The state-owned Al-Ikhbariya TV said the booby-trapped car exploded in a populated area near a roundabout in Adawiya, a mostly Alawite district. The station's reporter on the scene said 10 people were wounded by the explosion, which also heavily damaged houses in the area.

Al-Ikhbariya's footage shows frantic residents running around, blood splattered on the ground, and a badly mangled car. Other cars on the street were also damaged. The reporter said the car was carrying about 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of explosives.

The station had earlier said the blast was caused by a suicide bomb.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of informants inside Syria, confirmed that the car was booby-trapped. It said seven were killed, citing preliminary reports.

The rare explosion in a neighborhood populated by Alawites, the sect to which President Bashar Assad belongs, comes as the conflict takes increasingly sectarian overtones.

The rebels are largely from Syria's Sunni Muslim majority and have been joined by Sunni fighters from other countries. The government's offensive in towns and villages south of the city, in contrast, has been backed by fighters from Lebanon's Shiite militant Hezbollah group.

The Adawiya area is one of a number of Alawite neighborhoods in Homs city. It is also home to a small Christian community, and a church. Homs city is home to one of the biggest Alawite communities in Syria, also widely seen as pro-Assad.

Government troops have made a major push in recent weeks to reclaim rebel-held areas in Homs province, the linchpin linking the capital Damascus with Alawite strongholds on the Mediterranean coast. The rebels are in control of the center of Homs city, including its old quarter, and are besieged by regime forces in the outlying areas of the city.

Many towns north of Homs city are rebel-controlled but government and Hezbollah forces are clearing rebels from villages and towns to the south. The government on Wednesday recaptured the town of Qusair after a grueling three-week offensive that caused heavy losses on both sides and trapped civilians in the area for weeks.

Buoyed by that victory, government troops have pushed on from Qusair. Syrian state TV said Saturday that government troops took control of Buwaydah village between Qusair and Homs city, after intensive clashes were reported there earlier.

Abu Bilal al-Homsi, an activist in the old quarter of the city of Homs who has links with several rebel groups, said through Skype that rebels sustained heavy losses late Friday as they attempted to flee the village with their wounded and civilians. Al-Homsi asked to be identified by his alias for security concerns.

Pro-regime media outlets claim government forces are preparing to move to recapture the contested northern city of Aleppo next.

The 76-year-old pontiff, who lost part of a lung during his youth to an infection, got soaked Wednesday as he braved a brief spring shower to kiss babies and greet crowds at his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square. Zooming around the piazza in his open-air jeep, Francis had no umbrella or cover over him as he made his way through a sea of brightly colored umbrellas, happily stopping to caress and kiss babies handed up to him.

Once Francis reached the covered platform at the top of the piazza steps, an aide brought him a roll of paper towels and he wiped his brow. His white cassock was visibly damp.

Francis praised the crowd for their "courage" in braving the rain.

Crabtree, San Francisco's leading receiver last season when they reached the Super Bowl before being beaten 34-31 by the Baltimore Ravens, injured his right Achilles during an organized team activity on Tuesday.

"(Coach) Jim Harbaugh tells media @KingCrab15 has torn Achilles tendon but has had successful surgery. Crabtree not expected to miss full season," the 49ers tweeted on Wednesday.

"We feel like someone is going to emerge there," Harbaugh later told reporters about the challenge facing the 49ers' younger receivers in Crabtree's absence.

Crabtree, 25, caught 20 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns in last season's playoffs after setting career-best marks with 1,105 yards, nine touchdowns and 85 receptions during the regular season.

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Gene Cherry)

MIAMI, June 2 (Reuters) - Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert was fined $75,000 by the National Basketball Association (NBA) on Sunday after a post-game press conference outburst which included an anti-gay slur.

Hibbert scored 24 points as the Pacers beat the Miami Heat 91-77 on Saturday to force a deciding game seven in South Florida on Monday but the 26-year-old responded with a rant in the televised press conference.

Hibbert used the phrase "no homo" to describe his play and also attacked the media, using foul language when asked to discuss his low place in voting for the Defensive Player of the Year.

The league said in a statement that Hibbert had used "inappropriate and vulgar language".

Before the fine, Hibbert had issued an apology on the Pacer's official website.

"I am apologizing for insensitive remarks made during the postgame press conference after our victory over Miami Saturday night," read Hibbert's statement.

"They were disrespectful and offensive and not a reflection of my personal views. I used a slang term that is not appropriate in any setting, private or public, and the language I used definitely has no place in a public forum, especially over live television.

"I apologize to those who I have offended, to our fans and to the Pacers' organization. I sincerely have deep regret over my choice of words last night," he said.

The NBA noted Hibbert's statement but said he still deserved a fine.

"While Roy has issued an apology, which is no doubt sincere, a fine is necessary to reinforce that such offensive comments will not be tolerated by the NBA," said commissioner David Stern.

After the press conference, Hibbert sent a tweet to fellow NBA player Jason Collins, who in April became the first active player in the league to come out as a gay.

"Hey can I get a follow? Would like to discuss somethings with you," read the tweet from Hibbert which was later deleted. (Reporting By Simon Evans; editing by Julian Linden)

Doctors reported the results Sunday at a cancer conference in Chicago. Experts called the outcome "amazing" and said this quick, cheap test could save tens of thousands of lives each year in developing countries by spotting early signs of cancer, allowing treatment before it's too late.

Usha Devi, one of the women in the study, says it saved her life.

"Many women refused to get screened. Some of them died of cancer later," Devi said. "Now I feel everyone should get tested. I got my life back because of these tests."

Pap smears and tests for HPV, a virus that causes most cervical cancers, have slashed cases and deaths in the United States. But poor countries can't afford those screening tools.

This study tried a test that costs very little and can be done by local people with just two weeks of training and no fancy lab equipment. They swab the cervix with diluted vinegar, which can make abnormal cells briefly change color.

This low-tech visual exam cut the cervical cancer death rate by 31 percent, the study found. It could prevent 22,000 deaths in India and 72,600 worldwide each year, researchers estimate.

"That's amazing. That's remarkable. It's a very exciting result," said Dr. Ted Trimble of the National Cancer Institute in the U.S., the main sponsor of the study.

The story of research participant Usha Devi is not an unusual one. Despite having given birth to four children, she had never had a gynecological exam. She had been bleeding heavily for several years, hoping patience and prayers would fix things.

"Everyone said it would go away, and every time I thought about going to the doctor there was either no money or something else would come up," she said, sitting in a tiny room that serves as bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and living room for her entire family.

One day she found a card from health workers trying to convince women to join the study. Devi is in her late 40s and like many poor Indians doesn't know her date of birth. She learned she had advanced cervical cancer. The study paid for surgery to remove her uterus and cervix.

The research effort was led by Dr. Surendra Shastri of Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. India has nearly one-third of the world's cases of cervical cancer more than 140,000 each year.

"It's just not possible to provide Pap smear screening in developing countries. We don't have that kind of money" or the staff or equipment, so a simpler method had to be found, Shastri said.

Starting in 1998, researchers enrolled 75,360 women to be screened every two years with the vinegar test. Another 76,178 women were chosen for a control, or comparison group that just got cancer education at the start of the study and vouchers for a free Pap test if they could get to the hospital to have one. Women in either group found to have cancer were offered free treatment at the hospital.

Still, this quick and free cancer screening was a hard sell in a deeply conservative country where women are subservient and need permission from husbands, fathers or others for even routine decisions. Social workers were sent into the slums to win people over.

"We went to every single house in the neighborhood assigned to us introducing ourselves and asking them to come to our health talks. They used to come out of curiosity, listen to the talk but when we asked them to get screened they would totally refuse," said one social worker, Vaishnavi Bhagat. "The women were both scared and shy."

One woman who did agree to testing jumped up from the table when she was examined with a speculum. "She started screaming that we had stolen her kidney," Bhagat said. Another health worker was beaten by people in the neighborhood when women realized they would have to disrobe to be screened.

"There was a sense of shame about taking their clothes off. A lot of them had their babies at home and had never been to a doctor," said one health worker, Urmila Hadkar. "Sometimes just the idea of getting tested for cancer scared them. They would start crying even before being tested."

But screening worked. The quality of screening by health workers was comparable to that of an expert gynecologist, researchers reported. The study was planned for 16 years, but results at 12 years showed lives were saved with the screening. So independent monitors advised offering it to the women in the comparison group.

An ethics controversy developed during the study. The U.S. Office for Human Research Protections faulted researchers for not adequately informing participants in the comparison group about Pap tests for screening. A letter from the agency in March indicated officials seemed to accept many of the remedies study leaders had implemented.

Others defended the study.

"We looked at the ethics very carefully" and felt them to be sound, and visited the project in India, said Trimble of the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Sandra Swain, a cancer specialist at Medstar Washington Hospital Center, also defended the research. She is president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the research results were presented at that group's meeting in Chicago on Sunday.

"There really was no wrongdoing there," she said. "They have no screening anyway," so there is no standard of care now.

Officials in India already are making plans to expand the vinegar testing to a wider population.

Many poor countries can't afford mammograms for breast cancer screening either. The India study also has been testing breast exams by health workers as an alternative. Preliminary results suggest breast cancers are being found at an earlier stage, but it's too soon to know if that will save lives because not enough women have died yet to compare the groups, said Trimble of the National Cancer Institute.

More progress against cervical cancer may come from last month's announcement that two companies will drastically lower prices on HPV vaccines for poor countries. Pilot projects will begin in Asia and Africa; the campaign aims to vaccinate more than 30 million girls in more than 40 countries by 2020.

___

Associated Press Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione reported from Chicago.

Each machine has a set of features designed to draw gamers away from rival consoles. There's one thing all three have in common, though: They are about more than gaming and include entertainment services such as television, movies and music.

Here's a closer look at the three systems. More details are expected at the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles next month.

Wii U (Nintendo)

The Japanese gaming company launched the Wii U, the follow-up to its popular Wii, in November, making it the only new console out for last year's holiday season. The console features a tablet-like controller with a touch screen, called the GamePad, which can be used to control games on the TV set or to play games separately, as you would on a regular tablet computer. It also allows someone with a GamePad to have a different experience with a game than someone playing it at the same time with a regular Wii controller.

The GamePad also serves as a fancy remote controller to navigate a TV-watching feature called TVii. The service groups your favorite shows and sports teams together, whether it's on live TV or an Internet video service such as Hulu Plus. And it offers water-cooler moments you can chat about on social media.

Unlike the Wii, the Wii U features high-definition graphics. In doing so, Nintendo's system catches up to the years-old Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the PlayStation 3 from Sony.

Sales of the Wii U have been disappointing, with 3.5 million sold as of March 31, the end of Nintendo's fiscal year. Nintendo Co. had originally expected to sell 5.5 million units and later lowered the forecast to 4 million, but it still fell short.

Price: Starts at $300 but some retailers have offered it at lower prices.

PlayStation 4 (Sony)

Sony shared some details about the PlayStation 4 in February, but it didn't show what the console would look like. The company said the PS4 would essentially be a "supercharged PC," much like the Xbox. That's a big departure from the old and idiosyncratic PlayStation design and should make it easier for developers to create games.

But the adoption of PC chips also means that the new console won't be able to play games created for any of the three previous PlayStations. Players will have to stream older games over the Internet.

Other new features revolve around social networking and remote access. With one button, you can broadcast video of your game play so friends elsewhere can watch. You can also run a game on the PS4 to stream over the Internet to Sony's mobile gaming device, the PlayStation Vita, which debuted last year.

The PlayStation online network will have access to Sony's video and music services, as well as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon as long as you have subscriptions to those services. You'll also be able to access Facebook.

The PS4 will have a Blu-ray disc drive for movies, just like the PS3. The console will go on sale this holiday season, though Sony Corp. has not disclosed an exact date.

Price: Not yet announced.

Xbox One (Microsoft)

Microsoft's new console seeks to deliver the Holy Grail of home entertainment an all-in-one device that lets you watch television, play movies, listen to music and browse the Internet as well as play video games.

The Xbox One lets you use voice commands to switch between watching TV and playing "Call of Duty," or ask "What's on HBO?" to view a TV channel guide. Simply connect your cable or satellite set-top box to the game machine with an HDMI cable.

A new version of Microsoft's camera-based Kinect controller offers better motion and voice detection than the one currently available. Unlike the Xbox 360, the Xbox One will require Kinect, which will come with the package.

Microsoft also reached a multiyear deal with the National Football League to develop new interactive viewing experiences, such as the ability to watch games, chat with other fans, view statistics, access highlights in real time and gather fantasy information about players and teams all on a single screen.

Although Nintendo's Wii was the most popular of the three at first, the Xbox 360 has outsold its rivals in recent years largely because of its robust online service, Xbox Live, which allows people to play games with others online for as much as $60 a year with annual plans. Activision Blizzard Inc.'s "Call of Duty," has been a driving force behind Xbox Live, and Microsoft said players will be able to download new content for upcoming titles in the series on the Xbox One before any other system.

The new console will also add the ability to play Blu-ray discs, matching what Sony has in its older PlayStation 3. What it won't play are games for the Xbox 360.

Microsoft said the system will launch this year, but it did not give a date during Tuesday's unveiling.

Price: Not yet announced.

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - With the strike by nine writers on E! Entertainment's "Fashion Police" nearly five weeks old, both sides were digging in for the long haul Wednesday.

While the writers were preparing to set up an 11 a.m. picket line and rally in front of E! TV's Los Angeles headquarters Thursday morning, the network issued a series of bullet points designed to clarify its position.

The writers have been on strike since April 17, after expressing a desire to organize and join the Writers Guild of America West. The writers want the network to recognize the WGA as their bargaining representative, while the network is insisting that a National Labor Relations Board election be held first.

The writers maintain that demanding an election before negotiating is a stalling tactic, since they've made their desire to be in the guild clear by signing union cards.

"Requiring an NLRB administered election is a fair and important part of the process," the network said in its statement Wednesday. "E! went so far as to take the unprecedented step of filing the petition with the NLRB ourselves a couple months ago to accelerate the process on the Fashion Police writers' behalf. If the writers had participated we could have been well into negotiations if not done by now."\

The network also reiterated earlier statements, which said it was not anti-WGA, and noted that it airs others shows ("The Soup" and "Chelsea Lately") that employ WGA workers that participated in NLRB elections.

An E! representative declined to say who was doing the work normally done by the striking writers.

Weeks before going on strike, the writers filed $1.5 million in wage and hour claims with the California Division of Labor Standard Enforcement against the network and show host Joan Rivers' production company, Rugby Productions. They are seeking payment for unpaid regular and overtime hours worked.

That dispute is moving forward separately from the representation issue. A settlement meeting held at the behest of the state failed to result break the impasse, so a date will be set for hearings on the writers' claims.

While the writers are out of their jobs, the WGA is making emergency loans available as it does to its members when they are on strike, a guild spokesman said Thursday. The WGA is also financing legal work done on their behalf.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Humor may not always translate well, but Jon Stewart is picking up millions of fans in China, where his gloves-off political satire is refreshing for many in a country where such criticism is a rarity - especially when directed at their own leaders.

A recent segment on North Korea scored over 4 million views on microblogger Sina Weibo, and even stodgy state broadcaster CCTV has used Stewart's "The Daily Show" in a report, though they wouldn't let a Chinese version of him near their cameras.

Recent popular sequences have included one in which Stewart lampooned the Chinese hackers who hacked into the New York Times computer system earlier this year, wondering if that was the best they could do.

But far from squelching Stewart, CCTV even used one of his sequences on Guantanamo Bay to criticize Obama in a regular broadcast - a move widely derided by netizens.

In China, however, such criticism tends not to be welcomed by the government. Dissident artist Ai Weiwei, who regularly criticizes the government for what he sees as its flouting of the rule of law and human rights, was detained for 81 days in 2011, sparking an international outcry.

"There's nothing like political satire here," said David Moses, who studies and writes about Chinese humor.

Though the exact timing of Stewart's entrance to China is unclear, many have been watching him for four or five years, mainly through the Internet and Weibo.

"Being a journalist, you have to find out the truth," said Mao Moyu, a Shanghai journalism student who got hooked on Stewart four years ago.

"If there's ... something that hurts the public interest you have to stand out, no matter how sharp the thing is. You have to stand out and say that's not right."

Part of Stewart's popularity is that he seems cool to young people in love with all things foreign, but a thirst for satire that is not afraid to show its face contributes too, Moses said.

The closest thing that exists in China is coded references and puns that tweak official pronouncements or sound like obscenities.

"That's just shooting a finger at the government. But this is full-fledged jokes and routines about North Korea or about China and trade...It's just what they wish they could do here," Moses said.

Free translations into Chinese by Stewart's fans have boosted his popularity. In fact, one - known as Gu Da Bai Hua - now even has his own fan base.

China's thirst for foreign satire is so great that Stewart is not the only popular U.S. comic. Some Chinese say they prefer rival television satirist Stephen Colbert - although humor may not be the only issue at stake.

"I think I like Stephen Colbert's pronunciation more because it's much clearer for me," said Shanghai student Peng Cheng.

(Editing by Elaine Lies and Michael Perry)

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Tuesday dismissed a mushrooming expenses scandal as a distraction, but also said he was "very upset" that members of his Conservative Party had apparently tapped the public purse for personal gain.

Harper, facing the biggest crisis since he won power in early 2006 with promises to clean up government, urged legislators to focus on the economy, which the Conservatives see as their strongest suit.

"We have an active and important agenda on the issues that matter to hard-working Canadian families ... when distractions arise, as they inevitably will, we will deal with them firmly," Harper told his Conservative caucus.

"But we cannot lose sight of our top priority."

In a widening spending scandal that is being investigated by ethics commissioners, three Conservative senators have stepped down to sit as independents after audits indicated they claimed expenses to which they were not entitled.

Harper's chief of staff, Nigel Wright, resigned on Sunday after secretly writing a personal check for C$90,000 ($88,000) to enable one of the three, Senator Mike Duffy, to repay housing allowances that he should not have claimed.

Critics say the large check broke ethics rules that prevent senators from taking gifts. Conservative legislators and their supporters fear that the scandal in the Senate, the upper house of Parliament to which members are appointed by the government, will damage the party's reputation.

The New Democrats, the official opposition, say the Conservatives have violated the trust of voters.

"These aren't distractions. This is about the abuse of public trust," NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus said. "The prime minister's ethical brand is deeply damaged at this point."

Speaking to the caucus before leaving for a visit to Latin America, Harper made no mention of Duffy, Wright or the C$90,000 check. But he tried to ease some of the concerns of his fellow legislators by criticizing those he suggested were to blame.

"I'm not happy. I'm very upset with the conduct of some parliamentarians and our officials in my office," he said.

"Anyone who wants to use public office for their own benefit should make other plans or better yet, leave this room."

Duffy quit the Conservative caucus last Thursday. A fellow Conservative senator Pamela Wallin, whose expenses are also being probed, followed suit on Friday. A third senator, also embroiled in the expenses scandal, quit in February after he was charged with assault.

"This is an unfortunate, unacceptable situation ... (Harper) has expressed leadership and that's exactly what I wanted to hear from him," Treasury Board Secretary Tony Clement told reporters after the prime minister spoke.

Polls taken before the scandal broke last Tuesday showed the Conservatives trailing the opposition Liberals, who are led by Justin Trudeau, the photogenic son of former Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

The next election is not due until October 2015.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren and Louise Egan; Editing by Janet Guttsman and Peter Galloway)

* Swedes beat Finns (Adds quotes)

By Philip O'Connor

STOCKHOLM, May 18 (Reuters) - Switzerland's fairytale run at the world ice hockey championships continued on Saturday when they reached the final thanks to a 3-0 victory over United States.

They now face host nation Sweden who beat Finland 3-0, Loui Eriksson scoring twice.

The Swiss, the only remaining unbeaten team, went ahead when Martin Pluss snapped up a loose puck and laid on a goal for the unmarked Nino Niederreiter.

Julian Walker made it 2-0 with 10 minutes to go when he latched on to Simon Moser's defence-splitting pass before Reto Suri completed the scoring.

With a squad almost entirely made up of home-based players, elated Swiss fans spent much of the final period ringing cowbells and chanting 'Allez' from the stands.

The players threw themselves at every puck in defence and anything that got through was dealt with comfortably by Reto Berra in goal.

"The team played unbelievably," an exhausted but elated Berra told Reuters. "It was a hard fight because it was the semi-final and there was a lot of pressure."

Despite being founder members of the International Ice Hockey Federation, the Swiss will be contesting only their second final, having lost on their only previous appearance in 1935.

"I think we've been really mentally tough in this championship which we haven't been the last couple of years," added Berra, 26.

"It's pumped up in our dressing room. You could see it today, from the first to the last second we were ready."

Earlier, Eriksson netted twice and the Sedin brothers, Daniel and Henrik, grabbed two assists apiece as Sweden ousted Nordic neighbours Finland.

The Swedes endured a sluggish start to the tournament but the arrival of the Sedins from National Hockey League duty with the Vancouver Canucks gave much-needed spark to their offence.

The brothers combined to set up Eriksson for his two goals which both came on the powerplay.

Eriksson knew little about the first as Henrik's shot bounced in off his leg, with Ilari Melart in the sin bin for cross-checking.

At the end of the second period the trio struck again, Daniel finding Henrik whose pass was finished by Eriksson.

Eriksson returned the favour with 23 seconds left in the game, setting up a goal for Henrik. (Editing by Tony Jimenez)