BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO defense ministers hold their first review of cyber defense next week in a sign the issue is making its way to the top of the alliance's agenda as fears grow that Western infrastructure and military secrets are vulnerable to hackers.

Daily reports about government and private firms' computer systems coming under attack have highlighted the importance of defending NATO computer networks, particularly systems which are used to coordinate military actions among the 28 allies.

The Pentagon accused China this month of using cyber espionage to modernize its military, which Beijing denied. The Washington Post said this week that Chinese hackers have gained access to designs of more than two dozen major U.S. weapons systems.

Electronic attacks could be used to knock out military communications and disable key infrastructure to soften a country up for a conventional military strike.

NATO systems face "regular" computer attacks, according to Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

"So far we have successfully protected our systems. And we will continue to develop and to strengthen our cyber-security," Rasmussen said in March.

NATO defense ministers, including U.S. Secretary Chuck Hagel, meet on the issue in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"The challenge evolves all the time - probably more exponentially than any other type of threat that we face at the moment - and therefore we have to make certain that NATO keeps pace with that evolving threat," said a senior NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

NATO was alerted to the threat of cyber attacks in 2007, when NATO member Estonia's Internet network was paralyzed by an electronic attack that Estonia blamed on Russia.

The incident prompted NATO to review its readiness to defend against cyber warfare. NATO's cyber defense centre of excellence, which offers expertise on cyber defense to allies, is based in Tallinn, the Estonian capital.

The alliance approved a revised cyber defense policy and an action plan to strengthen defenses in 2011. It is also working to bring cyber defense into NATO's normal planning process in the same way as aircraft or other military capabilities.

From this year, all NATO allies are committed to introducing a national policy on cyber defense, a national cyber defense authority and an instant response capability to cyber threats.

The main focus of the alliance itself is on protecting its own information systems. It says it is not developing offensive capabilities.

A debate is under way about how much help NATO should give to individual allies.

"While bigger allies may have a sufficient capacity to protect their own systems against cyber-attacks ... small allies maybe don't," Rasmussen said in March. "In that case, I think we should have a capacity to help allies that request our assistance," he said.

But one NATO diplomat said large allies, such as the United States, Britain, France and Germany, disagree.

NATO has also been looking at whether it needs to expand its role in protecting vital infrastructure such as ports, electricity grids or pipelines, fearing they are vulnerable to attacks from terrorists or hackers.

(Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - If you're looking for a show where politicians occasionally do some good, you might want to check out Netflix's "House of Cards." At least Kevin Spacey's conniving congressman does the occasional favor as he tries to slash his way to the vice presidency.

On "Veep," Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Selina Meyer already has the job - and it sucks. As the show returns to HBO Sunday for its second season, she's still abusive to her underlings, ravenously ambitious, and desperate for the POTUS to call. But she's also sleep-deprived after traveling the highways and byways of a country she doesn't seem to like, stumping for candidates she hates, trying to help the party she's ambiguous about win midterm elections.

The premiere takes place as those self-serving dreams are dashed, on election night and the harsh morning after. The stench of death is in the air.

"Apparently POTUS' chief of staff is telling everyone to write their will," one character says. Another fantasizes about being cryogenically frozen. Then comes this pronouncement: "Put everything in the wagons and shoot the dogs, because we have lost the House."

Have I mentioned "Veep" is one of the funniest shows on television? It is, because of the deadpan frankness with which it stares into a pit of petty avarice. There's nothing to do but laugh at the prospect of someone like Meyer in a position of such power and responsibility. But you're laughing through your tears, because, well.

Louis-Dreyfus won and Emmy for the role last season, and would be a safe bet for this one, too. Selina was a knife of a character from the first episode because Louis-Dreyfus and creator Armando Iannucci have made no effort to soften her with likability - or even good intentions.

Like so many of our leaders, Selina cared about issues once, probably. But now it's all about power and access. She competes with similarly insecure narcissists.

Most pathetic of all are the supplicants who try to win her favor. These are the characters we relate to the most, because some of them seem to have some idealism, or at least a willingness to pretend Selina's self-centeredness is a means to and end.

In order from most to least ruthless, they are Dan Egan (Reid Scott), Mike McClintock (Matt Walsh), Sue (Sufe Bradshaw), Amy (Anna Chlumsky), and Gary (Tony Hale). Presidential aide Jonah (Timothy C. Simons) is arguably more powerful than any of them, despite looking like a giant kindergartner.

Every one of them is excellent, with similar but uniquely formulated concoctions of fear, jealousy, and resentment that make any interaction potentially disastrous. In the premiere, we're treated to the spectacle of "My Girl" star Chlumsky and the most arrested of the "Arrested Development" clan, Hale, becoming desperate allies. But everyone gets their moment to shine, or at least have a public meltdown. The premiere finds Mike lamenting a foolish purchase as the ever-efficient Sue gets to turn her cold, barely-hidden contempt on the press.

The show manages to add to and improve on the mix with the addition this season of Gary Cole as number-crunching strategist Kent Davidson and Kevin Dunn as breakdown-prone presidential chief of staff Ben Caffrey.

Cole, of "Office Space" and "Brady Bunch" fame, tends to steal whatever he does, and poses the usual threat here as he exhaustedly outwits Selina at every turn.

Caffrey, meanwhile, gets to hide in a closet - his de facto bunker - and wait for the horrors to pass. Fortunately for us, they never do.

BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - President Dilma Rousseff's government said on Tuesday it would send 110 federal troops to the Brazilian farm state of Mato Grosso do Sul to try to prevent more violence between Indians claiming their ancestral territory and ranchers.

The government has been struggling to defuse tensions with indigenous tribes over farmland in several states as well as over hydroelectric dams in the Amazon.

Tensions escalated in a disputed property in Mato Grosso do Sul that was invaded last week for a second time by Terena Indians angered by the fatal shooting of one of their tribe's members. Local media said the man's cousin was shot and injured on a nearby ranch on Tuesday.

"We must avoid radicalizing a situation that goes back a long way in Brazilian history," Justice Minister Jose Cardozo told reporters after meeting lawmakers from Mato Grosso do Sul in Brasilia.

"We're not going to put out the flames by throwing alcohol on the bonfire," he said.

However, protests have now erupted across the country.

In Rio Grande do Sul state, about 2,000 Kaingang and Guarani Indians were blocking roads to protest the government's decision to put on hold the granting of ancestral lands to indigenous communities, a concession to Brazil's powerful farm lobby.

"The government has abandoned us. Dilma isn't supporting indigenous peoples," Indian chief Deoclides de Paula said by telephone from a blocked highway.

In Curitiba, the Parana state capital, 30 Kaingang Indians invaded the offices of the ruling Workers' Party on Monday and only agreed to leave 10 hours later when they were promised a meeting with Rousseff's chief of staff, Gleisi Hoffmann.

Hoffmann, who will run for governor of Parana next year, said last month that the role of the government's Indian affairs office, Funai, in land decisions would be restricted.

Cardozo, however, stressed on Tuesday that Funai would not be gutted and would continue to play a central role as the main institution that defends Indian rights, though others will be brought in to improve the process of deciding ancestral lands.

FIELDS BURN AFTER INDIAN DEATH

The government has been scrambling to avert violence since a 35-year-old Indian man was shot dead last week when police evicted 200 Terena from the disputed cattle ranch of a former congressman.

Angry Terena Indians armed with sticks, bows and arrows reoccupied the property on Friday and set fire to fields and blocked roads on Tuesday.

Late on Monday, a local judge extended for 36 hours the eviction order, allowing more time for a peaceful resolution.

Brazil's indigenous land policy, established in the country's constitution, is considered one of the most progressive in the world, with about 13 percent of the huge South American nation's territory already set aside for Indians.

Farmers say Funai is trying to create reservations on land that has belonged to European-descended settlers for 150 years.

In another move to ease tensions with Brazil's indigenous population, one of Rousseff's ministers, Gilberto Carvalho, met in Brasilia with Munduruku Indians flown in on air force planes from the Tapajos, the only major river in the Amazon basin with no dams.

They want the government to shelve plans to build a dozen dams there, while the government hopes to finish work on the controversial Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River, a huge project aimed at feeding Brazil's fast-growing demand for electricity.

Last week Indians paralyzed work at one of three building sites at Belo Monte, which is slated to become the world's third-largest dam, capable of producing 11,233 megawatts of electricity - equivalent to about 10 percent of Brazil's total current generating capacity.

Belo Monte is a pet project of Rousseff, but has become the target of international criticism by environmental groups. It has also become a stage for Indians from other parts of the Amazon.

"We went to see for ourselves what a hydroelectric dam is and we saw that it has nothing good in store for us," a Munduruku leader told Carvalho, adding that promised development had not benefited the Indians of the Xingu. "We saw Indians being humiliated and we do not want that for our region."

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman and David Brunnstrom)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- About 140 people have been arrested during the latest weekly demonstration led by the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP against the state's Republican-led General Assembly.

Police estimate that roughly 1,000 people attended a rally late Monday afternoon behind the Legislative Building. Hundreds later entered the building, with those intending to get arrested wearing green wrist bands.

Those arrested were taken away in plastic bindings. They bring the total arrested in the weekly demonstrations to about 300. The rallies have taken place nearly every Monday since April.

Hundreds more waited outside to cheer on those arrested as they were transported to a detention facility.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has spearheaded demonstrations to protest cuts to social programs, changes to voting laws and other issues championed by the GOP.

* Late turnovers dampen stellar showing from James (Adds detail, quotes)

By Simon Evans

MIAMI, May 24 (Reuters) - The Indiana Pacers threw open the NBA Eastern Conference finals on Friday, upsetting the Miami Heat with a 97-93 victory to level the best-of-seven series at 1-1.

LeBron James scored 36 points for Miami but gave up two crucial turnovers down the stretch that cost the Heat, while Roy Hibbert top-scored for the Pacers with 29 points and Paul George added 22 and produced some outstanding defensive work.

"That was a heck of a basketball game wasn't it?" said Pacers head coach Frank Vogel, whose team never looked intimidated in either of the opening games on the defending champions' home court.

"This team believe we can win this series and they are giving it all their might, playing with confidence and rising to the challenge," he added.

The Pacers took full advantage of a slow start from Miami, grabbing a 10-point lead midway through the first quarter and they were up 53-47 at halftime.

With James producing some outstanding play yet again, Miami fought back and led 88-84 with 6:09 on the clock but, as in Wednesday's Game One overtime thriller, the Pacers refused to buckle and came roaring back.

Indiana took the lead with 48 seconds remaining with two George Hill free throws and on the next possession, James' pass intended for Ray Allen was stolen by David West.

Miami had another chance though when a 24-second clock violation on the subsequent Indiana possession gave them the ball back with the game on the line.

James had grabbed the winning score with just 2.2 seconds left in overtime in Game One and he had 17.6 seconds to tie or win the game this time.

However, his misplaced pass was collected by Hill, who was then fouled by James.

Hill made the two free throws to secure victory and a split from Miami's first two home games.

"LeBron played one of the best basketball games I've ever seen anyone play," Vogel said. "We just were able to make a few plays at the end."

James though was in no mood to reflect on the great play that had come before his turnovers, describing them as "careless".

"The first thing I always look for on the stat sheet is my turnovers. I had two key ones at a big point in the game. I am very disappointed in my judgment and my plays down the stretch. But I'll make up for them," he said.

It was a poor night for Miami's bench, who managed just 19 points with Allen, Norris Cole and Shane Battier among those who struggled.

"We have to figure out a way to get our shooters into the game more instead of trying to get them the ball and make them make a tough one late in the game," James said.

The series continues in Indiana on Sunday while in the Western Conference, San Antonio will look to take a 3-0 lead against Memphis on Saturday. (Editing by John O'Brien)

Many Buddhists and Muslims stayed locked inside their homes and shops were shuttered after Tuesday's violence in Lashio town, near the border with China, the latest region to fall prey to the country's spreading sectarian violence. The rioting in Lashio was sparked by reports that a Muslim man had set fire to a Buddhist woman.

Deadly violence between Buddhists and Muslims has occurred since last year in other parts of Myanmar, first in a western region and then in central towns. The new flare-up will reinforce doubts that President Thein Sein's government can or will act to contain the violence and crack down on racial and religious intolerance.

Wednesday morning was quiet, but by afternoon several hundred young men, screaming and waving sticks, roamed the downtown area on motorcycles near City Hall. A Buddhist monk was seated on the back of one of the motorcycles, waving a stick.

On another street, the crowd threw rocks at buildings. Many people were too afraid to step outside. Smoke could be seen over at least one area of town, and local politician Sai Myint Maung said a movie theater had been burned and that there were rumors that more troublemakers were gathered on the outskirts of the town.

"The situation has changed 180 degrees. It was quiet the whole day and all of a sudden there is a fire and the situation has changed," he said.

An officer from the No. 1 Lashio police station said police had been dispatched by truck to try to quell the new violence. The officer, who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to release information, said at least four people were hurt.

"My family is staying inside. We are afraid of being attacked," said one Muslim resident, Ko Maung Gyi, who spoke by telephone earlier from inside his locked home in Lashio's main Muslim neighborhood.

"I never expected that such racial violence would erupt in Lashio," he said. "Our small town is multiethnic and we have lived in peace for a long time."

There were no reported fatalities after Tuesday night's violence in the remote mountain town.

Order was initially restored after authorities banned gatherings of more than five people. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed and many shops and streets were empty, Sai Myint Maung said.

The government appealed for calm.

"Damaging religious buildings and creating religious riots is inappropriate for the democratic society we are trying to create," presidential spokesman Ye Htut said on his Facebook page. The message noted that "two religious buildings and some shops" in Lashio were burned, without specifying whether they were Muslim or Buddhist.

"Any criminal act will be dealt with according to the law," Ye Htut said.

A 48-year-old man accused of setting fire to a 24-year-old Buddhist woman was arrested, state television reported. It said the man, identified as an Indian Muslim, threw gasoline on the woman.

The man was charged with causing grievous injuries and arson, as well as drug possession due to stimulants found in his pocket, the TV report said. The woman was being treated for burns to her chest, back and hands.

The report did not mention whether any members of Tuesday night's Buddhist mob were arrested, an omission likely to fuel more questions over whether minority Muslims can find justice in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar.

Minority Muslims have been the main victims of the deadly violence, but so far there have been no criminal trials against members of the country's Buddhist majority.

After Tuesday's alleged immolation, an irate crowd of more than 100 people, including Buddhist monks, gathered outside a police station demanding that the alleged attacker be handed over, state TV reported.

The crowd then rampaged through the town, setting fire to Lashio's largest mosque and several shops, the television report said.

The mob also set fire to a Muslim school and orphanage that was so badly charred that only two walls remained, said Min Thein, a resident contacted by telephone. Police and other witnesses confirmed the school burning.

Myanmar's sectarian violence first flared in western Rakhine state last year, when hundreds of people died in clashes between Buddhists and Muslims that drove about 140,000 others, mostly Muslims, from their homes. Most are still living in refugee camps.

This month, authorities in two areas of Rakhine announced a regulation limiting Rohingya families to two children. The policy drew sharp criticism from Muslim leaders, rights groups and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell on Tuesday said the U.S. opposes coercive birth limitation policies, and called on Myanmar "to eliminate all such policies without delay."

The clashes had seemed confined to that region, but in late March, similar Buddhist-led violence swept the town of Meikthila in central Myanmar, killing at least 43 people. Earlier this month, a court sentenced seven Muslims from Meikthila to prison terms for their role in the violence.

Several other towns in central Myanmar experienced less deadly violence, mostly involving the torching of Muslim businesses and mosques.

Muslims account for about 4 percent of Myanmar's roughly 60 million people. Anti-Muslim sentiment is closely tied to nationalism and the dominant Buddhist religion, so leaders have been reluctant to speak up for the unpopular minority.

Thein Sein's administration, which came to power in 2011 after half a century of military rule, has been heavily criticized for not doing enough to protect Muslims. He vowed last week during a trip to the U.S. that all perpetrators of the sectarian violence would be brought to justice.

___

Associated Press writers Aye Aye Win in Yangon and Jocelyn Gecker and Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index, which plummeted more than 7 percent Thursday, bounced back a sizeable 2.8 percent to 14,892.57. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.1 percent to 1,971.46. Benchmarks in Indonesia, Taiwan and mainland China also rose.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng spent the morning bobbing between slight gains and slight losses before falling nearly 0.1 percent to 22,656.15. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 tumbled 1.4 percent to 4,992.80. Benchmarks in the Philippines and New Zealand also fell.

The Nikkei's dramatic fall Thursday was attributed on the spike in the interest rate on the country's benchmark 10-year bond to above 1 percent for the first time in a year, which came after Fed meeting minutes showed some of its policy makers want the U.S. central bank to start scaling back its monetary stimulus.

The swing in Japanese bonds unnerved investors at a time when Japan's already overburdened government finances are vulnerable to rises in interest rates. The interest rate, or yield, later slipped back to about 0.9 percent.

The sell-off is a reminder of Japan's vulnerability as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tries to end two decades of stagnation with unprecedented monetary easing, increased government spending and reforms to make the world's No. 3 economy more competitive.

Mixed messages from the Federal Reserve about when it might start scaling back its bond-buying program also stirred investor anxiety.

The Fed is buying $85 billion worth of bonds every month as part of its stimulus program. That has kept interest rates low and encouraged investors to put money into stocks and other risky assets. If the Fed slows down its bond purchases, investors fear it could lead to an outpouring of money from stocks.

Benchmark oil for July delivery was down 4 cents to $94.20 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 3 cents to close at $94.25 per barrel on the Nymex on Thursday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.2920 from $1.2932 late Thursday in New York. The dollar strengthened to 102.23 yen from 101.91 yen.

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson

Haye, who lost his WBA belt in July 2011 to Ukrainian Vladimir Klitschko before beating Dereck Chisora 12 months later, faces Charr who has won all but one of his 24 professional bouts.

His only defeat came against Klitschko's older brother Vitaly last September when the Ukrainian retained his WBC title when the referee stopped the contest in the fourth round after Charr sustained a deep cut above his right eye.

Haye, who wants one of the Klitschko brothers to give him a world title shot, has a professional record of 26 wins and two defeats.

"(Haye) is determined to add another world title to his collection and sees his June 29 opponent as the next step towards doing just that," Haye's promoters said in a statement.(Reporting by Sonia Oxley; Editing by Mark Meadows)

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - An attorney who O.J. Simpson claims botched his Nevada robbery trial five years ago told a court on Friday that he poured his "blood, sweat and soul" into defending the former football hero, who he said had been badly tainted by his sensational 1990s murder case.

Yale Galanter, who took the witness stand in a week-long hearing into Simpson's bid for a new trial in the Las Vegas case that sent him to prison, said that his client's past presented special challenges in front of a jury.

"Mr. Simpson brought a lot of baggage into the courtroom," Galanter testified. "It wasn't like the 12 jurors didn't know that Mr. Simpson was acquitted of murder in California...And that was one of the things we had to deal with in this case."

Simpson, a star NFL running back turned actor and popular TV pitch man, was charged in the 1994 stabbing and slashing murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. He was acquitted in 1995 after a year-long proceeding in Los Angeles.

A civil jury later found him liable in a wrongful death lawsuit and awarded their families $33.5 million in damages.

Galanter, under questioning from Simpson's current attorneys, conceded that in hindsight he could have done some things differently in the Nevada trial, but offered a spirited defense of the overall efforts he made to win his client an acquittal under difficult circumstances.

"The truth of matter is that when you look at entire trial I don't think I could have fought harder or done more," Galanter said. "I put every ounce of blood, sweat and soul I had into defending it."

ARMED ROBBERY

In the Nevada case, Simpson was convicted in 2008 of 12 charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery, for storming into a room at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino with five other men and taking thousands of dollars in memorabilia at gunpoint from a pair of sports collectors.

His defense attorneys claimed that Simpson was only trying to retrieve property that he believed belonged to him and was unaware that two of his associates had brought guns along.

In seeking a new trial, Simpson, 65, claims that Galanter mishandled the case and had a conflict of interest because the attorney knew in advance that he planned to confront the sports dealers.

Simpson's current attorneys say Galanter should have argued at trial that his client wasn't aware of guns in the hotel room because Simpson was drunk at the time. But during his testimony, Galanter said he never raised such a defense "because Mr. Simpson wasn't intoxicated."

Galanter also said that Simpson told him he had discussed the guns with co-defendant Walter Alexander, adding that Simpson "knew that he had screwed up."

Galanter told the court that, contrary to claims by Simpson's current lawyers, he never approved of the hotel room scheme in advance, saying that he advised his client to call the police about the stolen property.

The Miami-based attorney was expected to be one of the final witnesses in the hearing before a Las Vegas judge, who could rule on the issue from the bench or issue her decision in writing in the coming weeks.

(Writing and additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Leslie Gevirtz)

Teens told researchers there were too many adults on Facebook and too much sharing of teenage angst and inane details like what a friend ate for dinner.

"The key is that there are fewer adults, fewer parents and just simply less complexity and less drama," said Amanda Lenhart of the Pew Research Center, one of the study's authors. "They still have their Facebook profiles, but they spend less time on them and move to places like Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr."

In the poll, 94 percent of teens who are social media users have a profile on Facebook flat from the previous year. Twenty-six percent of teen social media users were on Twitter. That's more than double the figure in 2011 of 12 percent.

In what is likely a concern to parents, more than 60 percent of the teens with Twitter accounts said their tweets were public, meaning anyone on Twitter friend, foe or stranger can see what they write and publish. About one-quarter of kids said their tweets were private and 12 percent said they did not know whether their tweets were public or private.

Teens are also sharing much more than in the past.

More than 90 percent of teen social media users said they have posted a picture of themselves up from 79 percent in 2006. Seven in ten disclose the city or town where they live, up from about 60 percent over the same time period. And 20 percent disclose their cell phone number up sharply from a mere two percent in 2006.

At the same time, teens say they've taken steps to protect their reputations and mask information they don't want others to know. For example, nearly three-quarters of teen social media users have deleted people from their networks or friends list.

The researchers surveyed 802 parents and their 802 teens. The poll was conducted between July 26 and September 30, 2012, on landline and cell phones. The margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.