Kerry was to meet Venezuela's foreign minister on the sidelines of an Organization of American States meeting in Guatemala to explore ways to repair relations. The encounter comes at Venezuela's request and is to occur just hours after Venezuela released from prison an American filmmaker who had been jailed on espionage charges, removing at least one irritant in the relationship.

U.S. officials with Kerry said the secretary was hopeful, but not certain, that Timothy Tracy's release could be a sign that the Venezuelans are interested in a rapprochement. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

The discussion between Kerry and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jose Jaua will be the first at cabinet level between the two countries in at least several years and the first substantial contact since Venezuela's disputed April 14 election to replace the late populist president Hugo Chavez. Chavez protege Nicolas Maduro claimed victory at the polls, but the opposition is still contesting the results.

Washington is willing to work with Maduro's new government but has said opposition questions about the electoral process must be addressed. The Obama administration has been eager to mend ties with Venezuela after Chavez's death in March. Chavez delighted in tweaking the United States and pursued policies that U.S. officials regarded as hostile. However, until Wednesday there has been little to show for its outreach.

U.S.-Venezuelan relations have been especially tense in recent months. Maduro expelled two U.S. military attaches in March the same day Chavez died, accusing them of trying to foment instability, and Tracy's arrest came amid domestic political turmoil over the election.

The Obama administration has backed opposition candidate Henrique Capriles' call for a full recount.

U.S. officials with Kerry said he wanted to look at areas like counternarcotics and counterterrorism where cooperation could be improved with Venezuela. But they stressed that the U.S. was not going to stop expressing concerns about democracy and human rights in the country, particularly after the election.

The two countries haven't had ambassadors posted in each other's capitals since 2010 but U.S. officials said they were not sure if this subject would be raised in the meeting between Kerry and Jaua.

Shortly before the two men were to meet, Venezuela released Tracy who had been jailed for what authorities said were attempts to destabilize the country.

U.S. President Barack Obama called that allegation "ridiculous." Family and friends say the 35-year-old Hollywood producer and actor had been making a documentary about Venezuelan politics when he was arrested on April 24 at the Caracas airport as he tried to leave the country to attend his father's 80th birthday in suburban Detroit.

In a speech to the 35-member OAS annual general assembly, Kerry did not mention the developments with Venezuela, but reiterated U.S. concerns that some countries in the hemisphere are backsliding on their commitments to democracy and seeking to weaken OAS institutions that monitor and report on human rights.

"We must keep this organization's focus on its core objectives," Kerry said, calling for the OAS to redouble its efforts on protecting basic freedoms, improving rule of law and fighting corruption. "The Americas present a vivid example to the world that diversity is a strength, that inclusion works, that justice can overcome impunity, and that the rights of individuals must be protected against government overreach and abuse."

Kerry is pushing the candidacy of the US nominee for the Inter American Commission on Human Rights, James Cavallaro, a Stanford University law professor who is one of six people in the running for three spots on the panel that will be chosen later this week. Some OAS members are opposed to the U.S. having a presence on the commission because it is not also a member of the organization's human rights court.

"None of our countries is perfect, and we continue to draw strength from scrutiny and the opportunity to review our human rights practices," he said. "We are all diminished when we fail to defend the very institutions we created to safeguard the noble ideals (of) peace, democracy, development, liberty, and social justice based on respect for the essential rights of women and men."

June 5 (Reuters) - England restored some belated respectability in their one-day series against New Zealand by winning the third and final match by 34 runs at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Wednesday.

Although New Zealand had clinched the series with victories at Lord's and the Rose Bowl, the win was a boost for England's morale before the Champions Trophy starting on Thursday. The two sides meet again in the eight-nation 50-overs competition during the group stages in Cardiff on June 16.

"Getting a win was very important and I thought we played pretty well," England captain Alastair Cook said at the trophy presentation.

"We haven't quite got it right in this series, we've been operating at about 75 percent. Today we showed a lot of character and the different balance of the side worked well."

England owed their competitive total of 287 for six to Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler who smashed 64 runs off the last three overs.

The pair came together for the final ball of the 46th over after England had laboured to 210 for five despite Ian Bell's 82 from 96 deliveries.

Morgan, struggling for form in the series, started to strike the ball sweetly after a slow start, lofting three sixes in his 49 from 40 balls.

Buttler cracked a whirlwind 47 not out from 16 deliveries, also with three sixes, including two off Tim Southee's final over.

A six off the last ball of the innings would have given Buttler the world record for the fastest one-day international half-century. But he could manage only two and Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya's 17-ball record set against Pakistan in 1996 remained intact.

"Jos's knock was the difference between the sides," Cook said.

New Zealand made a bright start in pursuit of the victory target with Martin Guptill, who scored unbeaten centuries in the first two matches, racing to 38 at better than a run-a-ball with some firm, assured strokes.

Ross Taylor, the Black Caps' best batsman then contributed 71, his third half-century of the series, before he was caught on the leg-side boundary trying to hoist a third successive six.

But New Zealand kept losing wickets at key moments and were dismissed for 253 off 46.3 overs.

England, who rested their two leading bowlers James Anderson and Graeme Swann, will have been heartened by the performances of pacemen Steven Finn and Stuart Broad who missed the first two matches through injury.

They bowled 9.3 and nine overs respectively without any apparent problems.

"We were good for the majority of the game but there were two periods, Buttler's innings was world-class and to concede 76 off four overs, the other part was losing 4-20 through the middle," New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said.

"But other than that our performance was really good and showed if we can execute our plans we're a good side."

England begin their Champions Trophy campaign against Australia on Saturday and New Zealand face Sri Lanka on Sunday.

(Writing by John Mehaffey in London, editing by Ed Osmond)

Survivors described workers, mostly women, struggling through smoke and flames to reach doors that turned out to be locked or blocked.

One worker, 39-year-old Guo Yan, said the emergency exit at her workstation could not be opened and she was knocked to the ground in the crush of workers searching for a way to escape the fire Monday.

"I could only crawl desperately forward," Guo was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency. "I worked alongside an old lady and a young girl, but I don't know if they survived or not."

The accident highlights the high human costs of China's lax industrial safety standards, which continue to endanger workers despite recent improvements in the country's work safety record. It also comes amid growing international concern over factory safety across Asia following the collapse in April of a garment factory building in Bangladesh where more than 1,100 people died.

Besides the dead, dozens were injured in the blaze in Jilin province's Mishazi township, which appeared to have been sparked by three early morning explosions, Xinhua said. The provincial fire department attributed the blasts to an ammonia leak. The chemical is kept pressurized as part of the cooling system in meat processing plants.

It was one of China's worst recent industrial disasters, with the death toll the highest since a September 2008 mining cave-in that claimed 281 lives.

State broadcaster CCTV quoted workers as saying the fire broke out during a shift change when about 350 workers were at the plant, owned by Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Co.

Some employees raised the alarm shortly after the shift began at 6 a.m., and then the lights went out, causing panic as workers scrambled to find an exit, 44-year-old Wang Fengya told Xinhua.

"When I finally ran out and looked back at the plant, I saw high flames," she said.

The fire broke out in a factory building where chickens were being dismembered, and spread rapidly, with industrial boilers exploding, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported on its microblog. Only a side door to the building was open with the rest of the exits locked, the newspaper said.

It quoted an unidentified worker as saying the fire engulfed the building in three minutes, leaving too little time for many to flee.

The disaster killed 119 people and injured a further 70, Xinhua said Tuesday. Most of the injured were being treated for inhalation of toxic gases, such as ammonia, while others had burns. It wasn't immediately clear if the workers were local residents or migrants from other areas.

A provincial government media official, who refused to give his name, said he expected the death toll to rise as more bodies were recovered from the charred building.

The fire was extinguished by some 500 firefighters and bodies were being recovered from the charred buildings. CCTV footage showed dark smoke billowing from the prefabricated cement structures topped with corrugated iron roofs.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top leaders ordered that no effort be spared to rescue and treat survivors, as well as to investigate the cause of the disaster.

It was the third major industrial blaze to be reported in China in the past four days. The two earlier fires were an oil tank explosion in Liaoning province that caused another oil tank to catch fire, killing two, and a blaze in a large granary in Heilongjiang province that wiped out 1,000 tons of grain.

Many of China's factories were built in recent decades to drive the country's rapid economic growth, and accidents and chemical spills are common, often blamed on lax enforcement of safety rules and poor worker training.

The government has tightened checks on factories and mines to improve compliance with safety requirements, and deaths from workplace accidents fell nearly 5 percent last year from the previous year, according to Yang Dongliang, head of the State Administration of Work Safety.

Even in China's notoriously deadly coal mines, the death toll fell by more than 30 percent last year because of stricter management.

Jason Yan, technical director in Beijing of the U.S. Grains Council, said safety considerations usually take a back seat in China to features designed to maximize production and energy efficiency.

"I'm sure they consider some aspects of safety design. However, I think safety ... is not the first priority in their design plan," Yan said.

The poultry plant is one of several in the area where chickens are slaughtered and then quickly cut up into pieces and shipped to market. The process takes place in near-freezing conditions and plants are usually built with large amounts of flammable foam insulation to keep temperatures constant.

Established in 2009, Jilin Baoyuanfeng produces 67,000 tons of processed chicken per year and employs about 1,200 people. It serves markets in 20 cities nationwide and has won numerous awards for its contribution to the local economy, according to online postings. The plant is located outside the city of Dehui, about 500 miles (800 kilometers) northeast of China's capital, Beijing.

The area is an agribusiness center, especially for poultry. Nearby is one of the biggest producers of broiler chickens in China, Jilin Deda Co., which is partly owned by Thailand-based conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group.

Monday's fire hit a company that is much smaller than Jilin Deda. Though it's unlikely to have an impact on China's chicken supply, the accident came as chicken producers were seeing sales recover after an outbreak of a deadly new strain of bird flu, H7N9, briefly scared the public in April and early May.

___

Associated Press writer Gillian Wong contributed to this report.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for the 30-year loan increased to 3.59 percent this week. That's up from 3.51 percent last week. And it is above the rate of 3.31 percent reached in November, the lowest on records dating to 1971.

The average on the 15-year loan jumped to 2.77 percent. That's up from 2.69 percent last week. The record low of 2.56 percent was hit on May 2.

Cheaper mortgages are a key reason home sales have increased this year.

In April, sales of previously occupied homes rose at the fastest pace in three and a half years, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday.And sales of newly built homes jumped to the second-highest rate since July 2008.

More demand, along with a tight supply of homes for sale, has helped boost home prices. It has also encouraged builders to break ground on more homes.

Mortgage rates rose sharply this week because they tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note.

The yield rose above 2 percent Wednesday for the first time since March 14 and was at 2.02 percent Thursday. Investors began selling government bonds Wednesday after minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed several policymakers favored slowing the Fed's bond purchases, perhaps as early as this summer.

The Fed is buying $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bonds, which has pushed down long-term interest rates. Once it slows the bond purchases, interest rates are likely to tick up. That would decrease the value of bonds with lower yields.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday each week. The average doesn't include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for 30-year mortgages was unchanged at 0.7 point last week. The fee for 15-year loans also was steady at 0.7 point.

The average rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage held at 2.55 percent. The fee for one-year adjustable-rate loans was unchanged at 0.4 point.

The average rate on a five-year adjustable-rate mortgage edged up to 2.63 percent from 2.62 percent. The fee was steady at 0.5.

FBI counter-terrorism agents began issuing the secret letters, which don't require a judge's approval, after Congress passed the USA Patriot Act in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The letters are used to collect unlimited kinds of sensitive, private information, such as financial and phone records and have prompted complaints of government privacy violations in the name of national security. Many of Google's services, including its dominant search engine and the popular Gmail application, have become daily habits for millions of people.

In a ruling written May 20 and obtained Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston ordered Google to comply with the FBI's demands.

But she put her ruling on hold until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could decide the matter. Until then, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company must comply with the letters unless it shows the FBI didn't follow proper procedures in making its demands for customer data in the 19 letters Google is challenging, she said.

After receiving sworn statements from two top-ranking FBI officials, Illston said she was satisfied that 17 of the 19 letters were issued properly. She wanted more information on two other letters.

It was unclear from the judge's ruling what type of information the government sought to obtain with the letters. It was also unclear who the government was targeting.

The decision from the San Francisco-based Illston comes several months after she ruled in a separate case brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation over the letters. She ruled in March that the FBI's demand that recipients refrain from telling anyone including customers that they had received the letters was a violation of free speech rights.

Kurt Opsah, an attorney with the foundation, said it could be many more months before the appeals court rules on the constitutionality of the letters in the Google case.

"We are disappointed that the same judge who declared these letters unconstitutional is now requiring compliance with them," Opsah said on Friday.

Illston's May 20 order omits any mention of Google or that the proceedings have been closed to the public. But the judge said "the petitioner" was involved in a similar case filed on April 22 in New York federal court.

Public records show that on that same day, the federal government filed a "petition to enforce National Security Letter" against Google after the company declined to cooperate with government demands.

Google can still appeal Illston's decision. The company declined comment Friday.

In 2007, the Justice Department's inspector general found widespread violations in the FBI's use of the letters, including demands without proper authorization and information obtained in non-emergency circumstances. The FBI has tightened oversight of the system.

The FBI made 16,511 national security letter requests for information regarding 7,201 people in 2011, the latest data available.

A video shows the Boston Marathon bombing suspects working out at a gym only days before the attacks.

According to , the video captures Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at Wai Kru, a mixed martial arts center, with a friend on Friday, April 12, at 2:45 p.m. The bombing took place the following Monday.

The video shows the manager asking the two when they arrive to remove their shoes as gym rules dictate. Dzhokhar, 19, takes off his shoes. Tamerlan, 26, refuses to do so and gets in an argument.

Later, the manager told CNN, the argument prompted him to email the owner of the gym asking to ban Tamerlan and saying, "He's arrogant, selfish and never helps anyone else."

The two proceed to work out, jumping rope. Tamerlan worked out at the gym a couple of times per month for free as a professional courtesy due to his being a nationally ranked Golden Gloves boxer, according to the gym manager. His skills with the rope are evident.

Dzhokhar, who rarely used the gym, appears to pause often as he exercises. The gym manager told CNN he remembered seeing Dzhokhar "two or three times" in roughly two years.

The votes, which had about the same support last year, reflect sustained concern among a large portion of investors and the general population about the practice, which has unlocked a huge amount of oil and gas resources across North America but led to environmentalist worries about water contamination.

Chevron Chief Executive John Watson told the annual meeting of shareholders that his company's level of disclosure was adequate, as he responded to a request from the fracking proposal's supporter for more quantitative measures of safety.

Fracking involves injecting chemical-laced water and sand to break and prop open shale rock to unleash oil and gas. The industry says it is safe when done properly, and the debate has moved to Chevron's own backyard, California, where it is just heating up.

Chevron said 31 percent of its shareholders supported the fracking proposal, compared with about 30 percent for Exxon. Last year, a proposal for a report on fracking risks had support from 27 percent of Chevron shareholders, while a similar proposal got 30 percent support among Exxon investors.

"Shareholders expect Exxon to lead the industry, but almost across the board Exxon is failing to provide the site specific information that shareholders, regulators, and impacted communities need," said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow, an investor advocacy group that filed the Exxon resolution.

Another issue of great concern for environmentalists is Arctic drilling, and rival Royal Dutch Shell Plchas just gone through an accident-prone foray into offshore drilling off Alaska's coast over the past year. Watson said Chevron was still evaluating its opportunities in the Arctic region.

"Most of the concerns are around costs," he said, speaking to reporters after the meeting.

A few dozen shareholders gathered outside Chevron's headquarters in San Ramon, California - just east of San Francisco - with many of them decryling the influence of corporate money in U.S. politics.

In Dallas, before Exxon's meeting started, about half a dozen police guarded its barricaded entrance, but there was only one protester outside who came to voice his support for equal benefits for employees in same-sex marriages.

The New York State Common Retirement fund submitted a proposal asking Exxon to amend its employment policy to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

New York pension funds own about 14 million Exxon shares with a value of more than $1 billion. The New York proposal, on Exxon's proxy for the 16th year, received the support of about 20 percent of the company's shareholders.

Exxon said in filings with the SEC that its current policies already prohibit any kind of discrimination.

Separately, support for Exxon's executive pay packages eroded this year.

(Reporting by Braden Reddall in San Ramon and Anna Driver in Dallas; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - From Rihanna's hit single "Diamonds" to hard economics, bid officials for Istanbul, Tokyo and Madrid made their pitch for the 2020 Olympics to the International Olympic Committee on Thursday as the race enters the final stretch.

The three cities have been campaigning for almost two years. The IOC will issue a crucial evaluation report on June 25 and elect the winner in September.

Turkey's largest city Istanbul, bidding for the fifth time in the last six editions, highlighted its location at the crossroads between Europe and Asia as it attempts to become the first city from a Muslim nation to host the Games.

"I can assure you hosting the Games is part of a broad agenda for Turkey," said Turkey' Sports Minister Suat Kilic, pointing to the country's sharp economic growth in the past few years.

"We now have the financial strength to host the Games," he said before a recording of "Diamonds" filled the large auditorium.

Tokyo, making its second consecutive attempt after failing to land the 2016 Olympics, played up its own economic strength as a safe Olympic destination.

"I understand that many people are saying that our bid is the safe option in this campaign," said Tokyo governor Naoki Inose. "What I don't understand is why some people seem to think that this could be a bad thing."

GAMES FUND

Tokyo, site of the 1964 Games, has already set aside $4.5 billion in a Games hosting fund in an effort to lure the summer Olympics back to Asia for the first time since the 2008 Beijing Games.

"This is cash in the bank. Ready right now to pay for all new permanent venues and infrastructure," he said.

Madrid officials were eager to convince the IOC of the country's financial clout despite the ongoing recession and a 27 percent unemployment rate.

"Spain has the largest growth potential in the next decade among the five most important economies in Europe, thanks to the increasing external competitiveness and the improvement of domestic demand," said Jaime Garcia-Legaz, Spanish State Secretary for Trade.

"The fundamentals of the Spanish economy are strong and deep," he said.

Madrid officials also highlighted the city's minimum venue construction needs and low budget with its three consecutive Olympic bids having transformed it into a Games blueprint.

"For 15 years Madrid has been preparing by building infrastructure and keeping our promises to the Olympic movement," said International Triathlon Union President Marisol Casado.

"We are not adapting the Olympic and Paralympic Games to fit our city. We have adapted our city to fit the Olympic and Paralympic Games," she said.

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Justin Palmer)

By Julian Linden

NEW YORK, May 23 (Reuters) - The New York Rangers scored in overtime to complete a 4-3 comeback win over the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden on Thursday and avoid elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Trailing 3-0 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-final series, the Rangers needed to win at home to force a Game Five in Boston on Saturday.

The Bruins, Stanley Cup winners two years ago, looked to be heading towards a sweep, leading 2-0 and then 3-2 on Thursday before the Rangers fought back to force overtime where Chris Kreider scored the winner.

"It's going to be a challenge but I'm really happy we got this one," said New York goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who made 37 saves.

"This was a big one obviously. It was do or die, but I'm happy with the way we responded. We're really excited about getting another chance."

After a scoreless first period, the game suddenly burst to life with three goals in the second and third.

The Bruins broke the deadlock when Nathan Horton scored a power play goal after New York forward Kris Newbury received a penalty for interference on Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask, who made 28 saves.

"They gave us some life. We found a way. We're still breathing," Rangers coach John Tortorella said.

Boston, who had the first seven shots on goal in the opening

period, then doubled their lead when Torey Krug scored another power play goal.

The Rangers had only scored a total five goals in the first three games and seemed to be out of luck when Ryan McDonagh hit the post with a snap shot.

But Carl Hagelin cut the deficit with a backhanded goal after Rask lost his balance and tripped over midway through the second period to give the Blueshirts hope.

Derek Stepan then tied the game with a wraparound goal less than two minutes into the third after he stole the puck from Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara.

"It was a pretty even game. We made some mistakes and they capitalised on those mistakes," said Chara.

"We had some chances but they scored more goals. Obviously they were desperate. It's 3-1 so we will get ready for the next one."

Tyler Seguin put Boston back in front when he scored on a wrist shot but the visitors received a penalty for having too many players on the ice.

Bryan Boyle scored from the ensuing power play to tie the score at 3-3 and set up overtime which ended at 7:03 when Kreider buried the puck in the back of Boston's net.

"The guys stepped up. Derek stepped up big. He was a horse tonight," said Boyle.

"We're going to hang around, they know that. We're not going to lay around and die." (additional reporting by Gene Cherry; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

For certain Boomers, listening to the songs on John Fogerty's "Wrote a Song For Everyone" will be like reacquainting with old friends, their wisdom and vitality still exhilarating after all these years. For post-Boomers, the album can serve as an introduction to the kind of meaty, foursquare guitar rock that has largely disappeared from the pop charts.

"Wrote a Song" is a Fogerty tribute album that comes with the artist's seal of approval. In fact, he sings on every cut, making it a duets album, too.

Fogerty, who turns 68 on Tuesday, recruited an array of younger artists to help resurrect some of his biggest hits, and the results rock. Highlights include a thunderous performance of "Fortunate Son" featuring the Foo Fighters and Fogerty sound-alike Dave Grohl; the 1997 obscurity "Hot Rod Heart," with Brad Paisley revving up his guitar; and a rollicking "Proud Mary," reclaimed from marching band songbooks everywhere by Jennifer Hudson, Allen Toussaint and the Rebirth Brass Band.

Fogerty himself remains a mighty singer, and shows he hasn't lost his knack as a songwriter either. Two new tunes fit right in, which is impressive given such distinguished company.