Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake have proposed a $24.4 billion buyout of the personal computer maker. Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management have made a counter offer that would pay the special dividend and allow Dell shareholders to keep their shares.

The Dell committee's presentation, issued on Wednesday, is the most detailed response yet to the Icahn-Southeastern proposal. The report pointed to a "significant liquidity gap" that could reduce the promised $12 dividend to as little as $8.50.

The committee recommended stockholders vote for the $13.65-per-share cash offer from Silver Lake and Michael Dell.

Dell shares rose 1 cent to $13.43 in early trade.

(Reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and John Wallace)

(Reuters) - Canadian house prices will fall 5 percent in the next few years, with Vancouver and Toronto leading the drop, but the government has done enough to cool the once-hot housing market and Canada will not see a U.S.-style crash, according to a Reuters poll.

The survey of 21 forecasters showed about half have some level of concern that Canadian house prices are at risk of a sharp fall, but none believe the correction will result in the devastation seen in the United States five years ago.

A housing slowdown is already well underway in Canada, but a soft landing is widely expected by both private economists and policymakers. Home sales fell 3.1 percent in April from a year earlier, but they edged up from the prior month as spring buyers breathed life back into the market that had been cooling all winter.

"Government policies have been largely successful in slowing real estate activity, in conjunction with a notable change in sentiment. House prices are clearly vulnerable to a correction in nominal terms, but we believe a more gradual adjustment in real home prices is more likely," said Moody's Analytics senior economist Mark Hopkins.

The prospect of a soft landing has been helped by Canada's more conservative approach to home ownership and mortgage lending, including government moves to tighten lending rules in recent years.

In addition, mortgage interest is not deductible, lenders are less likely to securitize mortgages, and there is little subprime lending. Canadians also have more equity in their homes than Americans did.

"Tighter mortgage rules have slowed credit growth, helping to cool the housing market in an orderly fashion - hat tip to policymakers," BMO Capital Markets senior economist Sal Guatieri said in a recent housing report.

Canada is now experiencing a slowdown in housing activity just as the U.S. housing market is showing clear signs of recovery, making the comparison between the two markets more stark.

U.S. house prices crashed as a mortgage crisis unraveled in 2008, triggering a financial crisis and leaving a trail of foreclosures, negative equity and financial hardship for millions of people. But U.S. housing prices and construction are showing renewed strength, just as Canada's post-financial-crisis boom ends.

HOME PRICES, CONSTRUCTION TO FALL

On a national basis, Canadian house prices are expected to drop 5 percent over the next several years, according to the median result of the poll, which was conducted over the past week.

Prices, which rose some 88 percent in the last 10 years, according to the Teranet-National Bank Housing Index, are still rising on a national basis, but the appreciation has slowed to a crawl and some markets have seen outright declines.

House prices will fall 0.2 percent in 2013 and rise 0.5 percent in 2014, according to the median of forecasts in the Reuters poll, putting most of the losses at least two years away and making the downward path very gradual.

Economists have long debated whether moves by the government to tighten lending standards have helped the housing sector manage a soft landing or pushed it into a crash. Only two of 21 surveyed said they expect the government to intervene in a similar fashion in the next 12 months.

"Further macroprudential 'tightening' measures may be undertaken by the federal government, albeit more likely through (banking regulator) OSFI or other channels rather than further changes to insured mortgage rules," Altus Group chief economist Peter Norman said.

Mindful of the U.S. boom and bust, Canada's federal government tightened mortgage lending rules four times in the last five years to make it harder for home buyers to take on too much debt in their quest for a home.

The rule changes gradually shortened the maximum length for an insured mortgage from 40 years to 25 and put limits on how much people can borrow against their homes, among other measures.

Median forecasts saw Toronto prices rising 1.2 percent in 2013 before falling 1.2 percent in 2014. Respondents expect an eventual 7.5 percent fall from current levels. Vancouver prices were forecast to fall 3.1 percent in 2013 and 3.4 percent in 2014, with an eventual decline of 10 percent from current levels.

As sales decline and prices fall, homebuilders will cut back on construction starts, the poll showed.

Housing starts, which notched a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 214,827 in 2012, will drop to an annual rate of 175,500 in the second quarter of 2013 and drift gradually lower to 170,500 by the first quarter of 2014, the poll found.

However, some economists expect the national slowdown to be sharper and uglier.

"Though prices are elevated and in Sun Life Global Investment's opinion due to correct by 10 to 15 percent, this will depend on how other important factors play out," said Sadiq Adatia, Chief Investment Officer at Sun Life Global Investments.

"For instance, there remains high debt levels and if unemployment goes up (as we expect) then that will put further pressure on housing prices. What is keeping this in a soft landing state is that rates are not likely to increase over the next year or so."

While the Bank of Canada has maintained a tightening bias in its monetary policy statements, interest rates are not expected to rise until the fourth quarter of 2014.

(Polling by Deepti Govind in Bangalore; Editing by James Dalgleish)

While her eight colleagues donned their black robes and took the bench to announce opinions, Sotomayor was wearing Yale blue and receiving an honorary degree in New Haven, Conn.

Among her messages to graduates of Yale Law School, where Sotomayor received her law degree in 1979: A justice's life isn't all glamour.

"Sometimes it gets boring. No justice is supposed to say that. But, you know, there's drudgery in every job you're going to do," Sotomayor told more than 200 graduates. Yale posted video of the law school graduation on its website.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice John Roberts read a summary of Sotomayor's opinion in a case involving attorney's fees. So, point taken.

And who can blame her for finding her day job humdrum at times after the whirlwind she's experienced in recent months?

The 58-year-old justice has traveled the country and conducted many interviews to promote her best-selling memoir, "My Beloved World." The book has been on the New York Times' nonfiction best-seller list for 15 weeks, including several at No. 1.

She was greeted by adoring crowds in her parents' native Puerto Rico. She has appeared on CBS' "60 Minutes," bantered with Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart on Comedy Central, toured her old school with Oprah Winfrey and sat with the co-hosts on ABC's "The View," where some of them called her Sonia.

The larger point of Sotomayor's remarks at Yale was to tell the graduates they can learn in every job they do and urge them to take jobs about which they are passionate, even if they do not necessarily look great on a resume.

Although she did have a bit of bad news for the fledgling lawyers, their elite law school experience notwithstanding. "No, not all of you can be on the Supreme Court. There are only nine seats and you've got the job forever," she said.

___

Right about now, people start wondering when the high court will issue the term's big rulings gay marriage, voting rights and affirmative action this year.

Predicting how the court will decide cases and when, precisely, the decisions will come is notoriously difficult.

But there is little doubt actually none at all that the high court will wind up its work sometime during the last week in June.

A quick look at the justices' summer plans tells you all you need to know.

At least four justices have engagements the first week in July, thousands of miles from Washington.

Leading the way in summer teaching gigs, Roberts will be in Prague, in the Czech Republic, for a program led by the South Texas College of Law in Houston and the William Mitchell College of Law in Minneapolis. Justice Clarence Thomas is expected in Innsbruck, Austria, for St. Mary's University law school in San Antonio.

Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan both have agreed to speak in Aspen, Colo.

And then, starting after July 4, Kagan and Justice Anthony Kennedy are both teaching in Salzburg, Austria, for the University of the Pacific.

At some point early in July, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will alight in Paris to teach in Tulane University's summer law program.

Justices can accept roughly $25,000 in additional income for teaching and speaking, beyond their salary of $213,900 a year. The chief justice earns about $10,000 a year more.

Summer law school classes can add $10,000 to $20,000 to their incomes and also subsidize the cost of family vacations in very desirable locations. The schools are delighted to land a Supreme Court justice.

Last year, Roberts joked about heading to the "impregnable island fortress" of Malta, where he taught after he enraged conservatives with his vote to uphold President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Going to Malta "seemed like a good idea," Roberts joked the day after the ruling.

____

If the court ever were to alter its practice of doling out opinions among all the justices and instead put them all in Ginsburg's hands, the term would be pretty close to over.

She's fast. Her unanimous opinion Monday reinstating the murder conviction of former Michigan police officer Burt Lancaster (no relation to the actor) came out 26 days after the court heard arguments, the fastest turnaround this term.

Roberts was a close second, writing another unanimous opinion in a patent case one month and four days after it was argued in January.

Whenever the justices all agree on something, it is much easier to get a decision in the books. But Ginsburg, Roberts and even Justice Antonin Scalia stand apart from the others for their writing speed.

But when the justices are at loggerheads, months can pass without a decision.

The affirmative action case, Fisher v. University of Texas, was argued more than seven months ago, on Oct. 10.

Only the justices can say what's taking so long. They will, eventually, in multiple opinions that are expected the day that case is decided before the end of June.

___

Follow Mark Sherman on Twitter at www.twitter.com/shermancourt

Y CITY, Ark. (AP) -- Flash flooding and tornadoes killed three people in Arkansas overnight in the nation's latest severe weather outbreak. Among the dead was a county sheriff who drowned while checking on residents whose house was eventually swamped by rising water.

More bad weather was poised to strike the nation's midsection Friday, with tornadoes and baseball-sized hail forecast from Oklahoma to Missouri.

But Thursday night and early Friday the danger was from torrential rain 6 inches or more in the rugged terrain of western Arkansas. The Fourche La Fave River rose 24 feet in 24 hours and for a time closed U.S. 71 north of Y City.

"The water just comes off that hill like someone is pouring a bucket in there," said Danny Straessle, a spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. "This was an incredible amount of water."

Sheriff Cody Carpenter and wildlife officer Joel Campora traveled by boat up Mill Creek to reach two people who had called for assistance. While they were in the home, the river swamped it.

"Other deputies heard a loud crash," Hollenbeck said. "They thought that the bridge had actually collapsed. Looking into it further, the house had imploded as a directly result of rising waters from Mill Creek," said Bill Hollenbeck, the sheriff of neighboring Sebastian County.

Campora and the two women inside the home remained missing Friday afternoon, Hollenbeck said. Carpenter's body was recovered about 1 mile downstream from the home.

Separately, authorities discovered a woman dead in a car in Scott County. That death is also being attributed to the flooding. And a man died after strong winds toppled a tree onto his car in Voll, just west of Little Rock.

The agency's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said large hail and tornadoes are likely Friday in Oklahoma and parts of the Ozarks in Arkansas and Missouri. The areas at greatest risk include Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Joplin, Mo., where the second-deadliest American tornado on record killed at least 158 people in 2011.

Flooding is also a concern in parts of Missouri, Iowa and Illinois through Sunday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc on Monday agreed to buy Life Technologies Corp for $13.6 billion in a deal that would make it one of the top two companies in the hot field of genetic testing.

The pact values Life Tech at $76 per share, a 12 percent premium, and is one of the year's biggest corporate takeovers.

It would catapult Thermo, the world's largest maker of scientific and laboratory equipment, to the forefront of the fledgling field of personalized medicine, where research is uncovering the hereditary underpinnings of diseases to better tailor treatments to patients.

"Genetic sequencing is an area that will become increasingly important over the years in terms of specialty diagnostics, and Thermo needs to compete in that market because they have a number of products in that area that ultimately could get displaced by sequencing applications," said Macquarie Capital analyst Jonathan Groberg.

Thermo Chief Executive Marc Casper said advanced genetic testing was an important field going forward, and his company wanted to get into it as an industry leader. Life Tech is considered No. 2 behind Illumina Inc in the race to produce faster and less expensive gene sequencing technology.

"We didn't want to be a more distant participant, and this transaction facilitated us having a stronger position there," Casper said in a telephone interview.

Illumina last year rebuffed a $6.8 billion hostile takeover bid by Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG. Shares of Illumina, which will now have to compete with a far larger rival with much greater resources, were down nearly 3 percent.

Interest in buying Illumina could heat up again, given the company's unique position in advanced gene sequencing.

"They've only got one target they can think about," Mizuho Securities analyst Peter Lawson said of potential buyers. "There's a lot of experimental technologies out there, but if you need something that functional, you need either Illumina or Life Tech's Ion Torrent business."

Both companies have dramatically cut down the time and cost of sequencing human DNA, a major boon to researchers and drugmakers developing gene-based diagnostic tests and treatments. Life Tech's Ion Proton System can complete the sequencing process, which recently took several days, in a couple of hours for about $500. The technology has more than 1,000 times the sequencing capacity of Life Tech's original sequencing chip.

AN IMMEDIATE PROFIT BOOST

Thermo said the deal would add 90 cents to $1 to its per-share profit in the first full year, initially sending its shares higher. After jumping nearly 6 percent, the shares gave back those gains and were down almost 1 percent at $78.98 in late afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Life Tech shares were up 7.4 percent at $73.05, below the offer price.

Analysts estimate the combined company's 2013 revenue at about $17 billion. The acquisition will also enhance Thermo's offerings in the fast growing field of food safety, and its ability to grow in China and other emerging markets.

"The combined company has significant scale in emerging markets and scale makes a huge difference there," said Casper, adding that the deal "will put us in even better position to grow in the fastest growing regions in the world."

The acquisition is by far the biggest deal for Thermo since the company was created in the $12.8 billion merger of Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific International in 2006. It is also far larger than the biggest previous deal on Casper's watch - the $3.5 billion acquisition of Phadia in 2011.

Thermo expects the transaction to close early in 2014, pending U.S. regulatory and shareholder approvals.

Thermo will assume Life Tech's net debt of about $2.2 billion. In the third year following the deal's closing, Thermo said it expects to achieve cost savings of $250 million by consolidating facilities and support functions.

Thermo's products range from basic scientific instruments to advanced mass spectrometry equipment used to determine the chemical structure of molecules. It also sells chemicals, agents and antibodies used in the manufacture and research of biotech medicine - a line that will be complemented by Life Tech's product lines - and in recent years has increased its portfolio of products for testing air and water quality and food safety.

LIFE TECH EXPLORED MANY OPTIONS

Life Tech explored a sale after previous attempts by Chief Executive Gregory Lucier to boost the value of the company's stock and capture more market share from Illumina.

Lucier said the company explored many options during a lengthy strategic review, with the ultimate sale of the company always one of them. "We are very satisfied both with the process and the outcome," he said in a telephone interview.

Lucier oversaw the merger of his former company Invitrogen and Applied Biosystems that created Life Tech.

Life Tech President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Stevenson is expected to play a significant role in the combined company, the companies said.

Thermo has obtained committed bridge financing from JPMorgan and Barclays, which also acted as the company's financial advisers.

Sources familiar with the deal told Reuters that Life Tech chose Thermo over Sigma-Aldrich Corp, a maker of chemicals for research laboratories, and a private equity consortium consisting of Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, KKR & Co and Temasek Holdings.

Deutsche Bank Securities and Moelis & Co advised Life Tech.

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz and WilmerHale are legal counsel to Thermo Fisher; Cravath, Swaine and Moore is legal counsel to Life Tech.

(Additional reporting by Esha Dey in Bangalore; Editing by Michele Gershberg)

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Renewed economic activity following a smooth presidential vote is driving demand for imports in Kenya, weakening the shilling and prompting wariness about the central bank's response, including more interventions.

Kenya's central bank intervened for the first time in four months on Wednesday and currency traders in east Africa's biggest economy said in the aftermath it is likely to do so again if the shilling starts to decline.

The shilling had fallen 1.7 percent in just over a week to an eight-week low of 85.25/45 per dollar before Wednesday's intervention, tumbling on strong demand for hard currency from importers,

It was at 85.00/85.20 on Thursday, slightly weaker than its 84.85/84.95 close the previous day. Traders viewed this as stable but said the bank would come in again if the weakening trend picked up.

"The central bank is on top of the game and might keep intervening whenever the shilling comes under pressure," said Ignatius Chicha, head of markets at Citibank.

"We are going to have more demand than supply as we see resumption in economic activity."

Demand for imported goods has picked up along with the economy since it became apparent that the March election was not going to lead to the kind of violence the followed the previous one.

But this could weigh on the shilling and could feed into inflation if left unchecked.

In late 2011, the central bank was forced to hike interest rates sharply to rein-in imported inflation that had pushed the shilling to a record low of 107 per dollar in October that year.

At the time, the current account deficit - the difference between a country's imports and exports - had risen to above 10 percent. The current account deficit stands at above 12 percent of GDP, driven by increased local demand for foreign goods.

Peter Mutuku, head of trading at Bank of Africa, said the shillings depreciation was inevitable "because of the current account mismatch".

The shilling is still 1.6 percent stronger to the dollar so far in 2013, but is widely expected to weaken by year-end, pressured by Kenya's persistently high current account deficit.

A Reuters poll of eight analysts and traders gave a median forecast of 88.00 shillings per dollar by year end.

The central bank has remained active in the market, regularly sterilising liquidity through actively soaking up liquidity since last year to support the shilling by making it slightly expensive to hold long dollar positions.

Central bank has also been selling hard currencies even as it cut its borrowing costs by 950 basis points since July 2012 to support the economy.

Some traders said a weaker shilling could tempt the central bank to reverse course on a cycle of interest rate cuts.

"We could see interest rates go back up but that is a last resort because they (central bank) are keen on growth at the moment," said a trader at one commercial bank.

However, for now, they said the bank's foreign exchange reserves of at least 0.27 months cover above the statutory four months worth of import cover, had given it room to sell even more dollars in the market.

"Looks like the central bank has managed to cool off excess demand for now and is keenly watching the market," said Dickson Magecha, a trader at Standard chartered Bank.

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - While Formula One flirts with the idea of a female driver, girl power is already as much a part of the Indianapolis 500 as turbo-charged engines and the winner chugging cold milk in Victory Lane.

Swiss Simona de Silvestro, Brazilian Ana Beatriz and Britons Pippa Mann and Katherine Legge represent the four women who will take the command to start their engines alongside 29 men at the famed Brickyard for Sunday's race.

On the other side of the Atlantic, however, the only women on the starting grid at the Monaco Grand Prix, which will also run on Sunday, will be the glamorous models holding placards with drivers names on them.

"It doesn't matter if they are male or female, the car doesn't know the difference," Legge told Reuters. "I don't think about it, there are just 32 other drivers out there and me."

Formula One has not had a female driver for decades, with Italian Giovanna Amati the last to try and get on the grid when she failed to qualify in 1992.

The only woman to appear on the score sheet was Italian Lella Lombardi who finished sixth in the shortened 1975 Spanish Grand Prix and was awarded a half point.

Development driver Susie Wolff is pushing Williams to give her a proper test and keep alive her distant dream of one day racing alongside the men in Formula One.

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has been supportive of her efforts, according to Wolff, even if publicly he has stated that he does not see any woman driver on F1's horizon because there was nobody good enough at present.

"It will take a female winning races in GP2 (Grand Prix 2 series)," said Mann. "You will know because she is a winner in GP2 that she is extremely accomplished and do a good job but to get to that point we are going to need more females on the ladder in Europe."

MODEST OBJECTIVES

Like all sports, motor racing is a results-based business and none of the four women on Sunday's grid are expected to end the day in Victory Lane.

Legge, who had a test with Formula One tailenders Minardi in 2005, will start from the last row for the second consecutive year after posting the slowest qualifying speed, more than five miles per hour slower than pole sitter Ed Carpenter.

Beatriz, making her fourth Indy 500 start, and Mann, her second, will line up alongside each other in Row 10 just ahead of Legge.

De Silvestro, who has made it to the finish line only once in three visits to the Indy 500, earning rookie year honors in 2010 when she placed 14th, will launch from the 24th spot on the grid.

"My goal for Sunday is to try to stay out of trouble, to try and stay on the lead lap and then if we could somehow sneak up into the top 15, top 10 ... that is a realistic goal," Mann told Reuters. "My game plan is to be fairly cautious because I'm not going to win the race on the start from where I am."

Such modest objectives, however, are unlikely to get a driver noticed by sponsors, fans or Formula One recruiters.

De Silvestro may be the one female IndyCar driver currently on F1's radar, the Swiss gaining steady respect for her fearless and resilient driving although she has yet to record an IndyCar series victory.

Growing up in Switzerland, the 24-year-old driver admits her dream is to drive a Formula One car and hopes to one day get the opportunity.

"Being from Europe I have dreamed about F1 and it is still a dream but right now I am really lucky to be in IndyCar," De Silvestro told Reuters. "It would have to be the right opportunity and done in the right way.

"You have to be wise about the opportunities."

GLASS CEILING

Girl power is nothing new at the massive Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Janet Guthrie having long ago shattered the glass ceiling when she became the first woman to qualify for Indy 500 in 1977.

But no woman has ever won on the sprawling oval. Danica Patrick is the "Queen of the Brickyard" having come closest with a third place finish in 2005 and remains the only woman to lead a lap at the 500.

Patrick, who is also the only woman to win an IndyCar race, proved women can go wheel-to-wheel against the men and added to her reputation when she jumped to NASCAR and grabbed the pole at this year's Daytona 500.

A combination of sex appeal and skill, Patrick has become one of the most recognizable names in motor sports and a marketing titan, earning her fifth spot on Forbes list of the world's top- earning female athletes.

"It's still something different but amongst the drivers I feel accepted," said de Silvestro. "At the end of the day we all wear a helmet and we just try to do the best job we can in the race car."

(Editing by Frank Pingue)

VISTA, California (Reuters) - Heavy metal singer Tim Lambesis, the frontman for Christian rock band As I Lay Dying, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a charge of soliciting the murder of his estranged wife.

North San Diego County Superior Court Judge Martin Staven set bail for Lambesis at $3 million. He ordered Lambesis to surrender his passport, stay away from his wife Meggan and their three children and remain in San Diego county except to meet with his attorney.

If convicted, Lambesis faces up to nine years in prison.

Lambesis, 32, was arrested at a bookstore in Oceanside, north of San Diego, on Tuesday after he tried to hire an undercover sheriff's deputy to kill Meggan Lambesis, according to Deputy District Attorney Claudia Grasso. Meggan Lambesis had filed for divorce in September after eight years of marriage, according to court records.

The singer gave the man he knew as 'Red' an envelope containing $1,000 in cash, photos of his wife, her address and codes to get through the security gates of her home, and a list of dates that would work well because he would have their three adopted children with him, Grasso said.

"The children would be his alibi," Grasso said at a news conference after the hearing, which was attended by more than 40 of Lambesis' friends, family and fans.

Lambesis' attorney, Anthony Salerno, said his client was set up. "If I had to hang a tag on it, I'd call it a scumbag snitch set-up," Salerno said. "Law enforcement was fed something by someone who effectively orchestrated the whole thing ... He did not intend to harm anybody."

Lambesis sent his wife an email in August while he was on tour, telling her he no longer loved her or believed in God, Grasso said. His wife also found he was having an affair and "there had been a string of other women," she said.

The prosecutor said Lambesis asked an acquaintance from his gym if he could find someone to kill his wife.

The gym friend arranged for him to meet with an undercover Sheriff's Department detective on Tuesday, to whom Lambesis gave the envelope of cash and information, Grasso said.

Salerno said he believed Lambesis did not want to harm his wife and had never done so in the past, noting the singer has no history of domestic violence or any arrests.

"Tim was mostly disappointed that it was going the way it was, he didn't feel it was good for his children," Salerno said. "The rest, I think will come out, that he was set up."

He also told the court that the restrictions on Lambesis to stay in San Diego County will affect the band's ability to tour and earn a living.

"The band has a tour scheduled," Salerno told the judge. "There's many people who depend on him. If he can't go that would be to the detriment of many, many people."

Lambesis is due to return to court for a preliminary hearing on July 10.

(Editing by Tim Gaynor and Mohammad Zargham)

The circumstances of their deaths are different. But the same words"loyal," "honorable," "selfless," "smart" and "fearless"surfaced again and again this week when family and friends remembered the American military service members close to them who sacrificed their lives for their country.

Yahoo News invited readers to mark Memorial Day by sharing their memories. Below are excerpts from their stories, which we published this week.

Charles Leon Gilliland (Photo courtesy of Deb Cooper)Tales of young bravery: Decades after Charles Leon Gilliland died in battle in Korea, his sister-in-law still felt guilty about his death.

Gilliland, just 17 when he was killed in 1951, had written her letters asking for bullets for his pistol. She didnt send them, fearing it would land her in trouble. According to Deb Cooper, who shared her Uncle Charles story, her mother never forgave herself when she learned that Gillilands last moments were spent fighting with a knife because he lacked ammunition.

Here, from Cooper, is more about Gilliland, the youngest Korean War Medal of Honor recipient:

Uncle Charles loved playing Army as a child and always owned a gun. At 16, he tried to join the Marines, but he was turned away due to his age. My grandparents allowed Charles to join the Army on May 25, 1950, his 17th birthday.

I did not realize how important Uncle Charles was to my family and our nation. I was born 10 years after his death, and I did not always understand his heroics. Now, there are reminders everywhere in north-central Arkansas where he was born and lived: Memorials at the Baxter County Court House, a bridge crossing in Yellville, and the National Guard Center in Harrison are just a few.

In 1997, the USNS Gilliland was dedicated in his name. His official memorial is in Hawaii.

My mother and my grandmother told me stories of his bravery when I was a child. He was a young soldier, in the Army less than a year, when he stayed behind to let his platoon retreat to safety. He was never seen again.

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Peter Guenette (Photo courtesy of David Harland Rousseau)A soldiers protective instincts: Peter Guenette, a specialist fourth class, served in Company D in the Armys 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. On May 18, 1968, he was about to fly to Hawaii for some R&R when he was bumped from the flight by a higher-ranking soldier serving in the rear echelon. Instead of sunning himself on a tropical beach, he was again on the front lines.

David Harland Rousseau, whose father served with Guenette in Vietnam, shares his story:

The men of Company D were closing in on a suspected enemy base camp in Quan Tan Uyen. Heavy fire from entrenched North Vietnam Army regulars rained down on the .

Peter and three other soldiers took cover in a shell hole and returned fire. Suddenly, an enemy grenade rolled into the crater between the soldiers. Without hesitation, Peter shouted a warning and covered the grenade with his body. He died instantly, but his selfless actions saved the lives of three men.

Sp4c. Guenette posthumously received the , which was presented to his wife, Susan, by President Richard Nixon in April 1970.

Peter had a protective instinct that revealed itself in all he didright until the last full measure.

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Ada and Clarence's engagement photo; Ada receives Clarence's Purple Heart. (Photos courtesy of Nannette Gilber …

Honoring a long-lost uncle and soldier: Clarence Reed served in the U.S. Army in France during World War II and died on April 7, 1945, shortly before V-E Day. His grandniece, Nannette Gilbert, didn't know she even had a Great Uncle Clarence until her great aunt, Ada Strausbaugh, died in 2011. Reed had been Ada's first husband, and while it wasn't a family secret that her great aunt was on her second marriage, Gilbert says, it was just something no one spoke of.

After her great aunt's death, Gilbert learned more about her Great Uncle Clarence:

Aunt Ada and Clarence were married on April 17, 1944, in Gallipolis, Ohio. Clarence, who was from Dexter, Ohio, joined the Army and was stationed in France during World War II. He didn't survive the war and died on April 7, 1945, less than a year after Ada and Clarence married.

They had no children together, and my aunt had no children in her second marriage. Since my grandmother was her closest relative, and my mother is already passed away, I inherited a large box of pictures and memorabilia after my aunt's death. Among those items, I found the marriage license, death notice, pictures and letters that Ada and Clarence mailed back and forth to each other as well as supporting documents for the Purple Heart that Clarence received posthumously and which was presented to Ada. She was buried with Clarence's Purple Heart.

It pains me to know that on Memorial Day almost 70 years after his death, I may be the only one left honoring his memory. I've tried to find distant relatives on his side of the family to no avail. So this year, and from now on, I will honor my Great Uncle Clarence Reed, who served his country and gave his life during World War II.

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Cpl. Jennifer M. Parcell (Photo courtesy of V. Wync Yarber)

You are loved and you are greatly missed: During a deployment to Iraq as part of the Marines Lioness Program, Cpl. Jennifer M. Parcell was killed by a female suicide bomber at a checkpoint in Anbar province on Feb. 7, 2007. She was just three weeks from returning to her base in Okinawa, Japan.

V. Wync Yarber, the Marine who assigned Parcell to the detachment, remembers her:

She didn't cast an imposing shadow at about 115 pounds and around 5 foot 4 inches tall, but she was every bit that hard-nosed Marine that you hear about.

I can remember when I first laid eyes on Jennifer M. Parcell. I remarked to one of my colleagues, "Is this Bring Your Little Sister to Work Day?" She barely looked old enough to have enlisted.

However, I was to find out that she was tough and had the ability to raise the performance of the Marines, or whomever, she was around. She didn't back away from a challenge and didn't complain when things didn't go exactly as planned. Whenever she heard her fellow Marines complaining, she would often admonish them by saying, "You guys sound like a bunch of little girls! ... SUCK IT UP!"

Though there have been many memorials dedicated to Parcell, and I even wear a bracelet on my left wrist commemorating her, I would much rather have her present, here on this planet. She was only 20 when she was whisked away from us.

So here is to Cpl. Jennifer Marie Parcell. You are loved and you are greatly missed.

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Spc. Charles Odums II (Photo courtesy of Joseph Estrada)

A promising young man: It was 4 a.m. on Memorial Day 2004 when Joseph Estrada, an Army physician assistant with the 1-8 Cavalry, learned that a bomb had killed one of his medics, Spc. Charles Odums II, the night before. Odums, who was the battalions first fatality during its yearlong tour, had saved another solders life just a week earlier.

Estrada, who saw Odums as a younger version of himself, remembers that Memorial Day:

Later that morning, many in the unit gathered in an eerie silence near the morgue to pay their respects. I stood alone, preferring to mourn in solitude. Others embraced, some consoled others and some discreetly wiped tears under dark sunglasses.

On cue, we formed a line between the morgue and the ambulance. Four medics entered the building to retrieve the stretcher carrying our fallen comrade. Someone called out commands as the litter bearers emerged with our friend's remains. Restrained sobs filled the air. With the ambulance loaded, we filed past its back doors, each pausing briefly for one last moment with our hero.

After the convoy had left, we huddled up once more as Sgt. Kortney Clemons led us in prayer. We eventually dispersed to spend a very somber, reflective Memorial Day remembering our departed brother.

I remember his asking me about children after learning that I had five; he was in a young marriage and "needed some tips." I remember discussing his future plans; he was a promising young man.

Spc. Odums gave my life new focus, new perspectives, and a new appreciation for the little things. Even his death gave new meaning to Memorial Day. On May 31, 2004, and on every subsequent Memorial Day, with a heavy but grateful heart, I cry for my fallen brothers and sisters, and I thank them.

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Under the accelerated share repurchase agreement (ASR), Merck has agreed to repurchase about 99.5 million shares from Goldman Sachs based on current market prices.

"We don't have consensus share count post-Q1 earnings to quantify the impact of the accelerated repurchase, but we believe this is a positive sign of Merck attempting to create shareholder value," ISI Group analyst Mark Schoenebaum said in a note to clients.

Merck's board had authorized additional purchases of up to $15 billion of its common stock and said that it would buy back about $7.5 billion over the next 12 months.

Sales of Merck's asthma drug Singulair plunged 75 percent to $337 million in the first quarter. The pill was Merck's biggest product, with annual sales of $6 billion, before cheaper generics flooded the U.S. market last August.

More pain from generics is in store. Merck's Maxalt migraine drug recently lost patent protection and its Temodar brain cancer medicine will soon face cheaper copycats.

Merck aims to seek marketing approval this year for a handful of new drugs, including a sleep aid called suvorexant now before U.S. regulators. It is counting on these products to help offset plunging sales of Singulair, Maxalt and Temodar.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Chris Gallagher)