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THE VERDICT

Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, was found not guilty of second-degree murder in last year's death of Martin, who was black. The jury had the option to consider manslaughter but declined to convict him of the lesser charge. The six jurors considered nearly three weeks of testimony and delivered the verdict late Saturday night after two days and a total of 15 hours of deliberations.

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RALLIES

Around the country, rallies and protests were held Saturday night and Sunday. They ranged in size from a few dozen to several hundred protesters and were largely peaceful, with few arrests. Vandalism of a police squad car was reported at an Oakland, Calif., demonstration. Many supporters of the Martin family wore hoodies, as the teen did when he died.

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PRESIDENT OBAMA

The White House doesn't usually respond formally to trials unless they involve the president or federal government, but it issued a rare statement Sunday. President Barack Obama called Martin's death a tragedy: "Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America." He asked that people respect the call for calm reflection. He called the U.S. "a nation of laws" and said "a jury has spoken."

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OTHER REACTIONS

The families of Zimmerman and Martin posted reactions on Twitter on Saturday. Zimmerman's brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr., tweeted that he was "proud to be an American." He told CNN that though his brother is free, he'll forever be looking over his shoulder. Martin's parents expressed disappointment. Mother Sybrina Fulton tweeted, "Lord during my darkest hour I lean on you."

The case was covered on several Sunday morning TV talk shows, and celebrities also reacted. Beyonce took a moment of silence at a concert in Nashville. And the case was a topic at churches around the country, with many leaders urging peace in the wake of the verdict.

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THE JURORS

The judge issued an anonymity order for the six jurors during the trial. That order remains in effect, so their names have not yet been made public. Judge Debra Nelson had said she would rule on when to release the names upon the trial's conclusion. The order does not prevent jurors from choosing to speak to reporters now that the trial is over.

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WHAT'S NEXT

Zimmerman left the courthouse as a free man. The NAACP has called for the Justice Department to open a civil rights case against Zimmerman. Though the department has a history of using federal civil rights law in an effort to convict defendants who've previously been acquitted in state cases, it's not always easy. The department said in a statement Sunday afternoon that it's looking into the case to determine whether federal civil rights charges should be filed.

Supporters have suggested that Martin's parents file a wrongful-death civil lawsuit against Zimmerman. Zimmerman's lawyers have said he'll seek immunity. Florida's stand your ground law, which gives people wide latitude to use deadly force rather than retreat during a fight, may offer him that immunity if a judge concludes he acted in self-defense, said David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Miami.

For this first lady, the second term is YOLO territory.

Over the past few weeks alone, she's scolded a heckler, started posting personal shots to Instagram and taken her daughters to lunch with U2 frontman Bono at an Irish pub.

She has been posting decades-old personal photos from early in her relationship with the president, as she did Thursday.

And in her public appearances since January's Inauguration, she's repeatedly waded into political and partisan waters she's long taken pains to avoid, reports the Politico.

More often now, the first lady appears at ease - genuinely enjoying a public role that seems to allow for far more of those unguarded moments than it did the first time around. (ANI)

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas' Republican-controlled Senate has voted to ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, ending a high-profile political battle that stirred debate over abortion rights well beyond the state's borders.

Already approved by the House, the sweeping bill to restrict abortions now goes to Republican Governor Rick Perry, who is certain to sign it and had called a second special session of the legislature to get it through.

It makes Texas the 13th U.S. state to pass a 20-week ban. The 20-week provision is based on disputed research suggesting fetuses feel pain at that point in a pregnancy. Current limits are 26 weeks in Texas.

The Senate passed the measure late on Friday by a vote of 19 to 11 in front of a full public gallery while protesters yelled and chanted outside the chamber.

The issue has stirred huge attention, including internationally, in part because of an 11-hour filibuster in June against the bill by state Senator Wendy Davis, a Democrat. Her actions at the time prompted comparisons with the James Stewart movie "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington".

Despite political support in Texas for the bill, there could be legal hurdles. Courts have blocked the ban in three of the 12 states that passed it, and opponents of the Texas bill vowed to challenge the decision in court.

Thousands of activists for and against the bill gathered at the state capitol this summer for rallies and marches and to testify at public hearings.

"Let's draw the line and not torture these babies that are aborted," bill supporter Senator Bob Deuell, a Republican and a family physician, said during Friday's nine-hour debate.

The Texas measure would change standards for abortion clinics in ways that opponents say would cause dozens of the facilities to shut down, forcing Texans to turn to illegal, unsafe means. Bill supporters disagree that clinics would have to close.

"This bill is creating a situation where women in Texas today not only will not be made safer but they will absolutely be at risk of their health," said Davis.

The bill also requires doctors performing an abortion to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion clinic. Supporters of that provision said it was important in case complications arose in an abortion and the woman needed to be hospitalized.

The Texas legislation also calls for stricter guidelines for how doctors administer abortion-inducing drugs, such as the regimen known as RU-486.

PACKED STATEHOUSE

The pink granite statehouse was packed on Friday, with Texans opposed to the bill wearing orange and holding signs that said, "My body, my choice," some of them jumping, chanting and loudly shouting outside the Senate chamber.

Those supporting the bill wore blue, some carrying Bibles and crosses and holding signs that said things like, "Unborn babies feel pain."

"What happened here tonight is going to fast-forward change in Texas in the long run, but unfortunately a lot of women will suffer in the process," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Perry called lawmakers back to Austin for a second special session to reconsider the proposal after Davis's successful filibuster, and this time lawmakers were not fighting the clock. The second special session began July 1 and could last up to 30 days.

"Today the Texas legislature took its final step in our historic effort to protect life," Perry said in a statement.

The Texas Department of Public Safety increased security for Friday's debate, searching bags of everyone who entered the Senate gallery. The department said officers found 18 jars containing what appeared to be feces, one jar suspected of containing urine and three bottles of what they think is paint.

"All of these items - as well as significant quantities of feminine hygiene products, glitter and confetti possessed by individuals - were required to be discarded; otherwise those individuals were denied entry into the gallery," the department said in a statement.

The confiscation of feminine hygiene products sparked an outcry on social media about "tampongate".

(Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Jeremy Gaunt)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Oregon gubernatorial candidate Craig Berkman pleaded guilty on Tuesday to defrauding investors by persuading them he could use their money to buy shares of Facebook Inc before the company's May 2012 initial public offering.

Berkman, a Republican who ran for governor in 1994, admitted he told investors he had access to scarce pre-IPO shares of Facebook as well as LinkedIn Corp, Groupon Inc and Zynga Inc.

Instead, Berkman used investors' money to make payments to earlier investors - a classic Ponzi scheme - and to pay personal expenses, including $6 million in a personal bankruptcy case, Assistant U.S. Attorney John O'Donnell said at a hearing in federal court in New York.

Berkman pleaded guilty to one charge of securities fraud and one charge of wire fraud. Each carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

"I deeply regret my actions," a weeping Berkman, wearing beige jail scrubs, said at the hearing on Tuesday. "I've devastated my family." He apologized to his investors, saying some of them were "dear, dear friends."

"I'm very, very sorry," he said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Nathaniel Fox set sentencing for October 1.

As part of a plea deal, Berkman agreed to forfeit $13.2 million he raised from more than 120 investors.

Berkman had long been active in Oregon politics and served for a time as the head of the state's Republican Party. He lost in the Republican primary for governor in 1994. He explored a bid for governor in 2002, according to the newspaper The Oregonian.

Berkman was arrested in March at his home in Odessa, Florida.

"RECIDIVIST HISTORY"

Berkman's scam was similar to one perpetrated by former Florida fund manager John Mattera, who defrauded investors of $13 million by telling them he could invest their money in pre-IPO shares of Facebook and Groupon. Mattera was sentenced to 11 years in prison on June 21.

Berkman's guilty plea culminates what the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had called a "recidivist history."

In 2001, the Oregon Division of Finance and Securities issued a cease-and-desist order and a $50,000 fine against Berkman for offering and selling convertible promissory notes without a brokerage license, according to the SEC.

In 2008, an Oregon jury found Berkman liable in a private action for breach of fiduciary duty, conversion of investor funds, and misrepresentation to investors, related to his involvement with a firm called Synectic Ventures.

The criminal case is U.S. v. Berkman, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-mg-00732.

(Reporting by Bernard Vaughan; Editing by John Wallace)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Gina McCarthy's embattled nomination to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cleared a hurdle on Tuesday when one of her top Republican critics said he would not block a Senate vote on her appointment.

David Vitter of Louisiana, the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said he would support a full Senate vote on McCarthy now that the EPA had agreed to a series of requests he made to address complaints about transparency at the agency.

"I've had very productive conversations with EPA over the last several weeks, and believe the agency has taken significant steps forward on our five transparency requests... I see no further reason to block Gina McCarthy's nomination," Vitter said in a statement on his website.

The decision from Vitter comes as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid signaled he may start the process for a full Senate vote on McCarthy's nomination this week.

McCarthy is currently the top air quality official at EPA. She was nominated by Obama on March 4.

Among other actions, Vitter said the EPA has agreed to re-train its employees regarding record keeping under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and to commission an independent review of the agency's economic modeling.

Republicans have accused the Obama administration of attempting to circumvent public records laws by using personal emails for official business.

Critics of EPA have also questioned the economic assumptions the agency has used to support controversial regulations.

The EPA has been a lightning rod during the Obama administration, with opponents accusing the agency of regulatory overreach aimed at shutting down the nation's coal plants and stifling U.S. businesses.

Republican anger over the administration's environmental policies grew after President Barack Obama last month called on the EPA to enact new greenhouse gas pollution restrictions on U.S. power plants, many of which are powered by coal.

Some obstacles remain to McCarthy's nomination.

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, a Republican from Missouri, said Tuesday that his hold on the nomination is still in place as he seeks answers in a dispute over a river project in his state.

(Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Ros Krasny and Leslie Gevirtz)

A stray wheel from Mark Webber's Red Bull injured a cameraman in the pitlane, Jules Bianchi's car momentarily caught fire and rolled towards traffic after the driver had got out while Paul Di Resta almost hit Jean-Eric Vergne in the pits.

Kimi Raikkonen was second after a late tyre change failed to get him close enough to Vettel's Red Bull in an exciting finish while Lotus team mate Romain Grosjean was third.

With his younger brother following along and constantly pushing him, Moore became a rising talent in action sports.

The innovative freestyle snowmobile rider, who was hurt in a crash at the Winter X Games in Colorado, died Thursday morning. He was 25.

Moore had been undergoing care at a hospital in Grand Junction since the Jan. 24 crash. Family spokeswoman Chelsea Lawson confirmed his death, the first in the 18-year history of the X Games.

"He lived his life to the fullest. He was an inspiration," Lawson said.

A former all-terrain vehicle racer, Moore switched over to snowmobiles as a teenager and quickly rose to the top of the sport. He won four Winter X Games medals, including a bronze last season when his younger brother, Colten, captured gold.

Caleb Moore was attempting a backflip in the freestyle event in Aspen last week when the skis on his 450-pound snowmobile caught the lip of the landing area, sending him flying over the handlebars. Moore landed face first into the snow with his snowmobile rolling over him.

Moore stayed down for quite some time, before walking off with help and going to a hospital to treat a concussion. Moore developed bleeding around his heart and was flown to a hospital in Grand Junction for surgery. The family later said that Moore, of Krum, Texas, also had a complication involving his brain.

Colten Moore was injured in a separate crash that same night. He suffered a separated pelvis in the spill.

The family said in a statement they were grateful for all the prayers and support they have received from people around the world.

X Games officials expressed their condolences and said Moore, a four-time X Games medallist , would be remembered "for his natural passion for life and his deep love for his family and friends."

B.C. Vaught, Caleb Moore's agent for almost a decade, said he first saw Moore when he was racing an ATV in Minnesota and signed him up to star in some action sports movies.

Later, Moore wanted to make the switch from ATVs to snowmobiles and Vaught helped him. A natural talent, it only took Moore two weeks to master a difficult backflip.

Moore honed his skills in Krum, a town about 5,000 people 50 miles northwest of Dallas that rarely sees snow. Instead, he worked on tricks by launching his sled into a foam pit. After a brief training run on snow ramps in Michigan, he was ready for his sport's biggest stage the 2010 Winter X Games.

In that contest, Moore captured a bronze in freestyle and finished sixth in best trick. Two years later, his biography on ESPN said, "Caleb Moore has gone from 'beginner's luck' to 'serious threat.'"

That was hardly a surprise to Vaught, who said, "Whatever he wanted to do, he did it."

Vaught said Moore didn't believe his sport was too extreme, but rather "it was a lifestyle." He was good at it along with ATV racing as he accumulated a garage full of trophies.

Fellow snowmobile rider Levi LaVallee recently described Moore as a "fierce competitor."

"A very creative mind," LaVallee said. "I've watched him try some crazy, crazy tricks and some of them were successful, some of them not so much. But he was first guy to get back on a sled and go try it again. It shows a lot of heart."

X Games officials said in a statement that they would conduct a thorough review of freestyle snowmobiling events and adopt any appropriate changes.

"For 18 years, we have worked closely on safety issues with athletes, course designers and other experts. Still, when the world's best compete at the highest level in any sport, risks remain," they said, noting that Moore was hurt performing a move he had done several times before.

The lead single from Ciara's self-titled fifth album, "Body Party," is an oozing, seductive R&B track that deserves rousing applause especially when the 27-year-old matches the song with daring and sensual dance moves that scream Janet Jackson, Aaliyah and others that have come before her, as she did at the recent BET Awards.

The bedroom groove is easily the best of the 11 tracks that make up "Ciara." There are others that shine, too: The bouncy "Livin' It Up," one of two songs to feature Nicki Minaj, has an empowering feel; the mid-tempo "Read My Lips" is appealing and Ciara's sweet tone rides nicely over the semi-electronic beat of "Overdose."

Still, the album doesn't feel special. While it's much better than her last two releases the weak "Fantasy Ride" and the subpar "Basic Instinct" the album is made up of fillers that have you still wondering what kind of singer Ciara is.

Like her past records, "Ciara" isn't cohesive, and instead, sporadic some hits here, satisfactory work there, but overall, mediocrity reigns. The album, out on Epic Records, is her first album since leaving LaFace Records, her home since she released her multi-platinum 2004 debut, the explosive "Goodies." She had hits from that album and its follow-up, "Ciara: The Evolution," but she hasn't established her own style or sound in the near-decade she's been on the scene. Ciara, the person, is still searching for Ciara, the singer.

Ciara kicked-off her new album with three different singles "Sweat," ''Sorry" and "Got Me Good" that now don't appear on "Ciara," a sign of her creative struggles. The album features producers and songwriters like Rodney Jerkins, Mike WiLL Made-It, Livvi Franc and Future, her rapper-boyfriend who co-wrote and co-produced "Body Party." Hopefully, he can be the Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis to her Janet or she can find someone else to fill that slot.

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Follow Mesfin Fekadu on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MusicMesfin

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA has selected Space Florida, a state-backed economic development agency, to take over operations, maintenance and development of the space shuttle's idled landing site at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, officials said on Friday.

Terms of the agreement, which have not yet been finalized, were not disclosed, but Space Florida has made no secret about its desire to take over facilities no longer needed by NASA to develop a multi-user commercial spaceport, somewhat akin to an airport or seaport.

The state already has a lease for one of the space shuttle's processing hangars, and an agreement with Boeing to use the refurbished facility for its planned commercial space taxi.

The so-called CST-100 is one of three spaceships under development in partnership with NASA to fly astronauts to the International Space Station, a permanently staffed, $100 billion research outpost that flies about 250 miles above Earth.

NASA ended its 30-year space shuttle program in 2011, leaving Russia's Soyuz capsules as the sole means to transport crews to the station, a service that costs the United States more than $70 million per person. NASA hopes to buy rides commercially from a U.S. company by 2017.

The shuttle's retirement left the Kennedy Space Center loaded with equipment and facilities that are not needed in NASA's new human space initiative, which includes a heavy-lift rocket and deep-space capsule for journeys to asteroids, the moon and other destinations beyond the space station's orbit.

Last year, NASA solicited proposals for agencies or companies to take over the shuttle landing facility and its 15,000-foot (4,572-meter) runway, one of the longest in the world.

Additional landing site infrastructure includes an aircraft parking ramp measuring 480 by 550 feet, a landing aids control building, a 90-foot (27-meter) wide shuttle tow way, an air traffic control tower and a 23,000-square-foot (2,137-square-meter) enclosure used by convoy vehicles that serviced the shuttles after landing.

In addition to shuttles returning from orbit, the runway is used by heavy transport aircraft, military cargo planes, T-38, Gulfstream G-2 and F-104 aircraft, and helicopters.

Space Florida would like that list to also include suborbital passenger ships, such as the two-seater Lynx space plane being developed by privately owned XCOR Aerospace, orbital vehicles like Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's air-launched Stratolaunch Systems, and unmanned aircraft.

"We look forward to working with NASA and KSC leadership in the coming months to finalize the details of this transaction in a way that will provide the greatest benefit to incoming commercial aerospace businesses," Space Florida President Frank DiBello said in a statement.

Turning the shuttle landing facility over to a commercial operator will save NASA more than $2 million a year in operations and maintenance costs, documents posted on the agency's procurement website show.

The landing facility also includes a 50,000-square-foot (4,645-square-meter) hangar that Space Florida already owns. A commercial flight services company, Starfighters Aerospace, currently operates there.

NASA said it received five bids for the shuttle landing facility, including the winning one.

The announcement that Space Florida had been chosen was made by NASA administrator Charles Bolden who was in Florida for the opening of the shuttle Atlantis exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Proposals to take over one of the shuttle's two launch pads are due on July 5.

(Editing by Jane Sutton and Paul Simao)

Masao Yoshida died Tuesday in a Tokyo hospital, Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Yoshimi Hitosugi said. TEPCO officials said his illness was not related to radiation exposure.

Yoshida was in charge of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant when the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami knocked out its power and cooling systems, causing reactor meltdowns and massive radiation leaks.

Recalling the first few days when three reactors suffered meltdowns in succession, Yoshida later said: "There were several instances when I thought we were all going to die here. I feared the plant was getting out of control and we would be finished."

Yoshida was a tall man with a loud voice who wasn't afraid of talking back to higher-ups and was known to his workers as a caring figure. Even then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who was extremely frustrated by TEPCO's initial lack of information and slow handling, said after meeting him that Yoshida could be trusted.

On March 12, after the Unit 1 reactor building had an explosion, Yoshida kept pumping sea water into the reactor to cool it, ignoring an order to stop from TEPCO headquarters as Kan feared sea water risked triggering a fission chain reaction. Yoshida was reprimanded for disobeying but later praised for his judgment that eventually helped keep the reactor from turning worse.

"I bow deeply in respect to his leadership and decisiveness," Kan said on Twitter.

Yoshida was interviewed for 10 hours by a member of the government-commissioned panel examining the accident. The former investigator, Kunio Yanagida, said Yoshida's death is a major loss for future investigations into the disaster at the plant, where radiation levels are still too high to allow a full, on-site examination.

Yoshida studied nuclear engineering at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and joined TEPCO in 1979. He worked in the company's nuclear department before landing a top job at the Fukushima Dai-ichi a year before the crisis.

Yoshida stepped down as plant chief in December 2011, citing his illness, after workers had begun to bring the plant under control.

Yoshida had brought workers together and kept their spirits up to survive the crisis, and had expressed hopes of returning to work for Fukushima's recovery even after falling ill, TEPCO President Naomi Hirose said.

"He literally put his life at risk in dealing with the accident," Hirose said in a statement. "We keep his wishes to our heart and do utmost for the reconstruction of Fukushima, which he tried to save at all cost."