he said.

Duty-free access offered by Western countries and low wages have helped turn Bangladesh's garment exports into a $19 billion a year industry, with 60 percent of clothes going to Europe, where the tragedy has raised questions about the human cost of cheap fashion.

Later, at his public general audience in St. Peter's Square, the pope returned to the subject of workers' rights but did not mention the Bangladesh tragedy.

"Work is fundamental to the dignity of a person. I think of how many, and not just young people, are unemployed, many times due to a purely economic conception of society, which seeks selfish profit, beyond the parameters of social justice," he said before tens of thousands of people.

In that address, he called on governments to tackle high unemployment and eliminate slave labor associated with human trafficking.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates almost 21 million people worldwide are victims of slavery or forced labor. Almost half are thought to be trafficked, either across borders or within their own countries.

In Italy and elsewhere in Western Europe, many young women from Africa and Eastern Europe are victims of human trafficking and forced to work as prostitutes in major cities.

($1 = 0.7580 euros)

(Reporting By Philip Pullella; editing by Mike Collett-White)

The reversal followed a court order backing the right of the women to pray at the Western Wall using religious rituals Orthodox Jews insist should be practiced only by men.

Wearing prayer shawls, phylacteries and skull caps reserved for men under strict Orthodox tradition, the women sang and prayed out loud. A girl celebrating her Bat Mitzvah was hoisted on a chair as the women danced, clapping their hands and singing.

A short distance away, ultra-Orthodox men yelled obscenities and scuffled with police. Some cursed and spat at the women and threw chairs and other objects.

"It is very painful to see the Western Wall turn into a battlefield instead of a holy prayer site," Jerusalem Police chief Yossi Parienti told reporters.

The "Women of the Wall" group has been holding monthly prayer services on the first day of the Hebrew month at the Western Wall in Jerusalem for more than two decades. Accused by ultra-Orthodox leaders of violating "local custom" at the holy site, many of the group's members have been arrested.

The women have also faced heckling and legal battles in their struggle to worship at the wall the holiest place where Jews can pray as men do. Then last month a Jerusalem court instructed police to stop detaining the women.

On Friday, police protected the women and arrested three ultra-Orthodox men for disorderly conduct, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

"It's a historic moment," said Shira Pruce, a spokeswoman for Women of the Wall. "The police did an amazing job protecting women to pray freely at the Western Wall. This is justice."

Israeli media reported that some rabbis called on followers to flood the Western Wall to try to block the women from reaching the site. TV footage showed girls praying at the wall as chaos erupted behind them.

Police formed a ring around the women in the packed Western Wall plaza, with some shoving back ultra-Orthodox men. A human chain of female police officers encircled a group of young female protesters.

Pruce, a 31-year-old New Jersey native, said police escorted the Women of the Wall out of the area after they finished their service and boarded them on buses, which were then pelted with stones as they left the Old City.

She said the group was taking "small steps and with time will pray with Torah scrolls." The ultra-Orthodox men who oppose them will "have to get used to it," she said.

The dispute is part of a wider culture clash that has triggered a backlash against Israel's ultra-Orthodox community.

The plaza in front of the Western Wall, a remnant of the biblical Jewish Temples, is marked off into two distinct sections, one for male worshippers and the other for women. Until now, women have had to abide by the Orthodox strictures of prayer.

Under Orthodox Jewish practice, only men are permitted to wear prayer shawls and skullcaps, and most Orthodox Jews insist that only men carry a Torah scroll. By contrast, the more liberal Reform and Conservative streams of Judaism, the largest denominations in the United States, allow women to wear prayer shawls, be ordained as rabbis, lead services and read from the Torah.

Israel's ultra-Orthodox establishment opposes any inroads from these groups, fearing their customs and authority could be eroded. They maintain that visitors to the Western Wall, whose rabbi is ultra-Orthodox, must respect local practices.

The Western Wall rabbi, Shmuel Rabinowitz, who has in the past called the women's group a "provocation," tried to ease tensions Friday.

"I am hurting. Hurting and crying over what happened here today," he told the Jerusalem Post newspaper. "We don't want a Western Wall of disagreement."

Yossi Deutsch, an ultra-Orthodox member of the Jerusalem municipality, agreed. "I am saddened that they took this place that is the holiest site for the people of Israel and turned it into a fighting arena where people throw coffee at each other and throw bottles at each other," he said.

Israeli officials and lawmakers have been attempting to find a compromise that will satisfy both the women's group and the ultra-Orthodox. They have proposed establishing a new section at the Western Wall where men and women can pray together. The proposal, if implemented, would be a victory for the more liberal streams of Judaism, which have been battling to be granted recognition in Israel.

The Women of the Wall insist on their right to pray as they want in the current women's section.

The ultra-Orthodox make up about 10 percent of Israel's 8 million citizens. For most of the last three decades, they have served in coalition governments, securing vast budgets for religious schools and exemptions from mandatory military service for tens of thousands of young men in full-time religious studies.

The system has bred widespread resentment among the secular and modern Orthodox majority. It became a central issue in January parliamentary elections, and ultra-Orthodox parties were eventually left out of the government.

Many Israelis also feel the ultra-Orthodox attempt to impose their values on the rest of society, with their activists pushing for gender-segregated buses and sidewalks, and trying to force women to dress modestly.

This week, Israel's attorney general urged Cabinet ministers to take measures to end gender segregation. On Thursday, Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said she was drafting a bill that would make the segregation and humiliation of women in public a criminal offense.

"The dismissal of women from the public sphere harms not only their dignity, but also harms us as a society that aspires toward equality," Livni wrote on her Facebook page.

___

Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg contributed to this report.

The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index rose 5.2 percent to 104.8 in October. Excluding a few months when the index spiked because of a homebuyer tax credit, that is the highest level since March 2007.

The increase points to healthy sales increases of previously occupied homes in the months ahead. There's generally a one- to two-month lag between a signed contract and a completed sale.

The rise in sales adds to evidence of a steady housing recovery. Builders are more confident in sales and are starting construction on more homes. Home prices are rising on a consistent basis, which encourages more potential buyers to come off the sidelines and purchase homes. And more people may put their homes on the market if they gain confidence that they can sell at a good price.

The report is "another indicator suggesting that the recovery in housing has broadened and has sustained momentum," Michael Gapen, an economist at Barclays Capital, said in a note to clients.

Signed contracts jumped 15.6 percent in the Midwest and rose 5.5 percent in the South. But they fell 1.1 percent in the West and dipped 0.1 percent in the Northeast.

Superstorm Sandy lowered pending sales in the Northeast, the Realtors' group said. The West was hurt by low inventories of available homes.

Mortgage rates remained near record lows this week. The average rate on the 30-year loan was 3.32 percent, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said, just above 3.31 percent last week, which was the lowest on records dating to 1971.

A big reason for the rebound in housing is that the excess supply of homes that built up before the housing crisis has finally thinned out. The number of previously occupied homes available for sale has fallen to a 10-year low. The inventory of new homes is also near the lowest level since 1963.

At the same time, more people are looking to buy or rent a home after living with relatives or friends during and immediately after the Great Recession.

Those trends are also pushing up home sales and construction. Sales of previously occupied homes are near five-year highs, excluding temporary spikes in 2009 and 2010 when a homebuyer tax credit boosted purchases.

Builders, meanwhile, are more optimistic that the recovery will endure. A measure of their confidence rose to the highest level in six and a half years this month. And builders broke ground on new homes and apartments at the fastest pace in more than four years last month.

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Octavia Spencer will star alongside Kevin Costner in "Black and White," IM Global announced on Tuesday.

IM Global has come aboard to sell the film to international buyers starting at the Cannes Film Festival next week. Cassian Elwes, an executive producer on the project, is handling domestic rights.

The film reunites Costner with "The Upside of Anger" director Mike Binder, who wrote and will directed "Black and White." It will begin shooting this summer in New Orleans.

Costner's Treehouse Productions and Binder's Sunlight Productions are co-producing the project, about widowed attorney Elliot Anderson (Costner) and his bi-racial granddaughter, Eloise. Eloise's mother, Eliot's daughter, died giving birth.

In the movie, Eloise's grandmother Rowena (Spencer) wants Eloise's father (and her son) to care for the child. Eliot and Rowena then spar over custody.

"We're delighted to come onboard such a powerful, compelling project with the Costner/Binder team that memorably brought us The Upside of Anger," Ford said in a statement. "Kevin's recent critical achievements as both an actor and producer with Hatfields & McCoys give the project added momentum and we're expecting a strong distributor response in Cannes."

Ford and IM Global president Jonathan Deckter made the deal with Elwes. Spencer can next be seen in Sundance favorite "Fruitvale," which the Weinstein Co. will release July 26. She is represented by WME.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Members of the Connecticut Senate continued a three-year effort to extend a ban on severe weather price gouging to services such as snow removal, with proponents expressing hope they can persuade the House of Representatives to finally pass the bill.

The legislation passed the Senate on Wednesday on a 31-5 vote, marking the third year in a row it has passed in that chamber. It has died in the House due to inaction during each of the last two legislative sessions.

"This year I'm optimistic on the third try," said Sen. Paul Doyle, D-Wethersfield, co-chairman of the General Assembly's General Law Committee, adding that the state has seen four instances of extreme weather since the first year the bill was proposed. Doyle said state legislators have heard complaints from constituents about how they've been overcharged for services following these storms, making it urgent for lawmakers to extend the ban this session.

"It's clear consumers are getting ripped off," he said. "I think it's an appropriate role for government."

Sen. Kevin Witkos, R-Canton, the committee's ranking Republican senator, said often these instances of price gouging occur when people are vulnerable and worried about their homes during and after storms.

"People panic about protecting their property when something like this happens," he said. "It's those few unscrupulous folks that take advantage of people in the emergency mode, if you will."

The House now has until June 5, the last day of the legislative session, to act on the bill.

The General Assembly last passed anti-price gouging legislation 27 years ago, following Hurricane Gloria, said Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, who served as a legislator at the time. That law prohibits anyone from increasing the retail price of any goods when the governor or president issues a disaster or emergency declaration.

The bill under consideration this year bars someone from selling vital goods or services for an "unconscionably excessive price." Such services could include lodging, snow removal, flood abatement and post-storm cleanup or repair services. If a price is deemed excessive, various steps can be taken. For example, courts may issue restraining orders, award punitive damages and impose civil penalties. The state's Department of Consumer Protection commissioner can order restitution in cases involving less than $5,000 or ask the state attorney general to seek injunctive relief.

But Sen. Robert Kane, R-Watertown, doubted the need for the legislation.

"Do we have to protect people from every single thing that comes around the corner?" he asked, questioning whether price-gouging was really happening in Connecticut.

But Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, spoke about how one of her neighbors who was snowed in during the February snowstorm needed to get out of her house for medical reasons. A snow removal contractor charged the neighbor $1,000, Slossberg said.

Slossberg said the neighbor paid because her life was in danger.

"The reality is," she said, "you do have people who are unscrupulous who will take advantage during difficult storm occasions."

After conflicting explanations were given for Hawking's decision, a spokesman for the British university confirmed that the wheelchair-bound scientist was snubbing the annual event, organised by President Shimon Peres, as part of the boycott.

"We have now received confirmation from Professor Hawking's office that a letter was sent on Friday to the Israeli President's office regarding his decision not to attend the Presidential Conference, based on advice from Palestinian academics that he should respect the boycott," the spokesman said.

"We had understood previously that his decision was based purely on health grounds having been advised by doctors not to fly."

Hawking, who has won international recognition for his work on black holes, had been flagged as a major speaker at the conference, alongside former U.S. president Bill Clinton and former British prime minister Tony Blair.

By snubbing the event, Hawking, author of the best-selling "A Brief History of Time", has become one of the most prominent scientists to join the boycott movement.

His name was quietly withdrawn from the list of participants this week and the organisers on Wednesday criticised his withdrawal.

"The academic boycott against Israel is in our view outrageous and improper, certainly for someone for whom the spirit of liberty lies at the basis of his human and academic mission," conference chairman Israel Maimon said in a statement.

The British-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign released what it said were extracts of Hawking's letter to the conference organisers in which he explained his decision.

"I have received a number of emails from Palestinian academics. They are unanimous that I should respect the boycott," his letter said, according to the PSC.

"In view of this, I must withdraw from the conference. Had I attended, I would have stated my opinion that the policy of the present Israeli government is likely to lead to disaster."

Numerous figures from the world of art and entertainment have refused to perform in Israel in recent years as part of an effort to promote the Palestinian cause, including British singer Elvis Costello and the U.S. indie rock band the Pixies.

Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in 2010 over the issue of continued Jewish settlement building on land seized in the 1967 war. The Palestinians want to create an independent state on the captured territories.

The United States is seeking to revive the negotiations.

(Additional reporting by Estelle Shirbon and Michael Holden in London; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The case of a U.S. Air Force official who headed a sexual-assault prevention unit and was arrested for allegedly groping a woman will be handled in civilian court despite the military's request for jurisdiction, a prosecutor said on Tuesday.

Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Krusinski, 41, was arrested on Sunday and charged with sexual battery for allegedly grabbing a woman by the breasts and buttocks in a parking lot not far from the Pentagon. The police report said the victim fought off a drunken male as he tried to touch her again.

Theo Stamos, prosecutor for Arlington County, Virginia, said the military had requested jurisdiction of the case, but the county intended to keep it.

"Since this happened in a civilian setting, not military, it didn't make any sense to me that the military would prosecute this," she said in a phone interview. "We are perfectly capable of going forward."

Krusinski will be arraigned on Thursday, when he can enter a plea on a misdemeanor charge of sexual battery, which carries a penalty of up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

It could not be determined whether Krusinski has obtained a lawyer, and Krusinski could not be reached for comment.

The arrest came as the U.S. military is under increased pressure to deal with the issue of sexual assault.

Krusinski joined the Air Force in 1994 and has held a series of personnel jobs. He was appointed chief of the Air Force sexual assault prevention and response branch in February, an Air Force spokeswoman said. He has been removed from that job pending the outcome of an investigation.

A new Pentagon report released on Tuesday said the reported cases of sexual assault rose to 3,374 in 2012 from 3,192 the previous year, but the Pentagon estimates that actual cases are considerably higher. Estimated cases of unwanted sexual contact in 2012 were 26,000, compared with 19,000 in 2011.

Krusinski, as chief of the Air Force sexual assault prevention and response branch, headed an office of about five people that oversaw education programs and training and helped draft policy, Lieutenant Colonel Laurel Tingley, an Air Force spokeswoman, said.

He arrived at the Pentagon in July 2010 from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida where he was a force support squadron commander, she said.

Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh told a congressional hearing that a force support squadron includes sexual assault coordination counselors.

"He's been around the business his entire career as a personnel officer," Welsh said. "His record is very good."

Under pointed questioning by Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, Welsh said he had looked at Krusinski's performance record and spoken to his current supervisor, but not to people who knew him in the past.

"There is no indication his professional record or performance or in his current work place that there's any type of a problem like this," Welsh said.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

The report said Iowa State's two-year investigation started with the discovery of improper contacts with recruits by Keith Moore, a former Cyclones player who was working in his first year as an undergraduate student coach under Fred Hoiberg.

The report said Hoiberg ran into Moore in 2011 at one of Hoiberg's son's AAU games. Hoiberg asked why he was present at the game and whether he'd been contacting recruits. Moore acknowledged that he had been in contact with high school players that he had coached previously in AAU, the report said.

Hoiberg reported the incident to the athletics department, which removed Moore of his duties with the team and started an investigation. The basketball team also stopped recruiting two players from Moore's former AAU team, the All Iowa Attack.

Moore played at Iowa State from 1978-81. He was offered a chance to return to school as part of the athletic department's continuing education program in 2010 and assigned to work with the men's basketball team in return for Iowa State paying for his tuition, fees and books.

Moore did not respond to NCAA investigators' request for a statement on the case, and he did not immediately return an e-mail message seeking comment. A phone listing for Moore could not be found.

The report has been turned over to the NCAA's Committee on Infractions, though there's no specific timetable on when it might rule on the case.

The report says an audit of three years of telephone and text messaging by coaching staff found "a significant number of recruiting communication violations involving most of its sports programs." Moore sent 160 impermissible text messages to his former AAU players, including two that were being recruited by Iowa State at the time, the report found.

Coaches made 24 "clear-cut intentional" telephone call violations, and other employees made 55 impermissible calls, the report found. Employees failed to log another 1,400 calls that failed to connect with recruits for reasons such as no answer or dropped calls, the report said. In all, the university faulted itself for failing to monitor the calls.

The university said the improper calls were a tiny fraction of the 750,000 that were reviewed over the three-year period involving all 18 sports programs.

But six current and former coaches in men's basketball and football were named in the report for acknowledging personal involvement and could face further discipline.

The university said it agreed with NCAA's enforcement staff that the findings "constitute a major infractions case," given the number and frequency of telephone call violations and the volume of messages sent by Moore.

The university has asked the NCAA to accept its findings and issue a punishment of two years of probation, retroactive to November of 2011.

But six current and former coaches in men's basketball and football were named in the report for acknowledging personal involvement and could face further discipline.

"We've been committed to being as transparent as possible throughout this entire process, which has been challenging given it has been an ongoing investigation and we did not receive the final report until this week," Jamie Pollard, the Iowa State athletic director, said in a statement.

Iowa State spokesman Steve Malchow told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Pollard was out of his office and unavailable for further comment, adding that the NCAA discourages school officials to publicly comment on ongoing cases.

The school said that it has already self-imposed numerous penalties. Each of its teams forfeited a week of recruiting calls, and the school will spend $82,000 over the next three years in compliance and recruiting software to simplify the recording and monitoring of calls and text messages.

The Cyclones also said they've already taken a wide range of punitive actions against each of the coaches named in the report.

The university hired The Compliance Group, based in Lanexa, Kan., to assist in the investigation. Records released to The Associated Press on Wednesday show the firm billed the school more than $30,000 for its services.

This is the second major infractions case Iowa State has been involved with.

In 1986, the Cyclones were put on two years of probation because of violations within the football program.

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Blood tests conducted on patients treated at an Oklahoma oral surgery practice that has been closed over health concerns show that 57 have hepatitis C, three have hepatitis B and as many as three have HIV, the virus than can lead to AIDS, officials said on Thursday.

Health officials said it will take more investigation - including interviews with each patient and blood tests of the remaining patients - before they can determine whether the viruses were contracted at the dental offices, an extremely rare occurrence.

"Now the real disease detective work goes into effect," state health department spokeswoman Leslea Bennet-Webb said.

Officials cannot be more specific about the number of patients who tested positive for HIV because of the state's confidentiality policy that restricts public disclosure of HIV cases involving fewer than three people, Bennet-Webb said.

Health officials so far have screened 3,122 people who underwent oral surgery procedures at clinics operated by Dr Scott Harrington, a Tulsa oral surgeon who is accused of using improper sterilization techniques that may have exposed his patients to blood-borne viruses.

Harrington agreed to close his Tulsa practice and a nearby satellite clinic last month. Health officials want 7,000 of his patients to have their blood tested.

Harrington's attorney has said his client has an impeccable record with the state dentistry board, which has filed a 17-count complaint against the oral surgeon that accuses him of being a "menace to the public health" because of his unsanitary procedures.

There are only three known cases in the United States of viruses being transmitted during dental procedures, according to Centers for Disease Control.

(Reporting by Steve Olafson; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Jackie Frank)