Behind them, four more South Koreans and Australian Matthew Griffin were bunched together in a tie for the third place on a day of low scoring in the OneAsia Tour event being played at the par-72 Namseoul Country Club on the outskirts of Seoul.

The 39-year-old Pilkadaris attributed his strong showing on Thursday to the extra effort he put in to improve his game on the greens after struggling over the final three days of last week's China Open, where he played as a late replacement.

"I putted poorly at the weekend - actually the last three rounds were disappointing - and so after the (final) round, I just went to the putting green," Pilkadaris told reporters after his bogey-free round.

Cho also credited his work on the greens as the catalyst for a spotless round.

"My putting was really good today but actually the score looks better than the golf... I was scrambling a bit out there," he said.

Defending champion Kim Bi-o recorded a double-bogey six at the par-four 18th to fall back into a tie for 62nd after an even-par round of 72. (Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by John O'Brien)

The Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday listed thousands of hospitals' charges for 100 common Medicare services.

There are vast disparities. Joint replacement prices range from about $5,000 at an Ada, Okla., hospital to about $220,000 in Monterey Park, Calif. It's not just geography hospitals within the same cities also vary widely.

Medicare and insurance companies negotiate lower rates than these "list prices." These prices can affect the co-pays that hit insured patients.

Releasing the information may put pressure on hospitals to lower charges that are out of line.

While it may seem natural to zero in on "," such a narrow focus would exclude many potentially life-supporting exoplanets, whose diversity continues to astound astronomers, says Sara Seager of MIT.

And researchers can't afford to be so picky, she adds, since they'll be able to get in-depth looks at just a handful of alien worlds for the foreseeable future. []

"The number of planets that we're going to be able to see in our lifetime and look at their atmospheres for is so small that we're forced to be open-minded," Seager told SPACE.com.

Seager discusses habitability in a review article published online today (May 2) in the journal Science.

A dazzling diversity of alien worlds

Scientists discovered the first alien planet around a sunlike star in 1995. Since then, the tally has grown to more than 700 (or more than 800, depending on whose list is consulted), with thousands more candidates waiting to be confirmed by follow-up observations.

Some of these alien worlds are broadly similar to planets in our own solar system. But many others are truly alien enormous "hot Jupiters" that whip around their parent stars at extremely close range, for example, or "" that cruise through the cold depths of space alone, with no parent star.

"If there is one important lesson from exoplanets, it is that anything is possible within the laws of physics and chemistry," Seager writes in the Science article. "Planets of almost all masses, sizes and orbits have been detected, illustrating not only the stochastic nature of planet formation but also a subsequent migration through the planetary disk from the planets place of origin." []

Intriguingly, a number of planets have been spotted orbiting within the so-called "" that just-right range of distances from a star where liquid water is possible on a world's surface. (Water is required for life as we know it here on Earth and has thus spurred astrobiologists to "follow the water" on other planets, Seager writes.)

Just where this habitable zone lies for each planet depends on a number of factors, most crucially its host star's brightness and the planet's atmospheric makeup.

"It's really all about the greenhouse gases," Seager told SPACE.com. "The greenhouse gases are like a blanket that moderates the temperature at the surface."

Extending the habitable zone

The conventional definition of the habitable zone assumes a roughly Earth-like atmosphere, dominated by nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapor. But the huge diversity of alien worlds argues for a new way of thinking, writes Seager, who literally wrote the book on exoplanet atmospheres ("Exoplanet Atmospheres: Physical Processes," Princeton University Press, 2010).

For example, large and/or chilly alien worlds could conceivably hang onto their gaseous molecular hydrogen, which long ago escaped from small planets such as Earth, Venus and Mars.

Hydrogen is a powerful greenhouse gas that could make liquid water possible on a number of worlds far beyond the outer edge of the traditional habitable zone and perhaps even on seemingly frigid rogue planets, Seager writes.

Similarly, the habitable zone may extend inward, toward the host star, on "dry" rocky planets whose atmospheres have much less water vapor than Earth's does. So it's best to consider alien planets' potential to support life individually, on a case-by-case basis, Seager says.

Looking for life

Seager and others stress that a better understanding of exoplanet habitability is key to the next phase of the alien life hunt, which seeks to search promising candidates' atmospheres for water vapor and gases that may have been produced by life.

Astronomers have already scanned the air of a few dozen planets using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and other instruments, Seager said. But those were hot Jupiters with big, puffy atmospheres relatively easy targets that aren't intriguing from an astrobiological perspective.

Scientists plan to do the same with smaller, potentially habitable worlds soon, Seager said. They'll use the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which NASA recently approved for a 2017 launch, to identify promising candidates relatively close to Earth. Then NASA's (which is scheduled to blast off in 2018) will follow up, getting an in-depth look at these worlds' air.

Though JWST is designed to be incredibly powerful, the $8.8 billion instrument will probably only be able to investigate the atmospheres of exoplanets that lie within a few tens of light-years from Earth, Seager added.

Seager said she hopes her review article in Science helps her fellow astronomers make the most of this small pool of observable candidates.

"I hope it gets people to realize that so many types of worlds could be habitable, and that our chance of finding one is higher when we accept that," she told SPACE.com.

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The shy, skinny antelope was born on March 6 to mother Layla and father Woody, and the family can now be seen in the zoo's gerenuk exhibit.

"Blossom has just begun venturing out into her yard and thoroughly enjoys it as she runs and jumps to the delight of her first visitors," zoo officials said in a statement. "Between bursts of speed, though, she likes to catch her breath in a cubby hole between some rocks. Blossom is also Layla's first calf and she is proving to be a very attentive mother, frequently making sure to clean and check on Blossom."

The word "gerenuk" appropriately means "giraffe-necked" in the Somali language. These long-necked creatures, which are native to eastern Africa, can weigh between 60 to 100 pounds (27 to 45 kilograms) and stand about 3.5 feet (1 meter) tall on four legs. But their uniquely designed hips and pelvises also allow theseto stand up vertically on their two hind legs to reach leaves and twigs in trees.

Blossom is the first gerenuk born at the Denver Zoo. Her parents were paired through the Species Survival Plan of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The organization acts like a matchmaker, recommending which animals should mate to ensure that captive populations ofremain healthy and genetically diverse.

There are thought to be about 95,000 gerenuks in the wild and the species is listed as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). These antelopes are world-class hiders, which means they can endure some pressures of hunting in their native home, but they are also threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, according to the IUCN.

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Three of them, actually.

Manti Te'o. Geno Smith. Matt Barkley.

The trio returned for a fourth year of college football and look what it got them.

Heartache. Embarrassment. And, certainly in the case of Barkley, a much lighter wallet than he would've had a year ago.

The first round of the NFL draft came and went.

All three were left waiting by the phone. It never rang.

That's a harsh lesson every rising junior with pro aspirations should heed. Think only of yourself.

If there's a chance to dramatically improve your draft position, then stay in school. If you're already projected as a first-rounder, it's time to get started on your real job. Rest assured, the school will get along just fine without you. Sure, a college degree is great to have, but you can always finish up those last few classes in the offseason.

After getting passed over Thursday night, Te'o must've been having second thoughts.

We'll never know for sure if the Notre Dame linebacker would've been a first-round pick in 2012, as many projected, going on the assumption that he wouldn't done any better in the 40-yard dash than the painfully slow time he turned in at this year's combine. But at least he wouldn't have been lugging around all that off-the-field baggage a ruse of a relationship with a girlfriend that wasn't plus a stinker of a performance against Alabama in the national championship game.

Even if the whole sordid affair with the fake girlfriend had still occurred, chances are it wouldn't have been discovered until Te'o had already signed a pro contract. The money would've already been in the bank.

Instead, he's left to wonder how much money he left on the table by returning to the Fighting Irish for what seemed a dream season until it took an oh-so-wrong turn at the end.

Ditto for Smith, who blossomed as a junior in West Virginia's wide-open offense, throwing for more than 4,300 yards with 31 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. If he had decided to go pro at that point, the last bit of tape NFL scouts would've had on him was a 70-33 rout of Clemson in the Orange Bowl, when he threw for a record six touchdowns and 401 yards to earn the MVP award.

Smith kept it going through his first give games as a senior, when he was the hands-down favorite to win the Heisman Trophy and looked every bit like a guy who would be the top pick in the draft. He and the Mountaineers were unstoppable, averaging more than 50 points a game.

Unfortunately, the season still had eight games to go.

There was another side to the mountain, and it was all downhill.

Smith still put up some dazzling numbers 4,205 yards passing, 42 touchdowns, just six interceptions but West Virginia dropped six of its last eight, including a blowout loss to Syracuse in the Pinstripe Bowl. Suddenly, everyone was finding flaws in Smith's game. His confidence was shaky. He setup and delivery were faulty. He was too emotional, too loose with the ball.

Heck, some pointed out that he didn't play well in poor weather which comes off as the ultimate bit of nitpicking.

Even so, Smith still expected to go somewhere in the first round, maybe even among the top 10 picks. That's why he turned up at Radio City Music Hall in New York with all the other projected first-rounders. For most of them, their dreams came true. All Smith could do was look on glumly as one player after another went ahead of him even a teammate he helped look so good, receiver Tavon Austin, selected at No. 8 by the St. Louis Rams.

Te'o stayed away from New York, allowing him to sort out whatever anger or humiliation he was feeling in private. That was the right call, showing he does have the ability to make good decisions beyond the online dating world.

On Friday finally! both Te'o and Smith heard their names. Back to back, no less. The Notre Dame star went to San Diego in the second round with the 38th overall pick; Smith was selected next by the New York Jets.

Barkley was still waiting. Amazingly, he wasn't picked in the first three rounds passed over through a total of 97 selections. The last four rounds will be held Saturday.

The guess here is that Te'o will turn out to be a good, solid pro, while Smith has a shot at greatness. Certainly, no other rookies will have a bigger chip on their shoulders.

When asked to analyze Te'o, former NFL coach-turned-TV analyst Jon Gruden said, "He's got a real good football aptitude. He plays faster, I think, than people give him credit. I think he's a very good, instinctive, high-effort, well-coached inside linebacker that's got to prove he can play on every down. There is no question about that. But I'm really confident that he can do it."

As for Smith: "It's very underestimated what this kid can do from a football standpoint. He does a lot above the neck as well as making plays with his arm and his mobility."

Then there's Barkley, who was being mentioned in the same breath with Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III before last year's draft.

Not anymore.

Barkley, for some reason, returned to Southern Cal for one more year. Maybe he was counting on less competition at the quarterback position in the 2013 draft (and, indeed, only one QB was taken Thursday). Maybe he truly wanted to take another shot at a national championship with a team that was pegged as the preseason No. 1.

Whatever the case, Barkley couldn't have been more wrong in his decision, at least from a financial point of view. The Trojans didn't come close to living up to the hype, barely finishing with more wins than losses (7-6). He threw twice as many interceptions and wound up spraining his shoulder in a late-season game, which raised more doubts in the eyes of the scouts.

Barkley's stock dropped so severely that, frankly, it would've been a surprise if he had been picked in the first round.

"I think Barkley's going to be a starter in the league at some point," Gruden said, not sounding nearly as upbeat as he did about the other two. "He's going to be a guy that relies on his system, complete execution around him. I think his supporting cast is going to be important to him."

Now, Barkley will tell you that he has no regrets about his decision to return to USC. He'll tell you that getting the chance to be a leader during tough times will help him down the road.

Hogwash.

Barkley blew it.

So did Te'o and Smith.

All those juniors-to-be out there better not to make the same mistake.

___

Paul Newberry in a national writer for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry(at)ap.org or www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963

LONDON (Reuters) - Liverpool striker Luis Suarez was handed a 10-match suspension by the Football Association (FA) on Wednesday following his bite on Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic at the weekend.

Suarez accepted a charge of violent conduct after the incident in the 2-2 Premier League draw at Anfield on Sunday but disputed the FA view that it merited more than a three-game ban.

An Independent Regulatory Commission met in London on Wednesday to decide the Uruguayan international's fate and added seven games to the usual ban for violent conduct.

The suspension begins immediately, meaning Liverpool's leading scorer will miss his side's last four games of the season and the first six at the beginning of next term.

Liverpool, who expressed their shock at the Commission's decision, have until Friday (1100 GMT) to appeal.

"Both the club and player are shocked and disappointed at the severity of today's Independent Regulatory Commission decision," Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre said in a statement on the club's website (www.liverpoolfc.com).

"We await the written reasons tomorrow (Thursday) before making any further comment."

Suarez's bite on Ivanovic's arm at Anfield was missed by referee Kevin Friend but television replays showed him sinking his teeth into the Serbian.

WIDELY CONDEMNED

The 26-year-old Suarez, who was banned for biting an opponent while with Dutch club Ajax before joining Liverpool in 2011, apologized after the game and was fined a reported 200,000 pounds ($305,700) by the club.

However, he was widely condemned for his behavior with some reports suggesting he was in danger of being sacked by the club, although Liverpool said this week that they wanted the Uruguayan to see out his four-year contract.

The FA said a three-match ban was "clearly insufficient" for the serious nature of the offence.

There was widespread support for the length of the punishment imposed with former Liverpool player Graeme Souness telling Sky Sports News: "I think 10 games is about right.

"What he did on Sunday is something I've never seen in a game anywhere before."

Former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp agreed.

"I think you have to accept that the crime that he committed probably warranted a 10-game ban," he said.

"It was an awful act of brutality really what he did and now he won't play for such a long time - it's is going to hit him where it hurts because he wants to play football."

Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) chief executive Gordon Taylor said the length of the sanction sent out a "strong message" but that it was important that the player received counseling to make sure it did not happen again.

Not everyone backed the FA's decision.

"Players who break peoples' legs, who do horrible tackles, get a three-game ban," former Liverpool striker John Aldridge told Sky Sports News.

"It's inconsistent. For me, it's not right, it's over the top."

Controversy has followed Suarez since he joined Liverpool, with his antics often overshadowing his impact on the pitch.

He served an eight-match ban for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra last season and later angered United manager Alex Ferguson by failing to shake the French defender's hand before their league match in February last year.

He has also been regularly accused of diving to win penalties and free kicks, while in an FA Cup tie this season against minor league Mansfield Town he was again criticized for scoring a goal despite a blatant handball.

Until Manchester United forward Robin Van Persie's hat-trick against Aston Villa on Monday that secured the title, Suarez was leading scorer in the league with 23 goals and he is included on a six-player shortlist for PFA Player of the Year.

($1 = 0.6542 British pounds)

(Reporting by Martyn Herman and Sonia Oxley; Editing by Ed Osmond)

Apple Inc, which analysts say provides about 30 percent of LG Display's revenue, is facing intensifying competition from Samsung and up-and-coming rivals. A disappointing forecast by a U.S. supplier to Apple last week heightened fears about slowing demand for the iPhone and iPad, pushing shares of Asian suppliers including LG Display sharply lower.

LG Display, which vies with Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's panel unit for the top position in LCD flat screens globally, made 151 billion won ($135 million) in operating profit in its January-March first quarter. That compared with the average forecast of a 147 billion won profit in a Thomson Reuters poll of analysts.

It was the South Korean company's fourth straight quarterly profit after seven straight quarters of losses, as makers of liquid crystal display panels have since curtailed output after about two years of oversupply.

The result was also a sharp improvement from a loss of 211 billion won a year earlier. But it was down 74 percent from the previous quarter, hurt by a seasonal slowdown in demand and by weaker sales to Apple, which is scheduled to report quarterly results on Tuesday.

Sales of tablet and smartphone panels, which are largely bought by Apple, accounted for 27 percent of LG Display's total screen shipments in the first quarter, down from 31 percent in the fourth quarter.

Jay Yoo, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities, estimated before the results announcement that LG Display's panel shipments for the iPhone 5 and the latest iPad had fallen 42 percent and 66 percent, respectively, from the prior quarter as Apple struggles with slowing sales growth.

On Tuesday, Apple is expected to report just an 8 percent increase in revenue for its fiscal second quarter, among the weakest showings in years, according to analysts' estimates.

Still, analysts see earnings for LG Display improving in the coming quarters as Apple is expected to introduce upgraded products later this year, and as demand for mobile device screens from affiliate LG Electronics Inc increases.

Samsung Securities analyst Harrison Cho expects Apple to introduce a less costly iPhone around July, helping LG Display improve its sales to Apple from June when initial parts shipments are expected to begin.

LG Display said on Monday that it expects panel shipments will rise by 5 percent to 10 percent in the second quarter from the previous quarter.

Shares in LG Display have fallen about 3 percent in the year to date, compared with a roughly 5 percent drop in the benchmark KOSPI index. The stock closed 2.2 percent higher prior to the results announcement.

(Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

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Unlike SOPA which was widely condemned in the tech community,  CISPA has the support of some major tech companies for the bill's measures meant to help them fight hackers. Last year  came out in support of the legislation. And though it has since  its official support, the industry lobbying group TechNet, whose members include Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and Microsoft, : "This bill recognizes the need for effective cybersecurity legislation that encourages voluntary, bi-directional, real time sharing of actionable cyber threat information to protect networks." A few days later, the House passed that bill. Thecompanies found here also includes IBM and HP. 

RELATED:

These organizations like the law because it makes it easier for them to share data about hacking without getting in trouble. In the last few months alone , , andhave all made a public to do about their company's security breaches. But that's surely . Often organizations keep quiet when hacks happen not only fearful that they will look unsafe and spook users, but because sharing certain data could get them in legal trouble. Specifically, the legislation, if passed, would protect companies from being sued for breaking their Terms of Service agreement to hand over user information to the government deemed a threat to cyber security. 

RELATED:

While that sounds like a worthy cause, privacy advocates fear the vague language would lead to an abuse of powers. That "" of combating cyber crime, the government would have access to health records, banking information, and other personal data without needing a court ordered warrant. Because of that, most of the protest has come from interest groups concerned with the privacy implications of the bill. Much like SOPA, the bill has a lot of vague language, which "undermines the privacy of millions of Internet users," . This Reddit thread pretty much sums up the problem with the bill:

It could allow private companies to share your personal information with other companies and the government without informing you of it. The wording that relates to what information can be shared is vague, which raises concerns about what personal information of yours will be shared. The bill has been changed over time to address some of these concerns but most privacy advocates feel that it still has large loopholes that could be abused.

For those who want to join in on these protest,this handy tool for contacting your senator about the bill. Or, you can add your profile to the blackout, tweet about it with the #StopCISPA hashtag, or change your profile picture to the widget to the right. 

RELATED:

Though, all these protests might be overkill for a bill going nowhere anyway. The regulation has "few friends" in the Senate, . And President Obama hasto veto the bill if it makes it to his desk. 

DUBLIN (Reuters) - A growing number of EU countries do not want the European Commission to launch an investigation into Chinese telecoms equipment makers Huawei and ZTE, Sweden said on Thursday.

The European Commission, the EU's executive body, has been collecting evidence to prepare a possible case against the two companies over alleged state subsidies that would allow them to undercut European competitors.

EU trade investigations normally begin with a company complaint, but manufacturers Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens have not lodged one.

Trade sources say they do not wish to do so because of fear of being shut out of the growing Chinese telecom equipment market in retaliation, rather than because they do not believe Chinese companies are benefiting from subsidies.

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht told a news conference in Dublin he had brought the topic up at a meeting of EU trade ministers on Thursday. He declined to elaborate or say when the Commission might decide on any possible investigation.

Swedish Trade Minister Ewa Bjorling told Reuters that a majority of her counterparts indicated that they did not support the launch of an investigation.

"Not all member states spoke out, but of those that spoke, a majority was for our position," she said.

One trade diplomat close to the discussions said only four member states out of the 27 spoke in favor of an investigation, and did not include Germany, the EU's biggest economy.

While it is for the Commission to decide whether it wishes to launch such an investigation, EU countries decide whether or not to impose punitive duties for subsidies or dumping.

The Commission is investigating 30 dumping and subsidy cases, 19 of them involving China. Last year it launched its largest investigation to date, into the alleged dumping of, and subsidies for, an annual 21 billion euros ($27 billion) of solar panels and components that China exports to the EU.

The European Union is China's biggest trading partner, while for the EU, China is second only to the United States and the friction risks sparking a trade war.

An internal EU report last year recommended that the EU should take action against Chinese telecom equipment makers as their increasing dominance of mobile networks made them a threat to security as well as to homegrown companies.

Huawei has denied that it has received unfair subsidies and that its advantages are due to low-cost manufacturing and innovation. It says it complies with international laws and maintains that is products are secure.

China's ambassador to the EU, Wu Hailong, said earlier on Thursday in Brussels that the rising trade frictions between China and EU were worrisome.

"The EU side has been frequently resorting to trade remedy measures to restrict access of Chinese products to the EU market," he said. "The negative practice is counterproductive to the sound, sustained and stable development of China-EU trade relations."

(Additional reporting by Ethan Bilby in Brussels; editing by Ron Askew)

Laying much of the blame on a lack of leadership and vision, he railed against governments for falling short on nuclear disarmament, waste, development and climate change.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate launched the Geneva-based organization in 1993 as a kind of Red Cross that could help countries in environmental trouble.

Reflecting on the 20 years since then, the 82-year-old Gorbachev acknowledged deep frustrations as an environmental crusader.

"The current economic crisis is being aggravated by the growing pressure on the environment, by poverty, by persisting international conflicts and by the worsening state of the global environment," a bespectacled Gorbachev said in Russian to reporters in Geneva by video link.

"The gap between the poor and the rich is unacceptably wide. The response to climate change has been weak and disunited," he said. "The possibility of building a more secure, more just and more united world has been largely missed."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says that among his top hopes for 2013 is reaching a new agreement on climate change. Two-decade-old U.N. climate talks have so far failed in their goal of reducing the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that a vast majority of scientists says are warming the planet.

Last December, a U.N. climate conference in Doha, Qatar, agreed to extend the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that limits the greenhouse gas output of some rich countries, and affirmed a previous decision to adopt a new global climate pact by 2015.

Green Cross, an international organization with affiliates in Switzerland, the United States and two dozen other nations, has helped facilitate destruction of some 57,000 tons of chemical weapons and promoted nuclear disarmament.

Alexander Likhotal, the Green Cross president, said leaders must be honest about the size of the real challenges facing them and recognize that "incremental gestures will no longer suffice."

Gorbachev, whose democratic changes led against his will to the collapse of the Soviet Union, urged governments to step up their efforts and use his policies of "perestroika" (restructuring) and "glasnost" (openness) to address global climate change and overconsumption of resources.