The enigmatic Cooper has been on the outer with Deans this year and was not included in his initial 25-man squad for the series, though is seeking one of six additional spots the New Zealand coach will name next Tuesday for the test series.

Shorn of seven other Wallabies for the match at Lang Park, Queensland coach Ewen McKenzie was still able to name a side with ample Super Rugby and international experience for the Lions' second game in Australia.

Hooker James Hanson, prop Greg Holmes, loose forwards Eddie Quirk and Jake Schatz and flyhalf Quade Cooper have all played in all 15 of the Reds' Super Rugby matches this season.

Inside centre Anthony Faingaa has also played more than 20 tests for the Wallabies, including the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.

"Our approach was always going to be to field as strong a line-up as possible and I've got every confidence in the group we've chosen to go out and compete against a very talented Lions squad," McKenzie said.

"History suggests that it's a mammoth challenge, but we'll go out there on Saturday with plenty of good intentions and with a commitment to giving a strong account of ourselves across the entire 80 minutes."

Queensland Reds: 15-Ben Lucas, 14-Rod Davies, 13-Ben Tapuai, 12-Anthony Faingaa, 11-Luke Morahan, 10-Quade Cooper, 9-Nick Frisby, 8-Jake Schatz, 7-Beau Robinson, 6-Eddie Quirk, 5-Ed O'Donoghue, 4-Adam Wallace-Harrison, 3-Greg Holmes, 2-James Hanson, 1-Ben Daley

Replacements: 16-Albert Anae 17-Sam Denny, 18-Jono Owen, 19-Radike Samo, 20-Jarrad Butler, 21-Jono Lance, 22-Mike Harris, 23-Dom Shipperley (Compiled by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by Ian Ransom)

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) -- Maine residents are getting a little relief at the gas pump.

Price-monitoring website MaineGasPrices.com reports Monday that the average retail cost of a gallon of gas has fallen more than a penny in the past week to $3.56.

Prices also fell a little more than a penny nationally, but the national average remains much higher at $3.64.

Maine prices are now 7 cents lower than at the same time last year, but 7 cents higher per gallon than a month ago.

The Maine average is based on a survey of more than 1,200 gas stations across the state.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men who get an older and less costly form of radiation after their cancerous prostates are removed fare just as well as men who get a new and expensive type of radiation, according to a new study.

"What we demonstrate is that both (therapies) are very safe and effective after prostatectomy, and patients should feel very confident receiving either technology," said Dr. Ronald Chen, the study's senior author from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Conformal radiotherapy (CRT) delivers radiation over a large area to kill cancer cells. Intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), on the other hand, directs radiation to a smaller area to protect surrounding tissue.

IMRT, which is newer and the predominant form of radiation for prostate cancer patients, also costs about $10,000 more than CRT.

"The way we design the radiation for the IMRT is more sophisticated and takes more time," Chen said.

He and his colleagues write in JAMA Internal Medicine that new prostate cancer treatment technologies increases costs by about $350 million each year - mostly driven by IMRT.

But researchers questioned whether the newer, more expensive and focused radiation led to better outcomes in prostate cancer patients.

Last year, Chen and his colleagues found IMRT was tied to a lower risk of stomach problems and better cancer control in men who were using it as a first-line treatment for early-stage prostate cancer, compared to men who got CRT (see Reuters Health article of April 17, 2012 here: http://reut.rs/13G0OMI.)

For the new study, the researchers used data on 457 IMRT patients and 557 CRT patients who already had their prostates removed and were receiving radiation to prevent or treat reoccurrences between 2002 and 2007. All were on Medicare, the government-run health insurance for the elderly and disabled.

The patients were followed through 2009 and the researchers found that the IMRT patients experienced just as many complications as those receiving CRT. Those included stomach problems, incontinence and erectile dysfunction.

What's more, those receiving CRT didn't end up needing more cancer treatments, compared to IMRT patients.

PRICE IMPLICATIONS

Chen told Reuters Health that they may not have seen a difference between the two types of radiation because doctors tend to use lower doses of radiation after prostate surgery and IMRT may not give as much as an advantage.

Or, he said prostate surgery can cause urinary and sexual side effects in patients and would diminish the difference between the types of radiation.

Dr. Matthew Cooperberg, a urologist from the University of California, San Francisco, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new study, told Reuters Health the new study also shows how fast the more expensive treatment was adopted, despite many head-to-head comparisons.

In the new study, researchers found no patients were getting IMRT in 2000, but it was the treatment for over 80 percent of patients by 2009.

"I think one of the points is that no one is going with the less-expensive option. IMRT has become the standard," he said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/MbBLb9 JAMA Internal Medicine, online May 20, 2013.

DUBLIN, Ohio (Reuters) - Trying to trust unpredictable winds was the biggest problem for the players in Saturday's third round at the Memorial Tournament, as Americans Matt Kuchar and Kevin Chappell found out to their cost.

Kuchar bogeyed the par-five 15th after his three-wood second shot drifted unexpectedly to the right of the green, ending up in a creek he never realized was there.

Chappell was left scratching his head with a wedge in hand for his approach into the par-four 14th, not knowing where he should start the shot with water lurking to the right of the green while being totally confused by the wind direction.

"It's a 105-yard wedge shot," Chappell told reporters of the challenge after carding a four-under-par 68 to end a grueling day at Muirfield Village Golf Club in a tie for second on six-under 210, two strokes behind leader Kuchar.

"The flag is blowing towards the water, but the wind is right-to-left, maybe a little in right-to-left. And where do I have to start this ball to hit it close?"

Chappell's playing partners Charlie Wi and Scott Piercy both hit good wedge shots that were not affected by the wind.

"I hit one and it made a left-hand turn," said Chappell, lifting his eyebrows in disbelief. "It's tough to start that ball right of the flag. There's a grandstand there so the wind swirls a lot. It hits that and then shoots back the other way."

Chappell, still seeing his first PGA Tour victory after joining the U.S. circuit in 2011, had no doubt about the biggest challenge for the players on Saturday as winds gusted up to 32 mph.

"Just trusting that the wind was where it was supposed to be," he said. "There were multiple times you're seeing the wind blow the flag the opposite way as it's supposed to be."

"I kept saying, 'Wow, this is tough out here.' You hit a good shot and end up in a bad spot. What can I do?"

DAY OF SURVIVAL

Kuchar mixed five birdies with three bogeys to emerge at the top of the leaderboard after what he described as a day of survival, his biggest surprise coming with his second shot at 15.

"It was just going to take a full three-wood for me to get home," the five-times PGA Tour champion said of the task facing him on the par-five hole. "I thought no problem.

"With the pin on the left, you don't want to miss left. I want to make sure if I do anything, I miss right. I hit a really solid shot. It just took off really high. I thought that will be fine, it will just end up in the right greenside bunker."

However, Kuchar watched in horror as his ball kept leaking further right.

"With the wind blowing as hard as it was and as high as the ball got launched, it just kept drifting and found its way into a hazard I didn't even know existed over there," he said.

"I knew what the wind was doing. I just didn't realize that I hit it that high and the wind would take that much affect on it."

Tiger Woods, hunting a record sixth victory at the Memorial Tournament, struggled as much as anyone as he carded a 79 to match his second worst score as a professional.

Kuchar, though surprised, was not at all shocked after hearing about the world number one's nightmare round.

"It's understandable in these conditions," Kuchar said. "If you're not on good form, these conditions are really going to beat you up."

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Julian Linden)

CANNES (Reuters) - Actors and directors gathered for the world's leading movie showcase in Cannes this week said television was increasingly luring top talent and should no longer be seen as artistically inferior to the big screen.

TV series like "The Wire," "Homeland", "Mad Men," "The Sopranos" and "Game of Thrones", which have won critical and commercial success, were cited for breaking down the division between movies and TV, giving audiences innovative viewing.

At the 66th Cannes film festival, moviemakers said a new era of TV was presenting opportunities to take more creative risks.

Director Steven Soderbergh, known for Hollywood hits like "Ocean's Eleven" has announced plans to retire from filmmaking but expressed interest in working in television.

Soderbergh, 50, whose biopic on pianist Liberace, "Behind the Candelabra", is in the main competition at Cannes, said there had been a gradual migration of audiences towards television.

"There is a lot of great television being made in the States right now and I feel in terms of cultural real estate that TV is really taking control of the conversation that used to be the exclusive domain of movies," Soderbergh told reporters.

"I think it is the second golden age of television," said the director who was reported to have joined forces with actor Clive Owen for a TV drama called "The Knick" set in New York's Knickerbocker Hospital.

"Behind the Candelabra", with Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as his gay lover, was made for TV, funded by Time Warner's HBO cable network after Hollywood studios rejected the gay storyline of the $25 million film as too risky.

MORE DEPTH IN TELEVISION

Directors have lamented the fact that the high cost of making and marketing a film is a deterrent to fund any project not deemed a safe bet, driving Hollywood studios towards action and spectacle rather than drama to win sales at the box office.

A second HBO project, a documentary called "Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight", about the boxer's court battle after he refused to go to the Vietnam War, is also on show at the 12-day Cannes festival on the French Riviera that ends on Sunday.

British director Stephen Frears said HBO's presence in the Cannes line-up showed a changed attitude towards television which he welcomed after spending most of his early career in television with Britain's state broadcaster, the BBC.

"I don't have the usual snobbish attitude towards television," Frears, who earned high acclaim for his 2006 film "The Queen", told Reuters.

"I just go where the good writing is and if it is TV, fine. Nowadays the best writing is in TV."

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, whose ultra-violent thriller "Only God Forgives" has sharply divided critics at Cannes, said he was a TV junkie.

"Television has become where people seek creativity in terms of challenge now," he said, adding that he was working on a TV version of the 1960s sci-fi film "Barbarella".

Winding Refn also highlighted the changes brought by online providers such as Netflix which this year released all 13 episodes of the big-budget "House of Cards" with Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright to its subscribers.

British actress Kristin Scott Thomas, who plays the evil mother in Refn's film, said television was a great medium for actors because it gave them a far larger audience.

"It is very satisfying when millions of people watch something you have made," she said.

(Additional reporting by Rollo Ross; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

REDMOND, Washington (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp unveiled the "Xbox One" on Tuesday, its first new gaming console in eight years, and its strongest push so far to dominate consumers' living rooms with an array of exclusive media content.

The Xbox One took four years to develop and will be the launchpad for a "Halo" live-action video series produced by Steven Spielberg.

It will be sold worldwide "later this year," games unit chief Don Mattrick told reporters at an event at the software company's campus near Seattle, without providing details on timing or pricing.

The device will also be the first platform to release the next installment in Activision Blizzard Inc's blockbuster shooter franchise, "Call of Duty".

Microsoft hopes its third-generation Xbox console will attract video game fans who are increasingly sampling games on mobile devices, while also becoming a hub for living room entertainment.

The new device interacts with a television, responds to voice and gesture commands, includes group video calling on Skype, 15 exclusive game titles and original programming content.

The Xbox One will chiefly compete with Nintendo Co's new Wii U and Sony Corp's forthcoming PlayStation 4 for a bigger slice of the $65 billion-a-year computer game market.

Microsoft did not refer to the new gadget as a "console" but rather an entertainment system, signaling its renewed focus on making the Xbox a sort of window for media and entertainment content, said Forrester Research's James McQuivey.

The software giant is "trying to break out of the category" and risks having to battle not just Sony and Nintendo but Apple Inc, Google Inc and others to control consumer entertainment in the age of Smart TVs, tablets and smartphones, he said.

Acclaimed movie maker Steven Spielberg will be executive-producing a television series based on Microsoft's blockbuster sci-fi game "Halo" -- one of the game industry's largest franchises by revenue -- for the Xbox One.

The new console will also offer exclusive National Football League content and eight new game franchises, executives said.

Yusuf Mehdi, SVP of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business declined to put a figure on the company's investment in exclusive game and video content, but called it a "very serious commitment," in an interview with Reuters.

CONSOLE TO MOBILE

Console gaming still accounts for the largest share, of about 42 percent, of the $65 billion world gaming market, according to Microsoft. But playing games on smartphones and tablets is gaining ground.

Videogame publishers have moved towards integrating their games across consoles, PCs and mobile devices to keep gamers engaged. Microsoft said it will have an updated SmartGlass app that connects the Xbox One to tablets and smartphones.

"This is what we needed, a machine that could connect all the possibilities the devices that exist can bring," Yves Guillemot, CEO of games publisher Ubisoft, told Reuters.

The device will have 8 gigabytes of memory and comes with a new-generation Kinect sensor that communicates a user's voice and gesture commands to the console.

The original Kinect was launched in 2010 and sold separately. Bundling the Kinect -- which costs $100 in the current version -- may inflate the Xbox One's overall price tag.

Mehdi said Microsoft is still "evaluating" sale price.

"As a gamer, I wanted to see the additional features to make the gaming experience better," said Dennis "Thresh" Fong, a former professional video gamer and now CEO of gamer network Raptr.

Sony had touted the new PlayStation 4's live streaming of games and social features like a "share" button on its controller when it announced its new console, Fong said.

Despite its strong brand and 'cool' factor, the Xbox itself is not a key financial factor for the world's largest software maker. Its Entertainment & Devices unit is set to break $10 billion in sales for the first time this year, but that's half the sales of its Windows unit, and a lot less profitable, averaging less than 15 percent margin compared to 60 percent or higher for Windows or Office.

The company has more than 46 million users of its online gaming and digital entertainment service Xbox Live. That is still a fraction of the people who pay for its software.

Microsoft's stock closed down 0.7 percent at $34.85.

"Xbox is not going to move the revenue needle but it might change the business model for the better as Microsoft tries to learn how to have the kind of relationship Xbox does" with consumers, McQuivey said.

(Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Dan Grebler, Nick Zieminski and Andrew Hay)

Would it be tacky for me to request this of Mom if I tell her why? I don't want to offend anyone, and I know the person who inherits her jewelry will probably pawn or sell it anyway. (I'd also like to keep it on the down low so my partner doesn't find out until the ring is given to him.) What do you think, Abby? -- PHIL IN PENNSYLVANIA

DEAR PHIL: I think what you have in mind is beautiful, and I can't imagine why your partner's mother would object if you raise the subject. Estate planning is a fact of life. However, if she doesn't wish to change her will, and you think the granddaughter is likely to pawn the ring anyway, you could offer to buy it from the granddaughter when the time comes.

DEAR ABBY: Is it proper to invite men to a bridal shower? -- CURIOUS GUY IN MINNESOTA

DEAR CURIOUS GUY: According to Emily Post: "Today, showers are just as likely to include the groom and his male friends."

There's nothing improper about asking men to participate. The purpose of a shower for a bridal couple (or the expected arrival of a baby) is to celebrate the upcoming event and express good wishes. It's also a way to give the couple things they'll need.

DEAR ABBY: I am no advice columnist, but may I offer a few wise words to future brides?

I have been married for 25 years and have never had an argument with my mother-in-law. Never! My mother gave me some valuable advice before my wedding that I'd like to pass along. She said, "Always respect the woman who made the man you love."

I never forgot it, and my MIL has always been welcome in my home for as long as she wishes. If we had any differences, a respectful dialogue was opened right away -- especially if it concerned our kids' education.

We have enjoyed shopping, eating, cooking, parties, caring for newborns and family moments together for as long as I can remember. Sadly, she is now frail and can no longer travel as much as she once could.

The women who made our husbands deserve all the respect we can offer them because if we are happy as wives, it is thanks to all of them. -- SIMONE IN SAN FRANCISCO

DEAR SIMONE: Your mother is an intelligent lady, and so are you for having taken her advice to heart. Because few people are in total agreement about everything, there is much to be learned when adults can air their opinions respectfully. This is true of all human relationships.

Because today is Mother's Day, I would like to wish a happy Mother's Day to mothers everywhere, be they birth mothers, adoptive and foster mothers, stepmothers or grandmothers who are raising grandchildren. I applaud you all.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby ator P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

Good advice for everyone -- teens to seniors -- is in "The Anger in All of Us and How to Deal With It." To order, send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $7 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Anger Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to U.S. federal charges he laundered millions of dollars of government money through U.S. and European bank accounts.

A grand jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan indicted Portillo in 2009, accusing him of laundering tens of millions of dollars that it said he embezzled from the Guatemalan government.

Portillo, 61, who was president of Guatemala from 2000 to 2004, is charged with a single count of money laundering conspiracy. He faces a maximum prison term of 20 years.

He entered a not guilty plea in his first court appearance since his Central American homeland extradited him to the United States last week.

A Guatemalan court cleared Portillo of local embezzlement charges in May 2011, but the country's Supreme Court later endorsed an extradition request from the United States.

Sitting before U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson, Portillo, who wore a dark green suit, listened to a translator through earphones during the proceedings and spoke little beyond confirming his plea.

One of his lawyers, David Rosenfield, said bail was "absolutely appropriate" for Portillo and he will submit a bail request within the next two weeks.

"This is a case of clear over-reaching" by the U.S. government, Rosenfield said outside the courthouse after the hearing. He added that Portillo would "vigorously defend himself."

Portillo suffers from a heart ailment as well as a lung problem that is aggravated by the powerful air conditioning at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where the former Guatemalan leader is being held, Rosenfield told the judge. He asked if the jail could perhaps cover the vent in Portillo's cell, or make some other accommodation.

The indictment accuses Portillo of diverting most of $1.5 million in donations from the Taiwanese government, which were meant to provide books to libraries, to Paris bank accounts in the name of his former wife and daughter. He also is accused of embezzling $3.9 million from the Guatemalan Ministry of Defense, in part to finance a private land deal.

"After three years of fighting his extradition, Alfonso Portillo has finally arrived in the United States to answer for his alleged misappropriation of millions of dollars intended for the benefit of the people of Guatemala" and laundered through U.S. banks, said Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a statement.

(Reporting by Bernard Vaughan; editing by Andrew Hay)

That line of thought, while not exactly new, has manifested most recently in the considerable hype surrounding massive open online courses MOOCs. While specific MOOC iterations vary in their details, the name refers to classes distributed online (and thus available to a massive audience) and open to all comers (meaning, usually, no charge): Lectures are consumed via web video, discussions happen on dedicated message boards, testing is administered online. Despite the fact that many MOOC experiments have been offered gratis, the idea has inspired several startups that clearly see profit potential downthe road. Recently in The New Yorker, Nathan Heller took , a nonprofit MOOC outfit backed by M.I.T. and Harvard.

The latest bit of MOOC-news comes from the Georgia Institute of Technology, which just last weekthat,, it will offer a full-on masters degree in computer science in MOOC format or rather, Georgia Tech College of Computing Dean Zvi Galil corrected me, a MOOC 2.0 format. The program begins in 2014, and seems worth keeping an eye on. Galil certainly isnt shy about its potential: Were doing it because we want to lead the revolution, he tells me.

Per the usual MOOC dynamic, the program will be open to anyone. But if you want the outcome to include not just edification but an actual, accredited,Georgia Tech Online Master of Science in Computer Science degree, thatll cost you: under $7,000, . Given that out-of-state tuition at the school is north of $26,000, and Galil says completing the offline equivalent degree typically takes a year and a half, that seems a bargain. (Even before you figure in the incalculable value of living anywhere besides Atlanta!) And obviously the cost factor is even more significant if you benchmark against the many schools that are .

Thus the scenario raises two seemingly contradictory questions. One is whether using a MOOC platform could cost the school real-world (and higher-paying)students. Galil suggests that, revolution notwithstanding, this isnt a big worry. The MOOC format will be most appealing to far-flunglooking to burnish their credentials, and skill set, without uprooting their lives.

Eventually, he muses, the on-campus program might be somewhat reduced. But with face-to-face interaction, community, and career opportunities that stem from company visits and the like, showing up in person remains as attractive as ever in the short-term, and will always offer advantages. Physical universities (or good ones at least) where networking and other aspects of campus life remain meaningful, will survive, he says. Im sure of that.

The second question, then, is what would motivate someone to pay the $7,000 at all. If you can go through the exact same program for free (or some nominal sum), and learn the exact same skills, then are you paying for an education or a credential? Actually, Galil says, this gets at the 2.0 bit of this MOOC variation, and its a response to demand. Students want the credential, the credit, a degree, he says.

Georgia Tech, he continues, has experimented with computer-aided teaching for decades, and in the past year has offered more than a dozen MOOC-style courses. One of these, but most have gotten rave reviews, according to Galil. Still, he says this experience has helped identify some limitations of the MOOC idea as its been realized to date.

Most notably, its been widely noted that the vast majority of people who start any given no-charge MOOC 90 percent or more dont make it to the end. Quite a number drop before the first assignment, Galil notes. Somebody paying to earn a real degree is less likely to do that, he contends, and part of what theyll get for the money is a real infrastructure of student services: mentors, exams administered in testing centers, and similar additions that will make these courses valid.

With many details still to be sorted, Galil confidently declares that the university is moving into uncharted territory. And really, who knows how the MOOC notion will play out? But the truth is, the actual risks involved for a serious university exploring this territory are pretty low. If it doesnt work out, thats part of being on the bleeding edge of technology, which is where any technology-education program wants to be. If it does turn out to be a crucial early shot in some revolution, well, even better. The real future of technology and education is unknowable, but the present is obvious: Experiment with disruptive educational technologies, to quote . Its the 2.0 thing to do.

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc has submitted a formal proposal to buy Hulu, joining a growing list of bidders for the video service owned by News Corp and Walt Disney Co, two sources with knowledge of the bid told Reuters on Friday.

Yahoo just this week announced a $1.1 billion acquisition of blogging service Tumblr. It now joins rival bidders for Hulu, including Time Warner Cable Inc, DirecTV, former News Corp president Peter Chernin and Guggenheim Digital Media, sources have said.

It is unclear how much the Internet company bid.

Sources have said Chernin is bidding $500 million, excluding an additional sum to cover Hulu's debt and programming commitments. But a source close to the bidding told Reuters his offer was too low, that Hulu could be worth as much as $1 billion to $2 billion.

Time Warner Cable's bid was fashioned as an equity investment, another person said, as the cable operator hopes to set up a joint venture with other cable companies to operate Hulu.

Yahoo did not respond to requests for comment. Its shares closed up 1.2 percent at $26.33.

At least five bidders have emerged for the five-year-old video service with 4 million users, potentially setting up a bidding competition. A second source close to the bidding said the offers submitted so far were non-binding and dependent on Hulu amending content licensing agreements the bidders found too restrictive.

Silver Lake, a minority owner of influential Hollywood talent agency William Morris Endeavor, has also submitted an indicative letter of interest, the source familiar with the Hulu bidding said, confirming an earlier Bloomberg report. The private equity firm teamed up with William Morris Endeavor, which it invested in a year ago, for the bid, according to the source.

Hulu, which generated revenues of around $700 million last year, streams TV shows online in similar fashion to Netflix Inc. It is being advised in the sale by Guggenheim Partners, a separately funded group from the digital media unit that placed the bid.

Yahoo has gone on an acquisition spree to bring in talent as well as beef up its mobile and online products and content, as CEO Marissa Mayer tries to revive a once-dominant Internet icon that has for years bled users.

Yahoo remains one of the Web's most popular destinations, but has seen its revenue shrink, as consumers and advertisers favor rivals such as Google Inc and Facebook Inc.

(Writing by Edwin Chan. Editing by Andre Grenon)