When people start downloading the Home software upon its April 12 release in the U.S., Facebook will become the new hub of their Android smartphones.

Switch on your phone and you'll see friends' photos, overlaid by status updates, links and eventually, advertisements in Facebook's quest to bring in more revenue and restore its stock price to where it stood when the company went public nearly 11 months ago.

About 80 percent of what currently appears within a Facebook user's News Feed will automatically be transferred into the "cover feed" of the Home service. For instance, a sibling's status update might be featured prominently on the phone's home screen when it's unlocked. Swipe a finger and there might be a photo posted by one of your best friends. Want to like what you see? Just tap on the home screen twice. Comments can be posted directly from the home screen, too.

If other friends happen to send you a message, their Facebook photo will pop up as a notification.

Other Facebook features, such as video, will be added to Home in future months. A Home version for Android-powered tablet computers also will be coming later this year.

Once they have had their fill of what Facebook is feeding them on the Home service, users can just swipe a finger on the screen to get to all the standard Android apps to listen to music, watch videos or send email.

At first, Home will only work on some Android devices, including HTC Corp.'s One X and One X Plus and Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note 2. For now, Home isn't compatible with the Nexus phone designed by Google, a fierce Facebook rival whose pliable Android software is being modified to accommodate the new service.

A phone from HTC that comes pre-loaded with Home will be available starting April 12, with AT&T Inc. as the carrier. The HTC First will sell for $99.99 with a two-year data plan from AT&T.

Home is debuting after several years of speculation that Facebook intended to make its own phone or mobile operating system to drive more traffic to its social network. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the speculation never made sense to him because he believes a company-produced phone might only end up in the hands of 10 million to 20 million people. The Home service gives Facebook a chance to take control of the main screen of every phone running on Android, the leading mobile operating system. In the U.S. alone, about 64 million people will be relying on Android-driven phones this year, estimated the research firm eMarketer.

"Just building a phone isn't enough for Facebook," Zuckerberg said Thursday during Home's unveiling at the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters.

The idea behind the software is to bring Facebook content right to users' home screens, rather than requiring them to check various apps to see what their friends are up to, or to chat. Down the line, Facebook will integrate its existing camera app and other features. Though cameras and calls won't be built into the initial version of Home, Zuckerberg promised the software will be updated at least once a month to add more features and fix bugs.

"Home" comes amid rapid growth in the number of people who access Facebook from phones and tablet computers. Of the social network's 1.06 billion monthly users, 680 million log in using a mobile gadget. As a result, the money Facebook makes from mobile advertising is also growing. Taking over the entire screen of smartphones and, eventually, tablet computers will provide Facebook for a larger canvas for selling mobile ads.

Zuckerberg, already a multibillionaire, didn't dwell on Home's moneymaking potential Thursday. Instead, he depicted the software as a noble attempt to put a higher priority on personal relationships than utilitarian apps.

"Why do we need to go into all the apps in the first place to see what is going on with the people we care about," he asked.

"We think this is the best version of Facebook there is," he said.

That statement implies that using Facebook on Apple's iPhone and other smartphones may become a less enriching experience. Apple Inc., which rigidly controls how apps work on the operating system built for the iPhone and iPad, has ingrained more Facebook features into the most recent versions of its mobile software.

Apple had no immediate comment about Home.

Zuckerberg said users can have an experience on Android phones unavailable on other platforms because Google makes the software available on an open-source basis. That allows phone manufacturers and software developers to adapt it to their needs.

Recognizing that text messaging is one of the most important tasks on a mobile phone, Facebook programmed Home to include a feature called "chat heads." This lets users communicate with their friends directly from their home screens without opening a separate app.

"What Facebook wants is to put itself at the front of the Android user experience for as many Facebook users as possible and make Facebook more elemental to their customers' experience," said Forrester analyst Charles Golvin.

While the Home service probably makes sense for Facebook, Golvin believes the company is overestimating "the extent to which this is something their users want."

"I'm sure there are people out there whose lives revolve around their social network and for them it makes sense to have it front and center," Golvin said. "But this doesn't describe the majority of consumers."

Google Inc. is among the companies hoping that Golvin is correct. The Internet search leader gives away its Android software for free, in the hope that it will steer phone users to ads sold by Google. With Home, Facebook will be muscling its way in between Android users and Google, creating an opportunity for Facebook to seize the advertising advantage.

This is not the first time a big Internet company has co-opted Android: Amazon.com's Kindle Fire tablets run a version of Android that strips out all Google services, replacing them with Amazon's equivalents. Google responded by releasing its own tablet to compete against the Kindle Fire last year.

The mobile advertising market is growing quickly, thanks in large part to Facebook and Twitter, which also entered the space in 2012. EMarketer expects U.S. mobile ad spending to grow 77 percent this year to $7.29 billion, from $4.11 billion last year.

Facebook, meanwhile, is expected to reel in $1.53 billion in worldwide mobile ad revenue this year according to eMarketer, up from $470.7 million last year.

Facebook's stock rose 82 cents, or 3.1 percent, to close Thursday at $27.07. That's 29 percent below its initial public offering price of $38. Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor's 500 index has surged by 20 percent since Facebook's rocky debut.

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Barbara Ortutay reported from New York. AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson contributed to this story from New York.

Arriving in Mexico City on Thursday on his first trip to Latin America since winning re-election, Obama was met at the steps of his plane by an honor guard and a trumpeting bugler. He greeted top Mexican officials before heading to the National Palace for meetings with President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office in December. The two leaders were to speak at a joint news conference Thursday evening.

Obama is looking for more details from Pena Nieto about changes he is making to the robust security relationship between the neighboring countries. In a shift from his predecessor, Felipe Calderon, Pena Nieto has moved to end the widespread access U.S. security agencies have had in Mexico to help fight drug trafficking and organized crime.

The White House has stepped carefully in its public response to the changes, with the president and his advisers saying they need to hear directly from the Mexican leader before making a judgment.

"With the new Mexican administration coming into office, it certainly stands to reason that President Pena Nieto would want to take a look at the nature of our cooperation," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser. "So we're currently working with the Mexicans to evaluate the means by which we cooperate, the means by which we provide assistance."

The White House, hoping to move the discussion surrounding the president's trip beyond security, has emphasized in recent days a desire to boost economic ties to Mexico.

Already the economic relationship between the two countries is robust, with Mexico accounting for $500 billion in U.S. trade in 2011 and ranking as the second-largest export market for U.S. goods. A stronger Mexican economy would result in even more trade and job growth on both sides of the border, Obama aides say.

Among the cadre of advisers traveling with the president is Michael Froman, a longtime White House international economic adviser who was nominated by Obama just hours before the trip to serve as the next U.S. Trade Representative.

A host of other pressing issues are vying for Obama's attention as he launches his quick trip to Mexico and then to Costa Rica. Among those issues are possible chemical weapons use in Syria, the arrest of three more people in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings, and the delicate immigration negotiations underway on Capitol Hill.

Obama will be looking for a nod of support for the immigration effort from Pena Nieto. The Mexican leader is expected to back the effort, although it's unlikely he will take a public position on specific components of any pending legislation in order to avoid the impression that Mexico is meddling in U.S. domestic politics.

Still, Pena Nieto's support particularly for stricter border security efforts could help Obama sell the measure to wary Republicans, many of whom have long opposed giving legal status to people in the country illegally before securing the border. A bipartisan Senate bill Obama is backing would make a pathway to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally contingent on a secure border.

"They are critical to our ability to secure the border," Rhodes, the Obama adviser, said of Mexico. "All the immigration plans that have been contemplated put a focus on securing the border as an essential priority and starting point for immigration reform."

On Friday, Obama will speak to an audience of Mexican students before heading to Costa Rica for talks with Central American leaders. His meetings there are expected to focus on bolstering regional economic cooperation, as well as security issues.

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Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's Congress on Tuesday gave overwhelming final approval to an expansive overhaul of the telecommunications sector, which aims to boost competition in the industry and tame the likes of billionaire Carlos Slim and broadcaster Televisa.

The bill encourages more foreign investment in the telecoms industry and gives regulators the power to stop companies from controlling more than 50 percent of the market, a measure aimed directly at telecoms tycoon Slim and Televisa.

But forced asset sales will not be automatic if companies are declared dominant by the competition regulator.

The telecoms overhaul is part of President Enrique Pena Nieto's wider economic reform agenda. He is set to present major tax and energy sector revamps later this year, though the Mexican leader must first settle a political spat with the main opposition parties.

Slim's phone company, America Movil, controls some 80 percent of the fixed line business in Mexico and about 70 percent of its mobile market. Televisa has more than 60 percent of the TV market.

The legislation mandates the creation of a new regulator known as Ifetel to oversee the telecoms market. It also outlines the shape of a new federal competition commission, which will regulate all other areas.

Companies that are fined or told to sell off assets by the new federal competition commission would have the right to lodge appeals to suspend these decisions, a tactic companies have used to fight competition rulings.

However, Televisa and America Movil will be subject to Ifetel, not the federal competition commission, hampering any efforts to contest regulatory rulings.

The measure, which was first presented by Pena Nieto last month, won nearly unanimous approval from the Senate, with 108 votes in favor and three against.

Uncertainty over the final details of the bill has been dragging on the share prices of America Movil and Televisa.

(Writing by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Simon Gardner and Paul Simao)

By Jethro Nededog

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Jim Rash hasn't let his Oscar for co-writing "The Descendants" go to his head.

"Oscar or no Oscar, it doesn't matter," Rash told TheWrap.

"It's like, 'You did that, great. Now, do it again' or 'Let's see if you got what it takes.' The pressure is always going to be there no matter what," he continued. "So I feed off that pressure, because obviously I want to do the best job as I can. But, it really doesn't mean anything. You can still write a piece of crap next time around."

He certainly didn't take the easy route when writing Thursday's episode of NBC's "Community," which features a body-switching "Freaky Friday" theme that throws the study group for a loop.

"Just randomly the nugget of 'Freaky Friday' was something that was in my head, like the idea," he explained. "Not surprisingly in the world of 'Community,' the writers were like, 'Oh my God, we talked about a body switching thing at some point.' Then we realized sort of in talking out loud this was a great opportunity to use that device to do the real emotional part of the story, which is obviously Troy and Britta and Abed will be sucked into that."

On the episode, titled "Basic Human Anatomy," Danny Pudi and Donald Glover play each other's characters. "They know each other so well as friends on and off-screen, they were actually recording their parts for each other. So, they were really giving each other homework basically. They really did study up."

And although it's only his first time writing for the comedy in its almost four seasons on-air, Rash made sure to include an acting challenge for himself, which doubled as revenge on co-star Joel McHale. Rash's Dean Pelton gets to switch bodies with Jeff (McHale) - kind of - and the actor proves he can do a pretty good impersonation of his co-star.

"I just like to give Joel s--t in general," the alum of L.A.'s Groundings Improv group said. "It was fun for me just to even do it. It's sort of like payback for me, because when we did the documentary episode and he got to 'play me' -- an exaggerated, horrible version of me for the video - I was always partly offended."

That's a writer's perk, but not all that Rash got out from the experience of writing the episode.

"It's hard, but it's a great ride," he said. "It was a dream come true. It's very simple, I wanted to do right by our writers and by. I hope I did. They were so supportive, it's really a team effort too. At the end of the day, it's people loving a show and doing their best to keep it going. All very good."

The region is uniquely defined by its compact geography, its culture and its "sense of place," as Harvard history professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich put it.

"The mystique that has grown up over the centuries, perpetuated by the invention of celebrations like the 'First Thanksgiving' and all the images associated with the Revolution," she said, "convinced people that there really was something called New England and that it mattered."

Now, in just a four-month span, a harsh new chapter has been added to that long, distinctive history.

New England scenes have been the backdrop for two body blows of malevolent mass carnage the Dec. 14 shootings in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School and the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15 that killed three people and injured more than 260.

Yet even amid the horror, the nation and world again glimpsed the old New England spirit and solidarity.

The bombings were a reminder of Boston's role as de facto capital of New England. Its sports teams, most notably the Red Sox, are avidly followed in all six states. Its marathon draws competitors from across the region (and of course far beyond) and attracts thousands of regional spectators, too. Among the injured visitors was a Rhode Island woman who lost her left foot.

An eight-member group from Newtown competed in the marathon, seeking support for a scholarship fund to benefit siblings of the shooting victims. Before the start, there were 26 seconds of silence in honor of the Connecticut victims, and each mile of the race was dedicated to one of them.

So the pain has been shared and so has the post-bombing effort to respond resiliently. Members of the Newtown group said they would expand their efforts to also support the bombing victims.

"We're looking for things to pull us together, and the tragedy gave us a focal point the more so that it happened at one of our defining regional events," said Boston University Professor William Moore, a cultural history specialist affiliated with BU's Program in American and New England Studies.

At least in living memory, New England has not experienced a gun rampage as deadly as the Newtown shootings nor a terrorist attack on par with the marathon bombings.

Yet the region has by no means been immune from calamities.

Ten years ago, in one of the deadliest fires ever in the U.S., 100 people were killed after a pyrotechnics display ignited a blaze during a rock concert at The Station, an overcrowded nightclub in West Warwick, R.I. Its owners had tried to stem noise complaints by lining the walls with what turned out to be flammable packing foam.

In 2011, Tropical Storm Irene wreaked havoc on Vermont, New England's only landlocked state. Up to 11 inches of rain fell in some areas on Aug. 27-28, displacing thousands from their homes, killing six people, damaging or destroying 500 miles of roads and 200 bridges, including several of the state's iconic covered bridges. About a dozen communities were cut off for days.

But soon afterward, Vermonters began to rally around the phrase, "I am Vermont Strong," which is still found on many license plates that were sold to help finance recovery projects.

Gov. Peter Shumlin, in office just eight months when Irene hit, was in Boston on April 21 six days after the marathon bombing to attend the Red Sox' annual Vermont Day.

"You feel exactly the same spirit in the streets of Boston right now. We were Vermont Strong; they are Boston Strong," Shumlin said. "The American people are the best people in the world and they care about neighbors, they care about strangers and we're not going to let storms or senseless terrorists take us down."

Maine and New Hampshire have been spared large-scale calamities in recent decades, though they've had their share of jarring incidents.

In 1997, a New Hampshire man fatally shot two state troopers, a judge and a newspaper editor in the far-north town of Colebrook before being killed by police in Vermont. In Maine, 14 migrant workers died in 2002 when a van plunged off a bridge the worst traffic accident in state history.

In Massachusetts, seven employees of a technology firm in Wakefield were shot dead in 2000 by a co-worker. Connecticut has suffered two workplace-related mass shootings since 1998 one claiming nine lives at a Manchester beer distributor, the other leaving five dead at the state lottery headquarters in Newington.

Further back, all of New England particularly Rhode Island was battered by the great hurricane of 1938, which killed more than 600 people and wrecked tens of thousands of homes.

Given that it encompasses six states, New England's compactness is striking, with 14.5 million people living in an area about the size of Washington state. In good traffic, a driver heading out of Boston could reach each of the other five states in two hours or less.

New England's initial colonization was undertaken by the Puritans and others from Britain. Many of the region's cultural archetypes reflect this heritage the quintessential imagery of white steepled churches overlooking village greens, the town meetings still held annually in many communities, the flinty Yankee farmers and stone walls evoked in Robert Frost's poetry.

In his writing and speeches, Frost often captured the mix of individualism and community spirit that New Englanders like to think of as inherent traits.

"I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way," he said in an address in 1935.

Yet he also wrote in one of his poems, "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."

By the time of Frost's death in 1963, New England's demography had been transformed. After waves of immigration from Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Quebec, it's now one of the most heavily Roman Catholic parts of the country. Accents have evolved in Maine, in Boston, and elsewhere that are unmistakable if not always euphonious.Lobstermen and maple-syrup makers still ply their trades, but so do hedge-fund managers, nuclear-submarine engineers and some of world's trendsetters in medical technology.

The region's myriad colleges and universities attract students from across the U.S.; some return home with new loyalty to the Red Sox and new ways to employ regional vocabulary, like the perversely positive adjective "wicked."

On average, New Englanders are healthier, wealthier and better educated than other Americans, with a low divorce rate and high ranking in child well-being. Yet the prosperity is uneven: Several of Connecticut's cities have been plagued by financial crises even as its New York suburbs prosper, while Rhode Island has had one of the nation's highest jobless rates in recent years. Most of coastal and southern Maine is faring well, but the economy is bleak in many inland towns.

For many decades, northern New England was reliably Republican. Now all 21 of the region's U.S. representatives are Democrats, and all six states voted for Barack Obama in 2012. Five of them are among the nine states that have legalized same-sex marriage, and the sixth Rhode Island is on the verge of following suit.

Regional solidarity exists in many other parts of the United States, but so do cross-border rivalries often based on sports competition between state universities. Georgia and Alabama have much in common, so do Ohio and Michigan. Yet football games between their flagship state universities rouse fiercely partisan passions.

That phenomenon scarcely exists in New England. Instead of interstate rivalry, there's common loyalty to the Boston-area major league teams. Indeed, the NFL's New England Patriots and the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer are the only American big league franchises with names evoking a group of states.

As for baseball, Red Sox Nation encompasses all of New England, save for a swath of southwestern Connecticut where the hated Yankees have followers. Each season, the Red Sox designate one of their home games as a special event honoring each of Massachusetts' fellow New England states. And three of the team's minor league affiliates are based nearby in Pawtucket, R.I., Portland, Maine, and Lowell, Mass.

When Carlton Fisk played catcher for the Sox in the 1970s, he was beloved not only for his on-field skills but because, as a Vermont native raised in New Hampshire, he was the Boston equivalent of a hometown product.

William Moore, the BU professor, said New England defies simplistic definitions.

"We don't necessarily share a cuisine, except for Dunkin' Donuts. We don't share a religion," he said. "We're looking for something to bind us together, which is why the whole Red Sox Nation idea is so powerful."

In the aftermath of the Newtown shootings, the neighboring town of Monroe, Conn., began renovating a vacant school building to take in the children from Sandy Hook.

At a news conference three days after the shooting, a Monroe police officer sought the right words to describe the efforts.

"Monroe is a small New England community," said Lt. Brian McCauley, "and we are helping our family."

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Associated Press writers Wilson Ring in Montpelier, Vt., Mike Melia in Hartford, Conn.,Michelle Smith in Providence, R.I., Kathy McCormack in Concord, N.H., and David Sharp in Portland, Maine, contributed to this report.

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Follow David Crary on Twitter: http://twitter.com/CraryAP

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 22, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The arrest by Canadian authorities of two al Qaeda-connected terrorists planning to derail a passenger train calls attention to the Mineta Transportation Institute's (MTI) previous research on terrorist attacks targeting passenger trains. These three recent MTI reports address this issue. All were authored by international terrorism expert Brian Michael Jenkins, director of MTI's National Transportation Safety and Security Center. He is available for media interviews. MTI is affiliated with San Jose State University.

(Logo: )

On August 26, 1995, the Saturday of the final and busiest weekend of France's summer holiday season, terrorists attempted to derail the TGV (Traina Grande Vitesse) between Lyon and Paris by planting a bomb. Fortunately, their crude triggering mechanism failed to detonate the bomb, and subsequent analysis indicates that even had the bomb gone off, the explosion would not have derailed the train.

The TGV episode, one of a continuing series of case studies by the Mineta Transportation Institute, points to a continuing problem: Since 1995, terrorists have attempted to derail trains on at least 144 occasions.

Because of the expansion of high-speed rail systems in Europe, Asia, and North America, where 13 high-speed rail projects are in preparation or under way in the United States alone, this case study has been expanded to include a chronology and statistical analysis of attempted derailments worldwide. This analysis examines the geographic distribution of the attempts, the methods used by the saboteurs, and the outcomes. Although based on a small universe of events, it underscores both the attractiveness to terrorists of attacking transportation systemsa successful attack can result in high body counts, significant disruption, dramatic images, and enormous publicity, all things sought by terroristsand the difficulties of achieving success.

This report examines 13 terrorist plots against public surface transportation that were uncovered and foiled by authorities between 1997 and 2010 and two failed attempts to carry out attacks. Certainly, this is not the total universe of foiled or failed terrorist plots in these years, but they were selected on the basis of what is known about them and the accessibility of information.

The report focuses on terrorist plots in the West. Seven of the 15 plots took place in the United States, and four occurred in the United Kingdom. These two countries figure prominently as targets of terrorism, and in addition, American and British officials have dealt with terrorist plots through publicized arrests and trials, which provide additional information.

Although motive was not a criterion in the selection of the plots, all but one involve individuals or groups inspired by al Qaeda's ideology of violent global jihad against the West. The exception is the 1997 Flatbush plot, in which two terrorists, both of whom had connections with Hamas, angered by events in Palestine, simply wanted to kill as many Jews as possible to express their opposition to U.S. support for Israel. Other sources suggest that the Flatbush plotters wanted to force the release of jailed Islamist terrorists in the United States, including Ramzi Yousef, who participated in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Sheik Omar Abdul-Rahman, who was convicted for his involvement in a plot to carry out additional bombings in New York.

This report presents an analysis of information relating to attacks, attempted attacks, and plots against high-speed rail (HSR) systems. It draws upon empirical data from MTI's Database of Terrorist and Serious Criminal Attacks Against Public Surface Transportation and from reviews of selected HSR systems, including onsite observations. The report also examines the history of safety accidents and other HSR incidents that resulted in fatalities, injuries, or extensive asset damage to examine the inherent vulnerabilities (and strengths) of HSR systems and how these might affect the consequences of terrorist attacks. The study is divided into three parts: (1) an examination of security principles and measures; (2) an empirical examination of 33 attacks against HSR targets and a comparison of attacks against HSR targets with those against non-HSR targets; and (3) an examination of 73 safety incidents on 12 HRS systems. The purpose of this study is to develop an overall strategy for HSR security and to identify measures that could be applied to HSR systems currently under development in the United States. It is hoped that the report will provide useful guidance to both governmental authorities and transportation operators of current and future HSR systems.

ABOUT BRIAN MICHAEL JENKINSBrian Michael Jenkins is an international authority on terrorism and sophisticated crime. He directs the Mineta Transportation Institute's (MTI) National Transportation Safety and Security Center, which focuses on research into protecting surface transportation against terrorist attacks. He is also a senior advisor to the president of RAND. From 1989-98, Mr. Jenkins was deputy chairman of Kroll Associates, an international investigative and consulting firm. Before that, he was chairman of RAND's Political Science Department, where he also directed research on political violence. He has authored several books, chapters, and articles on counterterrorism, including International Terrorism: A New Mode of Conflict and Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? Most recently, he published When Armies Divide, a discussion about nuclear arms in the hands of rebelling armies. He also has been principal investigator for many peer-reviewed security-focused research reports for MTI.

ABOUT THE MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE (MTI):MTI conducts research, education, and information transfer programs focusing on surface transportation policy and management issues, especially related to transit. MTI was established by Congress in 1991 as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act and won national re-designation competitions in 2002, 2006 and 2011. The Institute is funded by Congress through the US DOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration, by the California Legislature through Caltrans, and public and private grants. In 2006 the US Department of Homeland Security selected MTI as a National Transportation Security Center of Excellence. The internationally respected members of the MTI Board of Trustees represent all major surface transportation modes. Visit

Contact: Donna MaurilloMTI Communications Director831-234-4009 (available 24/7)donna.maurillo (at) sjsu.edu

SOURCE Mineta Transportation Institute

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Friday as earnings from Googleand other companies lifted tech shares, but the gains weren't enough to stop the S&P 500 from suffering its worst week since November.

High volatility marked the week, with the S&P 500 falling 2.3 percent on Monday in its worst day since November 7, which fueled talk that the market's long-awaited pullback had arrived.

Friday's trading volume, at 6.4 billion, was the lowest of the week, but in line with the average for the year. Much of Boston, a major U.S. financial center and home to a number of the country's biggest mutual fund companies, was under virtual lockdown as police killed one suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing in a shootout and mounted house-to-house searches for a second man.

For the week, the S&P 500 ended down 2.1 percent but the index managed a finish above its 50-day moving average after ending below that level on Thursday for the first time this year.

Boosting the S&P 500 on Friday were shares of Google, which gained 4.4 percent to $799.87 a day after posting upbeat results. At least six brokerage firms have raised their target on Google's stock price.

The Dow finished barely in positive territory, held back by shares of International Business Machines , which posted their largest drop in eight years after the company's quarterly results missed estimates. IBM's stock ended down 8.3 percent at $190.

"Unless there's a shock to the system, investors will move back into the market as we head through earnings season, but now investors have an opportunity to study the winners and losers more closely," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial in Westport, Connecticut.

The Dow Jones industrial averagerose 10.37 points, or 0.07 percent, to 14,547.51 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Indexgained 13.64 points, or 0.88 percent, to finish at 1,555.25. The Nasdaq Composite Indexrose 39.69 points, or 1.25 percent, to close at 3,206.06.

For the week, the Dow slid 2.1 percent, while the Nasdaq lost 2.7 percent. Markets were roiled earlier in the week by the plunge in gold prices and slower growth out of China, the world's second-largest economy.

Still, the S&P 500 remains up about 9 percent for the year, and analysts said the pullback could give investors a chance to reevaluate their bets.

Options volume began the day unusually light for expiration day, which is typically a heavily traded session, as traders focused on developments in Boston. But trading in options picked up as the day progressed and ended near average levels.

The Boston situation "does disrupt activity. If you're a financial adviser, you're probably not having meetings today. But in terms of a corporate entity, most of the big ones in the city are probably operating pretty normally," said John Canally, investment strategist and economist at the Boston office of LPL Financial, which is the nation's largest independent broker-dealer.

On last month's expiration day, overall volume spiked to 8.6 billion shares traded, the busiest day of the year so far, but expiry days in January and February had volume of just 6.7 billion to 6.8 billion shares.

Among other tech gainers, shares of Microsoftjumped 3.4 percent to $29.77 and topped the Nasdaq's most-active list after the company reported quarterly revenue and earnings that exceeded Wall Street's expectations.

Shares of Boeing Cogained 2.1 percent to $87.96 after U.S. regulators approved a revamped battery system for its 787 Dreamliner. The jet was grounded in January because the plane's lithium-ion batteries overheated.

Less-than-stellar earnings from McDonald'sand General Electricalso weighed on the blue chips.

GE shares fell 4.1 percent to $21.75 after the conglomerate reported a quarterly profit in line with expectations as GE sold more jet engines and shed its stake in NBC Universal. The stock topped the New York Stock Exchange's list of most actively traded names.

McDonald's stock lost 2 percent to $99.92 after the world's biggest fast-food chain reported a first-quarter profit that fell short of Wall Street's expectations and said sales at established U.S. restaurants fell 1.2 percent.

Friday's volume totaled 6.4 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, in line with the average daily closing volume of 6.4 billion this year.

Advancers outnumbered decliners on the New York Stock Exchange by a ratio of about 11 to 4, while on the Nasdaq, nearly 17 stocks rose for every eight that fell.

(Additional reporting by Leah Schnurr, Angela Moon and Doris Frankel; Editing by Jan Paschal)

The Vatican last year imposed an overhaul of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious after determining the sisters took positions that undermined Catholic teaching on the priesthood and homosexuality while promoting "radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith." Investigators praised the nuns' humanitarian work, but accused them of ignoring critical issues, including fighting abortion.

On Monday, the heads of the conference met with the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Mueller, who is in charge of the crackdown. It was their first meeting since Mueller was appointed in July.

In a statement, Mueller's office said he told the sisters that he had discussed the matter recently with Francis and that the pope had "reaffirmed the findings of the assessment and the program of reform."

The conference, for its part, said the talks were "open and frank," and noted that Mueller had informed them of Francis' decision.

"We pray that these conversations may bear fruit for the good of the Church," the conference said on its website.

The Vatican crackdown unleashed a wave of popular support for the sisters, including parish vigils, protests outside the Vatican's embassy in Washington, D.C., and a U.S. Congressional resolution commending the sisters for their service to the country.

Following Francis' election, several sisters had expressed hope that a Jesuit pope devoted to the poor and stressing a message of mercy rather than condemnation would take a gentler approach than his predecessor, Benedict XVI.

Francis has called for a more "tender" church and one that serves society's poorest precisely a message American sisters have stressed in their ministry in hospitals, hospices, soup kitchens and schools that serve some of the most marginalized in the U.S.

The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit author who has been a staunch supporter of the U.S. sisters, cautioned against reading too much into the Vatican statement.

He noted that Francis' first appointment to the Vatican bureaucracy was that of the Rev. Jose Rodriguez Carballo as the No. 2 in the Vatican's congregation for religious orders. Rodriguez Carballo had been superior of the Friars Minor branch of the Franciscan order that was founded by the pope's namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, who devoted himself to helping the poor.

Martin said it would have been unusual for Francis to undo a process that has been years in the works and that as a Jesuit he is "naturally going to be sympathetic" to the challenges faced by members of religious orders, such as those represented by the nuns' conference.

As part of its imposed reforms, the Vatican appointed Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain and two other bishops to oversee a rewriting of the conference's statutes, to review its plans and programs, approve speakers and ensure the group properly follows Catholic prayer and ritual.

The conference represents about 57,000 sisters, or 80 percent of U.S. nuns. It has argued that the Vatican reached "flawed" conclusions based on "unsubstantiated accusations." The group's officers have said they would participate in discussions with Sartain "as long as possible" but vowed they would not compromise their group's mission.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Philips forecast a slow first half of the year due to the weak European economy and a tough outlook for healthcare spending in the United States, sending its shares to a four-month low.

The Dutch electronics company reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings, but weak sales underscored the challenges it faces as it restructures to cope with stagnant economic growth, fragile consumer spending and government budget cuts in several markets.

Shares in Philips, the world's biggest lighting maker and a top-three maker of hospital equipment, fell to their lowest level since January, down 3.9 percent by 1250 GMT against a broadly higher European blue chip market.

"The biggest concern in the market is healthcare," said Daniel Cunliffe, analyst at Nomura. "Put very simply, healthcare is the biggest division, and the biggest margin-driver, so the issue is will healthcare recover in the U.S."

Chief Executive Frans van Houten, who has driven Philips' restructuring over the past two years, said the outlook for healthcare is particularly tough in the United States, where executives in the sector are cautious about spending plans ahead of the implementation of planned healthcare reforms.

Healthcare equipment orders fell 5 percent on a comparable currency basis, with a double-digit decline in North America and a high-single-digit decline in western Europe, where several economies are in crisis.

President Barack Obama's healthcare law, which takes full effect in 2014, aims to extend insurance cover to over 30 million Americans, but requires insurance companies to bear costs including preventive health services and also introduces a new tax on medical devices.

In the past week, medical testing companies such as Quest Diagnostics and device makers Johnson & Johnson and Abbott Laboratories have cited a slowdown in use of medical services in the run-up to the reform's implementation.

MODEST SALES

Fabian Smeets, analyst at ING, said that while Philips' net result was above consensus, investors were concerned by the weak first-half outlook and modest sales growth of 4 percent in emerging markets, considered the main driver for the group's growth after its overhaul.

Philips has sold off much of its consumer electronics business - including its television, audio, and video operations - in a drive to improve profitability.

The company said it was on track to achieve its end-2013 targets of sales growth of between 4 and 6 percent, a margin on EBITA (earnings before interest, tax and amortization) of 10 to 12 percent and a return on invested capital of 12 to 14 percent.

Van Houten said he would update investors on his new financial targets and strategy for coming years on September 17.

Some analysts expect Philips to shift away from share buybacks and to return more cash to its investors through higher dividends or special dividends in future.

"We are not a serial share buyback company," van Houten told reporters on a conference call, adding Philips will complete its 2 billion euro ($2.6 billion) buyback in the second quarter.

The company reported first-quarter net profit of 162 million euros ($211.9 million), down from 183 million a year ago when its results were lifted by a net gain of 119 million euros from the divestment of its stake in the Senseo coffee brand and the sale of its office campus in the Netherlands.

Quarterly EBITA improved in all three businesses, once year-ago one-off gains and other charges were excluded.

Sales rose 1 percent on a comparable basis to 5.26 billion euros. Analysts in a poll commissioned by Reuters had forecast net profit of 153 million euros on sales of 5.41 billion.

($1 = 0.7644 euros)

(Editing by David Holmes and Louise Heavens)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - John Travolta's attorney is lashing out at Gawker over a report suggesting that the "Grease" star shelled out more than $84,000 to settle sexual assault claims, calling the story "outrageous" and "false."

Gawker published the storyTuesday, along with a document that the site claimed is an "internal report" of insurance claims indicating that the actor's insurer paid out a total of $84,500 to two parties after they issued attorney demand letters alleging sexual assault.

In a statement Wednesday, Singer said the amounts listed in the Gawker story are "consistent with legal fees being paid in connection with the defense of lawsuits that were filed.

"Gawker's outrageous false story claims that a purported insurance document supposedly shows that $84,500 was paid out in sexual assault settlements, but that alleged document does not show that a single penny was paid for settlements," Singer said. "The document (which has not been shown to be authentic) shows costs and expenses incurred, consistent with legal fees being paid in connection with the defense of lawsuits that were filed. Gawker's reckless publication of this absurd story has once again shown that the website is more concerned about page clicks than accuracy."

According to the Gawker story, Travolta's insurer paid out $3,850 to a former employee of Travolta's, identified as Mark Higgins, and $80,750 to an unidentified party. (Travolta was sued in 2012 by two plaintiffs identified as John Doe #1 and #2, who claimed that Travolta sexually assaulted them during massage sessions. Both suits were ultimately dropped.)

The site went on to insinuate that the dollar amounts smelled an awful lot like settlements over the sexual assault claims.

"All of which is to say that despite Marty Singer's public insistence that no settlement offer was made in the John Doe case, Travolta's insurance company tells a different story," article author Camille Dodero wrote.

Gawker, which did not offer specific comment to TheWrap on Singer's statement, has updated its post with a strike-through of the above sentence.

Travolta has been besieged by accusations of sexual misconduct, with multiple lawsuits filed against him.

Singer has denied the accusations leveled against Travolta.