Andrew Terence Moran was taken into custody on Friday in Spain's eastern town of Calpe.

Moran is accused of taking part in the armed robbery of 25,000 pounds from a mail van in England in 2005, then escaping from security guards during his UK trial four years ago.

On Monday, the National Court spokesman said Moran told Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez he will not fight his extradition. But the court also said Moran has an unspecified legal issue pending in Spain and the judge must decide if this will delay extradition.

The spokesman spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with court rules.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Two Indian ministers embroiled in scandals quit on Friday, adding to speculation the prime minister may have to call an early election after the furor paralyzed parliament and forced the delay of economic reforms.

Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had been widely expected to step down after police arrested his nephew on suspicion of accepting a bribe in a case that was seen as embarrassing to the Congress party-led government, which has been battered by a series of corruption scandals.

Law Minister Ashwani Kumar's departure comes days after the Supreme Court said the government substantially changed a report by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into alleged irregularities in the awarding of mining rights potentially worth billions of dollars to private companies.

They met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh late Friday and submitted their resignations, ruling Congress party spokesman Bhakta Charan Das told Reuters.

The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also demanded Singh's resignation, but stopped short of calling a no-confidence motion in parliament to bring down the government.

However, the opposition clamor for the resignations proved so disruptive that parliament was adjourned on Wednesday until further notice, two days ahead of its scheduled close, as it became impossible to carry out meaningful legislative business.

The government has had to postpone economic legislation and a flagship program to give cheap food to 70 percent of the population.

DISARRAY

"The resignation of the two ministers shows that our demand for their resignation was justified and the government was unnecessarily adamant," BJP leader Sushma Swaraj wrote on Twitter.

"If they had accepted our demand for their resignations earlier, the parliament session could go on."

Led by octogenarian economist Singh, India's minority coalition government has been unsteady since two key allies pulled out and the resignations will add to speculation over whether Singh will call an election before May 2014.

The so-called Coalgate mining rights scandal has become one of the biggest headaches for Singh, who was coal minister when some of the blocks were awarded.

Bansal was appointed amid much fanfare last year to turn around the ailing Indian Railways, becoming the first railway minister from the Congress party since 1996 and the first to raise passenger fares in nine years.

However, his resignation seemed inevitable after his nephew, Vijay Singla, was arrested last week on suspicion of accepting a $160,000 bribe to arrange the promotion of a railways official. Singla has said he is innocent of the charges.

Bansal has denied any wrongdoing and is yet to be questioned by police. Indian media said the police were investigating how much Bansal knew about his nephew's activities.

Despite the seemingly endless stream of corruption scandals and setbacks, the Congress party is still hopeful of winning a third term in office.

The Hindu nationalist BJP is in disarray and has lost control of four state governments in the past year - most recently its only southern stronghold Karnataka - where Congress swept to victory on Wednesday.

(Additional reporting by Satarupa Bhattacharjya; Editing by Ross Colvin and Alison Williams)

So emotionally drained was the audience at Saturday afternoon's performance at the Metropolitan Opera that silence lingered in the house for several moments after the curtain fell. Only then did tumultuous applause erupt for the terrific performance that had just taken place.

But there is another death scene much earlier in the opera that is almost as wrenching. As the old prioress, Madame de Croissy, lies writhing on her deathbed, she cries out that God has forsaken her and the Carmelite order. As vividly portrayed by the veteran mezzo-soprano Felicity Palmer, the agonies and blasphemies of the prioress were painful and even shocking to witness.

Palmer was part of a uniformly strong cast the Met assembled for this revival of the classic John Dexter production, first seen in 1977 and absent from the stage for a decade.

As Blanche, mezzo Isabel Leonard sounded vibrant, even if she didn't always capture the vulnerability of the young postulant who struggles with her fear of death. Though the role was written for soprano, it is often taken by mezzos, and Leonard matched her rich lower register with secure high notes. Her voice contrasted nicely with the light soprano of Erin Morley, who was captivating as Sister Constance, the cheerful country girl who comforts Blanche.

Soprano Patricia Racette brought a sense of serenity and strength to the role of Madame Lidoine, who succeeds the old prioress and leads the nuns to their martyrdom. Mezzo Elizabeth Bishop sang with plush tone as Mother Marie, who is prevented by fate from joining her sisters in death. Baritone David Pittsinger etched a sympathetic cameo as Blanche's aristocratic father, and as her brother, tenor Paul Appleby sang with honeyed tone in the scene where he bids Blanche farewell the closest thing this opera has to a love duet.

Conductor Louis Langree led the orchestra in a wonderfully idiomatic account of the haunting and lushly melodic score.

Dexter's staging looks barely touched by time and remains a marvel of simplicity, starting with the opening image of 13 nuns lying prostrate with arms outstretched on a raised wooden platform shaped like a cross. It reportedly cost less than $100,000 at the time mere pocket change compared with many lavish and less effective productions that have come and gone from the Met stage since.

"Dialogues," first performed at La Scala in 1957, is one of a handful of post-1950 operas that have found a permanent place in the repertory. It's a shame the Met scheduled only three performances in the closing days of the season. Let's hope it won't be another 10 years before we see it again.

___

Online:

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - After years of headlines about Africa's poverty, its emerging middle class is now grabbing attention as a driver of growth and democracy and an expanding pool of consumers for market-hungry retailers.

Consumer demand is a motor of Africa's economic and investment surge, and analysts see middle class buyers with swelling disposable income as fuelling this boom from South Africa to Nigeria and Kenya.

In its Africa Pulse report last month, the World Bank said consumer spending accounted for more than 60 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa's buoyant economic growth, which it forecast would accelerate to more than 5 percent over the next three years, far outpacing the global average.

"It's probably the fastest growing consumer class in the world, as a region," said Michael Lalor, director of Ernst & Young's Africa Business Center in Johannesburg.

From mobile phones, cars, food, and clothes to financial services and entertainment, multinational companies are homing in on lucrative new markets as millions of Africans aspire to claw their way out of still widespread poverty.

"The poor don't drive demand in an economy, it's the middle class that drive demand in an economy," African Development Bank Chief Economist Mthuli Ncube told Reuters.

"Reducing poverty means creating a middle class. Sometimes people think pushing the middle class means forgetting about poverty, but it's the other side of the coin," he added.

Global demand for African commodities, driven by China, has also boosted economic growth along with strong investment in productive industries and infrastructure. The World Bank forecast foreign direct investment in Sub-Saharan Africa will reach $54 billion by 2015, up from $37.7 billion in 2012.

At the same time, a greater number of African countries are achieving relative stability in politics and economic policy, allowing the middle class to emerge.

Accurately quantifying this African middle class has become an obsession for institutions such as the African Development Bank (AfDB) and World Bank, as well as consultancies advising corporate clients seeking an edge in this booming continent.

But this is a challenging task in a very diverse region - still the least developed on the planet - where reliable data is patchy and whose more than 50 economies range from regional powerhouses South Africa and Nigeria to U.N. Development Index laggards such as Niger and Mozambique.

A CONSUMING CLASS

"There are elastic definitions ... The middle class is very different in Kenya, for example, where you need far less disposable income than you might need in the United States," said Ernst & Young's Lalor.

One of the most frequently quoted - and debated - studies is a 2011 report by the African Development Bank. This said that, based on a daily per capita consumption definition of $2-20, Africa's middle class had risen by 2010 to 34 percent of its population - or nearly 350 million people - from about 126 million or 27 percent in 1980.

Given that $2 a day or below is widely accepted globally as a poverty indicator, many economists see the AfDB's middle class range, as cited in its 2011 report, as too broad and optimistic.

Standard Bank economist Simon Freemantle says other studies indicate a more "African-appropriate" measure of middle class level income of between $15 and $20 a day. "There, Africa's middle class would be closer to 120 million, out of a population of just over a billion, so roughly 10 percent," he said.

Citigroup's Africa Economist David Cowan preferred not to use the term "middle class" at all in relation to Africa. "I don't believe there's an African middle class," he said, when compared with Europe or Asia.

Cowan would rather speak of a rapidly expanding "huge consuming class", with ideally $5,000-7,000 of disposable income a year.

"That's a level at which people can really make consumer purchases ... middle class in my mind should able to afford a washing machine and go out and buy a motorbike," he said.

"DRIVERS OF DEMOCRACY"

Few doubted that the emerging middle class was an important group for defining Africa's economic and political course.

As keen users of mobile phones and the Internet, including social media networks, they were plugged into the digital world and international news and therefore had a role as opinion makers and agents of reform and change.

"The mobile phone in Africa is creating a politically conscious class," said Cowan, citing Kenya's election in March.

Many analysts believe digital media played a part there in keeping tribal tensions in check during the vote and allowing a generally peaceful poll which averted a repeat of post-election violence that killed more than 1,200 people in 2007/2008.

Middle class voters are seen more likely to vote according to policies and issues rather than automatic or traditional allegiances to any party or ethnic group.

AfDB's Ncube believes the better-educated are supporting a perceived and widening trend towards more democratic maturity and better governance on the continent.

"They are your enlightened voters, they will support policies, and not just an affiliation emotionally," he said. "They are drivers of democracy."

Reflecting change in post-apartheid South Africa, recent research by the University of Cape Town Unilever Institute of Strategic Marketing shows the black middle class there has more than doubled in eight years to 4.2 million in 2012, and its annual spending has overtaken its white counterpart group.

"The growth in this country, both economically and certainly in terms of spending power, comes from the black middle class," Unilever Institute Director John Simpson told Reuters.

He said the ANC government, which had long focused on the poor masses as its core voting base, was now being forced to pay more attention to the black middle class - which it has also helped create through affirmative action policies.

But even if one accepts the AfDB's broadly inclusive figure of around 300 million in the African middle class, chief economist Ncube says at least half these people do not enjoy real economic security.

"That 150 million between $2-4 a day, it's very vulnerable, it could slip back any time into poverty," he said.

Political and economic shocks, such as conflict, unrest or upheaval, could also have a heavy impact on the livelihoods of lower-earning middle class members, Ncube added.

"Naturally, the closer you are to $4 (a day) ... even just a small lift in food prices, and that group immediately becomes vulnerable," said Freemantle.

"The extremely devastating results are already dramatic today but could be catastrophic tomorrow" if nothing is done to halt the Cassava Brown Streak Disease, or CBSD, scientist Claude Fauquet, co-founder of the Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century, told The Associated Press.

Africa, with a burgeoning population and debilitating food shortages, is losing 50 million tons a year of cassava to the disease, he said.

In Uganda, a new strain of the virus identified five years ago is destroying 45 percent of the national crop and up to 80 percent of harvests in some areas, according to a new survey, said Chris Omongo, an entomologist and cassava expert at Uganda's National Crops Resources Research Institute.

"The new strain looks to us to be much more aggressive," Omongo said.

Fauquet said one problem is that the virus attacks the tubers underground, so a farmer can husband his crop for up to 18 months and only realize when he goes to dig up the cassava that all his fields are infected.

Omongo has participated in a training video funded by U.S. aid to the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa where farmers in north Tanzania are shown digging up cassava and cutting into roots turned black and brown with rot. The farmers say the rotten bits taste bitter and are inedible. They say they spend hours trying to chop away blighted parts.

The disease is spreading too fast to measure its impact, say scientists. A moderate infection with up to 30 percent root damage decreases the market value of cassava tubers drastically, to less than $5 a ton instead of $55, according to a study published last year in the journal Advances in Virology.

"Recent estimates indicate that CBSD causes economic losses of up to $100 million annually to the African farmer and these are probably an underestimate, as the disease has since spread into new areas," the article said.

Africa produced 150 million tons of the global harvest of 250 million tons last year, with Nigeria alone producing 50 million tons, according to Fauquet.

The cassava disease is endemic along the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa, affecting Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. In the past, it had not struck at high altitudes. But recently the disease has been found at up to 1,500 meters (nearly 5,000 feet) above sea level in Uganda, Congo and Tanzania's lake zones, the article in Advances in Virology reported. The disease also is found in Burundi and Rwanda.

In the past year, Fauquet said, symptoms of the virus have been found as far south as Angola and moving into West Africa. The white fly that acts as a vector for the disease also has been spotted in Cameroon, in central Africa, and in Zambia to the south.

"If the disease makes it to the Congo Basin, which is a big cassava producer, and really frightening reaches West Africa and Nigeria, the biggest producer, you can just imagine the impact, the magnitude," Fauquet said.

This week, scientists are meeting in Bellagio, Rome, to discuss what can be done.

Fauquet said what is needed is the kind of international effort that the West put into creating a virus-free potato after World War II, ending the chance of a disaster such as the Irish potato famine. Similar work has been done on other crops over the past 50 years, including sugar cane and sweet potatoes, he said.

But it has never been done in Africa for many reasons, including the corruption that makes it a difficult environment in which to operate and differences in transport, communications and infrastructure across the continent's many countries, Fauquet said.

What's needed is a virus-free cassava seed and the Italian meeting is hosting major funders including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, hoping to convince them of the importance of the project.

Global warming brings a new urgency, said Fauquet and Omongo. Higher temperatures may already be favoring the new strain of the disease, said Omongo. Higher temperatures will increase the number of explosions of insects that transmit viruses, including the white fly, said Fauquet.

"In the next 40 years, starting now, we need to invest in cassava because it could tremendously help Africa and the world but also so that we are more prepared for more diseases," Fauquet said.

Scientists have called cassava "the Rambo" of food crops, a singular food source expected to become even more productive as the Earth warms, resistant to drought and simply shutting down until rains come. Cassava can also be left in the ground and stored there, providing food security for lean times. Scientists look to cassava as the best bet for African farmers threatened by climate change.

Some 500 million Africans eat cassava, boiled and roasted like potatoes, or pounded into flour to make a stiff porridge-like staple.

Omongo said the good news is that scientists at his research institute have developed a variety of cassava that is more tolerant to brown streak disease, but they cannot produce enough to meet even a quarter of Ugandan farmers' needs.

"When I say tolerant, I mean that perhaps only 5 percent gets infected instead of an entire field," he said. "What we need is research to continue so that we can come up with resistant varieties."

Nigeria's Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala this week said her country is trying to substitute imported wheat with locally grown cassava, and has so far succeeded in replacing 20 percent of its wheat imports. She said they also are having success encourage people to cook and eat bread made from cassava flour instead of wheat.

---

On the Net

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NLBEsRjW2M Video with Chris Omongo showing cassava disease

BELGRADE, May 8 (Reuters) - Back for his second spell in charge of CSKA Moscow, coach Ettore Messina aims to lift the weight of last season's Euroleague defeat by Olympiakos Piraeus from his players' shoulders when the two teams meet in the 2013 Final Four in London on Friday.

The semi-final contest will be a repeat of the 2012 final in Istanbul, when six-time winners CSKA blew a 19-point lead in the second half and saw Olympiakos forward Georgios Printezis sink the game-winning shot on the buzzer.

Messina, who had joined the Los Angeles Lakers as an assistant coach after steering CSKA to a pair of Euroleague titles during his first spell in charge from 2005-2009, then replaced Lithuanian Jonas Kazlauskas in a bid to restore the Russian club's domination in Europe.

"I can only say that I am new and fresh and didn't go through the difficult night that some of my players did in that game," the Italian told the competition's official website (www.euroleague.net).

"I don't think those memories can be erased. It's part of life and they can live with it and deal with the bad memories if they are surrounded by support, but no one can really know what shadow will be on the minds of the players from last year.

"Apart from that, we need to treat this as just another game. To be in the Final Four again means that we took the right decisions and that the players we chose showed they deserved the trust of the club," he said.

Having won four Euroleague titles and reached nine finals from as many attempts, the 53-year-old from Catania will bank on his record as much as on the quality of his talent-packed roster which includes four Serbia internationals and former Toronto Raptors guard Sonny Weems.

Olympiakos will again be the dark horses but their coach Georgios Bartzokas, who succeeded Serbian Dusan Ivkovic at the helm, was confident his team could repeat last year's feat against their stronger and wealthier rivals.

"We are the outsiders again but I will try to convince my players that the same can happen as last year," he said.

"There are a lot of differences, as both CSKA and Olympiakos have new coaches and some different tactics but once again CSKA will be under big pressure because they are perhaps the best team in Europe with the biggest budget and an experienced coach."

EL CLASICO

The second contest for a berth in Sunday's final features Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, who will head into the O2 Arena in contrasting moods after taking different routes to reach the showpiece event.

Eight-times winners Real, who are seeking their first title in Europe's premier club basketball competition since 1995, enjoyed a 3-0 sweep of Maccabi Tel Aviv in their best-of-five quarter-final series, having also secured the top spot in the Spanish league ahead of the playoffs.

Barcelona, champions in 2003 and 2010, have had a topsy-turvy season and reached the Final Four only after a dramatic 3-2 defeat of Panathinaikos Athens, having fought back from a 2-1 deficit in their gruelling series marred by crowd trouble in the Greek capital.

Barca will sweat on the fitness of their towering Australia centre Nathan Jawai, who faces a race against time to recover from a foot injury, while influential American forward Pete Mickeal is out with long-term illness.

Coach Xavi Pasqual acknowledged that Barcelona's entire roster would have to carry extra weight to compensate for Mickeal's absence and will in all likelihood rely on the versatility of Croatia centre Ante Tomic, named in the Euroleague's 2012-13 first team.

"Pete is a unique player due to his own particular skills and a lot of the things we did were based on those skills, so we had to adapt and find another way to win games," said Pasqual.

"The series against Panathinaikos wore us down a lot and contrary to previous years there is less time to recover but I think we will arrive in London in good shape."

Pasqual's Real counterpart Pablo Laso, whose team warmed up for the Clasico with a 78-65 Spanish league win over Barcelona on April 28, said containing Barcelona playmaker and the Euroleague's all-time leading scorer Juan Carlos Navarro would be crucial.

"We know that Navarro is a special player, hard to guard and able to generate baskets on his own," he said.

"But if you try to cover Navarro you will be left uncovered somewhere else and players like Jawai, Tomic and (Brazil point guard Marcelinho) Huertas can damage you." (Editing by Clare Fallon)

Collins eventually decided he shouldn't, because he wanted to keep his secret safe: For more than a decade as a professional athlete, he had remained silent about his sexuality, worried about what teammates, opponents, fans the world, really might think.

Then came the Boston Marathon bombings two weeks ago, which Collins says "reinforced the notion that I shouldn't wait for the circumstances of my coming out to be perfect. Things can change in an instant, so why not live truthfully?"

So after having, he explains, "endured years of misery and gone to enormous lengths to live a lie," Collins became the first active player in one of the four major U.S. pro sports leagues to come out as gay. He wrote a first-person article posted Monday on Sports Illustrated's website that begins: "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay."

Most recently a little-used reserve center for the Washington Wizards after a midseason trade from the Boston Celtics, the 7-foot Collins is a free agent who can sign with any team. He wants to keep playing in the NBA.

And he plans to be in Boston on June 8, marching alongside Kennedy at the city's 2013 gay pride parade.

"I didn't doubt for a second, knowing he was gay, that he would be the one to do it," Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, told The Associated Press. "I've never known him to look for publicity, or to look for the spotlight, but given that no one else would raise their hand, I knew he would do it."

Added Kennedy: "I'm so proud of him. And I'm so proud to call him a friend."

In an interview taped Monday and aired Tuesday morning, Collins told ABC's "Good Morning America": "I think the country is ready for supporting an openly gay basketball player."

His announcement Monday, nearly two weeks after the Wizards' season ended, immediately drew praise and backing not only from pals, current and former teammates and coaches, the NBA itself, and a sponsor, but also from the White House. President Barack Obama called him "he was incredibly supportive and he was proud of me," Collins told ABC along with former President Bill Clinton, and athletes in various other sports.

"I certainly appreciate it, as a gay person. Any time you can have someone this high-profile come out, it's just so helpful, particularly to young people. We've reached a tipping point," said Billie Jean King, a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles.

"We've got to get rid of the shame. That's the main thing," King said in a telephone interview. "And Jason's going to help that. He's going to help give people courage to come out."

In texts to the AP, Wizards guard Garrett Temple wrote, "I was surprised. I didn't know and I was right next to him in the locker room. It definitely took a lot of courage for him to come out. He was a great teammate," and rookie Bradley Beal wrote: "I didn't know about it! I don't think anyone did! I am proud of his decision to come out and express the way he feels and I'm supportive of that!!"

Collins' coach with the Celtics, Doc Rivers, drew a comparison between Monday's announcement and Jackie Robinson's role when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball.

"I am extremely happy and proud of Jason Collins. He's a pro's pro. He is the consummate professional and he is one of my favorite 'team' players I have ever coached," Rivers said. "If you have learned anything from Jackie Robinson, it is that teammates are always the first to accept. It will be society who has to learn tolerance."

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant tweeted that he was proud of Collins, writing: "Don't suffocate who u r because of the ignorance of others," followed by the words "courage" and "support."

Asked if he hoped other athletes will follow his example, Collins told ABC: "I hope that every player makes a decision that leads to their own happiness, whatever happiness that is in life. I know that I, right now, am the happiest that I've ever been in my life."

Collins said in the TV interview that he does not know of any other gay NBA players.

Even while hiding his sexual orientation, Collins says, he quietly made a statement for gay rights by wearing No. 98 with the Celtics and Wizards: 1998 was the year Matthew Shepard, a gay college student in Wyoming, was killed, and the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization, was founded.

According to the General Social Survey, the public has grown increasingly accepting of gay relationships since the late 1980s. That survey found in 1987 that 76 percent of Americans thought sexual relations between adults of the same sex was morally wrong. That fell to 43 percent by 2012.

"I'm glad I'm coming out in 2013 rather than 2003. The climate has shifted; public opinion has shifted," Collins writes in SI. "And yet we still have so much farther to go. Everyone is terrified of the unknown, but most of us don't want to return to a time when minorities were openly discriminated against."

While some gay athletes have expressed concerns about how earning potentials could be hurt by coming out, King said she thinks Collins' openness could have the opposite effect.

"I have a feeling he's got a whole new career," King said. "I have a feeling he's going to make more in endorsements than he's ever made in his life."

On Monday evening, hours after his story appeared on the web, Collins wrote on Twitter: "All the support I have received today is truly inspirational. I knew that I was choosing the road less traveled but I'm not walking it alone."

Momentum has been building toward this sort of announcement from a pro athlete in a top league in the United States. NFL players Brendan Ayanbadejo and Chris Kluwe were outspoken in support of state gay-marriage amendments during last year's elections. Obama spoke about his support for gay marriage during his campaign.

The topic made waves during Super Bowl week when one player, San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver, said he wouldn't welcome a gay member of his team. At the time, Ayanbadejo estimated that at least half of the NFL's players would agree with what Culliver said, at least privately.

On Monday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo to teams reiterating the league's anti-discrimination policy about sexuality. It includes a section on questions teams cannot ask prospective draft picks and free agents. After the NFL combine in February, three players said officials posed questions about sexual orientation.

Earlier this month, the NHL and its players' union partnered with an advocacy organization fighting homophobia in sports, and Commissioner Gary Bettman said the You Can Play Project underlines that "the official policy of the NHL is one of inclusion on the ice, in our locker rooms and in the stands."

"I would say the NHL has been a force to kind of obviously embrace and encourage. ... What (Collins) did, I think it's definitely (good) for basketball, and the same for hockey, too. It's going to be encouraging for more guys to step up and just be open about themselves," Washington Capitals forward Joel Ward said.

Living in the nation's capital last month while the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments about same-sex marriage had an effect on Collins, who says "the strain of hiding my sexuality became almost unbearable" at that time.

"Less than three miles from my apartment, nine jurists argued about my happiness and my future. Here was my chance to be heard, and I couldn't say a thing," he writes.

After being a first-round draft pick in 2001, Collins has averaged 3.6 points and 3.8 rebounds for the New Jersey Nets, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Celtics and Wizards. He's come to be known more for personal fouls he led the league in that category one season than flourish.

"I go against the gay stereotype, which is why I think a lot of players will be shocked: That guy is gay? But I've always been an aggressive player, even in high school. Am I so physical to prove that being gay doesn't make you soft? Who knows? That's something for a psychologist to unravel," he says.

As for what response other NBA players will have to his revelation, Collins writes: "The simple answer is, I have no idea."

"Openness may not completely disarm prejudice, but it's a good place to start. It all comes down to education. I'll sit down with any player who's uneasy about my coming out," he says in his account, adding: "Still, if I'm up against an intolerant player, I'll set a pretty hard pick on him. And then move on."

Former teammate Jerry Stackhouse, now with the Brooklyn Nets, wrote in a text to the AP: "I hope Jason is received well by our NBA family. ... I've already reached out to him personally to show support and will encourage more guys to do the same."

NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement: "Jason has been a widely respected player and teammate throughout his career and we are proud he has assumed the leadership mantle on this very important issue."

While Collins is the first male athlete in a major North American professional league to come out while intending to keep playing, several have previously spoken after they retired about being gay, including the NBA's John Amaechi, the NFL's Esera Tuaolo and Major League Baseball's Billy Bean.

"I think he is immensely brave. I think it's a shame in this day and age he has to be immensely brave, but he is," Amaechi told the AP. "He's going to be a remarkable and eloquent spokesperson for what it is to be a decent, authentic human being never mind just for gay people."

Rick Welts, president and chief operating officer of the NBA's Golden State Warriors, is openly gay.

"He probably knows what he signed up for. There'll be a whole bunch more television reporters and cameras than he's probably had in the past. ... There had been a long bit of speculation about when, who, how. I think that speculation has been put to rest now," Welts said, "and we'll always remember that Jason Collins was the first man to do this."

Collins says that if he remains in the NBA, he could face uncomfortable reactions from spectators.

"I don't mind if they heckle me. I've been booed before. There have been times when I've wanted to boo myself. But a lot of ill feelings can be cured by winning," he writes.

In February, former U.S. soccer national team player Robbie Rogers said he was gay and retired at the same time. Rogers is just 25, and others have urged him to resume his career.

"I feel a movement coming," he tweeted after word of Collins' news broke.

Some female athletes have found more acceptance in coming out; Brittney Griner, a two-time AP college basketball player of the year and the No. 1 pickin the WNBA draft, caused few ripples when she said this month she is a lesbian. Sheryl Swoopes, a former WNBA All-Star, came out in 2005 during her playing days.

Tennis great Martina Navratilova, who came out decades ago, tweeted Monday that Collins is "a brave man."

"1981 was the year for me 2013 is the year for you," her post said.

Collins told ABC that Navratilova was his role model.

"I look at her as one of my heroes. ... Hopefully going forward I can be someone else's role model," Collins said.

Sports leagues in Britain and elsewhere in Europe have been trying to combat anti-gay bias. But the taboo remains particularly strong in soccer, where there are no openly gay players in Europe's top leagues and homophobic chants are still heard at some games.

Soccer "is not going to change," said Amaechi, who is English and now lives in Manchester. "If it wanted to change, it would change. It has the resources to do so. It doesn't want to change."

Justin Fashanu is the only significant British soccer player to have come out publicly, doing so in 1990. The former Nottingham Forest and Norwich City striker was found hanged in a London garage in 1998 at age 37. According to an inquest, Fashanu left a note saying that, because he was gay, he feared he wouldn't get a fair trial in the United States on sexual assault charges. Maryland police were seeking him on charges that he sexually assaulted a 17-year-old boy.

Among other athletes outside the U.S. to come out was Gareth Thomas, a Welsh rugby star who attracted widespread media attention in 2009 when he announced he was gay. He continued playing until retirement in 2011.

Orlando Cruz of Puerto Rico came out in October as the first openly gay professional male boxer. Canadian swimmer Mark Tewksbury came out six years after winning a gold medal in the backstroke at the 1992 Barcelona Games. Four-time Olympic diving gold medalist Greg Louganis of the U.S. revealed he was gay in 1994, a year before announcing he was also HIV-positive. Former Olympic skiing gold medalist Anja Paerson of Sweden announced last year, after retiring, that she was in a long-term relationship with a woman.

In SI, Collins recounts that the first relative he came out to was his aunt, Teri Jackson, a San Francisco Superior Court Judge.

"I don't think Jason looked at his life as being a trailblazer," Jackson said Monday. "He has no regrets coming out. And he wants to play. And we'll see what happens next."

Collins says he told his twin brother, Jarron, last summer. Jarron was also a longtime NBA center who last played in the league in the 2010-11 season.

"He was downright astounded," Collins says.

Collins writes self-effacingly about his journeyman NBA career and a parlor game he calls "Three Degrees of Jason Collins," explaining: "If you're in the league, and I haven't been your teammate, I surely have been one of your teammates' teammates. Or one of your teammates' teammates' teammates."

That joking, though, leads to a larger point.

"Some people insist they've never met a gay person. But Three Degrees of Jason Collins dictates that no NBA player can claim that anymore. Pro basketball is a family. And pretty much every family I know has a brother, sister or cousin who's gay," Collins concludes. "In the brotherhood of the NBA, I just happen to be the one who's out."

___

AP Sports Writers Tim Reynolds, Joseph White, Nancy Armour, Larry Lage, Brian Mahoney, Antonio Gonzalez, Rachel Cohen, Paul Newberry, Jimmy Golen, Howard Ulman, Rob Harris, Stephen Wilson, Richard Rosenblatt and Tom Withers, and Associated Press Writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Cara Rubinsky, Jennifer Agiesta, Steve Peoples, Josh Lederman and Terry Chea contributed to this report.

___

Howard Fendrich is on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

Given how the torture-porn genre has been waning, credited writers Roth, Lopez and Guillermo Amodeo bring down the ketchup count considerably here, and "Aftershock" is less of an all-out bloodbath than a throwback to hokey horror and disaster flicks from the '70s and '80s.

Taking many of its ingredients from the "Hostel" recipe, the film kicks off with a goofy American tourist known simply as Gringo (Roth) trying to enjoy the last days of his Chilean vacation with acquaintances-cum-tour guides Pollo (Nicolas Martinez) and Ariel (Ariel Levy). As expected, the trio are much less interested in local history than in bagging Latinas, and they hop from bar to bar as Gringo who we learn is a recently separated dad strikes out with one chick after another (including Selena Gomez in a brief cameo).

Eventually the gang bumps shoulders with American stepsisters Monica (Andrea Osvart) and Kylie (Lorenza Izzo), along with their Russian galfriend Irina (Natasha Yarovenko), and they all head to the seaside town of Valparaiso for some more binge drinking. But just when "Aftershock" is starting to feel like one long Spanish-language spring break video, disaster strikes in a crowded nightclub, leaving the group stuck between collapsing ceilings, severed limbs and all-out urban anarchy.

Strictly abiding by horror film scripture, the characters get knocked off more or less in the order of transgressions committed, beginning with Ariel, who spent the first act annoyingly texting his ex and justifiably gets his hand chopped off. The rest of the bunch seeks salvation in the chaotic city, but their obnoxious attitudes ("Those are really cool favelas! I want one for my backyard," Kylie says earlier on) no longer hold sway in a place where it's every hombre for himself.

As the center of attention for much of the time, Roth has a rather awkward screen presence, but it's at least partially justified by his character, who's just a nice guy looking for some local kicks. The fate the filmmakers reserve for him is one of the few genuine surprises in a movie that tends to stick to formula, offering up minimal scares amid scattered moments of gross-out bliss.

Made for a purported budget of $10 million, the production has more of a schlocky, Corman-esque quality to it, although DP Antonio Quercia does make decent use of the multiple Chilean locations. The omnipresent score by Manuel Riveiro is standard B-movie chow.

"Aftershock," a Radius/Weinstein release, is rated R for strong, bloody violence, including rape, language, drug content and some nudity. Running time: 89 minutes.

___

Motion Picture Association of America rating definition for R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-20-hot-market-titles-508451

And on Sunday, the first Hispanic justice on the nation's highest court explained why, saying "you can't come from the world I grew up in, the South Bronx, without feeling the frenzy of exile, constantly."

She spoke at Cooper Union, a private college in Manhattan's East Village where Abraham Lincoln once gave a speech against slavery.

The justice said she wasn't "doing press" on an evening in her hometown that ended with hugs from some members of the audience who asked her to sign their copies of her memoir, "My Beloved World."The best-selling book was published earlier this year with what she called Sunday "some baring of my own heart."

She spoke on the closing night of the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature in New York City, which included her conversation with scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.

It was hardly a private event.

With a wry smile, Sotomayor said she recognized that "it seems pointless today to exclude the press from any event, when any member of the audience can tweet quotations."

This year's festival has focused on looking at the idea of bravery in art and politics.

The judge's speech came as she and fellow Supreme Court justices are considering three issues dividing the nation: affirmative action, voting rights and gay marriage.

Sotomayor was careful not to reveal her personal opinions, though she conceded that "it is impossible for a homosexual couple today not to be affected by the DOMA and Proposition 8 cases in some way," adding to laughter, "just so you're all clear, I'm not predicting anything."

The federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman now being considered by the Supreme Court. The court must also rule on California's Proposition 8, a ban on same-sex marriage.

The justice told the New York audience on Sunday that 2013 is likely to be "a turning point for those whose lives will be changed, for better or for worse, by those rulings."

Born in New York to Puerto Rican parents, Sotomayor was nominated for the Supreme Court in 2009 by President Barack Obama and sworn in later that year.

She said she needs to keep returning to the Bronx, "to the essence of my world, with love, to take strength from."

Sotomayor said that while the streets of her childhood South Bronx were portrayed as "ugly, dirty, crime- and drug-ridden" in movies, she wrote about "the hopes and struggles of the people," about "a beloved world for someone like me."

Ahead of the meeting, U.S. officials said North Korea has taken a step back from its recent escalation of regional tensions by removing from its launch site a set of medium-range ballistic missiles that had been readied for possible test-firing.

Park arrived at the White House, with a color guard lining the driveway from Pennsylvania Avenue. Her visit marks the 60th anniversary of the U.S.-South Korean alliance. Her Oval Office meeting, working lunch and joint news conference with Obama will be followed Wednesday by an address to a joint meeting of Congress.

Park has had something of a baptism of fire since she took office in February, two weeks after North Korea's latest atomic test ratcheted up tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula and undermined her hopes of forging a more trusting relationship with a difficult neighbor.

After the U.N. Security Council tightened sanctions on North Korea in response to the nuclear test its third since 2006 it claims to have scrapped the 1953 Korean War armistice and has threatened nuclear strikes on the U.S., prompting Washington to bolster missile defenses.

Two Musudan missiles at a site in eastern North Korea had been in what American officials described as launch-ready status for some weeks. Two U.S. officials confirmed their removal on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss a matter involving sensitive U.S. intelligence. It's not clear why they removed the missiles in recent days, but Pentagon press secretary George Little said on Monday that U.S. officials have seen a "provocation pause" by North Korea.

Park touched down in New York on Monday, meeting first with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister who praised her "firm but measured" response to North Korean provocations and determination to resolve their differences though dialogue.

However, Park made clear in an interview on the eve of her visit that she was willing to get tough on North Korea. She told CBS News that if South Korea came under attack, "We will make them pay."

Park, the first democratically elected female leader in Northeast Asia, is no stranger to Seoul's Blue House, as the residence of the chief executive is known. She's the daughter of the late South Korean dictator Park Chung-hee, and in her 20s she took over the duties of first lady for five years after a gunman claiming orders from North Korea killed her mother in a botched attack targeting her father.

While focused squarely on the North Korean threat, Park's visit is a chance to build a rapport with Obama, who enjoyed an unusually close bond with the previous South Korean leader, Lee Myung-bak. The two presided over the adoption of a U.S.-South Korean free trade pact in 2012 that expanded the scope of an alliance largely built on security ties and deterring an attack from the North. Some 28,500 U.S. troops are still based in South Korea for that purpose.

Lee took a hard line on relations with Pyongyang, cutting aid to the impoverished nation. While his approach had Obama's firm backing, public frustration in the South has mounted over the North's continued weapons tests and provocations " including attacks in 2010 that left dozens of South Koreans dead.

In a change of tone, Park, although a conservative, has advocated trying to build trust with Pyongyang through aid shipments and large-scale economic initiatives if there's progress on the nuclear issue, even as she and South Korea's military promise to respond forcefully to any possible attack from the North.

But to date, relations have only gotten worse. Most recently, North Korea has withdrawn its 53,000 workers from an industrial park on its territory run by South Korean companies. After Pyongyang rejected Seoul's offer of talks, the South last week withdrew its last staff from the facility, closing the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean cooperation that began during the "sunshine" engagement policy championed by Lee's more liberal predecessors.

On Tuesday, North Korea threatened the U.S. and South Korea over joint naval drills taking place this week in the Yellow Sea. The section of the Korean People's Army responsible for operations in North Korea's southwest said it will strike back if any shells fall in its territory during the drills. Should the allies respond to that, the statement said, Pyongyang's military would then strike five South Korean islands that stand along the aquatic frontline between the countries.

Daniel Russel, White House senior director for Asian affairs, said Obama would reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea. He said the joint appearance of the two leaders at the White House would make it crystal clear to Pyongyang that the allies stand shoulder to shoulder.

"In dealing with North Korea, it's vital we show unity," Russel told reporters.

Dealing with Pyongyang's secretive regime, never easy, has become increasingly tough under the unpredictable young leader Kim Jong Un, who came to power after the death of his father Kim Jong Il in December 2011.

Russel cautioned it was premature to judge whether North Korea's cycle of provocation "is going up, down or zigzagging." He said both the U.S. and South Korea support "incremental engagement" with Pyongyang, but it has to take "irreversible steps" signaling a commitment to end its nuclear program.

The past year has already seen disconcerting progress in the North's weapons development, including its first successful launch of a three-stage, long-range rocket, although it is not yet believed to have to have the means to fire a nuclear-tipped missile at mainland America.

The Obama administration has put increasing emphasis on the role the North's main ally and benefactor, China, can play to press Pyongyang to honor its previous commitments on denuclearization. In a significant move, one of China's biggest banks said Tuesday it has halted business with a North Korean bank accused by the U.S. of financing Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs in the latest sign of Beijing's displeasure with its estranged ally.

____

Associate Press National Security Writer Robert Burns and writer Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report