The president chose the bustling Texas capital as a backdrop to refocus on higher wages, education and a manufacturing-driven agenda that had been eclipsed by his struggles over gun control and spending cuts and his push for an overhaul of immigration laws.

"You might not know this, because if you listen to all the doom and gloom in Washington and politics, and watching cable TV sometimes you might get kind of thinking nothing is going right," Obama told students at a technology high school. "The truth is there's a lot of reasons for us to feel optimistic about where we're headed as a country."

"Thanks to grit and determination of the American people, we cleared away the rubble of the worst economic crisis in our lifetime," he continued.

Still, Obama said that while housing markets are improving, corporate profits are skyrocketing and the energy and auto industries are thriving, there remains a need to boost the middle class.

The president's visit to Austin is the first in a series of field trips aimed at giving a high profile to the economy and jobs, issues still clearly at the forefront of the public's concerns.

In addition to his appearance at Manor New Technology High School, Obama also toured an Applied Materials Inc. plant. The company provides equipment, services and software to the semiconductor, flat panel display and solar power industries.

"We want the next revolution in manufacturing to be made in America," he told plant workers.

By traveling to Texas to begin this renewed attention to his jobs initiatives Obama chose a state represented by two of the most conservative Republican members of the Senate John Cornyn and tea party hero Ted Cruz. Texas also has the second-highest Hispanic population in the country, an attractive demographic group for Democrats and a key audience for Obama as he also pushes for an overhaul of immigration laws.

The emphasis on jobs and on the needs of the middle class comes amid signs that the economy is continuing to recover, that the private sector is hiring, though not at an optimal rate, and that the stock market is maintaining a record setting pace. But Obama is not necessarily benefitting from those trends, and hidden behind the positive numbers are stagnant wages, reduced working hours and low-wage hiring. What's more, with a 7.5 percent unemployment rate, nearly 12 million Americans are out of work.

An Associate Press-GfK poll last month showed that the percentage of the public that believes the country is headed in the wrong direction has been rising as has the percentage of people who disapprove of Obama's handling of the economy.

"We've got to make sure that middle-class wages and incomes are also going up, because most families haven't seen their take-home pay rise for years now," he said.

Addressing persistent fiscal issues, including broad based budget cuts that the government is now confronting, he said: "Our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in years, but now we've got to budget in a smarter way so it doesn't hurt middle-class families or prevent us from making the critical investments that we need for your future."

The White House also used the trip as an opportunity to launch administrative initiatives to demonstrate continued action even as his bigger proposals find opposition in Congress.

Among the initiatives is a competition to create three new Manufacturing Innovation Institutes, partnerships among businesses, universities and government to help U.S.-based manufacturers and workers create good jobs. Five federal agencies the Defense, Energy and Commerce departments, NASA and the National Science Foundation are putting $200 million toward the effort.

"We believe that manufacturing is worthy of that priority because it punches above its weight economically," said Gene Sperling, director of Obama's National Economic Council.

Before his remarks, Obama toured a classroom at the technology high school, marveling at solar powered model cars. After his remarks he rolled up his sleeves and joined a nurse, a teacher, a drywall contractor and a small business owner for lunch at Stubb's, a local barbecue restaurant.

He also stopped by a technology start-up working space in downtown Austin, where he met with entrepreneurs, several of whom were demonstrating their companies' work. Praising their innovations, he warned that China could possibly leap ahead of the United States on research.

"So we've got to get our act together," Obama told them.

It was Obama's second trip to Texas in two weeks. He was greeted at the foot of Air Force One by Republican Gov. Rick Perry, a critic of the president's policies. The two men chatted as they walked across the tarmac.

The attention to jobs comes amid questions about whether the second-term president has enough sway to get his agenda through a divided Congress before attention turns to the November 2014 midterm elections. Since his second inauguration, Obama has lost a bid to expand background checks for gun buyers and was similarly unsuccessful at getting lawmakers to undo the spending cuts.

His jobs proposals also have stalled in Congress, with Republicans showing no interest in job-creation plans based on new federal spending. They also argue that Obama's regulatory regime and new health care law the president's signature domestic policy achievement to date are hindering more robust job growth.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday ridiculed Obama's trip as mere image-building.

"If you're someone who's all about the visual, then of course putting on a pair of goggles or showing up at a factory is a great way to at least look like you're doing something about job creation," he said.

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Associated Press writer Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.

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Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Aviation Administration will keep open for now the 149 control towers at small airports that were slated to close as the result of governmentwide automatic spending cuts imposed by Congress, the Transportation Department said Friday.

The towers, which are operated by contractors for the FAA at low-traffic airports, were scheduled to close June 15. They will remain open at least through Sept. 30, the end of the federal budget year, the department said in a statement.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has determined there is enough extra money available through a bill hastily passed by Congress last month to keep the towers open. The bill gave the FAA authority to shift up to $253 million from accounts with unspent funds to prevent further furloughs of air traffic controllers. The furloughs at all airport towers and air traffic control facilities caused widespread flight delays across the country for nearly a week before Congress stepped in.

FAA officials had previously said they needed $220 million to eliminate the need for furloughs. Congress didn't require the FAA to spend the remaining funds on keeping towers at small airports open, but lawmakers said they anticipated that the agency would use the money.

The FAA will also put $10 million towards reducing cuts and delays in its program to switch from a radar-based air traffic control system to one based on satellite navigation, the statement said.

Another $11 million will go to "partially restore the support of infrastructure in the national airspace system," the statement said.

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Follow Joan Lowy on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy

The Austrian parachutist known as "Fearless Felix" reached 843.6 mph, according to official numbers released Monday. That's equivalent to Mach 1.25, or 1.25 times the speed of sound.

His top speed initially was estimated at 10 mph slower at 834 mph, or Mach 1.24.

Either way, he became the first human to break the sound barrier with only his body. He wore a pressurized suit and hopped from a capsule hoisted by a giant helium balloon over New Mexico.

Baumgartner was supersonic for a half-minute "quite remarkable," according to Brian Utley, the record-keeping official who was present for the Oct. 14 feat.

The 43-year-old's heart rate remained below 185 beats a minute, and his breathing was fairly steady.

The leap was from an altitude of 127,852 feet. That's 248 feet lower than original estimates, but still stratospheric.

"He jumped from a little bit lower, but he actually went a little bit faster, which was pretty exciting," said Art Thompson, technical project director for the Red Bull-sponsored project.

"It's fun for us to see reaching Mach speeds and proving out a lot of the safety systems," Thompson said in a phone interview from his aerospace company in Lancaster, Calif.

Thompson said everything pretty much unfolded as anticipated, with no big surprises in the final report. The updated records were provided by Utley, official observer for the National Aeronautic Association's contest and records board. Utley was in Roswell, N.M., for Baumgartner's grand finale following two test jumps.

Based on all the data collected from sensors on Baumgartner's suit, Utley determined that Baumgartner was 34 seconds into his jump when he reached Mach 1. The speed for breaking the sound barrier depends on the temperature at a given altitude; for Baumgartner, that came together just shy of 110,000 feet.

He reached peak speed by the time he was at 91,300 feet, 50 seconds into the jump, and was back to subsonic by 75,300 feet, give or take, 64 seconds into his free fall.

His entire free fall lasted four minutes, 20 seconds. He used a parachute to cover the final 5,000 feet, landing on his feet in the desert outside Roswell.

Not everything went well.

Baumgartner went into a dreaded flat spin while still supersonic. He spun for 13 seconds at approximately 60 revolutions per minute, making 14 to 16 spins before using his body to regain control, Thompson said. The skydiver was well within safety limits the entire time, he noted. Baumgartner's brain remained under 2G, or two times the force of gravity, during the spin.

If the flat spin had lasted longer and been more severe exceeding six continuous seconds at 3.5 G Baumgartner's drogue, or stabilizing, parachute would have deployed automatically. Doctors worried about him blacking out and suffering a stroke or, in the case of a suit tear, his blood boiling at such an extreme altitude. The outside temperature registered as low as minus 96 Fahrenheit.

In the foreword of the 71-page report, Baumgartner said he never imagined how many people would share in his dream to make a supersonic free fall from so high.

Some 52 million people watched YouTube's live stream of the exploit.

The scientific and engineering experts who helped bring him back alive "broke boundaries in their own fields just as surely as I broke the sound barrier," Baumgartner wrote.

Baumgartner shattered the previous record set by Joe Kittinger, an Air Force officer, in 1960. Kittinger did not quite reach supersonic speed during his jump from 19.5 miles up.

Kittinger noted in the Red Bull Stratos report (Stratos for stratosphere) that future work is needed to test a stabilizing parachute for use at extreme altitudes.

The private project was aimed, from the start, at helping future space crews whether NASA or commercial survive high-altitude accidents.

If a highly trained jumper like Baumgartner with 2,500 jumps couldn't prevent a flat spin, "an astronaut, pilot or space tourist could not overcome this spinning probability," Kittinger wrote.

Thompson agreed, noting that given the right safety gear and the right conditions, there's "a remote possibility" a space crew could survive even under such harsh circumstances as were faced by the space shuttle Columbia astronauts.

All seven astronauts perished as Columbia returned to Earth on Feb. 1, 2003. One of the crew, Laurel Clark, was married to the former NASA flight surgeon who led Baumgartner's medical team, Dr. Jonathan Clark.

"You never know what the possibilities are ... that's the direction we need to look at," Thompson said.

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Online:

http://www.redbullstratos.com/

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Sometimes you just can't wait for Comic-Con whether you're a fan or a filmmaker.

With the summer movie season now beginning in early May ("Iron Man 3" opens Friday), studios are co-opting the July pop-culture convention's model of stoking interest in anticipated films by bringing sneak-peeks of new material directly to super fans, who then, it is hoped, spread their enthusiasm via word-of-mouth and social media.

For "Star Trek: Into Darkness," which opens May 17, Paramount shared early photos and videos with Trekkies devoted enough to download an iPhone or Android app. Other aspiring blockbusters, including Disney's "The Lone Ranger" and Sony's "Elysium," were subjects of their own individual Comic-Con-style events recently: Studios invited fans to local theaters, where they heard directly from the films' stars and were the first to see the action-packed trailers and other select scenes.

Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer took questions from fans at "The Lone Ranger" event in Las Vegas in a segment streamed live online. Matt Damon and "District 9" writer-director Neill Blomkamp participated in the "Elyisum" showcase, held simultaneously in theaters in Los Angeles and Berlin. Only those who regularly follow the films online find out about such special events.

Studios value the approach because it allows them to reward devoted fans while building early buzz for their films. It also circumvents, in a way, the more traditional method of staging promotional events for entertainment media and then depending on those outlets to spread the news to fans.

There are no better ambassadors to get word-of-mouth going," said Marc Weinstock, Sony's co-president of worldwide marketing. "Movies are such a viral thing."

Asad Ayaz, senior vice president of marketing for Disney, said one aim of "The Lone Ranger" Las Vegas event last month was to generate as much international interest as possible in the film's trailer, which made its public debut there. Fans from as far away as China submitted questions for Depp, Hammer, director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer via Twitter during the online broadcast.

One wanted to know what other characters Depp wants to play.

"Carol Channing," the actor said. "I mean that. She's fantastic... Another guy that I would love to do the life story of is Don Rickles, which I don't know if he's well-known in China."

Such starry mini-screenings can help raise a film's social-media profile in the crowded summer marketplace, Ayaz said.

"When we did our event for 'The Lone Ranger,' 'Lone Ranger' was trending on Twitter worldwide and in the U.S. for several hours during and after the event, and that's because of fans tweeting," he said. "It's all about getting eyeballs on our trailer and getting people to see this amazing film, so the social-media aspect just makes it. It's a giant halo and it spreads the word."

"The Lone Ranger" opens July 3.

Weinstock said the positive Twitter response to the "Elysium" event was just what the studio had hoped for.

The film's writer-director, though, confessed that he'd rather keep its content under wraps until the movie opens in August, but that's not the way the marketplace works.

"I try to show as little as I can," Blomkamp told reporters after the fan screening. "The thing is, if you're a responsible, functioning filmmaker in the 21st century, you can't spend $100 million and then try to behave as though you're going to wrap it under a blanket... Rationally, I understand that people have to get to know about the film and word has to get out there. Personally, I don't really like it."

Not all film marketing experts are sold on the ultimate value of fan events. Ben Carlson, president of market tracking firm Fizziology, believes the biggest social-media boost still comes from online trailer releases.

"As soon as you put a good trailer out, it almost immediately becomes a trending topic on Twitter," he said, adding that in-person showcases like those held by Disney and Sony don't have the same social media impact.

"It's more for the influential film bloggers. It does some nice heavy-lifting there," he said. "I don't think the mainstream moviegoer who might be in Kansas City or Memphis or Helena, Mont., is going to necessarily be paying attention to what's happening at an event with a few thousand people, but they will read about it on Ain't It Cool News."

Carlson said the trailer for another anticipated summer release, Guillermo del Toro's "Pacific Rim," premiered for a group of fans before making its online debut, and it was the latter that resulted in a palpable Twitter bump.

"Instantly thousands and thousands of people were talking about it, and that's without any kind of special push to it at all," he said. "People just love the content."

Still, in a hyper-saturated media world, there's something about being the first to see something really cool, never mind seeing movie stars like Depp and Damon in person. Disney's Ayaz said he expects the studio to hold fan-focused events for future "tent pole" releases such as "Thor," ''Captain America" and "Maleficent." Sony previously held an event for "The Amazing Spider-Man," and is releasing the sequel next year.

"People are more distracted than ever before and they have a lot of different mediums to get access to our content, and what is more basic and more powerful than having a live event where you have your creative (people) the actual filmmakers and the actors and the talent from your film directly answering questions and showing their work to the fans?" Ayaz said. "It's a basic idea but it's still one of the most powerful ideas when you've got the goods and you've got a really good movie."

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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy .

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Online:

The Lone Ranger: http://disney.go.com/the-lone-ranger/

Elysium:http://www.itsbetterupthere.com/site/

Star Trek: Into Darkness: http://www.startrekmovie.com/

Pacific Rim: http://www.pacificrimmovie.net/

Last week the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage held steady at 3.55 percent, slightly above the record low of 3.49 percent that was reached in July. Meanwhile, the average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage, a popular refinancing option, dipped to 2.85 percent from 2.86 percent.

Cheap mortgages have helped the housing market recover this year. Sales of new and previously occupied homes are well above last year's levels.

Home prices are increasing more consistently this year, largely because the supply of homes has shrunk while sales have risen. And the number of Americans who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth declined in the second quarter.

Still, the housing market has a long way back. Home sales are below healthy levels. And many people are still having difficulty qualifying for home loans or can't afford larger down payments required by banks.

The report is expected at 10 a.m. Eastern.

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The turmoil is aggravating an already sour political situation between the Shiite-led government and Sunnis, who accuse Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government of neglect and trying to disenfranchise their Muslim sect.

Al-Maliki appeared on national television appealing for calm amid fears the country is facing a return to full-scale sectarian fighting more than a year after U.S. troops withdrew.

The spreading violence came as Iraqi electoral officials announced preliminary results in local elections held Saturday Iraq's first since U.S. troops left in December 2011.

With 87 percent of the ballots counted, al-Maliki's State of Law bloc was on track to win the most votes in eight of the 12 provinces participating in the vote, including Baghdad and the southern oil hub of Basra.

Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's bloc was ahead in the southern Shiite province of Maysan, while a provincial level coalition was leading in the Shiite province of Najaf. Local coalitions also were ahead in the largely Sunni province of Salahuddin and the mixed province of Diyala.

The government last month delayed voting in two predominately Sunni provinces where anti-government protests have raged for months, citing security concerns.

The final results will offer a key measure of support for the country's political blocs and could boost the victors' chances heading into next year's parliamentary elections.

The election announcement was overshadowed, however, by the rising unrest.

Gunmen and police clashed for hours in several districts of the former Sunni insurgent stronghold of Mosul before security forces brought the situation under control Thursday afternoon.

Police said 31 militants and 10 police were killed in the fighting in Mosul, which has been one of the hardest areas to tame since bloodshed erupted after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. Many residents remained holed up in their homes out of fear, although the city was largely quiet by evening.

Clashes also erupted late Thursday between gunmen and security forces in the former al-Qaida stronghold of Baqouba, prompting authorities to impose a curfew there and in the surrounding province, according to police.

The latest unrest began on Tuesday when fighting broke out in the northern town of Hawija during a security crackdown on a protest encampment. Three members of the Iraqi security force and at least 20 other people were killed. The government said gunmen fired on the security forces as they entered the camp to make arrests related to an earlier incident.

Iraqi Sunnis say they face discrimination, particularly in the application of a tough anti-terrorism law that they believe unfairly targets their sect, which formed the backbone of the insurgency but also was key to the downturn in violence after tribal leaders turned against al-Qaida in Iraq.

The government frequently carries out arrests in Sunni areas on charges of al-Qaida or Baathist ties. Protests escalated in December after the arrest of bodyguards assigned to Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi, a Sunni, in late December.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that gunmen had taken control of the Suleiman Beg police station and other governmental buildings, and were deployed in the streets of the town, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Baghdad. The ministry did not provide information on casualties.

On Wednesday, police and hospital officials reported fierce clashes in the town that resulted in the deaths of four soldiers and 12 others, including some gunmen.

The mayor of the city of Tuz Khormato, to which Suleiman Beg is administratively annexed, said security forces had laid siege to the small town and sporadic clashes were continuing. The official, Shalal Abdool, said there were additional casualties among gunmen on Thursday, but he couldn't provide numbers.

In his first public comments since the Hawija killings, al-Maliki urged Iraqis to unite for the sake of the country and stand up against extremists.

"We all have to shoulder responsibility after what happened in Hawija and what's going on today in Suleiman Beg and other areas," he said. "If (sectarian) conflict erupts, there will be no winner or loser. All will lose, whether in southern or northern or western or eastern Iraq."

Northeast of Baghdad, the Iraqi army has surrounded the town of Qara Tappah, where deadly clashes also were reported on Wednesday. The army and some tribal leaders in the town are in contact to try to ease the tensions, and the situation is calm for now, according to local police. Qara Tappah is about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of the capital.

Gunmen also opened fire on a police checkpoint near Fallujah, west of Baghdad, killing two policemen and wounding two others, according to police.

A Sunni politician who recently announced his resignation from the Cabinet urged al-Maliki, a Shiite, to step down to calm the tensions.

"Iraq is in a dire situation now and I believe that there must be serious solutions," Abdul-Karim al-Samarraie told The Associated Press on Thursday in a phone interview. "One of the solutions is the resignation of the prime minister and for him to leave the government to another who can run it temporarily. Otherwise, the options for Iraq are only dangerous ones."

Al-Samarraie is Iraq's minister of science and technology. He and Minister of Education Mohammed Tamim submitted their resignations this week in the wake of the killings in Hawija. Al-Samarraie said that Industry Minister Ahmed al-Karbouli also submitted his resignation.

Al-Karbouli could not be reached for comment, but an official in his office confirmed the move.

In other violence reported by police and hospital officials Thursday, attackers detonated explosives on a key oil pipeline linking Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan near the town of Shurqat, disrupting crude oil exports.

A roadside bomb also struck two army vehicles patrolling south of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding six others. And a car bomb went off near a bus stop in Najaf, killing four people and wounding 12.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.

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Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.

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Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at http://twitter.com/adamschreck and Sinan Salaheddin on twitter.com/sinansm

MONTE CARLO (Reuters) - Current anti-doping measures in tennis are a "disaster" and the introduction of biological passports can only improve matters, world number six Tomas Berdych said.

"The system right now... I don't know how it works with the others but with me, it does not work at all," the Czech told Reuters in an interview at the Monte Carlo Masters this week.

"You have to say every single day... where you are. I've done this for three or four years already and I had only two tests out of the tournaments," Berdych said.

"So why do I have to do this all the time and then they come twice in four years? It's just like complete nonsense."

Under International Tennis Federation (ITF) rules, players must give their location for at least one hour of each day in case they are required for an out-of-competition drugs test, usually by means of a urine sample.

"If some people were hired to think about that and have come up with this kind of idea, if it was me, I would have fired them straight away," Berdych said.

"This system is a complete disaster. So whatever they're going to do differently, it's going to be good, new or whatever."

The ITF said last month it would introduce biological passports for players this year, in line with measures adopted in other sports such as cycling.

The new system, under which test results are collated over time to enable testers to track any changes which might indicate doping, would involve more blood tests being done every year, the federation said.

According to their website (www.itftennis.com), the ITF carried out 21 out-of-competition blood tests in professional tennis in 2011.

By comparison, cycling's world governing body UCI conducted 3,314 in the same year.

Top players, including 17-times grand-slam winner Roger Federer, have welcomed the introduction of biological passports in tennis and Berdych added his backing.

"Sure, I'm definitely on this side. There should be more tests," Berdych said.

World number nine Richard Gasquet of France also praised the new system.

"We still have urine tests that are a bit behind the times and we know that potential cheats always are way ahead," he told Reuters.

Urine tests can detect many drugs including EPO, one of several substances taken by disgraced former Tour de France cycling champion Lance Armstrong, but only blood tests can detect human growth hormone.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) head John Fahey earlier this year called on tennis officials to increase the number of blood tests.

(Reporting by Gregory Blachier; Editing by Clare Fallon)

Laxman Chavan is no star-struck fan. He is a hardcore cricket guy, a former club player, local coach and a Mumbai Cricket Association administrator, who understands the art of the game and the science behind it. But bring up the name Tendulkar and he is swept away in a whirlpool of emotions.

At 1.45am on Tuesday night Chavan called up. We had been discussing Tendulkar's 40thbirthday in the evening and he said he wanted to share something more. "Now I know why India was gifted with Sachin," he said excitedly. "Cricket and God decided his time of birth." It's called the Tendulkar-impact -- the emotions he is bringing out among his worshippers as he nears the end of a great career.

Chavan was legendary coach Ramakant Acherkar's Man Friday, the one who would act as Sir's legs to carry out his ideas and reach out to teams playing in various corners of the metropolis. As Achrekar's assistant, he is among the ones who chiselled the batting genius by their own hands. Naturally, there is great pride on his 40th birthday.

Early anonymity

Every aspect of Tendulkar's career is well documented except for a few from his early life. Some things only men from Mumbai's Maidans know and are now part of cricket's folklore. Tendulkar scored his first club hundred under Chavan's captaincy and the world record partnership with Vinod Kambli in the Harris Shield school cricket playing for Shardashram, was at Chavan's Sassanian Club ground at Azad Maidan. Chavan shared some splendid insight based on sound cricketing logic. "For me, his biggest quality is to study the game. What happened the day before and why it happened? Once, he was in Mumbai's Under-15 team and the camp was at Wankhede. We had a school game at my ground, Sassanian where Achrekar and I were sitting when Sachin came up and asked Sir. 'I got bowled at the nets (Wankhede) yesterday. Why did I get bowled?

"We looked at each other and Sir smiled. The question from such a young player startled us. It showed how he was thinking about the game. 'Laukar khela la paheje Wankhede sarkha wicket var (You have to get into position early on the Wankhede wicket," Sir explained to him.

"They are better wickets than our Maidan wickets; a lot less used, hence fresh. They use a heavier roller and so it's fresh and faster. The science of the game used to get etched in his memory. He is the best because he's the best student of the game. His homework is amazing," recalls Chavan, now retired from service. Many have wondered about his ability to adjust to various conditions. Chavan's example has the answer. Another aspect people wonder about is his ability to stay away from controversies. "He's been smart enough to understand it doesn't pay off in Indian cricket," says Laxman.

"Once he was not picked in a junior team and I rushed to the Wankhede in anger, ready to take on the selector who had dropped him. Sensing my mood, the little-boy immediately pleaded, "Sir, please don't say anything because the selector will hold a grudge against me'. I was amazed by how far he was thinking and stopped."

Restless soul

For all the calm he exudes now, Tendulkar's is a restless soul. He has admitted how he couldn't sleep ahead of the Pakistan game in a World Cup. Sulakshan Kulkarni, his teammate in his debut first-class season, and now his Mumbai team coach, says it's an old habit. "It was his first season with Mumbai Ranji team and Sachin was my roommate during the away game against Maharashtra at Aurangabad. I woke up for something at 12.30am and noticed light on the wall. The young boy was watching TV. He had kept the volume very low. When I asked: 'Don't you want to sleep?' He replied: 'Not able to, will do so in some time'.

"I hit the bed. Again I got up at around 2.30 to find the TV still on. Only this time it was on mute and Sachin was still awake. Even then he played a fluent knock of 80 odd. That's how he was," recollects Kulkarni.

Boy next door

According to his friends, he was like any normal child. "He was very mischievous, full time-pass (fun-loving in Mumbai lingo)," says Ricky Couto, his classmate from 7th to 10th.

"We used to sit together, permanent backbenchers. Hardly a day went by when we wouldn't get punished, hit with dusters or the teacher would make Sachin sit next to him. Our chemistry professor had a special liking for us and must have punished us the most," recalls Couto, who now works for a shipping company. "But, whatever happened, he would never miss a match even if he had to bunk exams. He would say, 'Exam I can give next year also, but the match won't come next year."

Like all schoolboys a holiday was special. The Shardashram boys led by Tendulkar and Kambli, would sometimes manufacture one too. "If a three-day game would be getting over by the second evening, they would stretch it till the third morning and then enjoy the day at the Marine Drive or go for a movie," says Couto.Published by HT Syndication with permission from Hindustan Times.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) -- A Chinese factory fishing ship that burned last week off Antarctica has sunk without anyone on board, Chile's navy said Monday.

The vessel Kai Xin caught fire and its 97 crew members were rescued by a Norwegian ship. Then it began to drift in unmanned and in flames, zigzagging dangerously close to glaciers.

The Chilean navy said an official representing the ship's owner confirmed that the vessel went down Sunday afternoon near Bransfield Strait at the Antarctic peninsula.

A Chilean navy tugboat was searching for the ship's remains and stood ready to contain any spilled fuel.

The first alert of the sinking came from the Chinese fishing ship Fu Rong Hai, which on its way through Antarctic sent an email to the shipowner saying the Kai Xin no longer appeared on radar. Crewmembers then saw fishing nets and small boats drifting in the chilly waters.

Chile's navy told the Fu Rong Hai to remain there until the navy tugboat Lautaro reached the site and began to search for the sunken ship.

Officials had feared a damaging oil spill. But Capt. Juan Villegas, maritime governor for Chile's portion of Antarctica, said that appeared unlikely now.

"An environmental disaster is ruled out because of the fire on board," Villegas told The Associated Press. "Experts say that if there was any fuel on board it has burned out by now."

The 104-meter (341-foot) Chinese vessel was built in 1990, according to the website of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

The Kai Xin was operated by Shanghai Kaichuang Marine International Co., a company that specializes in deep-sea fishing, fisheries products and processing. The ship used pelagic trawling to fish and could sail in loose pack ice, according to the commission.

A company statement posted last week said the fire occurred while the ship was fishing. It said Kaichuang would investigate the cause of the accident and the extent of the damage before releasing more details.

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Luis Andres Henao on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LuisAndresHenao